Universidad de Carabobo

Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación

Departamento de Idiomas Modernos
Cátedra: Fonética y Fonología del Inglés
Desarrollo Fonológico del Inglés I (INO303)

Desarrollo Fonológico I

Compilación: Profa. Jurate Kukanauza

Profa: Mary Allegra
Digitalización: Prof. Melvin Luzardo

Julio, 2019
Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.

THE ORGANS OF SPEECH

The speech apparatus is formed by a series of organs and cavities that form a
passage from the lungs to the lips and nostrils. The section of this passage that is
above the larynx is called the vocal tract.

When we speak, the air we have inhaled into the lungs moves out through the
trachea, the larynx and the pharynx, the nose and mouth. The sounds produced in
this way are called egressive. Sounds produced by taking air into the vocal tract
are called ingressive. Sounds in English and Spanish are egressive; certain
African languages use ingressive sounds called "clicks".

We will study the speech mechanism following the passage of air as we exhale,
in the following sequence:

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Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.

The lungs, situated in the thorax, resemble two large sponges that are made to
expand to take in air (inhalation) and contract to let air out (exhalation). They are
separated from the stomach by the diaphragm, a flat muscle that lowers the lungs
to aid in inhalation. The function of the lungs is that of a motor or activator that
sets the passage of air into movements of inhalation or exhalation. Speech is
produced during exhalation.

The larynx, a rigid structure situated at the top of the trachea and below the
pharynx, can be located from the outside by putting our fingers on the
prominence known as Adam's apple, formed by the thyroid cartilage, which
encloses the front part of the larynx. It contains the vocal folds or vocal cords,
two bands of muscle lying across the center of the larynx. The cartilages in the
larynx can bring the vocal cords together or apart, and make them tense or lax.
The space between the vocal cords is called the glottis. Above the vocal cords is
the epiglottis, whose only function is to act as a valve during swallowing to
prevent food from entering the lungs. The vocal cords can be brought closely
together so that air cannot pass. When they come into light contact, the air
passing through them makes them vibrate. The sound produced by this vibration
is called voice, an almost inaudible note which, after passing through the
resonators becomes voice as we know it. Sounds produced without vibration of
the vocal cords are called voiceless sounds -they are produced only with breath;
those produced with vibration are called voiced sounds.

The resonators are hollow spaces that change the quality of the sounds. The
human speech mechanism has three resonators - the pharynx, which can change

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Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.
its shape slightly; the nasal cavity, which is constant in shape and size; and the
oral cavity, which is extremely variable.

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Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.

The pharynx is the passage situated at the top of the larynx, communicating
with the oral and nasal cavities. Its front wall is formed by the root of the tongue.
The nasal cavity extends from the pharynx to the nostrils, and is separated from
the oral cavity by the palate. The entrance to the nasal cavity is controlled by the
velum. The oral cavity is the most important resonator, due to the great mobility
of its organs and subsequent changes in size and shape. The base of the oral
cavity is occupied by the tongue, and the front limited by the lips.

The articulators are situated in or surrounding the oral cavity. They are the
tongue, palate, teeth and lips. Articulators are called active when they are
capable of movement, passive when they are incapable of movement. The vocal
cords can also act as articulators.

The alveolar ridge is the prominence just behind the upper teeth, where the teeth
are inserted.

The palate is a concave structure separating the mouth from the nasal cavity. It
is useful to divide it when describing sounds into hard palate, the bony
immovable structure that lies over the center of the mouth, and the velum or soft
palate, the movable part at the back which can be raised or lowered. The tip of
the velum is called the uvula. When the velum is raised, and presses against the
back wall of the pharynx, it closes the entrance to the nasal cavity, and the air
escapes through the mouth. Sounds produced in this way are called oral sounds.
When it is lowered, it closes the entrance to the mouth and the air escapes
through the nose. Sounds produced in this way are called nasal sounds.

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 Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.

The upper teeth are used in speech to interfere with the flow of air with the help
of the tongue and the lower lip. The lips constitute the very mobile outer edges
of the mouth and can adopt different shapes: rounded, neutral, or spread.

