Significance of Aspiration in Navaho

Source: International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Jan., 1948), pp. 15-19
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1263089At the outset the recorder of an unwritten language does not know what the sounds of the new language are, yet he has to record them. Since he knows nothing about them, he does not know which of those closely related are distinctive, yet if he works on a phonemic basis, he wants to record only such sounds. He cannot realize his most important aim therefore until he has analyzed a great many forms so as to include all that is distinctive, to eliminate all that is unnecessary. The best he can do is to keep his problems constantly in mind, even after he thinks he has determined his phonemic system. Aspiration in Navaho illustrates this as well as other points important not only in the analysis of this language but significant in establishing genetic relationships as well.