phonetics ling 200 spring 2002 what is phonetics? acoustic phonetics: physical properties of...

Phonetics

LING 200

Spring 2002

What is phonetics?

• Acoustic phonetics: physical properties of sounds/signs

• Auditory phonetics: perception of sounds/signs

• Articulatory phonetics: production of sounds/signs

Articulatory phonetics

• Description of speech sounds

– Vocal tract structures relevant for speech

• Transcription of speech sounds

• Sound inventories

Of spoken languages:

Vocal tract

anatomy

Major structures

structure (noun) adjectival descriptor

lips labial

teeth dental

alveolar ridge alveolar

hard palate palatal

soft palate = velum velar

nasal cavity nasal

larynx laryngeal

glottis glottal

Phonetic description

• Consonants: e.g.

– Laryngeal settingvoiceless

– Place of articulationbilabial

– Degree of occlusion/manner stop

Phonetic transcription

• Alphabetic and other symbols which abbreviate phonetic descriptions– E.g. voiceless bilabial stop = [p]

• Different systems of phonetic transcription– ‘Americanist’– International Phonetic Association

Value of phonetic transcription

• A universal framework for the description of languages

– 1 symbol – 1 sound

– Many languages lack writing systems

• Superior to many writing systems

Preparing a transcription

• What are the sounds of the language?

• How can they be represented?

Phonetic transcription

1. ‘driftwood’

2. ‘cane’

3. ‘footwear’

4. ‘grease’

5. ‘straight up’

6. ‘your collarbone’

Phonetic transcription

1. [tz] ‘driftwood’

2. [thz] ‘cane’

3. [qh] ‘footwear’

4. [] ‘grease’

5. [ntq] ‘straight up’

6. [nt’q] ‘your collarbone’

Vocal tract

anatomy

•Upper articulator

•Lower articulator

Major lower articulators

Major structures of the tongue

structure descriptor

tongue lingual coronal

tip apical

blade laminal

dorsum dorsal

root radical

Description of speech sounds

• Place of articulation

• Degree of occlusion (‘manner’)

• Oral or nasal

• Laryngeal setting

Main parameters for consonants:

Degree of occlusion• How close are lower and upper articulator?

– Relatively close, constricted (‘occluded’) airflow: consonants

– Relatively far apart, unconstricted airflow: vowels• Defines classes of sounds

– Vowels vs. consonants: [a] vs. [d]– Subclasses of vowels: [a] vs. [i]– Subclasses of consonants: [d] vs. [z]

Place of articulation: consonants

• Different languages produce sounds at different places of articulation

• Witsuwit’en [qis] ‘king salmon’ vs. English geese [gis]

English consonant place of articulationlower articulator

upper articulator

example

(bi-) labial bin

labio- dental fin

interdental thin

(apico-) alveolar tin

palatal shin

velar kin

glottal him

Place of articulation

Degree of occlusion

• Consonant subclasses

– Stops: complete occlusion of airflow

– Fricatives: air pressure build-up behind occlusion; turbulent airflow

– Approximants (‘liquids’ and ‘glides’): no pressure build-up

Oral vs. nasal

• Velum raised– Air flows into oral cavity onlyoral sound

• Velum lowered– Air flows into oral and nasal cavitiesnasal sound

• Nasal fricatives are rare in the world’s languages. Why?

English oral vs. nasal stops

(oral) stop (= ‘plosive’)

nasal (stop)

bilabial pin bin Kim

alveolar tin din kin

velar kin again king

glottal uh-oh

Stop: produced with complete occlusion, lower and upper articulators seal off airflow

English fricatives

place example

labiodental fin, VIN

interdental thin, then

alveolar sip, zip

palatal Aleutian, illusion

laryngeal hinder

Fricative: produced with turbulent airflow, pressure build-up behind occlusion

Affricates

• = Stop released into fricative of ‘same’ place of articulation

• English affricates

place example

palatal chin, gin

English approximantsApproximant: No pressure build-up, non-turbulent airflow

place stricture example

liquids alveolar lateral lip

( ) rip

glides palatal yip

labio-velar

whip

Laryngeal setting

Laryngeal setting• English: What is the state of the vocal

cords?

Laryngeal setting: the larynx

Laryngeal setting: vocal cords

Laryngeal setting

• English voiced vs. voiceless (oral) stops and affricates

voiced vls

labial crabby crappy

alveolar bad bat

palatal badge batch

velar bag back

Degree of occlusion

• How close are lower and upper articulator?– Relatively close, constricted (‘occluded’)

airflow: consonants• stops• fricatives• approximants

– Relatively far apart, unconstricted airflow: vowels

Vowels

• Vowel quality

– Height

– Backness

– Labiality

• Vowel quantity

A five vowel inventorySpanish

front central back

high i u

mid e o

low

Spanish vowels

front central back

high [mis] ‘Mass’

[mus] ‘muse’

mid [mes] ‘table’

[mos] ‘waitress’

low [ms] ‘dough’

Quality• Height

– High – mid – low• Backness

– Front – central – back• Labiality

– Rounded – unrounded – Non-low back vowels usually rounded

Phonetic description

• [i] = high front unrounded vowel

• [e] = mid front unrounded vowel

• [] = low central(-back) unrounded vowel

• [o] = mid back rounded vowel

• [u] = high back rounded vowel

Another five vowel inventoryMandarin (Chinese)

[ü]/[y] = high front rounded vowel

[] = mid central unrounded vowel

front central back

high i ü u

mid

low

Mandarin vowel qualityfront central back

unrnd round unrnd round

high [í] ‘1’ [ü] ‘bruise’

[ú] ‘crow’

mid [] ‘hungry’

low ‘ah’

Vowel quantity: Sahaptin

front central back

high i i: u u:

low :

[] = high central unrounded vowel

[i] = high front unrounded vowel

[i:] = long high front unrounded vowel

Sahaptin short vowels

front central back

high [tit]- ‘fart’ tt] ‘tooth’

[tut] ‘your dad’

low [ttí] ‘dirty’

Sahaptin short vs. long vowels

short long

[sts't] 'night' [sts':t] 'dark'

[pišíš] 'paternal aunt' [ci:š] 'water'

[pjuš] 'snake' [pu:š]'juniper'

English vowels

• English, a Germanic language

• Proto-Germanic vowels

i i: u u:

e e: o:

a

English vowels• Historical length > 'tense'/'lax' contrast

• E.g. e: > i, e >

English vowels

front central backunrounded unrounded rounded

high tense i u

lax mid tense e o

lax/tense low lax/tense

English vowelsfront central back

unrounded unrounded rounded

high tense [hid] heed [hud] who'd

lax [hd] hid [hd] hood

mid tense [hed] hayed [hod] hoed

lax/tense head [hd] HUD [hd] hawed

low lax/tense [hd] had š] Shah [sd] sod

English vowels

• Dialect mergers in N. America , > (East)

• []: sod, hawed, []: Shah , > (East, Midwest)

• []: sod, Shah, []: hawed , , > (West)

• []: sod, Shah, hawed

English vowels

front central backunrounded unrounded rounded

high tense i u

lax mid tense e o

lax ()low lax/tense

Western North America

English vowelsIn Western North America, [] only before [r]:

•[mr] more

•[mor] mower [ ] = syllabic

•[mr] mar

English vowelsThe vowel []

•only occurs in unstressed syllables

stressed: [] unstressed: []

up [p] gallop [glp]

cud [kd] wicked [wkd]

cut [kt] racket [rkt]

Transcription practice

• fish

• scrimmage

• asthma

• azalea

• mayonnaise