TOPIC 7: THE ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM I: VOWELS. PHONETIC SYMBOLS. STRONG AND WEAK FORMS. DIPHTHONGS. PHONETIC SYMBOLS.

COMPARISON WITH SPANISH OR THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTION: I will start telling you about the justification of this topic. According to our b) Organs involved in the production of speech sound. Speech organs can be classified
current legislation based on LOMLOE from 2020, the teaching of a foreign language must be according to whether they are movable or fixed. While the vocal cords, the soft palate, the tongue
based on the communicative approach and communication must be the essential part of a and the lips are movable, the other organs of speech are fixed. The movable organs of speech can
language learning process, in this way the methodology used for the teaching of a foreign act independently of each other and their movements can be combined in different ways. For that,
language must be based on this communicative approach to make our students not only knowing it is possible to make a very large number of different speech sounds. In any language, however, the
about language but knowing how to use it. For this reason, this topic is very important to make our number of combinations is not very large. Each organ of speech contributes to the formation of
students able to produce the correct sound and pronunciation when they use the English language. speech sounds:
Once the justification is done, we are ready to start… - The lungs: their function is to set the air inside in motion. Most speech sounds are produced
when we breath out.
- The larynx: it’s above the trachea, and it is the place where the vocal cords are located. Inside
1. THE ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM the larynx we can find the vocal cords, which can be brought together and place edge to edge in the
The English phonological system is rather complex because it entails many different aspects, in the middle of the air passage, or be drawn apart leaving a wide opening between them. This opening
same way, it differs from the Spanish language to a large extent. For this reason, we will try to be is termed the glottis.
dealt with it deeply. - Vocal cords: they may be open or closed and this will produce a very different type of sound. If
First of all, we are going to make some distinctions between concepts we are going to use through
they are open, they do not vibrate and the resulting sound is called voiceless sound. If they are
the topic:
close, the air stream passing through them makes them vibrate and producing voiced sounds.
- Phonemes: any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish - Cavities: above the pharynx we find 3 cavities which amplify the sound and may change the
one word from another. They are finite number of sounds selected from all the possible sounds a quality: The Pharynx; the oral cavity: the mouth; The nasal cavity: the nose.
human being articulate.
- Articulators: these are the organs which are directly responsible for the articulatory
- Phonetics: it is the study of speech sounds. It is the science that includes the perception, characteristics of speech sounds.
transmission and reception of those sounds excluding linguistics considerations. It provides
- Tongue: is capable of making many movements, and modifying the breath stream in
different ways to describe the sounds. The IPA is an international phonetic association whose aim is
numerous ways. It plays the chief part in the formation of vowel sounds, when its different
to create a set of symbols that represent each sound of all languages.
positions alter the shape of the resonating chamber of the mouth and give rise to vowel sounds of
- Phonology: it’s the branch of linguistics that deals with the systems of sounds, including or various acoustic qualities.
excluding phonetics, within a language or between different languages. Its aim is to discover the
rules which organise sounds into a language system. It studies the way in which a particular - Lips: can articulate sounds themselves, and their movement can be combined with that of
other organs of speech in the formation of both consonants and vowels.
language organizes speech sounds into a system.
- Palate: it is the roof of the mouth and separates the mouth cavity from the nasal one. The soft
palate is the only part used in the production of vowels.
1.1. ARTICULATION OF SPEECH SOUND
How are speech sounds made? We use our tongue and lips, however, much we may change the
position and shape of our tongue, lips, that is not in itself sufficient to produce any audible sound. 1.2. CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH SOUNDS
Clearly, something else is needed. What happens in most cases when we speak is that a stream of Speech sounds are divided into vowels and consonants, the
air is breathed out from the lungs, and this stream of air, when passing through the narrow spaces main difference being one of sonority; vowels are those
in the human throat and mouth, makes a sound. Now the noise of the wind is not always the same, sounds which have most carrying power.
by modifying the shape of the passage through which the air passes when we speak, we can make Vowel is a voiced sound in the pronunciation ofwhich the
a number of different sounds. Together, the organs situated at these points constitute the speech air passes through the mouth in acontinuous stream,
organs. there being no obstruction andno narrowing such as would
a) Types of phonetics description. This process whereby speech sounds are produced can be produce audible friction.Consonant is a sound
divided into three different accompanied or unaccompanied by voice, in which there is
phonetic description of sounds: either a complete or a partial obstruction, which prevents
- Articulatory description: It provides information about the organs involved inthe the air from issuing freely from the mouth.
production of sounds.
- Acoustic description: It gives information about the characteristics of thesound
waves that are created in the production of speech sounds.
- Auditory description: it provides information about the way speech sounds areperceives
by the listener.
