Linguistics A

Week 2 Phonetics (Sounds of Language)Part 1

Sound

Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a mechanical wave. Sound can therefore be characterized by the properties of sound waves, which are frequency, wavelength, period, amplitude, and speed.

Humans perceive sound by way of the sense of hearing. In humans and other vertebrates, hearing is performed primarily by the auditory system: sound is detected by the ear and gets turned into nerve impulses that are perceived by the brain. Not all sounds are audible to all animals. Each species has a range of normal hearing for both loudness (amplitude) and pitch (frequency).

The scientific study of sound is called acoustics, which is really a branch of physics.

Linguistic Phonetics

Phonetics is the study of the sounds occurring in human speech. It is concerned mostly with the properties of speech sounds and their production. Phonology, which we will consider a bit later, focuses on the abstract mental representations of sound in terms of discrete units (such as phonemes and distinctive features) and the systems (grammar) regulating sound patterns.

Branches of Phonetics

Acoustic phonetics deals with the physical acoustic properties of speech sounds (mechanical sound waves) themselves

Auditory phonetics deals with how speech sounds are perceived by the human ear.

Articulatory phonetics deals with the positions and movements of the lips, tongue, vocal tract, vocal folds and other speech organs involved in the articulation/production of speech sounds.

Discrete Representations of SoundConsider, for example, the word cat. Production of this word, an acoustic speech event, gives rise to a continuous spectrum of sound, a sound wave; there are no obvious discrete entities in this wave spectrum. However, every speaker of English ‘knows’ that this word consists of a sequence of three discrete sound segments. For one thing, we know that if any one of the three sound segments in the word is “replaced” by some other sound segment, the result is often a completely different word: For example: cat … mat … cot … can

(Sometimes the such “substitution” of one sound for another results in a possible but non-existing word of English, what we might call a “fake word” or “nonsense word,” e.g., c+a+ng, or it might result in an ‘impossible word’, which is a sequence of sounds that violates one or more of the rules regulating English sound patterns, e.g., ng+a+t).

Spelling vs. Sound

Knowledge of the discrete nature of linguistic sounds does not follow from knowledge of a discrete letter/symbol based writing (orthographic) system. This is evident by the fact that many languages spoken throughout the world don’t have writing systems, but speakers of those languages still cognize sounds as discrete. Indeed many fluent speakers of English do not know how to read or write. Also, in many languages the relation between sounds and spelling is highly unsystematic. English is a notorious example.

A Poem

Beware of heard, a dreadful wordThat looks like beard and sounds like bird.And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead;For goodness sake, don’t call it deed!Watch out for mean and great and threat.They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.

…

Same spelling yet different pronunciation:

cough / tough / bough / through

Same pronunciation yet different spelling:

see / sea / secret / seize / Caesar / scenic / siege / ceiling / cedar / cease / juicy / glossy

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists. It is intended to provide a standardized, accurate and unique way of representing the sounds of any human language. IPA is used by linguists, speech pathologists and therapists, foreign language teachers, lexicographers, and translators. In its unextended form it has approximately 107 base symbols and 55 modifiers. The general principle of the IPA is to provide one discrete symbol for each discrete sound occurring in human language.

IPA Symbols for Consonants in English

p spill t still k skillb bill d dill g gillm mill n nil õ ringf feel 2 thin s sealv veal x then z zeal± chill r rake • shell® juice l lake ¥ measurej you h heal w witch

IPA Symbols: English Vowels

i beet u bootw bit U foote bait o boate bet c sofa ] boreF bat but a pot

(Diphthongs)

aj bite ]j boy aw bout

Spelling vs. IPA: Some Examples

English Spelling IPAthough xothought 2]trough rfthrough 2ruwould wUdback bFkbake bekring riõ

Articulatory Phonetics

Although IPA can be useful as a tool for scientists to record the sounds of language, and as an informal representation/notation of sounds, what we really want to know is how sounds are actually represented in the minds of human speakers (as part of mental grammar).

To understand the nature of linguistic sounds, and hopefully how they are represented in mental grammar, it is useful to consider how they are produced (articulated). Articulatory phonetics is a framework for this.

What is involved in the formation of a speech sound?

Airstream Process

Phonation Process

Oro-nasal Process

Articulatory Process

Airstream Mechanisms

Most speech sounds are produced by pushing lung air out of the body through the oral cavity, and sometimes through the nasal cavity at the same time. Sounds produced in this way are called pulmonic-egressive sounds.

All of the sounds occurring in English and Japanese are pulmonic-egressive; some languages also have ingressive sounds, formed by sucking air into the mouth and there are some other mechanisms as well.

Larynx and Glottis

When air is pushed out of the lungs through the trachea, it enters the larynx (“voice box”), a structure of muscles and cartilage in the throat containing the vocal cords. The opening between the vocal cords is called the glottis.

Phonation: Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

If the vocal cords are held close together, thus forming a narrowly constricted glottis, lung air passing through this small opening causes the vocal cords to vibrate. The resulting sounds are voiced.

