Phonetics and Phonology PDF

PHONETICS composed of discrete components, therefore, can be studied in the same way that vowels and consonants can be. 1. Phonetics vs. phonology **Phonetics** -- the study of minimal units that make up language (speech sounds used in spoken languages and signs of sign language) - focus on the p...

PHONETICS composed of discrete components, therefore, can be studied in the same way that vowels and consonants can be. 1. Phonetics vs. phonology **Phonetics** -- the study of minimal units that make up language (speech sounds used in spoken languages and signs of sign language) - focus on the physical properties of sounds, how do we react to sounds. Phonetics was originally coined as a term used specifically to talk about the study of the sounds of language, however, since it deals with how language is produced, regardless of the modality of that production, it can refer also to signs of sign language. They are discrete sounds in each language which make up an integrated system for encoding information and how languages differ **Phonology** -- the study of the sound **system** of [a given language], the contrast between discrete sounds in each language which make up an integrated system for encoding information and how language differ (distribution of that system, more abstract). 2. Articulatory, acoustic, auditory phonetics Articulatory phonetics -- studying the production of speech sounds are produced---the parts of the mouth used and their configurations with the use of X-ray photography, cinematography, palatography and ultrasounds (focus on production) Acoustic phonetics -- studying the characteristics of the sounds produced by articulations by the use of pictures of sound called sound spectrographs (focus on the sounds) Auditory phonetics -- studying how humans process speech sounds, that is how we perceive pronunciation using MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and CT (computerized tomography). (focus on perception) 3. From X-rays, palatographs, spectrographs to phonetic transcription There are different ways and techniques to analyze and study phonetic characteristics of speech X-rays are used in conjunction with sound film to reveal the details of the functioning of [the vocal apparatus.] The entirety of how a sound is produced is revealed and can actually be seen as it happens. X-ray films could be played over and over again to see tongue, lip, and jaw movements as they occur over time, however, due to its harmful impact on the speakers it is no longer used and researchers opt for methods such as ultrasound, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), EMA (Electromagnetic Ariculography). Both ultrasound and MRI make use of invisible rays that "bounce off" hard structures in their path to create visual images of those structures, the main difference between them is that in the case of ultrasound, these are sound waves; in the case of MRI, these are radio waves. EMA involves placing small sensors on a person's tongue, teeth, and other articulators which transmit information back to a computer about their relative locations Palatography is an experimental method that shows [the contact between the tongue and the roof of the mouth] during a particular articulation. It can be static or dynamic. Static palatography involves painting the tongue black with a (tasteless) mixture of olive oil and charcoal powder and the tongue leaves a black trace during the articulation of a particular sound. This method is quite messy, works for sounds produced in isolation and the contact pattern has to photographed or examined immediately. Dynamic palatography is more sophisticated because it allows to record sequences of contacts that the tongue makes with the hard palate in the course of the production of an utterance. The places where contact is made are directly recorded into a computer to measure where, how much, and how long contact between the tongue and the roof of the mouth is produced at any given time in the utterance. Spectograph is a three-dimensional [representation of sound] in which the vertical axis represents frequency, the horizontal axis represents time, and the darkness of shading represents amplitude Phonetic transcription is the simplest and most basic method of phonetic analysis because it focuses on [writing down speech sounds] to capture what is said and how it is pronounced because the spelling of the word does not indicate the pronunciation of a given word by different people, e.g. tomato. 