PHONETICS

The system of speech sounds

of a language or group of
languages.
The discrepancy between
spelling and sounds led to the
formation of the International
Phonetics Alphabet (IPA.)
The American English
Phonetic Alphabet
Phonetic Alphabet for English Pronunciation

/p/ pill /d/ dill

/b/ bill /n/ note
/m/ mill /s/ seal
/f/ feel /z/ zeal
/v/ veal /tʃ/ chill
Phonetic Alphabet for English Pronunciation
/θ/ thigh /dʒ/ Jill
/ð/ thy /ʍ/ which
/ʃ/ shill /k/ kill
/ʒ/ azure /g/ gill
/t/ till /ŋ/ ring
Some speakers of English pronounce the words which and witch differently, but if
you pronounce both words identically, just use w for both words.
Phonetic Alphabet for English Pronunciation
/h/ heal /ʌ/ but
/l/ leaf /ai/ light
/r/ reef /ɔi/ boy
/j/ you /ɪ/ bit
/w/ witch /ɛ/ bet
The sounds /ʌ/ and /ə/ are pronounced the same, but the former is used in
stressed syllables, while the latter is used in unstressed syllables.
Phonetic Alphabet for English Pronunciation
/i/ beet /ʊ/ foot
/ei/ bait /ɔ/ awe
/u/ boot /a/ bar
/oʊ/ boat /əʊ/ sofa
/æ/ bat /aʊ / cow
Some linguists U.S. IPA
in the United /š/ /ʃ/
States use
/ž/ /ʒ/
different
symbols than /č/ /tʃ
the IPA /ǰ/ /dʒ/
symbols. /U/ /ʊ/
• The production of any speech
sound involves the movement
of air.
• Air is pushed through the
lungs, larynx (vocal folds) and
vocal tract (the oral and nasal
cavities.)
• Sounds produced by using air
from the lungs are called
pulmonic sounds.

• If the air is pushed out, it is

called egressive.
• If the air is sucked in, it is called
ingressive.

• Sounds produced by ingressive

airstreams are ejectives,
implosives, and clicks.
 The majority of languages in the
world use pulmonic egressive
airstream mechanisms.
Consonants

Consonants are produced

as air from the lungs is pushed
through the glottis (the opening
between the vocal cords) and
out the mouth.
Consonants

They are classified according to

voicing, aspiration, nasal/oral
sounds, places of
articulation and manners of
articulation.
 Voicing
• Voicing is whether the vocal
folds vibrate or not.

• The sound /s/ is called voiceless

because there is no vibration, and
the sound /z/ is called voiced
because the vocal folds do vibrate
Aspiration is indicated in writing
with a superscript h, as in /pʰ/
Nasal sounds are produced when
the velum (the soft palate located
in the back of the roof of
the mouth) is lowered and air is
passed through the nose and
mouth.
 Oral sounds are produced
when the velum is raised and
air passes only through
the mouth.
Place of Articulation
Bilabials:/p/, /b/, /m/– Produced by
bringing both lips together.
Labiodentals: /f/, /v/ – Produced by
touching the bottom lip to the upper
teeth.
Interdentals:/θ/, /d/ – Produced by
putting the tongue between the teeth.
Alveolars: /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, /l/, /r/
– All of these are produced by
raising the tongue to the alveolar
ridge in some way.
Palatals: /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/, /ʝ/ – Produced
by raising the front part of the tongue
to the palate.

Velars: /k/, /g/, /ŋ/ – Produced

by raising the back of the tongue to
the soft palate or velum.
Uvulars: /r/, /q/, /g/ – Produced by
raising the back of the tongue to the
uvula
Glottals: /h/, /Ɂ/ – Produced by
restricting the airflow through the
open glottis ([h]) or by stopping the
air completely at the glottis (a glottal
stop: /Ɂ/)
Consonants: Manner of Articulation
• The manner of articulation is
the way the airstream is
affected as it flows from the
lungs and out of the mouth
and nose.
• Voiceless sounds are those
produced with the vocal
cords apart so the air flows
freely through the glottis.
Voiced sounds are those
produced when the vocal cords
are together and vibrate as air
passes through.
The voiced/voiceless distinction
is important in English because it
helps us distinguish words like:
rope-robe fine-vine seal-zeal
/rop/-/rob/, /faɪn/-/vaɪn/, /sil/-/zil/
Some voiceless sounds can be
further distinguished as
aspirated or unaspirated.
Aspirated Unaspirated
pool /phul/ spool /spul/
tale /teil/ stale /steil/
kale /kheil/ scale /skeil/
Stops:[p][b][m][t][d][n][k][g][ŋ][ʧ][ʤ]
[Ɂ] – Produced by completely
stopping the airflow in the oral
cavity for a fraction of a second.
All other sounds are continuants,
meaning that the airflow is
continuous through the oral cavity
Fricatives: /f/ /v/ /θ/ /d/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /[ɣ/
/h/ – Produced by severely obstructing
the airflow so as to cause friction.

Affricates: /ʧ/ /ʤ/ – Produced by a stop

closure that is released with a lot of
friction.
Vowels
• Vowels are produced by a
continuous airstream and all are
voiced in English.

• They are classified according to

height of the tongue, part of tongue
involved, and position of the lips.
Vowels

• The tongue can be high, mid, or low;

and the part of the tongue used can
be front, central or back.
Vowels
Only four vowels are produced with
rounded lips and only four vowels
are considered tense instead of lax.

The sound /a/ would be written as a

low back lax unrounded vowel.
Vowels

Many languages also have vowels

called diphthongs, a sequence of two
sounds, vowel + glide. Examples in
English include /oi / in boy and /au/ in
cow.
Vowels
Vowels can be nasalized when they
occur before nasal consonants.
A diacritic mark [~] is placed over
the vowel to show this.
Vowels

The vowel sounds in bee and bean are

considered different because the
sound in bean is nasalized.
 Part of Tongue
Front Central Back
High /i/ /u/
/ɪ/ /ʊ/
Tongue Mid /e/ /ə/ /o/
Height Mid /ɛ /ʌ/ /ɔ/
Low / /æ/ /a/
Open
Tense vowels:
– Are produced with greater tension
in the tongue.
– May occur at the end of words.
Lax vowels:
– Are produced with less tongue
tension.
– May not occur at the end of words.
 Prosody (Suprasegmental Features)
Prosody is concerned with elements
of speech that are not individual
phonetic segments but are properties
of syllables and larger units of
speech, including linguistic functions
such as intonation, tone, stress, and
rhythm.
Stress
Stressed syllables are louder, slightly
higher in pitch, and somewhat longer
than unstressed syllables
• The noun digest has the stress
on the first syllable.
• The verb digest has the stress on
the second syllable.
Tone and Intonation
Intonation languages (like English)
have varied pitch contour across an
utterance, but pitch is not used to
distinguish words
 – However, intonation may affect the
meaning of a whole sentence:
• “John is here.” said with falling intonation
is a statement.”

• “John is here?” said with rising

intonation is a question.”