Classification & Identification of
English Speech Sounds
Week3
Phonetics
English Speech Sounds
Consonants
Sounds made by a closure or narrowing in the vocal
tract so that the airflow is either completely blocked or
so restricted that audible friction is produced
Vowels
Sounds articulated without a complete closure in the
mouth or a degree of narrowing which would produce
audible friction
The air escapes evenly over the centre of the tongue.
Semi-vowels
Sounds functioning as a consonant but lacking the
phonetic characteristics normally associated with
consonants
Their quality is phonetically that of vowel.
Reviving Sonus 2
English Consonants
Criteria for distinction
Voicing
Place of articulation
Manner of articulation
Secondary articulation
Reviving Sonus 3
Voicing
Related to phonation
Voiced
Vocal cords vibrating
Examples
Vowels, sonorants [a, e, m, r …]
Voiceless
Glottis kept open
Examples
Voiceless obstruents [p, t, k, s …]
Reviving Sonus 4
Places of articulation
bilabial palatal
labiodental (dorso)velar
interdental uvular
(apico)dental pharyngeal
alveolar glottal
alveopalatal
(postalveolar,
palato-alveolar)
Reviving Sonus 5
Manners of articulation
Obstruents Sonorants
stop (plosive) nasal
complete closure liquid
abrupt release lateral
fricative central
partial obstruction flap(tap)
turbulence airflow
trill (eg. French
affricate uvular trill [R])
complete closure
approximant
delayed release
Reviving Sonus 6
English Consonant chart
Bi- Labio- Inter- Alveol Alveo- Palatal Velar Glottal
labial dental dental ar palatal
Stop
Fricative
Affricate
Nasal
Liquid
(lateral)
Liguid
(central)
Flap
Glide
Reviving Sonus 7
English Consonant chart
Bi- Labio- Inter- Alveolar Alveo- Palatal Velar Glottal
labial dental dental palatal
Stop
p t/ k ?
/ d /
b g
Fricative
f T s/ s& h
/ / z / /
v D z
Affricate
c
/
Nasal
m M N
Liquid Reviving Sonus 8
Describing consonant
symbols
voicing-place-manner
examples
[p] voiceless bilabial stop
[z] voiced alveolar fricative
Class description
[p, t, k] voiceless stops
Reviving Sonus 9
English Vowels
Vowel Types
Monophthong
A vowel where there is no detectable
change in quality during a syllable
Diphthong
A vowel where there is a single (perceptual)
noticeable change in quality during a
syllable
Reviving Sonus 10
Monophthongs
Criteria for distinguishing between
various vowels
tongue height
tongue backness
tenseness
lip rounding
nasality
length
Reviving Sonus 11
Vowel(monophthong)
front central back
unr rnd unr rnd unr rnd
tense
high lax
tense
mid
lax
low
Reviving Sonus 12
Vowel(monophthong) chart
[IPA symbols in brackets]
front central back
unr rnd unr rnd unr rnd
tense i[i u[u
high
lax I[i U[u
tense e[ o[ow
eI /
mid
lax E[ ([
e )
Q Reviving Sonus [ 13
Diphthongs
Definition
A diphthong is a phonetic sequence,
consisting of a vowel and a glide, that
is interpreted as a single vowel.
Types
On-glide diphthong: Glide + Vowel
Off-glide diphthong: Vowel + Glide
Reviving Sonus 14
Diphthongs(cntd.)
Examples of on-glide diphthongs
a E i u
j
w
Reviving Sonus 15
Diphthongs(cntd.)
Examples of on-glide diphthongs
a E i u
ja jE ji j ju
J j
[y [y [y [y [y
(y) [
a E i O u
w wa wE wi w wu w
Reviving Sonus 16
Diphthongs (cntd.)
Examples of off-glide diphthongs
(American English)
midwestern dialect
ay ey aw y w
California dialect
ay aw y
See
http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/courses/ling210-
901/course/phonetics/vowelgraphs/USE_Diphthongs.html
Reviving Sonus 17
Describing vowel symbols
Height-backness-tenseness-
rounding
examples
[i high front tense (unrounded) vowel
[Q low front (lax) (unrounded) vowel
Class description
examples
[i, I, e, E, Q front
(unrounded) vowels
[i, u high tense vowels
Reviving Sonus 18
Diacritics for secondary articulation
articulation diacritic example words
aspirated cH pin, repeat
glottalized c’ spin, string
unreleased c| stop, kick
devoiced c8 play, hush
dentalized c5 tenth, cupful
palatalized cJ cy keep, beep
labialized cW cool, boot
velarized c, table
syllabic C c` button, bottle
nasalized v) mean, nose
Reviving SONUS 19
Describing 2ndary articulation
symbols
Consonants
voicing-(place 2nd)-place-(manner 2nd)-
manner
examples
[p voiceless bilabial stop
[pH voiceless bilabial aspirated stop
[pJ py voiceless palatalized bilabial stop
[pHJ voiceless palatalized bilabial aspirated stop
Vowels
Height-backness-tenseness-rounding-2nd
Examples
[E) mid front lax unrounded nasalised vowel
Reviving Sonus 20