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ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY

ISLAMABAD

Name: Shaukat Hussain Afridi

Registration No:
Roll No:
Programme: PGD TEFL
Assignment / Subject: Phonology (5658)
Submitted by: Shaukat Hussain Afridi
Submitted to :
Date: 19th September……………..
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PHONETICS

Q.1: Explain the manners of articulation of the following consonant

sounds: labiodental, Alveolar, Palatal, Velar, Glottal

Ans: Manners of articulation

So far, we have concentrated on describing consonant sounds in terms of
where they are articulated. We can also describe the same sounds in terms of
how they are articulated. Such a description is necessary if we want to be able
to differentiate between some sounds which we have placed in the same
category. For example, we can say that [t] and [s] are both voiceless alveolar
sounds. How do they differ? They differ in their manner of articulation, that is,
in the way they are pronounced. The [t] sound is one of a set of sounds called
stops and the [s] sound is one of a set called fricatives.
Stops (plosives)
Of the sounds we have already mentioned, the set [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g] are all
produced by some form of ‘stopping’ of the airstream (very briefly) then letting
it go abruptly. This type of consonant sound, resulting from a blocking or
Shopping effect on the airstream, is called a stop (or a ‘plosive’). A full
description of the [t] sound at the beginning of a word like ten is as a voiceless
alveolar stop. In some discussions, only the manner of articulation is
mentioned, as when it is said that the word bed, for example, begins and ends
with voiced stops.
Fricatives
The manner of articulation used in producing the set of sounds [f], [v], [θ], [d],
[s], [z], [ʃ], [_] involves almost blocking the airstream and having the air push
through the very narrow opening. As the air is pushed through, a type of
friction is produced and the resulting sounds are called fricatives. If you put
your open hand in front of your mouth when making these sounds, [f] and [s]
in particular, you should be able to feel the stream of air being pushed out. The
usual pronunciation of the word fish begins and ends with the voiceless
fricatives [f] and [ʃ]. The word those begins and ends with the voiced fricatives
[d] and [z].
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Affricates
If you combine a brief stopping of the airstream with an obstructed release
which causes some friction, you will be able to produce the sounds [tʃ] and
[d_]. These are called affricates and occur at the beginning of the words cheap
and jeep. In the first of these, there is a voiceless affricate [tʃ], and in the
second, a voiced affricate [d_].
Nasals
Most sounds are produced orally, with the velum raised, preventing airflow
from entering the nasal cavity. However, when the velum is lowered and the
airstream is allowed to flow out through the nose to produce [m], [n], and [ŋ],
the sounds are described as nasals. These three sounds are all voiced. The
words morning, knitting and name begin and end with nasals.
Liquids
The initial sounds in led and red are described as liquids. They are both
voiced. The [l] sound is called a lateral liquid and is formed by letting the
airstream flow around the sides of the tongue as the tip of the tongue makes
contact with the middle of the alveolar ridge. The [r] sound at the beginning of
red is formed with the tongue tip raised and curled back near the alveolar
ridge.
Glides
The sounds [w] and [j] are described as glides. They are both voiced and occur
at the beginning of we, wet, you and yes. These sounds are typically produced
with the tongue in motion (or ‘gliding’) to or from the position of a vowel and
are sometimes called semi-vowels or approximants.
The sound [h], as in Hi or hello, is voiceless and can be classified as a glide
because of the way it combines with other sounds. In some descriptions, it is
treated as a fricative.
The glottal stop and the flap
There are two common terms used to describe ways of pronouncing
consonants.
The glottal stop, represented by the symbol [ʔ], occurs when the space
between the vocal cords (the glottis) is closed completely (very briefly), then
released. Try saying the expression Oh oh. Between the first Oh and the
second oh, we typically produce a glottal stop. Some people do it in the middle
of Uh-uh (meaning ‘no’), and others put one in place of t when they pronounce
Batman quickly. You can also produce a glottal stop if you try to say the words
butter or bottle without pronouncing the -tt- part in the middle. This sound is
considered to be characteristic of Cockney (London) speech. (Try saying the
name Harry Potter as if it didn’t have the H or the tt.) You will also hear glottal
stops in the pronunciation of some Scottish speakers and also New Yorkers.
If, however, you are an American English speaker who pronounces the word
butter in a way that is close to ‘budder’, then you are making a flap. It is
represented by [D] or sometimes [ɾ]. This sound is produced by the tongue tip
tapping the alveolar ridge briefly. Many American English speakers have a
tendency to ‘flap’ the [t] and [d] consonants between vowels so that, in casual
speech, the pairs latter and ladder, writer and rider, metal and medal do not
have distinct middle consonants. They all have flaps. The student who was
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told about the importance of Plato in class and wrote it in his notes as play-
dough was clearly a victim of a misinterpreted flap

1. Labiodental consonant:

Labiodentals are consonants for which the flow of air is restricted by the lips
and teeth. Labiodentals may be voiced (vocal cords vibrating during the
articulation of the consonant) or voiceless (vocal cords not vibrating during
the articulation of the consonant). There are two labiodentals in Present-Day
English.

1. /f/ (the phoneme spelled f in fine): voiceless labiodental fricative.

2. /v/ (the phoneme spelled v in vine): voiced labiodental fricative.

Labiodental consonant in IPA

The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet

are:

IPA Description Example

Language Orthography IPA Meaning
p voiceless Greek σάπυειρος [ˈsapfiros] sapphire
labiodental stop
b voiced labiodental Sika Allophone of /ⱱ/ in careful
stop pronunciation.
pf voiceless Tsonga N/A [tiɱpfuβu] 'hippos'
labiodental affricate
bv voiced labiodental Tsonga N/A [ʃilebvu] 'chin'
affricate
ɱ labiodental nasal English symphony [ˈsɪɱfəni] 'symphony'
f voiceless English Fan [fæn] 'fan'
labiodental fricative
v voiced labiodental English Van [væn] 'van'
fricative
ʋ labiodental Dutch Wang [ʋɑŋ] 'cheek'
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approximant
ⱱ labiodental flap Mono Vwa [ⱱa] 'send'
labiodental click Nǁng oe [ oe] meat

2. Alveolar consonant:

Alveolar consonants are consonant sounds that are produced with the tongue
close to or touching the ridge behind the teeth on the roof of the mouth. The
name comes from alveoli - the sockets of the teeth. The consonant sounds /t/,
/n/ and /d/ are all alveolar consonants.

Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the
superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the
sockets) of the superior teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated with the
tip of the tongue (the apical consonants), as in English, or with the flat of the
tongue just above the tip (the "blade" of the tongue; called laminal
consonants), as in French and Spanish. The laminal alveolar articulation is
often mistakenly called dental, because the tip of the tongue can be seen near
to or touching the teeth. However, it is the rearmost point of contact that
defines the place of articulation; this is where the oral cavity ends, and it is the
resonant space of the oral cavity that gives consonants and vowels their
characteristic timbre.

Alveolar consonants in IPA

Alveolar consonants are transcribed in the IPA as follows:

IPA Description Example

Language Orthography IPA Meaning in
English
alveolar nasal English Run [ɹʌn] run
voiceless alveolar English Stop [stɒp] stop
stop
voiced alveolar stop English Debt [dɛt] debt
voiceless alveolar English Suit [suːt] suit
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fricative
voiced alveolar English Zoo [zuː] zoo
fricative
voiceless alveolar German Zeit [tsaɪt] time
affricate
voiced alveolar Italian Zaino [ˈdzaino] backpack
affricate
voiceless alveolar Welsh Llwyd [ɬʊɪd] grey
lateral fricative
voiced alveolar Zulu Dlala [ˈɮálà] to play
lateral fricative

3. Palatal consonant:

A palatal consonant is a consonant that is pronounced with the body (the

middle part) of the tongue against the hard palate (which is the middle part of
the roof of the mouth). There is only one palatal consonant in English which is
[j], which is the sound for "y" in the English word "yes".

A palatal consonant is a consonant that is pronounced with the body (the

middle part) of the tongue against the hard palate (which is the middle part of
the roof of the mouth). There is only one palatal consonant in English which is
[j], which is the sound for "y" in the English word "yes". The most common
palatal consonant used in the world is [j].

Palatal consonant in IPA

These are the palatal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet:

IPA Description Example

Language Orthography IPA Meaning
palatal nasal French Agneau [aɲo] lamb
voiceless palatal Hungarian Hattyú [hɒcːuː] swan
plosive
voiced palatal Latvian Ģimene [ɟimene] family
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plosive
voiceless palatal German Nicht [nɪçt] not
fricative
voiced palatal Spanish Yema [ʝema] egg yolk
fricative
palatal English Yes [jɛs] yes
approximant
palatal lateral Italian Gli [ʎi] the
approximant (masculine
plural)
voiced palatal Swahili Hujambo [huʄambo] hello
implosive
palatal click Nǁng ǂoo [ǂoo] man, male

4. Velar Consonant:

A velar consonant is a consonant that is pronounced with the back part of the
tongue against the soft palate, also known as the velum, which is the back part
of the roof of the mouth. Velar consonants in English are [k], [g] and [ŋ]. The
consonant [k] is the most common in all human languages.

Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the
dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known
also as the velum).

Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive and the
movements of the dorsum are not very precise, velars easily undergo
assimilation, shifting their articulation back or to the front depending on the
quality of adjacent vowels. They often become automatically fronted, that is
partly or completely palatal before a following front vowel, and retracted, that
is partly or completely uvular before back vowels.
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Palatalised velars (like English /k/ in keen or cube) are sometimes referred to
as palatovelars. Many languages also have labialized velars, such as [kʷ], in
which the articulation is accompanied by rounding of the lips. There are also
labial-velar consonants, which are doubly articulated at the velum and at the
lips, such as [kp]. This distinction disappears with the approximant [w] since
labialization involves adding of a labial approximant articulation to a sound,
and this ambiguous situation is often called labiovelar.

A velar trill or tap is not possible: see the shaded boxes on the table of
pulmonic consonants. In the velar position, the tongue has an extremely
restricted ability to carry out the type of motion associated with trills or taps,
and the body of the tongue has no freedom to move quickly enough to
produce a velar trill or flap.[1]

The velar consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

IPA Description Example

Language Orthography IPA Meaning
velar nasal English ring [ɹʷɪŋ] ring
voiceless velar stop English skip [skɪp] skip
voiced velar stop English Get [ɡɛt] get
voiceless velar German Bauch [baʊx] abdomen
fricative
voiced velar Greek γάτα [ˈɣata] cat
fricative
voiceless labio- English which[note 1] [ʍɪtʃ] which
velar approximant
velar approximant Spanish pagar[note 2] [paˈɰaɾ] to pay
velar lateral Mid-Wahgi aʟaʟe [aʟaʟe] dizzy
approximant
voiced labio-velar English witch [wɪtʃ] witch
approximant
kʼ velar ejective stop Archi кIан [kʼan] bottom
ɠ voiced velar Sindhi gəro/‫ڳ رو‬ [ɠəro] heavy
implosive
ʞ back-released velar (paralinguistic)
click

5. Glottal consonant:
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Glottal consonants are consonants using the glottis as their primary

articulation. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the glottal fricative,
to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other
consonants have, while some do not consider them to be consonants at all.

Glottal consonants are consonants using the glottis as their primary

articulation. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the glottal fricative,
to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other
consonants have, while some do not consider them to be consonants at all.
However, glottal consonants behave as typical consonants in many
languages. For example, in Literary Arabic, most words are formed from a root
C-C-C consisting of three consonants, which are inserted into templates such
as /CaːCiC/ or /maCCuːC/. The glottal consonants /h/ and /ʔ/ can occupy any of
the three root consonant slots, just like "normal" consonants such as /k/ or /n/.

