Aspects of Speech Sounds

Speech sounds are

 produced by human's organs of speech

 travel in sound waves
 are perceived by human's hearing mechanism as
 sounds of language functioning as units capable of differentiating meanings of the words.

Speech sounds differ from each other in their physical/acoustic properties, in the way they are produced by the
organs of speech and in their features which take part or do not take part in differentiating the meaning, i.e. it will be
possible to distinguish the following four aspects:

1) articulatory

2) acoustic

3) auditory

4) functional (linguistic, social) of speech sounds.

Neither of them can be separated in the actual process of communication (in the flow of speech). Each of them can
be singled out for linguistic analysis.

The articulatory / sound production aspect: from the articulatory point of view every speech sound is a complex of
definite coordinated and differentiated movements and Positions of speech organs. The movements and positions
necessary for the production of a speech sound constitute its articulation.

The acoustic aspect: every speech sound is a complex of acoustic effects and has its Physical properties - it is a
physical phenomenon, a kind of moving matter and energy. The Physical (acoustic) properties of speech sounds
consist of: 1) frequency,  2) spectrum,  3) intensity,  4) duration.

The auditory/sound-perception aspect involves the mechanism of hearing. It is a kind of psychological mechanism

which (i) reacts to the physical properties of speech sounds, (ii) selecting from a great amount of information only
the one which is linguistically relevant

The functional/linguistic/social aspect is called so because of the role the sounds of language play in its functioning
as medium of human communication.

General Characteristics of Phonemes

When we talk about the sounds of a language, the term "sound" can be interpreted in two rather different ways. A
linguist uses two separate terms: "phoneme" is used to mean "sound" in its contrastive sense, e.g.: tie  — die,
seat  — seed  and "allophone" is used for sounds which are variants of a phoneme. They usually occur in different
positions in the word (i.e. in different environments) and hence cannot contrast with each other, nor be used to
make meaningful distinctions.

Definitions of the phoneme:

a) The segmental phoneme is the smallest (i.e. further indivisible into smaller consecutive segments) language unit
(sound type) that exists in the speech of all the members of a given language community. As such speech sounds
which are capable of distinguishing one word of the same language or one grammatical form of a word from another
grammatical form of the same word (Vassilyev 1970: 136).
b) The phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech sounds opposable to
other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words (Sokolova 1996: 40).

Let us consider the phoneme from the point of view of its three aspects.

* Firstly, the phoneme is a functional unit. Function is usually understood to mean discriminatory function, that is,
the role of the various components of the phonetic system of the language in distinguishing one morpheme from
another, one word from another or also one utterance from another.

Example: The opposition of phonemes in the same phonetic environment differentiates the meaning of morphemes
and words, e.g. said  – says, sleeper  –sleepy, bath  – path, light– like.

Sometimes the opposition of phonemes serves to distinguish the meaning of the whole phrases, e.g. He was heard
badly  – He was hurt badly.  Thus we may say that the phoneme can fulfil the distinctive function.

* Secondly, the phoneme is material, real, and objective. That means that it is realized in speech of all speakers of a
language in the form of speech sounds, its allophones. The sets of speech sounds, that is the allophones belonging to
the same phoneme, are not identical in their articulatory content, yet there remains some phonetic similarity
between them.

Example: let us consider the English phoneme [d], which, when not affected by the articulation of the preceding or
following sounds, is a plosive, forelingual apical, alveolar, lenis stop. This is how it sounds in isolation or in such
words as door, darn, down,  etc., when it retains its typical articulatory characteristics. In this case the consonant [d]
is called the principal allophone. At the same time, there are quite predictable changes in the articulation of
allophones that occur under the influence of the neighbouring sounds in different phonetic situations. Such
allophones are called subsidiary.

[d] is slightly palatalized before front vowels and the sonorant [j], e.g. deal, day, did, did you.

[d] is pronounced without any plosion before another stop, e.g. bedtime, bad pain, good dog;  it is pronounced with
the nasal plosion before the nasal sonorants [n] and [m], e.g. sudden, admit, could not, could meet;  the plosion is
lateral before the lateral sonorant [l], e.g. middle, badly, bad light.

Followed by [r], the consonant [d] becomes post-alveolar, e.g. dry, dream;  followed by the interdental [θ], [ð] it
becomes dental, e.g. breadth, lead the way, good thing.  When [d] is followed by the labial [w] it becomes labialized,
e.g. dweller.

