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L103: Introduction to Linguistics

Phonetics (consonants)

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Last time ...● Definition of language: A rule governed, systematic, form of

human communication that uses arbitrary signs (spoken, signed, or written) in a creative way.

● Hierarchy: The idea that items are organized in relationship to one another in terms of hierarchical structure, that is some items are ‘above’, ‘below’, or at ‘the same level as others’.

● Principle of compositionality: The notion that the meaning of a complex expression (a sentence for example) is fully determined by its structure (how the words are organized in relation to one another) and the meanings of its constituents (the meaning of those words and morphemes).

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Today ...● Phonetics● Some air, a couple of lungs and the diaphragm ... that's all I

need, almost● The glottis● Some anatomy● Natural classes

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Articulatory Phonetics● It all begins with some lungs and a diaphragm…

● Air travels through the trachea (windpipe) and gets hung up (or not) at the glottis --- with in the larynx (voice box).

● And ends with airflow coming out your mouth, your nose, neither, or both.

● Speech sounds are described in terms of the organs in the vocal tract that produce them – the lips, teeth, tongue, lungs, etc. -- MANNER, PLACE, and GLOTTAL STATE.

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Articulatory Phonetics

● MANNERS of Articulation (how much air is flowing, and where)

● PLACES of articulation (where in your body you’re making a constriction --- where an articulator “interrupts” the airflow)

● GLOTTAL STATES – what you’re doing with your glottis at the time (is it open or closed?)

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Let’s think for a moment about...Our Glottis:

It contains our vocal folds

When air passes through the glottis, the vocal folds may or may not vibrate.

If you’re holding your vocal folds apart and they are tense, they won’t vibrate.

If you’re relaxing them together, they will.

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A Glottis

• 1 – vocal fold• 2 – vestibular fold• 3 – glottis• 4 - aryepiglottic folds• 5 – epiglottis• (you only need to

know ‘glottis’ and ‘vocal fold’)

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Glottal check…• Say the sounds [m, n, ŋ], but put your finger on your Adam's

apple…

• What do you feel?

• Now say [b, d, g], also with your finger there

• All of those sounds should have vibration of your vocal folds

• This means their glottal state is: VOICED!

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Glottal check…

• Now, try these sounds [p, t, k] – finger on the Adam's apple…

• (Careful – don’t say [pə, tə, kə])

• No vibration!

• The glottal state of these sounds is NOT voiced (aka ‘voiceless’)

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Glottal state• Voicing: One aspect of glottal state.

– Voiced = the vocal folds are vibrating– Voiceless = the vocal folds are held apart, and not vibrating

• Any sound may be described either as voiced or voiceless

– Some kinds of sounds are almost always voiced: • Vowels• [r] and [l] (aka ‘liquids’)• Nasal consonants

These are the ‘sonorants’

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Glottal state - other• Aspiration: a small burst of air follows the sound.

Compare:– pend vs. spend, toll vs. stole, kin vs. skin– [phɛnd] [spɛnd], [thol] [stol], [khɪn] [skɪn]

• Glottalization: a glottal closure is produced at the same time as the consonant…– [ʔatʔog] ‘someone’s clavicle or collarbone’ (Navajo)

• Voice register: the vocal cords can be adjusted in size to produce different types of “voice register”

– whispering --- no vibration– falsetto --- restricted vibration (partial closing of glottis)

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Anatomy!

GLOTTIS

PHARYNX

UVULA

VELUM

PALATE

ALVEOLAR RIDGE

TEETH

LIPS

NASAL CAVITY

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Adjectives!

GLOTTAL

PHARYNGEAL

UVULAR

VELAR

PALATAL

ALVEOLAR

DENTAL

LABIAL

NASAL

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Sounds!

NASAL

[m, n, ŋ]

[səm] ‘sum’

[sən] ‘sun’

[səŋ] ‘sung’

AIRFLOW

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Sounds!

NASAL

[m, n, ŋ]

[səm] ‘sum’

[sən] ‘sun’

[səŋ] ‘sung’

ŋn m

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Places

VELAR

ALVEOLAR

(BI)LABIAL

ŋn m

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Nasal = a ‘manner’ of articulation● So we have our first natural class of sounds – the nasal

consonants– natural class: two or more sounds that share a common

feature (e.g. voicing, place, or manner of articulation)– consonant: sound produced with closed or restricted

articulation

● We also have our first indication of what exactly the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) “represents”

[m, n, ŋ] = nasal

● And we see what we mean by ‘places’ of articulation – ‘bilabial’, ‘alveolar’, ‘velar’

[m] = bilabial nasal, [n] alveolar nasal, [ŋ] velar nasal

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Allergies?

VELAR

ALVEOLAR

(BI)LABIAL

NASAL

ŋ n mg d b

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What happened?

● Your NASAL consonants [m, n, ŋ] can’t be produced, because you have no nasal airflow.

● So they turn into the corresponding ORAL consonants [b, d, g]

● “Corresponding”?– They have the same PLACE– [bilabial, alveolar, velar]

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Raise that Velum!

ORAL sounds are produced with a raised VELUM

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So far● We’ve learned about NASAL vs. ORAL (only) airflow

● We’ve learned about three PLACES of articulationbilabial, alveolar, velar

● We’ve learned that sounds are defined according to “natural class” (phonetic property)

● We’ve learned a little IPA [m, n, ŋ]That is the symbols represent place, manner, and glottal state

or “voicing”

The IPA (part…)

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Next time ...

● Finish chapter on phonetics● Start looking at Homework 1 and Exercise 1

Phonetics● Quiz on Wednesday 10 Sept.:

● How are “stops”, “fricatives”, and “affricates” produced.

● Define “language”.