Seven-Minute Explainers

Ep. 47: A phonological description of beatbox noises

Episode Summary

Your guide to impressing (and alarming) your beatbox-admiring friends

Episode Notes

Whenever people listen to a beatboxing expert, there are two big questions that come up: What are those noises? And how are they being made?

Linguistics to the rescue!

Even if you still can't reproduce the sounds, you will soon be able to talk about them in terms nearly as startling as the sounds themselves.