TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF COTOPAXI

PUJILI EXTENSION

PEDAGOGY OF NATIONAL AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

NAME:

NATALY CARRILLO

LEVEL:

FOURTH “C”

DATE:

JUNE/03/2023

TASK :

WRITING REPORT

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1. INDEX

CONTENT INDEX
1. INDEX.......................................................................................................................1

2. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1

3. DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOPIC.......................................................................2

3.1. CONSONANT AND VOWEL SOUNDS........................................................2

3.1.1. Consonant sounds......................................................................................2
3.1.2. Vowel sounds..............................................................................................3
3.1.3 Classification of vowels.............................................................................4
3.2 PHONEMES AND SYMBOLS.......................................................................5
3.2.1. Phoneme..........................................................................................................5
3.2.2. Symbols...........................................................................................................5
3.3 VOICING AND CONSONANTS....................................................................6
3.3.1. Voiced Consonants........................................................................................6
3.3.2 Voiceless Consonants......................................................................................6
4 CONCLUSIONS......................................................................................................7

5 APPENDIX...............................................................................................................8

6 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................10

APPENDIX INDEX
Appendix 1. Consonant chart........................................................................................8
Appendix 2 Vowel chart.................................................................................................8
Appendix 3 Phonemes and symbols..............................................................................9
Appendix 4 Voiced and Voiceless Consonants.............................................................9

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2. INTRODUCTION

Linguistics is defined as that science that studies the fundamental structures of human
language, its variations across all language families. Linguistics is very important since it
allows us to understand the variation of the language and how it changes according to the
region.

Within linguistics we find it important to talk about consonant and vowel sounds, how to
differentiate them and above all understand their function. “A consonant sound is one in
which the airflow is cut off, either partially or completely, when the sound is produced. By
contrast, a vowel sound is one in which the airflow is not obstructed when the sound is
produced” (dvusd, 2023).

Another topic to be discussed is Phonemes and symbols. A phoneme is the smallest sound in
a language and “Phonemic symbols are visual representations of the speech sounds
(phonemes) that we produce as we speak.” (LINGNCT, 2018)

There will also be talk about Voicing and consonants: “Voiced consonants are consonant
sounds that are made by vibrating the vocal chords. They can be compared with unvoiced
consonants.” (Britsh council, 2023)

All these topics will be explored in detail in the development of the topic.

3. DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOPIC.

3.1. CONSONANT AND VOWEL SOUNDS.

3.1.1. Consonant sounds
A consonant sound is one in which the air flow is cut off, either partially or completely, when
the sound is produced. Consonants require specific positions of the lips, tongue, and cheeks.

A consonant sound is made (produced) when the air flow is being restricted in some way,
which means that the mouth doesn’t open as wide and so the jaw doesn’t drop noticeably,
which is different from vowel sounds. In writing, a consonant is any letter of the alphabet
except A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y.

There are 24 consonant sounds in English, some voiced (made by a vibration of the vocal
cords) and some voiceless (no vibration). (Nordquist, 2019)

 /b,(b)/      bin, rabbit

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 /k,(k)/      cat, key, duck, queen, anchor,
broccoli
 /ch,(ʧ)/  church, watch
 /d,(d)/      dog, ladder, towed
 /f,(f)/        fish, puffin, phone, laugh
 /g,(g)/     girl, digger, ghost
 /h,(h)/     hen, who
 /j,(ʤ)/      jigsaw, giant, bridge
 /l,(l)/        lion, llama
 /m,(m)/   man, hammer, lamb
 /n,(n)/     nest, penny, knife, gnome
 /ng,(ŋ)/   king, sink
 /p,(p)/     panda, hippo
(lucyteachchildren, 2023)
 /r,(r)/      robin, lorry, wrist
 /s,(s)/    sun, dress, city, geese, castle
 /sh, ( ʃ)/   ship, chef, delicious,
initials, sugar
 /t,(t)/      tent, butterfly, jumped
 /th,(θ)/   thumb
 /th,(ð)/  feather, breathe
 /v,(v)/   van, sleeve, of
 /w,(w)/  well, whale, penguin
 /y,(j)/    yo-yo, euro
 /z,(z)/    zero, puzzle, sneeze, cheese, is
 /zh,(Ʒ)/  measure, television

3.1.2. Vowel sounds

Vowels are open sounds because they involve no obstruction to the flow of air from the lungs
as it passes up through the windpipe (trachea), through the voice box (larynx) and out of the
mouth. Other than positioning the tongue, jaws and lips there is nothing to obstruct the
airflow. All vowels are produced with the vocal folds vibrating and are said to be voiced
sounds. Different vowel sounds are produced as a speaker changes the shape and placement of
articulators (parts of the throat and mouth). (icspeech, 2023)

The pronunciation of each vowel is determined by the position of the vowel in a syllable, and
by the letters that follow it. Vowel sounds can be short, long, or silent.

