LEXIS & REGISTERS
Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 1:25 pm
by admin
14.0 LEXIS AND REGISTERS
Lexis in general has to do with meaning.
The relationship of meaning in English is a very complex situation because some words have more than two or more meanings. Take the simple word ‘RUN’ for instance, which could mean any of: MOVE FAST, OPERATE or RUIN as evidenced in the sentences below.
1. They run a good race – movement
2. He runs a fashion school – operate
3. You should not run down my business – ruin
To this end, the meaning of a word is best expressed in the context in which it is used. Lexis therefore, can be said to be the meaning associated with a word while Register is the context in which the word operates to bring out its real meaning.
e.g.
The doctor ___1_____the patient in the __2_____and sends a ___3____to the _____4___in the laboratory who ______5____ samples of urine and blood.
He _____6____the ailment and ___7_____ drugs which are dispensed in the_____8____. The nurse _____9__ the patient and prepares a bed for him in the _____10_____.
-----A-----------B-----------C-------------D
1. Sees-------examines-----tests---------treats
2. Parlour-----ward-----consulting room--theatre
3. Requirement—request—--requisition-----required
4. Nurse ----pharmacist—accountant----microbiologist
5. Examines----tests-----treats----------sees
6. Suggests----cures----diagnoses--------confirms
7. Recommends—commends—-prescribes-------sells
8. Pharmacy---market----pharmacist-------bus
9. Examines---injects---operates---------cures
10. Theatre---wardroom—--ward------------world
ANALYSIS
In the example above, the first thing to do is to find out what Register the passage is taken from. It is a Register of Medicine
and we must use the exact word for each slot as it is used in the profession. We should note that almost all the options
are correct and can fit into the slot, but only one is most appropriate.
SLOT 1:
Option A is a general word, which is not a register of medicine, so, it is wrong.
Option C is a register of medicine but it is the microbiologist that tests samples of blood and other specimen in the laboratory, not the doctor.
Option D is a medical register and the job of the doctor but the doctor will not treat a patient until he knows what is wrong with him. The correct option is therefore B.
SLOT 2:
This slot is referring to the office or room where the doctor attends to patients.
Option A is not a medical register.
Option B is a register of medicine and it relates to another room in the hospital, but not the place in question.
Option D is another medical register, which refers to a special room in the hospital for a different purpose.
Option C is the correct answer, which is the name given to the room in question, where the doctor consults with patients.
SLOT 3:
Options A, B, C and D are in the same family of meaning. Option D is the only one that is not a Noun and the slot requires a Noun. Option A is need for the attention. He is sending a message, asking for information and in the medical register, it is a Requisition and not Request, which is a general word.
NB: The same analysis is done on each slot to determine the right choice and this is done in a matter of seconds in the examination hall.
The best way to prepare for this aspect is to read wide and acquire more words in different registers.
Below are some examples:
(a) Wedding Register: bride, bridegroom, best man, page, chief bride’s maid, wedding ring, Ring bearer, wedding cake, ribbon, Marriage register, reception, toast, for better for worse, till death do us part, altar, bridal train, etc.
(b) Funeral Register: Corpse, remains, body, coffin, bier, grave, graveyard, cemetery, will, waking or wake-keep, obituary, oration, dirge, transition etc.
(c) Sports Register: Referee, lines man, whistle, kick off, whistle, offside, foul, score, goal, out of play, goal kick,
forward, half back, fullback, draw, card, yellow card etc.
(d) Electricity Register: Bulbs, fluorescent, switch, plugs, adapter, half current, stabilizer, Voltage, meter, electrocute, thermal electricity, Hydro electric power, turbine, dynamo, bill, consumer, disconnection, re-connection, power outage, etc.
(e) Motor vehicle Register: Ignition, start, pedal, brake, gear lever, gear box, clutch, steering wheel, accelerator, mirror,
windscreen or wind shield, gauge, speedometer, dashboard, trafficator, engine, radiator, alternator, fan belt, fan blade, plugs, carburetor, tires, rims, wiper, headlamp, bonnet, bumper, etc.
1. Pages in the wedding Register above are not the same as the pages of a book.
2. Will in the funeral Register is not the same as the modal auxiliary verb ‘will’
3. Score in the football Register is not the same as twenty. So are many words in English, which behave differently in different registers, meaning different things in different contexts.
NIGERIAN ENGLISH
Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 1:27 pm
by admin
PHONOLOGY
Considering the various features of interference, one can easily tell what part of Nigeria, a speaker of English comes from. These features are more pronounced and easily identifiable in
spoken form of the language.
For instance, the characters in a T. V Network program “the New
Masquerade” can easily be identified in terms of the ethnic group they belong. This is due to the wholesale transference of the feature of the mother tongue into English language.
The transference is therefore based on the sound systems and is most noticeable in the pronunciation of English Vowels.
1. It results into nasalization of English vowels when preceded by nasal consonant by the vowel speaker e.g
you can – [ju kon] instead of /ju kæn/.
Vowel harmony intrusion from Igbo into English by the Igbos, heavy aspiration of stop consonants of English by the Efiks. e.g follow – [folo].
2. In comparing the sound patterns of Nigerian English with that of any native English speech like RP, we discover that Nigerian English has a seven-member vowel system while RP has over twenty. In Nigerian English, pairs of words with distinct phonemes sound alike.
Pool /pull
Pot / port
Sit / seat
Has / hart etc.
3. Most Nigerian languages are phonetic and Nigerian speakers of English spell and pronounce words phonetically whereas native
English spellings and pronunciation are not phonetical.
4. There are certain native English vowels that an absent from the inventories of certain Nigerian languages and such vowels are substituted for the closest in the mother tongue.
e.g / 3: / for [e]
/ æ / for [e]
/ a: / for [ a] etc.
5. The monothongization of a number of diphthongs found in native speaker English, e.g / ei / in day - [e] in Nigerian English.
6. The absence of dental fricatives
/ / and / ð / as in
Think –[ tink]
Method – [metod]
That - [ dat]
7. There is the nasalization of some vowel in words and the non-nasalization of the same vowel in others e.g.
Can (vb) – able is nasalized
Can (n) – tin / container is not nasalized
8. There is a distinction in the modulation of stress pitch and
intonation when Nigerians speak because of the difference between the supra-segmental features of native English and Nigerian languages, e.g. Nigerian use light- pitch and amplitude of voice instead of intonation to express attitudes, like anger and surprise.
But request in native English speech is normally made with rising sentence final intonation pattern while ‘please’ and ‘kindly’ are used to denote politeness in request with falling sentence final intonation pattern in Nigerian English.
The instances stated above do not mean imperfect English or usage. This is why pidgin as a sub-variety has been excluded.
(b) GRAMMAR
English in Nigeria has depended so much on textbooks as its easy source of reference since English is not used generally in non-official communication. This dependence on books has produced a linguistic style or deviation that can be described as bookish especially as the form of language we use is very formal and literary. This is why appropriateness remains a problem with the Nigerian speaker / writer of English.
For example, a former student who writes his former lecturer addressing him as ‘sir’ about five or six times in a letter is said to make use of an unnecessarily formal language.
Similar examples that have been given include the use of:
Lover for boyfriend / girlfriend
Letter for missive
Father for dad, etc.
