Update:
2020-12-03 05:20 PM -0500
TIL
Burmese Grammar 1899
Classification of Consonants according to vocal organs
ch02.htm
- Burmese Grammar and Grammatical
Analysis by A. W. Lonsdale, Education Department, Burma, British Burma
Press, Rangoon, 1899. A photocopy of the ink-on-paper book , and downloaded PDF
copies are available in the TIL Research Station, in Yangon.
Copied and edited by UKT
and staff of TIL . Not for sale. No copyright. Free
for everyone. Prepared for students and staff of
TIL Research Station, Yangon, MYANMAR :
http://www.tuninst.net ,
www.romabama.blogspot.com
index.htm |
Top
BG1899-1-indx
UKT 191125: Never forget that Aksharas are
syllables, whereas Consonantal-Letters
are mute. What the IPA is describing are the Letters
of the consonants, which have no sound. There are many Akshara-Syllables
which are "unheard" by the Westerners, e.g. {gna.}/ {ng} (r1c5), {Ta.}/ {T}
(r3c1).
When Western
phoneticians, who are stuck with Alphabet-Letters, want to give the pronunciation of the
consonantal-letters they have to add vowel
{a.} to their letter, e.g. to give the pronunciation
of /t/ they give
{a.ta.} /ata/. Those at the Research Station can
watch Basic Segments of Speech Sound, by
J. Handke in TIL HD-VIDEO and SD-VIDEO in
Phonetics section
-
PHO106-Conson<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 201119)
Chapter 02
Foreword - by UKT
Classification of Consonants
{byæÑ: ak~hka.ra} according to POA
s013.
Stops
s014.
• Velar Guttural
• Palatal
• Retroflex Lingual
• Dental
• Labial
Nasals
s015.
Awag-vowels
s016.
s017.
s018.
UKT
201119: Lonsdale use of the word "throat" is not quite what we take it to
mean at the present.
"When the larynx grows
larger during puberty, it sticks out at the front of the throat. This
is what's called an Adam's apple. Everyone's larynx grows
during puberty, but a girl's larynx doesn't grow as much as a boy's
does. That's why boys have Adam's apples." - Google-search
See:
https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/adams-apple.html 201120
Lonsdale was under the impression that the
throat (area
behind Adam's apple) was the area responsible for Velar-letters.
Phoneticians could not directly look into the throat until recent times - of
surgery of throat and nearby areas due to cancer. See Section 02
• Human sound production - human-snd.htm (link chk 201025)
--- old material
Author's footnotes
UKT notes
• Articulators
• Consonants
• Difference between Stops and Nasals
¤ Deep-H Stops ¤ Tenuis
consonants
• In search of Nya-major
• Vowels - by UKT
• suprasegmentals
• Vowels in Practical
Phonetics
Contents of this page
by UKT 201119:
There is a world of difference between
sound
{a·þän} and script
{a·ré:} especially in non-phonetic languages
such as English. However in phonetic languages
like Bur-Myan, where there is almost
one-to-one correspondence, there is no
difference between sound and script. However,
for convenience sake, we'll adopt Lonsdale
term "letter" in this work.
There are also differences between Lonsdale
and TIL, e.g. :
Bur-Myan Velar-stop: ----
{ka.} to
{gna.} is called the
-
{ka. wag~ga.} «ka wegga»;
Bur-Myan Palatal-stop: --
{sa.} to
{Ña.}, the
-
{sa. wag~ga.} «sa wegga»; and so on.
Skt-Dev Palatal-affricate: «ca» to «ña», the
«ca wegga» ]
(s013-p007)
s013.
The Consonants
{byæÑ:} are further classified on quite a
different plan from that explained in par. 12
[see (s012-p005)
of Chapter01] The classification is based upon
the various parts of the mouth by which the
sounds are produced [POA - Place of Articulation].
The organs brought into play for this purpose are
the throat soft-palate (Velum),
roof-of-the-mouth hard-palate
(Palate), the tongue [divided into 3 parts: tip,
body, root], the teeth, and the lips. [UKT ¶]
Thus, there are:
Velars Gutterals
{kûN~HTa.za.}-letters ¹
(fn007-01);
Palatals
{ta-lu.za.}-letters ²
(
fn007-02);
Retroflex Linguals
or Celebrals
{moad~Da.za.}-letters ³
(fn007-03);
Dentals
{dûn~ta.za.}-letters 4
(fn007-04);
Labials
{AUT~Hta.za.}-letters 5 .
