lecture 6 df consonants

7/28/2019 Lecture 6 DF Consonants

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Lecture 6

The Distinctive Features: Consonants



The Distinctive Features

What is the difference between: – /s/ and /z/?

– /n/ and /m/?

– /l/ and /r/?

Although the phoneme is generally regardedas the minimal linguistic unit, we can analyzeit as a bundle of certain characteristics, which

we call the distinctive features. They can be either articulatory or acoustic in

their nature.



Relevant features

Languages may differ in the featuresthey take as essential, so the number of

relevant features is LANGUAGESPECIFIC.

Vowels and consonants cannot bedescribed using the same parameters.

Therefore, we shall deal separately withthe consonantal and vocalic features.



Features used for English consonants

The set of features used for describing theconsonants of English is based on thefollowing parameters: – Distinctive type of articulation

– Distinctive manner of articulation

– Distinctive point of articulation

– Distinctive articulator

– Distinctive voicing

– Distinctive force of articulation

– Distinctive phonological composition



1. The distinctive type of

articulation (vowels vs. consonants) This parameter categorizes between

two major groups of sounds – vowels

and consonants. The division into vowels and

consonants rests on two distinct

principles – phonetic (articulatory andacoustic) and phonological (functional).



Articulation of vowels and consonants

Consonants – produced with some kind of obstacle that theairstream meets when coming out of the vocal tract.

Vowels – produced with a free flow of air .

Such differences in articulation also result in the different

acoustic characteristics between the two major groups of sounds:

vowels are uninterrupted musical tones, whose specificvibrations depend on the position of the vocal organs.

The acoustic image of vowels in spectrograms is characterizedby the presence of formants, parallel black lines which show

the typical frequences of each vowel. The spectrogram of consonants depends on the manner in

which the sound is produced, so each group of consonants(ploseves, fricatives, affricates or sonorants) has its own specificacoustic characteristics.



Acoustic energy of sounds

Another feature related to the acoustic differencesbetween vowels and consonants is the amount of acoustic energy present in their production:

Vowels are characterized by a greater amount of acoustic energy compared to consonants. They aretherefore said to contain more sonority, or to be moresonorous.

Consonants are produced with a lesser amount of acoustic energy – they are less sonorous.



Exceptions

Although the articulatory criterion is rather universal(all vowels are produced without an obstacle, andsome sounds are always produced with a completeobstruction to the airstream (e.g. plosives).

However, there are some exceptions to this rule. The articulation of the semivowels /j/ and /w/ is very

similar to the articulation of the vowels /i:/ and /u:/respectively, and in a number of positions they arearticulated with a free flow of air.

Still, they have to be classified as consonants for tworeasons: – because they cannot carry a syllable

– the acoustic energy of semivowels, compared to that of

neighbouring vowels, is also rather low.



Phonological criterion

The second criterion of whether a sound is [vocalic] or [consonantal] isfunctional or phonological.

It refers to the function a sound takes within the syllable.

The sounds which carry syllables have syllabic function – vowels are central in syllables.

Consonants, as a rule, are at the marginal positions in the syllable, occupyingthe left and/or the right edge of the syllable.

Exceptions:

Certain consonants can function as syllable ’carriers’ as well, in which case theyare called ’syllabic consonants’.

In English, /n/ and /l/ are the most frequent syllabic consonants, when they occur at word endings and are immediately preceded by certain consonats.

Examples: – syllabic /n/: button / bVtn/, oven /Vvn/, vision /vIZn/; certainly /s3;tnli/, shouldn’t /SUdnt/

– syllabic /l/: battle /b&tl/, shuffle /SVfl/, tunnel /tVnl/.

These consonants are still said to be [consonantal], due to their property of being articulated with some kind of obstacle in the vocal tract.



1. The distinctive manner of articulation

Refers to the k ind o f obstac le created in the

oral cavity during the passage of the airstream.

Obstacle – complete or partial. Complete closure typical in the articulation of

plosives.

Partial closure can be of two types: 1. in the form of narrowing, or

2. combination of a complete closure at one

place and a free flow of air at another place.



Narrowing again can be of two types:

(i) close position of two vocal organs – articulation isaccompanied by friction (fricatives)

(ii) approximation – two vocal organs approximate each

other without actually making contact. Sounds producedin this way are called approximants.

Approximants are retroflex /r/, lateral /l/ and semivowels/j, w/.

Combination obstacle + lack of obstacle/partial closure: (i) simultaneous – nasals, laterals

(ii) sequential – affricates (closure followed by friction)



Obstruents vs. sonorants

Obstruents –

plosives, fricatives and affricates: – Noise component in the auditory and acoustic

signal

– Voiced vs. voiceless pairs (except /h/ in English).

– They behave in similar ways in phonologicalprocesses (e.g. devoicing rules).

Sonorants – nasals, lateral, retroflex, semivowels:

– Articulation: free flow of air at some place in thespeech tract

– Acoustically: vocalic nature; can be pronounced asprolonged sounds

– No voiced vs. voiceless opposition – all VOICED

– They also behave in similar ways in phonological

processes (e.g. devoicing rules).



Plosives

/p, b; t, d; k,g/.

also called s tops .

articulated with a complete closure by which the passage to theairstream is completely blocked.

There are three distinct stages in the articulation of plosives: – Closure – during which two vocal organs are firmly pressed against

each other

– Compression – the air behind the obstacle builds up its pressure, itgets compressed.

– Release – the two vocal organs move away abruptly, thecompressed air escape from behind the obstacle with an audiblerelease, called explosion.

In voiceless plosives, the release stage is commonly followed bya [h]-like sound, known as aspiration.



