LING403 Quiz 1

goals of phonology

uncover the phonotactics of different languages
figure out the sound inventories of languages
uncover how sounds in a language are affected by the environments in which they occur (rules of sound change in certain contexts?)

phonotactics

set of allowed arrangments or sequences of speech sounds in a given language, best described in terms of syllable structure

phonetics

speech and the mechanisms of speech production and perception
speech sounds in ways that are close to the speech stream, focusing on production, acoustics, and perception

phonology

speech systems for particular languages
how sounds may change based on other sounds in the same environment
more abstract, dealing not with physical nature of speech sounds directly, but with the largely unconscious rules four sound pattering that are found in the mind/brain of a native speaker

main goals of phonetics

describe how sounds are made with the vocal apparatus
describe the acoustic properties of speech sounds
describe how these sounds are perceived by the human ear and uncover the relations between acoustic--auditory properties

in a phonetics course, we typically...

discuss the vocal apparatus and contribution tha each part makes to speech production
cover the majority of the kinds of sounds that are known to exist in human speech across the world
learn about their measurable physical properties (noise, resonance, formants, etc)
(sometimes) also learn about their auditory properties

phonological analysis

idealization of sound
speech signal analyzed as a series of discrete unites with constant properties

what does phonological analysis ignore

changes over time with in segments
lack of clear boundaries in many cases
physical differences in the realization of the same sound by different speakers/the same speaker in different repetitions of the same utterance/in different contexts

ultimate goal of phonology

to understand the linguistic rules which operates on speech sounds

phonologists

discover rules about the way sounds fucntion in the minds of native speakers

languages tend to be organized in ...

natural ways for maximal contrast among the distinct sounds chosen for the sound system

what plays very important rules in predicting the kinds of sound systems we find in the worlds languages

contrast and naturalness

why do sound systems tend to be symmetrical

proportionate and efficient in their use of acoustic space in order to achieve maximal contrast for maximal perception for maximal communicative purposes

ejectives

back of tongue comes up to form velar closure
closed glottis is raised
body of air in pharynx compressed
back of tongue lowered, releasing compressed pharynx air
glottal closure is released
*glottalic egressive

implosives

closure of the lips
downward movement of vibrating glotttis (aire from lungs continues to flow through the glottis)
little change in pressure of the air in oral tract
lips come apart
glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive

central vowels

ʌ= mud, used in stressed syllables
ə= panda, used in unstressed syllables
ɨ= roses, used in suffixes
ɜ= fur in r dropping dialects
ɝ= fur in r full dialects, stressed syllables
ɚ= never, GA pronunciation; unstressed syllables

sounds in the mind

sounds of a language aka inventory
rules for combining sounds in a language
variations in pronunciation

how many languages in the world

6700+

how many sounds in the languages of the world

770

smallest inventory language

rotokas and mura with 11 contrastive sounds each

largest inventory language

!Xu with 141 contrastive sounds

3 types of phonetics

acoustic, articulatory, auditory/perceptual

what is physical sound

air comes up from lungs
goes out through oral and/or nasal cavity
vf either vibrate or do not as air comes out
as air passes out through the vocal tract, various articulators assume different positions to make different vowel and consonant sounds

what do you need to do phonological analysis

need to identify the units of operation and do so using transcription

phonetic transcription

a system for writing down the way a word (or phrase) sounds using speech symbpls

are the sequencing and distribution of speech sounds arbritrary

no but follow describable patterns

does phonology interface with other components of grammar (morphology, syntax)

yes

do 2 languages have the same inventory

no but not infintie possibilities

2 basic principles for understanding the patterns found in sound systems

sounds tend to be affected by the environment in which they occur
sound systems tend to be symmetrical

example of environmental variation

im in different words place of articulation shifts based on articulation of following consonant (input, impossible, indecent, incomprehensible, irrelevant, illegal)

do sounds occurs just one after another as discrete units

no even though we perceive them this way

borders of sounds tend to...

blend into each other at the points where they come together

assimilation

place of artic shifts to be closer to following consonant

phonologists want to capture what

is and isnt important in a sound system

sound systems that use acoustic space efficiently lead to...

better perception between speakers and more effective communication

T or F: sounds occur in sets and all members of a given set tend to be affected in the same way in the same environment

true

uses of the vocal tract

originated for different functions but have been recruited for purpose of language

have animals also recrutied the same as humans for vocalizations

yes

fx of lungs

nonspeech: exchange O2 and CO2
speech: supply airstream

fx of vf

nonspeech:prevent food and liquid from entering lungs
speech: produce vibration in resonating cavity

fx of tongue

nonspeech: move food within the mouth
speech: articulate sounds

fx of lips

nonspeech: seal oral cavity
speech: articulate sounds

fx of teeth

nonspeech: break up food
speech: provide passive articulator and acoustic baffle

have their been claims that the anatomy might have evolved specifically to serve language, independent of and even contrary to the original function

yes
ex: vf in humans more muscular and less fatty than other primates permitting greater control over their precise configuration

