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There Are No Back Vowels: The Larygeal Articulator Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

John H. Esling
John H. Esling*
Affiliation:
University of Victoria
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Abstract

As an alternative to the high-low-front-back model of vowel specification, the laryngeal articulator model is proposed, based on a reinterpretation of how the vocal tract functions to produce laryngeal and pharyngeal sounds. Evidence drawn from numerous laryngoscopic studies demonstrates the scope of articulatory behaviours possible in the pharynx. For a broad sample of languages, lingual retraction is shown to accompany laryngeal/pharyngeal gestures, motivating the redistribution of vowel quality designations. The vocal tract is divided into two articulatory components: the laryngeal articulator and the oral articulator. The vowel chart is split into three sectors: front, raised, and retracted. Whereas front vowels can be qualified as close or open, so-called back vowels are re-designated as either raised or retracted, and the role of retraction as a function of the laryngeal constrictor mechanism is elaborated.

Résumé

Résumé

Une alternative au modèle de spécification vocalique haut-bas-antérieur-postérieur est proposée, c’est-à-dire le modèle d’articulateur laryngien. Ce dernier est fondé sur une réinterprétation de comment le conduit vocal fonctionne pour produire des sons laryngiens et pharyngiens. Des données puisées de nombreuses études laryngoscopiques mettent en évidence la portée des comportements articulatoires possibles dans le pharynx. Pour un échantillon relativement large de langues, il est démontré que la rétraction linguale accompagne les gestes laryngiens/pharyngiens; ceci motive la redistribution des désignations de qualité vocalique. Le conduit vocal est divisé en deux composants articulatoires : l’articulateur laryngien et l’articulateuroral. L’espace vocalique est divisé en trois secteurs : antérieur, élevé et rétracté. Alors que les voyelles antérieures peuvent être qualifiées comme étant fermées ou ouvertes, les soi-disant voyelles postérieures sont re-désignées comme étant soit élevées ou rétractées, et le rôle de la rétraction comme une fonction du mécanisme de constriction laryngienne est élaboré.

Type
Part I: Knowledge of Language
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 50 , Issue 1-4: Language know-how: Canadian Perspectives in Contemporary Linguistics/Le savoir-faire langagier: perspectives canadiennes en linguistique contemporaine , December 2005 , pp. 13 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 2005

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