2014-04-03
Definitions
" Phonetics  the science which studies speech
sounds.
Introduction to linguistics  describes, classifies and transcribes speech
sounds.
" Branches of phonetics:
Lecture 2: Phonetics
 Articulatory phonetics;
 Acoustic phonetics;
 Auditory phonetics.
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Branches of phonetics Decribing speech sounds
" Articulatory phonetics  studies how speech " To do so, we need to know:
sounds are made (= articulated) by the vocal
 what a speech sound is,
organs;
 how each sound differs from other sounds.
 We will focus on articulation of sounds.
" Speech is a continuous flow of sound. To
" Acoustic phonetics  studies the physical
analyse it, one has to divide it into smaller
properties of speech, as transmitted between
chunks.
mouth and ear;
 This is the process of segmentation.
" Auditory phonetics - the study of how the ear  Speech sounds are called segments (vowels and
consonants).
receives the speech signal.
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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 1. The initiation process
" This happens during four separate but " In English (and most other languages), all
interrelated processes: speech sounds need a pulmonic (lung) air
stream for their production.
1. Initiation process
2. Phonation process
" The airstream used for speech is always
3. Oro-nasal process moving out of the lungs and up to the
4. Articulation trachea.
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2. The phonation process 2. The phonation process
" In the trachea, the
" The speaker can bring the vocal folds into
air passes through
different positions:
the larynx.
" Narrow glottis: when the vocal folds are
" The larynx contains
the vocal folds.
brought together in such a way that only a
" The space between
narrow space is left for the air to pass
the vocal folds is
through.
called glottis. This is
 The passage of air makes them vibrate. The
where the process of
resulting sound waves characterise voiced sounds.
phonation occurs.
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Narrow glottis 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 3. The oro-nasal process
" Closed glottis: The vocal folds are brought " After the air passes through the larynx, it can
together so that no air can pass between go either into the oral cavity or into the nasal
them. cavity.
 The resulting sound is called glottal stop. In some
accents of English, the glottal stop can replace the
sound /t/ in words like football, bottle, bit, etc.
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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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