1. Vowels
A vowel sound is produced with an open passage of air in the mouth. Vowel sounds are produced are articulated with a free airflow.
The shape of the mouth forms a cubic area or a tube-shaped cavity that starts from the throat and ends at the lips.
The upper surface of the tongue’s main body is like a convex or a hump in the mouth.

2. Vocal tract as a resonating tube

3. How are different vowels made?
Changing the size and the shape of the
VOCAL TRACT - a set of tubes filled with air
Oral cavity
Pharyngeal cavity
Nasal Cavity 3 1 2

4. /i:/ in see
large pharynx
small oral cavity
/ ɑ: / in park
small pharynx
large oral cavity

5. [i]
The sound which is produced when the tongue is as high and as far forward in the mouth as is possible while still producing a vowel.
[ɑ]
The tongue is as low and as far back in the mouth as is possible while still producing a vowel.

7. Descriptive Terms
1- Horizontal axis: Front vowels lie beneath the hard palate, back vowels lie beneath the soft palate, and central vowels lie beneath the area between the soft and hard palate.
Front - Central – Back
2- Vertical axis: high vowels are made with the front tongue is close to the palate. Low vowels are made with the tongue is lowered from the mouth and automatically entails the opening of the mouth.
Close - Mid - Open
3- The position of the lips is a third dimension for describing vowel sounds, i.e., rounded or unrounded vowels.
4- A vowel is long or short

8. How vowels are described?
The position of the highest point of the tongue:
how high or low the highest point of the tongue is.
how front or back the tongue’s highest point in the mouth is

10. Vowel Description /i/ as in see is close, front, unrounded, long
/u/ as in food is close, back, rounded, long
/ɜ/ as in shirt is half close, central, slightly rounded, long
/ɔ/ as in bought is half open, back, slightly rounded, long
/ ɑ / as in park is open, back, slightly rounded, long

11. Vowel Description
/ I / as in sit is front, half-close, unrounded short
/ʊ/ as in book is half-close back rounded short
/e/ as in get is front half-close unrounded short
/ə/ as in ago, writer is central half-open slightly rounded short
/æ/as in cat is open, front neutral short
/ʌ/ as in cut is central open short neutral

12. pen said death mess mean Meat steak weak theme green
In the following sets of words the sound of the vowel is the same in every case but one. Circle the word that has a different vowel sound. Then write the vowel symbol that represents the common sound in the remaining three.
pen said death mess mean
Meat steak weak theme green
sane pad fat chap mast
hoot good moon view suit
cup dub core some numb
groom saw chore shore port

13. Read the following words and group them in columns under their vowel symbol:
[ board, two, bored, moth, do, through, blue, daughter , crew, cod, dog, cup, some , pause, dull, doll, choose, chores , Paul, true, dove ]
/ʌ/ ɒ
/u/
/ɔ/

14. Describe the vowel sound in each of the following words:
sought, pot, cut, seed, father, soon, bird, sad, bit, about

15. Answer
sought: open, back, long, slightly rounded
pot: open, back, short, slightly rounded
cut: central open short neutral
Seed: close, front, unrounded, long
Father : open, back, slightly rounded, long
Soon : close, back, rounded, long
Bird : half close, central, slightly rounded, long
Sad : open, front neutral short
Bit : front, half-close, unrounded short
about : central half-open slightly rounded short

16. Diphthongs ending in ə aʊ eI
Diphthongs involve a movement or glide from one vowel to another. A vowel which remains constant and does not glide is called a pure vowel. The total number of diphthongs in English is Eight.
Diphthongs
Centering
closing
ending in ə
ending in I
ending in ʊ ɪə ʊə eə ɔɪ əʊ aʊ eI aI

17. Examples of Diphthongs
A diphthong is a combination of two vowel sounds. It is a tongue movement from one vocalic position to another. Diphthongs in English include:
/ɪə/ beer, fear
/eə/ chair, stare
/ʊə/ sure, tour , pour
/eI/ say, weigh , pay
/aI/ high, buy , site
/ɔɪ/ toy, joy, coy
/əʊ/ go, hello ,
/aʊ/ house, now, found

18. Triphthongs
A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption.
eIə layer , player
aIə liar , fire
ɔIə loyal , royal
əʊə lower , mower
aʊə hour , power

