Phonation types: a cross-linguistic overview

Differences in phonation type signal important linguistic information in many languages, including contrasts between otherwise identical lexical items and boundaries of prosodic constituents. Phonation differences can be classified along a continuum ranging from voiceless, through breathy voiced, to regular, modal voicing, and then on through creaky voice to glottal closure. Cross-linguistic investigation suggests that this phonation continuum can be defined in terms of a recurring set of articulatory, acoustic, and timing properties. Nevertheless, there exist several languages whose phonation contrasts do not neatly fall within the phonation categories defined by other languages. (C) 2001 Academic Press.