Chapter 2 Phonetics and Phonology.docx

Chapter 2 Phonetics and Phonology.docx

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Chapter2PhoneticsandPhonology

Chapter2PhoneticsandPhonology:

TheSoundsandSoundPatternsofLanguage

2.1Introduction

2.2Phonetics

2.2.1Whatisphonetics?

2.2.2Speechorgans

2.2.3Consonants

2.2.4Vowels

2.2.5Transcriptionofspeechsounds

2.3Phonology

2.3.1Phoneme

2.3.2Phoneandallophone

2.3.3Phonotactics

2.3.4Prosodicfeatures:

stress,toneandintonation

2.3.5Co-articulationeffect

2.4Summary

Chapter2PhoneticsandPhonology:

TheSoundsandSoundPatternsofLanguage

2.1Introduction

Humanbeingscommunicatewitheachothermainlyintwomodesoflanguage—speakingandwriting.Inoralcommunicationwithsomeonefromadifferentlinguisticcommunity,whatfirststrikesusasdifferentmaynotbethatperson’spossiblydifferentideaaboutsomething,buttheexoticnessofthespeechsoundsuttered.

Speechsoundsarethesoundsutilizedbyallhumanlanguagestorepresentmeaning.Theyarethesoundsproducedorheardinusinglanguagetospeakorunderstand,andarerelatedbythelanguagesystemtocertainmeanings.Anyonewhoknowsalanguageknowswhatsoundsareinthelanguageandhowtheyare“strung”togetherandwhatthesedifferentsoundsequencesmean（Fromkin&Rodman,1983:

35）.Thestudyofhumanspeechsoundscanbedonebyexaminingthefeaturesofthesoundsperse（Matthews,2001:

33）,whichisadoptedbythestudentsofphonetics.Thespeechsoundscanalsobestudiedfromthepointofviewofhowtheyareactuallyusedindifferentlanguages（Katamba,1989:

66）,includinghowsomeofthesoundsinterrelateandinteractwitheachotherwithinagivenlanguagesystem,whichisadoptedbythestudentofphonology.

2.2Phonetics

2.2.1Whatisphonetics?

Theterm“phonetics”iscomposedofphone-,whichisfromtheGreekphonêmeaning“sound”or“voice”,and-ics,whichmeans“astudyof”.Sophoneticsisthegeneralstudyofthecharacteristicsofspeechsounds（Yule,2006:

30）.Itisconcernedwiththephysicalpropertiesofspeechsounds（phones）,andtheprocessesoftheirphysiologicalproduction,auditoryreception,andneurophysiologicalperception.Thus,therearethreebranchesofphonetics.Thestudyofhowspeechsoundsaremadeor‘articulated’iscalledarticulatoryphonetics.Thestudyofhowspeechsoundsareperceivediscalledauditoryphonetics（orperceptualphonetics）.Thestudyofthephysicalpropertiesofspeechsoundsiscalledacousticphonetics.Theprimaryconcernofphoneticsisusuallyarticulatoryphonetics.

2.2.2Speechorgans

Thestudyofphoneticshelpsincreaseourawarenessofthepropertiesofspeechsounds,whichinturncanimproveourabilitytoarticulatethemwithaccuracybymanipulatingourspeechorgansmoreappropriately.Thespeechorgansofthehumanbeingsconsistofthreemajorareas:

thepharyngealcavity（thethroat）,theoralcavity（themouth）andthenasalcavity（thenose）.Thepowersourceofourspeechsoundsistheflowofairfromourlungs,andtheairstreamcomingfromthelungsmaybemodifiedinthecavitiesinvariousways,resultingindifferentkindsofspeechsounds.

palatal

velar

uvula

pharynx

nasalcavity

alveolar

labial

dental

tip

front

back

Larynxincludingvocalcords

Inproducingspeechsounds,westartwiththeairpushedoutofthelungsbythediaphragm,upthroughthetrachea（or“windpipe”）tothelarynx.Insidethelarynxareourvocalfolds（alsocommonlyknownasvocalcords）.Whenthevocalfoldsarespreadapart,theairfromthelungspasseswithoutanyrestriction.Soundsthusproducedaredescribedasvoiceless.Contrarily,ifthevocalfoldsaredrawntogether,andtheairfromthelungshastobreakthroughthemrepeatedly,creatingavibrationeffect,thesoundswillbedescribedasvoiced.Youcantellthedistinctionveryeasilybetweenvoicelessandvoicedsoundsbyplacingyourfingertipgentlyonthetipofyour“Adam’sapple”—thepartofthelarynxinyourneckbelowyourchin.Youwillfeelsomevibrationwhenyouproducesoundslike[z],butfeelnovibrationwhenyouproduce[s].

Theoralcavityismadeupofthetongue,theuvular,thesoftpalate（thevelar）,thehardpalate（thepalatal）,theteethridge（thealveolar）,theteeth（thedental）andthelips（thelabial）.Ofthesespeechorgans,theveryflexibletongueisofparticularimportance,becausetheprincipalsourceofsoundmodificationisthetongue,somuchsothatthewordforitisoftenusedasasynonymforlanguage（Poole,2000:

42）.

Thenasalcavityisapassagewhichisdefinitelyopenorclosed,producingsoundseithernasalizedornon-nasalized.

Allspeechsoundsareproducedbymanipulatingthevocaltractwhileairisflowingthroughit.Ifthismanipulationproducessignificantobstructionoftheairstream,theresultisaconsonant.Ifitdoesnotproduceanyobstruction,theresultisavowel.Thus,speechsoundscanbeclassifiedintoconsonantsandvowelsaccordingtowhethertheairstreamcomingfromthelungsmeetobstructioninproducingthesounds.

