Announcements

•  all:
–  W10 (Fri 10am), W14 (Fri 2pm), W15 (Fri 3pm) are undersubscribed
–  there are still some 20 students without a tutorial group
–  if nobody wants to attend/switch to W10/14/15, then these 20
EL1101/GEK1011 students will have to be distributed among the other tutorial groups,
which are either full or almost full
–  if there are too many students in a tutorial group, you will have fewer
Week 2 opportunities to earn participation marks
Phonetics I (Consonants)
–  you will be helping yourself if you can attend/switch to W10/14/15
•  exchange students:
–  if you haven’t already done so, please send me an email with your top
5 ranked choices for tutorials
–  if you want to change your choices to W10/14/15, please let me know

Preliminaries Trial question:


How are you supposed to address the lecturer of EL1101E/GEK1011?

•  login to www.pollev.com/leslielee a.  Leslie

•  please do not change your !rst name and last name entries b.  Dr. Lee
–  if you change these, the automated script won’t mark you as c.  Dr. Leslie
having participated d.  Prof(essor)
e.  Prof(essor) Lee
f.  Prof(essor) Leslie
g.  Mr./Ms./Mrs./Mdm. Lee

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 Peer instruction! Peer instruction!
•  open book •  turn to your neighbour and introduce yourself!
1.  solo vote (no discussion)
–  think about the question on your own and select an answer
2.  group discussion
–  discuss your answers with your neighbours
•  how did you arrive at your answer?
•  what’s wrong with the other answers?
•  try to come to a group consensus
3.  post-discussion vote
–  everyone votes again

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Peer instruction! Phonetics

remember: •  phonetics is the study of the minimal units that make up language
–  your votes are not graded for correctness, only for participation –  speech sounds

•  so make sure you participate! –  articulatory phonetics = study of how speech sounds are made
•  phonetic transcription is a method of writing down (transcribing) speech
–  goal: learning
sounds in order to capture what is said and how it is pronounced
•  so don’t get discouraged if you didn’t choose the correct –  why do we want to do this?
answer
–  e.g. “you say tomayto, I say “tomahto”
note-taking tip:
•  tomato is pronounced di#erently by di#erent people
–  slides will be posted after class, so take note only of things that •  but the normal spelling of the word doesn’t tell us enough about
are not already on the slides how it is pronounced by di#erent people
–  record slide/question numbers beside your handwritten notes –  b/c spelling is a historical convention and doesn’t tell us how it
–  "ll in the slides with your hand-written notes after class is pronounced
•  so, we need to start to learn to ignore spelling and pay attention to sounds
•  great way to revise!
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 •  English spelling is a terrible representation of sounds
1. How many sounds are there in the English word ‘strength’?
–  no one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds
•  the same sound can be spelled using di#erent letters, e.g.
a.  1 sea, see, scene, receive, thief
b.  2 •  the same letters can represent di#erent sounds, e.g. sign,
c.  3 pleasure, resign
d.  4 •  a single sound can be spelled by a combination of letters,
e.g. lock, that, book, shop, strength
e.  5
•  a single letter can represent a combination of sounds, e.g.
f.  6 exit, use
g.  7 •  some letters stand for no sound at all, e.g. know, doubt,
h.  8 though, island, moose
•  in order to be consistent and unambiguous about the sounds that
we wish to represent, we need a transcription system in which there
is a one-to-one correspondence between sounds and symbols

