ENG 4339 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Roast Beef, Snob, Voiceless Palato-Alveolar Sibilant
UNIT 1 - WHAT IS PHONETICS? Laura López Cózar
“the study of sounds of the human language”
•Articulatory phonetics: physiological mechanisms of speech production.
•Acoustic phonetics: physical properties of sound waves.
•Auditory phonetics: perceptions of speech by the hearer.
Rhythm measure time (ms), frequency (Hz) and intensity (loudness).
–Static palatography: covering the roof of your mouth and articulate the sound. In the past,
they also used x-rays. You can only can record you doing one sound.
–Dynamic palatography: all the little points are wires connected to the computer. Also has
limitations, just covers the whole palate.
–EMA: electro magnetography. Records movement of the facial muscles.
Phonetics vs. phonology.
•Phonetics → the science of speech sound. What is physical, what I am able to measure and
touch.
•Phonology → how sounds patter/function in a given language.
•Both are important components of linguistics.
•Phonetician and phonologist.
Main concepts in Phonetics
•Speech segments vs. continuous speech. Combine in words. No meaning.
•Minimal pairs: a pair of words that differ only in 1 sound: pin/bin hit/heat.
•Phoneme: a sound which can be used to change meaning in a particular language. Abstract
unit.
•Allophone: a phoneme has an alternate form (contextual variety): /b/ /d/ /g/ n intervocalic
position in SP. /t/ initial vs. medial. We can't record one only phoneme.
◦/t/ → top [tʰ ] bit [t¬] button [ɾ]
Phonetic Transcription
•Influence of orthography: written vs. Oral language.
•Matching letters (graphemes) / sounds not always possible.
◦1 sound / different letters: each, busy, scenes, shop, sure, mission
◦1 letter / different sounds: gate, any, father
•Many homophones in English: right, write, rite. Need for an IPA.
•Phonemic/phonetic transcription: minute details / shows phoneme contrasts, what is
essential to meaning.
→ inhibitory vs. facilities effect.
▪Phonetic transcription: TOP [ tʰɔp]
▪Phonemic transcription: TOP /tɔp/
how we produce speech
•Organs of speech: serve other purposes, specialized.
•Speech sounds: eggressive pulmonic air stream (produced by lungs contracting). Passes thru
larynx and along vocal tract (changes its configuration).
•Classification: respiratory system, phonatory system, articulatory system.
Distributing prohibited | Downloaded by Cfisd Center ([email protected])
lOMoARcPSD|2520155
UNIT 1 - WHAT IS PHONETICS? Laura López Cózar
The respiratory system
•Consists of the lungs, bronchial tubes.
•Breathing: Inhalation (breath in) and exhalation (breathing out) occur at regular intervals.
•Speech: lungs take in air fast and let it out slowly.
•Ingressive pulmonic air stream: in some languages like Zulu and Xhosa (clicks).
The phonatory system
•Larynx: located at top of trachea. Known as “Adam's apple” (bigger and visible for men).
•Vocal folds: vibrate very rapidly. Produce phonation or “voice”. Two arytenoid cartilages
pull them open and closed.
•Glottis: gap between the vocal folds.
•Voiceless sounds: glottis is wide open and airflow escapes freely.
•Voiced sounds: vibrations occur too rapidly. Cannot be seen directly. Larger and longer for
men: 130 times/sec.
•Frequency: speed of vibration. Perception of frequency: pitch. Pitch change is the basis of
tone and intonation.
Production of vocal sound
•larynx: vocal sound generator. Once the sound has been created, it travels upward throug the
resonating cavities.
•Resonators (pharynx, oral and nasal cavity) modify and “filter” the sound created in the
larynx.
◦Amplifying, attenuating, nullifying or letting the air passing with no changes.
•Our “malleable” resonator: unique among musical instruments because it can be
reconfigured in many shapes.
•Humans reshape their resonators by the use of articulators.
Types of sound waves
•Simple sound waves varying in amplitude (loudness).
•Complex sound waves.
Source-filter theory
•As the sound source leaves the vocal folds, it is filtered by the vocal tract resonance.
•A filter can:
◦amplify (make louder)
◦attenuate (soften)
◦nullify (cancel)
◦pass the sound without any alteration.
The articulatory system
•Easy to examine. Located above the larynx: supra-glottal vocal tract. Three resonating
cavities: pharyngeal, oral and nasal.
•Modify quality of sound in the larynx: amplifying and damping due to alterations in the
shape of the cavities.
•Pharynx: located above the larynx. A passageway that splits in 2: nasal cavity and oral
cavity. Position of soft palate determines direction on airstream. Raised: oral cavity or
lowered: nasal cavity.
Distributing prohibited | Downloaded by Cfisd Center ([email protected])
lOMoARcPSD|2520155
UNIT 1 - WHAT IS PHONETICS? Laura López Cózar
•Lips: pressed tightly can block airstream for stop consonants. Close together allow friction
for fricatives. Lower lip against upper teeth (labiodental). Vowels: neutral, spread and
rounded.
•Teeth: dental sounds. Tongue tip against / close to the front teeth. Mention examples.
•Alveolar ridge “tooth sockets”: tongue tip / blade in (near) contact with upper alveolar ridge.
Mention examples.
•Hard palate: central portion of the tongue is placed against the hard palate (there is bone).
Palato-alveolar in English, palatal in Cat.
•Soft palate or velum: position determines whether airstream goes to oral/nasal cavity. “gag
reflex”/”gargling”.
•Uvula: lump of flesh. Uvula trill in French and German. Also in Sóller.
•Tongue: entirely muscle, flexible, assumes many shapes. Various portions: tip, blade, front,
back, root. Sides of tongue: lateral sounds. Groove for fricatives.
Distributing prohibited | Downloaded by Cfisd Center ([email protected])
lOMoARcPSD|2520155
Document Summary
The study of sounds of the human language : articulatory phonetics: physiological mechanisms of speech production, acoustic phonetics: physical properties of sound waves, auditory phonetics: perceptions of speech by the hearer. Rhythm measure time (ms), frequency (hz) and intensity (loudness). Static palatography: covering the roof of your mouth and articulate the sound. You can only can record you doing one sound. Dynamic palatography: all the little points are wires connected to the computer. Also has limitations, just covers the whole palate. What is physical, what i am able to measure and touch. Phonology how sounds patter/function in a given language: both are important components of linguistics. No meaning: minimal pairs: a pair of words that differ only in 1 sound: pin/bin hit/heat. Phoneme: a sound which can be used to change meaning in a particular language. Abstract unit: allophone: a phoneme has an alternate form (contextual variety): /b/ /d/ /g/ n intervocalic position in sp.