(fn007-05)
Each of the classes into which the letters are
divided is called
{HTaan} "place".
Contents of this page
Stops or Plosives
(s014-p007)
s014. The letters
are distributed into different classes
mentioned above as follows: -
Velar Gutteral
{kûN~HTa.za. HTaan} -
{ka.},
{hka.},
{ga.},
{Ga.}, and
{gna.}/
{ng} or the
-
«ka-wagga» or ka-group, and
{ha.} of the «awagga» series. With these are included
the vowels
{a.} and
{a}.
(p007end-p008begin)
UKT 201120: Notice that the tongue-tip is
lowered or retracted: it is not taking any
part. It is the tongue-body touching
the Velar or soft-palate region of the
roof-of-the-mouth. The POA (Place of
Articulation) is Velar. If the
tongue-body had reached further back it would
be called Uvular. In Bur-Myan and
possibly Eng-Lat, Uvular can only be achieved
when coupled with lip-rounding as in
{kwa.},
{hkwa.},
{gwa.}, and
{gnwa.}.
Before we go further, let's see
my understanding of Consonants of IPA, Bur-Myan,
and Skt-Dev, in my notes:
Consonants
(s014-p008)-cont
Palatal
{ta-lu.za. HTaan} -
{sa.},
{hsa.},
{za.},
{Za.}, and
{Ña.}/
{ñ} of the
-
«sa-wagga» or sa-group, and
{ya.} of the «awagga» series. The vowels
{I.} and
{I} are classed with these.
UKT 201120: Palatals are confusing because
in Bur-Myan, and Pali-Myan, they are stops,
whereas in Eng-Lat, Mon-Myan, and Skt-Dev,
they are affricates . Notice how the
tongue-tip is touching the bottom of
the lower front teeth. It could be described
as Lower-dental. The word Palatal comes
from the tongue-body touching the
palatal-region of the roof of the mouth.
Palatal-Affricates are not basic aksharas in
Bur-Myan: they are conjuncts and break down
under Virama {a·þût}: (equiv. in Eng-Lat:
for r2c1 - nil; for r2c2 -
{hkya.} /c/; for r2c3 -
{gya.} /j/
Nya-major, an important phoneme in Bur-Myan
is missing in all modern languages. I've
taken the quest for searching Nya-major
/
{Ña.}/{Ñ} in other languages: see my note
-
In search of Nya-major
Retroflex Lingual
{moad~Da.za. HTaan} -
{Ta.},
{HTa.},
{ða.},
{Ða.} and
{Na.}/
{N} of the
-
«Ta-wagga» or Ta-group, {ra.} and {La.} of the «awagga» series. [Lonsdale
does not mention the associated vowels.]
UKT 160416, 201126:
UKT 160416: In rapid speech Retroflex
and Dental consonants are pronounced
alike. However, if you articulate
carefully, they are distinguishable:
/ta./, /ʰta./, /da./, /da./, /na./.
Retroflex /na./ is known as Na-major
{Na.} 'big Na' and Dental /na./ is called Na-minor
{na.} 'young na'. There are two forms of
Na-minor: the "standing one"
{na.} /n/ and the "sitting one"
{na.} /na./. The shape of the sitting Na-minor
always reminds me a Nag or
{na.ga:}, which reminds me that the ancient \
Pagan citizens had been Nag
{na.ga:} worshippers.
What about vowels? Inclusion of vowels in other
{HTaan} series by Lonsdale was a mistaken
identification by Ancient phoneticians of the
East. Not being able to see the inside of a
throat, they had done their best.
Dental
{dûn~ta.za. HTaan}
-
{ta.},
{hta.},
{da.},
{Da.},
{na.}/
{n} of the
-
«ta-wagga» or ta-group, and
{la.} and
{þa.} of the of the «awagga» series. [Lonsdale does not mention the associated
vowels.]
Labial
{AUT~Hta.za. HTaan} -
{pa.},
{hpa.},
{ba.},
{Ba.},
{ma.}/
{m} of the
-
«pa-wagga» or pa-group, and the vowels
{U.} and 
{U}.
