Dr.

KHERBACHE FATMA Academic Year: 2020/2021

Module: Phonetics
Level: L1
Group: 7
Lecture 1: The Sounds of Language

Introduction

Language is the most essential means of human communication. It has two (2)
different manifestations: the spoken and the written forms. Linguists consider speech
as the primary medium of language expression. Thus, they give priority to speech
sounds (vocal system). Each language has its limited range of sounds called the phonic
medium. This term was introduced by John Lyons (1981) who says: ‘speech is made of
continuous bursts of sounds’.

Thus, phonetics may be defined as the study of the phonic medium which can be
analysed from three (3) points of view:

1- Articulatory phonetics: it studies the way speech sounds are produced by

speech organs and articulators.
2- Acoustic phonetics: it deals with the physical properties of sound waves created
by the activity of speech organs.
3- Auditory phonetics: it studies the perception of speech sounds by ear and brain.

In order to represent speech sounds, there was a real need for a conventional
(standardized) system of phonetic transcription called: IPA (International Phonetic
Alphabets) which was established in 1888.
There are two types of phonetic transcription:
*broad transcription: it gives a distinctive representation of speech sounds.
*narrow transcription: it gives a detailed transcription of speech sounds including
diacritics.
Language has different accents pronounced differently by people from different
geographical places, different social classes, different ages, and different educational
backgrounds. Thus, English has different accents, but the one that we will concentrate
on is Standard British English which is used by news readers on BBC (British
Broadcasting Corporation) TV and radio. It is also used in schools and universities and
it is also called R P English (Received Pronunciation English). We notice that there
are differences between British and American accents and also northern and southern
British English, but there is no implication that certain accents are inferior or less
pleasant than others.

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Dr. KHERBACHE FATMA Academic Year: 2020/2021
Module: Phonetics
Level: L1
Group: 7
Lecture 2: The Production of Speech Sounds (Articulatory Phonetics)

Figure 1 Speech Organs

Articulators above the larynx (see the diagram above)

The speech organs have other functions which are not connected with speech but they are
biologically primary. The lungs are to supply Oxygen to the blood, the tongue and the teeth
are for eating. However, speech sounds in all languages are produced as following: the air
stream is expelled by the lungs, goes through the windpipe along the vocal tract which begins
from the larynx to the lips (oral cavity) and nostrils (nasal cavity). Speech sounds are
classified in terms of speech organs that produce them (the place of articulation) and the way
in which they are produced (the manner of articulation).

Place: lips place: lips

Examples: /p/, /b/ /m/

Manner: plosive consonants manner: nasal consonant

1- The pharynx: is a tube which begins just above the larynx. It is divided into two (2) parts
at its top end: the back of mouth and the beginning of the way through the nasal cavity.
2- The Soft palate (velum): the velum is seen in the diagram in a position that allows air to
pass through the nose and the mouth , but it may be seen in three (3) positions:
*lowered: to allow the air pass through both nose and mouth.

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 *lowered with a complete closure of the oral cavity: so that the air passes only through the
nasal cavity.
*raised: so that the air escapes only from the mouth.

3-The hard palate: it is often called the roof of the mouth.

4-The alveolar ridge: it is between the top front teeth and the hard palate.

5- The tongue: it can be moved into many different places and different shapes. It is usually
divided into five (5) parts. The figure below shows these parts:

Figure 2. Subdivisions of the Tongue

6- Teeth: the diagram shows only the upper and lower front teeth. The tongue is in contact
with the upper teeth for many speech sounds.

7- Lips: (upper and lower) are important in speech. They can be pressed together to get
bilabial /p/, /b/, brought into contact with teeth to get labio-dental /f/, /v/, or rounded to
produce vowels like [u:] or spread to produce [i:].

8- Nasal cavity: is used for nasal sounds like /m/, /n/ where the air goes into the nasal cavity
when the velum is completely lowered.

9- Larynx: is situated at the end of the windpipe. It is a very complex articulator with the
vocal cords inside.

10- Vocal cords: they are very important for making the difference between voiced and
voiceless sounds: if they are kept close together and made to vibrate as the air passes through
the glottis(space between the vocal cords), he sound produced is voiced. If the air passes
through without vibration, the sound is voiceless. All English vowels are voiced; consonants
may be voiced or voiceless. In whispered speech, voiced consonants and vowels are voiceless.

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Dr. KHERBACHE FATMA Academic Year: 2020/2021
Module: Phonetics
Level: L1
Group: 7
Lecture 3: Vowels and Consonants

Introduction:

How do vowels differ from consonants? Vowels and consonants are very familiar
to us, but scientifically they are not easy to define. The most common view is that
vowels are sounds in which there is no obstruction to the flow of air from the larynx to
the lips. But, for consonants it can be clearly felt that we are making it difficult (partial
obstruction or impossible – complete or total obstruction-) for the air to pass through
the mouth (as examples: d and s sounds).

