42
Figure 2.10 Vowels. Taken from http:www.
langsci.ucl.ac.uk.htm
Indriani 2005, in her description and classification of speech sounds explains that
a vowel sound is described by the soft palate‟s position, the lips‟ aperture kind, as well as the part and the degree of the raised tongue para. 12. Bauer and
Benedict 1997, in a positive agreement with Indriani 2005, also explain that vowels are analyzed based on three parameters, namely: “the tongue height, the
degree tongue frontness or backness, and the lip r ounding”. They does not
mention, however, the soft palate‟s position. It can be said then, unlike consonants, vowels are produced based, almost entirely on the tongue‟s
movement, helped by the lips‟ forms, backed by the palates. When a vowel is combined with an ending-consonant, it will form a rime Bauer and Benedict,
1997, para. 50. In addition to these two major groups of speech sound, there is
43 another group which consists of „half-consonant and half-vowel‟ speech sounds.
Figure 2.11 features this grup of other symbols.
Figure 2.11 Other Symbols. Taken from http:www.
langsci.ucl.ac.uk.htm
Mannell and Harrington 2009, on their explanation on Figure 2.11, mention the term “complex articulations”. This term refers to the sounds, listed in Figure
2.11, because though some of these sounds are considered semi-vowel, but can also be included into consonants since these sounds are
also „obstructed‟ in the process of their making. Hence, beside the term semi-vowel, also called
approximants or glides. The rest of the sounds are the epiglottal and alveolo- palatal fricatives, the epiglottal plosive, and the lateral flap. A variant of alveolo-
palatal fricatives can be found in Cantonese speech sound inventory.
44
2.1.5 Theories on the Classification of the English Consonants
Bauer and Benedict 1997 explain that consonants can be described and specified by using these two parameters, namely: place of articulation and manner
of articulation. Thus, phonological experts such, Collins and Mees 2003, pp. 40- 41, and Dobrovolsky and Katamba 1996, pp. 26-35, group English consonants,
each based on its place and manner of articulation. Either Collins and Mees 2003 and Dobrovolsky and Katamba 1996 affirm as many as 24 consonants
exist in English language. They agglomerate these consonants, as mentioned previously, based on their manner of articulation, place of articulation, and they
also notify whether a consonant is to be included as a lenis, or fortis. The term lenis, according to them
, is “a phonological class of voiced obstruent consonants articulated with relatively little energy and with potential voice”p.
244. Whereas fortis is ano ther phonological class comprised of “voiceless
obstruent consonants with energetic articulation”p. 242. Thus, only 7 out of 24 English consonants cannot be identified as a lenis or a fortis. They are the
approximants, and the nasals. The 24 consonants according to Collins and Mees 2003 are: the fortis bilabial plosivestop p, lenis bilabial plosive b, fortis
alveolar plosive t, lenis alveolar plosive d, fortis velar plosive k, lenis velar plosive g, fortis labio-dental fricative f, lenis labio-dental fricative v, fortis
alveolar fricative s, lenis alveolar fricative z, fortis palato-alveolar fricative ʃ,
lenis palato-alveolar fricative ʒ, fortis palato-alveolar affricate tʃ, lenis palato-
alveolar affricate d ʒ, fortis dental fricative θ, lenis dental fricative ð, bilabial
nasal m, alveolar nasal n, velar nasal ŋ, fortis glottal fricative h, alveolar
45 lateral-approximant l, post-alveolar central-approximant r, labial-velar central-
approximant w, and last but not least, the palatal central-approximant j. Indriani 2005, pp. 8-9, in her explanation on classification of speech sounds,
also mentions the same number of 24 consonants of English, namely: p, b, t, d, k, g, f, v, s, z,
ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ, θ, ð, m, n, ŋ, h, l, r, w, and j. She, reveal other terms for lenis and fortis mentioned by Collins and Mees
2003; voiced and voiceless. This is another parameter to subsume these consonants; according to the position of the vocal cords.
According to her, “the essential factors to be included in any classificatory chart refer to: the place of
articulation, the manner of articulation, the presence or absence of voice, and the position of the soft palate
” p. 11. A chart of chief English consonantal articulations displayed in one segment of her book states her version of the
English consonants division. It can be seen in the following Figure 2.12.
