European Knight
01-31-2015, 05:38 PM
Linguists from the University of Miami examined 3,700 different languages They found languages with complex contrasting tones like Cantonese, Vietnamese and Congolese are mainly found in humid areas of the world
Humidity makes the vocal cords more flexible and able to produce tones Non-tonal languages like English, Egyptian and Mongolian originate in drier climates where vocal cords dehydrate and become imprecise
There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world, but new research has revealed that the climate may have played a role how each one developed. Scientists have found that humidity in different areas may have influenced the way languages evolved there. They found that languages with complex tones - those that use one or more contrasting tones to give meaning to words like Cantonese - tend to occur in humid regions of the world.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/01/30/2532222C00000578-2933368-This_map_shows_the_regions_where_languages_with_co mplex_tones_ha-m-5_1422639184121.jpg
Languages with simple tones, like many European languages including English, are found in drier regions - either in the colder north or in arid deserts.The researchers say that this is because inhaling dry air can dehydrate the vocal cords and make them less elastic, making it harder to produce complex tones in words.
Instead languages that evolved in dry climates tend to have imprecise pitch and varying intensity. Most European languages are thought to originate from a common ancestral tongue called Proto-Indo-European that was spoken 6,000 years ago by people living on the relatively dry Pontic Steppe north of the Black Sea.
This dry climate may have led to the evolution of the modern non-tonal languages that exist here today, according to Dr Caleb Everett, a linguist at the University of Miami who led the research. He said: 'It does not imply that languages are completely determined by climate, but that climate can, over the long haul, be one of the factors that helps shape languages.
'More broadly, this suggests another non-conscious way in which humans have adapted to their very different and harsh environments.' Dr Everett and his colleagues, whose research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined more than 3,700 languages.
They found 629 languages with complex tones, with most in tropical regions throughout Africa and Southeast Asia, but also some in humid regions of North America, Amazonia and New Guinea.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/01/30/2532223800000578-2933368-Vietnamese_being_written_by_the_Hmong_schoolgirl_i n_the_image_ab-a-49_1422638616663.jpg
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2933368/How-climate-affects-SPEAK-Languages-humid-regions-use-complex-sounds.html
Humidity makes the vocal cords more flexible and able to produce tones Non-tonal languages like English, Egyptian and Mongolian originate in drier climates where vocal cords dehydrate and become imprecise
There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world, but new research has revealed that the climate may have played a role how each one developed. Scientists have found that humidity in different areas may have influenced the way languages evolved there. They found that languages with complex tones - those that use one or more contrasting tones to give meaning to words like Cantonese - tend to occur in humid regions of the world.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/01/30/2532222C00000578-2933368-This_map_shows_the_regions_where_languages_with_co mplex_tones_ha-m-5_1422639184121.jpg
Languages with simple tones, like many European languages including English, are found in drier regions - either in the colder north or in arid deserts.The researchers say that this is because inhaling dry air can dehydrate the vocal cords and make them less elastic, making it harder to produce complex tones in words.
Instead languages that evolved in dry climates tend to have imprecise pitch and varying intensity. Most European languages are thought to originate from a common ancestral tongue called Proto-Indo-European that was spoken 6,000 years ago by people living on the relatively dry Pontic Steppe north of the Black Sea.
This dry climate may have led to the evolution of the modern non-tonal languages that exist here today, according to Dr Caleb Everett, a linguist at the University of Miami who led the research. He said: 'It does not imply that languages are completely determined by climate, but that climate can, over the long haul, be one of the factors that helps shape languages.
'More broadly, this suggests another non-conscious way in which humans have adapted to their very different and harsh environments.' Dr Everett and his colleagues, whose research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined more than 3,700 languages.
They found 629 languages with complex tones, with most in tropical regions throughout Africa and Southeast Asia, but also some in humid regions of North America, Amazonia and New Guinea.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/01/30/2532223800000578-2933368-Vietnamese_being_written_by_the_Hmong_schoolgirl_i n_the_image_ab-a-49_1422638616663.jpg
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2933368/How-climate-affects-SPEAK-Languages-humid-regions-use-complex-sounds.html