Week 2- phonetics Flashcards

1
Q

what is phonetics?

A
  • the study of human speech sounds
  • Articulatory phonetics: how we produce speech sounds
  • Acoustic phonetics: the physical manifestation of speech as soundwaves
  • Auditory phonetics: how we perceive speech sounds
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2
Q

what are the main speech organs?

A

lungs, mouth, tongue, nose

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3
Q

what are egressive sounds?

A

sounds in which the air stream is created by pushing air out through the mouth or nose.

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4
Q

what is the vocal tract?

A

larynx + mouth + nose

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5
Q

what is initiation?

A

air passes from the lungs, upwards and outwards through the vocal tract (egressive airflow)

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6
Q

what is phonation?

A

air from the lungs is converted into vibrations in the larynx

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7
Q
What sounds do the following produce?
Lips
Tongue 
Alveolar ridge 
Velum
Epiglottis
A

Lips- p,b
Tongue- th
Alveolar ridge- t,d
Velum- g, k- if you try and say ‘n’ with your nose closed, you cant make a sound. When you make a nasal sound, the air comes out of your nose.
Epiglottis- glottle stop, forms a closure of the vocal folds.

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8
Q

What is a consonant in phonetics?

A

a sound produced with a closure (or near-closure) in the vocal tract, eg; the lips closing or putting the tongue between the teeth. It’s the narrowing of airflow. Closed/ narrow stricture.

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9
Q

What is a vowel in phonetics?

A

a sound produced with no closure in the vocal tract. Open stricture.

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10
Q

What is stricture?

A

The degree of closure in the vocal tract

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11
Q

What are ‘y’ and ‘w’?

A

‘y’ and ‘w’ are semi vowels, they don’t fit into consonants or vowels.

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12
Q

How does voicing work?

A

The vocal folds vibrate to create voicing (during phonation) • Sounds that cause the vocal folds to vibrate are known as voiced sounds • Sounds can also be voiceless

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13
Q

What are the four types of phonation and what happens during each of them?

A

Voiceless- open glottis, minimal vibration of vocal folds
Whisper- Narrow open glottis, minimal vibration of vocal folds
Creak- vocal folds almost closed, vibrating at low frequency
Voiced- Vocal folds together, vibrating at mid/high frequency

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14
Q

Discuss the layout of the IPA

A

When there are two symbols in a box, the one on the left is voiceless.
The chart is organised in a way that on the left are the sounds that are produced at the front of the mouth and the right are sounds that are produced at the back of the mouth.
The empty white boxes are sounds that are possible but do not exist.
The shaded boxes are sounds that are impossible to make.
They are symbols NOT letters.

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15
Q

Discuss fricatives within Manner of Articulation

A

Close approximation: narrow degree of stricture
Constant airflow → can be maintained for a long period /ssssssssssss/
Tongue shape determines sound of fricative – compare /s/ and /ʃ/
Affricates = Combination of brief plosive and fricative: tʃ, dʒ

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16
Q

Discuss approximants within Manner of Articulation

A

Open approximation, much like vowels
Articulators not close enough together to produce friction
They are usually voiced, but can be voiceless
All approximants on the IPA are voiced; we have to add a diacritic (modifies IPA symbols) if we want to transcribe a voiceless approximant: /l̥/
Open approximation = no stricture

17
Q

Discuss nasals within Manner of Articulation

A
  • Nasals have the same close-hold-release gesture as plosives
  • Except that the velum is lowered
  • Air flows through the nasal passage, no air pressure is built up in the vocal tract
18
Q

How do we describe speech sounds?

A

Voicing + Place + Manner. Like coordinates for the vocal tract.

19
Q

how do we describe cardinal vowels?

A

height (vertical dimension), backness (horizontal dimension) and roundedness (lip position).