Consonants: Articulatory Description and Transcription; Distinctive Features

24.901 Sept. 13, 2010 Distinctive Features-1 (vowels) [1] lexical item • string of speech sounds (phonemes); two items distinct if they differ in length or position • each phoneme is composed of a matrix of feature specifications • features are typically binary: [±Feature] • features have articulatory and acoustic correlates representing the grammatically controlled aspects of the sound implemented in the phonetic component • features also have a classificatory function: they define the alphabet of sounds that encodes the vocabulary of the language in the lexicon; they characterize the natural classes for the rules and constraints that describe the distribution and change of sounds • feature theory developed at MIT in 1950-52 by Roman Jakobson, Gunnar Fant, Morris Halle (Preliminaries to Speech Analysis) based on earlier insights of Nikolai Trubetzkoy in the 1930’s. [2] some features for Vowels i ! e " æ a # o u $ high + + – – – – – – + + low – – – – + + – – – – back – – – – – + + + + + ATR + – + – – – – + + – (key words: [i] beat, [!] bit, [e] bait, ["] bet, [æ] bat, [#] bought, [o] boat, [u] boot, [$] foot • articulatory neutral point for vowels: ["] • [+high] vowel raise tongue body from neutral point; [–high] do not; [+low] vowels lower tongue body below neutral point; [–high] do not; [+back] vowels retract tongue body from neutral point; [– back] do not • tense-lax distinction described here as [±Advanced Tongue Root]; no consensus on this point • IPA symbols are abbreviations for feature matrixes • each sound is represented as plus, minus, or zero for each feature • every phoneme must be representable as some plus/minus vector for features • feature system is component of Universal Grammar that allows a child to distinguish speech from noise and begin learning vocabulary of the language of environment • some believe that different part of brain activated for sounds of language as opposed to noise in general 1 [3] Chamarro (Guam) fronting of back vowels • • vowel system in stressed syllables front back high i u mid e o low æ a gum% house i gim% the house tom$ knee i tem$ the knee lah! male i læh! the male gwih%n fish i gwih%n the fish pec$ chest i pec$ the chest informal statement of changes: u > i after definite article o>e a>æ • but same change occurs in other contexts: tun$& to know en tin$& you know hul$& up sæn hil$? upward otd$t ant mi etd$t lots of ants oks$? hill gi eks$? at the hill lag$ north sæn læg$ toward north [4] statement of rules with IPA symbols u > i after i, e, æ o > e after i, e, æ a > æ after i, e, æ • this description fails to express the fact that the changes are related: all occur in the same context changing sounds [u,o,a] share something in common (back vowels) same change in each pair: back vowel changes to corresponding front one [5] But if sounds represented with features then only certain classes of sounds can be expressed simply: [i,e,æ] and [u,o,a] are natural classes while [i,e,a] or [u,æ,a] are not 2 sounds that undergo rule: [+back] vowels sounds that trigger rule: [– back] vowels sound change: [+back] -> [–back] [6] rules can now be defined to express sound changes: to change a sound is to alter its feature specification – cons –> [– back] / – cons Co ____ +back (Co = zero or more consonants) – back «a back vowel changes to the corresponding front vowel when vowel of preceding syllable is a front vowel» a rule of assimilation rule terminology focus: matrix to be changed by rule / = “in the context of” ____environmental dash locates focus relative to