Speech & Sound Pronunciation
Mechanism of Speech and Sound Pronunciation in the Mouth
Place of Articulation:
- Labial- use of lips
- Dental- use of teeth
- Alveolar- the of area behind the teeth
- Palatal- use of hard palate
- Velar- use of velum or soft palate
Yoruba like other languages have several manners of articulation which include:
- Plosives- stoppage and sudden release of air
- Fricative- this involves the constricted flow of air producing a kind of hissing sound; although, the air is not completely stopped, but obstructed to some degree.
- Affricative- it combines stoppage and fricative features
- Nasal- this has to do with nose, at times nose is used in pronunciation
- Lateral- using a side of the tongue to make a voice
- Retroflex- using the back tip or curve of the tongue to make a voice,
- Semivowels (glides)- here the stoppage of air flow is very minimal
Figure 2: Picture Showing How Different Parts of the Mouth Contribute to Word’s Pronunciation
Source: Fidel Fajardo-Acosta homepage; with Owner’s Permission
- Lips
- Teeth
- Alveolar Region
- Tongue
- Palate
- Velum
- Uvula
- Pharynx
- Nasal Cavity
- Epiglottis
- Esophagus
- Glottis
- Vocal Cords
- Trachea
- Larynx
From this chart, certain letters have more than one sound, which is responsible for their multiple uses. Also, to reduce Yoruba vowels into a meaningful phonological pattern was a challenging task; Yoruba has seven vowels and they are: A, E, Ẹ, I, O, Ọ and U.
To standardize these vowels resulted in creating seven oral and five nasal classifications. Interestingly, Yoruba vowels also shared certain features with English’s vowels, likely, because of their common origin. These features are:
- Vowels sounds involve unrestricted air flow through mouth
- Vowels sounds always voiced
- Vowels pronunciation differ depending on how wide the mouth is opened, and also the height of the tongue
- The position of the mouth is equally important in relation to the tongue
- Unrestricted vowel tends to be pronounced as mid-central vowel
- The place of diphthongs is contested by some Yoruba scholars, unlike English
One interesting aspect of Yoruba vowels is the issue of diphthong, there are for and against; these individuals have made different submissions on the subject. There was a time when words like: Aye, Aya, Ẹyẹ were spelt (Aiye, Aiya, and Ẹiyẹ); although, in current Yoruba orthography, their spellings have changed.
But we still have thousands of Yoruba words with (ai) prefix, the negative equivalent of “un” in English; some of these words are:
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Aina
|
(proper noun)
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Aini
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(wants/needs)
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Aikiyesi
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(un-noticed/ use as a noun)
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aibẹru
|
fearless
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aibere
|
not asking
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aibikita
|
indifference/ uncare
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aitete-de
|
late arrival
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aigboya
|
cowardice
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aiku
|
immortality
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Similarly, we cannot deny several double vowel letter-words which may sound differently when pronounced, such as:
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Oorun
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odor
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Oorun
|
sleep
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Oorun
|
Sun
|
Whatever is the argument for and against diphthong in Yoruba, we would still have to contend with “ai” and double vowel letters, with different pronunciation as earlier explained.
Table 4: Yoruba Vowels
| Oral Vowels | Nasal Vowels | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | I | U | Ȋ | ῦ | ||
| Close-Mid | e | o | ||||
| Open-Mid | Ԑ | Ͻ | έ | Ͻ | ||
| Open |
a
|
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