The tongue is the most movable speech organ, since it is principally made of
muscle. It is divided, for the purposes of study into several parts, each of which
coincides with a different part of the palate when in rest position: (i) the tip, or
extreme end; (ii) the blade, lying immediately under the alveolar ridge; (iii) the

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 Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.
front, lying under the hard palate, and (iv) the back, lying under the velum. The
blade and tip can be moved independently of the rest. The whole tongue moves
backwards and forwards, and up and down. It can interfere with the air-stream by
coming into light contact with the palate, causing friction, or it can make
complete contact with the palate producing a stop.

It is important for us to think of the lungs as activators, setting the air stream in
motion; the air-stream as the basic material out of which sounds are made; the
vocal cords as vibrators which, when in action, turn the air stream into voice,
and when wide apart let it pass through as breath; the cavities as resonators
which vary in shape, thus varying the quality of speech sounds; the articulators
as the elements which vary the shape of the resonators and interfere with the
passage of air.

THE ARTICULATION OF SPEECH SEGMENTS. POINTS AND

MANNERS OF ARTICULATION.

Having described the organs of speech, we will now proceed to describe the way
in which they interact during the articulation of the sounds of language. By
articulation we mean the physiological movements involved in modifying an air
column to produce the various types of speech sounds.
When we speak we do not produce one sound after another. Speech is a
continuum which linguists segment into discrete (separate) units for the purpose of
analysis. These discrete units are the sounds of language -vowels and consonants-,
also referred to as segmentals.
There are several basic ways in which the articulation of segments can be
accomplished: the articulators may completely close off the oral tract; they may

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 Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.
narrow the space considerably, or they may simply modify the shape of the tract
by approaching each other.
The presence or absence of obstruction of the air-stream in the vocal tract leads
to the distinction of two big classes of sounds: consonantal sounds and vocalic
sounds.
Consonantal sounds are sounds made by a closure or narrowing of the
vocal tract so that the air flow is completely blocked, or so restricted that
audible friction is produced.
Vocalic sounds are sounds where there is a free passage of air through the
vocal tract.
We will concentrate first on the study of consonantal sounds. These sounds
function at the margins of syllables, either singly or in clusters, as opposed to
vowels, which constitute the syllable peaks.
Consonant articulations are relatively easy to feel, and as a result are most
conveniently described in terms of two parameters:

POINT OF ARTICULATION, which reveals which articulators take part in

the production of a sound. For example, if a sound is "alveolar", as /t/, it means
that there is contact between the tongue and the alveolar ridge. (Whenever the
active articulator is the tongue, the sound receives the name of the passive
articulator).

MANNER OF ARTICULATION, which describes the type of closure made by

the articulators and the way in which this closure is released. In the production of
/t/, for example, the tongue and the alveolar ridge make a complete closure, the
organs are separated suddenly, and the air is released explosively.

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Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.

CLASSIFICATION OF CONSONANTS ACCORDING TO

POINT OF ARTICULATION.
BILABIAL Made with the two lips. /p, b, m/
LABIO-DENTAL The lower lip articulates with the upper teeth /f, v/
The tip or blade of the tongue, articulates with the
DENTAL
upper teeth. / θ, ð/
The blade, or the tip and blade, articulate with the
ALVEOLAR
alveolar ridge /t, d, n, l/
The tip of the tongue is curled back to articulate
with the part of the palate immediately behind the
RETROFLEX
alveolar ridge, but there is no contact between the
organs. /r/
The blade, or the tip and blade of the tongue,
PALATO-ALVEOLAR articulate with the back part of the alveolar ridge,
or ALVEO-PALATAL and there is at the same time a raising of the front of
the tongue towards the hard palate. /ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/
The front of the tongue articulates with the palate.
PALATAL
/Spanish- ɲ/

The back of the tongue articulates with the soft

VELAR
palate or velum. /k, g, ŋ/

The back of the tongue articulates with the uvula

UVULAR
/ French-r/

The vocal cords narrow the glottis causing friction,

GLOTTAL
but not vibration. /h/

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Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.

The phoneme /p/ is a family of sounds that has three members or ALLOPHONES.
These three realizations of /p/ have some characteristics in common: they are voiceless,
bilabial, and belong to the class of stop sounds. They differ in some respects, though:
the first one is aspirated -produced with an extra puff of air-; the second one lacks this
aspiration; and the third one is unreleased, that is, the articulators do not move away
from the place of articulation and the air is not allowed to flow out.

