Re: [Harp-L] music and perception



My wife is a native Thai speaker. She has lived in America longer than she lived in Thailand, but she didn't learn English until she was an adult. She still has an accent. I started trying to learn Thai as an adult, could even read it a bit. It is a tonal language. I can not distinguish some of it's subtleties. I'll screw up a tone for a word, perhaps changing the meaning from "Dang, come here" to Dang, you're a dog". A Thai speaker will correct my pronunciation and I'll say, "That's what I said." It's not, I just can't hear the distinction.

My youngest daughter started to learn English at the age of 10. Now at the age of 16 she speaks both English and Thai without an accent. The difference, she learned both languages when she was young enough to hear the different sounds that exist in one language but are nonexistent in the other.

I don't know if anyone read the link that I posted on this thread about studies of babies and adults listening to rhythms, but it concluded that after a certain age, if you haven't learned to hear complex rhythms, as an adult you won't hear them.

I hate the word "can't" as much as anyone, but there may just be something to the idea that the aging process biases your ability to hear things.

Peace and music,
Dave





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