Phonology and phonetics issue

LEARNING ENGLISH Phonology and phonetics

Introduction PHONOLOGY AND PHONETICS Speechisachievedbycompression of thelungvolumecausing air flowwhichmay be made audible if set intovibrationbytheactivity of thelarynx. Thissound can then be madeintospeechbyvariousmodifications of thesupralaryngeal vocal tract.

1.Lungs providetheenergysource - Respiration 2.Vocal foldsconverttheenergyinto audible sound - Phonation 3.Articulators transformthesoundintointelligiblespeech – Articulation Lung Structure and Function Expanding the thoracic cavity by expanding the rib cage (raising the ribs) and by lowering the diaphragm increases lung volume, decreases air pressure in the lungs and so air is drawn in from the from the outside to equalise pressure. Contracting the thoracic cavity by contracting the rib cage (lowering the ribs) and by raising the diaphragm decreases lung volume, increases air pressure in the lungs and so air is expelled from the lungs to equalise pressure with the outside air.

A simplified diagram of the vocal tract showing the energy generation function of the lungs. Above the vocal folds are the various cavities that can be modified in size and shape to cause changes in the sound quality of the speech sounds 1

Larynx Structure and Function The larynx is a continuation of the trachea but the cartilage structures of the larynx are highly specialised. The main cartilages are the thyroid, cricoid and arytenoid cartilages. These cartilages variously rotate and tilt to affect changes in the vocal folds. The vocal folds (also known as the vocal cords) stretch across the larynx and when closed they separate the pharynx from the trachea. When the vocal folds are open breathing is permitted. The opening between the vocal folds is known as the glottis. When air pressure below closed vocal folds (sub-glottal pressure) is high enough the vocal folds are forced open, the vocal folds then spring back closed under both elastic and aerodynamic forces, pressure builds up again, the vocal folds open again, ... and so on for as along as the vocal folds remain closed and a sufficient sub-glottal pressure can be maintained. This continuous periodic process is known as phonation and produces a "voiced" sound source.

Different laryngeal adjustments affect the way that the vocal folds vibrate and can result in different voice qualities, some of which are important linguistically in some langua Articulation When sound is produced at the larynx, that sound can be modified by altering the shape of the vocal tract above the larynx (supralaryngeal or supraglottal). The shape can be changed by opening or closing the velum (which opens or closes the nasal cavity connection into the oropharynx), by moving the tongue or by moving the lips or the jaw.

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The Vocal Tract

When air is pushed up from the lungs, the movements within the vocal tract create each unique sound. The vocal tract is the area from the nose and the nasal cavity down to the vocal cords deep in the throat. Understanding the vocal tract is an important aspect of learning to accurately produce sounds. The lips, tongue, and jaw are the parts of the vocal tract that are initially the easiest to control voluntarily.

The vocal tract: front to back Consonant sounds are generally easier sounds to "feel" than vowel sounds because they are created with a more constricted vocal tract.

The lips: Thep sound, b sound, and m sound are created by pressing the lips together, while forming the f sound and v sound requires interaction between the bottom lip and the top teeth.

The tip of the tongue and the front teeth: The unvoiced th and voiced th sounds are created by controlling how the close the tip of the tongue is to the front teeth.

The front of the tongue (including the tip) and the tooth ridge: The tooth ridge is the bony bump directly behind the top front teeth (behind the tooth ridge is the hard palate). Accuracy of tongue position in relation to the tooth ridge is necessary for production of the t sound, d sound, ch sound, j sound, s sound, z sound, sh sound, zh sound, l sound, and n sound.

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The back of the tongue and the soft palate: The soft palate is the fleshy area at the top, back of the mouth. The back of the tongue interacts with the soft palate to create the k sound, g sound, and ng sound.

The deep back of the tongue and the throat: The h sound is created by constricting the area at the very back of the mouth.

The nasal cavity The nasal cavity is the uppermost section of the vocal tract. Them sound, n sound, andng sound are nasal sounds that are created when air is released through the nasal cavity. As an experiment, create an m sound (the lips should be completely closed) and hold your nose shut with your fingers. When air cannot pass out our nose, we cannot create these sounds!

The vocal cords The vocal cords are deep in the throat, and their vibration allows sound to be said more loudly or more quietly. While all vowel sounds are voiced, meaning the vocal cords vibrate during their production, many consonant sounds are unvoiced, meaning that the vocal cords do not vibrate during their production. The vibration of the vocal cords can be felt by placing two fingers at the front of the throat and creating a b sound. Then, in contrast, create a p sound and notice that there is no vibration.

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CONSONANTS SOUNDS The 'b sound' /b/ is voiced (the vocal cords vibrate while producing it), and is the counterpart to the unvoiced 'p sound' /p/.

To create the /b/, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract by closing the lips. The sound is aspirated when the air is released. The aspiration for a /b/ is less than the aspiration for a /p/.

bug

beard

bike

both

bunny

bag

ball

busy

bat

bed

butter

bean

bee

button

bone

berry

boy

robot

birthday

bus

cheeseburger

bath

banana

baby

boat

bird

strawberries

bottle

bear

ladybug

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The 'ch sound' /ʧ/ is unvoiced (the vocal cords do not vibrate during its production), and is the counterpart to the voiced 'j sound' /ʤ/.

To create the /ʧ/, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract when the tip of the tongue presses against the back tooth ridge while the sides of the tongue press against the upper side teeth. The sound is aspirated when the air is released with friction (similar to the friction of an sh sound).

Many English language learning pronunciation students often find it helpful to think of the /ʧ/ as stopping the air similar to a 't sound' (but with the tongue a bit further back on the tooth ridge), and then releasing it with the friction of an 'sh sound' /ʃ/.

chair

chalk

catcher

chat

cheap

crutches

chase

chipmunk

grandchild

check

choose

hatching

cheese

chore

inches

cheer

chap

ketchup

chest

beachball

kitchen

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The 'd sound' /d/ is voiced (the vocal cords vibrate while producing it), and is the counterpart to the unvoiced 't sound' /t/.

To create the /d/, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract when the tip of the tongue presses against the tooth ridge while the sides of the tongue press against the upper side teeth. The sound is aspirated when the air is released. The aspiration for a /d/ is less than the aspiration for a /t/.

