1

PHONETICS I Suggested further reading:

-Gimson’s Pronunciation of English. London: Edward Arnold. Fifth edition or later.

-W. Sobkowiak (2001) English Phonetics for Poles. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie.

(1) The Speech Chain Speaker >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Acoustic signal >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Listener (production) (perception) • linguistic knowledge (lexical representation) • neural impulses (instructions to the muscles) • articulator movements • speech waves (acoustic signal)

• acoustic wave • movements in the auditory periphery • nerve impulses • lexical access

(2) Types of phonetics

Articulatory >>>>>>>> Acoustic >>>>>>>>>>>> Auditory

(3) ARTICULATORY PHONETICS

(4) Organs of speech:

- lips: rounded, open, spread; labial - tongue: apex/tip of the tongue, blade, body of

the tongue, root/back of the tongue; apical, lingual

- teeth: dental - alveolar ridge; alveolar - hard palate; palatal - soft palate/ velum; velar - uvula; uvular - pharynx; pharyngeal - larynx; laryngeal - glottis; glottal - lungs; pulmonic

(5) The vocal tract: a) active articulators: lips, tongue tip/blade/body/root, velum, vocal cords? b) passive articulators (places of articulation): teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate,

pharynx? Q: What do we do when we speak? Predictions given the nature of the playground (vocal tract)?

Source and Filter:...

2

Consonants CONSONANT CLASSIFICATION (Voice – Place - Manner) (6) Voice (Source)

Note the scale:

(7) Place (WHERE?)

(8) Place of articulation (English)

bilabial [p, b, m, w], labio-dental [f, v], apico-dental [T, D], alveolar [t, d, s, z, n, l],

post-alveolar [S, Z, tS, dZ, r], palatal [j], velar [k, g, N], glottal [h].

(9) Place of articulation (Polish)

bilabial [p, b, m, w], labio-dental [f, v], dental [n, s, z, t, d, t°s, d °z], alveolar [l],

post-alveolar [r, S, Z, t °S, d°Z], palatal? [≠, j, Ç, Û, t°Ç, d°Û], velar [w, x, k, g]

3

(10) Definitions of articulators

(11) Manner of articulation (HOW?)

(12) Manner in terms of type of closure

CLOSED a. complete – plosives, affricates, and nasals? b. intermittent – trills/rolls (Polish r), taps (English r) c. partial – laterals – airstream allowed to escape on one or both sides of the closure d. narrowing with noise component – fricatives [f, v, T, D, s, z, S, Z] e. narrowing without noise component – approximants – the frictionless continuant [r],

as well as [w,j] f. open – vowels

OPEN

4

Vowels (13) Quadrilateral representation of vowels (articulatory). Cardinal Vowel Diagram (Daniel Jones)

(14) English and (Polish) vowels

(15) English diphthongs

(16) Summary: Articulatory description: a) the action of the vocal folds, b) the position of velum, c) disposition of various movable organs in the mouth vowels

fricatives stops & affricates - - raised (oral) manner air - - energy larynx velum lowered (nasal) place

labial dental alveolar palatal velar

(È)

(i)