Consonants

Table of contents
  1. Consonants
  2. List of Consonants
  3. Phonetically Rich Sentences
    1. Labial Stops /p/ /pʰ/ /b/
    2. Alveolar Stops /tʰ/ /t/
    3. Velar Stops /k/ /kʰ/ /g/
    4. Alveolar Affricates /ts/ /tsʰ/ /dz/
    5. Fricatives /s//h/
    6. Nasals /ŋ//n/ /m/
    7. Liquids /l/
  4. Voice Onset Timing (VOT)
    1. Affricate and Breathy Voice
  5. State Timing Diagrams
    1. Stops
    2. Fricatives
    3. Affricates
    4. Liquids
  6. Stop Consonant Cluster Release

List of Consonants

  • Initial list of consonants and common phrases to illustrate the relationship between the Peng'im and IPA transcriptions1
    • Note: Viewing the whole table may require scrolling horizontally
IPA Peng’im IPA Transcription Peng’im Transcription English Gloss SwaTao Gloss Mandarin Gloss
/p/ b /pa/ a1ba1 Dad 阿爸 爸爸
/pʰ/ p /pʰoʊ/ pou1 To spread a cloth 铺 铺
/b/ bh /buaŋ/ bhuang7 10,000 万 万
/t/ d /di gɔ/ di7 go3 Where 底块 哪里
/tʰ/ t /suã taʊ/ suan1 tao5 Swa Tao (Dialect and Region) 汕头 汕头
/ts/ z /tsek/ zêg8 1 一 一
/tsʰ/ c /tsʰik/ cig4 7 七 七
/z/ or /dz/ r /dzi/ ri7 Word 字 字
/k/ g /kau/ gao2 9 九 九
/kʰ/ k /gɯŋ kɯe/ gong1 kue3 Homework 功课 功课
/g/ gh /gaɪ/ gai5 Particle (What/thing) 个 个
/ʔ/ -h /hiẽ/ hiên1 Village 乡 乡
/m/ m /mi/ mih8 Particle (What/thing) 乜 什么
/n/ n /no/ no6 2 兩 兩
/ŋ/ ng /ŋou/ ngou6 5 五 五
    /ŋaŋ/ ngang5 In Cantonese/Mandarin means to coagulate, in Teochew means to be cold 凝 冷
/s/ s /sã/ san1 3 三 三
/h/ h /hak/ hak4 Learn/School 学 学
/l/ l /leŋ/ lêng5 0 零 零

Phonetically Rich Sentences

In order to illustrate the phonetic contrasts of phonemes (ex: /p/ vs. /pʰ/ vs. /b/), the speaker produced the sentences below. Note: Since Learn Teochew is based off of Teochew Proper video tutorials, the transcriptions were updated after analyzing the speaker’s segments in Praat.

Labial Stops /p/ /pʰ/ /b/

IPA Transcription Peng’im Transcription SwaTao Gloss Chinese Gloss English Gloss
/i gaɪ/

/boʊ/

/dɯɔ/

/tsʌŋ deŋ/

/pʰoʊ/

/poʊ/		 i1-gai5 

bhou2 

do6 

ceng1-dêng2

pou1

bou3		 一个

𡚸

在

床顶

铺

补		 你的

妻子

在

床

单

铺		 Your

Wife

Is

Bed

Sheet 

Spreading

Alveolar Stops /tʰ/ /t/

IPA Transcription Peng’im Transcription SwaTao Gloss Chinese Gloss English Gloss
/tʰaʊ/

/ge/

/aɪ/

/pɯe/

/tau:/

/ge/		 tao5

gê1 

ai3 

boi2 

dao7

ghê6		 头

家

爱

买

豆

芽		 老

板

爱

买

豆

芽		 The

Boss

Likes

Selling

Bean

Sprouts

Velar Stops /k/ /kʰ/ /g/2

IPA Transcription Peng’im Transcription SwaTao Gloss Chinese Gloss English Gloss
/kɯ/

/mɪŋ/

/kʰɯ/

/o/

/hoʔ/

/gɯ/		 gê1

ming1

ke3

oh8

gog4

ghe2		 居

民

去

学

国

语		 居

民

去

学

国

语		 Resident



Goes

Learn

Mandarin

Alveolar Affricates /ts/ /tsʰ/ /dz/

IPA Transcription Peng’im Transcription SwaTao Gloss Chinese Gloss English Gloss
/wa/

/tsi/

/tsɯŋ/

/luo/

/tsʰi/

/kiã/

/bo/

/piaŋ/

/sia/

/dzi/		 ua2

zi2

hue5

lo1

ci7

gian2

bho5

biang3

sia2

ri7		 我

这

回

啰

飼

仔 

無

變 

寫

字		 我

在




喂

孩子

不

方便

写

字		 I

Am




Feeding

Child

Not

Convenient

Write

Words

Fricatives /s//h/

IPA Transcription Peng’im Transcription SwaTao Gloss Chinese Gloss English Gloss
/naŋ/

/eŋ/

/gaɪ/

/siẽ/

/hu/

/hiẽ/

/li/

/naŋ/		 nang2

êng1

gai1

siê1

hu6

hiên1

li2

nang5		 俺

应

该

相

辅

乡

里

人		 我们

应

该

帮助



乡下

里的

人		 We

Should

Help

Fellow

Villagers

Nasals /ŋ//n/ /m/

IPA Transcription Peng’im Transcription SwaTao Gloss Chinese Gloss English Gloss
/i/

/ŋɔ/

/dio/

/no/

/kaɪ/

/tʰok/

/dẽŋ/

/kaɪ/

/naŋ/		 i1

ngo6

diêh8

no6

gai5

tok

dêng2

gai5

nang5		 伊

遇

着

两

个

托

顶

个

人		 他

遇

到了

两

个

无

头发

的

人		 He/She

Met



Two



Bald





People

Liquids /l/3

IPA Transcription Peng’im Transcription SwaTao Gloss Chinese Gloss English Gloss
/lɯ/

/laɪ/

/u/

/leŋ/

/moŋ/

/a/

/bo/		 le2

lai6

u6

lêng5

mong5

a1

bho5		 汝

内

有

柠

檬

呀

无？		 你

在家

有

柠

檬

啊

没有？		 You

At

Home

Have

Lemons



Or Not Have?
         

