Pronunciation Contrasts in English and Romanian

2. INTRODUCTION

This chapter is designed to introduce the key concepts and terminology of the
phonological contrasts in contemporary English. In order to treat problems of pronunciation,
this chapter deals with two main issues: pronunciation contrasts in English as well as
pronunciation contrasts across languages, namely differences between English and Romanian
pronunciation.
2.1. Pronunciation Contrast in English
English is the second most spoken language in the world, with Germanic origins,
belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. English is extensively used under
different shapes, being a global language. It is spoken officially in a great number of countries
and, despite its usage, has many realizations of sound used in different countries.
The manner in which someone utters a word, the way a word or a language is spoken is
called pronunciation. Depending on many factors (such as the duration of the
speakers`cultural exposure in their childhood, the location of their current residence, speech
or voice disorders, speakers` ethnic group, their social class, or their education), a word can be
uttered in different ways.
A more uniform type of pronunciation can be recommended to be taught in schools,
used in broadcasts and adopted by foreigners, to help people enrich their knowledge about this
language, and to have a comprehensible pronunciation. In order to make this happen,
phonetics and phonology, the two branches of linguistics, help us study the sounds of a
language.
The first contrast I want to draw attention to stems from the divide between phonetics
and phonology. Phonetics deals with the physical aspects of speech. On the other hand,
phonology studies the sound structure of a language. Phonetics derives from the Greek word
phone meaning sound or voice. The scientific study of the actual speech sound of language is
called phonetics. Phonology operates at the level of sounds systems and abstract sound units,

as opposed to phonetics which deals with the concrete physical aspects of speech, namely the
production, audition and perception of the sound in a language.
There are two areas of phonology: segmental phonology and suprasegmental
phonology. The sounds are seen as individual units in segmental phonology. And more
complex structures such as syllables, metrical feet, phonological words, phrases or utterances
together with their characteristic tone, pitch, rhythm, intonation belong with suprasegmental
phonology.
The first essential opposition is present at the level of allophones and phonemes. An
allophone is a concrete sound while a phoneme is an abstract one, being composed of several
allophones. Phonemes represent the sets of sounds of a language. For example, the
allophones: unaspirated [t] and aspirated [th] are variants of the phoneme /t/. There is a set of
symbols which help us to write down the manner a word is uttered at two distinct levels.
Considering the following representation, the distinction is between the phonemic
transcription and allophonic transcription. There are two levels: on the one hand, there is the
phoneme (therefore the name phonemic/ phonological transcription), on the other hand there
are allophones (therefore the name allophonic/ phonetic transcription):
Level

Transcription

phonemic

Unit

/t/

phoneme

(=phonological)
Allophonic
(=phonetic)

[t]

[th]

allophones

For example, in the word distend /dstend/, [t] is unaspirated, and in the word distaste /ds
thest/, [th] is aspirated. These two allophones belong to the phoneme /t/.
The smallest unit of speech is given by a combination of phonetic features. If the
presence or the absence of these features affect the meaning, these features are distinctive or
phonemic. On the other hand there are non- distinctive or allophonic features, which belong to
identical phonemes, but different allophones.
A second key contrast in pronunciation is encompased in phonology, which is divided
into two areas: segmental phonology and suprasegmental phonology. Segmental phonology
analyzes individual phonological units such as minimal pairs, vowels, consonants, semi-

consonants, namely segmental phonemes, while suprasegmental phonology treats the

phonological process at a higher level, that of the syllable, stress, intonation.
Another binary pair belonging to the segmental phonetic level is that of minimal pairs;
if the distinction between two words consists in one phoneme, this distinction is a phonemic
one. The two sounds are parallel but semantically contrastive. For example, in pie /pa/ and
bye /ba/, the distinction consists in one phoneme, in pie it is /p/ and in bye it is /b/, but the
remaining transcription is the same.
Another contrast at the segmental phonemic level is represented by vowels, consonants
and semi-consonants.
Roach (2001: 18-19) states that vowels differ according to various criteria: the most
basic vowels are // and /:/ and the difference consists in the fact that: in / / the tongue is
closed to the palate, while in /:/ the mouth is open, with the tongue low in the mouth. The
result of this observation is that // can be clasified as a close vowel and /a/ as a open vowel.
The distinction between // and // it is also taken into acount, on the one hand in // the lips
are rounded and unrounded in // on the other hand, the back of the tongue is raised for //
while in // it is the front of the tongue which is raised. As a rezult, // is a front vowel and //
is a back vowel. So, // is a front close unrounded vowel, while // is a back close rounded
vowel. These are the most important features used in the classification of vowels: a vowel
may be close or open; rounded or unrounded; front or back.
In order to highlight the contrasts in the class of consonants, several characteristics
must be taken into consideration: if the sound is voiced or voiceless, the place of articulation,
the manner of articulation, the airstream used to make the consonant. For example, the
phonemes /b/ and /p/ are different because /b/ is voiced and /p/ is unvoiced, for instance in the
word book /bk/ and please /pliz/. It is the same with /d/ and /t/, /d/ is voiced and /t/ unvoiced,
for example in the word dish /d/ and ten /tn/. The phonemes /b/, /d/, /g/, which often occur
at the beginning of a word, are voiced, but sometimes occur at the end of a word and lose their
voicing. Takind into consideration the place of articulation, the distinction is between several
types of consonants, specifically: labiodental, dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, velar,
uvular, pharyngeal, glottal and retroflex. e.g On the other hand, the possible manner of
articulation divides consonants into plosives, which are consonats which hold air from
escaping; nasals which allow the air escape through the nose; fricatives in which the air
escape with difficulty, affricates which are consonants which start like plosives but end like
fricatives and laterals in which the air is blocked by the tongue from going through the mouth.

Semi- consonants or semi-vowels are vowels in terms of on articulatory perspective, but

also consonants from a phonological point of view and appear in positions where consonants
appear. The semi- consonants are /w/ (the phoneme spelled w in we) and /j/ (the phoneme
spelled y in yes). The two semi- consonants are voiced, meaning that occur the vibration of
the vocal cords during the articulation of the sounds. These two sounds are: at a beginning of
a word (well, you), the first letter, being part of a compound word (homework, backyard), and
also the first letter after a prefix (rewind, beyond).
Another contrast in pronunciation is due to stress. There is no reasonable definition
regarding stress, but it is easy to predict that when we think about stress in a word, we think in
fact about prominence, or accentuation, that a part of that structure is more prominent in
comparison to the others and also a stressed syllable will be heard louder. In order to make
these things clear, Mateescu (2002: 187-189) makes a comparison between two possible
pronunciations of the same word. For example, the word insult. If the stress is placed on the
first syllable and it is read like insult, it is a noun. If the stress is placed on the second syllable,
and it is read like insult, it is a verb. In the word tomato, the middle syllable is stronger that
the other ones, this means that the syllable is stressed. Usually stressed syllables are louder
than unstressed syllables.
A more complex opposition is present at the syllable level. The syllable is an important
sequence in phonetics and phonology, a basic unit which organizes the speech sounds. A word
that has a single syllable is called monosyllabic, disyllabic words have two syllables, and
trisyllabic words have three syllables; polysyllabic, words have more than three syllables.
Depending on the influence of the vowel quantity, a syllable is light or heavy. A light syllable
is a syllable that is open and ends in a short vowel. For example, the word city /s ti/ is
compound of two light syllables /s/ and /ti/. A heavy syllable is a syllable which ends in a
short vowel but contains a long vowel or a diphtong. In the word below /b `l /, the first
syllable is a light one, while the second is a heavy syllable.
Along with stress and syllable, intonation constitutes an important phenomenon in the
domain of suprasegmental phonology. There is also a meaningful contrast in pronunciation
dealing with intonation. Intonation is a universal and language specific feature of human
language. It is universal because there is no language without intonation and because
languages of different origins share many of the functions proper to intonation. At the same
time, the specific feature of a particular speaker`s intonation system are dependent on
language to a large extend. Intonation proper is restricted to non- lexical characteristics
consisting of pitch patterns, declination, boundaries ( Goglniceanu 2003: 264).
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The contrasts in intonation are found in the three characteristics of intonation: tone,
tonality and tonicity.
A tone represents a piece of utterance delimited by a pause in order to change a
meaning of a message. Stopping allows speakers to collect the information and to transform it
into a message. For example the following sentence, in which commas correspond to pauses.
Those who do sports every day, lose weight. (They lose weight if they do sports every day)
and Those who do sports, every day lose weight. (They lose weight every day if they do
sports)
Tonality means the division of an utterance into tone-units. This factor influences the
grammatical structure and the meaning. The contrast is exemplified in the typology of
restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses. A non-restrictive relative clause (which
contains supplementary information about the head word) is introduced in a separate tone
unit. For instance: The baby, who was born yesterday, was healthy. On the other hand, a
restrictive relative clause is not separated from the head by a tone unit. For example: The
baby who was born yesterday, was healthy.
The location of the nuclear tone is given by tonicity. Intonation is used in order to help
the speaker to highligh some words that are important for the meaning that he/she wants to
transmit. These words help the speaker focus on the hearer`s attention. For example, in the
following sentences the word highlighted is accentuated:
Can you snap an apple in two?
Can you snap an apple in two?
Can you snap an apple in two?
Can you snap an apple in two?
Can you snap an apple in two?
Up to this point, the presentation was limited only to a phonemic level, but there is also
a gap between spelling and pronunciation. The graphic symbolization of the words of spoken
languages was facilitated by the invention of alphabetic writing. The corespondence between
the spoken language and the graphic representation was initially based on a one-to-one
correspondence, meaning that one sound was represented by only one symbol, and a symbol
could be pronounced in only one way. The discrepancy between the pronunciation of words
and their spelling is more visible in English, unlike Romanian where spelling is based on a
phonemic principle.
Two words that share the same pronunciation and the same spelling, but have entirely
different meanings, different origins, are called homonyms. The word homonym originates
5

