english phonetics and phonology

Phonetics and PhonologyAs seen above, phonetics is the study of pronunciation, that is, the study of human speech sounds.. This course of English phonetics and phonology will focus on th

NHA TRANG UNIVERSITYFACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION

*********

ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

Compiled by LE CAO HOANG HA M.A.

HOANG CONG BINH M.A

Updated January 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

5 Pitch Possibilities in Complex Tone Units 59

CHAPTER I - PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

1 Phonetics and its Main Branches 1.1 Definition of Phonetics

Phonetics is the study of human speech sounds It is a branch of linguistics studying the

production, the physical nature, and the perception of speech sounds A speech sound is a physicalevent with three aspects: a - physiological (the production of speech sounds by the organs ofarticulation), b - acoustic (the transmission of speech sounds), and c - auditory (the perception ofspeech sounds)

Phonetics is the study of how speech sounds are produced, transmitted and perceived.

There are different areas of phonetics, three main areas of which are articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics.

1.2 Articulatory phonetics

Articulatory phonetics deals with the way in which the speech sounds are produced It describes

speech sounds genetically - that is, with respect to the ways by which the organs of speech modifythe air stream in the throat, the mouth, and the nose in order to produce a sound The production ofdifferent speech sounds through the use of the organs of speech is known as articulation

In describing articulation, it is important to know which articulators are involved in sound

production An articulator is a part of the mouth, nose, or throat which is used in producing

speech It is usual for the learners to distinguish between those parts that are immobile (passivearticulators) and those that can move under the control of the speaker (active articulators).According to David Crystal (1994: 130), the passive articulators are a- the upper teeth, b- the teethridge (the alveolar ridge), and c- the hard palate The active articulators are a- pharynx, b- softpalate or velum, c- lips, d- jaws, e- the tongue, and f- the vocal cords

In addition, sounds produced within the larynx or vocal tract are influenced by the shape of thepharyngeal, oral (mouth) and nasal cavities in the vocal tract through which the air stream passes.These cavities give sounds the resonance Several kinds of resonance can be produced because thevocal tract is able to adopt many different shapes

The vocal tract is the air passages which are above the vocal cords and which are involved in theproduction of speech sounds The vocal tract can be divided into the nasal cavity, which is the airpassage within and behind the nose, and the oral cavity, which is the air passage within the mouthand the throat The shape of the vocal tract can be changed, e.g by changing the position of thetongue or the lips Changes in the shape of the vocal tract cause differences in speech sounds

1.3 Acoustic phonetics

Acoustic phonetics deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air It is the study of

speech waves as the output of a resonator A spectrograph may be used to record significantcharacteristics of speech waves and to determine the effect of articulatory activities Parts of thisrecord of speech waves can be cut out experimentally and the rest can be played back as sound inorder to determine which features suffice to identify the sounds of a language

1.4 Auditory phonetics

Auditory phonetics deals with how speech sounds are perceived by the listeners.

2 Phonetics and Phonology

As seen above, phonetics is the study of pronunciation, that is, the study of human speech sounds.

Besides having the physical properties, the speech sounds also have the distinctive function whenthey are used as distinctive units of sounds in a language According to I J Ohala (in R E Asher,

1994:3053), other designations for this field of inquiry include “speech science” or “the phonetic sciences” and “phonology” Some apply the term “phonetics” to the physical, including physiological, aspects of speech; others prefer to reserve the term “phonology” for the study of the

more abstract, the more functional, or the more psychological aspects of the underpinnings ofspeech

Phonetics, as used in this course of study, is the study of all speech sounds and the ways in whichthey are produced The main aims of phonetics are to describe and to classify human speechsounds Phonology is the study and identification of the distinctive units of sound in a language

This course of English phonetics and phonology is written for Vietnamese students of Nha

Trang University studying English phonetics The type of the English pronunciation described inthe present textbook is known as Received Pronunciation (Standard British accent) Since RP iseasily understood in all English speaking countries, it is adapted as the teaching norm in theschools and higher educational institutions

This course of English phonetics and phonology will focus on the following theoretical aspects:

the production of speech, the classification of the English sounds, phonology: the sound patterns ofEnglish, the syllable, English word stress, aspects of connected speech, weak forms and intonation.Students completing this course will be able to have the basic theoretical knowledge of Englishphonetics and phonology and will be able to improve their pronunciation, which will help themteach English effectively after their graduation

The present course of study has been given the title: English Phonetics and Phonology following

Peter Roach (1987) because at the comparatively advanced level, it is used to present theinformation of English pronunciation in the context of a general theory about speech sounds andhow they are used in language The theoretical context is called phonetics and phonology

Recommended Reading:

Crystal ( 1994 : 124 - 131); Fromkin ( 1986 : 37 -41 ); Laderfoged (1982 : 1-5 ); Roach ( 1987 : 8

- 10 )

ASSIGNMENT 1 I-Questions for Discussion

1- What is phonetics?

2- What are the three aspects of the speech sound as a physical event?

3- What is articulatory phonetics? What are the passive and active articulators?

4- What is the use of the shapes of the cavities in sound production?

5- What does acoustic phonetics study?

6- What is / are the main differences between phonetics and phonology?

7- What type of pronunciation is described in the present text book? What are the other types ofpronunciation we should pay attention to?

8- What theoretical aspects of phonetics should we pay attention to?

II- True /False: Decide whether the following statements are true or false:

1- Phonetics is the study of human speech sounds

2- Three aspects of a speech sound as a physical event are: a-structure, b-arranging and c- auditory.3- Articulatory phonetics studies the ways in which speech sounds are produced

4- In describing articulation, we should know which articulators are involved in sound production

5- The tongue is a passive articulator

6- Sounds produced are influenced by the shapes of the cavities

7- Acoustic phonetics deals with how the speech sounds are produced by the listener

8- Auditory phonetics studies the speech waves

9- The main aim of phonetics is the study and identification of the distinctive sound unit

10- RP is the standard New Zealand accent It is the only accent studied Other accents are notimportant and, therefore, should not be taken into consideration

III - Multiple choice: Choose the best answer

1-………deals with how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived

A- Grammar B- Phonotactics C- Phonetics D- Text linguistics2- phonetics deals with how speech sounds are perceived by the listener

A - Articulatory B- Acoustic C- Experimental D- Auditory3- phonetics deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air

A- Articulatory B- Acoustic C- Experimental D- Auditory4- Which of the following is not considered as (an) articulator(s)?

