An Introduction to English Phonology_McMahonChapter 3

8/12/2019 An Introduction to English Phonology_McMahonChapter 3

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3 Describing English consonants

3.1 Whats inside a phonetic symbol?

So far, we have considered the IPA essentially as an alternative writing system, whichallows us to express a larger range of sounds than the English spelling system would.However, looking only at those symols might suggest that we are dealing with individual,self!contained units when we consider phonemes and allophones" each is like a locked lackox laelled with an IPA symol. In fact, each IPA symol is shorthand for a whole range ofproperties, and those properties explain how the particular segment eing symoli#ed ispronounced$ unpacking the lack ox for each sound reveals not a %umle, ut an internalstructure, and understanding that structure allows us to make comparisons with othersounds. &hen we know that'k(, for instance, is a voiceless velar plosive, we can start to seewhat properties it shares with other sounds which might also e voiceless, or velar, orplosives$ we can also see how it differs from other sounds which are not voiceless, or velar,or plosives. )urthermore, we shall see what properties different allophones of the samephoneme share, which might allow them to e regarded as *the same+ y speakers ofEnglish" that is, we can work out what particular phonetic features speakers of English tendto ignore, and which they are aware of. Since this may e very different for speakers of otherlanguages, unpacking IPA notation in this way also allows cross!linguistic comparisons toe made. In this chapter, we shall therefore consider a very asic set of phonetic featureswhich enale us to descrie the articulation of the consonants of English, and to assess theirdifferences and similarities.

3.2 Consonant classification

A iologist looking at some particular creature wants to know various things aout it, towork out where it should e placed in conventional iological classification. Someproperties are visile and therefore easy to work out, such as how many legs it has or

whether it has fur, feathers or scales. In other cases, closer oservation will e needed"tooth shape cannot usually e checked from a distance. Still other properties areehavioural, and our iologist might need to oserve her creature over a longer period oftime to figure out whether it lays eggs or ears live young, or what it eats. he same goes forphonetic classification" some properties are straightforwardly oservale when you look ina mirror, or can e figured out easily from feeling what your articulators are doing. -therfeatures are harder to spot, and need some extra training efore you will ecome aware ofthem. )urthermore, we also need to rememer that phonemes are realised as variousdifferent allophones, so we must uild up a picture of all the possile environments wherethat phoneme can occur and what happens there, to sort out how it ehaves. iologiststoday are, of course, working within an agreed classification" when they oserve a creaturewith particular physical traits, or particular ehaviours, they can slot it into a framework ofherivores and carnivores$ mammals, insects, irds and reptiles$ verterates andinverterates$ and so on. )ortunately, phoneticians and phonologists have a similar,generally agreed framework for sounds. )or consonants, we need to know six things toarrive at a classification" in the rest of this chapter, we shall consider these six sets ofproperties in turn, and assess which English phonemes fit into each category. /owelclassification involves rather different features, and we return to this in 0hapter 1" we areeginning with consonants ecause many of their properties are easier to ascertain fromself!oservation, and ecause the systems of consonantphonemes in different accents of English vary far less than the vowels.

3.3 The anatomy of a consonant

3.3.1 What is the airstream mechanism?


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Speech is audile ecause the movements of articulators 2to e discussed in suse3uentsections4 cause the air to virate, forming sound waves which travel to the hearer+s ears,and set up virations in her inner ear, which are then translated into sounds again y therain. Since sound waves need air, it follows that articulatory virations will only makesound waves if there is a moving ody of air availale. Airstreams can e set in motion, orinitiated, in three ways$ however, only one is used in English, and indeed is found in every

language of the world.Essentially, speaking is modified reathing" it makes use of the resources involved innormal respiration, ut in a more controlled way. &hen we are simply reathing 3uietly,the phases of reathing in and out last approximately the same time, and expiration is notunder our physicalcontrol$ it simply occurs as an automatic conse3uence of havingreathed in. However, when we are speaking, the phase of reathing out is significantlylonger, depending on the length of the utterance we want to produce. A network of muscles,like the intercostal muscles etween our ris, come into play to make reathing outsmoother, more gradual and more controlled during speech, providing a regular flow of airwhich can then e modified y the articulators in various ways.All the sounds of English, oth consonants and vowels, are produced on this pulmonicegressive airstream, where the initiator is the lungs and the rest of the respiratory system,

