Spoken language phonetics: Consonant articulation and transcription. LING 200 Spring 2006

Transcription

1 Spoken language phonetics: Consonant articulation and transcription LING 200 Spring 2006

2 Announcements, reminders Quiz re Ch. 1-2: question 9 dropped, results have been recalculated Homework #1 (transcription related) due tomorrow at the beginning of section Quiz re Ch. 6 currently open; closes Fri noon Turning Point Automated Response System: receiver here; book store receiving new shipment of clickers Friday

3 Phonetic transcription a mystery language 1. driftwood 2. cane 3. footwear 4. grease 5. straight up 6. your collarbone

4 Organization of today s lecture Articulation of speech sounds Transcription of speech sounds Consonant inventories

5 Vocal tract structures nasal cavity relevant for speech pharynx oral cavity

6 Vocal tract structures relevant for speech Upper articulator Lower articulator

7 Major structures structure (noun) lips teeth alveolar ridge hard palate soft palate = velum nasal cavity larynx glottis adjectival descriptor labial dental alveolar palatal velar nasal laryngeal glottal

8 Place of articulation some places of articulation upper articulator lower articulator

9 Some places of articulation in English lower articulator (bi-) (apico-) (dorso-) upper articulator labial alveolar velar example bill dill gill

10 Manner of articulation (degree of occlusion) How close are lower and upper articulator? Relatively close, narrowed or constricted ( occluded ) airflow: consonants Relatively far apart, unconstricted airflow: vowels

11 Manner of articulation Consonant subclasses Stops: complete occlusion of airflow bill, dill, gill Fricatives: air pressure build-up behind occlusion; turbulent airflow Liquids and glides: no pressure build-up

12 English fricatives Fricative: produced with turbulent airflow, pressure build-up behind occlusion place of articulation labiodental interdental alveolar palatal (palato-alveolar) laryngeal example fin thin sin shin hinder

13 Affricates = stop released into fricative of same place of articulation place palatal (palato-alveolar) example chin

14 Liquids and glides = Approximants: No pressure build-up, non-turbulent airflow liquids glides place alveolar retroflex* palatal labial (labio-velar) example lip rip yip whip *Fromkin et al. sometimes refer to the place of this sound sometimes as alveolar, sometimes retroflex.

15 Place x manner of articulation labial interdental labiodental alveolar retroflex palatal velar glottal stop bin din again fricative Vinnie then zing vision him approximant win Lynn rim yen win

16 State of the glottis (laryngeal setting)

17 The larynx and vocal cords Clip from The Human Language vol. 3: The Human Language Evolves. With and without words rear of body

18 States of the glottis in English voiced: vocal cords close, vibrate when air passes through glottis voiceless: vocal cords apart, do not vibrate Some voiced and voiceless fricatives labio-dental inter-dental alveolar palatal voiceless fox thin sip Aleutian voiced vixen then zip illusion

19 Other consonant parameters: oral vs. nasal

20 Oral vs. nasal Velum raised Air flows into oral cavity only oral sound Velum lowered (resting position) Air flows into oral and nasal cavities nasal sound

21 English oral vs. nasal stops Stop: produced with complete occlusion in oral cavity bilabial alveolar velar (oral) stop pin bin tin din kin again nasal (stop) Kim kin king

22 Other consonant parameters: lateral What part of the tongue (lower articulator) approaches the upper articulator? Only tip: air flows around side(s) of tongue ( lateral ) Air flows over all tongue surface ( central ) English: lip (lateral) vs. rip (central)

23 Phonetic description Consonants State of glottis Place of articulation Manner of articulation voiceless bilabial stop

24 Phonetic transcription Alphabetic and other symbols which abbreviate phonetic descriptions E.g. voiceless bilabial stop = [p] Phonetic transcription in square brackets Different systems of phonetic transcription International Phonetic Association Americanist /U.S.

25 Phonetic transcription A more consistent way of representing sound than most writing systems e.g. English <c>: [k] [kræbi] <crabby> [s] [p nsl ] <pencil> A universal framework for the description of spoken languages Many languages lack writing systems

26 Cf. Table 6.4 stops Consonant chart for English interdental bilabial p b alveolar labiodental t d palatal velar k g glottal affricates t d fricatives f v s z h nasals m n approximant w ( ) r* j lateral l *American English [r] is actually retroflex.

27 Bear Lake Takla Lake Babine River Kispiox River Bulkley River Babine Lake Witsuwit en Athabaskan family apx. 180 speakers New Hazelton Smithers Telkwa Fort Babine River Moricetown Skeena Takla Landing Houston Broman Lake Burns Lake Morice River Fran ois Lake Morice Lake Grassy Plains Ootsa Lake Tahtsa Lake Whitesail Lake

28 Some Witsuwit en speakers Mabel Forsythe Lillian Morris, Peter John

29 Some Witsuwit en sounds Ejective stops and affricates: transcribed [C ] How to make a (canonical) ejective: 0. Make a velar stop. Make a glottal stop.

30 Ejective stops [t ] = ejective alveolar stop [nt q] your collarbone Compare [t] = voiceless alveolar stop [nt q] up Waveforms: [n t q] [n t q] Time (s) Time (s)

31 Ejective affricates [ts ] = ejective alveolar affricate [p ts q] his little finger Compare [ts] = voiceless alveolar affricate [p ts q] his outer ear [p t s q] [p t s q] Time (s) Time (s)

32 Uvular place of articulation [q] = voiceless uvular stop [qis] Chinook salmon [nt q] up [q ] = voiceless uvular ejective [q ] backwards [ ] = voiceless uvular fricative [ ] grease

33 Lateral fricative and affricates [ ] = voiceless lateral fricative [ j l] it s white; goat [ aq h ] dogs [t ] = voiceless lateral affricate [s t et] it s licking me [t ] = ejective lateral affricate [s t et] he farted

34 Witsuwit en consonant chart labial alveolar palatal labio-velar uvular glottal stops p p t t h t c c h c k w k wh k w q q h q affricates ts ts h ts lateral t t h t fricatives s z ç x w h lateral nasals m n approxim ants j w lateral l

35 Summary Describing consonants place of articulation manner of articulation (degree of occlusion) state of glottis nasal/oral lateral/central Phonetic transcription Consonant charts

36 Question Describe one of the consonants you know (in one of the languages you know) that is different from one of the consonants of English. Be sure to name the language.

37 Vowels Next time