Phonetics Flashcards
What is Phonetics the study of?
Speech sounds
What are speech sounds?
a phonetically distinct unit of speech.
What is the Articulatory Process?
How you make sounds physically
Airstream mechanisms + phonation + articulation
Acoustic Process
Vibrations of air molecules at different frequencies and amplitudes
Speech segmentation into sounds
Creating segments of sounds, IPA symbols
What are the 3 necessary things needed for speech production?
Air supply: set air in motion
Sound source: modulate airflow (vocal folds in larynx)
Filters: modify the sound (Vocal tract= Pharynx, Oral cavity, Nasal cavity)
Egressive vs Ingressive airflow
Egressive = breathing out to make sounds Ingressive = breathing in to make sounds
Parts of the larynx
Vocal folds: pulled apart or together
Glottis: space between vocal folds
What are Glottal states?
Different positions of vocal folds
Name 4 glottal states
Voiceless
Voiced (modal)
Breathy (voiced)
Creaky
Voiceless (name the position of vocal folds, example of some voiceless sounds, vibration?)
Vocal folds = pulled apart
[s], [f], [h]
No vibration
Voiced (name the position of vocal folds, example of some voiced sounds, vibration?)
Vocal folds = brought together
[z], [v]
Vibration
What does the rate of vocal fold vibration change?
Makes different pitches
Breathy (name the position of vocal folds, example of some breathy sounds, vibration?)
Vocal folds = semi open
In English does not differentiate sounds but in some languages it does (eg. Hindi)
Still vibrates
Creaky (name the position of vocal folds, example of some creaky sounds, vibration?)
Vocal folds compressed and slack (open ad close irregularly)
Also does not distinguish sounds in English (does in Hausa)
Vibrates slowly and irregularly
Articulatory differences between vowels and consonants?
V: Open vocal tract
C: Constriction of the vocal tract
Aerodynamic differences between vowels and consonants?
V: laminar airflow (all same way and straight)
C: no or turbulent airflow (air flow goes all over)
Acoustic differences between vowels and consonants?
V: More acoustic energy, no noise
C: less acoustic energy, may involve intervals of silence or noise
3 ways to describe consonants
Voicing
Place of Articulation
Manner of Articulation
Consonant places of articulation
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Postaveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal
Where? Bilabial (examples?)
Lower and upper lip
[b], [p], [m]
Where? Alveolar (example?)
Tongue blade and alveolar ridge
Where? Retroflex (examples)
Underside of tongue tip and palate
Not really used in English
Where? Velar (examples?)
Back of tongue and velum
Where? Labiodental (examples?)
Lips Teeth
Where? Dental (examples?)
Teeth
Where? Alveopalatal (examples?)
Behind alveolar ridge
Where? Palatal (examples?)
Palate flat part on roof of mouth
Where? Uvular (examples?)
Uvula
no examples in English
Where? Pharyngeal (examples?)
Pharynx most back of throat
Where? Glottal (examples?)
Larynx
[h]
What is a stop?
Stopping airflow: [p b t d k ɡ]
Fricatives
Constricting airflow to create turbulent noise
[f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h]
Nasals
Nasals: Diverting airflow to another resonator (nasal
cavity) [m n ŋ]
lowered velum
Approximants and Laterals
Dramatically changing the oral
cavity resonator [ɹ/r/l]
Partial constriction without turbulence
Aspiration?
Voiceless stops in English are often aspirated (release of stop with a burst of air)
Superscript h
Affricates?
A stop and a fricative in fast succession
[t͡ʃ] or [tʃ]
Glides?
Important Approximant (semi vowel) [j], [w]
What is the vowel chart based on?
Vowel chart is organized according to where highest point in
the mouth the tongue is
resonant frequencies?
The sound that is made
Ways that we describe vowels?
Height Backness Roundness Nasal (assume oral if otherwise) length (assume short) [i] is a high front unrounded vowel
Monopthongs vs Dipthongs
[i] vs [aj], [ow]
Dipthongs still count as one segment
What does the vowel chart look like?
Canadian vowel chart
Oral vs nasal vowels
Oral: velum is raised
Air flow through oral cavity only
Nasal: Velum is lowered
Air flow through oral cavity and nasal cavity
Suprasegmentals
Phonetic and phonological phenomena that are ‘overlaid’ on segments (consonants & vowels) e.g. – Stress – Tone and intonation – Length – …
What does it mean to be a stressed syllable?
Stressed: tend to be louder
tend to be longer
May display a pitch movement
Primary stress and secondary stress
psycholinguistics /ˌsaj.kow.lɪŋ.ˈɡwɪs.tɪks/
magnification /ˌmæɡ.nɪ.fɪ.ˈkej.ʃən/
generation /ˌdʒɛ.nə.ˈrej.ʃən/
Tone? Change word meaning?
Use pitch to signal differences in word meaning lexical tone 2 types: Level tones (low,mid,high) Contour tones (have shapes)
Intonation? Change word meaning?
Pitch contrast to convey post-lexical meaning
same words different specific meanings
Pitch accent?
• Tones associated to stressed syllables are called
pitch accents, and are often transcribed with a
star: L, H
Boundary tones?
Tones associated with the edges of utterances are
called boundary tones, and are often transcribed
with a percent symbol: L%, H%
Intonation phrase
Intonation phrase defined by sequence of at least one pitch accent and one boundary tone
Length? Change word meaning?
Yes lexical
constrasts involving duration
Flapping
In North American English, what would be [t] in other dialects often* realized as [ɾ] : voiced alveolar flap – butter [bʌɾɚ] – parity [pɛɹɪɾi]
What does the consonant table look like
Draw it
