Phonetics II

Question 1

What are sounds produced by

Answer 1

Sending air from lungs - pulmonic - English
Vibrating vocal folds in the larynx or not
Shaping/constricting vocal tract

Question 2

butter, ladder, writer

Answer 2

Tt, closer to r
Tt, dd, t - pronounced as flap or tap [r]

Question 3

Vowels vs consonants

Answer 3

Consonants contrast with vowels - tricky to define tho
Like sometimes y ?

Question 4

syllables

Answer 4

Group sounds in speech stream
Intuitive objects - can tell pretty well

Question 5

what is a syllable

Answer 5

Syllable = string of segments with exactly one peak in sonority

Question 6

sonority

Answer 6

Refers to inherent perceptual salience of a sound - correlating mostly with how loud the sound is compared to other sounds of same length and intensity

Question 7

which consonants are most or least sonorant

Answer 7

most = vowels
Out of consonants = approximants, laterals, frictaives, stops (plosives are least sonorant)
Directly correlates with degreee of obstruction in mouth

Question 8

are voiced or voiceless sounds more sonorant

Answer 8

Voiced sounds are always more sonorant than voiceless sounds

Question 9

what is the nucleus of a. Syllable

Answer 9

Peak - 1 vowel
- most sonorant speech sound forms nucleus of syllable

Question 10

can consonants form nucleus of a syllable

Answer 10

They can but don’t do so necessarily

Question 11

Consonants Are

Answer 11

Approximants

Question 12

what are vowels

Answer 12

Produced by shaping vocal tract with very little to no constriction

Question 13

where are vowels formed

Answer 13

Space of possibility where tongue cna move = quadrilateral called vowel trapezium

Question 14

vowel trapezium

Answer 14

Put phonetic symbol in trapezium at the place where the highest portion of the tongue would be for that sound

Question 15

Name and describe the 4 parameters for describing vowels

Answer 15

Height = how high tongue is in mouth
Advancement = how far forward or back tongue is in mouth
Rounding = whether or not lips are rounded - protruded
Tenseness= whether or not tongue is in an extreme position - helps distinguish high vowels

Question 16

height 1 - front

Answer 16

Bead = i, high front tense
Bid = I, high front lax
Bade = e, mid front tense
Bed = ɛ, mid front lax
Bad = æ, low front lax

Question 17

[e]

Answer 17

Generally only found in diphthongs
Followed by a high front vowel or a glide = [bedj]

Question 18

height 2 - back

Answer 18

who’d = u, back high tense
Hood = ʊ, back high lax
Hoed = o, mid back tense
Hawed = ɔ, mid back lax
Hod = ɑ, low back lax

Question 19

[o]

Answer 19

Generally found in diphthongs
It is followed by a high back vowel or a glide [howd]

Question 20

central vowels

Answer 20

Taxes = ə, mid central lax
Bud = ʌ, mid central lax

Question 21

Wedge [ʌ]

Answer 21

Neutral vowel in English - uhhhhh
Always has some degree of stress - cut

Question 22

Schwa [Ə]

Answer 22

Somewhat more closed than wedge
Found only in completely unstressed positions - so can’t emphasize it
Found in completely unstressed version of the, a and other function words

Question 23

rounding

Answer 23

Front vowels tend to be unrounded
Back vowels tend to be rounded

Question 24

tenseness

Answer 24

Tense or lax

Question 25

monophthongs

Answer 25

Simple vowels

Question 26

diphthongs

Answer 26

Vowels that begin with one articulation and transition to another over the course of a vowel Second part = approximants 5-6 in English, depends on dialect

Question 27

oral vowels

Answer 27

velum is raised Airflow/sound only through oral cavity

Question 28

nasal vowels

Answer 28

Velum is lowered Airflow/sound is through both oral and nasal cavities On some vowels

Question 29

is nasality distinctive in English

Answer 29

Nooooo English vowels may be nasalized contextually before nasal consonants - bleeds into consonants but nasality is not involved in meaning contrasts as those in French language examples- nasality important

Question 30

transcribing Englishes

Answer 30

Useful method for concisely describing dialectal or idiolectal differences in pronunciations