The Sounds of English

THE SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

11 vowels • 3 diphthongs • 25 consonants

Prepared by: Ruby Angela Pena

ruby.angela01@gmail.com

The EnglishVowels

A E IO U

THE ENGLISH VOWELS

A vowel is a permanent element in a syllable. It is formed by allowing the passage of air from the lungs through the mouth acting as a resonator without any obstruction.

This passing of air causes the opening of the vocal bands, called the glottis, to vibrate.

Vowels are, therefore, those sounds which are produced with the vibration of air in the oral cavity.

All vowel sounds, then, are voiced oral sounds.

The Vector Triangle – shows the relationship and differences of the vowels to one another as well as their relative positions on the tongue.FRONT

CENTER

BACK

HIGH

MID

LOW

Bet [Ɛ]

Bit [I]

Bat [æ]

Bait [ey]

[a]Bock

[Ə]But

Beat [iy] [UW] Boot

[U] Book

[OW] Boat

[Ɔ] Bought

THE VOWEL SOUND PRODUCTION

Tongue Position or advancement – refers to the part of the tongue that is most active in the production of the vowel. Along the horizontal axis are the three points: front, center, and back which describe tongue position or advancement as shown in the vowel triangle.

Tongue and jaw height – refers to the degree of closeness of the lower jaw to the upper or the tongue palate. This is the vertical axis along which are three points: high, mid, and low.

Lip position – refers to the amount of rounding or spreading of the lips. The shape of the lips may be rounded when their corners are brought forward or unrounded (spread). When the corners are pulled back. [Ɔ], [ow], [u], [a], and [uw] are rounded while [iy], [i], [ey], [e], [æ], and [Ə] are unrounded.

Tension – refers to the degree to which the muscles of the speech tract are tense or lax during sound production. [iy], for example, is tense while [i] is lax.

Length – refers to the duration the vowel is held in a certain position. It may be long or short. [ey] is a long vowel in contras to [Ɛ] which is short.

VOWEL SOUND SPEECH DRILLS

Read the following words observing the correct formation of the vowel sounds indicated in brackets.

[iy] beat me key seed chief[i] sit give rid pick live

[ey] ate ray face weigh great[Ɛ] met let head less tell[æ] cat am bag land class[a] pot block got cop lost[Ɔ] ball talk saw draw dawn

VOWEL SOUND SPEECH DRILLS

Read the following words observing the correct formation of the vowel sounds indicated in brackets.

[ow] hope go wrote home soak

[u] look good would sure bush

[uw] moon blue rule chew suit

[Ə] luck must touch gone cup

QUIZ…Classify the words according to the five factors that determine their sound formation.

FrontCenterBackRoundedUnroundedTenseLaxLongShort

The EnglishDiphthongs

DIPHTHONGS

Sounds which combine two vowel sounds and which blend them into one within a syllable.

The vowel sound in light, for instance, is a diphthong.

Aside from those vowel sounds in the Vowel Triangle which have a diphthongal quality, there are three other English diphthongs: [ai], [Ɔi], and [au].

Diphthongs tend to be long because of the time needed to glide forward to another position.

[ai] [Ɔi] [au]

time point now

might oil brown

height soil sound

rhyme coin blouse

pint join mouth

guide moist bough

aisle poise plow

[ai] [Ɔi] [au]

sigh noise crown

fried boil cloud

fire buoy town

buy toy count

pie voice out

prize ploy proud

dye hoist foul

[ai] [Ɔi] [au]

fly joy howl

climb spoil browse

quite broil ouch

sight annoy slouch

The EnglishConsonant

THE ENGLISH CONSONANT

Consonant is a speech sound used with a vowel or diphthong to constitute a syllable.

Consonant sounds are those which are produced with the partial or complete obstruction of the air column by some parts of the speech apparatus.

There are three dimensions of variations to be considered in consonants, namely: Voicing, Nature of Obstruction or Manner of Articulation, and Point of Artculation.

A. VOICING

Consonants may be voiced or voiceless.Voiced sounds are those which are pronounced with the variation of the vocal cords.

