This is a transcript for Lingthusiasm episode ‘Various vocal fold vibes’. It’s been lightly edited for readability. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts. Links to studies mentioned and further reading can be found on the episode show notes page.

[Music]

Lauren: Welcome to Lingthusiasm, a podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics! I’m Lauren Gawne.

Gretchen: I’m Gretchen McCulloch. Today, we’re getting enthusiastic about the vocal folds. But first, Lauren, I just have something to say. I’m really jealous of the chemistry people.

Lauren: Okay. Why is that?

Gretchen: They have all these cool versions of the Periodic Table of the Elements. You can get it in different colours and aesthetics and designs. We have a table that gets used a lot in linguistics, the International Phonetic Alphabet chart, but it just looks very boring. I want more versions of it.

Lauren: Yeah, there are a lot of details on the International Phonetic Alphabet charts, which is great if you need to know what’s in each of the columns and the rows. But there’s a lot happening. Once you know how it’s all set out, I don’t really read those anymore. I’m there to just find the specific symbol that I need.

Gretchen: Right. I was thinking we could make a version that’s abstract and stylised. If you don’t know about the IPA, it would just look like some cool symbols in a grid.

Lauren: The IPA symbols are indeed very cool.

Gretchen: But if you do recognise them, then you get to be an insider. In the meantime, it would be useful for refreshing your memory of some of those rarer symbols you don’t use as much.

Lauren: Oh, like, maybe some kind of Scandi minimalist aesthetic.

Gretchen: To go with your nice Ikea furniture.

Lauren: Okay, but seriously, I want this.

Gretchen: I also want this. I have another important question. What should we put our cool stylised IPA design on?

Lauren: Hmm, I mean, in the long run, it could go on lots of things. Before we get ahead of ourselves, we need to run a special offer to offset the investment in getting this thing made. It’s a little bit beyond our usual in-house design skills.

Gretchen: That is very true. Also, it would be cool to use a special offer to make something available that we don’t normally sell.

Lauren: This is finally our chance to make lens cloths.

Gretchen: Okay, why lens cloths specifically?

Lauren: They’re portable, and they’re useful. They’re practical. But you can also just lay your love of linguistics on something that you’d use anyway.

Gretchen: Okay, so, this sounds really useful to you and me because we both wear glasses, but what about people who don’t?

Lauren: Phone screens get grubby. Computer screens get fingerprints all over them. People have sunglasses.

Gretchen: I mean, this is fair. I got a lens cloth from a conference once. I actually use it all the time. Best conference swag ever. What if I could have a linguistics themed lens cloth and put it in all of my bags?

Lauren: Exactly. Very much on the same principle as our linguistics-themed scarves. It’s some stealth nerdery you can carry around with you and use.

Gretchen: Here’s the deal. Everybody who wants a stylised IPA chart themed lens cloth, we’re gonna place one bulk order for them. This is your chance. Go to patreon/com/lingthusiasm. Join the Lingthusiast tier or higher by October 5th. Then we’ll place the order on the 6th, so we know how many to get.

Lauren: If you want several lens cloths, either to keep them in different places or to give as gifts or split with some friends, we have some options for those. We have pictures of the design.

Gretchen: It’s extremely snazzy looking I have to say.

Lauren: That’s all at patreon.com/lingthusiasm if you get in by the 5th of October 2022.

Gretchen: Plus, patrons get all the usual perks like bonus episodes. Our most recent bonus was an introduction to a long-forgotten linguistics study about a rabbit.

Lauren: If you need people to talk about your linguistic enthusiasm with or perhaps to admire your Lingthusiasm merch, patrons also get access to the Lingthusiasm discord.

Gretchen: Thanks so much to everyone who’s currently a patron. If you’re already at that level, you will get a cloth in the mail. Look out for a survey from us for your address.

[Music]

Gretchen: Okay, vocal fold demonstration. Let’s start by putting our hands on our throats and saying some sounds.

Lauren: Okay.

Gretchen: /hhh/ /aaa/ /haa/.

Lauren: /haa/

Gretchen: /hah/ /hʌh/ /haa/ /hah/.

Lauren: /hʌh/ /haa/. Sounds like the most underwhelming laugh track ever.

Gretchen: The worst podcast. We’re so funny.