Glottal consonant in IPA

Glottal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet:

IPA2 Description Example

Language Orthography IPA Meaning
ʔ glottal stop Hawaiian ‘okina [ʔo.ˈki.na] ʻOkina
ɦ breathy-voiced glottal Czech Praha [ˈpra.ɦa] Prague
"fricative"
H voiceless glottal English Hat [ˈhæt] hat
"fricative"
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B: Fill in the following chart with the missing words.

Ans:

Q.2: Explain the difference between the following concepts.

Ans:

1. Letters and sounds

We often tend to think about English in terms of the written language, because
of its importance in our society and in our education system. However, spoken
language is really much more basic to us as human beings:

 We learn to talk with others as very young children, just through social
interactions, long before we go to school and make special efforts to
learn to read and write.
 In terms of history, spoken languages existed first, and writing was
developed later as a way to record spoken language. In fact, many
languages in the world today are spoken but have no written form.

When we talk about spelling, we need to keep in mind the difference between
the written language and the spoken language. It’s important to be clear about
the difference between letters and sounds – how we write words and how we
say them. For example:

 There are 26 letters in the English alphabet.

 But in spoken English we use around 44 different sounds (the number
varies slightly depending on our accent).

This means that the 26 letters have to be used to represent a much larger
number of sounds. So sounds and letters don’t always match up neatly.

We also need to be careful in using the terms vowel and consonant. Often,
these terms are used to talk about the letters of the alphabet:
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 The letters a, e, i, o, u are often said to be vowels.

 The other letters of the alphabet (b, c, d, f etc.) are often said to be
consonants.

However, the same terms are also used to talk about sounds. Here it will be
helpful to think briefly about how we make the sounds of our language.

When we talk, we use our vocal organs – parts of our mouth and throat, such
as our lips, teeth, tongue and larynx (voice box). This whole area of the body is
called the vocal tract.

 To make a consonant sound, we position some of our vocal organs

together or close to each other. For example, our lips come together
when we make the first sound in the word pie.
 To make a vowel sound, we position the vocal organs further apart. The
vocal tract is more open. For example, the word I is pronounced as a
vowel sound (the same one as the second sound in pie).

Together, vowel sounds and consonant sounds make up syllables. A syllable

typically has one vowel sound as its core, and it may have one or more
consonants as well. A syllable forms one beat in the rhythm of speech. For
example:

 These words all have one syllable: I, tie, print, on, ant.
 These words all have two syllables: inner, target, pillow, expect, lion.
 And these all have three syllables: happiness, terrible, amusing,
frustration, exhausted.

Consonant sounds come at the edges of a syllable. They can come in

sequences of two or more, e.g. in train, lisp, strand.

Now that we have discussed vowel sounds and consonant sounds, let’s see
how they relate to letters. We’ll look at vowels first.

Certainly, each of the letters a, e, i, o or u can be used to represent a vowel

sound. But there are many more than five vowel sounds in English – around
twenty, in fact! This means there are some complications.

First, we sometimes use two of these letters together to write one vowel
sound, e.g. beach, shout, coin, loop. These words each have only one syllable
(one beat). Compare lion, where the two vowel letters spell two vowel sounds,
giving two syllables (two beats).

A second complication is the ‘magic e’ that is often found at the end of a word,
e.g. in mate. This e is not pronounced as a separate vowel – instead, it acts as
a useful indicator telling us how to pronounce the vowel before the final
consonant. For instance, compare mat and mate – both one syllable, but with
different vowel sounds.
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Third, some of the ‘consonant letters’ are sometimes used to write or help
write vowel sounds:

 The letter y represents a vowel sound in syllable, party.

 The letters w and y help to represent vowel sounds by combining with
other letters in throw, play.

There are other words where y and w represent consonant sounds:

 yellow, yes, young

 wave, wonderful, wise

In fact these sounds are not typical consonant sounds – they are somewhat
vowel-like consonant sounds because the vocal organs do not come very
close together in making them. However, they behave as consonants – they
don’t form the core of a syllable.

Let’s look now at other consonant sounds. There are a few complications here
too in the way that letters relate to sounds.

Sometimes two or more consonant letters are used to represent a single

consonant sound:

 th in teeth, sh in shower, ch in chew, tch in hatch

Consonant doubling is often used to indicate that the preceding vowel is short
(rather than that the consonant is long). Compare, for example:

 shaming (long a sound), shamming (short a sound)

 doting (long o sound), dotting (short o sound)

The single letter x represents a sequence of two consonant sounds: a k sound

and an s sound, e.g. box sounds like ‘boks’.

Because of this peculiarity of x, it is excluded from doubling patterns. For

example, box has a short o sound, but we don’t double the x in boxing.

2. Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, but there are 39 sounds (15 vowel
sounds and 24 consonant sounds) produced by these letters. (see vowel and
consonant sections).

A vowel is a sound where air coming from the lungs is not blocked by the
mouth or throat. All normal English words contain at least one vowel.
The vowels are:
A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y.
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'Y' can also behave as a consonant when it is at the beginning of a word.

A consonant is a sound formed by stopping the air flowing through the mouth.
The consonants are:
B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, Z
All the sounds produced in the English are either voiced or voiceless. Voiced
sounds occur when the vocal cords vibrate when the sound is produced.
There is no vocal cord vibration when producing voiceless sounds. To test
this, place your finger tips hand on your throat as you say the sounds. When
saying the voiced sounds, you should be able to feel a vibration. When saying
the voiceless sounds you sound not be able to feel a vibration.

Sometimes it is very difficult to feel the difference between a voiced and

voiceless sound. Another test may help. Put a piece of paper in front of your
mouth when saying the sounds- the paper will should move when saying the
unvoiced sounds.

All vowels in English are voiced. Some of the consonant sounds are voiced
and some are voiceless. Some of the consonant sounds produced in English
are very similar. Many times the difference between them is because one is
voiced and the other is voiceless. Two examples are 'z', which is voiced and
's', which is voiceless. See the chart below for a listing of the voiced and
voiceless consonants.

Voiced consonants Voiceless consonant

Sounds Sounds

b p
d t
g k
v f
z s
th th
sz sh
j ch
l h
m
n
ng
r
w
y
3. A vowel and a consonant
All sounds are made by air moving through the mouth. How the sound is then
manipulated makes it either a vowel or a consonant.

Vowels are formed by air being directed at either the front of the mouth, the
middle of the mouth, or the back of the mouth, with your lower jaw dropped or
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raised: front of the mouth and jaw raised is /i/ as in "he." Front and jaw
lowered half-way is /e/ as in "hey." Front and lowered is /ae/ as in "had." Jaw
lowered, formed in the middle of the mouth is /a/ as in "ha!" Jaw raised half-
way, formed in the middle, is "uh" as in the A in "ago" or "sofa." Back of the
mouth and jaw raised is /u/ as in "who." Back of the mouth and jaw lowered
half-way is /o/ as in "hoe." In between these articulations are the "short"
vowels. For example, in between the formation of /i/ and /e/ is the short-i, as in
"hit." In between /e/ and /ae/ is the short-e, as in "head." In between /a/ and /o/
is the short-o, as in "hog" (assuming you don't pronounce it as "hahg" but
rather "hawg.") Between /o/ and /u/ is the short-u, as in "hood." There you have
the vowels.

You can manipulate sound by stopping it, as with the lips when you say "hip."
And if you vibrate your voice and form the same sound, you'll have "rib." You
can stop the sound with your tongue placed behind your teeth and say "hit."
Vibrate your voice and it's "hid." Direct the air to the roof of your mouth and
you'll have "hick." Vibrate your voice for "rig."

Or you can manipulate the sound by not stopping it. For example, "wreath" in
which the sound is directed at the upper front of the mouth (for /i/), and exits
the mouth with your tongue between your teeth. (Vibrate the sound for the /th/
sound in "bathe.") Or your tongue can force the air to exit your mouth from
behind your teeth, as in "hiss." (Vibrate to make the /z/ sound in "his.") Move
the tip of your tongue further back to the roof of your mouth to make the /sh/
sound in "wish." (Vibrate to make the /zh/ sound in "beige.") Add a /t/ in
conjunction with /sh/ to make the /ch/ sound in "rich." Add a /d/ in conjunction
with /zh/ to make the J sound in "ridge." Let the sound exit your mouth with
your lower lip against your upper front teeth and you get "laugh." Vibrate for
"love." Close your lips for /m/ as in "hum." Notice your voice vibrates
naturally? There is no "devoiced" /m/ in English. Also notice that the sounds
mentioned in this paragraph can be continual as long as you have air exciting
your mouth. That is to say, take a deep breath and say "love," holding on to
the /v/. You can make a continual /v/ sound as long as you have air exiting
your lungs. You can't do that with the sounds from the paragraph before this
one. Once you've stopped the sound with your lips in saying "hip," the sound
does not continue.

Finally, there are nasals (/n/ and /ng/), laterals (/l/ and /r/), "approximates" (/w/
and /y/), a glottal (the sound Americans make when saying "button" without
making a /t/ sound) and a laryngeal /h/, but to explain these is more
complicated, and probably goes beyond answering your question.
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Vowels are formed in specific spots in your mouth; consonants are a

manipulation of sound.

4. Vowels and diphthongs

The word "diphthong" comes from Greek words meaning "two sounds." That
pretty much tells you the difference between diphthongs and vowels.

Pure vowels have just one sound. When such a vowel is spoken, the tongue
remains still.

By contrast, diphthongs have two sounds and the tongue must move while
moving from one sound to the other. A diphthong starts with one vowel sound
and then glides to the other. Many diphthongs are made with two letters (like
"look" and "coin") but others can have only one letter (like "ride" and "fine").

Vowel is a single sound of a particular type - it is an open sound which is

made with free passage of breath. For example the sound of "ah...' a doctor
asks you to make when examining your throat. Articulation of a vowel is not
accompanied by any closure or narrowing in the speech tract which would
prevent the escape of the air stream through the mouth.

In English language sounds of vowels are represented by the letters a, e, i, o,

u, and sometimes w and y. Sound of vowels is distinguished from that of
consonants, which are made by organs of speech more or less closed.

Once we understand what is a vowel, a diphthong can simply be defined is

sound produced by pronouncing two vowels as a single syllable. A diphthong
has a starting point as one vowel and the tongue glides in the direction of the
second vowel. The change in sound required for diphthong can also be
achieved by change in shape of lips. An example of diphthong is the word kite,
where the syllable after the letter k starts with sound of a as in far, and then
changes in sound of e as in be. The combination of letters ei in the word
height produce similar sound. The letters ou in the word sound represent
diphthong with a different sound.

In English language presence of two letters representing vowels generally

spell a diphthong. But there are exception to this rule. For example the "oo" in
spelling of book and "ai" in spelling of paid represents singles sounds that do
not require change in position of tongue or lips in between pronunciation of
these sounds. Vowels like these are sometime called long vowels. For example
the word mat is pronounced with a short vowel, and the word mate uses the
long version of the same vowel. In some words a single letter representing
vowels is used to spell a diphthong - for example, the letter i in the word light.

5. A phoneme and an allophone

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A phoneme is a unit of sound in a language that cannot be analysed into

smaller linear units and that can distinguish one word from another.

Phonemes are often presented surrounded by // in transcription (e.g. /p/ and /b/
in English pat, bat).

So /p/ and /b/ are two phonemes because they can distinguish between the
words "pat" and "bat". /c/ is another, because it distinguishes the word "cat"
from "pat" and "bat".

Allophones are any of the variants making up a single phoneme.

