Ling 290 Midterm 1 Flashcards
Acoustic phonetics
Physical properties of speech sound waves generated by larynx and vocal tract
Articulatory phonetics
How speech sounds are produced in the vocal tract
Phonetics
Study of articulatory/acoustic properties of sound
Phonology
Abstract principles that govern the form and distribution of sounds in a language
Sound waves produced by complex interaction of:
Outward flow of air from lungs, modifications of airflow at the larynx, additional modifications of airflow by position and movement of tongue and other structures in vocal tract
Difference of air flow during breathing and speech?
3-4 times as much air exhaled during speech
Difference in breathing rhythm when speaking?
Inhalation more rapid and exhalation drawn out
Diaphragm’s function during speech?
Contracts to expand lungs (diaphragm lowers and flattens out to make space for lungs in chest cavity)
Larynx
Muscle + cartilage located on top of trachea, contains vocal folds
Vocal folds
Muscular bands of tissue that stretch front to back in larynx, controls resistance of air and pitch
Difference in vocal fold position during quiet breathing, swallowing and speech?
Quiet breathing: cords relaxed and spread apart to allow free flow of air
Swallowing: cords closed tight as not to allow anything in
Speech: vibrating with rapid airflow and proper spacing
Voicing
Rapid vibration of vocal folds
What determines pitch?
Frequency of vibration of vocal folds
Voiced vs voiceless?
Voiceless sounds= vocal folds more spread apart and tense so less vibration
Glottis
Space between vocal folds
Glottal sounds
Involve constriction or closure of glottis
The vocal tract
Region above vocal cords including oral pharynx, oral cavity, nasal cavity; where human speech sounds produced
What’s the problem with using orthography to represent speech sounds?
1 letter of alphabet=more than 1 sound, vice versa
Consonants
Speech sound produced by stopping it severely constructing airflow in vocal tract
How to describe consonant sounds?
Place and manner of articulation
What are stops?
Airflow completely obstructed during speech
What are fricatives?
Sound produced when air forced through a narrow opening in vocal tract thus sound created by friction
What are affricates?
Starts as a stop but releases into a fricative (constricted vocal folds causing friction)
What are nasals?
Voiced oral stops but airflow and sound energy channeled into nasal cavity (due to lowering of velum)
What are liquids?
Smooth and flows easily; share properties of both consonants and vowels
Tongue blade raised towards alveolar ridge (consonant)
Air passes without friction (vowel)
Only sound in English is /l/
What are glides?
Vowel-like articulations that come after or before vowels
Smooth and continuous
Three types of vowels?
Lax (short), tense (long), reduced
Diphthongs
Single vowel sounds that begin in one vowel position and glide into another vowel position
What is the IPA?
International Phonetic Alphabet; set of symbols to represent speech sounds of languages of the world
Earliest attempt at phonetic symbols?
Alexander Melville Bell (father of Alex graham bell); famous teacher and writer, writing system called visual speech for the deaf, used symbols that represent vocal organ position and movement
Who created the organic alphabet and broad romic and what are they?
Henry sweet. Organic alphabet comes from visual speech and broad romic that resembled the Roman alphabet and symbols made from Isaac pitman and Henry Ellis
Who produced the IPA?
IPAssociation and Paul passy
Does English have non pulmonic speech sounds?
No: only tsk tsk or tut tut
Is a voiced glottal stop possible? Why or why not?
No because vocal cords cannot come together for the glottal stop and vibrate for voiced at the same time
What is Unicode?
Standard for encoding of characters for worlds languages; phonetic fonts
2 changes that were necessary to the evolution of human speech:
1- modification of vocal tract morphology
2- development of vocal imitative ability
Explain the source-filter theory
Air exhaled from lungs provides power to drive oscillations (vibrations) of the vocal folds. Vibrations in hertz determines pitch. Acoustic energy passes thru vocal tract (pharyngeal, nasal, oral cavities) where it is FILTERED. FORMANTS that modify sound let certain frequencies thru to be heard and blocks others; determined by length/shape of vocal tract and modified by moving articulators (tongue, lips, velum)
Explain how larynx changes as a baby grows up
Larynx starts out being high enough in the throat to be closely connected to nasal passages which allows simultaneous breathing and swallowing for breast feeding. During maturity larynx moves down (few years after birth and again at puberty).
Role of air sacs in larynx? Primates or humans have them?
Only primates; role not completely understood but guessed as being for loud calls
Which non primates show imitation in speech?
Cetaceans, seals, birds
Difference between homo sapien and Neanderthal speech?
Neanderthal larynx lower and phonetic abilities low; less complex
Do Neanderthals have laryngeal air sacs?
No; fossils of hyoid bone don’t have indent where air sac fit
Describe the comparative approach
Using empirical data from living animals to try and figure out the behavioural abilities of extinct common ancestors. Ex: studying vocal behaviour of non human primates can help to identify homologies. Clues from convergent evolution
Role of FORMANTS in pre-linguistic hominids
1) distinguishing identity of individuals from their voice
2) to estimate body size
3) possibly for mouth breathing during physical exertion (homo erectus)
4) size exaggeration
What is the name of the bird’s sound source?
