Student: Joelys Castillo 8-1002-1166 Date: February 1st, 2023 Course: Phonology

Questionnaire
1) What is the larynx and what is its role in the production of speech?
A/= The larynx is the voice box at the top of the trachea, which in the throat of males protrudes as
Adam’s apple. Its role is related to the process of speaking which resembles “playing” with our mouth
and larynx while the air exits the lungs through the trachea, which connects the lungs with the mouth.
2) How is speaking similar to or different from playing the recorder?
A/= If you pick up a recorder and place the mouthpiece to your lips while breathing normally, you will
find that the recorder only makes a faint wheezy sound, and that in order to play the recorder you need to
discharge an extra amount of air. In the same way, if you wish to make a speech sound, you must breathe
out more air than usual, and, of course, in order to breathe out more air, you must have taken in more air
in the first place.
3) Discuss the manner of the release of air in the production of the three different types of
obstruent.
A/= There are three types of obstruents with different manners of the release of the air, there are:
Plosives (oral stops): such as [p, t, k, b, d, ɡ], with complete occlusion of the vocal tract, often followed
by a release burst.
Fricatives: such as [f, s, ʃ, x, v, z, ʒ, ɣ], with limited closure, not stopping airflow but making it turbulent.
Affricates: these begin with complete occlusion but then release into a fricative-like release, such as
[t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ]
4) Place of articulation
A/= The place of articulation refers to where the articulators glottis) make contact in the vocal tract to
create consonant sounds. Let's look at the process of consonant production to see where the place of
articulation fits in. Speech sounds are separated according to their place of articulation and manner of
articulation. There are eight places of articulation:
Bilabial: contact between the lips.
Labio-dental: contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth.
Dental: contact between the tip of the tongue and the area just behind the upper teeth.
Alveolar: contact between the tongue and the Alveolar ridge (this is the ridged area between the upper
teeth and the hard palate).
Palatal: contact between the tongue and the hard palate or Alveolar ridge.
Post-alveolar: contact between the tongue and the back of the Alveolar ridge.
Velar: contact between the tongue and the soft palate.
Glottal: restriction of the airflow at the glottis.
 5) What does a phonetic symbol represent?
A/= Phonetic symbols are used in two ways, to indicate the phonemes of a particular language and to
indicate the relatively precise nature of a given sound.
What are the advantages of the IPA alphabet?
A/= The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an excellent learning tool for pronunciation. A given
letter can vary in sound across languages and dialects, the IPA standardizes these sounds by giving each
one its own unique letter or symbol. It breaks them down in a way so you can learn every
small difference.
6) What is the difference between a phonetic symbol and a letter? Why should we
never talk about letters when we are doing phonetics (or phonology)?
A/= Symbols are the minimum sound unit that has a distinctive value in the
phonological system of a language, while letters are the minimum graphic signs that.
make up the written sequence. When we talk about phonetics, it is recommended to study the
corresponding symbol of each letter to obtain its correct sound.
7) ¿What do the terms "active" and "passive" articulator mean?
A/= The active articulator is the part of the vocal tract that moves to form a constriction. The usual active
articulators, together with their Latinate adjectives, are lip. labial. tongue tip, the passive articulator is the
articulator that remains stationary in the production of a speech sound. Often, this is the destination that
the active articulator moves towards (the hard palate).
8) The set of obstruent sounds available to a language can be doubled by the addition of
"voice."
What is voice?
A/= It is a sound produced when air is expelled through the larynx and causes the vocal cords to vibrate.
9) What is the purpose of diacritic in phonetics transcription?
A/= In phonetics, diacritics are used to transcribe a sound that is related to the sound that is usually
denoted by the bare symbol. The stress marks ⟨ˈ ˌ⟩ are diacritics symbols, they appear before the stressed
syllable. For example:  /prɪˈzent/
10) Define the term “articulation.”
A/= Articulation is the configuration of the vocal tract (the larynx and the pharyngeal, oral, and nasal
cavities) resulting from the positioning of the mobile organs of the vocal tract (e.g., tongue) relative to
other parts of the vocal tract that may be rigid (e.g., hard palate). This configuration modifies an airstream
to produce the sounds of speech.
11) Enumerate the sounds for which the soft palate is an articulator. Which other articulator
would you expect to be involved?
A/= The soft palate is the softest part of the roof of the mouth, located behind, and as a continuation of the
hard palate. It is also called velum or soft palate. You can touch it with the back of the tongue body,
which you do when articulating the sounds /k/, /ɡ/, and /ŋ/.
Another articulator that is involved is the tongue, as it is the most malleable and influential articulator. It works in
the production of almost all sounds in English, both vowels and consonants.