Questions tagged [articulation]

What the body (mouth, throat, nose, lungs) does to pronounce a sound or 'phone'. Se also phonetics.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
7 votes
2 answers
453 views

Do the qualities of a vowel determine its semivowel’s place of articulation?

[j] (the semivowel of [i]) is palatal. [w] (the semivowel of [u]) is labial–velar. [ɥ] (the semivowel of [y]) is labio-palatal. Does the position of the vowel in the mouth play a part in determining ...
Quinali Solaji's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
198 views

Is this diagram accurate for [ɾʲ]

I've been having trouble realizing the /ɾʲ/ sound in Irish, and I wanted to know if I am interpreting the IPA correctly. I find it very difficult to tap the alveolus with my tongue raised to the ...
Sriotchilism O'Zaic's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
66 views

Why are mid-open/open vowels considered [- tense]?

I found the following chart (which was taken from Donegan (1976)) on a book and something reminded me of a simple question I always had, but I never came across a definitive answer: why are some open ...
Ergative Man's user avatar
  • 1,426
2 votes
1 answer
59 views

Looking for a more general model/theory of pronunciation similar to the IPA chart for vowel sound

I have been introduced to the IPA diagram (the triangle/trapezoid) for vowel sounds and I find it interesting as a model of pronunciation as it represents the mouth position so it can be very ...
MiKiDe's user avatar
  • 129
0 votes
1 answer
282 views

I can make a strange clicking sound with my soft palate. What is this?

Not sure if here is exactly the right place to be asking this question, but whatever this is probably overlaps with linguistics/phonetics in some way. The best way I can describe it in words is like ...
DJMoffinz's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
260 views

How is Donald Duck's voice produced, if not by buccal speech?

The Disney character Donald Duck is well known for his nigh unintelligible voice, which was originated by actor Clarence Nash in the 1930s. I have always heard this manner of speaking described as ...
Psychonaut's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Pronunciation of D sound in British English

I could be wrong about this, but the D sound in British English (RP) sounds a little different from the American counterpart. Often when I hear the words "Lady", "Ready", "...
iloveturtles's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
609 views

Unaspirated plosives vs their voiced counterparts

I am having some trouble distinguishing ''aspiration'' from ''voice'' for plosives. Now I know ''aspiration'' and ''voice'' sound like completely different concepts but let's take /p/ for example. /p(...
Jenny's user avatar
  • 145
0 votes
2 answers
1k views

How is F0 determined?

I was reading Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology (Authors and page numbers will be added when I get my iPad back). And I am learning the concept of 'F0' for the first time. So according to this ...
Jenny's user avatar
  • 145
4 votes
1 answer
273 views

What is the relationship between on-glide/off-glide of a phone and the transition period between articulation of phones?

In this question, the most highly voted answer mentions that Note, though, that on-glide and off-glide are also sometimes used to refer to the beginning and end of any sound, not necessarily a vowel, ...
Sam's user avatar
  • 283
2 votes
1 answer
428 views

Where can I find a list of phonetically possible consonant clusters?

I wanted a list of consonant clusters 2 to 5 consonants long that are phonetically possible, in other words, possible for the human speech mechanism to produce. Unfortunately, I have been unable to ...
James Grossmann's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
180 views

Is there any articulatory difference between these two IPA symbols?

Is there an articulatory difference between the voiced palatal nasal [ɲ] sound and the nasalized voiced palatal approximant [j̃] sound? If there is a diference, what is it? I ask that because in ...
Ergative Man's user avatar
  • 1,426
1 vote
0 answers
46 views

Thyroid / cricoid movement in the Laryngeal Articulator Model

In a singing context, at least some voice training methods look to develop the ability to tilt the thyroid cartilage and (separately) the cricoid cartilage, as a way of changing tone and projection. ...
rchivers's user avatar
  • 465
0 votes
1 answer
76 views

Praat 16,000 Hz

When I opened an American English Podcast in Praat, the area below 16,000 Hertz were all gray or dark. Then I speak some sentences in japanese then the area below 8,000 hertz were dark. How do english ...
Taro's user avatar
  • 119
2 votes
0 answers
102 views

During second language acquisition, is it common for the speech organs to get tired by speaking the second language?

I am a non-native speaker of English (I'd rather not say what my native language is). I have noticed that my speech organs (tongue, lips, jaws and also the palate but I'm not so sure if it's the ...
user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
121 views

IPA Terminology--Articulatory Target versus Articulators

In phonetics (IPA) terminology, what is the difference between an Articulatory Target and an Articulator. I used to think that the former is just another name for the Passive Articulator or the Place ...
puwlah's user avatar
  • 147
12 votes
4 answers
2k views

Any languages that consider the alveolar and uvular trill distinct consonant phonemes?

