Robert Eklund’s Ingressive Phonation & Speech Page |
Updated: 13 October 2017 |
This page is devoted to pulmonic ingressive phonation/speech, i.e. sounds produced on pulmonic (lung) airstream. This page is constantly updated as new sources appear. Most of what I have found out about ingressive so far is accounted for in the journal article published in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association (JIPA) listed below. Section 3 below accompanies the JIPA article (2008), and besides sounds files that correspond to the eleven spectrograms in the JIPA paper, a contents list is provided in order to provide a general overview of what the paper covers. Contributions are encouraged and welcome. |
Index |
|
||
01 Introduction 02 Distribution 03 JIPA companion 04 Sound files – Humans 05 Sound files – Animals 06 Own publications and presentations 07 Radio interviews 08 Bibliography 09 Contact 10 Robert Eklund’s homepage |
01 Introduction |
Pulmonic ingressive speech is when speakers produce language – sounds, single words, or even entire phrases – while breathing in. A common notion is that this is typically Scandinavian, but after spent eight years perusing approximately 500 works that mention ingressive speech, and span from 1657 to the present day, another picture emerges. Ingressive phonation has been used as a deliberate means of speech or sound production for hundreds of years in order to achieve specific effects, and it is still used for the same purposes, by e.g. shamans and ventriloquists. In normal spoken and spontaneous conversation – contrary to what is often claimed – present-day ingressive speech is not limited to Scandinavia or Nordic languages, but is instead found on all continents, in genetically unrelated languages. Where ingressive speech occurs, it serves more or less the same paralinguistic functions, such as a feedback marker in a dialog. Since pulmonic ingressive phonation is also common in the calls of monkeys and apes, thus exhibiting a biological basis, Eklund (2007; [47] below) suggests that ingressive speech might constitute a neglected universal phenomenon, rather than being “highly marked”, which is how it is commonly described in the literature. |
02 Distribution |
The map below — taken from Eklund (2007, p. 23; see below) — shows the distribution of ingressive speech in the world. New sources are constantly being found, so the map will change over time to include new countries and regions. Basic map template created by and courtesy of Ljuba Veselinova, Stockholm University, Sweden. Click on the map for a high-resolution version. Most recent update: 22 July 2015. |
Legend
|
|
|
Ingressive phonation mentioned, for e.g., pain or surprise. |
|
Paralinguistic sounds used, e.g., Japanese hiss. |
|
Single words are pronounced ingressively, e.g., Swedish “ja”, “jadå”. |
|
Entire phrases are produced ingressively, e.g., Argentine Spanish “un trabajo matador”. |
|
Star symbol used for areas too small to be filled in (e.g., Malta, Vanuatu, Faroe Islands). |
|
Sources unclear/not explicit whether entire country/region is implied. |
03 JIPA companion |
This section accompanies the 2008 JIPA article, i.e. publication [49]. Basically, it provides the sound files that correspond to the eleven spectrograms in the paper, and also includes a contents list of the paper – which is not part of the paper proper. |
Contents |
---|
A contents list can be downloaded here: [pdf] |
Errata |
---|
One minor typo in the paper has been found, on page 282, second printing line: |
Now reads: |
Elert (1989) for Spanish; and Sandra Clarke (p.c.) for Swedish. |
Should read: |
for Spanish; and Elert (1989) and Sandra Clarke (p.c.) for Swedish. |
Figures |
---|
Below are the figures that appear in the JIPA paper, and the sound files that are the basis for the spectrograms. The linguistic items that are produced ingressively are marked with a red font. |
Figure 1a – Swedish male (same as 1b) |
Figure 1b – Swedish male (same as 1a) |
ja |
ja |
Figure 2a – Swedish male (same as 2b) |
Figure 2b – Swedish male (same as 2b) |
ja |
ja |
Figure 3 – Swedish female |
Figure 4 – Swedish female |
mm mm |
nej nej |
Figure 5a – Swedish male child (same as 5b) |
Figure 5b – Swedish male child (same as 5a) |
ja gör det |
mm gör det |
Figure 6 – Faroese female |
|
|
|
eh eg veit ikki |
Figure 7a – Scottish English female |
Figure 7b – Scottish English male |
aye aye it wasn’a bad |
aye aye I ken |
04 Sound files – Humans |
Here are a couple of sound files that include ingressive affirmations, the Swedish word “ja” (yes). Please click on the spectrogram images for larger and clearer versions (open in new browser window/tab). I intend to put sound samples from other languages here in the near future. Thanks to my former colleague Annika Voss for allowing me to use these sound files (that were recorded for completely different reasons). |
Ska egentligen nåt annat komma där sen ja |
Jamen då tar vi om den ja |
05 Sound files – Animals |
This section is a condensed version of my research on purring and ingressive phonation in felids and other mammals.
