Joints or Articulations. A joint, or articulation, is the place of union between two or more bones.
Place of Articulation
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Transcript of Place of Articulation
Place of Articulation
October 4, 2010
The Agenda• Homeworks are due.
• By Wednesday: backwards name exercise
• On Friday: more transcription practice (place of articulation)
Moving On• Hitherto: rapidly running through the vocal tract
• for English only
• From here on out:
• go back through the whole process in slow motion
• building up our understanding of how speech sounds are made in the process…
• for all the languages of the world.
• Goal: get from what we know about articulation to acoustics
• i.e., how speech sounds are transmitted through the air
Back to the Big Picture• Through combinatorics…
• languages can make a large number of distinctions out of a small number of articulatory dimensions
• However--consider the gaps in the IPA chart
• Not all combinations of gestures are possible
• Not all combinations of gestures are likely
• Why?
• The dimensions interact
• They’re based on physical realities
• i.e., they are not abstract
Another Perspective• Note: all speech sounds involve the flow of air.
• Articulation and acoustics are linked through aerodynamics
• = the study of the flow of air (in speech sounds)
• Aerodynamics can also limit the combinatorial possibilities of speech.
An Aerodynamic Exception• Stops
• Stop the flow of air through the articulatory tract
• How is this done?
• By making an airtight seal between articulators
• Are there some places in the articulatory tract where this is easier than others?
• Try the tongue experiment.
• An easy place: between the lips
• A difficult (impossible?) place: between the teeth and lips
IPA Chart:Stops
• You are already familiar with Bilabial, Alveolar, Velar
• = the 3 most common places of articulation for stops
• UPSID Database (in Maddieson’s Patterns of Sounds, 1984)
• surveys 317 languages
• 314 have bilabial stops (Wichita, Hupa, Aleut)
• 316 have alveolar/dental stops (Hawaiian)
• 315 have velar stops (Hupa, Kirghiz)
Bilabials-Alveolars-Velars
Palatals
Palatal Stops
• Peter says:
• 59 languages in UPSID database have palatal stops
• Palatals vs. Velars in Ngwo (spoken in Cameroon)
Also: Palatal Nasals
• symbol:
• not to be confused with the velar nasal:
• PL:
• Examples from Hungarian
Uvulars
Uvular Stops
• Peter says:
• 47 languages in UPSID database have uvular stops
• Uvular nasal:
• Peter, again:
• Japanese: ‘Japan’
Quechua Contrasts
• Quechua is spoken primarily in Bolivia and Peru.
Pharyngeals
Epiglottals, Glottals
• There are no pharyngeal stops.
• However, there is an epiglottal stop:
• Peter says:
• Check out Stefan’s epiglottis
• There are also glottal stops:
• As in English: “uh-oh”, “bottle”, “kitten”
• More on these later
Epiglottals in Agul
• Agul is spoken in Dagestan, near the Caspian Sea, in Russia
• Note: no nasal pharyngeals, epiglottals, or glottals.
• Why?
Back to the Coronals
Back to the Coronals• Two parameters to consider here:
• The active articulator
1. The tongue tip (apical)
2. The tongue blade (laminal)
• The passive articulator or target
1. The upper lip (linguo-labial)
2. Between the teeth (interdental)
3. The upper teeth (dental)
4. The alveolar ridge (alveolar)
5. Behind the alveolar ridge (post-alveolar)
Coronal Basics• Coronal stops are usually dental or alveolar.
• Dental stops are usually laminal
• produced with the blade of the tongue
• as is typical in, e.g., French, Spanish
• Alveolar stops are usually apical
• pronounced with the tip of the tongue
• as is typical in English
• Dental ~ Alveolar contrasts are rare, but they do exist.
Laminal Dentals
• check out the labio-dental flap file
Apical Alveolars
Yanyuwa Coronal Contrast
• Yanyuwa is spoken in the Northern Territory of Australia
• UPSID data--
Languages with the following number of stop place contrasts:
2 -- 2 3 -- 171 4 -- 103
5 -- 35 6 -- 6 <-- 5 of these languages are from Australia!
• Yanyuwa has 7 stop place contrasts!
Retroflex Stops• Retroflex stops are produced in the post-alveolar region, by curling the tip of the tongue back.
• Common in south Asian languages.
•Peter says:
Sindhi place contrasts
Malayalam Place Contrasts
Palatography +
Linguography
Yanyuwa, again
Two Places at Once• Labial-velar stops are not uncommon, especially in African languages.
• Examples from Idoma (spoken in Nigeria):
Linguolabials• Linguolabials are formed by touching the blade of the tongue to the upper lip.
• Examples from V’enen Taut, a language spoken in Vanuatu (the South Pacific):
Place Contrast Round-up• Most languages have three stop places:
• bilabial
• dental/alveolar
• velar
• If a language has a fourth stop place, it is usually
• palatal or uvular
• If a language has a fifth stop place, it is usually
• retroflex
• sometimes labial-velar