Contents of this page
Nasals : c5-consonants
(s015-p008)
s015. The letters, [of column 5]
{gna.}/
{ng};
{Ña.}/
{ñ};
{Na.}/
{N};
{na.}/
{n}; and
{ma.}/
{m}, are Nasals or nose-letters . [UKT ¶].
UKT201121: Notice how I've given the killed-aksharas which form the coda
of the syllable of CVÇ structure. Lonsdale has given only the onset part of
the syllable. I've to include the coda because they do have an affect on the
nuclear-vowel of the syllable. In the Alphabet-Letter system of CVC
structure this effect is not present.
(s015-p008)-cont.
These [nasals] are already included in the above classification, but are called
nasals because, when we pronounce them, we not only commence their sounds
with the organs chiefly employed in forming them, but also allow our voice to
issue through the nose instead of confining it within the mouth. The Anuthwára
explained in par.10 falls under this head. See
(s010-p005) -- ch01.htm .
See my note on
Difference between Stops and Nasals
Similar to the Nasals which occupy c5 column, the Deep-H Stops
occupying the c4 column, i.e.
{Ga.},
{Za.},
{Ða.},
{Da.},
{Ba.} also seems to form a group which deserve attention. The are not
aspirates of column c3.
Contents of this page
(s016-p008)
s016. The vowels
{é} is both velar guttural
and palatal;
{AU} is velar guttural and labial. The
[awag-consonant]
{wa.}/
{?} is dental and labial.]
UKT 201121: How should I represent
{?} in Romabama is a problem. This ending is present in the name of a
minority ethnic in Myanmarpré,
{pa·O.} which has the same pronunciation as
{pa·o.} without the killed-{wa.}
. Moreover, at one time (in time of my father's generation) killed-{wa.} was
common in words like
{þau} (with emphasis) as
{þau·O}.
(s017-p008)
s017. The vowels
{è:} and
{AU}, not being used in the Páli Language, are not included in the above
arrangement; Burmese Grammarians, however consider
{è:} to be both velar guttural and palatal, and
{AU} velar guttural and labial.
(s018-p008)
s018. The Burmese who have followed the Nágarí system
as introduced by the Páli grammarians, still keep to the classification
exemplified in the foregoing paragraphs, and devised no other.
(p009) A very simple method of distinguishing the
Bur-Myan consonantal sounds would be to divide the letters into Surds,
Sonants and Liquids, (Lonsdale p009), thus:
Contents of this page
fn007-01 Páli,
{kûN~HTa.} 'the velum throat';
{za.} 'to produce' [UKT: 'origin'].
fn007-01b
see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_palate 201119
fn007-02 Páli,
{ta-lu.} 'the palate'.
fn007-02b
fn007-03 Páli,
{moad~Da} 'the head'. Lonsdale himself comments " 'Cerebral' is
the old English designation incorrectly used for
{moad~Da.za}. It is not a suitable term for it means 'brain letter' whereas
{moad~Da.za}, although it signifies 'produced in the head '. It is used to denote a letter pronounced by bringing the tip of tongue
backward and upward nearly to the middle of the palate. 'Cerebral' is now superseded by the more appropriate term 'Lingual'."
fn007-03b
fn007-04 Páli,
{dûn~ta.} 'the teeth'
fn007-04b
fn007-05 Páli,
{AUT~HTa.} 'the lip'. [UKT: notice the horizontal conjunct:
]
fn007-05b
Contents of this page
----- old material
A very simple method of distinguishing the Burmese consonantal sounds would
be to divide the Aksharas letters into Surds, Sonants and
Liquids (fn009-01), thus: -
fn009-01 Surd means 'noiseless'; Sonant
'sounding'; Liquid 'flowing'. For a full explanation of these terms, see
Mason's English Grammar, pars. 13 and 15. fn009-01b
(s018end-p009end) - the next page is Chapter III.
Contents of this page
- UKT 201126
The most active articulator is the tongue, followed by the uvular flap and
the lips. Movement of the jaw can also affect the pronunciation.
The inactive articulators are parts of the roof of the mouth
from the hard palate to the upper teeth.
