Chapter 1 Phonetics

PHONETICS: science that studies the sounds that we as human beings use to communicate through language in particular phonetics studies the
physical characteristics of speech sounds (phones)
• concerns with PHONES: speech sounds, smallest units of language
phones are enclosed in SQUARE BRACKETS ex [u]
• we distinguish 3 subfields of phonetics
➢ ACOUSTIC PHONETICS which studies the way the sounds of speech are transmitted through soundwaves to the hearer
➢ AUDITORY PHONETICS which studies the way the hearers receive, decode and understand the speech sounds
➢ ARTICULATORY PHONETICS which studies how human beings use the vocal organs to articulate the speech sounds

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION
In the writing systems (orthography) of the different languages there’s not a strict one-to-one relationship between sounds (phones) and symbols, the
same sound can correspond to different symbols and in the same way the same symbol can correspond to different sounds.

The phonetic transcription

• is the visual representation of speech sounds (phones)
• it provides a one-to-one relationship between symbols (letters) and sounds. (1 letter for each distinctive sound)
• the most common type of phonetic transcription uses the International Phonetic Alphabet developed in the 1880s by english and french
teachers members of the International Phonetic Association
• Phonetic transcription allows us to step outside orthography and examine differences in pronunciation between dialects within a given
language, as well as to identify changes in pronunciation that may take place over time.

Italian has a quite (still imperfect) phonemic orthography because its sounds are usually associated to one symbol, english instead has an irregular
orthography which makes it difficult to predict pronunciation from spelling.
For ex the words bough and through do not rhyme in English, even though their spellings might suggest they do.
ex 2: different graphemes for same phoneme cough, for, photograph

SYMBOLS TYPE
• CONSONANTS AND VOWELS
• DIACRITIES (ALLOPHONES)
• SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES: in phonetics, a speech feature such as stress, tone, or word juncture that accompanies or is added over
consonants and vowels; these features are not limited to single sounds but often extend over syllables, words, or phrases.

SYLLABLES: a single segment of uninterrupted sound which is typically produced with a single pulse of air from the lungs.
A syllable is used to make up words and it consists in one or more letters with a vowel sound at its core.
structure
• NUCLEUS: usually the vowel in the middle of a syllable
• ONSET: the sound or sounds occurring before the nucleus
• TAIL: the sound or sounds that follow the nucleus
Minimum syllable: syllable that contains just one vowel
-OPEN SYLLABLE: ending with vowel (tea, zoo…)
-CLOSED SYLLABLE: ending with consonant (all, arm…)
CONSONANT CLUSTER: combinations of consonants that may begin or end a syllable
-initial consonant clusters: glow, spruce
-final consonant clusters: birds, ends, worlds

Word stress
English has a FREE STRESS which means that it doesn’t occur regularly in the same place of a word, almost any positioning of the stress is apparently
possible although there is a preference for stress to not be placed on the first syllable of multisyllabic words (ex compònent NOT còmponent).
In english word stress is usually phonetic because it doesn’t contribute to meaning BUT there are few cases where the phonology of 2 words is identical
except for the stress pattern, these words are generally pairs of noun-verb and the stress indicates the word class ex use-use; contrast-contrast
• Tendency of unstressed vowels to be reduced to schwa (schwa can’t be stressed)
• GERMANIC WORDS are always stressed in the 1st syllable (àpple, fàther, hùnger)
• PREFIXED WORDS are stressed on the syllable that follows the prefix (forget, believe)
• Words borrowed from ROMANCE LANGUAGE follow a different principle
• In IPA there’s always a PRIMARY STRESS and for multisyllabic words also a secondary stress

The result is that the stress system of modern english is very complex an stress isn’t entirely predictable
English phonemes=43
• 11 vowels + ə schwa
• 24 consonants
• 8 DIPHTONGS: /ɪə,ᶓə, ʊə, eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ, aʊ, əʊ/ guarda tabella pagina 37
DIPHTONGS are complex speech sound because we have one vowel that gradually changes to another one within the same syllable ex fear ending in /ɪə/

