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Introduction to linguistics

Lecture 2: Phonetics

Definitions

• Phonetics

– the science which studies speech

sounds.

– describes, classifies and transcribes speech

sounds.

• Branches of phonetics:

– Articulatory phonetics

;

– Acoustic phonetics

;

– Auditory phonetics

.

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Branches of phonetics

• Articulatory phonetics

– studies how speech

sounds are made (= articulated) by the vocal
organs;

– We will focus on articulation of sounds.

• Acoustic phonetics

– studies the physical

properties of speech, as transmitted between
mouth and ear;

• Auditory phonetics

- the study of how the ear

receives the speech signal.

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Decribing speech sounds

• To do so, we need to know:

– what a speech sound is,
– how each sound differs from other sounds.

• Speech is a continuous flow of sound. To

analyse it, one has to divide it into smaller
chunks.

– This is the process of

segmentation

.

– Speech sounds are called

segments

(vowels and

consonants).

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Production of speech sounds

• Sound production involves the movement of

air.

• Most speech sounds are produced by an

air

stream

that originates in the

lungs

and is

pushed up through the

trachea

and the

oral

and nasal cavities

.

• Differing

vocal tract

shapes result in the

differing sounds of language.

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Production of speech sounds

• This happens during four separate but

interrelated processes:

1. Initiation process
2. Phonation process
3. Oro-nasal process
4. Articulation

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1. The initiation process

• In English (and most other languages), all

speech sounds need a

pulmonic (lung) air

stream

for their production.

• The airstream used for speech is always

moving

out of the lungs

and

up to the

trachea

.

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2. The phonation process

• In the trachea, the

air passes

through

the larynx

.

• The larynx contains

the

vocal folds

.

• The space between

the vocal folds is
called

glottis

. This is

where the process of
phonation occurs.

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2. The phonation process

• The speaker can bring the vocal folds into

different positions:

• Narrow glottis

: when the vocal folds are

brought together in such a way that only a
narrow space is left for the air to pass
through.

– The passage of air makes them vibrate. The

resulting sound waves characterise

voiced sounds

.

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Narrow glottis

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2. The phonation process

• Open glottis

: This is the state of the glottis in

normal breathing, as well as in the production
of

voiceless sounds

.

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2. The phonation process

• Closed glottis

: The vocal folds are brought

together so that no air can pass between
them.

– The resulting sound is called

glottal stop

. In some

accents of English, the glottal stop can replace the
sound /t/ in words like foo

t

ball, bo

tt

le, bi

t

, etc.

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3. The oro-nasal process

• After the air passes through the larynx, it can

go either

into the oral cavity

or

into the nasal

cavity

.

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4. The articulation process

• After the air goes into either of these cavities,

the different articulators

modify the air

stream

to produce the different English

consonants.

– E.g., when producing the sound /p/, the lips come

together and and the air is relased with a puff of
air.

– When producing the /m/ the air is released

through the nasal cavity.

– In the same way we use the different articulators

to produce different sounds.

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