Speech Sounds

Speech Sounds

1. Loudness

   • Is is one of the main phonetic properties of spoken language and of individual sounds
   • It is related to the breadth, or amplitude, of the vibration of the vocal folds, or, to use an older term, the vocal cords
   • The vocal folds are located behind the Adam's apple in the voice box, also called the larynx

2. Pitch

   • related to the frequency of the vibration of the vocal folds
     • The faster the vocal folds vibrate, the higher the pitch.
   • can distinguish meaning at a suprasegmental level
     • It is a component of stress, and it shapes the intonation of connected speech.
   • cannot change the function of an individual sound within the sound system of English.

3. Tone of voice

   • use the term sound quality to refer to the quality that is characterised by the distinctive features, listed i n the second category below.
   • also called voice quality, tonal quality, or timbre,
     • refers t o the difference in "colour" that we hear between two voices when they produce a soun d with otherwise exactly the same phonetic features

4. Duration or lenght

   • both refer to the span of time during which a sound is sustained
   • The term duration is usually restricted to phonetics, and is used for the absolute or actual time taken in the articulation of a sound.
   • length is usually restricted to phonology. It refers to the relative time a sound is sustained as perceived by the listener.

5. Air-stream mechanism

   • The majority of sounds used in the languages of the world are produced with air that is pushed up from the lungs through the windpipe, or trachea
     • This movement of air is called an egressive pulmonic airstream
   • The egressive pulmonic air-stream mechanism is the only air-stream mechanism that uses lung air

6. Voicedness and voicelessness: The state of the glottis

   • All sounds that are produced by an egressive pulmonic air-stream mechanism, an d therefore all English sounds, pass through the glottis,
     • which we have defined as th e space between the vocal folds, located behind the Adam's apple in the voice box, or larynx

7. Phonologically relevant features: Distinctive features

   • Intensity of articulation 1: Lenis and fortis
     • The voiced/voiceless contrast discussed above is usually accompanied by a difference in the force with which the air-stream is pushed up.
     • The voiced/voiceless contrast discussed above is usually accompanied by a difference in the force with which the air-stream is pushed up.
   • Place of articulation
     • In the production of approximately two thirds of these sounds, the air-stream is obstructed in the throat, technically called the pharyngeal cavity or pharynx
     • To produce a consonant, there is usually one active, mobile, lower speech organ that moves and makes contact with a passive, immobile, upper speech organ.
   • Manner of articulation
     • Another important feature for the description of speech sounds is the type or degree o f closure of the speech organs involved