ING507 Linguistics The Nature of Language

ING507 LinguisticsThe Nature of Language Asst. Prof. Dr. Emrah Görgülü Lecture 4: Thesounds of language

Thesounds of language I take it you already know Of tough and bough and cough and dough? Others may stumble but not you On hiccough, thorough, lough and through. Well done! And now you wish, perhaps, To learn of less familiar traps? Beware of heard, a dreadful word, That looks like beard and sounds like bird. And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead – For goodness sake don’t call it “deed”! Watch out for meat and great and threat (They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).T. S.W. quotedin Mackay (1970)

Thesounds of language (cont’d) • Thesounds of spokenEnglish do not match up with theletters of written English (i.e. there is no onesound - onesymbolprinciple). • If we cannotuse the letters of the alphabet in a consistent way to represent the sounds we produce,how can wedescribethe sounds of a language like English? • One solution is toproduce a separate alphabet with symbols that represent sounds.Such a set of symbolsdoes exist and is called the phonetic alphabet. • We will look at howthese symbols are used to represent both the consonant and vowel sounds of Englishwords.

Phonetics • Phoneticsis defined as thestudy of the characteristics of speech sounds. Itprovidesmethodsfortheirdescription, classificationandtranscription. • Our maininterest will be in articulatory phonetics, which is the study of how speech sounds aremade, or articulated. • Other areas of study are acoustic phonetics, which deals with thephysical properties of speech as sound waves in the air, and auditory phonetics(or perceptual phonetics) which deals with the perception, via the ear, of speechsounds.

Voicedandvoicelesssounds • Speechsounds are produced using thefairly complex oral equipmentthathumanshave. • We start with the air pushed out by the lungsup through the trachea (or windpipe) to the larynx. Inside the larynx are your vocalfolds(or vocal cords), which take two basic positions. • When the vocal folds are spread apart, the air from the lungs passes between themunimpeded. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiceless. • When the vocal folds are drawn together, the air from the lungs repeatedly pushesthemapart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect. Sounds producedin thisway are voiced.

How tomakespeechsounds? s

Voicedandvoicelesssounds (cont’d) • The distinction can be felt physically if you: • place a fingertip on top of yourAdam’s apple (i.e. thepart of your larynx you can feel in your neck below your chin) • then produce sounds such as Z-Z-Z-Z or V-V-V-V. Since theseare voiced sounds,you should be able to feel some vibration. • Keeping your fingertip in the same position,now make the sounds S-S-S-S or F-F-F-F. Because these are voiceless sounds, thereshould be no vibration.

Place of articulation • Most consonant sounds are produced by using the tongue and otherparts of the mouth to constrictthe shape of the oral cavity through whichthe air is passing. • The terms used to describe many sounds are those which denote theplace of articulation of the sound: that is, the locationinside the mouth at which theconstriction takes place. • If you crack a head right down the middle, you willbe able to see which parts of the oral cavity are cruciallyinvolved in speech production.

Place of articulation (cont’d): Consonants • Webegin using the symbols of the phonetic alphabet for specific sounds. Thesesymbols will be within square brackets [ ]. • Bilabialsounds: These are sounds producedusing both upper and lower lips. The initialsounds in the words pan, banand manare all bilabials. • pan [p] - ___________ • ban [b] - ___________ • man [m] - ___________ • Arethereanyothersoundsthatarebilabial in English? ___________________________________.

Place of articulation (cont’d) • Labiodentalsounds: These are sounds madewith the upper teeth and the lower lip. The initial sounds ofthe words fanand vanand the final sounds in the words safe and save are labiodentals. • fan [f] - ____________ • van [v] - ____________ • Notethat the final sound in the word cough, and the initial sound in photo, despite thespelling differences, are both pronouncedas [f]. • Interdentalsounds: These sounds are formed with the tongue tip betweentheteeth. Thefirstsound of thin and the lastsound of bath are both interdentals. Theinitialsounds of theandthusareinterdent. • thin [θ] - ____________ / the [ð] - ___________ • bath [θ] thus [ð]

Place of articulation (cont’d) • Alveolarsounds: These are sounds madewith the front part of the tongue touching the alveolar ridge, whichis the rough, bony ridge behind and above the upper teeth. • The initialsounds in tip, dip, sip, zipand nut are all alveolars. • tip [t] - ______________ / dip [d] - _______________ / ride [r] - _________ • sip [s] - ______________ / zip [z] - ________________ • nut [n] - _____________ / lip [l] - ________________ • Alveo-palatal (palatal) sounds: Sounds produced with thetongue and the palate (i.e. theroof of mouth) are called alveo-palatals. • shout [ʃ] - ______________ / treasure [ʒ] - _________ / yes [j] - _________ • child [ʧ] - ______________ / joke [ʤ] - _____________

Place of articulation (cont’d) • Velarsounds: Sounds produced with the back ofthe tongue against the velum (i.e. softpalate) are called velars.Theinitialsounds in kidandcar, goandgun, andthe final sound in singarevelar. • go [g] - ______________ / car [k] - _______________ • sing [ŋ] - ______________ / tongue [ŋ] - _____________ • Glottalsounds: Theglottis (thespacebetweenvocalfolds) is open. No active use of the tongue and other parts ofthemouth • house [h] - ______________ / who [h] - _______________

Englishconsonantchart • Having described in some detail the place of articulation of English consonant sounds, wecan summarize the basic information in the chart.