from Greek, suggesting semblance. For example, the word bank has several meanings (a
piled-up mass; as of snow or clouds; a steep natural incline;, an artificial embankment; the
slope of land adjoining a body of water, especially adjoining a river, lake, or channel; a large
elevated area of a sea floor; the cushion of a billiard or pool table; the lateral inward tilting, as
of a motor vehicle or an aircraft, in turning or negotiating a curve). In all these cases the word
bank is pronounced and spelled the same.
The difference between spelling and pronunciation in English is also obvious in
homophones-words that share the pronunciation but have different spelling-and homographswords that share the spelling but have different pronunciation. For example, the words
allowed /lad/ and aloud /lad/ are homophones, they share the pronunciation but they
have different spelling. The word combine has two different meanings: on the one hand it is a
noun and means a farm machine used for harvest, on the other hand it is a verb meaning the
opposite of separate. If two words share the spelling but have different pronunciation, they are
called heteronyms which are a type of homographs.
Another disismilarity between spelling and pronunciation is revealed by digraphs. A
digraph is a single sound being represented by two letters. For example ch in the following
words: chef /ef/, chaos /kes/, chair /te/, chief / tif/.
A key opposition results from the variety of English, which involves features of
pronunciation, grammatical structure, vocabulary, meaning and discourse. English is the most
spread language on earth and it is spoken in all countries, either as a first language, official
language or as a second language. But the pronunciation is different from country to country
and here comes the accent.
The term accent, henceforth understood to be different from stress, denotes a pattern of
pronunciation used by a speaker for whom English is the native language, or, more generally,
by the community or social grouping to which he or she belongs`(Wells 1992: 1, in Nicolae
2011: 145). Many people claim that some accents are superior to others or some accents are
standard accents and others are non-standard accents. The social attitude makes this
distinction about accents, more than phonetics and phonology does. There are some features
that the foreign learners should be aware of in oder to acquire pronunciation (such as: in
Received Pronunciation r is not pronounced when it is situated at the end of the word; the
words bath or dance are pronounced with the /:/ in father, unlike the American English in
which these words are pronounced with // in cat). There are several accents around the world
with their specific features. Cockney (London East End) Accent is a traditional accent of
London, the speakers of such an accent turn diphthongs into monophthongs; they substract /h/
6

at the beginning of words ( such as house=/as/); they replace the fricatives / / and // with
the labiodentals [f] and [v] and prefer rough and harsh sounds. Contemporary Estuary English
Accent, also called Estuary English, is the popular accent of the southeast of England
influenced by London accent and by Received Pronuncition. This type of accent shares the
following features: vocalization of preconsonantal/final /l/ perhaps with various vowel
mergers before it; T-Glottaling-the [t] in phrases like lot of becomes a glottal stop; diphtong
shift-the diphtong in face moves toward the diphtong in price-hence lace moves toward licethe diphtong in price moves toward the diphtong in choice-so buy moves toward boy; hdropping-hand on heart will be heard as `and on `eart; TH fronting-I fink instead of I think;
monophthongal realization of the mouth vowel. (Wells 1994:259 in Nicolae 2011:146)
The Ulster Accent represents one of the Irish accents which is spoken by nine countries of
Ulster. It has, like in Scotland, the vowels // and /u/ that are combined, look and Luke being
homophonous; and also the diphtong /a/ is pronounced //. Scottish Accent is an accent
spoken in the contry of Scotland, is a rhotic accent in which the glottal stop may be an
allophone of /t/ after a vowel.
In a survey of pronunciation contrasts in English, the history of English sounds is also
relevant. The British Isles were conquered by different populations with different languages.
All population which have passed through England had left their mark on the English
language. So, we can distinguish three periods in the development of English, namely Old
English, Middle English and Modern English.
Old English (450-1100) is different from Modern English in terms of lexis, grammar,
and phonology. It is significant the fact that Old English was a synthetical language and
Modern English was an analytical one. Old English was a language which suffered a lot of
changes because of the foreign borrowings, the populations that have passed through England
influenced the language, namely the Romans (55 BC), the Celts (5th century), the
Scandinavians (between the 8th and 11th centuries), and the Normans (1066). Over time, the
language spoken by the indigenous mixed with that spoken by the conquerors.
Middle English (1100-1500) was a language influenced by the Norman Conquest. Even
if English continued to be spoken by 90 per cent of the population, French was used in Court.
In this way many French words were introduced in English vocabulary. After 1300, English
spelling was influenced by French, long vowels began to be doubled. In Middle English, in
the language was added a final mute e to some words in order to denote a long stressed vowel
according to the principle that a stressed vowel is long when is followed by a consonant or
another vowel sound. In some other words, after a stressed vowel we double the consonants to
7

show that the vowel is short. The English orthography had been shadowed by numerous
borowings from French, special marks for long vowels and also by the introduction of new
symbols to represent the new sounds. At the middle of the 14th century, English began to be
used in schools and in the end of 14th-the beginning of the 15th century, English was the
official language in Court and replaced French and Latin in writing.
Modern English (1500-present) is a language which had continued to go through
changes, spelling changes, pronunciation changes. In the beginning of this period, even if
English was used in literary works, Latin remained the language used in all field of
knowledge. The books which were written in Latin at the beginning of this era have been
translated years later into English, when English began to be recognized by all. This period
began with a complicated spelling and a changeable pronunciation, many dictionaries were
written and also the sounds were analysed in different works. There exist different spellings
because some spelling rules came from Old English, some others from Latin, Greek and also
French.
With the passage of time, the pronunciation of a language undergoes many changes.
The standardization of English spelling occured in 18th century. Until the 18th century were
written many books which contain precious information about English spelling. John
Palsgrave wrote in 1530 a French Grammar, namely Lesclarcissement de la Langue
Francoyse, in which he makes a comparison between the French sounds and English sounds.
Some other information about English sounds was presented in the Dictionary in Englyshe
and Welshe written by William Solesbury (1547).
For a long time, there were spelling reforms which tried to establish a logical relationship
between sound and spelling. Many phoneticians worked in this domain, one of them is
Francis Lodowick who wrote An Essay Towards an Universal Alphabet (1686). The intention
was to explain that an alphabet should contain single sounds, and these single sounds should
have distinct characters; one character having one sound and one sound being expressed only
by one character.
After a detailed analysis of sounds in different languages, John Wallis and Bishop
Wilkins were considered to be the precursors of modern phoneticians. In 1653, John Wallis
published Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae in which he tried to examinate the English sounds
in a different way, different from the Latin model. In his work he tried to establish a system of
sound clasification and also wrote about the organs of speech. Bishop Wilkins published an
Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language in 1668 in which he classified
the sounds.
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With the help of the dictionaries written by Samuel Johnson (1755), Thomas Sheridan
(1780) and John Walker (1791), the pronunciation and the spelling of the language became
standardized. A history of English pronunciation was presented by Alexander Ellis in his work
entitled An Early English Pronunciation. Alexander Melville Bell dealt in his book, Visible
Speech (1867), with the classification of all sounds produced by the vibration of the vocal
organs and provided some symbols for all these sounds. Alexander Ellis and Alexander Bell
were considered the founders of the English School of Phonetics. Another phonetician was
Isaac Pitman who together with Alexander Ellis, invented successfully plans in order to create
a phonetic spelling. It is believed that the whole modern phonetic transcription comes from
their work.
Henry Sweet (1845-1912) elaborated the Romic alphabet based on the Latin and
Roman alphabet. This alphabet has two forms: Broad Romic and Narrow Romic. The work of
Daniel Jones was influenced by Henry Sweet, Jones being considered the most important
British phonetician of the 20th century. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is based on
Broad Romic. Daniel Jones was the president of the International Phonetic Association and
also wrote several books about phonetics and phonology: The Pronunciation Of English
(1909), English Pronouncing Dictionary (1917), An Outline of English Phonetics (1918), The
Phoneme: its Nature and Use (1950). His work is useful nowadays because reveals the secrets
of phonetics.
English is the predominant language in all domains, such as science, technology,
literature; it is used in newspapers, in airports, restaurants, in business communication, sport
and also music. Distinct English pronunciations occur in different parts of United Kingdom,
in the United States of America, and also in the other countries where English is an official or
a predominant language. The pronunciation varies from people to people, depending on their
education, their age or their position in society.
The pronunciation of the people living in the south-east of England, namely London, has
acquired social prestige. This dialect constituted the speech of the most highly respected
social people, being the local dialect of London in the 14th century.
There are several numbers of dialects, one of these dialects is called standard English; is a
dialect accepted by everyone. The accent related to standard English dialect is called Received
Pronunciation (RP), where received means `generally accepted`. Standard English is used and
understood by a large number of people.
Standard English is a dialect by definition that has an unusually wide geographical scope,
being spoken with a variety of accents. It is known that an accent marks the geographical
9

origin of the speaker. If an accent marks a speaker as having a very specific regional origin it
is called a regional or local accent. If the speaker`s local origin can be marked only within
national boundaries, the accent is non regional. (Goglniceanu 2003: 24)
As for the history of Romanian spelling, as far as that goes, began in Dacia the 2nd and
1st centuries BC, when the Latin system of writing experienced prosperity due to the
commercial relationship with the Roman Empire.
The inscription with the name tabulae ceratae was found on territory of Dacia along
with many others. During the 11th century, in the Romanian Principalities, began to be used
the Slavonic language and the Cyrillic alphabet. Only at the end of 18th century the Latin
alphabet was introduced in Transylvania, in Wallachia in 1860, and in Moldavia in 1862.
The Cyrillic and the Latin alphabet were both used for a period of time but in 1881, the
Romanian Academy created the first official system of spelling for Romanian. In 1904, 1932
and 1953, in Romania occured some spelling reforms; as a result of all these reforms,
Romanian spelling gained importance. After the revolution in 1989, not only the political
system has changed but also the Romanian language, in a spelling reform it was decided that
the letter should be used in the body of the word: mncare (food) and also in the conjugation
of the verb a fi (to be), in the Present Tense, the use of the letter u instead of : sunt, suntem.

10

3. ENGLISH-ROMANIAN SEGMENTAL CONTRAST

3.1 English Vowels versus Romanian Vowels

A vowel is a voiced sound in forming which the air issues in a continuous stream
through the pharynx and mouth, there being no obstruction and no narrowing such as would
cause audible friction(Jones 1975:23 in Clina Goglniceanu 2003:106).
It is notable the idea that the vowel system consists of three main categories: monophthongs,
which are simple vowels, also called pure vowels; diphthongs, which represent two vowels in
a single syllable and also a change of vowel position from one vowel to another; and
triphthongs, which is a sound formed by three vowels pronounced in one syllable. In the
following table, there are presented all three categories of vowels and the phonetic
transcription:
Monophthongs
/i:/, //, /e/, //, //, /:/, //, /u:/, //, /:/, //, /:/
Diphthongs
/e/, /a/, //, /e/, //, //, /a/, //
Triphthongs
/e/, /a/, //, /a/, //
Table 1. Monophthongs, diphthongs and triphthongs
In order to make a classification of English simple vowels, there are various criteria. First of
all, it is important the position of the soft palate, when the soft palate is raised and the air
escapes through the mouth it is produced an oral vowel, but when it is lowered it is produced
a nasal vowel. Secondly, the position of the lips makes distinction between vowels which are
pronounced with spread lips such as /i:, , e, , a:, :, / or with rounded lips such as /u:, u, :,
/. The part of the tongue which is raised divides these vowels into: front vowels /i:, , e, /,
central vowels /:, , v/ and back vowels /u, u:, :, , :/. The manner in which the body of the
tongue is raised reveals: close or height vowels, when the tongue is almost touching the palate
/i:, , u, u:/, open or low vowels, when the tongue is held low /, , , :/, and mid-open or
mid-close vowels, when the togue is positioned between the hight and low level /e, :, , :/.
Length is a characteristic that defines long vowels /i:, :, :, u:, a:/. Long vowels are long
when they are in final position or when are followed by a voiced consonant. The length is
reduced when they are followed by a voiceless consonant. There are also short vowels,
namely: / , e, , , u/. Long vowels are also called tense because they are produced with the
tenseness of the muscles, short vowels are produced with less tenseness and are called lax.
The vowels are speech sounds whose production does not encounter any blockage across the
phonatory system. They are produced with the aid of the vibration of the vocal cords. There
11

are many criteria according to which the Romanian vowels can be classified. From an
articulatory point of view, the vowels can be classified by taking into account the following
criteria: aperture or opening open vowels (/a/), half-open vowels (/e/, //, /o/) and closed
vowels (/i/, //, /u/); their localisation in the buccal cavity, with respect to the position of the
tongue front pre-palatal vowels (/e/, /i/), central vowels (//, //), back vowels (/o/, /u/) and
neuter vowels (/a/); labialisation or participation of the lips rounded vowels (/o/, /u/) and
unrounded vowels (/a/, /e/, /i/, //, //). From an acoustic point of view, the Romanian vowels
can be: compact sounds (/a/), compact-diffuse sounds (/e/, //, /o/) and diffuse sounds (/i/,
//, /u/). According to the pitch of the sounds, there are: high-pitched vowels (/e/, /i/), lowpitched vowels (/o/, /u/) and neuter vowels (/a/, //, //).
At the beginning of this chapter are presented shortly every type of vowel and the
elements that influence its production. For a better understanding of English Vowel System
and also of the Romanian Vowels, it is necessary to make a deeper look of each type of vowel.
First of all, there are presented the simple vowel phonemes. The simple or pure vowels are
divided in three categories: front vowels, central vowels and back vowels.
THE FRONT VOWELS are /i:/, //, /e/ and //.
The Vowel Phoneme /i:/ is front, close, tense, long and it is produced with spread lips.
The front of the tongue is hight in the mouth touching the palate and the front teeth, the lips
are spread, the tongue is tense and the opening between the jaws is straiten. It is longer when
it occurs in final position, in words such as see /si:/, shorter when it precedes a voiced sound,
for example in the word lead /li:d/, and shortest before a voiceless consonant in the word beat
/bi:t/. Before a nasal consonant, the vowel /i:/ is nasalized, for instance in the word mean
/mi:n/. This sound occurs in all positions: initially in words such as eagle /i:gl/ or equal
/i:kwl/, medially in words such as green /gri:n/ or cheek /ti:k/, and finally in words such as
tea /ti:/ or three /ri:/. Regarding the spelling there are: ee feeling /fi:l/, wheel /wi:l/; ea
least /li:st/, meat /mi:t/; e even /i:vn/, be /bi:/; ei seize /si:z/, receive /rsiv/; ie niece
/ni:s/, chief /ti:f/; ey key /ki:/; i police /pli:s/, romanian /romeni:n/. There are also
ecceptional spellings such as Beauchamp /bi:mp/, people /pi:pl/ and quay /ki:/. /i:/ it is
similar with the Romanian /i/ when occurs in accented syllables, in final position or when
occurs before a voiced consonant. The Romanian /i/ is close, front, unrounded. It occurs
initially in insul (island) /`in.su.l/, medially in salcie (willow) /`sal.ti.e/ and finally in topi
(to melt) /to`pi/.
The Vowel Phoneme / / is front, close, lax, short and it is pronounced with unrounded
lips. The front of the tongue is raised but lower and more retracted than for /i:/. The rims of
12

the tongue touch easily the upper teeth and the opening between the jaws is straiten to
medium. In unstressed syllables or in final positions, this sound may be replaced by /e/ or //
in words such as believe /b`li:v/ or ladies /`lei:dez/. This phoneme occurs in all three
positions: initial in words such as if /f/ or in /n/, medial in words such as continue /kntnju/
or kiss /ks/ and in final position in pretty /prt/. Concerning the spelling there are: i big
/bg/, rich /rt/; e examine /gzmn/, except /kspt/; ie carried /krd/, varieties
/vrajtz/, a village /vld/, savage /svd/. There are also exceptional spellings such as:
minute /mnt/, women /wmn/, /bz/, money /mn/, business /bzns/, Sunday /snde /. This
vowel does not exist in Romanian, it is somehow between the Romanian vowels i and e, or
between and .
The Vowel Phoneme /e/ is front, short, lax, it is pronunced with spread lips. The tongue
is positioned between close and open positions and it is tenser than for //, the lips are
unrounded. The rims of the tongue barely touch the upper teeth and the opening between the
jaw is medium. This vowel occur only in two positions: initially in words such as elephant
/elfnt/, ever /evr/ and medially in words such as leather /ler/, seven /sevn/. The spelling
is the following: e red /red/, mess /mes/; ea breath /bre/, head /hed/; a ate /et/, any /eni:/.
There are also exceptional spellings such as: said /sed/, says /sez/, again /gen/, against
/genst/. It is similar with the Romanian /e/, but not a very open /e/, particularly when occurs
before /r/ (very). The Romanian vowel /e/ is mid, front and unrounded. It occurs initially in
erou (hero) /e`row/, medially in necaz (trouble) /ne`kaz/ and finally in umple (to fill)
/`um.ple/.
The Vowel Phoneme // is front, open, lax, short and it is pronounced with unrounded
lips. The front of the tongue is raised but low in the mounth, between half-open and open
positions. The lips are spread and the opening between the jaws is medium to wide. The
vowel // occurs only in initial position in words such as act /kt/ or actor /ktr/, and in
medial position in word such as bang /b/ or rat /rt/. In the word ambassador /mbsdr/
appears both in initial position and medial position. The spelling is only a in words such as
sad /sd/, man /mn/, hat /ht/, black /blk/. Plait, plaid and reveille are exceptional
spellings. This vowel does not occur in Romanian.
THE CENTRAL VOWELS are //, // and /:/.
The Vowel Phoneme // is central, open, short, lax and it is pronounced with spread
lips. The centre of the tongue is raised, the lips are neutrally open and the opening between
the jaws is wide. The phoneme // appears only in initial position: under /ndr/ and in medial
position: cup /kp/. The spelling is: u much /mt/, sun /sn/; o come /km/,
13

monkey /mki/; ou double /dbl/, couple /kpl/. There are also exceptional spellings
such as: oo flood /fld/, blood /bld/ and oe does /dz/. This sound is similar with the
Romanian vowel /a/. The Romanian vowel /a/ is open, central, unrounded. It occurs in initial
position in ap (water) /`a.p/, medial position in balaur (dragon) /ba`la.ur/ and in final
position in cnta (to sing) /knta/.
The Vowel Phoneme // also called the schwa is central, mid, short, lax and it is
pronounced with unrounded lips. The centre of the tongue is between the open and close
positions, the lips are relaxed. According to the vowel position in a word, Daniel Jones
remarks three allophones for the phoneme //. Firstly, in words such as along /`l/ or
admit /d`mit/, the phoneme // is near to /:/ in timber, but very short. Secondly, when it is
followed by /k/ in condemn /kn`dem/ or /g/ in again /`gen/ it is higher and more retracted
than the previous. Thirdly, when it is in final position in words such as China / `tan/ or
America /merk/, the sound is more opener, more like //. The schwa occurs in unstressed
syllables, in initial position (about /bawt/), medial ( present /prznt/) and in final position
(Jamaica /dmek/). The spelling for this vowel is the following: a aloud /lawd/,
amount /mawnt/; e competent /kmptnt/, marker /mrkr/; i altercation /ltrken/,
cohesion /

kohin/; o doctor /dktr/, common /kmn/; u circus /srks/,

pleasure /plr/; y in words such as Pennsylvania or martyr, and ou as an exceptional

spelling in courageous /kreds/. It is similar with the Romanian vowel //. The Romanian
// is a mid, central, unrounded vowel. It occurs initially in sta (this) /`s.ta/, medially in
paros (hairy) /p`ros/ and finally in alb (white, feminine singular) /`al.b/.
The Vowel Phoneme /:/ is central, mid, long, tense and pronounced with spread lips.
The centre of the tongue is positioned between the half-close and half-open, the lips are
spread and relaxed. This vowel occurs in initial pozition in words such as early /:rli/, medial
position in burn /b:rn/ and in final position in her /h:r/. The spelling is: er verb /v:rb/,
verse /v:rs/; ir circle /s:rkl/, bird /b:rd/, ur turn /t:rn/, church /t:rt/, er, err, ear
her / h:r/, err /:r/, earth /:r/; ou journey /d:rni/, journalism /d:rnlzm/, w+or
work /w:rk/, word /w:rd/ and o is an exceptional spelling and it occurs in words such as
colonel /`k:nl/. In Romanian, the vowel /:/ does not exist, it is similar with //, but the
pronunciation it is much longer.
THE BACK VOWELS are /:/, /u:/, //, /:/ and //.
The Vowel Phoneme /:/ is back, open, long, tenses, pronounced with unrounded lips.
The tongue is low in the mouth, the opening between the jaws is medium to wide and the lips
are neutral. The shortening fixed by a fortis consonant is less marked than the shortening
14

