Lin 141-1

LIN 141
Introductory Phonetics
i
Ibadan Distance Learning Centre Series
LIN 141
Introductory Phonetics
By
’Demola Lewis, M.A.
Department of Linguistics and African Languages
University of Ibadan
Published by
Distance Learning Centre
ii
© Distance Learning Centre
Ibadan
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
prior permission of the copyright owner.
First Published 2008
ISBN 978-021-318-X
General Editor: Prof. Francis Egbokhare

Series Editors: Olubunmi I. Adeyemo and ‘K. Ogunsola
Typeset @ Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan
iii
Table of Contents
Vice-Chancellor’s Message … … … … … v
Foreword … … … … … … … vi
Introduction and General Objectives … … … … vii
Lecture One: Defining Phonetics: Articulatory Phonetics 1
Lecture Two: The Chain of Speech: From the Brain to the
Lips … … … … … 5
Lecture Three: Human Organs used in Speech Production 10
Lecture Four: Place of Articulation of Consonants … 19
Lecture Five: Airflow and Speech Production … … 26
Lecture Six: Manner of Articulation of Consonants … 33
Lecture Seven: Recognition and Naming of Consonants on
the IPA Chat … … … … 44
Lecture Eight: The Voice Box … … … … 51
Lecture Nine: Seven Questions of Abercrombie Production 60
Lecture Ten: Articulation of vowels … … … 63
Lecture Eleven: The Names of Different types of Vowels 71
Lecture Twelve: The Nose and Sounds … … … 79
Lecture Thirteen: Aspiration … … … … 86
Lecture Fourteen: Types of Articulation … … … 92
Lecture Fifteen: Diacritics and Pronunciation … … 101
iv
Vice-Chancellor’s Message
I congratulate you on being part of the historic evolution of our Centre for
External Studies into a Distance Learning Centre. The reinvigorated Centre,
is building on a solid tradition of nearly twenty years of service to the
Nigerian community in providing higher education to those who had hitherto
been unable to benefit from it.
Distance Learning requires an environment in which learners themselves
actively participate in constructing their own knowledge. They need to be
able to access and interpret existing knowledge and in the process, become
autonomous learners.
Consequently, our major goal is to provide full multi media mode of
teaching/learning in which you will use not only print but also video, audio
and electronic learning materials.
To this end, we have run two intensive workshops to produce a fresh
batch of course materials in order to increase substantially the number of texts
available to you. The authors made great efforts to include the latest
information, knowledge and skills in the different disciplines and ensure that
the materials are user-friendly. It is our hope that you will put them to the best
use.
Professor Olufemi A. Bamiro, FNSE

Vice-Chancellor
0
v
Foreword
The University of Ibadan Distance Learning Programme has a vision of
providing lifelong education for Nigerian citizens who for a variety of reasons
have opted for the Distance Learning mode. In this way, it aims at
democratizing education by ensuring access and equity.
The U.I. experience in Distance Learning dates back to 1988 when the
Centre for External Studies was established to cater mainly for upgrading the
knowledge and skills of NCE teachers to a Bachelors degree in Education.
Since then, it has gathered considerable experience in preparing and
producing course materials for its programmes. The recent expansion of the
programme to cover Agriculture and the need to review the existing materials
have necessitated an accelerated process of course materials production. To
this end, one major workshop was held in December 2006 which have
resulted in a substantial increase in the number of course materials. The
writing of the courses by a team of experts and rigorous peer review have
ensured the maintenance of the University’s high standards. The approach is
not only to emphasize cognitive knowledge but also skills and humane values
which are at the core of education, even in an ICT age.
The materials have had the input of experienced editors and illustrators
who have ensured that they are accurate, current and learner friendly. They
are specially written with distance learners in mind, since such people can
often feel isolated from the community of learners. Adequate supplementary
reading materials as well as other information sources are suggested in the
course materials.
The Distance Learning Centre also envisages that regular students of
tertiary institutions in Nigeria who are faced with a dearth of high quality
textbooks will find these books very useful. We are therefore delighted to
present these new titles to both our Distance Learning students and the
University’s regular students. We are confident that the books will be an
invaluable resource to them.
We would like to thank all our authors, reviewers and production staff
for the high quality of work.
Best wishes.
Professor Francis O. Egbokhare

Director
vi
General Introduction and Course Objectives
There are many things we take for granted; speech is one of them. We
simply talk without giving a thought to the process by which speech is
accomplished. This course is an exercise aimed at figuring out how every
sound of speech is produced in any human language. At the end of this
course, you should be able to recognise the symbols of International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and achieve a near native speaker production of
words from the dictionary of any language. Your diction should improve
immensely in any language.
I begin with a definition and explanation of phonetics and its
branches, after which I situate phonetics within the broad discipline of
linguistics. The initial five foundational lectures have speech initiation, the
organs of speech and the mechanisms that power airflow as focus. Next, I
describe, name and provide symbols of consonants. There is also a lecture
to explain how the voice box (or Adam’s apple) gives quality to speech.
Two lectures are dedicated to the production of vowels and the recognition
of their symbols. The concluding lectures describe the role of the nose in
speech, fine details about articulation and provide tips about phonetic
transcription. Do have a happy reading!
vii
LECTURE ONE
Defining Phonetics: Articulatory Phonetics
Introduction
I assume that this is your first ever encounter with the subject of phonetics.
You have surely met people who, because they speak so well, have been
tagged “phone”. This lecture will introduce you to phonetics and help you
see the role phonetics play in the broader study of linguistics.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. define phonetics;
2. explain the difference between the speech of humans and the
sounds with which animals communicate;
3. state the branches of phonetics; and
4. explain how phonetics is linked to other aspects of linguistics.
Pre-Test
Does a parrot really speak?
CONTENT
Definition
Phonetics is the scientific study of speech sounds.
We say that phonetics is scientific because it incorporates the
methods and the instruments of empirical science. Scientific methods
include observation, deduction and prescription. The scientific
1
instruments used in phonetics include the equipment that make up a good
phonetics laboratory.
By stating that phonetics studies speech sounds, we want to make
you understand that only human beings communicate with speech. What is
often mistaken for speech in animals is a mere collection of instinctive
signals. In other words, we do not consider whatever sounds animals make
as speech. Even at that, not all human sounds constitute speech. Sneezing,
coughing, snoring and yawning do not usually constitute speech.
Therefore, for the purposes of phonetics, we define speech as human
sounds used for oral communication.
There have been several brilliant but futile attempts to train animals to
speak. A case in point way the effort of some American linguists in the
late 1970s to teach a chimpanzee how to speak. The chimp was named
Nim Chimsky, after the great linguist, Noam Chomsky. Although this
experiment created some sensation, it turned out a colossal failure,
because Nim, being a chimp, lacked the human intelligence necessary for
speech.
Branches of Phonetics
There are three branches of phonetics:
1. Articulatory Phonetics: It focuses on how sounds are produced.
2. Auditory Phonetics: It deals with how we hear sounds and transfer
them to the brain.
3. Acoustic Phonetics: It concerns the study of the physical and
acoustic characteristics of sounds, as well as how sounds are
transmitted through the air.
The focus of this course is articulatory phonetics. In our discussion,
you will learn the three mechanisms by which speech is produced;
namely:
1. Articulatory Mechanism: The operation of speech organs – i.e.

parts of the human body used during speech.
2. Airstream Mechanism: What is responsible for airflow
during speech.
3. Phonatory Mechanism: What happens in the voice box (i.e.
larynx or Adam’s apple) during speech?
2
Situating phonetics within linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of the structure of languages. It has the
following branches:
1. Phonetics, which studies speech sounds
2. Phonology studies the sound systems of languages. It investigates
which sounds are used in specific languages, how important each
sound is in a language, and how sound features change when
sounds are produced together in words and sentences.
3. Morphology focuses on the formation of words by bringing
together different minimal units of meaning called morphemes.
4. Syntax involves the correct arrangement of words to form
sentences.
5. Semantics is the domain of meaning; it delves into the different
interpretations that can be given to the same words. For instance,
members of a class were once asked to punctuate the following
sequence of words: A woman without her man is a beast
Their answers:
Men: A woman, without her man, is a beast.
Ladies: A woman, without her, man is a beast.
6. Applied linguistics studies language and its relevance to society.
Socio-linguistics, psycholinguistics etc. fall under this category.
Phonetics gathers the raw material for other aspects of linguistic
study. It deals with sounds, which constitute the building blocks for
languages. And, just as everything in a building boils down to one brick
on top of another, everything in a language boils down to one sound after
another. For instance, syntax is concerned with the proper order of words
in a sentence; yet, words must first be pronounced well before we consider
their order. The phonetics must be in place before syntax is considered.
Again, a child who substitutes [] for [] is likely to say “Daddy, Laide is
beating me”. Perfect syntax, but the phonetic error will keep people
seeking for meaning. The point being made here is that whatever the
concerns of linguistic investigation, however complex the structures of a
language, the conclusions of linguistic investigation are presented and
confirmed at the phonetic level. Therefore, phonetics is the alpha and
omega of the field of linguistics.
3
Summary
In this lecture, we have discussed articulatory phonetics. In the course of
our discuss, we defined phonetics, and gave the branches of phonetics.
Further, having situated phonetics within the broader scope of
linguistics, we examined the branches of linguistics. Finally, we noted
the centrality of phonetics in linguistics.
Post-Test
1. State why you consider phonetics a scientific study.
2. Why do linguists think that only human beings speak?
3. Explain the focus of the three branches of phonetics.
4. State two reasons why phonetics is necessary for every branch of
linguistics.
References
Egbokhare Francis Introductory Phonetics
Napoli Donna, Jo. (1996). Linguistics. New York: Oxford
University Press, Oxford.
4
LECTURE TWO
The Chain of Speech: From the Brain to the

Lips
Introduction
Perhaps all human activities work in a chain. Like an electric circuit, one
stage of speech connects with the other. Speech comes from the mouth,
but the activity is initiated in the human brain. That is why a child begins
to make coherent speech only after his/her brain is fully developed. Again,
like it is with electricity, if there is disconnection along the line from the
brain to the speech organ, a speech defect arises.
Objectives
1. state the sequence involved in the production of speech;
2. draw the chain of speech;
3. state the activity that takes place at every stage of the speech chain;
and
4. identify two defects that could arise from a break in the chain of
speech.
Pre-Test
1. Do we always think before we speak?
2. Explain the activity that takes place at every stage of the speech
chain.
5
CONTENT
The Chain of Speech
Study the following diagram below reading:
Fig 1
The brain (Psychological)

Speech is a voluntary intellectual action. In other words, it involves the
conscious use of the human brain. We make utterances because we want
to. Like every voluntary action, speech is conceived in the brain.
Investigations have shown that the brain sends about 1,400 messages per
second to the organs of speech when speech is carried out at normal
pace. The speech centres of the brain are the Wernicke’s and Broca’s
areas (see fig 1). They are usually located in the left side (or hemisphere)
of the brain just above the left ear1. Speech commands are first conceived
and structured in the Wernicke’s area. They are then transferred to the
Broca’s area where they are encoded just before transition by motor
neurons to the muscles of speech organs. Evidence for the involvement of
the brain in speech production includes:
1
Right-handed people have their speech area in the left hemisphere. The reverse is the
case for left-handed people.
6
• Aphasia: Speech loss when the linguistic areas of the brain suffer a
damage resulting a heavy knock on the head in an accident - called
cardio-vascular accident (C.V.A.).
• Slips of the tongue:
One popular example of a slip of tongue is Spoonerism, which is
defined as
(1) A slip of the tongue in which parts of successive words are
interchanged, classic examples make sense in their turn. (Oxford
Concise Dictionary of Linguistics)
(2) The transposition of sounds between words, which gives a new
meaning to the sentence. (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of
Linguistics)
Spoonerism often provokes an unintended comic effect. The name was
got from a British cleric and teacher at Oxford, William Archibald
Spooner (1844-1930), who became famous for making blunders such as:
(a)‘You have hissed all my mystery lectures; in fact, you have tasted the
whole worm’
instead of
‘You have missed all my history lectures; in fact, you have wasted the
whole term’
(b) ‘Queer old dean’ instead of ‘dear old queen’
(c) ‘cake a bake’ instead of ‘bake a cake’
(d) ‘A jeep of hunk’ instead of ‘A heap of junk’
A test of wits: Can you fabricate two sets of sentences similar to that of
William Spooner?
Muscular action (Physiological)