I am intrigued by the difference between alveolar and uvular trills (and related phones) within and across languages, e.g., per this map of European /r/ usage (taken from this comment), which seems to ...
Stephan Kolassa's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
182 views

Is there a region in which velarized L is the primary (and sole) articulation? Or is it indicative of an articulation disorder?

Listening to Ira Glass the other day, I noticed his 'l', to my ears, sounds exclusively velar with little to no dental component. Here's a clip (he says the word "like" a couple times in ...
speedfranklin's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
87 views

Central – lateral dichotomy for labiodentals

In the IPA chart, there's no labiodental lateral approximant. The cell isn't even left blank, it's shaded out and therefore the articulation is judged impossible. One of the explanations is (see, e.g.,...
Aer's user avatar
  • 510
0 votes
1 answer
73 views

Spoken languages known for their articulation

Are there any spoken languages which are known for their inherent articulation. In other words, where in the world would a person with hearing disabilities like to have been born (if we only consider ...
August Karlstrom's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
124 views

Finding articulatory profiles

I have two questions. The first is how is it better to call such pictures? Is the term 'articulatory profile' alright? The second: is there a place on the internet or elsewhere which contains many ...
Aer's user avatar
  • 510
2 votes
1 answer
63 views

The reason for a partly voiced hold in I’d

In I’d take ’d t can be pronounced as [t] with the first part of the hold voiced (the second one and the plosion with aspiration are voiceless). How is it better explained: is it because of [ai] (...
Aer's user avatar
  • 510
3 votes
1 answer
174 views

Why are constructions such as ‘AN historian’ commonly pronounced with a non-silent H?

It is well-known that the determiner a is substituted with an when the following word begins with a vowel (letter or sound). In some cases, however, an has been used preceding words beginning with (as ...
Mad Banners's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
222 views

Dental plosives without top teeth

I have practically never had my front right tooth because of skateboarding, and even before that I crawled off onto a parking block - after that I learned Vietnamese without retroflexing the S. Now im ...
daniel Imber's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
136 views

Dental plosive with no apical obstruction

Can I have a paper which describes dental plosives by the two rows of teeth as opposed to contacting the dental area with the tongue ?? I mean the air needs obstructed and the posterior most place of ...
daniel Imber's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
296 views

Affrication-like sound in palatal plosive [c]

When I compare the plosive sounds in an IPA table with recordings (like this or this), the sound of [c] stands out to me as noisier and more turbulent than the rest of the series [p, t, ʈ, k, q, ʔ]. ...
melissa_boiko's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
2k views

vowels (unrounded or rounded)

i have a problem with vowels (which are rounded or unrounded vowels). Can you explain how to make a decide which is vowels? And which are tense or lax vowels? Maybe have some rules or instruction or ...
Lia's user avatar
  • 5
0 votes
1 answer
70 views

help with the sounds of words [closed]

when we concentrate on articulars sounds we don't think about how people listening to those sounds. How to decide are rounded or unrounded vowels and which are tense or lax vowels? and what clues are ...
Lia's user avatar
  • 5
12 votes
2 answers
1k views

Do voiceless approximants exist? What is the consensus among phoneticians/phonologists?

Voiceless sounds that are produced with supralaryngeal configurations that would be considered approximants if voiced are attested in languages (i.e. [j̊], [l̥], etc.), but none are found to contrast ...
Nardog's user avatar
  • 4,922
3 votes
2 answers
298 views

Phonetic characters of Arabic emphatic consonants

My native language is Korean. I'm not learning Arabic, but I'm curious anyway. Refer to the following link for the letter names I recorded myself: Arabic pharyngeal consonants I think I can ...
Dannyu NDos's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
98 views

Is there an articulatory explanation to spontaneous nasalisation in New Indo-Aryan?

This question is regarding the phenomenon of spontaneous nasalisation (emergence of nasalisation out of nowhere) in New-Indo-Aryan as it evolved from Middle-Indo-Aryan. This is a well-documented ...
Cobbaalt's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
3k views

Formant frequencies of consonants

In the old days, phones were defined by the requisite articulation, both consonants and vowels. As time wore on and science and technology advanced, vowels became better defined by their acoustic ...
No Name's user avatar
  • 269
5 votes
2 answers
722 views

The difference between [w] and [u] (especially between the states of the lips)

While searching labialization on the Wikipedia, it is easy to find these statements: 'Labialized sounds involve the lips <...> When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.' In Russian, ...
Aer's user avatar
  • 510
4 votes
2 answers
231 views

Why is phonemic labialization often found only on dorsal consonants?

