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Currently On Hiatus: Please Enjoy A New Reader Question Every Weekday!

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Umh, I’m not sure that that puts the underlying question to rest, Kory … does that mean that whenever “bird people” switch to their fully human form, they have to switch their speech to a totally different hardware setup (syrinx to larynx), too? I’d guess that that takes a lot of (post-getting-medaillon) training to master … 8-o

Medallionscare not a physical transformation, they are an illusion. That illusion facilitates creatures without the ability to talk to talk (magic), but it doesn’t actually change their anatomy and biolgy.

Hmmmm … so when Jim speaks in full human disguise, he actually does and feels like using his syrinx? (And Tony, supposedly having had a physical transformation, got lucky to be the sort of a bird person not having a syrinx he otherwise would still struggle to adapt to?) But then how do unturned and unknowing “bird people” fail to take note themselves that that’s not a larynx they’re using to speak?

Do you as a human being notice you,’re using your larynx, or do you just talk?

They’re probably the kids that do wicked impressions at school and people just assume they’re talented.

Do you as a human being notice you’re using your larynx

Yes!

In my own hearing, I can drown out even a rather loud person with my normal voice.
I do not really recognize my own voice when it’s played back to me.
(Both have to do with a larynx sitting much closer to the head, and one’s own voice thus arriving at the inner ears as structure-borne sound, rather than through the air.)
I can not do the trick Jim demonstrates above and speak with my mouth blocked.
I can actually use my hand to feel the vibration of my voice at my Adam’s apple, not on my upper chest, where a syrinx would be placed.
My voice went through a marked puberty change, and can fail when I have a cold (as vocal cords are easier to disable than the larger membranes of a syrinx).

I searched “starling talking” in youtube, and the first response’s weird beak movements looked like bad dubbing (though the throat feathers picked up the slack), and I suspect its human is a Starwars fan – its R2D2 impression is perfect.

Now, the fun one would be passerine-based folks (like the lyrebird)

The two sides of the syrinx can operate -independently-, which means they can mix vocalizations. Can you imagine one doing a duet solo?

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