Phonetics Part 2

1. Lecturer/ NajlaAlQahtani Phonetics Part 2

2. Lecture Agenda .. • An overview of the consonant sounds. • Introducing the vowel sounds in English : - Single vowels - Compound vowels • Glottal stops and Flaps. • Practice

3. Vowel Sounds

4. vowel sounds are produced with a relatively free flow of air. • They are all typically voiced. • Vowels are described in terms of highness and frontness

5. Single Vowel Sounds

6. Front vowels • [i] bead, beef, key, me • [ɪ] bid, myth, women • [ɛ] bed, dead, said • [æ] bad, laugh, wrap

7. Central vowels • [ə] above, oven, support • [ʌ] butt, blood, dove, tough

8. Back vowels • [u] boo, move, two, you • [ʊ] book, could, put • [ɔ] born, caught, fall, raw • [ɑ] Bob, cot, swan

9. Compound Vowel Sounds

10. Sounds that consist of a combination of two vowel sounds, known as diphthongs. • When we produce diphthongs, our vocal organs move from one vocalic position to another. • Example : our vocal organs move from one vocalic position [a] to another [ɪ] as we produce the sound [aɪ], as in Hi or Bye. The movement in this diphthong is from low towards high front. Alternatively, we can use movement from low towards high back, combining [a] and [ʊ] to produce the sound [aʊ], as in cow.

11. Diphthongs • [aɪ] buy, eye, I, my, pie, sigh • [aʊ] bough, doubt, cow • [eɪ] bait, eight, great, late, say • [oʊ] boat, home, throw, toe • [ɔɪ] boy, noise

12. The glottal stop and flaps

13. The glottal stop • The glottal stop, represented by the symbol [ʔ] • occurs when the space between the vocal folds (the glottis) is closed completely (very briefly), then released. • This sound is considered to be characteristic of Cockney (London) speech. You will also hear glottal stops in the pronunciation of some Scottish speakers and also New Yorkers.

14. Example : • you can also produce a glottal stop if you try to say the words butter or bottle without pronouncing the “-tt-” part in the middle. • (Try saying the name Harry Potter as if it didn’t have the “H” or the “tt.”)

15. Flaps • If, however, you are someone who pronounces the word butter in a way that is close to “budder,” then you are making a flap. • It is represented by [D] or sometimes [ɾ]. This • sound is produced by the tongue tip tapping the alveolar ridge briefly. • Many American • English speakers have a tendency to “flap” the [t] and [d] consonants between vowels.

16. Example : • in casual speech, the pairs latter and ladder do not have distinct middle consonants. Nor do writer and rider, metal and medal. They all have flaps.

17. Study questions • 2 Which of the following words normally end with voiceless (−V) sounds and • which end with voiced sounds (+V) sounds? • (a) bang ____ (d) fizz____ (g) splat ____ • (b) crash ____ (e) rap____ (h) thud ____ • (c) ding ____ (f) smack ____ (i) wham ____

18. 3 Try to pronounce the initial sounds of the following words and identify the place of articulation of each one (e.g. bilabial, alveolar, etc.). • (a) calf ____(e) hand ____(i) shoulder _________ • (b) chin __________ (f) knee __________ (j) stomach __________ • (c) foot __________ (g) mouth __________ (k) thigh __________ • (d) groin __________ (h) pelvis __________ (l) toe __________

19. For further illustration, you may find the following youtube lesson useful : • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMM_hwyHxaI

20. End of lecture ..