A COURSE BOOK

IN PHONETICS AND
ENGLISH PHONOLOGY
A Text Book
Prescribed by
Swami Ramanand TeerthMarathwada University, Nanded
Under
Choice Based Credit System (CBCS)

For
Post graduate studies in English (MA)
2019-20

1
 Members of Board of Studies in English, SRTM University, Nanded
Dr Mahesh M Nivargi Associate Professor, Department of English,
(Chairman) Mahatma Gandhi Mahavidyalaya,
Ahmedpur, Dist. Latur – 413515
Dr Ajay R Tengse Associate Professor and Head, Department of English,
Yeshwant Mahavidyalaya,
Nanded – 431602
Dr Rajaram C Jadhav Head, Department of English,
Shivaji Mahavidyalaya,
Renapur, Dist. Latur – 413527
Dr Arvind M Nawale Head, Department of English,
Shivaji Mahavidyalaya,
Udgir, Dist. Latur – 413517
Dr Dilip V Chavan Professor and Head, Department of English,
School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies,
SRTM University, Nanded – 431606
Dr Shailaja B Wadikar Associate Professor, Department of English,
School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies,
SRTM University, Nanded – 431606
Dr Atmaram S Gangane Associate Professor and Head, Department of English,
DSM’s College of Arts, Commerce and Science,
Parbhani – 431401
Dr Manisha B Gahelot Associate Professor, Department of English,
People’s College,
Nanded – 431602
Dr Prashant M Mannikar Associate Professor and Head, Department of English,
Dayanand College of Arts,
Latur – 413512
Dr Kishor N Ingole Assistant Professor, Department of English,
Shivaji College,
Hingoli – 431513
Dr Uttam B Ambhore Professor, Department of English,
Dr BAM University,
Aurangabad- 431004
Dr Muktja V Mathakari Principal SNDT College of Home Sciences,
Pune – 411 004
Dr Manish S Wankhede Associate Professor, Department of English,
Dhanwate National College,
Nagpur – 440 027
Mr Sudarshan Kecheri Managing Director, Authorspress,
Q-2A, HauzKhas Enclave,
New Delhi – 110 016
Dr Sandhya Tiwari, Director, CELT,
Palamuru University, Mahbubnagar – 509 001

2
 A COURSE BOOK
IN PHONETICS AND
ENGLISH PHONOLOGY
A Text Book
Prescribed by
Swami Ramanand TeerthMarathwada University, Nanded

Under
Choice Based Credit System (CBCS)

For
Post graduate studies in English (MA)
2019-20

Content developed by
Dr. L. V. Padmarani Rao

Published for Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded

Courtesy:

NEWMAN
P U B L I C A T I ON
www.newmanpublication.com

3
 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

ISBN: 978-81-942381-3-3
A Course Book in Phonetics and English Phonology
An Additional English (S L ) book, developed as a textbook as per CBCS Pattern and prescribed by Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada
University, Nanded for college students of UG First Year

© The Registrar, Swami Ramanad Teerth University,Nanded , India

Print copy for private circulation only, not for sale.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced ortransmitted, in anyform or by any means, without
permission. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution
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First published: 2019

Published by New Man Publication, Parbhani for

The Registrar, Swami Ramanad Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded, India

Printed at Snehal Printers and Book Binders, 66, Ramdasnagar, Parbhani- 431401.

Typesetting and Covegr Design: Dr Kalyan Gangarde, Parbhani -431401

The publishers have applied for copyright permission for those pieces that need copyright clearance and due
acknowledgement will be made at the first opportunity.

The views and contents of this book are solely of the author(s). The author(s) of the book has/have taken all reasonable care
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in any manner whatsoever. In theevent the author(s) has/have been unable to track any source and if any copyright has
beeninadvertently infringed, please notify the publisher in writing for corrective action.

# This book is available as e-book on srtmun.ac.in for educational and instructional use.
Any commercial use of this book is prohibited.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

CONTENTS

Unit I: Introduction to linguistics 9-29

1.0 Introduction 4
1.1 Definition of a Language 7
1.2 Origin of Language 8
1.3 A Short History of English Language 10
1.3.1 The English Language 14
1.4 Communication 17
1.4.1 Definition of Communication 18
1.4.2 Animal and Human Communication 19
1.4.3 Characteristics of Human Language 22
1.4.4 Verbal & Non-Verbal Communication 26
1.4.5 Barriers of Communication 30
1.4.6 Methods to overcome the Barriers to Communication 32
1.5 Linguistics 33
1.5.1 Linguistics in Historical Context 34
1.5.2 Branches of Linguistics 42
1.5.3 Levels of Linguistic Analysis 44
Unit II: Speech Mechanism and Speech Sounds 30-65
2.0 Introduction 47
2.1 The Speech Mechanism 47
2.1.1 The Respiratory System 48
2.1.2 The Phonatory System 50
2.1.3 The Articulatory System 52
2.2 Description and Classification of Speech Sounds 55
2.2.1 The IPA Symbols 57
2.3 The Description and Classification of English Vowels 61
2.3.1 English Vowels: Monophthongs 63
2.3.2 English Vowels: Diphthongs 75
2.4 The Description and Classification of English Consonants 83
2.4.1 English Consonants: Plosives 89
2.4.2 English Consonants: Affricates 97
2.4.3 English Consonants: Fricatives 100
2.4.4 English Consonants: Nasals 108
2.4.5 English Consonants: Lateral 111
2.4.6 English Consonants: Frictionless Continuant 112
2.4.7 English Consonants: Semi Vowels 114
Unit III: Units of Speech 66-79
3.1 The Phoneme 119
3.2 The Allophone 120
3.3 The Syllable 121
3.3.1 The Consonant Clusters 124
3.3.2 The Syllabic Consonant 124
3.4 Word Stress or Accent 125
3.4.1 The Rules of Stress in English 126
3.5 Phonetic Transcription of Words 134
3.5.1 Types of Phonetic Transcription 136
3.5.2 Uses of Phonetic Transcription 136
3.5.3 Phonetic Transcription: Examples 137

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Unit IV: Connected Speech 80-95
4.1 Rhythm in Connected Speech 146
4.2 Weak Forms 148
4.3 Elision 154
4.4 Assimilation 157
4.5 Intonation 160
4.5.1 Types of Tones /tunes 161
4.5.2 The Tone Group 162
4.5.3 The Tonic Syllable 164
4.5.4 Choosing the Appropriate Tone 165
4.5.5 Examples for Stress and Intonation 170

Unit V: Varieties of English 96-122

5.1 Introduction 175
5.2 International varieties of English 178
5.2.1 BritishEnglish 178
5.2.2 AmericanEnglish 183
5.2.3 Australian English 191
5.2.4 AfricanEnglish 195
5.2.5 IndianEnglish 198
5.3 Social varieties of English 208
5.3.1 Speech Repertoire 209
5.3.2 Dialects 211
5.3.3 Accents 214
5.3.4 Registers 216
5.3.5 Styles 218
5.4 Some Aspects of Sociolinguistics for Languages in Contact 219
5.4.1 Natives and Non-native Varieties 220
5.4.2 Standard and Non-standard Varieties 220
5.4.3 Bilingualism/Multilingualism 221
5.4.4 Diglossia 222
5.4.5 Code-switching and Code-mixing 222
5.4.6 Pidgins and Creoles 225
Phonetics & English Phonology: Practice 123-133
• Word Transcription 228
• Sentence Transcription 239
• Paragraph Transcription 242
• Dialogue Transcription 246

Question Bank 134-135

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
English Vowels and Consonants
English Vowels (20) an English Consonants (24)
A) Pure vowels : (12)
Symbols Examples
/i:/ seat /si:t/
/ɪ/ sit /sɪt /
/e/ set /set/
/æ/ sat /sæt/
/a:/ cart /ka:t/
/ɒ/ cot /kɒt/
/ɔ:/ court /kɔ:t/
/u/ full /ful/
/ʌ/ shut /ʃʌt/
/ɜ:/ shirt /ʃɜ:t /
/ə/ about /əbaʋt/
/u:/ fool /fu:l/

B) Diphthongs: (08)
Symbols Examples
/eɪ/ gate /ɡeɪt/
/aɪ/ five /faɪv/
/ɔɪ/ boy /bɔɪ/
/əʊ/ go /ɡəʋ/
/aʊ / how /haʋ/
/eə/ hair /heə/
/ʊə/ poor /pʊə/
/ɪə/ here /hɪə/
C) English Consonants (24)
Consonants are further classed into seven categories. They are as follows.
1. Plosives : (06)
/p/ Pin /pɪn/
/b/ bin /bɪn/
/t/ tin /tɪn/
/d/ din /dɪn/
/k/ cap /kæp/
/ɡ/ gap /ɡæp/

2. Affricates : (02)
/tʃ/ church /tʃɜ:tʃ/
/dʒ/ judge /dʒʌdʒ/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
3. Fricatives : (09)
/f/ fan /fæn/
/v/ van /væn/
/θ/ thin /θɪn/
/ð/ this /ðɪs/
/s/ same /seɪm/
/z/ zoo /zu:/
/ʃ/ shame /ʃeɪm/
/ʒ/ pleasure /pleʒə/
/h/ height /haɪt/

4. Nasals : (03)
/m/ might /maɪt/
/n/ night /naɪt/
/ɳ/ sing /sɪɳ/

5. Lateral : (01)
/l/ light /laɪt/

6. Frictionless Continuant : (01)

/r/ right /raɪt/

7. Semi Vowels : (02)

/j/ yes /jes/
/w/ wet /wet/

***

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

Unit I: Introduction to linguistics

1.0 Introduction
English is the native language and is spoken as the first language in United Kingdom, United States of
America, Australia, Canada and New Zealand across the world. English is a non-native language of Asia
and Africa and hence is spoken as second language, their respective native languages being their first
language. In a country like India, where there are 22 native languages recognized by the Government
and Hindi written in the Devanagari script as the official languages of the country, along with English as
the co-official language, English language is a second or third language as according to the state policy.
By second or third language, it is meant that English is learnt as compulsory subject at school and
college level. In countries like Russia, China, Japan and Korea, English is a foreign language learnt by
the people who require the use of it according to their career prospects. By foreign language, it is
understood as the language learnt if required, not as a compulsory subject in the education system. A
second language is one which is used for various purposes within the country while a foreign language
is used for international purposes.

Learning a language essentially means to master the four basic skills of it-Listening (L), Speaking (S),
Reading (R) and Writing (W), which all together enables the learner to communicate better. Whereas
learning the first language or the native language, which is also called as the mother tongue (ML) is very
natural for a child following the same order of L, S, R, and W to master it; learning a second language
poses to be artificial and unnatural as it follows the order of R and W, followed by L and then very less
emphasis given to S. Over the years, across the world much research went into second language
acquisition processes, proposing modern approaches, methods and techniques to make the learning of
second language as acquisition, but with varying success rates.

Language essentially is spoken and the child acquires the mother tongue with a constant exposure to the
language and ample practice. But in a second language situation, especially in learning a language like
English, neither exposure nor practice is sufficiently provided to make the child master the language.
Moreover, when the child acquires the first language, only one language is learnt but when it learns the
second language, it has already learnt its mother tongue and hence the rules interfere, thus making the
second language learning a bit more difficult.

This course book on Phonetics & English Phonology aims at developing the Listening and Speaking
skills with a greater care and practice. It is an established fact that the more careful one listens, the better
one speaks. A deaf person obviously is dumb as well; because if one does not listen to the correct type
of expressions, it becomes difficult to pick them up. Every language selects its sounds and the script to
represent the sounds. For example, Hindi has 15 vowels and 36 consonant letters which make a total of
51 letters. The pronunciation of each letter is unique which is learnt as the vowel-consonant combination
and once mastered; the language can be read, written and spoken with no difficulty. It is so for any
Sanskrit derived Indian languages like Marathi, Telugu, Bengali, Guajarati etc.

But English is not such a language and there is no one-to-one correspondence between letters and
sounds, and hence it is even more essential to learn pronunciation. Look at the following examples.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
The letter ‘c’ in the word- ‘cake’ is pronounced as /k/; cease is pronounced as /s/; church is pronounced
as /cha/. The vowel ‘u’ in the word – put, tub and universe has different pronunciations. This is applied
to all the English letters. The spelling and pronunciation parity is missing in English and this aspect adds
to difficulty of a second language learner.

Another difficulty is the type of dialect to be selected to learn the language. Dialect is the geographical
variation of a language that one observes within the same language. As one observes a Konkani dialect,
Vaidarbhi dialect, Marathwadi dialect, Puneri dialect in Marathi Language with respect to the
corresponding regions in Maharashtra, similarly, British English, American English, Australian English
are the broad distinctions in English language; together with the British variety of Scottish dialect, Irish
dialect, Welsh dialect, educated England dialect and uneducated England dialect. Each dialect has
difference in pronunciation, accent, intonation, vocabulary and sometimes syntactic expression of the
same language. The model for the non-native situation is chosen as the Received Pronunciation (R.P.)
from the South-east England as the model for historical reasons.

Teaching of English pronunciation is essential in the second language situation and hence, pronunciation
details and practice have been incorporated in the text books of local medium schools of Maharashtra,
right from the first standard onwards for developing better English speaking in the country.

1.1 Definition of Language

Language is a system that is special only to the human beings and it consists of the development,
acquisition, maintenance and use of complex systems of communication. Language is a method of
human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and
conventional way. The English word language derives 13th century French langage which is from the
Latin lingua, ‘language; tongue’, though the etymology goes back to Proto-Indo-European expression
dnghu meaning ‘tongue’. Humboldt considers language to be very essential as he says, “Man is man
through the use of language alone.”

Edward Sapir (1921) defines language as, “language is purely human and non-instinctive method of
communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced sounds”.

According to Charles Francis Hockett (1958), “Language is the most valuable single possession of the
human race.”

Oxford Advanced Learning Dictionary, (1989) defines language as a “System of sounds, words, patterns
etc. used by humans to communicate thoughts and feelings”.

Ferdinand de Saussure (1916) insisted on the systematic nature of language and says that a ‘language is
a system of systems’ and adds “language is a structure, a functioning whole in which the different parts
are determined by one another”.

Lewis Thomas considers language to be a gift and says, ‘the gift of language is the single human trait
that marks us all genetically, setting us apart from the rest of life.”

Hence language is a system of communication, a medium for thought, a vehicle for literary expression,
and in fact language is in and around man, whether awake or dreaming.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
1.2 Origin of Language
Language primarily is spoken, not written. No one knows exactly how languages have originated. Some
chief theories regarding the origin of language are as following. Some believe that there is a divine
source that provided humans with language. While some proclaim that the earliest speech was produced
by man’s attempt to imitate some characteristic sound of the creature or the object to which he was
referring. There are a few who argue that a natural rhythmical relation exists between music in nature
and man’s natural response to it.

Charles Darwin, in his Descent of Man (1871) proposed that like man himself, language also
developed from a more primitive form, probably from the expression of emotional interjections evoked
by pain, surprise, pleasure, wander etc. Wilhelm Wundt and later re-started by Sir Richard Paget in his
book Human Speech suggested the gesture theory. Signs and gestures made with the hands are the
earliest method of communication. The sounds accompanied by gestures are poised in due course of
time and thus man passed from sign language to spoken language.

Even though these are some explanations to the origin of language, none in itself is really
satisfactory and complete. Perhaps each theory is correct up to a certain point and the puzzle as to how
language began is still a million dollar question. Many philosophers, thinkers of the past thought about
the origin of language. Thinkers such as Rousseau have argued that language originated from emotions
while others like Kant have held that it originated from rational and logical thought.

“Continuity theories” built on the idea that language exhibits so much complexity that one cannot
imagine it simply appearing from nothing in its final form; therefore it must have evolved from earlier
pre-linguistic systems among the primate ancestors. "Discontinuity theories" take the opposite
approach—that language is a unique trait which cannot be compared to anything found among non-
humans, must have appeared fairly suddenly during the course of human evolution. Some theories see
language mostly as an innate faculty—largely genetically encoded. Other theories regard language as a
mainly cultural system—learned through social interaction.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky
Noam Chomsky, a prominent proponent of discontinuity theory, argues that a single chance mutation
occurred in one individual in the order of 100,000 years ago, installing the language faculty (a
component of the mid-brain) in "perfect" or "near-perfect" form.
Whatever the reasons are for the origin of any language, language must have evolved because
humans needed it for various purposes like the following.
• To convey emotions and feelings.
• To express one’s ideas and thoughts.
• To ask questions.
• To give factual information.
• To convey commands
• To put up requests.
• For aesthetic reasons like poetry.
• To establish intra personal and interpersonal relations.
• To maintain social contacts on a friendly level.
• To relieve nervous tension.
• To sell your ideas.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
1.3 A Short History of English Language
Languages which show some common features and some shared properties are said to belong to ‘one
family’. These similarities might be because they must have descended from the common parent i.e., at
some point of time, there was a language spoken at a given geographical area, which over a period of
time fragmented into a number of sibling varieties; with the passage of time, these sibling varieties
became sufficiently different from each other to be considered as separate languages. For example: the
Indo-Aryan Language family of the great Northern plains in India gradually bifurcated into Hindi,
Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali, and Guajarati. Similarly, the Dravidian language family bifurcated into
Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.

The Indo-Aryan family shows similarity with the Indo Iranian Family which in turn was a member of
Indo-European family. Indo-European is the ancestor of very large number of languages spoken in
Asia and Europe today. Semitic (Hebrew, Arabic among others), Hemitic (Berber languages of North
Africa), Indo-Chinese (Chinese, Japanese, etc), American Indian (Languages of Americas and
Mexico) and many more are some of the language families analysed so far.

Though the European visitors to the Indian subcontinent began to notice similarities among Indo-Aryan,
Iranian, and European languages as early as 16 century, the hypothesis reappeared in 1786 when Sir
William Jones first lectured on the striking similarities among three of the oldest languages known in
his time: Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit, to which he tentatively added Gothic, Celtic, and Persian; followed
by Franz Bopp in 1816 who wrote On the conjugational system of the Sanskrit language compared
with that of Greek, Latin, Persian and Germanicand between 1833 and 1852 wrote Comparative
Grammar that marks the beginning of Indo-European studies as an academic discipline.

Indo-European languages are believed to derive from a hypothetical language known as Proto-Indo-
European, which is no longer spoken. It is highly probable that the earliest speakers of this language
originally lived around Ukraine and neighbouring regions in the Caucasus and Southern Russia, then
spread to most of the rest of Europe and later down into India. The earliest possible end of Proto-Indo-
European linguistic unity is believed to be around 3400 BCE. The Indo-European languages have a large
number of branches: Anatolian, Indo-Iranian, Greek, Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Armenian, Tocharian,
Balto-Slavic and Albanian.

The shared Characteristics of the Eurasian languages could be as understood accordingly. The Proto-
Indo-European was an inflected language, in which the grammatical relationships between words were
signalled through inflectional morphemes (usually endings). Similarities in grammatical endings,
obvious and state-able phonetic rules could be the possible reasons for the thinking of this common
parental ancestry. There could have had a consonantal shift from Proto-Indo-European to Sanskrit-
Greek-Latin-German-Celtic- English to form the Eurasian languages. As an example, in English, one of
the Germanic languages, the following are some of the major changes that happened:

1. The plosives sounds reduced gradually from twenty sounds of Proto-Indo-European to fifteen
and then to twelve and to six as in English.
2. The verb inflection system became simplified-many distinctions of tense and aspect was lost. A
simpler verb conjugation with only two tenses (one to express past and one to express present and
future) including a two-fold classification of strong (irregular) and weak verbs (regular verbs)
evolved.
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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
3. Declensions of adjectives became weak (Modern English has lost all the declensions of the
adjective) with a two classification of weak (predicative) and strong (attributive) adjectives.
4. In Indo-European, any syllable of a word could be stressed; in Germanic, the first syllable came
regularly stressed; followed by specific rules for stress in English and French. This fixed word
accent gradually lead to drop the unstressed vowels and the consequent weakening of the
inflectional endings.
5. The Great Vowel Shift: The change of pronunciation in the vowels in the first phase and the
pronunciation of long vowels as the diphthongs in the second phase marked a tremendous vowel
shift
First Phase of Great Vowel Shift
Second Phase of Great Vowel Shift
Word Vowel Pronunciation
Word Vowel Pronunciation
1400 1550
1400 1550 1640
Bite /iː/ /ɛi/
Meet /ɛː/ /ɛː/ /eː/
Meet /eː/ /iː/ Mate /aː/ /aː/, /ɛː/
Out /uː/ /ɔu/ /æː/
Boot /oː/ /uː/ Boat /ɔː/ /ɔː/ /oː/

6. The great consonantal change: As in the other Germanic languages, the Germanic sound
shift changed the realization of all stop consonants, with each consonant shifting to a different
one:
bʰ → b → p → f
dʰ → d → t → θ
gʰ → g → k → x (Later initial x →h)
gʷʰ → gʷ → kʷ → xʷ (Later initial xʷ →hʷ)
Each original consonant shifted one position to the right. For example, original dʰ became d, while
original d became t and original t became θ (written th in English). This is the original source of the
English sounds written f, th, h and wh. Examples, comparing English with Latin, where the sounds
largely remain unshifted:
For PIE p: piscis vs. fish; pēs, pēdis vs. foot; pluvium "rain" vs. flow; pater vs. father
For PIE t: trēs vs. three; māter vs. mother
For PIE d: decem vs. ten; pēdis vs. foot; quid vs. what
For PIE k: centum vs. hund(red); capere "to take" vs. have
For PIE kʷ: quid vs. what; quandō vs. when

7. Various further changes affected consonants in the middle or end of a word:

o The voiced stops resulting from the sound shift were softened to voiced fricatives (or perhaps
the sound shift directly generated fricatives in these positions).
o Verner's law also turned some of the voiceless fricatives resulting from the sound shift into
voiced fricatives or stops. This is why the t in Latin centum ends up as d in hund(red) rather
than the expected th.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
o Most remaining h sounds disappeared, while remaining f and th became voiced. For example,
Latin decem ends up as ten with no h in the middle (but note taíhun "ten" in Gothic, an
archaic Germanic language). Similarly, the words seven and have have a voiced v (compare
Latin septem, capere), while father and mother have a voiced th, although not spelled
differently (compare Latin pater, māter).
1.3.1 The English Language
England was called as Britain as it was occupied by the Britons, a Celtic race till around 450 AD. The
English language today has resulted from a fusion of the Germanic dialects spoken by three tribes who
came to Britannia. It was invaded by the German tribes of Angels, Saxons and Jutes and mixed the
Germanic language into the Celtic. The name England and English came into existence because of the
domination of Angels, who started calling the land as Angla-land, which slowly became England; their
language was known to Angla-language, that slowly became English. The second invasion was by the
Latin and Greek languages when St. Augustine and his followers converted England to Christianity.
The language was subtly enriched by the Danes and finally transformed by the French-speaking
Normans (966 AD).

In the 1500 years of its existence, English has developed continuously. In this development, it is
possible to see three main periods. It is only a matter of convenience to make such a distinction with
certain characteristic features and the three periods are:

Old English 450-1100

Middle English 1100-1500

Modern English 1500-the present

i. Old English(450-1100): This period marks the Germanic invasion of the Britons. The period
had four dialects-Northumbrian, Merican, West-Saxon and Kentish, of which the West-Saxon
dialect gradually gained its prominence. Grammatically, Old English is a synthetic language with
more inflections for nouns, verbs and adjectives. Vocabulary wise, the word formation was by
using prefixes and suffixes. A large number of self-explaining compound words featured in the
old English vocabulary. The Old English period was a multi-lingual period with Celtic,
Germanic, Greek, Latin, Danish and Scandinavian influences. The Old English literature, though
poor, flourished with the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in Prose and a few anonymous and fragmented
war and sea poems like Beowulf, Wanderer, Seafarer, The Ruin. Most of the literature had
Christian themes. Language wise, the Old English was essentially assimilative and
accommodative.
ii. Middle English(1100-1500): This period marks the French invasion into the Anglo-Saxon
Britain. This is the period of levelled inflections. It is in fact a period in which changes occurred
in every aspect of the language. The most important reason for the change is the conquest of
England by the French, known familiarly as the Norman Conquest. Normans were from
Normandy, which is in the north of France, right across the English Channel. With William the
conqueror becoming the king of England, the entire English nobility is replaced with French
language and culture. Only gradually, with the loss of Normandy, the process of rehabilitation of
English began in the forth-coming centuries. In October 1362, the British Parliament first opened
with English and the proceedings went on in English. Though French remained as the language

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
of prestige as far as 1731, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, people were bilingual with
French as the official language and English as the language of the lower ranks. However, English
reasserted itself in the fourteenth century with The Hundred Year’s war that made the French
as the enemy to the English. The commercial middle class of the fifteenth century along with the
scanty surviving poor class from The Black Death increased the economic importance of the
labouring class and with it the importance of the English language which they spoke rose in
England. In the Fifteenth century, French became the language of culture and fashion, and
English became the language of literature and expression in England. Geoffrey Chaucer (1350-
1400) as the Father of English Literature came out with the Canterbury Tales, Troilus and
Criseyde as the finest English expressions. William Langland’s (1362-87) Piers Plowman and
John Wycliff’s translation of the Bible into English enriched the English language with
vocabulary and expressions. Prose writers like Malory, Lydgate and Caxton ripened the
language to the finest expression of the Elizabethan writers like Shakespeare and Milton who
are on the threshold of the modern period.
iii. Modern English(1500- till date): Standardisation is the key for the Modern English.
Grammatically English settled down as an analytical language. In the hands of Shakespeare,
Milton, Dr. Johnson and others, it was perfected as a fit medium for both prose and poetry.
Spelling reforms were undertaken, dictionaries were composed, and English was transplanted in
other lands giving rise to non-native varieties of English. Renaissance was the first great change
making event in this period; the second was industrial revolution; the third was migration to
and settlement in USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand; the fourth was the Scientific
progress; the fifth was the imperial colonization of Asia and African lands- all these added to
the growth of the English language across the globe in the modern age. One of the most
important aspects of English becoming a global language is its ability to adopt and adapt new
vocabulary items from all the languages of its contact across the world.
Thus is the brief history of English language. Externally, the history is a record of political, social and
economic events that befall the speakers of a language and internally, the effect of those events on the
sounds, the vocabulary and the structure of that language.

1.4 Communication
Communication is the process of sharing information, ideas, concepts and messages between two or
more persons. Communication is a two-way process, which begins in the minds of the person who are
communicating. This desire in the mind of the communicator is communicated to the other using the
medium of speech. It is here that a fairly good knowledge of language helps the communicator express
himself /herself. But there is no limit to the number of media that can be used for communication. E.g.
use of audio-visual aids, Internet call-center etc. Man has been using language as a tool of
communication for centuries. Language has enabled man to interact with the environment and to
regulate his/her social behavior. Though there are a number of other means of communication, language
is the most sophisticated system of symbols.

1.4.1 Definition of Communication

The term communication has been defined differently by different people.
Communication is the activity or process of expressing ideas and feelings or of giving people
information. Oxford advanced learner’s Dictionary.

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Communication is the act of exchanging information and communicates means to exchange
ideas. Webster’s Dictionary.
Communication is a process of passing information and understanding from one person to
another. Keith Davis.
Communication is the process by which information is passed between individuals and/or
organizations by means of previously agreed symbols. Peter Little.
Communication is the intercourse by words, letters or messages, the intercourse of thought or
opinions. It is the act of making one’s ideas and opinions known to other. F.G. Mayer
Communication is a process which involves the transmission and accurate replication of ideas
ensured by feedback. For the purpose of eliciting actions, this will accomplish organizational goals.
William Scott
Communication is any behavior that results is an exchange of meaning.
The American Management Association.
David Berlo in his book The Process of Communication explains the process of communication
as following.
An idea, concept, message or some information is encoded by the encoder (the sender of the
message) using a medium, which can be understood by the decoder (the receiver of the message) who in
turn process it in his mind and responds to it. If the decoder understands the message completely,
fidelity of communication is said to be 100 percent. Anything that obstructs communication is said to be
a barrier to communication.

Communication is a two-way process, initiated by the encoder and this elicits a response or
reaction from the decoder depending on how well he/she has understood the communication or how
interested she/he is in it. This response or reaction is also known as feedback. Feedback need not be in
the form of words; it could be with gestures, claps, facial expressions etc. Communication is thus a
network of interaction and naturally the sender and the receiver keep on changing their roles.
1.4.2 Animal and Human Communication
It is said that animals have a communication system as opposed to human beings who have
language. We had a detailed discussion as to what language is in the earlier part of this unit and
established the fact that language is a special gift to human beings. The logical question is therefore to
differentiate between human language and the communication system of animals. First let us see as to
what the communication system of animals is.
Man is the only living species with the power of speech and no other living species can be
performed to have had the power at some earlier time and to have lost it since. The appearance of
language in the universe-at least on our planet—is thus exactly as recent as the appearance of man
himself. Although Homo sapiens are the only living species with the power of speech, man is by no

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means the only animal which carries on communication of some sort. The examples of non-human
animal communication are as following.
i) Bees: When a worker bee finds a source of nectar, it returns to the hive and performs a dance. It
has been shown that certain features of the dance transmit to the other workers information about
the location of the source of nectar. One feature specifies the direction of the source from the
hive and another feature specifies its distance. The semantic conventions of the system are built
into the bee by its genes and do not have to be learnt or taught. But bees cannot communicate
about anything else except nectar.
ii) The court ship behavior of a type of fish known as theThree Spined Stickle Back: Both in
natural environment and aquaria, during the breeding season, the male fish builds a nest on the
floor of ocean, river or aquarium, swims upwards, locates the spices of female whose abdomen is
distended with eggs and performs a zigzag dance around her, turning the spine towards her here
and there. The reaction of the female is to follow the male, who then leads her to the nest. The
behavior is undeniably communicative under any reasonable definition.
iii) The pattern of caring for the young manifested by Herring Gulls, a kind of bird: Soon after
the eggs have hatched, the brooding parent rises and the lets the chick up. They begin to beg for
the food by aiming pecking motions at the parents’ bill. The parent responds by giving a bit of
hay digested food (regurgitating), taking a piece of it between the bill tips, and offering it to the
chicks. There is also some learning by the chicks—nest building, and caring of the young ones.
iv) The calls of Gibbons: Gibbons stimulate each other’s in various ways, like—posturing and
gesturing, but the most language like of their communication is their system of calls. They have
at least nine different calls, differing from each other in sound and there by in consequences.
This differentiation may rest entirely on genetics but it is also possible that this might be due to
cultural transmission.
v) The bird songs: Especially of nightingale or cuckoo is seen only sung by the male birds to
attract the female birds during mating season. Similarly is the dance of a peacock.
Apart from these animals expressing themselves, there are other means of communication as
well—
i) The telegraphic messages with dot and dash.
ii) The computer language with a binary code.
iii) The traffic signals with
Red light—to stop
Orange---- to start
Green------ to go
The road signboards also may be regarded as means of communication.
But of all these means of communication, it is the human language that has achieved perfection
to communicate all the emotions, thoughts and feelings.

1.4.3 Characteristics of Human Language

One of the best ways to understand human language is, to try and understand its characteristics.
Language, according to the linguists, is a special gift to human beings. Only human beings have the
power of speech. Hocket (1955) has listed the following characteristic features of human languages.
1. Duality of structure or pattering: Human language displays two levels of patterning: (a) where
meaningless units (i.e. phonemes) are combined to form arbitrary signs (i.e. words) and (b) these
signs in turn are recombined to form new meaningful larger units (i.e. sentences). In other words

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in languages investigated so far two levels of structures are found: primary level—compounding
of sounds into words—and secondary level—compounding of words into sentences.

Level I S+P+O+T = SPOT

(Compounding of sounds T+O+P+S = TOPS
or phonemes) O+P+T+S = OPTS
Level II spot+the+topd+of+the+pots=
(Compounding of words) spot the tops of the pots

There is no evidence of this type of patterning in any known animal communication system.
Therefore, we can say that one major difference between human language and the animal
communication system is the duality of structure present in human language.
2. Creativity/ productivity: This feature refers to the fact that human language has the ability to
produce new messages on any topic at any time. A sentence never heard of before can be created
by human beings. That is, the same limited sets of phonemes are combined in a novel form to
give novel messages. For example: if I say “last night I had a pleasant meal with a leopard on top
of a tree” it would be a novel sentence which I don’t think I have ever heard or read anywhere.
The construction of such a sentence, therefore, involves creativity/ productivity. The following
quotation sums up this feature of language.
The most striking aspect of linguistic competence is what we may call the “creativity of language
“that is the speaker’s ability to produce new sentences, sentences that are immediately
understood by other speakers although they bear no physical resemblance to sentences which are
familiar. (Chomsky as quoted in Verma and Krishnaswamy 1989:147)
3. Interchangeability: This feature means that all members (male or female) of the species can
both send and receive messages. This is obviously true of human language. This is not the case
with animal communication system. Bee dance is done only by foragers and birdsong is
performed only by males. The calls are not interchangeable between the sexes in the animal
communication system. But they are fully interchangeable in human language.
4. Cultural transmission: Language is a set of conventions that have grown as a result of the
common living of a large number of people. These are, therefore, conventions common to the
entire social group which uses the language. This implies that languages have to be learnt. They
cannot be transmitted through heredity. Charles Hockett (1955) points out that the system of
convention particular to each language is culturally transmitted. (i.e. not acquired through
heredity.)
5. Displacement: Displacement implies that users of the system are able to refer to events remote
in space and time. Animals cannot communicate about imaginary past or future which humans
are able to do with language. In other words, animal communication is context-bound but human
language is context-free. Human being can talk about experience without actually living them
because human language is not controlled by stimulus.
6. Specialization: Specialization implies that there should not be a total physical involvement in
the act of communication. Human beings can talk while engaged in activities totally unrelated to
the subject under discussion. For example they can talk about cricket while cutting vegetables. A
bee in a bee dance, however, is completely involved physically in the communication process. At
that point it cannot do anything else.
7. Arbitrariness: This feature implies that there is no natural or inherent connection between a
written word (or sounds) and its references (or symbols). This is overwhelmingly true of human
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language with the possible exception of a few onomatopoeic terms. That is, the relationship
between words and their meanings is quite arbitrary: it is a matter of conventions. For example,
there is no logic behind why a word like rose refers to a flower and not to a horse or a cat or a
pencil or a mouse! The decision that rose should refer to a flower of a specific kind is purity
arbitrary. There is no nothing scientific about it. A few people decided to call it a rose and the
society accepted it as a word of the English language. The animal communication system
generally does not have any arbitrariness, although Vervet (a kind of a monkey) alarm calls are
said to have arbitrariness.
8. Redundancy:There is a lot of redundancy in human language. For example, when we speak a
sentence like: are you coming? There are two markers to show that it is a question.
i. The placement of the helping verb at the beginning, and
ii. The rising tone with which the question would be asked. And when we write the sentence
there are also two markers to show that it is a question.
iii. The placement of the helping verb at the beginning, and
iv. The punctuation (the use of question mark) at the end of the sentence to show that it is a
question.
This kind of redundancy i.e., two or three markers to show the same thing does not exist in the animal
communication system.
9. Discreteness:Bee dancing or bird-song seems to have very few discrete units, which can be re-
combined. Human language has phonemes, syllables, morphemes, and words etc. which are
discrete units and can be recombined to mean different things. That is, language consists of
isolatable, repeatable units. For example, with the help of three discrete units like p, a and t we
can create pat, tap and apt. This is not possible in the animal communication system.
10. Reflexiveness:By reflexiveness, we mean the ability to use the communication system to discuss
the system itself. No evidence exists that any other species writes grammar linguistics textbooks.
Thus are the characteristic features of human languages which are very distinct from animal
means of communication system.

1.4.4 Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication

Communication basically is of two types –the verbal communication, using language and non-
verbal communication. The verbal communication is by the spoken and written form; hence essentially
communication could be as the following:
• Spoken communication.
• Written communication.
• Non-verbal communication.
i. Spoken Communication
This is dyadic communication, which means an interaction between two persons. Even if more
than two persons are present in a situation, it is only two communicators who play a fundamental role.
Such a person-to-person or face-to-face communication is the commonest form of speech
communications.
It provides ideal conditions, for close-range continuous feedback. The meaning exchange
between the sender and the receiver is marked by high fidelity. Spoken communication being a part of
communication through sound is usually used for speeches, dictations, conversations, discussions,
giving instructions, putting orders, making requests, counseling, telephonic conversations and the like.