Manner of articulation • We can describe the sounds in terms of how they are articulated.Such a description is necessary if we want to be able to distinguish between thesoundsthatwe have placed in the same category. • [d] and [z] arebothvoicedalveolarsounds. How do theydiffer? • Theydiffer in themannertheyarepronounced. • Stops: Thesesoundsareproducedby “stopping” the air stream very briefly then letting it goabruptly. Thesounds [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g] are all stop sounds. • dime [d] – voicedalveolar stop / gun [g] - ______________________ • pet [p] - ______________________

Manner of articulation (cont’d) • Fricatives: Thesesoundsareformedbyalmost blocking the air stream and having the air push through theverynarrowopening. The set of sounds[f], [v], [θ], [ð], [s], [z], [ʃ], [ʒ] arefricatives. • ship [ʃ] – voiceless, palatalfricative • pleasure [ʒ] - voicedpalatalfricative • thank[θ] - ____________________ • zebra [z] - _____________________ • Affricates: Thesesoundsaremadeby a brief stopping of the air stream with an obstructed release whichcauses some friction. Theinitialsounds in chinandjeep. • chin [ʧ]– voiceless, palatalaffricate • jeep [ʤ] - voicedpalatalaffricate

Manner of articulation (cont’d) • Nasals: Thesesoundsaremadebyloweringthe velum and the air stream isallowed to flow out through the nose. Therearethreenasalsounds in English: [m], [n] and [ŋ]. They are all voiced. • map [m] – voicedbilabialnasal • night [n] – voicedalveolarnasal • thing [ŋ] – voicedvrlarnasal • Liquids: The initial sounds in lead and read are described as liquids. • The [l] sound is called a lateral liquid and is formed by letting the air stream flow around thesides of the tongue. • The [r] sound is called a ‘retroflex’ and is formed with the tongue tip raisedand curled back near the alveolar ridge.

Manner of articulation (cont’d) • Glides: These sounds are typically produced with the tonguein motion (i.e. gliding) to or from the position of a vowel and are sometimes called semi-vowels. The sounds [w] and [j] are described as glides.Theyarebothvoiced. • we [w] – voicedbilabialglide • yes [j] – voicedpalatalglide • Flaps: Ifyoupronouncethewordbutter as “budder”, thenyouaremaking a flap. It is represented by [D] or sometimes [ɾ]. Thissound is produced by the tongue tip tapping the alveolar ridge briefly. • No differncebetweenthewordsladderandlatter. • Whatarethetwowaystopronouncethewordbottle?

Vowels • The consonant sounds are mostly articulated via closure or obstruction in thevocal tract. Vowel sounds, on theotherhand, are produced with a relatively free flow of air. • Arevowelstypicallyvoicedorvoiceless? _______________ • To describe vowel sounds, we consider the way in which the tongueinfluences the shape through which the airflow must pass. • To talk about a place of articulation, we think of the space inside the mouth as having a front versus a back anda high versus a low area.

Vowels (cont’d) j

Vowels: how do youarticulatethesesounds? • seat / beat • sit / bit • set / bet • sat / bat • soot / boot • book / put • sort / port • walk / talk • listen / subtle

Vowels (cont’d) • seat / beat [i] – high, frontvowel • sit / bit [ɪ] – highfrontvowel • set / bet [ɛ] – midfrontvowel • sat / bat [æ] – lowfrontvowel • soot / boot [u] – highbackvowel • book / put [ʊ] – highbackvowel • sort / port [ɔ] – midbackvowel • walk / talk [ɑ] – lowbackvowel • listen / subtle [ə] – midcentralvowel

Vowels: diphthongs • In addition to single vowel sounds, we produce sounds that consist of acombination of two vowel sounds, known as diphthongs. • When we producediphthongs, our vocal organs move from one position [a] to another [ɪ] asweproduce the sound [aɪ], as in hior bye.The movement in this diphthong is from lowtowards high front. • We can use movement from low towards high back,combining [a] and [ʊ] to produce the sound [aʊ], as in cowandbow.

Vowels: diphthongs (cont’d) • While the vowels [e], [a] and [o] are used as single sounds in other languages, and insome other varieties of English, they are only typically used as the first sounds ofdiphthongs in American English. • my / pie – [aɪ] • cow / how – [aʊ]FrontCentralBack • late / say – [eɪ] _____________________________________ • throw / crow – [oʊ] High • coy / toy – [ɔɪ] I ʊ Mid e o ɔ Lowa

Vowels: diphthongs (cont’d) • Howtoarticulatethesediphthongs? • buy / I / sigh • bough / doubt • bait / eight / great • boat / explode • boy / noise

ING507 Linguistics The Nature of Language