Tài liệu tham khảo môn Ngữ âm - Âm vị học =: Supplementary material of Englishphonetics & phonology / Lê Thị Minh Thủy, Võ Thị Bảo Châu

BANKING UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

SUPPLEMENTARY

MATERIAL OF

ENGLISH

PHONETICS

& PHONOLOGY

Compiled by:

Le Thi Minh Thuy (M.A.)

Vo Thi Bao Chau (M.A.)

Ho Chi Minh City, 09/2020

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGÂN HÀNG TP.HCM

KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ

TÀI LIỆU

THAM KHẢO

MÔN NGỮ ÂM –

ÂM VỊ HỌC

Lê Thị Minh Thủy

Võ Thị Bảo Châu

Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, 09/2020

INTRODUCTION

The importance of intercultural communication is growing in a globalized and ever‐changing

world. In this context, the role of English as an international language cannot be denied. The

knowledge of English Phonetics and Phonology, i.e. how particular sounds are produced, their

properties, how we perceive speech and what happens to speech sounds when we speak fast, helps

us to speak clearly and understand others correctly, which is of utmost importance, especially in

intercultural contexts.

The present resource book is designed as a supplement to Peter Roach’s (2010) textbook English

Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course and may be used to accompany lecture courses on

English Phonetics and Phonology at university level. It is equally suitable for self‐study and for

in‐class situations with a teacher. The book gives students practice in pronunciation and

transcription of English sounds, enhances their understanding of phonological structures and rules,

and improves speaking and listening skills.

The resource book consists of eight chapters. Each contains both summary of theory and plenty of

practice.

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CONTENT

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS ..................................................3

PRACTICE...............................................................................................................8

CHAPTER 2: THE PRODUCTION OF SPEECH SOUNDS...........................16

PRACTICE.............................................................................................................18

CHAPTER 3. THE CLASSIFICATION OF VOWELS....................................24

PRACTICE.............................................................................................................26

CHAPTER 4. THE CLASSIFICATION OF CONSONANTS .........................34

PRACTICE.............................................................................................................39

CHAPTER 5: THE SYLLABLE..........................................................................54

PRACTICE.............................................................................................................62

CHAPTER 6: STRESS IN ENGLISH AND WEAK FORMS..........................73

PRACTICE.............................................................................................................83

CHAPTER 7: ASPECTS OF CONNECTED SPEECH ..................................105

PRACTICE...........................................................................................................110

CHAPTER 8: INTONATION ............................................................................118

PRACTICE...........................................................................................................125

SUGGESTED ANSWER.....................................................................................127

REFERENCES.................................................................................................... 179

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS

1. Definitions of Phonetics and Phonology

Both phonetics and phonology are important components of linguistics, which is the science that

deals with the general study of language. While phonetics is the study of the sounds made by the

human voice in speech, phonology is the study of how sounds pattern and function in a given

language (Lodge, 2009).

Phonetics describes the concrete, physical form of sounds (how they are produced, heard and

how they can be described), while phonology is concerned with the function of sounds, that is

with their status and inventory in any given language. In other words, phonetics studies the actual

sounds that we produce while phonology studies the abstract patterns of the sounds in our

mind (Ladefoged, P. & Johnson, K., 2011).

2. Types of phonetics

Ashby (2013) believes that speech can be examined in various ways, corresponding to the stages

of the transmission of the speech signal from a speaker to a listener.

a. Articulatory phonetics is concerned with the articulation of speech, i.e. the position,

shape, and movement of articulators, such as the lips, tongue, and vocal folds.

b. Acoustic phonetics is concerned about the physical nature of the speech signal.

c. Auditory phonetics is the study of how the ear receives the speech signal.

Articulatory phonetics Acoustic phonetics Auditory phonetics

3. Letters, sounds, and symbols

In the study of phonetics, symbols are used to represent sounds. We cannot use the ordinary letters

of the alphabet to symbolize sounds as there are obvious differences between pronunciation and

ordinary spelling. These letters may have totally different values from those which learners are

High Frequency Wave

Low Frequency Wave

Time

Time

Pressure Pressure

Period

Period

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accustomed to. In addition, many English sounds may be spelt in a large number of different ways.

