Donald Duck talk explained

Buccal speech is an alaryngeal form of vocalization which uses the inner cheek to produce sound rather than the larynx.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} The speech is also known as Donald Duck talk, after the Disney character Donald Duck.^{[5] [6]}

Despite the association, Donald Duck's current voice actor Tony Anselmo reveals that buccal speech isn't how the character's voice is created: "Most people believe Donald's voice is created by squeezing air through the cheek. I can’t reveal how it’s actually done, but it is definitely not by squeezing air through your cheek. The Hanna Barbara character Yakky Doodle is done that way. Donald Duck is not."^[7]

Production

Buccal speech is created with one of the buccal or cheek sides of the vocal tract. Both the air chamber and the replacement glottis are formed between the cheek and upper jaw. Buccal speech is produced when a person creates an airbubble between the cheek and the jaw on one side and then uses muscular action to drive the air through a small gap between or behind the teeth into the mouth. The sound so produced makes a high rough sound. This then is articulated to make speech.^{[1] [2]} The speech sounds made in this way are difficult to hear and have a raised pitch. The technique can also be used to sing,^[1] and is usually acquired as a taught or self-learned skill and used for entertainment.

Other cases

• Donald Duck–like speech is described to occur after pseudobulbar dysarthria in which speech gains a high-pitched "strangulated" quality.^{[8] [9] [10]}
• Donald Duck speech effect is described (usually as an undesired phenomenon) in audio engineering when speech is time compressed, rate controlled, or accelerated.^[11]
• The term is sometimes also used to refer to the frequency-shifted speech from an improperly tuned single-sideband modulation (SSB) radiotelephone receiver, or the (nearly unintelligible) sound of a SSB signal on a conventional amplitude modulation (AM) receiver.^[12]
• A high pitched nasal voice resembling Donald Duck is sometimes noted in individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome.^[13]

See also

• Disco Duck
• Esophageal speech
• Phonation
• Vocal extended technique
• Overtone singing
• Ventriloquism
• Beatboxing
• Circular breathing
• Whistling

External links

• Donald Duck--What's My Line Clarence C. Nash can be seen in this 12 December 1954 episode making his Donald Duck talk briefly at 7.01-03, 7.18, and 7.20
• (Part 1/2), (Part 2/2) Interview with Tony Anselmo

Notes and References

1. Weinberg . Bernd . Westerhouse . Jan . 1971 . A Study of Buccal Speech . Journal of Speech and Hearing Research . American Speech Language Hearing Association . 14 . 3 . 652–658 . 10.1044/jshr.1403.652 . 0022-4685 . 5163900. also published as the abstract: Weinberg . B. . Westerhouse . J. . 1972 . A Study of Buccal Speech . The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America . Acoustical Society of America (ASA) . 51 . 1A . 91 . 1972ASAJ...51Q..91W . 10.1121/1.1981697 . 0001-4966 . free.
2. Van Gilse . P. H. G. . Another Method of Speech without Larynx . Acta Oto-Laryngologica . Informa UK Limited . 36 . sup78 . 1948 . 0001-6489 . 10.3109/00016484809122642 . 109–110.
3. Book: Diedrich . W. M.. Youngstrom . K. A.. 1966. Alaryngeal Speech. Springfield, Ill. Thomas. 347249.
4. Weinberg . B. . Acoustical Properties of Alaryngeal Speech . The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America . Acoustical Society of America (ASA) . 52 . 1A . 1972 . 0001-4966 . 10.1121/1.1981983 . 158. 1972ASAJ...52..158W . free .
5. Book: Bleile, Ken . Manual of articulation and phonological disorders : infancy through adulthood . Thomson/Delmar Learning . Clifton Park, NY . 2004 . 978-0-7693-0256-0 . 53369270 . 67.
6. Smith, B. L. (1994). "Speech production, Atypical aspects," pp. 4221–4231 in The encyclopedia of language and linguistics. Ed. R. E. Asher. Oxford: Pergamon Press. .
7. Web site: Uncovering Donald Duck's Official Voice, Tony Anselmo. LatestLY. Jan 29, 2022. Nov 6, 2023.
8. Mihailoff, G. A., Briar, C. (2005). Nervous System. Elsevier Health Sciences., page 200.
9. Bornales, D. P. Mental Status Exam and Cranial Nerves
10. Wills . Adrian . How to perform a neurological examination . Medicine . Elsevier BV . 36 . 10 . 2008 . 1357-3039 . 10.1016/j.mpmed.2008.07.008 . 515–519.
11. Kemp, J. E. (1975). Planning and producing audiovisual materials Crowell., page 160.
12. Web site: What Is Single Sideband.
13. Couper . R. T. . Couper . J. J. . Prader-Willi syndrome . Lancet . 356 . 9230 . 673–5 . 2000 . 10968453 . 10.1016/S0140-6736(00)02617-9. 7230778 .