Spoken language phonetics:Consonant articulation and transcription

LING 200

Spring 2003

Phonetic transcription

1. ‘driftwood’

2. ‘cane’

3. ‘footwear’

4. ‘grease’

5. ‘straight up’

6. ‘your collarbone’

a mystery language

Articulatory phonetics

• Description of speech sounds– place of articulation– manner of articulation (degree of

occlusion)– laryngeal setting– other parameters

• Transcription of speech sounds• Sound inventories

Vocal tract structures relevant for speech

nasal cavity

oral cavity

pharynx

Vocal tract structures relevant for speech

•Upper articulator

•Lower articulator

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

Place of articulation

upper articulator

lower articulator

some places of articulation

Some places of articulation in English

lower articulator

upper articulator

example

(bi-) labial bill

(apico-) alveolar dill

(dorso-) velar gill

Manner of articulation (degree of occlusion)

• How close are lower and upper articulator?– Relatively close, narrowed or

constricted (‘occluded’) airflow: consonants

– Relatively far apart, unconstricted airflow: vowels

Manner of articulation

• Consonant subclasses

– Stops: complete occlusion of airflow

–bill, dill, gill

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

– Liquids and glides: no pressure build-up

English fricatives

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

place of articulation example

labiodental fin

interdental thin

alveolar sin

palatal shin

laryngeal hinder

Affricates

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

• in English

place example

palatal (palato-alveolar) chin

= Approximants: No pressure build-up, non-turbulent airflow

place example

alveolar lip

(alveolar) rip

palatal yip

labial whip

Liquids and glides

Place x manner of articulation (English)

labial labio-dental

inter-dental

alveolar palatal velar glottal

stop bin din again

fricative Vinnie then zing vision him

approx-imant

win Lynn yen

State of the glottis (laryngeal setting)

The larynx

The vocal cords

rear of body

States of the glottis in English• voiced: vocal cords close, vibrate when air

passes through glottis

• voiceless: vocal cords apart, do not vibrate

• Some voiced and voiceless fricatives

voiceless voiced

labio-dental fix vixen

inter-dental thin then

alveolar sip zip

palatal Aleutian illusion

Other consonant parameters:

oral vs. nasal

Oral vs. nasal

• Velum raised– Air flows into oral cavity only

oral sound• Velum lowered (resting position)

– Air flows into oral and nasal cavitiesnasal sound

English oral vs. nasal stops

Stop: produced with complete occlusion in oral cavity

(oral) stop nasal (stop)

bilabial pin bin Kim

alveolar tin din kin

velar kin again king

Other consonant parameters: lateral

•What part of the tongue (lower articulator) approaches the upper articulator?

•Only tip: air flows around side(s) of tongue (‘lateral’)

•Air flows over all tongue surface (‘central’)

•English: lip (lateral) vs. rip

Phonetic description

• Consonants

– State of glottis voiceless

– Place of articulationbilabial

– Manner of articulation stop

Phonetic transcription

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

• Different systems of phonetic transcription– International Phonetic Association– ‘Americanist’/U.S.

Phonetic transcription

• A more consistent way of representing sound than most writing systems

– e.g. English <c>: [k] [kræbi] <crabby>

[s] [pnsl] <pencil>

• A universal framework for the description of languages

• Many languages lack writing systems

Consonant charts

Place of articulation

Manner of articulation

(state of the glottis)

Consonant charts

labial labio-dental

inter-dental

alveol palatal velar glottal

stops p b t d k g

affricates t d

fricatives f v s z h

nasals m n

apx w () r j

apx-lateral

l

English

Witsuwit’en• Athabaskan family

• apx. 180 speakers

Some Witsuwit’en

speakers

Mabel Forsythe

Lillian Morris, Peter John

Some Witsuwit’en soundsEjective stops and affricates

Ejective stops and affricates

[nt’q] ‘your collarbone’

[ntq] ‘up’

[ptsq] ‘his outer ear’

[pts’q] ‘his little finger’

Uvular place of articulation[qh] ‘footwear’

[ntq] ‘straight up’

[qis] ‘Chinook salmon’

[q’] ‘backwards’

[] ‘grease’

Voiceless lateral fricative, lateral affricates

[t] ‘smoke’

[] ‘dam’

[stet] ‘it’s licking me’

[st’et] ‘he farted’

Witsuwit’en consonant chart

lab alv pal lab-vel uvu glot

stops p p’ t th t’ c ch c’ kw kwh kw’ q qh q’

aff ts tsh ts’

aff-lat t th t’

fric s z ç xw h

fric-lat

nasals m n

apx j w

apx-lat l

Summary

• Describing consonants– place of articulation– manner of articulation (degree of occlusion)– state of glottis– other parameters: nasal/oral, lateral/central

• Phonetic transcription • Consonant charts