1. Spoken language phonetics: Consonant articulation and transcription
LING 200
Spring 2006

2. Announcements, reminders
Quiz re Ch. 1-2: question 9 dropped, results have been recalculated
Homework #1 (transcription related) due tomorrow at the beginning of section
Quiz re Ch. 6 currently open; closes Fri noon
Turning Point Automated Response System: receiver here; book store receiving new shipment of clickers Friday

3. Phonetic transcription
a mystery language
‘driftwood’
‘cane’
‘footwear’
‘grease’
‘straight up’
‘your collarbone’

4. Organization of today’s lecture
Articulation of speech sounds
Transcription of speech sounds
Consonant inventories

5. Vocal tract structures relevant for speech
nasal cavity
pharynx
oral cavity

6. Vocal tract structures relevant for speech
Upper articulator
Lower articulator

7. Major structures structure (noun) adjectival descriptor lips labial
teeth
dental
alveolar ridge
alveolar
hard palate
palatal
soft palate = velum
velar
nasal cavity
nasal
larynx
laryngeal
glottis
glottal

8. Place of articulation some places of articulation upper articulator
lower articulator

9. Some places of articulation in English
lower articulator
upper articulator
example
(bi-)
labial
bill
(apico-)
alveolar
dill
(dorso-)
velar
gill

10. Manner of articulation (degree of occlusion)
How close are lower and upper articulator?
Relatively close, narrowed or constricted (‘occluded’) airflow: consonants
Relatively far apart, unconstricted airflow: vowels

11. Manner of articulation
Consonant subclasses
Stops: complete occlusion of airflow
bill, dill, gill
Fricatives: air pressure build-up behind occlusion; turbulent airflow
Liquids and glides: no pressure build-up

12. English fricatives
Fricative: produced with turbulent airflow, pressure build-up behind occlusion
place of articulation
example
labiodental
fin
interdental
thin
alveolar
sin
palatal (palato-alveolar)
shin
laryngeal
hinder

13. Affricates
= stop released into fricative of ‘same’ place of articulation
place
example
palatal (palato-alveolar)
chin

14. Liquids and glides
= Approximants: No pressure build-up, non-turbulent airflow
place
example
liquids
alveolar
lip
retroflex*
rip
glides
palatal
yip
labial (labio-velar)
whip
*Fromkin et al. sometimes refer to the place of this sound sometimes as alveolar, sometimes retroflex.

15. Place x manner of articulation
labial
labio-dental
inter-dental
alveolar
retroflex
palatal
velar
glottal
stop
bin
din
again
fricative
Vinnie
then
zing
vision
him
approx-imant
win
Lynn
rim
yen

16. State of the glottis (laryngeal setting)

17. The larynx and vocal cords
Clip from The Human Language vol. 3: The Human Language Evolves. “With and without words”
rear of body

18. States of the glottis in English
voiced: vocal cords close, vibrate when air passes through glottis
voiceless: vocal cords apart, do not vibrate
Some voiced and voiceless fricatives
voiceless
voiced
labio-dental
fox
vixen
inter-dental
thin
then
alveolar
sip
zip
palatal
Aleutian
illusion

19. Other consonant parameters: oral vs. nasal

20. Oral vs. nasal Velum raised Air flows into oral cavity only oral sound
Velum lowered (resting position)
Air flows into oral and nasal cavities
nasal sound

21. English oral vs. nasal stops
Stop: produced with complete occlusion in oral cavity
(oral) stop
nasal (stop)
bilabial
pin bin
Kim
alveolar
tin din
kin
velar
kin again
king

22. Other consonant parameters: lateral
What part of the tongue (lower articulator) approaches the upper articulator?
Only tip: air flows around side(s) of tongue (‘lateral’)
Air flows over all tongue surface (‘central’)
English: lip (lateral) vs. rip (central)

23. Phonetic description Consonants State of glottis voiceless
Place of articulation bilabial
Manner of articulation stop

24. Phonetic transcription
Alphabetic and other symbols which abbreviate phonetic descriptions
E.g. voiceless bilabial stop = [p]
Phonetic transcription in square brackets
Different systems of phonetic transcription
International Phonetic Association
‘Americanist’/U.S.

25. Phonetic transcription
A more consistent way of representing sound than most writing systems
e.g. English <c>: [k] [kræbi] <crabby>
[s] [pnsl] <pencil>
A universal framework for the description of spoken languages
Many languages lack writing systems

26. Consonant chart for English
Cf. Table 6.4
bi-labial
labio-dental
inter-dental
alveo-lar
palatal
velar
glottal
stops
p b
t d
k g
affricates
tS dZ
fricatives
f v
 
s z
S Z h
nasals m n N
approximant
w () r* j
lateral l
*American English [r] is actually retroflex.

27. Witsuwit’en
Athabaskan family
apx. 180 speakers

28. Some Witsuwit’en speakers
Mabel Forsythe
Lillian Morris, Peter John

29. Some Witsuwit’en sounds
Ejective stops and affricates: transcribed [C’]
How to make a (canonical) ejective:
0. Make a velar stop.
Make a glottal stop.

30. Ejective stops [t’] = ejective alveolar stop [nt’q] ‘your collarbone’
Compare [t] = voiceless alveolar stop
[ntq] ‘up’
Waveforms:
[n t ’  q] [n t  q]

31. Ejective affricates [ts’] = ejective alveolar affricate
[pts’q] ‘his little finger’
Compare [ts] = voiceless alveolar affricate
[ptsq] ‘his outer ear’
[p t s ’  q] [p t s  q]

32. Uvular place of articulation
[q] = voiceless uvular stop
[qis] ‘Chinook salmon’
[ntq] ‘up’
[q’] = voiceless uvular ejective
[q’X] ‘backwards’
[X] = voiceless uvular fricative
[XE] ‘grease’

33. Lateral fricative and affricates
[] = voiceless lateral fricative
[jl] ‘it’s white; goat’
[aqhE] ‘dogs’
[t] = voiceless lateral affricate
[stet] ‘it’s licking me’
[t’] = ejective lateral affricate
[st’et] ‘he farted’

34. Witsuwit’en consonant chart
labial
alveolar
palatal
labio-velar
uvular
glottal
stops
p p’
t th t’
c ch c’
kw kwh kw’
q qh q’ 
affricates
ts tsh ts’
lateral
t th t’
fricatives
s z ç xw  h 
nasals m n
approximants j w  l

35. Summary Describing consonants place of articulation
manner of articulation (degree of occlusion)
state of glottis
nasal/oral
lateral/central
Phonetic transcription
Consonant charts

36. Question
Describe one of the consonants you know (in one of the languages you know) that is different from one of the consonants of English. Be sure to name the language.

37. Next time
Vowels