Introduction to General Linguistics - & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert

Universität Tübingen Seminar für Sprachwissenschaft

Phonetics k Phonology

(Hall, Kapitel 1.1 – 1.5; Clark & Yallop, Chapter 2 & 3, 4.1; Ladefoged, Chapter 9)

Christian Ebert [email protected] Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert

vowels are produced without forming any particular obstruction in the oral tract they hence are closer to clean /tones than to noises (as are) instead of building a constriction, the shape of the resonating cavities (in particular: the oral cavity) and hence the resulting 's character is changed the is the most important organ in shaping the oral cavity further importance have the , which can be rounded or unrounded hence vowels must be classified differently from consonants Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels

to describe the position of the tongue within the oral cavity one takes the highest point of the dorsum as a point of reference

the tongue's position can hence be described along two dimensions

the horizontal dimension tells us whether the reference point is in the front or in the back of the oral cavity

the vertical dimension (tongue height) tells us whether the reference point is high or in the low Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels cardinal vowels

the extreme positions of the tongue are those where further movement would lead to a constriction (ð high consonantal sound) low these positions are the reference points w.r.t. which all other vowels need to be front back described

aus: Karl-Heinz Wagner, Skript zur Phonetik und Phonologie Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels cardinal vowels

schematically the extreme positions yield the following diagram of the space (ger. Vokaltrapez)

hence the highest point of the tongue can be located somewhere within this space during vowel production the british phonetician Daniel Jones (1881-1967) had the idea to create an abstract set of vowels located within such a vowel space that could be regarded as reference points the abstract set of vowels are called cardinal vowels Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels cardinal vowels the eight primary cardinal vowels are defined by introducing four additional positions, two at the back and two at the front, at two new height levels equidistant from the extreme points front central back high (close)

mid-high (half-close)

mid-low (half-open)

low (open) depending on the tongue position the corresponding vowel is called a front/central/back and high (closed)/mid-high (half-closed)/ mid-low (half-closed)/low (open) vowel Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels cardinal vowels the corresponding IPA symbols are i u as follows the vowels [u o O] are e o rounded (i.e. they are produced E O with rounded lips) a A the vowels [i e E a A] are unrounded (i.e. they are produced with unrounded lips) beat ger. gut the following sounds from English and German ger. See ger. Lot come close to the bet hawk cardinal vowels ger. Ball hard Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels cardinal vowels the missing counterparts of the i y M u primary cardinal vowels are the secondary cardinal vowels e 2 7 o E 9 V O this exhausts all possible combinations of four heights, two horizontalpositions a & A Q and two ways of rounding for instance, [M] is a unrounded high (closed) , while [9] is a rounded mid-low (half-closed) examples: Englisch: [V] luck [Q] rod German: [y:] müde [2:] Möbel [9] möchte Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels further vowels four tongue height levels are not enough to adequately describe the vowel sounds of the worlds therefore, three further levels have been introduced for the following vowels: [I Y U] (ger. mit, müssen, muss) between high and mid-high [I Y] are front vowels, [U] is a back vowel, [I] is a rounded vowel, [Y U] are unrounded vowels [{ 6] (man, ger. Mutter [mUt6]) between low and mid-low [{] is a unrounded front vowel, [6] a unrounded [@] (the so-called ) is an unrounded central vowel between mid-high and mid-low Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels further vowels the schwa [@] is produced with the tongue in completely neutral position (hence the other German name Neutralvokal) occurs in German and English as follows:

