Phonetics

The sounds of a Language

Sound Segements
Inka
What is phonetics?
Phonetics is a study of how humans
produce and perceive speech
sounds, or in the case of sign languages,
the equivalent aspects of sign.
Segment
Segment refers to a basic unit of
speech sounds, it is the smallest
distinct units of sound that can change
the meaning of a word in a particular
language.
Example
For example, in English, changing the
initial sound in the words "bat" and "pat"
results in different meanings,
demonstrating the importance of
segments.
Segment
You can segment a word(one
continuous sound) into parts, but it is
not possible to segment the sound of
someone clearing her throat into a
sequence of discrete units.
Segment
➪ not because throat-clearing is one
continuous sound
➪but because such sounds are not speech
and are therefore not able to be
segmented into the sound of speech
English speakers can separate
'keepout' into the two words
'keep' and 'out,' and we do not
generally pause between
words, while non-English
speakers might not know
where the break between
words occurred.
Some phrases and sentences that are clearly distinct
when printed may be ambiguous when spoken:
grade A gray day
I scream Iice cream
the sun’s rays meet the sons raise meat
The lack of breaks between spoken words and
individual sounds often makes us think that
speakers of foreign languages run their words
together, unaware that we do too.
Identity of
Speech Sounds
Identity of
Speech Sounds
Given the continuous nature of speech and the
variations between speakers, it's remarkable
that we can still understand individual words.
Speaker differences, influenced by factors like
size, age, and gender, ensure that no two
people pronounce the same word identically.
Identity of
Speech Sounds
Our language knowledge helps us identify which
pronunciation aspects are linguistically important.
For instance, if someone coughs while saying
"How (cough) are you?" we disregard the cough
and interpret it as "How are you?" Personal
differences like pitch, speed, or unusual situations
aren't linguistically significant.
Identity of
Speech Sounds
Our linguistic knowledge enables us to
overlook nonlinguistic speech differences.
Additionally, we can produce sounds that
we recognize as non-speech sounds in our
language.
Example
．disapproving clicking sound "tsk"
➪actual speech sounds, similar to "k" and "t" in
English words in languages like Xhosa, Zulu,
Sosotho, and Khoikhoi
➪"tsk" is a speech sound in Xhosa but not in
English. Similarly, the sound represented by "th"
in "think" is a speech sound in English but not in
French. Overall, languages vary in the inventory
of speech sounds used to construct words.
The science of phonetics attempts to
describe all of the sounds used in all
languages of the world.
Acoustic phonetics: focuses on the physical
properties of sounds
Auditory phonetics: is concerned with how
listerners perceive these sounds
Articulatory phonetics: is the study of how the
vocal tract produces the sounds of language
The Phonetic Alphabet
Orthography, a general term for “spelling”
in any language, does not necessarily
represent the sounds of a language in a
consistent way.
Phonetics is a science—we must devise a
way for the same sound to be
spelled with the same letter every time, and
for any letter to stand for the same
sound every time.
To see that ordinary spelling with our Roman
alphabet is woefully inadequate for the task,
consider sentences such as:

Did he believe that Caesar could see the

people seize the seas?
The silly amoeba stole the key to the machine.
➪the same sound is represented variously
My father wanted many a village dame badly.
➪the letter represents various sounds

honest hole Christmas

psychology sword debt
bough island knot
➪some letters have no sound in certain words
International Phonetic Alphabet
In 1888 members of the International Phonetic
Association developed a phonetic alphabet that
absolutely guaranteed a one-sound-to-one-symbol
correspondence and symbolize the sounds of all
languages. There could be no other way to study
the sounds of all human languages scientifically.
IPA symbols for English
pronunciation
The Phonetic Alphabet
The symbols do not tell us everything about
the sounds, which may vary from person to
person and which may depend on their
position in a word. They are not all of the
phonetic symbols needed for English, but
they will suffice for our purposes.
The Phonetic Alphabet
．place phonetic symbols in square brackets [ ]
➪to distinguish them from ordinary letters
． [ə] : schwa
➪represents vowels in syllables that are not
emphasized in speaking and whose duration is very
short, such as general, about, reader, etc. All other
vowel symbols in the chart occur in syllables that
receive at least some emphasis.
The Phonetic Alphabet
The IPA uses an upside-down r ([ɹ]) for the English
sound r. We, and many writers, prefer the right-
side-up symbol [r] for clarity when writing for an
English-reading audience. Using the IPA symbols,
we can now unambiguously represent the
pronunciation of words.
The Phonetic Alphabet
Speakers from different parts of the country may
pronounce some words differently
➪the pronounciation of the words which and
witch
➪identically:[w] differently:[ʍ]
． phonetic transcription gives us the actual
pronunciations
Articulatory Phonetics
Stella劉芊廷