19. Arabic Vowel /ɪə/ [beer] [be:r] /ʊə/ [ ʃʊə] [ʃu:r]
Short vowels: / I / kasra , /ʊ / dammah, /ə / Fathah
Long vowels : /i/ فيل , /u/ فول , / æ / فات
Diphthongs: / aʊ / نوم , سوف , /aI/ بيت , كيف
English has a greater number of vowels than Arabic. This creates problems for Arab learners in the recognition and production of English vowel sounds.
Arabic learners commonly have problems pronouncing central vowels / ə / and / ɜ:/. They try to fit the English vowels into their vowel system.
**Did you see the beard in the tree? # Did you see the bird in the tree?
/I/ # /e/ [sIt], [set] , /ʌ/ # /ɒ/ [lʌk] , [lɒk], /ɜ:/ # /a:/ [dɜ:t] , [da:rt]
/ɪə/ [beer] [be:r]
/ʊə/ [ ʃʊə] [ʃu:r]
/ əʊ / [kəʊt] [kɔ:t]

20. Arabic Vowels
3. There are some English vowels that do not exist in Arabic like /e/,/ɔː/,/ɒ/,/ɜː/,/ə/,/ɑː/
4. Arabic learners usually experience difficulties distinguishing between the sounds below and often have trouble producing them
/e/ , / ʌ / , / ɒ / , / ɔ /
The schwa /ə/ is problematic for Arab learners as in the word /bəna:nə/. The schwa replaces unstressed vowels. Also function words: am [əm], does [dəz], the [ðə], [fə], to [tə]
Vowel length: voiceless consonant in each of the following pairs of consonants, [θ, ð], [s,z], [p, b], [f,v], [t,d], k,g], [ʃ, ʒ], [tʃ, dʒ], influences the vowel preceding it and makes it shorter than in the case of voiced consonant. Notice the length of vowel in pairs such as /seif/ and /seiv/, /grəʊθ/ and /ləʊð/, /bit/ and /bid/.

21. wishing [wishiŋ ] should be [ ] wives [waIvs] should be [ ]
Find the errors in the transcription of the consonant sounds in the following words. In each word there is one error, indicating an impossible pronunciation of that word for a native speaker of English of any variety. Correct the error:
wishing [wishiŋ ] should be [ ]
wives [waIvs] should be [ ]
these [ θiz ] should be [ ]
hijacking [haIjækɪŋ] should be [ ]
chipping [tʃɪppɪŋ ] should be [ ]
avoid [ævɔId ] should be [ ]
bedroom [bedrɔm ] should be [ ]
manage [mænædʒ] should be [ ]
umbrella [umbrelə ] should be [ ]

22. wishing [wishiŋ ] should be [wɪʃɪŋ ] wives [waIvs] should be [waIvz ]
Find the errors in the transcription of the consonant sounds in the following words. In each word there is one error, indicating an impossible pronunciation of that word for a native speaker of English of any variety. Correct the error:
wishing [wishiŋ ] should be [wɪʃɪŋ ]
wives [waIvs] should be [waIvz ]
these [ θiz ] should be [ðiz ]
hijacking [haIjækɪŋ] should be [haIdʒækɪŋ ]
chipping [tʃɪppɪŋ ] should be [tʃɪpɪŋ ]
avoid [ævɔId ] should be [əvɔId ]
bedroom [bedrɔm ] should be [ bedrum ]
manage [mænædʒ] should be [ mænədʒ ]
umbrella [umbrelə ] should be [ əmbrelə ]

23. Transcribe the following sentences
We can see three trees.
He still lives in the big city.
The girl with curls has furs and pearls.
The boy was annoyed by boiled oysters.
Sue threw the soup into the pool.
The doll at the top costs lots.

24. Transcribe the following sentences
wi kæn si θri triz
hi stɪl lɪvz ɪn ðə bɪg sɪti
ðə gɜrl wɪθ kɜrlz hæz fɜrz ənd pɜrlz
ðə bɔI wəz ənɔId baI bɔIld ɔIstərz
su θru ðə sup ɪntu ðə pu:l
ðə dɒl ət ðə tɒp kɒsts lɒts

25. evər sɪns ðə taIm əv ðə griks, drɑmə həz pleId ən ɪmpɔrtənt rɔl ɪn pipəlz lɪvz. ðə grik trædʒədiz ənd kɒmədiz wər ə sentrəl pɑrt əv ðə laIf əv ðə sɪtəzənz əv entʃənt gris.

26. Ever since the time of the Greeks, drama has played an important role in people's lives. The Greek tragedies and comedies were a central part of the life of the citizens of ancient Greece.

27. The government should provide more financial assistance to parents who use childcare. Childcare centers may assist children in their early development. They give children an opportunity to mix with other children and to develop social skills at an early age.