Bitte, lieben, geheim about, China, simpler [BE]

in German the sound [6] is called vokalisiertes 'R' since it constitutes and alternative way of articulating a consonantal rhotic, e.g. at the end of a syllable after a vowel [6] [R] weiter – weitere Tor – Tore leer – leeren Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels further vowels the completed looks as follows front central back closed i y M u high I Y U half-closed (close-mid) e 2 7 o mid-high @ half-open E 9 V O mid-low (open-mid) { 6 open a & A Q low at each position marked with there is a further pair of vowels (see IPA table for details). Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels IPA table Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels

reminder: the cardinal vowels and the vowels in the IPA diagram are abstract reference points not derived from a particular for comparison: the chart on the right shows some English vowels as articulated in the British Received Pronunciation

from Clark & Yallop (1995), p. 28 Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels advanced tongue root

the two dimensions of tongue position + the aspect of lip rounding is not enough to describe all vowel sounds of the world's languages

in Akan (spoken in Ghana) for instance, vowels differ in the size of the

if the root of the tongue is drawn forward and the is lowered, the vowel is called an advanced tongue root (or +ATR) vowel, otherwise it is a -ATR vowel

the IPA provides two diacritical symbols to deal with ±ATR:  advanced tongue root  retracted tongue root Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels advanced tongue root 3 2 2

. p

, ) 6 0 0 2 (

d e g o f e d a L

m o r f Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels nasal vowels

all vowels that have so far been looked at are articulated with the velum raised (i.e. the passage to the nasal cavity closed)

vowels might also be nasalized, i.e. produced with a lowered velum yielding nasal vowels

is indicated by the diacritical symbol ~ in the IPA

there are quite some nasal vowels in French that can also be found in the German loanwords

[E~] bassin (Bassin) [O~] balcon (Balkon) [9~] parfum (Parfüm)

Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels

reminder: semivowels (or glides) are consonantal sounds (more precisely: ) with vocalic quality

vowels (usually) form the peak of a syllable (more on this in the session on the phonology of the syllable); they are syllabic

seg.ment

consonants (usually) don't form the peak of a syllable, but rather the periphery; they are non-syllabic

(exceptions are e.g. [l] and [n] as in shuttle [S.tl] the syllabic status of a is indicated by the diacritic  ) Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels semivowels semivowels can hence be regarded as non-syllabic vocalic sounds since they also do not serve as peak of syllables syllabic non-syllabic

ls e ls w e o w v vocalic sounds o i- v m se

ts n a n so non-vocalic sounds n co some semivowels and their corresponding vowels: [j] (as in you; [i]) [w] (as in water; [u]) [] (as in french lui; [y]) [] (in Japanese; []) Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels length

vowels also differ w.r.t. their length

long vowels are marked by a diacritical : in the IPA

[i:] ihn – vital [i] [e:] Mehl – Mechanik [e] [o:] oben – Moral [o] [E:] Mädchen – Bett [E] [a:] Kahn – kann [a]

in German some vowels only occur in their short form

[I] Pille [Y] Küsse [U] uns [O] normal Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels length and /laxness

there is a correspondence between the length of a vowel and its tenseness/laxness

a vowel is called tense if the muscles of the tongue are relatively contracted during articulation, otherwise it's called lax

the tense vowels thus include [i y e 2 u o], while the lax vowels comprise [I Y E 9 a U O @ 6]

across the languages of the world there seems to be a close relationship of the form tense ó long resp. lax ó short

this is only an observation that seems to hold in general and there are exceptions Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels length and tenseness/laxness in German, tense vowels are long in general

— f bieten — bitten [i:] [I] 2 3

. S

Hüte — Hütte [y:] — [Y] , e i g o l

Beet — Bett [e:] — [E] o n o h P Höhle — Hölle —

[2:] [9] e i d

n i spuken — spucken [u:] — [U] g n u r

Schoten — Schotten [o:] — [O] h ü f n i E

: s

in particular, stressed tense vowels are always long r e m a R

before the position bearing the main stress of the word, tense . H - . K

vowels may be short: s u a

e Idée — ideál [e:] — [e] l e i p s i

Physík — physikálisch [i:] — [i] e B Barón — Baronésse [o:] — [o] Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels length and tenseness/laxness

after the position bearing the main stress of the word also unstressed tense vowels can occur as long vowels

Álmosen [o:] Hérzog [o:]

in German all lax vowels are short, except [E:] und [a:]

