Phonetics: The Sounds of Language

Phonetics and Phonology Phonetics: The physical manifestation of

language in sound waves.◦ How sounds are articulated (articulatory

phonetics)◦ How sounds are perceived (auditory phonetics)

Phonology: The mental representation of sounds.

English orthography (writing system) is not accurate in representing sounds:

Did he believe that Caesar could see the people seize the seas?

The silly amoeba stole the key to the machine

We need a more accurate representation of sounds: IPA

Spelling and Sounds in English

(Fromkin, Rodman, Hyams p.223)

The smallest units of language. Every language has its own inventory of

linguistic sounds. Phonemes can be divided into 2 types:1. Consonants2. Vowels Keep in mind: We are not talking about

letters here!

Phonemes

How are phonemes produced? Consonants are produced by obstructing the

flow of air as it passes from the lungs through the vocal tract.

When we describe a consonant, one of the features we use is its place of articulation.

The other feature is the manner of articulation.

Consonants

Place of articulation

Examples of obstructing airflow to produce a consonant:

To form the initial [p] sound in “pill”, we put our lips together to shut off the flow of air before releasing it.

Sounds that are created by obstructing the flow of air with both lips are called bilabial

Compare the [p] sound with the [f] in “fill”. How is it produced?

Sounds like [f] are called labiodental

Place of articulation

Going further back in the mouth: Pronounce the “th” sound as in “thin”. How is it

produced? The [θ] sound is called interdental (inter=

between, dental= teeth) Consider the [s] sound as in “soup”. How is it

produced? By putting the tip of the tongue right behind

the upper front teeth. This part of the mouth is called alveolar ridge. Sounds like /s/ are called alveolar.

Place of articulation

Compare the [s] sound to the [ʃ] sound in “shell”. Where does the tongue move?

Sounds produced in this area are called palatal sounds.

The soft area further back is called velum. Sounds produced in this area are called velar sounds. Sounds in this area are produced by touching the heel of the tongue on the velum.

Examples of these sounds are: [g] and [k]

Place of articulation

Finally, we arrive at the glottis –the end of the vocal tract and beginning of your throat. There is only one glottal sound: /h/

Place of articulation

Place of articulation of English Consonants

Place of Articulation Consonant

Bilabial [p] [b] [m]

Labiodental [f] [v]

Interdental [θ] [ð]

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

Palatal [ʃ] [ʒ] [tʃ] [dʒ]

Velar [k] [g] [ŋ]

Glottal [h]

Describing the features of Consonants. What distinguishes [p] from [b] or [b] from

[m]? All three are bilabial sounds… Speech sounds vary in the way the

airstream is affected as it flows from the lungs up and out of the mouth and nose.

Manner of Articulation

Voiced and voiceless sounds◦ When the vocal cords are apart when speaking,

air flows freely through the glottis. Sounds produced in this way are voiceless.

◦ If the vocal cords are together, the airstream forces its way through and causes them to vibrate

Try it out: put your hand toyour throat and produce a [z]sound as in “buzz”. Now do thesame with [s] as in “bus”.

Manner of Articulation

The distinction is very important in English as it may change the meaning of the word:

rope/robe fate/fade rack/rag choke/joke

Voiced and Voiceless sounds

Quick exercise:Of the sounds discussed so far, which are voiced and which are voiceless. Pronounce them with your hand at your throat.

[p] [s] [m] [tʃ] [h] [θ] [l] [t][d]

[z] [ʃ] [ʒ] [dʒ] [b]

Voiced and Voiceless sounds

[b] and [p] sounds are distinguished as voiced/voiceless. But how is [b] different from [m]?

When the uvular blocks the airway through the nose, the sound is oral. When the uvular is not raised, air escapes through the nose and the mouth. This is called a nasal sound.

If [m] is a nasal, what other nasals can you identify?

[m] [n] [ŋ]ew

Nasal and Oral sounds

To produce the [t] sound, you place the tongue on the alveolar ridge and obstruct the flow of air. The [s] sound is produced at the same place of articulation. What is different about them?

Test for yourself: produce the sounds and observe what is happening to the airflow.

When the airflow is completely stopped, the sound is a stop.

When the airflow is only partially stopped, it’s a fricative.

Stops and Fricatives

Quick exercise:Of the sounds discussed so far, which are stops and which are fricatives? Pronounce each and decide.

