VOA标准英语2010年-Do Grunts and Sighs and Laughs Transla

A new study finds that sounds conveying negative emotions could be understood across cultural boundaries more readily than the sounds of positive emotions.

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Disa Sauter's paper in PNAS

"Things like laughter, crying, sighing, grunting¹ ... noises that we all make, but what do they actually mean?" -- Disa Sauter

A new study opens a fascinating window on how people communicate without words, and how some of the sounds people make to express emotion can be understood across cultural barriers.

When we communicate, we don't just use words. Non-verbal communication is important, too.

If you're talking face-to-face, things like facial expression, eye contact, and how close you stand can be an important part of the message.

There's also what researchers call "non-verbal vocalizations" – sounds that send a message without using words.

But how universal are these messages?

That's what Disa Sauter wanted to find out.

"And we were specifically interested in emotional expressions in the voice – so things like laughter, crying, sighing, grunting – those kinds of noises that we all make, but what do they actually mean?"

What do they mean and, more specifically, do they mean the same things to people in different cultures?

"So to look at that, we studied a group called the Himba, who are a culturally isolated² group, so a group that doesn't really have anything to do with other groups. And they live in the north of Namibia in Southwest Africa," Sauter explained in a telephone interview.

The Himba participants in the study live a life that is about as isolated as you can be in the modern world. The other group in the study included native English speakers in Europe.

People in both groups were asked to make sounds that expressed emotions like joy or anger without using words.

So for example, they were told to make a sound like they just realized they had eaten some rotten food.

Researchers recorded the sounds, then played them for people in the other group to see, for example, if the Himba recognized the sound of disgust that the Europeans made, and vice³ versa.

They sound a lot alike, which may be why both groups recognized the sound as registering disgust.

Sauter found that the sounds conveying negative emotions could be understood across cultural boundaries more readily than the sounds of positive emotions.

She says that could be because negative emotions might be older, in our evolutionary⁴ history.

"And that could mean in a sense that they are more important. So we need fear to be able to react appropriately do a dangerous situation, to run away; and also it's important in a situation of threat to warn those around us - who are likely family members and close friends - to warn them of the danger that we're facing."

Expressions of positive emotions, like achievement, tended to sound more different.

Sounding so different, it's not surprising that each group had a hard time identifying that and other sounds representing positive emotions. Sauter says it may be because positive emotions are more about creating and strengthening bonds within one's own group, so you might not want others to know about it.

"The exception to this is laughter, which seems to be something that we're prepared to share with strangers and friends alike, which I think is fairly reassuring⁵, actually, that there are positive emotional signals that can communicate across all cultural boundaries."

We reached Disa Sauter at her current office at the Max Planck Institute in the Netherlands. She was at University College London when she did her research. It was published online by the Proceedings⁶ of the National Academy of Sciences, which also gave us permission to use the audio clips used in the study. 
 

1 grunting   

咕哝的，呼噜的

参考例句：

• He pulled harder on the rope, grunting with the effort. 他边用力边哼声，使出更大的力气拉绳子。
• Pigs were grunting and squealing in the yard. 猪在院子里哼哼地叫个不停。

2 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

5 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

6 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