Hähne — Henne [E:] — [E] stählen — stellen [E:] — [E] Bahn — Bann [a:] — [a]

if [a:] is analysed as [A:], this case is no longer exceptional since [A] is a tense vowel Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels

a is a sequence of two vowels pertaining to one syllable where articulation proceeds continuosly from one to the other

a single vowel sound is thus called monophthong

example for diphthongs are

Meise, Ei, Kaiser, Mais [aI] high, bite, buy Haus, tausend, Clown [aU] loud, about heute, neu, Läuse, Säule, Konvoi [OI] boy, noise „Ey, Mann, ey!“ [eI] laser, bait [I@] hear, feared, beer [OU] boat, dough [E@] fared, bare, bear Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Vowels diphthongs

sometimes diphthongs are notes as vowel + glide: [aI] à [aj] [aU] à [aw] [OI] à [Oj] the movement of a tongue from one vowel to the other in a diphthong can be depicted in the vowel diagram

the end position can vary [I@] considerably (between speakers, dialects, etc.) and is thus only indicated by an arrow [OI] depending on the direction of movement closing and centering diphthongs are distinguished [aI] [aU] Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert e l l e b a T - A P I

e i D Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation aspiration

for there is one further aspect of articulation concerning the exact timing of release of the closure and the onset example: articulation of German consists of the three segments [o:] (vowel, hence voiced), [p] (voiceless ), [a:] (vowel, hence voiced) the following modes of articulation are possible for the plosive:

(1) fully voiced: [o:] [b] [a:] closure articulator distance

vocal folds distance

vocal folds vibration Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation aspiration

(2) partially voiced: [o:] [b] [a:] closure articulator distance

vocal folds distance

vocal folds vibration

(3) voiceless unaspirated: [o:] [p] [a:] closure articulator distance

vocal folds distance

vocal folds vibration Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation aspiration

(4) aspiriated: [o:] [p] [a:] closure articulator distance

vocal folds distance

vocal folds vibration

if the voice onset happens after release of aspiration the closure, an aspirated sound can be heard until voice onset ð the plosive is aspiriated in German, aspirated plosives can be found before stressed vowels und word-finally; in Burmese also occur aspirated, e.g. [s] the diacritic  is used in the IPA to indicate aspiration Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation complex articulation

most consonants looked at so far could be characterized by one

however, there are cases of complex articulation, where two distinct places are involved. The following distinction can be made:

double articulation simultaneous occurence of two equally important constrictions at two distinct places

secondary articulation a further (secondary) constriction in addition to the primary constriction of the consonant Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation double articulation

double articulation is indicated by a sequence of two segements with an overarching þ in case there is no separate IPA symbol (cf. to ) plosives common in west-african Niger-Congo languages [kþp] [gþb] (voiceless/voiced velar-bilabial) [tþp] [dþb] (voiceless/voiced alvelar-bilabial) [µþp] (voiceless retroflex-bilabial)

the first sound can be heard on the formation of the closure, the second on its release Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation double articulation nasals very rare, occuring in some African languages

[Nþm] (voiced labial-velar)

fricatives occur more often than other types ð distinct IPA symbols

[W] corresponds to [­þx] (voiceless bilabial-velar)

[] corresponds to [Sþx] (voiceless postalveolar-velar)

[] and [¿] correspond to [sþC] and [zþ], respectively (voiceless/voiced alveolar-palatal) Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation double articulation

approximants semivowels (glides) can also be analysed as cases of double articulation

[H] corresponds to [Bþj ] (voiced bilabial-palatal)

(e.g. in French [Hit])

