The sounds of language

Phonetics
The general study of the characteristics of speech sounds is called phonetics. Our main
interest will be in articulatory phonetics, which is the study of how speech sounds are made, or articulated. Other
areas of study are acoustic phonetics, which deals with the physical properties of speech as sound waves in the air,
and auditory phonetics (or perceptual phonetics) which deals with the perception, via the ear, of speech sounds.

Voiced and voiceless sounds

1. When the vocal folds are spread apart, the air from the lungs passes between them unimpeded. Sounds
produced in this way are described as VOICELESS. (-V)

(VOICELESS)
/p/ park
/f/ fish
/t/ tip
/s/ sip
/f/ fat
2. When the vocal folds are drawn together, the air from the lungs repeatedly pushes them apart as it passes
through, creating a vibration effect. Sounds produced in this way are described as VOICED. (+V)
(VOICED)
/b/ bat
/d/ dip
/g/ gab
/j/ jag
/v/ van

The 3 Main sub-fields of Phonetics

Articulatory Phonetics
-refers to the “aspects of phonetics which looks at how the sounds of speech are made with the organs of the
vocal tract” Ogden (2009).

Acoustic Phonetics
-the study of the physical properties of sounds. It deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air.
This means that it studies the pitch, loudness, and quality of sounds. Usually, it uses soundwaves to measure
sounds.

Auditory Phonetics
-the study of how the ear, auditory nerve, and brain affect how we perceive spoken sounds. Thus, it includes
studying how listeners' responses to speech stimuli are affected by mechanisms in the peripheral and central
auditory systems, including some cortical regions of the brain.

Place of articulation
The place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is a location along the vocal tract where its
production occurs. It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a passive articulator. We can
also keep the voiced–voiceless distinction in mind and begin using the symbols of the phonetic alphabet for specific
sounds. These symbols will be enclosed within square brackets [].
Bilabials
These are sounds formed using both (= bi) upper and lower lips (= labia).
They are represented by the symbols [p], which is voiceless. While [b], [w] and [m], which are voiced.
Labiodentals
These are sounds formed with the upper teeth and the lower lip.
They are represented by the symbols [f], which is voiceless, and [v], which is voiced.
Notice that the final sound in the word cough, and the initial sound in photo, despite the
spelling differences, are both pronounced as [f].
Dentals
These sounds are formed with the tongue tip behind the upper front teeth.
The symbol used for this sound is [θ], usually referred to as “theta.”
(e.g. three teeth, thin, bath /-V/)
The voiced dental is represented by the symbol [ð], usually called “eth.”
(e.g. the, there, then, thus, bathe, feather /+V/)
The term “interdentals” is sometimes used for these consonants when they are pronounced with the tongue tip
between (= inter) the upper and lower teeth.
Alveolars
These are sounds formed with the front part of the tongue on the alveolar ridge, which is the rough, bony ridge
immediately behind and above the upper teeth.
The symbols for these sounds are easy to remember – [t], [d], [s], [z], [n].
Of these, [t] and [s] are voiceless whereas [d], [z] and [n] are voiced.
(e.g. top, dip, sit, zoo, nut, not, knot, raise, bus, buzz)
Other alveolars are the [l] sound found at the beginning of words such as lap and lit,
and the [r] sound at the beginning of right and write.
Palatals
If you feel back behind the alveolar ridge, you should find a hard part in the roof of your
mouth. This is called the hard palate or just the palate. Sounds produced with the
tongue and the palate are called palatals (or alveo-palatals).
The “sh” sound is represented as [ʃ] and the “ch” sound is represented as [ʧ].
One of the voiced palatals, represented by the symbol [ʒ]. The other voiced palatal is [ʤ].
One other voiced palatal is the [j] sound used at the beginning of words like you and yet.
(e.g. shout, child, shoe, brush, church / e.g. judge, treasure, pleasure, joke, gem, George, rouge)
Velars
Sounds produced with the back of the tongue against the velum (soft palate) are called velars.
There is a voiceless velar sound, represented by the symbol [k].
(e.g. kid, kill, cook, kick, coke, car, cold)
The voiced velar sound heard at the beginning of words like go, gun and give is represented by [ɡ].
The velum can be lowered to allow air to flow through the nasal cavity and thereby produce another voiced velar,
represented by the symbol [ŋ], typically referred to as “angma.” In written English, this sound is normally spelled
as the two letters “ng”.
Glottals
There is one sound that is produced without the active use of the tongue and other parts of
the mouth. It is the sound [h] which occurs at the beginning of have and house and, for
most speakers, as the first sound in who and whose.
Charting consonant sounds
Having described in some detail the place of articulation of English consonant sounds, we can summarize
the basic information in the accompanying chart. Along the top of the chart are the different labels for places of
articulation and, under each, the labels −V (= voiceless) and +V (= voiced). Also included in this chart, on the left-
hand side, is a set of terms used to describe manner of articulation which we will discuss in the following section.

