PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
1. The
production of sound
a. Air-stream
mechanism
b. Articulatory
organ
c.
Larynx fuctions
2.
The categorisation and description of
sound
3.
The articulatory and acoustic parameter
of segmental in english :
(a) Consonant
sounds
i. Place
of articulation
ii. Manner
of articulation
iii. Voicing
(b) i. Tongue movement
ii. Lip shape
iii.Cardinal vowel
iv.English vowel
v.English diphtongs
vi.English triphongs
4. Special
phonologycal feature:
a. Board
trancription
b. Narrow
trancription
c. Allphonic
variation
d. Allophone
e. Minimal
pairs
f. Phonemes
in contrast
g. Liaison
h. Elison
i.
Syllable
j.
Foot/meters
5. Suprasegmental
in english
a. Stress
b. Gradiation
c. Juncture
d.
Intonation
6.
The internasional phonetic alphabet (
IPA)
FANATIC ABOUT PHONETIC
( L.M. BASKARAN)
Well come to the world of phonetic
Just hope you don’t turn to frenetic
Nor end up too lunatic
But only just be kind of fanatic
In attemting to understand
This universal languageof man
Try not to be to elan
But just hope that your’s mind’ll expand
The unpredictabilityof sound and symbol
Make lanuage learning not too simple
Take cough,tough,bough,although and
through
Each spell “ough” but sound individual
new
Then houw about bush and rush
You really can’t compare than much
Then there’s break,beak read and reed-
For some sanity there is much need
Isle,aisles,beguile and mile-
Can we ever easly smile
And say ‘we’ll bear it’-just for a while
Oh no- then there’s women,orange and bussiness
When ototgrapico,e,a,u,are pronounced
/i/
Knew,hour,pneumonia,phycology
Have an unnecessarypiece of otography
Then’silenced’ one day often call it
Why is the first place ever use it
Hour,our,grower and bower
Aren’t these enough to make one cower
In fright and with no respite
Mind you, noy really with delight
High,buy,bye,and lie
Can easly make a new learner cry
One surely cannot deny
That some sanity is now well nigh!
There’s also regn,rain,rein
Fare,fair,tear and rare
Compare this with
Tera ,rear,seer and tear
Sound,cow,bough,and row
Could i have been spelt which an /au/
Then there is bird,hurt and heard
That add to this menagerie of words
How about ninth and plinth
Surely this a phonetic labyrinth
Blood and flood but food and foot
Are the a like to mould or would
The double “0” that look like /u/
Has a lot of variety for you
Like brook and school
Seem near to ful and shoe
It’s police,chalice bur lice
Which hardly look like lie
Wait and gait but plait and plate
How do we gate up to date
Thre’s also not much choice
Between voice,buoys ,and boys
With this confusion we can deal
If all of us have more zeal
I really trully .sincerelly fell
A knowledge of phonetic will reveal
How varian otography can be-
It’s not just a matter of A,B and C
Although we don’t necessarily teach it
We must defenitely try to reach it
Things wing be clearer you’ll see
For those in the language –treaching
ibdustry
In bahasa,things are not so crazy,
It’s quite easy for both deligent
And alzy – it’s always/a/ for hari and
lari
And always /i/ for mari sini
The only poser is “e” pepet and taling
Which has now been given and fling
If at all there’s any confusion
It mainly a rises from loan-redition
Like file from englihs file
May sometime look like fail
Then there’s pensel ,pos and bas
Can we sort these out qite pass
Or don’t forget words like university
Hospital,doktor,and ambulans-cause
complikasi
In any case, we must all remember
Language learning is not really a
puzzler
It’s our enthusianm and attitude
That can add some latitude
To this tool of commnication
That link all the various nation
Tamil is not too tedious
For the enthusiactic and the zeleous
In romines script’ tis obvious to us
That sound nad symbol are well in focus
It’s only the original script that ‘s
twister
That can confused a new-leraning mister
The lines and curve of orthograpy
Need constant practice for full mastery
The 2 r’s,3 n’s and 3 l’s
Can some times turn you mery- hell
But otherwise it’s just a matter
Of getting used to retroflex chatter
THE
PRODUCTION OF SOUND
Air
stream mechanism
Speech is a product of
the breathing process.Breathing incorporates inhalation as well as expiration
of air.It is during this expiration of
air taht movements in the vocal tract and mouth are made to produce the
various types of sound in any language .The air passing under
pressure is checked or obstructed in many ways and at many places due to the tongue movement in the
mouth, in combination with the different movement of other speech organ in the
mouth
Therefore,can be
considered as the product of movement in the mouth made audible-where an air-stream-a moving
currentof air-provided by the action of
some the organs of speech ( the vocal cord) and the breathing-process make the
movement of other organsa audible.An air-stream
is the basis of the whole of
sound of human speech-it is the flow of
air causing a change of pressure in the vocal tract
In the production of
sound or speech,three groups of bodily organs are involved in the initiation of sound : Corresponding to the three groups
of bodily organs in initiation of sound,
thera are three air-stream types involved in the process as show in table 2.1 and figure 2.1
Table 2.1 : The process of sound
production
|
Location
|
Types
|
Organs
|
Air-stream mechanisms
|
|
Trunk
|
Respiratory
|
Lungs
|
Pulmonic ( lungs)
|
|
Throat
|
Phonatory
|
Larynx
|
Golttalic( glottis)
|
|
Head
|
Articulatory
|
Nose,lips,mouth
|
Velaric( velum )
|
Figure 2.1 : The process of sound
production
Gambar
Articulatory Organs
Figure
2.2 : The Articulatory Organs
1. Upper/Lower
Lips
2. Upper/Lower
Teeth
3. Alveolar
ridge
4. Hard
palate
5. Soft
palate (Velum)
6. Uvula
7. Pharynx
8. Tongue
Tip (Apicum)
9. Tongue
Center (Laminum)
10. Tongue
Back (Dorsum)
11. Epiglottis
12. Larynx
13. Glottis
14. Trachea
15. Oral
Cavity
16. Nasal
Cavity
The
figure 2.2 above shows the articulatory organs which are involved in the
production of sound. The main organs are (taking them from the front of the mouth, i.e. lips, to the back of
the mouth) the upper and lower lips, upper and lower teeth, the alveolar ridge
behind the upper teeth, the hard palate after that, the soft palate(velum) and
lastly the uvula which is the mobile bit than hangs from the top, moving
according to the sound being oral or nasal.
