Phoneme hole
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A phoneme hole is a feature of a language's phonology, where an 'expected' phoneme does not occur. What counts as 'expected' is debatable, but at a pinch, a language would be expected to cover as many combinations of its allowed place of articulation and manner of articulation as possible.
An example of a consonant inventory without holes might be:
| p | t | k |
| b | d | g |
| f | s | x |
| v | z | ɣ |
| m | n | ŋ |
while one with several holes might be:
| t | ʈ | k | |
| b | ɖ | ||
| f | s | x | |
| m | n | ɳ | |
| ʋ | ɭ | ɣ |
The 6 'missing' phonemes would be **/p, d, g, ʂ, ŋ, l/.
History
Phoneme holes may have at least three basic kinds of history:
- A previous phoneme has changed into another sound, leaving its place vacant.
- In example II, possibly *p → f.
- A phoneme class has arisen in a way that does not allow all possible combinations to arise (perhaps reproducing a hole in another part of the phonology).
- In example II, possibly *ʋ, *ɭ → b, ɖ under certain conditions. Since no alveolar (lateral) approximant **l exists, no **d will exist either.
- In example II, possibly *lt, *ln, *l → ʈ, ɳ, ɭ. If no **ls existed, no **ʂ will arise.
- A hole has persisted as long as a language's history is traceable.
- In example II, possibly no **ŋ ever existed.
"Wide" phonemes
A separate phenomenon from phoneme holes is a lack of distinction between certain POA/MOA combinations. A phoneme of this type may be realized intermediate to, or varying between the 'expected' values. In example II, possibly /ɣ/ has an allophone [g] under certain conditions, which would mean that the /g/ slot is not truly vacant.
Typical examples:
- The open vowel /a/ is in most languages not subject to the front/back contrast distinguishing /i/ and /u/, or /e/ and /o/. Its realization in any individual language may vary from front [a] to central [ä] to back [ɑ].
- The labial-velar approximant /w/ in most languages contrasts neither with a bilabial approximant nor a velar approximant. In many cases, a more economic analysis than considering it a language's only consonant at the labiovelar place of articulation, is to consider it as simultaneously occypying the labial and the velar POAs.
Common one-phoneme holes
- Implosives: lack of the velar implosive /ɠ/
- Nasals: lack of the velar nasal /ŋ/ or the palatal nasal /ɲ/ (occasionally both)
- Stops:
- Among voiced stops, lack of the backmost member, usually the voiced velar stop /g/ (commonly due to lenition). In languages that have uvular consonants and a voice distinction, the voiced uvular stop /ɢ/ is almost universally replaced by a voiced uvular fricative /ʁ/.
- Among voiceless stops, lack of the voiceless bilabial stop /p/ (commonly due to a shift to /ɸ/ → /f/ or /h/)
Impossible phonemes
Certain POA/MOA combinations are necessarily lacking from human languages due to articulatory constraints. These include, among others:
- Labial laterals
- Glottal nasals
- Voiced glottal stop
| This article is part of a series on Phonetics and Phonology. Affricate * Allophone * Aspiration * Bilabial consonant * Buccal * Coronal consonant * Dental consonant * Fricative * Heng * Manner of articulation * Obligatory Contour Principle * Palatalization-split * Phoneme * Phoneme hole * Phonological feature * Rhotacism * Spirant * Stop * Syllable structure * Velar consonant * * |
