wk1 lecture speech production

8/11/2019 Wk1 Lecture Speech Production

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Phonetics & Phonology

Phonetics and Phonologyare the two fields dedicated to the study of human

speech sounds and sound structures. The difference between phonetics and

phonology is that phonetics deals with the physical production of these sounds

while phonology is the study of sound patterns and their meanings both within andacross languages.

Phonetics

Phoneticsis strictly about audiblesounds and the things that happen in your mouth,

throat, nasal and sinus cavities, and lungs to make those sounds. It has nothing to do

with meaning. Its only a description. For example, in order to produce the word

bed,! you start out with your lips together. Then, air from your lungs is forced over

your vocal chords, which begin to vibrate and make noise. The air then escapes

through your lips as they part suddenly, which results in a " sound. #ext, keeping

your lips open, the middle of your tongue comes up so that the sides meet your back

teeth while the tip of your tongue stays down. $ll the while, air from your lungs is

rushing out, and your vocal chords are vibrating. Theres your % sound. Finally, the

tip of your tongue comes up to the hard palate &ust behind your teeth. This stops the

flow of air and results in a ' sound as long as those vocal chords are still going. $s

literate, adult speakers of the %nglish language, we dont need a physical

description of everything re(uired to make those three sounds. )e simply

understand what to do in order to make them. *imilarly, phoneticists simplyunderstand that when they see +kt+, its a description of how most $mericans

pronounce the word cat.! It has nothing to do with a furry house pet. In fact, if

there were a word in any other language pronounced the same way, the phonetic

spelling would be the same regardless of meaning. $gain, its not about meaning.

Its strictly physical.

Phonology

Phonology, on the other hand, is both physical and meaningful. It explores thedifferences between sounds that change the meaning of an utterance. For example,

the word bet! is very similar to the word bed! in terms of the physical

manifestation of sounds. The only difference is that at the end of bet,! the vocal

chords stop vibrating so that sound is a result only of the placement of the tongue

behind the teeth and the flow of air. -owever, the meanings of the two words are

not related in the least. )hat a vast difference a muscle makes This is the biggest

distinction between phonetics and phonology, although phonologists analy/e a lot
http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules/phonetics.htmlhttp://www.yourdictionary.com/audiblehttp://www.yourdictionary.com/phonologyhttp://www.yourdictionary.com/utterancehttp://www.yourdictionary.com/audiblehttp://www.yourdictionary.com/phonologyhttp://www.yourdictionary.com/utterancehttp://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules/phonetics.html


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more than &ust the obvious differences. They also examine variations on single letter

pronunciations, words in which multiple variations can exist versus those in which

variations are considered incorrect, and the phonological grammar! of languages.

If you are a native speaker of %nglish, you pronounce the letter P three different

ways. Its true. 0ou may not reali/e it, but you do, and if you were to hear the wrong

pronunciation, you might not be able to put your finger on the problem, but you

would think it sounded really weird. *ay the word pop1up.! The first P has moreair behind it than the others, the second is very similar to the first, but it doesnt

have much air in it, and the last one is barely pronounced at all. The word &ust sort

of ends there when your lips close. #ow, say it again, but put a lot of air in the final

P. *ee2 )eird, right2 Thats because the aspirated P 3with air4 sound is not

grammatically! correct at the end of an %nglish word. *imilarly, *panish words do

not begin with an s! sound followed by a consonant, which makes it very difficult

for *panish1speakers who are learning %nglish to say words like school,! speak!

and strict.! Phonologists study things like that.

Side-by-Side Differences Between Phonetics and Phonology

If youre still confused about which is which, heres a little side1by1side comparison

to help you out5

Phonetics is strictly physical while phonology also pays attention to the

function or meaning of a sound.

Phonetics only asks, 'oes this sound go here or not2! Phonology asks, 'oes

the meaning change if I put this sound here instead of that one2!

Phonetics makes a pretty general description of sounds and can be used to

describe sounds in any language. Phonology makes very detailed descriptions

of sounds, so each language has its own uni(ue set of symbols 3because no

two languages use all of the exact same sounds4.

-opefully that clears things up, but if you need one more way to remember the

difference between phonetics and phonology, look at the word endings. Phonetic

ends the same way as kinetic, which refers to movement. "oth are purely physical.

Phonology, like any other 1ology, is more of a science, exploring the hows and whys

of the physical.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/kinetichttp://www.yourdictionary.com/kinetic


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2 Speech Production

-uman speech is produced by vocal organs

Fig. 6.7. The human vocal organs. 384 #asal cavity, 394 -ard palate, 364

$lveoral ridge, 3:4 *oft palate 3;elum4, 374 Tip of the tongue 3$pex4, 3


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produced.

1 The fundamental fre(uency of vibration depends on the mass and tension and is

about 88B -/, 9BB -/, and 6BB -/ with men, women, and children, respectively.

1 )ith stop consonants the vocal cords may act suddenly from a completely

closed position in which they cut the air flow completely, to totally open position

producing a light cough or a glottal stop.

1 Dn the other hand, with unvoiced consonants, such as +s+ or +f+, they may becompletely open.

1 $n intermediate position may also occur with for example phonemes like +h+.

