Phonetics

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH- JIJEL LICENCE, Year 1-All Groups
TEACHER: NAILI Redouane First Semester 2020-2021

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Phonetics and phonology are branches of linguistics that study speech sounds (phonemes).
Studying phonetics will enable you to develop a much better ability at speaking and understanding
spoken language (in our case, English).
1. Phonetics vs. Phonology

Both of phonetics and phonology describe the sounds that we use in speaking. Phonetics is
concerned with how sounds are produced, transmitted and perceived; it also provides
classifications of different speech sounds. Phonology is concerned with how sounds function in
relation to each other in a language. In other words, phonetics is about sounds of language,
phonology about sound systems of language.
Phonetics is a descriptive tool necessary to the study of the phonological aspects of a
language. When we talk about how phonemes function in language, and the relationships among
the different phonemes, we are in fact studying the abstract side of the sounds of language that
we call phonology. Only by studying both the phonetics and the phonology of English is it
possible to acquire a full understanding of the use of sounds in English speech.
2. Phonetic Transcription
The speech sounds of English are represented by written symbols or phonemes. This
representation is usually referred to as the phonetic transcription which relies on a system of
phonetic writing called International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). IPA is a standardized set of
symbols that describes almost all possible sequences of human speech sounds. The symbols are
enclosed in slashes /…/ to indicate that the transcription is phonetic rather than representative of
a particular language. That is to say, the symbols mediate between the spelling of a word and its
pronunciation (e.g. the word ‘good’ is pronounced /ɡʊd/).
The need to use phonemes arises from the fact that, in English, there is no obvious
correspondence between the written form of language (letters of the alphabet) and the spoken
www.etudpdf.com
form. Thus, it is common to find that one sound may have many graphical representations. For
example, the English vowel /e/ is realized in the following spellings:
• a many, any
• ai said, again
• e end send, let
• ea dead, spread, health
• eo leopard, Leonard, Geoffrey
• ie friend
• ue guess, guest
It is also possible to find that one letter (graphical representation) may refer to many sounds. For
example, the vowel ‘a’ can be pronounced:
• /æ/ as in sat, hand, match
• /ɪ/ as in village, private, shortage
• /e/ as in any, many
• /a: / as in ask, balm, part, laugh, clerk
• / ɒ / as in was, want, wash, because
• /ɔː / as in tall, all, walk
A lot of English words have silent letters which are written, but are not meant to be
pronounced.
• Silent B as in: limb, thumb, comb, numb, womb, debt, subtle, doubt
• Silent C as in: muscle, scene, science, abscess
• Silent D as in: width, handsome, handkerchief
3. Branches of Phonetics
Phonetics has three main branches: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics and auditory
phonetics.
www.etudpdf.com
(a) Articulatory phonetics is concerned with how speech sounds are made. Specifically, it studies
how the human vocal tract produces speech sounds by considering the various configurations
(movement and positions) of the speech organs.
(b) Acoustic phonetics studies the physical properties of the sounds of language. It measures the
effects of sounds on the air
(c) Auditory phonetics examines how speech sounds are perceived by the human ear or how we
convert sounds into linguistic information.
4. Phonemes
Our speech consists in a continuous stream of sounds which can be divided into small
pieces called segments. The word ‘man’ is made up of 3 segments: /m/, /æ/ and /n/; each of these
segments is called a phoneme.
4.1. Contrastive Distribution
Phonemes are identified on the basis of contrastive distribution which allows us to

distinguish between various speech sounds. In order to contrast sounds, we need to use minimal
pairs. A minimal pair is a pair of words that differ in only one sound such as pat and pit, bag and
big, sap and sip. If replacing one sound with another changes the meaning of the word, we can
say that two phones (sounds) are separate phonemes. The examples given above allow us to say
that /e/ and /ɪ/ are different phonemes in English because they form different meanings in different
words or minimal pairs.
If we continue contrasting all speech sounds in English, by using minimal pairs, we will be
able to establish the phonemic system of English. The BBC accent, in particular, is based on 44
phonemes: 20 vowel phonemes and 24 consonant ones.
www.etudpdf.com
The following table illustrates the phonemic system of English
4.2. Free Variation
Each phoneme in English is pronounced slightly differently between one speaker and
another, but the slight differences are regarded as realizing the same phoneme as long as they do
not result in changing the meaning of a word. (e.g., the vowel in ‘bad’).
www.etudpdf.com
When the different realisations of a phoneme are possible in the same environment without
changing the meaning of a word, we say they are in free variation. They are realisations of the
same phoneme
a) Complementary Distribution
When the different realisations of a phoneme occur at separate places i.e., one can occur
where the other cannot, we say that they are in complementary distribution. These similar phones
are called allophones. For example, aspirated /t/ occurs in the beginning of a stressed syllable
(take /theIl/) and unaspirated /t/ occurs at the end of a word or where there is no vowel after (tale
/leIt/).
On the basis of the discussion of contrastive distribution, complementary distribution and
free variation, we can now define what a phoneme is. A phoneme is the smallest contrastive or
distinctive sound in a language. A single phoneme may be pronounced slightly differently
between one speaker and another without changing the same lexical item. It is abstract in nature
because it has a number of different realizations depending on its position in the word.
5. Types of Transcription
a) Phonemic Transcription. This is the type of transcription that contains basic information
about the features of sounds; it is also called broad phonetic transcription. It has no
allophones.
b) Allophonic Transcription. It is a transcription which is basically phonemic, but contains
additional symbolic information about allophones of phonemes.
Examples:
- b˳, d˳,g˳ (pronounced without voicing)
- ph , th , kh (pronounced with aspiration)
- ɔ , ɑ , i , u , ɜ (long vowels shortened by a following fortis consonant)
. . . . .
- æ e ɪ ɒ ʊ ʌ ə (short vowels shortened by a following fortis consonant)
c) Phonetic Transcription. It contains a lot of information about the exact or precise quality
of sounds by using a lot of diacritics (marks which add details to symbols to modify them
in some way); it is also called narrow phonetic transcription.
www.etudpdf.com
Introducing the Production of Speech Sounds
I) Articulators of Speech
In order to learn how the sounds of speech are produced, it is necessary to become familiar
with the different parts of the vocal tract (Fig.1 and Fig.2 below). These different parts are called
articulators, and the study of physical processes involved in the production of speech sounds is
called articulatory phonetics.
Speech sounds are created by modifying the volume and direction of a flow of air using
various parts of the human respiratory system. In order to describe and classify sounds of English
(or other languages), we need to consider the following aspects:
1. The airstream mechanism — where the air used in speech starts from, and which
direction it is travelling in;
2. The state of the vocal cords — whether or not the vocal cords are vibrating, which
determines voicing;
3. The state of the velum — whether it is raised or lowered, which determines whether a
sound is oral or nasal;
4. The place and manner of articulation in the oral tract— the horizontal and vertical
positions of the tongue and the shapes of the lips.
1. The muscles in the chest that we use for breathing produce the
flow of air that is needed for almost all speech sounds. The air Trachea
which is moved out or pushed out of the lungs is called
aggressive pulmonic airstream. It is the most common air Lungs
direction for producing speech sounds in many

languages. The air flows through the trachea (wind Fig. 1: The lungs and the Trachea
pipe) and goes through the larynx (Adam’s apple) and the vocal tract (mouth and nose)
www.etudpdf.com
Fig.2: Speech organs above the Trachea- The articulators
2. When the air reaches the larynx, it encounters the vocal cords which are two folds of
elastic (flexible) tissue which are attached to the cartilages in the larynx.
a) When the vocal cords (flaps) are apart, they create an opening
called the glottis. This is the position of normal breathing
since the air passes freely. It is also the position for the
production of some speech sounds such as /f/, /p/ and /s/,
called voiceless consonants, or for speaking in a breathy
voice.
www.etudpdf.com
b) When the vocal cords are completely bought together, the

