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The concepts of genotype and phenotype can be understood in many
contexts. Shaumyan's <i>Semiotic Theory of Language</i>, so far as
I understand it, is purely semiotic and does not engage biological
or other cognitive aspects. It is mainly about language and grammar,
which in this case is not a metaphor. The analogy between Shaumyan's
"Applicative Universal Grammar" and Chomsky's generative grammar may
be closer, but Chomsky is less concerned with semiotics properly
speaking, i.e. with sign functions. Shaumyan's book specifically
adresses this question.<br>
<br>
Shaumyan's genotype grammar has something in common with LOT, the
Language Of Thoughts, the "mentalese" (as does Chomsky's generative
grammar). It describes the universal aspect of language, it claims
to be the grammar of what is common to all languages, and it
produces a "grammatical meaning". Phenotype grammar, on the other
hand, is syntagmatic and lexical; it produces a "lexical meaning"
and of course belongs to specified individual languages. Shaumyan
claims that a phrase like <i>Colourless green ideas sleep furiously</i>
may lack a lexical meaning, but keeps a grammatical meaning that
Chomsky failed to identify. But semiotic theory is not our main
concern here.<br>
<br>
I do not think it particularly enlightening to consider Sets as
genotypes and their realization as phenotypes, unless one were to
admit Set theory as a universal of musical language (which I doubt
it is). What Serge Lacasse has in mind seems to me rather of the
order of the type-token (or type-occurrence) opposition. All the
more so that a type is sometimes defined as the set of its tokens.<br>
It may be interesting to note that an <i>Ursatz</i> also is a
type, an that its relation to its tokens is <i>semper idem sed non
eodem modo</i>. And the work contained in a score again is a type,
of which the performances are tokens.<br>
This both shows the richness of the idea of token-type, and its
lack of precise definition.<br>
<br>
Nicolas Meeùs<br>
Université Paris-Sorbonne<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://nicolas.meeus.free.fr">http://nicolas.meeus.free.fr</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://heinrichschenker.wordpress.com">http://heinrichschenker.wordpress.com</a><br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Le 13/01/2013 00:22, Joseph Dubiel a
écrit :<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:ED9B5687-3D10-41EA-A50D-219848989BBA@columbia.edu"
type="cite"><base href="x-msg://182/">[...] Prof Dora Hanninen has
made excellent use of the concepts of genotype and phenotype in
her work for some years now, and has just published A Theory of
Musical Analysis with the University of Rochester Press. Among
many virtues of this work is that it engages the biological
concepts without the encumbrance of the metaphor of grammar.<br>
<div><br>
<div>
<div>On Jan 12, 2013, at 11:43 AM, Serge Lacasse wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica;
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normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
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text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px;
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0px; font-size: medium; ">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color:
rgb(0, 0, 0); ">[...]<span style="font-size: 16px; "> I
would like to have your opinion (that has most
probably already been proposed) on a possible analogy.
Reading Sebastian Sumjan's linguistic grammar theory
(itself derived from Bateson's genetic model, see
below), I was wondering if one could draw an analogy
between his geno-/phenotype grammars and Set Theory.</span><br>
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