[SunkenCiv]

Plot of the locations of the languages in the sample. Dark circles represent languages with ejectives, clear circles represent those without ejectives. Clusters of languages with ejectives are highlighted with white rectangles. For illustrative purposes only. Inset: Lat-long plot of polygons exceeding 1500 m in elevation. Adapted from Figure 4 in [8]. The six major inhabitable areas of high elevation are highlighted via ellipses: (1) North American cordillera (2) Andes (3) Southern African plateau (4) East African rift (5) Caucasus and Javakheti plateau (6) Tibetan plateau and adjacent regions. Credit: Caleb Everett, associate professor of anthropology in the College of Arts and Science at the University of Miami

[chesty_puller]

7,000 languages

I had no idea.

[UnwashedPeasant]

"ejective consonants are spoken mainly in regions of high elevation"

also yodeling

[UCANSEE2]

Well.... that explains Denver.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"Since air pressure decreases with altitude and it takes less effort to compress less dense air, I speculate that it's easier to produce these sounds at high altitude."

I suspect that the lower the elevation, the easier survival is, therefore lower-elevation cultures don't have to work as hard at staying alive.

At higher elevations there isn't as much food simply growing on trees, so you have to work harder and interact and cooperate with your neighbors in more sophisticated ways, which requires a more sophisticated language.

[mikrofon]

However, nearly all languages feature edverbs, e.g. want-ed, need-ed, etc...

[Noob1999]

Interesting:

Caleb Everett, associate professor of anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami

I wonder how many millions in grant money he received from “Porkulous#I to enable completion of this study???

(Maybe it was a byproduct of an earlier global warming alert, and smart folks listened to their governments and moved to higher ground!)

[Verginius Rufus]

Of course the two most important issues that need to be addressed are: are languages with ejectives threatened by global warming? and do speakers of these languages qualify for affirmative action?

[caddie]

Yes, this is why Monsieur Pujol, (a.k.a. Monsieur Lepetomane) had his performances in Paris (Altitude 114 feet).

[1010RD]

If his sampling is representative then we should expect over 1000 languages with ejectives, no? It's not clear that his methodology is sound. A sample size from a population limit of 7000 isn't really necessary. Why not just use the entire population, particularly since your focus narrowly concentrates on ejectives?

[Yaelle]

Deeeeude. Hey. Whaaaadja say again? Still stoooooooooned off my aaaas from a day a da beach, mannnn.... Souuuuunds totally narly....