Spoken language phonetics:Vowel articulation, transcription

LING 200

Spring 2006

Homework #2

• Due Thurs. Apr 13 at the beginning of section

• Ch. 6 problems– (5) a-g, j– (6)-(7)– (9)– (10) a, c, e– (11)-(12)

Announcements

• Quiz on Ch. 6 extended to 2:30 pm today (**just this once**)

• Quiz on Ch. 7 (minus first section, ‘The Pronunciation of Morphemes’) opens Sunday (4-9) 10 am, closes Wed (4-12) noon

• Clickers should be in book store today

– extra credit?

A FAQ

• Which phonetic symbols do we have to memorize in this class?

• Answer: those used for English

Manner of articulation (degree of occlusion)

• How close are lower and upper articulator?

– Relatively close: consonants

– Relatively far apart: vowels

Vowels

• Height: high, mid, low• Backness: front, central, back• Labiality (lip rounding): rounded,

unrounded

Some dimensions of vowel systems

Vowel backness x height

The Human Language Evolves. “With and Without Words”

• Clip on vowel systems

A five vowel inventorye.g. Spanish

(place of articulation)

front central back

vowel height

high i u

mid e o

low

Spanish vowels

front central back

high [mis] ‘Mass’

[mus] ‘muse’

mid [mes] ‘table’

[mosk] ‘housefly’

low [ms] ‘dough’

Lip rounding

(place of articulation)

front

unrounded

central

unrounded

back

rounded

vowel height (degree of

occlusion)

high i u

mid e o

low

Phonetic description of vowels

• (height – backness – rounding)• [i] = high front unrounded vowel• [e] = mid front unrounded vowel• [o] = mid back rounded vowel• [u] = high back rounded vowel• [] = low central (-back) unrounded

vowel– cf. [a] = low front unrounded vowel

IPA vowel chart

Another five vowel inventoryMandarin (Chinese)

[y] = high front rounded vowel

[] = mid back unrounded vowel

front

unrnd rnd

back

unrnd rnd

high i y u

mid

low

Mandarin vowel quality

[ ] = high falling tone

front back

unrnd rnd unrnd rnd

high [l] ‘advantage’

[ly] ‘green’

[lû] ‘road’

mid [l] ‘happy’

low ‘spicy’

Long vs. short vowels

• Vowel “quality”

– height: high vs. mid vs. low

– backness: front vs. central vs. back

– rounding: rounded vs. unrounded

• Vowel “quantity”: long vs. short

Danish front vowel qualities

Danish vowel length contrasts

English vowels

• English, a Germanic language

Proto-Germanic West North East Faroese Icelandic Norwegian Swedish Danish Gothic

German Afrikaans Dutch Frisian English

Proto-Germanic Vowels

i i: u u:

e e: o:

Middle English vowels

< The English Language

Middle English long and short vowels

i: u:

e: o:

: :

a :

minus the diphthongs

Modern English

• Historical length > ‘tense’/ ‘lax’ contrast

– Long vowels > ‘tense’

– Short vowels > ‘lax’

Western North America

front central backunrounded unrounded rounded

high i u

lower-high mid higher-mid e o

lower-mid low

Basic set of contrasts in stressed syllables

Western North America

front central backunrounded unrounded rounded

high heed who’d

lower-high hid hood

mid higher-mid hayed hoed

lower-mid HUD

low had

contrasts in stressed syllables

Acoustic plot of vowel quality

a female speaker from southern California

Further east in North America

front central backunrounded unrounded rounded

high i u

lower-high mid higher-mid e o

lower-mid low

contrasts in stressed syllables

Further east in North America

front central backunrounded unrounded rounded

high heed who’d

lower-high hid hood

mid higher-mid hayed hoed

lower-mid HUD low had

contrasts in stressed syllables

[] vs. []

• cot vs. caught

• Polly vs. Paulie

• Don vs. dawn

• coffee vs. cough

• body vs. bawdy

A female speaker from New York City

Acoustic plot of vowel quality

a male speaker from southern New Jersey

[] in Western N. America

In Western North America, [] only before [r]:

•[mr] more

•[mor] mower ([r] = syllabic [r])

•[mr] mar

A basic set of [Vr] combinations in North American English

front central back

high [ur]

[r]

mid

[r] = [r] [r]

low

English vowels: rhotic nuclei

front central back

high boor

beer

mid

burr bore

low

English vowels: rhotic nuclei

some varieties have more vowel quality distinctions before [r]: Mary [e], merry [], marry []

A basic set of [Vr] combinations in North American English

More on [r]

• Continuation of clip from The Human Language Evolves. “With and Without Words”

Diphthongs

• 2 vowel qualities

– [w]/[w] = []: [hwd] how’d

– [j] = []: [hjd] hide

– [j] = []: [tjd] toyed

• For many native speakers of English, [e], [o] are diphthongs

– [ej] = [e] [hed] ([hejd]) hayed

– [ow] = [o] [hod] ([howd]) hoed

Unstressed vowels

• Stressed and unstressed syllables

– verbs: nouns:

– to [rikt] a [ríkt] reject

– to [protst] a [prótst] protest to [prótst] (‘stage a protest’)

English unstressed vowels

[] only occurs in unstressed syllables

unstressed [] cf. stressed []

hiccup [hkp] cup [kp]

wicked [wkd] cud [kd]

racket [rkt] cut [kt]

English unstressed vowels

• [] + nasals, liquids• For many speakers,

– [r] [pkr] picker

–[l] = [l] [pkl] [pkl pickle

– [n] = [n] [kn] [kn] thicken

– [m] = [m] [rm] [rm] rhythm [ ] = syllabic

Transcription practice

• scrimmage

• schism

• asthma

• azalea

• mayonnaise

Transcription practice

• scrimmage [skrm]• schism [skzm]

• asthma [zm]• azalea [zelj]• mayonnaise [mnez]

More transcription practice

• kook

• cucumber

• mortgage

• grammar

• language

• kook [kuk]

• cucumber[kjukmbr]• mortgage [mrg]• grammar [græmr]• language [legw]