A- the tongue B- the lips C- the velum D- the ears5- is the study or description of the distinctive sound units of a language and their relationship

to one another

A- Phonetics B- Phonology C-Semantics D- Pragmatics6-The production of different speech sounds through the use of the organs of speech is known as

A- assimilation B- dissimilation C- articulation D- syllabification7- Which of the following is not an aspect of the speech sounds as a physical event?

C- Articulatory D- Comprehensive8- Besides having the physical properties, the speech sound also have… when they are used asdistinctive units of sounds in a language

A- thematic function B- stylistic functionC- affective function D- distinctive function

9- The term… is applied for the study of the more abstract, the more functional, or the morepsychological aspects of speech.

10- Since … is easily understood in all English speaking countries, it is adapted as the teachingnorm in the schools and higher educational institutions

A- Received Pronunciation B- Broad AustralianC- Narrow American D- New Zealand

CHAPTER II - THE PRODUCTION OF SPEECH

1 The Speech Chain

Any manifestation of language by means of speech is a result of highly complicated series ofevents as shown in the process of communication For example a man looks out of the window and

see the rain coming down, he would say, "It’s raining" Thus, such simple sentences as It's raining

involves a number of activities on the part of the speaker In the first place, the linguisticformulation of the sentence will take place in the brain The first stage may, therefore, be said to be

psychological The nervous system transmits this message to the so - called "organs of speech"

and they in turn produce a particular pattern of sound, the second important stage may thus be said

to be articulatory or physiological The movement of our organs of speech will create

disturbances in the air These sound waves constitute the third stage in the speech chain, the

physical or acoustic Since communication generally requires a listener as well as a speaker, these

stages will be reversed at the listening end: the reception of the sound waves by the ears and thetransmission of the information along the nervous system to the brain where the linguisticinterpretation of the message takes place

2 The Speech Mechanism

2.1 The lungs

The immediate source of speech sounds in the human speech mechanism has developed andperfected in the process of the historical development of man The most usual source of energy forour vocal activities is provided by an air stream expelled from the lungs Our utterances are,therefore, largely shaped by the physical limitations imposed by the capacity of our lungs and themuscles which control the action We are obliged to pause in articulation in order to refill ourlungs with the air

2.2 The larynx

The air stream provided by the lungs undergoes important modifications before it acquires thequality of a speech sound First of all, in the windpipe, it passes through the larynx containing the

so - called vocal cords The larynx is situated in the upper part of the wind - pipe Its forward

position is prominent in the neck below the chin and is commonly called the "Adam's apple".

2.2.1 Vocal cords

Housed from back to front are the vocal cords: two thick flaps of muscle rather like a pair

of lips The action of the vocal cords consists in their role as a vibrator set in motion by lung air the production of voice (or phonotation) We are able by means of vibrations in pressure from thelungs to modify the size of the puff of air which escapes at each vibration of the vocal cords; inother words, we can alter the amplitude of the vibration, with the corresponding change ofloudness of the sound heard by a listener The normal human being soon learns to manipulate hisspeech mechanism so that most delicate changes of pitch and loudness are achieved Control of hismechanism is, however, very largely exercised by the air

-2.2.2 Glottis

We use the word glottis to refer to the opening between the vocal cords If the vocal cords

are apart we say that the glottis is open; if they are pressed together we say that the glottis isclosed According to Peter Roach, there would be four easily recognizable states of the vocalcords:

Figure 3 Four different states of the glottis (adapted from Peter Roach)

c- Position for vocal cord vibration

When the edges of the vocal cords are touching or nearly touching, air passing through theglottis will usually cause vibration which results in voiced sound, for example: /b/, /d/, /g/, etc Themovement is not at all like the vibration of the string of a musical instrument; what usuallyhappens is that air is pressed up from the lungs and this air pushes the vocal cords apart so that alittle air escapes As the air flows quickly past the edges of the vocal cords, the cords are brought

together again by two forces acting together: firstly, the vocal cords are trying to return to theshape and position they were in before they were pushed apart, and secondly, the rapid movement

of the air through the narrow glottis causes the edges of the vocal cords to be drawn together Thisopening and closing happens very rapidly and is repeated regularly - around one or two hundredtimes per second in a man’s voice and more in women’s and children’s voices

d- Vocal cords tightly closed.

The vocal cords can be firmly pressed so that air can not pass between them When thishappens in speech we call it a glottal stop or glottal plosive

The air - stream, having passed through the larynx, is now subjected to further modificationsaccording to the shape assumed by the upper cavities of the pharynx and mouth, and according towhether the nasal cavity is brought into Use or not These cavities function as the principalresonators of the note produced in the larynx

2.3 The pharyngeal cavity

The pharyngeal cavity extends from the top of the larynx, past the epiglottis and the root of thetongue to the rear of the soft palate

2.4 Oral cavity

2.4.1 Roof of the mouth

It is convenient for our purposes to divide the roof of the mouth into three parts: movingbackwards from the upper teeth, first, the alveolar or teeth - ridge which can be clearly felt behindthe teeth; secondly, the bony ridge which forms the hard palate and finally, the soft palate (which

is capable of being raised or lowered), and at extremity of which is the uvula All these parts can

be easily observed by means of a mirror The main divisions will be referred to as: dental, alveolar,hard palate, and soft palate

2.4.2 Tongue

The tongue has no physical divisions like the palate It is, however, convenient for the purposes ofphonetics to imagine the surface of the tongue to be divided into the parts (the tip, the blade, thefront, the middle and the back) corresponding to the roof of the mouth The front is opposite thehard palate The back is opposite the soft palate

Figure 4: Parts of the tongue

2.4.3 Lips

The lips constitute the final part of the mouth cavity The shape which they assume will affect veryconsiderably the shape of the total cavity They may form a complete obstruction to the air -

stream, which may be momentarily prevented from escaping at all or may be directed through thenose by lowering of the soft palate They may be rounded or unrounded.