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Interviews and group discussions make use of speaking skills whereupon the encoder is expected to
have confidence in the following matters.
• A fair understanding of the subject.
• Good communication skills with appropriate phonetic and organizational skills.
• Alertness of the individual.
• Collaborative nature
• Concentration on the topic under perusal or discussion.
• Being courteous and cheerful.
Never be-
• Dogmatic and argumentative.
• Superfluous in using words and phrases.
• A victim of following mannerisms and over use of same expressions.
There are a number of advantages in spoken communication, if the encoder is efficient. Firstly
the tone of the encoder is used to supplement the spoken words and add credibility to them; secondly, it
is quick; thirdly it covers the entire range of topic; fourthly, it is direct from person to person and hence
is very effective.
ii. Written Communication
The written communication is a tangible record of information, messages, enquiries and
instructions. The basic inclusion of written communication is in writing letters (formal and informal),
reports, précis writing, memos, circulars, notices, telegrams, fax messages, e-mail, advertisements, hand
books, manuals, research papers and articles etc. Even after the introduction of computers, written
communication continues to serve as a legal record. Decisions arrived at after conversations, meetings,
lectures and talks have to be confirmed in writing. It facilitates the transfer of a large number of details
from the encoder to the decoder with the provision to refer to it whenever required. There is a possibility
of details in a spoken communication to be forgotten but in written communication the individuals are
helped to be more efficient.
Written communication requires equal or similar competence in language for both the encoder
(writer) and the decoder (reader). Hence vocabulary, syntax, idiomatic use and language in general for
both should be very good. While in face to face communication, the encoder’s intentions and geniality
are measured by the decoder, this cannot be possible in written communication. But still, written
communication continues to be the most effective medium in business and academic spheres.
iii. Non-Verbal Communication
Non-verbal communication refers to all external stimuli other than spoken or written words,
including body motion, characteristics of appearance, characteristics of voice and uses of space and
distancing. All those are together known as body language. A systematic study has been made to analyze
non-verbal communication which is also called as Kinesics. Proxemics is the name given to call the use
of space and distancing. But some include the study of voice quality as part of vocal aspect of oral
communications.
It is opined that 35 % of the message is carried verbally, while 65 % is conveyed non-verbally.
Mehiabian (1971) has analyzed the impact of message as 7% verbal, 38% vocal and 55% non-verbal.
Non-verbal communication spontaneously accompanies a person’s speech. The elements of non-verbal
communication are---
1) Personal appearance.
2) Posture
3) Gestures

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4) Facial expressions
5) Eye contact
6) Space and distancing.
• Personal appearance is the way an individual is dressed, the make-up she/he puts on and the
hairstyle she/he maintains. Always remember that you are never fully dressed unless you wear a
smile.
• Posture refers to the way one stands, sits and walks. The movement of the hands and legs and
other parts of the body reveal an individual’s personality, whether one is arrogant or diffident or
confident or careless etc. one needs to be relaxed always with the guiding principle of ‘be
relaxed but alert’. Shifts in the posture have to be cultivated. One must learn proper ways of
gestures with one’s hands and how to shift the weight of the body on the legs while speaking.
Gesture is the movement that one makes with one’s hands, head, and face to show a particular
meaning like ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘keep sitting’, ‘be silent’, etc. However all oral communications are
accompanied by gestures such as shrugging of the shoulders, movement of the head, eyebrows,
lips, eyes etc. To learn and make appropriate gestures, it would be useful to practice before a
mirror, seeking guidance from friends and colleagues who are considered effective in
communication.
• Facial expressions like a smile (friendliness), a frown (discontent), raising the eyebrow
(disbelief), or tightening the jaw muscles (antagonism) can add meaning to the verbal
communication. A wooden expression on the face may prejudice the listeners while brightness in
the eyes may keep their interest sustained. For a smooth flow of communication, gestures and
facial expressions add to its effectiveness.
• Eye contact is the most important aspect of body language. Eye contact is a way to get the
feedback to the speaker and to keep the listener’s attention intact. A good speaker looks at all
different sections of his audience, and not on the ground, the ceiling or the door.
• Social distancing or space distancing: In a social communication, a zone ranging from 4 to 12
feet is maintained as a personal territory around the speaker called as social distancing or space
distancing. In a large group or in public speaking it may be much greater ranging from 12 to 30
feet depending upon many other considerations. Space distancing differs from culture to culture.
For example, an American may find an Indian too close (distance—wise) to him while talking.
However, in heightened emotional states of mind (e.g. Anger, shock, danger) the normal
distancing is ignored.
• Tonemodulation: An important non-verbal medium, which is linked to the tone, is modulation.
If tone refers to sound with reference to pitch, quality and strength of the voice and variation of
the voice to express emotion, modulation is the way in which a speaker varies his tone or pitch
while speaking. Tone and modulation of voice reveal the attitude and cultural attainments of a
speaker.

1.4.5 Barriers of Communication

There might be some barriers to communication, which reduce fidelity of communications. This
loss of fidelity may result in partial or total misunderstanding of the message or information,
communicated by the sender. This in turn can lead to negative responses and feedback. The major
barriers to communication are as following:

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• Perception: Perceptions differ from person to person and hence the perceptions of the encoder
and decoder may differ. This differing perception of the person sending the message and the
person receiving it create barrier.
• Language: This is also called as semantic barrier and is of three types.
a. Pronunciation barrier: confusion occurs frequently with
the pronunciation of word pairs like
Sixteen---sixty
Fifteen ---fifty
Words like excess, access, success etc also may create a barrier. The Indian
pronunciation with general Indian English accent and intonation might create problems of
comprehension to the Americans or Australians or to the natives.
b. Contextual and referential meanings: Words have contextual meaning and referential
meaning. For e.g. the word ‘Motion’ in the following three sentences has three different
meanings.
The motion was passed unanimously in the assembly.
The patient’s motion was for jaundice.
The iron ball was set to motion by the piston.
In each of three sentences, the context decides the meaning of the word. When you say, ‘I have a
big dog or my dog is a big dog,’ the word ‘big’ is being used with its referential meaning, which is with
reference to what we have seen or what we have experienced.
c. Syntax: The third barrier is because of inadequate knowledge of idioms, word order,
punctuation or sentence structure.

He wanted an armchair for an old man with wooden legs.

Naturally, there is an ambiguity in this sentence as to the armchair
has wooden legs or the old man.
d. Cultural differences: This is especially so between the oriental and occidental countries.
Non-verbal communication and phatic communication vary in each country, which might
create obstacles to communication.
e. Personal traits: The status of a person, his/her emotional heightening, the resistance to
change act as psychological barriers to communication. Communication may also fail
partially or even completely if the encoder is preoccupied with some other task and lacks
proper attention.
f. External disturbances: Noisy environment may prove to become the barrier to
communication.
Thus psycho-physical factors, language or code selected and environment all or any one may
become barriers to communication.

1.4.6 Methods to Overcome the Barriers to Communication

The barriers to communication can be overcome by adopting the following measures:
• Communication should be clear and well organized.
• The ideas of the encoder are to be properly and logically organized.
• These organized ideas should be expressed using simple language-spoken or
written.
• Due importance is to be given to consider the feedback.

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• Proper medium is to be selected for communication.
• A habit of listening to others is to be developed for efficient communication.

1.5 Linguistics:
The word linguistics comes from the Latin word Lingua which means “tongue”; and hence deals with
language. A systematic study of language is called as linguistics. Languages of the world differ in terms
of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and relationships between speakers. Linguistics is a field that
provides a terminology to talk about these aspects of language which can be used by lexicographers,
language teachers, speech therapists, translators and others. Linguistics also is useful for psychologists
interested in language learning, the encoding in the human mind/ brain, how this knowledge of language
is used by human being to perform different functions etc. David Crystal calls ‘linguistics as the science
of language’. It is a scientific enquiry into human language or a scientific study of the principles
underlying human languages in a systematic way.

If language is a special gift to human beings for expressing every single emotion/feeling/ thought/logic
with certain characteristic features as discussed earlier for effective communication; human languages
are unlimited with great structural complexity so much so that every language spoken by a community
looks unique. Even the linguistic dialects appear to be entirely different from other dialects of the same
language. Linguistics is the scientific study of each language, dialect, variety for all its features
individually; it also aims at comprehending certain similarities and difference between the languages.
Thus explanation of the observed data of natural languages, both alive and dead by constructing
theories, rules and laws is the most important contribution of a linguist. Like a scientist, a linguist also
needs to predict that which constitute potential though not actual. A general principle explains what has
already been observed in the data (explanation), and it predicts what has not been observed as yet. This
could be achieved, if the language is looked very objectively and the linguist studies the mechanism of it
i.e., a linguist studies the way a language works. Hence linguistics is a systematic study of language.
Thus the subject matter of linguistics is all natural languages, both living and dead. Linguists employ the
methods of careful methods to observe, record, analyses the languages commenting on the
commonalities and differences between languages through principles and parameters.

1.5.1 Linguistics in Historical Context

As every branch of knowledge evolves, linguistics as a science to study languages also has its course.
Broadly speaking, the development of linguistics is understood in three different phases: the traditional
phase, the Structural phase and the Cognitive phase.

i. The Traditional Approach of Linguistics

Language has been a subject of serious study for over 2000 years. Panini, an ancient Sanskrit
philologist, grammarian of the 4 century BCE with his Ashtadhyayi is considered as the Father of
Linguistics, for his excellent analysis of Sanskrit language in the East. His sutra style or rule based
grammar written in eight chapters with 3, 959 verses or rules becomes the base for Sanskrit linguistics,
syntax and semantics. His aphoristic text attracted numerous bhashyas (commentaries), of which
Patanjali'sMahābhāṣya is the most famous in Hindu traditions. Katyayana, Patanjali are the later
grammarians who followed Panini’s rules in to-to. His formalization of language seems to have been

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influential in the formalization of dance and music by Bharata Muni. His ideas influenced and attracted
commentaries from scholars of other Indian religions such as Buddhism.

His contemporary in the West is Plato whoduring the Classical period in Ancient Greece, is founder of
the Platonist school of thought, and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western
world. Later Aristotle, Dionysius Thrax, Protagoras commented on the grammar, vocabulary and
pronunciation of Greek language in an organized way. Both Eastern and Western scholars were
interested in the written form of a language and they thought that the language of the great writers was
‘pure’ and ‘correct’ and any deviation from the rules thereby formed is corrupt and decayed form of the
language. Later, the Latin grammarians followed the Greeks and applied the Greek model to analyse
Latin language. As the rules of Sanskrit grammar is applied to the description of any Indian modern
language the rules of Greek language is applied to the description of any modern European language.

Linguists in the traditional period favoured the meaning based definitions of the grammatical categories.
They believed that grammar or syntax which is the way the words are put together in the clauses and
sentences followed ‘logically’ from meaning. They believed that the structure of a language was a
product of reason is a tool for analysing reality. The linguistic description of a language was prescriptive
in nature i.e. the rules of the language formed by analysing the texts of great writers. What ought to be
used is more the point of attention and hence the rules are memorized for the expressions. Hence
linguistics was considered subordinate to logic and Philosophy.

To analyse the word classes of a language with Major and Minor word classes, rules of tenses, clauses
and sentences, rules of sentence transformation occupied the goal of the linguists. This type of
prescriptive rule based grammar model continued till the 19 century. The linguists like Leibniz and Sir
William Jones in the 19 century have been to India and studied Sanskrit grammar and were struck by the
similarity that Sanskrit bore to Greek and Latin. Sir William Jones is particularly known for his
proposition of the existence of a relationship among European and Indian languages, which would later
be known as Indo-European parent language of Western and Eastern people. Researches during the
period stated systematically comparing different languages and tracing them to a common origin. Such a
way of analysing languages is known as Comparative philology, which established a methodology for
setting up language families. Comparative philology also developed a general theory of linguistic
changes and linguistic relationships between languages by observing Facts of the language rather than
speculations.

ii. The Structural Approach of linguistics

The second phase of linguistic development started during the late nineteenth century with the
emergence of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) in Europe and Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1947) in
America. By this time European nations have established their colonies all across the globe.

The effect of colonialism is the realization that there were many more languages in the world other than
the languages of Europe and that there were many extinct languages as well. If the languages were not
used or spoken due to colonization or they were forced to switch over to the colonial language,
languages could become extinct. A gradual change in the languages possible due to continuous use is
also noted. Linguists like Ferdinand de Saussure, Benjamin Lee Whorf, Roman Jacobson from Europe
and Leonard Bloomfield, Edward Sapir, Franz Boas from America travelled extensively to places where

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the languages were spoken so as to learn enough about the languages to describe them as fully as
possible.

The discovery of new languages made the linguists analyse each language in its own terms, as against
the traditionalists way of applying prescriptive rules to analyse all languages. Without trying to force a
language into the grammatical principles of other language, was analysed independently with its own
rules and principles. This automatically enabled the linguists to reject the superiority of the classical
languages, because for the first time linguists could see that language essentially is spoken and not
written, as many new languages that they were analysing (most African and Red Indian languages) were
only spoken with no script at all. So the dialects (language variation with respect to region), registers
(language variation with respect to profession) became important data for analysing rather than written
text by authors. The grammars proposed in this time became descriptive as against the prescriptive
grammar of the traditional times.

The use of meaning based descriptions of grammatical categories was also rejected as the meaning was
not objectively verifiable; hence though unscientific and subjective, the form based and use based
description of the grammatical categories has become obvious in this structuralist period. There was an
attempt to formulate some common rules applicable to all languages of linguistic description more
scientifically and objectively so that languages could be identified, described, analysed, classified and
studied. The question of the commonality underlying in the human languages was thought about for the
first time.

Linguists around 20 century began to generalize about the sounds that were common to the languages of
the world and tried to propose rules and principles that were common to any language of the world.
Similarly, attempt was made to discover common grammatical rules underlying in any language.
Charles Hockett differentiated human and animal means of communication, Joseph Greenberg proposed
the common rules of grammar in a wide range of languages, Zellig Harris proposed a general method of
analysing a language. It was Ferdinanad dde Saussure who introduced the notion that language is a
system of systems. Every element in a system derives its significance from its relationship with other
elements in the system. Accordingly, Saussure proposed the concepts like Synchrony and diachrony;
language and parole; Syntagmatic and paradigmatic; signifier and signified in his book of Cours de
Linguistique Generale, translated into English as A Course in General Linguistics (1916) all of which
form the basis for Structuralist approach to study a language.

As the languages of the colonies presented a different structure from that of the European languages,
field methods were borrowed from anthropological researchers to record the local language spoken by
the natives; analysing the languages which the linguist could not speak; and which had no written script.
Bloomfield’s Language (1933) is another seminal text in this period that proposes various techniques
employed to analyse the sound system, grammar, vocabulary of a language, along with identification
and classification features of sentence structure of a language.

Such a systematic, scientific study of languages of the world along with an attempt to propose principles
applied to any language raised the status of linguistics to an autonomous science. In the traditional
school, linguistics was subordinate to Logic and Philosophy, and now Linguistics became an
independent science of analyzing world languages. In the first International Congress of Linguistics in
1928, Millet spoke of the autonomous linguistics and Bloomfield laid the foundation of a science of
language by delineating its domains and sharpening the instruments of its methodology.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
iii.The Cognitive Approach to Linguistics

this latest phase in the development of Linguistics developed during the 1950s with Noam Chomsky’s
publication of Syntactic Structures (1957). Chomsky rejected the structuralist’s view that the function of
linguistics was simply to provide classification and terminology to talk about the language. He argued
that the linguistic theory must be able to capture the psychological aspect of language. According to
Chomsky, the aim of language is to understand and explain the following:

• The human mind that can speak a language as against an animal;

• The knowledge in the human mind regarding language;
• Is the linguistic capability innate or learnt or acquired or both?
• How does a man learn his/her native language?
• How is the knowledge put to use in speech?
Chomsky argued that in answering all the above questions, the role of the native speaker is very
important. For him a linguist who tries to learn and describe a language that is different from his/her
mother tongue is different from his/her own ability to produce a good description as the structuralists did
but not the explanation that his ‘generative’ grammar aspires for. So for Chomsky, the job of linguists is
to construct a theory that would explain and predict facts regarding languages. Je treats linguistics as a
science and wants it to explain ‘why things are the way they are’.

Chomsky gives a special name to the description titled Generative Grammar or

Transformational Generative Linguistics. By Generative, he means that the grammar should be able
to generate all and only correct sentences or expressions and by transformational, he explains the means
of achieving it. A grammar that is able to generate all and only correct sentences of the language by
applying transformational rules is a transformational generative grammar. Chomsky believes that the
person who has acquired knowledge of language has internalized a system of rules that relate sound and
meaning in a particular way. The linguist constructing a grammar of a language is in effect proposing a
hypothesis concerning this internalized system. Thus Chomsky has made Linguistics as a branch of
Psychology. Linguistics today actively cooperates with all most all the disciplines of knowledge
including, Logic, Poetics, Cybernetics, Neuropsychology, Anthropology, Artificial Intelligence,
Sociology etc.

This historical progress of linguistics which started as a branch of humanistic studies became a
natural science with structuralists, and later as a social science with the generativists. Gradually, the role
of linguistics shifted from giving a mere description, identification and classification of linguistic facts
to the construction of a theory which would explain and predict facts regarding languages. Below given
is the tabular representation of the history of linguistics.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

Concept of
Sr. Period of Status of
Time period Linguists language
No. linguistics linguistics
learning
Panini, Katyayana, Linguistics was
As discrete
Patanjali, Plato, considered
and
1 Traditionalists 5 BC to 19 AD Aristotle, Dionysius subordinate to
independent
Thrax, Protagoras, Logic and
rules
VAroo, Quitillian Philosophy
Saussure, Humboldt,
Linguistics was Behaviorist’s
Franz Boas, Edward
Early 19 AD to treated as an view of
2 Structuralists Sapir, Bloomfield,
1950 autonomous language
Worph, Zellig Harris,
science learning
Jacobson
Linguistics is a Cognitivist’s
Noam Chomsky and branch of view of
3 Cognitivists 1957 till now
Others cognitive language
psychology learning

1.5.2 Branches of Linguistics

Linguistics can be studied from different perspectives as following:

• General Linguistics: Studying a language systematically by supplying the concepts and

categories of analyzing languages is called as general linguistics. When linguists try to establish
general principles for the study of all languages, it is said to be general linguistics.

• Descriptive Linguistics: Studying a particular language by applying the propositions and

theories of general linguistics to the data of the language under analysis is called descriptive
linguistics. When linguists concentrate on establishing the facts of a particular language system,
they practice descriptive linguistics. However, both are overlapping.

• Synchronic Linguistics: It studies the characteristic features of a language at a particular point

of time. Ferdinand de Saussure differentiates synchronic and diachronic study of a language.
Synchronic linguistics is the study of a language states, regardless of its history. The study of
English language at Chaucer’s time or the study of Milton’s English or the study of English
language in the Modern age is the examples of synchronic study.

• Diachronic Linguistics: it traces the historical development of a language and records the
changes that have taken place in between successive points in time. Diachronic linguistics is the
study of language change. The study of Old English, Middle English and Modern English is the
example of Diachronic study.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
• Theoretical Linguistics: it studies language and languages with a view to constructing a theory
of their structure and functions. The formulation of the satisfactory theory of the structure of the
language in general.

• Applied Linguistics: Application of the concepts and findings of the linguistics to a variety of
language tasks including language teaching, translations, . It is concerned with both the general
and descriptive branches of the subject.

• Micro Linguistics: it adopts a narrower view and is concerned with the structures of the
language system in itself and for itself. Micro linguistics talks of Phonetics, Phonology,
Morphology, Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics.

• Macro Linguistics: it adopts a broader view and deals with the way languages are acquired,
stored in the brain and used for various functions. It also deals with the interdependence of
language and culture; physiological and psychological mechanisms involved in language
behavior. It talks about Sociolinguistics, Psyhco- linguistics, Neuro-linguisitcs, Discourse
Analysis, Computational Linguistics and Applied Linguistics.

• Comparative Linguistics: When the focus is on similarities and differences between languages,
it is called as comparative linguistics.

1.5.3 Levels of Linguistic Analysis

Microlinguistics is a branch of linguistics that concerns itself with the study of language systems in the
abstract, without regard to the meaning or notional content of linguistic expressions. In micro-
linguistics, language is reduced to the abstract mental elements of syntax and phonology. It contrasts
with macro-linguistics, which includes meanings, and especially with sociolinguistics, which studies
how language and meaning function within human social systems.
For developing the ability to develop linguistic competence, mastery in micro linguistics is a must. They
are also called as levels of linguistic analysis and the components of which are as following:
• Phonetics: It is a branch of linguistics which studies the articulation and perception of the
speech sounds. Phonetics deals with the organs of sound production. It deals with the
articulation, transmission and reception of the speech sounds of any or all languages of the
world.
• Phonology: It deals with the patterning of speech sounds; it is the study of the organization of
speech into syllables, and other larger units. The phonology of a language is the description of
the systems and patterns of sounds that occur in a particular language.
Phonetics deals with the study of the production of sounds. On the other hand, phonology deals
with the study of the characteristics of sounds and their changes. This is the basic difference
between phonetics and phonology. Phonetics deals with the organs of sound production.
Phonology, on the other hand, deals with the sounds and their changes. It can be said that
phonetics is the subset of phonology.
• Morphology: it is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words
in the same language. It analyses the structure of words and parts of words, such as stems, root
words, prefixes, and suffixes. Morphology also looks at parts of speech, intonation and stress,
and the ways context can change a word's pronunciation and meaning. Morphology differs from

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
morphological typology, which is the classification of languages based on their use of words, and
lexicology, which is the study of words and how they make up a language's vocabulary.
• Syntax: Itis the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences
(sentence structure) in a given language, usually including word order. The term syntax is also
used to refer to the study of such principles and processes. The goal of many syntacticians is to
discover the syntactic rules common to all languages. It talks about the combination of words in
to phrases, clauses and sentences.
• Semantics: It is the linguistic and philosophical study of meaning, in language, programming
languages, formal logics, and semiotics. It is concerned with the relationship between
signifiers—like words, phrases, signs, and symbols—and what they stand for in reality, their
denotation. Semantics is concerned with meaning in all its aspects.
• Pragmatics: It studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics
encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other
approaches to language behavior in philosophy, sociology, linguistics and anthropology.
Discourse analysis is the other name of pragmatics in the recent day.
Thus is the introduction to Language, Communication and Linguistics.

***

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

Unit II: Speech Mechanism and Speech Sounds

2.0 Introduction
Human speech is the result of highly complicated series of events. A number of systems are involved in
the production of speech. First of all the brain conceives the idea to say something, and this stage is
psychological. Through the nervous system, the brain transmits this message to the organs of speech
which make certain movements and produce certain patterns of sounds. Because there is an involvement
of the speech organs which are mostly situated in the human mouth, this stage can be called as
physiological or articulatory. The movement of the organs creates disturbances in the air in the form of
sound waves and this stage is called as the physical or acoustic. The listener carefully listens to these
sound waves and his/her ear catches the waves and this can be called as auditory stage. These sound
waves are transmitted to the brain through the nervous system for cognition by decoding the sounds and
this is again psychological. So these physical, psychological and physiological processes are involved in
human speech, which occur so fast that communication looks very smooth and simple. To understand
the speech mechanism and the organs of speech is essential to understand the entire process of speech.

2.1 The Speech Mechanism

Essentially, three important systems in the human body enable man to speak, which basically have very
different functions but they work together as a unified whole to produce speech. The three systems are:
1. The respiratory system
2. The phonatory system
3. The articulatory system
The primary function of respiratory system is for breathing air and providing oxygen to the body; the
primary function of phonatory system is to produce sound; and the primary function of the articulatory
system situated in the mouth is for eating, and chewing food. These three systems together are called as
the speech mechanism as they provide every necessary support for a proper cognizable speech to be
possible.

Figure1. The Organs of Speech

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
2.1.1 The Respiratory System:

It comprises of the lungs, the bronchial tubes and the wind pipe or trachea. The energy to produce
speech is provided by this system. The atmospheric air is taken inside the body through the nose in the
breathing process and the air is drawn deep into the lungs where exchange of gases take place i.e. the
oxygen is taken into the body and the carbon dioxide is given out and this carbon dioxide filled air
passes through the same path is exhaled out into the atmosphere through the nose. The process of taking
in the air is called inhalation and the process of giving out the air is called exhalation. One inhalation
and exhalation together is called as the air-stream mechanism.
There could be three main types of air-stream mechanisms used in human speech; each mechanism has a
different initiator. All three mechanisms may be used to pull air in from atmosphere into the body called
as the ingressive air stream mechanism and push out the air from the body called as the egressive air
stream mechanism. Languages might use any one of them for speaking the sounds of it.
It is called the pulmonic air stream mechanism with lungs and respiratory muscles as the initiators. It
is called the glottalic airstream mechanism if the larynx itself with the glottis firmly closed is the
initiator. It is called as the velaric airstream mechanism with the soft palate named as the velum
becomes the initiator. Each could be in turn ingressive and egressive. The pulmonic airstream
mechanism is used for all the production of all English sounds and for the sounds of most of the Indian
languages except Sindhi. Ingressive glottalic air stream mechanism is used in some Sindhi sounds.
Certain African languages like Zulu uses ingressive velaric air stream mechanism. For English, it is
pulmonic and egressive air stream mechanism that is used.

2.1.2 The Phonatory System

The lungs are filled with fine capillaries inside called as the bronchioles which unite to form bronchus
from each lung, together called bronchi. The two bronchi unite to form the wind pipe or thorax which
is protected by the semi-circular bones that can be felt by fingers when moved over the throat. The top
of the thorax is called as the larynx; it is a box like structure with a pair of vocal cords, which are the
two fold ligament and elastic tissue. The vocal cords are attached in the anterior and free in the posterior
so that their movement causes an opening called glottis for the passage of the air while breathing. The
glottis is closed by a lip like structure on top with epiglottis.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

Of the various positions that the glottis can assume, the following four states of glottis is essential for
appreciating speech.

i. Open glottis (voiceless state/breath)

ii. Glottis in vibration (voiced state)

iii. Narrowed glottis (whisper)

iv. Closed glottis (eating/drinking/glottalic sounds)

Open glottis: The vocal cords are drawn apart and the glottis is widely open so that the air-stream can
pass through the vocal cords freely. This is the state of the glottis for normal breathing. The sounds that
are produced in this stage are called voiceless sounds.

Glottis in vibration: The vocal cords are loosely held apart, so that the air-stream passing through it
causes the vocal cords into motion. The vocal cords are alternately brought into contact and blown apart
by the force of the pulmonic air –stream flowing through the glottis. Thus the vocal cords open and
close regularly many times a second, there by producing voice. This action of opening and closing of the
vocal cords is more for a woman (200 to 250 times a second) than for a man (100 to 150 times a
second); and so a woman’s voice is with a higher pitch or with a shrill. The sounds that are produced in
this stage are called voiced sounds. The distinction between voiceless and voiced is important in the
description of each sound.

Narrowed glottis: The glottis may be narrowed bringing the vocal cords close to each other but not so
much to set them in vibration. The air-stream is impeded when it passes through the glottis thereby
producing a soft hissing noise called whisper.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Closed glottis: The glottis might be entirely closed with the firm contact of both the vocal cords so that
the air-stream is prevented to pass through. The glottis momentarily assumes this position for coughs,
hiccups, while eating, drinking and for producing the glottal stop sounds.

2.1.3 The Articulatory system

The organs of speech present in the oral cavity constitute the articulatory system; because the
articulation of these organs results in the production of sounds corresponding to speech. The oral cavity
can be conveniently divided into the organs present in the upper jaw and the organs present in the lower
jaw. As the upper jaw is fixed, these organs are called as the passive articulators; while the lower jaw is
movable and so the organs of the lower jaw are called as the active articulators. The active articulators
move and make a contact/ or come close with the passive articulators for the production of various
sounds.

The Passive articulators: The organs belonging to the upper jaw like the upper lip, upper teeth, teeth
ridge, hard palate and the soft palate are called as the passive articulators.

Upper lip: Lips, both upper and lower lips play an important role in the articulation of certain
labial consonants and vowels. The rounded or unrounded lips differentiate various vowels as in
the initial sounds in the words like ask and ought ; While the complete closure of lips result in
the production of the initial sounds of the words pat or bat.

Upper teeth: Teeth are responsible for the production of the dental sounds like the initial sounds
as in the words this, thorough.

Teeth ridge: Teeth ridge or the alveolar ridge is the hard portion beyond the teeth from inside.
Teeth ridge plays an important role in the production of alveolar sounds like the initial sound in
the examples ten, don, nest, etc.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
The hard palate: The roof of the mouth which is a concave bony separation between the oral
cavity and the nasal cavity is called as the hard palate. The palate plays an important role in the
production of palatal sounds like the initial sound in yes, church, judge etc.

The soft palate: The last part of the hard palate tapers into a soft structure which could be seen
hanging from the roof of the mouth, if the mouth is open wide and seen in a mirror. This soft
hanging structure is called as the soft palate. The tip of the soft palate is called as the velum and
hence the sounds pronounced with velum are called as velar sounds as in the first sound of words
like gate, kite etc. It plays an importantrole in pronouncing nasaland oral sounds along with
velar sounds.

The Active articulators: The organs belonging to the lower jaw like the lower lip, lower teeth, and
tongue are called as the active articulators

Lower lip: Lower lip along with the upper lipis involved in the production of labial and bilabial
sounds.

Lower teeth: Lower teeth along with the upper teeth help in the production of dental sounds.

Tongue: Tongue is the dance master in the mouth which moves and takes different shapesand
articulates with different passive articulators to produce a wide spectrum of sounds in any
language.Both consonants and vowels are pronounced sharply with the correct articulation of the
tongue.

Though the upper lip and the soft palate are moveable slightly, they still are called as passive articulators
because of their position in the upper jaw. Though the lower teeth are not moveable, still is it called as
the active articulator because of its position in the lower jaw. The organs of the both the articulators
articulate to pronounce various sounds in a language.

Oral and nasal sounds: The soft palate in the passive articulator plays a wonderfully skilled role in
producing oral or nasal sound.

Oral sounds: When the soft palate is raised, the nasal passage of air is shut off and so the air coming
from the lungs has to pass through the mouth and in the mouth, because of the articulation of various
active articulators with the passive articulators result in the production of oral sounds.

Nasal sounds: When the soft palate is lowered, the nasal passage of air is opened so that the air coming
from the lungs can pass through the nose and accordingly nasal sounds are produced.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Nasalized sounds: Sometimes, it so happens that the soft palate is placed in such a way that the air
coming from the lungs can pass through the mouth as well as the nose there by producing the nasalized
sounds. There are no nasalised sounds in English but Hindi language has the nasalized sounds like ‘hai’
and ‘iit’.

2.2 The Description and Classification of Speech Sounds

Of the Various sounds that a language uses, they can be classified basically into vowels and
consonants. According to the letters of an alphabet, some grammar books of English describe a, e, I, o, u
of the Roman alphabet as vowels and the rest as consonants. It is misleading and confusing because
vowels and consonants are essentially the categories of speech sounds while the description according to
the letters in the Roman alphabet.
The way in which the sounds a reproduced point of view, i.e., phonetically speaking, a speech
sound is described as a vowel sound, if in the production of it, there is no obstruction or no narrowing of
a degree that would cause audible friction in the articulatory organs of the pharynx and the mouth
regions. All other sounds are called as consonants.
For example the word ‘bee’ has two sounds –the sound that is represented by the letter ‘b’ as the
sound /b/ and the sound that is represented by the letters ‘ee’ as /i:/. The sound produced by the letters
‘ee’ requires that the speaker raises the front of the tongue fairly high. It results in the narrowing of the
mouth but it does not result in producing any audible friction and the air coming from the lungs can pass
through the narrow mouth freely for any length of time. Hence this sound is a vowel.
The sound produced by the letter ‘b’ requires that the speaker has to bring the two lips together
and close the mouth so that the air from the lungs has to stop in the mouth for some time, and then
suddenly releases the air with the opening of the lips. There is an obstruction for a while to the flow of
the air from the lungs. So it is a consonant. In English there are 24 consonant sounds and 20 vowel
sounds from the phonetic point of view.
The vowels and consonants can be distinguished from linguistically speaking also. In the
phonetic terms, i.e., in terms of production of speech sounds, the sounds are related to any language and
any sounds. In linguistic terms, the function of the sound in a given language is to be considered.
For example ‘yard’ and ‘well’ in English-in the production of the initial sounds in these
examples, /j/ and /w/, there is no obstruction or narrowing of such a degree in the mouth that would
cause audible friction. The two sounds must be vowels in English phonetically speaking; but the English
language regards them as consonants. This is because, the two sounds function in English grammar as
consonants. They take up the article ‘a’ before them as in –a yard, a well’; they also occupy marginal
positions in words and syllables as consonants and not the nuclear position as of the vowels. Ex: pet,
seen, tell, as the sounds /p, s, t/ occupy the marginal position, similarly the sounds /w/ and /j/ in the
words ‘well and jelly’ occupy marginal positions. They can never become the nucleus (as vowels do) of
the syllable. Hence functionally speaking, in the linguistic terms, according to the function they do in the
grammar of the language, they are consonants and not vowels. Hence they are called as semi-vowels
with consonantal function in English. Thus speech sounds in English are classified into 20 vowels and
24 consonants phonetically and linguistically speaking.

2.2.1 The IPA Symbols

In 1886, a group of French and British language teachers, led by the French linguist Paul Passy,
formed what would come to be known from 1897 onwards as the International Phonetic Association .

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Their original alphabet was based on a spelling reform for English known as the Roman alphabet, the
idea of making the IPA was first suggested by Otto Jespersen in a letter to Paul Passy. It was developed
by Alexander John Ellis, Henry Sweet, Daniel Jones, and Passy.
Since its creation, the IPA has undergone a number of revisions. After revisions and expansions from the
1890s to the 1940s, the IPA remained primarily unchanged. IPA has the use of the following symbols to
represent the world languages:
• Most of the symbols are from the Roman alphabet; some are borrowed from Greek alphabet.( /θ/
and /ð/)
• Sometimes the inversion of the existing Roman alphabet is also used. (/ʌ/, /ə/)
• Diacritic marks are used to express the difference between long and short vowels. (/i:/, /a:/, /ɔ:/,
/u:/)
As of the most recent change in 2005, there are 107 letters, 52 diacritics, and 4 prosodic marks in the
IPA. The International Phonetic Alphabet is occasionally modified by the Association. After each
modification, the Association provides an updated simplified presentation of the alphabet in the form of
a chart. The International phonetic Association has provided 44 sounds which are known as IPA
symbols of English language. They are also called phonemes of English language. There are 20 vowels
and 24 consonants in English phonology. Out of 20 vowels, eight are diphthongs and twelve are pure
vowels. The 44 phonemes or speech sounds of English language are as given below.
English vowels (20)
C) Pure vowels : (12)
Symbols Examples
/i:/ seat /si:t/
/ɪ/ sit /sɪt /
/e/ set /set/
/æ/ sat /sæt/
/a:/ cart /ka:t/
/ɒ/ cot /kɒt/
/ɔ:/ court /kɔ:t/
/u/ full /ful/
/ʌ/ shut /ʃʌt/
/ɜ:/ shirt /ʃɜ:t /
/ə/ about /əbaʋt/
/u:/ fool /fu:l/

D) Diphthongs: (08)
Symbols Examples
/eɪ/ gate /ɡeɪt/
/aɪ/ five /faɪv/
/ɔɪ/ boy /bɔɪ/
/əʋ/ go /ɡəʋ/
/aʋ/ how /haʋ/
/eə/ hair /heə/
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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
/ʊə/ poor /pʊə/
/ɪə/ here /hɪə/

C) English Consonants (24)

Consonants are further classed into seven categories. They are as follows.
8. Plosives : (06)
/p/ Pin /pɪn/
/b/ bin /bɪn/
/t/ tin /tɪn/
/d/ din /dɪn/
/k/ cap /kæp/
/ɡ/ gap /ɡæp/

9. Affricates : (02)
/tʃ/ church /tʃɜ:tʃ/
/dʒ/ judge /dʒʌdʒ/

10. Fricatives : (09)

/f/ fan /fæn/
/v/ van /væn/
/θ/ thin /θɪn/
/ð/ this /ðɪs/
/s/ same /seɪm/
/z/ zoo /zu:/
/ʃ/ shame /ʃeɪm/
/ʒ/ pleasure /pleʒə/
/h/ height /haɪt/

11. Nasals : (03)

/m/ might /maɪt/
/n/ night /naɪt/
/ɳ/ sing /sɪɳ/

12. Lateral : (01)

/l/ light /laɪt/

13. Frictionless Continuant : (01)

/r/ right /raɪt/

14. Semi Vowels : (02)

/j/ yes /jes/
/w/ wet /wet/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
2.3 The Description and Classification of English Vowels
Vowels are speech sounds in the production of which there is no obstruction or narrowing in the
pharynx and mouth. Vowels are essentially a tone or a ‘hum’ issuing from the glottis, with the vocal
cords normally vibrating, so all vowels are voiced. The articulatory organs assume different sizes and
shapes to produce different vowels. For the identification and description of vowels, the following points
are essential:
• The position of the soft palate- oral, nasal and nasalized.
• The shape of the lips-rounded or unrounded.
• The part of the tongue used to produce the sound.
• The height to which it is raised to produce the sound.
All vowels in English are oral, so the first criterion is cancelled. The three factors to describe a vowel
with its three terms are as following.
1. The part of the tongue-Front, Central and Back
2. The height to which the tongue is raised-Close, Half-close, Half-open and Open
3. The shape of the lips-rounded and unrounded.
Front Part Central Part Back Part

Roof Close

Half-Close

Half-Open

Base Open

The Vowel-Diagram

Vowels are further classified as monophthongs /pure vowels and diphthongs. Pure vowels are
approximants produced at a single point in the mouth while diphthongs are glides initiating at one point
and ending at the other point in the oral cavity. Thus, they need to be studied under independent
categories.

