THE INTRODUCTION OF

ENGLISH PHONETICS AND

PHONOLOGY

Co mp il ed b y: Ng o c An h Tr
uo n g
May 2018
THE INTRODUCTION OF
ENGLISH PHONETIC AND
PHONOLOGY
Compiled by: Tran Thi Minh Chau

MAY, 2018
 LECTURE 1
Phonetics vs. Phonology
1. Phonetics: is the linguistic science that studies
speech sounds: the way in which they are produced
(uttered, articulated), the way in which they are
perceived, their physical characteristics, etc. The
questions that Phonetics answer are:
• What sounds occur in human languages?
• How these speech sounds are made?
• What physical properties do they have?
• In what way can speech sound similar to, or
different from, other speech sounds?
There are three main areas of Phonetics:

• Articulatory phonetics: is the study of how speech sounds are produced using
the articulators - the parts of the body involved in producing speech
sounds.

• Acoustic phonetics, which is also considered a branch of physics, involves the

study of the speech signals (the sound waves produced when a speaker
speaks). In other words, it deals with the transmission of speech sounds
through the air.
• Auditory phonetics, which is also considered a branch of physiology, is the
study of how speech signal is sensed in the auditory canal and interpreted
by the relevant parts of the brain. In other words, it deals with how speech
sounds are perceived by the listener.

2. Phonology: is the study or description of the distinctive

sound units (phonemes) of a language and their relationship to
one another. It involves studying a language to determine its
distinctive sounds and to establish a set of rules that describe
the set of changes that take place in these sounds when they
occur in different relationships with other sounds. The subject
of phonology includes the following areas:

• Study of the phonemic system.

• Phoneme sequences and syllable structure.
• Suprasegmental phonology (stress, intonation).
Articulatory Phonetics The speech organs / articulators
Articulatory Phonetics The speech organs / articulators
 How are speech sounds produced?
Discovery activity 1 Distinguishing consonants from vowels

Here we make a first exploration of how and where the sounds are produced,
and at the same time distinguish vowels from consonants.

Focusing on your mouth, say these pairs of words slowly, both aloud and
whispered, and notice how you make the difference between the two words.

1 eee /i:/ key /ki: /

2 ooh /u:/ two /tu: /
3 or /ɔː/ nor /nɔː/
4 er /ɜ:/ sir /sɜ:/
5 ah /ɑː/ bar/b ɑː/

Commentary

In each case the first word consists of a single vowel sound, and the second
word consists of the same vowel preceded by a consonant. Notice that the vowel
sound on its own has no particular restriction to the air flow, though it does
require a particular ‘posture’ of the tongue, jaw and lips. The second word of
each pair begins with some kind of restriction to the air flow which you then
release as you move into the following vowel. Most consonants have their own
restriction to the flow of air, which is what gives them their unique sound. (The
exceptions are at the right of the bottom row of the chart. We’ll return to these
later.)

Discovery activity 2 Distinguishing two kinds of vowel

Now we’ll subdivide the vowel sounds. These pairs of words have the same
initial consonant, but different vowels following. What happens in your mouth?
Observe carefully your tongue, jaw and lips, and notice how you make the
difference between the two words.

1 key /ki:/ kay /keI/

2 two /tu:/ toe /toʊ/
3 nor /nɔː/ now /naʊ/
4 sir /ɜ: / sigh /saI/
5 bore / ɔː/ Boy /ɔːI/
Commentary

What I hope you notice is that in the second word of each pair the
tongue/jaw/lip posture changes during the sounding of the vowel, while in the
first word there is no such movement. If this is what you found then you are
observing the general difference in articulation
between monophthongs and diphthongs*. The
distinction is particularly important in English and has some very practical
classroom implications.
Learning from the discovery activities
The aim of the first two discovery activities is to make sure that you have
noticed in your own vocal tract the difference between consonants,
monophthongs and diphthongs. If you are uncertain about this distinction you
could study Fig. 3, or go back over the discovery activity.

WHERE HOW

The distinguishing quality of each

There is no obstruction to the
vowel is produced by the shape
escape of air through the mouth,
and
Monophthongs and they are all voiced, ie the
size of the resonant space in the
vocal cords vibrate in the air
mouth. This is controlled by the
flow.
position and shape of the tongue,
lips and jaw.
As for monophthongs the
distinguishing quality is produced
by the tongue, lips and jaw. The
difference is that there is one As with monophthongs there is
mouth posture at the beginning of no obstruction to the escape of
Diphthongs the vowel sound, and another at air through the mouth, and they
the are all voiced, ie the vocal cords
end. The resulting glide between vibrate in the air flow.
these two tongue and lip positions
gives the diphthong its
characteristic ‘two – sound’
quality.
Restrictions to the air flow can
be made in various ways, each
The restrictions to the air flow that
giving a different characteristic
make the characteristic consonant
sound. Restrictions can be
sounds are made at one of the
produced by friction applied to
points of contact between the
the air flow, or by a momentary
Consonants various speech organs such as
blocking of the air flow
tongue, teeth, lips, roof of mouth,
followed by a sudden release, or
etc. All consonants involve some
by diverting the air flow through
sort of restriction to the air flow
the nose. The use of voicing and
except /w/ and /j/.
unvoicing also characterizes
consonant sounds.

