Introduction-to-Phonetics-1-136 (2).pptx

Lesson

1. Introduction to Phonetics

2. Transcription in phonetics Transcription is crucial for linguists, speech pathologists, and language learners to study and understand the pronunciation of words in various languages. It allows them to analyze the precise articulatory features of speech sounds, such as the position of the tongue, lips, and other articulators, as well as aspects like pitch and stress.

3. Definition of transcription. The term transcription refers to the process and “the methods of writing down speech sounds in a systematic and consistent way” (Crystal 2008: 490) . Each sound must be identified and written in an appropriate symbol .

4. Phonetic and Phonemic transcription Mainly, there are two kinds of transcription: phonemic and phonetic transcription. Phonetic transcription aims for a precise representation of speech sounds, capturing subtle articulatory and auditory details. By using diacritics and symbols enclosed in square brackets [ ] . It is often termed as the narrow transcription because it aims to represent actual speech sounds in the narrowest sense and uses additional diacritics. For example: : [kʰæt̚]: [kʰ] , means that /K/ is aspirated, and [spiːd̥ ] means that /d/ is a bit devoiced at final position.

5. Phonemic transcription gives only a basic idea of the sounds, and is thus often termed as broad transcription . It uses the 44 English phonemic symbols and does not show any phonetic details of the sounds. The symbols are enclosed in slashes / / , e.g. /t/; /taɪp/ .

6. Sound Classes: Vowels, Consonants, and Sonorants Speech sounds are generally divided into two classes: vowels and consonants. Vowels are produced with a comparatively open vocal tract for the airflow to pass unimpeded. As a result, vowels are considered to be Op en sound , whereas consonants are produced with a certain constriction in the vocal tract. Vowels and consonants can be distinguished based on their acoustic energy. Vowels are highly resonant and intense and have greater sonority than do consonants. Vowels typically involve the vibration of vocal folds .

7. V owels also have the function to be syllabic (a syllable can contain a minimum of one vowel), while consonants are units that function at the margins of syllables, either singly or in clusters, and are optional . As in the following examples; Vowels • "Cat" /Kaet/ : This word contains one syllable with the vowel /æ/ as its nucleus (peak) . consonants * "Clap"/klaep/ : The consonant cluster /kl/ occurs at the beginning of the syllable. "Stop" : The word begins with the consonant cluster /st/ and ends with the consonant /p/ .

8. A special set of consonants that demonstrate reduced levels of obstructed airflow during their production are called sonorants (sonants, semivowels) . Sonorants include sounds like nasals (/m/, /n/, ng, nk /ŋ/), liquids (/l/, /r/) , and semi-vowels ( y /j/ as in "yes" and /w/ as in "we" ). These sounds often share qualities with vowels in terms of resonance and are relatively smooth and melodious in comparison to other consonants and are sometimes referred to as "vowel-like" consonants.

9. Monophthongs also known as a pure or single vowels. IPA stands for International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) . RP stands for Received Pronounciation. There are 20 phonemes in English « 8 diphthongs and 12 monophthongs ».

10. Table (2): Consonant phonemes /p/ as in pipe /z/ as in zoo /b/ as in be /θ/ as in think /t/ as in time /ð/ as in that /d/ as in do /ʃ/ as in sure /k/ as in car /ʒ/ as in casual /ɡ/ as in go /tʃ/ as in church /f/ as in fine /dʒ/ as in gin /v/ as in vet /h/ as in hat /s/ as in sad

11. A list of the 7 sonorant phonemes in English with word examples is given in Table (3): Table (3):Sonorant phonemes /m/ as in map /n/ as in nose /ŋ/ as in king /l/ as in love /r/ as in red /j/ as in yacht / yes /w/ as in wet

12. Thank You for your attention