Phonetics
Phonetics Vs. Phonology
Whereas syntax is about sentence formation, and semantics about sentence interpretation, phonetics and phonology cover the field of sentence utterance.
Phonetics is concerned with how sounds are
produced, transmitted and perceived (we will only look at the production of sounds). Phonology is concerned with how sounds function in relation to each other in a language. In other words, phonetics is about sounds of language, phonology about sound systems of language. Phonetics is a descriptive tool necessary to the study of the phonological aspects of a language.
Why are phonetics and
phonology worth studying?
Orthography
Reading
Speech disorders
First language acquisition
Second or foreign language teaching
What is phonetics
Definition
Three main directions in phonetics
Goals of any phonetic theory
Definition
Phonetics is the study of actual sounds
of language.
The Three Main Branches of Phonetics
Articulatory Phonetics : articulatory phonetics is interested in the
movement of various parts of the vocal tract during speech. The vocal tract is the passages above the larynx where air passes in the production of speech. In simpler terms which bit of the mouth moves when we make a sound.
Acoustic Phonetics: This is the study of the sound waves made by the human vocal organs for communication and how the sounds are
transmitted. The sound travels through from the speaker's mouth through the air to the hearer's ear, through the form of vibrations in the air.
Phoneticians can use equipment like Oscillographs and Spectographs in order to analyse things like the frequency and duration of the sound waves produced. Acoustic phonetics also looks at how articulatory and auditory phonetics link to the acoustic properties.
Auditory Phonetics :This is how we perceive and hear sounds and how the ear, brain and auditory nerve perceives the sounds. This branch deals with the physiological processes involved in the reception of speech.
Goals of any Phonetic Theory
Any phonetic theory should account for:
1- Any kind of noise that the human vocal apparatus is capable of producing (e.g.
grunts, groans, and laughter).
2- Linguistically significant sounds in language in general.
3- Linguistically significant sounds in a
particular language (e.g. English).
Description of Consonants
1- Place of Articulation
2- Manner of Articulation
1- Place of Articulation
2- Manner of Articulation
Manner of articulation concerns the types of obstruction that can take place in the vocal tract. There are two main places where such
obstruction takes place. One is the glottis and the other is the oral cavity. The two operate
independently from one another and
may act simultaneously.
Obstruction in the Glottis
1- Voicing and the glottis : in the production of speech, the main importance of the larynx lies in the fact that it contains the vocal bands
(vocal cords). The vocal bands consist of two
horizontal folds of elastic tissue, one on each
side of the passage.
In normal breathing, the vocal bands are open, but it is possible to close them partially or
completely during the production of a sound.
The bands may be brought together so they vibrate as air passes through them. This
vibration accounts for the feature of voicing (e.g. [z], [v], and [b] are classified as
voiced sounds).
If the vocal bands are open and not vibrating during the production of a sound, it will be a voiceless sound (e.g. [s], [f], and [t]).
It is possible to completely close the vocal
bands and release them in a rather abrupt
manner. The resulting sound is referred to as
glottal stop, symbolized as [ʔ].
Obstruction in the Oral Cavity
Obstruction in the oral cavity has to do with the kind of
obstruction the air meets on its way out, after it has passed the
vocal folds.
Description of Vowels
Vowels are described in terms of:
1- Tongue Position
2- Length
3- Rounding
4- Nasality
5- Diphthong
1- Tongue Position
Tongue position is described using two criteria: the height (how high is the tongue) and the part of the tongue involved in the production of the sound.
In English the tongue may either be high , i.e. when the speaker produces e.g. [i:, u:] in [bi:t, bu:t] beat , boot , intermediate , e.g. [e, N:] in [bet, b ᴐ:t] bet , bought , or low , e.g. [æ,a:] in [b æt, ba:rt] bat , Bart .
The part of the tongue involved in the production of a vowel can also be illustrated with the examples above. If you say [i:] and then [u:] just after it, you almost have the feeling that you are moving your tongue backwards. This is because [i:] is a front vowel, and [u:] is a back vowel, or in other words, the highest point in the pronunciation of [i:] is the front of the tongue, whereas the highest point in [u:] is the back of the tongue.
2- Length
3- Rounding
4- Nasality
5- Diphthongs
The basic Unit in Phonology : The Phoneme
A phoneme is a basic unit of a language's phonology, which is combined with other phonemes to form meaningful units such as words or morphemes.