Lauren: Very fake laugh there. I am just gently touching my throat low down on the front of my neck – emphasis on the “gently” there. I can still feel the vibrations even with just a tiny fingertip.

Gretchen: When I’ve done this in intro linguistics class or intro phonetics class, which is a very classic classroom activity, some people seem to be really comfortable jabbing right at their voice box, and I’m like, “Ooo, no, that’s, ugh.”

Keep reading

Lingthusiasm Episode 71: Various vocal fold vibes

Partway down your throat are two flaps of muscle. When you breathe normally, you pull the flaps away to the sides, and air comes out silently. But if you stretch the flaps across the opening of your throat while pushing air up through, you can make them vibrate in the breeze and produce all sorts of sounds – sort of like the mucousy reed of a giant meat clarinet. (You’re welcome.)

In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about the vocal folds! They’re often called vocal cords, but as they’re attached along the long side rather than just the two ends like a guitar string, we’re using the more precise “folds” (just be thankful they’re not called “vocal flaps”!) We talk about the many cool types of vibrations you can make with your vocal folds: pushing out an extra puff of air (aspiration), turning off your vocal folds while still talking (whisper), making them high and tight (falsetto), low and airy (breathy voice), and low and crackly (creaky voice, aka vocal fry). We also talk about the ways that various languages draw on different configurations of these vibrations to distinguish between words (such as “sip” and “zip”; Thai, Tai, and Dai; and more) or for stylistic effect (such as newscaster voice).

Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice or read the transcript here.

Announcements:

We’ve teamed up with linguist/artist Lucy Maddox to create a fun, minimalist version of the classic International Phonetic Alphabet chart, which you can see here (plus more info about how we put together the design). It looks really cool, and it’s also a practical reference tool that you can carry around with you in a convenient multi-purpose format: lens cloths!

We’re going to place ONE (1) massive order for aesthetic IPA chart lens cloths on October 6, 2022. If you want one, be a patron at the Lingthusiast tier or higher on October 5th, 2022, timezone: anywhere in the world. If you’re already a patron at that tier, then you’re set! (That’s the tier where you also get bonus episodes and the Discord access, we’ve never run a special offer at this tier before but we think this time it’ll be worth it!).

In this month’s bonus episode we get enthusiastic about a forgotten gem of a linguistics paper about a rabbit! We talk about how Linguistics Twitter got excited about tracking down this paper based on a vague rumour, Labov’s history of coming up with unique ways to record language in more natural environments, and useful takeaways about how to talk with children.

Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 60+ other bonus episodes, including an upcoming episode where we interview the artist and linguist Lucy Maddox about the process of designing our new IPA chart. You’ll also get access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds, as well your exclusive IPA chart lense cloth!

Here are the links mentioned in this episode:

• Laryngeoscope examples (warning: kinda gross videos of what the vocal folds look like from the inside!) - Glottal opera and more straightforward video
• Electroglottography (EGG)
  
• Phonetics - Constants: Crash Course Linguistics #8 (animated meat clarinet!)
• Language Log post on Nationality, Gender and Pitch
• Lingthusiasm Episode ‘A Fun-Filled Fricative Field Trip’
• The Two Ronnies - Four Candles skit
• Stops in Western Armenian
• Lingthusiasm Episode ‘When nothing means something’
• Wikipedia entry for Thai
• Examples of languages with multiple voicing contrasts
  
• All Things Linguistic post on stops in Korean
• Wikipedia entry for Sanskrit Consonants
• Wikipedia entry for Hindustani Phonology
• Wikipedia entry for Breathy Voice
• Wikipedia entry for Creaky Voice
• Omniglot entry for Jalapa Mazatec
• Wikipedia entry for Jalapa Mazatec Vowels

You can listen to this episode via Lingthusiasm.com, Soundcloud, RSS, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download an mp3 via the Soundcloud page for offline listening. To receive an email whenever a new episode drops, sign up for the Lingthusiasm mailing list.

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Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com

Gretchen is on Twitter as @GretchenAMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic.

Lauren is on Twitter as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our senior producer is Claire Gawne, our production editor is Sarah Dopierala, our production assistant is Martha Tsutsui Billins, and our production manager is Liz McCullough. Our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles.

This episode of Lingthusiasm is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license (CC 4.0 BY-NC-SA).