8

I was watching a video from Abroad In Japan channel where Chris Broad, the creator of that channel talks about a TV show in which "experts" discussed about the reasons why number of cases of covid-19 were low in Japan and this has something to do with the Japanese language itself. A demonstration was done in which a test subject was made to stand in front of a tissue paper and made to say one sentence both in Japanese as well as in English language. The sentence was Kore wa pen desu which translates to "This is a pen".

enter image description here

When the test subject said the sentence in Japanese, the tissue paper barely moved indicating that while speaking in Japanese, there is less exhalation of air and less chance of spitting and thus less likely to transmit the virus. However, When the sentence was spoken in English, the tissue paper moved like crazy:

enter image description here

The "experts" in that TV show were shocked by the result and declared that Japanese language is the reason for less cases in Japan. Chris joked and humored about this experiment and declared this as utter nonsense.

But, I became skeptical about the conclusion. Can languages play a role in spreading coronovirus? Can you say a language is "cleaner" than the other in terms of how less it likely spread the virus? Are there any research papers/studies done which shows if a language can relate to number of cases in a particular country?

Barry Harrison
  • 14,093
  • 4
  • 68
  • 101
Shadow
  • 197
  • 3
  • 17
    The "puffiness" of plosive consonants like /p/ is called aspiration. It is true that English plosives are more aspirated than corresponding Japanese consonants. However, Spanish and Italian plosives are virtually unaspirated and shoud be even "cleaner" than Japanese. The spread of Covid-19 in Spanish-speaking countries and Italy suggests that the effect of aspiration in consonant articulation must be very small (if it is there in the first place). – Schmuddi May 06 '21 at 11:59
  • 6
    There is also persuasive evidence that participating in group singing (choir, etc) can be conducive to spreading COVID. Perhaps the 'volume' of the language as used in a culture (loud/soft) should be considered along with the other factors. – BobT May 06 '21 at 14:53
  • 1
    The technical term is ["speaking moistly"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eySDeBdqxGY) (no it isn't). – Schwern May 06 '21 at 19:33

0 Answers0