fixed by a lenis consonant. When the vowel is followed by /f, , s/ or by a consonant followed
by another consonant, RP speakers use easily between /:/ and // in words such as transfer
/trnsf/ or monograph /mnr:f/. In American English, // is chosen in words such as
example /gzmpll / or dance /dns/. This vowel occurs in all three positions, namely initial,
medial and final: aunt /:nt/, fast /f:st/ and star /st:/. The spelling is the following: ar in lark
/l:rk/, er in clerk /kl:rk/, ear in heart /h:rt/, a + ff in staff /st:f/, a + ss in glass /gl:s/, a + f
+ consonant in after /:ftr/, a + s + consonant in ask /:sk/, a + n + consonant in plant
/pl:nt/, a + th in bath /b:/ and a + mute l in half /h:f/. There are also exceptional spellings
such as: moustache, banana, pyjamas, drama or memoirs. The Romanian vowel /a/ is central,
while in English is back. The pronunciation of /:/ is much longer.
The Vowel Phoneme /u:/ has the following characteristics: back, close, long, tense and
is pronounced with rounded lips. When it is pronounced, the lips are rounded and the tongue
is tense. Its longest allophone is heard in final position, for example in the word do /du:/, the
shorter variant takes place before a voiced consonat in spoon /spu:n/, and before a voiceless
consonant its length is reduced, for example in the word soup /su:p/. The vowel /u:/ occurs in
initial position in ooze /u:z/, in mediaal position in moon /mu:n/ and final position in crew
/kru:/. The spelling for this vowel is the following: oo foot /fu:t/, cool /ku:l/; o move
/mu:v/, prove /pru:v/; ou wound /wu:nd/, group /gru:p/; u- blue /blu:/, clue /clu:/; eu, eau
beauty /bju:ti/. There are also exceptional spellings such as: ew, ui, eu, ue, oe slew /slu:/ ,
sluice /slu:s/, maneuver /mnu:v/, true /tru:, shoe /u:/. This sound is more open, less
rounded and much longer than the Romanian vowel /u/.
The Vowel / / is back, almost half-close, short, lax and it is pronounced with rounded
lips. The tongue is raised just behind the centre, it is relaxed and the lips are rounded. In
Cockney this vowel is rounded, more retracted and lowerer from the normal, when is
followed by dark /l/. In Scottish there is no difference between /u:/ and //. The vowel / /
takes place only in medial position: put /pt/, sugar / gr/. The spelling is the following: u
put /pt/, full /fl/; oo look /lk/, good /gd/; ou could /kd/, would /wd/. There are
some exceptional spellings such as: woman /wmn/, wolf /wlf/, bosom /bzm/, bouquet
/bke/. In Romanian this vowel is tenser, close, back and rounded. It occurs initially in
words such as uda (to wet) /u`da/, medially in words such as aduc (I bring) /a`duk/ and finally
in words such as simplu (simple) /`sim.plu/.
The Vowel /:/ has the following characteristics: back, long, tense, half-open and it is
pronounced with spread lips. The tongue is low in the mouth and it is placed between the halfopen and half-close positions, the lips are more rounded than for //. Its longest allophone
15

occurs in final position in more /m:/, it is attenuate before a voiced consonant in dawn /d :n/
and even more reduced before a voiceless consonant in taught /t :t/. The vowel occurs in all
three fundamental positions: initially (audience /:dns/), medially (horse /h:s/), finally
(saw /s:/). The spelling: or door /d:/, corn /k:n/; aw law /l :/, dawn /d :n/; au author /
:/, daughter /d:t/; ou bought /b:t/, thought /:t/; all call /k:l/, mall /m :l/; w+ar
war /w:/, swarm /sw:m/; ore, oar, our more /m:/, board /b:d/, four /f :/. Exceptionl
spellings: water /w:t/, broad /br:d/. It is similar with the Romanian vowel /o/. The
Romanian /o/ is mid, back and it is pronounced with rounded lips. It occurs in initial position
in ora (city) /o`ra/, medial position in copil (child) /ko`pil/ and in final position in acolo
(there) /a`ko.lo/.
The Vowel // is back, open, short, lax, pronounced with rounded lips but moderately.
The back of the tongue is in open position, lips are easily rounded. The back of the tongue is
in open position, lips are easily spread. This vowel occurs only in inital and medial positions:
odd /d/, dog /dg/. The spelling is the following: o not /nt/, holiday /hlde/; a, preceded
by w: want /wnt/, watch /wt/. There are also exceptional spellings such as: ou,ow cough /
kf/, knowledge /nld/; au Australia /streli/, sausage /ssd/. In Romanian there is
no similar sound to //.
While most of the Romanian vowels are relatively similar or identical to those in many
other languages, the close central unrounded vowel // is uncommon as a phoneme and
especially uncommon amongst Indo-European languages. According to the decision of the
Romanian Academy, the sound // can be rendered in two ways: , in medial position mine
(tomorrow), pine (bread); , in initial position (nceput-beginning, nainte-before), in
compound words (binenteles-ofcourse) and in final position (cobor-to descend).
In Romanian, when two vowels are close together, but they are not diphthongs, it is called
hiatus. The pair of vowels a-a occurs in derived words contraargument (conterargument),
supraabundent (overabundant). The pair of vowels a-e, the spelling of these vowels and the
pronunciation is a-e, not a-ie in words such as aer (air), maestru (expert), it occurs in compund
or derived words such as supraestima (overrate), ultraelegant (ultra-stylish) and also in the
suffix aero-, aerodinamic (aerodynamic), aeronautic (aeronautic). The pair of vowels e-a does
not have different pronunciation or spelling; it occurs in words such as bacalaureat
(baccalaureate), creaie (creation) and in compound and derived words realege (re-elect),
neascultator (disobedient). The pair of vowels e-e, the pronunciation and the spelling is e-e,
not e-ie, it occurs in compound and derived words such as needucat (uneducated), reexpedia
(resend). The pair of vowels i-i, it is spelled and pronounced i-i in words such as exerci iile
16

(the exercises), studiile (the studies) and in derived words such as scriitor (writer), nfiina
(establish). The pair of vowels o-a occurs in compound or derived words such as autoaparare
(self-defense), radioactiv (rdioactive). The pair of vowels o-e, it has te pronunciation and the
spelling o-e, not o-ie and occurs in compound or derived words such as coexista (coexist),
proeminent (prominent). The pair of vowels o-o occurs in words such as alcool (alcohol),
zoologie (zoology) and in compound words such as coopera (cooperate), coordona
(coordinate). The pair of vowels u-e has the pronunciation and spelling u-e, not u-ie in words
such as influent (influential), duel (duel). The last pair of vowels is u-u and it occurs in words
such as continuu (continuous), ambiguu (ambiguous).
3.1.2 Diphthongs
The diphthong is the glide of a vowel to another within one syllable. There are two
components in the structure of a diphthong. The first one or the starting point, also called the
nucleus, is longer and more stressed unlike the second component, the point in the direction of
which the glide is made which is only a lightly sound. Diphthongs are similarly with long
vowels and behave in the same way in point of length: they are fully long before a lenis
consonant or in final position and slightly reduced when they are followed by a fortis
consonant. In English there are eight diphthongs: three glides to // - /e/, /a/, //, three glides
to // - /e/, //, //, two glides to // - /a/, //.
Diphthongs are classified according to: firstly, the position of the nucleus: because all the
English diphthongs have the nucleus positioned on the first item in the diphthong, they are
falling diphthongs; secondly, the direction in which the tongue moves classifies the
diphthongs as following: if the tongue glides towards a closer vowel than the nucleus, the
diphthong is a closing one (/e/, /a/, //, /a/, //), if the tongue moves towards a more open
glide, the diphthong is an opening one (/e/, //, //), if the diphthong end in a centring
glide, it is a centring one; thirdly, the distance covered by the tongue: if the distance is long,
the diphthong is wide (/a/, //, /a/); and if the distance is short, the diphthong is narrow (/e/,
//, //, /e/, //).
Glides to //: /e/, /a/, //.
/e/ is falling, closing and norrow. The nucleus is /e/, the glide is towards / / and the lips
are spread. This diphthong occurs in initial position (age /ed/), in medial position (made
/med/) and in final position (bay /be/). The spelling is the following: ai, ay angel /e nd l/,
pay /pe/; ei, ey eight /et/, they /e/; ea great / re t/; a+bl+e able /e bl/; a late /let/;

17

a+st+e taste /test/; a+ng+e change /tend/; caf /kfe/. There are also exceptional
spellings sych as: bass /bes/, gauge /ed/, gaol /del/.
/a/ falling, closing and wide. The glides from /a/ is more extensive than for /e / and the
lips have neutral positions. /a/ occurs in all three position: initially in ice /as/, medially in life
/laf/ and finally in pie /pa/. The spelling is the following: e+consonant time /tam/, fire
/fa/; ie lie /la/, die /da/; i+consonant+e title /tatl/, idle /adl/; i+mb climb /klam/; i+ld
child /tald/; i+nd find /fand/, mind /mand/; i+gn sign /san/; i+ght fight /fat/, right
/rat/; final i stimuli /stmjla/, final y cry /kra/, by /ba /; ye bye /ba/, day /da/;
y+consonant+e style /stal/, type /tap/. Exceptional spellings: viscount /va ka nt/, isle /a l/,
island /alnd/.
// is folling, closing and wide. The tongue moves from back to front position. The
glide begings firstly for //, moving up and forward / /. The lips are open and rounded in the
beginning and then change to neutral. This diphthong occurs initially in oil /l/, medially in
toil /tl/ and finally in toy /t/. The spelling is oi coin /kn/, noise /nz/ and oy boy /b/,
joy /d/.
Glides to //: /e/, //, //.
// is falling, opening, centring and narrow. The glide begins for / / and then is moving
down and back towards //. This diphthong is pronounced with neutral lips, but with a small
movement from unrounded to open. // occurs in initial position in words such as ear / /, in
medial position in period /prd/ and in final position in idea /ad /. The speling is: er
mysterious /mstrs/, serious /srs/; eer beer /b/, career /kr/; ear clear /kl/, fear
/f/; ere here /h/, mere /m/. The words museum /mju:zm/, Ian /n/ and theological
/ldkl/ being exceptional spellings. In Romanian this diphthong does not exist.
/e/ is falling, opening, centring and narrow. The glide begins for /e/ and move back
towards //. The lips are neutrally open. The diphthong /e/ is distributed initially in words
such as air /e/, medially in cared /ked/ and finally in there /e/. The spellig is the
following: air chair /te/, pair /pe/; aer aerial /eril/, aeroplane /erple n/; ear bear
/be/, wear /we/; are share /e/, care /ke/. Exceptional spellings: where /we/, there /e/,
their /er/, heir /e/.
// is falling, opening, centring and narrow. The glide begins for / / and then moves
towards //. The lips are easily rounded for the first time and then change to neutrally
unrounded. This diphthong occurs only in medial and final position: tour /tr/, /p/. The
spelling is: ur security /skjrti/, curious /kjrs/; ure pure /pj /, sure / /; ue
fuel /fju:/, cruel /krl/; ua manual /mnjl/, individual /nd vdl/; -oor moor /m/,
18

poor /p/; our tour /tr/, hour /a/; ewe jewel /du:l/, fewer /fju:/. There are also
exceptional spellings such as: skewer, doer, sewer.
Glides to // - /a/, //.
/a/ is falling, closing and wide. The glide begins in a position very similar to / :/
moving up towards //. The lips are neutral for the first time and then change to loosely
rounded. This diphthong occurs in all three positions: initially in out /at/, medially in loud
/lad/ and finally in cow /ka/. The spelling for this diphthong is ou house /ha s/, doubt
/dat/ and ow now /na/, flower /fla/. There is only an exceptional spelling, namely
MacLeod. /a/ is similar to the Romanian diphthong /au/.
// is falling, closing and narrow. The glide begins for // and then moves bach
towards //. Initially the lips are neutral and then change to easily rounded. The diphthong
// occurs in initial position in old /ld/, medial pisition in noble/nbl/. and in final
position in no /n/. The spelling for this diphthong is: o hero /hr/, go /g/; oa goal
/gl/, boat /bt/; oe hoe /h/, toe /t/; ou shoulder /ld/, dough /d /; ow know
/n/, show //; o followed by ll, lt, st, th: roll /r/, bolt /blt/, most /mst/, both /b /;
o+consont+e note /nt/, phone /fn/. Exceptional spellings: portmanteau /p :t mnt /,
don`t /dnt/, won`t /wnt/, only /nli:/, bureau /bjr/, sew /s/.
The Romanian diphthongs are: ea, eo, ia, ie, io, oa, ua, and u.
EA, after consonants the spelling and the pronunciation is ea / eea/ (not /ia/). In several words
ea alternates with e, for instance in the words detept (smart, masculine) deteapt (smart,
feminine), beat (drunk, feminine singular) bete (drunk, feminine plural). It occurs after s, z,
in words such as: msea (tooth), zeam (gravy), eav (pipe) and also in the element lea of
the numerals al doilea (the second), al treilea (the third)..
EO, the spelling and the pronunciation is eo /eeo/ (not /io/) when occurs after consonants in
words such as cteodata (sometimes), vreodata (ever), deodata (suddenly).
IA, in initial position the spelling and the pronunciation is /ia/ with one exception, the
pronoun ea (she). It occurs in words such as biat (boy), baia (the bath), femeia (the woman)
and after the consonants /b/, /p/, /v/, /f/, /m/ - biat (poor), pia (market), via (life), fiare
(beasts), amiaz (afternoon).
IE, it has the spelling and the pronunciation /ie/ (not /e/) in words such as ied (goarling), ierta
(forgive) and after the consonants /b/, /p/, /v/, /f/ and /m/ in words such as obiect (object),
piersic (peach), vierme (worm), miere (honey).

19

IO, it has the spelling and the pronunciation /io/ (not /eo/) after consonnats in derived words
which have the suffix ior in words such as bolnvior (sick, diminutive), dulpior (closet,
diminutive), pantofior (shoe, diminutive).
OA, it has the spelling and the pronunciation oa in words such as boal (disease), scoal
(school), coal (sheet). When occurs in initial position it is always spelled oa (not ua) in
words such as oaie (sheep), oase (bones), oaspete (guest).
UA, it has no different spelling or pronounciation when occurs after consonants in words such
as acuarel (watercolor), iguan (iguana). It occurs also in several nouns such as roua (the
dew), ziua (the day), in numerals such as a doua (the second) and in derived words such as
bcuan (inhabitant of Bacu).
U, at the beginning of the syllable it has the pronunciation and the spelling /u/ in words
such as ou (eggs), rou (dew), dou (two).
The Romanian semi-vowels are /e, i, o, u/, they are similar to vowels in the manner of
articulation, but they can not form syllables, they are components in diphthongs and
triphthongs. For example, /e/ is a vowel in the word melc (snail) and a semi-vowel in the word
bea (drink); /i/ is a vowel in the word main /car/ and a semi-vowel in the word tri (live).
The third category of vowels are the tripghthongs which are the result of the union
between one of the closing diphthongs (/e/, /a/, //, /a/, //) and a schwa. When a vowel
sound glides between three qualities it is called a triphthong. The existence of triphthongs in
contemporary English remains an controversial issue. They may be considered as sequences
of a diphthong plus the vowel schwa. (Nicolae Adina Oana, 2011, 59). The English
triphthongs are: /e/ - layer /le/, player /ple/; /a/ - desire /d za/, dire /da /; / / lawyer /l/, loyal /ll/; /a/ - power /pa/, flower /fla/; // - slower /sl /,
mower /m/.
In Romanian there are four triphthongs, namely /eai/, /eau/, /iai/, /iau/. There is no
difference in spelling or in pronunciation for these triphthongs. They occurs especially in
verbs in final position. For /eai/ and /eau/ there are words such as preai (you looked)
preau (they looked), munceai (you worked) munceau (they worked). /iai/ and /iau/ occurs
in verbs such as triai (you lived) triau (they lived), voiai (you wanted) voiau (they
wanted).
3.2 English Consonants versus Romanian Consonants
3.2.1 English Consonants

20

The consonants include: all sounds which are not voiced (p, s), all sounds in the
production of which the air has in impeded passage through the mouth (b, l, rolled r), all
sounds in the production of which the air does not pass through the mouth (m) and all the
sounds in which there is audible friction (f, v, s, z, h). (Daniel Jones in Calina Gogalniceanu,
2003, 148)
On other words, the airstream which produce the consonants encounters obstacles on its way
out. The consonants are classified depending on three different features: place of articulation,
manner of articulation and voicing.
Place of articulation, refers to the location of the passive and active articulators. For this
point of view, there are: bilabial consonants (the two lips are coming together and made the
obstruction - /b/, /p/ and /m/), labiodentals consonants(the lower lip touches the upper teeth
- /f/, /v/), dental (the tip if the tongue touches the top teeth - //, //), alveolar consonants (the
tip or the blade of the tongue touches the forward part of the alveolar ridge - /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/,
/n/, /l/, /r/), palato-alveolar or postalveolar consonants (the tip or the blade of the togue
touches the back area of the alveolar ridge - //, //, /t/, /d/), palatal consonants (the front of
the tongue touches the hard palate - /j/, velar consonants (the back of the tongue touches the
soft palace - /k/, /g/, //), labio-velar consonants (the lips obstruct the air and the articulation
occurs between the back of the tongue and the velum - /w/), glottal consonants (the
articulation is similar to phonation, the vocal folds are brought together - //, /h/).
Manner of articulation, reveals the way in which the articulators interact and how the
airflow is affected. From this point of view there are several consonants:
THE PLOSIVE CONSONANTS (oral stops). They completely obstruct the airflow
released from the lungs and then allow it to escape suddenly. There are six stops in English,
according to the following articulatory positions: bilabial - /p/, /b/ (pan /p n/, bin /bn/),
alveolar - /t/, /d/ (ten /ten/, day /de/), velar - /k/, /g/ (cat /k t/, goat /gt/) and the glottal
stop //.
The articulation of the plosives is possible by following three stages: the closing stage or the
approach (the articulating organs are close together preventing the air to escape through the
mouth or the nose), the hold ar the compression stage (the air remains closed behind the
obstacle causing a pressure), and the release or the plosion stage (the closure is opened and
the compressed air escapes with explosion). There are many ways in the classification of
consonants. The place of articulation reveals: bilabial consonants /p, b/, alveolar consonants /t,
d/, velar /k,g/ and glottal //. The force of articulation reveals fortis consonants (they are
pronounced with high muscular energy and breath - /p, t, k/) and lenis consonants (they are
21

pronounced with less muscular energy and breath - /b, d, g/). Aspiration is important for the
plosives in the way that the foris consonants in initial accented positin are aspirated (occurs a
puff of air), but when /s/ precedes /p, t, k/ aspiration does not occur. The vibration of the vocal
cords divided the consonants in voiced and voiceless. The voiced consonants are the lenis
ones while the fortis consonats are voiceless. The consonants /b, g, d/ are fully voiced when
they are accompagnied by voiced sounds and partially voiced in initial and final position. The
consonants influence also the length of preceding sound: the syllable which is closed by a
fortis consonant is shorter than the syllable closed by a lenis consonant.
The Bilabial Plosives /p, b/, in the production of these consonants the lips are spread
and pressed. The air coming from the lungs is pressed behind the obstacle and then the lips
are easily opened and the air escapes with explosion. The soft palace is raissed letting the air
excapes only through the mouth. The vocal cords do not vibrate for /p/, while for /b/ they
vibrate.
/p/ is a bilabial, fortis, voiceless, plosive consonant. There are several types of /p/: aspirated
/p/ (occurs before a stressed vowel parking), unaspirated (occurs before an unstressed vowel
or after /s/ - keeper, space), nasally released (occurs when is followed by a nasal topmost)
and laterally released (when is followed by /l/ - apple). The spelling is the following: p,pp
place, supper. There is only an exceptional spelling for this consonant, namely hiccough. /p/ is
silent in the following groups: pn, ps, pt, in the following words: pneumonia, pneumatic,
psychic, pseudo, ptarmigan, and receipt. The consonant it is not pronounced when occurs in
clusters between m and t in words such as: empty, prompt or in orther clusters: raspberry,
cupboard.
/b/ is a bilabial, lenis, voiced, unaspirated, plosive conconat. When is followed by a nasal, /m/
ar /n/, the consonat /b/ is nasally released (occurs a nasal explosion), for example in the word
submit. When is followed by /l/ it is laterally released (capable). This consonant is partially
devoiced in initial position and in final position: big, tub. The spelling is b and bb (baby,
rubbish). /b/ is silent in two cases: when it is preceded by /m/ tomb and when it is followed
by /t/ in the same syllable doubt. In American English /p/ and /b/ have the same articulation
and spelling.
The Alveolar Plosives /t, d/, the obstruction is made by raising the soft palace and
making the tip of the tongue touches the teeth ridge, the air escapes suddenly with plosion.
The vocal cords vibrate only for /d/, but the muscular tension and breath efort is higher for /t/.
/t/ is an alveolar, fortis, voiceless, plosive consonant. This consonant can be: aspirated (when
occurs before a stressed vowel time), unaspirated after /s/ - stare), nasalized (when it is
22

followed by a nasal button), and laterally released (when it is followed by /l/ - little).
When /t/ occurs before // or /j/ there is a dental articulation (eight) and before /t/, /d/, /t/,
/d/, there is no plosion that toy, that chair, that time. The spelling is: t, tt tell, butter; th
Esther; ed, after voiceless consonant, other than /t/ - asked, stopped. /t/ is silent in the
following three compositions: -stle castle, -ste listen, -stm Christmas. When is preceded
by /s/ and followed by another consonants, in French borrowings or in compunds, /t/ is not
pronounced: postmaster /ps,m:st/, next door /neks`d:/, bouquet /bu:ke/, depot /dep/.
/d/ is an alveolar, lenis, voiced,unaspirated plosive consonant. It may be: dentalized (when is
followed by // or // - width /wid/), partially devoiced (in initial and final position dull,
lid), laterally released (when it is followed by /l/ - middle /midl/) and nasally released (when it
is followed by a nasal /m/ or /n/ - admit, sudden /s dn/). /d/ is produced without plosion
before /t/, /d/, /t/, /d/ - good juice /gud du:s/. The spelling is d and dd sadness, ladder.
When it is preceded by /n/ and followed by another consonant, /d/ is not pronounced:
grandmother /grn m/, handsome /hnsm/, friendship /frenp/. For the past tense maker
ed, there are two peonounciation: /t/ after voiceless consonants (stopped) and /d/ after
vowels or voiced consonants (barred).
The Velar Plosives /k, g/. These consonants are pronounced by raising the back of the
tongue to the soft palate, the air passage is blocked and when the tongue is lowered, the air is
released with explosion. The vocal cords vibrate for /g/ but the muscular effort is greater
for /k/.
/k/ is a velar, fortis, voiceless, plosive consonant. There are three types of /k/: aspirated
(before a stressed vowel come /km/), nasally released (when it is followed by a nasal
consonant Faulkner /f:kn/) and laterally released ( when it is followed by /l/ - climb
/kl:m/. It is unreleased in final position or when occurs before another consonant in words
such as cake /kek/, booked /bu:kt/. When it is followed by a front vowel, there is a more
forward /k/ - key /ki:/, and before a back vowel, there is a more backward /k/ - call /k :l/. The
spelling: c, followed by a, o, u car, call, cool; the group cc, when is followed by e or i is
pronounced /ks/ - accent; k king, but it is silent before n in words such as knee /ni:/, knight;
ck back; ch character; qu antique; x mixed.
/g/ is a velar, lenis, voiced, unaspirated, plosive consonant. It is partially devoiced in iniatial
and in final position (gull, league). When it is followed by a nasal it is nasally released
(dogmatic), and when occurs before /l/ it is laterally released (glide). /g/ shares a;; the
characteristics with the other voiced plosives, but it has a fronter articulation in the word
geese and a back articulation in the word got. The spelling is: g guy, bag; gg struggle,
23

baggage; gh ghost; x example, exhibition. It is silent in the group of letter (gh) sigh,
night, right and when it is followed by /n/ - reign, gnat.
The Glottal Stop / / is a plosive, glottal, fortis consonant. It is produced in the glottal
region, where the glottis is closed by bringing the vocal cords together. Then occurs the
separation of the vocal cords by openning the glottis, the air escapes with plosion. It is more a
silence than a sound, it is voiceless and it is considered to be fortis because of the higher
compression of the air and because its purpose is to reduce the length of a preceding long
vowel or diphthong. The glottal stop is not a very important sound in RP, it has small purposes
such as: it serves as a syllable boundary marker, when the second syllable begins with a vowel
(co-operate /k`pret/, sometimes precedes initial vowels when people hesitate when they
speak or in unstressed positions instead of /t/ (not yet /njet/).
THE FRICATIVE CONSONANTS. The vocal organs form a norrow, the air escapes with
friction because of this incomplete closure. The fricative consonants have several valuable
features. The place of articulation labio-dental consonants /f/, /v/; apico-alveolar
consonants /s/, /z/; apico-interdental //, //; palato-alveolar //, //; glottal /h/. The force of
articlation reveals fortis consonants (the muscular energy is biger /f/, //, /s/, / / and lenis
consonants (the muscular energy is smaller /v/, //, /z/, //). The fricative consonants
/v/, //, /z/, // are fully voiced in intervocalic position, while in initial or final position they
are partially or completely voiceless. The fortis consonants are always voiceless. /f/, //, /s/
and // inflence the length of the preceding vowel or diphthong.
The labio-dental fricatives /f, v/. The lower lip touches the upper teeth forcing the air in its
way out. The air escapes with friction. The vocal cords vibrate for /v/ but the breath effort is
greater for /f/. /v/ is neutralized to /f/ when occurs in initial position before a fortis consonant
(have to /hf t/, have some /hf sm/).
/f/ is a labiodental, fortis, voiceless, fricative consonant. The spelling is: f fine /fa n/, ff
buffalo; ph philosophy, triphthong; gh enough, rough. The word lieutenant is an
exceptional spelling. This consonant has a fronter articulation leaf, feature and a backer one
roof.
/v/ is a labiodental, lenis, voiced, fricative consonant. The spelling is the following: v ever,
have; ph Stephen, nephew; f only in the word of. When a noun ends on f or fe in the
singular, /f/ becomes /v/ in the plural: leaf leaves; shelf shelves; life lives; wolf
wolves.

24

The apico-interdental fricatives //, //. These two sounds are produced as a result of the
contact between the tip and the rims of the tongue with the edge and the inner surface of the
upper teeth. For // there are a small vibration of the vocal cords.
// is a dental, fortis, voiceless, fricative consonant. It has only one spelling, namely th. The
words which end in th in the plural have the pronunciation /s/ depending on the following
instances: when occurs after a short vowel (breaths), after a consonant (healths), after r
(births), and in other words such as heaths or faiths. // occurs in initial position in nouns,
adjectives, verbs, adverbs (thing, thank) and in all the words which begin with thr (three). It
also occurs in medial position in words on non-Germanic origin (author, method). In words of
Germanic origin th is pronounced // ( gather, whether). In final position th is almost always
pronounced // (bath); booth, smooth, with making the exception.
// is a dental, voiced, lenis, fricative consonant. The spelling is also th and occurs in all three
positions: initially in pronouns (this, they and also than, that), medially in words with
Germanic origin (father, northern) and finally when there is a mute e in the spelling (bathe,
breathe).
The alveolar fricatives /s/, /z/. The blade of the tongue is raised and is making a contact with
the teeth ridge, and the rims of the tongue are making a close contact with the upper teeth. The
air escapes with friction between the tongue and the alveolar ridge. The vocal cords vibrate
only for /z/. The soft palate is raised.
/s/ is an alveolar, fortis, voiceless, fricative consonant. The lips position depend on the
adjacent sounds; the sound is produced with spread lips in see, piece and with rounded lips in
soon, loose, soup. The spelling is: s, ss self /self/, missed; sc scientific; c, when is
followed by e, i, y ice, city, bicycle. In the words aisle, isle, corps /s/ is silent, iti si not
pronounced. The pronunciation of the letter s alternates between /s/ and /z/ and it is placed
in different positions (absurd, absolve, this, is). When s is representing the plural morpheme,
the third person singular or present tense in verbs, the pronunciation is /s/ after voiceless
consonants and /z/ after voiced consonants and vowels (roofs, plays, safes, lemons, cups,
orphans). When the words end in sive or sity, s is pronounced /s/ (conclusive, curiosity).
When ocurrs before a, i, v, u, y, the pronunciation is /s/ (gas, crisis, us). S is always
pronounced /s/ in adjectives and in nouns ending in se, and /z/ in verbs (use, use, refuse,
refuse, close, close). When the word ends in -lse, -nse, -pse, -rse the pronunciation is /s/
(pulse, immense, glimpse, course). The group ss it is usually pronounced /s/ (miss), but there
are exceptions such as desser, possess, scissors, dissolve.

