phonetics - stops

7/25/2019 phonetics - stops

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Universal Articulatory Phonetics

Consonants and vowels are conventionally described using differentvocabulary, but the principal in both cases is basically what happenswhere. Our survey of the sounds of the worlds languages begins byconsidering consonant place of articulation (Ladefoged 139-147).

In consonants the what is called the manner of articulation and the wherethe place of articulation.

* Many thanks to Ian Maddieson who shared his teaching materials with me. Theseslides are adapted from his with minor changes.


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English term Latin Adjective Terminologylips labia labial

teeth denti dentalteeth roots alveoli alveolar palate palatum palatalvelum velum (palatini) velaruvula uvula uvular

pharynx pharynx pharyngeal

Places are mostly named by using an adjective derived from the Latinname for the passive articulator - the location on the upper (or back)surface of the oral tract where the most significant narrowing of thevocal tract occurs.


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The tongue and its parts

English term Latin Adjective Terminology

tongue lingua lingualtip apex apical blade lamina laminalfront ------ anterior

back dorsum dorsal

root radix radical

We also need names for the active articulators involved, such as

the lower lip and the different parts of the tongue.


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Additional names can be made by combining two labels,specifying the tongue shape, or adding other modifiers.

linguo-labial tongue blade and upper liplabio-dental lower lip and upper teethdentialveolar covering both teeth and alveolar ridge

post-alveolar behind the alveolar ridge palato-alveolar between the alveoli and palateretroflex tongue tip curled back toward palate

(bent back)


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Review of manner

Manner of articulation describes the what, especially thedegree of narrowing in the oral tract (the degree ofstricture ). However, manner labels also specify the escapechannel , the initiating source of the airflow involved, andcertain acoustic or perceptual characteristics.

Escape channel is either oral or nasal (or both - nasalized segments),and when it is oral it can be central or lateral.

The initiatory power is pulmonic air flowing out from the lungs for thegreat majority of speech

The degree of stricture can be complete closure, producing stops andnasals. Pulmonic stops made with outward-flowing air are called

plosives.


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Stop places of articulation

1. Bilabial. Almost all languages have pulmonic stops produced by closing the two lips together; these are

called bilabial (to emphasize that both lips are involved)

English pad and bad begin with bilabial plosiveswhich contrast in laryngeal setting


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2. Linguo-labial refers to an articulation involving thetongue tip or blade and the upper lip. Linguo-labial stopsare rare, but occur in Vao and Venen Taut (Austronesianlanguages of Vanuatu) and a few other languages.

-- Linguo-labial closure shown in frames from video-tapeof Vao / nandak / bow (for shooting arrows) showingmovement from vowel position to medial consonant

note upper lip moving down and back to meet advancing tongue


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3. Labio-dental stops would be those made by closing the

lower lip against the upper teeth.

Labio-dental fricatives ([f, v]) are found in a large numberof languages but it is not clear if labio-dental stops occur.

They are said to be used in a few of the Bantu languages ofeastern and southern Africa, e.g. in Tsonga

Many people cannot make a good closure between lower lipand upper teeth because of gaps or irregularities in the teeth

which allows air to leak (note that German has a voicelessaffricate in which the fricative portion is labio-dental, e.g. inpfeifen / pfeifn/ to whistle, but the stop portion of thisaffricate is bilabial not labio-dental).


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4. Coronal Stops All languages (as far as we know) usesome stops or nasals made by closing the tongue tip or

blade against a location on the upper surface of themouth. All the various articulatory positions involvingthe tongue tip or blade are often usefully groupedtogether as coronal

English tad and dad begin with alveolar plosiveswhich contrast in laryngeal setting.

Many languages have more complex sets of coronalstops, with differences of the location of contact on the

upper surface of the mouth (dental, alveolar, post-alveolar) and of the part of the tongue making thecontact (tip or blade) as well as the shape of the tongues

profile (flat, domed, tip turned up, etc).


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Coronal stops (continued).

Coronal stops in which the contact is made by the tip ofthe tongue are apical; those made with the blade of thetongue are laminal

English coronal stops are typically apical alveolar inarticulation, but may vary - especially as there is nocontrast between more than one set of coronals

Quite a few languages distinguish between coronal

stops made at different places of articulation and/orwith differences in the tongue shape used.


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Tongue tip and blade articulations are easily studied using palatography. Contrast medium is painted on tongue, aword spoken, and then the pattern of transfer to the uppersurface of the vocal tract photographed


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Broad contact allalong insidesurface of upperteeth and beyond.Photographs courtesyof Victoria B.Anderson

Western Arrernte (w. of Alice Springs, N.T.,

central Australia) laminal dental / t5/


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W. Arrernte laminal post-alveolar / t=/

Broad contact well behind the upperteeth in the mid-line (partially onteeth in the regionof the molars)


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Narrow contact just behind the upperteeth in the mid-line (again,

partially on teeth inthe region of themolars)

W. Arrernte apical alveolar /t/


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Relatively narrowcontact well

behind the upperteeth in the mid-line. Somesmearing ofcontact pattern

probably indicatesmovement of the

point of contactduring the closure

W. Arrernte apical post-alveolar / / (retroflex)


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Retroflex consonants in languages of India(based on x-ray photography)

Indo-Aryan Dravidian

Apical Sub-apical Sub-laminalPost-alveolar Post-alveolar Post-alveolar


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Hindi

Voiceless Voiceless Voicedunaspirated aspirated

(Laminal) Dental t5al t5Hal d5al beat plate lentil

(Apical) Post-alveolar al Hal al postpone wood shop branch


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5. Dorsal stops. Articulatory positions involving thetongue body (front or back) are often classed together asdorsal

Most languages use stops made by closing the back of thetongue against the velum. English curl and girl beginwith velar plosives which contrast in laryngeal setting

A smaller number of languages make use of closures ofthe front of the tongue against the hard palate, or of the

back of the tongue against the uvula.


