CHAPTER I
BACKGROUND
This paper is arranged
to introductory on English phonology of the sort taught in the first
year of The English Language. The students on such courses can struggle with
phonetics and phonology ; it is sometimes difficult to see past the new symbols
and terminology, and the apparent assumption that we can immediately become
consciously aware of movements of the vocal organs which we have been making
almost automatically for the last eighteen or more years. This paper attempts
to show us why we need to know about phonetics and phonology, if we are
interested in language and our knowledge of it, as well as introducing the main
units and concepts we require to describe speech sounds accurately.
When it’s arranged to
presenting the details of phonology, I have also chosen to use verbal
descriptions rather than diagrams and pictures in most cases. The reason for
this is we need to learn to use our own intuitions, and this is helped by
encouraging us to introspect and think about our own vocal organs, rather than
seeing disembodied pictures of structures which don’t seem to belong to them at
all.
Our hope is that a
through grounding in the basics will help us approach more abstract theoretical
and met theoretical issues in more advanced courses with greater understanding
of what the theories intend to do and to achieve, and with more chance of
evaluating competing models realistically.
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
A. PHONOLOGY
Phonology is the study of sound patterns, where sound refers to the
auditory effect of
articulations made by
the vocal apparatus during speech, and patterns, to abstract
structures that
correlate to mind —they “attract our notice, they grab our attention,
they seem in varying
degrees to somehow fit human processes of cognition, to be sense
making, to bear
intelligibility” . As a core discipline of generative linguistics,
phonology is driven by
the following assumption:
The overt aspects of
language—the articulatory actions and the acoustic
signal they
produce—cannot be properly understood without reference
to the covert aspect of
language, that is, to the implicit knowledge
that enables
individuals to speak and understand a language.
The modern view of
phonology —as the study of an aspect of human cognition
rather than the study
of an external, physical or social reality— originated during the
late 1950’s and early
1960’s with Morris Halle and Noam Chomsky who were hired at
the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology amid concerns that the Russian KGB were
close to being able to
use telepathy. While phonology has never been used for telepathy
(by definition, it
can’t!), to be sure it now has many other applications outside
linguistics.
For instance, it is of
great consequence to language instructors and has received attention among
educators because of its importance to reading.
B. THE VOCAL
TRACT
Vocal tract is the
airway used in the production of speech, especially the passage above the
larynx, including the pharynx, mouth, and nasal cavities.
Ø Alveolar Ridge
A short distance behind
the upper teeth is a change in the angle of the roof of the mouth. (In some
people it’s quite abrupt, in others very slight.) This is the alveolar ridge.
Sounds which involve the area between the upper teeth and this ridge are called
alveolars.
Ø Hard Palate
The hard portion of the
roof of the mouth. The term “palate” by itself usually refers to the hard
palate.
Ø Soft Palate /
Velum
The soft portion of the
roof of the mouth, lying behind the hard palate. The tongue hits the velum in
the sounds [k], [g], and [ng]. The velum can also move: if it lowers, it
creates an opening that allows air to flow out through the nose; if it stays
raised, the opening is blocked, and no air can flow through the nose.
Ø Uvula
The small, dangly thing
at the back of the soft palate. The uvula vibrates during the [r] in
many French dialects.
Ø Pharynx
The cavity between the
root of the tongue and the walls of the upper throat.
Ø Tongue
The flat surface of the
tongue just behind the tip.
Ø Tongue Body /
Dorsum
The main part of the
tongue, lying below the hard and soft palate. The body, specifically the back
part of the body (hence “dorsum”, Latin for “back”), moves to make vowels and
many consonants.
Ø Tongue Root
The lowest part of the
tongue in the throat.
Ø Epiglottis
The fold of tissue
below the root of the tongue. The epiglottis helps cover the larynx during
swallowing, making sure (usually!) that food goes into the stomach and not the
lungs. A few languages use the epiglottis in making sounds. English is
fortunately not one of them.
Ø Vocal Folds /
Vocal Cords
Folds of tissue
stretched across the airway to the lungs. They can vibrate against each other,
providing much of the sound during speech.
Ø Glottis
The opening between the
vocal cords. During a glottal stop, the vocal cords are held together and there
is no opening between them.
Ø Larynx
The structure that
holds and manipulates the vocal cords. The “Adam’s apple” in males is the bump
formed by the front part of the larynx.
