Voiceless Alveolar Affricate Ts

Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/

Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /t͜s/

Table of ContentsLanguages that have voiceless alveolar affricate..................................................................................................4

Voiceless alveolar affricate......................................................................................................................................5Contents........................................................................................................................................................................................6

[edit] Features..............................................................................................................................................................................6

[edit] Occurrence.........................................................................................................................................................................7

[edit] See also................................................................................................................................................................................8

[edit] References..........................................................................................................................................................................8

[edit] Bibliography.......................................................................................................................................................................9

A Phonetic and Phonemic Analysis of the Czech of a Native Bilingual American English Speaker............12

Towards a Lang25 Phonology .............................................................................................................................12

Merger of Voiced Alveolar Affricates and Fricatives in Japanese....................................................................12

Ling201 Phonetics..................................................................................................................................................12

Mizo Structure.......................................................................................................................................................13

II. STRUCTURE OF THE LANGUAGE:..........................................................................................................13

3.1.0 Phonology......................................................................................................................................................133.1.1Consonants......................................................................................................................................................................................................13

3.2.0 Morphology...................................................................................................................................................16Nouns.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................16

Gender.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................16

Number....................................................................................................................................................................................................................18

Possessive pronouns................................................................................................................................................................................................21

Adjectives................................................................................................................................................................................................................22

Adjectives of comparison.......................................................................................................................................................................................22

Verbs........................................................................................................................................................................................................................22

Word Formation Processes....................................................................................................................................................................................26

Affixation.................................................................................................................................................................................................................26

Wednesday, September 28, 2011 Page 1 of 78

Taang Zomi Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/

Suffixes.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................27

Compounding..........................................................................................................................................................................................................28

The Grammatical Structure of Mizo....................................................................................................................................................................46

Syntax......................................................................................................................................................................46Argument Structure...............................................................................................................................................................................................46

VP Construction:....................................................................................................................................................................................................46

Subject and Object Agreement Clitics..................................................................................................................................................................47

Intransitive Verb Construction:............................................................................................................................................................................47

Transitive Verb Construction:...............................................................................................................................................................................48

Adverbial clauses in Mizo......................................................................................................................................................................................51

Adverbial Clause of Time......................................................................................................................................................................................51

Conditional Clauses................................................................................................................................................................................................52

6. Position of the Complementizer .......................................................................................................................................................................53

7. Position of Adjectives and Numerals................................................................................................................................................................53

8. Determiners.........................................................................................................................................................................................................54

9. Relative clauses in Mizo: ...................................................................................................................................................................................54

10. Genitive Marker...............................................................................................................................................................................................57

11. Position of Quantifiers......................................................................................................................................................................................57

12. pro-drop.............................................................................................................................................................................................................58

13. Agreement.........................................................................................................................................................................................................58

14. Wh-question......................................................................................................................................................................................................58

15. Yes-No questions...............................................................................................................................................................................................59

16. Tense and Aspect...............................................................................................................................................................................................59

17. Negation.............................................................................................................................................................................................................59

18. Anaphora...........................................................................................................................................................................................................60

19. Ergativity...........................................................................................................................................................................................................60

21. Passives in Mizo ...............................................................................................................................................................................................61

22. Clefts in Mizo....................................................................................................................................................................................................62

==

Page 2 of 78 Wednesday, September 28, 2011


Languages that have voiceless alveolar affricate

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&cp=48&gs_id=3&xhr=t&q=Languages+that+have+voiceless+alveolar+affricate&qe=TGFuZ3VhZ2VzIHRoYXQgaGF2ZSB2b2ljZWxlc3MgYWx2ZW9sYXIgYWZmcmljYXRl&qesig=CC5v72Fy38Q87TyRGfOPvw&pkc=AFgZ2tnZJbZi1CsARnPazSNmtvdI8CbDlhmZT4R-tvR3TfjkJY72fQ4dbfV24pfIbrO5wOPsaydwQYUbVnWDdiRRScoXzk0Wgw&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&site=&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=Languages+that+have+voiceless+alveolar+affricate&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=287cb8a321ceab01&biw=1002&bih=544

==



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_affricate

Voiceless alveolar affricate

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search Voiceless alveolar affricate

IPA number 103 (132)

Encoding

Entity (decimal) ʦ

Unicode (hex) U+02A6

X-SAMPA ts

Kirshenbaum ts

Sound

view · talk · edit The voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with ‹t͡ s› or ‹t͜ s› (formerly with ‹ʦ›). The voiceless alveolar affricate occurs in such languages as German, Cantonese, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, among many others. International auxiliary languages, such as Esperanto, Ido and Interlingua also include this sound.



Contents [hide]

• 1 Features • 2 Occurrence • 3 See also • 4 References • 5 Bibliography

[edit] Features

Where symbols appear in pairs, left—right represent the voiceless—voiced consonants

This table contains phonetic symbols. They may not display correctly in some browsers (Help).

IPA help • IPA key • audio help • chart • viewFeatures of the voiceless alveolar affricate:

• Its manner of articulation is sibilant affricate, which means it is produced by first stopping the air flow entirely, then directing it with the tongue to the sharp edge of the teeth, causing high-frequency turbulence.

• Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.

• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.

• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only. • It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides. • The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

[edit] OccurrenceLanguage Word IPA Meaning Notes

Abkhaz хьа ц а [χaˈt͡ sa] 'hornbeam' See Abkhaz phonology

Ainu ㇰチュ [t͡ suk̚] 'autumn'



Albanian c imbidh [t͡ simbið] 'tongs'

Armenian ցցցց անց (help·info) 'net'

Asturian cibie ḷḷ a [θibiɛt͡ sa] 'stick'

Berber Kabyle iḥe şş eḇ [iħət͡ st͡ səβ] 'he counts'

Basqueho tz [ot͡ s̻] 'cold'

ho ts [ot͡ s̺] 'sound'

Bulgarian ц ена ['t͡ sena] 'price'

Catalan [1] po ts er [puˈtt͡ se] 'maybe' See Catalan phonology

Cherokee ᏣᎳᎩ/ts a-la-gi [t͡ salaɡi] 'Cherokee'

ChineseCantonese 妻/c ai1 [t͡ sʰɐi˥] 'wife' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Cantonese phonology

Mandarin 早餐/z ǎo c ān [t͡ sɑʊn t͡ sʰan˥] 'breakfast' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Mandarin phonology

Czech c o [t͡ so] 'what' See Czech phonology

English pi zz a [ˈpiːtsə] 'pizza (food)' See English phonology

Esperanto c e c eo [t͡ seˈt͡ seo] 'tsetse fly' See Esperanto phonology

French Quebec pe t it [pəˈt͡ si] 'small' See Quebec French phonology

Georgian [2] კ ა ცცცც ი [kʼɑt͡ si] 'man'

German z ehn [t͡ seːn] 'ten' See German phonology

Greek κορί τσ ι /korí ts i [ko̞ˈrit͡ si] 'girl' See Modern Greek phonology

Hebrew צבע [ˈt͡ se̞va] 'color' See Modern Hebrew phonology

Hungarian c i c a [ˈt͡ sit͡ sɒ] 'kitten' See Hungarian phonology

Italian [3] gra z ia [ˈɡrat̪͡ s̪ja] 'grace' The letter <z> may also represent /dz/. See Italian phonology

Japanese つつつつなみ /ts unami [t͡ su͍namʲi] 'tsunami' See Japanese phonology

Kabardian ц ы [t͡ sʰɪ] 'hair'

Kiowa ch ḗ [t͡ séː] 'short'

Latvian c ik [t͡ sik] 'how many' See Latvian phonology

Maltese z okk [t͡ sokk] '(tree) trunk'

Nez Perce c íi c kan [ˈt͡ siːt͡ skan] 'blanket'

Pashto �لور [t͡ saˈlor] 'four'

Polish [4] c o [t͡ sɔ] (help·info) 'what' See Polish phonology

Portuguese Brazilian fu ts al [fʊ'tsɐʊ] 'futsal' See Portuguese phonology



Romanian pre ţ [pret͡ s] 'price' See Romanian phonology

Russian ц арь [t͡ sarʲ] 'Tsar' See Russian phonology

Sardinian Campidanese pe tz a [ˈpɛt͡ sa] 'meat'

Serbo-Croatian ц иљ /c ilj [t͡ síːʎ] 'target' See Serbo-Croatian phonology

Slovak c udzí [t͡ sudziː] 'foreign'

Tanacross dz een [t͡ seːn] 'day'

Ukrainian ц ей [t͡ sɛj] 'this one' See Ukrainian phonology

West Frisian ts iis [t͡ siːs] 'cheese'

Central Alaskan Yup'ik [5] c etaman [t͡ səˈtaman] 'four' allophone of /t͡ ʃ/ before schwa

Yi ꊪ/z y [t͡ sɪ˧] 'to plant' Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms

[edit] See also• List of phonetics topics

[edit] References1. ̂ Recasens & Espinoza (2007:144) 2. ̂ Shosted & Chikovani (2006:255) 3. ̂ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:117) 4. ̂ Jassem (2003:103) 5. ̂ Jacobson (1995:2)

[edit] Bibliography• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103–107 • Recasens, Daniel; Espinosa, Aina (2007), "An electropalatographic and acoustic study of affricates and fricatives in two Catalan dialects",

Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37 (2): 143–172 • Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255–264 • Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121 • Jacobson, Steven (1995), A Practical Grammar of the Central Alaskan Yup'ik Eskimo Language, Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center,

ISBN 9781555000509



v · d · e International Phonetic Alphabet

[show] IPA topics

IPAInternational Phonetic Association · History of the IPA · Kiel convention (1989) · Journal of the IPA (JIPA) · Naming conventions

PhoneticsDiacritics · Segments · Tone letter · Place of articulation · Manner of articulation

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Extensions to the IPA · Obsolete and nonstandard symbols · IPA chart for English dialects

EncodingsSAMPA · X-SAMPA · Conlang X-SAMPA · Kirshenbaum · TIPA · Phonetic symbols in Unicode · WorldBet

[show] Consonants

Vowels


This page was last modified on 8 September 2011 at 23:45. ==



http://idiom.ucsd.edu/~kbicknell/dl/czech.pdf

A Phonetic and Phonemic Analysis of the Czech of a Native Bilingual

American English Speaker

==http://langx.org/towardsalang25ph.html

Towards a Lang25 Phonology ==http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1575188

Merger of Voiced Alveolar Affricates and Fricatives in Japanese

==http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~hana/201/HO07-Phonetics.pdf

Ling201 Phonetics==



http://www.lisindia.net/Mizo/Mizo_struct.html

Mizo Structure

II. STRUCTURE OF THE LANGUAGE:

3.1.0 Phonology3.1.1Consonants

/p/ : A voiceless bilabial plosive /ph/ : A voiceless bilabial aspirated plosive/b/ : A voiced bilabial plosive/t/ : A voiceless dental plosive/th/ : A voiceless dental aspirated plosive/d/ : A voiced dental plosive/k/ : A voiceless velar plosive/kh/ : A voiceless velar aspirated plosive/?/ : A glottal plosive/tl/ : A voiceless dental plosive released with a lateral/tlh/ : A voiceless dental aspirated plosive released with a lateral/tr/ : A voiceless alveolar plosive released with a trill/trh/ : A voiceless alveolar aspirated plosive released with a trill/ts/ : A voiceless alveolar affricate/tsh/ : A voiceless alveolar aspirated affricate/m/ : A voiced bilabial nasal/n/ : A voiced dental nasal/ng/ : A voiced velar nasal/l/ : A voiced dental lateral/r/ : A voiced alveolar trill/f/ : A voiceless labio-dental fricative/v/ : A voiced labio-dental fricative/s/ : A voiceless alveolar fricative/z/ : A voiceless alveolar fricative/h/ : A voiceless glottal fricative

3.1.2 Homorganic Sounds:

/hm/ : A homorganic voiceless bilabial nasal released with a voiced bilabial nasal


Taang Zomi Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ /hn/ : A homorganic voiceless dental nasal released with a voiced dental nasal /hl/ : A homorganic voiceless dental lateral released with a voiced dental lateral /hr/ : A homorganic voiceless alveolar fricative trill released with a voiced alveolar trill

3.1.3 Sound Inventory

(To be discussed in the final Draft.)

3.1.4 VOWELS

MonophthongsTable: 1 Front Central BackHigh i uMid e oLow a

DiphthongsTable: 2I u e o aui iu iaai au uaei eu oi ou

Triphthongsiai, uai, uau, iau

3.1.5 Sound Inventory

(To be discussed in the final Draft.)