There is a strong reason to state that speech is one of the defining
characteristics of the human being. It is man’s most skilful muscular
activity. Speech involves the rapid coordination of more than eighty
7
muscles, many of them paired. The brain gives instructions to the muscles,
and they begin to move as the brain dictates. You would observe that the
muscles of the mouth are very active during speech, but several other
muscles are also set to work. These include the muscles that power the ribs
and the lungs as well as the muscles of the voice box. Indeed, muscular
activity ensures that the organs move appropriately during speech and that
air flows in the right direction. When muscles move, and air flows in a
coordinated manner, speech sounds are produced. When there is a break in
the speech chain between the brain and the muscles of speech, defects
such as stammering or stuttering could occur.
Sound waves and their properties (Physical)

The sounds generated by muscular movement of organs take on a wave-
like form as they are transmitted in the air. Sound waves can be analysed
in a phonetics laboratory. The characteristics of sound waves such as
intensity and loudness, frequency and pitch are referred to as their physical
and acoustic properties. These qualities make up the subject matter of
acoustic phonetics. We will discuss them briefly at the end of this course,
and in more detail in LIN 241.
Summary
In this lecture, we have examined the chain of speech. In the course of
our discussion, we touch on the contributions of the brain, muscular
action, sound waves and their muscular action, sound waves and their
properties to speech production.
Post-Test
1. State the function of motor neurons in the speech chain.
2. Explain two speech defects that arise from a break in the chain of
speech.
8
References
Donwa-Ifode, Shirley.(1995). Basic Phonetics by Phonetics. Port
Harcourt: Sunray Publications.
Egbokhare Francis Introductory
Fry, D.B. (1991). Physics of Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
9
LECTURE THREE
Human Organs Used in Speech Production
Introduction
The parts of the human body used in the production of speech are called
organs of speech. This lecture will discuss each of the organs, indicating
how they affect speech. The roles that organs, such as the tongue and the
lips play in speech are very obvious. However, some other organs, such as
the lungs, whose function in speech is not easily known, will also be
discussed. A near perfect understanding of the organs of speech is
prerequisite to the mastery of articulatory phonetics. Please, pay close
attention to the details.
Objectives
1. draw and label the parts of the human body used in speech
production; and
2. state the speech function(s) of each organ.
Pre-Test
1. Identify ten parts of your body used in speech production.
2. Is the mouth primarily for eating or for talking?
10
CONTENT
Figure 2: The Organs of Speech
Before proceeding, study Fig. 2 properly. See how many of these

organs you can identify on your body.
Explanation of the Diagram

The parts of the body used in speech can be divided into two based on
whether they occur below or above the voice box. The organs located
above the voice box are called supraglottal organs; those located below
the voice box are subglottal organs. In addition, there are spaces along the
vocal tract called cavities. The direction and force of air moving into and
out of these cavities affect the quality of the sounds produced to a large
extent. We will now study the specific organs. We will begin with
11
supragloattal organs. You are already familiar with most of these organs.
My emphases will be how they function in speech production.
1 Supraglottal Organs
The brain: It is contained within the cranial cavity, and has the seat of
speech in the Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas.
Function: Speech initiation and coordination

By speech initiation, I mean that the ideas that you wish to
voice out are conceived in the brain. Coordination means
that the brain gives instructions to every other part of the
body that is involved in the production of speech.
Lips: The upper and the lower lips are fleshy extensions of the
skin, primarily designed to keep the mouth closed while
food is being chewed, it falls in line with mummy’s
instruction not to talk while chewing. Please remember to
specify whether the lip involved in the production of a
sound is the upper lip, the lower lip, or both.
Function: As articulators
Articulators are the speech organs that are actually used to
pronounce certain sounds. When the upper or the lower lip
moves close to each other or to any other organ of speech
during the production of any sound, we say that they are the
articulators for that sound.
Front teeth: An upper and lower pair of incisors, which form the most
anterior part of the roof and floor of the mouth respectively.
The primary function of the front teeth is to tear food into
small and manageable quantities. Please note that we speak
of the upper and the lower front teeth. Front here indicates
that they are in the front of the mouth. Teeth, the plural
12
form of tooth, are used because the two front teeth are
taken together as one organ.
Function: As articulators
Alveolar: Try sliding the tip of your tongue behind the upper front
teeth to the point where the teeth issue from the gum. You
should feel a ridge in the gum. That part of the mouth’s
roof is called the alveolar ridge.
Function: As an articulator
Hard palate: As you move the tip of the tongue backward along the roof
of the mouth, you will feel a bony arch, the hard palate. It
extends almost half way along the length of the mouth.
Palato-alveolar This is the rough border between the alveolar ridge and the
hard palate. You may understand this better if you think of
the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which is neither fully in
Lagos nor Ibadan, but in- between.
Velum: The hard palate gives way to a soft part of the roof of the
mouth called the velum or soft palate. Whereas the hard
palate is rigid in its position, the velum can move along the
vertical axis. It is usually raised to block off the nasal
cavity. When it is lowered, the nasal cavity is open, and air
flows in and out of the nose during speech.
Function: As an articulator and a facilitator of airflow through the

nasal cavity. It also initiates the velaric airstream.
13
Uvula: The velum dovetails into a hanging extension, the uvula
(belubelu). If you look into your mouth with a mirror, you
will see uvula drooping at the most posterior part of the
mouth (or oral cavity).
The tongue: The tongue is a fleshy and muscular mass, which occupies
the entire floor of the oral cavity. It plays a capital role in
the articulation of speech sounds. Its primary role however
is in the chewing and transportation of food into the
oesophagus. As an aid to the proper description of speech,
it is standard practice to describe the tongue in six parts
(Fig 3).
Figure 3: Parts of the tongue
• Tip: the narrowest part of the anterior tapering end of

the tongue. At rest, it lies just below the alveolar ridge,
behind the lower front teeth. The tip of the tongue is
also referred to as the point of the tongue.
• Blade: the wider part of the tongue, which continues
from the tip. It is situated just below the anterior part of
the hard palate.
14
• Front: the tongue gets still broader as it extends
backward. In the rest position, the front of the tongue
lies just below the hard palate.
• Center: this part of the tongue, while at rest, lies just
below the junction between the hard palate and the
velum.
• Back or dorsum: it is positioned directly below the
velum when the mouth is at rest.
• Root: the part of the tongue that faces the posterior wall
of the pharynx.
Function: All the parts of the tongue are used as articulators.
Epiglottis: It is a saddle or spoon shaped cartilaginous protector of the

voice box.
Function: It blocks off the larynx during swallowing, thus preventing

the entry of particles of food. It has no other obvious
function in the production of speech.
Subglottal Organs
Larynx: This is also referred to as voice box, Adam’s apple, Eve’s
orange or gogongo. It is comprised of three main cartilages
(thyroid, cricoid and arytenoid) and a paired set of vocal
bands (or cords). The cartilages are consistently rigid, yet
flexible and elastic. The larynx is also called the voice box.
15
Figure 4: The Larynx
The space between the vocal cords is the glottis. The entire larynx is
covered in mucous membrane. The larynx is more prominent in men than
in ladies, especially less so when the lady is fat. The reason is that men
have more pointed thyroid cartilages than women.
Function: Determines the quality of an individual’s voice by

controlling airflow.
Lungs: Two bundles of spongy air sacs or bagpipes, one on the

left, and the other on the right of the thorax (or chest). The
trachea links the larynx with the lungs. It branches into two
bronchi (singular bronchus) to access the two lungs.
Function: Storage of air for speech.
Cavities that function in speech

Oral cavity: Space in the mouth.
Nasal cavity: Space in the nose.
Pharyngeal cavity: A space (chamber) within the vocal tract, which has
the nasal and oral cavities opening into it above, and
the larynx forming its lower border. It is popularly
known as Ona ofun in Yoruba. The pharynx has
three parts:
16
1. Oropharynx: just below the posterior end of
the oral cavity.
2. Nasopharynx: just below the posterior end
of the nasal cavity.
3. Laryngopharynx: just above the larynx.
Function: The cavities are channels through which air flows

during speech.
Muscles
These are stretchable organic tissues that can be tightened or relaxed to
cause movement of speech organs. Some of the principal muscles of
speech include the diaphragm (see fig.2), intercostals muscles (that encase
the lungs and form the chest) and the crico-arytenoid muscle (by which
the cricoid and arytenoids cartilages are attached to each other.
The Vocal Tract

Look at fig. 2 again. You would notice that the organs of speech form the
wall of a tube that runs from the mouth to the lungs. This tube is called the
vocal tract, and all the activities required for speech occurs at different
points along this track.
Summary
In this lecture, we have examined the human organs used in speech
production. These organs are grouped. Supra-glottal organs are situated
above the glottis, while sub-glottal organs are below the glottis. The
organs that actually come together to pronounce sounds are called
articulators. The tongue is the most important articulator and it is
divided into six parts. Cavities are the chambers through which air flows
during speech. Muscles contract and relax to move speech organs during
speech. The vocal tract is a tube that is lined by the organs of speech. It
extends from the mouth to the lungs.
17
Post-Test
1. Draw and label the organs of speech.
2. What is the difference between a speech articulator and a cavity?
3. State the speech function(s) of the following:
a. Uvular, lower lip, palato-alveolar
b. Lungs
c. Oral and pharyngeal cavities
4. Name the cartilages that form the larynx. Why do you think the
larynx is called the voice box?
References
Donwa-Ifode, Shirley.(1995) Basic Phonetics. Port Harcourt.
Sunray Publications.
Elugbe, Ben. (2000). Oral English for Colleges and Schools.
Ibadan, Nigeria Heinemann Educational Books.
Egbokhare, Francis Introductory Phonetics.
Napoli Donna, Jo. (1996). Linguistics. Oxford, New York: Oxford
University Press.
www.umanitola.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russel/1/138/sec1/anato
my/html
18
LECTURE FOUR
Place of Articulation of Consonants
Introduction
The point where a sound is produced along the vocal tract is called the
place of articulation of the sound. At least two articulators participate in
the production of consonants. During the production of speech sounds,
these articulators either make contact or simply draw close to each other to
form a constriction. The choice of articulators is one of the factors
responsible for the type of sound produced. This lecture is about where
sounds are produced and the specific articulators for particular sounds.
Objectives
1. explain the different points along the vocal tract where consonants
are produced;
2. differentiate between the active and passive articulators for specific
sounds;
3. explain how to position your articulators accurately at appropriate
places;
4. state the difference between single and double articulation;
5. explain how to make diagrams of different places of articulation;
and
6. state how to identify normal and displaced articulations.
19
Pre-Test
Can you tell which part of the tongue is used to produce the consonants in
(i) tank (ii) church (iii) seat and (iv) quick?
CONTENT
Passive and Active Articulators
Though two articulators move close to each other to produce a sound, one
of the articulator moves relatively more than the other. An active
articulator is that which moves more than its counterpart. The articulator
with less mobility is called a passive articulator.
It is generally held that the articulators that form the roof of the mouth
are less mobile than those articulators found on the floor. Therefore, the
articulators that constitute the roof of the mouth are passive articulators,
while those that form the floor of the mouth are active articulators. The
usual practice is to call a place of articulation by the name of its passive
articulator – there are a few exceptions.
Place of Articulation
If you scroll along the topmost row of the consonant chart (Table 1), you
will observe some captions, the places of articulation. The first sets of
places of articulation (Bilabial to Glottal) are called single articulation; the
second sets (Labial-velar to Dental-palatal) are referred to as double
articulation. Can you guess the reason for these names?
You may recall that when we treated the organs of speech in Lecture
three, I provided several names for parts of the mouth’s roof and floor, as
well as the parts of the tongue. We will now refer to each of those parts as
articulator. If you take a close look at the articulators that form the roof
of the mouth, you will be quick to observe that the places of articulations
on the chart (moving from left to right) are arranged to reflect the
sequence of articulators from front to back, along the roof of the mouth.
For example, the first place of articulation that is represented in the chart
is the BILABIAL (‘bi’ means two, and ‘labial’ means lip in Latin). The
second place is the LABIO-DENTAL (‘labio’ for lips and ‘dental’ for
teeth). Next is the DENTAL Place, and I’m sure you aren’t surprised that
the ALVEOLAR place follows immediately. We are simply moving from
the front to the back along the roof of the mouth.
20
Please note: It is not possible to understand the phonetics chart without
being well informed about the active and passive articulators at every
place. You are therefore advised to spend quality time in this section of the
course. Don’t be satisfied with memorizing what constitutes the active and
passive articulator at each place. You should get used to visualizing them
as they appear in the diagrams. You will do well to attempt making each
articulation by yourself. You could even try to produce the sounds whose
symbols are written below each place. Enjoy it!
21
Place Passive Active
Bilabial Upper lip Lower lip

