introduction phonetic-and-phonology. lecture 3

1. Introduction to Phonetics and
Phonology

2. Plosives
• also called STOP CONSONANTS
• the breath is completely stopped at some point
in the mouth and then released with a slight
explosion
• speech organs which may form plosives: lips
(bilabial plosives), tip of the tongue (alveolar
plosives), back of the tongue (velar plosives)
• all six plosives (/p, b, t, d, k, g/) may occur at
the beginning of words, in the middle of words
and at the end of words
• these positions are important because plosives
are articulated differently in different positions

3. /p, b/
• bilabial plosives
• the lips are closed firmly, the soft palate is
raised so that the air cannot go through the
nose, but is trapped in the mouth for a while
• when the lips open suddenly, the air rushes out
with a slight explosion or a popping noise
• before the lips open, other speech organs
assume the position for the following sound,
whether it be a vowel or a consonant

4. • /p/ - strong, voiceless
• /b/ - weak, voiced
• when /p/ is found at the beginning of a word, it
has a special feature – ASPIRATION
• e.g. pull, pot, put, pat, pet, pit
• /p/ between vowels is less aspirated
• e.g. happy, paper, supper, apply
• in final position, /p/ is also less aspirated
• e.g. rip, rope, tap, cap, wrap
• /b/ never has aspiration
• e.g. book, bar, back, bell, bit, bean

5. • /p/ at the end of words shortens the preceding
vowel, whereas /b/ is weak and lengthens the
preceding vowel
• consonant clusters of /p/ or /b/ and other
plosives are produced a little differently (topic of
our next class)

6. /t, d/
• alveolar plosives
• the tip of the tongue is pressed against the
alveolar ridge
• the soft palate is raised, the breath does not go
into the nasal cavity, it stays trapped in the
mouth for a while
• the sides of the tongue are firmly pressed
against the sides of the palate so the air cannot
pass over the sides of the tongue
• the tip of the tongue is lowered suddenly and
the air rushes out with a slight explosion or a
popping noise

7. • /t/ is strong, voiceless and aspirated
• e.g. top, tin, tan, ten, ton
• /d/ is short, weak and never aspirated
• when /t/ occurs word-medially, it loses some
aspiration
• in final position, /t/ is also less aspirated and
shortens the vowel before it
• /d/ is weak, makes very little noise but
lengthens the vowel that precedes it
• when followed by other plosives or /m, n, l/, /t/
and /d/ are pronounced differently (topic of our
next class)

8. /k, g/
• velar plosives
• the back of the tongue is in contact with the soft
palate, which is raised, so the air cannot go into
the nasal cavity and is trapped in the mouth
• when the tongue is lowered suddenly from the
soft palate, the breath rushes out of the mouth
with a slight explosion or a popping sound

9. • /k/ is strong, voiceless and aspirated
• e.g. cot, cat, cart, kill, keep
• when /k/ occurs between vowels, the aspiration
is weaker or even absent
• /g/ is weak, voiced and has no aspiration
• in final position, /k/ shortens the vowel before it,
/g/ lengthens the vowel before it
• when /k/ and /g/ are followed by other plosives
or /m/ or /n/, these sounds are produced in a
different manner (topic of our next class)

10. Affricates
• /t , d /
• these two phonemes are articulated both with
friction and with explosion of air
• tip of the tongue touches the back part of the
alveolar ridge
• the soft palate is raised so that air is trapped in
the mouth for a short time
• tip of the tongue moves away from the alveolar
ridge a little and then the tongue comes to the
position for / / or / /, when friction is heard
• friction is not that long with these two
phonemes

11. • palato-alveolar affricates
• /t , d / are not as strong as Serbian /č/ and
/dž/, they are much softer
• /t / is strong and voiceless
• /d / is weak and voiced
• in final position, /t / shortens the preceding
vowel, whereas /d / lengthens the preceding
vowel

12. Glides
• all three consonants produced with a quick,
smooth, non-friction glide towards the vowel
that follows
• /j, w, r/

13. /j/
• this consonant is a quick glide from the position
of /i:/ or / / or any other vowel
• sometimes called a semi-vowel
• phonetically like a vowel (articulated in such a
way), but phonologically like a consonant (it only
occurs before vowel phonemes)
• voiced palatal sound
• palatal glide

14. /w/
• this consonant is a quick glide from the position
of /u:/ or / / or any other vowel that follows
• more difficult to pronounce than /j/, because
many languages, including Serbian, do not have
it
• a difference must be made between /v/ and /w/
• lips are noticeably rounded!
• bilabial glide
• /w/ does not occur in word-final positions
• wh-words in some dialects of English
pronounced with / / (where, which, why)

15. /r/
• the tongue is curved, the tip is pointing towards
the hard palate
• the tip of the tongue is not close enough to the
palate to produce friction
• the lips are quite rounded, especially when /r/ is
word-initial
• the soft palate is raised, voiced air flows quietly
between the tip of the tongue and palate
without friction
• palato-alveolar glide

16. • in RP /r/ is only pronounced before vowels,
never before consonants
• when a word ending in –r in spelling is followed
by another word which begins in a vowel, then
/r/ is pronounced
• e.g. never again /nev r ’gen/
• LINKING R
• sometimes /r/ is heard when there is no
equivalent in spelling
• e.g. Africa and Asia / /
• INTRUSIVE R
• some speakers can be heard saying such
phrases, but it is not a preferred way of usage

17. Place of
articulation
Manner of
articulation
Bilabial Labio-
dental
Dental Alveolar Palato-
alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p, b t, d k, g
Fricative f, v , s, z , h
Affricate t , d
Nasal m n
Lateral l
Glide w r j