Unit 2 The production of speech sounds

 Introduction
 Speech
 Standard English

 IPA

 Organs of speech
 Articulators

 Vowels

 Consonants

 Phone, phoneme,
allophone
 Speech= articulation of a group of sounds produced following a set of
rules that belong to an established system.

Linguistic code (vocal sounds)

Human anatomy
and phisiology

Articulatory aspects PHONETICS vs. Phonology

Sound system of
languages
Acoustic factors
 Standard English Received Pronunciation
(SE) (RP)

Social dialect (high

status)

Educational institutions,
government, law, church
and media.

Official language
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)

Alphabetic system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet.

Created by the International Phonetic Association in the nineteenth

century.

Standardised representation of the sounds of the spoken language.

 IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive (voiceless/ /p/ pale /t/ tale /k/ cat
voiced) /b/ boat /d/ dog /g/ goal
Nasal (voiced) /m/ rum /n/ run /ŋ/ ring

Fricative (voiceless/ /f/ fat /θ/ think /s/ sip /ʃ/ dish /h/ hot
voiced) /v/ van /ð/ that /z/ zip /Ʒ/ measure
Affricate (voiceless/ /tʃ/ church
voiced) /ʤ/ judge
Lateral (voiced) /l/ like

Approximant (voiced) /w/ would /r/ road /j/ you

 Organs of speech

 Participate in the production of speech

 Vocal tract

• Pharynx and mouth cavity

• Larynx and vocal folds
• Trachea
• Lungs and diaphragm

Glottis
 Articulators  To produce different speech sounds – vowels or consonants.

Fig. 2 Parts of the tongue

Fig. 1 Articulators
English vowels
High
• Open articulation Mid
• Voiced
• Oral Low

Which part of the How far the tongue Opening degree of

tongue is raised is raised oral cavity

o Front vowels o High vowels o Close vowels

o Central vowels o Mid vowels o Half close vowels
o Back vowels o Low vowels o Half open vowels
o Open vowels
English vowels

/i:/ beat /i/ bit

High
/u:/ boot /ʊ/ book
/e/ red /ɜ:/ bird Mid
/ə/ about /ɔ:/ bought
/ʌ/ cut /æ/ cat Low
/ɑ:/ laugh /ɒ/ pot
English vowels

Lip position

o Rounded vowels:/ɒ/ as in got, /ʊ/ as in book

o Unrounded vowels: /i/ as in pin, /e/ as in pet

Time of production

o Long vowels: /i:/ feel, /u:/ boot

o Short vowels: /i/ fit, /ʊ/ book

 Diphthongs

 Two vowels in the same syllable.

Closing Centring

Ending in /i/ Ending in /ʊ/ Ending in /ə/

/ai/ /ei/ /ɔi/ /aʊ/ /əʊ/ /eə/ /uə/ /iə/

cry rain boy cow go chair sure fear
 Triphthongs

 Three positions of the tongue  three different sounds.

 A diphthong + a schwa /ə/

English consonants  Closed articulation

• Voicing
• Manner of articulation
• Place of articulation
English consonants: voicing  Speech sounds produced by the vocal folds.

VOICELESS
VOICED
/p/ pig
/b/ boat /m/ mum
/t/ tea
/d/ dog /n/ noon
/k/ coat
/g/ goat /ŋ/ sing
/f/ fan
/v/ van /l/ lip
/s/ soup
/z/ zip /r/ round
/ʃ/ fish
/Ʒ/ measure
/θ/ thumb
/ð/ this
/tʃ/ teacher
/ʤ/ juice
/h/ house
 English consonants: manner of articulation

 The way the airflow is affected as it comes from the lungs and out of the mouth and nose.

Plosives /p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/

 Closing phase (articulators pushed together) Fricatives /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /Ʒ/, /h/
 Holding phase (air trapped, soft palate raised,  Passage partially blocked by articulators
pressure)  Hissing sound
 Release phase (plosion)

Affricates /tʃ/, /ʤ/

 Plosive (obstruction of the airstream) + fricative (air released through a constricted space)
English consonants: manner of articulation

Lateral /l/ Nasals /m/, /n/, /ŋ/

 Tongue touches the alveolar ridge  Air released through the nose
 Air escapes along the sides of the tongue  Soft palate raised

Approximant /r/
 Tip of the tongue approaches alveolar area but they do not touch
/w/, /j/
 Tongue and lips move during its production
 Some similarities with vowels
 English consonants: place of articulation

 Place where consonants are formed  major obstruction

Dental Glottal: the
Alveolar: the tongue airway is
touches the alveolar ridge The teeth touch
The tongue touches obstructed in
the bottom lip
the teeth the glottis
(labiodental)
English consonants: place of articulation

Palatal: the tongue Velar: The rear part of

Bilabial: formed at the
touches the hard the tongue touches the
touching of both lips
palate soft palate
 Phone, phoneme, allophone

• Phone: “the smallest perceptible discrete segment of sound in a stream

of speech” Crystal (2008).

• Phoneme: the smallest independent unit that can bring about a change
in meaning. /k/ cat vs. /h/ hat

• Allophones: phones which belong to the same phoneme and do not

affect the meaning. [t] vs. [tʰ] tea