4. Why do we need a standard phonetic alphabet? How bad is English spelling? IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is an alphabet that is used for phonetic transcription of speech and is applicable to all spoken human languages. Each symbol in IPA has a distinct corresponding sound - phone English spelling does not correspond directly to the pronunciation of plethora of words because: 5. Segmental vs. suprasegmental units of the speech signal Segments (or individual sounds) are the discrete units of the speech stream and can be further subdivided into the categories consonants and vowels that are easily transcribed using discrete symbols. The voicing, place, and manner of articulation are known as segmental features of consonants. The tongue height and advancement, lip rounding, and tenseness are segmental features of vowels. Suprasegmentals often apply to entire strings of consonants and vowels in terms of length, stress, tone and intonation, which are more difficult to represent in an alphabetic-like transcription system (they are transcribed by other means). They describe phonetic characteristics of sounds that apply above the level of the segment. It is often difficult or even impossible to identify the quality of a suprasegmental feature if you hear just a single segment. 6. Describe the basic articulatory difference between the production of vowels and consonants 7. How clear cut is this distinction? Not completely clear, because some consonants have more vocalic properties, i.e. nasals and liquids. 8. Syllables: onset vs. Rhyme, nucleus vs. Coda Syllable can be divided into onset and rhyme. Onset is an optional part of syllable that is in the initial position of the syllable and is made out of one consonant or a consonantal cluster. Rhyme consists of the vowel and any following consonants, therefore it can be further divided into peak/nucleus and coda. Peak/nucleus is most commonly the vocalic part of the rhyme and is an obligatory element of a syllable that carries suprasegmental informations (stress, pitch and volume), while coda is an non-obligatory element that consists of consonants in the final position of a syllable. 9. Why are dipthongs classified as vowels? Diphthongs are complex vowels, composed of a sequence of two different configurations which can be described as a transition from one vowel to the other in the same syllable. Even though they are made of two sounds, they often act as nucleus to a single syllable, e.g. knives and naive. Basic transcription and reverse transcription of English 10. What\'s running/ connected speech? In running speech, the pronunciations of words may be affected by the surrounding words, since on a daily basis language is used in phrases and sentences that occur next to each other, therefore, affect one another rather than separated from each other. In running speech, the pronunciations of words may be affected by the surrounding words which is closely connected to phonetic co-articulation and phonological assimilation 11. Broad vs. narrow transcription Narrow transcription records minute phonetic details while broad transcription is very basic type of phonetic transcription that does not record those details.   12. **How does one whisper?** Humans have a larynx at the top of the trachea (or windpipe). Within the larynx are folds of muscle called vocal folds (these are popularly known as vocal cords, but they are not really cords). In the diagram in (2) we are viewing the larynx as if looking down a person's throat. A flap of tissue called the epiglottis is attached at the front of the larynx and can fold down and back to cover and protect the vocal folds, which are stretched horizontally along the open center of the larynx. The opening between these folds is called the glottis. At the front of the larynx, the vocal folds are attached to cartilage and can't be moved, but at the back of the larynx, [the vocal folds are attached to two small movable cartilages that can close or open the glottis]. When the two free ends are brought together ("approximated"), the vocal folds can be nearly or completely closed, impeding airflow through the glottis (2b). When the folds are wide open, the glottis has roughly the shape of a triangle, as can be seen in (2a). There is also an intermediate position, in which the vocal folds are partially open, as shown in (2c). This is the position of the vocal folds when you whisper. 