For full versions, with audio and video files, as well as a full bibliography, please see either
http://purring.org
or
Wildlife Research page.
|
Pulmonic ingressive phonation is not exclusively used by humans but is encountered in the phonation of many animals, as
observed by e.g. Charles Darwin in 1872, and Charles Robin Segond (1848) lists dogs, foxes, cats, horses,
donkeys and birds, for example. It has also been pointed out that frog calls and several monkey and ape calls make use
of ingressive phonation (see 3.2 in my JIPA paper).
|
Peters, Gustav. 2002. Purring and similar vocalizations in mammals Mammal Review, volume 3, issue 4, pp. 245–271 [Link] Peters, Gustav & Barbara A. Tonkin-Leyhausen. 1999. Evolution of Acoustic Communication Signals of Mammals: Friendly Close-Range Vocalizations in Felidae (Carnivora) Journal of Mammalian Evolution, volume 6, no. 2, pp. 129–159 [Link] |
Purring |
---|
The term ‘purring’ has been used liberally in the mammal vocalization literature, and an exhaustive review is
given in Peters (2002). Using a definition of purring that continuous sound production must alternate between
pulmonic egressive and ingressive airstream (and usually go on for minutes), Peters (2002) reached the conclusion that
until then only ‘purring cats’ (Felidae) and two species of genets (Viverridae sensu stricto), Genetta tigrina,
and most likely also Genetta genetta, had been documented to purr.
|
Purring cheetahs, serval, domestic cats and genet |
---|
Audio and video files of purring animals are found at: http://purring.org |
Leopard sawing |
---|
While the leopard (Panthera pardus) does not purr (no roaring cats purr) it still produces sounds that are made partly on ingressive airstream, including the so-called “sawing” sound. |
Sawing leopard
[mp3] |
---|
Recording provided by |
Nota bene! |
06 Own publications and presentations |
Here are my own publications on ingressive speech. The numbering is the same as the one found on
Robert Eklund’s homepage
(click on Publications). |
[73] |
Eklund, Robert 2015. |
[68] |
Eklund, Robert & Gustav Peters. 2013. |
[60] |
Eklund, Robert, Gustav Peters, Florian Weise & Stuart Munro. 2012. |
[57] |
Schötz, Susanne & Robert Eklund. 2011. |
[52] |
Eklund, Robert, Gustav Peters & Elizabeth D. Duthie. 2010. |
[49] |
Eklund, Robert. 2008. |
[48] |
Eklund, Robert. 2007. |
[–] |
Från oraklet i Delfi, via (andra) shamaner och engastromyther, till
norrländska dammsugare. En exposé över tal på inandningsluft. |
[41] |
Eklund, Robert. 2002. |
07 Radio interviews |
Språkteigen (Norwegian radio) |
---|
I appeared on the Norwegian public broadcasting program Språkteigen on Sunday, 6 September 2009,
where the program hostess Gøril Grov Sørdal interviewed me about ingressive speech, evidently
believed by Norwegians to be a typical Norwegian phenomenon (see Swedish below). The interview can be downloaded
below. (Nota bene! Gøril speaks Norwegian, and I speak Swedish; the languages are sort of mutually
understandable.) |
Språkteigen, 6 September 2009. (3.5 MB, 7:31 minutes.) |
Språket (Swedish radio) |
---|
I appeared on the Swedish public broadcasting program Språket (“The Language”) on Tuesday,
31 October 2006, where the program hostess Anna Lena Ringarp interviewed me about ingressive speech,
believed by most Swedes to be a very Swedish phenomenon. “My” part of the program can downloaded
below. I suffered from a tremendous cold at the time, but I still think I can be understood (provided you know
Swedish, of course). |
Språket, 31 October 2006. (4.9 MB, 10:25 minutes.) |
08 Bibliography |
The JIPA paper includes an extensive set of references (c. 480 entries) to works that treat ingressive phonation and speech from a wide variety of angles, beginning with Van Helmont (1657). |
09 Contact |
For comments, inquiries, submissions etc., please send an email to |
10 Robert Eklund’s homepage |
Click on the button below to go to Robert Eklund’s Home Page. |