Re: Alternation of Airstream

On Thu, 20 Oct 2005, veritosproject wrote:
> Yet another of my odd ideas (the previous was the sign-language as
> vocal language concept).  I was thinking of having an alternating
> airstream, so you speak as you both exhale _and_ inhale.  In this way,
> you could breathe without pausing.  Sure, it sounds weird (eigh
> mhhhidd yee-elp = I need help), but would it be the slightest bit
> feasible?
David J. Peterson replied:
> According to Jack Black, yes.  This is called using ingressive air,
> and it certainly can be done (go ahead, try it), but no language
> uses it productively (that is, for the whole utterance, rather than
> just implosives).  John Ohala said he heard a rumor that in Ireland,
> young male Irish suitors would use ingressive air when they were
> trying to woo their sweethearts at their window by moonlight,
> as not to be heard by their fathers.
Tim May replied to David J. Peterson:
> The point is less that it isn't used for a whole utterance, than that
> no language has ingressive _pulmonic_ phonemes.  That is, initiated by
> inhalation into the lungs.  Implosives and clicks are ingressive
> sounds, but the initiation is glottal or velar respectively.
David J. Peterson replied to Tim May:
I knew I was missing a word there!  I just couldn't remember it.  :(
Anyway, yes, the Irish suitors are alleged to have used ingressive
pulmonic air.  And the Jack Black joke (on the popular Tenacious
D album) is what he calls "in singing", so that you can sing even
while you're breathing in.

According to our next-door neighbour when I was a kid, this is
definitely possible.  Mrs Beechey had a lovely singing voice, and
sometimes I'd duck outside to hear her songs as she walked
around the yard doing her work.  My Mum, on the other hand,
very much avoided going out that side of the house when she
heard the neighbour there, so as not to get caught up in an
endless gossip session over the fence.  Well, I call it gossip,
but it was really an extended monologue ... Mrs Beechey would
come to the end of an utterance, and to prevent anyone
interrupting her by as much as a single word, would immediately
start her next sentence on an indrawn breath.  I stood and
watched, fascinated, on one occasion when Mum was trapped
by politeness, listening to Mrs Beechey suck in air as she said:
"And do you know...",  "So I told him ..."; what a masterly
performance!  You should try it to see what I mean.  I did ... :-)

Years later, when I learnt about the circular breathing used
by players on the didgeridoo, I thought: what a pity poor Mrs
Beechey didn't know this technique.

But I never heard her "in singing".

Regards,
Yahya



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