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Tema 1

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


PHONOLOGY
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Index Pág.

1.1. Introduction 3

1.2. Phonology 4

1.3. Phonemics 4

1.4. Phonetics 5

1.5. Allophones 6

Complementary Resources 12
Bibliography 12

Phonology 2
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Introduction
The study of the language started many years ago in India and Korea with
the simple fact of studying and analyzing the grammar of languages. Panini was
a pioneer in studying Sanskrit grammar systematically. King Sejong of Korea was
another booster in Language study. He hoped his people were literate, but it was
too difficult to know the existing (Chinese-based) system. He created by himself
a new brand scientific alphabet based on speech and named this alphabet
‘Hong Minzhong U’, ‘The correct voice educates the people’. His letters were
almost ignored until the 20th century. Now it is widely used in South Korea and
North Korea (Katz, 1991).

Other Linguists such as Sir William Jones in 1786, announced that


Sanskrit and the European languages "have sprung from some common source
which, perhaps, no longer exists" (p.7). He set a trend of learning Sanskrit as the
foundation of the ‘Indo-European language family’ and the foundation of
historical linguistics.

Henry Sweet was a British linguist and phonetician considered as an


authority on Anglo-Saxon and English history. He was a pioneer of modern
scientific phonetics. His ‘History of English Sound’ (1874) is a landmark study.

Bernard Shaw wrote ‘Pygmalion’, a play that contains a phonetician


character, Henry Higgings. Daniel Jones, a professor at University College
London, used the term phoneme in the modern sense and promoted the term
cardinal vowel. He is considered to be the father of IPA, and suggested using a
two-parameter chart to visualize how vowels are produced. Lionel Logue was
another contributor on this field as well as Abbé Rousselot who worked on
experimental phonetics and invented the Rousselot cylinders to record the
speech sounds.

All these contributions made French teachers create the IPA, International
Phonetic Alphabet, a sound representation system that is widely used currently
by linguists, language teachers, book and dictionary makers and so on. That is
the way how this science evolves through time until being known at present as
Linguistics. Therefore, Linguistics is considered as the science that studies the
scientifically the language. Modern Linguistics has classified his field according
to the type of grammar it studies; Thus, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax are
primarily analyzed.

Phonology 3
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Contrastive Phonology

Phonology studies the sound systems, patterns and rules of the language.
Kennedy (2017) considers that “phonology is the study of the organization of
sounds in human languages. It is a subfield of Linguistics concerned with
understanding how languages use certain sounds and combine them to build
meaningful units, essentially, words” (p.1).

Phonology starts with the observation on how the language use the fixed
sound systems, the vowel and consonant inventory, and the sound combination
patterns. The area of interest of phonology is the contextual variability of what are
in some senses the same sound units. However, when two or more languages
are analyzed to find out similarities and differences in their sound inventories,
Contrastive Phonology arises, focusing on Spanish as L1 and English as L2.

Contrastive Phonology is the umbrella term that covers Contrastive


Phonemics and Phonetics.

Contrastive Phonemics

Contrastive Phonemics studies the sound inventories of two or more


languages and it is entirely abstract. Nasr (1977) states that Phonemics is “the
study of the phonological system of a particular language. From this point of view,
phonemics is a relative study” (p.21). Consequently the sounds of a language are
patterned in contrastive units since those sounds named phonemes are
pronounced conscoiusly and establish difference in meaning.

Phonemics deals with how human speech is perceived once it is heard.


This feeling is neurological in nature and develops at a very young age (such as
two years). The speech system has been established in the nervous system.

The unit of Phonemics is the phoneme. Brooks (2015) specifies that “Phonemes
are disctinctive speech sounds; that is, they make a difference to the meanings
of words” (p.1.4). Phonemes are to be used between slant lines and do not use
diacritics. Phonemes are divided into two categories: vowels and consonants.
Examples: <pero> /ˈpeɾo/ <poro> /ˈpoɾo/, <pata> /ˈpata/ <bata> /ˈbata/, <peso>
/ˈpeso/ <beso> /beso/; <man> /mæn/, <men> /mɛn/, <bad> /bæd/, <pad>/pæd/.

Phonology 4
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Contrastive Phonetics
Phonetics studies the sounds of the speech which are totally perceived
and reproduced. Phonetics was considered as an indispensable foundation for
the language study by Henry Sweet whose point of view is as valid today as it
was a hundred years ago.

On the other hand, Lorenz (2013) considers that “Phonetics is interested


in speech sounds as such and their acoustic properties (…) and how the brain
works and what processes are running when we speak and listen to a language”
(p.9) while Knight (2012) considers that “Phonetics is the study of the speech
sounds, the way how humans produce speech, and what speech sounds like
(p.3). If two or more concrete systems are contrasted, Contrastive Phonetics
appears here.

Therefore, the unit of phonetics is the allophone which according to Meyer


(2005) “is a phonetic variant within a given language system”. Consequently, any
variation of a phoneme of the same language is an allophone.

Allophones

Allophones are a variant of a specific phoneme which are to be written


between square brackets and usually keep diacritics. A Diacritic is a mark which
is located over, throughout, or under the phonetic symbol. Examples: [pẽnˈsaɾ],
[ˈaɾ̪te], [pʰʌf], [kʰl̥ eɪ̯ːm], [pʰɔːɫ].

Figure 1 An example of an English Phoneme

Phonology 5
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https://images.app.goo.gl/3UkCJgyHsJid1HQcA

Figure 2 An example of a Spanish allophone

https://images.app.goo.gl/8mrfHVJSuUP4oJyn7

Phonology 6
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Complementary Resources
• Figure 1. An example of an English Phoneme. Source:
https://images.app.goo.gl/3UkCJgyHsJid1HQcA
• Figure 2. An example of a Spanish allophone. Source:
https://images.app.goo.gl/8mrfHVJSuUP4oJyn7

Bibliography
Works Cited

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Phonology 7
Tema 2

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


The Organs of Speech
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Index Pág.

1.1. The Organs of Speech 3

1.2. Articulatory Diagram 4

1.3. Cavity 4

1.4. Articulators 5

1.5. Point of Articulation 6

Complementary Resources 12

Bibliography 12

The Organs of Speech 2


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The Organs of Speech

The organs of speech have different functions considering basically eating


and breathing. As human beings developed in time, they realized that some
sounds might be uttered and later produced by articulating some organs. These
organs are classified into movable and non-movable organs which have an
essential function in the sound production. Therefore, the main movable organ is
the tongue as well as the lower lip and lower jaw; the non-movable organs deal
basically with the palate, the upper lip and teeth. The combination of a movable
and a non-movable organ along with the air stream produce specific vowel or
consonant sounds according to the phonetic nature of the language: Spanish or
English.

Figure 1 Organs of Speech

Non-movable organs

Movable organs

Note: Adapted from (Vilhiamas, 2018)

The Organs of Speech 3


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Articulatory Diagram

The articulatory diagram deals with the organs that are part of the speech
production and are related to the cavities, articulators and point of articulation
where sounds are uttered.

The Articulatory Diagram is also known as Facial Diagram that according


to Cleghorn (2011), it “represents a cross section of the human speech
apparatus. (…) The Facial Diagram is a useful tool for visualizing and discussing
the articulation of individual phones” (p.58).

Cavities
Cavities are the zones or chamber where the air flow goes through. They
are mainly the nasal (nose) and oral (mouth) cavities as pictured in figure 1.

Figure 2.- Cavities

Fuente: Cleghorn (2011)

The Organs of Speech 4


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Articulators

The articulators are the movable organs that reach certain point of
articulation to utter a sound. The major English articulators are the lower lip, the
tongue, and the lower jaw.

Figure 3.- Articulators

Fuente: Cleghorn (2011)

The Organs of Speech 5


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Point of Articulation

The point of articulation is the place reached or approached by the


articulator. The major points of English articulation are the upper lip and teeth,
and the palate as pictured in the figure 3.

Figure 4.- Points of Articulation

Fuente: Cleghorn (2011)

The Organs of Speech 6


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Complementary Resources
Figure 1.- The Organs of Speech. Adapted from (Vilhiamas, 2018)
Figure 2. Cavities. Cleghorn (2011).
Figure 3. Articulator. Cleghorn (2011).
Figure 2. Point of Articulation. Cleghorn (2011).
Hadar. (2019, Jun 25). Understand American English Vowels I Pronunciation
Master Class. YouTube. https://youtu.be/4KDkHvvksAE

aBIBLIOGRAPHY
Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open
Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Vilhiamas. (2018). World Language Gazetteer. Obtenido de


https://worldlanguagesgazetteer.wordpress.com/author/vilhiamas/.

The Organs of Speech 7


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The Organs of Speech 8


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The Organs of Speech 9


Tema 3
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English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


Alphabet Latin and IPA
Index Pág.

1.1. Alphabets 3
1.2. Latin Alphabet 4
1.3. International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA 4
1.4 Spanish Phonetic Inventory 5
Complementary Resources 6
Bibliography

Alphabet Latin and IPA 2


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Alphabets

The word Alphabet comes from the Greek Words Alpha and Beta.
Alphabets might be classified into Orthographic and Phonetic Alphabets. An
orthographic alphabet is a group of standardized symbols which represent vowel
or consonant letters, while the Phonetic Alphabet is a set of standardized symbols
that represent a specific vowel or consonant sound.

Latin Alphabet

Both Spanish and English use the Latin or Roman Alphabet which might
lightly vary in their orthographic symbols. The modern Latin alphabet is used to
write hundreds of different languages. Each language uses a slightly different set
of letters, and they are pronounced in various ways. Some languages use the
standard 26 letters, some use fewer, and others use more (Ager, 1998).

Table 1 ISO Basic Latin Alphabet

Uppercase Latin alphabet A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Lowercase Latin alphabet a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Note: 26 Upper and lower case

International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA


The International Phonetic Alphabet was launched in the late 19th century
as a standardized system of Phonetic notation that uses one symbol per one
specific sound. The IPA is based on the Roman Alphabet, which has the
advantage of being widely familiar, but also includes letters or additional symbols
from a variety of other sources (Handbook of The International Phonetic
Association. A Guide to the Use of The International Phonetic Alphabet., 1999).
The IPA contains all the symbols used in most of the living languages all over the

Alphabet Latin and IPA 3


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world. Therefore, it means that not all the symbols are used in Spanish nor in
English.

Table 2 The International Phonetic Alphabet (Revised to 2020)

Table 3 American English IPA Chart - Consonants

Alphabet Latin and IPA 4


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In Figure 6, the consonant sounds encountered in American English is being


showed. Cunningham (2019) states that:

The International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA, is a notation system that


uses symbols to represent the sounds of spoken language. Each symbol
corresponds to a distinct sound, and as long as you know the symbol-
to-sound correspondence, you should be able to pronounce any word
you encounter (p.1)
Table 4 Spanish IPA Chart - Consonants

Figure 3 shows up the consonant inventory of Spanish language. If a contrast between


figure 3 and 4, a clear and noticeable difference are to be found.

