your group folder (Phonetics 1-5) in FirstClass, check each others' sentences, and discuss
issues. The group assignments are as follows: Phonetics 1: Carol, Pam, Judy, Suzy, Sarah;
Phonetics 2: Kim, Darcy, Nan, Kala, Delores; Phonetics 3: Amy, Catalina, Robyn, Beth,
Marie; Phonetics 4: Sue, Nancy, Kathy, Audrey, Deb; Phonetics 5: Antoinette, Lisa,
Tamara, Sonja.
Besides voicing, place of articulation is another property that must be considered in
describing how sounds are produced. We said earlier that consonants are characterized by
a stronger constriction of the airstream than vowels. It makes sense therefore that we
need to describe where the air is constricted on its way from the lungs to the outside
(called the vocal tract). The places of articulation are derived from the anatomical labels
for the body parts where the constriction occurs. It is not important for you to memorize
all these labels, but you should be able to recognize them so that you can look up what
they mean. I will give brief paraphrases for each label but will not repeat the examples of
sounds for each because you have them in the book (pp. 39 and 40). Please listen to these
examples in sample 15 of the tape. The labels are, starting at the front of the mouth,
going towards its back, and then down into the throat:
bilabial - meaning that both lips are used to form the constriction
labiodental - involving both the bottom lip and top teeth
interdental - placing the tip of the tongue between the front teeth
alveolar - putting the tip of the tongue on or close to the alveolar ridge behind the
upper front teeth
palatal - making a sound near the hard roof of the mouth, called palate
velar - making a sound near the soft back portion of the roof of the mouth, called
velum
glottal - using the gap between the vocal folds, called glottis, to make a sound
To practice place of articulation distinctions, we can do the following. For each of the
seven distinctions, make up a sentence in which each word starts with one of the
consonants for a respective place of articulation. For example, a sentence for labiodentals
would be Valerie [v] faltered [f] or Fred [f] fled [f] from [f] Venice [v]. After each word,
write the phonetic symbol (or number) for the sound contained in the word as I did in the
example. Two symbols, [15] and [21], do not occur at the beginning of words. In the
words using these two sounds, the sounds may obviously occur somewhere other than at
the beginning. In addition, the glottal stop, [7], is too tricky for now. Don't worry about
finding an example for it. Post your 7 sentences in your FirstClass group folders
(Phonetics 1-5), check each others' examples, and discuss issues.
Finally, we need to pay attention to the way in which we change the airstream in the
vocal tract when we produce a sound. So, manner of articulation is the last property used
in describing how sounds are made. The manners of articulation are named according to
how much the airstream is constricted while it passes through the vocal tract. Again, it is
not important for you to memorize all these labels, but you should be able to recognize
them so that you can look up what they mean. Like before, I will give brief paraphrases
for each label but won't repeat the examples from the book (pp. 41 and 42). Listen to
sample 16 for the pronunciation of the sounds in the examples. The labels below are,
going from the highest to the lowest degree of constriction:
stops - meaning that the airflow is completely interrupted momentarily and then
released.
fricatives - almost completely interrupting the airflow so that the little bit of air
getting through creates friction
affricates - involving complete interruption of the airstream followed by a slight
opening that creates friction.
nasals - entailing complete blockage of the mouth while the air passes through
the nose
liquids - hindering the airstream enough to produce a distinct sound but not
enough to stop the air or to cause friction
glides - hindering the airstream even less than for liquids but still enough not to
allow stress (as in vowels)
To practice tongue advancement, let's also conduct an exercise. Make up a sentence with
short words, in which each word contains one of the front, central, and back vowels in
this order. For example, a sentence might be See [35] (front) Chuck's [42] (central) Ford
[40] (back)? After each word, write the phonetic symbol (or number) for the sound
contained in the word as I did in the example. Post your sentence in your FirstClass group
folders (Phonetics 1-5), check each others' sentences, and discuss issues.
The next property for describing vowels is Lip Rounding. When we produce rounded
vowels, we pucker our lips, almost as if we are going to whistle (not quite as much as for
whistling). The two distinctions here are rounded and unrounded. You should be able to
feel the rounding-unrounding movement again by making round-nonround vowels
quickly in a row. Try saying the words two (rounded) tees (unrounded) five times in a
row. Can you tell?