Advanced ESL/ELL pronunciation students should be aware that when the /d/ is followed by an 'l sound' /l/ or an 'n sound' /n/, the aspiration of the /d/ is not released in the same manner as before other sounds. Instead, a lateral aspiration is used in the /d+l/ combination, and a nasal aspiration is used in the /d+n/ combination.

dad

dust

food

dark

medicine

hand

day

ladder

mud

dime

radio

bed

do

reading

sand

done

wedding

8

The 'f sound' /f/ is unvoiced (the vocal cords do not vibrate during its production), and is the counterpart to the voiced 'v sound' /v/.

To create the /f/, the jaw is held nearly closed. The upper backside of the bottom lip is pressed very lightly into the bottom of the top teeth. Air is pushed out the mouth between the top teeth and the upper backside of the bottom lip. This sound is to be a continuous consonant, meaning that it should be capable of being produced for a few seconds with even and smooth pronunciation for the entire duration.

The lips are kept mostly relaxed during the production of the /f/. A common error English language learners make is overproducing this sound by curling the bottom lip under the top teeth. This creates problems when linking other sounds to and from the /f/.

face

elephant

calf

farm

waffle

cuff

feet

laughing

cough

fur

office

chief

phone

headphones

elf

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The 'g sound' /g/ is voiced (the vocal cords vibrate while producing it), and is the counterpart to the unvoiced 'k sound' /k/.

To create the /g/, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract when the back of the tongue lifts and presses against the soft palate at the back of the mouth. The sound is aspirated when the air is released. The amount of aspiration used to produce a /g/ is less than that for a /k/.

gate

luggage

dog

gas

cougar

leg

gift

tiger

bag

go

eagle

mug

dragon

bug

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The 'h sound' /h/ is unvoiced, and the vocal cords do not vibrate during the production of this sound.

To create the h sound, the deep back of the tongue slightly constricts within the throat. The upper/front part of the tongue as well as the lips will often move into the shape of surrounding sounds at the same time as the h sound is being produced.

A common error English language learners make is overproducing the /h/ by constricting the tongue too much within the throat or by voicing the sound

hall

head

birdhouse

ham

health

doghouse

hand

heart

dollhouse

hard

height

downhill

hat

help

fishhook

have

beehive

forehead

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The 'j sound' /ʤ/ is voiced (the vocal cords vibrate during its production), and is the counterpart to the unvoiced 'ch sound' /ʧ/.

To create the /ʤ/, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract when the tip of the tongue presses against the back tooth ridge while the sides of the tongue press against the upper side teeth. The sound is aspirated when the air is released with friction (similar to the friction of a 'zh sound' /ʒ/).

English language learners often find it helpful to think of the /ʤ/ as stopping the air similar to a 'd sound' /d/ (but with the tongue a bit further back on the tooth ridge), and then releasing it with the friction of a /ʒ/

general judge joy jealous

major energy subject management

large message knowledge huge

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The 'k sound' /k/ is unvoiced (the vocal cords do not vibrate while producing it), and is the counterpart to the voiced 'g sound' /g/.

To create the /k/, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract when the back of the tongue lifts and presses against the soft palate at the back of the mouth. The sound is aspirated when the air is released. The amount of aspiration used to produce a /k/ is greater than that used for a /g/.

can

racquet

duck

cat

breakfast

bike

key

baking

lock

comb

chicken

cheek

catch

donkey

hawk

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There are two 'l sound' formations--also known as allophones of the 'l sound': a 'light l' and a 'velar' (or dark) 'l'. The 'velar l' is represented by the International Phonetic Alphabet symbol /ÉŤ/.

The following is a description for the light l; hereafter simply referred to as the 'l sound' /l/.

To create the /l/, the tip of the tongue is placed against the middle of the tooth ridge.

The sound is created when air travels alongside the tip of the tongue, between the front of the tongue and the side teeth

leaf

belly

mail

lamp

sailing

nail

laugh

balloon

seal

leak

alarm

pool

list

police

long

ball

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the /m/ sound To create the 'm sound' /m/, the lips are pressed together, causing the air to be blocked from leaving the mouth. The soft palate drops, allowing air to pass out through the nose. The sound is voiced, so the vocal cords vibrate while producing it

mad

lemon

climb

mail

woman

comb

make

family

cream

man

camera

dime

map

plumber

dream

March

tomato

human

clam

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the /n/ sound To create the 'n sound' /n/, the air is blocked from leaving the mouth by pressing the tip against the tooth ridge and the sides of the front of the tongue against the side teeth. The soft palate drops, allowing air to pass out through the nose. The sound is voiced, so the vocal cords vibrate while producing it.

knees

bunny

brain

nap

suglasses

brown

nest

peanut

bun

necklace

rainbow

can

knit

dinosaur

cane

nurse

banana

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the /Ĺ‹/ sound To create the 'ng sound' /Ĺ‹/, air is prevented from leaving the vocal tract when the back of the tongue lifts and presses against the soft palate at the back of the mouth.

The soft palate drops, allowing air to pass out through the nose. The sound is voiced, so the vocal cords vibrate while producing it.

anger

hunger

anguish

bang

banging

bring

Bengal

ding

England

dong

English

hang

finger

king

hanger

long

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The 'p sound' /p/ is unvoiced (the vocal cords do not vibrate while producing it), and is the counterpart to the voiced 'b sound' /b/.

To create the /p/, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract by closing the lips. The sound is aspirated when the air is released. The aspiration for a /p/ is greater than the aspiration for a /b/.

pencil

diaper

lamp

party

hippo

mop

pig

apple

soup

pickle

teepee

ship

pony

wallpaper

sheep

penny

grasshopper

tape

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The 'sh sound' /ʃ/ is unvoiced (the vocal cords do not vibrate during its production), and is the counterpart to the voiced 'zh sound' /ʒ/.

To create the /ʃ/, air is forced between a wide groove in the center of the front of the tongue and the back of the tooth ridge. The sides of the blade of the tongue may touch the side teeth. The lips are kept slightly tense, and may protrude somewhat during the production of the sound.

This sound is a continuous consonant, meaning that it should be capable of being produced for a few seconds with even and smooth pronunciation for the entire duration

shape

shot

fish

shirt

bushes

push

shoe

dishes

dish

ship

lotion

cash

chef

flashlight

shadow

brush

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The 't sound' /t/ is unvoiced (the vocal cords do not vibrate while producing it), and is the counterpart to the voiced 'd sound' /d/.

To create the /t/, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract when the tip of the tongue presses against the tooth ridge while the sides of the tongue press against the upper side teeth. The sound is aspirated when the air is released. The aspiration for a /t/ is greater than the aspiration for a /d/, especially when it is the first sound of a word or the first sound of a stressed syllable.

tire

guitar

boat

toast

kitten

cat

toy

mittens

fruit

teacher

potato

goat

two

eighteen

hat

button

bat

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The 'voiced th' /ð/ and 'unvoiced th' /θ/ sounds are the only pair of English sounds that share a single, common spelling. For that reason, they are presented together in this ESL/ELL pronunciation lesson.

With the exception of being voiced or unvoiced, the /ð/ and /θ/ are nearly identical; the tip of the tongue is placed behind the top front teeth. The friction occurs between the tip of the tongue and the top front teeth. Subtle friction may also occur between the top of the front of the tongue and the tooth ridge. The lips are kept relaxed during the production of these sounds.

Theð sound

and

the

/θ/ sound

that

weather

thunder

than

together

cloth

the

thorn

moth

they

thin

math

feather

think

tooth

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The 'v sound' /v/ is voiced (the vocal cords vibrate during its production), and is the counterpart to the unvoiced 'f sound' /f/.

To create the /v/, the jaw is held nearly closed. The upper backside of the bottom lip is pressed very lightly into the bottom of the top teeth. Air is pushed out the mouth between the top teeth and the upper backside of the bottom lip. This sound is a continuous consonant, meaning that it should be capable of being produced for a few seconds with even and smooth pronunciation for the entire duration.

The lips are kept mostly relaxed during the /v/. A common error ESL/ELL students make is overproducing this sound by curling the bottom lip under the top teeth. This creates problems when linking to and from the /v/.

vest

driveway

glove

van

shaving

sleeve

vine

seven

olive

vote

carnival

dove

vet

envelope

cave

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The 'zh sound' /ʒ/ is voiced (the vocal cords vibrate during its production), and is the counterpart to the unvoiced 'sh sound' /ʃ/.

To create the /ʒ/, air is forced between a wide groove in the center of the front of the tongue and the back of the tooth ridge. The sides of the blade of the tongue may touch the side teeth. The lips are kept slightly tense, and may protrude somewhat during the production of the sound.

The /ʒ/ is a continuous consonant, meaning that it should be capable of being held for a few seconds with even and smooth pronunciation for the entire duration

azure Jacques beige luge rouge Asia

closure Hoosier leisure measure Persia

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Consonant Manner of Articulation There is considerable variation in the names applied to manners of articulation in the literature. In some cases different names are applied to the same manner of articulation, whilst in other cases labels divided up consonants in different ways.

In the present course we will mostly use the following labels for place or articulation:1) Oral Stops Oral stops have stop stricture and have a closed velum (ie. no nasal airflow). Oral stops are sometimes referred to as "plosives" or simply as "stops". Be warned that in the literature the term "stop" can refer specifically to oral stops, to oral stops and nasal stops collectively, or to stop stricture.

2) Nasal Stops Nasal stops have stop stricture and have an open velum (ie. nasal airflow and nasal resonance). Nasal stops are very often referred to simply as "nasals".

4) Fricatives Fricatives are consonants with fricative stricture. Many systems include central and lateral fricatives in the same manner category (but the IPA Pulmonic Consonant chart and the chart below separates them). In most of the course notes for this subject the central and lateral fricatives are included in a single manner category.

Fricatives are sometimes referred to as "spirants" but this term is now considered obsolete.

The strong fricatives [s ʃ z ʒ] are often termed "sibilant" fricatives.

5) Affricates Affricates are commonly described as a complex combination of stop plus fricative.

Affricates can also be considered to represent one extreme end of a continuum of stop aspiration. See the topic "Complex Articulations: Affrication" for more information. In this course we will treat affricates as a manner of articulation because this is the customary way of classifying /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ in English.

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6) Approximants Approximants are consonants with approximant stricture, although some approximants also commonly display resonant stricture. It is very easy to become confused about the terminology used in the literature when referring to this class of consonants. Very often approximants are divided into the following two sub-classes:1. liquids (e.g. English, [Éš] and [l]) 2. semi-vowels (e.g. English, [w] and [j]) - also known as "glides" When this system is used, liquids are effectively those approximants that are not classified as semi-vowels. Semi-vowels are those consonants that are most like vowels in their acoustic and articulatory characteristics and the semi-vowels often exhibit resonant stricture. Very often semi-vowels are only distinguishable from vowels using phonological criteria (see the topic "Distinction Between Consonants and Vowels" for details on the phonological distinction between vowels and consonants).

The division of approximants into liquids and semi-vowels is of particular relevance in this course to the topic "Distinctive Features", where the feature set for is different for liquids and semi-vowels.

7) Rhotics Sometimes this further class of consonants is defined, but it is not strictly a manner of articulation. The rhotic sounds are the so-called r-like sounds and include the alveolar and retroflex approximants and the alveolar and uvular trills. In this course the term "rhotic" is used when dealing with the consonants of Australian Aboriginal languages (see the topic "The Phonetics and Phonology of Australian Aboriginal Languages"). In many Australian languages there are two consonants in the rhotic class, the alveolar trill [r] and the alveolar or post-alveolar approximant [Éš]. Also, the term "rhotic" is also used when referring to the "rhotic" (eg. American) and "nonrhotic" (eg. Australian) dialects of English (see the topic "The vowel systems of four English dialects : Centring Diphthongs and Non-rhotic Dialects of English" for more information).

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Vowels sounds English has fifteen vowel sounds represented by the letters a, e, i, o, and u. The letters y, w and gh are also commonly used in vowel sound spellings. Vowel sounds are produced with a relatively open vocal tract. Consonant sounds, in contrast, are created by pushing air through a small opening in the vocal tract or by building up air in the vocal tract, then releasing it.

The /i:/ vowel The tongue is forward, with the body of the tongue near the tooth ridge. (The tongue is higher in the mouth for this sound than for any other vowel in English.) Because the tongue is so high, the jaw is relatively closed during the 'long e' /i/ sound. The sides of the tongue touch the top, side teeth during the sound.

Examples At the beginning

In the middle

At the end

Eat

Mean

He

Eel

Need

Bee

Easy

Keen

Key

Each

Deep

Fee

Even

Seal

Tree

Eagle

Leave

she

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The /I/ vowel The lips are relaxed and the central/front area of the tongue is in the central/high area of the mouth for this sound. The overall neutrality and relaxed tongue and lip position is why it is one of the pronunciations used in an unstressed vowel position.