Recommended Reading:

Asher (1994 : 3051 -3053 ); Crystal (1994 : 124 -132); Lederfoged (1982 : 113 -133 ); Nesterov(1976 : 17 - 19 )

ASSIGNMENT 2 I- Questions for Discussion

1- How many stages are there in the speech chain?

2- Where does the most usual source of energy for our vocal activities come from?

3- What role do the cavities play in the production of sounds?

4- How important are the vocal cords? What is the shape of the vocal cords like when we producevoiced sounds?

5- What kind of sound is produced when the soft palate is raised? Lowered?

6- What are the important parts of the roof of the mouth?

7- What are the important parts of the tongue?

8- How are the lips important in sound production?

II- True /False: Decide whether the following are true or false:

1 - It is said that there are four stages in the speech chain: a - psychological, b- articulatory, acoustic, and d- interpretive

c-2 - The larynx, which is situated in the upper part of the windpipe, contains the so-called vocalcords

3 - The action of the vocal cords consists in their role as a vibrator set in motion by lung air

4 - When the edges of the vocal cords are touching or nearly touching, the air passing through theglottis will usually cause vibration, which produces voiced sounds

5 - When the vocal cords are wide apart, the sounds produced are voiced sounds

6 - A vowel is a sound in the production of which there is a complete closure in the vocal tract

7 - The most important parts of the tongue for producing vowel sounds are front, central and back

8 - Nasal, oral and pharyngeal cavities function as the principal resonators

9 - The lip shape is important in producing either rounded or unrounded vowels

10 - The main division of the roof of the mouth are dental, alveolar, hard palate, and soft palate

III- Multiple Choice: Choose the best answer

1-Which of the following is not a stage of the speech chain?

A- psychological B- articulatory C- acoustic D- synthetic2-The provide the most usual source of energy

A- lungs B- ears C- eyes D- lips3-The larynx is situated in the upper part of the

4- When the vocal cords are touching or nearly touching, the sounds they produced might be:

A- /p, t and k/ B- /s, k and t/ C- /p, s and k/ D- /a:,ɪ and i:/

5-The oral, nasal and laryngeal cavities function as………….of the note produced in the larynx

A-vibrators B- resonators C- joiner D- filler6- Which of the following is/ are………the articulators above the larynx?

A- The lungs B- The stomach C- The tongue D- The eyes7- The… is between the teeth ridge and the soft palate

A- hard palate B- tongue C- nose D- lungs

8- We use the word glottis to refer to the opening between

A- the eyes B- the ears C- the vocal cords D- the mouth9- The … can be rounded or unrounded

A- vibrators B- resonators C- joiners D- fillers10- Which of the following states of the vocal cords is important in the production of vibration?

A- wide apart B- touching or nearly touching each otherC- narrow glottis D- half apart

CHAPTER III - THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE ENGLISH SPEECH SOUNDS

1 Speech sounds

According to David Crystal (1994: 152), the description and classification of speech sounds is themain aim of phonetic science, or phonetic sounds may be identified with reference to theirproduction (or articulation) in the vocal tract, their acoustic transmission, or their auditoryreception The most widely used descriptions are articulatory because the vocal tract provides aconvenient and well - understood reference point An articulatory description generally makesreference to seven main factors: a- air stream, b- vocal folds, c- soft palate, d- place of articulation,e- manner of articulation and f- tongue and g- lips The following parts will present the descriptionand classification of the sounds in the English language

Speech sounds are divided into vowels and consonants Vowels and consonants differ indistribution and production In terms of distribution, the vowel is in the center of the syllable andthe consonant either precedes or follows the vowel The following table shows major differencesbetween vowels and consonants in terms of production

Produced with relatively little obstruction

in the vocal tract

Produced with a narrow or completeclosure in the vocal tract

Table 1: Major Differences between Vowels and Consonants

2 Vowels

A vowel is a sound in the production of which the air passage through the mouth is free All

vowels are voiced sounds In the English language, vowels can be classified into Pure Vowels (Monophthong) and Diphthongs (and possibly triphthongs).

of articulatory and auditory judgments The front, centre, and back of the tongue are distinguished,

as are four levels of tongue height Once the cardinal vowel values have been learned, it is possible

to place the vowels of a speaker of any language on to the chart in a fairly precise way

Figure 3: The primary cardinal vowels (Peter Roach, 1987)

Front Central Back

Open

Neutral

Figure 4: The Cardinal Vowel Diagram

In the production of the English sounds the tongue may move forward or backward or it may beraised or lowered Pure vowel sounds may be classified according to the following principles:

2.1.1 The raised part of the tongue

According to which part of the tongue is raised (i.e according to whether the back, the front or themiddle of the tongue is raised towards the roof of the mouth), vowels can be front, central andback

a Front vowels

There are four front vowels in the English language in the production of which the front of

the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate The front vowels are: /i:/ (as in sea, teeth),

/ɪ/ (as in sit, lip), /e/ (as in head, met) and /æ/ (as in man, sand).

b Back vowels

There are five back vowels in the production of which the back of the tongue is raised in

the direction of the soft palate The back vowels are: /u:/ (as in shoe, fool), /ʊ/ (as in full, pull), /ɑ:/

(as in heart, hard), /ɒ/ (as in hot, shock), and /ɔ:/ (as in short, fork).

c Central / Mid vowels

Then there are vowels intermediate between front and back We call them central vowelsounds In the articulation of these sounds, the center (or middle) of the tongue is raised toward the

palate The central vowels are /з:/ (as in bird, shirt), /ə/ (as in again, along) and /ʌ/ (as in sun, run).

