Week 2: Phonetics and Phonology

Question 1

What is the most important part of the vocal apparatus in terms of considering vowels?

Answer 1

• The tongue and it’s positioning

Question 2

What are the five parts of the tongue that are used to distinguish vowels in terms of where the narrowest constriction between the tongue and the roof of the mouth is situated?

Answer 2

• front
• near front
• central
• near back
• back

Question 3

What are the 8 different positions of the tongue in relation to the top of the mouth when producing vowels?

Answer 3

• Close - nearest to top of mouth
• Near close
• Close mid
• Mid
• Open mid
• Near open
• Open - furthest from top of mouth

Question 4

Are vowels voiced or unvoiced?

Answer 4

Voiced

Question 5

What does the quality of vowels depend on?

Answer 5

the position of the tongue and the position of the lips (rounding)

Question 6

In a quadrilateral of vowels, how does one distinguish between those rounded and unrounded?

Answer 6

• Vowels on the left of the dot are spread, or unrounded

- Vowels on the right of the dot are rounded

Question 7

What is a dipthong?

Answer 7

Two adjacent vowel sounds that occur within the same syllable

Question 8

What are the two types of phonetic transcription? Explain what each means

Answer 8

• Broad transcription - if they provide minimal detail about the sounds that form a word
• Narrow transcriptions - if they provide fine detail on how the pronunciation of speech sounds may vary in different contexts

Question 9

What symbols do narrow transcriptions use to give extra information about individual sounds?

Answer 9

diacritics

Question 10

What are the four supra-segmental features?

Answer 10

• Tone
• Length
• Stress
• Intonation

Question 11

Describe length as a supra-segmental feature

Answer 11

• the physical duration of a sound
• also referred to as quantity
• Uses the diacritic [ː]

Question 12

Describe stress as a supra-segmental feature

Answer 12

• Some syllables in words are stressed whilst others are unstressed (think Shakespeare)

Question 13

What are the three parameters for labelling vowel sounds?

Answer 13

• spread/rounded (lips)
• close-open (tongue in relation to roof of mouth)
• front/central/back (tongue in relation to distance from the teeth to the throat)

Question 14

What is another word for suprasegmental?

Answer 14

prosodic

Question 15

What are the two consonant sounds found in French that we do not have in English? Give an example word for each

Answer 15

• The nasal palatal sound [ɲ] - agneau [ɑɲo]

- The uvular fricative sound [ʁ] - rouge [ʁuːʒ]

Question 16

What are the three semi-vowels (called semi-consonants in English) found in French? Give an example word for each

Answer 16

• The plain palatal approximant [j] - hier [jɛʁ]
• The labialized palatal approximant [ɥ] - nuit [nɥi]
• The velar labialized approximant [w] - moi [mwɑ]

Question 17

What are the four vowels found in French that we do not have in English? Give an example word for each

Answer 17

• i - ici [isi]
• e - été [ete] (more closed)
• ɛ - être [ɛtʁ] (more open)
• ɑ - année [ɑne] (similar to Spanish/Italian ‘a’)

Question 18

What are the four rounded vowels found in French? Which vowels do they come from? Give an example word for each

Answer 18

• [y] - (starts from i and then lips are rounded) - une [yn]
• [ø] - (starts from e and then lips are rounded) - Europe [øʁɔp]
• [œ] - starts from ɛ and then lips are rounded - seul [sœl]
• [ɔ] - (starts from ʌ and then lips are rounded) - botte [bɔt]

Question 19

What is important to note about French nasal vowels?

Answer 19

• They occur when a vowel is followed by a nasal consonant plus another consonant

Question 20

What are the four nasal vowels in French? Give an example word for each

Answer 20

• [ɛ̃] - ainsi [ɛ̃si]
• [œ̃] - parfum [pɑʁfœ̃]
• [ɑ̃] - dans [dɑ̃]
• [ɔ̃] - long [lɔ̃]