"Voiced obstruent" mistakes

James Crippen jcrippen at GMAIL.COM
Wed Feb 17 23:38:43 UTC 2010


We all recognize that the symbols <d>, <g> and the like which
conventionally represent voiced obstruents, e.g. in the IPA, are
instead used in Athabaskanist literature to represent voiceless
unaspirated obstruents. They're used this way in Athabaskan
orthographies as well. This is something we quickly take for granted
after the first few exposures, but we still constantly have to remind
outsiders about it.

I'm well aware that this convention has tripped up linguists who are
not well-read in our literature and don't consult any Athabaskanists,
but I don't have any examples at hand. Do any other list members have
some good examples of gratutitous assumptions about the voiced status
of Athabaskan obstruents? Things that would make any of us sigh and
shake our heads?

Gunalchéesh (IPA /kunaɬtʃʰíːʃ/) "thanks",
James

(As usual I'm lumping Eyak and Tlingit into "Athabaskan" for
convenience despite inaccuracy.)



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