Phonetics: Understanding Consonants and Vowels in Human Language, Study notes of Linguistics

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Sounds in Human Language

Do NOT trust English spelling. It is often very misleading.

Bernard Shaw on English spelling: Q: How is the word ‘ghoti’ pronounced in English? A: ‘fish’ gh in ‘lau gh ’, ‘tou gh ’, etc. o in ‘w o men’ ti in ‘na ti on’, ‘crea ti on’, etc. Two Basic Areas in Phonetics

1. Acoustic Phonetics: Studies acoustic/physical/perceptualproperties of sounds used in human language.
2. Articulatory Phonetics: Studies the mechanism of sound productions in human language. It turns out that (almost) all the relevant properties that governsound organization in language come from the articulatory domain. Hence, we only cover 2 in this class.

Only the sounds made between your lungs and lips are used in language.

Basics:

1. Air is coming out of your lungs. It is called ‘ egressive pulmonic airstream’. Note: Some languages (very few) use ingressive airstream. Youcan talk, after all, even when you are sucking air in!
2. If airstream comes out undisturbed, it is just breathing. Humans make a variety of ways to disturb this airstream,which lead to different sounds.
3. The airpassage above the larynx (Adam’s apple area) is the place where this disturbance takes place. This part of the body is called ‘ vocal tract ’.

Phonetics - Consonants

1. Parameters for Consonant Categorization In producing consonants, we make complete or near-completeclosure in some point of our vocal tract so that flow of the airstream gets disturbed or alternated. A: Place of Articulations B: Manner of Articulations C: Voicing D: Nasality
2. Places of Articulation English Consonants in Phonetic Alphabets A: Bilabial (Both Lips): [p] as in ‘ p eel’ [b] as in ‘ b eer’ [m] as in ‘ m eat’ B: Labio-dental (Lower lip and teeth): [f] as in ‘ f eel’ [v] as in ‘ v eal’ C: Interdental (Teeth and tongue)

[ 2 ] as in ‘ th ing’ [*] as in ‘ th at’ D: Alveolar (Alveolar ridge and tongue) [t] as in ‘ t ea’ [d] as in ‘ d eal’ [s] as in ‘ s eal’ [z] as in ‘ z eal’ [n] as in ‘ n eck’ [l] as in ‘ l uck’ [r] as in ‘ r ock’ E: Palatal (Hard palate and tongue) [ï] as in ‘ sh oot’ [•] as in ‘mea s ure’ [tï] as in ‘ ch eck’ [d•] as in ‘ j udge’ [j] as in ‘ y east’ F: Velar (Velum/soft palate and tongue) [k] as in ‘ c ool’ [g] as in ‘ g oal’ [ı] as in ‘thi ng ’ [w] as in ‘ w eak’ G: Gottal (Glottis) [h] as in ‘ h eat’ [ß] as in ‘bu tt on’ in American English

3. Manners of Ariticulation A: Stops: Complete closure at some point of the vocal tract.The airstream is blocked, and when it is released, it often ‘puffs’ out. [p], [b], [m], [t], [d], [n], [k], [g], [ı] B: Fricatives: Near-complete closure is made so that theairstream is obstructed from flowing freely, causing friction.

[f], [v], [ 2 ], [*], [s], [z], [ï], [•] C: Affricates: Complete closure followed by gradual release of the airstream (i.e., stop + fricative). [tï], [d•] D: Liquids: Some disturbance in the airstream, but not much tocause constriction or friction.

[l], [r] E: Glides: Even less disturbance. In this sense, their soundquality is a lot like vowels (that’s why they are sometimes called ‘semin-vowels’), but unlike vowels, they cannot be thecenter of a syllable.

[y], [w]

4. Voicing Whether the vocal cord is vibrated or not.

Voiced: [b], [m], [v], [*], [d], [n], [z], [l], [r], [•], [d•], [j], [g], [ı], [w] Voiceless: all the other consonants

5. Nasality When the uvula is raised and blocks the entrance to the nasal cavity, the airstream goes through the oral cavity only. When it isnot raised and some part of the vocal tract is closed, the airstream goes through the nasal cavity. Nasal: [n], [m], [ı] Oral: all the other consonants

Vowels

1. Parameters of Vowel Categorization A: How high is the tongue? High/Mid/Low B: What part of the tongue? Front/Central/Back C: What shape of the lips? Rounded/Unrounded With English vowels, C doesn’t mean much because high back and mid back vowels are automatically rounded, and no othervowels are rounded.

Yellow parts are rounded.

High and mid vowels have two vowels each. How do we distinguish them? Tense vs. Lax Tense Vowels: [i], [u], [e], [o] Lax Vowels: [I], [U], [e], []]