3.2.0 MorphologyNouns

GenderMizo does not have any grammatical gender. There are three genders in Mizo namely, Masculine Gender, Feminine Gender, and

Neuter Gender. a. Masculine and feminine genders are sometimes distinguished by different words.For example:boy mi-pa-naupan


Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ girl hmei-chia

b. Sometimes masculine and feminine genders are formed by affixing –pa for masculine and –nu for feminine.For example:boih-pa ‘a male slave’boih-nu ‘a female slave’

c. In case of non-human living beings –chal is used in place of masculine marker –pa with big animals, but the feminine marker for big animals is always –pui.

For example:kel-chal ‘he-goat’kel-pui ‘she-goat’When the gender is not specified these markers do not occur.

d. A few words are the same in both the gender (may be treated as common gender).

For Example:u ‘elder brother or sister’nao ‘younger brother or sister’

e. All the proper names end in -a when they are masculine and in –i whenthey are feminine.

For example:zova ‘name of a boy/man’zovi ‘name of a girl/woman’tluanga ‘name of a boy/man’tluangi ‘name of a girl/woman’

All the names of the animals, unless specified their gender, and the names of inanimate objects are of neuter gender. Number

There are two numbers in Mizo–singular and plural. However, in most of the cases nouns are not marked with any plural marker and the plurality is encoded in the modifiers or numerals that modify the noun and also in the agreement pattern. But in few cases the following plural markers are used. They are- te, ho, ho-te, zong-zong, zong-zong-tePronounsPersonal pronouns

Singular PluralFirst Person keima/kei keimani/keini


Taang Zomi Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ Second Person nangma/nang nangmani/nangniThird Person ani an-ni

Case forms

In Mizo, Case markers are invariant with respect to person and number.

First Person

Singular PluralNominative keima/kei keimani/keiniErgative keima-in/kei-in kei-in-nAccusative keima min/kei min/min keimani/keini min/minGenitive keima/ka keimani/kan

Second Person

Singular PluralNominative nangma/nang nangmani/nangniErgative nangma-in/nang-in nang-in-nAccusative nangma/nang nangmani/nangniGenitive nangma/nanga/i nangma/nanga/in Third Person

Singular PluralNominative ani an-niErgative ani-n an-ni-nAccusative ani an-niGenitive ani an-ni

Indefinite Pronouns

eng-lo ‘something’engma/engma-lo ‘nothing’tu-ma/tu-ma-lo ‘none, nobody’tu-emaw ‘someone, somebody’

Demonstrative pronouns

hei-hi ‘this’ (in the proximity)kha-kha ‘that’ (upward) khu-khu ‘that’ (downward) so-so ‘that’ (not in the proximity) cu-cu ‘that’(not in the proximity)

Reflexive pronouns and their forms Mizo has the form amaah corresponding to ‘self’ in English. It has a reduplicated form amaah leh amaah ‘self and self’. First Person kei-maah leh kei-maahSecond Person nangmaah leh nangmaahThird Person amaah leh amaah



The reduplicated reflexive form occurs in the direct or indirect object position and does not carry any case marker. Possessive pronouns

The possessive pronouns and the subject pronominal clitics are identical in form. Singular PluralFirst Person ka kanSecond Person i inThird Person a an

Interrogative pronouns

tu-ng ‘who’ tu-emo ‘somebody’tu-cu-nge ‘whom’tu-taa-nge ‘whose’eng-nge ‘what’ eng-emo ‘something’en-tik-aa-nge ‘when’en-vaang-in-nge ‘why’

AdjectivesAdjectives in Mizo are placed after the nominal they modify. For example,mi Thaperson good‘A good person’When a noun is used as an adjective, it precedes the noun it modifies. For example, mao dawh-kan wood table ‘A table made of wood’

Adjectives of comparisonComparative marker –zawk is added to the positive form of the adjective to derive comparative form and affix –ber is added to the

positive form of the adjective to form superlative degree. For example, Positive Comparative SuperlativeTha Tha-zawk Tha-bergood better best

VerbsAll Mizo verbs undergo a process of verb conversion, where the second form is derived from the first form. This classification is based

on the grammatical properties of the verbs dependent on their syntactic distribution (Lalrindiki, 1992). From II verbs occur in clefts, passives, conditionals, and other non-finite constructions. As they do not take any agreement marker they can be classified as [-Tensed] verbs. The following are a few instances of stem alternation: Stem-I Stem-II Glossnaa nat ‘to hurt’mhang mhan ‘to use’pot poh ‘to pull’veel velh ‘to hit’laa laak ‘to take’


Taang Zomi Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ aat ah ‘to cut’phiat phiah ‘to clean’thii thih ‘to die’laai laih ‘to dig’nei neih ‘to keep/have’lou loh ‘to pluck’zou zoh ‘to complete’zoot zoh ‘to ask’rum ruuk ‘to steal’muu mut ‘to sleep’

These verbs of two stems differ in their finals and tones.

Adverbs

Adverbs of Time

ni-tin ‘daily’nakina ‘at present’ngai ‘ever’ngai-lo ‘never’tuna-pawh ‘already’kum-tin ‘yearly’nimina ‘yesterday’voi-in-a ‘today’naktuk-a ‘tomorrow’nimin-piah ‘day before yesterday’fo ‘always’nikuma ‘last year’kum-ina ‘this year’

Adverbs of Place

chunga ‘on top’chung-lama ‘above’heta ‘here’saw-ta ‘there’khi-ta ‘up there’khu-ta ‘down there’vel ‘around’

Adverbs of manner

eng-tin-nge ‘how’thuai/thuai-thuai ‘quickly’zoi-zoi-in ‘slowly’


Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ zawk ‘more’ber ‘most’vak ‘with force’

Affixing ‘tak-in’ to an adjective form forms some adverbs. For example, Adjective Adverbdik/fei dik-tak-in/fei-tak-inaccurate accuratelyhuai huai-tak-inbold boldlyeng eng-tak-inbright brightly etc.

Some adjectives are used as adverbs without any change in the form. For example:Adjective Adverbring ringloud loudlyhman-hmaw hman-hmawhurry hurriedly etc.

Word Formation ProcessesMost of the Mizo words are monosyllabic in nature. There are a very few words which are non-derived polysyllabic words. Mizo uses

two major devices to form words. They are – affixation and compounding. Affixation

There are very few derivational affixes in Mizo. The main morphological markers are: Prifixes ti/tih- This is a transitivizing prefix attached to an intransitive verb stem to form corresponding transitive verb. For example:tlaa tlaak ‘to fall’Stem-I Stem-IIti-tlaa tih-tlaak ‘to make X fall’

in- This functions as a reflexive and reciprocal marker, termed as verbal reflexive in Mizo (cf. Subbarao and Lalithamurthy, 1997). For example:kaap kah ‘to shoot’Stem-I Stem-IIin-kaap in-kah ‘to shoot each other’

Suffixes-Om- This is an adjectival marker, which is attached to verb stems to form adjectives.

For example:hlaau hlauh ‘to be afraid/scared’Stem-I Stem-IIhlaau-Om hlauh-Om ‘fearsome/scary’


Taang Zomi Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ mi-hlaau-Omperson fearsome‘A scary/fearsome person’

-na- This is a nominalizer attached to verbs to derive nominals. This suffix is always attached to the second form of the verbs and never to the first form of verbs. For example: hmangnai hmangnaih ‘to love’Stem-I Stem-II*hmangna-nai hmangnaih-na ‘love’

-tak-in- This is an adverbial marker attached to adjectives to derive adverbs. For example:Adjectives Adverbshuai huai-tak-inbold boldlyeng eng-tak-inbright brightly etc.

-tu- This an agentive marker attached to nouns/adjectives/verbs to form agentive nominals. For example:dawr/dawr-kei ‘shop’ dawr-kei-tu ‘shopkeeper’rong-bawl ‘to attend’ rong-bawl-tu ‘attendant’nei ‘to have/to keep’ nei-tu ‘owner/keeper’

CompoundingAs stated earlier, most of the polysyllabic words in Mizo are the result of compounding.

For example:Noun + Noun: kee + kor = kekor leg cloth trousers

Noun + Adjective/Verb: kam + tam = kamtam mouth crowd to be talkative

Noun + Verb: thil + pek = thilpek thing to give gift

Basic Vocabulary

1. Body Parts

Hair : samHead : luSkull : luruhBrain : thluakFace : hmaiForehead : chal


Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ Eyebrow : mithmulEye : mitEyelid : mittlangkawmEyelash : mithmulPupil : mitnoteNose : hnarNostril : hnar kuaCheek : biangCheek-bone : biangkeEar : bengEar-drum : bengdarMouth : kaLip : hmuiTeeth : haTongue : leiMoustache : hmuihmulChin : khabeNeck : nghawngShoulder : darArm : banElbow : kiuHand : kutPalm : kutphahFinger : kutzungTangThumb : kutzungpuiNail : tinChest : awm Breast : hnuteBelly : pumWaist : kaThigh : malpuiKnee : khupAnkle : keartuiToe : kezungpuiSole : kephahRibs : nakruhSpine : hnungzangruhBone : ruhLungs : chuaf Stomach : pumpuiLiver : thinIntestine : rilHeart : thinlungMuscles : tha


Taang Zomi Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ Veins : thisenzamBlood : thisen

2. Calendar

Year : kumMonth : thlaWeek : korDay : ni

Days of the Week:

Sunday : pathian niMonday : thawhtan niTuesday : thawhleh niWednesday : nilai niThursday : nilaithawtan niFriday : zirtuep niSaturday : inrin ni

Months of the year:

January : pawlkut thlaFebruary : ramtuk thlaMarch : vau thlaApril : Tau thlaMay : tomir thlaJune : nikir thlaJuly : vawklniahzawm thlaAugust : thitin thlaSeptember : mimkut thlaOctober : khuangchawi thlaNovember : sahmulphah thlaDecember : pawltlak thla

3. Fruits

Mango : theihaiBanana : balhlaOrange : serthlumGuava : kawetheiPineapple : lakhuih theiWatermelon : dewnpawhPomegranate : theibuhfaiLemon : serPapaya : thingphanghmaPinion Fruit : theihai


Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ 4. Vegetables

Onion : purunsenCabbage : zikhlumCauliflower : parbawrGarlic : purunvarEggplant : bawkbaunPotato : aaluMushroom : paCucumber : fanghmaMustard : intam5. Flowers

6. Spices

7. Dishes

8. Cooking Terminology

9. Colours

Red : senOrange : serthlum rawngYellow : engGreen : hringBlue : pawlViolet : sendukWhite : varBlack : dum

10. Numerals

Ordinals:First : pakhatnaSecond : palnihnaThird : pathumnaFourth : palinaFifth : panganaSixth : paruknaSeventh : pasarihnaEighth : pariatnaNinth : pakuanaTenth : sawmnaEleventh : sawm pakhatnaTwelfth : sawm palnihnaThirteenth : sawm pathumnaFourteenth : sawm palinaFifteenth : sawm panganaSixteenth : sawm paruknaSeventeenth :sawm pasarihna


Taang Zomi Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ Eighteenth : sawm pariatnaNineteenth : sawm pakuanaTwentieth : sawm hnihna………………………………Twenty first : sawmhnih pakhatnaTwenty second : sawmhnih palnihnaTwenty third : sawmhnih pathumnaTwenty fourth : sawmhnih palinaTwenty fifth : sawmhnih panganaThirtieth : sawmthumna………………………………Thirty first : sawmthum pakhatnaThirty second : sawmthum palnihnaThirty third : sawmthum pathumnaThirty fourth : sawmthum palinaThirty fifth : sawmthum pangana………………………..Fortieth : sawmlinaForty first : sawmli pakhatnaForty second : sawmli palnihnaForty third : sawmli pathumnaForty fourth : sawmli palinaForty fifth : sawmli pangana…………………………Fiftieth : sawmngana

Thus, it can be seen that –na is the ordinal marker that is consistent throughout the paradigm.

