Linguistics week 4 Phonetics 2

Phonetics: the sounds of language Not language-specific Describes sounds produced in any or all languages Phonology describes the sound patterns in particular languages, like English or Chinese For example This is how to make the sound [p] The consonant cluster /pr/ is OK in English, not in Chinese

Phones: sound segments When we know a language, we can segment an utterance into phones We can do this even though there is no break between phones Cat has 3 phones But we don’t say k—a—t If we don’t know the language, we can’t do this segmentation It just sounds like one continuous stream of sound Actually all language is one continuous stream of sound The tongue (and other moving parts) move gradually They don’t jump between positions

How many phones? Say them to your neighbor. Dog? Rabbit? Phone Knot Comb China

Two kinds of phone: consonants and vowels Consonants: air flow from lungs is obstructed in some way (p48) Vowels: the air flows freely This is why doctors ask for “aaaahhh” Vowels are often represented in English spelling by a e i o u But spelling  pronunciation (p40) Chinese: The consonants are ㄅㄆㄇㄈ… The vowels are ㄚㄛㄜㄝ… (but not always)

Problems with consonant-vowel distinction Glides (or semivowels) /j/ and /w/ don’t seem to involve much obstruction but most linguists think of them as consonants (check page 46, Approximants) ㄦ causes an obstruction, and is thought of as a consonant by linguists Some of the ㄅㄆㄇ symbols often represent two phones, one consonant and one vowel Can you say which?

How many vowels? How many consonants? dog? rabbit? phone knot comb China I π pine long 餓 他 龍 他們

How many words, morphemes, syllables, consonants and vowels in the following? Count semivowels as consonants. Greenhouse Red houses Women 我們 Those sheep 老鼠 老太太 玻璃 John drinks coffee 他不喝咖啡

Reading for next time Chapter 5; and Compare KK 音標 http://www.ysjh.cy.edu.tw/nineone/eng/phonics/vowel.htm with the US system used in our book (tables on pages 45 &48) write the differences you find in pencil in your book, if you want to

Language presentations 10-15 minutes Talk about Where? Who? How many? Interesting facts about the language Relationship with other languages Sounds of the language Morphology and syntax (= grammar) You can use wikipedia and ethnologue to help you BUT you must consult other websites too You will get a better grade if you Consult library books about the language, or about linguistics Tell us which books and websites you used

Articulatory phonetics What does that mean? What are the other two phases of signal transmission, please? Classification of sounds in articulatory phonetics First, we’ll look at consonants

Describing (characterizing) consonants First, airstream: For all sounds in English and Mandarin, this is pulmonic egressive Second, place of articulation Listed in Yule chapter 5 How would you describe the difference between [f], [θ] and [s]? How about [p], [t] and [k]? (groups?)

Third, voicing Voiced and voiceless consonants [v] is voiced [f] and [v] are both bilabial So what’s the difference? [v] is voiced The vocal folds open and close rapidly (They vibrate) [f] is voiceless No vibration

Voiced vs voiceless Of course [v] does not exist in Mandarin It does in Shanghai (因為 pronounced yinvei!) Say both, and put your fingers on your larynx [b] and [p] are voiced and voiceless respectively [b] doesn’t exist in Mandarin either In fact, there are very few voiced consonants in Mandarin

Manner of articulation Now, consider the difference between [t] and [s] (these exist in Mandarin) [d] and [z] (these don’t) How about [p] and [m] or [d] and [n]?

Parameters for describing consonants So far (this is not complete yet) we have Airstream (usually the same for all consonants) Place of articulation Voicing Manner of articulation So, [p] is … egressive pulmonic bilabial voiceless plosive