[, ]
Labio-dental Upper front teeth Lower lip

[, ]
Dental Upper front teeth Tip of the

[, ]
Alveolar Alveolar ridge Tip/Blade

[, ]
Retroflex Palato-alveolar Under sur

[, ]
Palato-alveolar Palato-alveolar Blade

[, ]
Palatal Hard palate Front

[, ]
Velar Velum Back
22
[, ]
Uvular Uvular Back
[N, ]
Place Passive Active
Pharyngeal Pharyngeal wall Root

[]
Glottal -------------- Both vocal cords

[, ]
The illustrations above all occur in one place of articulation. They are
called single articulations. However, it also happens that a single sound
can be produced in two or more places of articulation simultaneously.
Complex articulations such as these are referred to as double, triple or
multiple articulations.
Double articulations involve two places of articulation; therefore, each

doubly articulated sound has four articulators (i.e. two passive and two
active) acting all at once. It is just like a tennis game, where you can either
play singles (two players, one on either side of the court) or doubles (four
players, two on either side of the court).
Take the labial-velar sounds for example. The articulators are those of
the velar place (back of tongue and velum) as well as those of the bilabial
place (upper and lower lips). I’m sure you can now figure out the
articulators for labial–alveolar, labial-palatal and dental-palatal sounds.
Normal and Displaced Articulation

When the mouth is at rest, each active articulator (on the floor of the
mouth) lies directly opposite a particular passive articulator (on the roof).
For example, the lower lip is directly below the upper lip; the tip and blade
of the tongue rest just opposite the alveolar ridge and the palato-alveolar;
23
while the front and back of the tongue lie under (opposite) the hard palate
and velum respectively.
A normal articulation is said to occur when an active articulator moves
towards the passive articulator just above it. An articulation is displaced if
an active articulator moves away from its usual passive articulator,
towards another passive articulator. Some examples of displaced
articulation include labio-dental, retroflex and lingo-labial articulations.
Labio-dental Retroflex Lingo-labial
Summary
This lecture has discussed place of articulation of consonants. We noted
that each consonant is produced at a particular point along the vocal
tract. The point where the consonant is produced is called the place of
articulation. Two articulators usually come together at every place of
articulation. The articulator that moves more is called the active
articulator. The one that is less mobile is the passive articulator. Passive
articulators are usually those along the roof of the mouths. Active
articulators are those that form the floor of the mouth. When an active
articulator moves from its rest position to another place to form an
articulation, we speak of a displaced articulation.
Post-Test
1. Name five places of consonant articulation and state the active and
passive articulators at each of the places.
2. Provide diagrams for two places of articulation not already
mentioned in (1) above.
3. Give two examples of displaced articulation, explaining why you
consider them so.
24
4. Take turns with a classmate to produce sounds in random with
each one guessing the place of articulation for sounds produced by
the other.
References
Donwa-Ifode, Shirley.(1995) Basic Phonetics. Port Harcourt:
Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books.
Egbokhare, Francis Introductory Phonetics.
.Napoli Donna, Jo. (1996). Linguistics. Oxford, New York: Oxford
University Press.
www.chass.utoronto.ca/~danhall/phonetics/sammy.html
25
LECTURE FIVE
Airflow and Speech Production
Introduction
Sound is produced only when air flows either in or out of the vocal tract.
No matter how vigorously articulators move, no sound can be produced if
air does not flow through the vocal tract. An airstream is a flow of air
current. Speech is very much like the xylophone; sounds are produced
only if air is blown in or sucked out. This lecture will describe the various
parts of the body that act as machines to ensure air flow during speech. I
would like you to take exceptional notice of the arrows in the diagrams
and the sequences of action involved in each mechanism.
Objectives
1. explain the components of an airstream mechanism;
2. outline the four airstreams mechanisms that ensure airflow during
speech;
3. make annotated diagrams of airstreams; and
4. name of sounds produced with specific airstreams.
Pre-Test
Can you talk while breathing in? Give reasons for your answer.
26
CONTENT
An airstreams mechanism is a device for moving air in and out of the
vocal tract during the production of speech. It is the machinery that
supplies the energy required for speech.
As I mentioned in the introduction, it might aid your understanding of
airstream mechanisms to consider speech as a wind based musical
instrument. A flute for example will give no sound except air is forced
through its pipe. The situation is much the same in the vocal tract during
the production of speech sounds. The airstream mechanism ensures
airflow. When air is flowing out of the vocal tract, we speak of an
egressive airstream mechanism. Air flowing into the vocal tract is an
ingressive airstream mechanism.
Components of Airstream Mechanism

All airstream mechanisms have:
1. a chamber: an enclosed area that contains air molecules;
2. an initiator: the apparatus that sets the air in motion; and
3. air molecules moving in a particular direction.
Please note that the mechanisms are named either after the initiator or
after the chamber. We will now discuss the airstream mechanisms one by
one.
1. Velaric Ingressive Airstream Mechanism

This airstream operates within the oral cavity.
Chamber: The oral cavity
Initiator: The back of the tongue is first raised to make
contact with the velum, after which it slides
backward, allowing a flow of air into the oral
cavity.
Direction: Ingressive
Sounds: Clicks. Clicks are used in some languages spoken in
Southern African. Such languages are called
Khoisan languages.
27
Diagram
2. Glottalic Egressive Airstream Mechanism

As the name suggests, this airstream mechanism operates with the
glottis in close state.
Chamber: The pharyngeal cavity
Initiator: The larynx moves up with the glottis in close state.
This forces air out of the pharyngeal cavity into the
oral cavity (and nasal cavity), and subsequently out
of the vocal tract.
Direction Egressive
Sounds: Ejectives
28
3. Glottalic Ingressive Airstream Mechanism
This mechanism conducts airflow in the opposite direction to that
of the glottalic egressive mechanism. It also operates with the
glottis in close state.
Chamber: The pharyngeal cavity.
Initiator: The larynx moves down with the glottis in close
state. This allows air into the pharyngeal cavity
from the oral cavity (and nasal cavity).
Direction: Ingressive
Sounds: Implosives
4. Pulmonic Egressive Mechanism

The biological term for the lungs and the breathing apparatus is
pulmonary system. Thus the pulmonic mechanism takes advantage
of the organs that humans use in breathing. An alternative term for
this airstream is the lung airstream mechanism. This is the
airstream that is most common to speech. Indeed, every human
language uses this airstream to produce most of its sounds. Some
languages like English make use of just the pulmonic airstream and
no other.
Chamber: The lungs
Initiator: The intercostals muscles and the diaphragm contract
and relax to collapse the lungs. As the lungs
collapse, air is forced out through the trachea and
the rest or the vocal tract.
Sounds: All the other types of sounds.
29
Intercostals
muscles
Additional Information
a It is possible to operate the velaric egressive and pulmonic
ingressive mechanisms, but these mechanisms have not been
observed in speech. Therefore, the only airstream mechanisms
that are employed in speech are:
i. Velaric ingressive
ii. Glottalic egressive
iii. Glottalic ingressive
iv. Pulmonic egressive
b For any sound to be voiced, the pulmonic airstream mechanism

must be involved. E.g. voiced implosives (to be discussed later) are
produced by a combination of the glottalic ingressive and the
pulmonic egressive airstream mechanisms.
30
Table 1: Summary of Airstream Mechanisms
Mechanism Initiator Chamber Direction Typical
sounds
Velaric Back of tongue Oral cavity Ingressive Clicks
(mouth) Slides along
velum
Glottalic Vertical Pharyngeal Egressive Ejectives
(pharyngeal) movement of the cavity
larynx with Ingressive Implosiv
glottis in closed es
state
Pulmonic Respiratory Lungs Egressive All the
(lung) muscles rest
(All
voice
too)
Summary
In this lecture, we have examined airflow and speech production. In the
course of the lecture, we discussed the components of airstream
mechanism, as well as different airstream mechanisms. On each
occasion, we noted the chamber, the initiator, the direction and sounds.
Post-Test
1 Say the following sentence slowly and try to figure out the
airstream used for each of the sounds:
a) You can’t be serious Gbola!
2 Draw an annotated diagram of the predominant airstream in (1)
above.
3 You have just met Joan, who is a native of South Africa. Which
other airstream do you think she would use, other than the
pulmonic egressive, while speaking her mother tongue? Describe
how the initiation of this airstream works.
31
References
Egbokhare, Francis Introductory Phonetics
University Press.
www.unc.edu/course/ling120/lectures/ladefogedch6.html
www.voice-center.com/exam_larynx.html
www.2.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/pulmonic.html
www.cspeech.udc.ic/~fred/teaching/oldcourses/phonetics/airstream
32
LECTURE SIX
Manner of Articulation of Consonants
Introduction
You learnt about the place of articulation in lecture four and about airflow
in lecture five. This lecture will utilise the knowledge gained from the two
previous lectures to describe the way in which air escapes between
articulators during speech. In plain words, the way air escapes between
articulators is the manner of articulation.
Objectives
1. explain the different degrees of closeness that articulators should
attain to produce specific sounds;
2. state how long the articulators stay together before air is let
through them;
3. identify the airstreams required for each manner of sound;
4. explain the force and speed that characterise airflow between
articulators; and
5. explain how to tell the manner of articulation of sounds on the
phonetic chart (Table 2 below).
Pre-Test
Group the consonants in the following words by stating weather air is let
out suddenly, gradually, through the nose or with a hissing noise: Pin, Sit,
Yes, Ties, Monkey.
33
CONTENT
There are two basic manners by which sounds are described: Stop and
Non-stop (or approximations). Stops are consonants whose production
involves the blockage of airflow at some point in the vocal tract. Non-
stops are produced without a blockage of the airflow at any point. In other
words, stops are produced when the articulators actually make contact and
air stops flowing for a while. Articulators do not meet or make contact
when non-stops are produced. The production of non-stops could involve
an obstruction of the airflow, but never a total blockage. Can you figure
out stops from non-stops in the Phonetics chart (i.e. table 2)?
Keeping our definition of stops and approximations (i.e. non-stops) in
view, you will observe that on the vertical axis of the IPA consonant chart,
going from top to bottom, the sounds from Nasals to Trills are stops.
Fricatives and Approximants are non-stops. The stops will be our present
focus.
Stops
The single most important feature of stops is that during their production,
the articulators make contact. Note that the articulators do not just come
close to each other, they actually meet. Therefore, stops necessarily
involve an interruption of the airflow, not just an obstruction. Three
features characterize stops:
1. the articulators make contact;
2. the contact is maintained for a while; and
3. there is a sudden release (or plosion) of air
34
Table 2: IPA Consonant Chart (Adapted)
Place
Manner Bilabial Labio- Dental Alveolar Retro- Palato- Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn- Glottal Labial-Velar Labial- Labial- Dental-
Dental flex Alveolar geal Alveolar Palatal Palatal
Nasal          
Plosive                     
Ejective      
Implosive          
Click    
STOPS
Affricate        
Short Tap   
35
Inter-
mitent Trill   
Central                       
Fricative
Lateral  
Central       
Approximants
NON-STOPS
Lateral    
36
It is common practice to represent the three main characteristics of stops in
a three-phase structure comprising a:
1. shutting phase; the articulators meet;
2. closure phase; they remain together for a while; and
3. release phase; sudden release of air.
The first phase (a) is obligatory, while the second and third phases (b
and c) can be modified. In other words, all stops must fulfil condition one,
but they may or may not fulfil conditions two and three.
(I) (II) (III)

