In 1888 the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was

invented in order to have a system in which there was one-

to-one correspondence between each sound in language and
each phonetic symbol.
Some problems with ordinary spelling:
The same sound may be represented by many letters or
combination of letters:
people believe
key seas
seize Caesar
see amoeba
The same letter may represent a variety of sounds:
father village badly made many

A combination of letters may represent a single sound:

shoot character either physics
rough coat deal

A single letter may represent a combination of sounds

xerox

Some letters in a word may not be pronounced at all

autumn sword resign
lamb psychology knot write
Study of the way the Study of the Study of the way
vocal organ are used physical properties people perceive
to produce speech of speech sounds. speech sounds.
sounds.
Obstruction in the passage of airstream

No obstruction in the passage of airstream

“Where the sound is made”
BILIBIAL: [p] [b] [m]
Produced by bringing both lips together

LABIODENTAL: [f] [v]

Produced by touching the bottom lip to the
upper teeth

DENTAL: [th] [t]

The tip of the tongue touches the upper
teeth when making sounds.
INTERDENTAL: [θ] [ð]
Produced by putting the tip of the tongue
between the upper and lower teeth

ALVEOLAR: [t] [d] [n] [s] [z] [l] [r]

All of these are produced by raising the
tongue to the alveolar ridge in some way
[t, d, n]: produced by the tip of the tongue
touching the alveolar ridge (or just in front of it)
[s, z]: produced with the sides of the front of the
tongue raised but the tip lowered to allow air to
escape
[l]: the tongue tip is raised while the rest of the
tongue remains down so air can escape over the
sides of the tongue.
[r]: air escapes through the central part of the
mouth; either the tip of the tongue is curled back
behind the alveolar ridge or the top of the
tongue is bunched up behind the alveolar ridge.
This is called as post-alveolar or retroflex.

PALATAL: [ʃ] [ʒ] [ʧ] [ʤ] [ʝ]

Produced by raising the front part of the
tongue to the palate
VELAR: [k] [g] [ŋ]
Produced by raising the back of the
tongue to the soft palate or velum

GLOTTAL: [h] [Ɂ]

Produced by restricting the airflow through
the open glottals ([h]) or by stopping the air
completely at the glottals (aglottal stop: [Ɂ])
“How the sounds is made”
 VOICELESS sounds are those VOICED sounds are those
produced with the vocal cords produced when the vocal
apart so the air flows freely cords are together and vibrate
through the glottis as air passes through
Aspirated Unaspirated
pool (phul) spool (spul)
tale (thel) stale (stel)
kale (khel) scale (skel)
STOPS/PLOSIVE: [p] [b] [t] [d] [k] [g] [ʧ] [ʤ] [Ɂ]
These are the sounds produced when the air stream is
blocked completely before it is abruptly released.
FRICATIVES: [f] [v] [θ] [ð] [s] [z] [ʃ] [ʒ] [x] [ɣ] [h]
These are the sounds produced when the air stream is
compressed and passes through a small opening creating friction.
AFFRICATES: [ʧ] [ʤ]
These are the sounds produced when a plosive is followed
by a fricative.
LIQUIDS: [l] [r]
Produced causing some obstruction of the airstream in the
mouth, but not enough to cause any real friction.
GLIDES: [j] [w]
Produced with very little obstruction of the airstream and
are always followed by a vowel.
NASALS: [m] [n]
These are the sounds produced when the oral cavity is
blocked, and so the air passes through the nose.
 MONOPHTHONGS DIPHTHONGS
One vowel Two vowels

Examples: cat [kæt] Examples: face [feɪs]

sit [sɪt] boy [bɔɪ]
 HEIGHT BACKNESS
How high or low the How far front or back
the tongue is.
tongue is in the mouth.
Examples:
Examples: FRONT [i]
HIGH [i] CENTRAL [ə]
MID [ɛ] BACK [u]
LOW [a] ROUNDEDNESS
Whether or not the lips
are rounded when producing
the vowel.
Tense vowels: Lax vowels:
Are produced with greater Are produced with less
tension in the tongue and may tongue tension and may not
occur at the end of words. occur at the end of words.
i beat a hah ɪ bit ɔɪ boy
e bait aɪ high ɛ bet æ hat
u boot aʊ how ʊ put ʌ hut
o boat ɔ bore ə about
 Phonetics of Signed Languages
Signs are formed by three
major features:
1. The configuration of
the hand (handshape)
 Phonetics of Signed Languages

2. The movement of the

hand and arm towards or
away from the body
 Phonetics of Signed Languages

3. The location of the

hand in signing space