Manner of Articulation

Mazhar Iqbal Ranjha

ENGLISH SOUNDS (PHONEMES)

Consonants

•Vowels

Glottal states

OBSTRUENTS

APPROXIMANTS

Manner of Articulation

stops

• Complete closure of articulation

• Airstream cannot escape through the mouth

Types of stops

• Oral• Soft palate is raised• Airstream obstructed

in the mouth• Pressure built up

behind obstruction• Small burst of sound

when air released

• Nasal• Soft palate is lowered• Air stopped in oral cavity• No pressure

• No burst

fricatives

• No complete stop

• Friction is there

Affricates

Brief stopping of airstream and with an obstructed release

English Consonants chartvoiceless voiced

Manner of articulation

Place of articulation

bilabiallabio-dental

inter-dental

alveolar palatal velar glottal

stop p b_____ _____

t d_____

k g_____

fricative_____

f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ_____ _____

affricate _____ _____ _____ _____ ʧ ʤ _____ _____

flap _____ _____ _____ ɾ _____ _____ _____

nasal m _____ _____ n _____ ŋ _____

liquidlat. _____ _____ _____ l

r

_____ _____ _____

retr.

glide w _____ _____ _____ j _____ h

Notes

• Consonant sounds are generally assumed to be:

pulmonic egressive

oral

central

Consonant Dimensions: Summary

[t] [j]

1. Airstream Mechanism pulmonic egressive p.e.

2. Phonation Type voiceless voiced

3. Place of Articulation alveolar palatal

4. Aperture stop approx.

5. Retroflexion non-retroflex non-retro

6. Nasality oral oral

7. Laterality central central

vowels

Less constriction than approximant

Vowel Dimensions• Vowel articulations can be characterized along four

dimensions:

1. Height (of tongue body)

• high, mid, low

2. Front-back (of tongue body)

• front, central, back

3. Roundedness (of lips)

• rounded vs. unrounded

4. “Tenseness”

• tense/lax

Other Vowel Features• Rounding:

• are pronounced with rounded lips

• the other English vowels are not

• “Tenseness”

• a “tense” vowel is closer to the edge of the vowel space

• a “lax” vowel is closer to the center

• Ex: [i] is tense, is not.

• Tense/lax distinctions:

• found predominately in Germanic languages

• are very hard for non-native speakers of English to hear

The Cardinal Vowels

• A set of 8 reference vowels

• Brainchild of English Phonetician Daniel Jones

(1881-1967)

• “Cardinal Vowels can only be learnt from a teacher who knows how to make them or from a gramophone record or tape record.”

Lineage• Henry Sweet taught phonetics to Daniel Jones.

• Daniel Jones taught David Abercrombie.

• David Abercrombie taught Peter Ladefoged.

• Peter Ladefoged taught Sarah Dart.

• Sarah Dart taught me.

• I am teaching you.

The Cardinal Vowels

• So let’s learn about the Cardinal Vowels.

• Two “anchor” vowels:

• [i] - Cardinal Vowel 1 - highest, frontest vowel possible

• - Cardinal Vowel 5 - lowest, backest vowel possible

• Remaining vowels are spaced at equal intervals of frontness and height between the anchor vowels.

• Note: [u] - Cardinal Vowel 8 - may serve as a third anchor as the highest, backest, roundest vowel possible

English cardinal Vowels

Cardinal Vowel Diagram

o

Secondary Cardinal Vowels

Tense vs. Lax• There are five lax vowels in English.

Tense Lax

heed hid

hayed head

who’d hood

hod hud

had

• The lax vowels cannot appear at the end of a syllable.

• They also often have a offglide.

• Lastly: they are shorter than their tense counterparts.

Thank you

(1-28-09) 2-2-09 LING3330 25