So, for example, you might pronounce the letter "T" differently in the two
words "stand" and "tip". A common test to determine whether two phones are
allophones or separate phonemes relies on finding minimal pairs: words that
differ by only the phones in question. For example, the words tip and dip
illustrate that [t] and [d] are separate phonemes, /t/ and /d/, in English.

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in speech. When children first begin
to read, we teach that phonemes have distinctive sounds that are represented
by letters and that each phoneme carries distinct word meaning. For example,
the word 'cat' has three phonemes, 'c' 'a' and 't', but if 'c' is changed for the
other phoneme 'mat', the meaning of the word changes.

Allophones are variations in the realization (or sound) of phonemes, like the
different pronunciations of the phoneme 't' in the word 'tar' and the word
'letter', where the 't' allophone (sound) is softened to a 'd' sound. Allophones
do not indicate a change in the meaning of the word, nor do they indicate a
change in the phoneme used to make up the word.

A difference between the two is that changing the phoneme changes the
meaning of the word, whereas changing the allophone changes the sound of
the realization of word but does not change the meaning of the word.

============================================================

Q.3: Convert the following transcribed passage into plan

(alphabetic) text.
Ans:
Phonology is often distinguished from phonetics. While phonetics concerns
with physical prediction, acoustic transmission and perception of the sounds
of aspect, phonology describes the sounds function within a given language
or across languages to encode meaning. For many linguists, phonetics
belongs to descriptive linguistics and phonology to theoretical linguistics,
also stabling the phonological system of a language is essentially an
application of oriental principles to analysis of phonetics evidence not that
this distinction was not always made particularly before the development of
the modern concept of the phoneme in the mid-20th century. Some civilizes of
17 | P a g e

modern phonology have a crossover with phonetics in descriptive disciplines

such as psycholinguistics and aspect perception resulting in specific areas
like articulatory phonology or laboratory phonology.

Q.4.What is diphthongs? Explain and exemplify the

diphthongs that:
i. Glide towards /I/
ii. Glide towards /ʊ/
iii. Glide towards /ᵊ/
Ans: Diphthong:
In phonetics, a diphthong is a vowel in which there is a noticeable sound
change within the same syllable. (In contrast, a single or simple vowel is
known as a monophthong.) Adjective: diphthongal.

The process of moving from one vowel sound to another is called gliding, and
thus another name for diphthong is gliding vowel. Also known as a compound
vowel, a complex vowel, and a moving vowel.

A sound change that turns a single vowel into a diphthong is called

diphthongization.

Laurel J. Brinton points out that "a diphthong is not necessarily longer (does
not take more time to articulate) than a monophthong, though dipthongs are
frequently, and erroneously, called 'long vowels' in school" (The Structure of
Modern English, 2000).

Etymology
From the Greek, "two sounds"

Examples and Observations

 "If you say the words hat and lip, you can hear that the vowel sound in
each is singular in nature; that is, each contains only one kind of sound.
But if you say the words out, bite, and toil, you will hear that the vowel
sound of each, though restricted to one syllable, is composed of two
different kinds of sound. These dual vowels are called diphthongs
(literally, 'two voices' or 'two sounds'), as opposed to the singular
vowels, which are monophthongs ('one voice' or 'one sound')."
(Thomas E. Murray, The Structure of English. Allyn and Bacon, 1995)
 The most important thing about diphthongs in English is that they are
not simply two vowels that go together, but one long vowel where the
pronunciation changes from the beginning to the end. To be more
precise, the pronunciation changes a bit at the end. Long vowels have
18 | P a g e

the same sound at the beginning and at the end, diphthongs change at
the end:
 - long vowel: = /ɑ ɑ ɑ / - diphthong: =/ɑɑɪ/
 But the change in pronunciation at the end is very little, so more exactly,
what we pronounce is:
 The same thing counts for triphthongs, only that we have not one
change of sound at the end, but two.
 - triphthong 1 (as in FIRE): = / ɑ ɑ j ə / - pronunciation:
 - triphthong 2 (as in HOUR): = / ɑ ɑ w ə / - pronunciation:
 But in modern English, both American and British, both triphthongs are
changing into the same diphthong, with only one last change:
 NOTE: Some people go one step farther and change them into one
single long vowel, so both triphthongs can be pronounced: . For
people who pronounce triphthongs like this, the pair of words "far - fire"
or "tar - tower" sound exactly the same; don't do this if your
pronunciation of English is not as fluent and precise as that of a native
speaker (or else it might be too confusing).
 This is the table with modern diphthongs and triphthongs:

SYMBOL
phone
NAME Day Fine boy house beer chair hour fire
*
REAL
PRONUNCIATION

 In all these examples with R, AmE pronounces the R and BrE doesn't,
but both of them present the same change in the vowel before the R. So
this letter, silent or not, is marking a change in the previous vowel.
 The diphthong in PHONE sounds different in American English. The first
part of the diphthong does not sound like , it sounds , which
is very similar to this combination: . The rest of the diphthongs
and triphthongs are pretty much the same in both varieties of English.
 Remember that diphthongs in English are not "vowel+vowel", but one
long vowel with a little change at the end.

i. Glide towards /I/:

We have already drawn attention to one of these glides, normally /el/,
there are two other diphthongs that move in the same direction. They
are /oi/ and /ol/. Since we are familiar with the vowel position of both
/a/ and /o/. we can add these two glides to the same chart as /el/.
19 | P a g e

ii. Glide towards /ʊ/:

There are only two of these diphthongs and they are found in words
such as old and house. Their symbols are, /âµ/ and /µâ/.
 /âµ/: This diphthong begins with what we have called the weak
central vowel or, shwa, and moves to a high back position.
/ə/>/ ʊ/ = /əµ/ (old= əuld)
 /µâ/: this diphthong starts from roughly the same position as
/ə/ and moves up towards a high back position.
/ə/ />/ ʊ/ = /əu/ (house=həus)
iii. Glide towards /ᵊ/:
Three diphthongs glide in the direction of schwa /a/. They are found
in such words as dear , care and poor and are represented by the
symbols /ia/ea/ and /ua/.
 /ia/: this diphthong begins from a slightly central high front
position and moves to a more central and lower position.
When we move from vowel /I/ to vowel /a/ we can feel the
highest part of the tongue moving slightly back and down.
 /ea/: /I/,/a/=/Ia/----dear /dia/
To produce this glide, the tongue moves back just a little.
/e/,/a/=/ea/-----care/kea/
 /uə/: for this glide the back of the tongue moves down and little
to the front.
/µ/,/ə/=/µə/ -----poor/pµa/.

