In
phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
, preaspiration (sometimes spelled pre-aspiration) is a period of
voicelessness
In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...
or
aspiration preceding the closure of a voiceless
obstruent
An obstruent () is a speech sound such as , , or that is formed by ''obstructing'' airflow. Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction and so resonate. All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants include vowels as well as ...
, basically equivalent to an -like sound preceding the obstruent. In other words, when an obstruent is preaspirated, the
glottis
The glottis is the opening between the vocal folds (the rima glottidis). The glottis is crucial in producing vowels and voiced consonants.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ''γλωττίς'' (glōttís), derived from ''γλῶττα'' (glôtta), va ...
is opened for some time before the obstruent closure. To mark preaspiration using the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
, the diacritic for regular aspiration, , can be placed before the preaspirated consonant. However, prefer to use a simple cluster notation, e.g. instead of .
Typology
Preaspiration is comparatively uncommon across languages of the world, and is claimed by some to not be
phonemically contrastive in any language.
note that, at least in the case of
Icelandic, preaspirated stops have a longer duration of aspiration than normally aspirated (post-aspirated) stops, comparable to clusters of +consonant in languages with such clusters. As a result, they view preaspiration as purely a distributional feature, indistinguishable phonetically and phonologically from clusters with , and prefer to notate preaspirated stops as clusters, e.g. Icelandic ''kappi'' "hero" rather than .
A distinction is often made between so-called ''normative'' and ''non-normative'' preaspiration: in a language with normative preaspiration of certain voiceless obstruents, the preaspiration is obligatory even though it is not a distinctive feature; in a language with non-normative preaspiration, the preaspiration can be phonetically structured for those who use it, but it is non-obligatory, and may not appear with all speakers. Preaspirated consonants are typically in free variation with
spirant
A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...
-stop clusters, though they may also have a relationship (synchronically and diachronically) with long vowels or -stop clusters.
Preaspiration can take a number of different forms; while the most usual is
glottal friction
Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction:
*Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of t ...
(an -like sound), the precise phonetic quality can be affected by the obstruent or the preceding vowel, becoming for example after
close vowel
A close vowel, also known as a high vowel (in U.S. terminology), is any in a class of vowel sounds used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of th ...
s; other potential realizations include and even .
Preaspiration is very unstable both synchronically and diachronically and is often replaced by a fricative or by a lengthening of the preceding vowel.
Distribution
Preaspiration is perhaps best known from
North Germanic languages
The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also r ...
, most prominently in
Icelandic and
Faroese, but also some dialects of
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
and
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
. It is also a prominent feature of
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
. The presence of preaspiration in Gaelic has been attributed to North Germanic influence. Within Northwestern Europe preaspiration is furthermore found in most
Sami languages
Acronyms
* SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft
* Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company
* South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...
, except
Inari Sami
Inari may refer to:
Shinto
* Inari Ōkami, a Shinto spirit
** Mount Inari in Japan, site of Fushimi Inari-taisha, the main Shinto shrine to Inari
** Inari Shrine, shrines to the Shinto god Inari
* Inari-zushi, a type of sushi
Places
* Inari, ...
where it has been replaced by postaspiration. The historical relationship between preaspiration in Sami and North Germanic is disputed: there is general agreement of a connection, but not on whether it represents Sami influence in North Germanic,
North Germanic influence in Sami or parallel
sprachbund
A sprachbund (, lit. "language federation"), also known as a linguistic area, area of linguistic convergence, or diffusion area, is a group of languages that share areal features resulting from geographical proximity and language contact. The lang ...
influence in both languages.
Elsewhere in the world, preaspiration occurs in
Halh Mongolian,
Western Yugur, and in several
American indigenous languages, including dialects of
Hopi
The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...
,
Purepecha, and many languages of the
Algonquian family (such as
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
,
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
,
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
,
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
, and
Miami-Illinois
Miami-Illinois (endonym: , ) also known as Irenwa, or Irenwe is an indigenous Algonquian language spoken in the United States, primarily in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, western Ohio and adjacent areas along the Mississippi River by the Miami a ...
).
Examples
English
In certain accents, such as
Geordie
Geordie () is a nickname for a person from the Tyneside area of North East England, and the dialect used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitut ...
(among younger women) and in some speakers of
Dublin English
Dublin English refers to the diverse varieties of Hiberno-English spoken in the metropolitan area of Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland. Modern-day Dublin English largely lies on a phonological continuum between two extremes (largely, ...
word- and utterance-final can be preaspirated.
Faroese
Some examples of preaspirated
plosive
In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases.
The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lips ...
s and
affricate
An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pair. ...
s from
Faroese (where they occur only after stressed vowels):
* , 'clap'
* ''hattur'' , 'hat'
* ''takka'' , 'thank'
* ''søkkja'' , 'sink' (transitive)
Furthermore, the dialects of
Vágar
Vágar ( da, Vågø) is one of the 18 islands in the archipelago of the Faroe Islands and the most westerly of the ''large islands''. With a size of , it ranks number three, behind Streymoy and Eysturoy. Vágar region also comprises the island ...
