Phonetics -
The Study of Speech Sounds
Phonetics has been
defined as the science of speech sounds. It is a branch of linguistics and
deals with the sounds produced by human beings in their speech behaviour. In
speaking trial listening a complex of activities is involved : there
is the production of speech which is the result of
simultaneous activities of several body organs.
These activities are
aimed at creating disturbances in the air. The inhaled air acts as source of
energy setting the outside air vibrating so that the sound thus generated
is carried along to the ears of the listener. The auditory process is
set in motion which is again a complicated process involving auditory organs;
perception of speech segments which involves discarding the non-significant
features from the significant or distinctive features and perceiving only those
that are meaningful. ‘Even a single speech sound combines a large
number of distinctive features which provide the information on which
an auditor bases recognition of the sound’ (Tiffany-Carrell). It is
like retrieving a small visual image from a crowd of intricate details. But the
brain can quickly decode the incoming signals that have been encoded by the
speakers. ‘Physical energy in the form of sensory nerve impulses reaches the
brain’, the brain circuitry is understood to organise them into
percepts which are the basis of recognition. Obviously, a complex of
multiple factors in the form of the listeners’ interest, his social background,
intellectual level, pas! experience and other parameters play an active and
significant role in the perception level, and the interpretation is made
accordingly.
We thus observe that
speech act encompasses intricate movements and activities that occur
on different planes, some of them simultaneously and at incredible speed. We
ate so used to speaking in a natural effortless manner, that we hardly
give attention to the complex nature of speech production and speech perception.
Branches
of Linguistics
Phonetics
has three major branches:
1)
Articulatory Phonetics
2)
Auditory Phonetics
3) Acoustic Phonetics
Articulatory phonetics
is also known as physiological phonetics; and auditory phonetics is known by
the name perceptual phonetics.
Articulatory
Phonetics
This branch of
phonetics recognises that there is speech producing mechanism in human beings.
‘The ‘apparatus’ that produces speech sounds is situated within the human body.
However, it must be clear that there is no separate ‘apparatus’ exclusively
used for generating speech sounds. Speech is, infact, an overlaid
function in that human beings utilize in a special way organs which are
part of the respiratory and digestive system. Man uses those organs for
speaking which already serve other biological needs. Thus lips, teeth, tongue,
hard palate, soft palate, trachea, lungs - all these organs used in speech production
have different basic biological functions. In the process of cultural evolution,
man devised ways of utilizing these organs and parts thereof (such as the tip,
blade, front, centre, back of the tongue alongwith the corresponding areas or
points in the roof of mouth or hard palate) for verbal communication.
Besides( these the
airstream that goes in and out of the lungs forms the basis of speech;
that is, speech is based en the outgoing airstream. Articulatory phonetics
studies how the outgoing airstream is regulated along the vocal tract to form
various speech sounds.
Auditory
Phonetics
This branch of phonetics
studies how speech sounds are heard and perceived. This galls for a close study
of the psychology of perception on the one hand, and the mechanism of the
neuro-muscular circuitry on the other.
Hearing is a very
intricate process; it implies ‘interpreting the physical description of actual
or proposed signals in terms of the auditory sensations which the signals would
create if impressed upon the ear’ (French). Acoustic signals generate
a ‘complex chain of physical disturbances within the auditory system’. The
brain receives signal about these physical disturbances; in the brain are
caused other disturbances - physical counterparts of the sensations. It is
necessary to establish correlation between the auditory signals and their
interpretation in terms of the disturbances in the brain. It is a challenging
task, one can say that not much headway has been made in unravelling the
complex pattern of the course charted by the speech signals through the
auditory system into the neuro-muscular processes. However, we can divide the
whole process into three stages:
i)
the physical aspect of die auditory system
ii)
recognition of the essential characteristics of hearing.
iii)
interpreting auditory sensations, their attributes and their relation to the
signals.
The
physical aspect of die auditory system involves a detailed
description of the external, middle and inner ear (also known as Cochlea), and
the auditory receptive centres of tic bran, the neural network. This also takes
into account ‘translating acoustic signals into auditory sensations’
which begins with the transfer of pressure variation of sound waves to the
fluids in the inner ear. The inner ear analyses these vibrations and
encodes them into ‘neural pulses of elctrochemical activity’. The inner ear is
connected to the auditory receptive centres by the auditory nerve which carries these
pulses. The auditory centres are correspondingly stimulated. But there is a
difference between the liaises and the actual sensations in the neural centres
that ate thus generated.
The basic
characteristics of healing include such features as loudness, absolute
sensitivity, frequency tones, ‘masking’ or the elimination of the subjective
traces of one of the two or more sounds; that the ear is exposed to, pitch etc.