Syrinx
Function of vocal learning in nonhumans?
To create an elaborate verbal repertoire for increasing attractiveness or defending territory and also mastering the shibboleth of the group
What is the Beau Geste theory?
Animals being able to sing different songs or make diff noises to make a predator think there is more than one animal present
Supra-segmentals?
Parts of language that are not segmented like tone, etc
Classication of communication types?
Non linguistic and linguistics; broken up into non vocal, vocal and synthetic
What counts as linguistic language?
Sign language, writing, human speech, computer speech
What are the major branches of phonetics? 3 As
Articulatory (use of human vocal apparatus to produce speech), acoustic (nature of sound), auditory (perception of human speech)
2 approaches to phonetics? 2 Is
Impressionistic (relying on ears and analytical skills) and instrumental (relies on equipment)
Homer Dudley?
20th century speech scientist who invented the first speech synthesizer called the voder
Explain pulmonary ventilation
Carbon dioxide and oxygen exchanged in the alveoli of the lungs in a 2 phase process: inspiration and exhalation
Describe inspiration
Diaphragm is lowered and thoracic cavity expands to make room for air in lungs. Air pressure drops so air can come in and fill the lungs.
Describe expiration
Diaphragm relaxes which decreases the size of the thoracic cavity, thus increasing subglottal air pressure and pushing air out
What is fensterle?
Voice disguise ritual in courting
Vocal folds and glottis during quiet breathing?
Vocal folds are abducted and glottis is open
How are bursts created?
Building up air pressure by closure and then abruptly releasing it
How is noise created?
Create a narrow passageway somewhere in the vocal tract and when air moves through the small space, turbulence is created which makes noise
Name and describe the 5 manners of articulation
Plosives (stops): total oral obstructions, often followed by a release of air (bursts)
Fricatives: partial obstruction; air turbulence creates noise
Affricates: complete obstruction followed by partial obstruction (stop + fricative)
Nasals: complete oral obstruction, velum lowered so air can pass thru nasal cavity
Approximates: a bit of obstruction, no turbulence or noise
Name the 7 places of articulation
Bilabial- both lips
Labiodental- top teeth+lower lip
Apicodental (interdental)- tongue apex and teeth
Apicoalveolar (alveolar)- tongue apex + alveolar ridge
Palato-alveolar- tongue lamina + alveolar ridge
Dorsovelar (velar)- tongue dorsum+velar
Glottal- glottis
4 basic descriptors of vowel sounds?
Tongue height (mid, high, low)
Tongue advancement (front, central, back)
Tense vs lax
Lip rounded or unrounded
Name 2 phonetic alphabets other than IPA
SAMPA (speech assessment methods phonetic alphabet) and ARPABET (advanced research projects agency alphabet)
Describe rhythm of speech
Stressed and unstressed syllables in a phrase; stressed syllables are usually longer, higher pitched and more intense.
How to express stressed and unstressed in writing
Stressed= P for primary Unstressed= U
What is electropalatography? (EPG)
Patient wears a psuedopalate that fits into their mouth and has electrodes that can sense the touch of the tongue
Problem: psuedopalate has to be specially made for each person and not all sounds can be seen
What is magnetic resonance imagining (MRI)?
Non invasive approach to view structures inside the body; relies on response of body tissues to strong magnetic field. Show soft tissue AND bone.
Problems: loud, claustrophobic and expensive
What is an ultrasound?
Uses inaudible sound waves to make images of soft tissue
Problems: can’t see bone and less detail
What is a corpus based analysis?
Actually counting how many times that a stress pattern occurred in a text
What is Praat?
Speech analysis software that looks at syllables; measures glottal cycles in hertz and intensity by decibels
The way we sound when we speak is determined by two types of influences:
Organic component and learned component
What determines vocal pitch?
Vocal fold mass and length
What is vocal timbre?
Result of resonance (peak of energy in acoustic spectrum) characteristics of a voice, influenced by vocal tract LENGTH
How do you produce a glottal fry sound (creaky voice)?
Bring the arytenoid cartilage close together so vocal folds only vibrate in the front
How to produce falsetto?
Tighten the vocal folds while closing (adducting) them
What are our closest non extinct relatives?
Chimps and bonobos; share 95-98% of our DNA
Homology
Shared ancestry between a pair of structures or genes of different species
Bipedality
Using back two limbs or legs to get around
Hypoglossal canal
Used to determine antiquity of speech ability; hominids 2 million years ago had same size canal as chimps so it was assumed that they couldn’t speak. But some Neanderthals had the same size canal as humans. Results inconclusive
Basicranial angle
Flexion of the base of the skull reflects the flexion of the base of the larynx, so it was an early indicator of language in Neanderthals
Innervation
The distribution of nerves to a part
Function of tracheal elongation
Allows birds to duplicate sounds created by a larger bird, thus making them sound larger
What is the password hypothesis?
To distinguish between members of a group and newcomers; knowing the group lingo so others can recognize your voice
Which homo species did we exist with for 5000 years?
Neanderthals
Describe the beads on a string fallacy
Incorrect view that speech consists of a series of independently produced sounds, when it’s actually a flow
What is co-articulation?
Tendency for speech sounds to overlap
