You interpret my meaning incorrectly, Salami. When I say music is a spandrel of language, I don't mean that it is literally language, or necessary for the function of language, or anything of the sort.
What I mean is that music is a convenient, pleasurable side effect of all of the tools that we use to comprehend language.
People posting in this thread seem to have either taken the topic too literally or too ambiguously. I get the feeling most people in this discussion haven't read and comprehended all of the content in the first post, because a lot of ideas are being thrown around that the information presented contradicts, or that simply have nothing to do with the root topic.
This is why I've pretty much shut up since Tore posted, because I agree with Tore (so there's not much to argue about), and because most other posters seem to have missed the point whilst skimming the page (or jumping to the tldr).
Re: Moonlight, there's an extent to which I both agree and disagree with you on music being a universal language. Music is largely cultural. We gravitate towards that which we are exposed to at a young age, and other cultures of music tend to be a bit of a lost cause for us. They don't communicate the same things to the same people across cultural boundaries. I believe you pointed this out however, saying that "uplifting" or "sad" music isn't inherently such; our culture has defined it that way.
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