Phonology Flashcards
1
Q
Suprasegmental features
A
- Stress
- Intonation
- Features of connected speech
2
Q
Airstream mechanisms
A
- Any system by which a flow of air is generated in the production of speech
- To generate sound, it is necessary to have air pressure and air flow
- What makes air flow is a difference in air pressure between the two places - therefore, air flow in either of two directions, depending on where the air pressure is higher
- In the case of speech, this means that air may flow in two directions: egressive airstream mechanism - outward airflow (can result in ejective sounds) an ingressive airstream mechanism - inward airflow (can result in implosive sounds)
- Egressive/Ingressive sounds - pulmonic (from the lungs), glottalic (from the glottis), lingual/velaric (from the tongue)
3
Q
Airstream mechanisms in English
A
- All human languages have pulmonic egressive sounds (such as vowels)
- English speech sounds are produced with egressive pulmonic air (i.e. air is pushed out from the lungs)
- Ingressive sounds in English include: laughter, quick counting, exclamations such as ‘huh’ or ‘sss’
- ‘tsk!’ (expressing disapproval or pity)
- Imitating sounds (e.g. horse trotting)
4
Q
Minimal pair
A
Words identical in form except for contrast in one phoneme occurring in the same position - /red/ and /bed/ are a minimal pair
5
Q
Minimal set
A
Groups of words that can be differentiated, each one from the others, by changing one phoneme in the same position of the word - /red/, /bed/, /fed/, /led/ are a minimal set
6
Q
Transcription
A
- Written English - represented by <>
- Phonemic Transcription - how speech sounds are treated by native speakers (no detail on actual phonetic realisation of speech) //
- Phonetic Transcription - writing down (visual representation) of speech sounds using a set of printed symbols (usually language-specific) > offers more phonetic detail []
7
Q
IPA
A
- Main and oldest representative organisation for phoneticians
- Established in Paris in 1886
- Developed a phonetic alphabet to capture the speech sounds for all languages
- IPA established analytic framework for the study of speech segments
- Each IPA symbol represents one speech sound and denotes the articulatory features involved in its production
- IPA charts are re-issued annually
- The aim of the IPA is to promote the scientific study of phonetic and the practical applications of this discipline
- IPA fonts used for phonemic transcription
8
Q
English segmentals - consonants
A
- 24 consonant phonemes in English
- In English, all consonants are produced with an upward and outward airflow from the lungs
9
Q
Place of articulation
A
- We mainly produce speech when breathing out
- Consonants - produced by the shape made by different parts of the vocal apparatus: lips, teeth, tongue, alveolar ridge, hard palate, velum
- Most consonant sounds - produced by using the tongue and other parts of the mouth to constrict, in some way, the shape of the oral cavity through which air is passing
10
Q
Options for place of articulation
A
- Bilabial - [p] (nv) [b] [m] [w] (v)
- Labiodental - [f] (nv) [v] (v)
- Dental - [th] (thin) (nv) [th] (bathe) (v)
- Alveolar - [t] [s] (nv) [d] [z] [n] [l] [r] (v)
- Post-alveolars - [sh] [ch] (nv) [s] (casual) [g] (gem) (v)
- Palatals - [y] (yet) (v)
- Velars - [k] (nv) [g] (gun) [n] (bang) (v)
- Glottals - [h] (v)
11
Q
Manner of articulation
A
- Stops - [p] [k] [t] (nv) [b] [d] [g] (v)
- Fricatives - [f] [th] (thin) [s] [sh] [h] (nv) [v] [th] (bathe) [z] [s] (casual) (v)
- Affricates - [ch] (nv) [g] (rage) (v)
- Nasals - [m] [n] [n] (sing) (v)
- Liquids - [l] [r] (v)
- Glides - [w] [y] (v)
12
Q
Unvoiced/fortis
A
- No vibration (air passes unobstructed through vocal cords)
- Vocal cords spread apart
- More energetic (involving more force/strength in the articulatory apparatus to produce - stronger articulation)
- Typically longer duration
- Vowels shortened before final fortis consonant
13
Q
Voiced/lenis
A
- Vibration of vocal cords (air pushes through to pass through vocal cords)
- Vocal chords drawn together
- Less energetic (involving less force/strength in the articulatory apparatus to produce - weaker articulation)
- Typically briefer duration
- Vowels have full length before final lenis consonant
14
Q
Pairs
A
Plosives/stops: /p/ and /b/, /t/ and /d/, /k/ and /g/
Fricatives: /f/ and /v/, /th/ (thin) and /th/ (bathe), /s/ and /z/, /sh/ and /s/ (casual)
Affricates: /th/ and /g/ (gem)
15
Q
Phoneme pairs
A
- Of the 24 consonant phonemes, 15 are voiced and 9 are unvoiced
- There are 8 voiced phonemes that are within pairs and 7 that are not
- There are 8 unvoiced phonemes in pairs and 1 that is not
16
Q
Vowels
A
- Sounds produced through the vocal folds without constraint of the airflow in the mouth
17
Q
Traits of vowels
A
- The mouth is relatively open allowing air to flow freely
