The "tense" register of Tibeto-Burman languages such as Yi (Nosu), often called "laryngealized", can be interpreted as larynx raising in conjunction with the engagement of the aryepiglottic sphincter. This could be regarded as an example of exploiting the larynx-raising and laryngeal sphinctering components that usually accompany pharyngealization, in a context that is not otherwise characterized by a particular manner of pharyngeal articulation. This effect applies to five pairs of vowels, some of which reduce to consonantal sonorant quality, for example, "lax" [i] contrasts with "tense" [ɛ̙] and "lax" [mː] contrasts with "tense" [m̙ː].

Yi Vowel Space:

Close

i

ɯ

v̩

(u)

=

[vʊ͡]

z̩

Close-mid

z̙

o

v̙

(u)

=

[v̙ʊ̙͡]

Open-mid

ɛ̙

ɔ̙

Open

a̙

Video Illustrations of Yi vowels, by Laryngeal Sphincter setting (clicking on a row will display a video illustrating the contrast between the two symbols):

Acknowledgements

Yi speech data provided by Lama Ziwo (Sichuan Province, China) at Speech Technology Research in Victoria and at the University of Victoria.

We are grateful to Jerold A. Edmondson and Lama Ziwo who came to Victoria from the University of Texas at Arlington and to Jimmy G. Harris who came to Victoria from Seattle to participate in the articulatory phonetic analysis of Yi.

This research is funded by Research Grants 410-93-0539 and 410-2000-0901 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.