airstream is cut. If the air is released (like in coughing), a
glottal stop sound can be produced like in ‘what’ /wɒ?/. If the
vocal cords are open at one end only, we can produce creaky
sounds.
c) When the vocal cords are brought together (creating a narrow
glottis), the air that passes through causes the vocal cords to
vibrate. These vibrations produce voicing. This is how all
vowel sounds are produced as well as some voiced
consonants like /b/ and /z/ in ‘buzz’
3. Right above the larynx, a tube which stretches to the back of the oral cavity and the
beginning of the nasal cavity is called the pharynx. The air, which goes through the
pharynx, may be affected in three different ways according to the position of the soft
palate or velum.
• When the soft palate is in its natural position, the air escapes through the mouth
and the nose, as in normal breathing.
• When the soft palate is lowered, it creates a blockage or
stoppage in the mouth (velic closure) and the air is
allowed through the nose. When the velum is lowered,
air that flows into both mouth and nose results in
English nasal sounds such as consonants /m/, /n/ in
‘man’ and /ŋ/ as in eating.
• When the soft palate is raised, it cuts off the nose or
the nasal cavity, the air can can only escape through
oral cavity (the mouth). It is in this way that oral
sounds are produce; all the sounds in ‘study’,
‘break’, ‘low’ are oral.
www.etudpdf.com
4. The state of the vocal tract refers to the place and position of the active articulators (lips,
lower jaw, and tongue) in relation to the passive articulators (teeth, alveolar ridge, hard
palate, soft palate and uvula). The tongue is conveniently divided into different sections
(tip, blade, front, back and root).
The relative position of active and passive articulators allows us to specify both the manner
of articulation and the place of articulation of the speech sounds.
• When we make the sounds /k/ and /g/, the tongue is in contact with the lower side
of the soft palate, and we call these velar consonants.
• When we make the sound /j/ in ‘your’ and ‘yes’ , the tongue is close to the roof of
the the mouth (smooth surface), called the hard palate, and we call the sound a
palatal consonant.
• When we make the sounds /t/ and /d/, the tongue is in contact with the alveolar ridge,
and we call these alveolar consonants.
• Sounds made with the tongue touching the front teeth, such as English /ð/ and /θ/ in
the words ‘the’ and ‘faith’, are called dental
• Sound made with both lips pressed together are called bilabial (when we produce
the sounds p, b)
• when the lips are brought into contact with the teeth (as in f, v) are called
labiodental.
www.etudpdf.com
Fig.3: The Vocal Tract -––Structure and Adjectives
II) Vowels and Consonants
In order to distinguish between vowels and consonants, we need both phonetic and phonological
definitions.
We can differentiate between vowels and consonants in the way they are produced, phonetically.
Unlike consonants, vowels are sounds in which there is no obstruction to the flow of air as it
passes from the larynx to the lips. But this definition is not complete because some phonemes
which are considered as consonants do not obstruct air flow such as w, j and h.
We can also differentiate between vowels and consonants by looking at the different contexts
and positions in which particular sounds can occur in the beginning and end of English words;
this is the study of the distribution of the sounds in phonology. The two groups of sounds with
different patterns of distribution are identified as vowels and consonants.
www.etudpdf.com
III) Description of Vowels
In order to describe how vowels are produced, we need to consider the shape and position of the
tongue and the shapes of the lips.
- The vertical distance between the upper surface of the tongue and the palate can be close,
close-mid, open-mid or open.
close Close-mid (half-close) Open-mid (half-open) Open
- The part of the tongue that is raised highest towards the roof of the mouth is either the
between front or the back, creating front vowels and back vowels
Front Back
- The Cardinal Vowel Chart (or Vowel Quadrilateral)

