BOAS] HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LANGUAGES TAKELMA 33 



The fortes {])!, t!, Tel, ts! [ = fe"/], and ^, which has been put in the 

 same series because of its intimate phonetic and morphologic rela- 

 tion to the other consonants) are pronounced with the characteristic 

 snatched or cracMy effect (more or less decided stress of articula- 

 tion of ■ voiceless stop followed by explosion and momentary hiatus) 

 prevalent on the Pacific coast. From the point of view of Takelma, 

 f!, t!, and Jc! are in a way equivalent to 2>^, t^, and Jc^, respectively, 

 or rather to h% d^, and g^, for the fortes can never be aspirated. 

 In some cases it was found difficult to tell whether a fortis, or a voice- 

 less stop followed by a glottal stricture, was really heard : 



yap.'a^ and yap^a^ man 

 gd'pHni'^ and ga'pHni" two 



In fact, a final tenuis + a catch inserted, as between vowels, to pre- 

 vent phonetic amalgamation, regularly become, at least as far as 

 acoustic effect is concerned, the homorganic fortis : 



akla" he indeed ( = a¥ he + deictic ^aV cf . ma'^a^ you indeed) 

 sakleit' you shot him (= sak' he shot him + i^)eif you are) 

 mdpla' just you [pi.] (= map you [pi.] + ^a") 



Nevertheless, p^, t^, Jc^ are by no means phonetically identical with 

 p!, t!, Ic!; in Yana, for instance, the two series are etymologically, as 

 well as phonetically, distinct. One difference between the two may 

 be the greater stress of articulation that has been often held to be 

 the main characteristic of the fortes, but another factor, at least as 

 far as Takelma (also Yana) is concerned, is probably of greater mo- 

 ment. This has regard to the duration of the glottal closure. In 

 the case of p-, t^, and Ic^ the glottis is closed immediately upon release 

 of the stop-contact for p, t, and Ic. In the case of p!, t!, and Tc! the 

 glottis is closed just before or simultaneously with the moment of con- 

 sonant contact, is held closed during the full extent of the consonant 

 articulation, and is not opened until after the consonant release; the 

 fortis p!, e. g., may be symbolically represented as ^p^ (or ^h^, better 



as ^¥, i. e., a labial unaspirated stop immersed in a glottal catch). 

 As the glottis is closed throughout the whole extent of the fortis 

 articulation, no breath can escape through it; hence a fortis conso- 

 nant is necessarily unaspirated. This explains why fortes are so apt 

 to be misheard as voiceless mediae or even voiced mediae rather than 

 as aspirated tenues {pi, e. g., will be often misheard as & rather than 

 p). The cracked effect of the fortes, sometimes quite incorrectly 

 3045°— Bull. 40, pt 2—12 3 § 12 