The bookish nature of Nigerian written English is also seen in the non- variation of sentences, for purposes of compassion/control, the use of grandiloquent or high-sounding
words where simple ones will do, etc.
In addition to this, written Nigerian English exhibits some peculiar grammatical characteristics.
(i) Plurality: Different languages mark plurality differently. For instance, the addition of ‘s’ common in most regular plurals in English, many Nigerian languages do not inflect like that for plurality. Some simply add new words.
e.g Yoruba.
Omo – Child
Omo meji - two children
Awon omo - children
Omo pupo - many children
Many Nigerians accept the use of ‘s’ as a marker of regular plurals in English. They however over – generalize the tendency e.g
.
Nigerian English British English
Gray hairs---------gray hair
Furnitures---------furniture
Properties---------property
Loads--------------load
Machineries--------machinery
Luggages-----------luggage
Equipments---------equipment
This shows that Nigerians have reduced non-count nouns in English to count nouns in Nigerian English ( N.E ). It is surprising when we read or hear people say.
— I have a bread in my bag (Nigerian)
— I have a loaf of bread in my bag (British)
(ii) Adjectives: In English, some forms of the verb may be used as adjectives through the addition of – ‘ing’ e.g fitting in a fitting remark. However, in Nigerian English one finds Adjectives used and turned into verbs in peculiar ways e.g.
I will see you if I am chanced (have the chance)
His behaviour is disgracing (disgraceful)
I was opportuned to see him (moment of opportunity)
You are all welcomed (welcome)
A matured person will not say that (mature person)
The role of the army is defensive (to defend)
(iii) Word Order: In British English (B.E ), word order is
usually very complex but definite especially when quantifiers and different forms of the Adjective are used. Thus, we have examples like:
(a)
The last five years have been remarkable (BE).
The five last years have been remarkable (NE)
(b)
I will try my possible best B. E.
I will try my best possible N. E.
(c)
Let us solve these common problems facing us (B. E)
Let us solve these our common problems facing us (N.E)
(c) LEXIS:
The peculiar use of English in Nigeria is not confined to phonology and syntax. It is perhaps more widespread in Lexis as examples can be found in the choice of words used in describing
food, clothing, gardening, administration traditional festivals
and beliefs have found their way into English language.
Examples are:
(i) Loanwords: These are words from indigenous languages in Nigerian English. It is important to note that English has many loan words from different European languages and many of the words have been in use for over a century. Some of these include:
Source language Loan words
Greek: fungus, era, stadium, etc.
French: bureau, coup, restaurant, etc.
Italian: solo, tempo, graffito, etc.
Hebrew: cherub, seraph, etc.
German: hamburger, etc.
(a) Food / Cooking:
Agidi – fermented corn made into paste
Eba – cassava paste
Tuwo – rice / corn paste
Akara – fried bean
Suya – roasted meat
Dodo – fried plantain
Isiewu – goat head pepper soup
Edikaikong – v e g e t a b l e stew with assorted meat.
(b) Clothing
Agbada – men’s outer garment (Yoruba)
Kaftan – c o l l a r l e s s flowing gown for men
Safari – a form of French suit
Babanriga – men’s outer garment (Hausa)
(c) Traditional Institutions, Festivals & Beliefs.
The Sultan of Sokoto
The Emir of Gwandu
The Obi of Onitsha
The Ooni of Ife
The Olu of Warri
Kabiyesi – title of a king / greeting or salute
Eyo – local festival in Lagos
Egwugwu – masquerades
Ogboni – secret cult
Atilogu dancers – Igbo dance
Many Nigerian writers use loanwords as a way of demonstrating originality and cultural nationalism. Here are few examples from Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart and Wole Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest respectively.
“ Umuofia Kwenu! shouted the leading Egwugwu, parting the air
with his raffia arms” – Things Fall Apart.
“….and draw together when the Gbedu rouses the dead in Osugbo”
– Kongi’s Harvest.
(ii) New Words, New Meanings:
Nigerians create new words in English and / or use old words to
express new meanings. One of the ways of doing this is by bringing together two or more words commonly found in English in order to produce new meanings e.g.
Nigerian English (N.E) British English(B.E)
Motor park-------------bus station
Bush meat--------------game
Chewing stick----------local toothbrush
Half-caste-------------people of mixed parentage
Head –tie--------------female headgear
Take – light-----------cut power supply
Go – slow--------------traffic jam
Kill – and – go--------anti-riot policemen
Next tomorrow----------day after tomorrow
There are also words that have changed their structure
(Morphology) but meaning has remained same.
Eg. N. E-------------B. E
Coloured TV----------Colour TV
Second handed--------secondhand / used
Chair lady-----------lady chair person
Repairer-------------repairman
Cunnyman-------------con-man / trickster
Gateman--------------gate – keeper
Gossiped-------------gossip
Doormouth------------doorway
Sewing mistress------seamstress
Invitee--------------invited guest
Kabukabu-------------cab
Sun shade------------sunglasses
There are also many English words that have new or additional meaning in Nigerian English
e.g.
Kola – bribe
Globe – electric bulb
Dash – gift
Branch – call at a place
Lesson – private tuition
Parlour – living room
Long leg – influence
Chop – food
Apart from the coinage, and other examples above, some of these
words are now used as idioms
e.g. to declare surplus – throw a party
to put sand in one’s garri– to put in trouble
Other lexical deviations that are idiomatic are as follows:
N. E------------------------B. E
*More grease to your elbow--more power to your elbow
*From frying pan to fire --out of the frying pan into the fryer
*To dance to the gallery--to play to the gallery
*Handwriting on the wall--writing on the the wall
*Drag in the mud ---------drag through the mire
*Take it lying low--------take it lying down
Examples of derivatives
----NE-----------BE
- Greediness ---greed
- Enviousness---envy
(iii) Reduplication
Very very bad
Ten ten Naira
Small small pieces.
Examples of deviations in Nigerian English are endless as the number and category continue to grow day after day.
Further examples are:
House boy / house girl – steward / cook / gardener
Latrine – lavatory
Firstborn – eldest child
Lastborn – last child
Hot drinks – spirit / strong drinks
Escort – accompany
Gallops – potholes
Impregnate – make pregnant.
DEVIANCES
Deviances are mistakes or errors that arise from faulty analogies by Nigerian speakers / users of English. Some are outright translation of English sentences and expressions from one of the local languages.
e.g. my eye is pushing me – (I am shy) this is regarded as transliteration in literary circle. Some words have been so localized and nativized that they can no longer enjoy wide acceptance and intelligibility, and might not be intelligible to the native speakers. The errors encountered in Nigerian English syntax and morphology can be categorized as follows:
1. Classification
2. Inflexion
3. Selection
4. Coping
5. Ordering
(a) Classification: A huge number of errors found in Nigerian English syntax and morphology appear to come under faulty classification. Here, a word, which in standard British English belongs to one class, is shifted to another class since it is given the syntactic characteristics of such class. The most common type of class shift is the reclassification of a noun, adjective or adverb. Examples include;
Word--------SBE Class-----PNE Usage
Horn--------Adjective-----Horn before overtaking
Jealous-----Adjective-----He jealoused her sister
Minus-------Conj./ Noun---He minus ten from my score
Naked-------Adjective-----He naked himself
Pregnant----Adjective-----He pregnant her
Senior------Adjective-----Ada seniors Nduka
Worth-------Adjective-----It doesn’t worth the money
(b) Inflexions: These are syntactically motivated changes in the
shape of words. It is likely that because of the greater frequency of ‘-s’ as a Noun Plural marker in English than as verb singular marker, learners regard a pluralizing ‘-s’ as more
natural than singularizing ‘-s’ and more often omit 3rd person singular ‘-s’ or incorrectly insert a verb plural ‘-s’ than omit a Noun Plural ‘- s’. e.g.
