III.

CLASSIFICATION OF
SPEECH SOUNDS
Speech sounds traditionally classified into
2 main groups, i.e. vowels and
consonants
Principles

 Production
 Etymology
 Sonority (Daniel Jones )
 Syllabicity – Vowels - always syllabic. BUT: [m], [n],
[ŋ], [l], [r] are sounds of complete sonority as well and,
hence, syllabic in certain situations, i.e. only in word-
final position or in middle position:
e.g. hidden ['hi-dn], temporary ['tem-pr-ri], bottom ['bƆ-
tm], little ['li-tl].
 Context
 Distribution of sounds (e.g. [h] followed only by
what we call ‘vowels’)
Summary

vowel = a speech sound ‘produced by modifying a

relatively free-flowing air stream’ (Callary,
1994:313), the vocal cords vibrate, the muscular
tension is spread over all organs of speech.
Possessing much sonority, vowels are syllabic,
forming syllable nuclei.
consonant = a speech sound in the production of
which the air-flow is obstructed to different
degrees and in different places along the vocal
tract.