Limitations of the chart

This chart is far from complete. It contains the majority of consonant sounds used in the basic description of English
pronunciation. There are, however, several differences between this basic set of symbols and the much more
comprehensive chart produced by the International Phonetic Association (IPA). The most obvious difference is in
the range of sounds covered.
Another way in which the chart is incomplete is the single entry covering “r” sounds
in English. There can be a lot of variation among speakers in the pronunciation of the
initial sound in raw and red, the medial sound in very, and the final sound in hour and
air. Different symbols (e.g. [ɹ], [ʀ]) may be encountered in transcriptions where the
different “r” sounds are distinguished.
Finally, in some phonetic descriptions, there are different symbols for a few of the
sounds represented here. These alternatives are [s
ˇ] for [ʃ], [z
ˇ] for [ʒ], [c
ˇ] for [ʧ], [jˇ] for [ʤ]
and [y] for [j]. For a fuller discussion of the use of these symbols, see Ladefoged (2006).

Manner of articulation
 “HOW” the airstream is obstructed to produce consonants sounds.
 is the configuration and interaction of the articulators (speech organs such as the tongue, lips,
and palate) when making a speech sound.

Stops
• Sounds produced by blocking the airstream completely and then releasing it in a burst of air.

• /p/ • /b/

pay, happy, tap bay, abbey, tab

• /t/ • /d/

top, acted, bet days, abandon, bed

• /k/ • /g/

cat, faking, attack gear, soggy, tag

Fricatives
• Consonants produced by a partial obstruction of the airstream.
• /f/ • /v
feel, defy, proof veal, bravery, prove
• /θ/ • /ð/
thing, toothache, path those , teething, bath
• /s/ • /z/
soda, passing, bus zipper, buzzing, quiz
•/ʃ/ •/ʒ/
Affricates
• Sounds that have a combination of a stop and a fricative.
•/ʧ/ •/ʤ/
champion, pitcher, catch jacket, badger, age
Nasals
• Sound produced with the airstream passing through the nose.
• /m/
may, hammer, jam
• /n/
night, manner, can
•/ŋ/
sink, thing
Liquids
• Consonants where the airstream passes through the mouth in a fluid manner.
There are 2 liquids:
The Lateral
• /I/
light, belly, call
The Retroflex
• /r/
right, carry, car

Glides
-words + words
-are those sounds that have vowel-like qualities. They combine with vowels and are almost always followed by a
vowel. They literally glide into the vowel sound.
-In some approaches, the liquids [l], [r] and glides [w], [j] are combined in one category called “approximants.”

Glottal stops and flaps

FLAPS
- a consonant sound produced by a single quick flip of the tongue against the upper part of the mouth,
Example: WATER, COMPUTER, LITTLE, BITTER, HEATER

GLOTTAL STOPS
- a momentary interruption of airflow caused by closing the glottis (the space between vocal cords), resulting in a
brief choking or cough-like sound when released.
Example: MOUNTAIN, FORGOTTEN, FOUNTAIN, BUTTON, COTTON

Vowels
What Are Diphthongs? While vowels are letters that produce a single sound, diphthongs make two vowel sounds in
a single syllable.

You would typically break up syllables between two vowel sounds, but diphthongs instead have two sounds without
that break.
Front vowels
Central vowels
Back vowels
[i] bead, beef, key, me
[ə] above, oven, support
[u] boo, move, two, you
[ɪ] bid, myth, women
[ʌ] butt, blood, dove, tough
[ʊ] book, could, put
[ɛ] bed, dead, said
[ɔ] born, caught, fall, raw
[æ] bad, laugh, wrap
[ɑ] Bob, cot, swan

Diphthongs
In addition to single vowel sounds, we regularly create sounds that consist of a combination of two vowel
sounds, known as diphthongs.

Diphthongs
[aɪ] buy, eye, I, my, pie, sigh
[oʊ] boat, home, throw, toe
[aʊ] bough, doubt, cow
[ɔɪ] boy, noise
[eɪ] bait, eight, great, late, say

Subtle individual variation

- It refers to the small and often hard-to-detect differences in the way individual speakers use language. These
differences can include variations in pronunciation, word choice, or grammar that are unique to each person's speech
patterns.

PRONUNCIATION
WORD CHOICE

ACCENT

GRAMMAR

INTONATION

REFERENCES:

GEORGE YULE (2010). THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE, FOURTH EDITION

MA. MARTHA MADRID (2012). THE ORGANS OF SPEECH AND THEIR FUNCTION