Phonetics



Dr. C. George Boeree

Shippensburg University



Phonetics

phonemes

The Vocal Tract

vocal tract

lungs

larynx

trachea

esophagous

glottis

epiglottis

vocal cords

voiced

unvoiced

pharynx

phryngeal

nasopharynx

nasal

uvula

uvular

gutterals

velum

velar

hard palate

palatals

alveolus

alveolar

Dental

bilabial

labiodental

corona

dorsum

Consonants

Stops

plosives

a. Bilabial plosives: p (unvoiced) and b (voiced)

b. Alveolar plosives: t (unvoiced) and d (voiced)

c. Velar plosives: k (unvoiced) and g (voiced)





retroflex

aspiration

Fricatives

a. Labiodental fricatives: f (unvoiced) and v (voiced)

b. Dental fricatives: th (as in thin -- unvoiced) and dh (as in the -- voiced)

c. Alveolar fricatives: s (unvoiced) and z (voiced)

d. Palatal fricatives: sh (unvoiced) and zh (like the s in vision -- voiced)

e. Glottal fricative: h (unvoiced)



Affricates

Nasals

a. Bilabial nasal: m

b. Alveolar nasal: n

c. Velar nasal: ng



Liquids

Semivowels

glides

palatalized

on-glide

Vowels

diphthongs

off-glides

low, mid, or high

high are beet, bit, boot, and book

mid are bait, bet, but, boat, bought, bird and a in ago

low are bat, car, and british pot



front, center, or back

front are beet, bit, bait, bet, and bat

center are but, bird, and a in ago

back are boot, book, boat, bought, and british pot



rounded or unrounded

the front vowels are unrounded

the center and back vowels are rounded



vowel length

nasality

IPA

International Phonetic Alphabet

unicode



Consonants







bilabial labio-

dental dental

alveolar

retroflex

palato-

alveolar

palatal

velar

uvular

glottal

plosives

uv.

p





t

ʈ



c

k

q

ʔ

v.

b





d

ɖ



ɟ

g

ɢ



fricatives uv.

Φ

f

θ

s

ʂ

ʃ

ç

x

χ h

v.

β

v

ð

z

ʐ

ʒ

ʝ

γ

ʁ

ɦ

nasals



m

ɱ



n

ɳ



ɲ

ŋ

ɴ



semivowels

uv.

ʍ



















v.

w

ʋ



ɹ

ɻ



j







rolled/

trilled



в





r









ʀ

tapped/

flapped









ɾ

ɽ











laterals









l

ɭ



λ

L





lateral

-fricatives

uv.







ł













v.







ɮ















Vowels





front

central

back

high

i y

ɨ ʉ

ɯ u



ɪ ʏ



ʊ

middle

e ø

ɜ ə ɵ

ɤ o



ɛ œ

ɐ ʌ

ɔ

low

æ a



α ɒ



clicks

Stress and Tones

stress

pitch

fect

af-

math-

mat-

mat

math

dynamic stress

tones

The single tone starts high and goes down. If a single toneword has a second syllable, that syllable is unstressed. Single tone words don’t sound very unusual to English speakers.



The double tone is only found in two syllable words. The first pitch starts in the middle range of pitch and the second tone starts high and goes down. If there is a third syllable, it is unstressed. The double tone gives the word a sing-song quality to English speakers.



tonal