CMDS 3410 PHONETICS I. The Study of Phonetics (Chapter One) A. Definition: The study of the speech sounds of a language. B. Branches of study in phonetics 1. Basic Sciences a. Perceptual (CMDS 3410) Phonetics b. Physiological (CMDS 3400) Speech and Hearing Mechanism c. Acoustic (CMDS 3550) Introduction to Speech and Hearing Science 2. Functional branches (all of the following have sub-branches) a. Experimental Phonetics (CMDS 7860), way of learning more about the sounds of language. Can come from any of the above basic sciences. Most of what we know about speech/language comes from research. b. Applied (normative, clinical, linguistic) Normative - Standard American English, which equates to pronunciation according to the dictionary. Clinical - Refers to the evaluation and treatment of disorders of the sound system. Linguistic - Refers to the rules of sound production/ perception as they relate to language, e.g., -s for plurality (cats, tacks, - t, past tense, kicked, passed). C. Phonetics as a professional tool 1. Method of describing speech using a standardized classification system. 2. Method of analyzing speech (or speech errors) to determine user patterns. D. Terminology 1. Phone - Any sound that can be produced by the human vocal tract. 2. Phoneme - A family of sounds in a language with similar characteristics. 3. Allophone - A specific member of a phoneme family. Examples of /t/ as a plosive, unaspirated plosive, stop, and flap (top, stop, hat, water). 4. Morph - word change which results in change in meaning. 5. Morpheme - the smallest phonemic unit which has meaning. Free morpheme (pat, bat - morpheme which can stand alone), bound morpheme (brings about change in a free morpheme, such as; 1. pats: She 'pats' the dog. Changes free morpheme 'pat' to third person verb, 'pats.' 2 bats: We say 'bats' flying in the sky. Changes 'bat' to plural, 'bats'). 6. Allomorph: A specific member of a morpheme family (e.g., plurals-'s', 'es', vowel changes. Examples: cats - make a plural by adding 's'; buses - make a plural by adding 'es'). 7. Graph: visual representation that has consistent value, i.e., a generic letter. 8. Grapheme - letter of the alphabet of a particular language. 9. Allograph, lower case/uppercase, cursive/printed. 10. Graphemics - study of graphemes. 11. Orthography - study of spelling. 12. Orthographic - referring to use of letters of the alphabet. E. The dynamic nature of speech 1. Speech changes over time - American English bears little resemblance to old English from which it was derived. 2. The speech of individuals changes over time, and by situation. a. Distance - we talk louder over distances and softer when close. b. Background noise - we talk louder (talking 'over' the noise). We are often unconscious of this, e.g., embarrassed when other stop talking at a party and we hear how loud we are talking. Talking louder unconsciously because of background noise is called the 'Lombard' effect. c. Education d. Self-image (confident/lacks confidence) e. Emotional state f. Ethnicity g. Geography h. Physical state (energetic, tired) F. The need to study phonetics 1. Proficiency in communication disorders profession. a. Speech-Language Pathologists need to know it to describe speech disorders in evaluation and treatment. b. Audiologists need to know to determine effect of hearing loss on the individual's ability to hear speech sounds. 2. Professional certification a. Must have course work in this area to obtain Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC). b. Need to be able to answer questions that might appear on the national examination for the CCC. 3. Need to have the information for advanced course work in department. a. Need to know the normative information in this class for courses on pathologies. b. Will have to participate in clinical activities which will require evaluating the phonetic system on a client. II. Language, Dialects, Registers, and Idiolects (Chapter Two) A. Language, Speech and Dialect 1. Universality of spoken language (Good reference for more information is Linenberg, Biological Basis of Language, 1960) a. All known human cultures have a spoken language. b. Some do not have written language. c. Some use sign language as alternative. d. Children develop language on about the same schedule, regardless of the language they are learning. 