International Phonetic Association Research Articles

A Comparative Approach for Pronunciation Instruction in English

A tool is proposed to reinforce the pronunciation of vowels and consonants for the instruction of adult learners in Costa Rica. A critical review of literature on approaches to teaching vowels and consonants is followed by a comparative discussion of two transcription systems: that of the International Phonetic Association, and those found in textbooks, dictionaries and pronunciation websites. This is complemented by a brief comparison of English and Spanish vowels and consonants, and descriptions of common pronunciation challenges for Spanish speakers. Open problems are explored, as are ethical reflections on the teaching of English pronunciation.

Shaping Language Pedagogy: The Impact of Linguistics, Psychology, and Sociology from the 1880s to the 1980s

The time frame from the 1880s to the 1980s represents a crucial era where foundational ideas in linguistics, psychology, and sociology were established. Major developments in these fields such as the emergence of modern linguistics, establishment of psychology as a distinct scientific discipline, Durkheim’s concept of collective consciousness and societal nature of beliefs, two world wars, and geopolitical changes greatly influenced language teaching methodologies and theories during this time. The impact of these events resulted in changes within school systems, prompting ministries of education to take administrative measures. It also gave rise to the establishment of new organizations like the International Phonetic Association (IPA) and associations for language teachers. The research aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the interconnectedness of linguistics, psychology, and sociology in molding language pedagogy during a crucial period in its historical development. The intersection of these disciplines sheds light on shaping language teaching methodologies and theories, offering insights for educators, researchers, and policymakers in the field of language education.

The Generation of Articulatory Animations Based on Keypoint Detection and Motion Transfer Combined with Image Style Transfer

Knowing the correct positioning of the tongue and mouth for pronunciation is crucial for learning English pronunciation correctly. Articulatory animation is an effective way to address the above task and helpful to English learners. However, articulatory animations are all traditionally hand-drawn. Different situations require varying animation styles, so a comprehensive redraw of all the articulatory animations is necessary. To address this issue, we developed a method for the automatic generation of articulatory animations using a deep learning system. Our method leverages an automatic keypoint-based detection network, a motion transfer network, and a style transfer network to generate a series of articulatory animations that adhere to the desired style. By inputting a target-style articulation image, our system is capable of producing animations with the desired characteristics. We created a dataset of articulation images and animations from public sources, including the International Phonetic Association (IPA), to establish our articulation image animation dataset. We performed preprocessing on the articulation images by segmenting them into distinct areas each corresponding to a specific articulatory part, such as the tongue, upper jaw, lower jaw, soft palate, and vocal cords. We trained a deep neural network model capable of automatically detecting the keypoints in typical articulation images. Also, we trained a generative adversarial network (GAN) model that can generate end-to-end animation of different styles automatically from the characteristics of keypoints and the learned image style. To train a relatively robust model, we used four different style videos: one magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) articulatory video and three hand-drawn videos. For further applications, we combined the consonant and vowel animations together to generate a syllable animation and the animation of a word consisting of many syllables. Experiments show that this system can auto-generate articulatory animations according to input phonetic symbols and should be helpful to people for English articulation correction.

Impact of Phonemic Transcription on Learners’ English Spelling: A Segmental Study

Acquiring sufficient proficiency in English pronunciation is a strenuous task for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. Among other reasons, one primary reason is the lack of correspondence between the sounds and letters of the English language which makes English pronunciation a hard task for foreign learners. To reduce this discrepancy of sounds and spellings in order to improve the pronunciation of language learners, phonemic transcription is used quite widely by EFL/ESL teachers across the world. The phonetic/phonemic transcription is based on the internationally recognized symbols commonly referred to as IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) offered by IPA (International Phonetic Association). Despite the immense usefulness of phonemic transcription, it has the potential to negatively affect learners’ normal English spellings. The present research aimed to explore the impact of continuous phonemic transcription on English spellings of EFL learners through a Pre experimental research design. The study participants were the students of Diploma level in the Functional Courses Department, National University of Modern Languages (henceforth NUML). A range of phonemic passages was used as a research tool to explore the impact of sounds on spellings and Cook’s classification of spelling errors was adapted as a model for the categorization of spelling errors. Findings of the study reveal various categories of sound substitution errors under the impact of consonants, vowels, and diphthongs. With continuous practice of converting phonemic transcription into normal English spelling/orthography, certain consonantal sounds like /ð/, /?/, /,/s/, /k/, /z/, /w/ and vowel sounds like /i:/, /i/, /æ/, /?/, /?/, /?/, /?/ show the Mother Tongue(MT) impact of sounds on spellings. While in the case of diphthongs, only two sounds /a?/, and /e?/ exhibit the impact of sounds on spellings.

