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Classification of English speech sounds. General characteristics of consonants and vowels.

Lecture # 2

If speech sounds are studied from the point of view of their production by man's organs of speech, it is the differences and similarities of their articulation that are in the focus of attention. A speech sound is produced as a result of definite coordinated movements and positions of speech organs, so the articulation of a sound consists of a set of articulatory features.

Grouping speech sounds according to their major articulatory features is called an articulatory classification.

According to the specific character of the work of the speech organs, sounds in practically all the languages are subdivided into two major subtypes:

VOWELS (V) and CONSONANTS (C).

There are

1) articulatory, 2) acoustic and 3) functional differences between V and C.

The most substantial

1. articulatory difference between vowels and consonants is that in the articulation of V the air passes freely through the mouth cavity, while in making C an obstruction is formed in the mouth cavity and the airflow exhaled from the lungs meets a narrowing or a complete obstruction formed by the speech organs. Consonants articulations are relatively easy to feel, and as a result are most

2. conveniently described in terms of PLACE and MANNER of articulation. Vowels have no place of obstruction, the whole of speech apparatus takes place

3. in their formation, while the articulation of consonants can be localized, an obstruction or narrowing for each C is made in a definite place of the speech apparatus.

4. particular quality of Vs depends on the volume and shape of the mouth resonator, as well as on the shape and the size of the resonator opening. The mouth resonator is changed by the movements of the tongue and the lips.

5. particular quality of Cs depends on the kind of noise that results when the tongue or the lips obstruct the air passage. The kind of noise produced depends in its turn on the type of obstruction, on the shape and the type of the narrowing. The vocal cords also determine the quality of consonants.

6. From the acoustic point of view, vowels are called the sounds of voice, they have high acoustic energy, consonants are the sounds of noise which have low acoustic energy

7. Functional differences between Vs and Cs are defined by their role in syllable formation: Vs are syllable forming elements, Cs are units which function at the margins of syllables, either singly or in clusters.

These differences make it logical to consider each class of sounds independently. As it follows from the above given considerations, the sounds of a language can be classified in different ways. H. Giegerich [1992], M. Pennington [1996], use a set of basic binary (two-way) distinctions in terms of:

1) phonation; 2) oro-nasal process; 3) manner of articulation.

Table 1

1) Phonation 2) Oro-nasal process 3) Manner of articulation

"Sonorants: sounds whose phonetic content is predominantly made up by the sound waves produced by their voicing

Oral: sounds in the production of which the air escapes through the mouth.

Stops: sounds made with a complete obstruction or stoppage of the airflow coming up from the lungs. They are also termed plosives.

Obstruents (noise consonants): sounds produced as a result of obstruent articulation involving an obstruction of the air stream that produces a phonetic effect independent of voicing. They can typically occur in voiced and voiceless variants.

Nasal: sounds in the production of which the soft palate is lowered, and the air escapes through the mouth.

Continuants: sounds in which the obstruction of the airflow is only partial, so that the sound can be prolonged for a period of time.

Vowels are one type of continuants and there are three consonant types of continuants:

fricatives: whose phonetic content includes a hissing noise, produced by turbulence in the air stream as it is forced through the narrow gap between the articulators;

affricates: complex sounds which consist of two components which correspond to two phases of articulation- an oral- stop phase followed with a short friction phase.

approximants: sounds in the production of which one articulator moves close to another, though not so close as to cause a turbulent as to produce friction.

r,w, j are termed central approximants because air passes through the oral tract along the center of the opening,

l is called a lateral approximant because air passes out along the side/s of the articulation.

h is a glottal approximant.

In some phonological systems approximants are treated as semi-consonants (1, r) or semi-vowels (w,j)

Thus, in accordance with the above-given grouping of sounds, the sounds of English can be classified as follows:

2. General characteristics of Consonants.

There are few ways of classifying English consonants. According to V.A.Vassilyev primary importance should be given to the type of obstruction and the manner of production of noise. On this ground he distinguishes two large classes of consonants:

1. occlusive, in the production of which a complete obstruction is formed

2. constrictive, in the production of which an incomplete obstruction is formed.

