Study: Native language may affect rhythm (fwd)

Thu Nov 30 23:37:35 UTC 2006

Study: Native language may affect rhythm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20061130-15263900-bc-us-language.xml

HONOLULU, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A study by U.S. and Japanese scientists
suggests native languages influence the way people organize
non-language sounds into rhythms.

John Iversen and Aniruddh Patel of the Neuroscience Institute in San
Diego and Kengo Ohgushi of the Kyoto City University of Arts in Kyoto,
Japan, say people in different cultures perceive different rhythms in
identical sequences of sound. That, they say, provides evidence that
exposure to certain patterns of speech can influence perceptions of
musical rhythms.

In future work, the scientists believe they might be able to predict how
people will hear rhythms based on the structures of their own languages.

The research was presented Thursday in Hawaii at the fourth joint
meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the Acoustical Society
of Japan.