EL 100 – INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify and produce English key sounds as well as its basic rhythm and stress
2. Develop speech-monitoring abilities while pronouncing words
A. The Organs of Speech

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  LIPS:

Lips include upper lip and lower lip.

 TEETH:

The small whitish structures found in jaws in front of mouth, immediately after lips are teeth.

 ALVEOLAR RIDGE:

Alveolar ridge is basically hard ridge behind the upper front teeth. It is between the roof of the mouth and the upper
teeth. You can feel its shape with your tongue. Its surface is really much rougher than it feels, and is covered with little
ridges.

 HARD PALATE:

Hard palate is a thin horizontal bony plate of the skull, located in the roof of the mouth. It is often called the "roof of the
mouth". Its smooth curved surface can felt with the tongue.

 VELUM (SOFT PALATE):

The velum or soft palate is in a position that allows air to pass through the nose and through the mouth. Often in speech
it is raised so that air cannot escape through the nose.

 UVULA:

The hanging ball's full name is the “palatine uvula,” referring to its location on your soft palate.

 GLOTTIS:

The combination of vocal folds and space in between the folds is known as glottis. As the vocal folds vibrate, the
resulting vibration produces a “buzzing” quality to the speech called voice or voicing or pronunciation.

 TONGUE:

The tongue is a very important articulator and it can be moved into many different places and different shapes. Its
movement in oral cavity plays important part in production of almost every speech sound. Usually, it is divided into
different parts: tip, blade, front, back and root.

2|P age
Try these:

[i] - beat

[I] - bit

[ɛ] - bet

[æ] – bat

classification according to phonemes sample words

tongue position
[i] key, ski, beat
front vowels [I] bit, income, biscuit
[ɛ] let, guest, said
[æ] bat, van, meringue, dance
[eI] (diphthong) name, say

[ɑ] father, swan, pot

[ə] about,
mid/central vowels [ᴧ] love,
[ɚ] after, ever
[ɝ] first, earth

[u] pool
back vowels [U] book
[ɔ] thought , door
[oʊ] diphthong goal, employer, old

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 B. Articulation

The description and classification of consonants

Criterion
1) state of the glottis
2) place of articulation
3) manner of articulation
possibilities
voiceless or voiced
bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, postalveolar, retroflex, palatal, velar,
uvular, pharyngeal, glottal
plosive (or stop), nasal, trill, tap or flap, fricative, affricate, lateral fricative,
approximant, lateral approximant

place of articulation production

bilabial produced by bringing both lips together
labiodental made with the lower lip against the upper front teeth
dental produced with the tip of the tongue placed against or near the upper teeth, or between the
front teeth
alveolar articulated with the tip of the tongue at or near the small ridge behind the upper front teeth
called the alveolar ridge
postalveolar made with the tongue approaching or touching the rear just behind it
retroflex articulated with the tip of the tongue curled back to come near or make contact with the
hard palate
palatal made with the front of the tongue near or at the hard palate
velar produced by raising the back of the tongue to the velum (or soft palate)
uvular made by moving the back or root of the tongue to the uvula
pharyngeal produced by retracting the root of the tongue into the pharynx
glottal articulated by the vocal folds in the larynx

manner of production
articulation
plosive (or stop) the speaker blocks (or stops) the airstream by forming a complete closure with the
articulators, builds up air pressure and finally releases the air suddenly or explosively
through the mouth
fricative a continuous airstream forces its way through a very narrow opening between the
articulators and thereby produces audible friction
affricate a single sound that is a combination of a plosive and a fricative, affricates begin with a
closure and continue by slightly releasing the articulators causing the air to escape relatively
slowly through a narrow passage
nasal the velum is lowered so that the airstream partially or completely passes through the nose
flap or tap produced by striking the tongue quickly against the roof of the mouth, interrupting the air
very quickly
trill an articulator, such as the tongue tip or the uvula, vibrates in the airstream
lateral fricative the air escapes around the sides of a partial closure of the organs of speech through a
narrow passage
approximant articulators approach but do not touch each other, leaving a wider opening than in the
production of fricatives
lateral approximants made with air that escapes around the sides of a partial closure (like lateral fricatives), but
no friction is produced as the opening is too wide (like approximants)

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The description and classification of vowels
Criterion Possibilities
1) height of the tongue (or closeness) high (close), mid-high (close-mid), mid-low (open-mid) and low (open)
2) part of the tongue front, central and back
3) position of the lips rounded or unrounded

The difference between accents and dialects

Accents Dialects
 Pronunciation only  Grammar
e.g., American accent  Pronunciation
vs British accent (as in Received Pronunciation or  Vocabulary
BBC pronunciation)  word order

English Vowels: Contrasts

/i/ vs /I/ /u/ vs / ʊ/

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 /æ /, /ʌ/ , /ɑ/

/ɔ/,/ɝ/

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 C. International Phonetic Alphabet

Note: The following sounds (phonemes) are the most difficult for Filipino students to master

phonetic transcription sound category website (learning aid)

/ i / / as in “be” front vowel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIu5WDIco0I

/ ɪ / as in “it” front vowel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok_HG-0lNCA

/ ɛ / as in “bed” mid vowel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLG3cCLcNiI

/ æ / as in “cat” low vowel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mynucZiy-Ug

