Phonetics and Pronunciation
Term 3 (Part 1)
Chapter 1
- How knowledge of English sound system will help improve your
pronunciation.
- What a phonetic alphabet is, and what it is used for.
- How to read simple words and texts written in the phonetic alphabet
- What a phoneme is, and what basic sounds the English language consists
of.
All spoken sentences consist of endless combinations of a limited number of
basic sounds or phonemes. The English language has 49 phonemes. Having
knowledge of the English sound system will help to improve your pronunciation
by being able to recognize the sounds.
The phonetic alphabet uses symbols to represent each phoneme. The phonetic
alphabet may help you to improve your pronunciation.
The phonetic symbols
- Some vowel sound symbols have a colon (:) behind them. This indicates
that they are long vowel sounds.
- Some vowel sounds consist of two elements. They are called diphthongs.
- Some vowel sounds consist of three elements; these are called
triphthongs.
Chapter 2
- What practical purposes phonetic transcriptions can serve
- Some rules to bear in mind about phonetic transcriptions
- What the ‘organs of speech’ are
- The differences between voiced and voiceless consonant sounds, and why
it is important for speakers of English to distinguish between them.
Phonetic transcriptions
When speech sounds are represented by means of phonetic symbols, this is
called a phonetic transcription.
- The same sound is always represented by the same symbol
- Phonetic transcriptions are put between slashes: / /
- No capitals are used
- Stress is indicated by a stress mark before the stressed syllable
The advantages of phonetic transcriptions and the phonetic alphabet are:
- The student can look up the pronunciation of difficult words in a suitable
dictionary
- The student can see in a written text in the phonetic alphabet the sounds
that he hears e.g. in a recording
- The student can sharpen his ears by writing down in the phonetic alphabet
the sounds that he hears in words and sentences
- The student can read words or a text in the phonetic alphabet aloud; the
text tells him exactly which sounds to produce.
,Organs of speech
,Voicing: voiced and voiceless sounds
Besides using your tongue and lips while speaking, you also use your vocal cords
and larynx (strottenhoofd). When the vocal cords are at rest, there is a gap
between them for breathing. But when they flap open and shut -many times per
second- they cause vibrations which are called voice. The standard way of
pronouncing vowel sounds -and certain consonant sounds like /d/, /b/, /z/,- is
with the vocal cords vibrating: voiced. Some consonant sounds are pronounced
without vibrations: voiceless consonant sounds: Pat, Ted, Karl and Fred saw
three sheep charge.
Why does ‘voice’ present so many problems?
The distinction between voiceless and voiced consonant sounds is very
important, because these sounds define the word and therefore the definition.
Voiceless consonant sounds or fortis consonant sounds are pronounced with
force, with a lot of effort. Voiced consonant sounds or lenis consonant sounds
are pronounced softly. Another reason why it is important to voice final
consonant sounds is that when the it is a voiced consonant sound, the vowel
sound in front becomes longer. The lenis consonant sounds leave extra room to
the vowel sounds before them, whereas fortis consonant sounds leave no room
for preceding vowel sounds.
Chapter 3
- How to label vowel sounds
Who could call on father up at Ted’s? His leeks are burnt.
Put the phoneme symbols in.
The three-term label
When defining vowel sounds we apply the three-term label.
A) The degree to which the tongue is raised: open, half open, half close or
close
B) The part of the tongue that is active: front, central or back
C) Whether the lips are rounded
or not
Open / half-open / half-close / close
These terms are used to describe how
high or low the tongue must be in the
mouth.
- If a vowel sound is open the
tongue lies relatively low in the
mouth e.g. /a:/
- For a close vowel sound some
part of the tongue is raised as
high as possible without
blocking the air flow.
, Front / central / back
These terms are used to describe which
part of the tongue is raised or lowered.
- In a front vowel sound, it is the
front part of the tongue which is
raised to a position e.g. /i:/
- In a back vowel sound, it is the
height of the back of the tongue
which is raised to a position
e.g. /u:/
- In central vowel sounds the
middle of the tongue is raised
slightly e.g.
Rounded / unrounded
The shape of the lips is very important
in pronunciation.
- Some of the vowel sounds are
pronounced with various degrees
of lip-rounding.
- Others are pronounced
unrounded, so with the lips
spread.
- All the front and central vowels
are unrounded.
