The Sounds of Language: Phonetics and Phonology

Although different languages contain different sounds, the sounds of all the languages of the world
constitute a class of sounds that the human vocal tract is able to make. All these sounds are human speech
sounds. Phonetics is interested in all the speech sounds used in all human languages: the features they
possess, how they can be classified, etc.

Articulatory phonetics focuses on how a speaker uses his speech organs (vocal tract) to articulate the
(speakers’ point of view) sounds of language.

Auditory phonetics focuses on how listeners perceive the sounds of language. When the sound waves
(hearers’ point of view) reach our ears they set the eardrum vibrating according to the same pattern. Inside
the ear, the vibrations set off nerve impulses, which are interpreted by our brain
as sound.

Acoustic phonetics focuses on the physical properties that allow the sounds of language to be
(sound waves in the air) transmitted through the air from one person to another. Once represented and
stored in a digital format, sound files can be matematically analyzed to separate
out the diferent frequencies.

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 Spelling, or orthography or written form, does not consistently represent the sounds of language because
1. The same sound may be represented either by one letter or by a combination of letters; for example, the
sound /f/ can be spelled either “f” as in “food” /fuːd/ , “ff” as in “riff” /rɪf/ “ph” as in phone” /fəʊn/, “gh” as
in “laugh”/ lɑːf/.
2. The same letter may represent a variety of sounds. As you know that the letter (u) can be pronounced as
either /ᴧ/ as in “umbrella” or /ju:/ as in “university”.
3. A combination of letters may represent a single sound; for instance, “sh” in “wash” /wɒʃ/ is one single
sound /ʃ/; “air” /eə/ is one sound, the diphthong /eə/ and the “ck” in “clock” /klɒk/ is one single sound /k/.
4. A single letter may represent a combination of sounds like in exit /ˈɛksɪt/, the letter “x” combines too
sounds /k/ and /s/.

In 1888, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was invented in order to have a system in which
there was a shared universal and unambiguous one-to-one correspondence between each sound in language
and each phonetic symbol. To achieve this, they relied on phonetic and phonemic transcriptions of sound
segments.
Phonemic (or broad) transcription is indicated by slanted brackets: / /. Board transcription uses a
relatively simple set of symbols to represent contrasting segments, but does not show all phonetic detail.
These transcriptions are used when capturing phonemes in phonology (disregarding details not relevant
for a particular language). For instance, the English word pretzel in a broad transcription would
be /ˈpretsl̩ /
Phonetic (or narrow) transcription is indicated by square brackets: [ ]. Narrow transcription uses a more
elaborate set of symbols, diacritics and suprasegmentals to show more phonetic detail. These
transcriptions are used when capturing sounds in phonetics (encoding all the details). For example, the
English word pretzel in a narrow transcription would be [ˈpɹ̥ ʷɛʔts.ɫ̩ ]

Diacritics, often loosely called `accents', are the various little dots and squiggles which, in many languages,
are written above, below or on top of certain letters of the alphabet to indicate something about their
pronunciation (usually the place and manner of articulation). For convenience, here are the names of the
commoner diacritics: (á) is the acute accent; (à) is the grave accent; (â) is the circumflex accent; (ü) is called
the diaeresis, or trema, or umlaut; (ñ) is called the tilde; (ç) is the cedilla; (å) is called the ring, or bolle; (ø) is
known as the slash, or solidus, or virgule.

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Suprasegmental, also called prosodic feature, in phonetics, is a speech feature such as stress, tone, or word
juncture that accompanies or is added over consonants and vowels; these features are not limited to single
sounds but often extend over syllables, words, or phrases.

The sounds of all languages fall into two classes: consonants and vowels. The English language comprises
44 sounds amongst which 20 are vowel sounds and 24 are consonants. The difference between the production
of consonants and vowels is that the consonants are made by obstruction, while vowels are produced by
resonance (no obstruction).
◼ Vowels: Speech sounds which are produced with no obstruction of the vocal tract, so no
turbulence or a total stopping of the air can be perceived. They are produced mainly when the airflow
from the lungs to the lips is relatively unrestricted.
◼ Consonants: Speech sounds which are produced by constricting or obstructing the vocal
tract at some place to modulate the flow of air in the vocal tract. They are always produced with some
closure to the vocal tract. The nature and location of this closure determines what type of consonant
that is produced.

