Locality in music and syntax: a minimalist analysis of modulation

Abstract

The article provides an analysis of tonicization and modulation in western tonal music within the framework of minimalist syntax. In the spirit of Katz and Pesetsky’s 2011 Identity Thesis for Language and Music, I argue that syntactic notions such as Agree and (Phase) Impenetrability may shed light on some aspects of music theory involving dependencies within local domains.

Keywords

• Agree
• Locality
• Music
• Phases
• Syntax