Linguists Dr. Keith Sterling and colleagues studied the phenomenon of phonetic attrition—the gradual loss of distinct consonant sounds over generations—in isolated island communities. Traditional models suggest that phonetic attrition is primarily accelerated by bilingualism and contact with larger, dominant language groups. Sterling's team, however, hypothesized that phonetic attrition can occur rapidly even in monolingual populations if the physical environment imposes high acoustic scattering. They argue that dense, humid forest canopies naturally muffle high-frequency sounds, leading speakers to subconsciously favor lower-frequency, more resilient consonant contrasts over time. Which finding from Sterling's study, if true, would most directly support the team's hypothesis?
- Over several generations, monolingual communities inhabiting dense, humid rainforests showed a pronounced reduction in high-frequency consonant sounds, whereas genealogically related monolingual communities in open, coastal areas maintained these sounds.Answer
- BBilingual communities on the islands experienced a faster rate of grammatical simplification and word borrowing than monolingual communities did, regardless of the density of their forest environments.
- CIndividual speakers who relocated from the dense forests to the open coastal regions immediately began using high-frequency consonant sounds in their everyday conversations.
- DAcoustic measurements revealed that high-frequency consonant sounds traveled longer distances through dense, humid forest canopies than low-frequency sounds did.