2 A Concise Introduction To English Phonetics and Phonology SFL DTU

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
ĐẠI HỌC DUY TÂN, ĐÀ NẴNG

TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ
PGS.TS. TÔN NỮ MỸ NHẬT
NGỮ ÂM VÀ ÂM VỊ HỌC TIẾNG ANH
ĐÀ NẴNG, 2021
BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
ĐẠI HỌC DUY TÂN, ĐÀ NẴNG
TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ
PGS.TS. TÔN NỮ MỸ NHẬT
NGỮ ÂM VÀ ÂM VỊ HỌC TIẾNG ANH

TRÌNH ĐỘ: ĐẠI HỌC
NGÀNH: TIẾNG ANH DU LỊCH
TIẾNG ANH BIÊN – PHIÊN DỊCH
SỐ TÍN CHỈ: 02 (LÝ THUYẾT)
ĐÀ NẴNG, 2021
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
DUY TAN UNIVERSITY, DA NANG
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Associate Professor. TON NU MY NHAT
A concise introduction to
English Phonetics and Phonology
LEVEL: Undergraduate
FIELD: English for Tourism
English for Translation and Interpretation
NUMBER OF CREDITS: 2 (Theory: 30 periods)
Da Nang, 2021
TO THE TEACHERS
This material aims to introduce to the junior English majors at School of
Foreign Languages, Duy Tan University the fundamentals of English phonetics
and phonology, and provide them with practice in independent reading and
researching. A concise introduction to English phonetics and phonology
is compiled with the hope that it can acquaint students with the basic concepts
relating to the field in the simplest and straightforward way.
The reference is divided into two major parts. The first part consisting of
the first two chapters is about phonetics, presenting what the English sounds
are, how the English sounds are made, and how the English sounds are
scientifically classified. The second part is about phonology, presented with the
remaining five chapters concerning how these sounds form system and patterns
in the English language, and how the sound patterns are affected by the
combination of words and speakers’ attitude and intent. At the end of each
chapter, there is a section devoted to discussions and activities with a view to
guiding students to prepare the lesson at home and consolidate their knowledge
of the chapter after learning it. In addition, the glossary consists of phonetic
terms with their Vietnamese equivalents. Apart from this reference, it is
advisable that students refer to the reference books listed in the bibliography.
It is expected that this material can be of benefit as a learning material
for junior English majors to develop their basic understanding of theoretical
issues of English phonetics and phonology and their autonomous learning
skills. We instructors of the course hope that the students will find the reference
useful and that they will share their comments and feedback with us. We highly
appreciate any suggestions from learners and expert readers for improvements
of the official published version in the near future.
Da Nang, August 2021
I
TO THE STUDENTS
A concise introduction to English phonetics and phonology is

designed primarily for junior students of English who are studying at School of
Foreign Languages, Duy Tan University. It aims to provide students with the
most necessary and important information on theoretical issues of English
phonetics and phonology with a view to acquainting you with the basic concepts
in the field as well as developing their autonomous reading and researching.
Additionally, this reference might be useful for those who would like to improve
their pronunciation and/or helping others with theirs.
It is organized as follows. In Chapter 1, basic concepts, namely Phonetics
and Phonology, Letters and sounds, the vocal tract, voiced and voiceless sounds
are presented. Chapter 2 covers the definition, characteristics and classification
of speech sounds. Chapter 3 deals with the phonological units of language.
Chapter 4 provides a comprehensive description of the nature and structure of
the English syllable. In Chapter 5, an attempt has been made to present English
stress, weak forms and strong forms. Chapter 6 provides an insight into four
aspects of connected speech, including assimilation, elision, linking and
rhythm. Last but not least, Chapter 7 discusses tune shapes, how to use the
tunes and functions of intonation.
The students are expected to study the designated materials well in
advance before coming to class by making use of the guiding discussions and
activities at the end of each chapter. Specifically, you need to critically read and
come up with questions (if any) to participate in class discussions and ask your
teachers for explanations. Notably, the glossary and supplementary materials
in the Appendices are also provided for your self-study and further practice.
We hope that you find the lectures useful to enabling you to have a good
grasp of English phonetics and phonology, and equally importantly to develop
your learner autonomy and improve your pronunciation.
II
Table of contents
Chapter 1: Basic concepts. 1

1.1. Phonetics and phonology
1.2. Letters and sounds
1.3. The vocal tract
1.4. Voiced and voiceless sounds
Discussion and activities 7
Chapter 2: Classifying speech sounds 9
2.1. Vowels and consonants
2.2. Pure vowels
2.3. Diphthongs
2.4. Consonants
Chapter 3: The phonological units of language 24
3.1. The phoneme
3.2. Minimal pairs
3.3. Distinctive features
3.4. Allophones
Chapter 4: The syllable 29
4.1. The nature of the syllable
4.2. The structure of the English syllable
Chapter 5: Stress 33
5.1. The nature of stress
5.2. Levels of stress
5.3. Placement of stress within the word
5.4. Weak forms and strong forms
Chapter 6: Aspects of connected speech 53
6.1. Assimilation
6.2. Elision
6.3. Linking
6.4. Rhythm
Chapter 7: Intonation 63
III
7.1. Tune shapes
7.1.1. The Glide-down
7.1.2. The Glide-up
7.1.3. The Take-off
7.1.4. The Dive
7.2. How to use the tunes?
7.3. Functions of intonation
Bibliography 77
Appendix: Glossary 79
IV
Chapter 1. BASIC CONCEPTS
1.1. Phonetics and phonology

Speaking to each other is one of the most interesting things that we human beings
do. Each of us has a mind, a private world filled with thoughts, feelings, and memories.
We have many ways of communicating these in such a way that they enter the minds of
other people. We may find it convenient to communicate by means of writing, by sign
language, or by using a pointer and a computer screen. Many artistic works can tell us
a great deal of the thoughts and feelings of the artists. Also, a quite different form of
communication is one that we share with many other animals: gestures and facial
expressions.
But although there are many different ways of communicating, when it comes to
telling other people what we want to tell them, what we use most is speech, and this is
something which is only available to human beings.
Speech is a complicated process, and to study it requires a whole scientific subject
– the science of phonetics. There are three main areas of phonetics: Articulatory
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phonetics, Acoustic phonetics and Auditory phonetics. This course is only concerned with
articulatory phonetics.
Whereas phonetics describes the sounds in a language, phonology studies the ways
in which speech sounds form system and patterns in human language. Phonology is also
concerned with how sound patterns are affected by the combination of words.
1.2. Letters and Sounds
There is a big difference between the way words are spelled in English and how they are
pronounced. English spelling patterns are inconsistent and are not always a reliable guide
to pronunciation. In ordinary English spelling it is not always easy to know what sounds
the letters stand for. For example, in the following words, the letters ch are used to represent
three different sounds: machine, chain, mechanic. In the words city, busy, women, pretty,
village, the different underlined letters all stand for the same vowel sound, the one which
occurs in sit. In banana, bather, man, many the letter a stands for five different vowels
sounds. It is also possible for no sound to be represented by a particular letter. If you
pronounce the words bomb, cake, pneumonia, knee, though, debt, receipt, you will notice
that the underlined letters are silent. That is why we need a set of symbols in which each
sound is represented by a different symbol: the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is
used all over the world; it consists of a set of symbols in which one symbol always
represents one sound. They are listed below.
Vowels
1 i: as in see / si: / 11 з: as in fur / fз:(r) /
2 I as in sit / sIt / 12 ə as in ago / ə’gəƱ /
3 e as in ten / ten / 13 eI as in page / peIdʒ /
4 æ as in hat / hæt / 14 əƱ as in home / həƱm

/
5 ɑ: as in arm / ɑ:m / 15 aI as in five / faIv /
6 ɒ as in got / gɒt / 16 aƱ as in now / naƱ /
2
7 ɔ: as in saw / sɔ: / 17 ɔI as in join / dʒɔIn /
8 Ʊ as in put / pƱt / 18 Iə as in near / nIə(r) /
9 u: as in too / tu: / 19 eə as in hair / heə(r) /
10 ʌ as in cup / kʌp / 20 Ʊ ə as in pure / pjƱə(r)

/
Consonants
1 p as in pen / pen / 13 s as in sit / sIt /
2 b as in bad / bæd / 14 z as in zoo / zu: /
3 t as in tea / ti: / 15 ∫ as in she / ∫i: /
4 d as in did / dId / 16 ʒ as in vision / ‘vIʒn

/
5 k as in cat / kæt / 17 h as in home / həƱm
/
6 g as in got / gɒt / 18 m as in man / mæn /
7 t∫ as in chin / t∫In / 19 n as in now / naƱ /
8 dʒ as in June / dʒu:n / 20 ŋ as in sing / sIŋ /
9 f as in fall / fɔ:l / 21 l as in leg / leg /
10 v as in voice / vɔIs / 22 r as in red / red /
11 θ as in thin / θIn / 23 j as in yes / jes /
12 ð as in then / ðen / 24 w as in wet /wet /
It should be noted that all the materials in this Introduction is heavily withdrawn
from the widely circulated, well-known references in English phonetics, as indicated in
Bibliography; we are greatly indebted to all the authors.
3
1.3. The vocal tract
This section looks at how speech sounds are produced. It is true that speech is
extraordinarily complex and that there are still aspects of it which remain unclear, even
after extensive research. Still it is also possible to make quite precise statements about how
the organs of speech function and about how speech sounds are produced. Thus the
questions to be addressed in this part are: what are the main organs that are used in speech?
How do they function?
All normal languages involve sounds produced by the upper respiratory tract. To
understand the nature of language it is necessary to understand the nature of these sounds
and how they are produced.
The most basic fact to remember is that all sounds we use in speech are produced
by moving air. Speech sounds are produced with the air from the lungs, through the trachea
(windpipe), then the larynx, and out of the body through the mouth and sometimes through
the nose, as we can see in Figure 1.1.
The passageway through which air passes from the larynx out into the air outside
our bodies is called the vocal tract.
Fig. 1.1 The principal organs of articulation

4
The vocal tract can be divided into the nasal cavity, which is the air passage within
and behind the nose, and the oral cavity, which is the air passage within the mouth and the
throat. In speaking, we use our articulators to modify the flow of air so that sounds are
produced.
Inside the mouth, there are many parts which are used in speaking. The most obvious
one is the tongue, which is so important in speaking that in many languages the word for
‘language’ is also the word for ‘tongue’. The tongue is amazingly mobile and flexible: The
tongue can move upwards and downwards, forwards and backwards. In producing vowels,
the tongue does not make a great deal of contact with the palate, which is the upper surface
of the mouth, sometimes called the ‘roof’ of the mouth. The teeth can be important in
speaking, though we can’t move them.
Fig. 1.2 The tongue
The outer end of the vocal tract is formed by the lips, which, like the tongue, are
very flexible and maneuverable. They can be moved towards each other and firmly closed,
or can be moved further apart. They can be pushed forwards and rounded, or pulled back
and widened as in a smile.
The larynx is very important. The vital part of the larynx is a pair of folds of
muscular tissue called the vocal cords, as can be seen in Figure 1.2. We can move these
into a number of positions between wide open and tightly closed. We open them widely to
allow a rapid escape of air. If they are slightly narrowed, so that the gap between them is
5
only a few millimeters, the air makes a rushing noise that we associate with the sound at
the beginning of the English word ‘head’. If we close them enough for them to be slightly
touching each other, the air passage between them causes them to vibrate; this is called
voicing, or phonation, and it can be varied in many ways, most importantly in pitch, which
may be high or low according to how we adjust our vocal cords. Immediately above the
larynx is a passage called the pharynx.
Fig. 1.3 The larynx Fig. 1.4 The inside of the larynx seen
from above
Fig. 1.5 Arytenoid cartilages causing closing Fig. 1.6 The upper respiratory tract
and opening of the glottis
6
1.4. Voiced and voiceless sounds
Speech sounds which are produced with the vocal cords vibrating are called voiced.
Such vibration can be felt when touching the neck in the region of the larynx, for example
/d/, or /z/. Speech sounds which are produced without vibration of the vocal cords are called
voiceless, for example /t/ or /s/.
DISCUSSIONS AND ACTIVITIES
1. What is Phonetics? Phonology?
2. Differentiate sounds from letters. Give illustrations.
3. How many letters and sounds are there in each of the following words?
a. church f. education k. audition
b. orange g. heritage l. says
c. psychology h. schedule m. question
d. hours i. purpose n. island
e. swimming j. general o. houses
4. What is IPA?
5. Describe the vocal tract.
6. What are the organs of speech? Draw the illustration.
7. Describe the tongue in detail, as one organ of speech.
8. Describe the larynx in detail, as one organ of speech.
9. How are the voiced sounds different from the voiceless sounds?
10. Name the voiced sounds and the voiceless sounds in English.
11. Give the phonetic symbol for the final sound in the following words. Is it voiced
or voiceless?
Example: journey: /dʒ/: voiced
a. although d. chocolate g. psychiatrist
b. purchase e. procedure h. pneumonia
c. vegetable f. circle i. queue
12. Give the phonetic symbol for the final sound in the following words. Is it voiced
or voiceless?
Example: rock /k/ voiceless
a. ridge e. is i. bomb m. garage
b. sonic f. moth j. gauge n. bathe
c. wife g. relax k. traipse o. though
d. made h. log l. dogs
13. Fill in the missing information.

1. __________ describes the sounds in a language.
7
2. __________ studies the ways in which speech sounds form system and
patterns in human language. __________ is also concerned with how sound
patterns are affected by the combination of words.
3. There is a big difference between the way words are __________ in English
(letters) and how they are __________ (sounds). For example, the same letter
“a” is used to represent different sounds in the words “cake, any, sofa, call,
mat”. In the words “two, to, too”, different letters may represent the same
sound. Or letters may represent no sounds. Take the words “comb, honest”
for instance.
4. In the English language, there are __________ letters and __________

sounds (20 __________ and __________ consonants).
5. IPA stands for ____________________________. It consists of a set of

symbols in which one symbol always represents one sound.
6. English spelling patterns are ______________ and are not always a reliable
guide to pronunciation.
7. In many languages the word for ‘language’ is also the word for
____________.
8. The International Phonetic Alphabet consists of a set of ……………….., each of

which always represents one sound.
8
Chapter 2. CLASSIFYING SPEECH SOUNDS
Our articulators enable us to make an infinite number of different speech sounds,

but in our scientific study we need some way of bringing order into the apparent chaos of
all these different sounds. The most fundamental division we make is between vowels and
consonants. Within each of these basic categories, we can make finer and finer distinctions.
2.1. VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

Vowels and consonants can be distinguished on the basis of differences in
articulation.
The most common view is that vowels are sounds in which there is no obstruction
to the flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips. A doctor who wants to look at the
back of a patient’s mouth often asks the patient to say “ah”; making this vowel sound is
the best way of presenting an unobstructed view. But if we make a sound like [t], [s] it can
be clearly felt that we are making it difficult or impossible for the air to pass through the
mouth. Most people would have no doubt that sounds like [t], [s] should be called
consonants.
Consonant sounds are made with a narrow or complete closure in the vocal tract.
The airflow is either blocked momentarily or restricted so much that noise is produced as
air flows past the constriction. Vowels are produced with little obstruction in the vocal tract
and are generally voiced.
9
As a result of the difference in articulation, consonants and vowels differ in the way
they sound. Vowels are more sonorous than consonants – that is, we perceive them as
louder and longer lasting than consonants.
The greater sonority of vowels allows them to form the basis of syllables. A syllable
can best be understood as a peak of sonority surrounded by less sonorous segments. For
example, the words ‘a’ and ‘go’ each contain one syllable, the word ‘water’ two syllables,
and the word ‘telephone’ three syllables. In counting the syllables in these words, we are
in effect counting the vowels. A vowel is thus said to form the nucleus of a syllable. Table
2.1 sums up the differences between the two classes.
Table 2.1. Vowels vs. Consonants
Vowels Consonants
 Are produced with relatively  Are produced with a narrow or

little obstruction in the vocal complete closure in the vocal
tract tract
 Are more sonorous  Are less sonorous
 Are syllabic  Are generally not syllabic
2.2. PURE VOWELS

Vowels have traditionally been classified according to three questions:
1. How high is the tongue?
2. What part of the tongue is involved; that is, what part is raised or lowered?
3. How long or short is the vowel?
4. How rounded are the lips?
It is usual to simplify the very complex possibilities by describing just two things:
firstly, the vertical distance between the upper surface of the tongue and the palate, and
secondly the part of the tongue – the front, centre, or back, which is raised the highest.
10
The two diagrams in Figure 2.1. show that in the production of [i], it is the front
part of the tongue that is raised, and in [u] it is the back of the tongue. Thus [i] can be
specified as [+ front] to distinguish it from [u], which is [+ back].
[i] [U]
Fig. Position of the tongue in producing [i], which

Fig. 2.1 Position of the tongue in producing [i], [+front], and [u], [+back]
is [+font], and [u], which is [+ back].
Figure 2.2 illustrates the tongue height in the production of [i:] and [æ]. [i:] is [+
close] and [æ] is [+open].
Fig. 2.2 Tongue positions for [i:], which is [+close] and [æ], which is [+open]
By looking at these vowels, we have seen the most important features used for
classifying vowels: a vowel may be close or open; front or back. We can now look at where
other vowels fit in this scheme – there are many different vowels in the world’s languages,
and we need to be able to put them in their place. On the open/close scale, we place two
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intermediate levels: mid-close and mid-open. In between front and back, we put central.
There is a well-known diagram used to represent the vowel ‘space’, known as the Cardinal
Vowel Diagram. This can be seen in Figure 2.3. The cardinal vowel system was invented
by Daniel Jones as a means of describing the vowels in any language. The cardinal vowels
themselves do not belong to any particular language, but are possible vowels to be used as
reference points.
We have now looked at how we can classify vowels according to their tongue height
and their frontness or backness. There is another important variable of vowel quality and
that is lip-rounding. Although the lips can have many different shapes and positions, we
will at this stage consider only three possibilities. They are:
Part of the tongue involved
Tongue
height
High Front Central Back
Close i u
1 8
Close- e 2 7 o
mid
Open- ɛ 3 6 ɔ
mid
a 4 5 ɑ
Low Open
Fig. 2.3 Primary cardinal

vowels
i) Rounded, where the corners of the lips are brought towards each other and the
lips pushed forwards. This is most clearly seen in cardinal vowel no. 8 [u].
ii) Spread, with the corners of the lips moved away from each other. This is most
clearly seen in cardinal vowel no. 1 [i].
iii) Neutral, where the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread. The noise most
English people make when they are hesitating (written ‘er’) has neutral lip
position.
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Given this way of classifying vowels, we can give any vowel a phonetic label by
describing its frontness, openness, and rounding: thus, using cardinal vowels as examples,
we can say that [i] is a front close unrounded vowel, while [u] is a back close rounded
vowel. The vowel [e] is a front mid-close unrounded vowel, while [ɔ] is a back mid-open
rounded vowel.
Now, using the principles that have just been explained, we will examine the English
vowels.
2.2.1. ENGLISH SHORT VOWELS
The symbols for the short vowels are [I], [e], [æ], [ʌ], [ɒ], and [Ʊ]. Each vowel can
be described in relation to the cardinal vowels, as illustrated in Figure 2.4.
[I] (example words: bit, pin, fish)
Though this vowel is in the close front area, compared with cardinal vowel no. 1 [i] it
is more open, and nearer in to the centre. The lips are slightly spread.
[e] (example words: bet, men, yes)
This is a front vowel between cardinal vowel no. 2 [e] and no. 3 [ɛ]. The lips are slightly
spread.
[æ] (example words: bat, man, gas)
This vowel is front, but not quite as open as cardinal vowel no. 4 [a]. The lips are
slightly spread.
[ʌ] (example words: but, some, rush)
This is a central vowel, and it is more open than the open-mid tongue height. The lip
position is neutral.
[ɒ] (example words: pot, gone, cross)
This vowel is not quite fully back, and between open-mid and open in tongue height.
The lips are slightly rounded.
[Ʊ]. (example words: put, pull, push)
This sound is more open than the cardinal no. 8 [u] and nearer to central. The lips are
rounded.
13
There is one other short vowel, for which the symbol is [ə]. This central vowel,
which is called schwa, is a very familiar sound in English; it is heard in the first syllable
of the words about, oppose, perhaps, for example.
2.2.2. ENGLISH LONG VOWELS
Some word pairs, such as peat /pit, sheep/ship, tree/ three, cannot be distinguished
if it were not for vowel length. For this reason, [+ long] is an important feature in the
classification of vowels.
There are five long vowels in English; these are the vowels which tend to be longer
than short vowels in similar contexts. It is necessary to say “in similar contexts” because,
as we shall see later, the length of all English vowel sounds varies very much according to
context (such as the type of sound that follows them) and the presence or absence of stress.
To remind you that the vowels tend to be long, the symbols consist of one vowel symbol
plus a length-mark made of two dots :. Thus we have [i:], [з:], [ɑ:], [ɔ:], and [u:]. We
will now look at these long vowels individually.
[i:] (example words: beat, mean, peace) This vowel is nearer to cardinal vowel no. 1 [i]
(that is it is more close and front) than the short vowel [ I]. Although the tongue shape
is not much different from cardinal no. 1, the lips are only slightly spread and this results
in a rather different vowel quality.
[з:] (example words: bird, fern, purse)
This is a central vowel which is well-known in most English accents as a hesitation
sound (spelt ‘er’). The lip position is neutral.
[ɑ:] (example words: card, half, pass)
This is an open vowel in the region of cardinal vowel no.5 [a], but not as back as this.
The lip position is neutral.
[ɔ:] (example words: board, torn, horse)
The tongue height for this vowel is between cardinal vowel no. 6 [ɔ] and no. 7 [o]. This
vowel is almost fully back and has quite strong lip-rounding.
[u:] (example words: food, soon, loose)
14
This vowel is not very different from cardinal vowel no. 8 [u], but it is not quite so back
nor so close, and the lips are only moderately rounded.
Fig. 2.4 English short and long vowels
You may have noticed that these five long vowels are different from the seven short
vowels not only in length but also in quality (Figure 2.4). For this reason, all the long
vowels have symbols which are different from those of short vowels; you can perhaps see
that the long and short vowel symbols would still all be different from each other even if
we omitted the length mark, so it is important to remember that the length mark is used not
because it is essential but because it helps learners to remember the length difference.
Perhaps the only case where a long and short vowel are closely similar in quality is that of
[ə] and [з:]; but [ə] is a special case, as we shall see later.
2.3. DIPHTHONGS
We have looked at the English vowels, which remain constant and do not glide from
one vowel to another. Those are called pure vowels or monophthongs.
In contrast, there are vowels which are called diphthongs, which consist of a
movement or glide from one vowel to another.
The total number of diphthongs are eight. The easiest way to remember them is in
terms of three groups divided as in the following diagram (Fig. 2.5):
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Fig. 2.5 The English diphthongs
The centring diphthongs glide towards the central vowel ə; the closing diphthongs
have the characteristic that they all end with a glide towards a closer vowel. Two
diphthongs glide towards Ʊ, so that as the tongue moves closer to the roof of the mouth,
there is at the same time a rounding movement of the lips.
In terms of length, diphthongs are like the long vowels. Perhaps the most important
thing to remember about all the diphthongs is that the first part is much longer and stronger
than the second part; for example, most of the diphthongs /aI/ consist of the /a / vowel, and
only in about the last quarter of the diphthong does the glide to / I/ become noticeable. As
the glide to /I/ happens, the loudness of the sound decreases. As a result, the /I/ part is shorter
and quieter. Foreign learners must, therefore, always remember that the last part of English
diphthongs must not be made too strongly.
2.4. CONSONANTS
As we saw earlier, all true consonants are the result of obstructing the flow of the
air through the vocal tract. When we classify consonants, we look at the following
characteristics:
1. Whether the sound is voiced or voiceless.
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2. The place (or places) of articulation where the obstruction is made.
3. The manner of articulation or type of obstruction.
Voicing:
Voicing is seen as a binary (yes/no) matter – a sound is either voiced or it isn’t.
The airstream from the lungs moves up through the windpipe, and through the
opening between the vocal cords. If the vocal cords are apart, the airstream is not obstructed
at the glottis, and it passes freely into the supraglottal cavities. The sounds produced in this
way are voiceless sounds. The sounds represented by /p/, /t/, /k/ and /s/ in the words pit,
tip, kit, sip, and kiss are voiceless sounds.
The difference between voiced and voiceless can be used to distinguish between
what are otherwise similar sounds. However, not all the voiced sounds of English have
similar voiceless sounds, and even when there are pairs of similar sounds which are voiced
and voiceless, this may not be the only difference between them, as we shall see below.
Place of articulation
In order to identify the places of articulation, we need to look in more detail at the
vocal tract, and this can be seen in Figure 2.6.
Alveolar Ridge
Hard Palate
Soft Palate
Uvular
Lips Teeth
Tongue
Vocal cords
Fig.10 Places of articulation
Fig. 2.6 The places of articulation
17
Starting from the outer end of the vocal tract, we have the lips, which give us the
bilabial place of articulation. Behind these are the front teeth; if the lower lip touches the
upper front teeth, we do have a labiodental place, while if the tongue touches the teeth,
the place is dental.
Behind the upper front teeth is the alveolar ridge, and if the tongue is in contact
with this, the place is alveolar. The tongue can make contact with the upper surface of the
mouth a little further back than the alveolar region, giving a post-alvelar place, while
moving further back in the vocal tract brings us to the palatal area. Looking now at the
back of the mouth, we can see the velum. When the back of the tongue is in contact with
this, the place is velar.
Moving downwards, we can see the larynx. A constriction between the vocal cords,
inside the larynx, has a glottal place of articulation, since the space between the vocal cords
is known as the glottis.
Manner of articulation
Here we have to describe the type of obstruction to the airflow that is formed. This
can range from a complete closure of the vocal tract, which prevents any air from escaping,
to an articulation which in most ways is identical to that of a vowel.
A plosive (or stop) is a consonant which stops air from escaping. A closure is made
at some point in the vocal tract, and the air is compressed behind this. There is a brief
period of complete, or almost complete, silence, and then the compressed air is released.
When this air is released, there is a very short explosive noise, called plosive.
A nasal consonant involves a complete closure in the oral cavity, but air is allowed
to escape through the nose, since the velum is lowered for the production of this type of
consonant, as can be seen in Figure 2.7.
18
Fig. 11 The soft palate lowered
Fig. 2.7 The soft palate lowered
In the production of some sounds, the airstream is not completely stopped but is
obstructed from flowing freely. If you put your hand in front of your mouth and produce
an s, z, f, v, we will feel the air coming out of your mouth. The passage in the mouth through
which the air must pass, however, is narrow, causing friction or turbulence. The air
particles are pushed against one another, producing noise because of the friction. Such
sounds are called fricatives. An affricative is a consonant which starts as a plosive, but
instead of ending with plosion, ends with a fricative made in the same place.
Finally, there is a class of sounds which are collectively called approximants. One
of these is the lateral: in this type, the centre of the tongue is in close contact with the roof
of the mouth, but the sides of the tongue are lowered so that air can escape along the sides
of the tongue. A post-alveolar approximant is a rather vague concept, but the term is
normally used to refer to the ‘r’ sound of the English of America and England, where the
tongue is slightly curled backwards but does not make contact with the upper surface of
the mouth.
Table 2.2. summarizes the classification of the consonants in terms of voicing,
manner of articulation and place of articulation.
19
Table 2.2: Classification of phonetic symbols for English consonants
Place Bilabial Labio- Dental Alveolar Palato- Palatal Velar Glottal
Manner
dental alveolar
Plosive p b t d k g
Nasal m n
ŋ
Fricative f v θ ð s z ∫ ʒ h
Affricative t∫ dʒ
Lateral l
Approximant r
w j
1. How are the vowels different from the consonants in terms of articulation?
2. What are the principal differences between the vowels and the consonants?
3. How are pure vowels different from diphthongs?
4. What is a consonant?
5. On what criteria are consonants classified?
6. What is a pure vowel?
7. On what criteria are pure vowels classified?
8. What is a diphthong?
9. How are diphthongs classified?
10. Draw the summary tables/charts of the English consonants, vowels, and diphthongs.
11. a. Give the phonetic symbol for the first sounds in the following words.
Example: bomb /b/
a. city e. physics i. pneumonia m. quick
b. cake f. shoot j. zone n. what
c. thick g. Thames k. usually o. English
d. choice h. knee l. jug
b. Give the articulatory description for each of these first sounds.
Example: bomb /b/ voiced bilabial stop
12. a. Give the phonetic symbol for the vowel sound in the following words.
Example: meat / i:/
a. head f. I k. late p. meat
b. fun g. May l. Don q. boat
20
c. ham h. dawn m. toy r. ice
d. strange i. hill n. food
e. thing j. took o. stop
b. Give the articulatory description for each of these sounds.

Example: meat / i:/ close front long unrounded vowel
13. Write the English words represented in the phonetic transcriptions below.
Example: /kraʊd/ crowd
a. /kæt/ d. /ˈfɪŋɡə(r)/ g. /maɪn/ j. /ˈpɜːpl/
b. /ˈwɜːði/ e. /bæk/ h. /plaʊ/ k. /ʃʊd/
c. /kruːz/ f. /beɡ/ i. /pleɪ/ l. /dʒʌdʒ/
14. Write the English words represented with the phonetic transcriptions below.
Example: /sɜːtʃ/ search
a. /səˈdʒestʃən/ f. /dʒʌdʒ/
b. /’wɜːði/ g. /saɪˈkaɪətrɪst/
c. /kruːz/ h. /ˈɡærɪdʒ/
d. /ˈkʌmpəs/ i. /ˌpɪktʃəˈresk/
e. /pəˈzes/ j./ˌædvənˈteɪdʒəs/
15. Write the following words in phonetic transcription.

Example: lunge /lʌndʒ/
a. church d. thrive g. huge j. pew
b. compass e. yelled h. stop k. feud
c. campus f. caught i. awful l. possess
16. Give the phonetic transcription that corresponds to each of the following articulatory
description.
a. voiceless velar stop e. voiced velar nasal
b. voiced labiodental fricative f. voiceless dental fricative
c. voiced palato-alveolar affricative g. close back rounded short vowel
d. voiced palatal approximant h. open front unrounded short vowel
17. Write down the phonetic symbols representing the following description, and illustrate
each of the sounds with two English words.
Descriptions Phonetic symbols Two examples
1. voiced labiodental fricative
2. voiceless alveolar fricative
3. voiced palato-alveolar affricative
4. voiceless glottal fricative
18. Complete the following statement using the most appropriate word(s).
21
a. In producing a ………………..., the center of the tongue is in close contact with the
roof of the mouth, but the sides of the tongue are lowered so that the air can escape
along the sides of the tongue.
b. The most familiar and common sound in English is ………………...
c. A ………. sound is a sound pronounced with the vibration of the vocal cords.
d. The five long vowels are different from the seven short vowels not only in length
but also in ………………...
e. If we close our vocal cords close enough for them to be slightly touching each other,
the air passage between them causes them to ……………..
f. Pure vowels or monophthongs remain ………………... and do not glide from one
vowel to another.
g. /ə/ can be described as ……………..
h. Vowels and consonants can be distinguished on the basis of ………………... in
articulation.
i. The most important thing to remember about all the diphthongs is that the second
part is much ………………... than the first part.
j. If the tongue touches the teeth, the place is ………………...
k. An ………………... is a consonant which starts as a plosive, but instead of ending
with plosion, ends with a fricative made in the same place.
l. The four bilabial sounds in English are ………………...
m. Some word pairs, such as peat/pit, sheep/ship, cannot be distinguished if it were not
for ………………...
n. Vowels are produced with little ………………... in the vocal tract and are voiced.
o. English ………………... patterns are inconsistent and are not always a reliable guide
to pronunciation.
p. In producing vowels, the tongue does not make a great deal of contact with the
………………..., which is the upper surface of the mouth.
q. A vowel is said to form the nucleus of a ………………...
r. When the back of the tongue is in contact with the soft palate, the place is
………………...
s. Consonant sounds are speech sounds produced with a narrow or complete
………………... in the vocal tract.
19. Fill in the missing information.
1. A ___________ consonant involves a complete closure in the oral cavity, but air is
allowed to escape through the nose, since the velum is lowed.
2. Pure vowels can also be called __________
3. There are __________ pure vowels in English: __________ short vowels and
__________ long vowels.
4. Centering diphthongs are ________________________.
5. Vowels and consonants can be distinguished on the basis of differences in
__________, as well as acoustically and functionally.
6. A vowel is said to form the ___________ of a syllable.
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7. Consonants are __________ not syllabic.
8. Vowels are perceived as __________ and _________ than consonants.
9. Voicing is seen as a __________ matter – a sound is either voiced or it isn’t
10. The vowel /ə/, which is a very familiar sound in English, is also called
________________.
11. A ______ sound is a sound pronounced without the vibration of the vocal cords.
12. If we close our vocal cords close enough for them to be slightly touching each other,
the air passage between them causes them to ______.
13. A(n) ______ is a consonant which starts as a plosive, but instead of ending with
plosive, ends with a fricative made in the same place.
20. Indicate if the following statements are true (T) or false (F).
1. There are 9 voiceless sounds in English.
2. /e/ is a front mid neutral short vowel.
3. /I/ is a close, front and unrounded short vowel.
4. /r/ is a voiced, palatal, approximant consonant.
5. /l/ is voiced, alveolar, lateral consonant.
6. The first sound of the word ‘chocolate’ is voiceless, palate-alveolar, affricative.
7. There are 26 phonemes in the English language.
8. Voicing is seen as a binary matter – a sound is either voiced or isn’t.
9. The consonant /j/ can be described as voiced, approximant, palato-alveolar.
10. There are 5 alveolar sounds in English.
11. There are 3 neutral pure vowels in English.
12. There are 6 closing diphthongs.
13. In terms of place of articulation, consonants are classified into 6 categories.
14. There are 4 front pure vowels in English.
15. The closing diphthong glides towards the closing vowel /iː/ or /ʊ/
16. All voiced sounds of English have similar voiceless sounds.
17. The first sound of the word ‘tea’ is voiceless, alveolar, plosive.
18. When a diphthong is pronounced, the first part is shorter and quieter than the
second part.
23
Chapter 3. THE PHONOLOGICAL UNITS OF LANGUAGE
In the previous sections, we have been studying the sounds of English. How do we
establish what the sounds of English are, and how do we decide how many there are of
them?
3.1. The phoneme
The sounds at the beginning of each of the words in the following list are all different:
pier beer tier deer gear
fear veer sheer hear leer
rear mere near weir year
cheer jeer
It is the sound at the beginning of the word which makes one word different from all the
other words in the list. These sounds are distinctive. So are the sounds of the letters in italics
typed in these lists:
base wrath
baise wrong
bathe
beige
bake
In these lists the sounds at the end of the words are distinctive, the final sounds.
Now look at these lists:
feel cat tier
fill cot tear
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fell cut tour
fall curt
full cart
fool
fail
foal
file
foul
foil
It is the middle sounds that differentiate the words. These sounds, each represented by one
letter of the phonetic alphabet, are called phonemes.
It is necessary to distinguish carefully between phonemes and sounds: the 44 phonemes of
English are the basic contrasts which make it possible for us to differentiate words, for
example /fi:l/ from /fIl/. But each phoneme may be represented by different sounds in
different positions, so the different /t/-sounds in tea and two both represent the /t/ phoneme,
and the three /h/-sounds in he, hat, who all represent the single /h/ phoneme.
Just as there is an abstract alphabet as the basis of our writing, there is an abstract
set of units as the basis of our speech. These units are called phonemes, and the complete
set of these units is called the phonemic system of the language.
3.2. Minimal pairs

A first rule of thumb to determine the phonemes of any language is to see whether
substituting one sound for another results in a different word. If it does, the two sounds
represent different phonemes. When two different forms are identical in every way except
for one sound segment that occurs in the same place in the string, the two words are called
a minimal pair. Sip and dip are a minimal pair, as are fine and vine, and chunk and junk.
Note that seed [si:d] and soup[su:p] are not a minimal pair because they differ in two sounds
- the vowels and the final consonant. Similarly, back [bæk] and cad [kæd] are not a minimal
pair because although only one sound differs in the two words, the [b] occurs initially and
25
the [d] occurs finally. Of course, we can find minimal pairs which show that [b] and [d]
are phonemes in English: bean and dean, bill and dill, rib and rid. Substituting a [d] for a
[b] changes both the phonetic form and its meaning.
Further examples of minimal pairs in English provide evidence for other phonemes.
Change in the phonetic form produces a different word. When such a change is the result
of the substitution of just one sound segment, the two different segments must represent
different phonemes. There is no other way to account for these particular meaning
contrasts.
sin thin [s] [θ] mesher measure [∫] [ʒ] chin gin [t∫] [dʒ]
do zoo [d] [z] Rink Link [r] [l] fine vine [f] [v]
woo you [w] [j] ether either [θ] [ð] sin sing [n] [ŋ]
mote note [m] [n] high Why [h] [w] den then [d] [ð]
3.3. Distinctive features

In order for two phonetic forms to differ and to contrast meanings, there must be
some phonetic difference between the substituted sounds. The minimal pair seal and zeal
shows that [s] and [z] represent two contrasting phonemes in English. From the discussion
of phonetics, we have known that the only difference between [s] and [z] is a voicing
difference; [s] is a voiceless or [-voiced] and [z] is voiced or [+voiced}. It is this phonetic
feature that distinguishes the two words. Voicing therefore plays a special role in English.
It also distinguishes feel from veal ( [f]/[v]) and ether from either ([θ]/[ð]). When a feature
distinguishes one phoneme from another, it is a distinctive feature (or a phonemic feature).
When two words are exactly alike phonetically except for one feature, the phonetic
difference is distinctive, since this difference alone accounts for the contrast or difference
in meaning. A single feature has two values, + and -: [± nasal], [± voiced], [± consonant],
and so forth. A phonetic feature is distinctive when the +value of that feature found in
certain words contrasts with the – value of that feature in other words.
The minimal pairs given in Table 3.1. illustrate some of the distinctive features in
the phonological system of English.
26
Table 3.1. Distinctive features: Examples
bat [bæt] mat [mæt] The difference between bat and mat is due only to
the difference in nasality between [b] and [m]. [b]
and [m] are identical in all features except for the
fact that [b] is oral or [-nasal] and [m] is nasal or
[+nasal]. Therefore nasality or [± nasal] is a
distinctive feature of English consonants.
hit [hIt] heat [hi:t] The two words are distinguished only because [I]
is a short vowel and [i:] is a long vowel. They are
both high, front vowels. [± long] is therefore a
distinctive feature of English vowels.
sue [su:] zoo [zu:] The difference is due to the voicelessness of the
[s] in contrast to the voicing of the [z]. Therefore
voicing ([±voiced]) is a distinctive feature of
English consonants.
3.4. Allophones
The phonemes themselves are abstract, but there are many slightly different ways
in which we make the sounds that represent these phonemes, just as there are many ways
in which we may make a mark on a piece of paper to represent a particular (abstract) letter
of the alphabet.
We find cases where it makes little difference which of two possible ways we
choose to pronounce a sound. For example, the / b/ at the beginning of a word such as 'bad'
will usually be pronounced with practically no voicing. Sometimes, though, a speaker may
produce the /b/ with full voicing, perhaps in speaking very emphatically. If this is done,
the sound is still identified as the phoneme / b /, even though we can hear that it is different
in some way. We have in this example two different ways of making /b/ - two different
realizations of the phoneme. One can be substituted for the other without changing the
meaning; the two realizations are said to be in free variation.
We also find cases in speech similar to the writing example of capital A and little a
(where one can only occur where the other cannot). For example, we find that the
realization of / t / in the word 'tea' is aspirated (as are all voiceless plosives when they
27
occur before stressed vowels at the beginning of syllables). In the word 'eat', the realization
of /t/ is unaspirated (as are all voiceless plosives when they occur at the end of a syllable
and are not followed by a vowel). The aspirated and unaspirated realizations are both
recognized as / t / by English speakers despite their differences. But the aspirated
realization will never be found in the place where the unaspirated realization is appropriate,
and vice versa. When we find this strict separation of places where particular realizations
can occur, we say that the realizations are in complementary distribution. One more
technical term needs to be introduced: when we talk about different realizations of
phonemes, we sometimes call these realizations allophones.
1. How are the phonemes in a language established?
2. What is a minimal pair? Give examples.
3. What is a distinctive feature? Give examples.
4. What are allophones? Give examples.
5. Which of the given pairs are minimal pairs?
a. lies/ lice b. six/ sings
c. cause/ course d. hear/ deer
e. care/ can f. wins/ wings
g. send/ seed h. jokes/ chokes
i. buzz/ bus j. pens/ pence
k. ether/ either l. cause/course
m.
6. Provide examples of minimal pairs with:
a. /b - /p/ in the initial position
b. /Ʊ/ -/u:/ in the middle position
c. /s/ - /z/ in the final position
7. Indicate the distinctive features represented in the following minimal pairs:
a. sit and seat b. man and mad
c. rope and robe d. fine and vine
8. Indicate if the following statements are true (T) or false (F).
a. /p/ is pronounced exactly the same in PEAK as in SPEAK.
b. When a feature distinguishes one word from another, it is a distinctive feature.
c. /t/ is pronounced exactly the same in TEA as in EAT.
d. When a feature distinguishes one phoneme from another, it is a distinctive feature.
e. When two different forms are similar in every way except for the first sound segment,
the two words are called a minimal pair.
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Chapter 4. THE SYLLABLE
Speakers of a language know more about the phonological system of that language
the inventories of phonemes. They also know that the phonemes of the language cannot be
strung together in any random order to form words.
Suppose you were given four phonemes of English
k b l i
If you were asked to arrange these cards to form all the ‘possible’ words that these four
phonemes could form, you might order them as follows:
b l i k
k l i b
b i l k
k i l b
These arrangements are the only permissible ones for these phonemes in English. */lbki/,
*/ilbk/, */bkil/, and */ilkb/ are not possible words in the language. Although /blik/, /klib/,
and /kilb/ are not existing words (you will not find them in a dictionary), if you heard
someone say:
‘I just bought a beautiful new blick’
You might ask: ‘What’s a “blick”?’ If you heard someone say:
‘I just bought a beautiful new bkli.’
You would probably reply, ‘What did you say?’
In phonology we must try to analyze what the restrictions and regularities are, and
it is usually found helpful to do this by studying the syllable.
29
The syllable is a very important unit. Most people seem to believe that, even if they
cannot define what a syllable is, they can count how many syllables there are in a given
word or sentence.
4.1. THE NATURE OF THE SYLLABLE
Phonetically (that is, in relation to the way we produce them and they way they
sound), syllables are usually described as consisting of a centre which has little or no
obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before and after this centre
(that is, at the beginning and end of the syllable), there will be greater obstruction to airflow
and/or less loud sound. We will now look at some examples:
i) What we might call a minimal syllable would be a single vowel in isolation, e.g. the
words ‘are’ / ɑ:/, ‘or’ / ɔ: /, ‘err’ / з: /. These are preceded and followed by silence.
Isolated sounds such as m, which we sometimes produce to indicate agreement, or ʃ,
to ask for silence, must also be regarded as syllables.
ii) Some syllables have an onset (that is, they have more than just silence preceding the
centre of the syllable):
e.g. ‘bar’ /bɑ:/ ‘key’ /ki:/ ‘more’ /m ɔ:/
iii) Syllables may have no onset but have a coda:
e.g. ‘am’ /æm/ ‘ought’ /ɔ: t/ ‘ease’ /i: z/
iv) Some syllables have onset and coda:
‘run’ /rʌn / ‘sat’ /sæt/ ‘fill’ / fɪl/
4.2. THE STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH SYLLABLE
4.2.1. The onset:
There are three cases:
1. The syllable begins with a vowel; in this case, we have Zero onset. Any vowel may
occur, though ʊ is rare.
2. The syllable begins with one consonant; that initial consonant may be any consonant
phoneme except ŋ; ʒ is rare.
3. The syllable begins with two consonants. When we have two or more than two
consonants, we call them a consonant cluster.
30
Initial two-consonant clusters:
These are of two main kinds:
1. /s/ followed by one of the / p, t, k, f, m, n, l, w, j/, such as in spy, stay, sky, sphere,
small, snow, sleep, swear, suit.
2. One of /p, t, k, b. d, g, f, θ, ʃ, v, m, n / followed by one of / l, r, w, j/. Not all these
sequences are found. For example, /pw/, /dl/ do not occur. The full list is:
Initial followed Post-initial Examples
consonant by
/ p/ /l, r, j / play, pray, pure
/t/ / r, w, j / try, twice, tune
/k/ / l, r, w, j / climb, cry, quite, cure
/b/ / l, r. j / blow, bread, beauty
/d/ / r, w, j / dress, dwell, duty
/g/ / l, r/ glass, green
/f/ / l, j, r / fly, from, few
/θ/ / r, w / throw, thwart
/ʃ/ /r/ shriek
/v/ /j/ view
/m/ /j/ music
/n/ /j/ new
Initial three-consonant clusters:

