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JOSEPH JORDANIA
INTERROGO ERGO COGITO I AM ASKING QUESTIONS,
THEREFORE I THINK : RESPONSORIAL SINGING
AND THE ORIGINS OF HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
In a number of my earlier publications I repeatedly indicated that the search for the
origins of the phenomenon of human polyphonic singing is intimately connected to the
evolution of human language, speech, and intelligence (see some of the publications on
this topic: J ordania, 1988, 1988a, 1989, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003). This time I am
not going to talk about the origins of human speech (which, according to my model, is
responsible for the enigmatic distribution of the tradition of polyphonic singing over the
continents). Therefore, I am not going to discuss the correlation of geographic distribution
of traditional polyphony and the distribution of the data of physical anthropology (Jordania,
1988a, 1989, 2002). The same way I am going to ignore this time the problem of distribution
of speech pathologies and the peculiarities of acquisition of phonologic system in different
populations and their correlation with the distribution of tradition of polyphonic singing
(Jordania, 2000, 2002).
This paper is dedicated to one of the most important points of the evolution of human
intelligence. My aim is to argue that the shift from the pre-human to human intelligence
took place in the pre-articulated communication epoch, in the context of the musical
communication, or more precisely in the context of the earliest forms of human group
singing. I will try to argue, that the origins of responsorial singing was directly responsible
for the human communication revolution - phenomenon of asking questions. In its
turn, the appearance of the ability of asking questions was the cognitive revolution ,
maybe the most important defining moment of development of human intelligence, setting
apart the evolution of pre-human and human intelligence.
First of all I want to stress that polyphonic singing has two factors, and in order to
understand this phenomenon we must take into account the importance of both of them.
These two factors are:
SOCIAL factor (polyphony is a group singing, social activity through singing) and
MUSICAL factor (polyphony is a simultaneous sounding of more than one pitch).
According to the long standing scholarly tradition of dealing with the phenomenon
of pol yphony, onl y musi cal f act or i s taken i nt o account i n musi col ogi cal and
ethnomusicological publications. Social factor is almost always left out of the attention.
The aim of my paper is not to fully revolutionise the understanding of the term polyphony,
but to stress that in order to understand the origins and the contemporary functioning of
vocal polyphony it is imperative to take into account the social factor of the phenomenon
of polyphony.
It is not difficult to see that these two factors (or criterions social and musical) do not
necessarily coincide. For example, according to the SOCIAL factor, group unison singing
is polyphony, as we have a social/musical interaction of the big group of people (such as
participating in rituals, during social gatherings, supportive singing at the sporting events,
or singing National anthems). From the point of view of MUSICAL factor this kind of group
singing (when the participants sing in unison and octaves only), is not much different of
a soloist singing a melody. Thats why the musical traditions where there is a tradition of
group singing (but there is no polyphony of pitches) are in a group of monophonic
40
cultures. According to the musical factor, group unison singing can only become a subject
of polyphonic study if there are some obvious differences in the melodic variants performed
by members of a group. Resulting unison-heterophonic texture is often considered to be
the bordering phenomenon between monophony and polyphony.
On the other side, it is also possible to have a musical phenomenon where we have
polyphony from the musical point of view, but there is no polyphony from the social point
of view. Unique tradition of overtone singing (sometimes quite awkwardly called throat
singing), where one person produces more than one pitch, is the obvious example for
this. According to the MUSICAL factor, overtone singing is polyphony, as we can hear two
functionally distinct pitches during the performance. If we look at the phenomenon of the
overtone singing from the point of view of the SOCIAL factor it is easy to see that overtone
singing does not qualify as a social polyphony, as the performer usually is alone and
there is no social-musical interaction (or co-intoning) during singing. To qualify as a
social polyphony there must be more than one singer involved in a performance of
overtone singing.
It is obvious that there are big numbers of musical traditions where polyphony is
present from the point of view of both SOCIAL and MUSICAL factors (as this is in
Georgia, or in many regions of the Europe, in sub-Saharan Africa, in Polynesia, etc). At the
same time we should remember that for amazingly large group of cultures polyphony is
present only according to one factor only (social or musical). Thus when I use the term
polyphony I mean cultures where this phenomenon is present both from the SOCIAL
and MUSICAL points of view. In all other cases I will be using terms social polyphony or
musical polyphony.
Now let us have a look at the map of the World and discuss the results of our
approach, if we study the distribution of the phenomenon of polyphonic singing according
to the
SOCIAL factor,
MUSICAL factor, and
COMBINED SOCIAL-MUSICAL factors.
(1) The map of polyphony according to the SOCIAL factor alone represents an
interesting case. When I started collecting information on the group singing from so
called monophonic cultures, I was overwhelmed by the facts of group singing ubiquity
even in the most monophonic traditions of the world (including the large regions of East
Asia and indigenous populations of North and South America). Without going into details
of the distribution of SOCIAL polyphony I should say, that apparently, there is hardly a
culture in the world without the tradition of group singing. (For the quick reference I would
direct the interested reader to the magnificent 10 volume Garland Encyclopaedia of the
World Music, published in 2000).