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Velar stop in Ewe (Niger-Congo, Ghana and Togo)

(movement of sensor on back of tongue tracked in twodimensions using electromagnetic articulography)

In producing /aka/charcoal thetongue moves upand back to the

point of contact,then slides forward -the releasinglocation is furtherforward than theclosing location

Front


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Velar stops in Ewe (movement of same point on thetongue in different vowel contexts)

The tongue body isconsiderably furtherforward for /eke/

than for /aka/.

Movement towardand away from velarclosure takes place

almost 1 cm furtherto the front in /e/context than in /a/context

Front

akaeke


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Velar stops in Ewe

Contact for /k/ incontext of vowel /e/is at the boundary

between the velumand the palate

[aka]

[eke]

Approximate position of the

roof of the mouth

UvulaVelum

Palate


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Palatal stops are not common in the worlds languages, but occur, for example, in Hungarian (simplified tracing

from x-ray film, from K. Bolla)

Voiced palatal stopoccurs in / ar/ gyr factory


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Uvular stops occur in many American languages, and

in Semitic and Caucasian languages.Example: Velar and uvular stops in Bagwalal

(N.E. Caucasian, Dagestan, Russia)

[tSakar] Chakar (name)[tSaqan] pebble, little stone

More examples: from Egyptian Arabic

[qalb] heart[kalb] dog[ jaRaqaan] jaundice


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6. Pharyngeal stops. The root of the tongue and/or theepiglottis can be pulled back to make a closureagainst the back wall of the pharynx.

Pharyngeal stops are rare in the worlds languages.

Examples from Amis (Austronesian, Taiwan)

[piiw] cripple[tutu] ladle


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7. Glottal stops are made (in principle) by closing the vocalfolds firmly together, stopping the flow of air through thelarynx. They are rather unlike other stops, since the larynxcannot be in any other configuration (e.g. for voicing).

Glottal stops occur as ordinary members of the consonantinventories of many languages, e.g. Arabic, Hawaiian,

Navajo. But they also often occur in predictable positions,e.g. to separate two vowels in different words ormorphemes, and therefore are not considered contrastive inthese cases, e.g. in French or German

In ordinary speech the closure of the vocal folds is oftenincomplete, and the glottal stop is only represented by atightening of the vocal folds and a slowing down of theirrate of vibration.


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Glottal stops

Examples from Hawaiian[?a?a] dare[ka?a] to roll[ha?a] to dance

Other examples[sa?ala] asked Egyptian Arabic[?r] light Hebrew

[ta?sir8] impression Farsi


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Basic symbols for representing stops:voiceless on left, voiced on right

Bilabial p bDental t5 d5Alveolar t dPost-alveolar t= d=Retroflex Palatal c Velar k g

Uvular q GPharyngeal Glottal ?


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Nasals

The closure positions used in stops are also used for nasalconsonants. Air is allowed to flow out through the nasal passage by lowering the velum. The oral cavity forms a sidecavity.

Since pharyngeal and glottal closures are formed below thevelo-pharyngeal port there can be no nasal consonants at these places

Nasal consonants are most often - but not always - voiced.Voiceless nasals are marked with the voiceless diacritic, e.g.[m8 n8]


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Basic symbols for representing nasals

Bilabial mDental n5Alveolar nPost-alveolar n=

Retroflex Palatal Velar NUvularPharyngeal -- not possibleGlottal -- not possible


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Malayalam (Dravidian, Kerala, India) has a largenumber of contrasting places among nasals - in somedialects there are six

Bilabial m kmmi shortageDental n5 pn5n5i pig

Alveolar n knni virginPost-alveolar ki link (in chain)Palatal ki boiled riceVelar N kuNNi crushed


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Velar nasals.

Many well-known languages with velar nasals (e.g.English, German, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Hindi)dont permit them in word- or syllable-initial positionalthough other nasals occur there.

Many speakers of these languages find great difficultyin producing an initial velar nasal.

Examples of initial nasals in Thai[na#n] long time

[ma#n] demon[Na#n] dare


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Uvular nasals are quite rare. One place they are foundis in syllable-final position in Japanese.

This nasal could be regarded as a variant of the syllable-initial /n/, butmost Japanese scholars prefer to analyze it as a distinct segment since itis the only consonant that can occur word- finally and it counts as amora (a unit of speech timing).

Each of the three words below has two moras.[ba ] turn (as in a game)[nani] what

[maz] first


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Voiceless nasals

Nasal consonants are most often - but not always- voiced. Voiceless nasals are marked with thevoiceless diacritic, e.g. [m8], [n8].

Compare the following examples from Burmese.

Voiced VoicelessAlveolar [ na&] [ n8a&]

pain nose

Palatal [ a&] [ 8a&]right considerate

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