Descriptive Grammar of English: Phonetics and Phonology

1. Descriptive Grammarof English:Phonetics and Phonology dr Iwona Kokorniak (with contribution from dr Jarosław Weckwerth) 11 October 2008

2. The vocal tract

3. Active and passive articulators • Active: tongue, lips, uvula • Passive: teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (=velum).

4. Tongue parts • Tip • Blade • Front • Centre • Back • Root

5. Phonation • Generation of voice for speech • Air from the lungs • Passes by the vocal folds (=vocal cords) • Depending on how tight they are, vibration may occur

6. The glottis

7. The states of the glottis • Open: voiceless sounds, e.g. sss • Vocal folds close together, vibrating: voiced sounds, e.g. zzz • Tightly closed: the ‘glottal stop’.

8. English consonants 1 • pen, tea, key; back, day, get • church, judge • fat, thing, soon, ship, hot • view, this, zero, pleasure • more, nice, ring • light, right, yet, wet

9. English consonants 2 • pen – Ben • thing – this • fan – van • buzz – bus • This distinction is called voicing. • Caused by vibration of the vocal folds (vocal cords) in the larynx.

10. English consonants 3 • pen – ten – Ken • vow – sow – how • wet – yet • This distinction is called the place of articulation. • Depends on where you put your tongue  or where you make the sound

11. English consonants 4 • tap – sap – nap • shoe –chew • This distinction is called the manner of articulation. • Depends on what you do with your tongue, i.e. how you produce the sound.

12. English consonants 5 • It’s possible to classify any consonant in any language using these three dimensions: • Voicing • Place • Manner

13. Place of articulation (where?)

14. Place of articulation (where?) • bilabial: pan, ban, man • labiodental: fan, van • (inter)dental: thing, than • alveolar: tan, Dan, sand, Zen, land • post-alveolar: shin, pleasure, chin, gin • palatal: yen • velar: can, gone • glottal: hen • (additional) labio-velar: wet; retroflex: red

15. Why is it good to know? Because Polish is different in some cases: • Polish t, d, s, z are dental, not alveolar. • Polish doesn’t use interdental sounds. • Polish ś, ź, ć, dź, ń are alveolo-palatal. • Polish ch is velar, not glottal.

16. Manner of articulation (how?) • plosive (oral stop): pan, ban, tan, Dan, can, gone • fricative: fan, van, thing, than, sand, Zen, shin, pleasure, hen • affricate: chin, gin • nasal (stop): man, sing • approximant: land, run, win, yen

17. A riddle: what are these?

18. /d/ /n/

19. The plosives (oral stops) Voicing /p t k b d g/ • /p t k/voiceless • /b d g/voiced

20. The plosives – Places • /p b/ bilabial • /t d/ alveolar • NOTE: Polish /t d/are dental • /k g/velar • Three places • Voiced and voiceless at each place

21. The plosives: Stages • Full contact between the active and passive articulator • Can also be called oral stops

22. The plosives – First summary • /p/ voiceless bilabial plosive • /b/ voiced bilabial plosive • /t/ voiceless alveolar plosive • /d/ voiced alveolar plosive • /k/ voiceless velar plosive • /g/ voiced velar plosive

23. The plosives – First summary

24. First conclusions • You can group sounds by their shared properties, e.g. voicing, manner, place etc. • Sounds grouped in this way formnatural classes • The properties are called features in phonology, e.g. [±voiced]

25. The fricatives: Articulation • The active articulator approaches the passive articulator • The opening is very narrow • Hiss (friction) results • Fricatives are also called spirants

26. The fricatives

27. English fricatives /f θ s ʃ h v ð z ʒ/ /θ/ thing/v/ van /ʃ/shoe/ð/ this /z/ bags /ʒ/ pleasure

28. English fricatives: Voicing /f θ s ʃ h/voiceless /v ð z ʒ/voiced

29. English fricatives: Places /f v/ labiodental /θ ð/ dental /s z/ alveolar /ʃ ʒ/ post-alveolar

30. The fricatives • /f/ voiceless labio-dental fricative • /v/ voiced labio-dental fricative • /θ/ voiceless dental fricative • /δ/ voiced dental fricative • /s/ voiceless alveolar fricative • /z/ voiced alveolar fricative

31. The fricatives • /z/ voiced alveolar fricative • /ʃ/ voiceless post-alveolar (palato-alveolar) fricative • /ʒ/ voiced post-alveolar (palato-alveolar) fricative • /h/ voiceless glottal fricative

32. The fricatives – summary

33. The affricates: Articulation • Plosive+fricative as one unit • “Plosive withfricative release”

34. The affricates

35. English affricates /tʃ dʒ/ (Br) church/tʃɜːtʃ/ (Am) church/tʃɝːtʃ/ judge /dʒʌdʒ/

36. The affricates • /ʧ/ voiceless post-alveolar (palato-alveolar) affricate • /ʤ/ voiced post-alveolar (palato-alveolar) affricate

37. Obstruents • Obstruction in the airflow: • Plosives, fricatives, affricates

38. English voiced obstruents • Can occur at ends of words • Can occur next to voiceless sounds • Are lenis = weak • Different from Polish • A natural class!

39. English voiceless obstruents • English voiceless obstruentsmake the preceding vowel shorter • Are fortis = strong • Different from Polish • A natural class!

40. English voiceless obstruents

41. The nasals: Articulation • There is a complete closure in the mouth... • ...but the velum is lowered • Air can escape through the nose • Therefore, also callednasal stops

42. English nasals /m n ŋ/ /ŋ/ thing

43. English nasals: Voicing All voiced!

44. The nasals • /m/ voiced bilabial nasal • /n/ voiced alveolar nasal • /ŋ/ voiced velar nasal

45. no /k/ or /g/at the end!!! The velar nasal in English bank/bæŋk/ sink/sɪŋk/ bang/bæŋ/ sing/sɪŋ/ but

46. Oral and nasal stops

47. Velic vs. velar closure