46
PLACE OF ARTICULATION B
IL ABIA
L LABI
O -DEN
T AL
DEN TAL
ALV EOL
AR P
OST -
ALV EOL
AR P
ALA TO
- ALV
EOL AR
P ALA
TAL VEL
AR GLO
TTA L
MAN N
E R
O F A
R T
ICU L
A T
IO N
COMPLETE ORAL CLOSURE
Plosive
p b t d
k g
Affricate
tʃ dʒ
Nasal
m n
ŋ
INTERMITTENT CLOSURE
Roll
r
PARTIAL CLOSURE
Lateral
l
NARROWING Fricative
f v θ ð s z
ʃ ʒ h
GLIDE Semi vowel
w j
Figure 2.12 Chief English Consonantal Articulations. Taken from Indriani 2005: 11
The second column from the left shows 7 manners of articulation each corresponds to the 9 places of articulation shown in the second line from the top.
The sounds in pair are arranged fortis or voiceless to the left, and lenis or voiced to the left. The voices that stand alone are the approximants and the nasals of
English. Thus, from the figure, it can be identified that the English p is a voiceless bilabial plosive, in contrast to b, which is a voiced bilabial plosive. It
can also be seen that the English t
ʃ and ʃ are both fortis, both pronounced at the palato-alveolar, but the former is an affricate and the later is a fricative, and so
on.
47
2.1.6 Theories on the Classification of the Cantonese Consonants
Similar to Bauer and Benedict 1997 and Collins and Mees 2003, Lo 2000 also remarks that Cantonese consonants, each based on its place of articulation,
manner of articulation, and whether the sound is lenis or fortis. Both Lo 2000 and the Education and Manpower Bureau 2003 affirm that there are 19 initial
consonants in Cantonese inventory. Bauer and Benedict 1997 however, added two more sounds which are syllabics to their list. Each of these consonants can
uniquely stand-alone as a single sound, representing a single word which is also semantically acceptable.
Different from the English‟s, Cantonese consonant inventory actually extrapolate aspiration factor to differentiate the plosives also
called stops and the affricate available to this language. In English, an aspirated version of a stop sound is only considered as an allophone to that sound.
The 19 Cantonese initial consonants according to Bauer and Benedict 1997, also approved by Lo 2000 and the Education and Manpower Bureau 2003, are:
the unaspirated fortis bilabial stop p, aspirated fortis bilabial stop p ʰ,
unaspirated fortis alveolar stop t, aspirated fortis alveolar stop t ʰ, unaspirated
fortis velar stop k and k
w
, aspirated fortis velar stop k ʰ and kʰ
w
, fortis labio- dental fricative f, fortis alveolar fricative s, unaspirated fortis alveolar affricate
ts, aspirated fortis alveolar affricate ts ʰ, bilabial nasal m, alveolar nasal n,
velar nasal ŋ, fortis glottal fricative h, alveolar lateral-approximant l, labial-
velar central-approximant w, and lastly, the palatal central-approximant j .
The syllabic that Bauer and Benedict 1997 added are the stand-alone fortis bilabial
nasal m and the fortis velar nasal ŋ.
48 It should be noted that there are three more sound variants exist in Cantonese
consonant inventory. These sounds are allophones of the initials s, ts, and ts ʰ,
namely the fortis alveolo-palatal fricative [ ɕ], unaspirated fortis alveolo-palatal
affricate [t ɕ], and aspirated fortis alveolo-palatal affricate [tɕʰ]. The sounds
involve a new symbol which Bauer and Benedict 1997 call as “curly-tail c”; ɕ.
They convey allophone ɕ “only occurs before high, front rounded vowel [y:] as
the result of palatalization” of the alveolar fricative s. Whereas [tɕ] and [tɕʰ] can only occur, before round vowels [y:], [
œ:], and [ɵ], also as results of palatalization of ts and ts
ʰ. Other from occurring in Cantonese, this sound also exist in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Catalan Bauer and Benedict, 1997: 41-42. A
chart of chief Cantonese consonantal featuring their remarks can be seen in the following Figure 2.13
