UNIT 3
The Classification of Speech
Sounds: their Articulation
and Acoustic Properties
Speech Sounds
1. Vowels
2. Consonants
3. Approximants: Share characteristics of
both vowels and consonants
- Glides: /j,w/
- Liquids:/l, r/
Differences between Vowels and
Consonants
Three differences:
1. ARTICULATORY:
► Vowels are articulated with a stricture of open
approximation. (No blockage to the airflow)
► Consonants are articulated with various degrees
of stricture:
1.1 Complete: Plosives /p,b,t,d,k,g,?/
1.2 Close Approximation: Fricatives /f,v,,,,,,x,/
1.3 Open approximation: Approximants: /j,w,l,r/
Differences between Vowels and
Consonants
►2. ACOUSTIC:
►Vowels are more sonorous than
consonants. Sonority is related to
voicing.
►Voiced sounds are more sonorous than
voiceless sounds.
Difference between Vowels and
Consonants
THE SONORITY SCALE (sonority hierarchy)
From less to more sonorous:
1. Plosives
2. Affricates
3. Fricatives
4. Nasals
5. Liquids
6. Glides
7. Vowels
Differences between Vowels and
Consonants
3. FUNCTIONAL (phonological differences)
3.1 Position in the syllable:
Nucleus: generally vowels, but liquids and
nasals can also be the nucleus of a syllable:
e.g: /w-mn/ 2 sonority peaks (nuclei)
/brItn/ or /brItn/ 2 sonority peaks
Differences between vowels and
Consonants
►When do liquids and nasals
become syllabic consonant?
When replacing the schwa //
Unstressed vowel (more details in
forthcoming sessions).
Differences between Vowels and
Consonants
3.2 Obstruents Vs Sonorant
Obstruent: segments produced with
enough obstruction to the airflow
Sonorant: segments with no or little
obstruction to the airflow
Difference between Vowels and
Consonants
►Obstruents: plosives, fricatives and
affricates.
►Sonorant: vowels, nasals, liquids
and semi-vowels or glides.
The Classification of Consonants
Three main parameters:
1. Voicing: voiced Vs. Voiceless and Devoiced:
2. Place of articulation:
-bilabial -Palato-alveolar
-Labio-dental -Palatal
-Dental -Velar
-Alveolar -Glottal
-Post-alveolar
The Classification of Consonants
3. Manner of articulation:
degree of stricture in the oral cavity (degree of
obstruction to the airflow):
.Plosives or oral Stops
.Fricatives or Spirants
.Nasals or Nasal Stops
.Lateral /l/
.Vibrant /r/
.Approximant
The Classification of Vowels
The Classification of Vowels
12 English vowels represented in
a trapezium.
The trapezium represents the
oral cavity and describes the
position of the tongue during
the articulation of the vowels.
The Classification of vowels
► Three parameters:
1. Open Vs. Close/ High Vs. Low vowels:
Vowel space in the oral cavity.
► Open: the tongue is held away from the
roof of the mouth.
► Close: the tongue is held close to the roof
of the mouth.
The Classification of Vowels
QUALITY Vs. QUANTITY
Quality: the position of the tongue in the oral
tract during the articulation of a vowel.
Quantity: the length of a vowel.
In vowel contrasts, quality might be more
distinctive than quantity to a NES.
e.g: /Ip/ v. / i:p/ /I,i:/(different vowel
quality, approximately same length).
The Classification of vowels
2. Back Vs. Front vowels:
Back: the back of the tongue is raised
towards the roof of the mouth.
Front: the front of the tongue raised towards
the roof of the mouth
The Classification of Vowels
3. Lip Rounding:
. Rounded Vowels: back vowels
are usually rounded.
. Unrounded vowels: front vowels
are usually unrounded.
exercise
Identify the vowels that answer to the following
descriptions:
► Central, unrounded, between half-open and half-
close.
► Front, unrounded, almost fully close.
► Back, rounded, between half-open and open.
► Front, unrounded, between close and half-close.
exercise
Find the mistakes in the following definitions:
// Front, unrounded, between half-open and
half-close.
// Almost fully front, rounded, almost fully close.
// Front, rounded, between half-close and half-
open.
// Central, rounded, between half-open and
open.
exercise
Classify the following English vowels:
// // // //
The Cardinal Vowels
Daniel Jones, professor of phonetics at London
University.
► Language independent
► Represent vowel quality
► Points of reference, not real vowels
► Primary Vs Secondary cardinal vowels:
-Primary: 8. 1-5 rounded and 6-8 unrounded.
-Secondary: primary but reversing lip posture.
The Cardinal Vowels
The English Diphthongs
The Articulation and Classification of
Diphthongs
►Definition: long vowel with a single,
noticeable change of quality during one
syllable.
►The tongue starts moving from the
position to articulate the first vowel to
the position for the second vowel:
rapid sweeping movement.
1. Rising Vs. Falling:
Prominence
► Rising: the second element is more
prominent than the first.
► Falling: the first is more prominent than
the second. All the nine major English
diphthongs are falling.
Rising diphthongs in English: some forms
of the comparative with –ier , in which /i/
is unstressed: Happier, heavier.
1. Rising Vs. Falling: Prominent
► In Spanish, /j/ or /w/ + vowel is a
diphthong
► In English /j ,w/ semi-vowels are classified
as consonants because they combine with
any vowel, even with front vowels:
/ji:t/, /wmb/
2. Centring, closing or opening:
Tongue Movement
► Centring or Centripetal: the diphthong ends in schwa
//.
- /I/, /e/,//
► Closing: the tongue goes from a more open position to a
closer one.
- /eI/ /aI/ /OI/ /a/ //
► Opening: the tongue goes from a more close position to a
more open one.
No English opening diphthongs. Spanish:/je/ and /we/ are
opening.
3. Wide Vs. Narrow
►Wide: rapid sweeping movement
of the tongue. From a very open
position /a/ to a much closer one
/I/
►Narrow: little tongue movement,
as in /au/