Fig. 3: The how and where for monophthongs, diphthongs and consonants

(Underhill, 2005)
In general, the aim of each discovery activity is to experience the auditory,
visual and physical aspects of sounds. To make this experience more vivid
there are three kinds of feedback you can give yourself in the discovery
activities:

• kinesthetic feedback: the internal physical sensation of touch and of muscle

movement in your throat, mouth, tongue and lips, etc;

• auditory feedback: what you hear, externally through the air, and internally
through your head (you can enhance the latter by blocking your ears with your
fingers when you speak);

• visual feedback: any physical movement connected with the production of the
sound that you can see in yourself or in others (it is very helpful to have a
pocket mirror available).

When we are making sounds, the air from the lungs comes up through the wind-
pipe and arrives first at the larynx. Then it goes through the vocal cords into the
pharynx and up the pharynx to the uvula. At this point, it may go in either way.
It may go into the oral cavity (if the soft palate is raised) and go out of the
mouth. Or it may go into the nasal tract (if the soft palate is lowered) and get out
through the nostrils.

1. How are oral sounds produced?

In the process of making sounds, at the uvula if the soft palate is raised,
blocking off the nasal tract, the airstream can only go into the oral tract and go
out of the mouth, then we have oral sounds.
e.g. /g/, /s/ /θ/

2. How are nasal sounds produced?

In the process of making sounds, if the air-stream is blocked somewhere in the

oral cavity but the soft palate is lowered so that the air-stream can get into the
nasal tract and get out through the nostrils, then we have nasal sounds.
e.g. /m/, /n/, /ŋ/

3. How are consonant sounds produced?

When we are making sounds, if two articulators come together, obstructing the
air-stream and the air-stream cannot get out freely, we have consonant sounds
e.g. /k/, /f/, /b/, /m/
 4. How are vowel sounds produced?

When we are making sounds, if there is no obstruction to the flow of air as it

passes from the larynx to the lips and the air can get out freely, then we have
vowel sounds.
e.g. /ɒ/, /ɜ:/, /æ/, /I/

5. How are voiced sounds produced?

When we are producing sounds, the air-stream goes through the vocal cords. If
the vocal cords come together, obstructing the air-stream, the air-stream cannot
get out through them freely and it makes them vibrate, then we have voiced
sounds.
e.g. /d/, /v/, /m/

6. How are voiceless sounds produced?

When we are making sounds, the air-stream goes through the vocal cords. If the
vocal cords come apart, they are open. The air-stream can go out through them
freely and it does not make them vibrate, then we have voiceless sounds.
e.g. /s/, /t/, /ʃ/
Introduction of the Phonemic Chart
As you can see, the phonemic chart (Fig. 1) has three main sections. The vowels
are shown in the upper half, monophthongs /m nf z/ on the left, and diphthongs
/dIp z/ or /dIf z/ on the right. The consonants /k nsnnts/ are shown in the lower
half. The colon by five of the vowel symbols indicates length. The box in the
top right-hand corner contains stress and intonation symbols.

Fig. 1:The phonemic chart

Sounds are all produced in the vocal tract. The vocal tract refers to the parts of
the body that contribute to the production of vocal sounds: the lungs, larynx,
oral cavity (mouth), lips and nose.

Fig. 2: The vocal tract To facilitate the learning of the phonemes of standard
English, we need to know
(Underhill, 2005)

• how each sound is produced within the vocal tract (referred to as manner of
articulation);
• where in the vocal tract each sound is produced (referred to as place of
articulation).
The phonemic chart is arranged to convey much of this information visually.

Consonants
1. Definition: Consonants are the sounds in the production of which one
articulator moves towards another or two articulators come together,
obstructing the air-stream and the air-stream can’t get out freely.

2. Classification:

In order to form consonants, the air-stream through the vocal cords must be
obstructed in some way. Therefore, consonants can be classified according to
the place where the air-stream is obstructed (the place of articulation) and the
way in which the air- stream is obstructed (the manner of articulation).

According to place of articulation

• The place of articulation is the location of the obstruction of the air-stream in

the articulation of consonants. It describes the point at which the
articulators actually touch or are at their closest. The most important
places of articulation for the production of English consonants are listed
in the table below.
• Notes: The terms used to describe the sounds are those which
denote the place of articulation of the sounds
• Places Articulators Examples
Bilabial Upper lip + lower lip
Labio-dental Lower lip + upper teeth
Dental Teeth + tongue
Alveolar Alveolar ridge + tongue
Retroflex Back of alveolar ridge + tongue
Palato - alveolar Join of hard palate & alveolar ridge + tongue
Palatal Hard palate + tongue
Velar Soft palate + tongue
Glottal Vocal cords

• Bilabials: are the sounds made with the two lips pressed together or coming
together. e.g. /p/, /b/,/m/
• Labio-dentals: are the sounds which are produced with the lower lip touching
the upper front teeth. e.g. /f/,/v/
Dentals: are the sounds which are produced with the tip or blade of the tongue
touching the upper front teeth. e.g. /θ/, /ð/
• Alveolars: are the sounds which are produced with the tip or blade of the
tongue touching or approaching the alveolar ridge. e.g. /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/
• Retroflex: is the sound which is produced with the tip of the tongue curling
back towards the back of the alveolar ridge.
Palato - alveolars: are the sounds which are produced with the tongue tip or
blade coming close to the area between the back of the alveolar ridge and the
front of the hard palate. e.g. /ʈʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /r/
• Palatal: is the sound which is produced with the front of the tongue coming
close to the hard palate. e.g. /j/
Velars: are the sounds which are produced with the back of the tongue
touching the soft palate. e.g. /k/,/g/, /w/, /ŋ/
• Glottals: are the sounds which are produced without the active use of the
tongue and other parts of the mouth. e.g. /h/

(Kelly,2001)
According to manner of articulation

• Manner of articulation is the way in which the air-stream is obstructed or

altered in the production of speech sounds. It describes the types of
obstruction caused by the narrowing or closure of the articulators.

