语言学第二单元参考答案

Chapter 2 Speech Sounds

1.

phonetics:

the study of how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived. It can be

divided into three main areas of study

—

articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics and

perceptual/auditory phonetics.

articulatory

phonetics:

the

study

of

the

production

of

speech

sounds,

or

the

study

of

how

speech

sounds are produced/made.

phonology:

the study of the sound patterns and sound systems of languages. It aims to discover the

principles that govern the way sounds are organized in languages, and to explain the variations that

occur.

speech organs:

those parts of the human body involved in the production of speech, also known as

‘vocal organs’.

voicing:

the vibration of the vocal folds. When the vocal folds are close together, the airstream causes

them to vibrate against each other and the resultant sound is said to be ‘voiced’. When the vocal folds

are apart and the air can pass through easily, the sound produced is said to be ‘voiceless’.

International Phonetic Alphabet:

a set of standard phonetic symbols in the form of a chart (the IPA

chart), designed by the International Phonetic Association since 1888. It has been revised from time to

time to include new discoveries and changes in phonetic theory and practice. The latest version has

been revised in 1993 and updated in 1996.

consonant:

a major category

of

sound

segments,

produced by

a

closure

in

the

vocal tract,

or

by a

narrowing which is so marked that air cannot escape without producing audible friction.

vowel:

a major category of sound segments, produced without obstruction of the vocal tract so that air

escapes in a relatively unimpeded way through the mouth or the nose.

manner

of

articulation:

ways

in

which

articulation

of

consonants

can

be

accomplished

—

(a)

the

articulators may close off the oral tract for an instant or a relatively long period; (b) they may narrow

the

space

considerably;

or (c)

they may

simply

modify

the

shape of

the

tract

by

approaching

each

other.

place

of

articulation:

the

point

where

an

obstruction

to

the

flow

of

air

is

made

in

producing

a

consonant.

Cardinal Vowels:

a set of vowel qualities arbitrarily defined, fixed and unchanging, intended to provide

a frame of reference for the description of the actual vowels of existing languages.

semi-vowel:

segments that are neither consonants nor vowels, e.g. [j] and [w].

vowel glide:

vowels that involve a change of quality, including diphthongs, when a single movement of

the tongue is made, and triphthongs, where a double movement is perceived.

coarticulation:

simultaneous or overlapping articulations, as when the nasal quality of a nasal sound

affects the preceding or following sound so that the latter becomes nasalized. If the affected sound

becomes more like the following sound, it is known as ‘anticipatory coarticulation’; if the sound shows

the influence of the preceding sound, it is ‘perseverative coarticution’.

phoneme:

a unit of explicit sound contrast. If two sounds in a language make a contrast

between

two different words, they are said to be different phonemes.

allophone:

variants of the same phoneme. If two or more phonetically different sounds do not make a

contrast in meaning, they are said to be allophones of the same phoneme. To be allophones, they

must be in complementary distribution and bear phonetic similarity.

assimilation:

a process by which one sound takes on some or all the characteristics of a neighboring

sound,

a

term

often

used

synonymously

with

‘coarticulation’.

If

a

following

sound

is

influencing

a

preceding

sound,

it

is

called

‘regressive

assimilation’;

the

converse

process,

in

which

a

preceding

sound is influencing a following sound, is known as ‘progressive assimilation’.

Elsewhere

Condition:

The more

specific rule

applied first.

It

is applied

when

two

or more

rules

are

involved in deriving the surface form from the underlying form.

distinctive features:

a means of working out a set of phonological contrasts or oppositions to capture

particular

aspects of

language

sounds, first suggested

by

Roman Jacobson

in the 1940s

and then

developed by numerous other people.

syllable:

an important unit in the study of suprasegmentals. A syllable must have a nucleus or peak,

which

is

often

the

task

of

a

vowel

or

possibly

that

of

a

syllabic

consonant,

and

often

involves

an

optional set of consonants before and/or after the nucleus.

Maximal Onset Principle:

a principle for dividing the syllables when there is a cluster of consonants

between two vowels, which states that when there is a choice as to where to place a consonant, it is

put into the onset rather than the coda.

stress:

the degree of force used in producing a syllable. When a syllable is produced with more force

and is therefore more ‘prominent’, it is a ‘stressed’ syllable in contrast to a less prominent, ‘unstressed’

syllable.

intonation:

the occurrence of recurring fall-rise patterns, each of which is used with a set of relatively

consistent meanings, either on single words or on groups of words of varying length.

tone:

a set of fall-rise patterns affecting the meanings of individual words.

