Languages in Drier Climates Use Fewer Vowels.

ABSTRACT: This study offers evidence for an environmental effect on languages while relying on continuous linguistic and continuous ecological variables. Evidence is presented for a positive association between the typical ambient humidity of a language's native locale and that language's degree of reliance on vowels. The vowel-usage rates of over 4000 language varieties were obtained, and several methods were employed to test whether these usage rates are associated with ambient humidity. The results of these methods are generally consistent with the notion that reduced ambient humidity eventually yields a reduced reliance of languages on vowels, when compared to consonants. The analysis controls simultaneously for linguistic phylogeny and contact between languages. The results dovetail with previo

SUBMITTER: Everett C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5529419 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature