21/2/2022

AN INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS
I. Phonetics and phonology
1. Def:
- Phonetics: is the linguistic science that studies speech sounds: the way in which
they are produced (uttered, articulated), their physical characteristics, and the
way in which they are perceived. In other words, it is the study of sounds and
production of speech
2. Areas of phonetics:
a. Articulatory phonetics: is the study of how speech sounds are produced using
the articulators - the part of the body involved in producing speech sounds.
b. Acoustic phonetics: which is also considered a branch of physics, involved the
study of the speech signals (the sound waves produced when a speaker speaks).
In other words, it deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air.
c. Auditory phonetics: which is also considered a branch of physiology, is the
study of how speech signal is sensed in the auditory canal and interpreted by
the relevant parts of the brain. In other words, it deals with how speech sounds
are perceived by the listener.
3. Def of Phonology:
The study of description of the distinctive sound units (phonemes) of a
language and their relations to one another. It involves studying a language to
determine its distinctive sound and to establish a set of rules that describe the
set of changes that take place in these sounds when they occur in different
relationships with other sounds. The subject of phonology includes the
following areas:
- Study of the phonemic system
- Phoneme sequences and syllable structure
- Suprasegmental phonology (stress, intonation)
=> Subject themes and contents
- Phonemes and sound production
- Allophones (rules for allophones)
- Syllable
- Suprasegmental features
- Connected speech: common aspects
=> Articulators: a technical term which means different parts of the body to make
sound
=> How speech sounds are produced: when a sound is made
- The air from the lungs comes up through the wind-pipe and arrives first at the
larynx
- Then it goes through the larynx and up the pharynx to the uvula
- At this point, it may go:
+ Into the oral cavity (if the soft palate is raised) - oral sounds, and go out
of the mouth, or
+ Into the nasal tract (if the soft palate is lowered) - nasal sounds, and get
out through the nostrils
=> Vowels
1. Def
- Vowels are the sound in the production of which none of the articulators come
very close together so the passage of air-stream is relatively unobstructed and
the air can get out freely
- Vowels are the type of sounds that depend mainly on the variations in the
position of the tongue. They are normally voiced
2. Factors in the production of vowels
a. Height of the body of the tongue
- High vowels are those in the production of which the tongue is high in the
mouth. It is raised above its rest position
- Low tongue below its rest position
- Mid tongue neither high or low in the mouth
b. Position of highest point
- Front vowels: are those in the production of which the front of the tongue is the
highest point
- Central are those made with the neither the front or the back of the tongue. The
tongue is neither high or low in the mouth when central vowels are produced
- Back: the back of the tongue is the highest point
c. Length of the sound
- Length : long - short vowels
- Long vowels tend to be longer than short vowels in similar context. The
symbol consist of one single vowel plus a length mark made of two dots. They
are different from short vowels not only in length but also in quality, resulting
from differences in tongue shapes and lip positions
d. Lip-rounding
- Rounded vowels: made with rounded lips. The corners of the lips are brought
towards each other and the lips are pushes forwards
 - Unrounded (spread) vowel made with the lips spread. The corners of the lips
are moved away from each other as for a smile
- Neutral vowel made with the lips neither rounded nor spread

=> Diphthongs: is a glide from one vowel to another, and the whole glides acts like
one of the long simple vowels. The first part is much longer and stronger than the
second part. As a result, the second part is shorter and quieter.

