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7/28/2019 Lecture 6 DF Consonants
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Lecture 6
The Distinctive Features: Consonants
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The Distinctive Features
What is the difference between: – /s/ and /z/?
– /n/ and /m/?
– /l/ and /r/?
Although the phoneme is generally regardedas the minimal linguistic unit, we can analyzeit as a bundle of certain characteristics, which
we call the distinctive features. They can be either articulatory or acoustic in
their nature.
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Relevant features
Languages may differ in the featuresthey take as essential, so the number of
relevant features is LANGUAGESPECIFIC.
Vowels and consonants cannot bedescribed using the same parameters.
Therefore, we shall deal separately withthe consonantal and vocalic features.
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Features used for English consonants
The set of features used for describing theconsonants of English is based on thefollowing parameters: – Distinctive type of articulation
– Distinctive manner of articulation
– Distinctive point of articulation
– Distinctive articulator
– Distinctive voicing
– Distinctive force of articulation
– Distinctive phonological composition
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1. The distinctive type of
articulation (vowels vs. consonants) This parameter categorizes between
two major groups of sounds – vowels
and consonants. The division into vowels and
consonants rests on two distinct
principles – phonetic (articulatory andacoustic) and phonological (functional).
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Articulation of vowels and consonants
Consonants – produced with some kind of obstacle that theairstream meets when coming out of the vocal tract.
Vowels – produced with a free flow of air .
Such differences in articulation also result in the different
acoustic characteristics between the two major groups of sounds:
vowels are uninterrupted musical tones, whose specificvibrations depend on the position of the vocal organs.
The acoustic image of vowels in spectrograms is characterizedby the presence of formants, parallel black lines which show
the typical frequences of each vowel. The spectrogram of consonants depends on the manner in
which the sound is produced, so each group of consonants(ploseves, fricatives, affricates or sonorants) has its own specificacoustic characteristics.
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Acoustic energy of sounds
Another feature related to the acoustic differencesbetween vowels and consonants is the amount of acoustic energy present in their production:
Vowels are characterized by a greater amount of acoustic energy compared to consonants. They aretherefore said to contain more sonority, or to be moresonorous.
Consonants are produced with a lesser amount of acoustic energy – they are less sonorous.
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Exceptions
Although the articulatory criterion is rather universal(all vowels are produced without an obstacle, andsome sounds are always produced with a completeobstruction to the airstream (e.g. plosives).
However, there are some exceptions to this rule. The articulation of the semivowels /j/ and /w/ is very
similar to the articulation of the vowels /i:/ and /u:/respectively, and in a number of positions they arearticulated with a free flow of air.
Still, they have to be classified as consonants for tworeasons: – because they cannot carry a syllable
– the acoustic energy of semivowels, compared to that of
neighbouring vowels, is also rather low.
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Phonological criterion
The second criterion of whether a sound is [vocalic] or [consonantal] isfunctional or phonological.
It refers to the function a sound takes within the syllable.
The sounds which carry syllables have syllabic function – vowels are central in syllables.
Consonants, as a rule, are at the marginal positions in the syllable, occupyingthe left and/or the right edge of the syllable.
Exceptions:
Certain consonants can function as syllable ’carriers’ as well, in which case theyare called ’syllabic consonants’.
In English, /n/ and /l/ are the most frequent syllabic consonants, when they occur at word endings and are immediately preceded by certain consonats.
Examples: – syllabic /n/: button / bVtn/, oven /Vvn/, vision /vIZn/; certainly /s3;tnli/, shouldn’t /SUdnt/
– syllabic /l/: battle /b&tl/, shuffle /SVfl/, tunnel /tVnl/.
These consonants are still said to be [consonantal], due to their property of being articulated with some kind of obstacle in the vocal tract.
7/28/2019 Lecture 6 DF Consonants
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1. The distinctive manner of articulation
Refers to the k ind o f obstac le created in the
oral cavity during the passage of the airstream.
Obstacle – complete or partial. Complete closure typical in the articulation of
plosives.
Partial closure can be of two types: 1. in the form of narrowing, or
2. combination of a complete closure at one
place and a free flow of air at another place.
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Narrowing again can be of two types:
(i) close position of two vocal organs – articulation isaccompanied by friction (fricatives)
(ii) approximation – two vocal organs approximate each
other without actually making contact. Sounds producedin this way are called approximants.
Approximants are retroflex /r/, lateral /l/ and semivowels/j, w/.
Combination obstacle + lack of obstacle/partial closure: (i) simultaneous – nasals, laterals
(ii) sequential – affricates (closure followed by friction)
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Obstruents vs. sonorants
Obstruents –
plosives, fricatives and affricates: – Noise component in the auditory and acoustic
signal
– Voiced vs. voiceless pairs (except /h/ in English).
– They behave in similar ways in phonologicalprocesses (e.g. devoicing rules).
Sonorants – nasals, lateral, retroflex, semivowels:
– Articulation: free flow of air at some place in thespeech tract
– Acoustically: vocalic nature; can be pronounced asprolonged sounds
– No voiced vs. voiceless opposition – all VOICED
– They also behave in similar ways in phonological
processes (e.g. devoicing rules).
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Plosives
/p, b; t, d; k,g/.
also called s tops .
articulated with a complete closure by which the passage to theairstream is completely blocked.
There are three distinct stages in the articulation of plosives: – Closure – during which two vocal organs are firmly pressed against
each other
– Compression – the air behind the obstacle builds up its pressure, itgets compressed.
– Release – the two vocal organs move away abruptly, thecompressed air escape from behind the obstacle with an audiblerelease, called explosion.
In voiceless plosives, the release stage is commonly followed bya [h]-like sound, known as aspiration.
