This thesis investigates the phonetic and phonological properties of laryngeal distinctions
in the consonant inventory of Tahltan, a northern Athapaskan language. This thesis does not
examine the phonetic properties of all Tahltan consonants. Instead, this thesis focuses on the
phonetic acoustic properties of plain stop consonants, which have been described inconsistently
in Tahltan, to determine their laryngeal specification. This thesis also examines the observed
patterns of behavior governing syllable structure to help determine the laryngeal specification of
consonants in Tahltan. In addition, several morphophonemic processes are examined to
determine the phonological laryngeal specification of consonants in Tahltan. Based on the
phonetic findings, and observed patterns of behavior governing syllable structure, I will argue
that stop consonants in Tahltan exhibit four laryngeal articulations: voiced, voiceless unaspirated
voiceless aspirated and glottalized. Based on the morphophonemic evidence, I will argue that
fricative consonants exhibit two laryngeal articulations: voiced and voiceless. Furthermore, I will
argue that glottal stop is specified for the laryngeal specification [constricted glottis] (henceforth
[CG]) and that [h] is specified for the laryngeal specification [spread glottis] (henceforth [SG]).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/9399 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Bob, Tanya Marie |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
Page generated in 0.0017 seconds