I have not had much opportunity to listen to recordings, or to discuss this with a native speaker, so the guide below will necessarily be fairly inaccurate. However, I hope it will be sufficient to help you read out Giriama words when you see them written down.
Stops
'Stops' are sounds where you completely stop air from coming out of your mouth. Here are the stop sounds of Giriama:
p', p, b
t', t, d
k', k, g
kw', kw, gw
p', p, b
t', t, d
k', k, g
kw', kw, gw
There are 2 things to notice here. Firstly, that Giriama has some stops which English doesn't:
kw', kw, gw. Secondly, that there are sounds like p, t and k, but slightly different: p', t', k'.
kw', kw and gw
These sounds are pronounced somewhere between 'kw' and 'kp', between 'gw' and 'gb'.Instructions
- Make the closure in the back of your mouth for 'k', but don't release it into a vowel - just hold it there. Can you feel the tension?
- Now close your lips to make a 'p'.
- Now release the tension in the back of the throat
- Now open your lips.
I think you will be fine to stick to 'kpw', 'gbw' for the time being - it should be understandable!
Listening
Here is an example of what kw sounds like, taken from another language called Ibibio (very distantly related to Giryama): http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/appendix/languages/ibibio/ibibio.htmlIt is written on that page as k͡p.
Apparently in Giryama, it is nowadays often pronounced a lot more like 'kw' or 'gw'. So if you are really struggling to reproduce this sound, I think you can stick with saying 'kw' or 'gw', as it is written.
p', t', k' and kw'
What is the difference between p', p and b? To understand this, we will go into a short digression on English sounds!English voicing
In English, we have a voicing contrast. Make an 's' sound, touching your fingers lightly to your voice box (your Adam's apple, if you are a man). Now change it to a 'z' sound. You should feel your voice box start to vibrate.English also uses this voicing contrast in stop sounds - at the ends of words.
p and b (app and ab)
t and d (at and add)
k and g ('eck and egg)
This is the difference between p and b, t and d, k and g and kw and gw in Giriama.
English aspiration
However, at the start of words, the contrast between p and b, t and d or k and g is not in the voicing.
Hold your hand just in front of your lips and say:
pit, bit, pit, bit
Did you feel a puff of air when you said pit? This puff of air is called aspiration.pit, bit, pit, bit
Giriama, unlike English, uses both aspiration and voicing at the start of words. But it doesn't use any stops at all at the ends of words, so we don't have to think about that.
Pronouncing Giriama stops
I suggest you use the following rule of thumb:Pronounce
- p' like English pan
- t' like English tan
- k' like English can.
Pronounce
- p like English app
- t like English at
- k like English back.
Pronounce
- b like English Abba
- d like English adder
- g like English bagger.
Examples of voicing and aspiration
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/vowels/chapter12/engspan.html
Listen to all of them. Can you hear the difference between the Spanish voicing and English aspiration?
Listen to all of them. Can you hear the difference between the Spanish voicing and English aspiration?
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/vowels/chapter12/igbo.html
Listen to the first three rows: voiced, voiceless unaspirated and aspirated.
Listen to the first three rows: voiced, voiceless unaspirated and aspirated.
