Re: help! phonology...

On Mon, 23 Oct 2000, I wrote:

> if there is a voiceless stop missing, it is usually labial; if there
> is a voiced stop missing, it is usually velar. There are interesting
> articulatory reasons for this, which I'll spare you for fear of boring
> the already overloaded list.
Then Yoon Ha replied:

> <deep sigh of relief>  If you have time and the inclination, would it be
> possible for you to refer me to a place where I can find the reasons, in
> an off-list message?  I've been reading _An Introduction to Phonology_
> and haunting that phonology-online website so this stuff becomes more
> concrete, but a lot of it is still rather mysterious to me.
Followed closely by T:

On Mon, 23 Oct 2000, H. S. Teoh wrote:
>
> Hey, I want to know the reasons! :-P I'm a little weak in
> phonetics/phonology so I want to learn more :-)
Morris Halle is reported to have said, "One example is an exception;
two examples are a robust generalization." So since two people have
asked, I'll assume that more want to know :-).

Okay. Voicing is the periodic vibration of the vocal folds. The vocal
folds will vibrate when air rushes past them. Air will rush past the
vocal folds when the air pressure below the glottis exceeds that above
the glottis. In the production of a stop, the oral cavity is
completely sealed. This seal means that the pressure differential will
quickly equalize. When this happens, voicing stops, since there is no
air rushing past the vocal folds. It will take slightly longer to
equalize pressure above the glottis with labial closure than with
velar closure, since there is a larger volume with labial closure than
with velar closure and therefore more room for incoming air. This
means that there is a longer voicing period with labials than with
velars. This longer voicing period means that the voicing cues are
more salient with labials than with velars. Hence, voiced labial stops
are more common.

That's the argument, anyway.

Dirk

--
Dirk Elzinga
dirk.elzinga@m.cc.utah.edu