On
the lower side of the mouth ( besides the lip and teeth) is the most
important organs of all- the tongue.
This mobile articulator can be divided into three to four segments. The frond
end is the tongue tip ( apicum) followed by the tongue center (laminum) and the
tongue back (dorsum). Below the tongue is it’s root area also known as the
epiglottis. The larynx is below this, which externally is seen (as in no.12) as
the slightly protruding area containing the vocal cords. The glottis (no.13) is
the space between the vocal cords. Below
the vocal cords is the wind-pipe( trachea) which leads to the lungs from which
the respiratory ( as well as the articulatory) mechanism is initiated.
Figure
2.3: The Larynx function/State
Of
the various articulatory organs, the larynx is the key factor in the production
of sound as show in figure 2.3. the larynx is the area in which the vocal cords
are situated. The vocal cords are two small bands of elastic tissue resembling
two flat strips of rubber bands lying opposite each other across the air passage,
with a possible space between them. This space is called the glottis. The
larynx can have four basic stated in sound production:
a. It
may be held tightly closed with the pulmonic air-stream pent up below it (as in
the production of a glottal stop/?/).
b. It
also may be slightly open with very slight vibratory action of the vocal cords
(as in a whisper).
c. The
glottis may also be open enough for normal vibration of the vocal cords,
producing normal speech sounds and
d.
It also may be held wide open so that
when the air-stream passes there is audible friction (with no vibration) giving
the breath stated (as in/h/).
The
action of the vocal cords being brought together and forced apart repeatedly
produces vibration consequently producing voice or phonation (as a result of
rapid opening and closing of the vocal cords). Sounds in any language are
produced with varying degrees of vibration. The extent of vibration producing
the corresponding sound is differentiated by the terms ”voiced/voiceless”
indicating more or a slightly less amount of vibration. For example, in the p/b
pair, /p/ is pronounced with the vocal cords drawn apart allowing air to pass
freely between them thus producing minimal vibration. The sound is technically
known as “no voice” or a voiceless sound. /b/ on the other hand is pronounced
with vocal cords vibration, thus producing voice-technically known as a voiced
sound.
The speed of vibration
of the vocal cords is known as the pitch. The more rapid the vibration, the
higher the pitch. In normal speech of a man this vibratory action is repeated
100 to 150 times per second
Or vibration cycles per second (cps) . In a
normal speech of a woman , this frequency of vibration varies between 200 and
325 cps .
Another
feature that the larynx is responsible for or monitors is the amount of air that passes through the
vocal cords .The amount of of air which escapes through the vocal cords , is
technically known as the amplitude of
vibration – producing the corresponding loudness or softness of
one’s voice.
Velic State
One other feature important in the
production of sounds is the role of the velum . There are basically two states
of the velum in sound production .
a. Velum raised –
this is when the uvula is lifted to close the passage into the nasal cavity ,
so that sounds escape only via the mouth
. Thus there is velic closure
to produce oral sounds , such as /p/t/k/ .
Velum lowered – this
is when the uvula is lowered to open the passage into the nasal cavity , so that
sounds escape via both the mouth and the
nose . Thus there is velic opening to produce nasal sounds such as /m/n/
The Categorisation and Description of Sounds
Sounds
in general are symbolically represented by the phoneme which is the minimal unit of sound . Phonemes are the minimal representative symbols of the spoken language whilst graphemes (letters) are the minimal
representative symbols of the written
language . Thus the phoneme/grapheme dichotomy corresponds to the sound/symbol
dichotomy which corresponds to the speech/writing pair as well . Thus we have :
a. Speech
+ writing (medium)
b. Sound
+ symbol (mode)
c. Phoneme
+ grapheme (linguistic units)
It is
important to realise that sound and symbol units (i.e.phonemes and graphemes)
don’t always correspond on a one-to-one basis in all language . In some
languages , the sound/ symbol correspondence is exact whilst in some languages
it is not . Where the number of graphemes and phonemes are almost exact in a
word (except for nasal) . Where the number of graphemes and phonemes don’t
necessarily concur .
Another
factor to bear in mind where sound-symbol correspondence is concerned is the
predictability of such a combination . The same symbols dpn’t necessarily
always represent the same sounds . In other words , the same phonemes aren’t
always representative of the same graphemes or vice-versa . This
unpredictability of sound and symbol correspondence is particularly a
significant feature in English . For examples :
Cough / kɔːf/
Tough / tʌf/
Bough / bau/
Through / θru/
Though / ðəʊ
Foetus /ˈfiːtəs/
Appeal / əˈpiːl/
Seek / siːk/
Field / fiːld/
Plebeian /pləˈbiən/
Sounds
produced by the air-stream through the various glottal and superglottal organs
of sppech can be primarily distinguished into two categories :
a. Sounds
produced by the air-stream passing out of the mouth and / or nose (oral/nasal
cavities) with no blockages (even if for a very minimal period) . There is a
continual flow of sounds only differentiated by differences in the movement and
shape of the tongue (accompanied externally by the shape of the lips) . Such
sounds are called vowel sounds or
vocoids . Thus a vowel sound or vocoid is a spund where there is an escape
of air-stream centrally through the mouth without giving rise to audible
friction .