* He eat the food – omission of ‘-s’
* They plays football – wrong insertion ‘-s’
In the negative and interrogative forms of verbs and especially in the past simple tense, double marking is a frequent occurrence:
• - He did not went
• Did she wanted her
Moreover, parts of irregular verbs are often wrongly formed
e.g.
‘hit’ and ‘spit’
• He hitted the boy
• He spitted saliva through the window.
(c) Selection: The meaning of this word could be so broadly interpreted that most learners’ error becomes errors of selection. In the present context, it has a narrower sense. The
errors in question are those that occur when it appears that the learner has wrongly chosen / selected words or word- form as realization of some syntactic category. The main examples that remain for consideration are prepositions and tenses.
Errors involving the use of prepositions include:
In – at (at my old age instead of in)
1. *At London – NE
In London – BE
2. *As at now – NE
As of now – BE
3. *At the alert – NE
On the alert – BE
4. *On my expense – NE
At my expense – BE
5. *On great speed – NE
At great speed – BE
6. *Result to – NE
Result in – BE
7. *Culminate to – NE
Culminate in – BE
8. *Congratulate for – NE
Congratulate on – BE
There is a high frequency of errors of this type among one third
speaker / users, no doubt encouraged by the semantic inconsequentiality of the errors.
(d) Copying: This kind of error arises from syntactically redundant use of words. An example from Nigerian learner’s inter-language is double marking for the past tense. It may be
compared with double marking for the negative in negative verb-forms.
e.g.
I didn’t know nothing.
Double negative marking has been attributed to a desire to emphasize crucial markers in the intended message. There are examples in Nigerian English of the copying of words or the duplication of word–class instance, which reflect mother tongue
usage:
— My father, he works in NEPA – NE
— The two both of us are guilty – NE
— I know the person who his father has died – NE
As opposed to British English (BE)
— My father works in NEPA
— The two of us are guilty
— I know the person whose father died.
Redundant copying includes the following among others:
NE--------------------BE
Should in case -------Should / in case
Still yet-------------still / yet
Can be able-----------can / be able
Must have to----------must / have to
Reverse back----------reverse / move back
Repeat again----------repeat / say again
On my way going-------on my way / while going
(e) Ordering: Displacing words from the positions they occupy in
sentences in standard varieties of English in the majority of cases, does such violence to both syntax and meaning that the example of wrong ordering in a variety of popular Nigerian English is to be expected, though the placement of some adverbs
and a tiny number of adjectives is a variable.
Quite common among speakers of all levels of Nigerian English
is the sequence:
e.g this our town
Modern non-rhetorical standard British English requires the
postponing of the possessive in the form of a pronoun:
This town of ours
Non verb, the rule that requires reversal of inversion after ‘wh-‘ words in indirect speech
e.g.
He asked me what was the time – NE
He asked me what the time was – BE
RESTRICTIONS:
1. Reflexive Tag and echo questions: At all levels popular Nigerian English uses the all purpose tag (Isn’t it ) instead of
the reflexive and echo question (Didn’t he) and (Did he ) in the examples below:
*He bought a car. Isn’t it? (wrong)
He bought a car. Didn’t he? (right)
2. Tenses and Auxiliaries: Nigerian English appears to avoid using the future perfect, the perfect tenses though the avoidance seem to be due to learning difficulties.
3. Passives: Mother tongue lacks inflected passive form but uses a third person singular indefinite pronouns in combination with
the active forms.
e.g.
*There was a security light outside my house, but they have stolen it – N.E
- There was a security light outside my house, but it has been stolen – BE
4. Ordinals: Many Nigerian users of English avoid numbers beyond third, notably when they are meant to feature in dates.
* On the five
Instead of
- On the fifth
CONCLUSION:
Variations are features of style that run parallel to the standard variety of English but designed to suit local purpose while variance are errors generating from non-native use of English. Variation bends the Standard English to create a regional variety like the peculiar Nigerian English while variance breaks it.
A variation is acceptable and has a higher degree of intelligibility while variance is not acceptable even in the local environment. However, the line between Deviation and Deviance in any variety of English language like the Nigerian English is very thin. A variance may tomorrow become a variation when it becomes consistent in its usage and attains a higher level of social acceptability. On the other hand, when a variation loses its consistency it will be considered as a variance.
Finally, whether variance or variation, both are conditioned by ‘veering off’ the track of the Standard English, and the criteria for judging the degree and distance off-the –track as well as the categories of people involved, still remain controversial. But for examination purpose, readers are advised to stick to the British standard of the English Language.
TEST OF ORALS
Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 1:28 pm
by admin
Test of Orals
This used to be a separate paper. It was incorporated into the English language main paper in the year 1996 and it tests the candidates’ knowledge and understanding in the following areas:
(a) The English vowel sounds
(i) The Monothongs – 12
(ii) The Diphthongs – 8
(iii) The Tripthongs - *
(b) The English consonant sounds
(i) The Stops/ Plosives – 6
(ii) The Fricatives – 9
(iii) The Affricates – 2
(iv) The Lateral – 1
(v) The semi – vowels – 3
(vi) The Nasals – 3
(c) Supra – segmental features
(i) The phonological units
(ii) Stress (Emphatic, Shift, Placement)
(iii) Intonation
(d) Rhymes and clusters
(i) Initial
(ii) Medial
(iii) Final
(e) Phonological processes
(i) Elision
(ii) Assimilation
INTRODUCTION.
There are a total of 44 recognized English sounds, though new development shows that we have three or more Tripthongs. They are divided into 20 vowels of 12 Monothongs and 8 Diphthongs and 24 consonant sounds, all represented in sound symbols as follows.
THE ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS (20)
Monothongs---Diphthongs---Tripthongs
1. i: 13. ei au
2. I 14. ai u
3. e 15. i ei
4. æ 16. e ai
5. u 17. i
6. u: 18. u
7. 19. au
8. : 20. u
9. a:
10. Λ
11. 3:
12.
THE ENGLISH CONSONANT SOUNDS (24)
(a) Stops / plosives /p/ / t/ /k/ /b/ /d/ /g/
(b) Fricatives: /f/, /v/,/s/, /z/,/θ/, / ð /, /h/, / ∫ /, /3/
(c) Affricates: / t∫ /, / dз /
(d) Lateral & Semi – vowels: /l/, /r/, /w/, / j /
(e) Nasals: /m/ /n/ /η/
What is phonology?
Phonology is the study of the sound system of languages. It is a huge area of language theory and it is difficult to do more on a general language course than have an outline knowledge of what it includes. In an exam, you may be asked to comment on a text that you are seeing for the first time in terms of various language descriptions, of which phonology may be one. At one extreme, phonology is concerned with anatomy and physiology - the organs of speech and how we learn to use them. At another extreme, phonology shades into socio-linguistics as we consider social attitudes to features of sound such as accent and intonation. And part of the subject is concerned with finding objective standard ways of recording speech, and representing this symbolically.
