On Apr 8, 2004, at 9:28 PM, Jerry Friedman wrote: >> >> I'm probably misremembering how we do frequency decomposition to do >> vowel >> recognition, then. I was thinking that a species shift down in tone >> might >> leave them unable to access the higher end cleanly enough for >> efficient >> use, but in fact, with a larger air column but similar resonating >> chambers, >> you probably end up with better frequency separation. > ... > > Actually, if we want to know what Dragaerans sound like, we should > probably listen to interviews with NBA centers. In what little > I've heard, I wouldn't have been able to tell the person was > tall. > > Has any character ever known whether another character was Eastern > or Dragaeran just from the voice? I guess we haven't encountered > many eavesdropping or yelling-through-the-door situations. > > Jerry Friedman > > > The sound of the human voice comes from vocal cords, tongue/palate/teeth/lips, air column and sinuses. If we posit no changes in these structures from Jenoine-driven modifications, then there is no reason that Dragaerans should not sound like Easterners. However, we have been given to understand that facial features reflect the gene mods; perhaps the features are more than skin deep. In that case, each HOUSE might have distinct tonal characteristics. These may be completely understood within the context of the stories, and Steve is just waiting for a story opportunity to spring this on us. On the other hand, we do know that Sethra has a tendency to sibilants and she reflects the earliest gene mods, so perhaps the J figured it out in Mark II version....