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Nasalization

2013(1)
February(1)
Nasalization

Nasalization
Nasalizationistheproductionof
speechsoundsbyemittingair
throughthenasalcavity.Air
travelingupfromthelungsis
modifiedatdifferentpointsby
variousstructurestoproducethe
differentsoundsusedinspeech.
Astheairflowsup,itcanbe
divertedintoeithertheoralor
thenasalcavity.Three
consonantsoundsinEnglishare
characterizedbynasalizedairflow.Englishvowelsareonlynasalizedwhentheyoccur
nearanasalizedconsonantinaword.
Thevelum,orsoftpalate,isamusclelocatedinthebackoftheroofofaperson'smouth.
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2012(40)

Contributors
AhmadJodallah
MariaKhoury
MohammedBsharat

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Itfacilitatesorpreventsthenasalizationofspeechsoundsbychannelingairintoeither
theoralorthenasalcavity.Whenclosed,thevelumsealsoffthenasalcavityforthe
productionoforalspeechsounds,openitdoestheoppositetofacilitatenasalsounds.
Breathingrequiresanopenvelarpositionsothevelumremainsopenatrest.Closingitto
produceoralspeechsoundsrequiresactivemusclecontrol.
Englishfeaturesthreenasalizedconsonants:n,m,andng.Thesethreesoundsare
producedusingoralarticulators,suchasthelipsform,eventhoughtheairflows
predominantlythroughthenasalcavity.AlthoughtherearenoEnglishvowelswith
nasalizationasadistinctivefeature,vowelsinproximitytonasalconsonantswilloften
becomenasalizedduringnormalspeechproductionduetoaprocesscalledassimilation.
Listenersperceivefailuretonasalizeordinarilyassimilatedvowelsasmispronunciations.
Otherlanguages,suchasFrench,featurepurelynasalizedvowels.
Manychildrenexhibitnasalizationerrorsastheylearntospeak.Forexample,achild
maynasalizethebeginningofawordthatendsinanasalizedsound,orviceversa,such
assubstituting"man"for"tan"or"man"for"mat."Assimilationerrorssuchastheseare
easilyidentifiedbasedoncommunicationcontextsandtypicallyresolvethemselvesin
earlychildhoodwithoutintervention.Errorsofthistypethatpersistpasttheageoffive
yearsshouldbeevaluatedbyaspeechlanguagepathologist.
Disorderssuchascleftpalateoftenresultintheoverproductionofnasalizedspeech
sounds.Inmanycasespalataldisordersaffectthevelarmusculatureandmakeitdifficult
toraisethevelumandcloseoffthenasalcavity.Thisresultsinnormallyoralsounds
beingproducednasallywhichdistortsthesoundandfrequentlymakestheperson's
speechdifficulttounderstand.Surgeryisoftenrequiredtocorrectthistypeof
nasalizationerror.

PostedbyMohammedBsharatat1:36PM

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Tuesday,December4,2012

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MannerofArticulation

Mannerof
Articulation
Mannerofarticulationisusually
apartofaphonologycoursethat
explainshowsoundsareformed
andproduced.Thepartsofthe
bodythathelpcreatesoundare
calledarticulators,whichcan
includethelips,thetongue,and
theteeth.Eventhenasalcavity,upperpalate,thejaw,andthevocalchordsare
consideredarticulators.Byinteractingwitheachother,thesearticulatorsproduce
sound.Inphonology,thereareeightmannersofarticulationthatresultinsound
production.
Thefirstmannerofarticulationistheplosivesortheoralstops.Inthisprocess,airflow
istemporarilydiscontinuedinordertoproduceasound.Forexample,forcreatingthe
tsound,apersonmustbringhisupperandlowerteethtogether,withthetongue
behind,andaburstofairforcestheteethopen,therebysoundthet.
Inthenasalstop,theoralcavityiscompletelyclosed,whilethenasalcavityisopen.The
airgoinginandoutofthenoseproducesthesound,suchasinmandn.Onecan
noticethatanmturnsintoabwhenthenoseispinched.Thisisanindicationthata
soundisnasalifthesoundchangeswhenthenasalcavityisclosed.
Anothermannerofarticulationisthefricative,whereinairflowispartlyobstructed.
Whenalittlebitoftheaircomesout,itproducessoundssuchastheforthes,when
airisletoutbetweentheteethorthelips.Somefricativescontainavibratingsound,such
asthevandthez.
Whenafricativeiscombinedwithanoralstop,itformsanothermannerofarticulation
calledtheaffricate.Justasinjandch,thesoundisinitiatedbyanoralstop,but
progressesintoafricative.Onecannoticethatthechsoundcanbeproduced
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continuously,ascomparedtothetthatissoundedinjustoneinstant.
Theflaporthetapisthefifthmannerofarticulation,whereinthetonguesortofflaps
whilecreatingthesound.Oneexampleisthetsoundinwater:bychangingthe
positionofthetongue,thetbeginstosoundlikead,orwader.Intheseventh
manner,whichisthetrill,thetongueismadetovibratebycontinuouslybreathingout
theairagainstit.TheSpanishlanguageoftenusethetrilltoproduceahardr,suchasin
paraandperro.
Theapproximantandthelateralaremannersofarticulationthatdonotneedmuchoral
andnasalclosuretoproducethesound.Thisisthecaseforsoundslikeyandh,"
wheretheairjustflowsrightout.Inthelateral,thetongueistouchingtheupperteeth
andairiscontinuouslypushedagainstit,suchasinthesoundoftheletterl.