1)
Voice and Voiceless
Voice : A simple explanation of voiced consonants is that they use
the voice. This is easy
to test by putting your
finger on your throat. If you feel a vibration the consonant is voiced. Here is
a list of some voiced consonants. Pronounce each consonant sound (not the
letter) and feel the vibration of your vocal chords.
b
d
th (as in then)
v
l
r
z
j (as in Jane)
Voiceless : Voiceless consonants do not use the voice. They are percussive and
use hard sounds. Once again, you can test if a consonant is voiceless by
putting your finger on your throat. You will feel no vibration in your throat,
just a short explosion of air as you pronounce. Pronounce each of these
consonant sounds and feel NO vibration in your throat.
p
t
k
s
sh
ch
th (as in thing)
C. THE PLACE OF
ARTICULATION
These are the
abbreviated names for the places of articulation used in English:
1) Bilabial
The articulators are the two lips. English bilabial sounds include [p],
[b], and [m].
2) Labio – dental
These sound are formed with the upper teeth and the lower lip. English
labio-dental sounds include [f] and [v].
3) Dental
Dental sounds are formed with the tongue tip behind the upper front teeth.
4) Alveolar
These sounds are formed with the front part of the tongue on the alveolar
ridge, which is the rough, bony ridge immediately behind the upper teeth.
English alveolar sounds include [t], [d], [n], [s], [z], [l].
5) Alveo palatals
Formed by hard part in the root of mouth called palate. Sound which
is produced with the tongue at the in front of palate near alveolar ridge is
called alveo palatal.
6) Palatal
These sounds are formed with the tongue middle and the palate.
7) Velars
The active articulator is the tongue body and the passive articulator is
the soft palate or velum. Sounds produced with the back of tongue against the
velum are called velars. English velars include [k], [g].
8) Uvular
The sounds are produced from the tongue back and the uvula.
9) Glottal
Glottal sounds are made in the larynx. There are two other sounds which are
produce without the active use of the tongue and other parts of the mouth.
English glottal include [ h]
a) Manner of Articulation
Consonants are sounds which involve full or partial blocking of airflow. In
English, the consonants are p, b, t, d, ch, j, k, g, f, v, th, dh, s, z, sh,
zh, m, n, ng, l, r, w, and y. They are classified in a number of
different ways, depending on the vocal tract. According the manner of
articulation ( how breath is used) the consonants are:
1. Stops, also known as
plosives. The air is blocked for a moment, then released. The word stop refers
to stopping the air, the word plosives refers to the release the air. In
English, they are p, b, t, d, k, and g.
2. Fricatives these are sounds produced by having
the air rub against some surface in the mouth causing friction. In English,
these include f, v, th, dh, s, z, sh, zh, and h.
3. Affricates are
sounds that produced by made up of two parts a stop and fricative. In
English, we have ch (unvoiced) and j (voiced). Many consider these as
blends: t-sh and d-zh.
4. Nasals are sounds
made with air passing through the nose. In English, these are m, n, and ng.
5.Laterals
These sounds are
produced by having the air go out of the mouth from both besides of tongue. In
English, these include [l].
6. Vibrant
These are sounds
produced by having the tongue vibrate in the mouth.
7. Semivowels
Semivowels are sounds
that are, as half consonant and half vowel. In English, we have w
and y, which you can see are a lot like vowels such as oo and ee, but with the
lips almost closed for w ( bilabial) and the tongue almost touching the palate
for y (a palatal).
D. PHONEME
Phoneme is the contrastive
sound unit in a language, it is contrastive because it distinguishes meanings
when exchanged for other phonemes in language. It is also called smallest unit
of the sound.
Each one of these
meaning-distinguishing sounds in a language is description as a phoneme. When
we considered the basis of alphabetic writing, we were actually working with
the concept of the phoneme as the single sound type which came to be
represented by a single symbol. It is in this sense that the phoneme /t/ is described
as a sound type of which all the different spoken versions of [t] are tokens.
Note that slash marks are conventionally used to indicate a phoneme, /t/ , an
abstract segment, as opposed to the square brackets, [t], used for each
phonetic, or physically produced, segment.