2.1.2 The height of the raised part of the tongue

According to the height to which the part of the tongue is raised, vowels can be close (or high),

mid-open/ mid-close, open (or low)

a Close (or high) vowels:

There are 4 close (or high) vowels in the production of which one part of the tongue comesclose to the palate without touching it and the air passage is narrow, but not so much as to form aconsonant The close vowels are /i:/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/ and /u:/

b Open (or low) vowels:

There are 4 open (or low) vowels in the production of which one part of the tongue is verylow and the air passage is very wide, e.g /æ/, /ɑ:/, /ɒ/ and /ʌ/

Mid-openMid-closeClose

c Mid - open/ mid -close vowels

There are mid-open /mid - close vowels in the production of which the tongue is half-waybetween it’s high and low position, e.g /e/, /ə/, /з:/ and /ɔ:/

2.1.3 The lip shape

According to the lip shape, vowels can be rounded, neutral or unrounded (spread);

2.1.4 The vowel length

According to the length vowels may be long or short The colon (:) is used with the phonetic

symbols for the vowels which are long, e.g /i:/, /u:/

Position of tongue

Figure 4: Chart of English diphthongs Diphthongs can be classified into a- retracting (ending in /ʊ/, e.g now, town, go, show), b-

fronting (ending in /ɪ/, e.g eye, why, say, day, boy, destroy), and c- centering (ending in /ə/, e.g.

like, say, waiter, phone, know) or b- centering (ending in /ə/, e.g here, near, hair, sure).

The following diagram shows the classification of the diphthongs in English according to theending elements

A consonant is a sound in the production of which an obstruction to the airstream is formed in themouth by the active articulators /organs of speech The organs of speech are tense at the place ofobstruction In the articulation of voiceless consonants the air stream is strong whereas in voicedconsonants it is weaker

The particular quality of a consonant depends on the work of the vocal cords, the position of thesoft palate and the kind of noise that results when the tongue or the lips obstruct the air-passage

3.2 Classification

There are two types of articulatory obstruction: complete and incomplete A complete obstruction

is formed when two organs of speech come in contact with each other and the air-passage throughthe mouth is blocked An incomplete obstruction is formed when an articulating organ is held soclose to a point of articulation as to narrow, or constrict, the air-passage without blocking it

According to David Crystal (1994: 155), consonants are normally described with reference to sixcriteria:

a- the source of the air stream - whether from the lungs (pulmonic) or from some other source (non - pulmonic),

b- the direction of the air stream - whether moving outwards (egressive) or inwards (ingressive),

c- the state of vibration of the vocal cords - whether vibrating (voiced) or not (voiceless), d- the position of the soft palate - whether raised (oral) or lowered (nasal);

e- the place of articulation in the vocal tract, andf- the manner of articulation

In the following part, the traditional classification of consonants will be presented based on the twolast criteria, viz

a- according to the organs of articulation; andb- according to the manner of articulation

A The organs of articulation

According to the organs of articulation, we can distinguish seven main classes of consonants:

a Labial or lip sounds, which may be subdivided into:

-Bi-labial, namely sounds articulated by the two lips, e.g /p/ (as in pen, put), /b/ (as

in best, bill), /w/ (as in well).

-Labio-dental, namely sounds articulated by the lower lip against the upper teeth, /f/ (as in fine, five), /v/ (as in very, van).

b Dental, namely sounds articulated by the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth, e.g /ð/

(as in this, those); /θ/ (as in thick, thin).

c Alveolar, namely sounds articulated by the tip or blade of the tongue against the teeth

ridge, e.g /t / (as in ten, top); /d/ (as in did, do); /n/ (as in nose, not); /l / (as in letter, little); /r/ (as

in run, rest); /s/ (as in six, seen); and /z/ (as in zero, zoom).

d Palato alveolar, namely sounds which have alveolar articulation together with a

simultaneous raising of the main body of the tongue towards the roof of the mouth, e.g /t∫/ (as in

e Palatal, namely sounds articulated by the tongue against the hard palate, e.g /j/ (as in

yes, you).

f Velar (soft palate), namely sounds articulated by the back of the tongue against the soft

palate, e.g /k/ as in cut, kiss), /g/ (as in good, give), /ŋ/ (as in song, sing).

g Glottal, namely sounds articulated in the glottis (the opening between the vocal cords is

known as glottis), e.g /h/ (as in he, head).

B The manner of articulation

According to the manner of articulation, we distinguish seven main classes, too:

a Plosives (stop sounds/ explosive sounds)

It is so-called because the air stream is completely stopped for a moment, after which it isallowed to rush out of the mouth with an explosive sound, e.g /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/

All plosives can occur at the beginning of a word (in initial position), between other sounds(in medial position) and at the end of the word (in final position).

A lateral is the sound formed by the tip of the tongue firmly pressed against the teeth ridge

or the teeth so that the air can escape at one or both sides of the tongue, e.g /l/ This sound occurs

initially, medially and finally Initial /l/ (as in like) is called clear /l/ Final /l/ (as in little) is called

dark /ł/

d Rolled

A rolled is the sound in the production of which the tip of the tongue vibrates in the stream

of air, e.g /r/ /r/ only occurs before a vowel In the words such as car, ever, hard, verse, there is

no /r/ in the pronunciation However, most Americans and Scots pronounce /r/ in final position

Accents which have /r/ in final position and before a consonant are called rhotic accents, while accents in which /r/ only occurs before vowels are called non - rhotic.

e Fricative

A fricative is the sound formed by a narrowing of the air passage at some point so that the

air in escaping makes a kind of hissing e.g /f/, /s/ or buzzing e.g /z/ sound The fricatives in theEnglish language are /f/, /v/, /θ/, / ð/, /s/, /z/, /∫/, /ʒ/ and /h / /f /, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/ can be found ininitial, medial and final position /ʒ/can occur only medially /h /occurs initially and medially

f Affricative

An affricative is a combination of a plosive consonant with an immediately followingfricative /∫/ or /ʒ/ sound, e.g /t∫/ (as in chair, church), /dʒ/ (as in judge, just) Affricatives can occurinitially, medially and finally

g Semi-vowel

A semi-vowel is a gliding sound in which the speech organs start at or near a "close" voweland immediately move away to some other vowels

3.2.3 Other Terms:

a Obstruent: Because stops, fricatives, and affricates share the phonetic property of

impeding the air flow by constricting the vocal passage, these three sets of sounds are togetherreferred to as obstruents

b Approximant: English has four sounds that are known as approximants because they are

produced by two articulators approaching one another as for fricatives but not coming closeenough to produce audible friction They are /j/, /r/, /l/ and /w/

c Continuants: sounds which are not stops are continuants because the stream of air

continues without interruption through the mouth opening

Table 5: The English Consonants Place

I Questions for Discussion

1- What are the differences between vowels and consonants?

