Spoken language phonetics: Vowel articulation, transcription LING 200 Spring 2006

Homework #2 Due Thurs. Apr 13 at the beginning of section Ch. 6 problems –(5) a-g, j –(6)-(7) –(9) –(10) a, c, e –(11)-(12)

Announcements Quiz on Ch. 6 extended to 2:30 pm today (**just this once**) Quiz on Ch. 7 (minus first section, ‘The Pronunciation of Morphemes’) opens Sunday (4-9) 10 am, closes Wed (4-12) noon Clickers should be in book store today –extra credit?

A FAQ Which phonetic symbols do we have to memorize in this class? Answer: those used for English

Manner of articulation (degree of occlusion) How close are lower and upper articulator? –Relatively close: consonants –Relatively far apart: vowels

Vowels Height: high, mid, low Backness: front, central, back Labiality (lip rounding): rounded, unrounded Some dimensions of vowel systems

Vowel backness x height

The Human Language Evolves. “With and Without Words” Clip on vowel systems

A five vowel inventory e.g. Spanish (place of articulation) frontcentralback vowel height highiu mideo low 

Spanish vowels frontcentralback high [mis  ] ‘Mass’ [mus  ] ‘muse’ mid [mes  ] ‘table’ [mosk  ] ‘housefly’ low [m  s  ] ‘dough’

Lip rounding (place of articulation) front unrounded central unrounded back rounded vowel height (degree of occlusion) highiu mideo low 

Phonetic description of vowels (height – backness – rounding) [i] = high front unrounded vowel [e] = mid front unrounded vowel [o] = mid back rounded vowel [u] = high back rounded vowel [  ] = low central (-back) unrounded vowel –cf. [a] = low front unrounded vowel

IPA vowel chart

Another five vowel inventory Mandarin (Chinese) [y] = high front rounded vowel [  ] = mid back unrounded vowel front unrndrnd back unrndrnd highiyu mid  low 

Mandarin vowel quality [  ] = high falling tone frontback unrndrndunrndrnd high [l  ] ‘advantage’ [ly  ] ‘green’ [lû] ‘road’ mid [l  ] ‘ happy’ low  ‘spicy’

Long vs. short vowels Vowel “quality” –height: high vs. mid vs. low –backness: front vs. central vs. back –rounding: rounded vs. unrounded Vowel “quantity”: long vs. short

Danish front vowel qualities

Danish vowel length contrasts

English vowels English, a Germanic language Proto-Germanic West North East Faroese Icelandic Norwegian Swedish Danish Gothic German Afrikaans Dutch Frisian English

Proto-Germanic Vowels i i:u u: e e: o: 

Middle English vowels < The English Language

Middle English long and short vowels i:u:  e:  o:  :  :  a :: minus the diphthongs

Modern English Historical length > ‘tense’/ ‘lax’ contrast –Long vowels > ‘tense’ –Short vowels > ‘lax’

Western North America frontcentralback unrounded rounded highiu lower-high  midhigher-mideo lower-mid  low  Basic set of contrasts in stressed syllables

Western North America frontcentralback unrounded rounded highheedwho’d lower-highhidhood midhigher-midhayedhoed lower-mid  HUD lowhad   contrasts in stressed syllables

Acoustic plot of vowel quality a female speaker from southern California

Further east in North America frontcentralback unrounded rounded highiu lower-high  midhigher-mideo lower-mid  low  contrasts in stressed syllables

Further east in North America frontcentralback unrounded rounded highheedwho’d lower-highhidhood midhigher-midhayedhoed lower-mid  HUD  lowhad  contrasts in stressed syllables

[  ] vs. [  ] cotvs.caught Pollyvs.Paulie Donvs.dawn coffeevs. cough bodyvs. bawdy A female speaker from New York City

Acoustic plot of vowel quality a male speaker from southern New Jersey

[  ] in Western N. America In Western North America, [  ] only before [r]: [m  r] more [mor  ] mower ([r  ] = syllabic [r]) [m  r] mar

A basic set of [Vr] combinations in North American English frontcentralback high [ur  ] [  r] mid  [  r] = [r  ][  r] low  English vowels: rhotic nuclei

frontcentralback highboor beer mid  burrbore low  English vowels: rhotic nuclei some varieties have more vowel quality distinctions before [r]: Mary [e], merry [  ], marry [  ] A basic set of [Vr] combinations in North American English

More on [r  ] Continuation of clip from The Human Language Evolves. “With and Without Words”

Diphthongs 2 vowel qualities –[  w]/[  w] = [   ]: [h  wd] how’d –[  j] = [   ]: [h  jd] hide –[  j] = [  ]: [t  jd] toyed For many native speakers of English, [e], [o] are diphthongs –[ej] = [e  ] [hed] ([hejd]) hayed –[ow] = [o  ][hod] ([howd]) hoed

Unstressed vowels Stressed and unstressed syllables –verbs: nouns: –to [ri  kt]a [rí  kt] reject –to [prot  st]a [prót  st] protest to [prót  st] (‘stage a protest’)

English unstressed vowels [  ] only occurs in unstressed syllables unstressed [  ]cf. stressed [  ] hiccup [h  k  p]cup [k  p] wicked [w  k  d]cud [k  d] racket [r  k  t]cut [k  t]

English unstressed vowels [  ] + nasals, liquids For many speakers, – [r  ][p  kr  ] picker –[  l] = [l  ] [p  k  l] [p  kl  pickle –[  n] = [n  ][  k  n] [  kn  ] thicken –[  m] = [m  ][r  m][r  m  ] rhythm [  ] = syllabic

Transcription practice scrimmage schism asthma azalea mayonnaise

Transcription practice scrimmage[skr  m  ] schism [sk  z  m] asthma [  zm  ] azalea [  zelj  ] mayonnaise[m  nez]

More transcription practice kook cucumber mortgage grammar language

kook[kuk] cucumber[kjuk  mbr  ] mortgage[m  rg  ] grammar[græmr  ] language[le  gw  ]