For some kinds of study - perhaps a language investigation into the phonological development of young children or regional variations in accent, you will need to use phonetic transcription to be credible. But this is not necessary in all kinds of study - in an exam, you may be concerned with stylistic effects of sound in advertising or literature, such as assonance, rhyme or onomatopoeia - and you do not need to use special phonetic symbols to do this.
The physics and physiology of speech
Man is distinguished from the other primates by having the apparatus to make the sounds of speech. Of course most of us learn to speak without ever knowing much about these organs, save in a vague and general sense - so that we know how a cold or sore throat alters our own performance. Language scientists have a very detailed understanding of how the human body produces the sounds of speech. Leaving to one side the vast subject of how we choose particular utterances and identify the sounds we need, we can think rather simply of how we use our lungs to breathe out air, produce vibrations in the larynx and then use our tongue, teeth and lips to modify the sounds. The diagram below shows some of the more important speech organs.
This kind of diagram helps us to understand what we observe in others but is less useful in understanding our own speech. Scientists can now place small cameras into the mouths of experimental subjects, and observe some of the physical movements that accompany speech. But most of us move our vocal organs by reflexes or a sense of the sound we want to produce, and are not likely to benefit from watching movement in the vocal fold.
The diagram is a simplified cross-section through the human head - which we could not see in reality in a living speaker, though a simulation might be instructive. But we do observe some external signs of speech sounds apart from what we hear.
A few people have the ability to interpret most of a speaker's utterances from lip-reading. But many more have a sense of when the lip-movement does or does not correspond to what we hear - we notice this when we watch a feature film with dubbed dialogue, or a TV broadcast where the sound is not synchronized with what we see.
The diagram can also prove useful in conjunction with descriptions of sounds - for example indicating where the airflow is constricted to produce fricatives, whether on the palate, the alveolar ridge, the teeth or the teeth and lips together.
Speech therapists have a very detailed working knowledge of the physiology of human speech, and of exercises and remedies to overcome difficulties some of us encounter in speaking, where these have physical causes. An understanding of the anatomy is also useful to various kinds of expert who train people to use their voices in special or unusual ways. These would include singing teachers and voice coaches for actors, as well as the even more specialized coaches who train actors to produce the speech sounds of hitherto unfamiliar varieties of English or other languages. At a more basic level, my French teacher at school insisted that we (his pupils) could produce certain vowel sounds only with our mouths more open than we would ever need to do while speaking English. And a literally stiff upper lip is a great help if one wishes to mimic the speech sounds of Queen Elizabeth II.
So what happens? Mostly we use air that is moving out of our lungs (pulmonic egressive air) to speak. We may pause while breathing in, or try to use the ingressive air - but this is likely to produce quiet speech, which is unclear to our listeners. (David Crystal notes how the normally balanced respiratory cycle is altered by speech, so that we breathe out slowly, using the air for speech, and breathe in swiftly, in order to keep talking). In languages other than English, speakers may also use non-pulmonic sound, such as clicks (found in southern Africa) or glottalic sounds (found worldwide). In the larynx, the vocal folds set up vibrations in the egressive air. The vibrating air passes through further cavities which can modify the sound and finally are articulated by the passive (immobile) articulators - the hard palate, the alveolar ridge and the upper teeth - and the active (mobile) articulators. These are the pharynx, the velum (or soft palate), the jaw and lower teeth, the lips and, above all, the tongue. This is so important and so flexible an organ, that language scientists identify different regions of the tongue by name, as these are associated with particular sounds. Working outwards these are:
• the back - opposite the soft palate
• the centre - opposite the meeting point of hard and soft palate
• the front - opposite the hard palate
• the blade - the tapering area facing the ridge of teeth
• the tip - the extreme end of the tongue
The first three of these (back, centre and front) are known together as the dorsum (which is Latin for “backbone” or “spine”)
Phonology, phonemes and phonetics
You may have known for some time that the suffix “-phone” is to do with sounds. Think, for instance, of telephone, microphone, gramophone and xylophone. The morpheme comes from Greek phonema, which means “a sound”.
• Telephone means “distant sound”
• Microphone means “small sound” (because it sends an input to an amplifier which in turn drives loudspeakers - so the original sound is small compared to the output sound)
• Gramophone was originally a trade name. It comes from inverting the original form, phonograph (=sound-writing) - so called because the sound caused a needle to trace a pattern on a wax cylinder. The process is reversed for playing the sound back
• Xylophone means “wood sound” (because the instrument is one of very few where the musical note is produced simply by making wood resonate)
The fundamental unit of grammar is a morpheme. A basic unit of written language is a grapheme. And the basic unit of sound is a phoneme. However, this is technically what Professor Crystal describes as “the smallest contrastive unit” and it is highly useful to you in explaining things - but strictly speaking may not exist in real spoken language use. That is, almost anything you say is a continuum and you rarely assemble a series of discrete sounds into a connected whole. (It is possible to do this with synthesised speech, as used by Professor Stephen Hawking - but the result is so different from naturally occurring speech that we can recognize it instantly.) And there is no perfect or single right way to say anything - which is just as well, because we can never exactly reproduce a previous performance.
However, in your comments on phonology, you will certainly want sometimes to focus on single phonemes or small sequences of phonemes. A phoneme is a sound segment of words or syllables. Quite a good way to understand how it may indicate meaning is to consider how replacing it with another phoneme will change the word - so if we replace the middle sound in “bad” we can make “bawd”, “bed”, “bid”, “bird” and “bud”. (In two cases here one letter is replaced with two letters but in all these cases it is a single vowel sound that changes.)
The first people to write in English used an existing alphabet - the Roman alphabet, which was itself adapted from the Greek alphabet for writing in Latin. (In the Roman empire, Latin was the official language of government and administration, and especially of the army but in the eastern parts of the empire Greek was the official language, and in Rome Greek was spoken as widely as Latin, according to F.F. Bruce, in The Books and the Parchments, Chapter 5). Because these first writers of English (Latin-speaking Roman monks) had more sounds than letters, they used the same letters to represent different sounds - perhaps making the assumption that the reader would recognize the word, and supply the appropriate sounds. It would be many years before anyone would think it possible to have more consistent spelling, and this has never been a realistic option for writers of English, though spelling has changed over time. And, in any case, the sounds of Old English are not exactly the same as the sounds of modern English.
As linguists have become aware of more and more languages, many with sounds never heard in English, they have tried to create a comprehensive set of symbols to correspond to features of sound - vowels, consonants, clicks and glottalic sounds and non-segmental or suprasegmental features, such as stress and tone. Among many schemes used by linguists one has perhaps more authority than most, as it is the product of the International Phonetic Association (IPA). In the table below, you will see the phonetic characters that correspond to the phonemes used in normal spoken English. To give examples is problematic, as no two speakers will produce the same sound. In the case of the vowels and a few consonants, the examples will not match the sounds produced by all speakers - they reflect the variety of accent known as Received Pronunciation or RP. Note that RP is not specific to any region, but uses more of the sounds found in the south and midlands than in the north. It is a socially prestigious accent, favoured in greater or less degree by broadcasters, civil servants, barristers and people who record speaking clock messages. It is not fixed and has changed measurably in the last 50 years. But to give one example, the sound represented by θ is not common to all UK native speakers. In many parts of London and the south-east of England the sound represented by f will be substituted. So, in an advertisement, the mother-in-law of Vinnie Jones (former soccer player for Wimbledon and Wales; now an actor) says: “I fought 'e was a big fug” (/aɪ fɔət i: wɒz ə bɪg fug/).