b. Sounds
produced by the air-stream passing out of the mouth and / or nose (oral/nasal
cavities) with various blockages in the mouth and entrance of the nasal cavity
. There is a flow of sounds differentiated by the movement and articulation
(touching) of the tongue within the mouth (accompanied sometimes by lip
contact) . Such sounds are called consonant
sounds (contoids) . Thus a consonant sound or contoid is one where there is
a narrowing or closure of the air-stream in the vocal tract causing audible
local friction or totally preventing air escaping through the mouth (for a
short while)
THE ARTICULATORY AND ACOUSTIC PARAMETERS OF CONSONANT , VOWELS AND
DIPHTHONGS (SEGMENTALS) IN ENGLISH
Consonant Sounds
Consonant
sounds are sounds where there is a narrowing or closure of the air-stream in
the vocal tract , causing local audible friction or obtrusion before the air
escapes . The descriptive parameters of consonant sounds correspond to the
tongue’s movement and articulation in the mouth (either actual contact with or
approximation to the other articulatory points in the mouth) . The two main
various of consonant articulation are the place and manner of articulation .
Place of Articulation
The
place of articulation are normally considered from the front of the mouth to
the back of the mouth .
b. Labiodental = lower lip and upper teeth. Labiodental consonants are produced
by raising the lower lip to the upper teeth. English has only fricative
labiodentals, and no stops.
c.
Interdental / dental = Tongue tip moves towards the upper teeth . In
English, the interdental consonants are also all fricatives. In the
ASCII phonetic alphabet, these sounds are the voiced [th] and the voiceless
[TH].
d.
Alveolar = Tongue tip moves towards the teeth ridge
e.
Palatal = Tongue centre moves towards or is raised towards the hard
palate .
f.
Palato – alveolar = Tongue blade moves towards the teeth ridge , with
the main body of the tongue raised towards the hard palate .
g. Velar = the back of the tongue raised to the soft
palate ("velum"), the area right behind the palate.
h. Glottal
= Vocal cords open and close according to the air-stream
Manner of Articulation
Consonant
sounds are categorized according to the various manners of articulation . The
manners of articulation correspond to the combination of tongue movement and
articulation , with the corresponding effect on the air – stream coming out of
the mouth (and nose , for nasal sounds) . The basic manners of articulation are
:
a. Plosive
– there is complete closure of the air-stream , compressing it for a short
second and then releasing it with plosion as in /p/t/k/b/d/g/.
b. Nasals
– there is closure of the mouth passage , with the uvula lowered,(velic
opening) and the escape of air through the nasal cavity , as in /m/n/ ŋ/ .
c.
Fricatives – there is a narrowing of the
air-stream , causing air to escape with a hissing sound . The amount of air
escaping through this narrowed gap varies , producing the corresponding audible
friction (hissing sound) , as in /f , v , θ , ð , s , z , ʃ , ʒ , /
d.
Affricates – there is a
combination of the plosive as well as fricative elements (partial elements of
each)-because they are homorganic in
nature . This means articulation is at the same or almost similar place as in /
tʃ / . Thus , the
plosive blockage is formed first with the air compressed in the lungs , and
then the tongue is removed quickly to release air with a narrowing of the
air-stream . Thus / tʃ / is a combination
of / t + ʃ / , whilst / dʒ / is a
combination of / d + ʒ / .
e.
Lateral – there is com[lete
closure in the middle of the mouth by the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge
, whilst a passage of the air-stream is left on both sides of the tongue for
continous flow , as in /l/
f.
Semivowels – the starting position
is that of a vowel where lip shape is concerned – for the semivowel /w/ the
lip-shape is that vowel /u/ I.e. protrudrant , whilst for the semivowel /j/ ,
the lip-shape is that of vowel /i/ i.e.spread .
From this position , there is a quick glide on to a sound of greater
prominence – accompanied by a considerable raising of the tongue towards the
velum (for /w/) and the hard palate (for /j/)
Voicing
All consonant sounds are either
voiced or voiceless (i.e.have vocal cord vibration or a very minimal amount of
it) . For example , the pair /s/ and /z/ are identical sounds except for the
voicing element , where /s/ is the voiceless sound and /z/ is a voiced spund .
Likewise , in the /p/b/ pir of /f/v/ pair , /p/ and /f/ are voiceless while /b/
and /v/ are voiced sounds . All nasal are voiced (/m,n, ŋ) and so are the laterals (/l/r/).
Tabel 2.2. The
English consonant sounds according to place of Articulation (24 consonant
phonemes)
|
Place
|
Phoneme
|
Example in various word position
|
||
|
|
|
Word Initial
|
Word medial
|
Word final
|
|
Bilabial
|
p
|
Pin
|
Apple
|
cup
|
|
|
b
|
Ball
|
Aboard
|
pub
|
|
|
m
|
Man
|
Amount
|
roam
|
|
|
w
|
Win
|
Always
|
-
|
|
Labiodental
|
f
|
Fun
|
After
|
rough
|
|
|
v
|
Van
|
Evict
|
believe
|
|
Dental
|
θ
|
Thin
|
Ether
|
breath
|
|
|
ð
|
This
|
Either
|
breathe
|
|
Alveolar
|
t
|
Ten
|
Attain
|
cut
|
|
|
d
|
Day
|
Ordeal
|
odd
|
|
|
s
|
Sun
|
assign
|
hiss
|
|
|
z
|
Zoo
|
hazy
|
buzz
|
|
|
l
|
Late
|
alight
|
tail
|
|
|
r
|
Run
|
error
|
far
|
|
|
n
|
Nine
|
onion
|
run
|
|
Palato Alveolar
|
ʃ
|
Ship
|
ashamed
|
rush
|
|
(Alveopalatal)
|
ʒ
|
-
|
treasure
|
rouge
|
|
|
tʃ
|
Chin
|
achieve
|
much
|
|
|
dʒ
|
Jump
|
adjust
|
judge
|
|
Palatal
|
j
|
Young
|
mayor
|
|
|
Velar
|
k
|
Cut
|
wicked
|
neck
|
|
|
g
|
Girl
|
aghast
|
rug
|
|
|
ŋ
|
-
|
younger
|
young
|
|
Glottal
|
h
|
Hot
|
ahead
|
-
|
It
will be noticed that /w/j/h/ don’t occur in word final positions whilst / ʒ , ŋ / don’t occur in
word intial positions .
Table
2.3:The English Consonant sound According to Manners of Articulation
Plosives /p/b/t/d/k/g/
Nasals /m/n/ŋ
Fricatives
/f/v/h/ѳ/δ/s/
Affricates ʧ,
ʤ
Laterals
/l/r/
Liquid
or
Semivowels
/w/j/
Table
2.4 : The English consonant phonemes according to both place and manner of
articulation (and voicing).
|
|
Voicing
|
Bilabial
|
Labiodental
|
Dental
|
Alveolar
|
Palato alveolar
|
Palatal
|
Velar
|
Glottal
|
|
Plos-ives
|
Voice-less voiced
|
P
b
|
|
|
t
d
|
|
|
K
g
|
|
|
Nas-als
|
Voice-less voiced
|
M
|
|
|
n
|
|
|
η
|
|
|
Frica-tives
|
Voice-less voiced
|
|
f
v
|
δ
θ
|
s
z
|
ʒ
ʃ
|
|
|
h
|
|
Affri-cates
|
Voice-less voiced
|
|
|
|
|
d͡ʒ
tʃ
|
|
|
|
|
Later-al(liqu-id)
|
Voice-less voiced
|
|
|
|
l,r
|
|
|
|
|
|
Semi vowels
|
Voice-less voiced
|
W
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It
will be noticed that plosives,fricatives
and affricateshave the voiceless/voiced pairs(other than /h/)whilst the
nasal,laterals,liquids and the semivowels are
all voiced.
Vowel sounds
Vowel
are sound where there is an escape of the air steam centrally through the
mouth.the descriptive parameter of vowel sounds correspond to the tongue
movement and lip shape,the other accompanying variable are:
a. Duration
of vowel (vowel length)produced by the degree of tenseness or laxity of the
tongue.A long vowel is the product of a tensed tongue(as in/i:/)whilst a short
vowel is the product of a lax tongue(as in/i/).the chroneme/:/is the diacritic
mark which indicates the vowel length.
b. Glottis position
(vocal cord vibration/voicing),which always voiced for all vowel sound,where
there is vibration of the vocal cords.
c. Velic position,which
is always oral for all sounds,velic closure(with the uvula raised)so that
escape of air is only through the mouth.
Tongue movement
Tongue
movement for vowel sound production can be seen either in terms of:
a. Its
height within the mouth(how close to the palate or how low in the lower jaw it
goes)
b. Its
degree of retraction and projection within the mouth(how far front or right
back it goes)
Height of Tongue
The
tongue is known to move in approximately four positions in the mouth from top
to bottom in the production of vowel sounds.
Figure
2.7 :Height of tongue
i.
Close position /i/-the tongue is quite
high up near the palate,as in/i:/(bead)
ii.
Half-close position /e/-the tongue is
slightly below this,as in/e/(bed)
iii.
Half- position /ac/-the tongue is
slightly further down towards the lower region of the mouth,as in/ae/(bad).
iv.
Open position –the tongue is almost at
the bottom of the mouth,as in/a:/(hard).
The
terms “open”and “close” therefore refer to the gap between the tongue and the
rooft of the mouth(the palate).
Degree of retraction of
tongue
The
tongue also moves in the mouth from the front to the back.thus the highest part
of the tongue varies from the frontal region(below the alveolar ridge)to the
dorsal/back portion below the velum area).three approximate regions and
therefore associated terms are possible for such tongue retraction:
i.
Front vowels-the highest point of the
tongue is in the far front towards the alveolar/palatal region,as in
/I,e/(pin,pen).
ii.
Central vowels-the highest point of the
tongue is half-way between the front and the back,right in the centre of the
hard palate,as in/a/(banana).
iii.
Back vowels-the highest point of the
tongue moves towards the back of the mouth,close to the velum,as in/
,u/(pot,put).
Figure
2.8 Degree of retraction of tongue
i.front
position-/i/
ii.central
position/∂/
iii.back
position -/u/
Lip-shape
There
are four possible lip shapes in vowel sounds production which is shown in
figure 2.16
i.
Spread position-when the lips are
stretched out,as in/i:/(peel)
ii.
Rounded position-when the lips are
rounded,as in/ /(port)
iii.
Protrudant position –when the lips are protrudant,as in/u:/(pool).
iv.
Neutral position-when the lips are
neutral in shape,as in/a:/(hard)
Figure
2.9:Shape of lips in vowel sound production
The cardinal vowel
Based
on the two important factor of the height of tongue and degreeof retraction of
tongue in the mouth in vowel production,linguists combined both the aspect to
chart the locus of movement of the tongue within the mouth.the basic vowel
sound across all languages were plotted using some mathematical as well as
geographical principles as basis.The progression from tongue movement of these
sounds to actual representation of the same sounds on a specific vowel chart is
traced here.
Figure
2.10:Tongue movement of the eight cardinal vowels
This
figure shows almost approximately the relative tongue position(the highest part
of the tongue and how far front,central or back it goes)when articulating the
vowel sounds in general.this tongue shape is the locus of movement for vowel
articulation.
Figure
2.11 Compromised Vowel Diagram
This
is the vowel diagram shape(figure2.11)which is a compromise between scientific
accuracy and the requirement of the practical language teacher(for convenience
of labeling and drawing).superimposed on this vowels diagram are the cardinals
vowels-those being the boundaries or parameter of the various acoustic
qualities involved.the tongue position of vowels are now to be classified by
means of a system similar to the latitude and longitude principle used in
Geography.