If the vocal cords are held apart, so that the glottis is more or less open, the flow of air is able to pass into the pharynx freely, without causing the vocal cords to vibrate. The resulting sounds are voiceless.

The consonants represented by the IPA symbols [b], [m], [d], [n], [g], [õ], [z], [v], [x], [¥] and [®] are voiced. (Also, as we will see, vowels are typically voiced in English.)

The consonants represented by the IPA symbols [p], [t], [k], [s], [f], [2], [•] and [±] are voiceless.

Voice Onset and Aspiration

Some voiceless sounds come in two varieties, aspirated and unaspirated, depending on the timing of the vocal cord closure.If the vocal cords remain open for a brief time after a voiceless sound has been articulated, delaying the onset of the voicing for the following sound, the voiceless sound is aspiration. If the onset of voicing of the following is immediate, there is no aspiration.

IPA Symbols for Aspirated Sounds

IPA uses the diacritic symbol (namely, a symbol used to modify some other symbol) hto represent aspiration; so αh means that αis aspirated.

ph pill th till kh kill

Oro-Nasal Process: Oral vs. Nasal SoundsNasal sounds are produced with the velumlowered so that the air pushed out of the lungs flows through the nasal cavity, as well as the oral cavity.

Oral sounds are produced with the velum raised, pressed against the back wall of the pharynx, preventing air from entering the nasal cavity, thus allowing it only to pass through the oral cavity.

English has three nasal consonants, represented by the IPA symbols [m], [n], and [õ]; all other English consonants are oral (we will consider vowels later).

Articulation Process

The classification of sounds in terms of the voiced/voiceless and the oral/nasaldimensions is clearly not fine-grained enough. For example, how do [b] and [g], which are both voiced oral sounds, differ?

Sounds can be further classified in terms of the processes in terms of their articulation process, the way in which they are articulated in the oral cavity.

Consonants vs. Vowels

Linguistic sounds fall into two classes, consonants and vowels; consonants are produced with some restriction or closure in the vocal tract which impedes the flow of air. In the case of vowels there is no restriction/closure of air.

Although, there are no major differences between consonants and vowels in terms of airstream, phonation, or oro-nasal processes (although it happens that vowels in most languages are typically voiced and oral), the articulation processes for consonants and vowels are described in somewhat different terms.

Places of Articulation: Consonants

When describing the articulation process of a consonant, we typically refer to the articulator (usually the lips or the tongue) and the place of articulation (lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, velum, uvula, glottis). The classes of consonants in terms of places of articulation are: labial, dental, alveolar, palatal, velar, uvular, and glottal.

Bilabial Sounds

Articulated by bringing the lips together.

English has three bilabial consonants, represented by the IPA symbols [p], [b], [m].

[p] is voiceless, [b] and [m] are both voiced, the latter being distinguished by the fact that it is nasal.

Labiodental Sounds

Articulated by touching the bottom lip to the upper teeth.

English has two labiodental consonants, represented by the IPA symbols [f] and [v].

[f] and [v] differ only in that [f] is voiceless whereas [v] is voiced.

Interdental Sounds

Articulated by inserting the tip of the tongue between the upper and lower teeth.

The consonant sounds represented by the IPA symbols [2] and [x], as in the words thin[2wn] and then [xen], are the interdentalsounds in English; [2] and [x] differ only in terms of phonation, the former is voiceless whereas the latter is voiced

Alveolar Sounds

Alveolar sounds are articulated by raising the tip or front part of the tongue to the alveolar ridge.

The sounds represented by the IPA symbols [t], [d], [n], [s], and [z] are the alveolar sounds in English. [t] and [s] are voiceless, whereas [d], [n], and [z] are voiced; [n] is nasal, whereas all of the others are oral.

Palatal Sounds

Palatal sounds are articulated by raising the front part of the tongue to the (hard) palate.

The sounds represented by the IPA symbols [•] and [¥] are the only palatal sounds in English; the difference between these two sounds is just that the former is voiceless, whereas the latter is voiced.

Velar Sounds

Velar sounds: articulated by raising the back part of the tongue to or towards the velum(also called as the soft palate).

The sounds represented by the IPA symbols [k], [g], and [õ] are the velar sounds occurring in English; [k] is voiceless, whereas the other two are voiced; [õ] is nasal, whereas all the others are oral.

Uvular Sounds

Articulated by raising the back of the tongue to (or in the direction of) the uvula; there are no uvular sounds in English or Japanese, but they do exist in many languages, such as French and Arabic.

Glottal SoundsThe first sound in the words house, who, etc., represented by the IPA symbol [h], is articulated at the glottis. There is no restriction in the oral cavity, rather it is the sound of turbulence created by lung air passing through a wide open glottis that is perceived as [h].

If the air is stopped completely at the glottis, by tightly closing the vocal folds, the result is what is called a “glottal stop,” represented by the IPA symbol [§]; although glottal stops occur in speech in all languages, as in the English expression “ah oh,” they are used systematically (to distinguish one word from in another) in some languages but not in English or Japanese.