1. Phonology
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Chapter 1
(Introduction)
· One of the aims of this book is to examine some ways in which we can begin to express what native speakers
know about the sound system of their language.
1.1Phonetics and phonology
· Most kinds of English have between 16-20 different vowel sounds.
· Aspiration: Sound that accompanied by an audible outrush of air (huh)
· Phonetics: Deals with speech sounds themselves, how they are made, how they are perceived and the physics
involved.
· Phonology: Deals with how these speech sounds are organized into systems for each individual language.
· Generative Grammar: is particularly associated with the work of the American linguist Noam Chomsky.
· Native Speaker Competence: The basic aim of a generative theory of linguistics is to represent in a formally
way the tacit knowledge native speakers have of their language.
· Performance: the actual use of language.
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Chapter 2
(Introduction to Articulatory Phonetics)
· The major aspects of speech production:
1. The airstream mechanism – where the air used in speech starts from, and which direction it is
travelling in.
2. Vocal cords – whether or not the vocal cords are vibrating, which determines voicing.
3. Velum – whether it is raised or lowered, which determines whether a sound is or oral nasal.
4. Place and Manner of Articulation – The horizontal and vertical position of the tongue and limps.
· Speech sounds found in different varieties of English:
1. Received Pronunciation (RP) – refers to a non-regional pronunciation found mainly in the United
Kingdom.
2. General American (GenAm) – refers to a standardized form of North American English.
2.1.1 – Airstream Mechanism
· The major "initiator" is the lungs and the most common direction is for air to flow out from the lungs
through >>> the trachea (windpipe), >>>>> larynx (in the Adam's apple) and >>>>> vocal tract (mouth
and nose).
· Pulmonic Egressive = (from the lungs outwards) – all human languages involve this type of air stream
mechanism.
· Ingressive airstream mechanism = (moving inwards) - the flow itself may begin at the velum (soft
palate) or the glottis.
· Pulmonic ingressive and velaric egressive – are not found in any human language
2.1.2 – The vocal cords
· If the vocal cords are far apart then the air passes through unhindered, resulting in what is known as a
voiceless sound such as (pass)
· If the vocal cords are close together, with only a narrow gap between them then as the air forced
though, the pressure causes the vocal cords to vibrate. This vibration result in a voice sound. Such as
(buzz)
2.1.3 – The velum
· The velum, or soft palate, is muscular flap at the back of the roof of the mouth.
· If the velum is Raised (known as 'velic closure'), the air can only flow into the oral tract, that is, the
mouth; sounds produced is known as Oral Sounds.
· If the velum is Lowered, the air flows into both mouth and nose, resulting in Nasal Sounds (man).
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2.1.4 – The oral tract
· The Active Articulators are the bits that move – the lower lip and the tongue.
· The Passive Articulators are the non-mobile parts – the upper lip, the teeth, the roof of the mouth and the
pharynx wall.
2.1.5 –Manner of Articulation
· Manner of Articulation refer to the vertical relationship between the active and passive articulators.
1. Stop: Complete closure of the articulators involved so that the airstream cannot escape through the mouth.
· Oral stop: Plosive, Soft palate is raised >> Nasal tract is blocked off.
- Bilabial closure: (pie, buy.)
- Alveolar closure: (tie, dye.)
- Velar closure: (key, guy.)
· Nasal stop: Soft palate is down.
- Bilabial closure: (my.)
- Alveolar closure: (nigh.)
- Velar closure: (sang.)
2. Fricative: Close approximation of two articulators so that the airstream is partially obstructed and
turbulent airflow is produced.
- Labiodental fricative: (fie, vie.)
- Dental fricative: (thigh, thy.)
- Alveolar fricative: (sigh, zoo.)
- Palato-alveolar fricative: (shy.)
• The higher-pitched sounds with a more obvious hiss, such as those in (sigh, shy,) are sometimes called
sibilants.
3. Approximant: An articulation in which one articulator is close to another, but without the vocal tract being
narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced.
- The first sound of (yacht.)
- The consonant in the word (we.)
- For some people (raw.)
4. Lateral (Approximant): Obstruction of the airstream at a point along the center of the oral tract, with
incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.
- Alveolar lateral (approximant) (lie, laugh.)
5. Trill: Roll, tongue-tip trills occur in some of Scottish English in words such as (rye, raw.)
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6. Tap: Flap, the tongue makes a single tap against the alveolar ridge; occur in the middle of a word like
(pity) in many forms of American English.
7. Affricate: A stop immediately followed by a fricative. The articulators come together for the stop, and then,
instead of coming fully apart, they separate only slightly, so that a fricative is made at the same place of
articulation.
- Palato-alveolar (post-alveolar) affricate (cheap.)
- Voiceless affricate at the end of (church.)
- Voiced affricate at the beginning of (judge.)
2.1.6 –Place of Articulation
· Place of Articulation refer to the horizontal relationship between the articulator.
Refer to Table 2.1 The major places of articulation (page # 13)
1. Bilabial: Made with two lips (pie, buy, my.)
2. Labiodental: Lower lip and upper front teeth (fie, vie.)
3. Dental: Tongue tip or blade and upper front teeth (thigh, thy.)
Dental: Behind the upper teeth. Interdental: Between the teeth.
4. Alveolar: Tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge (tie, die, nigh, sigh, zeal, lie.) Te//, Te//th Dental vs.
Alveolar.
5. Retroflex: Tongue tip and the back of the alveolar ridge (rye, row, ray.) Also ends of (ire, hour, air.)
6. Palato-Alveolar: Post-Alveolar, tongue blade and the back of the alveolar ridge (shy, she, show.)
7. Palatal: Front of the tongue and hard palate (you.)
8. Velar: Back of the tongue and soft palate (hack, hag, hang.)
2.2 Speech sound classification
1- The airstream mechanism
2- The state of Vocal cords
3- The position of Velum.
4- Place of Articulation.
5- Manner of Articulation.
· Vowels are always voiced
· All vowels are produced with a stricture of open approximation.
2.3 Supra-segmental
· Syllable: Segment of speech usually consisting of a vowel with or without accompanying consonant sounds
(e.g., a, I, out, too, cap, snap, check).
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