Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 June 22

= June 22 =

Voiceless vowels
Are voiceless vowels possible? Some sources say that they can exist, but I don't know any language where they appear. They could theoretically be marked in IPA with voiclessness ring ◌̥, such as in form ḁ. Thus, are they possible? 40bus (talk) 11:09, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * We have a section on that: Voicelessness. —Amble (talk) 13:35, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Whispering is voiceless, but it is still possible to clearly distinguish different whispered vowels. So there has to be something that makes a sound a vowel other than being voiced. --Lambiam 15:38, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Vowels (in normal speech or singing) are formed entirely by mouth cavity shape, as modified by jaw and tongue positions. Voicing (by the vocal cords) contributes a pitch to a vowel (if it has one) but has nothing to do with the nature of the vowel. As you say, voiceless whispering still has perfectly recognizable vowels, as does speech or singing (some would dispute the latter term) using only the Vestibular folds aka "false vocal cords", which are not, or hardly, able to control pitch. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.201.73.76 (talk) 22:46, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
 * The /h/ phoneme is often realized in English as the voiceless equivalent of the vowel that follows it. Our article is at voiceless glottal fricative, but it indicates that some consider it not really a fricative.  To me "voiceless glottal fricative" does suggest a much more "phlegmy" sound than I think of /h/ as being. --Trovatore (talk) 22:49, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

18th century German script
Can anyone help decipher an old map for a query at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Military_history? Please answer on that page. Alansplodge (talk) 15:52, 22 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia article seems to be Kurrent... AnonMoos (talk) 23:22, 23 June 2022 (UTC)