Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Can Geography Affect Language?

Listen to Lexicon Valley Episode No. 30: Eject at High Altitude

When University of Miami linguist Caleb Everett plotted nearly 600 of the world?s languages on a map using Google Earth, he noticed something peculiar: Languages containing a consonant sound known as an ?ejective? (found in about one-fifth of the world?s languages) were clustered at or near high-altitude regions. From the Rocky Mountains of North America to the Caucasus of Eurasia to the Ethiopian Highlands, a clear correlation emerged between a specific speech sound and geography. But is it all just a remarkable coincidence? Listen to Mike Vuolo?s conversation with Everett, who offers what he believes to be a couple of plausible explanations.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/lexicon_valley/2013/07/lexicon_valley_on_altitude_and_language_development.html

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