FORTIS VS LENIS CORRELATION AS A CONSTANT

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 532.

Voiceless sounds are more strongly articulated while voiced sounds are more weakly articulated. The lungs may push out air more vigorously for a particular sound. Sounds with greater pressure are fortis sounds and those with less pressure are lenis sounds. the power mechanism creates fortis and lenis consonants.

32. IDENTIFYING TECHNIQUES IN ESTABLISHING PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES

It is essential to clarify the difference between description and classification while describing sounds we try to set down as many as possible of the features which are present in them. In reality, complete description is beyond our powers. Since it would mean mentioning an infinite number of features. So our descriptions are bound to be partial and we mention these features which seem to contribute substantially to the sound in question .. in describing [d] (do) in articulatory term we mention the following : the teeth are close together, the soft palate is raised, the tongue tip is firmly in contact with the alveolar ridge, the sides of the tongue are in contact, the bsck of the tongue is raised to approximately in the close vowel position (ready for the vowel).but everytime we need to specify and extrafeature.
- description - setting down as many as possible features which are present in sounds.
- classification - mentioning those features by which sounds utter.

33. PRINCIPLES OF CONSONANT CLASSIFICATION AS DIFFERENT FROM PRINCIPLES OF VOWEL CLASSIFICATION
Q.33.
PRINCIPLES OF CONSONANT CLASSIFICATION AS DIFFERENT FROM PRINCIPLES OF VOWEL CLASSIFICATION.
Mechanisms - make vowels different from consonants => the principles of vowel and consonant classification depend on mechanisms.
1) Power M. - responsible for exhalations. So:
Consonants
Aspirated Non-aspirated
Vowels
Tense (as the back wall of the pharynx Lax
made harder by tension) - long short
Consonants - fortis/lenis
. Fortis and Lenis
Another action of the lungs concerns air pressure. Compare the two English words 'bus' and 'buzz'. The final sound, either [s] or [z], may be characterized in terms of voice: [s] is voiceless and [z] is voiced. But this is an incomplete description, as [z] tends to be voiceless in many positions. The difference is that [s] is articulated with more air pressure than [z], in other words the lungs push harder for [s] than for [z]. Segments articulated with greater air pressure are called fortis; segments articulated with less air pressure are called lenis. You can test for fortis or lenis via the whisper test: whispering the words makes the difference clear.
It makes the VC vibrate.

2) Vibrator M.
Consonants
Voiceless Voiced Sonorant

Rate of vibrations Durable (sonorants, semi-vowels)
Non-durable (all the others)

Vowels
Durable Non-durable
(long vowels, diphthongs) Short vowels

3) Resonator M.
Consonants
POSITION OF THE SOFT PALATE
Nasal Oral
soft palate is lowered (/l/ + all the others)

Vowels
STABILITY IN ARTICULATION
Monophthongs Diphthongs

Since the resonator mechanism forms size, volume and shape of the resonator, vowels can be classifies according to the following principles:
Position of Lips
Rounded Unrounded
Position of the Tongue
a) horizontal Front Mixed (/э:/)
Back Mixed
b) vertical Close (high) Mid-open
Open (low) Mid-open

35. LOUDNESS IN THE ARC OF LOUDNESS THEORY
Loudness is a powerful stimulus on the ear. It's based on the amplitude of vibrations and respiration.
Zhinkin in his arc of loudness theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are arcs of loudness. It is actually based on the theory of muscular tension or articulatory effort.
The energy increases within the range of prevocalic consonants, and decreases with the range of postvocalic => the syllable can be defined as an arc of articulatory theory.
On the other hand, syllable as any other pronounciable unit can be characterized by: pitch, intensity and length within the range of syllable these parameters vary from minimum in the pre-vocalic position to its maximum in the centre of the syllable, and them, there's another decrease within the postvocalic consonants. So, combinig tension of articulation with the acoustic data of speech production level, syllable may be treated as an arc of articulatory effort.
Zhinkin showed so called loudness theory which seems to combine both, as the arc of l

36/ SHIBBOLETS IN DISTINGUISHING WELSH FROM IRISH
Q.36.

Different
Irish: /a:/ - Welsh /ae/
IRISH /h/ falling . WELSH /h/ fronting
...........backing
............central

RP: /ei/ /e:/ - Welsh and Irish /e/ /eэ/ /oэ/

/э/ >/ae/
p - p
t - t strongly aspirated
k - k
RP: /th/ > /th/ (both)
/t, d/ > /t/ Irish
/r/ > /r/ rhotic Irish

Reasons - rhotacism, simplification, glottalization
Welsh - no difference /ae/ /a/ and /э/ .
/h/ Welsh - RP
l - l clear in all positions
The middle part of the tongue is rised
Irish - after /p/ /t/ /k/ in intervocalic position like in Northern
NB: Irish /l/ presents in all positions