and the direction of airflow is outwards" this is overwhelmingly the most commonairstream mechanism in every language of the world. It can generally e taken for grantedthat the sounds under discussion elow are pulmonic egressive, ut you should rememerto give that information in a complete description" so the laial nasal 'm( 2which, as weshall see, is produced using the lips 5 hence laial, and with airflow through the nose 5hence nasal4, is strictly a pulmonic egressive laial nasal.It is possile to produce speech using a pulmonic ingressive airstream. 6o language seemsto use this airstream regularly for particular sounds, although it has een reported invarious cultures as a means of voice disguise" if you try to reathe in and speak at the sametime, you will find that the pitch of your voice raises significantly.here are two other airstreams which may e involved in speech, although even inlanguages where these are used, they will characteri#e only a few sounds, interpolated in astream of pulmonic egressive speech.

he first is the glottalic airstream mechanism, initiated y a movement of the larynx, whichis where you can feel your *Adam+s apple+ protruding slightly aout half!way up your throat.he larynx can move up or down, and the glottalic airstream can therefore e eitheringressive or egressive, producing sounds known as implosives and e%ectives respectively$none of these occur in English. )inally, the *tut!tut+ click sound '7( is produced on a velaricairstream, which operates only ingressively. &hen you make '7( you can feel that the ackof your tongue is pressed against the roof of your mouth, stopping air from moving anyfurtherack$ a little air is then drawn into the mouth further forward, and the closure with thetongue is released to make a click. 6either the glottalic nor the velaric airstreams provideairflow with the volume or controllaility of the pulmonic system.

3.3.2 Voiced or voiceless?

A ma%or division among speech sounds which is relevant for all languages is the dichotomyof voiced and voiceless. If you put your fingers on your *Adam+s apple+ or *voiceox+2technically the larynx4, and produce a very long '#######(, you should feel viration$ thisshows that '#( is a voiced sound. -n the other hand, if you make a very long 'sssssss(, youwill not feel the same sort of activity" 's( is a voiceless sound.Pulmonic egressive air flows through the trachea, or windpipe, and up into the larynx,which is like a moile little ox suspended at the top of the trachea, acting to control theairway to and from the lungs, with the epiglottis aove it protecting the lungs y stoppingforeign odies like food from dropping in. Stretched across the larynx from front to ackare the vocal folds, or vocal cords. hese can e pulled ack and drawn apart, in which casethey leave a free space, the glottis, through which air can flow" this is the case for voiceless

sounds like 's(. )or voiced sounds, the vocal folds are drawn together, closing off the glottis$however, the pressure of air flowing from the lungs will cause the folds to part, and their


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essentially elastic nature will then force them together again. 8epetitions of this cycle ofopening and closing cause viration, as for '#(. he numer of cycles of opening and closingper second will depend on the si#e of the vocal folds, and determines the pitch of the voice"hence, children+s smaller, shorter vocal folds produce their higher voices.Although sounds can e voiced in any position in the word, voicing is most oviousmedially, etween other voiced sounds" when there is an ad%acent voiceless sound or pause,

voicing will not last for so long or e so strong. 0onse3uently, although English has theminimal pairs tip 5 dip, latter 5 ladder, bit 5 bid for 9t9 versus 9d9, 'd( is only voicedthroughout its production in ladder, where it is medial and surrounded y voiced vowels.&ord!initially, we are more likely to identify 9t9 in tipy its aspiration, and 9d9 in dipylack of aspiration, than rely on voicing. /oicelessness and voicing are the two main settingsof phonation, or states of the glottis" for English at least, the only other relevant case, andagain one which is used paralinguistically, is whisper. In whisper phonation, the vocal foldsare close together ut not closed$ the reduced si#e of the glottis allows air to pass, ut withsome turulence which is heard as the characteristic hiss of whisper.

