Unit One INTRODUCTION
• What is Phonology?
• Phonetic transcription & IPA
• Phonetic symbols in English
• Silent letters
• Organs of speech
The sounds are all around us. We use, hear, enjoy, and suffer from them. Yet, in general we know remarkably little about them.
As a socializing human being, we need the presence of others on communication.
And to communicate, we need a language. When one person wants to convey a message to another he may use a variety of means. He may write it down, transmit it in sign language, stand on one alp and wave flags, or he may prefer to flash a mirror. All these are visual means and are called unspoken language. The message may be passed by audible means as well. It is transmitted by words of mouth. This one is called spoken language. In spoken language, we have to use sounds which are produced by our speech organs. The study of the sounds pattern is called phonology (Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams, 2011). To say it in a simpler way, it deals with how many sounds (not letters) there are in a language and how they are combined and used in communication. Studying phonology entails the study of the sounds production. It is called phonetics. It refers to how the sounds are made, how they differ each other, etc. (Tench, 2011).
1. Transcriptions
The ways of writing may be divided into three main types; ideograph, syllabary, and phonetic writing. Ideograph writing is the way of writing in which each character is a picture of idea. It is also called picture writing. The examples are found in Chinese and Japanese ‘Kanji’, and hieroglyph writing in ancient Egypt. Japanese ‘Kanji’ for ‘person’ is 人 It is read [hi to].
Syllabary writing is the way of writing which each character refers to one syllable.
It is found in Japanese ‘Hiragana’ (used to make ease in reading Japanese words) and
‘Katakana’ (used to make ease in reading foreign words). Japanese ‘Hiragana for ‘person’
is ひ と . It is read [hi to]. Another example is the writing system in Korean. The Korean word for ‘apple’ is 사과 pronounced as [sa kwa].
The third one is phonetic writing or phonetic transcription. It is the way of writing in which each symbol refers to one sound. This writing system is used in the study of speech sound. The phonetic transcription for ‘they’ is [ðei].
Knowing a language means understanding what sounds exist in that language and what sounds are absent. It becomes a necessity to explain the need for a phonetic alphabet by calling attention to the inconsistent spelling of most languages. These inconsistencies are indeed bewildering. For the students of linguistics, phonetic transcription can be used as a reliable guide to have control of the spoken language. It represents speech sounds consistently. Yet, we still find some difficulties in pronouncing the foreign language because of : geographic, social and historical factor; stuttering, lisping, and other speech deficiencies. There are some solutions for these difficulties: ear training, untiring imitation and practices, familiarity with phonetic transcription.
The inconsistency takes two opposing forms.
a. variety of spellings for one single sound
For illustration, observe the following list that each line shows the same sound spelled in a different way.
English [ei] : name, day, break, braid, eight, they b. the use of the same spelling for a variety of sounds
For illustration, observe the following list that each line shows the same letter representing a different sound.
English /o/ : cold [ou], cot [ɒ], corn [ɔ:], prove [u], love [ʌ], woman [u],
2. Types of phonetic transcription
A narrow transcription is a phonetic transcription that uses special symbols for minutely different sounds. For example, [t] in put and [th] in take. A broad transcription is a phonetic transcription that does not take into account the differences of sounds. Let us take the example : we use [t] both in put and take. The broad transcription is easier because it uses smaller number of symbols than narrow transcription.
3. Phonetic symbols
The following symbols are used in RP (Received Pronunciation) which is considered as a standard pronunciation. The term Southern England Standard Pronunciation is now widely used to refer to the pronunciation used by people who work in a public domain.
Consonants
The consonant phonemes of RP (Received Pronunciation) are symbolized below.
