The Study of Speech Sounds

PHONETICS

How are speech sounds made?

Speech Sounds

PHONOLOGY

How are speech sounds classified?

What is Phonetics?

DEFINITION

• The study of how speech sounds are made, and which sounds are used in a given language.

COMPONENTS OF PHONETICS

• Identifying the place of articulation in the vocal tract, mouth and nose.

• Identifying the manner of articulation, including how air is channeled and/or stopped during speech sounds.

• Identifying which speech sounds are used in any given language, and which are not.

Consonants are formed by the slowing or stopping of air somewhere in the vocal tract

Consonants

Types of Speech Sounds

Vowels Vowels are formed by changes in the shape of the vocal tract as air passes through unimpeded

The Phonetics of Consonants

means where the vocal tract is shut off or narrowed

Place of articulation

Voicing

Manner of Articulationmeans how the vocal tract is shut off or narrowed

means whether air is forced through the larynx or not

The Anatomy of the Vocal Tract Your

homework is to go online and find out what the following articulatory places are and where they are located:

Glottis

Uvula

Consonant Place of Articulation 1: Bilabials

Bilabials are accomplished by narrowing the vocal tract using both lips

pin map boy

Consonant Place of Articulation 2: Labiodentals

Labiodentals are accomplished by narrowing the vocal tract using both the lips and the teeth

fan van

Consonant Place of Articulation 3: Apicodental

(Interdentals)

Apicodentals, also called interdentals are accomplished by narrowing the vocal tract

using the tip (apex) of the tongue between the teeth to narrow the vocal tract

there thing

Consonant Place of Articulation 4:

Apicoalveolar (Alveolar)

Apicoalveolar, also called alveolars are accomplished by narrowing the vocal tract

using the tip (apex) of the tongue against the alveolar ridge behind the teeth

dip tip

Consonant Place of Articulation 5: Alveolarpalatal

Alveolarpalatal are accomplished by narrowing the vocal tract using the tip (apex) of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge at the

front edge of the palate

shout judge child

Consonant Place of Articulation 6: Velums

Velums are accomplished by completely closing the vocal tract at the velum

get cat

Manner of Articulation

means how the shutting off or narrowing of the vocal tract is

done

Consonant Manner of Articulation 1: Stops

Stops are accomplished by completely obstructing the airstream

pick get dig

Consonant Manner of Articulation 2: Fricatives

Fricatives are accomplished by almost completely obstructing the airstream

causing friction

fish kiss shell

Consonant Manner of Articulation 3: Affricatives

Affricatives are accomplished by stopping the air flow and then releasing air to cause

friction

child gym judge

Consonant Manner of Articulation 4: Nasals

Nasals are accomplished by closing the vocal tract at the velum and forcing air

through the nasal passages

nickel man ring

Consonant Manner of Articulation 5: Liquids

Liquids are accomplished by restricting but not closing off air flow

leave ring

Consonant Manner of Articulation 6: Glides

Glides are accomplished by restricting but not closing off air flow followed by a slight

opening of the vocal tract

yet wash whistle

Consonant Manner of Articulation 7: Taps

Taps are accomplished by quickly tapping the tongue against another part of the vocal tract and is frequently found in the middle

of a word

letter ladder

Consonant Manner of Articulation 8: Trills

Trills are accomplished by forcing the tongue, uvula or lips to vibrate

In Spanish perro barrio

Two Types of Voicing

sounds are made by narrowing the vocal cords and forcing air between them

got bit

sounds are made by opening the vocal cords and allowing air to flow past them

caught pit

Voiced

Unvoiced

Classification of Vowels

Four Criteria for Classifying Vowels:

Tongue Height

Tongue Location (toward back or front)

Mouth & Lip Tension

Lip Rounding Vs stretching

Tongue Height

Three Positions:

High: bit straight pool cook

Mid Mouth: get wait spot rope

Low: bat got

Tongue Location

Three Positions:

Back: pool cook rope got

Center: but around

Front: hit heat pet wait bat

Mouth &Lip Tension

Two States:

Tense Relaxed

heat hit

soon soot

wait wet

Lip Rounding Two States:

Rounded Not Rounded

pool hit

look heat

wrote pat

caught pet

wait

Websites That Make Speech Sounds

• web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/charts/IPAlab/IPAlab.htm

• www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset

• http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter1/flash.html

The International

Phonetic Alphabet

!Kung Click Language

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c246fZ-7z1w

Phonemics

Definition of Phoneme

• A minimal class of sounds which possess shared features that clearly contrast with those of other phonemes and form the basis of distinguishing one utterance from another.

• Eg. English {s}, {z} Spanish {s, z}

Most Languages have 50 or fewer phonemes.

No language uses all possible phonemes

The sounds contained in corresponding phonenemes in different languages may vary significantly.

English Phonemes 1-15 of 42• Phoneme  Spelling(s) and Example Words• /A/  a (table), a_e (bake), ai (train), ay (say) • /a/  a (flat)• /b/ b (ball) • /k/  c (cake), k (key), ck (back) • /d/  d (door)• /E/  e (me), ee (feet), ea (leap), y (baby)• /e/  e (pet), ea (head) • /f/ f (fix), ph (phone)• /g/  g (gas)• /h/  h (hot) • /I/  i (I), i_e (bite), igh (light), y (sky)• /i/  i (sit)• /j/  j (jet), dge (edge), g[e, i, y] (gem)• /l/ l (lamp) • /m/  m (my)