[p] [s] [θ] [t] [d] [z] [ʃ] [ʒ] [k]

Voiced and Voiceless sounds

Affricates are produced by a stop which is followed immediately by gradual release of air. Stop + fricative = affricate◦ There are only two: [tʃ] and [dʒ]

Liquids◦ During the production of the sounds [l] and [r], there is no

real obstruction of the airflow that causes friction. Hence, these sounds are not stops, fricatives or affricates. They are called liquids

Glides◦ Are not causing significant obstruction and are always

followed by vowels.◦ [j] and [w]

Affricates,Liquids, and Glides

Complete table of consonants

IPA chart

[p] pit [b] bite [m] man [t] tool [d] dance [n] nice[k] cat [g] girl [ŋ]singer [f] foul [v]vote [s] side

[z] buzz [θ] thigh [ð] father [ʃ] shoe [ʒ] measure

[tʃ] choke

[dʒ] judge [l] loud [r] rooster

[j] yes [w] witch [h] hat

Consonants

Vowel Qualities The placement of the body of the

tongue:◦ Vertical: high – mid – low◦ Horizontal: front – central – back

The shape of the lips: ◦ Rounded – Unrounded

The degree of the vocal tract contraction:◦ Tense – Lax

Vowels

Experiment: Say the words “meet” and “mat”. What

happens to your jaw? Now say the word “mate” in between.

Vowel Qualities: Tongue Height

High [i] meetMid [e] mateLow [æ] mat

Frontness is determining where the tongue is positioned horizontally.

Say the words hack [hæk] and hah in sequence: “hack, hah, hack, hah, hack, hah.

You should be able to observe the tongue movement.

front vowels: [i] [ɪ] [e] [ɛ] [æ] Central vowels: [ə] [ʌ] back vowels: [u] [o] [ɔ] [a] [ʊ]

Vowel Qualities: Frontness

Vowels differ in roundness of the lips.

Vowel Qualities: Lip Rounding

Vowel Chart

a

In English, there are tense and lax vowels Compare “beat” and “bit”. Both sounds are

high, front vowels, but they differ in tenseness of muscles in the vocal tract.

Vowel Qualities: Tenseness

Tense Lax[i] beat [ɪ] bit[e] bait [ɛ] bet[u]boot [ʊ] put[o]boat [ɔ] bore

The previously discussed vowels are also called monophthongs

Diphthongs are a combination of 2 vowel sounds.

In English, there are 3 (main) diphthongs. Consider following words: kite bout boy [aj] [aw] [ɔj]

Diphthongs

IPA chart[p] pit [b] bite [m] man [t] tool [d] dance [n] nice[k] cat [g] girl [ŋ]singer [f] foul [v]vote [s] side

[z] buzz [θ] thigh [ð] father [ʃ] shoe [ʒ] measure

[tʃ] choke

[dʒ] judge [l] loud [r] rooster

[j] yes [w] witch [h] hat

[i] beat [ɪ] hit [e] gate[ɛ] bed [æ] pan [u] boot[ʊ] put [ʌ] cut [o] go[ɔ] talk [a] father [ə] alone

[aj] kite[aw] bout[ɔj] boy

Vowels Diphthongs

Consonants

Quick exercise:Answer following questions in IPA

1. /wær du dɒktərs wərk?/2. /wʌt kʌlər ɪz ðə skai?/3. /wʌt ɪz θri taɪmz θri?/

4. /hɔspɪtəl/ or /haspətəl/5. /blu/6. /najn/

Reading IPA

Introduction to Phonology

The mental representation of sounds

Phonology is concerned with the sound structure/patterns of languages.

What syntax is for grammar, phonology is for phonetics.

Knowledge of phonology determines how we pronounce morphemes depending on their context. Just as morphology has rules, phonology has its own rules.

What is Phonology?

Most English nouns have a plural form: cat/cats, dog/dogs, fox/foxes

You might think an “-s” makes nouns plural, but when you listen carefully, you’ll here a different pronunciation of that “-s”.

The pronunciation of Plurals

A B C Dcab cap bus childcad cat bush ox bag back buzz mouse love cuff garage criterion

The pronunciation of Plurals

The final sound of the plurals in A is a [z] a voiced alveolar fricative.For column B, the plural ending is an [s] – a voiceless alveolar fricative.Column C is [əz]Column D are irregular endings.

Do you think the variance of plural pronunciation is random?

There’s a phonological rule behind it. To understand it, we must analyze the surrounding sounds. To understand the surrounding sounds, we need to look at minimal pairs.

The Pronunciation of Plurals

Minimal pairs are words that only differ in one sound segment. For example

ship/sheep cat/mat Minimal pairs from the previous examples

are cap/cab bag/backbag/badge

These minimal pairs differ in the final sound segment, so the final sound must determine the pronunciation of the plural ending.

Minimal pairs

Allomorph

Environment

[z] After [b], [d], [g], [v], [ð], [m], [n], [ŋ], [l], [r], [a], [ɔj][s] After [p], [t], [k], [f], [θ][əz] After [s], [ʃ], [z], [ʒt], [ʃ], [dʒ]

The Pronunciation of Plurals

Allomorph

Environment

[z] After voiced nonsibilant segments[s] After voiceless nonsibilant segments[əz] After sibilant segments