Cardinals:

One : pakhatTwo : palnihThree : pathumFour : paliFive : pangaSix : parukSeven : pasarihEight : pariatNine : pakuaTen : sawmEleven : sawm pakhatTwelve : sawm palnihThirteen : sawm pathumFourteen : sawm pali


Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ Fifteen : sawm pangaSixteen : sawm parukSeventeen : sawm pasarihEighteen : sawm pariatNineteen : sawm pakuaTwenty : sawm hnihTwenty One : sawmhnih pakhatTwenty Two : sawmhnih palnihTwenty Three : sawmhnih pathumTwenty Four : sawmhnih paliTwenty Five : sawmhnih pangaTwenty Six : sawmhnih parukTwenty Seven : sawmhnih pasarihTwenty Eight : sawmhnih pariatTwenty Nine : sawmhnih pakuaThirty : sawmthumThirty One : sawmthum pakhatThirty Two : sawmthum palnihThirty Three : sawmthum pathumThirty Four : sawmthum paliThirty Five : sawmthum pangaThirty Six : sawmthum parukThirty Seven : sawmthum pasarihThirty Eight : sawmthum pariatThirty Nine : sawmthum pakuaForty : sawmliForty One : sawmli pakhatForty Two : sawmli palnihForty Three : sawmli pathumForty Four : sawmli paliForty Five : sawmli pangaForty Six : sawmli parukForty Seven : sawmli pasarihForty Eight : sawmli pariatForty Nine : sawmli pakuaFifty : sawmnga………………………………………………………………………………………………etc.Hundred : zaTwo Hundreds : zalmiOne Thousand : sangkhatTen Thousand : singkhatOne Lakh : nuai-khat…………………………………………


Taang Zomi Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ …………………………………….etc.

12. Measurement

Distance : hlat lamHeight : san lamWeight : rih lamVolume : tam lam

13. Domesticated animals

Dog : uiCat : zawhteCow : bawngDuck : varakChicken : arBull : sialPig : vawkGoat : kelSheep : beram

14. Wild Animals

Lion : sakeifakneiTiger : sakeiDeer : sakhiMonkey : zawngElephant : saiCrocodile : awleWolf : chinghniaFox : sihalTortoise : satelBear : savawmSnake : rulSquirrel : thehleiEagle : muVulture : mulukawlhPeacock : arawn

15. Kinship terms

Mother : nuFather : paBrother : unaupaSister : unaunuGrandfather : puGrandmother : piMother’s younger brother : putea


Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ Mother’s elder brother : puFather’s younger brother : pateaFather’s elder brother : paMother’s younger sister : nuteiMother’s elder sister : nuFather’s younger sister : niteiFather’s elder sister : nipuiiSon : fapaDaughter : fanuNephew : vahpaNiece : vahnuStepmother : nuhrawnStepfather : pahrawnWife : nupuiHusband : pasalBrother-in-law : makpa (family of the girl)Sister-in-law : mo (family of the boy)

16. Celestial Bodies etc.

Sun : niSunset : ni tlaSunrise : ni chuakDawn : vartianDusk : thimhlimDay : chumNight : zanEvening : tlaiMorning : zingNoon : chun laiMidnight : zanlaiStars : arsiMoon : thlaSky : vanPlanet : arsiHorizon : kawlkilFire : meialhEarth : khawvel

17. Geographical Terms

Land : ramForest : rampnuiuPlain : phaizawlPlateau : tlang zawl


Taang Zomi Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ Hill : tlangMountain : tlangCliff : awhpangGorges : kawr thukCave : pukPeak : tlang chipField : lo ramRain : ruahThunder : khawpui riLightning : kawlpheHailstorm : rialWater : tuiOcean : tuifinriatSea : tuipuiRiver : luiLake : dilWell : tuichun chuahPond : tuikhuah

The Grammatical Structure of MizoMizo is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Kuki-Chin group spoken in the northeast of India. There are some speakers scattered in the

adjoining hill states of Manipur and Tripura as well as along the border areas of Burma and Bangladesh. Like other Tibeto-Burman languages, Mizo, too, conforms to almost all the typological features of an SOV language. This section attempts to present some typological characteristics of Mizo. These characteristics are discussed in specific relation to word order universals.

SyntaxMizo is a verb-final language and is left branching in the unmarked word order. It has postpositions and a post sentential

complementizer occurs to the right of the embedded sentence. The auxiliary verb always follows the main verb. The very rich pattern of agreement in Mizo allows ‘heavy pro drop’. Subject normally precedes all other arguments. Locative precedes instrumental and instrumental precedes indirect object. Direct object follows the Indirect Object. As it is a split-ergative language, all the transitive subjects are marked with the ergative marker –n/-in and the object with-f.

Argument StructureSubjects normally precede all other arguments. Locatives precede instruments, which in turn precede indirect objects. Direct objects

follow all other arguments. The order is: S X IO DO V Mizo is a split-ergative language: ergative-absolutive in the NPs and nominative-accusative in the VPs. The subject NPs are marked with the ergative marker –in of all transitive verbs and objects are unmarked ф as they are the subjects of intransitives.

VP Construction:As it is mentioned earlier, Mizo is a split-ergative language: ergative-absolutive in the NPs and nominative-accusative in the VPs. The

subject NPs are marked with the ergative marker –in of all transitive verbs and objects are unmarked ф as they are the subjects of intransitives. The VP construction in Mizo is discussed in the next chapter.



Subject and Object Agreement CliticsMizo verbs are marked with subject and object agreement clitics. The agreement clitics are obligatory for all constructions except

imperatives and wh-subject questions. Intransitive Verb Construction:

The intransitive verb constructions are simpler than that of transitive verbs as the intransitive predicate does not categorizes any internal argument. The verb carries only subject agreement markers. They are given below: Singular PluralFirst Person ka kanSecond Person i inThird Person a an

For example,1. ka-bual 1sg-bathe ‘I bathe.’2. -bual 2sg-bath ‘You bathe.’3. a-bual 3sg-bathe ‘He/She bathes.’

These pronominal agreement clitics are also genitive markers in NPs. For example,4. ka -bawng i -bawng a -bawng 1sg cow 2sg cow 3sg cow ‘My cow’ ‘Your cow’ ‘His/Her cow’

Transitive Verb Construction:Since transitive predicates select an internal argument, the transitive verbs are marked with object agreement markers in addition to the

subject agreement markers. The paradigm for the object agreement marker is given below: Singular PluralFirst Person mi/min mi/minSecond Person ce ce-uThird Person ф ф

As Subbarao and Lalithamurthy (ms) point out, the order of the agreement marker affixation is determined by a person hierarchy where the first person dominates the rest and second person takes supremacy over the third person. If the object is second person then the verb carries both the markers subject agreement marker as well as object agreement marker. For example, 5. ka-tanpui-ce 1sg help 2OAM ‘I helped you.’

6. ka-tanpui-ce-u


Taang Zomi Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ 1sg help 2OAM ‘I helped you all.’

7. a-tanpui-ce 3sg help 2OAM ‘He/She helped you.’

Third person objects receive no agreement marker.

8. ka-tanpui- ф 1sg help OAM ‘I helped him/her.’

9. i-tanpui- ф 1sg help OAM ‘You helped him/her.’

Word Order

1. Mizo is a verb-final ( SOV ) language. 10. ka pa -in ka hneenah lekhabu-cu a -than –ang my-father Erg 1sg Dat book DefD 3sg send Fut ‘My father will send a book for me.’

2. The Indirect Object precedes the Direct Object in the unmarked word order in Mizo.

11. zova -n zovi -hneenah lekhabu a -than -ang Zova Erg Zovi Dat money 3sg send Fut ‘Zova will send a book to Zovi.’

3. Greenberg’s (1996) universal 4 states that ‘….with overwhelmingly greater than chance frequency, languages with normal SVO-order are postpositional.’ Mizo conforms to his claim. 12. lekhabu dOkaan cung a- Om book table on 3sg be/exist ‘There is a book on the table.’

13. hi leekhabu zova taam a -ni Det book Zova for 3sg be ‘This book is for Zova.’

4. The marker of comparison follows the standard of comparison. The comparative marker zOk and superlative marker ber remain uniform through out the paradigm. 14. zova zovi ay-in a -fing zOk Zova Zovi than 3sg intelligent more ‘Zova is more intelligent than Zovi.’


Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ 15. he lekhabu hi kha lekhabu ay-in a -liyan –zOk Dem book DefD Dem book than 3sg big more ‘This book is bigger than that book.’

Adverbial clauses in MizoNormally in verb final languages, time adverbials precede place adverbials in unmarked word order and they occur in descending order.

Like many other verb-final languages Mizo too, has the same order. Adverbial Clause of Time

16. zovi-n hna a -thOh zOh hun-ah zova hetah a- lo kal-ang Zovi Erg work 3sg finish after Loc Zova here 3sg come Fut ‘Zova will come here after Zovi finishes her work.’

Adverbial Clause of Place

17. nimin -a ka -hmu hna -ah ce khaan ka -hmuh –ang ce yesterday Loc 1sg meet place Loc 2sg time 1sg meet Fut 2sg ‘I will meet you where I met you yesterday.’ (Subbarao and Lalitha Murthy,ms)

18. nikum -ah aizOl –ah mi tamtak an-kal tOh last year Loc Aizawl Loc people many 3pl go Asp ‘Many people went to Aizawl last year.’

19. PM -cu january ni sOm thum khan lunglaei-ah a -kal PM Def January be ten three DefD Lunglei Loc 3sg go ‘The prime minister went to Lunglei on January 30.’

Adverb Clause of Manner

20. i -thOh-ang ciah –in kei-pOh-in he hna hi ka -thOk -tOh 2sg work manner Adv I also Erg DEM work DefD1sg work Asp ‘I also did this work like you did it.’ (Subbarao and Lalitha Murthy,ms)

Conditional ClausesIn Mizo conditional clauses are formed by adding cuan ‘if’ to the right of the verb. cuan is a subordinating conditional marker.

21. zova a –lo kal cuan in kan- chuk -ang Zova 3sg come if COMP 1pl go out Fut ‘We will go out if Zova comes.’

22. kan -sOm cuan in an -lo kal -ang 1pl invite if COMP 3pl come Fut ‘They will come if we invite them.’

6. Position of the Complementizer Mizo has postposed Final Complementizers (FC) occuring to the right of the embedded sentence.


Taang Zomi Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ 23. zova -n [naktuk cu colni a -ni -ang ti? ] a -hria Zova Erg tomorrow Def holiday 3sg be Fut COMP 3sg know ‘Zova knows that tomorrow will be a holiday.’

24. [zova voin -ah a -lokal in ] ka -ring Zova today Loc 3sg come COMP 1sg think ‘I think zova might come today.’

7. Position of Adjectives and NumeralsThe adjectives and numerals follow the noun, which is modified. But demonstrative adjectives precede the modified noun.

25. zova mipanaupang tSa a -ni Zova boy good 3sg be ‘Zova is a good boy.’

26. bom –ah thei pasarih an - Om basket Loc fruit seven 3pl be/exist ‘There are seven fruits in the basket.’

8. DeterminersLike most of the Tibeto-Burman languages, a determiner in Mizo consists of two parts. The demonstrative occurs to the left of the

modifying noun and its counterpart definite determiner occurs to the right of the modified noun. This nature of determiners is referred to as split determiners (Subbarao and Lalitha Murthy, ms). 27. heihi lekhabu heihi this book this DEM N DefD

28. so paa so thaau tak a -ni DEM man DefD fat very 3sg be ‘That man is very fat.’

9. Relative clauses in Mizo: Apart from the simple adjectives, Mizo uses the strategy of relativization to modify the NPs. Mizo has different structures for

relativizing a subject and non-subject NPs. It has Externally Headed prenominal and postnominal relative clauses. Though it does not have any relative pronoun, it has head internal relative clause that resembles Internally Headed relative clauses. Subject relativizationExternally Headed Postnominal Relative Clause29. [[(kha) zirtirtu] [caOimaOina dong –tu -tuur f ]kha (i)n ]kan –sikul DEM teacher honour receive AGT Fut Def.D our school a -tlOh –ang] 3sg visit Fut ‘The teacher who will receive the honour will visit our school.’

Externally Headed Prenominal Relative Clause30. [[caOimaOina dong –tu -tuur f][(kha)zirtirtu] kha (i)n]kan sikul


Voiceless Alveolar Affricate /ts/ honour receive AGT Fut DEM teacher Def.D our school a -tlOh –ang] 3sg visit Fut ‘The teacher who will receive the honour will visit our school.’

Head Internal Relative Clause31. [[[vOin -ah [ (kha) zirtirtu][ caOimaOina dong –tu -tuur f ] today Loc DEM teacher honour receive AGT Fut kha (i)n ] kan – sikul a -tlOh – ang] Def.D our school 3sg visit Fut ‘The teacher who will receive the honour will visit our school today.’

