Phonology and Phonetics

DEFINITION OF PHONETICS
* Phonetics is a study of a speech sounds, their production, combination and their representation by
written symbols.

ARTICULATORS - THE ORGANS OF SPEECH

* All the sounds are made with the air flow from lungs into the throat and then passes through the nose
and mouth.
* Articulators are the different parts of the vocal tract that can make changes to the flow of air and
there are 10 of them.
1. Lips
Consisting of upper lips and lower lips, can form different shapes be pressed together, or
brought into contract with the teeth.
2. Teeth
Upper and lower teeth are usually show in the diagram immediately behind the lips.
3. Tongue
The tongue usually divided into tip, front, middle and back and can be moved into different
places and differet shapes.
4. Alveolar ridge – tooth ridge
Alveolar ridge is just behind the upper teeth.
5. Hard palate: Hard palate is often called the “roof of the mouth”
6. Soft palate – velum
The velum is the extreme back of the roof of the mouth.
It can be raised or lowered to open or close the passage to nasal cavity to make nasal or oral
sound.
7. Vocal cords - vocal folds
Vocal cords are in the throat (Adam’s apple)
They may open or close and let the air pass through the openning between them.
Voiceless sounds: they are apart (open), the air can pass out freely without vibration.
Voiced sounds: they close tightly and open rapidly causing vibration.
Glottis refers to the opening between the vocal folds
- Wide apart: for normal breathing and usually during voiceless consonants
- Narrow glottis
- Vocal fold vibration
- Closure
8. Pharynx
Pharynx is a tube which begins just above the larynx
At its top end it is divided into two, one part being back of the mouth and the other being the
beginning of the way through the nasal cavity.
9. Lower jaw
Lowe jaw just can be move up down the change size of oral cavity (the space inside mouth)
10. Nose and nasal cavity
VOWELS
* Vowels are voiced sound in which there is no obstruction to the flow of air as it passes from the lungs
to the lips.
* The difference between vowels are controlled by the position of shape of the tongue, lips and jaw.

* All of vowels are syllabic.

1. Cardinal vowel
5 principles to classify a cardinal vowel
- The position of the tongue (front, middle, back)
Front of the tongue is raised toward hard palate  front vowels
Middle of the tongue is raised toward hard palate  middle vowels
Back of the tongue is raised toward soft palate  back vowels
- The height of the tongue (close, mid – open, open)
Tongue is raised close to the palate and passage is narrow  close vowels
Tongue is in mid position  mid – open vowels
Tongue is low and passage is wide  open vowels
- Lip position (rounded, spread, neutral)
Corners of lips brought towards and lips pushed towards  rounded
Corners of lips moved away from each other  spread
Lips are not noticeacle rounded ar spread  neutral
- Length (long, short)
Vowels are produced and sustained over a longer time than others  long
Vowels are relatively short  short
- Muscle tension (tense, relaxed)
Producing vowel with great tension of jaw and throat  tense
Producing vowel with great relaxation of jaw and throat  relaxed

Sheep A front close spread long tense vowel

Ship A front close spread short relaxed vowel
Pen A front mid – open neutral short relaxed vowel
Axe A front open neutral short tense vowel
Turn A central mid – open neutral long tense vowel
Of A central mid – open neutral short relaxed vowel
Hut A central open neutral short relaxed vowel
Luke A back close rounded long tense vowel
Look A back close rounded short relaxed vowel
Dawn A back mid – open rounded long tense vowel
Don A back open rounded short tense vowel
Heart A back open spread long tense vowel
2. Diphthongs
Dipthongs are sounds consisting of a movement or glide from one vowel to another

A dipthong is a combination of 2 vowels produced within one syllable.

- First elemement is the nucleus.
- Second element is the glide.

There are three groups of dipthongs:

- Fronting dipthong: /eɪ/; /aɪ/; /ɔɪ/
- Centering dipthong: /ɪə/; /eə/; /ʊə/
- Retracting dipthong: /əʊ/; /aʊ/
 3. Triphthongs
A tripthong is a glide from one vowels to another and then to a third, all produced rapidly and
without interuption.

A tripthong can be composed of the fronting and retracting dipthongs with added / ə/ on the end
with fronting diphthongs (eɪə, aɪə, ɔɪə) and retracting dipthongs (əʊə, aʊə).
CONSONANTS
* The production of consonants: the air stream from the lung is stopped or obstructed, obstruction of
the air stream formed in mouth by articulators.

