ENG 212 - Week 1 General Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology PDF

ENG 212: INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY 1 ========================================================== **WEEK 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY** **What is** **Phonetics?** Phonetics is a branch of linguistics which deals with the production of speech sounds, the p...

ENG 212: INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY 1 ========================================================== **WEEK 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY** **What is** **Phonetics?** Phonetics is a branch of linguistics which deals with the production of speech sounds, the physical properties of speech sounds, as well as how the sounds are perceived by the human ear. It is the level of linguistic description which studies the behaviour and characteristics of sounds. The study of Phonetics can be classified into three branches: articulatory phonetics (study of production of speech sounds), acoustic phonetics (study of physical properties of speech sounds) and auditory phonetics (study of how the sounds are perceived by the human ear). Let us take them one after the other. Articulatory Phonetics ====================== ##### **Articulatory phonetics refers to the "aspects of phonetics which looks at how the sounds of speech are made with the organs of the vocal tract" Ogden (2009:173).** ##### ##### **The production of speech involves four processes:** ##### Initiation/RESPIRATION:** Setting air in motion through the vocal tract.** ##### Phonation**: The modification of airflow as it passes through the larynx (related to voicing).** Resonation: ##### Articulation:** The shaping of airflow to generate particular sound types (related to manner)**  ##### ##### Articulatory phonetics is concerned with the physical mechanisms involved in producing spoken language. A fundamental goal of articulatory phonetics is to relate linguistic representations to articulator movements in real time and the consequent acoustic output that makes speech a medium for information transfer. Understanding the overall process requires an appreciation of the aerodynamic conditions necessary for sound production and the way that the various parts of the chest, neck, and head are used to produce speech. One descriptive goal of articulatory phonetics is the efficient and consistent description of the key articulatory properties that distinguish sounds used contrastively in language. There is fairly strong consensus in the field about the inventory of terms needed to achieve this goal. Despite this common, segmental, perspective, speech production is essentially dynamic in nature. Much remains to be learned about how the articulators are coordinated for production of individual sounds and how they are coordinated to produce sounds in sequence. Cutting across all of these issues is the broader question of which aspects of speech production are due to properties of the physical mechanism and which are the result of the nature of linguistic representations. A diversity of approaches is used to try to tease apart the physical and the linguistic contributions to the articulatory fabric of speech sounds in the world's languages. A variety of instrumental techniques are currently available, and improvement in safe methods of tracking articulators in real time promises to soon bring major advances in our understanding of how speech is produced. ##### **Articulatory phonetics also involves the description of both consonant and vowels sounds. Three parameters are used to describe consonants. These are voice, place and manner respectively. Each of these will now be discussed separately, although all three areas combine together in the production of speech.**   **[1) Voice]** In English we have both **voiced** and **voiceless** sounds. A sound fits into one of these categories according to how the vocal folds behave when a speech sound is produced. **Voiced: **Voiced sounds are sounds that involve vocal fold vibrations when they are produced. Examples of voiced sounds are /b,d,v,m/. If you place two fingers on either side of the front of your neck, just below your jawbone, and produce a sound, you should be able to feel a vibrating sensation. This tells you that a sound is voiced. **Voiceless:** Voiceless sounds are sounds that are produced with no vocal fold vibration. Examples of voiceless sounds in English are /s,t,p,f/.\ **[2) Place]** The vocal tract is made up of different sections, which play a pivotal role in the production of speech. These sections are called **articulators** and are what make speech sounds possible. They can be divided into two types. The **active articulator** is the articulator that moves towards another articulator in the production of a speech sound. This articulator moves towards another articulator to form a closure of some type in the vocal tract (i.e open approximation, close, etc -- define) The **passive articulator** is the articulator that remains stationary in the production of a speech sound. Often, this is the destination that the active articulator moves towards (i.e the hard palate).   