1. Speech sounds
Articulation

2. Articulators above the larynx
Contraction of chest muscles
Larynx muscles modify the flow on its way to the mouth
Passing through vocal tract → mouth/nose
Different parts: articulators (studied by articulatory phonetics)

3. The articulators

5. Pharynx Tube above larynx W: 7 cm; M: 8 cm long
Between oral and nasal cavity

6. Soft palate/ velum
Raised or lowered to stop or let airstream pass through nose
Can be touched with tongue
Velar consonants /k,g/

7. Hard palate/palatum durum
Roof of the mouth
/tʃ,ʤ/

8. Alveolae/alveolar ridge
Between top front teeth and hard palate
Rough surface covered with ridges
Alveolars /t,d/

9. tongue Very flexible (different places/shapes)
Parts: tip, blade, front, back, root

10. teeth Upper and lower (at front of mouth)
Immediately behind lips to the sides of mouth
Contact with upper side teeth /l/
Dental sounds in some languages

11. lips Pressed together /b,p/ = bilabials
In contact with teeth /f,v/ = labio-dentals
Rounded in vowels /u:/

12. Other “articulators” Jaws
Nose / nasal cavity = participates in producing nasals

13. vowels Sounds in which there is no obstruction to the airflow
Some cons. /h/w/ hardly obstruct the airflow, too
Distribution is a better criterion,
/h/ + ?
/bı/ + ?
Vowels and consonants differ in distribution

14. vowels Close / open distinction /i:/ vs. /æ/
Front / back distinction / æ/ vs. /α:/

15. These are x-rays of a person producing different vowels

19. In the close front position (unrounded) we produce /i/

20. In the open front position (unrounded) we produce /a/

21. Back open (unrounded) : //

22. Back close (rounded): /u/

23. Connecting these points gives us a box called the Vowel Quadrilateral

24. Vowel classification Cardinal vowels (standard reference system)
For vowels, a different set of terms is used.
- high-mid-low: height of the tongue in the mouth
- front-central-back:
frontness or backness of the tongue in the mouth
- rounded-unrounded (spread, neutral):
the state of the lips
in English, as in many languages this is predictable: rounded for high back and mid back vowels, unrounded for other vowels.
tense-lax : roughly, the degree of tension in the tongue
The terms refer, loosely speaking, to the location of the main tongue constriction within the mouth.

25. Places of articulation of English vowels

26. The distinction between long and short vowels is not always very clear
The realisation of long and short vowels depends on their context, this is called Clipping
This means that long vowels and diphthongs tend to be shortened before voiceless consonants e.g. /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/ etc.

27. Vowel length in centiseconds

28. Next time:
vowels