PHONETIC VS PHONOLOGY

Phonetics → Phonology → Morphology → Syntax → Semantics → Pragmatics

PHONETICS is the science of speech sounds, which aims to provide the set of
features or properties that can be used to describe and distinguishing all the
sounds used in human language.
PHONETICS focuses on how speech is physically created and received, including
study of the human vocal and auditory tracts, acoustics, and neurology.
PHONOLOGY relies on phonetic information for its practice, but focuses on how
patterns in both speech and non-verbal communication create meaning, and how
such patterns are interpreted.
PHONETICS is the study of sound in speech; PHONOLOGY is the study (and
use) of sound patterns to create meaning.
PHONETICS:
● Articulatory phonetics: the study of the production of speech sounds by the
articulatory and vocal tract by the speaker.
● Acoustic phonetics: the study of the physical transmission of speech sounds
from the speaker to the listener.
● Auditory phonetics: the study of the reception and perception of speech
sounds by the listener.
PHONOLOGY concerns itself with systems of phonemes, abstract cognitive
units of speech sounds that distinguish the words of a language. PHONETICS, on
the other hand, concerns itself with the actual and physical (not abstract)
production, transmission, and perception of the physical phenomena which are
abstracted in the mind to constitute these speech sounds or signs.
- VOCAL TRACT: the air passages which are above the vocal cords and which are
involved in the production of speech sounds:
- THE NASAL CAVITY: the air passage within and behind the nose
- THE ORAL CAVITY: the air passage within the mouth and the throat.

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The shape of the vocal tract can be changed, e.g. by changing the position of the
tongue or the lips. Changes in the shape of the vocal tract cause differences in
speech sounds.
- ARTICULATORS: a part of the mouth, nose, or throat which is used in
producing speech, e.g. the tongue, lips, alveolar ridge, etc.

a. Pharynx
- A tube which begins just above the larynx
- About 7cm long in women and 8cm in men
b. Larynx
- In the neck
- The larynx’s structure is made of two large cartilage
- These are hollow and are attached to the top of the trachea
- Inside the “box” made by these two cartilage are the vocal folds (vocal
cords)
● At the front the vocal folds are joined together and fixed to the inside of
the thyroid cartilage

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 ● At the back they are attached to a pair of small cartilages called the
arytenoid cartilages → attached to the top of the cricoid cartilage

- Glottis: the opening between the vocal folds

- Narrow glottis: If the air is passed through the glottis when it is narrowed,
the result is a fricative sound for which the symbol is h → a voiceless glottal
fricative
- Vocal folds tightly closed: The vocal folds can be firmly pressed together so
that air cannot pass between them → a glottal stop or glottal plosive
(symbol: ʔ)
c. Soft palate or velum
- A position that allows air to pass through the the nose and through the mouth
- Can be touched by the tongue
- When we make the sounds k,g, the tongue is in contact with the lower side of
the soft palate → velar consonants
d. Hard palate
- “the roof of the mouth”
- A consonant made with the tongue close to the hard palate is called palatal
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 e. Alveolar ridge
- between the top front teeth and the hard palate
- t,d,n → alveolar
f. Tongue
- Tip, blade, front, back and root
g. Teeth
- Sounds made with the tongue touching the front teeth (θ, ð) are called dental
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ENGLISH VOWELS
- VOWEL:
● a speech sound in which the airstream from the lungs is not blocked in any
way in the mouth or throat, and which is usually pronounced
● = no obstruction to the flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips
- 2 criteria to differentiate vowels and consonants:
● the way we produced the sounds
○ Vowels are vocoids - sounds in forming which the air issues in a
continuous stream from the larynx to the lips; there is no obstruction
and no narrowing that could cause audible friction.
○ Consonants are usually contoids - sounds that do obstruct or interfere
with the egressive pulmonic airflow at some place in the vocal tract.
○ the distribution of the sounds
- Consonants usually occupy the initial position in English words and are frequently
followed by vowels
- Vowels can be classified according to the following criteria:
● tongue height (the vertical distance between the upper surface of the tongue
and the palate)
● high, mid, low
● tongue frontness or backness the part of the tongue, between front and back,
which is raised highest)
● lip-rounding (spread, neutral, rounded)
● length
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 ● tension (tense, lax)
CARDINAL VOWELS