context: before or after structural change: matrix to right of arrow [7] neutralization of height/ATR contrasts before [r] Irish English General American i weary ! ! spirit ! e fairy " Mary crazy " ferry " merry sexy æ marry " marry taxi – cons cf. wean wicked -> – ATR / ____ r – back – low [8] [±round] [+round] sounds produced with a compression/pursing of the lips; [–round] with lips spread i y e ø " œ æ a/' ( # ) o * u + high + + – – – – – – – – – – – + + low – – – – – – + + + – – – – – – back – – – – – – – + + + + + + + + ATR + + + + – – – – – – – + + + + round – + – + – + – – + + – + – + – 3 French: [i] ligne [y] lune [u] loup [e] blé [ø] peu [o] eau ["] père Russian: [i] bit j [œ] peur [#] mort [+] b+t [u] budj 'to beat' Korean: [e] enuri j 'to be' [*] *di 'discount' 'be' imper. [o] onil 'where' 'today' [8] Turkish vowel harmony front back high i y + u mid/low " œ a # noun pl. his N. dal dal-lar dal-+ 'branch' k#l k#l-lar k#l-u 'arm' k+z k+z-lar k+z-+ 'daughter' kul kul-lar kul-u 'slave' y"l y"l-l"r y"l-i 'wind' gœl gœl-l"r gœl-y 'sea' di, di,-l"r di,-i 'tooth' gyl gyl-l"r gyl-y 'rose' • roots contrast for eight possible vowels • most suffixes contrast for just [±high]; values for [back] and [round] determined by harmony [– cons] -> [α back] / [α back] Co ___ – cons (palatal harmony) -> [α round] / [α round] Co ___ (labial harmony) +high • what does grammar predict for ‘his slaves’? [9] Tamil (Christdas 1988) i u e o a j *ji, *je, ja, jo, ju wi, we, wa, *wo, *wu (asterisked sequences are ungrammatical) w 4 Consonants • produced with constriction or obstruction in supralaryngeal vocal tract • traditionally described by place and manner of articulation • up to eleven places distinguished [1] places of articulation according to the IPA Place stop fricative bilabial p, b -, . labiodental f, v dental t/, d/ 0, 1 alveolar t, d s, z postalveolar 2, 3 retroflex 4, 5 6, 7 palatal c, 8 ç, 9 velar k, g x, : uvular q, G ;, < pharyngeal laryngeal Labiodental Bilabial =, > & h, ? Palatal Coronal Velar Coronal Alveolar Dental Palato-Alveolar Retroflex A sagittal section of the vocal tract, showing the places of articulation that occur in English. The coronal region is shown in more detail at the right. Image by MIT OpenCourseWare. 5 [2] manner of articulation • degree and type of stricture • stop (plosive): complete closure and blockage of airflow; sudden release (acoustic spike) [d] • nasal: oral closure with lowered velum so air flows into nasal cavity • fricative: narrow constriction creating turbulence [z] • affricate: stop with delayed release creating turbulence [dz] • approximant: one articulator approaches the other but no turbulence produced glide (semi-vowel): w, @, j French: Louis [wi], lui [@i], lieA [je] lateral: l, B , C Italian: fili [l] vs. figli [C] [n] rhotic: D, (r = trilled, E tap/flap) English: red [D], Spanish: perro [r] vs. pero [E] [3] features for consonants: place and manner of articulation active oral articulators: [±labial], [±coronal], [±dorsal] other active articulators: velum ([±nasal]), tongue root ([±constricted pharynx]), glottis ([±spread glottis], [±constricted glottis]) nasal: [±nasal]; [+nasal] sounds are produced with the velum lowered while [–nasal] (oral) sounds have the velum raised; most languages contrast oral and nasal plosives (i.e. [n] vs. [t]) and some contrast oral and nasal vowels such as French beau [bo] vs. bon [b#F]; nasals are found at the same places as stops: m, G, n, H, I, J, N stricture: [±continuant] [–continuant]: stops and affricates [+continuant]: all others [±delayed release] [+delayed release]: affricates [–delayed release]: all others [±strident] (bound to coronal articulator) [+strident]: sibilants (s, ts, ,, t,, ): high turbulence [–strident]: interdentals 0 [±lateral] (bound to coronal articulator) [+lateral]: side of tongue is lowered [–lateral]: all others 6 [4] major place distinctions labials: [±labial]: lower (and upper) lip [–labiodental] [+labio-dental] [m, p, b, -, .] [G, f, v] Spanish: la [.]aca English: la[v]a coronals: [±coronal] front portion of tongue dental/alveolar vs. alveopalatal: [±anterior] [+anterior] [–anterior] t, d c,8 Hungarian: kutya [c] Magyar [8] ,, 3 English: press [s] pressure [2] (cf. coif, coifure) affricate t , d , t,, d3 Mandarin: below nasal I Spanish: cana [n] canFa [I] stop fricative s, z s z n Mandarin sibilants dental tsai 51 postalveolar ‘again’ sai 51 ‘compete’ t6aJ 51 ‘rise’ 6aJ 51 ‘above’ tKi 55 Ki 55 ‘west’ (retroflex) alveolo-palatal high vs. lower turbulence: [+strident] [s, t , ,, t ] s , ‘chicken’ [±strident] [–strident] [0, 1] English: sin vs. thin [0] tip vs. blade (apical vs. laminal): [±distributed] [–distributed] [+distributed] retroflex [4] interdental [0] dental [t/] alveolar [t] Australian Aboriginal dorsal: [±dorsal]: tongue body is articulator; subsidiary features [high], [back], ([low]) [k'] of keep vs. [k] of coop: [–back] vs. [+back] 7 velar vs. uvular: [+high] [–high] stop k q g G fricative x ; : < pharyngeal: [±constricted pharynx] tongue root is articulator fricative = > stops not found; difficult to make a closure laryngeal: [±constricted glottis] vocal folds are the active articulators [constricted gl] stop [spread gl] & + – fricative h – + examples: Arabic gutturals: [dorsal] [constr ph] [high] [back] [voice] [spread gl] [constr gl] xaali 'my uncle' + – + + – – – :aali 'expensive' + – + + + – – qaal 'he said' + – – + – – – =aali 'my condition' – + – – – – – >aali 'high' – + – – + – – haal 'mirage' – – – – – + – &aal 'family, kin' – – – – – – + [4] Sudanese Arabic (PGG ex. 1.12) kitaab 'book' bit 'daughter' samak 'fish' kitaa[f] Fathi bi[t] Fathi sama[k] Fathi kitaa[p] Samiir bi[s] Samiir sama[k] Samiir kitaa[p] ,ariif bi[,] ,ariif sama[k] ,ariif kitaa[p] Xaalid bi[t] Xaalid sama[x] Xaalid kitaa[p] Hasan bi[t] Hasan sama[k] Hasan 8 [5] major class features [±syllabic] [+syllabic] denotes vowel, carries nucleus of syllable [–syllabic] sounds at margin of syllable or nonsyllabic [±consonantal] [+cons] oral constriction greater than a glide/semi-vowel [–cons] oral constriction less than a glide/semi-vowel [±sonorant] [+sonorant] oral constriction not sufficient to cause air pressure to build up to prevent voicing of vocal folds [–sonorant] oral constriction impedes spontaneous voicing and requires some adjustment to maintain voicing syllabic consonantal sonorant vowel + – + glide – – + liquid – + + nasal – + + fricative – + – stop – + – affricate – + – Examples French high vowel devocalization il loue [lu] ‘he rents’ lou-er [lwe] ‘to rent’ il lie [li] li-er ‘he binds’ [lje] ‘to bind’ Palestinian Arabic glide vocalization dalw-ak dalu d3alj-ak d3ali ‘your pail’ ‘pail’ ‘your dish’ ‘dish’ cf. ?abu ‘father’ ?abu:k ‘your father’ Popular English lateral vocalization feeling [l] feel [fiw] Argentinian Spanish glide “hardening” 9 le[j] le[3]es ‘law’ ‘laws’ sonorant consonants allow a preceding voicing contrast while obstruents often trigger neutralization (assimilation) Russian voicing assimilation: bjez mam+ bjes pap+ bjez brata ot mam+ ot pap+ od brata [6] laryngeal features [±voice]: [+voice] sounds have vibration of the vocal folds; [–voice] sounds lack it [±spread glottis]: [+spread gl] is feature for aspirated sounds; [±constricted