Pure Vowels or Monophthongs

Pure vowels are produced at one point in the oral passage. They are also called monophthongs. There are
twelve pure vowels in English. They can be classified in three categories as the front vowels, the central

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
vowels and the back vowels. This classification depends on the part of the tongue they are produced
with. The vowels produced with the front part of the tongue are called the front vowels, those produced
with the central part are called the central vowels and those produced with the back part of the tongue
are called the back vowels.
Generally the rest position of the tongue when the mouth is shut is regarded as the open position and the
roof of the mouth is regarded as the close position. The other two positions are imaginary. The position
that is regarded above the resting position of the tongue is called Half-Open and the position of the
tongue below the roof is called Half- Close position.
Diphthongs
Diphthongs are rapid glides from one vowel to another. Their production begins at one place in the
mouth and ends at the other point. This glide is so rapid that each of the vowels produced can be
identified distinctly but cannot be considered separately. So they make a single vowel which is termed
as a diphthong. For instance medial sound in the word ‘rain’ (represented by symbol /eɪ/) begins at the
position of Front between half close and half open and ends at the position of Front just above half close.
They are classified according to their direction of glide as diphthongs gliding towards /I/, diphthongs
gliding towards /ə/,and diphthongs gliding towards /u/. Diphthongs are also classified according to
their movement towards the positions in the mouth as centering diphthongs and closing diphthongs.
Those glide towards the central vowel are called centering diphthongs and those glide towards close
vowels are called closing diphthongs. Diphthongs also could be raising diphthongs if the glide is rising
up in the vowel area and are called as the falling diphthongs if the glide is falling down the vowel area.
Diphthongs gliding towards /i/: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/
Diphthongs gliding towards /ə/:/eə/. /ɪə/, /ʊə/
Diphthongs gliding towards /u/:/əʋ/, /aʋ/

Centering diphthongs: /eə/. /ɪə/, /ʊə/

Closing diphthongs: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /əʋ/, /aʋ/

Raising diphthongs: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /əʋ/, /aʋ/

Falling diphthongs: /eə/, /ɪə/, /ʊə/
2.3.1 English Vowels: Monophthongs
There are twenty vowel sounds in English according to the Received Pronunciation of England (RP), of
which eight are called as the Monophthongs and eight are called as the Diphthongs. The pure vowels
can be described as the front vowels, Central vowels and Back vowels depending upon the part of
tongue used to produce the sounds.
I. Front Vowels: The front part of the tongue is used for the articulation of these vowels. There
are four front vowels in English and they are /i:/, /i/, /e/ and /æ/.
1. /i:/ as in eat-/i:t/:
Articulation: During the articulation of this vowel, the front part of the tongue is raised towards
the hard palate, to a position just below the close position. The lips are spread and remain
unrounded. The vowel is pronounced for a longer length of time. Three-term label: Hence, it is
labeled as Front-unrounded vowel- just below the close position.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Distribution: The vowel /i:/ occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in English-
initial position as in seen-/si:n/; medial position as in green-/gri:n/; and final position as in
lean-/li:n/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Peak /pi:k/ Jean / dʒi:n/ These / ði:z/
Beak /bi:k/ Meet/ Meat /mi:t/ Siege /si: dʒ/
Team /ti:m/ Need /ni:d/ Zeal /zi:l/
Dean /di:n/ Leaf /li:f/ Shield / ʃi:ld/
Keen /ki/:n/ Wreath /ri: θ/ Heap /hi:p/
Geese /gi:s/ Feel /fi:l/ Yield /ji:ld/
Chief / tʃi:f/ Veal /vi:l/ Queen /kwi:n/

2. /ɪ/ as in Sit /sit/:

Articulation: During the articulation of this vowel, the front part of the tongue raised towards
the hard palate to a position between the half-close and close or just above the half-close
position. The lips are loosely spread and remain unrounded. The vowel is a shorter vowel and a
counter part to the long vowel /i:/.
Three-term label: Hence, it is labeled as Front-unrounded vowel- just above the half close
position.
Distribution: The vowel /i:/ occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in English-
initial position as in bit-/bit/; medial position as in sit-/sit/; and final position as in pit-/pit/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Pin /pin/ Jim / dʒim/ Thin / θ in/
Bill /bil/ Milk /milk/ This /ðis/
Tip /tip/ Knit /nit/ Sing /si ɳ/
Dish /di ʃ/ Lip /lip/ Zip /zip/
Kitten /kitn/ Risk /risk/ Ship /ʃip/
Give /giv/ Fit /fit/ Hill /hil/
Chin / tʃin/ Village /vili dʒ/ winter /wint ə/

3. /e/ as in Get /get/:

Articulation: During the articulation of this vowel, the front part of the tongue raised to the
position between half close and half open. The lips remain unrounded. Hence, it Three-term
label: Hence, it is labeled as Front-unrounded vowel- between half close and half open
position.
Distribution: The vowel /e/ occurs in the word initial and medial positions in English-initial
position as in ate-/et/ and medial position as in bet-/bet/.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Pen /pen/ gem /dʒem/ Then /ðen/
Bed /bed/ Men /men/ Seven /sevn/
Text /tekst/ Next /nekst/ Zest /zest/
Desk /desk/ Let /let/ Shell /ʃel/
Kept /kept/ Red /red/ Head /hed/
Get /get/ Fell /fel/ Yes /jes/
Check /tʃek/ Very /veri/ Well /wel/
4. /æ/ as in Apple-/ æ pl/:
Articulation: During the articulation of this vowel, the front part of the tongue raised to the position
between open and half open. Lips are loosely spread or neutral and remain unrounded.
Three-term label: Hence, it is labeled as Front-unrounded vowel- just above the half open position.
Distribution: The vowel / æ / occurs in the word initial and medial positions in English-initial position as
in Ant-/ ænt/ ; and medial position as in cat-/kæt/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Pat /p æ t/ Jam / dʒæm/ Thank / θ æ ɳ k/
Bad /b æ d/ Man /m æn / That / ðæt/
Tax /t æ ks/ Nap /n æ p/ Sand /s ænd/
Damp /d æ mp/ Lamp /l æmp/ Exact /igz ækt/
Cat /k æ t/ Rash /r æʃ/ Shall /ʃ æl/
Gas /g æ s/ Fat /f æ t/ Hang /h æ ɳ /
Chat /tʃæt/ Van /v æ n/ Yak /j æk/

II. Back Vowels: The back part of the tongue is used for the articulation of these vowels. There are
five back vowels in English and they are /u:/, /u/, / ɔ:/, / ɒ / and /a:/.
5. /a:/ as in ask-/a:sk/ :
Articulation: During the articulation of this vowel, the back part of the tongue raised to the
position just above the open position. The lips are neutral and remain unrounded.
Three-term label: Hence, it is labeled as Back-unrounded vowel- just above the open
position.
Distribution: The vowel / a: / occurs in the word initial, medial and medial positions in English-
initial position as in past-/pa:st/; medial position as in father-/fa:ðə/; and final position as in bar-
/ba:/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Palm /pa:m/ Jar /dʒa:/ Psalm /sa:m/
Bath /ba: θ/ Marsh /ma: ʃ/ Sharp /ʃa:p/
Task /ta:sk/ Nasty /na:sti/ Hard /ha:d/
Dark /da:k/ Last /la:st/ Yard /ja:d/
Carve/calve /ka:v/ Rather /ra: ð ə/ Shan’t / ʃa:nt/
Guard /ga:d/ Far /fa:/ Harm /ha:m/
Charm /tʃa:m/ Vase /va:z/ Yarn /ja:n/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
6. /ɒ/ as in god-/gɒd/:
Articulation: During the articulation of this vowel, the back part of the tongue raised to the
position between open and half open, rather it is in the fully open position. The lips are slightly
rounded.
Three-term label: Hence, it is labeled as Back-rounded vowel- between open and half open
position.
Distribution: The vowel /ɒ / occurs in the word initial and medial positions in English-initial
position as in on-/ɒn/ ; and medial position as in top-/tɒp/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Spot /spɒt/ John /dʒɒn/ Sorry /sɒri/
Bother /bɒ ðə/ Moss /mɒs/ Methodical /mi θ ɒdikl/
Top /tɒp/ Not /nɒt/ Hop /hɒp/
Dot /dɒt/ Long /lɒ ɳ/ Yacht /jɒt/
Cotton /kɒtn/ Rock /rɒk/ Shop /ʃɒp/
Got /gɒt/ Foreign /fɒrin/ Pop /pɒp/
Chop /tʃɒp/ Involve /invɒlv/ Watch /wɒtʃ/

7. /ɔ:/ as in caught-/k ɔ:t/:

Articulation:During the articulation of this vowel, the back part of the tongue raised to the
position between half close and half open. The lips are rounded. It is a long vowel.
Three-term label: Hence, it is labeled as Back-rounded vowel- between half close and half
open position.
Distribution: The vowel / ɔ: / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in English-
initial position as in order-/ ɔ:də/; medial position as in bought -/b ɔ:t/; and final position as in
law-/l ɔ:/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Paw/ /pɔ:/ George /dʒɔ: dʒ/ Thought / θ ɔ:t/
pour/pore
Bought /bɔ:t/ More /mɔ:/ Source /sɔ:s/
Talk /tɔ:k/ Nor /nɔ:/ Horn /hɔ:n/
Door /dɔ:/ Law /lɔ:/ Your /jɔ:/
Caught /kɔ:t/ Roar/raw /rɔ:/ Short /ʃɔ:t/
Gordon /gɔ:dn/ For/ four/ /fɔ:/ Worn /wɔ:n/
fore
Chalk /tʃɔ:k/ Vaughan /vɔ:n/ Sauce /sɔ:s/

8. /u/ as in Put /put/:

Articulation: During the articulation of this vowel, the back part of the tongue raised to the
position just above half close. The lips are rounded.
Three-term label: Hence, it is labeled as Back-rounded just above the half close position.
Distribution: The vowel / u / occurs in the word medial and final positions in English-medial
position as in look-/luk/; and final position as in to-/tu/.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Push /put/ Could /kud/ look /luk/
Butcher /butʃə/ Good /gud/ Room /rum/
Took /tuk/ nook /nuk/ Full /ful/
Do /du/ Hook /huk/ Soot /sut/

9. /u:/ as in pool-/pu:l/:
Articulation: During the articulation of this vowel, the back part of the tongue raised to the
position just below the close position, almost till the close position. The lips are rounded.
Three-term label: Hence, it is labeled as Back-rounded just below the close position.
Distribution: The vowel / u: / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in English-
initial position as in ooze-/u:z/; medial position as in stool-/stu:l/; and final position as in shoe-/ ʃ
u:/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Pool /pu:l/ June /dʒu:n/ Through /θ ru:/
Boot /bu:t/ Move /mu:v/ Soup /su:p/
Tomb /tu:m/ Noon /nu:n/ Hew /hju:/
Doom /du:m/ Loose /lu:s/ Music /mju:zik/
Cool /ku:l/ Rule /ru:l/ Beauty /bju:ti/
Goose /gu:s/ Food /fu:d/ Due /dju:/
Choose /tʃu:z/ View /vju:/ Presume /prizju:m/

III. Central Vowels: The Central part of the tongue is used for the articulation of these vowels.
There are three central vowels in English and they are / ʌ/, / ɜ:/, / ə /.
10. /ʌ/ as in Cut-/k ʌ t/:
Articulation: During the articulation of this vowel, the central part of the tongue raised to a
position just below the half open position. The lips are unrounded.
Three-term label: Hence, it is labeled as central-unrounded vowel between half open and
half open position.
Distribution:The vowel / ʌ / occurs in the word initial and medial positions in English-initial
position as in Up- /ʌp/; and medial position as incut-/kʌt/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Sponge /spʌndʒ/ Judge /dʒʌdʒ/ Thumb / θ ʌm/
Butter /bʌtə/ Money /mʌni/ Thus /ð ʌs/
Tug /tʌg/ Nothing /nʌ θi ɳ/ Such /sʌtʃ/
Dull /dʌl/ Luck /lʌk/ Result /rizʌlt/
Come /kʌm/ Trouble /trʌbl/ Shut /ʃʌt/
Gun /gʌn/ Fuss /fʌs/ Hurry /hʌri/
Chuckle /tʃʌkl/ Vulture /vʌltʃ ə/ Young /jʌ ɳ/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
11. /ɜ:/ as in Earn-/ ɜ:n/:
Articulation: During the articulation of this vowel, the central part of the tongue raised to a
position between the half close and half open position. The lips are neutral and so unrounded.
Three-term label: Hence, it is labeled as central-unrounded vowel between half open and
half close position.
Distribution:The vowel / ɜ: / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in English-
initial position as in earth- / ɜ: θ/; medial position as in burn-/bɜ:n/; final position as infur-/f ɜ:/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Pearl /pɜ:l/ Germ /dʒɜ:m/ Sir /sɜ:/
Bird /bɜ:d/ Myrrh /mɜ:/ Deserve /dizɜ:v/
Turn /tɜ:n/ Nurse /nɜ:s/ Shirt /ʃɜ:t/
Dearth /dɜ: θ / Learn /lɜ:n/ Hurt /hɜ:t/
Colonel /kɜ:nl/ Fir/Fur /fɜ:/ Yearn /jɜ:n/
Girl /gɜ:l/ Verse /vɜ:s/ Work /wɜ:k/
Church /tʃɜ: tʃ/ Thirst / θ ɜ:st/ Turn /tɜ:n/

12. /ə/ as in father /fa: ð ə/:

Articulation:During the articulation of this vowel, the central part of the tongue raised to a
position between half close and half open. The lips are neutral and so unrounded. Three-term
label: Hence, it is labeled as central-unrounded vowel between half close and half
openposition.
Distribution: The vowel / ə / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in English-
initial position as inabout-/əbaut/; medial position as in purpose-/p ɜ:p əs/; and final position as
in master- /ma:st ə/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Arise /əraiz/ Clerically /klerikəli/ Parlor /pa:lə/
About /əbaut/ Methodically /mi θɒ dikəli/ Bother /bɒ ð ə/
Along /əl ɔ:ɳ/ Doctor /d ɔ:ktə/ Teacher /ti: tʃə/
Among /əm ʌ ɳ/ Nature /neitʃə/ Disturber /dist ɜ:bə/
Abort /əb ɔ:t/ Political /pəlitikl/ Comet /kɒmət/
Attack /ət æ k/ America /əm ɜ:rəkə/ Gardener /ga:dinə/
Across /əkr ɒs/ gorilla /gərilə/ Butter /b ʌ tə/

The following diagram is called as the Vowel diagram showing the positions of all the twelve
Monophthongs.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

The Monophthongs of English

2.3.2 English Vowels: Diphthongs
Diphthongs are the vowel glides from one Monophthongs to another; the movement is so fast that it is
considered as a single phoneme. There are eight diphthongs in English language, of which /eɪ/, /aɪ/ and
/ɔɪ/ move towards /i/; while /əʊ/ and /aʊ/ move towards /u/. All these five diphthongs are rising and
closing diphthongs as they rise up and move towards close region of the vowel area. /eə/, /ʊə/ and /ɪə/
are the diphthongs that move towards /ə/; as they are falling down they are called as centering and
falling diphthongs. /aʊ/, /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/ are long or wide diphthongs as the glide is long, while /eɪ/, /əʊ/,
/eə/, /ʊə/ and /ɪə/ are narrow or short diphthongs as the glide length is short.

The Diphthongs of English

1. /eɪ/ as in play-/pl eɪ /:
Articulation: RP / eɪ / is a glide from /e/ to /i/ and so the glide begins at the front, unrounded,
between half close and half open position and moves to the centralized front, unrounded position,
just above the half close. The lips are neutral while the glide is pronounced. The diphthong is
rising, closing and narrow glide.
Distribution: The diphthong /eɪ / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as inaim-/ eɪm/; medial position as in table-/teɪbl/; and final position as in
day-/d eɪ/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Pay /peɪ/ James /dʒeɪmz/ They / ð eɪ/
Bathe /beɪ ð / Maid/made /meɪd/ Same /seɪm/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Table /teɪbl/ Neighbor /neɪbə/ Haste /heɪst/
Day /deɪ/ Late /leɪt/ Yale /jeɪl/
Scale /skeɪl/ Face /feɪs/ Wake /weɪk/
Game /geɪm/ Railway /reɪlweɪ/ Player /pleɪə/
Change /tʃeɪndʒ/ Vale /veɪl/ They are / ð eɪə/

2. /aɪ/ as wife-/w aɪf/:

Articulation: RP /aɪ / is a glide from /a/ to /i/ and so the glide begins from front unrounded
vowel just above open position to centralized front unrounded vowel just above half close
position. The lips are neutral at first and later loosely spread, while the glide is pronounced. The
diphthong is rising, closing and wide glide.
Distribution: The diphthong /aɪ / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as in ice-/ aɪs/; medial position as in smile-/smaɪl/; and final position as in
buy-/baɪ/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Pile /paɪl/ Write/wright /raɪt/ Thine / ð aɪn/
Bite /baɪt/ Mine /maɪn/ Thy / ð aɪ/
Tie /taɪ/ Nice /naɪs/ Sign /saɪn/
Dine /daɪn/ Like /laɪk/ Resign /rizaɪn/
Kind /kaɪnd/ Five /faɪv/ Height /haɪt/
Guide /gaɪd/ Rite/right /raɪt/ While /waɪl/
Child /tʃaɪld/ Vine /vaɪn/ Find /faɪnd/

3. /ɔɪ/ as in oil-/ ɔɪl/:

Articulation: RP /ɔɪ/ is a glide from /ɔ/ to /ɪ/, and so the glide begins from back rounded vowel
between open and half open position and moves to the front unrounded vowel just above half
close position. The lips are rounded at first and later loosely spread, while the glide is
pronounced. The diphthong is rising, closing and wide glide.
Distribution: The diphthong /ɔɪ / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as in (as in oil- ɔɪl/; medial position as in noise-/nɔɪs/; and final position
as in poison-/pɔɪzn/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Point /pɔɪnt/ Noise /nɔɪs/ Voice /vɔɪs/
Boy /bɔɪ/ Loyal /lɔɪəl/ Soil /sɔɪl/
Toy /tɔɪ/ Royal /rɔɪəl/ Hoist /hɔɪst/
Doyle /dɔɪl/ Foil /fɔɪl/ Choice /tʃɔɪs/
Coin /kɔɪn/ Joint /dʒɔɪnt/ Moist /mɔɪst/

4. /əʊ/ as in slow-/sl əʊ/:

Articulation: RP / əʊ/ is a glide from /ə/ to /ʊ/, and so the glide begins from central unrounded
vowel between half close and half open position and moves to back rounded vowel just above
half close position. The lips are rounded at first and later loosely spread, while the glide is
pronounced. The diphthong is rising, closing and narrow glide.
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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Distribution: The diphthong /əʊ / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as in own-/ əʊn/; medial position as in boat- /bəʊt/; and final position as
in slow-/sl əʊ /.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Post /pəʊst/ Joseph /dʒəʊzif/ Though / ð əʊ/
Both /bəʊ θ / Motion /məʊʃn/ Sole/soul /səʊl/
Tone /təʊn/ No/know /nəʊ/ Zone /zəʊn/
Don’t /dəʊnt/ Loaf /ləʊf/ Show /ʃəʊ/
Cold /kəʊld/ Foe /fəʊ/ Hope /həʊp/
Go /gəʊ/ Roll /rəʊ/ Yoke/yolk /jəʊk/
Choke /tʃəʊk/ Vote /vəʊt/ Won’t /wəʊnt/

5. /aʊ/ as in cow- /kaʊ/:

Articulation: RP / aʊ/ is a glide from /a/ to /ʊ/ and so the glide begins from back unrounded
vowel just above open position and moves to back rounded vowel just above half close position.
The lips are neutral at first and later rounded, while the glide is pronounced. The diphthong is
rising, closing and wide glide.
Distribution: The diphthong /aʊ / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as in owl-/ aʊl/; medial position as in town-/taʊn/; and final position as
in how-/haʊ/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Pound /paʊnd/ Mouth /maʊ θ / Thou /ð aʊ/
Bough/bow /baʊ/ Loud /laʊd/ Sou /saʊ/
Town /taʊn/ Row /raʊ/ Resound /rizaʊnd/
Doubt /daʊt/ Wound(V) /waʊnd/ Shout /ʃaʊt/
Cow /kaʊ/ Fowl/foul /faʊ/ Howl /haʊl/
Gown /gaʊn/ Round /raʊnd/ How /haʊ/
Choke /tʃaʊk/ Vow /vaʊ/ Crowd /kraʊd/
6. /eə/ as in air:
Articulation:RP /eə/ is a glide from /e/ to /ə/ and so the glide begins from the front unrounded
vowel between half close and half open position and moves towards the central unrounded vowel
just above half open position. The lips are neutral while the glide is pronounced. The diphthong
is falling, centering and narrow glide.
Distribution: The diphthong /eə / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as in area-/eə r iə/; medial position as in caring-/keətin/; and final
position as in hare-/heə/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Air /eə/ Pair /peə/ bear /beə/
Pear /peə/ Tear (V) /teə/ Dare /deə/
Care /keə/ Chair /tʃeə/ Fair /feə/
Vary /veə/ Sarah /seərə/ Share /ʃeə/
Heir /(h)eə/ Hair /heə/ Wear /weə/
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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

7. /ʊə/ as in poor-/pʊə/:
Articulation: RP /ʊə/ is a glide from /ʊ/ to /ə/ and so the glide begins from the back rounded
vowel just above half close position and moves to central unrounded vowel just above half open
position. The lips are rounded in the beginning and neutral later, while the glide is pronounced.
The diphthong is falling, centering and narrow glide.
Distribution: The diphthong /ʊə / occurs in the word medial and final positions in English-
medial position as in surely-/ʃʊəli/; and finally as in tour-/tʊə/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Poor /pʊə/ Jewel / dʒ ʊəl/ Adjure /ədʒʊə/
Boor /bʊə/ Moor /mʊə/ bluer /blʊə/
Tour /tʊə/ Truer /trʊə/ Sure /ʃʊə/
Door /dʊə/ Newer /njʊə/ Lure /ljʊə/
Fewer /fjʊə/ Sewer /sjʊə/ Muir /mjʊə/
8. /ɪə/ as in cheer -/tʃɪə/:
Articulation: RP/ ɪə/ is a glide from /ɪ/ to /ə/ and so the glide begins from the centralized front
unrounded vowel just above half close position and moves to the central unrounded vowel just
above half open position. The lips are neutral while the glide is pronounced. The diphthong is
falling, centering and narrow glide.
Distribution: The diphthong / ɪə / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as in earphone-/ɪəf əʊn/; medial position as in (as in merely-/mɪəli/; and
final position as in tear-/t ɪə/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Pier /pɪə/ Jeer / dʒ ɪə/ Veer /vɪə/
Beer /bɪə/ Lear /lɪə/ Theatre / θɪətə/
Tier/tear /tɪə/ Mere /mɪə/ Sheer/shear /ʃɪə/
(N)
Deer /dɪə/ Near /nɪə/ Seer /sɪə/
Kier /kɪə/ Leer /lɪə/ Hear /hɪə/
Gear /gɪə/ Real /rɪə/ Year /jɪə/
Cheer / tʃ ɪə/ Fear /fɪə/ Weary /wɪə/
The diagram below explains the glides of the diphthongs in English.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
2.4 The Description and Classification of English Consonants
Consonants can be best described in terms of their articulation and for such description, the following
need to be answered:
• Is the airstream mechanism for the sounds provided by the lungs or some other organs?
• Is the air forced out or drawn in?
• Do the vocal chords vibrate or not?
• Is the soft palate raised or lowered?
• At what point does the articulation take place?
• What is the manner of articulation?
Of the above questions, the first and the second questions have the answer of pulmonic egressive air
stream mechanism used in English phonology. The fourth question also has the answer that all
sounds in English are oral except /m, n, ɳ/ which are nasal. So of the above questions, question number
3, 5 and 6 are essential for the description of consonants. Accordingly, the following three aspects
become the three term label to describe a consonant sound.
1. Voiced/voiceless
2. Place of Articulation
3. Manner of Articulation
According to these three aspects, the consonants are classified and described.
1. Voiced/ voiceless or thePosition of Vocal cords:
Vocal cords, lip like structures situated horizontally in the wind pipe (trachea) are closed at one
end and open at the other end. This enables them to assume a large number of positions. Three positions
of vocal cords are important in relation to the production of speech sounds. They can be drawn wide
apart, they can be held loosely together, or they can be held tightly together. The gap between the vocal
cords is called glottis. When the vocal cords are drawn wide apart, the glottis is wide open and the air
passes without causing any friction or disturbance. Thus, a voiceless sound is produced. When the vocal
cords are loosely held together, the air passes through the glottis by causing certain disturbance or
friction and thus, a voiced sound is produced.

2. The Place of Articulation:

The second of the three terms of a consonant sound depends on the place of articulation. The
organs situated in the lower jaw move from their position to articulate with organs situated in the upper
jaw. The organs that move from their original place to articulate are called active articulators while that
do not move are called passive articulators. The place of articulation is named after the passive
articulator. This is done because all the sounds except Bilabials (articulated with the help of two lips)
and Labio-Dental sounds (articulated with the help of lower teeth and upper lip) are articulated with the
tongue as the active articulator.
Bilabial: Sounds articulated by two lips are called bilabial sounds. They are either voiced or voiceless.
Their examples are the initial sound in the words- ‘pat, bat, mat, was’ which are represented by the
symbols /p/, /b/, /m/, and /w/ respectively.
Labio-dental: Sounds articulated by the lower lip and the upper teeth are called labio-dental sounds.
Their examples are the initial sounds in the English words ‘fat’ and ‘van’ represented by symbols /f/
and/v/ respectively.
Dental: Sounds articulated by the tip of the tongue against the teeth are called dental sounds. Their
examples are the initial sound in the English words ‘thing’ and ‘that’ represented by symbols / θ/ and /ð/
respectively.
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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Alveolar: Sounds articulated by the blade of the tongue against the teeth ridge (also called alveolar
ridge) are called alveolar sounds. Their examples are the initial sound in the English words ‘take’, don,
late, nose, say, zoo’ represented by symbols /t/, /d/, /l/, /n/, /s/, /z/ respectively.
Post alveolar: Sounds articulated by the tip of the tongue against the back of the teeth ridge are called
post alveolar sounds. The example is the initial sound in the English word ‘rain’ represented by symbol /
r/.
Palato-alveolar: Sounds articulated by the tip of the tongue against teeth ridge with the front of the
tongue raised towards the hard palate are called palate-alveolar sounds. Their examples are the initial
sounds in the English words ‘chain’ and ‘shame’ represented by symbols /tʃ / and / ʃ / respectively.
Palatal: Sounds articulated by the front of the tongue against the hard palate are called palatal sounds.
The example is the initial sound in the English word ‘yes’ represented by symbol /j/.
Velar: Sounds articulated by the back of the tongue against the soft palate are called velar sounds. Their
examples are the initial sound in the English words ‘kite and go’, and the final sound in the word ‘king’
represented by symbols /k/, /g/, /ɳ/ respectively.
Glottal: Sound produced by an obstruction or narrowing between the vocal cords is called glottal sound.
The example is the initial sound in the English word hen represented by symbol /h/.

3. The Manner of Articulation:

The manner of articulation refers to the way air escapes through the closure and kind of closure
or narrowing involved. The third term of a consonant sound is given after the manner of the articulation
of that sound. The various ways in which English consonants are produced can be studied under
following categories.
Plosive: The active articulator makes a contact with the passive articulator to form a complete closure.
Soft palate is raised to block the nasal passage. There is, first, a complete closure of the passage of air at
some point in the vocal tract. As a result of it, air pressure is built up behind the closure. The closure is
then suddenly removed. This causes a sudden release of the blocked air with explosive noise or plosion.
Hence the sound is called plosive. Examples of plosive sounds in the English are the initial sounds in the
words ‘pin’, ‘ball’, ‘talk’, ‘dog’, ‘kite’, and ‘gang’ represented by symbols /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /ɡ/
Affricates: The active articulator makes a contact with the passive articulator to form a complete
closure. The soft palate is raised to block the nasal passage. As a result of it, the air pressure is built up
behind the closure. The closure is then slowly removed to release the air gradually. Because of a slow
separation of the articulators, affricates are characterized by some audible friction, not by an explosive
noise as heard in the case of plosives. The example are the initial sounds in the English words ‘chair’
and ‘jug’ represented by symbols /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ respectively.
Nasal: The active articulator makes a contact with the passive articulator to form a complete closure in
the oral passage. The nasal passage remains open due to the lowering of the soft palate or velum. Thus,
the air to be released can pass only through the nasal cavity and so are called as nasals. The examples
are initial sounds in the English words ‘man’ and ‘nest’ and the final sound in the English word ‘sing’
represented by /m/, /n/, /ɳ/ respectively.
Roll (or trill): It involves the closure of intermittent closure. As against the plosives, the affricates, and
the nasals, the closure in this case is one of an interrupted kind. The tip of the tongue taps against the
alveolar ridge (or just behind it) several times, so that the air can pass only intermittently between the
articulators. Example: the initial sound in the Scottish English words like ‘rat’ and ‘red’ i.e /r/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Tap: In the production of a tap, one articulator moves towards another, makes a momentary contact, and
immediately withdraws to its position of rest. Example: the /r/ sound in the English word ‘very’.
Flap: As in case of a tap, in the production of a flap too, one articulator starts out towards another and
makes a momentary contact with it. But in this case, it does so only in passing and then moves to
another position. Example: A typical example is the retroflex flap /r/.
Lateral: The active articulator makes a contact with the passive articulator to form a partial closure.
.

The soft palate is raised to block the nasal passage. The air stream can escape from one side or from
both the sides of the contact. Since the air can pass continuously, the sound produced is a continuant i.e.
it can be continued, unlike the plosives and affricates. The example is the initial sound in the English
word ‘let’ represented by the sound /l/.
Fricative: The active articulator comes very close to the passive articulator to form a narrowing. There
is no closure at any point in the vocal tract. The soft palate is raised to block the nasal passage. When
the air passes through the narrow gap between the articulators, it causes audible friction. Hence, the
sounds are called as fricatives. Fricatives are continuously accompanied by audible friction. Examples
are the initial sounds of the English words ‘fail’, ‘very’, ‘think’, ‘that’, ‘see’, ‘zoo’, ‘shine’, and ‘hat’
represented by symbols /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/ and /h/ respectively.
Frictionless continuant: The active articulator comes close to the passive articulator to form a
narrowing of lesser degree i.e. the articulators do not come so close to each other unlike in case of
fricatives. There is no closure at any point in the vocal tract. The soft palate is raised to block the nasal
passage. Hence, the air is released without audible friction. Such a sound is a frictionless continuant.
The example is the initial sound in the word ‘run’ represented by the symbol /r/.
Semi-vowel: Semivowels are essentially short approximants. They are rapid glides from a vowel
towards another vowel of greater steady duration. They differ from both approximants and vowels in
that they are momentary in nature, and cannot be prolonged. Examples are initial sounds in the words
‘watch’ and ‘yes’ represented by symbols /w/ and /j/ respectively.

