JPN494: Japanese Language and Linguistics JPN543: Advanced Japanese Language and Linguistics Phonology & Phonetics (2)

Two major types of sounds Consonants: speech-sounds produced when the speaker either stops or severely constricts the airflow in vocal tract. Vowels: speech-sounds produced with a relatively open vocal tract, which functions as a resonating chamber.

Vowels in English and Japanese Five Vowels in Japanese – ア [a], イ [i], ウ [ ɯ ], エ [e], オ [o] English – many more!

From the articulatory viewpoint … Three major factors that characterize a vowel: – How high the tongue position is (or how wide the mouth is opened) (high, mid-high, mid-low, low) – How forward the tongue position is (front, central, back) – The form of the lips (rounded, neutral, spread) Simple vowels (monophthong) can be combined to form a diphthong (e.g. English [a ɪ ] as in I am …) or triphthong.

From the acoustic viewpoint … Vowels differ from one another in their “quality”; or more technically, in their overtone structure. A sound consists of multiple harmonics: – The frequency of the first harmonic (the fundamental frequency) is determined by the vibration speed of the sound source (e.g. your vocal cords) – The frequencies of the second, third, … harmonics (overtones) are whole number multiples of that of the first harmonic; the intensity of each overtone is determined by the condition surrounding the sound source (e.g. the shape of your vocal tract). – the first harmonic = the basic tone; 125 Hz the second harmonic = the first overtone; 250 Hz the third harmonic = the second overtone; 375 Hz …

Formants Formant = Group of “emphasized” overtones within a certain pitch range People distinguish vowels largely based on two formants: F1 and F2 (F2 is higher) Roughly speaking: F1 has a higher frequency when the tongue is lowered, and F2 has a higher frequency when the tongue is forward; both F1 and F2 are lowered when the lips are rounded. F0 = the fundamental frequency Praat

Formants F0 varies widely across speakers and in individual sounds (of the same speaker). Average F0; male: 125 Hz, female: 225 Hz The frequencies of F1 and F2: more or less constant across speakers/in individual sounds. L05:184ff

Acoustic characteristics of consonants too can be largely stated in terms of overtone structures – but this is a more complicated story. (see L05:197)

Vowels in Japanese ア [a]: low-central-unrounded イ [i]: high-front-unrounded ウ [ ɯ ]: high-back-unrounded エ [e]: middle-front-unrounded オ [o]: middle-back-rounded

ア : F Hz, F Hz イ : F1- 320Hz, F Hz ウ : F Hz, F Hz エ : F Hz, F Hz オ : F Hz, F Hz (a female speaker)

あか : F1 __, F2 __ いき : F1 __, F2 __ うす : F1 __, F2 __ えせ : F1 __, F2 __ おと : F1 __, F2 __

Vowels in English English vowels can be divided into: – full (strong) vowels vs. reduced (weak) vowels – reduced vowels: [ə] (ago), [ ɪ ] (chicken) (wide dialectal/individual variation; L93:85-6) Full vowels can be divided into: – lax (short) vowels vs. tense (long) vowels – lax vowels: [ ɪ ] (bit), [ ɛ ] (bet), [æ] (bat), [ ʊ ] (book), [ ʌ ] (buck)

Vowels in English Tense vowels have a special class called diphthongs: – monophthongal tense vowels: [ ɑ ] (pot), [ ɔ ] (bought), [i] (beat), [u] (boot) (In some American dialects, [ ɑ ] and [ ɔ ] are not distinguished and [ ɑ ] is invariably used (e.g. law vs. la, cot vs. caught)) r-colored (rhotacized) vowel: [ ɝ ] (bird) – diphthongs: [e ɪ ] (bait), [o ʊ ] (boat), [ ɔɪ ] (boycott), [a ʊ ] (bounce), [a ɪ ] (bite)(, [ju] (cue))

Vowels in English reduced vowels = unstressed vowels? According to Ladefoged (2005): – Full vowels can be either stressed or not stressed. – Reduced vowels are always not stressed. Phonemically, there is only one reduced vowel: /ə/ (allophones: [ə], [ ɪ ], etc.). (Some scholars do not count it as an independent phoneme.) Full vowels can be “reduced” to [ə], [ ɪ ], etc. by the reduction rule (L05). – explain → explanation – recite → recitation

Vowels in English Other things being equal, tense vowels tend to be longer than lax vowels. A consonant that follows a tense vowel is shorter than one that follows a lax vowel. – e.g. beat vs. bit A lax vowel cannot form an open syllable (a syllable ending with a vowel) – beat [bit] : bee [bi] / bit [b ɪ t] : ?? – bait [be ɪ t] : bay [be ɪ ] / bet [b ɛ t] : ??

“R-coloring”, or rhoticization, refers to lowering of F3 (which can be caused by curling up the tongue, among other ways). The opposition of reduced/lax/tense is orthogonal to the position of the tongue. R-colored vowels in GA: – [ ɝ ]: bird [b ɝ d] (or [b ɜ ɹ d]) (no non-R-colored counterpart; entirely rhotacized) – beer [b ɪ ɹ ], bare [b ɛ ɹ ], bar [b ɑ ɹ ], bore [b ɔ ɹ ], (boar [bo ʊ ɹ ],) tour [tu ɹ ], burr [b ʌ ɹ ], fire [fa ɪ ɹ ], hour [a ʊ ɹ ], (coir [c ɔɪ ɹ ],) (pure [pju ɹ ]) – brother [b ɹʌ θə ɹ ]

R-coloring can be understood as a process whereby [ ɹ ] is “absorbed” into the preceding vowel. (The case of [ ɝ ] may be exceptional) – car [k ɑ ɹ ] – bird [b ɝ d] (or [b ɜ ɹ d]) Some scholars think that [ ɹ ] is still there, and it causes r- coloring on the preceding vowel. – car [k ɑ ɹ ɹ ] Yet others think that there is an r-colored reduced vowel [ ɚ ] instead of r-coloring on a regular vowel or [ ɹ ]. – car [k ɑɚ ]

In addition to the axes of “front-back”, “high-low”, and “rounded-spread”, English vowels can be characterized by: full vs. reduced tense vs. lax monophthong vs. diphthong rhotacization

American vs. British English American (GA): – spa [sp ɑ ], hot [h ɑ t], caught [c ɔ t] (or [c ɑ t]) – far [f ɑ ɹ ], brother [b ɹʌ θə ɹ ] (r-coloring) – here [h ɪ r ], air [ ɛ r ], tour [t ʊ r ] (r-colored monophthongs) – bird [b ɝ d] (r-colored monophthong) British (RP): – spa [sp ɑ ], hot [h ɒ t], caught [c ɔ t] – far [f ɑ ], brother [b ɹʌ θə] (no r-coloring) – here [h ɪ ə], air [ ɛ ə], tour [t ʊ ə] (diphthongs) – bird [b ɜ d] (non r-colored monophthong)