* 3 principles to classify a consonant

- Place of articulation
Bilabial (two lips): the obstruction of air stream occurs at lips, two lips coming together.
Labio – dental (lower lip & upper teeth): obstruction occurs because lower lip & upper
teeth come together.
Dental (tip of tongue and teeth): tip of tongue is between teeth or touches area just
behind upper teeth.
Alveolar (tip of tongue and tooth ridge): tip of tongue touches the tooth ridge or alveolar
ridge.
Palato – alveolar (blade of tongue and area slightly further back): blade approaches the
area just behind the tooth ridge.
Palatal (blade of tongue and hard palate): blade approaches the hard palate.
Velar (back of tongue and soft palate): back of the tongue touches soft palate.
Glottal (vocal folds): made with narrowing opening between vocal folds.

- Manner of articulation
Plosives; Fricatives; Affricates; Nasals; Laterals; Approximants

- Voicing
Voiced: Sound made with the vocal fold vibrating. (lenis)
Voiceless: Sound made with no vibration of vocal folds (fortis)

Labio – Palato -
Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
dental alveolar

Plosive p b t d k g

Fricative f v Θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h

Affricate tʃ dʒ

Nasal M n ŋ

Lateral l

Approximant W r j
* Left consonants are voiceless and right consonants are voiced. All consonants, standing alone are
voiced EXCEPT /h/
1. Plosives
Plosive consonants are produced when the air stream is stopped completely at some
point in the mouth, then released suddenly with an explosive sound.

The production of plosive consonants consists of four phase:

- First phase: articulators move to form the stricture for the plosive.
 Closure phase
- Second phase: compressed air is stopped from escaping.
 Hold phase
- Third phase: articulator used to form the stricture are moved so as to allow air to
escape
 Release phase
- Fourth phase: what happens immediately after third phase
 Post – release phase
There are six plosive consonants:
Bilabial plosive consonants:
Alveolar plosive consonants:
Velar plosive consonants:

Notes:
- /b – d – g/ are unasprirated in all positions whereas /p – t – k/ are asprirated in initial
and final positions.
- In initial position, /b – d – g/ cannot be preceded by any consonant, but /p – t – k/
may be preceded by /s/. When one of /p – t – k/ is preceded by /s/, it is unasprirated.
- When there are double plosive consonants, only one explosion can be heard but for
double length, which is referred to as Incomplete Explosion.

2. Fricatives
Fricatives consonants are produced with the air escaping through a small passage and
making a hissing sound. In order to create this narrow passage, the speech organs are to move
close together yet not firmly against each other.

Fricative are continuant sounds, which means that you can continue making them
without interuption as long as you have enough air in your lungs.

There are 9 fricatives consonants:

Labio-dental fricative consonants
Dental fricative consonants
Alveolar fricative consonants
Palato – alveolar fricative consonants
Glottal fricative consonants
 3. Affricates
Affricates are complex consonants. The production of these sounds is similar to that of
plosives, but the release of the air is less sudden, so that it sounds like a plosive followed by a
fricative.

Yet, all sequences of plosive plus fricative would not be class as affricates. The plosive and
the following fricatives must be homorganic (made with the same articulators)

There are 2 affricates:

Palato – alveolar affricate consonants

4. Approximants
An approximant is a type of consonants with an articulation in which the articulators
approach each other but do not get sufficiently close to each other to produce a complete
consonant such as a plosive, nasal or fricative.
They are gliding sounds in which the organs of speech start at or near a close vowel and
immediately move away to some other vowels. Therefore, they only occur before vowels.
Therre are 3 approximants:
Bilabial approximant consonants
Alveolar approximant conosnants
Palatal approximant consonants
5. Nasals
In the production of nasals, the breath is completely stopped at some point in the mouth
(as for the plosive consonants), but it is then permitted to escape through the nose as the velum
is lowered.
There are 3 nasals:
Bilabial nasal voiced consonants
Alveolar nasal voiced consonants
Velar nasal voiced consonants
Notes:
- / ŋ / never occurs in initial position. In other words, it never starts a syllable
- / n / changes to / ŋ / when the next sound after it is / k / or / g /.
Eg: thin / Θɪn / but think / Θɪŋk /; fin / fɪn / - finger / fɪŋgə/
- / g / is not pronounced after / ŋ / at the end of the morpheme but anger and hungry,
except for the comperative and superlative suffixes (long – longer – longest)
Eg: sing / sɪŋ / - singer / sɪŋə /; hang / hæŋ / - hanger / hæŋə /

Nasal plosion: When a stop appears before /m/ or /n/ either in the same word or
between words, the stop is nots released in the usual way. The air pressure that is built up behind the
stop closure is released through the nose by the lowering the soft palate for nasal consonant. This
phenomenon is known as nasal plosion. Eg: sudden, sadden, happen, kitten, take mine, good night.

6. Laterals
A lateral is made with a complete closure between the tip of the tongue and the alveolar
ridge, the only way for the air to escape is along the sides of the tongue.