=> Triphthongs: a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, rapidly,
without interruption
 28/2/2022
I. Consonants
1. Def
- Are sounds in the production of which one articulator moves towards another
or two articulators come together, obstructing the air-stream and the air-stream
can’t get out freely
2. Classification
a. Place of articulation: the place where the air-stream is obstructed/stopped
- Bilabial (am hai moi)
+ Made with the two lips pressed together or coming together
+ /b/ /p/ /m/ /w/
- Dental
+ Produced with the tip or the blade of the tongue is put between the upper
and lower front teeth
+ /θ/ /ð/
- Labio-dental
+ The lower lip touching the upper front teeth
+ /f/ /v/
- Alveolar
+ The tip or blade of the tongue touching or approaching the alveolar ridge
+ /s/ /z/ (approach)
+ /t/ /d/ /n/ /l/ (touch)
- Palato-alveolar
+ The tongue tip or blade coming close to the area between the back of the
alveolar ridge and the front of the hard palate
+ /ʒ/ /ʃ/ /t͡ʃ/ /d͡ʒ/
- Retroflex
+ The tip of the tongue curling back towards the back of the alveolar ridge
+ /r/
- Palatal
+ The front of the tongue coming close to the hard palate
+ /j/ yell; your
- Velar
+ The back of the tongue touching the soft palate
+ /k/ /g/ /ŋ/
- Glottal (am hau)
+ Produced without the active use of the tongue and other parts of the
mouth
+ /h/ house
b. Manner of articulation the way in which the air-stream is obstructed
- Stop/plosives: oral stops/ nasal stops
+ There is a complete closure of the articulators involved so that the
air-stream can’t escape through the mouth
+ Oral stop (Plosive: 6): the sounds produced with the air-stream being
stopped in the oral cavity: the soft palate is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity. Then, the two articulators come apart quickly and the air escapes
through the oral cavity. /p/ /b/ /t/ /k/ /g/ /d/
+ Nasal stop (Nasals: 3): the sounds are produced with the air stream
being stopped in the oral cavity, the soft palate is down so that the air
can go out through the nose /m/ /n/ /ŋ/
- Fricatives 9
+ Are the sound in the production of which two articulators come close
together, but there is a small opening between them so the air stream is
partially obstructed and an audible friction noise (a hissing sound) is
produced
+ /f/ /v/ /θ/ /ð/ /s/ /z/ /ʒ/ /ʃ/ /h/
- Affricatives
+ Are the sounds which are produced when a stop is immediately followed
by a fricative. It begins with a complete closure and then is followed by
slow release of air with friction
+ /t͡ʃ/ /d͡ʒ/
- Laterals (âm hai bên)
+ This sound is made when the air-stream escapes along the side of the
tongue
+ /l/
- Approximants (âm tiếp cận)
+ Are the sounds in the production of which two articulators come close
together but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent
that a fiction noise is produced
+ /w/ /r/ /j/
 c. Velum position
- Velum behavior
+ Raised up (contacting pharynx wall)=>oral sounds /b,p,k,g…/
+ Lowered down (forming a gap)=>nasal sounds /m,n…/

d. Voicing
- Voiced cons: produced when the vocal cords are vibrating /g,v,m,n,b,d,.../
- Voiceless cons: produced when the vocal cords are not vibrating /t,p,k,f,s…/

3. Describe consonants
1 velum behavior -> 2 voicing -> 3 place -> 4 manner
Eg: /s/ oral voiceless alveolar fricative
/n/ nasal voiced alveolar stop
/b/ oral voiced labial stop
 7/3/2022
PRACTICE EXERCISES

