Doctoral Dissertation
Here you can access the manuscript in French and download it in PDF format, as well as find a short summary of my thesis and the composition of the defense jury.
Citation: Dehais-Underdown, A. (2023). Étude phonétique de la production du Human Beatbox : Approche articulatoire, aérodynamique et acoustique (Doctoral Dissertation). Université Sorbonne Nouvelle.
Abstract
Before being a subject of scientific study, Human Beatboxing (HBB) is above all a musical practice. Beatboxers use their vocal tract to produce musical sounds : drum sounds, wind or string instruments, electronic music, and more. How is beatboxing produced ? What are the capacities of the human vocal tract ? Is there a connection between beatboxing and speech production? This thesis attempts to provide elements for discussion on these questions. Based on articulatory, aerodynamic, and acoustic data, we present an analysis of beatboxing production at different tempo (90, 120, 150 beats per minute). Our results show that subjects use similar production mechanisms to those found in linguistic systems. However, they combine a greater number of different mechanisms. Beatboxing possesses the properties of a discrete combinatorial system (Proctor et al., 2013). The results on tempo effects suggest that individual strategies for temporal reorganization of gestures are similar to the strategies proposed by Byrd et Tan (1996). Indeed, subjects modified the duration of gestures and the intervals between gestures. Coordination constraints between initiation and articulation gestures were observed for two subjects. Beatboxing offers a different perspective on phonetics, allowing for the update of its theoretical framework and a shift from a purely linguistic approach to an anthropophonic approach (Catford, 1977 ; Lindblom, 1990) of phonetic phenomena.
Keywords : Human Beatboxing, Phonetics, Articulation, Aerodynamics, Acoustics, Tempo
Soutenance
Title : Étude phonétique de la production du Human Beatbox : Approche articulatoire, aérodynamique et acoustique
Co-supervision : Professeur Didier Demolin et Docteur Lise Crevier-Buchman
Defended on : September 8th of 2023 at 16h
at : l’Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
Jury :
- Madame Alice TURK (Rapporteure), Professeure, Université d’Edimbourg
- Monsieur Yves LAPRIE (Rapporteur), Directeur de Recherche CNRS, Université de Lorraine, Nancy
- Monsieur Bryan GICK (Examinateur), Professeur, University of British Columbia (en visioconférence)
- Monsieur John KINGSTON (Examinateur), Professeur, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (en visioconférence)
- Madame Claire PILLOT-LOISEAU (Examinatrice), Professeure, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
- Madame Lise CREVIER-BUCHMAN (Co-Directrice), Chargée de Recherche HDR CNRS, Hôpital Foch, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
- Monsieur Didier DEMOLIN (Co-Directeur), Professeur émérite, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
President of the jury : Madame Claire PILLOT-LOISEAU, Professeure, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle