PHONOLOGY

KEY TERMINOLOGY:
 Phonetics = deals with the production of speech sounds by humans, often without prior
knowledge of the language being spoken
 Phonology = is about patterns of sounds, especially different patterns of sounds in different
languages, or within each language, different patterns of sounds in different position in
words, etc.
 Phoneme = the smallest unit of meaningful sound in a language
 Allophone = different articulation of the same phoneme; ex: lip position of /ʃ/ in shoe and
she
 Minimal pair = two items whose meanings alter when just one phoneme is changed; ex:
pin/bin
 Syllable = a unit of pronunciation which is (usually) longer than a sound, but (usually) less
than a word
 Monosyllable = a word consisting of a single syllable
 Discrimination = the ability to distinguish between two sounds when both are heard
together
 Lingua franca core/Phonological core = those phonological features which are deemed
to be vital in conveying a clear, unambiguous message to other users, especially in
communication between ‘non-native speakers’
 Stress = the effect of emphasising certain syllables by making them louder or longer, or by
increasing their pitch; there are word stress and sentence stress (aka prominence)
 Nuclear stress/Tonic syllable = where the greatest movement happens in a sentence; in
a typical sentence most syllables are not stressed except one
 Accommodation = the process of ‘squeezing together’ the syllables that occur between
stressed syllables, so that each segment of an utterance takes the same time to produce
 Differentiation/Recognition and production = the stages for teaching word and sentence
stress
 Stress-timed language = a language where stressed syllables tend to occur at regular
intervals and syllables are NOT assigned the same stress, e.g., English
 Syllable-timed language = a language where each syllable tends to take the same length
of time to say, e.g., French or Japanese
 Tone groups = parts of a sentence, each with one stress

CONSONANTS (= a speech sounds where the airstream from the lungs is either completely
blocked, partially blocked, or where the opening is so narrow that the air escapes with audible
friction):
 Voicing (= if the vocal chords are vibrating or not)
 voiced (/b/, /d/, /g/, /ʤ/, /v/, /ð/, /z/, /ʒ/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /r/, /j/, /w/)
 voiceless/unvoiced (/p/, /t/, /k/, /ʧ/, /f/, /θ/, /s/, /ʃ/, /h/)
 Place of articulation (= where the obstruction of the airflow is taking place; where the
sound is formed)
 bilabial (the lips are brought together) ex: /p/, /b/, /m/
 labio-dental (upper teeth or lower lip) ex: /f/, /v/
 dental (the tip of the tongue is placed behind the upper teeth) ex: /ð/, /θ/
 alveolar (the blade of the tongue is placed on or close to the alveolar ridge) ex: /t/,
/d/, /n/, /l/, /s/, /z/
  palato-alveolar (the front of the tongue is placed just behind the alveolar ridge)
ex: /ʧ/, /ʤ/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /r/
 palatal (the middle of the tongue is pushed against the hard palate) ex: /j/
 velar (the back of the tongue is placed against or close to the soft palate) ex: /k/,
/g/, /ŋ/, /w/
 glottal (produced by a strong airflow through the glottis) ex: /h/
 Manner of articulation (= how the airflow is affected; what happens to the air)
 plosive/stop (when the air is blocked completely and then released suddenly;
explosion) ex: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/
 fricative (when the air is partially blocked and friction is created; friction) ex: /f/,
/v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/
 affricative (a sequence of the above two: the air is first blocked and then released
more gradually than in a plosive, causing friction; explosion ending in friction) ex:
/ʧ/, /ʤ/
 nasal (when the air is pushed through the nasal cavity rather than the mouth;
through the nose) ex: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/
 lateral (when the air is pushed around the sides of the tongue, the tip of which is in
contact with the alveolar ridge) ex: /l/
 approximant (when two organs of speech come close to one another but not close
enough to block the airflow or cause audible friction) ex: /r/, /w/*, /j/*
*sometimes referred to as semi-vowels, as the airflow is not blocked or partially blocked, and thus
they are usually in a similar way to vowel sounds; however, in their relationship with other sounds,
they behave like consonants
VOWELS (= a speech sound produced without significant construction of the air flowing through
the mouth):
 Monophthongs
 front (/i:/ meat, /e/ dress, /æ/ hat)
 central (/ɪ/ him, /ə/ ago, /Ʌ/ cut, /ʊ/ put, /ɜ:/ bird, /ɑ:/ far)
 back (/u:/ moon, /ɔ:/ north, /ɒ/ hot)
--------------------------
 close/high (/i:/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /u:/)
 mid (/e/, /ə/, /ɜ:/, /ɔ:/)
 open/low (/æ/, /Ʌ/, /ɑ:/, /ɒ/)
--------------------------
 short (/ɪ/, /ʊ/, /e/, /Ʌ/, /æ/, /ɒ/, /ə/)
 long (/i:/, /u:/, /ɜ:/, /ɔ:/, /ɑ:/)
 Diphthongs (= a glide from one monophthong to another)
 centring (/ɪə/ ear, /ʊə/ sure, /eə/ there)
 closing (/eɪ/ pay, /ɔɪ/ boy, /aɪ/ sigh, /aʊ/ how, /əʊ/ go)

