Linguistic Technical Terms (Renewed on July 07, 1999)

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Vowels . consonants . diacritics . phonetic brackets . examples of phonetic records . Phonetic system home

The places of articulation in the vocal tract
The manner of the articulation and the representation in EL
Diacritics which do double duty as phoneme bases

The places of articulation in the vocal tract

Consonants are produced using these vocal organs (showed by the numbers of the organs):

Nasal {13,7} / Bilabial {1,2} / Labiodental {2,3} / Dental {3,9} / Alveolar {4.9 and the blade} /
Postalveolar {4,5,9,10} / Lateral plosive, fricative, ejective, implosive or click {6,11}
Retroflex {9, between 5 and 4} / Palatal {5,10} / Velar {{7,12} / Uvular {8,12) /
Pharyngeal {front and back wall of 14} / Glottal {15}
Each of the consonant bases is explained in the consonant section.

Pulmonic or non-pulmonic:

The way to pronounce using the air stream from the lungs,
usually pulmonic is used for speaking.

Non-pulmonic: Making a voice or a sound unrelated to the air stream from the lungs.
There are three kinds: Implosives, Ejectives and Clicks .
See the consonant section about these sounds and also examples of the following types of consonants.

The manner of the articulation and the representation in EL

Total closure

Plosive:
A complete closure is made at some point in the vocal tract, then release explosively. An El base of plosive has the organ shape of a point or a stopping tongue shape. Soft palate is raised and air pressure thus builds up behind the closure.
Stop:
When a complete closure is made at some point in the vocal tract and stop without releasing, it's just no sound 'stop'. In EL, (11) is compounded with a plosive symbol to show various stops. Only 11 itself shows the glottal stop.
Nasal:
A complete closure is made at some point in the mouth; the air escapes through the nose. The base (02) shows the complete closed mouth nasal, and it works for nasalization . Nasal sounds like [m], [n], [N] are shown as base overlays, which 02 is combined with the certain plosives in EL. When it is compounded with a vowel, it makes the soft palate lowered and the vowel changes into nasalized vowel.
Affricate:
A complete closure is made at some point in the mouth: air pressure builds up behind the closure, and is then released relatively slowly (compared to a plosive release).

Homorganic Affricate: The first a sharp plosive sounds, but this is followed by an element of audible friction using the same organs.

Affricate with two different closures: When making two different closures for both plosive and friction as affricate, a base overlay of the plosive and the fricative is used for showing it.

Intermittent closure

Trill:
One articulator taps rapidly against another - typically the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge or the tongue back against the uvula, in different kinds of trilled. For 'trill', (41) is used in EL compounding with a consonant for the articulation. Also this 41 next to a vowel shows that the vowel is with a special vibrated voice caused by movement of the vocal cords.
Tap or Flap:
A single tap is made by one articulator against another, as in some pronunciations of the r in very, or the d in ladder, where the tongue tip taps once against the alveolar ridge. This base is (55).

Partial closure

lateral:
A partial closure is made at some point in the mouth, in such a way that the air stream is allowed to escape around the side(s) of the closure. Alveolar lateral approximant (14) [l] is this base.

Narrowing

Approximant: (these examples are in the vowel section )
It is produced by breathing without friction through between almost approached organs of a certain consonant. The symbol (63) to loosen a closure compounds with a plosive or a fricative, and makes it the certain approximant in EL.
Fricative:
[ f ], [ v ] (labiodental), [ s ], [ z ] (alveolar), (pharyngeal), (glottal) are the main fricatives, and others are shown by base overlays.

Diacritics which do double duty as phoneme bases

Sometimes a consonant uses two points of articulation.
IPA uses small diacritical marks to distinguish for secondary articulation,
but EL expresses by just compounding phonemes, indicating each main articulation point/way.
So Secondary Articulations are shown as below.

Nasalization: (02)
The soft palate is lowered, allowing some of the air stream to escape through the nose.
French and Portuguese use many Nasalized vowels.

Rhoticization: (36)
The tip of the tongue is curled backward (Retroflex) at the same time as the primary articulation is made.

Labialization: (31)
Lips are excessibly rounded at the same time as the primary articulation is made.

Palatalization: or
The tongue is raised to a high front position at the same time as the primary articulation is made.
This palatal approximant {52,63} sounds the same to the vowel (04)[i].
The base works as palatalization for a consonant character. To palatalize a vowel with out adding other characteristics of , the base is compounded.

Velarization: or (for just narrowing at the articulation place)
The tongue is raised to a high back position at the same time as the primary articulation is made.
This tongue situation is the same to the vowel (30).
When the velar function is one of the main part of a consonant, or (for voiced) are used,
as [ n ], , , and oral clicks.

Pharyngealization:
The pharynx is narrowed at the same time as the primary articulation is made.
Arabic uses many pharyngealized phonemes.
(70) is usually compounded with another phoneme.

Written by Yoshiko, Refereed to: 'The Cambridge encyclopedia of language'( Cambridge University Press, 1987),
Webster's Dictionary - deluxe edition, Kenkyusha's New English-Japanese Dictionary (1987),
International Phonetic Alphabet and 7 bit representation of the IPA.(This link doesn't work in 2009.
Instead, a visitor, Katie recommends International Phonetic Alphabet in the Voices.com)

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