What is an ambiguous phonetic transition?

An ambiguous phonetic transition is a phonetic segment, found between two distinct segments, that may serve only a connective function phonetically and may, therefore, not be a phonologically distinct segment.

Here are some kinds of ambiguous phonetic transitions with an example of each:

Context for this page:

• Concept module: ambiguous phonetic transition
• In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): A
• In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
• In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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