Examples: At the beginning

In the middle

Is

Pin

If

Lift

It

Give

Ill

Miss

Itch

Simple

Into

Winter

Ink

Listen

Issue

Timid

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The /ei/ sound The 'long a' /eɪ/ is a 2-sound vowel. It is the middle sound in the word 'cake' /keɪk/.To pronounce the sound, begin with the tongue pushed somewhat forward but in a neutral position in the mouth. Then, as the jaw closes slightly, move the body of the tongue upward until it is near the tooth ridge--similar to the position of a 'y sound' /y/.

The front sides of the tongue touch the inside of the top teeth at the end of the sound.

At the beginning

In the middle

At the end

Ate

Same

Way

Ape

Rain

Say

Age

Came

Day

Aim

Lake

Stay

Ale

Date

Weigh

Able

Table

Away

Ache

Place

The 'short e' /ɛ/ sound is a relatively relaxed vowel sound. The middle of the tongue rounds slightly upward and the sides of the tongue may lightly touch the top and bottom side teeth. The lips and jaw are loose and relaxed.

Examples: At the beginning

In the middle

Any

Bed

End

Next

Egg

West

Edge

Rest

Else

Bent 28

The a' /ĂŚ/ vowel The front of the tongue is pushed further forward and is held lower in the mouth when forming the 'short a' /ĂŚ/ sound than with any other vowel sound. The tip of the tongue will touch the inside of the bottom front teeth. The body of the tongue is Examples:

At the beginnin At

In the middle

Am

Cat

And

Map

Ask

Have

Angry

Black

Absent

Flag

Animal

Happy Last

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The /u/ vowel To create the 'oo sound' /u/, the lips are pulled into a tense, small circle. In addition, the back of the tongue is raised to a high position and sides of the tongue may touch the top teeth at the back of the mouth.

Example: In the middle

At the end

Food

Do new

Pool

You

Room

Shoe

Suit

Flew

Truth

Chew

Goose

threw

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The /É‘/ soundThe vocal tract is very open for the production of the 'short o' /É‘/ sound. In fact, the jaw is held more open and the back of the tongue is held lower for this sound than any other American English vowel sound pronunciation. The tongue touches the inside of the bottom teeth so that the top of the tongue is nearly even with the top of the bottom teeth. The lips are held open and kept rounded, but relaxed.

Examples: At the beginning

in the middle

on

cot

odd

lock

arm

shop

are

wasp

oxen

watch

honest

block

option

march

artist

rocket

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The /ʊ/ soundTo create the 'other u' /ʊ/ sound, the back of the tongue is raised to a mid-high position. The sides of the tongue may touch the top teeth toward the back of the mouth. The jaw is slightly closed and the lips are pulled into a loose circle.

Examples: At the middle

Push

Cook

Took

Full

Foot

Book

Sugar

Good

Woman

Could

Cushion

Put

Brook

Wood The /ʌ/soundThe body of the tongue is relaxed and set low in the mouth. The sides of the tongue lightly touch the bottom teeth during the formation of the sound. The jaw is kept in a neutral position, and the lips are relaxed.The overall relaxed nature of the formation of this sound is why it is commonly used for the pronunciation of the vowel sound of an unstressed syllable. The 'short i'/ɪ/ sound may also be used in an unstressed syllable, but short u /ʌ/ or schwa/ə/ are more common.

Examples: Us

Oven

Nut

Up

Hug

Does

Of

Won

Must 32

The /ɔ / vowelThe entire tongue is pushed back and kept low during the pronunciation of the 'aw sound' /ɔ/. The bottom side teeth can be felt alongside the front of the tongue during the sound. The back of the tongue has only a slight rounding upward at the very rear of the mouth. The lips are made into an oval shape, and may stick slightly outward.

The North American 'aw sound' /ɔ/ is one of the sounds with the greatest variation in pronunciation even within the continent. Some regions of the United States do not consider this to be a different sound from the 'short o' /ɑ/. However, in many regions of the country it is a unique sound; therefore it is described separately.

At the beginning

In the middle

Awe

Or

Boss

Raw

All

Fall

Law

Off

Song

Saw

Also

Store

Flaw

Awful

Wrong

Draw

Often

Broad

Claw

Always

Bought

Thaw

August

Taught

Ought

At the end

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Diphthongs There are eight English diphthongs altogether. To make diphthongs, your tongue, lips (and your jaw on occasions!) have to move. Sometimes the journey your tongue makes is short and very controlled; in some of the diphthongs, it has to move a long distance in your mouth, involving a lot of jaw movement too.

Learners find diphthongs difficult because producing them is a motor skill (like body building!) which has to be practised in order to obtain a good result. You cannot succeed in English pronunciation by understanding alone. The muscles you have to train to make English diphthongs are unlikely to be identical to those you use in production of vowel sounds in your first language.

Understanding is also important. Although you can train to a certain extent through repetition (parrot fashion!), you will be able to make further improvement through awareness of the manner of articulation (e.g. the absence or presence of lip rounding &/or tension, size of aperture, degree of jaw movement), the starting and finishing tongue positions, and both the direction and extent of tongue movement.

1) as in day, pay, say, lay. The starting position is with tongue in mid position at front of mouth as in "egg", "bed" or "Ted". Therefore you move the tongue up to make the diphthong.

2) as in sky, buy, cry, tie. The starting position is , the same sound as in "cat". To make the diphthong you need a big jaw movement, moving the tongue from front open to and front close.

3)

as in boy, toy, coy or the first syllable of soya. The starting position

is , the sound in "door" or "or". Your tongue needs to be low, but you need to pull it back and make your mouth round. To make the diphthong, you relax the lip rounding and move your tongue forward and up.

4)sound , which occurs in grunting noises and the weak forms of "the" and "a", as the FINISHING POSITION. To make the neutral vowel sound keep your tongue fixed in the centre of your mouth, lips fairly relaxed and just grunt!

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5)

as in beer (the drink), pier, hear. The starting position

is

as in "if" or "pit" with tongue front and high and lips relaxed.

6)

as in bear (the animal), pair and hair. The starting position

is as in "egg" or "bed" with tongue in mid position at front of mouth.

To make the diphthong, using a small controlled movement, pull your tongue slighty back from mid front to the mid central position in your mouth.

