A special set of consonants that demonstrate reduced levels of obstructed airflow during their production are called sonorants (sonants, semivowels). According to Roach (2009) + Sonorants are sounds that are voiced and do not cause sufficient obstruction to the airflow to prevent normal voicing from continuing, A list of the 20 vowel phonemes in English with word examples is given in Table 4: Table 4. Vowel phonemes fl [asin sit Ted___[asin may Ti] [as in speak Ta [asin kite Tol [asin book jou [asin toy Tul [as in too! ral [ asin near ial [as incu Teal [asin dare Tad [asin heart Too! [asin ewe Tol [as in box Toul [asin cold fod__[ asin door Jot [asin mouth iel__[asin bed Tel__[ asin cat Tal [asin bird Tal [asin ago A list of the 17 consonant phonemes in English with word examples is given in Table 5: Table 5. Consonant phonemes ipl [asin pipe Tal___[asin zoo Thy | as in be Tol [as in think it [asin time Tor [asin that fal__[asin do i__[ asin sure Tk [asin car isl __| as in casual igi [asin go itgi___[ asin church it__[ asinine jasi__[asin gin ii [asin ver Thi [asin hat isy__[as in sad A list of the 7 sonorant phonemes in English with word examples is given in Table 6: 28 = 4 ENGLISH PHONEMESTable 6, Sonorant phonemes Teal [as in map Jini as in nose Tyl__[ asin king A as in love fel as in red Til__[as in yacht wi as in wel Further reading options: Roach (2009; 2-3, 31-35), Underhill (1994: 5-7, 29-30), English Phonemic Chart, International Phonetic Association, International Phonetic Alphabet, diacritics, phonetic transcription, broad transcription, narrow transcription, vowel, consonant, sonorant Study questions: 1. What are the responsibilities of the International Phonetic Association? 2. Compare the sonority in vowels, consonants, and sonorants. 3. How many vowels, consonants, and sonorants are there in your native language? 4. Which of the 44 English phonemes are not present in your native language? ‘Compare and find similarities with the remaining phonemes. Exercises: 1. Transcribe the vowel phonemes in the following words: Word ‘Vowel Word Vowel cup how said hear sea [float ‘ash ‘foot blow first ‘glance dare wash pool ‘sign cream walk pill (LENGUSH PHONEMES = 29