Cours 2 : Phonetics and Phonology

Question 1

definition of phonetics

Answer 1

study of sounds in human language

Question 2

definition of phonology

Answer 2

study of the pattern of phonemes and relationships between the phonemes of a language

Question 3

3 systems of speech production in phonemes (human sounds go through 3 systems)

Answer 3

1. respiratory system : produces the airstream needed for speaking
2. phonatory system : produces voice
3. articulatory system : responsible for the variations and articulations

Question 4

function of the vocal tract

Answer 4

it gives the vibration and shaping of the speech

Question 5

function of the larynx

Answer 5

it works like a resonating chamber

the tenser the cords, the higher the pitch

Question 6

function of the mouth

Answer 6

it produces sound : the active articulators move towards the passive ones and modify the airstream

Question 7

articulation : the criteria to classify sounds

Answer 7

articulation indicates which active articulator will create constriction.

3 parameters :
1. place of articulation
2. manner of articulation
3. energy of articulation

Question 8

places of articulation

Answer 8

1. bilabial
2. labio-dental
3. dental
4. alveolar
5. palato-alveolar
6. palatal
7. velar
8. glottal

Question 9

what is the McGurk effect ?

Answer 9

what we hear is influenced by what we read on other people’s lips

Question 10

other articulators

Answer 10

> uvula
tongue
glottis (not in the articulatory system)

Question 11

manner of articulation

Answer 11

sounds are produced through scrictures. there are 3 different kinds of scrictures :

1. complete closure
2. close approximation
3. open approximation

Question 12

complete closure (manner of articulation)

Answer 12

when we block the airstream in the mouth

> stops : the airstream is blocked
nasals : the oral cavity is closed but the soft palate is lowered to let air escape through the nose.

Question 13

close approximation (manner of articulation)

Answer 13

fricatives : the articulators are close, but they don’t make a complete closure.

obstruents (provoke obstruction) and sonorants

Question 14

open approximation

Answer 14

approximants : articulators come close, but not close enough to produce friction

lateral sounds : closure at the centre but the air can escape via the sides of the tongue

semi-vowels/semi-consonants

Question 15

energy of articulation

Answer 15

lenis = voiced : vocal folds vibrate

fortis = voiceless : vocal folds don’t vibrate

Question 16

classification of vowels

Answer 16

tongue shape

lip shape

duration

constancy of tongue shape and lip shape

position of velum

Question 17

tongue shape

Answer 17

how close the tongue is to the roof of the mouth

> /i/ is close to the roof
/a/ is far from the roof

> front vowel : the front of the tongue is highest (/i/)
back vowel : the back of the tongue is highest (/uh/)

Question 18

lip shape

Answer 18

rounding the lips deepens the pitch and increases resonance

front and open vowels have spread/neutral lips, back vowels have rounded lips

Question 19

duration

Answer 19

time taken for a sound to be pronounced

checked vowels are shorter than free vowels (“pip” VS “peep”)

Question 20

constancy of tongue

Answer 20

if the position of the lips remains steady, steady-state vowels = monopthong

if there is a change, vowel glide = diphtong

Question 21

position of velum (= soft palate)

Answer 21

nasal vowels are produced with the velum lowered

Question 22

phonology

Answer 22

the analysis of the cognitive organisation of the sounds in the brain. il allows a speaker to form meaningful combinations of words

Question 23

phonemes

Answer 23

abstract mental units : what our brain thinks about when we make a sound. it’s also the smallest unit that distinguishes meaing between words in a language

Question 24

phone

Answer 24

a set of speech sounds that are seen as equivalent
> “Pull”/”sPin”/”toP”

allophone : the same phoneme has different realisations

Question 25

minimal pairs

Answer 25

pairs of words in which one phoneme changes, which results in a change in meaning (ex. “bat” VS “rat”)

commutation test : substituting one phone with another. if there is a change in meaning, the test is productive/contrastive

Question 26

allophones

Answer 26

they are different realisations of one phoneme. thus, they are a set of phones that are perceived by the speaker to realise the same phoneme.

allophones in free variation : 2 phones may substitute one another randomly in the same environment without a change in meaning (ex. glottal stop)

allophones in complementary distribution : one phone always appears in condition A but never in condition B, while another always appears in condition B but never in condition A (ex. /l/)

Question 27

morpheme

Answer 27

the smallest grammatical unit that expresses meaning

the fact that words can be decomposed into morphemes and that morphemes can be decomposed into phonemes illustrates the linguistic concept of discreetness
> it’s the idea that there are identifiably distinct units that can be combined together to express meanings

Question 28

allomorphs

Answer 28

there are different ways of spelling a morpheme, but the meaning of said morpheme doesn’t change

Question 29

alternation in connected speech

Answer 29

it helps understanding the passage from the mental representation of phonemes to actual pronunciation

Question 30

assimilation

Answer 30

2 phones that are different and next to one another become more alike. the nasal will pick the place of articulation of the following phone.
> full assimilation : the influence of one sound on another resultst in a change of phoneme
> partial assimilation : the sound is changed only on the allophonic level

3 types of consonant assimilation :
> place (“woodpecker”)
> energy (“have to”)
> manner (“ join the army”)

2 types of assimilation depending on the direction of change :
> regressive assimilation : a sound influences the previous sound (ex. “bless you”)
> progressive assimilation : a sound influences the following sound (ex. won’t you”)

Question 31

dissimilation

Answer 31

2 phones that are similar and close to each other become different (ex. “february”)

Question 32

insertion

Answer 32

adding a phone to a given sound string (“roses”)

Question 33

elision

Answer 33

a phoneme is deleted (“psychology”)

Question 34

liaison

Answer 34

> linking /r/ : obligatory if the following word starts with a vowel (“my touR around”)
intrusive /r/ : optional after a schwa (“lake genevA(r)”)

Question 35

distribution of allomorphs

Answer 35

the aim is to identify the pattern of distribution in terms of the phonological properties of the sounds preceding each allomorph. To do so, we look for minimal pairs