There is only 1 lateral:

 Alveolar lateral voiced consonant

Lateral explosion: When an alveolar stop /t/ or /d/ occurs befor a lateral /l/, the air
pressure that is built up during the stop is released by lowering the sides of the tongue, and the
effect is called lateral explosion. As in the case of words with nasal plosion, the lateral is itself
syllabic.

CONSONANT CLUSTERS

* When we have two or more consonants together, we call consonant clusters.

* The numbers of permitted combinations of consonants in initial and final clusters are LIMITED.
* An inability to produce many of these clusters can lead to incomprehensibility.
INITIAL CLUSTERS
Begin with a stop (plosive) u>j e>j
pl / pr / pj (pure)
bl / br / bj (beautiful)
tr / tj (tune) / tw
dr / dj (due) / dw (dwindle)
kl / kr / kj (cute) / kw (queen)
gl / gr / gj (gules) / gw (gwen)
Begin with a fricative
fl / fr / fj (few)
vj (view)
Θr / Θj (thew) / Θw (thwart)
sl / sr / sj (suit) / sw / sp / st / sk / sm / sn / sf (sphere)
hj (hue)
ʃr (shriek)
Begin with a nasal
mj (music)
news (new)
Initial clusters of three consonants
spl / spr / spj (spew)
str / stj
skl / skr / skj (skew) / skw (squirt)
FINAL CLUSTERS
Begin with a nasal
mp / mf (triumph)
nt / nd / ns / nθ / ntʃ (wrench) / ndʒ (strange)
ŋk (think)
Begin with /l/ or /r/
lp / lb / lt / ld / lk / lf (elf) / lv (shelve) / lθ (wealth) / ls / lʃ / ltʃ (belch)
ldʒ (bulge) / lm / ln (kiln)
rp / rb / rt / rd / rk / rg (morgue) / rf (scarf) / rv / rθ (hearth) / rs / rʃ
rtʃ (arch) / rdʒ (barge) / rm / rn / rl (girl)
Begin with a fricative or a stop
sp / st / sk
 pt / pθ / ps
ft / fθ
tθ (eighth) / ts / kt (act) / ks (tax) / dz (adze)

Final three – consonant clusters

kst (text) / ksθ
mpt / mps (glimpse) / nts / nst
lts (waltz)
rps (corpse) / rts / rst / rld / rlz (Charles) / rmθ (warmth)

SYLLABLE
* Syllable consists a centre which has little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively
loud; before and after this centre, there will be greater obstruction to airflow and/or less loud sound.
- Minimum syllable would be a single vowel in isolation or some isolated consonants: or, err, um,
shh
- Some syllables have an onset: bar, key, more
- Some syllables have no onset but a coda: am, ought, ease
- Some syllables have onset and coda: run, sat, fill
- There is special cases, that is syllabic consonants: sudden, table, bottle