In the intervocalic position or when followed by a sonorant, it is fully voiced, e.g. order, leader, driver;  in the word-
final position it is partially devoiced, e.g. road, raised old.

Allophones are arranged into  functionally similar groups, that is groups of sounds in which the members of each
group are not opposed to one another, but are opposable to members of any other group to distinguish meanings in
otherwise similar sequences. But the phones which are realized in speech do not correspond exactly to the
allophone predicted by this or that phonetic environment. They are modified by phonostylistic, dialectal and
individual factors. In fact, no speech sounds are absolutely alike.

* Thirdly, allophones of the same phoneme, no matter how different their articulation may be, function as the
same linguistic unit. The native speakers are quite readily aware of the phonemes of their language but much less
aware of the allophones: it is possible, in fact, that they will not hear the difference between two allophones like the
alveolar and dental consonants [d] in the words bread  and breadth  even when a distinction is pointed out; a certain
amount of ear-training may be needed. The reason is that the phonemes differentiate words like  tie  and die  from
each other. Allophones, on the other hand, have no such function.

At the same time, native speakers realize, quite subconsciously of course, that allophones of each phoneme possess
a bundle of distinctive features that make this phoneme functionally different from all other phonemes of the
language concerned.
This functionally relevant bundle of articulatory features is called the invariant of the phoneme.

Neither of the articulatory features that form the invariant of the phoneme can be changed without affecting the
meaning.

EXAMPLE: All the allophones of the phoneme [d], for instance, are occlusive, forelingual, lenis. If occlusive
articulation is changed for constrictive one, [d] will be replaced by [z], cf. breed  – breeze, deal  – zeal;

[d] will be replaced by [g] if the forelingual articulation is replaced by the backlingual one, cf. dear  – gear, debt  – get.

The lenis articulation of [d] cannot be substituted by the fortis one because it will also bring about changes in
meaning, cf. dry  – try, ladder  – latter, bid  – bit.

The articulatory features which form the invariant of the phoneme are called distinctive or relevant. To extract a
relevant feature of the phoneme we have to oppose it to some other phoneme in the same phonetic context. If the
opposed sounds differ in one articulatory feature and this difference brings about changes in the meaning of the
words, the contrasting features are called relevant.

For example, the words port  and court  differ in one consonant only, that is the word port  has the initial consonant
[p], and the word court  begins with [k]. Both sounds are occlusive and fortis, the only difference being that [p] is
labial and [k] is backlingual. Therefore it is possible to say that labial and backlingual articulations are relevant in the
system of English consonants.

The articulatory features which do not serve to distinguish meaning are called nondistinctive,
irrelevant or redundant; for instance, it is impossible in English to oppose an aspirated [p h] to a non-aspirated [p]
one in the same phonetic context to distinguish meanings. That is why aspiration is a non-distinctive feature of
English consonants.

If an allophone of some phoneme is replaced by an allophone of a different phoneme the mistake is

called phonological, because the meaning of the word is inevitably affected, e.g.: beat – bit, vine-wine.

If an allophone of the phoneme is replaced by another allophone of the same phoneme the mistake is
called phonetic. It happens when the invariant of the phoneme is not modified and consequently the meaning of the
word is not affected, e.g.: When the vowel [i:] is fully long in such a word as sheep,  for instance, the quality of it
remaining the same, the meaning of the word does not change.

* Finally, the phoneme is abstract or generalized, and that is reflected in its definition as a language unit. It is an
abstraction because we make it abstract from concrete realizations for classificatory purposes.

Notation
The abstractional and material aspects of the phoneme have given rise to the appearance of transcription.

Transcription is a set of symbols representing speech sounds.

The Phonemic Chart clearly shows how the 44 English phonemes are categorised and can be written using the
phonetic alphabet. The 44 sounds are divided into two categories: vowels and consonants.
 Vowels: sometimes they are long, sometimes they are short, sometimes they move from one position to another

The first feature of vowels is the time we spend to produce the sound: some vowels are short and some are long. The
long vowels have a double dot (:) in the chart.

sheep /'ʃi:p/ and ship /'ʃɪp/

good /'gʊd/ and moon /'mu:n/

Double vowels, also known as diphthongs, start with one sound and finish with another:
ear /'ɪə/
train /'treɪn/
 
Consonants: sometimes they are voiced (with vibration), sometimes they are unvoiced (without vibration)

Here is an exercise that helps you to feel the difference between voiced consonants (blue on the chart) from unvoiced
consonants (green on the chart): touch your neck with your hand and pronounce first the /p/ sound and then the /b/
sound: when saying the /b/ sound you will notice that your voice box (or larynx) will produce a vibration but when
saying the /p/ sound there is no vibration.

