Phonetics

Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning 'sound, voice') is the study of the sounds of human speech. It is concerned with the actual properties of speech sounds (phones), and their production, audition and perception, as opposed to phonology, which is the study of sound systems and abstract sound units (such as phonemes and distinctive features). Phonetics deals with the sounds themselves rather than the contexts in which they are used in languages In linguistics, an accent is a pronunciation characteristic of a particular group of people relative to another group. Accent should not be confused with dialect (q.v.), which is a variety of language differing in vocabulary and grammar as well as pronunciation. Dialects are usually spoken by a group united by geography or class In linguistics, an accent is a pronunciation characteristic of a particular group of people relative to another group. Accent should not be confused with dialect (q.v.), which is a variety of language differing in vocabulary and grammar as well as pronunciation. Dialects are usually spoken by a group united by geography or class An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters — basic written symbols — each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. The word consonant is also used to refer to a letter of an alphabet that denotes a consonant sound. Consonant letters in the English alphabet are B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Z, and usually Y: The letter Y stands for the consonant [j] in "yoke", and for the vowel [ɪ] in "myth", for example. In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by an open configuration of the vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, which are characterized by a constriction or closure at one or more points along the vocal tract. A vowel is also understood to be syllabic: an equivalent open but non-syllabic sound is called a semivowel Monophthong diphthong triphthong Voiced and unvoiced consonants Certain pairs of consonants can be problematic for some learners. In some cases, the main difference between the pair is whether the consonant is voiced or unvoiced, that is, whether or not the vocal chords vibrate when making this sound.

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This discovery activity can be used to help learners notice the difference between voiced and unvoiced consonants. Begin by asking learners what noise a bee makes. As they make a buzzing noise, do the same and put your fingers on your throat, indicating that they should do likewise. This will allow them to feel the vibrations of the vocal chords that occur with voiced consonant sounds. Ask them if they can feel the vibrations. Then focus on a voiced / unvoiced pair such as s and z. Make the sounds with your fingers on your throat, indicating that the learners should do the same. You can help learners with this by getting them to make the 'bee' sounds for z, and the sound a snake is supposed to make for s. Ask them when they feel the vocal chords vibrate - with s or z? (The answer should be z). Tell them that this is the main difference between the two sounds, and that z is voiced while s is unvoiced. You could then give them a list of words and ask them to categorise the underlined consonant sound into these two categories. With /s/ and /z/, you might choose to include some third person singular verb and plural endings. In this list the sound being focused on is the final sound in each case.

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/s/ /z/ cups pens speaks reads gets goes puts lives tents cars plants sees bags hears looks learns stops rise rice rose place plays Learners then use the chart to decide which of the other consonant sounds are voiced and which are unvoiced. In a computer lab, learners could do this in pairs. They listen to a sound and repeat it, with their fingers on their throat to check if it is voiced or unvoiced. In class with the IWB, or a computer and a projector, the teacher or a learner could click on sounds while the rest of the class repeat them and categorise them into voiced or unvoiced. Top of page

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As a follow up, you could do a minimal pairs activity using some voiced / unvoiced pairs, focusing on initial consonant sounds. Display this list or something similar on the board and say a word from each pair. After each word learners have to say voiced or unvoiced, depending on which of the pair they hear. They can then test each other in pairs. Voiced Unvoiced Ben pen do to gone con van fan gin chin zoo Sue This activity has the advantage of establishing the voiced / unvoiced distinction, and a shared gesture that learners and the teacher can use in class to indicate that a sound is voiced or unvoiced, i.e. the fingers on the throat. It also helps learners to become conscious of the muscle movements involved in voicing a consonant. All of this will be useful in future classes if problem arise in the discrimination or production of voiced / unvoiced consonant pairs. Top of page

Sound and spelling correspondence The chart can also be used to highlight both patterns and variations in sound and spelling correspondence. For example, as a discovery activity to help learners notice the effect of adding an 'e' to the end of a word, you could give the learners some of the words from the following list: cap mat pin not pet kit sit win hat

cape mate pine note Pete kite site wine hate

cut

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cute

Learners use the chart to help them write the phonemic transcription for each word, checking with a dictionary if necessary. The teacher then asks them to formulate a general 'rule' for the effect of adding an 'e' to the end of a word. (It makes the vowel sound 'say its name', i.e. the 'a' in 'cape' sounds like the letter A as it is said in the alphabet.) It is not advisable to over-emphasise the irregularity of English spelling, given that 80% of English words do fit into regular patterns. However, speakers of languages such as Spanish, Italian or Japanese where there is a very high correspondence between sound and spelling may need to have their attention drawn to the different possibilities for pronunciation in English. One way of doing this is to give them a list of known words where the same letter or combination of letters, normally a vowel or vowels, represent different sounds. Learners will have at least some idea of how these words are pronounced, and can categorise the words according to the sound represented, using the chart to help them, before holding a final class check. For example, you could give learners the following list of words including the letter a, which they categorise according to how the as are pronounced. Where the word contains more than one a with different sounds, underline which a you want them to use to make their categorisations. Spanish, capital, make, art, car, understand, average, banana, take, practice. To make the activity easier, give the students the phonemic symbols for the different possible pronunciations of e.

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You can also set homework related to pronunciation, which learners can check using the online chart before bringing to class. As mentioned above, you could ask them to write 5 new words from the class in phonemic script for homework, to be used to test their classmates. Similarly, if you want to focus on a sound which is problematic for your learners, ask them to find 5 words including that sound and write them in phonemic script. With a little training, your learners could prepare their own 'minimal pairs', for example with the sounds /i:/ and /I/. Depending on their level, they might come up with something like this: /I/ /i:/ Sit seat hit heat will wheel mill meal bin been ship sheep They can use these to test their classmates' ability to discriminate between these sounds, as well as their own pronunciation, in the next class. They simply show the two lists of words to a partner, and say one of the words. The partner responds 'left' or 'right'. For example, in the list above, if student A says 'seat', student B will (hopefully) respond 'right'.

In phonetics, voice or voicing is one of the three major parameters used to describe a sound. It is usually treated as a binary parameter with sounds being described as either voiceless (unvoiced) or voiced, although in fact there can be degrees of voicing (see below). A voiced sound is one in which the vocal cords vibrate, and a voiceless sound is one in which they do not. Voicing is the difference between pairs of sounds such as [s] and [z] in English. If one places the fingers on the voice box (ie the location of the Adam's apple in the upper throat), one can feel a vibration when one pronounces zzzz, but not when one pronounces ssss. •

Vowels are usually voiced. Consonants may be voiced or unvoiced

Voiceless consonant Voiced equivalent [p] (pin)

[b] (bin)

[t] (ten)

[d] (den)

[k] (con)

[g] (gone)

[tʃ] (chin)

[dʒ] (gin)

[f] (fan)

[v](van)

[θ] (thin, thigh)

[ð] (then, thy)

[s] (sip)

[z] (zip)

[ʃ] (pressure)

[ʒ] (pleasure)

Obstruents commonly come in voiced and voiceless pairs like those above. Voiceless consonants are usually articulated more strongly than their voiced counterparts, because in voiced consonants, the airflow energy used in pronunciation is split between the laryngeal vibration and the oral articulation

Phonology and IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) Phonology is the study of pronunciation, in the "what" and "how" we make sounds. The apparatus are the organs which are used for speech, from the diagphram and lungs, and into the mouth to the outside of the body. In making sounds, we can concentrate on the region of the head and neck. The airstream mechanism is how the air is moved during speech. The nature in which the air is impeded along the way is known as articulation. Air which originates in the lungs is known as pulmonic air, and its direction outwards is termed egressive, so in normal speech the air-stream is pulmonic egressive. It is possible for sounds to be made with air from the oral cavity. Closing the back of the throat, and pursing the lips with a mouthful of air, draw back the tongue, whilst moving the mass of the tongue forward and contracting the cheeks, the air is forced out of the pursed lips, making a noise by the rapid opening and closing of the lips. Clicking with the tongue also makes a noise. These are known as oral airstreams

mechanisms. Air which moves into the body to produce sounds is known as ingressive air. It is possible to speak by making the air go into out lungs, rather than out of it. However, you'll soon find that speaking egressively is much easier than ingressively for long periods of time.

