Nasality

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Nasality is a permanent and fundamental phenomenon of speaking. In phonetics , this term is understood to mean the involvement of the nasal cavity in the formation of sounds.

Scientific interest

In addition to phonetics (description of sounds and their formation mechanisms), various sciences show interest in this linguistic phenomenon:

Conceptual definition

In the research of the past few years, many terms were used for the same phenomenon, so that a definition of the concept has to be established by means of attribution .

Physiological nasality

The velum , together with the lateral and rear throat muscles, should be able to create an airtight seal between the nasal and pharynx (mesopharyngoconstriction) when oral sounds are formed. If the velum sinks and thus creates a velopharyngeal opening, (physiological) nasality develops, which is intrinsic to nasal sounds . It is not the air flow through the nose that is decisive, but rather the resonance of the air and soft tissues (such as the mucous membrane) in the nasal cavity - especially in the paranasal sinuses. Medicine, in particular, deals with the description of the degree of closure or opening, as diseases (e.g. insufficiencies ) can occur in this area . A large number of technical, objective processes currently exist and have been tried and tested that can provide information about the degree of opening and the flexibility of the velum - e.g. B. electromagnetic articulography , high-frequency video cinematography , video nasopharyngoscopy , rhinomanometry , transnasal flexible endoscopy , X-ray diagnostics / video fluoroscopy . In addition to the procedures mentioned, medical practice also makes use of nasometry . The nasalance values should primarily provide information about the velum function and the progress of the therapy in (postoperative) therapy (e.g. cleft lip and palate patients).

Phonological nasality

Phonological nasality describes the use of nasality to create differences in meaning in the utterances of a language. Germanic languages ​​such as German and English have only a small group of nasal consonants that have a phonological nasality: / m, n, N /.

See also:

In the group of vowels, other languages ​​have the criterion nasality as a differentiation of meanings (e.g. French). Numerous phonetic publications claim that there is no nasality in German vowels, but this has been refuted by the latest basic research.

Acoustic nasality

Acoustic nasality characterizes those signal properties that can be traced back to nasal sound. In the case of vowels, this includes a larger bandwidth of the first formant , the increase in intensity or the appearance of energy concentrations around 200–250 Hz, 500 Hz and 1000–1200 Hz. The acoustic nasality of the consonants can be seen very clearly in the sonagram through an abrupt drop in energy and the change in the formant structure compared to the adjacent vowels . Nasals also have a nasal formant FN1 around 250 Hz. Some speakers even have a mostly weak second formant in their nasals, but this can also be extinguished.

Auditory nasality

Auditory nasality refers to heard / perceived nasality.

Pathological nasality

Diagnosis

In diagnostics, the subjective auditory impression is used as a basic component. In addition to the general impression of spontaneous speech, especially combinations of nasals and plosives , as well as various vowels , consonants and their connections are assessed. There are standardized test sets especially in the Anglo-American language area. The Gutzmann test is based on the different closure of the velum for the vowels / a / (larger opening) and / i / (complete closure). With the Czermak plate, the nasal breakthroughs can be recorded semiquantitatively when speaking. The nasal balance is determined using an objective apparatus and is primarily used to assess the progress. In some regions of Germany, normal values ​​for nasalance have been determined. Organic diagnostics include an examination of the mouth and throat with assessment of the soft palate activity, the nasopharynx and the nose. The closure function of the velum is assessed fiberoptically by a transnasal endoscopy with determination of various closure patterns and closure with defined phonation. Radiological assessment using fluoroscopy is obsolete due to the high level of radiation exposure.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ W. Reuter et al.: Objective nasality measurement - determination of the normal threshold. In: M. Gross (Ed.): Current phoniatric-pedaudiological aspects. Volume 5, Median, Heidelberg 1998.

literature

  • Ramona Benkenstein: Comparison of objective methods for examining nasality in German. (= Hallesche Writings on Speech Science and Phonetics. 19). Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-631-56176-8 .
  • Walter Trenschel: Orality and nasality in standard German pronunciation. Attempts to record intranasal and oral sound intensity as well as their phonetic interpretation and discussion. Trier 1994, ISBN 3-88476-113-7 .
  • Marie K. Huffman, Rena A. Krakow: Nasal, Nazalization, and the Velum. New York 1993.
  • Jürgen Wendler, Wolfgang Seidner, Ulrich Eysholdt: Textbook of Phoniatry and Pedaudiology . 4th edition. Thieme-Verlag, Stuttgart 2005
  • RJ Baken: Clinical Measurement of Speech and Voice. College Hill Press, 1987, ISBN 0-316-07833-6 .