Phonetics, part III: Suprasegmentals

October 18, 2010

The Plan for Today

1. Run through the rest of the phonetics practice exercises. 2. Discuss suprasegmentals. 3. The plan for the future: More phonetics practice on Wednesday and Friday. Homework #2 due next Monday. Mid-term on the Friday after that! (Oct. 29th)

Oh by the way
The textbook mentions the existence of a mid-low, back, rounded vowel Open O: [ Compare: Calgary Chicago New York Saskatoon Also check out: Calgary: Oxford, England: ]
Source: http://accent.gmu.edu

Basic Distinction #1
Last time, we discussed the difference between vowels and consonants. Consonants: 1. Voicing 2. Place of Articulation 3. Manner of Articulation Vowels: 1. High/mid/low 2. Front/central/back 3. Rounded/unrounded 4. Tense/lax

Basic Distinction #2
Consonants and vowels together make up the class of segments in phonetics. Each segment is a configuration of articulations ordered in time in an utterance. Languages also have phonetic features which can span across multiple segments. = suprasegmental features supra = above the segment. One basic example: Languages organize strings of segments into syllables.

Syllabicity
Syllables are hard to define phonetically But native speakers have an intuitive sense of what does and does not constitute a syllable. Normally, syllables will have: consonants (optionally) at beginning and end; a vowel in the middle. However, in English, nasals (/m/, /n/) and liquids (/l/, /r/) can form the peak of a syllable. = syllabic consonants.

Syllabic Examples
Syllabic consonants are transcribed with a small vertical dash underneath them. Examples: chasm ribbon eagle feature

Suprasegmentals
Other suprasegmental features include: 1. Stress 2. Length 3. Tone 4. Intonation These suprasegmental features are always defined in a relative manner. Some segments are longer than others, Some syllables are more stressed than others, etc.

1. Stress
Stress makes a syllable sound more prominent. (due to increased articulatory effort) Stress may be denoted by an accent over the vowel in the stressed syllable. Examples of stress contrasts: contrast insult (N) (V) (N) (V)

2. Length
Languages can distinguish segments on the basis of length. = some segments simply last longer than others. Italian contrasts both long and short vowels and consonants.

Danish Vowels
Danish contrasts long and short vowels.

3. Tone
In tone languages, speakers change the rate at which their vocal folds vibrate to signal important differences in meaning. Note: we hear the rate of vocal fold vibration as the pitch of a speakers voice. In tone languages, each syllable is produced with a characteristic tone. Pitch must hit a certain level on any given syllable.

1. Register tone languages 2. Contour tone languages Pitch changes on a single syllable may form a complex pattern.

Ibibio Tones
Ibibio is a register tone language spoken in southern Nigeria

Mandarin Tone
Mandarin (Chinese) is a classic example of a contour tone language.

ma1: mother ma2: hemp ma3: horse ma4: to scold

Mandarin Sentences
ma1-ma0 ma4 ma3. Mother scolds the horse.

ma3 ma4 ma1-ma0. The horse scolds mother.

Intonation
English is not a tone language like Chinese or Ibibio but it has something called intonation English intonation: (transcribed with H* or L*)

1. High and Low accents attach to stressed syllables 2. High and Low tones appear at the ends of phrases and utterances. (transcribed with H% or L%) The important difference: English tones are specified by context, not by the lexicon.

Intonation Examples
In English intonation, statements usually have: A high accented syllable (H*) within the sentence. A low tone (L%) at the end of the sentence. H* L% Manny came with Anna. Meanwhile, questions usually have: A low accented syllable (L*) within the sentence. A high tone (H%) at the end of the sentence. L* H% Manny came with Anna?