Tag: speech

Speed, Volume, Pauses, Expressions: How Culture Shapes Communication

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Communication goes beyond language; it brings together tone, body language, and pauses that reflect cultural values.

To navigate cross-cultural interactions with sensitivity and respect, we must recognize how these elements differ across cultures.

Tone, Volume, and Speed

The way we speak – how loudly, expressively, or quickly – is often dictated by cultural norms.

In African American, Caribbean, Latino, and Arab communities, vibrant, expressive speech is common.

This energetic style conveys enthusiasm and emotion but might be misinterpreted in cultures that prefer softer, more deliberate tones.

For instance, many Native American and East Asian cultures emphasize calmness in communication, viewing quieter speech as a sign of respect or thoughtfulness.

In these contexts, overly loud or rapid speech might seem overbearing or impolite to some.

Pauses and Silence

While some people find silence in conversations jarring or uncomfortable, others see it as meaningful.

In U.S. mainstream culture, silence is often interpreted as awkward or as a sign of disengagement.

By contrast, many Indigenous cultures in the Americas view pauses as opportunities for reflection.

Silence allows for careful thought and measured responses, emphasizing the value of contemplation over immediacy in conversation.

Facial Expressions

Cultural norms also influence how people use their faces to express emotion.

Many Latin American and Caribbean cultures use vivid facial expressions to complement their expressive verbal style, amplifying the emotion conveyed.

In contrast, neutral expressions are more typical in many East Asian and Native American cultures.

A lack of overt expression in these groups often signifies respect, self-control, or neutrality, not necessarily a lack of interest or understanding.

And so, with speed, volume, pauses, and expressions in mind, let’s…

Slow down, get quiet, take a moment, and smile, because learning about other cultures and the way they communicate will help bridge the gap between our differing norms, preventing misunderstandings and conflict.

Detecting Accents: Do Pauses Matter?

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When we hear someone speak a foreign language, their accent often stands out as a clear indicator that they are not a native speaker. 

But what exactly makes an accent recognizable? 

For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about how different cultures exhibit varied lengths and frequencies of pauses in speech.

This study takes a look at the pauses that non-native speakers make during speech and explores whether they are a significant contributor to the perception of a foreign accent.

The Role of Pauses in Speech

Pauses are a natural part of any language, but they can vary in duration, frequency, and placement depending on the language being spoken. 

The researchers aimed to determine whether these pauses could be a key factor in identifying a foreign accent. 

To investigate this, they recorded native English speakers and non-native speakers of German or Serbo-Croatian – each highly proficient in English – reading an English text at different speeds. 

The recordings were then analyzed to compare the pauses made by both groups in terms of number, length, and location.

Findings: More Similarities Than Differences

The results were surprising. 

Although native English listeners could clearly identify non-native speakers, the study found that pause patterns had little impact on this identification. 

Both native and non-native speakers showed similar pause durations and ratios of pause time to total speaking time. 

Additionally, when the speed of speech changed, both groups adjusted their pausing behavior in a nearly identical manner. 

As the reading tempo increased, pauses became fewer and shorter; as it slowed, pauses became more frequent and longer. 

This suggests that pauses are not a significant factor in creating a foreign accent.

The One Key Difference: Pause Frequency

The most notable difference between the two groups was the frequency of pauses. 

Non-native speakers paused more often than native speakers. 

This may be due to the additional cognitive effort required when speaking in a second language. 

Even those who are highly proficient might need a bit more time to plan their speech, resulting in more frequent pauses. 

However, these pauses were not longer, nor did they significantly disrupt the flow of speech. 

This indicates that while non-native speakers may pause more often, the nature of these pauses doesn’t heavily contribute to the perception of a foreign accent.

Pauses Are Not the Primary Factor

The findings support the “No Contribution” hypothesis, which suggests that pauses do not significantly influence the acoustic characteristics of non-native speech. 

Pauses are easy to produce and perceptually obvious, so they might be one of the easier aspects of a foreign language to master. 

Alternatively, the similarity in pause patterns between native and non-native speakers could be due to universal cognitive processes that govern speech in any language.

Beyond Pauses: What Really Contributes to Accents?

While this study focused on reading aloud, it opens the door to further research on how pauses function in spontaneous speech and how other elements, such as pronunciation and intonation, play a larger role in the perception of a foreign accent. 

It suggests that while pauses are a noticeable aspect of speech, they are not the primary factor in what makes an accent sound foreign. 

Instead, elements like the pronunciation of specific sounds and the overall rhythm and melody of the language may have a greater impact on how accents are perceived.

Managing a Global Virtual Team? You’ll Need These Vital Skills

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Over the past several weeks, we’ve talked about the unique challenges that global remote teams face.

