英语语言学自编教材第二章

Chapter 2 Phonetics

1.The Phonic Medium of Language

Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder over

1) List different media by which human beings use for daily

communication.

2) Based on your observations and experiences, of the two media,

speech and writing, which one do you use more frequently in your daily communication and in what situations do you choose one medium over the other?

1)Which of the media enjoys a longer history, speech or writing?

2)Which of the media do you think is the major medium by which you acquire

your mother tongue, speech or writing?

● Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to Learn

Speech and writing are the two media used by natural languages as vehicles for communication. Linguists believe that of the two media of language, speech is more basic than writing mainly for the following three reasons:

1) In linguistic evolution, speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any

language is the later invention of its users to record speech.

2) In everyday communication, speech plays a greater role than writing in terms of the

amount of information conveyed. It is only in the situation where speech is not possible for communication that we use the medium of writing as something supplementary in our daily communication.

3) Speech is always the way in which every native speaker acquires his mother

tongue.

●Definitions to Clarify

Phonic medium: It is a term used to refer to the speech sounds in human languages.

2. Phonetics

2.1 What is Phonetics?

Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder over

1) When you communicate with others orally, a message is produced

by our speech organs in the form of sounds, transmitted through a

certain physical means and perceived by the hearer. What do you think

are the basic contents involved in the study of speech sounds?

2) Why should we study how humans produce speech sounds, how speech sounds

travel in the air and how they are perceived by hearers?

● Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to Learn

Phonetics studies speech sounds according to their production in the vocal organs (articulatory phonetics) from the speaker’s point of view, their physical properties (acoustic phonetics) from the way sounds travel and the physical means by which sounds are transmitted, or their effect on the ear (auditory phonetics) from the hearer’s point of view.

Articulatory phonetics is general, descriptive and classificatory. It is general, because it studies all the speech sounds in all human languages. It is descriptive because it describes how speech sounds are produced. It is classificatory, because it involves the classification of speech sounds into different categories, such as consonants and vowels.

Auditory phonetics focuses on the perception of sounds or the way in which sounds are heard and interpreted. We are in fact dealing with two distinct operations which, however, are closely interrelated and influence each other: on the one hand we can talk about audition proper, that is the perception of sounds by our auditory apparatus and the transforming of the information into a neural sign and its sending to the brain and, on the other hand, we can talk about the analysis of this information by the brain which eventually leads to the decoding of the message, the understanding of the verbal message.When discussing the auditory system we can consequently talk about its peripheral and its central part, respectively.

Acoustic phonetics is a subfield of phonetics which deals with acoustic aspects of speech sounds. Acoustic phonetics investigates properties like the amplitude of a waveform, its duration, its fundamental frequency, or other properties of its frequency spectrum, and the relationship of these properties to other branches of phonetics (e.g. articulatory or auditory phonetics), and to abstract linguistic concepts like phones, phrases, or utterances.

The study of acoustic phonetics was greatly enhanced in the late 19th century by the invention of the Edison phonograph. The phonograph allowed the speech signal to be recorded and then later processed and analyzed. By replaying the same speech signal from the phonograph several times, filtering it each time with a different band-pass filter, a spectrogram of the speech utterance could be built up.

A thorough knowledge of how vowels and consonants are generated remains essential for successful assessment and remediation of articulatory and phonological disorders. Although contemporary phonological theories have provided new ways of viewing assessment and treatment of these disorders, knowledge of the speech sounds’ production features secures a firm basis for utilizing such procedures. Without this knowledge, phonological process analysis, for example, is impossible. A thorough knowledge of phonetics can help us understand how we perceive sounds so that we can efficiently interpret messages sent by others. Finally, the findings in the study of phonetics are widely used in person-machine communication, speech synthesis, speaker identification, voice prints analysis, voice identification and voice lineups, voice imitation and impersonation, speech recognition, speech production and perception disorders, correction of speech disorders, second language acquisition, etc..

● Definitions to Clarify

Phonetics: Phonetics is defined as the study of the phonic medium of language; it studies speech sounds: the way in which they are produced (uttered, articulated), the way in which they are perceived, and their physical characteristics.

Articulatory phonetics:Articulatory phonetics studies how speech sounds are produced, how they are categorized or classified.

Auditory phonetics:Auditory phonetics focuses on the perception of sounds or the way in which sounds are heard and interpreted.

Acoustic phonetics:It studies physical properties of speech sounds from the way sounds travel and the physical means by which speech sounds are transmitted.

2.2 Organs of Speech

Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder over

1) What are the major organs of speech in our mouth which are

involved in the production of speech sounds? Can you name some of

these speech organs?

