Each language has parameters concerning the distribution of plosives. Some languages only permit voiceless plosives, e.g., Proto-Quechua, whereas others permit both voiced and voiceless, e.g., Spanish. Still others allow a 3-way distribution of plosives, adding aspiration to the mix, e.g., Hindi. (Aspiration is symbolized by the diacritic [h].) Hindi (1) [pʰəl] ‘fruit’ [pəl] ‘moment’ … [Read more...]

Speech Sounds and Symbols Talking was around for quite some time before any type of writing systems were developed. There are many languages still today today that have no written form. In fact, all human beings learn language perfectly well before ever holding a pencil or decoding a scribed word. So even though symbolizing language visually is not essential to communication, written language is … [Read more...]

Many professors of Intro to Linguistics courses choose to begin the semester by launching into phonetics, much to the student’s dismay. The material is foreign, difficult to grasp (it doesn’t seem to relate to anything else in space and time), and is rarely representative of the rest of the semester. However, there is a good reason for starting off on such seemingly shaky ground. Phonetics is the … [Read more...]