The Sound of

language
Submitted to:
Mam Tahira Asghar
Submitted by:
Ramsha Tariq
Rimsha Sajjad
Contents
➢Phonetics and its branches
➢Voiced and voiceless
➢Place of Articulation
➢Manners of articulation
➢Consonants
➢Vowels
 Phonetics
• Phonetics is a branch of linguistics.
• Phonetics is the scientific study of production, transmission and reception of human
speech sounds.
• The general study of the characteristics of speech sounds.
 Branches of Phonetics
• Articulatory Phonetic: Sounds are produced.
• Auditory Phonetic: Sounds are received.
• Acoustic phonetic: Sounds are transmitted.
• Forensic phonetics: Analysis of record utterance.
 Voiced and Voiceless
• Voiced: When the vocal cords are drawn together, the air from the lungs repeatedly
pushes them apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect. Sounds produced in
this are described as voiced. If you place a fingertip gently on the top of your ‘Adam’s
apple’ and produced sounds like Z-Z-ZZ or V-V-V-V these sounds are voiced sounds you
should be able to feel vibration.
• Voiceless: When the vocal cords are spread apart, the air from the lungs passes between
them without obstruction. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiceless.
Keeping your fingertip in the same position, make the sounds S-S-S-S or F-F-F-F these
sounds are voiceless sounds, there should be no vibration.
 Place of Articulation
• Apart from the behavior of the vocal cords, sounds can also be distinguished as to where in the oral
cavity they are articulated. This location where the sounds are produced is called articulation. There are
eight places of articulation’
• Bilabials
• Labiodental
• Dentals
• Alveolars
• Alveopalatals
• Velars
• Glottal
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• Bilabials: When we produce these sounds, we only use both of our lips. So,our both of lips
helping to produce Bilabial sounds. The English sounds [p], [b], and [m] are the bilabial
sounds. Example: man [m], spin [p]
• Labiodentals: The labiodental sounds are articulated by using both the lower lip and the
upper front teeth The English sounds [f] and [v] are the labiodental sounds. Example: van [v],
fan [f].
• Dentals: Sounds are produced by touching the upper front teeth with the tip of the tongue.
The English sounds [θ] and [ð] are the dental sounds. Example: thing [θ], this [ð].
• Alveolar: To produce the alveolar sounds, our tongue has to go up and touch the alveolar
ridge. The area Between the upper front teeth and the palate is alveolar ridge. The English
sounds [t], [d], [n], [s], [z], [l] are the alveolar sounds.Example: stop [t], debt [d], run [n].
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• Alveo-palatals: Sounds are produce by raising the blade of the tongue towards the part of
the palate. Just behind the alveolar ridge. The English sounds [ʃ] and [ʒ] are palate-
alveolar sounds. Example: sheep [ʃ] and occasion [ʒ].
• Palatal: The back part of the tongue goes and touches palate and produces palatal
sounds. In the English, [j] is the only palatal sound. Example: yet, yes.
• Velar: The back part of our tongue is going up and touching the soft palate is velar. The
English sounds [k], [g], [ŋ] are velar sounds. . Example: king [k], get [g], ring [ŋ].
• Glottal: Glottal is the deepest place of articulation. In pharynx, we have glottis or
epiglottis, and this Sound is coming from that place. In the English, [h] is the only glottal
sound. Example: happy, hot, hit, hang, hug
Manners of Articulation
 Manner of Articulation
Describes how the airstream is modified by the vocal tract to produce sounds.
• Stops
• Fricatives
• Affricates
• Nasals
• Liquids
• Glide
• Stops:
Stops sounds produced by obstructing the airstream in the oral cavity
and then releasing it. English sounds:
Bilabial stops: [p] [b] as in “pot” and “bee”
Alveolar stops: [t] [d] as in “two” and “do”
Velar stops: [k] [g] as in “car” and “go”

• Fricatives:
Sounds made by forming a nearly complete stoppage of the airstream.
Labiodental: [f] and [v] as in “fun” and “vote”
Alveolar: [s] and [z] as in “so” and “zoo”
Affricates:
These are the sounds which are made up of two parts, a stop and fricatives.
This action causes a kind of friction, and produces the alveolar (or alveo-palatal) sounds.
English sounds:[tƒ] as in “watch” and [dʒ] as in “joy”
Nasals:
These are the sounds which produced with the air going through the nose or nasal cavity.
The 3 nasal sounds in English are: [m] as in “me” [n] as in “no” [ŋ] as in “ring”
Liquids:
Sounds produced in the oral cavity with some obstruction of air stream in the mouth, but there is
no friction in the production of these sounds.
In English, the two liquids are:
[l] as in “love”
[r] as is “rot”
• Glides:
Sounds produced with little obstruction of the airstream.
Glides are also known as semivowels.
If the vocal tract were any more open these would be classified as vowels.
These sounds must be preceded or followed by a vowel.
In English the two glides are:
O [y] as in ye\
O [w] as in wet
Even though they are vowel-like in their articulation, the sounds are consonants since
they cannot function as the nucleus of a syllable
 Consonants
Sounds that are produced by complete or partial closure of the airstream in the vocal tract
Features that define what consonants:
1. Place where they are articulated;
2. Manner in which they are articulated;
3. Phonation of the consonant – the amount of vibration of the vocal chords during the
articulation of the sounds.
Sounds that vibrate the vocal chords during pronunciation are called voiced, and those that
don’t are called voiceless.
The space between the cords when they are open is known as the glottis.
The vocal cords can be relaxed so that the flow of air coming up from the lungs passes
through freely (voiceless); or the vocal cords can be held close together so that they vibrate
as air passes through (voiced)
 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)
 Classification of vowels:

• Traditionally, vowels are classified on the following bases:

Position of tongue
Openness of mouth
Shape of lips
Length of vowels
Height of tongue
 Types of vowels
there are three main types of
vowels as described below;
• Monophthongs
• Diphthongs
• Triphthongs
Monophthongs:
A Monophthong is one where there is one vowel sound in a syllable. These are also called
as “pure vowel sound”. Out of twenty vowel sounds, twelve are Monophthongs.
Example:
/і/ feel /ʊ/ food
Diphthongs:
A diphthong is one where there are two vowel sounds in a syllable. There are eight
diphthongs in English language.
Example;
/ɑі-/ time
/οʊ/ slow
/еə/ there
Triphthongs:
Triphthongs is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick movement of the
articulator
from one vowel quality to another that pass over a third.
Example:
/ɑʊə/ hour
/ɑɪə/ fir