Phonetics
Phonetics Phonetics: Study of speech sounds Three aspects: Articulatory phonetics Acoustic phonetics Auditory phonetics
Articulatory phonetics The study of production of speech sounds Acoustic phonetics The study of the transmission and physical properties of speech sounds Auditory phonetics The study of the perception of speech sounds
Phonetic symbols [t] [s] [p] [a] [Φ] [ŋ] [æ] [ε] Why do we need phonetic symbols? Writing systems do not correlate with the phonetic inventory (i.e., the list of sounds) of the language. [k] in kiss, sick, choir, quit, cow, Iraq, unique さ s + a て t + e à The hiragana syllabary fails to isolate the individual sounds of Japanese. Even if we used the Romanized system, [t] in た ta, ち ti, つ tu, て te, と to In a phonetic transcription, one sound is represented by one symbol, and each symbol represents a single sound.
Romanization system Hepburn-style ( ヘボン式 ) - 1867 Kunrei-style ( 訓令式 ) - Used in linguistics - 1937
Hepburn-style ( ヘボン式 ) More commonly used (e.g., names in passport) Shinzo Abe Fuji Chiyoda-ku Kunrei-style ( 訓令式 ) Used in linguistics
Phonetic symbols for English See handouts Phonetic symbols for the consonants in English Phonetic symbols for the vowels in English Dipthongs
Phonetic Inventory Place of articulation - The place in the mouth where the sound is made. (In English: Bilabial, labio-dental, interdental, alveolar, alveo-palatal, palatal, velar, labio-velar, glottal) Manner of Articulation How the articulators (e.g. lip, tongue) achieve contact with the places of articulation. (e.g., complete vs. partial contact) Voicing Vibration of the vocal cords. e.g. [s] and [z] in English Both pronounced at right behind the upper teeth Both use the airflow coming from the lungs [s] is unvoiced, [z] is voiced. à See, Figure 2.2 on p.8
Oral vs. Nasal sounds Oral sounds: The sounds produced when the air from the lungs goes out through the oral cavity. raised velum à blockage of the nasal cavity à airflow through the oral cavity Nasal sounds: The sounds produced when the air from the lungs goes through the nasal cavity as well as into the oral cavity. lowered velum à no blockage of the nasal cavity à airflow through the oral and nasal cavities.
Phonetic inventory of English consonants Stops Fricatives Affricates Approximants Nasals
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Stops Two types of stops: Oral stops Complete blockage of the oral cavity with raised velum Nasal stops Complete obstruction in the oral cavity caused by lowered velum Bilabial stops blockage made by the lips Voiced [b] as in carbon/label Voiceless [p] as in as in pen/pop Alveolar stops blockage by the tip of the tongue at the alveolar ridge Voiced [d] as in sad/adapt Voiceless [t] as in tiny/pet Velar stops raised tongue body to the velum or soft palate Voiced [g] as in agree Voiceless [k] as in cat
Fricatives Fricatives are sounds produced when the airflow in the oral cavity is forced through a narrow opening in the vocal tract, so that air turbulence is generated, resulting in a friction noise. Labio-dental fricatives upper teeth and the lower lip achieve contact Voiced [v] as in vase Voiceless [f] as in fin Interdental fricatives sound made between the upper and lower front teeth Voiced [δ] as in they/those Voiceless [θ] as in three/truth
Alveolar fricatives - tip of the tongue at the alveolar ridge Voiced [z] as in zoo Voiceless [s] as in sun Palato-alveolar (alveo-palatal) fricatives made with the blade of the tongue just behind the alveolar ridge Voiced [ž] as in vision Voiceless [š] as in shoe/shine Glottal fricatives partial block at the narrow opening between the vocal cods (glottis) Voiceless [h] as in heart/hotel
Affricates A sequence of a stop immediately followed by a fricative There is a slight rounding of the lips Alveo-palatal Voiced [jˇ] as in judge Voiceless [č] as in church
Approximants Produced with constriction in the vocal tract, but the air flows freely from the mouth without any blockage of air or friction (therefore, voiced). There are liquids and glides
Liquids (Voiced) [l] as in land The air channel is on the side of the tongue Produced with the tongue tip touching the alveolar ridge with the sides of the tongue lowered [r] as in run The air channel is in the middle of the mouth Made with the tongue tip curled back Glides Made without any contact in the mouth. (Voiced) [w] as in wish (Labio-velar glide) The body of the tongue approaches the velum and the lips are rounded. [y] as in yield (Palatal glide) The front part of the tongue approaches the hard palate
Nasal stops or nasals Nasal Voiced and produced with a complete blockage in the oral cavity. [m] as in mother Bilabial [n] as in nun Alveolar [ŋ] as in sing Velar Does not occur in word-initial or syllable-initial position in English
Phonetic inventory of Japanese consonants Stops Fricatives Affricates Approximants Nasals
