Phonetic

Unit 1
What is language?
It's the way or code that a community uses to communicate. It commonly has a
purpose.

The difference between form and meaning

Form refers to the actual words, grammar, or expressions used, for example, the
phrase “KEEP OFF THE GRASS” includes specific words and a definite article.
Meaning, however, is what those words are intended to communicate. In this case,
the meaning is a prohibition, a warning not to walk on the grass.
Knowing the form of a word is not the same as understanding what it means in a
specific situation. For instance, we may know that grass denotes a type of plant, but
to understand what the grass refers to in a particular notice, we must relate it to the
context: is it just one patch, the whole park, or more? The form doesn’t tell us this;
we infer it from context and shared knowledge.
This distinction is important because we cannot interpret a text by looking only at
the language itself. Understanding meaning requires connecting the form with its
context (where it appears) and the cultural conventions behind its use. Without
recognizing this, we risk misinterpreting or missing the actual purpose of the text.

What is a text?
A text is an actual use of language that serves a communicative purpose.
It differs from a sentence, which is an abstract, grammatical unit. A text is real and
meaningful, something we recognize because it has been produced to do
something (inform, warn, request, explain, etc.).

The difference between spoken and written texts

Spoken and written texts are different in how they are made and used. In
conversation, the traces of communication are fragmented and disappear quickly
after being said. People speak and listen at the same time, and they adjust what
they say depending on how the other person reacts. But written texts are usually
created by one person, the writer, who finishes the message before the reader sees
it. The reader then understands the text later, without taking part in its creation.
This delay makes it harder to be sure that the writer’s intention matches the
reader’s interpretation. Also, when we speak, we use more than just words. We use
voice tones, pauses, and gestures. In writing, things like typeface, layout, or
pictures can add meaning too. Because meaning depends on context,
communication is not always exact. Words have meanings described in dictionaries,
but when we use them, we also add our own purpose, so language is always shaped
by how we use it

The difference between Phonetics and Phonology

The phonetics of a language concerns the concrete characteristics (articulatory,
acoustic, auditory) of the sounds used in languages while phonology concerns how
sounds function in a systemic way in a particular language.
Speech Mechanism

The speech mechanism is composed of the diaphragm that separates the lungs
from the stomach; next there are the lungs, that are made to expand to let in the air
and contract to let it out. The lungs are followed by the trachea that connects with
the larynx. The larynx contains the vocal folds which are two bands of muscle.
There's also the epiglottis that acts as a valve that raises during breathing and
speech, and it closes during the swallowing, preventing food from getting in lungs.

Resonators: the pharynx, the nasal cavity and the oral cavity.
The pharynx is the passage that communicates with the larynx and oral and nasal
cavities. The nasal cavity extends from the pharynx until the nostrils, its entrance is
controlled by the velum (or soft palate) and it's separated from the oral cavity by the
palate. The oral cavity is by far the most important resonator, due to its organs and
their great mobility and also its consequent changes of size and shape.

Articulators: Tongue, palate, teeth and lips.

They're called active when they're capable of movement and passive when they're
not. The vocal folds can also act as articulators since they're capable of create two
sounds /h/ and /ʔ/ (the glottal stop).
Although the palate is not separated, it's useful to divide it into different segments
to describe speech sounds. Its different parts are the alveolar ridge, hard palate and
soft palate or velum. The tip of the velum is the uvula.
The tongue is the most ‘agile’ speech organ,
since it's made principally out of muscle.
Just as with the palate, it is more useful to
divide the tongue in different parts; the tip,
the blade, the front and the back. The tip
and the blade can move independently from
the rest. The tongue can move backwards,
forwards, up and down, and it can interfere with the air-stream by coming into light
contact with the palate or stop it by making complete contact with it.
The teeth are used to interfere with or stop the air with help of the tongue or lips,
and the lips constitute the very mobile outer edges of the mouth and also can adopt
different shapes.

