Classification of Speech

Sounds

Vowels;

Consonants.

Since the writing system of English does not provide us

with a one-to-one correspondence between oral sound

and written symbol, we need a tool for representing

human sounds in an regular way when studying

phonology;

the International Phonetic Alphabet (the IPA) has been

invented for this purpose. In it, each written symbol

represents one, and only one, speech sound, while each

speech sound is represented by one, and only one,

written symbol.

We will begin by learning this special alphabet.

Y_ _ c_n _nd_rst_nd th_s s_nt_nc_ w_th_ _t

th_ v_w_ls, b_t c_n y_ _ _nd_rst_nd th_ n_xt

_n_ w_th_ _t th_ c_ns_n_nts?

_ _o_a_ _ _ _o_. I_’_ a_ _o_ _ i_ _o_ _i_

_e.

Read the following

passage

You can understand this sentence

without the vowels, but can you

understand the next one without the

consonants?

Probably not. It’s almost impossible

Read the following

passage - KEY

So….

Consonants might be considered of greater

importance than vowels in English.

Text message English – a limited use of vowels

Consonants

A consonant is defined as a speech sound which is articulated withsome kind of stricture, or closure, of the air stream.

Consonants are classified according to four features:

1. the state of the glottis: in vibration (voiced) or open (voiceless);

2. the state of the velum: lowered (nasal) or raised (oral);

3. the place of articulation: the location where the stricture or place ofmaximum interference occurs and what articulators are involved; and

4. the manner of articulation: the amount of stricture, whether it iscomplete, partial (called “close approximation”), or relatively open(“open approximation”).

Oral or nasal consonants

Oral: the air escapes through the mouth.

Nasal: the air escapes through the nose.

Almost all consonants are oral, only 3 are nasal: /m, n, [ŋ].

Voiceless and voiced consonants

Voiceless: no vibration of the vocal cords.

Voiced: vibration of the vocal cords.

Voiceless consonant phonemes are: /p/ as in pea; /t/ as in tea; /k/ as

in coffee; /f/ as in fat; /θ/ as in thin; /s/ as in see; /ʃ/ as in she; /h/ as

in he.

Voiced consonant phonemes are: /b/ as in ball; /d/ as in dog; /ʤ/ as in

joke; /g/ as in good; /v/ as in van; /ð/ as in that; /z/ as in zoo; /m/ as in

mouth; /n/ as in no; /ŋ/ as in thing; /l/ as in love; /r/ as in right; /w/ as in

why; /j/ as in you.

Places of articulation

They indicate the place where obstruction is made for the

pronunciation of the consonants.

The tongue, lips, teeth, and various regions of the mouth

constitute places of articulation in the oral cavity.

Bilabial, Labiodental, Dental or Interdental, Alveolar, Palato-alveolar,

Palatal, Velar, Glottal.

http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu/hurley/Ling102web/mod3_speaking/

3mod3.5.2_place.htm

Manner of articulation

It refers to the way the articulators are set so that the resonance effect is possible.

Stop or plosive

Fricative

Affricate

Nasal

Lateral

Glide

Liquid

Approximant (in English lateral, glide and liquid sounds are approximants, as they

don’t involve friction in any part of the vocal tract.

https://www.mimicmethod.com/manner-of-articulation.html

Consonants

bilabials labiodentals dental alveolars palato-alveolar

palatals velars glottals

Plosives p b t d k gFricatives f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ hAfricates tʃ dʒ

Nasals m n ŋLiquids lFrictionlessapproximantsGlides

w r j

Allophones

In natural speech production sounds occur in

groups in fast succession so individual sounds are

influenced by the sounds around the.

If /t/ occurs before a vowel it is aspirated more than

if it occurs before a /r/. Ex. Say: table and train.

In some varieties of English (American English,

Cockney) [t] can have up to 6 different realisations,

these are called phonetic variants or allophones.

In transcription they are represented by diacritic

symbols added to the phonemic ones.

They do not involve any change of meaning but

differences in accents.

