Manual Completo de Fonética Inglesa: Vocales, Diptongos y Consonantes

Vowel Number 12 /ʌ/

Quality

• A central sound: it takes the whole of the central area depending on the position it takes.
• It is between half-close and half-open: it is slightly closer than /ɜ:/.
• Neutral spreading of the lips.

Comparison with Spanish

There is no similar sound in Spanish.

Quantity

Short.

Muscular Tension

Lax.

Prominence

Non-prominent: it is NEVER stressed and it is very little prominent.

Graphophonological Aspects

/ʌ/ - Prefixes:

• a- /ʌ/: alert
• com- /kʌm/: compare
• con- /kʌn/: connect

/ʌ/ in the middle of the word:

• observation
• organization

/ʌ/ word endings:

• -a /ʌ/: soda
• -ar /ʌ/: particular

Diphthongs

Quantity

• The length of pure long vowels (can be reduced when followed by soundless sounds): feet - /fi(ː)t/

Prominence

• Weak vowels (/ə/) have to be distinguished from strong vowels.
• Diphthongs are a combination of two sounds.
• Diphthongs have a glide or movement (from the first to the second element).

Closing Diphthongs

• The second element is either /i/ or /u/.
• There is a movement from an open position to a close.

Centring Diphthongs

• The second element is always /ə/.
• There is a movement from an external position to a central position.

Differences between Spanish and English Diphthongs

1. In English, the second element is not pronounced completely.
2. English diphthongs tend to become long vowels.

1. Closing Diphthongs

/eɪ/

Graphophonological Aspects:

• a: case
• ai, ay: chain, pay
• ei, ey: eight, obey
• Others: break

/aɪ/

Graphophonological Aspects:

• i, y: time, sky
• ie: lie
• ei: either
• i + gh + (t): light
• Others: aisle, buy

/ɔɪ/

Graphophonological Aspects:

• oi: noise
• oy: enjoy
• Others: buoy

/aʊ/

Graphophonological Aspects:

• ow: cow
• ou: out

/əʊ/ - /oʊ/

Graphophonological Aspects:

• o: go
• ow: show
• ou: soul
• oa: road
• oe: toe
• ol: control
• Others: sew, folk

2. Centring Diphthongs

/ɪə/

Graphophonological Aspects:

• ear: clear
• eer: peer
• ier: pier
• ere: here
• ea(l): idea, ideal
• Others: weird

/eə/

Graphophonological Aspects:

• are: hare
• air: hair
• ear: pear
• ere: there
• Others: heir

/ʊə/

Graphophonological Aspects:

• ure: sure
• ue(l): fluency, cruel
• ur: during
• ua: dual
• ewe(l): jewel
• our: tour
• oor: poor

Triphthongs

• Triphthongs have a double glide or movement.
• There are five triphthongs: the closing diphthongs + /ə/.
• Triphthongs have the same features as diphthongs.

Quantity

• The length of pure long vowels (they can be reduced).

Prominence

• The first element is more prominent.
• Very frequently we have a sort of centring diphthong in which the second element is dropped.

/aɪə/, /aʊə/, /ɔɪə/, /əʊə/, /eɪə/
/ɑːə/, /ɑːə/, /ɑː/, /ɔːə/, /ɔː/, /eːə/

Examples of Triphthongs

1. /eɪə/: player
2. /aɪə/: fire
3. /aʊə/: shower
4. /ɔɪə/: lawyer
5. /əʊə/: lower

Affricate Consonants

Manner of Articulation

• The stages here are similar to the stages described for plosive consonants:
• The closure
• The hold
• The friction or smooth release
• Some people consider that the last two phases indicate the existence of two separate phonemes instead of one.

Point of Articulation

• /tʃ/ - /dʒ/: Palato-alveolar
• /tr/ - /dr/: Post-alveolar

Voice

• /tʃ/ - /tr/: Voiceless consonants
• /dʒ/ - /dr/: Voiced consonants

Graphophonological Aspects

/tʃ/

• ch: cheese
• t + ch: butcher
• ture: nature
• s + tion: question

/dʒ/

• j: jean
• ge / gi / gy: George
• -age: courage
• -dg-: bridge
• -ch: spinach
• Further words: soldier

/tr/

• tr: train

/dr/

• dr: dragon

Approximants

Introduction

• This category includes three smaller subcategories:
  • lateral /l/
  • flap or roll /r/
  • semivowels /j/ - /w/
• They are called approximants because:
  • there is an approximation to the organs of speech rather than friction.
  • they share some features with both vowels and consonants.

Lateral /l/

• Description: Lateral, alveolar, voiced.
• There are three kinds of /l/ consonants or productions:
  • clear /l/: lip
  • dark or velar /ɫ/: salty, call
  • syllabic /l̩/: little
• They are allophonic variants which are in complementary distribution.

Graphophonological Aspects

• l: sailor
• ll: mill
• Mute l: al / ol + f / v / k / m: calf, halves, chalk, salmon
• Further words: could, colonel

Flap /r/

• Description: Flap, post-alveolar, voiced.
• There are two accents in the different varieties of English:
  1. Rhotic. American, Scots and West of England varieties. They pronounce the /r/ in final position.
  2. Non-rhotic. RP. The /r/ is not pronounced in final position.

/r/ in Connected Speech

1. Mute /r/ = vowel + /r/ (in medial and final position): party, Peter
2. Linking /r/ = vowel + /r/ + vowel (next word): Peter and Mary
3. Intrusive /r/ = Word ending in /ə/ - /ɔː/ - /ɑː/ - /ɜː/ + word beginning with /ə/. It is used to avoid the clash of two sounds which are very similar: drama and poetry

Graphophonological Aspects

• r: road
• rr: narrow
• wr: wrong
• rh (Greek words): rhyme

Semivowels /j/ and /w/

Description

• They share more features with vowels than the other approximants.
• For the description of semivowels the criteria for both vowels and consonants are used.
• Vocalic features: Manner of articulation. For the representation of how these sounds are produced Daniel's trapeze is used.
• Consonantal features: Place of articulation. For the representation of how these sounds are produced Daniel's trapeze is used.
• /l/ and /j/: Voiced
• /l/: Palatal
• /w/: Velar and bilabial
• Position in syllables
• Tension
• Grammatical distinction in connected speech

/j/ Graphophonological Aspects

• y: yellow
• u - /j/ + /uː/: university
• u - eau - eu - ew - hu - ui - /j/ + /uː/: mute

/w/ Graphophonological Aspects

• w: wine
• wh: why
• q / g + u: queen, language
• o: one
• Mute w: wr (initial): write; wh (initial: only in some words): whose
• Further words: sword, Norwich

Nasal Consonants

Manner of Articulation

• In the case of nasal consonants, the velum is lowered:
  • the air goes into the oral cavity.
  • there is a closure.
  • the air goes back to the nose.

Point of Articulation

• /m/: Bilabial
• /n/: Alveolar
• /ŋ/: Velar

Voice

Voiced consonants.

Graphophonological Aspects

/m/

• m: mute
• mm: summer
• mn (in final position): column
• Mute m: mnemonic

/n/

• n: name
• nn: nanny
• Mute n: mn (in final position): column, hymn
• n usually pronounced in: columnist

/ŋ/

• ng: thing
• n + g / k: finger, uncle
• n + x (not very common): anxious

Plosive Consonants

Manner of Articulation

• There are three stages of production:
  • The closure
  • The hold
  • The release or plosion

Point of Articulation

• /p/ - /b/: Bilabial
• /t/ - /d/: Alveolar
• /k/ - /g/: Velar

In the case of English voiceless plosive consonants, there is aspiration. The feature of voiced consonants is a partial devoicing in initial and final position.