These cardinal vowels are a standard reference system. If you

learn the cardinal vowels, you are not learning to make English sounds, but you
are learning about the range of vowels that the human vocal apparatus can
make, and also learning a useful way of describing, classifying and comparing
vowels.
● The vowel no. 1 [i] is defined as the vowel which is as close and as front as it
is possible to make a vowel without obstructing the flow of air enough to
produce friction noise.
● Vowel no. 5 [ɑ] is defined as the most open and back vowel that is possible to
make.
● Cardinal no. 8 [u] is fully close and back.
● Cardinal no. 4 [a] is fully open and front.
After establishing these extreme points, it is possible to put in intermediate points
(vowels no. 2, 3, 6 and 7).

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The 5 long vowels are different from the 6 short vowels not only in length but also
in quality

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- ENGLISH PURE VOWELS are vowels that remain constant and do no
glide
- ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS
● Diphthong: a speech sound which is usually considered as one distinctive
vowel of a particular language but really involves 2 vowels, with 1 vowel
gliding to the other
● In terms of length, diphthongs are like long vowels
● The first part is much longer and stronger than the second part

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 - ENGLISH TRIPHTHONGS
● A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, all
produced rapidly and without interruption
● The 5 English triphthongs are composed of the 5 closing diphthongs plus the
“schwa” added on the end
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ENGLISH CONSONANTS
1. Definition
Consonants are sounds produced by partially or completely blocking air in its
passage from the lungs through the vocal tract
2. Classification
- Manner of articulation:
● the ways in which “the airstream is affected as it travels from the lungs
up and out of the mouth and nose
● the kind of closure, narrowing, or approaching used in making a
consonant
- Places of articulation:

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 ● the areas in the mouth at which a consonantal closure, narrowing, or
approaching occurs
- Voicing
● the vibration that you feel from your larynx when you utter [zzzz] but
not [ssss] is called voicing or phonation
- Egressive pulmonic airstream: the air in the lungs is made to be pushed out
- Stricture = obstruction
- The subglottal pressure: the pressure of the air below the vocal folds
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PLOSIVE
- Plosive:
● one articulator is moved against another or two articulators are moved
against each other → form a stricture that allows no air to escape from
the vocal tract
● Then, air is allowed to escape → released
● The escape of air will produce noise loud enough to be heard →
plosion
○ closing phase: the articulator or articulators move to form the
stricture for the plosive
○ compression phase: the compressed air is stopped from
escaping
○ release phase: the articulators used to form the stricture are
moved so as to allow air to escape
○ post-release phase: what happens immediately after the release
phase
- 6 plosive consonants
● p, b → bilabial: the lips are pressed together
● t, d → alveolar: tongue blade is pressed against the alveolar ridge
● k, g → velar: the back of the tongue is pressed against the area where
the hard palate ends and the soft palate begins
- All 6 plosive consonants can occur at
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 ● the beginning of a word = initial position → CV
○ the closing phase for p, t, k and b, d, g takes place silently
■ no voicing in p, t, k
■ very little voicing in b, d, g
● between other sounds = medial position → VCV
● the end of a word = final position → VC
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FORTIS AND LENIS
- p, t, k are produced with more force than b, d, g
- fortis (meaning ‘strong’) - voiceless plosives p, t, k
- lenis (meaning ‘weak’) - voiced plosives b, d, g
a. Initial fortis consonants /p, t, k/
● Aspirate a voiceless stop when it occurs word-initially or syllable
initially before a stressed vowel
● make their following voiced continuant consonants - l, r, j, and w
lose their voicing (in a stressed syllable)

