The English Speech Sounds Part 1 The importance of phonetic study Phonetics is the science of speech sounds. It deals with the sound system of a language. A language consists of three important elements, namely, speech sounds, vocabulary and grammar. Speech sound is the material form on which word and grammar rely for existence. Divorced from speech sound, word and grammar are non-existent. So the first step in studying any spoken language is to determine the phonemes.(Basic sounds) A basic sounds is the smallest phonetic unit of language. .e.g. the word “tea” is composed of two sounds /t/ and /i:/. Basic sounds are capable of distinguishing one word from another, or one grammatical form from another of the same word. E.g.: bed , bad, bid . It is clear from all these examples that basic sounds are distinctive. Any language has a number of speech sounds, yet basic sounds are limited in number. English phonetics covers the articulation, classification, and combination of the English speech sounds. It also deals with the laws of their changed, the rules of stresses and the intonation in English speech. Therefore, to study English phonetics is also the first step in mastering the theoretical knowledge of the English language. As means of communication by word of mouth, language is used in oral speech and in reading aloud. Therefore, in order to make oneself easily understood while expressing one’s own or other people’s thoughts in any language, one must be able to pronounce sentences in that language quite correctly. One must have good pronunciation in order to be able to understand other people easily when they speak or read aloud. This is proved by the well-known fact that the better we pronounce a foreign language, the easier we understand it when we hear it. Phonetic transcription. In English there is a considerable difference between the pronunciation and the spelling of words One sound is often spelt in a number of different ways: pity busy village, in which some letters all stand for the same vowel /i/. One letter often stands for different sounds in different words: china father bad, in which the letter a stands for different vowel sounds. Many letter are not pronounced at all as in knock doubt comb The same spelling may have two different pronunciations according to different meanings: bow and tear. Words spelt in different way may have same pronunciation. E.g. peace and piece. Know and no. In ordinary English spelling it is not always easy to know what sounds the letters stand for. In order to know which sound to use in a given word or sentence, it is necessary to construct a set of symbols to accurately represent the sound of actual speech. This set of symbols is called phonetic transcription. The modern phonetic transcription that is most widely used now is the International Phonetic Alphabet. The characteristic of this transcription is that each symbol must always represent one sound and never any other and one sound must be represented by only one symbol. AHD表示美语发音,The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language（简称AHD） KK音标是一套(注音符号系统),是由John Samuel Kenyon 和??John Albert Knott两位美国学者共编著的发音词典A??Pronouncing??Dictionary??of??American1956中用于标注美式发音的符号系统, 这是一套最常用的也是最权威的注音法，从此人们把美语标准发音惯称为KK音标。 DJ是根据英国学者Daniel Jones编的英语发音字典 (English Pronouncing Dictionary, 1963)中的标音而来. 英式读音根据的是English Pronouncing Dictionary 《英语正音辞典》。它们代表了被称为“Received Pronuciation”（RP）（标准读音）的读音，这在受过教育的英国人尤其是南部英格兰人中通用。 1888年国际语音协会 (International Phonetic Association) 的语言学家便制定出一套可国际通用的语音符号叫国际音标符号 (IPA─International Phonetic Alphabet)，希望以一个符号代表一音，并避免各人使用一套自己的符号所产生的不便。 国内的英文字典里最常见的音标为英式发音的国际音标 (DJ) 和美式发音的KK音标，前者乃根据Daniel Jones编的英语发音字典 (English Pronouncing Dictionary, 1963)，后者则是根据John S. Kenyon & Thomas A. Knott二氏的美语发音字典 (A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English, 1956) 。值得一提的是，KK音标所使用的符号均从前面提到的国际音标符号 (IPA) 而来，Kenyon & Knott二氏仅将其中适用于美式英语的符号截取出来。 Part 2 The organs of speech In order to study speech sounds, it is necessary to have an idea of the organs of speech and their functions. The organs of speech are as follows: (see the picture.) When the tongue is in the position of rest, the blade with the tip lies opposite the teeth ridge, the middle of the tongue lies opposite the hard palate and the back of the tongue lies opposite the soft palate. The air passes from the lungs into the windpipe, then through the larynx into the pharynx and into the mouth cavity. If the soft palate is lowered, the air passes through the nasal cavity. The larynx contains the vocal cords, which can be brought near together. When they are drawn near together, they are made to vibrate by the air coming from the lungs, thus producing voice. The lips, the tongue, the soft palate with the uvula, the vocal cords and the lower jaw are very active in the articulation of speech sounds. So speech sounds are produced by the vibration of the vocal cords and the definite movement of these organs of speech Part 3 The classification of Speech sounds The organs of speech are capable of making many different kinds of speech sounds. From the practical standpoint, speech sounds are generally divided into Vowels and Consonants. Vowels are sounds produced without obstruction of the air stream in the mouth. In producing them there is vibration of the vocal cords, so all vowels are voiced. In English there are twenty vowels in all. Consonants are sounds produced by some form of obstruction of the air passage and be either voiced or voiceless. There are twenty-eight consonants in English. The English vowels The English vowels are divided into two large groups: Monophthongs and Diphthongs. Monophthongs are simply vowel sounds. When we utter a Monophthongs the jaw, tongue and lips do not move while it is being uttered. The diphthongs is a glide from one vowel to another within one syllable. When we utter a Diphthongs the jaw, tongue and lips must move from one position to another. It is important t to observe this difference. There are twelve monophthongs. They may be classified according to the following principles: 1) The height of the raised part of the tongue: we distinguish open vowels, half-open vowels, half-close vowels and close vowels. 