Diet-induced changes favor innovation in speech sounds

EurekAlert! ^ | March 14, 2019 | University of Zurich

[SunkenCiv]

Diet-induced changes in the human bite resulted in new sounds such as "f" in languages all over the world, a study by an international team led by researchers at the University of Zurich has shown. The findings contradict the theory that the range of human sounds has remained fixed throughout human history.

Human speech is incredibly diverse, ranging from ubiquitous sounds like "m" and "a" to the rare click consonants in some languages of Southern Africa. This range of sounds is generally thought to have been established with the emergence of the Homo sapiens around 300,000 years ago. A study by an international group headed up by scientists at the University of Zurich and involving researchers at two Max Planck Institutes, the University of Lyon and Nanyang Technological University Singapore now sheds new light on the evolution of spoken language. The study shows that sounds such as "f" and "v", both common in many modern languages, are a relatively recent development that was brought about by diet-induced changes in the human bite.

[Clutch Martin]

“skeptical about your claim”

Sometimes I think there is a lot of potential doctoral thesis behind some of the articles I read. Especially the outlandishly “factual” ones that cannot possibly have any basis in fact at all. This is one of those. I smell a doctoral thesis brewing... even though I might be incorrect in assuming so.

Another poster said that he “smelled grant money” which sums it up pretty good as well.

[Hieronymus]

I see the scheme—publish some baseless articles, then use those articles to support a doctoral thesis. Very clever.

I’m in Biblical Studies. Some portions of the field have been operating this way for several lifetimes.

Eventually one has such an impressive raft of authorities to back up garbage that it isn’t worth anyone’s bother to point out that the emperor has no clothes. At least it helps to actually demonstrate how myths can arise over several generations, even if it doesn’t tell us too much about ancient literature.

[Sacajaweau]

Imagine a world without "f".

It's why we don't teach our little ones "uck" words.

[I want the USA back]

I’m not convinced. There are no sound records of this claim.

[tsomer]

I’ve been wondering about that for some time.
Nice to finally have it cleared up.

[SunkenCiv]

I'm on a roll again, hope I can once more escape from these giant cannibals!!!

[colorado tanker]

Didn’t realize that my overbite allows me to make such liberal use of “f” and “v”!

[SunkenCiv]

It’s amazing how memory is like a lumber room...

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-275776.html

[Pecos]

I confess that I have not seen every pile of academic crap in the world. But then, asking that of any person would be too demanding of that person’s psyche. ;-) At the end of the day, an argument comes down to data and logic, or faith. My faith is in God, not the religion of Man.

[Hieronymus]

I confess that I have not seen every pile of academic crap in the world.

---

You’re an engineer, IIRC, and thus in a field where the majority of stuff is solid—fields that have immediately verifiable results tend to stick closer to the straight and narrow.

I’m in theology, mostly Biblical studies, and have to try to teach my students with regards to secondary literature how to wade through the 35% garbage/64% waste of time to grab the 1% of stuff worth keeping in an efficient way.

Completely different climate—be glad you are where you are if you can’t at least tolerate a large amount of stuff that is mediocre at best.