Vårt tal härmar musik

Eller rättare sagt, våra vokalljud ligger ofta på intervaller som stämmer med musikaliska skalor. I alla fall i engelskan och på mandarin, tycks det som:

When people say the 'o' sound in rod, the ratio between the first two formants corresponds to a major sixth - the interval between C and A. When they say the 'oo' sound in booed, the ratio matches a major third - the gap between C and E. Ross found that every two in three vowel sounds contain a hidden musical interval. Her results didn't just apply to English either. Ross repeated her experiments with people who spoke Mandarin, a vastly different language where speakers use four different tones to change the meaning of each word.

Läs mer: Not Exactly Rocket Science : Why music sounds right - the hidden tones in our own speech