2. Prerequisites for language development a. Dependent on hearing-need to have a functioning auditory system, PNS (Peripheral Nervous System) and CNS (Central Nervous System). Deaf will not develop speech without special intervention. b. Dependent on exposure to others in environment using language. We speak the language we hear as we grow up. A French king brought newborns from around the world to determine what language they would speak if they were not exposed to any language from birth. He thought it would be French (divine dispensation). Nurses were to care for them, but not talk to them. The story has it that all died. Moral: Language, and life, needs human interaction. 3. Definition of language: (What constitutes a language?) An arbitrary set of symbols that represent experience. a. Arbitrary - not based on features of the experience. 'Cat' doesn't have any sounds that makes the listener think of a cat. b. Symbols - a sensory event that represents an experience. Can include any one of the senses. c. Experience - any event that occurs in life. May be external (sensory, e.g., visual, auditory) or internal (such hunger, pain, etc.). 5. Characteristics of language a. Rule based - governed by a set of rules commonly agreed upon by the users. b. Learned behavior - users must have exposure to appropriate models to learn the language. c. It is important to understand this as it will affect how clinicians evaluate and treat communication disorders. 6. Divisions and subdivisions of language a. Common language - English is a language common to the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and Australia. b. Major languages are subdivisions of a common language (as English). They have distinct differences, but each member of one culture can communicate with members of a different culture. This has important political-economic ramifications. People feel more closely allied with those who have the most similar communication system. c. Dialects are variations within a major language. Major languages (such as American English) have dialects that are be based on some form of separatism. 1) Geography (in the U. S. there is Eastern American, Southern American, and General American). 2) Ethnicity (nationality, ethnic group- European-Americans, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Mexican-Americans, etc.) 3) Socio-economic status 4) Education level d. Registers - contextual variations across members of a culture. These can be thought of as "role playing" in that we adjust our communication system to be appropriate for the setting in which we are speaking, e.g., we speak differently at a job interview than at a family gathering. 1) Age - speak differently to an adult and to a child. 2) Status - speak differently to peers than to authority figures. 3) Formality - speak differently to people we have just met than to old friends. B. Individual differences - idiolect. What makes the language of each of us different? Who do we talk most like? 1. Speak most like persons within our own family. (For whom have you been mistaken on the telephone?) 2. Adopt language of people we identify with most. (Dizzy Dean- "if you can do it, it ain't braggin'.") 3. Group project: a. Each member of the group answer the six questions below. b. Have the others listen to the speech of each and decide the classification. Use whatever classification the group feels is appropriate. c. Have a group reporter indicate the classifications found in his/her group. Questions: 1. Where have you lived? 2. From where were your parents? 3. To what degree have you been influenced by,or have you influenced, the speech of your school friends? 4. Did parents or teachers influence your speech in terms of 'correctness' or 'acceptability?' 5. Do you speak languages or dialects other than the one you normally use? 6. Do you have close friends who are multi-lingual or whose speech is different from yours? C. Dialect (watch video "American Tongues") 1. Definition: Speech and language that is associated with specific sub-cultures. 2. Stereotyping: Commonly held beliefs about sub- cultures. a. Disadvantage: People assume speaker has negative traits of the sub-culture. (Southern speakers lack education, Eastern speakers are rude.) b. Advantage: Positive characteristics of culture also associated with speaker. (Southerners friendly and hospitable, Easterners ambitious.) c. Disadvantage: People listen to style, may distract from message. d. Advantage: Gives speaker a sense of belonging and identity. 3. People in the professions need to be aware of speech standards that are acceptable across geographic, social, and ethnic lines. Use of Standard American English (SAE) as the form of English acceptable in all part of the country. III. Classification schemes (Chapter Three) A. Review structures of speech. Three processes are involved; respiration, phonation, and articulation. (Think of these from the perspective of what can go wrong, for purposes of understanding communication disorders.) 