***

The symbolization of sounds naturally differs according to whether the aim is to indicate the phoneme, i.e. a
functional unit as a whole, or to reflect the modifications of its allophones as well.

The International Phonetic Association (IPA) has given accepted values to an inventory of symbols, mainly alphabetic
but with additions. The first type of notation, the broad or phonemic transcription, provides special symbols for all
the phonemes of a language.

The second type, the narrow or allophonic transcription, suggests special symbols including some information about
articulatory activity of particular allophonic features.

The broad transcription is mainly used for practical expedience, the narrow type serves the purposes of research work.
We shall discuss two kinds of broad transcription which are used for practical purposes.

The first type was introduced by D. Jones. He realized the difference in quality as well as in quantity between the
vowel sounds in the words sit and seat, pot and port, pull and pool, the neutral vowel and the vowel in the word earn.

According to D. Jones' notation, English vowels are denoted like this: [I] – [i:] , [e] – [æ], [٨] – [a:], [ɔ] – [ɔ:], [u] –
[u:], [ə] – [з:]. This way of notation disguises the qualitative difference between the vowels [I] and [i:], [ɔ] and [ɔ:], [u]
and [u:], [ə] and [з:], though nowadays most phoneticians agree that vowel length is not a distinctive feature of the
vowel, but is rather dependent upon the phonetic context, that is it is definitely redundant.

For example, in such word pairs as hit – heat, cock – cork, pull – pool the opposed vowels are approximately of the
same length, the only difference between them lies in their quality which is therefore relevant.

The other type of broad transcription, first used by V.A. Vassilyev, causes no phonological misunderstanding
providing special symbols for all vowel phonemes: [I], [i:], [e], [æ], [a:], [٨], [ɒ], [ɔ:], [u], [u:], [ə], [з:]. The narrow or
phonetic transcription incorporates as much more phonetic information as the phonetician desires, or as he can
distinguish. It provides special symbols to denote not only the phoneme as a language unit but also its allophonic
modifications. The symbol [h] for instance indicates aspirated articulation, cf. [k heIt] – [skeIt].

Main Trends in Phoneme Theory

Views of the phoneme seem to fall into four main classes.

The "mentalistic" or "psychological" view regards the phoneme as an ideal "mental image" or a target at which the
speaker aims. He deviates from this ideal sound partly because an identical repetition of a sound is next to impossible
and partly because of the influence exerted by neighbouring sounds. According to this conception, allophones of the
phoneme are varying materializations of it. This view was originated by the founder of the phoneme theory, the
Russian linguist I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay, and something like it appears to have been adopted by E.D. Sapir, Alf.
Sommerfelt , M. Tatham.

The so-called "functional" view regards the phoneme as the minimal sound unit by which meanings may be
differentiated without much regard to actually pronounced speech sounds. Meaning differentiation is taken to be a
defining characteristic of phonemes.
Thus the absence of palatalization in [l] and palatalization of the dark [ł] in English do not differentiate meanings, and
therefore [l] and [ł] cannot be assigned to different phonemes but both form allophones of the phoneme [l].

This view is shared by many foreign linguists: see in particular the works of N. Trubetskoy, L. Bloomfield, R.
Jakobson, M. Halle.

The functional view of the phoneme gave rise to a branch of linguistics called "phonology" or "phonemics" which is
concerned with relationships between contrasting sounds in a language.

Its special interest lies in establishing the system of distinctive features of the language concerned. Phonetics is limited
in this case with the precise description of acoustic and physiological aspects of physical sounds without any concern
to their linguistic function.

A stronger form of the "functional" approach is advocated in the so-called "abstract" view of the phoneme, which
regards phonemes as essentially independent of the acoustic and physiological properties associated with them, that is
of speech sounds. This view of the phoneme was pioneered by L. Hjelmslev and his associates in the Copenhagen
Linguistic Circle, H.J. Uldall and K. Togby.

The views of the phoneme discussed above can be qualified as idealistic, since all of them regard the phoneme as an
abstract conception existing in the mind but not in the reality, that is in human speech, speech sounds being only
phonetic manifestations of these conceptions.

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

1. The various members of the "family" must show phonetic similarity to one another, in other words be related in
character.

2. No member of the "family" may occur in the same phonetic context as any other. The extreme form of the
"physical" conception, as propounded by D. Jones and shared by B. Bloch and G. Trager, excludes all reference to
non-articulatory criteria in the grouping of sounds into phonemes.

