Phonetics: The physical manifestation of language in sound waves.
◦ How sounds are articulated (articulatory phonetics)
◦ How sounds are perceived (auditory phonetics)
Phonology: The mental representation of sounds.
English orthography (writing system) is not accurate in representing sounds:
We need a more accurate representation of sounds: IPA
(Fromkin, Rodman, Hyams p.223)
1.
The smallest units of language.
Every language has its own inventory of linguistic sounds.
Phonemes can be divided into 2 types:
Consonants
2.
Vowels
Keep in mind: We are not talking about letters here!
How are phonemes produced?
Consonants are produced by obstructing the flow of air as it passes from the lungs through the vocal tract.
When we describe a consonant, one of the features we use is its place of articulation.
The other feature is the manner of articulation.
Examples of obstructing airflow to produce a consonant:
To form the initial [p] sound in “pill”, we put our lips together to shut off the flow of air before releasing it.
Sounds that are created by obstructing the flow of air with both lips are called bilabial
Compare the [p] sound with the [f] in “fill”.
How is it produced?
Sounds like [f] are called labiodental
Going further back in the mouth:
Pronounce the “th” sound as in “thin”. How is it produced?
The [θ] sound is called interdental (inter= between, dental= teeth)
Consider the [s] sound as in “soup”. How is it produced?
By putting the tip of the tongue right behind the upper front teeth. This part of the mouth is called alveolar ridge. Sounds like /s/ are called alveolar.
Compare the [s] sound to the [ʃ] sound in
“shell”. Where does the tongue move?
Sounds produced in this area are called palatal sounds.
The soft area further back is called velum.
Sounds produced in this area are called velar sounds. Sounds in this area are produced by touching the heel of the tongue on the velum.
Examples of these sounds are: [g] and [k]
Finally, we arrive at the glottis –the end of the vocal tract and beginning of your throat.
There is only one glottal sound: /h/
Bilabial
Place of Articulation
Labiodental
Interdental
Alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
Consonant
[p] [b] [m]
[f] [v]
[θ] [ð]
[t] [d] [n] [s] [z] [l] [r]
[ʃ] [ʒ] [tʃ] [dʒ]
[k] [g] [ŋ]
[h]
Describing the features of Consonants.
What distinguishes [p] from [b] or [b] from
[m]? All three are bilabial sounds…
Speech sounds vary in the way the airstream is affected as it flows from the lungs up and out of the mouth and nose.
Voiced and voiceless sounds
◦ When the vocal cords are apart when speaking, air flows freely through the glottis. Sounds produced in this way are voiceless.
◦ If the vocal cords are together, the airstream forces its way through and causes them to vibrate
Try it out: put your hand to your throat and produce a [z] sound as in “buzz”. Now do the same with [s] as in “bus”.
The distinction is very important in English as it may change the meaning of the word:
rope/robe fate/fade rack/rag choke/joke
Quick exercise:
Of the sounds discussed so far, which are voiced and which are voiceless. Pronounce them with your hand at your throat.
[p] [s] [m] [tʃ] [h] [θ] [l] [t] [d]
[z] [ʃ] [ʒ] [dʒ] [b]
[b] and [p] sounds are distinguished as voiced/voiceless. But how is [b] different from [m]?
When the uvular blocks the airway through the nose, the sound is oral. When the uvular is not raised, air escapes through the nose and the mouth. This is called a nasal sound.
If [m] is a nasal, what other nasals can you identify?
[m] [n] [ŋ] ew
To produce the [t] sound, you place the tongue on the alveolar ridge and obstruct the flow of air. The [s] sound is produced at the same place of articulation. What is different about them?
Test for yourself: produce the sounds and observe what is happening to the airflow.
When the airflow is completely stopped, the sound is a stop.
When the airflow is only partially stopped, it’s a fricative.
Quick exercise:
Of the sounds discussed so far, which are stops and which are fricatives? Pronounce each and decide.
[p] [s] [θ] [t] [d] [z] [ʃ] [ʒ] [k]
Affricates are produced by a stop which is followed immediately by gradual release of air.
Stop + fricative = affricate
◦ There are only two: [tʃ] and [dʒ]
Liquids
◦ During the production of the sounds [l] and [r], there is no real obstruction of the airflow that causes friction.
Hence, these sounds are not stops, fricatives or affricates. They are called liquids
Glides
◦ Are not causing significant obstruction and are always followed by vowels.
◦ [j] and [w]
Consonants
[p] pit
[k] cat
[b] bite
[g] girl
[m] man [t] tool
[ŋ]singer [f] foul
[z] buzz [θ] thigh [ð] father [ʃ] shoe
[dʒ] judge [l] loud [r] rooster [j] yes
[d] dance
[v]vote
[n] nice
[s] side
[ʒ] measure [tʃ] choke
[w] witch [h] hat
Vowel Qualities
The placement of the body of the tongue:
◦ Vertical: high – mid – low
◦ Horizontal: front – central – back
The shape of the lips:
◦ Rounded – Unrounded
The degree of the vocal tract contraction:
◦ Tense – Lax
Experiment:
Say the words “meet” and “mat”. What happens to your jaw?
Now say the word “mate” in between.
High
Mid
Low
[i] meet
[e] mate
[æ] mat
Frontness is determining where the tongue is positioned horizontally.
Say the words hack [hæk] and hah in sequence: “hack, hah, hack, hah, hack, hah.
You should be able to observe the tongue movement.
front vowels: [i] [ɪ] [e] [ɛ] [æ]
Central vowels: [ə] [ʌ] back vowels: [u] [o] [ɔ] [a] [ʊ]
Vowels differ in roundness of the lips.
a
In English, there are tense and lax vowels
Compare “beat” and “bit”. Both sounds are high, front vowels, but they differ in tenseness of muscles in the vocal tract.
Tense
[i] beat
[e] bait
[u]boot
[o]boat
Lax
[ɪ] bit
[ɛ] bet
[ʊ] put
[ɔ] bore
The previously discussed vowels are also called monophthongs
Diphthongs are a combination of 2 vowel sounds.
In English, there are 3 (main) diphthongs.
Consider following words: kite bout boy
[aj] [aw] [ɔj]
Consonants
[p] pit
[k] cat
[b] bite
[g] girl
[m] man [t] tool
[ŋ]singer [f] foul
[d] dance
[v]vote
[n] nice
[s] side
[z] buzz
Vowels
[i] beat
[ɛ] bed
[ʊ] put
[ɔ] talk
[θ] thigh
[dʒ] judge [l] loud
[ɪ] hit
[ð] father
[æ] pan
[ʌ] cut
[a] father
[ʃ] shoe
[r] rooster [j] yes
[e] gate
[u] boot
[o] go
[ə] alone
[ʒ] measure [tʃ] choke
[w] witch [h] hat
Diphthongs
[aj] kite
[aw] bout
[ɔj] boy
1.
2.
3.
4.
Quick exercise:
Answer following questions
/wær du dɒktərs wərk?/
/wʌt kʌlər ɪz ðə skai?/
/wʌt ɪz θri taɪmz θri?/
/wær ɪz mɪstər ijəns ɔfɪs?/
1.
2.
3.
/hɔspɪtəl/ or /haspətəl/
/blu/
/najn/
The mental representation of sounds
Phonology is concerned with the sound structure/patterns of languages.
What syntax is for grammar, phonology is for phonetics.
Knowledge of phonology determines how we pronounce morphemes depending on their context. Just as morphology has rules, phonology has its own rules.
both deal with speech sounds phonetics: deals with physical properties of speech sounds phonology: deals with the organization of speech sounds in a particular language
◦ Which sounds are predictable? Which are unpredictable?
◦ What context allows us to predict the occurrence of certain sounds?
◦ Which sounds affect the meaning of words?
•
Within a given language, some sounds are considered to be the same sound, even though they are phonetically distinct.
•
Within a given language, some sounds are considered to be the same sound, even though they are phonetically distinct.
• Same or different?
• pool [pul] spool [spul]
•
Within a given language, some sounds are considered to be the same sound, even though they are phonetically distinct.
• Same or different?
• pool [p h ul] spool [spul]
• phonetically different (aspirated vs. unaspirated)
• native speakers perceive the same sound
• mitt, Tim, metal, mitten
• phonetically different
• all perceived as ‘t’ by English speakers
Allophone:
• one of a set of non-distinctive realizations of the same phoneme.
•
:
• class of speech sounds judged by native speakers to be the same sound.
• a mental entity
• E.g., The /t/ sounds in mitt, Tim, metal, mitten corresponds to one phoneme.
•
:
• one of a set of non-distinctive realizations of the same phoneme.
• Corresponds to something physical produced by a speaker
• E.g., [t h ] and [t] are an allophone of /t/.
• [p] and [p h ] are allophones of the phoneme /p/.