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LING150/University of Oregon |
Web Lecture 2.3
The Sounds of Language
2.3.1. Sounds and Spelling
2.3.2. The Features of Consonants
2.3.3. The Features of Vowels
2.3.1. Sounds and Spelling
The allomorphy processes which we are studying affect the sounds of words. Often, the sound changes are reflected in the spelling of the word, but not always. Written language changes much more slowly than spoken language, and the spelling of a word may remain unchanged long after the spoken form has taken a new historical turn. Spelling is also not a reliable indicator of the pronunciation of a word because the same letter or combination of letters are sometimes pronounced two or more different ways (see example below), while at other times, the same sounds can be spelled differently (tax, tacks).
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A rough-coated, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough while he coughed and hiccoughed. |
No writing system in the world has a perfect one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds, but English seems particularly chaotic to many. One well-known remark by George Bernard Shaw suggested that ghoti could be pronounced the same as fish (gh as in cough; o as in women, and ti as in nation). Actually, English spelling is not quite as crazy as Shaw suggested: gh always has an "g" sound at the beginnings of words (such as ghost), and ti only spells a "sh" sound when a root or filler ending with "t" is followed by the suffix -ion. The reasons why English spelling is the way it is are historical; we'll take a closer look at them in Unit 4.
In this unit, we have two goals:
- We need to learn a system of writing sounds, so that there is a one-to-one correspondence between a symbol and the sound it represents. We'll be studying the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) which linguists developed to avoid the problems encountered in all spelling systems.
- We also need to understand how sounds are made or articulated. The movements that we make with our tongues, lips, and other vocal organs to form one sound often affect the pronunciation of nearby sounds. These changes produce allomorphs of the original morpheme.
We'll pursue these two goals simultaneously, looking first at consonant sounds and then at vowels.
All speech sounds are articulated by using various speech organs, such as lips, tongue, vocal cords, and so on, to affect the stream of air flowing out of our lungs as we speak. Consonants sounds involve changing (“impeding”) the flow of air during the articulation of the sound; vowels sounds involve maintaining a particular tongue and lip position during the articulation of the sound, which allows the air stream to flow unimpeded. Because consonants and vowels are articulated so differently, we need to describe them differently.
As we discuss speech sounds, we will organize them in a way that is both systematic and related to the real world -- the way we use our speech organs to articulate them.
2.3.2. The Features of Consonants
The most important features of consonants are:
- place of articulation
- manner of articulation
- voicing
Say the words pat, tack, and cat to yourself. As you do, notice the movements that you make with your lips and tongue as you form the first sound in each word. In pat, you need to close your lips briefly; this type of sound is called labial or bilabial. For tack, the tip of your tongue quickly touches your alveolar ridge (the hard ridge behind your teeth); therefore, this sound is called an alveolar. And with cat, the back of your tongue bunches up towards your velum (soft palate); creating a sound called a velar. These sounds all have different places of articulation, i.e. they are formed at different locations in the mouth. In English, sounds can be formed at the lips (labial), between the upper teeth and lower lip (labio-dental), between the teeth (interdental), at the alveolar ridge (alveolar), behind the alveolar ridge (alveo-palatal), at the soft palate (palatal), at the velum (velar) and at the glottis (glottal). See the illustration in the textbook on page 59 if you’re not sure what parts of the mouth are referred to by this terminology.
Now say the words tap, nap, sap, and lap. Again, notice the movements that you make as you form the first sound in each word. In tap, the tip of your tongue quickly touches the alveolar ridge. This has the effect of blocking the flow of air completely for just a split second, so this type of movement is called a stop. The four kinds of stops in English are labial, alveolar, velar and glottal (the “break” sound in the middle of uh-oh, performed deep in your throat at the glottis).
With nap, your tongue touches the alveolar ridge (again, blocking the air stream), but at the same time you allow some air to flow through your nose. This type of movement is called a nasal. There are three nasals in English, labial, alveolar and velar (the sound at the end of sing).
For sap, the tip of your tongue approaches, but doesn't touch, the alveolar ridge, allowing a little air to flow through the gap. This restriction of the airflow causes an audible hissing sound. This type of sound is called a fricative. The five places of articulation for English fricatives are labio-dental, interdental, alveolar, alveo-palatal and glottal.
