Abstract

This paper aims to give an overview of the expanding interdisciplinary branch of cognitive science in which music psychology and cognitive / generative linguistics overlap. The field, sometimes labelled 'musicolinguistics', aims to describe a number of phenomena in music perception within the linguistic epistemological framework and methodological apparatus. The discussion first introduces the precursors of the discipline, from the earlier musico-theoretical, aesthetic and psychological schools, such as Schenker, Cooke, or Langer. Further text covers the research of properties common to language and music dominant in the period of the Chomskyan revolution of the late twentieth century. Approaches of Bernstein, Keiler, Lerdahl and Jackendoff are analyzed, followed by attempts at empirical confirmation – psychological and neurophysiological. The final section of the paper concentrates on present dilemmas in the domain, where the issue of biological foundations of music and language is once again raised. The conclusion points to a possible reconciliation within the new approach in cognitive science applicable to both language and music, known as optimality theory.