Languages offer window into human mind (fwd link)

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Published - Sunday, June 01, 2008

Languages offer window into human mind
By JASON STEIN | Lee Newspapers

When an Oneida speaks, there are whispers.

The softly spoken sounds often come in the final syllables of Oneida words,
usually when the words fall at the end of sentences. This rare, fragile feature
hints at the richness and complexity of Wisconsin’s threatened native languages.
“It’s very unconscious. I’ve met people who didn’t realize they were doing it,
and it’s a natural part of the way they speak,” said University of
Wisconsin-Green Bay linguist Cliff Abbott, who’s spent a career studying
Oneida. “I find it a little bit mysterious, to be perfectly honest.”

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