Like most of the Tibeto-Burman and Dravidian languages, Mizo does not have any relative pronoun and displays two different structures for the relativization of subject NP and non-subject NPs. Non-Subject RelativizationDirect Object Relativization32. mujiem [zova-n a –hmuh] cu liyaan tak a –ni museum Zova Erg 3sg see DefD big very 3sg be ‘The museum which Zova saw is very big.’ (Subbarao and Lalitha Murthy,ms)

Indirect Object Relativization33. nimin -a [zova –n co a –pek ]bOng (a) –kha a-thi –tOh yesterday LocZova Erg food 3sg give cow 3sg DefD 3sg die Asp ‘The cow which Zova gave food to yesterday died.’ (Subbarao and Lalitha Murthy,ms)

Oblique Object Relativization34. dohkaana[lekhabu ka –daah -na ] cu a –liyaan table book 1sg keep INF DefD 3sg big ‘The table on which I kept the book is big.’ (Subbarao and Lalitha Murthy,ms)

10. Genitive MarkerUnlike most of the Tibeto-Burman languages, Mizo does not have a genitive Postposition and possessive interpretation is contexual.

However, pronominal clitics occur with the head noun to mark the genitive form. 35. zova lekhabu Zova book ‘Zova’s book’

36. ka pa 1sg. Father ‘my father’



11. Position of QuantifiersNormally in SOV languages the quantifiers precede the noun they modify. However, in Mizo, quantifiers follow the noun they modify.

37. in –ah mi tamtak an – Om house Loc. people many 3pl. be/exist ‘There are many people at home.’

38. no - ah hnute tleem a -Om cup Loc. milk little 3sg. Be ‘There is a little milk in the cup.’

12. pro-dropMizo has a very rich pattern of agreement. Subject as well Object pronouns are preferably dropped. However, they are recoverable via

pronominal clitics that are incorporated in the verbal morphology. 39. pro ka hmu pro ce 1sgSAM see 2sg OAM ‘I saw you.’

13. AgreementPersonal pronouns in subject, direct object, indirect object and oblique object positions are dropped. But they are recoverable through

pronominal clitics incorporated in verbal morphology. The subject agreement marker and the first person direct object agreement marker precede the verb stem whereas the second person direct object agreement marker follows the verb stem. 40. lekhabu-cu ka chiar book Acc 1sg read ‘I read the book.’

41. ka hmu ce 1sgSAM see 2sg OAM ‘I saw you.’

14. Wh-questionLike most of the South-Asian languages in general and Tibeto-Burman languages in particular, Mizo has wh-expression in situ. There is

no obligatory wh-movement. 42. zova -n enge nilein -in a -ti Zova Erg what all day 3sg do ‘What did zova do all the day yesterday.’

15. Yes-No questionsAs it is stated earlier there is no obligatory movement for the question formation in Mizo. Yes-No and tag question markers occur

rightmost to the final constituent. 43. zovi sikul -ah tsangin a- loh em Zovi school Loc from 3sg return y/n q-mkr ‘Is Zovi coming from school?’



16. Tense and AspectMizo has future –non-future contrast. The tense and aspect markers follow the verb stem. Mizo does not mark present and past tense.

Simple sentence/ embedded sentencemek / laay Prog. Aspect Markerang / turFut marker

17. NegationNegative element always follows the verb and occurs post verbally in Mizo. Neg in Mizo can carry agreement marker.

44. kan -hmu -lo -ce 1pl see Neg 2sg ‘we didn’t see you.’

18. AnaphoraLike Dravidian languages such as Telugu, Tamil and Kannada and some of the Tibeto- Burman languages such as Hmar, Angami, Ao

etc. Mizo, too, has verbal reflexives / reciprocals (VR). The VR follows the agreement marker but precedes the verb stem. When the VR occurs, the occurrence of the lexical anaphor is optional. However, when a lexical anaphor occurs in argument positions, the VR occurs obligatorily. In Mizo, the presence of the VR prohibits the occurrence of an ergative marker –in/-n. Verbal Reflexives are always subject oriented. 45. zova - n ama leh ama a- in hmu zova Erg self and self 3sg VR see ‘Zova saw himself.’

19. ErgativityMizo, like some of the Tibeto-Burman languages has split ergativity in person. However, it does show consistency and in some cases

the ergative marker becomes optional. Nominative-Accusative 46. zova-n anni-cu a - hria Zova Erg they Acc 3sg know ‘Zova knows them.’

Ergative-Absolutive47. zova-n min - hmu Zova Erg 1sg see ‘Zova saw me.’

20. The Position of the Plural MarkerPlural markers follow the noun in simple sentences. 48. dOkan cun-ah leekhabu te an- Om table on book Pl 3Pl be ‘The books are on the table.’



However, when a noun phrase is modified by a clause, the plural marker occurs to the right of the complex NP followed by the definite marker. 49. nikum-a mi zong zong amerikaa kal ta te kha an hone lutul last year people many America go sec pl DefD 3Pl rich very ‘Many people who went America last year became rich.’ (Subbarao and Lalitha Murthy,ms)

21. Passives in Mizo The formation of Passive in Mizo is basically a FOCUSING operation where the logical DO or IO, which is treated as derived subject,

is marked with the Focus marker –cu. However there are other morphological changes that are observed. Simple Active and Passive construction50. zovi -n lekhabu a -ru Active Zovi Erg book 3sg steal ‘Zovi stole the book.’

51. zovi -n lekhabu-cu a -ru Passive Zovi Erg book FOC 3sg steal ‘ The book was stolen by Zovi.’

As Subbarao and Lalithmurthy (cf. 1997) point out ‘…the passive of the older generation is basically a FOCUSING operation…the passive is formed by focusing direct object or indirect object either to the left or to the right of the original sentence…the passive in younger generation is different from that of the older generation…an extra sentence node with verb Om ‘be’ (existential) or ni ‘be’ (copula) is created. For example, 52. zovi -n lekhabu-cu a -ru in a -Om Passive Zovi Erg book FOC 3sg steal linker 3sg be ‘The book was stolen by Zovi.’

22. Clefts in MizoThe formation of clefts in Mizo shares most of the features with the Passive. The NP, which is modified, is marked with the Focus

marker –cu and no other change has been observed. 53. zovi-cu cancui hre -tu a -ni Zovi FOC news know AGT 3sg be ‘It is Zovi who knows the news.’

54. sakei-cu zova –n a -tha ? a -ni tiger FOC Zova-Erg 3sg kill 3sg be ‘This the tiger that Zova killed.’

An extra node is created for–ni verb be which is a copula. As it is statedearlier there is not much difference between the formation of passives and that of clefts. The only difference that makes a passive different from a cleft is the occurrence of linker –in in passive. The following example is illustrative. 55. sakei -cu zova-n a tha? in a- Om/*ni tiger FOC Zova Erg 3sg kill linker 3sg be/exist ‘The/A tiger was killed by Zova.’



To summarise, Mizo is a verb-final languages and is left branching in the unmarked word order. It has postpositions and a post sentential complementizer occurs to the right of the embedded sentence. The auxiliary verb always follows the main verb. The very rich pattern of agreement in Mizo allows ‘heavy pro drop’. Subject normally precedes all other arguments. Locative precedes instrumental and instrumental precedes indirect object. Direct object follows the Indirect Object. As it is a split-ergative language, all the transitive subjects are marked with the ergative marker –n/-in and the object with-ɸ. The genitive precedes the governing noun and the marker of comparison follows the standard of comparison. Time adverbials precede place adverbials. The occurrence of elements in time as well as place adverbial phrases is in the descending order. Like many other languages of the world, Mizo, too, has the nonrestrictive relative clauses. The formation of clefts in Mizo shares most of the features with the Passive. The NP that is modified is marked with the Focus marker –cu and no other change has been observed. The formation of Passive in Mizo is basically a FOCUSING operation where the logical DO or IO which is treated as derived subject is marked with the Focus marker –cu. Apart from the simple adjectives Mizo uses the strategy of relativization to modify NPs. It has different structures for relativizing a subject and non-subject NPs. It has Externally Headed prenominal and postnominal relative clauses. Though it does not have any relative pronoun, it has head internal relative clause. Like most of the Tibeto-Burman languages Mizo does not have any relative pronoun.

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==http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/blog0610b.htm

John Wells’s phonetic blog

16-31 October 2006, archivedemail: [email protected] see the phonetic symbols in the text, please ensure that you have installed a Unicode font that includes all the IPA symbols, for example Charis SIL (free download). Browsers: Some versions of Internet Explorer have bugs that prevent the proper display of certain phonetic symbols. I recommend Firefox (free) or, failing that, Opera (also free).

Tuesday 31 October 2006

Degemination: the follow-upKensuke Nanjo reminds me that Jack Windsor Lewis, in his article ‘Weakform words and contractions’, mentions the degemination that can occur with the word some:

When some occurs in a weakform immediately before a substantive beginning with /m/, there is very often DEGEMINATION of the two /m/s to only one and then OPEN SYLLABLE PREFERENCE prompts the insertion of a schwa vowel, eg /sə `mɔː/ Some more?

And in his ‘Reduced forms of English words’ Jack claims that what might be written good `eel, take `air, pry `minister and extra `tension for good `deal, take `care, prime `minister and extra at`tention are commonplace.

Degemination in prime minister (as [praɪˈmɪnɪstə]) is certainly widespread: I am not so convinced about take care, which doesn’t feel right to me. The possible elision of /t/ in sit down, let go, whaddya want is not degemination, though it is obviously similar, and similarly lexically restricted. Now to the matter of -ly. When this suffix is attached to a stem ending in /l/, there are several possibilities, partly lexically determined. (Degemination is the loss of one of two identical consonants; compression is a

Kensuke Nanjo

Jack Windsor Lewis



reduction in the number of syllables.) • A. stems ending in syllabic /l/ (or /əl/)

1. degemination with compression, so that the adverb has the same number of syllables as the adjective. Examples: gentle → gently, simple → simply, single → singly, noble → nobly, able → ably (and similarly for the suffix -able or -ible: possible → possibly, visible → visibly, reasonable → reasonably, understandable → understandably etc.)

2. degemination with variable compression. Sometimes compressed, sometimes pronounced with /-əli/ or /-l̩i/. Adjectives ending in -ical, thus historic(al) → historically, surgical → surgically usually /-ɪkli/. Adjectives ending in -ful, thus peaceful → peacefully, beautiful → beautifully. Also double → doubly, special → specially

3. degemination without compression. Other adjectives ending in -al, thus natural → naturally, vital → vitally, racial → racially

• B. stems ending in non-syllabic /l/ 1. degemination. Example: full → fully /ˈfʊli/ (are there any other categorical examples?) 2. variable degemination. Examples: whole → wholly, dull → dully 3. no degemination Examples: pale → palely /ˈpeɪlli/, vile → vilely, cool → coolly, futile →

futilely Does this about cover it?

Monday 30 October 2006

DegeminationGeminated (double) consonants are quite common in English. They are never found within a morpheme, but arise across (i) morpheme boundaries and (ii) across word boundaries, wherever one element ends in a given consonant and the following element begins with the same consonant: (i) meanness ˈmiːnnəs, guileless ˈɡaɪlləs, nighttime ˈnaɪttaɪm, midday ˌmɪdˈdeɪ (ii) nice sort naɪs sɔːt, big girl bɪɡ ɡɜːl, bad dog bæd dɒɡ Phonetically, geminated consonants are pronounced like ordinary ones but with extra duration. In the case of plosives, there is a single articulatory gesture but with a longer hold phase. same man /seɪm mæn/ = [seɪmːæn], stop pushing /stɒp pʊʃɪŋ/ = [stɒpːʊʃɪŋ] This much is covered by our textbooks. But what I don’t remember seeing much discussion of is degemination in English, the process whereby a geminate is simplified, i.e. two consonants are reduced to one. Degemination is the norm in derivational (fossilized) morphology, but the exception in inflectional (productive) morphology. So inside the lexicon there are plenty of cases of degemination such as dis + sent = dissent dɪˈsent (cf. consent), in + numerable = innumerable ɪˈnjuːmərəbl̩ abbreviate, addiction, aggregation, allocate, connotation, immigration, immature —though even here we sometimes override degemination to emphasize the meaning of a prefix, as in dissuade

[d(ː)]



dɪ(s)ˈsweɪd (cf. persuade), illegal ɪ(l)ˈliːɡl̩. Germanic affixes are not subject to degemination. So alongisde the Latinate innumerable we have unnecessary with geminated /nn/ and cases like meanness, guileless in (i) above. (Entombment is an interesting case: -ment, despite its Latin origin, ‘came to be treated as an English formative’ (OED), which means that entombment ɪnˈtuːmmənt has geminate /mm/.) The behaviour of -ly when attached to a stem ending in /l/ is complicated: we’d better leave it to another day. What got me thinking about all this was hearing a Conservative MP on the radio pronouncing the phrase a good deal better with just a single, ungeminated [d]. This option is something I drew attention to in LPD, and something I sometimes do myself, though I admit it is a minority choice and probably becoming less frequent. It is also irregular, in the sense that we don’t degeminate other /dd/ sequences (good dog, bad deal).

