Phonetic Description of Speech Sounds

1
Phonetic Description of Speech Sounds

• Acoustic
• Articulatory
• Perceptual
• Symbols

2
Consonant Classification

• Voicing/Phonation type
• Voiced
• Voiceless/Unvoiced/Devoiced
• Place of Articulation
• Manner of Production -- Degree of Stricture
• Stop/Plosive complete closure
• Fricative close approximation
• Approximant open approximation
• Trill
• Affricate
• Velic Position
• Nasal
• Passage of airflow thru oral cavity
• Central
• Lateral

3
3term labels

• For Example
• /s/ Voiceless alveolar fricative
• /m/ Voiced bilabial nasal stop
• /l/ Voiced lateral alveolar approximant

4
Vowel quality

• Shape of vocal tract tube
• Resonant frequencies -- formants
• Standing waves
• Easier to use tongue and lip positions

5
Vowel Classification

• Tongue Position
• Locate highest point of normally convex surface
• Use vertical and horizontal dimensions

6

• Vertical Tongue Height
• 3 or 4 degrees
• close/high
• closemid
• openmid
• open/low
• Horizontal Tongue Backness
• Which part of tongue surface is highest
• 2 or 3 degrees
• front
• back
• central

7
Vowel Classification contd...

• Lip Position
• Rounded
• Unrounded
• Finer distictions (eg. Swedish)

8
3term labels Vowels

• For Example
• i close front unrounded
• eopenmid front unrounded
• u close back rounded

9
Other dimensions

• voiceless
• nasality
• retroflexion rcolouring / rhotacisation
• tense vs.lax
• length
• breathy vs.creaky

10
Other issues

• Monophthongs and Diphthongs
• Diphthong
• rising/closing
• centring
• falling/opening
• Cardinal vowels
• Primary/Secondary cardinal vowels
• Puzzle
• How does vowel height and backness relate to the
  formants?