Phonetics

labelling the symbols

What the symbols mean

• the symbols are a description of what is happening in the vocal tract.

• A three term label describes• voicing – whether the vocal cords are vibrating • place – where in the vocal tract• manner – what type of sound

Voicingsssssssssssssssssss

vszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Fred Phoneme

vocal tract front to back

• lips (labial, bilabial)• teeth (dental labiodental• alveolar ridge - behind the top teeth• (hard) palate - the highest part of the roof of the mouth• velum – after the hard palate, where it goes soft again –

the raises up and down to block or allow air into the nose.

• uvula - the dangly end of the velum• pharynx the area between the back end of the tongue

(tongue root) and the back wall of the mouth. this cavity is above the larynx the voice box with the vocal cords

articulators

• the mouth has to be arranged or moved to produce particular sounds. Quite often it is the tongue that moves and arranges itself at one of the places mentioned.

• It may be the tip • the blade wide flat part at the front• the front, sort of the middle • the back or • the root of the tongue that moves• Otherwise, it is the muscular contraction of the muscles

of that place of articulation that create the sounds.

manner - stops

• Oral stops are created when we block air from being released out of our mouth at some place along the vocal tract.

• For example [p] and [b] are stops created with both lips – bilabial stops.

• 3 stages: closing stage – lips come together• holding stage - held together so air pressure

builds up release stage the lips are moved apart and

the air rushes out making the

sound

other stops

• Stops can be made dental, alveolar, palatal, velar, pharyngeal and glottal (at the vocal cords)

• can be voiced and voiceless (Italics appear in English)

p b ʔ• Glottal stop in some dialects of English

replaces [t] and is common in Polynesian languages ‘

nasal stops

• Oral stops block the air and then release it out the mouth. But if we block the airflow in our mouth we can still release it out our nose, creating a nasal sound.

• We let the air out our nose by lowering the velum. This creates a passageway to our nasal cavity and the air is released from our nostrils

• the blocking of the oral cavity can occur at the same places: bilabial labiodental dental aleveolar palatal velar and uvular

m ɱ n n ɳ ŋ

fricatives• If stops create complete blockage, they are related to

fricatives,• Fricatives create narrowing but not blocking of the

passage of air through the vocal tract. • Fricative refers to the noisiness due to the friction in the

narrowed space. • The same places can be used to create the narrowing. labiodental, alveolar, palatal, velar, uvular and glottal

• f v s z • Other important fricatives are the post-alveolar ʃand ʒ• and the interdental fricatives - tongue between teeth

θð

when a stop meets a fricative

• an affricate is born• church and judge• the first part of sound is a stop, but in the release phase

the articulators do not move away suddenly but move to a position where there is still a narrow gap for the air to move noisily through i.e. fricative

• The place of the stop and the place of the fricative are roughly the same:

• ʧ voiceless alveolar-palatal affricate• ʤ voiced alveolar-palatal affricate• others are [ts] [pf]

Approximants

• Fricatives narrow the passageway of air coming through the vocal tract. Approximants are similar but the air comes out smoothly – without the noisy friction.

• central vs lateral approximants.• centre of the mouth vs sides of the mouth• [l] is a lateral. Tongue raises to the alveolar ridge, but air

escapes around the sides of the tongue.• [r] of upside down r is also an alveolar approximant. It is

central because the tongue is pointing towards the centre of the alveolar ridge

Approximants (2)

• English has two glides or semi-vowels

• [j] this symbol is called yod. It is a palatal sound and

• [w]

• This is sound is complex as two different parts of the mouth are used to create it. The tongue glides away from the velum and the lips are rounded – labio-velar

trrrrrills

• rolling your rs

• tongue raises and falls away and raises to the alveolar ridge [r]

• do it just once and you have a flap

• bilabial trills in Melanesia

• Uvular trills

retroflexible!

• Retroflex always appears as a place• but a cross between a place and a manner.• Bend backwards – tongue curls up further

than with other consonants• so you can get retroflex stops, fricatives,

affricates, nasals• all the symbols have a tail which points to

the right

The major classes

• Sometimes whole groups sounds behave the same way in language

• Sometimes all the alveolars will demonstrate a similar behaviour

• Sometimes all the stops will behave the same way.• Aspiration in English• Park the car under the tarp! Guard the boat, Dad!• [pʰ tʰ kʰ] but not [bʰ dʰ gʰ]• Other times, broader categories interact with

sounds a similar way.

Major division

• Obstruents– Stops + fricatives + affricates– Stop Flow of Air– Obstruction in the airflow in the mout

• Sonorants• Liquids( l and r) +glides +nasals

– no real obstruction– (nasals are here because the main airflow is

through the nose, and we don’t obstruct that)