There are 20 vowels in total:

a) Short vowels

Short vowels are vowel sounds that are pronounced in a short form.

 7 short vowels:
/ɪ/ insect, /e/ lake
/ʊ/ put /ɒ/ hot
/ə/ about /ʌ/ cut

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/æ/ cat

b) Long vowels

Long vowels occur when a vowel 'sounds like its name'; that is, the full letter is pronounced in
the word. For example in the word 'bake' the 'a' sounds like its name, in that it's pronounced as
'ay.' (F., 2023)

5 long vowels:
/iː/ cream
/uː/ boot
/ɑː/ hard

/ɔː/corn
/ɜː/ early (icspeech, 2023)

c) Diphthongs

A diphthong is a long, complex vowel which starts with the sound quality of one vowel and
ends with the sound quality of another one. Although they are classified as single phonemes,
diphthongs are given a double symbol to show both the quality they start with and the quality
they end with. (icspeech, 2023)

8 diphthongs:

/eɪ/ day  /aʊ/ brown

/aɪ/ bite /ɪə/ dear 

/ɔɪ/ boy /eə/ pair

/əʊ/ snow  /ʊə/ sure

d) Triphthongs

It is the compound vowel sound, the result of the union of three different and consecutive
vowel sounds in the same syllable.

The pronunciation process is a glide, from one vowel sound to another and then to a third, all
of which will produce quickly and without interruption.

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There are five triphthongs in English, /eɪə/, /aɪə/, /ɔɪə/, which have central (ɪ); and /əʊə/, /aʊə/,
which have central (ʊ). (PRONUNCIANDOENINGLES.COM, 2021)

3.1.3 Classification of vowels

Vowels are divided into different categories based on

1. Length of the sound

2. Position of the tongue
3. Shape of the lips
1. Length of the sound
 Long (tense) vowels
 Short (lax) vowels
2. Position of the tongue
 close (high) or open (low)
 The distance between the tongue and the top of the mouth
 front or back
 The part of the tongue that is raised
3. Shape of the lips
 Rounded ( e.g. /ʊ/)
 Neutral (e.g. /ə/)
 Spread (e.g. /iː/)
(EdUHK, 2023)

3.2 PHONEMES AND SYMBOLS

3.2.1. Phoneme
A phoneme is smallest unit of speech distinguishing one word (or word element) from
another, as the element p in “tap,” which separates that word from “tab,” “tag,” and “tan.”

“Phonemes are based on spoken language and may be recorded with special symbols, such as
those of the International Phonetic Alphabet. In transcription, linguists conventionally place
symbols for phonemes between slash marks: /p/. The term phoneme is usually restricted to
vowels and consonants, but some linguists extend its application to cover phonologically
relevant differences of pitch, stress, and rhythm.” (The editors of Encyclopedia Britannica,
2023)

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3.2.2. Symbols
Phonemic symbols are visual representations of the speech sounds (phonemes) that we
produce as we speak. Although there are multiple alphabets of phonemic symbols, the
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is the most widely used in the fields of linguistics and
speech-language pathology. (LINGNCT, 2018)

3.3 VOICING AND CONSONANTS

Voicing is a useful way to show learners the difference between the sounds in some minimal
pairs, for example 'bet' and 'pet'. Teachers ask learners to say 'p' and then 'b' with a hand on
their throat to feel the difference in vibration.

3.3.1. Voiced Consonants

Your vocal cords, which are actually mucous membranes, stretch across the larynx at the back
of the throat. By tightening and relaxing as you speak, the vocal cords modulate the flow of
breath expelled from the lungs.

An easy way to determine whether a consonant is voiced or not is to place a finger on your
throat. As you pronounce a letter, feel the vibration of your vocal cords. If you feel a vibration
the consonant is a voiced one.

These are the voiced consonants: B, D, G, J, L, M, N, Ng, R, Sz, Th (as in the word "then"),
V, W, Y, and Z.