[p] pin [pin]
[b] bin [bIn]
[t] tip [tIp ]
[d] dim [dIm]
[k] kid [kId]
[g] gum [gʌm]
[f] fan [fᴂn]
[v] van [vᴂn]
[θ] - theta thin [θIn]
[ð] – eth they [ðei]
[s] see [si:]
[z] zoo [zu:]
[ ʃ] she [ ʃi:]
[ʒ] - esh azure [əʒə:]
[h] hip [hIp]
[tʃ] chain [tʃein]
[dʒ ] Jane [dʒein]
[m] met [met]
[n] net [net]
[ŋ] - eng sing [siŋ]
[l] lip [lIp]
[r] rat [ræ t]
[w] way [wei]
[j] you [ju:]
Simple vowels
[I] bin [bIn]
[i:] bean [bi:n]
[e] pet [pet]
[æ] - digraph pat [pæ t]
[ʌ] - wedge but [bʌt]
[a:] card [ka: d]
[ɒ] hot [hɒt]
[ɔ:] door [dɔ: r]
[u] put [put]
[u:] food [fu: d]
[ə] – schwa alone [əloun]
[ə:] first [fə:st]
Diphthongs
[ei] day [deI]
[ɔi] boy [bɔI]
[ai] high [haI]
[ou] go [gou]
[au] how [hau]
[iə] here [hiə]
[eə] there [ðeə]
[uə] tour [tuə]
4. The International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is one of many alphabets which have been devised to fill the need. One such alphabet was invented (circa 1867) by Alexander Melville Bell (1819 – 1905) of Edinburgh, Scotland. He called his alphabet Visible Speech.
It had the remarkably quality of showing by the structure of its symbols the most important facts concerning how the sounds are produced. It is still used in some schools teaching the deaf mutes.
The forbidding appearance of the Visible Speech was introduced by Henry Sweet (1845 – 1912 ), a British phonetician. He called his alphabet Romic, which he used in two forms : Broad Romic and Narrow Romic.
In 1886, when the International Phonetic Association was founded, it based its alphabet on Broad Romic. The alphabet, with remarkably few modifications, is still in use, and is employed by more people than is any comparable alphabet. It may be found in many books and in many scholarly periodicals, among which is the official organ of the International Phonetic Association ‘Le Maitre Phonetique’, that first published at University College London in 1886 with A.C. Gimson was the editor.
Many of the IPA symbols are identical with the orthographic symbols used as the letters of ordinary spelling. This fortunate situation greatly facilitates rapid learning of the alphabet.
5. Strong and weak pronunciations
Many words have two kinds of pronunciations that are called strong and weak forms. Weak form usually contains the vowel [ə]. It occurs in an unstressed syllable. While strong form occurs in a stressed syllable or in isolation. For example the word had, when it is pronounced in strong form it would be read as [hæd]. But it would be [əd] in weak form respectively.
6. ‘Silent’ letters in English
English orthography is characterized by the presence of numerous unused letters, as listen.
Others have been added by analogy, as Middle English delit was respelled delight by analogy with light. Still other words have extra letters added as a kind of learned gesture:
for instance, the Old French loan word dette was respelled debt, as if it had been borrowed directly from the Latin debitus instead of from the Old French.
Here are some of the currently silent letters have been never pronounced in English.
a aeon, aegis
b climb, comb, debt, subtle
c ascend, scent, sceptre, scissors, scythe e binge, chrome, costume, franchise, licentiate
g feign, diaphragm, gnarl, gnaw, poignant, reign, haughty h ghost, heir, rheumatism, rhythm
k knave, knight, knife, knee, know, knew, knuckle, knobbly l alms, balm
n autumn, hymn, solemn
p pneumatic, psalm, psychic, Ptolemy s aisle, isle, island
t hasten, fasten, mortgage, rustle u circuit, fruit, guilty
w awry, write, wrap
7. The organs of speech.
It is a startling fact that, considering the paramount important of speech, there are no organs whose primary function is speech. Speech is an overlaid function, achieved by means of organs whose primary functions are the vital ones of eating, drinking, and breathing.
The speech organs that are used to obstruct the out-going air in the production of speech sounds are called articulators. And the act of moving two articulators toward each
other for the obstruction of the out-going air is called articulation. There are two kinds of articulators: movable articulators, such as lips, and unmovable articulators, such as teeth.
8. Reference
Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., and Hyams, N. 2011. An Introduction to Language 9th edition.
International edition. Boston: Wardsworth Cengage Learning
Jones, D. 1986. The Pronunciation of English. Cambridge : the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
Tench, P. 2011. Transcribing the Sounds of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