13. **Consonants. Place of articulation: bilabial, labiodental, interdentals, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, velar, glottal** ***Bilabial*** (/p/, /b/, /m/, /w/) -- consonants are made by bringing both lips close together; ***Labiodental*** (/f/, /v/) -- consonants are made with the lower lip against the upper front teeth ***Dental*** or ***interdental*** (/θ/, /ð/) -- are made with the tip of the tongue protruding between the front teeth ***Alveolar*** (/t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, /l/) -- sounds are made with the tongue tip at or near the front of the upper alveolar \[ælvilɹ\] ridge ***Post** **alveolar*** (/r/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/) -- are made with the front of the tongue just behind the alveolar ridge, right at the front of the hard palate ***Palatal*** (/j/) -- are made with the body of the tongue near the center of the hard portion of the roof of the mouth (the 'hard palate') ***Velar*** (/k/, /g/, /ŋ/) -- consonants are produced at the velum, also known as the soft palate, which is the soft part of the roof of the mouth behind the hard palate. ***Labio**-**velar*** (/w/) -- the back of the tongue is raised towards the velum; ***Glottal*** (/h/, /ʔ/) -- sounds are produced when air is constricted at the larynx. 14. Consonants. Manner of articulation: stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, approximants, liquids, glides **Obstrunets (are naturally voiceless, do not require voicing to be heard, they can be voiced through muscular effort):** ***Plosives/Stops*** (/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /ʔ/) -- the air coming from the lungs is stopped at some point during the formation of the sounds and then released ***Fricatives*** (/s/, /z/, /h/, /f/, /v/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /θ/, /ð/) -- restricted airflow, but the air is not completely stopped; ***Affricates*** (/tʃ/, /dʒ) -- combination of plosives and fricatives; **Sonorants (produced with natural voicing):** ***Nasals*** (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/) -- the air is stopped from going through the mouth (oral cavity) and is redirected into the nose (nasal cavity); ***Approximants*** (/w/, /j/, /r/, /l/)-- the airflow is free, but not enough for a vowel: 1. ***Liquids*** (/r/, /l/) 2. ***Glides*** (/w/, /j/) -- semi-vowels;  15. **Vowels: tongue height (high, low, mid)** The first two of these aspects have to do with the position of the tongue in the mouth. High vowels like \[i\] are made with the front of the mouth less open because the tongue body is raised, or high. The high vowels of English are \[i\], \[I\], \[u\], and \[ʊ\], as in leak, lick, Luke, look respectively. Conversely, low vowels like the \[æ\] in sat are pronounced with the front of the mouth open and the tongue lowered. The low vowels of English are \[æ\] as in cat and \[ɒ\] as in cot. Mid vowels like the \[ɛ\] of set are produced with an intermediate tongue height. In the inventory of English monophthongs, these mid vowels are \[ɛ, ʌ, ɔ\], as in bet, but, bought, respectively 16. **Vowels: tongue advancement (front, back)** Besides being held high or mid or low, the tongue can also be moved forward or pulled back within the oral cavity. The tongue is advanced or moved forward for all the front monophthongs, \[i\], \[ɪ\], \[ɛ\], \[æ\], as in seek, sick, sec, sack, and retracted or pulled back for the back monophthongs, \[u\], \[ʊ\], \[ɔ\], \[ɒ\], as in ooze, look, draw, dot. The central vowels, \[ʌ\] as in luck or \[ə\] as the first vowel in the word another, require neither advancement nor retraction of the tongue. 17. **Vowels: lip rounding, tense vs. lax vowels** Vowel quality also depends on lip position. When you say the \[u\] in two, your lips are rounded. For the \[i\] in tea, they are unrounded, or spread. English has three rounded monophthongs: \[u\], \[ʊ\], \[ɔ\], as in loop, foot, paw; all other monophthongs in English are unrounded - High front tense: /i:/ - High back tense: /u:/ - Hight front lax: /ɪ/ - High back lax: /ʊ/ - Mid front lax: /e/ɛ/ - Mid back tense: /ɔː/ \- Mid central lax: /ʌ/ - Low back lax: /ɒ/ \- Low frontl lax: /æ/ - Low back tense: /aː/  18. **Suprasegmental features:** Length, intonation, tone, and stress - these features are called suprasegmental features because they are thought of as "riding on top of" other segmental features (supra- means 'over, above'). For suprasegmentals, you have to compare different segments and different utterances to see what the features are. In addition, some suprasegmental features can extend across numerous segments in an utterance, rather than belonging to a single phonetic segment. - Length Some speech sounds are longer than others. We have to compare the durations of segments within a given utterance. You have to compare the duration of any given segment with the durations of the other segments to figure out if it was long or short. This is what makes length a suprasegmental feature. The