Introduction to Linguistics – III (Phonetics & English Phonology)

Phonetics vs Phonology
PHONETICS describes individual speech sounds. It is exclusively concerned with
parole or performance. It is divided into three phases:

Articulatory Phonetics describes how speech organs/vocal organs/articulators are used

to produce speech sounds.

Acoustic Phonetics studies the physical properties of speech sounds i.e air
vibration/sound waves when sounds pass from speaker to listener. A machine called
spectrograph measures the sound waves (depicted as spectrogram) showing the duration,
frequency, intensity and quality of sounds.
Auditory Phonetics investigates the perception of the speech sounds by the listener, i.e.
how the sounds are transmitted from the ear to the brains, and how they are processed.

PHONOLOGY dealswith the speakers’ knowledge of the sound system of a language. It

is exclusively concerned with langue or competence. It can be divided into two branches:
Segmental Phonology is the segmentation of language into individual speech
soundsprovided by phonetics. It studies the functions and possible combinations of
sounds within the sound system.
Suprasegmental Phonology (Prosody) is concerned with the features of pronunciation
that cannot be segmented because they extend over more than one segment or sound like
stress, rhythm, intonation etc.

STAGES IN THE PRODUCTION OF SPEECH

The production of spoken language involves three major levels of processing:
conceptualization, formulation, and articulation.
1. Conceptualization
At this stage, a speaker conceptualizes/thinks what he or she is going to say. Here the
preverbal intended messages specify the concepts to be expressed.

2. Formulation
The second stage is formulation in which the linguistic form is created to expressthe
desired message. Formulation includes grammatical encoding, morphological encoding,
and phonetic encoding.Here suitable syntactic structures, appropriate words and sounds
are selected in the mind of a speaker.
3. Articulation
Articulation refers to the actual/physical use of language sounds with the help of
articulators including lungs, glottis, larynx, tongue, lips, jawand other parts of the vocal
apparatus. This stage involves four processes: Initiation, Phonation, Oro-nasal process
and Articulation.

Process of Sound Production

Initiation is the process when the air is pushed up from the lungs through the windpipe
or trachea. This movement of air is called an egressive pulmonic air-stream mechanism
(egressive = outwards…pulmonic = of the lungs). All English sounds are produced by
egressive pulmonic air-stream mechanism. [Compare with Egressive Glottalic airstream
mechanism, inegressive glottalic air stream mechanism, inegressivevelaric air-stream
mechanism]
Phonation
This process occurs at the larynx which has two horizontal folds of tissue called vocal
folds/cords with a gap between them known as glottis. If glottis is closed, no air can pass.
When fully open, the sound is fluently produced. It is called voiceless sound. When
partially open, the sound is produced with some vibration and therefore called voiced
sound.
Oro-Nasal Process
After passing through lungs and larynx, the air reaches either the nasal or the oral cavity
depending upon the position of velum. The oral cavity is the space in one’s mouth and
the nasal cavity is the space inside and behind the nose. Through this process, we
differentiate between nasal consonants and other sounds.
Articulation
This process involves the use of articulators i.e tongue, lips, teeth, jaws to produce the
sounds. Now the sound becomes audible and its physical properties can be studied.

Speech Organs
Articulators above the larynx
All the sounds we make when we speak are the result of muscles contracting. The muscles in the
chest that we use for breathing produce the flow of air that is needed for almost all speech
sounds; muscles in the larynx produce many different modifications in the flow of air from the
chest to the mouth. After passing through the larynx, the air goes through what we call the vocal
tract, which ends at the mouth and nostrils. Here the air from the lungs escapes into the
atmosphere. We have a large and complex set of muscles that can produce changes in the shape
of the vocal tract, and in order to learn how the sounds of speech are produced it is necessary to
become familiar with the different parts of the vocal tract. These different parts are
called articulators, and the study of them is called articulatory phonetics.
Fig. 1 is a diagram that is used frequently in the study of phonetics. It represents the
human head, seen from the side, displayed as though it had been cut in half. You will need to
look at it carefully as the articulators are described, and you will often find it useful to have a
mirror and a good light placed so that you can look at the inside of your mouth.