Shutting Closure Release
1. The converging arrows of the shutting phase indicate that the

articulators come together to make contact.
2. Articulators remain together during the closure phase. The single
horizontal line represents this.
3. Diverging arrows of the release phase indicate that the articulators
go apart to let air out (or in, in the case of ingressive airstream).
Types of Stops
Different types of stops are described on the basis of whether or not they
fulfil the three conditions already stated above.
1 Ideal Stops: Plosives, Ejectives, Implosives, Clicks

Stops of this category are the ideal because they fulfil all the
conditions of the three phases, as outlined above. Such stops have
the following normal structure:
37
(I) (2) (3)
Shutting Closure Release
The big question here is: If Plosives, Ejectives, Implosives and Clicks are
ideal stops, why do they go by different names?
Answer: They are produced in exactly the same way except that their
airstream mechanisms differ thus:
Plosives Pulmonic egressive
Ejectives Glottalic egressive
Implosives Glottalic ingressive
Click Velaric ingressive
2 Taps
Taps, like all stops, fulfil the first phase of the structure. The third phase is
also normal but there is a modification in the second phase. The second
phase (i.e. the closure phase) is very brief; just a tap, as the name suggests.
38
(I) (II) (III)
The articulators make contact (I), they are together only briefly
(II), air is released suddenly (III). Notice that phase (II) is brief
relative to that of ideal stops.
3. Trills
Trills are simply taps repeated in quick succession.
(I) (II) (III) (I) (II) (III) (I) (II) (III) (I)
(II) (III)
There are four cycles in the trill structure above. The articulators make
contact only briefly before the go apart, only to make brief contact and go
apart again until the speaker has finished pronouncing the stop.
4. Affricates
Affricates have a gradual release of air in the third phase. Their first and
second phases are normal. They are described as plosives that are released
in a fricative manner (i.e. with a hissing sensation). Pay attention to the
way gradual release is illustrated in the structure of affricates below.
39
(I) (II) (III)
The arrows in the third phase (III) only indicate that air is let out
gradually; they do not suggest that the articulators go apart in that manner.
5. Nasals
When nasals are produced, air is released only through the nose. This can
only happen if the velum is lowered to allow out-going air into the nasal
cavity. The diagram below illustrates a lowered velum.
When nasals are produced, articulators make contact during the first
phase; they remain together during the second phase, and continue in the
contact position all through the third phase (i.e. oral action). Since air is
not let out through the oral cavity, but through the nose, the velum is also
lowered (i.e. velic action). For this reason, it is often said that the
production of nasals is characterized by a transfer from oral action to velic
action. The structure of nasals is drawn in such a way as to illustrate both
oral and nasal actions.
40
6 Non-Stops (Approximations)
The articulators never make contact during the production of sounds of
this category. There are two types of approximate sounds:
a. Fricatives
b. Approximants
a. Fricatives (Close approximation)

Fricatives are characterized by the hissing sound that accompanies their
release. During their production, articulators come very close to each
other, but they do not make contact. Air is thus forced out through a tiny
slot between the articulators. Friction of the air molecules against very
close articulators causes the hissing sound. We can represent fricatives in
the two-phase (funnel-shaped) structure below:
(I) (II)
Note that the double parallel lines in phase (II) indicate that the
articulators do not make contact.
41
b. Approximants (Open approximation)
As is the case with fricatives, the articulators of approximants do not make
contact. They are however positioned farther apart than those of fricatives.
Air is let out freely and there is no hissing accompaniment.
(I) (II)
Central and Lateral Plosion

During the production of fricatives and approximants, air could flow
through the centre of the mouth or through the sides. When the air is let
out centrally, we speak of a central plosion and the non-stop so produced
is called a central fricative or approximant. When the air comes out from
the sides of the mouth - lateral poison - we speak of a lateral fricative or
approximant.
Summary
In this lecture, we have discussed manner of articulation of consonants.
In the course of our discussion, we examined stops and non-stops. We
talked about the features and the different types of stops. In the same
vein, we differentiate between two types of non-stops and their relative
features.
Post-Test
1. Classify the consonants in this statement according to the manner
of their production: Pin, Sit, Yes, Ties, Monkey.
2. The production of nasals involves a transfer from oral action to
velic action. Discuss.
3. Explain with sketches how:
42
a. Plosives differ from clicks.
b. Implosives differ from ejectives.
c. Taps differ from ideal stops.
d. Trills differ from taps.
e. Fricatives differ from stops.
f. Approximants differ from fricatives.
References
Ladefoged, Peter. (1993). A Course in Phonetics 3rd Ed. USA
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Napoli Donna Jo. (1996). Linguistics. Oxford New York: Oxford
University Press.
www.2.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA
www.sil.org
43
LECTURE SEVEN
Recognition and Naming Consonants on the

IPA Chart
Introduction
The consonant chart is a tabular representation of the complete inventory
of consonants that have been recorded in speech. It is important to note
from the start that the chart should first be understood before it is
memorized. Often, the many symbols on the chart overwhelm students,
and their first reaction is to cram symbols. Such an approach would defeat
the aim of this course.
It might interesting to know that the central reason for the preparation
of the phonetics chart was to help scholars link symbols with the way
sounds are produced. And it is usually advised that one first gets
acquainted with the basics, such as details about the articulators that act at
every place of articulation (Lecture five), and the manner in which the
sounds of every row are produced (Lecture six). If you know those details,
you can then proceed with this lecture. Otherwise, go back to the lectures
referred to. Please always refer to the IPA Consonant chart (Table 2) all
through this lecture.
Objectives
At the end of the lecture, you should be able to:
1. explain the pattern by which consonants are named;
2. give tips on how to recognize phonetic symbols; and
3. help you memorize the consonant chart.
44
Pre-Test
If it was left to you, how would you name the following consonants: [],
[], []?
CONTENT
Naming Consonants
The label of a sound is the name by which it is described. You probably
are trying to figure out how I arrived at the names of consonants in the
preceding section. There is a pattern and that is what this section is all
about.
We all have multiple names, e.g. Tolu Oluwaleke Osayomi. Sounds
also have multiple names. Consonants have the following labeling order:
1st State of the glottis

2nd Diacritic(s)
3rd Place of articulation
4th Manner of articulation
This order must be strictly adhered to, if a consonant is to be properly

named. Let’s discuss the labelling order.
State of the Glottis

At every place of articulation on the consonant chart, the sounds written to
the left are voiceless, while those written to the right are voiced. A sound
is voiced if the vocal cords vibrate during its production; it is voiceless if
the vocal cords do not vibrate when it is produced. I’ll explain these terms
better in the next lecture. The sounds written in the middle of the column
(for place of articulation) are of nil phonation (that is, neither voiced nor
voiceless). There are other states of the glottis, which will be discussed in
lecture eight.
Diacritics
Diacritics refer to additional signs that are written around a symbol. When
present, diacritics represent features that are added on to sounds. I will
45
illustrate many diacritics in lecture fifteen. If no diacritic accompanies a
symbol, we simply skip the 2nd step and move on to the 3rd.
Place of Articulation
You are already familiar with the place of articulation (discussed in lecture
four). The place of articulation is indicated in the topmost row of the IPA
Consonant chart.
Manner of Articulation
This was discussed in Lecture six. Manner of articulation is indicated in
the second and third leftmost columns of the IPA Consonant chart.
Now, following the steps indicated for naming consonants, we say that:
[] is the Voiced bilabial central fricative.

No diacritic is added to the symbol; therefore, I skipped that
category in naming the sound.
See how the rules apply in naming the following sounds:
[ gw] Voiced labialied velar plosive

[ z] Voiced long alveolar central fricative
[nty] Voiceless pre-nasalised palatalised alveolar plosive
There are a few tricky situations where it would seem that a symbol has a
diacritic attached but in which the supposed diacritic is actually part of the
symbol. For example, in [k’], which is an ejective sound, the state of the
glottis is neither voiced nor voiceless, and there is no additional diacritic.
It is therefore labelled simply as:
[k’] velar ejective
You should be able to label all the consonants on the IPA chart by now.
46
Recognition of Symbols
I will now present certain clues to help you recognize phonetic symbols.
This section can be likened to learning the rules of a game.
Nasal symbols
All nasal sounds are represented with ‘m and n-like’ symbols. Those that
have anything to do with the lips (i.e. bilabial and labio-dental) have m for
their symbol. Nasals at other places of articulation are represented with n
written in one way or another. Here are the patterns. Look into your chart
to confirm each one:
Bilabial: normal m m
Labio-dental: An m with a tail 
Dental : An n with the dental diacritic “ ” under it n
Alveolar: A normal n n
Retroflex: An n with the retroflex diacritic, which is a tail

that curls to the right, then upwards. 
Palatal: The mirror image of retroflex. Here the tail is

