Introduction to Linguistics 2 The Sound System

1. Introduction to Linguistics 2The Sound System Prof. Jo Lewkowicz

2. Review of week 1 • What is language? • In what ways do languages differ from each other? • In what ways is human language similar to / different from animal communication? • What role does context play in determining meaning? • What is the difference between an utterance and a sentence? • What do you understand by the following utterance? • If you leave your car in this road, it’s likely to get a ticket.

3. Systems of language • Language consists of 3 interlocking systems • The system of sounds • The system of words • The system of grammar • These systems form the resources for creating meaning • Each system is language specific • Each can be pulled apart and put back together again

4. The sound system • The sound system of any language can be studied from two points of view: • how individual sounds in the language are made (phonetics) • The relationship between sounds and meaning (phonology)

5. Organs of speech

6. How do we make speech sounds? • Use air from our lungs as well as the organs of speech, i.e. lips, tongue, teeth , vocal cords to create different sounds • By manipulating the sounds in different ways we make different sounds • Phonemes are different sounds that indicate a different meaning, e.g. pill/bill, till/dill, mill/nil • Allophones are variations in pronunciation of individual sounds that do not signal difference in meaning, e.g. the difference in the way the /l/ is pronounced according to the sounds that surround it, as in plane and pail. • Which sounds can be put together in a given language is rule governed, i.e. certain sounds can go together while others cannot. In English /ng/ can appear at the end of a string of sounds as in ‘sing’ but not at the beginning (as opposed to languages such as Thai where /ng/ can appear at the beginning).

7. Processes of speech production • Initiation • process of expelling air from the lungs • Phonation • process of opening or narrowing of the vocal chords as the air stream goes through, producing either voiced sounds (e.g. /b/, /d/) or voiceless sounds (e.g. /p/, /t/) • Articulation • The way in which the tongue and lips impede and manipulate the flow of air.

8. Representing spoken language • More sounds in English than letters • e.g.12 vowel sounds, only 6 vowel letters • The relationship between spelling and the way words are pronounced is opaque in English (as compared to Finnish) • Would you consider Polish a more or less opaque language? • To represent pronunciation the International Phonetic Alphabet has been created • Allows representation of how words are pronounced • coot /ku:t/– cute /kjut/ • Allows dialectical variations to be noted • coupon /kupan/ - /kjupan/ • Allows the notation of languages for which there is no writing system e.g. Kpelle spoken in Liberia

9. Types of sounds 1 • Consonants • Made by obstructing the air stream in different ways as it leaves the lungs. • Consonants are classified according to: • Voicing (voiced / voiceless) • Manner of articulation (how the sound is made, e.g. by stopping the air in the mouth and then expelling it quickly as in the plosive sounds /p/ & /b/. • Plosives (stops) /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /?/ • Nasals /m/,/n/, /ŋ/ • Fricatives /f/, /v/, /θ/, / ð/, /s/, /z/, /∫/, /З/, /h/ • Affricates /t∫/, /dЗ/ • Liquids /l/ , /r/ • Glides /w/ , /j/ • Place of articulation (where in the mouth the air is stopped or obstructed) • Bilabial (2 lips) • Labiodental (teeth and lips) • Interdental (tongue between the teeth) • Alveolar (tongue touching the alveolar ridge) • Palatal (tongue raised towards the hard palate) • Velar (back of the tongue raised at the velum) • Glottal (air is stopped at the glottis)

10. Types of sounds 2 • Vowels • Air stream is never blocked when producing vowels • They form the nucleus of the syllable & can stand alone • Vowels are classified according to: • Tongue height (high, mid, low) • The part of the tongue being raised (front, middle, back) • Shape of the lips ( spread, neutral, round) • Vowel length (short, long) • Diphthongs • Combination of 2 sounds (vowel + glide) • e.g. fly, toy, cloud

11. Vowel Chart

12. Sound and meaning • The study of sounds & the relationship between sound and meaning is called phonology • Two branches of phonology • segmental: involving individual sounds • suprasegmental: stress, rhythm & intonation

13. Segmental phonology • Look at the following pairs of sentences: in what way do they differ? • He beat the dog - Look at that rock! • He bit the dog - Look at that lock! • The differences are in a single sound (phoneme) • Phonemes are the building blocks of meaning • Words that differ in a single phoneme (either vowel or consonant) are known as minimal pairs • Languages do not necessarily share the same phonemes, e.g. In Japanese there is no distinction between /l/ & /r/, hence you might think a Japanese air steward(ess) has said: • Have a good fright, instead of : have a good flight • Make a list of 5 minimal pairs in English

14. Suprasegmental phonology • Stress – emphasis placed on a syllable or a word • This 'building is 'VERY 'noisy • THIS 'building is 'very 'noisy • Rhythm – tune of the language, pattern of stressed & unstressed syllables • English is a stress-timed language, therefore the pattern is irregular • Intonation – raising and lowering of voice pitch to convey aspects of meaning not different meaning as in tonal languages • This is the house. (falling tone) • This is the house? (rising tone)

15. Communicative functions of intonation • Emotional • to express boredom, excitement, surprise etc. • Grammatical • to mark grammatical contrast such as positive & negative or question vs. statement • Information structure • to mark new or important information, to give prominence to the part of the utterance the speaker wants the listener to take note of • Textual • to give larger stretches of discourse a melodic shape: this allows us to discern the type of discourse (e.g. a news-report, football results etc.) • Psychological • to make language more easily understandable/accessible: we learn and remember in chunks rather than individual words • Indexical • as markers of personal identity and the social & professional groups we belong to (From Crystal, D. (1997). The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

16. Written and spoken forms • In written form a difference is often noted by punctuation, whereas when spoken it is the stress pattern which indicates meaning • Compare: • White House -white house • Let’s hunt, Sam – Let’s hunt Sam • My sister, who lives in Bristol, is coming to Warsaw next week – My sister who lives in Bristol is coming to Warsaw next week • Stress patterns are easily acquired by children, but seem much more difficult to acquire by adult learners • Stress patterns of a language is a major contributor to a foreign accent

17. Accent vs. dialect • Accent • Refers to particular ways of pronouncing a language and varies according to geographical origin, educational background and social class • Dialect • Refers to varieties of language that vary phonologically, lexically and even to some extent grammatically