Fricatives

/f, v, T, D, s, z, S, Z, h/.

Articulation two vocal organs are

brought together, but the air can still

escape through this kind of closure.

Since the organs are very close to each

other, the passage of air between them

causes turbulances, known as friction.



Affricates

/tS, dZ/

Articulation: combination of a plosive followed by a fricative.

Initial stages of articulation are equivalent to those of plosives(closing stage and compression). Iinstead of an abrupt removal

of the vocal organs the obstacle is just gently widened, lettingthe air escape with friction (the third stage).

Sequences /ts, dz; tr, dr/ are articulated in a way similar toaffricates (plosive followed by friction)

Should they also be regarded as affricates?

– their distribution is restricted: /ts, dz/ occur at word endings,

/tr, dr/ occur word initially and word medially, but not wordfinally.

– the native speakers’ intuition, since most native speakersfeel that they are jus sequences of two sounds, and notsingle phonemes.



Nasals

/m, n, N/.

Sometimes called ’nasal stops’, as there is a

complete closure at the vocal organs. However,during their articulation the velum is lowered,so that the air can escape freely through thenasal cavity, and therefore there is no pressurebuilt up behind the obstacle in the oral cavity.

For this reason the articulation of all nasals canbe prolonged, so that one can hum, for example /mmm/, until she/he runs out of breath.



Retroflex During the articulation of the retroflex /r/ in

English the tongue is curled backwards,therefore the name.

The tongue does not completely touch the

back part of the alveolar ridge, but onlycomes close to it, or approximates it. This iswhy /r/ in English is also called ’approximant’.The IPA symbol used for this realization of the phoneme /r/ is [R ].

Owing to such articulation the air passesfreely through the central part of the tongue,which gives /r/ in English a rather vocalicacoustic character.



Lateral

The only lateral sound in English is /l/.

During its articulation the tip of the tongue

touches the alveolar ridge, but the air escapes freely along the sides of the tongue,

therefore the name ’lateral’.

Such articulation also implies the possibility of

articulating it as a prolonged sound, which is

also rather vowel-like.



Semivowels

The semivowels of English are /j/ and /w/.

Their articulation similar to that of the vowels /i/ and/u:/, without any contact of vocal organs in the oral

cavity. Yet, they are much shorter and less prominent than

the two vowels, and during their articulation thetongue actually makes a rapid glide from the positionof the two vowels /i, u/ towards the position of thefollowing vowel.

They are never as prominent as the vowelssurrounding them – not real vowels in term of their function. Despite their vocalic articulation they never carry a syllable.



More on approximants

Sonorants produced by the approximation of

two vocal organs – retroflex, lateral and

semivowels. ’Central approximants’ /r, j, w/ – the air flows

through the mid part of the vocal tract

The lateral sound /l/ is also termed ’lateral

approximant’, as the air escapes along the

sides of the tongue.



2. The distinctive point of articulation

Refers to the upper speech organ at which the

contact is made during the articulation of consonants.

Upper lip – labial point of articulation – /p, b, m, w/.

Upper teeth – dental point of artiuclation /f, v, T, D/.

Alveolar ridge – alveolar /t, d, s, z, n, l/.

Back part of the alveolar ridge (bordering with thefront section of the palate) – postalveolar /r/.

Back part of the alveolar ridge + front part of thepalate – palatoalveolar /S, Z, tS, dZ/.

Palate – palatal sound /j/. Velum – velar /k, g, N/.

Between the vocal cords – glottal /h/.



3. The distinctive articulator

Refers to the lower, movable speech organ active inthe articulation of a sound.

Lower lip – labial sounds: plosives /p, b/, nasal /m/and fricatives /f, v/.

/p, b, m/ - traditionally called bilabial sounds.

/f, v/ - labiodental sounds. Tip of the tongue – apical sounds: /t, d, T, D, n, l/.

Tip and blade of the tongue – coronal or laminal sounds /s, z, r/.

Tip, blade and a segment of the front part of the

tongue – apico-corono-frontal sounds: /S, Z, tS, dZ/. Front part of the tongue – frontal sound /j/.

Back part of the tongue – dorsal sounds /k, g, N/.

/h/ is articulated at the glottis, so its distinctivearticulator is glottal.



4. The distinctive voicing The feature of voicing refers to the presence or

absence of vocal cord vibration. If the vocal cordstypically vibrate during the articulation of a sound, thissound is said to be voiced. If the vocal cords arewide apart during the articulation, a voiceless sound

is produced. All sonorants are voiced sounds: nasals /m, n, N/,

lateral /l/, retroflex /r/ and the semivowels /j, w/ aretypically voiced.

Within the group of obstruents, a great majority of

sounds have [voiced] : [voiceless] opposition, theother distinctive features being identical between thepair. The voiced sounds are: plosives /b, d, g/,fricatives /v, D, z, Z/ and affricate /dZ/. The voiceless sounds are: plosives /p, t, k/, fricatives /f, T, s, S, h/and affricate /tS/.



5. The distinctive force of

articulation

This feature refers to the muscular effort usedin the articulation of a sound.

Voiceless sounds are produced with morestrength, and are therefore called strong or fortis sounds. So, / p, t, k; f, T, s, S, h; tS/ arestrong or fortis consonants.

Voiced sounds are produced with lessarticulatory strength – they are weak or lenis sounds. All sonorants are lenis, and so arethe voiced obstruents / b, d, g; v, D, z, Z; dZ/.



6. The distinctive phonogical

composition

According to this feature, consonants

are divided into simple and complex

sounds. The only complex sounds are affricates,

since they contain two distinct

segments, the plosive part and thefricative part. All other consonants are

distinctively simple.

lecture 6 df consonants

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