english allophony september 24, 2010 canadian raising (canadian) jon(american) steve “house”...
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English Allophony
September 24, 2010
Canadian Raising(Canadian) Jon (American) Steve
“house”
“howl”
“bike”
“bile”
• For fun: switch Jon’s vowels in “bike” and “bile”
• Also compare:
• (Canadian) Aaron:
• (American) Steve:
• And, lastly, (Canadian?) Amber:
Mid-Sagittal Diagram
Dimension 2: Phonation• On the way out of the lungs
• Air passes through the trachea
• Reaches the larynx
• The larynx consists of two “vocal folds” which may be opened and closed. If the vocal folds are:
1. open: air passes cleanly through (voiceless sound)
2. closed: air does not pass through (no sound)
3. lightly brought together: vocal folds vibrate in passing air
(= voiced sound)
Voicing, Schematized
Voiceless (folds open) Voiced (folds together)
Laryngoscopy
Source: http://homepage.mac.com/changcy/endo.htm
Voicing, in Reality
Some Voicing Distinctions• Among English consonants:
Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced
[f] [v] [p] [b]
[t] [d]
[s] [z] [k] [g]
Voicing Allophony Vowels are longer before voiced consonants than voiceless consonants.
Length is denoted with the [:] diacritic.
‘feed’ [fi:d] vs. ‘feet’ [fit]
Note that Canadian Raising occurs before voiceless consonants.
voiceless: ‘out’ ‘write’
voiced: ‘bribe’ ‘ride’
Layers• Canadian Raising occurs when and are followed by a voiceless consonant.
• The voiceless consonant does not need to be at the end of a word.
• Interesting examples:
• ‘rider’
• ‘writer’
• Note: flap is voiced.
• The voiceless consonant which induces Canadian Raising does not need to be voiceless on the phonetic “surface”!
• The technical term for this is phonological opacity.
More Voicing Allophony• Consonants at the ends of words are sometimes devoiced.
• Voicelessness is denoted with the [ ] diacritic.
• ‘lose’ ‘peas’
• Also: ‘languages’ example from homework #1.
• You can sometimes get contrasts in English like:
• ‘peace’ ‘peas’
• /l/, /j/, /w/ and can be (partially) voiceless in English when they follow a voiceless consonant:
• ‘play’
Aspiration Allophony /p/, /t/, and /k/ are aspirated if:
1. They are at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
2. They are not preceded by /s/.
• Ex:
Dimension 3:Place of Articulation
• After the stream of air passes through the larynx…
• speech sounds may be made by constricting the flow of air through the vocal tract.
• The place where such constrictions are made is known as the place of articulation of the sound.
• Constrictions are made by placing an active articulator against (or near to) a passive articulator.
• Generally:
• active articulator = on the bottom
• passive articulator = on the top
Anatomy Lesson #1
Anatomy Lesson #2
English Places of Articulation
Bilabial [p] [b] [m]
Labio-dental [f] [v]
Interdental
Alveolar [t] [d] [s] [n] [z] [l]
Post-alveolar
Palatal [j]
Velar [k] [g]
X-Ray movie revisited• First check out “bogus”
Place Assimilation• Place assimilation occurs when:
• One consonant’s place of articulation becomes identical to that of a neighboring consonant.
• /n/ often takes on the place of articulation of a following consonant.
• ‘unpleasant’
• ‘month’
• ‘engrossed’
• alveolars--except for /s/ and /z/--assimilate to following dentals
Ex: width, tenth, wealth
Front and Back• Velars /k/ and /g/ become fronted when preceding front vowels
the diacritic for “fronter” is
the diacritic for “backer” is
• Examples:
• ‘coo’
• ‘key’
• These diacritics may apply to vowels, as well.
• Ex: ‘spoons’
Dimension 4: Aperture
• The type of sound created by a constriction in the vocal tract depends on how narrow the constriction is.
1. Stop (or plosive):
• Complete closure of the articulators
• The airstream cannot escape through the mouth.
