Phonetics and Phonology

Which of the following words contain arounded vowel?
   put  grey  seek  hook  grew  hoe  hold
  Which of the following words contain a front vowel?
   see  seat  met  tap  throw  tape  through
Which of the following words contain a central vowel?
  about  put  luck  hit  purse  father  kept
Which of the following words contain a high vowel?
  see  seat  steak  throw  list  lost  through
Which of the following words contain a high back vowel?
  put  love  hit  heat  luck  look  food –all „u“ sounds

2)      a) -> they are all mid vowels

         b) -> they are all high and front vowels

- again, as with consonants: Necessay, but not sufficient, criteria for establishing allophonic relationships

Nasalized / non nasalized vowels are in complementary distribution, but that isn't a suficient citerion.

- sufficient criteria are: frontness, length, height and roundness.

Phonoloy above the segment of the phoneme is useful for

- understanding some phonological processes, such as the aspiration of voicless plosives

- determing stress within a word

- describing the prosody (speech melody) of loner streches of speech

characteristics of production:

Highter fundamental frequency: vocal folds vibrate more quickly ---> perception: as higher pitch

greater duration than unstressed syllables --> perception: as longe than unstressed syllables

with higher intensity --> perception: as louder than unstressed syllables

- while some words are characterized by a clearcut stressed-unstressed dichotomy,

e.g. /ˈfɑð·ər/, /əˈbɑʊt/, /ˈsɪl·ə·bəl/
            (-> stress mark sign (unstressed would be unmarked))

- others have primary and secondary stress:
  / ˈreɪ-ˌdɑr/ (=radar),   compare  /ˈreɪdər/ (<- schwa and compeltely unstressed)

! note the diacritic signs for primary stress (upper vs lower)

- The stress rules (rather: tendencies) in English can be applied to lexical classes:

Verb rule: Stress the final syllable if heavy. If the final
syllable is light stress the penultimate syllable.

examples: /oʊˈbeɪ/ (=obey), /jʊˈsɜrp/ (= to take the lead of sb.),
                              (-> long vowel)  
            /əˈtoʊn/ (=atone)
                   (-> short vowel with a coda)


Light syllables: short vowels no coda
Heavy syllables: all the others
 

- Noun rule: stress the penultimate (second last) syllable if heavy (long vowel w/ or w/out coda or short vowel with coda). If the penultimate syllable is light (short vowel only), stress the antepenultimate  one. (preceding the second to last).
   
examples:  /əˈroʊ·mə/(=aroma), /əˈdʒen·də/ (=agenda), /ˈdɪs·ə·plən/ (=disciplin)

exceptions:  /spəˈge · t̬i/   -> long word
noun rule would predict stress on the initial syllable since the penultimate syllable is light
       
/ˈkæt.ə.mə.ræn/ (=Katamaran) noun rule would predict stress on
              -> penultimate
    the second syllable since the penutimate one is light

- Suffixation, a morphological process, sometimes alters stress pattern
- Stress –attracting suffixes are -ette (diminuitive) and –ese (denoting a language or a sociolect)
    e.g. /ˌkɪtʃ.ɪˈnet/ (=kitchenet), / mʌð·ər ˈiːz/ (=motherize)
                      -> stressed               -> stressed to suffix
Stress-shifting suffixes, e.g. –ic, -ity and –al,  move the stress on the base to which they attach one syllable to the right
e.g /əˈtɑm·ɪk/, /ɪˌlekˈtrɪs·ət̬·i/ (=electricity),
                           -> stressed – „electric“
                                                 -> first syllable stressed
    /pəˈren·təl/ (=parental)
           -> stressed to one syllable to the right (compare with “parent”)
 

- Compounds tend to be stressed on the first element

e.g. /ˈgrinˌhɑʊs/  

- Content words: words whose main function is semantic (referential to extra-linguistic reality)
(This category also includes compounds , phrasal verbs and verbs with prepositions )
-> have at least one stressed syllable

- Compounds tend to receive major stress on the first element, secondary stress on the
second  one.

- Phrasal  verbs:   have a particle that looks like a preposition, but functions as part of the verb:  turn  ON, get BY, put OFF.   The major  stress is on the particle.

- Verbs with prepositions:  e.g. believe in, listen to
--> stress is never on the preposition: beLIEVE in, LISten to

- Function words: words whose main function is grammatical
--> are unstressed
Exception: auxiliary verbs at the end of a sentence
or when used in question tags:
       
You  DID‘nt  just say what I thought I heard, DID you? 
       
Yes, I DID.

``Foot`` = next phonological unit above the syllable

....a stressed syllable has to occur at a given intervall
(in english: 6 seconds)
 

[k] occurs before back vowels, cupboard

[c] occurs before front vowels, kitchen

sentence- initially and with proper names

characteristics of production

perception

Higher fundamental frequency: vocal folds vibrate more quickly

as higher pitch

greater duration  than unstressed syllables

As longer  than unstressed syllables

With higher intensity

as louder than unstressed syllables

typically in unstressed syllables

"umgedrehtes e" als phonetic symbol

mid-central vowel

about, mother, sofa

acoustic, auditory and articulatory

physics of speech

neurology

anatomy and physiology/ production

The IPA has one symbol for each sound

Different languages have different phoneme inventories, e.g. clicking sounds in African languages or Umlaute in German.

they are in complementary constitution

no change in meaning occurs when you substitute one for another --> only odd pronounciation

a new phoneme is easier to learn than a new distributional rule/ an new phoneme contrast

1) (origin and) direction of airstream --> initiated by the lungs (all consonants)

                                                                         outwards: egressive, used for production of consonants

                                                                          inwards: ingressive, used for voice disguise in some languages

2) Vocal fold action:  opening and closing: voiced

                                     remain apart: voiceless

3) escape of airstream : oral vs. nasal

4) manner of articulation

oral: when velum is raised, it blocks access to the nose, making airstream escape through mouth

nasal: when velum is lowered, air escapes through nose

defined by the relation between the active and passive articulator

complete blockage of airflow followed by sudden release

all English stops with phoneme status are plosives

stops produced on an outward-bound airstream

/p/ /b/ /k/ /t/ /g/  /d/

articulators approaching closely but no complete blockage of airstream

airstream is forced through narrow gap, causing friction

/f/ /s/ /sch/ --> hissing sound

/v/ /z/ /ch/ --> buzzing sound

start out as stops and evolve as fricatives

/tsch/  chin    /dsch/  gin