You may also wonder what has happened to the letter x. This is used in English to represent two consonant sounds, those of k and s or of k and z. In phonetic transcription these symbols will be used.
“Consonant” and “vowel” each have two related but distinct meanings in English. In writing of phonology, you need to make the distinction clear. When you were younger you may have learned that b,c,d,f and so on are consonants while a,e,i,o,u are vowels - and you may have wondered about y. In this case consonants and vowels denote the letters that commonly represent the relevant sounds. Phonologists are interested in vowel and consonant sounds and the phonetic symbols that represent these (including vowel and consonant letters). It may be wise for you to use the words consonant and vowel (alone) to denote the sounds. But it is better to use an unambiguous phrase - and write or speak about consonant or vowel sounds, consonant or vowel letters and consonant or vowel symbols. In most words these sounds can be identified, but there are some cases where we move from one vowel to another to create an effect that is like neither - and these are diphthongs. We also have some triphthongs - where three vowel sounds come in succession in words such as “fire”, “power” and “sure”. (But this depends on the speaker - many of us alter the sounds so that we say “our” as if it were “are”.) For convenience you may prefer the term vowel glides - and say that “fine” and “boy” contain two-vowel glides while “fire” contains a three-vowel glide.
IPA symbols for the sounds of English
The examples show the letters in bold that correspond to the sound that they illustrate. You will find guidance below on how to use these symbols in electronic documents. The IPA distributes audio files in analog and digital form, with specimen pronunciations of these sounds.
A phoneme is a speech sound that helps us construct meaning. That is, if we replace it with another sound (where this is possible) we get a new meaning or no meaning at all. If I replace the initial consonant (/r/) from rubble, I can get double or Hubble (astronomer for whom the space telescope is named) or meaningless forms (as regards the lexicon of standard English) like fubble and wubble. The same thing happens if I change the vowel and get rabble, rebel, Ribble (an English river) and the nonsense form robble. (I have used the conventional spelling of “rebel” here, but to avoid confusion should perhaps use phonetic transcription, so that replacements would always appear in the same position as the character they replace.)
But what happens when a phoneme is adapted to the spoken context in which it occurs, in ways that do not alter the meaning either for speaker or hearer? Rather than say these are different phonemes that share the same meaning we use the model of allophones, which are variants of a phoneme. Thus if we isolate the l sound in the initial position in lick and in the final position in ball, we should be able to hear that the sound is (physically) different as is the way our speech organs produce it. Technically, in the second case, the back of the tongue is raised towards the velum or soft palate. The initial l sound is called clear l, while the terminal l sound is sometimes called a dark l. When we want to show the detail of phonetic variants or allophones we enclose the symbols in square brackets whereas in transcribing sounds from a phonological viewpoint we use slant lines. So, using the IPA transcription [l] is clear l, while [ɫ] is dark l.
If this is not clear think:
• Am I only describing a sound (irrespective of how this sound fits into a system, has meaning and so on)? If so, use square brackets.
• Am I trying to show how the sound is part of a wider system (irrespective of how exactly it sounds in a given instance)? If so, use slant brackets.
So long as we need a form of transcription, we will rely on the IPA scheme. But increasingly it is possible to use digital recording and reproduction to produce reference versions of sounds. This would not, of course, prevent change in the choice of which particular sounds to use in a given context. When people wonder about harass (hærəs) or harass (həræs) they usually are able to articulate either, and are concerned about which reveals them as more or less educated in the use of the “proper” form. (For your information, the stress historically falls on the first syllable, to rhyme with embarrass - thus in both Pocket Oxford [UK, 1969] and Funk & Wagnalls New Practical Standard [US, 1946]. The fashion for hu-rass is found on both sides of the Atlantic and we should not credit it to, or blame it on, US speakers of English.)
Phonologists also refer to segments. A segment is “a discrete unit that can be identified in a stream of speech”, according to Professor Crystal. In English the segments would correspond to vowel sounds and consonant sounds, say. This is a clear metaphor if we think of fruit - the number of segments varies, but is finite in a whole fruit. So some languages have few segments and others many - from 11 in Rotokas and Mura to 141 in !Xu. The term may be most helpful in indicating what non-segmental or supra-segmental (above the segments) features of spoken language are.
The sounds of English
Vowels
Front vowels | Central vowels | Back vowels
English has twelve vowel sounds. In the table above they are divided into seven short and five long vowels. An alternative way of organizing them is according to where (in the mouth) they are produced. This method allows us to describe them as front, central and back. We can qualify them further by how high the tongue and lower jaw are when we make these vowel sounds, and by whether our lips are rounded or spread, and finally by whether they are short or long. This scheme shows the following arrangement:
Front vowels
/i:/ - cream, seen (long high front spread vowel)
/ɪ/ - bit, silly (short high front spread vowel)
/ɛ/ - bet, head (short mid front spread vowel); this may also be shown by the symbol /e/
/æ/ - cat, dad (short low front spread vowel); this may also be shown by /a/
Central vowels
/ɜ:/- burn, firm (long mid central spread vowel); this may also be shown by the symbol /ə:/.
/ə/ - about, clever (short mid central spread vowel); this is sometimes known as schwa, or the neutral vowel sound - it never occurs in a stressed position.
/ʌ/ - cut, nut (short low front spread vowel); this vowel is quite uncommon among speakers in the Midlands and further north in Britain.
Back vowels
• /u:/ - boob, glue (long high back rounded vowel)
• /ʊ/ - put, soot (short high back rounded vowel); also shown by /u/
• /ɔ:/ - corn, faun (long mid back rounded vowel) also shown by /o:/
• /ɒ/- dog, rotten (short low back rounded vowel) also shown by /o/
• /ɑ:/ - hard, far (long low back spread vowel)
We can also arrange the vowels in a table or even depict them against a cross-section of the human mouth. Here is an example of a simple table:
Front Central Back
High ɪ i: ʊ u:
Mid ɛ ə ɜ: ɔ:
Low æ ʌ ɒ ɑ:
Diphthongs
Diphthongs are sounds that begin as one vowel and end as another, while gliding between them. For this reason they are sometimes described as glide vowels. How many are there? Almost every modern authority says eight - but they do not all list the same eight (check this for yourself). Simeon Potter, in Our Language (Potter, S, [1950] Chapter VI, Sounds and Spelling, London, Penguin) says there are nine - and lists those I have shown in the table above, all of which I have found in the modern reference works. The one most usually omitted is /ɔə/ as in bored. Many speakers do not use this diphthong, but use the same vowel in poured as in fraud - but it is alive and well in the north of Britain.
Potter notes that all English diphthongs are falling - that is the first element is stressed more than the second. Other languages have rising diphthongs, where the second element is stressed, as in Italian “uomo” (man) and “uovo” (egg).