Methods of Phonological Analysis

The aim of the phonological analysis is, firstly, to determine which differences of sounds are phonemic (i.e. relevant
for the differentiation of the phonemes) and which are non-phonemic and, secondly, to find the inventory of the
phonemes of this or that language.

A number of principles have been established for ascertaining the phonemic structure of a language.

For an unknown language, the procedure of identifying the phonemes of a language as the smallest language units has
several stages.

The first step is to determine the minimum recurrent segments (segmentation of speech continuum) and to record them
graphically by means of allophonic transcription. To do this, an analyst gathers a number of sound sequences with
different meanings and compares them.

For example, the comparison of [stIk] and [stæk] reveals the segments (sounds) [I] and [æ] , comparison of [stIk] and
[spIk] reveals the segments [st] and [sp] and the further comparison of these two with [tIk] and [taek], [sIk] and [sæk]
splits these segments into smaller segments [s], [t], [p]. If we try to divide them further, there is no comparison that
allows us to divide [s] or [t] or [p] into two, and we have therefore arrived at the minimal segments.

From what we have shown it follows that it is possible to single out the minimal segments, opposing them to one
another in the same phonetic context or, in other words, in sequences which differ in one element only.

The next step in the procedure is the arranging of sounds into functionally similar groups. We do not know yet what
sounds are contrastive in this language and what sounds are merely allophones of one and the same phoneme. There
are two most widely used methods of finding it out. They are the distributional method and the semantic method.
The distributional method is mainly used by phoneticians of "structuralist" views. These phoneticians consider it to
group all the sounds pronounced by native speakers into phonemes according to the two laws of phonemic and
allophonic distribution.

These laws were discovered long ago and are as follows.

1. Allophones of different phonemes occur in the same phonetic context.

2. Allophones of the same phoneme never occur in the same phonetic context.

The fact is that the sounds of a language combine according to a certain pattern characteristic of this language.
Phonemic opposability depends on the way the phonemes are distributed in their occurrence. That means that in any
language certain sounds do not occur in certain positions.

If more or less different sounds occur in the same phonetic context, they should be allophones of different phonemes.
In this case their distribution is contrastive.

If more or less similar speech sounds occur in different positions and never occur in the same phonetic context they
are allophones of one and the same phoneme. In this case their distribution is complementary.

Still there are cases when two sounds are in complementary distribution but are

not referred to the same phoneme. This is the case with the English [h] and [ŋ]. [h] occurs only initially or before a
vowel while [ŋ] occurs only medially or finally after a vowel and never occurs initially. In such a case, the method of
distribution is modified by addition of the criterion of phonetic similarity/ dissimilarity. The decisions are not made
purely on distributional grounds. Articulatory features are taken into account as well.

So far we have considered cases when the distribution of sounds was either contrastive or complementary. There is,
however, a third possibility, namely, that the sounds both occur in a language but the speakers are inconsistent in the
way they use them. In such cases we must take them as free variants of a single phoneme. We could explain it on the
basis of "dialect" or on the basis of sociolinguistics. It could be that one variant is a "prestige" form which the speaker
uses when he is constantly "monitoring" what he says while the other variant of pronunciation is found in casual or
less formal speech.

The semantic method. It is applied for phonological analysis of both unknown languages and languages already
described. In case of the latter it is used to determine the phonemic status of sounds which are not easily identified
from phonological point of view. The method is based on a phonemic rule that phonemes can distinguish words and
morphemes when opposed to one another. The semantic method of identifying the phonemes of a language attaches
great significance to meaning. It consists in systematic substitution of the sound for another in order to ascertain in
which cases where the phonetic context remains the same such substitution leads to a change of meaning. It is with the
help of an informant that the change of meaning is stated. This procedure is called the commutation test. It consists in
finding minimal pairs of words and their grammatical forms. For example, an analyst arrives at the sequence [pin].
He substitutes the sound [p] for the sound [b] or [s], [d], [w]. The substitution leads to the change of meaning, cf.: pin,
bin, sin, din, win. This would be a strong evidence that [p], [b], [s], [d], [w] can be regarded as allophones of different
phonemes.