Alphabet Latin and IPA 5


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Complementary Resources
• Table 1 ISO Basic Latin Alphabet, Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_basic_Latin_alphabet
• Table 2 The International Phonetic Alphabet (Revised to 2020) Source:
https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/IPAcharts/IPA_chart_ori
g/pdfs/IPA_Kiel_2020_full.pdf
• Table 3 American English IPA Chart – Consonants, Source: (IPA, 2020)
• Table 4 Spanish IPA Chart – Consonants, Source: (IPA, 2020)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ager, S. (1998). Obtenido de Omniglot Encyclopedia:
https://omniglot.com/about.htm#what

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

Handbook of The International Phonetic Association. A Guide to the Use of The


International Phonetic Alphabet. (1999). Cambridge: Cambridege
University Press.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Vilhiamas. (2018). World Language Gazetteer. Obtenido de


https://worldlanguagesgazetteer.wordpress.com/author/vilhiamas/.

Alphabet Latin and IPA 6


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Alphabet Latin and IPA 7


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Alphabet Latin and IPA 8


Tema 4

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


Transcription
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Index Pág.

1.1. Transcription 3
1.2. Phonetic Transcription 3
1.3. Phonemic Transcription 3
1.4. Transcription Features 4
Symbols used for Transcriptions 4
Bibliography 5

Alphabet Latin and IPA 2


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Transcription

Transcription is a system of notation or writing by means of which a sound from


the spoken language is represented by a specific symbol found out in the English or
Spanish IPA chart. Depending on the fact that phonemes or allophones are used,
transcription differs in certain aspects (Mejía, 2013).

Phonemic Transcription

It is featured because slant lines are used. Consequently, only phonemes are
inserted in-between. There is much to be said for making use of phonemic transcription
as a teaching aid to reinforce analytically the information which the learner may have
received imperfectly by hear. Phonemes are always the same, they have no variations
in symbols (Morris-Wilson, 1984). ie; <cartón> /kaɾˈton/, <tropa> /ˈtɾopa/, <marinar>
/maɾiˈnaɾ/; <apple> /ˈæpəl/, <church> /t͡ʃəɹt͡ʃ/, <desire> /dɪˈzajəɹ/, <famous> /ˈfejməs/,
<feature> /ˈfit͡ʃəɹ/

Phonetic Transcription

Phonetic transcription is a process which is more concrete. What is heard or


pronounced is transcribed with every single detail. Thus, square brackets are to be used
and allophones in-between as well as diacritics. Phonemes, here, vary and different or
mostly related symbols are used (Mejía, 2013). ie;<cartón> [kaɾ̪ˈtɔ̃ŋ], <tropa> [ˈtɾ̥opa],
<marinar> [maɾiˈnaɾ]; <apple> [ˈæpɫ̩ ], <church> /t͡ʃɝt͡ʃ/, <desire> [dɪˈzaɪ̯ɚ], <famous>
[ˈfeɪ̯ːməs/, <feature> /ˈfit͡ʃɚ/.

The examples transcribed phonemically and phonetically denote the changes to


be considered when concrete spoken language is transcribed.

Alphabet Latin and IPA 3


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Transcription Features

Transcription process implies to follow specific details to be successful.


Therefore, hereby some didactic tips according to the language:

To transcribe in English is quite important to recognize firstly the stressed syllable


since its vowel sound might phonetically be lengthened or non-lengthened and a
chroneme (ː) might be used. The unstressed syllable usually carries out a short and
reduced vowel sound /ə, ɪ/. Then, the type of transcription must be recognized. If
phonemic, slant lines and phonemes must be used. If phonetic, square brackets,
allophones and diacritics have to be utilized. e.g. <answer> /ˈænsər/ [ˈæːnsɚ].

To transcribe in Spanish means that stressed syllables are not so relevant


because closed syllables must be recognized since within these syllables nasalized or
open vowel might occur. e.g. <mantel> /manˈtel/ [mãnˈtɛl], <carbón> /kaɾˈbon/
[kaɾˈβɔŋ
̃ ].

Symbols used for Transcriptions

Symbols are very necessary to make transcriptions in order to stablish the


difference among sounds in a target language, and how they are used at the
moment of speaking specially when the is a variation in a region.

Chroneme (ː) Used to recognize if a vowel is phonetically


lengthened or non-lengthened. [ˈæːnsɚ].
Stress mark ´ To demonstrate the syllable is stressed. ´man
Angle brackets <> They enclosed he spelling < nice >
Slant brackets / / Used for phonemic transcription /kaɾˈbon/
Square brackets [ ] They are used to detail phonetic transcription [kaɾˈβɔ̃ŋ].
Vertical line l Used for demonstrating a pause in phonetic transcription
Division marker . Shows the limits between syllables
Diacritics ã A sign which indicates the variation in the vowel or
consonant quality.

Alphabet Latin and IPA 4


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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ager, S. (1998). Obtenido de Omniglot Encyclopedia:
https://omniglot.com/about.htm#what

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

Handbook of The International Phonetic Association. A Guide to the Use of The


International Phonetic Alphabet. (1999). Cambridge: Cambridege
University Press.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Vilhiamas. (2018). World Language Gazetteer. Obtenido de


https://worldlanguagesgazetteer.wordpress.com/author/vilhiamas/.

Alphabet Latin and IPA 5


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Alphabet Latin and IPA 6


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Alphabet Latin and IPA 7


Tema 5

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


VOWELS
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Index Pág.

1.1. Vowels 3-4

Complementary Resources 5
Bibliography 6

Vowels 2
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Vowels
Every language has vowels as part of its spoken or printed words. A vowel
is the nucleus of a syllable and it is always voiced because the vocal folds are
adducted and vibrating, besides the vowels use completely the mouth cavity.
American English has ten monophthongs and five diphthongs while Spanish has
five monophthongs and fourteen diphthongs. All of them are primarily defined by
the tongue position; however, some other features are considered such as: area,
muscle tension, and lip shape.

There is an official vowel chart prepared by the International Phonetic


Association, IPA; nevertheless, the great variations of the Spanish and English
languages (dialects) and the scientific studies on them have made to have a kind
of standard Spanish-English Vowel Quadrant (Figure 8). Hereby, a contrast of
IPA and APA vowel chart contrasts.

Figure 1.- IPA Vowel Chart (updated to 2020)

Source: (IPA, 2020)

Due to English language variation because of the geolects and sociolects, the American
Phonetic Association presents the vowel quadrant as Mejía (2013) represents:

Vowels 3
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Figure 2.- English Vowel Quadrant

/ʌ/

Source: (Mejía, 2013)

Hereby, Spanish presents five monophthongs and fourteen diphthongs.

Figure 3 Spanish Vowel Quadrant

Source: (Mejía, 2013)

Vowels 4
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Complementary Resources
• Figure 1.- IPA Vowel Chart (updated to 2020), Source: (IPA, 2020)
• Figure 2.- English Vowel Quadrant, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Figure 3 Spanish Vowel Quadrant, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Pronunciation Master Class. YouTube. https://youtu.be/9E6F57s-V7U

• Bibliography
Works Cited

Blizzard, J. (2012). Singing American English. second edition. North Carolina:


Wingate University.

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

IPA. (2020). Journal of the Internatonal Phonetic Association. Cambridge:


Cambridge.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Mejía, P. (2013). Contrastive Linguistics. A descriptive Linguistics Course for


Spanish-English Teachers. Quito: Classroom.

Vowels 5
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Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Olive, J., Greenwood, A., & Coleman, J. (1993). Acoustics of American English
Speech. USA: Springer.

Scott, J. (2009). Triphthongs in Spanish. Obtenido de Trusted Translations:


https://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/triphthongs-in-spanish-
2009-09-21.html

Vowels 6
Tema 6

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


VOWELS
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Index Pág.

1.- Vowels description 3-5

Complementary Resources 6
Bibliography 7

Vowels 2
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Vowel Description
To describe Spanish and English vowels, some aspects are to be taken
into account. These are: Voicing) as previously mentioned, every vowel is voiced;
Vowel Quality) this has to do with Monophthongs and Diphthongs; Tongue
Position) law, mid, high; Area) front, central, back; Muscle tension) tense or lax
in English; however, Spanish vowels are all tense, and Lip Form) spread, neutral,
rounded. The description of monophthongs is detailed in table 2.

A relevant aspect must be considered when denoting to / i / and / u /


English vowel sounds. The point is that these two sounds are longer than the /ɪ/
since they are diphthongized. That is why, the American Phonetic Association,
APA, uses the following notation /ɪy/ and /uw/ while dictionaries use the / i / and
/ u / symbols according to IPA.
Table 1.- English Vowel Description

Tongue
Vowel Area Muscle tension Lip Form
Position
/i/ High Front tense (diphthongized) Spread
/ɪ/ High Front lax Spread
/ɛ/ Mid Front lax Spread
/æ/ Low Front lax Spread
/a/ Low Central lax Neutral
/ə/ Mid Central lax neutral unstressed
/ʌ/ Mid Central lax neutral stressed
/ɔ/ Mid Back lax Rounded
/ʊ/ High Back lax Rounded
/u/ High Back tense (diphthongized) Rounded
Note: Remember that every vowel is voiced and oral.

Source: (Mejía, 2013)

Every English vowel sound, phonetically, has two allophones: the


lengthened and non-lengthened. Lengthened vowel sounds occur when stressed
vowels happen before a voiced consonant while non-lengthened vowels happen
when stressed vowels are behind a voiceless consonant sound. Then, to
demonstrate that a vowel sound is lengthened the diacritic ‘ː ‘must be used; eg,
<manner> /ˈmænəɹ/ [ˈmæːnɚ], <option> /ˈapʃən/ [ˈapʃən]. Allophones are
described in Table 3.

Vowels 3
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Table 2.- English Vowel Allophones

Vowel Lengthened Non-lengthened


Examples
Phoneme Allophone Allophone

/i/ [ iː] [i] [miːn] [pʰis]

/ɪ/ [ɪː] [ɪ] [ˈwɪːmɪn] [sɪts]

/ɛ/ [ɛː] [ɛ] [ˈɹɛːntɚ] [ˈmɛsi]

/æ/ [æː] [æ] [ˈmæːɹvələs] [ˈkʰæsəɫ]

/a/ [aː] [a] [ˈdaːɹlɪŋ] [ˈdaktɚ]

/ə/ ------ [ə] [əˈgɛːn] [hʌtˈ ̄ ]

/ʌ/ [ʌː] [ʌ] [hʌːm] [bɔtˈ ̄ ]

/ɔ/ [ɔː] [ɔ] [mɔːɹ] [kʰɔf ]

/ʊ/ [ʊː] [ʊ] [kʰʊːd] [pʰʊtˈ ̄ ]

/u/ [uː] [u] [suːn] [ʃutˈ ̄ ]

Source: (Mejía, 2013)

As Spanish is mostly a phonetic language, it has just five vowel letters which are
pronounced as they are.

Table 3 Spanish Vowel Discription

Tongue
Vowel Area Muscle tension Lip Form
Position
/i/ High Front Tense spread
/e/ Mid Front Tense spread
/a/ Low Central Tense neutral
/o/ Mid Back Tense rounded
/u/ High Back Tense rounded
Source: (Mejía, 2013)

Spanish vowel sounds, phonetically, has basically two allophones


(unlengthened and nasalized) except /e/ and /o/ which have two extra allophones
(open and open-nasalized). Nasal vowel sounds occur when any Spanish vowel
is between two nasal consonants: e.g. <mañana> [mãˈŋãna], <manantial>
[mãnãnˈtjal]; or when any Spanish vowel sound is part of nasal closed syllable:
e.g. <cantar> [kãn̪ˈtaɾ], <pensar> [pẽnˈsaɾ], <ventana> [bẽnˈtana].

