Phonetics What is phonetics Acoustic phonetics physical properties

Phonetics

What is phonetics? • Acoustic phonetics: physical properties of sounds/signs • Auditory phonetics: perception of sounds/signs • Articulatory phonetics: production of sounds/signs

Articulatory phonetics Of spoken languages: • Description of speech sounds – Vocal tract structures relevant for speech • Transcription of speech sounds • Sound inventories

Vocal tract anatomy

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

Phonetic description • Consonants: e. g. – Laryngeal setting voiceless – Place of articulation bilabial – Degree of occlusion/manner stop

Phonetic transcription • Alphabetic and other symbols which abbreviate phonetic descriptions – E. g. voiceless bilabial stop = [p] • Different systems of phonetic transcription – ‘Americanist’ – International Phonetic Association

Value of phonetic transcription • A universal framework for the description of languages – 1 symbol – 1 sound – Many languages lack writing systems • Superior to many writing systems

Preparing a transcription • What are the sounds of the language? • How can they be represented?

Phonetic transcription 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. ‘driftwood’ ‘cane’ ‘footwear’ ‘grease’ ‘straight up’ ‘your collarbone’

Phonetic transcription 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. [t z] [th z] [qh. E] [XE] [nt q] [nt’ q] ‘driftwood’ ‘cane’ ‘footwear’ ‘grease’ ‘straight up’ ‘your collarbone’

Vocal tract anatomy • Upper articulator • Lower articulator

Major lower articulators

Major structures of the tongue structure descriptor tongue lingual tip apical blade laminal dorsum dorsal root radical coronal

Description of speech sounds Main parameters for consonants: • • Place of articulation Degree of occlusion (‘manner’) Oral or nasal Laryngeal setting

Degree of occlusion • How close are lower and upper articulator? – Relatively close, constricted (‘occluded’) airflow: consonants – Relatively far apart, unconstricted airflow: vowels • Defines classes of sounds – Vowels vs. consonants: [a] vs. [d] – Subclasses of vowels: [a] vs. [i] – Subclasses of consonants: [d] vs. [z]

Place of articulation: consonants • Different languages produce sounds at different places of articulation • Witsuwit’en [qis] ‘king salmon’ vs. English geese [gis]

English consonant place of articulation lower upper example articulator (bi-) labio(apico-) labial dental interdental alveolar palatal velar glottal bin fin thin tin shin kin him

Place of articulation

Degree of occlusion • Consonant subclasses – Stops: complete occlusion of airflow – Fricatives: air pressure build-up behind occlusion; turbulent airflow – Approximants (‘liquids’ and ‘glides’): no pressure build-up

Oral vs. nasal • Velum raised – Air flows into oral cavity only Øoral sound • Velum lowered – Air flows into oral and nasal cavities Ønasal sound • Nasal fricatives are rare in the world’s languages. Why?

English oral vs. nasal stops Stop: produced with complete occlusion, lower and upper articulators seal off airflow (oral) stop (= nasal ‘plosive’) (stop) bilabial pin bin Kim alveolar tin din kin velar kin again king glottal uh-oh

English fricatives Fricative: produced with turbulent airflow, pressure build-up behind occlusion place example labiodental fin, VIN interdental thin, then alveolar sip, zip palatal Aleutian, illusion laryngeal hinder

Affricates • = Stop released into fricative of ‘same’ place of articulation • English affricates place example palatal chin, gin

English approximants Approximant: No pressure build-up, non-turbulent airflow liquids place stricture example alveolar lateral lip ( glides ) rip palatal yip labiovelar whip

Laryngeal setting

Laryngeal setting • English: What is the state of the vocal cords?

Laryngeal setting: the larynx

Laryngeal setting: vocal cords

Laryngeal setting • English voiced vs. voiceless (oral) stops and affricates labial alveolar palatal velar voiced crabby badge bag vls crappy batch back

Degree of occlusion • How close are lower and upper articulator? – Relatively close, constricted (‘occluded’) airflow: consonants • stops • fricatives • approximants – Relatively far apart, unconstricted airflow: vowels

Vowels • Vowel quality – Height – Backness – Labiality • Vowel quantity

A five vowel inventory Spanish front central back high i u mid e o low

Spanish vowels front high mid low central [mis ] ‘Mass’ [mes ] ‘table’ back [mus ] ‘muse’ [mos ] ‘waitress’ [m s ] ‘dough’

Quality • Height – High – mid – low • Backness – Front – central – back • Labiality – Rounded – unrounded – Non-low back vowels usually rounded

Phonetic description • [i] = high front unrounded vowel • [e] = mid front unrounded vowel • [ ] = low central(-back) unrounded vowel • [o] = mid back rounded vowel • [u] = high back rounded vowel

Another five vowel inventory Mandarin (Chinese) [ü]/[y] = high front rounded vowel [ ] = mid central unrounded vowel front high i central ü back u mid low

Mandarin vowel quality front high mid low unrnd round [í] ‘ 1’ [ü ] ‘bruise’ central back unrnd round [ú] ‘crow’ [ ] ‘hungry’ [ ]

Vowel quantity: Sahaptin [ ] = high central unrounded vowel [i] = high front unrounded vowel [i: ] = long high front unrounded vowel high low front central back i i: u u: :

Sahaptin short vowels front high low central [tit]- ‘fart’ [/ t t] ‘tooth’ [t tí] ‘dirty’ back [tut] ‘your dad’

Sahaptin short vs. long vowels short long [sts' t] 'night' [sts' : t] 'dark' [pišíš] 'paternal aunt' [c i: š] 'water' [pjuš] 'snake' [pu: š] 'juniper'

English vowels • English, a Germanic language • Proto-Germanic vowels i i: u u: e e: o: a

English vowels • Historical length > 'tense'/'lax' contrast • E. g. e: > i, e > E

English vowels high mid low tense lax/tense front central back unrounded u o i e E

English vowels high tense mid low front central back unrounded [hid] heed [hud] who'd lax [h d] hid [h d] hood tense [hed] hayed [hod] hoed lax/tense [h. Ed] head [h d] HUD [h d] hawed lax/tense [h d] had [š ] Shah [s d] sod

English vowels • Dialect mergers in N. America – , > (East) • [ ]: sod, hawed, [ ]: Shah – , > (East, Midwest) • [ ]: sod, Shah, [ ]: hawed – , , > (West) • [ ]: sod, Shah, hawed

English vowels Western North America high mid low tense lax lax/tense front central back unrounded u o ( ) i e E

English vowels In Western North America, [ ] only before [r]: • [m r] more • [mor ] mower syllabic • [m r] mar [ ] =

English vowels The vowel [ ] • only occurs in unstressed syllables stressed: [ ] unstressed: [ ] up [ p] gallop [g l p] cud [k d] wicked [w k d] cut [k t] racket [r k t]

Transcription practice • • • fish scrimmage asthma azalea mayonnaise