2) When we close our mouth, letting air-stream coming out of our

noses, what sounds can be produced? Give some examples.

3) Put your finger on your larynx and feel the effect when you produce each pair of sounds t/d, p/b and s/z, what result have you found?

● Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to Learn

Our speech organs (the articulatory apparatus) are contained in three important areas or cavities: the oral cavity (mouth), the nasal cavity (nose) and the pharyngeal cavity (throat).

2.2.1 The Oral Cavity

The oral cavity is the area from the back of the throat to the mouth. The major parts of the oral cavity that are used in speech production are the uvula, the velum, the tongue, the hard palate, the alveolar ridge, the teeth, and the lips. The uvula is that fleshy blob that hangs down in the back of the throat. The velum is the soft palate, and the alveolar ridge is a mass of hard cartilage behind the teeth.

The picture on the left shows the

positions of these major parts of the

oral cavity. The oral cavity is one of

the most important parts of the vocal

tract. Its size, shape and acoustics can

be varied by the movements of the

palate, the tongue, the lips, and the

teeth. Especially the tongue is very

flexible, the tip and the edges can be

moved independently and the entire

tongue can move forward, backward,

up and down. The lips control the

size and shape of the mouth opening

through which speech sound is

radiated.

2.2.2 The Nasal Cavity

The nasal cavity and oral cavity are connected with each other. Nasalized sounds are produced when we close our mouths so that the air coming from our lungs can only exit through our noses. If we allow the air to exit only through our months by drawing back the soft part of the roof of the mouth, the velum, the sounds produced are not nasalized.

2.2.3 Pharyngeal Cavity

Pharyngeal cavity(throat) consists of the area above the larynx and below the uvula. In the pharyngeal cavity, there are such speech organs as vocal cords. When speaking, the air flow is forced through the glottis between the vocal cords and the larynx to the three main cavities. The V-shaped opening between the vocal cords, called the glottis, is the most important sound source in the vocal system. The vocal cords may act in several different ways during speech. The most important function is to modulate the air flow by rapidly opening and closing, causing vibration from which vowels and voiced consonants are produced. With stop consonants the vocal cords may act suddenly from a completely closed position in which they cut the air flow completely, to totally open position producing a light cough or a glottal stop. On the

other hand, with unvoiced consonants, such as /s/ or /f/, they may be completely open. An intermediate position may also occur with for example phonemes like /h/.

● Definitions to Clarify

Voicing: Vibration of the vocal cords results in a quality of speech sounds called voicing.

Voiceless sounds: When the vocal cords are drawn wide apart, letting air go through without causing vibration, the sounds produced in such a condition are voiceless , such as [t], [s], and [f] in English.

Voiced sounds: The speech sounds produced with the vibration of the vocal cords are voiced sounds. All vowels and some consonants such as [b], [z], and [m] are voiced.

2.3 Classification of English Speech Sounds

2.3.1 Classification of English Consonants

Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder over

1) Observe how the air-stream is obstructed when the following sounds are pronounced: Put your choice in the form of a tick in the following column:

2) Work with your desk-mate to observe where the air-stream is obstructed when the following sounds are pronounced. Write your answers in the following table:

● Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to Learn

English consonants are usually classified by the manner of articulation and by the place of articulation. When we approach the classification of English consonants from the manner of articulation, we mainly look at how the air-stream is obstructed when we produce a consonant. When we group the consonants according to the place of articulation, we mainly look at where the air-stream is obstructed in the production of a consonant.

According to the manner of articulation, English consonants are classified into plosives or stops: [p] [b] [t] [d]; fricatives: [f] [v] [s] [z] [ ; affricates: [t ] [d ]; nasals: [m] [n] [ ; liquids (laterals): [l] [r]; and semivowels (glides): [w] [j].

By the place of articulation, English consonants can be classified into bilabials: [p] [b] [m] [w]; labiodentals: [f] [v]; dental: ; alveolars: [t] [d] [s] [z] [n] [l] [r]; palatals: [ [t ] [d ] [j]; velars: [k] [g] [ and glottal: [h].

With these principles, we can describe the phonetic features of a consonant and see how a consonant is produced. For example:

[t]: voiceless, alveolar, plosive

[d]: voiced, alveolar, plosive

[t voiceless, palatal, affricate

[d voiced, palatal, affricate

Some of the other consonants are described as follows:

● Definitions to Clarify

Consonants: The consonants are the speech sounds in the production of which the air coming from the lungs is obstructed in one way or another.