2) The part of the tongue raised : we distinguish front, back and central vowels. 3) The length of the vowel: we distinguish long vowels and short ones. 4) The position (or shape) of the lips: we distinguish rounded vowels and unrounded ones. 5) The degree of tenseness: we distinguish tense vowels and lax vowels Monophthongs （单元音） The Front Vowels Common features : 1) the front of the tongue is raised to various levels in the direction of the hard palate. 2) the tip of the tongue is usually kept down behind the lower teeth . 3) the lips are spread. /i:/ is longer than yi(衣) in Chinese ,and the front of the tongue is not raised so high as for the yi. /i/ is not so close as yi(意) in Chinese, that is to say, the tongue is not raised so high as for the yi(意). /e/ the front of the tongue touch the lower teeth ,the back tongue is lower in themouth, the lips are spread. /?/ the distance between the lips is rather wide; the front of the tongue is very much lowered. The back vowels Common features: the tongue is retracted, the back part is raised to various levels in the direction of the soft palate. The tip of the tongue is slightly drawn away from the lower teeth. /a:/ the tongue is very low in the mouth. The lips are neutrally open but do not spread or round them. It is different from the Chinese “a” (啊) when we say “a” in Chinese the central part of the tongue is raised, and the tip of the tongue is not drawn away from the lower teeth. /?:/ the tongue is very low in the mouth. The lips are fully open but slight rounded /?/ the muscles are slightly tense. The lips are more rounded and pushed forward a little. /u:/ the tongue position is very high. it is higher than for/u/ ,but not so high as to cause the air stream to produce audible friction. /u/ the lips are fairly closely rounded but the lips are held rather slackly and only slightly protruded. The central vowels Common feature The middle of the tongue is raised towards the dividing line between the hard and the soft palates, the lip position is neutral, that is the lips are held naturally and normally. /?/ is difficult for many Chinese learners they tend to use lip-round for /a / /?:/ in producing it the lips are spread, the tongue-tip is drawn away from the lower teeth. The main body of the tongue is rather flat, only the middle of the tongue is some what raised in the direction of the soft palate. /?/ in non-final positions, the tongue position is about the same as that for /?:/, but /?/ is always said extremely short., when it occurs finally and before a pause the tongue position is lower and more open than that for/?:/ . Diphthongs Features: When we make a diphthong the position of the tongue and the lips is changed to some extent, ye the position of the second vowel is often not reached. They first element of an English diphthong is strong, clear and distinct. The second element is rather weak and unclear. 1) The closing diphthongs(合口双元音) As the sound is made the tongue moves from an opener position to a closer position and the opening between the jaws is rather wide at the beginning and then becomes narrow as the glide progresses, /ei/ there is a slight closing movement of the lower jaw. /ai/ the glide is smooth and loudness becomes less as it progresses. /?u/ the glide may start with /?u/. the tongue position for it is a little higher and closer tan for /?:/ /au/ start with /a/ and then glides away to /u/ with the lips getting slightlyrounded. /i?/ glides from /i/ to /?/ . The lips are spread throughout. The centring diphthongs （集合双元音） Feature: Those three : the lips are spread throughout. Chapter 4 classification of consonants Rules : 1)The work of the vocal cords. 2) Place of articulation. 3) Manner of articulation. The difference between the voiced and voiceless consonants is mainly one of strength. The voiceless consonants are usually aspirated, strong and long, the voiced consonants are usually unaspirated weak and short. Place of articulation. the obstruction is formed by the two lips, e.g./b/ /p/ /m/ /w/ the obstruction is formed between the lower lip and the upper teeth, e.g./f/ /v/ the obstruction is formed between the tip of the tongue and the upper front teeth. E.g. /Θ/??/e/ the obstruction is formed between the blade of the tongue and the teeth-ridge, e.g. /t/ /d/ /s/ /z/ /ts/ /dz/ /n/ /l/ the obstruction is formed between the tip of the tongue and the back of the teeth-ridge ,e.g ./r/ /tr/ /dr/ the obstruction is formed when the blade of the tongue is raised towards the teeth-ridge and the front of the tongue towards the hard palate,e.g. /t?/ /d3/ /?/, /?/ the obstruction is formed between the front of the tongue and the hard palate, e.g. /j/ the obstruction is formed between the back of the tongue and the soft palate, e.g. /k/ /g/ /??