General Linguistics

Week 2

Phonetics:
Physical Dimensions of Speech Sounds
 Concepts
• Speech organs
• Places of articulation
• Manner of articulation
• Vowel distinctions
• International Phonetic Alphabet
• Phonetic Transcription
• Syllable
• Prosody: Stress, tone, intonation
 Phonetics

• The branch of linguistics that is concerned

with the scientific study of speech sounds
 Three Branches of Phonetics
• Articulatory phonetics:
o how the vocal organs produce speech.
• Acoustic phonetics:
o the physical characteristics of speech, such as
the duration, frequency, and intensity of sounds.
• Auditory phonetics:
o the perception of speech by the auditory system.
 The Speech Organs
• The subglottal system
o lungs, windpipe
• The larynx
o vocal folds
o creates vibration, i.e. voicing
o glottal consonants: [h] [ʔ]
• Supraglottal system
o place of articulation
o manner of articulation
Genetti_Fig. 02.01
Genetti_Fig. 02.02
 Supraglottal Vocal Tract

• Place of articulation
o Lips
o Teeth
o Alveolar ridge
o Palate
o Velum / soft palate
 Places of Articulation
• Both lips: bilabials
o p, b, m, w
• Lower lip + upper teeth: labiodentals
o f, v
• Teeth + tongue tip: dentals or interdentals
o thick, this
 Places of Articulation

• Alveolar ridge + tongue blade: alveolars

o t, d
o s, z
o l, r,
on
 Places of Articulation
• Post-alveolar / palato-alveolar + tongue
blade: post-alveolars / palato-alveolars
o ship, rouge
o chug, jug
• Palate + tongue body: palatals
o young, yellow
 Places of Articulation
• Velum / soft palate + back of tongue: velars
o cat, bucket, crib
o gas, go, bag
o sing
• Vocal folds: glottals
o Uh-oh! Hawai’i
 Nasality

• Also involves the

velum, which can
be raised to open
or lowered to close
• Open velum = nasal
airflow produces a
nasal sound
• Closed velum: no
nasality produces an
oral sound

• m, n, ng
 Manners of Articulation
• Determined by narrowness of constriction
in the vocal tract
o stops
o fricatives
o affricates
o approximants
 Manners of Articulation

• Stops: full closure in oral tract

o oral:
ptkbdg
o nasal:
m n ng
 Manners of Articulation
• Fricatives: the two articulators are close
together, but not so tightly occluded that
no air can escape through the mouth.
of v
o thick, this
os z
o ship, rouge
 Manners of Articulation

• Affricates:
o combination of a stop with a following
fricative in rapid succession
o jug, chug
 Manners of Articulation
• Approximants: a slight narrowing of the
vocal tract, but not enough to cause noise
or a complete obstruction
o liquids
lr
o glides
yellow, water
 Other Terms for Consonants

• Obstruents:
o stops, fricatives, affricates
• Sonorants:
o liquids, nasals, glides
 Question of the Day
Should we stop using the current
English spelling system and switch to a
phonetically based system, where each
sound is represented by one letter, and
each letter is pronounced?

What are the advantages and

disadvantages of each approach?
 Limitations of English spelling
for phonetic transcription
• Multiple symbol → sound relations
▪ shy, mission, nation, glacial, sure
▪ sea, scene, see, thief, amoeba, machine
• Multiple sound → symbol relations
▪ xylophone, box
▪ tone, pond, drone
▪ sign, pleasure, resign
▪ father, about, any, age, apple
The International Phonetic Alphabet
• A transcription system designed to
transcribe all the sounds of the world.
o easy to learn, based on systems already known
o one symbol for every sound
▪ [s] always represents a voiceless alveolar fricative
▪ see, but not sure or wise
o No digraphs, e.g. th for the sound in three
o phonetic symbols: in [brækəts]
Major differences between IPA and
English consonant symbols
• [θ] voiceless interdental fricative
[θim] ‘theme’ [baθ] ‘bath’
• [ð] voiced interdental fricative
[ðoz] ‘those’ [wɪð] ‘with’
• [ʃ] voiceless post-alveolar fricative
[ʃu] ‘shoe’ [wɪʃ] ‘wish’
Major differences between IPA and
English consonant symbols
• [ʒ] voiced post-alveolar fricative
‘rouge’ [ɹuʒ] ‘vision’ [ˈvɪʒən]
• [tʃ] voiceless post-alveolar affricate
‘chick’ [ʧɪk] ‘each’ [iʧ]
• [ʤ] voiced post-alveolar affricate
‘June’ [ʤun] ‘page’ [peʤ]
Major differences between IPA and
English consonant symbols
• [ɹ] central alveolar approximant
‘red’ [ɹɛd] ‘car’ [kɑɹ]
• [ɾ] flap
‘atom’ [ˈæɾəm] ’kitty’ [ˈkɪɾi]
• [j] palatal glide
‘yes’ [jɛs] ‘bayonette’ [bejəˈnɛt]
Major differences between IPA and
English consonant symbols

• [ŋ] velar nasal stop

‘sing’ [siŋ]

