语言学教程 chapter2

Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetics studies how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived.

Three main areas: Articulatory phonetics is the study of the production of

speech sounds.

Acoustic phonetics is the study of the physical properties of speech sounds.

Perceptual or auditory phonetics is concerned with the perception of speech sounds.

Phonology is the study of the sound patterns and sound systems of languages. It aims to discover the principles that govern the way sounds are organized in languages, and to explain the variations that occur. Begin by analyzing an individual language, then discover the rules that underlie the sound patterns of all languages.

1, how speech sounds are made?

1, Speech organs: vocal tract-- pharynx, mouth, nose

oral cavity-- mouth nasal cavity-- nose

Upper part of the pharynx:

Contents of the mouth: upper part-- the upper lip, the upper teeth, the

alveolar ridge, the hard palate, the soft palate, and the uvula

Bottom part-- the lower lip, the lower teeth, the

tongue, and the mandible

Tongue: the tip, the blade, the

front ,the back, and the root

The vocal folds: apart-- the air can pass through easily and the sound

produced is said to be voiceless

close together-- the airstream causes them to vibrate

against each other and the resultant sound is said to be voiced

totally closed-- no air can pass between them

2, the IPA The International Phonetic Association

Main principles: there should be a separate letter for each distinctive sound,

and the same symbol should be used for that sound in any language in which it appears.

The diacritics are additional symbols or marks used together with the

consonant and vowel symbols to indicate nuances of change in their pronunciation.

2, consonants and vowels

Consonants are produced by a closure in the vocal tract, or by a narrowing which is so marked that air cannot escape without producing audible friction.

Vowels is produced without such stricture so that air escapes in a relatively unimpeded way though the mouth or nose.

The distinction between vowels and consonants lies in the obstruction of airstream.

1, Consonants

Manner of Articulation: the way in which the air passes through certain parts of the vocal tract. It refers ways in which articulation can be accomplished

1, stop(or plosive)-- [p, b, t, d, k, g] 2, nasal-- [m, n, etc.]

3, fricative-- [f, v, s, z etc.] 4, approximant-- [w, j etc.] 5, lateral-- [l] 6, trill-- [r] 7, tap and flap 8, affricate

The Place of Articulation: where in the vocal tract there is approximation,

narrowing, or the obstruction of air

1, bilabial-- made with two lips

2, labiodental-- made with the lower lip and the upper front teeth 3, dental-- made by the tongue tip or blade and the upper front teeth 4, alveolar-- made with the tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge 5, postalveolar-- made with the tongue tip and the back of the

alveolar ridge

6, petroflex-- made with the front of the tongue tip or blade curled

back so that the underside of the tongue tip or blade forms a stricture with the back of the alveolar ridge or the hard palate

7, palatal-- made with the front of the tongue and the hard palate 8, velar-- made with the back of the tongue and the soft palate 9, uvular-- made with the back of the tongue and the uvula

10, pharyngeal-- made with the root of the tongue and the walls of

the pharynx

11, glottal-- made with the two pieces of vocal folds pushed towards

each other

2, Vowels

[ i: ]-- high front tensed unrounded vowel [ə: ]-- mid central tensed unrounded vowel [a: ]-- low back tensed rounded vowel [ɔ: ]-- mid back tensed rounded vowel [u: ]-- high back tensed rounded vowel [i ]-- high front lax unrounded vowel

[e ]-- mid front lax unrounded vowel [æ ]-- low front lax unrounded vowel [ə ]-- mid central lax unrounded vowel [ʌ ]-- low back lax rounded vowel [ɔ ]-- mid back lax rounded vowel [u ]-- high back lax rounded vowel 3, the sounds of English

RP-- Received Pronunciation GA-- General American

3, from phonetics to phonology

1, coarticulation and phonetic transcriptions

Coarticulation: The simultaneous or overlapping articulation of two

successive phonological units.

Anticipatory coarticulation-- the sound becomes more like the following

sound (lamb)

Perseverative coarticulation-- the sound shows the influence of the

proceeding sound (map)

Broad transcription-- the use of a simple set of symbols in our

transcription

Narrow transcription-- the use of more specific symbols to show more

phonetic detail

2, phonemes

The smallest unit that distinguishes meaning of words. a unit of explicit sound contrast

Minimal pair-- a pair of words with different meanings which differ in only

one sound.

E.g. “pill” and “bill”

Phonetics transcriptions are placed between slant lines(/ /), while

phonetic transcriptions are placed between square brackets([ ]).

3, allophones

The aspirated /p/ and the unaspirated /p/ have phonetic differece, but they both belong to the same phoneme /p/. Such variants are called allophones of the same phoneme. In this case the allophones are said to be in complementary distribution because they never occur in the same context. This phenomenon of variation in the pronunciation is called allophony or allophonic variation.

To be allophones of the same phoneme, the phones must be phonetically similar. Phonetic similarity means that the allophones of a phoneme must bear some resemblance.

If two sounds occurring in the same environment do not contrast; namely, if the substitution of one for the other does not generate a new word form but merely a different pronunciation of the same word, the two sounds then are

said to be in “free variation”.

4, phonological process, phonological rules and distinctive features

1, Assimilation

Instances: nasalization, dentalization, velarization

Two possibilities-- 1, if a following sound is influencing a preceding

sound, we call it regressive assimilation

2, the converse process, in which a preceding sound is influencing a following sound, is known as progressive assimilation

Phonological process-- three aspects: 1, a set of sounds to undergo the

process

2, a set of sounds produced by the processs

3, a set of situations in which the process applies

Phonological rules

2, epenthesis, rule ordering and the elsewhere condition

A boy An apple

We treat the change of a to an as an insertion of a nasal sound. Technically, this process of insertion is known as epenthesis. 3, distinctive features

Firstly developed by Roman Jacobson as a means of working out a set of phonological contrasts or oppositions to capture particular aspects of language sounds.

Some major distinctions-- consonantal, sonorant, nasal, voiced.

5, suprasegmentals

1, the syllable structure

Monosyllabic-- with one syllable

Polysyllabic-- with more than one syllable A syllable must have a nucleus or peak.

Open syllable-- a syllable which ends in a vowel.

Closed syllable-- a syllable which ends in a consonant.

Maximal onset principle-- the principle which states that when there is a

choice as to where to place a consonant, it is put into the onset rather than the coda.

2, stress

Stress Stress refers to the degree of force used in producing a syllable. 3, intonation

Intonation involves the occurrence of recurring fall- rise patterns, each of which is used with a set of relatively consistent meanings, either on single words or on groups of words of varying length. 4, tone

In Chinese tone changes are made in a different way, affecting the

meanings of individual words.

Languages like Chinese are known as tone languages.