English Phonetics and Phonology: A Comprehensive Study
Obstruents and Sonorants
The vowel-like nature of nasals, liquids, and semi-vowels necessitates the umbrella terms obstruent and sonorant. Obstruents are plosive, fricative, and affricate consonants. Sonorants comprise vowels, diphthongs, and other consonants with vowel-like qualities.
English Vowels
/i:/: Front, almost fully close, unrounded. Tends to diphthongize to (ij).
/ɪ/: Front, slightly retracted, close-half-close, unrounded. Used in endings like -ace, -age, -ate, -ness.
/e/: Front, half-close-half-open, unrounded.
/æ/: Front, half-open-open, unrounded.
/ɑː/: Almost fully back, fully open, unrounded. ‘a’ usually has the pronunciation (ɑː) when followed by unvoiced fricatives (f, θ, s) or the voiced fricative (ð) plus a vowel.
/ɒ/: Back, almost fully open, rounded.
/ɔː/: Back, half-open-half-close, rounded.
/ʊ/: Back-central, above half-close, rounded.
/u:/: Almost fully back, rounded, almost fully close.
/ʌ/: Slightly forward of central, below half-open, unrounded.
/ɜː/: Central, half-open-half-close, unrounded.
/ə/: Central, half-open-half-close, unrounded.
Distinctive Features
Major Class Features
- Vowels: [+syll, +son, -cons]
- Glides: [-syll, +son, -cons]
- Sonorant Consonants: [+/-syll, +son, +cons]
- Obstruents: [-syll, -son, +cons]
Place of Articulation
- Labials: [+ant, -cor]
- Dentals/Alveolars: [+ant, +cor]
- Palato-alveolars/Palatals: [-ant, +cor]
- Velars/Glottals: [-ant, -cor]
- (p, b, m): [+ant, -cor]
- (t, d, n): [+ant, +cor]
- (k, g, ŋ): [-ant, -cor]
Classification of Vowels
- Open vs. Close: Open: the tongue is held away from the roof of the mouth. Close: the tongue is held close to the roof of the mouth. Quality vs. Quantity: Quality: the position of the tongue in the oral tract during vowel articulation. Quantity: the length (duration) of a vowel.
- Front vs. Back: Front: the front of the tongue is raised towards the roof of the mouth. Back: the back of the tongue is raised towards the roof of the mouth.
- Lip Rounding: Rounded: back vowels are usually rounded. Unrounded: front vowels are usually unrounded.
Diphthongs
A long vowel with a noticeable change of quality during one syllable.
- Centering: The diphthong ends in schwa.
- Closing: The tongue moves from a more open to a more close position. No English diphthongs follow this pattern.
- Wide vs. Narrow: Wide: rapid sweeping movement of the tongue. Narrow: little tongue movement.
Distinctive Feature Theory
Distinctive Feature Theory challenged Phoneme Theory. It posits features—of which phonemes are traditionally composed—as the basic units of phonology, rather than the phonemes themselves, questioning the validity of the phoneme concept. Phoneme Theory is unsatisfactory because speech doesn’t involve simply articulating a series of phonemes; we don’t move discretely from one sound to another.
Natural Class
A set of sounds that:
- Share certain phonetic features.
- Are affected similarly in the same environment.
- Have the same effect on other sounds in their environment.
Major Class Features
- Vowels: [+syllabic] – constitute the nucleus of the syllable; [+sonorant] – produced with no turbulence noise; [-consonantal] – are not produced with a notable constriction in the vocal tract.
- Glides: [-syllabic]; [+sonorant]; [-consonantal]
- Sonorant Consonants: [+/-syllabic]; [+sonorant]; [+consonantal]
- Obstruents: [-syllabic]; [-sonorant]; [+consonantal]
Weak Forms
So-called because they involve weakening or loss of a vowel or consonant. This vocalic alternation under stress is also called gradation or apophony.
Features
- [+voice]: (æ, g, ð, r)
- [+continuant]: (f, j, r, ʃ)
- [+nasal]: (n, ŋ)
- [+back]: (ɑː, ɒ, ʊ, ə)
- [+round]: (ʊ, uː, ə)
- [+tense]: (ɜː, iː)
- [+coronal]: (t, θ, l)
- [+sonorant]: (uː, ŋ, j)
- [+anterior]: (t, ð, s, l, b)
- [+strident]: (s, ʃ, dʒ, tʃ)
- (n): [+nasal]
- (w): [-syllabic]
Voice Onset Time (VOT)
The acoustic distinction between voiceless aspirated and unaspirated stops is based on their VOT.