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Phonetics, part III: Suprasegmentals

Phonetics, part III: Suprasegmentals. October 18, 2010. The Plan for Today. Run through the rest of the phonetics practice exercises. Discuss suprasegmentals. The plan for the future: More phonetics practice on Wednesday and Friday. Homework #2 due next Monday.

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Phonetics, part III: Suprasegmentals

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  1. Phonetics, part III: Suprasegmentals October 18, 2010

  2. The Plan for Today • Run through the rest of the phonetics practice exercises. • Discuss suprasegmentals. • The plan for the future: • More phonetics practice on Wednesday and Friday. • Homework #2 due next Monday. • Mid-term on the Friday after that! (Oct. 29th)

  3. Oh by the way… • The textbook mentions the existence of a mid-low, back, rounded vowel… • “Open O”: [ ] • Compare: • Calgary • Chicago • New York • Saskatoon Source: http://accent.gmu.edu • Also check out: • Calgary: Oxford, England:

  4. Basic Distinction #1 • Last time, we discussed the difference between vowels and consonants. • Consonants: • Voicing • Place of Articulation • Manner of Articulation • Vowels: • High/mid/low • Front/central/back • Rounded/unrounded • Tense/lax

  5. Basic Distinction #2 • Consonants and vowels together make up the class of segments in phonetics. • Each segment is a configuration of articulations… • ordered in time in an utterance. • Languages also have phonetic features which can span across multiple segments. • = suprasegmental features • supra = “above” the segment. • One basic example: • Languages organize strings of segments into syllables.

  6. Syllabicity • Syllables are hard to define phonetically… • But native speakers have an intuitive sense of what does and does not constitute a syllable. • Normally, syllables will have: • consonants (optionally) at beginning and end; • a vowel in the middle. • However, in English, nasals (/m/, /n/) and liquids (/l/, /r/) can form the “peak” of a syllable. • = syllabic consonants.

  7. Syllabic Examples • Syllabic consonants are transcribed with a small vertical dash underneath them. • Examples: ‘chasm’ ‘ribbon’ ‘eagle’ ‘feature’

  8. Suprasegmentals • Other suprasegmental features include: • Stress • Length • Tone • Intonation • These suprasegmental features are always defined in a relative manner. • Some segments are longer than others, • Some syllables are more stressed than others, • etc.

  9. 1. Stress • Stress makes a syllable sound more prominent. • (due to increased articulatory effort) • Stress may be denoted by an accent over the vowel in the stressed syllable. • Examples of stress contrasts: • “contrast” • (N) • (V) • “insult” • (N) • (V)

  10. 2. Length • Languages can distinguish segments on the basis of length. • = some segments simply last longer than others. • Italian contrasts both long and short vowels and consonants.

  11. Danish Vowels • Danish contrasts long and short vowels.

  12. 3. Tone • In tone languages, speakers change the rate at which their vocal folds vibrate to signal important differences in meaning. • Note: we hear the rate of vocal fold vibration as the “pitch” of a speaker’s voice. • In tone languages, each syllable is produced with a characteristic tone. • Register tone languages • Pitch must hit a certain level on any given syllable. • Contour tone languages • Pitch changes on a single syllable may form a complex pattern.

  13. Ibibio Tones • Ibibio is a register tone language spoken in southern Nigeria

  14. Mandarin Tone • Mandarin (Chinese) is a classic example of a contour tone language. ma1: mother ma2: hemp ma3: horse ma4: to scold

  15. Mandarin Sentences ma1-ma0 ma4 ma3. “Mother scolds the horse.” ma3 ma4 ma1-ma0. “The horse scolds mother.”

  16. Intonation • English is not a tone language like Chinese or Ibibio… • but it has something called “intonation” • English intonation: • High and Low accents attach to stressed syllables • (transcribed with H* or L*) • High and Low tones appear at the ends of phrases and utterances. • (transcribed with H% or L%) • The important difference: English “tones” are specified by context, not by the lexicon.

  17. Intonation Examples • In English intonation, statements usually have: • A high accented syllable (H*) within the sentence. • A low tone (L%) at the end of the sentence. • H* L% • Manny came with Anna. • Meanwhile, questions usually have: • A low accented syllable (L*) within the sentence. • A high tone (H%) at the end of the sentence. • L* H% • Manny came with Anna?

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