Despite there being these phonetic differences among the allophones of /p/, if we
substitute one for another, there is no change in meaning. The pronunciation of “pool”
with an unaspirated /p/, or the pronunciation of “spool” with an aspirated /p/, for
instance, will sound strange to our ears, somewhat distorted, but will not alter the
meaning of these words. As can be seen, the differences among the allophones are
incapable of making changes in meaning.

MINIMAL PAIRS
The major task of the structural phonologist when studying the sound system of a
language, is to determine which sounds belong in the same class, and to establish the
list of phonemes of that language. In order to do this, it is necessary to examine the
distribution of the sounds in question. If two sounds occur in the same environment,
and if the substitution of one sound for the other results in a difference in meaning,
then those sounds are assigned to different phonemes. These sounds occur in parallel or
contrastive distribution. Thus, to continue the example presented earlier, if [k] is
substituted for the [p] in "spool", a different word results, namely "school". We
therefore classify [k] and [p] as members of different phonemes, /k/ and /p/
respectively. Two words which differ only by one sound are said to constitute a
MINIMAL PAIR: Thus, "spool" and "school" are a minimal pair. Some examples of
minimal pairs are: pear/bear; set/sat; lick/lip; ask/asked; food/fool.

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Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.

CLASSIFICATION OF CONSONANTS ACCORDING TO

MANNER OF ARTICULATION
Speech segments produced with a complete closure at some
STOPS OR
point in the vocal tract behind which the air pressure builds up
PLOSIVES
and can be released explosively. /p, b, t, d, k, g/

Speech segments produced by forcing the air stream through a

FRICATIVES passage which has been so narrowed that audible friction
results./f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h/

Speech segments produced with a complete closure at some

point in the mouth behind which the air pressure builds up; the
AFFRICATES
separation of the organs is sufficiently slow to produce audible
friction. /tʃ, dʒ/

Speech segments formed by an obstruction at a point along the

LATERALS center of the vocal tract, the air being allowed to escape on one
or both sides of the contact. /1/

Speech segments during whose production the velum is lowered

NASALS closing the entrance to the oral cavity, the air being allowed to
escape through the nose. /m, n, ŋ /

Speech segments produced by a single rapid contact of the tip of

FLAPS the tongue against the alveolar ridge. Spanish /ɾ / in "pero";
English /ɾ/ in "matter".

Speech segments produced by a series of rapid intermit-tent

TRILLS closures made by the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge.
Spanish /r/ in "perro".

Speech segments where there is an approach of one articulator

toward another, but without the tract being narrowed to such an
APPROXIMANTS extent that audible friction is produced. This class of sounds
includes the r-sound, the semivowels /j/ and /w/, and all vowel
sounds.

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Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.

PHONOLOGY
OBJECTIVES
- Define the object of study of phonology and contrast it with that of phonetics.
- Define and illustrate the concepts of phoneme and allophone.
- Explain the criteria used for classifying sounds as members of the same
phoneme.
- Specify the purpose of a phonetic transcription for the study of speech sounds.

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

Phonetics has been defined as the science that deals with the description of
speech sounds: it tells us how the sounds of language are made and what their
acoustic properties are. It studies the composition of sounds. A phonetic study of
language provides an inventory and description of all the occurring phonetic
segments.

Phonology is the description of the systems and patterns of sounds that occur in
the language. It has been defined as the study of sound systems, in other words,
the study of how speech sounds function in a language. Phonology involves
studying a language to determine its distinctive sounds, that is, those sounds that
can be used to distinguish different meanings. These distinctive sounds are called
PHONEMES.

A phoneme can be defined as a class (group or family) of sounds whose

phonetics differences are incapable of distinguishing one meaning from another.
A phoneme is an abstract unit. It has a differential function; it signals a
difference in meaning without having a meaning of its own.

What do we mean when we say that a phoneme is a class of sounds? Let's

consider English /p/.
/p/
[p ] aspirated “pool”
h

[p] unaspirated “spool”

[p°] unreleased “loop”

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3
 THE CONSONANT PHONEMES OF ENGLISH

POINTS OF ARTICULATION

LABIO- ALVEO-
BILABIAL DENTAL ALVEOLAR RETROFLEX PALATAL VELAR GLOTAL
DENTAL PALATAL

/p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /ɡ/

STOPS
MANNERS OF ARTICULATION

/f/ /v/ /θ/ /ð/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/

FRICATIVES /h/

/tʃ/ /dʒ/
AFFRICATES

LATERALS /l/
NASALS /m/ /n/ /ŋ/

APPROXIMANTS */w/ /r/ /j/

*LABIO-VELAR

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Ladefoged, P. & Johnson, K. (2010). A Course in Phonetics (6th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning.

