LING 200

1 LING 200 (Chapter 02) There are three major branches of phonetics. (a) acoustic phonetics (the physical properties of speech as sound waves in the air) (b) articulatory phonetics (c) auditory (or perceptual) phonetics ( the study of how speech sounds are perceived via the ear.) We will focus only articulatory phonetics because the study of acoustic and auditory phonetics generally requires access to sophisticated equipment, laboratories, anechoic chambers, etc. - By contrast, the physical equipment necessary for the study of articulatory phonetics is with us all the time. 2 types of acoustic measurements which are frequently used in phonetics: 2.2 Speech as a Continuum Physical measurements of speech show a number of features that humans are completely unaware of in their linguistic output. Conversely, the measurements do not show certain features that humans believe are present in their linguistic output. - the impression that humans have that there are ‘words’ when no physical correlate of ‘word’ is present, drawing on support from casual observation of ‘foreign’ languages Acoustic phonetics is the study of the physical properties of speech and aims to analyse sound wave signals that occur within speech through varying frequencies, amplitudes and durations . two types of acoustic measurements frequently used in acoustic phonetics. - waveform in its top half - a spectrogram in its bottom half The image below shows a waveform in its top half and a spectrogram in its bottom half. A waveform graphically represents the fluctuations in air pressure that occur when (most) speech sounds are produced. - The horizontal axis, labelled ‘zero’ may be considered the ‘at rest’ position. - vertical lines above and below this position indicate fluctuations. The further away from zero/rest the line extends (or the string moves), the louder the sound is. So, any movement away from the zero position indicates that there is air pressure fluctuation – in our case that translates into the presence of speech sounds. Spectrograms give us a rather more detailed analysis of the physical properties of sounds. They tell us about the type of pressure fluctuation, not simply the presence or absence of pressure fluctuation. - Spectrograms also indicate presence or absence but are not used primarily for that. A spectrographic analysis allows us to see the distinguishing characteristics of one vowel from another as well as one consonant from another. - vowels and diphthongs have a kind of ‘barring’ pattern (two or three dark, horizontal bars) that the consonants do not have. - (Nasals also have a barred pattern, though one that is less well-defined.) Both the waveform and the spectrogram, there are only two actual breaks in the speech stream in spite of the fact there are four ‘words. Moreover, the annotation shows that those breaks do not occur at any ‘word’ boundaries. Instead, the breaks correspond to the sounds that we represent by ‘t’ and ‘k’ (‘g’ has some very faint activity which may be difficult to see). So what the physical evidence tells us is completely at odds with our mental ‘picture’ of what we hear (and what we think we say). Even more bizarre is the fact that there is apparently no physical evidence for ‘t’ and ‘k’ so: a) why do we think there are any sounds at all there?; and b) how can we possibly think there are two different sounds (from no sound at all)? Acoustic phonetics provides a wealth of information that allows us to see the physical basis upon which our mental representations of language are built. Measurements like these allow us at least to see where our mind’s contribution to the linguistic picture begins and ends, although we are still rather far from understanding the details of the interface between the organ that gets the physical (acoustic) stimulus and the cognitive (linguistic) module responsible for providing us with a linguistic percept

2 2.3 Articulatory Phonetics Articulatory phonetics refers to the “ aspects of phonetics which looks at how the sounds of speech are made with the organs of the vocal tract ” - To produce sound, air needs to be set in motion. - Humans can make air move in a variety of ways, but in the case of speech only those methods involving the upper respiratory tract are used. - It’s a little harder to see in the spectrogram, but essentially, areas that are very very light indicate an absence of signal. The most widely used technique for moving air to create speech ( called an ‘airstream mechanism’ ), used in all human languages, involves exhalation (i.e., breathing out). - It is known as the pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism . *** pulmonic egressive, where the air is pushed out of the lungs by the ribs and diaphragm . All human languages employ such sounds (such as vowels), and nearly three out of four use them exclusively. lungs plays key role in speech. First, Stop the