Listen to the beat – the role of rhythm in language and the brain – by Sandrien van Ommen (Uiversity of Geneva)
Speech has rhythmic properties that widely differ across languages. When we listen to unfamiliar languages, we may perceive them to be more musical, or rather more rap-like than our own. Even if we are unaware of it, the rhythm and melody of language, what we call its prosody, reflects its linguistic structure. As listeners, we use this information to process speech efficiently, but how do we do this? I will discuss rhythmic differences between languages, pseudo-rhythmicity, how our native language warps our perception and how our brain synchronizes with speech.
Pint of Science 2024 in Geneva – The Rhythm of Language and AI
More information
Explore the fascinating rythmic propertics of our everydays language, and us it to sparks the discussion about the constantly evolving ethics of Atificial Intelligence.
Speech has rhythmic properties that widely differ across languages. When we listen to unfamiliar languages, we may perceive them to be more musical, or rather more rap-like than our own. Even if we are unaware of it, the rhythm and melody of language, what we call its prosody, reflects its linguistic structure. As listeners, we use this information to process speech efficiently, but how do we do this? I will discuss rhythmic differences between languages, pseudo-rhythmicity, how our native language warps our perception and how our brain synchronizes with speech.