Performance Diction I--Final Exam

Language Diction

the study of two aspects of language—articulation and pronunciation

Articulation

the process of forming or shaping the individual sounds of a language by the movements of the articulators

Pronunciation

the selection of sounds and syllabic stress

International Phonetic Alphabet “IPA”

• developed by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century

• IPA is a series of symbols that each represent a certain speech sound

• the symbols are “universal,” designed to represent the same sound across all languages

Orthographic Letter

• symbols we use to communicate language in written form

• each individual symbol is called an orthographic letter

Orthographic Spelling

• symbols we use to communicate language in written form

• individual symbols combined into larger groupings are called orthographic spellings

IPA Symbol

the symbols we use to represent individual linguistic sounds

IPA Spelling

• differentiated from orthographic letters and spellings by the use of square brackets

• IPA symbols combined into larger groupings

IPA Transcribing

the act of changing an orthographic spelling into International Phonetic Alphabet

IPA Transcription

the product which results from the act of IPA transcribing

Phoneme

an individual speech/language sound

Syllable

a unit of spoken language that is larger than an inividual phoneme and consists of one or more sounds with or without consonants

Accent/Stress

the syllable within a word that receives more emphasis, either being louder or longer, or both

Primary Stress

• the syllable within a word that receives the most emphasis

• marked with an apostrophe before the syllable “‘“

Secondary Stress

• the syllable within a multi-syllable word that receives the second most emphasis

• marked with a comma before the syllable “,”

Penultimate

the second-to-last stressed syllable

Antepenultimate

the third-to-last

Vocal Tract

• the passageways and spaces in the body which are critical to vocal action

• (lungs, trachea, larynx, pharynx, nasopharynx, nasal cavity, oral cavity, articulators)

Articulators

• body parts within the vocal tract which are used in the formation and articulation of speech sounds

• (tongue, lips, jaw, alveolar ridge, velum)

Velum

the soft palate or the soft back part of the roof of the mouth

Hard Palate

the rigid portion of the roof of the mouth

Alveolar Ridge

the ridge on the top of the mouth behind the upper front teeth where the roofline of the mouth ascends upward

Uvula

the tissue that descends from the back edge of the velum

Vowel

a speech sound that is produced without any major interruption of the airflow through the vocal tract and can be sustained

Pure Vowel

a vowel that consists of one single sound from beginning to end

Diphthong

a vowel unit that consists of two pure vowel sounds that occur in the same syllable, flowing smoothly from one to the next

Triphthong

a vowel unit that consists of three separate vowel sounds in the same syllable, flowing smoothly from one to the next

Forward Vowels

vowels produced with the highest point of the arch of the tongue forward in the mouth, near the teeth ridge of hard palate

Central Vowels

vowels which are produced with the highest point of the arch of the tongue centrally located in the mouth

Back Vowels

vowels which are produced with the highest point of the arch of the tongue toward the back of the mouth

Closed Vowels

vowels which are produced with the least amount of space between the highest point of the arch of the tongue and the roof of the mouth

Mid Vowels

vowels which are produced with a moderate amount of space between the highest point of the arch of the tongue and the roof of the mouth

Open Vowels

vowels which are produced with the most space between the highest point of the arch of the tongue and the roof of the mouth

Rounded Vowels

vowels that require the corners of the mouth to be drawn toward one another

Unrounded Vowels

vowels that require the lips to be less rounded

Vowel Diagram

• a graphic which represents the positioning of the tongue for various vowels used in speech

• developed by Daneil Jones in the early 20th century

Consonant

a speech sound that is produced with some type of interference or interruption of the air stream as it moves through the vocal tract

Place of Articulation

refers to the location within the vocal tract where the interruption of the airflow occurs

Manner of Articulation

refers to the method of interruption of the air flow, whether by a complete or partial interruption

Plosive (Stop-Plosive) Consonant

• the airflow is completely prevented from passing through the mouth or the nose and then is released suddenly

• [p b t d k g]

Fricative Consonant

• the air flow is partially interrupted, producing a noisy sound and creating a quality of friction

• [f v s z h ð θ ʃ ʒ]

Nasal Consonant

• the vocal tract is blocked within the oral cavity and the lowered velum allows air to travel through the nasal passageway

• [m n ŋ]

Lateral Consonant

• the tip of the tongue lifts to touch the teeth and alveolar ridge and the breath flows past one of both sides of the tongue

• [l]

Consonant Glide

• characterized by movement of the articulators from one position to another, smoothly linking speech sounds

• [ɹ j w hw]

Affricative Consonant

• produced by a stop followed by a fricative consonant forming a single sound

• [tʃ dʒ]

Voiced Consonants

• pronounced with vocal fold vibration

• [m n ŋ l j ɹ]

Unvoiced Consonants

• produced without vocal fold vibration

• [h]

Cognates

• pairs of consonants that have the same manner of articulation, one being voiced and the other being unvoiced

• [p b], [t d], [k g], [f v], [s z], [ʃ ʒ], [θ ð], [w hw], [tʃ dʒ]

Digraph

a combination of two or more orthographically spelled letters that represent a single sound

• “th” and “ch” in english

Consonant Blends

• groups of two or more consonants that appear together without a vowel in between and each of the letters makes its own sound

• “bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fl, tr, tw, scr, shr, spl, mp, ft, ld, sp, lf,” etc.