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 Classification of Consonant Sounds
We classify consonants according to
a) where in the vocal tract the airflow restriction occurs, called the place of articulation
b) The way the airstream is affected as it flows from the lungs up and out of the mouth and nose, called
the manner of articulation.
c) The activity of vocal cords: whether the sound is voiced or voiceless (whether the vocal cords
vibrate or not (voiced & voiceless).
1. Place of articulation: where in the vocal tract the airflow is being restricted. The major places of
articulation are:
o Bilabials: /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/ are produced by bringing both lips together
o Labiodentals: /f/ and /v/ are produced by touching the bottom lip to the upper teeth
o Dentals: /θ/ and /ð/ are produced by putting the tip of the tongue between the teeth
o Alveolars: /t/, /d/,/n/, /s/, /z/, /l/ and /r/. All of these are produced by raising the tongue to the alveolar
ridge in some way:
/t/, /d/ and /n/: produced by the tip of the tongue touching the alveolar ridge (or just in front of it)
/s/ and /z/: produced with the sides of the front of the tongue raised but the tip lowered to allow air to escape
/l/: the tongue tip is raised while the rest of the tongue remains down so air can escape over the sides of the
tongue (thus /l/ is a lateral sound)
/r/: air escapes through the central part of the mouth; either the tip of the tongue is curled back behind the
alveolar ridge or the top of the tongue is bunched up behind the alveolar ridge
o Palatoalveolars: /∫/, /з/, /t∫/ and /dз/ are produced by raising the front part of the tongue to the region
between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate
o Palatals such as /j/ are produced by raising the front part of the tongue to the hard palate
o Velars: /k/, /ɡ/ and /ŋ/ produced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate or velum
o Labiovelars: /w/ is a voiced glide or approximant produced by rounding the lips (labial articulation)
and raising the back of the tongue toward the soft palate (velar articulation). It combines both lip rounding
and back tongue movement, creating a semi-vowel sound as in the English words “we” and “water.”
o Glottals: /h/ and /ʔ/ are produced by restricting the airflow through the open glottis ([h]) or by stopping
the air completely at the glottis (a glottal stop: /ʔ/)
Other places of articulation in the IPA chart:
o Retroflex: the tip of the tongue is curled back to articulate with the area between the rear of the
alveolar ridge and the front of the hard palate. We can hear this from Indian English accent of [t], [d].
o Uvular: the back of the tongue articulates with the uvula, as in French rue.
o Pharyngeal: the front wall of the pharynx (in the region of epiglottis) articulates with the back wall.
This exists in Arabic [h].
2. The manner of articulation is the way the airstream is affected as it flows from the lungs and out of the
mouth and nose
o Stops: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /ɡ/, /ʔ/ are produced by a complete closure is made at some point in the vocal
tract; the soft palate is raised. Air pressure thus builds up behind the closure, which is then released
explosively.
o Fricatives: /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/ are produced by severely obstructing the airflow so as to
cause friction
o Affricates: /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ are produced by a complete closure is made at some point in the mouth; the
soft palate is raised. Air pressure builds up behind the closure, and is then released relatively slowly
(compared to a plosive sound)
o Nasals: For /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/, a complete closure is made at some point in the mouth; the soft palate is
lowered, so that air escapes through the nose
o Lateral: a partial closure is made at some point in the mouth, in such a way that the air stream is
allowed to escape around the sides of the closure. Various kinds of /l/ sound are the result.
o Liquids: /l/ and /r/ are produced by causing some obstruction of the airstream in the mouth, but not
enough to cause any real friction

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 o Roll (Trill): one articulator taps rapidly against another – typically the tongue tip against the alveolar
ridge or the tongue back against the uvula, as in [r] in French, German or some English accent.
o Flap: a single tap is made by one articulator against another, as in some pronunciation of the ‘r’ in
very, or‘d’ in ladder, where the tongue tip taps once against the alveolar ridge.
o Glides: /j/ and /w/ are produced with very little obstruction of the airstream and are always followed
by a vowel
o Approximants: the articulation is strongly influenced by the following vowel sound. /w/, /j/ and /h/
(voiceless) are produced with the tongue moving (gliding), to or from the position of nearby vowel.

