Altitude Influences the Way Language is Spoken: Study

A latest study published in the journal PLOS ONE reveals a strong correlation between altitude and spoken language.

Till date, linguists believed that it was environment that shaped vocabulary due to the presence of physical barriers between various populations, but in the new study that analyzed 600 languages around the world, the linguist revealed a direct connection between the geographical altitude and the way a language is spoken.

The study, "Evidence for Direct Geographic Influences on Linguistic Sounds: The case of ejectives", was conducted by Caleb Everett, associate professor of anthropology, in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami.

The researchers found that those residing in high-altitude regions have more sounds known as ejective consonants that are speech produced by bursts of air from the back of the throat. For this study, the researcher used the most comprehensive survey of linguistic sounds i.e., "World Atlas of Linguistic Structures."

In the English language, one cannot find ejective, but it is used by those residing in the mountain areas. This is because it is easier to produce ejectives in thin mountain air because they reduce the loss of water from the mouth in dry, high altitudes.

According to the finding of the study, nearly 87 percent of the languages that use ejective sounds are spoken in areas within a 500 km of high elevated points throughout the world. Higher the altitude, greater are the chances for the people to speak ejective language, according to reports by HNGN.

Researchers have revealed in the past that "This is really strong evidence that geography does influence phonology-the sound system of languages," says Everett.

It was only in the Tibetan plateau that the use of ejective language was absent, and the researchers predict that this could occur as the people have adapted themselves to the low oxygen levels at high altitudes.