who you are. Everyone has an accent (heck, even goats have regional ways of saying BAAH),

每個人都有口音(甚至是山羊都有地域性的叫聲)

but what’s the science behind language acquisition and does your accent say something about you?

那語言掌握背後的學問是什麼呢? 你的口音又會透露出哪些訊息呢?

In an American survey, 47% of adults found British accents to be sophisticated, while

一份美國的調查顯示，47%的成年人覺得英國口音很複雜，

51% thought New York accents were rude; Southern accents were considered nice but possibly

而有51%的人覺得紐約口音很粗魯；南方口音被視為和善但可能是沒受教育的，

uneducated, while New England accents were considered intelligent. But it turns out that

新英格蘭口音被視為聰明的，但這樣表示

humans have a bias towards others who sound like them or have the same accent. Of course,

人類對於和他們相似或是相同的口音存在著偏見，

it’s important to distinguish between a native language accent and an additional language

當然，區別出當地和外地口音是重要的

accent. English native language accents depend on factors such as geographic location and

當地的英文口音取決於一些因素，像是地理位置

socioeconomic status. For example a cockney accent of the working class London is markedly

和社會地位，舉例來說，一位勞動階級的考克尼音明顯地

different than the Queen’s Received Pronunciation.

跟標準的女王音不同

However, when it comes to non-native language accents, things are more complicated. If you

可是提到非當地的英文口音，事情就更複雜了，

decide to move to Spain and learn Spanish as an English speaker, you will always speak

如果身為一個英文母語者，你決定去西班牙並且學習西文，

with an English accent - even if you remain there for decades. After the age of 12, the

就算你待在那裏幾十年，你還是會帶有英文口音，

length of residence has almost no effect on your accent. Studies pinpoint the ideal age

你居住的時間長短幾乎對你的口音沒影響，研究精確的指出理想的年齡

as 6 years old, with diminishing ability from that forward.

是在六歲，接著能力會隨者年齡增長消失

Interestingly, some stroke patients wake with an accent completely different to their original

有趣的是，一些中風的患者醒來後，口音跟他原本的聲音完全不同

voice. This condition is known as the ‘Foreign Accent Syndrome’ and results from damage

這個情況就是「外國口音綜合症」，

to the insula region of the brain which is responsible for language processing.

起因來自大腦負責語言處理的島葉部分受的傷害，

One integral aspect of language is the phoneme. Phonemes are the different sound units we

另外，語言其中一個的整體的面向是音位(語言學術語)，音位是我們用來構成單字的不同聲音單元

use to make up words - some of which are unique to different languages. For example, the phonemes

不同的語言都有一些獨特的音位，例如th的音位

with TH (th and th) as in words like ‘the’ and ‘thing’ do not exist in German, making

像是「the」和「thing」就不存在於德文，

it difficult for German speakers to pronounce these words properly. Conversely, there are

使得德文母語者比較難正確的去發與其類似的音，相反地，

many phonemes in other languages that as English speakers we cannot pronounce or even hear

也有很多語言的音位是我們英文母語者很難發音甚至很難聽到的

properly.

In a groundbreaking study, 32 American and 32 Japanese six month old babies listened

有一個開創性的研究，讓32個美國和32個日本六個月大的寶寶

to a recorder play “la la la” repeatedly. When the recording switched to “la la ra”

去重複聽錄音「la la la」，當錄音變成「la la ra」

a toy to the side would light up and play a musical tune. The babies were primed to

玩具就會亮燈然後演奏美妙的旋律，

understand that recognizing the difference between “la” and “ra” lead to an audio-visual

寶寶們就會辨別出透過視聽覺呈現的「la」和「ra」

reward and both the American and Japanese 6 month old babies were able to tell the difference

而且所有美國和日本六個月大的寶寶都能講出不同之處

and anticipate the toy reward when necessary. But “La” and “ra” are phonemes that

必要時，會給予玩具當獎賞，但是「La」和「ra」

do not exist in the Japanese language. When this study was replicated with 10-12 month

卻是不存在於日文的音位，當這項研究複製到10到12月大的寶寶時，

old babies, the Japanese babies could not tell the difference between these uniquely

日本的寶寶就無法講出這些英文音位的不同，

English phonemes, showing that a critical period for recognizing phonemes and brain

這顯示出便別音位和腦部發展的關鍵時期

development is at merely six months old.

是僅在六個月大的時候

If you try and learn a language, regardless of your age, synaptic connections are made,

如果你試著學習一個與言，不管你的年齡，最終造出腦部灰色組織及強壯的白質網絡

which ultimately create a denser grey matter and stronger white matter networks. In fact,

的染色體就會有所連結，事實上，

those who have grown up in bilingual households are consistently more sensitive to subtle

相較於單一語言的家庭，那些成長在雙語家庭的人

language differences compared to their monolingual counterparts. Brain scans have shown that

都對語言上的不同比較敏感，腦部斷層掃描顯示

bilingual babies have stronger brain responses in their orbital and prefrontal cortices,

雙語家庭寶寶的腦部眶皮層和前額葉皮質都有較強烈的反應

which are areas linked to focus and problem-solving abilities.

就是負責專注和解決問題能力的區域

But have you ever wondered why so many people hate the sound of their own voice? We break

但你曾想過為何很多人討厭他們自己的聲音嗎?

down the science and challenge some people to come to terms with their own voice in our

我們從科學的角度去分析，讓一些人在我們的AsapTHOUGHT影片中挑戰，並接受自己的聲音

AsapTHOUGHT video. Check it out with the link in the description

看看我們的介紹連結

And subscriber for more weekly science videos.

然後訂閱看更多每周發佈的科學影片