The sounds of language

1. Thesoundsoflanguage Phoneticsandphonology

2. Preview: Phonetics How are speechsoundsmade? Howdoessoundtravelthroughthe air? How is it registeredbytheears? Howcanwemeasurespeech?

3. Preview: Phonology How do languagesorganizesounds to distinguishdifferentwords?

4. Preview Articulatoryphonetics: Place andmannerofarticulation Acousticphonetics IPA transcription Suprasegmentals Phonology: phonemes, allophones

5. Articulatoryphonetics One ofthelargestobstaclesphoneticiansfaced – theycouldn’t seetheobjectsoftheirstudy: youcan’t seethetongue as it’s movinginsidesomeone’s mouth; youcan’tseethesoundwavestravellingthroughthe air, youcan’t seethevibrationofthe fluid intheinnerear Recently, sophisticateddevicesdeveloped: MagneticResonanceImaging, sonography, digitalacousticanalysis

6. Thevocaltract Thesound: vibrating air Speakingmeansusingyourvocaltract (lungs, trachea, larynx, mouthand nose) to get air movingandvibrating Most speechsoundsmadewith air exitingthelungs: speechbeginswithbreath

7. Thevocaltract At the top ofthetrachea is larynx (Adam’s apple) Insidethelarynxthere are twofoldsof soft tissue – vocalchords Ifthevocalchords are heldinthecorrectpositionwiththecorrecttension, the air flowingoutofthetracheacausesthem to flapopenandclosedveryquickly (200 timespersecond)

8. Thevocaltract Findyourlarynxand hum a tune: musclesattached to thecartilagesofthelarynxallowyoutoadjustthetensionofvocalchords, adjustingthe rate ofvibrationandraising or loweringthepitch Thefasterthevibration, thehigherthepitchofthevoice Othermusclesallowyou to drawthefoldsapartsothat no vibrationoccurs

9. Thevocaltract Justabovethelarynx, at the base ofthetongue, is theepiglottis – a muscularstructurethatfoldsdownoverthelarynxwhenyouswallow to preventfoodfromgoingdownintothelungs Thepayoff for theriskof a larynxlocatedlowinthethroat is anopenarea at thebackofthemouth, thepharynx Thepharynxallowsthetonguefrontandbackmovement

10. Thevocaltract Othermammals, includingnonhumanprimates, havethelarynxhighup at thebackofthemouth, connected to thenasalpassages Becausetheyhave no pharynx, chimpscouldneverlearn to talk Insidethemouth: activearticulatorsandpassivearticulators

11. Thevocaltract Activearticulators: lipsandthetongue Passivearticulators : alveolarridge, thepostalveolarregion, thehardpalate, the soft palate (velum)

12. Vocaltract

13. Articulation Howwillthespeakergetthe air moving? Pulmoniceggressive– the air movingfromthelungs Soundsproducedwithvocalfoldvibration– voiced, thoseproducedwithoutvibration – voiceless (Place yourfinger on yourlarynxandproduceprolonged [z], thenproduce [s])

14. Articulation For some sounds, thevocalfolds are heldapart far enoughandlongenough to produceanextra “puffof air” to exitthemouth (pop, pill) – aspiration – (holdyourfingertipsinfrontofyourlips) Ifthevelum is open, sothat air flowsintothe nose, thesound is nasal: [m]; ifthevelum is closed, thesoundisoral

15. Mannerofarticulation Stops: [ p], [t], [k] :voiceless (also: plosives); [b], [d], [g] :voiced ; [m] – nasal stop Fricatives: [s], [z], [f], [v] Affricate (stop+fricative): [t∫] , [dз] Approximant : [j], [w], [l], [r] Vowel

16. Place ofarticulation (Englishconsonants) : Bilabial: [p], [b], [m] Labiodental: [f], [v] Dental [ð], [θ] Alveolar: [t], [d], [n], [l], [s], [z] Palatoalveolar: [∫] , [з] [t∫] , [dз] Palatal: /j/ Velar: /k/, /g/, [ŋ] Labiovelar: /w/ Laryngeal: /h/

17. Place ofarticulation: Vowels Vowels – anopenvocaltract, sothetonguedoesnottouchtheuppersurfaceofthevocaltract at anyparticular place Vowels – describedintermsofthewaysinwhichthetonguebodyandlipsmove Classifiedbytheheightofthetonguebody, whether it is bunchedtowardthefront or backofthemouth, andwhetherthelips are rounded

18. Englishvowels

19. Transcription In 1888 theInternationalPhoneticAssociationtackledthe problem of how to preciselydescribeanysoundthemembersmightencounterintheireffortstodescribe all languagesofthe world Theypublishedsymbols for the new alphabet – InternationalPhoneticAlphabet (IPA) based on twoprinciples: Thealphabetwouldbeuniversal Thealphabetwouldbeunambiguous (1 sound 1 symbol)

21. IPA Chart (English)

22. Suprasegmentals Speakinginvolvesstringingsoundstogetherintolargerunits Aspectsofspeechthat influence stretchesofsoundlargerthan a single segment - suprasegmentals

23. Suprasegmentals Length, tone, intonation, syllablestructure stress

24. Acousticphonetics Inorder to understand how people use sound to communicate, we must understand how articulatorsturn air movementsintosound, whathappens to soundafter it passesthroughthelips, how it travelsthroughthe air, and how it impacts on theearsandthebrainofthose who listen

25. Soundwaves Articulation is aboutgetting air to move Movingpatternsofvibration – soundwaves Whenthesoundwavesreachourearsthey set theeardrumvibratingaccording to the same pattern Insidetheear, thevibrations set off nerve impulses, which are interpretedbyourbrain as sound