I will now talk about the different places of articulation in the vocal tract -   - a) **Endolabial**: sounds produced where the upper teeth are pressed against the inside of the lower lip. b) **Exolabial**: sounds produced where the upper teeth are pressed against the outer side of the lower lip.   -   -   -   -   -   **[3) Manner]** In simple terms, the manner of articulation refers to the way a sound is made, as opposed to where it's made. Sounds differ in the way they are produced. When the articulators are brought towards each other, the flow of air differs according to the specific sound type. For instance, the airflow can be completely blocked off or made turbulent.   **1) Stop articulations:** Stop articulations are sounds that involve a complete closure in the vocal tract. The closure is formed when two articulators come together to prevent air escaping between them. Stop articulations can be categorized according to the kind of airflow involved. The type of airflow can be oral (plosives) or nasal (nasals). I will now talk about both plosives and nasals separately. 1a) **Plosives**: are sounds that are made with a complete closure in the oral (vocal) tract.  The velum is raised during a plosive sound, which prevents air from escaping via the nasal cavity. English plosives are the sounds /p,b,t,d,k,g/. Plosives can be held for quite a long time and are thus also called 'maintainable stops'. 1b) **Nasals** are similar to plosives in regards to being sounds that are made with a complete closure in the oral (vocal) tract. However, the velum is lowered during nasal sounds, which allows airflow to escape through the nasal cavity. There are 3 nasal sounds that occur in English /m,n, ŋ/ **2) Fricatives:** **Fricative** sounds are produced by narrowing the distance between the active and passive articulators causing them to be in close approximation. This causes the airflow to become turbulent when it passes between the two articulators involved in producing a fricative sound. English fricatives are sounds such as / f,v, θ,ð, s,z, ʃ,ʒ     / **3) Approximants:** **Approximant** sounds are created by narrowing the distance between the two articulators. Although, unlike fricatives, the distance isn't wide enough to create turbulent airflow.  English has 4 approximant sounds which are /w,j,r,l/.   **[Vowels]** When it comes to vowels, we use a different specification to describe them. We look at the vertical position of the tongue, the horizontal position of the tongue and lip position. Vowels are made with a free passage of airflow down the mid-line of the vocal tract. They are usually voiced and are produced without friction. **1) Vertical tongue position (close-open):** vertical tongue position refers to how close the tongue is to the roof of the mouth in the production of a vowel. If the tongue is close, it is given the label **close**. However, if the tongue is low in the mouth when a vowel is produced, it's given the label **open.  + close-mid/open mid (see below).** Some examples of open vowels: ɪ, ʊ Some examples of close vowels: æ, ɒ,    **2) Horizontal tongue position (front, mid, back)**: Horizontal tongue refers to where the tongue is positioned in the vocal tract in terms of 'at the front' or 'at the back' when a vowel is produced. If the tongue is at the front of the mouth it's given the label **front,** if the tongue is in the middle of the mouth it's given the label **mid** and if the tongue is at the back of the mouth it's given the label **back.** Some examples of front vowels: ɪ , e, æ Some examples of mid vowels: ə Some examples of back vowels:  ʌ,ɒ   **3) Lip position:** As is inferred, lip position concerns the position of the lips when a vowel is produced. The lips can either be **round,** **spread** or **neutral.** Examples of round vowels: u, o Examples of spread vowels: ɪ, ɛ   There are also different categories of vowels, for example: **monophthongs **and **diphthongs**.   **Monophthongs:** Monophthongs are vowels that are produced by a relatively stable tongue position. Monophthongs can be divided into two categories according to their duration. These are long and short vowels and their duration is mirrored in their names. Examples of short vowels: e, æ, ɪ, ʊ Examples of long vowels: ɔ: ɜ:, i:, u:   **Diphthongs: **Diphthongs are vowels where the tongue moves from one part of the mouth to another. They can be seen as starting of as one vowel and ending as a different vowel. Here are some examples: /aʊ, ɪə, ɔɪ, əʊ/ **Acoustic Phonetics** *When we speak to each other, the sounds that we make have to travel from the mouth of the speaker to the ear of the listener. This is true whether we are speaking face to face, or by telephone over thousands of miles. What is important for us in our study of speech is that this acoustic signal is completely observable: we can capture everything the listener hears in the form of a recording, and then measure whichever aspect of the signal that we want to know about.