English Phonemes 16-29 of 42

• Phoneme Spellings and Example Words• /n/ n (no), kn (knock)• /O/  o (okay), o_e (bone), oa (soap), ow (low) • /o/ o (hot)• /p/ p (pie) • /kw/  qu (quick)• /r/ r (road), wr (wrong), er (her), ir (sir), ur (fur)• /s/ s (say), c[e, i, y] (cent) • /t/  t (time)• /U/  u (future), u_e (use), ew (few)• /u/ u (thumb), a (about), e (loaded), o (wagon) • /v/ v (voice)• /w/ w (wash) • /ks/ or /gz/ x (box, exam)

English Phonemes 30-42 of 42

• Phoneme Spellings and Example Words• /y/ y (yes)• /z/ z (zoo), s (nose)• /OO/ oo (boot), u (truth), u_e (rude), ew (chew)• /oo/ oo (book), u (put)• /oi/ oi (soil), oy (toy) • /ou/ ou (out), ow (cow) • /aw/  aw (saw), au (caught), a[l] (tall)• /ar/  ar (car) • /sh/  sh (ship), ti (nation), ci (special) • /hw/ wh (white) • /ch/   ch (chest), tch (catch)• /th/  or /th/th (thick, this)• /ng/ ng (sing), n (think)• /zh/   s (measure)

Spanish Phonemes 1-14 of 25

• Phoneme Spellings and Example Words• /a/ a (casa)• /e/ e (pesebre)• /i/ i (mi), y (y)• /o/ o (pozo• /u/ u (tuyo)• /b/ b (baso), v (vaso), w (wagon)• /d/  d (donde), d (pedid)• /f/  f (fuego), f (filosofo) • /g/  g (paga), p (pague), g (guitarra), g (guapo) • /j/ io (comio), ie (pie), ie (hierro), y (cayo), ll (callo)• /k/  q (quito), c (casa), k (kilo), cc (accion), x (taxi)• /l/  l (cola), l (paralelo), l (el)• /m/ m (campo), m (cama), n (invierno)• /n/   n (cana)

Spanish Phonemes 15-25 of 25

• Phoneme Spellings and Example Words• /n,/ n~ (can~a)• /p/ p (pozo), p (pues), p (papa)• /r/ r (caro), r ( carta), r (parar), r (trato)• /r-/ rr (carro), r (honrado), r (rosa)• /s/ s (sastre), s (casa), x (exito)• /t/ t (tonto), t (tu)• /tj/  ch (chato)• /w/  u (cuerno), u (ruego), hu (ahuecar), u (causa)• /x/  j (juego), g (pagina), j (escojo), g (escoge), x (Mexico)• /iya/ ll (callo), ll (llamar)• /0-/  z (lapiz), c (lapices), c (cierra), z (caza)

Some Differences between the Spanish and the English Written Language

29 letters represent 25 phonemes

pronunciation of words is based on their spelling

some phonemes are spelled using more than one letter (me llamo)

26 letters represent 42 phonemes

sometimes the pronunciation varies: spelling represents more than one word (read)some letters do not have

direct relation to the sounds in the word (height)

Some Differences between the Spanish and the English Written Language

if a letter is doubled both letters are pronounced (leer) also applies to diphthongs (Euro)5 vowel letters and 5 vowel soundsa few phonemes can be spelled in more than one way (/h/= g or j)

doubled letters represent only one phoneme (school)

5 vowel letters and 15 vowel sounds19 consonant phonemes

are spelled using more than one letter (enough)

Phonemic Categories Differ from One Language to Another

In English, trilled and untrilled r’s are in the same phoneme.

In English b and v are in different phonemes.

berry vs. very

In English r and l are in different phonemes

river vs. liver

In Spanish, trilled and untrilled r’s are in different phonemes.

pero vs. perro

In Spanish, b and v are in the same phoneme.

In Chinese r and l are in the same phoneme

Allophones

Definition: Phones that occupy the same phoneme are called allophones.

Goals of a Phonemic Analysis

1. To identify a minimal set of phonemes for the language

2. To identify which phones from the language are classified together in a given phoneme as allophones

3. To identify the contexts in which a given allophone will be used instead of others in the same phoneme

Kinds of Allophones

Free variation allophones

Complementary distribution allophones

Free Variation Allophones

Where the use of a particular allophone overlaps with the use of others

Two sounds are used indiscriminately in different phonetic contexts

The variation is due to dialectical variation or personal linguistic habits.

http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/103/Allophones/index.htm

Complementary Distribution Allophones

Two allophones are in complementary distribution if the contexts in which they appear do not overlap.

Two sounds are never used in the same phonetic context.

E.g. [pʰ] always occurs when it comes at the beginning of a syllable and is followed by a stressed vowel (as in the word pin). [p] occurs in all other situations (as

in the word spin).

Kinds of Phonetic ContextSome Examples

• Immediate context = the sounds which immediately precede and follow the allophone

• The stress of the sounds that follow or precede the allophone -

• Whether the allophone begins or ends a word• When the allophone begins a word, the sound with which

the word preceding the allophone ends• When the allophone ends a word, the sound with which

the word following the allophone begins

Immediate Context Example

She vs. Shoe

The vowel following the “sh” sound changes the way the sound is made. The two “sh” sounds are allophones of the same phoneme, but are used in different contexts, one following the “oo” and one following the “ee” sound.

Immediate Context Example

Pin vs. Spot vs. Top

P at the beginning of the word is asperated.

P in the middle of the word is not asperated.

P at the end of the word is not asperated.

PowerPoint Study GuidePhonetics Palate NasalsPhonology Larynx GlidesPlace of articulation Glottis LiquidsManner of articulation Velum TapsVoicing Bilabial TrillsConsonants Labiodental Tongue heightVowels Apicodental Tongue locationNasal passage Apicoalveolar Mouth tensionLips Alveolarpalatal Lip roundingTeeth Velum PhonemesApex of the tongue Stops AllophonesBlade of the tongue Fricative Free variation

allophonesAlveolar ridge Affricative Complementary

allophones