Fonología y Lingüística del Inglés para Profesionales del Habla-Lenguaje y Audición

Jose Galarza MA, CCC-SLPEBS Healthcare

jose.galarza@ebshealthcare.com

Fundamental ConceptsThe rules of a language are learned as one acquires a language. These rules include:• Phonology - the sound system.

• Morphology - the structure of words.

• Syntax - the combination of words into sentences.

• Semantics - the ways in which sounds and meanings are related.

• Lexicon – the mental dictionary of words.

Components of GAE - Consonants

24 consonant phonemes – two versions of /r/• Syllable-initial position and r-colored vowels

The symbols used to transcribe the consonants of English are:• /p, b, t, d, k, g, m, n, ŋ, f, v, θ, ð, v, s, ʃ, ʒ, h, tʃ, dʒ ,

l, r, w, j/

English Phonemic Inventory

Source: ASHA

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Source: antimoon.com

Consonants

Place - Bilabials

Bilabial Sounds

• Upper and lower lips. – /p/ (pie), /b/ (by), /m/ (my), /w/ (why)

Place - Labiodentals

Labiodental Sounds • Upper teeth and lower lip. – /f/ (fear, fairy), /v/ (veer, very)

Place - Dentals

Interdental Sounds • Pronounced with tongue between teeth. – /θ/ (thistle), /ð/ (this)

Place - Alveolars

Alveolar Sounds • Tongue touching or near the alveolar ridge

(hard ridge just behind the teeth).– /t/ (teeth), /d/ (dear), /n/ (near), /s/ (sear),

/z/ (zero), /l/ (lead), /r/ (read)

Place - Velars

Velar Sounds • Back of the tongue touches the soft

palate(velum).– /k/ (kind), /g/ (go), /ŋ/ (king, gong)

Place - Palatals

Palatal Sounds • Tongue touching the roof of the mouth behind

the alveolar ridge.– /ʃ/ (sheer), /ʒ/ (azure), /tʃ/ (church),

/ʤ/ (judge), /j/ (you)

Place - Glottal

Glottal Sounds • Air flows through the glottis

(= opening between vocal chords). – /h/ (house)

Place of ArticulationNasal Consonants Oral Consonants

m p/bf/vθ/ð

n t/ds/z

lr

ʃ/ʒj

tʃ/ʤŋ k/g

h

Manner of Articulation• Refers to the interaction between the various

articulators and the airstream.• The air is temporarily trapped then released.• The various manners of articulation are:

Plosives Nasals FricativesAffricates Liquids Glides

Manner - Plosive• The airflow is completely blocked in the oral cavity,

and the stop is suddenly released.• Air pressure increases behind the closure and is then

released explosively.• The place of the block can vary (place of articulation).• If the vocal cords vibrate even during closure, the

stop is voiced.• p/b, t/d, k/g

Manner - Nasals• Total obstruction of airflow in the oral cavity.

• Air flows through the nasal cavity.

• The shape and position of the tongue determine the resonant cavity that gives different nasals their characteristic sounds.

• /m/, /n/, /ŋ/

Manner - Fricatives• No total obstruction of airflow in the oral cavity.• Airflow through the small aperture between

articulators causes friction.• Friction can appear at various places along the

vocal tract (place of articulation).• The vocal cords can vibrate (voiced fricatives) or

not (voiceless fricatives). • f/v, θ/ð, s/z, ʃ/ʒ,h

Manner - Affricates• Plosive followed by fricative therefore air is

released with less force than a plosive.

• English: only alvelopalatal (alveolar – palatal) affricates produced.

• Voiced or voiceless, depending on whether the vocal cords vibrate or not.

• tʃ/dʒ

Manner – Liquids

• No real friction in the oral cavity; the airflow is redirected around raised tongue.

• /l/ is a lateral sound; air passes on two sides of the tongue.

• Various pronunciations of /r/

Manner – Glides• Little or no obstruction in the mouth.• Glides resemble vowels.• Glides usually precede or follow a vowel.• A [glide + vowel] or [vowel + glide] unit is a

diphtong (as in you, toy, wow,etc.).• Glides are voiced.• j, w

Voicelessand Voiced Sounds

Voiceless Consonants Vocal folds are not vibrating.

