UNIT 1 Phonetics and Phonology

1- What does Phonetics study?

It studies how the phonemes are actually realized (how sounds are produced). It deals with allophones (= the variants of each phoneme).Allophones allow our English to sound really English. Phonetics is interested in sounds and how they are organized and transmitted. Phonetics deals with the

physical production of human speech sounds. Phonetics is the study of phonic substance and its function in spoken language.It is strictly about audible sounds and the things that happen in your mouth, throat, nasal and sinus cavities, and lungs to make those sounds. It has nothing to do with meaning. Its only a physical and acoustic description. 2- What does Phonology study? It studies the selection and organization of phonic substances (= phonemes) into a given form or pattern. It deals with the phonemes of a language. It studies how they function in a given language. It gives speakers the priorities of pronunciation. Phonology is the study of sound patterns and their meanings both within and across languages. It is both physical and meaningful. It explores the differences between sounds that change the meaning of an utterance. For example, the word bet is very similar to the word bed in terms of the physical manifestation of sounds. The only theoretical difference between its final consonants is that at the end of bet, the vocal chords stop vibrating so that sound is a result only of the placement of the tongue behind the teeth and the flow of air. However, the meanings of the two words are not related in the least. Differences between Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetics is strictly physical while phonology also pays attention to the function or meaning of a sound in the speakers mind.. Phonetics only asks, Does this sound go here or not? Phonology asks, Does the meaning change if I put this sound here instead of that one? Phonetics asks: What are the articulatory characteristics of sound X? Where is the stricture produced and how, if? Phonology asks: Does this sound cause any differences in meaning? In what positions in the stream of speech does it appear and what changes does it suffer from/cause in neighbouring sounds? Phonetics makes a pretty specific articulatory/acoustic/physical description of sounds and can be used to describe sounds in any language. Phonology makes very detailed descriptions of how sounds function in particular languages, so each language has its own unique set of symbols (because no two languages use all of the exact same sounds).

Hopefully that clears things up, but if you need one more way to remember the difference between phonetics and phonology, look at the word endings. Phonetic ends the same way as kinetic, which refers to movement. Both are purely physical. Phonology, like any other -ology, is more of an abstract study, exploring the hows and whys of the physical. 3- Why are phonemes said to be meaningful? Because if we change a phoneme we may change meaning. Phoneme is the graphic/phonetic symbol used to represent sounds. It is the smallest contrastive phonological unit which can produce a difference of meaning.

Allophones can be defined as the variants of each phoneme.

4- What does a change of allophone bring about? Would the wrong choice of allophone impair communication? Why? The study of phonology will allow our English to sound really English. The wrong use of allophones will only lead to a foreign accent. It doesnt impair communication because it doesnt change the meaning of the word. http://reference.yourdictionary.com/word-definitions/differences-between-phonetics-andphonology.html

UNIT 2 Articulatory phonetics The speech mechanism

1- What do we call the passage extending from the larynx upwards? The entire speech apparatus is made up of a series of organs and cavities that form a passage from the lungs to the lips and nostrils. The section of this passage extending from the larynx upwards is called the vocal tract (larynx, pharynx, oral cavity and nasal cavity). 2- Which elements are relevant to consider when dealing with the whole speech mechanism? Make a list including all the organs and their function - Lungs: these have the consistency of two large sponges which are made to expand to take in air (inhalation), and to contract to let it out (exhalation). They are situated within the rib cage or thorax. The lungs themselves are incapable of any active movement. Expansion or contraction must be carry out by the muscles that join them to the rib cage or by lowering the diaphragm (flat muscle that separates the lungs from the stomach). The function of the lungs is that of a motor or activator that sets the passage of air into the movements of inhalation. - Larynx: It is a rigid structure situated at the top of the trachea and below the pharynx. It contains the first valve or trap that can interfere with the passage of the air-stream the vocal folds (two bands of muscles lying across the centre of the larynx). For normal breathing the vocal folds are open forming a V-shape, they are wide apart. When they come into light contact the air passing through them causes them to vibrate (voice). It becomes voice when it passes through the cavities. Sounds produced without vibration of the vocal folds are called voiceless sounds they are produced with only breath. Voiced sounds are produced with vibration of vocal folds. Cavities or resonators - Pharynx is the passage situated at the top of the larynx, communicating with the oral and nasal cavities. Its front wall is formed by the root of the tongue. It can change its shape slightly. - Nasal cavity. It extends from the pharynx to the nostrils, and is separated from the oral cavity by the palate. It is constant in shape and size. The entrance of the nasal cavity is control by the velum. - Oral cavity which is extremely variable. It is the most important resonator, due to the great mobility of its organs and consequent changes of size and shape. The base is occupied by the tongue, and the front bounded by the lips.

