PHONETICS

• The study of the sounds

of human language.
• Human languages
produce a variety of
phones. From Greek
phone meaning sound,
voice or speech sounds.
 TWO WAYS OF APPROACHING
PHONETICS
1. Articulatory phonetics
 This approach studies the physiological
mechanisms of speech production.
2. Acoustic phonetics
 This approach is concerned with
measuring and analyzing the physical
properties of the sound waves we
produce when we speak.
THE SOUND-PRODUCING SYSTEM
Nasal Cavity- nose and the
passages connecting it to the throat.
Oral Cavity- mouth
Pharynx- tubular part of the throat
above the larynx.
Larynx- the sound source where the
vocal folds(vocal cords) are located
Lungs- provides air supply.
NASAL CAVITY

ORAL CAVITY

PHARYNX LARYNX

LUNGS
GLOTTAL STATES
VOICELESSNESS
• When the vocal folds are pulled apart,
air passes directly through the glottis.
• The initial sounds of the following
words are voiceless:
fish
sing
house
VOICING
• When the vocal folds are brought close
together but not tightly closed, air passing
between them causes them to vibrate,
producing sounds that are voiced.

• The initial sounds of the ff. words are voiced

zip
vow
them
WHISPER
Whispering is voiceless.
The vocal folds are adjusted so that the anterior
portions are pulled close together, while the
posterior portions are apart.
MURMUR
Another glottal state produce a murmur, also
known as whispery voice.
Sounds produced with this glottal configuration are
voiced but the vocal folds are relaxed to allow
enough air to escape to produce a simultaneous
whispery effect.
 SOUND CLASSES
CONSONANTS
• Consonantal sounds, which maybe voiced
or voiceless, are made with either a
complete closure or narrowing of the vocal
tract.
• The airflow is either blocked momentarily or
restricted that noise is produced as air flows
past the constriction.
• Consonants are less sonorous (acoustically
powerful).
VOWELS
• Vowels are produced with little obstruction in
the vocal tract and are usually voiced.
• Vowels are more sonorous so they are
louder and longer lasting.
• The greater sonority of vowels allows them
to form the basis of syllables.
• For example, the word a and go each
contain one syllable, the word laughing two
syllables, and the word telephone three
syllables.
GLIDES
• A type of sound that shows properties of
both consonants and vowels.
• Glides may be thought of as rapidly
articulated vowels- that’s the auditory
impression they produce.
• While glides are produced like a vowel,
they move quickly to another
articulation, as do the initial glides in yet
or wet., or quickly terminate, as do the
final glides in boy and now.
CONSONANT ARTICULATION
• Airflow is modified in the vocal tract by
the placement of the tongue and the
positioning of the lips.
• These modifications occur at specific
places or points of articulation.
• The primary articulating organ is the
tongue. It can be raised, lowered, thrust
forward or drawn back, and even rolled
back.
• Phonetic description refers to five areas
of the tongue. The tip is the narrow
area at the front. Just behind the tip lies
the blade. The main mass of the
tongue is called the body, and the
hindmost part of the tongue that lies in
the mouth is called the back.
• The body and back of the tongue can
also be referred as the dorsum.
• The root of the tongue is contained in
the upper part of the throat(pharynx).
THE VOCAL TRACT
PLACES OR POINTS OF ARTICULATION
LABIAL
• Any sound made with the closure or near
closure of the lips is said to be labial.
• Sounds involving both the lips are termed
bilabial; sounds involving the lower lip and
upper teeth are called labiodentals.
• Initial sounds in the words: peer, bin, and
month are bilabials, and labiodentals in
the words: fire and vow.
DENTAL and INTERDENTAL
• Some sounds are produced with the tongue
placed against or near the teeth. Sounds
made in this way are called dentals.
• European french has dental sounds at the
beginning of the words temps, dire, sept,
zizi.
• If the tongue is placed in between the teeth,
the sound is interdental, as do in the initial
consonants of the words this and thing.
ALVEOLAR
• Within the oral cavity, a small ridge
protrudes from just behind the upper
front teeth. This is called the Alveolar
ridge.
• The tongue may touch or be brought
near this ridge.
• Alveolar sounds may be heard in the
beginning of these words: top, deer,
soap, zip, lip, and neck.
ALVEOPALATAL and PALATAL
• Just behind the alveolar ridge, the roof of
the mouth rises sharply. This is the
Alveopalatal area.
• The highest part of the roof of the mouth is
called the palate, and sounds produced
with the tongue on or near this area are
called palatals.
• The initial phone in yes is a palatal glide.
• Alveopalatal consonants are heard in these
words: show, measure, chip, and judge.
VELAR
• The soft area toward the rear of the roof of the mouth is
called velum.
• Sounds made with the tongue touching or near this
position are called velars.
• Velars are heard at the beginning of the words call and
guy, and at the end of the word hang.
• The initial glide heard in the word wet is called a labiovelar,
since the tongue is raised near the velum and the lips are
rounded at the same time.
GLOTTAL
• Sounds produced using the vocal folds as primary
articulators are called glottals. The sound at the beginning
of the words heave and hog is made at the glottis.
UVULAR
• The small fleshy flap of tissue known as the uvula hangs
down from the velum.
• Sounds made with the tongue near or touching this area are
called uvulars.
• English has no uvulars. The r sound of the standard
European french is uvular.
PHARYNGEAL
• The area of the throat between the uvula and the larynx is
the pharynx. Sounds made through the modification of
airflow in this region by constricting the pharynx are called
pharyngeals.
• This sound can be found in many dialects in Arabic but not in
English.
 MANNERS OF ARTICULATION

• The lips, tongue, velum, and

glottis can be positioned in
different ways to produce
different sound types. These
various configurations are
called manners of articulation.
ORAL VS. NASAL PHONES
• A basic distinction in manner of articulation is
between oral and nasal phones.
• When the velum is raised, cutting off the airflow
through the nasal passages, oral sounds are
produced.
• The velum can be lowered to allow air to pass
through the nasal passages, producing a sound
that is nasal.
• The consonants at the end of these words sun,
sum, sung are nasal.
• The vowel of words bank and wink are also nasal.
STOPS
• Stops are made with a complete and momentary
closure of airflow through the vocal tract.
• Stops are found at bilabial, dental, alveolar,
palatal, velar, uvular, and glottal points of
articulation.
English stop consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Velar Glottal
Voiceless {p} {t} {k} {?}
Voiced {b} {d} {g}
Nasal {m} {n} {ŋ}
ENGLISH STOPS AND THEIR TRANSCRIPTION
Bilabial
Voiceless span {p}
Voiced ban {b}
Nasal man {m}
Alveolar
Voiceless stun {t}
Voiced dot {d}
Nasal not {n}
Velar
Voiceless scar {k}
Voiced gap {g}
Nasal wing {ŋ}
Glottal
Voiceless Uh-uh {?}
FRICATIVES
• Fricatives are consonants produced
with a continuous airflow through the
mouth.
ENGLISH FRICATIVES
Labio- Inter- alveola alveopalat Glottal
dental dental r al
Voice-less
{f} {θ} {s} {ʃ} {h}
Voiced
{v} {δ} {z} {ʒ}
The Transcription of English Fricatives
Glottal States Point of Articulation Transcription
Labiodental
Voiceless fan {f}
Voiced van {v}
Interdental
Voiceless thin {θ}
Voiced then {δ}
Alveolar
Voiceless sun {s}
Voiced zip {z}
Alveopalatal
Voiceless ship {ʃ}
Voiced azure {ʒ}
Glottal
Voiceless hat {h}
 AFFRICATES
• English has only two affricates. They
are the initial sounds heard in the
church and jump, and are
transcribed as { tʃ } and / dʒ /.

English affricates
Alveopalatal
Voiceless { tʃ }
Voiced { dʒ }
VOICE LAG AND ASPIRATION
• After the release of certain voiceless
stops , you can sometimes hear a lag or
a brief delay before the voicing of a
following vowel.
• Since the lag in the onset of vocalic
voicing is accompanied by the release of
air, this phenomenon is called aspiration.
• It is transcribed with a small raised {ʰ}
after the aspirated consonant.
ASPIRATED AND UNASPIRATED
CONSONANTS IN ENGLISH
Aspirated Unaspirated
{ pʰæt } pat {spæt} spat
{ tʰᴧb } tub { stᴧb } stub
{ kʰowp} cope { skowp } scope
 LIQUIDS
• Among the sounds commonly
found in the world’s
languages are l and r and
their variants. They form a
special class of consonants
known as liquids.
LATERALS
• Varieties of l are called laterals.
• When the tongue tip is raised to the dental
or alveolar position, laterals are produced.
• Laterals are generally voiced but there are
instances of voiceless laterals which can
be heard in the words please and clear.
• Voiceless lateral is transcribed with an
additional phonetic symbol called a
diacritic, a circle beneath the symbol. { ḷ }
ENGLISH R’S
• The r of English is made either by
cutting the tongue tip into the mouth
or by bunching the tongue upward
and back in the mouth.
• This r is known as the retroflex r and
is heard in ride and car.
• Another sound commonly identified
with r is the flap.
• The flap is produced when the
tongue tip strikes the alveolar
ridge as it passes across it.
• It is heard in the North American
English pronunciation of bitter and
butter, and in some british
pronunciations of very.
• It is commonly transcribed as { ɾ }
ENGLISH LIQUIDS

Alveolar
Laterals Voiced {l}
Voiceless {ḷ}
r’s retroflex Voiced {r}
Voiceless {ṛ}
flap {ɾ}
 SYLLABIC LIQUIDS AND NASALS
• Syllabic liquids and syllabic nasals are
transcribed with a short diacritic line
underneath.
• The syllabic r sound heard in words like
bird and her is often transcribed as {ər}.
• The IPA symbol for this sound is { ɚ }.
SYLLABIC NASALS AND LIQUIDS

SYLLABIC NONSYLLABIC

Bottle { bɑɾḷ } Lift {lIft}

Funnel { fᴧnḷ } Pill {pʰIl}
Bird {bərd}, Rat {ræt}
{bɚd}, Car {kʰɑr}
{bṛd} Now {naw}
Her {hər}, {hɚ}, Mat {mæt}
{hṛ}
Button {bᴧtṇ}
‘m-m’ {ʔṃʔṃ}
(meaning
‘no’)
 GLIDES
• The two glides are the y-glide {j} of
yes and boy and the w-glide {w} of
wet and now.
• The {j} is a palatal glide (often cited
as alveopalatal as well) whose
articulation is nearly identical to the
vowel {i} of see.
• You can verify this by pronouncing {j} in
an extended manner; it will sound very
close to an {i}.
• The glide {w} is made with the tongue
raised and pulled back near the velum
and with the lips protruding or rounded.
• The {w} corresponds closely in
articulation to the vowel {u} of who.
• This can be verified by
extending the pronunciation of
{w}.
• Some speakers of english
have a voiceless labiovelar
glide, transcribed as {ʍ}, in the
words when, where, and
which.
 ENGLISH CONSONANTS PLACES AND
MANNERS OF ARTICULATION

Manner of articulation Bilabial Labio Inter Alveol Alveo velar glottal

Dental dental ar Palatal

Stop Voiceless p t k ʔ
Voiced b d g
Fricative Voiceless f θ s ʃ h
Voiced v ð z ʒ
Affricate Voiceless tʃ
Voiced dʒ
Nasal Voiced m N ŋ
Liquid Voiced lat l
Voiced ret R
Glide Voiced w j w
Voiceless ʍ ʍ
 VOWELS
• English vowels are divided into two major types-
SIMPLE VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS.
• Simple vowels do not show a noticeable change
in quality during their articulation.
• The vowels of pit, set, cat, but, put, and the first
vowel of suppose are all simple vowels.
• Diphthongs are vowels that exhibit a change in
quality within a single syllable.
• This change in vowel quality is perceptible in
words such as say, buy, cow, ice, lout, go, and
boy.
SOME SIMPLE VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS
OF AMERICAN ENGLISH
Simple diphthong Simple diphthong
vowel vowel
pit {I} Heat {i} Cut {ᴧ} Lose {u}
set {Ԑ} Say {ej} Bought {ᴐ} Grow {ow}
mat {æ} my {aj} Put {Ʊ} boy {ᴐj}
pot {ɑ} now {aw} suppose {ə}
BASIC PHONETIC PARAMETERS IN
DESCRIBING VOWELS

heat {i} High front unrounded

fate {ej} Mid front unrounded
mad {æ} Low front unrounded
sue {u} High back rounded
boat {ow} Mid back rounded
caught {ᴐ} Mid back rounded
sun {ᴧ} Mid back unrounded
cot {ɑ} Low back unrounded
 BASIC TONGUE POSITIONS FOR
ENGLISH VOWELS

back
front (central) back
i u
high
ej ᴧ ow rounded
Mid
ᴐ
æ
low ɑ
TENSE AND LAX VOWELS IN AMERICAN
ENGLISH
Tense Lax
heat {i} hit {I}
mate {ej} met {Ԑ}
------ ----- mat {æ}
shoot {u} should {Ʊ}
coat {ow} ought {ᴐ}
------ ----- cut {ᴧ}
------ ----- canada {ə}
lock {ɑ}
lies {aj}
loud {aw}
 AMERICAN ENGLISH VOWELS
(TENSED VOWELS ARE CIRCLED)

