Unresolve Questions

Evnts with rsing pitch are often due to the Doppler effect, wherein an object is veering more toward the observer; i.e., it is the signature auditory pattern of an event “headed your way.” Falling pitch means the object is directing itself less and less toward you.

Phases with ising intonation tend to connote a question or something that is unresolved, metaphorically akin to an event suddenly being directed toward you. Phrases with falling intonation tend to connate greater resolution, metaphorically akin to an object veering away from you, which you no longer have to deal with.

This chapter, together with the fourth chapter in The Vision Revolution, argues that our linguistic ability, for both speech and writing, may well be due to nature‑harnessing, rather than to a built‑in “language instinct” or to general learning. Although language is central to our modern human identity, so is art, and it is natural to wonder whether some of humankind’s artistic wonders also have their origins in nature‑harnessing. The remainder of the book takes up music, arguably the pinnacle of humankind’s artistic achievement.

[1]Handbook of phonological data from a sample of the world’s languages: A report of the Stanford Phonology Archive (1979). Stanford University, Department of Linguistics.