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Linguistics Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology The Articulatory Process: Consonants: Manners of Articulation Principal Investigator Prof. Pramod Pandey Centre for Linguistics, SLL&CS, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067 Paper Coordinator Prof. Pramod Pandey Module ID & Name Lings_P2_M6 The Articulatory Process: Consonants: Manners of Articulation Content Writer Pramod Pandey Email id [email protected] Phone 011-26704226; 011-26741258, -9810979446 Contents: 6.1 Introduction: The Articulatory Process 6.2 Articulation of Consonants: Manners of articulation: Plosive; Nasal; Fricative; Affricate; Tap, Trill and Flap; Approximant 6.3 Summary 6.1 Introduction: The Articulatory Process The fourth among the speech processes is the Articulatory Process. The articulatory process determines the phonetic property of a speech sounds in terms of the modifications effected by the articulators when the air-stream passes through the vocal tract. The modifications are created in two ways- the degree of constriction and the place of constriction. In discussing the functional anatomy of speech organs in Module 5, we were briefly introduced to the places of constriction in the 1 production of consonants. We will return to this topic in the following module in greater detail. A consideration of the Articulatory Process of speech shows that we must distinguish between two types of sounds, vowels and consonants. Both types of sounds must be assumed to be on a cline of degrees of constriction, as shown below with examples from English. 6/1 Degree of Constriction Speech sounds in English 1. Complete closure [b] as in book, [ɡ] as in guide, [m] as in make 2. Close approximation [f] as in foot, s as in say 3. Partial closure [l] as in look 4. Intermittent closure [r] as in river pronounced in Scottish English or Indian English 5. Open approximation [w] as in wet, [j] as in yes 6. Opener transition [i] as in Italy, [æ] as in act, etc. Of the six degrees of constriction given above, vowels come last. They are produced by the air-stream passing through the articulators that are held so far apart that there is no apparent constriction caused in their production. As we will see in Module 8, however, it is not that the articulators are not involved in their production at all. Rather the involvement of the articulators is not easily amenable to physical verification in many cases. In the case of some vowels, such as [i] or [a], we can see the difference in the positions of the jaw in producing them, but not the subtle differences in the positions of the tongue. We can see the positions of the tongue in MRI videos or in x-ray pictures, as in the video below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTOhDqhCKQs 2 In terms of speech production, we have to be trained to be able to feel the differences in the positions of the tongue. The basic difference in the production of consonants and vowels thus lies in the presence versus absence of obstruction in the passage of air-stream in the vocal apparatus in the area above the larynx, called supralaryngeal area. The processes involving various degrees and modes of obstruction in the production of consonants created by the articulators in making a contact or holding it or releasing it or all of these together is generally known as the Manners of Articulation. Exercise Take a look at the IPA chart and find out how many Manners of Articulation are included in the chart for pulmonic consonants. Is Affricate also included in the chart? If not, where do you find it mentioned? What is the reason for keeping it separate from the manners of articulation for the pulmonic sounds? 6.2 Manners of Articulation The following are the main Manners of Articulation: Plosives Nasals Fricatives Affricates Trills/ Taps/ Flaps Laterals Approximants The above manners of articulation are based on articulatory terms. They can broadly be classified into two types- Obstruents and Sonorants. If you look at the IPA pulmonic consonant chart, you will notice that only plosives and fricatives are shown to have both voiceless and voiced counterparts in a given slot. All the other 3 manners are shown to be voiced. Plosives, fricatives and affricates constitute the class of consonants known as Obstruents. In their production, the air-pressure inside the point of contact and outside are different, as they are produced with considerable obstruction. In the production of sonorants, the air-pressure inside the mouth before the point of contact and after it is the same, as the air passes out freely and without any friction. What other speech sounds can be called sonorants? The answer is: vowels. Vowels and consonants are both sonorants. Although obstruents tend to be both