Phonetic and Phonological Features of Approximants in Athabaskan and Eskimo
Abstract The Athabaskan and Eskimo approximants, particularly [j], [w], and [l], behave phonologically like obstruents. In both language families, [j], which alternates with a sibilant, is phonologically [+coronal], although its coronality has been questioned on phonetic grounds. These approximants...
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Walter de Gruyter GmbH
1993
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crdegruyter:10.1159/000261944 2023-05-15T16:07:57+02:00 Phonetic and Phonological Features of Approximants in Athabaskan and Eskimo Cook, Eung-Do 1993 http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000261944 https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1159/000261944/xml https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1159/000261944/pdf en eng Walter de Gruyter GmbH https://www.karger.com/Services/SiteLicenses Phonetica volume 50, issue 4, page 234-244 ISSN 1423-0321 0031-8388 Linguistics and Language Acoustics and Ultrasonics Language and Linguistics journal-article 1993 crdegruyter https://doi.org/10.1159/000261944 2022-06-16T13:39:54Z Abstract The Athabaskan and Eskimo approximants, particularly [j], [w], and [l], behave phonologically like obstruents. In both language families, [j], which alternates with a sibilant, is phonologically [+coronal], although its coronality has been questioned on phonetic grounds. These approximants best illustrate Sapir’s [1925] notion of ‘a true point in pattern’ which must be defined ‘over and above its natural [phonetic] classification on organic and acoustic grounds’. The fact that approximants are classified phonologically as sonorants or obstruents in different languages is incompatible with the universality of distinctive features and their phonetic properties. This problem is resolved by placing a phonological boundary for [+/––sonorant] somewhat differently in the continuum of the sonority hierarchy, depending on how approximants behave in individual languages. Article in Journal/Newspaper eskimo* De Gruyter (via Crossref) Phonetica 50 4 234 244 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
De Gruyter (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crdegruyter |
language |
English |
topic |
Linguistics and Language Acoustics and Ultrasonics Language and Linguistics |
spellingShingle |
Linguistics and Language Acoustics and Ultrasonics Language and Linguistics Cook, Eung-Do Phonetic and Phonological Features of Approximants in Athabaskan and Eskimo |
topic_facet |
Linguistics and Language Acoustics and Ultrasonics Language and Linguistics |
description |
Abstract The Athabaskan and Eskimo approximants, particularly [j], [w], and [l], behave phonologically like obstruents. In both language families, [j], which alternates with a sibilant, is phonologically [+coronal], although its coronality has been questioned on phonetic grounds. These approximants best illustrate Sapir’s [1925] notion of ‘a true point in pattern’ which must be defined ‘over and above its natural [phonetic] classification on organic and acoustic grounds’. The fact that approximants are classified phonologically as sonorants or obstruents in different languages is incompatible with the universality of distinctive features and their phonetic properties. This problem is resolved by placing a phonological boundary for [+/––sonorant] somewhat differently in the continuum of the sonority hierarchy, depending on how approximants behave in individual languages. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cook, Eung-Do |
author_facet |
Cook, Eung-Do |
author_sort |
Cook, Eung-Do |
title |
Phonetic and Phonological Features of Approximants in Athabaskan and Eskimo |
title_short |
Phonetic and Phonological Features of Approximants in Athabaskan and Eskimo |
title_full |
Phonetic and Phonological Features of Approximants in Athabaskan and Eskimo |
title_fullStr |
Phonetic and Phonological Features of Approximants in Athabaskan and Eskimo |
title_full_unstemmed |
Phonetic and Phonological Features of Approximants in Athabaskan and Eskimo |
title_sort |
phonetic and phonological features of approximants in athabaskan and eskimo |
publisher |
Walter de Gruyter GmbH |
publishDate |
1993 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000261944 https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1159/000261944/xml https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1159/000261944/pdf |
genre |
eskimo* |
genre_facet |
eskimo* |
op_source |
Phonetica volume 50, issue 4, page 234-244 ISSN 1423-0321 0031-8388 |
op_rights |
https://www.karger.com/Services/SiteLicenses |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1159/000261944 |
container_title |
Phonetica |
container_volume |
50 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
234 |
op_container_end_page |
244 |
_version_ |
1766404003521888256 |