[Lingtyp] CfP: "Surrogate languages and the grammar of language-based music"

[Laura McPherson]

**Apologies for cross listing**

Call for papers for a special issue in Frontiers in Communication: Language
Sciences:

"Surrogate Languages and the Grammar of Language-Based Music"

Guest Editors:
 Dr. Yoad Winter, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
 Dr. Laura McPherson, Dartmouth College, Hanover, United States

Traditional usages of musical instruments as speech surrogates have been
documented for centuries. This common practice is just one example of the
tight connection between language and music. More generally, musical
practices across cultures often rely on linguistic structures,
demonstrating a closer contact between language and music than is familiar
in most Western traditions. It is only recently that linguists have started
to uncover the relevance of surrogate languages and language-based music to
linguistic theory. While available data are still scarce, it has become
clear that analyzing traditional speech surrogates and language-based music
has exciting implications for all areas of linguistics. This enterprise
promises to enhance our understanding of both musical and linguistic
faculties in humans. As many language-based musical traditions are
endangered, it has become urgent that linguists study the ways in which
grammatical information is encoded in musical modalities.

Questions about musical vehicles of languages appear at all levels of
linguistic description and analysis. Phonologically, it is important to
analyze how parameters like tone, vowel height, or syllable structure are
represented in speech surrogates, and whether properties of the musical
instrument have any effect on that representation. Morphologically, we need
to understand whether lexical units are represented on instruments
independently, or partially independently, of their phonetic and
phonological properties in speech. Syntactically, it should be clarified to
what extent musical expression of language can show grammatical properties
that are not manifested in the linguistic grammar, and to what extent
grammatical operations may be simplified when they are conveyed musically.
Semantically, we are interested in the way in which the content of
language-based music is formally distinguished from those of spoken
language. Other, more specific questions, concern the possible structural
distinctions between whistling and speech surrogacy on musical instruments,
the distinctions between language-based musics with tonal and atonal
languages, productivity of language encoding in music, and
comprehensibility of speech surrogacy among native speakers (practitioners
and non-practitioners). We also welcome contributions comparing musical
surrogate languages to other kinds of language-based music.

This Research Topic welcomes contributions on any of these aspects and
related ones. Contributions from field linguistics, theoretical linguists
and musicology are equally encouraged, especially ones that deal with
structural aspects of speech surrogacy and language-based music.
Contributions may be Original Research, Review, Perspective, Data Report or
Brief Research Report.

Abstract submission deadline August 15, 2020
For accepted abstracts, the manuscript submission deadline is December 13,
2020.

Visit the collection homepage for the full description of the project:
https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/14801

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 As a contributing author, you will benefit from:
   •  High visibility with a freely downloadable e-book
   •  Rigorous, transparent and fast peer review
   •  Advanced impact metrics

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 Publishing solutions:
   • Manuscripts will be peer reviewed, and if accepted for publication,
are subject to publishing fees (
https://www.frontiersin.org/about/publishing-fees ), which vary depending
on the article type. A discount or waiver can be applied for (
https://frontiers.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_51IljifwFBXUzY1 ) and all
applications are considered.
   • We collaborate with many leading universities making the Open Access
publishing process even more accessible for authors. Click (
https://www.frontiersin.org/about/institutional-membership ) to see whether
your institution is collaborating with us.

 I look forward to your response.

 Kind Regards,

 Laura McPherson
 Topic Editor,
 Language Sciences Section, Frontiers in Communication

On behalf of the Topic Editors.
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