Chapter 4: The Sounds of
Language
(Lecture 3)
Lecturer: Ms. Alaa Al Mohammadi
Introduction to Linguistics - LANE 321
Phonetics- The Basics
We have a new seagh!!!
Phonetics- The Basics
Would you understand this?
seagh chef
How did the restaurant owner come up with this
spelling?
Take the 1st sound of the word ‘sure’
The middle sound of the word ‘dead’
The final sound of the word ‘laugh’
The sound-spelling
relationship
Did he believe that Caesar could see the people seize the seas?
To too two through threw clue shoe
tough “uff“
cough “off“
bough “aw“
though “oh“
through “ooh“
borough “uh“
hiccough “up“
More on English spelling
The relation between English spelling and
pronunciation is very complex:
Same spelling, different sounds: ough, ought,
cough, tough, through, though, hiccough
Silent letters: knee, knight, knife, debt, psychology,
mortgage
One letter, multiple sounds: exit, use
Multiple letters, one sound: the, revolution
Alternate spellings: jail vs giant
Curious example: One could write chef as seagh
(since sure, dead, laugh).
Phonetics- Basics
Remember:
Sounds of Spoken English Letters of Written English
Phonetics
Q: How can we solve this?
One solution is to produce a separate alphabet with
symbols that represent sounds.
The Phonetic Alphabet!
Phonetics
Objectives of this Chapter:
Define and understand Phonetics
Identify the main branches of Phonetics
Look at how symbols are used to represent
consonant sounds of English words
Look at the physical aspects of the human vocal
tract that are involved in the production of those
sounds.
Phonetics
Knowledge of a language includes:
knowledge of sounds
how they are combined to form meaningful units
Some sounds are found in one language but not
another.
All the sounds in the world constitute a limited set of
the sounds that the human vocal tract can produce.
Phonetics
What is Phonetics?
The general study of the characteristics of
speech sounds.
Phonetics
Phonetics
Sounds
Consonants Vowels
Obstruction of airflow Free flow of air
Airstream mechanism
All sounds are made with some movements of air
The basic source of power is the lungs
The air goes up the windpipe (trachea) and into the
larynx and out of the body through the vocal tract
(i.e. mouth or nose)
Speech organs
Lungs
Most human sounds are produced by an
egressive pulmonic airstream.
i.e. lungs pushing the air outwards
During speech, the lungs take in air
rapidly and let it go slowly.
Larynx
Found at the very
top of the trachea
Contains the two
vocal folds, one
on the left one on
the right.
Vocal folds
Their outer edges are
attached to muscle in
the larynx while their
inner edges are free.
If the back end of the
vocal folds are held
apart, a triangular space
opens up between them.
The space is called
glottis.
Voiced and voiceless sounds
-v Vocal cords are spread apart air from lungs
passes between them unimpeded (no vibration)
+v
Vocal cords are drawn together air from
lungs repeatedly pushes them apart as it passes
through (vibration)
Try it!
Z-Z-Z-Z-Z
V-V-V-V
S-S-S-S
F-F-F-F
Vocal tract
The air passages above the larynx are known as
‘vocal tract’
The shape of the vocal tract is very important in the
production of speech.
Made up of:
Oral cavity (mouth and pharynx)
Nasal cavity
The parts of the vocal tract that are used to form
sounds are called articulators.
Upper and lower surface
Vocal tract cont.
Places of Articulation- English
How do we classify consonants?
They are classified by answering three
questions:
1. Voicing
2. Place of articulation
3. Manner of articulation
Places of Articulation- English
Bilabials [b, p, m, w]
Labiodentals [f, v]
Dentals [θ, ð ]
Alveolars [s, z, n]
Palato-alveolar [ʃ, ʒ]
Palatals [j]
Velars [k, g]
Glottals [h]
Bilabilas
Sounds formed using both upper & lower lips.
e.g.
pat [p]
bat [b]
mat [m]
way/ walk/ world [w]
Labiodentalas
upper teeth + lower lip
fat/ safe [f]
vat/ save [v]
Q: How about… cough & photo?
A: Despite the spelling differences
cough/ photo [f]
Dentals
By the tongue tip behind the upper front teeth
e.g.
thin/ bath/ three teeth [θ] (theta)
the/ there/ then/ thus/ feather/ bathe [ð] (eth)
Interdentals = tongue tip between
upper & lower teeth
Alveolars
Front part of tongue on the alveolar ridge
Alveolar ridge = the rough ridge immediately
behind & above the upper teeth.
Alveolars
e.g.
top [t]
dip [d]
sit [s]
zoo [z]
nut [n]
lap/ lit [l]
right/ write [r]
Alveolars
bus [s]
buzz [z]
Q: How about ‘raise’?
A: [z]
OK.. How about..
knot
not
[n]
Palatals/ Alveopalatals
Tongue + palate
e.g. (-v)
shout [ʃ]
child [tʃ]
shoe-brush [ʃ]
church [tʃ]
Palatals/ Alveopalatals
[ʒ] – not very common in English
e.g.
treasure/ pleasure/ rouge
[dʒ]
e.g.
joke/ gem
George Despite
differences
judge
in spelling
[j]
you/ yet
Velars
Back of the tongue + soft palate (velum)
[k]
kill/ kid
cold/car
cook/ kick/ coke
[g]
go/ gun/give
bag/ mug
plague
Velars
The velum can be lowered to allow air to flow
through the nasal cavity.
[ŋ] (angma)
In written English this letter is normally spelled as ‘ng’
e.g.
sing
sang
tongue
ringing
bang
Glottals
No active use of the tongue and other parts of the
mouth.
The glottis (space between vocal cords & larynx)
The glottis is open
[h]
e.g.
have/ house
who/ whose
Consonants Chart
Limitation of the chart
Plz read p. 35
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