2.

1)

voiced

dental

fricative

2)

voiceless

postalveolar

fricative

3)

velar

nasal

4)

voiced

alveolar

stop/plosive

5) voiceless bilabial stop/plosive

6) voiceless velar stop/plosive

7) (alveolar) lateral

8)

high

front

unrounded

lax

vowel

9)

high

back

rounded

tense

vowel

10)

low

back

rounded

lax

vowel

3.

1) [f]

2) [

?

]

3) [j]

4) [h]

5) [t]

6) [e]

7) [

?

]

8) [

?

]

9) [

?

]

10) [u]

4.

1) On a clear day you can see for miles.

2) Some people think that first impressions count for a lot.

5. 1)

Quite

a

few

human

organs

are

involved

in

the

production

of

speech:

the

lungs,

the

trachea

(or

windpipe), the throat, the nose, and the mouth.

（其他见课本２５－２６）

5. 2)

This is because gh is pronounced as [f] in enough, o as [

?

] in women, and ti as [

?

] in nation.

5. 3)

（见２９－３０，３１，３３）

5. 4)

Both phonetics and phonology study human speech sounds but they differ in the levels of analysis.

（接下来见２４－２５）

5. 5)

Speech is a continuous process, so the vocal organs do not move from one sound segment to the

next in a series of separate steps. Rather, sounds continually show the influence of their neighbors.

For example, if a nasal consonant (such as [m]) precedes an oral vowel (such as [?

] in map), some of

the nasality will carry forward so that the vowel [?

] will begin with a somewhat nasal quality. This is

because in producing a nasal the soft palate is lowered to allow airflow through the nasal tract. To

produce the following vowel [?

], the soft palate must move back to its normal position. Of course it

takes time for the soft palate to move from its lowered position to the raised position. This process is

still in progress when the articulation of [?

] has begun. Similarly, when [?

] is followed by [m], as in

lamb, the velum will begin to lower itself during the articulation of [?

] so that it is ready for the following

nasal.

When

such

simultaneous

or

overlapping

articulations

are

involved,

we

call

the

process

‘coarticulation’. If the sound becomes more like the following sound, as in the case of

lamb, it is known

as

‘anticipatory

coarticulation’.

If

the

sound

shows

the

influence

of

the

preceding

sound,

it

is

‘perseverative coarticulation’, as is the case of

map.

Assimilation is a phonological term, often used synonymously with coarticulation, which is more of a

phonetic term. Similarly, there are two possibilities of assimilation: if a following sound is influencing a

preceding

sound,

we

call

it

‘regressive

assimilation’;

the

converse

process,

in

which

a

preceding

sound is influencing a following sound, is known as ‘progressive assimilation’.

Anticipatory coarticulation is by far the most common cause of assimilation in English. For example,

ex. 1

a. cap k p

can k

n

]

b. tap t p

tan t

n

]

ex. 2

a. tent [t

?

nt]

tenth [t

?n

θ

b. ninety [na

?

nti]

ninth [na

?n

θ

ex. 2

a. since [s

?

ns]

sink [s

??k

b. mince [s

?

ns]

mink [m

??k

In both exx. 1a and 1b, the words differ in two sounds. The vowel in the second word of each pair is

“nasalized”

because

of

the

influence

of

the

following

nasal

consonant.

In

ex.

2,

the

nasal

/n/

is

“dentalized” before a dental fricative. In ex. 3, the alveolar nasal /n/ becomes the velar nasal ? before

the

velar

stop

[k].

In

this

situation,

nasalization,

dentalization,

and

velarization

are

all

instances

of

assimilation, a process by which one sound takes on some or all the characteristics of a neighboring

sound.

Assimilation can occur across syllable or word boundaries, as shown by the following:

ex. 4

a. pan ? cake

b. he can ? go now

Studies of English fricatives and affricates have shown that their voicing is severely influenced by

the voicing of the following sound:

ex. 5

a. five past

[f a

?

vp

ɑ?st

>

[fa

?

fp

ɑ?st

b. has to

[ h?

zt

?

]

>

[h?

st

?

]

c. as can be shown

[

?

zk

?