36
votes
Accepted
Is the "p" in "spin" really a "b"?
It is kind of convention to assign the phonemic value /p/ to the p in spin, since there is no minimal pair /p/:/b/ in this environment (words like *sbin don't exist).
Now comes the fun part: In ...
- 30.4k
15
votes
Is the "p" in "spin" really a "b"?
First, there is a lot of variation in English, so don't expect the facts to be the same for all speakers. Second, it's unclear what you mean by "really". There is phonological analysis, and there is ...
- 83.3k
11
votes
Accepted
Contrast of degree of aspiration in Korean
The notion "degree of X" really requires a three-way distinction to be valid, as in degrees of length (Estonian, Saami, Dinka), nasalization (Palantla Chinantec) or breathiness (Bor Dinka). If there ...
- 83.3k
10
votes
Accepted
Why are voiceless plosives (p, t, k) unaspirated after /s/?
Since syllable-final voiceless consonants are also not aspirated ([ɹæt], not *[ɹætʰ]), we generally focus on saying when you get aspiration, and don't say that voiceless stops are intrinsically ...
- 83.3k
9
votes
Were Iranian languages originally separated and more related to Slavic？
It has been the standard theory that Balto-Slavic and Indo-Iranian are a significant subgroup in IE, as opposed to Germanic, Celtic, Italic, Hellenic. Then Indic and Iranian are significant ...
- 83.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Are there any languages in which a simple puff of air (like blowing out a candle) is phonemic?
Many languages have sounds that could be called puffs of air, which may be transcribed as [ɸ w̥ ʍ h ɦ hʷ] People generally blow out candles with pursed lips, which could reduce the set of candidates ...
- 83.3k
7
votes
Accepted
What are partially voiced stops (as in Danish)?
Danish has no voiced plosives but two series of voiceless plosives, aspirated and unaspirated. These are typically transcribed with <p, t, k; b, d, ɡ> rather than the more phonetically ...
- 4,961
7
votes
Is there such a thing as aspiration harmony?
Some examples from Consonant Harmony: Long-Distance Interaction in Phonology by Gunnar Olafur Hansson (2010):
Aymaran varieties, where homorganic consonants have aspiration interactions:
[B]oth ...
- 7,616
6
votes
Accepted
Why there are few aspirated fricatives in the world?
Aspiration is usually defined as a distinctive increase in voice onset time between the release of a consonant and the initiation of voicing on the segment after the release of the consonant. This is ...
- 83.3k
6
votes
Is the "p" in "spin" really a "b"?
In English, aspirated "p" as in "pin" ([pʰ]) and unaspirated "p" as in "spin" ([p]) are allophones: two different phones that represent the same phoneme /p/.
However, there are languages that do ...
- 162
6
votes
Accepted
Voiced aspirated alveolar trill
There is no phonetic difference between voiceless aspirated vs. unaspirated trill, and phonologically speaking, voiceless trills (and other sonorants) behave like they are aspirates. The distinction ...
- 83.3k
6
votes
Is there such a thing as aspiration harmony?
It is claimed to exist in Zulu, but only as a constraint on root-consonant co-occurrence. For example there are roots like [pʰatʰa] 'hold' and [peta] 'dig up', but not [pʰata, patʰa]. Unlike typical ...
- 83.3k
5
votes
Aspiration of Voiceless Affricate in English
The fundamental (and contrastive) difference between phonologically aspirated stops and phonological affricates is the nature of the release. Aspiration is turbulent noise whose source is the glottis, ...
- 51
5
votes
Aspiration of Voiceless Affricate in English
The affricate /tʃ/ does not behave differently from the stops /p t k/ w.r.t. aspiration. The relevant contexts for aspiration are bit more complicated and are best stated in terms of foot-initial (...
- 83.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Limitations of the parrot speech?
I don't think issue has been explored in a systematic way, and it's not clear how it could be. Theoretically, one might record human language contrasts like tal, thal, ttal uttered by a parrot (how do ...
