Voicing and Consonants

VOICING AND CONSONANTS

2.1 The larynx

We begin this chapter by studying the larynx. The larynx has several very important functions in
speech, but

before we can look at these functions we must examine its anatomy and physiology - that is, how it
is constructed

and how it works.

The larynx is in the neck; it has several parts, shown in Fig. 6. Its main structure is made of
cartilage, a material that is similar to bone but less hard. If you press down on your nose, the hard
part that you can feel is cartilage. The larynx's structure is made of two large cartilages. These are
hollow and are attached to the top of the trachea; when we breathe, the air passes through the
trachea and the larynx. The front of the larynx comes to a point and you can feel this point at the
front of your neck - particularly if you are a man and/or slim. This point is commonly called the
Adam's Apple. Inside the "box" made by these two cartilages are the vocal folds, which are two
thick flaps of muscle rather ike a pair of lips; an older name for these is vocal cords. Looking down
the throat is difficult to do, and requires special optical equipment, but Fig. shows in diagram form
the most important parts. At the front the vocal folds are joined together and fixed to the inside of
the thyroid cartilage. At the back they are attached to a pair of small cartilages called the arytenoid
cartilages so that if the arytenoid cartilages move, the vocal folds move too.

The arytenoid cartilages are attached to the top of the cricoid cartilage, but they can move so as to
move the vocal folds apart or together (Fig. 7). We use the word glottis to refer to the opening
between the vocal folds. If the vocal folds are apart we say that the glottis is open; if they are
pressed together we say that the glottis is closed. This seems quite simple, but in fact we can
produce a very complex range of changes in the vocal folds and their positions.

These changes are often important in speech. Let us first look at four easily recognisable states of
the vocal folds; it would be useful to practise moving your vocal folds into these different
positions.
Wide apart: The vocal folds are wide apart for normal breathing and usually during voiceless
consonants

like p, f, s . ([Link]) Your vocal folds are probably apart now.

• Narrow glottis: If air is passed through the glottis when it is narrowed as in Fig. 9b, the result is a

fricative sound for which the symbol is h. The sound is not very different from a whispered vowel.
It is

called a voiceless glottal fricative. (Fricatives are discussed in more detail in Chapter 6.)

Practise saying hahahaha - alternating between this state of the vocal folds and that described in (iii)
below.

• Position for vocal fold vibration: When the edges of the vocal folds are touching each other, or
nearly

touching, air passing through the glottis will usually cause vibration (Fig. 9c). Air is pressed up
from the

lungs and this air pushes the vocal folds apart so that a little air escapes. As the air flows quickly
past the edges.
Read about the classification of consontants, and find out more about their manner and place
of articulation.

Plosives

A plosive is a consonant articulation with the following characteristics:

• One articulator is moved against another, or two articulators are moved against each other, so as to
form a stricture that allows no air to escape from the vocal tract. The stricture is, then, total.

• After this stricture has been formed and air has been compressed behind it, it is released - that is,
air is allowed to escape.

• If the air behind the stricture is still under pressure when the plosive is released, it is probable that
the escape of air will produce noise loud enough to be heard. This noise is called plosion. d) There
may be voicing during part or all of the plosive articulation. To give a complete description of a
plosive consonant we must describe what happens at each of the following four phases in its
production:

• The first phase is when the articulator or articulators move to form the stricture for the plosive. We
call this the closing phase.
• The second phase is when the compressed air is stopped from escaping. We call this the
compression phase.

• The third phase is when the articulators used to form the stricture are moved so as to allow air to
escape. This is the release phase.

• The fourth phase is what happens immediately after (iii), so we will call it the post-release phase.

1.4 English plosives

English has six plosive consonants: p, t, k, b, d, g. The glottal plosive ? occurs frequently but it is of
less importance, since it is usually just an alternative pronunciation of p, t, k in certain contexts. The
plosives have different places of articulation.

The plosives p, b are bilabial since the lips are pressed together; t, d are alveolar since the tongue
blade is pressed against the alveolar ridge (Fig. 96). Normally the tongue does not touch the front
teeth as it does in the dental plosives found in many languages. The plosives k, g are velar; the back
of the tongue is pressed against the area where the hard palate ends and the soft palate begins. The
plosives p, t, k are always voiceless; b, d, g are sometimes fully voiced, sometimes partly voiced
and sometimes voiceless.

We will consider what b, d, g should be called in Section 7.8 below. All six plosives can occur at
the beginning of a word (initial position), between other sounds (medial position) and at the end of a
word (final position). To begin with we will look at plosives preceding vowels (which can be
abbreviated as CV, where C stands for a consonant and V stands for a vowel), between vowels
(VCV) and following vowels (VC). We will look at more complex environments in later chapters.

