Linguistics 110 Zhang/Öztürk/Quinn

Class 3 (9/25/02)

Last Introduction

(1) Language is controlled by the left hemisphere.

• Hemiplegic children

• Hemidecorticate children

• Split-brain patients

• Dichotic listening

➥ Left hemisphere: better for language, rhythmic perception, temporal-order

judgments, mathematical thinking.
Right hemisphere: better for nonverbal stimulus, pattern matching, visuo-spatial
abilities.

• Right hemisphere is better for pitch perception. But what happens when pitch is
used linguistically?
Tone languages: Mandarin Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese etc.

• Right hemisphere is better for spatial perception. But what happens in sign
language processing?

➥ Left hemisphere handles abstract rules, hierarchical structure of language, not just
sounds on the surface.

(2) Let’s zoom in even closer—Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area

• Mr. Ford’s aphasia: damage to lower parts of the frontal lobe in the left
hemisphere—Broca’s area.

➥ Characteristics of Broca’s aphasia:

• slow, labored speech;
• loss of function words;
• disturbed word order;
• ok with object-naming;
• ok in comprehension of speech.

• Wernicke’s area: back portion of the left hemisphere.

Interview between psycholinguist Howard Gardner and Wernicke’s aphasia

patient Mr. Gorgan:
Gardner: “What brings you to the hospital?”
Gorgan: “Boy, I’m sweating, I’m awful nervous, you know, once in a while I get
caught up, I can’t mention the tarripoi, a month ago, quite a little, I’ve done a lot
well, I impose a lot, while, on the other hand, you know what I mean, I have to
run around, look it over, trebbing and all that sort of stuff.”

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 Gardner: “Thank you, Mr. Gorgan. I want to ask you a few—”
Gorgan: “Oh sure, go ahead, any old think you want. If I could I would. Oh, I’m
taking the word the wrong way to say, all of the barbers here whenever they stop
you it’s going around and around, if you know what I mean, that is tying and
tying for repucer, repuceration, well, we were trying the best that we could while
another time it was with the beds over there the same thing…”

➥ Characteristics of Wernicke’s aphasia:

• fluent stream of more or less grammatical sentences;
• speech makes little sense;
• has problems with object-naming/lexical selection;
• has serious comprehension problems.

• Q: What do the different charateristics of Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia tell us

about language in the brain?

• PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging):

• Locate which part of the brain is more active when speech is being produced
or processed—show there is a language module.
• Locate which part of the brain is more active when different aspects of the
grammar are being produced or processed—show language itself is modular.

• TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation)

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 Articulatory Phonetics

(3) We begin with the type of knowledge that involves the smallest unit—the
knowledge of sound structure.

Phonology—the study of the rule systems by which languages employ sounds. The
phonology of a language is the “grammar of sound” for that language.
• Tacit rules for how sounds vary in context.
• Tacit rules determining legal sequences of speech sounds.
• Tacit rules for rhythmic structure.

a. We know where the stresses are in Appalachian, Mississippi, obstreperous

and onomatopoetically.

b. We know the difference between 'permit and per'mit, 'pervert and per'vert,
'subject and sub'ject.

c. We know how to change the stress pattern when affixes are added.

diplomat diplomacy diplomatic

photograph photography photographic
monotone monotony monotonic

To better understand phonology, especially the “why” of phonology, we first need to

have some basic understanding of the speech sounds themselves.

(4) Phonetics—the scientific study of properties of sounds (that occur in human

languages).

The speech chain: speaker → atmosphere → hearer

| | |
3 branches of articulatory acoustic speech
phonetics: phonetics phonetics perception
| | |
how made physical how decoded
structure of
speech sounds,
as wave

Here, focus mostly on articulatory phonetics.

(5) How are speech sounds produced in general?

• Use the respiratory system to push air out of the lung.

• Air from the lungs goes up the windpipe (the trachea) and into the larynx, at
which point it passes between two small muscular folds (vocal cords, glottis).

voiceless vs. voiced

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 • The air passages above the larynx are called the vocal tract. How many passage
ways are there in the vocal tract that can let the air out?

oral vs. nasal

• Ways to shape the air passage in the vocal tract to produce different sounds:
Î The size of the air passage.
Î Where to block the air.

(6) Consonants and vowels.

