Phonology: It is the branch of Linguistics that deals with the production, combination,

description, and representation of speech sounds by written symbols, that is to say, the sound
patterns used to create meaning. It varies according to every language, but it can share
qualities with a similar one. It allows to differentiate one language from another. It is a
comparative study ( for example, English versus Spanish). They both use different phonological
symbols.

Phonetics it is a more universal study of speech, that describes how (manner) and where
(point) the articulation between different organs of the speech system occurs so as to produce
sound waves. As every human being possess the same speech tract, it does not vary from one
language to the other. And as sound waves can be both transmitted and perceived by our
senses, we can say it deals with the concrete aspect of speech. It is a descriptive study.

Phoneme: It is the smallest meaningful unit of speech sounds which allows to differentiate
orally one word from another. The difference between “pin” and “pan” depends on the
phonemes /i/ and /æ/. This difference is called minimal pair.

Allophone: it is a variation of a phoneme. They do not change the meaning of a word.

THE SPEECH CHAIN

“The Speech Chain” theory describes the process of communication in
phonetics term, dividing it into a series of levels:

By the side of the first interlocutor ( the one who wants to transmit a message):

1. Linguistic Level/ psychological stage: the first interlocutor has a private thought that intends
to communicate. To do that he has to codify a message, that is to say, to choose the right
words and phrases according to the meaning he wants to convey. It is a linguistic level because
it implies an organization of clause elements into a coherent and cohesive unit.. We can also
say it is psychological because it implies mental activity.

2. physiological level / articulatory stage: this codification is transformed into nerve impulses,
which activate the flow of air through, by producing the contact between the articulators. This
is a physiological level because it has to do with the functioning or our inner organs and
articulatory because the speech organs touch among them.

3. Physical level / Acoustic stage: when the nerve impulses come out through the oral or the
nasal cavity, the different pressure of the surrounding air produces disturbances (sound waves)
that are able to be heard by human ears. It is studied by Physics.

By the side of the second interlocutor, the one who firstly receives the sound waves.

4. Physical level / Acoustic stage: the changes in the air pressure surrounding the ears activate
the listener’s hearing mechanism.

5. Physiological level / articulatory stage: the sound waves are transformed into nerve
impulses. These travel to the brain

6. Linguistic level / psychological stage: the brain recognizes the nerve impulses and recognize
them as accurate cohesive and coherent codes that are reorganized in meaningful symbols
(decodification).

THE PHARYNX

It is a tube which begins just above the larynx. It is from 12 to 14 cm long. Its top is divided into
two:

a. the back of the oral cavity

b. the beginning of the nasal cavity

The pharynx amplifies the sound waves produced by the vibration of the vocal folds in the
Larynx. The change in its shape can affect sound quality.

Soft palate or velum

It allows air to pass through the nose (if it is lowered) and through the mouth (if it is raised).
Often in speech it is raised so that air cannot escape through the nose.

Hard Palate: the roof of the mouth. It is a thin horizontal bony plate located in the roof of the
mouth.
ALVEOLAR RIDGE

It is between the top front teeth and the hard palate. It is covered by little ridges.

The tongue

it can be moved into many different places and different shapes.It is a

movable articulator

The teeth

At the front of the mouth, immediately behind the lips.They help form words by controlling
airflow out of the mouth.

1.The‘TH’ sound is produced when the tongue brushes against the upper row of teeth

2.In forming the ‘F’ and ‘V’ sounds, the lower lip is actually pressed to the upper teeth to shape
them.

Consonants

Consonants are formed by interrupting, restricting or diverting the airflow in a variety of ways.
There are three ways to describe consonants:

• Manner of articulation: it refers to the interaction between the various articulators and
the airstream. The manners of articulation are plosives (if the flow is released like an
explosion), affricates ( it starts like an explosion but then the vocal cords narrow so as to
produce friction), fricatives (if the sound is released causing a friction) , nasals ( they come out
through the nasal cavity), laterals ( the air flow is released by the lateral sides when the tip of
the tongue makes contact with the hard palate) and approximants.It refers to how sound is
made.

