NARRATOR

What is phonetics:

 The study of general characteristics of speech sounds.

 

MAIN BRANCHES OF PHONETICS:

 

1- AUDITORY PHONETICS:

 

It deals with the perceptual aspect of speech sounds, how different sounds are received by the ears and decoded by the brain.

 

2- ARTICULATORY PHONETICS:

 

It studies the articulatory aspects of speech sounds. Where and how different speech sounds are produced.

 

3- ACOUSTIC PHONETICS:

 

It studies the physical properties of speech sound as sound waves.

 

*WHAT ARE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES:

 

Frequency: pitch the tone of what we say.

 

Length: time taken for the production of the sound.

 

Intensity: loudness

 

Quality of the sound: fundamental features of the sound.

 

1- ARTICULATORY PHONETICS:

 

Three systems involve in the production of a speech sound:

 

    a- respiratory system:

  

    organs: lungs, trachea, wind pipe.

 

In the most of the languages the pulmonic egressive air stream is the supply of energy to produce speech sounds.

 

    b- phonatory system:

 

    organs: larynx, vocal cords(folds), glottis(an open area between vocal folds).

 

 

*Different positions of vocal cords:

 

  I. Vocal cords are wide open(they are drown a part):

 

  - (no vibration) voiceless consonants produce in this form

 

  - normal breathing happen in this form

 

  II. Vocal cords are drawn together loosely:

 

  - vocal cords are put in the vibrating position by the air pushing them a part rapidly.

 

  - all vowels and voiced consonants produce in this form.

 

 III. Vocal cords come together tightly:

 

  - momentary blocking of the air stream at the glottis.

 

  - increase in the built in- pressure.

 

  - abrupt release of the blocked air.

 

[?] glottal stop in English sounds is the allophone of [t] not a distinct phoneme.

 

 IV. Vocal cords approach each other:

 

In this position they leave a sufficient space for the air to come out through a narrow   slot space accompanied by a friction noise. Like fricative glottal [h].

 

    c- Articulatory system:

 

it includes all vocal organs in the oral cavity.

 

*Different kinds of cavity:

  -oral

  -nasal

 

Organs: alveolar ridge, palate, alveo-palatal area, hard palate, soft palate, uvula.

 

*Different parts of tongue:

  

Dorsum: surface of tongue.

Rims: sides of tongue.

Tip- blade- body(front, center, back)

 

 

TRADITIONAL TRANSCRIPTION OF SPEECH SOUNDS:

 

 

a- Consonants:

 

sounds whose production involves kinds of obstruction.

 

b- Vowels:

 

Two fundamental of features of vowels.

 

-Vibration of vocal folds.

-Free flow of the air stream.

 

Traditional description of consonants:

 

1- Place of articulation: where in the vocal tract the given sound is produced.

 

2- Manner of articulation: how the given sound is articulated.

 

3- Voice versus voiceless: presence or absence of the vibration of vocal folds.

 

4- Tense versus lax: great or less muscular effort is involved in the production of the consonants.

 

Consonants which are voiced are lax, and the consonants which are voice less  are tense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHART OF ENGLISH CONSONANTS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Bilabial stop:

 

There is a closure by lips. The air pressure behind the closure is increased followed by sudden removable of the closure.

 

Alveolar stop:

 

Blade of the tongue and alveolar ridge are concerned .

 

Velar:

 

A contact between the back of the tongue and the velum (soft palate).

 

Labio- dental fricative:

 

There is a contact between the upper teeth and lower lip making a narrow slot for the air to come out while being accompanied with a friction noise.

 

Dental fricative:

 

The tip of the tongue is put between the upper and lower teeth in case of the [θ] sound, and for[ð] sound the tip of the tongue is put behind the upper front teeth. So that the air stream escapes throw a narrow opening.  

 

 

Alveolar fricatives:

 

The blade of the tongue approaches the alveolar ridge, but there is no contact. The air passes through a narrow slot.

 

 

 

Alveo-palatal fricatives:

 

The front of the tongue comes close to the alveo-palatal area leaving a narrow space for the air to pass through.

 

Alveo-palatal affricatives:

 

The front part of the tongue moves upward and makes a complete closure with the alveo-palatal area followed by a gradual remove of the closure so that the block air is directed through a narrow opening.

 

Bilabial nasal:

 

The area is a complete blockage in the oral cavity made by lips; simultaneously uvula comes down and the air stream moves through the nasal cavity.

 

Alveolar nasal:

 

The tip of the tongue makes a complete closure to the alveolar ridge and the air stream scapes through the nasal cavity because the soft palate or uvula has been lowered.

 

Velar nasal:

 

The complete blockage in oral cavity is made by a contact between the back part of the tongue and soft palate.

Uvula comes down and air stream moves through the nasal cavity.

 

Alveolar lateral:

 

The tip of the tongue is in contact with the alveolar ridge and the rims of the tongue are pulled down and air stream moves by one or two sides of the tongue.

 

Alveolar retroflex:

 

The tip of the tongue is curled back against the alveolar ridge and air stream finally moves over the tongue.

 

Roll:

 

The tip of the tongue tapes against the alveolar ridge several times or the back part of the tongue taps against the soft palate several times.

 

Tap:

 

The tip of the tongues taps against the alveolar ridge just once.

 

 

Bilabial approximant:

 

Lips are pushed forward in circular shape and the body of the tongue move upward.

 

Palatal approximant:

 

The body of the tongue approaches toward the central part of the palate.

Approximants are called transitory sounds. Their production is affected by the vocalic position adjacent vowels. In pre-volcanic position they function as consonants and in past volcanic position they function as vowels.

