The IPA Phonetic Chart for Creative Writing
The IPA Phonetic Chart encompasses all of the sounds it is possible for the human vocal tract to make, both consonants and vowels. While not all of the sounds are actually used in English, knowing the chart can help people searching for a word with just the right sound.
Think of it as like a rhyming dictionary, but with sounds instead of word endings. You can find the full version here. The reason it's so useful for writers who focus on sound is because it lays out the basic relationships between a sound and that sound's physicality.
ConsonantsConsonants are described with three properties: place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voice.
Place of articulationConsonants are created by obstructing the airflow when speaking. The place of articulation indicates where the air is being stopped.
bilabialYou press your lips togetherlabiodentalYour bottom lip touches your top teethdentalThe tip of your tongue sticks out between nearly clenched teethalveolarYour tongue touches the roof of your mouth just behind your teethpalato-alveolarYour tongue touches the back of your alveolar ridge (the roof of your mouth, near the middle)velarYour tongue touches your soft palate (the roof of your mouth, in the rear)glottalYour vocal cords contract to restrict the flow of air.Manner of articulationConsonants gain further character based on how the airstream is closed off and where it's routed when pronouncing them.
nasalThe air is routed through your noseplosiveThe air is completely stopped and then released, a bit like a small explosionfricativeThe air is only partial stopped, usually resulting in a hissing-like soundtap/flapThe articulators (whatever it is that stops the air, usually tongue, but can include lips or vocal cords) taps the place of articulation only brieflyapproximantNot quite a vowel, but not really a full consonant eitherVoiceFinally, consonants are described by whether or not your vocal cords are vibrating.
voicedYour vocal cords are vibrating.voicelessYour vocal cords are not vibrating
Putting a shortened English version together, you get:
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palato-avleolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | | Nasals |
| m |
|
|
| n |
|
|
| ŋ |
| | Plosives | p | b |
|
| t | d |
|
| k | g | ʔ |
| | Fricatives |
| f | v | θ | ð | s | z | ʃ | ʒ |
|
| h |
| | Approx. |
|
|
|
| ɹ |
|
| j |
| w |
| | Tap, Flap |
|
|
|
| ɾ |
|
|
|
| | Lateral Approx. |
|
|
|
| l |
|
|
|
|
[tr][/tr]
| voiced | voiceless | not in English | impossible |
(Notes for the purists: Neither x, hw, the affricates, nor ɦ are included. x is not used in the majority of dialects, hw and the affricates are typically transcribed as consonant pairs, and ɦ has no minimal pairs with h. Also, h only appears once, despite its variable/minimal phonation, and w is in its spot because it has to go somewhere. Some things just aren't as important to creative writers as they are to linguists.) (On second thought, I'll list the affricates to the list below for those interested.) Since not all of the letters in the chart mean what they do in English, and some aren't even used in English, here's a quick rundown:
Nasalsm - voiced bilabial nasalSame as in English (man, ham)n - voiced alveolar nasalSame as in English (no, tin)ŋ - voiced velar nasalSame as some "ng"s in English (sing, thing)Plosivesp - voiceless bilabial plosiveSame as in English (pike, tap)b - voiced bilabial plosiveSame as in English (bike, tab)t - voiceless alveolar plosiveSame as in English (tie, mat)d - voiced alveolar plosiveSame as in English (die, mad)k - voiceless velar plosiveSame as in English (kill, back)g - voiced velar plosiveSame as in English (gill, bag)ʔ - voiceless glottal plosiveNever spelled in English. It's the catch in your breath in the middle of "uh-oh"
Fricativesf - voiceless labiodental fricativeSame as in English (fan, waif)v - voiced labiodental fricativeSame as in English (van, wave)θ - voiceless dental fricativeSame as some "th"s in English (thigh)ð - voiced dental fricativeSame as some "th"s in English (thy)s - voiceless alveolar fricativeSame as in English (sap, fuss)z - voiced alveolar fricativeSame as in English (zap, fuzz)ʃ - voiceless palato-alveolar fricativeSame as English "sh" (Confucian, bash)ʒ - voiced palato-alveolar fricativeSpelled all kinds of crazy ways in English (confusion, seizure, beige)h - voiceless glottal fricativeSame as in English (ham)Approximantsɹ - voiced alveolar approximantSame as English "r" (rank, boar, pirate)j - voiced palatal approximantSame as English "y" (yank, boy)w - voiced velar approximantSame as English "w" (wank, bow)l - voiced alveolar lateral approximantSame as in English (lanky, bowl, pilot)Affricates (combined consonants)tʃ - voiceless post-alveolar affricateSame as most English "ch", "tch" (chair, catch)dʒ - voiced post-alveolar affricateSame as most English "j" (edge, joy)VowelsNext, vowels are also described by three basic characteristics: height, backness, and roundedness. English also has a fourth characteristic, whether a vowel is tense/lax. Things get rather complicated because while consonants mostly stay the same between dialects of English, vowels are all over the place. The examples below may not necessarily apply to the way any given person speaks English.
HeightThe higher your tongue is in the mouth, the higher the vowel. Instead of calling the highest vowels “high vowels,” linguists call them “close vowels.” And “open vowels,” not “low vowels,” are the lowest.
