LANG 4402
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE
2nd Term, 2004-2005
Phonetics & Phonology
Phonetics
The study of the physical properties of speech sounds
Phonology
The study of the sound system - how sounds
relate to and interact with each other in a language
Instructor: Huang Yue Yuan
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Phonetics and Phonology
I. Required readings
1. Finegan, Edward (Ed.) (2004). Language – Its
Structure and Use (4th edition). Wadsworth, Thomson.
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Chapter 3: the sounds of languages: Phonetics
Chapter 4: Sound systems of language: Phonology
2. Hung, Tong (1997). Structure of Modern English: I.
Phonology. The Open University.
3. Roach, Peter (2000). English Phonetics and Phonology.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Chapter 8: Syllables
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Chapter 9: Strong and weak syllables
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Chapter 10: Stress in simple words
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II. Other readings on phonology (read for
interest)
Cruttenden. A. (1997). Intonation (2nd Edition). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. (HKBU Library: 414C889I2)
Jenkins, J. (2000). The Phonology of English as an
Intenational Language. Oxford University Press. (HKBU
Library: 421.5 J417P)
Ladefoged, P. (2000). A Course in Phonetics (4th Edition).
Harcourt. (HKBU library has the 3rd edition)
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III. Outline*
Lecture contents
Major readings
(F = Finegan H = Hung Roach = R)
Part 1: Organs of speech, classification of
speech sounds, phonetic transcription
Part 2: Distinctive feature, natural classes
Part 3: Phonemic analysis, underlying representations
Part 4: Phonological processes
Part 5: Syllable structure, word stress
Part 6: Tone, intonation
Part 7: Phonological research, phonological acquisition
F3
F4, H3
F4, H4
H5
R8-10
H8
H9
*The outline and teaching materials of this component are based
on Dr. Tony Hung’s teaching notes on phonetics and phonology
(2nd Term, 2003-2004)
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Part One
Organs of speech, classification of speech sounds
and phonetic transcription
(March 1)
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Questions
1. How many sounds/segments in the following words?
Computer
Spring
Autumn
Desk
Compounding
Phonetics
Sphinx
Doctor
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2. How do you pronounce the following words?
Direct
Simultaneous
Adult
Colleague
Social
Pleasure
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PHONETICS:
The scientific study of speech sounds –
their description, classification and transcription
(i)
Articulatory phonetics: How speech sounds are
articulated -- i.e. what speech organs are involved, and what
physical gestures or configurations are required to produce the
sounds in question.
(ii)
Acoustic phonetics: The physical properties of the sound
waves generated by speech -- e.g. the frequency of oscillation
(how many cycles per second), amplitude (how loud), and
duration (for how long).
(iii) Auditory phonetics: How speech sounds are perceived by
the hearer as having certain auditory properties that differentiate
them from each other, such as the quality of the sound (is it [i] or
[e]?), the pitch (high or low), loudness, length, and so on.
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Spectrograms for heat and hit in HKE:
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Perception of English vowels by Hong Kong learners of English
HKE
Speaker
Native
RP
Speaker
HKE
Speaker
Native
RP
Speaker
heat
60%
53%
hit
60%
67%
bet
40%
47%
bat
67%
60%
hoot
87%
73%
hood
93%
33%
cot
67%
80%
caught
73%
87%
heart
93%
87%
hut
87%
67%
hurt
100%
100%
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PHONETIC CLASSIFICATION
Two broad distinctions:
(i) Vowels: sounds which are made with a smooth,
continuous, unobstructed airflow through the oral
cavity (e.g. [i:] as in see or [u:] as in too)
(ii)Consonants: sounds which are made with some
obstruction to the airflow in the oral cavity (e.g. [s]
as in see or [t] as in too)
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CONSONANTS
I.
MANNER OF ARTICULATION
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II.
PLACE OF ARTICULATION
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Vowels:
(1) the height to which the body of the tongue is raised,
whether it is high, low, or in between (mid);
(2) how forward the body of the tongue is, whether it is
front (advanced), central, or back (retracted);
(3) whether the lips are rounded or unrounded.