voiceless and voiced, and sonorants tend to be generally voiced, it should not be assumed that sonorants are never voiced. Many sonorants are voiceless in some languages as we shall see below. Plosive In the production of plosives, there are three stages; Contact, Hold and Release. The articulators come into a contact of complete closure. They are held together in that position, with the air pressure building up in the oral cavity, so that when they are suddenly released, there is audible plosion. All plosives are produced with the velum raised. Familiar examples of plosives are /p b pʰ bʱ t̪ d̪ t̪ʰ d̪ʱ t d tʰ dʱ ʈ ɖ ʈʰ ɖʱ k ɡ kʰ ɡʱ q ɢ Ɂ/. Illustrations of the production of some of the plosives are given in Figures 6-1 and 6-2. Figure 6-1: Production of the plosives [t d] and [k ɡ] Source: http://www.indiana.edu/~hlw/PhonUnits/d.gif 4 Figure 6-2: Production of the retroflex plosives [ʈ ɖ] Source: http://www.indiana.edu/~hlw/PhonUnits/d.gif Of the three stages in the production of a plosive, the hold stage is obligatory for all plosives when they occur alone word-initially as in bit or between two vowels as in copy. When they occur at the end of words they are generally not released, as in stop or lab, or as the first consonant in a cluster of consonants, such as [ɡ] in rugby. The diacritic [˺ ] is used to indicate the lack of audible release. The words with unreleased plosives are transcribed thus: [stɔp˺], [læb˺], [rɐg˺bi]. When they occur as the second member in a cluster with the same place of articulation, as, for example, in mp, nd or ld in jumpy, aunty and builder, they do not have the first stage, namely, the contact stage, since the articulators are already in contact. There is no diacritic used for the lack of the contact phase in the production of a consonant. Plosives can also have different manners of release, mainly nasal release, e.g. [ dn] and lateral release, e.g. [dˡ]. All places up to the Velar CAN have plosives with four states of the glottis, also known as laryngeal types- voiceless unaspirated, voiced unaspirated, voiceless aspirated and voiced aspirated. (Notice the difference in the superscripts for voiceless and voiced aspirated sounds-[ ʰ] and [ ʱ]. They go with voiceless and voiced plosives, respectively, e.g. [pʰ bʱ].)The uvular plosive is found with only two laryngeal types in world languages- unaspirated voiceless and unaspirated voiced, while the Glottal has only one laryngeal type- voiceless unaspirated, also known as 5 the Glottal Stop [Ɂ]. The following figure illustrates the production of plosives of three laryngeal types- voiceless unaspirated, voiced unaspirated, voiceless aspirated. Figure 6/2: Different hold and release stages for voiceless unaspirated, voiced unaspirated and voiceless aspirated plosives Source: http://www.indiana.edu/~hlw/PhonUnits/d.gif Languages differ with regard to the laryngeal types of plosive in them. Indic languages are rich in the inventory of plosive sounds. Taking the bilabial plosives as example, they are illustrated below: Four laryngeal type [ p pʰ b bʱ]: Assamese, Bengali, Hindi and Marathi Three laryngeal type a. [ p pʰ b]: Angami, Ladakhi and Monpa b. [p b bʱ]: Didayi Two laryngeal type: a. [ p b]: Toda, Apatani and Bodo b. [ p pʰ]: Khampti, Tamang c. [b bʱ]: Rawang One laryngeal type [p]: Ao-Naga, Car-Nicobarese, Nancowry 6 The four laryngeal types are commonly found in Indo-Aryan languages, such as Assamese, Bengali, Hindi and Marathi, as well as in Austro-Asiatic languages, such as Mundari and Karia. A few Dravidian languages such as Malayalam and Kannada and Tibeto-Burman languages such as Meitei and Spiti too have the four laryngeal types. Some languages have three laryngeal type plosives, e.g. [ p pʰ b], such as the Tibeto- Burman languages, Angami, Ladakhi and Monpa, Some have two laryngeal types, as a majority of the Dravidian languages and many Tibeto-Burman languages, such as Apatani and Bodo. We also have examples of languages that have only one laryngeal type- voiceless unaspirated [p t k] etc., such as the T-B language Ao-Naga and the Austro-Asiatic languages Nancowry and Car-Nicobarese. Exercise: Find out the laryngeal types for plosives in your language, and give examples with glosses. Nasal A nasal is produced like a plosive with one difference- the velum is lowered to block the oral cavity, leading to sudden nasal release. The sound thus produced is called a nasal stop. Figure 6/3: Articulation of the nasal [m] Source: http://www.indiana.edu/~hlw/PhonUnits/d.gif 7 Nasal stops are usually voiced in most languages. That is the reason why the IPA chart lists only voiced nasals (on the right in a slot). In English, there are three nasal stops- [m n ŋ], as the final consonants in seem, seen and sing.

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