Practical English Phonetics

Contents

• I. Introduction

• II. The organs of speech

• III. English Speech Sounds

• IV. Sounds in Connected Speech

• V. Intonation

• I. Introduction – The importance of phonetic study

• A) Phonetics is the science and study of speech sounds ( sounds made by human speech organs representing meaning ). It deals with the sound system of a language.

• Phonetics is a branch of linguistics: phonetics, vocabulary and grammar.

• Speech sound is the basic element for word + grammar to rely on.

• (To learn any spoken language, the first step is to learn the basic sounds. )

• a): Relations between speech sound + word• i) sound affects the formation of words• Describe---description five----fifteen twelve----twelft

h • (onomatopoeia)• cackle quack honk twitter chirp grunt roar gig

gle blab• soup slurp sip slop sloppy slob • ii) Sounds + irregular verb form change• in original form, no change in other 2 past forms.• E.g. Bet bet bet let let let upset upset upset • Spread spread spread

• / in origin form, / / is changed into / / in other forms

• E.g. Meet met met feed fed fed lead led led

• Leave left left keep kept kept read read read

• Sleep slept slept feel felt felt sweep swept swept

• Verbs with / / in original form, d changed into / /• E g. Send sent sent bend bent bent lend lent lent

• Spend spent spent build built built

• / / in original verb forms, vowels changed into / or /

• E g. Sing sang sang ring rang rang • sink sank sank Swin swam swam • drink drank drunk spring sprang sprung• Begin began begun swing swung swung • sling slug slung Fling flung flung • wring wrung wrung

• / / / / / / / /• sink sunk( sank) sunk

• stink stunk (stank) stunk

• spin spun (span) spun

• hang hung (hanged) hung (hanged)

• / /changed into / / + / / // //• ride rode ridden• drive drove driven• write wrote written• rise rose risen• arise arose arisen• stride strode stridden• strive strove striven• thrive throve thriven

• // / / / /• speak spoke spoken• steal stole stolen• freeze froze frozen• break broke broken• choose chose chosen• // /:/ /:/• wear wore worn• tear tore torn• bear bore born• swear swore sworn

• iii) Relations between sound and grammar.• Sounds determine parts of speech• desert desert• insult insult• record record• conduct conduct• content content• present present• close close bow bow• lead lead tear tear

• verb tense• read read • number of nouns• man men

• b) A need in communication.• i) Intonation:• ___Yes, Madam ?• ___ I want a piece of soap.• ___ It’s going to rain, isn’t it ?

• ii) the difference between oral language and written language, the distance between sound and transcription:

• Pick it up. [ ] • Think it over.• You should have told us.• Not at all.• Did you eat yet?

• c) A need for further study

• 2.Ways to learn phonetics• more practice

• more listening

• more imitations

• to know the basic rules (how each sound is formed, stress, linking, rhythm, pauses, intonation and etc.)

• 3.Standard English pronunciation• English: The most widely used language in the world ( on

e billion people speak English. 4 hundred million speak it as their first language. 6 hundred people speak it as a second or a foreign language. )– English as native language in countries: British, America, Canada,

New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, Australia– English as second language in countries: China– English as official language in: India, Singapore, the Philippines,

Ghana– English as working language in the United Nations:

• Permanent members: UK, China, France, USA, Russia

• It’s pronunciation varies in different geographical areas, so it has dialects and accents, such as General American (GA), General British (GB)

• RP (received pronunciation): based on the London dialect, used by educated people in southern England, used by the announcers of BBC, also widely used through English-speaking countries. So, it has been accepted everywhere for the teaching of English to foreigners.

• 4. Basic sounds + phonetic transcription

• Basic sound: the smallest phonetic unit of language

• Eg. Sea / :/ composed of 2 sounds: // + /:/• The functions of basic sounds:

• a) distinguish word meaning

• Eg. Bed bad bid

• b) distinguish grammatical form

• E g. Man men work works

• Basic sounds are distinctive.• Any language has a vast number of speech sounds,

yet basic sound are limited in number. In English there are 44 basic sounds in all.

• Phonetic Transcription

• 26 English letters 44 basic sounds

• letters + basic sounds

• a) one sound spelt in different ways

read sea people machine believe receive we key quay

• b) same spelling, different pronunciations

• bough, although cough enough through brought

• c) silent letters

• climb knot autumn island

• d) same spelling, different meanings, different pronunciations

• desert desert lead lead bow bow tear tear

• e) words spelt in different ways have the same pronunciation

• piece peace knot not site cite sea see

• 5. International Phonetic Alphabet• Characteristics: each symbol represents one sound and no

t any other• One sound must be represented by one symbol —// // • 6. Two types of transcription:• Broad transcription: uses a simple set of symbols just to r

epresent the phonemes of a language without ambiguity• Narrow transcription: uses symbol and diacritics to denot

e particular allophones of phonemes