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WEBSITE

• davidbrett_at_uniss.it
• Please use this website to practice what you
  learn during lessons

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2011-12 LINGUA INGLESE 1 modulo A/BIntroduction
to English Linguisticsprof. Hugo Bowles

• Lesson 3
• Consonant sounds

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Structure of Spoken Language (from Crystal 1997)
Use
Pragmatics
Structure
Medium of Transmission
Meaning (semantics)
Grammar
Phonetics
Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Lexicon
Discourse
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Key concepts the phone

• Each time a speech sound is produced it is
  different
• Each time you produce a /t/ it will be ever so
  slightly different
• Hence the concept of the phone a physical
  realisation of a speech sound

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Key concepts the phoneme

• The smallest speech sound that has linguistic
  value
• When a series of phones are similar in terms of
  articulation and can be distinguished from
  another group in terms of meaning and
  collocation, the group is given a name e.g. /t/.
  This is a phoneme.
• The phoneme is an abstract term, specific to a
  particular language.

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How many consonant sounds are present in these
three words?

• cat
• this
• kick

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BREAKFAST

• /b/
• /r/
• /k/
• /f/
• /s/
• /t/

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Articulation

• /b/
• /d/
• /g/
• /k/
• /p/
• /t/

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Speech sounds can be divided into three main
types

• Stops (or plosives) and affricates
• Fricatives
• Vowels and approximants

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We will first focus on stops and fricatives which
are classified according to

• the place in which they are articulated
• whether they are voiced or not (vibration of
  vocal folds)
• whether they are oral or nasal (for stops only)

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Places of articulation

• 1. Bilabial (lips)
• 2. Labio-dental (lips-teeth)
• 3. Interdental
• Dental (teeth)
• 4. Alveolar ridge
• 5. Post-alveolar
• 6. Palatal (palate)
• 7. Velar (velum)
• 8. Glottal (glottis)
• 9. Uvula (uvulum)

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Voicing A consonant may be

• Voiced (lenis)
• Voiceless (fortis)

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A stop is composed of three phases

• Closure
• Hold (the passage of air from the lungs is
  blocked)
• Release the difference in air pressure between
  the area behind the closure and the atmosphere
  results in a small explosion

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The place of articulation is where the passage of
air is blocked

• At which place of articulation is the block in
  this diagram?

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The alveolar ridge

• Which sounds are produced by blocking the
  passage of air at the alveolar ridge?

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/t/ and /d/

• /t/ and /d/ are both produced by blocking the
  passage of air at the

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Where is the block here?
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Lips
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What consonant sounds are produced by blocking
the lips?
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Thats right! /p/, /b/
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Where is the block here?
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velum
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What consonant sounds are produced by blocking
the velum?
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/k/, /g/
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English plosives (stops)

• /p/ and /b/ are voiceless and voiced bilabials
  i.e. produced with both lips
• /t/ and /d/ are voiceless and voiced alveolars
• /k/ and /g/ are voiceless and voiced velars

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What is the difference between these two slides?
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In the first (/b/, /p/) the passage of air to the
nose is blocked by the raised velum.In the
second this passage is open, giving us a nasal.
What consonant is it?
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Its /m/
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Lets look at other positions in the alveolar
position we have /t/ and /d/, and the nasal /n/
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In a similar way at the velum we have /k/ and
/g/, and the nasal / ? /
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Fricatives

• are created by forming a constriction through
  which air from the lungs may pass, but not
  freely.
• this lack of freedom causes audible turbulence,
  or friction, hence the name fricative.
• as for stops they may be voiceless or voiced .

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Lets look at a fricative pair which causes
non-native speakers of English a lot of trouble,
/ ? / and / d /
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Air passes through a small gap between the tongue
and the upper teeth causing a low friction sound
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In the alveolar fricatives /s/ and /z/, the
friction noise is quite loud, as air hits the
upper teeth causing a hiss.
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What fricative pair is represented here?
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Thats right - /f/,and /v/
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And here?
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This is the post-alveolar pair / ? / and / ? /.
Note that a small shift of the tongue from the
/s/, /z/ position directs the flow of air onto
the alveolar ridge.
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Affricates

• These may be considered as stop fricative

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An affricate is composed of the following stages

• Closure
• Hold
• A small opening instead of the complete opening
  of the stop.
• This small opening causes friction just like a
  fricative

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Affricates - articulation

• The place of articulation is always the same for
  both stages
• Affricates are always either voiced or unvoiced

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In English we have two affricates

• /tS/ church and /tZ/ George
• Both are realised in the post-alveolar position

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Here are the two main phases. 1. Hold
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2. Release with constriction
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Here is the IPA consonant chart

• White represents standard British English
  consonants, light blue possible allophones, and
  dark blue exotic consonants

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http//davidbrett.uniss.it/index

• These slides were produced by David Brett, a
  phonetics expert who teaches at the University of
  Sassari.
• CHECKING DESCRIPTION OF CONSONANTS
• - click on the Index (on the left)
• - click on The articulation of speech sounds
• - click on SPEECH ANIMATOR
• - click on Close
• - click on the consonant phonemes to hear the
  sound and
• see the description
• THIS EXERCISE IS FOR CHECKING THE DESCRIPTION

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http//davidbrett.uniss.it/index

• UNDERSTANDING CONSONANTS
• click on the Index (on the left)
• click on The articulation of speech sounds
• click on Match phonemes with pictures
• do the exercises for Consonants diagrams,
• symbols and definitions
• Use the CHECK to check your answers
• Use the KEY to see the right answers
• Use RESET to do a new exercise
• I ALWAYS PUT 5 OF THESE IN YOUR EXAM !!!!

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http//davidbrett.uniss.it/index

• DESCRIBING CONSONANTS
• click on the Index (on the left)
• click on The articulation of speech sounds
• click on Articulation description exercise
• decide the Voice, Place and Manner of each
  sound
• Use the CHECK to check your answers
• Use the KEY to see the right answers
• Use RESET to do a new exercise
• THESE EXERCISES WILL HELP YOU A LOT TO
  PRACTICE FOR YOUR EXAM