Movement of Articulators Examples

Complete closure
Stop

Oral Complete closure in the mouth, air

Nasal escapes through nose

Narrowing,
Fricative resulting in
audible friction
Affricate Closure, then slow separation
Closure in centre of mouth, air escapes
Lateral
down sides
 Slight narrowing, not enough to cause
Approximant friction

1. Stops: are the sounds in the production of which there is a complete

closure of the articulators involved so that the air-stream can’t escape through
the mouth. There are two kinds of stops:

• Oral stops (Plosives): are the sounds which are produced with the air-
stream being stopped in the oral cavity and the soft palate is raised blocking
off the nasal cavity. Then the two articulators come apart quickly and the air
escapes through the oral tract. e.g. /b/,/p/,/t/,/d/,/k/,/g/
Nasal stops (Nasals): they are produced with the air- stream being stopped in
the oral cavity but the soft palate is down so that the air can go out through
the nose. e.g. /m/,/n/,/ŋ/

Notes: Although both oral stops and nasal stops can be classified as “stops”, the
term “stop” itself is almost used by phoneticians to indicate an oral stop,
and
the term “nasal” to indicate a nasal stop.

2. Fricatives: are the sounds in the production of which two articulators come
close together but there is still a small opening between them so the air-stream
is partially obstructed and an audible friction noise (a hissing sound) is produced.
e.g. /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/,/s/,/z/,/ʃ/, /ʒ/,/h/

• Notes: Fricatives are continuants consonants which means that you can
continue making them as long as you have enough air in your lungs.

• Affricates: are the sounds which are produced when a stop is immediately
followed by a fricative. e.g. /ʈʃ/, /dʒ/

• Lateral: is the sound which is made when the air-stream is obstructed at a

point along the centre of the oral tract, with incomplete closure between one
or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth. e.g. /l/

• Approximants: are the sounds in the production of which two articulators

come close together but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an
extent that a friction noise is produced. e.g. /r/,/j/,/w/

• Notes: Approximants are called frictionless continuants.

According to voicing.

1. Voiced consonants: are produced when the vocal

cords are vibrating. e.g. /b/, /ʈʃ/, /g/
2. Voiceless consonants: are produced when the vocal cords are not vibrating.
e.g. /p/, /d/, /dʒ/,/k/

Fortis and lenis

• A voiced/voiceless pair such as /s/ and /z/ are distinguished not only by the
presence or absence of voice but also by the degree of breath and muscular
effort involved in the articulation. It is generally said that those English
consonants which are usually voiced tend to be articulated with relatively weak
energy, whereas those which are always voiceless are relatively strong. Thus,
the voiceless consonants are sometimes called ‘fortis’ meaning ‘strong’, and
the
voiceless consonants in opposition are then called ‘lenis’ meaning ‘weak’.
• Fortis consonants have the effect of shortening a preceding vowel. The effect
is most noticeable in the case of long vowels and diphthong, though it does also
affect short vowels.
• E.g. See seed seat
(Roach, 2000)

v Exercises

1. Describing English consonants

The description includes the following information:

a. Voicing
b. Place of articulation
c. Manner of articulation

e.g. /s/: voiceless alveolar fricative

• /n/: voiced alveolar nasal

• /f/:
• /t/:
• /s/:
• /j/:
• /g/:

2. Identifying English consonants

A description is given and you have to identify which sound is being described.

e.g. Voiced velar nasal: /ŋ/

• voiceless palato-alveolar fricative:
• voiced bilabial stop:
• voiced labio-dental fricative:
• voiced alveolar lateral:
• voiceless palato-alveolar affricate:
• voiced dental fricative:
3. Put a,b,c,d in each box to match the consonant sound classifications (a-
d) to the sound characteristics (1-4)

a plosives b fricatives c approximants d lateral

1 The articulators come close together, but do not cause

audible friction.
2 A closure is made in the vocal tract and air flows around the
sides of the tongue.
3 A complete closure is made in the vocal tract and the air is
then release explosively.
4 Air is heard passing between two vocal organs.

(Kelly, 2001)
 LECTURE 2
Vowels
1. Definition

• Vowels are the sounds in the production of which none of the articulators
come very close together so the passage of air-stream is relatively
unobstructed and the air can get out freely.
• Vowels are the type of sounds that depend mainly on the variations in the
position of the tongue. They are normally voiced.

2. Classification

Vowels can be classified according to three variables:

a. Tongue height.
b. Part of the tongue which is raised
c. Degree of lip rounding
According to tongue height

According to the height to which the tongue is raised we have:

1. High vowels: are those in the production of which the tongue is high in
the mouth. It is raised above its rest position.
e.g.:
2. Low vowels: are those made with the tongue below its rest position.
e.g.:
3. Mid vowels: are those made with the tongue neither high nor low in the
mouth.
e.g.:

According to the part of the tongue raised

According to the part of the tongue which is raised we have:

1. Front vowels: are those in the production of which the front of the
tongue is the highest point.
e.g.
2. Back vowels: are those in the production of which the back of the
tongue is the highest point.
e.g.
3. Central vowels: are those made with neither the front nor the back of
the tongue. The tongue is neither high nor low in the mouth when
central vowels are produced.
e.g.

According to degree of lip rounding

According to the degree of lip rounding we have:

1. Rounded vowels: are those made with rounded lips. The corners of the
lips are brought towards each other and the lips are pushed forwards.
e.g.
2. Unrounded vowels: are those made with the lips spread. The corners of
the lips are moved away from each other as for a smile.
e.g.
3. Neutral vowels: are those made with the lips neither rounded nor
spread. e.g.
Long vowels and short vowels

1. Long vowels:
2. Short vowels:
Long vowels tend to be longer than short vowels in similar contexts. The
symbols consist of one single vowel plus a length mark made of two dots.
They are different from short vowels not only in length but also in quality,
resulting from differences in tongue shapes and lip positions.

Vowels: Monothongs

In the production of vowel sounds, the vocal tract is open so that there is no
obstruction to the air flow escaping over the tongue. The characteristic sound of
a vowel depends on the shape and size of the resonant space in the mouth. This
is determined by:

• the horizontal tongue position (front–center–back);

• the vertical tongue position (high–mid–low);
• the lip position (rounded–neutral–spread).

And there is a fourth characteristic of vowels which is not dependent on tongue

or lip position:

• the typical length or duration of the vowel (long–short).

Vowels: Diphthongs
1. Definition: A diphthong is a glide from one vowel to another, and the whole
glide acts like one of the long simple vowels.

In terms of length, diphthongs are like long vowels. The most important thing to
remember about all the diphthongs is that the first part is much longer and
stronger than the second part. As a result, the second part is shorter and quieter.

e.g. /ai/, /eə/

Classification

Diphthongs

Centring
(ending in / ə/)
Closing

(ending in /I/) (ending in /ʊ/)

Vowels: Triphthongs

1. Definition: A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a

third, all produced rapidly without interruption.
There are five triphthongs in English. They are composed of the five closing
diphthongs with /\/ added at the end.

Describing and identifying vowels

1. Describing: long/short, high/low, front/back, rounded/unrounded.

e.g. /e/: short mid front unrounded vowel

2. Identifying

e.g. long mid central unrounded vowel: /

v Exercises:
1. Supply an example word for each sound. Mark the diagram to show
the tongue position. One has been done for you.

/i:/

/i:/ bead /ɜ:/

/I/ /ɔ:/

/ʊ/ /æ/

/u:/ /ʌ/

/e/ /ɑ:/

/ə/ /ɒ/

(Kelly, 2001)
 LECTURE 3
Phonemes
1. Definition:

A phoneme is the smallest segment of sound which can distinguish two words.
Take the words ‘pit’ and ‘bit’. These differ only in their initial sound. ‘pit’
begins with /p/ and ‘bit’ begins with /b/. This is the smallest amount by which
these two words could differ and still remain distinct forms. Any smaller
subdivision would be impossible because English doesn’t subdivide /p/ or /b/.
Therefore, /p/ and /b/ are considered two phonemes.

Other examples:

Minimal pairs

Pair of words such as ‘pit’ and ‘bit’, ‘pit’ and ‘pet’, ‘back’ and ‘bag’ which
differ by only one phoneme in identical environment are known as minimal
pairs.
More examples:
One way to identify the phonemes of any language is to look for minimal pairs.

2. Classification:

There are 44 phonemes in English. They can be divided into two types:
consonants (24) and vowels (20).
• Each phoneme is meaningless in isolation. It becomes meaningful only when it
is combined with other phonemes.
Phonemes form a set of abstract units that can be used for writing down a
language systemmatically and unambiguously.
• Reasons: A letter can be represented by different sounds.
• A phoneme can be represented by different letters or combinations of letters.

Allophones

Allophones are the variants of phonemes that occur in speech.

• Reasons: the way a phoneme is pronounced is conditioned by the sounds
around it or by its position in the word. For example: /t/
h
/t / tea
/t/ /t0/ stay
/t/ get there
 Phonemes vs. Allophones

The crucial distinction between phonemes and allophones is that substituting

one phoneme for another will result in a word with a different meaning (that’s
why phonemes can be defined as meaning-distinguishing sounds) as well as a
different pronunciation, but substituting allophones only
results in a different pronunciation
of the same words.
Eg:

Symbols

Phonemic symbols: are symbols for
phonemes. The number of phonemic
symbols must be exactly the same as
the number of phonemes we decide to
exist in the language. In RP (BBC
English), there are 44 phonemic
symbols.
Phonetic symbols: are symbols for
allophones. They are used to give an
accurate label to an allophone of a
phoneme or to represent sounds more
accurately. Phonetic symbols usually
make use of diacritics.

Exercise:

1. Which of the following pairs are minimal pairs? Which are not? Put a
tick or a cross as relevant.

a ship sheep √ f kite Coat

b cat car x g bought Boat
c cheap chip h hit Hear
d heart hear i trick Treat
e cat cut j bins Beans
 2. Provide minimal pairs for the following phoneme difficulties.

Phonemes Word pair Phonemes Word pair

/p/ and /b/ Pin bin /ɒ/ and ɔ:
/b/ and /v/ /e/ and /ei/
/l/ and /r/ /I/ and /i:/
/θ/ and /s/ /ʊ/ and /u:/
/dʒ/ and /j/ /æ/ and /ʌ/

(Kelly, 2001)
 LECTURE 4
Stress
1. Definition:

Stress is an extra force exerted on a particular syllable or a particular word in

spoken language. The stressed syllable or word is said with greater energy, and
stands out in a word, phrase or sentence.

Examples: father / /ˈfɑː.ðər/ information /ˌɪn.fəˈmeɪ.ʃən/

John bought a new car yesterday

2. Types of stress

Word stress: is an extra force put on a particular syllable of the word. It is

usually fixed.

