Vowels

We shall first have a closer look at the way in which vowels differ from consonants.

Then we shall analyse vowels phonetically, i.e. according to:

- tongue position: how high in the mouth is the tongue, and which part of the tongue

is the highest?

- length: are the vowels long or short?

- rounding: are the lips rounded or not?

- nasality: is there free passage of air through the nose?

- diphthongs: are they steady, or do they somehow change in character?

Difference from Consonants

Even though all the languages of the world contain both vowels and consonants, and

although almost everybody has some idea of whether a given sound is a vowel or a

consonant in his language, there is actually more than one way to distinguish between the

two classes of sounds. From a phonetic point of view one way of distinguishing is by

considering which sounds have the highest degree of obstruction. Although vowels have

almost no obstruction, and some consonants (obstruents, nasals, and the lateral) have a high

degree of obstruction, there is a group of consonants (the approximants) which would be

classified as vowels if this criterion was used: approximants have no more obstruction than

vowels. This can be seen by comparing the approximant [j] in yeast [ji:st]with the vowel [i:]

in east [i:st].

From 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]. [ a:] is then the sound that cannot be left out. Compare with yeast whereas

[j] can be left out, giving [i:st], [i:] can’t:*[jst]. Syllabicity seems to be the criterion to

determine whether a sound is a vowel or a consonant.

The above discussion would not be complete if we didn't mention the problem of socalled

syllabic consonants. This is the case when sounds like / r,l,n / may function as a

separate syllable consisting of an only sound, as in /kPt+n/ cotton or /zp+l/ apple, where

English speakers clearly hear two separate syllables. In these words, the /n/ and /l/ seem to

function as the nucleus of the second syllable of these words. However they cannot be

classified as vowels, as they can never occur alone as a word. 

 Tongue Position

Tongue position is described using two criteria: the height (how high is the tongue)

and the part of the tongue involved in the production of the sound.

In English the tongue may either be high, i.e. when the speaker produces e.g. [i:, u:]

in [bi:t, bu:t] beat, boot, intermediate, e.g. [e,N:] in [bet, bN:t] bet, bought, or low, e.g.

[z,a:] in [bzt, ba:t] bat, Bart.

a) tongue is at the highest b) tongue is at the lowest

Depending on the language we can have several intermediate tongue heights. English

has three heights: high, mid and low, whereas French has two intermediate tongue heights

with a total of four tongue heights: high, mid high, mid low and low.

MANNERS OF ARTICULATION OF CONSONANTS

We can now distinguish between English consonants from two points of view, that

of voicing, and that of place. We can see that [b] and [t] are different in both respects, [b] is

voiced and bilabial, and [t] is voiceless and alveolar. [p] differs from [b] only in being

voiceless, as both are bilabial, and [p] differs from [t] only in being bilabial, as both are

voiceless.

There are still pairs of sounds where we cannot yet describe the difference of one

from the other, e.g. [b,m] bend, mend as both are voiced and bilabial, and [t,s] ton, son which

both are voiceless and alveolar. As the examples show, we can however tell the words apart,

and this is because the sounds are different in a way we have not yet discussed, and that is

with respect to their manner of articulation.

The manner of articulation has to do with the kind of obstruction the air meets on its

way out, after it has passed the vocal folds. It may meet a complete closure (plosives), an

almost complete closure (fricatives), or a smaller degree of closure (approximants), or the air

might escape in more exceptional ways, around the sides of the tongue (laterals), or through

the nasal cavity (nasals).

Plosives are sounds in which there is a complete closure in the mouth, so that the air

is blocked for a fraction of a second and then released with a small burst of sound, called a

plosion (it sounds like a very small explosion). 

Plosives may be bilabial [p,b] park, bark,

alveolar [t,d] tar, dark or velar [k,g] car, guard. There is a fourth kind of plosive, the glottal

stop. The word football can be pronounced without interruption in the middle as in [fTtbN:l]

or with a complete closure of the glottis instead of [t]: [fT>bN:l].

In English a voiceless plosive that occurs at the begining of a word and is followed

by a vowel, is rather special in the sense that at the release of a plosion one can hear a slight

puff of air (called aspiration) before the vowel is articulated. Hence in “pen “we hear [pçen].

These aspirated voiceless plosives are not considered to be different sounds from unaspirated

voiceless plosives from the point of view of how they function in the sound system. This

difference, which can be clearly heard, is said to be phonetic.

Fricatives have a closure which is not quite complete. This means that the air is not

blocked at any point, and therefore there is no plosion. On the other hand the obstruction is

big enough for the air to make a noise when it passes through it, because of the friction. This

effect is similar to the wind whistling around the corner of a house. Fricatives may be labiodental

[f,v] wife, wives, dental [S,C] breath, breathe, alveolar [s,z] sink, zinc, palato-alveolar

[R,Y] nation, evasion, or glottal [h] help. [h] is a glottal fricative. As it has no closure

anywhere else, and as all air passes between the vocal folds, this means that [h] is like

aspiration unaccompanied by any obstruction.

A distinction may be made between sibilant and non-sibilant fricatives. Sibilant

sounds are the fricatives with a clear "hissing" noise, [ s,z,R,Y ] and the two affricates [tR, dY]

choke, joke.

Affricates are a combination of a plosive and a fricative (sometimes they are called"affricated plosives"). They begin like a plosive, with a complete closure, but instead of aplosion, they have a very slow release, moving backwards to a place where a friction can beheard (palatoalveolar). The two English affricates are both palatoalveolar, [tR] which isvoiceless, chin, rich, and [dY] which is voiced, gin, ridge. 

The way an affricate resembles aplosive followed by a fricative is mirrored in the symbols. Both consist of a plosive symbolfollowed by a fricative one: [ t+R], [d+Y].

Nasals resemble plosives, except that there is a complete closure in the mouth, but as

the velum is lowered the air can escape through the nasal cavity. Though most sounds are

produced with the velum raised, the normal position for the velum is lowered, as this is the

position for breathing (your velum is probably lowered right now when you are reading

this). 

The three English nasals are all voiced, and [m] is bilabial, ram, [n] is alveolar, ran,

and [M] velar, rang. In the section on places, the dotted line on the pictures of bilabial,

alveolar, and velar articulations illustrate the three nasals.

Laterals are sounds where the air escapes around the sides of the tongue. There is

only one lateral in English, [l], a voiced alveolar lateral. It occurs in two versions, the socalled

"clear l" before vowels, light, long, and the "dark l" in other cases, milk, ball. Words

like little, lateral have one of each type. "Dark l" may be written with the symbol [4]. "Clear

l" is pronounced with the top of the tongue raised, whereas for "dark l " it is the back of the

tongue which is raised. Here again, as with aspirated and unaspirated voiceless plosives,

even though "clear l" and "dark l" are phonetically different, they cannot be said to be

different sounds from the point of view of how they function in the sound system. If you

produce a "dark l" where usually you have a "clear l", for example at the beginning of the

word long, your pronunciation will sound odd but nobody will understand a different word.

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

syntax is about sentence formation, and semantics about sentence

interpretation, phonetics and phonology cover the field of sentence utterance.

Phonetics is concerned with how sounds are produced, transmitted and perceived (we

will only look at the production of sounds). Phonology is concerned with how sounds

function in relation to each other in a language. In other words, phonetics is about sounds of

language, phonology about sound systems of language. Phonetics is a descriptive tool

necessary to the study of the phonological aspects of a language.

Phonetics and phonology are worth studying for several reasons. One is that as all

study of language, the study of phonology gives us insight into how the human mind works.

Two more reasons are that the study of the phonetics of a foreign language gives us a much

better ability both to hear and to correct mistakes that we make, and also to teach

pronunciation of the foreign language (in this case English) to others.

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". The orthographic spelling of a word will be given in italics, e.g.

please, and the phonetic transcription between square brackets [pli:z]. Thus the word please

consists of three consonants, [p,l,z], and one vowel, [i:]. And sounds considered from the

phonological point of view are put between slashes

ARTICULATORY PHONETICS

 Articulatory Phonetics

Vowels and consonants can be thought of as the segments of which

speech is composed. Together they form the syllables, which go to make up

utterances. Superimposed on the syllables there are other features known as

suprasegmentals. These include variations in stress and pitch. Variations in

length are also usually considered to be suprasegmental features, although

they can affect single segments as well as whole syllables.

Variations. in stress are used in English to distinguish between a noun

and a verb, as in "(an) insult" versus "(to) insult." Say these words yourself,

and check which syllable has the greater stress. Then compare similar

pairs, such as "(a) pervert, (to) pervert" or "(an) overflow, (to) overflow."

You should find that in the nouns the stress is on the first syllable, but in

the verbs it is on the last. Thus, stress can have a grammatical function in

English. It can also be used for contrastive emphasis (as in "I want a red

pen, not a black one"). Variations in stress are caused by an increase in the

activity of the respiratory muscles (so that a greater amount of air is pushed

out of the lungs) and in the activity of the laryngeal muscles (so that there

is a significant change in pitch).

You can usually find where the stress occurs on a word by trying to tap

with your finger in time with each syllable. It is much easier to tap on the

stressed syllable. Try saying "abominable" and tapping first on the first

syllable, then on the second, then on the third, and so on. If you say the

word in your normal way you will find it easiest to tap on the second syllable.

Many people cannot tap on the first syllable without altering their normal

pronunciation.

Pitch changes due to variations in laryngeal activity can occur independently

of stress changes. When they do, they can affect the meaning of the

sentence as a whole. The pitch pattern in a sentence is known as the intonation.

Listen to the intonation (the variations in the pitch of your voice)

when you say the sentence "This is my father." Try to find out which syllable

has the highest pitch and which the 1owest:In most people's speech the

highest pitch will occur on the first syllable of "father" and the lowest on

the second. Now observe the pitch changes in the question "Is this your

father?" In this sentence the first syllable of "father" is usually on a low

pitch, and the last syllable is on a high pitch. In English it is even possible

to change the meaning of a sentence such as "That's a cat" from a statement

to a question without altering the order of the words. If you substitute

a mainly rising for a mainly falling intonation, you will produce a question

spoken with an air of astonishment: "That's a cat?"

All the suprasegmental features are characterized by the fact that they

must be described in relation to other items in the same utterance. It is the

relative values of pitch, length, or degree of stress of an item that are significant.

You can stress one syllable as opposed to another irrespective of

whether you are shouting or talking softly.

 Children can also use the same

intonation patterns as adults, although their voices have a higher pitch. The

absolute values are never linguistically important. But they do, of course,

convey information about the speaker's age, sex, emotional state, and attitude.

 Articulatory Phonetics

Vowels and consonants can be thought of as the segments of which

speech is composed. Together they form the syllables, which go to make up

utterances. Superimposed on the syllables there are other features known as

suprasegmentals. These include variations in stress and pitch. Variations in

length are also usually considered to be suprasegmental features, although

they can affect single segments as well as whole syllables.

Variations. in stress are used in English to distinguish between a noun

and a verb, as in "(an) insult" versus "(to) insult." Say these words yourself,

and check which syllable has the greater stress. Then compare similar

pairs, such as "(a) pervert, (to) pervert" or "(an) overflow, (to) overflow."

You should find that in the nouns the stress is on the first syllable, but in

the verbs it is on the last. Thus, stress can have a grammatical function in

English.

 It can also be used for contrastive emphasis (as in "I want a red

pen, not a black one"). Variations in stress are caused by an increase in the

activity of the respiratory muscles (so that a greater amount of air is pushed

out of the lungs) and in the activity of the laryngeal muscles (so that there

is a significant change in pitch).

You can usually find where the stress occurs on a word by trying to tap

with your finger in time with each syllable. It is much easier to tap on the

stressed syllable. Try saying "abominable" and tapping first on the first

syllable, then on the second, then on the third, and so on. If you say the

word in your normal way you will find it easiest to tap on the second syllable.

Many people cannot tap on the first syllable without altering their normal

pronunciation.

Pitch changes due to variations in laryngeal activity can occur independently

of stress changes. When they do, they can affect the meaning of the

sentence as a whole. The pitch pattern in a sentence is known as the intonation.

Listen to the intonation (the variations in the pitch of your voice)

when you say the sentence "This is my father." Try to find out which syllable

has the highest pitch and which the 1owest:In most people's speech the

highest pitch will occur on the first syllable of "father" and the lowest on

the second. Now observe the pitch changes in the question "Is this your

father?" In this sentence the first syllable of "father" is usually on a low

pitch, and the last syllable is on a high pitch. In English it is even possible

to change the meaning of a sentence such as "That's a cat" from a statement

to a question without altering the order of the words.

 If you substitute

a mainly rising for a mainly falling intonation, you will produce a question

spoken with an air of astonishment: "That's a cat?"

All the suprasegmental features are characterized by the fact that they

must be described in relation to other items in the same utterance. It is the

relative values of pitch, length, or degree of stress of an item that are significant.

You can stress one syllable as opposed to another irrespective of

whether you are shouting or talking softly. 

Children can also use the same

intonation patterns as adults, although their voices have a higher pitch. The

absolute values are never linguistically important. But they do, of course,

convey information about the speaker's age, sex, emotional state, and attitude.

Articulatory Phonetics

To get the feeling of different places of articulation, consider the consonantat the beginning of each of the following words: "fee, theme, see,

she." Say these consonants by themselves. Are they voiced or voiceless?

Now note that the place of articulation moves back in the mouth in making

this series of voiceless consonants, going from labiodental, through dental

and alveolar, to palato-alveolar.

Consider the consonants at the ends of "rang, ran, ram." When you say

these consonants by themselves, note that the air is coming out through the

nose. In the formation of these sounds, the point of articulatory closure

moves forward, from velar in "rang," through alveolar in "ran," to bilabial

in "ram." In each case, the air is prevented from going out through the

mouth, but is able to go out through the nose because the soft palate, or

velum, is lowered.

In most speech, the soft palate is raised so that there is a velic closure.

When it is lowered and there is an obstruction in the mouth, we say that

there is a nasal consonant. Raising or lowering the velum controls the oronasal

process, the distinguishing factor between oral and nasal sounds.

At most places of articulation there are several basic ways in which

articulation can be accomplished.

 The articulators may close off the oral tract for an instant or a relatively long period; they may narrow the space considerably; or they may simply modify the shape of the tract by

approaching each other.

Stop

(Complete closure of the articulators involved so that the airstream

cannot escape through the mouth.) There are two possible types of stop.

Oral stop If in addition to the articulatory closure in the mouth, the

soft palate is raised so that the nasal tract is blocked off, then the airstream

will be completely obstructed. Pressure in the mouth will build up and an

oral stop will be formed. When the articulators come apart, the airstream

will be released in a small burst of sound. This kind of sound occurs in the

consonants in the words "pie, buy" (bilabial closure), "tie, dye" (alveolar

closure), and "kye, guy" (velar closure).

Nasal stop If the air is stopped in the oral cavity but the soft palate is

down so that it can go out through the nose, the sound produced is a nasal

stop. Sounds of this kind occur at the beginning of the words "my" (bilabial

closure) and "nigh" (alveolar closure) and at the end of the word "sang"

 Articulatory Phonetics 

Places of articulation

1. Bilabial

(Made with the two lips.) Say words such as "pie, buy, my" and note

how the lips come together for the first sound in each of these words.

Find a comparable set of words with bilabial sounds at the end.

2. Labiodental

(Lower lip and upper front teeth.) Most people, when saying words

such as "fie, vie," raise the lower lip until it nearly touches the upper

front teeth.

3. Dental

(Tongue tip or blade and upper front teeth.) Say the words "thigh, thy."

Some people (most speakers of American English) have the tip of the

tongue protruding between the upper and lower front teeth; others

(most speakers of British English) have it close behind the upper front

teeth. Both these kinds of sounds are normal in English, and both may

be called dental. If a distinction is needed, sounds in which the tongue

protrudes between the teeth may be called interdental.

4. Alveolar

(Tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge.) Again there are two possibilities

in English, and you should find out which you use. You may

pronounce words such as "tie, die, nigh, sigh, zeal, lie" using the tip of

the tongue or the blade of the tongue. Feel how you normally make the

alveolar consonants in each of these words, and then try to make them

in the other way. A good way to appreciate the difference between

dental and alveolar sounds is to say "ten" and "tenth" (or "n" and

"nth"). Which n is farther back? (Most people make the one in the first

of each of these pairs of words on the alveolar ridge and the second as

a dental sound with the tongue touching the upper front teeth.)

5. Retroflex

(Tongue tip and the back of the alveolar ridge.) Many speakers of

English do not use retroflex sounds at all. But for some, retroflex

sounds occur initially in words such as "rye, row, ray." Note the position

of the tip of your tongue in these words. Speakers who pronounce

r at the ends of words may also have retroflex sounds with the tip of

the tongue raised in "ire, hour, air."

6. Palato-Alveolar

(Tongue blade and the back of the alveolar ridge.) Say words such as

"shy, she, show." During the consonants, the tip of your tongue may be

down behind the lower front teeth, or it may be up near the alveolar

ridge, but the blade of the tongue is always close to the back part of the

alveolar ridge. Try saying "shipshape" with your tongue tip up on one

occasion and down on another. Note that the blade of the tongue will

always be raised. You may be able to feel the place of articulation

more distinctly if you hold the position while taking in a breath

through the mouth. The incoming air cools the blade of the tongue and

the back part of the alveolar ridge.

7. Palatal

(Front of the tongue and hard palate.) Say the word "you" very slowly

so that you can isolate the consonant at the beginning. If you say this

consonant by itself, you should be able to feel that the front of the

tongue is raised toward the hard palate. Try to hold the consonant position

and breathe inward through the mouth. You will probably be able

to feel the rush of cold air between the front of the tongue and the hard

palate.

8. Velar

(Back of the tongue and soft palate.) The consonants that have the farthest

back place of articulation in English are those that occur at the

end of "hack, hag, hang." In all these sounds, the back of the tongue is

raised so that it touches the velum.

As you can tell from the descriptions of these articulations, the first

two, bilabial and labiodental, can be classified as labial, involving at least

the lower lip; the next four, dental, alveolar, retroflex and palato-alveolar,

are coronal articulations, with the tip or blade of the tongue raised; and the

last, velar, is a dorsal articulation, using the back of the tongue. Palatal

sounds are sometimes classified as coronal articulations, and sometimes as

dorsal articulations, a point to which we shall return.

ARTICULATORS IN ARTICULATION

The air passages above the larynx are known as the vocal tract

The shape of the vocal tract is a very important factor in the production of

speech,  Note that the air passages that

make up the vocal tract may be divided into the oral tract within the mouth

and pharynx, and the nasal tract within the nose.

 The upper limit of the nasal tract has been marked with a dotted line since the exact boundaries of

the air passages within the nose depend on soft tissues of variable size.

The parts of the vocal tract that can be used to fom sounds are called articulators. 

The articulators that form the lower surface of the vocal tract

often move toward those that form the upper surface. 

Try saying the word "capital" and note the major movements of your tongue and lips. 

You will find that the back of the tongue makes contact with the roof of the mouth

for the first sound and then comes down for the following vowel. The lips

come together in the formation of p and then come apart again in the

vowel. The tongue tip comes up for the t and again, for some people, for

the final 1.

The names for the principal parts of the upper surface of the vocal tract

 The upper lip and the upper teet (notably the frontal incisors) 

are familiar enough structures. Just behind the upper teeth

is a small protubeiance that you can feel with the tip of the tongue. called the alveolar ridge.

You can also feel that the front part of the roof

of the mouth is formed by a bony structure. This is the hard palate. You

will probably have to use a fingertip to feel further back. Most people cannot

curl the tongue up far enough to touch the' soft palate, or velum, at the

back of the mouth. 

The soft palate is a muscular flap that can be raised to

press against the back wall of the pharynx and shut off the nasal tract, preventing

air from going out through the nose. In this case there is said to be

velic closure.

This action separates the nasal tract from the oral tract so

that the Bir can go out only through the mouth. At the lower end of the soft

palate is a small appendage hanging down that is known as the uvula. The

part of the vocal tract between the uvula and the larynx is the pharynx. The

back wall of the pharynx may be considered to be one of the articulators

on the upper surface of the vocal tract.

The tip and blade of the tongue are the most mobile parts. Behind the

blade is what is technically called the front of the tongue: it is actually the

forward part of the body of the tongue, and lies underneath the hard palate

when the tongue is at rest.

 The remainder of the body of the tongue may be

divided into the center, which is partly beneath the hard palate and partly

beneath the soft palate, the back, which is beneath the soft palate, and the

root, which is opposite the back wall of the pharynx. The epiglottis is

attached to the lower part of the root of the tongue.

PHONETICS-ARTICULATION

I will begin by describing how speech sounds are made. In nearly all

speech sounds, the basic source of power is the respiratory system pushing

air out of the lungs. Try to talk while breathing in instead of out. You will

find that you can do it, but it is much more inefficient than superimposingPHONETICS- ARTICULATION

speech on an outgoing breath.

Air from the lungs goes up the windpipe (the trachea, to use the more,

technical term) and into the larynx, at which point it must pass between

two small muscular folds called the vocal cords. If the vocal cords are

apart, as they normally are when breathing out, the air from the lungs will

have a relatively free passage into the pharynx and the mouth. But if the

vocal cords are adjusted so that there is only a narrow passage between

them, the airstream will cause them to vibrate. Sounds produced when the

vocal cords are vibrating are said to be voiced, as opposed to those in

which the vocal cords are apart, which are said to be voiceless.

In order to hear the difference between a voiced and a voiceless sound,

try saying a long v sound, which we will symbolize as [vvvvv]. Now compare

this with a long f sound [fffffl, saying each of them alternately-

[ffffvvvvvfffffvvvvv]. Both of these sounds are formed in the same way in

the mouth.

 The difference between them is that [v] is voiced but [fl is

voiceless. You can feel the vocal cord vibrations in [v] if you put your fingertips

against your larynx. You can also hear the buzzing of the vibrations

in [v] more easily if you stop up your ears while contrasting [fffffvwvv].

The difference between voiced and voiceless sounds is often important

in distinguishing sounds. In each of the pairs of words "fat, vat; thigh, thy;

Sue, zoo" the first consonant in the first word of each pair is voiceless,

whereas in the second word, it is voiced.

 To check this for yourself, sayjust the consonant at the beginning of each of these words and try to feeland hear the voicing as suggested above.

 Try to find other pairs of words that are distinguished by one having a voiced and the other having a voiceless

consonant. 

ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE

The growth of the use of English as the world’s primary

language for international communication has obviously

been continuing for several decades. But even as the

number of English speakers expands further there are signs

that the global predominance of the language may fade

within the foreseeable future.

Complex international, economic, technological and

cultural changes could start to diminish the leading position

of English as the language of the world market,

The world language system is being transformed, as the relationship between

‘big’ languages change and many smaller languages are disappearing.

English is not the main reason for global language loss. The impact of English

is mainly on the status of other national languages.

The attractiveness of Mandarin to learners across the world is growing, and

language schools in many countries are expanding their provision to include

it. Unlike the enthusiasm for learning Japanese which was prompted by the

economic rise of Japan, there are reasons why interest in Mandarin may

remain a long-term trend.

Where the global importance of languages used to depend on the number

and wealth of native speakers, now the number of people who use it as a

second language is becoming a more significant factor.

PHONETICS -A SOUND STUDY

Phonetics attempts to describe and understand how speech is produced and perceived;

phonology attempts to understand the patterning — in general, the behavior — of speech

sounds in particular languages and in all languages. Is phonetics part of phonology? This

straightforward question has received various answers at different points in the history of

linguistics. In this paper I attempt to document that for the two centuries starting

approximately with the eighteenth century, phonetics was well integrated into linguistics but

that around the start of the 20th century phonetics and phonology were estranged, at least in

some cases. During the second half of the 20th century there began a trend, continuing today,

to re-integrate phonetics and phonology.

phonetics is concerned with describing the speech sounds that occur in

the languages of the world. We want to know what these sounds are,

how they fall into patterns, and how they change in different circumstances.

Most importantly, we want to know what aspects of the sounds are

necessary for conveying the meaning of what is being said. The first job of

a phonetician is, therefore, to try to find out what people are doing when

they are talking and when they are listening to speech.

We will begin by describing how speech sounds are made. In nearly all

speech sounds, the basic source of power is the respiratory system pushing

air out of the lungs. Try to talk while breathing in instead of out. You will

find that you can do it, but it is much more inefficient than superimposing

speech on an outgoing breath.

Air from the lungs goes up the windpipe (the trachea, to use the more,

technical term) and into the larynx, at which point it must pass between

two small muscular folds called the vocal cords. If the vocal cords are

apart, as they normally are when breathing out, the air from the lungs will

have a relatively free passage into the pharynx and the mouth. But if the

vocal cords are adjusted so that there is only a narrow passage between

them, the airstream will cause them to vibrate. Sounds produced when the

vocal cords are vibrating are said to be voiced, as opposed to those in

which the vocal cords are apart, which are said to be voiceless.

In order to hear the difference between a voiced and a voiceless sound,

try saying a long v sound, which we will symbolize as [vvvvv]. Now compare

this with a long f sound [fffffl, saying each of them alternately-

[ffffvvvvvfffffvvvvv]. Both of these sounds are formed in the same way in

the mouth. The difference between them is that [v] is voiced but [fl is

voiceless. You can feel the vocal cord vibrations in [v] if you put your fingertips

against your larynx. You can also hear the buzzing of the vibrations

in [v] more easily if you stop up your ears while contrasting [fffffvwvv].

The difference between voiced and voiceless sounds is often important

in distinguishing sounds. In each of the pairs of words "fat, vat; thigh, thy;

Sue, zoo" the first consonant in the first word of each pair is voiceless,

whereas in the second word, it is voiced. To check this for yourself, say

just the consonant at the beginning of each of these words and try to feel

and hear the voicing as suggested above. Try to find other pairs of words

that are distinguished by one having a voiced and the other having a voiceless