The diagram above shows a cross section of the human head and various parts of the aparatus used in the production of human speech. Another air mechanism known as pharyngeal or throat air can be made by moving air in this region. Often, oral and pharyngeal are given the names velaric and glottalic respectively.

Organs The cross section of the head above shows the organs that are used in the production of speech. The lips, tongue and velum can be moved at will, and known as the elastic organs. The movement of these, together with the airstream, aids in the production of human speech sounds. There are alternative names for these areas as follows. • •

Lips - labia Labial - using the lips

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Dental - teeth Alveolar Ridge - teeth ridge Palate - hard palate Palatal - using the hard palate Velum - soft palate Velar - using the velum Glottal - using the glottis Mouth Cavity - Oral Cavity Trachea - windpipe

Voicing Voicing is the actual vibration of the vocal cords. Consonants can be classed into two categories, voiced and unvoiced. Compare the consonant at the beginning of the sounds: pair and bare; tail and dale; kiddy and giddy; sue and zoo, few and view. You can sense the vibrations in two ways. The first is to feel the area where your vocal cords are during the production of these sounds. The other way involves closing the ears to the outside by covering them up with one's hands. By pronouncing them in a bold manner, and slowly, we can sense that the second of the two in the pair vibrate the vocal cords. Letters, p, t, k, s, and f are unvoiced because the vocal cords do not vibrate when articulating the sounds, however, b, d, g, z, and v do vibrate the vocal cords and so they are voiced. Note for each pair, the sounds are pronounced for the first and second in the same area in the mouth: p,b; t,d; k,g; s,z; f,v. Only the voices distinguishes the two sounds in each case. There is also another way to distinguish a voiced and voiceless sound. Voiced consonants can be made to carry on long after their initial pronunciation, whilst unvoiced consonants can not. Try saying the following :

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pppppppppppp, bbbbbbbbbbb tttttttttttt, ddddddddddd kkkkkkkkkkkk, ggggggggggg ssssssssssss, zzzzzzzzzzz ffffffffffff, vvvvvvvvvvv

Aspirating Aspiration occurs when there is an audible exhalation of breath. For instance, pine has an aspirated p, written ph, and spine is unaspirated, written with o beneath the p. In general, the listener hears for p, t, and k, the unaspirated version b, d and g when they are preceeded by s in English. Compare pill, till and kill, with spill, still and skill. Since both the unaspirated and aspirated p consonants are actually different forms of one another, they are called allophones.

Representation

If we write English bough, rough, ought, and though, the letters "ough" has a different sound in each case. Similarly, the English words "caught", and "precious" has different sounds represented by the letter c. Clearly then, English letters cannot be used effectively to represent sounds unambiguously. We can extend this also to each and every other alphabetical system in existence. How then to transcribe a sound which is unambiguous and yet accurate? We need the use of an International Phonetic Alphabet.

I.P.A. International Phonetic Alphabet In order to record the sounds of human speech, we must devise a method which is roughly independent of the usual spellings in languages. First we shall look at the vowels. They are produced by varying the position of the tongue, and voicing the sounds which resonate in the area above the larynx and in the mouth. The IPA table of pulmonic consonants - consonants pronounced using air from the lungs follows and then other miscellaneous symbols. IPA Vowels : IPA Consonants : Other Symbols

Vowels

Vowels These are made with the aid of the tongue. Its positioning in the mouth affects the sound produced. All vowels are voiced in ordinary speech. It is often the most prominent sounds we hear. The shape of the diagram is representative of the postion the tongue takes when pronouncing these vowels. Front, central and back refer to the place where these vowels occur along the tongue. Open and close (close as in the sense of 'being near to') and the ranges in between represent the height of the tongue from the mouth's palate. (Since the tongue is never obstructed during the production of a vowel it is never 'closed' in the sense of an obstruction by the tongue.)

