A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

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palatal (adj.) A term used in the phonetic classification of speech sounds on
the basis of their place of articulation: it refers to a sound made when
the front of the tongue is in contact with or approaches the hard palate.
Slavic languages usually illustrate a range of palatal sounds; in German, ich (‘I’)
exemplifies a voiceless palatal [ç]; in English, palatal sounds are heard only in
restricted contexts, as variants of a phoneme, e.g. /k/ is normally described as
velar, but the k in such words as keep is often quite palatal in its articulation,
because of the influence of the following front vowel. One may also hear
palatal glides in such words as cute [kj-] or huge [ç]. ‘Palatal’ is sometimes
used with reference to vowels or semi-vowels articulated in the hard-palate
area (front close vowels), as in the [ip] of seat or the initial sound of yet [‡],
formerly [j]; but the commoner use is in relation to consonants.
Palatalization is a general term referring to any articulation involving a movement
of the tongue towards the hard palate. It may be used to describe the
altered articulation illustrated by k above, but its more common use is in relation
to secondary articulations. Here, the primary place of articulation is
elsewhere in the mouth; for example, a [t] sound, normally made in alveolar
position, is said to be palatalized if during its articulation the front of the tongue
is raised towards the hard palate: in the case of [t], the palatalization would be
most noticeable when the plosive was released, as a palatal glide would then be
heard before the onset of the next main sound. Several languages, such as
Russian, have sets of palatalized consonants operating as phonemes. Because of
the auditory effect involved, the labels soft and hard are often used to describe
the contrasting qualities of palatalized and non-palatalized consonants respectively.
(These labels have no relation to their use in the terms ‘hard palate’ and
‘soft palate’, which are anatomically based: see palate.) In phonetic transcription,
there are several ways of representing palatalization; for instance [Z], [o],
[t j ] and [t’] have all been used to represent a palatalized [t]. See also -ise/-ize.
palate (n.) The arched bony structure which forms the roof of the mouth, and
which is much used for the articulation of speech sounds. The delimitation
and classification of the palatal area has not been without controversy, as is
shown by the several different classificatory systems for describing the types of
pathological condition known as cleft lip and palate. In one such system, the
A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics 6th Edition. David Crystal
© 2008 David Crystal. ISBN: 978-1-405-15296-9