Clarifying the Theory of “Evolutionary Alarm Sounds within Languages”: Notes and Relevant Data.
(1) What are alarm or distress sounds in Nature?
Evolution developed cries, moans and screams, sounds that are produced by animals across different species on the evolutionary scale when confronted by distressing situaitons.
Cries: Evolved as survival signals, especially in infants. They trigger caregiving responses in parents and alert others to distress.
Screams: Serve as urgent alarms in dangerous situations. Their acoustic properties are designed to cut through ambient noise and grab attention.
Moans: Convey internal states like discomfort, pleasure, or pain. They’re more nuanced and can signal vulnerability or intimacy.
In cries, moans, and screams, the tract is typically open and unconstricted, which is why they resemble vowels acoustically and show strong formant patterns.
Cries, screams, and moans are prototypical examples of distress vocalizations — nonverbal sounds that signal pain, fear, or emotional suffering. These sounds are often involuntary and biologically rooted, serving as urgent communicative cues across both human and animal contexts.
Cries typically indicate sadness, discomfort, or helplessness.
Screams are high-intensity signals often linked to fear, panic, or acute pain.
Moans may express sustained discomfort, grief, or physical suffering.
These vocalizations are evolutionarily significant because they can trigger immediate attention and caregiving responses in listeners — a concept central to your theory of Evolutionary Alarm Sounds within Languages.
(2) How Alarm Sound occur in Languages?
Alarm sounds in languages resemble cries or screams and typically exhibit vowel-like structures, characterized by the presence of formants visible on spectrograms. These sounds occur within syllables and can manifest either as single units or as combinations of sounds.
Single sounds often consist of long vowels or vowels accompanied by tonal or pitch variations.
Combination sounds may include diphthongs, triphthongs, or vowels followed by nasal or lateral finals.
The alarm quality of a syllable is heightened by factors such as increased duration, intensity, and the presence of lighted pitch or tonal shifts. These elements contribute to the perceived urgency or emotional intensity of the sound. (As defined by Christopher Richard Oszywa)
Please note that alarm sounds in languages are NOT plosives or fricatives, as some other sounds may suggest.
(3) How are Alarm Sounds Characterised on Spectograms or Images of Sounds?
Formants and the Vocal Tract
When we produce voiced sounds (like vowels, cries, moans, etc.), the vocal folds vibrate, creating a fundamental frequency (pitch). But the shape of the vocal tract—from the glottis to the lips—acts like a resonating tube, amplifying certain frequencies. These amplified frequencies are the formants.
Key Concepts:
Open vocal tract: Allows air to flow freely, producing vowel-like sounds with clear formant structures.
Constrictions or closures (like in consonants): Disrupt the resonance and reduce or obscure formants.
What Formants Reveal
F1 (First Formant): Increases as the mouth opens wider. So a sound like [a] (as in "father") has a high F1.
F2 (Second Formant): Depends on tongue position. Front vowels like [i] (as in "beet") have high F2.
Higher Formants: Add richness and help distinguish subtle vowel qualities.
In cries, moans, and screams, the tract is typically open and unconstricted, which is why they resemble vowels acoustically and show strong formant patterns.
Evolutionary Implication
This open-tract resonance is efficient for broadcasting emotional states—whether it's a baby crying for help or a primate screaming in alarm. The formants make the sound intelligible and emotionally expressive, even across species.
How are Alarm Sound constructed in German Language and How to calculate Frequency and Intensity?
In Standard German, triphthongs are extremely rare and not considered part of the core phonemic inventory. However, a few do exist-mostly in interjections or onomatopoeic expressions, and occasionally in poetic or expressive language. Some German dialects-like Bernese Swiss German or Styrian Austrian German-feature more triphthongs due to historical vowel shifts and vocalization of consonants (like /I/). But these are not part of Standard rman. (beginning text, to be continued)
An example of how English has a more alarmed quality in the pronunciation of words with the same origin than Spanish.
Let’s compare the vowel durations in English vs. Spanish for words like:
information → información
development → desarrollo
responsibility → responsabilidad
Key Differences in Vowel Duration
Word (English) Spanish Equivalent Vowel Duration (English) Vowel Duration (Spanish) Notes
information información Vowels vary, some long Vowels short and even English stress elongates /eɪ/, /ɔː/; Spanish vowels are clipped
development desarrollo /ɪ/, /ɛ/, /ə/ vary in length /e/, /a/, /o/ are short English schwa and stress cause uneven timing
responsibility responsabilidad /ɪ/, /æ/, /ɪ/—some stretched /e/, /o/, /a/, /i/—uniform Spanish vowels are more rhythmically balan
Why English Vowels Are Longer (and Uneven)
Stress-timed rhythm: English stretches stressed vowels and compresses unstressed ones.
Vowel reduction: Unstressed vowels often become schwa (/ə/), which is short and centralized.
Diphthongs and tense vowels: English has more complex vowels like /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /oʊ/ that take longer to articulate.
Why Spanish Vowels Are Shorter (and More Uniform)
Syllable-timed rhythm: Spanish gives roughly equal time to each syllable.
No vowel reduction: Spanish vowels are fully articulated even in unstressed positions.
Simple vowel inventory: Spanish has five pure vowels (/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/) with consistent duration.
Acoustic Reality
In studies comparing vowel duration:
English stressed vowels can last 200–300 ms, while unstressed ones may drop to 50–100 ms.
Spanish vowels typically fall in the 80–150 ms range, with less variation between stressed and unstressed syllables.
So yes—English vowels are generally longer and more variable, while Spanish vowels are shorter and more rhythmically consistent.
(Under Development)
(4) How are Alarm Sound constructed in English Language and How to calculate Frequency and Intensity?