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Phonetic transcription
The representation of speech with phonetic
symbols: each symbol represents one and
only one sound
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
A universal inventory of phonetic symbols
Representing the sounds in all human languages
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ACTIVITY 1: Pronounce the following words to yourself before
answering these questions:
(i)
Do the highlighted letters in each of the following sets of
words represent the ‘same’ sound?
a)
city, cotton, species, cello.
b)
gold, ginger, gnaw, high
c)
can, can't, ancient, sofa.
d)
bus, news, vision, Asia.
e)
sit, site, machine, racial.
f)
rough, stuff, cough, through.
g)
kick, charisma, unique, cut.
h)
may, lame, fail, hey.
i)
chef, shell, mission, special.
(ii)
How many sounds do the highlighted letters represent in
each of the following words?
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tax, thing, schedule, school, are, though, chrome.
ACTIVITY 2
(i)
Transcribe the following words, using the phonetic alphabet
given above. Remember: don't confuse letters (or the spelling) with
sounds. [NB. Some of you may pronounce certain words differently,
which will naturally lead to differences in transcription. There's
nothing wrong with that.] Compare your transcriptions with each
other, and with those given in a standard dictionary (such as the
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
(1) rough, (2) debt, (3) psyche, (4) schedule, (5) judge, (6) yacht,
(7) march, (8) useful, (9) queen, (10) chalk
ii) Given below are some phonetic transcriptions. Can you pronounce
them aloud, and identify the words that they represent?
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ROMANIZED ALPHABET FOR CANTONESE (Jyutping 粤拼)
CONSONANTS: Initial
b baa1 (爸)
d daa2 (打)
g gaa1 (家)
gw gwaa1 (瓜)
z zaa1 (渣)
s saa1 (沙)
m maa1 (媽)
ng ngaa6 ( 牙)
w waa1 (蛙)
l laa1 (啦)
p
t
k
kw
c
f
n
j
h
paa3 (怕)
taa1 (他)
kaa1 (卡)
kwaa1 (誇)
caa1 (叉)
faa1 (花)
naa2 (那)
jaa5 (也)
haa1 (蝦)
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CONSONANTS: Final
p sap1 (濕)
t sat1 (失)
k sak1 (塞)
SYLLABIC NASALS
m
m6 (唔)
m
n
ng
sam1 (心)
san1 (新)
sang1 (生)
ng
ng4 (誤)
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VOWELS
i si1 (詩), sing1 (星), sik1 (識)
e se1 (些), sek4 (石), seng1 (聲)
a san1 (新), sap1 (濕)
aa saa1 (沙), gaam1 (監), haak3 (客)
u fu1 (呼), fung1 (風), suk1 (叔)
o so1 (梳), do1 (多)
yu syu1 (書), syut3 (雪)
oe goe3 (鋸), soeng1 (商)
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DIPHTHONGS
aai
ai
aau
au
iu
ui
ei
oi
ou
oei
gaai1 (街), maai5 (買)
gai1 (雞), mai5 (米)
gaau1 (交), maau1 (貓)
sau1 (收), gau2 (狗)
siu1 (燒), piu1 (漂)
fui1 (灰), bui1 (杯)
fei1 (飛), gei1 (機)
hoi1 (開), goi1 (該)
gou1 (高), dou1 (都)
soei1 (需), goei1 (居)
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TONES
[The numbers correspond to relative pitch levels, not
to traditional classification schemes.
Tone 1: high
si1 (詩)
Tone 2: high risingsi2 (使)
Tone 3: mid-high si3 (試)
Tone 4: mid-low si4 (事)
fu1 (呼)
fu2 (虎)
fu3 (副)
fu4 (父)
Tone 5: low rising si5 (市)
Tone 6: low
si6 (時)
fu5 (婦)
fu6 (扶)
sik1 (識)
sit3 (洩)
sik4 (食)
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II. MANDARIN VOWELS
單韻母
[a]
八 爸 發怕
[o]
我窩臥囖
[e]
鵝餓鰐樂
[i]
一李立莉
[u]
吳鹿圖訴
[ü]
語魚呂 去
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(ii) DIPHTHONGS, TRIPHTHONGS, &
VOWEL+CONSONANT FINALS （複韻母）
ia 家, ie 貼, iao 教, iou 友, ian 件, in 新,
ing 星, iang 向, iong 雄
üe 月, üan 元, ün 云
ua 瓜, uo 果, uai 怪, uei 鬼, uan 短,
uang 光
ou 狗, ong 洪
ai 買, ao 好, an 感, ang 港
ei 美, en 很, eng 更
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