A. Theory # Organs of speech

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Answers to Phonetics and Phonology

Lips (upper and lower) / nasal cavity (khoang mũi)  teeth (upper and lower)  alveolar ridge (chân răng)  toungue (tip, blade, front, back or root) / hard palate (ngạc cứng)  soft palate (ngạc mềm)  uvula (lưỡi gà)  pharynx (glottis – hầu / họng)  epiglottis (nắp thanh quản)  larynx (thanh quản)  vocal folds (vocal cords - dây thanh)  trachea (khí quản) / oesophagus (thực quản) ( lungs).

- Phonetics is the study of speech sounds which are utilized by all human languages to represent the meaning. It concerned with the describing the speech sounds which occur in the languages of the world.

- Phonology is the description of the systems and patterns of sounds that occur in a language.

Phonology deals with how these speech sounds are organised into systems for individual language.

Stages of speech chain are the steps in which the sounds are produced and used for communication. These stages of speaker differ from those of listener.

- Speaker: 3 stages

• 
  Psychological stage: idea is transmitted to the brain throught the 5 senses of human. It is the process of thinking and choosing what to say.
  
• 
  Physiological stage: idea is transmitted to the brain and then to the mouth through nervous system.
  
• 
  Physical stage: the process of producing and articulating the sounds. The mouth works to speak out the sounds.
  

The difference between these two mechanism is the direction of the airstream. In pulmonic egressive mechanism, the airstream move outwards from the lung to the trachea (windpipe – khí quản) to pharynx (họng) and to the mouth, but the airstream in pulmonic ingressive mechanism move inwards from the outside.

English sound belong to the pulmonic egresive airstream mechanism and this mechasnism is also used in almost languages in the world.

4. What is voiced, voiceless sound? In what way(s) are voiced sounds different from voiceless ones?

- Voiced sounds are the sounds produced by the rapid opening and closing of vocal cords. In a voiced sound, the rapid opening and closing of vocal cords is a kind of vibration.

- Voiceless sound are the sounds made with vocal cords drawn apart so that the air can pass out freely between them and there is no vibration.

Voiced and voiceless sounds can be distinguished according to the following criteria:

Articulatory phonetics studies the physical processes involved in speech production while acoustic phonetics deals with the physical properties of speech sounds (linguistically relevant acoustic properties).

Articulatory phonetics examines:

• 
  The airstream mechanism: where the air used in speech starts from, and which direction it is travelling in
  
• 
  The state of the vocal cords: wherether or not the vocal cords are vibrating, which determines voicing
  
• 
  The state of the velum: whether it is raised or lowered, which determines whether the sound is oral or nasal
  
• 
  The place and manner of articulation: the horizontal and vertical positions of the tongue and lips
  

 Definition:

- Consonants are speech sounds produced by creating an obstruction to the airstream during the articulation.

- Vowels are speech sounds where the airstream escapes the oral tract (organs of speech) unobstructed.

 Differences: vowel and consonant can be distinguished according to the following criteria:

Criteria	Vowel	Consonant
Airstream	Escapes freely from the oral tract	Being obstructed on the way out from the lungs
Nasal or oral	All vowels are oral sounds as the velum is raised while the sounds are produced Eg. /i:/, /u:/, /:/, /:/, /:/; //, //, //, //, //, //, //	Consonants may be nasal when the velum is lowered or oral when the velum is raised Eg. /m/, /n/, // (nasal); /p/, /d/, /k/, //…(oral)

7. Classify English speech sounds?

English speech sounds can be classified according to the following criteria: voicing, state of the velum, state of the vocal cords

- According to voicing criteria, English speech sounds can be divided into: voiced and voiceless sounds.

Eg. Voiced sounds such as: /b/, /v/, /d/, //, /z/, //, //…

Voiceless sounds such as: /p/, /f/, /t/, /k/, /s/, //, //…

- According to the state of the velum, there are nasal and oral sounds.

Eg. Nasal sounds: /m/, /n/, //

Oral sounds: /b/, /v/, /d/, //, //, // (consonants), or //, //, //, //, // (vowels)

- According to the state of the vocal cords, there are vowel and consonant.

