How Confusing is the English

Language?
We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
 How Confusing is the English
Language?
If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth, and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
 How Confusing is the English
Language?

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,

but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and
him,
but imagine the feminine she, shis, and shim.
Phonetics
 [DEFINITION]
Phonetics is the branch
of linguistics which
studies the
characteristics of speech
sounds.
The best-known and most widely used
[] one is the International Phonetic
// Alphabet (IPA).
 Articulatory
Phonetics

Phonetics Auditory
Phonetics

Acoustic
Phonetics
 ~ Articulatory Phonetics ~

This studies how

speech sounds are
produced.
 ~ Auditory Phonetics ~

This which studies

how they are
perceived by the
ear.
It investigates the perception of
pitch and loudness of sounds.
 ~ Acoustic Phonetics ~

This looks at the

physical
characteristics of
speech sounds.
Phonetics
Individual speech
sounds are called
V
segments. O
W
E
L
S

CONSONANTS
Consonants
Consonants are V
produced with some O
constriction in I
the airflow C
through the vocal I
tract. N
G
Manner of Articulation
Place of
Articulation

RESONATING
ORGANS
 Consonants
Place of Articulation

Bilabial – when lower lip touches the upper lip to

produce the sound

[p] [b] [m] [w]

 Consonants
Place of Articulation

Labiodental – when the lower lip comes in contact

with the upper front teeth

[f] [v]
 Consonants
Place of Articulation

Interdental – produced by placing the tip of the

tongue between the upper and lower front teeth.

[ð] [θ]
 Consonants
Place of Articulation

Alveolar – the sound is created when the tips of the

tongue is raised near the back part of the upper front
teeth.

[t] [d] [s] [z] [n] [l]

 Consonants
Place of Articulation

Palatal – when the tongue is arched towards

the palate.

[r] [j] [dʒ] [tʃ] [ʃ] [ʒ]

 Consonants
Place of Articulation

Velars – when the back of the tongue is

against the soft palate (velum)

[k] [g] [ŋ] [w]

 Consonants
Place of Articulation

Glottal – the sound of air when friction is

produced as it goes through the glottis.

[h]
Manner of Articulation
Stops

These are sounds created by stopping the

passage of the breath with a build up of
pressure before the release of breath.
Manner of Articulation
Stops

Bilabial Stops [p] and [b]

Alveolar Stops [t] and [d]
Velar Stops [k] and [g]
Manner of Articulation
Fricatives

Fricatives are created when the air is not

completely stopped but goes through with a
hissing sound or friction.
Manner of Articulation
Fricatives
Labiodental Fricatives [f] and [v]
Dental Fricatives [ð] and [θ]
Alveolar Fricatives [s] and [z]
Post Alveolar Fricatives [r]
Palatal Fricatives [ʃ] and [ʒ]
Glottal Fricatives [h]
Manner of Articulation
Affricates

Affricates can be created when a stop is

combined with a fricative.

Alveolar Affricates [dʒ] and [tʃ]

Manner of Articulation
Nasals
Nasals can be produces when the air passes
through the nose and not the mouth.

Bilabial nasal [m]

Alveolar nasal [n]
Velar nasal [ŋ]
Manner of Articulation
Lateral
Lateral sounds are created when air is stopped in
the center by the tip of the tongue against the
alveolar ridge, while your breath passes either one
or both sides of the tongue.

Bilabial [w]
Palatal [j]
Manner of Articulation
Semi-vowels (Glide)

These are consonants that sounds vowel-

like. There is no friction made when making
the sounds.

Alveolar Lateral [l]

Voicing
 Voiced Voiceless
bay [b] pay [p]
vow [v] so [s]
zoo [z] tie [t]
die [d] cake [k]
go [ɡ] show [ʃ]
they [ð] no [n]
measure [ʒ] lie [l]
may [m] rye [ɹ] [r]
judge [dʒ] yes [j]
go [ɡ] weigh [w]
sing [ŋ] fee [f]
church [tʃ]
thigh [θ]
hay [h]
Vowels
Vowels are M
O
pronounced without N
or with very O
little obstruction T
H
in the vocal tract O
and they make the N
nucleus of a G
S Diphthongs
syllable.
FRONT CENTRAL BACK

HIGH

MID

LOW
Monothongs (Simple Vowels)
[i] beat, receive, see
[I] bit, filth, rich
[e] hate, bait
[ɛ] head, bet
[æ] ash, bat
[a] hot, large
[o] hose, low
[ʊ] who, pull
[u] hood, pool
[ʌ] hut, bundle
[ɔ] law, ought
[ə] ahead, earth
 Diphthongs

[eɪ] face, rain, cake

[ɔɪ] boy, coil
[aɪ] ice, my
[aʊ] mouth, brown