2.4.1 English Consonants: Plosives

According to the manner of articulation, consonants in English can be classified as Plosives, Affricates,
Fricatives, Nasals, Lateral, Frictionless continuant and Semi-vowels.
Plosives in English: A plosive consonant is produced by:
• a complete closureof the nasal passage due to the raise of the soft palate;
• a complete closure of the oral passage by a firm contact being made between the active and
the passive articulators in the oral cavity;
• the holding of the closure and compression of the air coming
from the lungs;
• a sudden release of air with a slight explosive sound.
There are 06 plosives in English- /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/.
1. /p/ as in pin-/pen/:
Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal
passage of air. A complete closure is formed in the oral cavity
by a firm contact made by both the lips, so that the air pressure
is built behind the closure and the air coming from the lungs is
held up in the oral cavity. When the mouth closure is released,

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
the air that is held up is then suddenly released with an explosive sound. The vocal cords are held
apart when the sound is produced.
Three-term label: Thus, /p/ is a Voiceless-Bilabial- Plosive.
Distribution: The consonant / p / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as inpet-/pen/; medial position as in spin-/spin/; and final position as in
tip -/tip/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Peel /pi:l/ Public /pʌblik/ Poor /p ʊə /
Pill /pil/ Purse /p ɜ:s/ Capable /peipəbl/
Pencil /pensl/ Pail /peil/ Happy /hæpi/
Pack /pæk/ Post /p əʊ st/ Pepper /pepə/
Pass /pa:s/ Pie /pai/ People /pi:pl/
Pocket /pɒkit/ Power /paʊə/ Lip /lip/
Paw /p ɔ:/ Point /p ɔɪ nt/ Map /mæp/
Pull /pul/ Pier /p ɪə / Spoon /spu:n/
Pool /pu:l/ Pair /p eə / Spend /spend/
Peech /pi:tʃ / Pour /p ʊə / Spot /spɒt/

2. /b/ as in Best-/best/:
Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage of air. A complete closure is
formed in the oral cavity by a firm contact made by both the lips, so that the air pressure is built
behind the closure and the air coming from the lungs is held up in the oral cavity. When the
mouth closure is released, the air held up is then suddenly released with an explosive sound. The
vocal cords vibrate when the sound is produced.
Three-term label: Thus, /b/ is a Voiced-Bilabial- Plosive.
Distribution: The consonant / b / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as inbat-/b æ t/; medial position as in about- /əbaut/, rub-/r ʌ b/)

Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Bee /bi:/ Burn /b ɜ:n/ Robin /rɒbin/
Bid /bid/ Bay /bei/ Bubble /bʌbl/
Bed /bed/ Boat /b əʊ t/ Web /web/
Bad /bæd/ Buy /bai/ October /əktəʊbə/
Bark /ba:k/ Bough /baʊ/ Bulb /bʌlb/
Box /bɒks/ Boy /b ɔɪ / Tribe /traib/
Bought /b ɔ:t/ Beer /b ɪə / Bomb /bɒm/
Bull /bul/ Bear /b eə / Comb /ku:m/
Boot /bu:t/ Boar /b uə / Lamb /læm/
Bud /b ʌd/ Boor /b uə / Debt /det/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
3. /t/ as in Ten-/ten/:
Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage of air. A complete closure is
formed in the oral cavity by a firm contact made between the tip
and blade of the tongue and the teeth ridge, so that the air pressure
is built behind the closure and the air coming from the lungs is
held up in the oral cavity. When the mouth closure is released, the
air held up is then suddenly released with an explosive sound. The
vocal cords are held apart when the sound is produced.
Three-term label: Thus, /t/ is a Voiceless-Alveolar- Plosive.
Distribution: The consonant / t / occurs in the word initial, medial
and final positions in English-initial position as inten-/ten/; medial
position as in attend-/ətend/; and final position as in text-/tekst/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Tea /ti:/ Turn /t ɜ:n/ Writing /raiti ɳ /
Tin /tin/ Take /teik/ Water /wɒtə/
Tell /tel/ Toast /təust/ Native /neitiv/
Attack /ətæk/ Time /taim/ Theatre / θiətə/
Task /ta:sk/ Toy /t ɔɪ / Potato /pteitəu/
Top /tɒp/ Town /taun/ Constitute /kənstitju:t/
Talk /t ɔ:k/ Tear (N) /tiə/ Print /print/
Took /tuk/ Tear (V) /teə/ Profit /prɒfit/
Two /tu:/ Tour /tuə/ Doubt /daut/
Tumble /tʌmbl/ Tore /tuə/ Teller /telə/

4. /d/as in deep-/di:p/:
Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage of air. A complete closure is
formed in the oral cavity by a firm contact made between the tip and blade of the tongue and the
teeth ridge, so that the air pressure is built behind the closure and the air coming from the lungs
is held up in the oral cavity. When the mouth closure is released, the air held up is then suddenly
released with an explosive sound. The vocal cords vibrate when the sound is produced.
Three-term label: Thus, /d/ is a Voiced-Alveolar- Plosive.
Distribution: The consonant / d / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as indone-/dʌn/; medial position as in addition-/ədiʃn/; and final position
as in made-/meid/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Deal /di:l/ Dome /dəum/ Lead (N) /led/
Did /did/ Dine /dain/ Hard /ha:d/
Dash /dæ ʃ / Down /daun/ Load /ləud/
Dark /da:k/ Dear /diə/ Wood /wud/
Dog /dɒg/ Dare /deə/ Mad /mæd/
Door /d ɔ:/ Hiding /haidi/ Said /sed/
Doom /du:m/ Louder /laudə/ Kindle /kindl/
Dust /dʌst/ Garden /ga:dn/ Cuddle /kʌdl/
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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Dirt /d ɜ:t/ Middle /midl/ Redden /redn/
Date /deit/ Lead (V) /li:d/ Debt /det/

5. /k/ as in keep-/ki:p/:
Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage of air. A complete closure is
formed in the oral cavity by a firm contact made between the back
of the tongue and the tip of the soft palate called as the velum, so
that the air pressure is built behind the closure and the air coming
from the lungs is held up in the oral cavity. When the mouth
closure is released, the air held up is then suddenly released with
an explosive sound. The vocal cords are held apart when the
sound is produced.
Three-term label: Thus, /k/ is a Voiceless-Velar- Plosive.
Distribution: The consonant / k / occurs in the word initial,
medial and final positions in English-initial position as incup-
/kʌp/; medial position as in sticker-/stikə/; and final position as in
neck-/nek/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Key /ki:/ Carve /ka:v/ Cooking /kuki/
Kill /kil/ Cold /kəuld/ Rocky /rki/
Kettle /ketl/ Kind /kaind/ Leak /li:k/
Cat /kæt/ Cow /kau/ Cake /keik/
Cart /ka:t/ Coil /k ɔɪ l/ Pack /pk/
Collar /kɒlə/ Kier /kiə/ Duke /dju:k/
Cushion /ku ʃ n/ Care /keə/ Kill /kil/
Cool /ku:l/ Coarse /kəs/ Pack /pæk/
Cut /kʌt/ Course /kəs/ Cake /keik/
Curl /k ɜ:l/ Acre /eikə/ Come /kʌm/

6. /g/ as in gun-/gʌn/:
Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage of air. A complete closure is
formed in the oral cavity by a firm contact made between the back of the tongue and the tip of
the soft palate called as the velum, so that the air pressure is built behind the closure and the air
coming from the lungs is held up in the oral cavity. When the mouth closure is released, the air
held up is then suddenly released with an explosive sound. The vocal cords vibrate when the
sound is produced.
Three-term label: Thus, /g/ is a Voiceless-Velar- Plosive.
Distribution: The consonant / g / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as ingame-/geim/; medial position as in again- /əgein/; and final position
as in dog-/dɒg/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Geese /gi:s/ Girl /g ɜ:l/ Big /big/
Give /giv/ Gate /geit/ Egg /eg/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Guess /ges/ Goat /gəut/ Log /lɒg/
Gas /gæs/ Guide /gaid/ Mug /mʌg/
Guard /ga:d/ Gown /gaun/ Gather /gæə/
Got /gɒt/ Gear /giə/ Gross /grəus/
Gauze /g ɔ:z/ Eager /i:gə/ Gravy /greivi/
Good /gud/ Tiger /taigə/ Beggar /begə/
Goose /gu:s/ Organ /ɒgən/ Shrug / ʃ rʌg/
Gum /gʌm/ Sugar / ʃ ugə/ Hug /hʌg/

2.4.2 English Consonants:Affricates

An affricate consonant is produced by:
• A complete closure of the nasal passage of air due to the rise of the soft palate;
• The complete closure of the oral passage by a firm contact being made between the active and
the passive articulators in the oral cavity;
• the holding of the closure and compression of the air coming from the lungs;
• A slow release of air causing friction.
There are two affricates in English language-/tʃ/ and /dʒ/.
7. /tʃ/ as in church-/tʃɜ:tʃ/:
Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage of air. A complete closure is
formed in the oral cavity by a firm contact made between the tip and
blade of the tongue and alveolar ridge. The front of the tongue is also
raised in the direction of the hard palate, so that the air pressure is
built behind the closure and the air coming from the lungs is held up in
the oral cavity. When the tip of the tongue and the blade are removed
from the alveolar ridge, the air held up is slowly released with friction.
The vocal cords are drawn wide apart to let the air pass without
friction.
Three-term label: Thus, /tʃ/ is a Voiceless – Palato-alveolar-
Affricate.
Distribution: The consonant /tʃ / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as inchain-/tʃein/; medial position as in matches-/mætʃiz/; and final
position as in batch, /b æ tʃ/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Cheep /tʃi:p/ Picture /piktʃ ə/ Porch /pɒtʃ/
Chin /tʃin/ Chain /tʃein/ Much /mʌtʃ/
Chess /tʃes/ Choke /tʃ əuk/ Birch /b ɜ:tʃ/
Champ /tʃ æ mp/ Child /tʃaild/ H /eitʃ/
Charm /tʃa:m/ Choice /tʃ ɔɪ s/ Broach /br ə utʃ/
Chop /tʃɒp/ Cheer /tʃi ə/ Couch /kautʃ/
Chalk /tʃ ɔ:k/ Chair /tʃe ə/ Check /tʃek/
Choose /tʃu:z/ Each /i:tʃ/ Chamber /tʃ æ mbə /
Chum /tʃʌm/ Ditch /ditʃ/ Chance /tʃa:ns/
Church / tʃɜ:tʃ/ Sketch /sketʃ/ Bachelor /bætʃələ /

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

8. /dʒ/ as in Judge-/ dʒʌdʒ/:

Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage of air. A complete closure is
formed in the oral cavity by a firm contact made between the tip and blade of the tongue and
alveolar ridge. The front of the tongue is also raised in the direction of the hard palate, so that the
air pressure is built behind the closure and the air coming from the lungs is held up in the oral
cavity. When the tip of the tongue and the blade are removed from the alveolar ridge, the air held
up is slowly released with friction. The vocal cords vibrate while the sound is pronounced.
Three-term label: Thus, / dʒ / is a Voiced – Palato-alveolar- Affricate.
Distribution: The consonant /dʒ / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as injug -/ dʒ ʌ g/; medial position as in stages-/ /steidʒiz/; and final
position as in badge-/ bædʒ/ .
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Jean /dʒi:n/ Injure /indʒ ə / Jelly /dʒeli/
Jig /dʒig/ James /dʒeims/ Joker /dʒəukə /
Gem /dʒem/ Gibe /dʒaib/ Jolly /dʒɒli/
Jack /dʒ æ k/ Joy /dʒ ɔɪ / Joseph /dʒəuzif/
Jar /dʒa:/ Jeer /dʒiə / Joe /dʒəu/
Job /dʒɒb/ Bridge /bridʒ/ Jesus /dʒi:səs/
June /dʒu:n/ Large /la:dʒ/ Barge /ba:dʒ/
Just /dʒʌst/ George /dʒɒdʒ/ Siege /si:dʒ/
Journey /dʒ ɜ:ni/ Age /eidʒ/ Message /meseidʒ/
Joke /dʒ ə uk/ Beige /beidʒ/ Massage /m əseidʒ/

2.4.3 English Consonants:Fricatives

Fricatives are the friction consonants which are produced with close approximation stricture, i.e.,
the active articulator is brought very close to the passive articulator so that the gap between them
is very narrow. The air escapes through this narrow gap with audible friction. There are nine
fricatives in English-/f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/ and /h/.
9. /f/ as in fan-/fæn/:
Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage. The lower lip comes very
close to the upper teeth to form a narrow space through which the
air coming from the lungs passes out with audible friction. The
vocal cords are drawn wide apart during the articulation of the
sound.
Three-term label: Hence, the sound is labeled as Voiceless -
Labio-dental – Fricative.
Distribution: The consonant /f / occurs in the word initial, medial
and final positions in English-initial position as infar-/ fa:/; medial
position as in after-/a:ftə /; and in final position as in half-/ha:f/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Feed /fi:d/ Fir /f ɜ:/ Fowl /faul/
Fit /fit/ Fur /f ɜ:/ Safe /seif/
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Fence /fens/ Fail /feil/ Loaf /ləuf/
Fat /f æ t/ Fold /fəuld/ Half /ha:f/
Farm /fa:m/ Fine /fain/ Father /fa:ðə/
Fond /fɒnd/ Found /faund/ Famous /feiməs/
Force /f ɔ:s/ Foil /f ɔɪ l/ Fickle /fikl/
Foot /fut/ Fear /fiə/ Fish /fiʃ/
Food /fu:d/ Fair /feə/ Finish /fini ʃ/
Fun /f ʌ n/ Foul /faul/ Further /f ɜ:ðə/

10. /v/ as in Van-/væn/:

Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage of air. The lower lip comes
very close to the upper teeth to form a narrow space through which the air coming from the lungs
passes out with audible friction. The vocal cords vibrate during the articulation of the sound.
Three-term label: Hence, the sound is labeled as Voiced - Labio-dental – Fricative.
Distribution: The consonant /v/ occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in English-
initial position as invet-/ vet/; medial position as in never-/nevə /; and in final position as in
leave-/li:v/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Veal /vi:l/ Van /v æ n/ Venom /vinəm/
Vet /vet/ Vamp /v æ mp/ Veteran /vəterən/

11. /θ/ as in theatre-/ θietə/:

Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage. The tip of the tongue makes
a light contact with the upper teeth and leaves a narrow space in
between through which the air coming from the lungs passes out with
audible friction. The vocal cords are drawn wide apart during the
articulation of the sound.
Three-term label: Hence, the sound is labeled as Voiceless - Dental
– Fricative.
Distribution: The consonant / θ / occurs in the word initial, medial
and final positions in English-initial position as in thin-/ θin/; medial
position as in paths-/pa:θs/; and in final position as in bath-/ba:θ /.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Theme /θi:m/ Thwart /θw ɒ t/ Method /meθ əd /
Thin /θin/ Heath /hi:θ/ Author / ɔ:θ ə /
Theft /θeft/ Smith /smiθ/ Sympathy / simpə θi/
Thank /θ æɳ k/ Breath /bri:θ/ Ether /i:θ ə /
Thong /θ ɒ ɳ / Bath /ba:θ/ Thirty /θ ɜ:ti/
Thought /θ ɔ:t/ North /n ɔ:θ/ Thousand /θauz ənd/
Thumb /θ ʌ m/ Truth /truθ/ Things /θi ɳgz/
Third /θ ɜ:d/ Birth /b ɜ:θ/ Thirst /θ ɜ:st/
Thermometer /θ əm ɔ: mit ə / Both /b əuθ/ Throb /θr ɒb/
Three /θri:/ Mouth /mauθ/ Thud /θ ʌ d/
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12. /ð/ as in brother-/brʌðə/:
Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage. The tip of the tongue makes
a light contact with the upper teeth and leaves a narrow space in between through which the air
coming from the lungs passes out with audible friction. The vocal cords vibrate during the
articulation of the sound.
Three-term label: Hence, the sound is labeled as Voiced - Dental – Fricative.
Distribution: The consonant / ð / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as in this-/ðis/; medial position as in rather-/ra:ðə /; and in final position
as in bathe-/bei ð/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
These /ði:z/ They /ðei/ Breathe /bri:ð/
This /ðis/ Though /ðau/ With /wið/
Then /ðen/ Thy /ðai/ Bathe /beið/
That /ðæt/ Thou /ðəu/ Loathe /ləuð/
Thus /ðʌs/ There /ðeə/ Worthy /wɜ:ði/
Scythe /saið/ Father /fa:ðə/ Brother /brʌðə/

13. /s/ as in sit-/sit/:

Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage. The tip of the tongue comes
very close to the upper teeth ridge or alveolar ridge to form a narrow
space through which the air coming from the lungs passes out with
audible friction. The vocal cords are drawn wide apart during the
articulation of the sound.
Three-term label: Hence, the sound is labeled as Voiceless -
Alveolar – Fricative.
Distribution: The consonant / s/ occurs in the word initial, medial
and final positions in English-initial position as in sin-/sin/; medial
position as in beside- /bisaid/; and final position as in miss-/mis/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
See /si:/ So /səu/ Soar /s ɒ ə /
Sit /sit/ Sound /saund/ Sore /s ɒ ə /
Sell /sel/ Sigh /sai/ This / ð is/
Sat /s æ t/ Soil /s ɔɪl/ Less /les/
Psalm /sa:m/ Sow /səu/ Pass /pa:s/
Song /sɒɳ/ Suit /su:t/ Gross /grəus/
Sing /si ɳ / Same /seim/ Course /k ɔ:s/
Soot /sut/ Say /sei/ Places /pleisiz/
Son /s ʌ n/ Serious /siəriəs/ Scarce /skeis/
Certain /s ɜ:tn/ Sarah /seərə/ Ceases /si:ziz/
14. /z/ as in zoo-/zu:/:
Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage. The tip of the tongue comes
very close to the upper teeth ridge or alveolar ridge to form a narrow space through which the air

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
coming from the lungs passes out with audible friction. The vocal cords vibrate during the
articulation of the sound.
Three-term label: Hence, the sound is labeled as Voiced - Alveolar – Fricative.
Distribution: The consonant / z / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as in zip-/zip/; medial position as in lazy-leizi/; and final position as in
maze-/meiz/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Zeal /zi:l/ Deceases /dezi:ziz/ Sissors /siziz/
Zest /zest/ Zones /zəun/ Reserves /riz ɜ:vz/

15. /ʃ/ as in ship-/ ʃip/:

Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage. In the oral cavity, the tip and
blade of the tongue are raised towards the alveolar ridge. The front of the tongue is also raised in
the direction of the hard palate to form a narrow space through which the air coming from the
lungs passes out with audible friction. The vocal cords are drawn wide apart during the
articulation of the sound.
Three-term label: Hence, the sound is labeled as Voiceless–Palato-alveolar– Fricative.
Distribution: The consonant / ʃ/ occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in English-
initial position as in shine-/ ʃain/; medial position as in ashes-/ æʃiz/; and final position as in
trash-/tr æʃ/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Sheaf /ʃi:f/ Shake /ʃeik/ Bush /buʃ/
Ship /ʃip/ Show /ʃ əu/ Marsh /ma:ʃ/
Shell /ʃel/ Shy /ʃai/ Ash /æʃ/
Shadow /ʃdəu/ Shout /ʃaut/ Squash /skw ɒʃ /
sharp /ʃa:p/ Shear /ʃiə/ Mash /ma:ʃ/
Shock /ʃ ɒ k/ Share /ʃeə/ Lash /l æ ʃ/
Shaw /ʃ ɔ:/ Shure /ʃu:/ Vicious /viʃəs/
Shoes /ʃu:z/ Sure /ʃuə/ Precious /preʃəs/
Shirt /ʃ ɜ:t/ Fish /fiʃ/ Wash /w ɒ ʃ/
Shut /ʃ ʌ t/ Cash /k æ ʃ/ Trash /tr æ ʃ/

16. /ʒ/ as in pleasure-/ple ʒ ə/:

Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage. In the oral cavity, the tip and
blade of the tongue are raised towards the alveolar ridge. The front
of the tongue is also raised in the direction of the hard palate to
form a narrow space through which the air coming from the lungs
passes out with audible friction. The vocal cords vibrate during the
articulation of the sound.
Three-term label: Hence, the sound is labeled as Voiced–Palato-
alveolar– Fricative.
Distribution: The consonant / ʒ / occurs in the word initial and
medial positions in English-initial position as in genre-/ ʒɒnrə/;
medial position as in leisure-/leʒə/.
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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Seizure /si:ʒə/ Enclosure /inkləuʒə/ Garage /g æ ra:ʒ/
Pleasure /pleʒə/ Leisure /leʒə/ Rouge /ru:ʒ/
Treasure /treʒə/ Prestige /pristi:ʒ/ Barrage /b æ ra:ʒ/

17. /h/ as in hat/hæt/:

Articulation: The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage. During the articulation of
/h/, the air from the lungs escapes through a narrow glottis with
audible friction. The vocal cords are drawn wide apart during the
articulation of the sound.
Three-term label: Hence, the sound is labeled as Voiceless -
Glottal– Fricative.
Distribution: The consonant / h / occurs in the word initial and
medial positions in English-initial position as in house-/haus/; medial
position as in behind-/bihaind/.

Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcripti
on
Heat /hi:t/ Hay /hei/ Head-ache /hedeik/
Hill /hil/ Hi /hai/ Hare /heə/
Hen /hen/ Hello /heləu/ Hammer /h æ mə/
Hat /hæt/ Hold /həuld/ Behold /bihəuld/
Hard /ha:d/ High /hai/ Behalf /biha:f/
Horn /h ɔ: n/ How /hau/ Behind /bihaind/
Hop /h ɒ p/ Hoist /h ɔɪ st/ Childhood / tʃ aildhud/
Hoof /hu:f/ Here /hiə/ Hand /hænd/
Hut /h ʌ t/ Hair /heə/ Handkerchi /haɳkətʃ i:f/
ef
Hurt /h ɜ:t/ Behave /Biheiv/ Harm /ha:m/

2.4.4 English Consonants: Nasals

Nasal consonants are produced by:
• A complete closure in the oral cavity;
• The holding of the closure and compression of the air coming from the lungs;
• The lowering of the soft palate so that the air comes out from the nose.
There are three nasal sounds in English phonology, /m/, /n/, / ɳ/.

18. /m/ as in mill-/mil/:

Articulation: The lower lip makes a contact with the upper lip to form a
complete closure in the oral cavity. The soft palate is lowered to open the
nasal passage. The air coming from the lungs escapes through the nasal
passage. The vocal cords vibrate while the sound is pronounced.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
There-term label: Hence, the /m/ is labeled as a Voiced – bilabial – nasal.
Distribution: The consonant / m / occurs in the word initial, medial and final positions in
English-initial position as in man-/mæn/; medial position as in amount-/əmaunt/; and final
position as in ram-/ræm/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Mean /mi:n/ Make /meik/ Mnemonic /nim ɔ:nik/
Mint /mint/ Method /meθəd/ Summer /s ʌ mə/
Men /men/ Ram /ræm/ Thumb /θ ʌm/
Man /mæn/ Come /k ʌ m/ Lamb /læm/
19. /n/ as in nib-/nib/:
Articulation: The tip of the tongue makes a contact with the alveolar ridge to form a complete
closure in the oral cavity. The soft palate is lowered to open the
nasal passage. The air coming from the lungs escapes through the
nasal passage. The vocal cords vibrate while the sound is
pronounced.
Three term label: Hence, the /n/ is labeled as a Voiced – Alveolar
– Nasal.
Distribution: The consonant / n / occurs in the word initial, medial
and final positions in English-initial position as in net-/net/; medial
as in announce/ənauns/; and final position as in ban -/bæn/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Neat /ni:t/ No /nəu/ Cotton /k ɒtn/
Nimble /nimbl/ Nun /n ʌ n/ Hidden /hidn/
Nest /nest/ Nasty /na:sti/ Linen /linin/
Name /neim/ Neither /nai ðə/ Nine /nain/
20. /ɳ/ as in king-/kiɳ /:
Articulation: The back of the tongue makes a firm contact with the velum, the extreme tip of the
soft palate to form a complete closure in the oral cavity. The soft
palate is lowered to open the nasal passage. The air coming from the
lungs escapes through the nasal passage. The vocal cords vibrate
while the sound is pronounced.
Three term label: Hence, the / ɳ / is labeled as a Voiced – Velar –
Nasal.
Distribution: The consonant / ɳ / occurs in the word medial and
final positions in English- medial as in singing-/si ɳi ɳ/; and final
position as in sing -/siɳ/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Bring /briɳ/ Singer /siɳgə/ Handkerchief /hæɳkə tʃ if/
Song /s ɒ ɳ/ Longest /l ɒɳgist/ Younger /j ʌ ɳgə/
Long /l ɒ ɳ/ Anger /æɳgə/ Finger /fiɳgə/
Rung /r ʌ ɳ/ Anchor /æɳkə/ Rung /r ʌ ɳ/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in
n Phonetics & English Phonology

2.4.5 English Consonants: Lateral

A lateral consonant is articulated with the manner of articulation of complete closure in the
central part of the vocal tract. The sides of the tongue are lowered and the air escapes along the
sides of the mouth. In English there is only one lateral sound
sound-/l/.
21. /l/ as in leave-/li:v/:
The soft palate is raised to block the nasal pa
passage
ssage of air. The tip of
the tongue makes a firm contact with the teeth ridge or alveolar
ridge to form a complete closure along the center of the oral tract.
The sides or the rims of the tongue are lowered and the air from the
lungs escapes along the sidsides
es of the tongue without any friction. The
vocal cords vibrate producing voice.
Three
Three-term label: Hence, the sound /l/ is labeled as a Voiced –
Alveolar – Lateral. Distribution: The consonant / l / occurs in the word
initial, medial and final positions iin English- initial position as in late-
late
/leit/; medial as in believe
believe-/bili:v/;
/bili:v/; and final position as in bell-/bel/.
be
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcripti
on
Leave /li:v/ Learn /l ɜ:n/ Calling /k ɒ li ɳ /
Little /litl/ Lake /leik/ Double /d ʌbl/
Let /let/ Loaf /ləuf/ Noble /nəəubl/
Lamb /læm/ Line /lain/ Small /smɒl/
/sm
Large /la: dʒ / Loud /ləud/ Candle /kæændl/
Long /lɒɳ/ Employ /impl ɔɪ / Field /fi:ld/
/fi:
Law /l ɔ:/ Clear /kliə/ Cold /kəəuld/
Look /luk/ Flare /fleə/ Should / ʃ ud/
Lose /lu:z/ Cellar /selə/ Bulk /b ʌ lk/
Love /l ʌ v/ Jelly / dʒ eli/ Pulpit /pulpit/

2.4.6 English Consonants:Frictionless

Frictionless continuant
A frictionless continuant
tinuant is articulated with the manner of articulation of open approximation,
where the active articulator is raised in the direction of the passive articulator in such a way that
the air coming out from the lungs escapes through the gap without any friction.
fricti Thus frictionless
continuants are vowel-like in their articulation. In English there is one frictionless continuant
sound-/r/.
22. /r/ as in red-/red/:
Articulation: RP /r/ is articulated with the tip of the tongue being
raised in the direction of the hhinder part of the teeth ridge or the
alveolar ridge. The soft palate is raised to shut off the nasal passage
of air. The air escapes continuously through the gap between the tip
of the tongue and post-alveolar
alveolar region without any friction. The
vocal cords vibrate to produce voice.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Three term label: Hence, the English /r/ is labeled as a Voiced – Post-alveolar – Frictionless
Continuant.
Distribution: The consonant / r / occurs in the word initial and medial positions in English-
initial position as in rat-/ræt/; and medial as in sorry-sɒri/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcripti
on
Reason /ri:zn/ Race /reis/ Car /ka:/
Rid /rid/ Rope /rəup/ Far /fa:/
Red /red/ Right /rait/ Mark /ma:k/
Rash /r æʃ / Round /raund/ Short / ʃɒ t/
Raft /ra:ft/ Royal /r ɔɪəl/ Warm /wa:m/
Wrong /r ɒɳ / Real /riəl/ Force /f ɔ:s/
Raw /r ɔ:/ Rarer /reərə/ Girl /g ɜ:l/
Room /rum/ Roar /r ɔ:ə/ World /w ɜ:ld/
Rule /ru:l/ Literary /litərəri/ Church / tʃ ɜ:tʃ /
Run /r ʌ n/ Recruit /rikru:t/ Weird /wi ə d/

2.4.7 English Consonants: Semi Vowels

They are vowel glides like the diphthongs. They are almost like a vowel in having the glide and in being
voiced but are in the group of the consonants because of their linguistic position as they always occupy
marginal positions and can never become the nucleus in a syllable. As they are glides to the succeeding
vowels, they can never be in the word final position. There are two semi vowels in English phonology -
/w/ and /j/.
23. /j/ as in yak-/jæk/:
Articulation: The soft palate is raised to block the nasal passage of air. The front part of the
tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate and assumes a position for a vowel between
close and half-close and quickly glides to the position of the following vowel. The glide starts at
the position of /i/ and moves to the immediately next sound. the lips are loosely spread or
neutral. The vocal chords vibrate, producing voice.
Three-term label: Hence, the sound /j/ is labeled as a Voiced – Palatal-Semi vowel.
Distribution: The consonant / j / occurs in the word initial and medial positions in English-
initial position as in as in yes-/jes/; and medial position as in beyond-/bijɒnd/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription
Yield /ji:ld/ Yale /jeil/ Music /mju:zik/
Yiddish /jidi ʃ / Yoke /jəuk/ Beauty /bju:ti/
Yet /jet/ Yolk /jəuk/ Lute /lju:t/
Yak /j æ k/ Year /jiə/ Dew /dju:/
Yard /ja:d/ Your /j ɔ:/ Kew /kju:/
Yacht /j ɒ t/ Beyond /bij ɒ nd/ New /nju:/
Yarn /ja:n/ Million /miljən/ Few /fju:/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Yew /ju:/ India /indjə/ View /vju:/
Young /j ʌɳ / Yes /jes/ Sue /sju:/
Yearn /j ɜ:n/ Yellow /jeləu/ Hew /hju:/

24. /w/ as in wet-/wet/:

Articulation: The soft palate is raised to block the nasal passage of air. The back part of the
tongue is raised in the direction of the soft palate and assumes a position for a vowel between
close and half-close and the lips are rounded. The glide quickly glides to the position of the
following vowel. The glide starts at the position of /u/ and moves to the immediately next sound.
The lips are rounded while the sound is pronounced. The vocal chords vibrate, producing voice.
Three-term label: Hence, the sound /w/ is labeled as a Voiced – Labiovelar-Semi vowel.
Distribution: The consonant / w / occurs in the word initial and medial positions in English-
initial position as in as in what-/w ɒ t/; and medial position as in language-/læ ɳwi dʒ/.
Examples:
Word Transcription Word Transcription Word Transcription

We /wi:/ Weird /wi ə d/ With /wi ð /

Win /win Wake /weik/ Word /w ɜ:d/
Wet /wet/ Wont /w ə nt/ Won /wʌn/
Wag /wæg/ Wife /waif/ One /wʌn/
Squash /skwɒʃ/ Wear /we ə / Waste /weist/
Want /wa:nt/ would /wud/ West /west/
Warm /wa:m/ Work / wɜ:k/ Winter /wint ə /
Wool /wul/ Wise /waiz/ Twitter /twit ə /
Wound /waund/ Wine /wain/ Twin /twin/
(V)
Wound /wu:nd/ Were /w ə / Queen /kwi:n/
(N)

Palatal-Semi vowel -/j/ Labiovelar-Semi vowel-/w/

Thus is the description and classification of English vowels and consonants in terms of articulation,
distribution, three-term label along with the examples and practice. The table below has a
comprehensive description of English consonants at a glance.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Place Bilabial Labio- DentalAlveolar Post- Palate - Palatal Velar glottal
Manner dental alveolar alveolar
Vl Vd Vl Vd Vl Vd Vl Vd Vl Vd Vl Vd Vd Vl Vd Vl
Plosive p b t d k g
Affricate tʃ dʒ
Nasal m n ɳ
Lateral l
Fricative f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h
Frictionless r
Continuant
Semi- w j
vowels

***

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

Unit III: Units of Speech

3.1 The Phoneme
Minimal sound unit of a language is called as a phoneme. Of the infinite number of speech sounds that
human speech mechanism is producing, every language selects a few sounds which together form the
sound system of that language. A minimal sound unit of a language that exists in contrastive
distribution is called as the phoneme. Contrastive distribution means, that all phonemes can exist in
the same positions and that the replacement of one sound with another results in change of meaning and
thereby forms a different word in that language. For example: pet /pet/-the word has three sounds, /p/,
/e/, /t/. /p/ is in the word initial position, /e/ is in the word medial position and /t/ is in the word final
position of the. The replacement of each sound with another, as seen below, results in the change of
word and there by a change in meaning.

Word initial replacement Word medial replacement Word final replacement

PET PET PET
LET PAT PEL
NET PIT PEN
SET PUT PEG
MET POT PEM
YET PAUT PEB
Each set is called as the minimal pair because they differ in only one sound. Each sound in the above
set of examples, the minimal pairs, is called as the phoneme. In English there are 44 phonemes and the
transcription using phonemes is called as the phonemic transcription or the Broad transcription, which
is kept in slant lines as in- pet /pet/.

3.2 The Allophone

Phonetically similar sounds in complementary distribution are called as the allophones. Complementary
distribution means that the sounds cannot occur in the same phonetic environment; by mistake if they
are kept in the same environment by a non-native speaker, they don’t result in the change of meaning of
the word. For example: Cake-it is transcribed as /keik/. But the native speaker pronounces the initial /k/
with a slight /h/ sound there by pronounces it as [kh], whereas the word final /k/ is not pronounced so.
This phenomenon is called as the aspiration, which is an important feature of English pronunciation.
The voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ sounds are pronounced with a slight /h/ sound whenever they occur in the
accented position and this phenomenon is called as the aspiration. So /pen/ is pronounced as [phen], /ten
is pronounced as [then], and king is pronounced as [khiɳ]. In the example of /keik/, the initial /k/ is
aspirated while the final /k/ is un-aspirated. Moreover, the word final /k/ is unreleased as well. So the
narrow transcription of the word using all these details is [kheik7].
In the example of the word ‘scale’ -/skeil/, the sound /k/ is un-aspirated abut released and
represented by [k]. Hence the same phoneme /k/ has three types of representations
[kh] is aspirated /k/
[k7] is un-aspirated and unreleased /k/
[k] is un-aspirated but released /k/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Such phonetically similar sounds occurring in dissimilar environments which a native speaker never
mixes up are called as allophones. Even if a non-native speaker mixes them and pronounces [kheik7] as
[keik] or [keikh] or [kheikh] and [skeil] as [skheil, it will not bring about any difference in the meaning
but understood as pronunciation problems. Hence the above here sounds [k], [kh], and [k7] are
allophones of the phoneme /k/.

Similarly the sounds /p/, /t/ and /l/ have allophones in English. A phoneme is a minimal sound unit of a
language in contrastive distribution and the allophone is phonetically similar unit in complementary
distribution.

3.3 The Syllable

Phonemes are the minimal sound units of a language which combine to form the next higher unit called
‘a syllable’, which is a very significant unit in the production of speech.A syllable is a group of
phonemes that can be uttered together with a pause or a break and which has one vowel sound at least.
In smaller words like pen, tub, dusk with a single vowel sound in them which are called as in
monosyllabic words, it is much easier to identify the syllable; the entire word is one syllable. But in
bigger words like arise, before, disturb, organize, regenerate, characterization, electricity, photographer,
sometimes it becomes difficult to identify the syllable. With the rule that a syllable is one more
phonemes with a mandatory vowel sound helps in the identification of the syllable. The syllable division
is indicated by a hyphen between the syllables. The syllabic division is a permanent feature of the words
which could be shown in a dictionary as well with the hyphen in between the syllables. For example in
the above said words the syllables are as following:

Arise--a-rise,
Before—be-fore,
Disturb—dis-turb,
Organize—o-rga-nize,
Regenerate—re-ge-ne-rate,
Characterization—cha-rec-te-ri-sa-tion,
Electricity—e-lec-tri-ci-ty,
Photographer—pho-to-gra-pher
There can be a syllable without any consonantal sounds but there cannot be a syllable without a vowel
sound; that’s why the vowel sound in the syllable is called as the nucleus, while the consonantal sounds
are called as the marginal sounds as they occupy the marginal positions of the central vowel sound. For
example as in the words: a, eye, air, I etc. They are the examples of one word represented by one
syllable in turn represented by one sound which is a vowel. The vowel element in the syllable is
represented by the letter ‘V’ in a syllable while the consonant sound is indicated by the letter ‘C’. The
representation of vowels and consonants in the syllable of the words is called as the syllabic structure
or the structure of a syllable. In a word like ‘put’ the transcription is /put/ with the syllabic structure of
CVC. The English words can be analysed by using the symbols ‘C” and ‘V’ as following in the syllable
structure:

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Type Word Transcription Structure of the
Syllable (V and
C)
Type 1 I /ai/ V
Type 2 Ice /ais/ VC
Type 3 Car /ka:/ CV
Type 4 Less /les/ CVC
Type 5 Play /plei/ CCV
Type 6 Spray /sprei/ CCCV
Type 7 Stream /stri:m/ CCCVC
Type 8 Screamed /skri:md/ CCCVCC
Type 9 Strands /strandz/ CCCVCCC
Type 10 Pre-empts /pri-empts/ (Second syllable) VCCCC
Type 11 Texts /teksts/ CVCCCC
Type 12 Twelfths /twelf θs/ CCVCCCC
Type 13 Brands /brandz/ CCVCCC
Type 14 Snacks /snaks/ CCVCC
Type 15 Tent /tent/ CVCC

3.3.1 The Consonant Clusters

Two or more consonant sounds occurring together either in the word initial position or final position is
called as the consonant clusters. For example, in the words ‘play’ and ‘spray’, the sounds one could see
the sounds /p, l/ in the first words and the sounds /s, p, r/ occur in the word initial position before the
vowel sound to form the consonant cluster; while in the words ‘snacks’, ‘teksts’, the sounds /k, s/ in the
first word and the sounds /k, s, t, s/ in the second word form the consonant clusters in the word final
position. the consonant sounds that are occurring before the vowel are called the releasing consonants
and the consonants occurring after the vowel sound in a word are called as the arresting consonants;
while the vowel sound in the syllable is called as the nucleus. So, there could be a maximum of three
releasing consonants in English as is seen the example of ‘strands’ and a maximum of four arresting
consonants in English as in the word ‘twelfths’. Hence the formulaic syllabic structure of English is
understood as CCCVCCCC or (CCC)V(CCCC) or C3VC4, which means that in an English syllable the
vowels sound of nucleus is the obligatory element while there could be none to a maximum of three
releasing consonants which are optional and none to a maximum of four arresting consonants which are
also optional.

