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TOPIC 7 - ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM I: VOWELS - Coggle Diagram
TOPIC 7 - ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM I: VOWELS
PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
Phonetics
: Study of speech sounds. (3 areas)
Acoustic
Phonetics - Transmission of speech sound through the air.
Auditory
Ponetics - how speech sounds are perceived by the listener.
Articulatory
Phonetics - how speech sounds are produced (Consonants - vowels).
Phonology
: Study of sounds within a system of meaning.
Phonological Analysis
- certain sounds cause change in the meaning of a word, others do not.
Phonetics VS. Phonology
- Differences: artificial. Opt for
"Phonetics"
term in its widest sense.
SPEECH ORGANS
Lips
- Ultimate opening of mouth cavity when nasal passade is closed off.
Closed tightly
- Block airflow.
Kept apart
in different positions - Airlflow passes withouth obstruction.
Other intervening organs
Soft palate / Velum:
indicates whether a sound is
nasal
(lowered position) or
oral
(raised position).
All vowels are oral
.
Larynx
: Here are the vocal cords. They can vibrate
(voiced sound)
or not
(voiceless sound)
.
All vowels are voiced.
Tongue
- The most important (great variety of movement).
Curved
touching palate or
flat
.
Five parts:
tip, blade, front, back and root.
Back
under the soft palate. Flat VS. Raised touching soft palate.
Front
under the hard palate. Flat VS. Raised to touch hard palate.
Tip and Blade
under alveolar ridge.
Tip
- most forward part /
Blade
between Tip and Front. Both parts mobile, touching teethm lips and alveolar ridge.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM
Segmental Phonemes
- Vowels (continuous airflow) and Consonants (interruption of airflow). Their distinction is based on the sonority of various sounds -
Vowels
more sonorous than
Consonants
.//
Supra segmental
- Stress, rhythm and intonation.
English Monophthongs
General Characteristics
Voiced
(vocal cords vibrate)
Oral
(air exits through the mouth, not the nose)
Differentiated using 4 criteria
Classification (Daniel Jones)
Tongue Heigh
t (Distance from Roof of Mouth)
Close
Half-close
Half-open
Open
Lip Position
Spread
Neutral
Rounded
Length
(Tense/Lax or Long/Short)
Long vowels
(5): /i:/, /ɜ:/, /ɑ:/, /ɔ:/, /u:/
Short vowels
(7): /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/, /ә/, /ʌ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/
Tongue Position
(Raised Part)
Front vowels
: /i:/, /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/
Central vowels: /
ɜ:/, /ә/, /ʌ/
Back vowels
: /u:/, /ʊ/, /ɔ:/, /ɒ/, /ɑ:/
Daniel Jones' Trapezium
: A diagram representing English vowel sounds based on their pronunciation.
Sound-spelling correspondence in Vowels
Long Vowels
• /i:/
→ e (complete), ee (bee), ea (sea), ie (piece), ei (seize), ey (key).
• /ɜ:/
→ ir (bird), ear (pearl), ur (turn), wor (word), our (journey).
• /ɑ:/
→ a (pass), ar (hard), ear (heart), er (clerk), al (palm), au (aunt).
• /ɔ:/
→ or (horse), ore (before), oor (door), ou (bought), au (taught), aw (saw), a (talk), oar (boar).
• /u:/
→ o (do), oo (food), u (rude), ou (group), ew (blew), ue (blue), ui (juice), oe (shoe).
Short Vowels
/ɪ/
→ i (rich), y (city), e (pretty), a (village), u (busy, minute).
/e/
→ e (set), ea (dead), a (many), ay (says), ie (friend), u (bury).
/æ/
→ a (sat), ai (plait).
/ə/
→ i (possible), e (gentlemen), a (vegetable), u (difficult), er (teacher).
/ʌ/
→ u (sun), o (son), ou (country), oo (blood), oe (does).
/ɒ/
→ o (gone), a (was), ou (cough), au (because).
/ʊ/
→ u (sugar), o (woman), oo (good, book), ou (could).