Plosives (stops): They are the consonants in the production of which the obstruction to the air-stream is complete and the suddenly released with an audible sound.

Fricatives: They are the consonants in the production of which the obstruction to the air-stream is incomplete and the air-stream is forced to come out of a narrow passage with friction.

Affricates: They are the consonants in the production of which the obstruction to the air-stream is complete and then it is slowly released with friction.

Nasals: Thy are the consonants in the production of which the soft palate is lowered, allowing the air-stream to pass through the nasal passage.

Liquids (laterals): They are the consonants in the production of which the air-stream is obstructed, but allowed to pass between the tip or the sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.

Semivowels (glides): They are the consonants in the production of which the obstruction is such that the air-stream comes out of a narrower passage between the lips or between the tongue and the hard palate.

Bilabial: They are the consonants in the production of which the obstruction is formed by the upper and the lower lips.

Labiodental: They are the consonants in the production of which the obstruction is created by the upper teeth and lower lip.

Dental: the consonants in the production of which the obstruction is created by the tip of the tongue and the upper teeth.

Alveolar: They are the consonants in the production of which the obstruction is made between the tip of the tongue and the upper teeth-ridge.

Palatal: They are the consonants in the production of which the obstruction is formed between the back of the tongue and the hard palate.

Velar: They are the consonants in the production of which the obstruction is created between the back of the tongue and the soft palate.

Glottal: They are the consonant in the production of which the obstruction is momentarily made by the bringing together of the vocal cords.

2.3.2 Classification of English Vowels

Relevant Language Use Observations and Questions to Ponder over

1)Compare the following vowels in Column A with Vowels

in Column B to find their differences:

2）Work with your desk-mate to observe the shape of the lips when you pronounce the following sounds and note down in the diagram which vowels are rounded and which ones are unrounded:

3) Observe the openness of the mouth when you pronounce the following vowels.

● Summaries to Make and Linguistic Viewpoints to Learn

Vowel sounds are classified according to the length of the vowels, and the openness of the mouth, the shape of the lips, and the position of the tongue which is raised the highest.

According to the length of the vowels, English vowels are of the two groups: long vowels such as [i:] [ :] [ : ] [u:] [ɑ:]and short vowels[i] [e] [ ] [ ] [ ] [u], etc. According to the openness of the mouth, English vowels are divided into four subcategories:

(1) close vowels: [i:] [i] [u:] and [u]

(2) semi-close vowels: [e] and [ :]

(3) semi-open vowels: [ ] and [ : ]

(4) open vowels: [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] and [ : ].

According to the shape of the lips, English vowels are grouped into rounded vowels and unrounded vowels: All the back vowels in English are rounded except [ɑ:]. All the front vowels and central vowels in English are unrounded.

According to the position of the tongue in the mouth that is raised the highest, English vowels are classified into front vowels, central vowels and back vowels: Front vowels are the ones in the production of which the front part of the tongue is raised the highest such as [i:] [i] [e] [ ] [ ]; When the central part of the tongue maintains its highest position, the vowels thus produced are central vowels such

as [ :] [ ] and [ ]; if the back of the tongue is held the highest, the vowels thus produced are back vowels such as [u:] [u] [[ :] [ ] and [ :].

With these criteria, we can describe the phonetic features of English vowels, for example:

[e]: short, front, semi-close, unrounded

[i:]: long, front, close, unrounded

[ ]: short, front, open, unrounded

[

● Definitions to Clarify

Vowels: Vowels are the speech sounds in the pronunciation of which, the air that comes from the lungs meets with no obstruction of any kind in the throat, the nose, or the mouth.

Exercises

1.Define the following terms:

Phonic medium; articulatory phonetics; phonetics; vowels; consonants; voicing 2.How is articulatory phonetics different from acoustic phonetics and auditory

phonetics?

3.How do we classify vowels?

4.How do we classify consonants?

5.Write out the phonetic features of the following consonants and vowels:

/t/

/p/

/m/

/z/

/u/

/i/

/?/

[ ]

6.Give the phonetic symbol for each of the following sound descriptions:

voiced bilabial stop

voiceless alveolar fricative

voiced velar stop

voiceless palatal affricate

short front open unrounded

Further Readings

Jackson, Howard. Analyzing English: an introduction to descriptive linguistics. New York: Pergamon Press Ltd. 1982.

孟宪忠(编著).英语语音学（第三版）.上海:华东师范大学出版社.2006.

张凤桐.英国英语语音学和音系学(第3版).成都:四川大学出版社.2002.

罗奇（英）.英语语音学与音系学使用教程. 北京: 外语教学与研究出版社. 2000.