(Skandera & Burleigh, 2005).

4. Accents and dialects in English

Accents are several ways in which the language can be pronounced. Dialects refer variations in

grammar and vocabulary. Varieties refer all these aspects of language variation – pronunciation

together with grammar and vocabulary (Skandera & Burleigh, 2005).

One variety of English pronunciation which has traditionally been connected with the more

privileged section of the population is variously referred to as ‘Oxford English’, ‘BBC English’

and even ‘the Queen’s English’, but none of these names can be considered at all accurate. For a

long time, phoneticians have called it Received Pronunciation (or RP). The term ‘Received

Pronunciation’ seems to have caught on with the media and has begun to have wider currency with

the general public (Roach, 2009).

5. Segments, phonemes, and allophones

Speech is a continuous flow of sounds with interruptions only when necessary to take in air to

breathe, or to organize our thoughts. The process of dividing up this continuous flow into smaller

chunks that are easier to deal with is called segmentation, and the resulting smaller sound units are

termed segments (Lodge, 2009).

A phoneme can be defined as the smallest distinctive, or contrastive, unit in the sound system of

a language. In other words, a phoneme contrasts meaningfully with other speech sounds.

Phonemes are abstract, idealized sounds that are never pronounced and never heard. Actual,

concrete speech sounds can be regarded as the realization of phonemes by individual speakers, and

are referred to as allophones (Skandera, & Burleigh, (2005).

The allophones of a particular phoneme typically have phonetic similarity.

• They usually sound fairly similar to each other.

• They are usually articulated in a somewhat similar way.

The occurrence of allophones in this instance is predictable. They can be considered as

complements to each other; where one occurs the other cannot. Such an allophonic patterning is

termed complementary distribution (McMahon, 2002).

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Example

6. Phonemic and phonetic transcription

According to Lodge, (2009), phonetic transcription can be defined as a system of alphabetic

writing in which each symbol represents one and only one distinct elementary speech sound and

one of the phonetic alphabets that are widely used is that of the International Phonetic Association.

A phonetic transcription can indicate minute details of the articulation of any particular sound by

the use of differently shaped symbols, e.g. [Ɂ ɹ], or by adding little marks (known as diacritics) to

a symbol, e.g. [ẽ ḅ]. In contrast, a phonemic transcription shows only the phoneme contrasts and

does not tell us precisely what the realisations of the phoneme are.

A broad phonetic transcription may be defined as a transcription obtained by using the minimum

number of symbols requisite for representing without ambiguity the sounds of the language in

question (without reference to other languages).

If it is desired to have separate symbols for all the sounds occurring in several languages and

dialects, a very large number of symbols and diacritical marks will be necessary. Transcriptions of

this kind are called narrow phonetic transcriptions.

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SYMBOLS FOR VOWEL PHONEMES

Monophthongs Diphthongs

ɑː park ə potato aɪ light eə there

æ flat ʌ cup eɪ play ɪə fear

e bed ɜː third ɔɪ toy ʊə tour

ɪ ship iː feet əʊ coat

ɒ not ɔː four aʊ house

ʊ look u: food

SYMBOLS FOR CONSONANT PHONEMES

Voiceless Voiced

p pen b bad

t tea d did m man r red

k cat ɡ get

s see z zoo n now

ʃ shoe ʒ vision w wet

tʃ chain dʒ jam ŋ sing

f fall v van

θ thin ð this l leg j yes

h hat

7. Minimal pairs and minimal sets

McMahon, (2002) defines a minimal pair as a pair of words distinguished by a single sound. For

example, if we take the word ‘man’, and replace the first sound by /p/, we get a new word ‘pan’.

Meanwhile, a minimal set is a set of words distinguished by replacing one sound with another.

For example, man, ban, tan, ran, etc. can make a minimal set. Instead of changing the initial

consonant, we can also change the vowel (e.g. mean, moan, men, mine, moon) or the final

consonant (e.g. man, mat, mad).

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8. Homophones and homographs

Another feature of English is that some pronunciations correspond to multiple spellings. According

to Ashby (2013), homophones are words that look different but sound exactly the same.

