Unit - 3

Study Of Sound

1. What are diphthongs? Give their IPA symbols.

A diphthong is a deliberate glide where speech organs start in the position of one vowel and move towards another. A diphthong constitutes one syllable though the ear perceives two separate syllables.

Every diphthong may be said to have a first element (the starting point) and a second element (in the direction of which the glide is made). Most of the length and stress associated with the glide is concentrated on the first element. The second element is only lightly sounded. All English diphthongs are falling diphthongs (decrescendo).

The diphthongs are equivalent in length to the long pure vowels and are subject to the same variations of quantity. They also reflect variations in different regional and social types of speech.

Diphthongs are represented in phonetic transcription by a sequence of two letters, the first showing the position of the organs of speech at the beginning of the glide and the second showing their position at the end. In the case of ‘closing diphthongs’ the second letter indicates the point towards which the glide is made, but that point is not necessarily reached, and such diphthongs sound quite correct if the organs of speech perform only part of the maximum permissible movement.

Below are the diphthongs comprised in the English Phonetic script by the International Phonetics Association (IPA)

eɪ ɔɪ aɪ

wait coin like

eə ɪə ʊə

hair here tourist

əʊ aʊ 

Show mouth 

2.     Write a short note on speech sounds or phonemes.

Speech sounds, also known as Phonemes, is the smallest recurring sound in a sentence. Merriam Webster defines speech sound as “any one of the smallest recurrent recognizably same constituents of spoken language produced by movement or movement and configuration of a varying number of the organs of speech in an act of ear-directed communication.”

The English language consists of 26 alphabets but there are 44 speech sounds (Phonemes) in the English language consisting of 20 vowel sounds and 24 consonant sounds.

Phonemes (speech sounds) are represented in writing by placing the letters used to represent the sound between two slashes, for example, the sound that you say at the beginning of the word pot is represented by /p/.

Speech Sounds can be classified into three types, viz. Consonants, Vowels and diphthongs.

3.     What are the various consonants in the phonetic script? What are voiced and unvoiced consonants?

A consonant is a sound accompanied by voice, in which there is either a complete or partial obstruction which prevents the air from freely issuing from the mouth.

In words such as base, maze, bathe, rouge, bake, path, long the sounds at the end of the words are distinctive. These twenty-four sounds may occur initially, medially and finally.

Consonants are perhaps more important than vowels because even if we pronounce the consonants only, most English words would be easy to understand. Consonant form the bones, the skeleton of English words and give them their basic shape. Moreover, differences of accent are mainly the result of differences in the sound of vowels; if the consonants are imperfect there will be a great risk of misunderstanding.

There are many types of consonants such as Fricatives (s,z,f,v), Plosives (stop) consonants (p and b; t and d; k and g). Nasal (m,n), Lateral and Gliding consonants.

Below are all the consonants comprised in the English phonetic script by the International Phonetics Association (IPA)

Unvoiced consonants

p f θ t s            ʃ      ʧ             k

pea free thing tree see sheep     cheese coin

Voiced consonants

b v ð d z ʒ             ʤ        g

boat video this dog zoo television joke go

m     n     ŋ     h      w  l  r j

mouse   now    thing   hope   we  love  run you

4.     What are the various speech organs that are required to articulate different sounds in English?

When we speak a stream of air is breathed Out from the lungs and this stream of air, when passing through the narrow spaces the human throat and mouth, makes a sound. By modifying the shape of the passage through which the air passes when we speak, we can make a number of different sounds. There are a number of points at which the course of the air stream may be varied. The organs situated at these points constitute the speech organs.

Nasal cavity

At the top of the throat (or pharyngeal cavity) there is a forking of the air passage. The breath may pass out through the mouth. Or through the nose by way of the nasal cavity. If we make the sound ng in song, the air stream passes through the nasal cavity.

Soft palate

If the breath is to pass out only through the mouth, the back part of the mouth moves upwards and backwards until it presses against the back wall of the throat, thus blocking the entrance to the nasal cavity. The moving part of the roof of the mouth is called the soft palate.

Hard Palate

In front of the soft palate is the hard palate. The roof of the mouth consists of the hard and soft palates with their meeting place in the middle.

Teeth Ridge

On the hard palate just behind the teeth you can feel a prominent ridge. This covers the roots of the teeth and so is called the teeth ridge or alveolar ridge. The teeth and teeth ridge are important in the production of speech sounds.

Tongue

The major organ in the mouth is the tongue. In phonetics it is convenient to divide the surface of the tongue into two parts, the front and the back, which lie opposite the hard and soft palates respectively when the tongue is in the position of rest. The front of the tongue also includes the blade which normally lies opposite the teeth ridge, and the tip. By giving the tongue different shapes, by bunching it up or flattening it out, and by raising or lowering different parts of it, we can modify the space through which the air has to pass and thereby produce many different sounds.