• Place of articulation: the point in the vocal tract where constriction takes place. It
refers to where sound is made.

• Force of articulation: It refers to the absence or presence of voice, i.e, whether the
vocal folds are vibrating during the articulation of a sound.
 PLOSIVES CLOSURE IN THE VOCAL TRACT
A plosive is a consonant articulation with the following characteristics:
• closing phase: One articulator is moved against another, or two
articulators are moved against each other.
 Compression phase: No air is allowed to escape from the vocal
tract. The stricture is total.

• Releasing phase: Air is released. It is allowed to escape.

• Post –release phase: It is probable that the escape of air will produce
noise loud enough to be heard. This noise is called plosion.
As regards the manner of articulation, plosives can be:
 Bilabial total closure is made using both lips. The soft palate is raised.
 Voiced /b/
 Voiceless /p/
 Alveolar Closure is made by the tongue blade against the alveolar
ridge.
 Voiced /d/
 Voiceless /t/
 Velar Closure is made by the back of the tongue against the soft
palate.
 Voiced /g/
 Voiceless /k/

Affricates

They are composed of a plosive followed by a fricative. Hence, one can say that /ʧ/ and /ʤ/

a. palate alveolar: is the closure is made up when the blade of the tongue
touches the alveolar ridge.
 voiced /ʤ/

 Voiceless /ʧ/

Fricatives
After the partial closure of the vocal cords, the air is released producing a friction because the
space between them is narrow.

FRICTIONLESS CONTINUANTS
When any consonant or vowel sound is produced without the glottis causing a friction, that is,
the flow of air comes out more freely. For example, semivowels.

LABIO DENTAL

The lower lip makes light contact with the upper teeth. The soft palate is raised.

 Voiced /v/

 Voiceless /f/

 DENTAL

The tip of the tongue makes contact with the back of the teeth. 

Voiced / ð/

Voiceless / Ɵ/

ALVEOLAR

The tongue blade makes light contact with the alveolar ridge.

 Voiced /z/

 Voiceless /s/

PALATO ALVEOLAR

The tongue blade makes light contact with the alveolar ridge, and the front of the tongue is
raised. The soft palate is also raised.

 Voiced / Ʒ/

 Voiceles /ʃ/

GLOTTAL

Air passes from the lungs through the open glottis, causing audible friction. Tongue and lip
position is that of the following vowel sound

 Voiceless /h/

NASALS

They are formed by blocking the oral passage and allowing the air escape from the nose. 
BilabialTotal closure is made by both lips.

 Voiced /m/

ALVEOLAR

The tongue blade closes against the alveolar ridge. Air passes out through the nasal cavity.

 Voiced /n/
VELAR

The back of the tongue closes against the soft palate and air passes out through the nasal
cavity. It never occurs at the beginning of words.

 Voiced /ŋ/

LATERAL

The airflow comes out from the sides of the tongue. A partial closure is made by the blade of
the tongue against the alveolar ridge.

 Voiced /l/

APPROXIMANTS- SEMIVOWELS

They can be considered halfway between a consonant or a vowel. As in consonants, the

articulators come close together, but they resemble vowel sounds because the aperture is not
enough to cause friction. /J/ /w/

VOCAL CORDS

A pair of muscular tissue found in the larynx. They can be tense and vibrate ( producing voiced
sounds) or relaxed and not cause vibration ( producing voiceless sounds)

VOICED SOUND: any sound produced by the vibration of the vocal cords

VOICELESS SOUND: any sound produced without vibration of the vocal

Cords.

GLOTTIS

The open space between the vocal cords

VOCAL TRACT

The organs of speech located above the vocal cords. They include two resonators:

Oral cavity: when the air escapes through the mouth and the uvula is raised

Nasal cavity: when the air escapes through the nostrils and the uvula is lowered, blocking the
passage through the mouth.
VOWEL LENGTH

The duration of the vowel sound while it is being produced. Every vowel sound has its own
longer or shorter counterpart: For example, not /nɒt/ short /ʃɔ:t/

CONSONANT CLUSTER

It is a series of consonant sounds without a vowel in between. They can be placed at the
beginning or in final position. For example, splash /splæʃ/ These sets of consonants without a
supportive vowel sounds are called syllabic consonants.