airflow coming up from your lungs without changing the position of the articulators in your mouth (while making long ‘’s’’ sound). All noise ceases. - Without the flow of air from the lungs, no sound can be produced. Now make a long [s] again this time suddenly opening your mouth as wide as possible part way through it. The [s] sound will cease. This reveals the second critical aspect of producing speech: the modification of the flow of air by manipulating the path through which the air is flowing — in this case in the oral cavity (i.e., the mouth). Airstream mechanism alone not produce an [s], nor will the oral constriction (in this case at the alveolar ridge, where [s]’s are made) do so alone. Only the combination of the two acts leads to the articulation of an [s]. p ulmonic egressive airstream mechanism + oral constriction = [s ] In English-type grammars, all speech sounds are produced using a pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. All languages have sounds produced using this airstream mechanism. But, some languages have different airstream mechanisms for sound producing (‘ingressive pulmonic’, ‘glottalic ingressive/egressive’ and so on). The degree (none, partial, complete) and type of constriction of the airflow is the other critical factor in producing speech sounds. The traditional division of sounds into ‘consonants’ and ‘vowels’ is also used in phonetics. - Consonants are produced with some type of airflow constriction or (partial or full) obstruction - whereas vowels are produced with a relatively unobstructed airflow. **consonants represent sounds with a closure of the vocal tract, vowels represent sounds where the vocal tract remains open . *** Phonetically: a vowel is any sound with no audible noise produced by constriction in the vocal tract, - consonant is a sound with audible noise produced by a constriction . As consonant articulations are a bit more straightforward to illustrate, we will begin with consonants. 2.3.1 Consonants Produce the following: : [apapapapapa] and then pronounce only [ppppp] (that’s a really long [p], no vowel). What’s happening to the air in your lungs? Nothing. It is totally blocked. - Sounds produced with a complete closure at some point in the vocal tract are called stops . Now produce the following: [atatatatata] and [ttttt]. - Again, during the pronunciation of the consonants, the flow of air is totally blocked — stopped, as it were. [t] is therefore a stop as well. The various ways of constricting the airflow (e.g., stopping it completely) are referred to as manners of articulation . If both [p] and [t] involve the total blockage of airflow during their articulation, how can we tell the difference between [apa] and [ata]? Why don’t they sound the same? - They sound different because the stop closure is being made at a different point in the vocal tract — when the air is released from the stop closure, the resulting disturbance (sound wave) is different for [p] than for [t].6

4 To understand how glottal stops are produced, as well as a number of other sounds, it is necessary to describe the glottis . - Midway down your neck, noticable (especially on males) as a bony protrusion (called an ‘Adam’s apple’), is your larynx. It is sometimes called a ‘voice-box.’ - Inside your larynx are folds of tissue known generally as the ‘vocal chords.’ - The muscles in the larynx allow manipulation of these vocal folds, controlling the amount of tension in the folds themselves. - Normally, when you’re just breathing, these folds are apart and air flows relatively freely between them. However, you can pull the vocal folds closed with varying degrees of strength. - The space between the folds is called the glottis . When pulled tightly closed, so tightly that the air coming up from the lungs can’t get through the vocal folds, the glottis is closed and you are making a glottal stop. If you observe someone saying [abababababa], you will notice that there is a blockage of the airflow in that sequence as well. Where is the stop closure being made? - It is labial, obviously, but we already have a labial stop, [p]. If you compare [apa] to [aba] you will notice that, in both cases, your lips are temporarily pressed together. - Why, then, do these segments sound different from one another? The answer lies in the different states of the glottis. In addition to being tightly closed (as for a glottal stop) or wide open (for breathing), the glottis can adopt another posture. - If you pull your vocal cords loosely closed and then push air through them (by normal exhalation), they will vibrate. If you hold them very tightly closed, they will stop the flow of air. If you hold them apart, the air will flow between them unimpeded. But if you hold your lips loosely together and then push air through them, you will get a mildly embarrassing kind of noise from the flapping of your lips in the passing breeze. When you