There’s a reason why you may be pronouncing ‘milk’ as ‘melk’, and it has nothing to do where you come from. Studies by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from January 2014 to July 2017 show neurological evidence that the subjects that pronounced the word ‘milk’ with a soft ‘e’ or a soft ‘a’ sound as opposed to a soft ‘i’ had a slight difference in the shape of the occipital lobe. The lobe is rounded as opposed to a flatter cortex. The occipital lobe of the brain is the center for speech activity and the formation of words. Surveys taken by the subjects with the speech impediment all had something in common: they all considered themselves ‘moderate to poor’ in the study of mathematics. Dr. Evan H. Rosenthal, emeritus of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine explains why this occurs.
“The swelling of the occipital lobe actually impedes the function of the motor cortex in the left hemisphere of the brain, causing issues in subjects such as math and physical science as opposed to language arts, which is processed in the parietal lobe,” Dr. Rosenthal states.
“The occipital lobe needs to be protected at this point, to prevent further damage.”
Rosenthal speculates that infants who have sustained minor brain trauma often grow up with a swelling occipital lobe.
“Infants need their heads protected and supported at all times,” Dr. Deva Amul of Colgate University Medical School explains.
“Fontanels are the soft spots on the infant’s head, and if they take a tumble as a small child before their cranium fully develops, it could lead to occipital swelling, and speech problems down the road.”
Is occipital swelling dangerous for adult patients? The answer is no. There are no studies that show any imminent medical danger from occipital lobe swelling, other than quirky pronunciations of words and a slight difficulty in certain subjects.
These study subjects were in for a surprise when they were told that they might have been dropped on their head as an infant. So if you pronounce words such as ‘milk’ as ‘melk’, you might want to give your mother a call.