----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2000 8:12
AM
Subject: [phoNet] Glottals.
Mark writes:
The yes-grunt is smooth, while the no-grunt has a very brief cessation of
sound initially and in the middle. It's a glottal even at this reduced
stage?
This brief but abrupt cessation is due to a momentary closure of the
opening between the glottal folds, a.k.a. a glottal stop. What may appear in
the middle of the affirmative grunt is the half-voiced counterpart of [h],
transcribed as [ɦ] (the FULLY voiced counterpart would be just a vowel sound).
Mhm [m̩m̥m̩] (a voiceless [m] in the middle) is another internationally
popular yes-noise, while [m̩ʔ], [ɜ̃ʔ] or [ʔɜ̃ʔ] is a no-noise, at least in
Polish.
Piotr