Interpreting, the auditory sensations into their physical signals poses serious
problems. The auditory sensations do lint offer a featly, palpable pattern that
can satisfactorily be described Sound signals may be composed of a variety of
components - horn bits of ‘transients’ to sounds of longer duration; from
single unit tones to multiple segment complexes; Bonn ones having a
constant pattern to continually changing frequencies. It is not necessary that
the auditory sensation would reflect the identical occurrences of these sound
signals. In the complex sound patterns, their ‘separate components may
retain the identity in the resulting sensation’ or may produce an entirely new
sensation. Signals of varying frequencies may produce a study pattern of
sensations or separate sensations. Composition of the human brain plays a
crucial role in this regard. It poses difficulties in the way of
interpretation. Many signals are highly complex and can only be described in
mathematical terms. However, such descriptions do not have any relevance to
phonetics and must, therefore, be ignored.
Acoustic Phonetics
Acoustic phonetics
is the study of the physical properties of speech sounds such as frequency
and amplitude in their transmission. Acoustic phoneticians
analyse the speech waves with the help of instruments, attempt to describe the
physical properties of the stream of sound issues forth from the mouth of a
speaker.
It is in the field
of acoustic phonetics that the most sulking developments have taken
place since the Second World War. Complex sound waves produced in speech can be
analysed into their component frequencies and relative amplitudes. Considerable
progress has also been made in speech-synthesis. Acoustic analysis has
confirmed (if confirmation was needed) that speech is not made up of a sequence
of discrete sounds. The articulatory features of rounding of voice, of
nasality, of obstruction and of friction can also be identified
acoustically. Acoustic phonetics achieved a good deal of success in
matters of the study of the n vowels, but regarding consonants it has not
reached final conclusions.
Articulators
We shall now consider
the organs which are used in articulation. All speech organs are known as articulators. They
are broadly divided into two categories :
a)
Mobile or active articulators
b)
Fixed or passive articulators
We have already noted
that there is perceptibly significant mobility in the laryngeal and pharyngeal
regions. In fact, the whole of sub-laryngeal area is active in speech
production. However, there are more noticeable movements in the larynx and
areas immediately above it. The throat forms a crucial factor in determining
resonance. The length of the pharyngeal resonator can be changed by muscular
actions which raise and lower the larynx. Among the mobile or active
articulators the centrally important one is the tongue. It is extremely
flexible and mobile. The other two mobile articulators are the lower jaw
(mandible) which can move both vertically and horizontally to change the
phonetic qualities of sounds, and the lips; they can be rounded or spread,
brought closer to the upper teeth or simply held neutrally.
The fixed or passive
articulators are include the roof of the mouth. This is dome-shaped, hard
and bony. It is known as the hard palate. The hard palate and the
teeth play a necessary, although passive role in articulation. The bony palate
forms the anterior part of the roof of mouth, separating the oral cavity from
the nasal passage. The hard palate terminates in the soft palate which is
muscular. This is also called velum or velum palatinum which forms
the posterior section of the roof of the mouth, separating the mouth
cavity from nasopharynx. The velum can be lowered or raised for opening or
closing the nasopharyngeal passage. We shall see this in detail in
the section dealing with nasal sounds.
The upper teeth also
participate in articulatory process, with the active articulators coming into
contact with them to form various constrictions, thus modifying the airstream
and producing different speech sounds.
We shall now separately
consider in detail each one of these articulators. First let us look at the
active articulators.
Active
Articulators
The main role of the
active articulators is to actively interfere with the outgoing airstream and
modify it to produce various types of speech sounds. This is done either by
approximating (forming a constriction) or coming into full contact with the
passive articulators (forming complete stoppage). We have seen the functioning
of the larynx, glottis and vocal cords in earlier sections. Now we shall take a
look at the oropharyngeal articulators that are situated in the mouth.
Tongue
The most active of
articulators is the tongue. It shows an amazing range of adjustments and
movements mainly because it is made of two groups of muscles, intrinsic ones
are fibres of the longitudinal, transverse and verticalis
lingual musceles. These muscles are within the tongue and mainly
responsible for changes in its shape. They blend with the extrinsic
muscles which originate outside of the tongue. Their function determines
the position and movement of the tongue. ‘The tongue is an organ of taste, and
used for chewing and swallowing activities... On the basis of its great
flexibility and motility, the secondary function of articulation has been
super-imposed’. (G.E. Arnold)
It has been divided
into the following major parts on the surface along its length.
i)
apex or tip
ii)
blade
iii)
front
iv)
back or dorsum
v)
root
The sides of the tongue
can also be used in speech, these are known as margin. For lateral sounds the
sides are raised enough for the airstream to create turbulence and escape
continuously. The tip can be raised and curled backwards letting the passing
airstream to vibrate it. This produces retroflex sounds of various types.
