Myth and music are "two sisters begotten by language"? What does he mean by this?

Mark Smith

Levi-Strauss (from now on called Claude) is referring to the parallel between myth and music.  After all, music oftentimes consists of stories popular in the culture.  Of course there is the option to have music completely free of myth--yet music often follows strict cultural patterns that regulate the beat, tempo, instruments, and words to an extent.  Claude mentions that an individual cannot hear/read part of a myth and understand it completely.  All aspects of the myth must be explored.  This is the same for music.  You cannot listen to just the intro or conclusion of a song and get the full effect.  Therefore, language can only be fully understood in its entirety.  Claude would even argue that it is not necessary for music to have lyrics to be myth's sister.  The mind, through the use of language, pulls a story out of the music.  In this way, purely instrumental music has as much myth content as lyrics.  Claude's argument assumes that myths and music must connect to language.  While it could be the case that a painting representing a popular myth is "language-less", Claude would argue that the painting is interpreted through the use of "language thought."  This applies to symphonies and music absent of lyrics as well.  It is language which is the root of myth and music.  Myth and music are separated entities, yet they obviously have a good relationship according to Claude.  This is why myth and music are so intertwined.   

The Connection between Myth, Music and Language

Allison Moss

When Levi-Strauss writes that myth and music are "two sisters begotten by language," he simply means that both forms have elements that are seen in language, but branch off in different directions. For example, language is made up of phonemes, which make up words, which make up sentences. Levi-Strauss argues that myths are made up of elements that resemble words and sentences, but not phonemes, because phonemes are essentially meaningless sounds. Music, according to Levi-Strauss, incorporates phoneme-like sounds (notes) and sentence-like sounds (phrases of music) but does not have an element that corresponds to words. In pointing out where myth and music fall short of language, Levi-Strauss means to illustrate how both myth and music use language as a jumping-off point, but then go in different directions.

Julia Derouard

Levi-Strauss draws a parallel between myth and music as they relate to language. He compares the essential structures of myth and music by applying language terminology. First he explains how language consists of three things, phonemes, words, and sentences. However, he notices that music contains structures similar to phonemes and to sentences, but music lacks a structure similar to words. On the other hand, myth contains structures similar to words and to sentences, but lacks a structure similar to phonemes. Therefore, both myth and music lack one of the three essential structures that make up language. Levi-strauss says “myth and music are two sisters begotten by language,” meaning they are generated by language. He explains how language is the best paradigm from which to compare the two. And in fact music is the expression of the “sound aspect” of language while myth is associated with the “meaning aspect” of language. Essentially, myth and music are expressions of a language that already exists. However, he does point out that myth and music diverge from each other, which is similar to the divergence apparent in many myths. 

Elly Hirano

By saying that myth and music are “two sisters begotten by language,” Levi-Strauss means myth and music have similarity just like siblings but are different as they are not twins.They are sisters originating from language, as he mentions that language is a “point of departure” for both of them and myth and music are both forms of expression. But they are different as music emphasizes in sound aspect of language and myth in the meaning.  In language there are three levels, phonemes, words, sentences. Myth and music both lack in one level.  Although they  both similarly lack in one level,  they lack in different levels: music lacks the word level and myth lacks the phonemes level. They do have similarities and do share the origin but as Levi-Strauss says, the two sisters are "drawn apart, each going in different direction."