Vowels 4
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Another feature that Spanish vowels assume is that /e/ and /o/ might be
opened, [ɛ] and [ɔ], when they are part of any closed syllable, with the [ɛ]
exception which never opens when the syllable is closed by <d, n, s>; [ɛ] and [ɔ]
become open when they are before or after the trill sound [r] (the first that occurs):
e.g. <herramienta> [ɛraˈmjẽn̪ta], <marrón> [ marɔ̃ŋ], <errores> [ɛroɾes]; [ɛ] and
[ɔ] become open when they happen exclusively before the voiceless dorso velar
[x]: e.g. <mejoría> [mɛxoˈɾia], <ojal> [ɔxal], and finally, [ɛ] and [ɔ] become open
when they are part of a falling diphthong: e.g.; <reino> [ˈrɛi̯ no], <Eugenia>
[ɛu̯ˈxenja].
Table 4 Spanish Vowel Allophones

Vowel Non- Nasalized Open Open


Phoneme lengthened Allophone Allophone Nasalized Examples
Allophone Allophone

/i/ [i] * * [ˈprima]


[ĩ]
[pĩnsa]

[teˈnas] [ˈtɛɾno]
/e/ [e] [ẽ] [ɛ] [ ɛ̃ ]
[tɛm
̃ ˈblaɾ]
[mẽnˈtiɾ]

/a/ [a] * * [ˈmasa]


[ã]
[ˈkãn̪to]

/o/ [o] [ ɔ̃ ] [ˈtoɾo] [mɔɾ̪ˈtal]


[õ] [ɔ]
[mõno] [ˈpɔ̃nʲt͡ʃo]

/u/ [u] * * [ˈutil]


[ũ]
[ˈpũn̪to]

Source: (Mejía, 2013)

Vowels 5
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Complementary Resources
• Table 1.- English Vowel Description, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Table 2.- English Vowel Allophones, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Table 3 Spanish Vowel Description, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Table 4 Spanish Vowel Allophones, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Pronunciation Master Class. YouTube. https://youtu.be/9E6F57s-V7U

• Bibliography
Works Cited

Blizzard, J. (2012). Singing American English. second edition. North Carolina:


Wingate University.

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

IPA. (2020). Journal of the Internatonal Phonetic Association. Cambridge:


Cambridge.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Vowels 6
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Mejía, P. (2013). Contrastive Linguistics. A descriptive Linguistics Course for


Spanish-English Teachers. Quito: Classroom.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Olive, J., Greenwood, A., & Coleman, J. (1993). Acoustics of American English
Speech. USA: Springer.

Scott, J. (2009). Triphthongs in Spanish. Obtenido de Trusted Translations:


https://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/triphthongs-in-spanish-
2009-09-21.html

Vowels 7
Tema 7

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


VOWELS
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Index Pág.

3.1 Diphthongs 3–6

3. 1. 2 Triphthongs 7

Complementary Resources 8
Bibliography 9

Vowels 2
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Diphthongs

A diphthong is a combination of a weak and a strong vowel sound. The weak


vowels represented by the /j/ and /w/ glide symbols. Practically, a diphthong has two
tongue movements and are “often considered to be single phonemes in English” as well
as in Spanish (Olive, Greenwood, & Coleman, 1993).

There are five diphthongs in American English. All of them are voiced and
tense, and have two allophones: the lengthened and non-lengthened.

Figure 1 English Diphthong Construction

Source: (Mejía, 2013)

Table 1.- American English Diphthongs

Vowel Tongue Position- Area Lip Form


/ aw / low-front becoming high-back spread becoming rounded
/ aj / low-front becoming high-front Spread
/ ɔj /
mid-back becoming high-back rounded becoming spread

/ ej / mid-front becoming high-front Spread


/ ɔw / mid-back becoming high-back Rounded
Source: (Mejía, 2013)

Vowels 3
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Table 2.- English Diphthong Allophones

Vowel Lengthened Non-lengthened


Examples
Phoneme Allophone Allophone

/ aw / [ aʊ̯ː ] [ aʊ̯] [bɹaʊ̯ːn] [maʊ̯s]

/ aj / [ aɪ̯ː ] [ aɪ̯ ] [naɪ̯ːn] [laɪ̯t]

/ ɔj / [ ɔɪː ] [ ɔɪ ] [kʰɔɪ̯ːn] [ˈmɔɪ̯stʃɚ]

/ ej / [ eɪ̯ː ] [ eɪ̯ ] [meɪ̯ːn] [leɪ̯t]

/ ɔw / [ ɔʊ̯ː ] [ ɔʊ̯ ] [loʊ̯ːn] [kʰoʊ̯t]

Source: (Mejía, 2013)

Hereby, it is quite important to mention that the glide sounds /j/ and /w/ become
the semivowels [ -ʊ̯] and [ -ɪ̯ ]; therefore, the diacritic ‘ ̯ ‘ is required. Let’s remember that
diphthongs become lengthened when a voiced consonant sound follows it; otherwise,
diphthongs will be unlengthened. Besides, diphthongs must be part of a stressed
syllable.

On the other hand, Spanish diphthongs are fourteen and are classified as Falling
diphthongs (a strong and a weak vowel) and Rising diphthongs (a weak and a strong
vowel). Figure 12.

Figure 5 Spanish Diphthong Construction

Source: (Mejía, 2013)

Vowels 4
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Table 3 Spanish Falling Diphthongs

Vowel Tongue Position- Area Lip Form


/ aj / low-central becoming high-front neutral becoming spread
/ ej / mid-front becoming high-front spread
/ oj /
mid-back becoming high-front rounded becoming spread

/ aw / low-central becoming high-back neutral becoming rounded


/ ew / mid-front becoming high-back spread becoming rounded
/ ow / * mid-back becoming high-back rounded
Note: Spanish diphthongs are voiced and tense. * This Spanish diphthong occurs just as part of a
concatenation process in Connected Speech.

The approximant sounds /j/ and /w/ when happen as part of a falling diphthong
become semivowels and have to use a diacritic.

Table 4 Spanish Rising Diphthongs

Vowel Tongue Position- Area Lip Form


/ ja / high-front becoming low-central spread becoming neutral
/ je / high-front becoming mid-front spread
/ jo /
high-front becoming mid-back spread becoming rounded

/ wa / high-back becoming low-central rounded becoming neutral


/ we / high-back becoming mid-front rounded becoming spread
/ wo / high-back becoming mid-back rounded

The approximant sounds /j/ and /w/ when happen as part of a rising
diphthong become semiconsonants.
Table 5 Weak Spanish Diphthongs

Vowel Tongue Position- Area Lip Form


/ jw / high-front becoming high-back spread becoming rounded
/ wj / high-back becoming high-front Rounded becoming spread

It is remarkable to mention that both Spanish and English use the approximant
sounds /j/ and /w/ to build up diphthongs and triphthongs. When the approximants
happen in a falling diphthong, approximants become semivowels and a diacritic (a
semicircle) must be used under them. Notice the symbols to be used in Spanish as well
as in English. Spanish: [ -i̯ ] [-u̯ ]; English: [-ɪ̯ ] [-ʊ̯ ]. However, when the approximants
happen in a rising diphthong, approximants become semiconsonants and they don’t

Vowels 5
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assume any change in their symbols. Spanish and English use the same
semiconsonants; [ j- ] [ w- ].

Table 6 Spanish Falling Diphthong Allophones

Vowel Phoneme Semivowel Allophone Examples

/ aj / [ai̯ ] [kai̯ ˈma̯n]

/ ej / [ɛi̯ ] [ˈpei̯ ne]

/ oj / [ɔi̯ ] [ˈkɔi̯ ma]

/ aw / [au̯] [kau̯sa]

/ ew / [ɛu̯] [ɛu̯feˈmizmo]

/ ow / * [ɔu̯] [komɔ ‿u̯so]

Note: * The diphthong / ow / occurs just in context within a thought group.

Table 7 Spanish Rising Diphthong Allophones

Vowel Phoneme Semivowel Allophone Examples

/ ja / [ja] [ˈbjaxa]

/ je / [je] [ˈbjene]

/ jo / [jo] [ˈpjoxo]

/ wa / [wa] [ˈkwãn̪do]

/ we / [we] [ˈpweðe]

/ wo / [wo] [ˈkwota]

Note: The approximants /j/ and /w/ are semiconsonants.


Table 8 Weak Spanish Diphthong Allophones

Vowel Phoneme Semivowel Allophone Examples

/ jw / [ju̯] [sju̯ðaˈðano]

/ wj / [wi̯ ] [kwi̯ ˈðaɾ]

Note: These diphthongs include at the same time a semiconsonant as well as a semivowel.

So far, it has been clearly identified Spanish and English diphthongs and
their allophones.

Vowels 6
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Triphthongs

Triphthongs, in American English as well as Spanish, consists of three


successive vowel sounds in the same syllable. It means that the tongue moves
in three different positions. The two triphthongs that occur in the Standard
American English are [aɪ̯ɚ] [aʊ̯ɚ]; eg, <fire> /fajəɹ/ [faɪ̯ɚ], <tire> /tajəɹ/ [tʰaɪ̯ɚ];
<our> /awəɹ/ [aʊ̯ɚ] and <dour> /dawəɹ/ [daʊ̯ɚ]. The tongue movements are seen
in figure 13.
Figure 6.- American English Triphthongs

Source: (Blizzard, 2012)

A triphthong is a sequence of three vowels making up one syllable. Some


examples in Spanish would be: <apreciáis>, <copiéis>, <buey>. For a triphthong
to exist, two weak vowels <i> or <u> and, between them, an open vowel <a>,
<e>, <o> <anunciáis>, <guau>, <miau>, <confiéis> (Scott, 2009). As it is seen,
Hispanic dialect contains more triphthongs. In Latin America, practically there are
few triphthongs as in the common word <buey> /bwej/ [bwei̯ ]. This triphthong is
structured with two weak vowels (approximants) and a strong vowel in the middle
of it.

Vowels 7
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Complementary Resources
• Figure 1 English Diphthong Construction, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Figure 2 Spanish Diphthong Construction, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Figure 3.- American English Triphthongs, Source: (Blizzard, 2012)

• Table 1.- American English Diphthongs, Source: (Mejía, 2013)


• Table 2.- English Diphthong Allophones, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Table 3 Spanish Falling Diphthongs, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Table 4 Spanish Rising Diphthongs, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Table 5 Weak Spanish Diphthongs, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Table 6 Spanish Falling Diphthong Allophones, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Table 7 Spanish Rising Diphthong Allophones, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Table 8 Weak Spanish Diphthong Allophones, Source: (Mejía, 2013)
• Rachel. (2011, Jul 25). American English Diphthongs. YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XajvB178Hhs

• Bibliography
Works Cited

Blizzard, J. (2012). Singing American English. second edition. North Carolina:


Wingate University.

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

IPA. (2020). Journal of the Internatonal Phonetic Association. Cambridge:


Cambridge.

Vowels 8
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Mejía, P. (2013). Contrastive Linguistics. A descriptive Linguistics Course for


Spanish-English Teachers. Quito: Classroom.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Olive, J., Greenwood, A., & Coleman, J. (1993). Acoustics of American English
Speech. USA: Springer.

Scott, J. (2009). Triphthongs in Spanish. Obtenido de Trusted Translations:


https://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/triphthongs-in-spanish-
2009-09-21.html

Vowels 9
Tema 8

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


CONSONANTS
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Index Pág.

