Page 78 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

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Oral language and the voice
The basic characteristic of orality is that there
is a person who speaks – a voice that tells us a story, offers us information or asks us to perform an activity, among many other functions. The powerful influence of the voice is based on the fact that it is the most important instrument of human communication.
When we listen to a voice, we receive two types of information: verbal and nonverbal. Listeners not only access language, words and sentences, but also the idiosyncratic characteristics of the speaker (gender, age...) and their manner of speaking (Alexander and Nygaard, 2008). Each person’s voice is unique. But, more importantly: the voice provides valuable information about our personality and our state of mind. For exam- ple, people who talk very fast tend to be nervous or extroverts; those who speak in a low voice may be sad or bored. Each person’s manner of speaking is what is called prosody. Prosody helps us make the message understandable, show our intention and convey what we feel. Humans use melodic voice combinations through intonation, accentuation and changes of speed and pauses to give sense to our words. Therefore, prosody heightens the listener’s attention and enhances their understanding (Rodero, Potter and Prieto, 2017). Indeed, according to the neuroscientist Ramachandran,5 prosody is linked to the emo- tional parts of the brain and therefore, when
we hear a voice, we have the sensation of being accompanied. Listening to a voice with all its prosodic connotations creates a strong emo- tional bond, an intimate atmosphere (Horton and Wohl, 1997) that leads us to think that we are accompanied. All this causes a pleasant sensation of wellbeing. Prosody takes on an even more important role in artistic expressions. A good performance is key to enriching the expe- rience of a work, a sung musical piece, a play, a podcast or an audiobook.
In contrast, for example, when we read silently we do so with our inner voice and, therefore,
there is no performance, no prosody. In this case the process is twofold. When Silvia reads, she first needs to decode the printed letters, using the visual system, and must then afford them meaning by processing the language itself (Gough and Tumner, 1986). During the language processing phase, reading uses the same mental processes as oral language, which it has adapted over time. Therefore, there is no special mental process for reading; rather, we borrow it from oral language, as explained by professor of psychology Daniel Willingham.6 In addition, when we read quietly we access the phonologi- cal representation of words, that is, the phono- logical part of our brain is also activated (Peng et al., 2004). It is easy to understand. When we have difficulties understanding a word, we often find ourselves pronouncing it out loud to help identify it and grasp its meaning (Alexander and Nygaard, 2008).
Orality fits today’s lifestyle of multitasking like a glove and the fact that we often prefer to speak rather than write in everyday life.
That reading and listening are complementary and are both conducive to language skills is borne out by the fact that studies comparing level of memory and levels of comprehension also yield similar results (Bell and Perfetti, 1994). When the learning of the written language is completed during schooling, a similar degree of comprehension is achieved, according to the psy- chologist Daniel Willingham.7 This might seem surprising bearing in mind that it is more difficult to retain information when it is listened to, as communication is ephemeral and our short-term memory is very limited. This reinforces the notion that oral processing is very simple and gives an idea of why we often prefer to speak rather than write in everyday life. Orality fits today’s lifestyle like a glove. The importance
and significance of sound forms stems from
the hectic pace of life today, and the growth of multitasking. In today’s hurried world speaking and having a device record what we say and act accordingly is the easiest and quickest means of
THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF THE VOICE AND SOUND IN COMMUNICATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE · EMMA RODERO
Digital Trends in Culture