A. Theory # Organs of speech

- beside four round vowels (u:, , :, , :), there are three neutral vowel (, :, ) and the rests are unround vowels.

• 
  Vowels are speech sounds where the airstream escapes the vocal tract unobstructed.
  
• 
  Monothong is a pure vowel sound which is pronounced without changing of the position of the organ of speech throughout the duration of the vowel articulation.
  
• 
  Dipthong is a complex sound consisting of two vowel elements pronounced so as to form a single syllable. In the pronunciation of dipthong, the position of organ of speech starts in the position of one vowel and glides gradually to the other one.
  

Monothong: Height  Position  Shape  Length  Degree (of articulation).

Diphthong: Height + Pisition (1^st vowel) glides to Height + Position (2^nd vowel).

A. Theory

1. What is monophthong / diphthong?

- Monophthong: is a pure vowel sound which is pronounced wothout changing of the position of the organ of speech throughtout the duration of the vowel articulation.

- Diphthong: is a complex vowel sound consisiting of two elements pronounced so as to form a single syllable. In the pronunciation of the diphthong, the position of the organ of speech starts in the position of the first vowel and glides to gradually to the other one.

2. What are the differences between a monophthong and a diphthong? Give example

- Monophthong: is a pure vowel sound which is pronounced without changing in the position of the organ of speech throughout the duration of vowel articualtion.

- Diphthong: is a complex vowel sound consisting of two elements pronounced so as to form a single syllable. In the pronunciation of the diphthong, the position of the organ of speech starts in the position of the first vowel and glides gradually to the other one.

The differences of monophthong and diphthong lie in the number of vowel element and the position of the organ of speech during the articulation:

Criteria	Monophthong	Diphthong
Number of vowel element:	One	Two
Position of organ of speech	Unchange	Glides gradually from the position of the first vowel to the other.
Eg.	Hat /ht/ -  is a monothong, a low front vowel.	Nation /nen/ -  is a diphthong consisiting of  and , mid front glides to high front.

3. How are English monophthong classified? Give example

a. Definition

b. Classification

English monophthong can be classified according to the followings criteria:

 Position of the tongue: front, central and back vowels

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  Front vowels: the front of the tongue raises towards the hard palate
  

• 
  Central vowels: the centre of the tongue raises towards the junture of the hard palate and the soft palate
  

• 
  Back vowels: the back of the tongue raises towards the soft palate
  

 The height of the tongue in the mouth: high, mid and low vowels

• 
  High vowels: :, , :, 
  
• 
  Mid vowels:  (), :, , 
  
• 
  Low vowels: , , , :
  

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  Round vowels: :, , , 
  
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  Neutral vowels: , :, 
  
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  Unround vowels: :, , , , :
  

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  Long vowels: :, :, , :, :
  
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  Short vowels: , , , , , , 
  

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  Tense (long) vowels: :, :, , :, :
  
• 
  Lax (short) vowels: , , , , , , 
  

An English front vowel differs from its back counterpart is due to the position of the tounge in the mouth or the raising part of the tongue.

In the pronunciation of an front vowel: the front of the tongue raises towards the hard palate, but in the articulation of the back vowel the back of the tongue raises towards the soft palate.

5. List all the diphthong. How are they classified into different groups according to their direction of glide?

a. Definition, list

There are 8 diphthongs in the English language, including: , , , , , , , 

English diphthongs can be classified according to the direction of glide:

• 
  Diphthongs gliding to  (centring group): , , 
  
• 
  Diphthongs gliding to  (closing group): , , 
  
• 
  Diphthongs gliding to  (closing group): , 
  

- Consonants are speech sounds produced by creating an obstruction to the airstream during the articulation.

