This document provides an overview of phonology and phonetics. It begins by defining key terms like phonemes, phonology, phonetics, and phonetic transcription. It then discusses topics like vowel and consonant classification systems based on place and manner of articulation. The document includes transcription practice activities and discusses some challenges for learners of English related to its irregular spelling patterns. It notes that studying phonetics and phonology is especially important for English language learners to accurately pronounce sounds. The document aims to explain the basics of phonological analysis and transcription.

1. Week 4 Phonology
SESSION 2

2. 2
Structure UsePragmatics
Meaning (Semantics)Grammar
Medium of
Transmission
Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Lexicon Discourse
Structure of Spoken Language (from Crystal 1997)

3. 3
ACTIVITY 1: Pronounce the following words to yourself before
answering these questions:
(i) Do the highlighted letters in each of the following sets of words represent the
‘same’ sound?
a) city, cotton, species, cello.
b) gold, ginger, gnaw, high
c) can, can't, ancient, sofa.
d) bus, news, vision, Asia.
e) sit, site, machine, racial.
f) rough, stuff, cough, through.
g) kick, charisma, unique, cut.
h) may, lame, fail, hey.
i) chef, shell, mission, special.

4. ii) How many sounds do the highlighted letters
represent in each of the following words?
tax, thing, schedule, school, are, though, chrome.
Brit. |krəʊm|
Amer. |kroʊm|
|tæks| |θɪŋ| Amer. |ˈskedʒuːl|
Brit. |ˈʃɛdjuːl|
|skuːl| Amer. |ər|
Brit. |ɑː|
Amer. |ðoʊ|
Brit. |ðəʊ|

5. Phonology
The study of the sound patterns in languages
 Phonemes (vowels and consonants)
 Prosody (stress, rhythm and intonation)
5

6. PHONETICS
 The scientific study of speech sounds – their description, classification and
transcription
(i) Articulatory phonetics: How speech sounds are articulated -- i.e. what speech organs are involved, and
what physical gestures or configurations are required to produce the sounds in question.
(ii) Acoustic phonetics: The physical properties of the sound waves generated by speech. It is a technical area
of linguistics. Phoneticians depict and analyze sound waves using machines and computer programs. -- e.g.
the frequency of oscillation (how many cycles per second), amplitude (how loud), and duration (for how long).
(iii) Auditory phonetics: Concerned with the hearing of speech sounds and with speech perception. How speech sounds
are perceived by the hearer as having certain auditory properties that differentiate them from each other, such
as the quality of the sound (is it [i] or [e]?), the pitch (high or low), loudness, length, and so on.

7. PHONETIC CLASSIFICATION
 Two broad distinctions:
(i)Vowels: sounds which are made with a smooth, continuous,
unobstructed airflow through the oral cavity (e.g. [i:] as in see
or [u:] as in too)
(ii)Consonants: sounds which are made with some obstruction
to the airflow in the oral cavity (e.g. [s] as in see or [t] as in
too)

8. What is the difference between phonetics
and phonology?
 Phonology deals with the sound systems of languages. It is the
interpretation of speech sounds in a particular language and it
deals with phoneme: the smallest unit of sound.
 Phonetics deals with the physical realisation of the elements of
the sound system, e.g. how the sound is physically produced
(articulatory phonetics), or the acoustic characteristics of the speech sound
(acoustic phonetics).
8

9. Key concepts: the phoneme
 The smallest speech sound that has linguistic value.
 A phoneme is a sound or a group of different sounds
perceived to have the same function by speakers of the
language or dialect in question.
 E.g. English phoneme /k/, which occurs in words such as cat,
kit, scat, skit.
9

10. Key concepts: phonetic
 Each time a speech sound is produced, it is different.
 Each time you produce a /t/ it will be ever so slightly
different.
 Hence the concept of the phone: a physical realisation of a
speech sound.
10

11.  All of these forms are very different; but they are all understood as the
letter A.
 Everybody pronounces the language differently; but what people hear is
a very small number of “meaningful” sounds—phonemes.
 Phonemes refer to the pronunciation as the abstract alphabet is to the
enormous variety of scripts and fonts.
 Phonetics studies the sounds we actually produce in speech.
 Phonemics studies the way we understand those sounds.

12. Place of
Articulation
Consonant
Phonemes

13. Ii. Place of Articulation

14. Consonants
I. Manner Of Articulation

17. Monophthongs Diphthongs
Vowels

18. Vowels
1. The height to which the body of the tongue is raised,
whether it is high, low, or in between (mid);
2. How forward the body of the tongue is, whether it is
front (advanced), central, or back (retracted);
3. Whether the lips are rounded or unrounded.

19. 19
Vowels

20. 20

22. 22
ACTIVITY 1: Pronounce the following words to yourself before
answering these questions:
(i) Do the highlighted letters in each of the following sets of words represent the
‘same’ sound?
a) city, cotton, species, cello.
b) gold, ginger, gnaw, high
c) can, can't, ancient, sofa.
d) bus, news, vision, Asia.
e) sit, site, machine, racial.
f) rough, stuff, cough, through.
g) kick, charisma, unique, cut.
h) may, lame, fail, hey.
i) chef, shell, mission, special.