17/3/2022
THE SYLLABLE
I. Phoneme
- Contrastive sound categories are called phoneme
- Phonemes are the smallest units in a language that distinguish word meanings
(đơn vị nhỏ nhất đc dùng để phân biệt ngữ nghĩa của từ)
- Phonemes are abstract segments (âm đoạn trừu tượng) (do not recognize
phonemes separately in the word; they are sound; has to be merged with other
sound segments to create word)
- Phonemes are chiefly identified by finding minimal pairs (cặp tương ứng tối
thiểu)
+ A minimal pair is a pair of words which: differ in meaning and differ in
exactly one segment
+ Example: [d]/ [t] (dire/tire; said/set);
II. Allophones
- All allophones of a phoneme share the same set of distinctive features but each
one can also show additional features. Eg, the phoneme /p/ is realized as /p /
- Phonetic forms that don't contrast are called allophones
+ [t] [th] are allophones of the phoneme /t/
- Allophones are the various pronunciations of a phoneme
- Phonemes and allophones
+ Phonemes are written between / / parenthesis
+ Allophones are written between [ ] square brackets
+ /t/ phonemic (abstract/mental) category
+ [t] allophonic (phonetic) realizations in your mind
[th] what you actually say
III. Syllable and syllabication
- Syllable: phonetically, a syllable is a unit which consists of a vowel as the
centre and/or consonant(s) before and after it.
- Eg: are /a:/ no /nəʊ/ at /æt/ cat /kæt/
- A syllable can be part of a word or it can be coincide with a word
- The nature of syllable:
+ A minimum syllable is a single vowel in isolation (Eg are /a:/ or /ɔːr/
err /ɜːr/)
+ Some syllables have an onset. That means they have more than just
silence preceding the centre of the syllable (Eg: my
 + Some syllable may have no onset but have coda (termination) (Eg on)
+ Both onset and a coda (termination) (Eg Meat)

=> Syllable onset (initial consonant)

- If the first syllable of the the word begins with
+ A vowel -> Zero onset Eg: ease our at of
+ One consonant -> Initial consonant Eg: see toy dough
+ Two more more consonants together -> an initial consonant cluster
Eg: Spring clam threat
1. Initial two con. clusters:
a. Pre-in. /s/ + in. con. (Eg: /t, w,m/) Eg: smoke /sməʊk/ snake /sneɪk/

b. In. + post-in. /j,w,l,r/ Eg: queue /kjuː/ twin /twɪn/ try /twɪn/

2. In three-con. cluster: Pre-in. /s/ + in. /p,t,k/ + post-in. /l,w,r,j/

Eg: scream /skriːm/ stew /stjuː/ squid /skwɪd/ string /strɪŋ/

=> Syllable coda (Termination)

- If a syllable ends with:
+ A vowel -> Zero termination/coda Eg: no
+ A con -> final con (all con., except /h, w, j/) Eg: meal late
+ More than one con. -> final con. Cluster Eg: ask next tasks
 1. Final two con. cluster
a. Pre-fi. /m, n, l, s, ŋ / + fi.
Eg: bond /bɒnd/ pump /pʌmp/ dealt /delt/ desk /desk/
b. Fi. + post-fi /s, z, t, d, θ/
Eg: cats /kæts/ looked /lʊkt/ eighth /eɪtθ/ bags /bæɡz/ begged
/beɡd/
2. Final three con. cluster
a. Pre-fi. /m, n, l, s, ŋ / + fi. /p,k,d,f/ + post-fi. /s, z, t, d, θ/
Eg : helped twelfth

b. Fi. + post-fi. 1 /s, z, t, d, θ/ + post fi. 2 /s, z, t, d, θ/

Eg: next lapsed

3. Final four con. cluster

a. Pre-fi. /m, n, l, s, ŋ / + fi. + post-fi. 1 /s, z, t, d, θ/ + post fi. 2 /s, z, t, d, θ/
Eg: twelfths prompts

b. Fi. + post-fi. 1 /s, z, t, d, θ/ + post fi. 2 /s, z, t, d, θ/ + post fi. 3 /s, z, t, d,

θ/

=> Phonological structure of English syllables

=> Syllabication rules
Rule #1: Every syllable has one vowel sound.

Rule #2: The number of vowel sounds in a word equals the number of syllables.

HOME = 1 SUB . JECT = 2 PUB . LISH . ING = 3

Rule #3: A one syllable word is never divided.

STOP FEET BELL

Rule #4: Consonant blends and digraphs are never separated.

REST . ING BUSH . EL REACH . ING

Rule #5: When a word has a ck or an x in it, the word is usually divided after the ck
or x.

NICK . EL TAX . I

Rule #6: A compound word is divided between the two words that make the
compound word.

IN . SIDE FOOT . BALL TOOTH . BRUSH

Rule #7: When two or more consonants come between two vowels in a word, it is
usually divided between the first two consonants.