on the left arm of the n, it curls to the left,
then upwards. 
Velar: An n that looks like a g 
Uvular: A capital n N
You will observe that having learned the tricks about these symbols, you
need just a bit of practice to internalise them.
47
Other Sounds
Apart from the tips on the nasal sounds just mentioned above, there are a
few leading assumptions about the symbols of other sounds. They are the
following:
1. Pick a king and a queen for every place of articulation e.g.
Bilabial: p and b, Alveolar: t and d, Velar: k and g etc. Wherever
there is a king, it will be the voiceless plosive (i.e. the symbol to
the left); the queen will be the voiced plosive (i.e. the symbol to
the right).
Now, can you make out the king and queen at every place on your
chart? How many places of articulation have neither a king nor a
queen? Is there any place that has a king but not a queen?
From now on, when any place of articulation is mentioned, you
should immediately recall the symbols for the king and queen at
that place.
2. The diacritic for ejective sounds is an apostrophe placed after the
symbol for the king, such that bilabial, alveolar and palatal
ejectives will be represented with p’, t’ and c’ respectively. Now
look across the consonant chart to see how this rule applies to all
ejectives.
3. The diacritic for implosives is a canopy over the king and the
queen. You will again observe this pattern across the consonant
chart.
4. You would agree that one of the logical consequences of having a
king and a queen is the production of a prince and a princess. We
will call the voiceless central fricative the prince and the voiced
central fricative the princess (i.e. the symbols written to the left
and to the right of the first row of fricatives). Therefore, the prince
and the princess for the labio-dental and alveolar places of
articulation are f and v, s and z respectively. Can you now make
out the prince and princess for every other place of articulation? A
good trick is to first, learn how to recognize the king and the queen
at every place after which you may master symbols for the king
and queen.
5. Affricates are represented with diagraphs, which comprise of both
the symbol of the plosive and that of the central fricative at the
specific place of articulation. The symbols are so written to point
48
out the fact that affricates are plosives that have air released in a
fricative manner. The voiceless alveolar affricate will thus be
represent as ts; since t is the symbol for the voiceless alveolar
plosive (the king), and s is that of the voiceless alveolar central
fricative (the prince). In the same vein, the voiced alveolar affricate
will have dz as its symbol, since d is the voiced alveolar plosive
(queen), and z the voiced alveolar central fricative. On a lighter
note, we could consider affricates as pairing dad and son (in the
symbol for the voiceless) and pairing mum and daughter (In the
symbol for the voiced).
6. Taps on the consonant chart, with the exception of the retroflex
tap, are underlined.
7. Retroflex symbols follow the same pattern as alveolar symbols,
save for the retroflex descender (i.e. the retroflex diacritic) that the
former have.
8. Glottal and pharyngeal symbols are pretty much like  and .
9. The symbols for doubly articulated sounds are written by merging
symbols of equivalent sounds from the two places involved. For
example, the voiced labial-velar plosive is gb, while the voiced
dental-palatal nasal is n
Once you are well grounded in the tips above, the rest of the chart
only needs getting used to. Don’t rush yourself! You can’t expect to
master the whole chart all at once. Try to memorize symbols piece-meal.
A good way to start is to work at the symbols of one place of articulation
at a time. Remember, it’s just a game. Sometimes, you win; sometimes
you lose! In the long run, you’ll be a grand master. Try playing this game
everywhere: on the bus, at the saloon, between lectures, at the bar etc. You
could make it more interesting by competing with a friend. Have a swell
time!
49
Summary
The central focus of this lecture has been how to recognize and name
consonants on the IPA chart. In the discussion, we noted that consonants
are named by the following order: State of the glottis, Diacritics (if any),
Place of articulation and Manner of articulation. The symbols on the
consonant chart are written to conform to certain patterns, which once
recognized would facilitate memorizing the chart.
Post-Test
Provide names for all the sound in the IPA Consonant chart presented in
table 2.
References
Abercrombie, David. (1967). Elements of General Phonetics.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Donwa-Ifode, Shirley.(1995). Basic Phonetics. Port Harcourt:
Ladefoged, Peter. (1993). A Course in Phonetics 3rd ed. USA.
University Press.
O’Grady et al. (1997). Contemporary Linguistics. New York: St.
Martin’s Press, Inc.
50
LECTURE EIGHT
The Voice Box
Introduction
The larynx or voice box is known in common parlance as the Adam’s
apple or Eve’s orange. It plays several roles in giving quality to the sounds
of human speech. In the first instance, the shape of the larynx determines
the voice qualities that characterize men women and children. The concern
of this lecture however, is what happens to the vocal cords during speech,
and how this affects the quality of the sounds produced.
Objectives
1. describe the structure and basic components of the larynx:
cartilages, vocal cords, glottis, etc;
2. explain the different forms that the vocal cords assume during
speech; and
3. recognise phonetic diacritics for different states of the glottis.
Pre-Test
Why the Adam’s apple is called the voice box?
CONTENT
Here are two definitions of a phonation:
1. the state of the glottis during the production of speech sounds; and
2. the use of the laryngeal system with the help of the pulmonic
regressive airstream, to produce an audible source of acoustic
51
energy, which can then be modified by the articulatory action of
the rest of the vocal apparatus.
We would first study the larynx structure before explaining phonation

properly.
The Larynx (Adam’s apple)

The larynx or voice box is a case, which protrudes under the chin. It is
more prominent in men, and its constituents are cartilages, muscles and
mucous membrane. The three main cartilages of the larynx are:
1. thyroid,
2. cricoid, and
3. arytenoids
There is yet another cartilage, the epiglottis, which acts as a covering for
the larynx. The epiglottis is spoon-shaped and its function is to prevent the
entry of particles of food into the larynx (and the rest of the windpipe or
trachea) during swallowing.
The larynx constitutes the topmost part of the trachea or windpipe, the
tube through which air flows in and out of the lungs. Within the larynx,
there are two vocal cords, also referred to as vocal bands or vocal folds.
The vocal cords are made up of ligaments and elastic tissue. They are
situated within the structure of the larynx, lying across it from front to
back. In front, the vocal cords are fast together, and attached to the thyroid
cartilage; while at the back, they are attached separately to the arytenoid
cartilages. The following is a highly schematized structure of the larynx:
52
Front Rear Sagittal (or side) view Cross section (i.e view from above)
Key
1. Thyroid cartilage 2. Cricoid cartilage 3.Arytenoid cartilage 4.
Vocal cords
The two arytenoid cartilages to which the vocal cords are attached are
mobile. Their movement is brought about by two sets of laryngeal
muscles. Those that cause them to come together are called adductor
muscles; the muscles that set them apart are abductor muscles.
The Glottis
Since the vocal cords are attached to the arytenoid cartilages, adduction of
the cartilages causes them to come together. Conversely, abduction of the
arytenoid cartilages sets the vocal cords apart. The space between the two
abducted vocal cords is called the glottis. When the vocal cords are apart,
the glottis is said to be open; it is closed when the vocal cords are together.
Different types of phonation are based on how close or separated the vocal
cords are.
Adducted vocal cords Abducted vocal cords
53
Types of phonation (i.e. states of the glottis)
Four main states of the glottis exist; namely, voiceless, voice,
breathy/whisper, creaky. Aside from these types of phonation, nil
phonation has also been mentioned.
1. Voiceless (Open/ Breathing State)

The glottis is in a voiceless state when the vocal cords are wide apart
(abducted), allowing a free laminar flow of air. There is no audible
turbulence, because the air is moving out at a speed that is below the
threshold. The threshold of airflow above which turbulence occurs is
between 200-300cc/sec. What this means is that all voiceless sounds are
produced with airflow of less than the range 200 to 300cc/sec.
The voiceless (devoice) diacritic is a zero placed under a symbol, [  ].

Most voiceless sounds are represented with specific symbols, such that the
voiceless diacritic is sparingly used only when a voiced sound has no
established symbol for its voiceless counterpart. In such situations, the
diacritic becomes very relevant. For example [ n ] is a voiceless alveolar
nasal.
2. Voice (Vibrating State)

The glottis is in voice state if the vocal cords are vibrating during speech.
The pulmonic egressive airstream is the mechanism that is responsible
for the voice state, because the vocal cords can only vibrate when air is
coming out of the lungs. Vibrating vocal cords confer a resonance effect
on sounds. That is why the voice state is accompanied by an audible
54
buzzing quality. In the voice state, the vocal cords of men, women and
children make about 120, 220 and 300 vibrations per second respectively.
The sequence for voicing is:

1st Adduction
2nd Pressure from the pulmonic airflow
3rd Open glottis
4th Adduction again, and the cycle continues.
The diacritic for voice is a v, [  ], placed under a symbol. Therefore, [ t ]

is a voiced alveolar plosive.
Voice Test
I already mentioned that the vocal cords vibrate at a fast rate during the
voice state. These vibrations can be felt by placing a finger just below the
chin, while articulating voiced sounds. This is one of the tests for voicing.
The second voice test involves plugging the ears with the fingers, while
producing voiced sounds. If a buzzing sound is perceived, it means that
the vocal cords are vibrating. Try doing this while producing [] and [].
Which of them is voiced?
3. Breathy (Whisper/ Narrow State)

The breathy state is intermediate between voice and voiceless states. It
involves a minimum of turbulence; which means that the airflow is above
threshold. The vocal cords are just as wide apart as in the voiceless state.
However, the airflow is above threshold, and the vocal cords are caused to
flap in the air, though still wide apart. The pronunciation of [h] at the
beginning of the English word hat is done with breathy state.
55
Breathy State
Whisper State (Type 1)

In this state, the vocal cords narrow in on each other (hence the appellation
narrow state). They are positioned in such a way that they make contact in
the anterior two-thirds (2/3) of the glottis, and are apart in the posterior
one-third (1/3). When the vocal cords assume this position, they vibrate at
the anterior end (2/3rds) but not at the posterior end (1/3rd). It is this state
of the glottis that we assume when we whisper voiced sounds.
A solid dot under voiced sounds in a whispered sequence represents

whisper state, e.g. the [ i ] in sit, if whispered will be transcribes as [s i t].
There is a state of the glottis quite related to the whispered state; it is

called the murmur state. Because it is a combination of whisper and voice
state, the other name for murmur is whispery voice. Murmur is represented
with two dots [ ], placed under the sound that is produced with murmur
phonation.
56
4. Creaky State (Vocal fry/ Glottal fry/ Laryngealised)
In this state, the vocal cords are held tightly close at the posterior end,
while they are loosely drawn together at the anterior end. This posture
allows for vibration at the anterior end, but no vibration at all, at the
posterior end. Creaky state is characterised by very low pitch, at the end
of falling intonation.
The diacritic for creaky state is a tilde under the relevant sound [  ]
Diagram
5 Nil Phonation (Zero Phonation)

Nil phonation means no phonation at all. It implies that the glottis assumes
a state that has no effect on the quality of the sound produced so that the
acoustic input from the glottis to the vocal tract is zero. Nil phonation is
subsumed under voiceless state. Two types of nil phonation exist; the
widely abducted state and the fully adducted state (glottal stop/Close
state).
57
1. Widely Abducted
This is the normal voiceless state during which the vocal cords are widely
apart and there is a smooth laminar flow of air. There is no audible
turbulence, because the rate of airflow is below the threshold.
2. Closely Adducted
The vocal cords are fully adducted, such that the airflow from the lungs is
completely blocked off. The maintenance of the glottal closure is called a
glottal stop, for which the phonetic symbol [] is used.
Summary
In this lecture, we have focussed on the voice box. Otherwise called the
larynx or Adam’s gushed the larynx is called the voice box largely
because it houses two vocal cords that assume different shapes to affect
the quality of sounds during speech. We refer to these shapes as states
of the glottis. The most common states are the voice and voiceless
states, which occur when the vocal cords make contact and are wide
apart respectively. Several other states involve vocal cord postures
between the voice and the voiceless states.
Post-Test
1. Use diagrams to illustrate the larynx from the following
viewpoints: front, back, side and top.
2. Use diacritics to make the following transcription whisper:
We have had enough of coffee
[     ]
3. Use diacritics to make the voiced sound below voiceless and vice
versa.
I beg your pardon!
[   ]
4. Explain how the breathy state differs from the whisper state.
58
References
Abercrombie, David. 1967. Elements of General Phonetics.
Donwa-Ifode, Shirley.1995 Basic Phonetics. Port Harcourt: Sunray
Publications.
Elugbe, Ben. 2000. Oral English for Colleges and Schools. Ibadan,
Nigeria Heinemann Educational Books.
Ladefoged, Peter. 1993. A Course in Phonetics 3rd ed. USA
Napoli Donna, Jo. 1996. Linguistics. Oxford, New York: Oxford
University Press.
O’Grady et al. 1997. Contemporary Linguistics. St. New York:
59
LECTURE NINE
Seven Questions of Abercrombie
Introduction
In the lectures leading up to this one, I described how consonants are
produced. This lecture is a summary of all that has been taught. To
achieve this, I will use a set of seven questions as compiled by the linguist,
David Abercrombie in 1967.
Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you should be to:
1. identify the seven fundamental questions; and
2. when the questions as a summary of the contents of the IPA Chat.
Pre-Test
Attempt a summary of Lectures Two to Eight in form of seven questions.
Seven Questions of Abercrombie

1. What is the airstream mechanism?
2. Is the airflow ingressive or egresssive?
3. What is the state of the glottis?
4. Is the velum raised or lowered?
5. What is the passive articulator?
6. What is the active articulator?
7. What is the manner of articulation?
60
If you have followed the preceding lectures with keen interest, you should
answer these questions with ease, and for any consonant on the IPA chart.
Indeed, the seven questions of Abercrombie cover the scope of this course
as it applies to the description of consonants.
The following table describes some consonants by answering the
seven questions. Pay close attention as this should help you figure out how
to do same for other sounds.
 p  k’z
What is the airstream mechanism? Velaric pulmonic pulmonic glottalic

pulmonic
Is the airflow egressive or ingressive? ingressive egressive egressive egressive

egresssive
What is the state of the glottis? nil voiceless voice close

voice
Is the velum raised or lowered? raised raised lowered raised

raised
upper hard
alveolar
What is the passive articulator? front teeth upper lip palate velum
ridge
tip of lower front of back of

tongue
What is the active articulator? tongue lip tongue tongue
tip/blade
(stop) (stop) (stop) (stop)

