English Consonant and
Vowel Sounds
Phonetics
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The study of physical properties of sound
Sounds may not be represented
systematically by spelling.
Examples?
Why not just spell?
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Sounds may not be represented
systematically by spelling because...
Same spelling for different sounds
Combination of letters representing one
sound,
Some letters are silent
Phonetic Alphabet
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One symbol represents one sound
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Each speech sound has a distinct symbol
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Cross-linguistically applicable
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IPA
IPA symbols for Transcription
[p]= pat
[k]= car
[h]= hat
[b]= bat
[g]=guard
[m]=mull
[f]= foot
[n]= null
[v]= van
[ŋ]= ring
[t]= tap
[d]=dam
IPA symbols for transcription
[s] = sap
[ʃ]= shine
[z] = zip
[ɹ]= ring
[ʒ] = vision
[l]= leaf
[θ] = think
[ʧ]= touch
[j] = yes
[ð] = this
[ʤ]= judge
[w]= with
IPA symbols for transcription
[i]=sheep [u]= boot
[æ]=ash
[ɪ]=ship
[ʊ]=put
[ɑ]= father
[ɛ]= end
[ɔ]= open
[ə]=about
[ʌ]= but
Diphthongs (Complex Vowels)
•Complex because they are twopart vowels
•But count as a single sound
because two vowels are
articulated together. Examples:
[ɑɪ] =bite
[ɔɪ] = boy
[eɪ]= bait
IPA symbols for transcription
PRACTICE!
(Remember brackets!)
next
kite
chin
cat
lamb
meet
IPA symbols for transcription
PRACTICE!
next [nɛkst]
kite [kɑɪt]
chin [ʧɪn]
cat [kæt]
lamb [læm]
meet [mit]
The Vocal Tract
Consonants vs. Vowels
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consonantal sounds: obstruction of airflow
in vocal tract
vowel sounds: little to no obstruction of
airflow
Features of Consonants
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Voicing (state of the glottis)
Place of articulation
Manner of articulation
Site for listening to the sounds of
American English:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phoneti
cs/english/frameset.html
Voicing
Voicing
Place of Articulation
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Articulator: Organ a speaker employs to
produce and distinguish certain speech
sound (e.g. lips are active articulators and
hard plate is a passive articulator)
Place of articulation: Identifies the location
of articulators
Place of Articulation
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Bilabial
Labiodental
Interdental
Alveolar
Palatal
Velar
[p]
[f]
[θ]
[t]
[ʃ]
[k]
[b] [m] [w]
[v]
[ð]
[d] [n] [s] [z] [l] [ɹ]
[ʒ] [ʧ] [ʤ] [j]
[g] [ŋ]
Manners of articulation
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Stops [p] [b] [t] [d] [k] [g]
Fricatives [f] [v] [θ] [ð] [s] [z] [ʃ] [ʒ]
Affricates [ʧ] [ʤ]
Liquids [l] [ɹ]
Glides [w] [j]
Consonant Chart for English
Phonetic features of consonants
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To describe phonetic features of
consonants, list (a) voicing (b) place of
articulation and (c) manner of articulation
for consonants (3 features)
e.g. [p] = Voiceless bilabial stop
[z] = Voiced alveolar fricative
Features of vowels
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All vowels in English are voiced and involve a
continuous flow of air through the oral cavity.
English vowels can be categorized by 4
distinctive features:
(1) Height of the tongue
(2) Frontness/backness of the tongue
(3) Tenseness/laxness i.e. whether the tongue muscle is tense or
lax
(4) Round/unrounded i.e. whether the lips are rounded or not
Every vowel is a combination of 4
features.
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[i] as in meet is high front tense
unrounded vowel
[æ] as in pat is low front lax unrounded
[ɑ] as in pot is low back lax unrounded
Vowels of English
What knowledge do we have about
the sounds of our native language?
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We know which sounds are distinctive
e.g. “l” and “r” are perceived as different
sounds in English but not in Japanese
We know which sounds can (and can’t
combine)
e.g. Are these possible English words?
mbeem, tsub, coofb
What do we know about sound in
(and not in) our language?
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Recognize “foreign accents”
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How does a French speaker pronounce the word “this”?
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How does a German speaker pronounce the word
“think”?