Fig. 1 The articulators

i) The pharynx is a tube which begins just above the larynx. It is about 7 cm long in
women and about 8 cm in men, and its top end is divided into two, one part being the
back of the mouth and the other being the beginning of the way through the nasal cavity.
If you look in your mirror with your mouth open, you can see the back of the pharynx.
 ii) The velum or soft palate allows air to pass through the nose and through the mouth.
During the speech it is raised or lowered so that air can escape through the mouth or the
nose. The other important thing about the velum is that it is one of the articulators that
can be touched by the tongue. When we make the sounds k and g the tongue is in
contact with the lower side of the velum. Such sounds are called velar sounds.
iii) The hard palate is often called the "roof of the mouth". You can feel its smooth
curved surface with your tongue.
iv) The alveolar ridge is between the top front teeth and the hard palate. Its shape can be
felt with tongue. Its surface is rougher than it feels, and is covered with little ridges.
Sounds made with the tongue touching here (such as t and d ) are called alveolar.
v) The tongue is, of course, a very important articulator and it can be moved into many
different places and different shapes. It is usual to divide the tongue into different parts,
though there are no clear dividing lines within the tongue. Fig. 2 shows the tongue on a
larger scale with these parts shown: tip, blade, front, back and root. (This use of the
word "front" often seems rather strange at first.)