25

/z/ is an alveolar, lenis, voiced, fricative consonant, which is partially voiceless when occurs
in initial and in final position. Spelling: z, zz zebra, fuzzy; es bases, buses; x exact,
example; s, when it represent the plural morpheme or the ending in verbs (days, says, was), in
nouns ending in s, ss, x, sh, ch, when the plural ending is es (foxes, glasses), in Greek proper
name which end in es (Euripides, Sophocles), in Latin nouns in the plural (axis axes) and
Greek nouns in the plural (analysis analyses).
The Palato-alveolar Fricatives //, //. The body of the tongue is raised and the teeth are
close together.
// is a palato-alveolar, fortis, voiceless friative consonant. The spelling is the following: sh
share, wish; s+ai mansion; c+ia special, musician; sci conscious, gracious; ti national,
partial; ce ocean; ss assure; ch, in words of French origin machine, champagne.
// is a palato-alveolar, lenis, voiced fricative consonant. The spelling is: sure pleasure,
measure; zure seizure; si occasion; s usual, casual; tion transition; ge, in French
borrowings beige, message.
The Glottal Fricative /h/. The air which ecapes from the lungs with pressure causes friction.
The soft palate is raised and all the organs of speech are ready to produce the following
vowel. /h/ has many positional allophones which correspond with the following vowel. /h/ in
hurt is the principal member of the phoneme, while /h/ in hit is a breaths /i/, the /h/ in hard a
breathes /a/, the /h/ in hook a breathes /u/ and so on.(Daniel Jones in Calina Gogalniceanu,
2003, 160).
/h/ is a glottal, fortis, voiceless, fricative consonant. The spelling is h (horse, house) and wh
(whole). /h/ is silent when occurs initially (hour, honour, honest, heir) and medially
(vehement, vehicle, nihilism). It is not pronounced when occurs after ex exhaust, exhibit
and after r rheumatism, rhapsody.
THE AFFRICATES CONSONANTS. They are produced by stopping the air and then
releasing slowly with friction. In English there are only two affricates, one is voiced /d /, and
the another one is voiceless /t/.
/d/ is a palato-alveolar, lenis, voiced affricate consonant. It occurs initially in joy, medially in
ledger and finally in Greenwich. The spelling is the following: j job, jump; g, when is
followed by e, i, y age, giant, gym; gg, dg, dj, di exaggerate, judgement, adjacent, sodier;
ch spinach. There is only one exceptional spelling, namely gaol.
/t/ is a palato-alveolar, fortis, voceless affricate consonant. It occurs initially in words such as
choose, medially in preacher and finally in teach. This affricate is different from the

26

combination t and (courtship). The spelling is: ch much, church; ture lecture, literature;
s+tion question, suggestion.
THE NASAL CONSONANTS /m/, /n/, //. The oral passage is totally blocked and the air is
forced to escape only through the nose, due the name nasals. They are voiced (the vocal cords
vibrate), continuants (they can be produce as long as the breath effort allow) and frictionless
(they are produced without friction).
/m/ is a bilabial, voiced, lenis, nasal consonant. The air is blocked by closing the lips, the air
escapes through the nose, the voca cords vibrate. It is partially devoiced when occurs after a
voiceless consonant (smoke, small) and it is labio-dental in the vecinity of /f/ (triumph). When
initial /m/ is followed by /n/ it is not pronounced (mnemonic). The spelling is: m mother,
mis; mm summer; mb tomb, comb. /m/ occurs initially (moon, mine), medially
(glamorous, coming) and finally (loom, broom).
/n/ is an alveolar, voiced, lenis, nasal consonant. The tip of the tongue touches the teeth ridge
and blocks the passage of the air. When is followed by /r/, there is a more retracted variant
of /n/ (enroll), and before /s/ it is partially devoiced (snooze). This consonant occurs initially
in nine, medially in influence and finally in loan. The spelling is n (net) and nn (dinner).
When /n/ occurs after /m/, it is silent (autumn, damn) but in the derivation of these words it is
pronounced (autumnal, damnation).
// is a velar, voiced, lenis, nasal consonant. The back of the tongue touches the soft palate,
the soft palate is lowered and the vocal cords vibrate. This consonant has a frontal articulation
(young) and a backer articulation (long). The lips are unrounded in sing and easily open in
song. The spelling is ng (sing, king) and nk (ink, anchor). When a final or medial /nk/ occurs
after a stressed syllable, it is always pronounced /k/ and when occurs after an unstressed
syllable, the pronuntiation can be /nk/ or /k/ (// - singer, belong; // or /g/ - youngish,
English; /g/ - longer, finger; /k/ - sink, blink; /nk/ or /k/ - conclusion, concussion; /nk/ or
/ng/ - unking, ungrateful).
THE LATERAL CONSONANT /l/. When a lateral consonant is pronounced occurs a partial
clossure of the air passage. The tip of the tongue touches the upper teeth ridge, the vocal cords
vibrate. The air escapes through the mouth, around the sides of the tongue.
/l/ is a voiced, alveolar, lateral consonant. There are some variants of /l/, namely: clear /l/, the
front of the tongue is raised and touches the hard palate, it occurs before /j/ and before vowels
leave, million; voiceless /l/, when it occurs after voiceless consonants, especially after /p/
and /k/ - plea, climb; dark /l/, the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate. Dark /l/
has a syllabic function when it occurs in final position, preceded or followed by a consonant
27

(fill, people, help). The syllabic /l/ occurs after: the plosive and affricate consonants /p/, /b/,
/t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /t/, /d/ (apple, kettle, tackle, giggle, cudgel). After fricatives there is a simple
dark /l/ or // + dark /l/ (parcel, measles, Ethel, bushel).
The lip position depends on the preceding or the following vowel (spread lips in leap, fill and
rounded in pool. The spelling for this consonant is l (lake, alarm) and ll (cellar, felling).
Silent /l/ occurs in the following groups: alf calf, half; ould could, would; alk talk, chalk;
ok folk, yolk; alm calm, psalm. /l/ is silent also in other groups of letters in words such as:
colonel, holm, Faulkner.
THE CONSONANTAL PHONEME /r/ (rhotic /r/). Daniel Jones considers the voiced postalveolar fricative /r/ to be the most usual English /r/. It is articulated by the tip of the tongue
against the back part of the teeth ridge, the main body of the tongue is low in the mouth, the
sound can be pronounced with a wide separation between the jaws. The soft palate is raised
and the vocal cords vibrate (Calina Gogalniceanu, 2003, 164). This rhotic /r/ has several
variants: fricative /r/, when it occurs after /d/ (drive); completely devoiced fricative /r/, when
it occurs after /p/, /t/, /k/ (pray, tray, cry) and partially devoiced fricative /r/, after the other
voiceless fortis consonants (thread, shrine); flapped /r/, when it occurs at the beginning of
unstressed syllables (very, period); linking /r/, when the word ends in /r/ and the following
word begins with a vowel /r/ is retained (near it). The spelling is r (road, grow) and rr (arrive,
arrow).
THE SEMI-CONSONANTS (SEMI-VOWELS) /j/ and /w/. They are based on the vowels //
and /u/ and have the acoustic characteristics of vowels but they are like consonnants from a
phonological point of view (the airflow is not obstructed, the aperture through which the air
escapes is narrower than for other vowels, but they appear where the consonants appear).
Both /j/ and /w/ are voiced (the vocal cords vibrate when the sound is produced). The article
an can precede a vowel while the article a can precede a consonant. The semi-consonants can
be preceded by the article a (not an), when they occur in initial position (a university, a
woman).
/j/ is unrounded, palatal, voiced and frictionless semi-consonant. Firstly, it has the position of
the vowel /i:/ or // and then moves to the position of the following vowel. The lips for /j/ are
spread or neutral. This semi-consonant is totally voiced after lenis consonants (view, beauty)
and devoiced after fortis consonants /p/, /t/, /k/, /h/ (pure, tune, cute). It occurs initially (jacht)
and medially (tube). The spelling is the following: y yoghurt, yes; i, e (followed by //)
opinion, familiar; u+consonant+vowel university, use; eu feud, eulogy, ew new, few. The
word beauty may be an exceptional spelling.
28

/w/ is rounded, labio-velar, non-fricative semi-consonant. It has the position for the vowel /u/
and then is moving to the position of the following sound. The lips are rounded and teh vocal
cords vibrate. It occurs in initial position (what) and in medial position (twist). When it is
following a fortis consonant, it is devoiced ( quiet, twin). The spelling: w, in initial position
where, want; w, after consonants sweet, twenty; u quality, language; oir memoir, choir.
The exceptional spellings are: one, once, persuade, assuage, suite. /w/ is silent in the
following words: two, answer, wrong, who, sword, write whole.
3.2.2 Romanian Consonants
They are classified according to three criteria: by the manner in which they are articulated,
there are: occlusive consonants (occurs an obstruction of the air passage) - /b/, /d/, /p/, /t/, /k/;
affricate consonants or semi-occlusive (they start with an obstruction and end with friction,
for instance the consonant /t/ which initially start with t and ends with s) or /d/ which
beggins with d and ends with j , fricative consonants (the air passage is blocked, but not
completely and the air escapes with friction) - /s/, /f/, /h/, /z/, /v/; nasal consonants (the air
passage is blocked and the air escapes partially or totally through the nose) - /m/, /n/; liquid
consonants (laterals /l/-the air escapes through the mouth, but around the sides of the tongue
and voiced consonants /r/-the tip of the tongue vibrate when the production of this consonant
occurs); the way of articulation reveals: bilabial consonants (the two lips are coming together
and make the obstruction-/p/, /b/, /m/), labiodental consonants (the lower lip tuches the upper
teeth-/f/, /v/); apico-dental consonants (the tip of the tongue touches the base of the upper
teeth-/d/, /t/, /s/, /z/, //, /r/, /n/, /l/); alveopalatal consonants (the blade of the tongue tuches the
alveolar ridge-//, /j/, /g/, /c/) and velar consonants (the back of the tongue touches the soft
palate-/k/, /g/, /h/. In terms of sonority, there are voiced consonants (/b/, /d/, /v/, /z/, /j/, /g/)
and voiceless consonants (/p/, /t/, /f/, /s/, //, /c/). In Romanian there are also consonantal
groups such as /ce, ci/, /ge, gi/, /che, chi/, /ghe, ghi/.
/p/ is an occlusive bilabial voiceless consonant. It is similar with the English /p/ in the word
speak /spi:k/. It occurs initially in words such as pat /pat/ (bad), medially in words such as
spate /`spa.te/ (back) and finally in words such as cap /kap/ (head).
/b/ is an occlusive bilabial voiced consonant. It is similar with the English /b/ in the word
boy /b/. It occurs in initial position in words such as ban /ban/ (money), in medial position in
words such as zbor /zbor/ (I fly) and in final position in words such as rob /rob/ (slave).
/t/ is an occlusive apico-dental voiceless consonant. It is similar with the English /t/ in the
word stop /stp/. This consonant occurs in all three main positions: initially in the word tare
29

