Quiz 2/Final: Consonants + Vowels Flashcards
Features of vowels: /i/ “see”;
height of tongue, lateral placement of tongue, muscles involved, cavity shapes, lip posture, resonance/F1/F2
- high vowel: tongue body is elevated into the oral cavity, leaving pharynx open
- front vowel: high point of tongue is anterior, behind alveolar ridge
- muscles: genioglossus muscle is active to draw tongue up and forward
- cavity shapes:large pharynx, small oral cavity
- lip posture: tensed, retracted
- F1 (back or pharyngeal cavity resonance) is low
- F2 (front or oral cavity resonance) is high
Features of /a/ “spa”
height of tongue, lateral placement of tongue, muscles involved, cavity shapes, lip posture, resonance/F1/F2
- low vowel: jaw, tongue lowered
- back vowel: tongue retracted into larynx
- anterior belly of digastric muscle is active to lower jaw
- hyoglossus muscle is active to draw tongue down and back
- cavity shapes: small pharyngeal cavity, large oral cavity
- F1 (back cavity resonance) is high
- F2 (front cavity resonance) is relatively low
Features of /u/ “you”
height of tongue, lateral placement of tongue, muscles involved, cavity shapes, lip posture, resonance/F1/F2
- high vowel: tongue is raised out of pharynx
- back vowel: tongue dorsum is raised and retracted toward velum
- rounded vowel: lips rounded and protruded
- styloglossus muscle is active to raise and back tongue
- orbicularis oris muscle is active to round lips
- cavity shapes: large pharynx, large oral cavity, overall vocal tract lengthened
- F1 relatively low
- F2 relatively low
What are the major differences between vowel and consonant production? (source, filter)
- Constrictions used to produce sounds are usually more extreme than those for vowels
- various configurations of the vocal tract generate different combos of resonant frequencies (formants) for each sound
- Differences in the ways the sources of sound are used in the production of consonants
- vowels usually produced only w/ periodic sound source, consonants may use aperiodic or combo
Sonorants and obstruents: differences
- Sonorants:
- free airflow: articulation shapes vocal tract cavities
- characterized mainly by formant frequencies
- have a periodic laryngeal source (all voiced)
- Obstruents:
- blocked or restricted airflow
- have aperiodic sound sources in upper vocal tract
- can be voiced OR voiceless
Sound sources in consonants
Voiced consonants (includes all sonorants: nasals, liquids, glides): periodic laryngeal source
Voiceless consonants:
-supraglottal noise sources:
-aperiodic laryngeal source: /h/ or aspiration
What are approximants?
- aka semivowels
- Liquids [l,r]
- Glides [j, w]
- limited articulatory constrictions that alter resonant frequencies–similar to vowels
- classification as consonants is based on syllable position:
- consonants placed on periphery
- vowels form nucleus
Glides: /j/; tongue position, acoustic features
- Production similar to /i/
- high front tongue
- genioglossus active
- Formant values similar to /i/
- Low F1
- High F2
Glides: /w/; tongue position, acoustic features
- Production similar to /u/
- high back tongue, rounded lips
- styloglossus, orbicularis oris active
- Formant values similar to /u/
- Low F1
- Low F2
Liquids: /l/, tongue position, acoustic features
- similar to /r/
- Tongue:
- tongue tip contact with alveolar ridge, sides of tongue down: lateral
- F3 level
- Can function as syllable nuclei (syllabic /l/ in “little”
Liquids: /r/, tongue position, lip shape, acoustic features
- similar to /l/
- Tongue: no tongue tip contact w/ alveolar ridge:
- often retroflexed: tip raised toward ridge, bent backwards
- Lips: often rounded
- F3 low
How does production vary with the liquids?
