Peter Ladefoged: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from Peter Ladefoged, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

Some languages use a wholly different way of making consonants: clicks
Southern African languages like Xhosa and Zulu, and especially the Khoisan language family, use click consonants as ordinary speech sounds, produced by trapping air with the tongue…
— Peter Ladefoged, Vowels and Consonants
Hindi hears four different consonants where English only hears one
Where English treats 'p' and 'b' as just two sounds, Hindi and related languages contrast four versions of the same consonant: voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, voiced un…
— Peter Ladefoged, Ian Maddieson, The Sounds of the World's Languages

Five ideas worth knowing, every week