Example:

• Cs, seas, sees and seize are all pronounced /siːz/,

• rowed and road /rəʊd/,

• file and phial /faɪl/

• passed and past /pɑːst/

• two, too, and to /tuː/

Homographs, on the other hand, are words which are pronounced differently but spelt exactly

the same.

Example:

• bow /baʊ/ (‘bending from the waist or the front end of a boat’) and bow /bəʊ/ (an elaborate

knot in a piece of ribbon or about a piece of musical equipment)

• lead /led/ (‘a kind of metal’) and lead /liːd/ (‘to go first’)

• wind /wɪnd/ (‘current of air’) and wind /waɪnd/ (‘to turn round’)

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PRACTICE

Activity 1.2

Decide which branch of phonetics, (a) articulatory, (b) acoustic or (c) auditory, these statements

describe. Write (a), (b) or (c).

1. It describes how sounds are made. ____

2. It is concerned with the perception, categorization, and recognition of speech sounds. ____

3. It studies the vibrations in the air caused by sounds travelling in the air from the speaker’s

mouth to the hearer’s ear. ____

4. It informs theories of speech production. ____

5. It deals with the physical nature of speech sounds. ____

6. It is related to listening to speech sounds and thinking about exactly what they sound. ____

Activity 1.3

Compare the sounds in bold in the following words and decide if they have the same or different

pronunciations. Explain your answer.

1. the a’s in father, fall, any, ago, watch

2. the i’s in grind, machine, bird

Activity 1.1

Decide whether these statements describe phonetics (A) or phonology (B). Write A or B.

1. This is the science of speech sound. ____________

2. It deals with the abstract side of the sounds of a language. ____________

3. It deals with “actual” physical sounds as they are manifested. ____________

4. It is the study of the selection and patterns of sounds in a single language. ____________

5. It is the term used for the study of sound in human language. ____________

6. It is the business of describing the sounds that we use in speaking. ____________

7. It is concerned with the function of sounds. ____________

8. It describes the concrete, physical form of sounds. ____________

9. Phonologist is the term used for linguists who study this. ____________

10. Phonetician is the term used for linguists who study this. ____________

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3. the u’s in rule, put, hut

4. the o’s in stove, move, love

5. the ea’s in meat, head, great, bear

Activity 1.4

Underline the word in which a consonant is not pronounced.

0. pencil, hour, cousin

1. cupboard, pub, pupil

2. bird, tiger, snake

3. wall, science, cave

4. tall, desk, half

5. Wednesday, Monday, Sunday

6. country, child, knife

7. island, address, some

8. window, paint, pencil

9. hundred, green, white

10. lamp, autumn, bath

Activity 1.5

Put the following words into sets that begin with the same sound.

knight, cat, king, get, gnat, guest, calm, quay, quest, west, vest, want, vase

Activity 1.6

Complete the sentences with the right words given.

dialect accent regional variety social

1. A(n) ______________ is a way in which the language can be pronounced.

2. The term ‘______________’ is used to cover variation in grammar and vocabulary.

3. A ‘______________’ refers all these aspects of language variation – pronunciation

together with grammar and vocabulary.

4. ______________ variation involves differences between one place and another.

5. ______________ variation reflects differences between one social group and another.

This can cover such matters as gender, ethnicity, religion, age and, very significantly,

social class.

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Activity 1.7

How many phonemes are there in the following words?

Word No. of phoneme Word No. of phoneme

1. booth 6. through

2. debt 7. writer

3. yacht 8. lesson

4. key 9. homophone

5. bought 10. imagination

Activity 1.8

Look at these words. Three of the four words include the same phoneme – which word is

different from the others?

1. a. church b. Chester c. such d. ridge

2. a. shape b. hiss c. push d. passion

3. a. German b. justice c. chicken d. postage

4. a. yacht b. university c. major d. you

5. a. gate b. pig c. germs d. great

6. a. cat b. nice c. ceiling d. sensitive

7. a. think b. mother c. mammoth d. thanks

8. a. vision b. buzz c. zip d. lazy

Activity 1.9

Decide whether phoneme(s) or allophone(s) fit the blanks in the following sentences.