/ the obstruction is formed in the glottis, between the two vocal cords e.g. /h/ Manner of articulation 1) Plosives（爆破音） The air is completely stopped at some point in the mouth by the lips or tongue-tip or tongue-back and then released with a slight explosion. /p//b/ are produced with the lips pressed together, thus a complete obstruction is formed so that the air passage through the mouth cavity is blocked for a short time. Then the lips are quickly opened, and the air escapes with explosion. In final position /p/ is aspirated and shortens the vowel before it, while /b/ is very gentle and short and lengthens the vowel before it Note: “b” is at the end of the word and after “m” and before “t”, it is silent. E.g. Comb lamb doubt /t//d/ the air passage is completely blocked by raising the soft palate and raising the tip of the tongue to the teeth ridge, when the tongue is moved from the teeth ridge the air suddenly escapes from the mouth with an explosive sound. /k//g/ the air passage is completely blocked by raising the soft palate and raising the back of the tongue to touch the soft palate, when the tongue is lowered from the soft palate the air suddenly escapes through the mouth with an explosive sound. 2) Fricatives（摩擦音） For all of them the lungs push air through a narrow passage where it caused friction of various kinds. 1) /f/ /v/ are produced with the lower lip raised to the edge of the upper teeth, forming a flat narrowing, the air passes through it with friction. When they are occur ant the end of words, after a vowel, they have an effect on the length of the preceding vowel, /f/ makes the vowel shorter,/v/makes the vowel longer. So this is an important general rul, which applies to many other pairs of consonants as well: strong consonants at the end of words shorten the preceding vowel, weak consonants lengthen it . e.g. “safe” is quit short ,”save” is really long. Thus there are three lengths: 1) short vowels before the strong consonant, e.g ./if/ 2) short vowels before the weak consonant, and long vowels before the strong consonant, eg.live and leaf 3) long vowels before the weak consonant e.g ./li:v/ /Θ/?,?/e/, the tip of the tongue is close to the upper front teeth. The air passes between the tongue-tip and the teeth. /s/ /z/ the tip and blade of the tongue are very close to the teeth ridge. The air passes between the teeth ridge and the blade of the tongue with friction. /?/, /?/ are articulated between the tip and blade of the tongue and the back part of the teeth ridge, and the main body of the tongue is raised ant the same time in the direction of the hard palate, the air passage at the point of articulation is rather wider than /s//z/ but the main body of the tongue is closer to the palate. The lips are very slightly rounded. /h/ is produced with a strong air stream passing through the open glottis. the tongue may occupy any vowel position while/h/is uttered. 3) Affricates（破擦音） They are special kind of plosive in which the tongue or lips begin the poison for a plosive, but there is a slow release so that the corresponding fricative is heard after the explosions. /?/, /?/ the air passage is completely blocked by raising the soft palate and raising the tip of the tongue to touch the back part of the teeth ridge, the rest part of the tongue is in the position for/S/and /3/. When the tongue-tip moves away from the teeth ridge a little way the air escapes thought the mouth. The lips are usually somewhat protruded. /tr/ /dr/ are articulated by raising the tongue-tip to touch the back part of the teeth ridge. The air passage in the mouth is completely blocked. Then the center of the tongue is hollowed in readiness for/r/ when the tongue moves away from the teeth ridge a fricative /r/ is heard./ /ts/ /dz/ are articulated with the tongue –tip raised to touch the back part of the teeth ridge, the air passage in the mouth is completely blocked for a short time, when the tongue is removed from the teeth ridge the air passes between the blade of the tongue and the teeth ridge and affricative. /ts/ /dt/ never occur at the beginning of English words. 4) Nasals（鼻音） In articulating all nasal consonants the soft palate is lowered and at the same time the mouth passage is blocked at some point so that all the air is pushed out of the nose. 1) /m/ the mouth passage is completely blocked by closing the lips and the air passes through the nose. 2) /n/ the mouth passage is completely blocked by pressing the tongue-tip against the teeth ridge, and sides of the tongue against the sides of the palate, the air passed through the nose. 3) /??/ the mouth is blocked by the back of the tongue pressed against the soft palate, the soft palate is lowered and all the air passes through the nose. It never occurs initially 5) Lateral（边音）（舌侧音） /l/ the tongue-tip slightly touches the teeth ridge while the sides of the tongue are lowered to form a rather wide passage, the passes at the sided of the tongue without friction. 6) Frictionless continuant（无摩擦延续音） /r/ is articulated the tip of the tongue is held near to the back part of the teeth ridge, but not touching it; the back rims of the tongue are touching the upper molar; the central part of the tongue is lowered, so that the tongue has a curved shape. 7) Semi-vowels（半元音） 1) /j/ the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate, the air passage is wide and the air passes through it. 2) /w/ the lips must be rounded and back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate as for/u:/ or even higher, the air passes through the round narrowing between the lips. Some people tend to replace /w/ by /v/, remember for the /v/ words you must keep the lips flat and use the upper teeth to make some friction, for the /w/ words there is no friction and the lips are well rounded.