* Sound Waves: When we speak or make other sounds, our vocal cords vibrate, creating waves of pressure in the air. These waves are the raw material of sound.
* Hearing: Our ears pick up these sound waves and convert them into electrical signals. These signals travel to our brains.
* Brain Processing: Our brains have specialized areas that process these signals and recognize patterns. These patterns are associated with different sounds, like "b," "a," "t," or "th."
* Language: We are taught from a very young age to associate certain sound patterns with specific words. This association is stored in our brains.
* Meaning: When we hear a series of sounds, our brains combine the individual sound patterns and retrieve the associated word and its meaning from our stored knowledge.
So, it's not about shaping the sound itself, but about how our brains decode the sound patterns and connect them to our understanding of language.
Think of it like this:
* Sound is like raw clay.
* Our brains are like skilled potters.
* They use the clay to create meaningful shapes (words) that convey thoughts and ideas.