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•  International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) •  we write IPA within square brackets to indicate a phonetic
–  set of symbols used to represent speech sounds transcription
•  each symbol represents a speci"c sound de"ned in terms of –  this is important, so that we know that we are talking about a
how it is produced anatomically sound represented by the IPA
•  b/c each symbol is de"ned in terms of how it is produced, •  b/c many of the symbols are also used in the English
there is always a one-to-one correspondence between sounds alphabet
and symbols •  if a word is pronounced di#erently, it is transcribed di#erently
–  hence, the set of symbols in the IPA can be used for all –  e.g. ‘tomato’
spoken human languages
•  you say [təmeɾo], I say [təmɑto]
•  words are built up of discrete speech sounds that we represent using
–  thus, no single ‘correct’ IPA transcription for any given word
the IPA
•  you won’t be asked to do transcription in this course
–  e.g. [strɛŋθ] ‘strength’
•  but you will be asked to interpret transcriptions
•  [s]: voiceless alveolar fricative
•  [t]: voiceless alveolar plosive
•  … answer: f
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 •  two major types of speech sounds
2. Which of the following words contains exactly 3 consonants? –  consonants vs. vowels
–  the production of consonants involves obstructing/constricting
the air*ow in some way
a.  play
•  the production of vowels does not
b.  trap
–  the production of each consonant involves a di#erent way of
c.  fox combining our articulators (e.g. lips, tongue, etc.)
d.  a & b –  try saying these words very slowly and feel the movements in
e.  a & c your mouth
f.  b&c •  [ple] ‘play’
g.  a, b & c •  [tɹæp] ‘trap’
h.  none of the above •  [fɔks] ‘fox’

13 answer: f 14

•  di#erent consonants involve di#erent ways of combining our

articulators 3. Which of the following words contains two consonants that are
produced at the same place of articulation?
–  we can distinguish the production of most consonants using
three basic parameters
•  place of articulation a.  beef

•  manner of articulation b.  tooth

•  voicing c.  swish

–  every English consonant can be uniquely described according to d.  young

these three parameters e.  king
f.  hog
g.  none of the above

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 •  place of articulation
a.  beef [b__f]
–  where is the air*ow obstructed/constricted?
–  [b]: bilabial, [f]: labiodental
type of sound b.  tooth [t__θ]/[t__f]

bilabial –  [t]: alveolar, [θ]: dental / [f]: labiodental

alveolar post-alveolar
ridge region (hard) labio-dental c.  swish [sw__ʃ]
palate (inter-)dental –  [s]: alveolar, [ʃ]: post-alveolar
alveolar
velum [w] involves two constrictions, one at the lips (bilabial) and
post-alveolar – 
(aka soft palate) another at the velum (velar)
palatal
velar d.  young [j__ŋ]
tongue glottal
lips –  [j]: palatal, [ŋ]: velar
e.  king [k__ŋ]
teeth glottis
–  [k]: velar, [ŋ]: velar
(vocal
folds) f.  hog [h__ɡ]
–  [h]: glottal, [ɡ]: velar answer: e
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•  manner of articulation
4. Which of the following sets contains words that all end with
–  how is the air*ow obstructed/constricted?
consonants that share the same manner of articulation?
•  stops
a.  {park, fog, foot} –  air*ow is completely blocked in the mouth
b.  {church, grudge, rouge} –  two kinds
c.  {push, tooth, pigs} •  plosives (oral stops), e.g. [t]
d.  a & b –  air cannot escape from the both the oral
e.  a & c cavity and the nasal cavity
f.  b&c –  English plosives: [p, t, k, b, d, ɡ]
g.  a, b & c •  nasal stops, e.g. [n]
h.  none of the above –  air cannot escape from the oral cavity, but
is allowed to escape from the nasal cavity
–  English nasals: [m, n, ŋ]
–  usually, we just say ‘stops’ to refer to plosive and ‘nasals’ to
refer to nasal stops
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 •  approximants
•  fricatives –  articulators approximate each other, but not closely enough to
–  narrow constriction creating turbulence (friction) create turbulence in the air*ow

in the air*ow, e.g. [s] •  e.g. [ɹ]

–  English fricatives: [f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h] –  lateral approximant

•  a#ricates •  tongue tip touches alveolar ridge but air is

–  single sound that begins as a plosive and ends as a fricative, e.g.
[t͡ʃ] ("rst and last sound in ‘church’)
•  initial stop closure is released as a fricative
–  c.f. ordinary stops, where the closure is released
completely (with a pop)
–  c.f. fricatives, where there is no initial closure
–  English a#ricates: [t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ]
allowed to *ow through the sides without
turbulence
•  only one lateral in English: [l]
–  English approximants: [w, j, l, ɹ]
•  [l] and [ɹ] are also called ‘liquids’
–  not [r] – this represents a di#erent sound
•  [w] and [j] are also called ‘glides’/‘semivowels’

answer: e
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•  third parameter: voicing

