LING 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Voiceless Labiodental Fricative, Bilabial Nasal, Vocal Tract
Phonetics
The Study of Speech Sounds
What’s the smallest unit of language?
● Words are built from roots/affixes=morphemes
○ smallest meaningful units of language, but not smallest units
■ Morphemes are made up of consonants and vowels, and these aren’t
even the smallest units
■ Vowels and consonants composed of features
● Correspond roughly to articulatory gestures speakers use to make
sounds
The problem with alphabets
● Different letters used for same sound (c, k)
● Same letter used for different sounds (nice vs. cat)
● Some sounds have no letter to represent them :
○ Flat (butter): sounds like a combo of ‘t’ and ‘d’
● Some letters correspond to no sound (silent letters (knife, dumb, align, receipt)
● Imprecise in pronunciation!! Esp. across languages!!
○ Across languages, the letter ‘c’ can sound like k, ch, th, or even a click
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA
● Provides a system of providing precise, unambiguous alphabet that represents the
sounds of all languages
● Categorizes sounds with manner, voicing, and place
● delta=the
● theta=thin
● Etc
How many vowels in English? A LOT MORE THAN 5!
● [i]=see
● [I]=it
● [e]=able
● [ae]=at
● [u]=too
● [o]=no
● Etc!
● Classified by tongue height and part of tongue involved
● Dipthings: two vowel sounds combined
○ Eye, out, boy
How are sounds produced in vocal tract
● Air moves through trachea, larynx (vocal cords+glottis), pharynx, mouth/nose
● Obstruction at any of these points will give us sounds
● Phonetic parameters
○ State of glottis
■ Voiced, voiceless
○ Place of articulation
■ Bilabial, labiodental, interdental, alveolar, palatal, velar, glottal
○ Manner of articulation
■ Stops, fricatives, nasal, affricates, sibilants, lateral, glides
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Smallest meaningful units of language, but not smallest units. Morphemes are made up of consonants and vowels, and these aren"t even the smallest units. Correspond roughly to articulatory gestures speakers use to make. Different letters used for same sound (c, k) Same letter used for different sounds (nice vs. cat) Some sounds have no letter to represent them : Flat (butter): sounds like a combo of t" and d". Some letters correspond to no sound (silent letters (knife, dumb, align, receipt) Across languages, the letter c" can sound like k, ch, th, or even a click. Provides a system of providing precise, unambiguous alphabet that represents the sounds of all languages. Categorizes sounds with manner, voicing, and place. Classified by tongue height and part of tongue involved. Air moves through trachea, larynx (vocal cords+glottis), pharynx, mouth/nose. Obstruction at any of these points will give us sounds. Bilabial, labiodental, interdental, alveolar, palatal, velar, glottal. Stops, fricatives, nasal, affricates, sibilants, lateral, glides.
