Subsystems of Language

Phonology & Phonetics

Phonology & Phonetics

• The way in which the sounds of language are organised is known as phonology.

• The study of the sounds themselves is called phonetics.

• All languages have their own distinctive sounds and even within the family of English varieties there are differences.• Think about how in Australia we say ‘jacket’; in New

Zealand, it’s pronounced [dʒɛkət] ‘djekat’. Aussie = [dʒækɛt] ‘djahkhet’

• When studying the sounds of English, we find there is a lot to consider, including vowels and consonants, manners and places of articulation and prosodic features.

The trouble with English spelling

• Australian English has forty four contrasting sounds

• The English alphabet only has twenty six different letters…you can see how spelling problems arise; for a start, there aren’t enough symbols.• E.G. the consonant sound [t] (to indicate it’s a sound, it’s placed

in square brackets). This consonant is represented by the letter t as in tap, also by tt as in butt, te in Kate, ed as in jumped, th as in Thomas, pt as in receipt, bt in debt, ct in victuals – even phth in the word phthisis (a medical term that you’ll probably never use, but it highlights the absurdities of English spelling.

• In fact, there at least twelve different ways of spelling the consonant [t]

• So in order to answer the question ‘How many sounds are there in the word jumped?’ we have to forget about spelling and listen to the sounds. There are only five sounds here: [dʒʌmpt]

International Phonetic Alphabet

• Linguists employ systems like the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in order to give a unique written representation for each sound that occurs in English (or any other language of the world).

• Many dictionaries use IPA symbols in their pronunciation guides.

• Keep in mind that words spelled in the IPA will be represented by different symbols to reflect different accents and pronunciations.

IPA – Consonant symbols

CONSONANTS (24)

p pen, spin, tip

b bat, but, web

t two, ton, take, sting, bet

d do, odd, dale

kcat, curl, kill, queen, skin, thick

ɡ go, get, girl, beg

m moon, money, mail

n noon, neither, nail

ŋ ring, sing

j yes, your

w war, we, woo

f fine, fool, enough, leaf

v vine, voice, have

θ thin, thing, teeth

ð then, this, breathe, father

s see, soon, city, pass

z zoo, zoom, rose

ʃ she, shine, sure, emotion, leash

ʒ beige, genre, pleasure

h ham, hoon

r raw, run, very

tʃ chair, chive, nature, teach

dʒ gin, jive, joy, edge

l left, live, bell

Places of articulationThe following terms describe the different places of articulation for English consonants:Place of articulation Mouth action Example

Bilabial lips come together banana

Labio-dental lower lip + upper teeth first

Dental tongue tip between the teeth

thin

Alveolar tongue tip + alveolar ridge

two

Palato-alveolar tongue blade + back of alveolar ridge

she

Palatal front of tongue + hard palate

yes

Velar back of tongue + velum

kitty

Glottal space between vocal folds

huge

Manner of articulation

There are also six manners of articulation depending on how the airflow is obstructed.

Manner of articulation

Mouth action Example

Stop complete closure of oral cavity teddy

Nasal complete closure of oral cavity + lower velum mummy

Fricatives two speech organs partly close to partially block airflow

food

Affricate complete closure + partial release chasing

Lateral partial closure by tongue blade against alveolar ridge

lollies

Approximants

two speech organs come close but without causing turbulence

wash

Voiced and un-voiced sounds

• Vowels are generally voiced (this is where the name comes from)

• Some consonants are not voiced (e.g. f), while others are (e.g. b)

• To test whether a sound is voiced or un-voiced, place two fingers on your throat while saying a sound. If you feel a vibration in your throat, the sound is voiced, if not, it’s un-voiced.

IPA – Vowel symbolsMONOPHTHONGS (15)

i been, city, peat

ɪ bin, pit, sit

ɛ bed, bet, pet

æ bat, cat, lad, ran

a arm, barn, part

ɒ boss, not, wasp

ʌ but, run, enough

ɔ bought, caught, law

ʊ book, put, wood

u boot, soon, through

ɜ bird, burn, pert

ə about, apart

ɒ as in French – bon voyage

æ as in French – vin

y as in French – rue

DIPHTHONGS (8)

aɪ buy,

eɪ bay, day, pain

ɔɪ boy, ploy

aʊ bow, how, now

oʊ hoe, no, tow

ɪə here, near

ɛə bear, hair

ʊə boor, tour

*Diphthongs are like long vowels. When you produce one the tongue moves from one position to another (glides).*The first part of a diphthong is longer and slightly louder.

*E.G. say the word right

Activity #1– What are these

words?IPA translation

mit

bækpæk

bæθ

sidi

gɑt

jɛs

potʃ

English words

meat

backpack

bath

CD

got

yes

poach

Activity#2 -translate these

sentencesIPA translation

ɪz ɪt tʃɪkən ɔr fɪʃ?

kwɪk, rɑbən! tu ðə bætmobil!

tu bi ɔr nɑt tu bi? ðæt ɪz ðə kwɛstʃən.

English sentences

Is it chicken or fish?

Quick, Robin. To the Batmobile!

To be or not to be? That is the question.

Prosodic features

• Timing – tempo/speed indicates emotion and grammatical boundaries.

• Loudness – signals a range of feelings • e.g. anger and excitement are generally louder while intimacy and

sadness are softer

• Pitch – melody of voice rises and falls. • Controlled by vocal cord vibration. Faster vibration = higher pitch. • Rising in pitch at end of statement signals questions/tentative statements

• Stress – words of more than one syllable will have a syllable that receives the main/primary stress i.e. it is made more prominent by making the syllable louder, longer and higher in pitch.• Nouns are stressed on the first syllable and verbs on the second• E.G. We made a record (noun – stress on first syllable)

We always record our favourite show (verb – stress on the second syllable)

Activity #3-prosody

• Read this excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous ‘I have a Dream’ speech.• Note where you think pauses, rises/fall in pitch,

tempo, loudness would fall. Which words/prases would be stressed?

• Listen to/watch the last 5 minutes of the speech online (the entire speech is 16 minutes). • While listening, note the prosodic features you

hear• After listening, expand on these points to explain

the impact of the various prosodic features