| 1. Phonology is the study (Gk. logos = “word, description”) of the spoken sounds (Gk. phonos = “sound”) of the language according to customary and acceptable standards. When we describe the sounds of a language, we may do so in different ways and at different levels of precision. Much scientific work in language attempts to describe the sounds at the lowest level. At this level we try to find the lowest common distinction made by any and all languages in the world. These sounds are called phones. The grammar of English and the languages at its roots make use of a certain much smaller set of phones. These sounds group themselves into ones which our ears hear as the same. These groups of speech sounds are called phonemes. |
| 2. English divides the sounds into three main kinds. The most important are the vowel sounds. These sounds require us to use the voice and at the same time not interrupt or obstruct the flow of air. Without a vowel sound we cannot have a syllable. |
| 3. We may put a different kind of sound at the beginning and/or the ending of a syllable. These are the consonants. This term comes from Latin and means with-vowels. In most situations we need the aid of a vowel in order to utter a consonant in a word. |
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4. When we utter a phrase, we use two other kinds of sounds: (a) the stress or change in the volume of the voice and the force of the airflow, and (b) the intonation or change in pitch or tone of the voice. Intonation is what helps us make sense out of words in context. |
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5. The vowel phonemes of English come in two varieties: (a) the simple vowels or short ones, and (b) the diphthongs or long ones. Vowels have many spellings. In addition the people in different parts of the world pronounce English differently. Each area where people speak similarly is called a dialect. Hence, there are anywhere from ten to twelve simple vowels and four to eight diphthongs. Diphthongs consist in two parts, a pure beginning and a semivowel-like ending. Depending on the dialect some three to five of the simple vowels are diphthongized. These are the so-called long vowel sounds. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6. The short vowel sounds have a pronunciation more pure than that of the diphthongs. British and New England speakers handle the r-sound much differently from the way I do. I was raised in the Rocky Mountains. In my dialect the r is always a consonant. For me there is a slight change in the sound of the vowel in the environment of the r-sound. This difference in my vowel sounds near r is described using phones, not phonemes. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7. There are certain default ways to spell the sounds of English. Having a default spelling means that when the English speaker sees a word spelled “heed,” for example, the normal assumption is that it is pronounced with the diphtongized /iy/ vowel. Yet there are many other ways to spell the same sound. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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8. Each table for a set of phonemes has three columns.
The first lists the symbol for the phoneme; the second, its normal spelling; the third, other more unusual spellings. NOTICE: Whenever we write a phoneme, we place its symbol between two forward slashes [ / ]. Standard phonetic practices require a font not available on my website. For this reason we use a few non-standard symbols to represent these sounds. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 9. The two vowel phonemes /o/ and /aw/ are often interchanged in my dialect. For this reason many examples of this sound in my speech are different only in their spelling. Often I hear the difference in the speech of others, but do not seem to make a distinction in my own. Sometimes it seems appropriate to transcribe it as /ah/, which may in fact be the best solution. There is a stong arguement for a single syllable in English always ending in a consonant. Where for me this cannot always be a /w/, the final /h/ seems to serve well. This practice also allows all long vowels to be transcribed as the short variety joined with a final glide (or semivowel). I appologize for any confusion this may cause for the reader. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10. When compared to vowels, the consonant phonemes of English have fewer spellings. There are fifteen voiced consonants and seven to nine voiceless ones. When we make a voiced sound, the vocal cords vibrate and we can hear a tone. When we make a voiceless sound, there is no such vibration. Of the voiced consonants there are three semi-vowels and five resonants. The semi-vowels sound like vowels, but are not essential to make a syllable. The resonants are like vowels in that they can fully incorporate a schwa (/œ/) into their pronunciation. Three of the resonants are nasals, i.e., m, n and the sound of n made before k or g. The other two resonants are liquids, i.e., l and r. It is also useful to class the semi-vowels, except h, together with the resonants as the sonorants. Syllables otherwise require at least a vowel, and may have a consonant or consonant cluster initially and/or finally. |
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| 11. Notice with consonants we include the Manner of articulation. A stop fully obstructs the free passage of air through the mouth. The term fricative refers to the way we make the sound by “rubbing” the tongue against the teeth or top of the mouth. The flow of air is not completely stopped. The term sibilant refers to the hissing sound that the airflow makes as it passes by the teeth and tongue. The term affricate refers to the combination of the full obstruction of the airflow followed by the release into a sibilant. In English this combination comprises a single phoneme. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 12. In connected speech (cf. part C, below) the phoneme sequence /iyn/ (BrE /in/) is often used in place of /in/ (or /iyn/), particularly in the morpheme {-ING} on verbs. For this reason in some examples we may write it one way, and in others, the other way. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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13. When there is more than one syllable in a word, we mark the syllable that should be stressed with a Neutral Accent Mark ['] in front of it, as in
be'ginning, 'offering.
In compound nouns (cf., § 285) and in noun phrases there are often as many as four levels of stress:
primary, secondary, ternary, and unstressed.
When both parts have about the same stress, the first stress is secondary and the second stress is primary, i.e., heavier.
We indicate secondary stress with a Diaeresis [ ¨ ]; ternary, with a Reverse Accent Mark [`].
The difference between ternary and unstressed is expressed, when possible, in the reduction of the unstressed vowel to schwa /œ/.
If we remember that /i/ does not reduce, it is not always neccessary to indicate ternary stress explicitly.
The effect of the differing stress on the pronunciation of words in a phrase is called Juncture.
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| 14. Notice that the normal citation pronunciation of the word factory is /'fæktœriy/. However, when the word becomes part of a phrase, the stress may be reduced. Consider, for example, the noun phrase where factory is a modifier: ¨factory'buildings /¨fæktriy 'bildiynz/. Further reduction is illustrated in the last two phrases of the last paragraph: a 'bathing suit `factory /œ 'beyðiyn suwt `fæktri/. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15. The element marked with the heavier stress has what some linguists call Nuclear Stress. It is at the point of nuclear stress that the pitch of the voice changes. It rises to that point and then falls immediately. Usually the higher the pitch, the more the speaker wishes to emphasize the phrase. |
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16. We have written the phones of connected speech with the phonemes of the related words.
It is usually the case that a phrase that contains the same phonemes is pronounced differently because of the syllable and word structure.
These various adjusted sounds are called Allophones of the same phoneme. /naytreyt/ nitrate vs. /nayt reyt/ night rate /æn eym/ an aim vs. /æ neym/ a name /ays kriym/ ice cream vs. /ay skriym/ I scream /ðæts tœf/ that’s tough vs. /ðæt stœf/ that stuff This effect of syllable and word structure is another example of Juncture (cf. § A13). |
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17. Closely related to juncture is the phenomenon called Sandhi.
This occurs when we change the phonemic constitution of a morpheme because of its phonological context.1 /reyzd/ raised vs. /reyst/ raced vs. /reytœd/ rated of the past tense {–ED} /reyzœz/ raises vs. /reyts/ rates vs. /reyz/ rays of the present tense {–ES2} or plural {–ES1} /œ buk/ a book vs. /œn ¨owld 'buk/ an old book of the indefinite article {AN} 1. Curly bracketing encloses the names of morphemes, cf. Morphology of English. |
| 18. In punctuating speech or in expressing certain feelings, we use a number of sounds that have become highly conventionalized if written down. Despite calling them “non-speech sounds” they are often signs of juncture as allophones for one of the English phonemes. Hence, a better term might be Sub-phonemic sounds. For example, one sound is sometimes written as a “ch,” “ck,” or simply as an “h.” This signifies a glottal stop, made by lowering the glottis so as to stop the flow of air momentarily. In connected speech it represents a /t/ at the end of a phrase. In some languages, e.g., Arabic, such an articulation is counted as a separate phoneme. In German it is associated with the normal allophone of a vowel showing initial juncture. We will signify this sound in phonetic transcription with an inverted exclamation point /¡/. Another sub-phonemic sound, usually written as an “m,” is a voiced nasal made without opening the mouth. We will signify this by writing a schwa along with an “m” written above the line /mœm/. |
| 19. There is often a filler sound used by some speakers to indicate that more of the utterance is intended to follow — just hasn’t been formulated yet. It is simply a long schwa which we could write as /–œ–/. The British convention is to write it as “er,” but since the “r” is often pronounced, it is usually written in America as “uh.” |
| 20. Another non-speech sound is made by inhaling, rather than exhaling. We will use a not-sign /¬/ to signify this inspiration of air. “Voiceless vowels” may occur when whispering, but are otherwise treated as an “h” in English. |
