Re: /p/ versus devoiced b?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Constructed Languages List [mailto:CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU]On
> Behalf Of E-Ching Ng
> Sent: Sunday, 28 January, 2001 1:25 AM
> To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
> Subject: Re: /p/ versus devoiced b?
> Imperative wrote:
> >Why is it that /p/ and devoiced /b/ sound slightly different? I recall
> >reading somewhere that it has something to do with fortis and lenis
> >voiceless (or I could be mistaken?)
>
> We should ask Yoon Ha.  Korean has a three way contrast between voiceless
> stops: aspirated, unaspirated, and fortis.  Is the devoiced /b/ the fortis
> stop?
[If I get this wrong YHL, kick me.]

I think of the plain consonants p, t, c, k as b, d, j, g which become
devoiced in initial and final positions. (And final c becomes t.) This is
because if I think of these consonants as p, t, c, k, then I tend to
aspirate them. Consequence of being a native English speaker (we pronounce
the t's in "stop" and "top" differently after all).

> The three Korean grad students in my phonetics class told us that fortis
> stops were produced by stiffening the vocalis folds so that there was no
> vibration in the larynx.  This made things as clear as mud to me.  There
> were slightly audible differences between individual unaspirated
> and fortis
> pairs which they produced for us, but I could never generalise the
> difference and recognise what made them different.
And I still can't figure out what is meant by "glottalized" for the
consonants pp, tt, ss, cc, kk. I just cheat and pronounce them ejectives
like in Amharic, Georgian and Navajo, but that's probably not the correct
way. Every description of Korean phonology just mentions "glottal tension",
which automatically ends up being ejective for me.

For the same reason I think of the plain consonats as being "voiced".


_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com