Dear all,
many thanks to the handful of usual suspects who emailed me or otherwise got in touch about simultaneous glottal activity and nostril flaring. It looks like a more or less 50/50 split (albeit with a sample <10), so maybe this is one of those tongue curling things that some can and some can't do.
On a serious note, sphinctering of the nostrils (if this is what this is) is an aquatic adaptation, so an ability to close glottis and nostrils simultaneously could be seen as a further piece of evidence in favour of the somewhat controversial Aquatic Ape Hypothesis, i.e. that humans have an aquatic stage in their evolutionary history. I don't know whether seals and polar bears close the glottis too when they close their nostrils, and camels can close the nostrils and they live in the desert, so proof it isn't, but intriguing nevertheless.
Anyone who has any ideas about an (ethical!) experimental methodology for inducing nareal sphinctering in a naive subject, please get in touch.
Mark
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dr Mark J. Jones
Temporary Lecturer in Phonetics
Department of Language & Communication Science
City University, London
[log in to unmask]
Share your photos with Windows Live Photos – Free. Try it Now!