Consonants
Voicing | Articulation described by region | Articulation described by manner
Some authorities claim one or two fewer consonants than I have shown above, regarding those with double symbols (/tʃ/ and /dʒ/) as “diphthong consonants” in Potter's phrase. The list omits one sound that is not strictly a consonant but works like one. The full IPA list of phonetic symbols includes some for non-pulmonic consonants (not made with air coming from the lungs), click and glottal sounds. In some varieties of English, especially in the south of Britain (but the sound has migrated north) we find the glottal plosive or glottal stop, shown by the symbol /ʔ/ (essentially a question mark without the dot at the tail). This sound occurs in place of /t/ for some speakers - so /botəl/ or /botl/ (bottle) become /boʔəl/ or /boʔl/.
We form consonants by controlling or impeding the egressive (outward) flow of air. We do this with the articulators - from the glottis, past the velum, the hard palate and alveolar ridge and the tongue, to the teeth and lips. The sound results from three things:
• voicing - causing the vocal cords to vibrate
• where the articulation happens
• how the articulation happens - how the airflow is controlled
Voicing
All vowels must be voiced - they are caused by vibration in the vocal cords. But consonants may be voiced or not. Some of the consonant sounds of English come in pairs that differ in being voiced or not - in which case they are described as voiceless or unvoiced. So /b/ is voiced and /p/ is the unvoiced consonant in one pair, while voiced /g/ and voiceless /k/ form another pair.
We can explain the consonant sounds by the place where the articulation principally occurs or by the kinds of articulation that occurs there. The first scheme gives us this arrangement:
Articulation described by region
• Glottal articulation - articulation by the glottis. We use this for one consonant in English. This is /h/ in initial position in house or hope.
• Velar articulation - we do this with the back of the tongue against the velum. We use it for initial hard /g/ (as in golf) and for final /ŋ/ (as in gong).
• Palatal articulation - we do this with the front of the tongue on the hard palate. We use it for /dʒ/ (as in jam) and for /ʃ/ (as in sheep or sugar).
• Alveolar articulation - we do this with the tongue blade on the alveolar ridge. We use it for /t/ (as in teeth), /d/ (as in dodo) /z/ (as in zebra) /n/ (as in no) and /l/ (as in light).
• Dental articulation - we do this with the tip of the tongue on the back of the upper front teeth. We use it for /θ/ (as in think) and /ð/ (as in that). This is one form of articulation that we can observe and feel ourselves doing.
• Labio-dental articulation - we do this with the lower lip and upper front teeth. We use it for /v/ (as in vampire).
• Labial articulation - we do this with the lips for /b/ (as in boat) and /m/ (as in most). Where we use two lips (as in English) this is bilabial articulation.
Articulation described by manner
This scheme gives us a different arrangement into stop(or plosive) consonants, affricates, fricatives, nasal consonants, laterals and approximants.
• Stop consonants (so-called because the airflow is stopped) or plosive consonants (because it is subsequently released, causing an outrush of air and a burst of sound) are:
o Bilabial voiced /b/ (as in boat) and voiceless /p/ (as in post)
o Alveolar voiced /d/ (as in dad) and voiceless /t/ (as in tap)
o Velar voiced /g/ (as in golf) and voiceless /k/ (as in cow)
• Affricates are a kind of stop consonant, where the expelled air causes friction rather than plosion. They are palatal /tʃ/ (as in cheat) and palatal /dʒ/ (as in jam)
• Fricatives come from restricting, but not completely stopping, the airflow. The air passes through a narrow space and the sound arises from the friction this produces. They come in voiced and unvoiced pairs:
o Labio-dental voiced /v/ (as in vole) and unvoiced /f/ (as in foal)
o Dental voiced /ð/ (as in those) and unvoiced /θ/ (as in thick)
o Alveolar voiced /z/ (as in zest) and unvoiced /s/ (as in sent)
o Palatal voiced /ʒ/ (as in the middle of leisure) and unvoiced /ʃ/ (as at the end of trash)
• Nasal consonants involve closing the articulators but lowering the uvula, which normally closes off the route to the nose, through which the air escapes. There are three nasal consonants in English:
o Bilabial /m/ (as in mine)
o Alveolar /n/ (as in nine)
o Velar /ŋ/ (as at the end of gong)
• Lateral consonants allow the air to escape at the sides of the tongue. In English there is only one such sound, which is alveolar /l/ (as at the start of lamp)
• Approximants do not impede the flow of air. They are all voiced but are counted as consonants chiefly because of how they function in syllables. They are:
o Bilabial /w/ (as in water)
o Alveolar /r/ (as in road)
o Palatal /j/ (as in yet)
Syllables
When you think of individual sounds, you may think of them in terms of syllables. These are units of phonological organization and smaller than words. Alternatively, think of them as units of rhythm. Although they may contain several sounds, they combine them in ways that create the effect of unity.
Thus splash is a single syllable but it combines three consonants, a vowel, and a final consonant /spl+æ+ʃ/.
Some words have a single syllable - so they are monosyllables or monosyllabic. Others have more than one syllable and are polysyllables or polysyllabic.
Sometimes you may see a word divided into its syllables, but this may be an artificial exercise, since in real speech the sounds are continuous. In some cases it will be impossible to tell whether a given consonant was ending one syllable of beginning another. It is possible, for example, to pronounce lamppost so that there are two /p/ sounds in succession with some interval between them. But many native English speakers will render this as /læm-pəʊst/ or /læm-pəʊsd/.
Students of language may find it helpful to be able to identify individual syllables in explaining pronunciation and language change - one of the things you may need to do is explain which are the syllables that are stressed in a particular word or phrase.
SUPRA SEGMENTAL FEATURES
Prosodic features | Paralinguistic features
In written English we use punctuation to signal some things like emphasis, and the speed with which we want our readers to move at certain points. In spoken English we use sounds in ways that do not apply to individual segments but to stretches of spoken discourse from words to phrases, clauses and sentences. Such effects are described as non-segmental or suprasegmental - or, using the adjective in a plural nominal (noun) form, simply suprasegmentals.
Among these effects are such things as stress, intonation, tempo and rhythm - which collectively are known as prosodic features. Other effects arise from altering the quality of the voice, making it breathy or husky and changing what is sometimes called the timbre - and these are paralinguistic features. Both of these kinds of effect may signal meaning. But they do not do so consistently from one language to another, and this can cause confusion to students learning a second language.
I. The Phonological units
(a) The Tone Group:
This is the largest unit of English phonology. It is a unit of information or the focus of information in a sentence. The example below is a sentence that has three tone groups.
1. My brother, the specialist, is here.
This has three Tone Group and it means that, out of all my brothers, the one who is a specialist among them is here.
2. My brother, the specialist is here.
This has two Tone Groups and there are three persons involved. First, the speaker who is calling on his brother (the second person), telling him about the arrival of the specialist (the third person).
3. My brother the specialist is here.
This has one Tone Group and it means that my only brother who is also a specialist is around.
(b) The Foot:
This is the unit immediately below the Tone Group and above the syllable. It is the unit that carries the stress
pattern of a sentence. It is formed by a stressed syllable plus the entire unstressed syllable coming after it, up to the next stressed syllable
e.g. cut the grass with care.
