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Course: English Phonetics

Summary of Chapters 2 & 3
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 Phonetics is the branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speech and their
production, combination, description, and representation by written symbols.
 Phonemes are a small number of regularly used sounds (vowels and consonants).
 There are 26 letters in the English language, but there are 44 phonemes.
 Languages have different accents: they are pronounced differently by people from
different geographical places, from different social classes, of different ages and
different educational backgrounds.
 Spelling, or orthography, does not consistently represent the sounds of language.
 We use the word dialect to refer to a variety of a language which is different in
pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and word order.
 Differences of accent are pronunciation differences only.
 Speech production is the process by which thoughts are translated into speech.
 The organs that are not active when speaking are the nose and nasal cavity.

Place of articulation
Labiodental are made with the lower lip against the upper front teeth.
Interdental are made with the tip of the tongue between the front teeth.
Alveolar are produced with the tongue close to or touching the ridge behind
the teeth on the roof of the mouth
Bilabial are made by bringing both lips closer together.
Palatal are made with the tongue near the hard part of the roof of the
mouth
Velars are produced with the back of the tongue against the velum
Manner of articulation
Stops are produced by some form of “stopping” of the air stream (very
briefly) then letting it go abruptly.
Fricatives are produced by blocking the air stream and having the air push
through the very narrow opening.
Affricates combine a brief stopping of the air stream with an obstructed
release which causes some friction
Nasals when the velum is lowered and the air stream is allowed to flow
out through the nose to produce
Liquids Lateral liquid /l/: formed by letting the air stream flow around the
sides of the tongue as the tip of the tongue
Liquid /r/: with the tongue tip raised and curled back near the
alveolar ridge
Glides are produced with the tongue in motion (or “gliding”) to or from
the position of a vowel and are sometimes called semi-vowels
Glottal stops when the space between the vocal folds (the glottis) is closed
and flaps completely (very briefly), then released.

Dr. Eman Alhusaiyan

Course: English Phonetics (2021)
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 Vowels are sounds in which there is no obstruction to the flow of air as it passes from
the larynx to the lips.
 A vowel which remains constant and does not glide is called a pure vowel.
 Diphthongs are sounds which consist of a movement or glide from one vowel to
another.
Closing diphthongs (5):
 /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /ǝʊ/, /aʊ/
Centering diphthongs(3):
 /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/
 A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, all produced
rapidly and without interruption.
 The triphthongs can be looked on as being composed of the five closing diphthongs
described in the last section, with ə added on the end:
Examples of triphthongs (the 5closing diphthongs +ə)
 eɪ+ə = eɪə - example: ‘layer’, ‘player’
 aɪ+ə = aɪə - example: ‘liar’, ‘fire’
 ɔɪ+ə = ɔɪə - example: ‘loyal’, ‘royal’
 əʊ+ə= əʊə - example: ‘lower’, ‘mower’
 aʊ+ə= aʊə - example: ‘power’, ‘hour’
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English Vowels Quadrilateral:

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Dr. Eman Alhusaiyan

Course: English Phonetics (2021)
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Examples of English short vowels:

Sound Example
ɪ big, busy , England, been, myth
e egg, head , any, friend, said
æ apple, ant, jam, crab
ɒ dog, watch, because, cough
ʊ full, look, woman
ʌ sun, money, does, touch, flood

General Questions:
How does the shape and position of the tongue influence the pronunciation of the vowels?
(Lecture 2, slide 26)
How does the lip position influence the pronunciation of the vowels? (Lecture 2, slide 29)

Dr. Eman Alhusaiyan

Course: English Phonetics (2021)