Query Details

Query Subject:	Speaking without teeth
Author:	Mai Kuha
Submitter Email:	click here to access email

Linguistic LingField(s):	Phonetics Phonology

Query:	I have a cartoon that shows a man at a cinema holding in his hand his false teeth, which are stuck together with candy. He is saying to a companion: ''Yesh, yesh, sho jujubeesh were a loushy choish.'' I'm wondering whether I can have my intro to linguistics students discuss the cartoonist's assumptions about how consonants are articulated. They can probably notice that the interdental fricative in ''the'' is correctly portrayed as being problematic, and question why alveolar fricatives are rendered as palatals. If the effect of teeth on speech sounds is much more complex than this, though, maybe I shouldn't bring this up in class. Could anyone enlighten me? I would also be interested in hearing about other portrayals of articulatory phonetics in pop culture that could be critiqued by beginning students. For instance, Bill Cosby has a routine about excessive anesthesia at a visit to the dentist, in which he complains (I think) ''My libidib is in my labadap''. It might be instructive and fun to consider whether numbness could really have this effect on bilabials. Thanks in advance. -Mai _____________________________________________ Mai Kuha mkuha@bsuvc.bsu.edu Department of English Ball State University
LL Issue:	11.207
Date posted:	30-Sep-2001
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