How to Pronounce

7/30/2019 How to Pronounce

1/38

Figuring out how to readand pronounce the

sounds of your language

William F. Weigel


2/38

Finally, it looks like you've hit thejackpot, but what the...?


3/38

So why didn't these linguists writeyour language the same way they

wrote English?Two reasons:

Your language probably has sounds that don't

occur in English.

English spelling is an inconsistent mess, so ifyou try to write the same way you do English,

readers probably won't pronounce it right


4/38

Your language probably has soundsthat don't occur in English

In the Wiyot example, there are:

Two kinds of l's (l and L). L stands for a non-English sound

There are two a's: and . Both occur in

English, but you wouldn't know it from Englishspelling

The letter is another non-English sound


5/38

English spelling is an inconsistent mess, so if youtry to write your language the same way you do

English, readers probably won't pronounce it right(thanks to Leanne for showing me this poem)

Ivy, privy, famous; clamourAnd enamour rhyme with hammer.

River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,Doll and roll and some and home.Stranger does not rhyme with anger,Neither does devour with clangour.Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,

Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,And then singer, ginger, linger,Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,

Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.


6/38

The Good News: The InternationalPhonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a

universal standard for phoneticwriting


7/38

The Bad News

The linguists who worked on your languageprobably didnt use the IPA. They more likely

used some variety of what is called theAmericanist system, so you need tounderstand how they are using the letters oftheir phonetic alphabet (which will vary from

linguist to linguist and by time period). Thismeans you need to learn a little bit about howsounds are made and how we describe them.


8/38

The Phonetic Principle:

One Sound, One Letter

If writing follows this principle, then:

You will always know how to pronounce aword based on its spelling, and

If you hear a word pronounced, you will

know exactly how to spell it.

(this is the general principle that linguists try toapply in writing down native languages)


9/38

A brief note about practical writingsystems for day-to-day use

Sooner or later, you may want to develop alanguage program and a practical writing systemfor ordinary people to use. The system you

develop probably will not look much like the oneused by the lingusts who documented yourlanguage, even if you do follow the one-sound,one-letter rule. But thats a whole other topic...


10/38

Human Speech

andthe Human Body


11/38

The speech chain involves taking asource of energy (i.e., air from the

lungs) and converting it into varioussounds


12/38


13/38

N l t' d h d


14/38

Now, let's do some hands-onexploration of our speech equipment

The lips

The teeth

The gum ridge

The hard palate

The soft palate

The uvula

The tongue


15/38

How are some common Englishconsonant sounds produced?

The tin time

Thep in peak

The kin kill

The din dime

The b in beak

The gin gill


16/38

A subtle distinction

Q: What is the difference between the din theEnglish word dayand the din the Spanish worddonde?

A: The Spanish sound is produced with thetongue against the back of the upper teeth, notwith the tongue on the gum ridge (a difference

of a fraction of an inch)

(Some California languages have one kind ofd,some the other, and at least one has both!)

How are the consonants in the left


17/38

How are the consonants in the leftcolumn different from the right

columnThe tin time

Thep in peak

The kin kill

The din dime

The b in beak

The gin gill


18/38

Put your finger on your Adam'sapple, and notice the difference

between b andp in rabidand rapid

r a b i deeeeeeee

r a p i deee---eee

(b is said to be voiced, and p is voiceless)

How are the consonants in the left


19/38

How are the consonants in the leftcolumn different from the

consonants in the right column?

The tin tick

Thep in pier

The cin coy

The s in sick

The fin fear

Thexin xoi*

*Wukchumni for 'deer'


20/38

So we now have three ways ofdescribing consonant sounds

Place of articulation: For example,p ispronounced with the lips, twith the tongue tipon the gum ridge, and kwith the back of thetongue raised to the soft palate

Voicing: p is pronounced without the vocalchords vibrating, but b is pronounced withvibration

Stops vs. Fricative: For example,p and tbrieflyblock airflow, so are called stops, but fand sallow some through, and are called fricatives


21/38

To summarize what we have said sofar about consonants

Lips Lips/teeth gum ridge soft palate

Voiceless stops p t k

Voiced stops b d g

Voiceless fricatives f s x

Voiced fricatives v z

Technical terminology:

Lips: Labial, or bilabial

Lips/teeth: Labiodental

Gum ridge: Alveolar

Soft palate: Velar


22/38

How are the consonants in the leftcolumn pronounced differently from

same consonants in the rightcolumn?