To practice lip rounding, again let's conduct an exercise. Make up a sentence with short
words, in which each word alternately contains rounded and unrounded vowels. For
example, a sentence might be Tour [u] these [i] two [u] streets [i]. After each word, write
the phonetic symbol (or number for it) contained in the word as I did in the example. Post
your sentence in your FirstClass group folder (Phonetics 1-5), check each other's
sentences, and discuss issues.
Finally, vowels are described using the property of Tenseness, which relates to the
amount of effort required for the articulation of a vowel. Tense vowels require greater
effort to produce than lax vowels. This effort can go towards positioning of any of the
articulators, such as the tongue or the lips. There are two distinctions to consider here:
tense and lax. Remember how we viewed the mouth as a three-dimensional space? Tense
vowels are located closer to the outside edges of this space than lax vowels. This is true
both for the height and advancement dimension. So tense [i] in beat is higher and more
front than lax [I] in bit; tense [u] in food is higher and more back than lax [U] in foot.
When you pronounce a pair of tense and lax vowels, such as [i, I], in fast succession
several times, can you tell how your tongue strains to reach [i] and relaxes for the [I]?
To practice tenseness, let's conduct yet another exercise. Make up a sentence with short
words, in which each word alternately contains tense and lax vowels. For example, a
sentence might be He [i] (tense) did [I] (lax) eat [i] (tense) the [43] (lax) cake [e] (tense).
After each word, write the phonetic symbol (or number) for the sound contained in the
word as I did in the example. Post your sentence in your FirstClass group folder
(Phonetics 1-5), check each other's examples, and discuss issues.
As with consonants earlier, we need to use a combination of all properties when we
describe vowels. To fully describe the vowels in my sample sentence He did eat the cake
one needs to add three more properties to tenseness: tongue height, tongue advancement,
and lip rounding respectively. Again, it is not important that you memorize all the
distinctions within each property. I'd rather you know where and what your resources are.
To finish describing these vowels, we can consult the schematic of the mouth in Figure 1
on page 43. Across the top you will find the dimension of tongue advancement. Down the
left side are the labels for tongue height. Vowels with lip rounding are shown inside the
dashed area. And tense vowels are outside the shaded, grey area. The sound [i], found in
the top left corner of Figure 1, must be described as high, front, unrounded, and tense; [I]
is high, front, unrounded, and lax; schwa, [43], is mid, central, unrounded, and lax; and
[e] is mid, front, unrounded, and tense. Why don't you take the example Get Chuck's
Ford and determine the four-way descriptions for each of the three vowels. Go to the
Center and post, check, and discuss your consonant descriptions in your group folder
(Phonetics 1-5).
Besides simple vowels, English has 3 diphthongs or two-sound vowels; because of their
two-sound property, diphthongs are represented by two symbols of the IPA. The second
parts of diphthongs are always glides, i.e., they are consonants. Figure 2 in the book
demonstrates the movement of the tongue when we produce the three English diphthongs
[ay, aw, 46]. This information may help you understand the rule of monophthongization
that some of you were struggling with in the AAVE homework. This rule means that the
glides in these three diphthongs are removed, leaving the vowel part of the diphthong
intact and converting it into a monophthong (or single sound). This concludes our
discussion of phonetics.
For your homework, I would like you to practice recognizing phonetic symbols.
Therefore, I am giving you a short dialog written in IPA symbols. Decipher the symbols
and write the text using the Roman alphabet we usually employ when writing in English.
Note: some of the symbols represent informal pronunciation; this should be reflected in
your regular English version)! Also, you need to remember back to the part of the course
in which we discussed geographic dialects. The homework text only makes sense if you
recognize the dialectal variation in one word contained in the text. To get to the
homework page, please click here. The page is actually a digital photo of a sheet of paper
and may take a while to download depending on the speed of your internet connection.
For the other part of your homework listed in Lesson 8.0, please click here. You will find
further instructions on your final paper on this web p