16. ȟ versus ǧ
Posted: February 11th, 2009, 2:43 amThe Lakota ȟ and ǧ sound somewhat similar. The only difference between them is in voicing:
ȟ is voiceless
ǧ is voiced
pairs of voiceless and voiced sounds exist in English as well.
You can learn about voicing by doing the following: place the palm of your hand on the top of your head and say: "sssssssssssssssssssss." Then say: "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz." While saying the latter sound you should feel vibration under your hand. It is the vocal cord that vibrates when we pronounce voiced sounds. The difference between ȟ and ǧ is the same as between s and z in that ȟ is voiceless and ǧ is voiced.
Listen to the audio track and select ȟ or ǧ for each word:
1: pants
2: mountain
3: elk
4: bread
5: ear
6: flower
7: fish
8: drum
9: badger
10: cottonwood
11: fox
12: rain
13: cloud
14: crow
15: duck
16: racoon
17: goose
18: leaf
19: star
20: pot
ȟ is voiceless
ǧ is voiced
pairs of voiceless and voiced sounds exist in English as well.
| voiceless | voiced |
| s | z |
| 'th' in 'think' | 'th' in 'this' |
| 's' in 'insure' | 's' in 'pleasure' |
You can learn about voicing by doing the following: place the palm of your hand on the top of your head and say: "sssssssssssssssssssss." Then say: "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz." While saying the latter sound you should feel vibration under your hand. It is the vocal cord that vibrates when we pronounce voiced sounds. The difference between ȟ and ǧ is the same as between s and z in that ȟ is voiceless and ǧ is voiced.
Listen to the audio track and select ȟ or ǧ for each word:
1: pants
2: mountain
3: elk
4: bread
5: ear
6: flower
7: fish
8: drum
9: badger
10: cottonwood
11: fox
12: rain
13: cloud
14: crow
15: duck
16: racoon
17: goose
18: leaf
19: star
20: pot