back
front (central) back

i Ʊ u
high
ә
Mid ej ᴐj rounded
Ԑ ᴧ ow ᴐ

low æ ɑ
aj aw
PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION
OF AMERICAN ENGLISH
CONSONANTS AND VOWELS
symbol Word Trans examples
cription
{p ͪ } pit {p ͪ It} pain, upon, apart
{p } spit {spIt} crispy, upper, bumper, culprit
{t ͪ } tick {t ͪ Ik} tell, attire, terror, time
{t} stuck {stᴧk} stem, hunter, nasty, mostly
{k ͪ } keep {k ͪ ip} cow, kernel, recur
{k} skip {skIp} scatter, uncle, blacklist, likely
{ʧ} chip { ʧIp} celo, chart, chain, chalk
{dʒ} judge {dʒᴧdʒ} germ, journal, sage, wedge
{b} bib { bIb} boat, rib, blast, liberate
{d} dip { dIp} duck, sled, draft
{ɾ} butter {bᴧɾər} madder, matter, writer, rider
Symbol Word Trans More examples
Cription
{g} get {gԐt} gape, muggy, twig, gleam
{f} fit {fIt} flash, cough, proof
{v} vat {væt} vote, oven, prove
{θ} thick {θIk} cloth, bath, thought, teeth, breath
{ð} though (ðow) clothe, bathe, teethe, breathe
{s} sip {sIp} psychology, lunacy, science
{z} zap {zæp} xerox, colors, desire, zipper
{ʃ } ship { ʃ Ip } nation, mission, chandelier, Chicago

{ʒ} azure { æʒər } measure, vision, garage, visual

{h} hat {hæt} who, hello, hot
{j} yet { jԐt } yes, use, you
Symbol Word Transcription Examples

{w} witch { wItʃ } wait, weird, queen

{ʍ} which { ʍItʃ } what, where, when (only for some speakers)
{l} leaf { lif } lip, lag, least
{ḷ} huddle { hᴧdḷ } bottle, needle (for many speakers)
{r} reef { rif } proud, arrive, tear
{ṛ} bird {bərd},
{bɚd}, {bṛd}
early, hurt, stir, fur

{m} moat { mowt } mind, humor, shimmer

{ ṃ} ‘m-m’ { ʔṃʔṃ } bottom, random
{n} note { nowt } now, winner, sign, wind
{ṇ} button { bᴧtṇ } Jordan, batten
{ŋ} sing { sIŋ } singer, longer, bank, twinkle
Sym Word Trans More examples
bol cripti
on
{i} fee {fi} she, cream, believe, serene, amoeba
{I} fit {fIt} hit, income, been
{ej} fate {fejt} they, clay, grain, gauge, great
{Ԑ} let {lԐt} led, head, says, said, guest
{æ} bat {bæt} panic, racket, laugh, rap
{u} boot {but} to, two, loose, brew, tomb
{Ʊ} book {bƱk} should, could, look, cook
{ow} note {nowt} no, throat, though, slow, toe, sew
{ᴐj} boy {bᴐj} voice, boil, toy, coy
Sym Word Trans More examples
bol cription

{ᴐ} fought {fᴐt} caught, bought, normal, all

{ɑ} rot {rɑt} clot, father, rob, mop
{ᴧ} shut {ʃᴧt} other, udder, tough, luck, was
{ə} but {bət} collide, telegraph, suspect
{aw} crowd {krawd} house, plow, bough
{aj} lies {lajz} my, ride, thigh, buy
 SUPRASEGMENTALS
• All phones have certain inherent
suprasegmental or prosodic
properties.
• These properties are pitch,
loudness, and length.
 PITCH
• All sounds give us a subjective impression of
being relatively higher or lower in pitch.
• Pitch is especially noticeable in sonorous
sounds like vowels, glides, liquid s, and
nasals.
• Even stop and fricative consonants convey
different pitches.
• This is noticeable in by extending the
pronunciation of {s} and { ʃ }.
• Two kinds of controlled pitch movement are
called tone and intonation.
 TONE
• A language is said to have tone or be a
tone language when differences in word
meaning are signaled by differences in
pitch.
• For example, when a speaker of a tone
language such as mandarin pronounces
the form ma with a falling pitch [mà], it
means “scold”, but when the same form
is pronounced with a rising pitch [má],
the meaning is hemp.
• Some tone languages show tones at only
certain pitch levels.
• Sarcee, an Athapaskan language spoken in
Canada, has tones heard at high, mid, and
low pitch levels.
• An association line, drawn from the letters to
the vowel, links the segments with their
respective tones.
• This type of notation is known as
autosegmental notation.
 H M

[miɬ] `moth` [miɬ] `snare`

L [ɬ]- this is a
voiceless lateral
fricative in Sarcee.