23. ii) How many sounds do the highlighted letters
represent in each of the following words?
tax, thing, schedule, school, are, though, chrome.
Brit. |krəʊm|
Amer. |kroʊm|
|tæks| |θɪŋ| Amer. |ˈskedʒuːl|
Brit. |ˈʃɛdjuːl|
|skuːl| Amer. |ər|
Brit. |ɑː|
Amer. |ðoʊ|
Brit. |ðəʊ|

24. Activity 2
Describe the following phonemes according to their manner
of articulation. Use the consonant and vowel charts
Mid, front
Velar, nasal voiced
Palatal, fricative voiceless
Mid, central
High, front
High, back
Alveolar, stop voiced
Alveolar, stop voiceless
Bilabial, stop voiceless
Bilabial, glide voiced
Velar, stop voiced

25. Activity 3
Describe the following phonemes (consonants and vowels)
according to their manner of articulation. Use the charts.
Bilabial, stop
voiceless
Velar, voiceless
Labiodental, fricative
voiceless
Mid, front
Palatal, fricative
voiced
Bilabial, nasal
voiced
Velar, stop voiced
Alveolar, fricative
voiceless
High, front
Alveolar,
Nasal voiced
Bilabial, voiced
Palatal, liquid voiced
Alveolar, fricative
voiced
Bilabial, glide
voiced
Bilabial, nasal
voiced
Labiodental, fricative
voiced
High, back
Palatal, affricative
voiceless
Alveolar, liquid
voiced
Dental, fricative
voiceless

26. 26
ACTIVITY 4
(i) Transcribe the following words, using the phonetic
alphabet given above. Remember: don't confuse letters
(or the spelling) with sounds. [NB. Some of you may
pronounce certain words differently, which will naturally
lead to differences in transcription. There's nothing wrong
with that.] Compare your transcriptions with each other,
and with those given in a standard dictionary (such as the
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
(1) rough, (2) debt, (3) psyche, (4) schedule, (5) judge, (6)
yacht, (7) march, (8) useful, (9) queen, (10) chalk

27. 27ACTIVITY 4 Answers
1. rough,
2. Debt
3. psyche
4. schedule
5. judge
/rʌf/
/det/
6. yacht
7. march
8. useful
9. queen
10. chalk
/ˈsaɪki/
/ˈskedʒuːl/
/dʒʌdʒ/
/jɑːt/
/mɑːrtʃ/
/ˈjuːsfl/
/kwiːn/
/tʃɔːk/

28. Activity 5
Given below are some phonetic transcriptions. Can you
pronounce them aloud, and identify the words that they
represent?
1.Salmon
2.Climb
3.yawn
4.Joker
5.Father
6. Onion
7. Opera
8. Creation
9. Confusion
10. Oscar

29. Foreign accents and borrowed words
 Borrowed words
often pronounced according to phonological rules of
borrowing language
 Foreign accents
result from application of native language phonology to
target language phonology especially if language learned as
adult

30. Spanish loans into English

31. Usefulness of Phonetics
and Phonology

32. Why study phonetics and phonology?
 Of particular importance for learners of English as a Second
Language (ESL) because it has a practical application
 English has a far larger repertory of phonemes than languages like
Standard Italian
 English is not a phonographic language, i.e. spelling generally does
give a clear indication of pronunciation
32

33. English is not a phonographic
language
 Many sounds have several different spellings,
e.g. go, though, foe, slow, boat;
or George, Joe, badge, village
 Many “same spellings” have different sounds,
e.g. <ough>: though, cough, bough, through, thought, and
enough.
33

34. The problem of pronunciation for
learners of ESL
 Learners cannot rely on the spelling of a word.
 The problem is the opposite for native speakers – English
schoolchildren spend incredible amounts of time learning to
read and esp. to write. Many adults have very poor spelling.
 To learn to pronounce English correctly it is of great help to
learn to read phonemic transcription and/or have a CD
dictionary with sound.
34

35. Even the predictable combinations in English
are different to those of other languages
<ai> usually corresponds to /ei/, e.g.
pain, paid, almost never to /ai/
<ch> usually, but not always,
corresponds to /tò/ at the start of a
word, e.g. cheese but not choir
35

36. Is English spelling really so erratic?
 83% of English words have predictable spelling.
 However, the remaining 17% is comprised of the most
commonly used, everyday words.
 Therefore the greatest difficulties are faced by the
learner at the start.
36

37. Why is English spelling so erratic? (1)
 Not enough vowel letters for vowel sounds
 English does not use accents, umlauts etc.
 English spelling reflects many archaic forms of
pronunciation e.g. night in the past, was
pronounced with a fricative
37

38. Why is English spelling so erratic? (2)
 English has always resisted spelling reforms and academies to
set standards.
 English spelling became fixed in the 16th-17th c. with the arrival
of printing. Many of the printers were Flemish and had little
knowledge of the language.
 English has borrowed extensively from other languages and has
tended to maintain original spelling.
38