The pharynx connects the larynx to the oral cavity. It has almost fixed

dimensions, but its length may be changed slightly by raising or lowering the

larynx at one end and the soft palate at the other end.

The soft palate also isolates or connects the route from the nasal cavity to the

pharynx.

$t the bottom of the pharynx are the epiglottis and false vocal cords to prevent

food reaching the larynx and to isolate the esophagus acoustically from the vocal

tract.

The epiglottis, the false vocal cords and the vocal cords are closed duringswallowing and open during normal breathing.

The oral cavity is one of the most important parts of the vocal tract. Its si/e,

shape and acoustics can be varied by the movements of the palate, the tongue,

the lips, the cheeks and the teeth.

%specially the tongue is very flexible, the tip and the edges can be movedindependently and the entire tongue can move forward, backward, up and down.

The lips control the si/e and shape of the mouth opening through which speech

sound is radiated.


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>nlike the oral cavity, the nasal cavity has fixed dimensions and shape. Its length

is about 89 cm and volume


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;owels are always voiced sounds and they are produced with the vocal cords

in vibration

onsonants, however, may be either voiced or unvoiced.

;owels have considerably higher amplitude than consonants and they are also

more stable and easier to analy/e and describe acoustically. "ecause

consonants involve very rapid changes they are more difficult to synthesi/eproperly.

Phonemic $lphabets

*ome efforts to construct language1independent phonemic alphabets were

made during last decades. Dne of the best known is perhaps IP$ 3International

Phonetic $lphabeth4 which consists of a huge set of symbols for phonemes,

suprasegmentals, tones+word accent contours, and diacritics.

Table 6.8. %xamples of different phonetic notations.

There is still no single generally accepted phonetic alphabet.

3.3.1 English Articulatory Phonetics

The number of phonetic symbols used in %nglish varies by different kind of

definitions. >sually there are about ten to fifteen vowels and about twenty to

twenty1five consonants.

%nglish vowels may be classified by the manner or place of articulation 3front1

back4 and by the shape of the mouth 3open 1 close4. Gain vowels in %nglish andtheir classification are described in Figure 6.= below. *ometimes also some

diphthongs like +ou+ in toneor +ei+ in takeare described separately. Dther

versions of definitions of %nglish vowels may be found for example in @ossing

38AAB4 and DE*aughnessy 38A?=4.


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Fig. 6.=. The classification of the main vowels in %nglish 3awley

8AA


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Fig. 6.?. lassification of %nglish consonants 3awley 8AA


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instance the %&% symbol stands for the sh in shout. 'riginally, itstood for the (nglish %c) and the %*) in French. +pon noticing thecomple*ities of a single symbol standing for another sound inmultiple languages, Paul Passy, a French linguist and a group of hisfellow peers established a revision of the IPA in "### to mae auniform set of symbols to be used in all languages. After many

substantial revisions, today there are "- symbols that representconsonants and vowels, /" symbols stand for diacritics, which helpspecify these sounds even further, and "0 symbols are used tohelp indicate tone, stress, intonation, and length of sounds. Themost recent revision too place in 1ay 2--3, most notably withthe addition of the labiodental 4ap, whereby the bottom lip isplaced behind the upper teeth and then %4apped) outwards,maing a speci5c sound. This sound is used mostly in African

languages. 'ver the last century, most revisions containedchanges in organi6ation of the alphabet, changes in the typefaceof certain symbols, and the addition or subtraction of symbolswhen a sound became necessary or irrelevant.

Usage of the IPA

Although the IPA is meant to combine all languages in one uniformlanguage of sounds and symbols, its usage today is very particular

to one main group of professionals. !inguistsuse the IPA the mostto help learn the etymology of a word or to teach speci5c soundsand languages to new learners of a language. 7ue to thecomple*ity of the IPA, it is di8cult for an individual to memori6e allof the symbols, learn the names for speci5c sounds, and learn howthe sounds may be used, especially when the sounds may not beused in their native language. This is one reason for its limiteduse. Aside from linguistic professionals, the IPA has been utili6edfor the development of dictionaries, such as the '*ford Advanced!earner9s 7ictionary and the :ambridge Advanced !earner9s7ictionary. It has also been used to help opera and classicalsingers learn how to pronounce words written in foreignlanguages.

The International Phonetic Alphabet
http://www.yourdictionary.com/linguisthttp://www.yourdictionary.com/linguist


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The International Phonetic Alphabetcontains "- pulmonic, non;pulmonic, and co;articulated consonants. These characters are alllisted on the following chart. The consonants are broen down intothese categories based on how they are used and when they areused. reealphabets, and some symbols have even been created or reversedfrom other symbols for easy remembrance or use. (ach symbol5ts into a speci5c category and helps speci5c a speci5c sound.

The uniformity of the IPA is quite fascinating and maes thelanguage very special. +nfortunately, it is not widely utili6ed asmuch as the founders would have lied, and the world is still insearch of that simple language that unites the world.

?etrieved from

[email protected];phonetic;

alphabet.html
http://www.yourdictionary.com/reference/translation/translate-words-into-phonetic-symbols.htmlhttp://www.yourdictionary.com/suprasegmental-phonemeshttp://www.yourdictionary.com/reference/translation/translate-words-into-phonetic-symbols.htmlhttp://www.yourdictionary.com/suprasegmental-phonemes

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