“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent” ~ Victor Hugo

I dig this article on how human music affects monkeys far less than music composed using their own animal calls as a baseline (baseline, not bassline - heh).

Given how much human music affects our moods, it would be interesting to examine this from a human linguistics point of view and apply it on test subjects — although finding human test subjects that have been exposed to language and not music might pose challenging.

I would also be interested to know if the music had the same effects on monkeys that hadn’t developed communication skills or been exposed to the calls of their own species. Would a baby monkey still be nervous the same way a chick that has never seen a chicken hawk still runs from the shadow? Is there a term for linguistics in the study of animals? Surely someone has delved into the science of animal onomatopoeia.

I’m also a bit concerned regarding what it says about me that the fearful monkey music made me edgy. To the best of my knowledge, I have no tamarin in me. I simply don’t have the facial hair to support a claim on heritage from that direction. Although I do have a huge weakness for tamarind candy. Surely, even though it’s silent, the D is important enough.

It’s possible I shouldn’t blog when thunderstorms wake me up in the middle of the night.