duration of a speech sound may also be influenced by the sounds around it. In English, a vowel preceding a voiced consonant is about 1.5 times longer than the same vowel before a voiceless consonant. The place and manner of articulation of a following consonant can also affect vowel length. - Intonation: pitch accents vs. phrase tones Voiced speech sounds, particularly vowels, may be produced with different pitches. Pitch is the psychological correlate of fundamental frequency, which depends on the rate of vibration of the vocal folds. The pattern of pitch movements across a stretch of speech such as a sentence is commonly known as intonation. [Pitch accents] usually involve a change in fundamental frequency in the middle of an utterance: a word may be produced with a pitch that is particularly higher or lower than the surrounding words. Words that receive a pitch accent are perceived as very prominent in an utterance---not all words in an utterance get a pitch accent. Pitch accents are therefore used to highlight important information in an utterance, for example. Like pitch accents, [phrase tones] usually involve changes in fundamental frequency, but unlike pitch accents, they occur at the end of a phrase instead of in the middle of an utterance. Phrase tones have two major functions. First, they affect the overall meaning of an utterance, distinguishing, for example, between a statement, where the speaker provides information, and a question, where the speaker is requesting information. - Stress: primary vs. secondary Stress is a property of entire syllables, not segments, though the syllable nucleus, which is usually a vowel, carries most of the information about stress. A stressed syllable is more prominent than an unstressed one. This prominence is due to a number of factors, including the fact that stressed syllables are longer and louder than unstressed syllables and usually contain full vowels. English uses several stress levels, as illustrated by a word like photography: in this word, the second syllable is most prominent ([has primary stress]), the final syllable is next most prominent ([has secondary stress]), and the other syllables are unstressed ([have tertiary stress]). In IPA, we transcribe stress using a mark before the beginning of a syllable: primary stress is marked with \[\'\], and secondary stress is marked with \[ˌ\] 19. **What are sound waves? Compression vs. Rarefication. Periodic sound waves** Sound waves, unlike letters on a page, are not permanent things. They are disturbances in the air set off by a movement of some sort. One kind of movement that can set off a sound wave is vibration. In this kind of sound wave, a vibrating body sets the molecules of air surrounding it into vibration. There are two physical phenomena resulting from this tendency toward equidistance that make it possible for sound waves to move through the atmosphere. 1. compression - air molecules are more crowded together than usual (compressed molecules tend to move away from one another so that they are no longer compressed) 2. rarefaction - air molecules are spread farther apart than usual (there is a tendency for the molecules to move near together) Periodic wave - a sound wave which repeats at regular intervals 20. **Complex sound waves: harmonics, fundamental frequency** The sound wave that is produced by the vocal folds is a complex wave. This complex wave is composed of: - a fundamental wave - which repeats itself at the frequency of the opening and closing of the vocal folds - a set of harmonics - which repeat at frequency that are multiples of the fundamental. If the vocal folds open and close at a rate of 100 cycles per second, the fundamental frequency of the resulting sound wave is 100 Hertz (cycles/second), the second harmonic is 200 Hz, the third harmonic is 300 Hz, and so on. The first harmonic is the fundamental frequency (pitch). 21. **Vowels: formants** In the production of vowels, the filtering effect of the vocal tract produces amplitude peaks at certain frequencies by enhancing the harmonicas (the component waves of a complex waveform, produced by the vocal folds) at those frequencies while damping harmonics at other frequencies. The peaks in the filter function are called formants (resonant frequencies of the vocal tract)   **PHONOLOGY** 1. **Main areas of phonology** - segmental phonology -- phonemes and allophones - suprasegmental phonology -- prosody - phonological processes - diachronic phonology -- how languages have changed over time 2. **Phonotactic constraints: consonantal clusters, syllable structure & distribution** 3. **What phonotactic constraints determine the English pronounciation of: gnome, knife, Ptolemy, Gdansk, psychology, cafe, bomb, tomb?