● maybe preceded by /s/ → unaspirated (while b, d, g cannot be

preceded by any consonants)
b. Lenis consonant - in initial and final position
● very little or no voicing

c. Medial lenis consonants

● may be voiced when they occur between voiced sounds

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 FRICATIVES AND AFFRICATES
- Fricatives
● air escapes through a narrow passage and makes a hissing sound
● Fricatives are continuant consonants → you can continue making
them without interruption as long as you have enough air in your lungs
(plosives are not contituants)
○ fortis fricatives: be articulated with greater force than the lenis
and their friction noise is louder
○ lenis fricatives: very little or no voicing in initial and final
positions but may be voiced in medial position
- Affricates
● begin as plosives and end as fricatives
● In the production of an affricate, the plosive is followed immediately
by fricative noise
- 8 fricative consonants
● f, v → labiodental: the lower lip is in contact with the upper teeth
● θ, ð → dental: the tongue is placed behind the teeth, with the tip
touching the inner side of the lower teeth
○ the air escapes through the gaps between the tongue and the teeth
● s, z → alveolar: the air escapes through a narrow passage along the
centre of the tongue (same place of articulation as t, d)
● ʃ, ʒ → post-alveolar: the tongue is in contact with an area slightly
further back than that for s, z
- f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ → can be found in initial, medial and final positions
- ʒ → only in medial position
- h
● Phonetically: a voiceless vowel with the quality of the voiced vowel
that follows it
● Phonologically: a consonant (usually found before vowels)

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 ● When h occurs between voiced sounds (‘ahead’, ‘greenhouse’) →
pronounced voicing (not the normal voicing of vowels but a weak,
slightly fricative sound called breathy voice)
- 2 affricates
● tʃ and dʒ
○ As with the plosives and most of the fricatives, we have a
fortis/lenis pair
○ The affricate /tʃ/ is slightly aspirated in the positions where /p/,
/t/, and /k/ are aspirated but not very strongly.
○ When /tʃ/ is final in the syllable it has the effect of shortening a
preceding vowel as do other fortis consonants.
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NASALS AND OTHER CONSONANTS
- Nasals
● the air escapes through the nose
● the soft palate must be lowered
● air does not pass through the mouth; it is prevented by a complete
closure in the mouth at some point.
- m, n can occur in initial position but ŋ (medial position)
- ŋ occurs without a following g if it occurs at the end of a morpheme
● singer, hanger (2 morphemes) - ‘sing’ + ‘er’, ‘hang’ + ‘er’
- If it occurs in the middle of a morpheme, it has a following g
● finger, anger (just 1 morpheme)
○ exception: comparative and superlative suffixes ‘-er’ and ‘-est’
■ longer /lɒŋgə/
■ longest /lɒŋgəst/
- /l/
● a lateral approximant
● In the case of the lateral /l/, the complete closure is between the center
of the tongue and the part of the roof of the mouth where contact is
to be made
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 ● Because of this complete closure along the center, the only way for the
air to escape is along the sides of the tongue
○ clear l
○ dark l
● Another allophone of /l/ is found when it follows p, k at the beginning
of a stressed syllable. The /l/ is then devoiced
- /r/
● a post-alveolar approximant
● the articulators approach each other but do not get sufficiently close to
each other to produce a “complete” consonant such as a plosive, nasal,
or fricative
● The important thing about the articulation of /r/ is that the tip of the
tongue approaches the alveolar area in approximately the way it
would for a /t/ or /d/, but never actually makes contact with any part
of the roof of the mouth
● The tongue is in fact usually slightly curled backward with the tip
raised; consonants with this tongue shape are usually called retroflex.
● A rather different /r/ sound is found at the beginning of a syllable if it is
preceded by /p/, /t/, /k/; it is then voiceless and fricative.
- /j/ and /w/

PHONETIC POINT OF VIEW PHONOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW

A. The articulation of /j/ is A. The vowel-like /j/ and /w/ are used like
practically the same as that of a consonants
front close vowel B. They only occur before vowel
such as [i] but is very short. phonemes; this is typically consonantal
B. The articulation of /w/ is distribution.
closely similar to [u]. C. A word beginning with /w/ or /j/ is
treated as beginning with a consonant:
i) If a word beginning with /w/ or /j/ is to
be used with an indefinite article, we use

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 ‘a’.
ii) The definite article ‘the’ is pronounced
as ðə.