Fig. 2 Sub-divisions of the tongue

vi) The teeth (upper and lower) are usually shown in diagrams like Fig. 1 only at the
front of the mouth, immediately behind the lips. This is for the sake of a simple diagram,
and you should remember that most speakers have teeth to the sides of their mouths, back
almost to the soft palate. The tongue is in contact with the upper side teeth for many
speech sounds. Sounds made with the tongue touching the front teeth are called dental.
vii) The lips are important in speech. They can be pressed together (when we produce the
sounds p , b ), brought into contact with the teeth (as in f , v), or rounded to produce the
lip-shape for vowels like uù. Sounds in which the lips are in contact with each other are
called bilabial, while those with lip-to-teeth contact are called labiodental.
The seven articulators described above are the main ones used in speech, but there are three other
things to remember. Firstly, the larynx could also be described as an articulator - a very complex
and independent one. Secondly, the jaws are sometimes called articulators; certainly we move
the lower jaw a lot in speaking. But the jaws are not articulators in the same way as the others,
because they cannot themselves make contact with other articulators. Finally, although there is
practically nothing that we can do with the nose and the nasal cavity, they are a very important
part of our equipment for making sounds (what is sometimes called our vocal apparatus),
particularly nasal consonants such as m , n . Again, we cannot really describe the nose and the
nasal cavity as articulators in the same sense as (i) to (vii) above.
 THE DESCRIPTION OF SPEECH SOUNDS
Each speech sound is described in terms of different distinctive features. Following are the
important features that are kept in view while describing English sounds.
1. Voicedness and voicelessness: (The state of the glottis)
All sounds that are produced by an egressive pulmonic air-stream mechanism, and therefore all
English sounds, pass through the glottis, which is the space between the vocal folds, located
behind the Adam's apple in the voice box, or larynx.
If the glottis is narrow, i.e. if the vocal folds are together, the air-stream forces its way through
and causes the vocal folds to vibrate. Sounds produced in this way are called voiced. You can
check whether a sound is voiced either by placing a finger on either side of the larynx or by
closing your ears with your fingers while you speak.
If the glottis is open, i.e. if the vocal folds are apart, the air passes through without causing the
vocal folds to vibrate. Sounds produced in this way are called voiceless.
The difference in meaning between “zeal” and “seal” can be attributed to the difference between
their initial sounds. [z] is voiced while [s] is voiceless.
2. Intensity of Articulation : Lenis and Fortis
The voiced/voiceless contrast discussed above is usually accompanied by a difference in the
force with which the air-stream is pushed up.
Voiced sounds are usually made with a relatively weak breath force, or little muscular tension.
This is called a lenis articulation.
Voiceless sounds, on the other hand, are made with more force, or higher tension. This is called
a fortis articulation.
The symmetrical relationship between voiced/voiceless and lenis/fortis does not always hold.
Whereas fortis sounds are indeed always voiceless in English, lenis sounds, which are usually
voiced, may also occur as voiceless variants, i.e. they can be devoiced. For example, the initial
sounds of “zeal” and “seal” when whispered become devoiced, rendering both sounds voiceless.
Then it is the intensity of sound (lenis vs fortis) that makes two sounds different. Although the
initial sound in zeal is made voiceless when whispered, it retains its lenis articulation. In other
words, the first sound in zeal is always articulated with a weaker breath force than the first sound
in seal, no matter whether the words are whispered or not.
3. Place of Articulation
All English sounds are made with air that is pushed up from the lungs. In the production of
approximately two thirds of these sounds, the air-stream is obstructed in the throat, technically
called the pharyngeal cavity or pharynx or in the vocal tract before it leaves the body through the
mouth or nose. These sounds are called consonants. An important feature for the description of
consonants is the exact place where the air-stream is obstructed. The place of articulation
names the speech organs that are primarily involved in the production of a particular sound.
To produce a consonant, there is usually one active, mobile, lower speech organ that moves and
makes contact with a passive, immobile, upper speech organ. For example, in the articulation of
the last sound in the word “surf”, the air-stream is obstructed by the contact of the lower lip with
the upper teeth. This sound is therefore called a "labiodental consonant", or simply a
"labiodental" [from Latin labialis, 'of the lips', and dentalis, 'of the teeth'].
4. Manner of Articulation
Another important feature for the description of speech sounds is the type or degree of closure
of the speech organs involved. Thus the manner of articulation refers mainly to the degree to
which the air-stream is obstructed at the place of articulation of consonants. When
pronouncing the last sound in surf, for example, the gap between the lower lip and the upper
teeth is narrowed to the point where friction is caused as the air passes through. The resultant
consonant is therefore called a "fricative".
If we wanted to describe this sound using all above distinctive features, we would say that it is a
"fortis labiodental fricative". There is no other sound in the English sound system that fits this
description.
 ENGLISH CONSONANTS
Phoneme
The speech sounds "having a function within the sound system", or as "part of the speakers'
langue or competence", are called phonemes. The phoneme is a concept used in phonology,
which is why the sub-discipline is sometimes called phonemics in the US.
A single phoneme can distinguish the word cab from cap, serve from surf, fool from full, and
zeal from seal. A phoneme can therefore be defined as the smallest distinctive, or contrastive,
unit in the sound system of a language.
Phoneme vs Phone
It is important to remember that phonemes are abstract, idealised sounds that are never
pronounced and never heard. Actual, concrete speech sounds can be regarded as the realisation