CUT the /GRASS with / CARE
1---------2------------3
The sentence above has three feet.
(d) Syllable:
This is the unit immediately below the foot and above the phoneme. It is a unit of sound that can be produced within a single breath force. It can also be referred to as a segment of sound.e.g.
tar – 1 syllable
Nectar – 2 syllable
Possible – 3 syllables
Education – 4 syllables
Photographically – 5 syllables
Impossibility – 6 syllables
Intelligibility – 7 syllables
Interdenominational– 8 syllables
Interdenominationally – 9 syllables
Interdenominationalism –10syllables.
(d) Phoneme: This is the smallest unit of sound in English. It is as small as a single sound symbol. There are 44 English Phonemes divided into 12 Monothongs, 8 dipthongs and 24 consonant sound symbols as discussed at the beginning of this part.
e.g / a: / – monothong
/ ei / – dipthong
/ ai3 / – tripthong
/ s / – fricative
/ p / – stop
/ d3 / – affricate
/ m / – nasal etc.
The word EDUCATION has 8 phonemes when broken down as follows
/ e / dз / u / k / ei / ∫ / 3 / n /
STRESS: This is the degree of prominence given to a particular syllable. It is the attention of loudness given to a syllable above other syllables. For instance in the word education that has four syllables, one of the four syllables will sound louder
than the others when pronounced and that syllable is called the stressed syllable.
We then have eduCAtion – stress on CA
i. e / kei /.
(a) Placement: In normal s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d sentences or utterances, the following classes of words must be stressed: Nouns, Verbs, Adjective, most Adverbs, Numerals, Demonstratives (this, that) and Interjection.
The following classes of words are not stressed except for emphatic purposes: Auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, personal pronouns, relative pronouns and Articles.
e.g. He came to the school yesterday.
He CAME to the SCHOOL YESTERDAY
(b) Shift: Stress does shift from one part of a word to another to make a clear distinction between two different classes of words having the same orthography (spelling) Examples of such words are as follows:
Noun---------Verb
CONduct-----conDUCT
Record------reCORD
Rebel-------reBEL
TORment-----torMENT
Extract-----exTRACT
OBJect------obJECTS
Export------exPORT
Minute------miNUTE
PROject-----proJECT
Insult------inSULT
CONtent-----conTENT
Attribute---attriBUTE
PROspect----prosPECT
CONvict-----conVICT etc.
(c) Emphatic: Emphatic stress is used on words of special importance to the user, even when such words are not be stressed normally. In the sentence – he came here yesterday, the normal
stress placement should be on CAME and YESTERDAY but I might choose to emphasize HE or HERE, leaving the real content words.
HE came here yesterday (not she)
He came HERE yesterday (not there)
He CAME here yesterday (not arrive)
He came here YESTERDAY (not today)
NB: Apart from the word that is stressed, every other part of the statement must retain the same information and any other word contrary to the one stressed in the options or which is not the correct question that is answered by the sentence above is the correct choice.
e.g. He came here YESTERDAY
(a) Did she come here today
(b) Did he come here yesterday
(c) Did he come here today
(d) Did he arrive here yesterday?
Option A will have been correct but because it has altered the information in the STEM by changing HE to SHE, it is not correct.
Option B: The STEM emphasizes YESTERDAY and B is the same, so it does not reflect the emphasis in its questioning.
Option D is guilty of the same error in addition to alteration of information by using ARRIVE instead of the original CAME.
D is therefore wrong. Option
C is correct because it is the right question for the answer given by the sentence with particular emphasis on YESTERDAY.
Intonation: This is the variation in the level of pitch in an utterance. When a person speaks, the pitch of his / her voice keeps changing. It may be high or low. Just as stress affects meaning in a sentence, intonation also affects meaning of an utterance because it carries the speaker’s attitude in the rise and fall in pitch of the speaker’s voice. It can also distinguish between an affirmative statement and an interrogative statement
e.g.
He is coming – affirmation
He is coming! – Exclamation / help.
(d) Rhymes and Clusters RHYME: This is the repetition of similar ending sounds either in words or in sentences.
Remain
Detain similar ending - ain
Terrain
Ordain
Retain
Detain similar ending - tain
Contain
Maintain
Twinkle, twinkle little star – a similar ending /a:/
How I wonder what you are ---– a /a:/
Up above the world so high --– b similar ending /ai/
Like a diamond in the sky –--- b /ai/
Rhyme could also appear at the initial position as in retain and remain initial re + ending ain
Whatever the case may be, the closest similarity should be picked because some words rhyme half way while others rhyme wholly.
CLUSTERS: This is the appearance of more than one consonant sound in a given syllable. Where at least, two consonant sounds (not letters) come one after the other in a row, and occurring either at the beginning, middle or end of a word. Syllables are used to mark off consonant clusters.
Examples are:
Splash, ply, street, sprint, etc.
The formula or the English language syllable structure is C o-3 V C o-4. It is a composite formula, which states that a vowel is an obligatory element of a syllable, while zero, one, two or three consonants in the initial position while zero, one, two, three or four consonants can be in the final position.
Clusters occur mostly at the initial and final positions of words but we have some clusters in the medial position
e.g. cyclostyle.
Initial Medial Final
School excretion assembly
Screw cyclostyle rhythm
Shrine impromptu button (syllabic consonant)
Prosodic features
• Stress or loudness - increasing volume is a simple way of giving emphasis, and this is a crude measure of stress. But it is usually combined with other things like changes in tone and tempo. We use stress to convey some kinds of meaning (semantic and pragmatic) such as urgency or anger or for such things as imperatives.
• Intonation - you may be familiar in a loose sense with the notion of tone of voice. We use varying levels of pitch in sequences (contours or tunes) to convey particular meanings. Falling and rising intonation in English may signal a difference between statement and question. Younger speakers of English may use rising (question) intonation without intending to make the utterance a question.
• Tempo - we speak more or less quickly for many different reasons and purposes. Occasionally it may be that we are adapting our speech to the time we have in which to utter it (as, for example, in a horse-racing commentary). But mostly tempo reflects some kinds of meaning or attitude - so we give a truthful answer to a question, but do so rapidly to convey our distraction or irritation.
• Rhythm - patterns of stress, tempo and pitch together create a rhythm. Some kinds of formal and repetitive rhythm are familiar from music, rap, poetry and even chants of soccer fans. But all speech has rhythm - it is just that in spontaneous utterances we are less likely to hear regular or repeating patterns.
