From the dumb to the talkative
by Stella M. Turk MBE

The use of a voice
Leads to more choice.
Even the birds
Have dialect words
With accents from Yorkshire
Different from Berkshire.
Dolphins click-chatter
Bats click-natter
Whilst a whale records
Its plaintive chords.
One of the features
Of ancient creatures
Is lack of even simple ‘speech’.
Without croak or screech
Sponges lived in a silent sea
A billion years before you and me
Now the world is full of sound
As hundreds of languages rebound
Off each other, ever re-evolving
And newly evolving
Quickening history
Unravelling mystery
And producing more and more
Man-made cacophony
And, sometimes, symphony.

Stella M Turk MBE

20th July 2005

Stellas notes:

The Forestry Commission is funding research into the song variation of the Nightingale. Like some song birds, they seem to have regional accents. The growth of sound communication related to territory and breeding, has probably hastened evolution and history more than any other one factor - and now mankind can speak and be heard across the world and into space.

 

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