We divide speech into a series of separate sounds BUT speech is made up of a continuous stream of sound which we divide into letters for convenience
when writing but which has overlapping features of articulation when we are speaking
Speech sounds are divided into 2 types
-CONSONANTS: squeeze and constrict the airflow
-VOWELS: allow free passage of air through the mouth (and nose)

CONSONANTS
We describe consonants, by a phonetic point of view, according to
1. PLACE: where they take place
a. BILABIAL: occur when you constrict airflow out of the mouth by bringing your lips together.
b. LABIODENTAL: occur when you constrict airflow by curling your lower lip back and raising it to touch your upper row of teeth
c. INTERDENTAL (or interdental): occur when you constrict airflow by placing your slimy tongue against your upper teeth.
d. ALVEOLAR: when you raise your tongue to the alveolar ridge to block or constrict airflow (the alveolar ridge is where your teeth meet your gums)
e. POST ALVEOLAR: occur when the tongue blocks or constricts airflow at the point just beyond the alveolar ridge
f. PALATAL: when you raise the tongue to the roof of your mouth (hard palate) and constrict airflow.
g. VELAR: tongue touching velum (behind your hard palate consists of soft, mucousy tissue)
h. GLOTTAL: produced in the glottis

2. MANNER: how they are articulated

a. PLOSIVE: produced by stopping the flow of air
b. NASAL: when you completely block air flow through your mouth and let the air pass through your nose
c. AFFRICATE= PLOSIVE+FRICATIVE
Affricate consonants start as plosives with air building up behind an articulator which then releases through a narrow channel as a fricative (instead of a
clean burst as stops do)
d. FRICATIVE: fricative sounds involve a partial blockage of the vocal tract so that air has to be forced through a narrow channel.
e. APPROXIMANT
f. LATERAL (or liquid): when the tongue blocks the the middle of your mouth so that air has to pass around the sides

3. VOICING: whether the vocal folds are vibrating

a. VOICED: the vocal cords vibrate
b. VOICELESS: no vibration

PLACE

bilabial labiodental interdental alveolar Postalveolar palatal velar glottal

MANNER

Plosive p b t d k g
Nasal m n ŋ
Affricate tʃ dʒ
Fricative f v Θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h
Approximant w r j
lateral l

NOTE
1. VELAR NASAL CONSONANT ŋ is a sound that characterise english
• ring /riŋ/ ; anger /aŋgə/

2. guarda parole quaderno

VOWELS
Vowels are all voiced they are listed according to: ITALIAN VS ENGLISH
1. PLACE: which part of the tongue is raised • English 11 vowels VS Italian 7 vowels
a. BACK • where English has 2 vowels, Italian has 1 ex I want to live/leave
b. CENTRAL
• lack of aspiration of VOICELESS CONSONANTS /p,t,k/
c. FRONT
2. MANNER: distance tongue-palate • pronunciation DENTAL FRICATIVES (ex both, mother…)
a. OPEN (or low) • FRICATIVES /s/ and /z/ in initial position of the syllable always voiceless
b. HALF OPEN
c. CLOSED (or high)
3. DURATION
a. LONG: i:, u:, a:, ɔː, ɜ: NOTE
in IPA long wovels are indicated by COLONS 1. ʌ = WEDGE
2. [i] and [u] are NON PHONEMIC SYMBOLS, they may be used to represent the long phonemes they occur in
b. SHORT: ɪ, u, ʌ, ɒ, ə, e, æ unstressed position (WEAK FORM)
ex “you” STRONG /ju:/; WEAK /ju/ ; /je/
Front Central Back

Closed (high) i: ʊ: 3. ə =SCHWA not classified as a proper vowel

ɪ ʊ it only occurs in unstressed syllable of multisyllabic words, that’s why it doesn’t have a proper phonetic status
Half open e ɛ: ə ɜ: ɔː ex afford, collapse, perhaps
æ in many words spoken carefully the vowel receives stress but in casual/colloquial speech the vowel may no longer
Open (low) ʌ a ɒ a: receive the stress and reduce to schwa ex CANCAN GO