Phonetics and Phonology

The relationship between a symbol and a sound or concept it stands for.

Like "the letter a", a phoneme is an abstraction realised in many different forms.

Two or more [phones] are allophones of the same /phoneme/ if

1. they are in compemantary distribution

i.e. each one has a clearly defined, predictable environment in which it - but not the other one(s)- occur(s) (word-initially, -medially of finally and / or preceding or succeeding given phonemes)

2. no change in meaning if you substitue one for another

only odd pronounciation

When acquiring a second language, a new phoneme is easier to learn than a new distribution rule / a new phoneme contrast.

Why?

Easier to fill a previously unoccupied gap in a system that it is to re-arange a system (cognetivly in general terms)

- difficult to hear a difference that does not have a meaning-differentiatting function in one's NL (and therfore ignored on a daily basis)

Different languages have different phoneme inventories --> clicking sounds, Umlaute in German

defined by te relation between the respective movable speech organs, also called active articulator, and the immovable speech organ, called passive articulator.

1. stops (plosives) : complete blockage of airflow followed by sudden release --> /p/ /t/, /k/   /b/,/d/, /g/

2. fricatives: airstream is forced through a narrow gap, causing friction --> /f/, /s/ /ʃ/, /v/, /z/ /ʒ/

3. affricates: subclass of fricatives, start out as stops and "envolve" into fricatives --> /tʃ/ in chin, /dʒ/ in gin

4. approximants: articulators don't approach closely enough to produce audible friction. Quality of the respective sounds is produced as a result of the way the shape of the oral cavity is altered. --> /j/ in yes, /w/ in wet, /r/ in red, /l/ in let

all English phonemes except for /l/ the path of airflow is central

the only English phoneme with lateral airflow is /l/

bilibial - /p/; /b/; /m/; /w/ -> "wet" (using both lips)

labioldental - /v/ -> "vison" /f/ (upper teeth touches lower lips)

dental - /θ/ -> "think' /ð/ -> "that" (tongue touches teeth)

alveolar - / n/; /l/; /d/; /t/; /s/; /z/ (tongue touches alveloar ridge)

post-alveolar - /r/ -> "ring' (tounge is right behind the alveolar ridge)

palato-alveolar - /ʃ/; /tʃ/; /ʒ/; /dʒ/ (tongue is between alveolar ridge and hard palate)

palatal - /j/ ->"yes" (tounge touches hard palate)

velar - /g/; /k/; /ŋ/ -> "ring" (back of tongue touches soft palate)

glottal -  /h/ -> glottal fricative; /?/ -> glottal stop

voiced consonants (v+) --> opening and closing of vocal folds causes vibration

/b/; /d/; /ð/ (-> "the"); /g/; /ŋ/; /z/

voicless consonants (v-) --> vocal folds remain apart, no vibration

/p/; /t/; /θ/ (--> "throne") /k/; /s/; /f/

If a group of allophones in complementary distribution all share a bunch of features

e.g. -voiced +oral + fricative: /f θ s/

      + voiced + oral + fricative: /v ð z/

- phonetic constraints: restriction on permissible clusters

e.g. /v/ and /m/ can never be the first element of any (constant) initial cluster

- defective distribution: restriction on position within a word a phoneme can occupy

e.g. /ʒ/ does not appear word-initially except for most recent loans ,  e.g. gîte (“rental cabin“)

A unit in a neutralized position

The label is the capital letter variant of the phoneme that is on the now neutralized feature when the vaiants are not neutralized /T/ [+oral, +stop, +aveolar, 0 voice]

It lists all the feature that the neutralized set of phonemes have in common as + and the ones that have been neutralized as 0.

origin and direction of airflow: universally pulmonic (in the lungs) and egressive (outward)

path of airflow: universally central (no laterals)

escape route of airstream: some nasal vowels attested cross-linguistically, but all English vowels are oral

vocal fold activity: some voiceless vowels attested cross-linguistically, but all English vowels are voiced

manner of articulation: no significant obstruction --> if vowels were to be classified like consonants, they would be approximants

place of articulation: vowels have a much more restricted range of options, beginning at the palate and ending at the velum

- smalller range of articulation fo vowels

- one matter of articulation (approximate) and two places of articulation (palate, velum) for vowels

- different from consonants - they are distinguished by these criteria

Vowels do differ in the following dimensions:
- height:  refers to the degree to which the tongue is raised during the production of the vowel

- frontness: specifies which part of the tongue is raised most in the production of the vowel
- roundness: indicates whether or not the lips are rounded in the production of a vowel
- length: refers to the relative amount of time spent producing a vowel
  Along with this criterion goes the tense/lax distiction, describing the effort involved in the articulation of the vowel
monophtong vs. diphtong: specifies whether the end point is identical with the starting point of the vowel production resp. different
 

High  vowels: the tongue is raised most towards the roof of the mouth, producing

ɪ       as in kit*
i       as in fleece
ʊ     as in foot
u     as in goose

Low vowels: the tongue is lowered in their production, the jaw is dropped

ɑ          as in palm    and in AE lot
a         as in BE trap
æ        as in  AE trap