28. ðə gəvərmənt ʃʊd prəvaId mɔr faInænʃəl əsɪstəns tu pɜrənts hu juz tʃajldkɛr. tʃaIldkɜr sentərz me əsɪst tʃɪldrən ɪn ðɛr ərli dɪveləpmənt. ðeI gɪv tʃɪldrən ən ɒpərtunəti tu mɪks wɪð əðər tʃɪldrən ənd tu dɪveləp sɔʃəl skɪlz ət æn ərli eIdʒ.

29. Phonology
Phonology examines the organization and distribution of speech sounds in a particular language as well as the interaction between those different sounds. While we find two or more languages have the same sounds, no two languages organize their sound inventories in the same way.
S >>>> p, t, k
??? S >>>> f, g, v
** fwallow **smlt are not possible words in English

30. Phonology /top/ , /stop/ , /little/, /kitten/
In every language, certain sounds are considered the ‘same’ sound even though they may be different.
/top/ , /stop/ , /little/, /kitten/
For native speakers, all these words have /t/ in them, at least at some psychological level. They can ignore the phonetic differences since they are non-distinctive whereas in other languages there is a difference between aspirated and non-aspirated sounds. They can change meaning and thus called distinctive.
/but/ , /shut/ , /take/, /try/ are the same in English though the first two are pronounced like Arabic /ط/. They are non-contrastive.
The two sounds are two different phonemes in Arabic as in words تاب , طاب ، سماء ، سطاء
Say why the following are phonemes in Arabic but not in English
[ /T/ , /Z/ , /S/ ]
سماء في الأولى مرققة وفي الثانية مفخمة

31. Phonemes
A phoneme: It is a class of speech sounds that are identified by a native speaker as being the same sound. So a phoneme is like an umbrella which may have several forms or several pronunciations, i.e. (a family of sounds). It is the smallest sound unit in a language that can indicate a difference in meaning.
One way for establishing the phonemes of a language is by means of minimal pairs.
Pan ban
Can cat
Pill bill
Buy tie
Beat bit
Shy sigh
A phoneme is the different ways a specific sound is pronounced due to the influence of neighbouring sounds on this sound.

32. Allophones
An allophone: the members of this class of sounds (the phoneme) which are the actual phonetic segments produced by a speaker. It is a phone that has been classified as belonging to the same class or phoneme
/th/, /t/ or /ph/ /p/.

33. Some phonological rules
Assimilation: It causes a sound to become more like a neighboring sound with respect to some feature:
1. When a sound having the features of an alveaolar stop /t/ , /d/ precedes a bilabial consonant, it causes /t/, /d/ to take on the feature bilabial.
Goodbye – goobbye / “five pens” /v/ become /f/ “fif pens”
2. Dental consonants: alveaolar consonants become dental when followed by a dental sound / ð /, / θ /.
Health, eighth , in this.
3. Vowel nasalization: vowels become nasalised when they are followed by a nasal sound… /sang/, /mean/
Assimilation means one sound replaces another sound under the influence of the following sound. For example, in the phrase “five pens” /v/ becomes /f/ under the influence of the voiceless /p/.

34. Some phonological rules
white bird: bilabial /b/ replaces alveolar /t/ under the influence of the bilabial /b/
gone back: bilabial /m/ replaces alveolar /n/ under the influence of the bilabial /b/
night club: velar /k/ replaces alveolar /t/ under the influence of the velar /k/
has to: voiceless /s/ replaces voiced /z/ under the influence of voiceless /t/
soft snow: alveolar /t/ is omitted under the influence of alveolar /s/
grand mother: the /d/ in /nd/often disappears if followed by a word starting with a nasal.

35. Some phonological rules … cont’d
Dissimilation: It causes two neighboring sounds to become much less alike with respect to some features.
a- Fricative dissimilation: / θ / changes to / t / following another fricative.
The word fifth [ fifθ ] is often pronounced as [ fift],
sixth /siksth/ is pronounced [sikst].
In these two examples the fricative / θ / becomes less like an adjacent fricative consonant; it does so through a change in the manner of articulation, thereby becoming a alveolar.

