This is the seventh class in a semester-long Phonetics course for students in Communication Disorders

1. Phonetics ~ Class 7
CD 233
Lisa Lavoie

2. Today’s learning objectives
Correct any misconceptions from HW
Summarize the Source-Filter Theory
Explore different types of sources,
airstreams
Discover how vowels are formed
Investigate nasalization

3. Homework on Pinker Video
Language is unlimited
Example of world’s longest sentence
The rules are recursive so they can build
Arbitrariness of the sign
Onomatopoeia is the exception
What else was troublesome?
Discuss disorders w/r/t Pinker

4. Are your vocal folds vibrating?
 When vocal folds vibrate during production of a sound,
we say the sound is voiced
 Put your palm on your throat and speak
 Do you feel a buzz?
 The buzz comes from vibrating vocal folds
 Buzz like a bee, hiss like a snake; say “aah” then
whisper it

5. The Source-Filter Theory
The Source-Filter theory of speech
production says it is a 2-stage process
1) Generate a sound source
2) Filter it through the shaped vocal tract
A client’s speech issue can often be
isolated to the source or the filter

6. Think of the play-doh factory

7. And pasta machines

8. What’s the dough?
The dough represents the source
You can have a sticky source, a crumbly
source, a smooth source, an interrupted
source, thick, thin
The filter plate represents the oral tract
that shapes the source
You can make all kinds of funny shapes

9. How does the raw source sound?
http://sail.usc.edu/~lgoldste/General_Phonetics/Source_http://www.asel.udel.edu/speech/tutorials/production/http://sail.usc.edu/~lgoldste/General_Phonetics/Source_

10. Some other kinds of sources
 The adults in Peanuts …
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss2hULhXf04&feature=related
 Electrolarynx - Storycorps from NPR
 h
ttp://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false& Esophageal speech
 http://www.webwhispers.org/library/EsophagealSpeech.asp
 Whispered speech

11. What is speech, physically?
Speech consists of variations in air pressure
created by our vocal apparatus
 Hums, whistles, pops, silences, hisses, crackles
Usually lungs are the power, providing the
source, or the basic air pressure patterns
Then the source is filtered (adjusted) as it
passes through the vocal tract

12. Power – Source – Filter

13. Individual vocal tract characteristics
The characteristics of a person’s vocal tract
lead to the person’s distinctive sound
 Length of trachea from lungs to larynx
 Length of oral cavity from larynx to lips
 Proportion of the lengths above
 Elasticity of the vocal tract and the vocal folds
 Symmetry of the vocal folds
 Thickness of skin, cartilage

14. Speech is an add-on
Speech is not the primary function of
any parts of the vocal tract
All parts are used for other life-supporting
purposes
Breathing
Eating and drinking

15. Three vital functions of larynx
Airway protection
Prevents aspirating food into the lungs
Respiration
Phonation

16. More detailed anatomy
Filter
Source
Power

17. The glottis
The space between the vocal folds
Sometimes closed, as in a glottal stop
Sometimes open, as in breathing
Sometimes it oscillates open and closed,
as in phonation

18. Drawings of vocal folds

19. Cartoons of phonation
View from the side
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzyHKYQzPBk&Vocal folds opening and closing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Aoa_N1vQS4M

20. Photos of vocal folds
Phonation Breathing

21. To phonate with standard
“pulmonic egressive” airstream
 You need to inhale air into your lungs to build up
pressure there
 Vocal folds must be in the right position
 Pressure builds up below vocal folds (vf), blowing
them apart
 Once the pressure is released, vf come back together
(elasticity + Bernoulli effect)
 That’s one glottal cycle
 There are other airstream types in other languages

22. Phonation in the flesh
 Trans-nasal fiberoptic endoscopy
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfOZxJnY4c8
 Glottis opens and closes periodically, chopping up the
air ow, fl creating glottal pulses
 Each cycle of vocal folds opening and closing is called
a glottal cycle
 Typically from 50-500 Hz (cycles per second)
depending on the speaker

23. Mucosal
wave
The vocal
folds “wave”
as they
separate and
come back
together;
bottom is first
to open and
first to close

24. Injuries to the vocal folds
Anatomical video and explanation by
doctor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFs4etPQd7M
Laryngitis patient education
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1jNSULtVHc

25. Laryngeal (or glottal) states
State of glottis: The sound produced:
Open Voiceless sounds
Vocal folds vibrating weakly and
inefficiently (lots of air lost)
Breathy voicing (also called
murmur)
Vocal fold vibrating normally Modal voicing (normal)
Vocal folds vibrating tensely Creaky voicing (glottal fry)
Closed A glottal stop

