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Computers Emulate Neanderthal Speech
Clarence writes "After some 30,000 years of silence, the Neanderthal race is once again speaking thanks to some advanced computer simulation. A Florida Atlantic University professor is using software vocal tract reconstructions to emulate the speech of our long-dead distant relatives. 'He says the ancient human's speech lacked the "quantal vowel" sounds that underlie modern speech. Quantal vowels provide cues that help speakers with different size vocal tracts understand one another, says Robert McCarthy, who was talking at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Columbus, Ohio, on April 11. In the 1970s, linguist Phil Lieberman, of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, inferred the dimensions of the larynx of a Neanderthal based on its skull. His team concluded that Neanderthal speech did not have the subtlety of modern human speech.'"
And how many of those people have the proverbial (and literal) keys to hundreds of "nukular" bombs? Those other people have a valid excuse for saying it wrong. The Pres. does not. of ALL the people in the world, HE, MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE should know the difference.
I don't expect everyone in china to know how to wield a Katana, but I do expect imperial guard to know a thing or two about them.
Modding Trolls +1 inciteful since 1999
Not so fast. I want that computer to run a sim on how Ted Kennedy has stayed in office so long.