of phonemes by individual speakers, and are referred to as phones. The phone, then, is a concept
used in phonetics.
Minimal Pairs
To establish phonemes in a sound system, also called a phonemic system or phoneme inventory,
we need to find pairs of words that differ in meaning and in only-one sound. Each of the two
contrasting sounds in such a minimal pair is a distinct phoneme. For example, the final sounds
in cab and cap are phonemes because the two words are a minimal pair. The same is true of the
final sounds in serve/surf, the middle sounds in fool/full, and the initial sounds in zeal/seal.
The English Consonant Phonemes
Consonants are sounds that are produced by an obstruction of an air-stream either in the
pharynx or in the vocal tract. There are 24 consonant phonemes in RP.
Places of Articulation of English Consonants
The places of articulation are usually labelled according to the immobile, upper speech organ
used in their production. The mobile, lower speech organ always lies directly opposite. In this
section, all the places of articulation, progressing from the lips to the glottis, are briefly
described, and the relevant English consonant phonemes for each category are given as IPA
symbols.
(1) Bilabial sounds are produced with both lips. There is only one fortis bilabial in English,
namely /p / as in peach, whereas there are two lenis bilabials, /b / as in book and /m/ as in mango.
(2) Labiodental sounds are produced by a movement of the lower lip against the upper teeth.
There is one fortis labiodental in English, /f/ as in film, and one lenis labiodental, /v/ as in video.
Note: The bilabials and labiodentals form one larger group, the labials, because they all make
use of the lips.
(3) Dental, or interdental, sounds are made with the tongue tip and rims between the upper and
lower teeth or against the upper teeth. The two dentals in English are the fortis /θ/ as in thin and
the lenis /ð/as in this.
(4) Alveolar sounds are made with the tongue tip coming near or touching the bony ridge behind
the upper teeth, called the alveolar ridge. The two fortis alveolars are /t/ as in tiger and /s/ as in
snake. The four lenis alveolars are /d/ as in dolphin, /z/ as in zebra, /n/ as in nightingale, and /l/ as
in leopard.
(5) Postalveolar sounds are made with the tongue tip approaching or touching the rear of the
alveolar ridge or the area just behind it. There is only one postalveolar in English, namely the
lenis /r/ as in red.
(6) Palatoalveolar sounds are made with the tongue tip touching the alveolar ridge, and with a
simultaneous raising of the blade of the tongue towards the hard palate. The two fortis
palatoalveolars in English are /t ʃ / as in cheese and / ʃ/ as in sherry. The two lenis palatoalveolars
are / ʤ/ as in gin and /ʒ/ as in measure.
(7) Palatal sounds are produced when the body of the tongue comes near or touches the (hard)
palate. The lenis /j/ as yes is the only palatal in English.
(8) Velar sounds are made by placing the back of the tongue against or near the velum, or soft
palate. There is one fortis velar in English, namely /k/ as in Canada, whereas there are three lenis
velars, /g/ as in Greenland, / ŋ / as in England, and /w/ as in Wales.
(9) Glottal sounds are produced in the larynx when air passes through the glottis. The only
English phoneme that is articulated in this way is the fortis /h/ as in hat. The glottal stop, [?]
would also belong in this category, but it is not an English phoneme. In some non-standard
British accents, it is a pronunciation variant of the /t/ phoneme in certain phonetic environments,
as in the words better and butter.
Manner of Articulation of English Consonants
The manner of articulation refers to the type or degree o f closure of the speech organs. The
following are different manners of articulation that use an egressive pulmonic air-stream
mechanism.
(1) Plosives, or stops, are sounds for which the speaker makes a complete closure at some point
in the vocal tract, builds up the air pressure while the closure is held, and then releases the air
explosively through the mouth. English has three fortis plosives, namely /p / as in peach, /t/as in
tiger, and /k/ as in Canada. The three lenis plosives are /b/ as in banana, /d/ as in dolphin, and /g/
as in Greenland.
(2) Affricates are sounds that consist of two elements. The first element is a plosive. This means
that affricates, too, require a complete closure in the vocal tract, but the air is released slowly
enough to produce friction, which we hear as a hissing s-like sound. This second element is
articulated in the same place, i.e. with the same speech organs, as the preceding plosive. There
are two affricates in English: the fortis / tʃ / as in cheese and the lenis / ʤ/ as in gin. (An
affricate, then, is represented by one symbol consisting of two characters.)
(3) Nasals have a complete closure in the vocal tract as well. They stand out from all other
English phonemes, however, in that the velum, or soft palate, is lowered, so that air escapes
through the nose. In the production of English nasals, usually all the air escapes through the
nose. The three English nasals are all lenis sounds: /m/ as in mango, /n/ as in nightingale, and /
ŋ / as in England. In order to distinguish them from nasals, these sounds are sometimes called
orals.
(4) Fricatives are made when air forces its way through a very narrow gap between two speech
organs, thereby producing audible friction. The fricatives in English are: the fortis /f/ as in
film, /s/ as in snake, /h/ as in hat, /ʃ/ as in sherry, and /θ/ as in thin, and the lenis /v/ as in
video, /z/ as in zebra and /j / as in measure and /ð/ as in this.
(5) Laterals are also made with air that escapes around the sides of a partial closure of the
speech organs, but the air passage is not quite as narrow as in lateral fricatives. English has only
one lateral, namely the lenis /l/ as in leopard, where the tip of the tongue touches the centre of the
alveolar ridge.
(6) Approximants are generally made with a wider gap between the speech organs than is the
case in the production of fricatives. The speech organs approach each other, but they do not
touch each other. The three English approximants are all lenis phonemes: /r/ as in red, /j/ as in
yes, and /w/ as in Wales.
• Manner of Articulation
Movement of articulators Examples
STOP (PLOSIVE) Complete closure [p b t d k g]
AFFRICATE Closure, then slow separation [tʃʤ]