• Consonants: produced with some restriction or closure in the vocal tract when the
air is pushed out of the lungs.

• Vowels: articulators do not come very close together, and the passage of
airstream is relatively unobstructed.

(7) Places of articulation of consonants—where the air is blocked.

• Principal parts of upper surface of vocal tract:

lip, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum), uvula, pharynx wall

Principal parts of lower surface of vocal tract:

lip, tongue tip, blade, front, center, back, root, epiglottis

• Bilabial: lower lip, upper lip.

The bilabial sounds in English are:
They are represented in English orthography by:

• Labiodental: bottom lip, upper teeth.

The labiodental sounds in English are:
They are represented in English orthography by:

• Dental: tongue tip, upper and lower teeth (or behind upper teeth)
The dental sounds in English are:
They are represented in English orthography by:

• Alveolar: tongue tip or blade, alveolar ridge.

The alveolar sounds in English are:
They are represented in English orthography by:

[l] is produced with the tongue raised to the alveolar ridge and the sides of the
tongue down, permitting the air to escape laterally over the sides of the
tongue.

• Palato-Alveolar (post-alveolar): tongue blade, back of the alveolar ridge.

The palato-alveolar sounds in English are: [S], [Z], [tS], [dZ].
They are represented in English orthography by:
[S]:

[Z]:

[tS]:

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 [dZ]:

• Retroflex: tongue tip curled up, behind alveolar ridge before hard palate.
For some English speakers, orthographic r is a retroflex sound [®].
right, rye, row, hour, hire, air...

• Palatal: tongue center, hard palate.

Orthographic y and ll are sometimes a palatal sound [j].
y—year, young
ll—La Jolla, El Pollo Loco

• Velar: back of the tongue, soft palate (velum).

The velar sounds in English are:
They are represented in English orthography by:

• Uvular: back of the tongue, uvula.

English does not have uvular sounds. But languages like Hebrew and Quechua
do.

• Pharyngeal: tongue root, pharyngeal wall.

English does not have pharyngeal sounds. But languages like Hebrew and
Montana Salish do.

• Glottals: articulators in the vocal tract stay in relatively neutral position. When
the glottis is open—[h]; when the glottis is closed—[/].
English examples: [h]—house, who, hat.
[/]—button, Latin, bitten.

(8) Manner of articulation of consonants—how the air is blocked.

• Stops: sounds during whose production the air is completely stopped in the oral
tract for a brief period.

(a) [p], [t], [k], [b], [d], [g], [/] are obviously stops.
(b) What about [m], [n], [N]?
(c) What about [T], [D], [S], [Z], [h]?
(d) What about [tS], [dZ]?
(e) What about [l], [r], [j], [w]?

• Fricatives: the air passage during the production of these sounds is very narrow,
causing friction or turbulence.
[T], [D], [S], [Z], [h] are fricatives of English.
[T]: thatch [TœtS]
[D]: that [Dœt]
[S]: sheep [Sip]
[Z]: measure [mEZ„]
[h]: heat [hit]

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 • Affricates: produced by a stop closure immediately followed by friction.
[tS] and [dZ] are affricates of English.
[tS]: chair [tSE®]
batch [bœtS]
[dZ]: jeep [dZip]
orange [O®´ndZ]

• Trills: tongue tip set in motion by the current of air, written as [r].
Some dialects of English, like Scottish English, have trills.

• Taps and Flaps: tongue makes a single quick contact with the alveolar ridge,
written as [|].
(a) butter, later, latter, ladder, writer, rider...
(b) dirty, sorting, party...

• Approximants: there is some obstruction of the airstream in the mouth, but not
enough to cause real constriction or friction.
(a) [l], [®], [j], and [w] are approximants of English.
(b) [l] is a lateral approximant.

(9) Summary for American English consonants:

Bilabial Labio- Dental Alveolar Palato- Retro- Palatal Velar Glotta
dental Alveolar flex l
Stop (oral) p b t d k g /
Stop (nasal) m n N
Tap or Flap |
Fricative f v T D s z S Z h
Affricate tS dZ
Approx. ∑ w ® j ∑ w
Lateral l
Approx.

[∑] represents some speakers’ pronunciation of the first sound in words like which.
These speakers distinguish which [∑ItS] from witch [wItS].