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cell phones
off please
What is a phonetic transcription?
• Way of writing languages that
– have no writing system
or
– have writing systems that don’t
represent sounds consistently
• Spoken vs. signed languages
A language with no writing system
Witsuwit’en
1. ‘driftwood’ [təz]
2. ‘cane’ [thʌz]
3. ‘footwear’ [qhɛ]
Notice
•some familiar symbols (but may have new values)
•some unfamiliar symbols
A language that doesn’t represent
sound consistently
• English
• Different letters but same sound
– she, tree, ski, believe, receive,
amoeba
• Same letter but different sounds
– red, she, the, get
Value of phonetic transcription
• Allows us to “freeze” language and talk
about
– structure
– how structure learned
– how structure varies between speakers
– how structure changes over time
• A universal framework for the description
of spoken languages
What is phonetics?
• Articulatory phonetics
– how sounds are produced
• Acoustic phonetics
– physical properties of sounds
• Auditory phonetics
– how sounds are perceived
• All branches use phonetic transcription
mid-sagittal
view
Articulatory
phonetics nasal cavity
Some vocal tract
structures relevant
for speech
pharynx
oral cavity
Distinct sound
results from
location, degree of
constriction in
vocal tract
Phonetic description
• =Description of speech sounds
• For consonants, mainly:
– State of glottis
– Place of articulation
– Manner of articulation
Some places of articulation
upper articulator
lower articulator
(“dancers”)
“lips” (1)
“3 different parts of
the tongue”
•tip(3)/blade(6)
•body(front-7)
•back-8 (and root)
“soft palate”
“larynx”
Some structures in vocal tract
structure descriptive term
lips labial
teeth dental
alveolar ridge alveolar
hard palate palatal
soft palate = velum velar
Some places of articulation in
English
place example
liquids alveolar lip
retroflex* rip
glides palatal yip
labio-velar whip
State of the
glottis
The
larynx
and
vocal
cords
The Human Language Evolves
(Human Language, pt. 3)
• Video clip of the vocal cords in action
• Lieberman: The vocal cords “convert
a steady flow of air from the lungs, like
([h]), which you cannot hear, into very,
very loud” [acoustic energy]
• Vocal cords pulse 60-300 x/sec
Some states of the glottis in English
• Voiced: vocal cords are close, vibrate when
air passes through glottis
• Voiceless: vocal cords apart, do not vibrate
• Some voiced and voiceless fricatives
voiceless voiced
fooey [f] voodoo [v]
thin [θ] then [ð]
sip [s] zip [z]
Aleutian [ʃ] illusion [ʒ]
Glottal stop
• A third state of the glottis: complete
occlusion (stop) at vocal cords
• Examples
– uh-oh, unh-unh
– For some people
• Hawaii
– _apple, the _apple
– “t” before syllabic [n]
• mountain, Gorton
Summary of consonant phonetic
description
• State of glottis
• Place of articulation
• (Central/lateral)
• Manner of articulation
• Oral/nasal
• For example
– voiced (bi)labial stop
– (voiced) alveolar lateral approximant
– voiced velar nasal (stop)
Back to phonetic transcription
• Transcription symbols abbreviate phonetic
descriptions
– E.g. [p] = voiceless bilabial stop
– [ʔ] = glottal stop
• Phonetic transcription in square brackets
• International Phonetic Association
(http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/ipachart.html)
– interactive chart:
http://www.ladefogeds.com/course/chapter1/chapter1.html
Consonant charts
Place of articulation
Lips … Glottis
kg ʔ
least
pb td open
m n ŋ …
articulation
Manner of
ʧʤ
fv θð sz ʃʒ h
l ɹ
w j most
open