(close app)
What is the manner of articulation? click plosive nasal ejective
central
fricative
61
Summary
In this lecture, we have examined the seven questions of Abercrombie
describe consonants adequately. They enquire about the airflow, place
of articulation, state of the glottis, posture of the velum and manner of
articulation.
Post-Test
Describe all the sounds of the IPA chart by answering Abercrombie’s
seven questions.
References
Abercrombie, David. (1967). Elements of General Phonetics.
Ibadan, Nigeria Heinemann Educational Books.
Ladefoged, Peter. (1993). A Course in Phonetics 3rd ed. USA
University Press.
O’Grady et al. (1997). Contemporary Linguistics. St. New York:
62
LECTURE TEN
Articulation of Vowels
Introduction
We could attempt a definition by stating that vowels are sounds produced
with little or no obstruction in the vocal tract. Sorry! That still will not be
accurate because we saw not too long ago that approximants have this
very feature. Can we then define vowels simply as the peak (i.e. the most
prominent part) of a syllable, or as the obligatory part of a syllable (i.e.
nucleus)? No, Sir! As we shall observe shortly, there is no certified
definition of a syllable. Besides, it is established that syllabic nasals and
consonants like the alveolar lateral approximant [] often act as syllable
nuclei. To avoid getting spawn in a web of controversy at this level, we
shall be contented with an elaborate description of how vowels are
produced.
Objectives
1. illustrate four heights by which vowels are described;
2. identify front, central and back vowels;
3. tell whether a vowel is round or unrounded;
4. provide the characteristics of cardinal vowels; and
5. make out the differences between primary and secondary cardinal
vowels.
63
Pre-Test
In articulatory terms, how would you differentiate vowels from
consonants?
Description of vowels
1. Vowels are produced with double articulation involving the tongue
and the roof of the mouth at one place, and the two lips at the other
place.
2. The vocoid or vowel space is the area within the oral cavity about
which the tongue forms a hump during the production of vowels. It
is situated between the palato-alveolar and velar places of
articulation. It is indicated by the tilted ovoid within the oral
cavity. Outside the oral cavity, the tilted ovoid is represented as a
trapezoid to allow for easier understanding of the vowel space.
Tilted Ovoid Trapezoid
3. The vowel space is an articulatory, auditory and acoustic

continuum. This implies that vowels can be produced at any point
within the space provided. Thus, it is not possible to have a symbol
for every vowel. For this reason, some cardinal vowels have been
set up to serve as yardsticks.
4. Daniel Jones (1917) describes cardinal vowels. They have the
following qualities:
64
a. They are arbitrarily selected. This implies that the vowels
described are not particular to any language. They are selected
to illustrate how vowels behave.
b. Auditorily equidistant. As much as possible, the cardinal
vowels that are described are at equal distances from one
another within the vowel space.
c. Exact in quality. The continuous nature of the vowel space
makes it impossible for a single vowel to be produced in the
same way twice. Cardinal vowels are, however, described with
exact qualities all the time because they serve only as examples
of vowels.
d. Peripheral (i.e. the primary cardinal vowels). All the primary
cardinal vowels are produced around the edges of the vowel
space. None of them is right in the middle of the space.
5. Daniel Jones further specifies two types of cardinal vowels:
primary and secondary. Primary cardinal vowels will be described
presently.
Description of primary cardinal vowels

Vowels are described along three parameters:
1. tongue height;
2. tongue horizontal position; and
3. lip rounding
1. Tongue height
During the production of vowels, the tongue usually forms a hunch, which
rises to a particular level within the vowel space. Four equidistant points
on the vowel space are used as different tongue heights for the production
of cardinal vowels:
a. Close vowels are produced at the highest point of the vowel space.
That is the point at which any further rise will produce a fricative.
b. Half close vowels are produced at the next point of the vowel
space, below the highest point.
c. Half open vowels are produced even lower than the half close
ones.
65
d. Open vowels are those produced at the lowest point of the vowel
space.
Illustration
2. Horizontal position of tongue

We mentioned just above that the tongue forms a hump during the
production of vowels. The hunch is usually formed at the front, the centre
or the back of the tongue. This gives us three vowel positions within the
vowel space. We say that a vowel is a:
a. front vowel if the hump for it is formed by the front of the tongue;
b. central vowel if the centre of the tongue forms its hump; and
c. back vowel if the back of the tongue forms its hump.
66
1) Close front 2) Half close front 3) Half open front 4) Open front
5) Close central 6) Half close central 7) Half open central 8) Open
central
9) Close back 10) Half close back 11) Half open back 12) Open back
Lip rounding
If the upper and the lower lips together form a circle during the production
of a vowel, we speak of a rounded vowel; otherwise, the lips are spread in
the case of unrounded vowels.
Vowels 1 to 5 on the primary cardinal vowel chart (as illustrated in the

chart below) are unrounded, while 6 to 8 are rounded.
Primary Cardinal Vowels
Front Central Back

  close
  half-close
  half-open
  open
Secondary cardinal vowels differ from the primary because they:

1. exhibit a reversed lip rounding position; and
2. have central vowels. Therefore, they are not all peripheral (i.e.
some are located away from the edges of the vocoid space).
67
Since the lip-rounding position of secondary vowels is the reverse of the
primary, it follows that vowels 9 to 13 (the counterparts of 1 to 5 in the
primary chart) are rounded, while 14 to 16 (counterparts of 6 to 8) are
unrounded.
The lip-rounding position of central vowels is such that those with odd
numbers are unrounded (17, 19, 21), while those with even numbers are
rounded (18, 20, 22).
Secondary Cardinal Vowels
Front Central Back

    close
    half-close
    half-open
  open
68
Combined Chart of Primary and Secondary Cardinal Vowels
Front Central Back
     close
     half-close
    half-open
   open
Summary
In this lecture, we have focused on the articulation of vowels. We noted
that vowels are double articulations involving the tongue and the lips.
The production of vowels can best be understood with the primary and
secondary cardinal vowels described by Daniel Jones. During the
production of cardinal vowels, the tongue can form a hump at four
levels: close, half close, half open and open. The tongue may also be in
the front, central or back position. The upper and lower lips could also
be in the rounded or unrounded positions. Secondary cardinal vowels
have the reverse lip rounding situation of the primary cardinal vowels.
Post-Test
1 Provide a definition for vowels in your own words.
2 Mention four heights of the tongue by which cardinal vowels are
described.
3 Use diagrams to illustrate rounded and unrounded lips.
4 How do primary cardinal vowels differ from their secondary
counterparts?
5 How many vowels are there in the word boy? State the height,
horizontal position and lip rounding situation of each vowel.
69
References
Abercrombie, David. (1967). Elements of General Phonetics. ,
Edinburg: Edinburgh University Press.
Ladefoged, Peter. (1993). A Course in Phonetics 3rd Ed. USA
Napoli Donna Jo. (1996). Linguistics. Oxford, New York: Oxford
University Press.
www.faculty.washington.edu/dillon/phon resources/vowels.html
70
LECTURE ELEVEN
The Names of Different Types of Vowels
Introduction
Like consonants, vowels are named in accordance with their mode of
production. We give vowels names so that scholars around the world can
work with standard nomenclature such as the IPA. There is a laid down
procedure, which we must be conversant with.
Objectives
1. recognise vowel symbols;
2. learn how to name vowels based on where they occur within the
vowel space;
3. get acquainted with the IPA Vowel Chart; and
4. differentiate the Daniel Jones’ Primary and Secondary Cardinal
Charts from the IPA Vowel Chart.
Pre-Test
Having followed Lecture Ten keenly, you should provide your own
criteria for naming vowels.
CONTENT
Vowels are named by the following criteria:
1. Diacritics (if any)
2. Tongue height
71
3. Horizontal position of tongue
4. Lip rounding
Note here that the order of the parameters should be followed strictly. It
may happen that the vowel to be named does not have a diacritic. In such
cases, we skip the diacritics and move on to the next parameter.
The following vowels are named using all four parameters in appropriate
order:
Chart Positions
:

[ a ]
1. Diacritics (if any) [  ] represents nasalization
2. Tongue height open
3. Horizontal position of tongue front
4 Lip rounding unrounded
Name: [ a ] Nasalised open front unrounded vowel

[ o: ]
72
1. Diacritics (if any) [ : ] represents long duration
2. Tongue height half open
3. Horizontal position of tongue back
4 Lip rounding rounded
Name: [ o: ] Long half close back rounded vowel
The vowels in the next pair are named with just three criteria because
there is no diacritic around their symbols.
Chart Positions

[i]
1. Diacritics (if any) None
2. Tongue height Close
3. Horizontal position of tongue front
73
Name: [i] Close front unrounded vowel
[]
1. Diacritics (if any) None
2. Tongue height half open
3. Horizontal position of tongue central
Name: [] Half open central unrounded vowel

Types of vowels
Three types of vowels have been described:
1. Monothongs: vowels that have no perceptible change in quality
during their production. e.g. [o], [].
2. Diphthongs: vowels that manifest an audible change in quality

during their production. They consist of an auditory trajectory (i.e.
movement) along the vowel space. e.g. [o], [e], []. A rising
diphthong is one in which there is a movement to a higher level
within the vowel space. e.g. [] in boy. Falling diphthongs move
in the reverse direction, e.g. [] in ear.
74
Rising Diphthong
Falling Diphthong
3. Triphthongs manifest two audible changes in quality during their

production. In order words, during the production of triphthongs,
the tongue changes direction twice within the vowel space. E.g.
[] in fire.
75

IPA Vowel Chart

There are innumerable vowels in the world’s nearly 6000 languages. It is
not possible to represent all vowels on a single chart. Therefore, the
International Phonetics Association (IPA) has put up a chart, on which
symbols of the most commonly used vowels are represented.
The IPA vowel chart is essentially patterned after the Daniel Jones
chart. However, the four tongue heights are labeled slightly differently.
Daniel Jones IPA

close close
half close close-mid
half open open-mid
open open
In addition, the IPA chart also has symbols at levels other than the
specified four tongue heights. This buttresses the point made earlier that
the vowel space is a continuum in which vowels can be produced at any
point.
76
IPA Vowel Chart
Front Central Back
      close
 
     close-mid

    open-mid
 
   open
Note that when symbols appear in pairs, the

one to the right represents a rounded vowel
You could get confused about the names of the vowels with heights
between the four recognized levels of tongue height. Get round this by
using terms like raised open, lowered, close-mid, raised, open-mid, etc.
For instance [] could be called a raised open front unrounded vowel.
Summary
In this lecture, we have discussed the names and the different types of
vowels. We noted that vowels are named strictly in the order of the
following: diacritics, tongue height, horizontal position of the tongue,
lip rounding. When there is no diacritic, only the latter three parameters
are used. Monophthongs are vowels of unchanging quality. Diphthongs
change quality once during their production; triphthongs change quality
twice and so on. The IPA vowel chart has the symbols of the most
commonly used vowels in the world’s languages.
77
Post-Test
1 Give the names of the following vowels:
[:], [], [], [], []
2 Show with illustrations, the differences between rising and falling
diphthongs. Also illustrate a triphthong.
3 In what ways is the IPA vowel chart at variance with the Daniel
Jones’ chart of vowels?
References
Abercrombie David. (1967). Elements of General Phonetics.
Ladefoged, Peter. (1993). A Course in Phonetics 3rd ed. USA.
University Press.
Roach, Peter (1991). English Phonetics and Phonology.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
www.faculty.washington.edu/dillon/phon resources/vowel.html
78
LECTURE TWELVE
The Nose and Sound
Introduction
Few people think of the nose in connection with speech. Yet, we easily
can tell that someone with whom we are conversing has a cold. There are
people with a reputation for speaking only through the nose. Others find it
difficult to let speech out of the nasal cavity. This lecture will tackle
sounds that are nasals and those are nasalized.
Objectives
1 explain what happens when sounds are let out through the nose;
2 tell the difference between nasal and nasalized sounds; and
3 enumerate and describe different types of nasalization.
Pre-Test
Are there vowels that are let out through the nose, or is such a release
restricted to consonants?
CONTENT
I mentioned in Lecture Three that the velum functions as a facilitator of
airflow through the nasal cavity. This happens when the velum adopts
either of two positions when sounds are released; it may be raised or
lowered. A raised velum blocks off the nasal cavity, such that the sound is
79
released only through the mouth. A lowered velum allows air out through
the nasal cavity.
The following categories of sounds are described on the basis of the

position of the velum:
a) Nasals or Nasally Released Sounds

A sound for which air is let out only through the nose is a nasal (or nasally
released) sound. The velum is lowered during the production of nasal
sounds. In addition, there must be a complete blockage of the oral cavity,
to prevent air from escaping through the mouth.
80
Vocal Tract position for [m] Structure
Oral
Velic
Observe that:
Apart from the contact made by the articulators, the velum is lowered
to facilitate nasal release (or plosion)
b) Nasalised Sounds
When a sound is released through both the mouth and the nose, it is
nasalised. Therefore, a nasalised sound is one that is released partly
through the oral cavity, and partly through the nasal cavity (because
the velum is lowered). Nasalised sounds differ from nasals because the
articulators do not remain together during the release phase, thus air flows
out of the oral cavity as well as the nasal cavity.
Environment: Nasalisation is often motivated by the presence of a nasal

sound close to an orally released sound.
Diacritic: The tilde [ ] is placed above a symbol to indicate nasalization.