When we look at three-consonant clusters, we can recognize a clear relationship
between them and the two sorts of two-consonant cluster described above; examples of
three-consonant initial clusters are ‘split’ /splIt/, ‘stream’ / stri:m/, ‘square’ /skweə/. The
/s/ is the pre-initial consonant, the /p, t, k/ that follow s in the three examples words are
the initial consonant and the /l/, /r/, and /w/ are post-initial. In fact, the number of
possible initial three-consonant clusters is quite small and they can be set out in full:
31
Pre-initial Initial Post-initial
l r w j
p splendid spray spew
S
t string stew
k sclerosis screen squeak skewer
4.2.2. The coda:

Now we have a similar task to do with in studying final consonant clusters. Here
we find the possibility of up to four consonants at the end of a word.
1. If there is no final consonant, we say that there is a zero coda.
2. When there is one consonant only, this is called the final consonant. Any consonant
may be a final consonant except h, r, w, j.
3. When there are two or more than two final consonants, we have final consonant
cluster.
3a. two-consonant final cluster:
There are two sorts:
- a final consonant preceded by a pre-final consonant: The pre-final consonants form
a small set: /m /, /n/, / ŋ /, / l /, / s /.
E.g. bump /bʌmp/, bent /bent/ bank /bæŋk/, belt /belt/, ask /a:sk/
- a final consonant followed by a post-final consonant: The post-finals also form a
small set: /s /, / z /, / t /, / d /, / θ /. These post-final consonants can often be
identified as separate morphemes.
E.g. bets /bets/, beds /bedz/, backed /bækt/, bagged /bægd/, eighth /eItθ/
3b. three-consonant final cluster:

There are two types of final three-consonant cluster:
- pre-final plus final plus post final, as set out in the following table:
32
Example Three-consonant final
cluster
pre-final final post final
helped he l p t
banks bæ ŋ k s
bonds bɒ n d z
twelfth twe l f θ
- final plus post-final 1 plus post-final 2. Post-final 2 is again one of / s /, / z/, /t /,

/d/, / θ /.
Example Three-consonant final
cluster
final Post-final Post-
1 final 2
fifths fi f θ s
next ne k s t
lapsed læ p s t
3c. four-consonant final cluster:

Most four-consonant final clusters can be analyzed as consisting of a final consonant
preceded by a pre-final and followed post-final 1 and post-final 2, as shown below:
Examples Four-consonant final cluster
pre- final post-final post-final 2
final 1
twelfths twe l f θ s
prompts prɒ m p t s
33
A small number of cases seem to require different analysis, as consisting of a final
consonant with no pre-final but three post-final:
Examples Four-consonant final cluster

final post-final post-final 2 post-final
1 3
sixths si k s θ s
texts te k s t s
To sum up, we may describe the English syllable as having the following maximum
phonological structure:
pre- initial post- Vowel pre- final post post post
initial initial final final 1 final 2 final 3
ONSET CODA
1. How many syllables are there in each of the following words: important, nice, very,
village, police, tomato, potato
2. What is a syllable?
3. Summarize the structure of the English syllable diagrammatically.
4. Describe the ONSET of the syllable. Give illustrations.
5. Describe the CENTRE of the syllable. Give illustrations.
6. Describe the CODA of the syllable. Give illustrations.
7. Give five examples for the following cases:
a. minimal syllable
b. syllable with zero onset.
c. syllable with an onset of two-consonant cluster
d. syllable with an onset of three-consonant cluster
e. syllable with a coda of two-consonant cluster
f. syllable with a coda of three-consonant cluster
g. syllable with a coda of four-consonant cluster
34
8. Transcribe the following English words and show the point of syllable division in each
of them by putting a bar between the syllables.
Example: table /ˈteɪ | bl/
a. nature d. follower g. picturesque j. tsunamis

b. colonial e. another h. discovered k. finished
c. marriage f. hurried i. languages l. without
9. Using the analysis of the word “sprouts” given below as a model, analyze the structure
of the following one-syllable English words.
Word Onset Vowel Coda

sprouts spr: aƱ ts:
initial three- two-consonant
consonant cluster final cluster
throws
squeak
eighths
texts
huge
10. Complete the table with words in the box.

debt crisps owl box chew lamb edge neigh bake care
carve toe child owe sink bar vow crown comb laugh
Words with a Words with a CODA of Words with a CODA of

ZERO CODA ONE FINAL FINAL CONSONANT
CONSONANT CLUSTER
11. Fill in each blank with one appropriate word.

a. In counting the syllables in words, we are in fact counting the ……………………
b. The word “twelfths” has a ……………………… final cluster.
c. The word “squeak” has an initial ………………… cluster.
d. Syllables consist of a centre which has ……… to airflow and which sounds
comparatively loud.
e. When the syllable begins with one consonant, any consonant phoneme can be that
initial consonant except ………..
f. What we might call a …………………. would be a single vowel in isolation.
35
g. In the word ‘eat’ (when it is not followed by a vowel), the realization of /t/ is
…………………..
h. Syllables consist of a centre which has relatively great obstruction to airflow and
which sounds comparatively loud, before and after this centre, there will be
greater ……… to the airflow.
36
Chapter 5. STRESS
5.1. The nature of stress

In English, the middle syllable of the word ‘tomato’ is clearly stronger than the first
and last syllables. We say that the middle syllable is stressed. Speakers must stress certain
syllables in words; otherwise the words would be misunderstood and sound strange. In
English, proper use of stress enables you to clearly understand the difference between such
pairs as the noun ‘present (gift) and the verb pre’sent (to introduce; to offer), or the noun
‘invalid (a chronically ill or disabled person) and the adjective in’valid (null, legally
ineffective). Stress can also change the meaning of a sentence. “I saw a movie” is different
from “I saw a movie”; “He won’t go” implies a meaning different from “He won’t go.”
At least four different factors cause a syllable to be made prominent so that it is
heard as stressed.
i) Loudness: In a sequence of syllables, stressed syllables are louder than unstressed
ones.
ii) Length: If one of the syllables is made longer than the others, there is quite a strong
tendency for that syllable to be heard as stressed.
iii) Pitch: If one syllable is said with a pitch that is noticeably different from that of the
others, this will have a strong tendency to produce the effect of prominence. For
example, if all syllables are said with low pitch except for one said with high
pitch, then the high-pitched syllable will be heard as stressed and the others as
unstressed.
iv) Quality: A syllable will tend to be prominent if it contains a vowel that is different
in quality from neighboring vowels.
37
Generally, these four factors work together in combination, though syllables may
sometimes be made prominent by means of only one or two of them. Experimental work
has shown that these factors are not equally important; the strongest effect is produced by
pitch, and length is also a powerful factor. Loudness and quality have much less effect.
Every word has a definite place for the stress; there is no simple way of knowing
which syllable(s) in an English word must be stressed.
5.2. Word stress

5.2.1. LEVELS OF STRESS
Up to this point we have talked about stress as though there was a simple distinction
between ‘stressed’ and ‘unstressed’ syllables with no intermediate levels; such a treatment
would be a two-level analysis of stress.
Usually, however, we have to recognize one or more intermediate levels. We can
detect different levels of stress in words of several syllables.
Let us begin by looking at the word ‘around’ /ə/raƱnd/, where the stress always falls
clearly on the last syllable and the first syllable is weak. From the point of view of stress,
the most important fact about the way we pronounce this word is that on the second syllable
the pitch of the voice does not remain level, but usually falls from a higher to a lower pitch.
The prominence that results from this pitch movement, or tone, gives the strongest type of
stress; this is called primary stress.
In some words, we can observe a type of stress that is weaker than the primary stress
but stronger than that of the first syllable of ‘around’, for example, in the first syllables of
the words ‘photographic’ /fəƱtəgræfIk/, ‘anthropology’ / ænθrəpɒlədʒi/. The stress in these
words is called secondary stress. It is sometimes represented in transcription with a low
mark, so that the examples could be transcribed as /|fəƱtə |græfIk/, and /|ænθrə |pɒlədʒi/.
38
5.2.2. Placement of stress within the word
We now come to a question that causes a great deal of difficulty, particularly to
foreign learners: how can one select the correct syllable or syllables to stress in an English
word?
Many writers have said that English word stress is so difficult to predict that it is
best to treat stress placement as a property of the individual word, to be learned when the
word itself is learned.
Certainly, anyone who tries to analyze English stress placement has to recognize
that it is a highly complex matter. However, it must also be recognized that in most cases
when English speakers come across an unfamiliar word, they can pronounce it with the
correct stress (there are exceptions to this, of course); in principle, it should be possible to
discover what it is that the English speaker knows and to write in the forms of rules. The
following summary of ideas on stress placement in nouns, verbs and adjectives is an
attempt to present a few rules in the simplest possible form. Nevertheless, practically all
the rules have exceptions and readers may feel that the rules are so complex that it would
be easier to go back to the idea of learning the stress for each word individually.
In order to decide on stress placement, it is necessary to make use of some or all of
the following information:
i) Whether the word is morphologically simple, or whether it is complex as a result
either of containing one or more affixes (that is, prefixes or suffixes) or of being
a compound word.
ii) The grammatical category to which the word belongs (noun, verb, adjective, etc.).
iii) The number of syllables in the word.
iv) The phonological structure of those syllables.
SIMPLE WORDS
Two-syllable words
Here the choice is still simple: either the first or the second syllable will be stressed –
not both.
VERBS:
39
- If the second syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong, or it ends with more than
one consonant, that second syllable is stressed.
Eg. apply / ə |plaI/ arrive / ə |raIv/
attract / ə |trækt/ assist / ə |sIst/
- If the final syllable contains a short vowel and one (or no) final consonant, the first
syllable is stressed.
Eg. enter /|entə/ envy /|envi/
open / |əƱpən / equal / |i:kwəl/
A final syllable is also unstressed if it contains əƱ.
Eg. follow /|fɒ ləƱ/
bollow /|bɒrəƱ/
ADJECTIVES:
- Two-syllable adjectives are stressed according to the same rule, giving:
lovely /’|lʌvli/ divine /dI |vaIn/

even / |i: vn̩ / correct / kə |rekt/
hollow / |hɒləƱ/ alive /ə |laIv/

As with most stress rules, there are exceptions, for example ‘honest’
/|ɒnist/and ‘perfect’ / |pз:fIkt/, both of which end with two consonants but are
stressed on the first syllable.

