INSTITUTO

JUAN ZORRILLA
DE SAN MARTIN
PROFESORADO DE INGLES

FONETICA I

VOWEL PHONEMES OF ENGLISH

Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound which can produce a difference in meaning.
Example:
big /  / pig /  /

ten /  / tin / /

A vowel sound is a continuous voiced sound produced without obstruction of the passing of air in
the mouth. The only ‘interruption’ of the passing of air from the lungs is produced by the vibration
of the vocal cords, but from this stoppage onwards the air escapes freely.

Classification of vowel phonemes

PURE VOWELS

1 /  / teen 2 /  / tin 3 /  / ten 4 /  / tan 5 /  / card 6 /  / cod

7 /  / cord 8 /  / foot 9 / / food 10 /  / cut 11 /  / shirt 12 /  / mother

DIPHTHONGS

// pay // so / / my // now // boy

// clear // air // poor

TRIPHTHONGS

// layer // lower // tyre // tower // lawyer

CONSONANT PHONEMES OF ENGLISH

A consonant sound is a sound produced with some kind of stoppage (‘interruption’) to the air
stream coming from the lungs. In other words, when a consonant sound is uttered, there may be
vibration of vocal cords or not, but in all cases, some kind of contact between the articulators must
occur somewhere upwards in the vocal tract.

Classification of consonant phonemes

The consonant phonemes of English can be classified according to certain items:

1) Vibration of vocal cords: voiced
voiceless

2) Place of articulation: bilabial

labio – dental
dental
alveolar
post – alveolar
palato – alveolar
velar

3) Manner of articulation: plosives

fricatives
affricates
laterals
approximant
semivowels
nasal

// // / / // // //

voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced
bilabial bilabial alveolar alveolar velar velar
plosive plosive plosive plosive plosive plosive

// // // / / // // / / //

voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced
alveolar alveolar palato - palato - labio - labio - dental dental
alveolar alveolar dental dental
fricative fricative fricative fricative fricative fricative fricative fricative
 /  / / / /  / /  / // // / /
voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiced voiced voiced
palato - palato - post - post - bilabial alveolar velar
alveolar alveolar alveolar alveolar
affricate affricate affricate affricate nasal nasal nasal

// // // // //

voiced voiced voiced voiced voiced or voiceless
alveolar post – alveolar velarized - palatal glottal
bilabial
lateral approximant semivowel semivowel fricative