PHONETICS:

the sounds of language

Phonetics
Phonetics studies:
The way in which speech sound (segments) are
made
How the phoneticians classify speech sound in a
scientific way
The use of symbols to represent a particular
sound
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
 CONSONANT AND VOWEL Symbols
MAKING SPEECH SOUNDS
Speech and Breathing
• All the sounds we use in speech are made by “moving
air”  modified breathing
• The process of breathing begins with the air inside the
speaker’s chest escaping from the lungs, through the
throat and mouth, and out into the open air.
Breathing Vs Speaking

without impeding by impeding the

the flow of air flow of air and
by using articulator to

modify the flow of air

 Speech sounds
Phonetics: the study of the speech sounds that are utilized by all
human languages to represent meaning. In phonetics, we analyze the
sound stream into segments in various ways.
 The speech sounds can be studied in 3 different ways:
1) Acoustic phonetics: the study of how speech sounds are transmitted.
2) Auditory phonetics: the study of how speech sounds are heard (the
way the listeners perceive these sounds).
3) Articulatory phonetics: the study of how speech sounds are
produced by the human speech apparatus (how the vocal tract produces
the sounds of language).
 ARTICULATORY PHONETICS

A. ORGANS OF SPEECH
- Articulators:
The organ of speech
that can move, located
in the lower part of the
mouth (lip & tongue)

- Points/Places of
articulation:
The organ of speech
that cannot move,
located in the upper
part of the mouth
 SEGMENTS OF SPEECH
The stream of speech sound is cut up into segments according to the way the sound is
produced. One basic classification is the distinction between vowels and consonants.
a) Vowels: segments of speech produced without any obstruction of the airstream.
Passage of air is continuous and frictionless. All vowels are voiced.
b) Consonants: segments of speech marked by obstruction of the airstream.
Consonants include:
(i) all breathed or voiced sounds
(ii) all voiced sounds formed by means of an obstruction in the mouth
(iii) all those in which there is a narrowing of the airstream giving rise to a
frictional noise
(iv) certain sounds which are “gliding”
 VOWELS
 Viewed from mouth space:
SEGMENTS
without obstruction => no narrowing nor closing
OF  Viewed from vocal cords: all voiced sounds
SPEECH
CONSONANTS
 Viewed from mouth space:
with obstruction => narrowing or closing
 Viewed from vocal cords: some are voiced and
some are breathed or voiceless sounds
 CONSONANTS

Classification of consonants
1)Voicing
2)Places of Articulation
3)Manner of Articulation
1. Voiced and Voiceless Sounds
- Voiced sounds: when the vocal cords are brought close together, the airstream
forces its way through and causes them to vibrate. (E.g.: b, d, g, z, etc.)
- Voiceless (breathed) sounds: when the vocal cords are wide apart, the
airstream is not obstructed at the glottis. (E.g.: p, t, k, s, etc.)
2. Places of Articulation
The description of where the consonantal obstruction occurs in the vocal tract by the
palcment of the tongue or by lips configurations.
BILABIAL
sounds are produced when the lips are
brought together.
/p/, /b/, /m/  pay, bay, may
LABIODENTAL
Sounds are produced when the lower
lip is raised toward the upper teeth.
/f/, /v/ : fan,van
INTERDENTAL / DENTAL
sounds are produced by placing the
tip or blade of the tongue between
upper and lower front teeth.
//, /ð/ : thin, that.
ALVEOLAR
sounds are produced by raising the tip
or blade of the tongue towards the
ridge behind the upper front teeth,
called alveolar ridge.
/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/: too, do, sue, zoo,
nook, look
PALATO-ALVEOLAR / POST
ALVEOLAR sounds are produced by raising the blade
of the tongue towards the part of the
palate just behind the alveolar ridge (a
little further back than the alveolar
region).
/∫/, /Ʒ/,/ /, // : she, garage, rich, ridge
RETROFLEX
sounds are produced by curling the
tip of the tongue up and back
towards the back of alveolar ridge.
It is not really a place but the shape
of the tongue .(usually used in
american english)
/ / : car, more, bird
PALATAL
sounds are produced with the front
of the tongue articulationg againts
hard palate.
/j/ : yesterday, yellow
VELAR
sounds are produced by raising the
back of the tongue towards the soft
palate (velum)
/k/, /g/, /ŋ/ : back, bag, sing
GLOTTAL
sounds are produced at the glottis.
Air passes through the glottis as it
is narrowed.
/h/: high
LABIO-VELAR
the sounds are produced by
rounding the lips (thus, labial),
while at the same time raising the
back of the tongue towards the
velum (thus, velar).
/w/ : we
3. Manner of Articulation

The type of obstraction to the airflow that is formed.