For example, [] is a nasalized open front un-rounded vowel.
81
c) Pre-nasalization
A sound is pre-nasalized if the sound from which it gets the nasal quality
occurs before it. For example, the [t] in burnt is prenasalized because an
[n] occurs just before it. [n] and [t] are homorganic (i.e. both are produced
with the same articulators). Since both sounds are alveolar sounds, the
manner of one affects the other.
With respect to the velum, pre-nasalised sounds are the exact opposite of
nasally released sounds. The diacritic for pre-nasalisation is either of [n,
m, , , , ] placed before the sound that is pre-nasalised. Thus [nt] is a
voiceless pre-nasalised alveolar plosive.
Whereas nasalisation involves a transfer of action from the oral cavity to

the velum, pre-nasalisation involves a transfer from velic to oral action.
Illustration
Velic
Oral
82
Converging arrows in the velic section indicate that the velum is just being
raised as the sound is released through the oral cavity.
d) Postnasalisation
A sound is postnasalised if the sound from which it derives its nasal
quality occurs after it. For example, the [k] in acknowledgement is
postnasalised, because [] occurs just after it. The structure for
postnasalised sounds is exactly the same as the general structure for
nasalisation that is given above.
Diacritic: Postnasalisation is represented with a superscript nasal, i.e. [, ,
, , ,  ]. Thus [k] is a voiceless postnasalised velar plosive.
e) Supranasalisation
Environment: When a stop occurs between two homorganic nasals, it is
supranasalised. For example, the [t] at the end of the first word in meant
nothing is supranasalised.
Diacritic: There is no special diacritic for supranasalisation. The one

for nasalisation suffices.
Supranasalisation involves only velic action, because the velum is

lowered at the first and the third phases of the stop.
Structure for [ntn]
Oral
Velic
83
Diverging arrows indicate that the velum is lowered both at the beginning
and the end of the articulation.
Summary
In this lecture, we have discussed the nose and sounds specifically; we
stated that sounds are let out through the nose only if the velum is
lowered. Nasals are let out only through the nose. Nasalized sounds
have both oral and nasal release. It may happen that an adjacent nasal
causes the sound that it precedes or follows to be partially nasalized. If
the nasal proceeds, the sound is pre-nasalized; if the nasal occurs after,
the sound is post-nasalized. Supra-nasalized sounds have nasals both
preceding and following them.
Post-Test
1. Provide two examples each of pre- nasalization and post-
nasalization in any two Nigerian languages.
2. Use an annotated diagram to illustrate a lowered velum.
3. Nasals are sounds that are nasalized. Discuss.
References
Abercrombie David. (1967). Elements of General Phonetics.
Ladefoged, Peter. (1993). A Course in Phonetics 3rd Ed. USA:
University Press.
O’Connor, J.D. (2000). Better English Pronunciation. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
84
Roach, Peter (1991). English Phonetics and Phonology.
85
LECTURE THIRTEEN
Aspiration
Introduction
There are many fine details that accompany the production of sounds.
Aspiration is one of them. It involves a puff of air that accompanies
sounds – voiceless stops in particular - usually when they are produced in
the word initial position. Aspiration adds no meaning to speech in many of
the world’s languages, yet in precious few languages, it affects the
meaning of words.
Objectives
1. explain what aspiration is all about; and
2. discuss the free scholarly perspectives on aspiration.
Pre-Test
Why do you think sounds are let out with more force of air when one
speaks while panting than when one speaks normally?
CONTENT
Definitions
1. Egbokhare (1994) defines aspiration as a vigorous puff of air that
accompanies the release of a stop.
2. A [h] riding on a sound.
86
Diacritic
The diacritic used for aspiration is a superscript h, [h].
Scholarly Perspectives
1 The traditional view
This view holds that:
a. Aspiration is a puff of air or breath, which accompanies the
production of a stop.
b. The degree of aspiration is in direct proportion to the level of
compression achieved during the closure phase of the stop.
It simply means that only stops can be aspirated, and that aspiration results
from the sudden outburst of air just as stop articulations go apart.
Traditional Illustration for []
2 Aspiration as voicing lag

This view holds that aspiration is the period of voicelessness that follows
the voiceless closure phase of a stop. In other words, only voiceless stops
can be aspirated. Abercrombie and Ladefoged both support this view.
Let’s take a close look at this. In doing so, we will observe what is
happening at three levels:
1. the level of articulators;
2. whether the vocal cords are apart or together; and
87
3. the state of the glottis. Is it vibrating or voiceless?
We will use the structure below to observe these three levels for a
voiceless aspirated stop (say [ph], a voiceless aspirated bilabial plosive).
(I) (II) (III)
1) Articulators
2) Position of vocal cords
3) State of the glottis

A B
1) What is happening to the articulators?
88
The topmost structure above is the typical stop structure. You will recall
that it is in three phases. In phase (I), the articulators make contact; in
phase (II), they remain together for a while; in Phase (III), there is a
sudden release.
Broken vertical line A represents the time the stop is released. That point
is of utmost importance. Stops are voiced or voiceless depending on the
state of the glottis at the point of release (i.e. Line A). If at this point, the
vocal cords are vibrating, a voiced stop will be produced. On the other
hand, if the vocal cords are not vibrating at the point of release, the stop
will be voiceless.
2) Are the vocal cords apart or together?

The structure in the middle represents the position of the vocal cords
relative to each other during the different phases of a stop. The vocal cords
may be positioned either apart or close to each other. It could happen that
during the production of a stop, the vocal cords are apart or together at
different phases of the stop. However, in the stop we are considering
above, the vocal cords are apart through out the three phases. Thus,
pulmonic air is let out of the glottis without obstruction.
3) The state of the glottis. Is it vibrating or voiceless?

The glottis vibrates whenever the vocal cords are close and pulmonic
airstream is at work. When the vocal cords are apart, the glottis is in a
voiceless state. In the structure at the bottom of our illustration, we
represent the voiceless state with a straight line, while the voice state
is shown as zigzag.
Broken line B represents the point where voicing commences for the
production of the sound that follows the stop. You may have noticed that
the vocal cords come close to each other at the point of line B. The reason
for this is that vocal cords can vibrate only when they are close.
▪ The period between line A and line B is called the Voice Onset
Time (VOT). It is the period between the release of a stop and the
beginning of voicing for another sound. This is where we get to the
centre of our present analysis. Here, aspiration is seen as:
89
The voiceless period between the release of a voiceless stop and
the beginning of voicing for an adjacent sound.
Put differently, we can say:
Aspiration is the air that is released during voice onset time.
At this point, we must note that voiced stops do not have VOT, for the
simple reason that the vocal cords are together through all three phases of
the stop and are already vibrating at the time of release.
3) Aspiration as degree of glottal opening

This view, favoured by the likes of Chin Wu Kim, simply holds that
aspiration is a function of the extent to which the vocal cords are separated
when air is suddenly let out between articulators during the release phase
of a stop. It states that the farther apart the vocal cords are, the stronger the
aspiration.
Good news! More about this view on aspiration will be said in your
second year course, Basic Phonetics.
Summary
In this lecture, we have discussed aspiration. We stated that the puff of
air that accompanies the production of some voiceless stops is called
aspiration. It has been described as an [] riding on a sound. Thus, the
diacritic for aspiration is a superscript, [] attached to the symbol of the
aspirated sound. Aspiration has been described differently by three
schools of scholars. The traditional school considers aspiration to be
caused by air compressed behind articulators during the closure phase of
stops. School two explains aspiration in relation to the time it takes the
vocal cords to come together after the release of a voiceless stop. School
three opines that the degree of aspiration is directly proportional to how
apart the vocal cords are when a stop is released.
90
Post-Test
1 In your view, what is the difference between an aspirated stop and
one that is not aspirated?
2 Make an annotated illustration of aspiration as a voicing lag.
3 Explain what Voice Onset Time (VOT) means.
4 Why do some scholars say that only voiceless sounds can be
aspirated
5 Provide aspirated and unaspirated symbols for the following
sounds:
a. Voiceless palatal plosive
b. Voiceless alveolar central fricative
c. Voiceless velar plosive
References
Donwa-Ifode, Shirley (1995) Basic Phonetics. Port Harcourt:
Ladefoged, Peter. (1993). A Course in Phonetics USA 3rd ed.
University Press.
www.pho.ox.ac.uk/~jcoleman/PHONOLOGY1.html
91
LECTURE FOURTEEN
Types of Articulation
Introduction
Whereas people in the third-world make all the efforts to speak English,
French, Spanish and German with the fluency of a native speaker few
Europeans bother about proficiency in non-European languages. Try
asking a Brit to say Ngbati ngbati and you’ll get my point. Some sounds
are nearly used universally because they are easy to produce, others are
more difficult to articulate, and more restricted in use. This is the basis of
the following discussion.
Objectives
1 tell the difference amongst simple, compound and complex
articulations;
2 differentiate double articulation from secondary articulation;
3 differentiate double articulation from affricate articulation;
4 explain what is meant by assimilation; and
5 draw illustrations and explain different types of secondary
articulations.
Pre-Test
Make two lists, one for five sounds you consider easy to pronouns, the
other for five sounds difficult to produce.
92
CONTENT
Types of Articulation
Three are main types of articulation:
1. simple Articulation;
2. compound Articulation; and
3. complex Articulation
1 Simple Articulation
This involves articulators coming together only at one place of
articulation, e.g. [p], [b], [t], [d].
2 Compound Articulation
This involves two or more simultaneous constrictions at two or more
different places of articulation. Compound articulation can occur in two
ways:
a. Double articulation
b. Secondary articulation
a. Double Articulation involves:

i. two equal degrees of stricture (i.e. the extent to which the
articulators close-up to each other);
ii. occurring simultaneously (i.e. at the same time);
iii. at two different places of articulation.
Double articulations are represented phonetically by merging the
symbols of the two places of articulation involved. Such double symbols
are called digraphs. The use of digraphs makes it easy to immediately
determine which articulators are involved in the production of a doubly
articulated sound. For example, a labial–velar sound is a doubly
articulated sound, whose articulation occurs at both the bilabial and velar
places of articulation at the same time, and to the same degree. The
articulators involved in the production of a labial-velar sound are upper
and lower lips at the bilabial place, and the back of the tongue and the
velum at the velar place. Therefore, the symbol for a voiceless labial-
93
velar plosive is [kp]. Observe your phonetic chart to see how this merger
has come about. I’am certain you can now tell me the four articulators
responsible for the production of other doubly articulated sounds. Try
doing so right now.
The difference between an affricate and a doubly articulated sound is

worth stressing here. They differ in the number of places of articulation
involved in their production, and in the degree of stricture (i.e. how close
the articulators come to one another), and in timing.
Double articulation is carried out:

