Phonetics

Phonetics

•Phonetics studies speech sounds, including the production of speech, that is how speech sounds are actually made, transmitted and received, the description and classification of speech sounds, words and connected speech, etc.

• We can approach it on various levels.

• At one level, speech is a matter of anatomy and physiology. We can study organs such as tongue and larynx and their functions in the production of speech.

• At another level, we can focus on the speech sounds produced by these organs by identifying and classifying the individual sounds. This is the domain of articulatory phonetics.

Spot in English• Some letters represent more than one different sound

c: recall vs. receive gear vs. siege

• Some letters represent no sounds at all

receive use

• Sometimes two letters represent just one sound

recall phonetics

• Some letters represent two or more sounds at once

tax use

• The same sound can be represented by many different letters

sh: shy, mission, machine, special, caution

• To describe speech sounds, it is necessary to know what an individual sound is, and how each sound differs from all others. This is not as easy as it may seem, for when we speak, the sounds seem to run together and it isn’t at all obvious where one sound ends and the next begins.

• However, when we know the language we hear the individual sounds in our “mind’s ear” and are able to make sense of them, unlike the sign painter in the cartoon.

• A speaker of English knows that there are three sounds in the word bus. Yet, physically the word is just one continuous sound.

• You can segment that one sound into parts because you know English. And you recognize those parts when they occur elsewhere as b does in bet or rob, as u does in up, and as s does in sister.

• It is not possible to segment the sound of someone clearing her throat into a sequence of discrete units. This is not because throat-clearing is one continuous sound. It is because such sounds are not speech and are therefore not able to be segmented into the sounds of speech.

• Speakers of English can separate keepout into the two words keep and out because they know the language. We do not generally pause between words (except to take a breath), even though we may think we do.

• Read the following pairs aloud and see why we might misinterpret what we hear:

• grade A - gray day • I scream - ice cream• The sun’s rays meet - The sons raise meat• The lack of breaks between spoken words and individual sounds often

makes us think that speakers of foreign languages run their words together, unaware that we do too.

• X-ray motion pictures of someone speaking make the absence of breaks very clear.

• One can see the tongue, jaw, and lips in continuous motion as the individual sounds are produced.

THE ORGANS OF SPEECH AND THEIR FUNCTIONS

Besides a brain (and the knowledge of the language), what do you need

to use the spoken language?

These are the speech organs

Stages involved in Speaking: Organs involved

Breathing stage

Phonation stage

Resonation stage

Articulation stage

BREATHING STAGE

Breathing, which is primarily concerned with maintaining life, is secondarily a force assisting in vocalization.

It consists of two phases --- inhalation and exhalation.Examples: _______________

LUNGS• Serve as the reservoir of

air• As you inhale, fill the

lungs comfortably in preparation for speaking.

Diaphragm• A large sheet of

muscle separating the chest cavity from the abdomen

• Forms the floor of the chest and the roof of the abdomen

• Gives pressure to the breath stream

PHONATION STAGE

Phonation takes place when voice is produced in speaking as the expiratory air stream from the lungs goes up through the trachea or windpipe to the larynx.

Larynx• Principal organ of

phonation• Found at the top of

the trachea• Protuberance is

known as the “Adam’s apple”

Vocal Cords•A pair of bundles of muscles and cartilages

•Open and close at various degrees

Trachea•Also known as windpipe

•Passageway of air going up from the lungs

RESONATION STAGE

The voice produced in phonation is weak. It becomes strong and rich only when amplified and modified by the human resonators. Resonation is the process of voice amplification and modification.

Pharynx• Common passageway

for air and food• Located behind the

nose and mouth and includes the cavity at the back of the tongue

• Divisions of the pharynx:

• Nasal pharynx• Oral pharynx• Laryngeal pharynx

Nose• Consists of the external and

internal portions• Nostrils – openings of the

external nose• Nasal cavity – internal nose;

directly behind the external nose through which the air passes on its way to the pharynx

• Septum – divides the external and internal nose into two separate passageways

Mouth• Divided into the vestibule

and the oral cavity proper• Vestibule – felt by placing

the tongue tip outside the teeth but inside the lips

• Oral cavity – felt by retracting the tongue, closing the jaws and moving the tongue about

Resonators:Upper part of the larynx

pharynx

Nasal cavity

Oral cavity

ARTICULATION STAGE

Articulation occurs when the tone produced in the larynx is changed into specific sounds. This is the result of the movement of the articulators towards the points of articulation.

