Phonetic aspiration is acoustically and articulatorily distinct from a consonant plus h cluster.
the verdict
CONTESTED PARTIAL
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
1 source for · 1 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Linguistic sources debate whether phonetic aspiration is distinct from a consonant plus h cluster, with some analyses proposing that aspirates function as onset properties rather than clusters, while other theoretical frameworks model aspirates precisely as consonant plus h sequences.
# Aspiration versus C+h cluster
Tags: phonology, aspiration
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- Asked by: user6726 (84312 rep)
- Asked: 2020-11-28
- Site: linguistics
## Question
Since there are languages with consonant clusters and languages with aspirated consonants, in principle there could be a language that has a surface contrast between [Ch] and [Cʰ]. Word-internally it might be possible to treat any such surface distinction as distinctive syllabification, i.e. [VC.hV] versus [V.ChV], but a surface contrast between #thV and #tʰV, or Vth# and Vtʰ# would provide pretty reasonable prima facia evidence for a contrast between a sequence versus a unit phoneme. I don't know of any language that has such a contrast – is such a language attested?
## Answers
### Answer by JMW64 (score: 1)
It has been proposed that this contrast (aspiration vs. cluster consonant + [h]) does not exist (Kehrein & Golston 2004). The formal explanation is that aspiration is a property of the onset, not of individual segments. So, in an onset aspiration can occur once and it may be realized on the stop or as an [h] (or variably as both), but a contrast is not possible.
### Answer b
The Analysis of Aspiration in Sanskrit Phonology | Nordic Journal of Linguistics | Cambridge Core
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# The Analysis of Aspiration in Sanskrit Phonology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 December 2008
Eva I. Ejerhed
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## Abstract
The paper is devoted to the thesis that all Sanskrit aspirates (voiceless as well: as voiced) should be represented as clusters of a consonantal segment /C/ plus a segment /h/, the latter being [-consonantal, -vocalic], and not as single consonantal segments with the feature [+aspirate], which is the usual analysis. The arguments for the correctness of this thesis are based on formal considerations, i.e. on the fact that a cluster analysis yields a simpler formul ation of a 1arge number of different phonological processes in the language. The paper compares the cluster analysis of aspirates with a non-cluster analysis with respect to