LL-L "Phonology" 2005.12.15 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
L O W L A N D S - L * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/index.php?page=rules
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org or lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Commands ("signoff lowlands-l" etc.): listserv at listserv.net
Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
Archives: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8) [Please switch your view mode to it.]
=======================================================================
You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request.
To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
text from the same account to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or
sign off at http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
=======================================================================
A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
=======================================================================

   L O W L A N D S - L * 15 December 2005 * Volume 8
=======================================================================

From: Ingmar Roerdinkholder <ingmar.roerdinkholder at WORLDONLINE.NL>
Subject: Phonology

A question about a very Non-Lowlandic phonology, that of Pular, Peuhl,
Pulaar, Fula, Fulfulde or whatever name is used for this African language:

does anyone know how to pronounce the so-called "funky" d, b, y in Pular?
Or, even better, does anyone know where to find soundfiles where one could
hear the difference between normal d, b y and their funky equivalents?

Maybe this isn't the right place for it but since we're also discussing
Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Hawai'ian etc etc, I guess it still may be.
And I wouldn't know where else I could find this kind of info.

Ingmar

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Phonology

Well, well, Ingmar!  It so happens that I was thinking about this very 
phenomenon earlier this very days, less within an African context (albeit 
with knowledge of it) than within a Southeast Asian context, for what you 
are talking about is also an areal feature in Southeastern Asia across 
language families, although it tends to be ignored in non-academic Western 
descriptions.

Coincidence, or might you be a kahuna in the making?

What you are talking about here is an implosive series of consonants.

<quote>
 Implosive consonants are plosives (rarely affricates) with a glottalic 
ingressive airstream mechanism. That is, the airsteam is controlled by 
moving the glottis downward, rather than by expelling air from the lungs as 
in normal pulmonic consonants. Contrastive implosives are found in 
approximately 10%-15% of the world's languages.
</quote>
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implosive_consonant)

You get a similar sound (not exactly the same) if you "inhale" a word.  This 
is something some Americans consider "very European."  It irritates my wife 
when I do it.  ("Stop it! It's too weird.")  I'm not sure if you hear it 
done in Dutch, but I guess you do.  In German and Low Saxon of German (nice 
Lowlands safe, huh?), people often "inhale" _ja_ (yeah, yes) in agreement 
with someone else's statement.  (Nice Lowlands safe, huh?)  You can also 
hear people "inhale" monosyllabic words in expressions of surprise!  This 
phenomenon has been noted and described in Finnish where it tends to occur 
more in women's speech than in men's speech.

Genuine implosive consonants are "kind of sucked in," but without audible 
inhaling.

Implosives are distinctive phonemes in parts of Africa.  Besides Pular, I 
might mention the Kru varieties of Niger-Congo and several Central Sudanic 
languages, also Owerri Igbo (Nigeria, labio-velar <gb>, <kp>), also in 
Hausa.  In a much larger area, implosives are found as allophones (i.e., not 
contrastively), such as in many Bantu languages, including the well known 
members Swahili, Zulu and Xhosa, in which cases, however, this detail tends 
to be omitted in textbooks.  In the Americas, there are remnants of what may 
have been a continuum, now represented from Northern California via Quiche 
in Guatemala to several varieties of the Amazon Basin.  As I mentioned 
previously, it is a widespread feature, albeit apparently only on an 
allophonic level, throughout Southeastern Asia, especially in the 
realizations of syllable-final voiced labials (/m/, /b/) but often more 
extensively.  You can observe this in Vietnamese, Khmer, Thai and other Dai 
languages, Lao, and the languages of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines 
and Taiwan.  Interestingly, this feature is absent in Europe and Australia. 
(I am not sure about Irian Jaya and Papua-New Guinea.)  In Southern Asia 
there seems the be the isolated case of Sindhi of Pakistan (with a series of 
four voiced implosive phonemes).  There are languages that have voiceless 
implosive, a few even affricate implosives, but these are few and far 
between.

It is difficult to hear implosives if you are not used to them, especially 
when you don't watch the speaker's lips.  Here are are few recordings:

Sindhi:
http://www.phonetik.uni-muenchen.de/Lehre/Skripten/TRANS2/TRANS2Stunde2.html
(halfway down the page, before "Clicks," which you can also listen to, 
including a Nama story)

Owerri Igbo:
http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/vowels/chapter12/igbo.html

Hausa:
http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/aflang/Hausa/Pronunciation/consonants.html

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron 

==============================END===================================
* Please submit postings to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
  to be sent to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or at
  http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
======================================================================