Lips•Highly flexible •Can be moved into numerous positions essential to articulation

Teeth•Serve as

important surfaces in articulation

•Embedded in the alveolar ridge or gum ridges of the oral cavity

Dome• Also known as the

hard palate• Bony roof of the

mouth• Serves as an

important surface against which the tongue makes contact

Uvula•Small nub on the

lower border of the soft palate

•Movable tip at the midline of the free border of the soft palate

Velum• Also known as the

soft palate• Separates the nasal

pharynx from the oral cavity

• A flexible curtain attached along the rear border of the hard palate

Tongue• Flexible organ consisting

of muscles, glands and connective tissues

• Parts of the tongue:• Apex or tip• Blade

• Front• Center• Back• root

articulatorsLower

jaw

Lower lip

TongueVelum

Uvula

Points of articulation

Upper lip

Upper teeth

Upper alveolar

ridge

Hard palate

Soft palate

Consonants vs. Vowels

• consonantal sounds: obstruction of airflow in vocal tract• vowel sounds: little to no obstruction of airflow

Features of Consonants and Vowels

• Voicing (state of the glottis)• Place of articulation• Manner of articulation

Airstream Mechanisms

• Airstream process:• The ways in which the lung (or the closed glottis, even the tongue) pushes air out or sucks it

in during speech.• Egressive sounds: air is pushed out.• Ingreessive sounds: air is sucked in.

• Phonation process:• The actions of the vocal folds.

• Articulatory process:• The movements of the tongue and the lips interacting with the roof of the mouth and the

pharynx.• Including the oro-nasal process.

Speech production mechanism

Airstream Mechanisms

• 3 Airstream Mechanisms: • Lung airflow (pulmonic airflow mechanism)• Glottalic airflow• Velaric airflow

Airstream Mechanisms

Pulmonic Airstream Mechanism • air is pushed out of the lungs by downward movement of rib cage and/or

upward movement of diaphragm

Plosives• stops made with an egressive pulmonic airstream • these are stops, e.g. [p, t, k]

Airstream Mechanisms

Two Types of Glottalic Airstream Mechanism• Glottalic Egressive Airstream• Glottalic Ingressive Airstream

Airstream Mechanisms Glottalic• we can move different bodies of air • move a closed glottis up, you’ll push air out of the

mouth • move closed glottis down, air will be sucked into

the mouth

Airstream Mechanisms

• Glottalic Egressive Airstream• glottis acts as a kind of piston • compressing air in the pharynx • compressed air released when tongue body is lowered, i.e. when stop

is released• Glottalic egressive sound [k’]• These sounds are also called EJECTIVES• Hausa and Lakota are just two languages with ejectives.

Airstream Mechanisms

• Glottalic Ingressive Sounds• glottis moves downward • sucking air inwards • but the glottis is not completely closed • some pulmonic air is still being pushed out • keeping the vocal cords vibrating• Bilabial implosive• Glottalic ingressive stops are also called IMPLOSIVES• Sindhi is an example of a language with implosives

Airstream mechanism• Gllotic Egressive Mechanism

Airstream mechanism• Gllotic Ingressive Mechanism

Airstream mechanism

• Vellaric• Air flow is directed inwards from the oral• cavity • Pressure reduced by forming vellaric andalveolar closure and pulling down tongue

Airstream Mechanisms

Velaric Airstream Mechanism• this is the mechanism used to make clicks!! • they involve trapping a body of air rarefying it (adding a pinch of salt

for taste) and then releasing it, resulting in a click

Airstream mechanism

• Velaric Mechanism

• All sounds are made with some movements of air• The basic source of power is the lungs• The air goes up the windpipe (trachea) and into the larynx and out

of the body through the vocal tract (i.e. mouth or nose)

Airstream mechanism

Vocal folds• Their outer edges are attached to muscle

in the larynx while their inner edges are free.

• If the back end of the vocal folds are held apart, a triangular space opens up between them.

• The space is called glottis.

Anatomy of the larynx

Modes of Phonation

• Phonation: larynx function as a source • Larynx function:

• (1) generate airstream• (2) serve as an articulator

• Phonation modes are categories in which laryngeal muscles manipulate the folds

Voicing/phonation

Modes of Phonation

•Five phonation modes:• Voiceless: vocal folds far apart• Whisper:

• vocal folds adducted (closed) • opening between arytenod cartilage• air forced

Modes of Phonation

• Breathy:• incomplete close of glottalic cycle • Muscle of arytenoids remain apart

• Voice:• Vibration of vocal folds

• Creak:• Low frequency vibration of vocal folds• Folds open briefly• Vibration is irregular from cycle to cycle

Glottal stop • Combinatory Phonation Modes:

• Breathy + Creaky • creak accompanied by breathy leakage

• Animated visual