Linguistics week 9

Phonetics 2

Morphological exercise (for 42218 students)

42201 students: optional You will be assigned one of Yule chapter 7 exercise C, D or II (i, ii and v only) You must hand it on Monday 26th You are recommended to do it before the midterm exam (it will be good practice) For help: look at page 68, and study question 5
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Describing (characterizing) consonants

First, airstream:

For all sounds in English and Mandarin, this is pulmonic egressive Listed in Yule chapter 5

Second, place of articulation

How would you describe the difference between [f], [] and [s]? How about [p], [t] and [k]? (groups?)
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Third, voicing

Voiced and voiceless consonants

[f] and [v] are both bilabial So whats the difference? The vocal folds open and close rapidly (They vibrate) No vibration
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[v] is voiced

[f] is voiceless

Features (characteristics) for describing consonants

So,

Airstream (usually the same for all consonants) Place of articulation Voicing Manner of articulation
egressive pulmonic bilabial voiceless plosive

So, [p] is

Phonology 1: Minimal pairs

b/v, then Yule 46&50)

(show

Each pair has the same number of phones

1.
2. 3.

bet bet bet

pet bed bat

Each pair differs by only one phone

They are called minimal pairs These minimal pairs prove that
/b/ and /p/ /t/ and /d/ /e/ and /a/

make a difference of meaning, in English those six sounds are Phonemes of English

Altogether, there are about 42 phonemes

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