语言学笔记 Lecture4

陈银 2014/3/28

Lecture 4

Pretest

 1. What is phonetics?

 2. Phonetics can be further divided into three main areas, what are they? What do they

study respectively?

 3. What do phonology study? What‟s similarity of and the difference between phonetics

and phonology?

Answer

 1. Phonetics studies how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived.  2. They are articulatory, accoustic and auditory phonetics.

 ARTICULATORY PHONETICS studies the production of speech sounds

 ACOUSTIC PHNETICS studies physical properties of sounds produced in speech  AUDITORY PHONETIC studies perception of speech sounds

 3. Phonology studies the sound patterns and sound systems of languages.  Similarity: concerned with the speech sounds.

 Differences: Phonetics is strictly physical while phonology also pays attention to the

function or meaning of a sound.

 Phonetics only asks, “Does this sound go here or not?” Phonology asks, “Does the

meaning change if I put this sound here instead of that one?”

 Phonetics makes a pretty general description of sounds and can be used to describe

sounds in any language. Phonology makes very detailed descriptions of sounds, so each language has its own unique set of symbols (because no two languages use all of the exact same sounds).

 (the detailed differences can be got in the e-handouts in QQ group.)

Chapter 2 Speech Sounds

 Generalization of this chapter: Articulatory（发声） Phonetics (Acoustic) （声学） （语音学） Speech (Auditory) （听觉） Sounds

（音位学） （音位） （音位变体） Phonology phonemes (allophones)

Generalization of this chapter: speech organs Articulatory consonants broad （发声） speech phonetic sounds transcriptions vowels narrow

（音位学） Phonological processes Phonology

Distinctive features

Introduction

 As human beings we are capable of making all kinds of sounds, but only some of these

sounds have become units in the language system.

 We can analyze speech sounds from various perspectives and the two major areas of

study are phonetics and phonology.

Phonetics studies how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived.

 A branch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds and

provides methods for their description, classification and transcription, e.g. [p] bilabial, stop.

Phonetics is the scientific study of speech sounds which are used by all human languages or by a particular language to represent meanings.

A speech sound goes through a three-step process as shown below. Speaker A Speaker B speech speech speech

production ---- transmission ---- perception

Articulatory (acoustic) (auditory) the study of | the study of the physical | concerned with production of | properties of the sounds | the perception speech sounds | produced in speech | of speech sounds

Phonology is the study of the sound patterns and sound systems of languages.

 It aims to „discover the principles that govern the way sounds are organized

in languages, and to explain the variations that occur‟ (Crystal, 1997:162).  In phonology we normally begin by analyzing an individual language, say

English, in order to determine its phonological structure, i.e. which sound units are used and how they are put together.

 Then we compare the properties of sound systems in different languages in

order to make hypotheses about the rules that underlie the use of sounds in them, and ultimately we aim to discover the rules that underlie the sound patterns of all languages.

2.1 How Speech Sounds Are Made? 2.1.1 Speech Organs

SPEECH ORGANS (or VOCAL ORGANS): parts of the human body involved in the production of speech

 Lung

 Trachea(or windpipe气管)

 Throat: pharynx(咽),larynx(喉, including vocal folds/vocal cords)  Nose

 Mouth: tongue, various parts of palate(腭)

 VOCAL TRACT(声道): pharynx, mouth (oral cavity), nose (nasal cavity)  AIRSTREAM (气流): source of energy  MOUTH

 Upper lip, upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum), uvula  Lower lip, lower teeth, tongue, mandible (lower jaw)  Tongue

 tip(舌尖), blade (舌叶), front, back, root

 CORONAL (舌尖音, tip and blade); DORSAL (舌背音, front and back);

RADICAL (舌根音,root)

 PHARYNX (咽): the larynx opens into a muscular tube  LARYNX (喉)

 Adam‟s apple, Vocal folds (vocal cords, vocal bands)  Positions of vocal folds

1. Apart: the air can pass through easily — voiceless(清音) e.g., [p, s, t]

2. Close together: the airstream causes them to vibrate against each other — voiced(浊音)

e.g., [b, z, d]

3. Totally together: no air can pass between them — glottal stop(声门塞音) [ʔ] Voiced and voiceless

The level of vibration振动 of the vocal cords声带 determines whether a sound is voiced or unvoiced.

If the vocal cords---apart, the airstream is not obstructed at the glottis and passes through freely. -- voiceless sounds.