BacknessThe definition of backness is, on one hand, how far back your tongue is in your mouth when you pronounce the vowel. On the other hand, that's not actually the definition. Linguists use the frequency of the sound pronounced as the “real” definition, but tongue position is good enough of an approximation. (What happened is that they realized the harmonic frequencies, a.k.a. formants, were a more useful description of vowels.)
RoundednessIf you round your lips to pronounce a vowel, the vowel is round. If your lips aren't round when you pronounce a vowel, the vowel isn't.
Tense/LaxEnglish has paired groups of vowels which are phonologically distinct. That is, even though their vowels are the same according to the first three characteristics, “suit”/“soot” and “beat”/“bit” are different words. The tense/lax distinction roughly correlates with the long vowel/short vowel distinction taught in grade school.
And now, the chart, notes, and explanations:
| Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | | Close | i | y |
| ɨ | ʉ |
| u | | Near-close |
| ɪ |
| ɪ̈ |
| ʊ | | Close-mid | e | ø |
| ɘ | ɵ |
| ɤ | o | | Mid | e̞ |
| ə |
| | Open-mid | ɛ | œ |
| ɜ |
| ʌ | ɔ | | Near-open | æ |
| ɐ |
| | Open | a | ɶ |
| ɑ | ɒ |
[tr][/tr]
(Note for the purists: All vowels with no rounded pair are listed as unrounded for simplicity's sake. Also, vowels not typically found in any English dialects will be removed once I have more time.) Because of the wide variety in vowel pronunciation, rather than have lists for each symbol on there, I'm going to organize by dialect (just RP for now, more when I get the time). I'm also going to only use a few signpost vowels. For creative writers, being able to recognize the sounds by ear is more important than knowing where everything fits on a chart. (If you're curious, A full list can be found here.) It's also not on the chart, but tense vowels are usually marked by the ː symbol.
Received Pronunciation (Upper-Class British)i - close front unrounded lax vowelhappy, cityiː - close front unrounded tense vowelfleece, meatuː - close back rounded tense vowelthrough, youɪ - near-close near-front unrounded lax vowelsit, kitʊ - close back rounded lax vowelfoot, put, hoode - close-mid front unrounded lax voweldoesn't usually appear alone; combined with ɪ it's found in date, painə - mid central vowelcomma, aboutɛ - open-mid front unrounded lax vowelbed, dressɔː - open-mid back rounded tense vowelsort, warmɐ - near-open central lax vowelrun, won, flooda - open front unrounded lax voweldoesn't usually appear alone; combined with ʊ it's found in now, troutɑː - open back unrounded tense vowelpalm, fatherɒ - open back rounded lax vowellot, not, waspExercisesIt's a lot of information, but these charts can help writers. Poets have long known that it's possible to create sonic effects through more than just meter, strict consonance/alliteration, or the various kinds of rhyme. Like most things artistic, learning how this works depends on trying it out, and here are some exercises which can help with that.
Expanded Consonance- Write a few lines using a predominance of plosives.
- Write a few more lines using a predominance of fricatives. Keep the meter, rhythm, and length as close to the first as possible.
- Read both sets of lines out loud, paying attention to the sounds more than the meaning.
Consonance SwitchIf you're hitting a certain consonant hard, but either can't think of the right word or you don't want to overuse a letter, you can keep two of the consonant characteristics the same while varying the others.
The p / b and d / t combinations are talked about a lot, and those are voiced/voiceless pairs. You can also keep voice the same while varying the other characteristics.
For example, if you write a few lines using only voiced alveolar consonants you get the grouping n / d / z / ɾ / l. This will give a passage a different feel than if you use only voiced plosives: b / d / g. Moving between the groups can create a subtle gradient of sound akin to chord changes in music.
- Write a passage using predominantly voiced alveolar consonants.
- Write a passage using predominantly voiced plosives. Keep the meter, rhythm, and length as close to the first as possible.
- Read both sets of lines out loud, paying attention to the sounds more than the meaning.
Tense/Lax Variation- Write a few lines using only tense (long) vowels.
- Write a few more lines using only lax (short) vowels. Keep the meter, rhythm, and length as close to the first as possible.
- Read both sets of lines out loud, paying attention to the sounds more than the meaning.
Height Contrast- Write a few lines using only close/near-close vowels.
- Write a few more lines using only open/near-open vowels. Keep the meter, rhythm, and length as close to the first as possible.
- Read both sets of lines out loud, paying attention to the sounds more than the meaning.
Analysis- Read Edgar Allan Poe's “Annabel Lee”.
- Regardless of what you think of the poem itself, make a list of the primary consonance in each of the stanzas.
- Next to the list, write down whether the predominant emotion of that stanza is “hope/love”, “death/despair,” or “both.” You should find some correspondences.
- Do you find the pairing of sound and imagery effective? Why or why not?
There's a lot of write-and-read here. Learning about the sounds of language from a creative standpoint, rather than an academic linguistic standpoint, is a lot like ear training for musicians. You have to know how the chords interact, yes, but if you can't hear them interact you won't understand them intuitively. Have fun and good luck.
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发表于 2013-6-3 15:45:32
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发表于 2013-6-7 10:02:49