Spoken language phonetics:

Transcription, articulation, consonants

LING 400
Winter 2010
 Overview
• Phonetic transcription
• Phonetics
• Articulation of speech sounds
• Description of consonants

cell phones
off please
What is a phonetic transcription?
• Way of writing languages that
– have no writing system
or
– have writing systems that don’t
represent sounds consistently
• Spoken vs. signed languages
 A language with no writing system
Witsuwit’en
1. ‘driftwood’ [təz]

2. ‘cane’ [thʌz]

3. ‘footwear’ [qhɛ]

Notice
•some familiar symbols (but may have new values)
•some unfamiliar symbols
 A language that doesn’t represent
sound consistently

• English
• Different letters but same sound
– she, tree, ski, believe, receive,
amoeba
• Same letter but different sounds
– red, she, the, get
 Value of phonetic transcription
• Allows us to “freeze” language and talk
about
– structure
– how structure learned
– how structure varies between speakers
– how structure changes over time
• A universal framework for the description
of spoken languages
 What is phonetics?
• Articulatory phonetics
– how sounds are produced
• Acoustic phonetics
– physical properties of sounds
• Auditory phonetics
– how sounds are perceived
• All branches use phonetic transcription
 mid-sagittal
view
Articulatory
phonetics nasal cavity
Some vocal tract
structures relevant
for speech

pharynx

oral cavity

air from lungs

More vocal
tract
structures
relevant for
speech

Distinct sound
results from
location, degree of
constriction in
vocal tract
 Phonetic description
• =Description of speech sounds
• For consonants, mainly:
– State of glottis
– Place of articulation
– Manner of articulation
 Some places of articulation
upper articulator
lower articulator
(“dancers”)

“lips” (1)
“3 different parts of
the tongue”
•tip(3)/blade(6)
•body(front-7)
•back-8 (and root)
“soft palate”
“larynx”
 Some structures in vocal tract
structure descriptive term
lips labial
teeth dental
alveolar ridge alveolar
hard palate palatal
soft palate = velum velar
 Some places of articulation in
English

lower upper example

articulator articulator
(bi-) labial bill
(apico-) alveolar dill
(dorso-) velar gill
 Manner of articulation
• = “degree of occlusion”
• How close are lower and upper articulator?
– Relatively close, narrowed or constricted
(‘occluded’) airflow: consonants
– Relatively far apart, unconstricted
airflow: vowels
 Some consonant manners of
articulation
• Stops: complete occlusion of airflow
in vocal tract
–bill, dill, gill
– Nasal stops
– palm, pawn, pong
 Some English fricatives
air pressure build-up behind occlusion; turbulent airflow

place of articulation example

labiodental fin
interdental thin
alveolar sin
palato-alveolar shin
laryngeal hinder
 Approximants

No pressure build-up, non-turbulent airflow

place example
liquids alveolar lip
retroflex* rip
glides palatal yip
labio-velar whip
State of the
glottis
 The
larynx
and
vocal
cords
 The Human Language Evolves
(Human Language, pt. 3)
• Video clip of the vocal cords in action
• Lieberman: The vocal cords “convert
a steady flow of air from the lungs, like
([h]), which you cannot hear, into very,
very loud” [acoustic energy]
• Vocal cords pulse 60-300 x/sec
 Some states of the glottis in English
• Voiced: vocal cords are close, vibrate when
air passes through glottis
• Voiceless: vocal cords apart, do not vibrate
• Some voiced and voiceless fricatives

voiceless voiced
fooey [f] voodoo [v]
thin [θ] then [ð]
sip [s] zip [z]
Aleutian [ʃ] illusion [ʒ]
 Glottal stop
• A third state of the glottis: complete
occlusion (stop) at vocal cords
• Examples
– uh-oh, unh-unh
– For some people
• Hawaii
– _apple, the _apple
– “t” before syllabic [n]
• mountain, Gorton
 Summary of consonant phonetic
description
• State of glottis
• Place of articulation
• (Central/lateral)
• Manner of articulation
• Oral/nasal
• For example
– voiced (bi)labial stop
– (voiced) alveolar lateral approximant
– voiced velar nasal (stop)
 Back to phonetic transcription
• Transcription symbols abbreviate phonetic
descriptions
– E.g. [p] = voiceless bilabial stop
– [ʔ] = glottal stop
• Phonetic transcription in square brackets
• International Phonetic Association
(http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/ipachart.html)
– interactive chart:
http://www.ladefogeds.com/course/chapter1/chapter1.html
 Consonant charts
Place of articulation
Lips … Glottis

kg ʔ
least
pb td open

m n ŋ …

articulation
Manner of
ʧʤ

fv θð sz ʃʒ h
l ɹ

w j most
open