Transcript New Employee Orientation

Linguistics week 4
Phonetics 2
1
Phones: sound segments


When we know a language, we can segment an utterance
into phones
We can do this even though there is no break between
phones
–
–

If we don’t know the language, we can’t do this
segmentation
–

Cat has 3 phones
But we don’t say k—a—t
It just sounds like one continuous stream of sound
Actually all language is one continuous stream of sound
–
–
The tongue (and other moving parts) move gradually
They don’t jump between positions
2
How many phones? Say them to
your neighbor.






Dog?
Rabbit?
Phone
Knot
Comb
China
3
Two kinds of segment: consonants
and vowels


Consonants: air flow from lungs is obstructed in
some way (p242)
Vowels: the air flows freely
–

Vowels are often represented in English spelling
by a e i o u
–

This is why doctors ask for “aaaahhh”
But spelling  pronunciation (p236)
Chinese:
–
–
The consonants are ㄅㄆㄇㄈ…
The vowels are ㄚㄛㄜㄝ… (but not always)
4
Problems with consonant-vowel
distinction

Glides (or semivowels) /j/ and /w/ don’t seem to
involve much obstruction
–


but most linguists think of them as consonants (check
page 250, Glides)
ㄦ causes an obstruction, and is thought of as a
consonant by linguists
Some of the ㄅㄆㄇ symbols often represent two
phones, one consonant and one vowel
–
Can you say which?
5
How many vowels? How many
consonants?














dog?
rabbit?
phone
knot
comb
China
I
π
pine
long
餓
他
龍
他們
6
How many words, morphemes, syllables,
consonants and vowels in the following?
Count semivowels as consonants.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Greenhouse
Red houses
Women
我們
Those sheep
老鼠
老太太
玻璃
John drinks coffee
他不喝咖啡
7
Reading for next week


Pages 231-240; and
Compare KK 音標
–

http://www.ysjh.cy.edu.tw/nineone/eng/phonics
/vowel.htm
with the US system used in our book
–
–
(table 6.1 on page 239)
write the differences you find in pencil in your
book, if you want to
8
Three transcription systems!

KK
–

IPA (A=association OR alphabet
–
–

Only really useful for American English
Capable of representing sounds of all known languages
An international standard
US system
–
–
same as IPA, but simplifies some symbols representing
English phonemes
used in our book!
9
Articulatory phonetics



What does that mean?
What are the other two phases of signal
transmission, please?
Classification of sounds in articulatory
phonetics
–
First, we’ll look at consonants
10
Describing (characterizing)
consonants

First, airstream:
–

Second, place of articulation
–


For all sounds in English and Mandarin, this is
pulmonic egressive
Listed in Table 6.2
How would you describe the difference
between [f], [θ] and [s]?
How about [p], [t] and [k]? (groups?)
11
Check
table 6.2,
p243
12
Third, voicing

Voiced and voiceless consonants
–
–

[v] is voiced
–
–

[f] and [v] are both bilabial
So what’s the difference?
The vocal folds open and close rapidly
(They vibrate)
[f] is voiceless
–
No vibration
13
Voiced vs voiceless

Of course [v] does not exist in Mandarin
–
–

[b] and [p] are voiced and voiceless respectively
–
–

It does in Shanghai (因為 pronounced yinvei!)
Say both, and put your fingers on your larynx
[b] doesn’t exist in Mandarin either
In fact, there are very few voiced consonants in
Mandarin
Are you sure, Simon? Then what is the difference
between ㄅ and ㄆ??
–
–
Well… can we talk about that in the Phonology lesson?
ㄅ and the /b/ of English are not the same thing.
14
Aspiration

Aspirated and unaspirated consonants
–
–

English: spit vs pit (aspiration difference)
–
–

ㄅ is unaspirated [p]
ㄆ is aspirated [ph] (puff of air)
Compare pit vs bit
That is a voicing difference
Aspiration is much less important in English than
in Chinese
–
Can you explain why?
15
Manner of articulation

Now, consider the difference between
–
–

[t] and [s] (these exist in Mandarin)
[d] and [z] (these don’t)
How about [p] and [m]
–
or [d] and [n]?
16
Parameters for describing
consonants

So far (this is not complete yet) we have
–
–
–
–

Airstream (usually the same for all consonants)
Place of articulation
Voicing
Manner of articulation
So, [p] is …
–
–
–
–
egressive pulmonic
bilabial
voiceless
plosive
17
Homework: consonants

For all the plosives, nasals and fricatives
that exist in English
–
–
Learn the IPA and Fromkin phonetic symbols
Learn how to describe each one in terms of the
four parameters, like we just did for [p]
18
Mandarin sounds (not yet)

http://www.wfu.edu/~moran/Cathay_Cafe/I
PA_NPA_4.htm
19
20