2- What is a vowel? How can we classify the vowels in the English language?

3- What is a diphthong? Give 5 examples of the centering diphthongs and five examples of theclosing diphthong in English

4- What is a consonant? How can we describe the consonants? What are the types of consonantsclassified according to the manner of articulation/ organs of articulation in English?

5- What is the Cardinal Vowel Diagram used for?

II True - False: Decide if the following statements are true or false:

1 - Speech sounds are divided into pure vowels and diphthongs

2 - All vowels are voiced

3 - A pure vowel is an unchanging sound in the pronunciation of which the organs of speech do notperceptibly change the position throughout the duration of the vowel

4 - The front vowel is the one in the production of which the front of the tongue is raised in thedirection of the hard palate

5 - According to the height to which a part of the tongue is raised, vowels can be classified intoclose and open vowels.

6 - A close vowel is the one in the production of which the tongue is as low as possible

7 - A rounded vowel is the one in the production of which the tongue is as low as possible

8 - Vowels can be long or short

9 - /i:/ is a long vowel

10 - /e/ is a long vowel

11- A diphthong is a pure vowel

12 - Diphthongs can be divided into centering and closing diphthongs according to the secondelement of the diphthong

13 - The word learn contains a diphthong.

14 - A consonant is a sound in the production of which no obstruction is formed in the mouth bythe active organs of speech

15 - Consonants may be classified according to a -the organs of speech, and b - the manner ofarticulation

16 - If we classify the consonants according to the state of vibration of the vocal cords, they can bevoiced or voiceless

17 - Labials are bi-labials and labio-dentals

18 - Palatals are sounds articulated in the glottis

19 - A plosive is a stop sound

20 - A nasal is a sound formed by the tip of the tongue firmly pressed against the teethridge or theteeth so that the air can escape at one or both sides of the tongue

III Multiple Choice: Choose the best answer

1- Speech sounds are divided into vowels and ………

2- Which of the following is incorrect?

A- All vowels are voiced B- Vowels are less sonorous than consonants

C- All vowels are syllabic D- Consonants are either voiced or voiceless

3- is an unchanging sound in the pronunciation of which the organs of speech do notperceptibly change the position throughout the duration of the vowel

A- A diphthong B- A pure vowel C- A consonant D- A trithong4- In the articulation of the ……… sound, the central of the tongue is raised toward the palate

A- front B- back C- central D- open5- A/ An……….vowel is the one in the production of which one part of the tongue comes close tothe palate without touching it and the air passage is narrow, but not so much as to form a

consonant

A- open B- mid-open C- mid-close D- close6-Which of the following words contains a close vowel?

7- Which of the following words does not contain an open vowel?

8- According to the , vowels can be rounded or unrounded

A- height of the raised part of the tongue B- raised part of the tongueC- length of the vowels D- shape of the lip

9- ………… vowels are the ones in the production of which the lips are drawn together so that theopening between them is more or less round

A- Rounded B- Unrounded C- Long D-Short10- ………vowels are the ones in the production of which the lips may be spread out so as to leave

a long narrow opening between them

A- long B- spread C- rounded D- short11- is a combination of two vowels pronounced within one syllable

A- A diphthong B- A consonant C- A front vowel D- An open vowel12- Which of the following words contains a closing diphthong?

13- Which of the following criteria can not be used as a classifying criterion for consonantclassification?

A- The position of the soft palate B- The manner of articulationC- The place of articulation D- The shape of the lips14- /ɑ:/ is a/ an ……… vowel

A- open front short B- open central long C- close front long D- open back long15- /ɪs /is a ……

A- diphthong B- consonant C- pure vowel D- syllable16- /aɪ/ is a

A- diphthong B- consonant C- pure vowel D- syllable17- Which of the following is true?

A- Vowels are produced with complete closure in the vocal tract

B- Consonants are produced with no obstruction in the vocal tract

C- Consonants are more sonorous than the vowel

D- All vowels are syllabic

18- Which of the following is not used as a criterion in vowel classification?

A- The height to which the tongue is raised B- The part of the tongue which is raised

19- are sounds articulated, by the lower lip against the upper teeth

A- Labio-dentals B- Alveolars C- Velars D- Glottals20- The cardinal vowel diagramme is a ………… based on a combination of articulatory andauditory judgements

A- a system of guessing B- a system of stress patternsC- system of letters D- a set of standard reference points

IV- Gap- filling : Fill in the blanks with appropriate words:

1 - We can describe vowels by referring to the part of the tongue which is at the highest point inthe mouth If the front of the tongue is at the highest point near the hard palate, we have a vowel

2 - If the back of the tongue is at the highest point near the soft palate, we have a

vowel

3 Vowels which are produced between the positions for a front and back vowel are called vowels

4- One element in the description of vowels is the part of the tongue which is at the highest point

in the mouth A second element is the to which that part is raised

5- If the tongue is placed as low as possible in the mouth, the vowel which results isan vowel

6- If the tongue is raised as high as possible in the mouth, without touching the roof of the mouth,the vowel which results is a vowel

7- The vowel /i: /in /fi:d / and /u: /in /fu:d / are both and the vowel / a: /in /fa:

/-far is an vowel

8- The position of the lips also has an effect on vowel quality If the lips are drawn together so thatthe opening between them is round, we have a vowel And if the lips are notdrawn together the vowel is vowel

9- According to the length vowels may be or

10- A combination of vowels pronounced within one syllable is called a _

11- If the organs of speech start in the position for one vowel and then immediately glide to theposition of another, the result is a

12-Diphthongs are represented by two symbols in phonemic transcription, the first shows theposition of the organs of speech at the of the glide, and the second shows theirapproximate position at the of the glide

13-Labio-dental consonants are articulated by lip against the

14-Alveolar consonants are articulated by the tip of the tongue against the _

15-Consonants that have alveolar articulation together with a simultaneous raising of the mainbody of the tongue towards the roof of the mouth are called consonants

16- Affricative is a combination of a consonant with an immediately following sound.

