As regular readers, or at least readers of this blog will know, I have long felt that people are speaking faster than ever before. I have even done some desultory research into the matter, but I have to say that my findings thus far are somewhat inconclusive and it is clear that further studies and funding will be required before I am finished.
Seriously, trying to compare speaking speeds over the years is, as I think I always knew, an immensely complex undertaking. You might think that the BBC archives, say, would be an almost inexhaustible source of material, and in a way of course they are, but I am not sure that they are of much help on the question of spoken words per minute. This is because virtually all the "samples" concern at heart a variety of public or at least scripted speech. What I would be interested to hear are examples of families or friends speaking among themselves, and curiously enough, these are extremely hard to find. Far harder, in fact, than old films.
So are people in fact speaking faster than before?
Seriously, trying to compare speaking speeds over the years is, as I think I always knew, an immensely complex undertaking. You might think that the BBC archives, say, would be an almost inexhaustible source of material, and in a way of course they are, but I am not sure that they are of much help on the question of spoken words per minute. This is because virtually all the "samples" concern at heart a variety of public or at least scripted speech. What I would be interested to hear are examples of families or friends speaking among themselves, and curiously enough, these are extremely hard to find. Far harder, in fact, than old films.
So are people in fact speaking faster than before?
The answer that springs to mind is that most people (not me, of course) spend 50% of their lives texting, so their 'speak' has adapted to similar speed and context.
ReplyDeleteThe other answer: get thee to a hearing aid apecialist!
I think I may have answered several of your following blog entries ......