Ep.3 - Meet the consonants - An ipa introduction, part 1

The International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA, provides linguists with a standardized way of notating the sounds of all languages. First, let's review You'll recall from Episode 1 that phonology is the study of the sounds of a language. However, today's vlog is about the International PHONETIC Alphabet. How do phonetics and phonology differ? Well, phonetics deals primarily with how speech sounds are produced, from an anatomical and acoustic standpoint. Phonology, on the other hand, looks at how speech sounds interact according to the patterns and rules of different languages. True to its name, the International Phonetic Alphabet indicates how each sound is physically produced. There are 3 components to the production of a consonant: place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing. Place of articulation describes the point where the active articulator comes in contact with the passive articulator. The result of this contact is a change in the shape of the vocal tract, which allows for the production of different sounds. Consonants that are produced when the active lower lip comes in contact with the passive upper lip are called bilabials. A labiodental consonant is produced when the lower lip comes in contact with the upper teeth. When the tongue comes in contact with the upper teeth, a dental consonant is produced. The alveolar ridge is the hard ridge on the top of your mouth, just behind your teeth. An alveolar consonant is produced when the tongue touches or comes close to the alveolar ridge. A postalveolar consonant is produced when the tongue is near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge. A retroflex consonant is articulated when the tongue touches the region between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. The tongue touching the hard palate produces a palatal consonant. When the back of the tongue comes in contact with the soft palate, or velum, a velar consonant is produced. A uvular consonant is produced with the back of the tongue near or touching the uvula. When the root is touched against the pharynx, which is the part of the throat immediately behind the mouth and nasal cavity, a pharyngeal consonant is produced. Finally, there are glottal consonants, which are produced in the glottis, or vocal folds. On the official IPA chart, place of articulation is noted along the top. Characters are sorted into columns according to where in the vocal tract the sounds represented by those characters are articulated. Manner of articulation describes exactly how the various articulators interact with each other to produce speech sounds. A stop or plosive is a total blocking of airflow in both the oral tract and nasal cavity at the onset of the consonant. A nasal, meanwhile, is a blockage of airflow in the oral tract but not in the nasal cavity. To produce a trill, the active articulator remains stationary while continuous airstream induces it to vibrate. A tap, or flap, is produced when the articulator causes temporary blockage of the oral cavity. To produce a fricative, continuous noisy airflow called frication must occur at the place of articulation. In the case of a lateral fricative, this frication occurs along the sides of the tongue. Approximants are produced with very little blockage of the oral tract, and lateral approximants are approximants articulated with the sides of the tongue. Manner of articulation is noted along the lefthand side of the official IPA chart. Remember the glottis? That’s the space between your vocal folds, AKA vocal cords. When the glottis is partially closed, the vocal folds vibrate, producing a voiced consonant. Relaxed vocal folds and an open glottis produce a voiceless consonant. See for yourself: place your fingers at the base of your throat, and pronounce the sounds “S” and “Z.” You should feel vibrations when you make the “Z” sound, because it is a voiced consonant, while “S” is voiceless. On the IPA chart, voiced consonants are indicated as the rightmost symbol in a pair of symbols. The IPA allows linguists to use the properties of a consonant – place... ...manner... ...and voicing... ...to notate the sounds of all oral languages using a single set of symbols. In the next episode, we’ll learn about the vowels of the IPA.