================================================

Q.5 Define the term syllable. Identify syllable boundaries

in the following words:
Undertaking, active, coincide, return, against, system,
intended, contain, similarly, distinction
Ans: Syllable:
 A syllable is the sound of a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) that is created when
pronouncing a word.
 A syllable is a single segment of uninterrupted sound which is typically
produced with a single pulse of air from the lungs.
 A syllable is made up of one or more letters with a vowel sound at its
core.

 The letter 'y' can be counted as a vowel, only if it creates the sound of a
vowel (a, e, i, o, u). For example: fry, try, cry, & dry
 Some words have two (or more) vowels next to each other. Other words
have vowels that are silent.
20 | P a g e

 The number of times that you hear the sound of a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) is
equal to the number of syllables the word has.

LIST OF MULTISYLLABLE WORDS (i.e 1,2,3 and 4)

One syllable 2 Syllable Words 3 Syllable Words 4 Syllable Words
words
Cake Teacher Butterfly Alligator
Eat Rabbit Elephant Helicopter
Cheese Paper Computer Caterpillar
Cat Cartoon Umbrella Watermelon
Ball Dinosaur Macaroni
Basketball
Dishwasher
Strawberry
Telephone
Grasshopper

 Syllable Rules
 A syllable is a basic unit of written and spoken language. It is a unit
consisting of uninterrupted sound that can be used to make up words. For
example, the word hotel has two syllables: ho and tel. These will be marked
here as in ho/tel.

 Counting Syllables
 To find the number of syllables in a word, use the following steps:
1. Count the vowels in the word.
2. Subtract any silent vowels, (like the silent e at the end of a word, or the
second vowel when two vowels are together in a syllable)
3. Subtract one vowel from every diphthong (diphthongs only count as one
vowel sound.)
4. The number of vowels sounds left is the same as the number of
syllables.

 The number of syllables that you hear when you pronounce a word is
the same as the number of vowels sounds heard. For example:
 The word came has 2 vowels, but the e is silent, leaving one vowel
sound and one syllable.
 The word outside has 4 vowels, but the e is silent and the ou is a
diphthong which counts as only one sound, so this word has only two
vowel sounds and therefore, two syllables.
21 | P a g e

 Kinds of Syllables
 There are Five different kinds of syllables in English:

1. Closed Syllables: A closed syllable has one and only one vowel, and it
ends in a consonant.

Examples include in, ask, truck, sock, stretch, twelfth, and on.

2. Open Syllables: An open syllable has one and only one vowel, and that
vowel occurs at the end of the syllable. Examples include no, she, I, a,
and spry.
3. Silent-E Syllables: A silent-e syllable ends in an e, has one and only one
consonant before that e, and has one and only one vowel before that
consonant. Examples include ate, ice, tune, slope, and these.
4. Vowel Combination Syllables: A vowel combination syllable has a
cluster of two or three vowels or a vowel-consonant unit with a sound or
sounds particular to that unit. Examples
include rain, day, see, veil, pie, piece, noise, toy, cue, and true.
5. Vowel-R Syllables: A vowel-r syllable is one which includes one and
only one vowel followed by an r, or one vowel followed by an r which is
5
6. followed by a silent e, or a vowel combination followed by an r.
Examples include car, or, care, air, and deer.

+WORDS SYLLABLE BOUNDARIES

UNDERTAKING Un/der/tak/ing
DISTINCTION Dis/tinct/ion
ACTIVE Act/ive
SIMILARLY Si/mi/lar/ly
COINCIDE Co/in/cide
RETURN Re/turn
AGAINST Ag/ainst
SYSTEM Sys/tem
INTENDED In/tend/ed
CONTAIN Co/nt/ain

Q.6 Define and exemplify the following:

i. Word stress
ii. Sentence stress
iii. Syllable time language
iv. Stress time language
22 | P a g e

v. Pitch

Ans:
1) Word Stress:
In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one
word, we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big,
strong, important) and all the other syllables very quietly.

Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they

sound the same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE
syllable in each word. And it is not always the same syllable. So the "shape" of
each word is different.

Listen to these words. Do you hear the stressed syllable in each word?

3 syllables, stress on #1
PHO-TO-GRAPH

4 syllables, stress on #2
PHO-TO-GRAPH-ER

4 syllables, stress on #3
PHO-TO-GRAPH-IC

This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa,
aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera,
etCETera

The syllables that are not stressed are weak or small or quiet. Fluent speakers
of English listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you
use word stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve
your pronunciation and your comprehension.

Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English - on
the radio, or in films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognise it.
After that, you can USE it!

There are two very important rules about word stress:

1. One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you
hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.)
2. The stress is always on a vowel.
23 | P a g e

Why is Word Stress Important?

Word stress is not used in all languages. Some languages, Japanese or
French for example, pronounce each syllable with eq-ual em-pha-sis.

ther languages, English for example, use word stress and pro-NOUNCE DIF-
fer-ent SYL-la-bles with more or less im-POR-tance.

Word stress is not an optional extra that you can add to the English language
if you want. It is part of the language! Fluent English speakers use word stress
to communicate rapidly and accurately, even in difficult conditions. If, for
example, you do not hear a word clearly, you can still understand the word
because of the position of the stress.

