Classification of English sound

Phonetics is the study of sounds of words. It is derived from the Greek word phone which means sound/voice. In English there is no phonetic correlation between the letters and the sound. Like for exampleCome Crche Cinema Chemistry

The letter c in can is pronounced as k in king, whereas c in pace is pronounced as s in Sing. And ch in creche is pronounced as sh in ship, whereas ch is pronounced as k in king In English, there are twenty six letters but forty-four sounds. The sounds in English are divided into two main categories: the vowel sounds and the consonant sounds. There are twenty vowel sounds which are subdivided into monophthongs or pure vowels (twelve) and diphtohongs (eight) and the rest twenty four are consonant sounds. All these signs are represented by specific symbols. The source for these symbols is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), a system of transcription which tries to represent each sounds of human speech using symbols. ORGANS OF SPEECH The vocal cord: The vocal cords are two elastic folds situated in the Adams apple. The opening between the vocal cords is called the glottis. The air stream travels upward from the lungs through the vocal cords. When the vocal vibrate, voiced sounds are produced. Sounds produced with the vibration of the vocal cords are known as voiceless sounds. You can feel the vibration of sounds by saying zzz and you cannot feel any vibration when you say ssss., so /z/ is a voiced sound and /s/ is a voiceless sound. The lips: The sounds produced with the use of lips are known as labial sounds. If both the lips are used, the sound is known as bi-labial sound. If lips and teeth are used, then the sound is labio-dental. The tongue: among the organs of speech, the tongue is tongue is the chief articulator. The tongue has three parts: the tip, the blade and the back. Any one of these three may be used in the production of sound. The teeth ridge: the teeth ridge is situated behind the upper row of teeth. Sounds produced with the tongue touching the teeth ridge are known as alveolar sounds.

The palate: palate forms the roof of the mouth. The palate has two parts- the hard palate and the soft palate which is also called the velum. If you run the tongue along the surface of the roof , you will find the first half of the palate, hard and the second half , soft.