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The linguistics encyclopedia 12
constriction. In general, sibilants are stronger in noise intensity than non-sibilants ([f],
[θ], [h]: [h] being the weakest); affricates have a shorter noise duration than fricatives;
and [s] is higher in its frequency range than . See the schematic spectrograms in
Figure 15.
Acoustic phonetics developed in the 1940s with the advent of the age of electronics,
and provided a foundation for the theory of distinctive features of Jakobson and Halle
(Jakobson, Fant, and Halle, 1951) (see DISTINCTIVE FEATURES), which in turn
formed the basis of
Figure 15 A schematic spectrogram
showing different fricatives. Note that
the difference between [θ] and sibilants
is in the noise intensity; in the noise
frequency between [s] and ; and in
the noise duration between and
generative phonology in the 1950s and 1960s (see GENERATIVE PHONOLOGY).
Although this framework was overhauled by Chomsky and Halle (1968, especially Ch.
2), acoustic phonetics is still an indispensable tool both in instrumental phonetic research
and in validation of aspects of phonological theories.
C.-W.K.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Fry, D.B. (1979), The Physics of Speech, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Ladefoged, P. (1962), Elements of Acoustic Phonetics, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Ladefoged, P. (1982), A Course in Phonetics, 2nd edn, New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.