2. Fricative:
• Close approximation of two articulators
• The airstream is partially obstructed
• Turbulent airflow is produced.
English StopsVoiceless Voiced
Bilabial [p] [b]
Alveolar [t] [d]
Velar [k] [g]
• Note--stops that:
• Follow a vowel involve a closing gesture
• Precede a vowel involve an opening gesture
• Stops at the end of words may be unreleased.
• Example: “chocolate pudding”
English FricativesVoiceless Voiced
Labio-dental [f] [v]
Interdental
Alveolar [s] [z]
Post-alveolar
Glottal [h]
Dimension 4:Aperture, continued
3. Approximant:
• a gesture in which one articulator is close to another
• but without turbulent airflow being produced.
4. Affricate
• combination of stop + fricative
More English Consonants• Approximants:
labio-velar, voiced: [w]
palatal, voiced: [j]
• Some dialects of English also distinguish:
• ‘witch’ [w] vs. ‘which’
• = voiceless, labio-velar approximant
• Affricates --
• Voiced: Voiceless:
Really Narrow The stops, /t/ and /d/, have a post-alveolar place of articulation in affricates:
• An interesting question:
• How do you say “tree” and “draw”?
• /t/ and /d/ can become affricates before /r/:
• ‘tree’
• ‘draw’
Dimension 5: Retroflexion• A retroflex sound involves the curling back of the tip
of the tongue.
• generally in the post-alveolar region.
• There is only one retroflex sound in English, and it’s an approximant:
• In other languages, stops and fricatives can be retroflex, too.
Dimension 6: Nasality• The back of the soft palate may be lowered or raised.
• This may allow air to pass through the nose during speech.
• Air passes through the nose during the production of nasal consonants…
• …but it does not pass through the mouth in “nasal stops”
bilabial [m]
alveolar [n]
velar
One Last Time
Nasalization Vowels often become nasalized before nasal consonants.
The diacritic for nasalization is:
• Examples:
‘can’ vs. ‘cat’
‘Ben’ vs. ‘bed’
• Before other consonants, /n/ can drop out completely…
and leave the nasalization behind:
‘can’t’ vs. ‘cat’
‘Winters’
Dimension 7: Laterality• Lateral approximant:
• Obstruction of the airstream at a point along the center of the oral tract
• With incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.
• alveolar lateral: [l] “clear l”
• velarized alveolar lateral: “dark l”
• velarized = back of tongue is raised towards velum
• Note: consonants which are not lateral are “central”.
• Check out “oil” video
/l/ options• Dialectologically, /l/ is the most interesting consonant in English.
• Dialect Type A:
• “clear” /l/ syllable-initially: ‘leaf’
• “dark” /l/ syllable finally: ‘feel’
• Dialect Type B:
• “clear” /l/ before front vowels: ‘leak’
• “dark” /l/ everywhere else: ‘lock’
• Others have “dark” /l/ pretty much everywhere.
• (and maybe even lose the alveolar closure!)
Consonant Dimensions: Summary
[t] [j]
1. Airstream Mechanism pulmonic egressive p.e.
2. Phonation Type voiceless voiced
3. Place of Articulation alveolar palatal
4. Aperture stop approx.
5. Retroflexion non-retroflex non-retro
6. Nasality oral oral
7. Laterality central central
Manner of Articulation• Phoneticians usually combine dimensions 4-7 under the rubric of manner of articulation.
• Example manners of articulation:
• [t] = (oral) stop
• [n] = nasal stop
• [v] = fricative
• [w] = approximant
• [l] = lateral approximant
• = retroflex approximant
• = affricate
Notes• Consonant sounds are generally assumed to be:
pulmonic egressive
oral
central
…unless stated otherwise
• Big picture thought:
• Through combinatorics, language makes a large number of distinctions out of a minimal number of articulatory gestures.
English Consonant Chart
For Monday• Have a go at:
• Chapter 2, Exercise H
• (I will post this to the course web page later today.)
• Note: this is a practice homework exercise that we will discuss together in class.