Questions tagged [phonotactics]
Language-specific rules governing the combination of phonemes.
81 questions
12
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Are there any languages that only allow CV syllables?
In my research online, I have found a truism that CV is the most basic syllable type cross-linguistically, and is in fact present in all languages. Other syllable types are not present in all ...
- 223
2
votes
2
answers
312
views
Wellsean Syllabification and Recapitulation Symbols in the LPD
Those of you who deal with phonetics and phonology of English, and perhaps other languages as well, will surely have read John C. Wells’s article “Syllabification and allophony”, which you can find ...
- 21
1
vote
1
answer
225
views
Explain ㅎ being silent in Korean language
A: Between vowels, /h/ may either be voiced [ɦ] or become inaudible or disappear often.
B: Intervocalically, it is realized as voiced [ɦ], and after voiced consonants it is either [ɦ] or silent.
...
- 11
4
votes
1
answer
354
views
Japanese kun'yomi with final N? [closed]
It is thought that the moraic post-vocalic consonant [N], spelt with ん, appeared in Japanese under the Chinese influence, with the influx of borrowings. Are there any kun-readings in Japanese that ...
- 558
7
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Why is 't' sometimes pronounced like 'ch'?
Why is the 't' pronounced like 'ch' sometimes or even like "t+sh"? Do the English phonotactics allow for a word to start with "ch+r" ('ch' as in 'chair', not as in 'Christmas')?
This doesn't appear ...
- 786
3
votes
1
answer
180
views
Are there any languages that use rapidly repeated or stammered/stuttered sounds for differentiation?
Ignoring languages such as spanish that distinguish between /ɾ/ and /r/, as such is not what I refer to, are there any languages that would differentiate between say, /p/ and /ppp/. It is a weird ...
- 1,003
1
vote
2
answers
618
views
Do a classification of words with two or more stressed syllables exist?
In phonology, words can be classified according to the position of the stressed syllable:
An oxytone word is a word stressed in the last syllable.
A paroxytone word is a word stressed in the second ...
- 133
6
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Is it possible for a word-initial vowel to not have a glottal stop before it?
I am not understanding how a word can begin with a glottal stop? Is it a glottal plosive? I guess I am trying not to outright ask why is it not called a glottal plosive.
When I say some words that ...
- 1,003
3
votes
2
answers
1k
views
English onsets with /s/ and sonority hierarchy
Why are clusters such as /sk/ (as in sky), /st/ (stop), and /sp/ (spill) allowed as onsets in English? The sonority decreases in these clusters and does that not violate the phonotactic rules?
On a ...
5
votes
2
answers
583
views
Can a syllabic consonant exist between two vowels?
I think it would break the sonority principle, but. Who knows...
I was thinking on a similar thing to semivowels, it seems they are only possible between vowels, if there is one between two consonants,...
- 412
2
votes
1
answer
385
views
Letter switching? "r" and vowels switching
This is something I don't think is worthy of a question, but it is something I noticed happening to me, and I was curious if there are any other cases. For me for somereason I have begun switching my ...
- 1,003
1
vote
0
answers
62
views
Is there a language that uses some kind of second layer traits (signs of a two-dimensional character)?
I've just read about the Saussure's second primordial principle that states that language is linear. This is sometimes interpreted as the notion of one-dimensioness of language. The second dimension ...
- 597
3
votes
2
answers
300
views
Can R sound follow a schwa in a syllable?
Let me ask a question of an usage of schwa as a phoneme and [r]. This [r] is the sound which is used in English and generally expressed with R and not [r] expressed with IPA.
Schwa can be regarded ...
- 141
1
vote
1
answer
605
views
Modern IE languages which do not permit consonant cluster at the begining of syllables
and also please guide me how to acquire such information from online linguistics resources (for example WALS.info).
- 487
2
votes
1
answer
79
views
Density of possible encodings (given available phones and phonotactic rules)
I'm curious about languages with many phonemes and loose phonotactic rules (perhaps some Caucasian languages) versus those with only a few phonemes and strict phonotactics (like Hawaiian). I think the ...