An essential property
of a phoneme is that it functions contrastively. We know that there are two
phonemes /f/ and /v/ in English because they are the only basis contrast in
meaning between the forms fat and vat, or fine and vine. This contrastive
property is the basic operational test determining the phonemes which exist in
a language. If we substitute one sound for another in a word and there is a
change of meaning, then the two sounds represent different phonemes.
a. The Kinds of Phoneme
1. Segmental
It is phonology that deals with the analysis of speech into phonemes which
correspond fairly well to phonetic segments of the analyzed speech. Consist of
consonant and vowel. The Segmental Sounds of English consist of:
a) The English Consonant
The English consonants are twenty-four in number. The word consonant is
phonemic. Of courses the word consonant here does not refer to the consonant
found in the English alphabet, but rather to the consonants as they sound
orally. The example of consonants are:
/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /f/, /v/,/θ, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /∫/, /з/,/t∫/,
/dз/, /h/, /m/, /n/, /η/,/l/, /r/, /w/, /j/.
b) The English Consonant described
It is a list of the English consonant phonemes and their major allophones.
The allophones are describes phonetically.
c) Consonant Clusters
It is a combination of two or more consonant. Such clusters may occur in
initial, medial, or final positions.
d) The English Vowel
The English vowels are fourteen in number. In addition to these vowels,
there are glides and diphthongs, which are really combinations vowels. The
examples of vowels are: /i/, /i:/, /ei/, /æ/, /ə/, /۸/, /з/, /a/, /u:/, /u/, /əu/, /α/, /כ/.
e) The English Vowel Described
It is a list of the English vowel phonemes. They are described phonetically,
and their distribution is given with example: phoneme / e / , allophone [ e ]
description mid open front unrounded. It occurs only initially and medially. /
end / [end] ‘end’ ; / send / [send] ‘send’.
f) Length in English Consonants and Vowels
Means the time it takes to produce a sound. This does not mean the speed at
which a person speaks. It means, rather, the relative length of time in which
each separate sound is produced, as compared with a longer or shorter time in
which the same sound or other sounds may be produced in the stream of speech.
2. Supra – Segmental
It is a vocal effect that extends over more than one sound segment in an
utterance, such as pitch, stress, or juncture, pattern. In supra-segmental
consist of:
a) Stress
It is the force of breath with which sounds are produced. This force is
relative; that is, the strength or weakness of the force is determined in
relation to other forces of breath in the utterance or utterances of person.
For example, in the word market, it is clear that the first syllable has
stronger stress than second syllable. Four phonemic word stress levels :
Primary stress – symbol : / /
Secondary stress – symbol : / /
Tertiary stress – symbol : / /
Weak stress – symbol : / /
b) Intonation
Means the changes in the pitch (or music) of the voice while producing
speech. Every utterance is produced with some intonation and pitch. Pitch
levels, like stress levels, are relative to each other.
c) Pause
It is length of silence between parts of an utterance. In English, there
are two pause phonemes. (Some linguistics believe that there are three pause
phonemes). The two pause phonemes are a short one and a final one. bar The
symbols used for these phonemes are a single bar for short pause and a double
bar for the final pause.
d) Juncture
It is really a very short pause; it is space in speech between sounds or
word. In English, there is one juncture phoneme. The symbol for juncture
phonemes is / + / ( a plus sign ).
e) Rhythm
Means the beat of language. In English, rhythm is stress-timed. This means
that the time between two primary stresses is the same. If there are many word
or syllable between the two primary stresses, then these syllable will be
pronounced fast; this is why native speakers of English jam their syllables.
If, on the other hand, there is only a small number of syllables between the
primary stresses, then these syllables will be pronounced slowly and more
clearly.
E. MINIMAL PAIRS AND
SETS
When two words are
identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme, occurring in the same
position, the two words are described as a minimal pairs.
For examples: fan
– van, bet – bat, side –side.
When a group of words
are differentiated, each one from the others, by changing one phoneme (always
in the same position) is a minimal sets. A minimal sets based on the
vowels and consonants.
For examples based on
vowel: feat – fit, fat – fate, fought – foot.
For examples based on
consonant: big – pig, rig – fig, dig – wig.
F. RELATION TO
PHONOLOGY
In contrast to
phonetics, phonology is the study of how sounds and gestures pattern in and
across languages, relating such concern with other levels and aspects of
language. Phonetics deals with the articulatory and acoustic properties of
speech sounds, how they are produced, and how they are perceived.
