Week 3 - Vowels

Question 1

What are the Properties of Vowel distinction?

Answer 1

- TONGUE CONFIG (shape)
       > Height +
       > Backness of salient point
- LIP CONFIG
      > Unrounded
      > Rounded
      > Intermediate
- NASALITY
- PHONATION TYPE
- LENGTH (long vs short)
- COMPLEX ARTICULATIONS
     > Dipthongs

Question 2

Tongue Configuration

Answer 2

Mapping the HIGHEST POINT of the TONGUE characterises the = PLACE of articulation

VOWEL SPACE: the range of possible articulations (idealised in /Vowel Quadrilateral/

Question 3

CARDINAL VOWELS

Answer 3

C.V. System by DANIEL JONES as set of REFERENCE POINTS evenly spaced around PERIPHERY of VOWEL SPACES. (comb. art. and aud.)

1 is highest+frontest without any turbulence/frication
etc.

1 8
2 7
3 6
4 5

Question 4

Auditory Component of the Cardinal Vowel System

remember PERCEPTUALLY EQUIDISTANT

Answer 4

Intervening POINTS along Ftest and Bkest lines SPECIFIED AUDITORIALY
> points @ which vowels sound equally diff from eachother based on general auditory impression
= PERCEPTUALLY EQUIDISTANT

1 as diff from 2 as diff from 3 etc

• PURE AUDITORY not v usefull unless SOME relatively FIXED REFn points

Question 5

IPA system of vowel description:

reference points

Answer 5

IPA follows general tradition of cardinal vowels by defining ref points.

• Provides SYMBOLS
• cover most vowel distinctions
• DIACRITICS = greater precision

Question 6

ACOUSTIC Description of Vowels

Answer 6

• Each artic. config. for a vowel = RESONANCE PROPERTIES that prod. DISTINCTIVE QUALITY of the vowel

(use of formants on spectograms and such)

Question 7

FORMANTS definition

Answer 7

Freq. bands where resonance = most intence (DARK on spectograms)

FIRST FORMANT (F1) = LOWEST central frequency
F2
F3

Question 8

Formants relationship with articulatory parameters

Answer 8

F1 + F2 correspond /fairly/ well to height and front/back

F1 = HEIGHT OF TONGUE
F2 = FRONTESS/BACKNESS

• LIP ROUNDING correlates with LOWER FREQ. for HIGHER FORMANTS
  > F3 - Front Vowels
  > F2 - Back Vowels

Question 9

F1

Answer 9

HEIGHT OF TONGUE

SWAPPY SWAP LxH HxL

lower F1 ≈ tongue higher
higher F1 ≈ tongue lower

Question 10

F2

Answer 10

FRONTESS/BACKNESS

Low is sad and back
High is happy and forward

lower F2 ≈ backer
higher F2 ≈ fronter

Question 11

Inferring place of articulation from formant

frequencies

Answer 11

Comparison of average values for F1 and F2 for the Aus and NZ English vowel as in ʼbitʼ

• Higher F1 means NZ ‘bit’ vowel is slightly lower.
• Lower F2 means it’s considerably backer.
• Consistent with auditory & articulatory evidence: NZ [ɨ] vs Aus [ɪ].

Question 12

Vowel Length

Answer 12

eg [i:] in ‘seat’ is longer than [ɪ] in ‘sit’ n
- (as well as having a different place/quality)

IPA diacritics GOOD for making number of distinctions in length
broad trans, often sufficient:
[i] [i:]

Question 13

Dipthongs

Answer 13

ARTIC TARGET = TRANSITION btwn 2 ARTICULATORY SETTINGS

“bite” and “lie” =
near [a] –> near [ɪ]
SO: broad: [aɪ] (single phoneme)

Start + End points dont necessarily coincide w monopthongs of lang/dialect

Question 14

Average AusEng dipthongs

Answer 14

converge on High front: bay, bye, boy

Unrounded–>Rounded: how, no

Question 15

Classification of dipthongs

Answer 15

BASED ON:

• initial+final targets
• relative focus on 1 target vs another

1. LONGER, SYLLABIC COMPONENT
2. SHORTER, NON-SYLL COMPONENT [V̯]
   > ON-glide if PRECEDES
   > OFF-glide if FOLLOWS

Some US: semi-vowels for off-glides ([ej]/[ey] not [eɪ]

• Direction of Transition (Fronting, Backing, Centring)

Question 16

Dipthongs classified by DIRECTION of TRANSITION

Answer 16

fronting: as in AusEng ‘boyʼ [boɪ]
backing: as in AusEng ‘boughʼ [bæɔ]
centring: as in AusEng ‘fairʼ [feə] ~ [fe:]

Question 17

Tripthongs

Answer 17

involve transition over more than two articulatory settings…

> AusEng ‘fire’ [fɑeə]
some pronunciations of ‘towel’ [tæɔəl]

Problem: Are these one syllable or two?

Question 18

What is a semi-vowel?

Answer 18

SYLLABIC SOUND - occupies NUCLEUS of a SYLLABLE
> Freq. but not always = Vowel

High vowels have non-syllabic counterparts
> SIMILAR PLACE. o A
> SIMILAR LOW DEG o CONSTRICTION

[ i ] + [ j ] - [mjɛt]
[ u ] + [ w ] - [mwɛt]
[ y ] + [ ɥ ] - [mɥɛt]
[ ɯ ] + [ ɰ ]

Question 19

Secondary Articulations

Answer 19

One of the articulations in a complex consonant

• typically lesser deg. of constriction than primary
• sometimes thought of as adding vowel/semi-vowel qual to a consonant

1. PALATALISED consonants
2. VELARISED consonants
3. LABIALISED/ROUNDED consonants
4. PHARYNGEALISED consonants

Question 20

Palatalised Consonant

Answer 20

Secondary constriction: Tongue BODY raised to PALATE

- /like/ addition of a palatal approximant [j] to eg [t] = 	[t(^)j]

Question 21

Velarised Consonant

Answer 21

Secondary constriction: Tongue BODY raised to VELUM (sft plt)

- /like/ addition of a velar approximant to eg [t]= [t(^)ɣ] [n(^)ɣ] etc     > English [l(^)ɣ] in 'pull' (“dark l”) 
  (N.B. dialect variation)

Question 22

Labialised/rounded consonants

Answer 22

Secondary Constriction:
LIP ROUNDING or PROTRUSION

-/like/ the addition of a labial-velar approximant [w] to eg [t] = [t(^)w] [k(^)w] etc

Question 23

Pharyngealised Consonants

Answer 23

Secondary constriction: Tongue ROOT RETRACTED to BACK WALL of PHARYNX

• /like/ the addition of a pharyngeal approximant [ʕ] n e.g. [t(^)ʕ]