For example: invite entertain

Sentence stress: is an extra force put on a particular word in a sentence.

Sentence stress is not fixed. It depends on the speaker’s feelings and attitudes
and the message that he wants to get across to the listener.

For example: John bought a new car yesterday.

We can study stress from the point of view of production and perception.

1. From the production point of view, the production of stress is generally

believed to depend on the speaker’s using more muscular energy than
for unstressed syllables.

2. From the perception point of view: all stressed syllables have one
characteristic in common, and that is prominence. At least four
factors
make a stressed syllable prominent: loudness, length, pitch and vowel
quality. Generally, these four factors work together in combination
though syllables may sometimes be made prominent by means of only
one or two of them.

Secondary stress (non-tonic): it is weaker than primary stress, but stronger

than unstressed syllables. It is usually found in words of four or five syllables.
It is
represented in transcription with a low mark.
For examples: photographic anthropology

Unstressed: can be regarded as being the absence of any recognizable amount

of prominence.

Placement of stress within words

In order to decide on the stress placement, it is necessary to make use of some

or all of the following information.
a. Whether the word is morphologically simple or complex.
(whether the word is a simple, derived or compound word).
• The grammatical category to which the word belongs.
• The number of syllables in the word.
• The phonological structure of the word.

Simple word stress

Two syllable words
a. Verbs
b. Adjectives
c. Nouns
d. Adverbs and prepositions

Three syllable words

a. Verbs
b. Nouns
c. Adjectives

Two – syllable verbs

If the second syllable of the verb contains a long vowel or a diphthong or it ends
with more than one consonant, that second syllable is stressed.

E.g: Provide Protest

Contain Agree

More examples: select, arrest, design, inform, invent, prefer, depend, occur,
succeed, deny, apply, record, invite.

If the second syllable contains a short vowel and ends with one or no consonant,
the first syllable is stressed. Examples:
enter worry
travel open
• More examples: menace, settle, marry, differ, equal, answer.
c. The final syllable is also unstressed if it contains /@U/. Examples:
follow borrow

Two-syllable Adjectives
• Two syllable adjectives are stressed according to the same rules as verbs.
Examples:

correct major
polite complete
heavy happy
sincere precise

Two –syllable Nouns

If the second syllable contains a short vowel, the stress will be on the first
syllable. Otherwise, it will be on the second syllable.

Examples:
money office estate autumn delight canoe
reason larynx balloon affair pocket surface

Note
Other two-syllable words such as adverbs and prepositions seem to behave like
verbs and adjectives.

Examples:
seldom again before except never behind very after across beyond

Three-syllable verbs

a. If the last syllable contains a short vowel and ends with not more than
one consonant, the last syllable will be unstressed, and stress will be
placed on the second syllable.

Eg: encounter determine

abandon remember

b. If the final syllable contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or ends

with
more than one consonant, the final syllable will be stressed.
Eg: entertain introduce intervene recommend

Three-syllable Nouns

a. If the final syllalbe contains a short vowel or /əʊ/, it is unstressed. If the

second syllable contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or it ends with more than
one consonant, the second syllable will be stressed.

Eg: Potato disaster cathedral advantage

b. If the final syllable contains a short vowel and the second syllable contains a
short vowel and ends with not more than one consonant, both the final and
middle syllalbes are unstressed, and the first syllable is stressed.

Eg: enemy animal antonym cinema alphabet company character quantity

c. If the final syllalbe contains a long vowel or a diphthong or it ends with more
than one consonant, the stress will usually be placed on the first syllable.

Eg: paradise architect photograph

exercise marigold attitude

Three-syllable Adjectives
Three-syllable adjectives seem to need the same rules as Nouns to produce
stress pattern such as:

Eg: possible important enormous accurate

insolent derelict absolute similar popular opportune

Derived words
Complex word stress

• Stress on the affix

• No change in stress placement
• The stress remains on the stem but is shifted to a different syllable.
• Compound words
• Primary stress on the second element
• Primary stress on the first element.

Stress in derived words

The affixes will have one of three possible effects on the word stress.
The affix itself receives primary stress.
Eg: circle employ person Portugal cigar picture mountain
semi-circle employee personality Portugese cigarette picturesque mountaineer

The word is stressed as if the affix were not there.

comfort marry refuse wide wonder amaze red power punish poison glory
comfortable marriage refusal widen wonderful amazing reddish powerless
punishment poisonous glorify

The stress remains on the stem, not the affix, but is shifted to a different syllable.

Eg: advantage proverb climate injure tranquil photograph economy equator

advantageous proverbial climatic injurious tranquility photographer
economical equatorial

Compound words
If the first word/part of the compound is in a broad sense adjectival, the stress
goes on the second element with a secondary stress on the first.

Eg: loudspeaker full moon fast food new moon open hearted ill mannered

If, however, the first element is, in a broad sense, a noun, the stress goes on the
first element.

Eg: car ferry tea cup suitcase bottle feed boatpeople farm house airplane
bodyguard bedroom

Word class pairs

In English, there are pairs of two syllable words with identical spelling which
differ from each other in stress placement, apparently according to word class.
The rule is as follows: The stress will be placed on the second syllable if the
word is a Verb, but on the first syllable of the Noun or Adjective.

abstract abstract object object

conduct conduct perfect perfect
contrast contrast permit permit
desert desert present present
escort escort produce produce
export export rebel rebel
import import record record
insult insult subject subject
Strong and weak forms
• There are certain well-known English words that can be pronounced in two
different ways which are called strong form and weak form.
I hope that you are fine

• It is possible to use only strong forms in speaking, and some foreigners do this.
Usually, they can still be understood by other speakers of English, so why is it
important to learn how weak forms are used?

a. Most native speakers of English find an ‘all-strong-form’

pronunciation unnatural and foreign sounding, somethings
that most learners would wish to avoid.

