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Starting from a view on language as a combinatorial and hierarchically organized system we assumed that a high syllable complexity favours a high number of syllable types, which in turn favours a high number of monosyllables. Relevant crosslinguistic correlations based on Menzerath's (1954) data on monosyllables in 8 languages turned out to be statistically significant. A further attempt was made to conceptualise "semantic complexity" and to relate it to complexity in phonology, word formation, and word order. In English, for instance, the tendency to phonological complexity and monosyllabism is associated with a tendency to homonymy and polysemy, to rigid word order and idiomatic speech. The results are explained by complexity trade-offs rather between than within the subsystems of language. 1 1. Hierarchy and complexity in the language system In his famous article on "The Architecture of Complexity: Hierarchic Systems", Herbert A. Simon (1996; originally 1962) called the attention of systems theory to hierarchy as a central scheme of organized complex systems: Thus my central theme is that complexity frequently takes the form of hierarchy and that hierarchic systems have some common properties independent of their specific content. Hierarchy, I shall argue, is one of the central structural schemes that the architect of complexity uses.

Parallels between language and music are considered as a useful basis for examining possible evolutionary pathways of these achievements. Such parallels become apparent if we compare clauses and syllables in language with phrases and notes in music: Clauses as well as musical phrases typically span about 2 sec and about 5 to 10 pulses, i.e. syllables or notes. The n of syllables per clause or intonation unit also can be used as a measure of tempo across languages and thus also as a means for a better understanding of typological co-variations in the rhythm of speech and music. Further correspondences were found between the size of the sound-relevant inventories, i.e. vowels and musical intervals: a minimum of roughly 3 and a maximum of roughly 12 elements as well as a frequency peak at 5 elements. A link between vowels and musical intervals is also indicated by our findings that in Alpine yodellers the vowels are highly correlated to melodic direction according to their F2 ordering. These parallels are discussed from an evolutionary perspective that either sees music as a precursor of language or both language and music as descendents of a common, “half-musical” precursor (Jespersen, 1895; Brown, 2000). A rather simple explanation of the parallels is reported: If singing in a broader sense of the word is the most original form of music, then the functionality of any mechanism involved in the programming and the online-control of intonation units will be reflected in language as well as in music.

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