Q# 1: Explain the following terms with examples?

a) Nasalization:

In phonetics, nasalization (or nasalisation) is the production of a sound while the velum is

lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the
mouth. Examples of nasal consonants are [m], [n], and [ŋ] like mouse, nation and cling.

b) Intonation:

In speech, intonation is the use of changing (rising and falling) vocal pitch to

convey grammatical information or personal attitude. Intonation is particularly important in
expressing questions in spoken English. For example, take the sentence, "When does the meeting
start?" The word "start"—including the question mark—rises up or comes up in your voice when

you utter the word,

Intonation, in phonetics, the melodic pattern of an utterance. Intonation is primarily a

matter of variation in the pitch level of the voice. Intonation conveys differences of expressive
meaning (e.g., surprise, anger, wariness).

Falling Intonation:

This is when your pitch lowers at the end of a phrase or sentence. Falling intonation is used at the
end of a statement or with a question that uses Who, What, When, Where,Why or how.

Examples:

 We live in \MOScow.
 I don’t want to \CALL her.
 They left for London \YESterday.
 When will we leave?

Rising Intonation:
Rising intonation is a rather complicated phenomenon. It can express various emotions, such as
non-finality, incompleteness, question, surprise, doubt, hesitation, interest, request, suggestion,
politeness, readiness to continue the conversation, lack of confidence and even insecurity.

Examples:

 Are you SCARED?

 Is this YOURS?
 Are you ready to START?

c) Diphthong:

A diphthong is a sound made by combining two vowels, specifivally when it starts as one vowel
sound and goes to another, like the ‘oy’ sound in ‘oil’.OR

Diphthong is a vowel sound in which the tongue changes position to produce the sound of two
vowels. OR

Diphthong is a single sound produced when two vowels (one dominant in duration and stress,
and one reduced in duration and stress), are paired together in a sequence.

d) voicing:

Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech

sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise
known as unvoiced) or voiced.

The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts:

 Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal folds vibrate, its primary
use in phonetics to describe phones, which are particular speech sounds.
 It can also refer to a classification of speech sounds that tend to be associated with vocal
cord vibration but may not actually be voiced at the articulatory level. That is the term's
primary use in phonology: to describe phonemes; while in phonetics its primary use is to
describe phones.
For example, voicing accounts for the difference between the pair of sounds associated with the
English letters "s" and "z". The two sounds are transcribed as [s] and [z] to distinguish them from
the English letters, which have several possible pronunciations, depending on the context. If one
places the fingers on the voice box (i.e. the location of the Adam's apple in the upper throat), one
can feel a vibration while zzzz is pronounced but not with ssss. In most European languages, with
a notable exception being Icelandic, vowels and other sonorants (consonants such as m, n,
l, and r) are modally voiced.

IPA examples   IPA examples

voiced unvoiced

b book p please
(b k) (pliz)

v vanilla   f five
(v nIl ) (faIv)

they   thirty
( eI) ( ti)

d dish   t ten
(dI ) (t n)

z zero   s sir
 (z ) (s )

genre   she
( nr ) ( i)

jump   cheers
( mp) ( s)

g good   k king
(g d) (kIŋ)