PHONOLOGY 1

ORGANS OF SPEECH CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF ENGLISH SOUNDS

I take it you already know Of tough and bough and cough and dough? Others may stumble but not you On hiccough, thorough, lough and thought. Well done! And now you wish perhaps, To learn of less familiar traps? Beware of heard, a dreadful word, That looks like a beard and sounds like bird. And dead: its said like bed, not beadFor goodness sake dont call it deed! Watch out for meat and great and threat (they rhyme with suite and straight and debt). T.S.W. quoted in Mackay (1970)

ORGANS OF SPEECH

The production of a speech sound in English begins with expulsion of air from the lungs through the mouth or the nose- known as an eggressive pulmonic airstream. Different sounds are produced as a result of the obstruction of the airstream. These obstructions are governed by different articulators or organs of speech Lips This is the protrusion at the front of the mouth. Sound produced as a result of obstruction of air stream with both lips are known as bilabial sounds.

Teeth Located at both upper (upper teeth) and lower (lower teeth) jaw They can be brought together to obstruct the airstream- produce a hissing sound The sounds are known as dental sounds The sounds produced that involve the upper teeth ridge on the roof of the mouth are called as interdental or dental alveolar. Palate The roof of the mouth which is convex forming the upper bounds of the mouth It stretches from the dental ridge to the uvula(back of mouth) The hard palate is the concave roof that forms the central part of the roof The soft palate/velum is at the back of the roof of the mouth The end part of the soft palate is known as the uvula

Tongue - the tip is at the front end which at rest touches the back of the front teeth - the front of the tongue is directly below the hard palate -the back of the tongue rests directly below the soft palate Epiglottis - is at the end of the throat and protects what we eat and drink from going into the lungs - it closes the windpipe when we swallow. Larynx -upper part of the windpipe- voice box -protects the vocal chords Vocal cords - two lip like elastic membranes - brought together they vibrate

The articulatory organs form two tracts where the airstream have to pass through before they are released. The first is called the oral tract which starts from the pharynx right through to the oral cavity formed between the palate and the tongue. The second is the nasal tract(nasal cavity) where air flows out through the nose. Sounds which are released through the nose are called as nasal sounds.

PHONETICS

The general study of characteristics of speech sounds.

Main focus will be articulatory phonetics-study of how speech sounds are articulated/made Acoustic phonetics- study of physical properties of speech as sound waves in the air. Auditory phonetics- study deals with the perception via the ear of speech sounds.

Organs of Speech Description of organs of speech Sound production mechanism

Place of Articulation

Manner of Articulation

Phonation

PHONATION

Phonation refers to the vibration (or lack of vibration) of the vocal cords in the production of a particular sound. Voiced sounds (lenis)- The vocal cords are drawn together (the glottis is closed), the air from the lungs repeatedly pushes them apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect. Voiceless sounds (fortis)- The vocal cords are spread apart (the glottis is opened), the air from the lungs passes through them unimpeded.

PLACE OF ARTICULATION
Nasal Cavity Palate

Alveolar ridge

Velum Uvula

Lips

Pharynx
Tongue Larynx Vocal cords

Bilabials formed using both upper (bi) and lower (labia) lips. /p/ voiceless; /b/ , /m/ and /w/ voiced. Labiodentals- formed using the upper teeth and lower lips. /f/ voiceless ( fat, safe, photo, cough) ; /v/voiced (vat, save).
Dentals formed with the tongue tip behind the upper front teeth. The initial sound of thin and the final sound of bath is voiceless //(theta). The initial sounds of the, there, this, thus; the middle consonant sound feather, and the final sound of bathe is voiced dental eth //. Sometimes it is also known as interdentals.

Alveolars- formed with the front part of the tongue on the alveolar ridge (rough bony ridge immediately behind and above the upper teeth). /t/ and /s/ are voiceless and /d/,/z/,/l/,/r/ and /n/ are voiced.
Palatals- formed with the tongue and the palate. The sounds formed are //ship, /t/church which are voiceless and //treasure, /d/joke, judge, /j/ you, yet are voiced. Velars- formed with the back of the tongue is against the velum. The sounds are voiceless /k/kid, voiced /g/go. The velum can be lowered to allow air to flow through the nasal cavity thus producing a voiced velar //ring- angma.

