Impacts of Climate on Verbal Sound Production

Abstract

Human beings (Homo sapiens) are recognized to be the only animal species that has acquired language – both spoken and written. Unique sounds or combinations are recognized by socially and geographically defined populations as words that constitute the basic building blocks of spoken language. In the case of written languages sounds of words are represented by letters or pictographs. There are approximately 6,000 languages around the world. The main factor that differentiates these languages, one from another, is the sounds of words. The sounds of spoken words, even within the very same written language can differ quite markedly from one geographical region to another. These differences can become even more pronounced when moving between climatic regions. One possibly significant reason for this is the climatic influence on the body parts most central to the production of verbal sound such as the lips, tongue, larynx, glottis etc. The muscles and soft tissues of the human body naturally become less flexible in cold and dry environments. In cold and dry climates, muscles and tissue tend to be less elastic, whether we are talking about the vocal folds of the larynx or the tissue that makes up the human lips. An effect of this loss of elasticity can limit the range of or otherwise change the capabilities of making the human voice. The broad objective of this paper is to investigate the nature and factors that influence to produce different verbal sounds or articulate the sounds for similar words in different geographical regions. Findings of this study would help to teach and learn foreign languages efficiently and effectively.