[w] corresponds to [Bþ¦] (voiced bilabial-velar) Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation secondary articulation

a secondary articulation is a gesture with a lesser degree of closure occuring at the same time as another, primary gesture

for secondary articulations the IPA provides diacritical symbols

four main types of secondary articulation

 palatalization  Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation secondary articulation

labialization rounding of the lips in addition to primary articulation

indicated by the diacritical ½ in the IPA

example: Bura (spoken in Nigeria) [k½aæraæ] („donkey“)

palatalization raising of the front of the tongue (the tongue blade) roughly to the position of the palatal [j]

indicated by the diacritical ' in the IPA

example: Russian [n'os] („he carried“) Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation secondary articulation

velarization raising of the back of the tongue to a [u] like tongue position

indicated by a diacritical ¼ in the IPA; for the velarized [l] the symbol [5] is used

examples: Irish [f¼i] („under“)

velarized „l“ („dark l“) in English

[fi:5] vs. [li:f] Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation secondary articulation

pharyngealization superimposition of the narrowing of the pharynx by retraction of tongue root towards pharynx wall, roughly to the position of an [A]

indicated by a diacritical  in the IPA

examples: Arabic: [dal:at] („she pointed“) [dÂalÂ:at] („sie stayed“)

for the pharyngalized „l“ the same symbol [5] as for the velarized variant is used Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation

if a secondary articulation is caused by the phonetic context we speak of coarticulation

coarticulation occurs because the organs need to make continuous transitions from one gesture to another such that there might be a gestural overlap

aspects of the subsequent gesture may be anticipated (ð anticipatory coarticulation) or aspects of the preceeding gesture might be preserved (ð perseverative coarticulation)

example: labialization: [l½ul½u] [g½l½yk]

Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation release types standardly a plosive's articulation ends with a release of the oral closure such that compressed air bursts out of the oral cavity however, this release might also happen differently or not at all no release a plosive is unreleased if the air is lowered to an extent that allows the release to happen without the charactersitic burst noise the diacritical ¬ indicates unreleased plosives in the IPA unreleased plosive occur word-finally or before other plosives

ma[p¬] roa[d¬] ru[b¬d] Hau[p¬t] Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation release types

nasal release before a homorganic nasal, the compressed air in the oral cavity of a plosive might escape through the nasal cavity as soon as the velum is lowered (and not by release of the oral closure)

the diacritical ¨ indicates nasal release in the IPA

examples:

ger. ger. be[t¨n=] sa[g¨Nê] to[p¨m]ost su[d¨n=] Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Further Aspects of Articulation release types

laterale release before a lateral, the compressed air in the oral cavity might escape via the lateral constriction

the diacritical  indicates lateral release in the IPA

examples:

ger. ger. ea[gl] ri[dl] Da[tl] pa[dln] Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Summary vowels vowels are the more -like sounds built without considerable obstruction of the oral cavity

the most important parameters for classification are tongue position and lip rounding

the cardinal vowels serve as reference points in the vowel space for a language specific characterisation of vowel sounds

further aspects of vowel articulation include nasalization (articulation with a lowered velum), ±ATR (articulation with an advanced tongue root), length and tenseness/laxness

a diphthong is a continuously articulated sequence of two vowels, regarded as one sound; it may be closing or centering

semivowels are the non-syllabic counterparts of certain vowels Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Summary further aspects of articulation an is aspirated if the voice onset of a subsequent voiced sound happens after the release of the closure/constriction in cases of complex articulations two distinct places of articulation are involved in the case of double articulation these are equally important, in the case of secondary articulation a gesture with a lesser degree of closure occurs at the same time as another, primary gesture the four main types of secondary articulation are labialization, palatalization, velarization und pharyngealization coarticulation is a special instance where secondary articulation is caused by the context in which a sound occurs for plosives four types of release can be distinguished: normal, no release, nasal release and lateral release Introduction to General Linguistics - Phonetics & Phonology winter term 2010/2011 Christian Ebert Exercise

(1) Visit the website of the Interactive IPA Chart http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/ipa-lab.htm and listen to the vowel sounds

(2) Note the IPA symbol for the following sounds: (a) the long closed rounded back vowel (b) all short lax unrounded front vowels (c) the long rounded front vowel at height between close and close-mid (d) the nasalized unrounded open-mid front vowel

(3) Give an exact description of the following sounds: (a) [W] (b) [DÂ] (c) [g] (d) [o:] (e) [O~] (f) [{]