Re: Linguistic Terminology
| From: | Christophe Grandsire <tsela_cg@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, January 5, 1999, 7:11 |
|---|
>Kristian Jensen wrote:
>> I suspect that this is merely a transcription practice. Anything
>> aspirated would be transcribed as /p/t/k/ and anything unaspirated
>> as /b/d/g/. Voicing has little to do with the transcription.
>
>/b/ /d/ and /g/ are always voiced. An unaspirated stop is /p/,
>aspirated is /p_h/. [b], [p], and [p_h] all exist in English. [p] and
>[p_h] are allophones of /p/, while [b] is its own phoneme, /b/.
>
>> Actually, IMHO, the term 'voiced' and 'unvoiced' is pretty
>> misleading because it gives the impression that its a binary feature
>> when in fact there is a pretty broad spectrum from creaky voiced to
>> modal voice to unvoice (there are several other kinds of voicing in
>> between these three).
>
>There's also breathy voice. However, I don't think that "voiced" and
>"unvoiced" are in any way misleading - they are the main phonations
>throughout the world, and many languages contain only them (and I know
>of none that contains only one of those), so it makes sense, in my
Some Polynesian languages have only unvoiced consonnants, and no other
order.
mind,
>to distinguish primarily between them. Besides, they are voiced and
>unvoiced, if you wish, they could be called "simple voiced" and "simple
>voiceless" to distinguish between them and creaky or breathy voices.
>
>> I suspect that in John's dialect, initial /d/
>> is in fact something called 'slack voice' (something between modal
>> voice and voiceless).
>
>I have never encountered this term before, what does it mean, and how
>can it be *between* voice and voiceless? The vocal cords either
vibrate
>(as in voiced and creaky voice) or don't (as in voiceless or breathy
>voice).
>
>--
>"Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many
>ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia." --
>Joseph Wood Krutch
>
http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/X-Files/
>ICQ #: 18656696
>AOL screen-name: NikTailor
>