5. Producing "Ha" Sounds
・ Pronunciation of "ha"
"Ha" sounds are phonetically classified as laryngeal fricative. In other words, unlike other sounds , they do not involve articulation. Articulation involves a narrow space to produce a sound . "Ka," for example, is pronounced by letting the tongue come into contact with the palate and narrowing the space between . The "ha" sound is generated by leaving the vocal cords open or slightly narrowing them to let air flow violently through. It is, indeed, a voiceless sound.
In Japanese, it is pronounced as "haa," adding an "a" sound to it.
During esophageal speech, the amount of air taken into the esophagus is 150 - 200 ml the most. Therefore, even when abdominal pressure is fully applied, the pressure of air that flows back within the esophagus is weaker than that in regular phonation (Editors note: "Phonation" is, strictly speaking, the "utterance of sound by means of the vocal cords, "which are removed in a laryngectomy.) This makes it difficult pronounce "haa." For this reason, only the vowels are heard, such as "a" for "ha," "i" for "hi," "u" for "fu," etc. Likewise, "hana" is heard as "ana", "hato" as "ato," "hechima" as "echima," and "hokori" as "okori."