/ ɑ / as in “got or want” central vowel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5CY1UniS68

/ ə / (schwa) as in “ago” unaccented/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1mDSUSwNls

unstressed central
vowel
/ʌ/ as in “us” accented/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1utTZqC3AI&t=12s
stressed central
vowel
/ ɚ / as in “after”- r-colored https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzNRoSGBh44
unaccented/
unstressed central
vowel
/ ɝ / as in “first” r-colored accented/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ppOrwjvslc
stressed central
vowel
/ ʊ / as in “put” – back vowel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moLTR-dLQQY

/ u / as in “blue”- back vowel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkM6CKBM2ns&list=

PLYJV5Moz9cfyRIyd3HKzwRGnDM_BSbEuI&index=9
/ ɔ / as in “on” back vowel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr_KAu-
_Hmo&list=PLYJV5Moz9cfyRIyd3HKzwRGnDM_BSbEuI
&index=12
/oʊ / as in “go” diphthong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kPJLHiiGdU

/aʊ / as in “cloud” diphthong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V690OA75bA

/ eɪ / as in “make” diphthong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RXzfRcjk-

s&list=PLYJV5Moz9cfyRIyd3HKzwRGnDM_BSbEuI&ind
ex=3
/ θ / as in “think” consonant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC0l6GQZtM4&t=10
2s
/ ð / as in “this” consonant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZb_EWVCUoE

/ ʒ / as in “vision” consonant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ImSmVOSVA

/ tʃ / as in “chair” consonant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoyI_omRpcw

/ ʃ / as in “show” consonant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wINb4HFguck

/ dʒ / as in “job” consonant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJJ3hhHtjtI

/ z / as in “zoo” consonant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky7Jh9Bbjts&list=PL

YJV5Moz9cfyRIyd3HKzwRGnDM_BSbEuI&index=36

IPA TRANSCRIPTION

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Directions: The following words are written in IPA transcription. Write all the words in
CONVENTIONAL spelling. Be reminded that EACH misspelling of yours is equivalent
to a one-point deduction. Be prepared for a pronunciation test, too.

1. / ɪn ðə ˈmɪdl əv ˈpærɪs / ðər wəz ə rɛstrənt / wɪtʃ wəz ˈfeɪməs əz ə ˈmitɪŋ pleɪs / fər ˈpoʊəts ənd ˈraɪtərz // bɪˈkɔz
əv ɪts feɪm / ɪt bɪˈkeɪm ˈmɔr ɪkˈspɛnsɪv / ənd ʌθərz bɪˈkeɪm ɪkˈskludɪd / waɪl ˈrɪtʃ ˈbɪznɪsmɛn wər ˈwɛlkmd // ðə
ˈpraɪsɪz wɛnt ˈʌp ənd ˈʌp // ɪt wəz ˈðə pleɪs tə ˈgoʊ / ɪf ju ˈwɑntɪd tu ɪmˈprɛs jʊr ˈɡɛsts // ðə ˈmɛnju wəz əˈmʌŋ
ðə ˈtɑp ˈfaɪv / ɪn ðə ˈhoʊl əv ˈfrɑns / ənd ˈprɑbəbli ˈwʌn əv ðə ˈbɛst ɪn ˈjʊərəp // ʌnˈfɔrtʃənətli / ðər ər ˈnoʊ
ˈpoʊəts ˈɛnimɔr / ənd ði ˈoʊnli ˈpipl hu ˈit ðɛr / ər ðə ˈvɛri ˈrɪtʃ /
2. / ə ˈpəlismən ɪn ˈnju ˈmɛksɪkoʊ / wəz ˈtʃeɪsɪŋ ə ˈspidɪŋ ˈmoʊtərɪst ˈaʊt əv ˈtaʊn // ˈsʌdnli / ðə ˈpəlismənz əˈtenʃn
wəz kɔt / baɪ ˈsʌm ˈkaɪnd əv ˈflaɪɪŋ θɪŋ / dɪˈsɛndɪŋ frəm ði ˈɛr // hi ˈlɔst ˈsaɪt əv ði ɔbdʒɪkt / bɪˈhaɪnd səm ˈnɪrbaɪ
ˈhɪlz / bət ˈwɛn hi droʊv ˈraʊnd ə ˈkɔrnər / ət ə ˈhaɪər levl / hi ˈwʌns əˈɡɛn sɔ ðə streɪndʒ məʃin / ɪn ə ˈsmɔl
ˈvæli // hi kəd ˈklɪrli ˈsi / ðət ɪt wəz ˈʃeɪpt laɪk ən ˈɛɡ / ənd wəz ˈrɛstɪŋ ɔn ˈfɔr ˈlɛɡs // hi ˈɔlsoʊ noʊtɪd ðə fækt /
ðət ðər wər ˈtu ˈfrɑgz / ˈstændɪŋ ˈkloʊs tu ɪt // ɪt dɪsəˈpɪrd ˈʃɔrtli ˈɑftərwərdz /

21 – 25. B. Transcribe the following in IPA.

your own first and family names, e.g., Ram Gofredo --- ræm gɔfrɪdɔ

The Joy of English pronunciation

George Nolst Trenit´e (1870–1946)

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 Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, bough, cough, hough, sough, tough?
Hiccough has the sound of sup.
My advice is: GIVE IT UP!

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