 

TRADITIONAL DESCRIPTION OF VOWELS:

 

1-Part of the tongue involved in the production of the vowels:

 

Front-centre-back

 

2- Height of the tongue involved in the production of the vowels:

 

High-mid-low

 

3- Tens versus lax

 

Long vowels: tenses

Short vowels: lax

 

4- Shape of the lips:

 

Round: lips are in circular shape

Spread: the corner of lips are moved as like as in smiling

Neutral: lips are not noticeably round or spread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRITISH CHART OF VOWELS:

 

 

(close)high                 Front                          centre                                 back

                                           i:                                  -                                          u:

 mid close                             I                               -                       u                 -

       mid                                 e                              ə з:                                     o:

mid open

(opens)low                              æ                           Λ           α                           α

      

 

 

[i:]: high, front, tense, spread

 

The front part of the tongue is raised to a position blow the closest one.

Example: lead, seed, deed

 

[I]: high, front, lax, loosely, spread

 

The front part of the tongue a little bit toward centre moves to a position above the mid close one.

Example: live, ship, this

 

[e]: front, mid, lax, loosely, spread

 

[æ]: front, lax, neutral, low

 

[ə]: mid, lax, centre, neutral

 

[з:]: centre, mid, tense, neutral

 

[Λ]: centre, low, lax, neutral

Example: blood

 

[u:]: back, high, tense, round

Example: blue, glow

 

[u]: back, high, lax, loosely round

Example: push

 

[o:]: mid, back, lax, loosely round

 

[α]: back, low, slightly round

Example: put, got

 

[α]: back, low, lax, neutral

 

 

 

AMERICAN CHART OF VOWELS:

 

 

 

(close)high                 Front                          centre                                 back

                                           i                                  -                                          u

 mid close                             I                               -                                         -

       mid                                 e                              ə                                        o

mid open                                 ε                                                                       o

(opens)low                              æ                           Λ α                                     -

 

 

[i]: long, tense

 

[e]: front, mid tense, loosely spread

 

[o]: back, mid tense, loosely round

 

[o]: back, mid, lax, loosely round

 

[α]: low, centre, lax, neutral

 

DIPHTHONGS:

 

A higher phonetic unit consisting of two vowels whose production involving a glide from one volcanic position toward another.

 

All diphthongs are long and tense.

 

Diphthongs:

 

1- closing:

 

a- ending in [I]: eI, aI, oI

b- ending in [u]: au, αu

 

2- centering:

 

a- ending in [ə]: Iə, eə, uə

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SYLLABLE:

 

Is a higher phonetic unit usually consisting of more than one sound.

 

Minimum syllable:

 

Consists of only one sound that is a vowel.

 

Syllable structure:

 

Onset: is one or more consonants that might occur in the initial position of syllable.

 

Onset is optional and a consonant

 

Rime(rhyme):

a- nucleus(obligatory)

b- coda(optional)

 

 Coda: is one or more syllable that might occupy the final position of a syllable.

 

Nucleus: is mostly a vowel that plays a central key role in the syllabic structure. Its presence is obligatory.

 

Consonants cluster:

 

Two or more consonants in the initial or final positions of the structure.

 

Typical syllabic structure in English is:

 

C0-3VC0-4

 

Phonotacticts:

 

The roles governing the position and arrangement of phonemes in the structure of a syllable. Phonotactict rules very across languages.

 

English phonotactict rules:

 

[ŋ] never occur initially in a word

 

A stop can not cluster with another stop in the initial position.

 

If the first sound is a liquid [l,r] the second sound must be a vowel. Example: lake, rate

 

The preceding sound for [ŋ] is a short vowel in English. Example: king

 

 

Phone:

 

The smallest perceptual unit of the speech sound. It is concrete unit in phonetic.

 

CO-ARTICULATION EFFECTS:

 

Phonological rules. The effect of one sound over the other. Or the mutual influence of sounds over each other when occurring in a stream of speech.

 

Some part of the production of a sound over laps the other.

 

1- Assimilation:

 

Two sounds become alike or one sound changes one of its features to become similar to the adjacent sound.

 

a- progressive assimilation:

the first sound influences the second sound.

 

b- regressive assimilation:

the second sound influence the first one.

 

Example:

 

Soon[su:n]----nasalization: [u:]-oral,[n]-nasal

 

Eighth[eItθ]-----dentalization

 

Tool[tu:l]-------labialization

 

2- Elision:

 

The omission of a sound from the stream of phoneme in the rapid casual speech while the given sound in the deliberate voiced less stop short vowels or l+r happens.

 

PHONOLOGY:

 

Study of sound systems or sound patterns of a language.

 

It is the study of the abstract knowledge of sounds in a language.

 

PHONEME:

 

The unit of study in phonology. An abstract unit of sound with a contrastive function.

 

ALLOPHONE:

 

Variants of one single phoneme in different phonetic environment. Different physical realization of one single phoneme. Are in complementary distribution. Only one of them are occur in a specific phonetic environment.

 

Example:

 

/p/:1-[p]2-[ph]

/t/:1-[t](stand)2-[th](tap)3-[D](matter)4-[tn](eight)5-[?](matter)

 

Minimal pairs:

 

Is a set of two words with the least phonemic differences.

 

They are different in only one phoneme in the same position.

 

Example: man[mæn]-moon[mun]

 

                  man[mæn]-ran[ræn]

 

Minimal sets:

 

Is a group of words with the least phonemic difference in the same position.

 

Example: men[men]-main[meIn]-mine[main]