TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Foreign Languages

Division of Linguistics - Culture - Literature
PHONETICS & PHONOLOGY - 001199

Chapter 1:
The production of
speech sounds
Lecturer: Ho Phuong Thao
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Chapter 1: The production of speech sounds

1. Articulators
2. Vowels and consonants
1. Definition
2. Differences
3. English short vowels

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 THE PRODUCTION OF
SPEECH SOUNDS

“The study of how sounds are produced and how

the position of the mouth => articulators can be
changed to produce different sounds is called
phonetics.”

[Avery & Ehrlich, 1995: 11]

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 THE PRODUCTION OF SPEECH SOUNDS

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 GROUP DISCUSSION

1) Where are speech sounds produced?

2) How are speech sounds produced?
3) What are “articulators”? List them.

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 THE PRODUCTION OF SPEECH SOUNDS
Making sounds
• Muscle contracting
• Muscles in the chest -> flow of air -> muscles in the larynx ->
different modifications in the flow of air
• Larynx -> vocal tract -> air escapes into the atmosphere
• The shape of the vocal tract is a very important factor in the
production of speech
• Articulators: different parts of the vocal tract that can be used
to form sounds (the tongue, the lips, the pharynx, the teeth…)
• Articulatory phonetics

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 The larynx

• The larynx, commonly

called the voice box
• 2-inch long tube
connecting the back of
the nose and the
windpipe with each other.

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 The vocal tract

• The vocal tract can be divided

into:
• the oral cavity (the mouth
and pharynx),
• and the nasal cavity (within
the nose).

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 ARTICULATORS
• 7 main articulators:
1) The pharynx
2) The velum or soft palate
3) The hard palate
4) The alveolar ridge
5) The tongue
6) The teeth
7) The lips

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 ARTICULATORS
1) The pharynx
- A tube above the larynx
- At its top end, it is divided
into two:
- one part being the
back of the mouth
- and the other being
the beginning of the
way through the nasal
cavity.
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 ARTICULATORS
2) the velum or soft palate
- Allow the air to pass
through the nose and
through the mouth.
- The sounds /k/ and /g/: the
tongue in contact with the
lower side of the soft palate -
> velar sounds.

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 ARTICULATORS

3) The hard palate

- Roof of the mouth
- The sound /j/: the tongue
close to the hard palate -
> palatal sound.

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 ARTICULATORS
4) The alveolar ridge
- Between the top front
teeth and the hard
palate.
- Its surface is covered
with little ridges.
- Sounds /t/, /n/, /d/: the
tongue touching it ->
alveolar sounds.

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 ARTICULATORS

5) The tongue
- Moved into different places
and different shapes.
- Parts of the tongue: tip,
blade, front, back, root.

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The tongue

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 ARTICULATORS

6) The teeth
- upper and lower teeth
- At the front of the mouth, immediately behind the
lips.
- Sounds /θ/ and /ð/: tongue in contact with the teeth ->
dental sounds

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 ARTICULATORS
7) the lips

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Vowel and Consonant

• Vowels: sounds in which there is no obstruction to the flow of

air when it passes from the larynx to the lips.
• Consonants involve some kind of constriction (or more than
one constriction) in the vocal tract.
• For both vowels and consonants, phonetic description involves
assigning a phonetic symbol to each sound.
• IPA: International Phonetic Alphabet (the standard,
internationally accepted phonetic symbol set )

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GROUP DISCUSSION

1) How many kinds of speech sounds are there? What

are they?
2) How many vowels are there in English?
3) What are 3 main features of long and short vowels?

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 Vowels in general – p.11
Different vowels:
• (1) The shape of the tongue = tongue shape / tongue
part
• (2) The position of the tongue = tongue height
• (3) The lip-rounding

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 Vowels in general – p.11
(1) The part of the tongue, between
front and back, which is raised
highest.
/iː/, /æ/: the front part of the tongue
is raised high -> front vowels
/ɑː/ in “calm” and /uː/ in “too”: the
back of the tongue is the highest
point -> back vowels

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 Vowels in general – p.11
(2) Vertical distance between the
surface of the tongue and the hard
palate (tongue height)
/iː/ in “see”: tongue close to the roof
of the mouth -> close / high vowel
/æ/ in “cat”: greater distance between
the surface of the tongue and the roof
of the mouth -> open / low vowel

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Vowels in general
(3) The lip-rounding: 3 possibilities
- Rounded: [u], [o], [ɔ], /u:/…
- Spread [i] , [e], /i:/ …
- Neutral /ɑː/ [a] /ɜː/

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 Vowels in general

• In summary, the targets for vowel gestures can be

described in terms of three factors:
(1)the height of the tongue;
(2)the front–back position of the tongue;
(3)the degree of lip rounding.

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 Vowels in general – p.11
(1) The shape and position of the tongue

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English short vowels – p. 13
• Symbols of 7 short vowels: ɪ, e, æ, ʌ, ɒ, ʊ, ə

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 Front Back

English short vowels Close

• ɪ in the close-front area, more

open than cardinal vowel
1,nearer to the centre, and the
lips are slightly spread.
• kit
• Hit
• Bid Open
• Fish
• minute
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 Front Back
English short vowels
Close
• e front vowel between open-mid
and close-mid in tongue height,
the lips are slightly spread.
• Men
• Head
• Bed
• Many
Open
• Yes

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 Front Front
English short vowels Close

• æ front, not as open as cardinal vowel

4, the lips are slightly spread.
• Bat
• Back
• Gas
• Cap
• Ankle /ˈæŋkəl/ Open

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 Front Back

English short vowels Close

• ʌ central, more open than the

open-mid tongue height, lip
position is neutral.
• Mud
• Love
• Blood
• Cut
• Rush Open

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 Front Back
English short vowels Close

• ɒ not fully back, between open-

mid and open in tongue height,
the lips are slightly rounded.
• Pot
• Cross
• Lot
• Odd
Open

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 Front Back
English short vowels Close

• ʊ in the close-back area, the

lips are rounded.
• Foot
• Put
• Good
• Push
• Pull Open

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 English short vowels
• ə central vowel, schwa /ʃwɑː/
• the most important sound, the most frequent sound in English.
• Schwa is usually in unstressed syllable.
(âm phát ra ở các âm tiết không có trọng lượng âm và trong các nguyên
âm đôi trong tiếng Anh)
•A
• The
• About /əˈbaut/
• Perhaps /pəˈhæps/
• Common /ˈkɔmən/
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 Home assignments

Read the materials and do the exercises below

• [1]: 13-15
• [2]: 15-20
• [3]: 205-208

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