More importantly, speakers who are not familiar with the use of weak forms are
likely to have difficulty understanding speakers who do use weak forms. Since
practically all native speakers of English use them, learners of the language need
to learn about these weak forms to help them understand what they hear.

• Almost all the words which have both a strong and weak form belong to a
category that may be called grammatical words such as auxiliary verbs,
prepositions, conjunctions... It is important to remember that there are certain
contexts in which only the strong form is acceptable, and others where the weak
form pronunciation is the normal.

The strong form is used in the following cases:

a. When the word occurs at the end of a sentence.

What are you looking at?

I am looking at my pictures.
Where are you from?
I am from Vietnam

b. When a weak form word is being contrasted with another word.

The letter is from him, not to him.

He likes her, but does she like him?

A similar case is what we might call a co-ordinated use of prepositions.

I travel to and from London a lot.

A work of and about literature.
 When a weak form word is given stress for the purpose of emphasis.

You must marry me I have to go

You must choose us or them.

d. When a weak form word is being ‘cited’ or ‘quoted’ You shouldn’t put ‘and’
and the end of a sentence.

Exercises

1. Number the words with the appropriate stress pattern (1-5). Two
examples are done for you.

1 Oo 2 oO 3 Ooo 4 oOo 5 ooO

Student 1 Essential pronounce Import (verb)

Understand 5 Computer introduce accurate
Surrounding persevere Rebel (noun) analyse
Rebel (verb) learner including cassette

2. Using the words above, underline all the incidences of /ə/. (See the
word student above.) What vowel sounds other than /ə/ also appear in
the unstressed syllables?
 LECTURE 5
Aspects of connected speech
Rhythm
Rhythm is the relatively equal beat between stressed syllables. It has often been
claimed that English speech is rhythmical and that rhythm is detectable in the
regular occurrence of stressed syllables.

• The theory that English has stress-timed rhythm implies that stressed syllables
will tend to occur at relatively regular intervals whether they are separated by
unstressed syllables or not.
E.g. Walk down the path to the end of the canal

The stress-timed rhythm theory states that the time from each stressed syllable
to the next will tend to be the same, irrespective of the number of intervening
unstressed syllables.
Eg: How did you manage to be there in time?

• In languages which have syllable-timed rhythm,all syllables, whether stressed

or unstressed tend to occur at regular intervals of time, and the time between
stressed syllables will be shorter or longer in proportion to the number of
unstressed syllables.

Stress group
A stressed syllable, together with any unstressed syllables which may follow it
form a stress group. The fundamental rule of English rhythm is that each stress
group within a word group is given the same amount of time.

Eg: My teacher’s in London this Friday for a conference in Phonetics

When did you hear the story about John and the girl upstairs?

Rhythm unit (Foot)

A unit with a stressed syllable as its centre and any unstressed syllables which
may come before and after it is called a rhythm unit. The rules are as follows.

1. Any unstressed syllable at the beginning of a word group must go together

with the following stress group.
Eg: My apologies The teacher has arrived

2. If the unstressed syllable is part of the same word as the stressed syllable,
they
belong to the same foot.
I’m going home today for Christmas

3. If the unstressed syllable is closely connected grammatically to othe stressed

word, although not a part of that word, they belong to the same rhythm unit.
Give it to John

4. Whenever you are in doubt as to which rhythm unit unstressed syllables

belong to, put them after a stressed syllable, rather than before it.
He was older than me

Assimilation
1. Definition:

Assimilation is the process which takes place when one sound adapts itself to
become similar to a neighbouring sound in one or more aspects. In other words,
assimilation is the influence of one phoneme upon another neighbouring
phoneme, so that they become more alike.

Assimilation may occur across word boundaries or between words, across

morpheme boundaries or within a morpheme or a word.
E.g. light blue cats bent
Good girl beds bank

2. Kinds of assimilation across word boundaries

In terms of the direction of change

Regressive assimilation: Cf → Ci
Progressive assimilation: Ci → Cf

In terms of the way in which phonemes change

Assimilation of place: Cf → Ci
Assimilation of manner: Cf → Ci
Assimilation of voice: Cf → Ci

Assimilation of place of articulation

1. Alveolar + bilabial -> bilabial

a. / t / becomes [ p ] before bilabials

• right place [raɪppleɪs]

• might put [maɪppʊt]
 • might make [maɪpmeɪk]
• white bird [waɪpbɜːd]
• might buy [maɪpbaɪ]
• might win [maɪpwɪn]

b. / d / becomes [ b ] before bilabials

• hard path [hɑːbpɑːθ]

• should put [ʃʊbpʊt]
• should make [ʃʊbmeɪk]
• good boy [ɡʊbbɔɪ]
• should win [ʃʊbwɪn]
• should buy [ʃʊbbaɪ]

c. / n / becomes [ m ] before bilabials.

