In the first post we briefly paid attention to listening, which allows us to distinguish between one language and another and, very often, whether the person speaking to us is a native speaker of that language or not...
But there is a reason why it is called language (“LINGUA”) : the sounds of language are created largely thanks to the articulation between the various parts of the tongue (“LINGUA”), the lips, the teeth, the hard and soft palate.
If we want to "speak well, pronounce well" a language, whether an ours by birth or a foreign, it is as if we wanted to play an instrument. Would we play the piano with boxing gloves? Would we type on a wind instrument a little randomly here and there?
So a person, especially a professional in speaking or singing, must monitor the health of his/her tongue and the structures of the oral cavity, check whether they are capable of managing the complex movements (praxias) of the lips and tongue naturally, in order to obtain the desired sounds or correct poorly executed ones.
There are small yellow traffic lights in the event of poor management of "phono-articulatory" movements: fragments of badly chewed food remaining in the mouth, small losses of saliva, especially at the corners of the lips, air leakage from badly addressed dental arches, tip of the tongue pushing, which gets in between the teeth, easy speech fatigue, pain in the portion under or on the sides of the chin during a lesson or after a reharsal, sense of constriction in the throat, voice that chokes, that breaks… These and many others are indicators of incomplete mastery of the lingual movements and the structures of the oral cavity, which will prevent us from ergonomically acquiring the vocal activity that we aim for.
Let's get checked: by the phoniatrician, the speech therapist, the stomatologist.
Let's habit to have a check-up from childhood, from the first teeth, in particular before, during and after the use of orthodontic devices or beginning to study wind instruments or in case of voice and pronunciation problems.
Early corrections can provide lasting benefits, not only in children but also in adults.
And, last but not least, they allow you to monitor oral diseases, even serious ones.
As explained by Prof. Mignogna (head of the U.O.C. of Oral Medicine of the A.O.U Federico II, since 2019 president of the Italian Society of Pathology and Oral Medicine (SIPMO) and since 2023 of the European Society of Oral Medicine (EAOM)) "we have had an increase in tumors of the oral cavity in young people, individuals between the pediatric age and 45 years of age. The incidence has gone from around 5% in 2013 to over 11%, which is the percentage reported in the literature in 2022. These subjects are not smokers, they are not drinkers, they have not contracted HPV (human papilloma virus ) and, in summary, do not present the classic risk factors for oral cancer. In over 90% of cases, the tumor affects them in a specific area of the oral cavity, which is the lingual margin, and over time, relapses can always occur in the same point. This is unusual data for oral cancer."
A serious hidden and increasing danger.
If you don't pronounce well, get checked!