Basic phonetics

1. Phonetics
Prepared by:
Ahsan Habib
Lecturer
Dept. of Humanities, RUET

2. What is IPA?
• International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of
phonetic notation developed in the late 19th century to accurately
represent the pronunciation of languages.
• It was devised by the International Phonetic Association as a
standardized representation of speech sounds in written form.
• The IPA primarily uses Roman characters. Other letters are borrowed
from different scripts (e.g., Greek) and are modified to conform to
Roman style.
• Diacritics are used for fine distinctions in sounds and to show
nasalization of vowels, length, stress, and tones.
• One of the aims of the IPA is to provide a unique symbol for each
distinctive sound in a language—that is, every sound, or phoneme, that
serves to distinguish one word from another.

3. • To standardize the representation of spoken language, thereby
sidestepping the confusion caused by the inconsistent conventional
spellings used in every language.
• To supersede the existing multitude of individual transcription
systems.
• IPA symbols are composed of one or more elements of two basic
types, letters and diacritics. For example, the sound of the English
letter ⟨t⟩ may be transcribed in IPA with a single letter, [t], or with a
letter plus diacritics, [t̺ʰ], depending on how precise one wishes to
be.

4. English Vowel Sounds

5. • A vowel is a speech sound for whose production the oral passage of air is
unobstructed—so that the air current can flow from the lungs to the lips
and beyond, without being stopped, without having to squeeze through a
narrow construction, without being deflected from the median line of its
channel, and without causing any of the supraglottal organs to vibrate.
• In other words, vowels are defined, in terms of phonetics, as the speech
sounds in the production of which there is—in the pharynx and the
mouth—no obstruction or narrowing of a degree that would cause
audible friction. Vowels are typically, but not necessarily, voiced.
• Note: In terms of their function in a given language, however, some of
the sounds determined in phonetic terms as vowels may be regarded as
consonants. Such is the case with the initial sounds in the English words
‘yes’ and ‘wet’, for example.

6. I. Monophthongs/Pure Vowels
• The vowels—during the production of which the position of the
tongue remains unchanged—are called a pure vowel or
monophthong. There are twelve monophthongs in English.

7. Pure Vowel Sounds Example Words
/i:/ me, these, need, be, keep, deep, sheep, Jeep, beep, eat, feel, see, meet, deal, read, beat
/ɪ/ with, this, if, think, link, wink, rink, sink, big, six, live, since, miss, wrist, lift, pit, sit, pick, bill, fill, till, him
/ʊ/ put, would, look, woman, hook, Nook, Food, Fool, Cool, Hue, Ooze, Moose, Boot, Cook, Rook, Took
/u:/ to, You, New, Who
/e/ get, When, Well, Very, Bed, Said, Leg, Hell, Hem, Ben, Pen, Den, Ten, Men, Bend, Lend, Send, Bet
/ə/ the, About, Could, Us
/ɜ:/ her, Work, Learn, Word, Burn, Turn, Firm, Bird, Curd, Curse, Curt, Shirt, Turk, Curl, Hurl, Earl, Pearl, Sir
/ɔ:/ Or, Also, More, Call, All, Mall, Hall, Shall, Fall, Tall, Wall, Paul, War, Ward, Warm
/æ/ Have, That, As, Can, Sad, bad, Bag, Lag, Hal, Ham, Ban, Pan, Dan, Tan, Man, Band
/ʌ/ But, Up, One, Much
/ɑ:/ Start, Ask, Large, After
/ɒ/ Of, On, From, Not

8. II. Diphthongs
• Diphthong signifies the combination of two vowel sounds.
• The word ‘dipthong’ takes its origin from Greek ‘di’ meaning two, and
‘phthong’ meaning sound.
• When a cluster of two vowels—being pronounced side by side—
produces one vowel sound, it is called a diphthong.
• In other words, the sounds that consist of a movement or glide from
one vowel to another are called diphthongs.
• In a diphthong, the first part of the combined vowel sound is much
longer and stronger than the later. And a diphthong occupies a single
syllable. There are eight diphthongs in English.

9. Diphthongs Description/Example
/aɪ/ This diphthong uses letters and letter combinations like /i/, /igh/, and /y/ to form sounds similar to “eye.”
Here are a few more examples: cry, my, like, bright, lime
/eɪ/ Uses letters and letter combinations like /ey/, /ay/, /ai/ and /a/ to form sounds similar to “great.” Here
are a few more examples: bake, rain, lay, eight, break
/əʊ/ Uses letters and letter combinations like /ow/, /oa/ and /o/ to form sounds similar to “boat.” Here are a
few more examples: go, oh, slow, loan, though
/aʊ/ Uses letters and letter combinations like /ou/ and /ow/ to form sounds similar to “ow!” Here are a few
more examples: bound, house, brown, how, now
/eə/ Uses letters and letter combinations like /ai/, /a/, and /ea/ to form sounds similar to “air.” Here are a few
more examples: pair, lair, stare, care, bear
/ɪə/ Uses letters and letter combinations like /ee/, /ie/ and /ea/ to form sounds similar to “ear.” Here are a
few more examples: career, here, near, year, pier
/ɔɪ/ Uses letters and letter combinations like /oy/ and /oi/ to form sounds similar to “oil.” Here are a few
more examples: boy, coy, toy, foil, coin
/ʊə/ uses letters and letter combinations like /oo/, /ou/, /u/, and /ue/ to form sounds similar to “cure.” Here
are a few more examples: fur, sure, lure, pure, manure

10. Triphthongs
• The most complex English sounds of the vowel type are the triphthongs
• Very difficult to pronounce
• Very difficult to recognize
• Triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, all
produced rapidly and without interruption
• Triphthongs can be looked on as being composed of the following five
diphthongs (/eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /əʊ/, /aʊ/) with ə added on the end.

11. Triphthongs Example
eɪ + ə = /eɪə/ player, layer
aɪ + ə = /aɪə/ liar, fire
ɔɪ + ə = /ɔɪə/ loyal, royal
əʊ + ə = /əʊə/ lower, mower
aʊ + ə = /aʊə/ power, hour

12. English Consonant Sounds

14. Any question???