breathy (adj.)

A term used in the PHONETIC classification of VOICE QUALITY, on the basis of ARTICULATORY and AUDITORY criteria. Breathiness refers to a vocal effect produced by allowing a great deal of air to pass through a slightly open GLOTTIS: this effect is also sometimes called murmur. Some speakers do have an abnormally breathy voice quality, as a permanent feature of their speech. What is of particular significance for linguistic analysis is that breathy effects may be used with CONTRASTIVE force, communicating a PARALINGUISTIC meaning: the whole of an UTTERANCE may be thus affected, as in an extremely shocked pronunciation of Oh really! ‘Breathy voice’, or ‘breathy phonation’, is also sometimes encountered as a PHONOLOGICAL characteristic, as in Gujarati, where there is an opposition between breathy and non-breathy VOWELS.