FRICATIVE Narrowing, resulting in audible friction [f v θðs z]ʃʒ

NASAL Complete closure in mouth, air escapes through nose [m n ŋ]

LATERAL Closure in centre of mouth, air escapes down sides [l]
APPROXIMANT Slight narrowing, not enough to cause friction [w j r]

Manner and Place of Articulation

 ENGLISH VOWELS
Manner of Articulation of English Vowel Sounds:
Tongue and lip movements result in varying shapes of the mouth, which can be described in
terms of (1 ) closeness/openness, (2) frontness/backness, and (3) the shape of the lips. These are
the three criteria for the description of vowel phonemes.
(1) Closeness/openness, or tongue height in American terminology, refers to the distance
between the tongue and the palate (and at the same time to the position of the lower jaw). If the
tongue is high, as in the last sound of the word “bee”, it is close to the palate, and we therefore
speak of a close vowel. If the tongue is low, as in the third sound of the word “starling”, the gap
between it and the palate is more open, and we speak of an open vowel. Between these extremes,
there are three intermediate levels: If the tongue is in a mid-high position, i.e. a bit lower than
high, the resultant sound is a mid-close vowel, or half-close vowel. If it is mid-low, i.e. a bit
higher than low, we hear a mid-open vowel, or half-open vowel. A vowel that is made with a
tongue height somewhere between mid-high and mid-low is simply called a mid vowel.
(2) Frontness/Backness refers to the part of the tongue that is raised highest. If it is the front of
the tongue (in which case the body of the tongue is pushed forward), as in the last sound in
“bee”, we speak of a front vowel. If the back of the tongue is raised highest (in which case the
body of the tongue is pulled back), as in the middle sound in goose, the resultant sound is a back
vowel. Between these extremes, we recognise one intermediate position: If the centre of the
tongue is raised highest, as in the second sound of the word bird, we speak of a central vowel.
(3) The shape of the lips can be either spread, neutral, or round. English does not utilise this
contrast very much. As in most other languages, the spreading of the lips usually correlates with
frontness, and lip-rounding with backness. This means that there are no two vowel phonemes in
English that differ only in the shape of the lips. Many linguists therefore do not regard this
criterion as relevant in English.
English Vowel Phonemes
There are twelve vowel phonemes in English. Out of them, 5 are long and 7 short.
Long Vowels
Long vowels are followed by a length mark made of two vertical dots.
1. /i:/ Close Front Vowel: the front of the tongue is raised so that it almost touches the palate,
and the lips are slightly spread. Example: The last sound in “bee, see, me and key”.
2. /ɜ:/ Mid Central Vowel: the centre of the tongue is raised between mid-close and mid-open
position, and the lips are in the neutral shape. This sound is also known as a hesitation sound,
usually spelt er. Example: The second sound in “bird”.
3. /a:/ Open Central Back Vowel: the part of the tongue between centre and the back is
lowered to fully open position, and the lips are in a neutral shape. Example: The third sound in
“star”
4. /ɔ:/ Mid Back Vowel: The back of the tongue is raised between mid-close and mid-open
position, and the lips are rounded. Example: The second sound in “horse”
5. /u:/ Close Back Vowel: The back of the tongue is raised so that it almost touches the palate,
and the lips are moderately rounded. Example: The middle sound in “goose”.
Short Vowels
(1) / ɪ / Mid-Close Front-Central Vowel: The part of the tongue between the front and the
centre is raised to just above mid-close position, and the lips are slightly spread. Example: The
middle sound in “fish”.
(2) /e/ Mid Front Vowel: The front of the tongue is raised between mid-close and mid-open
position, and the lips are slightly spread. Example: The first sound in “egg”.
(3) / æ / Mid-Open-Open Front Vowel: The front of the tongue is raised between mid-open
and fully open position, and the lips are slightly spread. Example: The first sound in “apple”.
(4) /ʌ/ Mid-Open-Open Central Vowel. The centre of the tongue is raised between mid-open
and fully open position, and the shape of the lips is neutral. Example: The second sound in
“butter”.
(5) /ɒ/ Open Back Vowel: The back of the tongue is lowered to almost fully open position, and
the lips are slightly rounded. Example: The first sound in “olive”.
(6) /ʊ/ Mid-Close Central-Back Vowel: The part of the tongue between the centre and the back
is raised to just above mid-close position, and the lips are rounded. Example: The second sound
in “pudding”.
(7) /ə/ Mid Central Vowel: The centre of the tongue is raised between mid-close and mid-open
position, and the lips are in a neutral shape. Examples: The first sound in “ago” or the last sound
in “mother”.
Intensity of articulation: Lax and Tense
American linguists distinguish between lax vowels which are articulated with relatively weak
breath force, and tense vowels which are produced with more energy. These labels correspond
to the terms lenis and fortis, which we use to describe the intensity of consonant articulation.
As all English vowels are typically voiced, it goes without saying that there cannot be a
correlation between the intensity of vowel articulation and voicing, as there is with consonants.
There is, however, a correlation between the intensity of vowel articulation and vowel length: All
lax vowels are short vowels, and all tense vowels are long.
Vowel Chart
Front Central Back

