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Figuring out how to readand pronounce the
sounds of your language
William F. Weigel
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Finally, it looks like you've hit thejackpot, but what the...?
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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
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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
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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.
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The Good News: The InternationalPhonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a
universal standard for phoneticwriting
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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.
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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)
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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...
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Human Speech
andthe Human Body
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The speech chain involves taking asource of energy (i.e., air from the
lungs) and converting it into varioussounds
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N l t' d h d
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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'
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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)
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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
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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.
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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.
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Ejective examples: Yowlumni
Wanka nan keexani Give me money
pow gall-bladder
tayak little finger
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Homework
For tomorrow:
See Leanne's homework handout for the wholeweek. It starts with the phonetics homeworkthat should be completed by Tuesday morning.
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