CHAPTER 2

UNIT 3
THE DESCRIPTION & CLASSIFICATION
OF ENGLISH SPEECH SOUNDS
Speech sounds as segments or phones
A segment
Any discrete unit or phone, produced by the vocal apparatus, or a representation of such a unit.
In linguistics (and phonetics), segment is used primarily “to refer to any discreet unit that can be
identified, either physically or auditorily, in the stream of speech” (after A Dictionary of Linguistics
& Phonetics, David Crystal, 2003, pp. 408–409).
- Sound waves are continuous, but to a large extent we perceive speech as segmented and tend to
perceive differences between segment types as categorical.
- Segment types can be classified according to the way they are produced in the vocal tract (i.e.
an articulatory rather than acoustic classification).
A phone
In phonetics, the smallest perceptible segment is a phone as an unanalyzed sound of a language. It is
the smallest identifiable unit found in a stream of speech that is able to be transcribed with an IPA
symbol.
In spoken languages, a segment may be a consonant, vowel, tone, or stress.
In this course the term segment is used as to name a speech unit at the level of a sound that can be
identified from a larger unit like syllable. For example, there are 3 segments [ h ], [& ], [ t ] in the
sound sequence [ h&t ].
Vowels & Consonants – A major division among English speech sounds
In English, there are 44 basic speech sounds that can be grouped into 2 major classes: 24
consonants and 20 vowels. This basic division is made based on the distinguishing features or
phonetic properties that members in each class may share.
Speech sounds can be divided into vowels and consonants, based on the phonetic properties or
distinguishing features that the members of each class share. Vowels and consonants can be
distinguished on the basis of difference in 1) articulation 2) acoustics 3) function
Table 3.1 the major difference between consonants and vowels

Sound class Vowels Consonants

Basis of difference
Articulation produced with relatively little produced with
obstruction narrow/complete closure
Acoutics more sonorous generally less sonorous
Function syllabic generally not sonorous

(Reference books: O’Grady, Wiliiam & Michael Dobrovolsky (1993) Contemporary Linguistics -
An introduction, St. Martin Press, New York, p. 18)

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 UNIT 4
THE ENGLISH CONSONANTS

A. Definition
The consonant is a speech sound produced with a complete or partial obstruction of the air stream in
the vocal tract.
B. Description
The consonants can be described in terms of articulatory parameters:
I. Place of articulation
(This tells us the points where the articulators actually touch or are the closest)
In phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is the point of
contact, where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active (moving) articulator
(typically some part of the tongue) and a passive (stationary) articulator (typically some part of the
roof of the mouth). Along with the manner of articulation and phonation, this gives the consonant its
distinctive sound.
Types of articulation
A place of articulation is defined as both the active and passive articulators. For instance, the active
lower lip may contact either a passive upper lip (bilabial, like [m]) or the upper teeth (labiodental,
like [f]). The hard palate may be contacted by either the front or the back of the tongue. If the front
of the tongue is used, the place is called retroflex; if back of the tongue ("dorsum") is used, the place
is called "dorsal-palatal", or more commonly, just palatal.

There are five basic active articulators: the lip ("labial consonants"), the flexible front of the tongue
("coronal consonants"), the middle/back of the tongue ("dorsal consonants"), the root of the tongue
together with the epiglottis ("radical consonants"), and the larynx ("laryngeal consonants"). These
articulators can act independently of each other, and two or more may work together in what is
called coarticulation (see below).

The passive articulation, on the other hand, is a continuum without many clear-cut boundaries. The
places linguolabial and interdental, interdental and dental, dental and alveolar, alveolar and palatal,
palatal and velar, velar and uvular merge into one another, and a consonant may be pronounced
somewhere between the named places.

In addition, when the front of the tongue is used, it may be the upper surface or blade of the tongue
that makes contact ("laminal consonants"), the tip of the tongue ("apical consonants"), or the under
surface ("sub-apical consonants"). These articulations also merge into one another without clear
boundaries.

Consonants that have the same place of articulation, such as alveolar [n, t, d, s, z, l] in English, are
said to be homorganic.

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List of places where the main types of obstruction may occur

Fig. 11 Bilabial: between the lips Fig. 12 Labiodental: between the

lower lip and the upper teeth

and the upper

teeth

Fig. 13 Dental: between the front of Fig. 14 Alveolar: between the front of the
the tongue and the top teeth tongue and the ridge behind the gums

Fig. 15 Postalveolar: between the Fig. 16 Palatal: between the middle of

front of the tongue and the space the tongue and the hard palate
behind the alveolar ridge

Fig. 17 Velar: between the back of the

tongue and the soft palate (the velum)

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 Apart from these places of articulation (for English phonetics), there are also:

• Retroflex: in "true" retroflexes, the tongue curls back so the underside touches the palate
• Uvular: between the back of the tongue and the uvula (which hangs down in the back of the
mouth)

(All of the above may be nasalized, and most may be lateralized.)

• Pharyngeal: between the root of the tongue and the back of the throat (the pharynx)
• Epiglotto-pharyngeal: between the epiglottis and the back of the throat
• Epiglottal: between the aryepiglottal folds and the epiglottis (see larynx)

Table 1 Place of articulation: 8 major types of interaction of consonants

Sound class Articulators Sound segments

Passive Active
Bilabial upper lip Lower lip [ p, b, m, w ]
Dental Teeth Tongue tip [ T, D ]
Labio-dental Upper teeth Lower lip [ f, v ]
Alveolar Teeth ridge tongue [ t, d, s, z, r, l, n ]
Palato-alveolar behind alveolar ridge tongue blade [tS, dZ, S, Z ]
Palatal hard palate tongue front [j]
Velar soft palate tongue blade [ k, g, N ]
Glottal vocal folds [ h, ? ]

II. Manners of articulation

(Types of obstruction caused by closing or narrowing the articulators)
Constriction degree
Place of articulation refers to where the narrowing occurs -- which active articulator gets close to
which passive articulator. Constriction degree refers to how close they get. The main constriction
degrees are:

Stop: the active articulator touches

the passive articulator and completely
cuts off the airflow through the
mouth. English stops include: [p], [b]
[t], [d], [k], [g], [?].

Fig.18 The silent phase Fig.19 The release phase

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Affricate: can be seen as a sequence
of a stop and a fricative which have
the same or similar places of
articulation. They are transcribed
using the symbols for the stop and the
fricative. e.g. [tS], [dZ]
Fig.20 The silence phase Fig.21 The release phase

fricative: the active articulator

doesn't touch the passive articulator,
but gets close enough that the airflow
through the opening becomes
turbulent. English fricatives include
[f], [v], [T], [D], [z], [s], [S], [Z], [h] .
Fig.22 Fricative [ s ] Fig.23 Fricative [ S ]

In nasals, the velum is lowered to

allow air to pass through the nose
(technically a place, but generally as
a manner of articulation). English
nasals include [m], [n], [N]

Fig.24 Nasal [ m ] Fig.25 Nasal [ n ]

In lateral, the air is released past the

tongue sides and teeth rather than
over the tip of the tongue. English has
only one lateral [ l ]

Fig.26 Lateral [ l ] (clear)

approximant: the active articulator

approaches the passive articulator,
but doesn't even get close enough for
the airflow to become turbulent.
English approximants include [j],
[w], [r], and [l].
Fig.27 Approximant [ j ] Fig.28 Approximant [ w ]

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 Table 2 Manner of articulation: 6 major types of stricture degrees

Stricture or Movement or interaction Sounds

obstruction types of articulators
Stops (plosives) complete stop of air, the [ p, b, t, d, k, g, ? ]
rapid separation
Affricates stop of air, then slow [ tS, dZ ]
separation
Fricatives narrowing, causing [ T, D, f, v, s, z, S, Z, h ]
audible friction
Nasals lowering of velum, air [ m, n, N ]
escapes through nose
Lateral air escapes downsides of [l]
tongue
Approximants slight narrowing, not [ w, j, r ]
enough to cause friction

