A short musing about grammar
Have you ever wondered why most Japanese people have such a hard time distinguishing between r's and l's when the difference is so obvious to our own ears?
Learning a new language has taught me some interesting things. Our brains are built to be efficient - we learn to process important information quickly and discard information that we don't deem critical. Japanese people have a hard time hearing the difference between r's and l's because when they listen to these sounds their brains have been streamlined to listen for a different set of parameters than ours, and for efficiency their listening parameters don't distinguish between these two sounds. In the same way, we do not have ears attuned to listening for tonal distinctions in normal conversation. We can distinguish tones, but to us they are a means of conveying emotion, emphasis, or melody, not direct meaning. The frustration you may feel with your friend who continually calls you "Rewis" instead of "Lewis" might be akin to the exasperation a Chinese person feels when you pronounce his last name ma1 (mom) instead of ma3 (horse).
What does this have to do with grammar? For the first time ever, I realized I titled my blog "inkandpaint" not "Inkandpaint." You grammar fiends and NSA graduates probably picked up on this the first time around, because this is what you do best. But in my defence, my brain has been streamlined to work more efficiently with computers and paintbrushes, not periods and capitals.
(Alas, would my triviumed highschool instructors disown me for that last comment?)
Learning a new language has taught me some interesting things. Our brains are built to be efficient - we learn to process important information quickly and discard information that we don't deem critical. Japanese people have a hard time hearing the difference between r's and l's because when they listen to these sounds their brains have been streamlined to listen for a different set of parameters than ours, and for efficiency their listening parameters don't distinguish between these two sounds. In the same way, we do not have ears attuned to listening for tonal distinctions in normal conversation. We can distinguish tones, but to us they are a means of conveying emotion, emphasis, or melody, not direct meaning. The frustration you may feel with your friend who continually calls you "Rewis" instead of "Lewis" might be akin to the exasperation a Chinese person feels when you pronounce his last name ma1 (mom) instead of ma3 (horse).
What does this have to do with grammar? For the first time ever, I realized I titled my blog "inkandpaint" not "Inkandpaint." You grammar fiends and NSA graduates probably picked up on this the first time around, because this is what you do best. But in my defence, my brain has been streamlined to work more efficiently with computers and paintbrushes, not periods and capitals.
(Alas, would my triviumed highschool instructors disown me for that last comment?)
posted by tmm at
3:41 PM
3 Comments:
Not sure what you mean about the inkandpaint distinction. Am I dense?
Oh, I forgot to capitalize it, that's all
Oh, I thought that was just internet cool. If you hadn't said anything, I probably would never have noticed.
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