3.3.2 The Syllabic Consonant

In English words, it is a mandatory phenomenon that a syllable has to have a vowel sound in it. But
sometimes, if the words have the sounds /m, n, l/ occurring in the word final position as in the examples,
‘cotton’, , ‘prism’, ‘table’, because of the inherent sonority property of these sounds, the consonants /m,
n, l/ are considered to be functioning as the vowel sounds. These words are considered to be di-syllabic
words with the following syllabic division and syllabic structure.

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Sr. No. word Syllabic division Syllabic structure
1 Cotton Ko-tn CV-CV
2 Prism Pri-zm CV-CV
3 Table Tei-bl CV-CV
4 Bottle Bo-tl CV-CV
5 Rhythm Ri-dm CV-CV
6 Subtle Su-tl CV-CV
7 Mutton Mu-tn CV-CV
8 Sudden Su-dn CV-CV
/m, n, l/ sounds when occurring in the word final positions function like the vowels and become the
nucleus for the syllables because of the inherent sonority property i.e., their loudness when compared to
the other consonant sounds; this property of the nasal and lateral sounds to function like vowels in the
syllables is called as the syllabic consonant.

3.4 Words Accent or Stress

In English words certain syllables are more intelligible and certain syllables are less intelligible while
uttering them. The native speakers can easily maintain this distinction but non-native speakers,
especially, Indian speakers of English do not maintain a marked difference in their phonatory systems.
The key to the intelligibility lies more in knowing to move the voice according to accepted patterns of
stress and melody than pronouncing the component sounds correctly. Stress or accent is an important
component of English speech.
Stress or accent is defined as the degree of force with which a syllable is uttered. A strong force of
utterance means energetic action of all the articulatory organs. The non-verbal communication like the
movement of the hand or the eye or some part of the body is always associated while the stressed
syllable is uttered. It involves a strong push from the chest wall and consequently a strong force of
exhalation. This gives an objective impression of ‘loudness’. A hearer perceives stress in terms of
loudness. The pronunciation of the stressed and unstressed syllables a characteristic rhythmic pattern in
speech.
Stress is a permanent property of a word, and therefore, it can be shown in a dictionary. You are advised
to refer to the English pronouncing dictionary for picking up stress/ accent. The following are certain
rules to be borne in mind to understand stress in English. Stress is indicated by an apostrophe before and
above the stressed syllable.
Examination: //ig-z æ-mi-nei-ʃ n/

3.4.1 The Rules of Stress in English

The following rules of stress are to be borne in mind and practiced for proper pronunciation of English.
Rule One: The Functional Rule of Stress: Stress in disyllabic words may change depending upon the
function of the word. If the word functions as a noun or an adjective in sentences, the stress is on the
first syllable while it is on the second syllable if it functions as a verb. This is also called as the ‘stress
shift’ and is very important to maintain in English.

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Accordingly the selection of the vowels would be i.e, the syllable would take the strong vowel when
stressed and a weak vowel when not stressed.
Example: Convict, Object, Subject, Import, Export
Convict (N) / kɒnvikt/ Convict (V) /kənvikt/
Object (N) / ɒbdʒikt/ Object (V) / əbdʒekt/
Subject (N) / subdʒikt/ Subject (V) /səbdʒekt
Import (N) / Impɒt/ Import (V) /impɔ:t/
Export (N) / ikspɒt/ Export (V) /ikspɔ:t/
Rule Two: Disyllabic verbs with weak prefixes like a-, be-, re-, dis- are always stressed on the root
words, never on the suffixes.
Example: Arise, Below, Reduce, Disturb
Arise /əraiz/
Below /biləu/
Reduce /ridju:s/
Disturb /distɜ:b/
Rule Three: Disyllabic words with the suffixes like –ate, -ise, -ize, -ct are stressed on the last syllable.
Example: Narrate, Chastise, Baptize, Connect
Narrate /nəreit/
Chastise /tʃəstaiz/
Baptize /bəptaiz/
Connect /kənekt/
Rule Four: Poly syllabic words ending with –ate, -ise, -ize, -ify take stress on the anti-penultimate
syllable. Words ending with –ity also take stress on the anti-penultimate syllable. Words ending with –
graph, -graphy, -logy, -meter also take stress on the anti-penultimate syllable. Anti-penultimate syllable
would mean third from the last. Ultimate is the last syllable, penultimate means second from the last and
anti-penultimate is third from the last.

Example: Complicate, Colonize, Justify, Ability, Photograph, Photography, Zoology, Thermometer

Complicate / ˈkɒm-pli-keit/
Colonize / kɒ-lə-naiz/
Justify / dʒʌs-ti-fai/
Ability/ ə-bi-lə-ti/
Photograph /fəu-tə-gra:f/

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Photography /fə-tɔ:-grə-fi/
Zoology /zu- ɔ:-lə- dʒi/
Thermometer/ θə-mɔ:-mi-tə/
Rule Five: Words with the suffix –tion take stress on the syllable before the suffix. Similarly, words
ending with the suffixes –ic, -ical, -ically, -ial and –ially and -ian also take stress on the syllable before
the suffix. Words ending with –ious and –eous also take stress on the syllable before the suffix.
Example: Application, Electric, Electrical, Electrically, Victorian, Anxious, Courageous
Application /æ-pli-kei-ʃn/
Electric /I-lek-trik/
Electrical /I-lek-tri-kel/
Electrically /I-lektri-kə-li/
Victorian /vIk-tɔ:-riən/
Anxious /æɳk-ʃəs/
Courageous /kə-rei- dʒəs/
Rule Six: The inflectional suffixes like-es, –ing, -ed and the derivational suffixes do not generally affect
the accent pattern.
Example: Match /mætʃ/ matches / mætʃiz/
Begin /bigin/ beginning /biginiɳ /
Want /wɒnt/ Wanted / wɒntid/
Break /breik/ breakage /breikidʒ/
Brother /brʌðə/ brotherhood /brʌðəhəd/
City /siti/ Citizen /sitizn/
Bad / bæd/ Badly /bædli/
Cheer / tʃiə/ Cheerfully / tʃiəfəli/
Rule Seven: The suffixes with more than one vowel will take the stress on the suffix.
Example: China / tʃainə/ Chineese / tʃaini:z/
Pay /pei/ payee / peii:/
Rule Eight: The compound words, that have a meaning entirely different or the first element further
specifies the meaning of the second word, would take the stress on the first element.A compound word
with three words take stress on the second words.
Example: Blacksmith / blæksmiθ/ (meaning entirely different)
Birth day / bɜ:θdi/ (the first element further specifies the meaning of the second word)
Waste paper basket /westpeipəba:skit/

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3.4.2 Types of Stress
Stress is of two types, the primary stress which is indicated by an apostrophe before and above the
primarily stressed syllable and the secondary stress which is indicated by an apostrophe before and
below the secondarily stressed syllable. In the above example like /ɪgˌzæmɪˈneɪʃən/, /n/ receives the
primary stress and /z/ receives the secondary stress. The notion of primary and secondary stress occurs if
the word is polysyllabic. For monosyllabic, disyllabic or trisyllabic words only have the primary stress.
a. Primary Stress
In English, the syllables of words differ in the prominence of pronunciation. In monosyllabic words
(words of one syllable), though the syllable, or word, has primary stress as in the examples like- mat,
like, feet, seen, tense etc. the stress mark need not need to be marked.
In polysyllabic words (words of more than one syllable), one of the syllables always has a
greater degree of prominence than other syllable(s). The syllable of greatest prominence is known as the
primary stressed syllable, or the syllable that carries primary stress. The syllable with primary stress is
marked by placing an apostrophe like diacritic mark ( ) above and in front of it, in the following way:
Sr. No. Word Syllabic division Primary stressed syllable Example
1 Arise A-rise -rise A-rise
2 Before Be-fore -fore Be-fore
3 Dislike Dis-like -like Dis-like
4 Arrange Ar-range -range Ar-range
5 Define De-fine -fine De-fine
6 Phonetics Pho-ne-tics -ne- Pho-ne-tics
7 Photographer Pho-to-gra-pher -to-- Pho-to-gra-pher
8 Electricity E-lec-tri-city -lec- E-lec-tri-city
b. Secondary stress
Most of the polysyllabic words with more than three syllables have two stresses, one primary and
one secondary. The secondary stress can be marked by placing the diacritic before and below () the
syllable which has secondary stress, in the following way:
Sr. Word Syllabic division Primarily Secondarily Example
No. accented accented
syllable syllable
1 Academic A-ca-de-mic -de- a- A-ca-de-mic
2 Explanation Ex-pla-na-tion -na- Ex- Ex-pla-na-tion
3 Deliberation De-li-be-ra-tion -ra- -li- De-li-be-ra-tion
4 Alternate Al-ter-nate Al- -nate Al-ter-nate
5 Academic A-ca-de-mic -de a- A-ca-de-mic
6 Systematize Sys-te-ma-tize Sy- -ti- Sys-te-ma-tize
7 Environmental En-vi-ron-men-tal -men- -vi- En-vi-ron-men-tal
8 Phenomenology Phe-no-me-no-lo-gy -no-lo-gy -no-me- Phe-no-me-no-lo-gy

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A compound is a word which is composed of two separate words. These have two stresses, one
of them primary, the other secondary. The secondary stress can precede or follow the primary stress, and
there need not be an intervening syllable:

Sr. Compound word Stress pattern

No.
1 Loudspeaker ˈLoud ˌspeaker
2 Sunflower ˈsunˌflower
3 Headmaster ˈheadˌmaster
4 Outstare ˌOutˈstare
5 Upstare ˌUpˈstare
6 Loud speaker ˈLoudˌspeaker
7 Sun glasses ˈSunˌglasses
8 Super market ˈSuperˌmarket
9 Black board ˈBlackˌboard
10 Sur charge ˈSurˌcharge

3.5 Phonetic Transcription of Words

In English there is no one to one correspondence between spelling and sound. For example:
The same consonant letter ‘c’ in the words ‘cat, cease, church are pronounced differently and similarly
the same vowel letter ‘u’ in the words ‘cut, put, rude, minute, universe’ are pronounced differently.

Cat-/kæt/

C letter Cease-/si:z/

Church-/ tʃɜ:tʃ/

Cut -/k ʌ t/

Put-/put/

U letter Rude-/ru:d/

Minute-/minit/

Universe-/ju:nivɜ:s/

Eat-/i:t/

/i:/ sound Been-/bin/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

Chemistry-/kemistri/

Kit-/kit/

/k/ Sound Rock-/r ɒ k/

Cut-/k ʌ t/

Queen- /kwi:n/

Because of such a mismatch between spelling and pronunciation, a learner of English, especially a non-
native learner, cannot be sure of how to pronounce a word that s/he encounters for the first time in the
written form. Nor can one be sure of how a new word heard should be spelt. Therefore, a necessity has
been felt to evolve an alphabet in which words of any language could be written unambiguously. Such
an alphabet is called as the International Phonetic Alphabet(IPA) standardised by the International
phonetic Association. It has all the symbols to represent all the sounds that exist in the languages of the
world. IPA can be used to represent the words of any language i.e., to write the words down as
according to the pronunciation. The use of IPA to represent in writing the sounds, words, phrases and
sentences of any language of the world is called as the Phonetic transcription. The phonetic transcription
uses the phonemes and is kept in the slant lines. For example:
Cat-/kæt/, Cease-/si:z/, Church-/ tʃɜ:tʃ/, Cut -/k ʌ t/, Put-/put/, Rude-/ru:d/, Minute-/minit/,
Universe-/ju:nivɜ:s/, Eat-/i:t/, Been-/bin/, Chemistry-/kemistri/, Kit-/kit/, Rock-/rɒk/, Cut-/k ʌ t/,
Queen- /kwi:n/

3.5.1 Types of Phonetic Transcription

There are two types of phonetic transcription-Narrow Transcription and Broad Transcription. Broad
transcription uses phonemes to represent the sounds and so called as the Phonemic transcription;
while broad transcription uses allophones to represent the sounds and so called as the Allophonic
transcription. The phonemic transcription is kept in slant line / / while the allophonic transcription is
kept in square brackets [ ]. For example the word ‘pen’ is transcribed phonemically as /pen/ and
allophonically as [phen].
3.5.2 Uses of Phonetic Transcription
Phonetic transcription helps a learner of the language in various ways to pick up the appropriate
pronunciation. The uses of phonetic transcription are:
• To represent the pronunciation of a word or a sentence unambiguously.
• To help the second language or foreign language learners for picking up correct pronunciation.
• To understand silent letters and there by differentiate letters and sounds of any language.
• To understand different varieties of the same language in terms of international varieties (American
English and British English) and dialectal varieties (RP, Cockney, Welsh, Scottish and Irish dialects
of British English).
• To represent the speech of an unknown language through phonetic transcription.

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3.5.3 Phonetic Transcription: Examples

Mono-syllabic Words: Monosyllabic words are the words with a single syllable. All content words
are generally stressed; content words are Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs. Apart from these
the interrogative pronouns and demonstrative pronouns are also stresses in connected speech. But
monosyllabic words need not be indicatedby the stress mark. They are merely transcribed and are
understood to be stressed.
Cake /keik/ Know /nəu/ Phone /fəun/ Stay /stei/
Caught /k ɔ:t/ Line /lain/ Photo /fəutə/ Street /stri:t/
Coast /kəust/ Neck /nek/ Pie /pai/ Step /step/
Night /nait/ Coat /kəut/ Corn /k ɔ:n/ Post /pəust/
Psych /saik/ North /n ɔ:θ/ No /nəu/ Count /kaunt/
Rice /rais/ Tape /teip/ Sound /saund/ Hear /hiə/
Cow /kau/ Noun /naun/ Saint /seint/ Taste /teist/
Eight /eit/ Now /nau/ Say /sei/ Taught /t ɔ:t/
Faint /feint/ Open /əupn/ Sent /sent/ Thigh /θai/
Faith /feiθ/ Out /aut/ Set /set/ Think /θi ɳk/
Fake /feik/ Own /əun/ Skate /skeit/ Thorn /θ ɔ:n/
Fence /fens/ Pain /pein/ Sky /skai/ Tie /tai/
Fight /fait/ Paint /peint/ South /sau θ/ Tight /tait/
Fine /fain/ Paw /p ɔ:/ Spoke /spəuk/ Town /taun/
Fount /faunt/ Pen /pen/ Sport /sp ɒt/ Type /taip/
Knight /nait/ Pet /pet/ Stain /stein/ Walk /w ɔ:k/

• Di-syllabic Words: Disyllabic words are with two syllables in a word and the accented syllables are
marked with the primary stress according to the rules discussed above.
Five lettered disyllabic words
is-sue /is-ju:/ wo-men /wi-min/ mo-ral /məu-rl/
a-void /ə-vɔɪ/d/ cob-ra /k ɒ -br ə/ par-ty /pa:-ti/
en-ter /en-t ə/ ev-ery /ev-ri/ lo-tus /l əu-t əs/
po-lar /p əu-l ə/ ti-ger /tai-g ə/ of-fice / ɒ-fis/
no-ble /nəu-bl/ cy-nic /si-nik/ Bi-ble /bai-bl/
vi-per /vai-p ə/ a-bide / ə-baid/ Bal-let /b æ -lət/

Six lettered disyllabic words

de-feat /di-fi:t/ bit-ter /bi-tə/ len-til /len-tl/
do-zen /d ʌ -zn/ num-ber /n ʌ m-b ə/ re-fuce /ri-fju:z/
ru-ssel /r ʌ-sl/ tri-bal /trai-bl/ em-ploy /im-plɔɪ/
don-key /d ɒ n-ki/ win-ter /win-tə/ pas-tor /p æ s-tə/
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be-yond /bi-j ɒnd/ sel-dom /sel-dm/ fas-ter /f æs- tə/
ad-vent /əd-vent/ e-vince /ə-vens/ mor-tar /m ɔ:- tə/
wis-dom /wiz-dəm/ de-sign /di-zain/ sen-ses /sen-siz/
ser-vent /sə-vent/ mar-vel /ma:-vl/ sym-bol /sim-bl/
sau-cer /s ɒ-sə/ vi-sion /vi-zn/ bam-boo /bæm-bə/
fa-cile /fə-sail/ soc-ket /səu-kit/ wea-pon /we-pn/
Lon-don /l ʌ n-dn/ stu-pid /stju:-pid/ dar-ing /deə-ri ɳ /
for-get /f ə-get/ for-cep /f ɔ:-səp/ din-ing /dai-ni ɳ/
pub-lic /p ʌ b-lik/ de-tect /di-tekt/ pla-yer /plei ə/
la-dies /lai-diz/ in-sist /in-sist/ mas-ter /ma:s-t ə/
beg-gar /be-g ə/ Spen-der /spen-d ə/ rag-ged /r æ -gid/
nar-row /n æ-r ə/ ef-fect /i-fekt/ fa-cing /fei-si ɳ/
ce-real /si-ri:l/ gra-ssy /gr æ-si/ gal-lon /g æ-ln/
re-sult /ri-z ʌ lt/ scan-ty /sk æn-ti/ cre-ate /kri- ət/
la-bour /lei-b ə/ Eu-rope /ju:-r əp/ re-gime /ri dʒ -i:m/

Seven lettered di-syllabic words

un-leash / ən-li: ʃ/ dor-mant /d ɔ:-m ə nt/ at-tract /ət-r æ kt/
tar-gets /ta:-gets/ gla-cier /glei-si ə/ be-lieve /bi-li:v/
an-cient /ein- ʃənt/ pur -pose /p ɜ:-p əs/ bet-ween /bit-wi:n/
fear-ful /fi ə-f əl/ res-pect /ris-pekt/ sup-port /sə-p ɔ:t/
scars-ly /ske əs-li/ rou-tine /rə-ti:n/ con-flict (V) /kən-flikt/
for-ceps /f ɔ:-səps/ ex-press /iks-pres/ bas-king /ba:s-ki/
char-mer / tʃ a:-mə/ rea-ches /ri:- tʃ iz/ beast-ial /bi:s-tiəl/
for-tune /f ɒ-tju:n/ sin-cere /sin-siə/ re-joice /ri- dʒɔɪ s/
a-gainst /ə-geinst/ de-grees /di-gri:z/ wea-pon /we-pn/
cof-fers /k ɒ -fəz/ plas-tic /pla:-stik/ cen-sure /sen-ʃə/
fas-test /fa:s-tist/ fur-nace /f-nis/ bon-ding /bɒn-di ɳ/
sanc-tum /s æɳ -tm/ teen-age /ti:n-i dʒ/ cur-rent /kə-rent/
dis-play /dis-plei/ jam-ming dʒ æ-mi ɳ/ sur-plus /s ɜ:-pləs/
pun-ches /pʌn- tʃ iz/ de-mands /di-ma:ndz/ quar-ter /kw ɔ:-tə/
pur-suit /pə-sju:t/ pri-vate /prai-vit/ morn-ing m ɔ:n-i ɳ/
bon-dage /bɒn-didʒ/ cen-tral /sen-trəl/ con-cert /k ɔ:n-sət/
spe-cies /spi:-ʃiz/ pla-cing /pei-si ɳ/ pain-ter /pein-tə/
ring-ing /ri ɳ-i ɳ/ pa-rents /peə-rənts/ ab-sense / æb-sens/
cuc-koos /ku-ku:z/ wel-fare /wel-feə/ suf-fice /sə-fais/
con-fuse /kən-fju:z/ dei-ties /dei-tiz/ sun-rise /s ʌ n-raiz/
nu-clear /nju:-kliə/ wor-kers /w ɜ:-kəz/ tor-rent /t ɔ:-rənt/

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• Tri-syllabic words: Tri-syllabic words are with three syllables in a word and the accented syllables
are marked with the primary stress according to the rules discussed above.
Six letters having three syllables
in-ter-val /in-tə-vəl/ mu-ti-ny /mju:-ti-ni/ He-ro-ic /hə-r ɔɪ-ik/
i-ci-cle /a-s-kl/ ma-gi-cal /mæ-dʒi-kl/ e-ner-gy /i-n ɜ:- dʒ i/
lux-u-ry /l k-ʃə-ri/ re-me-dy /re-mi-di/ In-di-an /in-di-jən/
o-ra-tion /ə-rei- ʃn/ Le-ga-cy /le-gə-si/ A-fri-ca /æ-fri-kn/

Seven lettered tri-syllabic words

co-lo-nel /kələʊniəl/ gra-ti-fy /gr æ- ti-fai/ e-le-ment /e-li-mənt/
Si-be-ria /sai-bi:-riə/ ex-ci-ted /ik-sai-tid/ a-no-ther /ə-nɒ -ð ə/
cre-at-or /krietə(r)/ cla-ri-ty /klærəti/ ar-ti-san /a:-ti-sn/
cen-tu-ry /sentʃəri/ mil-li-on /mljən/ gla-ci-er /læsiə(r)/
vi-si-tor /vztə(r)/ ca-pi-tal /kæpt(ə)l/ pi-te-ous /pi-təs/
ea-ger-ly /iə-li/ po-pu-lar /ppjʊlə(r)/ i-ma-gine mædn/
ti-ni-est /ta-ni-əst/ im-pe-tus /mptəs/ i-mag-ery /mdəri/

Eight lettered tri-syllabic words

in-ter-val /ntə(r)v(ə)l/ as-sem-bly /əsembli/ cru-sad-er /krusedə(r)/
per-son-al /p"(r)s(ə)nəl/ vo-ta-ries /vəʊtəri:z/ be-lieve /bi-li:v/
ma-jes-tic /mədestk/ op-po-site /pəzt/ ver-bi-age /v"(r)bid/
de-ri-sion /dr(ə)n/ he-ri-tage /hertd/ dra-ma-tic /drəmætk/
a-deq-uate /ædkwət/ ad-vo-cate /ædvəket/ sanc-ti-ty /sæŋktəti/
e-min-ence /emnəns/ di-lem-ma /dlemə/ ul-ti-mate / ltmət/
pro-per-ly /prpə(r)li/ en-gi-neer /'endnə(r)/ in-ter-nal /ntə(r)v(ə)l/
im-pri-son /im-pri-zn/ re-li-gion /rili left-o-ver /left'əʊvə(r)/
re-si-dent /re-si-dənt/ sur-vi-val /sə-vai-vl/ ex-er-cise /eksə(r)saz/
at-ti-tude /æt'tjud/ de-fi-nite /de-fi-nit/ o-ver-head /'əʊvə(r)hed/
al-ley-way /æliwe/ re-cent-ly /ris(ə)ntli/ to-mor-row /təmrəʊ/
do-mes-tic /də-mes-tik/ em-ploy-er /im-pl ɔɪ-ə/ po-li-cies /pləsi:z/
ex-ten-ded /iks-tend-id/ re-min-der /ri-main-də/ sea-so-nal /si:-zə-nl/
ear-li-est /"(r)liəst/ e-vi-dence /evidəns/ ar-gu-ment /a:-gju-mənt/
ob-ser-ver /əb-z ɜ:-və/ com-mon-ly /kmənli/ he-ri-tage /hertd/
de-di-cate /de-di-keit/ re-sem-ble /ri-zem-bl/ in-tri-cate /intrikeit/
treas-ur-y /tre-ʒə -ri/ op-u-lence /pjʊləns/ in-te-gral /ntrəl/
fan-ci-ful /fæn-si-f əl/ mas-ter-ly /ma:stəli/ tow-er-ing /taʊərŋ/
car-na-tic /kər-na:-tik/ cul-tu-ral /k ltʃ(ə)rəl/ ex-per-tise /'ekspə(r)tiz/

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
un-kind-ly /ən-kaind-li/ tri-um-virs /tra mvərəs/ nu-me-rous /njumərəs/
ca-pri-ces /kəprisiz/ del-u-sive /dluiv/ em-bo-died /m-b-di:d/
in-tu-tive /in-tju:-tiv/ se-rene-ly /sə-ri:n-li/ sanc-ti-fy /sæŋktfa/

Nine lettered tri-syllabic words

for-bid-den /fə(r)bd(ə)n/ cur-el-ties /kruəlti/ pos-tu-late /pstjʊlet/
un-der-staete /' ndə(r)stet/ ab-sol-lute /æbsəlut/ pre-ser-ver /prz"(r)və(r)/
des-troy-er /dstr)ə(r)/ nar-rat-ive /nærətv/ wit-ti-cism /wt'sz(ə)m/
dif-fer-ent /dfərənt/ en-dea-vour /ndevə(r)/ qua-li-ties /kwləti:z/
a-ban-doned /əbændənd/ for-got-ten /fə(r)t(ə)n/ suf-fer-ing /s fərŋ/

• Poly-syllabic Words: Words with more than three syllables are called as the polysyllabic words.
The list of words with four syllables is as following:
Anybody /ˈeniˌbɒdi/ obedient /əˈbiːdiənt/ celebration /ˌseləˈbreɪʃ(ə)n/
Librarian /laɪˈbreəriən/ Discovery /dɪˈskʌv(ə)ri/ Impossible /ɪmˈpɒsəb(ə)l/
Appreciate /əˈpriːʃiˌeɪt/ Questionable /ˈkwestʃ(ə)nəb(ə)l/ Invisible /ɪnˈvɪzəb(ə)l/

Apologise /əˈpɒlədʒaɪz/ Television /tel'v(ə)n/ Thermometer /θə(r)mmtə(r)/

Historical /hɪˈstɒrɪk(ə)l/ Caterpillar /kætə(r)'plə(r)/ Kindergarten /kndə(r)'ɑ(r)t(ə)n/
Congratulate /kənˈɡrætʃʊleɪt/ Asparagus /əspærəəs/ Temperature /temprtʃə(r)/
Calculator /kælkjʊ'letə(r)/ Escalator /eskə'letə(r)/ Elevator /eləvetə(r)/
Helicopter /hel'kptə(r)/ January /dænjuəri/ February /februəri/

The list of words with five syllables is as following:

Apologetic /ə'plədetk/ Curiosity /'kjʊərisəti/

Imagination /'mædneʃ(ə)n/ Vocabulary /vəʊkæbjʊləri/

Mathematical /'mæθəmætk(ə)l/ Personality /'p"(r)sənæləti/

Alphabetical /'ælfəbetk(ə)l/ Vegetatrian /'vedəteəriən/

Refrigerator /rfrdə'retə(r)/ Auditorium /')dt)riəm/

Congratulations /kən'rætʃʊleʃ(ə)nz/ Anniversary /'ænv"(r)s(ə)ri/

Communication /kə'mjunkeʃ(ə)n/ Laboratory /ləbrət(ə)ri/

Planetarium /'plænəteəriəm/ University /'junv"(r)səti/

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Hence Stress or accent is an important aspect of English language which needs orientation to the concept
and its rules along with intense practice.

Transcribe the following words and Mark the stress in the following words.

Aloud Capsize Civilize Scientific Autograph

Amount Comprise Classify Empirical Autography
Apart Attract Nullify Official Diameter
Discount Select Discovery Residential Sociology
Disguise Project Introduction Musician Millionaire
Dispel Cultivate Qualification Politician Bluestocking
Dismiss Educate Question Rebellious Sheepdog
Disclose Patronize Activity Spontaneous
Locate Realize Possibility Democracy
Vibrate Monopolise Sympathy Democrat

***

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Unit IV: Connected Speech

4.1 Rhythm in Connected Speech

Connected speech has its own pattern of accent. When words are combined into sentences in English,
you face the problem of determining the words that are normally to be stressed in the sentence.
Normally, the content words are stressed, for example, the Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs.
Demonstrative pronouns like ‘this, that, these and those’ and interrogative pronouns like’ who, whose,
whom, why, where’ are also stressed in sentences. The grammatical words like articles, prepositions,
conjunctions, pronouns, helping verbs are not stressed and they are always reduced to their weak forms.
For the content words, stress is to be given according to the rules that we discussed in the section of
word stress.

Rhythm is a kind of periodicity, which would mean the recurrence of certain patterns of color, design,
or sound at regular (equal) intervals of space or time. Rhythm in a piece of drawing or embroidery refers
to the even spacing of a certain motif or design. In music, a certain kind of beat or sound complex being
repeated at equal intervals of time constitutes its rhythm. Rhythm in language likewise refers to the
periodic recurrence of certain complexes or patterns of sound in utterances constituting a text.
It has often been claimed that, in some languages of the world (e.g. French), syllables constituting
utterances, whether accented or unaccented, tend to occur at equal time-intervals and that the time taken
from one accented syllable to the next will be in proportion to the number of unaccented syllables
between them. Such languages are said to have syllable-timed rhythm. It has been further claimed that
some other languages of the world have stress-timed rhythm. In these languages, accented syllables have
a tendency to occur at approximately equal intervals of time, irrespective of the number of unaccented
syllables intervening between one accented syllable and the next. English belongs to the second category
of languages and has stress-timed rhythm. This would mean that, in English utterances, accented
syllables tend to occur at approximately equal intervals of time.
Example: The chair collapsed.
The chairman collapsed.
The stress pattern of both the above sentences remains the same. In the second sentence has the word
‘man’ but the pronunciation of the word ‘chairman’ is not /tʃeimæn/ but /tʃeimən/ to maintain rhythm
in speech. A study of weak forms helps us to understand the right pronunciation of English by
maintaining the rhythm in speech.
Mark the word stress among the following sentences.
1 I’ve ˈfound my ˈbook.
2 It’s ˈkind of you to ˈask me.
3 ˈMohan and ˈSohan are ˈbrothers.
4 He ˈwants us to ˈtake it a ˈway.
5 He ˈpromised he’d acˈcept the inviˈtation.
6 ˈThat’s the ˈhouse we ˈbought ˈyesterday.
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7 Its ˈno ˈtrouble at ˈall.
8 I ˈcouldn’t ˈsee the ˈhouse.
9 ˈDon’t ˈbother.
10 ˈHave you ˈheard the ˈlatest ˈnews?
11 ˈCan you ˈcome to ˈlunch to ˈmorrow?
12 Did ˈanyone ˈremember to ˈlock the ˈdoor?
13 ˈYes, he ˈwill.
14 ˈNo, ˈthanks.
15 ˈWould you ˈlike it ˈpainted ˈred?
16 ˈWhere are you ˈgoing on ˈMonday?
17 He ˈdoesn’t want to ˈcome ˈhere.
18 Oh, I ˈhaven’t got an iˈdea!
19 You ˈought to ˈknow the ˈplace by ˈnow.
20 He ˈused to ˈcome on ˈSundays.

4.2 Weak Forms

Words in connected speech which are more prominent than others are accented or stressed which are
the generally content, or lexical, words. These are nouns, main verbs other than be, adjectives, adverbs,
the words yes and no, and demonstrative and interrogative pronouns. On the other hand, words which
are not accented are generally form, or grammatical, words. These are pronouns (other than
demonstrative and interrogative), helping verbs, articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.
The rhythm of English is often described as stress-timed. This is because accented (or ‘stressed’)
syllables in English utterances tend to occur at approximately equal intervals of time, irrespective of the
number of unaccented syllables between any two accented ones. The learning of weak forms is
extremely necessary to maintain rhythm in English. There are roughly 45 words in English, mostly
related to the grammatical words, which have two or more pronunciations—one strong (or dictionary)
pronunciation, and one or more than one weak pronunciation or weak form. Words of this kind will be
called weak form words. Normally they take weak vowels like /ə / or ‘shwa’ as Daniel Jones calls it.
The learning of weak forms is extremely necessary. Many non-native speakers of English, who
generally use only strong forms of these words in their pronunciation, fail to approximate to the
characteristic rhythm of English, thus reducing considerably the level of intelligibility of their
pronunciation, especially in relation to native speakers of RP. And, more importantly, since almost all
native speakers of RP use weak forms in their pronunciation, learners of RP will find it very difficult to
understand what they hear unless they learn (or, at least, learn about) these weak forms themselves.

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1. Articles
Articles Strong Weak Example Transcription
Forms Forms
A /ei/ /ə/ This is a pen. /ðisizəpen/
An / æn/ /ən/ This is an apple. /ðisizənæpl/
The /ði:/ /ði/ Before The apples are good / ðiæplzəgud/
Vowels
/ðə/ Before The pens are good /ðəpenzəgud/
Consonants
Some /sʌm/ /səm/ /sm/ Give me some water. /givmismwɒtə/

2. Some important Prepositions

Preposition Strong Weak Example Transcription

Forms Forms
At /æt/ /ət/ Come at five. /kʌmətfaiv/
To /tu:/ /tu/ Before Give it to Isha. /givittui:ʃə /
Vowels
/tə/ Before Give it to Hema. /givittəhemə/
Consonants
For /f ɔ:/ /fər/ Before This is for Isha. /ðisizfəri:ʃə/
Vowels
/fə/ Before This is for Hema. / ðisizfəhemə/
Consonants
Of / ɒv/ /əv/ This is made of plastic. /disizmeidəvpla:stic/
From /frɒm/ /frəm He has come from Delhi. /hi:zkʌmfrəmdeli/

3. Some important Conjunctions

Conjunction Strong Weak Example Transcription
Forms Forms
And / ænd/ /n/ In pair Bread and butter /brednbʌtə/
words
/ən/ else Ram and I are friends /ra:mənaiəfrendz/
where
But /bʌt/ /bət/ But I can’t do it. / bətaika:ntdu:it/
As /æz/ /əz/ As soon as possible. / əzsu:nəzpɒsibl/
Than /ðæn/ /ðən/ This is better than that / ðisizbetəðənðæt /
That /ðæt/ ðət/ The pen that you gave ðəpenðətjəgeivmi:zgud/
me is good.

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4. Primary Helping Verbs

Prima Stron Weak Forms Example Transcription

ry g
Helpin Form
g Verb s
Am /æm/ /əm/ I am a teacher. /aiəməti:tʃə/
Is /iz/ /iz/ After /s,z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/ The bus is late. /ðəbʌsizleit/
/z/ After voiced sounds The boy is late /ðəbɔɪzleit/
other than /z, ʒ, dʒ/
/s/ After voiceless sounds Mack is late. /mæksleit/
other than /s, ʃ, tʃ, /
Are /a:/ /ə/Before Consonants They are late. /ðeəleit/
/ər/Before vowels They are eating. /ðeəri:ti ɳ/
Was /wɒ z/ /w əz/ He was late. /hiwəzleit/
Were /w ɜ:/ /wə/Before Consonants They were late. /ðewəleit/
/wər/Before Vowels They were eating. /ðewəri:ti ɳ/
Be /bi:/ /bi/ I will be late. /ailbileit/
Been /bi:n/ /bin/ He has been to Delhi. /hi:zbintədeli/
Have /hæv/ /həv/ Sentence initially Have you seen it? / həvjəsi:nit/

/v/ After Personal I have seen it. /aivsi:nit/

Pronouns
/əv/ Else where What have you seen? /wɒtəvjəsi:n/
Has /hæz/ /həz/ Sentence initially Has he come back? /həzikʌmbæk/
/ əz/ After /s,z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/ The rose has withered. /ðərəuzəzwiðɜ:d/
/z/ After voiced sounds The lion has died. /ðəlaiənzdaid/
other than /z, ʒ, dʒ/
/s/ After voiceless sounds The milk has gone sour. /ðəmilksgɒnsəuə/
other than /s, ʃ, tʃ, /
Had /hæd/ /həd/ Sentence initially Had he seen it? /hədisi:nit/
/d/ After Personal He had seen it. /hidsi:nit/
Pronouns
/əd/ Else where The man had seen it. /ðəmænədsi:nit/
Do /du:/ /də/ Before Consonants How do you work? / haudəjəwɜ:k/
/du/Before Vowels What do I get? / wɒtduaiget/
Does /dʌz/ /dəz/ What does he do? /wɒtdəzidu/

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Modal Strong Weak Forms Example Transcription

Verbs Forms

Can /kæn/ /kən/, /kn/ I can write this. /aikənraitðis/

Could /kud/ /kəd/ I could write this. /aikədraitðis/
Shall / ʃæl/ /ʃəl/, /ʃl/ I shall write this. /aiʃəlraitðis/
Should /ʃud/ /ʃəd/ I should write this. /aiʃədraitðis/
Will /wil/ /l/After personal We will write this. /wi:lraitðis/
pronouns
/əl/After vowels and /l/ The boy will write this. / ðəboiəlraitðis/
Would /wud/ /wəd/Sentence initially Would you come there? / wədjəkʌmðə /
/d/ After personal I would write this. /aidraitðis/
pronouns
/ əd/ Else where All would write this. /ɔ:lədrait ðis/
Must /mʌs/ /məs/before consonants You must come. /jəməskʌm/
/məst/before vowels You must eat. /jəməsti:t/

4.3 Elision
Elision is the process where a sound is not clearly articulated in certain contexts. It is a process in
connected speech by which a sound is left out in order to make the articulation easier. Elision is
extremely common in spoken English. One familiar case is the contracted form of auxiliary verbs. The
following examples help us to understand this easily.
Full form contracted form
I have gone mad. I’ve gone mad.
I will pass the test. I’ll pass the test.
In ‘I have gone mad’ the auxiliary ‘have’ is unstressed because it is a function word. Unstressed
parts of the spoken message tend to be reduced or deleted altogether.
Elision is a very clear way to save the time and effort when you pronounce English.
Elision is defined as the disappearance of a sound. It could be of two basic types-historical elision and
contextual elision. In historical elision, a sound which existed in an earlier form of a word was omitted
in a later form. In contextual elision, a sound which exists in a word said in isolation is dropped in a
compound word or in a connected phrase. Up till the fifteenth century, in words like-arm, horse, church,
more, word, other etc, the /r/ sound was pronounced, but in the recent times, the sound /r/ is dropped or
not pronounced, this is a clear cut example of historical elision. In isolation the words, cup-/k ʌ p/ and
board-/b ɔ:d/ are pronounced respectively but when the words are put together to form the word
cupboard, it is pronounced as /k ʌ b ə d/, where /p/ sound is ellipted. Similarly are the words windmill-
/winmil/ and kindness-/kainnis/, where /d/ is ellipted in both the cases.
Some examples of elision in English are as following:

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• Elision of consonants:
o The most common elision of consonants in English are /t /and /d / when they appear
within a consonant clusters.
Examples Slow speed Normal speed

next day /nekst dei/ /neksdei/

last time / la:st taim / /la:staim /
left turn /left t ɜ:n/ /left ɜ:n/
kept quiet /hændkətʃi:f/ /hænkətʃi:f/
blind man /blaind mæn/ /blainmæn/

o In words that end in /nd/, /d/ is frequently omitted.