gl]: [+constricted gl] is the feature for glottalized consonants [voice] voiceless unaspirated: p,t,k voiced unaspirated: b,d,g voiceless aspirated: p ,t ,k voiced aspirated: b ,d ,g voiceless glottalized: p ,t ,k voiced glottalized: L,M,N h h h , h , , h h [spread gl] [constricted gl] – – – + – – – + – + – – – – + + – + • no contrast: Finnish p, t, k (cf. voiceless unaspirated stops of English spin, stem, skin • binary contrasts Spanish: p vs. b Mandarin: p vs. p h Nootka: p vs. p, • voiceless vs. voiced paso 'step' vs. basa 'base'±stiff voiceless vs. aspirated pai 'white' vs. phai 'row' voiceless vs. glottalized pa:- 'go' vs. p&a 'give away' ternary contrasts Thai: O 'forest' vs. phaa O 'to split' vs. baOa 'shoulder' p vs. ph vs. b paa Korean: p vs. ph vs. p, tal ‘moon’ vs. t’al ‘daughter’ vs. thal ‘burn’ • quaternary Hindi: p vs. ph and b vs. bh • pal 'take care of' vs. phal 'edge of knife' vs. bal 'hair' vs. bhal 'forehand' vocal fold vibration is influenced by a variety of factors; Halle & Stevens (1971) propose adding features of glottal tension [±stiff] and [±slack] see PGG pp. 40-1 [6] secondary articulations: superimposition of vocalic lip and tongue-body articulations in combination with the primary oral constriction 10 labialization: [+round] sa vs. swa palatalization: [+high, –back] sa vs. sja velarization: cf. whale [hw] vs. wail [w] vs. hail [h] Russian papa vs. pjatj 'five' [+high, +back] sa vs. sPa leaf vs. feel [l] vs. [Q] pharyngealization: [+back,+low] sa vs. s a Arabic saif 'sword' vs. s>aif 'summer' > [7] prosodic features • quantity/length: [±long] duration of articulation short vs. long vowels: ta vs. ta: (ta vs. taa; taR vs. ta)S Czech, Latin short vs. long (geminate) consonants: tata vs. tatta (tata vs. tat:a) Italian both consonants and vowels: Japanese, Finnish, Hungarian Japanese length contrasts • kite ‘coming’ ki:te ‘listening’ site ‘doing’ sitte ‘knowing’ tone: F0 rate of vibration of vocal folds level: [±hi], [±lo] high vs. nonhigh/low: Moore taA vs. taO Kinande taA vs. ta high vs. mid vs. low: Yoruba taA vs. ta vs. taO contour: rise vs. fall: taT vs. taU (Thai) • stress: phonetic correlates vary among duration, pitch change, energy stressed vs. unstressed: Russian Vpapa primary vs. secondary: English WAlaVbama ---------------further examples Korean compounds ap 'front' nat 'sickle' kuk 'nation' ni 'tooth' nal 'edge' min 'person' am-ni 'front tooth' nan-nal 'edge of sickle' kuŋ-min 'people' Spanish article + noun kasa goma donFa tat2a boka peka la-kasa la-ɣoma la-ðonFa la-tat2a la-βoka la-peka 'house' 'gum' 'lady' 'blemish' 'mouth' 'freckle' 11 Japanese verb inflection negative kak-anai tob-anai mat-anai das-anai conditional kak-eba tob-eba mat-eba das-eba tentative kak-oo tob-oo mat-oo das-oo continuative kak-imasu tob-imasu mat -imasu da2-imasu basic tob-u mat -u das-u kak-u 2 s Russian voicing contrasts and assimilation Ivan mam-a Ljud-a pap-a Dim-a vod-a ot Ivan-a ot-mam-+ ot-Ljud-+ ot-pap-+ od-Dim-+ vot-k-a bjez Ivan-a bjez-mam-+ bjez-Ljud-+ bjes-pap-+ bjez-Dim-+ Spanish indefinite + noun un aro 'an earring' Greenlandic Eskimo um beso 'a kiss' un dado 'a die' uJ kwerpo 'a body' (high and mid vowels in complementary distribution) ugsik ‘cow’ nanoq ‘bear’ iga ‘pot’ s < meq ‘glacier’ nuna ‘land’ ne < dloq ‘goose’ imaq ‘sea’ ipe < aq ‘harpoon strap’ ikusik ‘elbow’ o < pik ‘tree’ Kikuyu infinitive prefix :o-t"J"ra to run :o-kuua ‘to carry’ :o-koora ‘to root out’ ko-ruya ‘to cook’ ko-oria ‘to ask’ ko-m"Ia ‘to know’ ko-h#ta ‘to be able’ ko-ina ‘to dance’ ko-niina ‘to finish’ :o-kaya ‘to cut’ :o-t2uuka ‘to slander’ ko-:aya ‘to divide’ 12