Phonetics

Class # 2

Chapter 6

Consonants – Place of articulation

Bilabial

Labiodental

Interdental

Alveolar

Palatal

Velar

Glottal

Consonants – Manner of articulation

Stop

Fricative

Affricate

Nasal

Liquid

Glide

Consonants - Voice

Voiced

Voiceless

Consonants - Review

Voiceless velar stop

Voiced labiodental fricative

Voiced palatal affricate

Voiced palatal glide

Voiced velar nasal

Voiceless interdental fricative

Vowels

Different from consonants

A lot more variation (different dialects)

Vowels carry pitch and loudness: you can sing them.

Vowel sounds can ‘stand alone.’

Described by tongue height and backness

Also by rounding and tense/lax

Vowels

Number of vowels in American English:15

Two types of vowels:Simple vowels (12):monophthongs

No noticeable change in quality during their articulation:

– [i]: beat [I]: bit– [e]: bait [ɛ ]: bet– [u]: lose [U]: put– [o]: boat [ɔ]: thought– [æ]: cat [a]: car– [ʌ ]: cut [ə]: suppose

Vowels

Two types of vowels:Diphthongs (3):

Vowels that exhibit a change in quality within a single syllable;They are made up of two sounds In English, the change in quality is due to tongue movement away from the initial vowel articulation toward a glide position

– [aj]: buy, ice– [aw]: cow, now– [ɔj]: boy

Describing vowelsHeight Backness

Front Central Back

High i (heat) u (shoot)

Rounded I (hit) U (should)

Mid e (mate) o (coat)

ɛ (met) ə (Canada) ʌ (cut) ɔ (ought) ɔj (boy)

Low æ (mat) aj aw a (lock)

Tense: i, e, u, o, aj , aw, ɔj

Lax: Lax: II, ɛ, ə, ʌ, ɔ, æ, a, , ɛ, ə, ʌ, ɔ, æ, a, UU

Describing vowelsFour aspects of vowels for simple vowels:

Tongue height:Raising or lowering the body of the tongue

– [i]: beat; [I]: bit

– [u]: boot; [U]: put

» High (4): the front part of the tongue is high in the mouth;

– [æ]: cat [a]: pot

» Low (2)

– [ə ]: sofa [ʌ ]: cut

– [e]: late; [ɛ ]: let

– [ɔ ]: law [o]: boat;

» Mid (6): tongue is raised to a position midway b/w the high and low vowels.

Describing vowels

Tongue backness (part of the tongue involved): advancing or retracting the body of the tongue

Front (5): – [i]: beet [I]: bit– [e]: late [ɛ ]: bet– [æ]: cat

Central (2):– [ə ]: sofa [ʌ ]: cut

Back (5):– [u]: boot [U]: put– [o]: boat [ɔ ]: law [a]: bomb

Describing vowels

lip rounding: whether lips are rounded or spread.

Rounded (4): [u, U, o, ɔ]

Unrounded (8): – [i]: beet [I]: bit– [e]: late [ɛ ]: bet– [æ]: cat– [ə ]: sofa [ʌ ]: cut– [a]: bomb

Describing vowels

Tenseness:Duration and tension of the tongue muscles:

– Tense (4): produced with greater tension of the tongue muscles and often longer in duration;

» [i, e, u, o]– Lax (8): produced with less tension of the tongue

muscles and often shorter in duration.

» 8: [I, ɛ, ə, ʌ, ɔ, æ, a, U,]

Describing vowelsEx.: Describe the following vowels (5)

1. [i]

2. [e]

3. [U]

4. [o]

5. [ɛ ]

References:

1. [i]: a high front unrounded tense vowel

2. [e]: a mid front unrounded tense vowel

3. [U]: a high back rounded lax vowel

4. [o]: a mid back rounded tense vowel

5. [ɛ ]: a mid front unrounded lax vowel

Transcription – Vowels

beat about

lose late

buy boat

but boy

bit cat

put let

cow hot

Practice – Transcribe the words

Tog peel

Kid stun

Attain Oscar

Despise cooler

Elbow sigh

Juice explode

Clinical remove