26. Schematic glottal states
For /h/
Glottal
stop
For
voiceless
sounds
Allows vocal
Folds to
vibrate

27. Anatomical glottal states

28. Voice quality variations
Breathy or murmured
 http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/index/sounds.html
 Gujarati languages has nice minimal pairs
Creaky (in American English)
 Listen to examples and try to produce
 http://dialectblog.com/2011/04/29/the-rise-of-creaky-voice/

29. Airstream mechanisms
It’s not all just pulmonic egressive!
Pulmonic ingressive (lungs, diaphragm)
Glottalic egressive (ejectives)
Glottalic ingressive (implosives)
Velaric or lingual ingressive (clicks)
Listen to and try to make these

30. Anjelah Johnson
Gorgeous skill in voice quality, phonation type
Listen for California “ing”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzHihzsdTAE
(nail salon)

31. Clicks in South Africa
Xhosa lesson on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31zzMb3U0iY&Miriam Makeba: Click Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mwh9z58iAU

32. Problems with the source, I
Cannot coordinate speech breathing and
airstream (deaf)
Weakened respiratory system (various)
Muscles can’t pull air in/out of lungs (CP)
Difficult to keep air pressure in trachea (PD)
Not smooth enough airflow (cerebellar
disease)

33. Problems with the source, II
Can’t control loudness
Can’t control breathiness
Vocal folds act independently, not
vibrating in concert
Too nasal (cleft palate)
Can’t control pitch, details next

34. Why can’t control pitch?
Vocal folds paralyzed (Parkinson’s)
Vocal folds injured (intubation)
Too much mucus (ALS)
Vocal folds swollen (overuse)
Tumor, cyst or polyp on vocal folds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFs4etPQd7M

35. Moving on to the FILTER
We’ll explore how vowels are formed
And perhaps make it to nasalization

36. Forming vowels
For each vowel, we have a distinctive
vocal tract configuration
That configuration filters the source to
create the intended vowel

38. MRI of vocal tract
Observe the tube
shape
And the widths of
the tube in
various locations
Adjustable!

39. X-rays
Various
vowels

40. Arai’s models
http://www.splab.net/Vocal_Tract_Model
/index-e.htm

41. Duck call source, clear filters
Exploratorium exhibit
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/vo
cal_vowels/vocal_vowels.html

42. Watch cinegradiographs
Cineradiographs of musicians
http://blog.davidhthomas.net/2011/08/x-ray-video-
of-dancing-tongue-in-clarinetists-mouth-
not-what-you-expect/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=tpOwuAMqFTA
What information does this provide?

43. Trumpet-playing boy for fun
Little Bobby Harrison
On “Australia’s Got Talent”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=jXHrv6s3pQE

44. How about nasality?
Air flows through the nasal cavity to
create nasal sounds

45. Palate image
 Hard palate is made of bone
 Soft palate (velum) is made of
muscles
 Uvula is tiny fleshy “punching
bag” at back of velum
Known in Japanese as the penis of
the throat

46. How the velum works in speech
When we are breathing (but not mouth
breathing), the velum is down and open so air
enters through the nose and gets warmed,
humidified
When we get ready to speak, the velum
comes up and closes off the nasal cavity
Nasal sounds, m, n, ng, require an open velum
and this happens quickly so we don’t really
feel it

47. What else is the velum good for?
Soft palate is essential for survival
Opens for breathing, yawning
Closes off for eating
Can be called velum, soft palate,
velopharyngeal port

48. When is my velum open?
Besides when you breathe normally, you
are keeping your velum open when you:
Snort beverages out your nose while
laughing
Put spaghetti in your mouth and pull it out
through your nose

49. Airflow
Velum is
open/down
here

50. Nasality and the velum
Our velum, or soft palate, controls
airflow into the nasal cavity
When the velum is closed, no air flows
through the nasal cavity (sound is oral)
When the velum is open, air flows
through the nasal cavity (sound is nasal)

51. Velum and lifting it videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ahPHt_NCf-I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=XXgnPbFhDxg

52. Test yourself for nasal airflow!
Is air exiting through the nose?
Feel it (nostril test, nose test)
Finger under nostrils or pinch bridge of nose,
alternate ‘nnn’ and ‘sss’
Alternate “big bid,” “big bin,” “ten men”
If nose is pinched shut, is the sound normal? If
not, it’s a nasal

56. Learning to control velum
 If air escapes nose while singing, velum is not fully closed
 You can practice controlling the velum by opening and closing it
 Hold your nose and sing into your nose
 Then while still holding your nose, take the sound out of your
nose
 Practice a lot for finer velum control
 In the realm of singing, there are lots of ideas on how to control
your velum better