CONNECTED SPEECH
FEATURES:
 Assimilation (= when a phoneme changes its quality due to the influence of a neighbour
sound)
  Regressive
(when a sound affects what comes before it)
Ex: handbag /n/ -> /m/
 Progressive
(when a preceding sound has an effect on the following sound)
Ex: danced /d/ -> /t/
 Coalescent
(when both sounds affect each other)
Ex: Would you…? /d/ + /j/ => /ʤ/
 Catenation/Liaison (= the way sounds are fused together at word boundaries)
 Intrusion
(when an extra sound, i.e., a semi-vowel, is introduced between two vowel sounds,
one at the end of a word and the second at the beginning of the next word;
occurs between 2 vowel boundaries and help link the vowel sounds together
smoothly)
Ex: pie and chips /paɪjən(d)ʧɪps/, China and Japan /ʧaɪnərənʤəpæn/, and go
away /gəʊwəweɪ/
 Consonant vowel linking/catenation
(when a consonant sound at the end of a word links with a vowel sound at the start
of the next word so that the word boundaries become unclear)
Ex: first of all /fɜ:stəvɔ:l/ -> ~festival
 Juncture
(when the utterances are phonemically identical but there are 2 possible
interpretations of the sounds heard)
Ex: I scream vs ice-cream /aɪskri:m/
 Elision
(= the omission of sounds/syllables because a similar sound occurs immediately
afterwards)
Ex: pie and chips /paɪjən(d)ʧɪps/, I walked to work /aɪwɔ:k(t)təwɜ:rk/
 Weak forms
(= when a word is unstressed, the vowel is reduced to a schwa; however, other vowel
sounds can also be weak)
Ex: and /æ/ -> /ə/, been /i:/ -> /ɪ/
 Contraction
(= when two single syllable words combine into one syllable; one of the words is a weak
form)
Ex: is /ɪz/ + not /nɒt/ => isn’t /ɪznt/

INTONATION
Intonation is a suprasegmental feature of pronunciation, meaning that it is a property of whole
stretches of speech rather than of individual segments (such as phoneme).
Functions:
 Grammatical: indicating the difference between statements and questions
 Attitudinal: indicating interest, surprise, boredom, etc.
 Discoursal: contrasting new information with information that is already known, and hence
shared between speakers
 To separate the stream of speech into blocks of information and to mark information within
these blocks as being significant
PITCH AND TONE
Pitch = is the level of speech sounds / voice as perceived by the listener; can be ‘high’, ‘mid’ or
‘low’
Pitch (Voice) range = the distance between the lowest pitch of a language and the highest
Tone = a movement of pitch; can be rise, fall, fall-rise, or rise-fall;
combined with pitch, can be a high rise or a low rise (rising from a high or from a low
position) or a high fall or a low fall (falling from a high or from a low position)
Tone unit (aka Tone group) = a sub-division of an utterance which contains a tonic syllable;
Ex: If you finish / quickly leave the room
If you finish quickly / leave the room

Tonic syllable (aka nucleus) = the syllable which carries the main stress and where the main
pitch movement in an utterance takes place
Onset syllable = the stressed syllable before the tonic syllable;
Ex: On Monday it rained (Mon is the onset syllable, and rained is the tonic syllable)

Rhythm = consists of a pattern of pulses of air pressure; the pattern in which stressed and
unstressed syllables occur
Stress-timed rhythm = when the stressed syllables are particularly stressed and a varying
number of unstressed syllables; could be one or five or more, and they are packed into the
intervals; this results in distortions, compressions and weakening of the weak syllables; in English,
significant words or syllables are stressed

BASIC RULES OF INTONATION PATTERNS BY FUNCTIONS

1. Grammatical
 Tend to go down (falling intonation):
- Statements
- Imperatives
- Wh-questions
- Question tags seeking confirmation
- The last item in the list
 Tend to go up (rising intonation):
- Yes/No questions
- Question tags that are only 50% sure
- Each item in the list (apart from the last one)
2. Functional and attitudinal
 Expressing surprise – fall-rise
 Expressing interest – rise
 Expressing enthusiasm – high fall
 Giving polite advice – fall at the end of utterance
 Criticising tactfully – low fall
3. Discoursal
Intonation helps to flag up any shifts in discourse (e.g., of focus or changes of topic), and it is
usually indicated by a fall-rise intonation.
Proclaiming tone = intonation pattern either rises and then falls, or just falls; it shows that the
speaker is giving new information
 Referring tone = intonation pattern falls and then rises; it shows that the speaker is referring to
something that everybody already knows

TIPS FOR TEACHING INTONATION:

 Integrate a focus on intonation into your teaching of grammar, functions etc. A focus on
intonation can make revision of a structure interesting and challenging
 Exaggerate and encourage when modelling and practising intonation
 Distinguish between activities focusing on recognition and production
 Keep it simple. A focus on widening voice range will probably be more effective than putting
lots of energy into very specific intonation patterns
 In focusing on a specific pattern, make the link between form (the intonation) and meaning
(its effect) clear
 Concentrate on patterns relevant to your learners
 Focus on stress and rhythm together, intonation does not exist in a vacuum
 Contrast can be extremely useful for awareness raising, both between good and bad
models, and with monolingual classes, between L1 and English
 Mimicry and shadowing can be useful productive practice techniques, it is often difficult to
hear/produce intonation naturally in isolation from a model