is adopted by the IPA to help locate the vowels in
human languages. It contains the extreme positions
of the tongue: the highest, lowest, furthest forward
and furthest backward vowels. 8 primary cardinal
vowels are created; they are not part of any language, but they represent the extreme
positions that the tongue can go in producing vowels without causing an obstruction,
stricture or hissing sound.
- The lips can have many different shapes and positions. Generally speaking, we need to
discuss three positions in order to describe vowels:
a) Rounded lips: where the corners of the lips are brought towards each other and the
lips pushed forwards.
www.etudpdf.com
b) Spread lips: with the corners of the lips moved away from each other, as for a smile.
c) Neutral lips: where the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread. The noise most
English people make when they are hesitating (written er) has neutral lip position.
- The vowel can be either relatively long or short according to the duration it takes. Thus,
the vowel in ‘seat’ is long and the vowel in ‘sit’ is short.
- Some vowels are produced with the tongue moving to one place in the mouth and
remaining almost steady there (as in bee); they are called monophthongs or pure
vowels. Whereas vowels which are the result of quick movement (or glide) from one
vowel to another are called diphthongs (as in bay) and a vowel produced by a glide from
one vowel to another and then to a third vowel are called triphthong (as in lawyer)
1. Description of Short Vowels
The symbols for the short vowels in English are:
æ, I, e, ɒ, ʌ , ʊ, ə
I (‘bit’, ‘fish’): it is a vowel which is close to close-mid in

height, the part of the tongue that is raised is that between
front and centre, and the shape of the lips is slightly spread.
e (‘men’, ‘yes’): front and quite open-mid vowel. The lips
are slightly spread,
æ (‘bat’, ‘gas’): front, open vowel. The lips are slightly
spread.
ʌ ( ‘cut’, ‘come’): central and almost open-mid vowel. The

lips position is neutral.
ɒ ( ‘pot’, ‘gone’, ‘cross’): open to open-mid and back vowel. The lips are slightly rounded,
ʊ (example words: ‘put’, ‘push’): close to close-mid, between centre and back. The lips are
rounded.
ə (also called schwa ‘a/an’, ‘about’): a centralised vowel. The lips are neutral
www.etudpdf.com
2. Description of Long Vowels

i: (‘beat’, ‘peace’): close front vowel. It is closer
and more front than the short vowel I. The lips
are only slightly spread.
3: (‘bird’, ‘purse’) This is a mid-central vowel.
The lip position is neutral,
ɑː (‘card’, ‘half’, ‘pass’) This is an open vowel

in the region between back and centre. The lip
position is neutral,
ɔː (‘board’, ‘torn’, ‘horse’) almost close-mid and back vowel and has quite strong lip-
rounding,
u: (‘food’, ‘soon’, ‘loose’) close and near the back and the lips are only moderately
rounded.
3. Description of Diphthongs
As explained above diphthongs are sounds which consist of a movement or glide from one
vowel to another. In making a diphthong, the first part is much longer and stronger than the
second part; for example, most of the diphthong ai (as in the words ‘eye’, ‘I’) consists of the
vowel a.
We can distinguish between two groups of phonemes: centring and closing phonemes.
Centring diphthongs end in ə and closing diphthongs end in either I or ʊ
www.etudpdf.com
The centring diphthongs glide towards the ə (schwa) vowel

ɪə (as in beard, weird, fierce, near, ear, clear, tear, beer, fear)
eə (as in aired, cairn, scarce, hair, there, care, stairs, pear)
ʊə (as in moored, tour, lure)
Centring diphthongs
The closing diphthongs all end with a glide towards a closer vowel.
eɪ (paid, pain, face, space, rain, case, eight)
aɪ (tide, time, nice, my, sight, pride, kind, flight)
ɔɪ (void, loin, voice, joy, employ, toy, coil, oyster.)
əʊ (load, home, most, no, don’t, stones, alone, hole)
aʊ (loud, gown, house, mouth, house, brown, cow, out)
Closing diphthongs
1. Description of Diphthongs
The triphthongs are composed of the five closing diphthongs:
Therefore, careful pronunciation of a triphthong is similar pronouncing a diphthong and adding ə to the
end.
/eɪ/ + /ə/ = [eɪə] player, layer
/aɪ/ + /ə/ = [aɪə] fire, liar
/aʊ/ + /ə/ = [aʊə] hour, flour, power
/əʊ/ + /ə/ = [əʊə] mower, lower
/ɔɪ/ + /ə/ = [ɔɪə] royal, loyal
www.etudpdf.com
Practice Activities online
https://agendaweb.org/phonetic.html
https://agendaweb.org/phonetic-exercises.html
http://www.tedpower.co.uk/folkchart.htm
Practice Activities
Exercise 1/ On the diagram provided, various articulators are indicated by labelled arrows
(a-e). Give the names for the articulators.
Exercise 2/ Draw a vowel quadrilateral and indicate on it the correct places for the following
English vowels:
1) æ 2) e 3) ʌ 4) ʊ 5) ə
Exercise 3/ Write the symbols for the vowels in the following words:
a) bread b) rough c) foot d) hymn
e) pull f) cough g) mat h) friend
Exercise 4/ All the following words contain one of the short monophthong vowels [ æ, I, e, ɒ,
ʌ , ʊ, ə]. Say the words out loud and decide which vowel they contain.
www.etudpdf.com
any deaf lump miss skull touch