And with lap, your tongue touches the alveolar ridge but allows air to escape around one or both sides. This sound is therefore called a lateral (meaning “at the side”) (this sound is also classified as an approximant, see below).
These four sounds all have different manners of articulation, i.e. they are made with different kinds of movements of the vocal organs. The sounds all share the same place of articulation; in every case, the tongue is near the alveolar ridge.
Another sound that is articulated at the alveolar ridge is the sound in the middle of the word butter. Most English speakers believe that this is the same “t” sound as in tap, but paying careful attention to the movements of the mouth shows that it isn’t quite the same. Say the words winter and butter (as you would naturally, during ordinary conversation), paying attention to that middle “t”. Notice that in winter there is firm contact between the alveolar ridge and the tongue, giving the sensation of a “hard” “t”. On the other hand, in butter the tongue touches the alveolar ridge very quickly and lightly. This happens so quickly that the air stream is barely interrupted. Therefore, this sound is not a stop, but rather called a tap or flap.
Now say the words cheap and jeep, again feeling how the first sounds are produced in your mouth. Notice that your tongue isn’t touching the alveolar ridge anymore, but is slightly farther back in the mouth, between the alveolar ridge and the soft palate (this area is variously called the alveo-palatal, palatal-alveolar, or post-alveolar region). However, with these sounds, you not only block the airflow for a moment, you continue to restrict it for a little while longer by holding your tongue near, but not touching, the roof of your mouth. This combination makes these consonants sound like a stop immediately followed by a fricative, and they’re called affricates.
The remaining three English consonants are those represented by the first sounds in the words woe, row and yo-yo. In one sense, they are all articulated quite differently. In woe, the first sound is formed by constricting (but not closing) the lips and the velum at the same time (“labio-velar”). In row, the tongue remains relatively close to the floor of the mouth while there is a small constricting (“rounding”) of the lips. And in yo-yo, the tongue is raised close to the roof of the mouth at the palatal region. However, the quality that these sounds have in common is that they restrict the airflow very little, compared to the other consonants. This similarity to vowels has led them to be called “semi-vowels”, but more commonly they’re referred to as approximants. The first sound in lap is included in this category, as the lateral flow of air is relatively unimpeded.
The last important feature of consonants is voicing. Place your hand on your throat as you hum an m sound. The vibration that you feel is caused by the vibration of the vocal cords in your larynx. Some consonants are articulated with the vocal cords vibrating (i.e. they are voiced), others are not (i.e. they are voiceless). Say the words sap and zap very slowly. Notice that with sap, your vocal cords do not begin vibrating until you begin articulating the vowel; the s sound is voiceless. With zap, you should feel vocal cord vibration from the very beginning of the word; this is because the z sound is voiced.
2.3.3. The Features of Vowels
The most important features of vowels are:
- Tongue Height
- Tongue Backness
Say the words feet and then fat. Notice that when you say fat, you need to open your mouth more than with feet. This because the vowel in feet is articulated with the body of the tongue closer to the roof of the mouth than the vowel in fat. The vertical position of the tongue relative to the roof of the mouth is called tongue height. The vowel in feet is a high vowel, because it is in the highest position (for vowels) relative to the roof of the mouth. The vowel in fat is a low vowel; here the tongue is in the lowest position (which is also the one farthest away from the roof of the mouth).
The tongue can also be moved horizontally in the mouth, i.e. to the front or the back of the mouth. This is called tongue backness. Say the words seen and soon, noticing the position of the tongue for each vowel. (The lips also change, but don't worry about that right now.) For seen, the tongue is relatively forward towards the front of the mouth; it is considered a front vowel (as well also a high vowel, as we noted earlier). The vowel in soon is a back vowel; the body of the tongue is pulled relatively back in the mouth (it is again also a high vowel).
The reading assignment will discuss these consonant and vowel features in more detail. Also, it will introduce the symbols of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which represent each of the sounds. These symbols will also be further discussed in WebLecture 2.4.
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Continue with the Unit 2 Reading Assignment 2. |
Copyright 
1998 by the Department of Linguistics, University
of Oregon.