Phonetics Articulation – Classification – Transcription or Say, understand and write

Books 1. Peter Roach, English phonetics and phonology, Cambridge University Press 2. Anna Mańkowska, Marta Nowacka, Magdalena Kłoczowska, How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck? English pronunciation practice book, Konsorcjum Akademickie. Kraków-Rzeszów-Zamość 3. Ann Baker, Ship or Sheep? An intermediate pronunciation course, Cambridge University Press

Phonetics vs. Phonology Phonology concerns cultural issues. Phonetics concerns physical issues.

What is Phonetics ? It is the study of human speech as a physical phenomenon. Articulation Acoustics Perception

Speech apparatus

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Speech sounds Consonants [t, s, p…] Vowels [a, e, o…]

Consonants: parameters Voiced vs. voiceless Oral vs. nasal Place of articulation Manner of articulation

Voicing Voiced sounds – the vocal cords are closed and vibrate [d, z, n, a, o…] Voiceless sounds – the vocal cords are open and air flows freely [t, s, k, p…]

Voicing Men and women have different vocal fold sizes. The difference in vocal fold size between men and women causes a difference in vocal pitch. There are also differences in pitch among women, and differences in pitch among men. Male vocal folds are between 17.5mm and 25mm in length, and female vocal folds are between 12.5mm and 17.5mm in length. Simply speaking, larger folds give lower pitch.

Oral and nasal sounds Mostly, we produce oral sounds. But we can lower the soft palate to pronounce sounds like [m] or [n]

Place of articulation bilabial the lower lip articulates against the upper lip Say: pen – bed – man – baby

Place of articulation labiodental the lower lip articulates against the upper teeth Say: fall – feel – vowel – voice

Place of articulation dental the tongue tip articulates against the upper teeth (also referred to as interdental) Say: think– north – south – mother – father - together

Place of articulation alveolar the tongue tip and/or blade articulates against the teeth ridge Say: tea – did – no – so – zoo – leg – red – lorry

Place of articulation post-alveolar the tongue front articulates immediately behind the teeth ridge Say: she – action – vision – pleasure – chin – cheek – June – Jane

Place of articulation palatal the tongue front articulates against the hard palate Say: yes– yahoo – huge – tune

Place of articulation velar the tongue back articulates against the soft palate Say: cat – come – get – go – long – thing

Place of articulation labial-velar the lips are rounded simultaneously with velar articulation Say: way – what – wide

Place of articulation glottal the vocal folds themselves are the place of articulation Say: how – have – behind – hundred uh-oh

MANNER of articulation plosive / stop complete, air-tight closure in the mouth, while the soft palate is raised Say: pen – tea – did – bed – cat – get

MANNER of articulation fricative partial closure in the mouth, such that the passage of air at that place creates friction; the soft palate is raised Say: fall – voice – think – brother – such – zed – sheep – vision – however

MANNER of articulation affricate first a plosive, then a fricative, articulated at the same, or a close place; the soft palate is raised Say: chain – church – jubilee – Janet

MANNER of articulation approximant an articulator approaches a place of articulation closely, but without friction; the soft palate is raised Say: liquids: leg – red – lorry glides/semi-vowels: want – wave – yes – you

Vowels: parameters Height: high, mid, low Place: front, central, back Lips: rounded, unrounded Tongue tension: tense, lax + Length

Vowels: parameters

Vowels: INTERNATIONAL British vowels in blue, Polish vowels in red (Polish: /i/ – mit, /ɛ/ – ten, /a/ – kat, /ɔ/ – rok, /u/ – luk, /ɨ/ – był.) (British: /i/ – tea, meet, /ɪ/ – it, kill, lucky, /e/ – men, ten, tell, /æ/ – cat, pal, /a/ – luck, dull, other, /ɑ/ – father, yard, heart, /ɒ/ – rock, dog, /o/ – saw, stalk, bought, call, /ʊ/ – look, put, /u/ – moon, runes, rule, /ɜ/ – girl, turn, word, kernel, /ə/ – about, colour, sister.)

Vowels: INTERNATIONAL Polish Ukrainian

Vowels: parameters

Vowels - diphthongs

Vowels - diphthongs /eı/ Say: aim – pain – play /aı/ Say: ice – bite – buy /οı/ Say: oil – boil – boy

Vowels - diphthongs /aυ/ Say: out – bout – cow /əυ/ Say: over – boat – go

Vowels - diphthongs /ıə/ Say: ear – fierce – fear /υə/ Say: during – cure /eə/ Say: care – careful – aeroplane

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) What is IPA? The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) A standardized system for representing the sounds of languages. Devised in 1886 by language teachers, who later formed the International Phonetic Association Based primarily on the Latin alphabet (most letters are Latin or Greek, or modifications thereof; a few letters inspired by other writing systems) Only lower-case letters One letter for each distinctive sound (unless the sound itself is complex) 107 letters represent consonants and vowels, 31 diacritics and 19 additional signs Two principal types of brackets: [square brackets] and /slashes/ Narrow transcription vs. broad transcription Dictionaries: British, American, monolingual, bilingual

Transcription (IPA) British English uses 44 of all IPA symbols.

Transcription (IPA) British English sounds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbG85eMqkU Phonetic alphabet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDblS9DJkmA Practice at home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HeujZ45OZE