Chapter 2Speech Sounds

Chapter 2 Speech SoundsPoints to learn in this chapterScopes of phonetics Speech organs Phonetic transcriptions Classification of English soundsUnderstanding of phonology Distinctiveness of speech sounds Suprasegmental featuresI. Phonetics & phonology Human beings are capable of making all kinds of sounds, but only some of these sounds have become units in the language system. Language is a “system” of vocal organs, and speech sounds had existed long before writing was invented, and even today in some parts of the world, there are still languages that have no writing systems. Therefore, the study of speech sounds and speech patterns is important. The study of speech sounds is called “phonetics”, and the study of sound patterns is called “phonology”. . What is phonetics?Phonetics is the science which studies the characteristics of the production of speech sounds, and provides methods for their description, classification and transcription. Production and perception of speech soundsTo communicate meaning of sounds, a whole chain of activities is involved:Meaning is encoded into sounds which are produced by the speaker by using the articulatory organs. (Production)Sounds are transmitted through the air to reach the hearer. (Transmmision)Sounds are perceived by the hearer through auditory processes, finally being translated back into meaning. (Perception)Then the study of speech sounds involves 3 aspects: how the sounds are produced, how they are transmitted and how they are perceived. They aren Articulatory Phonetics: production of sounds from the point of view of the speaker.n Acoustic Phonetics: physical properties of speech sounds as intensity, frequency and duration.n Auditory Phonetics: perception of sounds from the hearers point of view. Speech organs The articulatory apparatus of human beings are contained in three important areas: the pharyngeal cavitythe throat, the oral cavitythe mouth, and the nasal cavitythe nose. The air stream coming from the lungs may be modified in these cavities in various ways. Their functions are the following.n The pharyngeal cavity: air-stream container, vocal cords (voicing)n The nasal cavity: resonation cavityn The oral cavity: mainly modifying the air-stream, most flexible 发音器官:A. 咽喉 (pharynx cavity) 1. 气管 (windpipe) 2. 声带 (vocal cords)B. 口腔 (mouth cavity)4.舌分为四部分: a.舌端b.舌尖c.后舌d.舌根 the blade of the tongue/ the tip of the tongue/back of the tongue5.硬腭 (hard palate) 6.软腭 (soft palate) 7.齿龈 (alveolar ridge)8.齿 (上/下齿upper/lower teeth) 9.唇 (上/下唇upper/lower lip) 10. 小舌 (uvula)C. 鼻腔 (nasal cavity). Segments, divergences, and phonetic transcription1. Segments and divergences GHOTIfish?We all know that English spelling does not represent its pronunciation. “Above”, in this word, “e” letter is silent, and we recognize the four sound segments, not five.The reason for this divergence between sound and symbol is that there are more sounds than letters in English, and a letter must represent more than one sound. Besides, the changes of English and those borrowed words from other languages make things worse. The divergence between spelling and pronunciation becomes greater when we consider the many accents of English used by people from different regions. In addition, there are still many languages in the world that do not have a writing system of their own and we need to rely on a set of symbols to record the sounds they make too. Therefore, it is necessary to devise sets of symbols that can be used for transcribing sounds in language. 2. Phonetic transcription* International phonetic Alphabet (IPA) produced by the International Phonetic Association was first Proposed in 1886 by the Danish grammarian Otto Jespersen, and the first version of the IPA was published in 1888. Its main principles were that there should be a separate letter for each distinctive sound, and that the same symbol should be used for that sound in any language in which it appears. The latest version of the IPA was revised in 1993 and updated in 1996. There are 2 ways to transcribe speech sounds:Broad transcriptionthe transcription with letter symbols only. tenth /ten/Narrow transcriptionthe transcription with symbol letters together with the diacritics. tenth tnV. Classification of English sounds1. Consonants and vowels.Consonants are produced by constricting or obstructing the vocal tract at some place. The sounds in the production of which there is an obstruction of the air-stream at some point of the vocal tract are called consonants.Vowels: The sounds in the production of which no articulators come very close together and the air-stream passes through the vocal tract without obstruction are called vowels. That is, in producing a vowel, the air-stream coming from the lungs meets with no obstruction whatsoever.2. Classification of English consonants The obstruction in the production of consonants is caused by different vocal organs and of various degrees. The different vocal organs, or more exactly the different parts of the vocal organs, which are involved in the production of consonants are known as Places of Articulation; and the degrees of obstructions, complete, partial, or a mere narrowing are known as Manners of Articulation.