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:

Next time:

vowels