7)

as in "tour", "poor" (talking posh!) or the first syllable of "tourist". The

starting position is with tongue pulled back but small mouth aperture as in "hook", "book" or "look".

To make the diphthong, this time the small controlled tongue movement goes from the back postion to the mid central position, losing the lip rounding and relaxing your mouth from the tight starting position.

8) have the back vowel (tongue pulled back but small tight mouth aperture as in "hook", "book" or "look") as the FINISHING POSITION. as in "oh", "no", "so" or "phone". The starting position is the neutral vowel sound, also known as "shwa" , which sounds like a grunt, as in the weak form of "the" or "a". To start in this way, the tongue should be fixed in mid central position in your mouth with lips relaxed. To make the diphthong, it is a short controlled movement in the opposite direction of 5) above: from the centre to the back moving your relaxed lips into a tighter small round aperture. Your cheeks should move in a bit!

9)

as in all the words of "How now brown cow!". The starting position

is the vowel sound as in "at" "bad" or "rat" with tongue front but also low (i.e. mouth open). To make the diphthong the journey for your tongue from front low (mouth very open) to back high (small tight mouth aperture) is a very long excursion. Your jaw will move a lot too.

35

Assimilation Assimilation has a very precise meaning when it’s related to studies of languages.

Is a common phonological process bye which the phonetics of a speech segment becomes more like another segment in a word. In other words it’s when a letter (sound) is influenced by the letter (sound) before or after it so that it changes its sound and/or spelling. The word assimilation it self it’s said to be assimilated; it is derived from the latin prefix ad- meaning to and simil- meaning like but, instead of being adsimilated, it has the easier pronunciation of assimilated.

A common example of assimilation is “don’t be silly” where the /n/ and /t/ are assimilated to /m/ by the following /b/, in many accents the natural sound is “dombe silly”.

Assimilation can be synchronic being an active process in a language at a given point in time or diachronic being a historical sound change. There are 4 configurations found: the increase in phonetic similarity may be between adjacent segments or between segments separated by one or more intervening segments; the changes could be in reference to a preceding segment or a following one. Even when all four occur, it changes in regard to a following adjacent segment account for virtually all assimilatory changes. Assimilation to an adjacent segment are vastly more frequent than assimilation to a non-adjacent one.

If a sound changes with reference to a following segment, it is called “regressive assimilation”, the changes with reference to a preceding segment are called “progressive assimilation”. A lot of people find these terms very confusing because they seem to mean the opposite of the intended meaning. To avoid the problem exist a variety of alternative terms. “Regressive assimilation” is also known as right to left, leading or reciprocal assimilation. “Progressive assimilation” is known as left to right or preservative, lagging or lag assimilation.

1. / 2. / 3. / 4. / 5. / 6. /

t / d / n / t d n

changes to / p / before / m / changes to / b / before / m / changes to / m / before / m / / changes to / k / before / changes to / g / before / / changes to /ŋ/ before / k

/ / / / k

b / or / p / b / or / p / b / or / p / k / or /g/ / or / g / / or / g / 36

7. / s / changes to 8. / z / changes to 9. /θ/ changes to / s / before / s /

/ʃ/ /ʒ/

before before

/ʃ/ /ʃ/

or or

/

j /

j

/ /

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Linking One of the reasons non-native speakers have problems understanding and pronouncing English is because of linking. Linking occurs when a word ends in a consonant and the following word starts with a vowel. The consonant sound is linked with the vowel when it is pronounced. For example in the phrase 'that's enough'- the 's' in that's is linked to the 'e' in enough. and sounds like thats senough. Look and listen to the examples below. The linked letters are in bold and underlined. The first sentence will be with proper enunciation, and the second with linked enunciation.

That's enough.

(That's senough)

Sit on an orange crate.

(Sit ton nan norange crate.)

Bring an apple and a book.

(Bring gan napple and da book.)

Now is a time for all of us to pack it in.

(Now wis sa time for rall lof vus to pack kit tin)

Lemons and oranges are not available in Autumn.

(Lemons sand doranges are not tavailable in nautumn)

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Reduction There are commonly used supra-segmental features in everyday American English conversation, which makes the target language fast and fluent. And we are going to introduce four kinds of reduction of the supra-segmental features in this unit.

1. wanna/ gonna/ oughda/ hafda/ hasda/ hada/ Words like want to/ going to/ have to/ has to/ had to/ ought to are often said in an utterance. They are so often spoken everyday that speakers tend to reduce them into the following forms: Written Words

Spoken Utterance

Want to

wanna

Going to

gonna

Ought to

oughda

Have to

hafda

Has to

hasda

Had to

hada

The above examples show that not only the words are shorter, but the sounds are of course shorter, which eventually speed up the utterance.

For better understanding, please see the following examples: 1. I wanna get it done soon.

2. I am gonna visit Japan next month.

3. I oughda try harder in the test.

4. You hafda make sure someone will pick you up.

5. He hasda report to the office before 5:00 p.m.

6. She hada take a ride last night when she was dead drunk.

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2. n/ er/ fer Words like and/or/for are also used in most of the sentences. And they are pronounced in very short and weak sounds. Please see the following examples: Written Words Spoken Utterance and

n

or

er

for

fer

for

fe

For better understanding, please refer to the following examples: 1. Cream n sugar?

2. Either coffee er tea is fine with me.

3. Fer information, please call 2635-8284.

4. I am doing this fe my boyfriend.

3. Reduction of h Sound When “him” and “her” are used as an object in a sentence, and the sentence is on the verb, the h sound of these two words are often removed and the rest of the word is pronounced rather weak by linking with the previous sound; either a vowel or a consonant..

Written Words Spoken Utterance him

im

her

er

For better understanding, please refer to the following examples: 1.

A: Did you see John?

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B: Yeah, I saw_im in the hallway.

2.

A: How do you like Mary?

B: Yeah, I like_er a lot.

4. Unreleased Consonants Words with final sounds p/b/d/t/k/g are found everywhere in spoken utterances, and native speakers tend to make these sounds unreleased. But very often non-native speakers pronounce these sounds with very strong stress, which also affect the speed of their utterance. The trick to pronounce these words is to place more stress on the vowel.

Written Words Spoken Utterance soup

soup

rob

rob

road

road

it

it

take

take

bag

bag

For better understanding, please refer to the following examples: (The gray marks are unreleased consonants.)

1.

The soup tastes good.

2.

Are you gonna rob the bank?

3.

You can stop by Jackson Road and pick me up.