57. Source and filter in speech
The Source
 What comes from the glottis—variously called: the
glottal source, voicing, phonation, airflow,
airstream, fundamental frequency, “the source”
The Filter
 How the source is filtered or shaped by the vocal
tract to create speech sounds
 Does air exit through nose, where is tongue, how
narrow/wide are constrictions in vocal tract

58. Today’s goals
Recap source & filter
Explore nasality and the velum
Explore consonant articulation
Admire the design of consonant chart
Watch x-ray movies of musicians

59. How we use the filter
The filter or resonator is the upper vocal tract,
from the vocal folds up and out your mouth
and nose
We adjust the filter to articulate, create
different speech sounds
 Vowels by configuring our vocal tract to filter the
source, exx. /i a u/
 Consonants by creating constrictions in the oral or
pharyngeal cavities to stopping or alter the source

60. Movies of articulation
Watch the velum moving up and down
Try to tie it mentally to nasal or oral sounds
MRI - five frames per second
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=uTOhDqhCKQs
X-ray movie again
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/transcrip
tion%20exercises/moviepage.htm

61. Consonant articulation
Experiment with some consonants
As you make p, f, theta, t, g, h, s, esh, r, l
 What’s moving?
 What’s staying put?
 Is there any contact between articulators?
 Where is the contact?
 How big is the contact?
 Is the air stopped or just constricted?

62. Consonant articulation
Here’s an articulating head diagram…
http://www.sil.org/mexico/ling/glosario/E005bi-
OrgansArt.htm
Please stop me and ask questions or make
comments

63. Descriptors of a consonant
Manner
Place
Voicing
Nasality

64. Places of articulation
Bilabial
Labiodental
Interdental
Alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
How about in other
languages?

65. Manners of articulation
Stop
Fricative
Affricate
Liquid
Glide
How about in other languages?

66. Think about kids acquiring …
Difficulties?
Any especially hard manners?
Any especially hard places?
How about voicing and nasality?

67. Interactive articulation site
THIS HAS MOVED!! It’s an app
http://www.uiowa.edu/
%7Eacadtech/phonetics/

68. Problems with the filter, I
Articulatory undershoot – not reaching
appropriate targets for each segment
Vowels are centralized; not distinct enough
Dysarthric speakers have reduced V space
Reduced V space when recovering from head
injury
Deaf speakers have reduced vowel space

69. Problems with the filter, II
Can’t achieve precise tongue placement
(dysarthrias)
Consonant closures wrong place (kids,
deaf)
Inadequate stop closures (Broca’s, MS,
PD)

70. The genius of the chart
Much like the periodic table of the elements
 http://www.sparknotes.com/chemistry/fundamental
s/periodictable/section2.rhtml
The consonant chart has rhyme and reason
Columns basically represent place of
articulation
Rows basically represent manner of
articulation

71. IPA consonant chart

73. Transcribing an Irish CEO
Cornell Center for Hospitality Research
Gerald Lawless, CEO of Jumeirah
Hotels
http://www.cornell.edu/video/?
videoID=1021&startSecs=0&endSecs=5
70
1:46 to 2:12 in particular

74. Video (total laryngectomee education)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=LYrIVn4elQY

75. How do we get “speech ready”?
First just breathe in and out normally
Now, poise yourself to start speaking
What do you notice about your
anatomy?

76. Video clips on regional vocabulary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=wYmrg3owTRE&feature=related
 Hugh Laurie and Ellen on British/US slang
 Note especially the confusion between palatal
fricative and affricate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=qXGuCaApR7U
 From “American Tongues,” clips posted on
YouTube

77. Jackie Chan
With Ellen DeGeneres
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=YiRS0Fg6ViY

78. Words with variant US
pronunciations
Pasta
Nuclear
Costume
Moisture
Species
With
Dwarf/Dwarves
Often
Absorb
Youths
Congratulate
Newspaper

79. Deviated septum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_septu
m_deviation

80. Transcribing a German professor
Presentation on age and emotional
processing
Corinna Loeckenhoff
http://www.cornell.edu/video/?
videoID=1115
Listen to the very beginning

81. Articulation
How speech is actually produced
To score a sound, must figure out:
How it is being articulated
Whether it’s within acceptable limits
Whether it becomes another sound
Whether it calls attention to the speaker

82. Recap scoring in clinical phonetics
2 way
5 way
Infinite scoring

83. More exotic sound examples
Sounds of the World’s Languages
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/index/sounds
.html
Other places of articulation
Malayalam has many nasals
http://phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter7/m
alayalam/malayalam.html
Other manners of articulation