#sonority

[chameleon3]

”ughhhh everyone hates mee :(“ i say as the post i made 30 seconds ago has no likes

[marejadilla]

Christian Schloe, "Sonority of the Forest". Austrian artist.

[mindblowingscience]

Linguistics study claims that languages are louder in the tropics

Languages are a key factor in human societies. They connect people, serve as a vehicle to pass on knowledge and ideas, but they also disting

Languages are a key factor in human societies. They connect people, serve as a vehicle to pass on knowledge and ideas, but they also distinguish between different groups of people. Languages can therefore tell us a lot about the societies that use them. As languages are constantly changing, it is important to know the factors that play a role in this. Scientists can then reconstruct past processes on the basis of languages. In a study published today (Dec. 5) in the online journal PNAS Nexus, Kiel linguist Dr. Søren Wichmann, together with colleagues from China, demonstrates that average ambient temperatures influence the loudness of certain speech sounds. "Generally speaking, languages in warmer regions are louder than those in colder regions," says Dr. Wichmann. The basic idea behind the study is that we are surrounded by air when we speak and listen. Spoken words are transmitted through the air as sound waves. The physical properties of air therefore influence how easy it is to produce and hear speech. "On the one hand, the dryness of cold air poses a challenge to the production of voiced sounds, which require vibration of the vocal cords. On the other hand, warm air tends to limit unvoiced sounds by absorbing their high-frequency energy," explains Dr. Wichmann. These factors could favor a higher volume of certain speech sounds in warmer climates, known as sonority in scientific terms.

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[lingthusiasm]

Gretchen: I mean, I will say that we have a pretty phonotactically weird cluster in the name of our podcast. Lauren: This is true. Gretchen: We’re finally admitting it four years in – like, /lɪŋ/ /θʊziæzm̩/. They belong to different syllables, but they’re just done with such distinct places in the mouth that people have a really hard time saying our name. We didn’t think that through. Lauren: Different places and different manners. There’s a little bit of stuff that I’ve read about the influence of sonority preferences across syllables. We meet the requirement. Normally you have something that’s more sonorous at the end of the first syllable than at the beginning of the second syllable. We got that bit good. Gretchen: Okay. So, we’ve got /ŋ/ at the first syllable and then /θ/ at the next one, but they’re just one away from each other kind of. They’re not that far.

Excerpt from Lingthusiasm episode ‘Climbing sonority mountain from A to P’

Listen to the episode, read the full transcript, or check out more links about phonetics and phonology

[indiegamesource]

So, that was weird.

Sonority | Hanging Gardens Interactive

[alpha-beta-gamer]

Sonority is a beautiful isometric adventure where you combine musical notes to create melodies, solve puzzles and uncover the secrets of a mysterious ancient temple.

Read More & Sign Up For The Beta (Steam)

[linguisticillustrations]

Some illustrations of the sonority hierarchy. 

Hans Basbøll. 2005. The Phonology of Danish. Oxford University Press.