• gone past [ɡɒnpɑːst]

• seen Peter [si:mpi:tə]
• seen Bill [si:mbɪl]
• ten men [temmen]
• seen Mike [si:mmaɪk]
• seen Walter [si:mwɒl.tər]

2. Alveolar + velar -> velar

a. /t/ becomes [k] before /k/ and /g/

• white coat [waɪkkəʊt]

• might come [maɪkkvm]
• that girl [∂ækɡɜːl]
• might go [maɪkɡəʊ ]

b. /d/ becomes [g] before /k/ and /g/

• bad cold [bægkəʊld]

• should come [ʃʊdkvm]
• bad gate [bæɡɡeɪt]
• should go [ʃʊd ɡəʊ]
c. /n/ becomes [ ] before /k/ and /g/

• one cup [wʌnkvp]

• seen Karen [si: ŋkeərən]
• main gate [meɪnŋɡeɪt]
• seen Greg [si: ŋɡreɡ]

3. Alveolar + dental -> dentalized

• Get there [getðeər]

• tenth [tenθ]
• bad thing [bædθɪŋ]

4. Alveolar + palato-alveolar or palatal -> palato- alveolar

a. /s/ becomes [ʃ] before /ʃ/or/j/

• nice shoes [naɪʃʃuːz]

• this shop [ðɪʃʃɒp]
• this year [ðɪʃjɪər]

b. /z/ becomes [ʒ] before /ʃ/ or /j/

• those shops [ðəʊʒʃɒp]
• these sheep [∂i: ʒʃi:p]
• where’s yours [weərʒjɔːr]

c. Alveolar stops and a following / j / may merge to form an affricate.

• want you [wɒnu]

• individual [ɪndɪvɪdʈʃuəl]
• did you? [dɪdʈʃu]
• education [edʈʃ.uˈkeɪ.ʃən]
Assimilation of manner of articulation
1. Plosive + fricative -> fricative
• /t/+/s/ -> /s/: that side [∂æssaɪd]
• /t/+/z/ -> /z/: that zoo [∂æzzu:]
• /d/+/s/ -> /s/: good song [ɡʊssɒŋ]
 • /d/+/z/ -> /z/: bad zone [bæzzəʊnn]
3. Plosive + nasal -> nasal
• /t/+/n/ -> /n/: that night [∂ænnaɪt]
• /d/+/n/ -> /n/: good night [gʊnnaɪt]

Assimilation of voicing
Cf (Lenis) + Ci (Fortis) -> Cf becomes devoiced

• Have to [hæftu:]
• bad tongue [bættvŋ ]
• big car [bɪkkɑːr]

Elision
1. Definition: Elision is the disappearance of sounds in speech. Under certain
circumstances, sounds disappear. A phoneme may be realized as zero or have
zero realization.

2. Rules for elision

a. Aspirated stops + weak vowel /\ /aspirated stops

• Today [təˈdeɪ]
• potatoes [pəˈteɪ.təʊ]

b. Weak vowel / ə / disappears before syllabic consonants / n, l, r /

• Canal [knæl]
• correct [krekt]
• connect [knekt]

c. Stop + (stop) + stop

• looked back [lʊkt bæk]

• stopped killing [stɒpt kɪlɪŋ]
d. Stop + (stop) + fricative

• Acts [ækt 's]

• scripts [skrɪpt's]

e. Fricative + (stop) + fricative

• Desks [desk 's]

• guests [ɡest 's]
• crisps [krɪsp 's]

f. / -st / + stop, nasal, fricative -> / -s /

• last time [læstaɪm]

• last man [læsmæn]
• last song [læssɒŋ]

g. / -ft / + stop, nasal, fricative -> / -f /

• left door [lefdɔːr]

• left knee [lefni:]
• left shoe [lefʃu:]

h. / -nd / + lenis stop, nasal -> / -n /

• kind nurse [kaɪnnɜːs]

• canned bacon [kænbeɪkn]

i. / -md / + lenis stop, nasal, -> / -m /

• skimmed milk [skɪmmɪlk]

• seemed good [si:mɡʊd]

j. Loss of final / v / in OF + consonant

• Lots of them [lɒtsəðem]

• waste of money [weistəmvni]
 Linking

1. Linking final consonant to initial vowel

• Drink a cup of tea [driŋkə kvpəti...]

• Put it on [pʊtitɒn]

2. Liking identical consonants

• Bad dog [bæddɒɡ]

• stop pushing [stɒppʊʃ.ɪŋ]
• big girl [bɪɡɡɜːl]
• good deal [ɡʊddi:l]
• this seat [ðɪssi:t]
• felt tired [felttaɪəd]

a. Linking / r / and intrusive / r /

• Four eggs [fɔːreɡz]

• your eyes [jɔːraɪz]
• for ever [fɔːrevə]
• Media events [mi:dɪərɪvents]
• Australia and Africa [ɒsˈtreɪ.li.əræf.rɪ.kə]

b. Intrusive /j/: when a word ending in/i:; ɪ;aɪ; eɪ ; ɔɪ/ is followed by a word
beginning with a vowel
• The other [ðijʌð.ər]
• my aunt [maɪjɑːnt]
• see us [si:jəs]

c. Intrusive / w /: when a word ending in /u: ; i; ai; ei/ is followed by a word

beginning with a vowel

• Go in [ɡəʊwin ]
• two others [tu:wʌð.ər]
Exercise

A. Decide what the assimilation are in the following sentences.

1. It’s in that box. The /t/ at the end of ‘that’ assimilates to
2. There are eleven players in a soccer team.
3. Can you see that kid over there? _
4. There are ten cups on the table.
5. I’m going to give up smoking this year.

