TSLB 3043

English Phonetics
and Phonology

By: Muhaida Akmal binti Mohamad

Phonetics and Phonology
 Phonetics and phonology are related, dependent fields
for studying aspects of language.
Phonetics
 Firstly, when we study the production of speech
sounds, we can observe what speakers do
(articulatory observation) and we can try to feel
what is going on inside our vocal tract
(kinaesthetic observation).
 Secondly, we are interested in sounds that are
used in meaningful speech; its range and the
variety of sounds used.
 Thirdly, a need for agreed conventions for using
phonetic symbols that represent speech sounds,
the International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA).
 Fourthly, the auditory aspect of speech is very
important where we are capable of making fine
discrimination between different sounds.
Phonetics
 It is the scientific study of speech sound.
 Phonetics focuses on how speech is physically
created and received, including study of the
human vocal and auditory tracts, acoustics, and
neurology.
 The main concerns in phonetics are:
1) the discovery of how speech sounds are
produced
2) how they are used in spoken language
3) how we can record speech sounds with
written symbols
4) how we hear and recognise different sounds.
Phonology
 Phonology is the study (and use) of sound patterns to
create meaning; it concerns with how sounds function in
relation to each other in a language.
 The basic activity in phonology is phonemic analysis.
 However, this is not enough and phonologists look at
suprasegmental phonology which are the study of stress,
rhythm and intonation.
 Phonology relies on phonetic information for its practice,
but focuses on how patterns in both speech and non-
verbal communication create meaning, and how such
patterns are interpreted.
 Phonology includes comparative linguistic studies of how
cognates, sounds, and meaning are transmitted among
and between human communities and languages.
In a nutshell,

 Phonetics – is about the sounds of language

 Phonology – is about the sound systems of

language
The production of speech
sounds
 All sounds we make are the result of muscle
contracting.
 It begins with muscles from the chest to
produce the flow of air, then to the larynx to
produce many different modifications in the
flow of air from chest to mouth.
 Then the air goes through the vocal tract and
ends at the mouth and nostrils.
 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.
The articulators

The diagram
represents the
human head seen
from the side,
displayed as though
it had been cut in
half.
 The articulators
The pharynx is a tube
which begins just above
the larynx.
At the top end it is
divided into two, one
part being the back of
the oral cavity and
the other being the
beginning of the way
through the nasal
cavity.
 The articulators
The soft palate or
velum allows air to pass
through the nose and
through the
mouth. It can be
touched by the tongue.
When we produce the
sound /k/ and /g/ the
tongue is in contact with
the lower side of the soft
palate, and we call these
velar consonant.
 The articulators
The hard palate is often
called the ‘roof of the
mouth’. You can feel its
smooth curved surface
with your tongue. A
consonant made with the
tongue close to the hard
palate is called palatal.
The sound /j/ in ‘yes’ is
palatal.
 The articulators
The alveolar ridge is
between the top front
teeth and the hard
palate. Its surface is
much rougher than it
feels, and it is covered
with little ridges. Sounds
made with the tongue
touching here such as
/t/, /d/, /n/ are called
alveolar.
 The articulators
The teeth (upper and
lower) is shown in the
diagram only at the front
of the mouth,
immediately after the
lips. Sounds made with
the tongue touching the
front teeth such as /θ /
and /ð/ are called
dental.
 The articulators
The lips are important in
speech. When pressed
together, they produced the
sound /p/ and /b/. When it is
in contact with the teeth the
/f/ and /v/ sounds are
produced. When it is
rounded, it produced the
sound like /u:/. Sounds where
lips are in contact, it is called
bilabial whereas those with
lip-to-teeth contact are called
labiodental.
 The articulators
The tongue is a very
important articulator and it
can be moved into many
different parts and shapes. It
is usual to divide the tongue
into different parts (ie. tip,
blade, front, back and root)
even though there are no
dividing lines within its
structure.

The seven articulators

mentioned above are the
main ones used in speech.
The International Phonetics
Alphabet (IPA)
 IPA is a system of transcribing the sounds of
languages which consists of some Latin and
Greek letters and a variety of additional
symbols and diacritics.
 The goal is to represent each recognisable
sound in a unique fashion.
 The alphabet was developed at the end of
19th century.
 The name is abbreviated IPA.
The International Phonetics
Alphabet (IPA)
 The symbols for English represent the
distinctive sounds of the language that we
call phonemes.
 They are a special kind of phonetics symbol
that we call phonemic symbols.
 When we use these symbols, it is enclose
with ‘slant brackets’ for example book is
transcribed as /buk/.
The International
Phonetics Alphabet (IPA)
English vowels
Tutorial tasks:
In pairs:

1. List and transcribe examples of words containing

the sounds of the consonants and vowels in the
phonemic chart.

2. List down words with different spelling to

represent one sound and words with the same spelling
but representing different sounds in English.
 References:
Chegg (2015). Definition of phonetics and phonology. Retrieved from
: https://www.chegg.com/homework-help/definitions/phonetics-and-
phonology-51

NeoEnglish (2015). English Consonants and their Place and Manner of

articulation https://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/english-
consonants-and-their-place-and-manner-of-articulation/

The English Consonants (2015). Retrieved from

linguistics.byu.edu/English%20Consonants

Brinton, L and Brinton, D. (2010). The Linguistics structure of modern

linguistics. Retrieved from:
https://benjamins.com/sites/linguistic_structure_of_modern_english
/exercise_2.3.html

Giordano, A. ESL Basics. Retrieved from:

(http://www.eslbasics.com/blog/student-posts/voiceless-sounds-vs-
voiced-sounds/