Mr.

Walid Helal

TD: Phonology/morphology

2015/2016

FLSHS

Phonetics
0. Definition of the field of study
Exr1. Fill in the blanks with the missing expressions to complete the definition of the field of study of phonetics:

Talk / phonation / inner ear / three / transmitted / vocal tract / apparatus / flow
Phonetics is all about studying the sounds we make when we talk. It encompasses the representation of how organs in the
vocal apparatus meet (i.e. how they are positioned or moved or modified in shape together) along with the flow of air in the
vocal tract in order to make a sound sometimes called phonation, it is also concerned with how speech sounds are
transmitted in the air and how they are perceived by the inner ear of hearers. There are three main branches of this
discipline.
Exr2. Link each subfield of phonetics to its definition:

subfield

definition

Articulatory phonetics

the study of the production of speech sounds by the articulatory and vocal
tract by the speaker.

Acoustic phonetics

Auditory phonetics

the study of the physical transmission of speech sounds from the speaker to
the listener. such as the analysis of frequency, amplitude, and harmonic
structure of sounds.
the study of the reception and perception of speech sounds by the listener, in
the ear and brain.

1. Articulatory system:
Exr1. Complete those two pictures with the right terms from the list:
Upper lip / upper teeth / blade / esophagus / pharynx / glottis / front / vocal folds / alveolar ridge / palate (hard palate) / larynx / root / epiglottis / lower
teeth / velum (soft palate) / tongue / nose / lower lip / back / uvular / vocal cavity / tip / nasal cavity / windpipe
Exr2. Colour the passive and active articulators in picture 1:

: nasal cavity
: vocal cavity

1 :nose/2 :upper teeth/3 :alveolar ridge/4 :hard palate/5 :uvular/6 :upper

lip/7:velum/8:lower lip/9:tongue/10:lower teeth/11:pharynx/12:epiglottis/13:vocal
folds/14:larynx/15:windpipe/16:glottis/17:esophagus

1: tip (apex)/2: blade/3: front/4: back/5: root

Mr. Walid Helal

TD: Phonology/morphology

2015/2016

FLSHS

Exr3. Complete the definition of a place of articulation: consonant / point / articulator / contact / region
A phonetic feature also known as point of articulation, used for consonant classification to refer to the region in the oral
cavity where the airstream gets modified through the contact between a passive and an active articulator.
Exr4. Complete the definition of a manner of articulation: cavity / airstream mechanism / deviated

Mr. Walid Helal

TD: Phonology/morphology

2015/2016

FLSHS

The manner or way the airstream mechanism is modified in the oral cavity by being totally blocked, partially blocked, or
deviated.
Exr5. Complete with the convenient couterpart of the place of articulation or its adjective:
place
adjective
lips
labial/bilabial
lips+teeth
labiodental
teeth
dental (interdental)
alveolar ridge
alveolar
alveolar
palatoalveolar
ridge+palate
palate
palatal
velum
velar
uvula
uvular
larynx
larygeal
glottis
glottal
Exr6. complete with the convenient couterpart of the place of articulation of the tongue or its adjective:

part of tongue

adjective

tip
undeside of the apex
blade

apical
subapical
laminal
Lateral

sides of the tongue

the midline of the blade curved down1 2
middle and back part raised1

coronal (the front part

of the tongue)

sulcal (grooved)
domed

: serves especially as descriptive to manner of articulation

2
: espessialy for fricatives to become more sibilant (higher frequency hissing sound)
1

the airstream mechanism:

in order to produce a sound, we need airflow in the vocal apparatus
N.B there are sounds that may be realized without airstream mechanism; they are called the percussives (also slapped
clicks), usually, they serve to convey extralinguistic meaning. bilabial percussive [] (smacking lips) / bidental percussive []
(gnashing teeth)
And *+ (the subapex slappes the alvolar ridge) found in some words in Sandawe language (a click-tone language) spoken in
Tanzania, south-east Africa (it is the only phonemic percussive)
Exr1. what do we call the organs which can provoke or initiate the movement of the air in the vocal tract? initiators
Exr2. There are three initiators, what are they?
+the lungs
+the vocal folds (glottis)
+the tongue (the velum)
Exr3. What are the directions of airflow in relation with the initiators?
*pulmonic egressive
*pulmonic ingressive () in !Xoo language south Botswana (sounds like suffocating in the windpipe not the velum)
*velaric (lingual) egressive
*velaric (lingual) ingressive injectives (essentially clicks)
*glottalic egressive
*glottalic ingressive (chiefly injectives and clicks)

Mr. Walid Helal

TD: Phonology/morphology

2015/2016

FLSHS

2. Voicing:
2.1.

The structure of the glottis:

Exr1. Complete picture that represents the glottis using those names of organs:

2 Base of the tongue/7 oesophagus/4 arytenoid cartilages/3 vocal folds/6 glottis/1 epiglottis/5 vestibular folds

2.2.

The status of the glottis:

Exr2. Answer the following questions:

a-what is the state of the glottis in each representation?:

narrow glottis / wide apart / wide apart+heavy airflow / vocal folds tightly closed / vocal cords vibrating / vocal cords vibrating +slow airflow
b-State the phonation that may happen simultaneously with each status of the glottis

picture

state of the glottis

sound produced

A
B
C
D
E
F

vocal folds tightly closed

vocal cords vibrating
narrow glottis
vocal cords vibrating+slow airflow
wide apart
wide apart+heavy airflow

Tightly closed (no sound)

Voiced sound
whispering
Creaky voice
Normal breathing sound (no or weak sound)
Deep inhale sound

c-Among each group, circle the phonemes that can occur in either state A-B-C-E of the glottis:
A: /k/
B: /h/
C: /a/
E: //

//
//
/m/
//

/r/ /m/ /s/ /t/ // //

// // // //
/k/ // //
/t/ /s/ /z/ // /k/

3. Consonants and vowels:

Did you know?

In the RP

-Most commonly used vowel - 'i' as in bid.

-Most commonly used consonant - 't' as in teat.
-Least commonly used vowel - 'oi' as in boy.
-Least commonly used consonant - 'z' as in treasure.

Exr1. Answer those question:

a-How many consonants and vowels do we have in English? 26 (5 vowels *A, E, I, O, U+ and 21 consonants with W and Y
referred to sometimes as semi-vowels)
b-What makes a vowel a vowel and a consonant a consonant?
vowels are pronouced without any obstruction of the airflow and they are all voiced, consonants are phonated either with a
complete obstruction of air in the vocal apparatus, some are voiced and others are voiceless.
c-What do you conclude if you want to compare spelling (letters written as graphemes) and phonemic analysis?
Spelling is less reliable to represent how sounds are produced like eventhough we have an extension to spelling some
consonants, representations like th can be inaccurate as in words such as thin/this