Jeff Conn Webpage with lecture slide info: web.pdx/~connjc

1. Jeff Conn Webpage with lecture slide info: web.pdx.edu/~connjc

2. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics • acoustic characteristics of speech sounds (not articulatory) – how sounds sound rather than how they’re made • Sound is waves (complex waves) = composed of a fundamental wave which repeats itself at the frequency of the opening and closing of vocal folds and a set of harmonic waves which repeat at frequencies which are multiples of the fundamental. • Make Sound by small variations in air pressure caused by vocal organs superimposed on airflow • For Voiced Consonants & Vowels - Vocal folds chop up airstream, high and low pressure • Fricatives - Narrow Constriction of blowing air with varying peaks of air pressure • Sounds cause air particles to move, which makes tympanic membrane move (auditory)

3. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics Waveforms plot air pressure variation over time – Peaks indicate vocal fold vibrations (see sample waveform) Very difficult to get much information from waveforms, but can tell where the loudest segments are (usually vowels) and can see fricative energy, as well as stops and release, and some info about nasal, glide and liquids (can’t see place of articulation really, only voicing and manner)

4. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics • Pitch - A subjective measure of low to high with regard to acoustic properties. • Dependent on how fast/slow vocal folds vibrate. Increase pitch with an increase in rate of vibration. • Measure objectively by frequency = how many cycles per second of vibration. • If vocal folds vibrate 200 times per second - 200 cps - 200 Hertz • Pitch = Fundamental Frequency or F0 (for our purposes) • Male voice - 80-200 Hz • Female Voice - 400+Hz • Child Voice - 800+ Hz

5. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics • Loudness & Intensity • Loudness depends on size of air pressure variations; subjective judgment. • Intensity is objective measure, in decibels (dB), the amplitude of air pressure variations. • More intensity-------------------------Less intensity • Vowels --Nasals, Liquids & Glides -- Sibilants • Actual Intensity of a Segment dependent on Factors, to include: • its position in the sentence • degree of stress on each word • speaker characteristics • *Some vowels seem to show an overall lower intensity – commonly, higher vowels have less intensity than lower vowels (although this can change depending on above factors)

6. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics In the production of vowels, the filtering effect of vocal tract produces amplitude peaks at certain frequencies by enhancing the harmonics (which are the component waves of a complex wave form) at those frequencies while dampening harmonics at other frequencies.

7. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics The peaks in the filter function are called formants (resonant frequencies of the vocal tract). You can change the pitch of a vowel without changing the vowel quality (the rate of vibration of the air in the vocal tract [vowel] is independent of the rate of vibration of the vocal folds [pitch]) Listen to different parts of speech on website So - have vocal folds that open and close. Causes fundamental frequency, or F0. Then have this air that resonates differently according to the position of the vocal organs (different vowels)

8. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics • Acoustic analysis of consonants • Stops show burst - Fricatives show chaotic noise – Different fricatives show different energy (sibilants versus not) • Notice the difference between [f] and [s] is above 3000 Hz so phones cut this off which is why I have restaurant reservations for Jess!

9. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics • Acoustic analysis of consonants • Liquids look like vowels, and glides even more so • [] show lowering of F3 with F2

10. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics • Acoustic analysis of consonants • Liquids look like vowels, and glides even more so • [] show lowering of F3 with F2 From Rob Hagiwara’s webpage: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~robh/howto.html#

11. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics • Acoustic analysis of consonants • Bilabial show F1 and F2 together at low frequencies • Alveolar F2 locus around 1700 Hz • Velar F2 and F3 merge - velar pinch

12. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics • Acoustic analysis of consonants • Bilabial show F1 and F2 together at low frequencies • Alveolar F2 locus around 1700 Hz • Velar F2 and F3 merge - velar pinch Figure 4. Spectrograms of "bab" "dad" and "gag". From Rob Hagiwara’s webpage: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~robh/howto.html#

13. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics • Acoustic analysis of consonants • Voicing shows voice bar across bottom of spectrogram • Nasal has nasal formants (sonorant) • What can you tell about vowels from below spectrograms?

14. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics Acoustic analysis of consonants

15. Dialect regions according to some dialectologists/sociolinguists O’Grady, et al., 2010

16. Based on lexical variation: O’Grady, et al., 2010

17. Linguistic variation and change • Regional difference by vowel production shifts (language change) over time • Northern Cities Shift (play Chicago sample - 3mins) O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M., Rees-Miller, J. (2010). Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction (6th edition)

18. Based on lexical variation: O’Grady, et al., 2010

19. Linguistic variation and change • The Southern Shift (Play Arkansas 2mins; play Eng 3mins; O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M., Rees-Miller, J. (2010). Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction (6th edition)

20. Based on lexical variation: O’Grady, et al., 2010

21. Linguistic variation and change • The California/Canada Shift (Play Cali - 1:45; Ontario 2:15) O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M., Rees-Miller, J. (2010). Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction (6th edition)