4.

It is very interesting to read Harry Potter.

5.

Take this book and read_it during the weekend.

6.

I like this bag more than that one.

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Ellipses An ellipsis is a set of three periods ( . . . ) indicating an omission. Each period should have a single space on either side, except when adjacent to a quotation mark, in which case there should be no space.

Informal writing In informal writing, an ellipsis can be used to represent a trailing off of thought.

If only she had . . . Oh, it doesn’t matter now.

An ellipsis can also indicate hesitation, though in this case the punctuation is more accurately described as suspension points.

I wasn’t really . . . well, what I mean . . . see, the thing is . . . I didn’t mean it.

Like the exclamation point, the ellipsis is at risk of overuse.

In quoted material Ellipses are most useful when working with quoted material. There are various methods of deploying ellipses; the one described here is acceptable for most professional and scholarly work.

The following examples are based on a paragraph from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden: I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Ellipses at the beginning of a quotation

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It is rarely necessary to use ellipsis points at the beginning of a quotation, even if the quotation begins mid-sentence. It is also usually acceptable to change the capitalization of the first word of the quotation to match the surrounding material.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams,” writes Thoreau, “he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Moreover, Thoreau claims that “in proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex.”

Quotations placed in the middle of a sentence When a quotation is included within a larger sentence, do not use ellipsis points at the beginning or end of the quoted material, even if the beginning or end of the original sentence has been omitted.

Correct: When Thoreau argues that by simplifying one’s life, “the laws of the universe will appear less complex,” he introduces an idea explored at length in his subsequent writings.

Incorrect: When Thoreau argues that by simplifying one’s life, “. . . the laws of the universe will appear less complex, . . .” he introduces an idea explored at length in his subsequent writings.

Quotations placed at the end of a sentence When a quotation is placed at the end of a sentence, but the quoted material is only part of a larger sentence, authorities differ on the use of ellipsis points. The Chicago Manual of Styleallows the use of a sentence-terminating period; the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers requires ellipsis points.

Chicago style Thoreau argues that by simplifying one’s life, “the laws of the universe will appear less complex.”

Could anyone other than Thoreau have written, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost”?

MLA style MLA style places the sentence-terminating period immediately after the last word of the quotation, even though a period does not occur there in the original material.

The three ellipsis points are then placed after this sentence-terminating period.

Thoreau argues that by simplifying one’s life, “the laws of the universe will appear less complex. . . .”

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Could anyone other than Thoreau have written, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost . . .”?

When using MLA-style parenthetical references, the sentence-terminating period is placed outside the parenthetical reference.

Thoreau argues that by simplifying one’s life, “the laws of the universe will appear less complex . . .” (152).

Ellipses for omitted material within a single quoted sentence Use ellipsis points to show omission within the quotation. Omit any punctuation on either side of the ellipsis, unless the punctuation is necessary to make the shortened quotation grammatically correct.

“I learned this . . . : that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, . . . he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

In the example above, the colon in the original is needed to introduce the thing that Thoreau learned. The comma after “dreams” is necessary to separate a dependent clause from an independent clause.

Ellipses for omitted material spanning two or more sentences When a quotation is presented as a single sentence made up of material from two or more original sentences, ellipses should be used for all omitted segments.

Thoreau believes that “if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, . . . he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.”

When quoted material is presented as multiple sentences, four dots should be used for omissions between two or more original sentences; three dots should be used for omissions within a single original sentence.

In the example below, MLA style requires an ellipsis at the end of the quotation, indicating that a portion of the original sentence has been omitted. Chicago style would omit the final ellipsis and terminate the sentence with a single period.

Thoreau notes: “I learned . . . that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, . . . he will meet with . . . success. . . . He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary. . . . In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex. . . .”

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Contractions A contraction is a shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters and sounds.

In linguistic analysis, contractions should not be confused with crasis, abbreviations nor acronyms (including initialisms), with which they share some semantic and phonetic functions, though all three are connoted by the term "abbreviation" in loose parlance. Contraction is also distinguished from clipping, where beginnings and endings are omitted.

The definition overlaps with the grammatical term portmanteau (a linguistic blend), but a distinction can be made between a portmanteau and a contraction by noting that contractions are formed from words that would otherwise appear together in sequence, such as do and not, whereas a portmanteau word is formed by combining two or more existing words that all relate to a singular concept which the portmanteau describes.

English has a number of contractions, mostly involving the elision of a vowel (which is replaced by an apostrophe in writing), as in I'm for "I am", and sometimes other changes as well, as in won't for "will not" or ain't for "am not". These contractions are commonly used in speech and in informal writing, though tend to be avoided in more formal writing.

The main contractions are listed in the following table (for more explanation see English auxiliaries and contractions).

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Full form

Contracted

Notes

Irregular forms: "ain't", "won't", not

-n't

"shan't", "amn't". "n't" can only be attached to an auxiliary verb which is itself not contracted.

let us

let's

I am

I'm we're /wɪər/ or /wɛər/ is, in most

are

-'re

cases, pronounced differently from were /wɜr/.

informal, as in "What's he do there

does -'s

every day?"

is

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has have

-'ve

had did

-'d

informal, as in "Where'd she go?"

would will

-'ll

of

o'-

used mostly in o'clock, where it is mandatory in contemporary use as in "cup o' coffee," "barrel o'

of

o'

monkeys," "Land o' Goshen," "lots o' luck"

it

't-

Archaic, except in stock uses such as 'Twas the night before Christmas

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Actually from hem, which is not the them

'em

same word as them, a Norse loan.[2][3]

you

y'-

Informal, as in "Where are y'all at?"

Some other simplified pronunciations of common word groups, which can equally be described as cases of elision, may also be considered (non-standard) contractions (not enshrined into the written standard language, but frequently expressed in written form anyway), such as wanna for want to, gonna for going to, y'all for you all, ya'll for ya all in the South, and others common in colloquial speech.

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Derivations In linguistics, morphological derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing word, e.g.happiness and unhappy from the root word (base words) happy, or determination from determine. It often involves the addition of a morpheme in the form of an affix, such as -ness, un-, and -ation in the following examples.

Derivation stands in contrast to the process of inflection, which is the formation of grammatical variations upon the same word, as with determine/determines/determining/determined

Derivational morphology often involves the addition of a derivational suffix or other affix. Such an affix usually applies to words of one lexical category (part of speech) and changes them into words of another such category. For example, the English derivational suffix -ly changes adjectives into adverbs (slow → slowly).