SIS . TER BUT . TER HUN . GRY

Rule #8: When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, it is usually
divided after the consonant if the vowel is short.

LEV . ER CAB . IN HAB . IT

Rule #9: When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, it is usually
divided before the consonant if the vowel is long.

BA . SIN FE . VER MA . JOR

Rule #10: When two vowels come together in a word, and are sounded separately,
divide the word between the two vowels.

RA . DI . O DI . ET I . DE . A

Rule #11: When a vowel is sounded alone in a word, it forms a syllable itself.
 GRAD . U . ATE A . PRON U . NIT

Rule #12: A word that has a prefix is divided between the root word and the prefix.

DIS . COUNT MIS . FIT UN . TIE

Rule #13: When be, de, ex and re are at the beginning of a word, they make a syllable
of their own.

BE . CAME DE . FEND EX . HALE RE . MAIN

Rule #14: a word that has a suffix is divided between the root word and the suffix.

KIND . NESS THANK . FUL STUFF . ING

Rule #15: When a word ends in le, preceded by a consonant, the word is divided
before that consonant.

PUR . PLE FUM . BLE MID . DLE

Rule #16: When -ed comes at the end of a word, it forms a syllable only when
preceded by d or t.

START . ED FUND . ED

Rule #17: When a word or syllable ends in al or el, these letters usually form the last
syllable.

LEV . EL US . U . AL

Rule #18: When a ture and tion are at the end of a word, they make their own
syllable.

LO . TION POS . TURE

 BTVN:
1. Syllable structure
Pre-in. In. Post-in. Vowel Pre-fi. Fi. Post-fi.1 Post-fi.2 Post-fi.3
Cleaned k l i: n d
/kliːnd/

Church tʃ ɜː tʃ
/tʃɜːtʃ/

Strong s t r ɒ ŋ
/strɒŋ/

Sponge s p ʌ n dʒ
/spʌndʒ/

months m ʌ n θ s
/mʌnθs/
2. Syllabication
- Miraculous /mɪˈræk.jə.ləs/
+ Rule #10: When two vowels come together in a word, and are sounded
separately, divide the word between the two vowels.
+ Rule #14: a word that has a suffix is divided between the root word and
the suffix.
- written /ˈrɪt.ən/
+ Rule #7: When two or more consonants come between two vowels in a
word, it is usually divided between the first two consonants
- Noodle /ˈnuː.dəl/
+ Rule #15: When a word ends in le, preceded by a consonant, the word
is divided before that consonant.
 21/3/2022
Strong and weak syllables
- Vowel in weak syllable tends to be
1. Shorter 2. Lower intensity (loudness)
- In terms of stress:
Strong syllable -> stressed has a long vowel as its peak
Weak syllable unstressed has a short vowel as its peak
- Nucleus:
+ The vowel schwa /ə/
+ A close front unrounded vowel in general area of /i:/ and /i/
+ A close back rounded vowel in general area of /u:/ and /u/
+ A syllabic consonant /m n ŋ l r/

1. The schwa /ə/

- The most frequently occurring vowel in English
- Is always associated with weak syllables
- It is generally described as lax, that is, not articulated with much energy

2. Weak syllables with close front unrounded /i/ /i:/

- Final position, word spelt with y ey busy /ˈbɪz.i/ valley /ˈvæl.i/
- Prefix such as re, pre, de reduce /rɪˈdʒuːs/
- Suffixes spelt ate, iou spacious /ˈspeɪ.ʃəs/
- In the following word, when unstressed "me be he she the"

3. Weak syllables with close back rounded /u/

- Not so common
- Frequently found in words such as you to into
4. Syllabic consonant
 - Syllables in which no vowel is found, a consonant either /l,r/ or a nasal /n,m,ŋ/
stands as its peak
- A consonant is syllabic by a small vertical mark (,) or (.)

