Spoken language phonetics:Consonant articulation and transcription

LING 200Spring 2006

Announcements, reminders

• Quiz re Ch. 1-2: question 9 dropped, results have been recalculated

• Homework #1 (transcription related) due tomorrow at the beginning of section

• Quiz re Ch. 6 currently open; closes Fri noon

• Turning Point Automated Response System: receiver here; book store receiving new shipment of clickers Friday

Phonetic transcription

1. ‘driftwood’2. ‘cane’3. ‘footwear’4. ‘grease’5. ‘straight up’6. ‘your collarbone’

a mystery language

Organization of today’s lecture

• Articulation of speech sounds• Transcription of speech sounds• Consonant inventories

Vocal tract structures relevant for speech

nasal cavity

oral cavity

pharynx

Vocal tract structures relevant for speech

•Upper articulator

•Lower articulator

Major structures

glottalglottislaryngeallarynxnasalnasal cavityvelarsoft palate = velumpalatalhard palatealveolaralveolar ridgedentalteethlabiallipsadjectival descriptorstructure (noun)

Place of articulation

upper articulator

lower articulator

some places of articulation

Some places of articulation in English

gillvelar(dorso-)dillalveolar(apico-)billlabial(bi-)

exampleupper articulator

lower articulator

Manner of articulation (degree of occlusion)

• How close are lower and upper articulator?–Relatively close, narrowed or

constricted (‘occluded’) airflow: consonants

–Relatively far apart, unconstrictedairflow: vowels

Manner of articulation

• Consonant subclasses–Stops: complete occlusion of airflow

–bill, dill, gill–Fricatives: air pressure build-up

behind occlusion; turbulent airflow–Liquids and glides: no pressure

build-up

English fricatives

Fricative: produced with turbulent airflow, pressure build-up behind occlusion

hinderlaryngeal

shinpalatal (palato-alveolar)

sinalveolar

thininterdental

finlabiodental

exampleplace of articulation

Affricates• = stop released into fricative of ‘same’

place of articulation

exampleplace

chinpalatal (palato-alveolar)

= Approximants: No pressure build-up, non-turbulent airflow

glides

liquids

whiplabial (labio-velar)yippalatalripretroflex*lipalveolarexampleplace

Liquids and glides

*Fromkin et al. sometimes refer to the place of this sound sometimes as alveolar, sometimes retroflex.

Place x manner of articulation

rim

retroflex

winyenLynnwinapprox-imant

himvisionzingthenVinniefricative

againdinbinstop

glottalvelarpalatalalveolarinter-dental

labio-dental

labial

State of the glottis (laryngeal setting)

The larynx

and vocal cords

rear of body

Clip from The Human Language vol. 3: The Human Language Evolves. “With and without words”

States of the glottis in English• voiced: vocal cords close, vibrate when air

passes through glottis• voiceless: vocal cords apart, do not vibrate• Some voiced and voiceless fricatives

thenthininter-dental

illusionAleutianpalatal

zipsipalveolar

vixenfoxlabio-dental

voicedvoiceless

Other consonant parameters:oral vs. nasal

Oral vs. nasal

• Velum raised– Air flows into oral cavity only

oral sound• Velum lowered (resting position)

– Air flows into oral and nasal cavitiesnasal sound

English oral vs. nasal stops

Stop: produced with complete occlusion in oral cavity

kingkin againvelarkintin dinalveolarKimpin binbilabial

nasal (stop)(oral) stop

Other consonant parameters: lateral

•What part of the tongue (lower articulator) approaches the upper articulator?

•Only tip: air flows around side(s) of tongue (‘lateral’)

•Air flows over all tongue surface (‘central’)

•English: lip (lateral) vs. rip (central)

Phonetic description

• Consonants–State of glottis voiceless–Place of articulation bilabial–Manner of articulation stop

Phonetic transcription

• Alphabetic and other symbols which abbreviate phonetic descriptions– E.g. voiceless bilabial stop = [p]

• Phonetic transcription in square brackets• Different systems of phonetic transcription

– International Phonetic Association– ‘Americanist’/U.S.

Phonetic transcription

• A more consistent way of representing sound than most writing systems–e.g. English <c>: [k] [kræbi] <crabby>

[s] [pnsl ] <pencil>• A universal framework for the

description of spoken languages• Many languages lack writing systems

Consonant chart for English

llateral

f v

labio-dental

jr*w ()approximant

nmnasals

h s z fricatives

t daffricates

k gt dp bstops

glottalvelarpalatalalveo-lar

inter-dental

bi-labial

Cf. Table 6.4

*American English [r] is actually retroflex.

Witsuwit’en• Athabaskan family• apx. 180 speakers

Bulkley R

iver Babine Lake

New Hazelton

Smithers

Telkwa

Takla Lake

Houston

BromanLake

Fran ois Lake

Ootsa LakeTahtsa Lake

Grassy PlainsMor

ice L

ake

Whitesail Lake

Fort Babine

Burns Lake

Babine River

Morice River

Kispiox River

Riv

er

Takla Landing

MoricetownSkeena

Bear Lake

Some Witsuwit’en

speakers

Mabel Forsythe

Lillian Morris, Peter John

Some Witsuwit’en soundsEjective stops and affricates: transcribed [C’]

How to make a (canonical) ejective:

0. Make a velar stop.

Make a glottal stop.

Ejective stops• [t’] = ejective alveolar stop

– [nt’q] ‘your collarbone’• Compare [t] = voiceless alveolar stop

– [ntq] ‘up’• Waveforms:

Time (s)0 0.939937

-0.3981

0.2634

0

Time (s)0 0.907

-0.3981

0.282

0

[n t ’ q] [n t q]

Time (s)0 0.898937

-0.3981

0.2645

0

Ejective affricates• [ts’] = ejective alveolar affricate

– [pts’q] ‘his little finger’• Compare [ts] = voiceless alveolar affricate

– [ptsq] ‘his outer ear’

Time (s)0 0.785312

-0.3981

0.3173

0

[p t s ’ q] [p t s q]

Uvular place of articulation•[q] = voiceless uvular stop

–[qis] ‘Chinook salmon’–[ntq] ‘up’

•[q’] = voiceless uvular ejective

–[q’] ‘backwards’•[] = voiceless uvular fricative

–[] ‘grease’

Lateral fricative and affricates

• [] = voiceless lateral fricative– [jl] ‘it’s white; goat’– [aqh] ‘dogs’

• [t] = voiceless lateral affricate– [stet] ‘it’s licking me’

• [t’] = ejective lateral affricate– [st’et] ‘he farted’

Witsuwit’en consonant chart

llateral

wjapproximants

nmnasals

lateral

hxwçs zfricatives

t th t’lateral

ts tsh ts’affricates

q qh q’kw kwh kw’c ch c’t th t’p p’stops

glottaluvularlabio-velarpalatalalveolarlabial

Summary• Describing consonants

–place of articulation–manner of articulation (degree of

occlusion)–state of glottis–nasal/oral– lateral/central

• Phonetic transcription• Consonant charts

Question

• Describe one of the consonants you know (in one of the languages you know) that is different from one of the consonants of English. Be sure to name the language.

Next time

• Vowels