1. Respiration (power source for speech-must have a source of power to create the energy needed for speech). It would be more correct to use the term 'breathing'. 'Respiration' is the exchange of gases between air and lungs, 'breathing' is the process of inhaling and exhaling air. 2. Phonation (vibrator - source of sound for part of speech sounds - voiced versus unvoiced sounds) 3. Articulation/resonance (noise generator/sound modifier) B. Classification by syllable function (syllables are the smallest unit of connected speech-have release-open-arrest components) 1. Vowels (normally voiced) [see vowel quadrilateral] Vowels are classified primarily by the position of highest arch of tongue. a. Resonance - cavities modify sound frequency as a result of differences in size/shape. Analogous to musical instruments (trombone, flute, clarinet). This can be demonstrated by hearing the difference in sound as you blow into an plastic tube and pinch it at different points. b. Resonance can be changed by changing tongue position or rounding the lips. c. Look at vowel quadrilateral. x-rays used to develop the classification scheme of high/low/front/back. 2. Consonants [see consonant chart] Consonants are classified primarily by 1) voicing, 2) place of articulation, and 3) manner of production. a. Voicing 1) The physiological mechanism for producing voice is the larynx. Sound is produced at the glottis by the vibration of the vocal folds. Sounds can be voiced or unvoiced (Mississippi example of rapid changes in voicing.) Some sounds are differentiated by voicing alone. These are called cognate pairs. Examples are s/z, t/d, and v/f. 2) It is important to understand the active process of either adducting or abducting the folds. b. Place/point of articulation 1) Labials (lips) 2) Labial-dentals (lips-teeth) 3) Lingua-dentals (tongue-teeth) 4) Lingua-alveolars (tongue-alveolar ridge) 5) Lingua-palatals (tongue-hard palate) 6) Lingua-velars (tongue-soft palate) 7) Glottals (vocal folds) c. Manner of production 1) Plosives/stops: produced by complete obstruction of air flow. Plosive release followed by air flow through glottis. 2) Fricatives: produced by partial closure of the vocal tract and sustained air flow. 3) Affricates: produced by complete closure, followed by sustained air flow through point of articulation. 4) Glides: changes in resonance patterns produced by changing position of articulators during production of sound. 5) Nasals: produced by permitting air to flow through nasal cavity. d. Other descriptors for manner of production 1) Obstruents: characterized by obstructed air flow, complete or partial. Most consonants are obstruents. 2) Sonorants: sounds that are made with relative open oral cavity (consonant sonorants are called 'semi-vowels'). 3) Stridents: sounds produced by directing the air flow against a surface, such as the back of the teeth, to create noticeable friction. /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/ 'sh', 'zh', 'ch', and 'j'. 4) Sibilants: subset of stridents characterized by high frequency sound. /s/, /z/, 'sh', 'zh', 'ch', and 'j'. 5) Laterals: characterized by air flow around the sides of the tongue. /l/. 6) Liquids: /l/ and /r/ sounds. Term liquid is used to indicate open production (no friction). C. Distinctive feature theory (Chomsky & Halle, Jacobson, Fant, and Halle) Tables 3.3 and 3.4 in text] Characteristic of first member of pair described. Brief descriptions-see book for more details. 1. Vocallic/Nonvocalic: sounds produced with oral cavity open (all vowels, /r/ and /l/). 2. Consonantal/Nonconsonantal: sound characterized by obstruction to midline of vocal tract (all consonants). 3. Sonorant/Obstruent: open vocal tract. 4. Rhotic/Nonrhotic: sounds with /r/ - ness. 5. Front/Nonfront: sounds produced anterior to central plain of the oral cavity. 6. Acute/Grave (Coronal/Noncoronal): tongue raised from a neutral position (position for schwa). 7. (Compact/Diffuse) Anterior/Nonanterior: Obstruction anterior to production of 'sh'. 8. High/Nonhigh: produced with tongue raised from neutral position (schwa). 9. Low/Nonlow: produced with tongue lowered from neutral position (schwa). 10. Back/Nonback: produced by moving the tonge back from the neutral position. 11. (Flat/Plain) Rounded/Nonrounded: lips rounded during production. 