=> Syllabic l

=> Syllabic n : The most frequent

 => Syllabic m, ŋ: Assimilation -
Elision
Eg: happen
uppermost
thicken

=> Syllabic r
- Rhotic accent: /r/ is pronounced
Hard butter
- Non-rhotic accent: drop or delete the round
 31/3/2022
Stress
I. Def: stress is an extra force exerted on a particular syllable, or a particular word in
spoken language
Eg: father information
John bought a new car yesterday
II. Type of stress
- Word stress is an extra force put on particular syllable

III. The nature of stress

- Production depend on the speaker's using more muscular energy than for
unstressed syllable
- Stressed syllables - Prominence loudness; length; vowel; quality pitch
IV. Level of stress
- Primary (tonic/nuclear): the strongest; marked by a small vertical line
- Secondary (non-tonic): weaker than primary stress; stronger than unstressed;
represented with a low mark; strong syllable
- Unstressed
V. Placement of stress within words depend on
- Whether the word is morphologically simple or complex (cấu trúc hình thái của
từ) (derived or compound word)
- The grammatical category to which the word belong
- The number of syllables in the word
- The phonological structure of the word
VI. Simple word stress
1. Two syllable words
a. Verbs:
- If the 2nd syllable of the verb contains a long vowel or a diphthong or it ends
with more than 1 con., that second syllable is stressed (Eg: provide, protest,
contain, agree…)
- If the 2nd syllable of the verb contains a short vowel and ends with one or no
con., that first syllable is stressed (Eg: enter, worry, travel, open…)
- The final syllable is also unstressed if it contains /əʊ/ (Eg: follow, borrow…)
b. Adjectives:
- 2 syllable adj are stressed according to the same rules as verbs (Eg: correct,
polite, heavy, sincere, major, complete, happy, precise,...)
c. Nouns:
- If the 2nd syllable contains a short vowel, the stress will be on the 1st syllable.
Otherwise, it will be on the 2nd syllable (Eg: money, estate, delight, reason,
balloon, pocket, office, autumn, canoe, larynx, affair, surface…)
 d. Adverbs and prepositions:
- Other 2-syllable words such as adverbs and prepositions seem to behave like
verbs and adj
=> Word stress on 2-syllable words
- About 80% of 2-syllable words get their stress on the 1st
- There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, but very few nouns and adj get
stress on their 2nd
- Verbs and preps usually get stress placed on the 2nd, but there are exceptions to
this too
2. Three syllable words
a. Verbs:
- If the last syllable contains a short vowel and ends with not more than 1 con.,
the last syllable will be unstressed, and the stress will be placed on the 2nd sy.
(Eg: encounter, determine, abandon…)
- If the final syllable contains a long vowel and ends with more than 1 con., the
final syllable will be stressed. (Eg: entertain, introduce, intervene,
recommend,…)
b. Nouns:
- If the final sy, contains a short vowel or /əʊ/, it is unstressed. If the 2nd sy.
Contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or it ends with more than 1 con., the 2nd
will be stressed (Eg: potato, disaster, cathedral, advantage,...)
- If the final sy, contains a short vowel and the 2nd sy. contains a short vowel and
ends with no more than 1 con., both the final and middle sy. are unstressed,
and the 1st is stressed (Eg: quantity, cinema, enemy, alphabet, antonym, animal,
company,,...)
- If the final syllable contains a long vowel or a diphthong or it ends with more
than 1 con., the stress will usually be placed on the final sy. (Eg: architect,
attitude,…)
c. Adjectives:
- 3-sy adj seem to need the same rules as nouns to produce stress pattern such as;
insolent, important, possible,...
=> Words ending in -er, -ly: For 3-sy words ending with the suffixes er or ly the stress
is placed on the 1st (Eg: orderly, manager, silently, gardener, lovingly, easier,...)
VII. Complex word stress:
1. Derived words (Từ phái sinh, có tiền tố hậu tố kết hợp vs gốc)