Consonant sounds

LUOGO di articolazione – Place of articulation

MODO di articolazione – Manner of articulation

POSIZIONE delle corde vocali – Position of vocal chords(sorda/sonora – voiceless/voiced)

A. Luogo

Per capire, conoscere e “sentire” i singoli suoni emessi è

importante conoscere il nostro apparato fonatore:

B. Modo

il “percorso” del flusso di aria determina o il MODO in cui un fono viene prodotto:

occlusiva plosive

fricativa fricative

affricata affricate

nasale nasal

liquida liquid

senza frizione frictionless/glide

18

C. Posizione

l’opposizione sorda/sonora si riferisce alla posizione delle

corde vocali

19

Write the following words near the correct

symbol according to the underlined letters

glasses dog hot drive letter

pen red music book car

president football study teacher name work

/p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/

/g/ /f/ /v/ /s/ /z/

/h/ /l/ /r/ /m/ /n/ /w/

Write the following words near the correct

symbol according to the underlined letters

Glasses /g/ dog /d/ hot /h/ drive /v/

letter /l/ pen /p/ red /r/ music /m/

book /b/ /k/ car /k/ president /z/ football /f/

study /s/ teacher /t/ name/n/ work /w/

Tick if the symbols match the sounds of

the letters underlined

a. Why /h/

b. who /h/

c. Photograph /ph/

d. Cinema /s/

e. Scissors /sk/

f. Laugh /gh/

g. Knife /n/

h. Verb /v/

i. question /kw/

j. Class /k/

k. Rose /s/

l. Writing /wr/

a. Whyb. who /h/

c. Photographd. Cinema /s/

e. Scissors

f. Laughg. Knife /n/

h. Verb /v/

i. question /kw/

j. Class /k/

k. Rose

l. Writing

a. Why /w/

b. who

c. Photograph /f/

d. Cinema

e. Scissors /s/

f. Laugh /f/

g. Knife

h. Verb

i. question

j. Class

k. Rose /z/

l. Writing /r/

Tick if the symbols match the sounds

of the letters underlined

Phonetic Alphabet

Vowels

To adequately define a vowel, we need to look at it in articulatory, acoustic, andfunctional terms:

In articulatory terms, vowels are sounds articulated with no –– obstruction of the airstream, that is, with open articulation. There is lack of central closure of the air stream,though the tongue may come into contact with the teeth on the sides.

In acoustic terms, vowels are sounds that vary in pitch, which –– is determined bythe quality of the sound wave. Pitch is modified by changing the shape of theresonating chamber (the oral and, sometimes, the nasal tracts) by changing theposition and shape of tongue and lips and by lowering or raising the velum.

In functional terms, vowels constitute the nucleus, or necessary, part of the syllable.

English vowels

12 vowels + 8 diphthongs

versus

7 basic vowels n Italian

Classification of English vowels

For consonants, we must consider four criteria: voicing,orality/nasality, place, and manner of articulation. For vowels, weneed to consider only one criterion: place of articulation.

All vowels are voiced and oral.

In terms of their manner of articulation, all vowels are produced withopen approximation.

Instead of determining which articulators are used and wherestricture occurs, we determine where the highest point of the tongueis during the production of the vowel sound. The position and tensityof the tongue alters the quality of the sound produced.

Another determinig factor is the shape of the lips, which can be moreor less spread (smiling) or more or less rounded (kissing).

Practice

https://elt.oup.com/student/englishfile/elementary/c_

pronunciation/pronunciation01?cc=it&selLanguage=it

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/gr

ammar/pron/sounds/

Long and short vowels

It depends on whether the vowel is in a stressed or unstressed syllable.

There are short and long vowel pairs suc as /ɪ/ and /i:/

English vowels are tenser than Italian ones.

The schwa /ə/

The most central vowel.

The lips are neither rounded nor spread, the sound is

neither open nor closed, neither front nor back, high or

low, so all articulators involved are in a relaxed or

neutral position.

In Neapolitan /jammə/.

Diphthongs: vowel sounds

made up of two phonemes

https://elt.oup.com/student/englishfile/elementary/c_pronunciation/pronunciation02?cc=it&selLanguage=it