Lower lip: The
lower lip is a mobile articulator which can be used for many oral
configurations. With the upper lip it can form various degrees of rounding that
produce different vowels. It can bring about complete oral occlusion with the
upper lip which produces bilabial sounds, plosives and in many languages
fricatives also. When the lower lip comes into contact with upper teeth, we
hear fricative sounds (labio-dental).
Passive
Articulators
Passive or immobile
articulators cannot be moved about, but perform a v cry crucial role in speech
production. The mobile organs approximate them, i.e. come close enough to
affect the shape of the outgoing column of air, or form a complete closure by
coming into full contact with them.
These organs are mostly
located in the upper part of the mouth, beginning in front with the upper lip,
upper teeth, the gum ridge or alveolum, hard palate, the soft palate,
just behind the hard palate and the back wall of the throat (pharynx).
Upper
lip
: Though upper lip is not a rigid organ and can be moved, in speech
production it is not used as a mobile articulator; rather the lower lip reaches
up to create various constrictions with it. Therefore, it has been classified
as a passive articulator.
Upper
teeth: The row of upper teeth functions as the
passive articulator. Tongue-tip and blade as well as the lower lip form
constriction with them. The active organs can do so either with the edges of
the teeth or the back of them. Dental class of sounds is produced in this
manner. Upper teeth are also involved in the production of the fricative
sounds, called labio-dentals in which the lower lip approximates them to form a
slit through which the air escapes creating friction noise.
Gum
ridge: Just behind the upper teeth is located
alveolar or gum ridge. The mobile speech organs - various parts of the tongue
reach it to form either a narrow stricture or a complete closure. Hindi /d/ and
/t/ and their aspirated counterparts are dental stops. But English /0/ in thin and
/ð/ in this are fricatives.
Hard
Palate: Behind the alveolum or gum ridge begins the
hard palate which forms the major part of the oral arch or roof of the mouth.
We already possess an idea of its formation. It is made of the horizontal
plates of bone which terminate in the soft palate. ‘Some part of both the hard
and the soft palates serves as a point of contact or near-contact for the
tongue in the production of a number of speech sounds’. It can be divided into
parts or areas where the tongue makes contact. Phonetic quality is changed
according to the point at which the hard palate is approximated by the tongue.
These sounds are recognised as palatal. These are further classified
according to which part of the tongue comes into contact with the precise
palatal area. For example, we can produce palato-alveolar sounds by bringing
the tip of the tongue to touch the extreme front of the hard palate or the
place lying between the gum-ridge and the palate. Alveo-palatal area
lies further back of the region just mentioned; palatal the slope of
the hard palate and domal is the dome of it. Classification is
largely a matter of convenience and practical need of the particular language.
Not all the languages or dialects make use of all the classification criteria.
What is suggested here is that precise classifications are possible.
Soft
Palate: This is recognised as the fixed articulator
though it can he moved, being a soft and flexible organ. The principal action
of soft place consists of opening the naso-pharyngeal cavity by
lowering itself. When it is lowered, the oral passage is closed off and
the outgoing airstream passes through the nose, sounds produced in this manner
are identified as nasals. /m/, /n/, /h/ and the nasalised vowels are
of this type. For opening the oral passage and allowing the air a free
passage through it, the soft palate is raised. Soft palate thus acts as a
valve. The back of the tongue or derssum makes contact with the velum
to produce either frictional sounds or stops. These stops are known as velar
stops /k/, /g/. Retroflex sounds can also be produced by bringing the underside
of the tongue tip to touch the velum.
Uvula
The soft palate
terminates into a piece of flesh which dangles over the pharyngeal passage.
This is called uvula. It is a ‘small flexible appendage hanging down
from the posterior edge of the velum, (Gleason). It can be vibrated by the
outgoing breath-stream, to produce uvular sound, particularly uvular
trills. Some languages use these sounds as phonemes.
Pharynx: The
posterior wall of the pharynx is used for producing speech. In the front are
the base of the tongue, the palate, and the two openings leading to the nasal
and oral passages. This area can be divided into three parts : the hypopharynx behind
the tongue; the mesopharynx, behind the velum, and nasopharynx behind
the nose. In the mesopharynx area are to be found the crossing of the
alimentary and respiratory canals. The pharynx serves as a resonator for the
voice. Widening of the pharynx promotes resonance and makes the tones full,
dark, strong and resonant; narrowing tends to make them thin, sharp, dampened,
and throaty’ (Arnold). Besides, the root of the tongue can also be made to come
into contact with the pharyngeal wall and produce certain types of
fricatives and stops. Below are discussed certain processes of speech
production. These are generally used by languages all over the world.
