Classification of Sound Units

Dr. Leena Mary

Professor
Dept. of Electronics & Communications
GEC Idukki
Overview-Categorization of Sound Units

- Elements of a language

- Vowels

- Nasals

- Fricatives

- Plosives

- Transitional speech Sounds/Diphthongs

 Elements of a Language

- Phoneme-fundamental distinctive unit

- Phoneme Vs Phone

- Syllables

- Words
 Vowels and Consonants
 Speaking in terms of articulation, the sounds that we utter can be split into two
different types: consonants and vowels.

 Consonant sounds are typically characterized as sounds that have constricted

or closed configurations of the vocal tract.

 Vowels, on the other hand, are characterized as having relatively little

constriction; that is, an open configuration of the vocal tract.

 Vowels carry much of the pitch of speech (voiced speech)

 Phoneticians generally characterize consonants as being distinguished by

settings of place of articulation (POA) and manner of articulation (MOA).

 In layman's terminology, POA is "where" the consonant is produced, while MOA

is "how" the consonant is produced
Classification of Vowels
Consonants – Place of Articulation
Consonants – Place of Articulation

• Bilabial – egs. pin, bin

• Dental – egs. thin
• Alveolar – egs. tin, sin
• Palatal – egs. chin
• Velar – egs. kin
• Uvular
• Pharyngeal
• Glottal
 Consonants – Manner of Articulation
MOA involves a number of different variables:
•Voicing: This rapid vibration caused by the vocal folds is referred
to as voicing. Many different sounds can contrast solely based on a
voicing difference: English [s, z] in sip, zip
• Nasality: Some sounds are produced with airflow through the nasal
cavity. These are known as nasals. Nasal consonants in English
include the [n] of not, the [m] of mit, and the [ŋ] of sing.
Obstruency: Consonants involving a total obstruction of airflow are
known as stops or plosives. Examples include English [p, b, t, d, k,
g]. Fricatives are consonants with a steady stricture causing friction,
for example [f, s, z].
• Sonorancy: Non-obstruents are classed as sonorants.
Approximants, in which articulatory organs produce a narrowing of
the vocal tract, but leave enough space for air to flow without much
audible turbulence. Examples include English [w, j, l].
Classification of consonants in Indian
languages
 Co-articulation
Gestures for successive phonemes overlap in time so that the vocal
tract shapes during a phone are highly dependent on the phone’s
context.

When an articulatory gesture does not conflict with those of a

preceding phoneme, the articulator may move toward or adopt a
state appropriate for the later phoneme during the former. Such
forward co-articulation is called anticipatory or right-to-left (R-L)
because a target for a phoneme (on the right) induces motion in the
articulation during a prior phone (on the left). Egs:lipe rounding for
a vowel before a nonlabial consonant.

Backward carry over or left-right (L-R) co-articulation is also

possible, in which some of the phoneme’s features persist into the
ensuing phones. This is most obvious in the case of formant
transition during vowel after a consonant, which are heavily
influenced by the consonant.
 Prosody
• Prosody refers to the suprasgmental aspect of speech

• Imposition of duration, intonation, and intensity patterns

on the sequence of sound units, while producing speech,
makes the speech natural. It is collectively represented by
the term ‘prosody’

• Prosody is generally represented using dynamics of

pitch, duration and energy

• Prosody is important for speaker, emotion and speech

recognition by human beings.

• Synthesized speech without prosody sounds ‘robotic’

Prosodic features for speaker verification
Speaker variations in dynamics of pitch contour
Thank You