Mid vowels:  tongue is raised half-way

ʌ   as in strut
ɒ  as in BE lot, standard AE thought    http://dialectblog.com/the-international-phonetic-alphabet/the-ipa-vowels/
ɔ   as in BE thought, some varieties of AE thought
ɛ  as in dress
ə  as in about

Mid vowels,  cont
ɜ as in BE nurse  
 ɝ as in AE nurse   (the hook stands for “rhotizied”, i.e. having the trace of an r.) 
oʊ as in BE diphtong  goat,
o as in pillow
Diphtong  eɪ  as in face

Front vowels: have the front of the tongue raised towards the hard palate. They are not called “palatal“ because frontness covers a larger area than “palatal.“
ɪ       as in kit
i       as in fleece
a      as in BE trap
æ    as in  AE trap
ɛ      as in dress
Diphtong  eɪ  as in face
 

Back vowels: have the back of the tongue raised towards the velum
ɒ  as in BE lot
ɑ  as in palm    and in AE lot
ʊ     as in foot
u     as in goose
oʊ as in BE diphtong  goat,
o as in pillow

Central vowels: have the central part of the tongue raised to the area where the palate borders on the velum.
-inbetween back and front vowels
ə  as in about
ɜ as in BE nurse  
ɝ as in AE nurse
ʌ   as in strut
 

Though rounding of the lips can occur in any of the previously discussed categories, there is a cross-linguistic tendency for back vowels and high vowels to be rounded.
English has six rounded vowels:

- Majority of back and high vowels are rounded
ʊ     as in foot
u     as in goose
ɒ  as in BE lot
ɔ   as in BE thought
o as in pillow
oʊ as in BE diphtong  goat

The vowels in fleece, goose, goat, thought, palm and nurse are long in both major standard varieties of English. AE has two additional long
vowels: the o in pillow and goat, also ɑ in lot.

BE has the short vowel ɒ in lot.

Both varieties have short vowels in kit, dress, trap,
foot, about and strut.

are depicted schematically on the vowel quadrilateral by arrows indicating their start
point and ending point
- Indicated by arrows
 

Are an idealized depiction of prototypical vowels in the high-low and front-back dimensions. No language has a vowel distribution where the vowels  actually occupy those prototypical positions.
- Idealized description
- vowel chart
 

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
 

--> vowel length
 

the result of the commutation test: words that demonstrate the phoneme status of a phone by way of a difference in meaning if a phone is exchanged

Minimal pairs are subsets of minimal sets
 

The phenomenon of a particular sequence of (derivational) morphemes requiring a vowel change in the base of the word
In all varieties of English, the suffix –ity conditions the following changes
/aɪ/ -> /ɪ/        e.g. divine, divinity
/i/  -> /ɛ /        e.g. serene, serenity                                                                         /eɪ/  -> /æ/       e.g.  sane, sanity
 

The particular way of speaking of a given individual (does not only include pronounciation, but also lexical and grammatical preferences of that individual)

Mode of speech particular to a given group (e.g: the lexicon and grammar of German Urban youth, with features such the deletion of prepositions)
 

- Idealisation of a system shared by speakers of a given geographical area
- The classification is based on “a common core of features which allows […speakers of the same accent] to be grouped together by speakers of the same accent, by speakers of another accent and phonologists.“

(features shared by people from a larger area (Phonology))

branches of linguisics studying regional varieties:

- The discription of social variables conditioning the use of a given variety is the domain of sociolinguistics

- The in-depth desciption of sub-varieties (e.g. the variety spoken in a particular village or cluster of villages) is the domain of dialectology

- systematic, realisational and distributional differences are the domain of phonology

while the criteria for describing and classifying consonants could not be used for classifying vowels, the criteria for establishing phonemes work for both.

the communication teast- running two or more phones through the same environment to see if the meaning changes- works for both consonants and vowels.

While minimal sets work for comparing vowels within one variety of English, standard lexical sets are useful for compaing vowels across varieties: groups of words that tend to have the same pronounciation for a vowel are subsumed under a keyword.

example: BE/AE keyword nurse

                         purse, occur, infer pattern the same way

- Phonologists who want to stress the similarities between the sound in different varieties of English tend to use the IPA notation --> abstraction

- Phonologists who want to desccribe the phonemes of a particular variety in a very detailed way tend to use other notations such as the one by Wells (the "inventor" of the lexical list approach) e.g. different accents (greater detail)

- No vowel in English is nasal in its own right, but vowels do assimilate to adjacent nasals:

The vowels in can or cam are nasalized (compare with non-nasalized vowel in cat)

V -> [+nasal] /__ [+ nasal]

V0 any vowel: for_ a specific vowel can be inserted

- 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.

a neutralized version of historically distinct vowels, is a phoneme in its own right.

/ə/ --> about, father

In all varieties of English other than NZE, /ə/ (schwa) occurs only in unstressed syllables. (about, father) It doesn‘t even have an allophone if those syllable are artificially stressed (by exaggerated enunciation)