The shape of the lips further subdivides and catalogues the sounds as shown above. A rounded vowel is one where there is rounding of the lips. The other type is known as unrounded vowels where there is some degree of lip spreading. Pure Vowels are those shown in the above chart. When two vowels come together and there is movement in the tongue which differs from the intial to the final position, it is known as a dipthong. Naturally by this definition tripthongs would involve three vowels and hence three tongue positions.

i ( IPAVOWEL ) e ( IPAVOWEL ) E ( IPAVOWEL ) ae ( IPAVOWEL ) a ( IPAVOWEL ) y ( IPAVOWEL ) % ( IPAVOWEL ) oe ( IPAVOWEL ) OE ( IPAVOWEL ) I ( IPAVOWEL ) Y ( IPAVOWEL ) i( IPAVOWEL ) |e ( IPAVOWEL ) 3 ( IPAVOWEL ) _|e ( IPAVOWEL ) _a ( IPAVOWEL ) u( IPAVOWEL ) o( IPAVOWEL ) CB ( IPAVOWEL ) -u( IPAVOWEL )

uu ( IPAVOWEL ) & ( IPAVOWEL ) ^ ( IPAVOWEL ) @ ( IPAVOWEL ) u ( IPAVOWEL ) o ( IPAVOWEL ) |c ( IPAVOWEL ) |@ ( IPAVOWEL )

Consonants

There are a few sounds which have not been covered in the above table. Other terms used are

Affricate : Lateral : Semi-Vowel : Liquids

Place of Articulation Bilabial Articulated by the two lips. ( IPA )

Labiodental Articulated using the top lip against the lower ( IPA )

Dental Articulated using the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth. ( IPA )

Alveolar Articulated using the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, (also known as the teeth ridge). ( IPA )

Retroflex Articulated by the tip of the tongue against the hard palate. ( IPA )

Postalveolar Articulated by the tip of the tongue against the back part of the teeth ridge. ( IPA )

Palatal Articulated by the "front" (not the blade or tip) of the tongue against the hard palate. ( IPA )

Velar Articulated by the back of the tongue against the central and forward part of the soft palate. ( IPA )

Uvula Articulated by the back of the tongue against the extremity of the soft palate. ( IPA )

Pharyngeal Articulated by the constriction of the pharynx between the root of the tongue and the wall of the pharynx. ( IPA )

Glottal (or Laryngeal) Articulated in the glottis - e.g. the glottal stop. ( IPA )

Manner of Articulation Plosive Formed by complete closure of the air-assage during an appreciable time; the air is compressed (generally by the action of the lungs) amd on release of the closure issues suddenly, making an explosive sound or plosion. ( IPA )

Nasal Formed as a complete closure in the mouth, the soft palate being, however, lowered so that the air is free to pass through the nose. ( IPA )

Trill Also called Rolled, formed by a rapid succession of taps of some elastic organ ( IPA )

Tap or Flap Formed by the ingle tap of some elastic organ; the position of contact is not maintained for any appreciable time. ( IPA )

Fricative

Formed by narrowing the air-passageto such an extent that the air in escaping produces audible friction (i.e. some kind of hissing sound). ( IPA )

Lateral Fricative Formed by placing an obstacle in the centre of the air-channel but leaving a free passage for air on one or both sides of the obstacle, and narrowing the air passage to the extent of producing audible friction, (i.e. hissing with a blocking of the middle of the air-passage). ( IPA )

Approximant Also known as a Frictionless Continuant, made with the organic position of a fricative consonant, but pronounced with weak breath-force so that no friction is heard. (The palatal and velar frictionless continyants have the organic positions of close (as in near) vowels. They are, however, uttered with very little breath-force as compared with the normally pronounced vowels which adjoin them in connected speech. These frictionless continuants are to be considered as consonants on account of their consequent lack of prominence as compared with the adjoining vowels.) ( IPA )

Lateral Approximant Formed by the Lateral and Approximant manners of articulation, ie, made by an obstruction in the air-passage, and produced with no friction, with a weak breath force. ( IPA )

Affricate Formed by as plosive consonants, but with slower separation of the articulating organs, so thatthe corresponding fricative is audible as the separation takes place. ( IPA )

Lateral Formed by placing an obstacle in the centre of the air-channel, but leaving a free passage forthe air on one or both sides of the obstacle. ( IPA )