If the vocal cords are together, the air stream forces its way through and causes them to vibrate. -- voiced sounds.

feel the distinction sounds. 2.1.1 Speech organs

What kinds of sounds can we make when the vocal cords are (a) tightly closed; (b) wide open; (c) loosely together and vibrating? (a) no sound or inaudible sound symbolized as /?/; (b) voiceless sound such as /h/; (c) voiced sounds such as /d/.

2.1.2 The IPA

IPA: the abbreviation（缩写） of International Phonetic Alphabet

It is a standardized and internationally accepted system of phonetic transcription

The development of the IPA:

The Danish grammarian Otto Jespersen (1860-1943)(叶斯柏生) first proposed the idea in 1886. The first version of IPA was published in August 1888.

The latest version was devised in 1993 and corrected in 1996 and 2005.

The basic principle: using a separate letter selected from major European languages for each distinctive sound and the same symbol should be used for that sound in any language in which it appears.

• In the IPA chart, the sound segments are grouped into consonants and vowels. • The consonants are divided into pulmonic and non-pulmonic consonants. • Pulmonic sounds are produced by pushing air out of the lungs.

• Non -pulmonic sounds are produced by either sucking air into the mouth , or closing the

glottis and manipulating the air.

The Definition of Diacritics

• The diacritics are additional symbols or marks used together with the consonant and

vowel to indicate nuances of change in their pronunciation.

• DIACRITICS(附加符号): to transcribe the minute difference between variations of the

same sound

E.g.

Nasalization:[a] in lamb has some quality of the following nasal is labeled as [ã] Aspiration: [ph] in “peak”, [p=] in “speak”

2.2 Consonants and vowels

 Consonant

Consonants are produced „by a closure in the vocal tract, or by a narrowing which is so marked that air cannot escape without producing audible friction‟.

 Vowel

A vowel is produced without such ‘stricture’ so that „air escapes in a relatively unimpeded way through the mouth or nose‟.

 The distinction between vowels and consonants lies in the _____________ of airstream. 2.2.1 Consonants

Criterion for classification

 Manner of articulation: the actual relationship between the articulators and thus the way in which the air passes through certain parts of the vocal tract.

 Place of articulation: where in the vocal tract there is approximation, narrowing or the obstruction of air. (the point where a consonant is made. )

 The manner of articulation refers to the ways in which articulation can be

accomplished:

 the articulators may close off the oral tract for an instant or a relatively long

period;

 they may narrow the space considerably; or

 they may simply modify the shape of the tract by approaching each other.

(1) STOP/PLOSIVE : complete closure of the articulators involved so that the airstream cannot escape through the mouth E.g., [p, b, t, d, k, g]

 Three phases:

 Closing

 Hold/compression  Release (PLOSION)

 ORAL STOP (or STOP)

(2) NASAL STOP (or NASAL): the air is stopped in the oral cavity but the soft palate is down so that it can go out through the nasal cavity E.g., [m, n, ŋ]

(3) FRICATIVE: close approximation of two articulators so that the airstream is partially obstructed and turbulent airflow is produced E.g., [f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h]

(4) (MEDIAN) APPROXIMANT ((中)通音): an articulation in which one articulator is close to another, but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced E.g., [w, ɹ, j]

(5) LATERAL: obstruction of the airstream at a point along the center of the oral tract with incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth E.g. [l]

(6) TRILL (ROLL): produced when an articulator is set vibrating by the airstream E.g., [r] in “red” (Scottish English), “rr” in “perro” (dog) (7) Tap and Flap

 Tap: the tongue makes a single tap against the alveolar ridge to produce only one

vibration is produced, e.g., [ɾ], “city, letter” in American English

 Flap: the tip of the tongue curled up and back in a retroflex gesture and then striking the

roof of the mouth in the post-alveolar region as it returns to its position behind the lower front teeth, e.g., [ɽ], “dirty, sorting” in American English

(8) AFFRICATIVE: a stop followed immediately afterwards by a fricative at the same position (more than one manner is involved)

E.g., [tʃ, dʒ], “ch” in “church”, “j” in “jet”; [tsh] and [ts] in “错” and “做” Note: [ts, dz, tr, dr] are not affricatives.

 The place of articulation refers to the point where a consonant is made.

 Practically consonants may be produced at any place between the lips and

the vocal folds.

