Nasality

Nasality refers to the quality of speech characterized by an excessive amount of sound resonating in the nasal cavity. This can manifest as a twangy or muffled tone, often resulting from improper velopharyngeal closure – the mechanism that regulates airflow between the nasal and oral cavities. nasality can be a normal variation in some dialects or languages, but it can also indicate a speech disorder, such as cleft palate or velopharyngeal insufficiency. The degree of nasality can range from mild to severe, impacting speech intelligibility and perceived vocal quality. Factors like anatomy, muscle control, and learned speech patterns all play a role.

Nasality meaning with examples

• The singer's untrained voice exhibited significant nasality, making it difficult to understand some of the lyrics. She needed to work on opening her mouth more and directing the sound forward rather than resonating it so much in her nose. Her coach focused on techniques to reduce the nasal quality of her tone.
• During his speech, the politician's pronounced nasality gave him a folksy, almost distracting, vocal quality. While the audience was meant to like this, his nasality made him sound more unprofessional and less commanding, possibly undermining his message, thus, his communication suffered.
• After the surgery, the patient's speech still had a residual nasality that the speech therapist aimed to address with exercises. Their efforts included exercises to strengthen the soft palate and improve oral airflow. Further improvements would be expected with practice, however.
• The character's nasality in the animated film was exaggerated to emphasize their naive and innocent personality. It served as a defining characteristic of their on-screen presence. This nasality was specifically added to show the characters youth.
• Studying the regional accents revealed the varying degrees of nasality present in different dialects. Some regions favored more nasal sounds, which the study showed was based on speech patterns and geographical influences within that area.