Phonetics and Phonology of English

definition

Phonetics?

Phonetics
is a scientific description of what speech sounds exist in a language represents how they are produced and perceived and what acoustic properties they have essentially seeks to trace the processes physiologically involved in sound production describes the ways the sounds are produced and the points at which they are articulated can be put in the class of natural sciences

Phonology?

Phonology
is concerned with the regularities that govern the phonetic realizations of sounds in words of a language looks at and tries to establish a system of sound distinctions relevant to a particular language seeks to determine how the elements of this abstract system behave in actual speech actually delineates the functioning of sounds in particular contexts.

Distinction?
Phonetics:
describes the physical realization of sounds studies the physiological processes involved in sound production. provides the set of features which can describe the sounds of a language

 Phonology:
- is about the organisation of the sound patterns in the language - provides the information that has to do with the functional patterning of the sounds in the language - describes the environmental factors that shape the sounds in particular points of occurrence - describes at the behavioral patterns of sounds in actual speech and their realizations in different environments.

Why to Study?
to understand the principles regulating the use of sounds in spoken English. to give insight into how the human mind works. to give a much better ability both to hear and to correct mistakes that we make to teach pronunciation of the foreign language (in this case English) to others. To help others who have language disorders (stuttering, cerebol palsied, cleft palate, hearing impaired)

Organs of Speech

RESONATORS: 1) LABIAL 2) ORAL 3) NASAL 4) PHARYNGEAL

Different parts of human tongue

Sagittal section of human vocal tract (from Lieberman and Blumstein, 1988, P. 43)

The Airstream Mechanism

The most usual source of energy for speech production is the airstream expelled from the lungs trachea (windpipe) larynx (in the Adams apple) vocal tract (mouth & nose) pulmonic egressive airstream

pulmonic related to the lungs. egressive coming out.

The Pulmonic Egressive Air Stream Mechanism

A number of languages have other possibilities: - Pulmonic ingressive (the air moves inwards) not found - Velaric egressive (the air moves outwards beginning at the velum) not found - Velaric ingressive (the air moves inwards beginning at the velum) used in e.g. Zulu (South Africa) click: tsk tsk, tut tut - Glottalic egressive (the air moves outwards beginning at the glottis) used in e.g. Navajo (North America) - Glottalic ingressive (the air moves inwards beginning at the glottis) used e.g. Sindhi (India)

Glottis/Vocal Folds/Vocal Cords

There are four states of the glottis, which are relevant linguistically. 1. The first is that of closed glottis. This is achieved when the folds are brought close together so that no air is allowed to pass between them. This results in a glottal stop when the air is released. This stop // frequently precedes the forceful articulation of vowels, e.g. [aut, i:t] out, eat. It may even replace the English stop /t/ in words like football, bottle, bit, etc. It may also reinforce or replace such other plosives like /p, k/.

Vocal folds tightly held together as for the glottal stop //.

2. The glottis may be held open for normal breathing. It is also this state that produces the voiceless sounds of English. Examples of these are /t, p, k, f, s, , , h/. The vocal folds are spread and do not vibrate. The glottis is sufficiently wide open to allow the air stream to pass through without obstruction or vibration of the vocal folds.

Vocal folds held open as for normal breathing and voiceless sounds.

3. The third state of the glottis is that of the narrow glottis or vocal folds loosely held together. In this state, the vocal folds vibrate to produce voice, otherwise called phonation. This vibration of the larynx may be felt by laying a finger on or just above the Adams apple. This bony structure houses the larynx. All vowels, nasals, glides and laterals are voiced. You can compare the dual phonemes /f-v, p-b, t-d, k-g, sz, -, -/ to differentiate their phonation status, whether voiceless or voiced. This is the only thing differentiating these pairs of sounds that would have been otherwise similar. The first of the pairs are voiceless sounds while the second segments of the pairs have voiced sounds.

The vocal folds are loosely held together to form a narrow glottis, which causes vibration as the air passes through.

4. The glottis may be apart (much as for voiceless sound) but the force of air may still cause some vibration breathy/murmured voice Hindi (India) or English, e.g. h in ahead

The Velum
The velum or soft palate may be lowered to allow the air escape through the nose and the mouth. This produces nasalised sounds as in /dN/ of sudden and the nasalised vowels. Many of these nasalised vowels exist in the Yoruba language e.g. // as in kan, // yin etc. The velum may be lowered so that the air passes through the nose, but with a complete obstruction at some point in the mouth. This obstruction results in the air coming out through the nasal cavity. This is how nasal consonants are produced in English. These are /m, n, / as in ram, ran, rang. The velum may be raised, thus blocking the air stream from escaping through the nasal cavity. All normal English sounds have this oral escape oral sounds, except for the nasal sounds /m, n, /.

Oral Tract

 Active articulators lower lip and tongue (all parts) Passive articulators the upper surfaces of the oral tract (the upper lip, teeth and roof of the mouth, i.e. alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum), and uvula.

The Manner of Articulation

Manner of articulation refers to the vertical relationship between active and passive articulators the distance between the articulators close together to wide apart

1. 2.

Complete closure complete blockage, then a sudden release of air stops (oral/nasal) e.g. b, p, m, n Complete closure complete blockage, then a slow release of air between a narrow channel between the articulators friction affricates, e.g. t (), d () Close approximation the air is forced through the narrow gap between the articulators turbulence fricatives, e.g. h, x Free passage through the oral tract: - wide apart with unhindered airflow vowels and glides (semi vowels: e.g. w, j) open approximation - contact of articulators with unhindered airflow liquids, e.g. r, l.

3.

4.

Place of Articulation
Place or articulation bilabial labiodental dental alveolar retroflex Active articulator lower lip lower lip tongue tip/blade tongue tip/blade Passive articulator upper lip upper teeth upper teeth Example bat fish moth

alveolar ridge dog

curled tongue area malayalam: tip immediately [kui] - child behind alveolar ridge

Place or articulation

Active articulator

Passive articulator

Example

palatotongue blade alveolar/alveopalatal palatal velar uvular pharyngeal tongue front tongue back tongue back tongue root

area immediately shark behind alveolar ridge hard palate velum uvula pharynx wall yak goat Fr. rat Arabic [amm] uncle

glottal

vocal cords/foldsvocal cords/folds hare