(1) Long vowels in English - are Alarm Sounds in English
Long vowels are pronounced with a longer duration and often a clearer, more open mouth position, and because they contain formants and are long, they are considered as alarm sounds. The actual length of a vowel depends on context (like surrounding consonants), but studies show: Long vowels typically last 200–300 milliseconds
Also, vowel length can stretch before voiced consonants (like /d/ or /g/) and shrink before voiceless ones (like /t/ or /k/). So bead might have a longer /iː/ than beat.
Here’s a clear list of the main long vowels in English, along with examples and their IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols:
/iː/ — as in beet, seat, machine
/uː/ — as in boot, food, rude
/ɑː/ — as in father, car, start
/ɔː/ — as in thought, law, saw
/ɜː/ — as in bird, her, learn
/eɪ/ — as in day, say, eight
/aɪ/ — as in my, sky, light
/əʊ/ — as in go, show, toe
/aʊ/ — as in now, how, loud
The first five are pure vowels (monophthongs), while the last four are diphthongs—vowel sounds that glide from one position to another. All of these tend to be longer in duration than their short vowel counterparts, typically lasting around 200–300 milliseconds in natural speech.
100 most common English words by highlighting:
Long vowels and diphthongs: /iː/, /uː/, /ɑː/, /ɔː/, /ɜː/, /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /əʊ/, /aʊ/
Vowels followed by nasals: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/
Vowels followed by laterals: /l/
Approximants followed by vowels: /j/ (as in you), /w/ (as in we), /r/ (as in red), /l/ (when it behaves as a glide)
I’ll bold the vowel in each case where it meets one or more of these criteria.
the /ðə/ or /ðiː/
be /biː/
to /tuː/
of /ɒv/
and /ænd**
a /ə/
in /ɪn**
that /ðæt/
have /æv**
I /aɪ/
it /ɪt/
for /fɔː/
not /nɒt**
on /ɒn**
with /wɪð/
he /hiː/
as /æz/
you /juː/** → approximant + vowel
do /duː/
at /æt/
this /ðɪs/
but /bʌt/
his /hɪz/
by /baɪ/
from /ɒm**
they /ðeɪ/
we /wiː/** → approximant + vowel
say /seɪ/
her /ɜː/
she /ʃiː/
or /ɔː/
an /æn**
will /ɪl**
my /maɪ/
one /ʌn**
all /ɔːl**
would /wʊd/
there /ðeə/
their /ðeə/
what /wɒt/
so /səʊ/
up /ʌp/
out /aʊ/
if /ɪf/
about /aʊ/
who /huː/
get /ɡet/
which /wɪtʃ/
go /ɡəʊ/
me /miː/
when /wen/ → approximant + vowel + nasal
make /meɪ/
can /æn**
like /laɪ/
time /taɪm**
no /nəʊ/
just /dʒʌst/
him /ɪm**
know /nəʊ/
take /teɪ/
people /piːpl**
into /ɪntuː/
year /jɪə/** → approximant + vowel
your /jɔː/** → approximant + vowel
good /ɡʊd/
some /ʌm**
could /kʊd/
them /ɛm**
see /siː/
other /ˈʌðə/
than /æn**
then /ɛn**
now /naʊ/
look /lʊk/
only /əʊnli/
come /ʌm**
its /ɪts/
over /əʊvə/**
think /ɪŋ**k
also /ɔːlsəʊ/**
back /bæk/
after /ɑːftə/**
use /juːz/ → approximant + vowel
two /tuː/
how /haʊ/
our /aʊə/**
work /ɜːk/**
first /ɜːst/**
well /ɛl**
way /weɪ/** → approximant + vowel
even /iːvən/**
new /njuː/** → nasal + approximant + vowel
want /wɒnt/** → approximant + vowel + nasal
because /bɪˈkɒz/
any /ˈeni/
these /ðiːz/**
give /ɡɪv/
day /deɪ/
most /məʊst/**
us /ʌs/
Common Approximant-Vowel Sequences in English - are Alarm Sounds in English
Approximants followed by vowels are extremely common in English—so much so that they’re foundational to the rhythm and flow of the language. Because as a combinations of two sounds where both contain formants and are long, they are considered as alarm sounds.
English has four main approximants:
/w/ as in we, want
/j/ (the “y” sound) as in yes, you
/ɹ/ as in red, around
/l/ as in light, love
These sounds often appear at the beginning of syllables, followed by vowels, forming CV (consonant-vowel)structures. Examples:
/w/ + vowel: we, wet, wonder
/j/ + vowel: yes, young, yell
/ɹ/ + vowel: run, read, real
/l/ + vowel: love, low, light
Target Structure:
Approximant: /w/, /j/, /r/, or /l/ (when acting as a glide)
Followed by a vowel (short or long)
Then followed by a nasal (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/) or lateral (/l/)
This creates a three-part sequence: Approximant + Vowel + Nasal/Lateral
Words That Match This Pattern (from the top 100 list):
when → /wɛn/ → /w/ + /ɛ/ + /n/
will → /wɪl/ → /w/ + /ɪ/ + /l/
well → /wɛl/ → /w/ + /ɛ/ + /l/
want → /wɒnt/ → /w/ + /ɒ/ + /n/
new → /njuː/ → /n/ + /j/ + /uː/ (approximant + vowel, but no nasal/lateral after)
your → /jɔː/ → /j/ + /ɔː/ (no nasal/lateral after)
year → /jɪə/ → /j/ + /ɪ/ (no nasal/lateral after)
work → /wɜːk/ → /w/ + /ɜː/ (no nasal/lateral after)
way → /weɪ/ → /w/ + /eɪ/ (no nasal/lateral after)
well → /wɛl/ → /w/ + /ɛ/ + /l/
(beginning text, to be continued)