22. ? Based on lexical variation: O’Grady, et al., 2010

23. California different from Canada – Is Seattle/Portland different from Vancouver BC?

24. Linguistic variation and change – cot vs. caught • From Linguistic Atlas of N American English

25. Cot/Caught Merger ‘cot’ ‘caught’ Melissa, 28

26. Cot/Caught Merger ‘off’ Dorothy, 89

27. The Fronting of /ow/

28. The Fronting of /ow/ in Pdx Sabrina, 28 Daisy, 56 Jan, 53 Jan, 53 Stacy, 14 ??? Kenneth, 53 Kenneth, 53

29. The Canadian Shift

30. The Canadian Shift Robbie, 14 short-o F2 < 1275 Hz. short-e F1 > 650 Hz. short-a F2 < 1750 Hz. Melissa, 28

31. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics • Acoustic analysis of vowels • Whisper vowel corners to hear F2 • Thump throat to hear F1 • First formant (F1) represents vowel height (inversely) (dark band near bottom)- measure from middle of dark band vertically • Second formant (F2) represents vowel front/back with the higher the F2, the fronter the vowel (2nd dark band) – measure from middle of dark band • Sound spectrograph - an instrument that translates a sound into a visual representation - called a spectrogram. • Waveforms and spectrograms - see Praat for vowel measurement and representation

32. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics Acoustic analysis of vowels

33. Acoustic properties of vowels (from Mike Ward, 2003, master’s thesis at PSU)

34. Acoustic properties of vowels (from Mike Ward, 2003, master’s thesis at PSU)

35. Chapter 8 – Acoustic Phonetics Acoustic analysis of vowels – from Plotnik

36. Different Vowel Systems - Philadelphia C = syllable closed by Cons; F = free – vowel final; V = closed by voiced Cons or final; 0 = closed by voiceless Cons

37. Different Vowel Systems – Philly Bonnie C = syllable closed by Cons; F = free – vowel final; V = closed by voiced Cons or final; 0 = closed by voiceless Cons

38. Different Vowel Systems - Portland C = syllable closed by Cons; F = free – vowel final; V = closed by voiced Cons or final; 0 = closed by voiceless Cons

39. Different Vowel Systems - Portland C = syllable closed by Cons; F = free – vowel final; V = closed by voiced Cons or final; 0 = closed by voiceless Cons

40. Different Vowel Systems - Portland C = syllable closed by Cons; F = free – vowel final; V = closed by voiced Cons or final; 0 = closed by voiceless Cons

41. Chapter 9 - Vowels and vowel-like articulations • Cardinal vowels = not real language - the extreme positions of the vowel space - use IPA vowel symbols to represent • A language uses these symbols for the closest vowel like articulation in that language (English [i] is not cardinal [i] but cardinal [i] is closest) • Cardinal vowel (1) = [i] – any further front/high would be (voiced palatal fricative) • Cardinal vowel (5) = - any further lower/back would be (voiced pharyngeal fric) • Vowel quality in different languages and varieties of the same language differ - not always phonetically accurate

42. Chapter 9 - Vowels and vowel-like articulations • Cardinal vowels pretend equal distance between each vowel, but the front vowels have much further space from high to low than the back vowels (See Figure 9.3, p. 215)

43. Chapter 9 - Vowels and vowel-like articulations • Tongue height not really valid – there is an auditory quality that is more appropriately captured by “vowel height” and can be measured acoustically (F1, F2, etc).

44. Chapter 9 - Vowels and vowel-like articulations • Secondary cardinal vowels are identical to primary, but have opposite lip rounding (plus a couple extra) See Figure 9.5, p. 217

45. Chapter 9 Acoustic analysis of vowels – from Plotnik – Portland speaker (contrast with Figures 9.6-9.8, pp 219-220) C = syllable closed by Cons; F = free – vowel final; V = closed by voiced Cons or final; 0 = closed by voiceless Cons

46. Chapter 9 - Vowels and vowel-like articulations • Vowels - vowel space broken down even more than in English

47. Q a Chapter 9 - Vowels and vowel-like articulations Vowel Chart Modified HIGH MID LOW

48. Chapter 9 - Vowels and vowel-like articulations • Summary of vowel quality (see Table 9.2, p. 226) • Height • Backness • Rhotaciziation • Rounding • ATR • Naasalization

49. Chapter 9 - Vowels and vowel-like articulations • Advanced tongue root = ATR - pharyngeal constriction • Not the same as tense/lax but kinda sorta • [ e2 ] = retracted tongue root (-ATR) • [ e1 ] = advanced tongue root (+ATR)

50. Chapter 9 - Vowels and vowel-like articulations • Rhotacized vowels - different ways to produce r-coloring (shown in acoustic signal by lowering of F3) • Nasalization - Vowels are nasalized = air is allowed to escape the nasal passage AS WELL AS the oral passage • Approximants can also be nasalized • Vowel quality - Height, backness, rounding, rhotacization, ATR, nasalization