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Semester # 3
1
Lecture #1:
19-06-2008
What is a sound?
A sound is a rapid continuous movement that travel either through water or air and they can
be heard when they reach human’s or animal’s ears.
Pharynx:
It’s a tube which begins just above the larynx. It is about 7cm long in women and 8cm
long in men, and its top end is divided into two parts. One part, being the back of the mouth,
and the other, being the beginning of the way through the nasal cavity.
Soft Palate/Velum:
It’s an organ which allows air to pass through nose or through the mouth. Yours is
probably in that position now, but often in speech it’s raised so that air can’t escape through
the nose. The sound produced by Velum will be called Velar.
Alveolar Ridge:
It is between top front teeth and hard palate. You can feel its shape with your tongue.
It surface is really much rougher than it feels, and is covered with little ridges.
Tongue:
It is very important organ and it can be moved into many different places and different
shapes. It is usual to divide the tongue into different parts such as tip, blade, front, back and
root.
The Teeth:
We have upper teeth and lower teeth only at the front of the mouth, immediately
behind the lips.
The Lips:
They are very important in speech. Sounds in which the lips are in contact with each
other are called bilabial while those with lip-to-teeth contact are called labio-dental.
a. When the vocal cords are apart and there is no vibration, the sound is
voiceless.
b. When the vocal cords are together and there is a vibration, the sound is voiced.
1. The back of the tongue touches the lower side of the velum ((stop air))
2. Move your tongue away from the velum ((release air))
1. Tongue between top and bottom teeth ((push air through the gap))
1. End of covered back behind tooth ridge ((push air through the gap))
Position of /h/:
/h/ initially: hot, hand, house, hello, hotel, hat
/h/ mid position: perhaps, ahead, behave, behind
/h/ finally: ǿ final position
Position of /m/
1. Stop the gap with the lips so air goes through nose
/n/ initially: nose, nest, net, no, noise, not, know, niece, neck
/n/ mid: snow, snooze, dinner, winner, manner, sound, wound, ground, found
/n/ finally: listen, lesson, open, pen, women, men, gone, gun, won, fun
1. Stop the gap with tongue and tooth ridge so air goes through nose
Position of /ŋ/
1. Stop air gap with the back of te tongue and top mouth so air goes through nose.
Positions of /l/:
1. The tongue is raised to the alveolar ridge but the sides of the tongue are down,
permitting the air to escape over the slides of the tongue.
Positions of /r/
Position of /j/
Position of /w/:
1. The back of the tongue is raised to the soft palate ((velum)) and the lips will be
rounded.