5/28/2010

ENG4820: History of the English

Language with Dr. Getty

Summer 2010
Week 2: Phonetics, Continued

The Human Speech Apparatus

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Manners of Articulation
Stop or Plosive:
Oral and nasal cavities are completely 
closed off. No air comes out of the head 
until the stop/plosive is released
until the stop/plosive is released
poor – bore – tore  – door – core – gore 

Fricative:
Two parts in the oral cavity are brought 
close enough together to create 
turbulence in the air stream coming out 
of the lungs, creating ‘white noise.’
four – Thor – sore – hair 

Nasal:
Voicing:  The mouth is completely closed off but 
The vocal chords are brought together the velum is lowered, allowing air to 
closely enough to start vibrating against come out through the nose.
each other, creating a buzzing sound.  mere – near – hang
poor – bore – swift – swivel

We Need a Better Alphabet

We need an alphabet
that …
•Can be used to represent any
sound in any language, including
any possible sound we might not
yet have encountered
•Allows a one-to-one relationship
between symbols and sounds –
not one-to-many, many-to-one,
etc.
•We’ll be taking a tour through this
vast inventory
inventory, concentrating on the
sounds attested in English.
•From now on, we’ll represent
phonetic symbols in [square
brackets] and spelled words in
<angled brackets> or in italics.

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Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: English Sounds

water uh-oh
hang

think this share treasure

Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: English Sounds
Voicing:
Say in a continuous loop: ha‐ha‐ha

Here’s what’s happening

Nasal vs. Oral:

Say in a continuous loop: Bob, Mom

Your velum rises and closes off the nasal 
Stop vs. Fricative
cavity when you say Bob It lowers when
cavity when you say Bob. It lowers when 
pin – fin ban – van  
you say Mom
tin – sin too – zoo 
Now hold your nose and try again: Bob, 
Front to Back
mom.
pin – tin – kin
fall – tall – call  

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Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: English Sounds
Try It Out:

Which best describes the sounds hinted at 
Which best describes the sounds hinted at
by the bolded letters?

Voicing Place of Articulation Manner of Articulation

Voiceless

Fricative
Alvveolar

alvveolar
Voiced

Deental
bial

Nasal
Velar
Post‐

op
Lab

Sto
plans
planks
planks
planks
planks

Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: English Sounds
Try It Out:

Which best describes the sounds hinted at 
Which best describes the sounds hinted at
by the bolded letters?

Voicing Place of Articulation Manner of Articulation

oiceless

Frricative
Allveolar

alveolar
oiced

Deental
Laabial

Nasal
Veelar
ost‐

Sttop

IPA Symbo
y
Vo

Vo

Po

plans X X X [z]
planks X X X [p]
planks X X X [ŋ]
planks X X X [k]
planks X X X [s]

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 5/28/2010

Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: English Sounds
Try It Out:

Which best describes the sounds hinted at 
Which best describes the sounds hinted at
by the bolded letters?

Voicing Place of Articulation Manner of Articulation

Voiceless

Friccative
Alveolar

alveeolar
Voiced

ntal
bial

Nassal
Velar
Posst‐

Stop
Den
Lab

three
there
rinsed
rented
climb

Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: English Sounds
Try It Out:

Which best describes the sounds hinted at 
Which best describes the sounds hinted at
by the bolded letters?

Voicing Place of Articulation Manner of Articulation

oiceless

Friicative
Alvveolar

alvveolar
oiced

Deental
Labial

Naasal
Veelar
ost‐

op
Sto
Vo

Vo

Po

three X X X []
there X X X [ð]
rinsed X X X [t]
rented X X X [d]
climb Gotcha!

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Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: English Sounds
Okay. So much for the tidy part.
Li
Linguists use competing but interchangeable symbols
i i b i h bl b l
and terms to represent a number of sounds:

The postalveolar fricatives [ʃ] and [Ʒ], as in share and measure

•Also called alveopalatal
•Also represented as [š] and [ž] respectively
•Hudson uses this notation. I’ll mostly use the classical IPA. 

English also has a class of sounds that combine the articulations of stops and 
English also has a class of sounds that combine the articulations of stops and
fricatives: the affricates. IPA notation treats these as two separate sounds. 

Stop  Fricative  Affricate IPA Representation Otherwise

too  shoe  chew [tʃ] [č]
do  measure  judge [dƷ] [ ǰ]

Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: Non
Non--English Sounds

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Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: The Approximants
These are sounds that get in the way of the air coming 
out of the lungs, but not enough to cause trouble…
Lateral approximants:     [l]  leave, yellow, evil
Retroflex approximants:  [r] red, Mary, ever
‘Retroflex’ describes the tip of the tongue, which is 
bent backwards  to point up almost straight to the 
hard palate.
In American English, the retroflex approximant
In American English, the retroflex approximant 
functions as a vowel: bird, ever, vertical
Glide approximants: [w]  way, sewer, few
[j] yes, payer, say

Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: The Vowels

Think of the space inside your mouth as a sort of trapezoid. Most of the
sound of a vowel depends on where in this trapezoidal space the highest
point of your tongue finds itself.

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Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: The Vowels
On the vertical axis, we 
also use these terms:

High, tense
High, lax
Mid, tense

Mid, lax

Low

Think of the space inside your mouth as a sort of trapezoid. Most of the
sound of a vowel depends on where in this trapezoidal space the highest
point of your tongue finds itself.

Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: The Vowels
Most varieties of English only use a fraction of vowel space…

High, tense
High, lax
Mid, tense

Mid, lax

Low

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 5/28/2010

Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: The Vowels
Most varieties of English only use a fraction of vowel space…
Front Vowels, Close (High) to Open (Low):
[i] see, beat, teen
[I] sip, bit, tin
[e] say, bait, taint Our Lonely Central Vowel:
[ə] done, up, sun
[] said, bet, ten
[æ] sad, bat, tan
Back Vowels, Close (High) to Open (Low):
[u] soon boot too
soon, boot, too
[ʊ] foot, book, took
[o] so, boat, tone For many of you, especially if you
grew up West of the Mississippi or
[ɔ] saw, bought, collar south of St. Louis, these two vowels
[ɑ] sod, pot, caller are indistinct.

Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: The Vowels
Veritcal Axis: Horizontal Axis: Lips
Tongue Height
Open‐Mid / 
Close‐Mid / 
Close‐Lax  / 

Unrounded
Mid‐Tense 
High‐Tense

Rounded
High‐Lax

Mid‐Lax
Close  / 

Open / 

Central
Front

Back
Low

three
true
since
cabin
pain
uncle
sent

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 5/28/2010

Feeling Out the Points and Manners

of Articulation: The Vowels
Vertical Axis: Horizontal Axis: Lips
Tongue Height

Open‐Mid / 
Close‐Mid / 
Close‐Lax  / 

Unrounded
Mid‐Tense 
High‐Tense

IPA SYmbol
Rounded
High‐Lax

Mid‐Lax
Close  / 

Open / 

Central
Front

Back
Low
three X X X [i]
true X X X [u]
since X X X [I]
cabin X X X [æ]
pain X X X [e]
uncle X X X [ə]
sent X X X [ε]

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