Soinnillisten

Soinnillisten is a term used in Finnish linguistics to describe the class of voiced sounds within a language’s phonology. The word comes from soinnillinen, meaning voiced or sonorous, and the suffix -isten forms a plural or collective reference to the class as a whole.

Definition and scope: In phonetics and phonology, soinnillisten refers to segments produced with vocal fold vibration. This typically includes vowels and the voiced consonants of a language. The concept is often contrasted with soinnittomat, the voiceless sounds, to describe voicing contrasts that can occur in a given system.

Phonological relevance: Voicing is a functional feature that can interact with other phonetic processes such as aspiration, length, and assimilation. Some languages exhibit devoicing in particular contexts, leading to surface segments that are voiceless even if the underlying representation is voiced. The soinnillisten framework is used to analyze such patterns and to compare how different languages realize and merge voicing distinctions.

Examples: In many languages, examples of soinnilliset (voiced) segments include the voiced stops /b, d, ɡ/, the voiced fricatives /v, z, ʒ, ð/, nasal consonants /m, n, ŋ/, and the approximants /j, w, l, r/. Vowels are typically treated as voiced in standard analyses. Soinnillisten contrasts may be neutralized in certain phonological environments, depending on language-specific rules.

Usage and tradition: The term is especially common in Finnish linguistic literature when discussing voicing distinctions and their interaction with other features. It provides a concise label for referring to the set of voice-bearing sounds across a language or dialect.

See also: Voicing, voicelessness, consonant harmony, phoneme.