Re: sometimes behave so strangely (Yi-Wen Liu )


Subject: Re: sometimes behave so strangely
From:    Yi-Wen Liu  <jacobliu@xxxxxxxx>
Date:    Wed, 13 Dec 2006 10:06:43 -0600
List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>

> .... > >You also raise the point that the transformation of the phrase from > >speech to song endures - so that when people listen again to the > >full sentence, I appear to burst into song. This , to my mind, is a > >particularly puzzling aspect of the effect. People have told me > >that the effect is still present, unattenuated, even months later - > >and this was certainly my experience. As you point out, perhaps the > >most important question raised by this demonstration is why people > >don't always hear speech as song. After all, the vowel components > >of words are harmonic complexes - yet the pitch characteristics of > >speech are usually suppressed in perception. > >... > > true, unless you speak a tonal language, in which case you will focus > on pitch patterns in order to figure out the meaning of words. In > fact, I wonder whether speakers of tonal languages might be more > resistant to transforming pitch into singing since for them focusing > on pitch patterns has become part of the speech schema. > Valter > > > -- Dear Valter, You've raised an interesting question regarding speakers of tonal languages. I am a native Madarin and Southern Min speaker (Southern Min is spoken by about 45 million people and it has 7 tones). I translated "sometimes behaves so strangely" into both languages, and repeated 10 times each. After 10 repetitions, I could hardly perceive any melody in either case. On the contrary, I was able to recognize a melody out of the original English sentence after 4 to 5 repetitions, at Diana's talk in ASA/ASJ joint meeting. I am a musician but do not have absolute pitch. For those of you who know Mandarin, my translation is "You3-shi2-hou4-zhen1-qi2-guai4". Can anybody sing with it, if repeating 10 times? best regards, -- Yi-Wen Liu, Ph.D. Postdoc and Research Engineer Boys Town National Research Hospital


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