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Peer-reviewedCC BYPLOS Biology

Interindividual vocal tract diversity influences the phonetic diversification of spoken languages

  • Steven Moran1
  • Tiena Danner2
  • Marcia S. Ponce de León3
  • Christoph P. E. Zollikofer4
4 affiliations
  1. 1Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
  2. 2Linguistic Research Infrastructure, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  3. 3Department of Informatics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  4. 4Center for Climate Physics, Institute for Basic Science, Busan, Republic of Korea
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Abstract

Human vocal tracts, like other physical traits, exhibit extensive interindividual variation. However, little is known about how this variation translates into phonetic diversity between speakers, and ultimately, across languages. Here we develop a biocultural model of phonetic evolution, analogous to Russell Lande’s model of multivariate phenotypic evolution. We show that individual vocal tract morphologies and associated articulatory strategies leave consistent acoustic signatures, resulting in a characteristic pattern of phonetic variation within speaker groups that correlates with the pattern observed between groups. Recalling a central tenet of evolutionary biology—that within-group variation feeds between-group diversification—our findings suggest that phonologically similar vowel systems can attain phonetically diverse realizations according to a neutral-like evolutionary process. Our model serves as a null hypothesis for disentangling the biological versus cultural mechanisms underlying phonetic diversification, where deviations from the neutral expectation may indicate culturally mediated language change.

Human vocal tracts vary extensively between individuals, but how does this translate into phonetic diversity between speakers and languages? This study uses vocal tract imaging to develop a biocultural model of phonetic evolution, helping to disentangle biological versus cultural mechanisms of phonetic diversification.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{moran2026interindividual,
  title = {{Interindividual vocal tract diversity influences the phonetic diversification of spoken languages}},
  author = {Steven Moran and Tiena Danner and Marcia S. Ponce de León and Christoph P. E. Zollikofer},
  journal = {PLOS Biology},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3004003},
  url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3004003},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Interindividual vocal tract diversity influences the phonetic diversification of spoken languages
AU  - Steven Moran
AU  - Tiena Danner
AU  - Marcia S. Ponce de León
AU  - Christoph P. E. Zollikofer
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/01
JO  - PLOS Biology
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3004003
UR  - https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3004003
AB  - Human vocal tracts, like other physical traits, exhibit extensive interindividual variation. However, little is known about how this variation translates into phonetic diversity between speakers, and ultimately, across languages. Here we develop a biocultural model of phonetic evolution, analogous to Russell Lande’s model of multivariate phenotypic evolution. We show that individual vocal tract morphologies and associated articulatory strategies leave consistent acoustic signatures, resulting in a characteristic pattern of phonetic variation within speaker groups that correlates with the pattern observed between groups. Recalling a central tenet of evolutionary biology—that within-group variation feeds between-group diversification—our findings suggest that phonologically similar vowel systems can attain phonetically diverse realizations according to a neutral-like evolutionary process. Our model serves as a null hypothesis for disentangling the biological versus cultural mechanisms underlying phonetic diversification, where deviations from the neutral expectation may indicate culturally mediated language change.  Human vocal tracts vary extensively between individuals, but how does this translate into phonetic diversity between speakers and languages? This study uses vocal tract imaging to develop a biocultural model of phonetic evolution, helping to disentangle biological versus cultural mechanisms of phonetic diversification.
SN  - 1545-7885
SN  - 1544-9173
ER  -