- 123
3
votes
1
answer
243
views
Semitic (Afroasiatic?) Root Constraints
What is known about the phonological constraints limiting the form of a Semitic (or even Afroasiatic) root? In other words, are there any limits to the possible sequences of radicals?
For example, ...
- 558
4
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Ending a word in a stressed "h"
I am a native English speaker, and as far as I know, my language has no words that end in a stressed h sound. So, I'm creating a conlang, and I thought about putting one at the end of a word, but I ...
- 41
-1
votes
1
answer
730
views
What are the basic principles of optimality theory?
I'm trying to conduct research on the definiteness system (how is definiteness marked) in my dialect.
I want to do this in the light of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky) and am struggling to ...
- 69
2
votes
1
answer
4k
views
"oo" in "poor", "door" and "doom"
These three words (as well as many other, these are just examples) are all spelled with double "o", so I guess all of them were pronounced with long /oː/ before the Great Vowel Shift. Is that correct?
...
- 587
2
votes
1
answer
604
views
Which Romance language has the simplest phonotactics?
I have decided to give my latest conlang romance vocabulary, but I want the phonotactics of this language to be as simple as possible and yet still be recognizably Romance. (I don't generally spend a ...
- 8,780
6
votes
2
answers
702
views
Are there languages that disallow initial vowels and lack glottal stop?
Which, if any, of the world's languages have both the following features?
Syllable-initial vowels are disallowed; all syllables must begin with a consonant.
There is no glottal stop phoneme.
- 11k
5
votes
1
answer
330
views
Cross-linguistically, how do syllabic consonants interact with morae?
I've read a bit about the moraic system found in Japanese, but as there isn't much complexity in the case of its syllabic consonants, I am left with a few questions.
1) Are there any natural ...
- 83
5
votes
1
answer
244
views
Is there a phonotactics hierarchy?
For example, Japanese is (C)V(N) [plus that geminated stops across syllable boundaries thing], while Mandarin is (C)(G)(V)(G)(/n/ or /ŋ/) and Polynesian languages are just (C)V. Is there a gradation ...
7
votes
3
answers
509
views
How is an intervocalic "g" pronounced in Andean Spanish?
It seems that at least in the Andes, a lot of people say e.g. [awa] for "agua"[agwa]. What's the phonological rule behind this? Is it really [w]? Why did this happen in the first place?
- 181
6
votes
1
answer
403
views
Can a syllable be open before a lenghtened consonant?
This thread (related to this problem) can be split into two questions, the first one being restricted to Ancient Greek, the second one being more general.
(1) Let's be, by example, two syllables, the ...
- 2,017
6
votes
2
answers
358
views
What determines how natural a word sounds in a language?
What features of a word make a word sound natural in a language. For instance in two made up words 'mobify' sounds more natural in English than 'jlkrtz'.
- 161
1
vote
8
answers
2k
views
Is there any proof that diphthongs exist?
I was always taught that a word contains as many syllables as it has vowels. By definition, a vowel is a sound that produces a syllable.
On the other hand, in English phonology, by definition, ...
- 6,711
6
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Is there a general tendency among East Asian languages toward simple syllable structure?
I've noticed that several languages of East Asia and the Pacific islands like Japanese, Chinese, and Hawaiian, have much stricter rules governing phonotactics than languages in other parts of the ...
- 402
4
votes
2
answers
9k
views
Korean syllable-final ㅅ in Hangul transcription of loanwords
Why are English loanwords ending in /d/ or /t/ systematically transcribed into Hangul syllables ending in ㅅ rather than ㄷ? This seems strange, since when ㅅ is followed by a vowel, the coda is realised ...
- 5,162
4
votes
1
answer
2k
views
What is the syllable structure of a word with an affricate in the onset?
If a word has an affricate in the onset, let's say /ts/, along with another consonant, let's say /k/, to make a word like /tski/, is the phonotactic syllable structure of this word CCV or is it CCCV?
- 2,049
16
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How could one generate gibberish that mimics a specific language?
If given a list of languages the listener was able to understand or classify, how would you generate textual output using a standard phonetic alphabet, for example IPA, that would sound like a ...
- 1,355