Classification of Speech Sounds. Vowels; Consonants.

Transcription

1 Classification of Speech Sounds Vowels; Consonants.

2 Since the writing system of English does not provide us with a one-to-one correspondence between oral sound and written symbol, we need a tool for representing human sounds in an regular way when studying phonology; the International Phonetic Alphabet (the IPA) has been invented for this purpose. In it, each written symbol represents one, and only one, speech sound, while each speech sound is represented by one, and only one, written symbol. We will begin by learning this special alphabet.

3

4 Read the following passage Y c_n _nd_rst_nd th_s s_nt_nc_ w_th t th_ v_w_ls, b_t c_n y _nd_rst_nd th_ n_xt _n_ w_th t th_ c_ns_n_nts? o_a o_. I_ _ a o i o i e.

5 Read the following passage - KEY You can understand this sentence without the vowels, but can you understand the next one without the consonants? Probably not. It s almost impossible

6 So. Consonants might be considered of greater importance than vowels in English. Text message English a limited use of vowels

7 Consonants A consonant is defined as a speech sound which is articulated with some kind of stricture, or closure, of the air stream. Consonants are classified according to four features: 1. the state of the glottis: in vibration (voiced) or open (voiceless); 2. the state of the velum: lowered (nasal) or raised (oral); 3. the place of articulation: the location where the stricture or place of maximum interference occurs and what articulators are involved; and 4. the manner of articulation: the amount of stricture, whether it is complete, partial (called close approximation ), or relatively open ( open approximation ).

8 Oral or nasal consonants Oral: the air escapes through the mouth. Nasal: the air escapes through the nose. Almost all consonants are oral, only 3 are nasal: /m, n, [ŋ].

9 Voiceless and voiced consonants Voiceless: no vibration of the vocal cords. Voiced: vibration of the vocal cords. Voiceless consonant phonemes are: /p/ as in pea; /t/ as in tea; /k/ as in coffee; /f/ as in fat; /θ/ as in thin; /s/ as in see; /ʃ/ as in she; /h/ as in he. Voiced consonant phonemes are: /b/ as in ball; /d/ as in dog; /ʤ/ as in joke; /g/ as in good; /v/ as in van; /ð/ as in that; /z/ as in zoo; /m/ as in mouth; /n/ as in no; /ŋ/ as in thing; /l/ as in love; /r/ as in right; /w/ as in why; /j/ as in you.

10

11 Places of articulation They indicate the place where obstruction is made for the pronunciation of the consonants. The tongue, lips, teeth, and various regions of the mouth constitute places of articulation in the oral cavity. Bilabial, Labiodental, Dental or Interdental, Alveolar, Palato-alveolar, Palatal, Velar, Glottal. 3mod3.5.2_place.htm

12 Manner of articulation It refers to the way the articulators are set so that the resonance effect is possible. Stop or plosive Fricative Affricate Nasal Lateral Glide Liquid Approximant (in English lateral, glide and liquid sounds are approximants, as they don t involve friction in any part of the vocal tract.

13 Consonants bilabials labiodentals dental alveolars palatoalveolar palatals velars glottals Plosives p b t d k g Fricatives f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h Africates tʃ dʒ Nasals m n ŋ Liquids Frictionless approximants Glides l w r j

14 Allophones In natural speech production sounds occur in groups in fast succession so individual sounds are influenced by the sounds around the. If /t/ occurs before a vowel it is aspirated more than if it occurs before a /r/. Ex. Say: table and train. In some varieties of English (American English, Cockney) [t] can have up to 6 different realisations, these are called phonetic variants or allophones. In transcription they are represented by diacritic symbols added to the phonemic ones. They do not involve any change of meaning but differences in accents.

15 Consonant sounds LUOGO di articolazione Place of articulation MODO di articolazione Manner of articulation POSIZIONE delle corde vocali Position of vocal chords (sorda/sonora voiceless/voiced)

16 A. Luogo Per capire, conoscere e sentire i singoli suoni emessi è importante conoscere il nostro apparato fonatore:

17 B. Modo il percorso del flusso di aria determina o il MODO in cui un fono viene prodotto: occlusiva fricativa affricata nasale liquida senza frizione plosive fricative affricate nasal liquid frictionless/glide

18 C. Posizione l opposizione sorda/sonora si riferisce alla posizione delle corde vocali 18

19 Write the following words near the correct symbol according to the underlined letters glasses dog hot drive letter pen red music book car president football study teacher name work /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/ /f/ /v/ /s/ /z/ /h/ /l/ /r/ /m/ /n/ /w/ 19

20 Write the following words near the correct symbol according to the underlined letters Glasses /g/ dog /d/ hot /h/ drive /v/ letter /l/ pen /p/ red /r/ music /m/ book /b/ /k/ car /k/ president /z/ football /f/ study /s/ teacher /t/ name/n/ work /w/

21 a. Why /h/ b. who /h/ c. Photograph /ph/ d. Cinema /s/ e. Scissors /sk/ f. Laugh /gh/ g. Knife /n/ h. Verb /v/ i. question /kw/ j. Class /k/ k. Rose /s/ l. Writing /wr/ Tick if the symbols match the sounds of the letters underlined

22 Tick if the symbols match the sounds of the letters underlined a. Why b. who /h/ c. Photograph d. Cinema /s/ e. Scissors f. Laugh g. Knife /n/ h. Verb /v/ i. question /kw/ j. Class /k/ k. Rose l. Writing a. Why /w/ b. who c. Photograph /f/ d. Cinema e. Scissors /s/ f. Laugh /f/ g. Knife h. Verb i. question j. Class k. Rose /z/ l. Writing /r/

23 Phonetic Alphabet

24 Vowels To adequately define a vowel, we need to look at it in articulatory, acoustic, and functional terms: In articulatory terms, vowels are sounds articulated with no obstruction of the air stream, that is, with open articulation. There is lack of central closure of the air stream, though the tongue may come into contact with the teeth on the sides. In acoustic terms, vowels are sounds that vary in pitch, which is determined by the quality of the sound wave. Pitch is modified by changing the shape of the resonating chamber (the oral and, sometimes, the nasal tracts) by changing the position and shape of tongue and lips and by lowering or raising the velum. In functional terms, vowels constitute the nucleus, or necessary, part of the syllable.

25 English vowels 12 vowels + 8 diphthongs versus 7 basic vowels n Italian

26 Classification of English vowels For consonants, we must consider four criteria: voicing, orality/nasality, place, and manner of articulation. For vowels, we need to consider only one criterion: place of articulation. All vowels are voiced and oral. In terms of their manner of articulation, all vowels are produced with open approximation. Instead of determining which articulators are used and where stricture occurs, we determine where the highest point of the tongue is during the production of the vowel sound. The position and tensity of the tongue alters the quality of the sound produced. Another determinig factor is the shape of the lips, which can be more or less spread (smiling) or more or less rounded (kissing).

27

28 Practice pronunciation/pronunciation01?cc=it&sellanguage=it ammar/pron/sounds/

29 Long and short vowels It depends on whether the vowel is in a stressed or unstressed syllable. There are short and long vowel pairs suc as /ɪ/ and /i:/ English vowels are tenser than Italian ones.

30 The schwa /ə/ The most central vowel. The lips are neither rounded nor spread, the sound is neither open nor closed, neither front nor back, high or low, so all articulators involved are in a relaxed or neutral position. In Neapolitan /jammə/.

31 Diphthongs: vowel sounds made up of two phonemes

32 unciation02?cc=it&sellanguage=it