Examples of English derivational patterns and their suffixes: adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness) adjective-to-verb: -ise (modern → modernise) in British English or -ize (final → finalize) in American English and Oxford spelling adjective-to-adjective: -ish (red → reddish) adjective-to-adverb: -ly (personal → personally) noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation → recreational) noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify) verb-to-adjective: -able (drink → drinkable) 49

verb-to-noun (abstract): -ance (deliver → deliverance) verb-to-noun (agent): -er (write → writer) However, derivational affixes do not necessarily alter the lexical category; they may merely change the meaning of the base, while leaving the category unchanged. A prefix (write → re-write; lord → over-lord) will rarely change lexical category in English. The prefix un- applies to adjectives (healthy → unhealthy) and some verbs (do → undo), but rarely to nouns. A few exceptions are the derivational prefixes enand be-. En- (em- before labials) is usually used as a transitive marker on verbs, but can also be applied to adjectives and nouns to form transitive verbs: circle (verb) → encircle (verb); but rich (adj) → enrich (verb), large (adj) → enlarge (verb), rapture (noun) → enrapture (verb), slave (noun) → enslave (verb).

Derivation can also occur without any change of form, for example telephone (noun) and to telephone. This is known as conversion, or zero derivation.

Derivation that results in a noun may be called nominalization. This may involve the use of an affix (as with happy → happiness, employ → employee), or may occur via conversion (as with the derivation of the noun run from the verb to run).

In contrast, such that result in a verb may be called verbalization (as with from the noun butter into the verb to butter).

Derivation and inflection Derivation can be contrasted with inflection, in that derivation produces a new word (a distinct lexeme), whereas inflection produces grammatical variants of the same word.

Generally speaking, inflection applies in more or less regular patterns to all members of a part of speech (for example, nearly every English verb adds -s for the third person singular present tense), while derivation follows less consistent patterns (for example, the nominalizing suffix -ity can be used with the adjectives 50

modern and dense, but not with open or strong). However, it is important to note that derivations and inflections can share homonyms, that being, morphemes that have the same sound, but not the same meaning. For example, when the affix -er, is added to an adjective, as in small-er, it acts as an inflection, but when added to a verb, as in cook-er, it acts as a derivation.

Derivation and other types of word formation Derivation can be contrasted with other types of word formation such as compounding. For full details see Word formation.

Note that derivational affixes are bound morphemes – they are meaningful units, but can only normally occur when attached to another word. In that respect, derivation differs from compounding by which free morphemes are combined (lawsuit, Latin professor). It also differs from inflection in that inflection does not create new lexemes but new word forms (table → tables; open → opened).

Derivational patterns differ in the degree to which they can be called productive. A productive pattern or affix is one that is commonly used to produce novel forms.

For example, the negating prefix un- is more productive in English than the alternative in-; both of them occur in established words (such as unusual and inaccessible), but faced with a new word which does not have an established negation, a native speaker is more likely to create a novel form with un- than with in-. The same thing happens with suffixes. For example, if comparing two words Thatcherite and Thatcherist, the analysis shows that both suffixes -ite and -ist are productive and can be added to proper names, moreover, both derived adjectives are established and have the same meaning. But the suffix -ist is more productive and, thus, can be found more often in word formation not only from proper names.

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Borrowing Loanwords are words adopted by the speakers of one language from a different language (the source language). A loanword can also be called a borrowing. The abstract noun borrowing refers to the process of speakers adopting words from a source language into their native language. "Loan" and "borrowing" are of course metaphors, because there is no literal lending process. There is no transfer from one language to another, and no "returning" words to the source language. The words simply come to be used by a speech community that speaks a different language from the one these words originated in.

Borrowing is a consequence of cultural contact between two language communities. Borrowing of words can go in both directions between the two languages in contact, but often there is an asymmetry, such that more words go from one side to the other. In this case the source language community has some advantage of power, prestige and/or wealth that makes the objects and ideas it brings desirable and useful to the borrowing language community. For example, the Germanic tribes in the first few centuries A.D. adopted numerous loanwords from Latin as they adopted new products via trade with the Romans. Few Germanic words, on the other hand, passed into Latin.

The actual process of borrowing is complex and involves many usage events (i.e. instances of use of the new word). Generally, some speakers of the borrowing language know the source language too, or at least enough of it to utilize the relevant word. They (often consciously) adopt the new word when speaking the borrowing language, because it most exactly fits the idea they are trying to express. If they are bilingual in the source language, which is often the case, they might pronounce the words the same or similar to the way they are pronounced in the source language. For example, English speakers adopted the word garage from French, at first with a pronunciation nearer to the French pronunciation than is now usually found. Presumably the very first speakers who used the word in English knew at least some French and heard the word used by French speakers, in a French-speaking context.

Those who first use the new word might use it at first only with speakers of the source language who know the word, but at some point they come to use the word with those to whom the word was not previously known. To these speakers the word may sound 'foreign'. At this stage, when most speakers do not know the word and if they hear it think it is from another language, the word can be called a foreign word. There are many foreign words and phrases used in English such as bon vivant (French),mutatis mutandis (Latin), and Fahrvergnuegen (German).

However, in time more speakers can become familiar with a new foreign word or expression. The community of users of this word can grow to the point where even people who know little or nothing of the source language understand, and even use, the novel word themselves. The new word becomes conventionalized: part of 52

the conventional ways of speaking in the borrowing language. At this point we call it a borrowing or loanword.

(It should be noted that not all foreign words do become loanwords; if they fall out of use before they become widespread, they do not reach the loanword stage.)

Conventionalization is a gradual process in which a word progressively permeates a larger and larger speech community, becoming part of ever more people's linguistic repetoire. As part of its becoming more familiar to more people, a newly borrowed word gradually adopts sound and other characteristics of the borrowing language as speakers who do not know the source language accommodate it to their own linguistic systems. In time, people in the borrowing community do not perceive the word as a loanword at all. Generally, the longer a borrowed word has been in the language, and the more frequently it is used, the more it resembles the native words of the language.

English has gone through many periods in which large numbers of words from a particular language were borrowed. These periods coincide with times of major cultural contact between English speakers and those speaking other languages.

The waves of borrowing during periods of especially strong cultural contacts are not sharply delimited, and can overlap. For example, the Norse influence on English began already in the 8th century A.D. and continued strongly well after the Norman Conquest brought a large influx of Norman French to the language.

