Phonetics

How Dogs Bark Around the World

Why does an English-speaking dog say "woof" while a Japanese dog says "wan wan"? The answer isn't in the dog,…

10 months ago

How to Read a Phonetic Transcription

What do all those weird symbols in a dictionary entry mean? This beginner's guide to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)…

10 months ago

The Sound of ‘Th’: A Rare Phoneme

The "th" sounds in "think" and "that" feel utterly ordinary to English speakers, but they are linguistic superstars on the…

10 months ago

The Problem with Voice-to-Text

Ever dictated a simple message only to have your phone produce utter nonsense? The frustration is real, but the reasons…

10 months ago

Why Can’t Your Dog Say ‘Pizza’?

Ever wonder why your dog can't just ask for a slice of pizza? The answer lies not in their intelligence,…

10 months ago

The Sound of a Vowel: What Are Formants?

Why does an 'ee' sound so different from an 'oo', even when sung at the exact same pitch? The secret…

10 months ago

The Internet’s New Accent

You know that robotic, strangely chipper text-to-speech voice narrating countless online videos? It’s more than just a convenient feature; it's…

10 months ago

The Lombard Effect: Shouting to Be Heard

Ever found yourself practically shouting into your phone on a busy street? That involuntary impulse to raise your voice in…

10 months ago

The Pitch of Power: A Leader’s Voice

Beyond the words themselves, our brains rapidly process the *music* of speech—its pitch, rhythm, and tone—to make snap judgments about…

10 months ago

The Mechanical Mouth: A History of Speech Synthesis

From the bellows-powered talking heads of the 18th century to the neural networks that voice our smart assistants, the quest…

10 months ago

This website uses cookies.