Linguistics 105 * Words and Sounds

Lecture Number Three

Introduction to Phonetics

1. Phonetics and Phonology: The Sounds & Sound Systems of Language
   1. Questions:
      1. What is the relation between spelling and linguistic sounds?
         (Remember the example of ghoti, "fish," from laugh, women, nation (George Bernard Shaw).)
         
         
         1. How are the following pronounced?
            bough [baw]
            cough [kØf]
            dough [do]
            hiccough [hikÏp]
            thorough [ÊÏrÏ]
            through [Êru]
            tough [tÏf]

         2. Others:

            bass	[bes], [bÀs]	low frequency/fish
            bow	[bo], [baw]	shoots arrows/front of the boat
            buffet	[bÏfe], [bÏfêt]	food spread/wind-blown
            close	[kloz], [klos]	to shut/near
            coax	[koks], [kowÀks]	urge/shielded cable
            desert	[dizrt], [dêzrt]	abandon/Sahara
            do	[du], [do]	to act/do re mi
            does	[dÏz]. [doz]	acts/several female deer
            dove	[dÏv], [dov]	bird/did dive
            Some more

         3. Remember: in linguistics, [lêtr] is a 4-letter word!  In this course we only discuss sounds and signs for only about 1/3 of the world's 5,000 languages have writing systems.

      2. Ambiguity: how do we avoid it?
         1. Rim ember us poke in cent tense all mow stall ways con deigns word snot in ten did
         2. Not "boundaries" as on the page, although some boundaries exist. (Some are different from others.)
         3. We do not merely receive sounds, we actively perceive them.
            
            
   2. "Perception" is a set of expectations to which we actively match incoming signals
      1. Flexible -- i.e. we are interpreting abstractions, types, not tokens (although these terms are tricky).
      2. Vary with context.
      3. This "perception" is grounded in "phonology."
         
         
   3. Phonetics. The first step is a system of universal, cross-linguistic notation without reference to a specific alphabet or language
      1. Language is primarily a spoken system, not a written one. (Only about 1/3 of 5,000+ languages have writing systems.
      2. Phonetics represents sound at the token, not type, level
      3. Rule of phonetics: one sound-- one symbol -- no matter how small the distinction, whether it is linguistically significant or not.

   
   

2. The Phonetic Alphabet
   1. The English Phonemes
      1. The Natural Classes of Consonants (Saggital Section)
         

         English Consonants
         	Bilabial	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
         Stops
         Voiced	b		d…	d		g
         Voiceless	p		t…	t		k	š
         Aspirated	pß			tß		kß
         Fricatives
         Voiced		v	ö	z	—	ï
         Voiceless		f	Ê	s	Œ	x	h
         Affricates
         Voiced					”
         Voiceless					“
         Sonorants
         Nasal	m			n	ò	ü
         Liquid				r,l
         Glide	w				j

         
         

      2. The Natural Classes of Vowels (Sagittal Section)
         

         

   2. Some other phonetic conventions
      1. nasalization [ð ³ Ð Æ ]
      2. aspiration [pß bß tß dß kß gß]
      3. palatals [Œ —],
      4. Palatal affricates [“ ”] (delayed release)
   3. Some surprising examples:

      Some Unexpected Examples
      nation [neŒn]	catch [kÀ“]	fish [føŒ]	picture [pøk“r]
      fission [føŒn]	tree [“ri]	trouble [“rÏbl]	did you [dø”Ï]
      pretty [prødø]	bottle [ba´tl]	talk [tØk]	which/witch [wø“]

   4. Examples for practice.
      Print these examples out and transliterate them from or to phonetic script for practive.

      1. Phonetic	Latin	Check	Right?
         [kat]
         [hit]
         [but]
         [get]
         [tßraj]
         [prødi]
         [prabli]
         [vekeŒn]
         [êksplo—n]
         [sÆn]
         [“r“]
         [gíd]
         [ÀkŒn]
         [lÀ‚üwø”]
         [”aŒ]
         [krøstin]
         [mÀ”øk]
         [mam]
         [tßat]
         [fret]
         [dajӐst]
         [prskrøpŒn]
         [lajt]
         [ra”r]

         
         
         

      2. A Few More Examples
         [lÐn—íre]	__________	[rezr]	__________	[ajdÏv]	__________
         [”i“êt]	__________	[no”u]	__________	[dø”Ïgêdøm]	__________

         
         
         

      3. Latin	Phonetic	Check	Right?
         laugh
         gorge
         resemble
         women
         night
         other fads
         city
         scent
         elephants
         phase
         manage
         cat
         writer
         could you
         cater
         through
         though
         trough
         enough
         knife
         Howard
         machine
         lotion
         box

3. Conclusion

   The International Phonetic Alphabet is designed to represent distinctive linguistic sounds on a one-one basis, one sound associated with one symbol, to avoid the ambiguities associated with writing systems.

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