• Vowels
•
Vowel diagrams of
Daniel Jones, and I. Catford
Those at the Research Station can watch
Basic Segments of Speech Sound,
by J. Handke in TIL HD-VIDEO and SD-VIDEO in Phonetics section
-
PHO107-Vowels1<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 191125)
Go back Articulators-note-b
Contents of this page
- UKT 201120:
Let's see
what our present understanding is. In the Table of IPA (Pulmonic) consonants
presented together with Bur-Myan and Skt-Dev, you'll see the
{HTaan}, from Bilabial
{AUT~Hta.za.} to Velar
{kûN~HTa.za.}.
Now, under the column
{kûN~HTa.za.}, you'll see
{ka.} and
{ga.} in the row Plosive-stop or simply Stop. You'll note
{hka.} and
{Ga.} missing because of the failure of IPA phoneticians being deaf to
our c2 and c4 phonemes as pointed out in
(s008-p004) of Chapter 01 - ch01.htm.
In the row Nasal, you'll see
{gna.}/
{ng} with the IPA /ŋ/.
Further, down in the row Approximant, you'll see
{ya.}
- not
{ha.} as given by Lonsdale. This confusion has come about because
Bur-Myan stop phoneme Nya-major
{Ña.}/
{Ñ} has disappeared from other modern languages. What is now known is
Nya-minor
{ña.}/
{ñ}. It is probable that this affricate phoneme had been added to
Bur-Myan and other Tib-Bur languages at the turn of Bronze-age to
Iron-age when the IE speakers infiltrated into our areas.
Go back conson-note-b
Contents of this page
UKT 201121:
The chief difference between regular stops,
c1, c2, c3, and nasals c5, are the nasals
having three tones, e.g.
{na.} (1 eye-blink),
{na} (2 blnk), and
{na:} (emphatic 2 blnk or 3 blnk). In this they resemble the vowels,
{a.},
{a},
{a:} .
I cannot wholly agree with the traditional make-up
of the nasals, because:
Firstly,
{gna.}/
{ng} of r1c5, has the sound of /g/ more than /n/
when used in the onset-position of the syllable
of CVÇ structure. Here, I must point that both
Pal-Myan and Skt-Dev do not have words with r1c5
in the onset position. However, both Népali and
Néwari languages of the country of Népal have
such words showing the similarity of these
languages to Bur-Myan. The
pronunciation of Bur-Myan words such as
{gna:} "fish" and
{gnak} "bird" has more of /g/ than /n/
in the beginning of the syllable. Incidentally,
English also has such words in gnome, and
gnaw which have lost the g sounds
- saying that the g is silent.
Secondly, the Bur-Myan akshara matrix-cell r2c5,
is traditionally occupied by Nya'major
{Ña.}/
{Ñ}. It is a Palatal-stop. However, when Eng-Lat
and Skt-Dev come in the cell ceases to be
Palatal-stop and becomes Palatal-affricate. It
is then occupied by Nya'minor
{ña.}/
{ñ}.
The r1c5
{gna.}/
{ng}, and r2c5
{Ña.}/
{ñ} are the Semi-nasals, because the onsets
are non-nasals and the codas are nasals. The r4c5
{na.}/ {n} and r5c5 are the True-nasals
because in both the onset- and coda-positions, they
are nasals. The r3c5
{Na.}/
{N} is just in-between.
Go back
Diff-Stops-Nasals-note-b
Contents of this page
-- UKT 130907, 160418
The c4 consonants are the occupants of
column #4 in the akshara 5x5 matrix of
25 plosive-stop consonants:
{Ga.},
{Za.},
{Ða.},
{Da.},
{Ba.}. The akshara
5x5 matrix of 25 plosive-stop consonants
form a section of matrix known as the
{wag~ga.}-consonants.
They show a unique
manner of articulation (MOA) in
Bur-Myan and Pal-Myan. As my knowledge
of Skt-Dev is meagre, and that of Mon-Myan
is almost zero, I cannot say for certain
what their manners of articulation are.
The 5X5 akshara consonant matrix are
arranged row-wise according to place of
articulation (POA), and column-wise
according to MOA. Beginning from the
interior, they are arranged: c5 nasals,
c4 deep-H, c3 voiced (vd), c2 voiceless (vl) and
c1 tenuis.