Phonetic Teachers and the Reform Movement: evidence from records of the IPA

ABSTRACT This work attempts to discover something about the hundreds of relatively obscure language teachers around the world who put Reform Movement principles to work in their teaching. We use the surviving records of the teachers’ memberships in the International Phonetic Association (IPA). At its foundation and for many years afterwards the IPA was primarily an association for language teachers, and the detailed membership lists which were regularly published in the Association’s journal provide a historical resource of great value, especially when used in conjunction with a recently-produced index which facilitates rapid searching. An exploratory study which focuses on early members in Australasia reveals several forgotten figures who can be traced in other records and archives. The conclusion outlines the eventual transformation of the IPA’s guiding principles and enquires into the effective lifespan of Reform Movement influence within the Association.

Voicing of glottal consonants and non-modal vowels

Variation in voicing is common among sounds of the world’s languages: sounds that are analyzed as voiceless can undergo voicing, and those analyzed as voiced can devoice. Among voiceless glottal sounds in particular, voicing is widespread: linguists often expect the voiceless glottal stop [ʔ] and fricative [h] to be fully voiced, especially between vowels. In this study, we use audio recordings from Illustrations of the International Phonetic Alphabet published in theJournal of the International Phonetic Associationto explore the extent to which glottal consonants and non-modal (breathy and creaky) vowels differ in terms of percentage voicing and voicing intensity in three phrasal positions. We find that voiceless [h] is only slightly less voiced than voiced [ɦ] in initial position. Between two vowels, both [h] and [ɦ] are as voiced as breathy vowels. Glottal stops and creaky vowels are both characterized by high percentages of voicing, but they differ in voicing intensity: in all phrasal positions, glottal stops generally have periods of strong and weak voicing, whereas creaky vowels are strongly voiced. In contrast, vowels described as ‘rearticulated’, ‘checked’, or ‘glottalized’ show similar drops in voicing intensity to glottal stops. We interpret these results through an articulatory lens: glottal consonants and non-modal vowels are both modulations in phonation resulting from laryngeal constriction and vocal fold spreading. We argue further that, because voicing during [ʔ] and [h] is largely predictable from respiratory and prosodic constraints, many cases of [ʔ] and [h] can be considered phonetically underspecified for voicing.

Map labeling with the International Phonetic Alphabet: the example of the Middle East

ABSTRACT The main aim of the study presented in this paper was to apply a new method to the creation of map typography. We focused on the original pronunciations of geographical names (endonyms), which is viewed as one of the important attributes of geographical objects. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which was devised by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized way of representing the sounds of spoken language, was used to capture pronunciation. The advantages and disadvantages of using pronunciation in maps were analyzed and compared with other approaches to writing names. The maps created as part of the study demonstrated the practical limitations of using the IPA in cartography. For the using of the IPA for map typography, the Middle East region was chosen because of the large number of different languages (using different scripts) spoken in it. A map was created whose features are described by means of transcriptions of the pronunciation of geographical names in the original language. The main map also incorporates a second map, which describes the same geographical features in English, written using the IPA. It proved to be possible to use pronunciation written in IPA characters for map descriptions, though certain limitations apply. This method may be used in cartography as a supplement to other ways of writing names.

Soft d in Danish: Acoustic characteristics and issues in transcription

Danish, like closely related Swedish and Norwegian, has descended from Old Norse (Haugen 1976). While the three contemporary languages are variably mutually intelligible, Danish has phonologically diverged from the other Scandinavian languages (Gooskens 2006). This is caused by extensive consonant lenition and vowel reduction within Danish (Basbøll 2005). The lenition of <t> and <d> in syllable coda positions into a sound that Danish linguists have called soft-d is seemingly unique to the Danish. In most phonological descriptions, it is transcribed using the phonetic symbol /ð/, a voiced interdental fricative. We assert that this is not accurate; not all phonologists agree that the soft-d is a fricative. Some describe it as an alveolar semi-vowel (Haberland 1994), while others transcribe it as a velarized, retracted, and lowered alveolar approximant (Basbøll 2005). Many observe that the sound resembles lateral /l/, a distinct phoneme of Danish (Wells, 2010). Through acoustic analysis of tokens taken from the DanPASS corpus (Grønnum 2016) we show that the acoustic properties (HNR) of soft-d are indeed not the same as a fricative, but rather that of an approximant or vowel. Therefore, the use of /ð/ to transcribe this symbol is inaccurate and does not align with the goals of the International Phonetic Association.