 Eleven places of articulation are distinguished on the IPA chart:  Bilabial  Labiodental  Dental

        Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal

Places of articulation

(1) BILABIAL: made with the two lips, as [p, b, m] in “pet”, “bet” and “met”; [w]

(2) LABIODENTAL (唇齿音): made with the lower lip and the upper front teeth, as [f, v] in “fire” and “via”

(3) DENTAL: made by the tongue tip or blade and the upper front teeth, e.g., [θ, ð]

(4) ALVEOLAR: made with the tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge, e.g., [t, d, n, s, z, ɹ ,l] (5) POSTALVEOLAR (or palato-alveolar): made with the tongue tip and the back of the alveolar ridge, e.g., [ʃ, ʒ]

(6) RETROFLEX (卷舌音) : made with the tongue tip or blade curled back (retroflexed) so that the underside of the tongue tip or blade forms a stricture with the back of the alveolar ridge or the hard palate, e.g., [ʂ] in “上海”

(7) PALATAL: made with the front of the tongue and the hard palate, [j] in “yes”, and [ç] (for “h”) in “he”

(8) VELAR: made with the back of the tongue and the soft palate, e.g., velar stop [k, g] in “cat” and “get”, velar nasal [ŋ] in “sing”, velar fricative [x] in Chinese “和”

(9) UVULAR: made with the back of the tongue and the uvular, the short projection of soft tissue and muscle at the posterior end of the velum, e.g., [ʁ] in “Paris, votre”

(10) PHARYNGEAL (咽音): made with the root of the tongue and the walls of the pharynx, e.g., “caadi” [ʕaːdi], “xood “ [ħoːd]

(11) GLOTTAL (声门音): made with the two pieces of vocal folds pushed towards each other, e.g., [h] in “hat, hold”, [ʔ] in “pack, beaten” 2.2.2 Vowels

 Cardinal Vowels, are a set of vowel qualities arbitrarily defined, fixed and

unchanging, intended to provide a frame of reference for the description of the actual vowels of existing languages.

standard reference points; British phonetician Daniel Jones ; Outline of English Phonetics (1962); “cardinal vowel diagram”, or “cardinal vowel quadrilateral”; Vowels produced in these areas constitute the eight cardinal vowels. The secondary cardinal vowels then fit between them.

 Cardinal vowel diagram (基本元音图, or quadrilateral): a set of standard reference points

based on a combination of articulatory and auditory judgment, in which three positions of the tongue (front, center, back) as well as four levels of tongue height (close, close-mid, open-mid, open) are distinguished

 Pure or monophthong vowels :vowels where the quality remains constant throughout the articulation .

 Vowel glides: those where there is an audible change of quality.

 Diphthong： a single movement of the tongue .

 way [wei] , tide [taid] , how [hau] ,toy [tɔi], toe [təu]

 Triphthong： a double movement ; „a glide from one vowel to another and then

to a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption‟.

 wire [ˈwaiə], tower [ˈtauə]

Criteria of Vowel Description

1. the height of tongue raising (high, mid, low);

2. the position of the highest part of the tongue (front, central, back);

3. the length or tenseness of the vowel (tense vs. lax or long vs. short), and 4. lip-rounding (rounded vs. unrounded).

2. SCHWA : the tongue position for the neutral vowel [ə] is neither high nor low and neither

front nor back

3. Primary vowels: CV1 [i], CV2 [e], CV3 [ε], CV4 [a], CV5[ɑ] (unrounded), CV6[ɔ] ,

CV 7[o], CV 8 [u] (rounded)

4. Secondary vowels: reversing the lip-rounding for a given position Description of Monophthongs Subdivisions: Vertically: Back: [u:] [u] [ɔ:] [ɔ] [ɑ:]; High: [i:] [i] [u:] [u]; Shape of the lips: Mid: [e] [ə:] [ə] [ɔ:]; Rounded: [u] [u:] [ɔ] [ɔ:]; Low: [æ] [ʌ] [ɑ:] [ɔ] ; Unrounded: [i:] [i] [e] [æ] [ə:] [ə] [ʌ] [ɑ:]; Horizontally: Tenseness of muscles: Front: [i:] [i] [e] [æ]; Tense: [i:] [u:] [ə:] [ɔ:] [ɑ:]; Central: [ə:] [ə] [ʌ] ; Lax: [i] [u] [e] [ə] [ʌ] [ɔ] [æ].

 NOTE 1: Abstractness of cardinal vowels: cardinal vowels represent extreme point of a

theoretical vowel space, i.e. they are as remote as possible from the neutral position of schwa; approximation the articulators beyond this vowel space would involve frication or contact.

 NOTE 2: All cardinal vowels are monophthongs and their quality does not change during

their production.

