BBN–ANG–243 Phonological analysis 3–4. Contrast in English consonants Zoltán G. Kiss, Péter Szigetvári, Miklós Törkenczy Dept. of English Linguistics, Eötvös Loránd University z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 1 / 74
aims lecture outline ◮ contrast among English consonants (obstruents) ◮ laryngeal (“voicing”) contrast: phonetics and distribution ◮ when contrast disappears: neutralization ◮ voicing assimilation z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 2 / 74
consonant contrasts consonant contrasts in English z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 3 / 74
consonant contrasts the consonant inventory (contrastive consonants) Bil. Lab-den. Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal P p | b t | d k | g ( P ) O F f | v T | D s | z S | Z A Ù Ã N | m | n | N S L | l | r G | w | j h | Bil. = bilabial, Lab-den. = labio-dental P = stop/plosive, F = fricative, A = a = ricate, N = nasal, L = liquid, G = glide O = obstruent, S = sonorant | = left of line: “voiceless”, right of line: “voiced” z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 4 / 74
consonant contrasts obstruent contrasts ◮ place contrast: e.g., /t/ vs. /p/ : t in– p in ; /t/ vs. /k/ : t an– c an ◮ manner contrast: e.g., /t/ vs. /s/ : t in– s in ◮ “voicing” contrast: /t/ vs. /d/ : t ime– d ime z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 5 / 74
laryngeal contrast “voicing” contrast in obstruents OBSTRUENTS STOPS FRICATIVES /t/ – /d/ /s/ – /z/ t ie – d ie s ip – z ip wri t er – ri d er mi ss le – mi zz le bea t – bea d bu s – bu zz ‘voiceless’ ‘voiced’ ‘voiceless’ ‘voiced’ z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 6 / 74
laryngeal contrast laryngeal contrast in obstruents ◮ the phonological contrast of “voicing” is signalled (= cued ) by a complex of features: there are several correlates of this contrast = there are many “concomitant” features for the contrast ◮ vocal fold vibration is only one of them ◮ let’s refer to the phonological contrast as laryngeal contrast ◮ voicing is a narrowly used phonetic term: vocal fold vibration (also called: phonation ) z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 7 / 74
laryngeal contrast some phonetic correlates of laryngeal contrast in obstruents ◮ voicing/phonation : vocal fold vibration ◮ Voice Onset Time (VOT) ◮ relative length of preceding vowel ◮ glottalization ◮ release noise/burst: intensity & length z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 8 / 74
laryngeal contrast voicing larynx: vocal folds + glottis z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 9 / 74
laryngeal contrast voicing vocal folds: periodic vibration z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 10 / 74
laryngeal contrast voicing states of the vocal folds z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 11 / 74
laryngeal contrast voicing cross-section of the larynx z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 12 / 74
laryngeal contrast voicing vocal fold vibration: the Bernoulli e = ect z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 13 / 74
laryngeal contrast voicing steps of vocal fold vibration vocal fold vibration happens because of air pressure changes (aerodynamic reasons): 1. vocal folds loosely close 2. air pressure increases below vocal folds 3. air pressure blows vocal folds apart (glottis opens) 4. speed of air particles increases through narrow glottis 5. air pressure decreases below/within vocal folds ⇒ vocal folds sucked together ( Bernoulli e = ect ) 6. vocal folds are closed again, a cycle like this repeats itself approx. 100–300 times/second 7. the cycles last until the state of glottis changes (e.g., opens to produce a voiceless sound) – phonation can start and can continue when air pressure is higher below the vocal folds than above it z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 14 / 74
laryngeal contrast voicing types of voicing 1. spontaneous voicing: open oral cavity – this helps to start and maintain voicing because air pressure will be low in the mouth but high below vocal folds ⇒ vowels, sonorants 2. passive devoicing: closure/constriction in mouth – this creates high air pressure above vocal folds, which inhibits vocal fold vibration ⇒ obstruents z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 15 / 74
