ARTICULATORY PHONETICS

 Articulatory Phonetics

Vowels and consonants can be thought of as the segments of which

speech is composed. Together they form the syllables, which go to make up

utterances. Superimposed on the syllables there are other features known as

suprasegmentals. These include variations in stress and pitch. Variations in

length are also usually considered to be suprasegmental features, although

they can affect single segments as well as whole syllables.

Variations. in stress are used in English to distinguish between a noun

and a verb, as in "(an) insult" versus "(to) insult." Say these words yourself,

and check which syllable has the greater stress. Then compare similar

pairs, such as "(a) pervert, (to) pervert" or "(an) overflow, (to) overflow."

You should find that in the nouns the stress is on the first syllable, but in

the verbs it is on the last. Thus, stress can have a grammatical function in

English. It can also be used for contrastive emphasis (as in "I want a red

pen, not a black one"). Variations in stress are caused by an increase in the

activity of the respiratory muscles (so that a greater amount of air is pushed

out of the lungs) and in the activity of the laryngeal muscles (so that there

is a significant change in pitch).

You can usually find where the stress occurs on a word by trying to tap

with your finger in time with each syllable. It is much easier to tap on the

stressed syllable. Try saying "abominable" and tapping first on the first

syllable, then on the second, then on the third, and so on. If you say the

word in your normal way you will find it easiest to tap on the second syllable.

Many people cannot tap on the first syllable without altering their normal

pronunciation.

Pitch changes due to variations in laryngeal activity can occur independently

of stress changes. When they do, they can affect the meaning of the

sentence as a whole. The pitch pattern in a sentence is known as the intonation.

Listen to the intonation (the variations in the pitch of your voice)

when you say the sentence "This is my father." Try to find out which syllable

has the highest pitch and which the 1owest:In most people's speech the

highest pitch will occur on the first syllable of "father" and the lowest on

the second. Now observe the pitch changes in the question "Is this your

father?" In this sentence the first syllable of "father" is usually on a low

pitch, and the last syllable is on a high pitch. In English it is even possible

to change the meaning of a sentence such as "That's a cat" from a statement

to a question without altering the order of the words. If you substitute

a mainly rising for a mainly falling intonation, you will produce a question

spoken with an air of astonishment: "That's a cat?"

All the suprasegmental features are characterized by the fact that they

must be described in relation to other items in the same utterance. It is the

relative values of pitch, length, or degree of stress of an item that are significant.

You can stress one syllable as opposed to another irrespective of

whether you are shouting or talking softly.

 Children can also use the same

intonation patterns as adults, although their voices have a higher pitch. The

absolute values are never linguistically important. But they do, of course,

convey information about the speaker's age, sex, emotional state, and attitude.

 Articulatory Phonetics

Vowels and consonants can be thought of as the segments of which

speech is composed. Together they form the syllables, which go to make up

utterances. Superimposed on the syllables there are other features known as

suprasegmentals. These include variations in stress and pitch. Variations in

length are also usually considered to be suprasegmental features, although

they can affect single segments as well as whole syllables.

Variations. in stress are used in English to distinguish between a noun

and a verb, as in "(an) insult" versus "(to) insult." Say these words yourself,

and check which syllable has the greater stress. Then compare similar

pairs, such as "(a) pervert, (to) pervert" or "(an) overflow, (to) overflow."

You should find that in the nouns the stress is on the first syllable, but in

the verbs it is on the last. Thus, stress can have a grammatical function in

English.

 It can also be used for contrastive emphasis (as in "I want a red

pen, not a black one"). Variations in stress are caused by an increase in the

activity of the respiratory muscles (so that a greater amount of air is pushed

out of the lungs) and in the activity of the laryngeal muscles (so that there

is a significant change in pitch).

You can usually find where the stress occurs on a word by trying to tap

with your finger in time with each syllable. It is much easier to tap on the

stressed syllable. Try saying "abominable" and tapping first on the first

syllable, then on the second, then on the third, and so on. If you say the

word in your normal way you will find it easiest to tap on the second syllable.

Many people cannot tap on the first syllable without altering their normal

pronunciation.

Pitch changes due to variations in laryngeal activity can occur independently

of stress changes. When they do, they can affect the meaning of the

sentence as a whole. The pitch pattern in a sentence is known as the intonation.

Listen to the intonation (the variations in the pitch of your voice)

when you say the sentence "This is my father." Try to find out which syllable

has the highest pitch and which the 1owest:In most people's speech the

highest pitch will occur on the first syllable of "father" and the lowest on

the second. Now observe the pitch changes in the question "Is this your

father?" In this sentence the first syllable of "father" is usually on a low

pitch, and the last syllable is on a high pitch. In English it is even possible

to change the meaning of a sentence such as "That's a cat" from a statement

to a question without altering the order of the words.

 If you substitute

a mainly rising for a mainly falling intonation, you will produce a question

spoken with an air of astonishment: "That's a cat?"

All the suprasegmental features are characterized by the fact that they

must be described in relation to other items in the same utterance. It is the

relative values of pitch, length, or degree of stress of an item that are significant.

You can stress one syllable as opposed to another irrespective of

whether you are shouting or talking softly. 

Children can also use the same

intonation patterns as adults, although their voices have a higher pitch. The

absolute values are never linguistically important. But they do, of course,

convey information about the speaker's age, sex, emotional state, and attitude.