However, there are many cases where the decision is difficult to make. For
instance, sounds at the beginning of the words ‘home’ and ‘wave’ do not really
obstruct the flow of air. But, it is possible to distinguish (to make difference) vowels
and consonants in another way. Let consider English words beginning with the sound
‘h’. The sound which normally comes after ‘h’ is a vowel like in ‘hospital’, ‘hotel’,
‘head’, ‘hear’, ‘hat’... and the same thing with the sound ‘w’ like ‘wave’, ‘well’,
‘wife’...Thus, we can differentiate between vowels and consonants by looking at the
different contexts and positions in which particular sounds can occur. This is the study
of the distribution of sounds. If we look at the vowel-consonant distribution in this
way, we must say that the most important difference between vowels and consonants
is not the way they are produced, but their different distributions. The distribution of
vowels and consonants is different for each language.

Vowels

In what ways do vowels differ from each other? The first thing to consider is the shape
and position of the tongue. There are many complex possibilities of the movement of
the tongue, but they can be simplified by describing just two (2) things:
1-The vertical distance between the tongue and the palate (tongue-height
differentiation).
3- The part of the tongue (front or back) which is raised highest (frontness-backness).
*Tongue-height differentiation

- [i:] in ‘see’ the tongue is raised close to the palate.

- [æ] in ‘cat’ the distance between the tongue and the palate is much greater.

The difference between [æ] and [i:] is a difference of tongue-height. When describing
these vowels, we say that [i:] is a close vowel and [æ] is an open vowel. The tongue-
height can be changed by moving the tongue up and down.

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*Frontness vs. backness

By changing the shape of the tongue, we can produce vowels in which a different part
(front, back) of the tongue is raised highest. For example: it is the front part of the
tongue that is raised in the case of [i:] and [æ]. We could, therefore, describe them as
front vowels. But, in the production of [a:](like in dark, arm) and [u:] (like in too), it is
the back part of the tongue which is raised highest. Thus, [a:] and [u:] are back vowels.

close front back shape of the tongue

i: u:

æ a:

open Position of the tongue

Figure 3. Extreme vowel positions

Cardinal Vowels: They are standard reference system which helps us in learning about the
range of vowels that the humans can produce. It is a useful way of describing, classifying and
comparing vowels. This system is not typical of English or any other language.

front central back

close i u
half-close e o
half-open ε ͻ
open a ɑ
Figure 4. Eight primary cardinal vowels

*Lip position

There is another important variable of vowel quality and that is lip-position. There are three
(3) possibilities:

-rounded: the corners of the lips are brought towards each other and the lips are pushed
forwards like in [u:]

-spread: the corners of the lips move away from each other like in [i:]

-neutral: the lips are neither rounded nor spread like in about [ǝ] schwa

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 Dr. KHERBACHE FATMA Academic Year: 2020/2021
Module: Phonetics
Level: L1
Group: 7
Lecture 4: English Vowels

Introduction
We use three (3) principles (tongue-height/frontness vs. backness/ lip-position) to describe
the English vowels. There is a large number of vowel sounds with different degrees of the
length (short or long) described in relation to the cardinal vowels.

A-Short vowels: the symbols for these short vowels are: ɪ - e - æ - Ʌ - ɒ - ʊ - ə

1- ɪ as in fish, rich, dish, give.

The diagram below (figure 5) shows that this vowel is in the close front area. The lips are
slightly spread.
2- e as in yes, men, rest, beg, tell, sell. This is a front vowel between half close and half
open. The lips are slightly spread.
3- æ as in cat, fat, bat, hat. This vowel is front open. The lips are slightly spread.
4- Ʌ as in but, cut, dust, rush, some, sun, cup. This is a central vowel between half open
and open. The lips are neutral.
5-ɒ as in not, hot, dog, rock, top, gone, cross, lot. The vowel is back between half open
and open. The lips are slightly rounded.
6- ʊ as in put, push, should, could, book, look. It is near to the cardinal vowel [u] but it is
more open . The lips are rounded.
7- ə as in oppose, perhaps, teacher, It is a central vowel with neutral lips. It is called
schwa.

B- Long vowels: there are five (5) long vowels. They tend to be longer than the short vowels.
The symbols for these long vowels are: i: - ɜ: - a: - ͻ: - u:

1- i: as in see, free, peace, leave, speech. This vowel is near to the cardinal vowel [i]. It is
close front. The lips are slightly spread.
2- ɜ: as in first, third, girl, earth, learns. This is a central vowel with neutral lips.
3- a: as in dark, arm, large, half, mark, car. This is an open back vowel near to the cardinal
vowel [a]. The lip-position is neutral.

