PRESENTATION OUTLINE

TOPIC: ENGLISH PHONEMES

Group 3: Bảo Minh, Trung Hiếu, Hải Đăng

I. PHONEMES:
a. Definition:
- A phoneme is the smallest segment of sound which can distinguish two
words . Example: 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

- Another example: ‘pat’ and ‘bat’ , ‘sip’ and ‘zip’ , ‘loose’ and ‘lose’

- 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.

b. Ways to identify a phoneme:

- One way to identify the phonemes of any language is to look for minimal
pairs which differ by only one phoneme in identical environment
- Example: 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.
- Another example:

-
 II. Allophones
a. Definition
- 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.
b. Example:

III. Phonemes & Allophones Distinctions

Phonemes Allophones
- substituting one phoneme for another will - substituting allophones only results in a
result in a word with a different meaning different pronunciation of the same words
- contrastive - Vary according to dialect and language
- have unpredictable distribution - non-contrastive
- there are minimal pairs to distinguish the - have predictable distribution
two sounds - There aren’t
Example: train – drain Example: letter
/treɪn/ - /dreɪn/ /ˈledər/ - /ˈlet.ər/

IV. SYMBOLS

Phonemic symbols Phonetic symbols

- symbols for phonemes
- symbols for allophones.
- The number of phonemic symbols must be
- They are used to give an accurate label to
exactly the same as the number of phonemes
an allophone of a phoneme or to represent
we decide to exist in the language
sounds more accurately. Phonetic symbols
- In RP (BBC English), there are 44
usually make use of diacritics.
phonemic symbols.
‘Speak’ /spiːk/ ‘speak’ [sp0i:k]

V. TRANSCRIPTION

Phonemic/Broad transcription Phonetic/Narrow Transcription

- Phonemes are represented by phonemic - contains a lot of information about the
symbols exact quality of the sounds.
- does not show a great deal of phonetic - shows more phonetic detail such as
 detail and is usually placed between slanting aspiration, length, nasalisation ..., by using a
lines wide variety of symbols and in many cases
diacritics
- In a phonetic transcription, the symbols are
used to represent precise phonetic values,
not just to represent phonemes.
- A phonetic transcription is usually put
between square brackets.
‘strewn’ /strun/
‘tenth’ /tɛnθ/ ‘strewn’ [stru:n]
‘clean’ /klin/ ‘tenth’ [tʰɛ̃n̪ θ]
‘clean’ [kl̥ i:n]

VI. RULES FOR ENGLISH ALLOPHONES

1. Initial voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, /k/) are aspirated. [ h ]
Examples: tea – [th iː] , key – [khi:]
2. /iː/, /ɜː/, /uː/, /ɔː/, /ɑː/ shortened by a following fortis consonant are transcribed
[i.] , [ɜ.] , [u.], [ɔ.] , [ɑ.]
Examples: cart – [kɑ.rt] , choose – [tʃu.z]
3. Dipthong ( /eɪ/, / aɪ/) and short vowels ( /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/, /ʌ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/ ) shortened by a
following fortis consonant are transcribed [ ɪ, e, æ, ʌ, ɒ, ʊ, eɪ, aɪ]
Examples: book – [bʊk] , cook – [kʊk] , late – [leɪt]
4. Approximants /r, w, j/ and the lateral /l/ are voiceless when they occur after
initial /p, k, t/ [o]
Examples: play –[poeɪ] , queen – [koiːn]
5. Alveolars (/t/ , /d/, /l/, /n/, /s/, /z/ ) become dentalized [ ¬] before dentals (/ð, θ/)
Example: bank - [ban̪ k] , width - [wɪd̪ θ]

VII. SUMMARY
VIII. PRACTICE

I. Fill in the gap to make a complete statement

1. ………….. are the variants of phonemes that occur in speech
2. ………….. substitute one phoneme for another will result in a word with a
different meaning.
3. ………….. is non-contrastive.
4. ………….. are symbols for allophones.
5. Phonetic symbols usually make use of ……….
6. ………… have unpredictable distribution
7. ………….shows more phonetic detail such as aspiration, length, nasalisation
8. A phonetic transcription is usually put between …………..
key :
1. Allophones .
2. Phonemes.
3. Allophones.
4. Phonetic symbols.
5. Diacritics.
6. Phonemes.
7. Phonetic/Narrow Transcription.
8. square brackets.
II. Write the phonetic transcription for the following words
1. Ninetieth [naɪn̪ θ]
2. Top [thap]
3. Pool [pu.l]
4. Cure [kjʊ.ɹ]
5. Keen [khin]