Labiabialization
This is a process in
which the lips play an active part in various ways. They come together to form
various stages or degrees of rounding which is a crucial factor in producing
back vowels /u/, /o/, //, as
in shoe, shore, and .a. The two lips are joined together for the
pronunciation of the plosive sounds /p/, /b/; and the voiced nasal continuant
/m/. The lower lip is raised approximate the edge of the upper teeth for the
fricatives /f/, /v/. For the semi-vowel /w/ again there is a noticeable
lip-rounding. Bilabial fricatives are not uncommon. In the African language
Tshiluba this is used. Even a bilabial trill is heard in some languages.
Polatalization: In palatalization the
tongue approximates the hard palate leaving only a narrow space through which
the airstream passes producing friction noise; or the tongue may form complete
occlusion and then gradually withdraw, creating a turbulence of air due to the
breath-stream escaping through the space slowly being allowed to form. This is
how the sound in jar /dзa:/ and chair /tòe∂/ is
pronounced.
Velarization: Velar
sounds are produced by this process. The back of the tongue either approximates
or forms total occlusion for articulating certain types of stop and fricative
sounds. The velar sounds are /k/ and /g/ in English. /h/ is a velar nasal heard
in such words as king, sing, inquest and conquer.
Glottalization: The
space between the vocal cords is called glottis. If the vocal cords
are brought together taut and released with a ‘popping’ action, the resultant
sound will be heard as a ‘glottal stop’, symbolised as /?/. We
create a glottal closure when we have to lift something heavy. In this act
adequate pressure of air is, built up in sub- laryngeal region to provide
enough strength. Immediately after doing the work a heavy amount of breath is
forcefully released, accompanied by a glottal sound. In rapid conversation
often this is used in the form of ‘catch’ in the throat. The Cockney speech of
London contains quite a generous share of this sound takes place of certain
dropped sounds, for example, in butter pronounced bu’er /b^?/
or letter /le?ә/. Glottal stops are phonemic in some
languages. Glottal fricatives are used in Scottish language and its regional
dialects. These are symbolised as [h] and [h]. In English /h/ as used in house,
he, her, horse is a glottal fricative. The Scottish word loch ‘lake’
contains the glottal fricative.
Nasalisation
: This
is a process whereby we produce nasal sounds or nasalised vowels. In
articulating these sounds, the soft palate is lowered to close off the oral
passage and direct the airstream through nasal cavity. In another case, the air
is allowed to go into both the oral and the nasal cavities, but the active
articulators check it in the mouth. For /m/ two lips come together to form a
closure, and channelise the air flow, through the nose. Similarly, for /n/ the
tip of the tongue comes into contact with the back of the upper teeth and forms
a closure. ‘Although the vocal tract is blocked at one point, the breath-stream
flows outward through what has been called a secondary aperture consisting
of the nasal airway. Acoustically, the physical conditions which impart the
perceived nasal quality to these sounds are sometimes referred to as cul
de sac resonance, where a relatively small cavity, the nasal
resonator, is coupled to a large cavity, the oropharyngeal cavity
(Tiffany-Carrell). Nasals are also classed as resonants or continuants.
Voicing
: It
is an articulatory process in which the vocal flaps are set in vibration by the
outgoing column of air. During voicing, the vocal cords are brought close
enough to hold them taut and the airstream vibrates them in rapid succession.
There is as a result, quick opening and closing of these vocal cords several times
a second. Sounds can be produced without the vibration of the vocal cords. Such
sounds are called unvoiced or voiceless sounds; sounds
produced with the cords in vibration are called voiced sounds. How can
one ascertain whether a sound is voiced or not? There are simple methods to do
so. If we cup our ears and pronounce a voiced sound we can hear a ‘buzzing’
noise, from the time we actually get ready for it. /z/ in zoo and
/dз/ in judge or jam are voiced sounds. Another simple
method is to put a finger on the front of the voice box or ‘adams apple’
and say these sounds - a distinct sensation of noise can be felt which is
missing when we pronounce an unvoiced sound. In English we produce /g/, /b/, /d/,
/dз/, /v/, /z/, /з/, /ð/, /m/, /n/, /h/, /l/, /w/, /r/ and all the vowels with
voicing. These are voiced sounds. The voiceless sounds are /k/, /p/, /t/, /tò/,
/f/, /s/, /ò/, /q/.
Frequency of the vocal
cords vibration is also related to the low and high tones, pitch level and
voice amplitude, but we shall consider this in a later section. We must bear in
mind at this stage that voicing or vibration of the vocal cords has a crucial
function in speech production. It forms a basic factor in the fundamental classification
of speech sounds into two functional categories, the voiced and the voiceless
ones.
