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.'"

Comments

We've come so far

[Fynnsky]

So after 30,000 years we've managed to invent the technology to make sounds like we did 30,000 years ago. Wow... We've come so far

Re:Obligatory joke

[hey!]

The closest Chinese analog of the katana is the jian, which is usually translated as "long sword". It is by definition a double edged weapon, as distinct from a single edged weapon, which is referred to a a "knife" ("dao") regardless of length.

Of course there is no precise cultural parallel, since there has not been any period in Chinese cultural memory where martial authority has implied supreme social status. The jian is the personal weapon of the elite, not because it is an object of cultural veneration, but because it literally cuts both ways. Because of this, it is harder to wield than a dao without risking self-injury.

By contrast, the dao was the Kalashnikov of classical Chinese martial arts. It was an easy to manufacture, user-friendly weapon you could press into the hand of a recruit plucked off the farm, with the command, "go forth and kill." Not that some people can't manage to endanger themselves. A friend of mine witnessed a person who cut a new vent in a suit when he picked up an unfamiliar dao (which happened to be sharp) and did a little showing off.

What makes the jian the weapon of the elite is that its skillful use embodies the Chinese ideal of a superior individual: diligent study, balance, and restraint. Not that one cannot embody these qualities in the use of the dao, as the following legend relates.

Once there was a master of the dao, whose skill was supreme in his province. He never lost a duel, and soon his reputation grew so that none dared challenge him. He was, however, a rough and brutal man, and he enjoyed demonstrating his superiority over lesser swordsmen. So he sought out and killed anybody with any claim to skill with the dao at all.

One day, news came that a Shaolin monk, who was reputedly skilled in many weapons , was traveling in the province. The master sought the monk out and challenged him to a duel with the dao. They met at the appointed place, and each prepared to fight in his own manner. The master warmed up by showing off his amazing skill, a tactic that had never failed to strike fear in his opponents. The monk did not fail to notice that the master's skill with the dao was indeed far greater than his own. Still, he prepared for the fight as he prepared himself each day to do everyday things, spending a few moments disciplining his thoughts, banishing any considerations of pride in victory, shame of defeat, or fear of pain or death from his mind.

As the duel commenced, the master tested the monk's defenses with a flurry of vicious, but basic attacks. These the monk calmly parried and countered each attack as if he were giving a lesson to a student. The monk's equanimity unnerved the master, who suspected this was because the monk had some secret skill the master did not -- which indeed was the case, although not in the way the master suspected. "I must kill this monk quickly, or else he will use his secret on me and defeat me."

So the master launched his most elaborately vicious attack yet. Foremost in his mind was the vision of himself, victorious over the dead monk. Also unbidden in his mind was the vision of himself defeated and shamed. What was not in his mind were the basics of his art. And so the monk, despite his lesser skill, was able to defeat the master with the basics taught to every beginning student of the dao, although he forbore to kill the master. In an act of mercy, he cut off both the master's feet instead, putting an end to the master's dueling career.

This legend as it comes down to us, whatever its basis in historical fact, is uniquely Chinese. It explains why it is that, although the Chinese are fond of swords, and a sword is not an uncommonly wall decoration in a Chinese household, the they seldom venerate the sword as a symbol of status and authority. The sword is a tool of liberation, including liberation from the tyrannies of rashness, thoughtless aggression and ignorance.