1 at two different places;
2 to the same degree; and
3 at the same time simultaneously
On the other hand, affricate articulation is carried out:

1. at one place of articulation;
2. To two different degrees ; and
3. one after the other sequentially
Of course, you haven’t forgotten that affricates have the same
characteristics as plosives, save the fact that they are released in fricative
manner (with a hissing sound).
b. Secondary Articulation refers to the lesser of the two strictures in a

compound articulation. What secondary articulation has in common with
double articulation is that:
i two places of articulation are involved; and
ii the two strictures occur simultaneously.
Secondary articulations differ from double articulation in the fact that:

The two strictures vary in degree; the secondary stricture occurs to a
lesser degree. This means that secondary articulators do not close-up as
much as primary articulators.
94
Therefore, when considering secondary articulation, we speak of a
primary (or main) stricture at one place, and a secondary (or minor)
stricture at another place. For this reason, secondary articulation is often
defined as: A superimposition of a secondary place of articulation on a
primary place.
Actually, secondary articulation occurs as a consequence of the
phonological process of assimilation. Assimilation is a phenomenon
whereby a sound takes on some features of an adjacent sound. A Yoruba
way of saying this is: ti ewe ba pe lara ose, a di ose: close association of
two things makes them inseparable after sometime.
Five types of secondary articulation are predominant in speech. They
get their names from the place of secondary constriction. We will describe
them presently:
(a) Labialisation
Superimposition of round lips on sounds ordinarily produced with
spread lips. The lips are usually protruded when a round articulation is
made.
The diacritic for labialisation is a superscript w, [ w]. For example

[gw] is a voiced labialised velar plosive.
Environment: A consonant is likely to be labialised if a labial sound

produced with round lips- is adjacent to it.
Spread lips Round lips (labialisation)
95
Note: Labial sounds can be labialised.
(b) Palatalisation
Superimposition of the raised front of the tongue on another place of
articulation. You will recall that the front of the tongue is the active
articulator for the palatal place of articulation. Thus, a sound is
palatalized when the tongue the front of is raised secondarily.
The diacritic for palatalisation is superscript ‘y’ or ‘j’, [ y] or [ j]. For

example, [py] is a voiceless palatalised bilabial plosive
Environment: A consonant is likely to be palatalised when it is located

adjacent to a high front vowel. It is said that palatalised sounds take on
[ i ] colouring.
Diagram
Note: Palatal sounds cannot be palatalized.
(c) Velarisation
Superimposition of the raised tongue back on another place of
articulation. This is also referred to as [ u ] colouring. You, of course,
know that the active articulator for the velar place is the back of the
tongue, so you should not be surprised at the name velarisation.
96
Diacritic: Velarisation is represented with either a tilde across a
symbol [ ], or a superscript gamma sign, , []. Thus [t] is a
voiceless velarised alveolar plosive.
Environment: A sound is likely to be velarised if it occurs adjacent to a

high back vowel.
Diagram
Note: Velar sounds cannot be velarised.
(d) Pharyngealisation
Superimposition of retracted tongue root on another place of
articulation. Again, the root of the tongue is the active articulator for
the pharyngeal place of articulation, hence the name
pharyngealisation.
Diacritic: The diacritic for pharyngealised sound is a superscript

reverse question mark, [  ]. For example [k] is a voiceless
pharyngealised velar plosive.
97
Environment: A sound is likely to be pharyngealised if it is located
close to a pharyngeal sound.
98
Diagram
Note: Pharyngeal sounds cannot be pharyngealised.
(e) Glottalisation
Superimposition of closing glottis on another place of articulation.
Diacritic: The diacritic for glottalisation is a superscript question

mark, [ ]. Thus [c] is a voiceless glottalised palatal plosive.
Environment: A sound is likely to be glottalised if it occurs adjacent to

a glottal sound.
Diagram
99
Note: Glottal sounds cannot be glottalised.
3 Complex Articulation
A complex articulation is one that involves two or more simultaneous
compound articulations. For example, [gbw], voiced labialised labial-
velar plosive is a complex articulation. It is a combination of double and
secondary articulation. Can you attempt the diagram for the sound? That’s
the spirit!
Summary
In this lecture, we have focused on the main types of articulation, which
are simple articulation, compound articulation and complex articulation.
The first one involves articulators coming together only at one place oof
articulation; the second one involves two or more simultaneous
constrictions at two or more different places of articulation; and the
third one involves two or more simultaneous compound articulations.
Post-Test
1 Do you consider affricates simple articulations?
2 Define simple, compound and complex articulations in your own
words, and provide two examples of each.
3 Explain how double articulations differ from secondary
articulations.
100
4 Use illustrations to demonstrate palatisation and velarisation.
5 Provide diacritics for and state the phonological environments for
labialization and glottalisation.
References
Ladefoged, Peter. 91993). A Course in Phonetics 3rd ed. USA
University Press.
101
LECTURE FIFTEEN
Diacritics and Pronunciation
Introduction
This lecture will first showcase diacritics. Thereafter, it will take a
practical turn to test what has been learnt throughout the course in
pronunciation and transcription exercises.
Objectives
1. recognize most of the diacritics used in transcribing languages; and
2. read text in phonetic transcription.
Pre-Test
Can you make out the differences in the phonetic transcription of each of
the words course, cause and curse?
CONTENT
Diacritics
Diacritics are marks placed before, after, above, or under a symbol to
indicate additional features. Diacritics are used to indicate features, such
as stress, secondary articulation, nasalisation etc. The diacritics below
have been classified on the basis of location with respect to phonetic
symbols. Diagrammatic illustrations are provided where necessary.
102
Superscript diacritics
[ n] Post nasalisation
w
[ ] Labialisation
j y
[ ] or [ ] Palatalisation
[ ] Velarisation
[ ] Pharyngealisation
[ ] No audible release
[ h] Aspiration
Diacritics placed above
[ ] Nasalisation
[  ] Tie bar indicating double articulation
Diacritics placed before

[m, n, , , ] pre-nasalisation
[ ] Primary stress indicates most prominent syllable in a word
[ ] Secondary stress indicates the second most prominent

syllable in a word
Diacritics placed to the right of the symbol

[ ] Long duration
[ ] Rhoticity (right hook) indicates r-like colouring on a sound
Diacritics placed under the symbol
[  ] Voiceless
[  ] Voice
[  ] Dental
[  ] Apical (i.e. involves tongue tip)
[  ] Lamina (i.e. involves tongue blade)
103
[ ] Syllabic indicates that a consonant is the peak of a syllable
[ ] Non-syllabic indicates that a vowel is not the peak of a syllable
[  ] Advance tongue root (ATR): The root of the tongue is pushed forward
to increase the pharyngeal space.
Illustration
[  ] Raised: used when vowels are produced at positions higher than their
regular place within the vowel space.
[  ] Lowered: used when vowels are produced at positions lower than
their regular place within the vowel space.
[  ] Murmur state of the glottis
[  ] Creaky state of the glottis
Pronunciation
It is pretty easy to articulate consonants relative to vowels especially,
when speaking languages, such as Igbo, English, French and German; the
computer in which ATR, diphthongs, secondary-cardinal-like vowels, and
104
fronted vowels occur respectively. Such fine details are better resolved in
a practical class as you would do in LIN 243. For the present, I’ll just
provide exercises to help you apply knowledge gained in this course.
For all you’ve learnt in this course to make any practical sense, you
should regularly pay attention to transcriptions in dictionaries. It often
happens that we only look up word meaning and usage in dictionaries. In
addition, you should always try to figure out appropriate pronunciation as
indicated in the accompanying phonetic transcription.
Now, pay attention to pronunciation differences in the following pair
of English words:
cease seize
 
peace piece
 
bed bird
 
bead bid
 
ask axe
 
which witch
 
board bud
 
105
burn born
 
cut cot
 
Next, see if you can read the following transcriptions:
1.    .

2.     ?
3.   !
4.    u     .
Being able to decipher the sentences above indicates that you have learnt
some phonetics in this course. Getting beyond this level is by sheer dint of
hard work. You should have handy a dictionary of whatever language you
wish to improve in diction. Make sure that the transcriptions in your
dictionary are done with IPA symbols. It is a tedious exercise to look up
the pronunciation of almost every word you come by. But I assure you that
by doing precisely that, your spoken language will improve in leaps and
bounds. Get talking right!
Summary
In this lecture, we have discusses diacritics. In the course of the lecture,
we defined the subject of study and also examined different diacritics
and their placements. Finally, we briefly examined pronunciation as
well as gave a short lest on transcription.
Post-Test
Attempt transcribing the summary of this lecture:
1. without a dictionary
106
2. with a dictionary.
3. Compare both transcriptions and learn from your mistakes.
References
Donwa-Ifode, Shirley. (1995). Basic Phonetics. Port Harcourt:
O’Connor, J.D. (2000). Better English Pronunciation. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Roach Peter, 91991). English Phonetics and Phonology.
www.ling.uq.edu.au/speech/phonetics/transcription/ipa/ipa-
diacritic.html
www.pho.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-unicode.htm
107

Lin 141-1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lin 141-1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lin 141-1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

LIN 141

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

First Published 2008

General Editor: Prof. Francis Egbokhare

Typeset @ Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan

Professor Olufemi A. Bamiro, FNSE

Professor Francis O. Egbokhare

Defining Phonetics: Articulatory Phonetics

1. Articulatory Mechanism: The operation of speech organs – i.e.

The Chain of Speech: From the Brain to the

The brain (Psychological)

(b) ‘Queer old dean’ instead of ‘dear old queen’

(c) ‘cake a bake’ instead of ‘bake a cake’

(d) ‘A jeep of hunk’ instead of ‘A heap of junk’

Muscular action (Physiological)

Sound waves and their properties (Physical)

Human Organs Used in Speech Production

Figure 2: The Organs of Speech

Before proceeding, study Fig. 2 properly. See how many of these

Explanation of the Diagram

Function: Speech initiation and coordination

Function: As an articulator and a facilitator of airflow through the

Figure 3: Parts of the tongue

• Tip: the narrowest part of the anterior tapering end of

Function: All the parts of the tongue are used as articulators.

Epiglottis: It is a saddle or spoon shaped cartilaginous protector of the

Function: It blocks off the larynx during swallowing, thus preventing

Function: Determines the quality of an individual’s voice by

Lungs: Two bundles of spongy air sacs or bagpipes, one on the

Function: Storage of air for speech.

Cavities that function in speech

Function: The cavities are channels through which air flows

The Vocal Tract

Place of Articulation of Consonants

Bilabial Upper lip Lower lip

Labio-dental Upper front teeth Lower lip

Dental Upper front teeth Tip of the

Alveolar Alveolar ridge Tip/Blade

Retroflex Palato-alveolar Under sur

Palato-alveolar Palato-alveolar Blade

Palatal Hard palate Front

Velar Velum Back

Pharyngeal Pharyngeal wall Root

Glottal -------------- Both vocal cords

Double articulations involve two places of articulation; therefore, each

Normal and Displaced Articulation

Airflow and Speech Production

Components of Airstream Mechanism

1. Velaric Ingressive Airstream Mechanism

2. Glottalic Egressive Airstream Mechanism

4. Pulmonic Egressive Mechanism

b For any sound to be voiced, the pulmonic airstream mechanism

Manner of Articulation of Consonants

Nasal          

Plosive                     

(I) (II) (III)

1. The converging arrows of the shutting phase indicate that the

1 Ideal Stops: Plosives, Ejectives, Implosives, Clicks

Plosives Pulmonic egressive