Articulatory Phonetics - Consonants Introduction to Linguistics

Lesson 8.2: ARTICULATORY PHONETICS - CONSONANTS

Before we devote some time to the articulation of English speech sounds, we need to solve the problem of not having a good way to represent phonetic symbols on web pages yet. So here is what we will do instead. You have a list of all the phonetic symbols for the speech sounds of English on pp. 35 and 36 (File 3.1) of the textbook. Take a pencil and number them starting with [p] = 1. Go down to the bottom of the page to the voiceless 'w' = 27. On the next page continue with syllabic 'm' = 28 and finish with [oy] = 46. What I will do instead of using the actual symbols is refer to the respective number for the symbol of a speech sound. So the ch in church will be [17] and the schwa in among [43]. This approach is perhaps a bit cumbersome, but it has worked well in the past. In cases where a regular letter is used as a phonetic symbol, I will use that letter. Remember that phonetic symbols appear in square brackets.

Now let's move on to articulatory phonetics as the field that is most immediately useful for ESL teachers. The book gives a detailed description of the speech organs available to humans, and I have nothing to add. When humans speak we alter what is called a pulmonic egressive airstream. This is an airstream that originates in the lungs (=pulmonic), and it comes out rather than goes in (=egressive). The degree to which we obstruct this airstream determines whether we consider a sound a consonant or a vowel. In consonants we obstruct the airstream so much that these sounds cannot become the "center" or nucleus of a syllable. The nucleus of a syllable must be capable of carrying stress, but the airstream in consonants is too constricted to carry stress. Vowels on the other hand can become the nucleus of a syllable because the airstream is not constricted much and therefore can carry stress. We will start our discussion of articulatory phonetics by looking at the properties for describing consonants first.

Consonants can be described by making use of three properties: state of the glottis, place of articulation, and manner of articulation. State of the glottis refers to the distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds. Here is how you can distinguish the two from each other. When you pronounce a voiced sound and plug your ears with the tips of your index fingers, you should be able to hear and feel the vibration of your vocal folds inside your head. Alternately, you can put the tip of one of your hands on your larynx (or voice box) to feel the vibration. Try either of these while alternating several times between slowly and loudly saying the words Sue and zoo or bus and buzz. You should be able to feel the difference between voiced s in zoo/buzz and voiceless s in sue/bus. The book on p. 38 gives you a list of word pairs where the only difference between the sounds in the two words is voicing of one of the consonants. Listen to sample 14 for a demonstration of these word pairs.

To practice the voiced/voiceless distinction, make up 3 sentences in which alternate words start with a voiced or voiceless consonant from the pairs on p. 38. For example, The [11] thick [10] zipper [z] slipped [s] contains examples from two voiced/voiceless consonant pairs. After each word in your sentences, write the phonetic symbol (or number for it) contained in the word as I did in the example. Post your three sentences in 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 manner of articulation distinctions, we can conduct another exercise similar to the ones above. For each of the six distinctions of constriction, make up a sentence in which each word starts with one of the consonants from that distinction. For example, a sentence for affricates would be Joke [18] cheerfully [17] (sorry, this was the best sentence I could think of!). After each word, write the phonetic symbol (or number) for the sound contained in the word as I did in the example. Remember that the two symbols [15] and [21] do not occur at the beginning of words. In the words for these two sounds, the sounds may obviously occur somewhere other than at the beginning. Also, don't worry about the glottal stop, [7]. Post your six sentences in your group folders (Phonetics 1-5) in FirstClass, check each others' sample sentences, and discuss issues.

When we describe consonants, we need to use a combination of all three properties. To fully describe the two initial affricate sounds in my sentence Joke cheerfully one needs to add the two additional properties for place of articulation and state of the glottis respectively. Again, it is not important that you memorize all the distinctions within each property. I'd rather you know where your resources are. To completely describe sounds [18], represented by j,and [17], represented by ch,we can consult the chart in Figure 4 on page 42. Across the top you will find the places of articulation. Down the left side there are the manners of articulation. One half of each column is shaded in indicating that this area contains voiced consonants. For a description of our two consonants, go down the left side of the figure; in the third row, we find Affricate. Moving across the row to where it shows symbols [18] and [17], we find that this is where the Affricate row intersects with the Palatal column. That tells us that our two sounds are palatal affricates, with [18] being voiced (=shaded) and [17] being voiceless. Our example The [11] thick [10] zipper [z] slipped [s] gives us a voiced interdental fricative, a voiceless interdental fricative, a voiced alveolar fricative, and a voiceless alveolar fricative respectively. Why don't you take the example Valerie [v] faltered [f] and determine the three-way description of the two initial consonants. Go to FirstClass and post and discuss these consonant descriptions in your group folders (Phonetics 1-5).

Continue with the next part of this lesson, Lesson 8.3: Articulatory Phonetics - Vowels, by clicking here.