Figure
2.12:The cardinal vowel diagram
This figure(figure2.12) is further
straightened and regularized for pitching of the vowels of specific
phonological significance.The general vowels in this diagram therefore are
known as Cardinal vowels on lines similar to the cardinal points in
Geography.Thus other the cardinal vowel which are used as the main reference
points,if other vowels are to be represented by dots on this geometrical
figure,they will be situated either on the perimeter of the figure or within
it.(thus a dot placed on the circumference half way between /€ /and/a/ would indicate a soundwhich would
indicate a sound which would have an acoustic quality half-way between these
two sounds/ae/.
This figure also then shows the
continuum of close to open vowels (high to low)and fron to back vowels.The fron
and back vowels are also known as peripheral vowels,whilst the central vowels
(especially in English)are the ones in the central region of the mouth(as well
as in the diagram)(especially the/∂/and/∂/of English).
In this figure,
a. The
lines/a-
b. (ii)the
angels at /a/and/u/are right angels.
c. The
lines/a
English Vowels
Figure
2.13 The English vowel Diagram
There
are twelve pure vowel sounds in English (vowels are also known as monopthongs).
They are (as seen in Figure 2.13) :
i.
/i/as in pill/pil/
ii.
/i:/as in peel/pi:l/
iii.
/e/as in pen/pen
iv.
/æ/as in pan, pæn/
v.
/ʌ/as in putt/pʌt/
vi.
/ɑ:/as in part/p ɑ:t/
vii.
/ ɔ/as in pot/p ɔt/
viii.
/ ɔ:/as
in port/p ɔ:/
ix.
/u/as
in pull/pul/
x.
/u:/as
in pool/pu:l/
xi.
/
ə/as in appear/ əpi ə/
xii.
/ ə:/as in pearl/p ə:l/
In
American English ten monophthongs are used whilst in British English we have 12
monophthongs. Each of these vowel sounds therefore can be described according
to its height of tongue in the mouth as well as degree of retraction of the
tongue in producing each vowel sound. For example :
i.
/i:/ - front, close long vowel
ii.
/i/ - front, half-close, short vowel
iii.
/e/ - front, half-close/half-open, short
vowel
iv.
/ æ/ - front, open, short voel
Thus
in the same manner, the other vowel sounds can be described according to these
acoustic parameters.
The English Diphtongs
A
diphthong is a succession of two vewel sounds where the tongue starts in the
position of one vowel and then immadiately proceeds on to the position of the
other – it is also known as a vowel glide. British English has 8 diphthongs
whilst American English has only five.
The
British English Diphthongs can be grouped according to the ending monophthong.
They are :
i.
/i/ Diphthongs:
/ei/railway/reilwei/
/ai/fried rice/fraid
rais/
/ ɔ/choice voice/tʄɔis vɔis/
ii.
/ə/ Diphthongs:
/iə/serious/siəriəs/
/ɛə/declare/diklɛə/
/uə/gourmet/guəmei/
iii.
/u/Diphthongs:
/au/doubt/daut/
/əu/overgrow/ əuvəgrəu/
The English Triphthongs
(Figure 2.15)
A
triphthongs is considered as a vowel glide passing through three vowel
qualities in a single syllable – where the tongue starts in the position of one
vowel and goes on to the third, passing through the second vowel quality. Thus
in actual speech, the medial element is not marked as a single-vowel entity.
Figure
2.15 : The British English Triphthongs
The
commonest triphthongs in British English are :
/aiə/ /auə/ / ɔiə/
fire/faiə power/pauə/ employer/əmpl ɔiə
riot/raiət/ shower/ʄauə/ foyer/f ɔiə
liable/laiəbl/ devour/divauə/
In
some speaker (especially in dialectical or idiolectical speech), the medial
element is reduced to such an extent that it is slowly dropped off. Thus from
the three vowel quality entity, the end product is actually a two vowel entity.
Such products are termed secandary diphthongs. For e.g. in flower /flauə/, the
three vowel segment is reduced to a two-vowel segment /aə/.
Special
Phonological Features
In representing sounds in any language, we know that the
phonemeis the minimalunit of sound – the symbol representing a sound. Thus in
the following words :
Structure
(orhography) is represented as /s/tr/ ʌ/k/tʄ/ə/
Football
(orhography) is represented as /f/u/t/b/ɔ:/l/
a.
Board
Transcription (Phonemic Trsentunganscription). In such circumtances, we say that the transcription
(i.e. the symbol representation) is a broad
transcription which only shows the basic sounds of a word. Such a
transcription is also known as a phonemic
transcription distinguished by slash
brackets (/) (also known as virgules).
b.
Narrow
Transcription (Phonemic Transcription). On the other hand, for more detailed transcription
writing, where the phoneme representation is indicative of finer points such as
velarization, aspiration or such qualitative affects , we have what it is known
as phonetic trancription , indicated
by square bracket [] . For example ,
when cosidering the phoneme /l/ in the words “live” /liv/ anf “feel” /fi:l/ ,
/l/ in slant brackets (i.e.phonemic /l/ is the same for both words (in word
initial and word final position).
c.
Allophonic Variation. But in discriminating in more detail, the phoneme /l/(i.e.
the sound /l/) will be seen to have differences between both occurrences. When
arculating /l/in “live” /liv/, the
tongue tip is slightly flatter againts the alveolar ridge whilst when
articulation /l/in “feel” /fi:l/, the tongue tip is slightly curled with the
major portion of the tongue raised below
the velum area . The /”l”/ here then is said to be “velarized” indicated by the
diacritic mark [~]. This mark also indicates the curled tongue shape. The /l/
here is known as the dark, whilst /l/ in “live” /liv/ is known as the clear
[l].