Speech Chain
The speech communication process is a complex series of events which take place
at different levels and stages. It is a chain between the speaker's brain and the
listener's brain. The following diagram will illustrate the matter and at the same
time determine the areas of phonetics.

The whole process begins when a speaker has a message to transmit to a listener.
This means activity in the speaker's brain, i.e. activity at a psychological level, which
allows him to arrange his thoughts into linguistic form. He does this by choosing
both the correct words and sentences in accordance with the grammatical rules, and
the correct sounds in accordance with the phonological rules of the language
(linguistic stage). Thus the message is encoded.
The next type of activity occurs at a physiological level, which implies the function
of nerves and muscles. The motor nerves that link the speaker's brain with his
speech mechanism activate the corresponding muscles. The movements of the
tongue, lips, vocal folds, etc., constitute the articulatory stage of the chain, and the
area of phonetics that deals with it is articulatory phonetics. The movement of the
articulators produces disturbances in the air pressure called sound waves, which are
physical manifestations. This is the acoustic stage of the chain, during which the
sound waves travel towards the listener's ear. The study of speech sound waves
corresponds to acoustic phonetics.
The first kind of activity on the listener's part occurs at a physiological level.
The sound waves activate the listener's ear-drum, and his sensory nerves carry the
message, in the form of nerve impulses, to the brain. The hearing process is the
domain of auditory phonetics. The last stage of the chain is again a linguistic one,
during which the hearer's brain decodes the message in order to make it
recognizable, which means psychological activity.

activity psychological physiological physical physiological psychological

stage linguistic articulatory acoustic perceptual linguistic

Area of articulatory acoustic auditory

phonetics
 Unit 2
Phonemes
The smallest unit of sound in spoken language. They usually don’t make any sense
in isolation, so they need to be combined to have meaning.

Vowels
Vowels are the speech sound produced when breath flows out through the mouth
without being blocked.

Classification of vowels

/ɪ/ Kit
/ʊ/ Foot
/ə/ Schwa
/e/ Dress
/ɒ/ Lot
/ʌ/ Strut
/æ/ Trap

/iː/ Fleece
/uː/ Goose
/ɑː/ Start
/ɔː/ North
/ɜː/ Nurse

/eɪ/ Face
/aɪ/ Price
/ɔɪ/ Choice
/əʊ/ Goat
/aʊ/ Mouth
/ɪə/ Near
/eə/ Bear
/ʊə/ Cure

Position of the Tongue

The main movements consist of the raising or lowering of either the front or back of
the tongue. The tongue may adopt the following positions:
●​ Close vowels /iː/ /ɪ/ /uː/ /ʊ/ | The tongue is held as high as possible
●​ Half-close (close-mid)
●​ Half-open (open-mid)

●​ Open vowels /æ/ /ʌ/ /ɑː/ /ɒ/ | The tongue is as low as possible

Part of the Tongue that is Raised

●​ Front vowels: The front of the tongue is raised against the hard palate.
/iː/ /ɪ/ /e/ /æ/
●​ Central vowels: The centre of the tongue is raised against the hard palate.
/ə/ /ɜː/ /ʌ/ /ɑː/
●​ Back vowels: The back of the tongue is raised against the hard palate.
/uː/ /ʊ/ /ɔː/ /ɒ/

Lip Position
Rounded /ɔː/ /ɒ/ /ʊ/ /uː/ | Lips are pushed forward into the shape of a circle.
Spread /æ/ /e/ /iː/ /ɪ/ | The lips are moved away from each other.
Neutral /ʌ/ /ɑː/ /ə/ /ɜː/ | Lips are not noticeably rounded or spread.

Position of the Velum

In the production of normal vowels the velum is raised so that it touches the back
wall of the pharynx (Oral sound). But a vowel can be nasalized when it's next to one
nasal consonant -Partial nasalization-, or in between two nasal consonants
-Nasalization-. In both of these cases the velum is lowered.

