(“voice” by Anton Håkanson is licensed under CC BY 3.0)

Phonetics

Here we’ll go through some of the basic concepts of phonetics (how sounds are made). If you’d like to dig deeper into these concepts, check out Chapter 3 of How English Works.

(A printable IPA chart is available here.)

 

 

The Anatomy of Speech

Linguistics tends to focus on spoken and signed language more than written language.

• More instinctual – all human societies have spoken/signed languages, but not all have written languages
• Less tied to prescriptive norms

In this class, we’ll be focusing mostly on spoken “English” since it’s what we have in common – but please bring in all the language(s) you know!

 

Thinking about spoken language…

What parts of your body do you use to speak?

 

(“Tract” by Megsmith is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

Can you find these on your own body?

 

Let’s practice! We’ll focus on the following:

• Lips
• Teeth
• Tongue
• Alveolar ridge
• Palate
• Velum
• Nasal cavity
• Voice box/larynx + glottis + vocal cords/folds

Being familiar with the physical component of sound production helps us describe the sounds themselves!

 

 

The International Phonetic Alphabet

(this image by QuartierLatin1968 is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

International Phonetic Alphabet (or IPA) is a way to describe and record sounds. It’s more consistent and universal than traditional spelling.

 

For example, listen to this story told in Munsee, one of the indigenous languages of the New York area:

Try writing down what you hear (and if possible, ask someone else to do the same, and compare your transcriptions).

This task becomes much easier with IPA!

• More consistent – one sound = one symbol
• More comprehensive – can represent sounds not found in English (or whatever spelling convention you used)

 

IPA also allows to distinguish between sounds that would have the same spelling.

Example: this versus this versus this versus this

 

And IPA also allows for phonological analysis and comparison across languages.

 

We’ll be focusing on the sounds used in *English* and the corresponding IPA symbols.

This is a narrow, incomplete definition of English – aka “Standard English” or “Institutionalized English” or “White/middle-upper class/straight/male English”.

You (and your students!) might use other sounds too – I know I do. Let me know if you want help describing those.

You also explore the full IPA chart (which aims to include all language sounds) here.

 

 

English Consonants

This is the subset of consonants “typically” used in English:

 

The IPA chart organizes the consonants by mode of articulation and place of articulation.

 

 

Let’s talk about place of articulation first. This describes where the sound is made and what parts of your vocal tract are involved:

Bilabial = two lips (both lips)

Labiodental = lip + teeth

Interdental = (tongue) between teeth

Alveolar = (tongue +) alveolar ridge

Palatal = (tongue +) palate

Velar = (tongue +) velum

Glottal = glottis

 

Now, let’s talk about manner of articulation. This describes how the sound is made.

We’ll go through each manner of articulation and talk about the sounds that are produced through that manner of articulation.

 

Stops are sounds in which the flow of air is completely stopped by the articulators (parts of the vocal tract) coming together, and then released.

Notice that there are two rows of symbols. The first row contains unvoiced (or voiceless) sounds (/p, t, k/), and the second contains voiced sounds (/b, d, g/). We’ll focus on the first set to understand the difference.

/p/ and /b/ have the same place of articulation and manner of articulation. They only differ in voicing – if the vocal folds/cords are vibrating.

You can feel the difference when you pronounce them – try holding your hand on your neck or on the top of you head while you say each. You should feel vibration when you say /b/, but not /p/. This is the air flowing through and vibrating your partially closed vocal cords/folds.

The same difference holds for /t/ versus /d/ and /k/ versus /g/.

 

Fricatives are sounds in which the flow of air is partially blocked by the articulators (parts of the vocal tract) coming close together, creating friction.

(Again, the first row is unvoiced and the second is voiced.)

 

Affricates are made up of stops + fricatives.

(Again, the first row is unvoiced and the second is voiced.)

 

Nasals are similar to stops (flow of air is completely stopped) but the sound moves through the nasal cavity rather than the mouth. The velum is lowered, causing air to travel through the nose.

(All are voiced.)

 

Approximates are sounds where articulators approach each other, but are not as close together as in stops or fricatives.

(All are voiced.)

 

Try going through each symbol:
Say the sound + a word that contains that sound.

 

If you get stuck, here are some example words:

This website can also be a good resource:
https://www.cambridge.org/features/IPAchart/

 

 

English Vowels

This is the subset of vowels “typically” used in English:

The vowel chart is a very abstract representation of a mouth.

The placement of each vowel on the chart is meant to represent the position of the tongue in the mouth when pronouncing that vowel.

Let’s practice each vowel:

 

Diphthongs are combinations of two vowels in the same sound.

We’ll focus on: /ɔɪ/ /ɑɪ/ /ɑʊ/

 

Try going through each symbol:
Say the sound + a word that contains that sound.

 

If you get stuck, here are some example words:

Again, this website can also be a good resource:
https://www.cambridge.org/features/IPAchart/

 

 

IPA Practice

Let’s practice using IPA!

(Disclaimer: we’re keeping the training wheels on in this class. We won’t be using any diacritic symbols, and we’re not worrying about the difference between similar sounds like /ʌ/ and /ə/ or /ɔ/ and /ɑ/. But if you keep learning about phonetics/phonology later, you can increase your precision in IPA!)

 

1. Identify the following book titles:

a. /ðə kʌlər pərpəl/
b. /wʌðərɪŋ hɑɪts/
c. /ɪntərprɛtər ʌv mælədiz/
d. /ðə brif wʌndrəs lɑɪf ʌv ɑsker wɑʊ/

 

See answers here

 

2. Transcribe the following words using IPA:

a. tack
b. key
c. zilch
d. moose
e. coffee
f. relax
g. washing

 

See answers here

 

 

Next up… phonology!