Phonetics: The Sounds of Language

Phonetics: The Sounds of
Language
Lichin Jennifer Yang
March 20, 2012

Phonetics
! Phonetics is the study of speech
sounds that occur in all human
languages to present meanings.
! p.189

Examples:
Sound Segments
‘cat’ (one sound) /kæt/ 3 sound segments
‘knock’ (one sound) /nɑk/ 3 sound segments
! Linguistics studies the word’s meaning,
not how to spell it.
! p.190, 191

The Phonetic Alphabet
ʘ

The Phonetic Alphabet
(p.192-194)
ʘ

Organs of Articulation

IPA of Consonants
! Let’s draw the chart on the blackboard!

Consonants
! Place of Articulation: bilabial,
labiodental, interdental alveolar,
palatal, velar, uvular, glottal
! Manner of Articulation: oral stop,
fricative, affricate, nasal stop, liquid,
glide

Consonants
! Manner of Articulation
! Voicing: voiceless, voiced
! Aspiration: aspirated, unaspirated
Can you find some examples in English &
Mandarin for the following consonants?
Aspirated voiceless Unaspirated voiceless Voiced
pʰ p b
tʰ t d
kʰ k ɡ

Consonants
! Manner of Articulation
! Approximants
! They are /l/, /r/, /w/ and /j/.
! Trills
! Flaps
! A flap is produced by a flick of the
tongue against the alveolar ridge. (ex:
writer [raIᴅɚ] vs. rider [ra:Iᴅɚ])

Descriptions of Consonants
! voicing + place + aspiration + manner
[pʰ] a voicelss bilabial aspirated (oral) stop
[b] a voiced bilabial oral stop
[p] a voicelss bilabial unaspirated (oral) stop
[ʔ] a glottal (oral) stop
[p,b] bilabial unaspirated oral stop
[x,ɤ] velar fricatives

IPA of Vowels
! Let’s draw the chart on the blackboard!
ʘ

! Tongue Position
! front, central, back
! Tongue Height
! high, mid, low
! Lip Shape
! rounded, unrounded
! Tense & Lax
Vowels
~
! Oral & Nasal (ex: ‘down’ [daUn])

Descriptions of Vowels
! height + position + rounded + tense + vowel
unrounded lax
[i] a high front unrounded tense vowel

Binary Features
! Features of Consonants
! Major Class Features
! syllabic, consonantal
! Manner Features
! sonorant, continuant, nasal, voiced, aspirated,
strident, lateral
! Place Features
! anterior, coronal, labial, high, back, low
! Features of Vowels

Features of Consonants
! high [±high]
-- Place Features
[+high] palatal, velar
! back [±back]
[+back] velar, uvular
! low [±low]
[+low] uvular, glottal

Features of Vowels
! round [±rd] / labial [±lab]
[+rd] ü, Ü, ö, ɔ, u, ʊ, o, ɔ
..
! tense [±tense]
[+tense] i, e, ü, ö, u, o, ɑ, ɰ, a