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Consonants and Vowels

Consonants and Vowels

LNGT0101 Announcements Introduction to • Average score on HW 2 is 45. Median is 46. Question on function vs. content words.

• Screening of The Writing Code:Which evenings in the week are best?

Lecture #13 Oct 22nd, 2014

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Follow‐up on questions from last class Agenda

• Parrots: Syrinx. • Presentation and discussion about English • You were at a party. You saw Mary talking to Tom spelling. Cruise. She did that before meeting another • famous actor. You just don’ remember which Finish our discussion of . famous actor that was. You want to ask Julia, who • Articulation of . was there with Mary, about the name of that actor. How do you do it? • Here’ how you CANNOT do it: *Which actor did Mary talk to Tom Cruise before meeting t ? Horrendous!!!!

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English spelling is kattastroffic Consonants vs. Vowels

• There are two major types of in human : consonants and vowels. How do they differ? • In terms of articulation, consonants are produced when the airflow is obstructed in the vocal tract, while vowels are produced with relative free flow of the airstream in the vocal tract. • Both consonants and vowels can described in terms of a number of individual articulatory features. • We start with consonants. But let’s look at the human vocal tract first.

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1 The vocal Articulation of consonants tract

• sounds can be characterized according to three main phonetic properties: a) , ) , and ) voicing.

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Places of articulation Places of articulation

• Labial, .., bilabial [p] and labiodental []. • Velar, e.g., [], [ɡ], and [], the last one is • Dental, e.g., French [] in dire. English has the final in king. interdental [T] as in thorn and [D] as in there. • Uvular consonants: These are produced by the back of the to the uvula, • Alveolar, e.g., [t], [s], [n], and [ ]. ® e.g., French [{] and []. • Alveopalatal, e.g., [S] as in shoe, [] as in • Pharyngeal consonants: These are produced vision, [tS] as in choose, and [dZ] as in jam. at the , e.g., Arabic [] and [÷]. • Palatal, e.g., [] in yes. • Glottal consonants: These are produced at the , e.g., [] in hill and [Ɂ] in uh-oh.

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Manner of articulation Stops, , and

• Stops, e.g., [b], [p], [t], [d], [k], [ɡ], and [/]. • sounds are also differentiated by the • When the air escapes through the nasal, way the airflow is affected as it travels from rather than the oral, cavity, nasal stops are the up and out of the mouth and nose. produced, e.g., [], [n], and [N]. This is referred to as the manner of • Fricatives, e.g. [f], [], [s], [z], [T], [D], [S], [Z], articulation for the sound. and [h]. • Affricates, e.g. [tS] as in church, and [dZ] as in jump.

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2 Fricatives and affricates Liquids (aka )

• Acoustically, fricatives and affricates can be • Liquids: In the production of these sounds, divided into two types based on their relative there is some obstruction of the airflow in loudness. The noisier ones are called stridents the mouth, but not enough to cause any real (aka as ): [s], [z], [S], [Z], [tS], and constriction or friction, e.g., [] and []. [dZ]), whereas the quieter ones are called ([T] • [l] is called a lateral sound, because the air and [D]) are nonstridents. escapes through the sides of the tongue.

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Liquids (aka Approximants) Glides (aka Semi‐vowels)

• There are several varieties of “r” in the world’s . The “r” could be a trill, as in Spanish • Glides, e.g., [j] as in yes and [] as in wood. perro (=‘dog’), in which case it is transcribed as [r]. • The “r” could also be a retroflex, as the case is in • Some English speakers produce a voiceless American and , and is transcribed as glide at the beginning of words like when, [®] in the IPA. which, and where. It is transcribed as [„]. • Another sound commonly identified with “r” is the Wheat thins flap, which occurs in North in words like writer and rider. This sound is transcribed as [R].

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Voicing Describing consonants

• Consonant sounds are also divided into two types, voiced and voiceless, based on whether • A consonant can thus be described in terms of they are produced with or without vibration of . these three parameters: place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing. [b], [d], and [z] are voiced. • [p], [t], and [s] are voiceless. For example, [p] is a bilabial, voiceless stop, whereas [z] is an alveolar, voiced . • Now, describe [f], [m], and [w].

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3 http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/# Aspiration of voiceless stops in English

• Visit this link for the articulation of the • In English, the voiceless stops are produced consonants of American English (German and with an extra puff of air when occurring Spanish are also available, so have a look at initially. Compare your pronunciation of the these as well). [p], [t], and [k] sounds in both words in each • Notice that there are some differences of the following pair: between this link and your textbook pan vs. span concerning phonetic terms and symbols, but it tar vs. star is a very useful link, particularly the animated cool vs. school diagrams.

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Aspiration of voiceless stops in English

• The voiceless stops in the first words are characterized as “aspirated” sounds, which distinguish them from the unaspirated Vowels voiceless stops that do not occur initially. • In , we indicate this difference in aspiration by superscripting the aspirated sound with [h], e.g., pit [phIt]; spit [spIt].

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Vowels Parameters for articulation

• Vowels are distinguished from consonants in • Therefore, to distinguish between different that the passage through which the air travels vowels, we rely on four other features: is never so narrow as to obstruct the free flow (a) Tongue height: High, Mid, and Low of the airstream. (b) Which part of the tongue is involved: • It’s hard, however, to characterize vowels Front, Central, and Back according to the same features that we have used in characterizing consonants. Why? (c) Lip rounding: Rounded and Unrounded (d) or laxness of the vocal tract: Tense and Lax

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4 American English Vowel Chart A note on symbol discrepancy

• Take notice: The [a] in your textbook is the [ɑ] on the IPA chart. So, don’t get confused.

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Diphthongs of vowels

• Two vowels may combine together to form a . Examples of in American • Vowels can be either oral or nasal. English are given below: • In English, nasal vowels typically occur before [] as in die [] as in now nasal consonants. Compare, for example, the [ ] as in toy çI vowel in bat and ban. In transcription, the • Note that the vowels in bait and boat are also typically pronounced as diphthongs, and are [~] is placed over the vowel to therefore frequently transcribed as [eI] and [oU], indicate that it is a nasalized vowel, as in ban respectively. æ ũ • In many books, the second vowel of an English [b ̃ n] and boom [b m]. diphthong is frequently represented as a glide: [ej] or [ow].

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http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/# Next class agenda

• Now visit this link again for the articulation of • Transcription: Play around on this website: the vowels of American English (German and • Link to an interactive chart to insert IPA symbols. Spanish are also available if you like to check out these). • Notice that there may be some slight • structure. Read the section on differences between this link and your prosodic features in Chapter 6, pp. 252‐255. textbook concerning phonetic symbols, but it is a very useful link, particularly the animated • . Read Chapter 6, pp. 224‐235 diagrams.

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