The phoneme can be described as "The smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about a change of meaning". In this way the
difference in meaning between the English words kill and kiss is a result of the exchange of the phoneme /l/ for the phoneme /s/.
Phonemes are abstract units of a set of speech sounds (i.e.
phones)which are perceived as equivalent to each other in a given language.
Notation: Phonemes are conventionally placed between slashes in transcription, whereas speech sounds (phones) are placed between
square brackets. Thus /pʊʃ/ represents a sequence of three phonemes /p/, /ʊ/, /ʃ/ (the word push in standard English), while [pʰʊʃ] represents the phonetic sequence of sounds [pʰ] (aspirated "p"), [ʊ], [ʃ] (the usual pronunciation of push).
Phones and allophones
Phones are the actual speech sounds. It is a speech segment that possesses distinct physical or perceptual properties, and serves as the basic unit of phonetic
speech analysis. A phonetic transcription is enclosed within square brackets ([ ]), rather than the slashes (/ /) of a phonemic transcription.
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds (or phones) used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, [pʰ] (as in pin) and [p] (as in spin) are allophones for the phoneme /p/ in the English language. Changing the allophone used by native speakers for a given phoneme in a specific
context usually will not change the meaning of a word
but the result may sound non-native or unintelligible.
Minimal pairs and near minimal pairs to discover phonemes
Minimal pairs and near minimal pairs are the
simplest procedures to discover which sounds of a language are contrastive (i.e. different
phonemes not allophones).
Minimal pairs : a set of two or more words that have the same sounds except for one sound and are different in meaning (e.g. sin , pin, bin, and chin).
Near minimal pairs: words that have the same
sounds except for 2 sounds and have different
meanings (e.g. /fIʃin/ (fishin’)and /vIžin/ (vision)).
Complementary distribution to discover allophones
Complementary distribution is the relationship
between two different elements, where one element is found in a particular environment and the other
element is found in the opposite environment. It often indicates that two superficially different elements are in fact the same linguistic unit at a deeper level. For instance, in English, [p] and [pʰ] are allophones of the phoneme /p/ because they occur in complementary distribution. [pʰ] always occurs when it is the syllable onset and followed by a stressed vowel (as in the
word pin). [p] occurs in all other situations (as in the
word spin).
Free Variation
There are instances where phonetic variants are both non-contrastive and not in complementary distribution. It is the phenomenon of two (or more) sounds or forms appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning and without being considered incorrect by native speakers. In these cases, a speaker may use two or more of the allophones in the same environment. For example, the word stop may be pronounced with a plain unaspirated [p], [stɑp], or with a glottalized [pˀ], [stɑpˀ].
Phonemic Fluctuation:
It is the situation when two different phonemes alternate without causing a difference in meaning. For example;
‘either’ is pronounced as [i:ðər] and [ayðər].
Phonological Features
I. Major Class Features
II. Manner of Articulation Features
III. Place of Articulation Features
IV. Laryngeal Features
I. Major Class Features
o Syllabic [syl.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds that can serve as peaks of syllables.
[+ syllabic] sounds include vowels , glides, and nasals.
Sonorant [son.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced without an extreme constriction in the oral cavity.
[+Sonorant] nasals, liquids, glides, vowels. [- Sonorant] stops, fricatives, affricates (obstruents).
o Consonantal [cons.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced with an obstruction along the central line of the oral cavity.
[+Consonantal] obstruents, liquids, and nasals.
[- Consonantal] vowels and glides.
II. Manner of Articulation Features
Continuent [cont.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced without stopping the air flow in the oral cavity.
[-cont.] stops, affricates, and nasals.
o Delayed release [d.r.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced with gradual release of air.
[-d.r.] stops.
o Strident [str.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced by pushing the air through a narrow opening creating turbulence.
[+str.] fricatives [f, v, s, z, ʃ, ʒ] and affricates [tʃ and dʒ].
o Nasal [nas.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced with the velum lowered so that the air escapes through the nasal cavity.
[+nas.] only [m, n, and ɳ]
Lateral [lat.]: a feature that characterizes sounds produced by lowering of one or both sides of the tongue.
[+lat.] only [l]
III. Place of Articulation Features
Anterior [ant.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced with a primary obstruction located at or in front of the alveolar region.