CHAPTER 1 Articulation and Acoustics

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Ladefoged, P. & Johnson, K. (2010). A Course in Phonetics (6th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning.

B. Describe the consonants in the word “skinflint” using the chart below. Fill in
all five columns, and put parentheses around the terms that may be left out, as
shown for the first consonant.
1 2 3 4 5
Voiced or Place of Central or Oral or Articulatory
voiceless articulation lateral nasal action

s voiceless alveolar (central) (oral) fricative

k
n
f

C. Figure 1.15 a–g illustrates all the places for articulatory gestures that we have
discussed so far, except for retroflex sounds (which will be illustrated in Chapter
7). In the spaces provided below, (1) state the place of articulation and (2) state
the manner of articulation of each sound, and (3) give an example of an English
word beginning with the sound illustrated.
(1) Place of (2) Manner of
(3) Example
articulation articulation

a
b
c
d
e
f
g

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Ladefoged, P. & Johnson, K. (2010). A Course in Phonetics (6th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning.

D. Studying a new subject often involves learning a large number of technical

terms. Phonetics is particularly challenging in this respect. Read over the
definitions of the terms in this chapter before completing the exercises below.
Say each of the words, and listen to the sounds. Be careful not to be confused by
spellings. Using a mirror may be helpful.

1. Circle the words that begin with a bilabial consonant:

met net set bet let pet

2. Circle the words that begin with a velar consonant:

knot got lot cot hot pot

3. Circle the words that begin with a labiodental consonant:

fat cat that mat chat vat

4. Circle the words that begin with an alveolar consonant:

zip nip lip sip tip dip

5. Circle the words that begin with a dental consonant:

pie guy shy thigh thy high

6. Circle the words that begin with a palato-alveolar consonant:

sigh shy tie thigh thy lie

7. Circle the words that end with a fricative:

race wreath bush bring breathe bang

rave real ray rose rough

8. Circle the words that end with a nasal:

rain rang dumb deaf

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Ladefoged, P. & Johnson, K. (2010). A Course in Phonetics (6th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning.

9. Circle the words that end with a stop:

pill lip lit graph crab dog hide laugh back

10. Circle the words that begin with a lateral:

nut lull bar rob one

11. Circle the words that begin with an approximant:

we you one run

12. Circle the words that end with an affricate:

much back edge ooze

13. Circle the words in which the consonant in the middle is voiced:

tracking mother robber leisure massive stomach razor

14. Circle the words that contain a high vowel:

sat suit got meet mud

15. Circle the words that contain a low vowel:

weed wad load lad rude

16. Circle the words that contain a front vowel:

gate caught cat kit put

17. Circle the words that contain a back vowel:

maid weep coop cop good

18. Circle the words that contain a rounded vowel:

who me us but him

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Ladefoged, P. & Johnson, K. (2010). A Course in Phonetics (6th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning.

E. Define the consonant sounds in the middle of each of the following words as
indicated in the example:

Voiced or Place of Manner of

Symbol
voiceless articulation articulation

adder /d/ voiced alveolar stop

father

singing

etching

robber

ether

pleasure

hopper

selling

sunny

lodger

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Henríquez, G. & Luzardo, M. (2019). IPA Symbols in Microsoft Word. Unpublished manuscript.

