Glottal plosives?

[beverly]

Porter and I were listening to Wichita Rutherford the other day, a man who speaks a rather amusing version of "hick."  We were noticing how when he said "I" it sounded like "Hai."  Porter and I often quote a passage in one of OSC's Alvin Maker books where someone says, "You left off the 'h' in 'hain't.'"  We talked about it a bit, and observed that we start out saying "I" with a glottal plosive.  Without it, "I" sounds like "Hai" unless you are being very deliberate.

Now, this brings me to my question.  We both kinda coined the phrase "glottal plosive" because neither of us had heard the term before.  I assume that glottal stops have to come after something.  Is "glottal plosive" actually a term that is used?  It seems an appropriate term for what we are thinking of here.

[Porter]

I assume that glottal stops have to come after something.

Don't you mean before something?

[Porter]

In addition to pronouncing the word "I" as "Hi", he also pronounces the word "all" as "hall".

[Jonathon]

"Stop" and "plosive" are just different words for the same thing. But you're absolutely right—in English, we usually slip in a glottal stop before words that start with vowel sounds.

[beverly]

I thought "plosive" and "stop" referred to slightly different things, the difference being that the plosive has a small burst, or release, of air after it.  A stop can, but doesn't have to.

I assume that glottal stops have to come after something.

Don't you mean before something?

No.  I figured glottal plosives have to come before something while stops have to come after something.  Am I remembering correctly?  After all, most people don't end words with plosives, but plosives are found at the beginning and middle of words.  Compare the "p" in "plosives" with the "p" in "stop."  You can say the second as a plosive, but you don't have to, and I'd say in running conversation most people don't.  The first example must be a plosive.

 

[Jonathon]

I thought "plosive" and "stop" referred to slightly different things, the difference being that the plosive has a small burst, or release, of air after it.  A stop can, but doesn't have to.

That would be an aspirated stop or plosive. The /p/ in "plosive" is aspirated, but the /p/ in "stop" usually isn't.

[JT]

*head aspirates*

[beverly]

Does anyone else find it odd that the word "aspirate" can refer to air escaping in speech as well as sucking something solid or liquid into the lungs?

I thought the word plosive refered to the expulsion of air, reminiscent of the word "explosion."  I don't remember using the word "aspirate" at all in my linguistic classes.  

[Mr. Anderson]

*head aspirates*

You mean:  *head a spirates*

[Jonathon]

I thought the word plosive refered to the expulsion of air, reminiscent of the word "explosion."  I don't remember using the word "aspirate" at all in my linguistic classes.  

Aha. Apparently "plosive" and "stop" aren't exactly the same, though they're often used interchangeably. "Plosive" is another word for "oral stop," which means a stop in which airflow is completely stopped and air pressure builds up and then is audibly released. In a nasal stop, airflow through the vocal tract is completely stopped, but it escapes through the nose (which is not part of the vocal tract).

An aspirated plosive has a delayed voice onset time (that is, there's a gap between the end of the plosive and the start of voicing for the following sound), so it's like getting a little /h/ right after the plosive. You got your degree in speech pathology, right? It's weird that they wouldn't teach you that terminology.

Anyway, the point of all this is that a glottal stop is also (and more specifically) a glottal plosive. But there's no such thing as a glottal nasal stop (because if you stop airflow at the glottis, then none can get through to escape through the nose), so the plosive/nasal stop distinction doesn't apply.

[beverly]

You got your degree in speech pathology, right? It's weird that they wouldn't teach you that terminology.

Yup.  It could be my bad memory.