PHONETICS’

BASICS

Consonants vs. Vowels

Consonants

They are articulated by creating an obstacle to the passing of air

We define them by describing the characteristics of that obstacle

Vowels

There is no obstacle to the passing of air

They are described by the shape of the mouth (tongue position, opening…)

CONSONANTS

General description

Consonant sounds are described taking into account three basic elements:

Phonation

Manner of articulation

Place of articulation

Vibration of the vocal folds makes a difference between: voiced sounds

/b, d, g, v, z, ʒ, ʤ, ð, m, n, ŋ, l, r/

voiceless sounds /p, t, k, f, s, ʃ, ʧ, θ/

Phonation

Manner of articulation

This is the way in which the obstacle to the passing of air is set .

Plosives: Complete obstacle, released with an explosion

Fricatives: Narrowing of the channel

Affricates: Complete obstacle, released with a narrowing of the channel Aproximants:the

articulators come close to each other, but there is neither an obstacle nor friction

Nasals: Nasal cavity is involved

Manner of articulation

Stops / plosives

/p, b, t, d, k, g/

Fricatives

/f, v, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, θ, ð/

Affricates

/ʧ, ʤ/

Nasals

/m, n, ŋ/

Aproximants:

Liquids:/l, r/

Glides: /w, j/

Place of articulation

This makes reference to the point where the obstacle to the passing of air is set .

Place of articulation

Bilabial

/p, b, m/

Labio-dental

/f, v/

Alveolar

/t, d, s, z, n, l, r/

Velar

/k, g, h, ŋ/

Inter-dental

/θ, ð/

Palatal

/ʃ, ʒ, ʧ, ʤ/

Clasification

Bilabial Labio-

dental

Inter-

dental Alveolar Palatal Velar

Plosives

Voiced b d g

Voiceless p t k

Fricatives

Voiced v ð z ʒ

Voiceless f θ s ʃ h

Affricates

Voiced ʤ

Voiceless ʧ

Nasal m n ŋ

Approximants

Liquids l ,r

Glides w j

LET’S EXPLORE

CONSONANTS

/p/

Description: plosive, bilabial, voiceless

Spelling: “p, pp”

Examples:

pet, park, people, map, apply, happy

/b/

Description: plosive, bilabial, voiced

Spelling: “b, bb”

Examples:

bark, best, bubble, Bob, absurd, rub

/t/

Description: plosive, alveolar, voiceless

Spelling: “t, tt, ght, ed”

Examples:

top, attack, height, caught, cooked, fixed

/d/

Description: plosive, alveolar, voiced

Spelling: “d, dd, ed”

Examples:

dark, dad, add, riddle, opened, cleaned

/k/

Description: plosive, velar, voiceless

Spelling: “c, cc, k, ck, ch, q, que”

Examples:

car, account, kitchen, black, Christmas, boutique

/g/

Description: plosive, velar, voiced

Spelling: “g, gg, gh, gu”

Examples:

go, gate, hug, goggles, egg, ghost, guess

/f/

Description: fricative, labio-dental, voiceless

Spelling: “f, ff, ph, gh”

Examples:

fat, fifty coffee, photograph, enough

/v/

Description: fricative, labio-dental, voiced

Spelling: “v, ve, ph, f (exceptional)”

Examples:

vet, vision, love, of, nephew

/θ/

Description: fricative, inter-dental, voiceless

Spelling: “th”

Examples:

Think, through, thousand, cloth, teeth

/ð/

Description: fricative, inter-dental, voiced

Spelling: “th”

Examples:

that, then, another, weather, with

/s/

Description: fricative, alveolar, voiceless

Spelling: “s, ss, c, ce, sc, ps”

Examples:

sorry, Spain, pass, city, piece, scenery, psalm

/z/

Description: fricative, alveolar, voiced

Spelling: “z, zz, ze, s, se, x”

Examples:

zebra, puzzle, sneeze, music, dogs, watches,

noise, xylophone

/ʃ/

Description: fricative, alveolar, voiceless

Spelling: “sh, ti (+vowel), s, si, ssi, ch, ci,”

Examples:

shopping, Spanish, station, information, sugar,

mansion, passion, machine, social

/ʒ/

Description: fricative, alveolar, voiced

Spelling: “si (+vowel), s, ge”

Examples:

television, decision, usually, camouflage

/h/

Description: fricative, velar, voiceless

Spelling: “h, wh”

Examples:

hat, help, ahead, whole, who

/ʧ/

Description: affricate, palatal, voiceless

Spelling: “ch, tch”

Examples:

change, chest, much, peach, catch, butcher

/ʤ/

Description: affricate, palatal, voiced

Spelling: “j, g, ge, dge, gi”