 Noncontinuants: the airstream is totally obstructed in the oral cavity = Stops and affricates
 Continuants: the airstream flows continuously out of the mouth = All other consonants and vowels

 Obstruents: the airstream has partial or full obstruction = Non-nasal stops, fricatives, and affricates
 Sonorants: air resonates in the nasal or oral cavities = Vowels, nasal stops, liquids, and glides
 Consonantal: there is some restriction of the airflow during articulation= All consonants except
glides. Consonantal sounds can be further subdivided:
➢ Labials: /p/, /b/, /m/,/f/, /v/, /w/ are articulated with the lips
➢ Coronals: [θ] [ð] [t] [d] [n] [s] [z] [∫] [з] [t∫] [dз] [l] [r] articulated by raising the tongue blade

Anteriors: [p] [b] [m] [f] [v] [θ] [ð] [t] [d] [n] [s] [z] produced in the front part of the mouth (from the
alveolar area forward)
Sibilants: [s] [z] [∫] [з] [t∫] [dз] produced with a lot of friction that causes a hissing sound, which is a mixture
of high-frequency sounds
Syllabic Sounds: sounds that can function as the core of a syllable →Vowels, liquids, and nasals

3. The voiced/voiceless distinction is important in English because it helps us distinguish words like:
rope/robe fine/vine seal/zeal
[rop]/[rob] [faɪn]/[vaɪn] [sil]/[zil]

But some voiceless sounds can be further distinguished as aspirated or unaspirated

aspirated unaspirated
pool [phul] spool [spul]
h
tale [t el] stale [stel]
kale [khel] scale [skel]

So far we can classify sounds based on: voicing, place of articulation, manner of articulation and
nasalization.
– [p] is a voiceless, bilabial, oral, stop sound
– [n] is a voiced, alveolar, nasal, lateral sound

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 Classification of vowel sounds
1. The hightest position of the tongue
High vowels are pronounced with the tongue arched toward the roof of the mouth.
Mid vowels have a tongue position between the extremes of high and low
Low vowels are produced with the tongue relatively flat and low in the mouth and with the
mouth open a little wider than for high vowels.

A front vowel is pronounced with the highest part of the tongue pushed forward in the
mouth and somewhat arched.
A central vowel is pronounced when the tongue is positioned halfway between a front
vowel and a back vowel
A back vowel is produced with the back part of the tongue raised toward the soft palate
(velum).

2. The openness of the mouth

An open vowel is a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from
the roof of the mouth.
A close vowel is a vowel positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth as it can
be without creating a constriction

3. The shape of the lips

Rounding, also called Labialization is the production of a sound with the lips rounded.
In unrounded vowels the lips are slack or may be drawn back.

4. The length of the vowels

❖ Monophtongs
Long vowels are /æ/ /e/ /ɪ/ /ɒ/ /ʌ/ /ə/ /ʊ/
Short vowels are /aː/ /iː/ /uː/ / ɜː/ /ɔ:/
❖ Diphtongs
Diphthongs are a type of vowel sound where two single vowel sounds/monophthongs are
combined within a single syllable. There are eight different diphthongs in the English
language. They are:
• /eɪ/ as in late (/leɪt/) or gate (/geɪt/)
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 • /ɪə/ as in dear (/dɪə/) or fear (/fɪə/)
• /eə/ as in fair (/feə/) or care (/keə/)
• /ʊə/ as in sure (/ʃʊə/) or cure (/kjʊə/)
• /əʊ/ as in globe (/ˈgləʊb/) or show (/ʃəʊ/)
• /ɔɪ/ as in join (/ʤɔɪn/) or coin (/kɔɪn/)
• /aɪ/ as in time (/taɪm/) or rhyme (/raɪm/)
• /aʊ/ as in cow (/kaʊ/) or how (/haʊ/)

