Good evening, afternoon, or morning to you, people of r/conlangs. Today's Saturday, and that means it's time for another typological paper! Once again, there will be some prompts for you to discuss in the comments.
The cross-linguistic patterns of phonation types (Esposito & Khan)
This week's paper was submitted by u/MerlinMusic and describes the cross-linguistic patterns that appear with respect to phonation types. Phonation, also known as voice quality, describes the production of sounds by the vocal folds. There are several categories on the phonation spectrum, all of which can be included in your language. The paper already provides a good overview, but if you want another resource, you can check out the Wikipedia page on phonation here. Now let me present this week's prompts:
- What voice quality contrasts are there in your language, if any?
- Are only consonants, only vowels, or both affected?
- How do other features (e.g. duration) interact with phonation?
- If your language is tonal, does phonation interact with the tone-bearing unit?
Remember to try to comment on other people's languages
Submit your papers here!
So, that's about it for this week's edition. See you next Saturday, and happy conlanging!