Front vowels Central vowels Back vowels

[i:] bead, beef, key, me [ə] above, about, mother [u:] boom, move, two, you

[ɪ] bid, myth, women [ʌ]butt, blood, dove, tough [ʊ] book, could, put

[e] bed, egg, fed [ɜ:] bird, firm, birth [ɔ:] born, for, fall, raw

[æ]bad, apple, wrap [ɑ:] fox, father, far

[ɒ] olive, fog, lobster

Fig. 11: Examples of lip positions for front and back vowels (p. 14)
 ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS
Unlike pure or plain vowels, or monophthongs, RP and most other English accents have 8
vowel sequences consisting of two sounds. More precisely, they start with a monophthong, and
the quality then changes towards, but never quite reaches, another monophthong through a
gliding movement of the tongue. These vowel sequences are called gliding vowels, vowel glides,
or diphthongs. In English, there are eight such vowel sequences consisting of two vowel
sounds.
Diphthongs can be divided into three groups:

(1) Centring Diphthongs (move towards /ə/ schwa)

There are three centring diphthongs in English, namely /eə/ as in the word “air”, /ɪə/ as in “ear”,
and /uə/ as in “tour”.
The starting points of the last two diphthongs are usually slightly higher than the position of the
monophthongs /ɪ/ and /u/, but we nevertheless use the same symbols, just as we use our familiar
symbols for the second elements of diphthongs although the corresponding sounds (in this case
the schwa) are not actually reached.
(2) Closing Diphthongs (moving towards /ɪ/)
Three vowel sounds move towards /ɪ/, namely /eɪ/ as in “face”, /aɪ/ as in “mind”, and /ɔɪ/ as in
“voice”. The symbols representing the first elements of /aɪ / and /ɔɪ/ are new to us because the
corresponding sounds are not monophthong phonemes of RP. The articulation of [a] is similar
to /ʌ/, except that it is more open and more front. And [ɔ] is articulated exactly like /ɔ:/, but it is
shorter, as the missing length mark indicates.
(3) Closing Diphthongs (moving towards /ʊ/)
Two vowel sounds move towards /ʊ/, namely /əʊ/ as in “nose” and /aʊ/ as in “mouth”. The
symbol representing the first element of /aʊ/ may be quite misleading. It looks as though it is
identical with the first element of /aɪ/. It is very similar to /a:/, but slightly more close and more
front.
More Examples:
Centring Diphthongs Closing Diphthongs Closing Diphthongs (moving
(moving towards /ɪ/) towards /ʊ/)
bear, pair, care /eə/ bay, paste, waste /eɪ/ boat, toast, poke /əʊ/
peer, fear, mere /ɪə/ by, pie, write /aɪ/ bound, pound, /aʊ/
house
moor, poor, tour /uə/ boy, poison, boil /ɔɪ/

Diphthongs are divided into diminuendo, descending, or falling diphthongs and crescendo,
ascending, or rising diphthongs. In falling diphthongs, the first element is longer and louder
than the second. All English diphthongs are usually falling diphthongs. Rising diphthongs, where
the second element is more prominent, rarely occur in English.
 TRIPHTHONGS
English also has typical vowel sequences that consist of three sounds. They are called
triphthongs. Here, glide occurs from one vowel sound to another and then to a third – all
pronounced rapidly without interruption in a single syllable. The five English triphthongs
are /eɪə/ as in “player”, /aɪə/ as in “fire”, /ɔɪə/ as in “royal”, /əʊə/ as in “lower”, and /aʊə/as in
“flour”. Unlike diphthongs, however, triphthongs are not analysed as separate vowel phonemes.
They are interpreted as closing diphthongs followed by a schwa. The word “royal”, then, consists
of four phonemes: /r/, /ɔɪ/, /ə/ and /l/.