3.3.3 Oral or nasal?

he next ma%or issue is where the pulmonic egressive airstream used in English goes. )ormost sounds, air passes from the lungs, up through a long tue composed of the trachea, orwindpipe$ the larynx$ and the pharynx, which opens out into the ack of the oral cavity. heair passes the various articulators in the mouth, and exits at the lips$ and all these vocalorgans are shown in )igure :.;. However, for three English sounds, air passes through thenasal cavity instead.he key to whether air can flow through the nose is the velum, or soft palate, which you canidentify y curling the tip of your tongue up and running it ack along the roof of yourmouth until you feel the hard, ony palate giving way to something s3uashier. )or oralsounds, the velum is raised and pushed against the ack wall of the pharynx, cutting offaccess to the nose. However, for 'm(, 'n( and '


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the term for oral stops produced on a pulmonic egressive airstream, %ust as clicks are stopsproduced on a velaric ingressive airstream, for instance. Plosives may e voiceless, like 'p(,'t( and 'k(, or voiced, like their e3uivalents '(, 'd( and 'g(.Since the definition of a stopinvolves the complete, transient ostruction of the oral cavity, it also includes nasal sounds,where airflow continues through the nose. English 'm(, 'n( and '


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@ll, like Llewellyn$ ecause this is a fricative and involves close approximation of thearticulators, the airflow is easier to oserve. Alternatively, try making an 'l( ingressively,pulling the air into your mouth instead of reathing it out, and feel the cold air movinginwards along the sides of your tongue. In English, oth the clear and the dark allophonesof 9l9, and only these, have lateral airflow, and are known as lateral approximants. Since theonly case where the central versus lateral difference is distinctive in English involves 9r9

and 9l9, these should consistently e descried as central and lateral respectively. Althoughin a particularly thorough description, all other sounds 2except nasals, which have no oralairflow at all4 should e explicitly stated to e central, this definition will generally eunderstood rather than stated elow, since the otherEnglish sounds do not contrast with lateral sounds of the same place and manner ofarticulation, meaning that confusion is highly unlikely.

3.3.6 What is the place of articulation?

As we have seen, the location of the active and passive articulators determines the place ofarticulation for a consonant. In English, consonants are produced at eight places ofarticulation. Since we have now covered all the other articulatory parameters re3uired to

descrie consonants, introducing and defining these places will allow us to uild up acomplete consonant phoneme system for English. In the tales elow, the phoneme orallophone in 3uestion is initial in the example word, unless another part of that word isold!face.

A. B"(AB"A(

)or a ilaial sound, the active articulator is the ottom lip, and the passive articulator isthe top lip.

9p9pievoiceless ilaial plosive99 byvoiced ilaial plosive9m9 myvoiced ilaial nasal

here is at least one further English phoneme which to an extent fits under this heading"this is the approximant 9w9 in wet. In producing 'w(, the lips are certainly approximated,though not enough to cause friction or ostruct the airflow$ ut you should e ale to feelthat the ack of your tongue is also unched up. his additional articulation takes place atthe velum, so that 'w( is not simply a laial sound, ut a laial!velar one.

9w9 witchvoiced laial!velar approximant

B. (AB"O)*$'TA(

)or laio!dental sounds, the active articulator is again the ottom lip, ut this time it moves

up to the top front teeth. 6ote that these sounds are laio!dental, while 9w9 and 979 arelaial!velar, ecause in the first case, articulation takes place only at a single location, whilein the second, there are two separate, simultaneous articulations.

9f9fatvoiceless laio!dental fricative9v9 vatvoiced laio!dental fricative

C. *$'TA(

In most English sounds, and most speech sounds in general, the active articulator is part ofthe tongue$ to avoid confusion, places of articulation where the tongue is involved aretherefore generally called after the passive articulator. )or the two dental fricatives, itfollows that the passive articulator is the top front teeth$ the active articulator is the tip of

the tongue. he tongue itself is conventionally divided into the tip 2the very front4$ thelade 2%ust ehind the lade, and lying opposite the alveolar ridge4$ the front 2%ust ehind


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the lade, and lying opposite the hard palate4$ the ack 2ehind the front, and lyingopposite the velum4$ and the root 2right at the ase, lying opposite the wall of the pharynx4.