1.1. Consonants 3-7

Bibliography 8-9

2
Consonants
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Consonant Production

A consonant sound is produced with a total or partial occlusion of the air


flow when passing through the Articulator and the Point of Articulation in the
mouth cavity. Few consonant sounds use the nasal cavity thou.

There are some aspects to be considered when referring to consonant


production not only in Spanish but also in English. They are:

Voicing

When the air coming out from lungs goes by vocal cords, these might
vibrate or not. In this sense, if vocal cords vibrate, consonants will be voiced, if
not, consonant sounds will become voiceless.

Table 1.- Voiced and Voiceless English Consonants

Voicing Consonants

Voiced Consonants /b/ /d/ /g/ /v/ /z/ /ʒ/ /ð/ /ʝ/ /dʒ/ /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ /l/ /ɹ/ /j/ /w/ (16)
Voiceless
/p/ /t/ /k/ /f/ /s/ /ʃ/ /θ/ /h/ /tʃ/ (9)
Consonants
Source: (Mejía, 2013)

Table 2 Voiced and Voiceless Spanish Consonants

Voicing Consonants
Voiced Consonants /b/ /d/ /g/ /ʝ/ /m/ /n/ /ɲ/ /l/ /ʎ/ /ɾ/ /r/ /j/ /w/(13)
Voiceless
/p/ /t/ /k/ /f/ /s/ /tʃ/ /x/ (7)
Consonants
Source: (Mejía, 2013)

It is pretty noticeable that there are more sounds in the English Language
rather than in Spanish, which means that a deep attention must be paid when
learning the English language to avoid transferring Spanish sounds into the target
language.

3
Consonants
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Articulator

The organs that move and reach certain section of the palate are
considered to be the articulators. Hence, the lower lip, the lower jaw and mainly
the tongue are the articulators which are used to pronounce different types of
consonant sounds in both languages.

Point of Articulation
The point of articulation is the place “of maximum constriction in the mouth
or upper throat, the location at which the complete or partial stoppage of the air
is effected” (De Villiers & De Villiers, 1998, p.9). The point of articulation might be
teeth, upper lip and any section of the palate.

Cavity
It refers to the area where the air flow goes by. It might be the mouth or
the nasal cavity. Thorun (2013) considers that:

The mouth cavity sets the perimeter in which other articulators are
contained, such as the (…) hard and soft palate. The primary role of the
nasal cavity is to add resonance, and it also contributes to the modification
of the air flow (p.9).

Just the Spanish-English /m/, /n/, the English /ŋ/ and the Spanish /ɲ/ are
sounds that free the air stream through the nasal cavity, the rest of consonants
sounds use the mouth cavity.

Manner of Articulation
The manner of articulation leads with the way that the air stream goes
through the articulator and point of articulation. The Manner of articulation is
another key feature in the consonant production. “This feature refers to how the

4
Consonants
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air flows in the vocal tract, and it is, in part therefore, concerned with the degree
of structure in the vocal tract” (Knight, 2012, p.39).

Due to the manner how the air flows in the mouth or nasal cavities, sounds
are classified as stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, laterals, R-sounds, and
approximants (glides).

Table 3.- Consonants classified by their manner

Manner Contrastive Consonants

Spanish English

Stop /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/

Fricative /f/, /s/, /ʝ/ /x/ /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /θ/, /ð/,
/h/, /ʝ/

Affricate /tʃ/ /tʃ/, /dʒ/

Nasal /m/, /n/, / ɲ / /m/, /n/, /ŋ/

Lateral /l/ /ʎ/ /l/

R-sound /ɾ/ /r/ /ɹ/

Approximant /j/ /w/ /j/ /w/

5
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Figure 1 Spanish-English Consonant Production

Note: Adapted from Cook (1997)

Consonant production involves mostly an articulator (tongue) and a point of


articulation (palate). Consequently, consonant might be apico-alveolar, fronto-
palatal, and dorso-velar or dorso- palatal.

Allophones and Diacritics

Consonant sounds have variations which depend on dialects, phonetic conditions


or distribution. These variations are known as allophones. As mentioned in
previous topics, a dialect is a variation of an individual language due to
geographical boundaries or social status; the phonetic condition has to do with
certain feature influence such as voicing or manner that are assimilated by a
close sound; for instance, due to a progressive assimilation a voiced consonant
sound becomes voiceless, only under the condition that before it a voiceless

6
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consonant occurs; e.g; English and Spanish voiceless stop [p, t, k] + [l̥ , ɾ̥, ɹ̥ ]. Notice
how the voiced consonant changes its voicing and becomes voiceless: <planeta>
[pl̥ aˈneta], <plenty> [ˈpʰl̥ ɛːnti], <flama> [ˈfɾ̥eno], <three> [θɹ̥ i].

A diacritic is an extra mark used with the phonetic symbol. Look at the
figure 15, it shows up all the diacritics that might be used with different languages
all over the world. Each has a specific feature that depends on specific phonetic
conditions. However, not all of them are used neither in Spanish nor English. That
is why, S for Spanish and E for English have been inserted in the chart. There
are just a few diacritics to be used in both languages.

Diacritics will be mentioned as allophonic studies comes up.

Figure 2.- IPA Diacritics

7
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COMPLEMENTARY RESOURCES
LIST OF TABLES
Table1.- Voiced and voiceless English Consonant, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 2.-Voiced and voiceless Spanish Consonant, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 3.- Consonants classified by their manner, Source:(Mejía, 2013)

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.- Spanish –English Consonant Production, Source: (Cook, 1997)
Figure 2.- Diacritics, Source: IPA Diacritics

• The ling Space. (2015, Jan 28). Places and manners of Articulation.
YouTube. https://youtu.be/zEaPQP3pXQc

8
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• Bibliography
Works Cited

Ashby, M., & Maidment , J. (2005). Introducing Phonetic Science. UK:


Cambridge University Press.

Blizzard, J. (2012). Singing American English. second edition. North Carolina:


Wingate University.

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

IPA. (2020). Journal of the Internatonal Phonetic Association. Cambridge:


Cambridge.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Mejía, P. (2013). Contrastive Linguistics. A descriptive Linguistics Course for


Spanish-English Teachers. Quito: Classroom.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Olive, J., Greenwood, A., & Coleman, J. (1993). Acoustics of American English
Speech. USA: Springer.

Scott, J. (2009). Triphthongs in Spanish. Obtenido de Trusted Translations:


https://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/triphthongs-in-spanish-
2009-09-21.html

9
Consonants
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10
Consonants
Tema 9

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


CONSONANTS
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Index Pág.

2.1 Flow: Stop / Plosives 3 - 10

Complementary Resources 11
Bibliography 12

2
Consonants
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Stop Sounds

Stop or occlusive sounds occur in both Spanish and English, when the
active articulator touches the passive articulator and completely cuts off the air
flow through the mouth. They are six and in certain terms are quite similar as
phonemes. They differ in the variations that they might have and the position
where they occur in a phonological group (word). Nonetheless, they use the same
organs and share the same phonemic features.

Table 4.- Stop sounds in Spanish and English

Spanish English Features


/p/ /p/ voiceless, bilabial, stop
/t/ /t/ voiceless, apico alveolar (E) / apico dental (S), stop
/k/ /k/ voiceless, dorso velar, stop
/b/ /b/ voiced, bilabial, stop
/d/ /d/ voiced, apico alveolar (E) / apico dental (S), stop
/g/ /g/ voiced, dorso velar, stop

As it is seen, the phonemes /t/ and /d/ have the same symbols in Spanish
and English; however, they differ in the point of articulation. English /t/ and /d/ are
apico alveolar while Spanish /t/ and /d/ are apico dental. Therefore, the point of
articulation is a serious aspect to be considered at the moment of uttering these
sounds in English. Otherwise, the Latin accent will be kept due to the fact of
transferring mother tongue sounds to the target language.

The voiced Spanish stop sounds /b, d, g/ become fricatives when they
happen phonetically between vowels, and after <l, r>. On the other hand, the
voiceless English stop sounds /p, t, k/ are strongly aspirated when they occur in
initial position (I) of a word, and might be released or unreleased in final position
(F) of a word (Mejía, 2013).

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/p/ Phoneme and Allophones

Figure 31.- Homorganic Bilabial Sounds

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

Sounds that have the same articulator and point of articulation are said to
be homorganic (Ashby & Maidment , 2005). Therefore, /p-b/ is the first stop
homorganic set. The feature that differs between these sounds in Spanish as well
as in English is voicing. /p/ is voiceless and /b/ is voiced. This means that the
production of /p-b/ requires the lips to close blocking air from flowing through the
mouth.

Spanish /p/ has just one allophone while English /p/ has commonly four
ones.

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Table 5.- English-Spanish /p / Allophones

Spanish- voiceless, bilabial, Position Examples


English /p/ stop
voiceless, bilabial, stop,
(E) [pʰ-] initial /ˈpejpəɹ/ [ˈpʰeɪ̯pɚ]
strongly aspirated
voiceless, bilabial, stop,
(E) [-p-] middle /əˈpaɹt/ [əˈpaːɹt ]
unaspirated
voiceless, bilabial, stop,
(E) [-pˈ] final /tæp/ [tʰæpˈ]
unreleased
voiceless, bilabial, stop,
(E) [-p ̄ ] final /tæp/ [tʰæp ̄ ]
released
voiceless, bilabial, stop,
(S) [ p ] /ˈpaɾo/ [ˈpaɾo]
initial/middle
unaspirated /ˈmapa/ [ˈmapa]

Here, the only sound that is quite similar is the one that happens in middle
position in a phonological group. Consequently, Spanish speakers must practice
the other sound in different positions.

It is quite common to find out consonant sound in the three positions in


English since a high percentage of words finish in consonants. Final consonant
sounds in Spanish are not so common as words finish mostly in vowel sounds.
This is another reason why a Spanish speaker must practice final consonant
sound pronunciation.

/b/ Phoneme and Allophones


Table 6.- English-Spanish /b/ Allophones

Spanish-English voiced, bilabial, stop Position Examples


/b/
Initial /bowt/ [boʊ̯t]
(E) [ b ] voiced, bilabial, stop middle /əˈbawt/ [əˈbaʊ̯tˈ]
final /kɹæb/ [kʰɹ̥ æːb]
(S) [ b ] voiced, bilabial, stop Initial /ˈbanko/ [ˈbãŋko]
middle /ˈambos/ [ˈãmbɔs]
(S) [ β ] voiced, bilabial, fricative middle /ˈuba/ [ˈuβa]

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The /b/ sound is quite similar in both languages, but avoid transferring the
Spanish fricative sound into English since it does not occur in the target language.
As above mentioned, /b/ becomes fricative in intervocalic position, and after /l/
and /ɾ/ sounds.

/t/ Phoneme and Allophones

Figure 4.- Homorganic Alveolar Sounds

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

/t-d/ are alveolar stops also called coronal stops in English and Spanish.
This means that the production of /t-d/ requires the tip pf the tongue known as
the coronal to block air from following through the mouth by touching the alveolar
area in English and by touching the upper teeth area in Spanish. In the process,
the vocal folds do not vibrate for /t/ and do vibrate for /d/ in both languages.

Even though the same phonological /t/ symbol is used in both languages,
it is a must to remember that the English /t/ is apico alveolar while Spanish /t/ is
apico dental. It means that they differ in the point of articulation; consequently,
the /t/ consonant quality will vary.

