English Phonetics: Pronunciation and Sound Production
Consonant Clusters
Stop + Stop: When one stop consonant is immediately followed by another, as in kept, the closure of the speech organs for the second consonant is made while the closure for the first consonant is still in position. There’s only one explosion for the two stops; the first stop is incomplete. This “missing explosion” happens whenever one stop consonant (except /tʃ/ and /dʒ/) is followed immediately by another, not only at the end of words but also in the middle of words, as in actor, or between words, as in red coat. It’s problematic for Spanish speakers because they tend to articulate the two plosives fully, when, in fact, the only plosion we must hear is that of the second plosive.
Stop + Nasal: In this case, the explosion of the stop takes place through the nose. The vocal organs form /t/ or /d/ in the usual way, but instead of taking the tongue-tip away from the alveolar ridge to give an explosion, we leave it in the same position and lower the soft palate, so that the breath explodes out of the nose. Nasal explosion also happens when /m/ follows /t/ or /d/.
/t/ or /d/ + /l/: We need to leave the tongue-tip on the alveolar ridge and only lower the sides, producing a lateral explosion.
Consonant + /s z t d/: When you make these sequences, form the first consonant firmly and then put the tongue into position for the next consonant while you are still continuing the first one.
Consonant + /θ/: Normally, t, d, n, and l are made with the tongue-tip on the alveolar ridge, but when followed by /θ/ they are made with the tongue-tip touching the back of the upper teeth. Examples: width, breadth, strength, ninth.
/l/ + Consonant: Before any consonant, the /l/ will be dark, and the following consonant is formed while the /l/ is being pronounced.
Nasal + Consonant: Make sure the lips are firmly closed for /m/ and put the tongue-tip firmly in contact with the alveolar ridge.
Speech Production
The speech mechanism is termed the pulmonary airstream mechanism due to the leading role of the lungs in providing the necessary air for speech production.
- Egressive mechanism: The air is expelled out through the vocal tract.
- Ingressive mechanism: The sounds are articulated by introducing air into the vocal tract.
Organs of Speech
Articulatory system (head), phonatory system (throat), respiratory system (chest). The oral cavity is the most important resonator. The elements inside it can be mobile or fixed.
- Lips in vowel production: neutral, spread, open, rounded, protruded. In consonant production: closed position (bilabial /p, m/) and lip-teeth articulation (labiodental /f, v/).
- Tongue: tip, blade, front, back, root.
- Teeth
- Alveolar ridge: t, d, s, z, n
- Palate: soft (k, g), hard (j)
How We Hear
- Sound waves enter your outer ear and travel through the ear canal to your eardrum.
- Your eardrum vibrates with the incoming sound and sends the vibration to three tiny bones in your middle ear: hammer, anvil, stirrup.
- The bones in your middle ear amplify the sound vibrations and send them to your cochlea.
- Your auditory nerve carries this electrical signal to the brain.
English Vowels
There are 12 English vowels.
Criteria for the Classification of Vowels
Tongue and lip shape, whether tongue and lips are held constant or undergo change, position of the soft palate, duration. They are organized in terms of the position of the soft palate, jaws, lips, and tongue.
- Soft palate: All are oral, but they can get a nasal quality.
- Jaws: Depending on the degree of separation between the lower and upper jaw, vowels can be wide, medium to wide, medium, narrow to medium, and narrow.
- Lips: Vowels can be neutral, spread, open, rounded, and protruded.
- Tongue: Vowels can be tense or lax. They can be classified in terms of a horizontal axis: front, if articulated near the lips; central; and back. And of a vertical axis: close if articulated near the top of the oral cavity; close-mid; close-open; and open if articulated near the bottom of the oral cavity.
Vowels can be classified in terms of long and short. We are describing their quality (position of lips and tongue) but not their quantity (duration).
Description of Vowels
/i:/: Front, close, spread lips, tense tongue, narrow to medium jaw-opening. Characteristics: tense at the root, contact between the rims of the tongue and the upper molars, spreading of the lips. Spelling: ee: tree; ea: sea; i: police; e: eve; ei: receive; ey: key; ie: field; eo: people; oe: phoetus; ae: Caesar.
/ɪ/: Front, between close and mid-close, neutral, lax, narrow to medium. Between Spanish i and e. Spelling: i: bit; y: physics; e: pretty; u: busy; o: women; a: palace; ei: foreign; ai: mountain.
/e/: Front, between close-mid and open-mid, neutral, lax, medium. Spelling: e: bed; ea: head; ai: said; ie: friend; a: any; u: bury; eo: leopard; ei: Leicester.
/æ/: Front, between mid-open and open, neutral, lax, medium to wide. The tip of the tongue is in contact with the lower teeth. Spelling: a: cat; ai: plait.
