Speech Sounds

语言学第二单元，语音产生与音标、辅音和元音、语音是人的发音器官发出的、用于人与人之间交际并表达一定意义的声音。

Speech Sounds

• Speech Production and Phonetic Transcription
  • 1. Speech Production 语音产生
    • SPEECH ORGANS, also known as VOCAL ORGANS, are those parts of the human body involved in the production of speech, including the lungs, the trachea (or windpipe), the throat, the nose, and the mouth.(P.24)
    • The pharynx, mouth, and nose form the three cavities of the VOCAL TRACT and speech sounds are produced with an AIRSTREAM as their sources of energy.
    • The contents of the mouth are very important for speech production.
    • The bottom part of the mouth contains the lower lip,the lower teeth, the tongue,and the mandible (i. e, the lower jaw)
  • 2. Phonetic Transcription-The IPA 语音转录-国际音标
    • (the IPA chart) was published in August 1888.
    • Its main principles were that there should be a separate letter for each distinctive sound,and that the same symbol should be used for that sound in any language in which it appears.
    • the sound segments are grouped into consonants and vowels.
    • The consonants are then divided into pulmonic and non-pulmonic consonants.
      • PULMONIC consonants are produced by pushing air out of the lungs.
      • NON-PULMONIC:produced by either sucking air into the mouth.
• Consonants and Vowels
  • 1. Consonants辅音
    • The MANNER OF ARTICULATION发音方式： refers to ways in which articulation can be accomplished
      • STOP (or PLOSIVE)爆破音:Complete closure of the articulators is involved so that the airstream cannot escape through the mouth.
        • The closing phase
        • the hold or compression phase
        • the release phase
      • NASAL鼻音: If the air is stopped in the oral cavity because the soft palate is down but it can go out through the nasal cavity, the sound produced is a NASAL STOP, in contrast to an oral stop.
      • FRICATIVE摩擦音: A fricative is produced when there is close approximation of two articulators so that the airstream is partially obstructed and turbulent airflow is produced.
      • APPROXIMANT近音: This is an articulation in which one articulator is close to another, but without the vocal tract being narrowed to produce turbulence in the airstream. The gap between the articulators is therefore larger than for a fricative and no friction is generated.
      • LATERAL侧边音: The obstruction of the airstream is at a point along the center of the oral tract, with incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.
      • TRILL颤音: A trill is produced when an articulator is set vibrating by the airstream.
      • TAP and FLAP： When the tongue makes a single tap against the alveolar ridge to produce only one vibration, the sound is called a tap.
      • AFFRICATE非闪音: Affricates involve more than one of these manners of articulation in that they consist of a stop followed immediately afterwards by a fricative at the same place of articulation.
    • The PLACE OF ARTICULATION发音位置： refers to the point where a consonant is made.
      • BILABIAL双唇辅音: Bilabial consonants are made with the two lips.
      • LABIODENTAL唇牙音: These are made with the lower lip and the upper front teeth.
      • DENTAL: Dental sounds are made by the tongue tip or blade (depending on the accent or language) and the upper front teeth.
      • ALVEOLAR: Alveolars are made with the tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge
      • POSTALVEOLAR or PALATO-ALVEOLAR: These are made with the tongue tip and the back of the alveolar ridge.
      • RETROFLEX卷舌音: Retroflex sounds are made with the tongue tip or blade curled back so that the underside of the tongue tip or blade forms a stricture with the back of the alveolar ridge or the hard palate.
      • PALATAL腭音: Palatal sounds are made with the front of the tongue and the hard palate.
      • VELAR: Velars are made with the back of the tongue and the soft palate (the velum).
      • UVULAR: Uvulars are made with the back of the tongue and the uvula.
      • PHARYNGEAL咽音:Pharyngeal sounds are made with the root of the tongue and the walls of the pharynx.
      • GLOTTAL声门: Glottal sounds are made with the two pieces of vocal folds pushed towards each other.
  • 2. Vowels元音
    • The CARDINAL VOWELS are a set of vowel qualities arbitrarily defined,fixed and unchanging,intended to provide a frame of reference for the description of the actual vowels of existing languages.
    • The front, center, and back of the tongue are distinguished,as are four levels of tongue height:
      • the highest position the tongue can achieve without producing audible friction (high or close);
      • the lowest position the tongue can achieve (low or open);
      • two intermediate levels,dividing the intervening space into auditorily equivalent areas (mid-high or open-mid, and mid-low or close-mid).
  • 3. The Sounds of English发音
    • RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION(RP)标准发音：many people also call it BBC English, Oxford English, or King's/Queen's English.
    • In the USA, the widely accepted accent used by most educated speakers is often referred to as GENERAL AMERICAN (GA)美音
• Suprasegmentals
  • 1. Syllable音节
    • OPEN SYLLABLE：A syllable that has no coda
    • CLOSED SYLLABLE：a syllable with coda
    • MAXIMAL ONSET PRINCIPLE (MOP)最大起音原则：when there is a choice as to where to place a consonant,it is put into the onset rather than the coda.
  • 2. Sonority Scale
    • The degree of sonority of different classes of sound affects their possible positions in the syllable.
  • 3. Stress重音
    • STRESS refers to the degree of force used in producing a syllable.
    • stress in English is sometimes placed on a different syllable for the different grammatical function a word plays.
  • 4. Intonation and Tone语调和音调
    • INTONATION involves the occurrence of recurring fall-rise patterns, cach of which is used with a set of relatively consistent meanings, cither on single words or on groups of words of varying length.
    • The rising tone at the end of an utterance is often used for asking yes-no questions and showing politeness or surprise, whereas the falling tone sometimes leads to rudeness and abruptness.
    • Tones in tone languages are not always fixed because identical adjacent tones do produce tone changes.
• Phonological Analysis音系分析
  • 1. Phonemes音位
    • phonological analysis relies on the principle that certain sounds cause changes in the meaning of a word or phrase,whereas other sounds do not.
    • The word PHONEME simply refers to a "unit of explicit sound contrast":the existence of a minimal pair automatically grants phonemic status to the sounds responsible for the contrasts.
  • 2. Allophones变体
    • /p/ → [p] / [s]
    • /l/→[l]/＿V
  • 3. Phonological Rules语音规则
    • REGRESSIVE ASSIMILATION：a following sound is influencing a preceding sound.
    • PROGRESSIVE ASSIMILATION：a preceding sound is influencing a following sound.
    • /v/→[f]
    • voiced fricative →→voiceless /＿voiceless
  • 4. Rule Ordering规则排序
    • Ø→[n]/[з]＿V
    • a. The [s] appears after voiceless sounds. b. The [z] appears after voiced sounds. (Voiced sounds include vowels.) c. The [зz] appears after sibilants.
    • /z/→[s]/[-voice, C]＿ (Devoicing)
    • Ø→[з]/[+sibilant]＿[z] (Epenthesis)
    • a. //si:t+z//b. //bed+z//c. //keis+z//
    • The Elsewhere Condition
      • With the Elsewhere Condition, it is not necessary to discuss rule ordering every time it occurs.
    • The Regular Past