Phonetic Transcription and Sound Production

Speech Sounds

• The production of sounds involves the movement of air from the lungs through the opening of the vocal cords, up into the throat, and out through the mouth or nose.
• The vocal cords and glottis are found in the larynx, also known as the 'voice box'.

Organs of Speech

• The tube that runs from the lungs through the throat up into the mouth area is called the pharynx.
• The oral cavity houses several 'articulators' such as the alveolar ridge, the tongue, the teeth, and the lips.
• There is a junction from the throat that veers off into the oral cavity, and further up to the soft and hard palate (velum), which leads to the nasal cavity.

Ejective Sounds

• Ejective sounds are produced by a release of the buildup of air in the oral cavity that flows out through the partial closure between the teeth and alveolar ridge.
• Examples of ejective sounds in Hausa include [duϸs’è] 'stone', [s’oϸhoϸ] 'old (person)', and [s’aϸwoϸ] 'long'.

Velar Ejective

• The articulators for velar ejective sounds are the same as for velar sounds, the velum and the tongue.
• The velum is closed so that air cannot pass to the nasal cavity, and the glottis is also closed, causing the air trapped in the vocal tract to build up behind the tongue and velum.
• The ejective sound is made when the back of the tongue is lowered to release the air in the vocal tract.

Fricatives

• Fricatives are produced with a partial obstruction in the flow of air such that air passes through a narrow passage with some noise.
• Bilabial fricatives are produced with the same articulators as bilabial stops, the upper and lower lips.
• The fricatives are produced with some friction created by the flow of air passing through the narrow passage between the two lips.

Sound Segments

• All sound segments in languages of the world fall into two major categories, consonants and vowels.
• The main distinction between the two categories is that consonants are produced with obstruction in air coming from the lungs, while for vowels there is relatively little or no obstruction of air.

Alveolar Sounds

• Alveolar trill [r] is produced with the tip of the tongue raised in a slightly curled back position while approaching the alveolar ridge.
• Examples of alveolar trill include Urhobo: [ϸè] 'Alveolar trill', Igbo: [riϸ] 'eat', and [rù] 'carry'.
• Alveolar flap is produced with the tip of the tongue raised close to the alveolar ridge enough to cause some obstruction in the flow of air passing through the mouth.
• Examples of alveolar flap include English: [raund] 'round', [fri:] 'free'.

Alveolar Approximant

• Alveolar approximant [l] is a lateral consonant that is produced by a complete closure between the centre of the tongue and the alveolar ridge.
• Examples of alveolar approximant include English: [lænd] 'land', [paϸl] 'pile', Igbo: [leϸ] 'look', and [àlà] 'earth'.

Syllable Structure

• The structure of a syllable consists of an onset, a rhyme, a nucleus, and a coda.
• The rhyme is further divided into the nucleus and the coda.
• The nucleus is the obligatory component of a syllable and can be a vowel or a syllabic consonant.
• The onset and the coda are optional components of a syllable.
• Languages differ in the structure of their syllables, with some languages permitting more than one consonant in the onset position and others permitting only one consonant.