Are you one of those people who get annoyed with typos? It may actually have a natural explanation. For now, researchers have found for the very first time that the incorrect use of grammar can affect the body negatively. It sets off several triggers in our autonomic nervous system and can cause our heart to simply change its rhythm. Norwegian teachers Camilla Bilstad and Hanna Skar Knutsen are both teachers at Steinkjer upper secondary school. And naturally they read and correct a number of texts during the year. But how stressed do they really get from bad grammar? – It varies a lot. As a Norwegian teacher, I have perhaps become more used to it. But I still feel it, especially with repeated errors. Then I can get on the verge of being a little angry, says Bilstad. – I probably won’t get angry, but it stings a bit in the brain, says Skar Knutsen. Camilla Bilstad and Hanna Skar Knutsen are both teachers at Steinkjer upper secondary school. Bilstad admits that linguistic mistakes made by journalists annoy her on a daily basis. Photo: Julie Haugen Egge/news She thinks it’s mostly about losing fluency if the language is bad. – I probably don’t react particularly much to student work, but if I read fiction with poor fluency, it is much more provocative. None of them find it particularly surprising that poor use of grammar can lead to physical stress reactions. The study itself The new study is based on an experiment where test subjects heard sentences with both correct and incorrect use of grammar. The sentences were read out in English. Both with and without a Polish accent. Here, adverbs such as “the”, “an” and “a” were used incorrectly. But the errors were not very clear, and the participants could not quite put their finger on what was wrong. Nevertheless, it was jarring for several of them. At the same time as the test took place, the heart rate variability (HRV) of the participants was measured. Low HRV is a sign of stress in the nervous system. This was seen in the test subjects who registered errors. Higher HRV indicates less stress, which also played out when the sentences were correct. Heart rate variability was measured via the participants’ fingertips. Photo: Dagmar Divjak / University of Birmingham Heart rhythm The participants reacted more to errors when the English language was not read with a Polish accent. – The results of this study focus on a new dimension of the complex relationship between physiology and cognition, says Dagmar Divjak. She is a professor at the University of Birmingham. The researcher explains to news that there were various reasons why they chose to study this particular topic. First and foremost because this can eventually be a method to better help and understand people with language problems. – Being able to accurately assess an individual’s linguistic abilities, regardless of age, physical or cognitive abilities, is important. This is also about brain health, says Divjak. Dagmar Divjak is a professor at the University of Birmingham in the UK. She herself gets annoyed by language mistakes. Photo: Torkel Uggla In addition, this is also something the professor himself has experienced. – I had a hunch that some people, myself included, get more annoyed by grammatical errors than others. Then I began to wonder if this would be physically measurable. Which turned out to be true. Language expert Kristin Fridtun is a writer and philologist. She is also an exponent of the diversity of the Norwegian language. She is not surprised by the findings in the new study, and believes that the results can also be transferred to other linguistic situations. – It is not surprising that unexpected grammatical constructions produce some form of physical reaction. Kristin Fridtun has, among other things, written the book “Kunsten å irtirera seg over typos”. Photo: Robert Rønning / Robert Rønning / news Fridtun thinks it is a lot about what expectations you have as a reader or listener. – Let’s say you sit and read a book or watch a film with Norwegian subtitles. There is usually quite good quality, but if we come across something very strange, we can get stressed. But if we sit and text quickly with someone, we might not be put out as much, she says. – But is it worth stressing over other people’s language mistakes? No, says the author. – You cannot dictate to other language users based on your own bodily reactions. It’s okay to get annoyed, but you should think about whether it’s worth telling the person in question. I myself get annoyed less and less, and think it’s quite nice.
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Hearing or reading bad grammar can cause us to become physically stressed – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