Are there any other cases of degemination across a word boundary? Cannot is a special case. When can and not come together the result is not can not [kæn nɒt] but [kænɒt] (which in spoken styles is then usually further reduced to can’t). But apart from these two (and the Australian g’day) I can’t think of any other cases. Can anyone?

Friday 27 October 2006

PinyinTwo correspondents have reproached me for misusing the term ‘Pinyin’ to refer to what should properly be called ‘Hanyu Pinyin’. The more helpful one was Victor Mair, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, who points out that Pinyin essentially just means ‘spelling’. “This did not use to be much of a problem, but now there are various other PINYIN schemes, some of which are becoming increasingly conspicuous. For example, the Taiwan Ministry of Education has recently approved the use of TAILUO PINYIN for the writing of Hoklo (often called "Taiwanese"), and there will be more and more textbooks published using this romanization during the coming years. There is also a competing TONGYONG PINYIN which is *supposed* to be applicable to all the languages of Taiwan.” (Read more here and here.) “In any event,” continues Victor, “these are exciting, eventful times for romanization in Taiwan and, indeed, in mainland China.” You might also be interested to read Victor’s demolition of the widespread belief that the Chinese word for ‘crisis’ is composed of elements that mean ‘danger’ and ‘opportunity’. It isn’t. (I note by the way that the



website where this article appears — ‘a guide to the writing of Mandarin Chinese in romanization’ — is called just www.pinyin.info (sic).) So: in future I’ll try to remember to refer to Hanyu Pinyin (or, with tones, Hànyǔ Pīnyīn). In Chinese that’s 汉语拼音 (simplified) or 漢語拼音 (traditional).

Thursday 26 October 2006

AussprachewörterbuchYesterday I was indeed in Cologne (Köln), Germany, as a guest on a television programme that hopefully represents the absolutely last gasp of the cow dialect story. We had a live cow (trained for film work) on the set in the studio, and I chatted about the inaccuracy of media reports with the presenter Günther Jauch. There was also the footage we filmed in London last month. I made use of the three hours between arriving at my hotel and being picked up to go to the studio by doing a little shopping. I succeeded in buying the current (6th) edition of Max Mangold’s Duden Aussprachewörterbuch, the standard German pronunciation dictionary. (When compiling LPD it was the third edition that I consulted.) As well as giving authoritative IPA transcriptions of the words of German, this book is also particularly informative about the pronunciation of words from other languages, and indeed about the phonetics of other languages. It gives tabulations or summaries of reading rules for over twenty different languages, including Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian. It offers a table of all possible Mandarin Chinese syllables, in Pinyin, Wade-Giles and IPA. The dictionary tells us about the tones not only of Chinese but also of Burmese, Japanese, Lithuanian, Serbo-Croatian, Swedish, Thai, and Vietnamese. It tells us nothing at all, however, about the phonetics of Arabic or Hindi — a strange omission. It also has a list of other languages in which word stress is

• initial (Estonian, Faeroese, Finnish, Georgian, Icelandic, Latvian, Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian, Slovak; Czech is among the languages with detailed phonetic descriptions),

• antepenultimate (Macedonian), • final (French, Cambodian, Persian), • on a specified syllable for each word (Afghan, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Indonesian, Catalan, Lithuanian,

Malagasy, Romansch, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian), and • “similar to German” (Danish, English).

What, I wonder, happened to • penultimate (not only Polish, but also Welsh and Swahili)?

Wednesday 25 October 2006

Now that I am back I have been able to check for the source of the claim that the IPA sanctions the use of [c, ɟ] to symbolize palatoalveolar affricates (blog, 18-19 October). Here is the passage I was thinking of, from the 1949 booklet The Principles of the International Phonetic Association, p. 14-15.

STOP PRESS: viewers in Germany cansee me tonight at 22:15 on stern tv: ‘Eine Meldung und ihre Geschichte:



The booklet has long been out of print, and has in any case been superseded by the current Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. In the latter there is very little discussion of the symbolization of affricates: in fact the only mentions I can find are on p. 22:

Affricates and double articulationsk͡p, t͡ ʃ etc. Eng. chief;...

and on p. 27: ...letters may also be combined to make a phoneme symbol (for instance /tʃ/, as at the beginning

Muhen Kühe Dialekt?’. As you know, the answer is ‘Nein!’



and end of English church; if necessary the phonological unity of the two segments can be shown by a tie bar: /t͡ ʃ/).

In the listing of symbols and their computer coding, p. 179, it is noted that the t-esh ligature (or ‘tesh digraph’, sic Unicode) ʧ and the d-ezh ligature (‘dezh digraph’) ʤ have been superseded by the simple sequences tʃ and dʒ respectively. Inasmuch as the Handbook does not mention the possible use of [c, ɟ] for these affricates I suppose we must consider this superseded too. The specimen of Hindi (p. 100-103) uses tʃ and dʒ. The s-tailed t and the barred-2 seen in the extract above were withdrawn in 1976.


Among the post awaiting me on my return was a package that proved to contain an advance copy of a new book sent to me by the publishers. It is the Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation, by Lena Olausson and Catherine Sangster (OUP 2006). At first I thought it was a new edition of Graham Pointon’s BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names (OUP, 1990). It has the same compact format, and adopts the same practice of showing pronunciations both in IPA and in a respelling system. However the Guide is entirely new, and very different in content from Pointon’s dictionary. You will look in vain here for names of obscure British people and places. Rather, it covers names, words and phrases from all over the world. For example, the first three entries under G are

Ga Ghanaian language gah /ɡɑː/Gaarder, Jostein Norwegian writer yoo-stayn gor-duhr /ˌjuːsteɪn ˈɡɔː(r)də(r)/

gaberdine worsted or cotton cloth gab-uhr-deen /ˌɡabə(r)ˈdiːn/There are also page-length articles on such topics as Accents (= written marks), Clicks, French, Latin, Top ten complaints about pronunciation, and Tone. The authors work in the BBC Pronunciation Unit and the book’s main source is the Unit’s own database accumulated over many years. The book is “not so much a dictionary as a collection of particular pronunciations which are tricky, much debated, curious, or exotic”. I look forward to many happy hours examining it in detail. Meanwhile you may like to know that for the next 48 hours at least it can be pre-ordered from amazon.co.uk at 34% off the publisher’s price. Publication is on Thursday.




I’m on my way back from Hong Kong. While I was there my former student Prof. Cheung Kwan-hin, who looked after me so kindly and assiduously during my visit, pointed out to me something I did not know about my laptop computer: that it already has built-in software making possible the easy inputting of Chinese characters. Having once activated this, all you have to do in order to bring a character into your document and onto the screen is to type in the Pinyin romanization of the word in question. The operating system I use is Windows XP. To activate the Chinese input method, I just had to go to Control Panel | Regional and Language Settings | Languages and check the box Install files for East Asian languages. Then go to Details and select Chinese (PRC), Add. OK my way out and wait a short while. Once that’s done, I can select Chinese on the language bar and then type, say, shan1 — and on the screen the character 山 (mountain) duly appears. Notice that the tone is entered as a trailing numeral (1, 2, 3 or 4) rather than as a Pinyin diacritic. (Actually, you don’t always need a tone number. Just shan plus return is enough to produce 山.) Instead of the standard Pinyin ü you have to type v. So nv produces 女 (woman), which in Pinyin would normally be written nü. In Word, highlighting a character and toggling Alt-X changes it to its Unicode number, which is handy for writing HTML for this blog. All that remains for me to do is to set about actually learning Chinese.

Friday 20 October 2006

Unusual pronunciations observed recently in the mouths of native speakers of English: • from a CNN newsreader, to obey someone sl/æ/vishly. Since the point being made was the possible

offensiveness of this expression towards an African-American, perhaps the speaker could not bring himself to say sl/eɪ/vish. Or was it contamination from lavish? Compare the difference between the two meanings of slaver: ‘slave trader’ with /eɪ/, but ‘dribble, foam at the mouth’ with /æ/.

• from a phonologist discussing the formal interface between syntax and intonation, acoustics with /aʊ/. That’s actually what the BBC Pronunciation Advisory Committee recommended back in the 1930s. Until now I had thought it an excellent example of the lack of influence of this committee, since despite its recommendation (I had assumed) we all say acoustics with /u:/.

• from the same speaker, the name of David Brazil, the guru of discourse intonation, as /brəˈzɪl/. But our late colleague called himself /ˈbræzəl/.

• from a scientist giving an academic paper at a conference, asterisk (the punctuation mark * ) with /-ɪks/ instead of /-ɪsk/. I’d always assumed that this contamination from Asterix (the Gaul) was either illiterate or ironic. But I don’t think the speaker was being ironic.

Thursday 19 October

Two correspondents have commented on yesterday’s posting about affricates. Wyn Roberts of Simon Fraser University in Canada queries my claim that the use of [c] for a voiceless



2006

palatoalveolar affricate is ‘IPA-sanctioned’. Where, he asks, is this ‘sanctioning’ (approval) stated? Since I am away from reference books at the moment I can’t quote chapter and verse, but I am pretty sure you will find it somewhere in the 1949 Principles of the IPA booklet. I think the Council made a decision about this sometime in the 1920s or 1930s. Whether it is referred to in the current Handbook I am not sure. Biljana Čubrović of Belgrade University in Serbia writes “You rightly emphasised that one of the scripts used by the Serbs, namely the Cyrillic script, is characterised by an almost perfect, one-to-one spelling to sound correspondence. In this script, all five Serbian affricates are represented by simple letters:

• 1. ц in цев (Serbian Latin cev,Eng. pipe) • 2. ч in чип (Serbian Latin čip, Eng. chip) • 3. џ in џип (Serbian Latin �d ip, Eng. Jeep) • 4. ћ in кућа (Serbian Latin kuća, Eng. house) • 5. ђ in луђа (Serbian Latin luđa, Eng. madder)

(I should explain that Serbian can be written with either the Cyrillic alphabet or the Latin alphabet. Both orthographies are recognized.) Biljana continues, “In the Latin script, only one of the five Serbian affricates is represented by a digraph (namely the voiced postalveolar affricate, or no. 3 above). I am unsure about how this 'deviation' arose, but don't think that one of the compound phonemes is indeed more complex than the other four. A possible answer may lie in the etymology of words containing this particular affricate. As a native speaker of Serbian, I see these five affricates as wholes. Another observation connected to affricates in Serbian concerns their perception. Most native speakers of Serbian recognise and appreciate the difference between the voiceless postalveolar affricate and its palatal counterpart, but fail to articulate these two correctly. The Belgrade male idler jargon, for instance, is characterised by the neutralisation of these two in favour of the postalveolar affricate.” We’d better not pursue the meaning of ‘correctly’ here.

Wednesday 18 October 2006

Someone wrote to me last week worrying about the phonetic symbolization of affricates. Unfortunately I seem to have inadvertently deleted the email before replying to it, so this public reply will have to suffice. I think the person’s name was Sylvain or Sylvaine. What worried this correspondent was that the IPA allows for the representation of the palatoalveolar affricates as [c, ɟ] instead of what s/he considers to be the correct way of writing them, namely [t͡ ʃ, d͡ʒ]. Why does this provision exist? It is because there are some languages in which it doesn’t seem very satisfactory to write affricates with the plosive-plus-fricative notation. A speaker of Italian, for example, was telling me the other day that he is very conscious of the difference in tongue configuration between the ordinary Italian plosive [t] and the first element of the Italian affricate spelt c(i), c(e), usually represented in IPA as [tʃ]. He would be happier with a notation that does not imply their equivalence. That is what the IPA-

t͡ ʃ, d͡ʒ c, ɟ č, ǰ



sanctioned use of [c] for the affricate provides. (You can only do this, of course, in a language in which you do not need to symbolize a voiceless palatal plosive, which is the default general-phonetic meaning of [c].) Another such language is Hindi, in which the affricates very obviously pattern as single units, not as sequences. Many linguists use the symbols [č, ǰ] for these affricates, although they do not have the approval of the IPA. In ordinary orthography, although the Latin alphabet offers no way to write affricates without using diacritics or digraphs, other alphabets do: for example, in Cyrillic the voiceless palatoalveolar affricate is written Ч ч and the voiced one (in Serbian) as Џ џ. There is clearly a perceived need for a unitary way of writing these affricates. Returning to the two-symbol notation, my correspondent also assumed that the correct way to write them is with a tie bar: [t͡ ʃ, d͡ʒ]. Personally I normally omit the tie bar, and write just [tʃ, dʒ]. That is what you find in most pronunciation dictionaries and textbooks, too. It does involve the convention that a sequence of plosive plus fricative that does NOT form an affricate must be written some other way. Daniel Jones does this with a hyphen (see his article ‘The hyphen as a phonetic sign’, 1955, �Zeitschrift f r Phonetik 9), thus [t-ʃ, d-ʒ]. This enables us to show the difference in the Polish minimal pair trzy [t-ʃɨ] vs. czy [tʃɨ]. In English any such sequence must straddle a syllable boundary, so you can show it using a full stop, as in Wiltshire /ˈwɪlt.ʃə/ vs. vulture /ˈvʌltʃ.ə/ (if you think I am right about English syllabification) or /ˈvʌl.tʃə/ (if you don’t). Another way is to use the ligatured symbols [ʧ, ʤ] for the affricates, leaving the separated [tʃ, dʒ] for the non-affricate plosive plus fricative sequences.