make this kind of noise in your glottis, the resonating cavity of your head shapes it into that mellifluous sound which is your voice. - The technical name for the sound produced by this rapid flapping of the vocal folds is voicing. *** Voicing refers to the presence or absence of vocal vibration during speech sound production . In a voiced sound, there is vocal fold vibration and an audible 'buzzing' sound. In an unvoiced sound, there is no vocal fold vibration. Segments which are produced while the vocal folds are vibrating are therefore called ‘ voiced’ sounds. Since this voicing takes place some distance away in the glottis, it can be superimposed upon oral constrictions of various types, e.g., stops. - The difference between [p] and [b], both of which are labial stops, is that during the production of [p] the vocal folds are pulled away from one another, allowing the air to flow through them unobstructed (although the air is ultimately blocked by the lips). - During the production of a [b], by contrast, the vocal folds are pulled together, vibrating in the flow of air coming up from the lungs. [b] is therefore a voiced labial stop , while [p] is a voiceless labial stop . *** Both are made by pressing the lips together, both are made by releasing air out of the mouth. The slight difference is called “voicing.” The /p/ sound is voiceless (the voice is “turned off”) and /b/ is voiced (the voice is “turned on” due to the vocal folds vibrating) . you can make a very long [p] — in fact, you can make a [p] that lasts just as long as you can hold your breath. On the other hand, if you try to make an equally long [b] you will discover that you have a little aerodynamic problem. To keep the vocal folds vibrating (which you must do so that the [b] does not turn into a [p]), you have to keep pushing air up from your lungs through the loosely closed glottis. But your lips are closed, so there’s nowhere for the air coming up from lungs to go. Once the capacity of your oral cavity is exhausted, you can’t push any more air through the glottis and voicing will cease. There are voiced versions of the alveolar and velar stops as well. [d] as in is a voiced alveolar stop and [g] as in is a voiced velar stop. - But There is NO voiced glottal stop. Since to make a glottal stop you must hold your vocal folds tightly closed, allowing no air to escape, and to produce voicing you have to push air through the glottis causing the vocal folds to vibrate, it is physically impossible to do both simultaneously. There is yet another sound made with the lips blocking the flow of pulmonic egressive air. This sound is [m] as in ‘Mouth’. Can you tell whether [m] is Voiced or Voiceless? - ‘voiced’ because we can feel vocal chords vibrating during the articulation of [m] if you press your fingers to your throat at the point of your larynx and say [mmmmm ðæts gʊd] (‘mmmmm that’s good’). We pointed out above that you get an ‘explosive’ feeling if you try to make a very long [b] because of a build-up of pressure from the need to push air through the glottis constantly to keep up the voicing. - But if [m] is voiced, why doesn’t your head explode when you make a really long [m]? Obviously, the pressure is being released somehow — the air is getting out.

5 - Just as obviously, the air is not being released through your mouth, which is closed at the lips. This means it must have another escape route. Given the anatomical structure of the human head, the possible escape routes are limited. - A good candidate would be one of those orifices connected to the vocal tract, since that’s where the pressure is building up in the case of a long [b]. - your nasal sinus passage is directly connected to the oral cavity. The relationship between the nasal and oral cavities can be seen in Figure 2.2 where the velum is where air will divert between the two passages. it would appear that air should always be able to pass through the nasal cavity, but this is not the case. The velum is a ‘movable’ part although it is difficult to sense this movement consciously. In particular, it can (and does) move back and block access to the nasal passage from the oral cavity. Fewer nerve endings in that general area reduces your ability to feel the velaric movement. - E.g. The vowel written [ɛ] in the IPA is the vowel of [bɛt]. The vowel written [ɛ] is the vowel of French ‘end’ [fɛ]. Why do the two vowels sound different? ̃ Because the velum is moving back & forth to open (for [ɛ]) and close (for [ɛ]) access to the nasal sinuses. Consonants produced with the velum open (i.e., lowered) are called nasals . - As we have already established, [m] is a labial nasal. [t] and [d] we have the alveolar nasal [n). Parallel to the velar stops [k] and [g], we have ̩ the velar nasal [ŋ] as in [sɪŋ]. Nasals are classified as stops, since there is an oral occlusion at the normal stop positions. Every speech sound must be either