Imitating Sounds

[Niko]

Honing in on the right sound

As anyone listens carefully to the sounds of a language, almost without exception one finds that they are moving their tongue, lips, and jaw in imitation of the various parts of the speech mechanism.

When one first hears a sound, there is often some confusion as to just how to reproduce it. After listening carefully to a given sound for a number of times, the various speech organs almost automatically move in the right direction and at the right time in order to reproduce the sound.

We do not have to study phonetics to be able to have a go at imitating sound. In fact, the vast majority don't even know what parts of their mouths have moved.

Imitating sound is a highly organised activity taken care of by our brains, which is already "wired" for just such corresponding signals between acoustic impressions and the motor mechanisms involved in reproducing sounds.