Manner
of Articulation
The manner or way in
which the outgoing air-stream is interfered with determines the manner of
articulation. A sound can be described in this light. The airstream may
completely be stopped and released with force producing a plosive or stop
sound. The occlusion may occur anywhere between larynx and the two lips; or the
passage of air may be constricted enough for it to produce audible friction.
The sound thus produced is called fricative. According to the manner
of articulation sounds are classified into smaller classes as stops,
fricatives, affricates, nasals, laterals, trills or flaps and semivowels. These
constitute the larger class of consonants. For the complete description both
the point/place and manner of articulation are taken into consideration.
Fortis
and Lenis
In producing speech
sounds a great deal of muscular energy is involved. Some of the sounds need
greater energy than others. Voiceless sounds are the examples of sound
pronounced with greater energy. The dichotomy signifies grouping of sounds
according to the degree of muscular tension. ‘The former tend to be voiceless,
the latter voiced, but considerable contextual modification of these qualities
are possible, especially as a result of accentual features’ (L.F. Brasnalian).
English /p/, /t/, and /k/ are the examples of sounds pronounced with greater
effort and breath. ‘In German fortis articulation such as t, k, f are
distinctly voiceless, in American English, on the other hand, especially
between vowels, these sounds are commonly voiced throughout their duration’.
In lenis, the
muscular, energy is markedly decreased and so also breath. Mostly voiced sounds
are lenis such as /b/, /d/, /z/, /v/, /з/, etc.
Voiced
and Voiceless Sounds
We have already noted
the voicing mechanism. The division of speech sounds into the voiced and the
voiceless ones is of great importance in phonetics. The beginners should
familiarise themselves with the vibrations felt during the production of voiced
sounds.
Description
of Speech Sounds
Speech Sounds are
divided into two main groups: (1) consonants, and (2) vowels.
Consonants:
A description of
consonants, according to A.C. Gimson, must provide answers to the following
questions:
(i) Is
the air-stream set in motion by the lungs or by some other means? (pulmonic or
non-pulmonic).
(ii) Is
the air-stream forced outwards or sucked inwards? (egressive or ingressive)
(iii) Do
the vocal cords vibrate or not? (voiced or voiceless).
(iv) Is
the soft palate raised or lowered? Or, does the air pass through the oral
cavity (mouth) or the nasal cavity (nose)?
(v) At
what point or points and between what organs does the closure or narrowing take
place? (Place of articulation).
(vi) What
is the type of closure or narrowing at the point of articulation? (Manner of
articulation).
Thus the description of
a consonant will include five kinds of information : (1) the nature of the
air-stream mechanism; (2) the state of the glottis; (3) the position of soft
palate (velum); (4) the articulators involved; and (5) the nature of the
‘stricture’.
The
Nature of the Air-stream Mechanism. Most speech
sounds and all normal English sounds are made with an egressive pulmonic
air-stream, e.g., the air pushed out of the lungs.
The
State of Glottis. A consonant may be voiced or
voice-less, depending upon whether the vocal cords remain wide apart
(voice-less) or in a state of vibration (voiced).
The
Position of the Soft Palate. While describing
consonants we have to mention whether they are oral sounds (produced with soft
palate raised, thus blocking the nasal passage of air) or nasal sounds (produced
with the soft palate lowered).
The
Articulators Involved. In the description of
consonants, we have also to discuss the various articulators involved. The
articulators are active (the lower lip and the tongue) and passive (the upper
lip, the upper teeth, the roof of the mouth divided into the teeth-ridge, the
hard palate, and the soft palate, and the back wall of the throat pharynx). In
the production of a consonant the active articulator is moved towards the
passive articulator. The chief points of articulation are bilabial,
labiodental, dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palato-alveolar, retroflex,
palatal, velar, uvular, and glottal. In the case of some consonantal
sounds, there can be a secondary place of articulation in addition to the
primary. Thus, in the so-called dark /l/, in addition to the partial
alveolar contact, there is an essential raising of the back of the tongue
towards the velum (velarization); or, again some post-alveolar articulator of
‘r’ (r) as in red are accompanied by slight lip-rounding (labialization). We
can classify consonants according to the place of articulation.
The
Nature of Stricture. By the nature of stricture we
mean the manner of articulation. This stricture of obstruction made by the organs
may be total, intermittent, partial, or may merely constitute a narrowing
sufficient to cause friction.
When the stricture is
that of a complete closure, the active and passive articulators make a firm
contact with each other, and prevent the passage of air between them. For instance,
in the production of /p/ as in pin and /b/ as in bin, the
lips make a total closure.
The stricture may be
such that air passes between the active and passive articulators
intermittently. Such a stricture is called intermittent closure, and involves the
vibration of the active articulator against the passive. The Scottish /r/ as
in rat is an example. The intermittent closure may be of such a short
duration that the active articulator strikes against the passive articulator
once only. The English /r/ in the word very is an example; the tip of the
tongue (active articulator) makes one tap against the teeth-ridge (passive
articulator).