Conclusion: /j/ and /w/ are phonetically vowels but phonologically

consonants

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 SEGMENTAL VS SUPRASEGMENTAL
- SEGMENTALS refer to sound units arranged in a sequential order.
- The word Computer has 8 segmental features phonetically transcribed as /k/
/ə/ /m/ /p/ /j/ /uː/ /t/ /ə/
- SEGMENTALS refer to phonemes that can be separated. Segmental sound
refers to the notion of sounds that can be segmented/separated. Segmental is
not only how to symbolize the speech sounds in written form, but also how to
write the sounds told in the form of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences,
how to chop off syllables, how to write abbreviations, people's names,
symbols, etc.
● For example, when we say phonology, then the sound, can be divided
into three syllables: fə-nɒ-lə-dʒi or can be divided into smaller units:
f-ə-n-ɒ-l-ə-dʒ-i
- SUPRASEGMENTALS refers to such features as stress, pitch, rhythm,
intonation, and other features that always accompany the production of
segmentals.
- SUPRASEGMENTALS are often regarded as the “musical” aspects of
speech. Suprasegmentals are important for making all kinds of meanings, in
particular speakers’ attitudes or stances to what they are saying.

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 Phonology

Section 5.1

• PHONEME

Def. 1. A phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a

language.

(http://www.glossary.sil.org/term/phoneme)

Def. 2. A phoneme is one of the units of sound that distinguish one word from
another in a particular language. For example: The difference in meaning between
the words kill /kɪl/ and kiss /kɪs/ is a result of the substitution of one phoneme, /l/,
for another phoneme, /s/. Two words like this that differ in meaning through a
contrast of a single phoneme form what is called a minimal pair.

Phonemes are abstract. The actual/concrete realization of a phoneme is a phone.

For example: the phoneme /p/ could be realized as unaspirated [p] in ‘spit’ or
aspirated [pʰ] in ‘pit’. The [p] and [pʰ] are two different realizations of the same
phoneme /p/ and are usually referred to as two allophones of the phoneme /p/

• ALLOPHONE

Allophone, one of the phonetically distinct variants of a phoneme. The occurrence

of one allophone rather than another is usually determined by its position in the
word (initial, final, medial, etc.) or by its phonetic environment. Speakers of a
language often have difficulty in hearing the phonetic differences between
allophones of the same phoneme, because these differences do not serve to
distinguish one word from another. In English the t sounds in the words “hit,” “tip,”
and “little” are allophones; phonemically they are considered to be the same sound
although they are different phonetically in terms of aspiration, voicing, and point of
articulation. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/allophone)

An allophone is one of the non-contrastive variations of a minimal distinctive

linguistic sound

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The aspirated [pʰ] occurs in initial position of a monosyllabic word or the initial
position of a stressed syllable. At the position where [pʰ] can occur, the unaspirated
[p] cannot occur and vice versa (Where the [p] occurs, the [pʰ] cannot occur]. In
other words, where we can find [p], we cannot find [pʰ]. The two allophones [p] and
[pʰ] are said to be in complementary distribution.

ACTIVITY 1:

Identify all the allophones of the phoneme /l/ in the following data:

leave please heel belt table

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ACTIVITY 2:

Provide two different phonetic environments in which two allophones of the

phoneme /r/ occur.

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• COMPLEMENTARY DISTRIBUTION

Def. 1. Complementary distribution is the mutually exclusive relationship between

two phonetically similar segments. It exists when one segment occurs in
an environment where the other segment never occurs.

Def. 2. Complementary Distribution indicates that two basic sounds are not
independent PHONEMES, but conditioned variants of the same phoneme, of the
same minimally distinctive sound. Non-contrastive variants of a phoneme are
called ALLOPHONES.
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Sounds are in complementary distribution when one occurs under condition A but
never B, while the other occurs under condition B but never A. That is, the
allophonic variation is predictable from the environment.