Glottals formed when the glottis (the space between the vocal cords in the larynx) is open and there is no manipulation of air passing out of the mouth. The sound produced in /h/. Thus sounds of the consonants are described in terms of where they are articulated.

Sounds can be also be described in terms of how they are articulated- this helps to differentiate some sounds.

How are they articulated?

Stops: The set /p/,/b/,/t/,/d/,/k/,/g/ produced by some form of stopping of the airstream briefly then letting it go abruptly. This is called as stops or plosive. /t/voiceless alveolar stop. Fricatives: The set /f/,/v/,//,//,/s/,/z/,//,// involves almost blocking the airstream and having the air push through the very narrow opening, thus producing a type of friction resulting the sounds called fricatives. Voiced/Voiceless fricatives.

Affricatives: The set /t/(voiceless affricate) and /d/(voiced affricate) are produced when you combine a brief stopping of the airstream with an obstructed release which causes some friction.
Nasals: The set /m/,/n/ and // are produced when the velum is lowered and the airstream is allowed to flow through the nose. All are voiced.

Liquids: /l/ and /r/ are voiced liquids. /l/ is called as lateral liquid, formed by letting airstream flow around the sides of the tongue as the tip of the tongue makes contact with the middle of the alveolar ridge. /r/ is formed with the tongue tip raised and curled back near the alveolar ridge.
Glides/Approximants/Semivowels: /w/ and /j/ are voiced glides, produced with the tongue in motion (gliding) to or from the position of a vowel and are sometimes called semivowels or approximants. /h/ is voiceless sometimes known as fricative.

Glottal stop: Occurs when the space between the vocal cords (the glottis) is closed completely briefly, then released. Its symbol is /?/-Oh oh
Flap: Normally pronounced by American English speakers who pronounces butter as budder is known to be making a flap. Its represented by /D/ or /r/. The sound is produced by the tongue tip tapping the alveolar ridge briefly. Many American English speakers tend to flap the /t/ and /d/ consonants between vowels so that they do not have distinct middle consonants; latter/ladder, writer/rider, metal/medal.

VOWELS

Do you remember your vowels? What are they? What is the difference in the articulation of consonants and vowels? The consonants were sounded via closure or obstruction in the vocal tract. In terms of vocal, we consider the way in which the tongue influences the shape through which the airflow must pass. As to the place of articulation, the place inside the mouth is considered as having a front versus back and a high versus a low area. Heat and hit-high front vowels as the front part of the tongue is in a raised position, mouth stays fair closed. Hot and hat low back vowels as the vowels are pronounced in a lower position, mouth opens wider.

POSITION OF VOWELS
Front High /i :/ /I/ Mid / :/ /e/ /e/ Central Back /u :/ // / :/

//
Low /i:/ eat, key, see // /u:/ move, two, too

/:/ //above, sofa, support /:/ bird, third, dirt

/I/hit, myth, women

/e/dead, pet, said / /ban, cat, sat

//could, foot, put

//blood, putt, tough /I/ near, tear, clear

/aI/buy, eye, my /I/boy, noise, void // tour, poor, /:/ bark, barn, car

/e I/great, tail, weight / /no, road, toe // bomb, cot, swan

/ :/ ball, caught, raw /a/ cow, doubt, loud

//

DIPHTHONGS

A unique combination of 2 vowels In terms of length they are similar to a long vowel. The 1st vowel in the diphthong occupies 75% of the length and then glides to the 2nd sound The diphthongs are classified according to the final vowel. A diphthong either glides toward the central vowel /e/, a high close front vowel /I/ or a high close back vowel /u/ The former is known as centering diphthongs, while the latter two are closing diphthongs The three centering diphthongs in English, /I e/, /ee/ and /ue/- hear, hair, poor

The closing diphthongs can be divided into two types; closing front diphthongs /eI/, /aI/ and /cI/- bay, buy, boy and closing back diphthongs /eu/, /au/-go,now

TRIPHTHONGS

They consist of a diphthong and the mid central vowel /e/. The combination is not at random. All 5 triphthongs of English are related to the closing diphthongs. The three closing front diphthongs, namely /eI/, /aI/ and /cI/ when combined with /e/ gives us