Review of articulatory phonetics

Question 1

Phonetics

Answer 1

is the study of physical, physiological,
and acoustic variables associated with speech sound
production.

Question 2

Articulatory phonetics

Answer 2

study of how speech
sounds are produced. Physiological systems such as
the vocal tract and related anatomical structures are
studied in order to understand production of speech
sounds.
 Knowing how sounds are produced allows SLPs to
administer basic speech sound analysis and
understand the speech errors.

Question 3

Phone

Answer 3

any sound that can be produced by the vocal tract
(may or may not be a speech sound)

Question 4

Allophone

Answer 4

a variation of a phoneme, not a distinct phoneme,
it does not change the meaning of a word

Question 5

Allophonic variations

Answer 5

occur when the same phoneme is
produced in different phonetic contexts (e.g. “t” in the word
“tea” in sentences “he has tea” vs. “I loathe tea”; lingual-
alveolar contact vs. lingual-dental contact).

Question 6

Free variations

Answer 6

can be exchanged for one another in a certain phonetic context
without affecting the word ; allophones of /t/ can occur in free
variation in word-final position: in “bat”, /t/ sound may be
released with a small burst of air or it may be unreleased.

Question 7

Complementary distribution

Answer 7

some allophonic variations
occur in specific phonetic contexts but not in others. They
cannot be exchanged for one another (top vs stop).

Question 8

IPA
Narrow phonetic transcription
Broad phonetic
transcription

Answer 8

IPA – international phonetic alphabet, an alphabetical
transcription system (table 3.1).
 IPA is used by SLPs to transcribe sound production and
transcribe the varieties of speech sound errors (using
narrow phonetic transcription)
 IPA is used to provide one to one correspondence between
speech sound and symbol. Broad phonetic
transcription represents standard IPA symbols.
 Narrow phonetic transcription – detailed form of
transcription; assists in highlighting allophonic variations,
using diacritical markers (e.g. aspirated vs. unreleased:
phoneme ”t” in the words “top” vs “stop”; ). (Table 3.2).
 Highlights: dentalization, palatalization, aspiration, voicing
and etc.

Question 9

Morpheme

Answer 9

minimal unit of meaning, the smallest
unit of language carrying semantic interpretation (free
vs bound) ( Pena-Brooks & Hedge, 2015)
 Phonemes make a difference in morphemes. How?
 Words/Morphemes that differ by one phoneme, in a
similar phonetic context, are called minimal pairs.

Question 10

Morphophonemics

Answer 10

Morphophonemics – sound changes that result from
modifications of free morphemes. Morphophonemic rules
determine how sounds are combined to form morphemes.
 Free morphemes may combine with bound morphemes.
Example of a rule: regular plural inflection /s/ is produced as
/s/ if the word ends in a voiceless sound (cups, hats), but it is
produced as /z/ if the word ends in a voiced sound (dogs,
bags). Similar rules apply to the regular past tense inflections,
possessive bound morpheme, and the regular third-person
present tense.

Question 11

Phonotactic rules

Answer 11

determine speech
sound combinations in a particular
language. Phonotactic constraints: the
phoneme use is restricted , phonemes are
not used in all possible word positions,
depending on the language. (e.g. /b/ and
/g/ sounds cannot be combined to initiate
or terminate words in English.

Question 12

Coarticulation

Answer 12

Words are produced differently in isolation (citation
form) than in connected speech, due to
coarticulation
 Coarticulation – influence that sounds have on one
another when linked together to make words,
phrases, and sentences; sounds are affected by
phonetic contexts and may change or overlap (Pena-
Brooks & Hedge, 2015)

Question 13

Vowels:

Answer 13

speech sounds that are produced without
significant constriction of the oral and pharyngeal
cavities. Vowels are often labeled open sounds
(vocoids)

Question 14

Consonants:

Answer 14

speech sounds produced with
significant constriction within the oral and
pharyngeal cavities. Results in closure or narrowing
of the vocal tract (closure - /b,p/; narrowing - /f, l/.
Often labeled constricted sounds (non-vocoids).

Question 15

Difference in vowel quality

Answer 15

Vowels can be monophthongs and diphthongs
 Difference in vowel quality –
 monophthongs: vowels with relatively constant
quality throughout their production.
 Diphthongs: vowels in which the quality changes
during production .
 Vowels have more acoustic intensity (more
sonorous than consonants)
 Vowels serve as carriers of syllables and are called
syllabic. Vowels can form syllables and words (e.g.
eye, awe, you ).