laryngeal contrast voicing types of voicing ◮ thus, obstruents easily get devoiced unless 1. they are between to vowels or sonorants, voicing from the preceding vowel/sonorant continues throughout the obstruent ⇒ passively voiced (lenis) obstruents e.g., English: ri d er, ban d it, ra b id, gam b le, be g in, En g lish, ga dg et, nostal g ia, fu zz y, pal s y, . . . 2. active voicing articulation-strategies are used to delay devoicing: e.g., lower the larynx, enlarge the oral cavity ⇒ actively voiced obstruents (Hungarian, French, Russian. . . ) ◮ active devoicing: extra articulatory e = ort to maintain voicelessness (e.g., between two vowels, ci t y, lu ck y, etc.) z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 16 / 74
laryngeal contrast voicing types of voicing summary Type A = ected sounds spontaneous voicing vowels, sonorant consonants passive devoicing obstruents passive voicing obstruents between Vs/son. (English, etc.) active voicing obstruents (Hungarian, etc.) active devoicing voiceless obstruents between Vs/son. z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 17 / 74
laryngeal contrast voicing some consequences of voicing types ◮ vowels and sonorants are usually only voiced (no voiceless pair) ◮ obstruents come in voiceless–voiced pairs in most languages, some languages only have voiceless obstruents ◮ if an obstruent is passively voiced (as in English), its voicing is dependent on its environment ◮ passively voiced obstruents are only fully voiced between vowels/sonorants ◮ elsewhere they are usually devoiced , e.g.: ◮ word-initial position: b ack, d emon, g ame, j uice. . . ◮ word-final position: ro b , lea d , va g ue, bri dg e. . . ◮ in Hungarian: “voiced” obstruents are typically voiced in all positions (initially and word-finally, too): b a b , b a b os, mé z , rú zs . . . ; z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 18 / 74
laryngeal contrast voicing conclusion so far ◮ English “voiced” obstruents are not truly voiced: they are passively voiced = voiced only between vowels and sonorants ◮ categorizing them as ‘voiced’ would be misleading z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 19 / 74
laryngeal contrast VOT articulation phases of stops ◮ for example: re p el /rI p ´ El/ 1. vowel/sonorant 2. closure and hold 3. release 4. transition into the vowel 5. vowel z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 20 / 74
laryngeal contrast VOT Voice Onset Time, VOT ◮ voicing of stops can be characterized by the timing between the release and the beginning (“onset”) of voicing of the next vowel/approximant – we call this timing relationship Voice Onset Time (VOT) ◮ three major VOT possibilities: 1. voicing begins right after or only shortly after the release: zero VOT/short lag VOT 2. voicing begins later than the release, there is a relatively long lag of voicing after the release: positive/long lag VOT 3. voicing is already underway during the closure and release: negative VOT/VOT lead ◮ these three VOT options give three phonetic laryngeal categories of stops z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 21 / 74
laryngeal contrast VOT three Voice Onset Time options z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 22 / 74
laryngeal contrast VOT three Voice Onset Time options z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 23 / 74
laryngeal contrast VOT voicing and aspirating languages “voicing” “aspirating” voiced voiceless voiceless unaspirated aspirated [t h ] [d] [t] Hawaiian [t] Hungarian [d] ⇐ ⇒ [t] [t h ] ⇐ ⇒ English [t] [t h ] Thai [d] ⇐ ⇒ [t] ⇐ ⇒ z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 24 / 74
laryngeal contrast VOT aspirating and voicing languages aspirating (zero VOT ⇔ + VOT) languages most Germanic (English, German, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, etc.) but also some Turkic languages voicing (zero VOT ⇔ − VOT) languages most Romance and Slavic languages (Spanish, Italian, French, Russian, Polish, Slovak, etc.) but also Dutch, Yiddish, Scottish English, and Hungarian z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 25 / 74
laryngeal contrast VOT positive, long-lag VOT: aspiration ( paces ) z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 26 / 74
laryngeal contrast VOT aspiration in closeup z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 27 / 74
laryngeal contrast VOT negative VOT: voiced stop (Spanish) z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 28 / 74
laryngeal contrast VOT negative VOT: voiced stop (Spanish) z. g. kiss (elte|delg) analysis 3–4 | consonant contrast 29 / 74
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