Phonetics= The study of human speech sounds

3 branches of Phonetics

- Articulatory Phonetics: how speech sounds are articulated (made). It deals with the training of the lips

- Acoustic Phonetics: deals with the transmission of the speech sounds, how the sound waves are transmitted from the speaker to the hearer

- Auditory Phonetics: deals with the reception of speech wave via the ear

How speech sounds are produced The air pushed out by the lungs up to

the windpipe (trachea) to the voice box (larynx). This said to be “pulmonic airstram machenicsm.” The air is shaped in various ways by the vocal tract.

http://www.ims.uni-stuttgart.de/phonetik/EGG/page4.htm

Basic Phonetic Characteristics 1. State of the vocal folds

The vocal folds are inside the larynx (voice box).

If they are pressed together, creating a vibration => Voiced

If they are apart and stationary => Voiceless

Vocal cords http://singingmiracle.com/articles/10-steps-to-vocal-health-for-singers.html

Basic Phonetic Characteristics 2. Airstream mechanism and direction of

airstream

-involves a cavity in the vocal apparatus which changes in size due to the contraction so initiating the air movement

a. Pulmonic airstream (muscles of the rib cage --- very common)

b. Glottalic airstream (closed glottis -- )c. Velaric airstream (tongue back -> click

sounds – quite rare)

Airstream mechanism and direction of airstream

- Airstream moves inward and outword.

English => outward (egressive) => pumulnic air

Click sounds => inward (ingressive) => velaric air

Glottalic => ingressive or egressive

Basic Phonetic Characteristics 3. Velic closure and the cavities in which

the sound resonates- The 2 common cavities which cause the

sounds to resonate are oral cavity and nasal cavity

Basic Phonetic Characteristics Velic closure and the cavities in which the

sound resonates- When the passageway in the nose and mouth

is open => velic opening (the air flows through nose and the mouth) => nasals

- When there is velic closure (the velum is raised against the pharygeal wall => velic closure (the air flows through the mouth => oral sounds

Basic Phonetics Characteristics 4. Manner of articulation - Speech sounds involve a moving and vibrating

airstream- The air is completed impeded (blocked) =>

stops - The air is greatly impeded (blocked only a

bit not completely) creating a turbulence => fricatives

- The air is slightly impeded (hardly blocked at all) => vowels , approximants

Basic Phonetic Characteristics 5. Articulators - Active articulators (moveable parts of

the vocal apparatus). The ones that move to touch the passive articulators

- Passive articulators (fixed part of the mouth that the active ones move and get close to)

http://www.sil.org/mexico/ling/glosario/e005bi-organsart.htm

Face Diagram

Basic Phonetic Characteristics 6. Place of articulation- The joining of active and passive

articulators as they impede the airstream.

- The sounds are described according to the place of articulation

(*See page 6: Articulatory Phonetics)