Articulatory Phonetics

To get the feeling of different places of articulation, consider the consonantat the beginning of each of the following words: "fee, theme, see,

she." Say these consonants by themselves. Are they voiced or voiceless?

Now note that the place of articulation moves back in the mouth in making

this series of voiceless consonants, going from labiodental, through dental

and alveolar, to palato-alveolar.

Consider the consonants at the ends of "rang, ran, ram." When you say

these consonants by themselves, note that the air is coming out through the

nose. In the formation of these sounds, the point of articulatory closure

moves forward, from velar in "rang," through alveolar in "ran," to bilabial

in "ram." In each case, the air is prevented from going out through the

mouth, but is able to go out through the nose because the soft palate, or

velum, is lowered.

In most speech, the soft palate is raised so that there is a velic closure.

When it is lowered and there is an obstruction in the mouth, we say that

there is a nasal consonant. Raising or lowering the velum controls the oronasal

process, the distinguishing factor between oral and nasal sounds.

At most places of articulation there are several basic ways in which

articulation can be accomplished.

 The articulators may close off the oral tract for an instant or a relatively long period; they may narrow the space considerably; or they may simply modify the shape of the tract by

approaching each other.

Stop

(Complete closure of the articulators involved so that the airstream

cannot escape through the mouth.) There are two possible types of stop.

Oral stop If in addition to the articulatory closure in the mouth, the

soft palate is raised so that the nasal tract is blocked off, then the airstream

will be completely obstructed. Pressure in the mouth will build up and an

oral stop will be formed. When the articulators come apart, the airstream

will be released in a small burst of sound. This kind of sound occurs in the

consonants in the words "pie, buy" (bilabial closure), "tie, dye" (alveolar

closure), and "kye, guy" (velar closure).

Nasal stop If the air is stopped in the oral cavity but the soft palate is

down so that it can go out through the nose, the sound produced is a nasal

stop. Sounds of this kind occur at the beginning of the words "my" (bilabial

closure) and "nigh" (alveolar closure) and at the end of the word "sang"

 Articulatory Phonetics 

Places of articulation

1. Bilabial

(Made with the two lips.) Say words such as "pie, buy, my" and note

how the lips come together for the first sound in each of these words.

Find a comparable set of words with bilabial sounds at the end.

2. Labiodental

(Lower lip and upper front teeth.) Most people, when saying words

such as "fie, vie," raise the lower lip until it nearly touches the upper

front teeth.

3. Dental

(Tongue tip or blade and upper front teeth.) Say the words "thigh, thy."

Some people (most speakers of American English) have the tip of the

tongue protruding between the upper and lower front teeth; others

(most speakers of British English) have it close behind the upper front

teeth. Both these kinds of sounds are normal in English, and both may

be called dental. If a distinction is needed, sounds in which the tongue

protrudes between the teeth may be called interdental.

4. Alveolar

(Tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge.) Again there are two possibilities

in English, and you should find out which you use. You may

pronounce words such as "tie, die, nigh, sigh, zeal, lie" using the tip of

the tongue or the blade of the tongue. Feel how you normally make the

alveolar consonants in each of these words, and then try to make them

in the other way. A good way to appreciate the difference between

dental and alveolar sounds is to say "ten" and "tenth" (or "n" and

"nth"). Which n is farther back? (Most people make the one in the first

of each of these pairs of words on the alveolar ridge and the second as

a dental sound with the tongue touching the upper front teeth.)

5. Retroflex

(Tongue tip and the back of the alveolar ridge.) Many speakers of

English do not use retroflex sounds at all. But for some, retroflex

sounds occur initially in words such as "rye, row, ray." Note the position

of the tip of your tongue in these words. Speakers who pronounce

r at the ends of words may also have retroflex sounds with the tip of

the tongue raised in "ire, hour, air."

6. Palato-Alveolar

(Tongue blade and the back of the alveolar ridge.) Say words such as

"shy, she, show." During the consonants, the tip of your tongue may be

down behind the lower front teeth, or it may be up near the alveolar

ridge, but the blade of the tongue is always close to the back part of the

alveolar ridge. Try saying "shipshape" with your tongue tip up on one

occasion and down on another. Note that the blade of the tongue will

always be raised. You may be able to feel the place of articulation

more distinctly if you hold the position while taking in a breath

through the mouth. The incoming air cools the blade of the tongue and

the back part of the alveolar ridge.

7. Palatal

(Front of the tongue and hard palate.) Say the word "you" very slowly

so that you can isolate the consonant at the beginning. If you say this

consonant by itself, you should be able to feel that the front of the

tongue is raised toward the hard palate. Try to hold the consonant position

and breathe inward through the mouth. You will probably be able

to feel the rush of cold air between the front of the tongue and the hard

palate.

8. Velar

(Back of the tongue and soft palate.) The consonants that have the farthest

back place of articulation in English are those that occur at the

end of "hack, hag, hang." In all these sounds, the back of the tongue is

raised so that it touches the velum.

As you can tell from the descriptions of these articulations, the first

two, bilabial and labiodental, can be classified as labial, involving at least

the lower lip; the next four, dental, alveolar, retroflex and palato-alveolar,

are coronal articulations, with the tip or blade of the tongue raised; and the

last, velar, is a dorsal articulation, using the back of the tongue. Palatal

sounds are sometimes classified as coronal articulations, and sometimes as

dorsal articulations, a point to which we shall return.