LING 89 • How Reading Works M Aug 22

• The phonetics of English

consonant and vowel sounds

Background reading:
• Contemporary Linguistics Ch 2,
focus on sec 1 and sec 7
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0. Checking in / Today’s plan

• Any questions about the course so far?

- Structure / logistics?
- Content?

2
0. Checking in / Today’s plan

Today’s plan

• Identifying and distinguishing the speech sounds of

“standard” American English

• Becoming familiar with the IPA symbols used to

transcribe them phonetically

• Expectations for this material:

- You do not have to memorize the terms and
symbols introduced today
- But: Be able to use and understand them
(given a reference list or chart)
3
1. We need phonetic symbols

• English letters do not always directly represent

speech sounds
- How many speech sounds are there in these
English words? (from last class)
(a) she 2
(b) six 4
(c) using 5...but maybe not the ones you thought?

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1. We need phonetic symbols

• English letters do not always directly represent

speech sounds
- Do thigh / thy start with the same sound?

- How many ways can we spell the sound

[k] as in kite?

- How many pronunciations can be spelled ough?

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1. We need phonetic symbols

• English letters do not always directly represent

speech sounds
- Do thigh / thy start with the same sound? No!

- How many ways can we spell the sound

[k] as in kite? k, kk, ck, c, cc, ch, cque, +...

- How many pronunciations can be spelled ough?

dough, bough, through, cough, enough, +...

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1. We need phonetic symbols

• English letters do not always directly represent

speech sounds
- A sequence of letters can spell one sound
(& vice versa)
- The same letter(s) can spell different sounds
- The same sound(s) can be spelled by different
letters
• We need a way to notate speech sounds,
independently of the spelling system of a given
language

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1. We need phonetic symbols

• The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

“attempts to represent each sound of human
speech with a single symbol” (CL, Ch 2, p 18)
- Note: Two sounds that are slightly different may be
classified under the same symbol if they are not usually
treated as distinct sounds within a single language

• Square brackets ‘[ ]’ show that a letter or symbol is

being used as a phonetic symbol, which in turn
represents a speech sound
- So [k] is a sound, NOT a letter

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2. Consonant sounds of English

• What is the difference between a consonant

(sound) and a vowel (sound)? [see sec 3 in CL Ch 2]

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2. Consonant sounds of English

• What is the difference between a consonant

(sound) and a vowel (sound)? [see sec 3 in CL Ch 2]

• Phonetics (sound production & perception):

- Vowels: relatively unobstructed vocal tract
- Consonants: have a constriction (obstruction)
• We can classify consonants according to the
position and type of this constriction
• Phonology (sound patterning / next time):
- Vowels typically form the nucleus of a syllable
- Consonants are on the syllable margins
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2. Consonant sounds of English

Group activity

• Consider the underlined letters and combinations.

How many distinct sounds do we find here? Do
any of these spellings represent the same sound?
(1) pill
fill
Bill
mill
Phil
village

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2. Consonant sounds of English

• Consider the underlined letters and combinations.

How many distinct sounds do we find here? Do
any of these spellings represent the same sound?
(1) pill [ p]
fill [f]
Bill [b]
mill [m]
Phil ( [ f ] again )
village [v]

—Different spellings can represent the same sound

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2. Consonant sounds of English

• Consider the underlined letters and combinations.

How many distinct sounds do we find here?
(2) tail
day
knotting
nodding
leaf
reef
feel
fear

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2. Consonant sounds of English

• Consider the underlined letters and combinations.

How many distinct sounds do we find here?
(2) tail [t]
day [d]
knotting [ n ], [ ɾ ]
nodding ( [ n ] again, [ ɾ ] again )
leaf [l]
reef [ɹ]
feel [ɫ]
fear ( [ ɹ ] again )
—Physically, some “t”, “d”, “l” sounds are different by context
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2. Consonant sounds of English

• Consider the underlined letters and combinations.

How many distinct sounds do we find here?
(3) sass
zoos
fresher
measure
check
jacks
thistles
this

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2. Consonant sounds of English

• Consider the underlined letters and combinations.

How many distinct sounds do we find here?
(3) sass [ s ], ( [ s ] again )
zoos [ z ], ( [ z ] again )
fresher [ʃ]
measure [ʒ]
check [ʧ]
jacks [ ʤ ], ( [ s ] again )
thistles [ θ ], ( [ z ] again )
this [ ð ], ( [ s ] again )
—Two different sounds are spelled “th”; “s” spells many sounds
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2. Consonant sounds of English

• Consider the underlined letters and combinations.

How many distinct sounds do we find here?
(4) thick
fig
singer
dinner
finger
you
woo
who

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2. Consonant sounds of English

• Consider the underlined letters and combinations.

How many distinct sounds do we find here?
(4) thick [k]
fig [ɡ]
singer [ ŋ ] ( some may have [ ŋɡ ] )
dinner ( [ n ] again )
finger ( [ ŋɡ ] — two sounds here )
you [j]
woo [w]
who [h]
—The spelling “ng” can represent one sound or two, depending
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2. Consonant sounds of English

• Consonants: have a constriction (obstruction)

- We can classify consonants according to the
place (position) and manner of this constriction

- The details of this classification are summarized

in the next few slides, FYI
• You do not need to memorize this information
• However, if you see these terms being used in
a research paper, you should refer to today’s
readings and slides for information
• If these details interest you, try LING 101!

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2. Consonant sounds of English
• Manner of articulation
- Stops: Complete constriction [ p b t d k ɡ ]
- Nasals: Stops, but airflow through nose [ m n ŋ ]
- Fricatives: Narrow opening, turbulent airflow
[fvθðszʃʒh]
- Affricates: Stop+fricative combinations [ ʧ ʤ ]
- Liquids: L (lateral) and R (rhotic) sounds [ l ɫ ɹ ɾ ]
• Grayed-out sounds are not separate phonemes—more on Wed)
- Glides: Like very short vowels [ w j ]
• Stops, fricatives, affricates, can be voiced (with vocal-cord
vibration) or voiceless (without)
- The other classes are all voiced

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2. Consonant sounds of English
• Place of articulation
lips → labial
teeth → dental
alveolar ridge → alveolar
• Bony ridge behind top teeth
(hard) palate → palatal
velum (soft palate) → velar
glottis (in larynx) → glottal

Vocal tract drawing adapted from Daniel Currie Hall’s interactive web site

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2. Consonant sounds of English

inter-
bilabial

dental

dental
labio-

alveolar

palatal
post-
alveolar

velar

glottal
stops: voiceless [p] [t] [k]
voiced [b] [d] [ɡ]
nasals [m] [n] [ŋ]
fricatives: voiceless [f] [θ] [s] [ʃ] [h]
voiced [v] [ð] [z] [ʒ]
affricates: voiceless [ʧ]
voiced [ʤ]
liquids, lateral [l] [ɫ]
liquids, rhotic [ɾ] [ɹ]
glides [w] [j]
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3. Vowel sounds of American English

Poll time

• How many distinct vowel sounds do most varieties

of American English have?
1. About 6, counting “y”
2. About 10
3. About 15, counting diphthongs

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3. Vowel sounds of American English

• What is the difference between a consonant

(sound) and a vowel (sound)?

• Phonetics (sound production & perception):

- Vowels: relatively unobstructed vocal tract
• We can classify vowels according to the
height and backness of the tongue
- Consonants: have a constriction (obstruction)
• Phonology (sound patterning / next time):
- Vowels typically form the nucleus of a syllable
- Consonants are on the syllable margins
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3. Vowel sounds of American English
• Simple vowels
front central back

high green [ i ] blue [u]

silver [ ɪ ] wooden [ ʊ ]
mid purple [ ɚ ]
gray [e] rose [o]
sofa [ə]
red [ɛ] mustard [ ʌ ] auburn [ɔ]
low black [ æ ] olive [ɑ]
• Color example words are from the “color vowel chart”, available at
https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/color-vowel-chart
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3. Vowel sounds of American English
• Diphthongs
turquoise [ ɔj ]
white [ aj ]
brown [ aw ]

- Diphthongs are vowel categories that are made

up of a combination of two distinct sounds

• Color example words are from the “color vowel chart”, available at
https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/color-vowel-chart

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3. Vowel sounds of American English

• Varieties (dialects) of English differ mostly in vowels

Group activity

• Compare with your neighbors:

i. Same vowel or two different vowels?
• cot vs. caught • pin vs. pen • tight vs. tide
ii. Do you all say this vowel the same way?
• red
iii. Say these vowels slowly — what do you notice?
(Was this ever an issue in learning another language?)
• gray, rose
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3. Vowel sounds of American English

• Varieties (dialects) of English differ mostly in vowels

How do yours compare with your neighbors’?

i. Some distinctions between vowels are found

only in certain varieties
• olive (cot) vs. auburn (caught) (in all contexts)
• pin vs. pen (before nasals)
• tight vs. tide (the vowel in white may have
variants depending on the voicing of the
following sound)

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3. Vowel sounds of American English

• Varieties (dialects) of English differ mostly in vowels

How do yours compare with your neighbors’?

ii. Some vowel categories sound different in

different varieties
• red in “Standard” vs. North Midland (e.g.,
Chicago, Detroit) vs. southeastern

iii. Most English varieties have diphthongs

(two-part vowels) in place of “pure” [e], [o]
• gray [ɡɹej] but for simplicity, we may see: [ɡɹe]
• rose [ɹowz] [ɹoz]
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4. Next time

• Phonology — the cognitive organization of sound

categories in a language
- Which physically different sounds are used to
distinguish meanings?
- Which sound combinations are allowed?
• Syllables — one phonological factor that organizes
how individual consonants and vowel sounds can be
combined in a word

• Orthographic depth — how directly the writing

system of a language represents its sounds

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