Relative articulation
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In
The relative position of a sound may be described as advanced (fronted), retracted (backed), raised, lowered, centralized, or mid-centralized. The latter two terms are only used with vowels, and are marked in the International Phonetic Alphabet with diacritics over the vowel letter. The others are used with both consonants and vowels, and are marked with iconic diacritics under the letter. Another dimension of relative articulation that has IPA diacritics is the degree of roundedness, more rounded and less rounded.
Advanced and retracted
Advanced, retracted | |
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◌̟ ◌˖ | |
◌̠ ◌˗ |
An advanced or fronted sound is one that is pronounced farther to the front of the vocal tract than some reference point. The diacritic for this in the IPA is the subscript plus, U+031F ◌̟ COMBINING PLUS SIGN BELOW. Conversely, a retracted or backed sound is one that is pronounced farther to the back of the vocal tract, and its IPA diacritic is the subscript minus U+0320 ◌̠ COMBINING MINUS SIGN BELOW. For letters with descenders, U+02D6 ˖ MODIFIER LETTER PLUS SIGN and U+02D7 ˗ MODIFIER LETTER MINUS SIGN may instead be used after the letter, as in [ɡ˖] and [y˗].
Both vowels and consonants may be fronted or backed. In verbal description, the prefix pre- may be used to indicate fronting, especially in the terms
In English, the back vowel /u/ is farther forward than what is normally indicated by the IPA letter ‹u›. This fronting may be shown explicitly, especially within a narrow transcription: [u̟]. Whether this is as far front as the central vowel [ʉ], or somewhere between [u] and [ʉ], may need to be clarified verbally, or on a vowel diagram.
The difference between a fronted and non-fronted consonant can be heard in the English words key [k̟ʰi] and coo [kʰu], where the /k/ in key is fronted under the influence of the
Languages may have phonemes that are farther back than the nearest IPA symbol. For example,
Officially, the IPA symbol [a] stands for the open front unrounded vowel. However, in most languages where it is used, [a] actually stands for the central, rather than the front vowel. If precision is desired, this may also be indicated with the minus sign [a̠], although a number of other transcriptions are also possible.[1]
Raised and lowered
Raised and lowered | |
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◌̝ ◌˔ | |
◌̞ ◌˕ |
A raised sound is articulated with the tongue or lip raised higher than some reference point. In the IPA this is indicated with the uptack diacritic U+031D ◌̝ COMBINING UP TACK BELOW.
A lowered sound is articulated with the tongue or lip lowered (the mouth more open) than some reference point. In the IPA this is indicated with the downtack diacritic U+031E ◌̞ COMBINING DOWN TACK BELOW. Both consonants and vowels may be marked as raised or lowered.
When a letter has a descender, the tack may be written after it, using: U+02D4 ˔ MODIFIER LETTER UP TACK as in [ɭ˔], or U+02D5 ˕ MODIFIER LETTER DOWN TACK as in [ɣ˕].
Raised and lowered vowels
In the case of a vowel, raising means that the vowel is
In other non-IPA transcription systems, raised vowels are indicated with the iconic upward-pointing arrowhead U+02F0 ˰ MODIFIER LETTER LOW UP ARROWHEAD while lowered vowels have the downward arrowhead U+02EF ˯ MODIFIER LETTER LOW DOWN ARROWHEAD. Thus, IPA [e̝] is equivalent to [e˰], IPA [e̞] is equivalent to [e˯].
Raised and lowered consonants
With consonants, raising and lowering changes the
From most open (least
Examples of stricture series Oral Nasal Flap Trill Lateral Stop ɟ ɲ d t͡ɬ Fricative ʝ ʝ̃ r̝ ɬ Approximant / Vibrant j ȷ̃ ɾ r l̥ Close vowel i ĩ (N/A) Near-close vowel e̝ ẽ̝ Close-mid vowel e ẽ Mid vowel e̞ ẽ̞ Open-mid vowel ɛ ɛ̃ Near-open vowel æ æ̃ Open vowel a ã
Centralized
Centralized vowels
Centralized | |
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◌̈ |
A centralized vowel is a vowel that is more central than some point of reference, or that has undergone a shift in this direction. The diacritic for this in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the diaeresis, U+0308 ̈ COMBINING DIAERESIS.
For example, to transcribe
In other (non-IPA) transcription systems, ⟨ᵻ, ᵿ⟩ (or ⟨ɪ, ʊ⟩) will be seen instead of [ɪ̈, ʊ̈] (by analogy with [ɨ, ʉ]). Before the letters [ɘ, ɵ, ɜ, ɞ] were added to the IPA in 1993, the symbols [ë, ö, ɛ̈, ɔ̈] were used for these near-schwa values. [ë, ö, ɛ̈, ɔ̈] would now be assumed to represent articulations intermediate between [e, o, ɛ, ɔ] and [ɘ, ɵ, ɜ, ɞ]. Similarly, [ï, ÿ, ü, ɯ̈] would be intermediate between [i, y, u, ɯ] and [ɨ, ʉ].