Articulators: all situated in or surrounding the oral cavity. They are called active when they are capable of movement, passive when they are incapable of movement. Palate is a concave structure, separating the mouth from the nasal cavity. It can be divided to describe the speech sounds into alveolar ridge (the prominence just behind the upper teeth), the hard palate (the bony immovable part that lies over the centre of the mouth), and soft palate or velum (the moveable part at the back, which can be raised or lowered). Tongue is the most agile speech organ. It is principally made of muscle. Each part coincides with a different part of the palate: the tip (extreme end), the blade (under the alveolar ridge), the front (under the hard palate) and the back (under the velum). It can interfere with the air-stream by coming into contact with the palate or the teeth. Upper Teeth. They interfere with or stop the air-flow with the help of the tongue or the lower tip. Lips constitute the very mobile outer edges of the mouth, and can adopt different shapes.

UNIT 3 Intonation
Sense group: a group of words held together by intonation. It is often separated from a preceding or following group by a pause of some kind. (ver apuntes en carpeta)

UNIT 4 Vowel sounds

A vowel sound is a sound in the production of which the air-stream comes out through the mouth or mouth and nose centrally over the tongue, and meets a stricture of open approximation. / A sound produced with open approximation of the articulators and syllabic function. i.e. they function as the central elements of syllables. 1- Is Spanish a phonetic language? Why?/ not? What happens with English? Spanish can be said to be a phonetic language because orthography approximates closely to the sounds represented by it. In Spanish there is one to one correspondence between letters and sounds. English isnt a phonetic language since there is no one to one correspondence between letters and sounds. 2- What are the characteristics in common between vowel sounds of English and Spanish? English and Spanish use the same vowel letters but whereas Spanish uses them to represent five vowel sounds, English uses them to represent many more. 3- How many English vowel phonemes are there? Represent and classify them according to their length (long and short vowel sounds) There are twelve pure vowel sounds to represent sounds of the five vowel letters of the alphabet. Short vowels (7)

half-close front area (more open and nearer to the centre than i:). Lips are slightly spread. e front mid vowel. Lips slightly spread.

 front but not quite open as a, open vowel: . Lips slightly spread. half-open, central vowel. Lip position neutral. not quite fully back, and between open-mid and open in tongue height. Lips slightly rounded. more open and nearer to central. Lips slightly rounded. central mid unrounded (shortest and most frequent sound in English!)
Long vowels (5) i:

i: more close and front than I. Lips slightly spread. : mid, central vowel. Lip position neutral. : open vowel but not so back. Lip position neutral. : Tongue height is mid. Almost fully back and quite strong lip-rounding. u: close, back vowel. Lips rounded.
4

: : : u:

What are the parameters for the classification of vowels? Which are the: High / close vowels? centre / mid vowels? Low/ open vowels? Front vowels? Back vowels?

Parameters: The horizontal tongue position (front centre back) = Part of the tongue most active The vertical tongue position (high/ close mid low/open) = Height of the tongue in the area The lip position: rounded neutral spread The length or duration (long short)

5- A diphthong is a sound which consists of a glide from one vowel to another within the same syllable. 6- The second vowel in a diphthong is never fully reached. Big difference with Spanish diphthongs!!!! 7- A vowel that remains constant throughout its articulation is a pure vowel. 8- There are eight diphthongs in English. 9- Back long vowels are articulated with fully rounded lips. 10Complete the following chart: DIPHTHONGS
CENTRING glide towards the CLOSING all end with a glide towards a closer vowel

ending in e e a

ending in a

11- What is a triphthong? How is the resulting glide pronounced? What happens to the vowel in the middle? What name has been given to the vowel reduction in the pronunciation of a triphthong? A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption. The middle of the three vowel qualities of the triphtong (the part) can hardly be heard

and the resulting sound is difficult to distinguish from some of the diphthongs and long vowels. In fact, in rapid, colloquial speech, the middle element of the diphthong is frequently omitted, the resulting articulation produced being that of a diphthong or even a pure vowel, a process called levelling or smoothing: a or : our / a/ , but in Wheres our car? / / or /:/