[miɬ] `sleep`
• Level tones that signal meaning differences
are called register tones: two or three
register tones are the norm in most of the
world’s languages, though four have been
reported for Mazatec, a language spoken in
Mexico.
• In Mende, a language spoken in West Africa,
there are certain polysyllabic forms that
show the same tone on each syllable.
• The diacritic [ ˊ ] indicates a high tone and
the diacritic [ ˋ ] indicates a low tone.
High-tone and low-tone words
in Mende
pέlέ `banana`

háwámá `waistline`

kpàkàlì `tripod chair`

• In some languages, tones
change pitch on single
syllabic elements. Moving
pitches that signal
meaning differences are
called contour tones.
Register and contour tones in Mandarin
H

[ma] `mother` high tone

MH

[ma] `hemp` mid rise

MLH

[ ma] `horse` fall rise

HL

[ma] `scold` high fall

• In other languages, tone
can have a grammatical
function. In Bini, a
language spoken in
Nigeria, tone can signal
differences in the tense of
verb.
 EXAMPLES:
L L

Timeless ima `I show`

HL

Continuous ima `I am showing`

L H

Past ima `I showed`

 INTONATION
• Pitch movement that is not related to
differences in word meaning is called
intonation.
• Intonation often does serve to convey
information of a broadly meaningful nature.
• For example, the falling pitch we hear at the
end of the statement, Fred parked the car
signals that the utterance is complete.
• For this reason, falling intonation at the end of
an utterance is called terminal (intonation)
contour.
• Conversely, a rising or level
intonation called nonterminal
(intonation) contour, often signals
incompleteness.
• Final rising intonations also
signal a kind of incompleteness
that they indicate that a
conversational exchange is not
finished.
A terminal contour
L HL

There’s an elephant in here.

Two nonterminal contours
LH H LH

Margo? Is that you?

• A rising intonation is often used to
express politeness, as in Please sit
down.
• Some linguists think that this use is an
extension of the “open-ended mode” of
intonation, and that since a rising
intonation indicates that further response
is expected (but not demanded).
• A sentence uttered with a rising
intonation sounds less like an order and
therefore is more polite.
LENGTH
• There are vowels and consonants
whose articulation takes longer
relative to other vowels and
consonants, this phenomenon is
called length.
• Length is indicated by a {:} in
phonetic transcription.
Short and long vowels in Yap
(Yap is a language spoken on the island of Yap in the
western Pacific)

[θis] `to topple` [θi:s] `a post`

[pul] `to gather` [pu:l] `moon`
[ʔer] `near you` [ʔe:r] `part of
a lagoon`
Short and long consonants in Italian
fato [fato] `fate`
fano [fano] `grove`
casa [kasa] `house`

fatto [fat:o] `fact`

fanno [fan:o] `they do`
cassa [kas:a] `box`
 STRESS
• Stress is a cover term for the combined
effects of pitch, loudness, and length-
the result of which is perceived
prominence.
• English stressed vowels are higher in
pitch, longer and louder than
unstressed ones.
• An acute accent (ˊ) placed over the
vowel to mark the most prominent or
primary stress.
• A grave accent (ˋ) to mark the second
most prominent or secondary stress.
• Stress can also be marked by placing
numbers above the stressed vowels,
usually ¹ for a primary stress and ² for a
secondary stress.
The word telegraphic is transcribed as
either of the following:

[tʰἑlәgrǽfIk] or

² ¹
[tʰƐlәgræfIk]
Differing stress placement in English
(an) éxport [έkspᴐrt] (to) expÓrt [εkspᴐ’r t]
(a) présent [prέzənt] (to) presént [prəzέnt]
telegraph [tʰέləgr̰àef]
telegraphy [tʰəlέgrəfi]

• In this examples, you can see that the quality of

certain vowels varies depending on whether they
are stressed or unstressed.
REFERENCES:
Lawless, L.. Introduction to Phonetics.
http://lawlessenglish.com, Date Retrieved, April 14, 2019.

Thompson, I. October 14, 2013. About World Languages.

http://aboutworldlanguages.com/english, Date Retrieved,
April 14, 2019.

http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/english.htm. Date
Retrieved, April 14, 2019
THANK
YOU!