In the partial
stricture, the air passes between the active and passive articulators
continuously, but with some difficulty. The sounds thus produced are clear /1/
and dark /1/ in late, and hill, the clear and the dark
‘1’ respectively.
And lastly, the
stricture may be such that the air, while passing between the active and
passive articulators, produces audible friction. /f, v, q, ð, s, z, f, з, h/ in
English are examples of this kind of stricture. Or the air may pass without
friction. Examples are /w/ in wet, /j/ in yes and flap /r/
as in butter. A stricture which involves audible friction, can be
called a stricture of close approximation, whereas one which involves no such
friction can be called a stricture of open approximation.
If we are to describe
some of the consonant sounds in terms of the points discussed in the preceding
paragraphs, we shall do that in the following manner (we shall not make
any reference to the air-stream mechanism since we have already mentioned that
all English sounds are made with a pulmonic egressive air-stream):
1.
/p/ in the English word pack.
(i)
The vocal cords are held apart and the sound is voiceless:
(ii)
The soft palate is raised and the nasal passage is closed.
(iii)
The active articulator is the lower lip.
(iv)
The passive articulator is the upper lip.
(v)
There is a stricture of complete closure.
2.
/b/ in the English word back.
(i)
The vocal cords vibrate, and the sound produced is voiced.
(ii)
The soft palate is raised and the nasal passage is closed.
(iii)
The active articulator is the lower lip.
(iv)
The passive articulator is the upper lip.
(v)
There is a stricture of complete closure.
3.
/g/ in the English word god.
(i)
The vocal cords vibrate, and the sound produced is voiced.
(ii)
The soft palate is raised and the nasal passive is closed.
(iii)
The active articulator is the back of the tongue.
(iv)
The passive articulator is the soft palate.
(v)
There is a stricture of complete closure; the back of the tongue makes a
complete closure with the soft palate.
4.
/t/ in the English words cat.
(i)
The vocal cords are wide apart, and the sound is voiceless.
(ii)
The soft palate is raised and the nasal passage is closed.
(iii)
The active articulator is the tip of the tongue.
(iv)
The passive articulator is the teeth ridge.
(v)
There is a stricture of complete closure. The tip of the tongue makes a firm
contact with the teeth ridge.
5.
/m/ in the English word man.
(i)
The vocal cords vibrate and the sound is voiced.
(ii)
The soft palate is lowered and the air passes through the nose.
(iii)
The active articulator is the lower lip.
(iv)
The passive articulator is the upper lip.
(v)
There is a stricture of complete oral closure.
6. /v/
in the English word van.
(i)
The vocal cords vibrate and the sound is voiced.
(ii)
The soft palate is raised and the nasal passage is closed.
(iii)
The active articulator is the lower lip.
(iv)
The passive articulators are the upper front teeth.
(v)
The stricture is one of close approximation. (The lower lip is brought very
near the upper front teeth. The air passes between them with audible friction.)
7.
/j/ in the English word yet.
(i)
The vocal cords vibrate and the sound is voiced.
(ii)
The soft palate is raised.
(iii)
The active articulator is the front of the tongue.
(iv)
The passive articulator is the hard palate.
(v)
There is a stricture of open approximation. The front of the tongue is brought
near the hard palate but the space between them is sufficient for the air to
pass without any audible friction.
Hence
the kind of stricture involved in the articulation of various sounds is as
follows :
a) plosive
: complete closure,
b)
affricate : complete closure and slow release,
c) nasal :
complete oral closure,
d) fricate
: close approximation,
e) lateral
: complete closure in the centre of the vocal tract and the air passes along
the side(s) of the tongue,
f)
vowel : open approximation,
g)
semi-vowel : open approximation,
h)
frictionless continuant : open approximation.
Classification
of Consonants
Consonantal sounds are
classified on the basis of (i) voicing, (ii) place of articulation, and (iii)
manner of articulation.
(i) Voicing. On the basis of voicing,
sound can be classified into voiced and voiceless sounds. The voiced sounds in
English are /b, d, g, v. ð, z, dз, m, n, ŋ, l, r, w, j/.
All the vocoids and
semi-vowels are voiced sounds, whereas among the consonants some are voiced and
some voiceless. If the vocal cards vibrate when a sound is produced, it is said
to be voiceless.
(ii) The Place of Articulation. Consonants
are divided as given in the following table on the basis of the articulatory
points at which the articulators actually touch, or are at their closest.