 Falling diphthongs are diphthongs that begin with a higher pitch or volume and end
with a lower pitch or volume. The most common falling diphthong is /aɪ/ found in
words like eye, flight and kite.
 Rising diphthongs are the opposite of falling diphthongs. They begin with a lower
pitch or volume and end with a higher pitch or volume. The rising diphthong sound is
created in English when a vowel follows.
A semivowel. The semivowels are /j/ and /w/. There are no specific phonemic
representations (e.g. /əʊ/) for rising diphthongs, as they are usually analysed as a sequence of
two phonemes (e.g. /wiː/). The rising diphthong sound can be heard in words
like yell (/jel/), weed (/wiːd/), and walk (/wɔːk/).
 Opening diphthongs have a second vowel sound that is more ‘open’ than the first.
An ‘open vowel’ is a vowel sound pronounced with the tongue as low down in the
mouth as possible (e.g. /a/ in cat).
 Closing diphthongs have a second vowel sound that is more ‘closed’ than the first.
A closed vowel is pronounced with the tongue in a much higher position in the mouth
(e.g. /iː/ in see).
 Centring diphthongs have a second vowel that is mid-central, i.e. it is pronounced
with the tongue in a neutral or central position. The mid-central vowel sound is also
known as the schwa (/ə/). Any diphthong ending with the schwa sound can be
considered a centring diphthong, e.g. /ɪə/ found in dear, /eə/ found in fair,
and /ʊə/ found in cure.
Narrow diphthongs require a smaller movement from one vowel to the other. In
narrow diphthongs, the two vowel sounds will sound similar and will be pronounced
in a similar way. /eɪ/ found in day.
Wide diphthongs require a large tongue movement from the first vowel sound to the
second vowel sound. In wide diphthongs, the sound difference between the two
vowel sounds will be more prominent.
❖ Triphtongs
A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and the to a third, all produced rapidly and
without interruption. For example, a careful pronunciation of the word ‘hour’ begins with a
vowel quality similar to ‘ɑ:’ goes on to ‘ʊ’ then ends in ‘ə’.
• Triphthong : 5 closing diphthongs with ‘ə’ added on the end.
- eɪ + ə = eɪə . as in layer, player
- aɪ + ə = aɪə. as in lire, fire
- ɔɪ + ə = ɔɪə, as in loyal, royal
- əʊ + ə = əuə, as in lower, mower
- aʊ + ə = auə, as in power, hour.

5. The state of the larynx tense (long vowels), lax (short vowels)
Tense (fortis) vowels are produced with greater tension in the tongue. May occur at the
end of words
Lax (lenis) vowels are produced with less tongue tension. May not occur at the end of
words

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 Phonology aims to discover how speech sounds in a language form sound patterns. The conclusions we
reach about the phonology of one language is very often language-specific. Phonology tells us what sounds
are in a language, how they do and can combine into words and explains why certain phonetic features are
important to identifying a word.

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 Phone: a concrete phonetic unit or a segment (either a consonant or a vowel). The speech sounds we hear
and produce are all phones.

pit: [ph] [i] [th] / spit: [s] [p] [i] [th] / leaf: [l] [i:] [f]

➢ For two phones, or sounds, to contrast (to be different from one another) means there must be
at least one feature that differentiates them. For example, the phonetic feature of voicing (being
voiced) distinguishes [z] from [s].
➢ When a feature distinguishes one phoneme from another, it is called a distinctive feature or a
phonemic feature.
➢ When a feature is predictable by a rule for a certain class of sounds, that feature is a non-distinctive
(or redundant or predictable) feature for that class. For example, nasalization is a redundant feature
for English vowels but is distinctive for English consonants.
➢ Features have two values: [+ feature] and [-feature] to indicate the presence or absence of that
particular feature. For example, [b] is [+voiced] and [p] is [-voiced].