/ɑ:/: Central, open, neutral, partially tense, medium to wide. Almost fully back. Doctor. Spelling: a + r: large; a + f: staff; a + s: pass; a + th: path; a + n + consonant: dance; a + l: half; au: aunt; er: clerk; ear: heart; ata: schemata. Foreign origin (the Normans invaded England): moustache, drama, reservoir.
/ɒ/: Back, almost fully open, rounded, lax, medium to wide. Very similar to /æ/ with the difference that it is a back vowel with rounded lips. Spelling: o: lock; ou: cough; ow: knowledge; au: sausage; w + a: wander; qu + a: quality; ouce: Gloucester. Also: yacht.
/ɔ:/: Back, between open-mid and open-close, rounded, lax, medium to fairly wide. The back of the tongue is raised a bit, so it’s even more back. Spelling: au: author; aw: saw; or: short; our: court; oor: door; oar: roar; all: always; ou: thought; ar: quarter; ore: before.
/ʊ/: Between back and central but nowadays closer to a central position; close-mid, rounded, lax, medium. Spelling: u: bush; oo: good; ou: could. Also: wolf, bosom, woman, Worcester.
/u:/: Between back and central, close, protruded, tense, narrow to medium. Spelling: u: June; oo: too; o: lose; ou: soup; ew: blew; eu: feud; ui: suit. Also: beauty, shoe, manoeuvre.
/ʌ/: Central, open-mid, neutral, lax, wide. Spelling: u: hurry; o: worry, done, won, mother; ou: young; oo: blood.
/ɜ:/: Central, between open-mid and close-mid, neutral, lax, narrow. Hesitation vowel. Spelling: er: her; ir: flirt; ur: turn; our: journey; ear + consonant: pearl; w + or: work; yr: myrtle.
/ə/: Central, between mid-open and mid-close, neutral, extremely lax, narrow. The most central and weakest vowel. It occurs in non-accented syllables. Spelling: a: along; ar: forward; e: pavement; i: horrible; o: method; ur: pursuit; or: effort; oar: cupboard; u: chorus; ou: famous; ar, er, or, our, ure in final position. Exceptions (/ə/ in accented syllables): gonna and because. Schwa is gaining ground in unstressed syllables: 1. syllables which originally had /ɪ/ 2. nouns and adjectives ending in -ate 3. fluctuation in other suffixes (less/ness) 4. Schwa is common in the suffix -ace, -let, and -ret 5. words finished in -ed /ɪd/ 6. words finished in -es (ɪz).
Diphthongs
Diphthongs are sounds which consist of a movement or glide from one vowel to another. The first part of the glide is longer and stronger. There are a total of 8 diphthongs. They are classified into:
- Closing: The movement from one vowel to the other is heading to the upper level in the oral cavity. Closing diphthongs are wide if the transition is long: /aʊ, aɪ, ɔɪ/. Closing diphthongs are narrow if the movement is short: /əʊ, eɪ/.
- Centering: The movement is produced in the centripetal area (around or close to the schwa zone). Ending in /ə/: /ɪə, eə, ʊə/.
/əʊ/: The most typically English diphthong. Spelling: o: go; oa (not followed by r): road; ow: know; ou: shoulder. French origin: beau, bureau.
/aʊ/: The tongue begins in a position similar to that of vowel /ɑ:/. Spelling: ow: now, brown; ou: found; ough: drought.
/eɪ/: Similar to the Spanish one. Spelling: a: slave; ay: day; ea: great; ei: weight; ey: they; ate (verbs): graduate; ai: main.
/aɪ/: The tongue is hollowed in the oral cavity as in /ɑ:/ (deep position). Spelling: i: child; ie: die; y: try; igh: light; eigh: height; ye: bye; ei: either. “i” + “nd” or “ld” –> /aɪ/ –> kind, blind, wild. “i” (in stressed syllables) + another vowel –> /aɪ/ –> quiet.
/ɔɪ/: The tongue begins in a position in the open-mid back area, similar to /ɔ:/, and glides towards /ɪ/. Spelling: oy: boy; oi: coin.
/ɪə/: The transition is very short. Spelling: ier: frontier; eer: beer; ere: severe; ea: idea; ear: beard; ir: menhir; eir: weird. Also: museum.
/eə/: It begins with the same vowel sound as the /e/ in get. Spelling: are: rare; air: chair; ear: wear. Also: there.
/ʊə/: This diphthong is used in few words. We tend to use the vowel /ɔ:/. Spelling: oor: poor; ure: sure; our: tour. Also: jewel.
Triphthongs
They consist of a diphthong + /ə/. These sequences are commonly affected by a process called smoothing or leveling, in which the second element of the sequence (always /ɪ/ or /ʊ/) disappears and the first vowel becomes longer.