ACTIVITY 3:

Explain why the clear [l] and the dark [l ]̴ are said to be in complementary
distribution.

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• CONTRASTIVE vs. NON-CONTRASTIVE

Two sounds are contrastive if inter-changing the two can change meaning of the
word.
cap /kæp/ cab /kæb/
‘Cap’ and ‘Cab’ form a minimal pair.
• MINIMAL PAIR: Two (or more) words that differ only by a single sound in
the same position and that have different meanings.

Two sounds are NON-contrastive if inter-changing the two DOES NOT change
meaning of the word.

pat [pæt] pat [pʰæt]

PHONEME ALLOPHONE

• abstract unit • real/actual/concrete realization of the phoneme

• contrastive • non-contrastive
• non-predictabe • predictable

For more information, watch this video on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA9--WJSPws

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 Section 5.2

SYMBOLS AND TRANSCRIPTION

“A widely-used convention is to enclose symbols within brackets that show

whether they are phonemic or phonetic: when symbols are used to represent
precise phonetic values, rather than phonemes, they are often enclosed in square
brackets [ ]; phonemic symbols are enclosed within slant brackets / /.”

‘important’

Phonemic transcription Phonetic transcription

/ɪmˈpɔːtənt/ [ɪ̃ mˈpʰɔːtn̩t]

(no diacritics used) Diacritics used:
• Nasalization: [X̃ ]
• Aspiration: [Xʰ]
• Syllabic: [X̩]

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 Section 8.1

• THE SYLLABLE

Def. 1. Phonetically, syllables are usually described as consisting of a centre which

has little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before
and after this centre, there will be greater obstruction to airflow and/or less loud
sound.

Def. 2. A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For

example, the word ‘water’ is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is
typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and
final margins (typically, consonants).

Def. 3. A syllable is a unit of sound composed of

• an obligatory central peak of sonority (usually a vowel), and

• (optionally) the consonants that cluster around this central peak.

STRUCTURE OF A SYLLABLE

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ONSET

Zero onset ‘in’ /ɪn/

1-consonant onset ‘tin’ /tɪn/

2-consonant onset

Pre-initial /s/ + Initial ‘spin’ /spɪn/

Initial + Post-initial { l , r , w , j } ‘quick’ /kwɪk/; ‘play’ /pleɪ/

3-consonant onset

Pre-initial /s/ + Initial + Post-initial { l , r , w , j } ‘screem’ /skriːm/

CODA

Zero coda ‘car’ /kɑː/

1-consonant coda ‘hat’ /hæt/

2-consonant coda

Pre-final { m , n , ŋ , l , s } + Final ‘bumped’ /bʌmp/, ‘belt’ /belt/

Final + Post-final { s , z , t , d , θ} ‘bents’ /bents/, ‘backed’ /bækt/

(The post-final are usually the sound of an affix)

3-consonant coda

Pre-final { m , n , ŋ , l , s } + Final + Post-final { s , z , t , d , θ}

‘helped’ /helpt/ ; ‘twelfth’ /twelfθ/

Final + Post-final 1 + Post-final 2 ‘next’ /nekst/ ; lapsed /læpst/

4-consonant coda

Pre-final + Final + Post-final 1 + Post-final 2 ‘prompts’ /prɒmpts/

Final + Post-final 1 + Post-final 2 + Post-final 3 ‘texts’ /teksts/

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ACTIVITY 4:

SYLLABLE

ONSET RHYME

Coda
Pre- Post-
Initial Peak
Initial Initial Pre- Post- Post- Post-
Final
Final Final 1 Final 2 Final 3

slow

eighths

splash

cramped

smokes

quick

few

plays

stray

spew

squeak

screens

bonds

banks

next

twelfths

prompts

sixths

texts

squealed

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REMEMBER:

• Pre-initial: s

• Post-initial: l r w j

______________________

• Pre-final: m n ŋ l s

• Post-final: s z t d θ

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