Phonetics
Objectives: You would develop ability to
• familiarize with the Speech Sounds
• learn correct pronunciation
Introduction:
Sound is produced when an object vibrates and in consequence the air surrounding that object also
starts vibrating. These vibrations carry sound waves from the sound producing object to our ears.
All the sounds we make when we speak are the result of vibrations created by the air flow through
our speech organs and the contraction of the muscles.
Phonetics: Phonetics is the scientific study of all human speech sounds.
Phonology: It is a branch of linguistics that deals with the systematic organization of sounds in
spoken language and in sign language.
Received Pronunciation (RP):
It is also called the Queen's (or King's) English or Oxford English or BBC English. It is the
Accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the
relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms.
Although there is nothing intrinsic about RP that marks it as superior to any other variety,
sociolinguistic factors give Received Pronunciation particular prestige. RP is the recognizable
accent often described as “typically British.” Why do we learn phonetics?
There is no language in the world, which is written exactly as it is spoken. For example, take the
English word –‘CANCEL’, in this word the first letter –‘C’ is pronounced as /k/ and the fourth
letter -’C’ is pronounced as /s/. Take the words –‘BUT’ and –‘PUT’, in these words the letter –
‘U’ is in the same place but the pronunciation is different in English language. So, if you want to
learn phonetics, you can learn the pronunciation of the word by referring to the Pronunciation
Dictionary by Daniel Jones.
Phoneme: Phoneme is the smallest unit of speech sound that distinguishes one word element
from another.
What is a Phonetic language? A phonetic language is a language that f0ollows the rules of
pronunciation. A language is considered as phonetic or phonemic- orthography if the pronunciation
highly correlates to the written form. (Graphemes)
What is a Non-Phonetic language? In a non-phonetic language, there is no direct relationship
between the spelling and the sound. So, English is also a non-phonetic language.
Organs of Speech: The organs of the body which produce speech sounds are called Organs of
Speech. The Organs of Speech are divided into three systems.
1. Respiratory system comprises- the lungs, the muscles of the chest, and the wind pipe. The air
stream
is called Pulmonic Aggressive Air-Stream.
2. Phonatory system comprises- larynx (vocal cords).
3. Articulatory system comprises-pharynx, lips, teeth, teeth ridge, hard palate, soft palate, uvula,
and tongue.
, The Vocal Cords
The vocal cords are two elastic folds situated in the Larynx (Adam‘s apple). The space between the
two vocal cords is called the glottis. The air-stream travels upwards from the lungs through the vocal
cords.
When the vocal cords vibrate, voiced sounds (Lenis) are produced. Sounds produced without the
vibration of vocal cords are known as voiceless sounds (Fortis).
What is the difference between vowel sounds and consonant sounds: - In the production of the
vowel sounds, there is no obstruction of the air stream that would cause audible friction. All other
sounds where there is obstruction of the air stream are taken as consonant sounds.
In English Language there are 26 letters with 44 sounds as shown below.
(MONOPHTHONGS)
Objectives: You would develop ability to
• familiarize with the Speech Sounds
• learn correct pronunciation
Introduction:
Sound is produced when an object vibrates and in consequence the air surrounding that object also
starts vibrating. These vibrations carry sound waves from the sound producing object to our ears.
All the sounds we make when we speak are the result of vibrations created by the air flow through
our speech organs and the contraction of the muscles.
Phonetics: Phonetics is the scientific study of all human speech sounds.
Phonology: It is a branch of linguistics that deals with the systematic organization of sounds in
spoken language and in sign language.
Received Pronunciation (RP):
It is also called the Queen's (or King's) English or Oxford English or BBC English. It is the
Accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the
relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms.
Although there is nothing intrinsic about RP that marks it as superior to any other variety,
sociolinguistic factors give Received Pronunciation particular prestige. RP is the recognizable
accent often described as “typically British.” Why do we learn phonetics?
There is no language in the world, which is written exactly as it is spoken. For example, take the
English word –‘CANCEL’, in this word the first letter –‘C’ is pronounced as /k/ and the fourth
letter -’C’ is pronounced as /s/. Take the words –‘BUT’ and –‘PUT’, in these words the letter –
‘U’ is in the same place but the pronunciation is different in English language. So, if you want to
learn phonetics, you can learn the pronunciation of the word by referring to the Pronunciation
Dictionary by Daniel Jones.
Phoneme: Phoneme is the smallest unit of speech sound that distinguishes one word element
from another.
What is a Phonetic language? A phonetic language is a language that f0ollows the rules of
pronunciation. A language is considered as phonetic or phonemic- orthography if the pronunciation
highly correlates to the written form. (Graphemes)
What is a Non-Phonetic language? In a non-phonetic language, there is no direct relationship
between the spelling and the sound. So, English is also a non-phonetic language.
Organs of Speech: The organs of the body which produce speech sounds are called Organs of
Speech. The Organs of Speech are divided into three systems.
1. Respiratory system comprises- the lungs, the muscles of the chest, and the wind pipe. The air
stream
is called Pulmonic Aggressive Air-Stream.
2. Phonatory system comprises- larynx (vocal cords).
3. Articulatory system comprises-pharynx, lips, teeth, teeth ridge, hard palate, soft palate, uvula,
and tongue.
, The Vocal Cords
The vocal cords are two elastic folds situated in the Larynx (Adam‘s apple). The space between the
two vocal cords is called the glottis. The air-stream travels upwards from the lungs through the vocal
cords.
When the vocal cords vibrate, voiced sounds (Lenis) are produced. Sounds produced without the
vibration of vocal cords are known as voiceless sounds (Fortis).
What is the difference between vowel sounds and consonant sounds: - In the production of the
vowel sounds, there is no obstruction of the air stream that would cause audible friction. All other
sounds where there is obstruction of the air stream are taken as consonant sounds.
In English Language there are 26 letters with 44 sounds as shown below.
(MONOPHTHONGS)