The
Classification of English Consonants according to the place of Articulation.
|
Classification |
Articulators |
Examples |
|
Bilabial |
Upper lip and lower
lip |
/p b m w/ |
|
Dental |
Teeth and tip of
tongue |
/q ð/ |
|
Labio-dentel |
Lower lip and upper
teeth |
/f v/ |
|
Alveolar |
alveolar (teeth)
ridge and tip and blade of tongue |
/t d s z r k b/ |
|
Post-alveolar |
Hard palate and tip
of tongue |
/r/ |
|
Palato-aveloar |
Hard palate—alveolar
and tip, blade and front of tongue |
/f/z/ò/dз/ |
|
Palatal |
Hard palate and front
of tongue |
/j/ |
|
Velar |
Soft palate and back
of tongue |
/k g ŋ/ |
|
Glottal |
Glottis (vocal cords) |
/h/ |
The
Manner of
Articulation
According to the manner
of articulation, which describes the type of obstruction caused by the
narrowing or closure of the articulators, the consonants can be divided into
stops. affricates, fricatives, nasals, rolls, laterals, and semi-vowels or
frictionless continuants. We shall discuss these one by one.
(1)
Stop. In the production of a stop, the oral and
nasal passages arc closed simultaneously. The active and passive articulators
come in contact with each other forming a stricture of complete closure and
preventing the air from escaping through the mouth. The soft palate is raised
and thus the nasal passage is also blocked. (This is also known as velic
closure). The air behind the oral closure is compressed, and when the active
articulator is removed from contact with passive one, the air escapes with an
explosion. Stops are also known as mutes. explosives. plosives or occlusives.
/p/ in pat and /b/ in hat are the examples of stops.
(2)
Affricate. If the stop is not held for any appreciable
time and released slowly, we get an affricate rather than a plosive, e.g. /tò/
in chair and /dз/ in jail.
(3)
Nasal. In a nasal contoid, the breath stream is
interrupted at some point in the oral cavity or at the lips, while being allowed
to enter the nose and create resonance there. Thus a nasal is produced by a
stricture of complete oral closure. The soft palate is lowered and the air
passes through the nose. All nasal sounds are voiced. Examples /m, n, v/ in
English.
(4)
Trill (or Rolled Consonants). In the production
of a trill, the active articulator taps several times against the passive
articulator. The stricture involved can be called a stricture of intermittent
closure. Scottish /r/, for example in red, in which the tip of the tongue
strikes against the teeth ridge a number of times, is called a trilled
consonant.
(5)
Flap. For a flap the active articulator strikes the
passive articulation once only. For example the /r/ in the English word very, in
which the tip of the tongue strikes against teeth ridge only once.
(6)
Lateral. Laterals are produced by a stricture of
complete closure in the centre of the vocal tract, but the air passes out every
one or both side of the tongue. For example, /I/ in late.
(7)
Fricative. In the production of a fricative consonant the
stricture is one of close approximation. The active articulator and the passive
articulator are so close to each other that passage between them is very narrow
and the air passes through it with audible friction. Examples are /f/ in face, /v/
in vain /q/ in think, /ð/ in them, /s/ in sail,
/z/ in zero, /ò/ in ship, /з/ in measure, /h/
in hat.
(8)
Frictionless Continuant. In the production of a
frictionless continuant the stricture is that of open approximation. For
example in the production of /r/ in red, read, real, ready, the
active articulator (tip of the tongue) is brought just behind the passive
articulator (alveolar ridge) so that there is plenty of space between the two
articulators, and the air passes between them without friction; and hence the
term “frictionless continuant.”
Gimson includes the
English /r/ in words like red and read among the frictionless continuants, but
the English (r) also occurs as a fricative as in try, cry, ray, pray,
grow, very, sorry. Jones includes it in the list of fricatives and Gimson in
the list of frictionless continuants.
(9)
Semi-vowel. A semi-vowel is a vowel glide
functioning as a consonant i.e., as the C element in syllable structure. In
terms of articulation semi-vowels are like vowels, but they don’t behave like
vowels. Semi-vowels are never stable; they can never be pronounced by
themselves. They are sounds in transition. Examples are /j/ in yet and /w/ in
wet. These are also called semiconsonants too.
(10)
Fortis and Lenis. When we have voiceless/voiced
pair, the two sounds are also distinguished by the degree of breath force and
muscular effort involved in the articulations. e.g., is comparatively strong
or fortis, and z is comparatively weaker lenis.
