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Phonetics

I . Definition II .Consonants A. Definition B. Voicing C. Place of Articulation D. Manner of Articulation E. Computer SoftwareIII. VowelsIV. Position of the Tongue, Lips; Degree of Muscle Tension V. Phonetic SymbolsVI. English and Mandarin SoundsVII. Uses of MPS

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DefinitionPhonetics: The study of speech sounds (Yule 41)

Articulatory phonetics: how speech sounds are made

Acoustic phonetics: physical properties of speech

Auditory phonetics: perception of speech sounds

Forensic phonetics: in legal cases involving speaker identification and the analysis of recorded utterances

Q: Why do we have many different individual sounds?

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Distinguish between Words

1. low, row

2. ban, pan

3. bat, bad

4. bit, but

5. lan( 爛 ), lang( 浪 )

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Consonants (1)

Definition: the air coming up out of the lungs is blocked somewhere in the vocal tract(=place), or squeezed thru a small hole formed for med at some place in the vocal tract.

e.g. blocked completely: /p/

squeezed: /f/

combo: /tS/

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Consonants (2)

Voicing: Voiced (+v): If the vocal cards are together, the airstreams forces it way through and causes them to vibrate.

Voiceless (-v): When the vocal cards are spread apart, the air from the lungs passes between them unimpeded

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Consonants (3)Place of Articulation (Nash 39) =Where a speech sound is made?

Bilabials: [p, b, m] Labiodentals: [f, v]Dental: [Q, ð] Alveolar: [t, d, n, s, z, l] Retroflex: [r] Palato-alveolar: [S, Z]

Palatals: [tS, dZ ]Velars: [k, g, ŋ] Glottal: [h]

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Consonants (4)

Manner of articulation (Nash 40)=How a speech sound is made?

Stop: [p, b, t, d, k, g]Nasal: [m, n, ŋ]Fricative: [f, v, Q, ð, s, z, S, Z, h]Affricative: [tS, dZ]

Approximants: Glide: [w, j, r] Liquid: [l]

Tap: [t, d]

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Place and Manners of Articulation

Label Place Manner Examples(a) alveolar stop top, dog

(b)labiodental fricative food, Vivian(c) dental fricative thanks, then [-v, ð+v ]

(d)bilabial stop play, baby

(e) palato-alveolar fricative she, genre

(f) palatal affricate church, judge

(g)velar stop kite, gorgeous

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Accent Coach

Consonants lesson (see tongue positions)

English vowels

Vowel lessons

Vowel review

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VowelsDefinition: vowels are formed by shaping the air in the vocal tract, rather than by blocking or squeezing it in some way. (Nash 42)

Position of the tongue (Nash 46;Yule 48)

Degree of muscle tension

Position of the lips

Diphthongs: vowels which move from one vowel towards another in one syllable.

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Vowel Chart

h f c b + m = (Nash 46; Yule 48)

l

(This grid = abstract representation of position of tongue inside your mouth)

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Position of the Tongue (1)

Front vowels:

heat /hit/ high

hit /hIt/

hate /het/ mid

head /hd/

had /hæd/ low

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Position of the Tongue (2)

Central vowels:

high

mid^ low

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Position of the Tongue (3)

Back vowels:

fool /ful/ high

full /fl/ foe /fo/ mid

fall /fOl/

far /fr/ low

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Degree of muscle tension

e.g. tense vs. lax

i I u U e o O

/æ, K, V, A/ all lax

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Position of the lips

e.g. rounded vs. unrounded

u, U, o, O i, I, e, , æ, etc.

Mandarin /yü/ ( ㄩ ) 魚 or 呂 (lü)

=high, front, rounded---equivalent to /i/ + rounded

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Diphthongs

Combination of vowels: start with one vowel, and then move to another vowel within one syllable

e.g. /aI/ (ay), /au/ (aw), /OI/ (oy), /eI/ (ei) and more

Diphthongization: the process of making diphthongs; happen with a wide rang of vowel sounds and is more common in some varieties of Eng. (e.g., Southern British).

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Phonetic Symbols (1)

Shorthand descriptions of the distinctive features of individual speech sounds/b/

+ consonantal- vocalic+ bilabial+ stop+ voiced

/p/

+ consonantal

- vocalic

+ bilabial

+ stop

- voiced

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Phonetic Symbols (2)

/m/

+ consonantal

- vocalic

+ bilabial

+ nasal

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Phonetic Symbols (3)

/f/

+ consonantal

- vocalic

+ labiodental

+ fricative

- voiced

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Phonetic Symbols (4)

/j/

- consonantal

- vocalic

+ palatal

+ voiced

- rounded

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Phonetic Symbols (5)

/w/

- consonantal

- vocalic

+ velar

+ bilabial

+ voiced

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Phonetic Symbols (6)

/æ/ - consonantal

+ vocalic

+ front

+ low

+ lax

- rounded

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Phonetic Symbols (7)

/y/ ㄩ /i/

- consonantal - consonantal

+ vocalic + vocalic

+ high + high

+ front + front

+ rounded - rounded

+ tense + tense

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Phonetic Symbols (8)

// + consonantal

- vocalic

+ velar

+ nasal

+ voiced

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Phonetic Symbols (9)

ㄅ /p / ㄆ /p’/ ㄖ /z/

+consonantal +consonantal +consonantal

-vocalic -vocalic -vocalic

+bilabial +bilabial +retroflex

+stop +stop +fricative

-aspirated +aspirated +voiced

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English & Mandarin SoundsSee Nash p. 45, 42 for consonants (add semi-vowels /w/ & /j/ to Mandarin)See Nash p. 46 for vowels.Difference in description of consonants:

+- v vs. +- aspirated (BUT: ㄖ is +v)

注音符號 called Mandarin Phonetic Symbols, but not completely phonetic

Don’t follow principle of having one symbol represents one sound, and only one sound

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注音符號 not phonetic symbols

ㄢ n ㄣ n ㄤ ㄥ ; each = v + c one symbol for two soundsㄨ = {u, wu, w}

無、吳 /wu/為 /we/ 、王 /w /龍 /lu/一 = {i, j}

義 /i/也 /je/

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Uses of MPS

MPS work fine for helping children learn to read or foreigners learn Mandarin

But: misleading for linguistic analysis and can lead to confusion

Example: claim that // is not a Mandarin sound

Not real phonetic symbols

That’s why you see other phonetic symbols (IPA based) in Nash.