Each of the universities we are assessing here in Hong Kong has been asked to produce a statement of its research strategy. Some of them have generated prime examples of gobbledegook. � �[ ] our research policy [ ] nurtures a culture for innovation development and technology transfer where the

�University is in the early stages of development [ ] I can’t even parse this. What might ‘innovation development’ be? What is the antecedent of where the university is in the early stages of development? Is it a restrictive relative clause or a non-restrictive one? Perhaps the whole thing has been badly translated from a Chinese original that was clear in Chinese. Perhaps the sentence is simply short of punctuation, as in Eats shoots and leaves, and the reference was meant to be to � �[ ] innovation, development, and technology transfer [ ]

with an afterthought admitting that the institution is only just starting to address the matter of technology transfer. Fortunately we are not being asked to make any kind of judgment on these statements. I say ‘fortunately’, because they are couched in the style of corporate management-speech that can be seen as both on the one hand ludicrous and on the other obscurely threatening. Here is a fragment of what one higher education institution says. The research policy has been implemented using the following key strategies:



�[ ] Encouraging academic staff to develop research initiatives that are directly related to the mission and �strategic plans of [name of institution] and its Faculties and Departments [ ]

Is this to be read as implying that the institution discourages its academic staff from ‘developing research initiatives’ that do not fit exactly into its master plan? How does that square with academic freedom? Compare another institution we have to assess, which claims � �[ ] to provide and maintain a vibrant environment for new and important research areas to emerge [ ]

—which might seem to imply precisely the opposite aim, with everyone being encouraged to search out quite new and perhaps unforeseen ‘research areas’. I wonder if this difference in claimed research strategy leads to any difference in practice. I suspect that it doesn’t; but if it does,

I \know which institution \/I would prefer to work for.


This is the first blog entry to come to you direct from vibrant Hong Kong, where I am working on a Hong Kong universities Research Assessment Exercise and will then have a brief holiday. Tami Date has been in touch again about the ‘empty word’ things (blog, 10 October). He offers the following counter-examples, in which things receives the nucleus.

(1) A: Mary, I’m sorry to hear about your father. B: Thank you, John. | It was 'one of those \things. A: When did he pass away? B: He was buried on December 20th. (2) A: What does your father do for a living? B: He’s into 'many \things. (= jobs) A: Does he have a major line of work or...? B: Yes, he’s a waste material dealer. (3) 'Get your \things. (= belongings) You’ll be leaving with the police! (4) We’ll drive out right after dinner | and 'get your \things.(ditto)

Numbers (1), (3) and (4) are clear: we have to accent things. You could consider just one of those things an idiom, and exempt things ‘belongings’ from the category of empty words. It seems to me that (2), though, could go either way: the nucleus can go on things or, alternatively, on many, given that the speaker can imply that jobs is given (= predictable from the context). There are similar difficulties with people. Although we say

(5) I 'want to \meet people.(6) I 'want to com\municate with people.

(because a nucleus on people might suggest a contrast with, say, machines or even animals), we nevertheless say



(7) There were a 'lot of \people in the room.

Archived from previous months:

• 1-15 October 2006 • September 2006 • August 2006 • July 2006 • June 2006 • May 2006 • April 2006 • March 2006

==



==http://www.casl.umd.edu/sites/default/files/bls34_handout.pdf

Phonetics vs. phonology in loanword adaptation

==



==http://www.khmer-language.com/dictionary/ipa-consonant-sounds.htm

Home Consonant symbols and sounds in the International Phonetic Alphabet

Hear sound

The bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is m, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is m. The bilabial nasal occurs in English, and it is the sound represented by "m" in map and rum. It occurs nearly universally, and few languages (e.g., Mohawk) are known to lack this sound.

Hear sound

The voiceless bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is p, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is p. The voiceless bilabial plosive in English is spelled with 'p', as in pit or speed.[p] is missing from about 10% of languages that have a [b]. (See voiced velar plosive for another such gap.) This is an areal feature of the "circum-Saharan zone" (Africa north of the equator, including the Arabian peninsula). It is not known how old this areal feature is, and whether it might be a recent phenomenon due to Arabic as a prestige language (Arabic lost its /p/ in prehistoric times), or whether Arabic was itself affected by a more ancient areal pattern. It is found in other areas as well; for example, in Europe, Proto-Celtic and Old Basque are both reconstructed as having [b] but

no [p].

Nonetheless, the [p] sound is very common cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain [p], and some distinguish more than one ⁼variety. Many Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindi, have a two-way contrast between the aspirated [pʰ] and the plain [p] (transcribed as [p ] in

extensions to the IPA).



Hear sound

The voiced bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is b, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is b. The voiced bilabial plosive occurs in English, and it is the sound denoted by

the letter ‹b› in boy. Many Indian languages, such as Hindi, have a two-way contrast between breathy voiced /bʱ/ and plain /b/.

Hear sound

The voiceless bilabial fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

that represents this sound is ɸ.

Hear sound

The voiced bilabial fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ‹β›, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ‹B›. The symbol ‹β› is the Greek letter beta. This symbol is also sometimes used to represent the bilabial approximant, though that is more clearly written with the lowering diacritic, ‹β̞›. The bilabial fricative is diachronically unstable and is likely to shift to [v]. In the English language, this sound is not used, but can be made by approximating the normal "v" sound between the two lips.

Hear sound

The bilabial trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents

this sound is Ê™, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is B\.In many of the languages where the bilabial trill occurs, it only occurs as part of a prenasalised bilabial stop with trilled release, [mbÊ™]. This



developed historically from a prenasalized stop before a relatively high back vowel, such as [mbu]. In such instances, these sounds are usually still limited to the environment of a following [u]. There is also a very rare voiceless alveolar bilabially trilled affricate, [tÌªÍ¡Ê™Ì¥] (occasionally written "tp") reported from PirahÃ£ and from a few words in the Chapacuran languages, Wariâ€™ and Oro Win. The sound also appears as an allophone of the labialized voiceless alveolar plosive /tÊ·/ of Abkhaz and Ubykh, but in those languages it is more often realised by a doubly articulated stop [tÍ¡p]. In the Chapacuran languages, [tÊ™Ì¥] is reported almost exclusively before rounded vowels such as [o] and [y].

Hear sound

The labiodental nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ɱ. The IPA symbol is a lowercase letter m with a leftward hook protruding from the lower right of the letter. Occasionally it is instead transcribed as an with a dental diacritic: [m̪].It is pronounced very similarly to the bilabial nasal [m], except instead of the lips touching each other, the lower lip touches the upper teeth. The position of the lips and teeth is generally the same as for the production of the other labiodental consonants, like [f] and [v], though closure is obviously incomplete for the fricatives.Although commonly appearing in languages, it is overwhelmingly present non-phonemically, largely restricted to appear before labiodental

consonants like [f] and [v]. A phonemic /ɱ/ has been reported for the Kukuya (Kukwa) dialect of Teke, where it contrasts with /m, mpf, mbv/ and is

"accompanied by strong protrusion of both lips". It is [ɱʷ] before /a/ and [ɱ] before /i/ and /e/, perhaps because labialization is constrained by the spread front vowels; it does not occur before back (rounded) vowels. However, there is some doubt that a true stop can be made by this gesture due to gaps between the incisors, which for many speakers would allow air to flow during the occlusion; this is particularly pertinent considering that one of the words with this consonant, /ɱáá/, means a 'gap between filed incisors,' a practice of the Teke people.Nevertheless, it is common phonetically, as it is a typical allophone of /m/ and /n/ before the labiodental fricatives [f] and [v], as in English comfort, circumvent, infinitive, or invent. In Angami, it occurs as an allophone of /m/ before /ə/.

Hear sound

The voiceless labiodental fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

that represents this sound is f, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is f.



Hear sound

The voiced labiodental fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

that represents this sound is v, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is v.Although this is a familiar sound to most European listeners, it is cross-linguistically a fairly uncommon sound, being only a quarter as frequent as

[w]. The presence of [v] and absence of [w], along with the presence of otherwise unknown front rounded vowels [y, ø, œ], is a very distinctive areal feature of European languages and those of adjacent areas of Siberia and Central Asia. Speakers of East Asian languages which lack this sound like

Mandarin tend to pronounce [v] as [p], Japanese as [b], and Cantonese as [w], thus failing to distinguish the English words "very" and "berry".

Hear sound

The labiodental approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ʋ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is P or v\.

Hear sound

The labiodental flap is a speech sound found primarily in languages of Central Africa, such as Kera and Mangbetu. It has also been reported in the Austronesian language Sika. It is one of the few non-rhotic flaps. The sound begins with the lower lip placed behind the upper teeth. The lower lip is

then flipped outward, striking the upper teeth in passing. The [ⱱ] glyph, which resembles izhitsa (ѵ), is used to represent this sound in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Hear sound

The alveolar nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in numerous spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar nasals is n, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is n. The vast majority of languages have either an alveolar or dental nasal. There are a few languages that lack either sound but have [m] (e.g., Samoan). There are some languages (e.g., Rotokas) that



lack both m and n.

Hear sound

The voiceless alveolar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents voiceless dental, alveolar, and postalveolar plosives is t, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is t. The dental version can be distinguished with the underbridge diacritic (tÌª; see voiceless dental plosive), and the Extensions to the IPA have a double underline diacritic which

can be used to explicitly specify an alveolar pronunciation (tÍ‡). The [t] sound is a very common sound cross-linguistically; the most common

consonant phonemes of the world's languages are [t], [k] and [p]. Most languages have at least a plain [t], and some distinguish more than one

variety. Some languages without a [t] are Hawaiian (outside of Niâ€˜ihau; Hawaiian uses a voiceless velar plosive when adopting loanwords with

[t]), colloquial Samoan (which also lacks an [n]), and NÇ€u used in South Africa.

Hear sound

The voiced alveolar plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents voiced dental, alveolar, and postalveolar plosives is d (although the symbol dÌª can be used to distinguish the dental version, see voiceless

dental plosive), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is d.

Hear sound

The voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to English speakers as the 'th' in thing. Though rather rare as a phoneme in the world's inventory of languages, it is encountered in some of the most widespread and influential (see

below). The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is θ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is T. The IPA



symbol is the Greek letter theta, which is used for this sound in Greek, and the sound is thus often referred to as "theta".The dental fricatives are often called "interdental" because they are often produced with the tongue between the upper and lower teeth, and not just against the back of the teeth, as they are with other dental consonants. Among the more than 60 languages with over 10 million speakers, only English, Standard Arabic, Castilian Spanish (i.e., as spoken in Spain only), Burmese, and Greek have the voiceless dental fricative. Speakers of languages and dialects without the sound sometimes have difficulty producing or distinguishing it from similar sounds, especially if they have had no chance to acquire it in childhood, and typically replace it with a voiceless alveolar fricative, voiceless dental plosive, or a voiceless labiodental fricative (known respectively as th-alveolarization, th-stopping, and th-fronting.)The sound is known to have disappeared from a number of languages, e.g. from most of the Germanic languages or dialects, where it is retained only in English and Icelandic.

