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X Demographics
Mendeley readers
Attention Score in Context
| Title |
Evidence for Direct Geographic Influences on Linguistic Sounds: The Case of Ejectives
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
PLOS ONE, June 2013
|
| DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0065275 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Caleb Everett |
| Abstract |
We present evidence that the geographic context in which a language is spoken may directly impact its phonological form. We examined the geographic coordinates and elevations of 567 language locations represented in a worldwide phonetic database. Languages with phonemic ejective consonants were found to occur closer to inhabitable regions of high elevation, when contrasted to languages without this class of sounds. In addition, the mean and median elevations of the locations of languages with ejectives were found to be comparatively high. The patterns uncovered surface on all major world landmasses, and are not the result of the influence of particular language families. They reflect a significant and positive worldwide correlation between elevation and the likelihood that a language employs ejective phonemes. In addition to documenting this correlation in detail, we offer two plausible motivations for its existence. We suggest that ejective sounds might be facilitated at higher elevations due to the associated decrease in ambient air pressure, which reduces the physiological effort required for the compression of air in the pharyngeal cavity--a unique articulatory component of ejective sounds. In addition, we hypothesize that ejective sounds may help to mitigate rates of water vapor loss through exhaled air. These explications demonstrate how a reduction of ambient air density could promote the usage of ejective phonemes in a given language. Our results reveal the direct influence of a geographic factor on the basic sound inventories of human languages. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 142 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | 32 | 23% |
| United States | 15 | 11% |
| United Kingdom | 9 | 6% |
| Comoros | 1 | <1% |
| Turkey | 1 | <1% |
| Sweden | 1 | <1% |
| Italy | 1 | <1% |
| Hungary | 1 | <1% |
| Belgium | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 3 | 2% |
| Unknown | 77 | 54% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 127 | 89% |
| Scientists | 11 | 8% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 4 | 3% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 68 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 3 | 4% |
| United States | 3 | 4% |
| Austria | 1 | 1% |
| New Zealand | 1 | 1% |
| Italy | 1 | 1% |
| Unknown | 59 | 87% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 13 | 19% |
| Student > Master | 11 | 16% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 10 | 15% |
| Student > Bachelor | 10 | 15% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 3 | 4% |
| Other | 11 | 16% |
| Unknown | 10 | 15% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Linguistics | 25 | 37% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 6 | 9% |
| Computer Science | 5 | 7% |
| Arts and Humanities | 3 | 4% |
| Psychology | 3 | 4% |
| Other | 14 | 21% |
| Unknown | 12 | 18% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 366. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 April 2024.
All research outputs
#89,027
of 25,922,020 outputs
Outputs from PLOS ONE
#1,456
of 226,236 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#506
of 210,993 outputs
Outputs of similar age from PLOS ONE
#27
of 4,633 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,922,020 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 226,236 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 15.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 210,993 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 4,633 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.