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PWPT Lecture 1A - Phonetics An Introduction

The document introduces phonetics as the study of speech sounds and their production, emphasizing the importance of understanding speech for assessing and treating speech disorders. It discusses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as a standardized system for documenting speech sounds across languages. The document highlights the necessity of using IPA in clinical practice to accurately represent and evaluate speech sounds, especially in therapy settings.

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Gabriella Azzolini
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21 views15 pages

PWPT Lecture 1A - Phonetics An Introduction

The document introduces phonetics as the study of speech sounds and their production, emphasizing the importance of understanding speech for assessing and treating speech disorders. It discusses the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as a standardized system for documenting speech sounds across languages. The document highlights the necessity of using IPA in clinical practice to accurately represent and evaluate speech sounds, especially in therapy settings.

Uploaded by

Gabriella Azzolini
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 1A – Lesson 1

Phonetics: An Introduction

Alahna B. Cogburn, Instructor


What Is Speech?
Speech is a PHYSICAL process
• Voluntary, neuromuscular behavior that allows humans to express
language
• A breath of air emerges into the atmosphere as speech sounds that will
form words, phrases, and sentences
• Four systems and their main anatomical structures
 Respiration (breathing) – trachea, lungs

 Phonation (voicing) – vocal cords housed in the larynx

 Articulation (movement of the structures in the oral cavity) –

lips, teeth, jaw, tongue, soft palate, hard palate


 Resonance (sound in a cavity; contributes unique voice quality) –

oral cavity and nasal cavity


What Is Speech?
In the absence of severe vocal or hearing impairment,
speech is typically our primary and first language modality

• Language does not depend on speech


▫ People express and understand language using various
other methods (e.g., writing, sign language, braille,
lip-reading, Tadoma)
• Speech does depend on language
▫ Otherwise, it would be a bunch of meaningless noises
▫ Language provides meaning to these sounds
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
•Symbol system used for documenting
the speech sounds of language

•Each consonant or vowel symbol


represents a single speech sound

•Created for adoption by languages


worldwide by the International Phonetic
Association
▫Symbols are consistent from language
to language
Phonetics: A “Sound” Science
Phonetics is the study of the production and
perception of speech sounds.

What is important for you to understand in this course?

 How to document the speech sounds of American English


using the IPA

 Physiological phonetics

 Clinical phonetics
Lecture 1A – Lesson 2
Phonetics: An Introduction

Alahna B. Cogburn, Instructor


Why do we need to understand phonetics?
 Important for assessing and treating individuals with
speech disorders and differences

SLP1 – Child had an unrepaired cleft palate. She was working on /p/
/b/ /f/ and /s/ sounds for months and could not figure out why he
was not making progress.
What’s wrong here?

Takeaway message:
It is essential you know how speech sounds are physically produced.
Why do we need to understand phonetics?
SLP2 – 4 year old boy working on the “s” sound at the end of words.
She wanted pictures he could name easily. In a rush, she quickly typed into
her picture database: bus, grass, eyes, nose, keys
What’s wrong here?

SLP3 – 8 year old girl working on the “sh” sound. The SLP decided to use a
list of written words, since the child could read. On the list:
fishing, ocean, mission, lotion
What COULD be a problem here?

Takeaway message:
Sound-written letter (spelling) correspondence is not one to one. The way
words are spelled on paper does not necessarily correspond with how they
sound. Clinicians must keep this in mind when choosing therapy materials.
Why is the IPA useful for clinical practice?

SLP4 – Needs to evaluate the speech of an older child who


just moved to the US from Egypt; Arabic is L1, English is L2.

There is no “p” sound in Arabic. When speaking English he says


“bizza”, “Bepsi” for pizza and Pepsi.

Takeaway message:
IPA uses the symbols of the particular speech sounds of a variety of
languages. Above, the clinician can easily document the L2 sounds
the child is replacing with sounds from his L1.
Why is the IPA useful for clinical practice?

SLP5 – Needs to evaluate the speech of a child who has


very good language skills, but is highly unintelligible.
Most of her words are very unclear.

Takeaway message:
The IPA provides a one-to-one representation of spoken speech.
The actual sounds the child is producing while saying specific
words can be documented. IPA transcriptions can also show if
speech sounds are omitted or distorted.
target error after 4 months of
speech therapy
orthography/ yellow bird
transliteration

IPA
target error after 4 months of
speech therapy
orthography/ nice butterfly
transliteration

IPA
Why is the IPA useful for clinical practice?
 Transcription of speech sounds using IPA is efficient,
informative, and allows SLPs the ability to easily monitor clients’
progress over time.

Target: Put your shoes in the right place.


Using regular writing: Puch ya shoes (lisp) in the righ pwace (lisp)

Transcribed in IPA:
IPA – Fun and Challenging!
 Studying IPA can be like “learning a new language”
 There are variations on how one can transcribe the same
productions.
 Different transcribers use their own rules for transcribing.

In this class, you are responsible for learning Professor Cogburn’s


transcription conventions.

No YouTube*, online transcription sites*, notes from other


courses, using any outside resources, etc.
*considered cheating
Typing IPA Symbols
Where can I find them?
http://ipa.typeit.org/full/
select the IPA symbols, copy & paste
In Microsoft Word:
change font to Cambria or Times New Roman
Insert → Symbol → then scroll for the IPA symbol,
select, then insert
*Mac Users: see posted instructions on how to access the entire keyboard

Beware! Pay attention to the IPA symbol


you are actually typing!

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