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