10 February 2004

Aspirate those consonants [or not].

As a linguist I find this utterly fascinating: the idea that which language you speak [or rather; habitually use in face-to-face conversation] could perhaps alter your liklihood of catching a cold, 'flu or other airborne virus. It's all in the aspiration of plosives, affricates and the like. Chinese and English tend to be quite heavy on "puffs of air following" and so increase the amount and range of airborne viruses expelled by speakers. Who said"'...names will never hurt me."?
Of course it's theoretical but it could just be a factor.

Next question, could awareness of disease-spreading capabilities become an engine for linguistic change? Well maybe it's unlikely but ... you never know.

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