The phonological relevance of this feature could be exemplified in the following oppositions:

[ti] – [si] tea –sea (occlusive – constrictive)

[si:d] – [si:z] seed –seas (occlusive – constrictive)

[pul] – [ful] pull –full (occlusive —constrictive)

[bəut] – [vəut] boat – vote (occlusive —constrictive)

Each of the two classes is subdivided into noise consonants and sonorants. The

division is based on the factor of prevailing either noise or tone component in the auditory characteristic of a sound. In their turn noise consonants are divided into plosive consonants (or stops) and affricates.

Another point of view is shared by M.A. Sokolova, K.P. Gintovt, G.S. Tikhonova, R.M. Tikhonova. They suggest that the first and basic principle of classification should be the degree of noise. Such consideration leads to dividing English consonants into two general kinds: noise consonants and sonorants.

Sonorants are sounds that differ greatly from all other consonants of the language. This is largely due to the fact that in their production the air passage between the two organs of speech is fairly wide, that is much wider than in the production of noise consonants. As a result, the auditory effect is tone, not noise. This peculiarity of articulation makes sonorants sound more like vowels than consonants. On this ground some of the British phoneticians refer some of these consonants to the class of semivowels, [r], [j], [w], for example. Acoustically sonorants are opposed to all other consonants because they are characterized by sharply defined formant structure and the total energy of most of them is very high. However, on functional grounds, according to their position in the syllable,

[r], [j], [w] are included in the consonantal category, but from the point of view of their phonetic description they are more perfectly treated as vowel glides.

The place of articulation is another characteristic of English consonants which should be considered from the phonological point of view. The place of articulation is determined by the active organ of speech against the point of articulation. According to this principle the English consonants are classed into: labial, lingual, glottal. The class of labial consonants is subdivided into: a) bilabial; b) labio-dental; and among the class of lingual consonants three subclasses are distinguished; they are: a) forelingual, b) medio-lingual and c) backlingual. The classification of consonants according to this principle is illustrated in the following scheme:

The importance of this characteristic as phonologically relevant could be proved by

means of a simple example. In the system of English consonants there could be found oppositions based on the active organ of speech and the place of obstruction.

[pæn] – [taen] pan – tan (bilabial – forelingual)

[wai] – [lai] why – lie (bilabial – forelingual)

[weil] – [jeil] weil – yale (bilabial – mediolingual)

[pik] – [kik] pick – kick (bilabial – backlingual)

[les] – [jes] less – yes (forelingual – mediolingual)

[dei] – [gei] day – gay (forelingual – backlingual)

[sai] – [hai] sigh – high (forelingual – glottal)

[fi:t] – [si:t] feet – seat (labio-dental – forelingual)

Our next point should be made in connection, with another sound property, that

is voiced — voiceless characteristic which depends on the work of the vocal cords. It has long been believed that from the articulatory point of view the distinction between such pairs of consonants as [p, b], [t, d], [k, g], [s, z], [f, v], [ʃ], [ʧ,ʤ] is based on the absence or presence of vibrations of the vocal cords, or on the absence or presence of voice or tone component. However, there is also energy difference. All voiced consonants are weak (lenis) and all voiceless consonants are strong (fortis).

According to the position of the soft palate consonants can be oral and nasal. There are relatively few consonantal types in English which require the lowered position of the soft palate. They are the nasal occlusive sonorants [m], [n] and [ŋ]. They differ from oral plosives in that the soft palate is lowered allowing the escape of air into the nasal cavity.

It is a well-known fact that no differences of meaning in English can be attributed to the presence or absence of nasalization. It is for this reason that it cannot be a phonologically relevant feature of English consonants, so it is an indispensable concomitant feature of English nasal consonants. Another problem of a phonological character in the English consonantal system is the problem of affricates, that is their phonological status and their number.