Practical information
Practical informationCourse Grundkurs; What is phoneticsTeacher Ruben van de VijverOffice hours Wednesday 3 - 4Where 24.53.00.98E-mail [email protected] 0211-81-11822
Plan
Explain what phonetics is on the basis ofI the production of voicing contrastsI the acoustics of voicing contrastsI the perception of voicing contrasts
What are voicing contrasts?
I packen und backenI Tacker und DackelI Kasse und GasseI reißen und reisenI Sklave und klaffen
What are voicing contrasts
I How is the contrast between these pairs produced?I What acoustic consequences has this production?I How is the voicing contrast perceived?
VoicingVoicing contrasts are created by the vocal folds:
(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray956.png)
VoicingSpeech sounds with open vocal folds
The vocal folds can be open to let the air pass through withoutany constriction. You can feel this easily.
I Put your hand in front of your mouth and say the nonsensesyllable Pah.
I Put your hand in front of your mouth and say the nonsensesyllable Tah.
I Put your hand in front of your mouth and say the nonsensesyllable Kah.
VoicingSpeech sounds with open vocal folds
You feel a puff of air against your hand, because...1. your mouth is closed to produce a stop (a p, t or k)2. at the same time, you keep breathing out,3. your vocal folds are open,4. when you release the closure, the air escapes with a puff.
VoicingSpeech sounds with open vocal folds
The vocal folds can be open to let the air pass through withoutany constriction. You can feel that nothing is happening.
I Put a hand against your pharynx and say reißen. Make theß really long.
I Put a hand against your pharynx and say klaffen. Makethe ff really long.
VoicingSpeech sounds with open vocal folds
You feel nothing happening in your larynx, because...
1. there is no complete closure for ß and ff,2. the vocal folds are open. The air flows without interruption.
VoicingSpeech sounds produced with closed vocal folds
Let’s turn to sounds that are produced with closed vocal folds:b, d, g and z and v.
VoicingSpeech sounds produced with closed vocal folds
When the vocal folds are closed they can vibrate when youproduce a speech sound. You can easily feel this:
I Put your hand on your larynx and say the nonsensesyllable aba.
I Put your hand on your larynx and say the nonsensesyllable ada.
I Put your hand on your larynx and say the nonsensesyllable aga.
I Put your hand on your larynx and say the nonsensesyllable ava (make the v really long.
I Put your hand on your larynx and say the nonsensesyllable aza (make the z really long.
VoicingWhy are the vocal folds vibrating?
The vocal folds are vibrating because of the Bernouilli effect.
Speech sounds produced with closed, vibrating vocalfolds
This is the same effect that keeps air planes in the sky, and thatmakes lids go up and down on pot with boiling liquids.
VoicingSpeech sounds produced with closed, vibrating vocal folds
How it works.1. The vocal folds are closed, but you push air out of your
lungs.2. The air pressure increases, until the vocal folds open and
air escapes.3. The air moves past the vocal folds, creating air pressure to
drop perpendicular to the direction of the movement of theair.
4. This, in turn, causes the vocal folds to close up again.5. Repeat the entire cycle
Voicing
I Speech sounds produced with open vocal folds are calledvoiceless.
You may think that speech sounds produced with vocal foldvibration are their counterpart; these are the voiced sounds.However, it is more complicated than that, as we will see soon.Let’s turn to another part of phonetics: acoustics
Acoustics
Whenever we speak we modify the air escaping from our lungsin some way.
I Some sounds block the air completely (for example p, t ork).
I We only hear their release.I Some sounds cause a turbulence that we can hear (for
example the sounds that correspond to the letters ß or ff).
AcousticsLet’s listen first:
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
batzen
ba
Time (s)8.992 9.111
spatzen
s p a
Time (s)4.995 5.401
AcousticsLet’s listen first:
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
batzen
ba
Time (s)8.992 9.111
spatzen
s p a
Time (s)4.995 5.401
AcousticsLet’s listen first:
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
batzen
ba
Time (s)8.992 9.111
spatzen
s p a
Time (s)4.995 5.401
AcousticsLet’s have a look at the acoustics of the first syllable of thesewords:
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
AcousticsLet’s have a look at the acoustics of the first syllable of thesewords:
batzen
ba
Time (s)8.992 9.111
AcousticsLet’s have a look at the acoustics of the first syllable of thesewords:
spatzen
s p a
Time (s)4.995 5.401
Acoustics
The hearer has therefore three cues to decide she is dealingwith a voiceless sound or a sound that is not voiceless. (Again,there is a difference between being not voiceless and beingvoiced.The study of perception is another part of phonetics and dealswith the question what acoustic cues are used by the hearer toidentify or distinguish sounds.
Perception
In order to find out what cues are relevant for a hearer you needto do an experiment. The ear can be easily deceived.
Perception
Let’s do a very simple experiment to find out what cues isrelevant: the puff of air, the vibrating vocal folds or the silence.
PerceptionLet’s first listen again to the first syllables of our words:
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
batzen
ba
Time (s)8.992 9.111
spatzen
s p a
Time (s)4.995 5.401
PerceptionLet’s first listen again to the first syllables of our words:
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
batzen
ba
Time (s)8.992 9.111
spatzen
s p a
Time (s)4.995 5.401
PerceptionLet’s first listen again to the first syllables of our words:
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
batzen
ba
Time (s)8.992 9.111
spatzen
s p a
Time (s)4.995 5.401
Perception
Take a piece of paper and tear it (neatly!) in two pieces; on onepiece you write A and on the other piece you write B.
Perception1: same or different?
A
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
B
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
Different: pa from patzen and ba from Batzen.
Perception1: same or different?
A
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
B
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
Different: pa from patzen and ba from Batzen.
Perception2: same or different?
A
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
B
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
Same: pa from patzen and pa from Spatzen.
Perception2: same or different?
A
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
B
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
Same: pa from patzen and pa from Spatzen.
Perception3: same or different?
A
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
B
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
Different: ba from Batzen and pa from Spatzen.
Perception3: same or different?
A
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
B
patzen
pa
Time (s)1.315 1.489
Different: ba from Batzen and pa from Spatzen.
Conclusion
We have looked at various phonetic aspects of voicing:
I How are voiceless and voiced sounds produced?I What are the acoustic consequences of this production?I What cues are perceptually relevant.
Question 1
Essay question.
1. How are voiced and voiceless sounds produced?2. What are the acoustics of this production?3. How is the difference perceived?
Describe the production, acoustics and the perception of voicecontrasts in German.