oral or nasal. (The velum will either be raised or lowered.) - Because the default value for speech sounds appears to be ‘oral’ (more sounds are oral sounds than are nasal sounds), we typically specify this parameter only for those sounds which are nasal. The segments we have examined so far all involved total obstruction of the airflow through the oral cavity; however, it is possible to partially obstruct, rather than completely block, the flow of air. - One technique for doing this is to force the air flow to go through a very narrow passage. - Since the air is coming up from the lungs at a more or less constant rate, when it is forced through a small opening it must speed up significantly to get out of the way of the rest of the air rushing up from the lungs. - The narrow channel causes this rapidly rushing air to become quite turbulent and these sounds are characterized by a great deal of ‘noise’ (in the technical sense). - Sounds that are made in this manner are called fricatives . *** fricative, a consonant sound, such as English f or v, produced by bringing the mouth into position to block the passage of the airstream, but not making complete closure, so that air moving through the mouth generates audible friction. - *** Fricatives are the kinds of sounds usually associated with letters such as f, s; v, z, in which the air passes through a narrow constriction that causes the air to flow turbulently and thus create a noisy sound . A typical example of a fricative, quite widely found in the languages of the world, is the voiceless alveolar fricative [s]. An [s] is articulated by using the apex (tip) of the tongue to block all air flow through the oral cavity except for a narrow channel between the tongue and the alveolar ridge. [s] has a voiced counterpart in [z]. Grammars of the English type, like many grammars around the world, lack labial fricatives, though they do exist in some languages. Acoustically very similar to the labial fricative is the labiodental fricative , which is produced by forcing the air through a very small set of channels between the upper teeth and the lower lip. - The official IPA symbol for the voiceless labiodental fricative is [f]. Most English-type grammars also have a pair of interdental fricatives — quite rare, cross-linguistically. These sounds are produced by placing the apex of the tongue between the teeth, forcing the air through small channels between the teeth and the tongue. - The voiceless interdental fricative is found in words like ‘thrilling’ [θrɪlɪŋ]. The voiced interdental fricate is found in words like ‘bathe’ [beð].

7 Nasals and liquids, in English, share something in common with vowels. They may form what is called the nucleus of a syllable all on their own. The nucleus might be described as the ‘heart’ of the syllable — if there is no nucleus, there is no syllable. Interestingly, everyone has good intuitions about syllables and this really means that they have good intuitions about syllabic nuclei. For example, if we were to say aloud a long and unfamiliar word, you would be immediately able to tell us how many syllables were contained in it. People appear to do this in the same way that they can follow the beat of music by tapping their fingers or feet. For example, the word ‘antidisestablishmentarianism’ has twelve nuclei and, thus, twelve syllables. Usually, it is vowel sounds which carry the ‘beat’ (i.e., form the nuclei) however liquids and nasals may do so as well under certain conditions. When a consonant, such as a liquid or nasal, acts as a syllabic nuclei, we call it a syllabic or vocalic consonant. - Certain aspects of syllable structure are complex and still not very well understood. The brief notes above will be sufficient for our purposes. As far as the major consonants needed to discuss most English-type grammars in a somewhat superficial way, there are only two segments left. These are usually called glides or semivowels . The labiovelar glide is transliterated [w] and found in words such as ‘wacky’ [wæki]. It is made by rounding the lips and retracting the back of the tongue toward the velum. The palatal glide has the official IPA symbol [j] and is found in words such as ‘yucky’ [jəki]. In this case, the blade of the tongue is placed very close to the palate but not close enough to cause frication. The alternate ‘semivowel’ designation is the result of the fact that these sounds are virtually identical to two of the vowel sounds [u] and [i] (discussed below) except in their position within the syllable (critically not the nucleus position). Their position within the syllable is like that of consonants. Although not always covered in introductory texts, we consider the following sounds, universally present in English-type grammars, to be worth describing. First, there are dental stops in addition to labial, alveolar, velar and glottal. If you contrast the pronouncation of ‘ten’ [tɛn] and that of ‘tenth,’ you will find that the latter should be transliterated [tɛn̪θ], where [n̪] is the symbol for the dental nasal. Similarly, for those speakers who have a stop before the final fricative in a word such as ‘eighth’, it is a voiceless dental stop: [et̪θ]. More frequent is the voiced alveolar flap ortap (use either term). This sound is found in the middle of words like ‘middle’ and ‘butter,’ and its official IPA symbol is [ɾ]. ‘Middle’ and ‘butter’ should therefore be transliterated [mɪɾl] and [bəɾr ̩ ], respectively. 