PHONETICS
The study of
linguistic
sounds is
called
Phonetics.
Consonants are often classified by being
given a so-called VPM-label. VPM stands for
Voicing, Place and Manner: 7 7 - voicing
means that the vocal folds are used; if they
are not, the sound is voiceless (note that
vowels always imply the use of vocal folds).
- place of articulation is the place where the
air flow will be more or less obstructed. -
manner is concerned with the nature of the
obstruction.
Voicing: In the examples below the first
sound is voiceless, the other is voiced:
pie/buy, try/dry, chew/Jew, thigh/thy.
This distinction can also be made in
between two vowels: rapid/rabid, or at
the end of a word: pick/pig, rich/ridge.
Bilabial: Examples are
[p], which is voiceless, as
in pay or [b] and [m]
which are voiced, as in
bay, may.
Labiodental:
Examples are [f]
safe (voiceless) and
[v] save (voiced).
Dental
Examples are [S]
oath (voiceless)
and [C] clothe
(voiced).
Alveolar: Examples are [ t,s ] too,sue, both
voiceless, and [d,z,n,l,r ] do, zoo, nook, look,
rook, all voiced. Palatoalveolar. Examples
[R,tR] pressure, batch (voiceless) and [Y,dY]
pleasure, badge (voiced). Palatal sounds are
very similar to palatoalveolar ones, they are
just produced further back towards the
velum. The only palatal sound in English is [
j] as in yes, yellow, beauty, new and it is
voiced. Velar sounds are made by raising the
back of the tongue towards the soft palate,
called the velum. Examples [k] back,
voiceless, and [g, M] both voiced bag, bang.
[w] is a velar which is accompanied with lip
rounding. Glottal sounds are produced when
the air passes through the glottis as it is
narrowed: [h] as in high.
PHONOLOGY
Phonology is the
study of systems of
sounds, often the
sound system of a
particular language.
As phonetics and
phonology both deal with
sounds, and as English
spelling and English
pronunciation are two very
different things, it is
important that you keep in
mind that we are not
interested in letters here,
but in sounds. For instance,
English has not 5 or 6 but 20
different vowels, even if
these vowels are all written
by different combinations
of 6 different letters, "a, e, i,
o, u, y".
a phonological point of view, it is
possible to distinguish between
vowels and consonants by testing
which sounds may be the nucleus
of a syllable, i.e. the part of a
syllabe that cannot be left out. If
you consider a syllable such as
[k@:t] cart, the initial [k] may be
left out and we still have a
syllable, [@:t] art, the final [t] may
be left out and we still have a
syllable , [k@:] car. In fact [k] and
[t] may both be left out, and the
remainder is still a syllable, [@:]
are. If however you try to leave
out the vowel, then there is no
syllable anymore:* [kt].