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Ventriloquism

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Tuesday, September 5, 2000, 21:08
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?

--
There is / one art                   || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
no more / no less                    || http://www.reutershealth.com
to do / all things                   || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
with art- / lessness                 \\ -- Piet Hein