Phonetics and Phonology PDF

Phonetics and Phonology Ch 2 The production of speech sounds  Articulators above the larynx – All the sounds we make when we speak are the result of muscles contracting. – The muscles in the chest that we use for breathing produce the flow of air that is needed for almost all spe...

Phonetics and Phonology Ch 2 The production of speech sounds  Articulators above the larynx – All the sounds we make when we speak are the result of muscles contracting. – The muscles in the chest that we use for breathing produce the flow of air that is needed for almost all speech sounds; muscles in the larynx produce many different modifications in the flow of air from the chest to the mouth. After passing through the larynx, the air goes through what we call the vocal tract, which ends at the mouth and nostrils.  Articulators above the larynx we call the part comprising the mouth the oral cavity and the part that leads to the nostrils the nasal cavity. the air from the lungs escapes into the atmosphere. We have a large and complex set of muscles that can produce changes in the shape of the vocal tract, and in order to learn how the sounds of speech are produced it is necessary to become familiar with the different parts of the vocal tract. These different parts are called articulators, and the study of them is called articulatory phonetics.  Articulators above the larynx i) The pharynx is a tube which begins just above the larynx. It is about 2 cm long in women and about 5 cm in men, and at its top end it is divided into two, one part being the back of the oral cavity and the other being the beginning of the way through the nasal cavity. If you look in your mirror with your mouth open, you can see the back of the pharynx. ii) The soft palate or velum is seen in the diagram in a position that allows air to pass through the nose and through the mouth. Yours is probably in that position now, but often in speech it is raised so that air cannot escape through the nose. The other important thing about the soft palate is that it is one of the articulators that can be touched by the tongue. When we make the sounds k, g the tongue is in contact with the lower side of the soft palate, and we call these velar consonants.  Articulators above the larynx – The hard palate is the "roof of the mouth". You can feel its smooth curved surface with your tongue. A consonant made with the tongue close to the hard palate is called palatal. The sound j in 'yes' is palatal. – iv) The alveolar ridge is between the top front teeth and the hard palate. You can feel its shape with your tongue. Its surface is really much rougher than it feels, and is covered with little ridges. Sounds made with the tongue touching here (such as t, d, n) are called alveolar.  Articulators above the larynx – The tongue is a very important articulator and it can be moved into many different places and different shapes. It is usual to divide the tongue into different parts. – tip, blade, front, back and root. – The tongue is in contact with the upper side teeth for most speech – Sounds made with the tongue touching the front teeth are called dental.  Articulators above the larynx The lips are important in speech. They can be pressed together (when we produce the sounds p, b), brought into contact with the teeth (as in f, v), or rounded to produce the lip-shape for vowels like u:. *Sounds in which the lips are in contact with each other are called bilabial *sounds with lip- to-teeth contact are called labiodental.  Articulators – The seven articulators described above are the main ones used in speech, but there are a few other things to remember. – the larynx – the jaws – The nose  English Sounds Vowels Consonants V C  Vowel and consonant – it is not easy to define exactly what vowels and consonants mean. – The most common view is that vowels are sounds in which there is NO obstruction to the flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips. A doctor who wants to look at the back of a patient's mouth often asks them to say "ah"; making this vowel sound is the best way of presenting an unobstructed view. But if we make a sound like s, d it can be clearly felt that we are making it difficult or impossible for the air to pass through the mouth. – Most people would have no doubt that sounds like s, d should be called consonants. However, there are many cases where the decision is not so easy to make. – One problem is that some English sounds that we think of as consonants, such as the sounds at the beginning of the words 'hay' and 'way', do not really obstruct the flow of air more than some vowels do. Yet, they are considered as consonants.  Vowels – If we say that the difference between vowels and consonants is a difference in the way that they are produced, there will be some cases of uncertainty or disagreement. – this is a problem that cannot be avoided. It is possible to establish two distinct groups of sounds (vowels and consonants) in another way. – Consider English words beginning with the sound h; what sounds can come next after this h? We find that most of the sounds we normally think of as vowels can follow (e.g. e in the word 'hen'), but practically none of the sounds we class as consonants, with the possible exception of j in a word such as 'huge'. Now think of English words beginning with the two sounds bI; we find many cases where a consonant can follow (e.g. d in the word 'bid', or l in the word 'bill'), but practically no cases where a vowel may follow.  Vowels vs Consonants – What we are doing here is looking at the different contexts and positions in which particular sounds can occur. – this is the study of the distribution of the sounds, and is of great importance in phonology. – Study of the sounds found at the beginning and end of English words has shown that two groups of sounds with quite different patterns of distribution can be identified, and these two groups are vowel and consonant. – If we look at the vowel-consonant distinction in this way, we must say that the most important difference between vowel and consonant is not the way that they are made, but their different distributions  Vowels vs Consonants – Distinguishing between vowels and consonants: Production ( pronunciation) distribution ( context)  English Vowels – Vowels can have different lengths in different contexts. – Each vowel is described in relation to the cardinal vowels.  English Vowels – The diagrams show us how we can classify vowels according to their tongue height and their frontness or backness. – There is another important variable of vowel quality, and that is lip-position. i) Rounded, where the corners of the lips are brought towards each other and the lips pushed forwards. This is most clearly seen in cardinal vowel no. 5 [u]. ii) Spread, with the corners of the lips moved away from each other, as for a smile. This is most clearly seen in cardinal vowel no. 9 [i]. iii) Neutral, where the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread. The noise most English people make when they are hesitating (written 'er') has neutral lip position.  English Vowels – Types of English vowels according to their length: – Short vowels – Long vowels – Diphthongs – Triphthongs  English Vowels Do not forget these terms: – Symbols – transcription  English Short Vowels – I example words: bit- pin- fish. – e example words: bet- men- yes. – æ example words: bat- man- gas. – ᴧ example words: cut- come- rush. – ɒ example words: pot- gone- cross. – ʊ example words: put- pull- push.  English Short Vowels – There is one other short vowel called schwa ə. – This central vowel is a very familiar sound in English. – It is heard in the first syllable of the words ‘about’, ‘oppose’, ‘perhaps’.  Assignment *On the diagram provided, various articulators are indicated by labelled arrows (a-e). Give the names for the articulators. *Draw a vowel quadrilateral and indicate on it the correct places for the following English vowels: a)  b)  c)  d)  *Write the symbols for the vowels in the following words: a) bread b) rough c) foot d) hymn e) pull f) cough g) mat h) friend