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Table 7.- English-Spanish /t/ Allophones

Spanish /t/ voiceless, apico DENTAL, Position Examples


English /t/ stop
voiceless, apico
ALVEOLAR, stop
h
(E) [ t ] voiceless, apico alveolar, stop,
initial /taŋk/ [tʰaːŋkˈ ̄ ]
strongly aspirated
voiceless, apico alveolar, stop,
(E) [ t ] middle /əˈtæk/ [əˈtækˈ ̄ ]
unaspirated

(E) [ ɾ ] Voiced, apico alveolar, flap/tap middle /ˈlɛtəɹ/ [ˈlɛːɾɚ]


Voiceless, glottal, stop, nasal
(E) [ ʔ ] middle /ˈɹɪtən/ [ˈɹɪʔn̩]
released
voiceless, apico alveolar,
(E) [ tn ] final /ˈɹɪtən/ [ˈɹɪtn]
nasalized, stop
voiceless, apico alveolar, stop,
(E) [ tˈ ] final /tɛnt/ [tʰɛːntˈ]
unreleased
voiceless, apico alveolar, stop,
(E) [
final /tɛnt/ [tʰɛːnt ̄ ]
t̄ ] released
voiceless, apico dental, stop,
initial /ˈtubo/ [ˈtuβo]
(S) [ t ]
unaspirated middle /moˈtoɾ/ [moˈtɔɾ]

The [ ɾ ] sounds occurs in English when a <t> or <tt> is between vowel


sounds as part of an unstressed syllable. The English glottal and nasalized need
to be between a vowel and a /n/ sound.

This sound is really important to be pronounced clearly in its seven variants


and needs a lot practice since it is totally different from the Spanish /t/. Moreover,
let’s remember that the Spanish /t/ is dental.

/d/ Phoneme and Allophones


Something similar to the /t/ sound happens when /d/ is used in English and
Spanish. In spite of the fact that the same symbol is used, the English /d/ is

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alveolar meanwhile the Spanish /d/ is dental. Therefore, being careful with the
point of articulation is the concern.

Table 81.- English-Spanish /d/ Allophones

Spanish /d/ voiced, apico DENTAL, Position Examples


English /d/ stop
voiced, apico ALVEOLAR,
stop
initial /dʌmp/ [dʌːmpˈ ̄ ]
(E) [ d ] voiced, apico alveolar, stop middle /ˈkændəl/ [ˈkʰæːndəɫ]
final /pæd/ [pʰæːd]
(E) [ ɾ ] voiced, apico alveolar, flap/tap middle /ˈlædəɹ/ [ˈlæːɾɚ]
voiceless, glottal, stop, nasal
(E) [ ʔ ] middle /ˈgɔɹdən/ [ˈgɔːɹʔn̩]
released

voiced, apico dental, stop initial /ˈdatos/ [ˈdatɔs]


(S) [ d ]
middle /anˈdaɾ/ [ãn̪ˈdaɾ]
voiceless, apico interdental,
(S) [ θ ] final /biɾˈtud/ [biɾˈtuθ]
fricative

(S) [ ∅ ] Zero allophone final /biɾˈtud/ [biɾˈtu∅]


(S) [ ð ] voiced, apico interdental, fricative middle /aɾˈdeɾ/ [aɾ̪ˈðɛɾ]

The English flap sound, [ ɾ ], is also allophone of /d/ when it is represented


by <d> or <dd> as part of an unstressed syllable. The glottal happens between a
/ɹ/ and /n/ sounds as a phonetic condition.

The Spanish [ ð ] happens in intervocalic position and after the flap sound.
The [ ∅ ] allophone ensues only in final position and is basically used by people
who live in coastal regions.

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/k/ Phoneme and Allophones

Figure 5.- Homorganic Velar Sounds

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

/k-g/ are velar stops. This means that the production of /k-g/ requires the
back of the tongue, also called dorsal, to be retracted and raised to block air from
flowing through the mouth by touching the soft palate also known as velum.
During the utterance or pronunciation process, vocal folds vibrate for /g/ and do
not for /k/. This is the same in both languages.

The /k/ phoneme is being exhibited in both languages. English /k/ has four
allophones while Spanish /k/ just one.

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Table 9.- English-Spanish /k/ Allophones

Spanish-English voiceless, dorso velar, Position Examples


/k/ stop
voiceless, dorso velar, stop, strongly
(E)[kʰ-] initial /kʊd/ [kʰʊːd]
aspirated
voiceless, dorso velar, stop,
(E)[-k-] middle /ˈʌŋkəl/ [ˈʌːŋkəɫ]
unaspirated

(E)[-kˈ] voiceless, dorso velar, stop, unreleased final /pʌŋk/ [pʰʌːŋkˈ ]

(E)[-k ̄ ] voiceless, dorso velar, stop, released final /pʌŋk/ [pʰʌːŋk ̄ ]


voiceless, dorso velar, stop,
(S) [ k ] Initial /ˈpɾesa/ [ˈpɾ̥esa]
unaspirated middle /ˈsopa/ [ˈsopa]

Let’s remember that the voiceless stops have the same allophones:
strongly aspirated, unaspirated, released and unreleased.

/g/ Phoneme and Allophones


This phoneme is present in both languages. English has just one allophone
while Spanish has two ones.

Table 10.- English-Spanish /g/ Allophones

Spanish-English voiced, dorso velar, Position Examples


/g/ stop
Initial /gejt/ [geɪ̯tˈ ̄ ]
(E) [ g ] voiced, dorso velar, stop middle /ləˈgun/ [ləˈguːn]
final /lɛg/ [lɛːg]
(S) [ g ] voiced, dorso velar, stop Initial /ˈdoɾso/ [ˈdɔɾso]
middle /anˈdaɾ/ [an̪ˈdaɾ]
(S) [ ɣ ] voiced, dorso velar, fricative middle /ˈagoɾa/ [ˈaɣoɾa]

It is important to insist that fricatives [β, ð, ɣ] just happen in Spanish and


they do not occur in English (Mejía, 2013). Then, a permanent practice of the
English sounds will improve pronunciation and enhance the accent.

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COMPLEMENTARY RESOURCES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.- Stop sounds in Spanish and English, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 5.- English-Spanish /p / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 6.- English-Spanish /b/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 7.- English-Spanish /t/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 8.- English-Spanish /d/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 9.- English-Spanish /k/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 10.- English-Spanish /g/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.- Homorganic Bilabial Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 4.- Homorganic Alveolar Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 5.- Homorganic Velar Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/

VIDEO
Byrnes, Nanhee. (2017,Sep 11). Stops sounds overview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFPbLcUCraQ

• Bibliography

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Works Cited

Ashby, M., & Maidment , J. (2005). Introducing Phonetic Science. UK:


Cambridge University Press.

Blizzard, J. (2012). Singing American English. second edition. North Carolina:


Wingate University.

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

IPA. (2020). Journal of the Internatonal Phonetic Association. Cambridge:


Cambridge.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Mejía, P. (2013). Contrastive Linguistics. A descriptive Linguistics Course for


Spanish-English Teachers. Quito: Classroom.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Olive, J., Greenwood, A., & Coleman, J. (1993). Acoustics of American English
Speech. USA: Springer.

Scott, J. (2009). Triphthongs in Spanish. Obtenido de Trusted Translations:


https://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/triphthongs-in-spanish-
2009-09-21.html

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1010

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


CONSONANTS
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Index Pág.

3.1 Fricatives 3 – 12

Complementary Resources 13
Bibliography 14

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Fricative Sounds

Fricative sounds occur in both Spanish and English. Fricative means that
there is no complete closure between the articulator and point of articulation,
having as a result an air turbulence known as friction. There are ten and four
fricatives in English and Spanish accordingly.

The articulation and production of / f-s-ʝ / are quite similar as phonemes in


both languages. They differ in the variations that might happen and the positions
where they occur within a word.

When two or more sounds use the same articulator and point of
articulation, they are known as homorganic. Therefore, the fricative homorganic
are exhibited in English but not in Spanish. Remember homorganic sounds differ
just in voicing.

Table 11.- Fricative Sounds in Spanish and English

Spanish English Features


/f/ /f/ voiceless, labiodental, fricative
* /v/ voiced, labiodental, fricative
/s/ /s/ voiceless, apico alveolar, fricative
* /z/ voiced, apico alveolar, fricative
* /ʃ/ voiceless, fronto palatal, fricative
* /ʒ/ voiced, fronto palatal, fricative
* /θ/ voiceless, apico interdental, fricative
* /ð/ voiced, apico interdental, fricative
/x/ * voiceless, dorso velar, fricative
* /h/ voiceless, glottal, fricative

/ʝ/ /ʝ/ voiced, fronto palatal, fricative

Note: * means the sound does not occur in the language.

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As it may be seen, learning English pronunciation is a bit more complex


since there are many more fricatives than in Spanish. It means a continuant and
responsible practice is required to utter properly the new English sounds.

/f/ Phoneme and Allophones


Figure 6.- Homorganic labiodental English Sounds

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

Figure 19 shows up how the upper teeth and the lower lip come so close
that when air flows through the mouth, friction is produced in both languages. In
this case, vocal folds do not vibrate, consequently the /f/ sound is voiceless. If
vocal folds vibrate, the /v/ sound is being uttered and this exists just in English.

Table 12.- English-Spanish /f/ Allophones

Spanish- voiceless, labiodental, Position Examples


English /f/ fricative
Initial /fɹejm/ [fɹ̥eɪ̯ːm]
(E) [ f ] voiceless, labiodental, fricative middle /əˈfɔɹd/ [əˈfɔːɹd]
final /kʌf/ [kʰʌf]
(S) [ f ] voiceless, labiodental, fricative Initial /ˈfama/ [ˈfama]
middle /kaˈfe/ [kaˈfe]
voiceless, bilabial, fricative Initial /ˈɸama/ [ˈɸama]
(S) [ ɸ ]
middle /kaˈɸe/ [kaˈɸe]

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When a word might be pronounced in different ways keeping its meaning


is known as Free Variation. According to Ackerman (2016):

Sounds that are in free variation occur in the same context, and thus are
not predictable, but the difference between the two sounds does not
change one word into another. Truly free variation is rather hard to find.
Humans are very good at picking up distinctions in ways of speaking, and
assigning meaning to them, so finding distinctions that are truly
unpredictable and that truly have no shade of difference in meaning is rare.

/v/ Phoneme and Allophones


This is a very special sound found in English but absent in Spanish.
Despite the fact of having the letter <v> in Spanish, it is pronounced as a bilabial
/b/. In English, /f-v/ are homorganic labiodental. Spanish has no fricative
homorganic.

Table 13.- English /v/ Allophones

English /v/ voiced, labiodental, Position Examples


fricative

Initial /vejs/ [veɪ̯s]


(E) [ v ] voiced, labiodental, fricative middle /aˈvɔjd/ [aˈvɔɪ̯ːd]
final /kaɹv/ [kʰaːɹv]

Transferring the Spanish /b/ into English when having letter <v> is a
common mistake. Therefore, this English /v/ needs plenty of practice.

/s/ Phoneme and Allophones

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Figure 7.- Homorganic Alveolar English Sounds

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

The /s/ phoneme happens in both languages and has as a counterpart the
/z/ just in English. As a matter of fact, /s-z/ are fricative alveolar homorganic. This
means both sounds use the tip of the tongue which gets close to the alveolar area
producing a light friction.

