Harvard Linguistics 110 - Class 04 Articulation Continued

Linguistics 110 Class 4 (9/30/02)

Zhang/Öztürk/Quinn

Articulatory Phonetics Continued (1) Places of articulation of consonants—where the air is blocked. •

Principal parts of upper surface of vocal tract: lip, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum), uvula, pharynx wall Principal parts of lower surface of vocal tract: lip, tongue tip, blade, front, center, back, root, epiglottis

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Bilabial: lower lip, upper lip. The bilabial sounds in English are: They are represented in English orthography by:

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Labiodental: bottom lip, upper teeth. The labiodental sounds in English are: They are represented in English orthography by:

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Dental: tongue tip, upper and lower teeth (or behind upper teeth) The dental sounds in English are: They are represented in English orthography by:

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Alveolar: tongue tip or blade, alveolar ridge. The alveolar sounds in English are: They are represented in English orthography by: [l] is produced with the tongue raised to the alveolar ridge and the sides of the tongue down, permitting the air to escape laterally over the sides of the tongue.

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Palato-Alveolar (post-alveolar): tongue blade, back of the alveolar ridge. The palato-alveolar sounds in English are: [S], [Z], [tS], [dZ]. They are represented in English orthography by: [S]: [Z]: [tS]: [dZ]:

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Retroflex: tongue tip curled up, behind alveolar ridge before hard palate. For some English speakers, orthographic r is a retroflex sound [®]. right, rye, row, hour, hire, air...

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Palatal: tongue center, hard palate. Orthographic y and ll are sometimes a palatal sound [j]. y—year, young ll—La Jolla, El Pollo Loco

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Velar: back of the tongue, soft palate (velum). The velar sounds in English are: They are represented in English orthography by:

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Glottals: articulators in the vocal tract stay in relatively neutral position. When the glottis is open—[h]; when the glottis is closed—[/]. English examples: [h]—house, who, hat. [/]—button, Latin, bitten.

(2) Manner of articulation of consonants—how the air is blocked. • Stops: sounds during whose production the air is completely stopped in the oral tract for a brief period. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

[p], [t], [k], [b], [d], [g], [/] are obviously stops. What about [m], [n], [N]? What about [T], [D], [S], [Z], [h]? What about [tS], [dZ]? What about [l], [r], [j], [w]?

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Fricatives: the air passage during the production of these sounds is very narrow, causing friction or turbulence. [T], [D], [S], [Z], [h] are fricatives of English. [T]: thatch [TœtS] [D]: that [Dœt] [S]: sheep [Sip] [Z]: measure [mEZ„] [h]: heat [hit]

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Affricates: produced by a stop closure immediately followed by friction. [tS] and [dZ] are affricates of English. [tS]: chair [tSE®] batch [bœtS] [dZ]: jeep [dZip] orange [O®´ndZ]

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Trills: tongue tip set in motion by the current of air, written as [r]. Some dialects of English, like Scottish English, have trills.

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Taps and Flaps: tongue makes a single quick contact with the alveolar ridge, written as [|]. (a) butter, later, latter, ladder, writer, rider... (b) dirty, sorting, party...

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Approximants: there is some obstruction of the airstream in the mouth, but not enough to cause real constriction or friction. (a) [l], [®], [j], and [w] are approximants of English. (b) [l] is a lateral approximant.

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(3) Summary for American English consonants: Bilabial Stop (oral) Stop (nasal) Tap or Flap Fricative Affricate Approx. Lateral Approx.

p

Labiodental

Dental

b m

Alveolar

t f

v

T

D

s

d n | z

w

PalatoAlveolar

Retroflex

Palatal

Velar

k

g N

S Z tS dZ

Glotta l

/ h

®

j

w

l

(4) Tongue position of vowels. •

Vowels in English: beet [i] bit [I] bait [e] bet [E] bat [œ] butt [ø]

boot put boat bore bomb sofa

[u] [U] [o] [O] [A] [´]

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Position of the tongue in producing [i], [u], and [A]. (a) [i] and [u] are produced with the tongue very high in the mouth. (b) In [i] the front of the tongue is raised; in [u] the back of the tongue is raised. (c) [A] is produced with the back of the tongue lowered.

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Other vowels in relation to [i], [u], and [A]. (a) [I] and [U] in bit and put are similar to [i] and [u], but with slightly lowered tongue position. (b) [e] and [o] in bait and boat are produced by raising the tongue to a position about midway between [i] and [A] and between [u] and [A] respectively. (c) [E] and [O] in bet and bore are slightly lower than [e] and [o]. (d) [œ] in bat is produced with the front part of the tongue lowered. It’s lower yet than [E] and [O]. (e) [ø] and [´] in butt and sofa are produced with the tongue close to the resting position, i.e., not high, low, front, or back.

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[u], [U], [o], [O] are produced with the lips protruded. They are called rounded vowels.

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(5) Summary of American English monophthongal vowels: Part of the Tongue Involved Tongue Height High

Front i

Central

beet I

Mid

bit e

bait E bet

´

(6) Diphthongs in English. • [aI] write [raIt] bite [baIt] •

butt

œ bat

[OI]

boy soil

boot

u

put

U

boat

o

bore

O

Rounded

sofa ø

Low

Back

bomb A

[bOI] [sOI:]

[aU]

bout [baUt] brow [braU]

Sometimes linguists consider the vowels [e] and [o] in English to be diphthongs [eI] and [oU] respectively.

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