Ling 240: Language and Mind

Phonetics

Phonetics

The study of physical properties of sound Sounds may not be represented systematically by spelling. Examples?

Why not just spell?

Sounds may not be represented systematically by spelling because... Same spelling for different sounds Combination of letters representing one sound, Some letters are silent

Phonetic Alphabet

One symbol represents one sound

Each speech sound has a distinct symbol Cross-linguistically applicable

IPA

IPA symbols for Transcription

[p]= pat
[b]= bat

[k]= car
[g]=guard

[h]= hat
[m]=mull

[t]= tap
[d]=dam

[f]= foot
[v]= van

[n]= null
[]= ring

IPA symbols for transcription

[s] = sap
[z] = zip

[]= shine
[] = vision

[]= ring
[l]= leaf

[] = think
[] = this

[]= touch
[]= judge

[j] = yes
[w]= with

IPA symbols for transcription

[i]=sheep [u]= boot
[]=ship []=put

[]=ash
[]= father

[]= end

[]= open

[]=about
[]= but

Diphthongs (Complex Vowels)

Complex because they are twopart vowels But count as a single sound because two vowels are articulated together. Examples: [] =bite [] = boy [e]= bait

IPA symbols for transcription

(Remember brackets!)

PRACTICE!
chin cat lamb meet

next kite

IPA symbols for transcription

PRACTICE!
next [nkst] kite [kt] chin [n] cat [kt] lamb [lm] meet [mit]

The Vocal Tract

Consonants vs. Vowels

consonantal sounds: obstruction of airflow in vocal tract vowel sounds: little to no obstruction of airflow

Features of Consonants

Voicing (state of the glottis) Place of articulation Manner of articulation Site for listening to the sounds of American English: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phoneti cs/english/frameset.html

Voicing

Voicing

Place of Articulation

Articulator: Organ a speaker employs to produce and distinguish certain speech sound (e.g. lips are active articulators and hard plate is a passive articulator) Place of articulation: Identifies the location of articulators

Place of Articulation

Bilabial Labiodental Interdental Alveolar Palatal Velar

[p] [f] [] [t] [] [k]

[b] [m] [w] [v] [] [d] [n] [s] [z] [l] [] [] [] [] [j] [g] []

Manners of articulation

Stops [p] [b] [t] [d] [k] [g] Fricatives [f] [v] [] [] [s] [z] [] [] Affricates [] [] Liquids [l] [] Glides [w] [j]

Consonant Chart for English

Phonetic features of consonants

To describe phonetic features of consonants, list (a) voicing (b) place of articulation and (c) manner of articulation for consonants (3 features) e.g. [p] = Voiceless bilabial stop [z] = Voiced alveolar fricative

Features of vowels

All vowels in English are voiced and involve a continuous flow of air through the oral cavity. English vowels can be categorized by 4 distinctive features:
(1) Height of the tongue (2) Frontness/backness of the tongue (3) Tenseness/laxness i.e. whether the tongue muscle is tense or lax (4) Round/unrounded i.e. whether the lips are rounded or not

Every vowel is a combination of 4 features.

[i] as in meet is high front tense unrounded vowel [] as in pat is low front lax unrounded [] as in pot is low back lax unrounded

Vowels of English

What knowledge do we have about the sounds of our native language?

We know which sounds are distinctive e.g. l and r are perceived as different sounds in English but not in Japanese We know which sounds can (and cant combine) e.g. Are these possible English words? mbeem, tsub, coofb

What do we know about sound in (and not in) our language?

Recognize foreign accents

How does a French speaker pronounce the word this?

How does a German speaker pronounce the word think? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64vBaFOfawI