Part One: Acoustics of the 416
On the next page are two spectrograms + waveforms, labeled X and Y, both from recordings of me
saying “Toronto”. Here are two transcriptions of this name:
A) [tʰə.ˈɹɑn.ˌtʰoʊ]
B) [ˈtʃɹɑ.nə]
Examine the spectrograms/waveforms, and answer the following questions:
1) Which spectrogram/waveform matches which transcription? How can you tell? Explain with at
least two concrete examples how you decided which is which. (If you want, you can answer this
one AFTER answering the ones below, as their answers might help you choose/decide…)

2) In one of these pronunciations, where I produce a voiceless stop right after a nasal – my
‘voiceless’ stop nevertheless has a voicing bar! And I was unable to record this word in a natural-
sounding way without voicing it! … So, FIND THAT STOP with the surprising voicing bar in one of
the spectrograms and label it.

3) According to the transcription of these two place names I’ve given above: there should be a
total of three periods of voiceless fricative noise in these spectrograms. Using the transcriptions
as a guide: locate where the voiceless fricatives are, and label them with their correct IPA
symbol. Remember to use their voicing as a guide!

4) In each of the spectrograms, locate and label one period where there is voicing, and describe
which segment or segments it is associated with in the transcription (e.g. “this bit of the
spectrogram is a voiced lateral [l]”, which is clearly just an example because there are no laterals
in either of these pronunciations.)

5) In class we discussed several phonetic correlates of stress in English and two of them were pitch
and loudness. Looking at the blue pitch tracks on these recordings, and the waveforms, and the
transcriptions: do you think the changes in pitch and amplitude in these recordings reflect the
expected stress patterns of these two words? Explain with a sentence or two per word.