Abstract
This paper examines the different motivations and aims which lie behind various attempts to investigate or make use of the relationship between language and music, some from music theory and some from the psychology of music. While the theoretical developments of linguistics and psycholinguistics have helped to develop aspects of music theory and the psychology of music, it is argued that certain theoretical distinctions that may be useful in linguistics, such as the distinction between syntax and semantics, maybe inappropriate for music. Instead, a more general framework based on semiotics and communication theory may offer a more flexible and ultimately more powerful context within which to assess both the general relations between language and music as well as some of the more specific correspondences.