Tuesday, September 10th, 2024

LINGUISTICS 1 INTRODUCTION

1. General information
- Lecturer: Ms. Trương Thị Thanh Hoa (hoattt@[Link])

2. Assessment
- On-going assessment: 40% (90’) (Phonetics-Phonology 20% & Morphology 20%)
(week 11-12, Saturday morning)
- Final test: 60% (60-90’) (closed-book)

OVERVIEW
- Phonetics: The study of the production of speech sounds (individual, separate sounds,
accurate pronunciation)
 Articulatory phonetics: the configurations (cấu hình) of the vocal tract (bộ máy
phát âm) used to produce speech sounds
 Acoustic phonetics: the physical properties of speech sounds (require special
wavelength equipment to record human sounds. Human sounds are different from
other sounds by wavelength.)
 Auditory phonetics: how people perceive speech sounds (require special
wavelength equipment to record human sounds. Human sounds are different from
other sounds by wavelength.)
- Phonology: The study of the sound patterns of languages (syllables, syllable division,
stress, intonation)
- Phonetics can be seen as a subset of phonology. If we want to understand sound
patterns, we have to understand sounds.
- Phonics: an attempt to associate sounds with letters. However, there is not a clear
connection between letters, syllables, and sounds. Therefore, we need to be able to
distinguish between letters, syllables, and sounds.
 Tuesday, September 10th, 2024

PHONETICS
THE ORGANS OF SPEECH

1. Articulators
Air goes up from the chest  the larynx  pharynx  oral cavity/nasal cavity
1. Lips
2. Teeth: produce dental or labio-dental sounds (/ð/, /θ/, /f/, /v/)
3. Alveolar ridge (behind the upper front teeth, before the hard palate)
4. Hard palate: the roof of the mouth
5. Soft palate (velum): divide the airflow to the nasal/oral cavity. If it is lowered, it closes
the passage to the oral cavity.
6. Uvula
7, 8, 9, 10. Tongue (tip, blade, front, back): the movement of each part will create
different sounds because of different qualities. 4 parts of the tongue correspond to the
roof of the mouth (tip & blade -> alveolar ridge, front -> hard palate, back -> soft palate)
11. Nasal cavity: produce nasal sounds (/m/, /n/, /ŋ/)
12. Oral cavity
13. Pharynx (họng): the air passage that lets air pass through
14. Larynx (a.k.a vocal cords/vocal folds/voice box) (thanh quản): include vocal muscles
that vibrate to produce sounds (the most important articulator)

2. Speech sounds
- vowels: - obstruction sounds that make no major obstruction to the flow of air.
- consonants: + obstruction (not all consonants are made with significant obstruction,
e.g. /h/, /w/)
- Distribution: There is only one vowel in a syllable, but there can be many consonants. A
vowel can stay on its own to form a syllable, but a consonant has to go with a vowel to
form a syllable.
 The most important difference between vowels and consonants is not the way
they are made but with their different distributions. (Roach, 2012: 11)
- Syllabic consonant (exception): a consonant that is a whole syllable.

3. The classification of vowels

- Two main articulators are involved: tongue & lip.
* Classification of vowels (Roach, 2012: 11)
 Tongue height: /ɪ/ (close, front vowel)
+ the vertical distance between the tongue and the palate
-> close – open (or high – low) dimension
-> close/close-mid/open-mid/open
(high/high-mid/low-mid/low)
 Tongue backness:
+ which part of the tongue is raised the highest
+ front, central, back
 Lip rounding:
+ whether the corners of the lips are brought towards each other
+ rounded, unrounded (spread, neutral)
 Vowel length:
+ short vowels vs. long vowels

4. Primary cardinal vowels

- A standard reference system
-> The range of vowels that the human vocal apparatus can make.
-> A useful way of describing, classifying and comparing vowels (Roach, 2012:12)
High
||
||
Low

Vowel chart
 Tuesday, September 24th, 2024

VOICING & CONSONANTS

1. Voicing
- Larynx
- Vocal folds
- Glottis: open, closed
- Vibration

 Sounds that are produced:

- With vocal fold vibration -> voiced
- Without vocal fold vibration -> voiceless

2. Place of Articulation
(Carr, 2013: 37)
- POA: the point at which the airflow can be modified.
- POA specifies where in the vocal tract the narrowing (or constriction) occurs.
- 8 POAs.

3. Manner of Articulation
(Roach, 2012: 4.3-4.5, 6.1-6.3, 7.1-7.4)
- MOA: the manner/way in which a consonant is articulated.
- 6 MOAs.

3.1. Plosives (Stops): Complete closure

(Roach, 2012: 26-28)
4 phases:
- Closing phase
- Compression phase
- Release phase
- Post-release phase
In order to differentiate between voiced vs voiceless:
1. Voicing
2. Initial position (Aspiration)
Distribution of plosives
3. Final position (Shortening effect of the preceding vowels).
Distribution of plosives:
- Initial position (CV)
+ Voiced plosives /b/, /d/, /ɡ/ have little voicing.
+ Voiceless /p/, /t/, /k/ are aspirated: peak, pin
+ /s/ + voiceless plosives -> unaspirated: speak, spin
+ /s/+ voiced plosives -> never happens.
- Final position (VC):
+ Voiced plosives /b/, /d/, /ɡ/ have little voicing.
+ Voiceless plosives shorten preceding vowels (esp. long vowels or dipthongs)
 mate – made meɪt - meɪd
 rope – robe rəʊp - rəʊb
 leak – league li:k – li:g
 cart – card kɑːt - kɑːd
 back – bag bæk – bæg
 Tuesday, October 8th, 2024

CONSONANTS (cont.)

