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Consonant description

From:Carlos Thompson <cthompso@...>
Date:Tuesday, March 16, 1999, 18:59
Usually consonants are described on articulation point (labial,
alveolar, velar, etc.), articulation form (oclusive, fricative, nasal),
voicing and some other features...

Well.  In some experiments I was doing for my graduate exam, I was
noting a difference between what one usually calls fricatives, and it
makes me think in some question I alredy had.  I know there is a feature
that is called silabiance which could explain this something.

I've noticed my fricative <d> is not the interdental /D/ as English
voiced <th> or Spains fricative <d>, my fricative <d> is more alveolar,
and the tongue is about the same position as the <s> then both could be
described as alveolar fricative, but my <d> is not /z/.

On a spectral view, some fricatives like /f/, /s/, /j\/ (palatal
fricative) and the affricate /tS/ shows something similar to white noice
at higher frequencies (=BFblue noice?), which was not found in /G/, /h/ o=
r
my fricative <d>.  In other terms, there where the sound of air blowing
in /f/, /s/, /j\/ and /tS/ which does not exist in /G/, /h/ or my /D/.
(BTW, when I pronounced Spains <z> /T/ and English <j> /dZ/, this
blowing was noticed).

I wonder if there is a tecnical description of this blowing
(silabiance?, aspiration?) and if there are other minimal pairs in
natlangs, as the voiced allophone of <s> and the fricative alophone of
<d> in my dialect.

--
Carlos Eugenio Thompson Pinz=F3n
  ITEC-Telecom, Colombia

  cthompso@alpha.telecom-co.net
  http://alpha.telecom-co.net/~cthompso/

Di mi beh em je lok mi ju je kom lon vu am je