From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Sep 8 18:42:18 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 11:42:18 -0700 Subject: [language] [Fwd: Accents have advantages] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] Accents have advantages Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003 19:21:47 +0100 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Nature Science Update Accents have advantages A foreign tongue can be easier to understand in the mouth of a non-native. 8 September 2003 PHILIP BALL People speaking English as a second language find each other just as intelligible as they do native English speakers, US linguists have found. The effect works regardless of the speaker's mother tongue. It isn't hard to see why a Korean, say, might find another Korean's English easier to follow than an English person's. The two share a phonetic vocabulary lacking some of the vocal effects that render the language alien in a native's mouth. A foreign accent hinders a native but helps a fellow non-native. But what about speakers with different first languages? One might suspect that only some languages, like Korean and Chinese, or Spanish and Italian, share sounds that help their mutual intelligibility. But that doesn't seem to be so. Instead, there may be features of the target language that all non-natives omit, suggest Tessa Bent and Ann Bradlow from Northwestern University in Illinois1. American English speakers often fail to sound consonants at the ends of words clearly, for example, making it hard for non-natives to tell one word from another. Received pronunciation It is often claimed that two non-natives communicate more easily in a second language than either would with someone born speaking that language. That's to say, Romanians might find Romanian-accented English more intelligible than native English. But there's been little hard evidence to support this. What's more, little is known about what happens when non-native talkers have different first languages, says Bent and Bradlow. Full text http://www.nature.com/nsu/030901/030901-12.html Human Nature Review http://human-nature.com Evolutionary Psychology http://human-nature.com/ep Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- ... M. Hubey ... hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu Mon Sep 8 18:42:18 2003 From: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu (H.M. Hubey) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 11:42:18 -0700 Subject: [language] [Fwd: Accents have advantages] Message-ID: <><><><><><><><><><><><>--This is the Language List--<><><><><><><><><><><><><> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [evol-psych] Accents have advantages Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003 19:21:47 +0100 From: Ian Pitchford Reply-To: Ian Pitchford Organization: http://human-nature.com To: evolutionary-psychology at yahoogroups.com Nature Science Update Accents have advantages A foreign tongue can be easier to understand in the mouth of a non-native. 8 September 2003 PHILIP BALL People speaking English as a second language find each other just as intelligible as they do native English speakers, US linguists have found. The effect works regardless of the speaker's mother tongue. It isn't hard to see why a Korean, say, might find another Korean's English easier to follow than an English person's. The two share a phonetic vocabulary lacking some of the vocal effects that render the language alien in a native's mouth. A foreign accent hinders a native but helps a fellow non-native. But what about speakers with different first languages? One might suspect that only some languages, like Korean and Chinese, or Spanish and Italian, share sounds that help their mutual intelligibility. But that doesn't seem to be so. Instead, there may be features of the target language that all non-natives omit, suggest Tessa Bent and Ann Bradlow from Northwestern University in Illinois1. American English speakers often fail to sound consonants at the ends of words clearly, for example, making it hard for non-natives to tell one word from another. Received pronunciation It is often claimed that two non-natives communicate more easily in a second language than either would with someone born speaking that language. That's to say, Romanians might find Romanian-accented English more intelligible than native English. But there's been little hard evidence to support this. What's more, little is known about what happens when non-native talkers have different first languages, says Bent and Bradlow. Full text http://www.nature.com/nsu/030901/030901-12.html Human Nature Review http://human-nature.com Evolutionary Psychology http://human-nature.com/ep Human Nature Daily Review http://human-nature.com/nibbs Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- ... M. Hubey ... hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey ---<><><><><><><><><><><><>----Language----<><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyrights/"Fair Use": http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html The "fair use" exemption to copyright law was created to allow things such as commentary, parody, news reporting, research and education about copyrighted works without the permission of the author. That's important so that copyright law doesn't block your freedom to express your own works -- only the ability to express other people's. Intent, and damage to the commercial value of the work are important considerations. You are currently subscribed to language as: language at listserv.linguistlist.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-language-4283Y at csam-lists.montclair.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: