Transcript Lecture 1 - Introduction

Introduction to English Linguistics
prof. Hugo Bowles
Lesson 2
Consonant soundss
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REMEMBER !

PLACEMENT TEST per i ritardatari
 Martedi 9 ottobre, ore 14, stanza P3

RICEVIMENTO BOWLES
 Lunedi 10-11, Venerdi 14-15

DIDATTICA WEB
 Lingua Inglese 1 LLEM 2011-12
 “Files” e “Comunicazioni”
2
BUYING ENGLISH BOOKS

www. amazon. co.uk

You need a credit card but it’s cheaper and
quicker than bookshops.
3
Phonetics and phonology
4
Standard British English v.
Standard Italian
English
Italian
Pure Vowels 12
7 (5)
Diphthongs
8
4
Consonants
24
19
5
English is not a phonographic
language

Many sounds have several different spellings,
 e.g. go, though, foe, slow, boat;
 or
George, Joe, badge, village
Many “same spellings” have different sounds,
 e.g. <ough>: though, cough, bough, through,
thought, and enough.
6

The problem of pronunciation
for learners of ESL

Learners cannot rely on the spelling of a word
 The problem is the opposite for native speakers –
English schoolchildren spend incredible amounts
of time learning to read and esp. to write. Many
adults have very poor spelling.
 To learn to pronounce English correctly it is of
great help to learn to read phonemic transcription
and/or have a CD dictionary with sound
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Why study phonetics and
phonology?

Of particular importance for learners of English as
a Second Language (ESL) because it has a
practical application
 English has a far larger repertory of phonemes
than languages like Standard Italian
 English is not a phonographic language, i.e.
spelling generally does give a clear indication of
pronunciation
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Key concepts: the phone

Each time a speech sound is produced it is
different
 Each time you produce a /t/ it will be ever
so slightly different
 Hence the concept of the phone: a physical
realisation of a speech sound
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Key concepts: the phoneme

The smallest speech sound that has linguistic value
 When a series of phones are similar in terms of
articulation and can be distinguished from another
group in terms of meaning and collocation, the
group is given a name e.g. /t/. This is a phoneme.
 The phoneme is an abstract term, specific to a
particular language.
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How many consonant sounds are
present in these three words?

cat
 this
 kick
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BREAKFAST

/b/
 /r/
 /k/
 /f/
 /s/
 /t/
12
Articulation

/b/
 /d/
 /g/
 /k/
 /p/
 /t/
13
Speech sounds can be divided into three
main types:

Stops (or plosives) and affricates
 Fricatives
 Vowels and approximants
14
We will first focus on stops and fricatives
which are classified according to

the place in which they are articulated

whether they are voiced or not (vibration of
vocal folds)

whether they are oral or nasal (for stops
only)
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Places of articulation
1. Bilabial (lips)
2. Labio-dental (lips-teeth)
3. Interdental
Dental (teeth)
4. Alveolar ridge
5. Post-alveolar
6. Palatal (palate)
7. Velar (velum)
8. Glottal (glottis)
9. Uvula (uvulum)
9
16
Voicing: A consonant may be

Voiced (lenis)
 Voiceless (fortis)
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A stop is composed of three
phases

Closure
 Hold (the passage of air from the lungs is
blocked)
 Release – the difference in air pressure
between the area behind the closure and the
atmosphere results in a small explosion
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The place of articulation is where the
passage of air is blocked

For example /t/ and
/d/ are both
produced by
blocking the
passage of air at the
alveolar
ridge/dental
region
19
English plosives (stops)

/p/ and /b/ are voiceless and voiced bilabials
i.e. produced with both lips

/t/ and /d/ are voiceless and voiced alveolars

/k/ and /g/ are voiceless and voiced velars
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What consonant pair is this?
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That’s right! /p/, /b/
22
And this?
23
/k/, /g/
24
What is the difference
between these two
slides?
25
In the first (/b/, /p/) the passage of air to
the nose is blocked by the raised velum.
In the second this passage is open, giving
us a nasal. What consonant is it?
26
It’s /m/
27
Let’s look at other positions – in the alveolar
position we have /t/ and /d/, and the nasal /n/:
28
In a similar way at the velum we
have /k/ and /g/, and the nasal / 
/:
29
Fricatives

Are created by forming a constriction
through which air from the lungs may pass,
but not freely.
 This lack of freedom causes audible
turbulence, or friction, hence the name
fricative.
 As for stops they may be voiceless or
voiced .
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Let’s look at a fricative pair which causes
non-native speakers of English a lot of
trouble
 and / /:
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Air passes through a small gap between
the tongue and the upper teeth causing a
low friction sound:
32
In the alveolar fricatives /s/ and /z/, the
friction noise is quite loud, as air hits the
upper teeth causing a hiss.
33
What fricative pair is represented here?
34
That’s right - /f/,and /v/
35
And here?
36
This is the post-alveolar pair / ʃ / and / 
/. Note that a small shift of the tongue from
the
/s/, /z/ position directs the flow of air onto the
alveolar ridge.
37
Affricates
These may be considered as stop + fricative
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An affricate is composed of the following
stages

Closure
 Hold
 A small opening instead of the complete
opening of the stop.
 This small opening causes friction just like
a fricative
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Affricates - articulation

The place of articulation is always the same
for both stages
 Affricates are always either voiced or
unvoiced
40
In English we have two
affricates:

/tS/ church and /tZ/ George
 Both are realised in the post-alveolar
position
41
Here are the two main phases.
1. Hold
42
2. Release with constriction
43
Here is the IPA consonant chart
White represents standard British English
consonants, light blue possible allophones, and
dark blue exotic consonants
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http://davidbrett.uniss.it/index

These slides were produced by David Brett, a phonetics
expert who teaches at the University of Sassari.
CHECKING DESCRIPTION OF CONSONANTS
- click on the Index (on the left)
- click on “The articulation of speech sounds”
- click on “SPEECH ANIMATOR”
- click on Close
- click on the consonant phonemes to hear the sound and
see the description
THIS EXERCISE IS FOR CHECKING THE DESCRIPTION
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http://davidbrett.uniss.it/index
UNDERSTANDING CONSONANTS

click on the Index (on the left)

click on “The articulation of speech sounds”

click on “Match phonemes with pictures”

do the exercises for “Consonants: diagrams,
symbols and definitions
Use the CHECK to check your answers
Use the KEY to see the right answers
Use RESET to do a new exercise
I ALWAYS PUT 5 OF THESE IN YOUR EXAM !!!!
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http://davidbrett.uniss.it/index
DESCRIBING CONSONANTS

click on the Index (on the left)

click on “The articulation of speech sounds”

click on “Articulation description exercise”

decide the Voice, Place and Manner of each sound
Use the CHECK to check your answers
Use the KEY to see the right answers
Use RESET to do a new exercise
THESE EXERCISES WILL HELP YOU A LOT TO
PRACTICE FOR YOUR EXAM
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