Dimensions of Articulation, part II September 23, 2015

Homework! We have some to hand back to you. I have posted a home-brewed transcription exercise that we will go over in class together on Friday. Six English sentences, produced by my father. Please transcribe them as narrowly as possible. To help you with this task, I have a handout for you! We are also going to walk through more of the rules of English phonology today.

For Next Wednesday Have a go at: Chapter 1, Exercise C Chapter 1, Exercise D Chapter 1, Exercise E Chapter 1, Exercise F These notations are from the 5 th edition of the book; Just follow the online links on the homework page. The last exercise will require you to draw some mid- sagittal diagrams. Note: this is a graded homework exercise. Work on it independently!

Dimension 3: Place of Articulation After the stream of air passes through the larynx… speech sounds may be made by constricting the flow of air through the vocal tract. The place where such constrictions are made is known as the place of articulation of the sound. Constrictions are made by placing an active articulator against (or near to) a passive articulator. Generally: active articulator = on the bottom passive articulator = on the top

Anatomy Lesson #1

Anatomy Lesson #2

English Places of Articulation Bilabial[p][b][m] Labio-dental[f][v] Interdental Alveolar[t][d][s][n][l] Post-alveolar Palatal[j] Velar[k][g]

X-Ray movie revisited First check out “bogus”

Place Assimilation Place assimilation occurs when: One consonant’s place of articulation becomes identical to that of a neighboring consonant. /n/ often takes on the place of articulation of a following consonant. ‘unpleasant’ ‘month’ ‘engrossed’ alveolars--except for /s/ and /z/--assimilate to following dentals Ex: width, tenth, wealth

Front and Back Velars /k/ and /g/ become fronted when preceding front vowels  the diacritic for “fronter” is  the diacritic for “backer” is Examples: ‘coo’ ‘key’ These diacritics may apply to vowels, as well. Ex: ‘spoons’

Dimension 4: Aperture The type of sound created by a constriction in the vocal tract depends on how narrow the constriction is. 1.Stop (or plosive): Complete closure of the articulators The airstream cannot escape through the mouth. 2.Fricative: Close approximation of two articulators The airstream is partially obstructed Turbulent airflow is produced.

English Stops VoicelessVoiced Bilabial[p][b] Alveolar[t][d] Velar[k][g] Note--stops that: Follow a vowel involve a closing gesture Precede a vowel involve an opening gesture  Stops at the end of words may be unreleased. Example: “chocolate pudding”

English Fricatives VoicelessVoiced Labio-dental[f][v] Interdental Alveolar[s][z] Post-alveolar Glottal[h]

Dimension 4: Aperture, continued 3.Approximant: a gesture in which one articulator is close to another but without turbulent airflow being produced. 4. Affricate combination of stop + fricative

More English Consonants Approximants: labio-velar, voiced: [w] palatal, voiced:[j] Some dialects of English also distinguish: ‘witch’[w]vs.‘which’ = voiceless, labio-velar approximant Affricates -- Voiced:Voiceless:

Really Narrow  The stops, /t/ and /d/, have a post-alveolar place of articulation in affricates:   An interesting question: How do you say “tree” and “draw”? /t/ and /d/ can become affricates before /r/: ‘tree’ ‘draw’

Dimension 5: Retroflexion A retroflex sound involves the curling back of the tip of the tongue. generally in the post-alveolar region. There is only one retroflex sound in English, and it’s an approximant: In other languages, stops and fricatives can be retroflex, too.

Dimension 6: Nasality The back of the soft palate may be lowered or raised. This may allow air to pass through the nose during speech. Air passes through the nose during the production of nasal consonants… …but it does not pass through the mouth in “nasal stops” bilabial[m] alveolar[n] velar

One Last Time

Nasalization  Vowels often become nasalized before nasal consonants.  The diacritic for nasalization is: Examples: ‘can’vs. ‘cat’ ‘Ben’vs.‘bed’ Before other consonants, /n/ can drop out completely…  and leave the nasalization behind:  ‘can’t’vs. ‘cat’  ‘Winters’

Dimension 7: Laterality Lateral approximant: Obstruction of the airstream at a point along the center of the oral tract With incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth. alveolar lateral:[l]“clear l” velarized alveolar lateral:“dark l” velarized = back of tongue is raised towards velum Note: consonants which are not lateral are “central”. Check out “oil” video

/l/ options Dialectologically, /l/ is the most interesting consonant in English. Dialect Type A: “clear” /l/ syllable-initially: ‘leaf’ “dark” /l/ syllable finally: ‘feel’ Dialect Type B: “clear” /l/ before front vowels: ‘leak’ “dark” /l/ everywhere else: ‘lock’ Others have “dark” /l/ pretty much everywhere. (and maybe even lose the alveolar closure!)

Consonant Dimensions: Summary [t][j] 1.Airstream Mechanismpulmonic egressivep.e. 2.Phonation Typevoicelessvoiced 3.Place of Articulationalveolarpalatal 4.Aperturestopapprox. 5.Retroflexionnon-retroflexnon-retro 6.Nasalityoraloral 7.Lateralitycentralcentral

Manner of Articulation Phoneticians usually combine dimensions 4-7 under the rubric of manner of articulation. Example manners of articulation: [t] = (oral) stop [n] = nasal stop [v] = fricative [w] = approximant [l] = lateral approximant = retroflex approximant = affricate

Notes Consonant sounds are generally assumed to be: pulmonic egressive oral central …unless stated otherwise Big picture thought: Through combinatorics, language makes a large number of distinctions out of a minimal number of articulatory gestures.

English Consonant Chart

The Canadian Shift, Diagrammed X