Sulcalization (from la, sulcus 'groove'), 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. ...
, is the pronunciation of a sound, typically a
sibilant consonant, such as
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
and , with a deep ''groove'' running along the back of the tongue that focuses the airstream on the teeth, producing a more intense sound. This is accomplished by raising the sides of the back of the tongue ("lateral contraction") and leaving a hollow along the mid-line. It is not clear if all sibilants are grooved to at least some extent. Catford (1977) observed that the degree of tongue grooving differs between places of articulation as well as between languages; however, no language is known to contrast sibilants based purely on the presence or absence of tongue grooving.
English , which allows various tongue positions without apparent distinction, may also receive its characteristic quality from having a grooved tongue shape. has also been reported to show tongue grooving in English, despite being a non-sibilant fricative (Stone & Lundberg 1996).
Albanian , but not , has also been described as being produced with accompanying sulcalization (Lowman 1932: 278).
In
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
and
historical linguistics
Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include:
# to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages
# ...
, ''sulcalization'' is the development of such a groove in a non-sulcal consonant. For example,
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 triggered this effect in
Japanese, where historic *''tu'' and *''ti'' have become and , respectively. A similar sound change also took place in the history of the
Senufo languages. (The
palatalization of *''tsi'' to in Japanese is a different process and does not occur in Senufo.)
Vowels may also be sulcalized, which has been described as giving them a "throaty" sound (Jones 1967: 82). The vowel of
Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been argument over such questions as the definition of RP, whether it is geo ...
, which is normally described as a
rounded, is pronounced by some speakers without rounded lips for whom the characteristic quality is rather one of sulcality (Lass 1984: 124).
One scholar has also suggested that the vowel in the RP pronunciation of words like ''bird'', typically transcribed , is actually a sulcal schwa, retaining the sulcality of the original rhotic consonant. Accordingly, the realization of the -element of the centring diphthongs , , in words such as ''near'', ''pure'' and ''scare'', is interpreted as the product of a loss of sulcality (Erickson 2003: 197).
See also
*
Tongue rolling
Tongue rolling is the ability to roll the lateral edges of the tongue upwards into a tube. The tongue's intrinsic muscles allow some people to form their tongues into specific shapes. Rolling the tongue into a tube shape is often described as a ...
*
Tillamook language
Tillamook is an extinct Salishan language, formerly spoken by the Tillamook people in northwestern Oregon, United States. The last fluent speaker was Minnie Scovell who died in 1972. In an effort to prevent the language from being lost, a gr ...
References
*Catford, J.C. 1977. ''Fundamental Problems in Phonetics''. Indiana University Press.
*Erickson, Blaine. 2003. 'On the development of English r' in Donka Minkova & Robert Stockwell, eds. ''Studies in the History of the English Language: A Millennial Perspective''. Walter de Gruyter.
*Jones, Daniel. 1967. ''The phoneme: its nature and use''. Heffer.
*Lass, Roger. 1984. ''Phonology: an introduction to basic concepts''. Cambridge University Press.
*Lowman, G. S. 1932. The phonetics of Albanian. ''Language'' 8(4), 271–293.
*Stone, M. & A. Lundberg. 1996. Three-dimensional tongue surface shapes of English consonants and vowels. ''Journal of the Acoustical Society of America'' 99(6), 3728–3737.
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Fricative consonants
Phonetics