Hear sound

The voiced dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic

Alphabet that represents this sound, eth, is ð, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is D. The symbol ð was taken from the Old English letter eth, which could stand for either a voiced or unvoiced interdental fricative. This symbol is also sometimes used to represent the dental approximant, a similar sound not known to contrast with a dental fricative in any language, though that is more clearly written with the lowering diacritic, ð̞. The dental fricatives are often called "interdental" because they are often produced with the tongue between the upper and lower teeth, and not just against the back of the teeth, as they are with other dental consonants. It is familiar to English speakers as the th sound in then. This sound, and its unvoiced counterpart, are rare phonemes.The great majority of European and Asian languages, such as German, French, Persian, Japanese, and Chinese, lack this sound. Native speakers of those languages in which the sound is not present often have difficulty enunciating or distinguishing it, and replace it with a voiced alveolar fricative, a voiced dental plosive, or a voiced labiodental fricative (known respectively as th-alveolarization, th-stopping, and th-fronting). As for Europe, there seems to be a great arc where this sound (and/or the unvoiced variant) is present. Most of mainland Europe lacks the sound; however, the "periphery" languages of Welsh, Elfdalian, English, Danish, Arabic, some Italian dialects, Greek, and Albanian have this phoneme in their consonant inventories.Within Turkic languages, Bashkir and Turkmen have both voiced and voiceless dental fricatives among their consonants.

Hear sound

The voiceless alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on

whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described. The symbol for the alveolar sibilant is s, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is s.

The IPA symbol [s] is not normally used for dental or postalveolar sibilants unless modified by a diacritic ([s̪] and [s̠] respectively). The IPA symbol for the alveolar non-sibilant fricative is derived by means of diacritics; it can be θ̠ or ɹ̝̊, or it can be [θ͇], using the alveolar diacritic from the Extended



IPA

Hear sound

The voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on

whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described. The symbol for the alveolar sibilant is z, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is z.

The IPA symbol [z] is not normally used for dental or postalveolar sibilants unless modified by a diacritic ([z̪] and [z̠] respectively). The IPA symbol for the alveolar non-sibilant fricative is derived by means of diacritics; it can be ð̠ or ɹ̝.

Hear sound

The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative (IPA ʃ) is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The

sound occurs in many languages, and, as in English, French and Italian, it may have simultaneous lip rounding (ʃʷ), although this is rarely indicate

Hear sound

The voiced palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in

the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ‹ʒ›, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Z. An alternative symbol used in some

older and American linguistic literature is ‹ž›, a z with a háček. The sound occurs in many languages and, as in English and French, may have simultaneous lip rounding ([ʒʷ]), although this is rarely indicated in transcription.

Hear sound

The alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents alveolar and postalveolar approximants is ‹ɹ›, a lowercase letter r rotated 180 degrees; the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ‹r\›. For ease



of typesetting, some phonemic transcriptions use the symbol ‹r› instead of ‹ɹ›, even though the former symbol technically represents the alveolar trill.

Hear sound

The alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents

dental, alveolar, and postalveolar trills is [r], and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r. It is commonly called the rolled R or rolling R. Quite

often, /r/ is used in phonemic transcriptions (especially those found in dictionaries) of languages like English and German that have rhotic

consonants that are not an alveolar trill. This is partly due to ease of typesetting and partly because r is often the symbol used for the orthographies of such languages. In the majority of Indo-European languages, this sound is at least occasionally allophonic with an alveolar tap [ɾ], particularly in unstressed positions. Exceptions to this include Catalan, Spanish, and Albanian, which treat them as separate phonemes.

Hear sound

The alveolar flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar flaps is ɾ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 4.

Hear sound

The voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic

Alphabet that represents voiceless dental, alveolar, and postalveolar fricatives is ɬ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is K. The symbol ɬ is called "belted l" and should not be confused with "l with tilde", [ɫ], which corresponds to a different sound, the velarized alveolar lateral approximant. It should also be distinguished from a voiceless alveolar lateral approximant, although the fricative is sometimes incorrectly described as a "voiceless l", a description fitting only of the approximant. Although the sound is rare among European languages outside the Caucasus (being found notably in Welsh, where it is written "ll"), it is fairly common among Native American languages such as Navajo and Caucasian languages such as Avar, and is found in African languages like Zulu and Asian languages like Chukchi and Taishanese.



Hear sound

The voiced alveolar lateral fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic

Alphabet that represents voiced dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral fricatives is ɮ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is K\.

Hear sound

The alveolar lateral approximant, also known as clear l, is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the

International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral approximants is l, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is l.As a sonorant, lateral approximants are nearly always voiced. Voiceless lateral approximants are common in Tibeto-Burman languages, but uncommon elsewhere. In such cases, voicing typically starts about halfway through the hold of the consonant.

Hear sound

The alveolar lateral flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ɺ, a fusion of a rotated lowercase letter ‹r› with a letter ‹l›. Some languages which are described as having a lateral flap, such as Japanese, actually have a flap which is indeterminant as to centrality, and may surface as either central or lateral, either depending on surrounding vowels or in free variation.

Hear sound

The retroflex nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents

this sound is ɳ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is n`. Like all the retroflex consonants, the IPA symbol is formed by adding a rightward



pointing hook extending from the bottom of the symbol used for the equivalent alveolar consonant, in this case the alveolar nasal which has the symbol n. The IPA symbol is thus a lowercase letter n with a rightward tail protruding from the bottom of the right stem of the letter. Compare n and

ɳ. The symbol ɳ should not be confused with ɲ, the symbol for the palatal nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the left stem, or with ŋ, the symbol for the velar nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem.

Hear sound

The palatal nasal is a type of consonant, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound

is ɲ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is J. The IPA symbol is a lowercase letter n with a leftward-pointing tail protruding from the bottom of

the left stem of the letter. Compare n and ɲ. The symbol ɲ is similar to ɳ, the symbol for the retroflex nasal, which has a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem, and with ŋ, the symbol for the velar nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem. Palatal nasals are more common than palatal stops [c] or [ɟ]. In Spanish and languages whose writing systems are influenced by Spanish orthography, this sound is represented with the letter eñe (ñ).

Hear sound

The velar nasal is the sound of ng in English sing. It is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International

Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ‹ŋ›, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is N.As a phoneme, the velar nasal does not occur in many of the indigenous languages of the Americas, nor in a large number of European or Middle

Eastern languages, though it is extremely common in Australian Aboriginal languages. While almost all languages have /m/ and /n/, /ŋ/ is rarer. Only half of the 469 languages surveyed in Anderson (2008) had a velar nasal phoneme; as a further peculiarity, a large proportion of them disallow it from occurring word-initially.As with the voiced velar plosive, the relative rarity of the velar nasal is because the small oral cavity used to produce velar consonants makes it more difficult for voicing to be sustained. It also makes it much more difficult to allow air to escape through the nose as is required for a nasal consonant.In many languages that do not have the velar nasal as a phoneme, it occurs as an allophone of other nasals before velar consonants.



Hear sound

The uvular nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents

this sound is ɴ. In many languages that do not have the velar nasal as a phoneme, it occurs as an allophone of other nasals before velar consonants.

Hear sound

The voiceless retroflex plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

that represents this sound is ʈ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is t`. Like all the retroflex consonants, the IPA symbol is formed by adding a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the symbol used for the equivalent alveolar consonant, in this case the voiceless alveolar

plosive which has the symbol t. If lowercase letter t in the font used already has a rightward-pointing hook, then ʈ is distinguished from t by

extending the rightward-pointing hook below the baseline as a descender. Compare t and ʈ. In many languages that do not have the velar nasal as a phoneme, it occurs as an allophone of other nasals before velar consonants.

Hear sound

The voiced retroflex plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ɖ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is d`. The IPA symbol is a lowercase letter d with a rightward-pointing tail protruding from the lower right of the letter. Like all the retroflex consonants, the IPA symbol is formed by adding a rightward pointing hook extending from the bottom of the symbol used for the equivalent alveolar consonant, in this case the voiced alveolar plosive which has the symbol d.

Compare d and ɖ. Many Indian languages, such as Hindi, have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain [ɖ].



Hear sound

The voiceless palatal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is c, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is c. It is similar to a voiceless postalveolar affricate [tʃ] (as in English chip), and

because it is difficult to get the tongue to touch just the hard palate without also touching the back part of the alveolar ridge,[c] is less common than

[tʃ]. It is common for the symbol ‹c› to represent [tʃ] or other similar affricates, for example in the Indic languages. This may be considered appropriate when the place of articulation needs to be specified, but the distinction between stop and affricate is not contrastive, and therefore of secondary importance.

Hear sound

The voiced palatal plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ɟ, a rotated lowercase letter ‹f›, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is J\.The sound does not exist as a phoneme in English, but is perhaps most similar to a voiced postalveolar affricate [dʒ], as in English jump (although it is a stop, not an affricate; the most similar stop phoneme to this sound in English is [ɡ], as in get), and because it is difficult to get the tongue to touch

just the hard palate without also touching the back part of the alveolar ridge, [ɟ] is a less common sound worldwide than [dʒ]. It is also common for

the symbol /ɟ/ to be used to represent a palatalized voiced velar plosive, or other similar affricates, for example in the Indic languages. This may be considered appropriate when the place of articulation needs to be specified and the distinction between stop and affricate is not contrastive, and therefore of secondary importance.

Hear sound

The voiceless velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is k, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k.

The [k] sound is a very common sound cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain [k], and some distinguish more than one variety.



Many Indian languages, such as Hindi and Bengali, have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain [k].

Hear sound

The voiced velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ɡ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is g. Strictly, the IPA symbol is the so-called "opentail G" , though the "looptail G" is considered an acceptable alternative. The Unicode character "Latin small letter G" (U+0067) renders as either an opentail G or a looptail G depending on font, while the character "Latin small letter script G" (U+0261) is always an opentail G, but is generally available only in fonts with the IPA Extensions character block.Of the six plosives that would be expected from the most common pattern world-wide—that is, three places of articulation plus voicing ([p b, t d, k

ɡ])—[p] and [ɡ] are the most frequently missing, being absent in about 10% of languages that otherwise have this pattern. The former is an areal

feature (see Voiceless bilabial plosive). Missing [ɡ], on the other hand, is widely scattered around the world. (A few languages are missing both.

[example needed]) It seems that [ɡ] is somewhat more difficult to articulate than the other basic plosives. Ian Maddieson speculates that this may be due to a physical difficulty in voicing velars: Voicing requires that air flow into the mouth cavity, and the relatively small space allowed by the position of velar consonants means that it will fill up with air quickly, making voicing difficult to maintain in [ɡ] for as long as it is in [d] or [b]. This

could have two effects: [ɡ] and [k] might become confused, and the distinction is lost, or perhaps a [ɡ] never develops when a language first starts making voicing distinctions. (with uvulars, where there is even less space between the glottis and tongue for airflow, the imbalance is more extreme: Voiced [ɢ] is much rarer than voiceless [q]). Many Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindustani, have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain

[g].

Hear sound

The voiceless uvular plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is pronounced like [k], except that the tongue makes

contact not on the soft palate but on the uvula. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is q, and the equivalent

X-SAMPA symbol is q.



Hear sound

The voiced uvular plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ɢ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is G\. [ɢ] is a rare sound, even compared to other uvulars.

Hear sound

The voiceless retroflex fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

that represents this sound is ʂ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is s`. Like all the retroflex consonants, the IPA symbol is formed by adding a rightward pointing hook extending from the bottom of the symbol used for the equivalent alveolar consonant, in this case the voiceless alveolar

fricative which has the symbol s. The IPA symbol is thus a lowercase letter s with a rightward tail protruding from the lower left of the letter.

Compare s and ʂ. Although a distinction can be made between laminal, apical, and sub-apical articulations, no language makes such a contrast.

Hear sound

The voiced retroflex fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ʐ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is z`.Like all the retroflex consonants, the IPA symbol is formed by adding a rightward pointing hook extending from the bottom of the symbol used for the equivalent alveolar consonant, in this case the voiced alveolar fricative

which has the symbol z. The IPA symbol is thus a lowercase letter z with a rightward tail protruding from the lower right of the letter. Compare z

and ʐ.

Hear sound

The voiceless palatal fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that



represents this sound is ç, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is C. The symbol ç is the letter c with a cedilla, as used to spell French words, such as façade, although the sound represented by the letter ç in French and English orthography is not a voiceless palatal fricative but /s/, the voiceless alveolar fricative.

Palatal fricatives are rare phonemes, and only 5% of the world's languages have /ç/ as a phoneme. However, it also tends to occur as an allophone of /x/ or /h/ in the vicinity of front vowels, and many English dialects are no exception.