12. Distributed/Nondistributed: produced along an extended constriction (such 'sh' sound compared to 's' sound). 13. Nasal/Non-nasal: produced with velum lowered. 14. Lateral/Nonlateral: produced by lowering the midsection of the tongue on either side (/l/ sound). 15. Continuant/Stop: constricted, sustained air flow (such as /f/). 16. Tense/Lax: produced with considerable muscular tension. 17. Voiced/Voiceless: produced with vibration of the vocal folds. 18. dent/Nonstrident: characterized by considerable friction (affricates and most fricatives). IV. Overview Lecture: The characteristics of sounds that will be used in learning the sounds of the English language. (Part II, Overview) A. General considerations 1. Introducing the sound - general description 2. Common name for sound 3. Phonetic description of sound B. Common spellings: We will discuss this section, but you will not be expected to remember specifics. This will be a needed reference if you work in a school setting. C. Sound distribution - recognition only of the nature of sound distribution (initial, medial, and final positions in the syllable, or prevocalic and post vocalic positions) D. Development data 1. Age of mastery by 51% of normal children (in two positions for consonants) 2. Age for 90% (two positions for consonants) 3. Consonants only - age at which 75% mastery achieved by normally developing children) E. Articulatory data 1. Physiological description 2. Common musculature (will not be fully discussed in this class - will be in CMDS 3400 Anatomy and Physiology). F. Phonetic productivity 1. Relative frequency of occurrence in English by percent and rank (know the top 5 and bottom 5) 2. Allophonic variations 3. Common dialect differences 4. Non-native speaker pronunciation difficulties G. Distinctive feature analysis. Classification according to Chomsky and Halle studies (1968) H. Acoustic data (most will not be covered in this class - will be CMDS 3550 Introduction to Speech Science) 1. Will discuss perceptual data related to hearing. 2. Voice onset time (VOT), when a feature 3. Duration I. Perceptual difficulty How often errors are made in identifying the sound V. Phoneme groups A. Vowels (vowel quadrilateral) General characteristics 1. Definition: A speech sound that is formed without a significant constriction of the oral and pharyngeal cavities. This is also the definition for the term 'sonorant.' Some consonants have vowel-like characteristics, e.g., /l/ and /r/. 2. Vowels serves as a syllable nucleus, or the open part of a syllable bound by consonants. Syllables have three components; releasing, open, and arresting. The releasing and arresting components are usually consonants. 3. Monophthong: pure vowels, consistent placement of the speech mechanism throughout production of sound. 4. Diphthong: Vowel that starts in the position of one vowel and ends in the position of a second. 5. Classification protocol: a. Tongue height: relative height of the tongue in vowel production. High-Mid-Low b. Tongue advancement: relative front-to-back position of tongue in vowel production: Front-Central-Back c. Tense/Lax: vowels that have greater muscle activity and longer duration are tense. Usually described in terms of vowel pairs. d. Lip rounding: Vowels may be produced with rounded or unrounded lips. e. Cardinal vowels: /i/, /e/, /u/, and /o/ are called cardinal vowels. Common in most languages of the world. Classification scheme 6. Front (see Chapter Ten and class notes) 7. Central (see Chapter Eleven and class notes) 8. Back (see Chapter Twelve and class notes) 9. Diphthongs (see Chapter Thirteen and class notes) B. Consonants (consonant chart) General characteristics 1. Definition: A sound usually produced with significant constriction of the vocal tract. Glides and nasals have minimal constriction and are sometimes referred to as semi-vowels. 2. Function: Consonants serve as syllable markers, i.e., they release and arrest syllables. 3. Classification protocol a. Point of articulation: Most constricted point in the vocal tract. See consonant chart. b. Manner of production: Way in which the speech mechanism moves, or is positioned, to produce the sound. See consonant chart c. Voicing: Presence or absence of phonation (vibration of the vocal folds. Classification scheme 4. Plosives (see Chapter 5 and class notes) 5. Fricatives (see Chapter 6 and class notes) 6. Affricates (see Chapter 7 and class notes) 7. Nasals (see Chapter 8 and class notes) 8. Glides (see Chapter 9 and class notes) c:\cmds3410\c3410out 5/17/02