Examples Slow speed Normal speed
windmill /wɪn[d] mɪl/ /winmil/
restless / res[t]ləs / /resləs /
exactly /ɪɡzæk[t]lɪ/ /igzakli/
Hand kerchief /hændkətʃi:f/ /hænkətʃi:f/
blind man /blaindmæn/ /blainmæn/

• Elision of vowels
o In the words where the unstressed / ə / or /i / follow a stressed syllable, the unstressed
vowel tends to be left out.
Examples Slow speed Normal speed
Int[e]resting /ɪnt[ə]rəstɪŋ/ /ɪntrəstɪŋ/
Med[i]cie /med[ɪ]sən/ /medsən/
Sev[e]ral /sev[ə]rəl/ /sevrəl/
Diff[e]rent /dɪf[ə]rənt/ /dɪfrənt/

o In very informal, colloquial English the initial vowel or syllable of a word may be
omitted if it is unstressed.
Examples Slow speed Normal speed
because /bɪkɒz/ /kɒz/
about /əbaʊt/ /baʊt/
4.4 Assimilation
Assimilation is defined as the process of replacing a sound under the influence of a third sound
which is near to it in the word or a sentence. It refers to the change of one sound into another sound
because of the influence of neighbouring sounds. Rather it is the alteration of a speech sound to make it
more similar to its neighbours. Assimilation also can be of two types –historical assimilation and
contextual assimilation.

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If the assimilation has taken place in the course of development of a language, because of which, a word
that was pronounced as one way earlier has been pronounced in a different way in the later years is the
example of historical assimilation. For example the word ‘ant’ was pronounced as /amt/ in the thirteenth
and the fourteenth centuries but later, it is pronounced as /ant/. In fact, it was written as ‘amete, then
amte, then amt, and then ant’; accordingly it pronunciation has changed across the history from /æmətə/,
to /æmtə/ and finally became /ænt/.

Examples Earlier Recent

Picture /piktjur/ /pik tʃə/
Question /kwestjən/ /kwestʃən/
Grandeur /gr æ n djur/ /gr æ n dʒə/
Sure /sju:r/ / ʃ uə/
Sugar /sjugər/ / ʃugər/
Nation /neisjen/ /neiʃn

When words are juxtaposed in in a sentence or in the formation of compounds, the pronunciation of the
word would be different from the way the same word is pronounced independently, is called as the
contextual assimilation. For example, the words ‘horse’ and ‘shoe’ are pronounced as /h ɔ:s/ and /ʃ u:/
respectively. But when pronounced as ‘horse-shoe’, it is pronounced as /hɔ:ʃʃu:/, when /s/ is changed
into / ʃ /.
Examples Earlier Recent
Don’t you /dəunt ju:/ /dəuntʃu/
Roast beef /rəust bi:f/ /rəuzbif/
Comfort /kmfət/ /k ʌ nfət
Is /i:z/ /z/-before voiced sounds
/s/-before voiceless sounds
/iz/-before /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/

Two other types of assimilation can also be recognized such as partial assimilation and
totalassimilation. For example in a phrase like ‘ten bikes’ in colloquia speech would be pronounced as
/tembɪks/ and not /tenbaɪks/. In this case the assimilation has been partial because the alveolar
consonant /n/ become /m/ by adopting the billability of /b/. It has, however, not adopted its plosiveness.
In another phrase like ‘that place’ pronounced as /ðəppleɪs/, the alveolar plosive /t/ becomes identical
with bilabial plosive /p/ which influences it. In this case the assimilation is total. Other examples of
assimilation are :
• Nasalization of vowels-
/ i: / is nasalized in ‘mean’
/ e / is nasalized in ‘men’
/ æ/ is nasalized in ‘man
/ ʌ/ is nasalized in ‘none’
/u: / is nasalized in ‘moon’

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• Place of Articulation:
i) /t/ is post – alveolar instead of alveolar in ‘try’ /tʰrɑɪ / under the influence
of the following post – alveolar / r /
ii) / t / is dental under the influence of/ θ / in eighth / eɪt̪ θ /.
iii) / n / is post – alveolar under the influence of / r / in enroll.
iv) / m / is labio – dental / ɱ / under the influence of / f / in comfort.
v) / n / is dental in tenth under the influence of / θ / as in ninth
vi) / k / is pre-velar in key under the influence of the front vowel / i: /
vii) / u: / is centralized in tune under the influence of the palatal sound / j / as in music
viii) / l / is dental in health under the influence of / θ / as in health, wealth etc.
ix) / t / and / d / are nasally released in mutton button and sudden under the influence of
the immediately following nasal / n /
x) Consonants are lip-rounded when immediately followed by rounded vowels. Contrast
between the /t/ in tea and two is evident.
• De-Voice: Usually voiced consonants are devoiced following an aspirated voiceless plosive.
i) / l / is devoiced in the words ‘play’ ‘clear’.
ii) / r / is devoiced in ‘pray’ try and ‘cry’.
iii) / j / is devoiced in ‘queue’
iv) / w / is devoiced in ‘quite’.
v) / l / is devoiced in ‘at last’.
vi) /r / is devoiced in ‘at rest’.
vii) / w / is devoiced in ‘at once’.
viii) /j / is devoiced in ‘thank you’.
• Lip position: Under the influence of adjacent vowels, consonants are articulated with spread or
rounded lips see the following examples.
Spread lips Rounded lips
i) /p/ place, leap pool, loop
ii) /t/ tea, heat two, boot
iii) /k/ key, leak cool, look
iv) /b/ beat boot, tube
v) /d/ dean, bead do, food
vi) /ɡ/ geese, big goose
vii) /m/ mean, seen moon. loom
viii) / n / neat, clean noon
ix) /l/ leave, feel loose, rule
x) /f/ feel, leal fool, roof
xi) /s/ see, lease soon, goose
xii) /ʃ/ sheet shoot
xiii) / h / he who
4.5 Intonation
Every language is spoken with a varying pitch. Pitch is the number of times the vocal chords vibrate per
second i.e., the number of times they open and close in a second. Sometimes the pitch of our speech

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goes up or comes down or may remain steady. Different patterns of variation of the pitch of the voice
constitute the ‘intonation’ of a language. It refers to the patterns of variation of the pitch in human voice
which also is called as the ‘tone’ that is used in utterances.
4.5.1 Types of Tones/Tunes
Native speakers of English identify six different tones/tunes. If the pitch the tone falls from very high to
very low, it is called as High Fall, while the pitch falls from mid level to very low, it is called Low Fall.
High and low are the upper and lower limits of human voice.
High

Mid

Low

High Fall Low fall

In practice, for the non-native speakers, both the above tones combine to form only one and that is the
falling tone.
If the pitch or the tone rises from mid to high or low to high , it is called High Rise while if the pitch
rises from low to mid level, it is called the Low Rise.
high

mid

low

high rise low rise

In practice, both the above tones combine to form the rising tone.
If the pitch falls from the mid level to low level and then rises to the mid level, then it is called as
theFall Rise tone. The fall rise may be within one syllable or on two different syllables.
High

Mid

low

Fall-rise divided fall-rise

If the pitch of the voice rises from low to about mid and then falls to the low, then the tone is called as

the Rise Fall tone.

High

Mid

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Low

Rise-fall divided rise-fall

In practice, the fall-rise tone is more commonly used than the rise-fall tone and hence the second
language learners are to be familiarized with fall-rise tone. Thus there are three important tones in
English that need to be practiced-
The falling tone
The rising tone and
The fall-rise tone.

4.5.2 The Tone Group

In connected speech, a tone group is a sense group or a group of words that make some sense and can be
uttered without stopping for breath. A short utterance may form only one tone group while long
utterances are divided into manageable group of words, between which we pause. The punctuation
marks and our knowledge of phrases and clauses help us to divide the utterance into tone groups. Tone
groups are marked by a slant line, if the sentence is long and continues further. The end of the sentence
and the beginning of the sentence are marked by double slant lines.
Look at the following examples and divide them into tone groups.
For example:
//Hello//
//yes//
//what is your name//
//I will not come tomorrow//
//switch off the light //
//Beautiful dress//
//If you ring the bell,/ he will come//
//Though he studied hard/ he could not score well//
//They came in/ while I was eating lunch//
//That he knows the truth/is a well known fact//
Identification of the Stressed Syllables
Once the utterance in divided into tone group, the next step is to identify and mark the stressed syllables.
Stress or Accent is taken by the content words like nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The
interrogative pronouns and demonstrative pronouns also take up the accent. The grammatical words like
articles, pronouns, preposition, conjunctions and helping verbs are normally not accented. As we know
stress/accent is indicated above and in front of the stressed syllables. For polysyllabic words, stress falls
on the syllable according to the rules of stress discovered in the respective chapter.
For example:
//what is yourname//
//I will not come there//
//John stays in Delhi//
//The film is verygood//
// How wonderful//

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4.5.3 The Tonic Syllable
Of the syllables marked with stress in a tone group, only one syllable that stands out from the rest of the
syllables is the most important one. This important syllable is called as the nucleus or the tonic syllable
and the nucleus receivers the pitch movement. If it is a normal utterance without any implications,
usually the last accented syllable becomes the nucleus and will receive the pitch movement. The pitch
movement or intonation can be the falling tone, or the rising tone or the fall- rise tone.
The choice of the nucleus is determined by the meaning that the speaker wants to convey. Any
accented syllable in the tone group can become the nucleus according to the sense and meaning the
speaker watch to communicate.
For example: John likes fish
As the above example can be uttered in a single attempt, it is forms single tone group.
//John likes fish//
All the three words receive accent because they are all the content words.
//John likes fish//
The nucleus in normal case is the last accented syllable.
//John likes fish//
It means that the subject likes the object called fish and not prawns or eggs or meat or pork. The
emphasis is one ‘fish’. The same example can also be uttered in the following ways.
// John likes fish//
Here the emphasis is one the verb ‘likes’. Accordingly, the meaning of the sentence is on John’s liking
ie, the subject ‘likes’ to eat fish, it is not that he doesn’t like. After the nucleus in the tone group, the
following accented syllables are secondarily marked which is indicated by an apostrophe below &
before the stressed syllable (‘fish).
The same utterance can be said with ‘John’ as the nucleus.
//John likes fish//
The sentence means that it is John who likes fish and not his wife Mary or his mother Kate or his
daughter Carol. The emphasis is on the subject ‘John’.
Depending on the intension of the speaker, any accented syllable in the tone group can become the
nucleus. As the focus shifts from one syllable to the other, different shades of meaning are conveyed.

4.5.4 Choosing the Appropriate Tone

The next step involved is the choice of the tone for the nucleus. As discussed earlier, there are three
important tones in English, and now let’s discuss the use of the three tones.
• The Falling Tone:
The falling tone is sometimes referred to as the glide-down. It consists of a fall in the pitch of the voice
from a high level to a low level. It is marked [ ]. The falling lone is used in the following occasions.
i) Ordinary statements without any implications that end with a full stop.
For example:
I am a student.
It is very good.
He likes sweets.
She lives in Delhi.
ii) Wh- Interrogative sentences which are said in a neutral and matter of fact way.
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For example:
What are doing?
Where did he go?
What’s the matter?
Who is this man?
iii) Commands
For example:
Don’t talk.
Shut the door
Take it away
Stand up
iv) Exclamation
For example:
How beautiful!
Wow!
Excellent!
What a pity!
v) Question tags where the speaker expects the listener to agree with him.
For example:
The book is interesting / isn’t it?
He has gone abroad, / hasn’t he?
vi) Rhetorical questions.
For example:
Wasn’t that a difficult question?
Isn’t he kind to her?
• The Rising Tone
The rising tone is sometimes referred to as the glide-up. It consists of a rise in the pitch of the voice from
a low level to a high level. It is marked [ ]. The rising tone is normally used in the following occasions.
i) Incompletes sentences
For example:
If you come early/ we shall go.
Though he is rich/he is very simple
ii) Yes/No type of questions
Will you come tomorrow?
Are they eating?
Have you ‘read this book?
Is the alone?
iii) Wh- question with a warm and friendly feeling.
How are you child?
Where is you mother dear?

iv) Polite requests

Pass the salt please
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Open the window
v) Question tags where the speaker expects his/her listener to disagree with him/her.
//You are a gardner/ aren’t you//
//It was a good book/ wasn’t it//
vi) Alternative questions
//would you like to have tea, coffee or milk//
//Shall we go by train bus or taxi//
vii) Enumeration of things
One, two, three, four and five
viii) Greetings, partings and apologies
//Hello//
Good, bye
I am sorry
• The Falling-Rising Tone
This tone is also referred to as a drive. It consists of a fall from high to low andthen a rise to the middle
of the voice. The tone can be used either on the same syllable or different syllables of a word or
sentence.
For example:
The coffee is good
That was nice
The boys are very fine
Seventy two
The last two are example of divided fall rise. The falling rising tone is normally used for special
implications which cannot be verbally expressed. For example,
She is beautiful.
With a falling tone, you mean precisely that.
She is beautiful.
With a rising tone, a doubt regarding the statement is implied.
She is beautiful
It is the ‘but tone’ that implies something else. For example,she is beautiful but not intelligent.
Here are some more examples.
I am waiting (so hurry up)
The houses are nice (but not the people)
The tea is good (but the saucer is smelling)

These rules of intonation have a practical application in speech and in reading. In fact, the native
speaker cannot understand the English spoken by Indians or any second language /foreign language
learners of English only because the native speakers are very particular about the notions of stress and
intonation while the non-natives hardly understand these notions and use them in their speech. So
understanding the use of intonation in the dialogues of day to day speech is very essential. The same
expression with a different intonation might mean differently. For example: ‘Stop talking’.
Uttered with a falling tone, the sentence is a command but uttered with a rising tone, it becomes a
request. Similarly, the sentence, ‘My name is Kiran.’ If it is uttered with a falling tone, which actually is
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the right way, it is an assertive sentence answering the question ‘what is your name? ’But if it is uttered
with a rising tone, it sounds like the speaker is asking a question with anger and shouting at the listener
as if s/he doesn’t even know the name right. The question tags with a falling tone mean the listener
would agree with the speaker, while the same sentence and tag with a rising tone is used when the
listener might have a disagreement with the speaker. Hence maintaining the right tone is very essential
in speech.

4.5.5 Examples for Stress and Intonation

1. A dialogue between A and B in a Post office.
A: Hello, Good morning
B: Good morning, welcome to post office sir. How can I help you?
A: I wanted to post these letters also wanted to buy some postal stationary.
B: Fine sir, you could weigh these letters there and know the rate of the postage and buy the
postal stamps in counter number three. The postal stationary is available with me in this counter.
What should I give, sir?
A. Oh, thank you so much. Please give me five inland covers, ten post cards and two envelops.
I also want ten postal stamps of two rupees and ten revenue stamps of five rupees each.
B: These are your postal stationary sir, thank you so much and have a nice day.
A: Thank you very much.
Intonation of the above dialogue:
A: //Hello/ Good morning//
B:// Good morning/ welcome to post office sir// How can I help you//
A:// I wanted to post these letters /and also wanted to buy some postal stationary//

B: //Fine sir/ you could weigh these letters there /and know the rate of the postage/ and buy the postal
stamps in counter number three// The postal stationary is available with me in this counter// What should
I give sir//
A. //Oh/thank you so much//Please give me five inland covers/ ten post cards/ and two envelops//
// I also want ten postal stamps of two rupees /and ten revenue stamps of five rupees each//
B: //These are your postal stationary sir/ thank you so much/ and have anice day//
A: //Thank you very much//
2. A paragraph:
At 35, KiranKampani thought the best investment would be to sink money into his small garment retail
business. His reasoning was logical: the business could expand, his four year-old son would have
something to fall back on and grow himself when he came of age, and in the unfortunate event of his
untimely death, his wife, a home-maker, could take care of the business. He felt that buying insurance
and investing in mutual funds was a waste of his money; it just allowed insurance companies and agents
to prosper. So apart from a small recurring deposit with his bank, he had no other real savings. He
rapidly expanded his business through online retailing. But disaster struck in mid 2016, when there was
a fire in godown. Most of his stock was destroyed, and Kampani himself was severely injured. He spent
the next six months on complete bed rest. The bank deposits helped but the amount was meager, as it
didn’t beat inflation. Thanks to the benevolence of friends, Kampani, supported by his wife, slowly
restarted his business.
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Intonation of the above paragraph:
//At 35/ KiranKampanithought /the best investment would be to sink money into his small garment retail
business// His reasoning was logical/ the business could expand/ his four year-old son would have
something to fall back on/ and grow himself when he came of age/ and in the unfortunate event of his
untimely death/ his wife/ a home-maker/ could take care of the business// He felt that buying insurance
/and investing in mutual funds was a waste of his money/ it just allowed insurance companies and agents
to prosper// So apart from a small recurring deposit with his bank/ he had no other real savings// He
rapidly expanded his business through online retailing// But disaster struck in mid 2016/ when there was
a fire in godown// Most of his stock was destroyed/ and Kampani himself was severely injured// He
spent the next six months on complete bed rest// The bank deposits helped /but the amount was meager/
as it didn’t beat inflation// Thanks to the benevolence of friends/ Kampani/ supported by his wife/ slowly
restarted his business//

Thus is the concept of intonation in English which enables the users of the language to divide an
utterance into tone groups; mark the stressed syllables in it; identify the nucleus; and accordingly apply
various tone groups like the falling tone, rising tone and the fall-rise tone to the tonic syllable or the
nucleus for conveying the exact meaning to the listener.
Divide the following sentences into tone groups and mark the tone group boundaries.
• //What is your name//
• //If you know the answer/ tell it//
• //Sita went to Hyderabad// but Karthikeya went to Idaho//
• //Please sit down//
• //Ram stays in Mumbai//
• //Have you heard anything like this//
• //Make hay/ while the sun shines//
Transcribe the sentences, utter aloud with stress and falling tone.
tone.
I am a student. //aiəməstju:dənt//
It is very good. //itz very gud//
He likes sweets. //hi laiksswi:ts//
She lives in Delhi. //ʃilivzin deli//
What are you doing? //wɔtəjədu:iŋ//
Where did he go? //wədidigəu//
What’s the matter? //wɔtsdemæte//
Who is this man? //huzðismæn//
Don’t talk. //dəʊnttɔːk//
Shut the door //ʃʌtðədɔː//
Take it away //teikitəwei//
Stand up //stændʌp//
How beautiful! //haubju:tiful//
Wow! // wau//

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Excellent! // eksələnt//
What a pity! //wɔtəpiti//
The book is interesting / isn’t it? //ðəbukzintresti ŋ/ i:zntit//
He has gone abroad, / hasn’t he? //hi:zgəʊnəbrɔːd/ hæznti//

Wasn’t that a difficult question? //wɔzntðətədifikʌltkwestʃn//

Isn’t he kind to her? //i:zntikaindtuhə//
Transcribe the sentences and utter aloud with stress and rising tone
If you come early/ we shall go. //ifjəkʌm3:li/weʃlgəʊ//
Though he is rich/he is very simple //ðəhi:zri ʧ/ hi:zverisimpl//

Will you come tomorrow? //wiljəkʌmtəm ɔ:rə//

Are they eating? //əðə i:tiŋ//
Have you read this book? //həvjəredðisbuk//
Is she alone? //izʃiələun//
How are you child? //hauəjəʧaild//
Where is your mother dear? //wərizjəmʌðədiə//
Passthe salt please //pa:sðəsɔ:ltpli:z//
Open the window //əupnðəwində//
//You are a gardner/ aren’t you// //jərəga:dnə/a:ntjə//
//It was a good book/ wasn’t it// //itwəzəgudbuk/wəzntit//
//would you like to have tea, coffee or milk// //wudjəlaiktəhəvti:/k ɔfi/ əmilk//
//Shall we go by train, bus or taxi// //ʃlwigəubaibʌs/train/ətæksi//
One, two, three, four and five //wʌn/tu:/ θri:/fɔ: ən/ faiv//
//Hello// //hələu//
Good bye //gudbai//
I am sorry //aim sɒri//
Transcribe the sentences and utter aloud with stress and falling-rising tone.
She is beautiful //ʃi:z bju:tifl//
I am waiting (so hurry up) //aim waitiŋ//
The houses are nice (but not the people) //ðəhaʊsizənaɪs//
The tea is good (but the saucer is smelling) //ðəti:zgud//

***

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Unit V: Varieties of English

5.1 Introduction
Language by its nature is very dynamic and variable; there is no such thing as uniformity in
language. Within the same language, people settled in different regions vary the vocabulary, intonation,
syntax and many a times give a peculiar slang that differentiates the regional variety of the language as
the Dialect. Not only the speech of one community differs from another, but also the speech of different
individuals in a single community is marked with individual peculiarities which are called as Idiolect. If
the dialectal differences become considerable enough that it is unintelligible for the speakers of the same
language at some other region, it becomes a different language in due course of time, though there may
be some commonalities with respect to vocabulary and grammar.
The languages thus might have a common descent or progressive differentiation from a parent speech,
which is called as a family of language. A century ago it was called as Aryan language, later known as
Indo-Germanic language, and now it is known as the Indo European language, suggesting clearly the
geographical extent of the family. The descent of Modern English and its relation to the other members
of the family can be shown as following:

The evidence within the surviving languages of the also suggest a common ancestry.

Sr. Sanskrit Greek Latin Spanish German English

No.
1 Pitar Pater Pater Padre Vader Father
2 Matar Midera Mater Madre Mutter Mother
3 Bhratar Adelfos Frater Hermano Bruder Brother

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4 Surya Sol Helios Sol Sonne Sun
5 Asti Ei Es Es Ist Is
6 Ekam Hen Unus Uno Ein One
7 trayas Treis Tres Tres Thrija Three
8 Devas Deus Theos Dios Gott God
Thus the languages have a common parentage and across the time and geography, and must have
evolved from the parent language into a number of varieties. English language also is introduced into
Britain around mid-fifth century A.D. and has a career of 1500 years. Celts are the first people of
England about whom the language is known. Celtic was probably the first Indo-European tongue spoken
in England with Gaelic and Brythonic as its branches. The language in England before English was
Latin which was the result of Romanisation of the Island.

The Old English is the result of the invasion of the Germanic tribes called Angels, Saxons and Jutes on
the Celtic races called Britons in 449 AD. Slowly, the word Angla-land replaced Briton and Angla-
language replaced the Celtic tongue, as the Angels were the dominant tribe of all. Angla-land became
Anglecyn (Angle- kin) and then England (the land of Angels); and Angla-Language became Englisc
and slowly into English. Three main periods can be recognized in the history of its language –from 450
to 1150 the Old English period, from 1150 to 1500 is the Middle English period, and from 1500 till
date is called as the Modern English period.

The old English Period has an influence of German language while the Middle English period has the
influence of French language because of the invasion of the French King from Normandy. If the Old
English was called as the Anglo-Saxon Age, the Middle English was called as the Anglo-Norman Age.
Of the various dialects in the Middle English tongue, like the Northern dialect, the East midland dialect,
the West Midland dialect and the Southern dialect, the East Midland type of speech evolved to be the
standard variety of English because of its central location in England with the largest and most populous
area and due to the presence of Oxford and Cambridge universities in this region. The most influential
factor was the importance of London as the capital of England and that it was the social, commercial,
political, intellectual and religious centre of England. The survey of English in the Modern era, called as
the Modern English is complicated because of the addition of colonization and international angle to its
use across the world. Growth of Science and Technology, British Empire, films, computers, World
Wars, acceptance of English in America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as first language and
acceptance of English as either Second language or Third Language or as a Foreign language across the
world has added to the spread of English across the globe, thus evolving the international varieties of
English.

5.2 International Varieties of English

English as an international language is spoken all across the globe, but is the first language or the
Mother tongue in UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. There are some
phonetic, syntactic, semantic and morphological variations in each of these varieties.

5.2.1 British English

Though every dialect and spoken style has its own beauty, the concept of standard language is mostly
applicable to the written word. When people are taught to write, it is the standard language that is taught;

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it is even more so for English language as it is learnt and taught across the globe today. The process of
standardization is by selecting the East Midland dialect of London as the standard variety because of its
use and popularity. The dialect was accepted and standardized due to the extensive use by writers like
Chaucer, Langland, Shakespeare, Milton, among others. Literary practices reflected the growing
awareness of a standard variety in the course of 16 century and thus it had reached the stage of explicit
acceptance. In the domains of law, government, literature, religion, scholarship and education, slowly
the use of Latin and French languages was replaced by the Standard English in England. Translation of
the Bible into English, establishment of Grammar Schools in England during 15th and 16th centuries
that went on for codification of English language helped it to be standardized. The Italian Academy (in
1582) and the French Academy (in 1655) were the bodies of learned men who could make
pronouncements on various issues of language based on the ancient Greek and Latin Academies. The
establishment of English Academy in the 18th century included particular books written and
composed by English writers from Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, to Swift, Dryden and Defoe to
standardize in the field of literary pursuits while Dr. Johnson’s compiling of the first English Dictionary
in 1755 to be responsible for spelling standardization are the landmarks in the history of
Standardization of English.

The second half of the 18th century codified English grammar prescriptively. Treatises like Joseph
Priestley’s The Rudiments of English Grammar (1761), Robert Lowth’s A Short Introduction to English
Grammar (1762), John Ash’s Grammatical Institutes (1763) and many more tried to codify the
principles of language and reduce it rules; to settle the disputed points and decide cases of divided
usage; and to point out common errors in English usage with possible rectification. Discarding the use of
double negatives, appropriate use of the pronouns, tenses, Standard English spellings, pronunciation
rules of English were standardized in the 18th century by these scholars. Though, the attempts to base the
English pronunciation according to the spellings was made, the spellings like tongue, debt, bough,
rough, programme, clour, etc, were retained to show their etymology. Johnson’s dictionary (1755) not
only codified the words but standardized their spellings and recommended the pronunciation according
to the spellings. John Walker’s Critical Pronouncing Dictionary(1791) was an attempt to sum up and
minimize the spelling-pronunciation discrepancy in English.

• The pronunciation of whole words in forehead, often, waistcoat in accordance with

spelling;
• the sounding h in the spellings like hour, honour;
• the silencing of –ing as in ‘going’ to be pronounced as –in;
• the use double letters in the words like programme, programmes, programming,
programmer, programmed etc;
• the use of silentletters as in colour , honour, labour, flavour, neighbour, humour etc;
• the use of –ise for words like recognise, patronise, apologise, organise, recognise etc;
• words that end in -re as in centre, fibre, litre, theatre etc;
• words end with -yse as in analyse, paralyse etc;
• words have double letters like fuelled, fuelling, travelled, travelling, traveller etc;
• words are spelled with double vowels like leukaemia, manoeuvre, oestrogen, paediatric
etc;
• Nouns end with –ence as in defence, licence, pretence, offence etc;
• Nouns ending with –ogue as in travelogue, analogue, catalogue, dialogue etc;

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• Verbs end with-ense as in defense
For the most part current British English spellings follow those of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the
English Language (1755). The process of standardization also has eliminated Cockney English dialect
which was supposed to the barbarous way of using English language. Power relations within English
society were also instrumental in in the formation of the standard. By the early 19th century, the
institution of Public Schools had developed where a Standard British pronunciation that may be
described as codified grew up, cultivated and taught.

The spread and rise of English from England across the world is because of contact, trade and
commerce, borrowings, discovery and domination on its neighbouring countries. In the last four
centuries, the minority languages of British Isles have been undermined by English political and
economic power, the policies of English Government and English attitudes, both official and unofficial.
The Gaelic of Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, Welsh, Cornish were imposed the standardization and
acceptance of English language and hastened the decrease of the regional ones. The military conquests,
the establishment of English as a language of social aspiration, industrialization and the subsequent
disruption of life in the rural areas enforced the spread of English language along with the spread of
education system that was instrumental in the spread of Standard English in UK. The universal primary
education of 1870 recognized no other language other than English in the schools across United
Kingdom with England, Scotland, Celtic Ireland and Welsh. The Tudors formulated a policy of
expansion of English throughout the British Isles. Today, Scots and the Irish express their recent
towards Anglicisation of their culture and language by asserting their ethnicity. Moreover, many
communities those still are dependent on their traditional industries retained their Celtic and Scottish
language as their first one.

By 1600, England had made trading contacts in three continents- fishing expeditions off the
Newfoundland –America; the quest for ivory and gold with the West Coast of Africa; the trade of
gold, diamonds and spices through the East India Company in India. The activities of these
companies lasted throughout the colonial period and as a result the speakers of English are brought on
contact with people throughout the world. These new lands had different cultures, religions and value
systems and for communication to take place, a mixture of both English and the local developed as the
pidgin languages. A pidgin language is a mixed language expression which is a combination of both the
languages in contact, used comfortably by all the people in the region for convenience of
communication.

Hence the West African Pidgin in Cameroon and Sierra Leone, the Caribbean English in Jamaica, and
other Caribbean islands, and the Indian variety of English came into existence as a means of
communication in the colonies. By 1800, when there was a necessity to teach English language, in the
colonies, there was a requirement of a standard variety of English with respect to grammar and
pronunciation. Because by this time, other than the Brutish variety if English, the American variety, the
Canadian variety, the Australian variety also came to be known as the standard native varieties of
English as English is spoken as the mother tongue in these lands but with a considerable difference with
the original British variety. The divergence is mostly with respect to pronunciation, spellings and
grammatical rules along with new vocabulary being added in these new lands because of the new
environmental situations, growth of Science and Technology together with the new formed culture and
progress in the new lands. The American influence is seen widely in Canada and Australia. In South
Africa, where English is declared as the official language in 1822, English is widely learned by often

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resentful Afrikaans and the RP norms of the Victorian Age were reinforced by the English entrepreneurs
who dominated their economic life in Africa. The same situation existed in India as well and RP norms
of the British English influenced the entire British colony. Thus British English is widely accepted and
used language across the globe today.

5.2.2 American English

Though the first attempt to codify the differences between American and British usage of vocabulary,
spellings and pronunciation is seen in 1806, the English language was brought to America by the
colonists from England who settled along the Atlantic sea coast in the Seventeenth century. Three great
periods of European migration to America are important in the history of America: the first period
extends from the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 to the end of the colonial times, till 1787, when
Congress finally approved the Federal Constitution; the second period covers the expansion of the
original thirteen colonies west of the Appalachians, at first into the South and then into the Old
Northwest territory, ending finally in the Pacific- the era ends with the close of the Civil War and is
marked with the immigration from Ireland and Germany; and the third period is since the Civil War till
the recent where people from the South Europe and Slavic countries who are native to Eurasia,
stretching from Central, Eastern, and South-eastern Europe all the way north and eastwards to Northeast
Europe, Northern Asia, and Central Asia, as well as historically in Western Europe and Western Asia
migrated to America. Though the later assimilation into the American culture and American English
language took almost two generations, American English has certain common properties despite its
diversity of the populace. This might be because of the tendency of togetherness in an alien world
together with the spirit of congregationalism to the brave New World, and to prove themselves as a
people belonging to the New World as against the Old World.

American English too has its history of development and subsequent spread. The high degree of
mobility that the Americans enjoyed is one of the reasons of having uniformity in American English.
The development of the locomotives, railways in America enabled people to move into different places
with new settlements and mixed population in every city resulting in no fixed standards for a particular
region. The system of public education at a very early age in America had a standardising influence on
the English spoken in America.

As the isolated countries tend to preserve the old customs and beliefs, American English preserved the
archaic qualities of English i.e., the preservation of old features of the language which have been long
discarded in the parent country.

Ex: 1. The preservation of the pronunciation of /r/ sound in the word final and medial positions,
and the pronunciation of flat /a/ in words like path, fast, art ask etc., these features were long
discarded in the 18th century British English.

2. The first vowel in the words ‘either and neither’ are pronounced as /i:/ sound as against the
diphthong /ai/ in RP.

3. The use of ‘gotten’ instead of ‘got’ is another example of archaism.

4. The old semantics for the words like ‘mad’ meaning ‘angry’ (as in Shakespearean times); the
adjective ‘rare’ means ‘meat’; ‘I guess’ for ‘think’ (as used by Chaucer)

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American English introduced many new words into its vocabulary because of new objects, animals,
plants, and experiences in the New World. The new vocabulary in the new World is done through two
ways-borrowings and coining.

1. Borrowing of Words: Random borrowings from the existing native language that already has an
expression for the experience is an easy way for the settlers in the New World. When the
colonial settlers came from England to America, they had to come to terms with a completely
new topography and new flora and fauna.
• The names of these like, ‘chipmunk’, ‘opossum’, ‘moose’, ‘racoon’, ‘skunk’, were learnt from
the native Indians;
• Expressions like ‘wigwam’, ‘tomahawk’, ‘canoe’, toboggan’, ‘moccasin’;
• New form of administration of government like ‘presidential’, ‘congressman’ etc;
• Words like ‘portage’, ‘cache’, ‘bureau’, ‘chowder’ came into use in American English because
of their frontier contact with the French;
• Words like ‘cookie’, ‘stoop’ are borrowed from the Dutch;
• Words like ‘noodle’, ‘smearcase’ are borrowed from the Germans;

2. Coining of Words: Coining of new words from one’s own existent vocabulary is another
technique for finding the right expression of a new experience. Words like ‘bluff’, ‘foothill’,
‘notch’, ‘gap’, ‘divide’, ‘watershed’ ‘clearing’ are words of English origin but when applied to
new context of the new World meant differently with a changed semantic value.
The publication of the Webster’s Dictionary (1806) and American Dictionary (1828) with all these
words helped the standardization of American English. The establishment of The American
Academyof Language and Belles Letters in 1821 with an aim to preserve the ‘Americanness’ of
the language helped in the emergence of standard American English.