Voice

• Voiced consonants: lenis
• Voiceless consonants: fortis

Incomplete Plosion / Release

It happens when these phonemes immediately follow each other:

• Plosive + plosive: /p/ - /b/ - /t/ - /d/ - /k/ - /g/
• Plosive + affricate: /tʃ/ - /dʒ/

Nasal Release

It happens when nasal phonemes immediately follow plosive phonemes:

• Plosive + nasal: /m/ - /n/ - /ŋ/

Lateral Release

It happens when the lateral phoneme /l/ immediately follows plosive phonemes:

• Plosive + lateral: /l/

Graphophonological Aspects

/p/

• p: people
• pp: nappy
• ph: shepherd
• Mute p: p + n, s, t: pneumonia
• Further words: raspberry

/b/

• b: bear
• bb: lobby
• Mute b: word endings: -mb (+ derived): comb; b + t in (+ derived): debt

/t/

• t: team
• tt: pottery
• th: Thames
• -ed (Past / participle): walked
• Mute t: sten / stle: moisten, castle; in words coming from French (final position): ballet, buffet; Optional mute t: often

/d/

• d: day
• dd: ladder
• -ed (Past / participle): borrowed
• Mute d: grandmother, Wednesday

/k/

• k: key
• ck: pick
• c / cc + a, o, u, r, l: cake, cold, cucumber
• qu: quay
• ch: chemist
• x /ks/: extreme
• Mute k: muscle; at the beginning of the word when it is followed by n: knee

/g/

• g: girl
• gg: egg
• gu: guest
• gh (mute h): ghost
• x /gz/: exam
• Mute g: gn (initial & final position): gnome, foreign; gm (final position): diaphragm; gh (final position or followed by t): sigh, sight
• Exceptions: laugh, cough

Fricative Consonants

Manner of Articulation

• Two organs of speech come close so that friction is produced when the air passes between them.
• Fricative sounds can be produced as long as the speaker wants.

Point of Articulation

• /f/ - /v/: Labiodental consonants
• /θ/ - /ð/: Dental consonants
• /s/ - /z/: Alveolar consonants
• /ʃ/ - /ʒ/: Palato-alveolar consonants
• /h/: Glottal consonant

Voice

• Voiceless consonants
• Voiced consonants

Graphophonological Aspects

/f/

• f: fail
• ff: staff
• ph (from Greek or Latin): phonetics
• gh (final position): laugh
• Exception: lieutenant
• Mute f: halfpence

/v/

• v: very
• Exception f: of
• Exception ph: Stephen

/θ/

• th (initial position): thunder
• th (medial position): method
• th (final position): month, months
• Mute th: asthma

/ð/

• th (initial position): that
• th (medial position): mother
• th (final position): mouth, bathe

/s/

• c + e/i/y: ceiling
• ss: kiss
• sc + e/i: scene
• x (/ks/ when not followed by a stressed vowel): excursion
• Mute s: island, Illinois

/z/

• z: zoo
• zz: dizzy
• ss (only in): scissors
• x /gz/ + stressed vowel or + mute h: exam

Distribution of /s/ and /z/

• In initial position: soldier
• Medium position: thesis, university, intensive, discourage, mischief
• In intervocalic position: cousin
• Final position: gas, course
• Final position: rise, advertise, realism

Plural Form, Saxon Genitive, Third Person Singular

Voiced sounds (seas) vs. Voiceless sounds (ships).
/s/ - /z/ - /ʃ/ - /ʒ/ - /tʃ/ - /dʒ/ sound + -es = /ɪz/

/ʃ/

• sh: shop
• ce / ci: social
• ch (from French): champagne
• su / si: sugar
• ssu: tissue
• sch (initial position): schedule
• -sc / -c + ious: conscious
• -tion: nation
• -ssion: permission
• l / n + -sion: mansion

/ʒ/

• -sion: occasion
• -sual: visual
• -sure: measure
• -zure: azure
• -ge: beige
• g- (French words): genre

/h/

• h: house
• wh-o: whole
• Mute h: Words and their derivatives: heir; Medial position: vehicle; kh / rh: khaki, rheumatism; exh: exhaust; vowel + final position h: ah; initial wh-: white; initial gh-: ghost; th in: Thames; Further words: shepherd

/j/
/w/