The Western phoneticians, and their IPA
(International Phonetic Association)
recognize only 3 columns: nasals
(corresponding to c5), voiced (vd)
(corresponding to c3), and voiceless (vl)
(corresponding to c2 which they mix up
with c1). They did not pay much attention
to c4 and c2, and dismissed them just by
calling them aspirates. Even then what
they are saying as correspondents of c1
are actually c2. Because of this failure
of IPA (the Association and the Alphabet),
I have to devise my own system of Romabama
to serve the needs of the Asian languages
such as Skt-Dev and Bur-Myan, and use IPA
to relate them to Eng-Lat.
The r1c4 phoneme of velar-consonants is
given in Bur-Myan as
{Ga.} with IPA
/gʰ/. To study this we need to look
into Bur-Myan
{nga.}, which according to
J. M. Haswell, who have studied the
Mon-Myan language -
MonMyan-indx.htm (link chk 160418),
{nga.}
has
the sound of English <gn> in the
onsets, and <ng> in the codas.
The c4 consonants are never used to check
the vowel
{a.}, and so even when Macdonell has given
{a.Ga.} अघ as [agh-á], it
should not be pronounced as as such
but only as /a.gʰa/ in Pal-Myan,
with a recognizable /a/ showing that
the word is a negation. I emphasize the
fact that my knowledge of Skt-Dev is
very elementary and that I cannot pass
judgment of Sanskrit sound.
In my ongoing study, I find only the
entries for
{a.Ga.} अघ. Similar files of
r2-palatals and r3-retroflex are empty.
I still have to study more of r4-dentals
and r5-labials.
Go back deep-H-note-b
Contents of this page
- UKT 160417
Another column of importance in Bur-Myan are Tenuis Consonants of column c1.
They are not understood by the Westerners who are used to only Alphabet-Letter
system of writing. They are
voiceless (vl), but "tenuous" :
{ka.},
{sa.},
{Ta.},
{ta.},
{pa.}.
English speakers (based on my own experience in USA and Canada), do not
"hear" them and consequently can not reproduce them. What they could hear and
reproduce in place of Tenuis are ordinary voiceless (vl}:
{hka.},
{hsa.},
{HTa.},
{hta.},
{hpa.}. However, they do hear and reproduce them, when the Tenuis are preceded
by
{Sa.}/
{S} - a phoneme not present in Bur-Myan, e.g.
{Ska.},
{Sta.},
{Spa.}
Tenuis consonants are important in Bur-Myan, because they can become coda
of syllables as killed consonants:
{k},
{c},
{T},
{t},
{p}. As an example, they can check:
- inherent-vowel
{a.}
of
{ta.} giving
{tak},
{tic},
{tûT},
{tût},
{tûp}.
Notice the influence of coda on the nuclear-vowel of the resulting syllable. In every case they give only one
register.
Nasals are similar to the Tenuis consonants when they become the coda of the
syllables, except that they give three registers.
Go back tenuis-note-b
Contents of this page
UKT 191109:
Though r2c5 is traditionally
given in Bur-Myan and Mon-Myan as Nya-major
{Ña.}/
{Ñ}, we must accommodate Nya-minor
/
{ña.}/{ñ} for Pali-Myan.
At least for BEPS, I've moved Nya-major
{Ña.}/
{Ñ} out of r2c5, leaving
/
{ña.}/{ñ} as the sole occupant of r2c5. Nya-major
/
{Ña.}/{Ñ} now placed as a palatal-approximant by the side of
/
{ya.}/{ý} which is re-designated as velar-approx. In Bur-Myan, we have an
important secondary articulation known as
{ya.pín.} perpetrated by
/
{ya.}{ý} which I equate to velarization. Is there an equivalent for
/
{Ña.}/{Ñ}? Before I could find an answer an interesting fact has come to my
notice in Icelandic language.
I've a casual interest in Iceland, due to my former room-mate and close
friend Dr. John A. Mattor from US who was stationed in Iceland for a couple
years before he became my room-mate. He was there as a US serviceman for a
couple years in the 1950s. He has told me that Icelandic language is quite
different from English.
