most/least physically demanding language

Archibald   Mon Jan 18, 2010 10:24 pm GMT
What are the most and least physically demanding language? That is, that required most effort from the mouth, throat, tongue, etc.

For example, English speakers hardly move their mouths at all when speaking, but Russian or French speakers explode into major mouth movements, twisting their lips and faces in every which way!

Also, it might pay to keep gesticulation in mind too, because, for example, though Spanish is average in terms of mouth movement, it is often accompanied by spasmodic upper body contortions, waving of arms and fingers, spiraling, tensed necks, exploding veins, eyes protruding bobblingly from sockets beneath arched skyward eyebrows, knotted brows and an overall flurry of voracious activity, all of which must be quite physically taxing. Even as taxing as swimming, one would think watching some people!
Franco   Mon Jan 18, 2010 10:28 pm GMT
I would say Italian.
Renato   Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:09 am GMT
<<Also, it might pay to keep gesticulation in mind too, because, for example, though Spanish is average in terms of mouth movement, it is often accompanied by spasmodic upper body contortions, waving of arms and fingers, spiraling, tensed necks, exploding veins, eyes protruding bobblingly from sockets beneath arched skyward eyebrows, knotted brows and an overall flurry of voracious activity, all of which must be quite physically taxing>>

WTH are you talking about?
Penetra   Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:57 am GMT
<< I would say Italian. >>

I second that, if you mean it requires little effort when speaking. It just requires a lot of cursing, really.
rufje   Tue Jan 19, 2010 5:26 am GMT
Spanish lacks nasal sounds as well as lacks palatalized sounds,and the high frequency of dental and trilled sounds gives a peculiar aspect to this language
dental and trilled are the types of sounds that a person most needs to open his mouth to run
also trilled r in spanish is too drawn,is different from that of portuguese or russian where u speak along with other consonants and quickly moves to the next syllable
i mean,need your tongue hit three times in ur teeth,already in Portuguese or Russian this only happens once

is something very weird the sounds of spanish,

take "buenos dias" as example:
one spanish speaking this sentence only closes his mouth one time,is in the letter b.
in the word 'dia' is very easy to a person realize which is the stressed syllable - 'di'

furthermore, the letter 'i' has a large weight,is a high pitched sound,speaking the 'i' in 'buenos dias'
gives me a sensation of falling into the precipice,it gives a certain tone very inharmonious
Before say 'dias' basically wht u do is tense ur neck and chin, bring down ur chin,tense your lips backward and put the tongue between ur teeth

and i say,yes, this is very expensive
Archibald   Tue Jan 19, 2010 5:48 am GMT
Chinese has some pretty muscular intensive sounds. I'm thinking those "chr/shr" sounds, and the tones require one to reshape one's mouth according to the unrelenting caprices of the tones of whatever you're saying.


<<also trilled r in spanish is too drawn,is different from that of portuguese or russian where u speak along with other consonants and quickly moves to the next syllable
i mean,need your tongue hit three times in ur teeth,already in Portuguese or Russian this only happens once >>


Yes, trilled sounds are intensive. But Russian has those shredding, hissing, unpalatised sh/zh sounds. They, too, must eat up a lot of calories.

Oh, but then there is the Castillian Spanish "j", which implies some seriously throaty gurgling, as though they were choking on a chainsaw. That must shred up the vocal cords and the larynx. Hebrew has that sound too, even stronger.
Steak 'n' Chips   Tue Jan 19, 2010 9:42 am GMT
How about Arabic as a candidate for most physically demanding:
- glottal stops
- pharyngial stops
- trilled r's
- heavy D's and heavy S's
- heavy and light gutturals (ch, kh)

How about American English as a candidate for least physically demanding:
- As constantly middle mouth as I've heard

Or perhaps some of the click sounds in African languages might take the prize for hard work? But I know very little else about those, except they sound scary to learn.
_________________________   Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:41 am GMT
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15108609

Quote:

"For sound complexity, one language stands out. !Xóõ, spoken by just a few thousand, mostly in Botswana, has a blistering array of unusual sounds. Its vowels include plain, pharyngealised, strident and breathy, and they carry four tones. It has five basic clicks and 17 accompanying ones. The leading expert on the !Xóõ, Tony Traill, developed a lump on his larynx from learning to make their sounds. Further research showed that adult !Xóõ-speakers had the same lump (children had not developed it yet)."