Realizations of the sounds are analyzed in the examples below:
Monothongs -------Realizations
1. /i:/
ee----ea-----e--------i
free--meat—-peter--margarine
bee---sea---we-----machine
tree--beat—-he-----police
need--leaf—-these--kerosine
ie-----ei-----ey-----uay
chief—-seize—-key----Quay
field--receive
thief--deceive
piece--ceiling
2. /I/
i------y-------e--------ie-------a
sit----nymph—--pretty---ladies---village
fifth—-rhythm—-wicked—--cities--private
rich---symbol—-careless-parties--manage
trick—-lynx----houses---carries--savage
3. /e/
e-----ea-----a-----ie-----u-----ai
met---dead---any---friend-bury--said
red---read---many
bed---breath-Thames
help--instead
4. /æ/
a-----ai
ram---plait
lamb
gnat
5./a:/
a------ar------ear-----er-------al-----au
pass---arm-----heart---clerk----half---aunt
father-star----hearth—-sergeant-calm---laugh
after—-part---------------------palm
5. /Ɔ /
– o----a----au
sorry was because
pot what sausage
rock quality Austria
long quantity
porridge want
7./ Ɔ: /
or----aw---ou-----au------a
cord law bought daughter all
horse saw thought cause water
for lawn ought caught call
ar----ore---oor—our---oar
war before door four board
quarter store floor court
8./u/
u----ou----o----oo
put could wolf good
full should woman book
sugar would wool food
9./u:/
o---oo----u---ou
do food rude group
who soon tune soup
move moon June through
ew---ue----ui----oe
chew blue juice shoe
stew sue suit
drew true fruit
10. /Λ /
u-----ou-----o---oo
cup country ton blood
nut young---son flood
lust couple come
luck cousin does
sun---------love
11./3:/ -er ear or ir ur our
herb earth worm bird turn journey
serve heard word shirt church courtesy
germ early world girl hurt scourge
12. /ә/
a-------u-------er------or
about support perhaps tailor
away
hyena
ou--------o------ure
famous purpose treasure
ar-------e
pillar Helen
This is called the SHWA sound, the weak form of all the vowels sounds i.e. any monothong or diphthong caught in a weak
environment changes to SHWA.
e.g. Her =/ha:/ in weak form /hә/
of =/Λf/ in weak form /әv/
A =/ei/ in weak form /ә/
DIPHTHONGS
13./ei/
ai-----a----ea----ei—eigh---ay
pain flame great veil eight say
wait change break neigh freight lay
fail base weight may
14./ai/
i----ie---eig---igh---ig---y
I----tie height high sign dry
Kite die tight cry
Mile pie fight try
Ice------------pry
wise
write
ye--uy—-ey—-hy---is
dye buy eye why aisle
bye
15./ei/
oi----oy---ouy
voice boy buoy
noise toy
point joy
boil annoy
coil
16. /eә /
ar------eir--ere---ear—--air---are
scarce—their-there-swear-pair--dare
heir---------where-pear—-chair-fare
were---------------bear—hair---care
17. /iә /
ea---ee---ier----eir
year beer fierce weird
idea steer pierce
ere—--ear---eu-----eo
here--fear museum theological
cheer-clear
18. /uә /
u---------ure—-our---oor
curious---pure pour poor
insurance sure tour
----------cure your
19./ әu/
o----oa---ew---ow---oe—-ou----oo
go---boat-sew blow--hoe soul brooch
note goat-pew-sow--foe though
rode road-----slow-toe
20. /au/
ow----ou
gown thou
down loud
cow found
----doubt
----shout
TRIPTHONGS
auә - hour, plougher, flower
әuә - lower, blower
eiә - layer, player
aiә - higher, flyer
This is a combination of diphthongs plus SHWA.
THE ENGLISH CONSONANT SOUNDS
Plosives/stop
1./p/
p------pp
paper apple
proper supply
reply apple
stop
/p/ appear the same way in written and spoken form except for the silent p which belongs to other families of sound e.g.
coup, psalm, etc.
2. /t/
t-----ght----ed (p, k, f, sh, ch, x, s, + ed) tt
tape-eight--asked----------------------------little
stop-caught-laughed-------------------------whittle
rot—taught--kissed
slit-fought-cooked
some t are silent and do not have the/t/ sound e.g.listen
3. /k/
k------c----cc
king---cat--tobacco
market-tac--Morocco
talk---arc--accord
wake---cool-account
ck-----qu------que
sick---quick---unique
bucket-request-opaque
trick—-quiet---Queue
stick--queen
ch---------x----chae
Chemist---six--Michael
School----taxi
Christmas-next
Anchor----text
4. /b/
b
boy
sob
abode
stab
able
bulb
/b/ appear the same in written and spoken form except for the silent b which belongs to the /m/ family e.g.
comb, bomb, etc.
5. /d/
d----dd
day--add
idle-Eddie
paid-Daddy
advert
/d/ appear the same in written and spoken form except for the silent -ed morpheme that produced a /d/ sound
6. /g/
g-----gg-----gu----gh
give-beggar-guest--ghost
go----------tongue ghoul
angle-------guardian
gear
FRICATIVES
7./s/
c---------s--------ss-------ps--------sw------sc
cell------sing boss psalm sword scissors
concert---fuse gossip pseudopodia science
parcel----gospel class psychology scene
There are some silent s which are not /s/ such as Island, Isle and aisle
8. /z/
z-------s-----ss
zebra—--present--assume
zoo-----raise----assumption
amazing-twins
azure---boys
zip-----rose
9. /f/
f------ph------gh----ff
fat---physics—tough--coffee
waif—-alphabet-rough-offer
sofa--philosophy
laugh----------------proffer
10. /v/
Ph-------v
--------van
Stephen leave
--------Heavy
/v/ usually appear most of the time the same in written and spoken form except in words like Stephen.
11. /θ /
th
think
method
anthem
bath
teeth
mathematics
12. / ð /
th
then
this
those
bathe
breathe
weather
father
13. / ∫ /
Sh----ti----ce-----ci
Shoe—nation-ocean--social
Shop-action-ancient
Brush-patient-crustacean
sc
conscious
conscience
gracious
14. /3/
su--------si----------ge
Measure---confusion---garage
Pleasure—-occasion----massage
Usual-----delusion----enlarge
15. /h/
h--------wh
hear-----who
hill-----whom
high-----whose
hold-----whole
husband--whore
house
Some h are silent and therefore do not contain the /h/ sound e.g. hour, honest, honour, what, when, where, which, why etc.
AFFRICATES
16. / t∫ /
t--------ch-------tch
nature---chalk----watch
mixture—-teacher--catch
culture—-rich-----butcher
picture—-catch----match
17./ dз /
j-----------g ------dg
rejoice---danger judgement
joke------gin----badge
James-----large--edger
John------huge---hedge
NASALS
18. /m/
m------mm------mn----mb
man----summer—-damn--comb
arm----mummy—--hymn--bomb
amidst-solemn--------plumber
19. /n/
n------mn-------nn------gn
no---mnemonic—-funny----gnaw
pain—----------annoy----design
any------------annul
pn---------kn----wn
pneumonia knife--fawn
----------know---lawn
-----------------frown
20. / η /
nk----ng
Ink---bang
Link--long
Bank--sing
Plank-fang
Bunk—tongue
LATERAL SEMI-VOWELS
21. /l/
l---------ll
travel---collect
pedal----college
please---call
It appears most of the time the same in writing and speech except the silent l as in half, talk, palm, should, chalk, psalm, would, colonel etc
22 . /r/
r----rr----rh---wr
road barrow rhyme write
ride arrow rhythm wretched
23. /w/
w-----u
wait--suit
weed
why
The silent w does not have the /w/ sound e.g. wrong, wrestle etc instead they belong to the /r/ family.
24. /j/
e--------eu--------y
ewe------Europe----yesterday
eulogy---European--you
-------------------your
-------------------yes
-------------------yeah
-------------------yam
The /j/ sound is sometimes used as a glide as in cure / kju3/