Week 14 - Orthography, IPA, and Phonetics Tuesday, January 15, 2019 4:06 PM · Limits of English Orthography o English letters tend to do a bad job representing sounds . Many-to-one and one-to-many correspondences between symbols and so read (past). Ea is one symbol and is associated with multiple sounds. · Digraphs - two letters representing one sound (ea, oi) " Silent letters - historically, these sounds were pronounced, but not anym " English borrowed the Latin alphabet, which only has 5 vowels. English has than that (at least 12) · International Phonetic Alphabet is a system to remedy this. ? It has one sound per symbol, with some exceptions · Standardized ? Based on roman alphabet · IPA Drawbacks (for English speakers) ? Weird symbols ? Symbols look like English letters, but represent different sounds . Transcription is indicated by square brackets [ ] · IPA symbols are a better match for non-English European languages. · Sociolinguists tend to not use IPA because they study within one language, so they us instead of symbols. Phonetics - The science of speech production and perception ? Articulatory phonetics: the physiological systems producing the sounds. The me ? Acoustic phonetics: about the perception of sound, the physics of sound produc systems used in perceiving it - Articulatory Phonetics: Mechanics of sound ? Lungs: set air in motion o Larynx: sound source. Vocal folds are here. Air is forced through vocal folds Three filters modulate the sound produced by the vocal folds " Pharynx: First filter, changes shape and constriction · Oral cavity: Second filter. changes pitches
folds o Three filters modulate the sound produced by the vocal folds . Pharynx: First filter, changes shape and constriction · Oral cavity: Second filter, changes pitches · Nasal cavity: Third filter. o Speech is analogue (continuous), but our representation and perception is digital (we distinguish syllables and words): Segments (vowels and consonants) and Features (is voicebox on our not?). Vowels vs Consonants - Vowels are made by shaping the vocal tract. More sonorous (can be sung or extended) - Consonants are made by blocking or narrowing the vocal tract. Less sonorous - On the sonogram, darker areas (more energy) is vowels, lighter is consonant Articulation of Vowels - English vowel space corresponds to the oral cavity. Shows where in the oral cavity the sound is created. - English vowels have the following properties o High or mid or low o Front or central or back o Tense or Lax (how tightly mouth is held when producing) . Cheat sheet: Familiar symbol is tense, Funny symbols is lax Rounded or unrounded: what shape are your lips. In English, all non-low, back vowels are round. ? - The above are Vocalic Features (properties of sound, physical things we do with our mouths for speech) - That was simple vowels, also know as monophthongs. They hold a steady state. - Diphthongs: vowels that transition between two states. Like boy: booiiee. This is represented by movement in the vowe