PHONETICS They spell it "da Vinci" and pronounce it "da Vinchy". Foreigners always spell better than they pronounce. (Mark Twain)

The Beauty of English Phonetics I take it you already know Of tough and bough and cough and dough? Others may stumble, but not you On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through. Well don't! And now you wish, perhaps, To learn of less familiar traps. Beware of heard, a dreadful word That looks like beard but sounds like bird. And dead: it's said like bed, not bead, For goodness sake don't call it deed! Watch out for meat and great and threat (They rhyme with suite and straight and debt). A moth is not a moth as in mother Nor both as in bother, nor broth as in brother, And here is not a match for there, Nor dear and fear, for bear and pear. And then there's dose and rose and lose-- Just look them up--and goose and choose And cork and work and card and ward And font and front and word and sword And do and go, then thwart and cart, Come, come! I've hardly made a start. A dreadful Language? Why man alive! I learned to talk it when I was five. And yet to write it, the more I tried, I hadn't learned it at fifty-five.

How to identify sounds? Linguists transcribe the sounds of languages with a special alphabet that represents sounds as they actually are, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA.) The IPA was suggested by the British linguist Henry Sweet (1845-1912), who became a prototype for Whom?

International Phonetic Alphabet CONSONANT DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE [p] stop-plosive consonant, unvoiced as in pet [b] stop-plosive consonant, voiced as in bet [t] as in ten [d] as in den [k] as in kit [g] as in give [m] nasal consonant as in me [n] as in neat nasal consonant (eng) as in hung [f] fricative consonant, unvoiced as in feet [v] fricative consonant, voiced as in vain [Θ] as in think as in then CONSONANT DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE [s] fricative consonant, unvoiced as in sea [z] fricative consonant, voiced as in zip fricative consonant, unvoiced (esh) as in she as in azure [h] as in heat [l] lateral consonant as in lift [r] glide as in rose [j] glide (yot) as in yes [w] glide, voiced as in were [hw] glide, unvoiced as in when combination consonant, unvoiced as in chill combination consonant, voiced as in jet

Where Are Sounds Formed?

IPA Vowels Vowels are determined by 3 parameters: Height, frontness, and roundedness. Vowel Shift

Consonants Consonants have 3 main distinctive features: Voicing or the lack of voice in their production: compare b and p; The place of articulation (where in the mouth they are actually produced): compare b and g; The manner of articulation (such as stop or nasal hum): compare b and n. Development of American Pronunciation

Dialect Coach

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm  (1785–1863)  (1786–1859)

Grimm’s Law: Why Is It Important? Established that the Germanic languages are part of Indo-European. Described the correspondences between Germanic consonants and consonants in Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit. Described the development of English and other Germanic languages from Old Germanic languages showing the gradual changes that languages undergo, especially sound changes in consonants. “B” in “doubt”: why?

Examples of Grimm’s Law /p/ in the beginning of Indo-European words turned into /f/ in Germanic languages /t/ in the beginning of Indo-European words turned into /th/ in Germanic languages /h/ in the beginning of Indo-European words turned into /k/ in Germanic languages Pur (I/E)- pyr (Latin/Greek) fire Pitr (I/E) - pater (L/G) - father Treyes (I/E) -trios (L/G)- three Tonuh (I/E) -tonate (L/G)- thunder Korn (I/E) -cornu (L/G) -horn Kerd (I/E) -cordis (L/G) -heart

Phonemes and Allophones Phonemes: Make a distinction in meaning Allophones: Merely sound variations What is the difference in : sheep/ship, tall/toll, or pool/pull ? They all sound the same to me!