Term 3 (Part 1)
Chapter 1
- How knowledge of English sound system will help improve your
pronunciation.
- What a phonetic alphabet is, and what it is used for.
- How to read simple words and texts written in the phonetic alphabet
- What a phoneme is, and what basic sounds the English language consists
of.
All spoken sentences consist of endless combinations of a limited number of
basic sounds or phonemes. The English language has 49 phonemes. Having
knowledge of the English sound system will help to improve your pronunciation
by being able to recognize the sounds.
The phonetic alphabet uses symbols to represent each phoneme. The phonetic
alphabet may help you to improve your pronunciation.
The phonetic symbols
- Some vowel sound symbols have a colon (:) behind them. This indicates
that they are long vowel sounds.
- Some vowel sounds consist of two elements. They are called diphthongs.
- Some vowel sounds consist of three elements; these are called
triphthongs.
Chapter 2
- What practical purposes phonetic transcriptions can serve
- Some rules to bear in mind about phonetic transcriptions
- What the ‘organs of speech’ are
- The differences between voiced and voiceless consonant sounds, and why
it is important for speakers of English to distinguish between them.
Phonetic transcriptions
When speech sounds are represented by means of phonetic symbols, this is
called a phonetic transcription.
- The same sound is always represented by the same symbol
- Phonetic transcriptions are put between slashes: / /
- No capitals are used
- Stress is indicated by a stress mark before the stressed syllable
The advantages of phonetic transcriptions and the phonetic alphabet are:
- The student can look up the pronunciation of difficult words in a suitable
dictionary
- The student can see in a written text in the phonetic alphabet the sounds
that he hears e.g. in a recording
- The student can sharpen his ears by writing down in the phonetic alphabet
the sounds that he hears in words and sentences
- The student can read words or a text in the phonetic alphabet aloud; the
text tells him exactly which sounds to produce.
,Organs of speech
,Voicing: voiced and voiceless sounds
Besides using your tongue and lips while speaking, you also use your vocal cords
and larynx (strottenhoofd). When the vocal cords are at rest, there is a gap
between them for breathing. But when they flap open and shut -many times per
second- they cause vibrations which are called voice. The standard way of
pronouncing vowel sounds -and certain consonant sounds like /d/, /b/, /z/,- is
with the vocal cords vibrating: voiced. Some consonant sounds are pronounced
without vibrations: voiceless consonant sounds: Pat, Ted, Karl and Fred saw
three sheep charge.
Why does ‘voice’ present so many problems?
The distinction between voiceless and voiced consonant sounds is very
important, because these sounds define the word and therefore the definition.
Voiceless consonant sounds or fortis consonant sounds are pronounced with
force, with a lot of effort. Voiced consonant sounds or lenis consonant sounds
are pronounced softly. Another reason why it is important to voice final
consonant sounds is that when the it is a voiced consonant sound, the vowel
sound in front becomes longer. The lenis consonant sounds leave extra room to
the vowel sounds before them, whereas fortis consonant sounds leave no room
for preceding vowel sounds.
Chapter 3
- How to label vowel sounds
Who could call on father up at Ted’s? His leeks are burnt.
Put the phoneme symbols in.
The three-term label
When defining vowel sounds we apply the three-term label.
A) The degree to which the tongue is raised: open, half open, half close or
close
B) The part of the tongue that is active: front, central or back
C) Whether the lips are rounded
or not
Open / half-open / half-close / close
These terms are used to describe how
high or low the tongue must be in the
mouth.
- If a vowel sound is open the
tongue lies relatively low in the
mouth e.g. /a:/
- For a close vowel sound some
part of the tongue is raised as
high as possible without
blocking the air flow.
, Front / central / back
These terms are used to describe which
part of the tongue is raised or lowered.
- In a front vowel sound, it is the
front part of the tongue which is
raised to a position e.g. /i:/
- In a back vowel sound, it is the
height of the back of the tongue
which is raised to a position
e.g. /u:/
- In central vowel sounds the
middle of the tongue is raised
slightly e.g.
Rounded / unrounded
The shape of the lips is very important
in pronunciation.
- Some of the vowel sounds are
pronounced with various degrees
of lip-rounding.
- Others are pronounced
unrounded, so with the lips
spread.
- All the front and central vowels
are unrounded.
