Phonetics

• Identity of Speech Sounds

• The science of phonetics aims to describe all the
sounds of all the world’s languages
• Articulatory phonetics : How sounds are produced.
Study of the positions and movements of the lips,
tongue, and other speech organs in producing speech.
• Acoustic phonetics : How sounds are transmitted.
Study of the properties of speech sounds as
transmitted between the mouth and ear.
• Auditory phonetics : How sounds are received. Study
of the hearing and the perception of speech sounds.
 Significance of Phonetics
• 1. To give a true description of sounds of English and
how they are made or articulated.
• 2. To differentiate sounds of English from those of the
mother tongue.
• 3. To help improve your English accent, your listening
skills, and your ability to communicate effectively with
others.
• 4. To identify and point out the mistakes in leaner’s
pronunciation and help them learn the correct form.
 AIRSTREAM MECHANISM
• All speech sounds are produced on a moving
airstream.
• An airstream initiated by the lungs is called a
pulmonic airstream.
• All English sounds (both consonants and
vowels) are produced by Pulmonic Egressive
Airstream, an outgoing airstream produced by
the lungs.
• PULMONIC EGRESSIVE AIRSTREAM
MECHANISM Air is coming from the Lungs,
passing through the Trachea (windpipe) and
the Larynx (where the vocal folds are), into
the Vocal tract (oral and nasal cavities).
 The Phonetic Alphabet
• In 1888 the International Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA) was invented in order to have a system
in which there was a one to-one
correspondence between each sound in
language and each phonetic symbol
• Someone who knows the IPA knows how to
pronounce any word in any language The
Phonetic Alphabet
 In English, there is no one-to-one relation
between the system of writing and the system
of pronunciation.
• The alphabet which we use to write English
has 26 letters but in (Standard British) English
there are approximately 44 speech sounds.
• The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a
pronunciation alphabet in which every speech
sound is represented by a symbol.
Vowel Sounds
Vowel Sounds
Consonant Sounds
• Semi-Vowels these are vowel like sounds,
because they have the same production
manner as the vowels, however they aren’t as
long as the vowels.
• What is “The place of articulation”?
• The place of articulation (or POA) of a
consonant specifies where in the vocal tract
the narrowing occurs.
• From front to back, the POAs that English uses
are:
• Bilabial, Labiodentals, Dental, Alveolar, Palatal,
Velar, Glottal.
• What is “The manner of articulation”?
• Speech sounds also vary in the way the airstream is
affected as it flows form the lungs up and out of the
mouth and nose. It may be blocked or partially be
blocked; the vocal cords may vibrate or not vibrate. It
refers to as the manner of articulation. The process by
which the moving column of air is shaped called the
manner of articulation.
• The manner of articulation is described according to
the following features:
• Stops, fricatives, approximants, affricates, Laterals.
• Manner of Articulation of Consonant Sounds
• Plosives: [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g],
• Fricatives: [f], [v], [θ], [ð], [s], [z], [ʃ], and [ʒ]
• Affricates: [tʃ], [dʒ]
• Approximants: [w], [j], [ɹ], and [l]
• Laterals: [l]
• Nasals: [m], [n]
 Plosive
• Complete closure and sudden release: The stricture may be
one of complete closure, i.e., the active articulators come
into firm contact with each other, thus preventing the
lung-air from escaping through the mouth. Simultaneously
there is a velic closure, i.e., the soft palate is raised, thereby
shutting off the nasal passage of air. Thus the lung-air
blocked in the mouth. When the oral closure is released,
i.e., when the active articulator is suddenly removed from
the passive articulator, the air escapes with a small
explosive noise. “Sounds produced with a stricture of
complete closure and sudden releases are called Plosive”.
The initial sounds in the English word pin, bin, tin, din, kin,
and gun are plosives.
 Affricatives
• Complete closure and slow release: If after
blocking the oral and the nasal passages of air, the
oral closure is removed slowly, i.e., if the active
articulator is removed slowly from the passive
articulator, instead of the explosive noise that is
characteristic of plosive consonants, friction will
be heard. “Sounds that are produced with a
stricture of complete closure and slow release are
