Reexamining Glottalization and Health in Voice and Speech Pedagogy

Abstract

ABSTRACTThroaty speech sounds like glottal stops, creaky voice, and epiglottal stops are phonemic speech sounds found in various languages cross-linguistically, yet voice and speech literature has historically associated such sounds with poor vocal technique, vocal misuse, and/or vocal abuse. Currently, there is no clear evidence to support the notion that speech sounds which serve as realizations of phonemes in one language are unhealthy when used prosodically in another. Speech sounds targeted (both historically and contemporarily) for reduction and removal from speech patterns for supposed health concerns in English-speaking voice training tend to be the same speech sounds which are targeted as socially undesirable compared with standardized accents of English. Critical examination of cross-linguistic evidence, social context, and previous historical assumptions are necessary to challenge the classification of a speech sound as poor technique or vocal misuse/abuse.KEYWORDS: Glottal stopglottal attackcreaky voicevocal frycross-linguisticvoice and speech pedagogyvoice care AcknowledgmentsSpecial thanks to Juliette Blevins, my thesis advisor at the CUNY Graduate Center. Thank you Juliette for all your support in my graduate education, research, and thesis writing.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Completed in partial fulfillment of my degree in linguistics from the CUNY Graduate Center.2. Thank you to Jason Bishop for suggesting Grice et al (Citation2023) for a comprehensive definition of prosody. Thank you to my anonymous reviewer for suggesting clarification on the usage of the term prosody in this article.3. Some languages in this list have three contrastive phonation types: modal, creaky, and breathy. See Gordon and Ladefoged (Citation2001) for more information on three-way contrastive phonation.4. “Tense” phonation is also attested in Haoni, Jingpho, Mpi, Wa, and Yi spoken in China and Thailand, while “stiff” phonation is attested in Bruu, spoken in Thailand and Laos (Gordon and Ladefoged Citation2001, 404–406).5. In Nuu-chah-nulth, Davidson categorizes the glottal and epiglottal stops as phonologically patterning with the ejectives because he finds the glottal constriction in the two phonemes to be more important in the phonological patterns than voicing contrast. For both sounds he affirms that they are phonetic stops (Davidson Citation2002, 9–10).6. While Alutor is also listed on PHOIBLE as having both glottal and epiglottal stops, I was unable to check the listed source due to a language barrier. PHOIBLE (Moran and McCloy Citation2019) lists their source as: Kibrik, Aleksandr Evgen’evic and Kodzasov, Sandro Vasil’evic and Murav’eva, Irina Anatol’evna. 2000. Jazyk i fol’klor aljutorcev. Moskva: IMLI RAN, “Nasledie”. 468pp. (Name d. 2. Verfassers auf Titelseite “Kodzasov”, auf d. letzten “Kodsakov”).7. Some contemporary pedagogies now use the terms “onset” and “offset” to describe initiation and cessation of airflow in place of attack (ie Bartlett Citation2014; Benson, Stover, and Snyder Citation2020).Additional informationNotes on contributorsDayle TowarnickyDayle Towarnicky is a voice, speech, accent, and somatics teaching artist. Currently, she is a Lecturer in the Theater Department of Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University and she previously taught at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Dayle holds an MA in linguistics from the CUNY Graduate Center and an MA in professional voice practice from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham City University. She is a Certified Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork and a Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner. Within VASTA, Dayle is a member of HealthCore and is interested in critical conversations about ideologies around speech, accent, and health.