* (Roach, P., 2001, p. 39) Terminology ----------- Below, please find a concise illustrated glossary of terms that you may encounter throughout the course of studying Acoustic Phonetics. - **Acoustics** - the scientific study of sound and how we hear it - **Acoustic phonetics** - deals with the capturing and description of the speech signal as it is produced and perceived; acoustic phonetics is part of acoustics - **Wave** - a disturbance of air (vibration) propagated from point to point in a medium or in space - **Sound wave** - sound is caused by small areas of high and low pressure propagating outward from its source\ To see the cyclical propagation of sound waves caused by a tuning fork, click [**here**](https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/lili/personen/vgramley/teaching/HTHS/sound_propagation.gif). - **Sine wave** - the simplest kind of pressure wave (as created by an ideal [**tuning fork**](https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/lili/personen/vgramley/teaching/HTHS/tuningforks.jpg)). Interesting things to measure for a sine wave are the following: - **intensity **(sound pressure; perceived as **loudness**) - displacement of the vibrating medium from its rest position; result of pressure differences: high pressure results in (high) peaks, low pressure in (low) valleys; usually measured in *decibels (dB)* - **frequency** (perceived as **pitch**) - number of complete vibration cycles per second), usually measured in *Hertz (Hz)* - **duration** (perceived as speech **tempo**) - length of a sound, measured in some time unit (e.g. *seconds*)  - **Complex wave** - a combination of simple sine waves; every complex wave can be decomposed into all the simple sine waves it consists of by means of a spectral analysis.  - **Spectral** or **Fourier analysis** - analysis that is used to break down any waveform, however complex it might be, into simple waveforms of different frequencies; comparable to breaking down white light into the rainbow pattern of colors that make up its [**color spectrum**](https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/lili/personen/vgramley/teaching/HTHS/prism.gif) - **Fundamental frequency** (also: *f0*, or **first harmonic**) - often the lowest frequency in a complex wave (fundamental); results from the vibration of the larynx in phonation, which to the human ear is audible as the pitch of speech (property of the larynx!) - **Formant** - energy peaks that determine the quality of sounds (esp. vowel sounds) and which are the result of resonances in the vocal tract; they are a consequence of resonance but not resonance itself. Note that a formant may be a harmonic (*see above*), but doesn\'t have to be! (For further information on formants, see below!) - **Oscillogram** - graphical depiction of sound pressure (vertical) and time (horizontal). - **Spectrum** - graphical depiction of frequency (horizontal) and intensity (sound pressure) (vertical); depicts decomposited complex waves, \"listing\" all the frequencies of the simple sine waves involved as well as their respective intensity (sound pressure) (with vowels, peaks in the spectrum constitute the sound-characteristic formant frequencies of the vowel.  - **Spectrogram** - result of a spectral analysis of some waveform (oscillogram); frequency is represented on the vertical axis of the display and time on the horizontal axis, while the intensity (sound pressure) (darkness or brightness) of the display shows the intensity (sound pressure) at different frequencies at a particular point in time (a spectrogram is three-dimensional)  - **Silent sound** - during the closed phase of plosives.  - **Plosive sound** - when the closure is released and the air pressure is big enough.  - **Fricative sound** - due to a constriction in the vocal tract\ The source-filter theory of sound production Between the larynx and the world at large is about 15 centimeters of throat and mouth. This passageway acts as an **acoustic resonator**, enhancing some frequencies and attenuating others. The **properties of this resonator depend on the position of the tongue and lips**, and also on whether the *velum* is lowered so as to open a side passage to the nasal cavities. A useful way to view the vocal tract is as an **acoustic filter** on sounds originating at the larynx: The vibrating larynx creates the buzz \[the **source**\], and the vocal tract shape determines the way this buzz is modified \[the **filter**\]. (It\'s best to view this diagram starting at the bottom.)   https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/lili/personen/vgramley/teaching/HTHS/source-filter.jpg   In the example above, the tract is in a **neutral shape**, roughly the vowel of \"up.\" Different positions of the tongue and lips make the difference between one vowel sound and another. This filtering effect can be seen by comparing **other vowels**.      The \"spectra\" at the right represent the **sound waves** that we interpret as the vowels \[i, a, u\]. Formants - Close Up ------------------- ### What they are (Please note: This introduction to the concept of formants is based on Ladefoged\'s *A Course in Phonetics* (1975, 3rd edition).) - quality of a sound, e.g. a vowel sound, depends upon its **overtone structure** - vowel sound contains a number of different pitches simultaneously: - pitch at which it is actually spoken, plus - various overtone pitches that give it its distinctive quality - vowels distinguished from each other by differences in audible overtones - normally, separate overtones cannot be heard; what we hear is only sensation of pitch = note on which the vowel is actually said (depending on the rate of vibration / frequency of vocal cords) **Task:** 1. Say the vowels\ https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/lili/personen/vgramley/teaching/HTHS/vowels\_8.jpg\ as in the words *heed, hid, head, had, hod, hawed, hood, who\'d*. 