Introduction to
Phonetics/Phonology
Wintersemester
2003-2004
Potsdam
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 Course Topics
" I Articulatory Phonetics
" II Segments, Features, Feature Geometry
" III The Syllable and Other Prosodic
Constituents
" IV Segmental Alternations
" V Phonological Theories
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 General Issues
" Assignments (to be corrected two weeks later
in class)
" Final exam
" Slides are on my homepage
(http://www.ling.uni-potsdam.de/~fery/)
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Part I
Articulatory Phonetics
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 Production of a Sound

" Airstream Process (initiation)
" Phonation Process (vibration of the vocal
cords)
" Oral-Nasal Process: The velum either
closes off the nasal cavity or opens it.
" Articulation Process
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 Components of Articulation
" The subglottal components (lungs and
respiratory tract), which produce the airstream.
Sounds are usually pulmonal egressive
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 Components of Articulation
" The larynx, which converts the regular stream
of air into a series of periodic bursts of air
(source of acoustic energy).
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 Components of Articulation
" The supralaryngeal vocal tract (also
(supraglottal) vocal tract) consists of the
pharynx, the oral cavity and the nasal cavity.
The pharynx runs from the larynx to the tongue
root. From the pharynx the air can escape
through either the nasal cavity or the oral cavity.
The supralaryngeal vocal tract functions as an
acoustic filter.
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English Noun Adjective Latin Noun
Glottis glottal glottis
Larynx laryngeal larynx
Pharynx pharyngeal pharynx
Epiglottis epiglottal epiglottis
Tongue back/dorsum dorsal dorsum
Corona coronal corona
Tongue tip/apex apical apex
Tongue blade/lamina laminal lamina
Alveolar ridge alveolar alveolae
Hard palate palatal palatum
Soft palate/velum velar velum
Uvula uvular uvula
Lungs pulmonal pulmo
Teeth dental dentes
Lips labial labia
Nasal cavity nasal cavum nasi
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 Articulators
" labial [b, p, f, m& ] (cover term for bilabial and
labiodental): At least one lip is involved in the
articulation.
" coronal [t, d, l, n& ] : The tip or blade of the tongue is
involved in the articulation.
" dorsal [k, g, N, X]: The back of the tongue is involved
in the articulation.
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Places of Articulation
" bilabial [p, b, m]: Complete closure by both lips.
" labiodental [f, v]: Closure or constriction between
the lower lip and upper teeth.

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Places of Articulation
" dental [t, d] : The front part of the tongue forms
a constriction with the upper teeth.
" alveolar [t, d, l, n, s, z]: A constriction is formed
at the alveolar ridge with the tip or blade of the
tongue; the articulation is then apical (when the
tongue tip forms the constriction) or laminal
(the tongue blade is involved).
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Places of Articulation
" Retroflex: The tongue tip is bent back and up
behind the alveolar ridge.
" palatoalveolar (or postalveolar) [+",Z]: The tongue
blade forms a constriction behind the alveolar
ridge and/or at the hard palate.
" palatal [ç, j]: The back of the tongue forms a
constriction or a closure with the hard palate.
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Places of Articulation
" velar [k, g, N]: The back of the tongue forms a
constriction or a closure with the soft palate
(velum).
" Uvular [X]: The back of the tongue and the
uvula form a constriction or a closure.
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Places of Articulation
" pharyngeal [Û, ż]: A constriction is formed in the
pharynx.
" glottal/laryngeal [h, ?]: Closure of the glottis
causes a glottal stop. An /h/ is produced with
an open glottis.
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Place of Articulator Sound
Articulation (movable organ) (German)
bilabial upper lip lower lip p, b, m
labiodental upper teeth lower lip f, v
alveolar alveolar tongue t, d,
ridge blade s, z, l, n
palatoalveolar palate tongue blade +", Z
palatal palate back of tongue ç, j
velar palate back of tongue k, g, x, N
uvular uvula back of tongue ë, X
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Manners of Articulation
Manner of the narrowing or constriction
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Manners of Articulation
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Plosive (also stop or occlusive)
[p]: Voiceless, bilabial plosive. Very common
sound. The glottis is wide open.
[b]: Voiced counterpart, articulated
approximately the same.
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Plosives
[t, d]: articulated by the tongue tip or blade. Fr.
tout doux:  soft . In German d and t are
alveolar.
