Practical English Phonetics

1. Practical English Phonetics

2. Contents • I. Introduction • II. The organs of speech • III. English Speech Sounds • IV. Sounds in Connected Speech • V. Intonation

3. 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. )

4. a): Relations between speech sound + word • i) sound affects the formation of words • Describe---description five----fifteen twelve----twelfth • (onomatopoeia) • cackle quack honk twitter chirp grunt roar giggle blab • soup slurp sip slop sloppy slob • ii) Sounds + irregular verb form change • /e/ in original form, no change in other 2 past forms. • E.g. Bet bet bet let let let upset upset upset • Spread spread spread

5. / i :/ in origin form, / i :/ is changed into /e / 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 /d / in original form, d changed into /t / • E g. Send sent sent bend bent bent lend lent lent • Spend spent spent build built built

6. / /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

7. / / / / / / / / • sink sunk( sank) sunk • stink stunk (stank) stunk • spin spun (span) spun • hang hung (hanged) hung (hanged)

8. / a /changed into / / + / / /a/ // /n/ • ride rode ridden • drive drove driven • write wrote written • rise rose risen • arise arose arisen • stride strode stridden • strive strove striven • thrive throve thriven

9. /i:/ /  / /  / • 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

10. 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

11. 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 ?

12. ii) the difference between oral language and written language, the distance between sound and transcription: • Pick it up. [ pi i tp ] • Think it over. • You should have told us. • Not at all. • Did you eat yet?

13. 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.)

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

15. 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.

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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

19. 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

20. 5. International Phonetic Alphabet • Characteristics: each symbol represents one sound and not 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 represent the phonemes of a language without ambiguity • Narrow transcription: uses symbol and diacritics to denote particular allophones of phonemes