Phonetics Study Notes: Phonetic Units & Language

Phonetic unit I Class 2-3 Communication: Is a universal phenomenon, interaction and transmission of information; different system (oral, sign language, etc.) Language: Is a system of arbitrary [vocal] symbols by means of which a social group cooperates. (draw a rabbit is not the same, depends of...

Phonetic unit I Class 2-3 Communication: Is a universal phenomenon, interaction and transmission of information; different system (oral, sign language, etc.) Language: Is a system of arbitrary [vocal] symbols by means of which a social group cooperates. (draw a rabbit is not the same, depends of de person) General human language features  Vocal auditory-channel: Human language is primarily transmitted through speech (vocal) and receive through hearing (auditory)   Broadcast transmission: Speech sound radiates in all directions, allowing anyone nearby to hear them  Directional reception: Humans have the ability to identify sound’s origin, determined where the speaker is located (behind, next to you, etc.)  Total feedback: Speaker’s ability to hear and internally monitor their own speech, allowing for real-time-self- correction and adjustment during communication Properties of language 1. Discreteness: Language is composed of distinct, separate units- such sounds of words- that can be combined in various ways to create meaning. (h e l ou) 2. Transitoriness: Also known as Rapid fading, it refers to the ephemeral nature of spoken language signals. Once produced, speech sounds quickly dissipate and are no longer accessible (speak and no recording) 3. Interchangeability: Anything a person hear, they can also say, allowing speakers and listeners to switch roles freely during communication (two or more people talking) 4. Productivity: Capacity of language users to create and understand an infinite number of novel utterances by combining existing linguistic elements in new ways 5. Arbitrariness: Lack of inherent connection between the form of a word (its sound or appearance) and its meaning “the wug” 6. Duality of patterning or double articulation: Language works in two levels. First, it uses a small set of basic sounds that by themselves have no meaning. These sounds can be combined in various ways to form words and sentences that do have meaning. 7. Semanticity: Each linguistic element conveys a particular concept, object or idea. 8. Displacement: Ability of language to communicate about things that are not immediately present, such as events from the past, imagine future scenarios, or talk about objects and ideas that are not right in front of us. 9. Cultural Transmission: Language is learned and passed on from one generation to the next through social interaction rather than being biologically inherited.  10. Reflexivity; The ability of language to refer to and describe itself. In other words, we can use language to talk about language-discussing its rules, structures and meaning. Class 4 Linguistics: The study of language, properties of specific languages and their characteristics.  Semantics: The area of linguistics interested in meaning, and the many ways that we can describe it  Pragmatics: The area of linguistic that puts meaning into context  Sociolinguistics: The social element of language, and how language forms part of our identity  Psycholinguistics: Where and how language happens  Computational linguistics: How to use computers to understand and process human language  Historical linguistics: The study of how languages change over time  Morphosyntax(grammar): The study of how words and sentences are constructed in a language. It’s a combination of morphology(word forms) and syntax(sentence structure) Phonetics It’s the study of the production and perception of speech sounds. The systematic study of the human ability to make and hear sounds which use the vocal organs of speech, especially for producing oral language A system for describing and recording the sounds of language objectively The production of speech sounds: Articulatory System and their functions, description of the sounds Segments: Each one of the pieces that composes a continuous of sounds. Phonemes and symbols: Abstract set of unit as the basis of our speech and their representation in written forms. Areas of study Articulatory phonetic: How language is physically produced by the vocal apparatus Acoustic phonetic: How speech manipulates sound waves Auditory phonetic: The hearing of speech sounds and the speech perception Phonology The study of how languages treat these sounds The formal study of the sound systems (phonologies) of languages The ways in which languages make use sounds to distinguish words from each other Objects of study Allophones: Different realization of phonemes Syllables: Units with a center which has a little or no obstruction to airflow Suprasegmentals: Stress, loudness, tone, intonation, pitch, length, juncture patterns Connected speech: Natural speech flow Accent and dialects: A different way of pronouncing a language vs a different way of producing and structuring the language Areas of study Study of phonemic system: phonological representations (allophones) Phoneme sequences and syllable structures: Restrictions and regularities in a particular language Suprasegmental phonology: Prosodic features, stress, accent intonation. Aspects of connected speech: Phenomena involved in the natural speech Varieties of English pronunciation: Accents and dialects Speech chain