Minds and Computers : An Introduction to the Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
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Figure 16.2
Pronunciation chart for English obstruent phonemes. The other axis of classification is the place of articulation, which describes the primary articulatory apparatus involved in their pro- duction. Bilabial phonemes are those which involve the use of both lips in their production. Labiodental phonemes involve placing the upper teeth against the bottom lip. Interdental phonemes involve placing the tongue between the teeth. The alveolar ridge is the hard raised ridge that is just behind the upper teeth. Alveolar phonemes are those whose production involves placing the tongue against or near the alveolar ridge. Continuing behind the alveolar ridge along the upper jaw is the hard palate. Alveopalatal phonemes are produced by placing the tongue behind the alveolar ridge and against, or close to, the hard palate. If you run a finger along the roof of your mouth towards the back of your throat to the point where the hard palate ends, you’ll feel the squishy soft palate. The soft palate is also known as the velum. Velar phonemes are those which are produced by placing the tongue near, or against, the velum. The glottis is the space between the vocal chords. The glottal frica- tive /h/ is produced by restricting the passage of air through the glottis, but without vibrating the vocal cords. Speakers of some dialects of English – such as the London cockney dialect – produce a glottal stop rather than the alveolar stop in certain phonemic contexts (such as in ‘bottle’ or ‘sorted’). This is not a dis- tinct English phoneme but an allophonic variant of the phoneme /t/. We will learn more about allophones shortly, but first let’s taxonomise the sonorant (vowel) phonemes. 16.2 SONORANT PHONEMES All sonorant phonemes are ipso facto voiced. They also all have the same manner of articulation – they are open sounds. In other words, the passage of air through the articulatory apparatus is not impeded but resonates freely in the oral cavity. Sonorant phonemes are taxonomised along two axes which describe the position of the tongue in the mouth during their produc- tion. One axis corresponds with the height of the tongue and the other corresponds with the part of the tongue that is raised or lowered. Unlike the obstruent phonemes which admit of clear discontinu- ities between phonemes given the distinct articulatory apparatus involved in their production, the sonorant phonemes are placed on a 167 continuum, since that the possible positions of the tongue in the mouth are continuous, not discrete. As such, vowel phonemes fall within a two-dimensional space of possible vowel sounds. Consequently, we identify cardinal vowels within this vowel space as shown in Figure 16.3. The vowel space is continuous from the highest, most fronted sonorant phoneme, through to the lowest and least fronted sonorant phoneme. The cardinal vowels represented in Figure 16.3 are all monoph- thongs. This means that their production involves a single continuous tongue position. As well as the monophthong phonemes, however, there are also diphthong phonemes. Diphthongs are phonemes whose production begins at one of the cardinal vowel positions but moves, during the production of the sound, towards the tongue position of another of the cardinal vowels. The pronunciation chart provided in Figure 16.4 represents the vowel sounds in the dialect of Australian English that I speak. Note, however, that vowel pronunciation will vary between dialects of English, particularly with respect to the production of diph- thongs, but also with respect to some monophthongs. Consequently, some of the triples in Figure 16.4 which all rhyme in my dialect of English may not rhyme in yours, depending on where you learned to speak English. Also, speakers of dialects of English other than Australian – particularly American dialects – are likely to produce monophthongs in place of some of the diphthongs. 168 Download 1.05 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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