Lips

The lips are important since they determine the shape of the Opening through which the breath has to pass to the outer air. The lips can take up various different positions. They can be brought firmly together or they can completely block the mouth. The lower lip can be drawn inward and slightly upward to touch the upper front teeth and they can be kept apart either flat or with different amounts of rounding. In normal speech there is rarely more than half an inch between the lips or a quarter of an inch between the teeth even when the mouth is at its widest open.

5.     What is phonetics? What are the different types of phonetic studies?

No two persons speak exactly alike and the pronunciations differ greatly depending upon the locality and geography of the speaker. So how should one decide on a model? The English spoken by the native speakers of in south-east England, also known as Received Pronunciation (R.P) is often considered acceptable. Language starts with the ear. Therefore, one must first “hear” English and pay close attention to how different words sound.

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that deals with the study and classification of how humans make and perceive sounds. In other words, It is the study of the physiological production of speech sounds and how different sounds are used to form syllables, words and sentences.

Phonetics can be classified into three main branches:

1. Articulatory Phonetics

Articulatory Phonetics describes how the movement of different vocal organs are used to produce different speech sounds. It deals with the physical aspects of speech production. The organs of speech comprise of the Tongue, Nasal cavity, Lips, Epiglottis, Teeth, Uvula, Soft palate, Vocal chords, Windpipe, and the Pharyngeal Cavity.

2.     Acoustic Phonetics

Acoustic Phonetics deal with the acoustic properties of speech sounds. The variations in air pressure while speaking form an essential component of how sounds are made. Speech sounds can be divided into two major classes, the first, sounds that consist of periodic wave form i.e the fluctuations in air pressure are in regular intervals, and the second, sounds that consist of a non-regular wave from,

3.     Auditory Phonetics

Auditory Phonetics deal with the study of the variation between what is said by the speaker and what is heard by the receiver. In other words, it is the study of how humans perceive sounds.

Like the English language, Phonetics also consists of consonants and vowels. A consonant is a sound in which there is either a complete or partial obstruction which prevents the air from issuing freely from the mouth. On the other hand, a vowel is a voiced sound in the pronunciation of which the air passes through the mouth in a continuous stream, there being no obstruction such as would produce friction.

6.     What is aspiration? How does it affect articulation of different speech sounds?

Aspiration simply means the act of drawing air or breathing, however in Phonetics; Aspiration can be described as a manner of articulation involving an audible release of breath. In the English language a lot of the words require strong burst of air to be pronounced correctly, these words start with an aspirated consonant. To tell the difference between aspirated and non-aspirated sounds one can place a candle in front of the mouth and say the words, all aspirated words will affect the flame to a greater extent than the non-aspirated ones.

There will always be a flicker in the flame when an aspirated consonant is uttered.

For example if we take the words Kill/Skill, Pill/Spill and Till/Still; it is easily noticeable that the first words start with puffs of air which are not present in the second words.

Another example which can be considered is between the words ‘pin’ and ‘bin’. While saying the word ‘pin’ one feels a short burst of air blowing out while uttering the consonant ‘p’ while the same is not felt when saying ‘bin’.

The degree of aspiration of a particular word also varies depending upon the onset time of aspirated stops. Some words contain a higher level of aspiration such as thunder, while other words have a lower degree of aspiration such as pat, top, pill etc.

7.     What is meant by word accent? What are the rules associated with word accent.

Word accent may be defined as the degree of force with which a sound or syllable is uttered.

Accent marks are indicated with a vertical line (/) placed before the stressed syllable.

The first syllable is the most common place for stress as in father, any, steadily, obstinacy etc. many words are stressed on the second syllable such as about, before, beginning, magnificent etc. Some words have two stressed syllables such as half-hearted, fourteen, contradiction.

There is no simple way of knowing which syllable or syllables in an English word must be accentuated.

In English all words with more than one syllable are stressed.

Rules for Word Accent:

Accent Rule 1: All words with two or more syllables has one syllable whose vowel is accented. For instance, for-gét.

Accents are vital to spelling rules. Accented means the sound of that vowel is stressed, or louder, than those in other syllables.

Accent Rule 2: an extended word may contain more than one accent. The vowel that's stressed is called the first accent. The first accent is vital to several of the spelling rules. A second accented vowel is named the secondary accent. For instance, cón-ver-sá-tion.

Accent Rule 3: the first accent is typically on the first letter before a double consonant. For instance, for-gét-ting.

Accent Rule 4: Unaccented vowel sounds frequently have the soft /uh/ schwa sound, especially when there's just one letter within the syllable. All vowels can have the schwa sound. For instance, the a in a-boút.

Accent Rule 5: the primary accent is typically on the first syllable in a two-syllable word. For instance, páy-ment.

Accent Rule 6: the first accent on a two-syllable word is usually on the second syllable of the word that has a prefix within the first syllable and a root within the second syllable. For instance, dis-tráct.

