LX250: Introduction to Linguistics
September 13, 2022
Phonetics 1: Let’s make some noises!
Homework, due Tuesday, September 20: Contemporary Linguistics, Chapter 2, Exercises 37.
1. Letters and sounds
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Phonetics is concerned with the physical aspect of speech, i.e. sounds.
VERY IMPORTANT:
From here on, please check your spelling at the door! English spelling is
delightfully quirky to be sure, but it will be of no help to you in thinking about phonetics or
phonology.
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How many sounds do each of the following sequences of letters contain?
thick
though
rough
through
chair
night
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George Bernard Shaw: a new spelling for the word fish?
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bone
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IPA: International Phonetic Alphabet. Designed to provide a unified system of detailed
phonetic transcription for the languages of the world.
•
Type IPA online:
vs.
done
vs.
ghoti
gone
http://ipa.typeit.org/full/
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For sound files demonstrating the entire IPA and fantastic recordings of the sounds of
languages from all over the world:
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/index.html
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For a clickable IPA chart:
http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/charts/IPAlab/IPAlab.htm
https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/IPAcharts/inter_chart_2018/IPA_2018
.html
2. Speech sounds: an introduction
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Speech is superimposed on respiration.
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Requirements: an airstream, and some means of modulating it...
3. Voicing, Place, and Manners of Articulation
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LX250: Introduction to Linguistics
September 13, 2022
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First big landmark in the vocal tract once you leave the lungs: the larynx. The larynx
houses the vocal folds (also traditionally called vocal cords).
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Vocal fold vibration and the control of pitch...
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Vocal fold vibration as the source of oppositions within the English consonant system.
Consider van vs. fan:
vvvvvvvvvvv vs. fffffffffffff
3.1. Place of Articulation
MEET YOUR VOCAL TRACT:
ARTICULATORS:
What is interacting with what in the articulation of speech sounds? Lips
with lips or with teeth – otherwise mostly some part of the tongue with something along the
roof of the mouth or back of the throat.
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LX250: Introduction to Linguistics
September 13, 2022
3.2. Manner of articulation: Consonants and Vowels
CONSONANTS
VOWELS
more extreme constriction
significantly impede airflow
usually occupy syllable edges
less extreme constriction
shape resonating cavities
form the cores or nuclei of syllables
boat
[bot]
CVC
CLOSED-OPEN-CLOSED
3.3. Manner of articulation for consonants
STOPS:
consonants articulated with temporary total obstruction of the flow of air out of the
vocal tract.
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English uses voicing to distinguish otherwise-identical stops.
NASALS: involve lowering of the velum (soft palate), allowing air to flow out through the
nasal cavity (whether or not it is also flowing out through the oral cavity).
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If you lower the velum during a vowel, you get a nasalized vowel, as in French:
beau
[bo]
FRICATIVES: air
bon
[bɔ̃]
forced through a narrow constriction creating turbulence (frication)
AFFRICATES: "complex"
articulations composed of a stop followed by a fricative component,
typically at the same place of articulation.
APPROXIMANTS: consonants
with less extreme constrictions. Airflow is not turbulent.
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LX250: Introduction to Linguistics
September 13, 2022
Liquids (lateral vs. central): [l, r]
Glides: [w, j]
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The Consonant Inventory of English
stops
affricates
fricatives
nasals
voiceless
p
t
k
voiced
b
d
g
voiceless
tʃ
voiced
dʒ
voiceless
f
θ
s
ʃ
voiced
v
ð
z
ʒ
voiced
m
(ʔ)
h
n
ŋ
ɾ
taps/flaps
approximants
central
ɹ
lateral
l
glides
(w)
j
(w)
3.4. An excursus on trills, taps and flaps and 'r'
TRILL:
Rapid oscillation of one articulator (e.g., the tongue tip) against another (e.g., the
alveolar ridge).
Example: the trilled or rolled 'rr' in Spanish:
TAP: Single
perro
'dog'
rapid articulation of the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge
Example: short 'r' in Spanish:
pero
'but'
Note: precisely this sound exists in English as well, but as variant pronunciation not
of 'r', but of 't' or 'd', as in 'butter' or 'rudder'
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So how is American English 'r' produced?
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bunched vs. retroflex r