17- Semi-vowels are _ sounds in the production of which the organs of speech start at ornear a and immediately move away to some other sound

18- are the sounds produced when the air stream is completely stopped for amoment, after which it is allowed to rush out of the mouth with an explosive sound

19- are sounds articulated in the glottis

20- are the sounds formed by the tip of the tongue firmly pressed against theteeth-ridge or the teeth so that the air can escape at one or both sides of the tongue

CHAPTER IV - PHONOLOGY: THE SOUND PATTERNS OF LANGUAGE

Part of one’s knowledge of a language is the knowledge of the sound system - the phonology ofthat language The phonology of the language includes the inventory of phones, the phoneticsegments that occur in the language, and the ways in which they pattern It is this patterning thatdetermines the inventory of the more abstract phonological units, the phonemes of the language

Phonemes are the segments used to differentiate between the meanings of words These aredistinguished by distinctive features

Phonetics, as discussed in the previous chapter, provides the means for describing speech sounds.Phonology studies the ways in which speech sounds form systems and patterns in human language.The phonology of a language is then the system and patterns in human language Phonology is thusused in two ways, either as the study of sound patterns in a language and the sound patterns of alanguage

In the following parts, we will look at the notion of the phoneme and related concepts

1 The Phoneme

According to E.C Fudge (in John Lyons, 1970: 79 -81), there have been many attempts andapproaches in the study of the phoneme The French linguist, Dufriche - Degenettes, is said to havebeen the first to use the term phoneme (phonēme) in 1873, simply to refer to a speech sound.Earliest theories of the phoneme have been formulated by Baudouin de Courtenay, J Winteler,Henry Sweet, Scerba, F.D Sausure, Daniel Jones, Nikolai Trubetzkoy and Roman Jakobson Thestudy of the phoneme was later carried out by the American structuralist phonologists such asEdward Sapir, Leonard Bloomfield, Morrish Swadesh, W Freeman Twaddel and Kenneth Pike.The approaches to the phoneme have seen it as a psychological entity (Boudouin de Courteney,Edward Sapir), as a family of physical sounds (with its principal and other subsidiary variants)(Scerba & Daniel Jones) and as a functional unit to be identified by the oppositions obtainingbetween it and other phonemes of the language in question (N S Trubetzkoy and R Jakobson)

1.1 The phoneme theories

Views of the phoneme fall into four main classes:

1.1.1 The “mentalist” or “psychological” view

The “mentalist” or “psychological” view regards the phoneme as an ideal sound at which thespeaker aims (originated by the Polish linguist Jan Baudouin de Courtenay (1845-1929)

1.1.2 The “physical” view

The physical view regards the phoneme as family of sounds satisfying certain conditions, notably:

a-The various members of the “family” must show phonetic similarity to one another, in other

words be “related in character”

b-No member of the “family” may occur in the same phonetic context as any other, this condition

is often referred to as the requirement of complementary distribution (propounded by Daniel Jones

in 1950)

e.g The phoneme /l/ has the following phonetic properties:

+consonantal+voiced

+alveolar+lateral

When the phoneme /l/ is used in speech, its pronunciation may slightly change It may have thefollowing variants as its realizations:

[ l ] devoiced variant after voiceless /p / as in play

[ l ] clear variant when used initially

o

[ ł ] dark variant when used finally, as in little.

Although these variants are slightly different, they still share the above phonetic properties as theoriginal phoneme They occur in different phonetic contexts They are variants of the phoneme /l/

e.g 2: The phoneme /t /has the following features:

+consonantal-voiced+plosive+alveolarWhen used in communication, /t /may have the following variants:

[th] (aspirated) (before a short vowel in stressed position, e.g till [th]

[t] unaspirated (after a voiceless fricative ), e.g still [stɪl]

These two variants still have the same phonetic properties However, they occur in differentphonetic contexts They are variants of the same phoneme /t/

1.1.3 The functional view

The functional view regards the phoneme as the minimal sound unit by which meanings may bedifferentiated (originated by N S Trubetzkoy and R Jakobson)

sea - she three - free

According to this view, the phoneme is defined as the minimal distinctive unit of sound in alanguage Its main function is to distinguish between the meaning of two morphemes or twowords

1.1.4 The “abstract” view

The abstract view regards phonemes as essentially independent of the phonetic propertiesassociated with them

1.2 Phoneme, phone, and allophone:

Let us look at the use of three terms: phoneme, phone, and allophone

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish 2 words For

example, in English, the words “tear” and “near” differ only in their initial sounds /t/ and /n/;

“hot” and “hat” differ only in their vowels /ɒ/ and /æ/ Therefore, /t/, /n/, /ɒ/ and /æ/ are phonemes

in English The number of phonemes varies from one language to another English has a maximum

of 44 phonemes in its phonological system

Phones are individual sounds as they occur in speech Phones are groups into distinctive sound

units (phonemes) of a language For example, in English, the different ways of pronouncing the

vowel in the word can, e.g long [æ:], shorter [æ], with nasalization [æ̃] are all phones of thephoneme /æ/ (Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics)

Allophones are phonemes derived from the same phoneme in different distribution or relation An

allophone can be defined as a predictable phonetic variant of a phoneme An actually pronounced

speech sound is always a variant (allophone) of a phoneme Different allophones of one and the

same phonemes are speech sounds which have one or more articulatory and, therefore, acousticfeatures in common and at the same time differ from each other in some ( usually slight) degreebecause of the influence of their position, of the neighbouring speech sounds and of other purelyphonetic factors upon them The allophones of one and the same phoneme are, therefore, incapable

of differentiating words or the grammatical forms of a word

The sound pronounced by a native speaker of the language if he were asked to say the sound in

isolation is called the principal variant of the phoneme All the other variants of the same phoneme are called its subsidiary variants.