Funtastic
Articulatory Phonetics
1.The voice is articulated by the lips and tongue.

2.The production of any sound involves the movement

of air.

3.Most speech sounds are produced by pushing lung

air through the vocal cords, up the throat, into the
mouth or nose, and finally out of the body.
 Consonants
The sounds of all languages fall into two classes:
consonants and vowels. Consonants are produced
with some restriction or closure in the vocal tract.

Eg.a and c
 Place of Articulation
We classify consonants according to where in the
vocal tract the airflow occurs, called the place of
articulation.
Bilabials [p] [b] [m] When we produce a [p], [bJ, or
[m], we bring both lips together.

Labiodentals [f] [v] We also use our lips to form [f]

and [v]. We make these sounds by touching the
bottom lip to the upper teeth.
Interdentals [θ] [ð] These sounds, both spelled th,
are pronounced by inserting the tip of the tongue
between the teeth. However, for some speakers the
tongue merely touches-behind the teeth, making a
sound more correctly called dental.
Alveolars [t] [d] [n] [s] [z] [I] [r] All seven of these
sounds are pronounced with tongue raised in various
ways to the alveolar ridge.

Palatals [ʃ] [ʒ] [tʃ] [dʒ] [j]For these sounds, which

occur in mission, measure, cheap, judge, and yoyo,
the constriction occurs by raising the front part of the
tongue to the palate.
Velars[k] [g] [ŋ] Another class of sounds is produced by
raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate or velum.
The initial and final sounds of the words kick and gig, and
the final sounds of the words back, bag, and bang, are all
velar sounds.

Uvulars [R] [q] [g] Uvular sounds are produced by

raising the back of the tongue to the uvula, the fleshy
protuberance that hangs down in the back of our throats.
Glottals [h] [?] The sound of [h] is from the flow of air
through the open glottis and past the tongue and lips as
they prepare to pronounce a vowel sound, which always
follows [h].
 Phonetics Symbols
for American English
Adelaide
Consonants included...
-voicing
-nasality
-place of articulation
-manner of articulation
Example
[f] [n]
-voiceless -nasal
-labiodental fricative -alveolar stop
Voiced or Voiceless?
You can put your hand on the neck, try the sound
/p/ and /b/, feel the difference between them.
The sound /b/ make your vocal chords vibrated,
while the sound /p/ didn’t.
Bilabial
Nasal (voiced)
Stop e.g) my
e.g) pie(voiceless)
buy(voiced) Glide
e.g) which(voiceless)
wipe(voiced)
 Labiodental
Fricative
e.g) fine(voiceless)
Interdental
vine(voiced) Fricative
e.g) thigh(voiceless)
thy(voiced)
Alveolar Fricative
e.g) sue(voiceless)
Stop zoo(voiced)
e.g) tie(voiceless)
die(voiced) Liquid (voiced)
e.g) rye(central)
Nasal (voiced)
lye(lateral)
e.g) night
Palatal
Affricate
e.g) cheese(voiceless)
Fricative jump(voiced)
e.g) shoe(voiceless)
measure(voiced) Glide
e.g) you(voiced)
Velar
Nasal (voiced)
Stop e.g) sing
e.g) kite(voiceless)
guy(voiced) Glide
e.g) which(voiceless)
wipe(voiced)
Glottal
Stop
e.g) (ʔ)uh-(ʔ)oh
Fricative
e.g) high(voiceless)
Vowels
Ace
Structure of this section
What are vowels?
What is “articulatory phonetics” and what are
articulatory features?
What are the articulatory features of vowels?
Tongue position (height and backness)
Lip rounding (roundness)
 What are Vowels?
Vowels are produced with little restriction of
the airflow from the lungs out through the mouth
and/or the nose
Vowels carry pitch
Vowels carry loudness
Vowels can be longer or shorter in duration
We will focus on vowels’ articulatory features
(not computational phonetics)
 Articulatory Phonetics
Articulatory phonetics is about how sounds are
made with the organs of the vocal tract

