Phonetics

Phonetics, the study of speech language sounds and their physiological production and
acoustic qualities. It deals with the configurations of the vocal tract used to produce speech
sounds (articulatory phonetics), the acoustic properties of speech sounds (acoustic phonetics),
and the manner of combining sounds so as to make syllables, words, and sentences (linguistic
phonetics).

Articulatory Phonetics

The traditional method of describing speech sounds is in terms of the movements of the vocal
organs that produce them. The main structures that are important in the production of speech
are the lungs and the respiratory system, together with the vocal organs. The airstream
from the lungs passes between the vocal cord, which are two small muscular folds located in
the larynx at the top of the windpipe. The space between the vocal cords is known as
the glottis. If the vocal cords are apart, as they are normally when breathing out, the air from
the lungs will have a relatively free passage into the pharynx and the mouth. But if the vocal
cords are adjusted so that there is a narrow passage between them, the airstream will cause
them to be sucked together. As soon as they are together there will be no flow of air, and the
pressure below them will be built up until they are blown apart again. The flow of air between
them will then cause them to be sucked together again, and the vibratory cycle will continue.
Sounds produced when the vocal cords are vibrating are said to be voiced, as opposed to
those in which the vocal cords are apart, which are said to be voiceless.
The air passages above the vocal cords are known collectively as the vocal tract. For phonetic
purposes they may be divided into the oral tract within the mouth and the pharynx, and
the nasal speech sound tract within the nose. Many speech sounds are characterized by
movements of the lower articulators—i.e., the tongue or the lower lip—toward the upper
articulators within the oral tract. The upper surface includes several important structures from
the point of view of speech production, such as the upper lip and the upper teeth.
The alveolar ridge is a small protuberance just behind the upper front teeth that can easily be
felt with the tongue. The major part of the roof of the mouth is formed by the hard palate in
the front, and the soft palate or velum at the back. The soft palate is a muscular flap that
can be raised so as to shut off the nasal tract and prevent air from going out through the nose.
When it is raised so that the soft palate is pressed against the back wall of the pharynx there is
said to be a velic closure. At the lower end of the soft palate is a small hanging appendage
known as the uvula.

There are also specific names for different parts of the tongue. The tip and blade are the
most mobile parts. Behind the blade is the so-called front of the tongue; it is actually the
forward part of the body of the tongue and lies underneath the hard palate when the tongue is
at rest. The remainder of the body of the tongue may be divided into the centre, which is
partly beneath the hard palate and partly beneath the soft palate; the back, which is beneath
the soft palate; and the root, which is opposite the back wall of the pharynx.

Definitions and Examples

Articulatory phonetics
Articulatory phonetics refers to the “aspects of phonetics which looks at how the sounds of
speech are made with the organs of the vocal tract”
Articulatory phonetics can be seen as divided up into three areas to describe consonants. These
are voice, place and manner respectively.

Voice, Voiced and Voiceless

Voice
In English we have both voiced and voiceless sounds. A sound fits into one of these
categories according to how the vocal folds behave when a speech sound is produced.

Voiced: Voiced sounds are sounds that involve vocal fold vibrations when they are produced.
Examples of voiced sounds are /b,d,v,m/.

If you place two fingers on either side of the front of your neck, just below your jawbone, and
produce a sound, you should be able to feel a vibrating sensation. This tells you that a sound is
voiced.

Voiceless: Voiceless sounds are sounds that are produced with no vocal fold vibration.
Examples of voiceless sounds in English are /s,t,p,f/.
Place of articulation
The vocal tract is made up of different sections, which play a pivotal role in the production of
speech. These sections are called articulators and are what make speech sounds possible.
They can be divided into two types.

The active articulator is the articulator that moves towards another articulator in the
production of a speech sound. This articulator moves towards another articulator to form a
closure of some type in the vocal tract (i.e open approximation, close, etc – define)

The passive articulator is the articulator that remains stationary in the production of a speech
sound. Often, this is the destination that the active articulator moves towards (i.e the hard
palate).

Bilabials
Bilabial sounds involve the upper and lower lips. In the production of a bilabial sound, the lips
come into contact with each other to form an effective constriction. In English, /p, b, m/ are
bilabial sounds.

Labiodentals
Labiodental sounds involve the lower lip (labial) and upper teeth (dental) coming into contact
with each other to form an effective constriction in the vocal tract. Examples of labiodental
sounds in English are /f,v/. Labiodental sounds can be divided into two types.

a) Endolabial: sounds produced where the upper teeth are pressed against the inside
of the lower lip.
b) Exolabial: sounds produced where the upper teeth are pressed against the outer
side of the lower lip.

Dentals
Dental sounds involve the tongue tip (active articulator) making contact with the upper teeth to
form a constriction. Examples of Dental sounds in English are / θ, ð/. If a sound is produced
where the tongue is between the upper and lower teeth, it is attributed the term ‘interdental’.

Alveolars
Alveolar sounds involve the front portion of the tongue making contact with the alveolar ridge
to form an effective constriction in the vocal tract. Examples of alveolar sounds in English are /t,
d, n, l, s/. Postalveolar sounds are made a little further back (‘post’) from the alveolar ridge. A
postalveolar sound is produced when the blade of the tongue comes into contact with the post-
alveolar region of your mouth. Examples of post-alveolar sounds in English are / ʃ, ʒ /.

Palatals
Palatal sounds are made with the tongue body (the big, fleshy part of your tongue). The tongue
body raises up towards the hard-palate in your mouth (the dome shaped roof of your mouth) to
form an effective constriction. An example of a palatal sounds in English is /j/, usually spelt as
<y>.
Velars
Velar sounds are made when the back of the tongue (tongue dorsum) raises towards the soft
palate, which is located at the back of the roof of the mouth. This soft palate is known as the
velum. An effective constriction is then formed when these two articulators come into contact
with each other. Examples of velar sounds in English are /k, g ŋ /.

