Definition

1. Noun:
   • A quality of the voice that is produced by nasal resonators: The characteristic of a sound, especially a speech sound, that is emitted through the nose, giving it a distinctive twang or resonance.

Usage

• Nasality is a term used in phonetics and voice studies to describe the acoustic quality resulting from the lowering of the velum (soft palate), which allows air to escape through the nasal cavity during speech or singing.
• It is often discussed in the context of accents, vocal training, speech therapy, and linguistics.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The singer's pronounced nasality gave her voice a unique, recognizable character.
  • Some regional accents are characterized by a distinctive nasality in certain vowel sounds.
  • The speech therapist worked with the client to reduce excessive nasality caused by a resonance disorder.

Advanced Usage

• Hypernasality: Excessive nasality, often associated with conditions like cleft palate or velopharyngeal insufficiency, where too much air escapes through the nose during speech.
  • Hypernasality can make speech difficult to understand.
• Hyponasality: Insufficient nasality, often due to nasal congestion or blockage, resulting in a "stuffy nose" sound, particularly affecting nasal consonants like /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/.
  • A common cold often causes temporary hyponasality.

Variants and Related Words

• Nasal (adj): Relating to the nose; (of a speech sound) produced with the velum lowered so that air escapes through the nose (e.g., the sounds /m/, /n/, /ŋ/).
  • The words 'sing' and 'man' contain nasal consonants.
• Nasalize (verb): To pronounce a sound with nasal resonance.
  • Some languages, like French, nasalize certain vowels.
• Nasalization (noun): The act or result of nasalizing a sound.
  • The nasalization of vowels is a key feature in Portuguese.

Synonyms

• Nasal resonance: The acoustic reinforcement of sound in the nasal cavities.
• Nasal twang: An informal term for a noticeably nasal quality in a voice or accent.

Related Phrases and Concepts

• Denasalization: The process of losing nasal quality, often in historical linguistics or due to a speech impediment.
• Cul-de-sac resonance: A type of undesirable nasality where sound is trapped in the nasal cavity, producing a muffled quality.

Noun

1. a quality of the voice that is produced by nasal resonators