1. Sounds of language, Edward Sapir
(1939),
Chapter Three
Powe point presented by Aseel kazum
Mahmood
5th.nov.2013

2. 
The two terms ‘language’ and ‘sound’ are so
common in introductory textbooks about language
and linguistics and wherever there is a need to talk
about communication. Sounds are essential to
speech. We use speech for communication and
sounds of speech are the fundamental elements of
such a communication system. We consider
sounds to be the basic components of speech, The
ability to produce sounds is not sufficient for
communication. We need a vehicle of transmitting
these sounds to the ears of the hearers and that is
where the study of the sounds waves comes into
play. It is called acoustic phonetics.

3. 
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We can summarize all issues related by
answering the question below:
What is accent?
What are the most misconception about accent
in reaction to sound?
Is accent the real issues about the strangeness
of language?
Does accent apply to only within one
language?

4. 
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Roch defines it as ‘’the different
pronunciation of the same language by
people from different geographical places,
social classes, ages or educational
background…etc.
Sapir defines it as” it ‘’as the total acoustic
effect produced by a series of slight but
specific phonetic errors for the very good
reason that we have never made clear to
ourselves our own phonetic stock in trade.’’

5. 
Yet a complete inventory of the acoustic resources of all
the European languages, the languages nearer home,
while unexpectedly large, would still fall far short of
conveying a just idea of the true range of human
articulation. In many of the languages of Asia, Africa,
and aboriginal America there are whole classes of sounds
that most of us have no knowledge of. They are not
necessarily more difficult of enunciation than sounds
more familiar to our ears; they merely involve such
muscular adjustments of the organs of speech as we have
never habituated ourselves to. It may be safely said that
the total number of possible sounds is greatly in excess of
those actually in use

6. 
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we find it difficult to believe that the range of
possible speech sounds is indefinitely large?
firstly; our habit of conceiving the sound as a
simple, unanalyzable impression instead of as the
resultant of a number of distinct muscular
adjustments that take place simultaneously.
Secondly; the muscles of our speech organs have
early in life become exclusively accustomed to
the particular adjustments and systems of
adjustment that are required to produce the
traditional sounds of the language.

7. Of course the power to produce these inhibited
adjustments is not entirely lost, but the extreme
difficulty we experience in learning the new
sounds of foreign languages is sufficient evidence
of the strange rigidity that has set in for most
people in the voluntary control of the speech
organs.

9. 
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Adetailed account of the organs mentioned
belwo:
The lungs & bronchial tubes :
The glottal cords and the larynx:
Tongue, lips,teeth, palate and vulva.
The glottal cords.
The nose.

10. a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated
with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract.
Examples are [p], pronounced with the lips; [t],
pronounced with the front of the tongue; [k],
pronounced with the back of the tongue; [h],
pronounced in the throat; [f] and [s], pronounced
by forcing air through a narrow channel
(fricatives); and [m] and [n], which have air
flowing through the nose (nasals). Contrasting
with consonants are vowels.’’

11. Type
Manner
The “stops” or “explosives The breath may
be completely stopped for a moment at
some definite point in the oral cavity.
The “spirants” or “fricatives,”.” where the
breath may be continuously obstructed
through a narrow passage, not entirely
checked. Examples of such as they are
called are s and z and y.
The “laterals,” are semi-stopped. There is a
true stoppage at the central point of
articulation, but the breath is allowed to
escape through the two side passages or
through one of them. These sounds are the
“trills” or “rolled consonants,” in which
the stoppage of the breath may be rapidly
intermittent;
-The contact is either between the root of
the tongue and the throat,
-some part of the tongue and a point on the
palate (as in k or ch or l),
-some part of the tongue and the teeth (as
in the English th of thick and then),
- the teeth and one of the lips (practically
always the upper teeth and lower lip, as in
f),
-or the two lips (as in p or English w)

12. Speech sounds can differ from one another in
three ways:
1- stress
2- pitch
3- quality
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13. we can put any sound into its proper place by the
appropriate answer to four main questions:
 What is the position of the glottal cords during its
articulation?

Does the breath pass into the mouth alone or is it
also allowed to stream into the nose?

Does the breath pass freely through the mouth or
is it impeded at some point and, if so, in what
manner?
 What are the precise points of articulation in the
mouth?

14. Furthermore, understanding and recognizing the
message delivered by the sound or sound
sequence is influenced by other factors:
prosodic such as
1-stress,
2-pitch,
3-intonation,
4-rhythm,
5- voice quality,
6- loudness, etc.,
and paralinguistic, such as context of situation.