John Maidment

Introducing Phonetic Science: Manner of articulation

CHAPTER OUTLINE In this chapter you will learn: how the articulators may constrict the airstream in different ways for the production of consonant sounds; how sounds may be classified according to manner of articulation; how sounds may be classed as obstruent or sonorant; how manners of articulation are used in the worlds languages. KEY TERMS Affricate Approximant Degree of stricture Flap Fricative Lateral Manner of articulation Median Nasal Obstruent Plosive Sonorant Stop Tap Trill Introduction We have now seen that consonant sounds may differ in voicing and in place of articulation. The final basic distinction between consonants is known as manner of articulation and that is the subject of this chapter. A manner of articulation label, such as ‘plosive’ or ‘fricative’, refers to the way in which the airstream used for a speech sound is modified by the primary and secondary articulators. Is the airstream completely blocked? Can the air escape through the nasal cavity? Does the air pressure inside the vocal tract rise? These are the sorts of questions we will be investigating below. Once we have learnt to apply manner labels correctly we shall be in a position to give a three-term label to a consonant, specifying its Voice, Place, Manner, usually abbreviated VPM. VPM labels are useful shorthand for identifying most consonants of the worlds languages, although they are not the complete story by any means.

Introducing Phonetic Science: Introduction to speech

CHAPTER OUTLINE In this chapter you will learn about: the basic distinction between spoken and written language; the ways in which languages of the world are written; the units from which speech is composed: syllables, vowels and consonants; phonetic symbols as a means of representing speech; speech considered as an acoustic signal; the similarities and differences in the speech sounds used in languages of the world. KEY TERMS Amplitude Consonant International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Loudness Phonetic symbol Phonetic transcription Segment Syllable Vowel Waveform Writing system Introduction The way we usually represent and describe speech depends on a powerful idea that is already known by everyone who is literate in a language with an alphabetic writing system. Human listeners can hear speech as a sequence of sounds, and each sound can be represented by a written mark. In this chapter we look at how this idea can be the basis of a comprehensive system of phonetic symbols , suitable for representing reliably the sounds of any language – and at how this is different from the many existing writing systems for particular languages. Sounds and symbols Although there are estimated to be 5,000 to 8,000 languages in the world, each with its own particular selection of sounds, the total number of symbols required to represent all the sounds of these languages is not very large – it is somewhere around two to three hundred. This, of course, is because many sounds are found again and again in languages.

Introducing Phonetic Science: Contents

This accessible new textbook provides a clear and practical introduction to phonetics, the study of speech. Assuming no prior knowledge of the topic, it introduces students to the fundamental concepts in phonetic science, and equips them with the essential skills needed for recognising, describing and transcribing a range of speech sounds. Numerous graded exercises enable students to put these skills into practice, and the sounds introduced are clearly illustrated with examples from a variety of English accents and other languages. As well as looking at traditional articulatory description, the book introduces acoustic and other instrumental techniques for analysing speech, and covers topics such as speech and writing, the nature of transcription, hearing and speech perception, linguistic universals, and the basic concepts of phonology. Providing a solid foundation in phonetics, Introducing Phonetic Science will be invaluable to all students beginning courses in linguistics, speech sciences, language pathology and language therapy.

Introducing Phonetic Science: Frontmatter

This accessible new textbook provides a clear and practical introduction to phonetics, the study of speech. Assuming no prior knowledge of the topic, it introduces students to the fundamental concepts in phonetic science, and equips them with the essential skills needed for recognising, describing and transcribing a range of speech sounds. Numerous graded exercises enable students to put these skills into practice, and the sounds introduced are clearly illustrated with examples from a variety of English accents and other languages. As well as looking at traditional articulatory description, the book introduces acoustic and other instrumental techniques for analysing speech, and covers topics such as speech and writing, the nature of transcription, hearing and speech perception, linguistic universals, and the basic concepts of phonology. Providing a solid foundation in phonetics, Introducing Phonetic Science will be invaluable to all students beginning courses in linguistics, speech sciences, language pathology and language therapy.

Introducing Phonetic Science: Index

This accessible new textbook provides a clear and practical introduction to phonetics, the study of speech. Assuming no prior knowledge of the topic, it introduces students to the fundamental concepts in phonetic science, and equips them with the essential skills needed for recognising, describing and transcribing a range of speech sounds. Numerous graded exercises enable students to put these skills into practice, and the sounds introduced are clearly illustrated with examples from a variety of English accents and other languages. As well as looking at traditional articulatory description, the book introduces acoustic and other instrumental techniques for analysing speech, and covers topics such as speech and writing, the nature of transcription, hearing and speech perception, linguistic universals, and the basic concepts of phonology. Providing a solid foundation in phonetics, Introducing Phonetic Science will be invaluable to all students beginning courses in linguistics, speech sciences, language pathology and language therapy.

Introducing Phonetic Science: Basic phonological concepts

CHAPTER OUTLINE In this chapter you will learn: the way that sound differences are used to distinguish words; how similar, noncontrastive sounds can be grouped into phonemes; how sounds form patterns in a language; how to look for patterns in samples of phonetic data; about the grouping of sounds into syllables; differences between languages in permitted sound groupings; about widespread phonological processes in languages; about phonological features and phonological rules. KEY TERMS Allophone Alternation Assimilation Coda Contrast Distribution Elision Environment Feature Lenition Minimal pair Onset Phoneme Phonological process Rhyme Rule Contrast Imagine a language where all word-initial consonants are voiceless and all consonants elsewhere in a word are voiced. This would mean that in this language a word like [pidag] is possible, but one like [bitak] is impossible. The voicing of a consonant in this language is completely determined by some aspect of the environment of the consonant, in this case the position within a word. It is impossible for this language to use the phonetic distinction between voiced consonants and voiceless ones to distinguish one word from another, even though the language has voiced and voiceless pairs of consonants. We can say that in this language there is no voicing contrast or, equivalently, that voicing of consonants is not contrastive in this language. In English and in many other languages, voicing is contrastive for consonants. We can demonstrate this with a pair of words like fussy [fʌsi] and fuzzy [fʌzi] in English or a pair in French like choux [∫u] ‘cabbage’ and joue [зu] ‘play’.

Introducing Phonetic Science: Speech sounds and speech movements

CHAPTER OUTLINE In this chapter you will learn about: sounds involving more than one articulation; how sounds are influenced by neighbouring sounds; overlapping articulations; variation in segment duration; how to draw diagrams of estimated articulator movements. KEY TERMS Advanced Coarticulation Labialisation Palatalisation Palatography Parametric diagrams Pharyngealisation Pre-fortis clipping Pre-pausal lengthening Primary and secondary articulation Retracted velarisation Introduction In previous chapters we have gradually built up the descriptive framework that enables us to understand most of the ways in which speech sounds can differ from each other. For example, in the case of consonant sounds, we have looked at the airstream mechanism, at the various functions of the larynx, and at places and manners of articulation. There is still more to be done, though, because so far we have been assuming for the sake of simplicity that segments occur one-at-a-time in a sequence, and that within each segment there is one articulation at a time. Both of these assumptions need to be modified, because by themselves they lead to a very static view of what speech is like. The articulators and the places of articulation we have identified, for example, are nothing like as tidy and distinct in reality as our labels suggest. We have only to look inside our own mouths with a mirror, or at an X-ray picture of the vocal tract, to be reminded that the tongue is not divided neatly into the sections we have labelled blade, front and back, or that it is very hard to say where the alveolar ridge ends and the hard palate begins.