Chapter Five
Liquids
Presenter: Li Hong-lin
1 Which sounds are liquids?
1.1 They include two types.
1.1.1 Laterals
1.1.1.1 Lateral clicks not included.
1.1.2 R-sounds
1.1.2.1 Apical / uvular trills, taps, and flaps
1.1.2.2 A variety of fricative and approximants, which are acoustically or articulatorily similar or related by diachronic process.
2 Overall frequency of liquids
2.1 Lateral: some 81.4% of languages have one or more lateral segments. In fact, about 57% of the liquids reported are laterals.
2.2 R-sounds: some 76% of languages have one or more r-sounds.
3 Laterals
3.1 Four types
3.1.1 Approximant lateral types
3.1.1.1 Plain voiced
3.1.1.2 Plain voiceless
3.1.1.3 Laryngealized voiced
3.1.1.4 Breathy voiced
3.1.2 Lateral taps and flaps
3.1.2.1 Plain voiced
3.1.2.2 Laryngealized voiced
3.1.3 Lateral fricative types
3.1.3.1 Plain voiceless
3.1.3.2 Plain voiced
3.1.3.3 Ejective voiceless
3.1.4 Lateral affricates
3.1.4.1 Ejective voiceless
3.1.4.2 Plain voiceless
3.1.4.3 Plain voiced
3.1.4.4 Aspirated voiceless
3.2 Places of articulation¡Xthere are no significant interactions between lateral manners and places of articulations.
3.3 Summary statements on lateral segments
|
Summary statements |
Percentage |
|
A lateral segment is most likely to be articulated with tongue tip or blade. |
93.8% |
|
A lateral segment is most likely to be voiced. |
83.0% |
|
A lateral segment is most likely to be an approximant. |
79.7% |
|
A fricative lateral is likely to be voiceless. |
80.0% |
|
A voiceless lateral is likely to be fricative. |
50.0% |
|
An ejective lateral is most likely to be an affricate. |
87.5% |
|
A lateral affricative is likely to be ejective. |
48.3% |
4 R-sounds
4.1 Four types
4.1.1 Unspecified type
4.1.2 Trills by phonation type
4.1.3 Taps/flaps by manner
4.1.4 Continuant r-sounds
4.2 Places of articulation
4.3 Summary statements on r-sound segments
|
Summary statement |
Percentage |
|
An r-sound is most likely to be voiced. |
97.5% |
|
An r-sound is most likely to be dental or alveolar. |
86.4% |
|
An r-sound is most likely to be interrupted. |
86.5% |
|
A retroflex r-sound is likely to be a continuant. |
52.6% |
|
An approximant r-sound is likely to be retroflex. |
53.6% |
|
A fricative r-sound is likely to be retroflex. |
50.0% |
5 Structure of liquid systems
5.1 Numbers of laterals per language
|
No. of laterals |
No. of languages |
Percent |
|
0 |
58 |
18.3% |
|
1 |
157 |
49.5% |
|
2 |
63 |
19.9% |
|
3 |
23 |
7.3% |
|
4 |
9 |
2.8% |
|
5 |
3 |
0.9% |
|
6 |
3 |
0.9% |
5.2 Numbers of r-sound per language
|
No. of r-sound |
No. of languages |
Percent |
|
0 |
74 |
23.3% |
|
1 |
183 |
57.7% |
|
2 |
51 |
16.1% |
|
3 |
8 |
2.5% |
|
4 |
1 |
0.3% |
6 Generalizations
6.1 An inventory of liquids is generally expanded by adding more laterals than r-sounds.
6.2 A language with two or more liquids is most likely to have at least one lateral.
6.3 A language with two or more liquids is most likely to include a lateral/non-lateral contrast between them.
6.4 A language with one or more laterals usually has a voiced lateral approximant.
6.5 A language with two or more laterals contrasts them either in place or in manner and voicing but not both.
6.6 A language with two or more r-sounds is likely to restrict their contrast to place of articulation.
6.7 A liquid with both lateral and r-sound allophones is most likely to be the only liquid in the language.
6.8 A language most often has two liquids ( usually one lateral and one r-sound).