Grundkurs What is phonetics? - uni-duesseldorf.de · Course Grundkurs; What is phonetics Teacher Ruben van de Vijver Ofﬁce hours Wednesday 3 - 4 Where 24.53.00.98 E-mail [email protected]

GrundkursWhat is phonetics?

Ruben van de Vijver

October 22, 2015

Practical information

Practical informationCourse Grundkurs; What is phoneticsTeacher Ruben van de VijverOffice hours Wednesday 3 - 4Where 24.53.00.98E-mail [email protected] 0211-81-11822

Plan

Explain what phonetics is on the basis ofI the production of voicing contrastsI the acoustics of voicing contrastsI the perception of voicing contrasts

What are voicing contrasts?

I packen und backenI Tacker und DackelI Kasse und GasseI reißen und reisenI Sklave und klaffen

What are voicing contrasts

I How is the contrast between these pairs produced?I What acoustic consequences has this production?I How is the voicing contrast perceived?

Speaking

(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illu conducting passages.svg)

VoicingVoicing contrasts are created by the vocal folds:

(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray956.png)

VoicingSpeech sounds with open vocal folds

The vocal folds can be open to let the air pass through withoutany constriction. You can feel this easily.

I Put your hand in front of your mouth and say the nonsensesyllable Pah.

I Put your hand in front of your mouth and say the nonsensesyllable Tah.

I Put your hand in front of your mouth and say the nonsensesyllable Kah.


You feel a puff of air against your hand, because...1. your mouth is closed to produce a stop (a p, t or k)2. at the same time, you keep breathing out,3. your vocal folds are open,4. when you release the closure, the air escapes with a puff.


The vocal folds can be open to let the air pass through withoutany constriction. You can feel that nothing is happening.

I Put a hand against your pharynx and say reißen. Make theß really long.

I Put a hand against your pharynx and say klaffen. Makethe ff really long.


You feel nothing happening in your larynx, because...

1. there is no complete closure for ß and ff,2. the vocal folds are open. The air flows without interruption.

VoicingSpeech sounds produced with closed vocal folds

Let’s turn to sounds that are produced with closed vocal folds:b, d, g and z and v.

VoicingSpeech sounds produced with closed vocal folds

When the vocal folds are closed they can vibrate when youproduce a speech sound. You can easily feel this:

I Put your hand on your larynx and say the nonsensesyllable aba.

I Put your hand on your larynx and say the nonsensesyllable ada.

I Put your hand on your larynx and say the nonsensesyllable aga.

I Put your hand on your larynx and say the nonsensesyllable ava (make the v really long.

I Put your hand on your larynx and say the nonsensesyllable aza (make the z really long.

VoicingWhy are the vocal folds vibrating?

The vocal folds are vibrating because of the Bernouilli effect.

Speech sounds produced with closed, vibrating vocalfolds

This is the same effect that keeps air planes in the sky, and thatmakes lids go up and down on pot with boiling liquids.

VoicingSpeech sounds produced with closed, vibrating vocal folds

How it works.1. The vocal folds are closed, but you push air out of your

lungs.2. The air pressure increases, until the vocal folds open and

air escapes.3. The air moves past the vocal folds, creating air pressure to

drop perpendicular to the direction of the movement of theair.

4. This, in turn, causes the vocal folds to close up again.5. Repeat the entire cycle

Voicing

I Speech sounds produced with open vocal folds are calledvoiceless.

You may think that speech sounds produced with vocal foldvibration are their counterpart; these are the voiced sounds.However, it is more complicated than that, as we will see soon.Let’s turn to another part of phonetics: acoustics

Acoustics

Acoustics is the part of phonetics that deals with the physicalproperties of sounds.

Acoustics

Whenever we speak we modify the air escaping from our lungsin some way.

I Some sounds block the air completely (for example p, t ork).

I We only hear their release.I Some sounds cause a turbulence that we can hear (for

example the sounds that correspond to the letters ß or ff).

Acoustics

These small local changes in the air pressure can be madevisible.

Acoustics

I asked Katharina Sternke to record the words patzen, Batzenand Spatzen

AcousticsLet’s listen first:

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

batzen

ba

Time (s)8.992 9.111

spatzen

s p a

Time (s)4.995 5.401


patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

batzen

ba

Time (s)8.992 9.111

spatzen

s p a

Time (s)4.995 5.401


patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

batzen

ba

Time (s)8.992 9.111

spatzen

s p a

Time (s)4.995 5.401

AcousticsLet’s have a look at the acoustics of the first syllable of thesewords:

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489


batzen

ba

Time (s)8.992 9.111


spatzen

s p a

Time (s)4.995 5.401

Acoustics

You can see the acoustics ofI the puff of air,I the vibrating vocal foldsI the silence

Acoustics

The hearer has therefore three cues to decide she is dealingwith a voiceless sound or a sound that is not voiceless. (Again,there is a difference between being not voiceless and beingvoiced.The study of perception is another part of phonetics and dealswith the question what acoustic cues are used by the hearer toidentify or distinguish sounds.

Perception

In order to find out what cues are relevant for a hearer you needto do an experiment. The ear can be easily deceived.

Perception

Let’s do a very simple experiment to find out what cues isrelevant: the puff of air, the vibrating vocal folds or the silence.

PerceptionLet’s first listen again to the first syllables of our words:

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

batzen

ba

Time (s)8.992 9.111

spatzen

s p a

Time (s)4.995 5.401


patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

batzen

ba

Time (s)8.992 9.111

spatzen

s p a

Time (s)4.995 5.401


patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

batzen

ba

Time (s)8.992 9.111

spatzen

s p a

Time (s)4.995 5.401

Perception

Take a piece of paper and tear it (neatly!) in two pieces; on onepiece you write A and on the other piece you write B.

Perception

I’ll now play two syllables and you have to decide if they are thesame or not

Perception1: same or different?

A

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

B

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

Different: pa from patzen and ba from Batzen.


A

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

B

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

Different: pa from patzen and ba from Batzen.


A

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

B

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

Same: pa from patzen and pa from Spatzen.


A

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

B

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

Same: pa from patzen and pa from Spatzen.


A

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

B

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

Different: ba from Batzen and pa from Spatzen.


A

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

B

patzen

pa

Time (s)1.315 1.489

Different: ba from Batzen and pa from Spatzen.

Perception

Discuss the results.

Conclusion

We have looked at various phonetic aspects of voicing:

I How are voiceless and voiced sounds produced?I What are the acoustic consequences of this production?I What cues are perceptually relevant.

Question 1

Essay question.

1. How are voiced and voiceless sounds produced?2. What are the acoustics of this production?3. How is the difference perceived?

Describe the production, acoustics and the perception of voicecontrasts in German.

Question 2

Essay question.

1. List as many voiced consonants that occur in German.2. List as many voiceless?? consonants that occur in

German.

Documents

Grundkurs What is phonetics? - uni-duesseldorf.de · Course Grundkurs; What is phonetics Teacher Ruben van de Vijver Ofﬁce hours Wednesday 3 - 4 Where 24.53.00.98 E-mail [email protected]