Thus [l] and [t] are two variants of the same phoneme
/l/. They are said to be allophones of the phoneme /l/, “allo”meaning
“variant”. Thus a narrow transcription (phonemic transcription) is indicative
of allophones as well.
d.
Allophones. For sounds articuled in context (not in isolation),
(surrounded by other sounds and not standing by themselves), for example /t/ as
in the word “stalk”, compared to /t/ has a slightly different acoustic quality.
Taking /t/ in various word occurrences, as in stalk [t].
Talk [th]
Football [to]
Beaten [tN]
Width [th]
Try [tr]
We have various articulatory-acoustic differences due to
the influence of sounds before or after them. This feature is known as phonological conditioning. Thus /tN/ for example, in “beaten” is a
syllabic [t] because it stands as a syllable, without the element of “e”. Thus
the [t] becomes somewhat ti sound like an/n/, making it sound nasalized as
well.
Likewise
[t] in width /wi0/ is often dropped off due to the influences of /0/ after it.
Altogether therefore, we see that [l] and [t] are allophones of the phoneme /l/
whilst [t, th, to,
tN, th, tr] are all allophones of the phoneme
/t/. All such allophones are slightly different from one another due to the
phonological conditioning of surrounding sounds.
e.
Minimal Pairs/Phonemes in Contrast. In the words, “feel” /fi:l/ and “feet” /fi:t:/ and /t/
are said to be phonemes in contrast, whilst
“feel” /fi:l/ and “fill” /fil/ are said to be minimal pairs, where all other sounds
are identicial except for one (minimal) contrastive sound. Similarly, another
example of a minimal pair is pin /pin/ and bin /bin/.
f.
Phonotactics. Phonotactics refers basically to
the phoneme combination possibilities of a certain language, inclusive of the
phoneme losses/linkage features in connected speech. For example if we consider
the sentence and its consonant-vowel makeup,
/t ɔrei ɔ:vri ɔbdi zi revri blan/
cvcv vccvvccv cv cvcvc ccvc
cvcv vccvvccv cv cvcvc ccvc
We find that even if the wordr do not sound
English, the c-v combinations sound slightly close enough to seem related to
English. On the other hand, a sentence such as :
“Ngaranggo ngiroh”
/ŋʌrʌŋŋɔ ŋirɔh/
Cvcvccv cvcvc
Does not seem related to English at all. This is a
reflection of the phoneme occurences as well as the phoneme combinations
possible in English. For example the velar nassal //does not occur in
word-initial position in English, whilst the glottal fricative “h”/h/ does not
occur in word-final position in English.
In every
language, there are certain possibilities of occurences and combinations of
phonemes in words. Similarly, phoneme combination such as consonant clusters
“tr” is common in English but not in Malay. (tree, trial, country, buttress).
g.
Liaison. Liaison is that
feature in connected speech which link phonemes over word boundaries depending on their constraints of
combinations. In phrase with word final consonant endings followed by an
accented vowel, the linkage (liaison) is so smooth. That words retained in
identity are carried over as in :
well
off / wel’ ɔf/
send
away /,send’ əwei/
less often /,lesE ɔfən/
get up / ,get’ ʌp/
A prominent phoneme in English which has liaison differences in
the different phonetic environment is the /r/ phoneme. It is due to the
rhoticity potential of this phoneme that the liaison feature is a prominent
variant. For example in words where /r/ is in final position, in British
English the /r/ in such circumstances is not pronounced. Thus “far” is
pronounced as /fa:/ or “rear” as /riə/. However, where a
word following this word starts with a vowel sound then this word-final /r/ is
realized phonologically.
Thus we have :
“far
off” as /fa.r ɔf/ and
“Rear
Admiral” as /riar aedmiral/
In
such circumstances, the /r/ is known as a linking “r”. (When it’s there in
orthography and only realized in such special circumstances, otherwise
remaining silent).
Another instance of the /”r”/ phoneme which plays a role in
“liaison” is when two words in a phrase have a vowel sound between “Asia” and
”Africa” /ei ʄiə
aend afrika/, we find that between “Asia” and “and”, there are only vowel sound
. Thus to break this, an “instrutive /r/ is inserted, giving the phrase “Asia
and Africa” to sound / ei ʄiəraend afrikə/. Thus
the linking “r” and instrutive “r” are some examples liaison features in
British English.
h.
Elision. Elision refers to the disappearance of a sound in a word.
Elisions may be historical or contextual. Historical elisions involve the
disappearance of sounds in example such as :
history /histəri histri/
university /ju:nivəsiti ju:nivə:sti
cupboard /kʌpbəd kʌbəd/
walk /wɔlk wɔk/
windmill /windmil winmil/
Contextual
eleisons are those that are used in present day conversation in rapid speaking
:
blindman /balin maen/
last time /la:s taim/
sit down /sidaun/
i.
Syllables. A syllable in a language normally
consist of a Consonant-Vowel (CV) or Vowel-Consonant (VC), CVC or VCV
combiantion. Each syllable consist of one nucleus at least, preceded by an
onset and followed by a code, thus an ONC combination. The nucleus plus code
give what is known as a rhyme. Thus :
a syllable =
onset + nucleus + coda = onset + rhyme
Thus, in the
syllable “this” , /δis/
we have,
S
O R
o N C
/δ/ (i) /S/
The
nucleus is usually made up of a vowel, with exceptions a syllabic consonants
such as /l/ in “bottle” /bɔtl/,
/n/ in mutton /mʌtn/.
The sonority (strength) in a syllable changes accordingly from the onset to the
coda (from low to high to low again). The rhyme is obvious in example such as
“then” /δen/ or “when” /wen/, where /δ/ and /w/ are different onsets but /en/
is identical. The rhyme i.e.nucleus + coda are identical).
j.
Foot/Metres.
