[MUD-Dev] DGN: Reasons for play [was:EmergentBehaviorsspawnedfrom...]

[Michael Sellers]

Ilia wrote:

> This is way off topic, and a completely non-scientific question,
> but:

> Does this mean that if you (somehow artificially) managed to
> submerge a baby in an environment that contained "all" phonemes
> (or at least the majority of the phonemes from around the world),
> then this person would have a significantly easier time learning
> foreign languages and hearing nuances within them?

Probably.  Kids raised in multi-lingual households learn multiple
languages easily, and I believe retain a facility for learning
languages more easily later in life.

> This isn't a very well-formed question.  But the concept of having
> no cortical pathways that recognize certain nuances in sound which
> are completely apparent to a speaker from a different culture is
> very intriguing.

I should maybe have been a bit more exact about that before: when
you listen to another language, your ears and brain (temporal lobe)
hear the same sounds, but they phonemes aren't processed or
recognized by other cortical areas.  In terms of noise you hear
them, but not in terms of speech.  You can learn new phonemes, but
it's very difficult at best.  (How we "hear" speech is a complex
area, complete with some interesting auditory illusions consistent
with significant cortical processing).

> Is there any interesting reading or research someone from this
> list could recommend on the topic?

It's been a long time since I did anything in this area.  I used to
have several good sources on speech learning and recognition, but
they've long since gone by the wayside.  Look up sources on topics
like phonemes, learning, maybe prosody.

Mike Sellers
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