Voiced Consonants Vocal folds are vibrating

(air passing through them).

p bmw

f vθ ðt ds z

lrn

ʃ ʒj

tʃ ʤk g

ŋh

Components of General American English (GAE)

18 Vowels • Tense vowels are lengthened or diphthongized

in stressed syllables.– The tense vowels are /i, e, u, o, ɔ, a/

• The schwa is used very often:– a, about; e, believe; i, compatible; o, oblige; u, circus

Components of GAE - Vowels

Components of GAE - VowelsGAE Location GAE Vowels GAE Examples

High-front iɪ

seat, meetsit, his, syllable

Mid-front

Low-front

eɛ

æ

raid, play, greyred, said

bad, flag, landHigh-back rounded u

ʊblue, school, twobook, look

Mid-back rounded oɔ

boat, sew, choketall, caught, awful

Low-back a drop, shock, hotCentral (stressed)

(unstressed)ʌə

cut, shove, upon, soda

Components of GAE - VowelsGAE Location GAE Vowels GAE Examples[r]-colored vowels ɝ

ɚɪrɛrʊrɔrar

fur, were, sirnever, colorear, cheer, here, pierair, sharetour, surefour, shore, doorcar,

Diphthongs eiaiaʊɔioʊ

pay, paidmy, hide, appliedout, mouse, cowboy, coin, Illinoislow, load, although

Syllable Structures

• Syllable structures range from a single vowel (e.g., I) to CCCVCCC (e.g., sprints).

• Words range from 1 to 9 or 10 syllables.• Abundance of monosyllabic words due to

possibility of using singleton consonants and clusters at both the beginning and end of the word (e.g., sky, ask, steel, least).

Phonological Processes• Patterns that young children use to simplify

adult speech.• All children use these processes while speech

and language are developing.• By age 5, most children stop using

phonological processes and their speech sounds more like the adults around them.

Syllable Structure Processes

Sound changes that cause sounds or syllables to be reduced in number, deleted, or repeated.

• Final Consonant Deletion is the deletion of the final consonant or consonant cluster in a syllable or word.– “soap” /sop/ is pronounced “sew” /so/– “pig” /pɪg/ is pronounced “pi” /pɪ/

Syllable Structure Processes• Cluster Reduction is the deletion of one or more

consonants from a two or three consonant cluster.– “spot” /spat/ is pronounced “pot” /pat/– “clown” /klaʊn/ is pronounced “cown” /kaʊn/

• Syllable Reduction is the deletion of a syllable from a word containing two or more syllables. The deletion usually occurs in the unstressed syllable.– “computer” /kəmpjutɚ/ is pronounced “puter” /pjutɚ/

Substitution Processes

Sound changes in which one sound class replaces another class of sounds.

• Gliding occurs when /r/ becomes /w/ or /l/ becomes /w/ or /j/.– “rail” /rel/ is pronounced “whale” /wel/

“leap” /lip/ is pronounced “weep” /wip/

Substitution Processes• Vocalization occurs when one of the following, /l/,

/ɝ/, or /ɚ/, is replaced by a more neutral vowel.– “seal” /sil/ is pronounced “sio” /sio/– “computer” /kəmpjutɚ/ is pronounced “computa” /kəmpjutʊ/

• Fronting (Velar and Palatal) is the substitution of sounds in the front of the mouth, usually alveolars, for velar or palatal sounds.– “key” /ki/ is pronounced “tea” /ti/– “gate” /get/ is pronounced “date” /det/

Substitution Processes• Deaffrication is the deletion of a stop component

from an affricate leaving only the continuant aspect.– “cheese” /tʃiz/ is pronounced “sheese” /ʃiz/– “jar” /dʒar/ is pronounced “zhar” /ʒar/

• Stopping is the substitution of a stop consonant for a fricative or an affricate.– “sail” /sel/ is pronounced “tail” /tel/– “knife” /naif/ is pronounced “knipe” /naip/

Assimilation ProcessesSound changes in which one sound or syllable influences another sound or syllable.

• Prevocalic Voicing is the voicing of an initial voiceless consonant in a word.– “peach” /pitʃ/ is pronounced “beach”/bitʃ/

• Postvocalic Devoicing is the devoicing of a final voiced consonant in a word.– “bag” /bæg/ is pronounced “back”/bæk/

Summary• Fundamental components of General American

English, with an emphasis on phonology.

• Consonants, vowels, and diphthongs with the International Phonetic Alphabet and key words.

• Articulation by describing place, manner, and voicing and phonological processes.

ResourcesASHA Phonemic Inventories http://www.asha.org/practice/multicultural/Phono.htm

International Phonetic Alphabethttp://www.omniglot.com/writing/ipa.htm

(Has audio clips for each phoneme)http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/charts/IPAlab/IPAlab.htm

Diphthongs and Triphthongs(Has audio clips for each sound)http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/diphthongs.html

Learning English Pronunciationhttp://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc.htm

Merriam-Webster Dictionaryhttp://www.merriam-webster.com/