B. Decide what the elision are in the following sentences.

1. We finally arrived the next day. /nekst/_becomes
2. This is Everton’s lastchance to win the league.
3. We had a cold lunch in a small bar. _
4. If you visit Britain, you must try some fish and chips.
5. Her mum always serves cherry on Christmas morning

C. Decide which sound intrudes or links sound in the following sentences.

1. It was an important media event. /r/ intrudes bbetween
2. You can park the car over there.
3. Trevor’s weird. He eats raw onion for breakfast.
4. He was way over the speed limit.
5. Did you go out on New Year’s Eve?

(Kelly, 2001)
 LECTURE 6
Tones
When we speak, we constantly vary the pitch of our voice. Tone is the overall
behavior of pitch in a syllable.

Although in English, a word such as ‘yes’ and ‘no’ can be spoken with different
tones, no English speakers would say that the meaning of the word is different
with different tones.

English is one of those languages that do not use tone to distinguish the
meanings of words, though tones or pitch differences are used for other
purposes. Such languages are called intonation languages.

A tone language is one in which the tone can determine the meaning of a word
and a change from one tone to another can completely change the meaning of a
word. In other words, substituting one distinctive tone for another on a
particular word can cause a change in lexical meaning of that word.
E.g. Vietnamese, Chinese
 Tones

Tones

Simple Complex
tone tone

Level Moving Fall - rise Rise - fall

tones tones tone tone

Falling Rising
tone tone

Description of tones

The level tone is one in which the pitch remains at a constant level
• The falling tone is one which descends from a higher to a lower pitch
• The rising tone is a movement from a lower pitch to a higher one
• The fall-rise tone is one in which the pitch falls and then rises
The rise-fall tone is one in which the pitch rises and then falls

Functions of English tones

1. The level tone.

This tone almost always conveys a feeling of saying something routine,
uninteresting or boring.

E.g. A teacher’s calling the names of the students from a register and the
students respond the teacher with ‘Yes’.

Respondents answer surveys or questionnaires.

2. The falling tone.

This tone is usually regarded as more or less neutral. It is said to give an

impression of ‘finality’.
If someone is asked a question and replies ‘yes’ or ‘no’ with a falling tone, it
will be understood that the question is now answered and there is nothing
more to be said.
How many dogs have you got? Two
What was the weather like? Wet
Have you finished? Yes

3. The rising tone

This tone conveys an impression that something more is to follow or an

invitation to continue.
Excuse me. Yes?
Yes? No?
Hello, is that John? Yes?
First you type in your user name. Yes? Then you type in your password Yes?
Have you talked to her?
and finally click “Log in”

4. The fall-rise

This tone is usually used to show ‘limited agreement’ or response with

reservations.
Isn’t he handsome? Yes, (but he is not very manly)
She looks beautiful Yes, (thanks to her make-up)
It’s not very difficult, is it? No, (but remember that I’m just a beginner)

5. The rise-fall

This tone is used to convey rather strong feelings of approval, disapproval or

surprise.
Isn’t he intelligent? Yes.
Have you ever heard such a story? No.
She has won the contest. Great.
 Tone units

A tone unit is a group of syllables over which a tone extends. It is also referred
to as an ‘intonation group’ or a ‘tone group’.

Eg: Is it you?
You have sold your car?

In its smallest form, the tone unit may consist of only one syllable
James? Four?
The syllable which carries the tone in a tone unit is called the ‘tonic syllable’.

Tone-unit with more than one syllable

Is it you
/
The third syllable
• is more prominent than the other two
• carries a level tone
• is a tonic syllable

The other two syllables

• are less prominent
• said on a level pitch
“is it you” is an utterance of three syllables, consisting of one tone unit. The only
syllable that carries a tone is “you”.

Structure of tone unit

Tone unit

Pre –head Head Tonic syllable Tail

(PH) (H) (TS) (T)

Tonic syllable

• is the syllable which carries the tone in a tone-unit

• Each tone-unit has one and only one tonic syllable. This means that the tonic
syllable is an obligatory component of the tone unit.

The head

• The head (H) is all that part of a tone-unit that extends from the first stressed
syllable up to but not including the tonic syllable.

If there is no stressed syllable before the tonic syllable, there cannot be a head.
l l
e.g. give me those in an hour
\ \

The pre-head

• The pre-head (PH) is composed of all the unstressed syllables in a tone-unit

preceding the first stressed syllable.
• Pre-heads are found in two main environments: • When there is no head: in
an hour
\
PH • When there is a head: in a ’little ’less than an hour
PH H

The tail

• Any syllables between the tonic syllable and the end of the tone unit are
called the tail
e.g. look at it
\
T
Exercise:
Listen to these five sentences on the CD. Tone groups are already marked.
Rewrite them indicating the onset syllable (if appropriate) and the tonic syllable,
and indicating if the tone movement is a fall, or a fall-rise.

1. //im sorry //but i really dont know//

2. //is this going to go here// or there//

3. //thats another big bill were got to pay//

4. //that letters for you//and this ones for me//

5. //id like to offer you the job//

(Kelly, 2001, p.138)

References:

English IPA (American): Vowels and consonants. (2018). Retrieved from

http://englishspeaklikenative.com/resources/american-english-ipa/
English Language Blog. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.londonschool.com/blog/phonetic-alphabet/
Kelly, G. (2001). How To Teach Pronunciation (Book with Audio CD) (2nd ed.).
Pearson ESL: Pearson Education Limited.
O'Connor, J. (1980). Better English pronunciation. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Roach, P. (2000). English phonetics and phonology. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge
University Press.
Underhill, A. (2005). Sound foundations. Oxford: Macmillan.