In phonetics, length or quantity is a feature of sounds that have distinctively extended duration compared with other sounds. There are long vowels as well as long consonants (the latter are often called geminates).
Many languages do not have distinctive length. Among the languages that have distinctive length, there are only a few that have both distinctive vowel length and distinctive consonant length. It is more common that there is only one or that they depend on each other.
The languages that distinguish between different lengths have usually long and short sounds. The Mixe languages are widely considered to have three distinctive levels of vowel length,[1] as do Estonian, some Low German varieties in the vicinity of Hamburg[2] and some Moselle Franconian[3] and Ripuarian Franconian varieties.
Strictly speaking, a pair of a long sound and a short sound should be identical except for their length. In certain languages, however, there are pairs of phonemes that are traditionally considered to be long-short pairs even though they differ not only in length, but also in quality, for instance English "long e" which is /iː/ (as in feet/fiːt/) vs. "short i" which is /ɪ/ (as in fit/fɪt/) or German "long e" which is /eː/ (as in Beet/beːt/ 'garden bed') vs. "short e" which is /ɛ/ (as in Bett/bɛt/ 'sleeping bed'). Also, tonal contour may reinforce the length, as in Estonian, where the over-long length is concomitant with a tonal variation resembling tonal stress marking.
In transcription in the International Phonetic Alphabet, long vowels or consonants are notated with the length sign (ː Unicode U+02D0 MODIFIER LETTER TRIANGULAR COLON) after the letter. Diacritics may occur over either the base letter, the length sign, or both. For example, in some non-rhotic varieties of English the /t/ of the word party may be nearly elided, with just some breathy-voice remaining, in which case it may be transcribed [ˈpɑː̤ɪ].[4] When both length and tone are moraic, a tone diacritic may appear twice, as in [sáː̀] (falling tone on a long vowel). A morpheme may be reduced to length plus nasalization, in which case a word might be transcribed [saː̃]. If the length is morphemic, the morphemes would be /ː̀/ and /ː̃/.
In this non-linear phonology, the feature of length is often not a feature of a specific sound segment, but rather of the whole syllable.
^Page 116 in Elmar Ternes: Einführung in die Phonologie.Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1987, ISBN3-534-09576-6
^Heselwood (2013) Phonetic transcription in theory and practice p. 13.
January 01, 1970
length, phonetics, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citations, november, 2019, learn, when, remove, this, message, phoneti. This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations November 2019 Learn how and when to remove this message In phonetics length or quantity is a feature of sounds that have distinctively extended duration compared with other sounds There are long vowels as well as long consonants the latter are often called geminates Long ːIPA Number503EncodingEntity decimal amp 720 Unicode hex U 02D0X SAMPA Half long ˑIPA Number504EncodingEntity decimal amp 721 Unicode hex U 02D1X SAMPA Extra long ːˑ ːː Extra short IPA Number505EncodingEntity decimal amp 774 Unicode hex U 0306 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet IPA For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA For the distinction between and see IPA Brackets and transcription delimiters Many languages do not have distinctive length Among the languages that have distinctive length there are only a few that have both distinctive vowel length and distinctive consonant length It is more common that there is only one or that they depend on each other The languages that distinguish between different lengths have usually long and short sounds The Mixe languages are widely considered to have three distinctive levels of vowel length 1 as do Estonian some Low German varieties in the vicinity of Hamburg 2 and some Moselle Franconian 3 and Ripuarian Franconian varieties Strictly speaking a pair of a long sound and a short sound should be identical except for their length In certain languages however there are pairs of phonemes that are traditionally considered to be long short pairs even though they differ not only in length but also in quality for instance English long e which is iː as in feet fiːt vs short i which is ɪ as in fit fɪt or German long e which is eː as in Beet beːt garden bed vs short e which is ɛ as in Bett bɛt sleeping bed Also tonal contour may reinforce the length as in Estonian where the over long length is concomitant with a tonal variation resembling tonal stress marking In transcription in the International Phonetic Alphabet long vowels or consonants are notated with the length sign ː Unicode U 02D0 MODIFIER LETTER TRIANGULAR COLON after the letter Diacritics may occur over either the base letter the length sign or both For example in some non rhotic varieties of English the t of the word party may be nearly elided with just some breathy voice remaining in which case it may be transcribed ˈpɑː ɪ 4 When both length and tone are moraic a tone diacritic may appear twice as in saː falling tone on a long vowel A morpheme may be reduced to length plus nasalization in which case a word might be transcribed saː If the length is morphemic the morphemes would be ː and ː In this non linear phonology the feature of length is often not a feature of a specific sound segment but rather of the whole syllable See also editChroneme Extra short Colon letter References editClark John Yallop Collin Fletcher Janet 2007 Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology Oxford Blackwell pp pp 51 52 26 27 32 33 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Ladefoged Peter 1996 The sounds of the world s languages Maddieson Ian Oxford OX UK Blackwell Publishers p 320 ISBN 0631198148 OCLC 31867443 Stellmacher 1973 incomplete short citation Page 116 in Elmar Ternes Einfuhrung in die Phonologie Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt 1987 ISBN 3 534 09576 6 Heselwood 2013 Phonetic transcription in theory and practice p 13 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Length phonetics amp oldid 1192424931, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