See: BEPS01-2.htm on
Assignment of Speech sounds to Phonemes from:
- Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneme 191113
"In some languages, h
owever,
[kʰ]
{hk} and
[k]
are perceived by native speakers as different sounds, and
substituting one for the other can change the meaning of a word. In those
languages, therefore, the two sounds represent different phonemes. For example,
in
Icelandic,
[kʰ] is the first sound of
kátur, meaning "cheerful", but
[k] is the first sound of
gátur, meaning "riddles". Icelandic,
therefore, has two separate phonemes
/kʰ/ and
/k/.
"
Now note that in Bur-Myan, [kʰ]
{hk} and [k]
are perceived as different phonemes. Notice also the presence of
phones in Palatal, Velar, and Glottal regions: k , kʰ ,
ŋ , ɲ .
UKT 191120: In Bur-Myan and Mon-Myan, the approximants of these three
regions give rise to secondary articulation known in Bur-Myan as
{Ña.hswè:}*,
{ya.pín.}, and
{ha.hto:}. These I equate to Palatalization, Velarization, and
Glotallization. Whether I can substantiate my claim is still an open
question. See Wikipedia:
• -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatalization 191120
• -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velarization 191120
• -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottalization 191120
*
{Ña.hswè:} is found in Mon-Myan. In Mon, the hanging consonant is Nya-major,
whereas its equivalent in Sanskrit is Nya-minor.
In describing the aksharas, it is not enough to describe them as onset only.
It is acceptable in Alphabet-Letter system with the syllable CVC structure. But
in Abugida-Akshara system with the syllable CVÇ structure, the coda is equally
important. For look-alike syllables:
- with palatal-plosive tenuis,
/
{sa.}/{c}, we have
{sic}
- with dental-fricative
/
{Sa.}/{S}, we have
{SiS}
Go back Insearch-Nya-major-note-b
Contents of this page
UKT 160418: This section is my presentation.
- UKT 160417:
The vowels are continuous sounds formed inside the larynx or voice box.
They are modified by the tongue inside the mouth. Until the development
of fiber-optic laryngoscopy, the full involvement of the larynx during
speech production was not observable. However, the role of the tongue has
been studied by phoneticians such as Daniels Jones early in the 20th
century. [Note only after A. W. Lonsdale had written
the Burmese Grammar and Grammatical Analysis
- which we are studying.] In the production of the vowels,
as you move along from {a} to {au} (note: I am taking the modal pitch-register only),
the tongue body is changing its position according to the red ellipse
shown in the figure on the left.
The Vowel diagrams
of Daniel Jones and I. Catford
To describe the red ellipse better, it is drawn in the form of a quadrilateral
by Daniels Jones. The figure on the right is based on the vowel quadrilateral of
Daniel Jones in which I have shown the Burmese-Myanmar vowels. However, there
are other vowel diagrams, as the one by Catford (1977) reproduced by J. Laver in
the Principle of Phonetics, which is in TIL collection.
See: Teaching Vowels in Practical Phonetics: The Auditory or
Articulatory Route? by Martin J. Ball, University of Ulster,
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/ball.htm 081028
- no longer available.
See the full article
in my notes: Vowels in
Practical Phonetics.
You will notice that Lonsdale has included
{I.} and
{I} as the vowels articulated in the Palatal position. This is in agreement with
Catford. It should be pointed out that the present practice is to describe the
vowels separately from the POA of consonants.
Go back Vowels-note-b
Contents of this page
UKT: Wikipedia does not list suprasegmental -- 080315. However,
it does say something about it in Prosody (linguistics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suprasegmental 080318
Notice that Romabama uses IPA suprasegmentals for IPA transcriptions.
Click to see what
IPA has given. Or, to see the complete IPA tabl
e go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet 080317
From Wikipedia
The prosodic domain
Prosodic features are suprasegmental in that they are not confined to any
one segment; rather, they occur in a hierarchy of higher levels of an utterance.
These prosodic units are the actual phonetic spurts or chunks of speech.
They do not in general correspond to grammatical units such as phrases, and
clauses, though they may, and both may reflect how the brain processes speech.
Prosodic units are characterized by several phonetic cues, such as a coherent
pitch contour, and the gradual decline in pitch and lengthening of vowels
over the duration of the unit, until the pitch and speed are reset to begin the
next unit. Breathing, both inhalation and exhalation, only seems to occur at
these boundaries where the prosody resets.