Semi-Vowel Also known as a Glide, a voiced gliding sound in which the speech organs atart producing a wakly articulated vowel of comparatively small inherent

sonority and immediately changed to antother sound of equal or greater prominence. ( IPA )

Liquids Consonants which can be held on continuously without change of quality are sometimes classed together as contunatives or continuantsl they include nasal, lateral, rolled, fricative consonants and frictionless sounds. Nasal lateral and rolled consonants are sometimes classed together under the not very satisfactiory name Liquids. (Some authors do no include nasal consonants among "liquids".) ( IPA )

Consonants (Pulmonary) p (voiced bilabial plosive consonant) peer, spear, peep ( IPA )

b (voiced bilabial plosive consonant) beak, drab ( IPA ) t (unvoiced alveolar plosive consonant) tar, star, cart ( IPA ) d (voiced alveolar plosive consonant) dark, card ( IPA ) t_ (unvoiced retroflex plosive consonant) ( IPA ) d_ (voiced retroflex plosive consonant) ( IPA ) c (unvoiced palatal plosive consonant) ( IPA ) _f (voiced palatal plosive consonant) ( IPA ) k (unvoiced velar plosive consonant) king, skill, book, cool, truck ( IPA ) g (voiced velar plosive consonant) gill, big ( IPA ) q (unvoiced uvular plosive consonant) ( IPA ) G (voiced uvual plosive consonant) ( IPA ) ? ( glottal stop or glottal plosive consonant) what > wot? ( IPA ) m (voiced bilabial nasal consonant) member, simmering ( IPA ) mg (voiced labiodental nasal consonant) ( IPA )

n (voiced alveolar nasal consonant) ( IPA ) n_ (voice retroflex nasal consonant) ( IPA ) _n (voiced palatal nasal consonant) ( IPA ) ng (voiced velar nasal consonant) ( IPA ) N (voiced uvula nasal consonant) ( IPA ) B (voiced bilabial trill consonant) ( IPA ) r (voiced alveolar trill consonant) ( IPA ) R (voiced uvula trill consonant) ( IPA ) r~ (voice alveolar tapped consonant) ( IPA ) £ (voiced retroflex tapped consonant) ( IPA ) F (unvoiced bilabial fricative consonant) ( IPA ) _B (voiced bilabial fricative consonant)) ( IPA ) f (unvoiced labiodental fricative consonant) ( IPA ) v (voiced labiodental fricative consonant) ( IPA ) 0th (unvoiced dental fricative consonant) ( IPA ) dth (voiced dental fricative consonant) ( IPA ) s (unvoiced alveolar fricative consonant) ( IPA ) z (voiced alveolar fricative consonant) ( IPA ) sh (unvoiced post-alveolar fricative consonant) ( IPA ) z3(voiced alveolar fricative consonant) ( IPA ) s\ ( IPA ) z\ ( IPA ) c, ( IPA )

j( IPA ) x ( IPA ) V ( IPA ) X ( IPA ) _R ( IPA ) h( IPA ) |? ( IPA ) h ( IPA ) h^ ( IPA ) l@ ( IPA ) lz ( IPA ) uv ( IPA ) _|r ( IPA ) _|r_ ( IPA ) j ( IPA ) w| ( IPA ) l ( IPA ) l_ ( IPA ) _y ( IPA ) L ( IPA )

Other Symbols

To understand this, one first has to understand the concept of VOICED and UNVOICED consonants in English. A voiced consonant sound is one in which the vocal cords vibrate. For example, /z/. If you make that sound and put your hand to your throat, then you should be able to feel it. Another way to tell if a sound is voiced is to put a finger in your ear and make the sound; (you should be able to hear the humming).

