REVIEW CHAPTER 1,2,3,4,5: Vowels & Consonants

A-THEORY
Ex1: True or False?
1. Glottis refers to the closing between the vocal cords.

2. To produce voiceless sounds, the vocal cords are tightly closed.

3. When plosives are made, you can hear a hissing sound.

4. The final sounds in “pet”, “mead”, “keep” have the same manner of articulation.

5. The final sounds in “bake” and “college” are called velar plosives.

6. The initial sounds in “band” and “guard” are called fortis plosives.

7. Affricates begin as fricatives and end as plosives.

8. There are more affricates than nasals.

9. Nasal sounds are produced when the soft plate is lower and the air passes through the nose.

10. The final sound in “collage” is a velar plosive.

11. The initial sounds in “yes” and “west” are also called semi-vowels.

12. The initial sounds in “wrap”, “wreak” are bilabial approximant.

13. There are only two nasals that can be in initial, medial and final positions.

14. All English plosives and affricates can occur in initial, medial and final positions.

15. The final sounds in “rice” and “rise” are different in place of articulation.

16. Diphthongs always form one syllable.

17. Triphthongs always form one syllable.

18. In a diphthong, the first vowel is pronounced longer than the second one.
19. The vowel in “meat”, “feed” is a long close front spread vowel.

20. When the air passes through narrow glottis, we can produce glottal plosive.

21. If the air passes between the vocal folds when they are wide apart, we can produce voiced sounds.

22. Glottal stop is a sound produced by pressing the vocal folds tightly together.

23. For normal breathing, the vocal cords are tightly closed.

24. The consonants in “church”, “judge” are post-alveolar fricatives.

25. Vowels are made with some obstructions of the airflow as it passes from the larynx to the lips.

26. The vowels in “see” and “too” are close vowels.

27. The vowels in “food” and “horse” are both long back vowels

28. In English, there are 7 diphthongs.

29. Centering diphthongs end with /ɪ/ and /ʊ/.

30. The first part of the diphthong is pronounced longer and stronger than the second part.

31. Triphthongs are composed of closing diphthongs with /ə/ added on the end.

32. Long vowels are different from short vowels only in length.

33. The vowel in “cut” “hut” is a central vowel.

34. The vowel in “more”, “horse” is almost fully back and has quite strong lip-rounding.

35. The diphthong in “able” is a centering diphthong.

36. The vowel in “flour” is a diphthong.

37. Tongue shape refers to the vertical distance between the upper surface of the tongue and the palate.

38. The manner of articulation is where the airflow is obstructed.

Ex2: Gap-fill
1. The …………………… is also called the voice box.

2. We produce voicing with …………………… intensity for shouting.

3. If the vocal cords are vibrating quickly, the voicing is at high ……………………

4. The airflow from the lungs used for speech production is called……………………

5. The front of the larynx comes to a point called ……………………

6. Voiceless glottal fricatives are produced when air passes through …………………… glottis.

7. When the edges of the vocal folds are touching each other, air passing through the glottis will cause …

8. Glottal …………………… is produced when the vocal folds are pressed tightly together.

9. If the vocal folds vibrate, we will hear …………………… sounds.

10. …………………… sounds are produced with more force than …………………… sounds.

11. The final sounds in “peach” and “message” are ………………………… sounds.

12. …………………… are produced when the air escapes through a narrow passage and makes a hissing

sound.

13. Nasals are produced when the …………………… is lowered.

14. To produce /w/ sound, the lips are ……………………

15. The initial sounds in “sugar”, “van” and “think” have the same …………………… of articulation.

16. Voiceless consonants are produced when the vocal folds are ……………………

17. If the air passed through the narrow glottis, the result is a ……………………
18. One example of voiceless glottal fricatives is ……………………………

19. A diphthong is a double vowel formed by …………………… from one vowel position to another.

20. There are 4 phrases in the process of making plosives: …………………….

21. The loud noise you can hear when making a plosive is called ……………………

22. Fricatives are made when the air escapes through a narrow passage and makes a ………………………

23. Affricates begin as ………… …………… and end as …… ………………

24. Nasals are made when ………… …………… is lowered and the air escapes through the nose.

25. ……………………… refers to the vertical distance between the upper surface of the tongue and the palate.

26. ……………………… refers to the part of the tongue, from front to back, which is raised highest.

27. ………………………….. is the location where in the vocal tract the air is obstructed.

28. ……………………………. is the way how the air is obstructed in the vocal tract.

29. The vertical distance between the upper surface of the tongue and the palate: ………………………

30. The part of the tongue, between front and back which is raised highest: ………………………

31. The lips can have different shapes and positions: rounded, spread, ……………………… .

32. The vowel /iː/ in “tea”, “sea” is ……………………… and ……………………… than the short vowel of “pin”,

fish”.

33. ……………………… are sounds which consist of a movement or glide from one vowel to another.

34. Closing diphthongs glide towards ……………………… and ……………………… .

35. The diphthong in “owl”, “home” is a ………………………diphthong.

 36. Often referred to as the “roof of the mouth”, the place that the tongue approaches for the articulation

of the sound /j/ in “yes”: ………………………

37. The articulator near the back of the mouth which allows air to pass through the nose when lowered;

the place for making /k/ and /g/, with 2 names: ……………………… and ………………………

38. Articulators at the front of the mouth which are used for /b/ and /p/: ………………………

39. This cannot move, but the tongue touches it when making /t/ and /d/: ………………………

40. Air escapes through this when we produce /m/ or /n/: ………………………

B- PRACTICE
Ex3. For each of the following consonants, state its voicing, place of articulation, manner of articulation.
Write one word that contains that sound.
1. [m]
2. [r]
3. [ʒ]
4. [h]
5. [s]
Ex4. Identify the vowel sounds and list their phonetic properties of each of the following vowels (tongue
height, tongue shape, degree of lip-rounding, and short/long).
1. horse
2. key
3. pull
4. heart
5. cut
Ex5. Write the symbol that corresponds to each of the following phonetic description; then give an
English word that contains that sound.

1. voiceless bilabial plosive

2. low front vowel
3. voiced lateral
 4. voiced velar nasal
5. voiced dental fricative
6. voiceless post-alveolar affricate
7. voiced palatal approximant
8. short mid front vowel
9. long high back vowel
10. voiceless labio-dental fricative
Ex 6. Write each of the following words in phonemic transcription (BrE).
rich sail

wrong fasten

roller island

raise fashion

correct fast

parade seek

mirror pushy

parrot save
Ex 7.
Ex 8. Circle the correct answers.