Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology

1
Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology
2
Plosives

• also called STOP CONSONANTS
• the breath is completely stopped at some point in
  the mouth and then released with a slight
  explosion
• speech organs which may form plosives lips
  (bilabial plosives), tip of the tongue (alveolar
  plosives), back of the tongue (velar plosives)
• all six plosives (/p, b, t, d, k, g/) may occur
  at the beginning of words, in the middle of words
  and at the end of words
• these positions are important because plosives
  are articulated differently in different
  positions

3
/p, b/

• bilabial plosives
• the lips are closed firmly, the soft palate is
  raised so that the air cannot go through the
  nose, but is trapped in the mouth for a while
• when the lips open suddenly, the air rushes out
  with a slight explosion or a popping noise
• before the lips open, other speech organs assume
  the position for the following sound, whether it
  be a vowel or a consonant

4

• /p/ - strong, voiceless
• /b/ - weak, voiced
• when /p/ is found at the beginning of a word, it
  has a special feature ASPIRATION
• e.g. pull, pot, put, pat, pet, pit
• /p/ between vowels is less aspirated
• e.g. happy, paper, supper, apply
• in final position, /p/ is also less aspirated
• e.g. rip, rope, tap, cap, wrap
• /b/ never has aspiration
• e.g. book, bar, back, bell, bit, bean

5

• /p/ at the end of words shortens the preceding
  vowel, whereas /b/ is weak and lengthens the
  preceding vowel
• consonant clusters of /p/ or /b/ and other
  plosives are produced a little differently (topic
  of our next class)

6
/t, d/

• alveolar plosives
• the tip of the tongue is pressed against the
  alveolar ridge
• the soft palate is raised, the breath does not go
  into the nasal cavity, it stays trapped in the
  mouth for a while
• the sides of the tongue are firmly pressed
  against the sides of the palate so the air cannot
  pass over the sides of the tongue
• the tip of the tongue is lowered suddenly and the
  air rushes out with a slight explosion or a
  popping noise

7

• /t/ is strong, voiceless and aspirated
• e.g. top, tin, tan, ten, ton
• /d/ is short, weak and never aspirated
• when /t/ occurs word-medially, it loses some
  aspiration
• in final position, /t/ is also less aspirated and
  shortens the vowel before it
• /d/ is weak, makes very little noise but
  lengthens the vowel that precedes it
• when followed by other plosives or /m, n, l/, /t/
  and /d/ are pronounced differently (topic of our
  next class)

8
/k, g/

• velar plosives
• the back of the tongue is in contact with the
  soft palate, which is raised, so the air cannot
  go into the nasal cavity and is trapped in the
  mouth
• when the tongue is lowered suddenly from the soft
  palate, the breath rushes out of the mouth with a
  slight explosion or a popping sound

9

• /k/ is strong, voiceless and aspirated
• e.g. cot, cat, cart, kill, keep
• when /k/ occurs between vowels, the aspiration is
  weaker or even absent
• /g/ is weak, voiced and has no aspiration
• in final position, /k/ shortens the vowel before
  it, /g/ lengthens the vowel before it
• when /k/ and /g/ are followed by other plosives
  or /m/ or /n/, these sounds are produced in a
  different manner (topic of our next class)

10
Affricates

• /t?, d?/
• these two phonemes are articulated both with
  friction and with explosion of air
• tip of the tongue touches the back part of the
  alveolar ridge
• the soft palate is raised so that air is trapped
  in the mouth for a short time
• tip of the tongue moves away from the alveolar
  ridge a little and then the tongue comes to the
  position for /?/ or /?/, when friction is heard
• friction is not that long with these two phonemes

11

• palato-alveolar affricates
• /t?, d?/ are not as strong as Serbian /c/ and
  /dž/, they are much softer
• /t?/ is strong and voiceless
• /d?/ is weak and voiced
• in final position, /t?/ shortens the preceding
  vowel, whereas /d?/ lengthens the preceding vowel

12
Glides

• all three consonants produced with a quick,
  smooth, non-friction glide towards the vowel that
  follows
• /j, w, r/

13
/j/

• this consonant is a quick glide from the position
  of /i/ or /?/ or any other vowel
• sometimes called a semi-vowel
• phonetically like a vowel (articulated in such a
  way), but phonologically like a consonant (it
  only occurs before vowel phonemes)
• voiced palatal sound
• palatal glide

14
/w/

• this consonant is a quick glide from the position
  of /u/ or /?/ or any other vowel that follows
• more difficult to pronounce than /j/, because
  many languages, including Serbian, do not have it
  
• a difference must be made between /v/ and /w/
• lips are noticeably rounded!
• bilabial glide
• /w/ does not occur in word-final positions
• wh-words in some dialects of English pronounced
  with /?/ (where, which, why)

15
/r/

• the tongue is curved, the tip is pointing towards
  the hard palate
• the tip of the tongue is not close enough to the
  palate to produce friction
• the lips are quite rounded, especially when /r/
  is word-initial
• the soft palate is raised, voiced air flows
  quietly between the tip of the tongue and palate
  without friction
• palato-alveolar glide

16

• in RP /r/ is only pronounced before vowels, never
  before consonants
• when a word ending in r in spelling is followed
  by another word which begins in a vowel, then /r/
  is pronounced
• e.g. never again /nev?r ?gen/
• LINKING R
• sometimes /r/ is heard when there is no
  equivalent in spelling
• e.g. Africa and Asia /????????????/
• INTRUSIVE R
• some speakers can be heard saying such phrases,
  but it is not a preferred way of usage

17
Place of articulation Manner of articulation Bilabial Labio-dental Dental Alveolar Palato-alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p, b t, d k, g
Fricative f, v ?, ? s, z ?, ? h
Affricate t?, d?
Nasal m n ?
Lateral l
Glide w r j