2. Now whisper these vowels. (alternatively: creaky voice \> also reduces vibration of vocal folds). **What does this show you?** - in a whispered sound, vocal cords are not vibrating; hence no regular pitch of the voice - nevertheless, when whispered, it can be heard that these sounds form a series of sounds on a continuously descending pitch = overtones that characterize the vowels - this particular overtone highest for \[i\] and lowest for \[u\] **Task: **Now whistle a very high note, and then the lowest note that you can. **What you should find:** - for the high note: tongue in position for \[i\] - for the low note: tongue in position for \[u\] - intermediate notes: tongue positions of the other vowels in the series #### In sum: - vowels largely distinguished by two characteristic pitches: 1. one of them (the higher of the two) goes downward through the series\  2. other one goes up for first four vowels\ https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/lili/personen/vgramley/teaching/HTHS/vowels\_4.1.JPG\ and down for the next four\   - characteristic overtones = **formants** of the vowels 1. lower of the two: first formant (F1) 2. higher of the two: second formant (F2) - (even a third overtone, but its pitch cannot be demonstrated easily) Please see the distribution of the formant frequencies F1 and F2 for a series of synthesized German vowels [**here**](https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/lili/personen/vgramley/teaching/HTHS/form_freq.jpg). **Visual representation of formants:** In a [**spectrum**](http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russell/138/sec4/formants.htm) we can see the formants as maxima, and in a [**spectrogram**](http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russell/138/sec4/specgram.htm) we see them with the most dark shading. Another example for a spectrographic view - vowels and their formants: https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/lili/personen/vgramley/teaching/HTHS/vowel\_form\_spec.jpg (Wideband spectrograms of the vowels of American English in a /b\_\_d/ context. Top row, left to right: \"bead\" \"bid\" \"bade\" \"bed\" \"bad\". Bottom row, left to right: \"bod\" \"bawd\" \"bode\" \"buhd\" \"booed\".) **Formants are the result of different shapes of the vocal tract:** - any body of air will vibrate in way that depends on its size and shape (e.g. blowing across the top of an empty vs. a full bottle of water) - smaller bodies of air (like smaller piano strings, smaller organ pipes) produce higher pitches - in case of the vowel sounds: vocal tract has a complex shape so that the different bodies of air produce a number of overtones **Don\'t forget:** Formants are a feature of the vocal tract and completely independent from any source signal. How is that? when you form an \[o\] with your mouth but don\'t let out air from your lungs but simply tap against your cheeks/jaw/larynx with your fingers you\'ll be able to hear an \[o\] - this is the **vocal tract resonance**. This is why formants are also called **resonance frequencies**. ### How do formants relate to articulation? The positions for the first (F1) and second formant (F2) of a vowel aren\'t random! Let\'s have a look at the following chart of formant values for vowels of (Canadian) English. Vowel **\[i\]** **\[I\]** **\[e\]** **\[æ\]** **\[a\]** **\[O\]** **\[U\]** **\[u\]** **\[V\]** ------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- F1 280 370 405 860 830 560 400 330 680 F2 2230 2090 2080 1550 1170 820 1100 1260 1310 (vowels as in: *bleed, hid, head, had, father, saw, put, shoe, cut*) Each of these vowels can be placed on a graph, where - the horizontal dimension represents the frequency of the first formant (F1), and - the vertical dimension represents the frequency of the second formant (F2): If you pay close attention, you will note that this is just a mirror image of the familiar vowel chart! If we, however, change the axes of the graph so that - the horizontal dimension shows (decreasing) F2, - and the vertical dimension shows (decreasing) F1\ \ So, the formant frequencies are inversely related to the traditional articulatory parameters (see above). Click [**here **](https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/lili/personen/vgramley/teaching/HTHS/formanten_in_vokaldreieck.jpg)for another visualization of the formants in the vowel quadrilateral (same thing as above!). Blend the above chart (the second, here a reduced version of it!) into an image of the vocal tract, and you will see where each of the vowels is produced and how the vowel formants are related to the shape of the human vocal tract!  This means that a listener can essentially \"hear\" the position of the speaker\'s tongue body: - F1 is influenced by tongue body height. - F2 is influenced by tongue body frontness/backness.