- Vowels are speech sounds where the airstream escapes the oral tract (organ of speech) unobstructed.

b. Differences

Criteria	Consonants	Vowels
Airstream movement:	The airstream is obstructed during the articulation of the speech sound	The airstream passes freely through the vocal track
Voicing	Consist of voiced and voiceless sounds	Consist of voiceless sounds only
Eg.	/p/, /b/	, , 

B. Practice

1. Write the symbol that correponds to each of the following phonetic description and then give an English word contaning the sound:

a. high front unround lax vowel:  bit /bt/, hit

b. mid front unround lax vowel:  bet /bt/, get

c. low front unround lax vowel:  hat //, bad

d. low back unround tense vowel: : farm /:m/, after /:/

e. low back slightly round lax vowel:  top //, cough // (it can be )

f. mid back round tense vowel:  cot /kt/, hot/ht/, pour /p/

g. mid central neutral lax vowel:  the //, about //

h. mid central neutral tense vowel: : her /h:/ nurse /n:/

i. low central lax vowel:  current /n/, done //

A. peep B. quay C. tie D. grease

A. university B. utterance C. Oxford D. eat

A. sat B. meet C. got D. much

A. duration B. station C. smooth D. crime

A. superd B. supper C. stupid D. swear

A. twice B. headlight C. funny D. fine

A. spoon B. understood C. good D. food

See vowels chart

Phonology is the description of the systems and patterna of sounds that occur in a language.

- Phonemes are the smallest segments of sound that can be distinguished by their contrast within words.

(Segments: are the smallest pieces of sound that are divided from a speech)

- Allophone are phonemes derived from the same phoneme in different distribution.

Eg. stop talking /⁼ /

[] and [⁼] are allophone of phoneme []

- Transcription is the use of a set of symbols representing sounds to show the sounds in written form.

There are two kinds of transcription: phonemic (broad) transcription and allophinic (phonetic or narrow) transcription.

Criteria	Phonemic transcription	Allophonic transcription
Symbols	Uses slanting bracket	Uses square bracket
Feature	Shows different phonemes that make up word. It does not show any extra features, no detail of pronunciation; therefore, we can’t look at this transcription to pronounce the word	Shows how sounds are pronounced including phonetic details (allophones)
Eg	Car /:/ - shows the phonemes involved in the word only.	Car /:/ - show both phonemes and phonetic detail. The symbol [] indicates that phoneme [k] is aspirated.

4. What can be stated as necessary conditions for forming a minimal set? Give set of words to illustrate

In order to form a minimal set, we must have more than two words which are different in meaning, but they have the same number of segments and only one different segment in the same position/distribution.

Eg. bat //, but //, bet //

pad //, pat //, pan //

Eg. hat //, cat // - the different segment is the first one.

Eg. bat //, but //, bet // - the different segment is the middle one.

A. cater – better B. round – bound C. rock – box

// - // // - // // - //

2. Which of the following is not a minimal pair?

A. time – mine B. table – cable C. teacher – richer

// - // // - // /:/ - /:/

A. road – load B. back – bad C. sea – saw

// - // // - // /:/ - //

Note: [+ voiced: voiced sound], [- voiced: voiceless sound]

[+ aspirated: aspirated], [- aspirated: unaspirated]

1. Aspiration

a. Aspirated

Symbol: []

Means: voiceless plosive sounds (/p, t, k/) will be aspirated as they are the initial syllable, or when they stand in initial position of a stress syllable.

Eg. car [:] important [/] top []

b. Unaspirated

Symbol: [⁼]

+ after /s/ at the beginning of the syllable; or

+ in medial or final position of a syllable

Eg. sport [⁼] happy [⁼] map [⁼]

Symbol: [  ]

Eg. act [] adapt [] looked []

Symbol: [  ]

Eg. eighth [] width //

Eg. mum [] - // is pronounced longer.

Eg. cap [] cook [] - // and // are pronounced longer.

Symbol: [ ]

Approximant (/w, r, j, l/) will be devoiced when stand after aspirated plosive.

Eg. play [] cry [] between [:]

6. Syllabicity (forming syllable without vowel)

Symbol: [ ]

Eg. chasm [] mechnism []

Eg. channel [] metal []

Symbol: [  ]

Eg. milk [] file [] mill []

Eg. key [] gap []

// and // become more front as they stand before front vowels

9. Vowel quality

a. [+vowel]  longer in open syllables (no consonant after the vowel).

