In my last post, I asked whether mathematics might serve as a universal language. (TLDR version: I thought the answer was yes, but with some qualifications). In a companion piece this week, I will examine a different candidate that is sometimes proposed as a universal language -- music. A 2019 ethnographic study by Mehr and colleagues found that some form of music exists in all known human cultures. However, the function and impact of music varies from one society to another. The authors of the study identified three factors that can be used to differentiate the role of music across cultures: (a) formality of the performance, (b) arousal level, and (c) religiosity. Most societies have multiple types of music, or music that varies within several of these dimensions. However, about a third of societies are atypical, and use music in more circumscribed ways. For example, in Mehr et al.'s study the Kanuri people of eastern Africa were found to have musical tra...