Dictionary Definition
emphatic adj
1 spoken with emphasis; "an emphatic word" [syn:
emphasized, emphasised]
2 sudden and strong; "an emphatic no" [syn:
exclamatory]
3 forceful and definite in expression or action;
"the document contained a particularly emphatic guarantee of
religious liberty" [syn: forceful]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- /ɪmˈfætɪk/, /Im"f
Extensive Definition
Emphatic consonant is a term
widely used in Semitic
linguistics to
describe one of a series of obstruent consonants which originally
contrasted with series of both voiced and voiceless obstruents. In specific
Semitic
languages the members of this series may be realized as
pharyngealized,
velarized, ejective or plain voiced or voiceless consonants. It is also used,
to a lesser extent, to describe cognate series in other Afro-Asiatic
languages, where they are typically realized as either ejective or implosive consonants. In Semitic studies
they are commonly transcribed using the convention of placing a dot
under the closest plain obstruent consonant in the
Latin
alphabet. With respect to particular Semitic and
Afro-Asiatic languages this term has come to be used more
specifically to describe the particular phonetic feature which
distinguishes these consonants from other consonants. Thus in
Arabic emphasis is synonymous with a secondary
articulation involving retraction of the dorsum or root of the
tongue, which has variously been described as velarization, or pharyngealization
depending on where the locus of the retraction is assumed to be.
Within Arabic, the emphatic consonants have been reported as
varying in phonetic realization from dialect to dialect, but are
typically realized as pharyngealized consonants. In Ethiopian and
Modern South Arabian languages, they are realized as ejective
consonants. While these sounds do not necessarily share any
particular phonetic properties in common, historically most derive
from a common source.
Five such "emphatic" phonemes
are reconstructed for Proto-Semitic:
References
emphatic in Breton: Kensonenn stambouc'hus
emphatic in French: Consonne emphatique
emphatic in Indonesian: Konsonan emfatis
emphatic in Hebrew: עיצורים נחציים
emphatic in Malay (macrolanguage): Konsonan
penegas
emphatic in Dutch: Emfatische medeklinker
emphatic in Polish: Spółgłoska
emfatyczna
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
absolute, accented, accentuated, affirmative, affirmatory, aggressive, ardent, assertative, assertional, assertive, burning, categorical, certain, decided, declarative, declaratory, definite, definitive, determined, direct, distinct, dogged, dogmatic, earnest, emphasized, energetic, enthusiastic, exciting, explicit, express, fervent, fiery, firm, forceful, forcible, glowing, impassioned, in red letters,
incisive, insistent, intense, italicized, marked, passionate, peremptory, pointed, positive, predicational, predicative, pronounced, provoking, punctuated, resolute, resounding, specific, starred, stimulating, stirring, stressed, strong, sure, unambiguous, uncompromising, underlined, underscored, unequivocal, unmistakable, urgent, vehement, vigorous, warm