/ / thighvoiceless dental fricative

// thyvoiced dental fricative

*. A(#$O(A!

Alveolar sounds are produced y the tip or lade of the tongue moving up towards thealveolar ridge, the ony protrusion you can feel if you curl your tongue ack %ust ehindyour top front teeth.

9t9 tievoiceless alveolar plosive9d9 dievoiced alveolar plosive9n9 nighvoiced alveolar nasal9s9 sipvoiceless alveolar fricative9#9zipvoiced alveolar fricative9r9 ripvoiced alveolar central approximant9l9 lipvoiced alveolar lateral approximant

he symol 9r9 is used for the phoneme here and throughout the ook, primarily ecause itis typographically convenient$ ut different realisations of 9r9 are found throughout theEnglish!speaking world, and as we have seen, 'r( itself, the voiced alveolar trill, is ratherrare. he tapped realisation, '(, is also alveolar$ ut another even more commonpronunciation is not. his is the voiced retroflex approximant, ' (, which is produced withthe tip of the tongue curled ack slightly ehind the alveolar ridge$ this is the most commonrealisation of 9r9 for speakers of Southern Standard ritish English and Beneral American.

$. POSTA(#$O(A!

If you move your tongue tip ack ehind the alveolar ridge, you will feel the hard palate,which then, moving further ack again, ecomes the soft palate, or velum. Postalveolarsounds are produced with the lade of the tongue as the active articulator, and thead%oining parts of the alveolar ridge and the hard palate as the passive one. hey includetwo fricatives, and the affricates introduced in the last section.

99 shipvoiceless postalveolar fricative99 beigevoiced postalveolar fricative9t9 chunkvoiceless postalveolar affricate9d9junkvoiced postalveolar affricate

. PA(ATA(

Palatals are produced y the front of the tongue, which moves up towards the hard palate.

&e have so far encountered two palatal sounds" the approximant 9%9 in yes, and thevoiceless palatal stop 'c( in kitchen.8ecall, however, that 'c( is the allophone of 9k9 found efore certain vowels$ velar 'k(appears elsewhere. here is a similar pattern for 9g9, which has as allophones velar '

( in garden and palatal '7( give. Since we are constructing a phoneme system here,these allophones are not included in the list.

9%9 yesvoiced palatal approximant

+. #$(A!

)or velar sounds, the active articulator is the ack of the tongue, and the passive articulatoris the velum, or soft palate. he laial!velar approximant 9w9 is not included here, as it was

discussed aove with the ilaials$ however, it should e rememered that this douly!articulated sound strictly elongs under oth headings.


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Similarly, although the *dark l+ realisation, 'l(, is also velar, it does not appear in the listelow as it is an allophone of 9l9. here is a further accent difference involving velarsounds" in some varieties of English, notaly Scottish ones, there is a voiceless velarfricative, 9x9" this is the sound at the end of Scots loch, which speakers of other accentstypically replace with a 'k(.

9k9 cotvoiceless velar plosive9g9 gotvoiced velar plosive9


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can of all the consonants in each word, in your accent. )or instance, indoze 'd( is a pulmonic egressive central voiced alveolar stop$ '#( is apulmonic egressive central voiced alveolar fricative. 8ememer to payattention to the sounds, and not to the spelling.

psalm jester which climb heavy splint loch bought squelch

!ecommendations fo eadin/

-f the textooks recommended in the last chapter, >avenport and Hannahs 2;F4provides the most accessile and comprehensive introduction to articulatory phonetics, aswell as a useful chapter on acoustic phonetics, which is not dealt with here. Some usefulgeneral introductions to phonetics are 8oach 2DGG;4, which may e of special help to non!native speakers$ all and 8ahilly 2;4$ 0atford 2;FF4$ and adefoged 2;F:4. he mostcomprehensive account of our current understanding of phonetics is aver 2;4.

8eferences relating particularlyto the IPA were given in 0hapter ;.

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An Introduction to English Phonology_McMahonChapter 3