(2) The map of polyphony according to the MUSICAL factor only is understandably
also wider than the map according to the combined social-musical factors, although the
difference is much smaller in scale than in case of the SOCIAL factor. In fact MUSICAL
factor map is mostly coinciding with the map of polyphonic cultures, traditionally accepted
in musicology and ethnomusicology (see Schneider, 1969, J ordania, 1989). This would
seem hardly surprising if we remember that the MUSICAL factor has been in fact the only
factor for musicologists and ethnomusicologists in determining the presence of polyphony
in a culture.
(3) The COMBINED map (combining both SOCIAL and MUSICAL factors) is quite
close to the map of polyphony according to the MUSICAL factor only. MUSCIAL factor
Joseph Jordani a
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map is a bit wider as it contains regions where we have a solo polyphony (overtone
singing) tradition. As I have already mentioned, under the term polyphony I will be
meaning the singing traditions where both SOCIAL and MUSICAL factors of polyphony
are present. To qualify as a polyphonic tradition, both SOCIAL and MUSICAL factors
should be present together, at the SAME TIME in the SAME GENRES.
Review of the distribution of the polyphonic singing according to the SOCIAL and
MISCAL factors brings us to the following conclusions:
Map of polyphony according to the COMBINED SOCIAL & MUSICAL factors covers
the smallest area of the world (still about the half of the world cultures);
Map of polyphony according to the MUSICAL factor only covers mostly the area of
the Map of polyphony according to the COMBINED SOCIAL & MUSICAL factors, although
it is still wider than the later (due to the presence of the tradition of overtone singing in
Central Asia);
Map of polyphony according to the SOCIAL factor only actually comprises all the
musical cultures of the world.
And inevitable - groups singing (social polyphony) seems to be one of the true
universalis of human vocal activity.
Study of the phenomenon of the social polyphony (group singing) brought to my
attention the fact that one of the forms of group singing is another true universal of human
vocal communication. This form is a responsorial singing, based on the call & response
between the leader and the group. Not only in sub-Saharan Africa, Polynesia, Europe or
other polyphonic regions, but is every musical culture (including monophonic ones)
there seems to be important instances of responsorial singing. Of course, in polyphonic
cultures the response is usually polyphonic, and in so-called monophonic cultures the
response of the group comes mostly in unison (or octaves). This by no means affect the
fact of global distribution of responsorial singing all over the musical cultures.
Existence of a strong human communication universal indicated that this form of
human communication (responsorial singing, or question-and-answer singing) was
present at the earliest stages of evolution of human populations, at the stage when the
geographical and consequently racial differentiation was not in place yet.
Before I start discussing the evolutionary importance of the responsorial singing for
human communication, I would like to discuss the origins of the phenomenon of overtone
singing. As I have already mentioned, as a phenomenon overtone singing MUSICALLY
belongs to the polyphonic cultures (we have more that one pitch simultaneously) but
SOCIALLY it is not polyphony (there is no musical-social interaction of a group of people).
Although musicologists and ethnomusicologists try to avoid discussing chronological
beginnings of any musical phenomenon, it is a common belief that overtone singing is
one of the most ancient musical phenomenon, kind of a relict of human vocal production
(see Tongeren, 2004). This belief is mostly based on the audio impression of this style of
singing. I agree that speculations about the chronological depths will never give us a
satisfactory answer to the question, but if we still try to reach the chronological depths of
any phenomenon, we need to remember that audio impressions can be misleading. All
the available information about the carriers of the tradition under discussion should be
brought to the scholarly scrutiny. Whats the contemporary stratification of distribution of
this phenomenon? What historical and ethnic processes took place in this region, involving
the populations that possess this phenomenon? Do we have any historical sources
about this phenomenon? Let us try to answer these questions regarding overtone singing.
GEORGAPHIC distribution. More ancient traits tend to be in the periphery and isolated
Interrogo Ergo Cogito I Am Asking Questions, Therefore I Think :
Responsorial Singing and the Origins of Human Intelligence
42
pockets of the geographic area. More continuos distribution usually points to a relatively
late distribution of the phenomenon. Overtone singing today exists in Central Asia Tuva
(particularly west Tuva), Mongolia (also west Mongolia), and some adjacent territories
of Altai-Saian mountains. This is quite a big, although a compact area, without traces of
the survival of ancient trait in different isolated regions.
HISTORICAL AND ETHNIC processes. Central Asia was a crossroad of the active
historical, ethnic and racial processes. Most importantly for our subject, more and more
archaeologists and physical anthropologists agree that this territory was populated mostly
by Europeoid populations until the 9th century AD (this is also confirmed by Chinese historical
writings of the corresponding period and earlier). Active migrational processes from the
East Asia starting in 9th century changed the ethnic (and presumably cultural) profile of this
region, replacing older Europeoid populations with East Asian populations. Ethnic change,
though, as this often happens, was not complete, and the traces of the earlier Europeoid
population are evident in the physical type of the contemporary populations of this region.
