Course: Linguistics Lecturer: Phoenix Xu Chapter 2 Speech Sounds Course: Linguistics Lecturer: Phoenix Xu

Table of Contents 2.1 Speech production and perception 2.2 Speech organs 2.3 Segments, divergences, and phonetic transcription 2.4 Consonants 2.5 Vowels 2.6 Coarticulation and phonetic transcription

2.7 Phonological analysis 2.8 Phonemes and allophones 2.9 Phonological processes 2.10 Distinctive features 2.11 Syllables 2.12 Stress

2.1 Speech production and perception Speech Production Speech Perception (Speaker A) (Speech B)

ARTICULATORY PHONETICS: the study of the production of speech sounds ACOUSTIC PHNETICS: the study of physical properties of sounds produced in speech AUDITORY PHONETIC: the study of perception of speech sounds

2.2 Speech organs SPEECH ORGANS (or VOCAL ORGANS): parts of the human body involved in the production of speech

Lung Trachea(or windpipe) Throat: pharynx, larynx Nose Mouth: tongue, parts of palate

LARYNX Vocal folds, and ventricular folds Positions of vocal folds Apart: e.g. [p, s, t] Close together, e.g. [b, z, d] Totally together, e.g.glottal stop

PHARYNX : the larynx opens into a muscular tube

MOUTH Upper lip, upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum), uvula Lower lip, lower teeth, tongue, mandible (lower jaw)

TONGUE: Tip, blade, front, back, root

2.3 Segments, divergences, and phonetic transcription 2.3.1 Segments and divergences SEGMENT: the sound unit in a sequence which may be isolated from the rest of the sequence

2.3.2 Phonetic transcription International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): a system of symbols for representing the pronunciation of words in any language according to the principles of the International Association

2.4 Consonants 2.4.1 Consonants and vowels CONSONATNS are produced by constricting or obstructing the vocal tract at some place to divert, impede, or completely shut off the flow or air in the oral cavity. VOWELS are produced without such obstruction so no turbulence or a total stopping of the air can be perceived. SEMI-VOWEL/SEMI-CONSONATNT

2.4.2 Consonants MANNERS OF ARTICULATION PLACES OF ARTICULATION

2.4.3 Manners of articulation STOP/POSITIVE NASAL STOP (or NASAL): e.g. [m, n] ORAL STOP (or STOP): e.g. [p, b, t, d, k, g]

(2) FRICATIVE E.g. [f, v, h]

(3) (MEDIAN) APPROXIMANT

(4) LATERAL (APPROXIMANT) E.g. [l]

(5) Others AFFRICATIVE E.g. “ch-” in “church”

2.4.4 Places of articulation (1) BILABIAL: [w] (2) LABIODENTAL: [f, v] in fire and via. (3) DENTAL

(4) ALVEOLAR (5) POSTALVEOLAR (6) RETROFLEX: “r” of red. (7) PALATAL

(8) VERLAR E.g. velar stop [k, g] in cat and get (9) UVULAR E.g. rural Northern accent, “r” in try. (10) PHARYNGEAL (11) GLOTTAL E.g. [h] in hat

2.4.5 The consonants of English Received pronunciation

[p] voiceless bilabial stop [b] voiced bilabial stop [s] voiceless alveolar fricative [h] glottal fricative [l] (alveolar) lateral

2.5 Vowels 2.5.1 The criteria of vowel description The part of the tongue that is raised The extent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the palate The position of the soft palate

2.5.2 The theory of cardinal vowels CARDIANL VOWELS

Cardinal vowel diagram

SCHWA : the tongue position for the neutral vowel [ә] is neither high nor low and neither front nor back

2.5.3 Vowel glides PURE VOWELS (or MONOPHTHONGS ): VOWEL GLIDES Diphthongs Triphthongs

2.5.4 The vowels of RP General agreement on vowels despite minute difference

2.6 Coarticulation and phonetic transcription QUESTION: why does [a] in map has a somewhat nasal quality?

COARTICULATION Anticipatory coarticulation: lamp Perseverative coarticulation: map