- No change in stress
- The stress remains on the stem but is shifted to a different sy.
- The affix will have ⅓ possible effects on word stress
+ The affix itself receives primary stress (Eg: semi-circle,...
 + The stress position is not changed with/without the affix (Eg: comfortable,
marriage, refusal, widen, wonderful…)
+ The stress remains on the stem, not the affix, but is shifted to a different sy.
(Eg: advantageous, proverbial, climatic, injurious, tranquility,...)
+ Words with various endings:
a. The stress is going to be on the sy, right before the suffix. This applies to words
of all sy. lengths:
1. able: addalbe, durable, laughable
2. ial: differential, social, financial
3. cian: musician, physician, clinician
4. ery: bakery, scenery
5. ian: comedian, civilian, technician
6. ible: resistible, impossible, terrible
7. ic: archaic, platonic, characteristic
8. ics: diabetics, paediatrics, topics
9. ion: classification, reposition, vegetation
10. ia: media, bacteria, victoria
11. ient: ingredient, patient, ancient
12. ious: mysterious, religious, various
13. ish: selfish, english, punish
14. osis: hypnosis, diagnosis, osmosis
B. Words that use the suffix ade, ee, ese, eer, que, ette, oon have the primary stress
actually placed on the suffix. This applies to words of all sy, lengths
1. ade lemonade, crusade arcade
2. ee agree, jamboree, guarantee
3. eer sightseer, puppeteer
4. ese siamese, Japanese, cheese
5. ette cassette, corvette, towelette
6. que unique, physique
7. oon balloon, afternoon, cartoon
C. Stress on the 2nd from the end of the word with words ending in ic, sion, tion (Eg:
iconic, graphic, hypertension, television, nutrition, revelation
=> Note: Native English speakers don’t always agree on where to place the stress on a
word. (Eg, some ppl pronounce television as TElevision while others say teleVIsion)
D. Put stress on the 3rd from end sy. With words that end in cy, ty, phy, gy, my, al (Eg:
democracy, geography, allergy, nautical, clarity, critical)
2. Compound words:
- Primary stress on the 2nd element
- Primary stress on the first element
- Stress
+ If the 1st word/part of the compound is, in a broad sense, adj, the stress
goes on the 2nd element with a secondary stress on the 1st (Eg:
loudspeaker, full moon, fast food, new moon, open hearted,
ill-mannered…)
+ If, however, the 1st element is, in a broad sense, noun, the stress goes on
the 1st element (Eg: carferry, teacup, suitcase, bottle feed, boatpeople,
farmhouse, airplane, bodyguard, bedroom…)
+ Compounds in which the 1st element is a number in some form also tend to
have final stress (Eg: three-wheeler, second-class, five-finger…)
+ Compounds functioning as adverbs are usually final-stressed (Eg:
headfirst, North-East, downstream,...)
+ Compounds which function as verbs and have an adverbial 1st element
take final stress (Eg: downgrade, back-pedal,...)
 4/4/2022
Problems in phonemic analysis
I. Affricates /tʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/
͡
-
II. The English vowel system
-
III. Syllabic consonants
- A possibility is to add new consonant phonemes to the existing list: syllabic /l,
r, n/ as in bottle, button, Hungary
- Syllabicity is a phoneme that is set up to account if the consonants form part of
a syllable
IV. Cluster of s+plosive
- Words like "spill, still, skill" are usually represented with the phonemes p, t, k
following s
- However, many writers argue they can still be transcribed as b, d, g instead
because contrast between these 2 groups of consonants become neutralised in
this context
V. Schwa /ə/
- There is not really a contract between ə and ʌ, since ə only occurs in week
syllables.
- This has resulted in a proposal that the phoneme symbol ə should be used for
representing any occurence of ə and ʌ
- Eg: cup (when unstressed) /'kəp/
Upper /'əpə/
- This new ə phoneme would thus have 2 allophones (variants of the same
phoneme), /ə/ and /ʌ/; (stress mark -ʌ allophone; weak syllables with no stress
-ə allophone).