Alaryngeal speech is
speech using an
airstream mechanism
In phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation and articulation, it is one of three main components of speech production. The airstream mechanism is mandatory for sound pr ...
that uses features other than the
glottis to create
voicing. There are three types:
esophageal, buccal, and pharyngeal speech. Each of these uses an alternative method of creating
phonation to substitute for the vocal cords in the larynx. These forms of alaryngeal speech are also called "pseudo-voices".
[Khaila H, House J, Cavalli L, Nash E. (2007)]
A phonetic and phonological study of so-called ‘buccal’ speech produced by two long-term tracheostomised children
Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences.
Esophageal speech
Esophageal speech uses air supply to create
phonation from the
esophagus
The esophagus ( American English) or oesophagus (British English; both ), non-technically known also as the food pipe or gullet, is an organ in vertebrates through which food passes, aided by peristaltic contractions, from the pharynx to ...
and pharyngo-esophageal segment to act as a replacement for the
glottis. It is usually acquired following
speech therapy after
laryngectomy
Laryngectomy is the removal of the larynx and separation of the airway from the mouth, nose and esophagus. In a total laryngectomy, the entire larynx is removed (including the vocal folds, hyoid bone, epiglottis, thyroid and cricoid cartilage and ...
as a replacement for laryngeal speech.
Buccal speech
This is created by producing an air bubble between the left (or right) upper jaw and the
cheek
The cheeks ( la, buccae) constitute the area of the face below the eyes and between the nose and the left or right ear. "Buccal" means relating to the cheek. In humans, the region is innervated by the buccal nerve. The area between the insi ...
that can act as an alternative "
lung". The person then uses muscular action to drive the air through a small gap between or behind the teeth into the mouth. The sound so produced makes a high rough sound. This then is articulated to make speech.
[Weinberg B, Westerhouse J. (1971). A study of buccal speech. J Speech Hear Res. 14(3):652-8. ] It is usually acquired as a taught or self-learnt skill for entertainment. It can be used as a method of singing.
It is also known as Donald Duck talk
[Bleile KM. (2003). Manual of articulation and phonological disorders: infancy through adulthood. Cengage Learning page 67] due to its use by
Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash for the voice of the Disney
Donald Duck character.
* sung buccal voice can have a range of three octaves (69 Hz to 571 Hz)
* maximum duration of phonation for a series of sustained vowels is 2 seconds.
* from most intelligible to least:
glide
Glide may refer to:
* Gliding flight, to fly without thrust
Computing
*Glide API, a 3D graphics interface
*Glide OS, a web desktop
*Glide (software), an instant video messenger
*Glide, a molecular docking software by Schrödinger (company), Schr ...
s,
fricative
A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...
s,
plosives,
affricates, and
nasals.
* on rhyme-test 76% of buccal spoken words were intelligible.
* buccal speech is more than two octaves above that of esophageal speakers (this gives it a raised pitch compared to normal speech).
The
VoQS
Voice Quality Symbols (VoQS) are a set of phonetic symbols used to transcribe disordered speech for what in speech pathology is known as "voice quality". This phrase is usually synonymous with phonation in phonetics, but in speech pathology encom ...
indication for buccal speech is . For example, a buccal
raspberry (interdental trill) can be written .
Pharyngeal speech
This is created by producing the air supply needed for phonation in the
pharynx
The pharynx (plural: pharynges) is the part of the throat behind the mouth and nasal cavity, and above the oesophagus and trachea (the tubes going down to the stomach and the lungs). It is found in vertebrates and invertebrates, though its st ...
and creating a replacement for the glottis using the
tongue
The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for mastication and swallowing as part of the digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper surface (dorsum) is covered by taste ...
and the upper
alveolus Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit.
Uses in anatomy and zoology
* Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs
** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte
** Alveolar duct
** Alveolar macrophage
* Mam ...
, the
palate
The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity.
A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separ ...
, or the pharyngeal wall.
[Weinberg B, Westerhouse J. (1973). A study of pharyngeal speech. J Speech Hear Disord. 38(1):111-8. ]
In one case, pharyngeal speech was studied in a 12-year-old girl that used it as her exclusive form of speech following
tracheotomy
Tracheotomy (, ), or tracheostomy, is a surgical airway management procedure which consists of making an incision (cut) on the anterior aspect (front) of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea (windpipe). The r ...
at 2 years of age.
Such speech was impaired in spite of ten years of her exclusive use of it for communication. Fifty percent of her time while speaking was silence. Of the other fifty percent, half was spent creating “quasiperiodic” speech-like sound and the other half spent creating noise. This produced an “unpleasant, markedly hoarse voice quality which was consistently evident in her pharyngeal speech".
This contrasts with skilled esophageal speakers that spend less than 20% of their time producing noise. Such speech has limited success in making some
place of articulation
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is a location along the vocal tract where its production occurs. It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a passive articula ...
and especially
manner of articulation and
voicing phonetic distinctions. There are also difficulties in creating
consonant clusters
In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...
and polysyllabic words.
Such speech was "generally well understood by immediate family members" but "reported to be largely unintelligible to outsiders".
Importance
Pharyngeal speech can be produced in the early stages of learning esophageal speech. However both buccal and pharyngeal speech are less clear than trained esophageal speech and "should not be regarded as a desirable or practical primary method of alaryngeal speech".
A further importance is to theories of the evolution of human speech since alaryngeal speech shows that speech is not dependent entirely upon evolved anatomy as it can be created using vocal tract anatomy in an
adaptive manner.
See also
*
Electrolarynx
An electrolarynx, sometimes referred to as a "throat back", is a medical device about the size of a small electric razor used to produce clearer speech by those people who have lost their voice box, usually due to cancer of the larynx. The most ...
*
Airstream mechanism
In phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation and articulation, it is one of three main components of speech production. The airstream mechanism is mandatory for sound pr ...
*
Phonation
*
Vocal extended technique
Vocalists are capable of producing a variety of extended technique sounds. These alternative singing techniques have been used extensively in the 20th century, especially in art song and opera. Particularly famous examples of extended vocal techni ...
*
Whistled language
Whistled languages use whistling to emulate speech and facilitate communication. A whistled language is a system of whistled communication which allows fluent whistlers to transmit and comprehend a potentially unlimited number of messages over ...
Notes
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Larynx disorders
Human voice
Phonation
Vocal skills