/ta.re/ (hard), medially in the word stai /staj/ (you stay) and finally in the word sat /sat/
(village).
/d/ is an occlusive apico-dental voiced consonant. It is similar with the English /d/ in the word
day /de/. It occurs in initial position in the word dac /da.k/ (if), medial position in the word
vinde /vin.de/ (she sells) and in final position in the word cad /kad/ (I fall).
/k/ is an occlusive velar voiceless consonat. It is similar with the English /k/ in the word sky
/ska/. It occurs initially in the word cal /kal/ (horse), medially in the word ascund /a `kund/ (I
hide) and finally in the word sac /sak/ (sack).
/g/ is an alveopalatal voiced consonant. It is similar with the English /g/ in the word go / /.
It occurs in initial position in the word gol /ol/ (empty), medial position in the word pung /
pun./ (bag), and in final position in the word drag /dra/ (dear).
// is an apico-dental voiceless consonant. It is similar with the English / ts/ in the word nuts
/nts/. It occurs initially in the word ar /tsa.r/ (country), medially in the word a /a.ts/
(thread) and finally in the word so /sots/ (husband).
/t/ is a semi-occlusive voiceless consonant. It is similar with the English consonant /t/ in th e
word chin /tn/. It occurs in all three main positions : initially in the word cer /ter/ (sky),
medially

in

the

word

vacile /va.ti.le/ (the

cows)

and

finally

in

the

word

maci /matj/ (poppies).

/d/ is a semi-occlusive voived consonant. It is similar with the English /d / in the word jingle
/dl/. It occurs in initial position in the word ger /der/ (frost), in medial position in the
word magic /ma.dik/ (magical) and in final position in the word rogi /rod/ (you ask).
/m/ is a nasal bilabial voiced consonant. It is similar with the English consonant /m/ in the
word man /mn/. It occurs initially in the word mic /mik/ (small), medially in the word
amar /amar/ (bitter) and finally in the word pom /pom/ (tree).
/n/ is a nasal apico-dental voiced consonant. It is similar with the English sound /n/ in the
word name /nem/. It occurs in initial position in words such as nor /nor/ (cloud), medial
position in words such as inel /i`nel/ (ring) and in final position in words such as
motan /mo`tan/ (tomcat).
/f/ is a fricative labiodental voiceless consonant. It is similar with the English consonant /t/ in
the word fine /fan/. It occurs initially in the word foc /fok/ (fire), medialy in the word afar /a
fa.r/ (out) and finally in the word pantof /pantof/ (shoe).
/v/ is a fricative labiodental voiced consonant. It is similar with the English /v/ in the word
voice /vs/. It occurs in all three main positions, initially, medially and finally ( val /val/
means wave, covor /kovor/ means carpet, mov /mov/ means mauve).
30

/s/ is a fricative apico-dental voiceless consonant. It is similar with the English /s/ in the word
sound /sand/. It occurs in initial position in sare /sa.re/ (salt), medial position in case /
ka.se/ (houses) and in final position in ales /ales/ (chosen).
/z/ is a fricative apico-dental voiced consonant. It is similar with the English consonant /z/ in
the word zone /zn/. It occurs initially in the word zid /zid/ (wall), medially in the word
mazre /ma.z.re/ (pea) and finally in the word orez /orez/ (rice).
// is an alveopalatal voiceless consonant and it is similar with the English / / in the word
shy /a/. This consonant occurs in initial position in words such as arpe /ar.pe/ (snake), in
medil position in words such as aa /aa/ (so) and in final position in words such as ora /o
ra/ (city).
/j/ is an alveopalatal voiced consonant which it is similar with the English consonant / / in the
word measure /me/. It occurs initially in jar /ar/ (embers), medially in ajutor /a.u
tor/ (help) and finally in vrej /vre/ (stalk).
/h/ is an fricative velar consonant. It is quite similar with the English consonant /h/ in the
word hope /hp/. It occurs in all three main positions : initial in horn /horn/ (chimney),
medial in pahar /pahar/ (glass) and final in duh /duh/ (spirit).
/l/ is a liquid apico-dental voiceless consonant which is similar with the English consonant /l/
in the word like /lak/. It occurs in initial position in the word lung /lun/( long), medial
position in alun /alu.n/ (hazelnut) and in final position in fel /fel/ (sort).
/r/ is a lateral apico-dental voiced consonant. It occurs

initially in the word repede /

re.pe.de/ (quickly), medially in the word tren /tren/ (train) and finally in the word
mr /mr/ (apple).

31

4. ENGLISH-ROMANIAN SUPRASEGMENTAL CONTRASTS

4.1 English and Romanian Stress Patterns
As vowels and consonants make a contrast between English and Romanian, another contrast
is due to stress patterns.
In a word which is formed by many syllables, one syllable is more prominent than the
others. This prominence it is called stress ar accent and consists in a higher degree of pitch,
higher loudness and longer duration. Prominence is important to express different lexical
meanings or distinctive grammatical classes. Stress is described by Daniel Jones as the
degree of force with which a sound or a syllable is uttered. Stress implies a relatively great
breath effort and muscular energy. Roger Kindon defines stress as the relative degree of force
used by a speaker on various syllables when he is uttering them. He indicates three degrees of
stress: 1. Primary/ Strong/ Main/ Principal; 2/ Secondary/ Half Strong/ Medium; 3. Weak or
Unstressed(Gogalniceanu Calina, 2003, 218). There is important to remember the three
degrees of stress, namely strong stress, secondary strees and weak stress (which characterizes
the unstressed syllables). When one syllable is more prominent than the other syllables there
is a phonetic stress, but also exist a phonological stress (lexical stress). This lexical stress has
two different positions which divides European languages in two categories: one category
which has a determined lexical stress (for instance, in French the stress occurs in the last
syllable, in Finnish and Czech in the first syllable and in Polish in penultimate syllable), and
the second category with languages that have variable lexical stress, namely in English,
Romanian, Italian and Greek ( `mother `mama; im`possible impo`sibil). The quality of sounds
influence the prominence of a syllable, so that the vowels are more prominent than
consonants. The open vowels are more prominent than the other ones and the fricative
consonants are more prominent than the plosive consonants. The long vowels //, // and the
diphthongs give some prominence in the syllable in which they occur, for example in the
word canteen /kn`ti:n/ the first syllable is more prominent

than in the word

contain /kn`tein/. The sound quantity is similar to the secondary stress. Generally, the long
vowels and the diphthongs make the syllable more prominent. The longer the sound the more
prominent it is, even in unstressed syllables.
Stress may occurs in simple words, derivative words and also compund words.
Stress in simple words takes place in words which have two syllables, one is definitely
accented. The stress may be on the first syllable (mother /`m/) or on the second syllable
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(idea /a`di/). The stress pattern of a word is given by the succession of stressed and
unstressed syllables which determines the rhythm of the word. For practical purposes
(teaching and learning), the most prominent syllable in a word may be rendered in upper case
or in bold characters. (Nicolae Adina Oana, 2011, 109-110). In verbs the rule is that if the
second syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong, or if it ends with more than one
consonant, then the second syllable is stressed: apply /`pl/, arrive /`riv/, attract /`tr kt/.
If the final syllable has a short vowel and one or no final consonant, the first syllable is
stressed: enter /`ent/, open /`pn/, equal /`i:kwl/. A final syllable containing the
diphthong // is not stressed: follow /`fl/, borrow /`br/. Words as per`mit or ad`mit
may be considered to be exceptions to these rules. Adjectives are stressed according to the
sme rules that are valid for verbs. In nouns where the second syllable has a short vowel the
stress occurs on the first syllable: money /`mn/, moment /`mmnt/. Other wise stress falls
on the second syllable: estate /`stet/, baloon /b`lu:n/.(Gogalniceanu Calina, 2003, 219).
In a disyllabic word the strong stress may occur on both syllables in double-stressed words
such as sixteen /`sks`ti:n/, prepaid /`pri:`ped/. When a disyllabic word has a prefix with no
meaning, the stress falls on the second syllable: begin /b`gn/, pronounce /pr`n : ns/. In
words of three syllables, the stress occurs usually on the first syllable (yesterday /`jestd ) but
some words have the stress on the second syllable (important /m`p:tnt). The stress occurs
on the penultimate syllable in verbs which contain a short vowel in the last syllable
(e`xamine). When the last syllable ends in a long vowel ar diphthong, the stress falls on the
ast syllable (resur`rect). The same rule applies to adjectives, the stress is on the penultimate
syllable in words which cointain a short vowel in the last syllable (im`plicit, dy`namic). When
the last syllable has a long vowel ar diphthong, the stress occurs in the first syllable
(`prominent). In nouns, the stress is on the penultimate syllable in the following cases: when
the last syllable contains a short vowel or a diphthong, when the penultimate syllable has a
long vowel or diphthong and when contains more than one consonant (um`brella, di`saster,
mu`seum). There is also an exception, when the last syllable has a short vowel, the middle
syllable contains also a short vowel with only one consonant, the stress falls on the first
syllable (`quality, `cinema). In words of four syllables, the stress may occur in all four
syllables: in the first syllable in words such as melancholy ( /`melnkl / ), in the second
syllable in the words such as photography ( /f`tgrf/ ), in the third syllable in the words
such as diplomatic ( /dpl`mtk/ ), and in the last syllable in words such as misunderstand
( /misnd`stnd/. In the words of five syllables, the stress falls on the second syllable in
administrative /ad`mnstrtv/, on the third syllable in aristocracy / ris`tkrs/ and in the
33

fourth syllable in affiliation /fl`en/. In words of six syllables, the stress is on the third
syllable in ceremoniously /ser`mnsl/, on the fourth syllable in impossibility
/mps`blt/ and on the fifth syllable in autobiographic /:tba`grfk/.

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