Phonetics

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Chapter 6: Phonetics: the sounds of language

Important concepts (these are the concepts you should know after the lectures on Phonetics):

Phonetics; articulatory phonetics; auditory phonetics; International Phonetic Alphabet; airstream mechanisms: eggressive, ingressive, and pulmonic, glottalic, velaric; consonants; vowels; concerning consonants: active and passive articulators; places of articulation: bilabial, alveolar, etc.; manners of articulation: stops and continuants (fricatives, liquids, etc.); voiced and voiceless sounds; oral and nasal sounds; aspirated and unaspirated sounds; retroflex sounds; concerning vowels: tongue height (high, etc.); part of tongue (front, etc.; length (short, long); position of lips (rounded, unrounded); position of velum (oral, nasalised); monopthongs; diphthongs; classes of speech sounds (obstruents, high vowels, etc.); syllable; syllabic consonants; prosodic, suprasegmental properties/features: length, stress, intonation, tones.

(1)
[m] ham
[b] break
[k] cake
[a] father
[i] beak
[u] pool

(2)
[] long
[] thick
[] this
[] or [] fish
[] or [] pleasure
[] put
[] firm
[] (schwa) about

(3)
[x] German auch >also=
[] Fijian vanua >land, country=
[y] French lune >moon=
[] Turkish göz >eye=

(4) Places of articulation:
Bilabials: [p], [b], [m]. E.g. spit, bat, plum.
Labiodentals: [f], [v]. E.g. phone, love.
Interdentals: [], []. E.g. bath, bathe.
Alveolars: [t], [d], [s], [z], [l], [r]. E.g. ten, ride, list, zone, low, red.
Palatals: (also called alveopalatals): [], [], [t], [d]. E.g. fish, measure, chip, jam.
Velars: [k], [g], []. E.g. lake, give, sing.
Uvulars: French [R], Arabic [q], [G].
Glottals: [h], []. E.g., head, button (in some dialects).

(5)
Voiced sounds: [b], [d], [g], [v], [z], [], [], [d], [l], [r], [m], [n], [].
Voiceless sounds: [p^h], [t^h], [k^h], [f], [s], [], [], [t], [h].

(6) Voiced vs. voiceless:
robe vs. rope
den vs. ten
bag vs. back
gin vs. chin

(7) Aspirated vs. unaspirated:
[p^h], e.g. pit, vs. [p], e.g. spit
[t^h], e.g. tone, vs. [t], e.g. stone
[k^h], e.g. kill, vs. [k], e.g. skill

(8)
Nasal sounds: [m], [n], [].
Oral sounds: [p^h]], [d], [k], [h], [l], etc.

(9) Oral vs. nasal:
beat vs. meat
dough vs. know
bag vs. bang

(10) Stops:
[p^h], [p], [b], [m], [t^h], [t], [d], [n], [k^h], [k], [g], [], [q] (Arabic), []

(11) Fricatives:
[f], [v], [s], [z], [], [], [], [], German [x]

(12) Affricates:
[t], [d], German [ts]

(13) Laterals:
[l], [], as in lull.

(14)
Glides: [j], [w], [], as in yes, witch and which, respectively, but not all speakers distinguish between the latter two. Also [r] for some speakers.

(15) "r-like" sounds:
alveolar glide [r]
retroflex []
trill: alveolar [r], uvular [R]
tap []
flap [], []

(16)
Retroflex stops: oral voiceless [], oral voiced [], nasal [].

(17)

	bilabial	labiodental	interdental	alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
stop, oral
voiceless
unaspirated	p			t		k
aspirated	ph			th		kh
voiced	b			d		g
stop, nasal	m			n
fricative
voiceless		f		s			h
voiced		v		z
affricate
voiceless					t
voiced					d
glide
voiceless
voiced	w			r	j	w
lateral
clear					l
dark

(18)

High vowels:
[i], as in beat (but long)
[u], as in boot (but long)

Mid vowels:
[], as in bird (but long)
[], as in pork (but long)
[], as in about

Low vowels:
[], as in mat (in some dialects)
[a], as in father (but long)

(19)
Front vowels:
[i], as in beat (but long)
[e], as in bed (New Zealand English)

Central vowels:
[], as in bird (but long)
[a], as in father (but long)

Back vowels:
[], as in put
[], as in sock

(20)
Short vowels:
[], as in fish (New Zealand English)
[], as in put

Long vowels:
[i:], as in bead
[u:], as in pool

(21) Czech short and long vowels
[a], as in rada 'advice'
[a:], as in ráda 'glad'

(22)
Rounded vowels:
[], as in put
[:], as in cork

Unrounded vowels:
[a:], as in father
[], as in fish.

(23) French front rounded vowels:
[y], as in lune 'moon'
[:], as in peur 'fear'

(24)
Oral vowels:
[], as in cut
[], as in back

Nasalised vowels:
[], as in numb
[], as in man

(25) French oral and nasalised vowels
[], as in coter 'to assess'
[], as in compter 'to count'

(26) Diphthongs:
[e], as in shade
[], as in toy
[o], as in comb
[a], as in shout
[], as in beer
[e], as in dare.

(27) Syllabic consonants
[], as in battle
[], as in rhythm
[], as in button

(28) Czech syllabic liquids
[], as in vlk 'wolf'
[], as in krk 'neck'.
Str prst skrz krk. 'Push (your) finger through (your) throat.'

(29) Stressed syllables:
grávity, obéy, contíguous
permít, pérmit; addréss, áddress
còntradíctory, ìnclinátion

(30) French

Statement: Il	est parti.	'He has left.'
Question: Il	est parti?	'Has he left?'

(31) Cover symbols
C - consonants
V - vowels
L - liquids
G - glides

(32) Diacritics
[] for stress or for primary stress: [é]
[] for secondary stress: [wÝ]
[] for nasalised vowels: []
[] for syllabic consonants: []
[:] for length: [i:]

(33) Japanese short and long consonants
[k], as in saka '(a) slope'
[k:], as in sakka 'writer'