Airstream Mechanisms

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Airstream Mechanisms

• Taps, Flaps, Trills Non-Pulmonic Consonants,
  LING 3330 SPRING 2009
• 2-16-09

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Taps, Flaps, Trills

• This aspect of articulation has to do more with
  timing than with the nature of the events
  involved
• NOTE (IPA fonts in this ppt are either Arial or
  Arial Unicode MS)

Adapted from Asbey Maidment. 2005
3
Taps

• Consider the consonant d (a voiced alveolar
  plosive)
• Where does your tongue touch in the words door
  hood?
• Now considrer ? (a voiced alveolar tap)
• Where does your tongue touch in words like
  atom, ladder, rider?
• The event sequence is essentially the same, but
  the timing is quite different

Adapted from Asbey Maidment. 2005
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Timing Comparison
Adapted from Asbey Maidment. 2005
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Taps

• The typical time for a tap is 20ms
• much shorter than a typical plosive and thus
  there is not much time for an appreciable
  pressure buildup
• Taps then are considered Sonorants

Adapted from Asbey Maidment. 2005
6
Flaps

• While similar to a Tap the flap is actually
  different
• like a tap it is also an extremely brief
  closure
• A tap the active articulator moves toward,
  touches and moves, back away from the passive
  articulator
• unlike a tap the active articulator moves
  towards, strikes, and then passes by the passive
  articulator.
• There is only one flap in the pulmonic
  consonant part of the IPA chart
• a voiced retroflex flap ?
• (also one in the extra symbols ?, alveolar
  lateral flap)

Adapted from Asbey Maidment. 2005
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Flap in Punjabi sa?i burnt
Adapted from Asbey Maidment. 2005
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Trills

• Sometimes called a roll
• this sound consist of a series of very rapid
  tap-like closures between the active and
  passive articulators.
• This vibration is similar to that of the vocal
  folds, but is much slower due to the mass of the
  structures involved
• Spanish uses a contrast between ? and r as in
  pero but and perro dog

Adapted from Asbey Maidment. 2005
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Trills

• Other trills are found throughout the worlds
  languages
• Voiced uvular trill R is reasonably common
• the uvula trills against the back of the tongue
• it sounds a little like a gargle
• A rarer trill is a bilabial trill B
• similar to Amer English use of Brrrr to indicate
  being cold (another example)

Adapted from Asbey Maidment. 2005
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Speech Airflow

• In speech the compression and rarefactions are
  achieved by using muscles to move some par of the
  vocal tract or respiratory system
• The moving parts act like the pistons in a pump
  and is called the initiator of the airstream
• We are quite good at regulating the airflow from
  the lungs by the adjustment of the glottis

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Airstream Generation

• Air movement always flows from a region of high
  pressure to region of low pressure
• Air movement in the vocal apparatus depends on
  the creation of pressure differences
• Since air is a gas it is compressible
• Making the space smaller without letting air
  molecules escape causes compression and pressure
  rises
• the opposite of compression is rarefaction when
  the space is enlarged w/o letting in more
  molecules.

Adapted from Asbey Maidment. 2005
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Speech organs articulation

• Showing the 4 main components of the speech
  mechanism

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Airstream Mechanisms

• based on Pike (1943) the sources of energy for
  generating speech sounds have become to be known
  as Airstream Mechanisms
• There are three basic types
• Lung Airflow (Pulmonic)
• Glottalic Airflow
• Velaric Airflow

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Pulmonic Airflow

• along with the reparatory cycle lung air is basic
  to speech production
• In principle, air flowing into or out of the
  lungs during respiration may be used to generate
  speech sounds
• The nature of the sound produced will be
  dependent on the shape of the vocal tract

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Pulmonic Airflow

• The two types of air are commonly referred to as
• Egressive Pulmonic air
• outward air
• typical or normal mode
• Easier to control and requires less overall
  articulatory effort in sustained speech
• speakers an exploit the relaxation pressure
  available when the lungs are relatively full, and
  can thus expel air in a slow, controlled fashion.
• Ingressive Pulmonic air

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Pulmonic Airflow

• The two types of air are commonly referred to as
• Egressive Pulmonic air
• Seems to be the NORM in all languages.
• Ingressive Pulmonic air
• While it can be used no language in the world
  seems to use it as a distinctive feature of
  particular speech sounds during NORMAL
  articulation

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Non-Pulmonic Airflow

• example

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Glottalic Airflow

• Sometime called pharyngeal
• uses air above the glottis.
• The glottis is closed the larynx is moved up
  and down in the pharyngeal cavity by controlling
  extrinsic laryngeal muscles to initiate airflow
• This movement causes the larynx to function like
  a plunger or a piston in a cylinder
• When the Larynx moves
• up Egressive glottalic airflow
• down ingressive glottalic airflow

