Phonetics and Phonology (ENG)
VU Lesson-20 VOICE ONSET TIME (VOT) At the end of this section, the students will be able to • EXPLAIN and think about analyzing VOT in various languages.
Topic-100: Voice Onset Time (VOT) All human languages distinguish between voiced
and voiceless consonants, and plosives (stops) are the most common consonants to be distinguished using the voicing feature. However, this is not a simple matter of a plosive being either completely voiced or completely voiceless. The timing of the voicing in relation to the consonant articulation is also very important. In one particular case this is so noticeable that it has fora longtime been given its own name aspiration, in which the beginning of full voicing does not happen until for sometime after the release of the plosive (usually voiceless.
This delay or lag, has been the subject of much experimental investigation which has led to the development of a scientific measure of voice timing called voice onset time (or VOT). In simple words, the onset of voicing in a plosive may
lag behind the plosive release, or it may precede (lead) contrarily, resulting in a fully or partially voiced plosive. Both can be
represented on the VOT scale, one case having positive values and the other negative values (and the third possibility is zero VOT).
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