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Fricatives
/f, v, T, D, s, z, S, Z, h/.
Articulation two vocal organs are
brought together, but the air can still
escape through this kind of closure.
Since the organs are very close to each
other, the passage of air between them
causes turbulances, known as friction.
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Affricates
/tS, dZ/
Articulation: combination of a plosive followed by a fricative.
Initial stages of articulation are equivalent to those of plosives(closing stage and compression). Iinstead of an abrupt removal
of the vocal organs the obstacle is just gently widened, lettingthe air escape with friction (the third stage).
Sequences /ts, dz; tr, dr/ are articulated in a way similar toaffricates (plosive followed by friction)
Should they also be regarded as affricates?
– their distribution is restricted: /ts, dz/ occur at word endings,
/tr, dr/ occur word initially and word medially, but not wordfinally.
– the native speakers’ intuition, since most native speakersfeel that they are jus sequences of two sounds, and notsingle phonemes.
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Nasals
/m, n, N/.
Sometimes called ’nasal stops’, as there is a
complete closure at the vocal organs. However,during their articulation the velum is lowered,so that the air can escape freely through thenasal cavity, and therefore there is no pressurebuilt up behind the obstacle in the oral cavity.
For this reason the articulation of all nasals canbe prolonged, so that one can hum, for example /mmm/, until she/he runs out of breath.
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Retroflex During the articulation of the retroflex /r/ in
English the tongue is curled backwards,therefore the name.
The tongue does not completely touch the
back part of the alveolar ridge, but onlycomes close to it, or approximates it. This iswhy /r/ in English is also called ’approximant’.The IPA symbol used for this realization of the phoneme /r/ is [R ].
Owing to such articulation the air passesfreely through the central part of the tongue,which gives /r/ in English a rather vocalicacoustic character.
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Lateral
The only lateral sound in English is /l/.
During its articulation the tip of the tongue
touches the alveolar ridge, but the air escapes freely along the sides of the tongue,
therefore the name ’lateral’.
Such articulation also implies the possibility of
articulating it as a prolonged sound, which is
also rather vowel-like.
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Semivowels
The semivowels of English are /j/ and /w/.
Their articulation similar to that of the vowels /i/ and/u:/, without any contact of vocal organs in the oral
cavity. Yet, they are much shorter and less prominent than
the two vowels, and during their articulation thetongue actually makes a rapid glide from the positionof the two vowels /i, u/ towards the position of thefollowing vowel.
They are never as prominent as the vowelssurrounding them – not real vowels in term of their function. Despite their vocalic articulation they never carry a syllable.
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More on approximants
Sonorants produced by the approximation of
two vocal organs – retroflex, lateral and
semivowels. ’Central approximants’ /r, j, w/ – the air flows
through the mid part of the vocal tract
The lateral sound /l/ is also termed ’lateral
approximant’, as the air escapes along the
sides of the tongue.
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2. The distinctive point of articulation
Refers to the upper speech organ at which the
contact is made during the articulation of consonants.
Upper lip – labial point of articulation – /p, b, m, w/.
Upper teeth – dental point of artiuclation /f, v, T, D/.
Alveolar ridge – alveolar /t, d, s, z, n, l/.
Back part of the alveolar ridge (bordering with thefront section of the palate) – postalveolar /r/.
Back part of the alveolar ridge + front part of thepalate – palatoalveolar /S, Z, tS, dZ/.
Palate – palatal sound /j/. Velum – velar /k, g, N/.
Between the vocal cords – glottal /h/.
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3. The distinctive articulator
Refers to the lower, movable speech organ active inthe articulation of a sound.
Lower lip – labial sounds: plosives /p, b/, nasal /m/and fricatives /f, v/.
/p, b, m/ - traditionally called bilabial sounds.
/f, v/ - labiodental sounds. Tip of the tongue – apical sounds: /t, d, T, D, n, l/.
Tip and blade of the tongue – coronal or laminal sounds /s, z, r/.
Tip, blade and a segment of the front part of the
tongue – apico-corono-frontal sounds: /S, Z, tS, dZ/. Front part of the tongue – frontal sound /j/.
Back part of the tongue – dorsal sounds /k, g, N/.
/h/ is articulated at the glottis, so its distinctivearticulator is glottal.
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4. The distinctive voicing The feature of voicing refers to the presence or
absence of vocal cord vibration. If the vocal cordstypically vibrate during the articulation of a sound, thissound is said to be voiced. If the vocal cords arewide apart during the articulation, a voiceless sound
is produced. All sonorants are voiced sounds: nasals /m, n, N/,
lateral /l/, retroflex /r/ and the semivowels /j, w/ aretypically voiced.
Within the group of obstruents, a great majority of
sounds have [voiced] : [voiceless] opposition, theother distinctive features being identical between thepair. The voiced sounds are: plosives /b, d, g/,fricatives /v, D, z, Z/ and affricate /dZ/. The voiceless sounds are: plosives /p, t, k/, fricatives /f, T, s, S, h/and affricate /tS/.
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5. The distinctive force of
articulation
This feature refers to the muscular effort usedin the articulation of a sound.
Voiceless sounds are produced with morestrength, and are therefore called strong or fortis sounds. So, / p, t, k; f, T, s, S, h; tS/ arestrong or fortis consonants.
Voiced sounds are produced with lessarticulatory strength – they are weak or lenis sounds. All sonorants are lenis, and so arethe voiced obstruents / b, d, g; v, D, z, Z; dZ/.
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6. The distinctive phonogical
composition
According to this feature, consonants
are divided into simple and complex
sounds. The only complex sounds are affricates,
since they contain two distinct
segments, the plosive part and thefricative part. All other consonants are
distinctively simple.