Eg. see [:] key []

Eg. populate [] population []

Eg. lap [] hit [] – the vowel is pronounced shorter.

Symbol: [  ]

Eg. ban [] calm [:] bean [:]

5. [+ front vowel]  [retracted] before syllable final //; or before velarized []

Eg. milk [] calory []

[] - /k/ is aspirated when it is initial syllable; or stands in initial position of stress syllable.

Eg. car [:] can []

[⁼] - /k/ is unaspirated when it stands aster /s/ in the beginning syllable; or in the medial or final position of the word.

Eg. scar [⁼:] book [⁼]

[] - /k/ is unexploded as it stands before another plosive.

Eg. act [] cooked []

[The same is applied to other voiceless plosive (/p, t/)].

When an English fortis (voiceless) plosive (/p, t, k/) is preceded by a voiceless alveolar fricative (/s/), it will be unaspirated.

Eg.

Eg. sport [⁼] happy [⁼] map [⁼]

stop [⁼] stay [⁼]

Congratulation []

: voiceless (aspirated) velar plosive (oral fortis)

n: voiced alveolar nasal lenis

: voiced velar plosive oral lenis

: voiced retroflex approximant (glide)

: voiceless alveolar plosive oral fortis

: voiced alveolar lateral oral lenis

: voiceless palato-alveolar fricative

4. Show the differences between the underlined sounds in the following pair of words

a. wide []	width []	The first one is longer, the second is dentalized.	f. quite []	sky [=]	// in the first word is shorter, but // in the second is longer
b. quick []	skill []	/k/ in the first word is unaspirated as it stand at the final position, /k/ in the second is aspirated as stands after /s/.	g. good []	food [:]	// in the first word is a short vowel, but /:/ is a long vowel
c.import []	shore []	// in the first word is shorten, but // in the second is longer.	h. truth [:]	true [:]	/:/ in the first word is shorter as standing before voiceless sound, but /:/ in the second is longer
d. bill []	plate [p]	/l/ in the first word is velarized, but /l/ in the second word is devoiced	i. kilt []	led []	// in the first word is velarized, but // in the second word is unchanged
e.health []	love []	/l/ in the first word is dentalized, but /l/ in the second word is unchanged	j. cook [k=]	key [:]	/k/ in the first word is unaspirated, but /k/ in the second one is aspirated

5. What do the following formulas mean? Give example for each case.

a. [+ alveolar]  [+ detal] before [+ dental]

means alveolar (/, , , , , /) will be dentalized when it stands before a dental sound (/, /).

Eg. eighth [] width //

b. [+ approximant]  [- voiceless] after fortis plosive

means approximant (/, , , /) will be devoiced when it stands after fortis (voiceless) plosive (/, , /).

Eg. play [] cry [] between [:]

c. [+ vowels]  [+ nasal] before [+ nasal]

means vowel will be nasalized as standing before a nasal sound (/, , /).

Eg. ban [] calm [:] bean [:]

Eg. in the [ ]  [ ]

right place [ ]  [ ]

2. What is elision / liaision? Give example

Elision is the missing out of a consonant or vowel or both in informal spoken English or in rapid speech in English.

Eg. acts [] - // will be disappeared in the articualtion of the word.

looked back [ ] - // will be disappeared in the articualtion of the word.

today [] - // is disappeared

potato [] - // is disappeared

Liaision is a phenomenon where a sound is linked to another in informal speech.

Eg. come in [] set up []

Consider a case where two words are combined, the first word ends with a single final consonant (C^f) and the second one starts with a single initial consonant (Cⁱ).

We have the following construction: C^f  Cⁱ

In progressive assimilation, the initial consonant (Cⁱ) changes to become like the final consonant (C^f) in some ways, whereas (C^f) changes to become like (Cⁱ) in some aspects in regressive assimilation.

Eg.