Clear [ l ] vs dark [ 5 ]
It is a fact that quite a few Vietnamese learners of English fail to perform the correct form of dark [ 5
] in such sequences as [aI5 ] ( I’ll ). Most of them pronounce this dark [ 5 ] as [ n ] as in [ sku:n ] in
stead of [ sku:5 ]. Few of them realize that this velarized form can function as the back vowel [ U ] in
Vietnamese spelling and pronunciation. The evidence is that the Vietnamese word “hiu” sounds a bit
like “hill” [ hI 5 ]. As result, for some of them, [ kV5tS@ ] is made [ kVntS@ ]
Clear [ l ] (before a vowel) dark [ 5 ] (after a vowel)

I’ll [ aI5 ]
child [ tSaI 5 ]
while [ waI5 ]
owl [ aU5 ]
oil [ OI5 ]
meal [ mi:5 ]
school [ skU5 ]
useful [ ju:f5 ]
howl how
[ haU5] [ haU ]
fire-fire
[ faI5 ] [ faI@ ]
mile-mind
[l] [5] [ maI5 ] [maInd ]

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Further reading (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In linguistics, manner of articulation describes how the tongue, lips, and other speech organs
involved in making a sound make contact. Often the concept is only used for the production of
consonants. For any place of articulation, there may be several manners, and therefore several
homorganic consonants. One parameter of manner is stricture, that is, how closely the speech
organs approach one another. Parameters other than stricture are those involved in the ar sounds
(taps and trills), and the sibilancy of fricatives. Often nasality and laterality are included in manner,
but phoneticians such as Peter Ladefoged consider them to be independent. Approximants are
speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. In the
articulation of approximants, articulatory organs produce a narrowing of the vocal tract, but leave
enough space for air to flow without much audible turbulence. Approximants are therefore more
open than fricatives. This class of sounds includes lateral approximants like [l], as in lip, and
approximants like [j] and [w] in yes and well which correspond closely to vowels and semivowels.
Palatal approximants correspond to front vowels, velar approximants to back vowels, and labialized
approximants to rounded vowels. They are typically briefer and closer than the corresponding
vowels. When emphasized, approximants may be slightly fricated (that is, the airstream may
become slightly turbulent), which is reminiscent of fricatives. Examples are the y of English yes!
(especially when lengthened) Occasionally the glottal "fricatives" are called approximants, since [h]
typically has no more frication than voiceless approximants, but they are often phonations of the
glottis without any accompanying manner or place of articulation. A stop cuts off airflow through
the mouth. Airflow through the nose does not matter -- you can have both oral and nasal stops. Oral
stops are often called plosives, including in the IPA chart. Nasal stops are usually just called nasals.
Approximants that are apical or laminal are often called liquids (e.g., [r], [l]). Approximants that
correspond to vowels are often called glides (e.g., [j] corresponds to [i], [w] to [u]).

2 subclasses of approximants:
Liquids [ l, r ] & Glides [ w, j ]

Approximants:
 no major obstruction
 no auditory effect of friction
Liquids [ l, r ]:
characterized with high level of sonority
 can be syllable nuclei, e.g. [teIbl]
 can be consonant, e.g. [leIk]
Glides [ w, j ]:
characterized with their dual nature
 predominantly vocalic (like vowel)
 distribution: consonantal
[ju:nIvs tI ] , [ nju:]

For some Vietnamese learners of English who come from the Northern part of Vietnam, the English
glide [ w ] is realized phonetically as [ u: ] due to the fact that in this northern dialect, there is no
speech sound like [ w ] in the sound system of Hanoi dialect. When performing [ w ], these people
may stay too long in the nucleus [ u: ] and thus fail to perform the gliding to [ @ ]. For some of them,
the phonetic form [ wUld ] may be pronounced as [ Uld ]. The same can be said to the glide [ j ]
which can be articulated by starting with the vowel [ i: ] then rapidly gliding into [ @ ]. Accordingly,
[ ju:niv3:s@tI ] may be realized as [ i:unIv3:s@tI ].

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