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Some Nonverbal Vocal Communication Is Learned

We humans are pretty good at communicating with sounds other than words [sound of laughter]. But how much of this is hard-wired, and how much do we pick up from others?

相比起用文字，我们还是比较擅长用声音交流。但这些声音中有多少是我们天生懂得发出的，又有多少是我们后天学习而来的呢？

To find out, researchers recorded the nonverbal sounds of people born deaf, as they responded to a range of positive and negative emotions. The idea being that if certain sounds are learned, deaf people wouldn't know how to make them.

为了找到答案，研究人员录下了先天耳聋者在积极情绪和消极情绪下发出的非语言声音。该研究的设想是，假如有些声音是通过后天学习的，那么先天耳聋的人就不可能懂得如何发出。

Then they played back those recordings for a group of hearing individuals, to see if they could decipher the emotion behind each sound. They guessed correctly more than chance would predict—deaf people’s sounds of amusement and relief were pretty obvious. Which suggests we may be born primed to laugh or sigh.

然后他们向听力正常的一组人回放录音，看看他们是否可以从不同声音中辨认出发声人的情绪。研究人员的猜测比随机猜测的结果更准确——聋人喜悦或松一口气时的声音是非常明显的，这就表明了我们天生就懂得如何发笑和叹气。

But the listeners had a tough time with these two: [deaf female sound, deaf male sound]. Those are both expressions of triumph. Here’s a hearing person’s [hearing male sound].

但听录音的人却很难分辨以下两个声音。（一名失聪女士的声音，一名失聪男士的声音。）这两者表达的都是胜利的心情，而下面这个声音才是有听觉的人表达胜利的方式。（听觉正常的男士声音。）

So the researchers say certain nonverbal sounds may require experience to learn—just as in language. They'll present the findings at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.

因此，研究人员认为某些非语言声音可能和语言一样，需要我们后天学习。他们会在美国声学会的会议上呈现研究成果。

Their theory fits nicely with a previous study, which found that shouts of triumph vary from culture to culture. Maybe that explains why some people can’t stand the vuvuzela.

他们的理论和先前的某个研究非常切合。先前有一研究发现，不同文化的人在胜利时的欢呼是不一样的。这可能解释了没什么某些人不习惯非洲呜呜组啦的欢呼声。

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