** - café -- you can't have 3: vowel at the end in Eng language -- you have to insert a dipthong - nasal + stop at the end is forbidden 4. **Spanish speakers of EN: Spain** **·** A Spanish speaker, for example, may pronounce student as \[εstudεnt\], because in Spanish, the consonant clusters \[st\], \[sk\], and \[sp\] are not permitted to occur at the beginning of a word without being preceded by a vowel---as in the words estudiante 'student,' escuela 'school,' and espalda 'shoulder.' The speaker who says \[εstudεnt\] is simply applying the phonotactic constraints of Spanish when speaking English words. 5. **Foreign accents** 6. **How is the voicing of stops meaningful in English? Is it true for every language?** 7. **How is aspiration of voiceless plosives not meaningful in English? Is it true for every language?**  8. **What is \'sound distribution\' in phonology?** The distribution of a phone is the set of phonetic environments in which it occurs, that is, the sounds that come before and after it in a word. For example, nasalized vowels in English occur only in the environment of a nasal consonant. More precisely, a linguist would describe the distribution of English nasalized vowels, by stating that the nasalized vowels always and only occur immediately preceding a nasal consonant, as in *bean* and *brand*. 9. **Contrastive distribution and minimal pairs** Contrastive distribution is simply a case in which the two sounds occur in the same phonetic environment, and using one rather than the other changes the meaning of the word (thus the sounds can also be referred to as contrastive, as above). A minimal pair is defined as two words (with different meanings) whose pronunciations differ by exactly one sound. If you find a minimal pair, you know that the two sounds that differ are contrastive in that language. 10. **Complementary and free distribution** Sounds that are in complementary distribution do not occur in the same phonetic environments---their distributions complement each other. So, if you look at the set of environments in which sound A occurs and compare it with the set of environments in which sound B occurs, you see that sound A never occurs in one of B's environments, and B never occurs in one of A's environments. If sounds are in complementary distribution, they are therefore considered to be allophones of the same phoneme. Free variation- sounds that are used interchangeably which are the allophones of the same phoneme and don't change the meaning of the word 11. **Exemplify the concepts above** Contrastive distribution: \[p\] and \[ph\] in Hindi have a contrastive distribution because when they occur in exactly the same phonetic environment, they give two different words: \[phəl\] 'fruit' and \[pəl\] 'moment.' Minimal pairs: \[thi:m\] team and \[thi:n\] teen Complementary distribution: dean \[d \~ n\] deed \[did\] If we analyze the sets of phonetic environments where \[i\] and \[ \~ \] occur here, we can summarize their distributions as follows: \[i\] appears before the sounds \[d, p, ɹ, t\] and at the end of a word; \[ \~ \] appears before \[n, m\]. Furthermore, \[i\] never appears before \[m, n\], and \[ \~ \] never appears before \[d, p, ɹ, t\] or at the end of the word. Their distributions are therefore complementary, which means that they do not contrast in English. We thus can say that the sounds \[i\] and \[ \~ \] are allophones of the same phoneme /i/. Free distribution: leap \[lip\] leap\[lip\] These words show that \[p\] and \[p\] both share some of the same phonetic environments; specifically, they can both appear at the ends of words. 12. **Use the example of AmE t-flapping to explain how phonological rules work in speech** The phoneme /t/ is pronounced as the flap \[Q\] when it occurs between two vowels, specifically when the preceding vowel is in a stressed syllable and the following vowel is in an unstressed syllable. This observation about English can be stated as the descriptive rule in (3). (Note that this rule is simplified; as we know from File 3.2, there are more allophones of /t/ than just \[t\] and \[Q\].) \(3) /t/ is pronounced as \[Q\] after a stressed vowel and before an unstressed vowel \[t\] everywhere else Notice that a phonological rule has three parts: the sound(s) affected by the rule, the environment where the rule applies, and the result of the rule. In the rule in (3), /t/ is affected by the rule. The rule applies when /t/ occurs after a stressed vowel and before an unstressed vowel. The result of the rule is that /t/ is "flapped"; that is, it is pronounced as \[Q\]. We can write this rule using shorthand of the form X→Y / C \_ D. Here, 'X' is the sound that is affected by the rule, 'Y' is the result of the application of the rule, and 'C \_ D' is the environment in which the rule applies. 