Simple English: how we make sounds when

speaking... e.g. where do we put our tongue in
our mouth? Do we leave our lips open or closed?
 Articulatory Features
Articulatory feature = a property/trait/quality that
a sound has
They are how we classify and describe sounds
Example: /d/ and /g/ are consonants
pronounced in the same way but in different
places in the mouth. (The articulatory feature
which makes them different is the place of
articulation.)
 Articulatory Features
Example explained in Academic English:

/d/ and /g/ are dental and velar consonants

respectively. They have the same manner of
articulation but different places of articulation. The
articulatory feature which distinguishes them is the
place of articulation.
Articulatory Features of Vowels
Height (Tongue position)
Backness (Tongue position)
Roundness (Lip rounding)
 Tongue Position
Height = the “vertical” tongue position. How
close the tongue is to the roof of the mouth when
producing a vowel.

Backness = the “horizontal” tongue position.

Whether the tongue is positioned towards the
front or back of the mouth when producing a
vowel.
 Tongue Position Example
Height example
[a] (low vowel)

Backness examples
[i] (high front vowel)
[u] (high back vowel)
 Lip Rounding
Whether the lips are rounded or spread (or
neutral)
 Lip Rounding Example
English
“cheese” [i] (unrounded) vs who” [u]
(rounded)

Chinese
四 (unrounded) vs 速 (rounded)
 Diphthongs,
Nasalization of Vowels,
Tense and Lax Vowels
Elvis
Monophthongs vs. Diphthongs
Monophthong
a single/simple vowel sound

Diphthong
two vowel sounds bonded together
For example:
[aɪ] (bite, like, crime ...)
[aʊ] (bout, brown, down...)
[ɔɪ] ( boy, toy, coin ...)
 Diphthongs
narrow transcription: one that indicates all the
phonetic details of a sound, even those that do
not affect the words.

The midvowels [e] and [o] may be diphthongized,

especially in American English. Many linguists
therefore denote these sounds as [eɪ] and [oʊ] in a
narrower transcription.
 Nasalization of Vowels
When the nasal passage is blocked, oral vowels
result.
When the nasal passage is open, nasal (or
nasalized) vowels result.
To show the nasalization of a vowel in a narrow
phonetic transcription, an extra mark called a
diacritic—the symbol ～ (tilde)—is placed over
the vowel, as in bean [bĩn] and bone [bõn].
 Tense and Lax Vowels
Tense vowels are produced with greater
tension of the tongue muscles (a slightly higher
tongue position) than lax vowels, and they are
often a little longer in duration.
Tense and Lax Vowels
 Tense and Lax Vowels
Tense vowels may occur at the ends of words:
[si], [se], and [su] represent the English words
see, say, and sue. Lax vowels do not ordinarily
occur at the ends of words: [sɪ], [sɛ], and [sʊ] are
not possible words in English.
Major Phonetic Classes

Annie
 Biology linguistics
living creature
sounds

plants animals
vowel consonant
sounds sounds
invertebrates vertebrates

voiced unvoiced
mammals reptiles
Noncontinuants and Continuants
Noncontinuants includes stops and affricates.

Continuants includes all other consonants and

all vowels.

The difference is whether the airstream flows out of

the mouth.
Obstruents and Sonorants
Obstruents includes non nasal stops, fricates,
and affricates.

