Fricatives /f/ and /v/
/f/ and /v/ are labio-dental fricative consonants
The soft palate is raised, the nasal resonator is shut
off. The lower lip makes a light contact with the
upper teeth, forming a flat narrowing. The escaping
air passes through this narrowing with friction. For
/f/ the friction is voiceless, whereas there may be
some vocal cord vibration accompaning /v/ according
to its position: between voiced sounds, e.g. cover
Word final /v/ assimilates easily to /f/ before a
fortis consonant initial in the following word
e.g. have to, love to, move forward
Comparison
The corresponding Estonian consonants are
articulated in very much the same manner.
The English /f/ and /v/ are more energetic,
especially before /e/ and /ɪ/
Estonian
film efekt veri vein
English
film effect very vain
Avoid replacing /v/ by /w/
vain
wane
verse worse
vest
west
Spelling
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
f
f/ff - face, afford, leaf
ph – phenomenon, photograph, trophy
v
v – village, heavy, sieve
Siobhan
/ʃɪ’vɔ:n/
Niamh
/ni:v/ /nɪəv/
• Fur and velvet are only for very fine evenings
• My favourite food is veal fried in the Viennese
fashion
• A few viewers found the French film violent
• He made a very fast recovery from his awful
fever
Approximants
/w/ and /j/ have also been called semivowels
Two articulators approach each other but the contact is not
made.
They are phonetically like vowels and phonologically like
consonants.
• The place of articulation is practically the same as that of /u:/
and /i:/.
• They are used as consonants:
before vowel phonemes
with articles a and the /ðə/
e.g. the way the year
• /w/ is a bilabial approximant consonant
The soft palate is raised. The lips are rounded
and slightly protruded, forming a small
narrowing while the back of the tongue is
raised towards the soft palate as for /u:/. The
phoneme is very short and weak. The tongue
and lips immediately move away to the
position of the following vowel.
• In Estonian the sound /w/ occurs in the
pronunciation of words where /u/ is followed
by a vowel : kaua, õue, juua
• Avoid contact between the upper teeth and
the lower lip.
• Distinction between /v/ and /w/.
• Distinction between /u:/ and /w/:
– lips move more quickly
– the opening for air passage is smaller
Swan swam over the sea
Swim, swan, swim;
Swan swam back again
Well swum swan
• /j/ is a palatal approximant consonant
The soft palate is raised. The middle of the
tongue is held against the hard palate at about
the same height as in pronouncing the vowel
/i:/, forming a narrowing for air stream. The
air passes with no friction. /j/ is very short and
weak.
• Estonian /j/ is prepalatal, English /j/ is palatal
• English /j/ is slightly more retracted
• Estonian jõulud jalg joon jänki
• English yeoman yard yawn yankee
Spelling
/w/
w at the beginning - word, win, wait
o once, one
q + u (kw) quite, equus, question BUT: queue
g +u sanguine, penguine
oi in French loans: sangfroid /sɒηˈfrwɑ:/
Silent w before r – write, wryly, wrap, wrath,Wroxham
/rɒksəm/
/j/
y at the beginning – yard, yiest, yacht
consonant+ u(e) – continue, statue, deputy, duty
Assimilation of /d/ or /t/ +/j/
sounds into /ʤ/ or /ʧ/
d + j did you /dɪʤə/
module /mɒʤu:l/
t + j congratulate /kəηˈgræʧʊleɪt/
what you... /wɒʧə/
got you /gɒʧə/
Fricatives /h/, /θ/ and /ð/
• /h/ is a glottal fricative consonant
• The place of articulation is glottis, the narrowing
that produces the friction noise is between the
vocal cords
• /h/ always has the quality of the vowel that it
precedes.
• Phonetically /h/ is a voiceless vowel with the
quality of the voiced vowel that follows it.
• Phonologically it is a consonant: found before
vowels
• Silent h
• Hour, honour, heir, exhaust, exhilarate, exhibit,
vehicle, vehement, Buckingham, Birmingham,
Nottingham, Beckham
• /θ/ and /ð/ are dental fricative consonants
• The tongue is placed inside the teeth with
the tip touching the inside of the lower
front teeth and the blade touching the
inside of the upper teeth.The air escapes
through the gaps between the tongue and
the teeth. /θ/ is voiceless and fortis and
/ð/is voiced and lenis.
Spelling
• In both voiced and voiceless versions the most
common spelling is th
• BUT: Thames, Thomas, thyme
• Just think of the things we’ll do on Thursday if
nothing else turns up
• I’d rather not wear this leather jacket although
the weather is cold
Compare the sounds
/θ/ and /f/
three thirst thread thrill -
free
first
Fred
frill
hearth
Ruth
death
thaw
-
half
roof
deaf
four
/θ/ and /t/
thin thank thick three theme -
tin
tank
tick
free
team
heath
sheath
fourth
path
north
-
heat
sheet
fort
part
nought
/ð/ and /d/
there
then
than
though
- dare
- den
- Dan
- dough
breathe - breed
worthy - worthy
lather
- ladder