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4- ͻ: as in daughter, more, short, for. This is a back vowel between half close and half open.
The lips are rounded
5- u: as in food, tool, soon, wood, rule, blue, choose. This vowel is back close with
rounded lips. It is near to the cardinal vowel [u].

The long vowels are different from the short vowels not only in length but also in quality
(tongue shape and position and lip position). If we compare short ɪ with long i: or short ʊ with
long u: or short æ with long a:, we can see differences in tongue shape and position and lip-
position, as well as in length.

C- Diphthongs

R.P English has a large number of diphthongs. They are sounds which consist of a
movement or a glide from one vowel to another vowel. They are like the long vowels in terms
of length. The most important thing to remember about the diphthongs is that the first part is
much longer and stronger than the second part. The total number of diphthongs is eight (8) as
shown below:

Diphthongs

3 centring 5 closing

ending in ə ending in ɪ ending in ʊ

ɪə eə ʊə eɪ aɪ ͻɪ əʊ aʊ

Figure 7. Diphthongs
Centring diphthongs
The centring diphthongs glide towards the schwa vowel as it is indicated in the diagram
below.
ɪə near, here, fear
eə fair, air, where, there

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ʊə tour, moor

Closing diphthongs
The closing diphthongs have the characteristic that they all end with a glide towards a close
vowel:
*Three of the diphthongs glide towards short ɪ as described below:
eɪ stay, play, main, face
aɪ glide, ice, time, nice, five
ͻɪ oil, boy, voice, join, coin
*Two diphthongs glide towards ʊ
əʊ show, go, most, window - bet
aʊ out, now, house

D- Triphthongs

They are the most complex English sounds of the vowel type, because they are difficult to
pronounce and recognize. A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a
third, all produced rapidly and without interruption. The triphthongs are composed of five
closing diphthongs plus (+) schwa added to the end. Thus, we got: eɪə - aɪə - ͻɪə - əʊə - aʊə.

eɪə player- layer

aɪə liar-fire- empire
ͻɪə loyal - royal
əʊə lower - mower
aʊə power - hour – flower

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Dr. KHERBACHE FATMA Academic Year: 2020/2021
Module: Phonetics
Level: L1
Group: 7
Lecture 5: How letters change the pronunciation

How does ‘e’ change the pronunciation?

Without - e: fat – cat – am – plan – hat /æ/

a
With - e: gate – late - name – plane – hate /eɪ/

Practice: man – same – take – that – safe – tap - tape

Without - e: sit – in – begin – if – swim /ɪ/

With - e: invite – fine – wine – wife – time /aɪ/

Practice: fit – inside – still – mile – hid – hide – ride – like

Without - e: stop – top – not – hot – clock /ɒ/

With – e: hope – home – note – nose /əʊ/

Practice: job – smoke – stone – nose – god – joke – bone – on – spot

Without – e: bus – run – sun – just /ʌ/

With – e: June – rude – use – tube /u:/

Practice: much – cube – cub – gun - fun – duke – duck

Exceptions: some [ʌ] – come [ʌ] – one [ʌ] – have [æ] – give [ɪ] – live [ɪ] - love [ʌ]

*Pronunciation of the letter ‘a’: the rules are as follows:

Before consonant + e: make – late - take

/eɪ/

Before i + consonant: rain – Spain – fail

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 Before final consonant: ban - sad

/æ/

Before double consonants: apple – hand

Before mute ‘r’: artist

Before ‘f’: half
/a:/ Before ‘s’ + consonant: past – pass
Before final ‘th’: bath

Before final ‘w’: law - saw

/ͻ:/ before double ‘l’: call – tall
Before ‘lk’: talk - walk

/ə/: about – again – attend

*Pronunciation of the letter ‘e’

/e/: red – dress - get

e /i:/: he – eat – see

/ə/: settlement - /’setlmənt/

Practice: went – meat – men – bed – be – left – read – speak - me

* Pronunciation of the letter ‘i’

/ɪ/: before final consonant: sit – in – big

i /aɪ/: before consonant + e: wine – five and also before final ‘ght’: might- right

/3:/: before mute ‘r’: first - shirt

*Pronunciation of the letter ‘o’

At the end of words in ‘oa’: coat, boat
/əʊ/
Before consonant + e: home – hope

/ɒ/ before final consonant in most other cases: on – got – job

/ͻ:/ for ‘or’: more - short – forty (or can be pronounced /ə/ like in forget – doctor

/3:/ for ‘wor’: work – world – worse

For ‘o’: some – one - mother

/ʌ/

For ‘ou’: young - country

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/ə/ oppose – obtain – tomorrow – purpose

*Spelling of /3:/

‘er’: certain
‘ir’: first
/3:/ ‘ur’: burn – Thursday
‘wor’: world – work
‘ear’: learn – early - heard

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