Breathy voice
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Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape,[1] which produces a sighing-like sound. A simple breathy phonation [ɦ] can sometimes be heard as an allophone of English Template:IPAslink between vowels, such as in the word behind, for some speakers.
In the context of the Indo-Aryan languages like Sanskrit and Hindi and comparative Indo-European studies, breathy consonants are often called voiced aspirated, as in the Hindi and Sanskrit stops normally denoted bh, dh, ḍh, jh, and gh and the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European phonemes bʰ,dʰ,ǵʰ,gʰ,gʷʰ. From an articulatory perspective, that terminology is inaccurate,[2][3] as breathy voice is a different type of phonation from aspiration.[4] However, breathy and aspirated stops are acoustically similar in that in both cases there is a delay in the onset of full voicing. In the history of several languages, like Greek and some varieties of Chinese,[5] breathy stops have developed into aspirated stops.
Classification and terminology
[edit]There is some confusion as to the nature of murmured phonation. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and authors such as Peter Ladefoged equate phonemically contrastive murmur with breathy voice in which the vocal folds are held with lower tension (and farther apart) than in modal voice, with a concomitant increase in airflow and slower vibration of the glottis. In that model, murmur is a point in a continuum of glottal aperture between modal voice and breath phonation (voicelessness). Others, such as Laver, Catford, Trask and the authors of the Voice Quality Symbols (VoQS), equate murmur with whispery voice in which the vocal folds or, at least, the anterior part of the vocal folds vibrates, as in modal voice, but the arytenoid cartilages are held apart to allow a large turbulent airflow between them. In that model, murmur is a compound phonation of approximately modal voice plus whisper. It is possible that the realization of murmur varies among individuals or languages.[6] The IPA uses the term "breathy voice", but VoQS uses the term "whispery voice". Both accept the term "murmur", popularised by Ladefoged.[7][8]
Transcription
[edit]A stop with breathy release or a breathy nasal is transcribed in the IPA as [bʱ], [dʱ], [ɡʱ], [mʱ] etc. or as [b̤], [d̤], [ɡ̤], [m̤] etc. Breathy vowels are most often written [a̤], [e̤], etc. Indication of breathy voice by using subscript diaeresis was approved in or before June 1976 by members of the council of International Phonetic Association.[9]
In VoQS, the notation {Ṿ} is used for whispery voice (or murmur), and {V̤} is used for breathy voice. Some authors, such as Laver, suggest the alternative transcription ⟨ḅạɾ⟩ (rather than IPA ⟨b̤a̤ɾ⟩) as the correct analysis of Gujarati /bɦaɾ/, but it could be confused with the replacement of modal voicing in voiced segments with whispered phonation, conventionally transcribed with the diacritic ⟨◌̣⟩.[10]
Methods of production
[edit]The distinction between the latter two of these realizations, vocal folds somewhat separated along their length (breathy voice) and vocal folds together with the arytenoids making an opening (whispery voice), is phonetically relevant in White Hmong (Hmong Daw).[11]
Phonological property
[edit]In some Bantu languages, historically breathy stops have been phonetically devoiced,[12] but the four-way contrast in the system has been retained. Template:Cn span
In Portuguese, vowels after the stressed syllable can be pronounced with breathy voice.[13]
Gujarati is unusual in contrasting breathy vowels and consonants: Template:Wt /baɾ/ 'twelve', Template:Wt /ba̤ɾ/ 'outside', Template:Wt /bʱaɾ/ 'burden'.[14][page needed]
Tsumkwe Juǀʼhoan makes the following rare distinctions : /nǂʱao/ fall, land (of a bird etc.); /nǂʱao̤/ walk; /nǂʱaˤo/ herb species; and /n|ʱoaᵑ/ greedy person; /n|oaʱᵑ/ cat.[15]
Kurukh distinguishes /Ch, Cʰ, Cʰh/ with occasional minimal pairs like /dʱandha:/ "astonishment" and /dʱandʱa:/ "exertion". Clusters of voiced aspirates and /h/ are possible too as in /madʒʱhi:/ "middle" and /madʒʱis/ "zamindar's agent".[16]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Chávez-Peón, Mario E. "Non-modal phonation in Quiaviní Zapotec: an acoustic investigation*" (PDF). Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ↑ Dziebel, German (2024). A Re-Analysis of Proto-Indo-European Cognate Sets. I. Pre-Laryngeal Consonant Loss Rule. Retrieved 3 February 2026.
- ↑ Lajara, Ignasi-Xavier Adiego (2022). A little-known law on the root and syllable structures of Proto-Indo-European. Retrieved 3 February 2026.
- ↑ Catford, J.C.; Esling, John H. (2006). Phonetics, Articulatory. pp. 425–442. Retrieved 3 February 2026.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Suggestions' not found.
- ↑ Esposito, Christina M. (April 2010). "The effects of linguistic experience on the perception of phonation" (PDF). Journal of Phonetics. 38 (2): 306–316. doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2010.02.002. Retrieved 3 February 2026.
- ↑ Trask (1996) "breathy voice", "murmur", "whispery voice", in A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology.
- ↑ Ball, Martin J.; Esling, John; Dickson, Craig (1995). "The VoQS System for the Transcription of Voice Quality". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 25 (2): 71–80. ISSN 0025-1003.
- ↑ Wells, John C. (June 1976). "The Association's Alphabet". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 6 (1): 2–3. doi:10.1017/S0025100300001420. S2CID 249403800 Check
|s2cid=value (help). - ↑ Laver (1994) Principles of Phonetics, p. 354
- ↑ Fulop & Golston (2008), Breathy and whispery voicing in White Hmong, http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~chrisg/index_files/FulopGolston2009.pdf. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
- ↑ Traill, Anthony, James S. M. Khumalo and Paul Fridjhon (1987). Depressing facts about Zulu. African Studies 46: 255–274.
- ↑ Callou, Dinah; Leite, Yonne (2001). Zahar, Jorge (ed.). Iniciação à Fonética e à Fonologia. p. 20.
- ↑ Template:SOWL
- ↑ Dickens, Patick (1994) English–Juǀʼhoan Juǀʼhoan–English dictionary ISBN 3927620556, 9783927620551
- ↑ Kobayashi & Tirkey (2017), p. 35.
- Kobayashi, Masato; Tirkey, Bablu (2017). The Kurux Language. Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-34766-3.