The team itself might have different work styles, motivation factors, and information gaps.

On top of that, working remotely sees different challenges than an office environment might, involving task management, productivity, accountability, and communication.

And yet, remote work is becoming a norm across the professional world.

As a manager, you’ll need special skills to successfully lead a cross-cultural remote team.

The following are just a few of the skills that will take your leadership from mediocre to exceptional.

Adaptability

As we’ve emphasized in this blog, the ability to adapt is essential to not only cross-cultural management but to living in a foreign culture.

In fact, adapting is one of the major steps in cross-cultural integration, which I discuss in my book, I am the Monkey!

Why? Because being flexible in your view of values, norms, and cultural behaviors will enable you to keep an open mind without judgment. 

Whether you’re integrating into a foreign culture or managing in a multicultural environment, an accepting and adaptable perspective allows you to move in the world with greater ease.

As a manager specifically, it will help you adjust your leadership style when necessary to accommodate different perspectives and behaviors. 

You will be better able to relate to your team and integrate aspects of their work style culture into your management toolkit.

Communication

Communication is of course top of the list for success in any managerial position, but when it comes to cross-cultural remote management, communication becomes even more key.

Particularly when communicating with team members who speak the shared language as a second language, it’s important to articulate and speak at a slower pace. 

If other members of the team tend to speak quickly, you might ask them privately to slow down or repeat what they’ve said, in order for the whole team to understand.

Lead the team in this deliberate way of speaking. It will set the tone for the entire team to follow.

Moreover, when voicing important info in voice memos, meetings, or calls, things can be lost in translation, so it’s helpful to reiterate the major points and finer details in a form of written communication as well.

This will enable those who speak the shared language as a second language to have a document to refer back to.

Self-awareness and Reflection

We’ve all said the wrong thing a time or two or committed a faux pas.

Well, in cross-cultural environments, this will most definitely happen more often.

I call these cross-cultural faux pas “monkey moments.”

Although you can do your research about cultures (and I advise you to), no matter how prepared you are, you’re likely to stub your toe every now and then.

Any leadership role requires a high degree of self-awareness and reflection, but a cross-cultural leadership role requires an even higher one.

You must be gracious, patient, and open to understanding and change.

Regularly address your innate biases and ensure they’re not getting in the way of your leadership.

Be deliberate in your team interactions, and challenge yourself and your own perspective.

You may see ways in which you might adjust your perspective and/or your behavior.

This type of leadership growth only comes with an advanced degree of self-awareness and reflection.

Left or Right Brain: Which Side Gets More Exercise in Language Learning?

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Are you a right-brain thinker? Or a left-brain thinker?

In other words, are you a creative, innovative type (right-brain)? Or are you logical and analytical (left-brain)?

And which side is a stronger language learner?

Never fear: both sides of the brain assist language learning, according to research. 

But to different degrees and in different ways.

Let’s see how.

Left Side Activated

The left hemisphere of the brain stores some 90 percent of our native language.

This is why it’s long been thought that left-brain thinkers may have a better capacity to learn a second language.

The left frontal lobe – specifically Broca’s area – activates the production and articulation of speech.

The left temporal lobe – specifically the Wernicke’s area – influences language comprehension and development.

This does not mean language learning only involves the left side of the brain; both sides work together in the learning and production of language.

Various parts of the brain are activated to degrees, depending on what aspect of language one is learning, whether it’s the lexicon (words), the sounds (phonology), or the syntax (grammar).

Speech

Studies have found that speaking a foreign language largely activates the left side of the brain.

A study by cognitive neuroscientist Kshipra Gurunandan, of the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, and Language, looked at brain scans from Spanish speakers who were learning English or Basque.

Each group performed language tasks, involving reading, speaking, and listening in their native and foreign languages.

No matter the language level of the speaker, the left hemisphere of the brain was primarily activated during speaking tasks, while reading and listening were variable. 

Gurunandan explained:

“In the earliest stages of language learning the native and new languages tended to activate the same hemisphere, while in the more advanced learners they activated different hemispheres. And the switch from the same to the opposite hemispheres was largest in reading, it was slightly smaller in listening and it was non-existent in speaking.”

The researchers believe this left-brain focus during speech specifically is due to the specialized circuits in this hemisphere which control speech production.

The conclusion we draw here is that left-brain learners will have a greater propensity for learning how to speak a second language.

Next week, we’ll discuss where right-brain learners may have an edge.

From Mandarin to Italian, How Language Shapes Genetics

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Can you differentiate Mandarin from French or Italian?

Of course, you can. 

The sounds of each of these languages are very different, from hard or soft consonants to long or short vowels.