NOUNS
Nouns require a different rule: if the second syllable contains a short vowel the stress
will usually come on the first syllable. Otherwise it will be on the second syllable.
Eg. money / |mʌni / estate / I|steIt /
product / |prɒdʌkt/ balloon / bə |lu:n/

larynx / |lærIŋks/ design /dI | zaIn/
40
Other two-syllable words such as adverbs and prepositions seem to behave like verbs
and adjectives.
Three-syllable words
Here we find a more complicated picture.
VERBS
- If the last syllable contains a short vowel and ends with not more than one
consonant, that syllable will be unstressed, and stress will be placed on the preceding
syllable.
Eg. encounter /ɪnˈkaʊntə/ determine / dI |tз:mIn/
- If the final syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong, or ends with more than one
consonant, that final syllable will be stressed.
Eg. entertain / entə | teIn/ resurrect / rezə |rekt/
NOUNS
Nouns require a different rule. Here, if the final syllable contains a short vowel or ə Ʊ,
it is unstressed; if the syllable preceding this final syllable contains a long vowel or
diphthong, or if it ends with more than one consonant, that middle syllable will be
stressed.
Eg. quantity /|kwɒntIti/ emperor / | emprə /
cinema / | sInəmə / custody / |kʌstədi/
opportune / |ɒpətju:n/ insolent / |Insələnt /
derelict / | derəlIkt / anthropoid / |æn θrə pɔId/

The above rules do not, of course, cover all English words. They apply only to major
categories of lexical words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs), not to function words
such as articles, or prepositions.
41
COMPLEX WORDS
Complex words are formed from a basic stem word with the addition of an affix.
Affixes are of two sorts in English: prefixes, which come before the stem, and suffixes,
which come after the stem.
For example:
Prefixes: unlucky, unhappy, dishonest, irregular, impossible . . .
Suffixes: careful, careless, homeless, teacher, singer, monthly . . .
Prefixes
We will first deal briefly with prefixes. Their effect on stress does not have the
comparative regularity, independence and predictability of suffixes, and there is no prefix
of one or two syllables that always carries primary stress. Consequently, the best treatment
seems to be to say that stress in words with prefixes is governed by the same rules as those
for words without prefixes.
Suffixes
Suffixes will have one of the three possible effects on word stress.
i) The suffix itself receives the primary stress;
ii) The word is stressed just as if the affix was not there;
iii) The stress remains on the stem, not the affix, but is shifted to a different syllable.
There are so many suffixes that it will only be possible here to examine a small
proportion of them; we will concentrate on those which are common and productive.
1. Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves (given in spelling only with
stressed syllables underlined)
-ain entertain, ascertain
- ee refugee, evacuee
-eer mountaineer, volunteer
-ese Portuguese, journalese
-ette cigarette, launderette
-esque picturesque
-ique unique
42
2. Suffixes that do not affect stress placement (given in spelling only with stressed
syllables underlined)
-able comfort Comfortable
-age anchor Anchorage
-al refuse Refusal
-en wide Widen
-ful wonder Wonderful
-ing amaze Amazing
-ish devil Devilish
-like bird Birdlike
- less power Powerless
-ly hurried Hurriedly
-ment punish Punishment
- ness yellow Yellowness
- ous poison Poisonous
- fy glory Glorify
- wise other Otherwise
-y fun Funny
3. Suffixes that influence stress in the stem (given in spelling only with stressed
syllables underlined)
-eous advantage Advantageous
-graphy Photo Photography
- ial Proverb Proverbial
- ic Climate Climatic
- ion Perfect Perfection
-ious Injure Injurious
-ty Tranquil Tranquility
-ive Reflex Reflexive
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COMPOUND WORDS
A compound word is a word that can be analyzed into two words, both of which can
exist independently as English words.
Compounds are written in different ways; sometimes they are written as one word,
eg. Armchair, sunflower, sometimes with the words separated by a space, eg. Gear-
change, fruit-case, and sometimes with two words separated by a space, eg. Desk lamp,
battery charger.
The possible rules of stress are as follows.
- The most familiar type of compound is the one which combines two nouns, and
normally has the stress on the first element, as in:
typewriter /|taIpraIt /
car-ferry / |ka:ferI/
sunrise /|sʌn raIz /

suitcase /|sju:tkeIs/
tea-cup / |ti: kʌp/

- A variety of compounds receive stress on the first syllable of the second word. For
example, compounds with an adjectival first element and the -ed morpheme at the
end have this pattern (given in spelling only):
bad-| tempered
half-|timbered
heavy-|handed
- Compounds in which the first element is a number in some form also tend to have
final stress:
three-|wheeler
second-|class
five-|finger
- Compounds functioning as adverbs are usually final-stressed:
44
head-|first
North-|East
down|stream
- Finally, compounds which function as verbs and have an adverbial first element take
final stress:
down-| grade
back-|pedal
ill-|treat
5.2.3. Word-class pairs
One aspect of word stress is best treated as a separate issue. There are several dozen
pairs of two-syllable words with identical spelling which differ from each other in stress
placement, apparently according to word class (noun, verb, or adjective). All appear to
consist of prefix + stem. We shall treat them as a special type of word and give them the
following rule: when a pair of prefix-plus-stem words exists, both members of which are
spelt identically, one of which is a verb and the other is either a noun or an adjective, the
stress will be placed on the second syllable of the verb but on the first syllable of the noun
or adjective. Some common examples are given below.
|
Abstract æbstrækt (A) æb|strækt (V)
Conduct |
kɒndʌkt (N) kən|dʌkt (V)
Contract |
kɒntrækt (N) kən|trækt (V)
Contrast |
kɒntrɑ:st (N) kən|trɑ:st (V)
|
Desert dezət (N) dI|zз:t (V)
Escort |
eskɔ:t (N) I
|
skɔ:t (V)
Export |
ekspɔ:t (N) Ik|spɔ:t (V)
45
Import |
impɔ:t (N) m|pɔ:t (V)
I
Insult |
nsʌlt (N)
I n|sʌlt (V)
I
Object |
ɒbdʒIkt (N) əb|dʒekt (V)
|
Perfect pз:fIkt (A) pə|fekt (V)
|
Permit pз:mIt (N) pə|mIt (V)
|
Present preznt (A, N) prI| zent (V)
Produce |
prɒdju:s (N) prə |dju:s (V)
Protest |
prəƱtest (N) prə |test (V)
|
Rebel rebl (N) rI| bel (V)
Record |
rekɔ:d (N) rI | kɔ:d (V)
Subject |
sʌbdʒIkt (N) səb| dʒekt (V)
5.3. SENTENCE STRESS

Stress patterns go beyond the word level. Just as it sounds awkward to stress the
syllables in a word incorrectly or to stress them all equally, it is unnatural sounding to stress
all the words in a sentence equally or improperly.
In a group, not all words are stressed. Thus, what sorts of words are stressed, and
what sort are unstressed?
Words generally stressed in sentences are content words. Content words are the
important words in a sentence which convey meaning. They include all the major parts of
speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and question words.
Words generally unstressed in sentences are function words. Function words are
words which play grammatical functions and do not carry as much meaning as content
words. Function words include the following parts of speech: articles (the, a, an),
prepositions (for, of, in…), pronouns (I, he, her, …), conjunctions (and, or, but, …), and
helping verbs (is, was, can, etc. ).
46
However, for special purposes, it is possible to stress any English word, even purely
grammatical ones.
5.4. Weak forms and strong forms
Certain words can be pronounced in two different ways, which are called strong
forms and weak forms.
As a example, the word ‘that’ can be pronounced / ðæt / (strong form) or / ðət/ (weak
form). The sentence ‘I like that’ is pronounced: ai laIk ðæt; the sentence ‘I hope that she
will’ is pronounced aI həƱp ðət ∫i wIl.
There are roughly forty such words in English. It is sometimes possible to use only
strong forms in speaking, and some foreigners do this. Usually they can still be understood
by other speakers of English, so why is it important to learn how weak forms are used?
There are two main reasons; firstly, most native speakers of English find an ‘all-strong-
form’ pronunciation unnatural and foreign-sounding, something that most learners would
wish to avoid. Secondly, and more importantly, speakers who are not familiar with the use
of weak forms are likely to have difficulty understanding speakers who do use weak forms;
since practically all native speakers of British English use them, learners of the language
need to learn about these weak forms to help them to understand what they hear.
Almost all the words which have both a strong and a weak form belong to the
category of function words - words that do not have a lexical meaning.
It is important to remember that there are certain contexts where only the strong
form is acceptable. There are some fairly simple rules; we can say that the strong form is
used in the following cases:
i) For many weak-form words, when they occur at the end of a sentence.
Eg. I’m fond of chips.
aIm |fɒnd əv t∫Ips

Chips are what I’m fond of.
|
t∫Ips ə |wɒt aIm |fɒnd ɒv
ii) When a weak-form word is being contrasted with another word.
47
Eg. The letter’s from him, not to him.
ðə |letəz |frɒm Im nɒt |tu: Im
A similar case is what we might call a coordinated use of prepositions.

Eg. I travel to and from London a lot.
aI |trævl |tu: ən |frɒm |lʌndən ə |lɒt

A work of and about literature.
|
ə |wз: k ɒv ən ə|baƱt |lItrIt∫ə
iii) When a weak-form word is given stress for the purpose of emphasis.
Eg. You must give me money.
ju |m ʌ st |gIv mi |m ʌni
iv) When a weak-form word is being “cited” or “quoted”.
Eg. You shouldn’t put “and” at the end of a sentence.
|
ju ∫udnt pƱt |ænd ət ði |end əv ə |sentəns
Another point to remember is that when weak-form words whose spelling begins
with ‘h’ (eg. ‘her’, ‘have’) occur at the beginning of a sentence, the pronunciation is with
initial h, even though this is usually omitted in other contexts.
In the rest of this section, the most common weak-form words will be introduced.
1. THE: /ðə/ (before consonants) and /ði/ (before vowels) – /ðI:/
2. A, AN: /ə/ (before consonants) and /ən/ (before vowels) – /eI/; / æn/
3. AND: /ən/ - /ænd/
4. BUT: /bət/ – /bʌt/

5. THAT: /ðət/ (This word only has a weak form when used in a relative clause;
when used with a demonstrative sense it is always pronounced in its
strong form.) – /ðæt/
6. THAN: /ðən/ - /ðæn/
7. HIS: /iz/ - /hiz/
48
8. HER: /ə(r)/ – /hз:(r)/
9. YOUR: /jə(r)/ – /jɔ:(r)/

10. HE: /i/ (the weak form is usually pronounced without h except at the
beginning of a sentence) – /hi:/
11. HIM: /im/
12. THEM: /ðəm/ - /ðem/
13. US: /əs/ - /ʌs/

14. AT: /ət/ – /æt/
15. FOR: /fə(r)/ - /fɔ:(r)/

16. FROM: /frəm/- /frɒm/
17. OF: /əv/ - /ɒv/
18. TO: /tə/ - /tu:/
19. AS: /əz/ - /æz/
20. SOME: This word is used in two different ways. In one sense (typically, when
it occurs before a countable noun, meaning “an unknown individual”)
it has the strong form /sʌm/. It is also used before uncountable nouns
(meaning “an unspecified number of”), in such uses it has the weak
form /səm/.
21. THERE: When this word has a demonstrative function, it always occurs in its
strong form /ðeə/ (/ðeər/ before vowels). It has the weak form /ðə/ (before
consonants) and /ðər/ (before vowels) when being an existential subject.
|
For example: “Put it there” / |pƱt it ðeə/; “There should be a rule” / ðə
∫Ʊd bi ə \ru:l /.
22. CAN: /kən/ - /kæn/
23. COULD /kəd/ - /kƱd/
49
24. HAVE /həv / əv/ - /hæv /
25. HAS /əz/ - /hæz /
26. HAD /həd / əd/ - /hæd/
27. SHALL /∫əl/, /∫n/ - /∫æl/
28. SHOULD /∫əd/ - /∫Ʊd/
29. MUST məs (+ consonants) and məst (+ vowels). This word is sometimes used
with the sense of forming a conclusion or deduction; when ‘must’ is used
in this way, it is rather less likely to occur in its weak form than when it
is being used in its more familiar sense of “obligation”.
30. DO: /də/ (before consonants) and /dƱ/ (before vowels) - /du:/
31. DOES: /dəz/ - /dʌz/

32. AM: /əm/ - /æm/
33. ARE: /ə/ (before consonants) and /ər/ (before vowels) - /a:(r)/
34. WAS: /wəz/ - /wɒz/

35. WERE: /wə(r)/ - /wз:(r)/

1. What factors make a syllable perceived as stressed?
2. What are the levels of word-stress? Give illustrations.
3. Indicate how utterances are stressed? (Which kinds of word are stressed or unstressed?)
4. What are the functions of stress?
5. For what parts of speech are there weak-forms? Specify the words, their strong forms
and weak forms.
6. For the forms with both strong and weak forms, under what cases is the strong form
used?
7. Consider the stress patterns of the following word pairs:
Noun Verb
graduate graduate
alternate alternate
duplicate duplicate
moderate moderate
50
syndicate syndicate
estimate estimate
What is the difference between the pronunciation of the final vowels in the nouns and
the verbs? What is the stress pattern of the nouns? What is the stress pattern of the
verbs?
8. Consider the following word pairs:
Noun Adjective
government governmental
instrument instrumental
development developmental
department departmental
What is the difference between the pronunciation of –ment in the nouns and the
adjectives? What is the stress pattern of the nouns? What is the stress pattern of the
adjectives?
9. Consider the pronunciation of the following words when the suffix –y is added.
Group 1
democrat democracy
aristocrat aristocracy
photograph photography
diplomat diplomacy
Group 2
literate literacy
secret secrecy
pirate piracy
consistent consistency
private privacy
confederate confederacy
In Group 1, stress shifts upon the addition of the suffix-y whereas in Group 2, stress
does not shift. Describe any changes to the vowels of Group 1 which are associated
with the stress shift.
10. Look at the transcriptions and write the sentences that are transcribed.
a. maɪ ˈhæmstə ˈdaɪˈdʒestədeɪ || ˈfel əˈsli:p ət ðə ˈwi:l
b. həv jʊ ˈevə ˈnəʊtɪst ðət ˈrɒŋ ˈnʌmbəz ə nevər ɪŋˈgeɪdʒd?
c. ðæts ə 'wз: k 'ɒv ən ə'baƱt 'litrət∫ə
d. ə prəˈfesər ɪz ˈsʌmwʌn hu: ˈtɔ:ksɪn ˈsʌmwʌn ˈelsɪz ˈsli:p
e. ɪf ˈmen ˈlaɪk ˈʃɔ:pɪŋ ðeɪd ˈkɔ:lɪt rɪˈsɜ:tʃ
11. Mark the stress for the words given.
51
a. photographer b. presentation
c. semantics d. grammatical
e. postgraduate f. greenhouse
g. intonation h. inaccurate
i. researcher j. comfortably
12. Give the phonetic transcription of the following words. Illustrate the stressed syllable
with a high mark.
Words Transcription Words Transcription
cinema desert (n)
determine dessert
entertain larynx
arrived quantity
13. Please supply the strong and weak forms of the following words.
Words Strong Weak Words Strong Weak

forms forms forms forms
the for
as them
can your
could am
shall to
15. Fill in each blank with one or more appropriate words.