[k, g]:The place of articulation is the velum,
sometimes the hard palate, occasionally the
uvula, depending on the environmental
context: Kuh vs. Kühe, Kiel [k"!]. In Arabic [k]
and uvular [q] form two contrastive sounds.
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Plosives
[c, Ô]: Palatal articulation of the dorsal plosives.
These plosives are found in many West
African languages, e.g., Akan.
[q, G]: Uvular articulation of the dorsal
plosives. These sounds can be found in, e.g.,
Quechua.
[?]: Glottal stop.
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Voice Onset Timing (VOT)
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Fricatives
[Å‚
,]: Bilabial voiceless or voiced fricatives.
Japanese: Fujiyama. In some African
languages such as Ewe these sounds are
phonemic (éÅ‚
á  he polished vs. éfá  he
froze ).
[f, v]: Labiodental fricatives, very common.
The upper teeth form a constriction with the
lower lip.
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Fricatives
[ , d]: There are two different articulations of
this pair of sounds. In English [ ] thigh and
[d] thy are two phonemes.
[s, z]: can be apical or laminal.
[+",&!]: an apical and a laminal (predorsal)
articulation. The lips are often somewhat
rounded, sometimes even protruding.
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Fricatives
[ç]: Palatal fricative (ich-sound)
[ ]: Voiced counterpart of [ç].
[x]: Velar fricative (ach-sound).
[©]: Voiced counterpart of [x].
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Fricatives
[X, Ë]:[X] is a fricative which is formed at the
uvula; auditorily it differs little from [x]; in
Swiss German, e.g., they are variants of the
same sound, as in Küchenkasten [XuXiXat\].
The [Ë] is a variant of/r/.
[ż,Û]: pharyngeal fricatives.
[H, ż]: epiglottal fricatives.
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Fricatives
[h, Ó]: A glottal fricative formed by constriction
of the vocal folds. In German the constriction
is not very narrow; the breathing position is
retained.
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Affricates
An affricate is a plosive followed by a
homorganic, i.e., articulated with the same
articulators, fricative. Examples are [ts], [t+"]
and [pf].
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Nasals
With the nasal sounds (consonants, vowels, pre- or
postnasalized sounds) the velum is lowered, and
the majority of the air flows out through the nose.
Nasals are usually voiced, but in Icelandic, for
example, there is also a voiceless n [nd"], written hn.
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Nasals
[m]: The bilabial nasal is very common.
[n]: The coronal nasal occurs in almost every
language.
[Ü]: Often a position-dependent variant of [n]
before [k, g]. In English and German [g]
has often even disappeared, so that only
[Ü] remains: lang, long (cf. lungo in
Italian).
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Nasals
[Å„]: The labiodental nasal is commonly only
an articulation-dependent variant of m.
[µ]: The palatal nasal is rarer. It occurs, e.g.,
in French (agneau  lamb , gagner  to win )
and in Spanish (cańon).
[N]: The uvular nasal is articulated even
further back in the mouth than the velar
nasal [Ü].
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Nasals
Consonants can also be partially nasalized, like the
prenasalized plosives (md, nd, Üg).
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Laterals
For [l] the tip of the tongue is placed at the alveolar
ridge and impedes the airstream in the middle of
the mouth. On the sides the tongue is not placed
against the molars, as with [t], but is lower, so that
the air can escape at the sides.
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Laterals
[l]: Clear and dark l in Russian differ in the form
of the tongue. With clear l the surface is fairly flat,
slightly concave and the contact is apical; with
dark l, in contrast, the tongue is further in front
and the blade of the tongue is raised towards the
velum. The contact is laminal. This produces an u-
color. In German and French the l is light; in
English it varies depending on the environment:
cf. little
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Laterals
[Ú, ÿÅ‚]: In Welsh there is a voiceless fricative
lateral, [Ú] or also sometimes [ld"], written ll
(Lloyd). The voiced counterpart is transcribed
[ÿÅ‚].
[Ò, L]: palatal and velar lateral approximants.
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r-Sounds (Vibrants, Trills,
Rhotics)
[B]: Bilabial vibrant.
[r]: Prototypical r-sound. It is a front trill
(tongue tip-r); in Spanish perro  dog . In
German, this sound is only used in a few
dialects.
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r-Sounds
[®]: Front fricative or approximant, as in
English after t and d.
[ë]: Back trill (uvular-R), as in Dutch or in the
Scandinavian languages.
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r-Sounds
[Ë]: Back Engelaut or approximant, as in
German and in French. The air passes around
the uvula on the sides. Very similar to [H"],
which is the voiceless variant.
