Phonetics Description and articulation of phones

Describing Consonants We use three parameters to describe phones: VOICING PLACE OF ARTICULATION MANNER OF ARTICULATION The IPA chart shows all three parameters for each phone

VOICING The state of the vocal folds (VF) determines whether a sound is voiced or voiceless When VF are open air can pass through it freely, without any vibration When VF are drawn close together air passes through it with w/ difficulty, creating vibration Compare [s] vs [z] ; [f] vs [v]; [k] vs [g]

PLACE OF ARTICULATION Refers to WHERE in the vocal tract a constriction is made (generally with some part of the tongue)

Places of articulation (see p. 18 in cp) Bilabial [p, b, m, w] Closure of both lips Labiodental [f, v] Lower lip touches upper teeth Interdental [D, T] Tongue protrudes through teeth Alveolar [t, d, s, z, n, l, ®] Tongue touches alveolar ridge

Places of articulation, continued Palatal [S, Z, tS, dZ, j] Top of tongue approximates/touches the middle/hard palate Velar [k, g, ŋ] Back of tongue touches the soft palate/velum Glottal [h, /] Opening or closing of the glottis (the space between the vocal folds)

MANNER OF ARTICULATION Refers to HOW this constriction is made

Manners of Articulation Stop [p, b, t, d, k, g, /] & [n, m, N] airflow through mouth is completely impeded Fricative [f, v, s, z, D, T, S, Z, h] narrow constriction produces turbulence Affricate [tS, dZ] a stop followed by a fricative

Manners of Articulation, cont’d Nasal [m, n, N] air flows through the nose; velum is lowered Approximants [l, ® (liquids)] [w, j (glides)] wide constriction that does not produce turbulence ** FLAP: the voiced alveolar flap [R] is also an English sound, though it’s not listed in the chart.**

Properties of Vowels Most Sonorant (Audible) Sounds Almost always voiced Vowel sounds change according to SHAPE of vocal tract, no obstructions in vowels

Parameters Review: Consonant parameters? Voicing, Place of articulation, Manner of articulation Vowel articulation is described using FOUR parameters.

Four parameters of vowels Tongue HEIGHT high / mid / low Tongue BACKNESS front / central / back Lip ROUNDING round / unround TENSENESS tense / lax

Vowel Trapezium U front centralback high mid low i  e E Q ´ u o çç a Lax Tense Round

Tongue Height High: leak, lick, Luke, Look [i], [  ], [u], [U] Mid: bait, bet, but, bought, boat [e], [E], [´], [ç], [o] Low: cat, con [Q], [a]

Tongue Backness Front: seek, sick, sake, sec, sack [i], [I], [e], [E], [Q] Central: luck [´] Back: ooze, look, road, law, dot [u], [U], [o], [ç], [a]

Lip Rounding In English, only the high and mid back vowels are produced with lip rounding Round vowels: [u], [U], [o], [ç] Unround vowels: all the other vowels

Tenseness Tense vowels the tongue is at an extreme height or backness Lax vowels the tongue is not at an extreme position Compare Pete and pit

Diphthongs A diphthong is a complex vowel where the tongue begins in one place and moves to another (a two part vowel sound) The vowel diphthongs: [aj]: bite [aw]: bout [oj]: boy

Drills Voicing VD or VL Place BL, LD, ID, A, P, V, G Manner S, F, AF, N, AP