The difference between the American and British variety of English are as following:

1. Accent: It’s difficult to make clear distinctions between US and UK accents when there is such a
wide variety of accents within both the US and UK. A Texan and a New Yorker are both
Americans, but have very different accents. The same goes for British accents in London,
Manchester and Glasgow. However, some very general distinctions can be made.
i. Americans usually pronounce every “r” in a word, while the British tend to only
pronounce the “r” when it’s the first letter of a word.
ii. The secondary accent of long words like Sec-ret-e-ri, Ne-ce-ssa-ri at the last syllable of
‘ri’ is also stressed in the American variety of language.
iii. There is a tendency to stress every syllable of the word and thereby the unaccented
syllables of longer words are pronounced with greater clarity and stress in the American
English.
iv. ‘Been’ in British English is pronounced as the word ‘bean’ but in American English it is
pronounced as ‘bin’.
v. ‘Leisure’ is pronounced as ‘pleasure’ in British English while in American English it is
pronounced with a long vowel as in ‘please’.
vi. The introduction of flat /a/ in words like ‘fast’, ‘past’, ‘path’, grass’, ‘dance’, ‘half’ etc.
vii. The rounding of lips is lost in the pronunciation of /o/ as in words like ‘not’, ‘lot’, ‘top’,
‘hot’ etc.

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viii. The American pronunciation is slow and giving stress on every syllable of the word, while
British is fast and follows the rules of stress more.
2. Spellings: The American spellings are examples of spellings according to the pronunciation and
avoiding of double letters and silent letters in spelling. Some of the major differences in British
and American English are as following.

American English British English

Color Colour
Behavior Behaviour
Honor Honour
Meter Metre
Organize Organise
Traveled Travelled
Wagon Waggon
Center Centre
Theater Theatre
Fiber Fibre

3. Vocabulary: The most noticeable difference between American and British English is their
respective vocabulary. The Americans pronounce of the alphabet, ‘z’ as ‘zee’ as in ‘zebra’. There
are hundreds of everyday words that are different. For example, British call the front of a car the
bonnet, while Americans call it the hood.Americans go on vacation, while Brits go on holidays,
or hols.New Yorkers live in apartments; Londoners live in flats. The other differences are as
following:

American English British English

Apartment Flat
College University
Theater Theatre
Vacation Holiday
Chips Crisps
(French) fries Chips
The movies The cinema
Soda / pop / coke / soft drink Soft drink / fizzy drink
Sneakers / tennis shoes Trainers
Sweater Jumper
Mailbox Postbox
Band-aid Plaster
Drugstore Chemist’s
Soccer Football
Cookie Biscuit
Truck Lorry

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Expressions like --‘Don’t be a chicken’ for ‘don’t be a coward’; ‘restroom’ for toilet; ‘cilantro’ for
coriander; ‘eggplant’ for aubergine; ‘lady’s fingers’ for okra; ‘clippers’ for nail-cutter; ATM for the
British ‘Cash Point’ are also very common in American English.
4. Grammar: Though the American English has its Parent language as the British English,
grammatically speaking, a number of differences can be observed between both the varieties.
i. Prepositions: The differences below are only a general rule. American speech has
influenced Britain via pop culture, and vice versa. Therefore, some prepositional
differences are not as pronounced as they once were.
American English British English
I’m going to a party on the weekend. I’m going to a party at the weekend.
What are you doing on Christmas? What are you doing at Christmas?
Monday through Friday. Monday to Friday.
It’s different from/than the others. It’s different from/to the others.
ii. Past Simple vs Present Perfect: Americans tend to use the simple past tense when
describing something that has recently occurred, while people in the UK are more likely to
use the present perfect.
American English British English
I ate too much. I’ve eaten too much.
I went to the store. I’ve been to the shop.
Did you get the newspaper? Have you got the newspaper?

iii. The past participle of get: In the UK, “gotten” as the past participle of “get” is
considered archaic and was abandoned long ago in favor of “got.” However, in the US
people still use “gotten” as the past participle.

American English British English

get — got — gotten get — got — got

I haven’t gotten any news about him. I’ve not got any news about him.

iv. Collective nouns: singular or plural?: In British English, a collective noun (like
committee, government, team, etc.) can be either singular or plural, but more often tends
toward plural, emphasizing the members of the group. Collective nouns in the US, by
comparison, are always singular, emphasizing the group as one whole entity.

American English British English

The government is doing everything it The government are doing everything
can during this crisis. they can during this crisis.
My team is winning. My team are winning.
The band is good. The band are good
My staff is very punctual. My staff are very punctual.

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v. Regular or irregular verbs?:This is a subtle difference that can be easily be overlooked
in speech, but is much more apparent in written form. Many verbs that are irregular in
Britain (leapt, dreamt, burnt, learnt) have been made regular in America (leaped,
dreamed, burned, learned).
vi. Auxiliary verbs like will and shall: The British usage is ‘shall’ for the first person both
the numbers and ‘will’ for second and third persons to express future time while the
Americans prefer to use ‘will’ at all places.
vii. When Americans want to express a lack of obligation, they use the helping verb do with
negative not followed by need. “You do not need to come to work today.” The British
drop the helping verb and contract not. “You needn’t come to work today.”
viii. Americans use tag questions, less often than British.

A. C. Bough identifies seven marked dialects in American English-the Mexican Variety, the South-East
Variety, the South-West Variety, the North-East Variety, The North-West Variety, the Mid-West
Variety and the Mid-East Variety of American English; of which the Mid-West Variety is supposed to
be the standard American English also known as the General American English. The Mexican and the
South-West varieties are considered lower by status and suffer discrimination in jobs. The Canadian
English was largely influenced by the American Variety but tend to use more French words as Canada
was at the same time both a British as well as a French colony. The new settlers in New Zealand,
Australia and South Africa had the influence of both the parent British English through the imperial rule
and the American English as it is the language of the New World along with their new vocabulary and
borrowings from the respective native aboriginal settlers.

5.2.3 Australian English

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia - cite_note-
15 is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania
and numerous smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area with a population of 25
million. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major
metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Indigenous Australians inhabited the continent for about 60,000 years prior to European discovery with
the arrival of Dutch explorers in the early 17th century, who named it “New Holland”. In 1770,
Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain and by the time of an 1850s gold rush, most of the
continent had been explored and an additional five self-governing crown colonies established.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has
since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a
federalparliamentaryconstitutional monarchy, comprising six states and ten territories. Australia is a
highly developed country, with the world's 14th-largest economy, the world's tenth-highest per capita
income, the world's 13th-highest military expenditure, the world's ninth-largestimmigrant population,
with immigrants accounting for 29% of the population. Although Australia has no official language,
English has always been entrenched as the de facto national language. Over 250 Indigenous Australian
languages are thought to have existed at the time of the first European contact, of which fewer than
twenty are still in daily use by all age groups.
Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon, and differs
slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling.General Australian serves as the

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standard dialect. There are many similarities but here are some differences between British English
versus Australian English:
1. Different words with the same meaning
British English Australian English
Accident Prang
Cheap Wine Plonk
Excellent Ace
How are you? How are you going?
English Person Pom or Pommie
New Zealander Kiwi
Post man Postie
Vegetables Vegies
Lady Sheila
2. Accents: British settlers went out to Australia to live with the majority coming from either
London or from Ireland. Australian English then began to be influenced by Americans which is
the reason that the Australian accent began to change. Australians have an accent which is
recognized all over the world.
3. Pronounce word final ‘r’ like the British-together, river, car, forgiver etc
So the word “smarter” is pronounced /smɑrtər/ in American English, but /smɑːtə/ in British and
Australian English.
4. Don’t pronounce the word final ‘g’ like the British, as in the words fishing, catching, something
etc
5. Australian slang is very interesting to observe: Clipping of polysyllabic words is very
common in Australian English. For Example:
Aussie=Australian; Ambo=Ambulance; bogan-= a poor jobless person; boogie board=
serf board; brickie= a brick layer; g day=hello; kindy=kinder garten; lollies=candy or
sweets; rellie=relative; trackioes=track suit; togs=swim suit; sanga=sandwiches; cobber=
a friend; etc.
6. Pronunciation: Both Australian English and British English follow Received Pronunciation
(RP). Oxford University recognizes this as the most common form of pronunciation. The
British English accent uses both vowel and consonant phonics whereas Australian English is
predominantly vowel based phonics. In addition to the pronunciation of words, the intonation
(the pitch of your voice) can be very different in different countries. For example, if a person
asks a yes/no question in American English, their voice goes up at the end. But if a person asks
that question in Australian English or British English, their voice would go down.
7. Spellings: The spellings of Australian English are a mix of British English and American
English. Shorter words are spelt more like British spellings and longer words tend to be spelt
like American English.
USA Australia /UK
Center Centre
Color Colour
Organize Organise
Analog Analogue
Traveled Travelled

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8. Grammar: Australian grammar is a mixture of American English and British English due in part
to the American television and computer software mixed in with British grammar.
USA Australia UK
The class is happy. The class is happy. The class are happy.
I’d forgotten. I’d forgot. I’d forgot.
I learned it. I learnt it. I learnt it.
The staff has decided it. The staff has decided it. The staff have decided it.

The difference in accents is the first noticeable difference between the Australian, American and the
British English languages. Some of the typical Australian expressions with their respective meanings
are as following.
• ‘See you in the arvo’ (as in, see you in the afternoon),
• ‘she'll be right’ – meaning all is good,
• ‘you serious?’ meaning i can’t believe it,”
• “what youse mob up to tonight?” – which means “what are you all up to tonight?”.
• ‘alf’ meaning stupid person;
• ‘dinkie die’ for the whole truth;
• ‘to hump’ meaning to carry;
• ‘mozzie’ for mosquito;
• ‘sheila’ for woman;
• ‘chooks’ for chicken; and
• The famous ‘g’day’ for ‘hello’

The Australian accent is well known throughout the world.

5.2.4 African English

Africa is the second largest continent in the world with 54 fully recognised and independent countries in
Africa. It is thought to be the continent where the first humans evolved. The history of Africa begins
from the first modern human beings and leads to its present difficult state as a politically developing
continent.
Africa's ancient historic period includes the rise of Egyptian civilization, the further development of
societies outside the Nile River Valley and the interaction between them and civilizations outside of
Africa. In the late 7th century North and East Africa were heavily influenced by the spread of Islam.
Between the seventh and twentieth centuries, the Arab slave trade took 18 million slaves from Africa via
trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean routes. Between the fifteenth and the nineteenth centuries (500 years),
the Atlantic slave trade took an estimated 7–12 million slaves to the New World. Between 1808 and
1860, the British Navy captured approximately 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 Africans who were
aboard. In the late nineteenth century, the European powers occupied much of the continent, creating
many colonial and dependent territories. African independence movements had their first success in
1951 when Libya became the first former colony to become independent. Modern African history has
been full of revolutions and wars as well as the growth of modern African economies and
democratization across the continent. Africa is one of the world’s most multilingual areas, and upon a
large number of indigenous languages rests a slowly changing superstructure of world languages
(Arabic, English, French, and Portuguese).
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The Republic of South Africa, the oldest British settlement in the continent, resembles Canada in having
two recognized European languages within its borders: English and Afrikaans, or Cape Dutch. Afrikaans
is a Low Franconian West Germanic language descended from Dutch and spoken mainly in South
Africa and Namibia. Both British and Dutch traders followed in the wake of 15th-century Portuguese
explorers and have lived in widely varying war-and-peace relationships ever since. South Africans
(English speaking not Afrikaans- the Lingua Franca) today use English language as their official
language, with some differences in nuances when compared to the American and British English.

1. Although the English spoken in South Africa differs in some respects from standard British
English, its speakers do not regard the language as a separate one. They have naturally come to
use much Afrikanerism, such as kloof, kopje, krans, veld, and vlei, “Braai” for barbequeto denote
features of the landscape and employ African names to designate local animals, plants, and social
and political concepts. South Africa’s 1996 constitution identified 11 official languages, English
among them. The words trek and commando, notorious in South African history, are among
several that have entered world standard English.
2. “robots” used in Western South Africa mean Traffic lights
3. the adjective “Lekker” means ‘good or nice’
4. “Braai” is for barbecue of meat
5. “Cozzie” is swimming suit
6. “Eina” is very emotional
7. “cake –means ‘idiot’
8. “ja well no fine” means ‘all is well’
9. “Eish!!” to express emotional interjections
10. sakkie-sakkie – is a Ballroom dance.
11. “Crunchies” is a piece of South African lexis for Flapjack. “these crunchies are lekker”
12. Nouns such as “Takkies” or Pants” both feature the inflection of‘s’, yet concrete nouns like
“Lappie” haven’t featured an inflection. This feature of spoken language is mirrored in the
English transcript with concrete nouns such as “apples” “crackers”. This shows no difference
between the South African and British English dialect in the application of inflections, not
helping to solve the language investigation.
13. Adjectives don’t tend to have inflections such as suffixes added to them in either dialect.
14. Adverbs are also similar with no real noticeable difference between the two different dialects.
15. Dynamic verbs used with past tense inflections of ‘-ed’ as well as present tense inflections of ‘-
e’: “i lagged…”
Elsewhere in Africa, English helps to answer the needs of wider communication. It functions as an
official language of administration in, and is an official language of, numerous countries, all of them
multilingual. Liberia is among the African countries with the deepest historical ties to English—the
population most associated with the country’s founding migrated from the United States during the 19th
century—but English is just one of more than two dozen languages spoken there by multiple ethnic
groups. English’s place within that linguistic diversity is representative of English in Africa as a whole.

5.2.5 Indian English

English, in India, is used as a medium of communication by more than eighty million people, which
surpasses the speakers of English even in Great Britain. Languages spoken in India belong to several
language families, the major ones being the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the
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Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians. In a country that has 22 official languages with 122
major languages hasHindi inDevanagari script as the national official language; it also accepted English
to be the official language in India, since its independence in 1947.

By the year 1600, England has established trading contacts with America, Africa and Asia. The growth
of English in India can directly be correlated with the growth of imperial rule in India. However, the
exposure of the new religion of Christianity in India through the missionary work and proselytizing is
the main reason of English entering into the Indian society rather than trade and commerce. The efforts
that started in 1614, became more effective in 1659 and the addition of the ‘missionary clause’ in 1698
gave a different colour of enhancement of the Church to the mere interest of the trading activity of the
East India Company. It provided the company with a legitimization principle for the exploitation that
they were pertaining in the land. In 1765, when encouragement of missionaries was stopped, a great
resentment was seen and by 1813, the missionary purpose along with the spread of education in India
restarted the work of proselytizing and educational activities of the missionaries.

It is because of the Macaulay’s Minute (1835) by Lord Macaulay and the Woods Despatch (1854) by
Sir Charles Wood that three universities were established in 1857 –at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras by
Lord Dalhousie, the Governor General in India. By the end of 19 century, the Punjab (Lahore) and
Allahabad universities were established. Woods Despatch contained two interesting clauses: the first is
emphasising the use of vernaculars instead of Sanskrit or Arabic and the second is to make English
education optional-to teach English language only there, where there is a demand for it. This was to
dilute the Macaulay Minute (1835), though the policy of education that was followed in later years was
more influenced by the Minute than the Despatch.

With the spread of colleges and universities, English became the academic language of India. It became
a language of prestige replacing Persian and all other Indian languages in the first decade of the
twentieth century. The nationalist movement of freedom struggle was anti-British , but the movement
itself was strangely, in English. Though Raja Rammohan Roy and others grouped as the Anglicists
welcomed and supported the English education, the Orientalists led by H. T. Princep criticised the
Minute as ‘hasty and indiscrete’ and demanded the education system to be in Sanskrit, Arabic and
Persian. The Minute with the agenda of ‘creating a class of persons, Indian by blood and colour but
British in taste’, introduced the value of English instruction in the education system of India. Indian
Education Commission of 1882 emphasised the spread of the knowledge of English in India. Indian
Universities Commission of 1902 emphasised the modern Indian languages at primary and secondary
level of education in India, and English medium at the Higher Education System. In spite of strong
opposition from Gandhi and others regarding the medium of education as English in India, by and large
the situation remained unchanged in the pre-independence era, till 1947.

The language policy during the post-independence was pro-vernacular with Gandhian thought but the
Nehruvian thought emphasised the importance of English in the modern world. The University
Education Commission of 1948 -49 emphasised the use of both Indian and English languages in the
Indian education system. The Kothari Commission 1964-66 emphasised the Three Language Formula
in India, where every Indian would learn three languages in course of the education system-Mother
tongue, Hindi as the official Indian Language and English as the International Language.

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Features of Indian English: English has a special status in India. Apart from having a place in the
public institutions of the country, in parliament, the law courts, broadcasting, the press and the education
system English has spread in our daily life. English plays a key role in professional relationships
between foreign and Indian companies. English permeated symbolizes in Indian minds better education,
better culture and higher intellect. Actually 4% of Indian use English. Thus India ranks third in the
world after USA and the UK to use English as spoken language. Indian English comprises several
dialects or varieties of English spoken primarily in India. This dialect evolved due to British colonial
rule of India for nearly two hundred years. English is the co-official language of India, which has the
world's largest English-speaking population.After Hindi English is the most commonly spoken language
in India. But usually Indians mingle English with Indian languages. Stylistic influence of Indian local
languages is a particular feature of Indian literature in English. The following expressions make Indian
English very interesting.

• “What is your good name?” which is translation of Hindi “ Apka Shubh naam kya hai?” Shub means
auspicious or good, and it is basically used as a polite way of asking someone’s name.
• “Today morning” (aaj Subha) or “Yesterday night” (kal raat) to mean this morning last night.
• Shut up (chup bhait) which is generally used more causally in Hindi but it is offending term in
America.
• Indians commonly use “you people” when they want to address more than one person. It is a simple
translation of “aap log” or “tum log” but they do not realize that it carries with it racial connotation.
• Some expressions such as “general mai” (in general) and “ek minute” (one minute) are prevalent in
Indian English.
• Use of ‘yaar, machaa, abey, arey’ in an English conversation between Indians, mainly by people of
native Hindi-speaking origin; 'da', 'machaa' is more frequently used in the South.
• The progressive tense in stative verbs: ‘I am understanding it. She is knowing the answer’ are an
influence of traditional Hindi grammar, it is more common in northern states.
• Use of "off it" and "on it" instead of "switch it off" and "switch it on."
• Use of "current went" and "current came" for "The power went out" and "The power came back"
• Use of word "wallah" to denote occupation or 'doing of/involvement in doing' something, as in "The
taxi-wallah overcharged me.”
• Use of "Can you drop me?" and "We will drop her first" instead of "Can you drop me off?" and "We
will drop her off first"
• "Out of station" to mean "out of town"- This phrase has its origins in the posting of army officers to
particular 'stations' during the days of the East India Company.
• "Tell me" used when answering the phone, meaning "How can I help you?"
• "Order for food" instead of "order food", as in "Let's order for sandwiches".
• Referring to elders, strangers or anyone meriting respect as "'jee'"/"'ji'" (suffix) as in "Please call a
taxi for Gupta-ji" (North, West and East India)
• Use of prefixes "Shree"/"Shri" (Mr) or "Shreemati"/"Shrimati" (Ms/Mrs): Shri Ravi Shankar or
Shreemati Das Gupta.
• As with Shree/Shreemati, use of suffixes "Saahib/Sāhab" (Mr) and "Begum" (Mrs) (Urdu) as in
"Welcome to India, Smith-saahib." or "Begum Sahib would like some tea."
• Use of "Mr" and "Mrs" as common nouns- For example, "Jyoti's Mr came to the college yesterday"
or "My Mrs is not feeling well".

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• Use of "Ms" with first name- For example, Swathi Ashok Kumar might be addressed as "Ms Swathi"
instead of "Ms Kumar". This is logical and perhaps the only possible correct usage in South India,
especially in Tamil Nadu, where most people don't use a surname.
• Use of the English words 'uncle' and 'aunty' as suffixes when addressing people such as distant
relatives, neighbours, acquaintances, even total strangers (like shopkeepers) who are significantly
older than oneself. E.g., "Hello, Swathi aunty!" In fact, in Indian culture, children or teenagers
addressing their friend's parents as Mr Patel or Mrs Patel (etc.) is considered unacceptable, perhaps
even offensive—a substitution of Sir/Ma'am is also not suitable except for teachers. On the contrary,
if a person is really one's uncle or aunt, he/she will usually not be addressed as "uncle"/"auntie", but
with the name of the relation in the vernacular Indian language, even while conversing in English.
• It is interesting to observe that calling one's friends' parents auntie and uncle was also very common
in Great Britain in the 1960s and 70s but has is much rarer today. For example, if a woman is one's
mother's sister, she would not be addressed (by a Hindi speaker) as "auntie" but as Mausi (Hindi)
• Use of Respected Sir while starting a formal letter instead of Dear Sir; Again, such letters are ended
with non-standard greetings, such as "Yours respectfully", or "Yours obediently", rather than the
standard "Yours sincerely/faithfully/truly".
• Use of "Baba" (father) while referring to an elderly male, such as "No Baba, just try and understand,
I cannot come today".
• Use of interjections ‘Arey! and acchha!’ to express a wide range of emotions, usually positive
though occasionally not, as in "Arey! What a good job you did!", "Accha, so that's your plan." or
"Arey, what bad luck, yaar!"
• Use of the word "chal" (Hindi for the verb "walk") to mean the interjection "Ok", as in "Chal, I
gotta go now" at the end of a phone call.
• Use of T-K as ‘theek hai’ in place of O.K. when answering a question, as in "Would you like to
come to the movie?" -- "T-K, I'll meet you there later." ("theek hai", literally "fine is", meaning
"okay")
• Use of oof! to show distress or frustration, as in "Oof! The baby's crying again!"
• Use of "Wah" to express admiration, especially in musical settings, as in "Wah! Wah! You play the
sitar so well!"
• "Paining" is used when "hurting" would be more common in Standard American and British: "My
head is paining."
• People from North India, especially Uttar Pradesh, tend to add ‘i’ before the words starting from ‘S’,
such as screw, scooter, start, style, etc., and pronounce them as iscrew, i scooter, istart, istyle and so
on.

Here are some more examples:

• My manager is from Delhi only, (‘only’ is superfluous.)

• She is my cousin sister. (Either ‘cousin’ or ‘sister’ would suffice)
• The meeting has been postponed to Saturday, (the correct word is ‘advanced’.)
• She is in the family way. (This is an Indian usage, alien to Americans, which means that ‘she is
pregnant’)
• I am going gymming this weekend, (this is not used elsewhere)
Many such examples of ‘Indianisms’ are commonly used by Indians in business. Since such expressions
are not used abroad, people outside India will not be in a position to readily understand the meaning.
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• It is worth mentioning here that 3T Corporation, headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, recently
launched a website called wordwala.com, which gives American English options for typical Indian
English words.
• Many words from Indian native languages have been introduced into the global English language
spoken worldwide; some notable examples being jungle, bungalow, punch, sari, paan, shawl, and
veranda.
• And just as is true with American and British English, there are some words which are unique to
speakers from India and instances of misunderstanding are not uncommon. Two examples of Indian
English words that non-Indian English speakers probably never encounter include “airdash” which
is used for someone who is in a hurry, and “badmash”, another word for a hooligan.
• For instance, if a person wears a “hi-tech outfit”, it does not mean that they are equipped with the
latest digital gadgets. Instead, a hi-tech outfit stands for fashionable and modern and that follows the
latest trends.
• “Achcha hain” the middle of a conversation led in English, it only means good.
• In other cases, words from the local dialects and languages make their way into Indian English –
words that would be unintelligible to no-speakers. Sometimes these words replace the English
entirely.
Differences in pronunciation: Differences in vocabulary are not the only characteristics that make
common communication more difficult between speakers of Indian English and speakers of other forms
of English, certain differences in pronunciation further set these styles apart.

• Speakers of English in India do not make any difference when it comes to the sound /v/, which is
produced using one’s lower lips and top teeth; and sound /w/ in the production of which both lips are
used.
• The two “th” sounds /θ/ and /ð/ are usually replaced by /d/ and /t/.
• /ə/ and /ʌ/ most commonly disregarded and replaced by the vowel /a/.
• Another characteristic of the sounds used by speakers of English in India is the replacement of two
adjacent vowels by a single long vowel followed by /r/sound. So beer becomes /bir/ and pear is
pronounced as /per/.

These are some of the special features of Indian English which are accepted in India. In fact, the English
pronunciation by Indian belonging to each region pronounces with a different falvour according to
his/her mother tongue impact and thereby making English pronunciation sound like Minglish (Marathi
or Malayalam +English), Tinglish (Telugu or Tamil + English), Pinglish (Punjabi+English), Hinglish
(Hindi+English) and so on.

The ‘Indian-ness’ in Indian English:

Indian-ness in Indian English can be because of the mother tongue impact on English which in the
linguistic sense is called as the L1 interference in L2. This could be either a literal translation or a shift
based on the underlying source item.

1. Translation: Translation may be by establishing equivalent or partially equivalent formations in Indian

English from the formation of Indian languages. Either the L1 expression is literally translated or
metaphorically translated.

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For Ex: ‘Namak Haram’ has been translated by Mulk Raj Anand as the ‘Spoiler of Salt’ (metaphorical
translation). ‘Iswar –prem’ is literally translated as ‘god-love’. Other examples are ‘car-festival’, ‘caste-
mark’, ‘caste-dinner’, ‘cow worship’, cousin-sister’, cousin brother’, waist-thread’, ‘twice-born’ etc.
2. Shift: In a shift, no attempt is made to establish formal equivalence. Shifts are usually an adaptation of
the expressions from the Indian cultural traits.
For ex: ‘May the fire of ovens consume you’
‘May the vessel of your life never float in the sea of existence.’
‘Crocodile tears.’
‘Elephant’s teeth.’
Generally, the underlying source item of a shift is a fixed collocation of Indian language which deviates
grammatically from British or American expressions; they may involve loan shifts from Indian
languages; they may be formally non-deviant but contextually deviant. Such collocation deviation of
Indianisms can be formal or contextual.
Formal collocation deviation: It means the deviation in terms of the lexical items which operate in the
structure of a collocation. Ex: dining leaf, paan, aarati, Prasad, flower-bed etc.
Contextual collocation deviation: The typical English expressions like: a bunch of keys is reduced to
‘key-bunch’, an address of welcome’ is reduced to ‘welcome address’, ‘love of God’ is reduced to ‘god-
love’. Expressions like ‘London-returned’, ‘America returned’ are similar examples.

‘Attar bottle’, ‘kum-kum mark’, ‘sacred ash’, ‘cow-dung cakes’, ‘beetle-bag’, ‘bride-showing’,
‘wedding-house’, ‘police-jamaadar’, ‘aarti-plate’, etc. are some more interesting examples of Indian-
ness of Indian English.

The Indian writers in English also have popularised such Indian expressions through their writings. If
poets from Kashiprasd Ghosh, till A. K. Ramanujan have Indian- ness expressed through their poems;
Writers like Raja Rao, Mulk Raj Anand, R. K. Narayan, Anita Desai, Ruskin Bond popularised Indian
English through their fiction. With the publication of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (1980), the
chutnification of language has the fullest communication. Rushdie’s use chutnification of English is a
fine mixture of Hindi, Urdu words with English to reflect India’s hybrid culture. Words like
‘updownup’, ‘downupdown’, ‘almostseven’, ‘nearlynineyearsold’, ‘godknowswhat’, ‘funtoosh’, ‘gora’,
‘zenana’, ‘unbeautiful’, ‘memoryless’, ‘dislikable’, ‘doctori’, ‘lifelessness’, ‘informations’, ‘mens’,
‘phirangi’ etc, are wonderful examples of Indian English to create magic realism in fiction.

This is rightly followed by Amitav Ghosh, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Rohinton Mistry and others in the
recent times. It is true that Indian English writing demands its own place in the galaxy of English
writings with its own expression of ‘Indian English’.

5.3 Social Varieties of English

The study of a language in relation to the society is called as sociolinguistics. Linguists like Saussure,
Bloomfield, Noam Chomsky aimed at standardizing the syntactic rules of the language i.e., the rules that
deal with the grammaticality and thereby aimed at achieving linguistic competence among the speakers
of language. Chomsky in Aspects of Theory of Syntax (1965) opines that ‘the concepts of linguistic
theory are concerned with the ideal speaker-listener in a completely homogenous society’. But language
is always spoken in society and in social situations and hence Dell Hymes’ (1971) states that ‘more
important than the linguistic competence, a speaker must achieve communicative competence’, i.e., a

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speaker should know as to what, where, how and whom in a particular expression that a linguistic piece
is suitable.
Socio linguistics deals with the features like –‘how to speak, where to speak, whom to speak and what to
speak’ in the society. Thus, the phenomenon of communicative competence deals with not only the facts
of language (linguistic competence) but also of its use in the society (sociolinguistics) and this is of
prime importance in Sociolinguistics. In the second half of the twentieth century sociolinguistic
concepts like Speech Community, Speech repertoire, Speech situation, speech event and speech act
gained prominence.

5.3.1 Speech Repertoire

In a multilingual speech community a whole range of languages, or repertoire, is available to speakers,
who choose to use some of them in their linguistic interaction to perform particular social roles.
Repertoire applies at two different levels to both the community and the individual. Speech repertoire
or verbal repertoire refers to the range of languages available for use for a speaker in the speech
community. Each language available enables the speaker to perform different social role(s). Speech
repertoire is not simply composed of linguistic forms but a set of variety of language, each with an
internal structure that are available to the speakers of the community for performing different functions.
In monolingual communities, varieties, dialects and styles constitute the speech repertoire while in the
bilingual and multilingual communities, two or more languages and their varieties, dialects and style
constitute the speech repertoire. All speech communities can be studied within the framework of the
verbal repertoire. The notion of speech community, speech situation, speech event and speech act are
more important to understand the use of language in a society.

Speech Community is ‘a group of people in a society who interact by means of speech’ according to
Bloomfield. All the people ‘who use a given language or dialect’ for social interaction purposes are
termed as the speech community. The social group could be Monolingual which uses only one language
as one observes in China, Japan, Korea; or Bilingual, that uses two languages for interaction as one
observes in England using English and French or as in the or the US with English and Spanish; or
Multilingual, where people know and interact with more than one language as in India where speakers
are acquainted with more than two languages, mother tongue, Hindi and English and may bay be more.
Sharing a common language along with shared attitudes to language is the most important group identity
in a speech community.
Speech Situationrefers to thesituation to use the language with in the speech community. Occasions in
the society like the ceremonies, parties, hunts, meals, seminar/conference presentations, fights etc. are
speech situations where language is used by the speakers.

Speech Event: Within a speech situation, a speech event is a smaller unit of description. Speech events
are restricted to aspects of activities that are directly governed by rules or norms for the use of speech. If
a seminar in the town is a speech situation, a lecture, a formal introduction or a conversation is a speech
event.

Speech Act: A speech act is the smallest unit of the concept which represents a level distinct from a
sentence and not identifiable with any single portion of other levels of grammar. A speech act if a
functional unit while a sentence is a grammatical or formal unit of language.

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For ex: A party is a speech situation; a conversation during the party between two or more guests is a
speech event; and a joke cracked in it is a speech act. A college is a speech situation; a lecture between a
specific timing is a speech event; the classroom discussion between the teacher and the students are
speech acts.

The study of language in social contexts with its functions and the communicative competence required
by the speaker to perform various functions in different speech situations through speech acts is the
important aspect of study in sociolinguistics. Hence much research today in language studies
concentrates on speech acts in different speech events/situations.

So the notion of language as a uniform and invariant structure in all its varieties with prescriptive rules
applied to all the varieties of language is today replaced. All varieties of language as used in the society
are studied; a variety is described as a body of human speech patterns which is sufficiently homogenous
to be analysed syntactically and has a broad semantic scope of function in all normal speech situations
for effective communication. Mutual intelligibility is the criteria to decide whether two varieties belong
to the same language or should be considered as different languages. For example, Konkani Marathi and
Vaidarbi Marathi are intelligible to all Marathi speakers with all their variations and hence become the
varieties of the same language of Marathi, while Gujarathi and Marathi are two languages as they both
are not intelligible to a normal Marathi speaker or a Gujarathi speaker. For similar reasons, French and
English are two different languages and Cockney, Welsh, are varieties of English. Other linguistic
factors like phonological or syntactic similarities and genetic relatedness are not helpful in
differentiating languages and varieties. The ultimate decision in applying the label of language and
variety rests with the members of the speech community and is generally determined by socio-political
factors.

Language varieties can be classified according to three main criteria:

1. Varieties defining the User- of native and non-native: Dialects and Accents
2. Varieties defining the Use-Registers
3. Varieties defining social relationships between speakers and hearers-formal, informal and
intimate styles.

5.3.2 Dialects
A dialect is a variety of language distinguished according to region and social class. Dialect is a variety
of a language that signals where a person comes from. Thus the regional dialects of Hindi are spoken in
Banares and Meerut. Social dialects of Hindi are spoken by educated class and uneducated class; a news
reader and an auto rickshaw driver on the streets.
The notion is usually interpreted geographically (regional dialect), but it also has some application in
relation to a person’s social background (class dialect) or occupation (occupational dialect). The word
dialect comes from the Ancient Greek dialektos “discourse, language, dialect,” which is derived from
dialegesthai “to discourse, talk.” A dialect is chiefly distinguished from other dialects of the same
language by features of linguistic structure—i.e., grammar (specifically morphology and syntax) and
vocabulary. In morphology (word formation), various dialects in the Atlantic states have clim, clum,
clome, or cloome instead of climbed, and, in syntax (sentence structure), there are “sick to his stomach,”
“sick at his stomach,” “sick in,” “sick on,” and “sick with.” On the level of vocabulary, examples of

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dialectal differences include American Englishsubway, contrasting with British English underground;
and corn, which means “maize” in the United States, Canada, and Australia, “wheat” in England, and
“oats” in Scotland.
Nevertheless, while dialects of the same language differ, they still possess a common core of features.
Although some linguists include phonological features (such as vowels, consonants, and intonation)
among the dimensions of dialect, the standard practice is to treat such features as aspects of accent. In
the sound system of American English, for example, some speakers pronounce greasy with an “s”
sound, while others pronounce it with a “z” sound. Accent differences of this kind are extremely
important as regional and class indicators in every language. Their role is well recognized in Great
Britain, for example, where the prestige accent, called Received Pronunciation, is used as an educated
standard and differences in regional accent, both rural and urban, are frequent. There is far less accent
variation in Canada, Australia, and large parts of the United States.
Frequently, the label dialect, or dialectal, is attached to substandard speech, language usage that deviates
from the accepted norm—e.g., the speech of many of the heroes of Mark Twain’s novels. On the other
hand, the standard language can also be regarded as one of the dialects of a given language, though one
that has attracted special prestige. In a historical sense, the term dialect is sometimes applied to a
language considered as one of a group deriving from a common ancestor. Thus, English, Swedish, and
German are sometimes treated as Germanic dialects.
There is often considerable difficulty in deciding whether two linguistic varieties are dialects of the
same language or two separate but closely related languages; this is especially true in parts of the world
where speech communities have been little studied. In these cases especially, decisions regarding
dialects versus languages must be to some extent arbitrary. Sometimes socio-political factors play a role
in drawing the distinction between dialect and language.
Geographic dialects
The most widespread type of dialectal differentiation is regional, or geographic. As a rule, the speech of
one locality differs at least slightly from that of any other place. Differences between neighbouring local
dialects are usually small, but, in traveling farther in the same direction, differences accumulate. Every
dialectal feature has its own boundary line, called an isogloss (or sometimes heterogloss). Geographic
dialects include local ones (e.g., the Yankee English of Cape Cod or of Boston, the Russian of Moscow
or of Smolensk) or broader regional ones, such as Delaware Valley English, Australian English, or
Tuscan Italian.
Social dialects
Another important axis of differentiation is that of social strata. In many localities, dialectal differences
are connected with social classes, educational levels, or both. More-highly educated speakers and, often,
those belonging to a higher social class tend to use more features belonging to the standard language,
whereas the original dialect of the region is better preserved in the speech of the lower and less-educated
classes. In large urban centres, innovations unknown in the former dialect of the region frequently
develop. Thus, in cities the social stratification of dialects is especially relevant and far-reaching,
whereas in rural areas, with a conservative way of life, the traditional geographic dialectal differentiation
prevails. Educational differences between speakers strongly affect the extent of their vocabulary.

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The International Dialects of English Archives (IDEA) was created in 1998 as internet first archive of
dialects and accents and within a short time of 170 hours, 1400 samples from 120 countries and
territories have registered as the dialects and of English.

