Some definitions on English Phonetics and Phonology

Definitions on phonetics and phonology Phoneme organs Vowel and consonant allophone variation transcription

Some definitions on English Phonetics and Phonology WHAT IS A PHONEME? - Both phonetics and phonology study and describe the distinctive sound units or phonemes of a language and their relationship to one another - A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish two words Ex: PAN and BAN differ only in their initial sound: /p/ and /b/ are phonemes - English has 44 phonemes which are classified into 24 consonants, 12 vowels and diphthongs THE SPEECH ORGANS The speech organs are the parts of the body that are used to produce the sounds The speech organs consist of: - Articulators: The movable parts to modify the air stream to produce different sounds The articulators are: Vocal cords in the larynx: Where sounds may be produced with vibration (voiced sounds) or without vibration (voiceless sounds) The opening between the vocal cords is called the glottis Pharynx: The tube above the larynx The epiglottis in the pharynx can he raised or lowered to open or close the way to the windpipe Tongue: The most important articulator because it is flexible and it can move to different places in the mouth Uvula: The extreme back of the roof of the mouth It can he raised or lowered to open or close the passage to the nose Lower teeth (lower jaw): Behind the lower lip Lower lip: Faces the upper lip It is flexible and can be pressed against the upper lip or can be rounded or spread - Points of articulation: The fixed parts on the roof of the mouth towards which the articulators move to produce sounds Points of articulation are: Upper lip: Opposite the lower lip Upper teeth (upper jaw): Opposite the lower teeth Alveolar ridge/ tooth ridge/ gum: Is between the upper teeth and the hard palate 10 Hard palate/ roof of the mouth: The hard part of roof of the mouth 11 Soft palate/ velum: The soft part of the roof of the mouth CONSONANTS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION I What is a consonant? - A consonant is a sound in producing it the airstream coming from the lungs is stopped, impeded, constricted or otherwise interfered with in its passage to the outside air - Consonants are classed as VOICED if they are produced with vibration of the vocal cords and VOICELESS if they are produced without vibration II Classification of consonants: Consonants are classified according to these standards: A/ PLACES OF ARTICULATION: Bilabial: lips are pressed together Ex: /p, b, m, w/ Labio-dental: The upper teeth and the lower lip come close together Ex: /f, v/ Dental or Interdental: The tip of the tongue is between the upper and lower teeth Ex: / θ, ð / Alveolar: The tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge Ex: /t, d, 1, n, s, z/ Palato-alveolar: The front of the tongue touches the part between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate Ex: /r, tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ Velar: The back of the tongue touches the soft palate or velum Ex: /k, g, ŋ/ Palatal: The front of the tongue touches the hard palate Ex: /j/ Glottal: The sound is produced with a friction noise in the glottis between the vocal cords The glottis opens wide and the sound is voiceless Ex: /h/ B/ MANNER OF ARTICULATION: The ways the airstream modifies the organs of speech Plosive or stop: The air is stopped, then released with an explosive sound Ex: /p, b, t, d, k, g/ Fricative: The air is constricted, causing friction when passing through the organs of speech Ex: / f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ , h/ Affricate: It is the combination of the plosive and fricative The air stream is stopped, then released slowly with friction Ex: /tʃ, dʒ/ Nasal: The air passes through the nose when the uvula is lowered Ex: /m, n, ŋ/ Lateral: The air passes out at both sides of the tongue Eg: /l/ Gliding or semi-vowel (consonant) or approximant: There is a gliding from one to another with little or no obstruction of the air stream The tip of the tongue approaches alveolar ridge Ex: /w, r, j/ C/ VOICING: There is presence or absence of the vibration of the vocal cords Voiced: When the vocal cords open and close rapidly 2 Voiceless: When the vocal cords open wide and there is the vibration of the vocal cords D/ ASPIRATION Aspirated: A sound is aspirated when it is at the beginning of a word or in a stressed syllable Ex: paper , pen , people Unaspirated: A sound is unaspirated when it is before an unstressed syllable, before another stop sound or after /s-/ Ex: paper , spy SYLLABIC CONSONANTS * Syllabic consonants are the ones which can form syllable without vowels The small vertical mark is used to show that a consonant is syllabic Ex: table /teibl/ VOWELS, TIIEIR CIASSIFICATION I VOWELS VS CONSONANTS 1) What is a vowel? A vowel is a speech sound in which the airstream from the lungs is not blocked in any way in the mouth or throat and which is usually pronounced with vibration of the vocal cords 2) The difference between a vowel and a consonant: They are different in aspects: a A vowel is produced without any stoppage of the airstream in the oral cavity meanwhile there is obstruction in the production of a consonant b A vowel is syllabic, i.e , it forms the centre or nucleus of a syllable meanwhile a consonant is not except some syllabic consonants Ex: are (V) , car (CV) , art (VC) , cart (CVC) II CHARACTERISTICS TO CLASSIFY VOWELS Vowels are classified according to these standards: 1) TONGUE HEIGHT - Tongue height is the vertical distance between the upper surface of the tongue and the palate (= degree of opening of the mouth) - The tongue may be raised high, mid or low - Correspondingly the position of the jaw may also be close, mid or open 2) TONGUE POSITION: This means the front, central or back of the tongue