36. Some phonological rules … cont’d
Insertion: it causes a segment not present at the phonemic level to be added to the phonetic form of a word.
a- voiceless stop insertion: between a nasal and a voiceless fricative, a voiceless stop with the same place of articulation as the nasal is inserted.
dance [dænts]
hamster [hæmpstər]
comfortable [ kəmpftəbl ]

37. Some phonological rules … cont’d
Deletion: It involves elimination of a sound as in the case of unstressed syllables and in casual speech.
a- /h/ deletion : this rule would apply to a sentence such as
He Handed her his hat
[hi hændəd r Iz hæt]
b- unstressed vowel deletion: a vowel that precedes a liquid consonant in an unstressed syllable may be deleted.
police [polis] >>>>>[plis]
Believe [bəliv/ >>>>> [bliv]

38. Assimilation in Arabic المماثلة الصوتية أنواع
إذا أثر الثاني في الاول يكون (ثأثير مدبر) dissimilation
إذا تم ادغام الصوتين المتماثلين يكون (تأثير كلي) complete assimilation
إذا لم يتم ادغام الصوتين المتماثلين يكون (تأثير جزئي)
إذا لم يفصل بين الصوتين المتماثلين فاصل، صوت ساكن أو حركة، يكون (تأثير متصل)
اذا فصل بين الصوتين المتماثلين فاصل يكون (التأثير منفصل)
هو الاتفاق او النسجام بين الاصوات المتباعدة المخارج والمتنافرة في الصفات. المتباعدة يعني المتجاورة المخارج أو المتحدة المخارج.
شرط المماثلة هو نفس شرط الادغام قلا بد من المماثلة قرب المخرج. فالادغام يعد نوع من انواع المماثلة وشرط المماثلة كشرط الادغام وهو قرب المخرج والاتفاق في الصفات على الاقل بصفتين او ثلاثة، فاذا التقي صوتان من مخرج واحد او من مخرجين متقاربين وكان احدهما مجهورا وكان الاخر مهموسا مثلا، حدث بينهما شد وجذب، كل واحد منهما يحاول ان يجذب الاخر ناحيته ويجعله يتماثل معه في صفاته كلها او في بعضها..
المماثلة هي عملية استبدال صوت بصوت اخر تحت تأثير صوت ثالث قريب من في الكلمة او الجملة. وهذا التوافق يحدث بين الاصوات الصامتة ايضا بين الحركات وايضا بين الاصوات الصامتة والحركات.

39. Examples of المماثلة الصوتية
الـتأثير المقبل الكلي المتصل
تتأثر تاء الافتعال دائما بالدال او الطاء قبلها فتنقلب دالا او طاء مثل: ادترك --> ادّرك ، اطتلب --> اطّلب،
اطتلع --> اطّلع: اثرت الطاء المفخمة على التاء المرققة فتماثلتا ففخمت التاء الى طاء ثم ادغمت الطاءان.
2. تتأثر تاء الأفعال غالبا بالذال أو الصاد أو بالضاد قبلها فتنقلب ذالا او صادا او ضادا: اذتكر ---> اذّكر ، اضتجع ---> اضّجع
3- تتأثر الياء الساكنة بالضمة المقيدة قبلها فتتحول لضمة مماثلة وتتحد في ضمة طويلة مثل: مُيْقن ---> موقن ، مُيْسر ---> موسر

40. Examples of المماثلة الصوتية
الـتأثير المقبل الجزئي المتصل
تتاثر تاء الافتعال بالصاد او الضاد او الزاي قبلها فتنقلب طاء في الحالتين الاولين و تنقلب دالا في الحالة الثالثة، مثلا:
اصتبر ---> اصطبر ، اثرت الصاد المفخمة على التاء المرققة فتحولت الى نظيرتها الطاء المفخمة
اصتفي ----> اصطفى (”ان الله اصطفاه عليكم“)
ازتهر ---> ازدهر ، ازتجر ---> ازدجر ، حيث اثرت الزاي المجهورة في التاء المهموسة فتحولت الى نظيرتها الدال المجهورة وهو تاثر جزئي لانه لم يتم في الادغام

41. Examples of المماثلة الصوتية
الـتأثير المدبر الكلي المتصل
اتطهر ---> اطّهر حيث اثرت الطاء المفخمة على نظيرتها التاء المرققة ففخمت التاء لطاء وادغمت الطاءان
يتذكر ---> يذّكر ” وما يذّكر ألا أولو الألباب“
يتثاقل ---> يثّاقل ”أثاقلتم في الأرض“
الـتأثير المدبر الجزئي المتصل
تتأثر النون الساكنة بالباء التالية لها فتنقلب الى صوت من مخرج الباء وصوت الميم، (سميعٌ بصير) كأنها صارت ”سميعمْ بصير“ حيث تماثلت نون التنوين مع صوت الياء فتحول الباء الى صوت الميم لقرب المخرج والاتفاق في الترقيق ، وكذلك (من بعد) ” مم بعد”(الاقلاب)
نقول بالعامية (يسحف) بدلا من (يزحف) حيث تأثرت الزاى المجهورة بالحاء المهموسة فقلبت الزاى الى نظيرتها المهموسة وهي حرف السين.