This document is written in Unicode. If you do not see the phonetic symbols properly, make sure your browser and system support Unicode.
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds.
In LING 101 we will concentrate only on Articulatory Phonetics.
We need a system for recording speech sounds accurately. Why not just use English spelling?
English spelling is very inconsistent:
The International Phonetics Association designed an alphabet in which each letter indicates one unique sound. It is designed to be able to transcribe the speech sounds of any human language.
English consonants cannot have all values of all parameters. Nasals, liquids and some glides are usually voiced.
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Interdental | Alveolar | Lateral | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
| Stop | voiceless voiced nasal |
p b m |
t d n |
k g ŋ |
|||||
| Fricative | voiceless voiced |
f v |
θ ð |
s z |
ʃ ʒ |
||||
| Affricate | voiceless voiced |
č ǰ |
|||||||
| Approximant | voiceless voiced |
ʍ w |
r |
l |
j |
h |
Each consonant in the table can be uniquely described by answering the four questions. You should be able to go back and forth with these descriptions. For example:
The larynx is located in the throat. It is an intricate combination of muscles and cartilage. Although it is capable of a number of different movements we will only consider two.
Voiceless: The vocal folds are pulled apart, so that they do not vibrate.
Voiced: The vocal folds are pressed lightly together, so that they do vibrate.
You can feel whether or not your vocal folds are vibrating by placing your hand against your throat while making a speech sound. Do not whisper, though, whispered sounds are all voiceless.
The soft palate (or velum) at the back of the throat can be moved like a valve to open or close the opening to the nose. It is normally open when breathing, but is closed for many speech sounds.
Oral: The velum is closed.
Nasal: The velum is open
The mouth can be narrowed in many places by the lips and tongue. The place of a speech sound describes where the mouth is narrowest.
Bilabial: The lips are moved together.
Labiodental: The bottom lip is moved toward the upper teeth.
Interdental: The tongue is moved toward the upper teeth.
Alveolar: The tip of the tongue is moved toward the the alveolar ridge (the ridge behind the upper teeth).
Lateral: As for alveolar, but with the sides of the tongue down, so that air flows around the tongue.
Palatal: The blade of the tongue is moved toward the hard palate.
Velar: The body of the tongue is moved toward the soft palate.
Glottal: The vocal folds are moved together.
The degree of narrowing of the mouth can vary. We recognize the following possibilities:
Stop: The mouth is closed completely.
Fricative: The mouth is nearly closed, so that the air flows turbulently through the channel.
Affricate: A stop followed immediately by a fricative.
Approximant: The mouth is fairly open.
| Front | Central | Back | |||
| Unrounded | Unrounded | Unrounded | Rounded | ||
| High | tense lax |
i ɪ |
u ʊ |
||
| Mid | tense lax |
e ɛ |
ʌ |
o ɔ |
|
| Low | lax | æ | ɑ |
As for consonants, the vowels can be described by answering the four questions for vowels. For example:
The body of the tongue can be moved up or down within the mouth.
High: The body of the tongue is moved up.
Mid: The resting position for the body of the tongue.
Low: The body of the tongue is moved down.
The body of the tongue can also be moved toward the front or back of the mouth.
Front: The body of the tongue is moved forward.
Central: The resting position for the body of the tongue.
Back: The body of the tongue is moved backward.
The lips can be moved independently of the tongue. This is not exploited very much in English; German and French have a wider array of rounded vowels.
Unrounded: The lips are not rounded. The resting position for the lips.
Rounded: The lips are rounded.
This is the most difficult vowel feature to feel, due to the lack of appropriate nerves in the root of the tongue and throat. The tongue root can be advanced, making the throat wider. It can also be retracted, narrowing the throat, this is used in Arabic for instance, and in the production of [r] and [ɑ] for many speakers of English.
ATR/tense: The tongue root is advanced. This sounds very similar to a small increase in vowel height.
Plain/lax: The resting position for the tongue root.
Each of the vowel features is defined as a deflection from the resting position of the lips and tongue.
The vowels [ʌ] and [ə] share the resting position features: mid, central, unrounded and plain. They are distinguished in English transriptions by stress. [ʌ] is used for stressed vowels, as in [bʌt] "but". [ə] is used for unstressed vowels, as in [bətwin] "between".
The empty cells in the table represent possible speech sounds that are not used in English. For example, it is possible to make a voiceless bilabial oral fricative and a high back unrounded vowel, as in the name of the Japanese mountain [ɸɯǰi].
The features for consonants and vowels can be combined also, to yield sounds such as nasalized vowels or fronted consonants. This often arises from co-articulation between vowels and consonants, and we will discuss such rules of pronunciation in the next section of the course.