2. THE ENGLISH VOWEL SYSTEM 2.4. TRIPHTHONGS
Phoneticians describe vowels by use of reference qualities or ‘cardinal’ vowels which map out the We now turn to a very interesting phenomenon which is somewhat disconcerting for Spanish
auditory vowel space. In the articulation of a vowel there is not obstruction of the air stream and speakers: the pronunciation of English triphthongs. Being aware of it will help you not only to sound
the vocal folds always vibrate. It ranges over the study of pure vowels, diphthongs & triphthongs. more natural and fluent but also to understand what native speakers say better. A triphthong is
Vowels can be described by the height to which the tongue is raised: high, mid, low, and by the a vowel sound in which the tongue changes position to produce the sound of three vowels
part of the English has five triphthongs, which are formed by the diphthongs ending in /ɪ/ and
tongue which is raised towards the highest point: /ʊ/ + the sound /ə/. Let’s see some examples:
front, central and back. /aʊ/ + /ə/ = [aʊə] hour
2.1. THE VOWELS
/i:/: the sound of sea, feel, read. /aɪ/ + /ə/ = [aɪə] fire
/i/: This is the vowel used, for example, in the word bit. Several
spellings are used: sieve, foreign, coffee, women. Endings, such as -age, /eɪ/ + /ə/ = [eɪə] player
- ate and -est, are commonly often.
/e/: this is the vowel used in words like pen and let. /əʊ/ + /ə/ = [əʊə] mower
/ æ/: this is the vowel used in words like pan and back.
/a:/: examples of words containing this vowel are ask and farm. /ɔɪ/ + /ə/ = [ɔɪə] employer
/ ɒ/: this is the vowel used, for example, in the words box and hot.
/o:/: this vowel is found, for example, in lord and fall.
3. COMPARISON WITH SPANISH
Several differences can be seen between the English and the Spanish phonological system.
/u/: this is the vowel that we use, for example, in the word good.
Dealing with the vowels, Spanish has a smaller range of vowels phonetically speaking, 5 vowels,
/u:/: this is the vowel found, for example, in soon, food and too. whereas English has 12. Moreover, there are no half-close or open vowels. But, most importantly,
/ ʌ / is the vowel used, for example, in the words hut and bud. Spanish vowels lack quantity; there are no long or short vowels in our language. Regarding
/3:/: this is the vowel used, for example in herb, bird and church diphthongs, one major difference has already been put forward: Spanish diphthongs can be
/ ə/: It can occur at the beginning, central and final position: subdue, miracle or doctor. falling or rising, and the glide is completed. On the contrary, English diphthongs are falling and
2.2. STRONG AND WEAK FORMS the glide is not completed. Diphthongs are one of the greatest sources of mispronunciation for
In speech, form words, such as prepositions, conjunctions, articles, pronouns and auxiliary verbs Spanish speakers. The main difficulty is that English letters can be pronounced in several ways,
are usually pronounced with a weak sound because they do not normally carry the stress in the so sometimes it’s difficult to know which is the correct one. An i can be said as /ɪ/ or
sentence. However, they can have a strong pattern depending on the context: You MUST do it. /aɪ/, an o as /ɒ/ or /əʊ/, etc. We must also remember that vowels are often pronounced /ə/
- Weak forms: when the vowel sound is found in unstressed position. These forms are when they are unstressed. This uncertainty leads to very common mistakes.
pronounced in an unstressed manner. Weak forms are very often pronounced with a As for the consonants, these differ, to a great extent, in the point and manner of articulation.
schwa, and so are very weak and sometimes a bit difficultto hear properly. There are 15 phonemes that occur in both languages, 5 in Spanish and 9 in English. These are
the most common differences:
- Strong forms: which is the full form of the word pronounced with stress. The strong form
- Plosive consonants are aspirated in English.
only happens when we pronounce the words alone, or when we emphasize them.
- /b, d, g/ are not fricative in English.
Example: But ------------- strong form: /bʌt/ weak form: /bət/
2.3. DIPHTHONGS
- In English, there are voiced and voiceless /s/.
A diphthong is a glide from one vowel sound to another within a single syllable (e.g., the phoneme - /h/ is aspirated in English.
/aɪ/ in the words I, my or try). This is different from a monophthong, where there is just one vowel From a prosodic point of view, the major difference lies in the fact that English is a stress-timed
sound (/æ/ in man or sand). language, whereas Spanish is a syllable-timed language.
Unlike Spanish, in English diphthongs are normally considered just one phoneme, not the
combination of two. Here are the eight English diphthongs: CONCLUSION: The main features of the English phonological system, regarding vowels, have been
/ɪə/ here, near, deer, weird pointed out, paying special attention to diphthongs and triphthongs. Vowels are also problematic in
that they tend to display much more. Good knowledge of phonetics makes a better understanding of
/ʊə/ endure, tour, pure, poor
the language.
/eɪ/ make, brain, play, eight, great, they
/əʊ/ go, low, bode, boat, toe, so, shoulder
/ɔɪ/ boy, toy, noise, voice BIBLIOGRAPHY:
/eə/ there, air, share, rare, pear, bear • Rogers, H. The Sounds of Language. An Introduction toPhonetics. London:
/aɪ/ time, type, my, lie, buy, eye, high, height, Longman, 2000.
/aʊ/ how, loud, mouse, about, cow, allow,
• www.englishpronunciationmadrid.com
• https://dictionary.cambridge.org