1. Words generally ……. in sentences are those which include articles, prepositions,
pronouns, conjunctions, and helping verbs.
2. In some words, the type of stress that is weaker than the primary stress but stronger
than that of the other syllable is ………… stress.
3. Four factors that cause a syllable to be made prominent are ………………………
4. Words generally stressed in sentences are …………words including nouns, verbs,
adverbs, adjectives, and question words.
5. ‘Must’ is less likely to occur in its ……… form when it has the sense of forming a
conclusion or deduction than when it is being used in its more familiar sense of
“obligation”.
52
Chapter 6. ASPECTS OF CONNECTED SPEECH
We normally speak by producing a continuous, connected stream of sounds, except

when we pause. In most languages, we can find occasional cases where a speaker makes a
single segment in isolation with no sound preceding or following it. In English, for
example, we can say ‘ah’ /a:/ if we make an interesting discovery, or ‘sh’ /ʃ/ if we want to
call for quiet; but such cases are rare. The usual situation is for segments to fit closely
together with each other. To imagine these segments as discrete and independent of each
other would be quite wrong. In English (as in any other language), we find that segments
have a strong effect on other segments which are close to them. We have already seen that
some words have weak and strong forms depending on their place in a group and on stress.
The shape of a word may also be altered by nearby sounds; normally we pronounce one as
wʌn, but one more may be pronounced / wʌm mɔ:/, where the shape of one has changed
because of the following /m/ in more. Also next is pronounced /nekst/, but in next month
may be /neks mʌnθ/, where the final /t/ has disappeared. In the following sections we are
going to discuss these aspects in detail.
6.1. Assimilation
A significant difference in natural connected speech is the way that sounds
belonging to one word can cause changes in sounds belonging to neighboring words.
Assuming that we know how the phonemes of a particular word would be realized when
the word was pronounced in isolation, when we find a phoneme realized differently as a
result of being near some other phoneme belonging to a neighboring word we call this an
instance of assimilation. Assimilation is something which varies in extent according to
53
speaking rate and style; it is likely to be found in rapid, casual speech and less likely in
slow, careful speech. Sometimes the difference caused by assimilation is very noticeable,
and sometimes it is very slight. Generally speaking, the cases that have most often been
described are assimilations affecting consonants.
Assimilation is of two sorts: we have regressive assimilation where a sound is
influenced by the sound which follows it; progressive assimilation is the process for a
sound to take on characteristics from a sound which precedes it. In general the latter is less
frequently found. Historically, it must have been effective in English in order to produce
the different pronunciations of the -s ending: the plural of ‘cat’ /kæt/ is cats /kæts/ with a
final /s/; the plural of ‘dog’ /dɒg/ is ‘dogs’ / dɒgz/ with /z/. The voicing of the suffix is
conditioned by the voicing of the preceding final consonant.
Assimilations are traditionally classified into three main types.
1. One type is assimilation of voice. This may take the form of a voiced segment
becoming voiceless as a consequence of being adjacent to a voiceless segment;
alternatively, a voiceless segment may become voiced. For example, if the word ‘have’
occurs in final position, its final consonant /v/ will usually have some voicing, but when
that /v/ is followed by a voiceless consonant, it normally becomes completely voiceless;
thus ‘I have to’ is likely to have the pronunciation / aI hæf tu/.
2. Another type is assimilation of place: this refers to changes in the place of articulation
of a segment (usually a consonant). A well-known case is that of English word-final
alveolar consonants such as /t, d, n/: if a word ending in one of these consonants is
followed by a word whose initial consonant has a different place of articulation, the
word-final alveolar consonant is likely to change so that it has the same place of
articulation.
For example:
that / ðæt/ + boy /bɔI/ /ðæp bɔI/
that / ðæt/ + girl / gз:l/ /ðæk gз:l/
light /laIt/ + blue /blu:/ /laIp blu:/
54
meat /mi:t/ + pie /paI/ /mi:p paI/
Or, /∫/ replaces /s/ in nice shoes /nai∫ ∫u:z/
this year /ðI∫ jiə/
3. A third type is assimilation of manner: here one sound changes the manner of its
articulation to become similar in manner to a neighboring sound.
For example: ‘Get some of that soap’
get sʌm əv ðæt səƱp
ges sʌm əv ðæs səƱp
6. 2. Elision
The nature of elision may be stated simply: under certain circumstances sounds
disappear. It refers to the disappearance of one or more sounds in connected speech which
would be present in a word pronounced in isolation; the effect is also found when we
compare rapid speech with slow, careful speech.
If we take as an example the English sentence ‘She looked particularly interesting’,
we could expect the pronunciation in slow, careful speech to be / ∫i lƱlk pətIkjələli IntərəstIŋ/
(which contains 27 phonemes); in rapid conversational speech, however, I might say /∫i lƱk
pətIkli IntrstIŋ/ (which contains 20). Where have the seven missing segments gone? The /t/
at the end of ‘looked’ has been left out because, we may assume, producing three voiceless
plosives is hard word, and in English the middle one would not be pronounced audibly in
any case. The other elisions are of syllables containing the ‘schwa’ vowel /ə/, which is so
weak that it is usually one of the first items to disappear when speech is produced at higher
speed. So the two syllables /jələ/ in ‘particularly’ are left out, as are the two schwa vowels
before and after the /r/ in ‘interesting’.
Producing elisions is something which foreign learners do not need to learn to do,
but it is important for them to be aware that when native speakers of English talk to each
other, quite a number of phonemes that the foreigner might expect to hear are not actually
pronounced.
55
We will now look at some examples, though only a small number of the many
possibilities can be given here.
i) Loss of weak vowel after p, t, k
In words like ‘potato’, ‘tomato’, ‘canary’, ‘perhaps’, ‘today’, the vowel in the first
syllable may disappear; the aspiration of the initial plosive takes up the whole of the
h
middle portion of the syllable, resulting in these pronunciations (where indicates
aspiration): phteItəƱ, thma:təƱ ; khneəri; phhæps; thdeI.
ii) Weak vowel +n, l, or r becomes syllabic consonant.
Examples: tonight /tnaIt/
police /pli:s/
correct /krekt/
iii) Avoidance of complex consonant clusters.
Generally, no normal English speaker would ever pronounce all the consonants
between the last two words of the following:
George the Sixth’s throne
dʒɔ:dʒ ðə sIksθs θrəƱn
though this is not impossible to pronounce. In clusters of three plosives or two plosives
plus a fricative, the middle plosive may disappear, so that the following pronunciations
result:
‘acts’ / æks/ ‘looked back’ /lƱk bæk /
‘scripts’ /skrIps/
iv) Loss of final v in ‘of’ before consonants.
Examples: lots of them /lɒts ə ðəm/
waste of money /weIst ə məni/
6. 3. Linking
In real connected speech, we sometimes link words together. The most familiar case
is the use of linking / r/. The phoneme / r / cannot occur in syllable-final position in RP,
56
but when a word’s spelling suggests a final / r /, and a word beginning with a vowel follows,
the usual pronunciation for RP speakers is to pronounce with / r / . For example:
‘here’ / hIə/ but ‘here are’ / hIərə /
‘four’ / fɔ:/ but ‘four eggs’ / fɔ:regz/
Basic rules(1):
(1) We usually link words that end in a consonant sound with words that start‿with a
vowel sound; for example,
‿ Ask, your new book
Daniel ‿ ‿is ‿
‿ ‿ of articles
a collection about people …
‿ I collected stories‿ about‿unusual jobs from ‿all over
Yes, ‿ the world.
(2) When a word ends with an /u:/, /əƱ/or /aƱ/ sound, the next word starts with a vowel
sound, we often link them with a /w/ sound.
Have you‿/w/ ever met anyone famous?
‿ /w/ on vacation.
Yes, I have, actually. When I was in Mexico
(3) When a word ends with an /з:/, /ə/, /ɔ:/ or /eə/ sound and the next word starts with a
vowel sound, we often link them with a /r/ sound.
‿ /r/ are my glasses? They’re

Where ‿ /r/ over‿ there /r/ on the table.
(4) When a word ends with an /i/, /i:/ sound and the next word starts with a vowel sound,
we often link them with a /j/ sound.
It’s about telly‿/j/ addicts.
6.4. Rhythm
In Vietnamese, all syllables are pronounced almost equally; they seem never lost or
reduced. For example, a three-syllable phrase in Vietnamese is not likely to become two
syllables. In English, “ham and eggs” is squeezed into two words, “ham’n eggs.” This
reduction results because English has a stress-timed rhythm. This means that its rhythm is
created by the strong stresses and not by the number of syllables. English speakers try to
keep an equal time between the stressed syllables; they speed up and reduce the unstressed
ones.
57
An example is given below. In this sentence, the stressed syllables are given
numbers: syllables 1 and 2 are not separated by any unstressed syllables, 2 and 3 are
separated by one unstressed syllable, 3 and 4 by two and 4 and 5 by three.
1 2 3 4 5
|
Walk |down the |path to the |end of the ca|nal
The stressed-timed rhythm states that the time from each stressed syllable to the next will
tend to be the same, irrespective of the number of intervening unstressed syllables.
The stressed syllable may have one or more unstressed syllables before it:
It’s *cold I *agree
These unstressed syllables before the stress are said very quickly, so they are all
very short, as short as we can make them; but the stressed syllable is as long as before, so
there is a great difference of length between the unstressed syllables and the stressed one.
For example, these following groups of different number of syllables are said with an equal
amount of time:
I’m *here I was *here I was in *here
She’s *home She’s at *home But she’s at *home
The stressed syllable may also be followed by one or more unstressed syllables:
* * *
take it all of it naturally
But these unstressed syllables are not said specially quickly; what happens is hat the
stressed syllable and the following unstressed syllable(s) share the same amount of time
which a single stressed syllable would have; so
* * *
nine ninety ninetieth
All take about the same time to say; nine is stretched out, but the nine in ninety is only half
as long and the nine in ninetieth is shorter still, and the unstressed syllables are of the same
length as the stressed ones; these unstressed syllables after the stress must not be rushed,
as the ones before the stressed are, but must be given the same amount of time as the
stressed syllable.
A stressed syllable together with any unstressed syllables which may follow it form
a stress group. Thus, in “|Both of them |left |early” there are three stress groups ‘both of
58
them’, ‘left’ and ‘early’. The fundamental rule of English rhythm is this: each stress group
within a word group is given the same amount of time.
A unit with a stressed syllable as its centre and any unstressed syllables which may
come before it and after it is called a rhythm unit. For example: in ‘I’m |going |home for
Christmas’, there are three rhythm units, which are ‘I’m going’, ‘home’, and ‘for
|
Christmas’.
How do you decide what words or syllables go together in a rhythm unit? Here are
the rules:
1. Any unstressed syllables at the beginning of a word group must go together with the
following stress group.
Eg. He |played |very |well.
2. If the unstressed syllable(s) is part of the same word as the stressed syllable they belong
to the same rhythm group.
|
Eg. Cheaper |fares, |cheap a|ffairs.
3. If the unstressed syllables are closely connected grammatically to the stressed word,
although not a part of that word, they belong to the same rhythm unit.
|
Eg. How did you |manage to be |there in |time?
|
Give it to |John.
4. Whenever you are in doubt as to which rhythm unit unstressed syllables belong to, put
them after a stress rather than before it. So, in ‘He was older than me’, if you are
doubtful about ‘than’, put it with ‘older’ not with ‘me’.
It should be noticed that in speaking English we vary how rhythmically we speak:
sometimes we speak very rhythmically (this is typical of some styles of public speaking)
while at other times we speak arhythmically - that is, without rhythm); for example, when
we are hesitant or nervous. Stress-timed rhythm is thus perhaps characteristic of one style
of speaking, not of English speech as a whole; one always speaks with some degree of
rhythmicality, but the degree will vary between a minimum value (arhythmical) and a
maximum (completely stress-timed rhythm).
59
Rhythm is useful to us in communicating: it helps us to find our way through the
confusing stream of continuous speech, enabling us to divide speech into words or other
units, to signal changes between topic or speaker, and to spot which items in the message
are the most important.
It should be now clear that there is a great deal of difference between the way words
are pronounced in isolation and in the context of connected speech. It would not be practical
or useful to teach all learners of English to produce assimilations; practice in making
elisions is more useful, and it is clearly valuable to do exercises related to rhythm and
linking. Perhaps the most important consequence of what has been described in this chapter
is that learners of English must be made very clearly aware of the problems that they will
meet in listening to colloquial, connected speech.