blood English mash pull stood women
cat friend meringue sank test would
Exercise 5/ All the following words contain one of the five long monophthong vowels [ i:, 3: ,
ɑː , ɔː , u:]. Say the words out loud and decide which vowel they contain.
burp courtesy feel moon park shirt
car door heart more piece steal
court father June new police term
Exercise 6/ All the following words contain one of the five diphthong vowels [ eɪ , aɪ , ɔɪ , əʊ ,
aʊ ]. Say the words out loud and decide which vowel they contain.
boil blown fight hate note sigh

brain brown go kite now stay
break choice ground my show toy
www.etudpdf.com
Recorded Exercises
Short Vowels
Download the Audio recording, entitled “English short vowels” , in the link below and work
through exercises from 1 to 5.
Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/nuapjlil0ldb3bo/02_Unit+2_English+short+vowels+(170).mp3/file
Audio Unit 2 English short vowels
The exercises in this Unit practise the six short vowels introduced in Chapter 2. When
pronouncing them, you should take care to give the vowels the correct length and the correct
quality.
Exercise 1 Repetition Listen and repeat:
ɪ
bit /bɪt/ bid /bɪd/ hymn /hɪm/ miss /nɪts/
e
bet /bet/ bed /bed/ hen /hen/ mess /mes/
æ
bat /bæt/ bad /bæd/ ham /hæm/ mass /mæs/
ʌ
cut /kʌt/ bud /bʌd/ bun /bʌn/ bus /bʌs/
ɒ
pot /pɒt/ cod /kɒd/ Tom /tɒm/ loss /lɒs/
ʊ
put /pʊt/ wood /wʊd/ pull /pʊl/ push /pʊʃ/
Exercise 2 Identification
Write the symbol for the vowel you hear in each word. (1-10)
Check your answers.
www.etudpdf.com
Exercise 3 Production
When you hear the number, pronounce the word (which is given in spelling and in phonetic
symbols). Repeat the correct pronunciation when you hear it.
Example: 1 'mad'
1 mad /mæd/ 4 bet /bet/
2 mud /mʌd/ 5 cut /kʌt/
3 bit /bɪt/ 6 cod /kɒd/
7 put /pʊt/ 10 man /mæn/
8 pot pot 11 fun /fʌn/
9 men men 12 fan /fæn/
Exercise 4 Short vowels contrasted
Listen and repeat (words given in spelling):
www.etudpdf.com
Exercise 5 Repetition of sentences with short vowels Listen and repeat:
Long vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs

Download the Audio recording, entitled “Long vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs” , in the link
below and work through exercises from 1 to 7.
Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/2sulu9o5d02abd0/03_Unit+3_Long+vowels,+diphthongs+and+triph
thongs+(171).mp3/file
Audio Unit 3 Long vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs
Long vowels

i:
beat /bi:t/ bead /bi:d/ bean /bi:n/ beef /bi:f/
ɑː
heart /hɑːt/ hard /hɑːd/ harm /hɑːm/ hearth /hɑːθ/
ɔː
caught /kɔːt/ cord /kɔːd/ corn /kɔːn/ course /kɔːs/
u:
root /ru:t/ rude /ru:d/ room /ru:m/ roof /ru:f/
3:
hurt /h3:t/ heard /h3:d/ /earn /3:n/ earth/3:θ /
www.etudpdf.com
Exercise 2 Production
When you hear the number, pronounce the word. Repeat the correct pronunciation when you
hear it.
1 heard /h3:d/ 2 bean /bi:n/
3 /ru:t/ 4 hearth /hɑːθ/
5 caught /kɔːt/ 6 heart /hɑːt/
7 cord /kɔːd/ 8 beef /bi:f/
9 rude /ru:d/ 10 earn /3:n/
Exercise 3 Transcription
Write the symbol for the vowel you hear in each word. (1-10)
Check your answers.
Exercise 4 Long—short vowel contrasts. Listen and repeat (words in spelling):
Write the symbol for the vowel (long or short) you hear in each word. (1-10)
Check your answers.
www.etudpdf.com
Diphthongs
Exercise 6 Repetition
Listen and repeat, making sure that the second part of the diphthong is weak.
eɪ
mate /meɪt/ made /meɪd/ main /meɪn/
aɪ
right /raɪt/ ride /raɪd/ rhyme /raɪm/
ɔɪ
quoit /kɔɪl/ buoyed /bɔɪd/ Boyne /bɔɪn/
əʊ
coat /kəʊt/ code /kəʊd/ cone /kəʊn/
aʊ
gout /gaʊt/ loud /laʊd/ gown /gaʊn/
ɪə
feared /fɪəd/ fierce / fɪəs/
eə
cared /keəd/ cairn /keən/
ʊə
moored /mʊəd/
Write the symbol for the diphthong you hear in each word. (1-12)
Check your answers.
Triphthongs
/eɪə/ layer /əʊə/ lower
/aɪə/ liar /aʊə/ tower
/ɔɪə/ loyal
www.etudpdf.com
References:
Roach, P. (2009) English Phonetics and Phonology. A Practical course, 4th ed, Cambridge
University Press.
Brown, A. (2014). Pronunciation and Phonetics: A Practical Guide for English Language
Teachers (ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series)
Davenport, M., & Hannahs, S. J. (2005). Introducing Phonetics and Phonology (2nd ed.).
Trans-AtIantic.
www.etudpdf.com

Phonetics

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Phonetics

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Phonetics

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH- JIJEL LICENCE, Year 1-All Groups

TEACHER: NAILI Redouane First Semester 2020-2021

1. Phonetics vs. Phonology

• / ɒ / as in was, want, wash, because

• /ɔː / as in tall, all, walk

4.1. Contrastive Distribution

Phonemes are identified on the basis of contrastive distribution which allows us to

The following table illustrates the phonemic system of English

4.2. Free Variation

- æ e ɪ ɒ ʊ ʌ ə (short vowels shortened by a following fortis consonant)

Introducing the Production of Speech Sounds

direction for producing speech sounds in many

Fig.2: Speech organs above the Trachea- The articulators

b) When the vocal cords are completely bought together, the

Fig.3: The Vocal Tract -––Structure and Adjectives

II) Vowels and Consonants

III) Description of Vowels

- The Cardinal Vowel Chart (or Vowel Quadrilateral)

The symbols for the short vowels in English are:

I (‘bit’, ‘fish’): it is a vowel which is close to close-mid in

ʌ ( ‘cut’, ‘come’): central and almost open-mid vowel. The

2. Description of Long Vowels

ɑː (‘card’, ‘half’, ‘pass’) This is an open vowel

The centring diphthongs glide towards the ə (schwa) vowel

Practice Activities online

any deaf lump miss skull touch

boil blown fight hate note sigh

Audio Unit 2 English short vowels

Exercise 4 Short vowels contrasted

Listen and repeat (words given in spelling):

Exercise 5 Repetition of sentences with short vowels Listen and repeat:

Long vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs

Exercise 2 Repetition Listen and repeat:

You might also like