Irish isn't much defferent from Welsh
Irish has a rhotic accent
In Welsh - the tongue has sth to rely on, to lean agains
'Mother' - /th/ should be characterized
an obstruction is needed => simplification disappears because of the intervocalic position
in Welsh - winding to absorbtion

37. STRUCTURAL REASONS FOR THE LOSS OF PHONEMES IN REGIONAL ACCENTS
Structural reasons - the way these or those sounds are combined and reasons for their combination. These reasons can be different.
1) Rhotacism - gives the sound /r/ especially in the final position in GA and Scottish in comparison with RP.
Scottish - a vowel +/r/ substitute /э:/ because of the rhotacism. Scottish /r/ is rolled a little. GA /э:/ becomes more advanced bcos /r/ is rolled. Scottish /э:/ isn't lost it's modified. Scottish / u, ?, э + r, i / substitute /э:/ the distribution of the corresponding monophthong is wider.
Rhotacism doesn't influence /э:/ in all accents Scottish + GA -
It also leads to monophthongization - Scottish /ei/ > /e/ /au/ > /u/
- GA diphthongs are monophthongized because
of the closure of the mouth resonator and for /r/
curled back the jaws should be closer.
2) Simplification -
Scottish /th/>/sh/ (upper teeth + the tip of the tongue - back slop of alveols)
Cockney - /f/ substitutes /th/ (it's easier to pronounce)
Irish - /th/ is lost btw vowels "mother' + vocalic abscribtion.
1. dark /l/ (the back part) - the back part of the tongue is raised in final position, and in prefinal accompanied by a consonant 'help' simplification GA.
2. clear /l/ (the middle part) - the mid part is raised before a vowel 'lake'simplification as well.

38. ARTICULATORY AND AUDITORY QUALITIES OF /R/ AS DEPENDENT ON ITS DISTRIBUTION (Regional Accents)
The GA /r/ is retroflexed sonorant, articulated by the tip of the tongue, curled back so that a wide air passage is formed between the under side of the tongue - the tip and the back slope of the teeth ridge - 'third'
But after /t/ /d/ / sh/ /r/ is articulated and sounds like in RP 'dry' 'tree' 'schriek'
In pre-vocalic position /r/ in GA is lip-rounded, 'rose'
/r/ after a vowel either pronounced less or more distinctively => the vowel has a retroflexed colouring (tongue tip glides to the retroflex position without staying there long to repoduce a full fledged retroflexed /r/)
/r/ may be placed between a vowel and a consonant => vowel and silence
In some Northern Accents /r/ may be uvular (the tongue comes closer to uvula, not alveolar ridge)
In Welsh there can be linking /r/ , but Welsh is non-rhotic.
In Scottish /r/ is flap articulated by a tongue tip against the teeth ridge.
Irish /r/ is also rhotic.

39. THE FUNCTIONS OF INTONATION
Generally speaking, intonation helps us to determine meaning, gives clues about the attitude of the speaker, and how he feels about what he is saying. It indicates what shared knowledge between speakers is, and hwat new information is.
It serves as a communicative function and under this structure is SERVES:
1) - to structure the information content (new , old, necessary)
- to determine a speech function of a phrase, to indicate whether it's intended as a statement, question, command.
- to convey connotational meanings of 'attitude'
- to structure a text - it both deliminates and integrates text
- to differenciate the meanings of textual units and give stylistic function.
2) Constituence Words , phrases, overtonal frequency, intensity, duration, which altogether constitute intonation in the broader sense, are communuatively irrelevant. E.g . 'go'
Thus intonation coupled with the proper choice of words and grammatical structure in the main constituent feature, not only oral speech but written language.
3) Integrating function . Constitutive tying the major parts, together within the phrase and tying phrases together within the text and + the proper choice of words. It is one of the means that fullfills this connection or integrating function.
4) Distinctive. The distinctive function is realized in the oppositions of the same word sequences which differ, in certain parameters of the intonation patterns.
5) Distinctive - Intonation pattern makes their distinction, contribution at intonation group, phrases of text levels.
'If \ Mary /comes | let me know at once.' (no one but Mary)
Or 'I enjoyed it'. - 'I en \ joyed / it' (could be better)
6) the constitutive function of the pitch component of intonation throughout the whole sentence manifests itself that each syllable in it has a certain pitch and cannot exist without it. Simultaneously, this constitutive function manifests itself in the deliminative function, both within a sentence and its end.
7) Deliminative function consists of delimiting from each other the portions of a sentence which are known as sence groups, breath groups and intonation groups.

Breath groups - denote a complete sentence that can conveniently be said within a single breath. It usually coinsides with a sense group, as pauses for breath are usually made where pauses are necessarily or allowable from the point of view of meaning.

Intonation group is actually realized unit division of a sentence to a sense groups.

American descriptivists use the term 'clause' to describe both an actual sense group and a single sense group. A change in pitch between the 2 is called terminal tone sense group.
Clause - terminal.
In RP these terminal tones are \ / and /\ \/