Due to the dynamic sounds of each mother tongue, you can see the adaptation of different vocal tracts across cultures.

These adaptations have developed across generations according to the languages spoken in countries around the world.

We discussed gene-culture coevolution last week in relation to the human species and speech.

Now, let’s talk about how speech and language have evolved our genetics across cultures.

Physiological Traits Adapt to Language

Speech-related physiological adaptations vary across the human species according to the language spoken.

Some languages, like German or Arabic, require deep guttural sounds due to the harsh consonants.

Others, like Spanish, require speakers to roll their r’s.

One of the ways in which this presents in our physiology was reported by Discover Magazine.

Researchers found that the roof of the mouth differs across cultures, according to how vowel sounds are pronounced. 

Furthermore, these anatomical variations evolve upon each generation, creating an evolution in the language itself and the sounds of speech.

The study’s author, Linguistics Expert Dan Dediu, says, 

“Even small variations in the shape of our vocal tract may affect the way we speak, and this may even be amplified — across generations — to the level of differences between dialects and languages.”

The Study

How did researchers discern this change?

The study looked at over 100 people from several ethnolinguistic groups in Europe, North America, China, and across India.

MRI scans were taken of the hard palate of each participant.

Using the scans and machine learning, computer models formed a picture into the future of the hard palate and the sounds it might produce. 

Five commonly used vowel sounds – the “uh” in sofa,” the “ah” in “hot,” the “oo” in “boot,” the “a” in “bat,” and the long “e” in “feet” – were plugged into the computer model. 

A second generation, mimicking the sounds from the first, showed the amplified pronunciation of each sound – as did 50 generational models after it.

Though the change in the shape of the hard palate over time only impacted pronunciation slightly each generation, the change in the vowel sounds after 50 generations was much more pronounced.

The researchers write that,

“besides culture and environment, quantitative biological variation can be amplified, also influencing language.”

This research begs the question: what will our languages sound like in 50 generations…and how did they sound 50 generations ago?

The Myth of Spanish King Ferdinand, the Lisping King & the True Gene-Culture Coevolution of Speech

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There is a common myth in Spain that King Ferdinand was born with a lisp.

As the story goes, this speech impediment led to the Spanish pronunciation of “z” and “c” with the soft “th” sound, as Ferdinand’s courtiers imitated his lisp.

Photographer: Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Bilddatenbank.

This Spanish pronunciation of “z” as “th” differs from the “z” as “s” spoken in western Spanish-speaking countries.

In reality, the “s” sound exists in the Spanish language; it is just not applied to “z” or “c” (the latter, when followed by “i” or “e”). 

Thus, it follows that the differences in pronunciation across Spanish-speaking cultures are not due to a lisping king, but rather to the natural regional differences that develop in living languages.

In the same way that American pronunciation of English varies from British pronunciation, peculiarities of living languages emerge across many groups, regions, countries, etc.

While King Ferdinand’s story is nothing but an urban legend, culture and genetics really do work together to create physiological differences related to speech.

Here’s how.

Genes & Culture Interact

Herbert Gintis’ paper titled, “Gene–culture coevolution and the nature of human sociality,” defines the gene-culture coevolution theory as follows:

“Gene–culture coevolution is the application of sociobiology, the general theory of the social organization of biological species, to humans—a species that transmits culture in a manner that leads to quantitative growth across generations.”

Cultural differences have produced changes in brain size, body size, and other aspects of human anatomy across the human species.

Last week, we talked about how genes and culture worked together to alter our diet – specifically, our ability to consume milk products – and how that ability varies across cultures according to their cultural history.

In the same way, gene-culture coevolution has symbiotically shaped human speech and communication.

Speech & Communication

Gintis goes on to explain how gene-culture coevolution is readily apparent in the physiological evolution of human speech and facial communication.

He writes that genetic alterations that improve speech are propagated due to the increasing importance human society places on communication. 

In early humans, speech production was facilitated by the evolution of regions in the motor cortex, including the adaptation of muscles and nerves in the tongue, larynx, and mouth that help produce speech.

Other physical attributes that have adapted over time in humans to improve speech include a low larynx in the throat, a shorter oral cavity, and the hypoglossal canal of the tongue, all of which both help produce sounds.

The Wernicke’s and Broca’s regions in the cerebral cortex are either absent or are very small in other primates; they’re large in humans, enabling comprehension and speech.

Human facial musculature is also more highly developed, allowing the eyes and lips to impart nonverbal communication.

Considering the development of these attributes that facilitate speech in humans, you can see that genes and culture have worked closely together to evolve the human species.

Next week, we’ll talk about how these physiological aspects of speech differ across cultures.