Chapter 2
Phonetics: The Sounds
of language
Phonetics
o Phonetics is the study of how speech sounds- both consonants
and vowels, and other phonetics features such as stress and
intonation- are produced and what their properties are.
o Speech has been used by humans for thousands of years, which
remains the primary way of communication, and speech that the
initial step to study language systems is faster and easier.
o Sounds in language are called phones or speech sounds( finite
number).
o Speech sounds are continuous. There is no pause between
spoken words and individual sounds, and it is not obvious where
one sound ends and the next begins.
There are three branches:
Acoustic phonetics
Auditory phonetics
Articulatory phonetics
I. The Phonetic Alphabet
Sounds ≠ letters -> linguists have invented the phonetic alphabet to write
sounds (writing sounds= phonetic transcription)
Reasons for using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):
1. The same sound is represented by different letters.
Ex: /i/ sound in we, bee, tea, silly
2. The same letter can represent different sounds
Ex: Nine /ai/ , hit /i/
3. A single sound is represented by a combination of letters.
Ex: photo /f/ , sock /k/ , root /u/
4. A single letter represents more than one sound.
Ex: box /ks/ , excite /ks/
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5. A letter does not represent any sound (silent letters).
Ex: hour, island, know, write
6. There is no letter to represent sounds that occur, such as the vowel-
preceding /y/ in use and fume.
An interesting example for the discrepancies between letters and
sounds.
Ex: tough /tʌf/ , women /ˈwimin/ , nation /ˈneɪʃn/
Ghoti= /fiʃ/= fish
One symbol= one& the same sound across all languages
Learning the IPA= knowing how to pronounce works, even works
from an unfamiliar language.
Precisely and unambiguously representation of speech sounds.
There are twenty-five consonant sounds, twelve vowel sounds, and three
diphthongs in English.
II. The Speech Organs
There are three basic components of the human anatomy that are used to
produce speech sounds.
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1. Larynx (voice box) containing the vocal folds (or vocal cords)
2. Vocal tract above the larynx, composing of the pharynx& the oral
and nasal cavities
3. Subglottal system below the larynx, which is part of the respriatory
4. Tongue:
o Primary organ of the vocal tract
o It can be moved into different places and different shapes
o There are six areas of the tongue
The tongue
To produce speech sounds: take air into the lungs and expel it during
speech
Frist, a stream of air starts from the lungs and through the
larynx and the vocal tract
Then, the air flows out of the vocal tract either through the
mouth or the nose or both
Althoug speakers have the same speech organs, there are great
differences in the sound inventories of all languages.
III. The English Consonants
Consonants: speech sounds made by a narrowing in the vocal tract,
obstructing the flow of air.
Three aspects of consonants’ articulatory properties:
1. Voicing
2. Place and Manner of Articulation
3. The English Consonant Chart
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Voicing
o The larynx contains folds of muscle (the vocal folds)
o Voiceless sounds= made without the vibration of the vocal folds
o Voiced sounds= made with the vibration of the vocal folds
Ex: make a drawn-out /s/ (voiceless sound): we will not feel any vibration
of the vocal folds
Make a drawn-out /z/ (voiced sound): we will sense some buzzing
feeling that comes from the vibrating vocal folds within the larynx.
Place& Manner of Articulation
Place of Articulation
Movement of the articulators such as the tongue and lips
There are seven places of articulation
1. Bilabial
2. Labiodental
3. Interdental
4. Alveolar
5. Palatal
6. Velar
7. Glottal
Manner of Articulation
Depends heavily on the degree of closure of the articulation,
i.e, how close together or far apart they are
There are six manners of articulation
1. Stops
2. Fricatives
3. Affricates
4. Nasals
5. Liquids
6. Glides
The English Consonant Chart
The chart contains the information of the three aspects of the
articulation of each consonant.
The columns stand for place of articulation and the rows for manner
of articulation.
The rows also distinguish between voiceless and voiced sounds.
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QUESTIONS
1. A spelling system is not an efficient tool for the phonetic
transcription. Give examples in English for the following cases to
show the discrepancies between letters and sounds.
a. 4 words with sound /k/:
o cause /kɔːz/
o compound /ˈkɒmpaʊnd/
o cool /kuːl/
o confident /ˈkɒnfɪdənt/
b. 4 words with letter e
Tea /tiː/
Terrible /ˈterəbl/
Explore /ɪkˈsplɔː(r)/
Children /ˈtʃɪldrən/
c. 4 words combination letters(one sound)
o Nerd /nɜːd/
o Insert /ɪnˈsɜːt/
o Bird /bɜːd/
o Earn /ɜːn/
d. 4 words one letter with many sounds
Attract /əˈtrækt/
Nation /ˈneɪʃn/
Advance /ədˈvɑːns/
Adverb /ˈædvɜːb/
e. 4 words a letter does not stand for any sound
o Know /nəʊ/
o Hour /ˈaʊə(r)/
o Island /ˈaɪlənd/
o Dumb /dʌm/
2. Determine whether the words in each of the following pairs contain
the same vowel sound? Then transcribe the vowel of each word.
a. Nice /naɪn/ : price /praɪs/
b. Hit /hɪt/ : key /kiː/
c. Put /pʊt/ : but /bət/
d. House /haʊs/ : court /kɔːt/
e. Back /bæk/ : drawn /drɔːn/
f. Cake /keɪk/ : leg /leɡ/
g. Flow /fləʊ/ : boat /bəʊt/
h. Ounce /aʊns/ : flour /ˈflaʊə(r)/
i. Play /pleɪ/ : drag /dræɡ/
j. Full /fʊl/ : fool /fuːl/
3. Transcribe the following words.
a. awesome /ˈɔːsəm/ k. agreement /ə
ˈɡriːmənt/
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b. mailbox /ˈmeɪlbɒks/ l. psychology /saɪ
ˈkɒlədʒi/
c. hopping /ˈhɒpɪŋ/ m. knight /naɪt/
d. announce /əˈnaʊns/ n.
nature /ˈneɪtʃə(r)/
e. cooler /ˈkuːlə(r)/ o. straight /streɪt/
f. stun /stʌn/ p.
hour /ˈaʊə(r)/
g. playground /ˈpleɪɡraʊnd/ q. written /ˈrɪtn/
h. lucky /ˈlʌki/ r. needed /niːd/
i. thought /θɔːt/ s. height /haɪt/
j. notebook /ˈnəʊtbʊk/ t. juice /dʒuːs/
4. Each of the following transcriptions contains one mistake. Identify
and correct the mistake in each word.
a. strength -> /streŋkθ/ i. shut -
> /ʃʌt/
b. crime ->/kraɪm/ j. child ->
/tʃaɪld/
c. wishing -> /wɪʃ/ k. football -
> /ˈfʊtbɔːl/
d. wives -> /waɪvz/ l. tiptoe -
> /ˈtɪptəʊ/
e. these -> /ðiːz/ m. avoid -
> /əˈvɔɪd/
f. hijacking -> /ˈhaɪdʒækɪŋ/ n. remain -
> /rɪˈmeɪn/
g. chipping -> /ˈtʃɪpɪŋ/ o. umbrella
-> /ʌmˈbrelə/
h.yelling -> /jelɪŋ/ p. joyful
-> /ˈdʒɔɪfl/
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