English Phonology

Week 1: Introduction
Mia Perlina
(miaperlina@gmail.com)
(dosen00322@unpam.ac.id)
 Getting to know the sounds
When we communicate in English, we
produce sequences of sounds that join
together to make up words, phrases, and
sentences

In Linguistics, two major branches of

study investigate the diverse aspects in
sound sequence:
Phonetics
Phonology
 Phonetics & Phonology
PHONETICS deals with individual speech
sounds:
We learn about how each sound is
produced in the organs of speech in the
body and how each sound perceived by
the hearer as a result of sound
transmission
PHONOLOGY is the science of speech sound
patterns
We learn about how speech sounds
behave in utterance and communication.
 What are we going to learn????
To look into each individual sound:
consonants and vowels (known as the
segmentals)

To describe how each of the speech sounds is

articulated in different parts of the mouth and
throat

To examine the aspects beyond the

segmentals (suprasegmentals): stress and
intonation
 How speech sounds are made?
English and most languages of the world use
egressive pulmonics system, but other air stream
mechanisms are possible.

EGRESSIVE, as opposed to INGRESSIVE, refers to the

fact that sound is produced when air is exiting, not
entering, the lungs

Pulmonic refers to the use of the lungs as the power

source.

The production of any sound involves the movement

of air stream.
 How speech sounds are made?
Let us follow the movement of air stream in order:
The air produced from the lungs flows through the
opening the vocal folds
The air travels up the pharynx into the mouth or
nose, depending on the sound to be made

If the air passes out through the oral cavity, an

oral sound is produced

If the air goes out through the nasal cavity, a

nasal sound is produced

If the air passes out of both the nose and the

mouth, a nasalized sound is produced
 Getting to know the articulators
Articulators refer to the sound organs of the body located
in the vocal tract that are responsible for producing a sound

The articulators may be active (moving) or passive

(stationary)

The active articulators include the following:

tongue
lower lip

The passive articulators include the following:

Teeth
the roof of the mouth (alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate)
Articulatory Anatomy
Practice 1
Draw the arrow symbol () in the facial diagram to indicate airflow
direction in the vocal tract when producing an oral sound
Practice 2
Draw the arrow symbol () in the facial diagram to indicate airflow
direction in the vocal tract when producing a nasal sound
 Where to look for phonetic symbols
When you need to describe a word or phrase phonetically, you
can use the help of word processing

In regular Word document, you can find the insert button

usually placed on the toolbar in Microsoft Office Word 2007

after you click the insert button, find the option for symbol,
represented by Symbol

In Font, select Lucida Sans Unicode

Once the font type is determined, you will be able to scroll

down the symbol selection and select the symbol you want to
use in your document.

Click on the desired symbol and press Insert