Re: Mutations in General

En réponse à Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>:

> >
> *nod*  I was confused about terminology when I offered to post
> "mutations.
> "  I always thought of mutations in Korean as "those things that will
> screw you up if you try to spell 'strictly' phonetically."  *grin*  (I
> have to say, though, that section of the book cleared up a *lot* about
> writing Korean for me.)
>
LOL. Maggelity is everywhere isn't it? ;)))

>
> Here's the explanation from the book (if I were there in person, I'd
> just
> pronounce a bunch of examples for you):
>
And my untrained ear would probably mishear them ;))) .

> "The Korean consonant system has an unusual distinction.  The lax
> consonants (p, t, s, c, k) and the reinforced consonants (pp, tt, ss,
> cc,
> kk) contrast by an articulatory feature not found in most other
> languages.
>    The lax consonants are pronounced weakly, with minimal muscular
> activity.
>    The reinforced consonants are pronounced with great muscular
> tension,
> both at the point of articulation and throughout the vocal tract, and
> the
> tensity continues into the vowel, giving it a throaty, or laryngeal,
> quality.  This difference in the tensity of articulation is what
> distinguishes the two series of consonants.  Both contrast with the
> third
> series, the aspirated consonants [ph, th, ch, kh], which are
> charactized
> by long aspiration, often heard as velar friction.
>
You know what? This "great muscular tension [...] throughout the vocal tract"
is *exactly* how I describe and pronounce Maggel tense consonants! According to
this definition, they are basically the same as Korean tensified consonants! As
for the influence on the following vowel, I don't know if it gives them a
laryngeal quality, but it does create a secondary (sometimes primary) stress on
them, and prevents vowel reduction. It seems I've reinvented Korean reinforced
consonants ;))) . Once again, something which I considered an over-exotic
feature that probably didn't exist anywhere in the world happens to exist in at
least one language. It's these moments I'm fond of in conlanging :))) .

> "In initial position all three series are unvoiced.  There is no
> voicing
> contrast in Korean.  The lax, or "plain,"consonants are pronounced in
> initial position with a slight puff of air and voicing delay of about
> 30
> to 50 msec, while the aspirated consonants are pronounced with strong
> aspiration lasting about 100 msec.  In most varieties of English,
> voiceless consonants are pronounced with about 70-85 msec of voicing
> delay
> and aspiration, about midway between the Korean values; as a result,
> English speakers are often unable to hear the distinction between the
> lax
> and aspirated consonants.  On the other hand, English speakers
> identify
> the Korean reinforced consonants with the voiced consonants of their
> own
> language, even though, in actuality, the reinforced consonants are
> voiceless as well as unaspirated, with voice onset, occurring almost
> simultaneously with the articulation of the consonant.  The
> rieinforced
> consonants are similar to the voiceless consonants of French (p, t, k)
> or
> the unaspirated consonants of Mandarin Chinese."
>
I find it a bit strange here. the French voiceless consonants have certainly no
strong muscular tension on them. If he described there only the voice feature,
then I'd agree. But French consonants are not particularly tensed to me
(indeed, Maggel non-tense consonants are identical to French consonants, and
contrast very clearly with its tense consonants. If we are to accept that
Maggel tense consonants are basically identical to Korean tense consonants,
which the explanation makes very likely, then you cannot compare them with
French consonants. At most, they may be comparable to some consonants used in
French onomatopeia).

>
> TRIVIUM: "Earth's/world's end" or [t'aNk'i"t] can be transcribed in
> Reischauer as "Ttangggeut."  Gotta love the traffic jam in the middle.
>
Mmm... near-Maggelity :)) .

> >
> *grin*  Given what the excerpt suggests about French consonants, it's
> especially possible, I think.  Neat!
>
Well, see above about what I think of this comparison. Maggel tense consonants
don't exist in normal French speech, and I doubt that a Korean would hear
French unvoiced consonants as tensified. Note also that in Maggel tense
consonants can be voiced too, in which case they often come out as "nearly
creaky".

>
> Yeah...there are a few geminates in Korean, and they're not it;
> tensified
> consonants aren't held any longer.
Maggel tense consonants *are* held a bit longer. But that's only a small bit,
not enough to make them geminates.

  That, and after hearing bunches of
> Japanese geminates I'm *doubly* sure they're not geminates.  The
> explanation excerpted above is probably the best one I've found, and
> it
> matches with what I can tell is happening when I articulate the
> consonants
> in question.
>
Well, I'm really getting the idea that I reinvented Korean tensified
consonants ;)) . Nice!

> http://www.langintro.com/kintro/
> This actually has sound samples (you may need to be using a standard
> browser, unlike me...) if it helps any.
>
Unfortunately it doesn't have separate files for the tensified (it
says "glottalised") consonants. But the lax ones, in my ear, sound pretty much
exactly like French unvoiced consonants at the beginning of a word. So if the
tensified consonants are different, I doubt they can be compared to French
consonants (I may be wrong, but I don't think so. French unvoiced consonants
are *not* pronounced with extra muscular tension).

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.