Linguistics For Everyone - Chapter 3 - Phonetics

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Phonetics

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Study of speech sounds

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Phoneme

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Unit of sound that makes a difference in the meaning of a word. Phonemes differ from language to language - there are about 40 in English. Phonemes are not the same as letters. They represent the sounds of language, not the letters of a writing system.

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/p/, /t/, /k/

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Sounds are represented enclosed in slashes to distinguish them from letters of the alphabet

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Consonant

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Sound characterized by closure or obstruction of the vocal tract. English has 24 consonant phonemes.

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Vowel

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Sound characterized by an open vocal tract, with no closure or obstruction. All vowels are voiced.

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Minimal pair

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Pair of words that differ only in one sound in the same position (E.g. pit/bit)

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Phonemic transcription

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Written recording of sounds using the distinctive phonemes of a language, resultng in a 1:1 correspondence between a sound and a symbol.

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Voicing

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Vibration of the vocal folds; controlling the vibration of the vocal chords as air passes through to make speech sounds

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Place of articulation

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The places in the oral cavity where airflow is modified to make speech sounds.

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Manner of articulation

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The way we move and position our lips, tongue and teeth to make speech sounds.

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Natural class

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Set of sounds that have certain phonetic features in common.

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Articulators

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The parts of the human body involved in speech production: tongue, teeth, lips, glottis, velum, vocal folds.

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Bilabial

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Sounds made with both lips. Bilabial sounds include: /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/, / /

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Labiodental

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Sounds made with the lower lip against the upper front teeth. Two sounds: /f/ and/v/

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Interdental

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Sounds made with the tip of the tongue between the front teeth. Two sounds: / / and / /.

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Alveolar

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Sounds made with the tongue tip at or near the alveolar ridge. Sounds are: /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/, /r/

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Palatal

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Sounds made with the tongue near the palate, the hard part of the roof of the mouth behind the alveolar ridge.

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Velar

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Sounds made with the tongue near the velum, the soft part of the rro of the mouth, behind the palate. Sounds are: /k/, /g/, /n/

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Glottal

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Sound made at the glottis. Only one sound: /h/

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Manner of articulation

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How the sound is made, especially with respect to airflow.

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Stops

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Sounds made by obstructing the airtream completely in the oral cavity. Sounds are: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/

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Fricatives

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Sounds made by forming a nearly complete stoppage of the airstream.

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Affricates

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Sounds made by briefly stopping the airstream complete and then releasing the articulators slightly so that friction is produced (sounds start as stops and finish as fricatives)

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Nasals

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Sounds made by lowering the velum and letting the airstream pass primarily through the nasal cavity.

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Glides

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Sounds made with only a slight closure of the articulators. If the vocal tract were any more open, the result would be a vowel.

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Liquids

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Sounds made when an obstruction is formed by the articulators but is not narrow enough to stop the airflow or to cause friction.

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Labials

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A natural class which includes bilabials and labiodentals

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Sonorants

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A natural class which includes nasals, liquids and glides.

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Obstruents

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A natural class which includes stops, affricates and fricatives.

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Diphthong

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A 2-part vowel sound consisting of a vowel and a glide in one syllable. The most common diphthongs in American English are /ay/ (wide, sky), /aw/ (loud, cow), and /oy/ (toy, foil)

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Syllabic consonants

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Sounds that are identified as consonants, but that may fill a vowel slot in a syllable when no vowel is present. Indicated by a small mark under the consonant. The liquids /l/ and /r/ and the nasals /m/ and /n/ can be syllabic consonants in English.

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Tone

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Variation in pith that makes a difference in the meaning of the words.

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Stress

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Relative emphasis given to the syllables in a word.

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Nasalization

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Production of a speech sound with the velum lowered so that most of the airflow passes through the nose rather than the mouth.

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Great Vowel Shift

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Beginning in the 14th C (Chaucer) and continuing to the 17th C (Shakespeare), the articulation point of the 7 tense vowels was raised. The 2 vowels at the top had nowhere to go and so became diphthongs. Profoundly affected English phonology.

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Northern Cities Chain Shift

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Series of changes in the vowels of English spoken in Chicago, Detroit, Rochester, Cleveland, Buffalo.

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Southern Vowel Shift

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Vowel shift among speakers in the SE United States.

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Aspiration

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Puff of air that accompanies the initial voiceless consonants in such words as 'pat' and 'tick'. Indicated by a superscript 'h' with the phoneme. E.g. /p/ becomes aspirated when it occurs at the beginning of a stressed syllable. Otherwise, it is unaspirated. The aspiration rule applies to the natural class of voiceless stops: /p/, /t/, /k/

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Allophone

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Predictable phonetic variant of a phoneme.