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Stops [p] as in pan bread, denpoo telegram [b] as in binboo poor, kooban police box [t] as in tensai genius, tokidoki sometimes [d] as in doko where, denwa telephone [k] as in koko here, konbu seaweed, kinoo yesterday [g] as in gaikoku foreign country, gakusei student, gojuu fifty
Alveolar stops ([t], [d]) in English are typically produced by the tip of the tongue, contacting the alveolar ridge. Those in Japanese are pronounced slightly further forward than those in English with the tongue tip almost touching the back of the upper teeth. Say democrat/salad in English, and demo but and sarada salad in Japanese English voiceless stops ([p, t, k]) occur at the beginning of a word or a syllable are accompanied by aspiration (i.e., a puff of air). Japanese voices stops are not aspirated. Say pin in English and pan in Japanese
Fricatives No labio-dental [v, f] and interdental fricatives [δ,θ] in Japanese, but there are voiced and voiceless alveolar fricatives [z] and [s]. [z] as in kaze wind [s] as in san three There are also voiceless alveo-palatal fricatives [š] as in sinbun newspaper /sika deer Does not involve lip rounding, unlike English (e.g. shoe) [ž] is not usually found. And, there is voiceless glottal fricative [h] as in hanbun half
Fricatives that exist in Japanese but not in English are: Voiceless bilabial fricative [Φ] as in hurui old /hukai deep Similar to the sound that is made when one blows out a candle but without much lip protrusion. Voiceless palatal fricative [ς] as in hiroi spacious / hitotu one Similar to the sound made in ich I in German
Affricates Alveo-palatal Voiceless [č] as in tikaku close Voiced [jˇ] as in zikan time Alveolar Voiceless [t s ] as in tumi sin / turi fishing Voiced [d z ] mazusii poor/ mikazuki crescent moon à [d z ] or [z] tizu map à alveolar fricative [z]
Approximants [r, w, y] Alveolar liquid [r] as in sora sky / roku six Very similar to [d] sound in American English as in tidy and steady. Tongue achieves very quick contact at the alveolar ridge (i.e., flap [ ]) Velar glide [w] as in wakaru understand Unrounded. Not accompanied by vigorous movement of the lips. Palatal glide [y] as in yasui cheap
Nasal Bilabial nasal [m] as in mikan orange /mame beans Alveolar nasal [n] as in neko cat /naka inside Velar nasal [ŋ] as in kagaku science (but not in gakko school ) Coarticulation occurs when place of articulation extends to a neighboring sound and as a result the pronunciation of adjacent sounds overlaps.
Palatalized consonants [ y ] [samb y aku] as in sanbyaku three hundred [r y okan] as in ryokan inn [m y aku] as in myaku pulse [k y aku] kyaku guest Long consonants (geminates) [C:] sakka author katta won assari simply
Tasks Circle the consonants in Table 2.2 that do not exist in English and the consonants in Table 2.1 that do not exist in Japanese. Following the style of the example given below, provide a full phonetic description of the sounds. Example: [s] = voiceless alveolar fricative [n] [r] [š] [t s ] [b] [č] Give the Japanese speech sound symbol that corresponds to the following articulatory description. In addition, give Japanese words that contain these sounds. a. voiced velar stop b. voiceless bilabial stop
Additional notes Voiced geminate consonants occur in Japanese, but voiceless geminates are more prevalent.
However, Why?
Phonetic inventory of English vowels
Phonetic inventory of English vowels
Phonetic inventory of Japanese vowels High front i ika squid, iti one Similar to English word beat, but the lips are not spread. High back u usiro behind, usagi rabbit Unrounded (ω), unlike the vowel in English word pool. Mid front e e painting, eki station Slightly higher than the vowel in the English word pet. Mid back o oto sound, oka hill Resembles the vowel in English word brought, but more higher and slightly more front. Low central a asa morning, asi leg About the same height as the vowel in father, but is more forward.
Long vowels Transcribed as [V:] e.g. [to:] vs. [to]
The pronunciation of long vowel is sometimes misguided by the spelling system in Japanese.
e-i and o-u à not [ei] and [ou], but [e:] and [o:] However, e-i and o-u are pronunced as [ei] and [ou] at a boundary in compound words: e.g. ne-iki breathing of a sleeping person à [neiki], not [ne:ki] o-ushi bull à [ouši], not [o:ši]
Vowel devoicing Particular vowels are pronounced without vocal cord vibration in particular positions. e.g. sika deer, kusai smelly Voiceless vowel is indicated as [V ]
Vowel devoicing occurs when high vowels are between voiceless consonants. If one of those consonants is voiced, the high vowel remains voiced. e.g. kuten period vs. kuden oral instruction
There is dialectal variation. Tokyo dialect voiceless vowels are frequently observed. Western dialect devoicing of high vowels is less obvious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxwehcufdte