Most investigations of the relationship between music and speech – two features considered universal to human societies (Brown 1991) – focus on only a few languages in an English and/or European-centric context (Savage et al. 2015). A recent study investigated this relationship in many more languages in a global context and found that songs are different from speech in a few variables (e.g., they are slower), using a relatively small sample per language (Ozaki et al. 2024). The current study (Savage et al. 2025) is conducting a large-scale replication to increase the sample size and understand whether the results reported by Ozaki et al. (2024) persist.

 

In this registered report, Savage and colleagues (2025) will measure pitch height, temporal rate, and pitch stability in 15-30 individuals at 26 sites (languages) around the world. This much larger sample size per language will allow them to determine whether certain languages have different relationships between song and speech, or whether they vary together in the same way across cultures globally. These results will provide robust evidence from which debates about the function of music can move forward.

 

Savage and colleagues (2025) have innovated a more equitable way of conducting big team research using PCI RR’s Programmatic Registered Report mechanism, where one Stage 1 can result in multiple Stage 2 manuscripts. All co-authors are on the Stage 1 manuscript, whereas each site will produce its own Stage 2, thus allowing many authors to move into the first and last author positions and receive the deserved credit for their contributions.

 

The Stage 1 manuscript was evaluated over three rounds of in-depth review. Based on detailed responses to the recommender and reviewers' comments, the recommender judged that the manuscript met the Stage 1 criteria and therefore awarded in-principle acceptance (IPA).

 

 

Level of bias control achieved: Level 6. No part of the data or evidence that will be used to answer the research question yet exists and no part will be generated until after IPA.

 

 

• Advances in Cognitive Psychology
• Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science *pending editorial consideration of disciplinary fit
• Biolinguistics
• Collabra: Psychology
• Experimental Psychology *pending editorial consideration of disciplinary fit
• Journal of Cognition
• Meta-Psychology
• Peer Community Journal
• PeerJ
• Royal Society Open Science
• Studia Psychologica
• Swiss Psychology Open

 

 

1. Brown, D. E. Human Universals. (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1991).

 

2. Ozaki, Y., Tierney, A., Pfordresher, P. Q., McBride, J. M., Benetos, E., Proutskova, P., ... & Savage, P. E. (2024). Globally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower and higher and use more stable pitches than speech: A Registered Report. Science Advances, 10, eadm9797. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adm9797

 

3. Savage, P. E., Brown, S., Sakai, E., & Currie, T. E. (2015). Statistical universals reveal the structures and functions of human music. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112, 8987-8992. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1414495112

 

4. Savage P. E., Jia Z., Ozaki Y., Pavlovich D. V., Purdy S., Ampiah-Bonney A., … & der Nederlanden, C. (2025). A Programmatic Stage 1 Registered Report of global song-speech relationships replicating and extending Ozaki et al. (2024) and Savage et al. (2025). In principle acceptance of Version 5 by Peer Community in Registered Reports. https://osf.io/vs9my