Speech Sounds: Phonetics and Phonology

Understanding Speech Sounds: Phonetics and Phonology

Types of Consonants

Plosive: A consonant segment whose articulation involves a complete closure at some point in the vocal tract, held long enough for the air pressure to build up, followed by a sudden release of the trapped air so that it is released explosively. When the articulators separate, the air is released, producing a slight explosion sound: /p, t, k, b, d, g/. The term oclusiva is generally preferred in Spanish rather than plosiva.

Fricative: A segment whose articulation involves a constriction or narrowing in the vocal tract to such an extent as to produce friction: /f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h/.

Affricate: A segment whose articulation involves a complete closure at some point in the mouth, behind which the air-stream builds up, followed by a comparatively slow separation between the articulators so that friction is heard: /tʃ, dʒ/ + [tr, dr]. Affricate = plosive + fricative.

Approximant: A segment articulated with a constriction or narrowing in the mouth which is not sufficient to cause turbulence, so there is no audible friction: /l, r, j, w/.

Nasal: A segment articulated with a complete closure at some point in the mouth while the soft palate is lowered, allowing the air through the nasal cavity: /m, n, ŋ/.

Applications of Phonetics and Phonology

Interest in recording and describing pronunciation has a long history. A concern to record dialect pronunciations, for example, was an important factor in the development of modern phonetic transcription. The consequent interest in the amount of detail that could be included in a transcription also contributed to phonological theory. Similar interest in recording hitherto unwritten languages, such as the indigenous languages of the Americas, was often combined with a desire to devise practical orthographies and to promote literacy.

Language teaching has contributed to and profited from phonetics and phonology. Many works on English phonetics and phonology have been written for the benefit of foreign learners, for example. The fact that English spelling is not a direct reflection of pronunciation has undoubtedly been an important factor here and has led to the publication of pronouncing dictionaries and other guides to pronunciation, both for native speakers of English and for learners. It is now customary for general-purpose English dictionaries to include some kind of transcription or guide to the pronunciation of each word, a practice which is by no means standard for other languages with more consistent spelling conventions.

Speech therapy (logopedia, logoterapia, foniatría) refers to the activities and exercises designed to help to alleviate or cure a language or speech defect (e.g. stuttering) or to help someone regain their use of speech after having suffered speech loss (e.g. aphasia after a stroke).

Epenthesis: Adding Sounds to Words

Epenthesis or insertion is the addition of one or more phonemes to a word. The new phoneme is an epenthetic sound. The additional sound may be a consonant or a vowel. For instance, an extra or epenthetic /r/ may be added to separate vowels. This is the case of intrusive /r/, for example, drawing may be pronounced as drawring. A consonant may be replaced between consonants in a consonant cluster where the place of articulation is different in order to bridge them, e.g. epenthetic /p/ in something could become somepthing. A vowel may be inserted to break up a two-consonant cluster. An example of this would be the word grow /grəʊ/ being realized as /gə’rəʊ/.