ProductionComprehensionResponse Speech sounds Speech sounds, also known as segments, are the individual sounds that make up spoken language. They are the smallest discrete units of speech that can be analyzed and categorized. Speech sound(segments)  Consonants: The production involves some kind of obstruction of the air flow (voiceless)  Vowels: A sound whose production allows the air to flow with little or no obstruction (voiced) International phonetic alphabet (IPA) Class 5 Mechanisms of speech production Airstream: How the speech sound starts Phonation: The air passes through the larynx(traches). The vocal cords are in charge of the phonation process Resonance: Once the air passes through the larynx, it can go either into the oral or nasal cavity (resonators) Articulation: The process to distinguish the speech sounds. It occurs in the mouth Airstream Direction: Ingressive (The air goes inward), Egressive (The air goes outward) Initiator: Pulmonic (Lungs, chest muscles and trachea), Glottalic (Larynx by closing the vocal folds), Velaric (Oral cavity, it uses suction to create differentials in air pressure) Phonation The vibration of the vocal folds produces a voiced sound(closed). If not, the sound is voiceless(open) Condition that can affect the phonation process: Vocal polyp(s); Vocal fold paralysis; Laryngitis Resonance The air flow can go out through the oral or nasal cavity (resonators) Here the air from the lungs escapes into the atmosphere The oral and nasal cavities change the quality or voice color Articulation The process to distinguish the speech sounds It occurs in the mouth. Class 6 Organs of speech What’s a phoneme? The smallest unit of sound in a language that can change the meaning of a word /ræt/ /bæt/ /bed/ /bæd/ Type of sounds Vocalic sounds Monophthongs: Pure vowels. Single vowel sound, 13 sounds It’s a sound whose production lets the air flows without any (or with little) obstruction Diphthongs: Two vowels in the same syllable, 8 sounds A sound formed by the combination of two vowel sounds in a single syllable Triphthongs: Three vowels together, all produced rapidly and without interruption, 5 sounds A sound formed by the combination of three vowels in a single syllable Articulation of vowel sounds Class 7 Spelling 26 letters in the alphabet -ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUWXYZ 5 vowel letters -AEIOU 21 consonant letters -BCDFGHIJKLMNPQRSTWXYZ Sounds More than 40 vowel and consonant sounds -13 vowel sounds -8 diphthong sounds 24 consonant sounds Letters ≠ Sounds  B E S T /b/ /e/ /s/ /t/ B R E A D /b/ /r/ /e/ /d/ D E N T I S T /d/ /e/ /n/ /t/ /i/ /s/ /t/ L I S T E N /l/ /ɪ/ /s/ - /ə/ n// G R E E N /g/ /r/ /i:/ /n/ S I X /s/ /ɪ/ /k/ /s/ Allograph: One sound may have different spelling S E A /s/ /i:/ K E Y /k/ /i:/ Homophones: Two words may have the same pronunciation but different spelling Do you know? K N O W - /n/ əʊ No, I don’t N O /n/ əʊ Do you read the newspaper? R E A D /r/ /i:/ /d/ No, thanks, I read it this morning R E A D /r/ /e/ /d/ Phonemic transcription Method of representing the spoken sounds of a language, in which “every speech sound must be identified as one of the phonemes and written with the appropriate symbol” - We use symbols to represent pronunciation - The symbol ˈ comes before a stressed syllable - Phonemic transcription is written between slashes (//) - Schwa /ə/ represent an unstressed vowel sound - Double consonants in spelling don’t mean double sounds - Some authors use /ɛ/ instead of /e/ Description of vowel sounds Tongue Backness Front vowels: The front part of the tongue is raised Central vowels: The body of the tongue is raised towards the palate Back vowels: The back part of the tongue is raised Tongue Height Open vowels: The lower jaw is down; the tongue is down. Close vowels: The lower jaw is up, the tongue is up Diagram tongue backness and height Front Back Close iː uː Open æ ɑː Lips position Rounded lips: The corners of the lips are brought towards each other and the lips pushed forwards. Spread lips: The corners of the lips moved away from each other, as for a smile. Neutral lips: The lips are not noticeably rounded or spread Class 8 Short and long vowel sounds Short vowels -Spoken English contains 6 short vowel sounds -/i/ and /ə/ are also considered short vowel sounds by some authors -A short vowel has a quick sound /ɪ/ /e/ /æ/ /ʊ/ /˄/ /ɒ/ /ə/ Long vowels Long vowels take more time to say than short vowels You can hear them clearly and hold them slightly longer Long vowels often occur in stressed syllables of the word /iː/ /ɜ:/ /ɑː/ /ɔː/ /uː/ Class 9 Minimal pairs Pairs of words that differ in only one sound (phoneme) in the same position, and this difference changes the meaning of the word. /ɪ/ /iː/ Chip /tʃɪp/ Cheap /tʃiːp/ /e/ and /ɪ/ /æ/ and /˄/ /æ/ and /e/ /ɑ:/ and /ɜ:/ /æ/ and /ɑ:/ /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/ Lab 1 Accent How words are pronounced in a language It includes differences in vowel and consonant sounds, intonation, rhythm, and stress but does not affect grammar or vocabulary Accents vary bases on region, nationality, or social background (e.g.British vs American English pronunciation) Example: Dance uk: /dɑːns/ us:/dæns/ Dialects A variety of languages that includes differences in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Speakers of different dialects may use unique words, expressions, and sentences structures (e.g, “lift” vs “elevator” in British and American English)