Phonetics 1st Test

Varieties of language

differences in the system of a language that emerge from social, historical, geographical and other changes

Dialect

governed by regional or social distinctiveness and is identified by particular vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammatical structures

Accent

refers to pronunciation only

Speech community

a group of people who all speak a certain dialect

Sociolect

a language variety that is defined on social grounds

Regiolect (regional dialect)

spoken in a particular geographical area

Idiolect

dialect that is unique to the speaker

Nonstandard language varieties are defined as dialects that do not conform to the standard form of a language

Intelligible pronunciation

pronunciation recognizable for the listener

National variety

the speech of a nation (American English, British English, Australian English etc.)

Standard English (SE)

the norm of British English (social dialect that is associated with high status, taught in educational establishments, used in government, law court, the church and media)

Received Pronunciation

is also known as The Queen’s English, Public School Accent, Oxford English, BBC English, the accent of the Court etc. This pronunciation is associated with the educated, typically middle and upper classes of the community. Connotations of prestige and authority and an indicator of formal speech.

Conservative RP

characteristic of older generations, resistant to change, traditionally used by certain professions or social groups

General RP

the pronunciation adopted by the BBC and is most commonly used

Advanced RP

attempts to change and is mostly used by young people of exclusive social groups

Mainstream RP

corresponds with general RP

Upper

Crust RP

Near

RP

Cockney

accent associated with the working class of London

Estuary English (EE)

modern accent of London, comprises both the prestige of RP and features of modern working

Global English

English has become an international language (lingua franca)

What is the difference between a dialect and an accent?

Dialect has a particular vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar structures while accent only has a distinctive pronunciation

What are the different types of RP?

Conservative RP, General RP, Advanced RP, Mainstream RP, Upper

What are the different names for RP? Why are they called so?

The Queen’s English, Public School Accent, Oxford English, BBC English, the accent of the Court. They are called all these names because each name reflects an important historical or social aspects of RP.

What is the difference between RP, Cockney, and Estuary English?

RP is associated with middle and upper class, Cockney is associated with working

Phonetics

is concerned with the physical manifestation of language in sound waves and how they are produced, transmitted, and perceived

Phonology

studies the sound systems of languages and how sounds function in relation to each other in a language.

Phone

in phonetics and phonology means sound

Phonemes

is the smallest independent unit that can bring about a change in meaning

Allophone

phones that belong to the same phoneme (same sound, slightly different pronunciation)

Minimal pair

pairs of words in which you change one phoneme the meaning changes

Articulatory phonetics

studies the ways the vocal organs are used to produce speech sounds

Acoustic phonetics

investigates the physical properties of speech sounds (duration, frequency, intensity and quality)

Auditory phonetics

concerned with how people perceive speech sounds

Segments

phonemes can be described as phonetic segments as if they existed in isolation and did not affect one another

Diacritics

indicate slight alterations to the usual value of phonetic symbols

Narrow transcription (transcription proper)

phonetic transcription containing a lot of info about the exact quality of the sound

Broad transcription

phonemic, gives only the basic idea of the sounds

What is the difference between phonetics and phonology?

Phonetics concerned with the physical manifestation of language while phonology studies the sound systems of a language.

What is the difference between a letter and a sound?

How many sounds are there in the English sound system?

44 sounds

Why is phone a more appropriate term than sound?

because sound can be any noise while phone is a specific term referring to human voice

What is the difference between phoneme and allophone?

phoneme is the smallest independent unit that can change the meaning of a word and allophones are phones that belong to the same phoneme

The English Phonemic Chart

exhibits clear sets of vowels (monophthongs and diphthongs), consonants, and sonorants; compiled from the IPA and devised by IPA

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

a notational standard for the phonetic representations of all languages

International Phonetic Association (IPA)

mission is to promote the scientific study of phonetics by providing phoneticians worldwide with a notational standard for the phonetic representations of all languages, i.e. the IPA

Vowels

the class of sounds that are associated with the least obstruction to the flow of air during their production.

Consonants

the class of sounds that are associated with obstructed airflow through the vocal tract during their production.

Sonorants (sonants, semivowels)

a special set of consonants that demonstrate reduced levels of obstructed airflow during their production

What are the responsibilities of the International Phonetic Association?

to promote the scientific study of phonetics by providing phoneticians worldwide with a notational standard for the phonetic representation of all languages, i.e. the IPA.

Compare the sonority in vowels, consonants, and sonorants.

Vowels are highly resonant and intense so they have greater sonority than the consonants and sonorants, sonorants have less sonority than vowels but more than consonants, and consonants are have the least sonority.

Speech chain/speech mechanism

Different stages involved in the speech making process (sound originates in the brain, creates message in the mind, number of physiological commands that are needed to produce the sounds etc)

Initiation or Respiration

(the lungs provide the energy source)

Phonation

(the vocal folds convert the energy into an audible sound)

The Oronasal Process

(the soft palate distributes the audible sound into the
oral cavity or nasal cavity)

Articulation

(the organs of speech transform the sound into an intelligible
speech sound)

Inspiration

Inhalation

Expiration

exhalation

Egressive

(of a speech sound) produced using the normal outward-flowing airstream.