'C \_ D' is also called the conditioning environment. By "C \_ D," we mean that C comes before the sound affected by the rule and D comes after it; the blank represents where the sound that is affected by the rule appears. You can read these rules in the following way: "X becomes Y when it comes after C and before D." Thus, if you see CXD, you know that it will become CYD when the rule applies. So, for the rule in (3), we would write: \(4) X → Y / C \_\_ D /t/ → \[Q\] / stressed vowel \_\_ unstressed vowel /t/ → \[t\] / everywhere else 13. **What\'s a natural class of sounds in a language?** \[t, d\], \[k, g, ŋ\], A natural class is a group of sounds in a language that share one or more articulatory or auditory properties, to the exclusion of all other sounds in that language. That is, in order for a group of sounds to be a natural class, it must include all of the sounds that share a particular property or set of properties, and not include any sounds that don't. The consonants \[k, g,ŋ\] are all described as velar consonants, and they are the only velar consonants used in English; thus they constitute the natural class of velar consonants in English. 14. **Describe the natural classes of sibilants, obstruents, labials, sonorants** Sibilants are segments that have a high-pitched, hissing sound quality. The natural class of sibilants in English is Obstruents are produced with an obstruction of the airflow. The sounds in this category are stops, fricatives, and affricates. Sonorants, on the other hand, are segments produced with a relatively open passage for the airflow. Sonorant segments include nasals, liquids, glides, and vowels. Labial \[p, f, b, v, m, w, w8 \]. 15. **Explain, exemplify:** - ***Assimilation***: cause a sound (or gesture) to become more like a neighboring sound (or gesture) with respect to some phonetic property, e.g. prefix un- in English. Words like unbelievable, unstable, and unclear are often pronounced \[mb\@liv\@bl \], \[nsteIbl \], and \[ŋkliɹ\] - ***Dissimilation:*** cause two close or adjacent sounds to become less similar with respect to some property, by means of a change in one or both sounds, e.g. the form /epta/ 'seven' can be pronounced as \[efta\] - ***Insertion:*** Phonological rules of insertion cause a segment not present at the pho nemic level to be added to the phonetic form of a word. An example of this kind of rule from English is voiceless stop insertion, e.g. the voiceless stop insertion rule such as dance /dæns/ → \[dænts\], strength /stɹEŋT/ → \[stɹEŋkT\], and hamster /h{mstɹ / → \[h{mpstɹ \]. - ***Deletion:*** eliminate a sound that was present at the phonemic level. Such rules apply more frequently to unstressed syllables and in casual speech, e.g. /h/ deletion He handed her his hat - ***Metathesis:*** change the order of sounds. In many instances, sounds metathesize in order to make words easier to pronounce or easier to understand. In Leti, an Austronesian language, consonants and vowels switch places when a word that ends in a consonant is combined with a word that starts with two consonants. The last two sounds in the first word trade places to avoid having three consonants in a row, e.g. - ***Strengthening (fortition):*** make sounds stronger. The rule of English aspiration***:*** Voiceless stops become aspirated when they occur at the be ginning of a stressed syllable, e.g. pat \[p}{t\] and top \[t}Ap\] - ***Weakening (lenision):*** cause sounds to become weaker. The "flapping" rule of English is an example. An alveolar (oral) stop is realized as \[Q\] when it occurs after a stressed vowel and before an unstressed vowel. 16. **Define and illustrate implicational laws** The presence of the less common sound implies that the more common sound will also be used in the language. Of course, the implication cannot be reversed. In other words, the fact that English uses the sound \[k\] does not imply that we also use \[x\]. If a language uses a less common sound, one of its more common counterparts will usually also be included in that language's inventory of contrastive sounds. In terms of the chart presented in (1), this means that any language that uses \[ that uses \[ a 8 a \~ \] will also use \[a\], any language \] will also use \[a\], any language that uses \[d\] will also use \[t\], and so on. 17. **Implications for: frequency of sounds within and across languages, acquisition of sounds, sound change**