LG204 background.pdf
LG204 background.pdf
LG204 background.pdf
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<strong>LG204</strong>-5-FY ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY Background<br />
If we now compare the words containing these voiceless stops with those in column 2,<br />
which contains the so-called ‘voiced’ stops, we will find that no such burst of air is<br />
experienced. The reason I refer to these sounds as ‘so-called voiced stops’ is because<br />
no real vocal fold vibration occurs in these sounds in word initial position. In order<br />
for voicing to occur it is essential for air to be passing through the closed glottis and<br />
to push the vocal folds apart. Since there is simultaneously a closure in the mouth<br />
then the air won’t be able to perform this task. When these stops occur between two<br />
vowels, as for example in obey, adore, again, the vocal folds will already be vibrating<br />
and will continue to do so throughout the articulation of the stop. Another distinction<br />
used here could be fortis and lenis. A fortis consonant is one which involves greater<br />
breath force (thus opposite for lenis); is voiceless (lenis may be voiced); initial in a<br />
stressed syllable have strong aspiration (lenis unaspirated); vowels short before final<br />
fortis cons. (full length before final lenis). Final stops often have reinforcing glottal<br />
stop – not so for lenis.<br />
The following wave forms illustrate the difference between the voiceless aspirated<br />
stop of tie and the ‘voiced’ sound at the beginning of die.<br />
Notice that the period between the release of the stop and the onset of the vowel is<br />
considerably longer in tie than in die.<br />
If we turn to the words in column 3, we might assume that these words are identical to<br />
those in column 1 except that they are all preceded by [s]. However, if we perform<br />
the aspiration test on these words, we should find that no aspiration occurs. Indeed, if<br />
we were to record these words and cut the [s] out of the tape, anyone listening to<br />
result would more than likely conclude that they were listening to the words in<br />
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