Gargling

[Jeff Barnett]

A question occurred to me last night and this group, I thought, might be
a good place to enquire: Is gargling a taught or a discovered ability?
The topic also made me think about the glottal stop consonant. Are some
of the gestures or motions made with the stop the same or similar to
those for gargling? Any information or speculation would be appreciated.
--
Jeff Barnett

[Ross Clark]

I don't gargle much, and I don't know if I'm doing it right when I do.
I seem to remember being vaguely instructed how to do it when I was a
boy. You hold some liquid in your mouth, tilt your head back, and
produce voice (aaa...), which allows a small amount of air through which
agitates the liquid.

It's hard to find precise anatomical information on this. (Part of the
problem is the vagueness of the word "throat".) But this site may be of
some help:

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/632455/Watch-gargling-water-in-slow-motion

The question of interest is what stops the liquid from going down into
your stomach or your lungs. On another site, a professional singer
states that the liquid does not touch the vocal folds -- if it does,
those muscles will spasm, causing coughing or choking. (That's the real
job of the glottis -- to keep liquids or solids out of your lungs.) From
the site above, it appears that the uvula and pharyngeal muscles do most
of the work -- probably with a little help from the airstream from below.

So I don't think the glottal stop has any relation to it. Speakers of
any language can make glottal stops, and glottal fricatives (h), as well
as the very tricky articulation of voice. It's possible that people who
speak languages featuring uvular or pharyngeal consonants might have
slightly better control of those muscles, making them more proficient
garglers. But I don't know of any studies, and I wouldn't expect an
important difference.

[Jeff Barnett]

Thank you for responding. Good information.
--
Jeff Barnett

[wugi]

Op 16/07/2022 om 5:07 schreef Jeff Barnett:

To add a bit to what Ross answered:

With the glottal stop you close the respiratory tract. You can try doing
that and at the same time swallow something from in your mouth into your
stomach. Shutting respiration is a condition for swallowing.

When gargling you've opened the respiratory tract, through the mouth.
You couldn't then possibly swallow something into the stomach. Even when
gargling "in reverse", breathing in, when trying to swallow, it will
enter the respiratory system.

So no, gargling has nothing to do with glottal stop.

--
guido wugi

[Daud Deden]

Gargle Gurgle Google!

Gargling pushes air ( through liquid ) while vocalizing,
glottal stop halts air momentarily during vocalizing.