2.2.3Consonants

Consonantscanbedescribedaccordingtoplaceofarticulationandmannerofarticulation,thatis,wheretheairstreamismodifiedandhowitismodified.

2.2.3.1Placeofarticulation

Aftertheairstreamcomingfromthelungspassesthroughthelarynx,itcomesupandoutthroughthemouthand/orthenose.Mostofthe24consonantsinEnglishareproducedbyusingthetongueandotherpartsofthemouthtoconstricttheshapeoftheoralcavitythroughwhichtheairispassing（Yule,2006:

30）.Inotherwords,theyaremostlyarticulatedviaclosureorobstructioninthevocaltract.Consonantscanbevoicedorvoicelessaccordingtowhetherthevocalcordsvibrateornot.Thefollowingtermsareusedtodescribeconsonantsintermsofwheretheyarearticulated.

A）Bilabials:

Thesearesoundsthatareproducedwiththetwo（bi=two）lips（labia=lips）.InEnglish,bilabialconsonantsare[p],[m],[b],and[w].Only[p]isvoiceless,andtheotherthreeareallvoiced.

B）Labiodentals:

Thesearesoundsthatareproducedwiththelowerlipandupperteeth.InEnglish,thereareonlytwolabiodentals:

[f]（voiceless）and[v]（voiced）.

C）Interdentals:

Thesearesoundsthatareproducedwiththetonguebetween（inter=between）theteeth,orjustbehindtheupperteeth（alsocalled“dental”）,suchas[]（voiceless）inwordslikethinandbath,and[]（voiced）inwordslikethereandthen.

D）Alveolars:

Thesearesoundsthatareproducedwiththetonguetipatthealveolarridge,behindtheteeth.InEnglish,thereare7alveolars.Theyare[t],[d],[s],[z],[n],[l]and[r],ofwhich[t]and[s]arevoicelessandtheothersareallvoiced.

E）Palatals:

Thesearesoundsthatareproducedwiththefrontorbodyofthetongueraisedtothepalatalregion.InEnglish,palatalsare[]（voiceless）inwordslikeshipandshout,[t]（voiceless）inwordslikechildandchina,[]（voiced）inwordsliketreasureandpleasure,[d]（voiced）inwordslikebridgeandjoke,and[j]（voiced）inwordslikeyouandyet.

F）Velars:

Thesearesoundsthatareproducedwiththebackofthetongueraisedtothesoftpalate（alsocalled“velar”）.InEnglish,therearethreevelars.Theyare[k]（voiceless）inwordslikecoldandkick,[g]（voiced）inwordslikegoandbag,and[ŋ]（voiced）inwordslikesingandtongue.

G）Glottal:

InEnglish,thereisonlyoneglottal,whichisproducedwithoutactiveuseofthetongueandotherpartsofthemouth.Itis[h]（voiceless）.Itistermedassuchbecausethesoundisproducedwiththeglottis（thespacebetweenthevocalcords）open.Inotherwords,thereisnomanipulationoftheairpassingoutofthemouth.

2.2.3.2Mannerofarticulation

The24consonantscanalsobedescribedintermsofhowtheyarearticulated,thatis,howtheairstreamismodified.Inproducingconsonants,theairstreamfromthelungsiseithercompletelyblocked（stop）,partiallyblocked（lateral）ortheopeningissonarrowthattheairescapeswithaudiblefriction（fricative）.Withsomeconsonants（nasals）theairstreamisblockedinthemouthbutallowedtoescapethroughthenose.

A）Stops:

Alsocalledplosives,thesearesoundsproducedbysomeformof‘stopping’oftheairstreamverybrieflythenlettingitgoabruptly.Suchsoundsas[p],[b],[t],[d],[k],and[g]fallintothiscategory.

B）Affricates:

Thesearesoundsproducedbycombiningabriefstoppingoftheairstreamwithanobstructedreleasewhichcausessomefriction.Thetwoconsonants,[t]and[d],areaffricates.

C）Fricatives:

Thesearesoundsproducedbyalmostblockingtheairstreamandlettingtheairforcethroughthenarrowopening.Theyaretermedasfricativesbecausewhentheairispushedthrough,akindoffrictionisproduced.Thefricativeconsonantsare[f],[v],[s],[z],[],[],[θ]and[ð].

D）Nasals:

Thesearesoundsproducedbyallowingairtopassthroughthenosewhileblockedinthemouth.Nasalconsonantsare[m],[n]and[ŋ].

E）Liquids:

Thesearesoundsproducedwithaminimalconstrictionallowingairtopassfreely.[l]and[r]areliquidconsonants.Inproducing[l],theairstreamflowsaroundthesidesofthetongue（itiscalledalateralliquid）;andinproducing[r],theairstreamflowsthroughthecenterofthemouth.

F）Glides:

Thesearesoundsproducedwithaminimalconstrictioncorrespondingtoavowel（sometimescalled“semi-vowels”）.[w]and[j]aredescribedasglides.Thesound[h],asinhello,canalsobeclassifiedasaglidebecauseofthewayitcombineswithothersounds.

Havingdescribedtheconsonantsintermsofboththeplaceandthemannerofarticulation,wecansummarizethebasicinformationinthechartbelow（-v=voiceless,+v=voiced）:

bilabial

labiodental

interdental

alv