 PURE VOWELS (纯元音or MONOPHTHONGS 单元音): Vowels where quality

remains constant throughout the articulation

 VOWEL GLIDES (元音音渡): Vowels where there is an audible change of quality

 Diphthongs (双元音): a single movement of the tongue is involved, e.g. way [weI], tide

[taId]

 Triphthongs (三重元音): twice movements of the tongues are involved, e.g. wire [waIə],

tower [tauə]

2.2.3 The Sound of English

 Received pronunciation (RP 标准发音) (or BBC English, Oxford English,

King‟s/Queen‟s English)

 RP originates in the southeast of England and is spoken by the upper-middle and upper

classes throughout England.  General American (GA)

[p] voiceless bilabial stop [b] voiced bilabial stop

[s] voiceless alveolar fricative [h] glottal fricative [l] (alveolar) lateral

 1. The sound /p/can be described with \"_______, bilabial, stop\". (北二外2007研)  2. The sound /b/can be described with \"_______, bilabial, stop\". (北二外2004研)  3. The sound /k/ can be described with \"voiceless, _______, stop\". (北二外2003研)

 4. Consonant articulations are relatively easy to feel. And as a result are most

conveniently described in terms of _______and manner of articulation. (北二外2004,2008研)

 5. Consonants differ from vowels in that the latter are produced without _______.

1. Of the consonants /p/ , /t/, /k/, /f/, /m/, /z/ and /g/, which has the features of voiceless and velar? （对外经贸2005研)

A. /k/ B. /p/ C. /g/ D. /t/

2. The consonant /s/ in the word \"smile\" can be described as: (对外经贸2006研) A. voiceless oral alveolar fricative B. voiceless nasal bilabial liquid C. voiced oral alveolar plosive D. voiced oral bilabial fricative 3. Which of the following is the correct description of [v]?

A. voiceless labiodental fricative B. voiced labiodental fricative

C. voiceless labiodental stop D. voiced labiodental stop

1. All of the followings are bilabials except __.

A. [P] B. [b] C. [m] D.[t] 2. Which one is an alveolar?

A. [w] B. [t] C. [j] D.[k] 3. The only glottal in English is __.

A. [n] B. [m] C. [g] D. [h] 4. Which one is a palatal?

A. [j] B. [l] C. [r] D.[z] 5. The voiceless labiodental is __.

A. [f] B. [v] C. [w] D. [j] 6. The voiceless alveolar fricative is __.

A. [f] B. [s] C. [p] D. [k] 7. The glottal fricative is __.

A. [v] B. [j] C. [h] D. [θ] 8. The sound of [m] is a __.

A. bilabial nasal B. voiced bilabial nasal C. voiced alveolar nasal D. voiced velar nasal 9. The lateral is __.

A. [r] B. [l] C. [j] D. [w]

10. The palatal glide is __

A. [w] B. [r] C. [j] D. [l]

11. Which one is different from the others according to places of articulation? A. [n] B. [m] C. [ b ] D. [p]

12. Which vowel is different from the others according to the characteristics of vowels? A. [æ] B. [ u ] C. [e] D. [ i ]

13. What kind of sounds can we make when the vocal cords are vibrating? A. Voiceless B. Voiced C. Glottal stop D. Consonant

 1.Write down the phones according to the following phonetic descriptions.  1. voiceless unaspirated bilabial stop  2. lateral  3. velar nasal

 4. voiced interdental fricative  5. voiceless affricate  6. palatal glide

 7. voiceless aspirated alveolar stop

Four basic requirements for the description of vowels 1) the height of tongue raising (high, mid, low)

2) the position of the highest part of the tongue (front, central, back) 3) the length or tenseness of the vowel (tense vs. lax or long vs. short) 4) lip-rounding (rounded vs. unrounded)

 We can now describe the English vowels in this way:

   

[] high front tense unrounded vowel [] high back lax rounded vowel [] mid central lax unrounded vowel [] low back lax rounded vowel

Homework

 1. Define the following terms:

 phonetics/ articulatory phonetics/ phonology/

 speech organs/ voicing/ International Phonetic Alphabet/ consonant/ vowel/ manner of

articulation/place of articulation/ Cardinal Vowels/  vowel glide

2. Discuss the following questions:

1) What organs are involved in speech production?

2) Why did George Bernald Shaw say he could spell the word fish as ghoti? 3) How is the description of consonants different from that of vowels? Group Work

 Group 4: 2.5 Suprasegmentals