Diphthongs
Diphthongs can be defined as a “combination of vowels”. The first phoneme is
always longer and louder in this language.
Centring /ɪə/ /eə/ /ʊə/ | These end up with a /ə/. They´re called centring because
/ə/ is a mid vowel.
Closing /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /ɔɪ/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/ | This diphthongs end up with /ɪ/ or /ʊ/, both
closing vowels.
Unit 3
Consonants
A consonant is a sound in the production of speech in which the airstream from the
lungs is either completely blocked, partially blocked or where the opening is so
narrow that the air completely escapes with audible friction. With some consonants,
the airstream is blocked by the mouth, but allowed to escape through the nose.

Difference between Vowels and Consonants

The main difference between the two is that while in vowels the air flows through
the mouth without any kind of blockage, in consonants the airflow has to be
blocked (or partially blocked) in some way.
Classification of consonants

Vocal cord activity

Voiceless sounds: The Vocal folds are held wide apart as in relaxed breathing. The
airstream can escape freely.
Voiced sounds: The vocal folds are brought sufficiently close together so that they
vibrate when the air passes through them.
(The vocal folds can also be completely closed to make the glottal stop or to
cough).

Force of exhalation
Voiceless sounds are generally produced with more breath force and muscular
effort (thereby gaining the name “Fortis”) than voiced sounds (which are named
“Lenis”). Some phoneticians say that the voiced plosives are not truly voiced, thanks
to all of the cases of devoicing that they go through. So they prefer to label them as
Lenis instead of voiced because it is thought that they are still produced with less
force.

Position of the Velum

Most consonants have the velum be raised (or oral), with the exception of /m/, /n/
and /ŋ/ where the velum is lowered (or nasal).

Noise Component
Phonemes can be divided in:
Obstruents: The obstruction of the airflow is enough to cause noise. (Plosives,
fricatives and affricates)
Sonorants: Voiced sounds in which there is no noise component. (Nasals,
approximants and vowels)

Place of articulation:
The point of contact, where an obstruction or narrowing occurs in the vocal tract
between an active (typically one part of the roof of the tongue), moving articulator
and a passive articulator.
Bilabial /p/ /b/ /m/ | Upper and lower lips in contact.
Dental /θ/ /ð/ | Tongue tip contacts teeth.
Labio-Dental /f/ /v/ | Lower lips contact upper teeth.
Alveolar /t/ /d/ /n/ /s/ /z/ /l/ | Tongue contacts alveolar ridge.
Post-Alveolar /tʃ/ /dʒ/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /r/ | The tip and rims of the tongue articulate with the
rear part of the alveolar ridge.
Palatal /j/| Front of the tongue contacts the hard palate.
Velar /k/ /g/ /ŋ/ | Back of the tongue contacts the soft palate.
Labio-Velar /w/ | The back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate while
rounding the lips.

Manner of articulation
The way the airstream is affected as it flows from the lungs and out the nose or
mouth.
Nasal /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ | The back of the tongue and the velum (i.e. the soft palate) are in
contact, blocking the air from escaping out of the mouth so the air passes freely
through the nasal cavity.
Plosive /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/ | The air is completely blocked off at some point and
not allowed to continue before it is released in plosion.
Fricative /f/ /v/ /θ/ /ð/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /h/ | Fricatives are produced by a partial
blockage of the airstream a s the articulators come together. This narrowing of the
airflow creates friction.
Affricate /tʃ/ /dʒ/ | The air is completely blocked off and then it releases through a
partial blockage of the airstream as the articulators come together.
Approximant /w/ /j/ /r/ | The articulators get close to, or approximate to each
other but do not actually touch. In this sense, these sounds are quite ‘vowel-like’.
Lateral /l/ | The tongue blade is in contact with the alveolar ridge but the sides of
the tongue are lowered to allow the air to escape around them (i.e. laterally).

Bilabial Labio Dental Alveolar Post Palatal Velar Labio

dental alveolar velar

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

/g/

Affricate /tʃ/
/dʒ/

Nasal /m/ /n/ /ŋ/

Fricative /f/ /v/ /θ/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/

/ð/

Lateral /l/

Approxi /r/ /j/ /w/

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