An unvoiced consonant sound is one in which the vocal cords do NOT vibrate. For example, /s/. Try the same test above while you are making the /s/ sound. No vibration, no humming. To really get the effect, try making a long /s/ and then going to /z/ (again, with a finger in your ear or hand on your throat). s…s…s…s…z…z…z…z Right. Now here come the rules: RULE 1: If the singular form of the noun ends in a voiced consonant, then the plural will have the voiced /z/. Take the word BIN. The /n/ sound, if we apply our test, is voiced. So BINS has the /z/ ending. NOTE: If the noun ends in a vowel sound then it will also take the /z/ ending. This is because vowel sounds are voiced. For example: EYE – EYES (with /z/ sound) RULE 2: If the singular form of the noun ends in an unvoiced consonant, then the plural will have the unvoiced /s/. Take the word BOOK. The /k/ sound is unvoiced. So BOOKS has the /s/ ending. This still doesn’t account for the /IZ/ though. For this, we need to understand that, in addition to voiced and unvoiced there is another sub-category of consonant called sibilants. The ‘s’, ‘z’, ‘sh’ and ‘tch’ sounds are sibilants. RULE 3: If the noun ends in a sibilant, then add the /IZ/ sound for the plural. The table below provides a summary of this with examples:

Voiced consonant + /z/ Vowel sound + /z/

bins bags peas boys

Unvoiced consonant + /s/ books bats lights Sibilant + /IZ/

watches kisses wishes

What do your students need to know? I know you asked for a simple explanation, but the above three rules are as simple as it can get while still being true. It’s useful to make your students aware of voiced and unvoiced consonants anyway, as they affect other areas of pronunciation. However, there is a convincing argument that for students, especially lower level ones, the most important thing to know is whether or not to add an extra syllable (the /IZ/ sound). Either adding /IZ/ where it isn’t necessary or not adding /IZ/ where it is necessary are more common mistakes than making a /s/ sound instead of a /z/ sound. These mistakes are also more likely to cause confusion. So, while I may point out the above three rules (to draw students’ attention to them), I therefore tend to focus mainly on whether or not to add an extra syllable. It is also the area I would correct more in students’ speaking. How this knowledge can help in other areas At the beginning of my answer I mentioned how excited I was when I discovered this rule, because I found it helpful in other areas. For example, everything we have mentioned about nouns + s is equally valid for verbs + s (i.e. the third person singular of the present simple). In addition, the concept of voiced + voiced and unvoiced + unvoiced (rules 1 and 2 above) also work for the –ed endings of regular verbs:

Voiced consonant + /n/

opened remembered

Unvoiced consonant + /t/

worked watched

/t/ or /d/ + /Id/

ended wanted

We also saw that there are 8 consonant­pairs in English  of voiced­unvoiced consonants. They are these: 

These are the sounds heard at the end of the words:  Unvoiced: keep ( ), sweet ( ), leak ( ), leaf ( ), path ( ) *, lease ( ), leash ( ), leech ( ) Voiced: cab ( ), feed ( ), league ( ), leave ( ),  bathe ( ), please ( ), rouge ( ) and bridge ( ) •

But the terms VOICING and UNVOICING are a little  misleading. While UNVOICED consonants are nearly  always unvoiced, VOICED consonants are not always  fully voiced ­ or voiced at all. We find that there  are other feature that distinguish between the  voiced­unvoiced pairs, and voicing is only one of  them. In this course, then, we will follow Roach and many  other British phoneticians and speak of FORTIS and  LENIS consonants rather than voiced and unvoiced.s

The voiced and unvoiced consonants In this section we will try to clarify the difference between the voiced consonants and the unvoiced consonants. If you want to master English pronunciation you have to able to distinguish between these two types of consonants. This is necessary for you to learn the proper pronunciation when you learn new vocabulary. And more importantly you need to know the difference between voiced and unvoiced consonants to be able to pronounce the words of English correctly. What makes one consonant be voiced and another not? A consonant is voiced when it makes the vocal cords vibrate. It is voiceless when it is pronounced without vibrating the vocal cords. The sound of the letters "p" and "b" For example, the sounds indicated by the letters "b" and "p" differ only in their vocalization (voicing). The are both "bilabials", that is, they are produced by closing both lips. But the "b" is voiced and the "p" is unvoiced. In this article, we will follow common practice and indicate the letters of the alphabet with quotes ("b" and "p") and the sounds with slashes (/b/ and /p/) You can appreciate the difference by lightly touching with the tips of your fingers your "Adam's Apple" (the voice box that you can see in the front of your throat) as you pronounce the word bowl . You can feel the vibration with the tips of our fingers. Concentrate on the first sound, the consonant /b/ before passing to the vowel represented by the "o". Notice that you can lengthen the sound (something is heard!) without the "o". This is because /b/ is a voiced consonant. Now pronounce the word pole. Do you feel the vibration in the vocal cords? No. The reason is that /p/ is an unvoiced consonant. Notice that you you can't