Vowel Modification

a process used to aid singing efficiency, which requires a slight intentional alteration of a vowel from its most speech-like state to one that allows for a more optimal sung sound

Vowel Harmonization

a process used in singing to make slight intentional alterations in vowel sounds that are in proximity in a phrase to create a more pleasing vocal line

Consonant Assimilation

unintentional slight alterations in consonants which are caused by other consnants in proximity

Syllabification

the period between syllables of IPA transcription

Syllabification Rules

• 1. every syllable must have at least one vowel

• 2. v/cv

• 3. vc/cv

• 4. keep digraphs and consonant blends together

• 5. prefixes and suffixes should stay intact and kept as a whole (ex. “march/ing”)

• 6. silent “e” stays with preceding syllable

• 7. when word ends in a consonant + le pattern it forms its own syllable (ex. “mar/ble”)

[i]

• tongue placement: forward & closed

• pronunciation: “heat”

[Ɪ]

• tongue placement: forward & close

• pronunciation: “mitten”

[e]

• tongue placement: forward & mid

• pronunciation: “chaos”

[ɛ]

• tongue placement: forward & mid

• pronunciation: “met”

[æ]

• tongue placement: forward & open

• pronunciation: “cat”

[a]

• tongue placement: forward & open

• pronunciation: “a-ha!”

[u]

• tongue placement: back & closed

• pronunciation: “hoot”

[ʊ]

• tongue placement: back & closed

• pronunciation: “book”

[o]

• tongue placement: back & mid

• pronunciation: “obey”

[ɔ]

• tongue placement: back & open

• pronunciation: “only”

[ɑ]

• tongue placement: back & open

• pronunciation: “father”

[ʌ]

• tongue placement: central & open

• pronunciation: “up”

[ə]

• tongue placement: central & mid

• pronunciation: “around”

[ɝ]

• tongue placement: central & mid

• pronunciation: “heard”

[ɚ]

• tongue placement: central & mid

• pronunciation: “inner”

[p]

• place of articulation: lips

• pronunciation: “pepper”

[b]

• place of articulation: lips

• pronunciation: “baby”

[t]

• place of articulation: tongue & alveolar ridge

• pronunciation: “test”

[d]

• place of articulation: tongue & alveolar ridge

• pronunciation: “dark”

[k]

• place of articulation: tongue & velum

• pronunciation: “crank”

[g]

• place of articulation: tongue & velum

• pronunciation: “grand”

[tʃ]

• place of articulation: tongue & alveolar ridge

• pronunciation: “church”

[dʒ]

• place of articulation: tongue & alveolar ridge

• pronunciation: “judge”

[f]

• place of articulation: teeth & lips

• pronunciation: “fruit”

[v]

• place of articulation: teeth & lips

• pronunciation: “vase”

[θ]

• place of articulation: tongue & teeth

• pronunciation: “north”

[ð]

• place of articulation: tongue & teeth

• pronunciation: “these”

[s]

• place of articulation: tongue & alveolar ridge

• pronunciation: “source”

[z]

• place of articulation: tongue & alveolar ridge

• pronunciation: “xylophone”

[ʃ]

• place of articulation: tongue & alveolar ridge

• pronunciation: “shirt”

[ʒ]

• place of articulation: tongue & alveolar ridge

• pronunciation: “azure”

[h]

• place of articulation: glottis/larynx

• pronunciation: “house”

[m]

• place of articulation: lips

• pronunciation: “make”

[n]

• place of articulation: tongue & alveolar ridge

• pronunciation: “nonsense”

[ŋ]

• place of articulation: tongue & velum

• pronunciation: “song”

[l]

• place of articulation: tongue & alveolar ridge

• pronunciation: “lemon”

[hw]

• place of articulation: lips

• pronunciation: “where”

[w]

• place of articulation: lips

• pronunciation: “wobble”

[ɹ]

• place of articulation: tongue & velum

• pronunciation: “more”

[j]

• place of articulation: tongue & alveolar ridge

• pronunciation: “year”

[ɛ:i]

pronunciation: “late”

[o:ʊ]

pronunciation: “boat”

[a:Ɪ]

pronunciation: “might”

[a:ʊ]

pronunciation: “hound”

[ɔ:Ɪ]

pronunciation: “alloy”