Dimensions of Articulation, part 2

January 22, 2014

This Week• There is a graded homework exercise due on Friday:

• Chapter 1, Exercises D-F

•On Monday, Jacqueline will lead you through some practice transcriptions.

•Narrow transcription of English sentences.

•For next Wednesday, the first production exercise is due.

•= produce your name phonetically backwards!

•Let’s walk through an example of how it’s done…

Consonants• To understand the Canadian Raising pattern, it helps to

know more about the way consonants are produced.

• Consonants productions may be characterized along a series of articulatory dimensions.

• The first dimension to consider is: airstream mechanism.

• Most speech sounds use a pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism.

• = air is pushed out of the lungs

• it’s possible to produce pulmonic ingressive sounds; give it a try.

Mid-Sagittal Diagram

Dimension 2: Phonation• On the way out of the lungs

• Air passes through the trachea

• Reaches the larynx

• The larynx consists of two “vocal folds” which may be opened and closed. If the vocal folds are:

1. open: air passes cleanly through (voiceless sound)

2. closed: air does not pass through (no sound)

3. lightly brought together: vocal folds vibrate in passing air

(= voiced sound)

Voicing, Schematized

Voiceless (folds open) Voiced (folds together)

Laryngoscopy

Source: http://homepage.mac.com/changcy/endo.htm

Voicing, in Reality

Some Voicing Distinctions• Among English consonants:

Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced

[f] [v] [p] [b]

[t] [d]

[s] [z] [k] [g]

Voicing Allophony Vowels are longer before voiced consonants than voiceless consonants.

Length is denoted with the [:] diacritic.

‘feed’ [fi:d] vs. ‘feet’ [fit]

Note that Canadian Raising occurs before voiceless consonants.

voiceless: ‘out’ ‘write’

voiced: ‘bribe’ ‘ride’

Layers• Canadian Raising occurs when and are followed by a voiceless consonant.

• The voiceless consonant does not need to be at the end of a word.

• Interesting examples:

• ‘rider’

• ‘writer’

• Note: flap is voiced.

• The voiceless consonant which induces Canadian Raising does not need to be voiceless on the phonetic “surface”!

• The technical term for this is phonological opacity.

More Voicing Allophony• Consonants at the ends of words are sometimes devoiced.

• Voicelessness is denoted with the [ ] diacritic.

• ‘lose’ ‘peas’

• Also: ‘languages’ example from homework #1.

• You can sometimes get contrasts in English like:

• ‘peace’ ‘peas’

• /l/ and can be (partially) voiceless in English when they follow an aspirated consonant:

• ‘play’

Aspiration Allophony /p/, /t/, and /k/ are aspirated if:

1. They are at the beginning of a stressed syllable.

2. They are not preceded by /s/.

• Ex:

Dimension 3:Place of Articulation

• After the stream of air passes through the larynx…

• speech sounds may be made by constricting the flow of air through the vocal tract.

• The place where such constrictions are made is known as the place of articulation of the sound.

• Constrictions are made by placing an active articulator against (or near to) a passive articulator.

• Generally:

• active articulator = on the bottom

• passive articulator = on the top

Anatomy Lesson #1

Anatomy Lesson #2

English Places of Articulation

Bilabial [p] [b] [m]

Labio-dental [f] [v]

Interdental

Alveolar [t] [d] [s] [n] [l]

Post-alveolar

Palatal [j]

Velar [k] [g]

X-Ray movie revisited• First check out “bogus”

Place Assimilation• Place assimilation occurs when:

• One consonant’s place of articulation becomes identical to that of a neighboring consonant.

• /n/ often takes on the place of articulation of a following consonant.

• ‘unpleasant’

• ‘month’

• ‘engrossed’

• alveolars--except for /s/ and /z/--assimilate to following dentals

Ex: width, tenth, wealth

Front and Back• Velars /k/ and /g/ become fronted when preceding front vowels

the diacritic for “fronter” is

the diacritic for “backer” is

• Examples:

• ‘coo’

• ‘key’

• These diacritics may apply to vowels, as well.

