Phoneme

A minimal sound unit of speech that, when contrasted with another phoneme, affects the meaning of words in a language.Symbols for each phoneme are enclosed in slash marks, as in: d=/d/.Classifications:  Consonants  Vowels  Diphthongs

Consonants
Sounds are made by constricting the organs of speech and obstructing the passage of air.

Classification of Consonants
Most English consonants can be classified using three articulatory parameters: y Voicing y Place of Articulation y Manner of Articulation

Voicing
- Voicing introduces vibration into the resonating column of air. y When the vocal folds are tensed, they vibrate as the air stream passes them. The result is aVOICED sound, such as /z/ and /v/. y When the vocal folds relax, the air stream passes them without causing vibration. The result is a VOICELESS sound, such as /s/, /f/ and /t/. *Articulators anatomical structures responsible for the production of speech sounds. y y y y y y y LIPS paired articulators found in front of the teeth. TOUNGE muscular organ found inside the oral cavity. TEETH a set of immovable articulators used for biting. ALVEOLAR RIDGE an area behind the teeth and just before the hard palate. HARD PALATE the roof of the oral cavity. SOFT PALATE a continuation of the hard palate further back the oral cavity. EPIGLOTTIS leaf like structure near the base of the tongue.

Places of Articulation
y Bilabial - the lower lip articulates against the upper lip: /p, b, m, w/. Ex. Pig, Win, Hum y Labiodental - the lower lip articulates against the upper teeth: /f, v/. Ex. Face, Vase y Linguadental - the tongue tip articulates against the upper teeth: / , /. Ex. Thin y Lingua-alveolar - the tongue tip and/or blade articulates against the teeth ridge: /t, d, s, z, n, l/. Ex. Dot, Seal y Linguapalatal - the tongue front articulates against the hard palate: /j,
,
, d
/. Ex.Yacht, Gentle y Linguavelar - the tongue back articulates against the soft palate: /k, g, /. Ex. Coat, Goat y Glottal - the vocal folds themselves are the place of articulation: /h/. Ex. Happy

Manner of Articulation
- The process by which the moving column of air is shaped. A. Plosives - occur when the air stream stops completely for an instant before it exits the vocal tract. 1. /p/ and /b/ - to produce, lips that are initially together are separated by blowing them apart. Ex. bee, pear 2. /t/ and /d/ - produce by pushing the tongue against the alveolar ridge and quickly lowering. Ex. tie, dire 3. /k/ and /g/ - produced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate and quickly lowering it. Ex. game, came

B. The Fricatives - occur when the air stream isaudibly disrupted but not stoppedcompletely. 1. /f/ and /v/ - the lower lip comes under the upper teeth, in a biting position and air escapes between them. Ex. fan, van

2. / / and // - the tongue touches the edge of the upper front teeth lightly. Ex. thirsty, soothe 3. /s/ and /z/ - the blade of the tongue comes almost in contact with the alveolar ridge. Ex. zeal, seal 4. /
/ and /
/ - tongue is positioned at the back along the hard palate. Ex. pleasure, bizarre 5. /h/ - made by several articulators which are the tongue, lips and jaws which assume no particular position. Ex. house, exhale, preheat C. The Affricates - start out as a stop, but end up as a fricative. There are two affricates in English, both of which are palatal. 1. The voiceless affricate is the /t
/ in lunchand chapter. 2. The voiced affricate is the /d
/in germ,journal and wedge. D. Semi-vowels (Glides) - occur when the air stream is unobstructed, producing an articulation that is vowel-like, but moves quickly to another articulation making it a consonant. 1. /w/ and /hw/ - the lips are rounded. The back of the tongue is raised toward the soft palate. /w/ sound is voiced but /hw/ is voiceless. Ex. we, where, wet 2. /l/ and /r/ - /l/ sound is made by letting the tip of your tongue touch the alveolar ridge then drop it suddenly to let the stream of air pass while /r/ sound is produced by rolling the tongue near the roof of the mouth but not touching it. Ex. lock, right 3. /j/ - to produce, it requires your tongue to nearly touch the hard palate. Ex. yell, year, yellow E. The Nasals - occur when velum is lowered allowing the air stream to pass through the nasal cavity instead of the mouth. The air stream is stopped in the oral cavity, so sometimes nasals are called nasal stops. 1. /m/ - lips are pressed together. Ex. mine 2. /n/ - made by putting the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge. Ex. nine 3. / / - made by raising the back of the tongue toward the soft palate. Ex. hunger

Vowels
Sounds are made by allowing air to pass through an open throat and mouth passage without any obstruction. A. Front Vowels 1. /i/ - the front of the tongue is brought high up the hard palate. The jaws are closed and lips are positioned as in a smile. Ex. equal, seat, sheep 2. /I/ - in contrast to /i/, /I/ is a short vowel but the manner of articulation is the same. Ex. sink, mitten, tissue 3. /e/ - the front of the tongue is raised to the level of the oral cavity. Ex. plate, name, crayon 4. /
/ - the front of the tongue is raised to the level of the oral cavity. Ex. send, shed, excel *the /e/ sound is long while /
/ is short. The tongue reaches up to the midportion of the oral cavity. 5. // - the front of the tongue is moved only slightly upwards. Ex. sack, wrath, camp B. Central In the /
/ and /^/ the midportion of the tongue moves only slightly toward the hard palate while the front of the tongue remains on the floor of the mouth. The only difference is that /
/ is a long sound and /^/ is short. Ex. achieve, punch, earn *the most important part of the tongue involved in the production of the central sound is the middle. C. Back 1. /u/ - the back of the tongue is raised high and the lips are rounded. Ex. cool, crew, spook 2. /U/ - in contrast to /u/, /U/ is a short vowel but the manner of articulation is the same. Ex. book, hoof, should *Both of /u/ and /U/ sounds are produced by placing the back of the tongue high up the hard palate.

3. /o/ - the back of the tongue is raised halfway to the palate as in the following. Ex. notion, soldier, broke 4. /
/ - similarly the back of the tongue is raised to the midpoint between the floor of the mouth and the palate. Ex. often, torch, torpedo *The important place of articulation for both sounds is the midpoint between the floor of the mouth and the palate 5. /a/ - this vowel is made by positioning the tongue on the floor of the mouth while the jaw is lowered. Ex. dart, barred, bark

Diphthongs
Diphthongs are vowel sounds that are perceived as one unit. It is composed of one vowel core and another vowel that glides away from the core vowel. A. /ju/ - from a position high front of the oral cavity, the moves to a high-back position while keeping the lips rounded. Ex. unison, cube, view B. /aI/ - from the floor of the mouth, the tongue moves to a high front position. Ex. idol, buy, style C. /au/ - from the floor of the mouth, the tongue moves to high-back position. Ex. fowl, out, power D. /
I/ - from an area between the back and the middle portion of the oral cavity, the tongue moves to the high-front position. Ex. poise, cry, enjoy