Initial position (CV): The closing phase for p, t, k and b, d, g takes place silently. During the
compression phase there is no voicing in p, t, k; in b, d, g there is normally very little voicing - it
begins only just before the release. If the speaker pronounces an initial b, d, g very slowly and
carefully there may be voicing during the entire compression phase (the plosive is then fully
voiced), while in rapid speech there may be no voicing at all. The release of p, t, k is followed by
audible plosion - that is, a burst of noise. There is then, in the post-release phase, a period during
which air escapes through the vocal folds, making a sound like h. This is called aspiration. Then the
vocal folds come together and voicing begins. The release of b, d, g is followed by weak plosion,
and this happens at about the same time as, or shortly after, the beginning of voicing. The most
noticeable and important difference, then, between initial p, t, k and b, d, g is the aspiration of the
voiceless plosives p, t, k. The different phases of the plosive all happen very rapidly, but the ear
distinguishes clearly between p, t, k and b, d, g.

If English speakers hear a fully voiced initial plosive, they will hear it as one of b, d, g but will
notice that it does not sound quite natural. If they hear a voiceless unaspi- rated plosive they will
also hear that as one of b, d, g, because it is aspiration, not voicing which distinguishes initial p, t, k
from b, d, g. Only when they hear a voiceless aspirated plosive will they hear it as one of p, t, k;
experiments have shown that we perceive aspiration when there is a delay between the sound of
plosion and the beginning (or onset) of voicing.

In initial position, b, d, g cannot be preceded by any consonant, but p, t, k may be preceded by s.

When one of p, t, k is preceded by s it is unaspirated. From what was said above it should be clear
that the unaspirated p, t, k of the initial combinations sp, st, sk have the sound quality that makes
English speakers perceive a plosive as one of b, d, g; if a recording of a word beginning with one of
sp, st, sk is heard with the s removed, an initial b, d or g is perceived by English speakers. • Medial
position (VCV): The pronunciation of p, t, k and b, d, g in medial position depends to some extent
on whether the syllables preceding and following the plosive are stressed. In general we can say that
a medial plosive may have the characteristics either of final or of initial plosives.

• Final position (VC): Final b, d, g normally have little voicing; if there is voicing, it is at the
beginning of the compression phase; p, t, k are always voiceless. The plosion following the release
of p, t, k and b, d, g is very weak and often not audible. The difference between p, t, k and b, d, g is
primarily the fact that vowels preceding p, t, k are much shorter.

The shortening effect of p, t, k is most noticeable when the vowel is one of the long vowels or
diphthongs. This effect is sometimes known as pre-fortis clipping. 2.0 Fortis and lenis Are b, d, g
voiced plosives? The description of them makes it clear that it is not very accurate to call them
"voiced"; in initial and final position they are scarcely voiced at all, and any voicing they may have
seems to have no perceptual importance.

Some phoneticians say that p, t, k are produced with more force than b, d, g, and that it would
therefore be better to give the two sets of plosives (and some other consonants) names that indicate
that fact; so the voiceless plosives p, t, k are sometimes called fortis (meaning 'strong') and b, d, g
are then called lenis (meaning 'weak'). It may well be true that p, t, k are produced with more force,
though nobody has really proved it - force of articulation is very difficult to define and measure. On
the other hand, the terms fortis and lenis are difficult to remember. Despite this, we shall follow the
practice of many books and use these terms. The plosive phonemes of English can be presented in
the form of a table as shown here:
 HOMEWORK.

Cut off date: August 1st, 2019. Send it through a word document with your full name.

Read the following exercise and work it out in a word doc. Use the example that appears in the
exercise, in order to describe the sounds involving the articulators and respiratory system. Then
transcribe the words in section 2

Written exercises

Section 1• Write brief descriptions of the actions of the articulators and the respiratory system in the
words given below. Your description should start and finish with the position for normal breathing.

Here is a description of the pronunciation of the word 'bee' bi: as an example:

Starting from the position for normal breathing, the lips are closed and the lungs are compressed to
create air pressure in the vocal tract. The tongue moves to the position for a close front vowel, with
the front of the tongue raised close to the hard palate. The vocal folds are brought close together and
voicing begins; the lips then open, releasing the compressed air. Voicing continues for the duration
of an i: vowel. Then the lung pressure is lowered, voicing ceases and the articulators return to the
normal breathing position.

Words to describe: (a) goat; (b) ape.

Section 2.

Transcribe the following words:

a) bake

b) goat

c) doubt

d) bought

e) tick

f) bough

g) board

h) guard

i) pea