Phonation, Part 2 LIN 3201

Some confusion… Some of you are getting confused betweenPHONATION And Voiced Sounds… These 2 concepts ARE NOT the same!

Clarification… Phonation means that a given sound has the ability to be made voiced or voiceless BECAUSE The airstream is somehow passes through the vocal folds during production of the sound

So… If we can refer to what the vocal folds are doing While the airstream ingressively or egressively flows through them We have PHONATION

2 Major Types of Phonation (in LIN 3201) Voiced (vibrating vocal folds) & Voiceless (wide open vocal folds)

Examining Voiced and Voiceless Sounds Although 2 languages may both contain voiced or voiceless sounds, these sounds may not be identical

Voicing Onset Time (VOT) Has to do with time change between phonation changes (going from voiced to voiceless or vice versa) VOT is the delay between the release of the oral closure (generally of a stop) and the beginning of voicing of the following sound

Sounds can have positive or negative VOT POSITIVE VOT = voicing lags release of oral closure i.e. voiceless aspirated stops [p h ] NEGATIVE VOT = voicing precedes release of oral closure

Voicing Onset Time (VOT), cont. There are technically 4 basic voicing (phonation) patterns OR 4 different time relations In other words, there 4 different patterns for when voicing begins and ends between two segments

4 Patterns 1.Unaspirated Voiceless – Vocal folds begin vibrating exactly as closure releases i.e. voiceless stops in English following [s] --- [pa] 2.Aspirated Voiceless – lag in voicelessness after release of stop; results in “puff of air” after closure releases i.e. initial stops in English - [p h ] --- [p h a]

1.Slightly Voiced – Vocal folds begin vibrating just before closure releases; period of initial voiclessness English initial voiced stops [b] --- [ba] 2.Fully Voiced – Vocal folds begin vibrating as soon as the oral closure is made French voiced stops [b]

Sample Initial Inventories English: Partially voiced [d] Voiceless aspirated [t h ] French: Fully voiced [d] Voiceless unaspirated [t]

A note of caution… As an English speaker, you will have a difficult time with initial unaspirated voiceless stops Your mind will perceive them as voiced You will have to work to consciously observe and produce these sounds