Accent Rule 7: For two-syllable words that act as both nouns and verbs, the first accent is typically on the prefix (first syllable) of the noun and on the basis (second syllable) of the verb. For instance, pró-duce as a noun; pro-dúce as a verb.
 

Accent Rule 8: the primary accent is typically on the first syllable in three-syllable words, if that syllable may be a root. for instance , chár-ac-ter.

Accent Rule 9: the first accent is typically on the second syllable in three-syllable words that are formed by a prefix-root-suffix. for instance , in-vést-ment.

Accent Rule 10: the first accent is typically on the second syllable in four-syllable words. For instance, in-tél-li-gent.

8.     What is meant be word stress? Explain with the help of examples.

The meaning of a word with a number of syllables can change with a shift of stress on different syllables. Although stress can emphasize meaning not all English words are affected by a change on stress.

There can be two ways in which a shift in stress can change the meaning of the word. First, the meaning of the word changes partially. And second, by changing the complete meaning of the word by shifting stress and transforming the word into a noun, verb or sometimes an adjective.

Below are few examples where the meaning of the word has changed partially with a shift in stress on the second syllable.

Insult – What they said felt like IN-sults.

Please don’t in-SULT me.

Perfect – This is a PER-fect record.

They need to per-FECT their strategy.

Produce – They bought a lot of bio-degradable PRO-duce.

How did they pro-DUCE so much corn in so little time.

Record – They always keep a RE-cord of their conversations.

It is important to re-CORD important data.

Suspect – The police interrogated the SU-spect for 2 hours.

I sus-PECT there will be no retaliation.

Below are examples where the meaning of the word changes completely by changing the noun into a verb or an adjective.

Address – I do not know his ADD-ress.

You should add-RESS the queen with utmost respect.

Conduct - The restaurant manager wasn’t happy about his CON-duct.

He was asked to con-DUCT the choir performance earlier.

Content- The CON-tent of you project is satisfactory.

She was not con-TENT with how the book ended.

Desert – The army marched through the DES-ert.

She said she would never des-ERT me.

Project – The PRO-ject should be completed within the given time.

We can pro-JECT the film on a white screen.

9.     What are consonants in phonetics? Give their IPA symbols.

Vowels

In ordinary speech, a vowel is a voiced sound in the pronunciation of which the air passes through the mouth in a continuous stream, there being no obstruction and no narrowing such as would produce audible friction. All English vowels are voiced. Vowels like consonants can also occur initially or finally.

The following list consists of some words with vowel speech sounds:

Feel, fill, tall, bull, fool, mile, bat, toil, cart, pear, poor, butter, pier.

The qualities of vowels depend upon the position of the tongue and lips. It is convenient to classify them according to the position of the main part of the tongue. The position of the tip has no great effect on vowel quality. The tip of the tongue is supposed to be touching or near the lower teeth.

1. Front vowels are the vowels which are produced with the front of the tongue raised in the direction of the hard palate. Ex. Feed.
2. Back vowels are the vowels which are produced with the back of the tongue raises in the direction of the soft palate. Ex. Food.
3. The vowels which are intermediate between the front and the back vowels are known as central vowels. Ex. Bird.

Below are the vowels comprised in the English Phonetic script by the International Phonetics Association (IPA)

ɪ i: ʊ u:

Ship sheep book shoot

e ɜ: ə ɔ:

left her teacher door

æ ʌ ɒ ɑ:

hat up on far 

10. Write a short note on the Larynx and Pharynx and how they are used for articulating various speech sounds.

The Larynx

The first point where it is possible to modify the air stream is at the top of the windpipe, which ends in a bony structure called the larynx. The front part of the larynx protrudes and is popularly known as the Adam's apple'. Inside the larynx are the vocal cords which are like small lips projecting from the sides of the larynx and connected with muscles so that they can be brought together and placed edge to edge in the middle of the air passage, or be drawn apart leaving a wide opening between them. This opening is called the glottis.

When the vocal chords are drawn apart, the air from the lungs can pass freely through the open glottis. This is the position we use when we breathe normally without speaking. The passing of the air through the open glottis produces a faint sound, which becomes audible to other people if we breathe through the mouth instead of through the nose. We utilize this sound for the purpose of speaking: it is the sound /h/.

The wide-open position of the glottis is used for speech sounds (which are at the same time further modified in the mouth) called voiceless consonants. These sounds are called voiceless because they lack the special element known as voice.

Voice is the kind of sound produced when the vocal chords are brought together edge to edge while air is being pressed up from the lungs. The pressure of air causes the chords to vibrate. The closed position of the glottis is used for speech sounds (which are at the same time modified in the mouth) called voiced consonants. All vowels are examples of voiced sounds.

Pharynx

When the air stream has passed through the glottis, it enters the cavity formed between the root of the tongue and the back wall of the throat. This is the pharyngeal cavity or pharynx. At the base of the tongue and projecting into the pharynx is the Epiglottis, a small flap which serves when swallowing to prevent food from falling into the larynx.