To establish the phonemic structure of a language it is necessary to establish the whole  system of oppositions. All the
sounds should be opposed in word-initial, wordmedial and word-final positions. There are three kinds of oppositions.
If members of the opposition differ in one feature, the opposition is said to be single, e.g.  pen – ben. Common
features: occlusive – occlusive, labial – labial. Differentiating feature: fortis – lenis. If two distinctive features are
marked, the opposition is said to be double, e.g. pen – den. Common features: occlusive – occlusive. Differentiating
features: labial – lingual, fortis voiceless – lenis voiced. If three distinctive features are marked, the opposition is said
to be triple, e.g. pen – then. Differentiating features: occlusive – constrictive, labial – dental, fortis voiceless – lenis
voiced.

The System of English Phonemes

If speech sounds are studied from the point of view of their production by man's organs of speech, it is the differences
and similarities of their articulation that are in the focus of attention. A speech sound is produced as a result of definite
coordinated movements and positions of speech organs, so the articulation of a sound consists of a set of articulatory
features.

There are two major classes of sounds traditionally distinguished by phoneticians in any language. They are
termed consonants (C) and vowels (V). The distinction is based mainly on auditory effect. Consonants are known to
have voice and noise combined, while vowels are sounds consisting ofvoice only. From the articulatory point ofview,
the difference is due to the work of speech organs. In the production of vowels no obstruction is made. In the
production ofconsonants various obstructions are made. So consonants are characterized by the so-called close
articulation, i. e. by a complete, partial or intermittent blockage of the air passage by a speech organ. As a result
consonants are sounds which have noise as their indispensable and most defining characteristic.

There are 1) articulatory, 2) acoustic and 3) functional differences between V and C.

Grouping speech sounds according to their major articulatory features is called an articulatory classification.

1. The most substantial articulatory difference between vowels and consonants is that in the articulation of V the air
passes freely through the mouth cavity, while in making C an obstruction is formed in the mouth cavity and the
airflow exhaled from the lungs meets a narrowing or a complete obstruction formed by the speech organs.

2. Consonants articulations are relatively easy to feel, and as a result are most conveniently described in terms of
PLACE and MANNER of articulation.

3. Vowels have no place of obstruction, the whole of speech apparatus takes place in their formation, while the
articulation of consonants can be localized, an obstruction or narrowing for each C is made in a definite place of the
speech apparatus.

4. The particular quality of Vs depends on the volume and shape of the mouth resonator, as well as on the shape and
the size of the resonator opening. The mouth resonator is changed by the movements of the tongue and the lips.

5. The particular quality of Cs depends on the kind of noise that results when the tongue or the lips obstruct the air
passage. The kind of noise produced depends in its turn on the type of obstruction, on the shape and the type of the
narrowing. The vocal cords also determine the quality of consonants.

6. From the acoustic point of view, vowels are called the sounds of voice, they have high acoustic energy, consonants
are the sounds of noise which have low acoustic energy

7. Functional differences between Vs and Cs are defined by their role in syllable formation: Vs are syllable forming
elements, Cs are units which function at the margins of syllables, either singly or in clusters. These differences make it
logical to consider each class of sounds independently. As it follows from the above given considerations, the sounds
of a language can be classified in different ways.

H. Giegerich [1992], M. Pennington [1996], use a set of basic binary (two-way) distinctions in terms of: 1)
phonation; 2) oro-nasal process; 3) manner of articulation.

Sonorants: sounds whose phonetic content is predominantly made up by the sound waves produced by their voicing

Oral: sounds in the production of which the air escapes through the mouth.

Stops: sounds made with a complete obstruction or stoppage of the airflow coming up from the lungs. They are also
termed plosives.

Obstruents (noise consonants): sounds produced as a result of obstruent articulation involving an obstruction of the
air stream that produces a phonetic effect independent of voicing. They can typically occur in voiced and voiceless
variants.

Nasal: sounds in the production of which the softpalate is lowered, and the air escapes through the mouth.
Continuants: sounds in which the obstruction of the airflow is only partial, so that the sound can be prolonged for a
period of time. Vowels are one type of continuants and there are three consonant types of
continuants: fricatives: whose phonetic content includes a hissing noise, produced by turbulence in the air stream as it
is forced through the narrow gap between the articulators; affricates: complex sounds which consist of two
components which correspond to two phases of articulation- an oral- stop phase followed with a short friction
phase. approximants: sounds in the production of which one articulator moves close to another, though not so close
as to cause a turbulent as to produce friction. r,w, j are termed central approximants because air passes through the
oral tract along the center of the opening, 1 is called a lateral approximant because air passes out along the side/s of
the articulation. h is a glottal approximant. In some phonological systems approximants are treated as semi-
consonants (1, r) or semi-vowels (w,j)