According to Merritt Ruhlen, over 50% of occurrences of phonemic labialization are applied to dorsal (velar and uvular) consonants, while coronals are usually left out. There are a few families where ...
snorepion's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
187 views

Is there a variation in the point of articulation for the alveolar tap depending on word?

I don't know if this is true, but it seems to me that the point of articulation of the tongue tip against the roof of the mouth for the alveolar tap varies depending on the kind of sound that precedes ...
iloveturtles's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
57 views

Is there such a thing as an articulatory home base for a given language, and how could it be characterized?

I've been mulling over the idea that articulatory gestures should be looked as excursions from a home base that varies according to language and accent, and that defining sounds just in terms of the ...
user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
202 views

Are the vowel charts of male and female the same regardless of scale?

The vowel chart of female is boarder than that of male. Are the two systems overlapping regardless of scale, i.e. by dividing by a number? If not, what are the differences and what does that mean?
wodemingzi's user avatar
  • 1,057
1 vote
1 answer
384 views

proper terms for tipper and dipper S articulation

I just learned for the first time from a WIRED video about movie accents (at 4:30) that American English has multiple possible places of articulation for the "S" sound. I was able to find terms for ...
Nate Glenn's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
48 views

How can we get the precise articulation resulted from adding diacritics?

I am not sure about the articulation of the sounds with diacritics [sʰ sʲ lʲ] and so on, since [s] is originally aspired; [sʲ] could be taken as [ɕ] in some documents. Are there any books or texts ...
wodemingzi's user avatar
  • 1,057
2 votes
2 answers
243 views

How many ways are there to produce alveolo-palatal fricatives?

My textbook mentions three: laminal prepalatal, dorso prepalatal and postalveolar palatalized. If we take each name strictly, they'll surely denote different gestures. I'm okay with this, what ...
Duarte Alfonso Martin's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
1k views

Diagram of all IPA sound places

Wondering if there is a diagram similar to the following one, but that lists all of the mouth configurations such as for ʃ and everything else.
Lance's user avatar
  • 4,306
1 vote
1 answer
191 views

Dental and labiodental fricatives with different relative positions of the articulators

Are there distinct phonemes for labiodental fricatives articulated with the upper teeth touching the lower lip from the inside (like in English /f/) and ones that are articulated with the tip of the ...
Ofek Aman's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
256 views

Mapping the pulmonic consonants in English to its corresponding place of articulation

I'm following this wiki chart to map the English consonants into its corresponding place of articulation. I can see that some sounds in English like /w/ they do not exist in that char. So, I'm ...
hbak's user avatar
  • 141
2 votes
0 answers
178 views

What's the difference between articulatory features and articulatory gestures?

I'm confused about those two terms, but based on my understanding articulatory gestures are represented by the vocal tract variables and articulatory features include all units are involved in ...
hbak's user avatar
  • 141
1 vote
0 answers
28 views

How to convert a vocal tract constriction variables (TVs) values to articulation features

I'm reading about TVs and I'm trying to figure out, how to convert their values to the corresponding articulation features like stop, palatal, unvoiced, bilabial, etc. Are there any ranges of values ...
hbak's user avatar
  • 141
1 vote
2 answers
82 views

Can a single vowel (or consonant) be pronounced in multiple ways (different place/manner of articulation)

I recall from my undergrad Phonetics course (many years ago), the professor was talking about the limitations of describing phonemes by place and manner of articulation. I seem to remember an example ...
Jeff's user avatar
  • 121
1 vote
1 answer
795 views

Is a creaky voice a glottal trill?

When I pronounce an approximant, a trill, and then a stop, I have an impression that they are discriminated by the strength of articulation (the "strength of articulation" here means the strength of ...
Dannyu NDos's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
3k views

Disambiguating place vs Manner of articulation

Some aspects of the IPA chart are not intuitive to me. I tend to think of "place of articulation" as "where a sound is produced" and "manner of articulation" as "how a sound is produced". Is this a ...
Teusz's user avatar
  • 2,701
1 vote
1 answer
272 views

Voiced fricatives are just breathy approximants?

When I pronounce [v] and [ʋ], [v] sounds just like [ʋ̤]. This led me to analyze them via spectrum. So I recorded [f], [v] and [ʋ] with my smartphone, moved them to my computer, normalized them with ...
Dannyu NDos's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
133 views

Should secondary articulation in front of the uvular nasal have a sonic effect?

I was performing some Catford-style "experiments" with nasal consonants, and found that slight opening of the mouth or rounding/unrounding of the lips has no particular sonic effect on, for example, [...
Pat Muchmore's user avatar