Stiff voice
The term stiff voice describes the pronunciation of consonants with a glottal opening narrower, and the vocal cords stiffer, than what occurs in modal voice. Although there is no specific IPA diacritic for stiff voice, the voicing diacritic (a subscript wedge) may be used in conjunction with the symbol for a voiced consonant. One language with stiff voice is Thai (SOWL 1996:56):
| phonation | Thai | IPA | translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| stiff voice | บ้า | [b̬âː] | crazy |
| tenuis | ป้า | [pâː] | aunt |
| aspirated | ผ้า | [pʰâː] | cloth |
Javanese contrasts stiff and slack voiced bilabial, dental, retroflex, and velar stops (SOWL 1996:64):
| phonation | IPA | translation |
|---|---|---|
| stiff voice | [d̬amu] | guest |
| slack voice | [d̥amu] | blow |
References
- Ladefoged, Peter & Ian Maddieson (1996). The sounds of the world’s languages. Oxford: Blackwells. ISBN 0-631-19814-8