Sing Chinese and tap Tagalog? Predicting individual differences in musical and phonetic aptitude using language families differing by sound-typology

Musical expertise and working memory (WM) have been isolated as being the most important predictors of phonetic aptitude – meaning the ability to imitate unfamiliar speech material. Although the link between language functions and musical expertise has been subject to many investigations, specific languages and their individual link to musical expertise have largely been neglected. In this investigation, two typologically different languages and their relationship to musical abilities have been investigated in school children (ages 9–10). Results revealed that musical expertise and working memory contribute to the ability to imitate foreign speech material. However, musical abilities are recruited depending on the sound pattern of the language imitated. Children with improved WM and high ability for singing and discriminating tonal differences seem to imitate tone languages faster than their peers. For those who imitate syllable-based Tagalog best, WM and the rhythmical component of music perception influence their performances. Thus it can be suggested that (1) WM may be highly relevant for memorisation, reproduction and imitating speech. (2) Musical expertise (music perception and singing) leads to a positive transfer to language function and (3) individual differences in musical abilities (type of musicality, music discrimination and production) may predict language-dependent preferences for certain sound-structures or properties.