Spoken language phonetics:Vowel articulation, transcription

LING 200Spring 2006

Homework #2

• Due Thurs. Apr 13 at the beginning of section

• Ch. 6 problems– (5) a-g, j– (6)-(7)– (9)– (10) a, c, e– (11)-(12)

Announcements

• Quiz on Ch. 6 extended to 2:30 pm today (**just this once**)

• Quiz on Ch. 7 (minus first section, ‘The Pronunciation of Morphemes’) opens Sunday (4-9) 10 am, closes Wed (4-12) noon

• Clickers should be in book store today– extra credit?

A FAQ

• Which phonetic symbols do we have to memorize in this class?

• Answer: those used for English

Manner of articulation (degree of occlusion)

• How close are lower and upper articulator?–Relatively close: consonants–Relatively far apart: vowels

Vowels

• Height: high, mid, low• Backness: front, central, back• Labiality (lip rounding): rounded,

unrounded

Some dimensions of vowel systems

Vowel backness x height

The Human Language Evolves. “With and Without Words”

• Clip on vowel systems

A five vowel inventorye.g. Spanish

vowel height

(place of articulation)

backcentralfront

low

oemid

uihigh

Spanish vowels

backcentralfront

[ms]‘dough’

low

[mosk] ‘housefly’

[mes] ‘table’

mid

[mus]‘muse’

[mis] ‘Mass’

high

Lip rounding

vowel height

(degree of occlusion)

(place of articulation)

backrounded

centralunrounded

frontunrounded

low

oemid

uihigh

Phonetic description of vowels

• (height – backness – rounding)• [i] = high front unrounded vowel• [e] = mid front unrounded vowel• [o] = mid back rounded vowel• [u] = high back rounded vowel• [] = low central (-back) unrounded

vowel–cf. [a] = low front unrounded vowel

IPA vowel chart

Another five vowel inventoryMandarin (Chinese)

[y] = high front rounded vowel

[] = mid back unrounded vowel

urnd

low

mid

high

backunrndrnd

frontunrnd

yi

Mandarin vowel quality

[ ] = high falling tone

[lû] ‘road’

rnd

[l] ‘spicy’

low

[l] ‘happy’

mid

[ly ] ‘green’

[l] ‘advantage’

high

unrndrndunrnd

backfront

Long vs. short vowels

• Vowel “quality”–height: high vs. mid vs. low–backness: front vs. central vs. back– rounding: rounded vs. unrounded

• Vowel “quantity”: long vs. short

Danish front vowel qualities

Danish vowel length contrasts

English vowels

• English, a Germanic language

Proto-Germanic

West North East

Faroese Icelandic Norwegian Swedish Danish Gothic

German Afrikaans Dutch Frisian English

Proto-Germanic Vowels

o:e e:

u u:i i:

Middle English vowels

< The English Language

Middle English long and short vowels

:a

: :

o:e:

u: i:

minus the diphthongs

Modern English

• Historical length > ‘tense’/ ‘lax’ contrast–Long vowels > ‘tense’–Short vowels > ‘lax’

Western North America

lower-midhigher-midlower-high

ælow

oemiduihigh

roundedunroundedunroundedbackcentralfront

Basic set of contrasts in stressed syllables

Western North America

lower-midhigher-midlower-high

hod, hawed

hadlowHUDhead

hoedhayedmidhoodhid

who’dheedhighroundedunroundedunrounded

backcentralfront

contrasts in stressed syllables

Acoustic plot of vowel quality

a female speaker from southern California

Further east in North America

lower-midhigher-midlower-high

ælowoemiduihigh

roundedunroundedunroundedbackcentralfront

contrasts in stressed syllables

Further east in North America

lower-midhigher-midlower-high

hodhadlowhawedHUDheadhoedhayedmidhoodhid

who’dheedhighroundedunroundedunrounded

backcentralfront

contrasts in stressed syllables

[] vs. []

• cot vs. caught• Polly vs. Paulie• Don vs. dawn• coffee vs. cough• body vs. bawdy

A female speaker from New York City

Acoustic plot of vowel quality

a male speaker from southern New Jersey

[] in Western N. America

In Western North America, [] only before [r]:

•[mr] more

•[mor] mower ([r] = syllabic [r])

•[mr] mar

A basic set of [Vr] combinations in North American English

[r]low

[r][r] = [r][r]mid

[r]

[ur]high

backcentralfront

English vowels: rhotic nuclei

barlow

boreburrbearmid

beer

boorhigh

backcentralfront

English vowels: rhotic nuclei

some varieties have more vowel quality distinctions before [r]: Mary [e], merry [], marry [æ]

A basic set of [Vr] combinations in North American English

More on [r]

• Continuation of clip from The Human Language Evolves. “With and Without Words”

Diphthongs

• 2 vowel qualities– [w]/[æw] = []: [hwd] how’d– [j] = []: [hjd] hide– [j] = []: [tjd] toyed

• For many native speakers of English, [e], [o] are diphthongs– [ej] = [e] [hed] ([hejd]) hayed– [ow] = [o] [hod] ([howd]) hoed

Unstressed vowels

• Stressed and unstressed syllables–verbs: nouns:– to [rikt] a [ríkt] reject– to [protst] a [prótst] protest

to [prótst] (‘stage a protest’)

English unstressed vowels

[] only occurs in unstressed syllables

racket [rækt]

wicked [wkd]

hiccup [hkp]

unstressed [� ]

cut [kt]

cud [kd]

cup [kp]

cf. stressed [� ]

English unstressed vowels

• [] + nasals, liquids• For many speakers,

– [r ] [pkr] picker–[l] = [l] [pkl] [pkl pickle– [n] = [n] [kn] [kn] thicken– [m] = [m ] [rm] [rm] rhythm

[ ] = syllabic

Transcription practice

• scrimmage• schism• asthma• azalea• mayonnaise

Transcription practice

• scrimmage [skrm]• schism [skzm]• asthma [æzm]• azalea [zelj]• mayonnaise [mænez]

More transcription practice

• kook• cucumber• mortgage• grammar• language

• kook [kuk]• cucumber [kjukmbr]• mortgage [mçrg]• grammar [græmr]• language [legw]