Introduction to Language2011 FallRyan

Phonetics

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Objectives:• Explore the relationship between sound

and spelling• Become familiar with International

Phonetic Alphabet (IPA )• Understand the nature of consonants and

vowels• Learn where particular sounds occur

(physical aspects of the human vocal tract)• How sounds change when different sounds

surround them• Yule: Chapter 3, The Sounds of Language

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Phonetics Acoustic phonetics – the

physical properties of speech as sound waves in the air

Auditory phonetics – the study of the perception of speech sounds, via the ear

Articulatory phonetics – the study of how speech sounds are made, or ‘articulated’

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Articulatory Phonetics Deals with the way in which speech

sounds are produced, what parts of the mouth and in what sorts of configurations

Phoneticians’ techniques – x-ray photography, palatography (to observe contact btwn the tongue and the roof of the mouth)

Most basic tool – impressionistic phonetic transcription: e.g. tomato Webster’s: tə-mā-tō tə-mä-tō Gershwin: tomato tomahto

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SEAGH

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CHEF?

sure dead laugh

Imagine a word spelled as

But pronounced as

How would one come to this spelling?

Describing Language Sounds

• The sounds of spoken English often do not match up with the letters of written English.

• One solution to describe the sounds of a language is to produce a separate alphabet with symbols that represent sound phonetic alphabet

• These symbols represent both the consonant and vowel sounds of language

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A “Good” Phonetic Alphabet: Characteristics

1. Each symbol should represent only one sound (phone)– e.g. <c>: [k] in cat and [s] in cymbal

2. If 2 sounds can distinguish one word from another, they should be represented by different symbols– e.g. <th>: they vs. thigh

Good phonetic transcription unambiguously convey the important aspects of the pronunciation of a given set of sounds, using a written system of symbols.

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A “Good” Phonetic Alphabet: Characteristics

3. If 2 sounds are very similar and their differences arise only from the context they’re in, those similarities should be represented

[k] sounds in keep and cool (place where they’re articulated are dependent on the following vowel)

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The English Alphabet The English alphabet has 26

letters but there are over 40 different speech sounds:

5 vowel and 21 consonant letters of the alphabet

About 20 vowel sounds and 24 consonant sounds (depending on dialect)

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A “Good” Phonetic Alphabet: Not English

Same sound spelled using different letters: sea, see, scene, receive, thief, amoeba, machine

Same letters can stand for different sounds: - sign, pleasure, resign

- dough, through, rough, cough, fought, drought

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A “Good” Phonetic Alphabet: Not English

Single sound spelled by a combination of letters: lock, that, book

Single letter represents a combination of sounds: exit, use

Sometimes letters stand for no sound at all: know, doubt, though

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Transcription

the conversion of spoken words into written words

the process of matching the sounds of human speech to special written symbols

using a set of exact rules, so that these sounds can be reproduced later.

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Transcription

• There are two kinds of transcription– Narrow transcription:

– seeks to document every possible detail of the segment–very often, these details are not

discernible to the native speaker– Broad transcription:

– specifies the segments that are contrastive in the language– far fewer sounds are documented

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Transcription

• A transcription system for these purposes must be different from traditional writing systems– Some features of a good phonetic transcription

system:– Universal: no preference given to any existing

spelling system– Interpretable: other linguists should be able to

interpret it– Transparent: one-to-one correspondence between

sounds and symbols– Comprehensive: symbols for all the sounds in

human language– The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is the

best attempt so far (chart uploaded in Bb)

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The Organs of Speech (Yule, page 27)

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English Sounds

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• All English words are made from combinations of consonants and vowels

• Every English segment can be uniquely described in three or four words• [p] is the voiceless (bi-)labial (oral) stop• [e] is the upper-mid front vowel• [n] is the alveolar nasal (stop)

Voiced and Voiceless Sounds Inside the larynx are the vocal cords One position: voiceless

Vocal cords are open, the air from the lungs passes between them unimpeded. e.g. /s/

Another position: voiced When the vocal cords are drawn

together, the air from the lungs repeatedly pushes them apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect. e.g. /z/

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Consonants

• Consonants are generally produced with greater constriction within the vocal tract.

• Description of consonants– Voicing: describes the state of the

larynx– Place of Articulation: describes the

location of the obstruction or constriction – Manner of Articulation: describes the

type of constriction and the passage of airflow

– e.g. /s/ voiceless alveolar fricative18

English Sounds: Consonants• Place

Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatals Velar Glottal(Yule pgs. 28-

31)

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• Manner Stop Fricative Affricate Nasals Liquids Glides Glottal stops and

flaps(Yule pgs. 31-33)

IPA Consonants

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English ConsonantsYule, pg. 30

English Sounds: Vowels

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• Exercise: Hold your jaw lightly, now say he, who, and ha. Did your jaw move for ha?

• Vowels don’t have a consonant-like point of articulation or manner of articulation. The three standard descriptors for consonants (place, manner, voicing) aren’t helpful when we want to describe vowels.

English Sounds: Vowels

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• There are 4 main ways in which speakers can change the shape of the vocal tract and thus change vowel quality. Raising of lowering the body of the tongue Advancing or retracting the body of the tongue Rounding or not rounding the lips A tense or lax gesture of the tongue body

• Manner: all vowels are articulated in the same way, with the tongue raising or lowering to the target position

• All vowels (in English) are voiced

IPA VowelsYule, pg.34

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Vowel Space(Height x Backness Space)

The space is typically quadrilateral in shape. (quadra = four; lateral = side)

It is also (and primarily) an auditory space.

We hear vowels as similar or different from each other depending on their proximity in this space. 25

Monophthongs of English

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seat

set

sat

You will find that you open your mouth a little wider as you change from [i] to [Ɛ] to [æ]

These varying degrees of openness correspond to different degrees of tongue height

Monophthongs of English

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Made with the front of the mouth less open because the tongue body is raised, or high

Produced with an

intermediate tongue

height

Pronounced with the

front of the mouth

open and the

tongue lowered.

Monophthongs of English

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beat boot

Beat: the body of the tongue is raised and pushed forward so it’s just under the hard palate.

Boot: made by raising the body of the tongue in the back of the mouth, toward the velum

Monophthongs of English

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Front: tongue is moved forward or advanced for all front monophthongs

Back: tongue is retracted or pulled back for the back monophthongs

Lip Rounding

Vowel quality also depends on lip position

[u] in two lips are rounded

[i] in tea lips are unrounded

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Diphthongs: Complex vowel sounds because they are two-part vowel sounds, consisting of a transition from one vowel to the other in the same syllable

Try saying eye very slowly. How do you make this vowel sound?

1. Your tongue starts out in the low back position for [α]

2. Then your tongue moves toward the front position for [I]

Diphthongs of English

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Examples:buybaybowoh

Diphthongs of English

Homework

Do Study Questions Chapter 3; Read Chapter 4.

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References

Yule, 2010 Fromkin, et. al., 2009

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