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Lecture 3 Week 3 Final

The document discusses the sounds of the English language. It covers topics like phonetics, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), consonant and vowel sounds, and the speech organs involved in sound production. Specifically, it describes the 3 types of phonetics - articulatory, acoustic, and auditory. It also lists the 24 consonant sounds of English and groups them according to their method of pronunciation.

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Ahmed Reda
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37 views

Lecture 3 Week 3 Final

The document discusses the sounds of the English language. It covers topics like phonetics, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), consonant and vowel sounds, and the speech organs involved in sound production. Specifically, it describes the 3 types of phonetics - articulatory, acoustic, and auditory. It also lists the 24 consonant sounds of English and groups them according to their method of pronunciation.

Uploaded by

Ahmed Reda
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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THE SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

LANGUAGE
WEEK 3
SOUND SEGMENTS

Knowing a language includes knowing the sounds of that .1


.language

.Phonetics is the study of speech sounds .2

We are able to segment a continuous stream of speech into


.distinct parts and recognize the parts in other words
SOUNDS & LETTERS

When we write a word , we write letters . For example , the word teacher is
made up of letters . On the other hand , when we speak , a word is made up of
sounds . It is important to distinguish sounds from letters. In the word
phone ,for example, the letters ph are pronounced /f/ . The sound is always
. / / written between slanted lines
TYPES OF PHONETICS

The science of phonetics aims to describe all the


sounds of all the world’s languages. Phonetics can
then be divided into three distinct phases: (1)
articulatory phonetics, (2) acoustic phonetics, and
.(3) auditory phonetics
Articulatory phonetics: focuses on how the.1
.vocal tract produces the sounds of language
ACOUSTIC PHONETICS

Acoustic phonetics: focuses on the scientific


properties of the sounds of language. i.e. the way in
which the air vibrates as sounds pass from speaker to
listener. A spectrograph is a machine that measures
.the soundwaves
AUDITORY PHONETICS

Auditory phonetics: focuses on how listeners


perceive the sounds of language i.e. how the sounds
are transmitted from the ear to the brain, and how
.they are processed
The International Phonetic Alphabet

In 1889, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was


invented in order to have a system in which there was a
one-to-one correspondence between each sound in
language and each phonetic symbol . Someone who knows
the IPA can know how to pronounce any word in any
.language
THE SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

In the English alphabet there are 26 letters, but •


these letters produce 44 sounds. For this reason,
one letter is used to produce more than one sound.
In order to know the correct pronunciation certain
symbols denoting these sounds have been devised
.and standardized
THE SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

By learning these symbols you will be able to find the


correct pronunciation of any word in a standard dictionary.
These symbols will also help you to go through the book
with guidance for correct pronunciation of words and
:conversations. These sounds are classified into two types
?WHAT IS A CONSONANT SOUND

A consonant sound is one in which the air stream coming out of the lungs is •
modified in the mouth cavity by some blockage created by the tongue, lips,
etc. When you say the sound of ‘p’ as in ‘pen’ a blockage is created in the
outgoing breath by closing both the lips and thus, a consonant sound is
produced. The charts on the following pages illustrate all the vowel and
.consonant sounds of English
THE CONSONANT SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

This list describes the consonant sounds of English.


Read the examples aloud and also note the various
:possible spellings of each sound
?WHAT IS A VOWEL SOUND

There are only 5 vowel letters in English (a,e,i,o,u), but the


sounds indicated by these 5 letters are 20. A vowel sound is
produced when the air comes out of the mouth freely
without any blockage or closure in the mouth cavity by the
.tongue, teeth, lips, etc
Now that you have gone through the symbols corresponding to all •
the 44 sounds of English (also called phonemes), let us practice
recognizing them in words written using these symbols (phonemic
script). When you get some practice with this, you can look up the
pronunciation of any word in a dictionary and fi nd its correct
pronunciation. For instance, when you look up the word ‘cat’ in a
dictionary you will find its pronunciation given as /kæt/. Similarly,
the phonemic transcription (written conventionally between two
./bars / /) of the word ‘show’ in the dictionary is /ʃəu
meet ship sun rat goat teach

go shoot watch book cat about seat bird


ORGANS OF SPEECH

In order to know how to produce the various sounds


of English correctly, you must be familiar with the
speech organs that are used to produce them. The
English speech sounds are produced with the help of
.different organs or parts of the mouth
These are lips, teeth, teeth ridge, tongue, the roof of the
mouth cavity (consisting of the hard palate and the soft palate
at the back), uvula (the soft hanging part at the extreme end of
the roof of the mouth), vocal cords (two muscle strips placed
.horizontally at the top of the windpipe)
CONSONANT SOUNDS

We have learnt earlier that the speech sounds


can be divided into two types: the vowel
sounds and the consonant sounds. The
consonant sounds are 24 in number. A brief
.description of these is given below
CONSONANT SOUNDS

These may be grouped according to: a) the way they are


pronounced b) the place of pronunciation in the mouth, and
c) whether they are voiced or unvoiced (a sound is ‘voiced’
if accompanied by vibrations in the vocal cords and it is
‘unvoiced’ when there are no vibrations in the vocal cords.)
We shall deal with consonant sounds in groups
based on the first classification i.e. the way the
sounds are produced. This classification
;includes
./Plosives: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g .1
./Affricates: /tʃ/, /dʒ .2
Fricatives: /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, .3
.//ʒ/, /h
./Lateral: /l .4
./Frictionless Continuant: /r .5
./Nasals: /m/, /n/, /ŋ .6
./Semi - Vowels: /w/, /j .7

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