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Friday,November30,2012

Phonology

Phonology
Phonologyisthestudyofsoundsandspeechpatternsinlanguage.Theroot"phone"in
phonologyrelatestosoundsandoriginatesfromtheGreekwordphonemawhichmeans
sound.Phonologyseekstodiscernthesoundsmadeinallhumanlanguages.The
identificationofuniversalandnonuniversalqualitiesofsoundsisacrucialcomponent
inphonologyasalllanguagesusesyllablesandformsofvowelsandconsonants.
Syllablesareinvolvedinthetimingofspokenlanguagesincespeakingeachwordtakesa
portionoftime.Syllablesareunitsofmeasurementinlanguage.Vowelsallowairto
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escapefromthemouthandnose
unblocked,whileconsonantscreate
morecoveringofthevocaltractbythe
tongue.Theheardfrictionthatisa
consonantismadefromtheairthat
cannotescapeasthemouthuttersthe
consonant.
Phonemesareunitsofsoundina
languagethatconveymeaning.For
example,changingasyllableinaword
willchangeitsmeaning,suchas
changingthe"a"in"mad"toan"o"to
produce"mod".Aphonemecanalso
achievenomeaningbycreatingnon
existentwordssuchasbychangingthe
"m"in"mad"or"mod"toa"j"to
produce"jad"or"jod".Phonemes
differfrommorphemesandgraphemes.Amorphemereferstomaingrammarunits,
whileagraphemeisthemainunitofwrittenlanguage.
Ensuringthattheproperpronunciationisusedinalanguageisapracticalapplicationof
phonology.Forexample,phonologyusessymbolstodifferentiatethesoundsofa
particularvowel.Thevowelsareclassifiedinto"front","central",and"back"depending
onthepositioningofthejawandtonguewhenthevowelsoundsaremade.Phonology
alsonoteslippositionsuchasifthelipsarespreadoutorroundedaswellasifthevowel
soundislongorshort.
Thesymbolforthevowelsoundinwordssuchas"chilly"or"tin"inphonologyis/i/and
referstoafront,shortvowelspokenwithatongueinhighpositionandspreadlips.
Contrastingly,thesymbolforthevowelsoundinwordssuchas"moon"or"blue"in
phonologyis/u:/andreferstoaback,longvowelspokenwithatongueinhighposition
still,butwithroundedlips.

