1. Vannesa Mueller, Ph.D., CCC-SLP Speech-Language Pathology Program
Intro to Phonetics
Vannesa Mueller, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathology Program

2. Definitions
Phonetics – study of speech emphasizing individual speech sounds

3. Definitions
Phonology – study of the structure and systematic patterning of sounds within a particular language
Which sounds language users use
How the sounds are organized and arranged
Japanese - /st/ not permitted
English - /kn/, /gn/ do not start words

4. Physiological phonetics
Anatomical and physiological mechanisms and processes that are the foundation for speech production
Breathing
Voicing
Articulating
Resonating

5. Speech is a side-effect

6. Respiratory system Primary function / vital function?
Secondary function / overlaid functions?

7. Respiratory system

8. Respiratory system

9. Phonatory system Primary function / vital function?
Secondary function / overlaid function?

10. Phonatory system

11. Phonatory system
Fundamental frequency – number of glottal openings per second
Females – cycles per second
Males – cycles per second
Vocal fold video

12. Resonatory system Primary function / vital function?
Secondary function / overlaid function?

13. Resonatory system

14. Articulatory system Primary function / vital function?
Secondary function / overlaid function?

15. Articulatory system

16. Phonetic transcription
written notation of speech sounds
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) – most widely used system to document speech sounds

17. Underlying theoretical concepts
some aspects of speech have linguistic relevance while others do not
speech can be represented as a sequence of discrete sounds
there are consonants and vowels
the phonetic description of sound segments can be referenced according to their production and auditory characteristics
suprasegmental properties need to be represented

18. English orthography How many letters? How many sounds?
How many vowels?
How many vowel sounds?

19. English orthography How many letters? 26 How many sounds? 44
How many vowels? 5
How many vowel sounds? 16 (Australian English – 21)

20. What word is this?
ghoti

21. How do we describe speech sounds?
Place of articulation
Manner of articulation
Voicing

35. Voicing /p/ pay /b/ boy /t/ toy /d/ doll /k/ coat /g/ goat /m/ moon
/n/ not
/ŋ/ sing
/θ/ think
/ð/ those
/f/ far
/v/ vase
/s/ sun
/z/ zoo
/ ʃ / shoe
/ʒ/ beige
/h/ hop
/t ʃ / chop
/dʒ/ job
/j/ yes
/w/ win
/ʍ/ what
/l/ leap
/r/ run

36. Ready?! Hat Soap Word Three Through Forward
How many sounds are in the following words?
Hat
Soap
Word
Three
Through
Forward

37. Aspirated /p/ vs. unaspirated /p/
Allophones
The variation of a phoneme used by various speakers in differing contexts
In other words, allophones are variations of phones that belong in the same family of phonemes
Aspirated /p/ vs. unaspirated /p/
“peddle” vs. “stop”

38. Allophones Free variation – either phone can be used
Complementary distribution – phones have certain linguistic environments that do not overlap
list vs. full

39. Coarticulation
Changes in the production of sounds based on the influence of surrounding sounds
Sue
News /nuz/ vs. Newspaper /nuspe͡ɪpɚ/
Sandwich /sæmɪtʃ/

40. Dialectical variations
Substitution processes - /ɑ,ɔ/
Phonotactic processes – addition or deletion of phonemes /pɑk/ for park
Prosodic variability – stress differences
/dʒuˈla͡ɪ/ vs. /ˈdʒula͡ɪ/

41. Why do you care?

42. Voice onset time
The duration of time that passes between the release of a stop consonant and the onset of voice. /p/ vs. /b/

43. Rife & Rice (2014)