1. What is assimilation?
2. What is meant by “assimilation of voice”. Give illustrations.
3. What is meant by “assimilation of manner”. Give illustrations.
4. What is meant by “assimilation of place”. Give illustrations.
5. What is regressive assimilation? Give two examples to illustrate.
6. What is meant by “elision”. Give illustrations.
7. Indicate the possibilities of elision. Give illustrations.
8. Describe the nature of rhythm.
9. How do we decide what words/syllables go together in a rhythm unit?
10. Indicate the possibilities of elision. Give illustrations.
11. What is linking? State the basic rules for linking. Give examples to illustrate.
12. Transcribe the sentences below, first as though the words were spoken in isolation,
and then as they would be pronounced in connected speech.
Example: Would you give him a hand?
In isolation /wʊd juː ɡɪv hɪm eɪ hænd/
In connected speech /wʊdʒə ɡɪ vɪm əhænd/
a. What did he do last night?

b. Give her some help.
c. Could you tell me what you’re doing?
d. Are you going to be coming to the party tomorrow?
60
13. Transcribe how the following utterances are said in informal, fast speech and divide
each sentence into rhythm units.
a. When did you get back from holiday?
b. Have you ever learned to play an instrument?
c. He started doing magic when he was a boy.
d. He could stay underwater three minutes or more.
14. Indicate the possible instances of linking as the following phrases/sentences would be
pronounced in FAST, CASUAL style.
a. They’re over there on the table.
b. Yes, I collected stories about unusual jobs from all over the world.
c. That could be embarrassing.
d. Have you ever met anyone famous?
e. Do you watch TV for more than twenty hours a week?
f. No, it’s a lot smaller.
g. So in 50 years there’ll probably be McDonald’s on Mars.
h. Do you know exactly when all your favorite programmes are on?
i. Yes, I do actually.
j. There’s no oxygen on Mars, of course.
15. Divide the following sentences into rhythm units, indicating the stress patterns.
a. What can you tell us about Houdini’s early life?
b. I’m talking to a film-maker.
c. That’s a nice suit I haven’t seen before.
d. They did a very good job on it.
e. A new couple have moved in next door.
f. What was the name of the tailor?
g. Can I pay by cheque?
h. I can never understand that.
i. Would you just put your name and address on the back?
j. I bought it here, six months ago.
16. Transcribe the following sentences as they are said in CAREFUL, SLOW speech.
a. I should only water it once a month now, until the spring.
b. I usually have a disastrous effect on plants.
c. Do you happen to know the Latin name of it?
d. I wouldn’t call it shabby, but it isn’t very modern.
e. Mention my name if you like.
17. Indicate the possible cases of linking in the following excerpt.
61
In the early days Houdini and his wife Bess used to do magic shows all over New York,
sometimes 20 shows a day. But after 5 years of trying, he wanted to give up magic. He
put an advert in the newspaper offering to sell all his magic secrets for $20.
18. Fill in the blank with one appropriate words.

a. Assimilation is of two sorts: we have ……………. where a sound is influenced by
the sound which follows it; ……………. where a sound is influenced by the sound
that precedes it.
b. Elision refers to the ………. of one or more sounds in connected speech which
would be present in a word pronounced in isolation.
c. When a word ends with an /u:/, /əƱ/or /aƱ/ sound, the next word starts with a vowel
sound, we often link them with a …………………………. sound.
d. When a sound ends with an /з:/, /ə/, /ɔ:/ or /eə/ sound and the next word starts with
a vowel sound, we often link them with a ………………………… sound.
e. In the sentence “Walk down the path to end of the canal’, there are ………… rhythm
units.
f. . ……….. is the process when a sound is influenced by the sound that precedes it.
62
Chapter 7. Intonation
Only in very unusual situations do we speak with fixed, unvarying pitch, and when
we speak, normally the pitch of our voice is constantly changing. Every language has
melody in it; no language is spoken on the same musical note all the time. The voice goes
up and down and the different pitches of the voice combine to make tunes.
In some languages the tune mainly belongs to the word, being part of its shape. For
example, in Vietnamese, the same sounds said with different tunes may make quite
different words – la, lá, là, lã, lạ; tam, tám, tàm, tạm, etc. In many other languages, of which
English is one, the tune belongs not to the word but to the word group. If you say the word
No with different tunes it is still the same word, but nevertheless tune plays an important
part in English. We can say a word group definitely or we can say it hesitantly, we can say
it angrily or kindly, we can say it with interest or without interest, and these differences are
largely made by the tunes we use: the words do not change their meaning but the tune we
use adds something to the words, and what it adds is the speaker’s feelings at that moment;
this way of using tunes is called intonation. According to traditional descriptions,
intonation is “the melody of speech” and is to be analyzed in terms of variations in pitch.
Two sentences in English can be exactly the same phonetically except for the
intonation of the utterance. For example, we would expect a falling pitch pattern on a
statement (a) but a rising pitch pattern if the same words are used as a question (b):
a. You are from London.
b. You are from London?

Take Thank you as another example. Thank you may be said in two ways: in the first, the
voice starts high and ends low, and this shows real gratitude; in the second the voice starts
low and ends high, and this show a rather casual acknowledgement of something not very
63
important. A bus conductor will say thank you in this second way when he collects your
money and this is quite reasonable since he does not feel great gratitude. But if an English
friend invites you to spend a week-end at his home and you reply with the second thank
you instead of the first, your friend will be offended because you don’t sound really
grateful.
7. 1. Tune shapes
The shape of a tune is decided partly by the number of important words in the group
and partly by the exact attitude you wish to express. ‘Important words’ are the words which
carry most of the meaning in a group. For example, let’s look at the following situations,
in which the answer is syntactically the same.
(1) A: How was John?
B: He was in an appallingly bad temper.
(2) A: Was John in a good temper?
(3) A: Was John in a bad temper?
(4) A: He can’t have been in an appallingly bad temper.
However, phonologically, these answers vary from question to question, depending
on the focus in each situation.
In (1), the first four words are not especially helpful to the meaning, not important,
but the last three words are important; each of them adds quite a lot to the picture B is
giving of John. Thus, it might be said:
(1B): . . .
..
. . . . . .
| | |
He was in an a ppallingly bad temper
This diagram shows the approximate height of the voice on each syllable: the first five
syllables have low pitch; then there is a jump to the stressed syllable of appallingly (marked
64
with a big dot) and the next two syllables are on the same rather high pitch; then bad is a
little lower and temper glides downwards from the stressed to the unstressed syllable.
Notice that there are three changes of pitch connected with stressed syllables. This
shows that these words are important. An important word always has a stressed syllable
and usually has a change of pitch connected to it.
In (2) (A: Was John in a good temper? B: He was in an appallingly bad temper.),
temper occurs in the question so that in the answer it is not especially important, it does
not add anything to the picture, it gives little information; and the tune shows this:
(2B): . . . .
. . . . . . .
He was in an a|ppallingly |bad |temper
Now there are only two changes of pitch, connected with the stressed syllables of
appallingly and bad. So these two words are stilled marked as important, but temper is not.
Although it still has the first syllable stressed, the fact that there is no change of pitch shows
that the speaker is not treating it as important.
In (3) (A: Was John in a bad temper? B: He was in an appallingly bad temper.), bad
and temper are not important in the answer because both are already in the questioner’s
mind, so B says:
(3B): .
. . . . . . . .. .
Both bad and temper are still stressed, but they are shown to be unimportant because
they have no change of pitch. Important words are not the same as stressed words. Stressed
words may not be important, though important words must be stressed. It is not only the
normally stressed words, like appallingly, bad, temper in our example, which may be felt
to be important by the speaker; any word may be important if the situation makes it
important. Thus, in (4) (A: He can’t have been in an appallingly bad temper. B: He
65
was in an appallingly bad temper), A refuses to believe in John’s bad temper, so B may
say:
(4B): .
. . . . . . . . . .
Here the word was which is not usually stressed at all has both the stress and change of
pitch which mark it as important, indeed as the only really important word in the group;
and notice that when it is stressed it has its strong form.
So it is not only the number of important words which affects the tune-shape. The
difference here is a difference of attitude in the speaker.
The following sections are to introduce you to the basic tunes in English – the ones
learners of English must know to make your English sound like English.
7.1.1. The falling tune – The glide-down

In the shortest word-groups, where we use just one important word, the falling tune
consists of a fall in the voice from a fairly high pitch to a very low one. The fall is on the
stressed syllable or from the stressed syllable to a following one:
. . .
.
|
no two ten pence
Notice:
1. On a single syllable, the voice falls within the syllable.
2. On more than one syllable the voice either falls within the stressed syllable or jumps
down from that syllable to the next.
3. Unstressed syllables at the end are all very low.
If there are other words following the fall they may still have stress, as in our previous
example:
.
. . . . . . . . . .
66
But they are still said on that very low pitch, just like the unstressed syllables. Keep them
right down.
When there is more than one important word in the group, the last one has the fall
but the others are treated differently:
. . .
. . .
. . . .
|
What was |that? what was the matter with that?
Notice:
1. The stressed syllable of the first important word is high and any unstressed syllables
following it are on the same pitch.
2. The stressed syllable of the second important word is a little lower and any
unstressed syllables following it are on the same pitch.
3. The fall starts at the same pitch as the syllable just before.
In groups with more than three important words the stressed syllable of each one is
lower than the one before; this is why we call the tune the Glide-Down.
If there are any unstressed syllables before the stressed syllable of the first important
word, these are all said on rather low pitch, as in our example:
.
. . . . .
|
. .
| |
. .
.
He was in an a ppallingly bad temper
7.1.2. The glide-up
The Glide-Up is just like the Glide-Down except that it ends with a rise in the voice
instead of a fall. Both important and unimportant words before the rise are treated exactly
as in the Glide-Down. An example is But is it true that you’re changing your job?
. ..
.
.
. .
.
.
But is it true that you’re changing your job?
.
The last important word is job and here the voice rises from a low pitch t one just
above the middle of the voice. Apart from this the tune is the same s in the Glide-Down:
67
the unstressed syllable at the beginning is low, and there is a step at the stressed syllable of
each important word.Similarly, Are you married?
. .
.
.
Are you married?
Notice that the stressed syllable of the last important word is low and that the voice jumps
up to the unstressed syllable. And notice two that in Have you posted it to him? We have:
. .
. .
.
. .
Have you posted it to him?
where again the stressed syllable of the last important word is low and each following
unstressed syllable is a little higher.
Once gain there may be stressed words within the rise, but they are not felt to be
important:
. . . .
. . . .
Have you been at work today, John?
Work is the last important word, and although today and John are stressed they behave just
like the unstressed syllables of the last example and are not considered important by the
speaker.
7. 1. 3. The take-off
The Take-Off also ends with a rise in the voice, like the Glide-Up, but any words
and syllables before the rise are low. An example is:
. . . . . .
. .
I was only trying to help.
We call it the Take-Off because, like an airplane taking off, it starts by running along
at a low level and finally rises into the air.
The rise, as in the Glide-Up, either takes place on one syllable, like help, or it is
spread over several syllables:
68
. .
. . . . .
. . .
.
I was only trying to help him with it.

Before the rise, any stressed word is felt to be important, even though there is no change
of pitch. All the syllables before the rise are said on the same low pitch as the beginning of
the rise they must not be higher than this, or you will have a Glide-Up instead of a Take-
Off.
7. 1.4. The dive (The falling-rising tune)
In its shortest form this consists of a fall from rather high to low and then rise to
about the middle of the voice.
five why sun

This fall-rise is connected with the stressed syllable of the last important word, like the fall
and the rise of the other tunes. But it is only completed on one syllable if that syllable is
final in the group. If there is one or several syllables following, the fall and the rise are
separated:
. .. .
twenty seventy seventy of them
The fall is on the stressed syllable of the last important word and the rise on the last syllable
of all. In the following example:
. . . . . . .
that was nice that wasn’t very friendly

There are stressed (but not important) words following the fall; I that case the rise at the
end is from the last of the stressed syllables.
69
Words or syllables before the fall are said in the same way as for the Glide-Down
.
and Glide-Up. Examples:
. . . .
. . . .
. . .
She was quite kind I may be able to come on Monday
Notice that the fall of the fall-rise is always from a fairly high note.
7.2. How to use the tunes 1
Statements
1. Use the Glide-Down for statements which are complete and definite.
Eg.It was quite good.
I liked I very much.
I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.
2. If the statement is intended to be soothing or encouraging, use the Glide-Up.
I shan’t be long.
John’ll be here soon.
I won’t drive too fast (so don’t worry).
3. If the statement is a grumble, use the Take-Off.
I didn’t hurt you (so why make all that fuss?)
You can’t possibly do that (you ought to know better)
I did (grumbling contradiction).
4. If the statement is not complete but leading to a following word-group, use the Dive.
I looked at him (and recognized him at once)
She took the car (and drove to London)
Whenever he comes to visit us (he tries to borrow money).
5. If the statement is intended as a question, use the Glide-up.
You like it?
You can’t go?
1
Taken from O’Conner, J. D. (1980, pp.120-125)
70
He doesn’t want to lend you it?
6. For statements which show reservations o the part of the speaker and which might
be followed by but. . .or by you must admit or I must admit, use the Dive.
He’s generous (but I don’t trust him)
He’s handsome (you must admit)
I could take you there tomorrow (but not today)
I like your hat (I must admit)
It wasn’t a very nice thing to do (you must admit)
7. If the statement is a correction of what someone else has said, use a Dive.
(he’s forty-five) Forty six.
(I can’t do it) You can’t do it that way.
8. If the statement is a warning, use the Dive.
You’ll be late.
I shan’t tell you again
You mustn’t shake it too much.
9. If the statement has two parts, of which the first is more important to the meaning
than the second, use the Dive with the fall at the end of the first part and the rise at
the end of the second.
I went to London on Monday.
You can keep it if you really want it
He was very well when I last saw him.
I’m very comfortable, thank you.
Wh- questions
10. Use the Glide-Up if you want to show as much interest in the other person as in the
subject.
How’s your daughter?
When are you coming to see us?
When did you get back from holiday?
71
11. Use the Glide-Up if you want the question to sound more business-like and
interested in the subject and also for one-word questions.
Why did you change your mind?
Who on earth was that?
Which?
12. For repetition-questions, when you are repeating someone else’s question or when
you want the other person to repeat some information, use the Take-Off.
When did I go? (Or where?)
Why? (Because I wanted to)
(I arrived at ten o’clock) When?
(It took me two hours) How long?
(John told me to do it) Who told you to do it?
Yes-No questions
13. For short questions used as responses, like Did you? Has she? Etc. etc., use the
Glide-Down.
(John’s on holiday) Is he?
(I went to the theatre last night)| Did you?
14. For all other Yes-No questions use the Glide-Up.
Have you seen him yet?
Did John post that letter?
Can I see it?
Notice that the Glide-Up is also used for repetition-questions of this type:
(Have you seen him yet?) Have I seen him yet?
(Will you help me?) Will I help you?
Tag-questions
15. For tag-questions after commands, use the Take-off.
Come over here, will you?
Let’s have some music, shall we?
72
Hold this for me, would you?
16. If neither the statement nor the tag question have the word not in them, use the Take-
Off.
You liked it, did you?
They’d like some more, would they?
17. Where the word not occurs in either the statement or the tag question use the Glide-
Down to force the other person to agree with you.
It’s cold today, isn’t it?
It was a very good film, wasn’t it?
You won’t worry, will you?
He can’t really help it, can he?
18. When you don’t want to force the other person to agree with you, but to give his
opinion, use the Take-Off.
You’re coming to tea with us, aren’t you?
You weren’t here on Wednesday, were you?
He didn’t look ill, did he?
Commands
19. If you want the command to sound like a pleading request use a Dive, with the fall
on Do or Don’t if they occur or on the main verb if not, and the rise at the end.
Shut the window
Do have some more tea?
Send it as soon as you can
Don’t make me angry
Notice commands with only one important word:
Try
Take it
Lend it to them.
20. For strong commands use the Glide-Down.
Don’t be a stupid idiot
73
Take your feet off the chair
Come and have dinner with us
Have some cheese.
Exclamations
21. For strong exclamations use the Glide-Down.
Good Heavens!
How extra-ordinary!
What a very pretty dress!
Nonsense!
Splendid!
Remember that Thank you comes in this class when it expresses real gratitude:
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
22. For greetings and for saying goodbye use the Glide-Up.
Good morning.
Hullo.
Good bye.
Good night.
23. If the exclamation is questioning, use the Take-Off.
Oh?
Really?
Well?
24. For exclamations which refer to something not very exciting or unexpected use the
Glide-Up.
Thank you Good All right Good luck
7. 3. Functions of intonation
The form of intonation has now been described in some detail, and we will move on to
look more closely at its functions. Perhaps the best way to start on this is to ask ourselves
74
what would be lost if we were to speak without intonation: you should try to imagine speech
in which every syllable was said on the same level pitch, with no pauses and no changes in
speed or loudness. This is the sort of speech that would be produced by a “mechanical
speech” device that made sentences by putting together recordings of isolated words. To
put it in the broadest possible terms, we can see that intonation makes it easier for listeners
to understand what a speaker is trying to convey. The ways in which intonation does this
are very complex, and many suggestions have been made for ways of isolating different
functions. Among the most often proposed are the following:
i) Intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes as we speak, and this adds a
special kind of “meaning” to spoken language. This is often called the attitudinal
function of intonation.
ii) Intonation helps to produce the effect of prominence on syllables that need to be
perceived as stressed, and in particular the placing of tonic stress on a particular syllable
marks out the word to which it belongs as the most important in the tone-unit. This has
been called the accentual function of intonation.
iii) The listener is better able to recognize the grammar and syntactic structure of what is
being said by using the information contained in the intonation: for example, such
things as the placement of boundaries between phrases, clauses or sentences, the
difference between questions and statements and the use of grammatical subordination
may be indicated. This has been called the grammatical function of intonation.
iv) Looking at the act of speaking in a broader way, we can see that intonation can signal
to the listener what is to be taken as “new” information and what is already “given”,
can suggest when the speaker is indicating some sort of contrast or link with material
in another tone-unit and, in conversation, can convey to the listener what kind of
response is expected. Such functions are examples of intonation’s discourse function.
1. What is intonation?
75
2. State the basic functions of intonation and give examples to illustrate.
3. What are the functions of the Glide-Up? Provide some examples.