Phoneme
Aphonemeisabasicunitofsoundusedtobuildalanguage.Allspokenwordsaremade
upofoneormoreindividualphonemes.Fewlanguagesuseallthesoundsavailableto
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humanspeech.Instead,mostpullfromaselectionofstandardphonemestocreatemany
thousandsofwords.Alphabets,includingthatofEnglish,donotalwayshaveaoneto
onecorrespondencebetweenphonemeandletter.
Linguistsoftendifferentiatebetweenthepossiblesoundsahumancanmakeandthe
specificsoundsthataffectwordmeaning.Theytypicallyusetheterm,phones,to
describespeechsoundsingeneral,andphonemestorefertosoundsthatareusedto
buildalanguage.Forthemostpart,languagesdonotutilizeallthepossiblephonesthat
thehumanmouthcancreate.
Phonemesmakeuptheconstituentpartsofspokenwords.Linguistshaveformulateda
systemofsymbolstographicallyrepresentphonemes.Mostlanguageshavebeen
assignedalistofstandardphonemesthatrepresentthemostcommonsoundsusedin
speech.Thesestandardsoundsarecombinedinavarietyofwaystocreatedifferent
words.
Forthemostpart,aphonemeistiedtothemeaningofaword.Asaresult,ifaphoneme
changes,thewordsmeaningtypicallychangesaswell.Forexample,ifthefirstsoundin
theword,bat,ischangedfrom/b/to/p/,thewordbecomespatandtakesonanew
meaning.
Inmanylanguages,eachlettercorrespondswithaphoneme.Forexample,intheEnglish
wordbit,eachletterrepresentsaphoneme,/b/,/I/,/t/.Inmanylanguages,including
English,thisonetoonecorrespondencebetweenletterandphonemeisnotstandard
forallwords.
ManyEnglishwordscontaindigraphs,whicharephonemesthatarerepresentedby
morethanoneletter.Forexample,thefirstsoundinthing,isthrepresentedbythe
singlephonemesymbol,//.Thefinalsoundisng,representedbythesymbol,//.
OftenlanguageslikeEnglishallowfortwoletterstobeusedinterchangeablyforone
phoneme.Forexample,theletterscandkmaybothbeusedtorepresentthesound,/k/.
Thefirstsoundsinthewordskitandcapareboth/k/.
Sometimes,thepronunciationofawordcandifferdependingonthedialectofthe
speaker.Differentdialectsmaypronouncedifferentsounds,orphones,forthesame
phoneme.Iftwophonemescanbeexchangedinawordwithoutalteringthewords
meaning,thenlinguistssaythatthesetwosoundsarecalledallophones.

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PostedbyMohammedBsharatat1:33PM

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Friday,November23,2012

Phonetics

Phonetics
Phoneticsisadisciplineof
linguisticsthatfocusesonthe
studyofthesoundsusedin
speech.Phoneticsisnot
concernedwiththemeaningof
thesesounds,theorderinwhich
theyareplaced,oranyother
factoroutsideofhowtheyare
producedandheard,andtheirvariousproperties.Phoneticsiscloselyrelatedto
phonology,whichfocusesonhowsoundsareunderstoodinagivenlanguage,and
semiotics,whichlooksatsymbolsthemselves.
Therearethreemajorsubfieldsofphonetics,eachofwhichfocusesonaparticularaspect
ofthesoundsusedinspeechandcommunication.Auditoryphoneticslooksathow
peopleperceivethesoundstheyhear,acousticphoneticslooksatthewavesinvolvedin
speechsoundsandhowtheyareinterpretedbythehumanear,andarticulatory
phoneticslooksathowsoundsareproducedbythehumanvocalapparatus.Articulatory
phoneticsiswherethemajorityofpeoplebegintheirstudyofphonetics,andithasuses
formanypeopleoutsideofthefieldoflinguistics.Theseincludespeechtherapists,
computerspeechsynthesizers,andpeoplewhoaresimplyinterestedinlearninghow
theymakethesoundstheydo.
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TheInternationalPhoneticAssociationhasaspecialalphabetfordescribingallofthe
differentsounds,orphones,currentlythoughttobeusedinhumanspeech.The
InternationalPhoneticAlphabet(IPA)hasmorethan100distinctphoneslistedand
givendistinctnotation.Soundscanbeseparatedintoanumberofdifferentgroups,
basedonwhethertheyuseairfromthelungsornot,whethertheyarevoicedornot,the
positionofthetongueinthemouth,andhowthesoundisaltered.Whilethebulkof
soundsmadebythespeakersoftheworldfallintoasomewhatnarrowbandofthis
spectrum,thereareothersoundsthatarequitedifferent,suchastheclicksandsmacking
soundsmadeinsomeAfricanlanguages.
Mostconsonants,calledpulmonicconsonants,useairfromthelungsandcanbeplaced
onagriddependingonwhichpartsofthevocaltractareusedtoarticulatethespeech
soundandhowairisobstructedasitpassesthroughthemouth.Forexample,thesound
/p/usesbothlipstoarticulateair,andisthereforeknownasabilabial.Italsoconsistsof
afullstopofair,knownasaplosive.The/p/sound,therefore,aswellasthe/b/sound,
canbedescribedasabilabialplosive.The/b/sound,sincethevocalfoldisvibratingasit
issaid,iscalledavoicedbilabialplosive,whilethe/p/sound,whichhasnosuch
vibration,iscalledanunvoicedbilabialplosive.
Alltheconsonantsoundsusedinspeechcanbedescribedinthismanner,fromthe/r/
soundinEnglish,whichwecancallanalveolartrill,forexample,tothesoundatthe
beginningofthewordyet,transcribedinIPAwiththesymboljanddescribedasa
palatalapproximant,tothedeepthroatedArabicsoundsofthepharyngealfricatives.