In Arabic [r] and [Ë] are two different phonemes.
Rhotacism is the conversion of [z] into [r]:
Etrusci/Etruria, was/were.
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Flaps and Taps
Flaps (sudden short closure plus glide) or Taps
(sudden short closure) are plosives of very short
duration produced with a single muscle
contraction.
English: marry or very, in
American: instead of an intervocalic [t] matter, pity.
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Approximants (Glides)
[w]: The approximants are always voiced. [w]
or [Ø] is a bilabial sound.
[j]: In German the palatal glide is sometimes
articulated as a fricative [ ] (voiced
counterpart of [ç]).
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Approximants (Glides)
[Ä„]: The sound which is realized, e.g., in the
French words huit  eight and puis
 afterwards .
[º]: Velar vibrant.
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Retroflexes
[Ç, Î, Å», ö, Í, ¸, Ć], also sometimes transcribed with
dots under the letters.
These sounds are special forms of many of the
consonants which are articulated at the alveolar
ridge or at the adjoining part of the hard palate.
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Retroflexes
The tongue tip is bent back so that the closure (or
constriction) is formed with the underside of the
tongue blade.
Common in Sanskrit, in Arabic, in the Dravidian
languages of India (Malayalam), in Swedish and in
Norwegian. The English r is retroflex.
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Secondary Articulation
Labialization: a consonant is articulated with rounded
lips. This can also occur with labial sounds, as
when both articulations are realized with the lips.
Examples from Kwakw ala (Ladefoged &
Maddieson 1996:356-7) and from Arrernte:
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Secondary Articulation
Labialization in Kwakw ala
kasa  beat soft kwesa  splashing
gisgas  incest gwesu  pig
Labialization in Arrernte
pwape  whirlwind
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Secondary Articulation
Palatalization: Raising of the front part of the tongue
in the direction of an i-articulation. Russian
contrasts palatalized vs. nonpalatalized
articulation in many consonants, e.g.: pjotr  Peter
with pjot  drinks and pot  sweat .
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Secondary Articulation
Velarization: Raising of the back part of the tongue.
According to Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), the
English l in little, for example, is velarized.
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Secondary Articulation
Pharyngealization: A constriction is formed in the
pharynx. Some dialects of Arabic contrast
emphatic vs. normal coronals: sż vs. s.
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Vowels
1) Height or vertical tongue movement
2) Front-back-dimension or horizontal tongue
movement
3) Lip rounding
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Cardinal Vowels
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Vowels
IPA Lips Example
1 [i] unrounded Fr. si, Eng. beat
2 [e] unrounded Ger. See, Fr. chez
3 [´] unrounded Ger. Bett, Eng. bet
[ć] unrounded Eng. cat
4 [a] unrounded Ger. kann, Fr. la
5 [å] unrounded Dt. dam
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Vowels
IPA Lips Examples
6 [Å‚] rounded Fr. sotte, Eng. hawk
7 [o] rounded Ger. Stroh, Fr. beau
8 [u] rounded Ger. gut, Fr. cou
9 [y] rounded Ger. Tür, Fr. bu
10 [Å‚] rounded Ger. Goethe, Fr. eux
11 [S
] rounded Ger. Götter, Fr. beurre
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Vowels
IPA Lips Examples
12 [R
] rounded Ger. Hölle
13 [Å] rounded Eng. hock, Dt. dom
14 [ ] unrounded Eng. but, luck
15 [{] unrounded Vietnamese ó
16 [}] unrounded Japanese u
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Vowels
IPA Lips Example
[\] unrounded Ger.: be-,Fr. le
[á] unrounded Ger.: ver-
(from Clark & Yallop 1990:67)
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Vokale
i u i u
e o
´ Å‚ e o
a a
Italian Spanish
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German Vowels
i u high
Ć
y u
Á
e \ o mid
´ Å‚
Å‚
S
á
a å low
front central back
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Vowels
Nasal vowels in French
[ ´~] as in bain  bath
[õ] as in monde  world
[ć] as in enfant  child
[S
~] as in un  one
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German v owels
Long, tense vowels:
Miete, Huhn, wohnen, Düne, Höhle
Short, lax vowels:
Mitte, Hunne, Wonne, dünne, Hölle
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Diphthongs
Three German Diphthongs
/aiª/ (Hai)  shark
/auª/ (Bau)  building
/Å‚yª/ (neu)  new
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