2.6.2 Broad and narrow transcriptions DIACRITICS E.g. [ã]

BROAD TRANSCRIPTIONS NARROW TRANSCRIPTIONS

2.7 Phonological analysis PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE:

2.8 Phonemes and allophones 2.8.1 Minimal pairs MIMIMAL PAIRS: two words in a language which differ from each other by only one distinctive sound and which also differ in meaning

PHONEME: the smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish two words E.g. /p/, /t/, /e/

2.8.2 The phoneme theory NOTE: Languages differ in the selection of contrastive sounds. English: peak [ph], speak [p=] Chinese: 拼/ ph in/, 宾/p=in/

2.8.3 Allophones Phonemic transcription: / / Phonetic transcription: [ ]

PHONE : E.g. [p=], [ph] are two different phones and variants of the phoneme /p/ ALLOPHONES

COMPLMENTARY DISTRIBUTION (1) /p/ [p=] / [s] __________ [ph] elsewhere

ALLOPHONY / ALLOPHONIC VARIATION

PHONETIC SIMILARITY: E.g. [l, ł]

2.9 Phonological processes 2.9.1 Assimilation Ex. a. cap [kap] can [kãn] b. tap [tap] tan [tãn]

ASSIMILATION (C.f. coarticulation) REGRESSIVE ASSIMILIATION PROGRESSIVE ASSIMLIATON

DEVOCING Ex. five past [faIvpa:st] [faIfpa:st]

2.9.2 Phonological processes and phonological rules a TARGET or AFFECTED SEGMENT undergoes a structural change in certain ENVIRONMENTS or CONTEXTS

PHONOLOGICAL RULE “/” : to specify the environment in which the change takes place Focus bar E.g. Nasalization rule [- nasal] [+ nasal]/ _________ [+ nasal]

EPENTHESIS Ø [n] / [ә] __________ V

2.9.3 Rule ordering SIBILANTS

For the pluaral forms: The /s/ appears after voiceless sounds. The /z/ appears after voiced sounds. (All vowels are voiced.) The /әz/ appears after sibilants.

UNDERLYING FORM / UNDERLYING REPRESENTATION (UR) SURFACE FORM / SURFACE REPRESENTATION (SR)

a. //si:t + z// b. //bεd + z// c. //keIs + z// s N/A *s Devoicing N/A N/A N/A Epenthesis si:ts bεdz keIss Output a. //si:t + z// b. //bεd + z// c. //keIs + z// N/A N/A ә Devoicing s N/A N/A Epenthesis si:ts bεdz keIsәz Output

Conclusion: Epenthesis is applied before devocing.

2.10 Distinctive features DISTINCTIVE FEATURES BINARY FEATURES E.g. voiced obstruent [+voiced], voiceless obstruent [-voiced]

2.11 Syllables SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES LINEAR approach of phonology NON-LINEAR approach / MULTI-LEVEL PHONOLOGY

2.11.1 The syllable structure c.f. Chinese and English syllable structure Chinese syllable structure: CV English: MONOSYLLABIC or POLYSYLLABIC

NUCLEUS/PEAK E.g. table [teibl]:[tei], [bl] RHYME (or RIME) , ONSET NUCLEUS CODA

σ O(nset) R(hyme) N(cleus) Co(da) k l a s p

2.11.2 Sonority scale Sonority scale: Most sonorous 5 Vowels 4 Approximants 3 Nasals 2 Fricatives 1 Stops

5 * 4 * 3 2 * 1 * * k l a s p

2.11.3 Syllabification and the maximal onset principle QUESITION: How to separate polysyllables?

MAXIMAL ONSET PRINCIPLE: when there is a choice as to where to place a consonant, it is put into the onset rather than the coda

2.12 Stress STRESS refers to the degree of force used in producing a syllable.

normal: inTEGral, forMIDable conservative: INtegral, FORmidable PR: laBORatory, DEBris, GARage, GA: LABoratory, deBRIS, gaRAGE

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