• Ex: ‘spoons’

Dimension 4: Aperture

• The type of sound created by a constriction in the vocal tract depends on how narrow the constriction is.

1. Stop (or plosive):

• Complete closure of the articulators

• The airstream cannot escape through the mouth.

2. Fricative:

• Close approximation of two articulators

• The airstream is partially obstructed

• Turbulent airflow is produced.

English StopsVoiceless Voiced

Bilabial [p] [b]

Alveolar [t] [d]

Velar [k] [g]

• Note--stops that:

• Follow a vowel involve a closing gesture

• Precede a vowel involve an opening gesture

• Stops at the end of words may be unreleased.

• Example: “chocolate pudding”

English FricativesVoiceless Voiced

Labio-dental [f] [v]

Interdental

Alveolar [s] [z]

Post-alveolar

Glottal [h]

Dimension 4:Aperture, continued

3. Approximant:

• a gesture in which one articulator is close to another

• but without turbulent airflow being produced.

4. Affricate

• combination of stop + fricative

More English Consonants• Approximants:

labio-velar, voiced: [w]

palatal, voiced: [j]

• Some dialects of English also distinguish:

• ‘witch’ [w] vs. ‘which’

• = voiceless, labio-velar approximant

• Affricates --

• Voiced: Voiceless:

Really Narrow The stops, /t/ and /d/, have a post-alveolar place of articulation in affricates:

• An interesting question:

• How do you say “tree” and “draw”?

• /t/ and /d/ can become affricates before /r/:

• ‘tree’

• ‘draw’

Dimension 5: Retroflexion• A retroflex sound involves the curling back of the tip

of the tongue.

• generally in the post-alveolar region.

• There is only one retroflex sound in English, and it’s an approximant:

• In other languages, stops and fricatives can be retroflex, too.

Dimension 6: Nasality• The back of the soft palate may be lowered or raised.

• This may allow air to pass through the nose during speech.

• Air passes through the nose during the production of nasal consonants…

• …but it does not pass through the mouth in “nasal stops”

bilabial [m]

alveolar [n]

velar

One Last Time

Nasalization Vowels often become nasalized before nasal consonants.

The diacritic for nasalization is:

• Examples:

‘can’ vs. ‘cat’

‘Ben’ vs. ‘bed’

• Before other consonants, /n/ can drop out completely…

and leave the nasalization behind:

‘can’t’ vs. ‘cat’

‘Winters’

Dimension 7: Laterality• Lateral approximant:

• Obstruction of the airstream at a point along the center of the oral tract

• With incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.

• alveolar lateral: [l] “clear l”

• velarized alveolar lateral: “dark l”

• velarized = back of tongue is raised towards velum

• Note: consonants which are not lateral are “central”.

• Check out “oil” video

/l/ options• Dialectologically, /l/ is the most interesting consonant in English.

• Dialect Type A:

• “clear” /l/ syllable-initially: ‘leaf’

• “dark” /l/ syllable finally: ‘feel’

• Dialect Type B:

• “clear” /l/ before front vowels: ‘leak’

• “dark” /l/ everywhere else: ‘lock’

• Others have “dark” /l/ pretty much everywhere.

• (and maybe even lose the alveolar closure!)

Consonant Dimensions: Summary

[t] [j]

1. Airstream Mechanism pulmonic egressive p.e.

2. Phonation Type voiceless voiced

3. Place of Articulation alveolar palatal

4. Aperture stop approx.

5. Retroflexion non-retroflex non-retro

6. Nasality oral oral

7. Laterality central central

Manner of Articulation• Phoneticians usually combine dimensions 4-7 under the rubric of manner of articulation.

• Example manners of articulation:

• [t] = (oral) stop

• [n] = nasal stop

• [v] = fricative

• [w] = approximant

• [l] = lateral approximant

• = retroflex approximant

• = affricate

Notes• Consonant sounds are generally assumed to be:

pulmonic egressive

oral

central

…unless stated otherwise

• Big picture thought:

• Through combinatorics, language makes a large number of distinctions out of a minimal number of articulatory gestures.

English Consonant Chart