Eg. Vowels: /i:/, /u:/, /:/, /:/, /:/; //, //, //, //, //, //, //

Consonants: /b/, /v/, /d/, //, /z/, //, //, /p/, /f/, /t/, /k/, /s/, //, //…

B. Practice

1. Fill in the blanks in the following passage

There are three principal airstream mechanisms: the pulmonic airstream mechanism, the velaric airstream mechanism and the glottalic airstream mechanism. In normal utterances in all languages of the world, the airstream is always flowing outwards if the pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism is involved. Stops made with this mechanism are called plosives (tắc). The only mechanism that is used in some languages to produce some sounds with inward going air and some sounds with outward going air is the glottalic airstream mechanism. Stops made with this mechanism acting ingressively are called implosives (đóng). Stops made with this mechanism acting egressively are called ejectives (bật). The mechanism which is used in the language to produce sounds only with inward going air is the velaric airstream mechanism. Stops made with this mechanism are called clicks.

• 
  Consonants are speech sounds produced by creating an obstruction to the airstream during the articulation.
  
• 
  Voiced sounds are sounds produced by the rapid opening and closing of the vocal cords. In a voiced sound, the rapid opening and closing of the vocal cords is a kind of vibration.
  
• 
  Voiceless sounds are sounds made with vocal cords drawn apart so that the air can pass out freely and there is no vibration.
  
• 
  Fortis are consonants which are tend to be articulated with relatively strong energy. They are voiceless sounds and usually shorten the preceeding vowel. Eg. bat
  
• 
  Lenis are consonants which are tend to be articulated with relatively weak energy. They are voiced sounds and usually lengthen the preceeding vowel.
  

• 
  Place of articulation
  
• 
  Manner of articulation
  
• 
  State of the velum (nasal or oral)
  
• 
  Position of the vocal cords (voiced or voiceless)
  
• 
  Force of articulation / degree of muscular tension (fortis or lenis)
  

Voicing  place of articulation  manner of articulation ( place of velum  force of articulation)

Eg. p: voiceless – bilabial – plosive (– oral – fortis)

Place Manner

Bilabial

Labio-dental

Dental

Alveolar

Retroflex

Plato-alveolar

Palatal

Velar

Glottal

Plosive

p

b

t

d

k



Fricative

f

v





s

z





h

Approximant

w

r

j

Lateral

l

Affricate

t

d

Nasal

m

n



Table 1. English Consonants

(Voiceless sounds are on the left)

English plosives are classified according to the following 3 criteria:

- According to the place of articulation: there are 3 types

+ Bilabial plosive: /p/, /b/ eg. pet, pay, big, boy

+ Alveolar plosive: /t/, /d/ eg. tape, talk, date, dog

+ Velar plosive: /k/, // eg. key, kitchen, go, gap

- According to position of the vocal cords: voiced and voiceless

+ Voiced plosive: /p/, /t/, /k/ eg. pet, pay, tape, talk, key, kitchen

+ Voiceless plosive: /b/, /d/, // eg. big, boy, date, dog, go, gap

- According to force of articulation:

+ Fortis plosive: /b/, /d/, // eg. big, boy, date, dog, go, gap

+ Lenis plosive: /p/, /t/, /k/ eg. pet, pay, tape, talk, key, kitchen

There are 4 bilabial consonants in the English language: p, b, w, m

- Bilabial plosive: /p/, /b/ eg. pet, pay, big, boy

- Bilabial approximant: /w/ eg. wait, watch

- Bilabial nasal: /m/ eg. mother, meet

3. What is the distinctive feature that makes /p/ and /b/ different sounds?

/p/ and /b/ are bilabial plosive consonants, but the distinctive feature that makes them different sounds is the voicing. /p/ is a voiceless consonant while /b/ is a voiced one. We can realize such difference when these sounds are articulated by touching the Adam’s apple. When /b/ is articulated, there is a vibration, but there is no such vibration when /p/ is pronounced.