Table 14.- Spanish-English /s/ Allophones

Spanish - voiceless, apico Position Examples


English /s/ alveolar, fricative
initial /ˈsejləɹ/ [ˈseɪ̯ːlɚ]
(E) [ s ] voiceless, apico alveolar,
midlle /ˈkæstəl/ [ˈkʰæsəɫ]
fricative
final /kips/ [kʰips]
voiceless, apico alveolar, Initial /solˈaɾ/ [solˈaɾ]
(S) [ s ] midlle /ˈkasko/ [ˈkasko]
fricative
final /tɾes/ [tɾ̥es]
(S) [ s̪ ] voiceless, apico dental, fricative middle /ˈkasta/ [ˈkas̪ta]
(S) [ z ] voiced, apico alveolar, fricative middle /ˈresma/ [ˈrɛzma]
(S) [ z̪ ] voiced, apico dental, fricative middle /resbaˈlon/ [rɛzbaˈlɔ̃n]
(S) [ h ] voiceless, glottal, fricative middle /ˈkasta/ [ˈkahta]
(S) [ ∅ ] zero allophone final /tɾes/ [tɾ̥e∅]

It is relevant to mention that meanwhile English has just one allophone that
happens in the tree position (total distribution), Spanish has six allophones. Some

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of them occur under certain phonetic conditions such as [ s̪ ] only before [ t ], [ z


] just before any voiced consonant, [ z̪ ] only before [ d ]. Other Spanish
allophones occur in free variation like the glottal [ h ] which might substitute the
voiceless / voiced apico alveolar, voiceless/voiced apico dental as well as the
zero allophone which may substitute the final /-s/. Both the [ h ] and [ ∅ ] are
uttered by people who live or are from coastal regions.

/z/ Phoneme and Allophones


The / z / phoneme is articulated with the same organs as /s/. Its absence
in Spanish as a phoneme makes a difference with English language.
Nonetheless, [z] exists in Spanish as an allophone of /s/ as demonstrated
previously.

Table 15.- English /z/ Allophone


English /z/ voiced, apico alveolar, Position Examples
fricative
Initial /zɪp/ [zɪpˈ ̄ ]
(E) [ z ] voiced, apico alveolar, fricative middle /ˈkowzi/ [ˈkʰoʊ̯ːzi]
final /bɹiz/ [bɹiːz]
*(S) [ z ] voiced, apico alveolar, fricative middle /ˈasno/ [ˈazno]

*Remember that Spanish [ z ] happens under a phonetic condition. It must be


before a voiced consonant sound (Mejía, 2013).

/ʃ/ Phoneme and Allophones


Figure 8.- Homorganic Palatal English Sounds

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

/ʃ/ is a particular English sound that has its counterpart that is /ʒ/. It is
produced by raising the body of the tongue so that the passage between the

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postalveolar region and the tongue body is so narrow that air rushes out with a
hissing sound. Because of the friction caused by the air and the narrow passage,
it is called fricative. When producing this sound, vocal folds do not vibrate, so it
is voiceless. If vocal folds vibrate, the /ʒ/ is produced. Ecuadorian Spanish does
not have the /ʃ/ sound (Mejía, 2013).

Table 16.- English /ʃ/ Allophones

English / ʃ / voiceless, fronto palatal, Position Examples


groove, fricative
voiceless, fronto palatal, groove, Initial /ʃejp/ [ʃeɪ̯pˈ ̄ ]
(E) [ ʃ ] middle /əˈʃejmd/ [əˈʃeɪ̯ːmd]
fricative
final /klæʃ/ [kʰl̥ æʃ]

As mentioned before, it is very common to find almost all the consonants


in English words. When a sound (phoneme or allophone) happens in the three
positions, the distribution is total; otherwise, it will be partial.

/ʒ/ Phoneme and Allophones


The /ʒ/ sound is produced under the same conditions as /ʃ/, that is why
these two sounds are homorganic palatal fricatives. This phoneme is another
particular sound that happens exclusively in English. In Ecuadorian Spanish, it is
exhibited as an allophone of <ll>.

Table 17.- Spanish-English /ʒ/ Allophones

English /
voiced, fronto palatal, groove,
ʒ/ Position Examples
fricative
voiced, fronto palatal, groove,
(E) [ ʒ ] middle /ˈejʒə/ [ˈeɪ̯ːʒə]
fricative final /bejʒ/ [beɪ̯ːʒ]
voiced, fronto palatal, groove,
*(S) [ ʒ ] Initial /ˈʎama/ [ˈʒama]
fricative middle /ˈkaʎe/ [ˈkaʒe]

Keep in mind that /ʒ/ does not exists as a phoneme but an allophone in
Ecuadorian Spanish. It may be a phoneme in other countries in Latin America
(Mejía, 2013).

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/ θ / Phoneme and Allophones


Figure 9.- Homorganic Interdental English Sounds

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

/ θ / is another particular English sound even though it might appear in final


position in Spanish as an allophone of <d>. / θ / is voiceless apico interdental
fricative. This means that the tip of the tongue is put between the upper and lower
teeth so that when the air flows through the mouth, friction is produced.

Table 18.- Spanish-English / θ / Allophones

English /
voiceless, apico interdental,
θ/ Position Examples
fricative
voiceless, apico interdental, Initial /θɪŋk/ [θɪːŋkˈ ̄ ]
(E) [ θ ] middle /ˈɔθəɹ/ [ˈɔθɚ]
fricative
final /dɛpθ/ [dɛpθ]
voiceless, apico interdental,
*(S) [ -θ ] Final /sed/ [sɛθ]
fricative

*Remember that [ θ ] occurs in Spanish as an allophone of <d> just in final


position. However, in Spain, / θ / is used as a phoneme (Mejía, 2013).

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/ ð / Phoneme and Allophones


/ ð / uses the same articulator and point of articulation as / θ /, that is why
these sounds are homorganic and differ just in voicing in English. In Spanish,
however, these sounds are allophones of /d/.

Table 19.- Spanish-English / ð / Allophones

English /
voiced, apico interdental,
ð/ Position Examples
fricative
voiced, apico interdental, Initial /ðiz/ [ðiːz]
(E) [ð] middle /ˈmʌðəɹ/ [ˈmʌːðɚ]
fricative
final /bejð/ [beɪ̯ːð]
*(S) [- ð - voiced, apico interdental,
Middle /seɾda/ [sɛɾ̪ða]
] fricative

*The fricative [- ð - ], in Spanish, happens between vowels, after <r>, and


between a vowel and a voiced consonant sound. Remember, [ ð ] is an allophone
of /d/ and appears only in middle position.

/ x / Phoneme and Allophones


Figure 10.- Velar Spanish Sound

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

10
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

/ x / is a distinctive sound that belongs to Spanish. It does not occur in English.


As this is a dorso velar, the back part of the tongue moves backwards the velar
area of the mouth.

Table 20.- Spanish / x / Allophones

Spanish /
voiceless, dorso velar,
x/ Position Examples
fricative
Initial /ˈxente/ [ˈxẽn̪te]
(S) [x] voiceless, dorso velar, fricative middle /ˈoxos/ [ˈɔxɔz]
final /reˈlox/ [rɛˈlɔx]
(S) [ h ] voiceless, glottal, fricative Initial /ˈxente/ [ˈhẽn̪te]
Middle /ˈoxos/ [ˈohɔz]
(S) [ ∅ ] Zero allophone Middle /reˈlox/ [rɛˈlɔ∅]

The [ h ] is used by people who live or are from coastal regions. It is totally
clear in the examples that [x] and [h] happen in free variation. The same thing
happens to the [ ∅ ] which is used only in final position and is part of free variation
as well (Mejía, 2013).

/ h / Phoneme and Allophones


Figure 11.- Glottal English Sound

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

11
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

/ h / is a voiceless glottal fricative. Vocal folds are relaxed so that they open
and an air puff flows freely out of the lungs. In the process, some friction between
the airflow and the glottis might be heard. In Spanish, it is an allophone of /x/.

Table 21.- English / h / Allophones

English / voiceless, glottal,


Position Examples
h/ fricative

(E) [ h ] voiceless, glottal, fricative Initial /howm/ [hoʊ̯ːm]


Middle /ˈsɔftˌhaɹt/ [ˈsɔftˌhaɹtˈ ̄ ]
(E) [ ɦ ] voiced, glottal, fricative Middle /ˈɛniˌhaw/ [ˈɛːniˌɦaʊ̯]

The [ ɦ ] appears when it is between voiced sounds, no matter if they are


vowel or voiced consonants or both.

/ ʝ / Phoneme and Allophones


/ ʝ / is a fronto palatal fricative sound that endure in both languages.
Generally, it is being represented by letter <y> with a consonant function.

Table 22.- Spanish-English / ʝ / Allophones

Spanish- English
voiced, fronto palatal,
/ʝ/ Position Examples
fricative

(E) [ ʝ ] voiced, fronto palatal, Initial /ʝaɹd/ [ʝaːɹd]


fricative

voiced, fronto palatal, Initial /ˈʝeso/ [ˈʝeso]


(S) [ ʝ ]
Middle /maˈʝoɾ/ [maˈʝɔɾ]
fricative

Generally, students get mixed up and use the open yoda /j/, but remember
that this is an approximant sound used as a semi consonant or semivowel as part
of diphthongs.

12
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

COMPLEMENTARY RESOURCES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11.- Fricative Sounds in Spanish and English, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 12.- English-Spanish /f/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 13.- English /v/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 14.- Spanish-English /s/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 15.- English /z/ Allophone, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 16.- English /ʃ/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 17.-Spanish-English /ʒ/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 18.- Spanish-English / θ / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 19.- Spanish-English / ð / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 20.- Spanish / x / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 21.- English / h / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 22.- Spanish-English / ʝ / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 6.- Homorganic labiodental English Sounds, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 7.- Homorganic Alveolar English Sounds, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 8.- Homorganic Palatal English Sounds, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 91.- Homorganic Interdental English Sounds, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 10.- Velar Spanish Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 11.- Glottal English Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/

VIDEOS
Robert, (2020, Aug 28) Fricatives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvb2YpLD43M

13
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

• Bibliography
Works Cited

Ashby, M., & Maidment , J. (2005). Introducing Phonetic Science. UK:


Cambridge University Press.

Blizzard, J. (2012). Singing American English. second edition. North Carolina:


Wingate University.

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

IPA. (2020). Journal of the Internatonal Phonetic Association. Cambridge:


Cambridge.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Mejía, P. (2013). Contrastive Linguistics. A descriptive Linguistics Course for


Spanish-English Teachers. Quito: Classroom.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Olive, J., Greenwood, A., & Coleman, J. (1993). Acoustics of American English
Speech. USA: Springer.

Scott, J. (2009). Triphthongs in Spanish. Obtenido de Trusted Translations:


https://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/triphthongs-in-spanish-
2009-09-21.html

14
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

15
Consonants
Tema 11

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


CONSONANTS
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Index Pág.

4.1 Affricates 3-9

Complementary Resources 10
Bibliography 11

2
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Affricate Sounds

Figure 11.- Affricate Spanish- English Sounds

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

An affricate sound is the combination of a stop and a fricative due to both


have the same places of articulation. These are /tʃ/ and /dʒ/. These symbols are
known as digraphs since there are two symbols which represent a single sound
(Mejía, 2013). There are orthographic <ph> and phonetic digraphs /æ/.