velopharyngeal port

open: nasal sounds
closed: oral sounds

3 basic modes of speech production

buzz of vibrating vf
hiss of air pushed past a constriction
pop of closure release

voicing

are vf vibrating or not
contrastive property in many languages

how does turbulence happen

air forced through a passage that is too small to permit it to flow smoothly

turbulence

complex pattern of swirls and eddies at a wide range of spatial and temporal scales

in vocal tract, where can turbulent flow be created

at many points of constriction

turbulence in phonetics is called

frication (fricatives)

stop (focusing on closure) or plosive (focusing on release)

complete constriction, pressure builds up and then is released
can be made anywhere in the vocal tract

articulatory spaces

nasal cavity
oral cavity
pharynx

moveable articulators (active)

lips, tongue, velum, uvula
do majority of movement

fixed articulators (passive)

teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate
do not do as much movement

pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism

all english sounds
all vowels cross-linguistically
going out of the lungs
most common sounds across languages

nonpulmonic airstream mechanisms

ejectives (glottalic egressive)
clicks (velaric ingressive)
implosives (glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive)

parameters for consonants

voicing
orality/nasality
place of articulation
manner of articulation
airstream mechanism

voicing depends on

the vf
voiceless: vf pulled apart and not vibrating
voiced: vf pressed together and vibrating

voiceless is on ... of IPA chart

left

oral consonants

velum closed

nasal consonants

velum open

manner of articulation

how sounds are made
stop, fricative, affricate, nasals, liquids, glides

place of articulation

where sounds are made
bilabial
labiodental
interdental
alveolar
post-alveolar
palatal
velar
glotta

bilabial

lips together
passive artic: upper lip
active artic: lower lip

labiodental

bottom lip towards upper teeth
passive artic: upper teeth
active artic: lower lip

interdental

tongue tip between teeth
passive artic: teeth
active artic: tongue

alveolar

tip of tongue toward alveolar ridge
passive artic: alveolar ridge
active artic: tongue tip
lateral: alveolar but sides of tongue down

post-alveolar retroflex

tip of tongue curled back but still post-alveolar
passive artic: post alveolar ridge
active artic: tongue tip

post-alveolar nonretroflex

front of tongue just behind alveolar ridge
passive artic: post alveolar region
active artic: tongue

palatal

body of tongue toward hard palate
passive artic: hard palate
active artic: tongue body

velar

body of tongue raised near velum
passive artic: velum
active artic: tongue body

glottal

open glottis, vf open
tightly closed vf

stop aka plosive

articulators closed; passage of air completely blocked
may be voiced or voiceless

fricative

articulators close together, but not closed
friction/turbulence between articulators

affricate

articulators start in the stop position (closed) and end in fricative position (close together but not closed)

stops, fricatives, and affricates are

obstruents

nasals aka nasal stops

velum lowered to let air flow out through nasal cavity
articulators in the mouth closed as for stops

liquids also classified as approximants

articulators somewhat close together but not enough to create friction/turbulence

glides also classified as approximants

articulators in proximity to each other but not very close
very similar to vowels

classification of consonants

airstream mechanism
state of glottis
position of velum
place of artic
manner of artic
*avoid redundant terms (ex: oral or pulmonic for english)*

classification of vowels

always pulmonic egressive
all have the same manner of artic
typically voiced
no real places of artic
may be oral or nasal

vowel parameters

tongue height
tongue forwardness or backwardness
lip rounding
oral/nasal
tense/lax

labial

any articulation made with the lips

coronal

any articulation made with the front of the tongue

dorsal

any articulation made with tongue body

nasals, liquids, glides (also taps and trills) are

sonorants
"semivowels"

can stops be prenasalized

yes velum open during an initial portion of the oral closure

trill articulation

aerodynamically driven vibrations of 1 articulator against another
NOT separate muscle contractions for each vibration
tongue, lips, uvula, (possibly epiglottis) can vibrate

tap articulation

articulators make contact very briefly not long enough to build up a lot of pressure behind constriction (so you do not get a strong release sound)

can trills be prenasalized

yes

can fricatives and affricates be aspirated

yes eg chinese

do some languages distinguish between (breathy) voiced aspirated and voiceless aspirated stops and affricates

yes eg hindi

clicks in zulu

made with velaric ingressive airstream mechanism
involves suction of tongue trapping air between 2 articulators
release of anterior articulation creates loud sound as air rushes in

tongue height

high, mid, low

tongue backness

front, central, back

which vowels are rounded in english

high and mid back vowels

length of vowels in english

tense/lax usually makes this distinction for us

primary cardinal vowels

i, e, ɛ, a, ɑ, ɔ, o, u
used as reference points: not actual vowel positions in any particular language

IPA vowels

i= see
ɪ= bit
ɛ= let
æ= cat
ə= amid (unstressed)
ɔ= caught
ɑ= hot
ʌ= but (stressed)
ɑɪ= tie
eɪ= say
ɔɪ= boy
ɑʊ= cow
oʊ= snow