In speech, syllables are combined into rhythmic units called feet. One foot is
equal to 1 stressed + 1 or 2 unstressed
syllables called metres. There are different kinds of feet :
i.
iambic metre – unstressed + stressed as
in “despite” /di’spait/
ii. trachaic
metre – stressed + unstressed as in “despot” /despɔt/
iii. anapestic metre - unstressed + unstressed
+ stressed
as in “intersect” /intə”sekt/
iv. dactylic
metre - stressed + unstressed + unstressed as in “interval” /intə’vəl/
Suprasegmentals in
English
In any utterance of spoken discourse
(speech) there are the segmental elements or sounds which go into forming the
various words in that utterance.(within the word and between words as well)
with these suprasegmental features superimposed on the segmental . For example
when a fantastic-looking prima donna enters the stage at a show and everyone
says , “Wow ! She’s a beauty !” , the normal expected expression is
astonishment shown in the intonation . On the other hand , if those same words
(segmental sounds) are uttered but with no expression what so ever as in “Wow ! She’s a beauty !” just plainly and in
a matter-of-fact-manner , (the suprasegmentals not being used) the manner of
delivery will definitely be most unexpected and an anticlimax in the context of
the situation .
The basic suprasegmental features
common especially in English are :
a. Stress
b. Gradation
c. Juncture
d. Intonation
Stress
Stress
is a suprasegmental feture accompanying words , phrases or sentences to
emphasize or focus the important element(s) in them . It is the degree of force
with which a sound or syllable is uttered . There are various kinds or levels
of stress :
a. Word
stress / lexical stress
b. Sentence
stress
There
are also normally three degrees of stress :
1. Primary
stress / ’ /
2. Secondary
stress / , /
3. Weak
stress / . /
a. Word / Lexical stress . This
is normally used to show difference in meaning between two identical words
(sounding the same) , but having different morphemic functions / qualities .
For example : Verb / Noun Contrasts :
In”crease
/ “increase
Per”mit
/ ‘permit
Im’port
/ ‘import
In’sult
/ ‘insult
b. Sentence Stress / Sentence focus . This is used to show importance of a specific
intended meaning :
ü I
didn’t ask you for the book
(someone else did)
(someone else did)
ü I
‘didn’t ask you for the book
(I did notalthough you say I did so)
(I did notalthough you say I did so)
ü I
didn’t ask ‘you for the book
(I asked someone else)
(I asked someone else)
ü I
didn’t ask you ‘for the book
(I asked you about the book)
(I asked you about the book)
ü I
didn’t ask you for the ‘book
(I asked you for something else)
(I asked you for something else)
Degrees of stress vary
according to the allocation of stress within the words (depending on the number
of syllables per word) , and within the sentence . Thus pitch , length and
loudness bring out the difference between primary , secondary and weak streaa .
Such features are also known as prosody
. For example in a monosyllabic word , there is basically the one and only
primary streaa . (blood-bl^d) . But this same monosyllabic word can be assigned
either degree of stress , depending on its position in terms of morphemic ,
phrasal as well as clausal structure . For example :
Blooded (disyllabic word) - /’bl^d, əd/
Bloody minded
(polysyllabic word) - bl^,di’maind, əd/
The
same principle applies to sentence stress where in an utterance , the three
degrees of stress are used according to the emphasis on particular words .
c. Stress – Timed Language and
Syllable – Timed Language . Having covered
syllables and stress , the difference between stress-timing and syllable-timing
has to be shown . For example in English , we have :
ÿ She
came home – 3 syllables
ÿ She
‘did come home – 4 syllables
ÿ Ahe
did ‘not come home – 5 syllables
ÿ She
did ‘not come back home – 6 syllables
The
progression of 3-6 syllables in the utterance will still allow the same time
range from “She’ to “home” , This is because the number of syllables don’t
determine the time duration of the utterance . On the other hand , the number
of stressed words are focused more , with the time not being affected . This
principle , where the same time is used for the utterance despite an increased
number of syllables is known as Isochrony
. English , Thus , is known as a stress-timed
language .
In
Malay , on the other hand , the rhythmic pattern is more dependent on the
number of syllables in the utterance , where every syllable is given almost
equal time for utterance , for example :
Sa |ya hen|dak ma|kan – 6 syllables
Sa |ya hen|dak ma|kan na|si – 8
syllables
Sa |ya ti|dak ma|hu ma|kan na|si – 10
syllables
Thus
Malay is known as a syllable-timed
language . French is yet another syllable-timed language .
d. Juncture . Juncture
is that suprasegmental feature which indicates the contrast in the transition
between two consequent syllables which differentiaties or distinguishes between
two possible interpretations of an utterance . The word “pause” is often used
to indicate juncture . The following examples have two possible interpretations
depending on where the pause falls :
Ø /pi:sto:ks/
could mean peace talks / pi:s tə:ks / or pea stalks / pi:stə:ks/
Ø /naitreit/
could mean night rate . nait reit / or nitrate / naitreit/
Ø /aiskri:m/
could mean I scream / ai:skrim / or ice cream / ais kri:m/
Ø /ə:lsəu/
could mean also /ə:|səu / or all so /ə:|səu/
e. Gradation . Gradation
refers to the existence , in English , of two or more pronunciation of stress
of the same word . This is due to the fact that the stress involved differs
according to the speed , context and formality of the situation . Thus the same
word can have different forms in those different circumstances (phonological
environments).
The
pair of terms used for such variant forms is “strong” form and “weak” form . “Strong” forms are those forms of the word used in stressed position when
the word is stressed or emphasized in connected speech or when ot occurs alone
. “Weak” forms are those forms of
the word that occur only in un stressed positions (thus in connected speech) .
These are different from their strong counterpart either by the reduction of a
vowel sound or a consonant sound or even by the difference in vowel length .
