Phonetics and Phonology: Vowels and Transcriptions

Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology

Key Linguistic Definitions

• Phonology: It studies how speech segments are distributed in a given context, and how individual languages show inner relationships in their own oral acts.
• Phoneme: The minimum significant sound unit, the smallest contrastive unit of sound in a language by which we can distinguish two words (e.g., tin-teen, they-day).
• Phonetics: Will be almost unanimously acknowledged to be the linguistic science which studies speech sounds: the way in which they are produced.
• Allophones: Phoneme variants are known as allophones.

Branches of Phonetics

• Articulatory Phonetics: It analyzes the way in which speech sounds are produced (how and where).
• Acoustic Phonetics: It analyzes the physical environment through which speech is transmitted.
• Auditory Phonetics: It analyzes the way in which speech sounds are perceived.

English Vowel Sounds and Articulatory Features

• /iː/: Front, closed, voiced, lips spread
• /ɪ/: Front, half-closed, voiced, lips slightly spread
• /e/: Front, half-open, voiced
• /æ/: Front, open, voiced, lips unrounded
• /ɑː/: Back, open, voiced, lips rounded
• /ɒ/: Back, open, voiced, lips rounded
• /ɔː/: Back, half-open, voiced, lips rounded
• /ʊ/: Back, half-closed, voiced, lips rounded
• /uː/: Back, closed, voiced, lips rounded
• /ʌ/: Central, half-open, voiced, nearly closed
• /ɜː/: Central, half-open, voiced, unrounded
• /ə/ (Schwa): Central, half-open, voiced, unrounded

Phonetic Transcription Practice

[aɪ dəʊnt nəʊ. ɪt wɒz ˈɔːl ˈraɪt wen wiː weər ɪn ɪŋglənd ˌlɑːst taɪm... aɪ θɪŋk ɪts gəʊɪŋ tə reɪn səʊ aɪ wəʊnt bi eɪbl tə pleɪ] .. [aɪ wɒz ˈəʊnlɪ wʌns æt ðeə ˌhaʊs, æz ə mætər əv fækt, bʌt aɪ ˈhæd ðɪ ɪmpreʃən ðæt ðeɪ ˈhæd ə gʊd hɒlədɪ? jes, θæŋks, verɪ gʊd. wen dɪd juː ˈget bæk? jestədeɪ. ˈhæv juː biːn əˈweɪ? jes; bʌt aɪv ˈɔːlməʊst fəgɒtən əbaʊt ɪt baɪ naʊ. ˈweə wə juː? ðeər ə ˌwaɪld flaʊəz ðeə. dʒænɪt wɒz ˌverɪ glæd æt ˈfaɪndɪŋ ə ˈrɑːðər ʌnˈkɒmən wʌn]

English Diphthongs and Word Examples

• /eɪ/: eight, date, gate, late, main, mate, pain...
• /aɪ/: my, nine, reply, rise, climb, wine, arrive...
• /ɔɪ/: noise, annoying, boil, enjoy, appointment, oyster...
• /əʊ/: no, coast, coat, code, holy, hope, own, road, won't...
• /aʊ/: now, foul, crown, brown, fountain, doubt...
• /eə/: bear, chairs, dare, fare, hair, pair, tear...