STOP / PLOSIVE
complete closure of vocal tract, which prevent any air from escaping. A closure is
made at some point of vocal tract and air is compressed behind this. There is a brief
period complete, or almost complete, silence, and then the compressed air is
released produces a short explosive noise (plosion). It may followed by a /h/-like
sound (aspiration).
/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/
FRICATIVE
the closure is not quite complete (small closure), allowing the air to escape with
audible friction (hissing sound)
/f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, //, /ð/, /∫/, /Ʒ/, /h/

sibilant:subgroup of fricative which are more intense and have greater amount
ofacoustic energy at higher frequencies (clear hissing noise)
AFFRICATE
a combination of stop and fricative. They begin like stop, with complete closure, but
instead of plosion, they have a very slow release/gradually, creates friction.
/ /, / /: rich, ridge
NASAL
involves a complete escape te closure in the oral cavity, but air is allowed to escape
through the nose, since the velum is lowered.
/m/, /n/, /ŋ/
LATERAL
the center of the tongue is in close contact with the roof of the mouth, but the side of
the tongue are lowered so that the air can escape trough the side of the tongue.
/l/
APPROXIMANT
consonants with a greater opening in the vocal tract than fricative, and thus do not
create friction.
/l/, /r/, /j/, /w/
/l/ and /r/  liquids
/j/ and /w/  glides (semivowel)
 TABLE OF CONSONANTS OF ENGLISH
BILABI LABIO INTER - ALVEOL RETROFLE PALATO – PALAT VELAR GLOTTA
AL - DENTA AR X ALVEOLA AL L
DENTA L R
L
STOP/ p b t d k g
PLOSSIV
E
FRICATI f v s z h
VE ᶿ ᶞ ᶴ ᶾ
AFFRICA tʃ dʒ
TE
NASAL m n ᵑ
LIQUID l r
GLIDE/ w j w
SEMI
VOWEL
 claSsification OF vowels
The qualities of vowels depend upon the following positions:
a) Tongue Position
The part of the tongue which is raised:
The tongue moves forward in the mouth for the front vowels [i, e, etc] and backward for the back vowels [u, o,
a, etc], and in the middle position for the central vowels […]. See (p. 18-20, LT) & (p. 23 LKB).
front : /i:/, /I/, /e/, /æ/
 the front part of the tongue is raised. The fact is that the very tip of the
tongue is down, touches the back of the bottom front teeth. But the front
part of the tongue is forward and high enough too see.

central: /ə/, /ɜ:/, //

 the tongue is neither very pushed forward as front vowels nor pulled
back as back vowels. The tongue is more central.

back: /u:/, /Ʊ/, /ɔ:/, /α:/, /ɒ/

 the back part of the tongue is raised. The tongue is pulled back so the
highest position is the back of the tongue. The tongue can not be seen.
The highest point of the tongue (tongue height):
The tongue body moves for the high vowels [i u, etc], down for the low vowels [a,
etc], and stays in the middle for mid vowels [e, o, etc].

high: /i:/, /I/, /u:/, /Ʊ/

 the tongue is generally high inside the mouth. The mouth is more
closed.
mid : /e/, /ə/, /ɜ:/, /ɔ:/
 the tongue is raised to a midway position between high and low.
low : /æ/, //, /α:/, /ɒ/
 the tongue is generally low inside the mouth. The mouth is more
opened.

.
c) Lip rounding
The back vowels [u, o, a, etc] are rounded, while front vowels are
unrounded or spread. See (p. 18-20, LT) & (p. 23 LKB).
3) Diphthongs:
- Diphthongs are produced with the organs of speech making a change in
position. It happens when a sound is made by gliding from one vowel
position to another.
- Diphthongs are represented phonetically by sequences of two letters, the
1st showing the starting point, drawn by dots; the 2nd indicating the
direction of movement called by the directing point, drawn by lines.
For example:
- /ei/ = /e/ is starting point and /i/ is directing point.
- /au/ = /a/ is starting point and /u/ is directing point.
English Diphtongs
/aɪ/ as in price, my, high, flight, mice
/aʊ/ as in mouth, now, trout
/eɪ/ as in face, date, day, they, grey, pain, reign
/ɔɪ/ as in choice, boy, hoist
/oʊ/ as in goat, toe, tow, soul, rope, cold
/juː/ as in cute, few, dew, ewe
/jə/ as in onion, union, million, scallion, scullion
Consonants and vowels 
a. Choose the words that begin with a bilabial consonant, underline the sound
mat gnat sat bat rat pat
b. Choose the words that begin with a velar consonant, underline the sound
knot got lot cot cot pot
c. Choose the words that begin with a labiodental consonant, underline the sound
fat cat that mat chat vat
d. Choose the words that begin with a palato-alveolar consonant, underline the sound
sigh shy tie thigh thy lie
e. Choose the words that end with plosive/stop, underline the sound
pill lip lit graph crab dog hide laugh
f. Choose the words that contain front high vowel, underline the sound
sit sat beat bin pot set ski
g. Choose the words that contain diphthong, underline the sound
height cause paw light door die double
voice out
Underline the word which does not contain the vowel sound on the left.
/e/ bread woman egg many
/Λ/ enough brother sugar much
/ɒ/ onion coffee lot what
/ɜː/ shirt pork world university
/i:/ cheese tea wine magazine
/ɑː/ car carrot half aren’t
/i/ buildings little bird milk
/u:/ shampoo look fruit two
/æ/ camera traffic macro head
/ei/ said fail rain train
Write the following words under the correct phonetic sound.
there three breathe thin moth whether although nothing
throw either

/θ/ /ð/