26. Hearing

27. Measuringspeech Speechanalysis done bycomputer Microphonesconvertthevibrationofthe membrane intovariationsinelectricalcurrent Oncerepresentedandstoredin a digital format, soundfilescanbematematicallyanalyzed to separate outthediferentfrequencies

28. Waveform for theutterance “not got room for”

29. Waveform A usefulrepresentation for seeingtheoverallstructureofanutterance, identifyingthedifferenttypesofsoundsandmeasuringthedurationsofdifferentaspectsofthespeech signal

30. Pitchtrack

31. Pitchtrack Y axisshowsfrequencyand time is on the x-axis

32. Spectrogram Thecomputercanfurtheranalyzethesoundwave to separate itscomponentfrequencies Insteadof a single line graph, wesee a complicatedpatternofthemanyfrequenciespresentineachsound Amplitude – representedbythedarknessofthelines A dark bar at a certainfrequencymeansthatfrequency is stronglyrepresentedinthesound

33. Spectrogram Eachvowelhas a patternoftwo or three most prominentfrequencies, which are calledformants, abovethefundamentalfrequencyofthespeaker’s vocalfolds Becauseeveryperson’s vocaltractsizeandshape is unique, everyperson’s formant structure is uniquetoo. Werecognizefamiliarvoices, regardlessofwhatthey are sayingandinthehandsofanexpert, a spectrographicvoiceprint is almost as unique as a fingerprint

34. Spectrogram

35. Sounds Everysound – composedofsmallercomponentsthatcanbecombinedindifferentways to makeothersounds, andeachcomponentoffers a typicallybinaryopposition: voiced or voiceless, nasal or oral, open or closed, front or backetc.

36. Sounds Related to eachother: some setsofsoundsdifferonlybychanging one parametar, othersinseveralparameters Theseparameters – distinctivefeatures– importantindescribingsoundpatternswithin a linguisticsystem

37. Phonology Whenweturnfromanalyzingphysicalaspectsofspeechsounds to studyingtheircognitiveorganization, wemovefromphoneticstophonology

38. Distinctivefeatures Phonemesof all languagesmaybedescribedintermsofdifferingsubsetsoftheuniversallyavailable set ofdistinctivefeatures

39. Phonemesandallophones Pairsofwordsthatdifferinonly a singlesoundinthe same position – minimalpairs Theexistenceofminimalpairsmeansthatthedifferencebetweenthetwosounds is contrastive: change one soundintoanotherandyou’ve created a contrastinmeaning (i.e. it’s a different word) Examples: pat – bat – mat – fat - vat

40. Phonemesandallophones Example: [d] and [ð] have a differentdistributioninSpanish – no minimalpairs; thedifference is notcontrastive; differentdistribution: only[d] is foundininitialposition, andonly [ð] is foundbetweenvowels; thedistributionispredictable

41. Phonemesandallophones Whentheoccurrenceoftwodifferentsounds is predictable, thetwosounds are incomplementarydistribution Whentwosoundsformminimalpairs (i.e., theirdistribution is unpredictableandcontrastive), thosesoundsrepresentdifferentphonemes Whentwosounds are incomplementarydistribution (i.e. theirdistribution is predictableandnon-contrastive), thetwosounds are allophonesofthe same phoneme; inEnglish [d] and [ð] – differentphonemes; inSpanish[d] and [ð] – allophonesofthe same phoneme

42. Phonemesandallophones English: Spanish: /d/ /ð/ /d/ [d] [ð] [d] [ð] Word-initialbetweenvowels Phonemes – indicatedbyslashes, allophonesbybrackets At theallophoniclevel, EnglishandSpanishhavethe same sounds; at thephonemiclevel, Englishhas a contrastwhereSpanishhas none

43. Phonemesandallophones Differencesinphonemicandallophonicdistributionposesignificantproblems for languagelearners: a nativespeakerofSpanishlearningEnglishwillhavetroublewiththedistinctionbetweendenandthen

44. Phonologicaltheory Phonologists don’t want to knowjust “What is theinventoryofsoundsinPolish” but “What is theinventoryofsoundsinanylanguage?” Theywant to knownotjust “How are RussianandUkrainiandifferent?” but “Howdifferentcanlanguagesbe?” Distinctivefeaturetheoryaims to encode all thephoneticdimensionsthatlanguageshaveavailable to encodecontrastsand natural classes

45. Roman Jakobson (1896-1982) Eachrelevantdimensioncanbethoughtof as a plus or minus contrast: e.g. [+voice] [-voice] Byproposing a fixed, finite set ofuniversalfeatures, Jakobsonattempted to define all thephoneticdimensionsthatcouldbephonologicallyrelavant

46. N. Chomskyand M. HalleTheSoundPatternofEnglish (1968) Therelationshipbetweenphonemes (theunderlyingrepresentation, or UR) - thewaywords are storedinthebrain) andallophones (thesurfacerepresentation or SR – thewaywords are actuallypronounced N. ChomskyandMorrisHalleinTheSoundPatternofEnglish (SPE) (1968): allophones are derivedfromphonemesbytheapplicationofphonologicalrules

47. Distinctivefeatures: vowels

48. Distinctivefeatures: consonants

49. Keyterms Acousticphonetics Activeandpassivearticulators Allophone Articulatoryphonetics Complementarydistribution Distinctivefeatures

50. Keyterms Intonation Mannerofarticulation Minimalpair Phoneme Phonology