Spoken language phonetics: Consonant articulation, transcription

1. Spoken language phonetics:Consonant articulation, transcription LING 200 Spring 2003

2. What is phonetics? • Acoustic phonetics: physical properties of sounds/signs • Auditory phonetics: perception of sounds/signs • Articulatory phonetics: production of sounds/signs

3. Articulatory phonetics Of spoken languages: • Description of speech sounds • Vocal tract structures relevant for speech • Transcription of speech sounds • Sound inventories

4. Vocal tract anatomy • Upper articulator • Lower articulator

5. Major structures

6. Degree of occlusion • How close are lower and upper articulator? • Relatively close, constricted (‘occluded’) airflow: consonants • stops • fricatives • approximants • Relatively far apart, unconstricted airflow: vowels

7. Phonetic description • Consonants: some parameters • Laryngeal setting voiceless • Place of articulation bilabial • Degree of occlusion/manner stop

8. Phonetic transcription • Alphabetic and other symbols which abbreviate phonetic descriptions • E.g. voiceless bilabial stop = [p] • Different systems of phonetic transcription • International Phonetic Association • ‘Americanist’

9. Phonetic transcription • A universal framework for the description of languages • Many languages lack writing systems • Superior to many writing systems

10. Preparing a transcription • What are the sounds of the language? • How can they be represented?

11. Phonetic transcription • ‘driftwood’ • ‘cane’ • ‘footwear’ • ‘grease’ • ‘straight up’ • ‘your collarbone’

12. Phonetic transcription Witsuwit’en • [tz] ‘driftwood’ • [thz] ‘cane’ • [qhE] ‘footwear’ • [XE] ‘grease’ • [ntq] ‘straight up’ • [nt’q] ‘your collarbone’

13. Consonant charts English

14. Vowels • Vowel quality • Height • Backness • Labiality (lip rounding) • Vowel quantity

15. A five vowel inventory Spanish

16. Spanish vowels

17. Quality • Height • High – mid – low • Backness • Front – central – back • Labiality • Rounded – unrounded • Non-low back vowels usually rounded

18. Phonetic description of vowels • [i] = high front unrounded vowel • [e] = mid front unrounded vowel • [A] = low central(-back) unrounded vowel • [o] = mid back rounded vowel • [u] = high back rounded vowel

19. Another five vowel inventory Mandarin (Chinese) [ü]/[y] = high front rounded vowel [] = mid central unrounded vowel

20. Mandarin vowel quality

21. Vowel quantity: Sahaptin [] = high central unrounded vowel [i] = high front unrounded vowel [i:] = long high front unrounded vowel

22. Sahaptin short vowels

23. Sahaptin short vs. long vowels

24. English vowels • English, a Germanic language • Proto-Germanic vowels

25. English vowels • Historical length > 'tense'/'lax' contrast • Long vowels > tense • Short vowels > lax

26. English vowels

27. English vowels Monophthongs

28. English vowels • Dialect mergers in N. America. What happened to []: • ,  >  (East) • []: sod, hawed, []: Shah • ,  >  (East, Midwest) • []: sod, Shah, []: hawed • , ,  > A (West) • []: sod, Shah, hawed

29. English vowels • Diphthongs: 2 vowel qualities • [w] = [a]: [hwd] (how’d) • [j] = [a]: [hjd] (hide) • [j] = []: [tjd] (toyed)

30. English vowels Western North America

31. English vowels • In Western North America, [] only before [r]: • [mr] more • [mor] mower [ ] = syllabic • [mAr] mar

32. English vowels • Stressed and unstressed syllables • to [riEkt] a [ríEkt] (reject) • to [protEst] a [prótEst] (protest) to [prótEst]

33. English vowels • [] • only occurs in unstressed syllables

34. English vowels • [] + nasals, liquids • For many speakers, • [l] = [l] [pkl] • [r] = [r] [pkr] • Compare • [n] [Tkn] • [m] [rDm]

35. Transcription practice • fish • scrimmage • schism • asthma • azalea • mayonnaise

36. Transcription practice • fish [fIš] • scrimmage [skrIm] • schism [skIzm] • asthma [zm] • azalea [zelj] • mayonnaise [mnez]

37. English vowels Rhotic nuclei ([V+r] combinations) in North American English