Tenuis consonant
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| Tenuis | |
|---|---|
| Script error: No such module "IPA". | |
| Encoding | |
| Entity Page Template:Nobold/styles.css has no content.(decimal) | ˭ |
| Unicode Page Template:Nobold/styles.css has no content.(hex) | U+02ED |
In linguistics, a tenuis consonant (/ˈtɛn.juːɪs/ Audio file "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Tenuis consonant.wav" not found or /ˈtɛnuːɪs/)[2] is an obstruent that is voiceless, unaspirated and unglottalized.
In other words, it has the "plain" phonation of Script error: No such module "IPA". with a voice onset time close to zero (a zero-VOT consonant), as Spanish p, t, ch, k or English p, t, k after s (spy, sty, sky).
For most languages, the distinction is relevant only for stops and affricates. However, a few languages have analogous series for fricatives. Mazahua, for example, has ejective, aspirated, and voiced fricatives Script error: No such module "IPA". alongside tenuis Script error: No such module "IPA"., parallel to stops Script error: No such module "IPA". alongside tenuis Script error: No such module "IPA"..
Many click languages have tenuis click consonants alongside voiced, aspirated, and glottalized series.
Transcription
In transcription, tenuis consonants are not normally marked explicitly, and consonants written with voiceless IPA letters, such as Template:Angbr IPA, are typically assumed to be unaspirated and unglottalized unless otherwise indicated. However, aspiration is often left untranscribed if no contrast needs to be made, like in English, so there is an explicit diacritic for a lack of aspiration in the extensions to the IPA, a superscript equal sign: Template:Angbr IPA. It is sometimes seen in phonetic descriptions of languages.[3] There are also languages, such as the Northern Ryukyuan languages, whose phonologically-unmarked sound is aspirated, and the tenuis consonants are marked and transcribed explicitly.
In Unicode, the symbol is encoded at Page Template:Mono/styles.css has no content.U+02ED ˭ Script error: No such module "Unicode data". (Page Template:Mono/styles.css has no content.Script error: No such module "LoadData".).
An early IPA convention was to write the tenuis stops Template:Angbr IPA etc. if the plain letters Template:Angbr IPA were used for aspirated consonants (as they are in English): Script error: No such module "IPA". 'pie' vs. Script error: No such module "IPA". 'spy'.
Etymology
The term tenuis comes from Latin translations of Ancient Greek grammar, which differentiated three series of consonants, voiced Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "IPA"., aspirate Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "IPA"., and tenuis Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "IPA".. Analogous series occur in many other languages. The term was widely used in 19th-century philology but became uncommon in the 20th.
See also
Sources
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- Bussmann, 1996. Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
- R.L. Trask, 1996. A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology.
References
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- ^ Script error: No such module "template wrapper". (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ The latter to better distinguish from 'tenuous'. Plural: tenues, /ˈtɛn.juːiːz/ or /ˈtɛnuːiːz/.[1]
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger Margrethe (1984). The Sounds of English and Dutch. Brill Archive. p. 281. ISBN 978-90-04-07456-9.