Think again about the two words photograph and photographer. Now imagine
that you are speaking to somebody by telephone over a very bad line. You
cannot hear clearly. In fact, you hear only the first two syllables of one of these
words, photo... Which word is it, photograph or photographer?

Of course, with word stress you will know immediately which word it is
because in reality you will hear either...

PHO-TO..
or

PHO-TO...

2) Sentence Stress
Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. Like word stress, sentence
stress can help you to understand spoken English, even rapid spoken English.

Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or "beat". You remember that
word stress is accent on one syllable within a word. Sentence stress is accent
on certain words within a sentence.

Most sentences have two basic types of word:

 Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the important
words that carry the meaning or sense—the real content.
 Structure words are not very important words. They are small, simple
words that make the sentence correct grammatically. They give the
sentence its correct form—its structure.
24 | P a g e

If you remove the structure words from a sentence, you will probably still
understand the sentence. If you remove the content words from a sentence,
you will not understand the sentence. The sentence has no sense or meaning.
Imagine that you receive this telegram message:

This sentence is not complete. It is not a "grammatically correct" sentence.

But you probably understand it. These 4 words communicate very well.
Somebody wants you to sell their car for them because they have gone to
France. We can add a few words:

The new words do not really add any more information. But they make the
message more correct grammatically. We can add even more words to make
one complete, grammatically correct sentence. But the information is basically
the same:

In our sentence, the 4 key words (sell, car, gone, France) are accentuated or
stressed.

Why is this important for pronunciation? It is important because it adds

"music" to the language. It is the rhythm of the English language. It changes
the speed at which we speak (and listen to) the language. The time between
each stressed word is the same.

In our sentence, there is 1 syllable between SELL and CAR and 3 syllables
between CAR and GONE. But the time (t) between SELL and CAR and between
CAR and GONE is the same. We maintain a constant beat on the stressed
words. To do this, we say "my" more slowly, and "because I've" more quickly.
We change the speed of the small structure words so that the rhythm of the
key content words stays the same.
25 | P a g e

I am a proFESsional phoTOgrapher whose MAIN INterest is to TAKE SPEcial,

BLACK and WHITE PHOtographs that exHIBit ABstract MEANings in their
photoGRAPHic STRUCture.

3) Syllable and stress timed languages

A syllable-timed language is a language whose syllables take approximately

equal amounts of time to pronounce. It can be compared with a stress-timed
language, where there is approximately the same amount of time between
stressed syllables. Learners whose first language can be described as
syllable-timed often have problems recognising and then producing features
of English such as contractions, main and secondary stress, and elision.

Example
French is described as a syllable-timed language, English as a stress-timed
one.

In the classroom Activities which can help learners with recognition of these
features of English include counting the number of words in a spoken
sentence, sorting long words according to stress patterns, and dictation.

Stress-timed and syllable-timed languages

It is generally agreed that languages can be roughly divided into two
categories: stress-timed and syllable-timed.

As a definition of each, we can say that in syllable-timed languages, syllables

tend to follow each other at regular intervals, with an equal amount of time
being allocated for each syllable. In stress-timed languages, on the other hand,
stresses tend to occur at regular intervals, with the result that the remaining
unstressed syllables, no matter how many in number, have to be squeezed in
between the stresses to accommodate the regular beat of the stress.

Some stress-timed languages: English, Swedish, Russian, Arabic, European

Portuguese.

Some syllable-timed languages: Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Finnish,

Brazilian Portuguese.

For example: Read the following exercises, then mark the beats and/or get
your homestay student to read and mark the beats. You can then compare this
example with an example from the student's own language and discuss any
differences. One, two, three, four. One and two and three and four. One and a
two and a three and a four. One and then a two and then a three and then a
four.
26 | P a g e

Another example: Cats chase mice. The cats chase mice. The cats chase the
mice. The cats will chase the mice. The cats will have chased the mice.

4) PITCH:

Pitch is one of the vital parts of speaking and listening in most languages in
the world. As English is a language that meaning changes according to the
tone and intonation of the speech, the pitch and its range must be considered
as an important part of the spoken English. It has prominence at the level of
both individual words and at the level of longer statements. I will focus on
pitch and the functions of the pitch range in utterances in this article because
this aspect of language can cause some problems in both their speaking and
listening. This article attempts to explain what pitch and pitch range are, how
pitch is used and how it effects the meaning of the utterances, and it consists
of suggestions for English language teachers.

Pitch Range
In addition to the modal pitch, every individual voice has a pitch range which
can be achieved by adjustments of the vocal cords. By tightening the vocal
cords, a person can raise the pitch of the voice by loosening them, one can
lower vocal pitch. When the vocal cords are stretched, the pitch of voice
increases. Pitch variations in speech are realized by the alteration of the
tension of vocal cords (Ladefoged, 1982:226). These adjustments allow
speakers to use pitch changes to achieve certain meaningful effects in speech.

The most important of all factors for the pitch of the voice is the vibration of
vocal cords. When frequency of vibration increases, so does the pitch.
Normally, a low pitch is not less than 70 Hz while a high pitch is not more than
200 Hz. (Çelik, 2003:101).

Pitch range can be divided into three as high, mid and low.

Most importantly, the pitch range of utterance shows the speaker’s attitude
towards the information that s/he is conveying. As Brazil, Coulthard and Johns
(1980:163) indicates, the neutral, unmarked, mid pitch range – which is the
speaker’s modal pitch – is used to make a statement in a neutral manner. In
contrast, high pitch range indicates an informational contrast as shown in
example (a). Because high pitch range implies a contrast even when one is not
27 | P a g e

explicitly present in the discourse, it can be used to single out individual

words for special attention as in the example (b).

a) I’m going to Harvard, not Yale!

b) I’d never do that.

Low pitch range is used when the speaker wants to assert that two items in
successive tone units are in some sense equivalent, as in the example (c):

c) I told you already, dummy.

Here the low pitch range on dummy signals that it is to be interpreted as

conferential to you.

