English Pronunciation Unit 1.

Introduction

RESULTS
THEORY

1. I know the differences between phonetics and phonology, and between allophones and phonemes.
2. Identify the different perspectives for the study of phonetics.
3. Be able to describe the organs of speech.
o The oral and nasal cavities.
o The vocal folds
4. Know how sounds are produced.
o Initiation, phonation, articulation.
5. Identify the differences between the segmental level and the suprasegmental level.

1. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY AND BETWEEN ALLOPHONES AND PHONEMES

Phonetics and phonology are two disciplines that sturdy the pronunciation of the sounds of a language
from different perspectives.
Physiological
PHONETICS perspective

PHONOLOGY Mental/linguistic
perspective

Analyses the sounds of a language so as to decide which of them are:

- Linguistically relevant (or contrastive) > phonemes
- Realizations of a phoneme > allophones

If a sound is a phoneme in a given language, it triggers a difference in meaning between two words that
only differ with respect to this sound.

MINIMAL PAIR

Spanish English
[´pata] (meaning “leg”) [‘sIti] (meaning “city”)
[‘para] (meaning “for”” [‘sIri] (meaning “city”)
t–r t–r
Trigger a difference in meaning Do not trigger a difference in meaning
Two phonemes Two allophones of the same
phoneme
/t/ /t/ [t]
/r/ . [r]

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English Pronunciation Unit 1. Introduction

Allophones can be:

In free variation (when they appear in the same context)
Example: [‘sIti] [‘sIri]

In complementary distribution (when they appear in mutually exclusive contexts)

Examples
/l/ [l] / Vowel Light [lait]
/j/ Lure [ljƱƏ]

[ł] / Consonant Milk [miłk]

# Mill# [mił]

2. PERSPECTIVES FOR THE STUDY OF PHONETICS

3. THE ORGANS OF SPEECH

i) The oral and nasal cavities

Velum

According to the position of the velum (soft palate) the air coming from the lungs is released through the
mouth (oral sounds) or through the nose (nasal sounds)

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The articulators are located in the oral cavity

Articulators can be: - Active: tongue, lips, velum, uvula, vocal folds
- Passive: alveolar ridge, hard palate, teeth, pharynx

ii) The vocal folds

- Two cords situated in the larynx
- They are responsible for sound since they can alter or modify the air coming from the lungs

Vibration

- Coughing - Breathing - Voiced sounds

- Glottal stop [?] - Voiceless sounds [t] [s] [p] (vowels, nasals, etc.)

Vocal vibration is also responsible for two other perceptual features:

- Pitch > related to the rate of the vibration
- Loudness > related to the amplitude (or intensity) of the vibration
The quicker the vibration > the higher the pitch
. The higher the amplitude (or displacement) of the vibrations > the louder the sound

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English Pronunciation Unit 1. Introduction

4. THE PRODUCTION OF SOUNDS

 Three stages:
o Initiation: the origin and direction of the airflow
o Phonation: position of the vocal folds
o Articulation position and movements of the articulators

 INITIATION
o Origin: usually air coming from the lungs (pulmonic airstream), sometimes other
origins (glottalic or velaric)
o Direction of the airflow:
 Egressive (outwards)
 Ingressive (inwards)

Most sounds are produced with a pulmonic, egressive airstream (e.g. English)
The glottalic airstream is used to produce:
 Ejectives (with an egressive airflow) e.g. p’ t ’ k’
 Implosives (with an ingressive airflow) e.g. ɓ ɗ ɠ
The velaric airstream is used to produce:
 Clicks (with an ingressive airflow) e.g. ʘ ǀ (also nasal clicks)

ARTICUALTION

Examples:

 Bilabial sounds (both lips) [p b m ]

 Alveolar sounds (tip of the tongue +
alveolar ridge) [n s l ]
 Velar sounds (back of the tongue +
velum) [k g ]

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5. THE SEGMENTAL LEVEL VS. THE SUPRASEGMENTAL LEVEL

 Any speech chunk has two levels of analysis

The segmental level Vowels and consonants

The suprasegmental level Prosodic features
(stress, length, intensity, intonation)
Suprasegmental features occur at a level which is higher (supra)
than the segmental level the syllable

Stress A syllable can be stressed or unstressed

Length A syllable can be long or short
Intensity A syllable can be loud (strong) or weak

intonation A syllable can be accented or unaccented

Thank you!

syllable syllable
['θæŋk jǝ]
CVCC CV

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