Re: Phonemic volume

Ian Maxwell wrote:
>Christophe Grandsire wrote:
>>En réponse à Ian Maxwell <umlaut@...>:
>>
>>
>>>Hey, does anyone know of any languages that actually have phonemic
>>>volume distinctions?
>>
>>
>>Any language with phonemic stress accent not accompanied with vowel
>>reduction :)))) .
>
>Heh. Technically true, while not at all what I was talking about.
>
>In an attempt to increase the number of possible words in my
>monosyllabic-word isolating language, I thought I'd include a
>piano-vs-forte phonemic distinction, so that, say, /p. zén/ "day" would
>be a distinct word from /f. zén/ "rope". (This would be the "proper"
>pronunciation--it's not unlikely that some dialects would pronounce the
>two words identically, or perhaps use breathy voicing instead of piano
>or something.)
>
>I wouldn't be surprised to find that no natlang has volume this
>intrinsically a part of its phonology, as it isn't conducive to, say,
>shouting, or whispering.
You seem to be speaking of a lenis vs fortis distinction. Fortis sounds are
pronounced with more muscular tension than lenis once, and therefore sounds
stronger and "tenser".

Korean has a phonemic distinction between unvoiced unaspirate lenis and
voiced unaspirate fortis stops. It's the most important difference 'tween
/f/ (fortis) and /v/ lenis in (my) Swedish, and AFAICT in High German.

                                             Andreas

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