English consonants are classified according to 5 criteria:

 According to place of articulation:

- Bilabial: p, b, w, m eg. pay, boy, wait, man

- Labiodental: f, v eg. figure, velar

- Dental: ,  eg. think, this

- Alveolar: t, d, s, z, l, n eg. toy, date, size, zoo, long, name

- Retroflex: r eg. run, ray

- Palato-avleolar: , , t, d eg. shine, ship, measure, closure, watch, catch, fridge, jane

- Palatal: j eg. yet, yes, yellow

- Velar: k,,  eg. key, dog, king, thing

- Glottal: h eg. house, home

 According to manner of articulation:

- Plosive: p, b, t, d, k,, eg. pay, boy, toy, date, key, dog

- Fricative: f, v, , , s, z, , , h eg. five, van, think, this, sun, zoo, shine, measure, hot

- Approximant: w, r, j eg. wait, run, you

- Lateral: l eg. long, later

- Affricate: t, d eg. watch, catch, fridge, jane

- Nasal: m, n,  eg. main, nation, thing, king

 According to State of the velum:

- Nasal: m, n,  eg. main, nation, thing, king

- Oral: p, b, t, d, k, , f, v, ,, s, z, ,, w, r, j, l, t, d, h,

 According to State of the vocal cords:

- Voiced sounds: b, d, , v, , z, , w, r, j, l, d, m, n, 

- Voiceless sounds: p, t, k, f, , s, , h, t

 According to Force of articulation:

- Fortis consonants: voiceless sounds

- Lenis consonants: voiced sounds

The distinction between an alveolar plosive and an alveolar fricative is the airstream: in alveolar plosive, the soft palate is raised so that the nasal tract is blocked off, then the airstream is completely obstructed while in an alveolar fricative, the close approximation of two articulators caused the airstream partially obstructed and turbulent airflow is produced.

English fricatives can be classified according to the following criteria:

- Accroding to the Place of articulation:

+ Labiodental fricative: f, v eg. fingure, fan, vapour, van

+ Dental fricative: ,  eg. think, this

+ Alveolar fricative: s, z eg. sun, single, zoo, zero

+ Palato-avleolar fricative: ,  eg. shine, measure

+ Glottal fricative: h eg. horse, house, hat

- According to the State of the vocal cords:

+ Voiced sounds: v, , z,  eg. van, this, zoo, measure

+ Voiceless sounds: f, , s, , h eg. fan, think, sun, shine, hot

- According to the Force of articulation:

+ Fortis: f, , s, , h eg. fan, think, sun, shine, hot

+ Lenis: v, , z,  eg. van, this, zoo, measure

- Fortis are consonants which are tend to be articulated with relatively strong energy. They are voiceless sounds and usually shorten the preceeding vowel. Eg. bat

- Lenis are consonants which are tend to be articulated with relatively weak energy. They are voiced sounds and usually lengthen the preceeding vowel.

9. What is the main difference in articulation between a velar plosive and a bilabial plosive?

Bilabial plosive is formed by the contact between the two lips while velar plosive is formed by the back of the tongue articulates with the soft palate (the soft palate is raised to make velar closure).

s voiceless alveolar fricative (oral fortis)

k voiceless velar plosive (oral fortis)

n voiced alveolar nasal (lenis)

f voiceless labiodental fricative (oral fortis)

l voiced alveolar lateral (oral lenis)

t voiceless alveolar plosive (oral fortis)

2. Underline:

a. The words that begin with a bilabial consonant

b. The words begin with a velar consonant

knot got lot cot hot pot

c. The words begin with a labiodental consonant

d. The words begin with a alveolar consonant

e. The words begin with a detal consonant

pie guy shy thight thy high

f. The words begin with palato-alveolar consonant

sigh shy tie thigh thy lie

g. The words end with a fricative

race wreath bush bring breathe bang

rave rouge ray rose rough

h. The words end with a nasal

i. The words end with a stop (plosive)

pill lip lit limb crab dog hide laugh back

j. The word begin with a lateral

nut lull bar rob one

k. The words that begin with a approximant

l. The words end with an affricate

3. Write the symbol that corresponds to the following phonetic descriptions. Give an English word that contains this sound

a. voiced bilabial plosive b eg. big, ball, ban

b. voiceless alveolar fricative s eg. seven, sun, son

c. voiceless labiodental fricative f eg. fan, finger, farm

d. voiceless palato-alveolar affricate t eg. chain, watch

e. voiceless palato-alveolar fricative  eg. shine, ship

f. voiced labiodental fricative v eg. vapour, vanish

g. voiced velar plosive  eg. games, dog,