1. A _______________ is a member of a set of abstract units which together form the sound

system of a given language and through which contrasts of meaning are produced.

2. Only the _______________ of a _______________ can exist in reality as concrete

entities.

3. _______________ are real and they can be recorded, stored and reproduced, and

analyzed in acoustic or articulatory terms.

4. The _______________ is an abstract unit which may be realized as any one of a number

of _______________.

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Activity 1.10

Write the CV-patterns for each of the following English words:

Word Pattern Word Pattern

1. spin 6. attack

2. cream 7. psychic

3. tomato 8. assign

4. Spain 9. text

5. wrong 10. announce

Activity 1.11

Look at the phoneme for each question: which one of the four words contains that phoneme?

1. /ʌ/ a. month b. mouth c. math d. test

2. / ɪ/ a. bean b. buy c. pine d. pill

3. /ʊə/ a. tour b. took c. pure d. food

4. /e/ a. the b. feed c. then d. this

5. /ɑː/ a. call b. park c. one d. cap

6. /eɪ/ a. our b. lime c. crack d. game

7. /eə/ a. fear b. bar c. beer d. bear

Activity 1.12

Are the following pairs of words minimal pairs? Circle Yes or No.

1. right - write

2. caught – court

3. three – tree

4. knot – not

5. pool – pull

Yes / No

Yes / No

Yes / No

Yes / No

Yes / No

6. sitting – seating

7. chews – choose

8. bowl – bowel

9. walk – work

10. grate – great

Yes / No

Yes / No

Yes / No

Yes / No

Yes / No

Activity 1.13

Create two minimal pairs with each given word by replacing the consonants in different word

positions.

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Consonant Initial Medial Final

0. /t/ tea pea, sea charter charmer, charger seat seed, seal

1. /p/ pack mapping ape

2. /m/ mate slimming room

3. /s/ seek leasing class

4. /ʃ/ sheet mashed bash

5. /l/ lash rolling coal

6. /f/ feel refined staff

7. /n/ knee sneak bone

8. /d/ dash budding bed

9. /ɡ/ gain plugging wig

10. /z/ zip buzzing seize

Activity 1.14

Create three words with contrasts by supplying different vowels in the following consonantal

frames.

0. /b__t/ beat, bait, bet 6. /l__n/

1. /s__l/ 7. /k__n/

2. /pl__/ 8. /d__m/

3. /sp__k/ 9. /t__k/

4. /m__θ/ 10. /ɡr__nd/

Activity 1.15

Look at each pair of words: are they homophones or not? Choose True if you think they are

homophones, False if you think they are not.

1. where / wear True / False 6. out / ought True / False

2. sow / saw True / False 7. flour / flower True / False

3. sum / some True / False 8. peace / piece True / False

4. wood / would True / False 9. caught / court True / False

5. thought / fort True / False 10. chews / choose True / False

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Activity 1.16

Which word does not rhyme with the word given?

1. eight a. straight b. wait c. white d. mate

2. bright a. feet b. tonight c. white d. bite

3. tall a. ball b. hole c. small d. crawl

4. hen a. when b. ten c. again d. pain

5. sew a. go b. though c. mow d. flew

6. nose a. laws b. grows c. froze d. toes

7. fun a. one b. moon c. sun d. son

8. mean a. seen b. teen c. men d. clean

Activity 1.17

The following spelling errors would be impossible for most computer spelling checkers to deal

with. Supply a suitable homophone to correct each of the sentences.

Correction

0. You’ll get a really accurate wait if you use these electronic scales. weight

1. Why don’t you join a quire if you like singing so much?

2. The people standing on the key saw Megan sail past in her yacht.

3. Harry simply guest, but luckily he got the right answer.

4. Passengers are requested to form an orderly cue at the bus stop.

5. The primary task of any doctor is to heel the sick.

6. For breakfast, many people choose to eat a serial with milk.

7. Janet tried extremely hard, but it was all in vein, I’m sad to say.

8. Why is the yoke of this egg such a peculiar shade of yellow?

9. The gross errors in the treasurer’s report are plane for all to see.

Activity 1.18

Transcribe the following sets of homographs.

Homograph Transcription Meaning

0. live /laɪv/ ‘not dead’