Chapter III – Phonetics - The Sounds of Language cute use

 In 1888 the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Sound Segments was invented in order to have a system in which
Knowing a language includes knowing the sounds of that there was a one- to-one correspondence between
language
each sound in language and each phonetic
• Phonetics is the study of speech sounds
• We are able to segment a continuous stream of symbol
speech into distinct parts and recognize the parts in
other words • Someone who knows the IPA knows how to
Everyone who knows a language knows how to segment pronounce any word in any language
sentences into words and words into sounds
• Dialectal and individual differences affect
Identity of Speech Sounds pronunciation, but the sounds of English
• Our linguistic knowledge allows us to ignore
nonlinguistic differences in speech (such as
individual pitch levels, rates of speed, coughs)
• We are capable of making sounds that are not
speech sounds in English but are in other
languages
– The click tsk that signals disapproval in English is
a speech sound in languages such as Xhosa and
Zulu where it is combined with other sounds just
like t or k is in English

Identity of Speech Sounds

• The science of phonetics aims to describe all the

sounds of all the world’s languages

Acoustic phonetics: focuses on the physical properties of

the sounds of language
Auditory phonetics: focuses on how listeners perceive the
sounds of language
Articulatory phonetics: focuses on how the vocal tract
produces the sounds of language

The Phonetic Alphabet

• Spelling, or orthography, does not consistently
represent the sounds of language
• Some problems with ordinary spelling:

1. The same sound may be represented by many letters or a

combination of letters:
• Using IPA symbols, we can now represent the
he people key
pronunciation of words unambiguously:
believe seize machine
Caesar seas
see amoeba

2. The same letter may represent a variety of sounds:

father village
badly made
many

3. A combination of letters may represent a single sound

shoot character Thomas Articulatory Phonetics

either physics rough  Most speech sounds are produced by pushing air
coat deal through the vocal cords

4. A single letter may represent a combination of sounds  Glottis = the opening between the vocal cords
 Larynx = ‘voice box’
xerox  Pharynx = tubular part of the throat above the
larynx
4. Some letters in a word may not be pronounced at all  Oral cavity = mouth
 Nasal cavity = nose and the passages connecting it
Autumn sword resign
to the throat and sinuses
Pterodactyl lamb corps
Psychology write knot

5. There may be no letter to represent a sound that occurs in

a word
 Produced by restricting the airflow through the open glottis ([h])
or by stopping the air completely at the glottis (a glottal stop: [Ɂ])
Consonants: Place of Articulation

Consonants are sounds produced with some restriction or closure Consonants: Manner of Articulation
in the vocal tract
• The manner of articulation is the way the airstream is
Consonants are classified based in part on where in the vocal tract affected as it flows from the lungs and out of the mouth
the airflow is being restricted (the place of articulation) and nose

The major places of articulation are: • Voiceless sounds are those produced with the vocal
bilabial, labiodental, interdental, alveolar, palatal, velar, uvular, cords apart so the air flows freely through the glottis
and glottal
• Voiced sounds are those produced when the vocal cords
are together and vibrate as air passes through

• The voiced/voiceless distinction is important in English

because it helps us distinguish words like:

rope/robe fine/vine seal/zeal

[rop]/[rob] [faɪn]/[vaɪn] [sil]/[zil]

• But some voiceless sounds can be further distinguished

as aspirated or unaspirated

 Bilabials: [p] [b] [m] • Oral sounds are those produced with the velum raised
to prevent air from escaping out the nose
Produced by bringing both lips together
• Nasal sounds are those produced with the velum
• Labiodentals: [f] [v] lowered to allow air to escape out the nose
Produced by touching the bottom lip to the upper teeth
• So far we have three ways of classifying sounds based
• Interdentals [θ] [ð] on phonetic features: by voicing, by place of
Produced by putting the tip of the tongue between the teeth articulation, and by nasalization

• Alveolars: [t] [d] [n] [s] [z] [l] [r] [p] is a voiceless, bilabial, oral sound
[n] is a voiced, alveolar, nasal sound
All of these are produced by raising the tongue to the alveolar
ridge in some way • Stops: [p] [b] [m] [t] [d] [n] [k] [g] [ŋ] [ʧ][ʤ] [Ɂ]

[t, d, n]: produced by the tip of the tongue touching the alveolar – Produced by completely stopping the air flow
ridge (or just in front of it) in the oral cavity for a fraction of a second

[s, z]: produced with the sides of the front of the tongue raised – All other sounds are continuants, meaning
but the tip lowered to allow air to escape that the airflow is continuous through the oral
cavity
[l]: the tongue tip is raised while the rest of the tongue remains • Fricatives: [f] [v] [θ] [ð] [s] [z] [ʃ] [ʒ] [x] [ɣ] [h]
down so air can escape over the sides of the tongue (thus [l] is a
lateral sound) – Produced by severely obstructing the airflow
so as to cause friction
[r]: air escapes through the central part of the mouth; either the
tip of the tongue is curled back behind the alveolar ridge or the • Affricates: [ʧ] [ʤ]
top of the tongue is bunched up behind the alveolar ridge
– Produced by a stop closure that is released
• Palatals: [ʃ] [ʒ] [ʧ] [ʤ][ʝ] with a lot of friction
• Liquids: [l] [r]
Produced by raising the front part of the tongue to the palate
– Produced by causing some obstruction of the
• Velars: [k] [g] [ŋ] airstream in the mouth, but not enough to
Produced by raising the back of the tongue to the soI palate or cause any real friction
velum
• Uvulars: [ʀ] [q] [ɢ] • Glides: [j] [w]
Produced by raising the back of the tongue to the uvula
– Produced with very little obstruction of the
• Glottals: [h] [Ɂ] airstream and are always followed by a vowel
 • Approximants: [w] [j] [r] [l]

