THE SOUNDS

OF LANGUAGE
BY GEORGE YULE

Prepared by:
Dr. Fahd Alalwi
 SEAGH. Sound familiar?

Sure
Dead
Laugh

Chef

Hence the need to describe sounds

 Phonetics
The study of the characteristics of speech sounds.

-Articulatory phonetics: How speech

sounds are made , or articulated.
-Acoustic phonetics: deals with the physical
properties of speech sounds as “waves in the air.”
-Auditory phonetics: deals with the perception of
speech sounds via the ear.
 Phonetics
In 1888 the International Phonetic
Alphabet (IPA) was invented in order to
have a system in which there was a one-to-one
correspondence between each
sound in language and each phonetic
symbol
• IPA provides the knowledge of how
to pronounce any word in any language
Phonetic Alphabet for English
Language
Using IPA symbols, we can represent
the pronunciation of any word
Articulation - How speech sounds are produced
: using the complex oral apparatus
we have.
- Air pushed out by lungs through the
trachea (‘windpipe’) to the larynx.
Voiced Once in the larynx your vocal cords
and (or vocal folds) may take two basic
Voiceless positions:
1) Vocal cords spread apart, air
stream unimpeded. Voiceless
2) Vocal cords drawn together, air
pushes them apart, vibration effect.
Voiced
 How do we know if a sound is
voiceless or voiced?

- VOICELESS (VL) = NO VIBRATION OF

VOCAL CORDS

- VOICED (VD) = VIBRATION OF VOCAL

CORDS.
S-S-S-S-S-S or F-F-F-F-F-F

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z or V-V-V-V-V-V
 Once the air has passed through

Place of Articulation
the larynx, it comes up and out
through the mouth and/or nose.

The tongue and other parts of the

mouth constrict the shape of the oral
cavity where the air passes through.

The location, inside the mouth, where

this constriction takes place is called
place of articulation.
Place of Articulation
 Bilabials
They are formed by using both upper and
lower lips.
pat, bat, mat
They are represented by the symbols [p],
[b], and [m], which are voiced.
The [w] sound at the beginning of way, walk,
and world is also a bilabial.
BILABIALS
 Labiodentals
These are sounds formed with the upper
teeth and the lower lip.
fat, vat
safe, save
They are represented by the symbols [f],
which is voiceless, and [v], which is voiced.

*Notice the case of final sounds of laugh and cough

Also, pay attention to initial sound of photo.
LABIODENTAL
 Dentals
These are sounds formed with the tongue tip behind the
upper front teeth. The term interdental is sometimes used to
describe a manner of pronunciation with the tongue tip
between the upper and lower teeth.
thin, three, teeth, bath (voiceless)

They are represented by the symbol [Ɵ], which is voiceless,

and [ð], which is voiced.
there, then (initial position)
feather (middle position)
bathe (final position)
INTERDENTAL or DENTALS
 Alveolars
These are sounds formed with the front part of the tongue
on the alveolar ridge, which is the rough, bony ridge
immediately behind the upper teeth.
top, dip, sit, zoo, nut (initial position)
They are represented by the symbols [t], [d], [s], [z], and [n].
[t] and [s] are voiceless/voiced
[d], [z], and [n] are voiceless/voiced

Other alveolars are [l] in initial position in words like lap and
lit, and the [r] in initial position in words like right, write, and
rip.
ALVEOLAR
 Palatals (or Alveo-palatals)
Back behind the alveolar ridge you can find a hard part in the
root of your month (palate). Sounds which are produced at the
very front of the palate, near the alveolar ridge, are called
alveo-palatals.
shout, child (voiceless)
They are represented by the symbols [ʃ] and [ʧ respectively.
Voiced alveo-palatal [ʒ] is not very common in English. It can
be found in middle position, as in treasure and pleasure or in
final position, as in rouge.
The other voiced alveol-palatal sound [ʤ] can be found in
initial position in words like joke and germ, judge, and George.
[ȷ] at the beginning of words like you and yet is also a palatal.
sound. This sound is pronounced with the tongue in the middle
of the palate.
PALATALS
 Velars
Even further back in the root of the mouth, beyond the hard
palate, you will find a soft area which is called the soft palate,
or the velum. Sounds which are produced with the back of the
tongue against the velum are called velars.
kid, kill, car, and cold (voiceless velar sound, [k])
go, gun, bag, muge, and plague (voiced velar sound, [g])
The velum can be lowered to allow the air to flow through the
nasal cavity and produce another voiced velar sound, [ƞ]. In
written English it is normally spelled as two letters ‘ng. ’
sing, sang, and tongue
ringing ([ƞ] occurs twice)
bang ([ƞ] occurs only once) Careful: There is no [g] sound
VELARS
 Glottals
There is one other sound that is produced withouth the
active use of the tongue and other parts of the mouth. It is
the sound [h] which occurs at the beginning of words like:

have, house, who, and whose (voiceless glottal)

The ‘glottis’ is the space between the vocal cords in the

larynx.
 GLOTALS
• glottal stop: is a
speech sound
articulated by a
momentary,
complete closing
of the glottis in
the back of the
throat.
 IN CONCLUSION

• The airflow can be modified at

various points within vocal
organs to produce distinct
speech sounds. The point
where a sound is produced is
referred to as its place of
articulation.
 Manner of Articulation

This aspect deals with how the sounds are

articulated.
 Stops
These sounds are produced by some form of complete
‘stopping’ of the airstream (very briefly) and then letting it go
abruptly. They are also called ‘plosive’ sounds.
[p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g]
A full description of the sound [t] at the beginning of a word
like ten, for example, is a ‘voiceless alveolar stop.’
 Fricatives
The articulation of such sounds involves almost blocking the
airstream, and having the air push through the narrow
opening. As the air is pushed through, a type of friction is
produced and the resulting sounds are called fricatives.
[f], [v], [Ɵ], [ð], [s], [z], [ʃ], [ʒ]

fish: begins and ends with ‘voiceless fricatives’

those: begins and ends with ‘voiced fricatives’
 Affricates
If you combine a brief stopping of the airstream with an
obstructed release which causes some friction, you will be
able to produce the sounds:

[ʧ] and [ʤ]

They occur at the beginning of words like:

cheap with ‘voiceless affricate’

and
jeep with ‘voiced affricate’
 Nasals
Most sounds are produced orally, with the velum raised,
preventing airflow from entering the nasal cavity. However,
when the velum is lowered and the airstream is allowed to
flow through the nose, these sounds are nasals.

[m], [n] and [ƞ]

Nasal sounds are all voiced.

Examples: morning, knitting, and name (they begin and end

with nasal sounds).
 Liquids
• Initial sounds in led and red are voiced. The [l] and [r]
sounds are called ‘liquids.’
 Glides
The articulation of glide sounds is strongly influenced by the
following vowel sound.
• [ w ] and [ j ] are sometimes called ‘semivowels’,’ because
they are typically produced with the tongue moving, or
‘gliding,’ to or from the position of a nearby vowel. They are
voiced.

.
 The Glottal Stop and the Flap
The glottal stop, represented [Ɂ] occurs when the space
between the vocal cords (glottis) is closed completely, very
briefly, and then released. Oh oh! Uh-uh! It is used by Scottish
speakers and New Yorkers. In London speech, they pronounce
a glottal stop in words like butter and bottle.
Butter similar to ‘budder’ in American English. This is a flap,
which is represented by [D] or [ɾ]. This flap is produced by the
tongue tip being thrown against the alveolar ridge for an
instant.
[t] and [d] between vowels are usually flapped so that, in casual
speech, ladder and latter, writer and rider, and metal medal do
not have distinct middle consonants.
 Vowels

• Vowel sounds are produced with a relatively free

flow of air. They are all voiced. To talk about
place of articulation, we think of the space inside
the mouth as having a front versus a back and a
high versus a low area.
heat and hit (high, front vowels)
hot and hat (low, back vowels)
 FRONT CENTRAL BACK
HIGH

MID

LOW
 FRONT CENTRAL BACK
HIGH

MID

LOW
 Diphthongs

• [aІ], [aʊ], and [oІ] are diphthongs because they

contain two sounds. Note that in each case, they
begin with a vowel sound and end with a glide.
In pronouncing diphthongs, we move from one
vocalic position to another.
Thank You