- English vowels > produced through the pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism
- Typically voiced
18
Q
Monophthongs and diphthongs
A
- There are 20 vowels in English - 12 monophthongs and 8 diphthongs
- Monophthongs - consisting of a single vowel sound
- Diphthongs - consisting of a combination of two vowel sounds
- Other languages - different amounts of vowel sounds - Spanish has 9, French has 14
19
Q
Vowel features
A
- To describe vowel sounds, we consider the way in which the tongue influences the shape through which the airflow must pass
- To describe the place of articulation of vowels, we have to think of the space inside the mouth as having: a front vs back area; a high vs low area
- Features of vowels: tongue shape/position - front vs back (part of the tongue); lip shape (with or without lip rounding); duration (checked or unchecked); monophthong or diphthong
- Vowel height - distance between the highest point of tongue/upper tongue surface and roof of mouth - related to vertical plane
- The height of the tongue can be changed by moving the tongue or the jaw up or down (usually a combination of the two)
20
Q
Cardinal vowels
A
- Set of vowels establishes and recorded by Daniel Jones, to serve as fixed reference points for the description of vowels in any language
- Cardinal vowels describe the tongue height and part of tongue
21
Q
Lip rounding
A
- Vowels can be produced with different degrees of lip rounding
- Enlarges space within the mouth
- Diminishes the size of the opening of the mouth
22
Q
Vowels can be:
A
- Rounded - corners of the lips are brought towards each other and lips pushed forward
- Spread - corners of the lips moved away from each other, as for a smile
- Neutral - the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread
23
Q
Vowel lengths
A
- Short (checked) and long (unchecked) vowels - short vowels are normally blocked by surrounding consonants, whereas long vowels are typically found in open end positions
- Lengths is not the distinguishing feature - some transcription systems do not add length marks
24
Q
English diphthongs
A
- When we produce diphthongs, the vocal organs move from one vocalic position to another
- Diphthong - a sound combination that begins with a vowel and ends with another vowel or a glide - involves change in tongue or lip shape
- Diphthongs - result of a change from one vowel to another (or a glide) within a single syllable, without the possibility of a break
- In diphthongs, vowels change quality within the syllable - e.g. house - articulation changes from relatively open to relatively closed and back (in monophthongs the place of articulation remains relatively stable)
- English diphthongs - first part is much stronger than the second part
25
Allophones
- One out of a closely related set of speech sounds of phonemes
- When we have a set of phonemes, all of which are versions of one phoneme, these are allophones of that phoneme - allophones are different realisations of the same phoneme, appearing in different phonemic environments
- If you substitute a phoneme for another, it will result in a word with a different meaning and a different pronunciation
- If you substitute allophones, only the pronunciation of the word will change
26
Two types of allophonic variation
- Complementary variation/distribution - relates to position in utterance (what comes before and after the phoneme) - when we have two different pronunciations (allophones) of a sound type (phoneme), each always used in different places in words
- Free variation - a question of accent - varietal (Australian; Indian; Singaporean), regional (Texan, Scouse), social (posh) and generational
27
Features of connected speech
- Co-articulation - the process of making one sound almost the same time as the next sound
28
Simplification strategies in English
- Linking - inserting sounds (or carrying them over)
- Elision - dropping sounds
- Assimilation - making adjacent sounds more like each other
29
Elision
Leaving out a sound segment that might be present in the deliberately careful pronunciation of a word
- Consonants - especially /t/ and /d/
- Consonant cluster - reduced
- Three syllables are often shortened to two
- Vowels - unstressed syllables the first to go
30
Assimilation
Sounds change to resemble neighbouring ones - very common process, responsible for the majority of sound changes - reducing distance between sounds, smoother transition and less articulatory effort
- Leading (regressive) - a sound assimilates to (becomes more like) the sound following it
- Lagging (progressive) - a sound becomes more like the sound in front of it
- Reciprocal (coalescent) - two sounds come together
31
Weak forms
Common used grammatical words tend not to be stressed when we are speaking - because they are not stressed, they have a weak form - the full vowel is reduced, and is replaced by the 'schwa' vowel