We
summarize the classification of the consonants in English on the basis of the
manner of articulation in the following table.
|
Name of the Class |
Structure Involved |
Examples |
|
Stop |
Complete closure |
/p b t d k g/ |
|
Affricate frication |
Closure, then slow
separation Narrowing, resulting
audible friction |
/t ò dз/ /f v q ð s z ò з/ |
|
Nasal |
Complete clsoure in
mouth, air escapes through nose |
/m n ŋ/ |
|
Rolled |
Rapid intermittent
closure |
/r/ |
|
Lateral |
Closure in the centre
of mouth, air escapes over the sides of tongue |
/l/ |
|
Frictionless
Continuant |
Slight narrowing, not
enough to cause friction |
/r/ |
|
Semi-vowels/
Semi-consonants |
Slight narrowing, not
enough to cause friction. |
/w j/ |
Vowels
Vowels may be defined
with an open approximation without any obstruction, partial or complete, in
the air passage. They are referred to as vocoids in phonetics. They can be
described in terms of three variables:
(1)
height of tongue
(2)
part of the tongue which is raised or lowered
(3)
lip-rounding.
In order to
describe the vowels, we usually draw three points in the horizontal-axes: front,
central and back, referring to the part of the tongue which is the
highest. So we have
i) front vowels, during the
production of which the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate.
For example, /i, i:, e. æ/ in English as in sit, seat, set, and sat respectively.
ii)
back vowels, during the production of which
the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate. For example
/a:, , :,
u, u:/ in English as in cart, cot, caught, book and tool respectively.
iii)
central vowels, during the production of
which the central part of the tongue (the part between the front and the back)
is raised. For example, /ә, ә:, Λ/ in English as in about, earth and but respectively.
To describe the vowel
sound we mention whether it is open or close, half-close or half-open, front or
back or central, long or short, whether the tongue is tense or lax while the
vowel is being pronounced, and whether lips are spread, neutral, open rounded,
or close rounded. All English vowels are voiced. So, for every vowel, we must
state that it is voiced:
Diphthongs
From the point of view
of their quality, vowel sounds are of two types : monophthong and diphthong.
Monophthongs are pure vowels and diphthongs are gliding vowels. ‘A vowel that
does not change in quality’ may be called a monophthong; and a vowel sound with
a continually changing quality may be called a diphthong.
A pure vowel is one for
which the organs of speech remain in a given position for an appreciable period
of time. A diphthong is a vowel sound consisting of a deliberate,
i.e. intentional glide, the organs of speech starting in the position
of one vowel and immediately moving in the direction of another vowel. A
diphthong, moreover, consists of a single syllabic––that is, the vowel-glide
most be performed with a single impulse of the breath; if there
is more than one impulse of breath, the ear perceives two separate syllables...
––Peter
MacCarthy, English Pronunciation.
A diphthong, thus,
always occupies one syllabic. If two adjacent vowels form the nuclei of two
successive syllables, they are not a diphthong. For example the vowels in bay,
boy, and buy are diphthongs, but the vowels in doing are two different vowels
since they belong to two different syllables.
One end of the
diphthong is generally more prominent than the other. Diphthongs are termed
‘decrescendo’ of FALLING if the first element is louder or more prominent than
the second, and ‘crescendo’ or RISING if the second element is louder or more
prominent than the first. All the English diphthongs are falling diphthongs,
because in them the first clement is louder or more prominent than the second
clement.
Diphthongs are
represented in phonetic transcription by a sequence of two letters, the first
showing the position of the organs of speech at the beginning of the glide,
the second their position at the end. In the case of the ‘closing’ diphthongs
the second letter indicates the point toward which glide (movement)
is made.
Phonetic
Transcription
Phonetic transcription
is a device in which we use several symbols in such a way that one symbol
always represents one sound. It is also known as phonetic notation, it is an
‘attempt on paper, a record of the sounds that speakers make.’ By looking at an
English word in its written form one cannot be sure of its pronunciation,
whereas by looking at it in phonetic transcription one can be. Most of our
phonetic transcriptions are phonemic transcriptions, that is, each
symbol represents a phoneme, a distinct sound unit in language. A pair of
square brackets [ ] indicates a phonetic transcription: Phonemic transcriptions
are enclosed within slant bars / /.
The
Usefulness of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
The IPA gives us a
uniform international medium of studying and transcribing the sounds of all the
languages of the world. Many languages in the world have no orthographic
(written) form at all. It has been made possible to study such languages with this
alphabet. In other words, the IPA is ‘a precise and universal’ means (i.e.
valid for all languages) of writing down the spoken forms of utterances as they
are spoken without reference to their orthographic representation, grammatical
status, or meaning.
As regards English, the
IPA helps us in establishing and maintaining international intelligibility and
uniformity in the pronunciation of English. With the help of the IPA we can
easily teach the pronunciation of English or of any other language. The IPA has
contributed a lot in the teaching and description of language. The teachers and
learners of English can improve, and standardize their pronunciation and can
overcome the confusion created by the spellings with the help of the
international phonetic alphabet.
Written By
Prof. Qasim Nazar
M. Phil in Applied Linguistics
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