5. Which of the following sets contains words that all begin with the
same value for the voicing parameter? –  di#erentiates sounds that have the same place and manner
con"gurations

a.  {zit, shit, meet} •  e.g. [s]: voiceless alveolar fricative

b.  {pork, rock, horse} •  vs. [z]: voiced alveolar fricative

c.  {men, women, children} –  quick way to tell whether a sound is voiced: feel for vibration at
your adam’s apple
d.  a & b
•  vocal fold vibration is what creates voicing
e.  a & c
•  convention for describing how a consonant is produced
f.  b&c
–  voicing + place + manner
g.  a, b & c
h.  none of the above

answer: h
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•  3 vocal fold con"gurations •  putting it together: English consonants
–  held far apart to allow air to pass through labio- (inter-) post-
bilabial alveolar palatal velar glottal
dental dental alveolar
freely
•  no vibration of the vocal folds as air plosive p b t d k ɡ ʔ
passes through nasal m n ŋ
•  this creates a voiceless sound
fricative f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h
–  adjusted so that there is only a narrow passage
between them a"ricate t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
•  vocal folds are set into vibration as air approxi-
w* ɹ* j
mant
rushes through that narrow passage
lateral
l
•  this creates a voiced sound approx.

–  held tightly together to create a complete *  [w] is produced by constricting air*ow at the lips and the velum
closure and air cannot escape –  for this course, treat it as a bilabial sound
•  this creates a glottal stop [ʔ] *  treat [ɹ] as an alveolar sound (not retro*ex)
–  Hawai’i, uh-oh 25 26

•  [p] as in Pakistan •  [f] as in Finland

6. Focusing only on the consonants, which of the following is the best
•  [b] as in Belgium •  [v] as in Vietnam transcription for the word thesis?
•  [t] as in Turkey •  [θ] as in Lithuania
•  [d] as in Denmark •  [ð] as in The Netherlands a.  [th_s_s]
•  [k] as in Kenya •  [s] as in Singapore b.  [θ_s_s]
•  [ɡ] as in Greece •  [z] as in Zimbabwe c.  [ð_s_s]
•  [ʔ] as in Hawai’i •  [ʃ] as in Bangladesh d.  [th_s_z]
•  [t͡ʃ] as in Chile •  [ʒ] as in Asia, rouge, measure e.  [θ_s_z]
•  [d͡ʒ] as in Japan •  [h] as in Hungary f.  [ð_s_z]
•  [m] as in Malaysia •  [w] as in Norway
•  [n] as in Nepal •  [ɹ] as in Russia
•  [ŋ] as in Hong Kong •  [l] as in Laos
•  [j] as in Yemen
•  here is an interactive IPA chart where you can listen to the sounds
that correspond to each symbol: http://www.ipachart.com
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7. Focusing only on the consonants, which of the following is the best 8. Focusing only on the consonants, which of the following is the best
transcription for the word teacher? transcription for the word !nger?

a.  [t_tt͡ʃ_(ɹ)] a.  [f_nɡ_(ɹ)]

b.  [t_t͡ʃ_(ɹ)] b.  [f_n_(ɹ)]
c.  [t_d͡ʒ_(ɹ)] c.  [f_ŋ_(ɹ)]
d.  [t_dd͡ʒ_(ɹ)] d.  [f_ŋɡ_(ɹ)]
e.  [t_ch_(ɹ)] e.  [f_ɡ_(ɹ)]
f.  [t_c_(ɹ)]

[ɹ] is in parentheses b/c some people pronounce it, but others don’t

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What you should know Reminder

•  why we need the IPA •  tutorials begin next week

•  parts of the vocal tract –  please attempt the problem set before attending
the tutorial
•  how to describe consonants
–  you will be graded on attendance and
–  voicing participation
–  place •  please consider switching to W10/14/15
–  manner •  if you are an exchange student, make sure you
•  IPA symbols for English consonants contact me to let me know your preferred tutorial slots
•  how to read consonant chart

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