FORMANT CHARACTERISTICS OF MALAY VOWELS OF PERLIS, KELANTAN AND TERENGGANU

The pronunciation of Malay vowels are taught according to the International Phonetic Association transcription sound chart. The documentation for pronunciations are conducted by describing and distinguishing the vowel’s sound through impressionistic. In the last five years, several studies were carried out to quantify the standard Malay vowels pronunciation using formant frequencies. However, only one work was identified that measures Malay vowels using formant frequencies for the Kedah district. Nonetheless, there were contradiction in some of the findings as the spoken vowels wereextracted from a read speech, that may not be representative of the natural dialect. Therefore, this paper investigated the Malay vowels variations from three districts (Perlis, Kelantan, and Terengganu) using spontaneous speeches acquired in a natural setting. Eight (8) Malay vowels were collected from local males and females residing in Perlis, Kelantan, and Terengganu. Four formant frequencies (F1-F4) were measured from the vowels extracted from the spontaneous speeches of the locals. Further analysis on the first and second formant suggest that the Malay vowels of Terengganu and Kelantan have a broader range of formants that are located in approximately the same position in the mouth. However, the vowels of the Perlis dialects were closely positioned in a narrower region of the mouth. A Malay vowel diagram was plotted that can be used for future reference in research and as an educational tool for language learning. Furthermore, Kelantan and Terengganu dialects are shown to be similar based on the first and second formants.

Phonetic documentation in the literature: Coverage rates for topics and languages

With the introduction of automatic methods for examining both the acoustic and articulatory aspects of speech, our knowledge of the phonetic details of well-studied languages has grown substantially. Research on the phonetics of under-documented languages has expanded, but the breadth of coverage remains a challenge. What topics within the sound systems of these languages should be documented? With an ultimate aim of a reasonably complete typological assessment, should researchers focus on particular language families or phenomena and exclude others? Here, a survey of several hundred articles was undertaken, examining three major venues in the phonetics literature: Journal of Phonetics, Journal of the International Phonetic Association, and publications from the UCLA Languages of the World project (which appeared in various venues). 20 features were found to be addressed in many studies, and a rough guide to the coverage for a language can be seen in the total number of features reported in a study. Coverage has increased over time, but most studies still address a small percentage of the phonetic substance of the target language. Coverage across language family and region also increased but is still skewed toward Indo-European languages. Future directions and recommendations will be presented.

A RNN based Approach for next word prediction in Assamese Phonetic Transcription

In this paper, we present a Long Short Term Memory network (LSTM) model which is a special kind of Recurrent Neural Net-work(RNN) for instant messaging, where the goal is to predict next word(s) given a set of current words to the user. This method is more complex in other languages apart from English. For instance, in Assamese language, there are some equivalent synonyms of the word ‘you’, that is used to address a second person in English. Here, we have developed a solution to this issue by storing the transcripted Assamese language according to International Phonetic Association(IPA) chart and have fed the data into our model. Our model goes through the data set of the transcripted Assamese words and predicts the next word using LSTM with an accuracy of 88.20% for Assamese text and 72.10% for phonetically transcripted Assamese language. This model can be used in predicting next word of Assamese language, especially at the time of phonetic typing.

The Journal of Second Language Pronunciation – Evaluation and directions

This editorial responds to a review of JSLP published in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association and uses that review to explore directions for the future.

Вокальная тембрика в хоровых сочинениях Маурисио Кагеля 1958–1982 годов

The article is devoted to the choral music of Mauricio Kagel from the years 1958–1982, presenting an example of one of the most radical phenomena in choral music of the second half of the 20th century. Most of the attention is focused on examination of the vocal techniques which determined the composer’s choral writing. The article examines the complex of the utilized vocal techniques (singing, Sprechgesang, declamation), the regulators of vocal soundproduction (the character of vibrato, the indicators of the scale of the phonatory exhalation); provides a characterization of the main articulatory techniques: both traditional ones for 20th century choral music (singing with closed mouth, falsetto, whisper), as well as innovative ones, which demonstrated themselves for the first time in Kagel’s compositions (singing with clenched teeth, singing with closed mouth while simultaneously pronouncing the text in a trembling voice). The questions regarding Mauricio Kagel’s work with separate phonemes are highlighted. As part of the analysis of the work “Anagrama” used the first attempt in Western European music of applying quasi-serial procedures to work with a verbal text, stipulating the appearance in the score of signs of tables of the International Phonetic Association. The present composition is examined as the first example of a new vocal genre – phonemic composition. Study of compositions written by the composer during the first two decades of his life in Germany makes it possible to come up with the conclusion about a consistent solution by the composer of a particular goal – the search for a new choral sound capable of enabling choral music to continue its development, to lead it away from a state of stagnation, in which, according to the composer, contemporary choral culture was existing. The publication is prepared within the framework of scholarly project No. 16-04-50011, supported by the Russian Fund for Fundamental Research (RFFI). Keywords: Mauricio Kagel, Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono, choral music, post-war avant-garde, vocal timbral patterns, phonemic composition.

