Linguistics week 4

Phonetics 2 1

Phonetics: the sounds of language

 Not language-specific – – Describes sounds produced in any or all languages

Phonology

describes the sound patterns in particular languages, like English or Chinese  For example – This is how to make the sound [p] – The consonant cluster /pr/ is OK in English, not in Chinese 2

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 – – Cat has 3 phones But we don’t say k—a—t If we don’t know the language, we can’t do this segmentation – 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 3

How many phones? Say them to your neighbor.

 Dog?

 Rabbit?

 Phone  Knot  Comb  China 4

Two kinds of phone: consonants and vowels

    Consonants: air flow from lungs is obstructed in some way (p38) Vowels: the air flows freely – This is why doctors ask for “aaaahhh” Vowels are often represented in English spelling by

a e i o u

– But spelling  pronunciation (p29) Chinese: – – The consonants are ㄅㄆㄇㄈ … The vowels are ㄚㄛㄜㄝ … (but not always) 5

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 37, 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?

6

How many vowels? How many consonants?

              dog?

rabbit?

phone knot comb China I π pine long 餓 他 龍 他們 7

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 8

Reading for next time

  Chapter 4;

and

Compare KK 音標 – http://www.ysjh.cy.edu.tw/nineone/eng/phonics /vowel.htm

 with the US system used in our book – – (tables on pages 34 & 38) write the differences you find in pencil in your book 9

10

Language presentations

    10-15 minutes Talk about – – – – Where? Who? How many?

Interesting facts about the language Relationship with other languages Sounds of the language – Morphology and syntax (= grammar) You can use wikipedia and ethnologue to help you – BUT you must consult other websites too You will get a better grade if you – Consult library books about the language, or about linguistics – Tell us which books and websites you used 11

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 12

Describing (characterizing) consonants

 First,

airstream

: – For all sounds in English and Mandarin, this is

pulmonic egressive

 Second,

place of articulation

– Listed in Yule chapter 5  How would you describe the difference between [f], [θ] and [s]?

 How about [p], [t] and [k]? (groups?) 13

Third, voicing

 Voiced and voiceless consonants – – [f] and [v] are both bilabial So what’s the difference?

 [v] is voiced – – The vocal folds open and close rapidly (They vibrate)  [f] is voiceless – No vibration 14

Voiced vs voiceless

 Of course [v] does not exist in Mandarin – It does in Shanghai ( 因為 pronounced

yinvei

!) – Say both, and put your fingers on your larynx  [b] and [p] are voiced and voiceless respectively – [b] doesn’t exist in Mandarin either – In fact, there are very few voiced consonants in Mandarin 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

Features (characteristics) 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

18