The allophones of a phoneme form a set of sounds that (a) do not change the meaning of a word,b- are all very similar to one another, and c- occur in phonetic contexts different from one anotherand d- have non -distinctive differences

Thus, in addition to the principal variant, the phoneme /l/ has at least other 3 allophones [l], [l] and[ł], /r/ has at least other four All vowels may have a shortened variant (before a voiceless sound,

e.g /i:/ in beat ) and a non - shortened variant (before a voiced sound, e.g /i:/ as in bead)

The allophones of the same phoneme have phonetic differences which do not give rise tocorresponding phonemic differences These phonetic differences between the variants of the samephoneme are non-distinctive

We noted that in some words two phonemes may occur interchangeably without changing the

meaning of a word, as in the initial sound of economics which people pronounce with an /i:/ and

others pronounce with an /e/ We said that these two phonemes were in free variation in thatparticular word

1.3 Distinctive features

As we have seen, where a particular phonetic difference does not give rise to a correspondingphonemic difference, linguists say that this phonetic difference is non-distinctive However,differences which can give rise to a change of meaning are referred to as distinctive differences InEnglish we have many pairs of distinctive words called minimal pairs These are pairs of wordswhich are identical in every way except for one sound segment that occurs in the same place in thesound sequence Examples are:

Beat - boughtBit - bootBat - biteBut - botThin - tin

In the definition, the phoneme is defined as the minimal distinctive unit of sound in a language.However, according to Trubetzkoy and his followers, the phoneme can be further analyzable into

distinctive features, which are particular characteristics distinguishing one distinctive sound of alanguage from another or one group of sounds from another group Consider, for example, thedifferences between /p / and /b /:

/p/ /b/

+ bilabial + bilabial

- voiced + voiced + stop + stop + consonantal + consonantalThese two phonemes differ in only one respect: voice This difference is significant or is offunctional value Hence voice is a distinctive feature Other examples are /p-g/ which differ in twoaspects (voiceless – voiced; bi-labial – velar) The following table will present further examples ofdistinctive features of English stop consonants:

Table 1: Distinctive features of some English consonants

1.4 Segmental and suprasegmental phonemes

In the study of the phonemic system in a language, a distinction is made between the vowels andconsonants of a particular language, which are referred to as segmental phonemes, and suchphenomena as stress, pitch and intonation, which stretch over more than one segment assuprasegmental phonemes

Suprasegmentals make use of such parameters as loudness, pitch, and duration From thephonological point of view categories and phonetic parameters is not one-to-one

e.g 20 vowels and 24 consonants are segmental phonemes

Record /'rekɔ:d/ (n) and /rɪ'kɔ:d/ (v) are suprasegmental phonemes (stress)

The phonological categories to be dealt with the scopes of suprasegmentals area- Word-stress

b- Tonec- Sentence – stress

d- Intonation

e- Quantity (e.g /i:/ in beat is somewhat different from /i:/ in bead)

1.5 Units larger than the phoneme

The phoneme has been defined as the smallest distinctive unit of sound in a language There areother units larger than the phonemes These include:

a- Syllableb- Wordc- Stress-groupd- Foot

e- Tone-groupUnits a, b, c, and e form a hierarchy: a tone group consists of an integral number of stress-group, astress-group of an integral number of words, a word of an integral number of syllables, and asyllable of an integral number of segments These units have particularly important role to play inconnection with suprasegmentals

2 Types of Pronunciation

English is spoken as the mother tongue in many countries such as Great Britain, America,Australia, and New Zealand Within each country a national standard is employed, which isassociated with a particular way of pronunciation or accent Pronunciation distinguishes onenational standard from another most immediately and completely, and links in a most obvious waythe national standards to the regional varieties

In British English, one type of pronunciation comes close to enjoying the status of “Standard”:

“Received Pronunciation” or “RP” RP is the type of British standard pronunciation which has

been regarded as the prestige variety and which shows no regional variation A class dialect ratherthan a regional dialect, it is based on the type of speech cultivated at such schools as Eton andHarrow and as such of the older universities as Oxford and Cambridge It is the British

pronunciation that is “received” (accepted as “proper”) at the royal court RP has been popularly

referred to as BBC English because it was until recently the standard pronunciation used by mostBritish Broadcasting Corporation news readers Nowadays, RP no longer has the unique authority

it had in the first half of the 20th century

According to Peter Roach (1987), in talking about accents of English, the foreigners should becareful about the difference between England and Britain; there are many different accents inEngland, but the range becomes very much wider if the accents of Scotland, Wales and NorthernIreland are taken into account Within the accents of England, the distinction that is mostfrequently made by the majority of English people is between Northern and Southern This is avery rough division, and there can be endless argument over the boundaries lie, but most people onhearing a pronunciation typical of someone from Lancashire, Yorkshire or other countries further

north would identify it a “Northern”.

In American English, Network English has been the standard type of pronunciation Standard

American English differs from RP in various ways Celce – Murcia et al in Teaching

Pronunciation: A Course for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (1996)

present the following differences between British English and American English: a- differences inphonemic inventory, b- differences in allophonic variation, c- differences in pronunciation of

common words, d- differences in word stress and e- differences in sentence stress and differences in overall sound and voice quality Some examples of the difference between BritishEnglish and American English:

Variations in neutral and unemotional British & American English intonation are markedenough such that speakers of both varieties seem to develop stereotype perceptions of the othergroup Americans tend to perceive British speakers as pretentious and mannered while Britishspeakers tend to perceive Americans as monotonous and mannered

Australian English is one of the many languages spoken in Australia There are, of course,differences between British English and Australian English in many areas, pronunciationincluded One would be surprised when greeting [gu:daɪ maɪt] = (Good day mate) byAustralians

According to Fromkin, one pervasive characteristic of pronunciation of Australian Englishwhich differentiates it from other English accents is the strong tendency to use theindeterminate vowel /∂ /in weakly stressed syllables Thus in the following pairs of alternatepronunciations, most Australians would use the latter