called Affricatives.” The initial sounds in the
English word chin and jam are affricate
consonants.
 Nasals
• Complete oral closure: the active and passive
articulators are in firm contact with each other,
thereby blocking off the oral passage of air
completely. But the soft palate is lowered so that
there is a velic opening, i.e., the nasal passage of
air is opened. The lung-air will then escape
through the nostrils freely. “Sounds that are
articulated with a stricture of complete oral
closure are called Nasals”. The final sounds in the
English words sum, sun, and sung are some
examples of nasal consonants.
 Fricatives
• Close approximation: The active articulator is
brought so close to the passive articulator that
there is a very narrow gap between them. The
soft palate is raised so as to shut off the nasal
passage of air. The lung-air escapes through the
narrow space between the active and passive
articulators, producing audible friction. “Sounds
that are articulated with a stricture of close
approximation are called Fricatives”. The initial
sounds in the English word five, vine, thin, then,
sip, zip, sheep and hat are fricatives.
 Semi vowels
• Open approximation: The soft palate is raised,
thereby shutting off the nasal passage of air. If the
active articulator is brought close to the passive
articulator so that the gap between them is wide
the air will escape through this gap without any
friction. “Sounds that are articulated with a
stricture of open approximation are called
frictionless continuants and semi vowels. In fact
Peter Ladefoged uses the term approximants to
refer to sounds that are articulated with a
stricture of open approximation.
 laterals
• Partial closure: the active and passive articulators are
in firm contact with each other. The soft palate is
raised, thereby shutting off the nasal passage of air. If
the sides of the tongue are lowered so that there is
plenty of gap between the sides of the tongue and the
upper molar teeth, the air will escape along the sides
of the tongue without any friction. “Sounds that are
articulated with a stricture of complete closure in the
centre of the vocal tract but with the air escaping
along the sides of the tongue without any friction are
called laterals”. The initial sound in the English word
love is a lateral.
 Rolls
• Intermittent closure: The soft palate is raised,
thereby shutting off the nasal passage of air. The
active articulator strikes against the passive
articulator several times with the result that the
air escapes between the active and passive
articulators intermittently. Such a stricture is
termed intermitted closure. Sounds that are
articulated with a stricture of intermittent closure
are called trills or rolled consonants. The letter r in
English words like red and ran is pronounced as a
trill by most Scottish people.
 Flaps
• For some consonants the active articulator
strikes against the passive articulator just once
and then quickly flaps forward. Such
consonants are called taps or flaps. The letter
r in very is pronounced as a tap by some
English people.
• What is “voicing”?
• • The vocal folds may be held against each other
at just the right tension so that the air flowing
past them from the lungs will cause them to
vibrate against each-other. We call this process
voicing.
• • Sounds which are made with vocal fold vibration
are said to be voiced.
• • Sounds that are made without vocal fold
vibration are said to be voiceless.
 Describing the manner, voicing and place
of articulation of a consonant sound

• [p]voiceless bilabial plosive

• [t]voiceless alveolar plosive
• [ɡ]voiced velar plosive
• [tʃ]voiceless postalveolar affricate
• [dʒ]voiced postalveolar affricate
• [m]voiced bilabial nasal
• [f]voiceless labiodental fricative
• [ʒ]voiced postalveolar fricative
• The Place of Articulation. Consonants are
divided as given in the following table on the
basis of the articulatory points at which the
articulators actually touch, or are at their
closest.
• The Classification of English Consonants
according to the place of Articulation.
•
Classification Articulators Examples

Bilabial Upper lip and /p b m w/

lower lip

Dental Teeth and tip of /q ð/

tongue
Labio-dentel Lower lip and /f v/
upper teeth
Alveolar alveolar (teeth) /t d s z r k b/
ridge and tip and
blade of tongue
Post-alveolar Hard palate and tip /r/
of tongue

Palato-aveloar Hard /f/z/ò/dз/

palate—alveolar
and tip, blade and
front of tongue
Palatal Hard palate and /j/
front of tongue

Velar Soft palate and /k g ŋ/

back of tongue
Glottal Glottal Glottis /h/
(vocal cords)