is raised or lowered 3) LIP ROUNDING: Different shapes and positions of the lips They may be rounded, unrounded or neutral 4) MUSCLE TENSION: Tenseness in the muscles of the jaw and throat The muscles may be lax or tense Short vowels are often lax vowels meanwhile tense vowels are often long vowels 5) VOWEL LENGTH: There are long vowels: /i:, u:, Ɔ:, ə: a:/ and short vowels: /i, u, Ɔ, ə, e, æ, ⋀/ THE ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS I/ Definition They are sounds consisting of a movement or glide from one vowel to another In terms of length, diphthongs are like long vowels II Classification Centering diphthongs: /iə/, /eə/, /uə/ Fronting diphthongs: /ei/, /ai/, /Ɔi/ Retracing diphthongs: /əu/, /au/ PHONEMES AND ALLOPHONES I/ What is a phoneme? - A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish words - For example: a/ In English, the words PAN and BAN differ only in their initial sound: PAN begins with /p/ and BAN with /b/ b/ BEN and BIN differ only in their vowels: /e/ and /i/ Therefore / p b e i / are phonemes of English The number of phonemes varies from one language to another English is often considered to have 44 phonemes: 24 consonants and 20 vowels II/ What is an allophone? - An allophone is any of the different forms of a phoneme - For example: In English, when the phoneme /p/ occurs at the beginning of words like PUT /put/ and PEN /pen/ , it is said with a little puff of air That is, it is aspirated But when /p/ occurs in words like SPEND /spend/ and SPELL /spel/ it is unaspirated Both the aspirated in PEN and the unaspirated in SPELL have the same phoneme function That is, they are both heard and identified as [p] and not as [b] They are both ALLOPHONES of the PHONEME [p] III/ The difference between a phoneme and an allophone - A PHONEME is a meaning-distinguish sound in a language If we substitute one sound for another in a word and there is a change of meaning, then the sounds represent different phonemes Ex: TIE and DIE They are not allophones - Otherwise if we substitute allophones, we have different pronunciation of the same word Ex: Phoneme [t] has got allophones: [tø] aspirated as in TAPE [t] unaspirated as in LETTER - Phonemes are transcribed phonemically in slant bars / / and allophones are transcribed phonetically in square bracket [ ] - As a result of this, we have kinds of transcription: narrow transcription (phonetic transcription) and broad transcription (phonemic transcription) BROAD TRANSCRIPTION & NARROW TRANSCRIPTION I/ Two types of transcription A Narrow transcription (also called phonetic transcription): The transcription in which phonemes are transcribed phonetically (with allophones) The phonetic symbol is [ ] (square brackets) This type is more complex, more detailed & gives more information about a phoneme As a result, it is the study object of PHONOLOGY (PHONEMICS) B Broad transcription (also called phonemic transcription): The transcription in which phonemes are transcribed phonemically The symbol is / / (slant bars) This type is easy and quick to learn It is preferred due to these reasons: simple phonemic symbols and easy printing As a result, it is the study object of PHONETICS Ex : take / teik / VARIATION I/ Assimilation - Assimilation is the influence of one phoneme upon another neighbouring phoneme, so that they become more alike - Assimilation is more likely to be found in rapid, casual speech and less likely in slow, careful speech - Assimilation affects consonant only II/ Elision - Elision is the complete disappearance of a sound - Elision is typical of rapid casual speech Foreign learners not need to learn to produce elisions, but the perception of elision is important III/ Linking - Linking happens when we link words together, usually for ease of pronunciation Ex: Thousands of people He eats and drinks /z əv/ /s ən/ Learners of English must be made aware of the problems that they will meet in listening to colloquial, connected speech WORD/ PHRASE AND SENTENCE STRESS - Stress is the degree of force used in producing a syllable - There are three types of stress in English: word, phrase and sentence stress - There are four degrees of stress: primary, secondary, tertiary and weak stress - All words of more than one syllable are stressed - The general rule of phrase and sentence stress: CONTENT WORDS (nouns, demonstratives, adjectives, adverbs, verbs) often receive the MAJOR STRESS meanwhile FUNCTION WORDS (prepositions, auxiliaries, conjunctions and pronouns) usually carry the MINOR STRESS The primary stress is put on the most important word in a phrase or sentence And there is only one primary stress in each phrase or sentence 10 STRONG & WEAK FORMS - The strong form of a word is used when it is stressed or when it is at the end of a sentence or when it is said in isolation - The weak form of a word is used when it is unstressed and not final - The content words like nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs have no weak forms Only the function words like auxiliary verbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions may have the weak forms 11 THE ENGLISH RHYTHM - Rhythm may be defined as regular succession of stressed syllables and unstressed ones - Rhythm often coincides with secondary and primary stress ... reasons: simple phonemic symbols and easy printing As a result, it is the study object of PHONETICS Ex : take / teik / VARIATION I/ Assimilation - Assimilation is the influence of one phoneme upon... often considered to have 44 phonemes: 24 consonants and 20 vowels II/ What is an allophone? - An allophone is any of the different forms of a phoneme - For example: In English, when the phoneme... phoneme function That is, they are both heard and identified as [p] and not as [b] They are both ALLOPHONES of the PHONEME [p] III/ The difference between a phoneme and an allophone - A PHONEME