Familiar Language Examples
In languages such as French, all obstruents occur in pairs, one modally voiced and one voiceless.
In English, every voiced fricative corresponds to a voiceless one. For the pairs of English stops, however, the distinction is better specified as voice onset time rather than simply voice: In initial position /b d g/ are only partially voiced (voicing begins during the hold of the consonant), while /p t k/ are aspirated (voicing doesn't begin until well after its release). Certain English morphemes have voiced and voiceless allomorphs, such as the plural, verbal, and possessive endings spelled -s (voiced in kids /kɪdz/ but voiceless in kits /kɪts/) and the past-tense ending spelled -ed (voiced in buzzed /bʌzd/ but voiceless in fished /fɪʃt/.
A few European languages, such as Finnish, have no phonemically voiced obstruents but pairs of long and short consonants instead. Outside of Europe, a lack of voicing distinctions is not uncommon; indeed, in Australian languages it is nearly universal. In languages without the distinction between voiceless and voiced obstruents, it is often found that they are realized as voiced in voiced environments such as between vowels, and voiceless elsewhere.
Read more about this topic: Phonation
Famous quotes containing the words familiar, language and/or examples:
“They would have me as familiar with men’s pockets as their
gloves or their handkerchiefs; which makes much against my
manhood, if I should take from another’s pocket to put into
mine; for it is plain pocketing up of wrongs.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Language makes it possible for a child to incorporate his parents’ verbal prohibitions, to make them part of himself....We don’t speak of a conscience yet in the child who is just acquiring language, but we can see very clearly how language plays an indispensable role in the formation of conscience. In fact, the moral achievement of man, the whole complex of factors that go into the organization of conscience is very largely based upon language.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)