31269_00_FM_ppi-xiv pp2.indd xiv 11/20/09 9:23:43 PM Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part
PART I INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS
PART I INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS 31269_01_Ch01_pp001-032 pp2.indd Sec1:1 10/29/09 4:57:10 PM Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part
Articulation and Acoustics Phonetics is concerned with describing speech.There are many different reasons for wanting to do this,which means that there are many kinds of phoneticians. Some are interested in the different sounds that occur in languages.Some are more concerned with pathological speech.Others are trying to help people speak a particular form of English.Still others are looking for ways to make computers talk more intelligibly or to get computers to recognize speech.For all these pur- poses,phoneticians need to find out what people are doing when they are talking and how the sounds of speech can be described. SPEECH PRODUCTION We will begin by describing how speech sounds are made.Most of them are the result of movements of the tongue and the lips.We can think of these move- ments as gestures forming particular sounds.We can convey information by ges- tures of our hands that people can see,but in making speech that people can hear,humans have found a marvelously efficient way to impart information.The gestures of the tongue and lips are made audible so that they can be heard and recognized. Making speech gestures audible involves pushing air out of the lungs while producing a noise in the throat or mouth.These basic noises are changed by the actions of the tongue and lips.Later,we will study how the tongue and lips make about twenty-five different gestures to form the sounds of English.We can see some of these gestures by looking at an x-ray movie(which you can watch on the CD that accompanies this book).Figure 1.1 shows a series of frames from an x-ray movie of the phrase on top of his deck.In this sequence of twelve frames (one in every four frames of the movie),the tongue has been outlined to make it clearer.The lettering to the right of the frames shows,very roughly,the sounds being produced.The individual frames in the figure show that the tongue and lips move rapidly from one position to another.To appreciate how rapidly CD 1.1 the gestures are being made,however,you should watch the movie on the CD. Demonstration 1.1 plays the sounds and shows the movements involved in the phrase on top of his deck.Even in this phrase,spoken at a normal speed,the tongue is moving quickly.The actions of the tongue are among the fastest and most precise physical movements that people can make. 2
2 1 Articulation and Acoustics Phonetics is concerned with describing speech. There are many different reasons for wanting to do this, which means that there are many kinds of phoneticians. Some are interested in the different sounds that occur in languages. Some are more concerned with pathological speech. Others are trying to help people speak a particular form of English. Still others are looking for ways to make computers talk more intelligibly or to get computers to recognize speech. For all these purposes, phoneticians need to find out what people are doing when they are talking and how the sounds of speech can be described. SPEECH PRODUCTION We will begin by describing how speech sounds are made. Most of them are the result of movements of the tongue and the lips. We can think of these movements as gestures forming particular sounds. We can convey information by gestures of our hands that people can see, but in making speech that people can hear, humans have found a marvelously efficient way to impart information. The gestures of the tongue and lips are made audible so that they can be heard and recognized. Making speech gestures audible involves pushing air out of the lungs while producing a noise in the throat or mouth. These basic noises are changed by the actions of the tongue and lips. Later, we will study how the tongue and lips make about twenty-five different gestures to form the sounds of English. We can see some of these gestures by looking at an x-ray movie (which you can watch on the CD that accompanies this book). Figure 1.1 shows a series of frames from an x-ray movie of the phrase on top of his deck. In this sequence of twelve frames (one in every four frames of the movie), the tongue has been outlined to make it clearer. The lettering to the right of the frames shows, very roughly, the sounds being produced. The individual frames in the figure show that the tongue and lips move rapidly from one position to another. To appreciate how rapidly the gestures are being made, however, you should watch the movie on the CD. Demonstration 1.1 plays the sounds and shows the movements involved in the phrase on top of his deck. Even in this phrase, spoken at a normal speed, the tongue is moving quickly. The actions of the tongue are among the fastest and most precise physical movements that people can make. CD 1.1 31269_01_Ch01_pp001-032 pp2.indd Sec1:2 10/29/09 4:57:11 PM Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part
Speech Production 3 Figure 1.1 Frames from an x-ray movie of a speaker saying on top of his deck. 0 is d 0 ck 13 37 17 of 21 45
Speech Production 3 o n t o p of ’is d e ck k - 1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 34 37 41 45 Figure 1.1 Frames from an x-ray movie of a speaker saying on top of his deck. 31269_01_Ch01_pp001-032 pp2.indd Sec2:3 10/29/09 4:57:12 PM Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part
