Acoustic Phonetics

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to vowels, spectrograms, obstruent consonants, and sonorants in speech production.

Vowel

A phoneme produced by a comparatively open configuration of the vocal tract with vibration of the vocal folds but without audible frication, forming the nucleus of a syllable. A phoneme where the vocal tract is unobstructed.

Vowel Formants

Resonant frequencies of the vocal tract that shape the sound of vowels, crucial in distinguishing between different vowel sounds in speech.

F1

The first formant, correlates with vowel height (how open the mouth is).

F2

The second formant, correlates with vowel backness (the position of the tongue).

Source-Filter Theory of Speech Production

Describes how the sound source (larynx/vocal folds) interacts with the configuration of the vocal tract to produce speech.

Closed-Open Tube

Approximates the vocal tract configuration for the vowel /Ə/ (schwa) because the glottal end is considered closed and the lip end open.

Spectrogram

A visual representation of sound showing amplitude, time, and frequency all in one plot.

Narrowband Spectrogram

Shows the fundamental frequency (F0) and harmonics clearly.

Wideband Spectrogram

Shows formant frequencies, visualizing the spectral envelope as it changes over time.

Obstruent Consonant Acoustic Characteristics

Include release bursts, frication noise, prevoicing, voice onset time, and silent periods.

Coarticulation / Coproduction

The blending of multiple speech segments during production and transmission, where speech is not a series of independent phonemes.

Stops

Consonants produced by completely obstructing the airflow, building up pressure, and then releasing it in an explosive burst.

Formant Transitions

Changes in formant frequencies that affect how a sound is heard.

Fricatives

Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel, creating turbulence and aperiodic hissing noise.

Affricates

Consonants that combine a stop and a fricative, characterized by a silent period, burst, and frication.

Sonorant

Voiced consonants with continuous, non-turbulent airflow during articulation, including nasals, approximants, liquids, and glides.

Nasals

Sonorants produced with airflow through the nasal cavity, characterized by a nasal murmur and antiformants.

Antiformants

Frequencies where sound energy is suppressed, determined by the length of the side cavity (e.g., oral cavity).

Liquids

Sonorants characterized by distinct formant structures and potential antiresonances due to side cavities.

Glides (Semivowels)

Sonorants characterized by rapid formant transitions that resemble adjacent vowels (e.g., /j/ and /w/).