English Diphthongs
General Characteristics
Vowels are divided into
pure vowels & glides (diphthongs).
Diphthongs
= vowel glides, starting in one position and ending in another.
Daniel Jones’ Trapezium
represents them with arrows showing the glide movement.
Two types
:
Closing diphthongs
(glide towards
/ɪ/
or
/ʊ/:
/eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ/
/əʊ, aʊ
/). ///
Centring diphthongs
(glide towards
/ә/:
/ɪə, εә, ʊә /)
Sound-spelling correspondence in Diphthongs
Closing Dpihthongs
/eɪ/
→ a (late), ay (day), ai (rain), ei (eight), ea (great).
/aɪ/ → i (time), y (try), ie (die).
/ɔɪ/ → oi (noise), oy (boy).
/əʊ/
→ o (both), oa (oak), oe (toe), ou (soul, shoulder), ow (know, show, tow), ew (sew).
/aʊ/
→ ou (house, loud), ow (now, cow, crown).
Centring Diphthongs
/ɪə/
→ ea (theatre, idea), ear (dear), er (here), eer (deer), ei (weird), ie (fierce, pier), eo (theory).
/eə/
→ are (care), air (pair), ear (tear - verb), ayor (mayor, prayer), ar (parents), ere (where, there).
/ʊə/
→ oor (poor), ure (pure), ur (jury), our (tour), ua (dual), ewe (jewel).
English Triphthongs
Sound-spelling correspondence in Triphthongs
/eɪə/
→ player, greyer.
/aɪə/
→ fire, tyre, higher, choir.
/ɔɪə/
→ employer, lawyer.
/əʊə/
→ slower, lower.
/aʊə/
→ flower, our, nowadays.
General Characteristics
Triphthongs
= a combination of three vowel sounds within one syllable.
Structure
: A closing diphthong + schwa (/ə/).
Total:
5 triphthongs
in English.
COMPARISON WITH THE SPANISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM
Similarities
English vowels:
/e, ɒ, eɪ, aɪ, aʊ, ɔɪ/
Spanish equivalents exist (but not identical).
Pronunciation Challenges for Spanish Speakers
No Long vs. Short Vowel Distinction in Spanish
-
u:/ vs. /ʊ/
(e.g., "fool" vs. "full").
/ɒ/ vs. /ɔ:/
(e.g., "cot" vs. "caught").
/i:/ vs. /ɪ/
(e.g., "sheep" vs. "ship").
Difficult English Vowel Phonemes
/æ/, /ʌ/, /ɒ/
→ Do not exist in Spanish → Usually replaced by /ɑ:/.
/ə/ (schwa)
→ Often replaced by a vowel influenced by spelling.
General Differences
Spanish
: 5 vowel phonemes
(a, e, i, o, u)
→ 1-to-1 letter-phoneme correspondence.
English
: More complex vowel system
(monophthongs, diphthongs, long vs. short vowels).
No exact English vowel matches any Spanish vowel.
Key Takeaways for Spanish Learners
Pay attention to
vowel length.
Train
new vowel sounds
that don’t exist in Spanish.
Avoid
spelling-based pronunciation errors.
STRONG AND WEAK FORMS
General Concept
Some functional (non-lexical) words
have two or more forms depending on stress.
Weak form
= unstressed (more common in natural speech).
Strong form
= stressed (used for emphasis or in isolation).
Examples of Strong and weak forms
Auxiliary verbs
Weak
: She was /wəz/ in bed all day.
Strong
: Yes, she was /wɒz/.
Other Cases
"
have
" as an auxiliary: /həv/ vs. "
have
" as a main verb: /hæv/.
"
that
" as a relative pronoun: /ðət/ vs. "
that
" as a demonstrative: /ðæt/.
Prepositions
Strong
: Where are you from /frɒm/?
Weak
: I’m from /frəm/ Manchester.
Important for Learners
Using
weak forms
correctly makes speech sound
natural
.
Overusing
strong forms
can cause
unintended emphasis or confuse listeners.