, northern
Streymoy and
Eysturoy
Eysturoy (pronounced estroimeaning 'East Island') is a region and the second-largest of the Faroe Islands, both in size and population.
Description
Eysturoy is separated by a narrow sound from the main island of Streymoy. Eysturoy is extremely ...
also have ungeminated preaspirated plosives and affricates (except after close vowels/diphthongs):
* ''apa'' , 'ape', but: ''vípa'' , '
northern lapwing
The northern lapwing (''Vanellus vanellus''), also known as the peewit or pewit, tuit or tew-it, green plover, or (in Ireland and Britain) pyewipe or just lapwing, is a bird in the lapwing subfamily. It is common through temperate Eurosiberia. ...
'
* ''eta'' , 'eat', but: ''hiti'' , 'heat'
* ''vøka'' , 'wake', but: ''húka'' , to 'squat'
* ''høkja'' , 'crutch', but: ''vitja'' , to 'visit'
Icelandic
Some examples of preaspirated
plosive
In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases.
The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lips ...
s from
Icelandic:
*''kappi'' , 'hero'
*''hattur'' , 'hat'
*''þakka'' , 'thank'
Huautla Mazatec
In
Huautla Mazatec
The Mazatecan languages are a group of closely related Mesoamerican languages, indigenous languages spoken by some 200,000 people in the area known as the Sierra Mazateca, which is in the northern part of the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, ...
, preaspirates can occur word-initially, perhaps uniquely among languages which contain preaspirates:
* - 'fish'
* - 'a sore'
* - 'small'
* - 'stubble'
Sami languages
Preaspiration in the Sami languages occurs on word-medial voiceless stops and affricates of all
places of articulation
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is a location along the vocal tract where its production occurs. It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a passive articula ...
available: . In the Western Sami languages (
Southern,
Ume
''Prunus mume'' is an East Asian and Southeast Asian tree species classified in the ''Armeniaca'' section of the genus ''Prunus'' subgenus ''Prunus''. Its common names include Chinese plum, Japanese plum, and Japanese apricot. The flower, long ...
,
Pite,
Lule and
Northern) as well as
Skolt Sami, preaspiration affects both long and half-long consonants; in most Eastern Sami languages (
Akkala,
Kildin and
Ter
Ter or TER may refer to:
Places
* River Ter, in Essex, England
* Ter (river), in Catalonia
* Ter (department), a region in France
* Torre (river), (Slovene: ''Ter''), a river in Italy
* Ter, Ljubno, a settlement in the Municipality of Ljubno ob ...
) only fully long consonants are preaspirated. This likely represents two waves of innovation: an early preaspiration of long consonants dating back to
Proto-Sami, followed by a secondary preaspiration of half-long consonants that originated in the Western Sami area and spread eastwards to Skolt Sami.
In several Sami languages, preaspirated stops/affricates contrast with lax voiceless stops, either due to denasalization of earlier clusters (e.g. *nt > ) or in connection to
consonant gradation
Consonant gradation is a type of consonant mutation (mostly lenition but also assimilation) found in some Uralic languages, more specifically in the Finnic, Samic and Samoyedic branches. It originally arose as an allophonic alternation betw ...
.
Scottish Gaelic
In
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
, however, due to the historical loss of voiced stops preaspiration is phonemic in medial and final positions after stressed vowels.
![Gaelic preaspiration](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Gaelic_preaspiration.jpg)
Its strength varies from area to area and can manifest itself as or or in areas with strong preaspiration as or . The occurrence of preaspiration follows a hierarchy of c > t > p; i.e. if a dialect has preaspiration with p, it will also have it in the other places of articulation. Preaspiration manifests itself as follows:
[Ó Dochartaigh, C. ''Survey of the Gaelic Dialects of Scotland I-V'' Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (1997) ]
*Area 1 as and
*Area 2 as and
*Area 3 as and
*Area 4 as
*Area 5 as and (no preaspiration of ''t'' and ''p'')
*Area 6 no preaspiration
There are numerous minimal pairs:
* "clock" vs ''glac'' "grab" (v.)
* ''ad'' "hat" vs ''at'' "boil" (n.)
* ''leag'' "throw down" vs ''leac'' "flagstone"
* ''aba'' "abbot" vs ''apa'' "ape" (n.)
H-clusters
Although distinguishing preaspirated consonants from clusters of // and a voiceless consonant can be difficult, the reverse does not hold: there are numerous languages such as
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
or
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
where such clusters are unanimously considered to constitute consonant clusters.
See also
*
Aspiration
*
Prevoicing Prevoicing, in phonetics, is voicing before the onset of a consonant or beginning with the onset of the consonant but ending before its release. In the extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet for speech pathology, prevoicing is transcribe ...
*
List of phonetic topics
*
Phonation
The term phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, ''phonation'' is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the defini ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*{{citation
, last1=Watt
, first1=Dominic
, last2=Allen
, first2=William
, year=2003
, title=Tyneside English
, journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association
, volume=33
, issue=2
, pages=267–271
, doi=10.1017/S0025100303001397
, doi-access=free
Phonetics