Key to phonetic symbols for English1

Gen Gen
RP Consonants RP Vowels
Am Am
• • /p/ pen, copy, happen • • /ɪ/ kit, bid, hymn
• • /b/ back, bubble, job • • /e/ dress, bed
• • /t/ tea, tight, button • • /æ/ trap, bad
• /ɾ/ city, better • /ɒ/ lot, odd, wash
• • /d/ day, ladder, odd • • /ʌ/ strut, bud, love
• • /k/ key, cock, school • • /ʊ/ foot, good, put
• • /ɡ/ get, giggle, ghost • • /iː/ fleece, sea, machine
• • /ʧ/ church, match, nature • • /eɪ/ face, day, steak
• • /ʤ/ judge, age, soldier • • /aɪ/ price, high, try
fat, coffee, rough,
• • /f/ • • /ɔɪ/ choice, boy
physics
• • /v/ view, heavy, move • • /uː/ goose, two, blue
• • /θ/ thing, author, path • /əʊ/ goat, show, no
• • /ð/ this, other, smooth • /oʊ/ goat, show, no
• • /s/ soon, cease, sister • /ɒʊ/ variant in cold
• • /z/ zero, zone, roses, buzz • • /aʊ/ mouth, now
• • /ʃ/ ship, sure, station • /ɪə/ near, here, serious
• • /ʒ/ pleasure, vision • /eə/ square, fair, various
• • /h/ hot, whole, behind • • /ɑː/ start, father
• • /m/ more, hammer, sum • /ɑː/ lot, odd
• • /n/ nice, know, funny, sun • /ɒː/ thought, law
ring, long, thanks,
• • /ŋ/ sung
• /ɔː/ thought, law

• • /l/ light, valley, feel • • /ɔː/ north, war

• • /r/ right, sorry, arrange • /oː/ variant in force, four
• • /j/ yet, use, beauty • /ʊə/ cure, poor, jury
• • /w/ wet, one, when, queen • /ɜː/ nurse, stir
In foreign words only • /ɝː/ nurse, stir, courage2
happy, radiation,
• • /x/ loch, chutzpah • • /i/
glorious

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Henríquez, G. & Luzardo, M. (2019). IPA Symbols in Microsoft Word. Unpublished manuscript.

• /ɬ/ Llanelli, Hluhluwe • • /ə/ about, comma, common

In foreign words only
• /ɒ/ grandprix, chanson
• • /ɑː/ grandprix, chanson
• /ɒː/ chanson
• • /æ/ vingt-et-un
• /ɜː/ vingt-et-un

1
RP = received pronunciation; Gen Am = General American. ɝɝɝ
2
The diacritic mark in ɝ indicates "rhotic" (r-coloured) pronunciation.

IPA Symbols in Microsoft Word

Option 1: Go to https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/shop/fonts.php and download the first option.
Install.

Then search the font in Microsoft Word.

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Henríquez, G. & Luzardo, M. (2019). IPA Symbols in Microsoft Word. Unpublished manuscript.

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Henríquez, G. & Luzardo, M. (2019). IPA Symbols in Microsoft Word. Unpublished manuscript.

Option 2: Click on Insert tab, then click on Symbol icon, click on more symbols, choose IPA
Extensions and find the symbol you need.

Option 3: Write the symbol unicode, then click alt+x and the code will change into the
symbol.

Consonants Vowels
Symbol Code Symbol Code
/p/ 0070 /iː/ 0069
/b/ 0062 /ɪ/ 026a
/t/ 0074 /uː/ 0075
/ɾ/ 027e /ʊ/ 028a
/d/ 0064 /e/ 0065
/k/ 006b /ɝː/ 025d
/ɡ/ 0261 /ə/ 0259
/tʃ/ t + 0283 /ɔː/ 0254
/dʒ/ d + 0292 /æ/ 00e6
/f/ 0066 /ʌ/ 028c
/v/ 0076 /ɑː/ 0251
/θ/ 03b8 /ɛ/ 025b
/ð/ 00f0 /a/ 0061
/s/ 0073 /ɒ/ 0252
/z/ 007a /ɜː/ 025c
/ʃ/ 0283 Approximants
/ʒ/ 0292 /r/ 0072
/h/ 0068 /j/ 006a
/m/ 006d /w/ 0077
/n/ 006e Diacritics
/ŋ/ 014b /ː/ -triangles- 02d0
/l/ 006c ~ over symbols 0303 after the symbol

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 REFERENCES

Henríquez, G. & Luzardo, M. (2019). IPA Symbols in Microsoft Word. Unpublished

manuscript.

Ladefoged, P. & Johnson, K. (2010). A Course in Phonetics (6th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth,
Cengage Learning.

Laya, A. & Quintana de Laya, C. (1994). An introduction to the study of phonology. Caracas:
FEDUPEL.

Wells, J. C. (2000). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Essex: Longman.

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