1. The Sound Structure of English

2. phonology & phonetics
phonology : the structure that lies behind
speech. principles that govern phonology: the
distribution of sounds, and how they contrast
Phonetics: the nature and occurrence of speech
sounds themselves (the physical manifestation
of the actual sound)

3. Written and Spoken English
English spelling is unreliable as a guide to
present-day pronunciation: fish should be
spelled as ghoti. Reasons:
1. Influences from Latin & Germanic runic
alphabet (adaptation of Greek and Latin
symbols, so homophones were once
pronounced differently).
2. Pronunciation changes are not represented
in changed spellings

4. The Runic Alphabet

5. Rule-Governed Speech
1. Meaningful contrasts: Short & long vowels
2. Predictable speech sounds: pray, rpay, blue,
lbue

6. Accent and dialect
Accent: features, patterns and phenomena
belonging to variations in speech:
<path>:
1. Northern British English: short vowel
2. Southern Standard British English:
long
vowel
3. ESL/EFL learner: /th/ as /t/ or /s/

7. Accent and dialect (Contd)
dialect: variations in accent + features of
syntax and vocabulary
He caught the pike between_______weeds.
I need this plug mending.
Scots English: I need this plug mended.
Raising her little finger (pinkie)

8. Phonetic observation and phonological
generalisation
phonological inferences are based on
phonetic, that is, acoustic detail
1. Phonetic observation:
a. pin, spin, nip
b. tun, nut, stun
c. kin, nick and skin

9. Phonetic observation and phonological
generalisation (Contd)
2. Phonological generalisation:
a. the speech sounds ‘p, t, k’ have identical
patterns of distribution within the syllable, i.e.
they can occur pre-vocalically, postvocalically, and after ‘s’,
b. in the same environments, each of these
apparently different sounds seems to behave
in exactly the same way

10. Contractiveness & Similarity
/w/
/pɪn/ and
/wɪn/
/ŋ/
/sɪn/ and
/sɪŋ/, sing.
/j/
/jɪn/ /wɪn/,
/pɪn/,
/ʒ/
beige and
baize
/r/ and /l/
/rɪp/ and
/lɪp/.
/ʤ/
/pɪn/ /ʤɪn/,
gin.

11. Consonant Physical Features
1. voiced or voiceless;
2. how it’s produced (i.e. whether it’s a stop,
or a fricative;
3. where it’s produced.

12. IPA

13. Place of Articulation

14. Manner of Articulation
Obstruents (a high degree of air obstruction)
1. STOPS: the airflow from the lungs is completely
blocked at some point.
2. FRICATIVES: The flow of air is constricted, but not
totally stopped or blocked. The restricted airflow
through the narrowed opening creates friction (this is
where the term “fricative” comes from).
3. AFFRICATES: a combination of a stop and a fricative.
These sounds begin like stops, with a complete
blockage of air/closure of the vocal tract, and end
with a restricted flow of air like fricatives.

15. Manner of Articulation
Sonorants(relatively little obstruction of air)
NASALS: the flow of air cut off through the mouth and redirected
through the nasal passage instead (sometimes called nasal
stops)but because the air flows unobstructed through the nose,
these sounds are classified as sonorants.
LIQUIDS: with little obstruction of air. Instead, we position our tongue
in the vocal tract and let the air pass around it. Because it’s hard to
pinpoint the obstruction, these sounds are less “solid” than some
other consonants, which is why they’re called liquids.
GLIDES: These sounds, like liquids, are produced with very little
obstruction of air. To produce glides, we bring articulators close
together and then pull them apart, letting the sound glide off them.
Glides are sometimes referred to as “semi-vowels” because they
are mid-way between consonants and vowels, but they are
classified as consonants. /y/ and /w/ are acoustically similar to /i/
and /u/.

16. Voiced vs. Voiceless
Voiced
Voiceless
/z/
/ʒ/
/d/
/b/
/r/
/p/
/t/
/k/
/v/
/ʤ/
/g/
/w/
/l/
/f/
/θ/
/s/
/ð/
/m/
/n/
/y/
/ng/
/∫/
/ t∫/
/h/