17. Three Tutorials on
Voicing and Plosives
Below
are links to three excellent tutorials by Mark Huckvale of the
University College London that will help you understand how
plosives work, and about voice onset time, or VOT.
(1)
Start with the tutorial on the basics of voicing here:
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wtutor?tutorial=siphtra/vb1.htm
You
should go through the tutorial several times, until you have
thoroughly mastered the material in it. You will know some of
the more basic material; pay special attention to whatever is
new. Also take some long close looks at the illustrations of the
larynx so their appearance and structure become increasingly
familiar to you. (Note: the sound files may not work.)
Test yourself: What are 'periodic'
sounds? Aperiodic sounds? How does a voiced aperiodic sound
differ from a voiceless aperiodic sound?
(2)
Next is the Tutorial on Plosives (Part 1) at:
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wtutor?tutorial=siphtra/plostut1/plostut1.htm
Test
yourself: What is a passive articulator? An active articulator?
What are the three stages of a plosive? Give the IPA symbols for
the voiced and voiceless versions of stops with the following
points of articulation: dental, alveolar, bilabial, retroflex,
palatal, velar, uvular.
Here is a local audio file of the
plosives at 7 places of articulation, voiceless and voiced,
introduced in the tutorial.
(3)
Third and last is the Tutorial on Plosives: VOT
and aspiration. (The sound files seem to work OK on this
one.)
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/siphtra/plostut2/plostut2.htm
Test
yourself: What is zero VOT? Negative VOT? Positive VOT? Describe
voiced, unvoiced and aspirated plosives in French, English and
Mandarin.
Try making waveforms of the sounds
covered in this tutorial with WASP, and see how closely they
correspond to those in the tutorial.
Now on to another sound toy...
Next: Playtime: Virtual
Theremin (and a
little about frequency and amplitude)
on to
next page back index I
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