Phonetics LING 200 Spring 2002

What is phonetics? Acoustic phonetics: physical properties of sounds/signs Auditory phonetics: perception of sounds/signs Articulatory phonetics: production of sounds/signs

Articulatory phonetics Description of speech sounds –Vocal tract structures relevant for speech Transcription of speech sounds Sound inventories Of spoken languages:

Vocal tract anatomy

Major structures structure (noun)adjectival descriptor lipslabial teethdental alveolar ridgealveolar hard palatepalatal soft palate = velumvelar nasal cavitynasal larynxlaryngeal glottisglottal

Phonetic description Consonants: e.g. –Laryngeal setting voiceless –Place of articulation bilabial –Degree of occlusion/manner stop

Phonetic transcription Alphabetic and other symbols which abbreviate phonetic descriptions –E.g. voiceless bilabial stop = [p] Different systems of phonetic transcription –‘Americanist’ –International Phonetic Association

Value of phonetic transcription A universal framework for the description of languages –1 symbol – 1 sound –Many languages lack writing systems Superior to many writing systems

Preparing a transcription What are the sounds of the language? How can they be represented?

Phonetic transcription 1. ‘driftwood’ 2. ‘cane’ 3. ‘footwear’ 4. ‘grease’ 5. ‘straight up’ 6. ‘your collarbone’

Phonetic transcription 1.[t  z]‘driftwood’ 2.[t h  z]‘cane’ 3.[q h E ]‘footwear’ 4.[ XE ]‘grease’ 5.[nt  q]‘straight up’ 6.[nt’  q]‘your collarbone’

Vocal tract anatomy Upper articulator Lower articulator

Major lower articulators

Major structures of the tongue structuredescriptor tonguelingualcoronal tipapical bladelaminal dorsumdorsal rootradical

Description of speech sounds Place of articulation Degree of occlusion (‘manner’) Oral or nasal Laryngeal setting Main parameters for consonants:

Degree of occlusion How close are lower and upper articulator? –Relatively close, constricted (‘occluded’) airflow: consonants –Relatively far apart, unconstricted airflow: vowels Defines classes of sounds –Vowels vs. consonants: [a] vs. [d] –Subclasses of vowels: [a] vs. [i] –Subclasses of consonants: [d] vs. [z]

Place of articulation: consonants Different languages produce sounds at different places of articulation Witsuwit’en [qis] ‘king salmon’ vs. English geese [gis]

English consonant place of articulation lower articulator upper articulator example (bi-)labialbin labio-dentalfin interdentalthin (apico-)alveolartin palatalshin velarkin glottalhim

Place of articulation

Degree of occlusion Consonant subclasses –Stops: complete occlusion of airflow –Fricatives: air pressure build-up behind occlusion; turbulent airflow –Approximants (‘liquids’ and ‘glides’): no pressure build-up

Oral vs. nasal Velum raised –Air flows into oral cavity only  oral sound Velum lowered –Air flows into oral and nasal cavities  nasal sound Nasal fricatives are rare in the world’s languages. Why?

English oral vs. nasal stops (oral) stop (= ‘plosive’) nasal (stop) bilabialpin binKim alveolartin dinkin velarkin againking glottaluh-oh Stop: produced with complete occlusion, lower and upper articulators seal off airflow

English fricatives placeexample labiodentalfin, VIN interdentalthin, then alveolarsip, zip palatalAleutian, illusion laryngealhinder Fricative: produced with turbulent airflow, pressure build-up behind occlusion

Affricates = Stop released into fricative of ‘same’ place of articulation English affricates placeexample palatalchin, gin

English approximants Approximant: No pressure build- up, non-turbulent airflow placestrictureexample liquidsalveolarlaterallip ( )rip glidespalatalyip labio- velar whip

Laryngeal setting

English: What is the state of the vocal cords?

Laryngeal setting: the larynx

Laryngeal setting: vocal cords

Laryngeal setting English voiced vs. voiceless (oral) stops and affricates voicedvls labialcrabbycrappy alveolarbadbat palatalbadgebatch velarbagback

Degree of occlusion How close are lower and upper articulator? –Relatively close, constricted (‘occluded’) airflow: consonants stops fricatives approximants –Relatively far apart, unconstricted airflow: vowels

Vowels Vowel quality –Height –Backness –Labiality Vowel quantity

A five vowel inventory Spanish frontcentralback highiu mideo low A

Spanish vowels frontcentralback high [mis A ] ‘Mass’ [mus A ] ‘muse’ mid [mes A ] ‘table’ [mos A ] ‘waitress’ low [m A s A ] ‘dough’

Quality Height –High – mid – low Backness –Front – central – back Labiality –Rounded – unrounded –Non-low back vowels usually rounded

Phonetic description [i] = high front unrounded vowel [e] = mid front unrounded vowel [ A ] = low central(-back) unrounded vowel [o] = mid back rounded vowel [u] = high back rounded vowel

Another five vowel inventory Mandarin (Chinese) [ü]/[y] = high front rounded vowel [  ] = mid central unrounded vowel frontcentralback highiüu mid  low A

Mandarin vowel quality frontcentralback unrndroundunrndround high[í] ‘1’ [ü  ] ‘bruise’ [ú] ‘crow’ mid [  ] ‘hungry’ low [A  ] ‘ah’

Vowel quantity: Sahaptin frontcentralback highi i:  u u: low A A : [  ] = high central unrounded vowel [i] = high front unrounded vowel [i:] = long high front unrounded vowel

Sahaptin short vowels frontcentralback high[tit]- ‘fart’ [/  t  t] ‘tooth’ [tut] ‘your dad’ low [t A tí] ‘dirty’

Sahaptin short vs. long vowels shortlong [sts' A t] 'night'[sts' A :t] 'dark' [pišíš] 'paternal aunt' [c  i:š] 'water' [pjuš] 'snake' [pu:š] 'juniper'

English vowels English, a Germanic language Proto-Germanic vowels i i:u u: e e: o: a

English vowels Historical length > 'tense'/'lax' contrast E.g. e: > i, e > E

English vowels frontcentralback unrounded rounded hightenseiu lax  midtenseeo lax/tense E  lowlax/tense  A 

English vowels frontcentralback unrounded rounded hightense[hid] heed[hud] who'd lax [h  d] hid[h  d] hood midtense[hed] hayed[hod] hoed lax/tense [hEd] head [h  d] HUD[h  d] hawed lowlax/tense [h  d] had [ š A ] Shah [s  d] sod

English vowels Dialect mergers in N. America – ,  >  (East) [  ]: sod, hawed, [  ]: Shah – ,  >  (East, Midwest) [  ]: sod, Shah, [  ]: hawed – , ,  > A (West) [  ]: sod, Shah, hawed

English vowels frontcentralback unrounded rounded hightenseiu lax  midtenseeo lax E  ()() lowlax/tense  A Western North America

English vowels In Western North America, [  ] only before [r]: [m  r] more [mor  ] mower [  ] = syllabic [m A r] mar

English vowels The vowel [  ] only occurs in unstressed syllables stressed: [  ]unstressed: [  ] up [  p]gallop [g  l  p] cud [k  d]wicked [w  k  d] cut [k  t]racket [r  k  t]

Transcription practice fish scrimmage asthma azalea mayonnaise