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Phonetics of Endangered Languages
Acou. Today Volume 7, Issue 4, pp. 35-42 (2011); (8 pages)
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Add to FacebookThe world is filled with an astounding array of languages, 6,909, by the count of the Ethnologue. Most of these use an acoustic signal as the main element in signal transmission, though vision affects speech even for typically hearing individuals; sign languages use the visual channel almost exclusively. The acoustic signal for speech is powered mostly by the larynx and shaped by the vocal tract. Because human populations have essentially the same anatomy, there is a great deal of similarity in the sounds that languages use. However, there is an impressive range of variability as well. The largest survey of sound systems, for example, lists no sound that occurs in all languages, even though broad patterns are seen. The number of significant sounds, or phonemes, ranges from about 12 (Pirahã, Rotokas) to over a hundred (!Xóõ), and the mechanisms used vary greatly as well. The acoustics of speech have proven to be extraordinarily complex.
© 2011 Acoustical Society of America
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