Transcript 1.8 Phonology and Phoneticsx

Subsystems of
Language
Phonology & Phonetics
Phonology & Phonetics
• The way in which the sounds of language are organised is
known as phonology.
• The study of the sounds themselves is called phonetics.
• All languages have their own distinctive sounds and even
within the family of English varieties there are differences.
• Think about how in Australia we say ‘jacket’; in New Zealand,
it’s pronounced [dʒɛkət] ‘djekat’. Aussie = [dʒækɛt]
‘djahkhet’
• When studying the sounds of English, we find there is a lot
to consider, including vowels and consonants, manners and
places of articulation and prosodic features.
The trouble with English
spelling
• Australian English has forty four contrasting sounds
• The English alphabet only has twenty six different
letters…you can see how spelling problems arise; for a start,
there aren’t enough symbols.
• E.G. the consonant sound [t] (to indicate it’s a sound, it’s placed
in square brackets). This consonant is represented by the letter t
as in tap, also by tt as in butt, te in Kate, ed as in jumped, th as in
Thomas, pt as in receipt, bt in debt, ct in victuals – even phth in the
word phthisis (a medical term that you’ll probably never use, but
it highlights the absurdities of English spelling.
• In fact, there at least twelve different ways of spelling the
consonant [t]
• So in order to answer the question ‘How many sounds are there
in the word jumped?’ we have to forget about spelling and listen
to the sounds. There are only five sounds here: [dʒʌmpt]
International Phonetic
Alphabet
• Linguists employ systems like the International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in order to give a unique
written representation for each sound that occurs in
English (or any other language of the world).
• Many dictionaries use IPA symbols in their
pronunciation guides.
• Keep in mind that words spelled in the IPA will be
represented by different symbols to reflect different
accents and pronunciations.
IPA – Consonant symbols
CONSONANTS (24)
p
pen, spin, tip
v
vine, voice, have
b
bat, but, web
θ
thin, thing, teeth
t
two, ton, take,
sting, bet
ð
then, this, breathe,
father
d
do, odd, dale
s
see, soon, city, pass
k
cat, curl, kill,
queen, skin, thick
z
zoo, zoom, rose
ɡ
go, get, girl, beg
ʃ
m
moon, money,
mail
ʒ
she, shine, sure,
emotion, leash
beige, genre,
pleasure
n
noon, neither, nail
h
ham, hoon
ŋ
ring, sing
r
raw, run, very
j
yes, your
tʃ
w
war, we, woo
chair, chive, nature,
teach
gin, jive, joy, edge
f
fine, fool, enough,
leaf
dʒ
l
left, live, bell
Places of articulation
The following terms describe the different places of
articulation for English consonants:
Place of articulation
Mouth action
Example
Bilabial
lips come together
banana
Labio-dental
lower lip + upper teeth
first
Dental
tongue tip between the
teeth
thin
Alveolar
tongue tip + alveolar ridge
two
Palato-alveolar
tongue blade + back of
alveolar ridge
she
Palatal
front of tongue + hard
palate
yes
Velar
back of tongue + velum
kitty
Glottal
space between vocal folds
huge
Manner of articulation
There are also six manners of articulation depending on
how the airflow is obstructed.
Manner of
articulation
Mouth action
Example
Stop
complete closure of oral cavity
teddy
Nasal
complete closure of oral cavity + lower velum
mummy
Fricatives
two speech organs partly close to partially block airflow
food
Affricate
complete closure + partial release
chasing
Lateral
partial closure by tongue blade against alveolar ridge
lollies
Approximants
two speech organs come close but without causing
turbulence
wash
Voiced and un-voiced
sounds
• Vowels are generally voiced (this is where the
name comes from)
• Some consonants are not voiced (e.g. f), while
others are (e.g. b)
• To test whether a sound is voiced or un-voiced,
place two fingers on your throat while saying a
sound. If you feel a vibration in your throat,
the sound is voiced, if not, it’s un-voiced.
IPA – Vowel symbols
MONOPHTHONGS (15)
i
been, city, peat
ɪ
bin, pit, sit
ɛ
DIPHTHONGS (8)
aɪ
buy,
bed, bet, pet
eɪ
bay, day, pain
æ
bat, cat, lad, ran
ɔɪ
boy, ploy
a
arm, barn, part
aʊ
bow, how, now
ɒ
boss, not, wasp
oʊ
hoe, no, tow
ʌ
but, run, enough
ɪə
here, near
ɔ
bought, caught, law
ɛə
bear, hair
ʊ
book, put, wood
ʊə
boor, tour
u
boot, soon, through
ɜ
bird, burn, pert
ə
æ
about, apart
as in French – bon
voyage
as in French – vin
y
as in French – rue
ɒ
*Diphthongs are like long vowels. When
you produce one the tongue moves from
one position to another (glides).
*The first part of a diphthong is longer
and slightly louder.
*E.G. say the word right
Activity #1
– What are these words?
IPA translation
English words
mit
meat
bækpæk
backpack
bæθ
bath
sidi
CD
gɑt
got
jɛs
yes
potʃ
poach
Activity#2
-translate these sentences
IPA translation
English sentences
ɪz ɪt tʃɪkən ɔr fɪʃ?
Is it chicken or fish?
kwɪk, rɑbən! tu ðə
bætmobil!
Quick, Robin. To the Batmobile!
tu bi ɔr nɑt tu bi? ðæt ɪz
ðə kwɛstʃən.
To be or not to be? That is the
question.
Prosodic features
• Timing – tempo/speed indicates emotion and grammatical boundaries.
• Loudness – signals a range of feelings
• e.g. anger and excitement are generally louder while intimacy and sadness are
softer
• Pitch – melody of voice rises and falls.
• Controlled by vocal cord vibration. Faster vibration = higher pitch.
• Rising in pitch at end of statement signals questions/tentative statements
• Stress – words of more than one syllable will have a syllable that receives
the main/primary stress i.e. it is made more prominent by making the
syllable louder, longer and higher in pitch.
• Nouns are stressed on the first syllable and verbs on the second
• E.G. We made a record (noun – stress on first syllable)
We always record our favourite show (verb – stress on the second syllable)
Activity #3
-prosody
• Read this excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.’s
famous ‘I have a Dream’ speech.
• Note where you think pauses, rises/fall in pitch,
tempo, loudness would fall. Which words/prases
would be stressed?
• Listen to/watch the last 5 minutes of the speech
online (the entire speech is 16 minutes).
• While listening, note the prosodic features you hear
• After listening, expand on these points to explain
the impact of the various prosodic features