lengthen the sound or hear anything. When you pronounce these sounds, don't forget the advice we already gave you in other articles: exaggerate the value of the vowel "o" with a strong English accent! Listen to the following exercise until you can distinguish betwen the two sounds and produce them yourself. You should be able to telll the difference between the /p/ and the /b/ in the sentence The doctor said: "Bill, take your pill! Try it now! The sounds of the English letters /k/ (sometimes "c") and /g/ It is not only the sounds /p/ and /b/ that are voiced or unvoiced. The same distinction holds for the sounds represented by the letters "k" y "g" in the International Phonetic Alphabet. By the way, do you see that it will not be hard for you to learn the symbols of the IPA? Many of the symbols, like the k and the g are already familiar to you. They are the normal letters of the alphabet. The IPA symbol k interests us now. It is the "hard" sound of the letter "c", the sound that the letter "c" usually takes before the letters "a", "o", and "u", for example in the words car, coat, cube. Now can you see how the IPA system makes it easy for you to learn the pronunciation of new words? Now, we don't have to worry that sometimes the letter "c" has the sound of the IPA symbol k (as in the word cold) or that sometimes the same letter "c" of the English alphabet is pronounced as the IPA s (as in the words cell ). ! Now try to feel in your voice box the vibration in the word coal! You can't because it is the unvoiced partner in the pair. If you touch your voice box while you pronounce the word goal, you do feel the vibration because the sound g is voiced. Practice the two words coal and goal. But keep on pronouncing the the English vowel with its lengthening. Exaggerate the English language character of the vowel. Don't pronounce it as if it were col or gol in your language. And also remember the explosive nature of the consonant represented by the "c" in English when it is pronounced as the IPA k. Blow out the candle when you say coal. Pero... ¡Qué no suene como si hablaras de repollo (la col en el Perú) o del fútbol (el gol)! ¡Cuidado con tu acento hispano! Did you notice that we review various important things about the English sounds as we move along in this book. From now on, in your listening and in your practice, you must remember the explosive consonants, the special English vowels, and the voiced or unvoiced consonants. Listen and practice all these essential elements of English pronunciation. The sound of the letters "t" and "d" Consider the pair of words tear and dear. Do the same with these words as you

did above with the pairs of words coal and goal, and pole and bowl. Can you distinguish which of the initial sounds is voiced and which is unvoiced? Both are pronounced in almost the same place in the mouth but the initial sound of these two words is different in that the letter "t" is usually voiceless and the "d" is usually voiced. However, do NOT think that the letter "d" in English is always voiced. You will see that sometimes this letter "d" represents a voiceless sound. This is a VERY important lesson in the pronunciation of English and when you learn how and when the "d" is unvoiced it will be a valuable tool for you in your mastery of English. This difference between the letters "d" and "t" in English is very important in the matter of the past tense of verbs. We will treat this elsewhere. Also there is another pair of voiced and unvoiced consonants, the sounds represented in English by the letters "s" and "z". We will study them in their most important contexts, that of the third person singular of the present of verbs, and that of the plural of nouns. But for now, concentrate on the consonants we just looked at. Now listen and practice! Listen wherever you can (or listen in our book) to the different pairs of voiced and unvoiced consonants. Then make them yourself. P and B K and G T and D This lesson is taken from the book, "Word Power" which contains sound files that let you hear the vowels and consonants and practice their pronunciation. If the ascii keys were used more rationally, there would be little need for an augmented alphabaet The following table shows how the letters on a 26 letter keyboard were used to represent 42 sounds

While the Saxon alphabet does not require an extended Latin-1 aphabet, it could benefit from the availability of more phonograms. The most needed characters are a [schwa] ø ? ae [short a] æ oa [long awe] å ? ai [eye sound] î ? ei [long A] â ? ou [long o] ô ?

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