Specifically, the old Europeoid substrat is most evident in the living populations of the
following areas: in west Tuva, in west Mongolia, and in the adjacent territories of Altai-Saian
mountain ranges. Coincidence of the regions of distribution of overtone singing and the
regions of survival of the old Europeoid ethnic substrat indicates that the active migration
processes in Central Asia from the 9th century must be somehow connected to the origins
and distribution of the phenomenon of overtone singing.
HISTORICAL sources. The main problem with historical sources is that for most of
the regions of the world they do not go far enough to provide information about distant
historical processes. Fortunately for our subject, neighbouring China with its unique
historical records reaching few thousand years is a lucky exception. Chinese written
sources provide information not only about Chinese but about the neighbouring territories
and peoples as well, including Central Asia. The most interesting for our discussion is
that according to the Chinese sources from the same 9th century, peoples populating the
neighbouring Central Asian regions were using (as a was cry) a specific sounds consisting
of a combination of low growling sound and a high whistling sounds. This description fits
the phenomenon of overtone singing quite well.
Of course, it would be controversial in discussing the chronological depths of the
phenomenon to rely solely on the fact of geographic distribution, or the historical and
ethnic processes, or solely on the written sources, but if all these independent sources
point to one direction, the accuracy of reconstruction of the historical processes is much
higher. In the case of overtone singing, the geographic distribution of this phenomenon
(covering relatively compound territory, indicating later distribution), historical and ethnic
processes (replacement of the earlier Europeoid population by East Asian populations
from the 9th century, and survival of the old Europeoid substrat in the regions of distribution
of overtone singing tradition), and the historical sources (describing the unique sound of
overtone singing, although performed together by fighting armies from the same 9th
century) all point to one direction. Thus, all these data give us grounds to suppose that
the phenomenon of overtone singing might come to existence as a result of the mixture
of two different populations and cultures older Europeoid (supposedly polyphonic) and
later East Asian (supposedly monophonic) in the 9th century. (Interestingly, this date is
very close to the date of the origins of European professional polyphony)
Therefore, we have on one side a phenomenon of SOCAL polyphony, which is
distributed all over the world, representing one of the strongest universals of human
communication, and on the other side we have a phenomenon of MUSICAL polyphony
Joseph Jordani a
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only - overtone singing (solo polyphony), which is distributed in a relatively restricted
area and possibly has its origins approximately from the end of the first millennia AD.
Extremely wide distribution of SOCIAL polyphony indicates that SOCIAL POLYPHONY
(and particularly responsorial singing) must have had a particular importance in the
evolution of human polyphonic singing.
According to my model, the origin of RESPONSORIAL singing was a moment of a
crucial importance in the history of not only a human polyphony, but human intelligence
as well. The appearance of responsorial forms of singing in pre-human societies must
have triggered (or was triggered by?) the appearance of the uniquely human ability of
asking questions. I propose that human communication, heavily based on asking
questions and answering them, has been born together with the responsorial form of
singing. I am not going to discuss in detail this crucial point in human evolution (on the
revolutionary importance of the phenomenon of asking questions for the evolution of
human intelligence reader can read my paper published in the materials of the 2002
Polyphonic Symposium, and also in Jordania 2000, 2003).
Several important points to summarise this paper would be as follows:
SOCIAL polyphony (singing in groups) was one of the earliest and the most important
forms of musical-communicative activity in pre-human (and later in human) societies;
The most widely distributed and evidently the earliest form of social polyphony
(both in so-called monophonic and polyphonic cultures) was responsorial singing;
Emergence of responsorial singing in human evolution was intimately connected
to the emergence of uniquely human ability to ask questions. Interestingly, specially
trained apes demonstrated that apes can successfully learn how to communicate with
humans by answering their questions (including recognition of question words), although
apes did not succeed to cross the threshold and to learn how to ask questions
themsel ves;
The way human languages forms questions is one of the strongest universals of the
world languages (Chomsky, 1957), and even more universal and evolutionary earlier seems
to be forming questions using the question intonation only (even before the syntactic stage
of development). Babies of all races and nations use the intonation of question to ask their
first questions on a pre-articulated stage of development (Cruttenden, 1986);
The most important evolutionary changes in human communication (emergence
of dialogical form of communication based on questions and answering questions) and
human cognitive abilities (recognising other humans as a source for new information
and a source for solving problems) took place within the initial musical-communicative
epoch, before the advance of articulated speech.
Perephrasing the famous saying Cogito ergo Sum (I think, therefore I exist) into
Interrogo ergo Cogito (I ask questions, therefore I think) I wanted to acknowledge the
crucial importance of the ability of asking questions in the evolution of human intelligence.
According to my model, this evolutionary revolution in human cognition and language
was intimately connected to the initial stages of the development of human choral singing.
Intrinsic unity of human thinking, human communication and human singing ability strongly
suggests that the problem of the evolutionary roots of human intelligence, language and
group singing is actually one intertwined set of problems and the research in these
spheres shoul d not be undertaken separat el y, wi t hout wi de i nt erdi sci pl i nary
implications.
Interrogo Ergo Cogito I Am Asking Questions, Therefore I Think :
Responsorial Singing and the Origins of Human Intelligence
44
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Joseph Jordani a