INTRODUCTION
What is Phonetics?
Phonetics is the study of the sounds of speech. It refers specifically to the physical elements of how speech sounds are produced. This lesson will focus more on describing speech sounds for use in conlangs.
Phonology is a separate, but related, field that looks at the mental representation of these sounds within a language and how they correspond to the physical output. It is not a list of the sounds in a language! That is a phoneme inventory.
What is IPA and why should you learn it?
IPA is short for the International Phonetic Alphabet. It is a series of symbols used to quickly describe the sounds of the world's languages in a clear unambiguous way.
-
"But a 'g' is a 'g!' Why do I need to learn some silly new alphabet?"
Orthography, or the specific rules of spelling/writing in a language, is not always an accurate description of the sounds of the language.
English is a great example of this.
Take the 'g' in the following words:
Girl
Giraffe
Cou
gh
They are all pronounced differently! So saying 'g' is pronounced like 'g' is not very helpful at all.
-
So how do I say what 'g' sounds like?
By using IPA as well as some other fancy symbols. Many IPA symbols look like standard latin letters so slashes / /, square brackets [ ], and angle brackets < > are used to specify if something is IPA or orthography.
/ / are used for broad (less specific) transcriptions.
[ ] are used for narrow (more specific) transcriptions.*
< > are used for orthography (spelling).
*In the context of phonology though // and [ ] indicate underlying and surface forms respectively. It is more common to see them used this way on the forums.
So, going back to the examples given:
The < g > in 'girl' is pronounced / g /.
The < g > in 'giraffe' is pronounced / ʤ /.
And the < gh > in 'cough' is pronounced / f /.
-
What on earth is / ʤ /?!
It's the IPA symbol for the sound that starts these words < giraffe >, < judge >, < joke > and < giant >. Now that you've seen the benefits of IPA over orthography we can jump into learning some of the symbols.
LESSON ONE
This lesson will focus on getting you familiar with the sounds of English and then moving to the sounds of other languages. Learning IPA also opens you to new world of linguistic awareness. Chances are you will realize there is a lot more to English, or any other language, than you thought.
Plosives
The first class of sounds you'll learn about are called 'plosives.' They can also be referred to as 'stops*.' This is because they completely stop the airflow coming from your mouth as you speak.
*It is also important to note that the term 'stop' includes plosives and nasals which will be discussed later.
Take for example the word 'pop.' Say it out loud very slowly.
You will notice that when you say the < p >'s that both of your lips will touch and temporarily close your mouth. The sound you making there is
/ p /. You can also call is a
bilabial plosive because it is a full closure of the air flow (plosive) done by closing both lips (bilabial).
Now say the word 'top' slowly. Notice now how instead of closing your lips at the start of the word your tongue will move up and touch the roof of your mouth. This is the sound
/ t /. It can also be called an
alveolar plosive. The plosive you know is from stopping the air flow but alveolar refers to the place where your tongue touches your mouth. If you say 'top' again you can feel your tongue touching the ridge structure in your mouth. This is called the
alveolar ridge.
The next word for you to say is 'cop.' You should feel that your tongue is hitting the roof of your mouth farther back at the start of the word. This place is called the
velum (or the soft palate). So the sound
/ k / at the start of the word can also be called a
velar plosive. In between the velum and the alveolar ridge is the hard roof to your mouth. This is the hard palate which is generally referred to as simply the
palate.
By now you should be noticing a trend. Sounds are defined by their
place of articulation (PoA), where your tongue/lips are, and by their
manner of articulation (MoA), how your tongue/lips close the space. However, there is usually one more bit of information required to fully specify a sound – voicing.
Voicing
Now place your hand on your neck, right where an Adam's apple would be, and say the following words 'sue' and 'zoo.' Focus on the first part of each word. When you say 'sue' you shouldn't feel anything* but when you say 'zoo' you should feel a vibration from your throat. What you feel is your vocal folds (more commonly known as vocal chords) vibrating. The technical term for the vibration of your vocal folds is voicing.
*You may feel some vibration later on because of the vowels but focus on the 's'.
Going back to the three plosives we started with / p t k /. They are all
voiceless. However, they all have
voiced equivalents. Which is to say there are sounds that have the same place and manner of articulation but also are said with the vocal folds vibrating.
Compare the first sounds in 'pear' and 'bear.'
/ p / voiceless bilabial plosive vs. / b / voiced bilabial plosive.
Compare the first sounds in 'tame' and 'dame.'
/ t / voiceless alveolar plosive vs. / d / voiced alveolar plosive.
Compare the first sounds in 'cane' and 'gain.'
/ k / voiceless velar plosive vs. / g / voiced velar plosive.
Review
We've managed to go over quite a lot of terminology so far. Now it's time to try putting some of that to use. Answers will be provided at the end of lesson for you to check your work.
1. Here's a blank diagram of the mouth. Name the different parts marked below.
2. Define the following words:
a. Plosive
b. Bilabial
c. Alveolar
d. Velar
3. Write the full description of these sounds:
/ g /
/ b /
/ k /
/ t /
/ d /
/ p /
Answers