Speech Production and Diphthongs Quiz

Introduction to English Phonetics and Phonology

• Contrastive analysis is the study of the differences and similarities between languages, focusing on the differences and similarities in sounds systems.
• Phonology studies sound systems, patterns and rules in language.
• Phonetics studies the sounds/speech/articulation of each language.
• Phonemics are the study of the phonological system of a language, and from this point of view, phonemics is a relative study.
• Contrastive phonology focuses on the differences and similarities in the sound systems of two or more languages (typically, by comparing one language as L1 to another as l2).

Phonology

• Phonology is concerned with the sound systems, patterns, and rules of a language.
• This encompasses the fixed sound combinations and systems in language.
• It analyses contextual variability within sound units.
• Contrastive phonology compares languages with emphasis on differences.

Contrastive Phonemics

• Contrastive phonemics studies the sound inventories of two languages.
• It works on an abstract level, focusing on the contrastive units (phonemes) of those inventories.
• Phonemic analysis observes how sounds in language are patterned to establish meaning.
• The study is concerned with how sounds are perceived in speech, understanding the neurological basis.

Contrastive Phonetics

• Phonetics studies the sounds of speech, focusing on their physical and acoustic properties (how humans produce speech and perceive sounds).
• This analysis focuses on the perception (neurological understanding) of sound production, from articulation to reception.
• A comparison of sounds in different languages is central to contrastive phonetics.

Allophones

• An allophone is a phonetic variant of a given phoneme in a language.
• Allophones are variations of the same phoneme.
• This variation is due to contextual influence.
• Allophones are represented with square brackets
• Diacritics are used for allophones within languages

Articulatory Diagram

• The articulatory diagram represents the organs involved in speech production (like the tongue, lips, and vocal cords).
• These organs and their positions are depicted in cross-section.
• It's a visual representation of the apparatus and organs needed for speech production.

Cavities

• Cavities are the zones (oral and nasal chambers) where airflow occurs in the speech production.
• These chambers have a significant role in the articulation of sounds.

Articulators

• Articulators are the movable organs that take part in speech's articulation (tongue, lip, jaw).
• English articulators include the lower lip, tongue, and lower jaw.

Points of Articulation

• The point of articulation represents the place that the articulators reach to make the sounds (e.g., teeth, palate).
• Key points in English include upper lip (and) teeth, (and) the palate

Contrastive Analysis

• Contrastive analysis (CA) focuses on comparing two or more languages and their sound systems.
• It emphasises similarities and differences in specific sound systems, typically by examining one language as L1 and comparing it with another as L2.

Phonetic Transcription

• Phonetic transcription is a notation system which records the speech sounds using specific symbols (often IPA).
• It has the goal of accurately recording speech sounds with details using square brackets, preserving the peculiarities of each sound.
• Transcriptions should reflect allophones and associated variations

Phonemic Transcription

• In phonemic transcription use slant lines, and focus only on phonemes, omitting allophonic variations.
• It aims to simplify speech sounds and their combination.
• The transcription is a simplification of the speech sounds by focusing only on phonemes
• The primary goal is to record the fundamental sound units of language.

Transcription Features

• Transcriptions focus on phonetic elements and variations in speech sounds, such as stress and vocal variation, which are not always represented by the symbols.
• Distinctive features are important to define elements in the articulation.
• The goal of transcription is to carefully describe the pronunciation with symbols.

Vowels

• Every language has vowels, which are the nucleus of a syllable.
• Vowel sounds in American English are typically classified by tongue position, area, muscle tension, and lip shape.
• Spanish vowels are generally distinct in sound based on similar characteristics; however, they differ slightly.
• Vowel sounds are described using symbols representing the position of the tongue, area, and shape of the lips.

Diphthongs and Triphthongs

• Diphthongs represent a combination of two vowel sounds pronounced together forming a single syllable.
• Triphthongs contain one more vowel followed by two approximants
• Both English and Spanish have different categories of diphthongs and triphthongs that depend primarily on differences in articulation and sound production

Consonants

• Consonants, in contrast with vowels, involve some degree of closure, or constriction, of the vocal tract. They are classified based on the manner and point of articulation, as well as voicing.
• In English and Spanish the same sounds have particular variations (allophones).
• These variations are determined by the place and manner of articulation

Affricates

• Affricates are consonants which start as a plosive sound and then quickly transition to a fricative sound.
• They are produced in the same point of articulation.

Lateral Sounds

• Laterals are consonant sounds that involve the production of sounds which pass through the sides of the tongue, which is unique characteristic.
• A comparison of lateral sounds in Spanish (and) English shows these sounds occur in different places in the mouth
• English has a particular lateral sound which is [l] whereas Spanish uses two lateral sounds [l] and [y]. There is only one lateral consonant sound [l] for the English speaking population whereas Spanish populations commonly utilize two lateral sounds in their speech production [1, λ].