(1) Places of articulationBilabial (双唇音） the obstruction of air-stream is caused by the two lips. /p/ /b/ /m/ /w/Labiodental（唇齿音） caused by the lower lip and the upper front teeth. /f/ /v/Dental(齿音、舌齿音) caused by the tongue tip or blade and the upper front teeth. / /Alveolar（齿龈音） by the tongue tip or blade and the alveolar bridge. /t/ /d/ /n/ /l/ /s/ /z/Retroflex(卷舌音、齿龈后部音) by the underside of the tongue-tip and the back of the alveolar ridge. In English, a retroflex /r/ sound is a typical of American speakers. /r/ Palato-alveolar(舌面齿龈音、颚齿龈音) by the tongue blade and the back of the alveolar ridge.Postal-alveolar (后齿龈音). / / / /Palatal(颚音、舌面中音) the front of tongue is raised toward the hard palate to obstruct the air-stream. /j/Velar(软颚音、后舌音) the back of the tongue is raised so that it touches the soft palate to obstruct the air-stream. /k/ /g/ /Glottal: (喉音、声门音) by the vocal cords. /h/a. Bilabial The articulators are the two lips. (We could say that the lower lip is the active articulator and the upper lip the passive articulator, though the upper lip usually moves too, at least a little.) English bilabial sounds include p, b, m, (w). b. Labio-dental The lower lip is the active articulator and the upper teeth are the passive articulator. English labio-dental sounds include f and v. c. Dental Dental sounds involve the upper teeth as the passive articulator. The active articulator may be either the tongue tip or (usually) the tongue blade - diacritic symbols can be used if it matters which. Extreme lamino-dental sounds are often called interdental. English interdental sounds include .d. Alveolar Alveolar sounds involve the alveolar ridge as the passive articulator. The active articulator may be either the tongue blade or (usually) the tongue tip - diacritic symbols can be used if it matters which. English alveolar sounds include t, d, n, s, z, l. e. Post-alveolar Post-alveolar sounds involve the area just behind the alveolar ridge as the passive articulator. The active articulator may be either the tongue tip or (usually) the tongue blade - diacritic symbols can be used if it matters which. English post-alveolars include , , , .f. Retroflex In retroflex sounds, the tongue tip is curled up and back. Retroflexes can be classed as apico-postalveolar, though not all apico-postalveolars need to be curled backward enough to count as retroflex r. g. Palatal The active articulator is the tongue body and the passive articulator is the hard palate. The English glide j is a palatal. h. Velar The active articulator is the tongue body and the passive articulator is the soft palate. English velars include k, g, and . Glottal This isnt strictly a place of articulation, but they had to put it in the chart somewhere. Glottal sounds are made in the larynx. For the glottal stop, the vocal cords close momentarily and cut off all airflow through the vocal tract. English uses the glottal stop in the interjection uh-uh (meaning no). In h, the vocal cords are open, but close enough together that air passing between them creates friction noise. (2) Manners of Articulation.Plosive/stop (爆破音) /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/ Fricative (摩擦音) /f/ /v/ / / / / /s/ /z/Affricate (破擦音) / / Nasal (鼻音) /m/ /n/ /Approximant (近似音)（两个发音器官之间的距离比摩擦音时这一些，正好避免摩擦）/r/ /l/ /w/ /j/. 在Dai Weidong书中，前两个又称Liquids (流音), 后两个又称Glides (音度).Lateral. (旁流音、舌侧音) /l/ Trill (颤音法、德、荷兰等有小舌颤音；俄语，西班牙语等有大舌颤音。) /R/ /P/Flap/Tap(闪音) /t/ /d/ /n/American English 中夹在两元音之间时。Waiter, ladder, tanners等. (3) Description of English consonantsThree parameters to identify a consonant: Place of articulation: place in the mouth where obstruction occurs Manners of articulation: ways in which articulation can be accomplished State of vocal cords: voiced VS. voiceless 3. Classification of English vowels(1). Cardinal vowels 基本元音 Cardinal vowels are a set of arbitrary reference points, so that a given vowel can be described in terms of its relation to them of the various Cardinal Vowels, the most satisfactory is the one devised by Daniel Jones. a. Cardinal vowels Sets of cardinal vowels produced by Daniel Jones in1956 With the cardinal vowels as the standard, the vowels in a particular language can be described with relative accuracy and ease. The English /i:/, for example, may be described as pronounced with the front of the tongue in a bit lower and more centralized position than the cardinal /i/. b. (2) Classification of English vowels North American vowel chartsc. The IPA chart uses the terms open and close instead of low and high (3) The description of vowelsThree factors are employed to distinguish between vowels.A. The height of tongue raising (high. Mid, low)高元音（High）：/i:/i/u:/u/ 中元音（Mid）：/e/ /:/ :/ 低元音（Low）： / /:/B. The position of the highest part of the tongue. (front, central, backs)前元音（front）：/i:/i/e/ 中元音（central）：/:/ 后元音（back）：/:/:/ /u:/u/C. The degree of lip rounding. (rounded, unrounded)圆唇音（Rounded）：/:/ /u:/u/ 不圆唇音（Unrounded）：/i:/i/ /e/ / /:/ /:/e. g. /i/-unrounded, high, front vowel. / /-rounded, low, back vowel.For a more precise classification of vowels in the language, there are 3 additional factors:A. Whether a vowel is oral or nasal. B. Whether a vowel is long or short. C. Whether a vowel is pure or gliding. As for the length of the sound, this distinction is corresponding to the distinction of tense and lax vowels. The long vowels are all tense vowels, for the larynx is in a state of tension in the lax vowels, for the larynx is quite relaxed when they are produced.Four criteria (parameters) of English vowel description:The height of tongue raising: high, middle, low The position of highest part of the tongue: front, central, backThe shape of the lips (the degree of lip-rounding ): rounded, unroundedThe length or tenseness of the vowel: tense vs. lax or long vs. short (4) Vowel glidesLanguages often make use of a distinction between vowels where the quality remains where there is an audible change of quality. The former are Known as Pure or Monophthong vowels, and the latter Vowel Glides or Diphthongs. A gliding vowel involves a change in quality within the one vowel. It glides from one element to a second element, and usually the first part is more prominent than the second.