Phonetics I

When people speak they employ a sort of linguistic code. In order to

understand each other, people must share the same code or
language.

Phonetics and Linguistics

Both of them study language, but from a different angle. Phonetics is

interested in sounds and how they are organized and transmitted,
whereas Linguistics is concerned with how language is structured
grammatically and semantically.

Definition of Phonetics

Phonetics is the study of phonic substance and its function in

spoken language.

Classification of English sounds.

When we pronounce an English word, it is necessary to use an

alphabet of its own to show the correct pronunciation of the word. In
the English language there are 44 unique sounds, known as
phonemes. The 44 sounds help distinguish and differentiate one
word or meaning from another.

Phoneme: Smallest unit of speech.

 The English Phonemic System

Phonemes (44)

Vowels (20) Consonants (22) Semivowels (2)

Diphthongs (8) Monophthongs (12)

Long vowels (5) Short vowels (7)

 Do not use capital letters or punctuation marks.

 Do not use the letters c, x, or q in the transcription of English.

 If there are double letters in the spelling of a word, do not use

double consonants in the transcription.

 In British English, words do not normally end with the /r/

phoneme. Words that end with the letter ´r´ instead end with
the /ə/ phoneme.

 Be careful to distinguish your own symbols properly.

 Phonemic transcription is indicated by slanted brackets: / /

Single phonemes: / k /

One Word: / tɪp / 

Utterance: / kən jʊ riːd ðɪs /