/ tʃ / Phoneme and Allophones

The front and sides of the tongue contact the alveolar ridge anteriorly and
laterally. The velopharyngeal area is closed. Air pressure build up behind the
obstruction is released by lowering the tongue, and is followed by frictional noise
associated with fricative portion of the sound.

3
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Table 23.- Spanish-English / tʃ / Allophones

voiceless, apico
Spanish- English
alveolar lamino
/ tʃ / Position Examples
fronto palatal,
affricate
voiceless, apico
alveolar lamino fronto initial /tʃæns/ [tʃæːns]
(E) [ tʃ ] midlle /ˈnejtʃəɹ/ [ˈneɪ̯tʃɚ]
palatal, affricate
final /pʌntʃ/ [pʰʌːntʃ]

voiceless, apico
alveolar lamino fronto
initial /ˈtʃosa/ [ˈtʃosa]
(S) [ tʃ ]
palatal, affricate middle /ˈpintʃo/ [ˈpĩnʲtʃo]

/tʃ/ happens in both languages. As most of time in English it occurs in total


distribution while in Spanish, it is partial distribution.

/ dʒ / Phoneme and Allophones


/dʒ/ is the counterpart of /tʃ/. As they use the same organs, they are
homorganic affricate sounds in both languages. A difference is made in Spanish
since [dʒ] is an allophone of <ll>.

Table 24.- Spanish-English /dʒ/ Allophones

voiced, apico
Spanish- English
alveolar lamino
/dʒ/ Position Examples
fronto palatal,
affricate
voiced, apico alveolar
lamino fronto palatal, initial /dʒʌmp/ [dʒʌːmpˈ ̄ ]
(E) [ dʒ ] midlle /ˈændʒəl/ [ˈæːndʒəɫ]
affricate final /bædʒ/ [bæːdʒ]

4
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

voiced, apico alveolar


lamino fronto palatal, initial /ˈʎabe/ [ˈdʒaβe]
*(S) [ dʒ ]
affricate middle /kaʎe/ [ˈkadʒe]

*Keep in mind that [ dʒ ] is an allophone of <ll> in Spanish.

Nasal Sounds
Nasal sounds are those ones that use the nasal cavity to let the air go out
continually, without any air blockage. Both Spanish and English have three nasal
sounds, two of them are common but one differs in each language.

Table 25.- Spanish-English Nasal Sounds

Spanish English Features


/m/ /m/ voiced, bilabial, occlusive, continuant
/n/ /n/ voiced, apico alveolar, occlusive, continuant

* /ŋ/ voiced, dorso velar, occlusive, continuant

/ɲ/ * voiced, fronto palatal, occlusive, continuant

/ m / Phoneme and Allophones

Figure 12.- Spanish- English / m / Sound

5
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

/m/ is a bilabial sound as /p/ and /b/. It means the upper and lower lips
close to utter them; therefore, all these three sounds are homorganic. They might
differ in voicing or its manner how the airflow goes out from a cavity. Voicing and
manner never change. It means every nasal is voiced, occlusive and continuant
(Mejía, 2013).

Table 26.- Spanish-English /m/ Allophones

Spanish- voiced, bilabial,


English /m/ occlusive, Position Examples
continuant.

initial /maŋki/ [maːŋki]


(E) [ m ] voiced, bilabial,
midlle /əˈmawnt/ [əˈmaʊ̯ːntˈ ̄ ]
occlusive, continuant.
final /mam/ [maːm]

(E) [ ɱ ] voiced, labiodental,


midlle /ˈkʌmfəɹt/ [ˈkʌːɱfɚtˈ ̄ ]
occlusive, continuant.

voiced, bilabial,
E) [ m̩ ] occlusive, continuant, final /ˈɹɪðəm/ [ˈɹɪːðm̩]
syllabic.

voiced, bilabial, initial /manˈtel/ [mãn̪ˈtɛl]


(S) [ m ]
occlusive, continuant. middle /ˈkomas/ [ˈkomas]

English nasal allophones might be bilabial, labiodental or syllabic. The


labiodental happens only before [f], while the syllabic occurs in final position as
part of an unstressed syllable. On the other hand, Spanish nasal is just bilabial.

/ n / Phoneme and Allophones


Figure13.- Spanish- English / n / Sound

6
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

/n/ is alveolar nasal in both languages. This means that the production of
/n/ requires the tip of the tongue block the sir from flowing through the mouth by
touching the alveolar area. The velum is lowered to let air flows out of the nose
instead. This phoneme differs in its number of allophones which are more in
Spanish rather than in English.

Table 27.- Spanish-English /n/ Allophones

Spanish - English voiced, apico alveolar, Position Examples


/n/ occlusive, continuant
initial /naˈsal/ [naˈsal]
(S) [ n ] voiced, apico alveolar, occlusive, midlle /kaˈnal/ [kaˈna]/
continuant
final /poɾˈton/ [pɔɾˈtɔ̃n/ŋ]
voiced, apico dental, occlusive,
(S) [ n̪ ] midlle /ˈandes/ [ˈãn̪des]
continuant
voiced, fronto palatal, occlusive,
(S) [nʲ ] middle /ˈmantʃa/ [ˈmãnʲtʃa]
continuant
voiced, dorso velar, occlusive,
(S) [ŋ ] middle /ˈmango/ [ˈmãŋgo]
continuant
voiced, labiodental, occlusive,
(S) [ɱ ] middle /ˈanfoɾa/ [ˈaɱfoɾa]
continuant
voiced, apico alveolar, occlusive, initial /nɛvəɹ/ [nɛːvɚ]
(E) [ n ] midlle /ˈkændɪd/ [ˈkʰæːndɪd]
continuant
final /pɛn/ [pʰɛːn]

7
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

voiced, apico alveolar, occlusive,


(E) [n̩ ] final /əˈblæʃən/ [əˈblæʃn̩]
continuant, syllabic.

Spanish [ n̪ ] is present when a dental <t> or <d> follows it. The palatalized
[nʲ ] occurs before a palatal <ch>. The labiodental [ɱ ] goes before an <f>. The
velar [ŋ ] comes up before any other velar [k, g, x] or in final position as a free
variation case.

English syllabic [n̩] appears in final position as part of an unstressed


syllable in a multisyllabic word.

/ ŋ / Phoneme and Allophones


Figure 14.- Spanish- English / ŋ / Sound

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

/ ŋ / is a velar nasal. This means the back of the tongue is retracted and
raised to block air from flowing through the mouth by touching the velar area. The
velum is lowered to let air pass out to the nose cavity.

8
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Table 28.- Spanish-English / ŋ / Allophones

Spanish- English voiced, dorso velar,


Position Examples
/ŋ/ occlusive, continuant

(E) [ ŋ ] voiced, dorso velar, midlle /ˈæŋkəl/ [ˈæːŋkəɫ]


occlusive, continuant final /sɪŋ/ [sɪːŋ]

voiced, dorso velar, middle /ˈongo/ /ˈɔ̃ŋgo/


*(S) [ ŋ ]
occlusive, continuant final /pan/ [pãŋ]

English [ ŋ] is phoneme and allophone at the same time. It occurs before


any velar sound /k, g/ or in final position as part of the spelling <-ng>. It never
arises in initial position.

*Remember that the Spanish [ ŋ] is an allophone of <n> and happens


before any other velar sound /k, g, x/ or in final position as free variation with the
alveolar nasal.

/ ɲ / Phoneme and Allophones


/ ɲ / is a particular sound of Spanish. It is a palatal nasal. Its production
requires the body of the tongue to be raised to block air from flowing through the
mouth cavity (occlusion) by touching the hard palate. This sound does not subsist
in English.

Table 19.- Spanish / ɲ / Allophones

Spanish- voiced, dorso


English / ɲ / palatal, occlusive, Position Examples
continuant

voiced, dorso
(S) [ ɲ ] palatal, occlusive, midlle /aˈɾaɲa/ [aˈɾaɲa]
continuant

9
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

COMPLEMENTARY RESOURCES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 23.- Spanish-English / tʃ / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 24.- Spanish-English /dʒ/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 25.- Spanish-English Nasal Sounds, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 26.- Spanish-English /m/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 27.- Spanish-English /n/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 28.- Spanish-English / ŋ / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 29.- Spanish / ɲ / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 11.- Affricate Spanish- English Sounds, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 12.- Spanish- English / m / Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 13.- Spanish- English / n / Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 14.- Spanish- English / ŋ / Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/

VIDEO
Robert, (2020, Aug 28) Affricates
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7llEqE20Ui0

10
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

• Bibliography
Works Cited

Ashby, M., & Maidment , J. (2005). Introducing Phonetic Science. UK:


Cambridge University Press.

Blizzard, J. (2012). Singing American English. second edition. North Carolina:


Wingate University.

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

IPA. (2020). Journal of the Internatonal Phonetic Association. Cambridge:


Cambridge.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Mejía, P. (2013). Contrastive Linguistics. A descriptive Linguistics Course for


Spanish-English Teachers. Quito: Classroom.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Olive, J., Greenwood, A., & Coleman, J. (1993). Acoustics of American English
Speech. USA: Springer.

Scott, J. (2009). Triphthongs in Spanish. Obtenido de Trusted Translations:


https://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/triphthongs-in-spanish-
2009-09-21.html

11
Consonants
Tema 12

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


CONSONANTS
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Index Pág.

5.1 Nasal Sounds 3-7

Complementary Resources 8
Bibliography 9

2
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Nasal Sounds
Nasal sounds are those ones that use the nasal cavity to let the air go out
continually, without any air blockage. Both Spanish and English have three nasal
sounds, two of them are common but one differs in each language.

Table 25.- Spanish-English Nasal Sounds

Spanish English Features


/m/ /m/ voiced, bilabial, occlusive, continuant
/n/ /n/ voiced, apico alveolar, occlusive, continuant

* /ŋ/ voiced, dorso velar, occlusive, continuant

/ɲ/ * voiced, fronto palatal, occlusive, continuant

/ m / Phoneme and Allophones

Figure 13.- Spanish- English / m / Sound

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

/m/ is a bilabial sound as /p/ and /b/. It means the upper and lower lips
close to utter them; therefore, all these three sounds are homorganic. They might
differ in voicing or its manner how the airflow goes out from a cavity. Voicing and
manner never change. It means every nasal is voiced, occlusive and continuant
(Mejía, 2013).

3
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Table 26.- Spanish-English /m/ Allophones

Spanish- voiced, bilabial,


English /m/ occlusive, Position Examples
continuant.
voiced, bilabial, initial /maŋki/ [maːŋki]
(E) [ m ] occlusive, midlle /əˈmawnt/ [əˈmaʊ̯ːntˈ ̄ ]
continuant. final /mam/ [maːm]
voiced, labiodental,
(E) [ ɱ ] occlusive, midlle /ˈkʌmfəɹt/ [ˈkʌːɱfɚtˈ ̄ ]
continuant.
voiced, bilabial,
E) [ m̩ ] occlusive, final /ˈɹɪðəm/ [ˈɹɪːðm̩]
continuant, syllabic.
voiced, bilabial,
initial /manˈtel/ [mãn̪ˈtɛl]
(S) [ m ] occlusive,
middle /ˈkomas/ [ˈkomas]
continuant.

English nasal allophones might be bilabial, labiodental or syllabic. The


labiodental happens only before [f], while the syllabic occurs in final position as
part of an unstressed syllable. On the other hand, Spanish nasal is just bilabial.