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Ejectives

• Sounds made with Egressive Glottalic Airflow are
  commonly know as Ejectives
• or sometimes as glottalized stops
• Try taking a breath
• Hold it in (shutting off the glottis)
• try to utter the sounds p, t, k, s w/o opening
  the glottis
• (try saying the k sound in sick or the t in
  spit)
• Typically English speakers only use ejectives
  when a silent pause follows or when being
  decisive as in Definitely noT

Adapted from C,Y, F. 2007 AM 2005
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Ejectives

• The sounds using egressive glottalic airstream
• generally precede or follow sounds using normal
  pulmonic air flow b/c the laryngeal movement
  produces relatively weak and short airflow.
• Found in Caucasus area and in a variety of Lgs in
  Africa and The Americas
• Hausa has an ejective velar stop k / pulmonic
  velar stop k contrast

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Sequence of a Ejective Velar Stop
Adapted from Asbey Maidment. 2005
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Implosives

• As a result, there is often some upward leakage
  of lung air sufficient to cause involuntary
  phonation (voicing)
• According to Ladefoged (1971) the upward leakage
  might offset the airflow to an extend that the
  net airflow is actually egressive
• However, the important feature of the sound
  quality is do to the effects of the rapid
  lowering of the larynx

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Implosives

• Sounds using Ingressive Glottalic Airflow
• For these sounds the Larynx is even less
  effective at producing airflow
• partly b/c of the difficulty of maintaining a
  tightly closed glottis during downward movement
  of the larynx.
• As a result, there is often some upward leakage
  of lung air sufficient to cause involuntary
  phonation (voicing)
• Hausa also has bilabial and alveolar implosive
  contrast with b d

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Sequence of Bilabial Implosive
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Velaric (Oral) Airflow

• Generated entirely within the oral cavity
• The back of the tongue is raised to make firm
  contact with the soft palate
• Air in front of this tongue closure may then be
  sealed off by closing the lips or by pressing the
  sides and tip of the tongue against the roof of
  the mouth behind the teeth.

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Velaric (Oral) Airflow

• Both ingressive and egressive airflow are
  possible using the oral air supply
• Only ingressive airflow is normally used in
  speech sounds
• Sounds produced in this way are commonly known as
  CLICKS

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Types of Clicks

• The most common type of click is made with the
  lips
• The action of parting the lips while lowering the
  jaw will increase the oral cavity volume
• Thus decreasing the pressure inside the mouth
• and air flows in
• This is similar to a light kiss

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Types of Clicks

• Another way is that the air is trapped I a small
  chamber created completely by the tongue
  sticking to the roof of the mouth
• The tongue is then pulled away (downward)
• increasing the air chamber
• decreasing the air pressure
• and generating a short but quite strong inflow of
  air as the closure is released.

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Click Articulation

• Requires complex interaction of the tongue and
  surrounding muscles
• you are probably familiar with the kind of click
  made with the tongue tip is reasonably forward
  and then pulled away
• This is commonly the disapproval sound in
  American English culture (tsk, tsk, tsk)
  (dental)

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Click Articulation

• Requires complex interaction of the tongue and
  surrounding muscles
• you are probably familiar with the kind of click
  made with the tongue tip is reasonably forward
  and then pulled away
• A second one used in Amer Eng culture (not for
  speech) starting from a similar position would be
  the click for calling/urging a horse or dog
• Moving the sides of the tongue down rather than
  the tip (Alveolar Lateral)

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Click Articulation

• Requires complex interaction of the tongue and
  surrounding muscles
• A third one used in Amer Eng culture (again not
  for speech) has the tongue starting from a
  palatal position
• The tip is firmly behind the alveolar ridge and
  when pulled away with a lowering jaw (and
  possibly rounded lips) gives a hollow knocking
  sound.
• (Palatoalveolar)

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Clicks Distribution

• Click sounds are found in comparatively few Lgs.
• About 1
• Characteristic of Khoisan and Kalahari areas of
  S. Africa but are also in other Bantu Languages
  (such as Zulu and Xhosa)
• In these languages clicks are Consonants
  functioning as part of the speech system

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Clicks

• Face diagrams of clicks

Air pocket with increased volume (equals
decreased pressure) at onset and then before
release
Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Click waveforms
Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Articulatory sequence of an Alveolar click
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Palatograms of postalveolar and palatal Clicks
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Combination Sounds

• There is also a Combinatory Airflow Process
• The muscular systems used in the 3 airstream
  mechanisms can function in partial combination
• e.g. Egressive pulmonic air combined with
  ingressive glottalic air resulting in phonation
  while the larynx is descending for implosives
• Also the egressive velaric and egressive pulmonic
  airstreams can be activated simultaneously to
  produce click sounds wh/ have velar nasal sounds
  (like that in sing) imposed upon them.

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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More practice

• How would we analyze the following?
• example 3
• example 4

Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007
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Adapted from Clark, Yallop, Fletcher. 2007