Phoneme is an abstract phonological unit of distinctive value that is represented or realized by a certain
phone.
peak: [ph] [i:] [kh]
speak: [s] [p] [i:] [kh]

There is a slight difference in the way [ph] and [p] are pronounced, but such a phonetic difference does not
give rise to difference in meaning; therefore, the phoneme /p/ can be realized by two different phones.

Allophones are the different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic contexts. In other
words, allophones refer to the phonological variants of a phoneme. These variants differ only in
pronunciation. These variants follow a characteristic called “complementary distribution”. Complementary
distribution means that each allophone (variant) can be found in one specific emplacement within the word.
If the two similar sounds are allophones of the same phoneme, then they are said to be in complementary
distribution, which means they cannot occur in the same phonetic environment. For instance, clear [l] and dark
[ɫ] are allophones of the phoneme /l/; dark [ɫ] usually occurs at the end of the word whereas clear [l] occurs

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usually before vowels. This means that we can never find a dark [ɫ] before a vowel or a clear [l] at the end of
a word. Since they have different pronunciations, exchanging them will result in a faulty pronunciation.

In phonetics and linguistics the phonetic environment refers to the surrounding sounds of a target speech
sound, or target phone, in a word. The phonetic environment of a phone can sometimes determine the
allophonic or phonemic qualities of a sound in a given language.

pit: [ph] [i] [th] spit: [s] [p] [i] [th]

→ [ph] and [p] are allophones because they are variants of the phoneme /p/

leaf: [l] [i:] [f] feel: [f] [i:] [ł]

→ [ł] and [l] are allophones because they are variants of the phoneme /l/

In U.S. English, /t/ also has several variants (allophones) – [t], [th ], [ɾ] and [Ɂ]

Allophones of the Phoneme /t/

Alveolar Flap (also Glottal Stop /ʔ/ Aspirated “t” Held “t” (also Regular /t/
known as “tap”) [tʰ] called Unreleased
[ɾ] “t” or Unaspirated
“t”) [t ‘‘]
Similar to a /d/ Voice suddenly cut release a puff of Holding the tongue There is neither a
sound off in the back of air for an extra big nor a small
the throat (almost moment so that the release of air, and
silent) puff of air is held it does not
in and not released. resemble the “d”
sound.

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 Occurrence: Occurrence: Occurrence: Occurrence: Occurrence:
-Between two - Before a syllabic - When the word - It appears at the - Before and after
vowel sounds. nasal, spelled t + starts with “t”. end of a word /s/.
- After a “vowel + vowel + n - At the beginning - After /n/ (unless
r” sound - When a word or of a stressed “t” is the last letter
- Before syllabic /l/ syllable ends with syllable. of the word)
- Before the a “t” just before a - After a consonant
stressed vowel at consonant sound. (except /n/)
the start of the next
word
Examples: Examples: Examples: Examples: Examples:
coating = coding button, certain, talk, tango, tap, amount, ancient, central, enter,
futile = feudal curtain, eaten, tea, teach, tear, bat, boat, bet, bit, internet,
greater = grader forgotten Latin, attack, attend, blunt, bought, but, international,
hearty = hardy Manhattan, satin, between, eighteen, can’t, cat, coat, magenta, painting,
latter = ladder written football, eternal, Italian, dent, don’t, elite, printer, sentence
matter = madder hate mail, mistake, particular, hat, hot, it, lint, lot,
metal = medal greatness, right actor, after, doctor, mint, not, paint,
petal = peddle now, seat belt, empty, lunchtime pat, patient, pint,
settler… pot, rat, rent, rote,
sent, slant, sweet,
tint, vent, won’t

The best way how to find whether two sounds are two distinct phonemes or just variants of a single
phoneme, is to try to find so called minimal pair – words that are distinguished only by these phones. If you
find it, the sounds are not variants of a single phoneme because of allophone’s characteristic of complementary
distribution.

