A database demonstrating the sounds of the world's languages

Abstract

A database illustrating the full range of the sounds of the world's languages would be an enormous undertaking. Consequently, this paper is restricted to trying to provide illustrations of a large number of the less familiar sounds. Currently, samples of about 50 languages were obtained illustrating different airstream mechanisms (!Xóō clicks, Navaho ejectives, Igbo voiceless implosives, etc.), phonation types (Sindhi voiced aspirates, Bruu tense phonations, etc.), and places and manners of articulation (Agul epiglottal stops, Yeletnye bilabial trills, etc.). Each recording has been digitized at 22 000 Hz, with 8-bit samples, care being taken to maintain the full 48-dB signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. (However, some of the original field recordings do not have this S/N ratio.) The database is organized as a 15-meg set of Macintosh Hypercard stacks. Clicking on a word, or a row, or column of words, reproduces the corresponding items, and makes it simple to repeat contrasting sounds. The entire stack is in the public domain, and is available (for Macintosh computers with Hypercard) at cost. [Work supported by NSF.]