3. Manner of Articulation
3.2. Fricatives: Close approximation
(Roach, 2012: 39-41)
- The air escapes through a narrow passage.
 creates friction and hissing sound.
 continuant consonants.
- /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/
- Shortening effect of final fortis fricatives:
+ bus – buzz: bʌs - bʌz
+ race – raise: reɪs - reɪz
+ lice – lies: laɪs - laɪz
+ ice – eyes: aɪs - aɪz
+ since – sins: sɪns - sɪnz
 Fortis fricatives tend to shorten the preceding vowel.
- For /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/:
+ The fricative noise is weak.
- For /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/:
+ The fricative noise is intense.
+ /ʃ/, /ʒ/ have lip-rounding.
+ The distribution of /ʒ/ is limited.
+ Unlike all other fricatives, /ʒ/ is most commonly found in the medial position.
- For /h/:
+ /h/ has the quality of the vowel it precedes.
3.3. Affricates
(Roach, 2012: 39, 43)
- They begin as plosives, and end as fricatives.
- /tʃ/, /dʒ/
Post-alveolar
Voiceless (Fortis) tʃ
Voiced (Lenis) dʒ

- Shortening effect on the preceding vowels:

+ search – surge: sɜːtʃ - sɜːdʒ

3.4. Nasals
(Roach, 2012: 46)
- Air escapes through the nose  lowered soft palate.
- /m/, /n/, /ŋ/  POA?
Bilabial Alveolar Velar
Voiced m n ŋ

* Distribution of /ŋ/:
- Never in the initial position.
- ‘nk’  /ŋk/
- ‘ng’  /ŋɡ/ or /ŋ/
 /ŋ/ at the end of morpheme: /ŋ/
sing /sɪŋ/  singer /sɪŋə/
 /ŋ/ in the middle of morpheme: /ŋɡ/
finger /ˈfɪŋɡə/
* Exception: comparatives and superlatives (ŋɡ)
longer /ˈlɒŋɡə/
Tuesday, October 15th, 2024
 CONSONANTS (cont.)

3. Manner of Articulation
3.5. Approximants: Open approximation
(Roach, 2012: 49-50)
- The articulators are not close enough to create friction or a ‘complete’ consonant
(almost as sonorant as vowels since they are semi-vowels).
- /r/, /j/, /w/
- Distribution of /r/:
+ Non-rhotic accent  only before vowels. (can add /r/ for linking purposes: The car is
red.)
+ Rhotic accent  can occur in the final position. (beer /kɑː(r)/ vs /kɑːr/).

3.6. Lateral approximant

- The air escapes along the sides of the tongue.
- /l/
- Distribution of lateral approximant:
+ Before vowel /laɪt/: “clear l” (light l)
+ After vowel, before consonant /pəʊl/: “dark l” (ɫ)
Place of Articulation
Manner of
Labio- Alveola Post-
Articulation Bilabial Dental Palatal Velar Glottal
dental r alveolar
Plosive p b t d k g
Fricative
Affricate
Nasal m n
Approximan w
t
Lateral

PHONEMES (Roach, 32)

- A minimal abstract unit of speech
- Represented by sound and phonemic symbol

ALLOPHONES (Roach, 33)

- Different realizations of a phoneme that are in a complementary distribution.

COMPLEMENTARY DISTRIBUTION (Roach, 33)

- Represent the same phoneme
- Never found in identical context
/t/: the aspirated [th] and the unaspirated [t=]
 Tuesday, October 15th, 2024

PHONOLOGY
THE SYLLABLE

1. The structure of the English syllable

(Roach, 2012: 56-57)
- Phonetically:
+ A centre with little or no obstruction to airflow
+ Before and after this centre: greater obstruction to airflow
- Phonologically:
+ Possible combinations of phonemes
+ phonotactics: the rule to combine phonemes
- What are the main constituents in a syllable?
+ Onset
+ Rhyme
 Peak
 Coda
- Which constituent is most important in a syllable?  The peak (Nucleus of a syllable).

- Peak:
+ Usually vowel
+ Isolated syllables do NOT end with short vowels.
+ Syllable containing only peak: minimum syllable
* Onset and coda: must be consonants.
- Onset:
+ Zero (Empty) onset
+ 1 consonant (except ŋ and ʒ): initial
+ A consonant cluster
  Two-consonant cluster:
- Pre-initial (s) + initial
- Initial + post-initial (l, w, r, j)
 Three-consonant cluster:
- Pre-initial (s) + initial (p, t, k) + post-initial (l, w, r, j)
splæʃ sprɪŋ strɪŋ skweə stjuː
- Coda:
+ Zero coda
+ A final consonant, except {h, w, j, r (non-rhotic accent)}
+ A consonant cluster
 Pre-final (l, m, n, ŋ, s)
 Post-final (s, z, t, d, θ)
Peak (Vowel)
Post-I (approximants, nasals) Pre-F (approximants, nasals)

Post-F
(plosives, fricatives)

2. Syllable division
(Roach, 2012: 61)
morning /m ɔː n ɪ ŋ/ extra /e k s t r ə/
Where to put the stress mark of suspicious /s ə s p ɪ ʃ ə s/
* The maximal onset principle