From: Mark E. Shoulson (mark@kli.org)
Date: Tue Nov 22 2005 - 14:55:39 CST
Peter Constable wrote:
>The suggestion that glottal stop is a "phantasy" is linguistically preposterous, and I'm certain is not what Ken meant.
>
>The glottal stop is most certainly a contoid. Contoids require some obstruction of airflow, but not necessarily by the tongue coming in contact with the roof of the mouth -- [p] is an example we can all agree on, but [ʔ] is also a contoid. I know of no school of linguistics that would question this.
>
>
I agree with you, but even that doesn't matter. The place to debate the
reality or non-reality of the glottal stop as a speech-sound is not
here. Real or not, enough linguists are pleased to treat it as if it
exists that it has its own IPA character and a place in most texts on
phonetics etc. Given the usage and the recognition it gets, the need
for the letter is indisputable. If someone believes that the usage and
recognition is undeserved, that should be discussed on an appropriate
linguistics-oriented forum.
If invisible pink unicorns had a symbol that saw as much use as ʔ, that
symbol would also deserve a place in Unicode.
~mark
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