1. Phonetics & Phonology of English: How & Why We Speak the Way We Do
Dr. Latricia Trites
Academic Advisor
Fulbright Yilan Project

2. What is Phonetics? Phonetics is the study of speech sounds.
Articulatory phonetics – how speech sounds are produced
Acoustic phonetics – the transmission and physical properties of speech sounds
Auditory phonetics – perception of speech sounds
Phonetic transcriptions – one sound = one symbol.

3. Consonants
The descriptions of the sounds we call consonants are based on the human articulatory system (lungs to pump air in and out, vocal folds, oral cavity including tongue and lips, and nasal cavity).
Consonants are described using 3 characteristics:
vocal quality (voiced/voiceless)
point of articulation
manner of articulation

4. The Articulators

5. Places of articulation (for consonants)

6. Consonant Chart Bilabial Labiodental Interdental Alveolar Palatal
Velar
Glottal
Stop p b t d k g
h ʔ
Fricative f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ
Affricate ʧ ʤ
Nasal m n ŋ
Liquid l
Retroflex liquid r
Glide ʍ w y

7. Vowels
Place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing are not useful when trying to describe vowels.
Vowels are all made in the mouth (place), with little or no air flow constriction (manner) and are always voiced in English
So the system that describes vowels does so in terms 4 characteristics:
tongue placement
tongue height
lip rounding
tenseness.

8. Vowel Chart
Center
Back
Front u i
High ɪ ʊ e o
ə ʌ ɪ
Mid ɛ
Low a æ ɪ

9. Diphthongs
Major
/aɪ/
/ɔɪ/
/aʊ/
Minor (if at all)
/eɪ/
/oʊ/

10. Suprasegmentals! What are those?
Length
High vowels shorter than low vowels
Voiceless consonants longer than voiced consonants
Voiceless fricatives longest
Length is influenced by the surrounding sounds
Tone
Can change meaning in some languages (like Chinese)
Stress
Stressed syllables more prominent than unstressed ones
Stressed syllables usually contain tense vowels
Stressed syllables are often longer
Unstressed syllables reduce vowel
Intonation
Rising and falling intonation can change meaning

11. What is Phonology?
Phonology is how speech sounds are organized and affect one another in pronunciation.
Key terms:
Phone – sound that is actually heard [ ]
Phoneme – more theoretical (idea) of a sound / /
Allophone – nondistinctive realization of the same phoneme
This organization is explained in phonological rules

12. Different Types of Phonological Variation
Overlapping Distribution – different sound in same environment (ex. /thap/ vs. /phat/).
Contrastive distribution – changing sound changes meaning (ex. /mæn/ vs./mɪn/).
Complementary distribution – sounds in a language never found in the same phonetic environment (ex. /thap/ vs. /path/*).
Free variation – two sounds that occur in overlapping environments but doesn’t change meaning (ex. /ɪnpʊt/ vs. / ɪmpʊt /).
*Italics indicates sound variant that cannot occur in the English language

13. Common Phonemic Rules Aspiration [h] Unreleased Stop [ ̚ ] Flap [ɾ]
Dental Consonants [⊓]
Velarization [ɫ]
Voicelessness [˚]
Vowel lengthening [׃]
Vowel nasalization [~]

14. Phonemic Rules
Aspiration Rule: Voiceless stops are aspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
Liquid/Glide Devoicing: Liquids/Glides become voiceless when they follow a voiceless stop, fricative, or affricate.
Vowel Lengthening: Vowels are lengthened when they come before a voiced consonant.
Flapping: When a /t/ or /d/ is preceded by a vowel and followed by a vowel, it becomes flapped (ex. bitter, butter, batter, ladder, letter, beauty, beautiful).

15. Common Phonological Rules
Assimilation – becomes like the neighboring sound (ex. hippo)
Palatization (ex. Don’t you, Won’t you)
r coloring (ex. fur, bird, party) often seen as /ɚ/or/ɝ/
Nasal coloring
Dissimilation (ex. fifth, sixth)
Insertion (ex. dance, strength, hamster)
Deletion (ex. chocolate, interesting)

16. Important Information to Remember
There are EXCEPTIONS to every rule in English.
English speakers, like all other languages try to say things as quickly and easily as possible.
Every region and dialect will have variations in speech patterns; however, it is important to foster correct pronunciation instead of bad habits.

17. Tips Be consistent with one symbol = one sound.
Remember that “bo po mo fo” is used to teach Mandarin, not English, because the language is built on syllables, English is a sound/symbol language, not built on syllables.
Help students understand how sounds are made.
Help students learn to sound out words instead of just listen and repeat.
Be aware of common mistakes based on first language that students tend to make: dropping final consonants, confusing /l/ and /r/, inserting /ә/, pronouncing all vowels as tense vowels.
Remember that there are useful websites where you can find correct pronunciation of English words.

18. Teaching Phonics
How can we use this phonetic information and the phonological rules to teach phonics better?
Using your regular textbook, take minutes to design a phonics activity that incorporates some of the information learned today.

19. Resources
Bergmann, A., Hall, K.C., & Ross, S. H. (Eds.). (2007). Language files: Materials for an introduction to language & linguistics (10th ed.). Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
International Phonetic Association
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Phthong!