4. What are the functions of the Glide-Down? Provide some examples.
5. What are the functions of the Take-Off? Provide some examples.
6. What are the functions of the Dive? Provide some examples.
76
Bibliography
1. Avery, P. & Ehrlich, S. 1992. Teaching American English pronunciation. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.
2. Bolinger, D. L (ed.). 1972. Intonation. London.
3. Bolinger, D. L. 1986. Intonation and Its Parts - Melody in Spoken English. Standford:
Standford University Press.
4. Carr, P. 1993. Phonetics. London: Macmillan.
5. Carr, P. (2013). English Phonetics and Phonology – An Introduction – Second Edition.
Wiley-Blackwell.
6. Clark, J. and Collin, Y. 1995. An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. Oxford:
Blackwell.
7. Collin, Y. 1995. English Phonology. Sydney: Macquarie University.
8. Cruttenden, A. 186. Intonation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
9. Dale, P. and Pom, L. 1999. English Pronunciation for International Students. USA:
Prentice Hall, Inc.
10. Dang V Hung. 2001. An Introduction to English Phonetics and Phonology. University
of Danang.
11. Fromkin, V. et al. 1987. An Introduction to Language. Australia.
12. Gimson, A. C. 1970. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London: Edward
Arnold.
13. Ha C Tam. 2003. English Phonetics and Phonology. Hanoi: Foreign Language
University.
14. Hancock, M. English Pronunciation in Use – Intemediate. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
15. Hayes, B. (2009). Introductory Phonology. Blackwell Publishing.
16. Hewings, M. English Pronunciation in Use – Advanced. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
17. Jones, C. 1989. A History of English Phonology. London: Longman.
18. Jones, D. 1987. An Outline of English Phonetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
19. Ladefoged, P. 1975. A Course in Phonetics. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
20. Lane, L. & Brown, H. D. 2010. Tips for Teaching Pronunciation: A Practical
Approach. New York: Pearson Longman.
21. Marks, J. English Pronunciation in Use – Elementary. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
22. Malmberg, B. 1963. Phonetics. New York: Dover Publications.
23. Mortimer, C. 1985. Elements of Pronunciation – Intensive practice for intermediate and
more advanced students. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
24. Nguyen M Tam. 1998. A Glossary of Phonetic Terms. Giao Duc Publisher.
25. Nguyen Thanh Binh. 2001. An Introduction to Linguistics and the English language.
Hue: Hue University.
77
26. Nguyen T T Suong. 2003. A Course in English Phonetics and Phonology. Quy Nhon:
Quy Nhon University.
27. O’Conner, J. D. 1980. Better English Pronunciation, New Edition. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
28. O’Conner, J. D. 1973. Phonetics. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
29. Redston, C. & Cunningham, G. 2005. Face2Face Pre-intermediate Student’s Book.
Cambridge: CUP.
30. Richards, J. C. et al. 1992. Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied
Linguistics. England: Longman.
31. Roach, P. 1983. English Phonetics and Phonology- A Practical Course. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
32. Roach, P. 2001. Phonetics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
33. Roach, P. 2009. English Phonetics and Phonology Glossary. (A Little Encyclopedia of
Phonetics).
34. Spencer, A. 1996. Phonology: Theory and Description. Oxford: Blackwell.
35. Trim, J. 1965. English Pronunciation Illustrated. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
36. Woods, H. B. 1987. Syllable stress and unstress. Ottawa: Canadian Government
Publishing Centre.
78
Appendix A: GLOSSARY
Accent 1. Giọng địa phương

2. Trọng âm, dấu nhấn
Accentual function Chức năng nhấn, đặt dấu trọng âm
Acoustic(al) phonetics Ngữ âm học thính âm
Addition of phonemes Hiện tượng thêm âm vị
Affix Tiếp tố, phụ tố
Affricate Âm tắc xát
Airstream Luồng không khí, luồng hơi
Allophone Biến thái âm vị
Alveolar Nướu răng, lợi
Alveopalatal Âm ngạc lợi
Approximant Âm tiếp cận
Articulate Cấu âm
Articulation Sự cấu âm
Articulator Bộ phận cấu âm
Articulatory phonetics Ngữ âm học cấu âm
Arytenoid Sụn hầu
Aspirate Bật hơi
Aspiration Hiện tượng bật hơi
Assimilation Hiện tượng đồng hóa
Attitudinal function Chức năng chỉ thái độ
Audible Nghe thấy được
Auditory phonetics Ngữ âm thính học
Back Sau
Back vowel Nguyên âm sau
Bilabial Âm hai môi
Cardinal Cơ bản, chính
Cartilage Sụn
Central Giữa
Chest Ngực
Close Khép
Consonant Phụ âm
Continuant Âm liên tục, liên âm
Dental Âm răng
Devoice Điếc hóa
Diphthong Nhị trùng âm
Dissimilation Dị hóa
Distinctive feature Đặc trưng khu biệt
Elision Hiện tượng mất âm, nuốt âm
Enunciate Phát âm
Epiglottis Nắp thanh quản
79
Explosive Âm nổ
Fall Xuống, giáng
Flap Âm rung
Fortis Mạnh
Fricative Âm xát
Friction Sự cọ xát
Front Trước
Glide Âm trượt
Glottal Âm hầu
Glottis Thanh môn
Hard palate Ngạc cứng
High Cao
Implosive Âm bật vào
Intonation Ngữ điệu
Jaw Hàm
Juncture Độ ngừng, ngắt giữa hai âm tiết
Labial Âm môi
Labio-dental Âm môi răng
Larynx Khí quản
Lateral Âm biên
Lax Âm nới, thấp giọng, lỏng lẻo
Lax vowel Nguyên âm nhẹ/ chùng
Lenis Nhẹ, nới, yêu
Level Ngang
Liaison Hiện tượng nối âm, đọc nối
Liquid sound Âm lỏng
Lower lip Môi dưới
Lower teeth Răng dưới
Low-pitched Thấp giọng
Lung Phổi
Minimal pair Cặp tối thiểu
Monosyllable Đơn âm tiết
Mutation Hiện tượng biến đổi nguyên âm
Nasal Âm mũi
Nasal cavity Khoang mũi
Nasal consonant Phụ âm mũi
Nasal passage Đường mũi
Obstruent Phụ âm cản
Onset Âm đầu
Oral cavity Khoang miệng
Palatal Âm ngạc
Palate Ngạc
Palato-alveolar Âm ngạc lợi
80
Pharynx Yết hầu
Phoneme Âm vị
Phonology Âm bị học
Pitch Âm vực
Plosive Âm bật, nổ
Pulmonic Thuộc về phổi
Resonant Âm vang
Retroflex Âm cong
Rhyme Vần
Rhythym Nhịp điệu
Root Cuốn lưỡi
Schwa Nguyên âm giảm
Segment Âm đoạn
Semiconsonant Bán phụ âm
Semi-vowel Bán nguyên âm
Sibilant Âm xuýt
Soft palate Ngạc mềm
Sonorant Âm vang
Stop Âm tắt
Stress Trọng âm, dấu nhấn
Suprasegmental Siêu đoạn tính
Syllabic (Phụ âm) có tính âm tiết, nguyên âm chính
Syllable Âm tiết
Tense căng, cao giọng
Thyroid Thuộc giáp trạng
Thyroid cartilage Sụn giáp trạng
Thyroid gland Tuyến giáp trạng
Tone Thanh
Tone-unit Đơn vị thanh
Trachea Cuống phổi
Trill Âm rung
Triphthong Tam trùng âm
Unaspirated Không bật hơi
Unilateral Âm một bên
Up-glide Âm trượt/ lướt lên
Uvula Lưỡi gà
Uvular Âm lưỡi gà
Velar Ngạc mềm
Vocal Thuộc về âm
Vocal cords Thanh quản
Vocal folds Thanh đới
Vocal organs Cơ quan câu âm
Vocal tract Đường phát âm
81
Voiced Âm hữu thanh
Voiceless Âm vô thanh
Voicing Sự vang âm
Vowel Nguyên âm
Windpipe Khí quản
82

2 A Concise Introduction To English Phonetics and Phonology SFL DTU

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BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

ĐẠI HỌC DUY TÂN, ĐÀ NẴNG

PGS.TS. TÔN NỮ MỸ NHẬT

NGỮ ÂM VÀ ÂM VỊ HỌC TIẾNG ANH

PGS.TS. TÔN NỮ MỸ NHẬT

NGỮ ÂM VÀ ÂM VỊ HỌC TIẾNG ANH

Associate Professor. TON NU MY NHAT

A concise introduction to English phonetics and phonology is

Chapter 1: Basic concepts. 1

1.1. Phonetics and phonology

2 I as in sit / sIt / 12 ə as in ago / ə’gəƱ /

3 e as in ten / ten / 13 eI as in page / peIdʒ /

4 æ as in hat / hæt / 14 əƱ as in home / həƱm

6 ɒ as in got / gɒt / 16 aƱ as in now / naƱ /

8 Ʊ as in put / pƱt / 18 Iə as in near / nIə(r) /

9 u: as in too / tu: / 19 eə as in hair / heə(r) /

10 ʌ as in cup / kʌp / 20 Ʊ ə as in pure / pjƱə(r)

2 b as in bad / bæd / 14 z as in zoo / zu: /

3 t as in tea / ti: / 15 ∫ as in she / ∫i: /

4 d as in did / dId / 16 ʒ as in vision / ‘vIʒn

7 t∫ as in chin / t∫In / 19 n as in now / naƱ /

8 dʒ as in June / dʒu:n / 20 ŋ as in sing / sIŋ /

9 f as in fall / fɔ:l / 21 l as in leg / leg /

10 v as in voice / vɔIs / 22 r as in red / red /

11 θ as in thin / θIn / 23 j as in yes / jes /

12 ð as in then / ðen / 24 w as in wet /wet /

Fig. 1.1 The principal organs of articulation

Fig. 1.2 The tongue

13. Fill in the missing information.

4. In the English language, there are __________ letters and __________

5. IPA stands for ____________________________. It consists of a set of

8. The International Phonetic Alphabet consists of a set of ……………….., each of

Our articulators enable us to make an infinite number of different speech sounds,

2.1. VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

 Are produced with relatively  Are produced with a narrow or

2.2. PURE VOWELS

Fig. Position of the tongue in producing [i], which

Fig. 2.3 Primary cardinal

Fig. 2.4 English short and long vowels

Fig.10 Places of articulation

Fig. 2.6 The places of articulation

Fig. 2.7 The soft palate lowered

DISCUSSIONS AND ACTIVITIES

b. Give the articulatory description for each of these sounds.

15. Write the following words in phonetic transcription.

3.2. Minimal pairs

3.3. Distinctive features

Initial three-consonant clusters:

4.2.2. The coda:

3b. three-consonant final cluster:

- final plus post-final 1 plus post-final 2. Post-final 2 is again one of / s /, / z/, /t /,

3c. four-consonant final cluster:

Examples Four-consonant final cluster

DISCUSSIONS AND ACTIVITIES

a. nature d. follower g. picturesque j. tsunamis

Word Onset Vowel Coda

10. Complete the table with words in the box.

Words with a Words with a CODA of Words with a CODA of

11. Fill in each blank with one appropriate word.

5.1. The nature of stress

5.2. Word stress

lovely /’|lʌvli/ divine /dI |vaIn/

4. In the English language, there are letters and