Between my channel surfing, I stumbled upon the OWN network where I thought Opera would grant me the serenity to binge watch the Shania Twain reality show, Why Not with Shania Twain. In the series, Shania preps for her, then, upcoming engagement at Caesar's Palace in Vegas and tries to find her voice. According to the series, she's lost her voice and been unable to sing for unknown reasons so she embarks on a journey to find her voice, her confidence, and her self.
In this episode, particularly around the 20 minute mark, Shania goes to a series of five vocal doctors and gets a better look at her windpipe and vocal cords. Ultimately she is diagnosed with dysphonia which is where the muscles around the throat apply pressure to the vocal box causing discomforting pressure and the inability to produce vocal sounds - something not desired by singers to say the least. I found it incredibly fascinating, as did Shania - hey girl!, that one set of vocal chords could and would require so many specialists. When you really think about the human body and the complexities within it I suppose it makes sense but something so minute and seemingly simple could require so many different doctors is astonishing.
So how does this all tie into linguistics? I guess the point I'm trying to make relates back to the first day of my linguistics class where my teacher, Dr. Walts, forced encouraged the class to try to make as many sounds as we could using only certain parts of our mouths, throat, and lungs. It was really interesting to break-down the way words are said and used in the English language and how much effort goes into the pronunciation of words. For Shania, the show allowed me to get a better look at the vocal chords and the system around them and how they move to make sounds. It's really interesting to see her try to sing and the vocal cords adjust to make the noises and notes.
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