Difference between phonetics and phonology:

Phonetics is the study of human sounds and phonology is the classification of the sounds
within the system of a particular language or languages.
Phonetics – actual practice
Phonology – The system

Vowel:
A vowel is a letter that represents an open sound.

Consonant:
Sounds that can be produced only in combination with a vowel.

Voiced sounds:
Sounds that vibrate the vocal cord.
/b/ /m/ /w/ /v/ /ð/ /d/ /z/ /n/ /l/ /r/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/ /j/ /g/ /ŋ/
+all vowels are voiced

Voiceless sounds:
Sounds that are produced only with the flow of air, without vibrating the vocal cords.
/p/ /f/ /ɵ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʧ/ /k/ /h/
Phonemes:
Any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one
word from another, for example p, b, d, and t in the English words pad, pat, bad, and bat,
bet.

Sub-phonemes:
A part of a phoneme. Example. /ŋ/ is merely a sub-phonemic variant of /n/.

Allophone = positional variant

Phonetic variations of the same phoneme.
Allophones are phonetic variations - different pronunciations - of the same phoneme. Using
a different allophone does not change meaning. Example. The /l/ sound is pronounced
differently in 'love' and in 'wool'. These two words contain allophones of the phoneme /l/.

Articulators:
Any vocal organ that takes part in the production of a speech sound. Such organs are of two
types: those that can move, such as the tongue, lips, etc (active articulators), and those that
remain fixed, such as the teeth, the hard palate, etc (passive articulators).
Diphthongs:
A sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound
begins as one vowel and moves towards another.

Intonation = hanglejtés:
The rise and fall of the voice in speaking.

Vocal tract:
The vocal tract is the area from the nose and the nasal cavity down to the vocal cords deep
in the throat.

Why is the categorization of the initial sounds in the words ‘hay’ and ‘way’ problematic?
Because the initial consonants of these words do not abstract the flow of the air more than
some vowels do.
What does the distribution of sounds refer to?
Looking at the different contexts and positions in which particular sounds can occur.
e.g.
If a word begins with the sounds /h/, wer find that only vowels can follow it.
e.g.
In case of the two sounds /bi/, it can be followed by various consonants, forming words such
as ‘bid’ or ‘bill’, but there are practically no cases where a vowel may follow.

Sibilant = sziszegő hang:

A sibilant sound is a sound that ha a whistle like quality.
/s/ - say, so, sister, swallow, silly, sweet
/ʃ/ - she, ash
/ʧ/ - chip, each
/z/ - zoo, crazy
/ʒ/ - beige, pleasure
/ʤ/ - jaw, age

Nonsibilat sounds:
All the other fricatives (réshang), that are not sibilant.
/f/
/v/
/ɵ/
/ð/

Lateral sound:
lateral, in phonetics, a consonant sound produced by raising the tip of the tongue against the
roof of the mouth so that the airstream flows past one or both sides of the tongue. there is
only one lateral consonant in English: /l/

Rhotic accent:
The speakers of rhotic accent tend to pronounce all the r sounds.
Nasals:
The nasal sounds /m/, /n/, and /ng=ŋ/ are made by blocking sounds from the mouth with
the lips or tongue. Air is then expelled entirely through the nose. Sounds in which the air is
expelled through both the mouth and nose are classified as nasal sounds.

Obstruent =elzáró
A fricative (réshang) or plosive (=stop=zárhang) speech sound.
fricatives: /f/ /v/ /ɵ/ /ð/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/
stops/plausives: /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/

Sonorant:
In phonetics, any of the nasal, liquid, and glide consonants that are marked by a continuing
resonant sound. /w/ /l/ /r/ /m/ /n/ /ŋ/

Contrast:
It refers to a minimal phonetic difference, that makes difference in the meaning.
cuff/cough
cup/cop
duck/dock
dull/doll
gut/got
hug/hog
jug/jog
Complementary distribution:
Distribution here refers to the set of phonetic enviroments in which a phone occurs. The
phonetic environment of a sound consists of the sounds that surround it. – The sounds that
precede it and the sounds that follow it.
Complementary distribution is a relation between the variants of a phoneme, each of which
occurs in a certain set of phonological environments. These variants are called allophones.
In other words, a phoneme takes a slightly different form and it becomes a different
allophones, depending on the environment in which it appears.
For example, we find that the realisation of ‘t’ in the word ‘tea’ is aspirated (hehezetesen
ejtett). In the word ‘eat’, the realisation of ‘t’ is unaspirated. The aspirated and unaspirated
realisations are both recognised as ‘t’ by English speakers despite their differences. But the
aspirated realisation will never be found in the place where the unaspirated realisation is
appropriate, and vice versa.
e.g.
eat – tea
light – full
high – strong
e.g.
/t/ occurring in 3 different environments:
tap – [thæp] –
step – [stɛp]
bat – [bæt]
th – at the beginning of a word, followed by a vowel
t – elsewhere

Overlapping distribution:
Sounds that occur in phonetic environments that are identical are said to be in overlapping
distribution. The sounds of [ɪn] from pin and bin are in overlapping distribution because they
occur in both words.
e.g.
three, through – The sounds of [θr] is in overlapping distribution because they occur in both
words as well.
Minimal Pairs = Contrastive distribution (itt lehet a zh-ban egy egy mondatos definíció)
It occurs in words that have the same number of sounds and they differ only in one sound,
and those sounds are in the same position.
e.g.
/l/ /r/
lap – rap
sit – zit
fan – van
desk – disk
vine – fine
save – safe
thumb – sum
cold – gold
buy – pie
two – do
Initial Position:
Cold – Gold
Fan – Van
Buy – Pie
Two – Do
Medial Position:
Ship – Sheep
Fast – First
Bat – But
Not – Note
Final Position:
Catch – Cat
Thin – Thing
Back – Bag
Hat – Had

Free Variation
Some words in English are pronounced differently by different speakers. This is most
noticeable among American English speakers and British English speakers, as well as dialectal
differences. This is evidenced in the ways neither, for example, can be pronounced.
American English pronunciation tends to be [niðər], while British English pronunciation is
[najðər].

Pre-r Breaking:
A kind of gliding.
Some vowels may not stand before r, and are replaced by their broken counterparts in this
position.
cheek – cheer
fine – fire
bone – bore
moon – poor
south – sour

Compensatory lengthening – smoothing:

The loss of a certain sounds results in lengthening a neighbouring sound.
e.g.
/aɪə/ - elveszem az /ə6-t, de az /aɪ/ meghosszabodik
Fire – The fire was burning.

How do different realizations of a phoneme influence meaning?

They don’t.
What can be the aim of studying the syllables of a language?
It determines which structures can and can not occur in the certain language.
When is a consonant continuant?
Fricatives are continuant consonants:
/f/ /v/ /ɵ/ /ð/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/
We can continue making these sounds without interruption as long as we have enough air in
our lungs.

How do we produce affricates?

by fully stopping the air from leaving the vocal tract (similar to a stop sound), then releasing
it through a constricted opening.
/ʧ/ /ʤ/

Linking r:
A sound that connects two words, making it easier to pronounce.
care about
near enough
far away
pleasure and freedom
more apples
car engine
sister-in-law

Intrusive r:
The intrusive R pronunciation happens between two words, where the first word ends in a
vowel sound and the second word begins in a vowel sound. Usually, there is what's called a
schwa sound that ends the first word
we write it like this: Africa and Asia / the idea of
We say it like this: Africa rand Asia / the idea rof

Clear /l/:
A clear l usually only occurs before vowels.
e.g. life, long, black, ugly, influence, apply, illiterate, alone
Dark /l/:
When L precedes a consonant or occurs at the end of a word
e.g. milk, field, gold, Albert, culture, helmet, feel, miles, wales
Silent /l/:
If an “L” is found towards the end of the word, before the letters “f,” “v”, “k” and “m,” but
after the letter “a,” then it's usually silent
e.g. calm, could, walk, palm, half

Why can’t we accept velar /ŋ/ as a phoneme?

It doesn’t distinguish one word from another.
Pronouncing a word with /n/ or /ŋ/ doesn’t make a difference in meaning. It’s called a
positional variant=allophone.

semi-vowels:
A speech sound that is produced like a vowel but that functions as a consonant: The words
"yes" and "well" start with semivowels. Semivowels are glides like /w/ and /j/ that act as
part of a diphthong.
Carrot phenomenon:
Why do /j/ and /w6 behave phonologically like consonants?
Unlike the other consonants the two sounds /w/ and /j/ offer no restriction to the flow of air
out through the mouth. In this they are quite vowel like, and indeed they are usually classed
as semi-vowels.
Syllabic consonants:
Syllables in which no vowel is found.
l, r, m, n

Nouns with 2 syllables usually have the stress on the first syllable.
e.g.

 ‘picture
 ‘minute
 ‘money
 ‘doctor
 ‘water

Verbs with 2 syllables usually have the stress on the second syllable.

 dec’ide
 for’get
 ex’plain
 ar’rive
 re’peat

How to determine which one is the stressed syllable?

Do you pronounce words with the same stress on each syllable?
bre-ak-fast or ‘breakfast
ba-na-na or ‘banana
to-mor-row or – to’morrow
u-ni-ver-si-ti or uni’verstiy

In 3 syllable words the stress can be anywhere:

 ‘anyone
 ‘beautiful
 ‘possible

 com’puter
 to’morrow
 ex’pensive

 after’noon
 emplo’yee
 Japa’nese

In words with 4 or more syllables the stress is almost always in the middle of the word, NOT
on the first or last syllable.

 infor’mation
 com’municate
 pho’tographer

If a word ends -tion, -sion, -cian, or -ic then the stress is always on the second to last
syllable.

 infor’mation
 dis’cussion
 poli’tician
 situ’ation
 re’vision
 elec’trician
 eco’nomic
 dra’matic
 At’lantic
 scien’tific
If a word ends with the letter -y and has three or more syllables, then the stress is two
syllables before the last one.

 bi’ology
 ‘luckily
 ac’tivity
 possi’bility

 If a word consists of 3 syllables, and ends in -y, then the stress is almost always on
the first syllable.
‘chemistry
‘pregnancy
‘robbery

If a longer word is made from a shorted root word, the stress in generally in the same place
as the root words
‘comfort -> ‘comfortable, dis’comfort, un’comfortable, ‘comfortably, ‘comforting

But the stress can move when you make a longer word from a root word.
‘photograph
 pho’tography
 photo’graphic
e’conomy
 eco’nomic
‘educate
 edu’cation