Re: Pentatonic's RAWK!

jimmy wrote:
On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:08:04 -0800, Rufus <not@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

RS wrote:
On Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:41:55 -0800, Rufus <not@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

RS wrote:
.. I'd love to hear if anyone has ideas on
that: How did that decoding mechanism evolve--Or rather...why?

How would our engine for decoding pitch ratios help with survival.
By forming the rudiments of what would eventually become language, and an ability to communicate...think dolphins, elephants, bird calls, etc...even if it's something as simple as a mating call...or perhaps more to the Darwinian point, exactly something like a mating call...species survival-wise.
Good point, Rufus. I think that much of language is based more on
formants/filtering of noise-like sources rather than pitch, but maybe
the ability to discern harmonic relationships was a refinement. The
ability to decode music seems far beyond that though.
But we do use pitch and inflection in plain spoken language too, as I'm sure you're well aware. In some languages inflection and pitch are extremely important in determining context - far more so than for English.

No kidding. Did you ever hear Cubans "discussing" baseball? We're
boring as hell next to those guys.


Got into a discussion with a native Chinese speaker recently on what the translation of the English word "bing" (re: micro-$ new browser) was in Chinese...depending on inflection, it can be any of "ice", "disease", or "soldier"...and/or one more that escapes me right now...

--
- Rufus
.

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