However, since the IPA does not specify the exact amount of centralization that centralized vowels have, the symbols [ë, ö, ɛ̈, ɔ̈] and [ï, ÿ, ü, ɯ̈] can in modern transcriptions[2] be used at times to transcribe fully central vowels, or vowels that have a variable amount of centralization.
In the majority of languages described as having an [a] (which denotes a front vowel), the vowel is actually central and therefore a more narrow transcription of it is [ä]. However, this symbol is not commonly used mainly because of the common practice of avoiding using diacritics wherever possible, and because very few languages contrast front and central open unrounded vowels.
Instead of the diacritic for centralization, the
When a transcription system uses both the centralized and the advanced/retracted diacritics, generally the former indicates a more central vowel, so that e.g. [i̠] indicates an only slightly centralized (retracted) front vowel [i], whereas [ï] indicates a more centralized (retracted) front vowel, or even a fully central vowel [ɨ].
Centralized semivowels
Semivowels can be centralized much like vowels; for instance, the semivowels corresponding to the close central vowels [ɨ, ʉ] can be written as centralized palatal semivowels [j̈, ɥ̈], or centralized velar semivowels [ɰ̈, ẅ]. The transcription [ɥ̈] vs. [ẅ] may also denote a distinction in the type of rounding, with the former symbol denoting a semivowel with compressed rounding typical of front vowels, and the latter symbol denoting a semivowel with protruded rounding typical of central and back vowels, though an additional verbal clarification is usual in such cases, as the IPA does not provide any official means to distinguish sounds with compressed and protruded rounding.
Mid-centralized vowels
Mid-centralized | |
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◌̽ |
Mid-centralized vowels are closer to the midpoint of the vowel space than their referent vowels. That is, they are closer to the mid-central vowel schwa [ə] not just by means of centralization, but also by raising or lowering. The diacritic used to mark this in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the over-cross, U+033D ̽ COMBINING X ABOVE.
In most languages, vowels become mid-centralized when spoken quickly, and in some languages, such as English and Russian, many vowels are also mid-centralized when unstressed. This is a general characteristic of vowel reduction.
Mid-centralization of vowels can be a speech impediment. An example from Polish is zobaczyłem dziś dwa samochody [zɔ̽bɐˈt͡ʂɘwɛ̽m ˈd͡ʑɪʑ ˈdvɐ sɐmɔ̽ˈxɔ̽dɘ] ('I saw two cars today'), instead of the standard [zɔbäˈt͡ʂɘwɛm ˈd͡ʑiʑ ˈdvä sämɔˈxɔdɘ]. This can severely affect intelligibility.[3]
More and less rounded
More or less rounded | |
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◌̹ | |
◌̜ |
There are also diacritics, respectively U+0339 ̹ COMBINING RIGHT HALF RING BELOW and U+031C ̜ COMBINING LEFT HALF RING BELOW, to indicate greater or lesser degrees of rounding. For example, the English /ʊ/ often has very little rounding, and may be transcribed [ʊ̜]. In Assamese, on the other hand, the open back rounded vowel is much more rounded than is typical for a low vowel, and may be transcribed [ɒ̹].
These diacritics are sometimes also used with consonants to indicate degrees of labialization. For example, in the Athabaskan language Hupa, voiceless velar fricatives distinguish three degrees of labialization, transcribed either [x x̹ xʷ] or [x x̜ʷ xʷ].[4]
The
Sound changes
Many sound changes involve changes in place of articulation:
- raising (phonology)
- fronting (phonology)
- i-mutation (vowel fronting or raising, triggered by [i] or [j])
References
- ^ They include: centralized [a] ([ä]), centralized [ɑ] ([ɑ̈]), lowered [ɐ] ([ɐ̞]) and advanced [ɑ] ([ɑ̟]), although the last transcription can also indicate an only somewhat advanced back vowel.
- ^ See e.g. Cruttenden (2014:133), who transcribes the central realizations of the English GOOSE vowel /uː/ with the symbols [üː, ɯ̈ː] instead of [ʉː, ɨː].
- ^ Wierzchowska (1971), p. 131.
- ^ A simpler transcription is also possible, and involves putting an additional labialization diacritic next to the last symbol: [x xʷ xʷʷ].
Bibliography
- Clark, John; Yallop, Collin; Fletcher, Janet (2007), Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 22–26, 264–266
- Cruttenden, Alan (2014), Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 9781444183092
- Wierzchowska, Bożena (1971), Wymowa polska (in Polish), Warsaw: PZWS