SPE103 Spring25 - Articulators & IPA

• SPE103 is likely a course code, possibly for a phonetics or linguistics course.
• Spring25 indicates the semester or term when the course is offered.
• 32800 could be a section number.
• The course covers articulators, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), phonemes, and the breathing process in speech.

Articulators

• Articulators are the parts of the vocal tract that are used to produce speech sounds.
• The main articulators include the lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum), and tongue.
• The tongue is the most versatile articulator, capable of a wide range of movements.
• Articulators can be active or passive.
• Active articulators move towards passive articulators to create constrictions.
• The lower lip and the tongue are active articulators.
• Passive articulators are stationary and are contacted by active articulators.
• The upper lip, teeth, alveolar ridge, and palate are passive articulators

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

• The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system for transcribing the sounds of speech.
• It assigns a unique symbol to each distinct speech sound (phoneme or allophone).
• The IPA chart is organized by manner and place of articulation for consonants and by tongue height and backness for vowels.
• The IPA is essential for phoneticians and linguists to accurately record and analyze speech.
• IPA transcriptions are enclosed in square brackets [ ] to distinguish them from ordinary orthography.
• Diacritics are used in the IPA to indicate fine phonetic details of a sound

Phonemes

• A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another.
• Phonemes are abstract representations of sounds, not the physical sounds themselves.
• Different languages have different sets of phonemes.
• Phonemes are written between slashes / / to distinguish them from phonetic transcriptions written between brackets [ ].
• Allophones are variations of a phoneme that do not change the meaning of a word.
• For example, the /t/ in "top" and "stop" are allophones of the same phoneme.
• Minimal pairs are words that differ by only one phoneme and have different meanings (e.g., "pat" and "bat").
• Minimal pairs demonstrate that two sounds are distinct phonemes in a language.

Breathing Process

• Respiration is the power source for speech.
• The breathing process involves the inhalation and exhalation of air.
• During inhalation, the diaphragm contracts and the rib cage expands, creating negative pressure in the lungs.
• Air flows into the lungs to equalize the pressure.
• During exhalation, the diaphragm relaxes and the rib cage contracts, forcing air out of the lungs.
• Speech is produced during exhalation.
• Controlled exhalation is necessary for speech production.
• The muscles of the rib cage and abdomen help regulate the flow of air during speech.
• Subglottal pressure, the air pressure below the vocal folds, is important for voice production.
• Increased subglottal pressure can increase the loudness of speech.