Here are some examples of words that include voiced consonants:

 traveled  dreams
 gloves  exchanged
 shells  globes
 started  pones
 changed  listened
 wheels  organized
 lived

(Beare, 2019)

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3.3.2 Voiceless Consonants

Voiceless consonants do not use the vocal cords to produce their hard, percussive sounds.
Instead, they're slack, allowing air to flow freely from the lungs to the mouth, where the
tongue, teeth, and lips engage to modulate the sound.

These are the voiceless consonants: Ch, F, K, P, S, Sh, T, and Th (as in "thing"). Common
words using them include:

 washed
 coats
 watched
 books
 seats
 dropped
 carts (Beare, 2019)

4 CONCLUSIONS.

At the end of this work it is concluded that:

 All the exposed topics are of interest and will help us as we progress in our career, for
which phonetics is considered important, learning to identify the long vowels from the
short ones and their sounds.
 Know how to differentiate between voiced and non-voiced consonants and also know
which phonemes are used in English and their symbols and finally it is concluded that
carrying out this work is important since personally I was able to learn many things and
order the ideas that I had disordered.

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5 APPENDIX
Appendix 1. Consonant chart

Note: The graph was taken from the website

https://www.mimicmethod.com/ft101/consonant-wrap-up/

Appendix 2 Vowel chart

Note: The graph was taken from the website :

https://textlinguistics.wordpress.com/2019/06/11/clasificacion-articulatoria-de-los-sonidos/

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 Appendix 3 Phonemes and symbols

Note: The graph was taken from the website :

https://jadeblueefl.wordpress.com/pronunciation/using-phonemes-in-the-classroom-ha%CA
%8A-how/

Appendix 4 Voiced and Voiceless Consonants

Note: The graph was taken from the website : https://phonicspow.com/2020/11/20/voiced-

and-unvoiced-consonants/

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6 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beare, K. (26 de June de 2019). ThoughtCo. Obtenido de Voiced vs. Voiceless Consonants:
https://www.thoughtco.com/voiced-and-voiceless-consonants-1212092

Britsh council. (03 de Junio de 2023). teachingenglish. Obtenido de Voiced consonants:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/knowing-
subject/t-w/voiced-consonants

dvusd. (03 de Junio de 2023). ©DSF Literacy Resources . Obtenido de The 44 Sounds of
English:
https://www.dvusd.org/cms/lib/AZ01901092/Centricity/Domain/3795/Sound_Spelling
_Chart.pdf

EdUHK. (2023). EdUHK. Obtenido de English vowels:

https://corpus.eduhk.hk/english_pronunciation/index.php/2-1-english-vowels/
#:~:text=7%20short%20vowels%3A%20%2F%C9%AA%2F,%2F%20%2Fe
%C9%99%2F%20%2F%CA%8A%C9%99%2F

F., C. (01 de JUNE de 2023). study.com. Obtenido de Long & Short Vowels: Sounds & Word
Examples: https://study.com/academy/lesson/long-short-vowels-sounds-word-
examples.html#:~:text=Short%20vowel%20sounds%20occur%20when,placed
%20next%20to%20a%20consonant.

icspeech. (o3 de June de 2023). IcSpeech. Obtenido de Vowel sounds:

https://icspeech.com/vowel-sounds.html

LINGNCT. (24 de Abril de 2018). LINGNCT. Obtenido de Phonemic Symbols:

https://linguisticsnetwork.com/phonemic-symbols/#:~:text=Phonemic%20symbols
%20are%20visual%20representations,linguistics%20and%20speech-language
%20pathology.

lucyteachchildren. (25 de May de 2023). Teach Phonics. Obtenido de CONSONANT

SOUNDS: https://teachphonics.blog/tag/consonant-sounds/#:~:text=The%20letters
%20of%20the%20alphabet%20that%20usually%20represent%20the%20consonant,
%2C%20x%2C%20y%2C%20z.

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Nordquist, R. (26 de July de 2019). thoughtCo. Obtenido de Do You Know Everything About
Consonant Sounds and Letters in English?: https://www.thoughtco.com/consonant-
sounds-and-letters-1689914

PRONUNCIANDOENINGLES.COM. (25 de February de 2021).

PRONUNCIANDOENINGLES.COM. Obtenido de FONÉTICA ELEMENTAL:
https://www.pronunciandoeningles.com/pronunciacion/fonetica-
elemental.html#:~:text=Los%20triptongos%20son%20cinco%20en,que%20tienen
%20(%CA%8A)%20central.

The editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (03 de May de 2023). Encyclopedia Britannica.

Obtenido de Encyclopedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/phoneme

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