Examples:

jam, general, huge, page, large, region, judge

/m/

Description: nasal, bilabial

Spelling: “m, mm, mb, mn”

Examples:

jam, music, hammer, climb, autumn

/n/

Description: nasal, alveolar

Spelling: “n, nn, kn, ne, gn, pn, ne”

Examples:

name, tunnel, know, done, sign, pneumatic,

Wednesday

/ŋ/

Description: nasal, alveolar

Spelling: “ng, n”

Examples:

young, belong, sing, angle, ink, ankle

/l/

Description: liquid, alveolar

Spelling: “l, ll, le”

Examples:

let, flag, spell, call, double, little

/r/

Description: liquid, alveolar

Spelling: “r, rr, wr, rh”

Examples:

rest, very, hurry, berry, write, wrist, rhyme

/w/

Description: glide, bilabial

Spelling: “w, wh, o”

Examples:

went, away, when, whisper, one

/j/

Description: glide, palatal

Spelling: “y”

Examples:

yellow, youth, beyond

VOWELS

General description

Vowel sounds are not so easy to describe, as there is no clear obstacle to the passing of air. We usually take into account:

Tongue position (height and fronting)

Lip shape (spread, neutral, rounded)

Length (also seen as tension)

Vowel chart

This diagram shows the diferent features of English vowels

front central back

Half-close

Half-open

open

close

e

ʊ

u:

ɜ:

ɪ

i:

ə

ɔ:

æ ɒ ɑ:

ʌ

/ɑ:/

Description: back, open, unrounded, long

Spelling: “ar, a, al, au, are, ear, er”

Examples:

farm, father, calm, aunt, are, heart, clerk

/ æ /

Description: front, open, short, unrounded

Spelling: “a”

Examples:

man, add, lamp

/ ʌ /

Description: central, half-open, short,

unrounded

Spelling: “u, o, ou, oo, oe”

Examples:

ugly, son, enough, blood, does

/ e /

Description: front, half-open, short,

unrounded

Spelling: “e, ea, a, ai, ie, eo”

Examples:

egg, bread, many, said, friend, leopard

/ ɜ: /

Description: central, half-close, long,

unrounded

Spelling: “er, or, ir, ur, ear”

Examples:

verb, word, bird, murder, pearl

/ ɪ /

Description: front, close, short, unrounded

Spelling: “i, y, e, ey, u, ui”

Examples:

if, sink, rhythm, pretty, money, minute, busy,

build

/ i: /

Description: front, close, long, unrounded

Spelling: “ee, ea, e, i, ie, ei, ey”

Examples:

feed, read, we, police, thief, receive, key

/ ɒ /

Description: back, open, short, rounded

Spelling: “o, a, ou”

Examples:

off, object, want, watch, cough

/ ɔ: /

Description: back, half-open, long, rounded

Spelling: “or, ore, aw, au, ou, al, all, (w)a-, (w)ar”

Examples:

order, more, law, saw, pause, caught, bought, always, hall, water, war

/ ʊ /

Description: back, close, short, rounded

Spelling: “oo, u, ou”

Examples:

look, book, put, push, would, could

/ u: /

Description: back, close, long, rounded

Spelling: “u, o, oo, ew, ue, ui, ou”

Examples:

rude, do, move, tool, flew, blue, fruit, juice, group, through

/ ə /

Description: central, half-close, short, unrounded

Spelling: “a, e, o, u, ar, er, or, ur, ure, ou”

(always unstressed)

Examples:

banana, absence, bishop, difficult, monarch, father,

warrior, various, future

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are combinations of two vowels belonging to the same syllable.

There are two main groups:

Closing diphthongs:

ending in ʊ /

/aʊ/

/əʊ/

ending in /ɪ /

/aɪ/

/eɪ/

/ɔɪ/

Centring diphthongs:

ending in / ə /

/eə/

/ɪə/

/ʊə/

/eə/

Spelling: “are, air, ear”

Examples:

dare, hair, pear

/ ɪə/

Spelling: “ier, eer, ere, ea, ear, ”

Examples:

frontier, beer, here, idea, hear

/ʊə/

Spelling: “ure, oor, our”

Examples:

pure, poor, tour

/aʊ/

Spelling: “ou, ow”

Examples:

out, about, house, now, brown, owl, powder

/əʊ/

Spelling: “o, oa, ow”

Examples:

go, note, old, road, boat, low, own

/aɪ/

Spelling: “i, ie, y, uy”

Examples:

find, smile, tie, lie, my, style, buy, guy

/ɔɪ/

Spelling: “oi, oy ”

Examples:

oil, voice, boy, toy

/eɪ /

Spelling: “ay, ai, ei, a..e, e, et”

Examples:

say, wait, weight, plane, café, ballet