It is part of the cultural history of English speakers that they have always adopted loanwords from the languages of whatever cultures they have come in contact with. There have been few periods when borrowing became unfashionable, and there has never been a national academy in Britain, the U.S., or other Englishspeaking countries to attempt to restrict new loanwords, as there has been in many continental European countries.

The following list is a small sampling of the loanwords that came into English in different periods and from different languages.

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Latin The forms given in this section are the Old English ones. The original Latin source word is given in parentheses where significantly different. Some Latin words were themselves originally borrowed from Greek. It can be deduced that these borrowings date from the time before the Angles and Saxons left the continent for England, because of very similar forms found in the other old Germanic languages (Old High German, Old Saxon, etc.). The source words are generally attested in Latin texts, in the large body of Latin writings that were preserved through the ages. ancor 'anchor' butere 'butter' (L < Gr. butyros) cealc

'chalk'

ceas

'cheese' (caseum)

cetel

'kettle'

cycene 'kitchen' cirice

'church' (ecclesia < Gr. ecclesia)

disc

'dish' (discus)

mil

'mile' (milia [passuum] 'a thousand paces')

piper

'pepper'

pund

'pound' (pondo 'a weight')

sacc

'sack' (saccus)

sicol

'sickle'

straet 'street' ([via] strata 'straight way' or stone-paved road) weall

'wall' (vallum)

win

'wine' (vinum < Gr. oinos)

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Minimal pair In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language that differ in only one phonological element, such as a phoneme, toneme or chroneme, and have distinct meanings. They are used to demonstrate that twophones constitute two separate phonemes in the language.

Many phonologists in the middle part of the 20th century had a strong interest in developing techniques for discovering the phonemes of unknown languages, and in some cases setting up writing systems for these languages. The major work ofKenneth Pike on the subject has the title Phonemics: a technique for reducing languages to writing. The minimal pair was an essential tool in the discovery process, arrived at by substitution or commutation tests. Modern phonology is much less interested in such issues, and the minimal pair is consequently considered to be of little theoretical importance.

As an example for English vowels, the pair "let" + "lit" can be used to demonstrate that the phones [ɛ] (in let) and [ɪ] (in lit) do in fact represent distinct phonemes /ɛ/ and /ɪ/. An example for English consonants is the minimal pair of "pat" + "bat". The following table shows other pairs demonstrating the existence of various distinct phonemes in English. All the possible minimal pairs for any language may be set out in the same way.

55

word 1 word 2 IPA 1 IPA 2 pin

bin

/pɪn/

/bɪn/

rot

lot

/rɒt/

/lɒt/

note

initial consonant thigh

thy

/θaɪ/

/ðaɪ/

zeal

seal

/ziːl/

/siːl/

bin

bean

/bɪn/

/biːn/

pen

pan

/pɛn/ /pæn/ vowel

cook

kook

/kʊk/ /kuːk/

hat

had

/hæt/ /hæd/ final consonant

Phonemic differentiation may vary between different dialects of a language, so that a particular minimal pair in one accent is a pair of homophones in another. This does not necessarily mean that one of the phonemes is absent in the homonym accent; merely that it is not contrastive in the same range of contexts.

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Homophones and homographs Homophones.

A homophone can be defined as a word that when pronounced seems similar to another word but has a different spelling and meaning such as bear and bare are similar in pronunciation but are different in spelling as well as in meaning.

Sometimes the words may have the same spelling such as rose and the past tense of rise, but mostly they are spelt differently such as carrot, caret and carat. In literature, homophones are used extensively in poetry and prose to make rhythmic effects and to put emphasis on something. They are also used to create a multiplicity of meanings in piece Types of Homophones There are different types of homophones: 

Some homophones are similar in spelling, but different in meanings. They are called homographs. For instance, hail vs. hail. One hail means ice storm and the second means something that occurs in large numbers (eg a hail of bullets).



Some of them have the same pronunciation but different meanings and these are called homonyms. For instance, cite, sight and site.



The homophones that have different spellings but are pronounced in the same way are calledheterographs. For instance, write vs. right.



The homophones that have multiple words or phrases, having similar sounds, are called oronyms. For instance, “ice cream”vs. “I scream”.



Pseudo-homophones are homophones that are identical phonetically.

However, one of the pair of words is not a real word, such as groan/grone.

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Homographs The word homograph originated from the Greek word homos that means “the same” and graph means “to write”, and it is used extensively in language. It can be defined as words that are used in such a manner as to give two or more different meanings where the words have the same spelling, but different meanings and sometimes different pronunciation as well.

The basic difference between homophone and homograph is that homographs are words that have the same spelling such as “He is my close relative” and “Please close the door.” However, homophones are words that sound the same and are spelled differently such as “That was read” and “That was red.”

Example “They seemed to think the opportunity lost, if they failed to point the conversation to me, every now and then, and stick the point into me” Here, in this excerpt, both the underlined words are identical in spellings, but have different meanings. The first “point” means direction and second “point” means the idea.

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Contenido Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 PHONOLOGY AND PHONETICS ................................................................................................. 1 Articulation ................................................................................................................................. 2 The Vocal Tract .................................................................................................................................... 4 The vocal tract: front to back .......................................................................................... 4 The nasal cavity .................................................................................................................... 5 The vocal cords..................................................................................................................... 5 CONSONANTS SOUNDS ....................................................................................................................... 6 Consonant Manner of Articulation ................................................................................................... 24 Vowels sounds................................................................................................................................... 26 Diphthongs ........................................................................................................................................ 34 Assimilation ....................................................................................................................................... 36 Linking ............................................................................................................................................... 38 Reduction .......................................................................................................................................... 39 Ellipses ............................................................................................................................................... 42 Informal writing ............................................................................................................................ 42 In quoted material ....................................................................................................................... 42 Ellipses at the beginning of a quotation .................................................................................. 42 Quotations placed in the middle of a sentence ...................................................................... 43 Quotations placed at the end of a sentence ........................................................................... 43 Ellipses for omitted material within a single quoted sentence ............................................. 44 Ellipses for omitted material spanning two or more sentences ........................................... 44 Contractions ...................................................................................................................................... 45 Derivations ........................................................................................................................................ 49 Minimal pair ...................................................................................................................................... 55 Homophones and homographs......................................................................................................... 57 Types of Homophones............................................................................................................... 57

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