The tin take

Thep in peak

The kin kill

The tin stake

Thep in speak

The kin skill


23/38

Sound the same to you?

Now try saying each pair of words with your handabout 1 inches from your mouth.

The puff of air you feel in one case is called

aspiration. In English,p, t, and kare usuallyaspirated at the beginning of words

Such aspirated stops are prominent in many

California languages. If they occur in yourlanguage, you can practice producing them with

your mentor


24/38

One more time: How are theconsonants in the left column

different from those in the rightcolumn?

The n in nine

The m in meek

The din dine

The b in beak


25/38

A Hint

You have a bad cold. You try to say:

My nose is stuffed up

But it comes out sounding more like:

By doze is stuffed up

Why?


26/38

m and n are Nasal Consonants

The nasals m and n are produced just like b and

d, except that air is allowed to pass out of thenose in the case of the nasals

(That's why it's hard to produce a proper nasal

consonant if your nose is stuffed up)


27/38

Odds and ends

Here are some additional consonant sound typesthat might occur in your language:

Affricates: these are a stop + fricativeGlottal stop: this is just a quick closing and then

opening of the vocal chords, a catch in thebreath, as in Uh-Oh! This is not exactly anormal sound of English, but it is a basic sound

in many California Languages. It is usuallywritten with a special symbol ( ), or just with theapostrophe: or


28/38

Sonorants

There is another major category of consonants

that are called sonorants. They involve themouth being more open than for stops andfricatives, but less than for vowels. They

include sounds like those of English r, l, y, w,

etc.


29/38

Ejectives

This is a type of sound that doesnt occur English,but is common in California languages. Theyare a special way of pronouncing sounds like p,t, ork. They are most often writtenp, t, andk.

They are hard to describe. Some people say thatthey involve a popping sound. My friendPaula Rogers tells her students to trypronouncing the regular sound while holdingyour breath.


30/38

Ejective examples: Yowlumni

Wanka nan keexani Give me money

pow gall-bladder

tayak little finger


31/38

Time for an exercise

Oldtimers: Would you like to volunteer to give usan example or two of an unusual consonantsound from your language?

Newbies: Meet with your mentor and report backin a few minutes with two unusual (non-English)consonant sounds from your language


32/38

Vowels

Vowels are actually easier than consonants.There arent as many, and they usually arent

that hard to pronounce.

When trying to figure out just what sound yourlinguist was hearing, the best single piece of

advice is Think Spanish. That is, the vowelsare usually going to be pronounced roughly as

they are Spanish, not English.


33/38

The vowel space.

Vowels pronounced with the mouth fairly wideopen, so we cant be as precise in describing

them. Usually they are classified by theirposition in a vowel space:

The vowel space: what the chart


34/38

The vowel space: what the chartmeans

The chart represents the side view of the mouth(facing rightjust like the earlier drawings)

The position of a letter tells you roughly where thetongue is most extended

So, for example, the vowel ithink Spanish!is

pronounced with the very front of the tongueraised toward the frond of the mouth, while thevowel a is pronounced with the tonguedepressed very low.


35/38

More about vowels

Terminology: the vowel space chart uses theterms close, close-mid, etc. Many linguistsinstead use high, mid and low, or somevariation

The chart expressed what are called vowel height(close vs. open) and vowel backness (back,central, front). Another variable that matterssometimes is rounding. Notice the differencebetween iand uwith regard to whether your lipsare pursed.


36/38

More about vowels: long and short

In grammar or spelling class in school, you wereprobably taught that mathas a short a and

mate has a long a. You were brainwashed!Actually, matand mate have two completelydifferent vowels.

When linguists talk about vowel length, they meansimply how long the vowel lasts in time.


37/38

Some final odds and ends

This has been a whirlwind tour that has left agreat deal out. There are lots of sounds in

California languageand even in Englishthatwe havent touched on. So ask your mentor (orme) if you are puzzled by something you find.


38/38

Homework

For tomorrow:

See Leanne's homework handout for the wholeweek. It starts with the phonetics homeworkthat should be completed by Tuesday morning.

How to Pronounce

Documents

Transcript of How to Pronounce