2.3.2 Vowels English-type grammars are extremely rich in vowels. Whereas with consonants there were only a few ‘funny’ symbols of the IPA that needed to be learned. - vowel symbols will be in extensive use, it is unavoidable. Consonants are generally classified according to the point of greatest constriction in the vocal tract — the number of such points used in human language is quite restricted. Vowels , by contrast, are distinguished from one another by the shape of the (usually oral) resonating cavity. The shape of this cavity can be modified in three major ways . - The lower jaw can be raised or lowered (making the resonating cavity smaller or larger, respectively). - The body of the tongue can be bunched up in the back of the oral cavity or the blade of the tongue can be pushed up toward the palate. - Finally, the lips may be rounded or spread during the articulation of the vowel. Thus, three important parameters for vowel articulation are: • height of the lower jaw (high, mid, low) • position of tongue (front, central, back) • lip rounding (rounded, unrounded) If you raise your lower jaw as high as possible (without making such a tight constriction in the oral cavity that you make a consonant) and push your tongue forward with your lips spread (i.e., not rounded) you can produce the sound [i] of ‘beat’ [bit]. - [i] is therefore a high, front, unrounded vowel.

8 When the doctor wants to look down your throat, he or she says ‘say [a]’ because [a] is a low vowel (low, central and unrounded). The vowel [u], like [i] is made with the lower jaw up (i.e., it’s a high vowel). However, unlike [i], to make an [u] the back of your tongue is bunched up towards the velum (but not close enough to cause frication) — it is therefore a back vowel. - Like all back vowels in English-type grammars, [u] is round. These three vowels more or less define the edges of the vowel space. English-type grammars have many more vowels than just these three. For example, - if you say [iaiaia] very slowly and stop the jaw-lowering involved about halfway between the end of the [i] and the start of the [a] you’ll be producing a mid, front, unrounded vowel : [e] , as in [bet]. - Similarly, in the back area, if you make a vowel about half-way between a high [u] and a low [a], you’ll be producing an [o], as in [bot] ‘boat.’ These five vowels are very widely found in the languages of the world. At the high and mid heights, however, English-type grammars have additional vowels. These contrast with the vowels cited above at the high and mid points by virtue of the degree of vocal tract constriction required for their articulation. Vowels such as [i] and [u ] are generally called ‘tense’ vowels because the muscles of the vocal tract are constricted during their articulation. - By contrast, the vowel of a word like ‘bit,’ which is, like [i], high, front and unround , is called ‘lax’ . - The IPA symbol for the vowel of ‘bit’ is [ɪ]. - Corresponding to tense [u] in the high, back, round space we have the lax vowel [ʊ] of ‘put’ [pʊt]. - Articulated in the mid, front, unround area (near [e]) is the lax vowel [ɛ] of ‘bet’ [bɛt]. - Finally, corresponding to the tense version of the mid, back, round vowe l ([o]), we have a lax version [ɔ] in words such as ‘law’ [lɔ]. English-type grammars have two other simple vowels. The first is the low, front, unround vowel [æ] of [bæt] ‘bat.’ The other is the so-called schwa (its name is pronounced [ʃwa]), whose symbol is [ə]. - This vowel is found in words such as [bət] ‘but’ or [sofə] ‘sofa.’ Both [æ] and [ə] are lax, as is the other low vowel of English [a]. With the introduction of the tense/lax distinction, we now have four parameters used to describe vowels in English, as below. 1. height of the lower jaw (high, mid, low) 2. position of tongue (front, central, back) 3. lip rounding (rounded, unrounded) 4. tense vs. lax We are not quite done with vowels yet, however, In addition to the ‘simple’ vowels just described, English has a number of diphthongs —vowels which involve movement from one vowel position to another during their articulation. - By tradition, they are transliterated as sequences of vowel+glide. These diphthongs include [oj] as in [boj] ‘boy,’ [aj] as [bajd] ‘bide,’ and [aw] as in [bawt] ‘bout.’ The trajectory of tongue/jaw movement during these diphthongs is indicated in Figure 2.6.