As human beings head into the cosmos what will happen to language and speech? In the thin atmosphere of other planets, perhaps it would be useful to be able to speak without breathing. In fact, I fancy that I just heard an example of this `breathless speech' in none other than President Bush's address about his new space policy.
Here's the recording as it was relayed here in Australia. Listen around the 35 minute mark, and decide for yourself: is he speaking without breathing, or was the breathing just edited out? (Is it circular breathing?) Whatever happened, this certainly makes for uncomfortable listening. I couldn't help being distracted, imagining him getting very red in the face and wondering when he would pause for breath!
Posted by Steven Bird at January 19, 2004 06:51 AM