Manner of articulation
In simple terms, the manner of articulation refers to the way a sound is made, as opposed
to where it’s made. Sounds differ in the way they are produced. When the articulators are
brought towards each other, the flow of air differs according to the specific sound type. For
instance, the airflow can be completely blocked off or made turbulent.

Stops
Stop articulations are sounds that involve a complete closure in the vocal tract. The closure is
formed when two articulators come together to prevent air escaping between them. Stop
articulations can be categorized according to the kind of airflow involved. The type of airflow
can be oral (plosives) or nasal (nasals).

Plosives
Plosives: are sounds that are made with a complete closure in the oral (vocal) tract. The
velum is raised during a plosive sound, which prevents air from escaping via the nasal cavity.
English plosives are the sounds /p, b, t, d, k, g/. Plosives can be held for quite a long time and
are thus also called ‘maintainable stops’.

Nasals
Nasals are similar to plosives in regards to being sounds that are made with a complete
closure in the oral (vocal) tract. However, the velum is lowered during nasal sounds, which
allows airflow to escape through the nasal cavity. There are 3 nasal sounds that occur in English
/m, n, ŋ/

Fricatives
Fricative sounds are produced by narrowing the distance between the active and passive
articulators causing them to be in close approximation. This causes the airflow to become
turbulent when it passes between the two articulators involved in producing a fricative sound.
English fricatives are sounds such as / f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ /

Approximant sounds are created by narrowing the distance between the two articulators.
Although,unlike fricatives, the distance isn’t wide enough to create turbulent airflow. English
has 4 approximant sounds which are /w,j,r,l/.

Vowels
When it comes to vowels, we use a different specification to describe them. We look at the
vertical position of the tongue, the horizontal position of the tongue and lip position.

Vowels are made with a free passage of airflow down the mid-line of the vocal tract. They are
usually voiced and are produced without friction.
 1) Vertical tongue position (close-open): vertical tongue position refers to how close the
tongue is to the roof of the mouth in the production of a vowel. If the tongue is close, it is
given the label close. However, if the tongue is low in the mouth when a vowel is produced, it’s
given the label open. + close-mid/open mid (see below).

Some examples of open vowels: ɪ, ʊ

Some examples of close vowels: æ, ɒ,

2) Horizontal tongue position (front, mid, back): Horizontal tongue refers to where the
tongue is positioned in the vocal tract in terms of ‘at the front’ or ‘at the back’ when a vowel is
produced. If the tongue is at the front of the mouth it’s given the label front, if the tongue is in
the middle of the mouth it’s given the label mid and if the tongue is at the back of the mouth
it’s given the label back.

Some examples of front vowels: ɪ , e, æ

Some examples of mid vowels: ə
Some examples of back vowels: ʌ,ɒ

3) Lip position: As is inferred, lip position concerns the position of the lips when a vowel is
produced. The lips can either be round, spread or neutral.

Examples of round vowels: u, o

Examples of spread vowels: ɪ, ɛ

Monophthongs
Monophthongs: Monophthongs are vowels that are produced by a relatively stable tongue
position. Monophthongs can be divided into two categories according to their duration. These
are long and short vowels and their duration is mirrored in their names.

Examples of short vowels: e, æ, ɪ, ʊ

Examples of long vowels: ɔ: ɜ:, i:, u:

Diphtongs
Diphthongs: Diphthongs are vowels where the tongue moves from one part of the mouth to
another. They can be seen as starting of as one vowel and ending as a different vowel.

Here are some examples: /aʊ, ɪə, ɔɪ, əʊ/

Phonology
What is Phonology?
Phonology is the study of the patterns of sounds in a language and across languages. Put more
formally, phonology is the study of the categorical organisation of speech sounds in languages;
how speech sounds are organised in the mind and used to convey meaning. In this section of
the website, we will describe the most common phonological processes and introduce the
concepts of underlying representations for sounds versus what is actually produced, the surface
form.

Phonology can be related to many linguistic disciplines, including psycholinguistics, cognitive

science, sociolinguistics and language acquisition. Principles of phonology can also be applied to
treatments of speech pathologies and innovations in technology. In terms of speech
recognition, systems can be designed to translate spoken data into text. In this way, computers
process the language like our brains do. The same processes that occur in the mind of a human
when producing and receiving language occur in machines.

Phonology vs. Phonetics – the key differences

Phonology is concerned with the abstract, whereas phonetics is concerned with the physical
properties of sounds. In phonetics we can see infinite realisations, for example every time you
say a ‘p’ it will slightly different than the other times you’ve said it. However, in phonology all
productions are the same sound within the language’s phoneme inventory, therefore even
though every ‘p’ is produced slightly different every time, the actual sound is the same. This
highlights a key difference between phonetic and phonology as even though no two ‘p’s are the
same, they represent the same sound in the language.

Phonemes V. Allophones
Phonemes are the meaningfully different sound units in a language (the smallest units of
sound). For example, ‘pat’ and ‘bat’ differ in their first phoneme: the “p” and “b”. Vowels are
also phonemes, so “pat” and “pet” differ by a phoneme, too (But phonemes don’t always match
up with spelling!). When two words differ by a single phoneme they are known as a minimal
pair.
Allophones are different ways to pronounce a phoneme based on its environment in a word. For
example, the two allophones of /l/ in “little” are actually produced slightly differently, and the
second one sounds slightly deeper. These different “l”s always occur in different environments
in words, which is known as “complementary distribution”.