/ n / Phoneme and Allophones

Figure14.- Spanish- English / n / Sound

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

4
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

/n/ is alveolar nasal in both languages. This means that the production of
/n/ requires the tip of the tongue block the sir from flowing through the mouth by
touching the alveolar area. The velum is lowered to let air flows out of the nose
instead. This phoneme differs in its number of allophones which are more in
Spanish rather than in English.

Table 27.- Spanish-English /n/ Allophones

Spanish - voiced, apico Position Examples


English /n/ alveolar, occlusive,
continuant
initial /naˈsal/ [naˈsal]
(S) [ n ] voiced, apico alveolar,
midlle /kaˈnal/ [kaˈna]/
occlusive, continuant
final /poɾˈton/ [pɔɾˈtɔ̃n/ŋ]
voiced, apico dental, occlusive,
(S) [ n̪ ] midlle /ˈandes/ [ˈãn̪des]
continuant
voiced, fronto palatal, occlusive,
(S) [nʲ ] middle /ˈmantʃa/ [ˈmãnʲtʃa]
continuant
voiced, dorso velar, occlusive,
(S) [ŋ ] middle /ˈmango/ [ˈmãŋgo]
continuant
voiced, labiodental, occlusive,
(S) [ɱ ] middle /ˈanfoɾa/ [ˈaɱfoɾa]
continuant
voiced, apico alveolar, initial /nɛvəɹ/ [nɛːvɚ]
(E) [ n ] midlle /ˈkændɪd/ [ˈkʰæːndɪd]
occlusive, continuant
final /pɛn/ [pʰɛːn]
voiced, apico alveolar,
(E) [n̩ ] final /əˈblæʃən/ [əˈblæʃn̩]
occlusive, continuant, syllabic.

Spanish [ n̪ ] is present when a dental <t> or <d> follows it. The palatalized
[nʲ ] occurs before a palatal <ch>. The labiodental [ɱ ] goes before an <f>. The
velar [ŋ ] comes up before any other velar [k, g, x] or in final position as a free
variation case.

English syllabic [n̩] appears in final position as part of an unstressed


syllable in a multisyllabic word.

5
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

/ ŋ / Phoneme and Allophones


Figure 15.- Spanish- English / ŋ / Sound

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

/ ŋ / is a velar nasal. This means the back of the tongue is retracted and
raised to block air from flowing through the mouth by touching the velar area. The
velum is lowered to let air pass out to the nose cavity.

Table 28.- Spanish-English / ŋ / Allophones

Spanish- English voiced, dorso velar,


Position Examples
/ŋ/ occlusive, continuant

(E) [ ŋ ] voiced, dorso velar, midlle /ˈæŋkəl/ [ˈæːŋkəɫ]


occlusive, continuant final /sɪŋ/ [sɪːŋ]

voiced, dorso velar, middle /ˈongo/ /ˈɔ̃ŋgo/


*(S) [ ŋ ]
occlusive, continuant final /pan/ [pãŋ]

English [ ŋ] is phoneme and allophone at the same time. It occurs before


any velar sound /k, g/ or in final position as part of the spelling <-ng>. It never
arises in initial position.

6
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

*Remember that the Spanish [ ŋ] is an allophone of <n> and happens


before any other velar sound /k, g, x/ or in final position as free variation with the
alveolar nasal.

/ ɲ / Phoneme and Allophones


/ ɲ / is a particular sound of Spanish. It is a palatal nasal. Its production
requires the body of the tongue to be raised to block air from flowing through the
mouth cavity (occlusion) by touching the hard palate. This sound does not subsist
in English.

Table 29.- Spanish / ɲ / Allophones

Spanish- voiced, dorso


English / ɲ / palatal, occlusive, Position Examples
continuant

voiced, dorso
(S) [ ɲ ] palatal, occlusive, midlle /aˈɾaɲa/ [aˈɾaɲa]
continuant

7
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

COMPLEMENTARY RESOURCES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 25.- Spanish-English Nasal Sounds, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 26.- Spanish-English /m/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 27.- Spanish-English /n/ Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 28.- Spanish-English / ŋ / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 29.- Spanish / ɲ / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 13.- Spanish- English / m / Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 14.- Spanish- English / n / Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 15.- Spanish- English / ŋ / Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/

Rafat, (2010, Apr 10) Affricates


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFEZT9k6lYY

8
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

• Bibliography
Works Cited

Ashby, M., & Maidment , J. (2005). Introducing Phonetic Science. UK:


Cambridge University Press.

Blizzard, J. (2012). Singing American English. second edition. North Carolina:


Wingate University.

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

IPA. (2020). Journal of the Internatonal Phonetic Association. Cambridge:


Cambridge.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Mejía, P. (2013). Contrastive Linguistics. A descriptive Linguistics Course for


Spanish-English Teachers. Quito: Classroom.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Olive, J., Greenwood, A., & Coleman, J. (1993). Acoustics of American English
Speech. USA: Springer.

Scott, J. (2009). Triphthongs in Spanish. Obtenido de Trusted Translations:


https://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/triphthongs-in-spanish-
2009-09-21.html

9
Consonants
Tema 14

English Phonetics and Phonology Contrastive analysis


CONSONANTS
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Index Pág.

7.1 R Sounds 3-6

Complementary Resources 7
Bibliography 8

2
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

R-Sounds

This is an untypical name used in phonetics. Spanish and English share


the same orthographic <r> symbol. However, the letter <r> is pronounced
entirely different and here is where it is settled a great difference.

/ ɹ / Phoneme and Allophones


Figure 16.- English R-Sound

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

/ ɹ / is a post alveolar approximant. An approximant is a sound happens


when the articulator gets close but never touches the point of articulation. In the
production of this English sound, the tip of the tongue is slightly curled upwards
and towards in the direction of the post alveolar area without touching it.

3
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Table 33.- English / ɹ / Allophones

English / ɹ voiced, apico post


/ alveolar, retroflex, Position Examples
approximant.
Initial /ˈɹætəl/ [ˈɹæːɾɫ̩ ]
(E) [ ɹ ] voiced, apico post alveolar,
midlle /ˈkaɹbən/ [ˈkʰaːɹbn̩]
retroflex, approximant.
final /kaɹ/ [kʰaːɹ]
voiceless, apico post
(E) [ ɹ̥ ] alveolar, retroflex, midlle /pɹajz/ [pʰɹ̥ aɪ̯ːz]
approximant.
rhotacized, closed
Midlle /pəɹˈmɪʃən/ [pʰɚˈmɪʃn̩]
(E) [ ɚ ] (unstressed) mid, central
final /ˈdajvəɹ/ [ˈdaɪ̯vɚ]
vowel
rhotacized, open (stressed) Midlle /vəɹb/ [vɝb]
(E) [ ɝ ]
, mid, central vowel final /fəɹ/ [fɝ]

[ ɹ̥ ] becomes voiceless when it happens after any other voiceless


consonant sound. The rhotacized sounds occur when the schwa and <r>
happen within the same syllable.

/ ɾ / Phoneme and Allophones


Figure 17.- Spanish R-Sounds

Note: Adapted from Sounds American

4
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

The Spanish / ɾ / is a tap or flap which is done by quickly touching the


upper alveolar ridge with the tip of the tongue. The effect is like that of doing a
trill that has only one cycle. Recall that the flap/tap sound does exist in English
but as an allophone of /t-d/ sounds which correspond to the <t, tt> or <d, dd>
letters between vowels and as part of an unstressed syllable.

Table 34.- Spanish / ɾ / Allophones

Spanish / ɾ
voiced, apico alveolar,
/ Position Examples
flap/tap

(E) [ ɾ ] voiced, apico alveolar, midlle /ˈkaɾne/ [ˈkaɾne]


flap/tap final /aˈmaɾ/ [aˈmaɾ]

voiceless, apico alveolar,


(E) [ ɾ̥ ] midlle /ˈfɾesko/ [ˈfɾ̥esko]
flap/tap

voiced, apico dental,


(E) [ ɾ̪ ] midlle /ˈaɾte/ [ˈaɾ̪te]
flap/tap

voiced, apico alveolar, trill, midlle /ˈkaɾne/ [ˈkarne]


(E) [ r ]
resonant final /aˈmaɾ/ [aˈmar]

The Spanish [ ɾ̥ ] is exhibited after any voiceless consonant sound, [ ɾ̪ ]


appears before a dental sound [t, d], and the [ r ] happens in free variation
substituting the dental flap or when the <r> occurs before <n>.

/ r / Phoneme and Allophones


/ r / is an alveolar trill. This is done by letting the tip of the tongue gently
touch the alveolar ridge as air pushes against it to get out of the mouth. The
result is that the tip of the tongue will give way when the pressure built is high
enough then flap back to block the airstream once that pressure is released.

5
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

The process repeats, causing a constantly flapping sound which is the trill. This
/ r / is quite difficult to be pronounced by foreigners.

Table 35.- Spanish / r / Allophones

Spanish / voiced, apico alveolar,


r/ trill Position Examples

(S) [ r ] initial /rasˈpaɾ/ [rasˈpaɾ]


voiced, apico alveolar, trill
middle /aˈresto/ [aˈres̪to]

voiced, apico alveolar, trill, initial /rasˈpaɾ/ [rasˈpaɾ]


(S) [ r ]
resonant middle /aˈresto/ [aˈres̪to]

It should be noticed that the trill sound corresponds to an initial <r> or


middle <rr>. The resonant sound happens in free variation with the trill sound.

6
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

COMPLEMENTARY RESOURCES
LIST OF TABLES

Table 33.- English / ɹ / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)


Table 34.- Spanish / ɾ / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)
Table 35.- Spanish / r / Allophones, Source:(Mejía, 2013)

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 17.- English R-Sound, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/
Figure 18.- Spanish R-Sounds, Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sounds-american/

VIDEO
Linguabilities (2020, Apr 4) R Sounds
https://youtu.be/0E7YIiUId5k

7
Consonants
Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

• Bibliography
Works Cited

Ashby, M., & Maidment , J. (2005). Introducing Phonetic Science. UK:


Cambridge University Press.

Blizzard, J. (2012). Singing American English. second edition. North Carolina:


Wingate University.

Brooks, G. (2015). Dictionary of British English Spelling System. UK: Open


Book Publisher.

Cleghorn, T. (2011). Comprehensive ARticulatory Phonetics. Second Edition.


Emiratos Árabes Unidos: Lrp center.

IPA. (2020). Journal of the Internatonal Phonetic Association. Cambridge:


Cambridge.

Katz, W. (1991). Phonetics and Phonology. Dallas, Texas, USA.

Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology. A Coursebook. Santa Barbara.: Cambridge


University Press.

Knight, R. (2012). Phonetics. A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.

Lorenz, F. (2013). Basics of Phonetics & English Phonology. Berlín: Logos.

Mejía, P. (2013). Contrastive Linguistics. A descriptive Linguistics Course for


Spanish-English Teachers. Quito: Classroom.

Meyer, P. (2005). Syncronich English Linguistic. An Introduction. Germany:


Gunter Nare Verlag.

Nasr, R. (1977). Applied English Phonolgy for ESL/EFL Teachers. Maryland:


University Press of America.

Olive, J., Greenwood, A., & Coleman, J. (1993). Acoustics of American English
Speech. USA: Springer.

Scott, J. (2009). Triphthongs in Spanish. Obtenido de Trusted Translations:


https://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/triphthongs-in-spanish-
2009-09-21.html

8
Consonants

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