Don't know if this has already been discussed so enlighten me if it has...


I was reading a book earlier on today silently and decided to stick my tongue in between my teeth while I read. Surprisingly, it seems I can't read "normally" while doing this. I am actually talking with a lisp inside my head even though I am not saying anything out loud.

For example if I were to do that and read the word 'snake', it would sound in my head like "thnake".

Your thoughts? :confused:

I gave what you said a try... I noticed a difference, maybe it was in my mind because you said it, I dont know. Intresting none the less.

no lisp

I didn't really notice a 'lisp' in my thinking. We do think with words when we read obviously. So I can see how putting your tongue there could cause that. Didn't seem to happen to me though.

Also, people tend to bite on their tongues (or put them in their cheek) when they are concentrating really hard. Perhaps our thoughts are effected by how we speak, that would explain why dumb blondes all speak the same way. =]

:p i did when i first tried it, but if you concentrate a bit you can think the 's' properly. Had a mate who went to japan for 6 months, he reckons near the end he was thinking in japanese, same kinda thing i guess.

When I read yer post, I'm getting that ye'r mouthing the words in the book. I tried doing that, and I got the same result.

I think the brain is sensing the tongue making the "th" sound, even thought the sound should be "s". Therefore, it thinks "th".

I started reading immediately with my tongue out, and noticed it "sounded" a little funny in my head. When I got to the part about lisping, I started reading "s" as "th." With a little concentration, I could make it go away, though.

Sounds like your mind is quite suggestive, §outh§tar....
Seems like some of you can easily be conditioned.... :D

I didn't have that problem. However, I have painstakingly learned to think in a couple of non-native languages, one of which (Mandarin) has very different and (for English speakers) very difficult phonetics. Perhaps that makes the difference. I know my vocal organs can't correctly make all the sounds of all the languages I've studied, so I rely on them less while thinking.

I was quite intrigued by the whole tongue between the teeth thing so I went ahead and tried it out. I kept doing the lisp in my head, but only if I concentrated hard enough did I produce the “s” sound in my mind. I asked other people to read to themselves while they had their tongue between their teeth (I didn’t let on about the lisp). Afterwards I asked them if they produced a lisp while reading in their head. All (7!) replied yes. This may have something to do with a subject I read about earlier, that says we think with words, therefore without language its more difficult to think. It may not seem like this is true but most of our thoughts and decisions are made so quickly we don't recognize our use of language in our thinking (or reading, as is the case). (My earliest memories where about the same time I started recognizing words that people spoke around me).

Well it seems it didn't happen to a relative few (maybe because they were concentrating too hard :p )

At least I know I am not alone, and TruthSeeker, this PROVES we don't have free will. :D

I tried your experiment -- the words sounded odd in my head, don't know if it was because a certain effect was suggested here, or because it would simply be true.

But I distinctly remember that if I have my tongue burned from hot tea, that reading feels odd, even though I read silently.
Or when I have a bad cold, I can't really read, and if I do, the voice I hear in my head sounds as if having a cold.

I have also noticed that when I read, even though I don't speak out the words aloud, I seem to be moving my tongue -- just a little, but still.


Then there is another interesting thing I can report: I can read with hearing different voices in my head. That is, I have a thing for languages and a good memory for the voice. I "learn" someone's voice, and then in my head, I can hear my thoughts, or what I read, spoken with this voice (even though I may have never heard that person speak those words).
(I used to listen to some fancy radio shows, esp. German.)

But I see that if the speaker in question was German, for example, and I have only heard him speak German, I cannot read a text in English hearing that speaker's voice in my head. It does not go across languages. -- Or that English sounds with a German accent.


(I wish I could hear what voices you people have -- I feel so lost here, having only the text!)

Cato:
Also, people tend to bite on their tongues (or put them in their cheek) when they are concentrating really hard. Perhaps our thoughts are effected by how we speak, that would explain why dumb blondes all speak the same way. =]
Everything in that head of yours refelcts in your language.
THat's how I know 9 in 10 of you are idiots.
LOL, and LMAO and IMO and :) ;) , KEWWWL!
Kidding.

What the hells' happened to this place anyway?

On topic:

If your mental voice is distracted by your tounge, then its the tounge and the mechanics of reading being concetrated on, not the text.
Maybe this is why so many can "read philosophy" and still not know what its saying.

I find myself only distracted by body odor and noise- my mental voice always remains Celtic.

What is the meaning of this tounge and teh?
Because that way distracted my mental voice and then it took a bunch of rereads to understand those two simple sentences.