Phonetics 3: Speech Production

Question 1

coarticulation

Answer 1

• the way that speech sounds are influenced by the sounds around them, making them more similar to neighboring sounds
• occurs because speech sounds are not produced in isolation, the movements of articulatory organs for one sound often overlap with those for adjacent sounds
• helps speech to be faster and more efficient

Question 2

articulatory processes

Answer 2

• the articulatory movements that occur during connected speech
• can make speech more efficient
  ex. when we say the word tank, we don’t wait until we reach n to lower the velum. We start lowering it sooner, during the vowel a being articulated with nasal airflow
• can also make speech less efficient but more distinct
  ex. when people ask you to repeat what you said, you are likely to lengthen segments to make what you said easier to perceive

Question 3

assimilation

Answer 3

• articulatory process
• process by which one phone becomes more similar in sound to a nearby sound with respect to some phonetic feature
• a speech sound changes to become more like a neighboring sound

Question 4

regressive assimilation

Answer 4

sound is influenced by a following sound, causing the first sound to change in some way to become more like the following sound
- right to left: the segment occurring to the left becomes assimilated
- moving backwards

Question 5

Progressive assimilation

Answer 5

a sound influences a following sound, causing the latter to change in some way to become more like the preceding sound
- left to right - a segment on the right assimilates
- moving forward

Question 6

manner assimilation

Answer 6

a sound changes its manner of articulation to become more like a neighboring sound

Question 7

devoicing

Answer 7

• occurs when vowels or voiced consonants become voiceless (from the initial state of being voiced)
• type of voicing assimilation

Question 8

voicing

Answer 8

• occurs when voiceless segments become voiced
• type of voicing assimilation

Question 9

voicing assimilation

Answer 9

• devoicing and voicing
• common process that is seen in many of the world’s languages
• In English, we often see voicing assimilation in the creation of plurals and third-person singular verbs

Question 10

place of articulation assimilation

Answer 10

quite common across languages, especially when it comes to the production of nasal sounds.

Question 11

flapping/tapping

Answer 11

• type of assimilation
• occurs when an alveolar stop (either /t/ or /d/) is produced as a tap/flap [ɾ].
• transforms the alveolar stop into a tap/flap when it is produced between two vowels
• second vowel cannot be stressed (it cannot be emphasized)
• considered a type of assimilation because the stop becomes weakened (less stop-like and therefore more vowel-like) between vowels

Question 12

dissimilation

Answer 12

• opposite of assimilation
• it is any process that causes two neighbouring sounds to become less similar with respect to some feature

Question 13

deletion

Answer 13

• a sound is omitted or removed from a word or phrase during speech
• causes a removal of a segment that exists at the phonemic (abstract, mental) level
• often occurs in rapid speech in order to make articulation easier or faster
• observe this process in difficult consonant clusters

Question 14

epenthesis

Answer 14

• a sound (usually a vowel or consonant) is inserted into a word, typically to make pronunciation easier or to satisfy phonological rules
• common insertion takes place between nasal stops and voiceless fricatives

Question 15

metathesis

Answer 15

• segments or syllables become reordered
• process usually takes places to make a sequence easier to articulate
  For example, you may produce prescription as perscription and ask as aks.

Question 16

aspiration

Answer 16

• voicing lag
• After certain voiceless stops are released, there is a brief delay before a following vowel is voiced. The puff of air released during this lag is called aspiration
• can be marked with a diacritic [h] (superscript h) after the consonant being aspirated
• affects voiceless stops at the beginning of a stressed syllable while the voiceless stop is immediately followed by a vowel

Question 17

Canadian Raising

Answer 17

• the diphthongs /aj/ and /aw/ are pronounced as [ʌj] and [ʌw] before voiceless consonants
• Since [ʌ] is higher than [a] in terms of the tongue height, this characteristic is known as Canadian Raising
  ex. about, mouse, route