Uncovering the Universal Sounds of Pain: A Linguistic Study

A recent study examines the sounds of interjections expressing pain in over 130 languages. Researchers found that pain-related interjections often feature 'a' vowels, suggesting links to nonlinguistic vocalisations. While vowels in pain interjections aren't random, interjections for joy and disgust do not share this trait.

Researchers from the University of Western Australia and the University of Hong Kong have revealed intriguing insights into how humans express pain across different languages. Their study, published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, explores the sounds of interjections used to convey pain in 131 languages worldwide.

The researchers focused on vowels in interjections to understand whether commonalities exist due to reflexive vocal responses. They discovered that pain-related interjections often contain 'a' vowels, such as 'ai' or 'au', similar to nonlinguistic pain vocalisations.

While pain interjections show a distinct pattern, this isn't the case for joy or disgust. The findings suggest a deeper, embodied connection between linguistic expressions and human emotional responses, highlighting the non-arbitrary nature of language in certain contexts.

(With inputs from agencies.)