– Sometimes liquids and glides are put together

into one category because the articulators
approximate a frictional closeness but do not
actually cause friction

• Trills and flaps: [r]* [ɾ]

– Trills are produced by rapidly vibrating an

articulator
– Flaps are produced by a flick of the tongue
against the alveolar ridge
• Clicks:

– Produced by moving air in the mouth between

various articulators Major Phonetic Classes
– The disapproving sound tsk in English is a
consonant in Zulu and some other southern • Noncontinuants: the airstream is totally obstructed in the oral
African languages cavity
– The lateral click used to encourage a horse in – Stops and affricates
English is a consonant in Xhosa
• Continuants: the airstream flows continuously out of the
*Phonetic symbols for American English consonants* mouth
– All other consonants and vowels
Vowels

Vowels are classified by how high or low the tongue is, if the
• Obstruents: the airstream has partial or full obstruction
– Non-nasal stops, fricatives, and affricates
tongue is in the front or back of the mouth, and whether or
not the lips are rounded
• Sonorants: air resonates in the nasal or oral cavities
– Vowels, nasal stops, liquids, and glides
High vowels: [i] [ɪ] [u] [ʊ]
Mid vowels: [e] [ɛ] [o] [ə] [ʌ] [ɔ] • Consonantal: there is some restric0on of the airflow during
Low vowels: [æ] [a] articulation
Front vowels: [i] [ɪ] [e] [ɛ] [æ] – All consonants except glides
Central vowels: [ə] [ʌ]
Back vowels: [u] [ɔ] [o] [æ] [a]
Consonantal sounds can be further subdivided:
• Round vowels: [u] [ʊ] [o] [ɔ]
– Labials: [p] [b] [m] [f] [v] [w] [ʍ]
– Produced by rounding the lips • Ar0culated with the lips
– English has only back round vowels, but other languages such as
French and Swedish have front round vowels – Coronals: [θ] [ð] [t] [d] [n] [s] [z] [ʃ] [ʒ] [ʧ][ʤ] [l] [r]
• Ar0culated by raising the tongue blade
• Diphthongs: [aɪ] [aʊ] [ɔɪ]
Consonantal categories cont.:
– A sequence of two vowel sounds (as opposed to the
monophthongs we have looked at so far) – Anteriors: [p] [b] [m] [f] [v] [θ] [ð] [t] [d] [n] [s] [z]
• Produced in the front part of the mouth (from the
• Nasalization: alveolar area forward)
– Vowels can also be pronounced with a lowered velum, allowing
– Sibilants: [s] [z] ] [ʃ] [ʒ] [ʧ][ʤ]
air to pass through the nose
• Produced with a lot of fric0on that causes a hissing
– In English, speakers nasalize vowels before a nasal sound, such
sound, which is a mixture of high-frequency sounds
as in the words beam, bean, and bingo
– The nasaliza0on is represented by a diacri0c, an extra mark
• Syllabic Sounds: sounds that can function as the core of a
placed with the symbol:
syllable – Vowels, liquids, and nasals
• Tense vowels:
Prosodic Features
– Are produced with greater tension in the tongue
• Prosodic, or suprasegmental features of sounds, such as length,
– May occur at the end of words
stress and pitch, are features above the segmental values such as
• Lax vowels: place and manner of articulation

– Are produced with less tongue tension • Length: in some languages, such as Japanese, the length of a
– May not occur at the end of words consonant or a vowel can change the meaning of a word:

biru [biru] “building” biiru [biːru] “beer”

saki [saki] “ahead” sakki [sakːi] “before

• Stress: stressed syllables are louder, slightly higher in pitch, and

somewhat longer than unstressed syllables
– The noun digest has the stress on the first syllable
– The verb digest has the stress on the second syllable

– English is a stress-timed language, meaning that at least one

syllable is stressed in an English word
• French functions differently, so when English speakers learn French they
put stress on certain syllables which contributes to their foreign accent

Tone and Intonation

• Tone languages are languages that use pitch to contrast the

meaning of words

For example, in Thai, the string of sounds [naː] can be said with 5
different pitches and can thus have 5 different meanings:

Intonation languages (like English) have

varied pitch contour across an utterance,
but pitch is not used to distinguish words
– However, intonation may affect the meaning of a whole
sentence:

• John is here said with falling intonation is a statement

• John is here said with rising intonation is a question

Phonetics of Signed Languages

• Signs can be broken down into segmental features

similar to the phonetic features of speech sounds (such
as place and manner of articulation)
• And just like spoken languages, signed languages of the
world vary in these features
• Signs are formed by three major features:
– 1. The configuration of the hand (handshape)
– 2. The movement of the hand and arm
towards or away from the body
– 3. The location of the hand in signing space