Phonetics online. How far is self-study possible?

Using the Certificate examination of the International Phonetic Association as a benchmark, this talk explores the viability of computer-assisted self-study in phonetics. Historically, phonetics and technology have always gone hand in hand. From the 18th century, invention and application of specialist instruments has expanded our knowledge of speech production and perception. Pedagogically, however, until quite recently, this technology was not routinely employed as a learning-aid. Over the first half of the twentieth century, undergraduate phonetics courses delivered through lectures and (costly) face-to-face small group teaching began to be established. Gradually, too, hardware entered the learning environment—phonographs and tape-recorders provided sound recordings, kymographs, oscilloscopes, and spectrographs provided images of waveforms, formants and pitch contours, transforming teaching and learning of both theory and practical skills. Then, computers and the internet revolutionized education, incl...

E.D. Polivanov and the Georgian language: synchronic questions and diachronic perspectives

The present paper deals with a short contribution which E.D. Polivanov published in 1925 in the scientific journal of the Central Asia State University during his stay and work at the University of Taškent. Polivanov’s text presents a phonological analysis of the Georgian consonant system and aims at making the transcription system devised by the academician N.Ja. Marr for the rendering of Georgian sounds comparable with the better known and more useful alphabet of the International Phonetic Association.
 In addition to the synchronic description and classification of Georgian con-sonants, in which, contrary to the customary interpretation, weak aspiration of voiceless plosives is claimed, Polivanov offers an interesting diachronic ex-planation of the defective postvelar (uvular) series, which in contemporary standard Georgian features only the voiceless ejective member; his reconstruction of the former system is based on typological assumptions about the different behaviour of voiced and voiceless obstruents with respect to lenition (spirantisation).
 Some years later, the Georgian linguist G.S. Axvlediani provided ar-guments, based on internal reconstruction, which confirmed and further developed Polivanov’s hypothesis. Although he had reviewed Polivanov’s contribution for a Georgian journal in 1926, Axvlediani did not mention it in his later work, probably because Polivanov in the meanwhile had become persona non grata in Soviet lin-guistics for his open criticism of Marr’s linguistic theory.

Viewing speech in action: speech articulation videos in the public domain that demonstrate the sounds of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

ABSTRACTIn this article, we introduce recently released, publicly available resources, which allow users to watch videos of hidden articulators (e.g. the tongue) during the production of various types of sounds found in the world’s languages. The articulation videos on these resources are linked to a clickable International Phonetic Alphabet chart ([International Phonetic Association. 1999. Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press]), so that the user can study the articulations of different types of speech sounds systematically. We discuss the utility of these resources for teaching the pronunciation of contrastive sounds in a foreign language that are absent in the learner’s native language.

IPA General Meeting 2015

The minutes of the IPA General Meeting of 18 August 2011 in Hong Kong as published in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association vol. 41(3) were agreed on as being a correct record.

Elections 2014–15

In March–April 2015, ten additional members of the new Council of the International Phonetic Association were elected. They are: Plinio Barbosa, Martine Grice, Asher Laufer, Wai-Sum Lee, Kofi Adu Manyah, Alexis Michaud, Jane Stuart-Smith, Marija Tabain, Masaki Taniguchi, and Jacqueline Vaissière. John Ohala, elected in the previous round, has resigned from the Council.

IPA Life Membership

The International Phonetic Association's by-laws recognize as Life Members those members who have paid membership dues for over 30 years. The awarding of Life Membership is intended to honour the impressive records of service of long-time IPA members, and to acknowledge their contribution in a symbolic and in a practical way.

Incorporation of the International Phonetic Association

On 22 February 2014, the IPA Council voted to form a limited company, ‘The International Phonetic Association Ltd’, in the UK. By the time of publication of this issue of the Journal, the Association expects to have completed all necessary steps to do so. Incorporation will make banking much easier for the Association, but should have no effect on members or on how the Association conducts its affairs.