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Journals / Yegah Müzikoloji Dergisi / 2026 / Cilt: 9 Sayı: 3

RECONSIDERING MUSICAL MEANING THROUGH NICOLAS RUWET’S SEMIOLOGY AND AI-BASED MUSIC GENERATION

MÜZİKSEL ANLAMIN NICOLAS RUWET’NİN SEMİYOLOJİSİ VE YAPAY ZEKÂ TEMELLİ MÜZİK ÜRETİMİ BAĞLAMINDA YENİDEN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

Aslı Uzdil(MİMAR SİNAN GÜZEL SANATLAR ÜNİVERSİTESİ, DEVLET KONSERVATUVARI)0009-0007-2447-4656
Kıvılcım Yıldız Acar(MİMAR SİNAN GÜZEL SANATLAR ÜNİVERSİTESİ, DEVLET KONSERVATUVARI)0000-0002-5454-2740
Pages
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Publication Date
2026-09-30
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

Accordingly, it argues that AI systems that model structural relations do not merely imitate musical surfaces; they also represent principles of organization that form the structural basis of musical meaning.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

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Objective & Hypothesis:ABSTRACT This study examines musical meaning from a semiological perspective by considering its relationship to AI-based music generation.
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Key Findings & Data:Nicolas Ruwet’s paradigmatic analysis, first articulated in 1966, is considered a central methodological reference for applying semiological concepts to music and for describing musical meaning in terms of structural relations.
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Conclusion & Impact:Accordingly, it argues that AI systems that model structural relations do not merely imitate musical surfaces; they also represent principles of organization that form the structural basis of musical meaning.
🔬Design:Modeling & Simulation
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Yapay zekâ · müzik semiyolojisi · Nicolas Ruwet

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines musical meaning from a semiological perspective by considering its relationship to AI-based music generation. In recent years, artificial intelligence has produced outputs that are increasingly compared with human creativity across many domains, including music as a cultural, aesthetic, and affective form of expression. These developments renew semiological debates by raising the question of how the formal relationships represented by AI systems may be related to musical meaning. To address this question, the study first outlines the relationship between semiology, structural analysis, and a formalist understanding of musical meaning. Nicolas Ruwet’s paradigmatic analysis, first articulated in 1966, is considered a central methodological reference for applying semiological concepts to music and for describing musical meaning in terms of structural relations. Against this background, conceptual and methodological parallels between Ruwet’s analytical procedure and the ways contemporary AI systems learn, model, and reproduce musical patterns are examined. Alongside human-centered studies of musical meaning, research on AI-generated music raises a multilayered set of questions concerning both how music is represented by AI systems and how it is perceived and interpreted by listeners. Communicative status, autonomy, authenticity, and creative value of AI-generated music are among the central concerns of computational creativity research, which draws on psychological, neuroscientific, and sociocultural approaches. Although these issues are highly significant, they fall outside the scope of the study’s structuralist-formalist focus, since the criteria used to evaluate them vary across individual, historical, and sociocultural contexts. By distinguishing structural representation from semantic understanding, the article reassesses the contemporary relevance and limitations of Ruwet’s method in discussions of AI-generated music. Accordingly, it argues that AI systems that model structural relations do not merely imitate musical surfaces; they also represent principles of organization that form the structural basis of musical meaning.

Özet

ÖZ Yapay zekâ son yıllarda pek çok alanda insan yaratıcılığına giderek daha fazla yaklaşan ürünler ortaya koymaktadır. Müziğin de aralarında bulunduğu kültürel, estetik ve duygulanımsal ifade alanlarında yapay zekâ çıktılarının ulaştığı düzey, bu sistemlerin modellediği yapısal ilişkilerin müziksel anlamla nasıl ilişkilendirilebileceği sorusunu yeniden gündeme getirmektedir. Bu çalışma, söz konusu soruyu semiyoloji, yapısal analiz ve müziksel anlama ilişkin formalist anlayış arasındaki ilişki üzerinden ele almakta, yapay zekâ temelli yapısal modellemenin, semiyolojik ve formalist bir çerçevede müziksel anlamı kuran biçimsel ilişkileri ne ölçüde temsil edebildiğini incelemektedir. Nicolas Ruwet’nin 1966 tarihli paradigmatik analiz yöntemi yapısal ilişkileri görünür kılması ve bu ilişkileri müziksel anlamın merkezi olarak konumlandırması bakımından çalışmanın kuramsal referans noktasını oluşturmaktadır. Çalışma bu çerçevede, Ruwet’nin analiz yöntemi ile çağdaş yapay zekâ sistemlerinin müzik üretme biçimleri arasındaki kavramsal ve yöntemsel koşutlukları tartışmakta, yöntemin güncel tartışmalardaki önemini ve sınırlarını yeniden değerlendirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Müziksel anlama dair tartışmalar, insan yaratımı odaklı çalışmaların yanı sıra yapay zekâ üretimlerini de içeren çok katmanlı bir araştırma alanı oluşturur. Yapay zekâ üretimlerinin iletişimsel niteliği, özerkliği, otantikliği ve yaratıcı değeri, psikolojik, nörobilimsel ve sosyokültürel yaklaşımlardan beslenen hesaplamalı yaratıcılık araştırmalarının başlıca konuları arasındadır. Bu başlıklar büyük önem taşımakla birlikte, bunlara ilişkin değerlendirme ölçütleri bireysel, tarihsel ve sosyokültürel bağlamlara göre değişkenlik gösterdiğinden, çalışmanın yapısalcı-formalist odaklı kapsamının dışındadır. Bu çalışma semantik içerik ve yapısal temsil arasındaki ayrımı gözeterek, müziksel anlamın yapısal boyutuna odaklanmaktadır. Bu doğrultuda makale, yapısal ilişkileri modelleyen yapay zekâ sistemlerinin yalnızca müziksel yüzeyi taklit etmediğini; müziksel anlamın yapısal temelini oluşturan örgütlenme ilkelerini de temsil ettiğini savunmaktadır.

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Cite This Article

Uzdil, A., Acar, K. Y. (2026). RECONSIDERING MUSICAL MEANING THROUGH NICOLAS RUWET’S SEMIOLOGY AND AI-BASED MUSIC GENERATION. Yegah Müzikoloji Dergisi, Cilt: 9 Sayı: 3. https://doi.org/10.51576/ymd.1988072

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