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Speech sounds
Articulation
Articulators above the larynx
Contraction of chest muscles Larynx muscles modify the flow on its way to
the mouth Passing through vocal tract → mouth/nose Different parts: articulators (studied by
articulatory phonetics)
The articulators
Pharynx
Tube above larynx W: 7 cm; M: 8 cm long Between oral and nasal cavity
Soft palate/ velum
Raised or lowered to stop or let airstream pass through nose
Can be touched with tongue Velar consonants /k,g/
Hard palate/palatum durum
Roof of the mouth /tʃ,ʤ/
Alveolae/alveolar ridge
Between top front teeth and hard palate
Rough surface covered with ridges Alveolars /t,d/
tongue
Very flexible (different places/shapes) Parts: tip, blade, front, back, root
teeth
Upper and lower (at front of mouth) Immediately behind lips to the sides of mouth Contact with upper side teeth /l/ Dental sounds in some languages
lips
Pressed together /b,p/ = bilabials In contact with teeth /f,v/ = labio-dentals Rounded in vowels /u:/
Other “articulators”
Jaws Nose / nasal cavity = participates in
producing nasals
vowels Sounds in which there is no
obstruction to the airflow Some cons. /h/w/ hardly obstruct the
airflow, too Distribution is a better criterion,
/h/ + ?
/bı/ + ?
Vowels and consonants differ in distribution
vowels Close / open distinction /i:/ vs. /æ/ Front / back distinction / æ/ vs. /α:/
These are x-rays of a person producing different vowels
In the close front position (unrounded) we produce /i/
In the open front position (unrounded) we produce /a/
Back open (unrounded) : //
Back close (rounded): /u/
Connecting these points gives us a box called the Vowel Quadrilateral
Vowel classification Cardinal vowels (standard reference system) For vowels, a different set of terms is used.
- high-mid-low: height of the tongue in the mouth - front-central-back:
frontness or backness of the tongue in the mouth - rounded-unrounded (spread, neutral):
the state of the lips in English, as in many languages this is predictable:
rounded for high back and mid back vowels, unrounded for other vowels.
tense-lax : roughly, the degree of tension in the tongue
The terms refer, loosely speaking, to the location of the main tongue constriction within the mouth.
Places of articulation of English vowels
The distinction between long and short vowels is not always very clear
The realisation of long and short vowels depends on their context, this is called Clipping
This means that long vowels and diphthongs tend to be shortened before voiceless consonants e.g. /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/ etc.
Vowel length in centiseconds
Vowel length in centiseconds:
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vowels