3 Phonetic Alphabets

In discussing the sounds of human language from the point of view of their articulation,phoneticians have developed descriptive techniques to allow comparison across languages and toavoid the difficulties inherent in describing sounds in terms of standard spelling practices Youknow that it is not possible to use customary orthographic representations to analyze soundstructure Even within one language, some sounds correspond to more than one letter while someletters correspond to more than one sound In the case of English, the discrepancies between

spelling and sounds do exist Different letters may represent a single sound (e.g to, too, two,

through…); a single letter may represent different sounds (e.g dame, dad, father…) A

combination of letters may represent a single sound (e.g Shoot, character, Thomas, physics…);some letters have no sounds at all; and some sounds are not represented in the spelling As a result,

a completely separate system of alphabet to present the actual sounds of human language wascreated

In scientific discussion, the requisite characteristics of symbols to represent sounds are clarity andconsistency The best tool is a phonetic alphabet, and the one most widely used is the

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) developed by the International Phonetic Association in

1888 IPA is a system of symbols for representing the pronunciation of words in many languages

according to the principles of the International Phonetic Association Symbols consist of letters

and diacritics Some letters are taken from the Roman alphabet Others are special languages of theworld, one that is independent of the orthographies of particular languages Linguists mix, matchand modify from different systems to suit specific purposes in sound description

Phonemic transcription (or linguistically broad transcription) is used to show only the distinctive

sounds of a language It is based on the principles “one symbol per phoneme” It does not show

the finer points of pronunciation Phonemic transcription is written within two parallel slanting

lines For example, the English word foot may appear in phonemic transcription as /fu:t/ /f/, /u:/

and /t/ are phonemes of English Phonemic transcription may be used, for example:

a- For languages which have no writing system of their own.

b- For teaching purposes, to show differences in pronunciation

written in square brackets [ ] For example, the English word pin may appear in phonetic

transcription as [pʰin] with the raised h showing the aspiration of the [p] In phonemic transcription, pin would be transcribed as /pɪn/ Phonetic transcription maybe used, for example:

a- to show the different pronunciation of closely related dialectsb- to show the pronunciation of individual speakers or groups of speakers

Recommended Reading:

Fromkin (1986: 72-113)

ASSIGNMENT 4

I Questions for discussion:

1 What is a phoneme? An allophone?

2 Discuss the functional view and the physical view of the phoneme

3 What is a distinctive feature? Does an allophone have both distinctive and non-distinctivefeatures?

4 How do you understand the two terms: segmental and suprasegmental phoneme?

5 What is the phonemic transcription? The allophonic transcription? What kind oftranscription should be used in the teaching of English at secondary school?

II T /F: Decide whether the following statements are true or false”

1- Phonology studies the phonemic system of a language

2- The approaches to phoneme have seen it as a psychological entity, as a family of soundsand a functional unit

3- The functional view regards the phoneme as a family of sounds

4- The phoneme is a distinctive unit of sounds in a language

5- The allophones of a phoneme are concrete realizations of that phoneme The phoneme is anabstract unit

6- Al phonemes can be regarded as being made up of a number of distinctive features

7- All allophones are made up of only non-distinctive features

8- The allophones of a phoneme are predictable phonetic variants of that phoneme

9- RP is the type of pronunciation employed in America

10- Phonemic transcription is based on the principle “One symbol per phoneme”

III- Multiple Choice: Choose the best answer

1- Which of the following is not true?

A- The phoneme is the smallest distinctive unit of sound in a language

B- The phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish twomorphemes or two words

C- The allophones of the same phoneme must show phonetic similarity to one another

D- The allophones of the same phoneme must occur in the same phonetic context

2-……… regards the phoneme as the minimal sound unit by which meanings may bedifferentiated

A- The mentalist view B- The physical viewC- The functional view D- The abstract view3- Allophones are known as ………

A- the predictable syllabic B- the predictable phoneticC- the predictable morphological D- the predictable textual

4 Which of the following is not a segmental phoneme?

A- the vowel B- the stress C- the consonant D- the diphthong5- Which of the following words form a minimal pair?

6- Which of the following pairs of phoneme differs in two distinctive features?

7- How many phonemes are there in the word teaching?

A- 2 B- 3 C- 4 D- 5

8- The initial vowel of economics could be either /i:/ or /e/ according to the variation in the

pronunciation of different speakers These sounds are said to be ……… in that particularword

A- free variation B- positional variationC- distinctive variation D- significant variation9- A/ An ………transcription is based on the principle “one symbol per phoneme”

A- allophone B- phonemic C- narrow D- non – distinctive

10- When the word meat is transcribed as [mĩ:t], ……… transcription is used.

A- allophonic B- phonemic C- narrow D- morphophonemic

IV Trancribe the following words:

CHAPTER V - THE SYLLABLE

Native speakers tend to recognize a unit intermediate between the segment and the word, that is,the syllable The functions of the syllable appear to be threefold: a-to carry the phoneticmanifestations of the suprasegmentals, b-to be the chief domain of patterns of arrangement of

phonemes, or phonotatics, and c- and to act as a unit of organization in the process of speech

production

Perhaps the most likely theory is that the syllable arises from the alternating opening and closing

of the vocal tract during speech, resulting in an alternation of vowel-like and consonant-likearticulations The consonantal articulations, especially plosives, are often signaled phonetically asmodifications to the vowel-like ones, and this results in the typical structure of the syllable-consonants grouped around a vowel All languages have syllables of the form CV, in addition,many languages have patterns of greater complexity, with CVC being the most frequent

The central position of the syllable, occupied by the V(owel) element, is normally referred to as

the “peak” (sometimes the “nucleus”) Most of consonants are marginal The sound which forms

the peak or the center of a syllable is called syllabic sound All vowels and some of the consonantsare syllabic Most of the consonants are non-syllabic

Nucleus (N) Coda (C)

/spr/ /ɪ/ /ŋ/

A complete description of a syllable requires four sub-syllabic units The nucleus (N) is the

syllable’s only obligatory member It is a vocalic segment that forms the core of a syllable The

coda (C) consists of those segments that follow the nucleus in the same syllable The rhyme (R) is made up of the nucleus and coda The onset (O) is made up of those segments that precede the

rhyme in the same syllable

2.1.1 Onset: 4 cases

a Zero onset: Any vowel may occur at the final position, though /ʊ/ is rare.

b One consonant: Any consonant may occur, except /ŋ/, and /ʒ/is rare

c Two consonants (called consonant cluster):