3.2-3.5 LING reading vocab

Speech Articulators, Describing consonants: Place & phonation, and manner, Describing vowels,

Articulation

using parts of body to produce a language signal…For spoken language, it’s in the vocal tract (lips, tongue, other parts of mouth and throat)

Oral cavity

inside of mouth, from lips to back of tongue (facilitating digestion, speech, and breathing)

Pharynx

behind tongue; forms upper part of throat…Bottom of it splits into 2 tubes: trachea (windpipe…leads down to lungs) and esophagus (leads down to stomach)

Nasal cavity

open space in head above oral cavity and pharynx, from nostrils backways and down to pharynx

Phones

segments; individual speech sounds (ex: spill, slip, lisp, lips)

Consonants

phones created w/ relatively narrow constrictions somewhere in vocal tract (constrictions usually made by moving at least 1 part of vocal tract towards another)

Active/lower articulator

moving part of vocal tract…lower lip (labial), tongue tip (apical), tongue blade (laminal), tongue front (coronal), tongue back (dorsal), tongue root (radical), epiglottis (epiglottal)

Passive/upper articulator

target for moving part of vocal tract…upper lip (labial), upper teeth (dental), alveolar ridge (alveolar), postalveolar region (postalveolar), hard palate (palatal), velum (velar), uvula (uvular), pharyngeal wall (pharyngeal)

Place of Articulation

Overall combo of an active and passive articulator (place for short)…Many places of articulation are used frequently enough that their corresponding adjectives are replaced w/ shorter adjective (often just highlighting the passive articulator)

Dental consonants

2 main types of postalveolars

1. Tongue blade is on/near back of teeth/alveolar ridge (called dental)

2. Tongue protrudes between 2 sets of teeth…tongue blade below bottom edge of upper teeth (called interdental)...(ex: thin and then)

Larynx

voice box--rigid combo of cartilages that surround trachea (at top of it)

Vocal folds

(vocal cords)…2 membranes that scratch from front to back (inside larynx)

Glottis

empty space that separates vocal folds

Voicing

Vocal folds also used to regulate airflow through vocal tract for most consonants and vowels in spoken languages…airflow through glottis causes them to vibrate

Phonation

Larger category of manipulating airflow w/ vocal folds in different ways

Manners of articulation

How consonant phones can be categorized…it’s how air flows through vocal tract based on size and shape of constriction between articulators

Stops

Active articulator presses firmly against passive to make complete closure, blocking all airflow

Oral stop

velum may be raised against upper pharynx to block off access to nasal cavity…forces all airflow to go into oral cavity

Plosives

Most common type of oral stop; airflow from lungs gets trapped behind stop closure, until air can quickly release in explosive burst

Ejectives

other type of oral stop; air pushed up by raising vocal folds instead of exhaling from lungs

Implosives

air is sucked in by lowering vocal folds

Clicks

air is sucked in by quickly lowering tongue

Nasal stop

If a stop is articulated w/ lowered velum, allows air to flow into both oral and nasal cavities

Fricatives

active and passive articulators are close but not touching (creating narrow constriction) airflow becomes turbulent…causing high noisy airflow…air is squeezed through narrow gap

Approximant

resulting phone from active & passive articulators not touching and spaced far enough apart (little to no frication in airflow)

Central approximants

Most approximants have relatively unrestricted airflow through middle of oral cavity

Lateral approximant

During articulation of approximant, part of tongue may make full contact w/ upper articulator, causing airflow to divert along one or both sides of tongue, still without frication

Affricate

release stop closure for a plosive slowly, so brief fricative-like sound is created (fricated release), causing release of plosive to have some frication…5th manner of articulation

Taps

like stops, except the closer is so short that airflow is barely interrupted…another manner of articulation

Trills

like repeated taps…one articulator vibrates quickly against the other (usually 2-3 times)…another manner of articulation

Obstruents

Oral stops, fricatives, and affricates form this (having significant obstruction to free airflow in vocal tract)

Sonorants

Consonants with remaining manners of articulation (nasal stops, approximants, taps, and trills)…fairly unrestricted airflow, either through nasal cavity or oral cavity

Continuants

Fricatives and approximants (continuous airflow through oral cavity) are part of this

Vowel quality

Vowel phones can be categorized by configuration of tongue and lips during their articulation

Vowel height

Vowels are articulated w/ larger opening in oral cavity than consonants are…Height of tongue during articulation of vowel

Front vowel

tongue is positioned in front of oral cavity (highest point of tongue is under front of hard palate)…ex: beat

Back vowel

If tongue is positioned farther back in oral cavity (highest point of tongue is under back part of hard palate or under velum)…ex: boot

Central vowel

If tongue is positioned in centre of oral cavity (highest point of tongue is roughly under centre of hard palate, in between positions for front and back vowels)…ex: but

Rounding

Vowel quality depends on shape of lips

Tense vowel

If tongue root is advanced forward away from pharyngeal wall (ex: beat), tongue root pushes into rest of tongue…causes tongue to be somewhat denser and firmer overall

Lax vowel

If tongue root is more retracted, closer to pharyngeal wall (ex: bit), it keeps the tongue more relaxed

Oral

If vowel is articulated w/ raised velum to block airflow into nasal cavity

Nasal/nasalized

If velum is lowered, allowing airflow into nasal cavity

Geminates

long consonants

Singletons

short consonants

Monophthongs

stable (pronunciation) vowel phones…single articulation

Diphthongs

Vowel phones may change their articulation from beginning to end (begin w/ one specific articulation and shift quickly into another (ex: toy)…2 targets

Triphthogs

vowel phones that change from one vowel quality to another and then to a third