Republic of the Philippines

Laguna State Polytechnic University

Province of Laguna

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Graduate Studies and Applied Research

LUDIELYN S. MAHINAY April 10, 2021

Eng 204 Structure of English Dr. Myrna O. Medrano

ACTIVITY/ TASK 2: PHONOLOGY

1. Give a definition of Phonology. Explain.

As defined by Encyclopedia Britannica, Phonology is the study of the sound patterns that occur within
languages. Some linguists include phonetics, the study of the production and description of speech sounds,
within the study of phonology.
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2014, July 18). Phonology. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/science/phonology

There are variations of sounds in a language and the study of this is called Phonology. Phonology explains
that the way languages use speech sounds varies from language to language and how sounds form patterns.
Moreover, Phonology describes what sounds are in a language, how they combine to create words, and why
those phonetic features are essential for determining a word's identity.
Phonology generally studies the patterns of sounds while Phonetics focuses on the production, transmission,
and reception of sounds. That is why in the study of Phonology, we can also tackle Phonetics.

2. Give 5 salient points you heard on the discussion of Phonemes Sounds of English.

✓ Teaching Phonetic Awareness

It is important that we follow the rules when teaching phonetic awareness. One of the rules is to use words
that describe all 44 word-sounds or phonemes in order to help children understand the English language's
sounds. For the reason that the sight words are the significant words for distinguishing speech sounds.
Children will be able to learn and differentiate sounds more easily through their knowledge of those words.
It is also mentioned that part of our responsibility as teachers or parents to correctly pronounce words so
that children can learn easily.
✓ Intro to Phoneme & Grapheme
A speech sound is referred to as a Phoneme. It's the smallest unit of sound that separates one word from the
next. Even words with the same spelling have distinct sound or phoneme. We use letters or clusters of
letters to represent or stand for sounds because they can't be written. The written representation of one
sound is called a Grapheme. A single phoneme may have one or more grapheme so when we are teaching
Phonemes to a child, we have to use or show letters that represent the sounds. We have to take note that
Phoneme is sound while grapheme is the written symbol.
 ✓ International Phonetic Alphabet
The IPA which stands for International Phonetic Alphabet is a collection of symbols that could help us
pronounce any word in any language on Earth. This has the purpose of displaying symbols that represent
sounds.
This trivia was also presented during the discussion: The International Phonetic Association developed the
IPA in 1886 in Paris. Their original mission was to assist school children in pronouncing words in foreign
languages and in the teaching of reading. Their current mission is to encourage phonetics as a scientific
discipline.
✓ The 44 Phonemes/Sounds in English
Despite the fact that the English Alphabet only has 26 letters, there are approximately 44 phonemes/sounds.
These are divided into categories such as 19 consonant sounds, 6 short vowel sounds, 6 long vowel sounds,
5 digraph sounds, 5 R-controlled vowel sounds and 3 diphthong sounds.
✓ The Blends & Other Special Sounds
Blends are created when two or three letters are combined to form a distinct consonant-sound, which usually
occurs at the start of a word. The sounds of each original letter are still heard in a blend; they are simply
blended together easily and smoothly. While other special sounds like the letters C, Q, and X do not have
distinct phonemes because they appear on the phoneme sounds of other letters of the English Alphabet.

3. Differentiate Phonemes from Allophones.

It is said that a phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in speech. We are often taught to recognize each
phoneme in a word such as tan, for example, has three phonemes: /t/, /a/, and /n/. Whereas the variations in
phonemes are described by an allophone. Allophones are phonemes that have different sounds based on the
letters around them. So individual phonemes can have different allophones, such as the phoneme /t/, which
is expressed differently in the words "hot" and "top".

4. Characterized vowels and consonants.

The letters of the alphabet are classified as vowels or consonants in written language, depending on the type
of sound they represent.
All sounds that are produced without a block of air coming out of the lungs are considered vowels. The
sound of vowels allows air to flow freely. Since vowels are the most sonorous tone, they are also known as
the nucleus of spoken syllables. It can also be pronounced as short and long.
Consonants are speech sounds produced by blocking the flow of air through the mouth partially or entirely.
The vocal folds can be placed against each other at just the right stress to allow them to vibrate against each
other as air passes through them from the lungs. These sounds can be voiced and voiceless.
Vowels are formed without any obstruction in the airstream, while consonants are produced with some
obstruction in the airstream. Both are important aspects of phonology.

5. Why should you learn the International Phonetic Alphabet? What is its importance?
Why should I learn the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)? After all, why not? As discussed in Item
No. 2, the International Phonetic Alphabet will assist us in pronouncing any word in any language on the
planet. Its significance in many fields is no doubt, since it aids students and even us teachers in
understanding the speech sounds of various alphabets used around the world.
 6. Why do we need to understand how and where the sounds of English occur?
Let me rephrase the question with: Why is it important for us to study the Manner and Place of Articulation?
Since Manner of Articulation is the “how” of making sounds while the Place of Articulation is the where
of the pronunciation, it is then necessary to understand them. Pronunciation of English words does not come
naturally to us, Filipinos, so learning how and where the sounds of English occur is important. Also, as an
English teacher, it's crucial to understand how and where sounds are produced in order for us to correctly
pronounce them and speak more clearly to everyone.