The versatility of creaky phonation: Segmental, prosodic, and sociolinguistic uses in the world's languages

Abstract

Creaky phonation (also known as creaky voice, vocal fry, laryngealization, or glottalization) is a voice quality that refers to shortened and thickened vocal folds that vibrate at a low and quasi‐regular fundamental frequency with a long period of damping. Cross‐linguistically, creaky phonation can span either short or long domains. When implemented on individual vowels or consonants (as in Zapotec or Montana Salish), it can signal phonemic contrast with other voice qualities, or it can be an additional acoustic cue to enhance other contrasts, such as tone (as in Mandarin or Cantonese). Another segmental use of creaky phonation in many languages is as a variant of glottal stop. Creaky phonation can also be implemented as a prosodic element that signals the end of a phrase (as in English or Mandarin), or indicates relinquishing a conversational turn (as in Finnish). It can also express meaning in a social interaction, such as irritation (in Vietnamese). Lastly, creaky phonation can be deployed as a sociolinguistic marker to establish identities, convey affect, or distinguish one speech group from another within the same language. In some social circumstances, such as the perception that young women use creaky phonation at greater rates than men do, it can be evaluated negatively by listeners. As creaky phonation can be combined with linguistic elements at various levels and is easily perceptible, it has taken on a remarkable number of roles in our linguistic repertoires. This article is categorized under: Linguistics > Language in Mind and Brain

Glottal stops do not constrain lexical access as do oral stops

“…Interestingly, a glottal stop with full closure in Hawaiian was found to occur more likely in wordinitial position, which [35], suggested, may be related to recoverability and segmentation. [35] therefore leaves a question open as to "what the gestural target for this phoneme is"-i.e., a glottal closure versus a period of creaky voice. Garellek et al [36] suggested yet another option that the target is simply specified with [glottal constriction] which may or may not lead to full closure depending on the prosodic strength of the gesture.…”

“…However, these considerations are contingent on whether a glottal stop with a full closure is indeed a hyperarticulated phonetic form that enhances its underlying representation as just discussed above [24][25][26][27]. In fact, as was noted by Davidson [35], it is not often the case that a glottal stop is realized with a full closure across languages [see also 36,37]. For example [35], showed that a phonemic glottal stop in Hawaiian is most often realized as creaky voice especially in a word-medial intervocalic context with flanking vowels being 'glottalized.'…”

“…Davidson's observations [35] also relate to a wider debate about a tug of war between frequency of occurrence and the prototypicality of speech signals. In fact [37], also noted that the full stop is not the most frequent implementation of the glottal stop across languages.…”

“…In fact, as was noted by Davidson [35], it is not often the case that a glottal stop is realized with a full closure across languages [see also 36,37]. For example [35], showed that a phonemic glottal stop in Hawaiian is most often realized as creaky voice especially in a word-medial intervocalic context with flanking vowels being 'glottalized.' Interestingly, a glottal stop with full closure in Hawaiian was found to occur more likely in wordinitial position, which [35], suggested, may be related to recoverability and segmentation.…”

“…For example [35], showed that a phonemic glottal stop in Hawaiian is most often realized as creaky voice especially in a word-medial intervocalic context with flanking vowels being 'glottalized.' Interestingly, a glottal stop with full closure in Hawaiian was found to occur more likely in wordinitial position, which [35], suggested, may be related to recoverability and segmentation. [35] therefore leaves a question open as to "what the gestural target for this phoneme is"-i.e., a glottal closure versus a period of creaky voice.…”