Phonetics/Phonological Review

Phonetics/Phonological Review

• Phoneme is a speech sound that can distinguish one word from another.
• Vowels are produced with open vocal tract, also called sonorants.
  • Dimensions:
    • Tongue Advancement: how far forward or back the tongue is in the mouth.
    • Tongue Height: how high or low the tongue is in the mouth.
    • Lip Rounding: how much the lips are rounded or retracted.
    • Degree of Tension: how tense or relaxed the tongue muscles are.
• Consonants are produced with a constriction in the vocal tract, also called obstruents and sonorant/resonants.
  • Classification:
    • Manner of Articulation: how the air is modified as it flows through the vocal tract.
    • Place of Articulation: where the constriction is in the vocal tract.
    • Voicing: whether the vocal cords vibrate or not.
• Distribution: refers to the contexts in which a phoneme can occur.
• Distinctive Features (DFs): are attributes of phonemes that help distinguish them from each other.
  • DFs are binary, meaning a phoneme either has or does not have a particular feature.

English Vowels and Diphthongs

• Vowel quadrilateral: A chart that organizes vowels based on tongue height and advancement.
  • Front vowels: /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ/
  • Back vowels: /u, ʊ, o, ɔ, ɑ/
  • Central vowels: /ə, ɝ, ɚ, ʌ/
• Diphthongs: Are vowel sounds that glide from one vowel to another.
  • English Diphthongs /aɪ/, /aʊ/, /ɔɪ/, /ju/, /oʊ, eɪ/, /ɪɚ, ɛɚ, ɑɚ, ɔɚ, ʊɚ/

Vowel Classification

• Tongue Height:
  • High: /i, ɪ, u, ʊ/
  • Mid: /e, ɛ, o, ɔ/ /ə, ɚ, ɝ, ʌ/
  • Low: /æ, ɑ/
• Tongue Advancement:
  • Front: / i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ/
  • Back: /u, ʊ, o, ɔ, ɑ/
  • Central: /ə, ɝ, ɚ, ʌ/
• Degree of Lip Rounding:
  • Unrounded: /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ, ɑ, ə, ʌ/
  • Rounded: /u, ʊ, o, ɔ, ɚ, ɝ/
• Degree of Muscle Tension:
  • Tense vowels: are longer in duration and have a greater degree of muscular effort.
    • /i, e, u, o, ɔ, ɑ, ɝ/
    • They can occur in open and closed stressed syllables.
  • Lax vowels: are shorter and have less muscular effort.
    • /ɪ, ɛ, æ, ʊ, ə, ʌ, ɚ/
    • They typically occur in closed syllables or unstressed open syllables.

Rhotics Vowels and Consonants

• Rhotic vowels: are vowels that contain an "r" sound.
  • /ə˞ ɜ˞/
• Rhotic diphthongs: involve a vowel sound that glides to an "r" sound.
  • /ɪ͡ə˞, ɛ͡ə˞, ɑ͡ə˞, ɔ͡ə˞, æ͡ə˞, i.ə˞, ʊ͡ə˞, u͡ə˞/
  • or /ɪ͡ɹ, ɛ͡ɹ, ɑ͡ɹ, ɔ͡ɹ, æ͡ɹ, i.ɹ, ʊ͡ɹ, u͡ɹ/
  • or /ɪ͡r, ɛ͡r, ɑ͡r, ɔ͡r, æ͡r, i.r, ʊ͡r, u͡r/
• Consonantal "r": /ɹ/

Consonant Classification

• Place of Articulation: refers to the location where the articulation takes place.
  • Bilabial: lips
  • Labiodental: between the upper teeth and lower lip
  • Interdental: between the teeth
  • Alveolar: between the tongue and alveolar ridge
  • Palatal: between the tongue and hard palate
  • Velar: between the tongue and soft palate
  • Glottal: at the vocal folds.
• Manner of Articulation: refers to how the air is modified in the vocal tract.
  • Stop: complete closure of the vocal tract.
  • Fricative: narrow constriction, air flows through the opening.
  • Affricate: stop followed by a fricative.
  • Nasal: air flows through the nasal cavity.
  • Liquid: partial constriction of the vocal tract.
  • Glide: smooth transition to a vowel.
• Voicing: refers to whether the vocal cords vibrate during articulation.
  • Voiced: vocal cords vibrate.
  • Voiceless: vocal cords do not vibrate.

English Consonant Phonemes

• Obstruents: Stops, fricatives, and affricates.
• Sonorants: Nasals and approximates (liquids and glides).

Difference between Vowels and Consonants

• Vowel classification: based on lip position and tongue placement.
• Consonant classification: based on place, manner, and voicing.

Minimal Pairs

• Minimal Pairs: words that differ by one phoneme, resulting in a change in meaning.
  • Example: /kæt/ vs. /mæt/
• Minimally Opposing Minimal Pairs: the distinguishing phonemes differ slightly.
  • Example: /ki/ vs. /ti/
• Maximally Opposing Minimal Pairs: the distinguishing phonemes have maximal differences.
  • Example: /m/ vs. /s/
• Near Minimal Pairs: words differ by the presence or absence of a phoneme.
  • Example: scar vs. car

Syllable Structure

• Syllable: unit of speech consisting of an onset (optional), and a rhyme (nucleus + coda)
  • Onset: consonants before the vowel.
  • Rhyme:
    • Nucleus: typically vowel.
    • Coda: consonants after the vowel.
  • Syllables are typically categorized as open or closed, depending on the presence or absence of a coda.
    • Open syllable: ends with a vowel.
    • Closed syllable: ends with a consonant.