Week 6 - Consonants Mark Huckvale 1
Last Week Vowels may be described in terms of phonology, phonetics, acoustics and audition. There are about 20 phonological choices for vowels in English. The Cardinal Vowel system can be used to describe the quality of any vowel in any language. Vowel quality can be described using terms such as front-back, open-close, rounded-unrounded, short-long, monophthongdiphthong. The source-filter model of vowel production explains the acoustic form of vowels The frequency response of the vocal tract pipe used for vowels can be characterised using the frequencies of the first few formants. Formant frequencies for a given phonological vowel vary across speakers, even of the "same" articulation. 2
Consonantal Choices 3
Minimal Pairs pin, bin, din, tin, kin, gin, chin coat, goat sum, sun, sung whip, rip, lip, yip fin, thin, sin, shin vat, that, hat baize, beige pass, parse 4
Consonant Choices in English pen, spin, tip but, web two, sting, bet do, odd cat, kill, skin, queen, thick go, get, beg fool, enough, leaf voice, have, of thing, breath this, breathe see, city, pass zoo, rose she, sure, emotion, leash pleasure, beige ham chair, nature, teach gin, joy, edge man, ham no, tin singer, ring left, bell run, very we yes what (some accents, e.g. Scottish) loch (Scottish) 5
Place of Articulation 6
Place Place Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Articulation Both lips Lower lip and upper teeth Tongue tip and teeth Tongue tip on teeth ridge Tongue blade on hard palate Tongue body on soft palate Vocal folds in larynx 7
Manner of Articulation 8
Manner Manner Plosives Nasals Affricates Fricatives Approximants Articulation Complete obstruction, explosive release Complete obstruction, nasal port open Complete obstruction, fricative release Partial obstruction causing turbulence No obstruction 9
Voicing 10
Voice Voice Voiced Voiceless Articulation Vocal fold vibration, or rapid restart of vibration at plosive release No vocal fold vibration, or delayed restart of vibration at plosive release 11
Voicing Changes 12
Phonetics of English Consonants 13
Plosives & Nasals Bilabial Alveolar Velar Voiced Plosive bin b din d give g Voiceless Plosive pin p tin t kin k Nasal sum m sun n sung ŋ 14
Fricatives & Affricates Voiced Fricative Voiceless Fricative Voiced Affricate Voiceless Affricate Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatoalveolar vim v this ð zing z measure ʒ Glottal fin f thin θ sin s shin ʃ hit h gin chin dʒ tʃ 15
Approximants Labial-velar Alveolarretroflex Alveolarlateral Palatal Voiced wasp w wrong r long l yacht j 16
Consonant Acoustics 17
Acoustics of Approximants Approximant articulations create vocal tract tubes similar to vowels and their acoustics are thus also similar to vowels 18
Amplitude Response Amplitude Vowel Acoustics Source Filter Vowel Frequency Frequency Frequency 19
Spectrograms j w l r 20
Acoustics of Nasals 21
Vocal Tract Tube for Nasals 22
Spectrograms m n ŋ 23
Acoustics of Fricatives Fricative articulations create a narrow constriction at some point along the vocal tract tube. Turbulence is generated at the constriction and shaped largely by the tube forward of the constriction. 24
Laminar & Turbulent Flow Low fluid velocity High fluid velocity 25
Vocal Tract Tube for Fricatives Shadle 1990 26
Amplitude Response Amplitude Fricative Acoustics Source Filter Fricative Frequency Frequency Frequency 27
Amplitude Response Amplitude Fricative Acoustics Source Filter Fricative Frequency Frequency Frequency 28
Energy (db) -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 Energy (db) -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 Energy (db) -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 Energy (db) -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 Energy (db) -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 /h/ /ʃ/ /s/ h ʃ s 5 10 15 20 Channel 5 10 15 20 Channel 5 10 15 20 Channel /θ/ /f/ Average fricative spectra 0-10kHz θ f 5 10 15 20 Channel 5 10 15 20 Channel 29
Fricative Place f s h θ ʃ 30
Fricative Voicing s z 31
Acoustics of Plosives p t k Plosives have a closing phase, closed phase and release phase. At release a short burst of turbulence occurs which is shaped by adjacent vocal tract cavity resonances. 32
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Plosive Voicing b p 34
[b] = voiced, unaspirated Freq F2 F1 vowel transition stop-gap transition vowel Time Weak larynx buzz dying out burst 35
[p h ] = voiceless, aspirated Freq Aspiration F2 F1 vowel transition stop-gap transition vowel Time burst 36
Plosive Place b d g Place cues to plosives include: spectral shape of burst and movements of formants going into and out of stop 37
Summary 38
Summary Phonological choices can be determined by finding minimal pairs There are about 24 consonant choices in English which can be classified according to their typical articulation Consonants are described using the Voice-Place-Manner system Approximants and Nasals have similar acoustics to vowels The source of energy for fricatives is turbulence generated at or near the constriction. Fricative spectra vary according to size of cavity forward of the constriction Plosives have a series of events: closing, hold, burst, opening, and optional aspiration. Place cues for plosive are related to the spectrum of the burst and the formant transitions Voice Onset Time is an important voicing cue for plosives 39
PALS1004 Remaining Sessions Lectures Mon 19 Feb Lecture Mon 26 Feb No lecture Mon 5 Mar No lecture Mon 12 Mar No lecture Mon 19 Mar - Lecture Laboratory classes Wed 21 Feb Lab class Wed 28 Feb Lab class Wed 7 Mar Lab class Wed 14 Mar Lab class Wed 21 Mar Lab class Course handouts and lecture slides will be available on Moodle as usual 40