- 83.3k
4
votes
Languages with a three-way distinction between voiced, aspirated, and unaspirated stops
Just to give you some more data, by analyzing the UPSID, I have come up with the following list of languages that specifically have this three way contrast in stops, and no other phonation ...
- 309
4
votes
Why are voiceless plosives (p, t, k) unaspirated after /s/?
A bit late to this very interesting question which had also troubled me for years to find the answer. My answer for this question is that it's simply the way those sound are pronounced in English! ...
- 176
4
votes
Accepted
Why do I hear the p, t, k in Portuguese as aspirated plosives?
There are two aspects to this:
the greater aspiration of /p, t, k/ in Portuguese than in Spanish.
the greater lenition of /b, d, g/ in Spanish than in Portuguese.
From one 2008 study of 35 South and ...
- 7,616
4
votes
Is there such a thing as aspiration harmony?
I haven't heard of such a thing, but it seems entirely possible.
We know that aspiration can cause dissimilation, as famously seen in Grassmann's Law for Greek and Sanskrit (an aspirated consonant ...
- 68.2k
3
votes
Languages that have phonemic aspirated post-alveolar affricates
You can search for the segment [tʃʰ] at Phoible and get quite an impressive list of languages having it. Clicking on Mundari as a randomly chosen example confirms that it contrasts with non-aspirated [...
- 30.4k
3
votes
non-aspirated voiceless stops versus their voiced counterparts before a vowel
Phonetically, the main theory I've heard is that voiced/voiceless/aspirated consonants are distinguished by voice onset time. VOT is the time delta between when the consonant stops and when the vocal ...
- 68.2k
3
votes
Accepted
Can a phonemically aspirated consonant have an unaspirated allophone?
Georgian has a three-way laryngeal contrast in stops, which is often treated as /pʰ b p'/. If supposed /pʰ/ is realized phonetically as [p, pʰ] depending on context, then it is an open question ...
- 83.3k
3
votes
Accepted
What's the rule dictating when to use aspirated and unaspirated [t] in English?
Since the question is about the method of determining the rule for complementary distribution and not specifically about British English, this can be illustrated with analogous analysis of American ...
- 83.3k
2
votes
Contrast of degree of aspiration in Korean
I am bilingual in Korean and English. I have always held the view that the difference between 'ㅂ' and 'ㅍ' is not aspiration -- they are both aspirated as you have observed. However, the uniqueness of ...
- 121
2
votes
Can a stop be both voiced and aspirated?
they're opposites in terms of voice onset, which would make them mutually exclusive.
As far as I know, that is true.
A sound that can be produced is a murmured plosive (they are sometimes called ...
2
votes
Are there other aspirated phones in English?
Apart from the fact that English p,t,k are aspirated, b,d,g are also different from b,d,g in French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese in not being "as voiced", in initial position – often, they are ...
- 83.3k
2
votes
Accepted
Tenuis nasal consonants
The term "tenuis" in linguistics is not an absolute phonetic description, it is a relative term, similar to "unmarked". The consonant b is voiced, the consonant p is not. When describing an instance ...
- 83.3k
2
votes
Tenuis nasal consonants
Tenuis is a term used to refer to voiceless plosives [p, t, k], especially ones that are unaspirated, so it doesn't apply to [m], which is by definition voiced.
Burmese has voiceless [m̥], but not ...
- 4,961
2
votes
Languages that have phonemic aspirated post-alveolar affricates
Sanskrit, and most other Indian languages, have (at least in the script) a four-way distinction of c - ch - j - jh. I would have to rummage a bit in the dictionary to establish minimal pairs.
- 24.4k
2
votes
Accepted
Are there languages which have h following a consonant, that contrasts with aspiration?
IPA distinguishes [bʰ] and [bh], the former being aspiration of [b], the latter being a cluster "b plus h". As for "mh", the diaresis-below diacritic serves as the indicator of a ...
- 83.3k
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