UVULAR

Consonant produced by the back of the tongue against the very end of the soft palate /the
uvula)

DIPHTONGS

Combination of vowel sounds in which there is a GLIDE_____________movement of the

tongue, lips and jaw from one sound to another.

CENTRAL______________they end in /Ə/

• Iə Uə eƏ_

CLOSING_____________they end in /i/ or /u/

/eı/ /ɔı/ /ai/

• ɔ

/ɔu/ /Əu/

TRIPHTONGS
It is a glide from one vowel to another, and then to a third. All produced rapidly and without
interruption. They are /ƏƱƏ/ / aıƏ /eıƏ //ɒıƏ / /aƱƏ/

Elision

The omission of a vowel or a consonant sound, or both of them. It can be contextual if it is

made in rapid speech or historical if it is a result of a change in the language itself.

Contextual elision ____________contractions,

Historical______________NLA rules: weak vowels in non prominent position when preceded

by a stressed syllable and it is followed by a lateral /l/ nasal /m/ /n/ / ŋ/ or approximant /
j/ /W/ /r/

PHONETIC SYMBOLS

Alphabet that shows how sounds are represented. It is a conventionalized set of items.

UTTERANCE

Prominence

It is a modification in the production of certain sounds according to the meaning the speaker
wants to convey or the words he wants to highlight.

Stress

It is the natural way of a word to be pronounced. It is independent from the speaker’s

intention. It is pre-determined by linguists, appear in dictionaries as a diacritic before the
stressed syllable.

Neutralized sounds

They take place in special contexts

1. words ending in –ial, -iate, -ious, -y,- ey,-ee, -ie., -ual in non prominent position
2. words pronounced with a neutralilzed vowel, tend to keep it when added a suffix

3. unstressed words beginning with re-, pre-, de-, be-, e-

Exceptions to the rules

1. before the prefix –pre when it means “in advance” or “before”, it is pronounced /prı:/

Example; prepare / prı:peƏ/

2. before the prefix –re when it means “again” it is pronounced /ri:/ as in “rewrite” /ri:rait/

3. with certain negative prefixes such as:

a- un- , pronounced /ʌn/ as in “undo” /ʌʌdƱ:/

b. non-, pronounced /nɒn/ nɒnsmƏƱkƏ/

c. the prefix de- as in “decode” / di:kƏƱd/

d. the prefix dis-, as in “dishonoured” /dısɒnƏd/

strong form

it is the use of the most prominent version of a consonant sound that takes place only in
stressed syllables, in functional negations or in words in isolation. They are usually present in
content or lexical words, but functions words can also contain them if they are made emphatic
because of contrast. For example

A: ‘thank you!

B: no, than ‘you.

In this case it is called deaccentuation.

Selection slots
The choice of prominence in certain words unlike others, either because they are content
words, or they provide new information, or because they are firstly-time mentioned or
because we want to give emphasis to certain parts instead of others.

Syllable

It is a group of words that are pronounced together, each of which containing one vowel as
head and preceded by two or more consonants.

MINIMUM SYLLABLE: syllables that are pronounced with a single vowel in isolation. For
example

Are /ǝ/ or /ɔ:/

VOWEL SOUNDS:

They are sounds produced without compression of the articulation and blocking of air. The
organs involved are the mouth and the lips. The tongue can be either in a high, middle or low
position; the lips can be narrow, wide or neutral and the vocal cords can be relaxed or tense.

We have strong vowels_________/ʌ/ /æ/ /a/ / e/ /3:/ /ɒ/ /ɔ:/

Weak vowels__________________/i/ /ı/ / ı:/ u/ /ʊ/ / u:/ /ǝ/