Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology

Important facts written English different from spoken English need to study the sound system of English and its correlation to writing grown-ups cannot acquire pronunciation as easily as children can HARD WORK NECESSARY! talent also plays a role, but WORK comes first

Basic sounds I different sounds at the beginnings of these words: pier veer near beer sheer weir tier hear year deer leer cheer gear rear jeer fear mere

Basic sounds II Different sound at the ends of these words base wrath baize wrong bathe beige bake 24 sounds altogether – CONSONANTS

Basic sounds III feel cat tier fill cot tear fell cut tour fall curt banana full cart fool fail foal file foul 20 sounds – vowels foil

Symbols to match the sounds I p - pip, pot b - bat, bug t - tell, table d - dog, dig k - cat, key g - get, gum f - fish, phone v - van, vat θ - thick, thump, faith ð - these, there s - sat, sit z - zebra, zap ʃ - ship ʒ - treasure, leisure dʒ - lodge, judge tʃ - chip h - hop, hut m - man, mummy n – nanny, nothing ŋ - sing, wrong l - let, lips r - rub, ran w - wait, worm j - yet, yacht

Symbols to match the sounds II Short vowels ɪ - bit, silly ɛ - bet, head æ - cat, dad ɒ - dog, rotten ʌ - cut, nut ʊ - put, soot ə - about, clever

Symbols to match the sounds III Long vowels i: - cream, seen ɜ: - burn, firm (also shown as ə:) ɑ: - hard, far ɔ: - corn, faun u: - tube, glue

Symbols to match the sounds IV Diphthongs aɪ - spice, pie ɛɪ - wait, fate ɔɪ - toy, joy əʊ - oats, note aʊ - clown, vow ɪə - deer, pier ɛə - hair, bear ʊə - cure, fuel

Phoneme speech is divided into segments an abstract set of units called phonemes the complete set of these units – phonemic system of a language phoneme – the smallest phonetic unit, abstract in nature the smallest contrastive unit why constrastive? we get it when we distinguish one word from another (the sounds “d” and “t” in the words “bid” and “bit”) – minimal pairs

there are many slightly different ways in which we can make the sounds represent the phonemes, e.g. in writing with a set of symbols called phonemic transcription sometimes same sounds are realized differently (e.g. /t/ in tea and eat – more or less aspiration) How does this happen? a phoneme is usually adapted to the spoken context in which it occurs, in ways that do not alter the meaning different realizations of the same phoneme – allophones allophones are not normally represented in the phonemic transcription

example: if we isolate the l sound in the initial position in lick and in the final position in ball, we should be able to hear that the sound is (physically) different as is the way our speech organs produce it the initial l sound is called clear l, while the terminal l sound is sometimes called a dark l when we want to show the detail of phonetic variants or allophones we enclose the symbols in square brackets whereas in transcribing sounds from a phonological viewpoint we use slant lines [l] is clear l, while [ɫ] is dark l

PHONETICS: the study of the sounds of human speech concerned with the actual properties of speech sounds (phones), and their production, audition and perception deals with the sounds themselves rather than the contexts in which they are used in languages

PHONOLOGY: the study of the sound system of languages describes the way sounds function within a given language or across languages which sounds are distinctive units within a language also studies how sounds alternate and topics such as syllable structure, stress, accent, and intonation

when we talk, sounds and words are connected together into longer utterances, which should be pronounced smoothly in some utterances some words bear more importance than others – in speech realized with more prominence rhythm – different lengths which syllables in English are given tune/melody – rising and falling and the combinations of the two

Exercises: 1. How many phonemes are there in the following words: write, through, measure, six, half, where, one, first, voice, castle, scissors, should, judge, father, lamb? 2. Bear and bare are spelt differently but pronounced the same. Make a list of other words which are spelt differently but pronounced in the same way.

Speech organs we speak with the air from our lungs we draw it in, release it slowly and then interfere with its passage in various ways and in various places necessary to know how the speech organs work to be able to learn how to pronounce better vocal cords, the palate, the teeth, the tongue, the lips

Vocal cords the air from lungs first arrives at the larynx, which contains two small bands of elastic tissue lying opposite each other across the air passage the vocal cords can move towards each other, they can meet completely and they can separate completely when they are brought together completely, no air can pass between them when they are separated, sounds are made rapid movement of vocal cords (even 800 times per second) produces voiced sounds when vocal cords are drawn apart, voiceless sounds are produced

all vowels are voiced some consonants are voiced, some are voiceless consonants normally go in voiced-voiceless pairs (e.g. p-b, t-d, k-g), but there are consonants which do not have their “pair” (e.g. m, n, h)

The palate forms the roof of the mouth separates the mouth and the nasal cavity alveolar ridge begins right behind the teeth hard palate is the highest part of the palate soft palate lies towards the throat, above the root of the tongue hard palate is immobile soft palate can move, participates in making sounds

The teeth lower front teeth are not important in making sounds the two upper front teeth are used in English to some extent

The tongue the most important of the speech organs has the greatest variety of movement conventionally divided into 4 parts: tip, blade, front, back tip: the most forward part blade: follows the tip front: lies under the hard palate back: lies under the soft palate the tongue easily changes its shape, it easily rises and falls

The lips very mobile, like the tongue positions: they can be brought together, the lower lip can be drawn inwards and slightly upwards, they can be kept apart flat or rounded

Exercises 1. Which sounds in Serbian are voiced and which are voiceless? 2. Can you sing a voiceless sound? 3. How does the soft palate affect the air stream?