Minimal pair: a pair of words identical in every way except for one sound segment in the same position.
Chunk ban bet fan fine sink site seed
Junk bin bat van vine zink side soup

Minimal set: a group of words differentiated by one sound segment in the same position.
Vowels Feat; fit; fate; fat; fought; foot
Consonants Big; pig; rig; fig; dig; wig

Free variation is a phenomenon where two different sounds can be used interchangeably in speech.
Linguists define this phenomenon using the test of perceived authenticity by native speakers. In other words,
if the two different sounds can both be used by native speakers, and are considered correct pronunciation, their
dual use qualifies as free variation.
• In some words, some speakers might use a different vowel than the others. This includes words like:

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 o economics, which may pronounced with /iː/ or /ɛ/ in the first syllable, or data, which can be
pronounced as either /ˈdætə/ or /ˈdeɪtə/;
o either and neither, in which "ei" can be pronounced as either /iː/ or /aɪ/, even by the same
speaker.
o some loanwords, especially of French and Latin origin, such as route, which can be
pronounced as either /raʊt/ (a more anglicized pronunciation) or /ruːt/ (a pronunciation more
akin to French);
o some proper names, especially geographic state names such as Colorado, which can be
pronounced as either /ˌkɒləˈrɑːdoʊ/ or /ˌkɒləˈrædoʊ/.
• Pronouncing a word with a different consonant or using a completely different pronunciation is also
sometimes found in English. This can be found in words like:
o schedule, which may be pronounced either with the /sk/ consonant cluster or the /ʃ/ sound. The
former is more common in American English, the latter in British English; with /sk/ and /ʃ/
phonemically distinct in both varieties (e.g. scout/shout, skin/shin), identical spelling obscures
the fact that different phonological structures underlie the phonetic contrast;
o some loanwords like guillotine which can be pronounced with either /l/ or /j/.

The Syllable

Syllable: a syllable refers to a segmental structure made of consonants and vowels

Phonetically: a unit consisting of a center which has little or no airflow and sounds comparatively loud
(sonority scale: klasp14521)
Structurally: A syllable can have three parts: onset, nucleus, and coda. The onset and the coda are
consonants, or consonant clusters, that appear at the beginning and the end of the syllable respectively; they
may or may not be present. The nucleus forms the core of the syllable; it is most often a vowel or a
combination of vowels (diphthongs or triphtongs) - but there are exceptions to that (e.g. hmm)

In the word “cat” for example, [c] is the syllable onset, [a] is the nucleus, and [t] the coda. A syllable does
not necessarily have to have an onset or a coda - depending on the language - but a nucleus is always present.
If a coda is present in a syllable, the nucleus and the coda form a single unit called a rhyme; otherwise the
nucleus makes up the rhyme by itself. Looking at “cat” again, [at] forms the rhyme.

syllable
onset rhyme
nucleus coda

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 Phonology: it concerns the way vowels and consonants combine to form various sequences. (sequential
rule: CCCVCCC) e.g. strict
The sequential rule: In English, if three consonants occur together at the beginning of a word (consonant
cluster), the combination should obey the following three rules:
1. the first phoneme should be: /s/
2. the second phoneme should be: /p/, /t/, /k/
3. the third phoneme should be: /l/, /r/, /w/
spring, strict, square, scream , sixths

Distinctive features are binary phonological properties (e.g., [+voice], [−nasal]) that define how speech sounds
differ and pattern in languages. A [+] indicates the presence of a feature (e.g., [+nasal] means the sound is
nasal), while a [−] indicates its absence. These features classify sounds by major categories such as
consonantal, sonorant, and syllabic, distinguishing vowels, glides, and consonants. Laryngeal features like
voice, spread glottis (aspiration), and constricted glottis (glottalization) describe vocal fold activity. Place
features (e.g., labial, coronal, dorsal) indicate where in the vocal tract a sound is produced, while manner
features (e.g., continuant, nasal, lateral, delayed release) describe how airflow is manipulated. These features
help explain phonemic contrasts, natural classes, and phonological processes like assimilation or devoicing.

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