Question 16

Vowels are described in terms of

Answer 16

Tongue height ( positioning of the tongue
relative to the palate: high, mid, low).
2. Tongue advancement (positioning of the
tongue relative to: front, central, back
placement in the oral cavity)
3. Lip rounding
4- lax vs tense vowels

Question 17

Phoneme classification - consonants

Answer 17

Consonants: speech sounds produced with
significant constriction within the oral and pharyngeal
cavities. Results in closure or narrowing of the vocal
tract (closure - /b,p/; narrowing - /f, l/. Often
labeled constricted sounds (non-vocoids).
 Generally, consonants and consonant clusters attach
to vowels and form syllable shapes.
 Consonants alone can not form syllables or words,
they need vowels.
 Few English consonants (m, n, l, r) can also have a
syllabic status, they function as a nucleus of a
syllable (e.g. /l/ sound in “apple”)

Question 18

Sonorants:

Answer 18

a group of consonants which have
relatively less obstruction of the airstream AKA
semivowels: include nasals, liquids (r, l), and glides (w, j)

Question 19

Obstruents:

Answer 19

a group of consonants characterized
by relatively more obstruction of the airstream .
Include stops, fricatives and affricates.

Question 20

Consonant production
Can be categorized by:

Answer 20

Place of articulation
 Manner of articulation
 Voicing feature

Question 21

Manner of articulation

Answer 21

describes how the
consonants are shaped based on the
changes in the airstream passing through
the vocal tract.
 Description of consonants according to the
manner of articulation results in several
categories: stops, fricatives, affricates,
nasals, glides, liquids.

Question 22

Stops –

Answer 22

Are formed by a completed closure within the oral cavity to briefly stop air flow. Abstracted air and pressure are then release resulting in a burst of noice because of the auditable burst of noise they are also referred as stop plusive

Question 23

Fricatives

Answer 23

Are formed by air continuously being force through the narrow passage In the oral cavity. They have a hissing or turbulent quality because they produce frication noise.

Question 24

Affricates

Answer 24

Are formed by a quick release of abstracted air stream. They consist of a stop and fricative, they begin as stop and release as a fricative

Question 25

Nasals

Answer 25

Formed by the velopheryngeal open and the oral cavity close, which allows the airstream to enter the nasal cavity.

Question 26

Glides – known as semivowels

Answer 26

Are formed by a gliding motion of the articulators moving from more constructed to more open state

Question 27

• Liquids – also known as semivowels

Answer 27

A slight obstruction in the vocal track

Question 28

Place of articulation

Answer 28

Place of articulation refers to point of
articulatory constriction in the vocal tract when a
consonant is produced.
 Bilabial - b,p,m,w. (/w/:both bilabial and velar)
 Labiodental – f,v.
 Linguadental (inderdental) – “th”
 Lingua-alveolar (alveolar) – t,d,s,z,l,n
 Linguapalatal (palatal)- /ʤ,ʧ,ʒ,ʃ, r, j/.
 Linguavelar (velar) - /k, g, ɧ, w/
 Glottal – h, glottal stop: ʔ . Glottal stop is produced
when the space between the VFs (glottis) is closed
completely and then released (e.g. “button, uh oh”).

Question 29

Consonant production – voicing

Answer 29

Voicing feature describes whether
the vocal folds are vibrating during
consonant production.
 Voiced sounds
 Voiceless sounds

Question 30

Phoneme classification - syllables

Answer 30

Consonants initiate and/or terminate a syllable.
Syllables can be open or closed.
 Syllables comprise of nucleus, onset, and coda
 Vowels serve as the nucleus of a syllable
 Onset of a syllable refers to a consonant (or cluster)
that initiates a syllable and precedes the nucleus
 Coda of a syllable refers to a consonant (or cluster)
that follows the nucleus
 Nucleus and Coda follow the onset, and are termed
collectively as Rhyme. (example: “break”)

Question 31

 Vowels on syllabic structure

Answer 31

Vowels serve as the nucleus of a syllable.
Nucleus and Coda follow the onset, and are termed
collectively as Rhyme. (example: “break”)

Question 32

Onset on syllabic structure

Answer 32

Onset of a syllable refers to a consonant (or cluster)
that initiates a syllable and precedes the nucleus

Question 33

Coda on syllabic structure

Answer 33

Coda of a syllable refers to a consonant (or cluster)
that follows the nucleus