Chapter 2 Speech Sounds
2.1 Speech production and perception 2.2 Speech organs
2.3 Segments, divergences, and phonetic transcription 2.3.1 Segments and divergences 2.3.2 Phonetic transcription 2.4 Consonants
2.4.1 Consonants and vowels 2.4.2 Consonants
2.4.3 Manners of articulation 2.4.4 Places of articulation
2.4.5 The consonants of English 2.5 Vowels
2.5.1 The criteria of vowel description 2.5.2 The theory of cardinal vowels 2.5.3 Vowel glides
2.5.4 The vowels of RP
2.6 Coarticulation and phonetic transcription 2.6.1 Coarticulation
2.6.2 Broad and narrow transcriptions 2.7 Phonological analysis 2.8 Phonemes and allophones 2.8.1 Minimal pairs
2.8.2 The phoneme theory 2.8.3 Allophones
2.9 Phonological processes 2.9.1 Assimilation
2.9.2 Phonological processes and phonological rules 2.9.3 Rule ordering
2.10 Distinctive features 2.11 Syllables
2.11.1 The syllable structure 2.11.2 Sonority scale
2.11.3 Syllabification and the maximal onset principle 2.12 Stress
2.1 Speech production and perception
Language is first and foremost a “system of vocal symbols”. Sound is prior to writing.
Phonetics: the study of sounds
Phonology: the study of sound patterns.
Speech Speech Production Perception (Speaker A) (Speech B)
? ARTICULATORY PHONETICS: the study of the production of speech sounds
? ACOUSTIC PHNETICS: the study of physical properties of sounds produced in speech ? AUDITORY PHONETIC: the study of perception of speech sounds
2.2 Speech organs
SPEECH ORGANS (or VOCAL ORGANS): parts of the human body involved in the
production of speech Lung
Trachea(or windpipe) Throat: pharynx, larynx Nose
Mouth: tongue, parts of palate VOCAL TRACT
AIRSTREAM: source of energy Pulmonic & Non-pulmonic
LARYNX
Vocal folds, and ventricular folds Positions of vocal folds ? Apart: [p, s, t]
? Close together: [b, z, d] ? Totally together: glottal stop PHARYNX MOUTH
Upper lip, upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum), uvula Lower lip, lower teeth, tongue, mandible(lower jaw 下腭) TONGUE:
tip, blade, front, back, root
2.3 Segments, divergences, and phonetic transcription 2.3.1 Segments and divergences SEGMENT
E.g. above (“e” is silent)
QUESTION: Why divergence between sound and symbol?
2.3.2 Phonetic transcription
Questions: Why do we need phonetic transcription? International Phonetic Alphabet
2.4 Consonants
2.4.1 Consonants and vowels
CONSONATNS are produced by constricting or obstructing the vocal tract at some place to divert,
impede, or completely shut off the flow or air in the oral cavity.
VOWELS are produced without such obstruction so no turbulence or a total stopping of the air
can be perceived.
SEMI-VOWEL/SEMI-CONSONATNT
2.4.2 Consonants
NOTE: In the production of consonants at least two articulators are involved. E.g. bad (a) MANNERS OF ARTICULATION
(b) PLACES OF ARTICULATION
2.4.3 Manners of articulation (1) STOP/POSITIVE
NASAL STOP (or NASAL): [m, n, ] ORAL STOP (or STOP): e.g. [p, b, t, d]
(2) FRICATIVE: [f, v, h]
(3) (MEDIAN) APPROXIMANT
(4) LATERAL (APPROXIMANT): [l]
(5) Others
TRILL (or ROLL) TAP(or FLAP) AFFRICATIVE
E.g. “ch-” in “church”
2.4.4 Places of articulation (1) BILABIAL
(2) LABIODENTAL
(3) DENTAL: made by the tongue tip or blade and the upper front teeth, e.g. [?, ?]. (Only fricative are strict dental) INTERDENTAL
(4) ALVEOLAR: made with the tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge (5) POSTALVEOLAR
(6) RETROFLEX: “r” of red. (7) PALATAL
(8) VERLAR: [k, g] in cat and get
(9) UVULAR: rural Northern accent, “r” in try (10) PHARYNGEAL (11) GLOTTAL
2.4.5 The consonants of English
Received pronunciation (RP) (or BBC English, Oxford English) [p] voiceless bilabial stop [b] voiced bilabial stop
[s] voiceless alveolar fricative
2.5 Vowels
2.5.1 The criteria of vowel description C.f. Vowels vs. consonants
Obstruction of airstream
Criteria of vowels:
? The part of the tongue that is raised — front, center, or back
? The extent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the palate — high, mid (mid-high and
mid-low), low
? The kind of opening made at the lips — various degrees of lip rounding or spreading
? The position of the soft palate — raised for oral vowels, and lowered for nasalized vowels
2.5.2 The theory of cardinal vowels Cardinal vowels (基本元音) 1844 A. J. Ellis
1867 A. M. Bell, Visible Speech
1917 Daniel Jones, Outline of English Phonetics (1962) CARDIANL VOWELS Cardinal vowel diagram
SCHWA (中性元音): the tongue position for the neutral vowel [?] is neither high nor low and
neither front nor back
2.5.3 Vowel glides
PURE VOWELS (or MONOPHTHONGS) VOWEL GLIDES ? Diphthongs ? Triphthongs
2.5.4 The vowels of RP
General agreement on vowels despite minute difference Unsettled issues:
? Speaker’s accent and personal preference. E.g. [?] [е] in bed and peg; [aI] or [ΛI]
? The length of a particular vowel may vary according to the context in which they occur.
E.g. vowel before a voiced consonant ﹥ vowel before a voiceless consonant bead ﹥ beat ≈ bid Tense vowel & Lax vowel
2.6 Coarticulation and phonetic transcription 2.6.1 Coarticulation
NOTE: Sounds continually show the influence of their neighbors. COARTICULATION
Anticipatory coarticulation: lamp Perseverative coarticulation: map
2.6.2 Broad and narrow transcriptions DIACRITICS
E.g. Nasalization:[a] in lamb has some quality of the following nasal is labeled as [?] BROAD TRANSCRIPTIONS NARROW TRANSCRIPTIONS
2.7 Phonological analysis C.f. phonetics & phonology