l What is phonetics?
n Phonetics is termed as the study of speech sounds.
n Sub-branches of phonetics
u Articulatory phonetics – the production of speech sounds
u Acoustic phonetics – the physical properties of speech sounds
u Auditory phonetics – the perceptive mechanism of speech sounds
l The speech organs
n Where does the air stream come from?
u From the lung
n What is the function of vocal cords?
u Controlling the air stream
n What are the cavities?
u Oral cavity
u Pharyngeal cavity
u Nasal cavity
l Transcription of speech sounds
n Units of representation
u Segments (the individual sounds)
n Phonetic symbols
u The widely used symbols for phonetic transcription of speech sounds is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
u The IPA attempts to represent each sound of human speech with a single symbol and the symbols are enclosed in brackets [ ] to distinguish phonetic transcriptions from the spelling system of a language.
u In more detailed transcription (narrow transcription) a sound may be transcribed with a symbol to which a smaller is added in order to mark the finer distinctions.
l Description of speech sounds
n Description of English consonants
u General feature: obstruction
u Criteria of consonant description
l Places of articulation
l Manners of articulation
l Voicing of articulation
u Places of articulation
l This refers to each point at which the air stream can be modified to produce a sound.
n Bilabial: [p] [b] [m] [w]
n Labiodental: [f] [v]
n Interdental: [W] [T]
n Alveolar: [t] [d] [s] [z] [l] [n] [r]
n Palatal: [F] [V] [tF] [dV] [j]
n Velar: [k] [g] [N]
n Glottal: [h]
u Manners of articulation
l This refers to how the air stream is modified, whether it is completely blocked or partially obstructed.
n Stops: [p] [b] [t] [d] [k] [g]
n Fricatives: [s] [z] [F] [V] [f] [v] [W] [T] [h]
n Affricates: [tF] [dV]
n Liquids: [l] [r]
n Glides: [w] [j]
n Nasals: [m] [n] [N]
u Voicing of articulation
l This refers to the vibrating of the vocal cords when sounds are produced.
n Voiced sounds
n Voiceless sounds
n Description of English vowels
u General feature: without obstruction
u Criteria of vowel description
l Part of the tongue that is raised
n Front
n Central
n Back
l Extent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the palate
n High
n Mid
n Low
l Kind of opening made at the lips
l Position of the soft palate
u Single vowels (monophthongs) and diphthongs
l Phonetic features and natural classes
n Classes of sounds that share a feature or features are called natural classes.
n Major class features can specify segments across the consonant-vowel boundary.
n Classification of segments by features is the basis on which variations of sounds can be analyzed.
