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Speech Science > Acoustics of Consonants > Flashcards

Acoustics of Consonants Flashcards

1
Q

Sound Sources

A

Vowels usually produced with a periodic source of sound

Consonants may use an aperiodic sound source or a combination of periodic and aperiodic sources; never periodic only (vowels)

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2
Q

Vocal Fold Sound Source

A

Vocal Tract = Resonator

Periodic

Vowels
Dipthongs
SemiVowels
Liquids

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3
Q

Vocal Tract Sound Source

A

Vocal Tract = Resonator

Aperiodic

Stops
Fricatives
Affricates

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4
Q

Plosives

A

p/b, t/d, g/k

often called plosive sounds because of burst of noise

Have the greatest degree of constriction to the breath stream

Complete occlusion of the vocal tract

Two simultaneous occlusions are essential

Velopharyngeal closure
Occulsion by the lips or tongue – occlusions are identical to those made by the nasals

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5
Q

Fricatives

A

f/v, th/th, s/z, sh/zh, h

Produced by compressing a continuous flow of air through a constriction formed by closely approximating two articulators

Four primary places of articulation:
Labiodental 
Linguadental
Alveolar
Postalveolar
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6
Q

Affricates

A

ch/dz

English has only two affricates (ch) and (j)

A stop with a fricative release

Acoustically present a combination of stop and fricative features

Silent gaps
Bursts of noise
Extended duration of aperiodicity

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7
Q

Glides

A

w, y

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8
Q

Nasals

A

m, n, ng

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9
Q

Liquids

A

l, r

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10
Q

Vocal Folds & Vocal Tract

A

Vocal Tract = Resonator

Mixed Periodic and Aperiodic

Voiced Plosives
Voiced Fricatives
Voiced Affricates

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11
Q

Resonant Consonants & SemiVowels

A

Glides - /w/ “we” (almost resembles [ui]) /j/ “you” (resembles [iu])

Liquids - /r/ “right” /l/ “light”

Vocal tract modifier is the tongue and lips

The vocal tract is relatively open for semivowels; classified as consonants because they are always located next to vocalic nuclei – never /twn/ or /pjk

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12
Q

Nasals

A

Velopharyngeal port – vocal tract modifier
Also resonant consonants

Three nasal consonants /m/, /n/, /ng/
Levator palatini is the muscle primarily responsible for closing the velopharyngeal port

Pharyngeal wall movement accompanies velopharyngeal closure

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13
Q

Velopharyngeal Port Closure

A

Maximum velar elevation and backing occur during the articulation of oral consonants – particularly stops and affricates

Leakage of air into the nasal cavity makes it impossible to produce stops and fricatives acceptably

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14
Q

Production of Nasals

A

Velum is low – VP port is open
Oral cavity is occluded in one of three ways

/m/ lips are brought together
/n/ tip of tongue touches the upper alveolar ridge
/ng/ tongue dorsum touches the posterior part of the hard palate or anterior of soft palate
“some”, “sun”, “sung” – feel the difference in placement

Sound is resonated in the closed oral cavity, the pharyngeal cavity and the nasal cavity

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15
Q

Nasal Acoustics

A

Acoustically they are weak sounds

Their articulation creates antiresonances- frequency regions in which the amplitudes of the source components are severely attenuated (a filtering affect)

The elongation of the vocal tract caused by the opening of the velopharyngeal port
results in a broader band of frequency response and broadly tuned resonators are more highly damped than narrowly tuned ones

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16
Q

Nonresonant Consonant Acoustic Properties

A

Fricatives, stops, affricates

Characterized by a much more restricted airflow than for the semivowels and nasals

Acoustically, they display little or nothing of the formant structure observed in the vowels and resonant consonants

Articulators form constrictions and occlusions within the vocal tract that generate aperiodicity (noise)

Most effective resonators for noise are those anterior to the constrictions that produce them

17
Q

Audible Noise

A

Makes nonresonant consonants different from resonant consonants and vowels

Resonant consonants and vowels are classified as voiced sounds – without a periodic source the resonant sounds would be inaudible – try producing a voiceless /m/

Noise in the speech signal makes the sounds audible whether or not phonation accompanies their articulation

A single articulation can be used to produce two separate sounds – cognates p/b, t/d, f/v, k/g

18
Q

Plosive Acoustic Properties

A

Silent gap – period of silence during which there is no flow of air out of the vocal tract

Noise burst at moment of release – vertical spike on spectrograms – very brief

Speed at which the acoustic signal attains maximum intensity (syllable initial) and falls to minimum intensity (syllable final) – rise time and fall time

Change in first formant frequency after the release of initial stops (rises) and before completion of the closure for final stops (falls

19
Q

Fricative Acoustic Features

A

Are continuants – they can be prolonged – unlike stops

Fricative noise originates at the articulatory constriction

f, v, th (voice & voiceless) are low in intensity because there is no resonating cavity anterior to point of constriction

s, z high frequency above 4kHz

Sh farther back in mouth and lower in frequency than s – 2 kHz

20
Q

Assimilation

A

a change in the articulation of a speech sound that makes it more like the articulation of the neighboring sound

21
Q

Coarticulation

A

two articulators are moving at the same time for different phonemes
Example – “two”

22
Q

Context Effects

A

Coarticulation and assimilation are pervasive in running speech

Makes speech transmission rapid and efficient

23
Q

Suprasegmentals

A

Prosodic features of speech

Stress
Intonation
Duration
Juncture

24
Q

Stress

A

Stress functions as a pointer by indicating which information in an utterance is most important

25
Q

Intonation

A

Change in frequency

Pitch pattern

Helpful in expressing differences in attitude
TODAY IS TUESDAY!
TODAY IS TUESDAY?
TODAY IS TUESDAY.

26
Q

Duration

A

Sounds possess intrinsic durations

Vowels are of greater duration when they occur before voiced consonants as in “leave” than when they occur before voiceless consonants, as in “leaf”

27
Q

Juncture

A

Juncture is related to duration – has to do with how sounds are joined to or separated from each other.

Cues to juncture are acoustic features that help us determine the boundary between two entities.

Juncture is the affiliation of sounds within and between words. Changing the location of a juncture can change meaning: “a+name” and “an-aim” differ in juncture placement

Nitrate v. night rate
amen ask hurt v. a mini skirt
It sprays v. its praise

28
Q

Acoustics of Stress

A

Acoustic characteristics associated with heavily stressed syllables

Higher frequency – increased vocal fold tension

Greater duration – more muscular effort in articulatory system

Greater intensity

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