Voiceless sounds are those which are pronounced without the vibration of the vocal cords.

Voiceless Voicedp pen b ben n neckt ten d den ng bringk cod g god l letf fine v vine r right

th thigh dh thy y yous sue z zoo w water

sh mission zh vision hw whatch chew j jewh hot m men

B. NATURE OF OBSTRUCTION/MANNER OF ARTICULATION

Stops – are consonant sounds produced by stopping the passage of the breath stream with a build up of pressure behind the closure before releasing the breath.

Bilabial stops – [p] and [b]Alveolar stops – [t] and [d]Velar stops – [k] and [g]

Fricatives – are continuants produced when the air stream is not completely stopped but passes through with friction or a hissing sound.

Labiodental – [f] and [v] Post Alveolar – [r]Dental – [Ɵ] and [ƺ] Palatal – [ʃ] and [dz]

Alveolar – [s] and [z] Glottal – [h]

Affricates – are produced when a stop combines with a fricative. Like the fricatives, they are also continuants. They may be prolonged as long as the speaker wishes.

Alveolar Affricates – [t ʃ] and [dz]

Nasals – are produced with the air stream passing through the nose rather than the mouth.

Bilabial Nasal – [m] Alveolar Nasal – [n] Velar Nasal – [ʒ]

B. NATURE OF OBSTRUCTION/MANNER OF ARTICULATION

Lateral – is produced when the air stream is stopped in the center by the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, while the air passes along one or both sides of the tongue.

Alveolar Lateral – [l]Semi-vowels – in their production, there is lack of friction and the sounds are vowel-like in their voicing but they function as consonants.

Bilabial – [w] as in wear and win; [wh] as in whyPalatal – [y] as in new and view.

B. NATURE OF OBSTRUCTION/MANNER OF ARTICULATION

C. POINT OF ARTICULATION This refers to the upper parts of the mouth which the lower parts (articulators) come in contact with in the production of the consonant sound.

As regards to their point of articulation, consonants may be:a. Bilabial – when the lower lip touches the upper lip. [p], [b], [m], & [w]b. Labio-dental – when the lower lip comes in contact with the upper front

teeth. [f] and [v]c. Dental – when the lower teeth approach the upper teeth.d. Alveolar – when the tip of the tongue is raised close to the toothridge or the

back of the upper front teeth. [t] and [d]e. Post-alveolar – when the tip of the tongue is articulated against the back

part of the alveolar ridge as in [r].

C. POINT OF ARTICULATION

f. Palatal – when the tongue is arched towards the hard palate like the constant [ʃ]

g. Velars – when the back of the tongue closes against the velum or soft palate. [k]

h. Glottal – when friction is produced by the air passing through the glottis [h]

ENGLISH CONSONANT DRILLS

STOPS[p] power prayer priest pen pearl paint please

[t] tank teacher time tree table talent true

[k] key cat king cause cup care kind

[b] bread bank bridge bright but bike brother

[d] day dance drama dew dawn drum dream

[g] gun grace go gold gas guide grow

NASAL

[m] Mind Music Merry Moon Milk Mirror Mother

[n] Nice Name Neighbor Night Nun New Known

[ng] Rank Ring Sink Prank Bring Blink drink

FRICATIVES[f] friend Farm Free fruit phone leaf Graph

[v] vow Vine view drive vowel vein victory

[Ɵ] think thank thought through mouth truth Month

[o] there that though them they thine then

[s] soul sea Sound sun song silver service

[z] zip zeal Zest zoom zero size

FRICATIVES

[ʃ] shine ocean fish nation sugar mission machine

[zh] Asia pleasure leisure measur

etreasur

e vision azure

[h] hat high heart heaven hope who Hello

[r] right rule rose ray round rice rhythm

AFRICATES[t] church chime chief peach rich beach

[dz] judge college wage age pledge page courage

LATERAL

[l] love learn labor light look leaves Language

SEMI-VOWELS

[hw] why what When where whip wheel Whether

[w] water web Wine word wing won World

[y] yes You year yam yen hue unit