Lemery Colleges, Inc.

A. Bonifacio St., Brgy. Bagong Sikat, Lemery, Batangas

College of Teacher
Education

Sangalang, Julie Ann D.

BSED IV-ENGLISH

Activity 3

Introduction to Linguistics

Topics:  1.  The Speech Organs

                2.  Vocalizing the Vowel and Consonant Sounds
                3.  The Diphthongs

Research on these topics, and learn how to correctly produce the sounds.

1.   The Speech Organs

Answer:

It should be noted that humans do not naturally have organs that are
employed only for making speech sounds. All of the organs that contribute
to the production of speech sounds and to human speaking in general serve
additional purposes, such as those related to breathing and digestion of
food. During the course of their evolution as Homo sapiens, humans first
employed their vocal organs to produce speaking sounds. Knowing how the
speaking organ works is crucial for someone learning a foreign language.

Despite the fact that there are many other ways to communicate, most
encounters between people include speech . The physical parts known as
speech organs enable spoken language communication between
individuals. These organs, also known as speech articulators, are required
for the creation of the voice, the unique sound created only by humans to
communicate their thoughts and feelings. Depending on whether they are
active or passive, they can be categorized. The majority of humans use
various words to communicate with one another, unlike the majority of
animals that can do it nonverbally. The speech is delivered quickly because
most people who wish to speak don't have to think about their words all
that much. As soon as the speech organs get a signal or directive from the
brain, a person's ideas are instantly translated into speech. Thus, speech is
the result of the interaction between a person's brain and speech organs,
while the respiratory system's organs also play a crucial role in this process
because the vocal cords require air to vibrate and make sound.

A speech organ is active if it moves while producing sound, and inactive if

it does not. These organs also include the alveolar crest, uvula, palate,
and glottis in addition to the lips, tongue, and teeth. Only the lower lip,
tongue, and glottis are used as speech articulators. When incoming air
passes through the glottis and causes the vocal chords to vibrate, the
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A. Bonifacio St., Brgy. Bagong Sikat, Lemery, Batangas
College of Teacher
Education

mechanism of sound or voice generation starts to work. The vocal tract

vibrates as a result of this vibration, forcing air to pass through the glottis
and create sound. The interaction of the speech organs is the subject of
articulatory phonetics. For instance, the interplay of the lips and teeth can
result in various noises. Although the position of the tongue is also crucial,
vowels are created when the shape of the mouth changes due to
cooperation between the upper and lower lips. The coordination of the
tongue, teeth, and palate results in consonants.

 LIPS- Different speech sounds' resonance can be altered in part by the

lips. Different speech sounds can be created by modifying the shape of
our lips. For plosive sounds like /p/ and /b/, for instance, the lips are
compressed and then opened to create a quick, explosive release of the
breath stream.

 TEETH-Your ability to form and pronounce words clearly depends on

your teeth. We produce phonetic sounds with our teeth, lips, tongue, and
vocal cords during speech, which is incredibly complex.

 ALVEOLAR RIDGE- The area right below the top front teeth is known as
the alveolar ridge. The tongue tip frequently hits the ridge to produce
consonant sounds, making it a crucial speech structure.

 HARD PALATE- The hard palate works in tandem with the tongue to
produce some phonetic sounds. Those who have cleft palates either
cannot pronounce these sounds or do so with a characteristic nasal
vibration that seriously muddles their speech.

 VELUM (SOFT PALATE) -The velum serves two crucial functions in

speech: the [k], [g], and [n] sounds are produced when the tongue body
strikes the velum. It serves as the nasal cavity's "gatekeeper." The
velum is typically raised during speech, preventing airflow through the
nose.

 UVULA- The human voice's ability to articulate itself into spoken sounds
depends in large part on the uvula. It works in concert with the palate,
the back of the throat, and the air rising from the lungs to produce a
variety of sounds, including guttural sounds.

 GLOTTIS- The gap between the vocal folds is known as the glottis (the
rima glottidis). Vowel and voiced consonant production requires the
glottis.

2.  Vocalizing the Vowel and Consonant Sounds

Answer:
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A. Bonifacio St., Brgy. Bagong Sikat, Lemery, Batangas
College of Teacher
Education

The quantity and sound of consonant and vowel sounds are different. The
foundation of a spoken syllable, a vowel is a speaking sound produced with
your lips open somewhat. You are producing a consonant sound when your
mouth is quite close together. Some people have difficulty pronouncing
consonants because they demand greater accuracy than vowels. While some
people struggle with their "s" sounds, others struggle with their "r" sounds.
Although it is common to have difficulty hearing certain sounds, this should
be fixed right away.

Consonant sounds are produced by short stops before air is released (p, b, t,
d, k, g), as well as by limiting airflow in various mouth regions.

Changing the airflow and associated resonance to your nose (m,n,

ng)

M Consonant

When you are doing the M consonant, just lightly press your lips together
while producing the sound using your vocal cords. Even Although most of
the air moves over your soft palate, some air moves through the nose, and
it feels like it is vibrating through your nasal passage. This is why
the M consonant is referred to as a nasal sound.

Examples:

mother            money

welcome         drum

missionary

If you will become a missionary, you should donate all of your money. 

My mother knows how to play the banjo, maracas, electric guitar, and

the drums. 

N Consonant

The N consonant sound is produced by parting your lips slightly. Let the

tongue touches the roof your mouth just behind your teeth. You should feel
a vibration in your nose.

Examples:

never    nothing

any        guns

then      downtown

She has nothing left in her bank account. 

I am going to search for guns in the downtown area of New York. 

