Phonetics

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Phonetics Phonology of EnglishHow Why We
Speak the Way We Do

• Dr. Latricia Trites
• Academic Advisor
• Fulbright Yilan Project 2008-2009

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What is Phonetics?

• Phonetics is the study of speech sounds.
• Articulatory phonetics how speech sounds are
  produced
• Acoustic phonetics the transmission and
  physical properties of speech sounds
• Auditory phonetics perception of speech sounds
• Phonetic transcriptions one sound one symbol.

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Consonants

• The descriptions of the sounds we call consonants
  are based on the human articulatory system (lungs
  to pump air in and out, vocal folds, oral cavity
  including tongue and lips, and nasal cavity).
• Consonants are described using 3 characteristics
• vocal quality (voiced/voiceless)
• point of articulation
• manner of articulation

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• The Articulators

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• Places of articulation (for consonants)

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Consonant Chart
Bilabial Bilabial Labiodental Labiodental Interdental Interdental Alveolar Alveolar Palatal Palatal Velar Velar Glottal Glottal
Stop p b t d k g h ?
Fricative f v ? ð s z ? ?
Affricate ? ?
Nasal m n ?
Liquid l
Retroflex liquid r
Glide ? w y
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Vowels

• Place of articulation, manner of articulation and
  voicing are not useful when trying to describe
  vowels.
• Vowels are all made in the mouth (place), with
  little or no air flow constriction (manner) and
  are always voiced in English
• So the system that describes vowels does so in
  terms 4 characteristics
• tongue placement
• tongue height
• lip rounding
• tenseness.

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Vowel Chart
Back
Center
Front
u
i
High
?
?
o
e
? ?
?
Mid
?
Low
a
æ
?
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Diphthongs

• Major
• /a?/
• /??/
• /a?/
• Minor (if at all)
• /e?/
• /o?/

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Suprasegmentals! What are those?

• Length
• High vowels shorter than low vowels
• Voiceless consonants longer than voiced
  consonants
• Voiceless fricatives longest
• Length is influenced by the surrounding sounds
• Tone
• Can change meaning in some languages (like
  Chinese)
• Stress
• Stressed syllables more prominent than unstressed
  ones
• Stressed syllables usually contain tense vowels
• Stressed syllables are often longer
• Unstressed syllables reduce vowel
• Intonation
• Rising and falling intonation can change meaning

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What is Phonology?

• Phonology is how speech sounds are organized and
  affect one another in pronunciation.
• Key terms
• Phone sound that is actually heard
• Phoneme more theoretical (idea) of a sound / /
• Allophone nondistinctive realization of the
  same phoneme
• This organization is explained in phonological
  rules

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Different Types of Phonological Variation

• Overlapping Distribution different sound in
  same environment (ex. /thap/ vs. /phat/).
• Contrastive distribution changing sound changes
  meaning (ex. /mæn/ vs./m?n/).
• Complementary distribution sounds in a language
  never found in the same phonetic environment (ex.
  /thap/ vs. /path/).
• Free variation two sounds that occur in
  overlapping environments but doesnt change
  meaning (ex. /?np?t/ vs. / ?mp?t /).

Italics indicates sound variant that cannot
occur in the English language
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Common Phonemic Rules

• Aspiration h
• Unreleased Stop ?
• Flap ?
• Dental Consonants ?
• Velarization ?
• Voicelessness
• Vowel lengthening ?
• Vowel nasalization

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Phonemic Rules

• Aspiration Rule Voiceless stops are aspirated at
  the beginning of a stressed syllable.
• Liquid/Glide Devoicing Liquids/Glides become
  voiceless when they follow a voiceless stop,
  fricative, or affricate.
• Vowel Lengthening Vowels are lengthened when
  they come before a voiced consonant.
• Flapping When a /t/ or /d/ is preceded by a
  vowel and followed by a vowel, it becomes flapped
  (ex. bitter, butter, batter, ladder, letter,
  beauty, beautiful).

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Common Phonological Rules

• Assimilation becomes like the neighboring sound
  (ex. hippo)
• Palatization (ex. Dont you, Wont you)
• r coloring (ex. fur, bird, party) often seen as
  /?/or/?/
• Nasal coloring
• Dissimilation (ex. fifth, sixth)
• Insertion (ex. dance, strength, hamster)
• Deletion (ex. chocolate, interesting)

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Important Information to Remember

1. There are EXCEPTIONS to every rule in English.
2. English speakers, like all other languages try to
   say things as quickly and easily as possible.
3. Every region and dialect will have variations in
   speech patterns however, it is important to
   foster correct pronunciation instead of bad
   habits.

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Tips

• Be consistent with one symbol one sound.
• Remember that bo po mo fo is used to teach
  Mandarin, not English, because the language is
  built on syllables, English is a sound/symbol
  language, not built on syllables.
• Help students understand how sounds are made.
• Help students learn to sound out words instead of
  just listen and repeat.
• Be aware of common mistakes based on first
  language that students tend to make dropping
  final consonants, confusing /l/ and /r/,
  inserting /?/, pronouncing all vowels as tense
  vowels.
• Remember that there are useful websites where you
  can find correct pronunciation of English words.

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Teaching Phonics

• How can we use this phonetic information and the
  phonological rules to teach phonics better?
• Using your regular textbook, take 10 - 15 minutes
  to design a phonics activity that incorporates
  some of the information learned today.

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Resources

• Bergmann, A., Hall, K.C., Ross, S. H. (Eds.).
  (2007). Language files Materials for an
  introduction to language linguistics (10th
  ed.). Columbus, OH Ohio State University Press.
• Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., Goodwin, J.
  (1996). Teaching pronunciation A reference for
  teachers of English to speakers of other
  languages. Cambridge Cambridge University Press.
• International Phonetic Association
  http//www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary http//www.merriam-webs
  ter.com
• Phthong! http//www.chass.utoronto.ca/rogers/phth
  ong.228/phthong228.html