* Syllabic consonants: There are the consonants that can stand as the center of the syllable instead of
vowels.
- Syllabic /l/ - dark l
+ It occurs after another consonant. The sides of the tongue, which are raised for the
preceding consonant, are lowered to allow the air escape over them  It is lateral release.
+ It is often found in a word ending with one or more consonants letters followed by “-
le”, for example cattle, stuggle, knuckle.
+ When a suffic beginning with a vowel is attached, the /l/ usualy remains syllabic, for
example bottle – bottling, struggle – struggling
- Syllabic /n/
+ It occurs after another consonant. The articulation of the preceding consonant is nasally
released with air escaping through the nose.
+ This syllabic consonant is most common after alveolar plosives and fricatives
+ It is not so widespread after bilabial, velar consonants and labio-dental fricatives, for
example: sudden, listen, often.
- Syllabic /m/, /ŋ/
+ Both can occur as syllabic, but only as a result of process such as assimilation and
elision, for example broken, happen
- Syllabic /r/
+ American accent, this syllabic consonant is very common but less common in RP, for
example history, secretary, butter
ASPECTS OF CONNECTED SPEECH
* Rhythm
- Although it is described that stresses in English tend to recur at regular intervals, it
would be quite untrue to say that there is always an equal interval between stresses in h language.
Actually, it is just that Engish has a number of processes that act together to maintain the rhythm.
* Assimilation
- Assimilation is the phonetic process by which one speech sound comes to resemble or
become identical with a neighbouring sound.
- The consonant which is modified under the infuence of a neighbouring sound 
assimilated sound
- The consonant which influences the articulation of a neighbouring sound  assimilating
sound
- Assimilation happen in two directions
+ In progressive assimilation, the assimilated is influenced by the preceding
consonant.
+ In regressive assimilation, the preceding consonant is influence by the one
following it.
- There are three types of assimilation
+ Assimilation of place: a final alveolar consonant is followed by an initial
consonant which is not alveolar (bank, concrete, that person, this shoe)
+ Assimilation of manner: the change of manner is to be towards an ‘easier’
consonant which makes less obstruction to the airflow (that side, read these, good night, ...)
+ Assimilation of voicing: voiced consonants are changed to voiceless sounds
(months, looked, …); voiceless consonants are changed to a voiced one when it precedes another
consonants which is voiced (cupboard, sit down, …); voiceless consonants may become a voiced when it
is between two vowels (bath  bather, north  nothern, …)
* Elision
- Elision is the process of change in phoneme realizaitons produces by changing the speed
and casualness of speech
+ Loss of weak vowel after /p, t, k/ (potato, tomato, canary, …)
+ Weak vowel + /n, l, r/ (tonight, correct, police, …)
+ Avoidance of complex consonant clusters: In clusters of three plosives or two
plosives plus a fricative, the middle plosive may disappear (acts, looked back, scripts)
+ Loss of final v in ‘of’ before consonants (lots of them, …)
* NOTE: It is difficult to know whether contractions of grammatical words should be
regarded as examples of elision or not. The fact that they are regularly represented with special spelling
forms makes them seem rather different from the above examples
* Linking
- In connected speech, words within the same phrase or sentences often blend together.
Connecting groups of words together is referred to as linking
+ Linking consonants to vowels (stop it, with it, breathe in, pass out, …)
+ Linking consonants to consonants (stop trying, bad judge, big zoo, …)
+ Linking vowels to vowels (be on time, see it, pay up, blue angel, …)
 + Linking identical consonants (ripe plum, hurt Tom, …)
I -> d
U ->w
INTONATION
- Intonation is the pattern of pitch changes that occur during a phrase.
+ Pitch is the height and lowness of the voice
+ There are four pitch levels
Level 1 is at your lowest tone (lowest pitch)
Level 2 is at your normal tone
Level 3 is at your high tone
Level 4 is in an extra high tone for a very special sense
- Tone is overall behavior of the pitch and there are five types of English tones
+ Fall – showing impression of finality, nothing more to say
+ Rise – something more is to follow, showing an interest in continuing, an invitation to
continue, giving an impression of politeness
+ Fall – rise – indicating limited agreement, reservation / hesitation, doubt
+ Rise – fall – strong feeling of impatience, surprise, possible sarcastic
+ Level – feeling of saying something routine, uninteresting or boring
- Functions of intonation:
+ The attitudinal function – enabling the speaker to express emotion and attitudes as
he/she speaks
+ The accentual function – helping to produce the effect of stressed syllables in order to
mark out the most important words in an utterance
+ The grammatical function - helping listener recognize the grammar and synatic
structure of what is being said
+ The discourse function - signaling to the listener what is to be taken as ‘new’
information and what is already ‘given’, indicating some sort of contrast or link with material
in another utterance.
- Tone of some types of sentences
+ Statements: falling
+ Imperative: falling
+ Listing: Rising, rising and finally falling
+ Question: Wh  falling; Yes/no  rising; “or” question  rising and finally falling; tag
question  falling (expecting confirmation) and rising (less certainly)
+ Old information: rising
+ New information: falling
+ Check question: falling in open question, rising in check question.
WEAK FORM
Form is used in the following cases:
(1) When a preposition comes at the end of the sentence
e.g. I'm fond of chips. (av - weak form)>< Chips are what I'm fond of. (ov - strong form)
(2) When a weak form is being contrasted with another
e.g. The letter's from him, not to him.
(3) For the purpose of emphasis
e.g. You must give me more money.
 (4) When a weak-form word is being cited or quoted
e.g. You shouldn't put “and” at the end of a sentence.
STRESS
Stress is the degree of prominence with which a sound or a word is pronounced.

There are three kinds of stress: word stress, phrase stress, and sentence stress. Word stress is fixed
whereas phrase stress and sentence stress vary with the context in which they are found.

In words can identify meanin In all the words with two syllables up, all stressed syllables are more
prominent than unstressed syllables. Prominence, then, is produced by four main factors: (1) loudness,
(2) length, (3) pitch and (4) quality. Generally, these four factors work together in combination, though
syllables may sometimes be made prominent by means of only one or two of them. Moreover, these
factors are not equally important; the strongest effect is produced by pitch, and length is also a powerful
factor. Loudness and quality have much less effect.

Two levels of stress have been identified in words: primary (the strongest), secondary (weaker than
primary but stronger than unstressed) as well as a third level (unstressed) regarded as being the
absence of any recognizable amount of prominence.