Ng Consonant
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You can’t study the N sound without also studying the ng sound (IPA

symbol: /ŋ/). This is the third nasal sound in English. It is also produced by
moving air through your nasal passage, but the tongue placement is
different than the N sound. Your tongue is raised and further back in your
mouth.

Examples:

thing       sing

The singer has a passion has a thing for songwriting. 

Pressing the air flow through a narrow space ( soft th, hard th, “f”,
“v”, “s”, “z”, “sh”, “zh” as in “vision”, and “h”,

Examples:

Thin, think, then                happy, chutzpah, horse

Fat, fast, puff                      Sight, sat, passBuzz, zebra, zipper

Vision, mission. Cession

The thin boy thinks he is a good thief.

The pastry chef bakes cream puffs faster than the others.

Combining the sounds then squeeze it (“ch”, “j”)

Examples:

charcoal, patch, coach,

Just, jar, jazz

The bar opens for just jazz nights. 

The coach patches things up between the two rival playmates. 

narrowing the vocal tract (“w”, “y”, “r”, “l”)

Examples:

water, crow, crawl

year, sly, yeah

rest, car, part

last, yell, calories

The crow fetched water from the pitcher. 

Every year my runway model friends sly the runway of Paris.

Consonants that are like vowels – approximants

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College of Teacher
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Some consonants and vowel sounds have similar sounds or sometimes

called as semivowel sounds. The letters y, w, r, and l are semivowels sounds
that are produced with lesser mouth constrictions compared to other
consonant sounds. When you are producing sounds with less mouth
constriction, it is called approximants.

Approximants have a fine line between vowels and consonant sounds. Just
like “y” sound versus “ee” sound. They have almost the same
pronunciations. Also, the letter “w” and “ooh” sound. Let’s look at the
following examples.

There’s very little difference between the consonant sound “y” and the vowel
sound “ee” as in “see/sea/me”, and between the consonant sound “w” and
the vowel sound “ooh” as in “moon/rule/grew”.

Nasal, Voiced, and voiceless consonants

Some consonants and are produced using your voice (“b”, “d”, “g”, “m”, “n”,
“ng”, “th, “v”, “z”, “zh”, “j”, “y”, “w”, “r”, “l”). On the other hand, the rest
are voiceless (“p”, “t”, “k”, “th” as in “thin”, “f”, “s”, “sh”, “ch”, “h”).

Most consonants come in neat voiced-voiceless pairs – “p/b”, “t/d”, “k/g”,

“th as in thin/th as in then”, “f/v”, “s/z”, “sh/zh as in vision”, and “ch/j” .

Nasal

To produce nasal consonant, lower the soft palate and close your mouth and
let the air escape through the nose.

Examples:

sang      ring

singer    cling

Voiced

Voiced consonants require the use of the vocal cords to produce their

signature sounds. To produce voiced consonants, you tighten and relax your
vocal cords as you speak, letting your vocal cords modulate the flow of the
breath expelled from the lungs. Feeling your throat vibrate is the best way to
know if you are producing consonant sounds.

Examples of voiced consonants are B, D, G, J, L, M, N, Ng, R, Sz, Th (as in

the word “then”), V, W, Y, and Z.

Examples:

book    love

then    zipper

The broken zipper is mine. 

She loves to read books and drink coffee. 
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A. Bonifacio St., Brgy. Bagong Sikat, Lemery, Batangas
College of Teacher
Education

Voiceless consonants

The voiceless consonant does not use the vocal cords. In producing it, you
just allow the air to flow freely from your lungs to your mouth, where the
tongue, teeth, and lips will do the modulation of the sound.

Examples of voiceless consonants are Ch, F, K, P, S, Sh, T, and Th (as in

“thick”).

Examples:

channel        fan

thanks         shoes

sorry            kick

The idol thanked her fans for their overwhelming support and love. 

I have to kick my pair of shoes under my bed because it stinks so badly. 

Consonants and vowels are vital in learning the English language. So, make
this opportunity to read and learn freely.

2. The Diphthongs
Answer:

Diphthong gives the sound a different shape at the end from how it
begins.  The word diphthong comes from the Greek word for “two
sounds”. A diphthong is a vowel sound that is produced by shifting the
tongue's position. The three main diphthongs in English [aɪ] , [aʊ] , and
[ɔɪ].  are present in almost all dialects. These are known as the main
diphthongs because they require substantial tongue motions. Although not
all English dialects do so, speakers of Canadian English frequently form
diphthongs for the tense vowels [eɪ] and [oʊ]. These are viewed as minor
diphthongs by some linguists.

There are three major diphthongs in English that have quite a noticeable

change in the quality of the vowel sound. Say these English words out
loud: fly, tie, ride, smile.  Now make the vowel sound [aɪ] again but hold it
at the beginning [aaa]. The first part of the sound is the low front [a], but
then the tongue moves up quickly at the end of the sound, ending it [ ɪ]. So
the [aɪ] sound is a diphthong, and it gets transcribed with two consecutive
symbols:[aɪ]. In the words now, loud, brown, the tongue again starts low
and front [a], and then it moves high and to the back of the mouth, and the
lips get rounded too!  The second part of this diphthongs is but the high
back rounded [ʊ].  The [aʊ] diphthong is transcribed like this: [aʊ]. The
third major diphthong in English occurs in words like toy, boil, coin.  It starts
with the tongue at the back of the mouth and lips rounded [ ɔ], then moves
to the front with lips unrounded.  It is transcribed like this: [ɔɪ].

Some linguists also consider the vowel sound in cue and few to be a

diphthong.  In this case, the vowel sound starts with the glide [j] and then
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College of Teacher
Education

moves into the vowel [u]. In addition to these major English diphthongs,
speakers of Canadian English also have a tendency to turn the mid-tense
vowels into diphthongs.