Re: Ventriloquism

On Tue, 5 Sep 2000, John Cowan wrote:

> In case anybody doesn't know, this is a species of stage magic.  The ventriloquist
> appears to conduct a conversation with a wooden dummy, playing both parts.
> When the dummy "speaks", the ventriloquist is using a modified phonology
> so that he can keep his mouth slightly open and not move his lips.
>
> In English, the phonological changes are: /m/ realized as [n], /p/ and /b/
> realized as [k] and [g], and /w/ realized as a back unrounded semivowel
> (don't know the IPA for this, could be inverted-m with a subscript breve).
>
> Do non-anglophone magicians do this act?  What phonological distortions do
> they use?
>
> Anybody have provisions for this in their conlangs?
Gosh, I wish I did, but I don't.  I don't know enough about how English
ventriloquism is accomplished to attempt it for a conlang.  I did see a
book on it in a library once and was curious, but bypassed it (as I
recall) in favor of a couple books on kinesics.  I'd love to hear how
others have provided for this, though!

Another thing--do people work on kinesics for concultures/conlangs?
Frex, I know in Korea the shrug (up-and-down of shoulders) doesn't mean
anything, though I educated a bunch of my relatives in its meaning.
<rueful look>  I remember reading Axtell's _Do's and Taboo's Around the
World_ or somesuch, which talked about differing kinesics, etc. by
country.  Mainly businessman-oriented, but very enlightening.

YHL