Q.7: Define assimilation and elision. Transcribe the following

words/phrases keeping in mind the assimilated/elided
consonants.

Ans:

Assimilation
Definition

Assimilation is a general term in phonetics for the process by which a speech

sound becomes similar or identical to a neighboring sound. In the opposite
process, dissimilation, sounds become less similar to one another.

Etymology
From the Latin, "make similar to"
Examples and Observations

"Assimilation is the influence of a sound on a neighboring sound so that the

two become similar or the same. For example, the Latin prefix in- 'not, non-,
un-' appears in English as il-, im-. and ir- in the words illegal, immoral,
impossible (both m and p are bilabial consonants), and irresponsible as well
as the unassimilated original form in- in indecent and incompetent. Although
the assimilation of the n of in- to the following consonant in the preceding
examples was inherited from Latin, English examples that would be
considered native are also plentiful. In rapid speech native speakers of English
tend to pronounce ten bucks as though it were written tembucks, and in
anticipation of the voiceless s in son the final consonant of his in his son is
not as fully voiced as the s in his daughter, where it clearly is [z]."
"Features of adjacent sounds may combine so that one of the sounds may not
be pronounced. The nasal feature of the mn combination in hymn results in
28 | P a g e

the loss of /n/ in this word (progressive assimilation), but not in hymnal.
Likewise, the alveolar (upper gum ridge) production of nt in a word such as
winter may result in the loss of /t/ to produce a word that sounds like winner.
However, the /t/ is pronounced in wintry."
Partial Assimilation and Total Assimilation
"[Assimilation] may be partial or total. In the phrase ten bikes, for example, the
normal form in colloquial speech would be /tem baiks/, not /ten baiks/, which
would sound somewhat 'careful.' In this case, the assimilation has been
partial: the /n/ sound has fallen under the influence of the following /b/, and
has adopted its bilabiality, becoming /m/. It has not, however, adopted its
plosiveness. The phrase /teb baiks/ would be likely only if one had a severe
cold! The assimilation is total in ten mice /tem mais/, where the /n/ sound is
now identical with the /m/ which influenced it."
(David Crystal, Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 6th ed. Blackwell,
2008)
Elision
Definition
In phonetics and phonology, elision is the omission of a sound (a phoneme) in
speech. Elision is common in casual conversation.

More specifically, elision may refer to the omission of an unstressed vowel,

consonant, or syllable. This omission is often indicated in print by an
apostrophe. Verb: elide.

Etymology:
From the Latin, "to strike out"

Examples and Observations

"Elision of sounds can . . . be seen clearly in contracted forms like isn't (is
not), I'll (I shall/will), who's (who is/has), they'd (they had, they should, or they
would), haven't (have not) and so on. We see from these examples that vowels
or/and consonants can be elided. In the case of contractions or words like
library (pronounced in rapid speech as /laibri/), the whole syllable is elided."
(Tej R Kansakar, A Course in English Phonetics. Orient Blackswan, 1998)
The Nature of Reduced Articulation "It is easy to find examples of elision, but
very difficult to state rules that govern which sounds may be elided and which
may not. Elision of vowels in English usually happens when a short,
unstressed vowel occurs between voiceless consonants, e.g. in the first
syllable of perhaps, potato, the second syllable of bicycle, or the third syllable
of philosophy. . . .

"It is very important to note that sounds do not simple 'disappear' like a light
being switched off. A transcription such as /æks/ for acts implies that the /t/
phoneme has dropped out altogether, but detailed examination of speech
shows that such effects are more gradual: in slow speech the /t/ may be fully
29 | P a g e

pronounced, with an audible transition from the preceding /k/ and to the
following /s/, while in a more rapid style it may be articulated but not given any
audible realisation, and in very rapid speech it may be observable, if at all, only
as a rather early movement of the tongue blade toward the /s/ position."
(Daniel Jones, English Pronouncing Dictionary, 17th ed. Cambridge University
Press, 2006)
From Iced Tea to Ice Tea "An elision is the omission of a sound for
phonological reasons . . .: 'cause (also spelled 'cos, cos, coz) from because;
fo'c'sle from forecastle; or ice tea from iced tea (in which -ed is pronounced /t/
but omitted because of the immediately following /t/)."(John Algeo,
"Vocabulary," in The Cambridge History of the English Language, Volume IV,
ed. by Suzanne Romaine. Cambridge University Press, 1999)
From Iced Cream to Ice Cream: "[Ice cream] is an extremely common term and
no one these days, I believe, would be tempted to describe the confection as
iced cream--and yet this was its original description. . . . With time, however,
the -ed ending eroded. In pronunciation, it would have been swallowed very
early and eventually this was reflected in the way it was written."(Kate
Burridge, Gift of the Gob: Morsels of English Language History. Harper Collins
Australia, 2011)
Wanna "In North and South, Mr. [John] Jakes is careful to keep his elisions
within quotation marks: 'I'm sure, Cap'n,' says a farmer in his novel, and a
stevedore calls a young soldier a 'sojer boy.' . . . "Stephen Crane, in his
Maggie, a Girl of the Streets, in 1896 pioneered wanna in literature with 'I didn'
wanna give 'im no stuff.' The spelling is designed to recreate the way the
spoken word pounds, shapes and knocks about the original words."(William
Safire, "The Elision Fields." The New York Times Magazine, August 13, 1989)

Words/Assimilation Words/Elision
Mixed bag/ Vegetables/
i. vi.
/Mixt baeg/ /vedʒtəblz/
Let you Most famous
ii. vii.
/ Letʃᵊ/ /moʊs feɪməs/
Last year Gold ring/
iii. viii.
/lastʃiᵊ/ /ɡoʊldrɪŋ/
Tin plate Him/

/ᵢm/
iv. ix.
/tim plelt/
American plan/ Comfortable/
v. x.
/əˈmerɪkən plæn/ /ˈkʌmfərtəbl/

THE END