Dear Larry,
I've been a long-time reader of your blog, and I just wanted you to know that I'm thankful for you, and The Larynx and You! It was such a relief to find a larynx sanctuary online, because no one I know gets quite as excited as I do... Anyways, I just wanted to ask if you could impart some more information on the pronunciation component of vocalization. I'm really curious to know your thoughts!
Sincerely,
A pharynx in need is a pharynx indeedHi Pharynx! First off, thank you for your kind words. It's getting feedback from readers like you that really make this blog worth it. I know exactly how you feel about not being able to find a larynx appreciation community offline, and I feel so blessed that I was able to come into contact with folks such as yourself with the press of a few buttons! Secondly, I would be glad to go into a little bit more detail regarding the way we articulate words! I went into it very briefly in my post "How to be a Prima Glottis" (which is perhaps what sparked your interest), and hopefully this post will shed more light on how we, as human beings, are able to manipulate the sounds our larynx produces in order to articulate words for language! (Warning: Things may get a little bit linguistics-y, but please bear with me!)
First, I want to talk about the position of the vocal cords in our larynx. (Remember that this is controlled by the intrinsic musculature, and the arytenoid cartilages!) These folds have the ability to be abducted, adducted, or somewhere in between, and this state of the glottis will determine whether the sound produced is "voiced" or "voiceless." An easy way to differentiate between the two is to feel your larynx for vibration when you make a sound. Try this: make a "t" sound and then a "m" sound. As you can tell, there's no vibration when you make the "t" sound (voiceless) and you can feel vibrations when you make the "m" sound (voiced)! Basically, this distinction has to do how close together the vocal cords are. For a voiceless sound, they are abducted, meaning that there airflow won't cause much, if any, vibration. For a voiced sound, the folds are much closer together (although they may not be completely adducted), which means that the air flowing through them will cause vibrations! Consonants can be both voiced and voiceless, while vowels tend to be voiced.
After our larynx produces a sound, the sound has no choice but to travel through the vocal tract where it can be moulded to the individual's needs. As humans, no matter what country or culture you may originate from, we usually morph these vocalizations to form words for communication.
All these different structures in the vocal tract are different places of articulation. This simply means that by changing the orientation of one or more of them, we can change the shape that a sound takes. For example, a "bilabial" is a sound that can be made by bringing the lips together, such as "p," "b," and "m." Another example is an "interdental" sound, which are the sounds that are made by placing your tongue in between your teeth, namely "th." There are a few other classes of sound that have been grouped together for their place of articulation, and I urge you to look them up if you're interested!
And lastly, I thought I'd mention manner of articulation. This is just how the speech organs (mentioned above) interact and position themselves to form different sounds, by manipulating the airstream supplied by the lungs. Three examples are stops, fricatives, and glides. Stops are when airflow is completely stopped in the oral cavity, such is the case for sounds such as "k," and "p." Fricatives are for sounds that aren't completely stopped, but have been restricted somewhat due to a narrowing in the oral cavity. Some examples of fricatives are "s" and "f." Glides are the opposite of stops and fricatives, because they're made when there is no obstruction or restriction in the oral cavity or airway. "Y" and "w" sounds are considered glides. As with places of articulation, there are a lot more categories, but since they're just a Google search away I didn't think it was necessary to list them all here.
And there you have it! My dead Pharynx, I hope you found this little spiel useful in your pursuit of everything larynx related (although most of this was only indirectly related to the larynx). Best of luck, and if you ever want someone to chat with, you know where to find me!
