Place of Articulation

October 4, 2010

The Agenda• Homeworks are due.

• By Wednesday: backwards name exercise

• On Friday: more transcription practice (place of articulation)

Moving On• Hitherto: rapidly running through the vocal tract

• for English only

• From here on out:

• go back through the whole process in slow motion

• building up our understanding of how speech sounds are made in the process…

• for all the languages of the world.

• Goal: get from what we know about articulation to acoustics

• i.e., how speech sounds are transmitted through the air

Back to the Big Picture• Through combinatorics…

• languages can make a large number of distinctions out of a small number of articulatory dimensions

• However--consider the gaps in the IPA chart

• Not all combinations of gestures are possible

• Not all combinations of gestures are likely

• Why?

• The dimensions interact

• They’re based on physical realities

• i.e., they are not abstract

Another Perspective• Note: all speech sounds involve the flow of air.

• Articulation and acoustics are linked through aerodynamics

• = the study of the flow of air (in speech sounds)

• Aerodynamics can also limit the combinatorial possibilities of speech.

An Aerodynamic Exception• Stops

• Stop the flow of air through the articulatory tract

• How is this done?

• By making an airtight seal between articulators

• Are there some places in the articulatory tract where this is easier than others?

• Try the tongue experiment.

• An easy place: between the lips

• A difficult (impossible?) place: between the teeth and lips

IPA Chart:Stops

• You are already familiar with Bilabial, Alveolar, Velar

• = the 3 most common places of articulation for stops

• UPSID Database (in Maddieson’s Patterns of Sounds, 1984)

• surveys 317 languages

• 314 have bilabial stops (Wichita, Hupa, Aleut)

• 316 have alveolar/dental stops (Hawaiian)

• 315 have velar stops (Hupa, Kirghiz)

Bilabials-Alveolars-Velars

Palatals

Palatal Stops

• Peter says:

• 59 languages in UPSID database have palatal stops

• Palatals vs. Velars in Ngwo (spoken in Cameroon)

Also: Palatal Nasals

• symbol:

• not to be confused with the velar nasal:

• PL:

• Examples from Hungarian

Uvulars

Uvular Stops

• Peter says:

• 47 languages in UPSID database have uvular stops

• Uvular nasal:

• Peter, again:

• Japanese: ‘Japan’

Quechua Contrasts

• Quechua is spoken primarily in Bolivia and Peru.

Pharyngeals

Epiglottals, Glottals

• There are no pharyngeal stops.

• However, there is an epiglottal stop:

• Peter says:

• Check out Stefan’s epiglottis

• There are also glottal stops:

• As in English: “uh-oh”, “bottle”, “kitten”

• More on these later

Epiglottals in Agul

• Agul is spoken in Dagestan, near the Caspian Sea, in Russia

• Note: no nasal pharyngeals, epiglottals, or glottals.

• Why?

Back to the Coronals

Back to the Coronals• Two parameters to consider here:

• The active articulator

1. The tongue tip (apical)

2. The tongue blade (laminal)

• The passive articulator or target

1. The upper lip (linguo-labial)

2. Between the teeth (interdental)

3. The upper teeth (dental)

4. The alveolar ridge (alveolar)

5. Behind the alveolar ridge (post-alveolar)

Coronal Basics• Coronal stops are usually dental or alveolar.

• Dental stops are usually laminal

• produced with the blade of the tongue

• as is typical in, e.g., French, Spanish

• Alveolar stops are usually apical

• pronounced with the tip of the tongue

• as is typical in English

• Dental ~ Alveolar contrasts are rare, but they do exist.

Laminal Dentals

• check out the labio-dental flap file

Apical Alveolars

Yanyuwa Coronal Contrast

• Yanyuwa is spoken in the Northern Territory of Australia

• UPSID data--

Languages with the following number of stop place contrasts:

2 -- 2 3 -- 171 4 -- 103

5 -- 35 6 -- 6 <-- 5 of these languages are from Australia!

• Yanyuwa has 7 stop place contrasts!

Retroflex Stops• Retroflex stops are produced in the post-alveolar region, by curling the tip of the tongue back.

• Common in south Asian languages.

•Peter says:

Sindhi place contrasts

Malayalam Place Contrasts

Palatography +

Linguography

Yanyuwa, again

Two Places at Once• Labial-velar stops are not uncommon, especially in African languages.

• Examples from Idoma (spoken in Nigeria):

Linguolabials• Linguolabials are formed by touching the blade of the tongue to the upper lip.

• Examples from V’enen Taut, a language spoken in Vanuatu (the South Pacific):

Place Contrast Round-up• Most languages have three stop places:

• bilabial

• dental/alveolar

• velar

• If a language has a fourth stop place, it is usually

• palatal or uvular

• If a language has a fifth stop place, it is usually

• retroflex

• sometimes labial-velar