Describing Consonants

Part 2

Describing Consonants

Describing Consonants Four questions for consonants: 1. Where is the sound made? (Place of Articulation) 2. How is the sound made? (Manner of Articulation) 3. What is happening at the nose? (Nasal or Oral) 4. What is happening at the larynx? (Voiced or voiceless) – fortis/lenis ?

Manner of Articulation Stops/Plosives:

airstream is completed stopped at some point e.g. [p], [b]

Fricatives:

airstream is partially obstructed causing friction in the the airflow e.g. [f], [s]

Affricates:

a combined effect of a stop + fricative e.g. [č] in cheese

Manner of Articulation: some tricky cases Lateral :

there is some obstruction in the mouth but not enough to cause turbulence in the airflow e.g. [l]

Approximants: e.g.

little or no obstruction in the airstream [j] in yellow [w] in whale

What are liquids? What are glides? Where does [r] fits?

Short Quiz How many sounds are there in these words? z Judge z Though Notice the difference between sound and spelling.

English spelling is very inconsistent z

Same sound, different letters –

z

sign, pleasure, resign

e.g.

lock [k], shop [š]

One letter multiple sounds –

z

e.g.

One sound, multiple letters –

z

see, sea, scene, thief, machine

Same letters, different sound –

z

e.g.

e.g.

exit

[ks],

use [ju]

Silent letters –

e.g.

know, doubt, though

International Phonetic Alphabet

z

One alphabet = one sound Can be used to described the speech sounds of any human language

z

Online Resource:

z

Peter Ladefoged

Every consonant has a name

The name tells you how it is made. The 4 question gets you the name [p]

-

voiceless bilabial (oral) stop

[m]

-

(voiced) bilabial nasal (stop)

[s]

-

voiceless alveolar (oral) fricative

Vowels have a name too Four questions for vowels z How high is the tongue? –

z

Which part of the tongue is involved? –

z

Front, central, back

What’s happening with the lips? –

z

High, mid, low

Rounded or unrounded

What’s happening with the tongue root? –

Tense or lax

Name these vowels z z

z z

[I] High front lax (unrounded) vowel [o] High back tense (rounded) vowel

Dipthongs: We won’t name these [aj]

as in buy

[aw] as in cow [ɔj]

as in boy