PostedbyMohammedBsharatat2:45PM

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Saturday,November10,2012

Syntax
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Syntax
Syntaxlooksattherulesofa
language,particularlyhowthe
variouspartsofsentencesgo
together.Whilesimilarto
morphology,whichlooksathow
thesmallestmeaningful
linguisticunits,called
morphemes,areformedinto
completewords,syntax
examineshowfullyformedwordsfittogethertocreatecompleteandunderstandable
sentences.Understandingalanguage'ssyntaxisimportantforunderstandingwhat
makesasentencegrammaticallycorrect.
ThePurposeofSyntax
Linguistsandgrammarianswhostudysyntaxarenotnecessarilyprescriptivist,which
meanstheydonotattempttotellpeoplehowto"correctly"formasentence.Rather,
theyaredescriptivist,inthattheylookathowpeopleactuallyspeakandthencreaterules
thatdescribewhatalanguagecommunityconsidersgrammaticalornongrammatical.
Syntaxdealswithanumberofelements,allofwhichhelptofacilitatebeingunderstood
throughlanguage.Withoutrules,therewouldbenofoundationfromwhichtodiscern
meaningfromabunchofwordsstrungtogetherwhereastheserulesallowforavirtually
infinitenumberofsentences.
WordOrderinLanguageConstruction
Perhapsthemostimportantaspectofsyntaxishowthevariouspartsofspeechconnect
together.Everylanguagehasrulesthatdictatewherecertaintypesofwordscanbeused
inasentence,andhowtointerprettheresultingsentence.Anewlanguagelearnerhasto
understandhowthiswordorderisstructured,whichcanbedifficultforsomeoneusedto
adifferentlanguage.
InEnglish,thebasicorderis"SubjectVerbObject"thismeansthatinasimple
sentence,thefirstnounphraseisthesubject,andthesubsequentpredicateincludesthe
verbphraseandmaycontainanobject.ThisallowsEnglishspeakerstounderstandthat
inthesentence"Theboykickedtheball,"the"boy"isthesubject,andthereforetheone
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doingthekicking,whereasthe"ball"istheobjectbeingkicked.Ifsomeonewrotethe
sentence,"Theballkickedtheboy,"themeaningwouldbereversedsomewhatstrangely,
and"Kickedtheballtheboy,"wouldimmediatelyberecognizedasaviolationofbasic
syntacticalorderandreadasnonsense.
Notalllanguagesfollowthissameorder,however.InSpanish,forexample,theorderof
thewordsismoreflexibleinmostcases,andservestoshifttheemphasisofasentence
ratherthanitsmeaning.Similarly,adjectivesinEnglishusuallyprecedethewordthey
describe,whiletheycomeafterthedescribedwordinlanguagessuchasFrench.
PartsofSpeech
Anotheraspectofsyntaxcoversthevariouspartsofspeechthatalanguageusesand
separatesthewordsofthelanguageintothesegroups.Eachpartofspeechinturnhas
variousrulesthatmaybeappliedtoit,andotherrulesthatdictatewhenitcannotbe
used.English,forexample,makesuseofnouns,verbs,adjectives,andotherwordtypes,
whiledifferentlanguagesmaynothaveaseparateclassforadjectivesormakeuseof
classesnotfoundinEnglish.Thai,forexample,doesn'tdistinguishbetweenadjectives
andadverbs,whileJapanesehasseveraldifferenttypesofwordsthatactasadjectives.
RunOnsandIncompleteSentences
Throughanunderstandingofpropersyntax,speakersandwritersknowhowsentences
shouldbebrokenup.Whentwoormoresentencesareimproperlycombinedintoa
singlesentence,itusuallycreatesa"runon."Similarly,asentencethatdoesnotcontain
afullsyntacticidea,suchas"Swamquicklytothebank,"isconsideredincomplete.
Understandinglinguisticrulesallowsspeakersandwriterstoeffectivelycommunicate
ideastoothers.

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