UNIT 5 Consonant sounds

It is a sound with some type of interference of the air-stream. Non-syllabic function (with exceptions). The air-stream meets either a stricture of complete oral closure (plosives, affricates and nasal), or one of intermittent closure (rolls) or one of partial oral closure (laterals) or a stricture of close approximation (fricatives and approximants). Fricatives: (9) f v - - s z - - h Consonants that are produced when air escapes through a small passage and makes a hissing sound. They are continuant consonants, you can continue making them without interruption as long as you have air in your lungs. With the exception of glottal, each place of articulation has a pair of phonemes, one fortis and one lenis. Similar with the plosives. The fortis fricatives are said to be articulated with greater force than the lenis, and their friction noise is louder. The lenis have very little or no voicing in initial and final positions, but may be voiced when they occur between voiced sounds. According to their place of articulation. - Labiodental f v: the lower lip is in contact with the upper teeth. The fricative noise is never very strong and is scarcely audible in the case of v. - Dental: : the tongue is normally placed inside the teeth with the tip touching the inside of the lower front teeth and the blade touching the inside of the upper teeth. The air escapes through the gaps between the tongue and the teeth. - Alveolar fricatives s,z: the air escapes through a narrow passage along the centre of the tongue. - Palato alveolar : Their place of articulation is partly palatal, partly alveolar. ? The air escapes through a passage along the centre of the tongue, as in s and z, but the passage is a little wider. An important difference between the consonants s and z is that the lips are rounded for . - Glottal h: the place of articulation is glottal. The narrowing that produces the friction noise is between the vocal folds. You move your vocal folds from wide apart to close together. Affricates: t d Mixture of fricative and plosive. (e.g. church). They begin with an articulation practically the same as the closure and hold phases of t, but instead of a rapid release with plosion and aspiration, as in turn, the tongue moves to the position for the fricative like in ship. So the plosive is followed immediately by fricative noise. Place of articulation: palato-alveolar, the same for . Nasals: m n The air escapes through the nose. For this to happen, the soft palate must be lowered. The air does not pass through the mouth, it is prevented by a complete closure in the mouth at some point. The three types of closure are: bilabial, alveolar (tongue blade against alveolar ridge) and velar (back of tongue against the soft palate). This set of places produces three nasal consonants, m n which correspond to the three places of articulation for the pairs of plosives p, b, t, d, k, g.

The place of articulation of is the same as that of k, g. Lateral: l the passage of air through the mouth does not go in the usual way along the centre of the tongue, instead, there is complete closure between the centre of the tongue and the part of the roof of the mouth where contact is to be made (the alveolar ridge in the case of l, so its alveolar). Because of this complete closure along the centre, the only way for the air to escape is along the sides of the tongue. Approximant post-alveolar r The important thing about the articulation of r is that the tip of the tongue approaches the alveolar area in approximately the way it would for a t or d, but never actually makes contact with any part of the roof of the mouth. The tongue is slightly curled backwards with the tip raised. j and w: The have been called semivowels or the more modern term approximant. For place of articulation, we regard j as palatal and w as bilabial. ENERGY Most consonants can be grouped as either fortis or lenis according to the energy with which they are articulated and perceived. This is the case with the plosives, fricatives and affricates. The energy opposition is present in all the pairs occupying the same box.. Each fortis sound is on the left, and the lenis on the right. Nasal, semivowels, /r/ and /l/, which have no phonemic counterpart, and are therefore alone in each box, do not participate in the opposition fortis/lenis. Three groups can be established: Fortis: p, t, k, t, f, , s, h Lenis: b, d, g, d, v, , z, , No oposition: m, n, l, r, w, j, LENGTH