CHAPTER 1 Articulation and Acoustics Producing any sound requires energy.In nearly all speech sounds,the basic source of power is the respiratory system pushing air out of the lungs.Try to talk while breathing in instead of out.You will find that you can do it,but it is much harder than talking when breathing out.When you talk,air from the lungs goes up the windpipe (the trachea,to use the more technical term)and into the larynx,at which point it must pass between two small muscular folds called the vocal folds.If the vocal folds are apart(as yours probably are right now while you are breathing in and out),the air from the lungs will have a relatively free passage into the pharynx and the mouth.But if the vocal folds are adjusted so that there is only a narrow pas- sage between them,the airstream from the lungs will set them vibrating.Sounds produced when the vocal folds are vibrating are said to be voiced,as opposed to those in which the vocal folds are apart,which are said to be voiceless. In order to hear the difference between a voiced and a voiceless sound, try saying a long'v'sound,which we will symbolize as vvvvv J.Now compare this with a long 'f sound fffff ]saying each of them alternately- o fffffvvvvvfffffvvvvv ](As indicated by the symbol in the margin,this sequence cD 1.2 is on the accompanying CD.)Both of these sounds are formed in the same way in the mouth.The difference between them is that [v is voiced and [f is voice- less.You can feel the vocal fold vibrations in [v if you put your fingertips against your larynx.You can also hear the buzzing of the vibrations in [v more easily if you stop up your ears while contrasting fffffvvvvv ] The difference between voiced and voiceless sounds is often important in dis- tinguishing sounds.In each of the pairs of words fat,vat;thigh,thy;Sue,zoo, CD 1.3 the first consonant in the first word of each pair is voiceless;in the second word, it is voiced.To check this for yourself,say just the consonant at the beginning of each of these words and try to feel and hear the voicing as suggested above.Try to find other pairs of words that are distinguished by one having a voiced and the other having a voiceless consonant. The air passages above the larynx are known as the vocal tract.Figure 1.2 shows their location within the head (actually,within Peter Ladefoged's head,in a photograph taken many years ago).The shape of the vocal tract is a very im- portant factor in the production of speech,and we will often refer to a diagram of the kind that has been superimposed on the photograph in Figure 1.2.Learn to draw the vocal tract by tracing the diagram in this figure.Note that the air passages that make up the vocal tract may be divided into the oral tract,within the mouth and pharynx,and the nasal tract,within the nose.When the flap at the back of the mouth is lowered (as it probably is for you now,if you are breath- ing with your mouth shut),air goes in and out through the nose.Speech sounds such as m and [n are produced with the vocal folds vibrating and air going out through the nose.The upper limit of the nasal tract has been marked with a dotted line since the exact boundaries of the air passages within the nose depend on soft tissues of variable size. The parts of the vocal tract that can be used to form sounds,such as the tongue and the lips,are called articulators.Before we discuss them,let's summarize
4 CHAPTER 1 Articulation and Acoustics Producing any sound requires energy. In nearly all speech sounds, the basic source of power is the respiratory system pushing air out of the lungs. Try to talk while breathing in instead of out. You will find that you can do it, but it is much harder than talking when breathing out. When you talk, air from the lungs goes up the windpipe (the trachea, to use the more technical term) and into the larynx, at which point it must pass between two small muscular folds called the vocal folds. If the vocal folds are apart (as yours probably are right now while you are breathing in and out), the air from the lungs will have a relatively free passage into the pharynx and the mouth. But if the vocal folds are adjusted so that there is only a narrow passage between them, the airstream from the lungs will set them vibrating. Sounds produced when the vocal folds are vibrating are said to be voiced, as opposed to those in which the vocal folds are apart, which are said to be voiceless. In order to hear the difference between a voiced and a voiceless sound, try saying a long ‘v’ sound, which we will symbolize as [ vvvvv ]. Now compare this with a long ‘f’ sound [fffff], saying each of them alternately— [fffffvvvvvfffffvvvvv]. (As indicated by the symbol in the margin, this sequence is on the accompanying CD.) Both of these sounds are formed in the same way in the mouth. The difference between them is that [v] is voiced and [f] is voiceless. You can feel the vocal fold vibrations in [ v ] if you put your fingertips against your larynx. You can also hear the buzzing of the vibrations in [ v ] more easily if you stop up your ears while contrasting [fffffvvvvv]. The difference between voiced and voiceless sounds is often important in distinguishing sounds. In each of the pairs of words fat, vat; thigh, thy; Sue, zoo, the first consonant in the first word of each pair is voiceless; in the second word, it is voiced. To check this for yourself, say just the consonant at the beginning of each of these words and try to feel and hear the voicing as suggested above. Try to find other pairs of words that are distinguished by one having a voiced and the other having a voiceless consonant. The air passages above the larynx are known as the vocal tract. Figure 1.2 shows their location within the head (actually, within Peter Ladefoged’s head, in a photograph taken many years ago). The shape of the vocal tract is a very important factor in the production of speech, and we will often refer to a diagram of the kind that has been superimposed on the photograph in Figure 1.2. Learn to draw the vocal tract by tracing the diagram in this figure. Note that the air passages that make up the vocal tract may be divided into the oral tract, within the mouth and pharynx, and the nasal tract, within the nose. When the flap at the back of the mouth is lowered (as it probably is for you now, if you are breathing with your mouth shut), air goes in and out through the nose. Speech sounds such as [m] and [ n ] are produced with the vocal folds vibrating and air going out through the nose. The upper limit of the nasal tract has been marked with a dotted line since the exact boundaries of the air passages within the nose depend on soft tissues of variable size. The parts of the vocal tract that can be used to form sounds, such as the tongue and the lips, are called articulators. Before we discuss them, let’s summarize CD 1.2 CD 1.3 31269_01_Ch01_pp001-032 pp2.indd Sec2:4 10/29/09 4:57:13 PM Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part