- Production varies w/ syllable position in English:
- /l/:
- Syllable initial: tongue dorsum is low, light /l/
- Syllable final: tongue dorsum is high: dark /l/
- /r/:
- Syllable-final [r] is often vocalized or realized as an extension of the preceding vowel, it colors the vowel that follows:
- ex “or”, “car”
- dialectical differences in /r/: coloring i.e. Boston accent “pahk yah cah”
Nasals and the VP Port:
- Nasals require open VP Port (lowered velum):
- Levator Palatini relaxed
- Palatoglossus may actively lower velum
- Nasal cavities form resonant chamber
- In nasal stops, the oral cavity is blocked at the same place of articulation as for the stops:
- at the lips [m]
- at the alveolar ridge [n]
- at the soft palate [ng]
Nasal stops: acoustics
- Opening the port creates a larger resonant cavity:
- in terms of frequency, the larger the resonator the lower the frequencies to which it responds
- results in low frequency nasal resonance (200-300 hz in males)
- Amplitude is low:
- large resonating space leads to high damping
- soft walls of nasal cavities absorb energy
- occluded oral cavity causes airflow to be radiated through the nostrils, causing it to be attenuated because of the small openings
Sibilant fricatives: alveolar fricatives /s, z/
Tongue:
-forms constriction at alveolar ridge
-air flows through midline groove of tongue against teeth
-short anterior cavity amplifies frequencies
(frication (noise) is stronger than in non-sibilants)
Sibilant fricatives: postalveolar fricatives “sh” “dsh” as in “rouge”
Tongue:
-tongue forms groove in alveopalatal region
-lips often rounded
-longer anterior cavity emphasizes lower frequencies
(frication (noise) is stronger than in non-sibilants)
Glottal fricative /h/
- constriction?
- voicing?
- vocal tract shape?
- no supraglottal constriction
- usually involves turbulent noise at the glottis
- may be voiced, esp preceding unstressed syllables i.e. “harmonica”
- vocal tract shape depends on following vowel
Production of stops
- what is a stop
- VP port activity
- intraoral pressure activity
- venting
- what happens when released
- complete articulatory closure in oral cavity
- VP port closed to build pressure
- intraoral (Pio) rises during closure, drops at release
- vented thru mouth unless preceding consonant is nasal i.e. “hidden”
- oral release yields a transient nose source, aka a release-burst
- audibly released stops also called plosives
Muscular activity in stops: bilabial, alveolar, velar and glottal
- oral stops have closed VP port–levator palatini
- Bilabial stops /p,b/: orbicularis oris closes lips
- Alveolar stops /t,d/: superior longitudinal muscle elevates tongue tip
- Velar stops /k,g/:
- styloglossus and palatoglossus raise tongue dorsum
- mylohyoid raises floor of oral cavity
- contact is velar or palatal depending on vowel context
- Glottal stop: vocal folds tightly approximated
Acoustics of Stop Manner
- rise time
- fall time
- intensity level
- release burst?
- f1
- presence of a near silent interval during stop closure
- rise-time (syllable-initial) and fall-time (syllable-final): faster for stops than other consonants, increased air pressure behind point of occlusion results in rapid rise time
- minimum intensity
- presence of a release-burst
- first formant (f1) frequency: rises for stops preceding vowels, falls for stops following vowels
- same principle as for vowels, oral closure lowers F1
Acoustics of intervocalic stop voicing
- closure duration?
- release burst strength?
- closure duration LONGER for voiceless than voiced stops
- release burst STRONGER for voiceless stops: pressure builds up faster w/ open glottis: /p/ vs /b/
Acoustics of affricates
- affricates = a stop leading to a fricative i.e. “tch” “dj”
- thus acoustics of affricates show features of BOTH stops and fricatives:
- alveolar closure for /t/ and /d/
- release burst
- frication noise
Vowels in Clinical Populations
- congenital deaf speakers have misarticulated vowel productions because they have a lack of auditory input from others and inability to self-monitor productions
- impaired vowel production can occur in cases of apraxia, dysarthria, cerebral palsy
- foreign dialects can also have errors
- visual feedback (i.e. spectrograms) can help speakers improve their vowel production
Vowels Across Speakers:
- what is consistent across speakers?
- what varies across speakers? why?
- Relative patterns of formant values are consistent across speakers, for example /i/ has low F1, high F2
- ABSOLUTE (actual) formant values vary across speakers because..
- -speakers differ in overall tract length
- -parts of the vocal tract may differ in size: the pharynx is proportionally smaller in women
- -speakers of the same language vary in idiolect/dialect
