CH6 Airstream mechanics Flashcards
Pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism
When lung air is pushed out of the lungs
Plosives
Stops with an egressive (outward) pulmonic airstream
Egressive glottalic airstream mechanism for ejectives
- Back of tongue forms a velar closure. The glottis is shut, creating a pocket of air that is disconnected from the lung.
- Closed glottis is raised
- Body of air in pharynx is compressed.
- Back of tongue is lowered, releasing compressed pharynx air.
- Glottal closure is released.
Ejective Notation
Transcribed with a diacritic : apostrophe [ʼ] indicates that the preceding segment is ejective
E.g. Georgian [mt͡s’vrtneli]
What segments can be ejectives ?
Obstruents (fricatives and affricates are possible, but rare)
Cue for ejective detection
First ejective consonant burst
* Higher amplitude then for plosives
* Greater lag before onset of following segment
2nd stop release burst
* Release of the vocal folds
* Much lower in amplitude
When do people produce ejectives in English ?
Ejectives are articulatorily equivalent to a glottal stop followed by an obstruent, where the release of the obstruent happens before the release of the glottal stop
* [ʔk] ≈ [k’]
- In free variation with plosives at the end of words in UK English
True or false : speakers of English can produce ejectives but they do not interpret them as phonemically contrastive
True
Implosives
Stops made with an ingressive glottalic airstream mechanism
Ingressive glottalic airstream
- Closure of the lips
- Downward movement of vibrating glottis. Air from the lungs continues to flow through the glottis.
- Little change in pressure of the air in the oral tract
- Lips come apart
Implosive notation
Voiced plosives with a right hook on the top
* Plosive [b] vs implosive [ɓ]
* Plosive [d] vs implosive [ɗ]
* Plosive [g] vs implosive [ɠ]
What segments can be implosives ?
Obstruents (typically voiced)
Cue to detecting implosives
Pre-voicing
* Increases in amplitude over time for implosives
* Slightly decreases for regular voiced plosives
Implosive allophone distribution in English
When putting emphasis on bilabial stops, e.g. in ‘billions’
Distribution of Implosives
Phonemic implosives in 76/567 languages
Voiced plosives in some languages are (slightly) implosive
* Thai, Vietnamese, Swahili
Velaric ingressive airstream mechanism in a dental click
- Back of tongue raised to form velar closure. Tongue tip up to form front closure.
- While both the anterior and the velar closure are maintained, the body of the tongue moves down, decreasing the pressure of the air in the front part of the mouth
- Tongue tip lowered so that air rushes into the mouth
- Velar closure released
Clicks are stops made with an _____ingressive/egressive velaric airstream mechanism
Ingressive
Click Notation in the IPA
Transcribed with a separate symbol (orthography)
Dental click /ǀ/ (c)
Alveolar /!/ (q)
Labial /ʘ/ (pc)
Lateral /ǁ/ (x)
Palatal /ǂ/
Distribution of clicks
9/567 languages
- used phonemically only in Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. Zulu)
Paralinguistic clicks
Convey emotional state, imitate animal
English :
[ʘʷ] signals affection
[ǀ] signals disgust
(These do not count as click consonants because not phonemes)
Pulmonic Ingressive Airflow
Physically possible but not attested phonemically in any language
Northern Swedish ‘yes’ is a pulmonic ingressive [hʷ]
Arytenoid cartilages
Adjust vocal cords position
2 ways to move vocal cords
- Bought closer together and moved apart
- Tightened and loosened
* Determines vibration rate
Determines how much air passes through the glottis
Distance between vocal cords, changes by pushing together or moving apart
Determines vibration rate
Whether the vocal cords are tightened and loosened
Modal voiced
Regular vocal fold vibration (for regular isolated English vowel)
Falsetto voiced
High vocal fold tension; only part of the vocal folds are vibrating against each other
Creaky voiced
Lower tension; the vocal folds vibrate slowly and aperiodically
Breathy voiced
Regular vocal fold vibration but with some airflow escaping
Voiceless phonation type and vocal fold Position
Open, slack
Modal (voiced) phonation type and vocal fold Position
Moderate opening and strech
Creaky/larangalyzed phonation type and vocal fold Position
Closed, slack
Breathy/Murmor
Stretched, open
Falsetto
moderate opening, very stretched
Cue to creaky voice detection in spectrogram
Widely, irregularly spaced glottal pulses
Creaky voice in the IPA
Diacritic [ ̰ ] underneath (typically vowels)
- E.g. modal [a] vs creaky [a̰]
Breathy voice in the IPA
Diacritic [ ̤ ] underneath
E.g. modal [a] vs breathy [a̤]
Consonants :
[ ʱ] indicates that the preceding consonant is breathy
Voice Onset Time (VOT)
Difference in time between the release of a stop and the beginning of voicing in the following vowel
Measuring VOT from a waveform
From the spike indicating
the release of the stop closure to the start of the oscillating pattern indicating the vibrations of the vocal folds in the vowel
Positive VOT
Voicing begins after stop release
Negative VOT
Voicing begins before stop release
VOT in voiceless stop /p/ as [pʰ] word-initially
Long-lag VOT, aspirated
VOT in voiced stop /b/ as [p] (=[b̥]) word-initially
Short-lag VOT, unaspirated
VOT in voiced stop /b/ as [b]
Negative VOT, voiced
In English, voiced [b] and voiceless (unaspirated) [p] are not ________
Contrastive (/b/ has voiced [b] and unaspirated [p] allophones)
aspirated [pʰ] is contrastive compared to ___
voiced [b] and voiceless (unaspirated) [p]
English contrasts low VOT and high _____positive/negative VOT
Positive
Pre-voicing means the VOT is _____
Negative
Measuring Negative VOT
Measure the distance between voicing in stop and voicing in vowel
* Voice bar in spectrogram
* Low amplitude regular oscillation in waveform
If there is aspiration, VOT is _____
Positive
Measuring positive VOT
Measure the distance between the burst and the onset of voicing
* Low amplitude aperiodic noise
VOT times
Unaspirated< ~30msLightly aspirated< ~60msStrongly aspirated> ~60msAka ‘long lag’ VOT