Larynx

Vocal folds (vocal folds)

Voicing

The vocal folds can be brought together and
when the airstream is forced between them, they vibrate and produce voice

Glottis

The space between vocal folds

Describe the phonation process (cycle) in more detail

1. the vocal folds are drawn together fairly tightly;
2. the expiratory airflow builds up the pressure and forces the vocal folds apart;
3. as the airflow escapes through the glottis, the pressure is reduced, and the focal folds close again

What stages are involved in sound production?

1. Initiation or Respiration
2. Phonation
3. The Oronasal Process
4. Articulation

Why is the airflow in the initiation of the sound called egressive?

Because it is produced by outward-flowing airstream

Why is the larynx an essential organ of speech?

Because it contains vocal folds that are essential for sound production

????????Describe how the status of the vocal folds (tense vs relaxed, longer vs shorter, higher vs lower rate of vibration, etc.) is varied

What process takes place in the pharynx, and what articulators are involved

As vocal cords work to make sound and the larynx opens up, the pharynx is able to amplify that sound

Pharynx

Which organs of speech are called active and which are called passive?

What is the difference between an active and a passive articulator?

In what cavities does sound resonate?

In the larynx, pharynx, oral cavity, nasal cavity, upper skull cavity and the chest

Articulatory phonetics

The study of the vocal tract organs

Articulators

Distribution of the sound

Study that is concerned with how different contexts and positions in which particular sounds can occur

Cardinal vowels

a set of reference vowels used by phoneticians in describing the sounds of languages

According to what aspects are vowels classified?

1. Sound
2. Tenseness
3. Length
4. Shape of the lips
5. Position of the tongue (Height and advancement)

Describe the characteristics of the vowels according to the movement of the tongue

According to height:
high (close) vowels articulated with the tongue located as high as possible in the oral cavity, thus narrowing the passage for the airflow: /ɪ/, /iː/, /ʊ/, /uː/

mid (mid-open) vowels with the tongue lowered to the mid position in the oral cavity: /æ/, /ɒ/, /ʌ/, /ɑː/

low (open) vowels produced with the tongue positioned as low as possible in order to leave a lot of space for the airflow: /e/, /ɔː/, /ɜː/, /ə/

front vowels articulated with the tongue far forward in the oral cavity toward
the hard palate: /iː/, /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/

According to advancement:
front vowels articulated with the tongue far forward in the oral cavity toward the hard palate: /iː/, /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/

central (mixed) vowels produced with the tongue retracted to the middle position in the oral cavity: /ʌ/, /ɜː/, /ə/

back vowels produced with the tongue retracted as far as possible to shape the space in the front part of the oral cavity: /ɒ/, /ɔː/, /ʊ, /uː/, /ɑː/

????????Explain the relationship between tenseness and length of English vowels?

What quality do vowels have as monophthongs, diphthongs, and triphthongs?

Monophthongs - have a single perceived auditory quality and remain constant in their articulation process (do not glide)

Diphthongs - two vowel qualities can be perceived, and the
articulators move from the production of one vowel to the other

Triphthongs - sounds
in which three vowel qualities can be perceived as they glide from one vowel to another and then to a third

Nucleus

The first part of a diphthong (longer and stronger than the second part)

Glide

The second part of a diphthong (weaker and shorter)

Why are consonants termed as obstruents?

Because the airflow is always obstructed to a great extent when the sounds are articulated

What are the basic features that characterise consonants?

They are produced with a complete closure or narrowing of the vocal tract

They are less sonorous than vowels are. (i.e., they have less of a “singing” quality
to them).

What are the various types of obstructions?

Place of obstruction:
- bilabial
- labio-dental
- apico-dental
- apico-alveolar
- lamino-alveolar
- apico-postalveolar
- lamino-palatal
- velar
- glottal


Manner of obstruction:
- plosive obstruents
- nasal sonorants

- fricative obstruents
- constrictive sonorants

- occlusive-constrictive

How do plosives differ from fricatives?

In the production of the plosive obstruents, the air is obstructed and then released with a small burst of noise (plosion) (short sounds)

Fricatives are all continuant consonants: they can be continued for a long time

How are approximants subdivided?

Into Lateral /l/ and medial /r/, /j/, /w/

Why are affricates called homorganic sounds?

Because the place of articulation of the plosive is the same or nearly the same as that of the paired fricative.

Describe the phases in the production of plosive sounds

The closing phase (articulators are pushed together to form
a complete closure behind which the air will be trapped)

The holding phase (the vocal tract is completely closed but e lungs are still forcing the air out of the vocal tract, so the pressure behind the closure builds up)

The release phase (a plosion
takes place, allowing the air trapped behind the closure to escape)

bilabial

sounds that are produced with the upper and lower lips pushed together
/p/ or /b/ or /w/

labio-dental

lower lip touches teeth /f/, /v/

apico-dental

tongue between lower and upper teeth /θ/, /ð/

apico-alveolar

tip of the tongue touches behind teeth (alveolar ridge) /t/, /d/, /n/, /l/, /s/, /z/

lamino-alveolar

raising the blade of the tongue toward the alveolar region /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/

apico-postalveolar

upturning the tip of the tongue behind
the alveolar ridge /r/

lamino-palatal

advancing the blade of the tongue toward the highest part of the hard palate /j/

velar

s the tongue body makes contact with the soft palate /k/, /ɡ/, /ŋ/

glottal

the narrowing of the glottis as the wall of the
pharynx makes contact with the root of the tongue /h/

occlusive

When the obstruction totally blocks the airflow