Sonorants includes
nasal stops [m] [n]
liquids [l] [r]
vowels
glides [j] [w]
Obstruents and Sonorants
Nasal stops are sonorants because, although the
air is blocked in the mouth, it continues to
resonate in the nasal cavity.
 Cindy

Consonantal Sounds
obstruents, nasal stops, liquids, glides are consonants
glides are the most vowel-like consonant

ex: [ j ], [ w ]
obstruents, nasal stops, liquids are consonantal

(which is a subclass of consonants)

 Consonantal Sounds
Labials
Sounds that articulate with the lips involved.
1. bilabial: two of the lips / ex: [ p ],[ b ],[ m ]
2. labiodentals: lower lip + upper teeth / ex:[ f ], [ v ]
3. labiovelars: round lips / ex:[ w ]
 Consonantal Sounds
Coronals
Sounds that articulate by raising the tongue blade.
1. interdentals/ ex: [ θ ],[ ð ]
2. alveolars / ex:[ t ], [ d ], [ z ]
3. palatals / ex:[ ʃ ]
4. affricates / ex:[ tʃ ], [ dʒ ]
5. liquids / ex:[ l ], [ r ]
 Consonantal Sounds
Anteriors
Sounds that produced from the alveolar forward.
Include: labials, interdentals, and the alveolars
Sibilants
Characterized by an acoustic rather than articulatory
properties. Can produced a hissing sound.
ex: [ s ], [ z ],[ ʃ ]
 Syllabic Sounds

Sound that may function as the core of

syllable posses the feature syballic.
 Syllabic Sounds
Vowels are not the only sound class that anchors
syllabic. Liquids and nasals also can be syllabic.
ex:
dazzle[dæzəl], rhythm[riðəm], wagon[wæɡən]
=> schwa would be placed before the syllabic
liquid or nasal to seperate syllables.
 Syllabic Sounds
Vowel sound sometimes written as a syllabic r.
For consistency, we can use the schwa.
ex:
bird[brd] => [bərd]
verb[vrb] => [vərb]
Obstruents and glides are never syllabic.
 Prosodic Features

Length, pitch, and stress are prosodic or

suprasegmental features.
 Prosodic Features
Length

In some languages,when a vowel is

prolonged to around twice its normal
length, the meaning of the two words can
be different.
 Prosodic Features
Length Example:

In Japanese
biru[ biru ] refers to "building"
biiru[bi:ru] refers to "beer"
 Tone and Intonation

In some languages, the pitch with which a

word or syllable is spoken can also make a
different meaning in certain languages.
 Tone and Intonation
Example
In English: cat
In Nupe: [ba]
high pitch: to be sour
low pitch: to count
Phonetics Symbols and
Spelling Corresponds
Vivian
Structure of this section
English Orthography & Sound System
Phonetic Symbol of Consonants
Phonetic Symbol of Vowels
Phonetics of Signed Languages
Include the symbols for the voiceless
aspirated stops to illustrate that what
speakers usually consider one sound
pronunciations may differ from
your own

Cot Caught
 Cot Caught
sound [a] sound [ɔ]
as in car as in core
Symbols Examples
[p] spit, tip
[b] bit, tab, bubble
[m] smack, Autumn

[t] stick, kissed

Symbols Examples
[k] skin, scat, critique
[f] fat, philosophy
[v] vat, dove

[l] leaf, call, feel

Symbols Examples
skip,
psychology,
[s]
democracy,
scissors,
deceive
Symbols Examples

beet,
[i] beat,
receive,
people,
Symbols Examples

gate,
[e] bait,
ray,
eight
Symbols Examples
boot,
through,
[u]
two,
true,
suit
Symbols Examples
coat,
grow,
[o]
though,
toe,
go
 Phonetics of
Signed Languages
Signed languages, like all other human
languages, are governed by a grammatical system
that includes syntactic and morphological rules.
 What is ASL ?
1.Abbreviation of “American Sign Language”
2.Most commonly used in English-speaking areas of the
United States, Canada and parts of Mexico.
3.Between 200 thousand to 2 million people using.
 The signs of ASL

1.The configuration of the hand (handshape)

2.The movement of the hand and arms in signing space
3.The location of the hands in signing space