Voice Onset Timing (VOT)

  • Voice Onset Time(VOT) refers to the amount of time it takes for voicing to occur after a stop release
    • Thus, a negative VOT means that their is voicing during the closure before the release (voiced stop)
Voice_Onset_Time = Voicing Start Time - Release Time
Class Segment Release Time (sec) Voicing Start Time (sec) Voice Onset Time (ms)
Bilabial /p/ 5.876207 5.884625 8.418
  /pʰ/ 5.41038 5.53028 119.9
  /b/ 15.153651 15.05368 -99.971
         
Alveolar /t/ 22.203843 22.211099 7.256
  /tʰ/ 19.862651 20.012493 149.842
         
  /ts/ 32.84078 32.924253 83.473
  /tsʰ/ 34.340815 34.519474 178.659
  /dz/ 37.127405 37.083567 -43.838
         
Velar /k/ 26.175362 26.215622 40.26
  /kʰ/ 27.180749 27.252689 71.94
  /g/ 28.989076 28.819526 -169.55
         
Nasal /m/ 104.840977 104.655696 -185.281
  /n/ 49.80179 49.68161 -120.18
  /ŋ/ 49.993632 49.90999 -83.642
  • The most interesting finding from the VOT table is that glottal wide gesture (traditionally called aspiration) following a closure release (or stop release) delays voicing by at least >50ms longer when comparing aspirated vs. unaspirated stops.

Affricate and Breathy Voice

  • However, the smallest difference in VOT is between the /ts/ and the /tsʰ/ with 83 ms and 178 ms respectively
    • When looking at the aspirated versus the unaspirated alveolar affricate, the aspirated (top) signal seems biphasic4
    • Since only the aspiration differs in the minimal pair, it seems that after the /s/ fricative release, there is not the complete glottal closure we would expect from voicing. Rather the extra peak seems to be coming from medial compression causing a breathy voice at the beginning of the vowel
      • The spectrogram also confirms this as there is quite high energy frequencies on the onset of voicing in the signal
  • Thus, we can hypothesize that the aspirated alveolar affricate causes breathy voice in the onset of the voicing in the next segment.
    • Since in Teochew there is only one onset consonant immediately followed by a vowel nucleus, the vowel experiences this breathy voice

State Timing Diagrams

  • Based on the VOT and phonetic descriptions from the literature, we can infer state timing diagrams for the stop consonants in SwaTao
  • Below are the General Hypothesis on State Timing Diagrams of Gestural Constrictions

Using the Articulatory Phonology Gestural Descriptions for Consonants:

Vocal Tract Constrictor/Organ Description
Velic (Velum) Controls the lowering of the velum and therefore nasalization
Tongue Tip Controls Coronal Consonants (Alveo-dental, Alveolar, Post-Alveolar, Palatal)
Tongue Body Controls Dorsal Consonants (Palatal, Velar, Uvular, Pharyngeal)
Labial Controls Lip Aperture, Lip Rounding, and Lip Height
Laryngeal Controls Glottal Aperture and Voicing

(Large Glottal Aperture = voiceless)
(Small Glottal Aperture = voiced)

Stops

  1. Unaspirated Voiceless Stops
    1. Glottal Wide during the stop closure
    2. Glottis Narrow immediately following the release
  2. Aspirated Voiceless Stops
    1. Glottal Wide during the stop closure
    2. Glottal Adduction following the release for >70 ms before voicing begins
  3. Voiced Stops
    1. Glottal Closed throughout the stop closure and release (synchronous5)
Constrictor Description State Timing Diagram
Labial
Tongue Tip
Tongue Body
Velum Lowering

Fricatives

  1. Both fricatives in SwaTao are voiceless
    1. Glottal Wide gesture is synchronous5 with the fricative

Affricates

All affricate in Teochew are alveolar and follow a similar pattern to the stops

  1. Voiceless Unaspirated Affricate
    1. Glottal Wide synchronous with Alveolar Stop and Alveolar Fricative
  2. Voiceless Aspirated Affricate
    1. Glottal Wide during Alveolar Stop and Alveolar Fricative
    2. Glottal Adduction and Medial Compression after onset voicing begins (breathy voice during vowel)

Liquids

There is only one liquid in Teochew, /l/ with two constrictions: alveolar and uvular

Stop Consonant Cluster Release

Since SwaTao follows a /CVC/ where the consonants are optional and nucleus is either a single-vowel or diphthong, there are no consonant clusters.

  1. Most words and transcriptions are first sourced from the Learn Teochew resource. ↩

  2. The /mɪŋ/, /o/, and the /hoʔ/ needed to be changed from the original transcription based on the speaker ↩

  3. Originally, the sentences was /lʌ/ /do/ /laɪ/ /u/ /leŋ/ /moŋ/ /a/ /bo/; however the speaker found that adding the extra /do/ was ungrammatical. Thus, it is removed from the recording and transcription ↩

  4. Biphasic with respect to a waveform means that there are two up and down phases in the same wave ↩

  5. Synchronous refers to the idea that two gestures begin and end at the same time (“in sync”) rather than being out of sync (ex: Glottal Adduction after a Stop Release causing `aspiration) ↩ ↩2