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From: pardoej@lonnds.ml.com (Julian Pardoe LADS LDN X1428)
Subject: Re: Languages: Hard, Harder, Hardest
Message-ID: <DvMJ66.ICM@tigadmin.ml.com>
Sender: usenet@tigadmin.ml.com (News Account)
Reply-To: pardoej@lonnds.ml.com
Organization: Merrill Lynch Europe
References: <4tltjf$f1e@carrera.intergate.bc.ca>
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 1996 17:27:42 GMT
Lines: 40

In article <4tltjf$f1e@carrera.intergate.bc.ca>, cardano@intergate.bc.ca
writes on the topic "Re: Languages: Hard, Harder, Hardest":
-->   . . .   S N I P   . . .  Swedish, like _most_ English dialects, is
-->spoken more slowly than French.  This last I expect is a controversial
-->point. It was my impression rather any measurements I took.

Is the assertion that some languages are spoken more quickly than
others controversial?

Of course, it depends whether by speed you mean syllables/second or
how fast information is transferred.  (Having many phonemes might
allow you have words with fewer syllables but require you to
speak more slowly because these phonemes are closer together in
sound.)

I have anecdotal evidence that (in the the syllables/second sense)
it is true.  I'd say that Turkish is spoken more quickly than
English.  The event that made me feel that this wasn't just a
subjective impression was meeting a Turk who spoke English much too
quickly -- at a Turkish speed, one might say.  Not only was he
speaking too quickly with respect to his knowledge of English.  He
was speaking more quickly that any (British) English-speaker would
speak.  I tried to get him to slow down and imitate my speed and rhythm;
for a few sentences it worked and his English sounded much better
(and not just because he made fewer mistakes).  However, he just
couldn't stop his speech creeping back to a "Turkish" speed!

It's hard to tell (and it may not be sorth much) but I'm pretty sure
I speak the five syllables "anlamiyorum" much more quickly that
I speak the five in "I don't understand."

What's the evidence?

And what about volume?  To me it seems that Spanish people shout
at each other even when they're right next each other and when
my sister came back aftyer a year in Italy she tended to dominate
the whole room because she spoke so loudly.

-- jP --