合口双元音 closing /ai/au/ei/i/u/ 集中双元音 centering /i/e/u/Questions for discussion1. What is a better way to teach English consonants?2. What is the significance of knowing the description? . Phonology/ Phonological analysis1. Phonology and phoneticsBoth phonology and phonetics are concerned with the same aspect of language the speech sounds. But while both are related to the study of sounds, they differ in their approach and focus. As we have seen, phonetics studies how speech sounds are made, transmitted and received; phonology, on the other hand, is the study of the sound systems of language. Phonetics is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages: how they are produced, how they differ from each other what phonetic features they possess, how they can be classified, etc. Phonology, on the other hand, aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form patterns and how these sounds are used to convey meaning in linguistic communication. Moreover, phonology studies the way in which speakers of a language systematically use a selection of these sounds in order to express meaning. A common methodology of phonology is to begin by analyzing an individual language, to determine its phonological structure, i.e. which sound units are used and how they pattern. Then the properties of different sound systems are compared so that hypotheses can be developed about the rules underlying the use of sounds in particular groups of languages, and ultimately in all languages.2. Distinctiveness in speech soundsphone, phoneme, and allophone A phone is a phonetic unit or segment. The speech sounds we hear and produce during linguistic communication are all phones, such as ph in port and p= in sport. But a phone does not necessarily distinguish meaning; some do and some dont in English. We should remind ourselves that what does not distinguish meaning in one language does in another language, for example, ph and p= in Chinese distinguish meaning.Conventionally, phones are placed within square brackets “ ” (phonetic transcription)Phones do not necessarily distinguish meaning. Usually phones of different phonemes distinguish meaning. A phoneme is a phonological unit which is of distinctive value. It is an abstract unit. It is not any particular sound, but rather it is represented or realized by a certain phone in a certain phonetic context. For example, when we pronounce the two words “peak” and “speak”, we are aware that the sound /p/ is produced slightly differently as ph andp=. But such a difference does not give rise to difference in meaning. Therefore, a sound which is capable of distinguishing one word or one shape of a word from another in a given language is a phoneme. Its a basic unit in phonological analysis. It is not any particular sound, but an abstract segment. In actual speech, a phoneme is realized phonetically as a certain phone. (the sound type in the mind) The phoneme is the smallest meaning-distinguishing unit. Phonemes are placed in slashes “/ / ” (phonemic transcription). E.g. Neither the sound p in pit nor the sound b in bit is a phoneme. They are phones; they are the phonetic realization of the phoneme /p/ and /b/. The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the allophones of that phoneme. For example, the phoneme /l/ in English can be realized as dark , clear l and so on, which are allophones of the phoneme /l/. Allophones are the non-distinctive sounds belonging to the same phoneme. *One phoneme may have several allophones, but the choice of an allophone is rule-governed.Although phonemes are the minimal segments of language systems, they are not their minimal elements. A phoneme is further analyzable because it consists of a set of simultaneous distinctive features that a phoneme is capable of distinguishing meaning. /man/ and /map/ are different in meaning, because they all contain a different phoneme. The features that a phoneme possesses, making it different from other phonemes, are its distinctive features. 3. Phoneme theory(1) Minimal pairs 最小对立体 A basic way to determine the phonemes of a language is to see if substituting one sound for another results in a change of meaning. If it does, the two sounds then represent different phonemes. An easy way to do this is to find the Minimal Pairs. When two different forms (word forms) are identical in every way except for one sound segment which occurs in the same place in the strings, the two forms are said to form a minimal pair. So in English, pill and bill make a minimal pair. Accordingly, we can conclude that /p/ and /b/ are phonemes. Minimal pairs are established on the basis of sound and not spelling.Three requirements for a minimal pair:a. Same number of segment b. One phonetic difference in the same place c. Different meaningA minimal pair : lit-lip; phone-tone; pill-bill A minimal set : beat, bit, bet, boot, but, bite*The minimal pair test helps establish which sounds contrast in a language.(2) Complementary distribution 互补分布 It can be easily observed that phonetically similar sounds might be related in two ways. If they are two distinctive phonemes, they are said to Form a phonemic contrast (音位对立)。If they are allophones of the same phoneme, then they do not distinguish meaning, but only complement each other in distribution, i.e. they occur in different phonetic environments. Not all the speech sounds occur in the same environment. When two sounds never occur in the same environment, they are said to be in complementary Distribution. In English, ph and p=, l and are all in complementary distribution.However, not all the sounds (phones) in complementary distribution are considered to be allophones of the same phoneme. There are some restrictions for phon