[+ant.] labials, dentals, and alveolar sounds
[-ant.] alveopalatals, palatals, and velar sounds.
o Coronal [cor.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced with the front (tip or blade) of the tongue raised from the neutral position.
[+cor.] interdentals, alveolars, and alveopalatal sounds.
[-cor.] labials and velars.
High [hi.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced by raising the body of the tongue from neutral position.
[+hi.] high vowels [i, I, u, ᴜ], alveopalatals, velars, and glides.
[-hi.] labials, alveolars, and dental sounds.
Low [low.]: it is a fearture that characterizes sounds produced by lowering the body of the tongue from the neutral position.
[+low.] low vowels are [æ], [ɑ], and [ᴐ]
Back [bk.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced with the body of the tongue moved back and slightly raised from neutral position.
[+bk.] back vowels are [ᴜ], [u], [ə] and [ʌ], oral glides [w], and velars.
Tense [tns.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced with a more deliberate gesture that involves considerable
muscular activity at the base of the tongue.
[+tns.] vowels [i, e, u, o, ᴐ, ɑ].
[-tns.] vowels [I, ᴜ, ɛ]
Round [rd.]: it is a feature that characterizes sounds produced with lip rounding.
[+rd.] vowels are [u, ᴜ, o, ᴐ].
IV. Laryngeal Features
Voiced [vd]: it is a feature that
characterizes sounds produced with a vibration of the vocal bands in the
larynx.
Phonological Processes
Assimilation
Deletion
Epenthesis
Metathesis
Assimilation
Definition: is a linguistic process by which a sound becomes similar to an adjacent sound.
Degree of assimilation: Partial or complete. In Partial assimilation, a sound takes on some of the characteristics of a neighboring sound (e.g. the plural /s/ in cats and cabs takes the voicing feature of the preceding sound, [kæts] Vs.[kæbz]).
In complete assimilation, a sound takes on all the characteristics of a neighboring sound resulting in a process called geminatation (e.g. [gImmi ‘give me’], [lɛmmi
‘let me’], and [gubbaI ‘good bye’].
Direction of assimilation: Assimilation is either progressive (i.e. the assimilated sound follows the conditioning sound), or regressive (i.e. the assimilated sound precedes the conditioning item).
Conditioning Sound →Assimilated Sound = Progressive assimilation Assimilated Sound ← Conditioning Sound = Regressive assimilation
Deletion
Definition: Sounds that occur in some contexts are lost in others. Deletion changes the syllable structure of a word.
Subtypes of Deletion:
A. Haplology: An entire syllable is lost when it is
identical to another syllable (e.g. adjectives ending in –ly, such as lively and friendly). When these are used as
adverbs, the addition of the adverbial suffix –ly results in two identical syllables (i.e. livelyly and friendlyly).
Haplology resolves such cases by deleting one of the
identical syllables resulting in friendly and lively.
B. Aphesis: refers to the loss of an
unstressed initial vowel or syllable (e.g.
about →bout / around → round/ because →cause).
C. Syncope: is the loss of a medial vowel or syllable (e.g. evening →ev’ning/ every→ev’ry).
D. Apocope is the loss of a final vowel or syllable
(e.g. singan →sing / finde →find).
Epenthesis
Definition: epenthesis is inserting a sound segment. Both vowels and
consonants may be inserted (e.g. the vowel in the plural /Iz/ in buses [bʌsIz], the vowel in the past tense /Id/ in waited [wetId], the consonant [p] in attempt →[ətɛmpt]/ comfort
→ [cʌmp]fort/ non standard pronunciation of
chimney → chimbly and family→fambly).
Metathesis
Definition: it is changing the linear order of the segments by permutations of one type or another.
That is, two segments reverse positions (e.g. ask
→aks ‘ask’ / prIslraᴵb→pIrskraᴵb ‘prescribe’/
hʌndrId→hʌndIrd ‘hundred’).
References
Wolfram, Walt, and Robert Johnson. 1982.
Phonological Analysis: Focus on American English
Phonetics and Phonology: Reader for First Year English Linguistics by Claire-A. Forel
& Genoveva Puskás University of Geneva
Phonetics and Phonology
Handouts of Dr. Mahasen Abu-Mansour
and Dr. Rawiah Kabrah