For example :
|
Word
|
Strong
Form
|
Weak
Form
|
|
them
|
/ðem/
|
/ðəm/
|
|
At
|
/aet/
|
/ət/
|
|
Are
|
/a:/
|
/ə/
|
|
Far
|
/fa:/
|
/fə:/
|
|
As
|
/aes/
|
/aez/
|
|
And
|
/aend/
|
/aen/
|
|
Him
|
/him/
|
/im/
|
|
her
|
/hə:/
|
/ə:/
|
Gradation
isn’t to be confused with “contraction” which is used to refer to
institutionalized written representations of reduction , as in “I’m” for I am ,
and “n’t’ for “not” . Further exampkes of contractions are :
Auxiliary verbs : am (m) , have (‘ve) ,
will (‘ll) , had (‘d)
Personal pronouns : us (‘s) , as in
“let’s”
f. Intonation . Intonation
refers to the levels of pitch or the relative height of voice in a sentence .
In normal speech , the pitch of voice always fluctuates , according to the
context , amotion , mood , intention and communicative context of the utterance
. The various stretches of phrases and clauses in an utterance have inevitable
breaks in them according to meaning as well as syntactic structure (also depending
on the focus of the utterance) . These stretches are known as tone groups (tone
units) .
In
each of these phrases (tone units) there are bound to be some prominent or more
stressed syllables , the height of which is called the nucleus . For example in
sentence i) “if I succeed in this exam ,ii) “I’ll go on a pilgrimage to
India”,(i) and(ii) are intonational groups (tone units) , with “exam”
and”India” as nuclei . Each of these nuclei have along with them a prehead “If”
and “I’ll” , a head , ”I succeed in this” and :go on a pilgrimage” .
Thus
the :
- Head
– is the stretch from the first stressed syllable to the last
- Prehead
– any preceding unstressed syllables
- Tail
– any syllables after the nuclei (if there’s any)
In
any sentence , therefore , the movement of pitch varies according to the
sentence utterance type . Four basic kinds of pitch contours (intonation
patterns) are identifiable in English :
i.
Falling
Tone : (The Glide Down) . This intonation pattern consists
of a fall in voice from fairly high pitch to a low one . It can be used for
various types of statement , communicating a feeling of completeness . For
example :
That was a good show
I like it very much
He gave his address
They came home early
ii. Rising Tone (The
Glide Up/Take Off) . This rising intonation pattern consists of a rise in pitch
of voice from low to a fairly high one . The words before these can be of
varying pitch . This one can be used for statements or when an utterance isn’t
final (inconclusive) and open-ended . For example :
I
shan’t be long (so don’t worry)
I’m
only just joking (so don’t get upset)
Oh
, come on ! Don’t be upset (it’s not the end of the world)
You
can’t go there (you know that)
I
wouldn’t do that (I’d rather------)
iii. Fall- Rise Tone (The
Dive) . This intonation consists of a fall from rather high to low , then a
rise to middle of the voice . It can be used for statements thar are contingent
or reservation statements . For example :
I’ll tell her , if she’ll listen
I haven’t much appetite (but I’ll still join you)
He’s generous (but I don’t trust him)
He’s handsome (you must admit it)
iv. Rise-Fall Tone . This
intonation consists of a rise from low to high and then a fall to fairly low
pitch . It indicates statements of some conviction , sometimes also used to
express a feeling of genuine warmth , surprise or shock . For example :
They
say we were early
We though that was marvellous
That’s wonderful
He’s great
They were a complete sellout
She’s an utter fool
v. Level Tone . This
tone consists of a stressed level tone in anticipation of what’s to follow .
For example :
He came , he saw , he conquered
They’re
big , bold and brazen
THE
INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA)
The International Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA) is a standard reference table used to represent sounds across all
languages . The main reference sounds that are found in the various languages
are represented by the IPA , which thus includes both the consonant sounds as
well as thee vowel sounds . The consonant sounds are represented on the IPA
Consonant Chart whilst the viwel sounds are represented on the Cardinal Vowel
Chart which contains the primary and secondary vowels .
As seen in the chart above , the various
types of places of articulation and manners of articulation are more than the
actual number available in English . It will be also noticed that some types of
places of articulation can be over-lapping . (For example , palate-alveolar and
alveolo-palatal) . Extra types of places of articulation are those such as
uvular and pharyngeal articulations , which are not typical in English .
The Cardinal Vowel
Chart
As described earlier on , the
Cardinal Vowel chart is a grid of reference for vowel sounds across all
languages . Based on the locus pf tongue movement in the mouth for the
production of vowel sounds , this Cardinal Vowel diagram represents the
parameters of the basic vowel sounds possible . Using this grid of reference
and the latitude-longitude principle of Geography , phoneticians pitch the
various vowel sounds of individual languages on this diagram .
The Cardinal Vowels total sixteen in
number , with eight Primary Vowels and eight Secondary Vowels plotted on the
Diagram .
The Primary Cardinal
Vowels
1. /i/
- front close vowels with lips spread . It is similar to /i:/ , in English as
in “tree”
2. /e/
- front half-close vowel with lips partially spread . It is similar to /e/ in
English as in “egg”
3. /-
front half- open vowel with lips spread . It is similar to the vowel quality of
English “bed”
4. /a/
- open front vowel , with lips spread . It is similar (very slightly) but more
rounded in quality as the /
5. //
- open back vowel , with neutral lips . It is similar in quality (though more
rounded) to “chores”
6. //
- half-open back vowel , with slightly rounded lips . It is similar in quality
to the vowel sound in “bond”
7. /o/
- half-close back vowel , with rounded lips . This sound doesn’t occur in
English , but occurs in Malay , as in “orang”
8. /u/
close back vowel , with closely rounded lips . It is similar but not identical
to the /u/ sound in “moon”
The Secondary Cardinal
Vowels
Vowels no.9 to 16 to Primary vowels 1 to
8 but with different lip-position . Thus where vowel no.1 is made with spread
lips , vowel no.19 is identical except for closely rounded lips . Likewise ,
vowel no.16 is similar to no.8 but with widely spread lips .
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