• [ʔ] glottal stop

‘uh-oh’ [əʔo] ‘Hawai’i’ [ha'waiʔi]
 English IPA Consonant Chart
Bilabial Labio- Inter- Alveolar Post- Palatal Velar Glottal
dental dental alveolar
(Oral) Stop p b t d k g ʔ
Nasal (Stop) m n ŋ
Fricative f v θð s z ʃʒ h
Affricate ʤʧ
(Central) w ɹ j
Approximant
Lateral l
Approximant
Flap ɾ
REVIEW:
Consonant parameters
What 4 parameters do you need to
specify in order to identify a consonant?
PLACE OF
VOICING ARTICULATION

NASALITY MANNER OF
ARTICULATION
Voiced or Voiceless?
Let’s review some sounds. Please say the
sound out loud, and then whether it is
voiced or voiceless:

f s g b θ

Ʒ l j ʧ
Places of articulation?
1. s a. Bilabial
2. θ b. Labiodental
3. h c. Interdental
4. ʒ d. Alveolar
5. ɹ e. Alveo-palatal/post-alveolar
6. m f. Alveolar
7. k g. Palatal
8. v h. Velar
9. j i. Glottal

1 (d), 2 (c), 3 (i), 4 (e), 5 (f), 6. (a), 7. (h), 8. (b), 9. (g)

← manner of artic. → ← place of artic. →
 Vowels

• Differ fundamentally from consonants in

being produced with a relatively open
vocal tract.
Vowel
formation

i u

æ ɑ
Vowel
formation

i u

æ ɑ
Vowels
ROUND
FRONT CENTRAL BACK

TENSE

HIGH (=close)

MID

LOW (=open)
LAX
 Properties of Vowels
• Height of tongue
o high, mid, low
• Backness of tongue
o back, central, front
• Rounding of lips
• Tense vs. lax
 Vowel Height
• high
o [i] beet, bleed, see, fleece
o [ɪ] sit, fin, lip, kit
o [u] boot, mood, soon, goose
o [ʊ] foot, could, hood, book
 Vowel Height
• mid
o [e] late, rain, paid, face
o [ɛ] red, send, peck, dress
o [ə] (first sounds of) about, ago
o [ʌ] rut, mud, up, strut
o [o] mode, loan, sew, goat
o [ɔ] (some dialects) caught, dawn, law,
thought
 Vowel Height
• low
o [ɑ] hot, mop, rock, lot
o [æ] cat, man, trap
 Backness
• back
o [u, ʊ, o, ɔ, ɑ]
• central
o [ə, ʌ, a]
• front
o [i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ]
 Tense, Lax, Round Vowels

• Tense
o [i, u, e, o]
• Lax
o [ɪ, ʊ, ɛ, ɔ]
• Lip rounding
o [u, ʊ, o, ʊ]
 Diphthongs
• [aɪ, aʊ, ɔɪ]
o [aɪ] pie, rye, like
o [aʊ] cow, how, round
o [ɔɪ] boy, coin, boil
Practice

Pronounce these vowels:

1. [u] → [i]
2. [ɑ] → [æ]
3. [æ] → [i]
4. [ɑ] → [u]

Key:

1. “boot” → “beet”
2. “cod” → “cad”
3. “cap” → “keep”
4. “cop” → “coop”
 Using the IPA to transcribe words
• When doing phonetic transcription, do not
be biased by the spelling of a word
o do [du]
o checks [ʧɛks]
o tough [tʌf]
o putt [pʌt]
o put [pʊt]
o read [rid]
o head [hɛd]
 Coarticulation

• While one sound is being pronounced, the

speech organs are preparing to produce
the next sound.
• “articulatory overlap”
 Phonetic Typology
• Many gaps in the English IPA chart are
filled by symbols representing sounds
which occur in other languages.
o velar fricatives
o uvular sounds
o retroflex sounds
 Suprasegmentals
• Phonetic features of words and sounds
that can range over several segments
o syllables
o stress
o tone
o intonation
 Syllable

• a linguistic grouping that consists of a single

peak, which may be flanked on one or both
sides by consonants.
 Syllable
• Nucleus
o the most prominent (or loudest) part of the
syllable.
• Onset
o consonants that precede the syllable peak
within the syllable
• Coda
o consonants that follow the peak
 Syllabic consonants
• Consonants that function as syllable
nucleus
• Transcribed by small vertical line under
syllabic consonant
o little [ lɪɾl̩ ]
o butter [ bʌɾɹ̩ ]
o Button [ bʌtn̩ ]
o prism [ pɹɪzm̩ ]
 Stress

• The relative prominence of syllables in a

word
• Increased duration, loudness, pitch

Initial Stress Final Stress

insight incite
record (noun) record (verb)
defense (in sports) defense (in law)
 Stress

• transcribed with ˈbefore the stressed

syllable:
o [ɪnˈsaɪt] ‘incite’
 Tone: Distinctive pitch
• Mandarin Chinese
ma (high level) ‘mother’ 媽
ma (high rising) ‘hemp’ 麻
ma (low fall/rise) ‘horse 馬
ma (high falling) ‘scold’ 罵
 Question of the Day

How many ways can you say

I like cheesecake
so that it has different implied meanings?
 Intonation
• Changes in pitch that occur during a
phrase or an utterance
• Intonation patterns mark differences in
meaning not conveyed by segmental
differences.
o English statements are typically marked by a
pitch fall at the end
o English yes/no questions often have a pitch
rise.