Phonetics

1. English Phonology
The Sound System of American English

2. Key Terms
• Phoneme - a unit of sound significant in a
specific language (E.g., /s/ is a phoneme in
English while the German ch sound /x/ is not)
• Grapheme - The symbols (letters) used in a
writing system such as our alphabet
• Digraph - A single sound represented by two
letters (e.g., th, sh, ea)
• Phonetic Alphabet - a collection of symbols used
for writing words phonetically

3. More Terms
• Allophone - a variant of a phoneme; often not
noticed by native speakers (e.g, spin, pin)
• Minimal Pair - Two words that are pronounced the
same except for one sound (e.g., Sue, zoo)
• Voiced Sound - A sound produced with the vocal
folds (cords) vibrating (e.g. voiced /z/ as opposed
to voiceless /s/)
• Diphthong - “a double vowel sound” - two vowels
appearing together as the nucleus of a syllable

4. The Vocal
Tract

5. The Vocal Folds (or Cords)

6. The Consonants of English

7. The Vowels of English

8. Phonetic Transcription
Horseshoes [hors‡uz]
Matches [mæc‡z]
Bookend [b¨k´nd]
Is [ˆz]
Pain medicine [pen m´dsˆn]
Thorns [†ornz]
Breathe [bri∂]

9. Allomorphs Based on Phonology
• The plural morpheme –
– [s] after a voiceless consonant
– [z] after a voiced consonant
– [z] after a sibilant (s, z, sh [s‡], [z‡], ch [c‡], or j
[j])
• The past tense morpheme
– [d] after a voiced sound,
– [t] after a voiceless sound
– [d] after a [t] or [d]
‡

10. Allomorphs Based on Phonology
• The negative prefix /in-/n
– [m] before a labial (e.g., impossible, immovable, imbalance)
– [˜] before a velar (e.g., incorrect, ingratitude)
– [r] before /r/ (e.g., irreversible)
– [l] before /l/ (e.g., illogical)
• Other examples of assimilation
– Conduct, compel, colleague, corrode
– Synergy, symmetry, syllogism
– Admit, abbreviate, account, annul, appeal, arrive, assign,
attend, alleviate
– Submit, succeed, sufficient, suggest, support, surreptitious

11. Vowel Deletion
Delete the last vowel of a morpheme if the
following morpheme begins with a vowel
Works with some roots and suffixes:
Not if prefix is only one syllable: re + act; bi + ennial

12. E/O Deletion
Delete the e or o of a morpheme ending in er or or of a
morpheme if the following morpheme begins with a vowel

13. S Deletion
Delete an s after the prefix ex-
N Deletion
Delete the n of the prefix an- before a consonant:
Examples: a + theist, a + pathy, a + symmetry, a + trophy
But not: an + emic, an + archy, an + orexic, an + hydrous

14. Vowel Alternations
• /a/ changes to /e/ in other than first syllable
– E.,g, ann-ual/bi-enn-ial; apt/in-ept;
damn-ation/con-demn
• /e/ changes to /i/ in other than first syllable
– E.g., reg-ular; incor-rig-ible; spec-ulate/
con-spic-uous