Hear sound

The voiced palatal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ʝ (crossed-tail j), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j\.The voiced palatal fricative is a very rare sound, occurring in only seven of the 317 languages surveyed by the original UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database. In only three of the languages (Komi, Margi, Belgian Standard Dutch) this sound occurs along with its voiceless counterpart.

Hear sound

The palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is j. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, or equivalently, i_^, and in the Americanist phonetic notation it is y. In the writing

systems used for most of the languages of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, the letter j denotes the palatal approximant, as in German Jahr 'year'; in other languages, the letters y or i may be used. In linguistics, the palatal approximant is sometimes called after the Semitic letter yod, as in the phonological history terms yod-dropping and yod-coalescence. In Ancient Greek grammar, the palatal approximant, which was lost early in the history of Greek, is sometimes written as ι̯ (iota with the inverted breve below, the non-syllabic diacritic or marker of a semivowel).

Hear sound



The retroflex approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ɻ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\`. The IPA symbol is a turned lowercase letter r with a rightward hook protruding from the lower right of the letter.

Hear sound

The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The [x] sound was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English. It is not to be confused with the voiceless uvular

fricative (IPA χ, X-SAMPA X).

Hear sound

The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in various spoken languages. It is not found in English today, but did exist in Old

English. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɣ (a variant of the Greek letter γ, gamma, which is used for

this sound in Modern Greek), also graphically similar to ɤ, the IPA symbol for a close-mid back unrounded vowel), and the equivalent X-SAMPA

symbol is G. The symbol ɣ is also sometimes used to represent the velar approximant, though that is more accurately written with the lowering diacritic: [ɣ̞] or [ɣ˕]. The IPA also provides a dedicated symbol for a velar approximant, [ɰ], though there can be stylistic reasons to not use it in phonetic transcription.

Hear sound

The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is χ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is X. The sound is represented by x ̣(x with underdot) in Americanist phonetic notation. It is not to be confused with the voiceless velar fricative (IPA x, X-SAMPA x).



Hear sound

The voiced uvular fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ʁ, a rotated small uppercase letter ‹R›, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is R. This consonant is one of several collectively called guttural R when found in European languages. Because the IPA symbol stands for both the uvular fricative and the uvular

approximant, the fricative nature of this sound may be specified by adding the uptack to the letter, [ʁ̝]. (The approximant can be specified by adding

the downtack, [ʁ̞]

Hear sound

The uvular trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this

sound is [ʀ], a small capital R. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is R\. This consonant is one of several collectively called guttural R.Within Europe, the uvular trill seems to have originated in Standard French around the seventeenth century, spreading to standard varieties of German, Danish, as well as in parts of Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish; it is also present in other areas of Europe, but it's not all that clear if such pronunciations are due to French influence. In most cases, varieties have shifted this to a uvular fricative ([ʁ]). See guttural R for more information.

Hear sound

The velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ɰ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is M\. It is the semivocalic counterpart of the close back unrounded vowel [ɯ]The IPA symbol ‹ɣ›, which otherwise signifies a voiced velar fricative, is sometimes used for the velar approximant as well (with a lowering diacritic ‹ɣ˕› when specificity is required).



Hear sound

The retroflex flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents

this sound is ‹ɽ›, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ‹r`›. Toda has a retroflex trill, which is transcribed with the same IPA symbol.

Hear sound

The retroflex lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

that represents this sound is ɭ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is l`.

Hear sound

The palatal lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

that represents this sound is ʎ, a rotated lowercase letter ‹y› (not to be confused with lowercase lambda, λ), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is L.

Hear sound

The velar lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ʟ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is L\.



Hear sound

The voiceless pharyngeal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

that represents this sound is h-bar (ħ), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is X\.

Hear sound

The voiceless epiglottal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

that represents this sound is ʜ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is H\.

Hear sound

The voiceless glottal transition, commonly called a "fricative", is a type of sound used in some spoken languages which often behaves like a fricative, but sometimes behaves more like an approximant or is indeterminate in its behavior. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is h, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is h. Although [h] has been described as a voiceless vowel, because in many languages it lacks the place and manner of articulation of a prototypical consonant, it also lacks the height and backness of a prototypical vowel:

[h and ɦ] have been described as voiceless or breathy voiced counterparts of the vowels that follow them [but] the shape of the vocal tract […] is often simply that of the surrounding sounds. […] Accordingly, in such cases it is more appropriate to regard h and ɦ as segments that have only a laryngeal specification, and are unmarked for all other features. There are other languages [such as Hebrew and Arabic] which show a more definite

displacement of the formant frequencies for h, suggesting it has a [glottal] constriction associated with its production.

Hear sound

The breathy-voiced glottal transition, commonly called a voiced glottal fricative, is a type of sound used in some spoken languages which often



behaves like a consonant, but sometimes behaves more like a vowel, or is indeterminate in its behavior. The symbol in the International Phonetic

Alphabet that represents this sound is ɦ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is h\.

Although [ɦ] has been described as a breathy-voiced counterpart of the following vowel because of its lack of place and manner of articulation in many languages, it may have glottal constriction in a number of languages (such as Finnish), making it a fricative.

Hear sound

The glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English the feature is represented for example by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or ʻokina in Hawaiʻi among those using a preservative pronunciation of that name.

The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ʔ. It is called the glottal stop because the technical term for the gap between the vocal folds, which is closed up in the production of this sound, is the glottis.

Hear sound

The voiced pharyngeal approximant/fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International

Phonetic Alphabet that represents it is ʕ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ?\.

Although traditionally placed in the fricative row of the IPA chart, [ʕ] is usually an approximant. The IPA symbol itself is ambiguous, but no language is known to have a distinct fricative and approximant at this place of articulation.

Hear sound

The voiced epiglottal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that

represents this sound is ʢ.

Although traditionally placed in the fricative row of the IPA chart, [ʢ] is usually an approximant. The IPA symbol itself is ambiguous, but no



language has a distinct fricative and approximant at this place of articulation. Sometimes the lowering diacritic is used to specify that the manner is

approximant: [ʢ̞].

Home

________________________________ Gryffyn Mckee1301 Wyandotte Avenue, Kansas City, MO, USA 64105

==



==http://www.ielanguages.com/linguist.html

Linguistics 101: An Introduction to the Study of Language

==



==http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/phonlab/users/ohala/papers/nasal93.pdf

THE PHONETICS OF NASAL PHONOLOGY: THEOREMS AND

DATA==



==http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=15&ved=0CDMQFjAEOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fdownload%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.87.9686%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&rct=j&q=Burmese%20Phonology%3A%20voiceless%20alveolar%20affricate&ei=PuuQTv6zDIa4twewvYSnDA&usg=AFQjCNHoGsaanv7DJy1B7ckcgID0DwYh4w&sig2=ETUpVZWDQf93F0GKO2S4wA&cad=rja

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.87...rep...

Universals, their violation and the notion of phonologically peculiar …==



==http://www.akha.org/content/aboutakhalife/ethnographicnotesontheakhasvol1.pdf

ETHNO GRAPHIC NOTES ON THE AKHAS OF BURMA This

section …==



==http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4740&context=etd_theses&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D20%26ved%3D0CF4QFjAJOAo%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fscholarworks.sjsu.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D4740%2526context%253Detd_theses%26rct%3Dj%26q%3DBurmese%2520Phonology%253A%2520voiceless%2520alveolar%2520affricate%26ei%3DPuuQTv6zDIa4twewvYSnDA%26usg%3DAFQjCNEPwaH2c6O5WpxnxsKxXLnFWAyNYg%26sig2%3DXpD7BfTAay8-Y2PUPgJL3A%26cad%3Drja#search=%22Burmese%20Phonology%3A%20voiceless%20alveolar%20affricate%22

http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4740&context...

A Phonetic, Phonological, and Morphosyntactic Analysis of the Mara

…==



==h ttp://www.haskins.yale.edu/sr/sr091/SR091_13.pdf

Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge:==



==http://www.akha.org/upload/akhabooks/englishtoakhahandbook.pdf

English Akha Handbook==http://www.akha.org/upload/akhabooks/reader/akhareaderpart1.pdf

==http://www.hani-akha.net/mpcd/hani-akha/language.html

Akha Language==http://www.omniglot.com/writing/newakha.php

http://skyknowledge.com/newakha-details.htm

New Akha Alphabet==http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=19&ved=0CFsQFjAIOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkyoto-seas.org%2Fpdf%2F8%2F1%2F080102.pdf&rct=j&q=akha%20language&ei=dgeRTrfEDMSBtget-o2bDA&usg=AFQjCNHwQvf2BNkewojuqgPV-vEsBRWSlA&sig2=LeQeid2NzYJAtLWIzJpiVA&cad=rja

http://kyoto-seas.org/pdf/8/1/080102.pdf

An Outline of the Structure of the Akha Language

==



http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=29&ved=0CFQQFjAIOBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lc.mahidol.ac.th%2Fthaistudies2011%2Farchive%2FTHS2011-Boonyasaranai_Writing-System-Development.ppt&rct=j&q=akha%20language&ei=cwiRTuevLs2WtweLz52RDA&usg=AFQjCNGCUEAz3wSw4lnX3816hQ9NQekgag&sig2=N5n7p0Tfp59FBfZBVwRSIQ&cad=rja

http://www.lc.mahidol.ac.th/.../THS2011-Boonyasaranai_Writing-System

“Not in our language, not in our world”: The Complexity of ...==

http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf4/phillips2000west.pdf

West—Central Thailand Pwo Karen Phonology ==http://books.google.com/books/download/Outline_grammar_of_the_Ang%C4%81mi_N%C4%81g%C4%81_la.pdf?id=Oq8eT9RNIqEC&hl=en&capid=AFLRE7254_FoS6_kcWMJxVfW52YvOe8jLGAsjO5fAtE4ivD4X-TZi0sg-ySVwvMnNaqesP5XpS2SCHotKJZ-5OYGUAHXxSJn3Q&continue=http://books.google.com/books/download/Outline_grammar_of_the_Ang%25C4%2581mi_N%25C4%2581g%25C4%2581_la.pdf%3Fid%3DOq8eT9RNIqEC%26output%3Dpdf%26hl%3Den

Outline grammar of the Angāmi Nāgā language, with a vocabulary

and ... By R. B. McCabe ==http://books.google.com/books/download/Phrases_in_English_and_Angami_Naga.pdf?id=M-BEAQAAIAAJ&hl=en&capid=AFLRE73mYoi0oAo0cRQOw9khQvUljfsYCaPdntqVNeOfENSZsL5-uZfMmu0-LAbfmCIMQwVZHseRbgwPN_FgovU--OXdv1jctw&continue=http://books.google.com/books/download/Phrases_in_English_and_Angami_Naga.pdf%3Fid%3DM-BEAQAAIAAJ%26output%3Dpdf%26hl%3Den

Phrases in English and Angami Naga By S. W. Rivenburg



==http://ia600508.us.archive.org/1/items/rosettaproject_mya_phon-3/rosettaproject_mya_phon-3.pdf

Burmese Phonology (1987)

==http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf4/sprigg1963comparison.pdf

A COMPARISON OF ARAKANESE AND BURMESE BASED ON ...

==http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~cbchang/papers/Chang_MAthesis03.pdf

High-Interest Loans”: The Phonology of English Loanword …

==http://roa.rutgers.edu/files/551-1002/551-1002-GREEN-0-1.PDF

WORD, FOOT, AND SYLLABLE STRUCTURE IN BURMESE*

==http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/cls/45abs/GruberJ.pdf

The Composition of Phonological Tone in Burmese James Gruber ...==http://www.jseals.org/seals17/Chang_SEALSXVIIabstract_Burmese_loanwords.pdf



Paper title: Phonological Scansion in Loanword Adaptation ...

==http://elanguage.net/journals/index.php/bls/article/viewFile/2188/2155

Phonological Convergence Between Languages in Contact: Mon ...==http://www.sil.org/~hopplep/Nominalization_Template.pdf

THE NOMINALIZATION TEMPLATE==http://ia600202.us.archive.org/0/items/rosettaproject_mya_phon-1/rosettaproject_mya_phon-1.pd f

Burmese Phonology==http://www.assta.org/sst/SST-90/cache/SST-90-Chapter14-p26.pdf

The Domain of Tones in Burmese===http://www.ling.upenn.edu/Events/PLC/plc32/abstracts/11951109316601.pdf

On the Influence of Phonetics, Phonology, and UG in Loanword ...


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