UKT: Only some suprasegmentals are of interest to Romabama, e.g.
{a.} /ă/;
{a} /a/;
{a:} /aː/.
Go back
supraseg-note-b
Contents of this page
by Martin J. Ball, Teaching Vowels in Practical Phonetics: The Auditory
or Articulatory Route? . University of Ulster.
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/ball.htm 081028
UKT: I haven't taken the figures given by M. J. Ball since they are
essentially the same as those already on this file.
Introduction:
Vowel description has traditionally differed from consonant description. This
means that teaching the production of vowels and consonants in practical
phonetics requires different techniques. Unfortunately, this means that students
have to master both approaches to their studies.
Consonants are described and classified according to their production: manner
of articulation (e.g. stop, fricative); place of articulation (e.g. alveolar,
palatal, velar, uvular); and voicing. Students, therefore, can use these labels
to aid in learning the articulation of consonants.
The Vowel Area and Cardinal Vowels :
In
the most recent revision of the International Phonetic Alphabet (1993), the
vowel diagram was re-arranged (see Figure 1)[UKT: essentially the same as the
one I have redrawn by UCLA given on the right.]. All unrounded vowels are
displayed on the left of each point. All rounded vowels are displayed on the
right. A full set of central vowels is provided, and symbols for lax vowels are
added to the diagram.
Vowel Area and Cardinal Vowels:
The vowel quadrilateral is, in fact, quite divergent from the actual shape of
the vowel area (see Figure 2) [UKT: essentially the same as the one on the
left.]. Catford (1977), among others, has suggested a diagram closer to physical
reality could be adopted. This could allow articulatory descriptions of vowels,
similar to those used for consonants. In order to produce a diagram closer to
the vowel area, the angled corners of the Cardinal Vowel diagram need to be
abandoned, and a chart nearer to the ellipse shape in Figure 2 created.
An Articulatory System
Vowels are the next most open articulation type after approximants and
fricatives. This means that close vowels can easily be linked to the palatal,
velar, uvular and pharyngeal places of articulation. Students learn their
production by moving the tongue slightly between consonantal and vocalic
versions at each place.
An articulatory system follows the vowel area more closely, and this means
that [i, i, u, o, a, a] are all located on the upper periphery. Other vowels are
labelled as being close-mid, open-mid or open in relation to one of the places
of articulation. Due to the shape of the diagram, the lower left corner vowel
[a] is both an open palatal and an open pharyngeal vowel.
Advantages and Disadvantages to an Articulatory System
Only one set of articulatory labels need to be learnt, and the same method of
learning sound production can be applied to consonants and vowels. Further, the
vowel diagram is closer to the vowel area.
However, only production of the upper periphery vowels is easy to learn, as
it is unclear how one learns the values of close-mid, open-mid and open. An
articulatory system aids learning vowel production, but not description:
description of both consonants and vowels is an auditory task - as is using
Cardinal Vowels.
Phonologically, three-vowel systems ([i, a, ul) plot better on the CV system,
as they appear clearly as 'extreme' vowels. Languages having high, mid, and low
vowel phonologies group their vowels as in the CV system rather Um the polar
co-ordinate system. Also it is difficult to arrange central vowels on the polar
co-ordinate diagram, and show their relation to peripheral vowels.
Catford (1977) points out reasons why the CV system appears more natural: if
we plot vowels acoustically (FI by F2), the resultant diagram closely resembles
the CV chart. He also notes that the muscle systems used to move the tongue
within the vowel area give us proprioceptive feedback that high versus low, and
front versus back are natural classes: as shown in CV diagrams.
Conclusion
An articulatory system certainly could make the learning of vowel production
easier. The system also brings consistency between vowels and consonants.
However, it does not help in vowel description; and has phonological problems.
It is doubtful, therefore, whether a switch in teaching vowels in practical
phonetics is warranted.
References (cited by M.J. Ball)
• Catford, I. (1977) Fundamental Problems in Phonetics. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press.
• IPA (1993) Council actions on the revisions of the IPA. Journal of the
International Phonetic Association, 23, 32-34.
Go back
vow-pract-note-b
Contents of this page
End of TIL file