5.3.3 Accents
The differences in pronunciation by the speakers mark differences in accents in speech. The Received
Pronunciation RP spoken by educated speakers in the Southern part of London and Cockney used by
uneducated speakers in London are accents of English. Spoken English shows great variation across
regions where it is the predominant language. Accent is the part of dialect concerning local
pronunciation.
Primary English-speakers show great variability in terms of regional accents. Some, such as
Pennsylvania Dutch English, are easily identified by key characteristics; others are more obscure or
easily confused. Broad regions can possess sub-forms as identified below; for instance, towns located
less than 10 miles (16 km) from the city of Manchester, such as Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham and Salford,
each have distinct accents, all of which together comprise the broader accent of Lancashire county;
while these sub-dialects are very similar to each other, non-local listeners can identify firm differences.
On the other side of the spectrum, Australia has a "General accent" that is virtually consistent over
thousands of kilometers. There are considerable variations within the accents of English across
England, one of the most obvious being the trap-bath split of the southern half of the country.
Two main sets of accents are spoken in the West Country, are Cornish, Devon, Somerset,
Gloucestershire, Bristol, Dorset and Wiltshire. The accents of Northern England are also distinctive,
including a range of variations: Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, Cumbria, and
Lancashire. The accents of Yorkshire are also distinctive, having regional variants in Leeds, Bradford,
Sheffield, York, Hull, and Middlesbrough. There is also great variation within Greater London, with
various accents such as Cockney, Estuary English, Multicultural London English and Received
Pronunciation being found all throughout the region and the Home Counties. English accents can differ
enough to create room for misunderstandings. For example, the pronunciation of pearl in some variants
of Scottish English can sound like the entirely unrelated word petal to an American ear.
Secondary English speakers tend to carry over the intonation and phonetics of their mother tongue in
English speech. For example in India, a number of distinct dialects of English are spoken like English
along with the native tongues of Nepali, Hindi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Sindhi, Balochi, Pashto, Marathi,
Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Maithili, Malayalam, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu,
Tulu, Urdu and many more, creating a variety of accents of English. Accents originating in this part of
the world tend to display several distinctive features, including, syllable-timing and not stress-based
timing and "sing-song" pitch.
An accent may be identified with the locality in which its speakers reside (a regional or geographical
accent), the socioeconomic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class (a social
accent), or influence from their first language (a foreign accent).

5.3.4 Registers
Registers are the topic-oriented varieties of language. Registers vary due to different professions in the
society. The language of Medicine, Law, Computers and Sports vary because of different professions.

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Registral varieties are characterised by variation in the lexicon, and less frequently variation on
grammar. Registral switching is very important for a speaker’s communicative competence.

In sociolinguistics, a register is a variety of language used for a particular purpose or in a particular

communicative situation. M. A. K. Halliday and R. Hasan (1976) interpret register as "the linguistic
features which are typically associated with a configuration of situational features – with particular
values of the field, mode and tenor...".Field for them is "the total event, in which the text is functioning,
together with the purposive activity of the speaker or writer; includes subject-matter as one of the
elements". Mode is "the function of the text in the event, including both the channel taken by language –
spoken or written, extempore or prepared – and its genre, rhetorical mode, as narrative, didactic,
persuasive, 'phatic communion', etc." The tenor refers to "the type of role interaction, the set of relevant
social relations, permanent and temporary, among the participants involved". These three values – field,
mode and tenor – are thus the determining factors for the linguistic features of the text. "The register is
the set of meanings, the configuration of semantic patterns, that are typically drawn upon under the
specified conditions, along with the words and structures that are used in the realization of these
meanings." Register, in the view of M. A. K. Halliday and R. Hasan, is one of the two defining concepts
of text. "A text is a passage of discourse which is coherent in these two regards: it is coherent with
respect to the context of situation and therefore consistent in register; and it is coherent with respect to
itself, and therefore cohesive."

The ISO has defined standard ISO 12620 on Data Category Registry (ISO, 2018). This is a registry for
registering linguistic terms used in various fields of translation, computational linguistics and natural
language processing and defining mappings both between different terms and the same terms used in
different systems. The registers identified are:

• Bench-level register
• Dialect register
• Facetious register
• Formal register
• In house register
• Ironic register
• Neutral register
• Slang register
• Taboo register
• Technical register
• Vulgar register
The term diatype is sometimes used to describe language variation which is determined by its social
purpose (Gregory 1967). Diatype is usually analysed in terms of field, the subject matter or setting;
tenor, the participants and their relationships; and mode, the channel of communication, such as spoken,
written or signed.
5.3.5 Styles
Apart from regional, social and registral varieties, another major kind of variation found in language use
is the stylistic variation. Stylistic variation is an individual idiosyncratic expression in different
situations and role relations in the society. Stylistic variation is in accordance with the degrees of

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formality and informality. Martin Joos (1961) describes five styles in spoken English: frozen, formal,
consultative, casual and intimate.
• Frozen: Also referred to as static register. Printed unchanging language, such as Biblical quotations,
often contains archaisms. Examples are the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America
and other "static" vocalizations. The wording is exactly the same every time it is spoken.
Ex: Visitors should make their way at once to the upper floor by way of the
staircase.
• Formal: One-way participation; no interruption; technical vocabulary or exact definitions are
important; includes presentations or introductions between strangers.
Ex: Visitors should go upstairs at once.
• Consultative: Two-way participation; background information is provided – prior knowledge is not
assumed. "Back-channel behavior" such as "uh huh", "I see", etc. is common. Interruptions are
allowed. Examples include teacher/student, doctor/patient, expert/apprentice, etc.
Ex: Would you mind going upstairs right away please?
• Casual: In-group friends and acquaintances; no background information provided; ellipsis and slang
common; interruptions common. This is common among friends in a social setting.
Ex: Time you all go upstairs now.
• Intimate: Non-public; intonation more important than wording or grammar; private vocabulary.
Also includes non-verbal messages. This is most common among family members and close friends.
Ex: Up you go boys!!; Chaos move on up!!; Hi, go up!!

5.4 Some Aspects of Sociolinguistics for Languages in Contact

Languages basically could be native variety and non-Native variety depending on whether the language
is the mother tongue of the inhabitant users or otherwise. Standard and non-standard varieties among a
speech community is another way of understanding the status of a language within the speech
community. Language in contact gives rise to sociolinguistic phenomenon like
bilingualism/multilingualism, diglossia, code-switching and code-mixing, pidgins and creoles.

5.4.1 Native and Non-native Varieties

The social situation where a language is spoken as the Mother tongue is called as the native variety and
if it is not the mother tongue but learnt for communicative purposes or professional purposes, it becomes
the non-native variety of language. For example, English in England, America, Canada, Australia and
New Zealand are spoken as the first language as it is the mother tongue of the people; hence it is the
native variety in these countries. But English is learnt as a second language or third language in India
and as a foreign language in China, Japan, and Korea; each of the countries mentioned as its own
mother tongue but prefer to learn English for meeting various social and professional causes; hence it is
non-native variety.

A native variety is acquired from childhood in natural settings while a non-native variety is learnt in
formal settings as in school. In native variety, the child’s first socialization takes place while a non-
native variety is learned after the child has learnt its first language. The native variety has a wide range

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of use as the native speaker controls a wide range of registral and stylistic variation; while the non-
native has a limited range of use.

5.4.2 Standard and Non-standard Varieties

A standard variety of language is that which is generally used by educated speakers and for which
reference works like dictionaries and grammar books are available. ‘Standard' refers to social
acceptability and the prestige accorded to the variety in society. A non-standard variety of a language is
that which is generally used by uneducated speakers and fro which reference books are generally not
available. It has a low social acceptability and is rated low on the prestige scale. Both native and non-
native varieties have standard and non-standard varieties.

5.4.3 Bilingualism/Multilingualism
When people of widely different cultural and linguistic backgrounds live together in a geographical
region sharing common socio-economic and political activities of the community, stable bilingual and
multilingual communities are created. For example a country like Canada had been bilingual while a
country like India can be referred as multilingual for the same reasons. Depending up on the domains in
which the speaker is situated the preference of the code of language would be. Fishman (1965) suggests
the domains, role-relationship, locales and topics to select the language.

Domain Role-relationship Locales Topics

family Parent-child home How to be a good son/daughter
religion Preist-parishioner church How to be a good Christian
education Teacher-pupil School/college How to solve a Maths problem
employment Employer-employee Work-place How to do your job efficiently
government Official-official office How to maintain law and order
Generally, in a bi/multi lingual situation, one language is associated with one domain. For example in
India, in the family domain, it is use of mother tongue, at the work place it would be Hindi/English and
with vendors in the society it could be Hindi/local language while with the friends it could be Hindi/
English or local language or Mother tongue depending upon the speech situation.

5.4.4 Diglossia
Fergusson (1959) attempts to focus on the phenomenon of diglossia in a bi/multilingual society; by
which he means, the same user uses two different languages simultaneously for two different functions.
Fergusson names the two languages used as H (High language) and L (Low Language) and lists the
following situations in which H and l are normally used. The H variety is always formal and the L
variety in informal. The H variety is learnt and the L variety is acquired.

H (High language) L (Low Language)

Sermon in the church or Mosque Instruction to domestic staff
Speech in Parliament Conversation with family
University lecture Conversation with friends
News broadcast Radio ‘soap opera’
Poetry Folk literature

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In all bi/multi lingual countries like America, Canada, Australia, including India, diaglossia is very
commonly seen. Fergusson studied situations of diaglossia in Arabic, Modern Greek, Swiss German and
Haitian Creole and explained the phenomenon.

5.4.5 Code-switching and Code-mixing

In bi/multi lingual communities, an individual switches from one language to another in a conversation
with great ease for a better communication purposes. If only a few words from another code or language
are used in conversation, it is called as code-switching and if there is a mixture of entire sentences in
different codes, it is called as the code-mixing. In a multi-lingual country like India, both the phenomena
are very commonly seen. For example:

• I was going for a movie yesterday. raaste men mujhe Radha mil gayi.
Gloss: [I was going for a movie yesterday.] way in I Radha meet went Translation: I was going
for a movie yesterday; I met Radha on the way.

• Main kal movie dekhne jaa rahi thi and raaste me I met John.
Gloss: I yesterday [movie] to-see go Continuous-marker was [and] way in [I met] John.

Translation: I was going for a movie yesterday and on the way I met John.

• “Those who support the opposition kabhi Muzaffarnagar aa kar dekho” (Those who support the
opposition should come to Muzaffarnagar and see (for themselves))
• “agar aap BJP ke follower hain to is page ko like karen” (If you are a BJP follower then like this
page)
• “…and the party workers (will) come with me without virodh
• “The mahagatbandhan rally will be held tomorrow”
• “Kaivta ji, I am your fan and have seen all your movies”
• Tum nahĭ jantī, he is chairman Mr. Mehta’s best friend, yahă do caar din ko hī aaye haĭ. Maine
socaa, I should not miss the opportunity.
(Don’t you know, he is chairman Mr. Mehta’s best friend, he’s only here for a couple of days. I
thought, I should not miss the opportunity.’)
There are several reasons to switch codes in a single conversation:
• A particular topic: People generally switch codes during discourse about a particular topic,
since it requires specific language to convey or communicate issues surrounding it.

• Quoting someone: People have to switch codes while quoting another person.
• Solidarity and gratitude: While expressing gratitude or solidarity, people may speak in ways
that express these feelings.
• Clarification: Speakers may alter their speech when listeners have trouble understanding how
they communicated a thought or idea before. Same can be said for speakers who do not know of
(or don't remember) the appropriate words to use in their native language.
• Group identity: People may alter their language to express group identification. This can
happen, for example, when introducing members of a particular group to others.
• To soften or strengthen command: While asking someone to do something, code-switching
works to mark emphasis or provide inspiration.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
• Lexical need: People often use some technical terms or words written in another language. In
that case, if people try to translate those words, that might distort the exact meaning and value of
the word or term. In this case, code-switching occurs to maintain the exact meaning of the word.
Code switching could be: Inter-sentential switching occurs outside the sentence or the clause
level (i.e. at sentence or clause boundaries); Intra-sententialswitching occurs within a sentence
or a clause; Tag-switching which is the switching of either a tag phrase or a word, or both, from
one language to another; or Intra-word switching occurs within a word itself.

Code switching is helpfulif it includes communicating solidarity with or affiliation to a particular social
group or to convey more nuanced attitudes and emotions or to increase the impact of their speech and
use it in a more effective manner. But code switching harmful if a dominant culture requires all citizens
to conform to the dominant language and manner of speaking, or if subcultures are punished in any way
for not conforming completely to the language majority, this is harmful. However, many linguists have
stressed the point that switching between languages is a communicative option available to a
bi/multilingual member of a speech community, just as switching between styles or dialects is an option
for the monolingual speaker.

5.4.6 Pidgins and Creoles

Pidgin languages are simplified link languages. They arise in situations where there are languages in
contact: either between the language of the ruler and being ruled or between the language of two groups
of people coming together for trade and commerce. When a pidgin becomes the mother tongue of a
speech community, it is called as a creole. A creole has a jargon or a pidgin in its ancestry; it is spoken
natively by an entire speech community, often one whose ancestors were displaced geographically so
that their ties with their original language and sociocultural identity were partly broken.

During colonization, many pidgin languages were used world-wide. In India, Schuchardt (1891)
identified five different pidgin languages formed between the natives and the colonists: the Butler
English of Madras, the Pidgin English of Bombay, the Boxwallah English of upper India, the Baboo
English of Calcutta and the Cheechee English of South India.

The Butler English of Madras: The pidgin language formed between English and Tamil in Madras
used normally by the Butlers or cooks in South India in the British Raj is called as the Butler English, as
seen in the following examples.

• I talk, he talk; Why do you MIDDLE MIDDLE talk?

- (beech, beech = middle, middle)
• Rain will comme come ! !
• "Hey, u guys, please keep quiet. The Principal is ROTATING outside"
• "Do not smoke and spoil the BOTANY of your body"
• "Open the windows, open the windows, let the CLIMATE come in"
• "Open the windows, open the windows, let the AIR FORCE come in"

• All right. I can tell. Cut nicely brinjal. Little little piece. Ginger, garlic, hm chilly…red chilli,
mustard eh jira-all want it, grind it in the vinegar. No water. After put the hoil-then put all the
masala, little little slowly fry it-nice smells coming—then you can put the brinjal. Not less
oil. Then after is cooking in the hoil make it cold—put in the bottle. (Hosali 1982)

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
The Baboo English of Calcutta: This is the pidgin language formed between the British English
and the Bengali language. It can be highly verbose:

Honoured and much respected Sir, With due respect and humble submission, I beg to bring to
your kind notice that for a long days, I have not the fortune to pay pay you a respect, or not to
have your mental or daily welfare, therefore my request that you will be kind enough to show me
some mercy and thankfulness, by pending some few lines to your wretched son and thereby
highly oblige.
So a pidgin language is a simplified language at all levels of morphology, syntax and lexis. Pidgins are
link languages used extensively for communication purposes.
In linguistics, a Creole is a type of natural language that developed historically from a pidgin and came
into existence at a fairly precise point in time. A pidgin is the combination of two or more languages
which sometimes occurs in trade contact, multi-ethnic or refugee situations, where participants need a
functioning common language. . . . Sometimes the pidgin becomes stable and established and comes to
be spoken as a mother-tongue by children: the language has then become a creole, which quickly
develops in complexity and is used in all functional settings. The process of turning a pidgin into a
creole is called creolization. English creoles are spoken by some of the people in Jamaica, Sierra Leone,
Cameroon, and parts of Georgia and South Carolina. The historical transition from a pidgin to a creole is
called creolization. Decreolization is the process by which a creole language gradually becomes more
like the standard language of a region (or the acrolect).
The language that provides a creole with most of its vocabulary is called the lexifier language. For
example, the lexifier language of most of the creoles formed during colonization and thereafter is
English.
Examples of Creole in India are seen as the Goanese creole which is a combination of Marathi and
Portuguese languages; or as the Creole of Portuguese as seen in Diu and Daman; or the Creole of
Pondicherry which is a combination of French and Tamil. Labov (1970) talks about the Black English
Vernacular spoken by uneducated people in urban regions of America and by the poor whites of the
southern states of the USA.
Thus are the notion of language variety and the criteria of describing language variety in terms of
international varieties and sociolinguistic varieties.

***

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Phonetics & English Phonology
Practice
1. Word transcription
• Some words for practice:
Colours: Red /rɛd/, orange /ˈɒrɪnʤ/, yellow /ˈjɛləʊ/, green /ɡriːn/, blue /bluː/, violet /ˈvaɪələt/, black
/blæk/, white /waɪt/, brown /braʊn/.
Fruit :Apples /ˈæpl̩ z/, oranges /ˈɒrɪnʤɪz/, bananas /bəˈnɑːnəz/, lemons /ˈlɛmənz/, plums /plʌmz/,
pomegranate /ˈpɒmɪˌgrænɪt/, pineapple /ˈpaɪˌnæpl̩ /, grapes /greɪps/, lime /laɪm/.
Vegetables: Potato /pəˈteɪˌtəʊ/, carrot /ˈkærət/, turnip /ˈtɜːnɪp/, cabbage /ˈkæbɪʤ/, Brussel sprouts
/ˈbrʌsl̩ spraʊts/, tomato /təˈmɑːˌtəʊ/, cucumber /ˈkjuːˌkʌmbə/, onion /ˈʌnjən/.
• Transcribe the following commonly used words given in the Alphabetical order for practice.
Refer to the dictionary and verify the answers.
A
A, About, Above, Across, Act, Active, Activity, Add, Afraid, After, Again, Age, Ago, Agree, Air, All,
Alone, Along, Already, Always, Am, Amount, An, And, Angry, Another, Answer, Any, Anyone,
Anything, Anytime, Appear, Apple, Are, Area, Arm, Army, Around, Arrive, Art, As, Ask, At, Attack,
Aunt, Autumn, Away.
B
Baby, Base, Back, Bad, Bag, Ball, Bank, Basket, Bath, Be, Bean, Bear, Beautiful, Beer, Bed, Bedroom,
Behave, Before, Begin, Behind, Bell, Below, Besides, Best, Better, Between, Big, Bird, Birth, Birthday,
Bit, Bite, Black, Bleed, Block, Blood, Blow, Blue, Board, Boat, Body, Boil, Bone, Book, Border, Born,
Borrow, Both, Bottle, Bottom, Bowl, Box, Boy, Branch, Brave, Bread, Break, Breakfast, Breathe,
Bridge, Bright, Bring, Brother, Brown, Brush, Build, Burn, Business, Bus, Busy, But, Buy, By.
C
Cake, Call, Can, Candle, Cap, Car, Card, Care, Careful, Careless, Carry, Case, Cat, Catch, Central,
Century, Certain, Chair, Chance, Change, Chase, Cheap, Cheese, Chicken, Child, Children, Chocolate,
Choice, Choose, Circle, City, Class, Clever, Clean, Clear, Climb, Clock, Cloth, Clothes, Cloud, Cloudy,
Close, Coffee, Coat, Coin, Cold, Collect, Colour, Comb, Come, Comfortable, Common, Compare,
Complete, Computer, Condition, Continue, Control, Cook, Cool, Copper, Corn, Corner, Correct, Cost,
Contain, Count, Country, Course, Cover, Crash, Cross, Cry, Cup, Cupboard, Cut.
D
Dance, Dangerous, Dark, Daughter, Day, Dead, Decide, Decrease, Deep, Deer, Depend, Desk, Destroy,
Develop, Die, Different, Difficult, Dinner, Direction, Dirty, Discover, Dish, Do, Dog, Door, Double,
Down, Draw, Dream, Dress, Drink, Drive, Drop, Dry, Duck, Dust, Duty.
E
Each, Ear, Early, Earn, Earth, East, Easy, Eat, Education, Effect, Egg, Eight, Either, Electric, Elephant,
Else, Empty, End, Enemy, Enjoy, Enough, Enter, Equal, Entrance, Escape, Even, Evening, Event, Ever,
Every, Everyone, Exact, Everybody, Examination, Example, Except, Excited, Exercise, Expect,
Expensive, Explain, Extremely, Eye.
F

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Face, Fact, Fail, Fall, False, Family, Famous, Far, Farm, Father, Fast, Fat, Fault, Fear, Feed, Feel,
Female, Fever, Few, Fight, Fill, Film, Find, Fine, Finger, Finish, Fire, First, Fit, Five, Fix, Flag, Flat,
Float, Floor, Flour, Flower, Fly, Fold, Food, Fool, Foot, Football, For, Force, Foreign, Forest, Forget,
Forgive, Fork, Form, Fox, Four, Free, Freedom, Freeze, Fresh, Friend, Friendly, From, Front, Fruit, Full,
Fun, Funny, Furniture, Further, Future.
G
Game, Garden, Gate, General, Gentleman, Get, Gift, Give, Glad, Glass, Go, Goat, God, Gold, Good,
Goodbye, Grandfather, Grandmother, Grass, Grave, Great, Green, Grey, Ground, Group, Grow, Gun.
H
Hair, Half, Hall, Hammer, Hand, Happen, Happy, Hard, Hat, Hate, Have, He, Head, Healthy, Hear,
Heavy, Hello, Help, Heart, Heaven, Height, Help, Hen, Her, Here, Hers, Hide, High, Hill, Him, His, Hit,
Hobby, Hold, Hole, Holiday, Home, Hope, Horse, Hospital, Hot, Hotel, House, How, Hundred, Hungry,
Hour, Hurry, Husband, Hurt
I
I, Ice, Idea, If, Important, In, Increase, Inside, Into, Introduce, Invent, Iron, Invite, Is, Island, It, Its.
J
Jelly, Job, Join, Juice, Jump, Just.
K
Keep, Key, Kill, Kind, King, Kitchen, Knee, Knife, Knock, Know.
L
Ladder, Lady, Lamp, Land, Large, Last, Late, Lately, Laugh, Lazy, Lead, Leaf, Learn, Leave, Leg, Left,
Lend, Length, Less, Lesson, Let, Letter, Library, Lie, Life, Light, Like, Lion, Lip, List, Listen, Little,
Live, Lock, Lonely, Long, Look, Lose, Lot, Love, Low, Lower, Luck.
M
Machine, Main, Make, Male, Man, Many, Map, Mark, Market, Marry, Matter, May, Me, Meal, Mean,
Measure, Meat, Medicine, Meet, Member, Mention, Method, Middle, Milk, Million, Mind, Minute,
Miss, Mistake, Mix, Model, Modern, Moment, Money, Monkey, Month, Moon, More, Morning, Most,
Mother, Mountain, Mouth, Move, Much, Music, Must, My.
N
Name, Narrow, Nation, Nature, Near, Nearly, Neck, Need, Needle, Neighbour, Neither, Net, Never,
New, News, Newspaper, Next, Nice, Night, Nine, No, Noble, Noise, None, Nor, North, Nose, Not,
Nothing, Notice, Now, Number.
O
Obey, Object, Ocean, Of, Off, Offer, Office, Often, Oil, Old, On, One, Only, Open, Opposite, Or,
Orange, Order, Other, Our, Out, Outside, Over, Own.
P
Page, Pain, Paint, Pair, Pan, Paper, Parent, Park, Part, Partner, Party, Pass, Past, Path, Pay, Peace, Pen,
Pencil, People, Pepper, Per, Perfect, Period, Person, Petrol, Photograph, Piano, Pick, Picture, Piece, Pig,
Pin, Pink, Place, Plane, Plant, Plastic, Plate, Play, Please, Pleased, Plenty, Pocket, Point, Poison, Police,
Polite, Pool, Poor, Popular, Position, Possible, Potato, Pour, Power, Present, Press, Pretty, Prevent,

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Price, Prince, Prison, Private, Prize, Probably, Problem, Produce, Promise, Proper, Protect, Provide,
Public, Pull, Punish, Pupil, Push, Put.
Q
Queen, Question, Quick, Quiet, Quite.
R
Radio, Rain, Rainy, Raise, Reach, Read, Ready, Real, Really, Receive, Record, Red, Remember,
Remind, Remove, Rent, Repair, Repeat, Reply, Report, Rest, Restaurant, Result, Return, Rice, Rich,
Ride, Right, Ring, Rise, Road, Rob, Rock, Room, Round, Rubber, Rude, Rule, Ruler, Run, Rush.
S
Sad, Safe, Sail, Salt, Same, Sand, Save, Say, School, Science, Scissors, Search, Seat, Second, See,
Seem, Sell, Send, Sentence, Serve, Seven, Several, Sex, Shade, Shadow, Shake, Shape, Share, Sharp,
She, Sheep, Sheet, Shelf, Shine, Ship, Shirt, Shoe, Shoot, Shop, Short, Should, Shoulder, Shout, Show,
Sick, Side, Signal, Silence, Silly, Silver, Similar, Simple, Single, Since, Sing, Sink, Sister, Sit, Six, Size,
Skill, Skin, Skirt, Sky, Sleep, Slip, Slow, Smoke, Small, Smell, Smile, Smoke, Snow, So, Soap, Sock,
Soft, Some, Someone, Something, Sometimes, Son, Soon, Sorry, Sound, Soup, South, Space, Speak,
Special, Speed, Spell, Spend, Spoon, Sport, Spread, Spring, Square, Stamp, Stand, Star, Start, Station,
Stay, Steal, Steam, Step, Still, Stomach, Stone, Stop, Store, Storm, Story, Strange, Street, Strong,
Structure, Student, Study, Stupid, Subject, Substance, Successful, Such, Sudden, Sugar, Suitable,
Summer, Sun, Sunny, Support, Sure, Surprise, Sweet, Swim, Sword.
T
Table, Take, Talk, Tall, Taste, Taxi, Tea, Teach, Team, Tear, Telephone, Television, Tell, Ten, Tennis,
Terrible, Test, Than, That, The, Their, Then, There, Therefore, These, Thick, Thin, Thing, Think, Third,
This, Though, Threat, Three, Tidy, Tie, Title, To, Today, Toe, Together, Tomorrow, Tonight, Too, Tool,
Tooth, Top, Total, Touch, Town, Train, Tram, Travel, Tree, Trouble, True, Trust, Twice, Try, Turn,
Type.
U
Uncle, Under, Understand, Unit, Until, Up, Use, Useful, Usual, Usually.
V
Vegetable, Very, Village, Voice, Visit.
W
Wait, Wake, Walk, Want, Warm, Wash, Waste, Watch, Water, Way, We, Weak, Wear, Weather,
Wedding, Week, Weight, Welcome, Well, West, Wet, What, Wheel, When, Where, Which, While,
White, Who, Why, Wide, Wife, Wild, Will, Win, Wind, Window, Wine, Winter, Wire, Wise, Wish,
With, Without, Woman, Wonder, Word, Work, World, Worry, Worst, Write, Wrong
Y
Year, Yes, Yesterday, Yet, You, Young, Your.
Z
Zero, Zoo

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
• Transcribe the following words phonemically

1. Pack:_________________________ 25.Glass:_______________________

2. Back:________________________ 26.Go:_________________________

3. Stop:_________________________ 27. Egg:________________________

4. Paper:________________________ 28. Leg:________________________

5. Pool:_________________________ 29. Five:________________________

6. Pull:_________________________ 30. Live:________________________

7. Pay:_________________________ 31. Free:________________________

8. Bought:______________________ 32. Floor:_______________________

9. Piece:________________________ 33. Driving:_____________________

10. Peace________________________ 34.North:________________________

11. Day:_________________________ 35. South:________________________

12. Deep:________________________ 36. Both:_________________________

13.Good:________________________ 37. Mouse:_______________________

14.Head:________________________ 38. Mouth:_______________________

15. Add:_________________________ 39. Then:________________________

16. Ten:_________________________ 40. They:________________________

17. Two:________________________ 41. Sit:__________________________

18. Light:________________________ 42. Bus:_________________________

19. Tea:_________________________ 43. Sister:________________________

20. Clean:_______________________ 44. City:_________________________

21. Keep:________________________ 45. Sister:_______________________

22. Desk:________________________ 46. Easy:________________________

23. Like:________________________ 47. Size:________________________

48. Zoo:_________________________

24. Talk:________________________ 49. Shop:_______________________

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50. Cash:________________________ 76.Wrap:_______________________

51. Fresh:________________________ 77. Right:________________________

52. Chip:________________________ 78. Table:________________________

53. Mine:_______________________ 79. Light:________________________

54.Watch:_______________________ 80. Teach:_______________________

55. Jack:________________________ 81. Peach:_______________________

56. Swim:________________________ 82. Mean:_______________________

57. Jump________________________ 83. Fish:_________________________

58. Bank:________________________ 84. Feel_________________________

59. Faint:_____________________ 85.Help:________________________

60.Who:________________________ 86. Said:_________________________

61.Whole:_______________________ 87. Cry:_________________________

62.Help:________________________ 88.Nine:________________________

63. Tall:_________________________ 89. Fame:________________________

64.Well:________________________ 90. Friend:_______________________

65. Red:_________________________ 91. Cost:_______________________

66. Sorry:________________________ 92. Fan:_________________________

67.Week:________________________ 93. Feather:_________________________

68.Which:______________________ 94.Hello:________________________

69.White:______________________ 95. Sad:_________________________

70.Write:_______________________ 96. Care:_________________________

71.Windy:______________________ 97.Name:________________________

72. Music:______________________ 98. Father:________________________

73. climb:_______________________ 99. Finish:_______________________

74. Rain:________________________ 100. Practice:_______________________

75.Wrist:_______________________

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3. Sentence Transcription

1. The autumn leaves rustled on the path. /ði ˈɔːtəm liːvz ˈrʌsl̩ d ɒn ðə pɑːθ/

2. Light blue touch-paper and stand well back. /laɪp bluː tʌʧ ˈpeɪpər ən stæm wɛl bæk/

3. Keep out of direct sunlight. /kiːp aʊt əv ˈdaɪˌrɛk ˈsʌnˌlaɪt/

4. Do not feed the animals /duː nɒt fiːd ði ˈænɪməlz/

5. Shake well before serving /ʃeɪk wɛl bɪˈfɔː ˈsɜːvɪŋ/

6. Replace cap after use /rɪˈpleɪs kæp ˈɑːftə juːs/

7. Stand clear of the doors. /stæŋ klɪər əv ðə dɔːz/

8. Richard of York gave battle in vain. /ˈrɪʧəd əv jɔːk ɡeɪv ˈbætl̩ ɪn veɪn/

9. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. /ˈpiːtə ˈpaɪpə pɪkt ə pɛk əv ˈpɪkl̩ b ˈpɛpə/

Transcribe the following sentences, mark the tone groups, identify the stressed syllables and mark
the intonation.

1. The train is ten minutes late.

2. Why are you so upset?
3. Come and sit here, don’t be upset.
4. Don’t talk like that.
5. I think he is going to London tomorrow.
6. What can I do for you?
7. It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?

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8. I am confused; I don’t know what to say.
9. Go straight and turn right, you will reach your destination.
10. How surprising?
11. Good morning. (routine)
12. Good morning. (excited)
13. Shut the door away.
14. Come on, cheer up.
15. Where are you going?
16. What happened child?
17. How is your mother dear?
18. Can you come tomorrow to comlete the work?
19. He didn’t do it, did he? (seeking to agree)
20. These are nice, aren’t they? (seeking to agree)
21. He didn’t do it, did he? (asking for information)
22. These are nice, aren’t they? (asking for information)
23. Best of luck. (good wishes)
24. Good evening. (cheerful)
25. I saw at the shopping mall. (complaining-you said are in the library)
26. Hema is here already. (giving information)
27. Hema is here already. (asking to confirm)
28. Hema is here already. (so hurry up)

3.Paragraph Transcription

Transcribe the following paragraphs phonemically.

Transcription exercise 1: In Britain and around the world, the image of the family continues to change.
The traditional "Victorian family", in which the man was the breadwinner, the woman the homemaker
and the children numerous and obedient, is giving way to new ideas about what the modem family
should look like.

Transcription exercise 2: One of the most obvious characteristics of the new family is that there are not
always two parents. Due mostly to the rise in divorces since World War II, single-parent families are
becoming more and more frequent and accepted in British society. Usually, it is the mother who takes
responsibility for raising the child, and she has to balance the pressures of earning a living and raising
her children at the same time.

Transcription exercise 3: However, even in families with both parents present, many mothers are
giving up the role of homemaker and pursuing their own careers. Some go on maternity leave after their
children are born and then take up part-time work when the child is old enough to go to school. Others

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
feel that their careers come first and wait until they have fully established their career before having
children.

Transcription exercise 4: Another area which has changed significantly is what happens before
marriage. In the past, people lived with their parents until they got married, and each marriage was
supposed to be a "white wedding". Today, living together before marriage and premarital sex are
considered normal, and many people "tryout" their relationship by living together before getting
married.

Transcription exercise 5: These changes together with other changes such as mixed marriages, have
altered the face of British society. Some people deplore them as a breakdown of traditional values.
Others praise them as expressions of greater tolerance and diversity. But one thing is for sure: British
families are changing and will continue to change.

Transcription exercise 6: Since many newspapers – especially their headlines – have little space to
explain things in depth, they have developed a special vocabulary of their own. It features short words
and tends to leave out articles and auxiliary verbs. Thus, they use “back” for “support”, “deal” for
“agreement”, “ban” for “prohibit”, “talk” for “discussion, negotiation”, “probe” for “investigate”, and so
on. It also includes colourful words to draw the eye and add interest to a story. So prices don’t “go up
quickly”, they “rocket”, police don’t “hurry” to the scene of the crime, they “race”, and so on. A
headline that reads “Drugs probe backs cig ban” might translate as “An investigation into drug abuse
supports the prohibition of cigarette smoking. (taken from Advanced Conversation Practice – Teacher’s
Book – p. 101) /

Transcription exercise 7: This was the first time I had ever cared for AIDS patients. AIDS is often
considered a social and moral disease, so it is difficult for some to be compassionate and objective.
These patients need aggressive nursing care, as they are susceptible to pneumonia, fungal infections,
diarrhoea, skin breakdown, malnutrition, and incontinence. Their diet must be high in calories and
protein, with in-between-meal snacks and important necessity. In spite of all the medications, pulmonary
treatments, oxygen therapy, daily nursing assessments, and frequent repositioning, the patient still is a
human being – frightened, isolated, and with a deep fear of losing control. He needs to talk and express
himself, he needs reassurance, and he has the right to have his questions answered truthfully. This is a
challenge for any nurse who really cares. (from Nursing is My Bag by M. Kurz George, 1989, p. 113 -
taken from Advanced Conversation Practice – Teacher’s Book – p. 89)

Transcription exercise 8: Tomorrow will be another fine day with temperatures reaching the mid-
twenties. A bit cool early in the morning with some showers likely but this will clear up towards
midmorning and most areas will have prolonged sunshine for most of the afternoon. Wednesday’s not
looking so good, rather dull and overcast with winds light to moderate and rain and drizzle spread over
much of the south of the country. Temperatures around 15 to 17 degrees Celsius dropping as low as 12
degrees overnight in hilly areas, possibly a few patches of fog in lowlying areas. (taken from Advanced
Conversation Practice – Teacher’s Book – p. 101)

Transcription exercise 9: This book grew out of my study of the experiences of other women. It is built
on the stories of eighty women who said no, who made changes in their lives. All of them left successful

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
careers to find, as I did, their right livelihood. Some have permanently downshifted to part-time jobs in
order to make time in the day for other interests, such as art, volunteer work, self-development, spiritual
interests and travel. A number of others have created their own small businesses: two own bookstores;
one runs a sheep farm; three operate day-care centers. Some have become consultants, others writers.
All have given to the word success a very personal definition. (from Work of Her Own by Susan Wittig
Albert, Ph.D., - taken from Advanced Conversation Practice – Teacher’s Book – p. 39)

Transcription exercise 10: The word “furnished” means different things to different people. You will
normally find the essential: stove, refrigerator, beds, chairs, sofa, tables, lamps. Minimal china and glass,
basic kitchen supplies, curtains, and some pictures may be supplied. Sometimes, but very rarely, there is
a small supply of bed, bath, and table linens and blankets. You will need to bring your favourite kitchen
utensils, some table linens or mats, extra lamps, coat hangers, whatever electrical appliances you want –
such as toasters and irons. Your own pictures, books, decorations, and the like will make it seem more
like home to you. The word “unfurnished” means different things, but generally a stove and refrigerator
are included – also towel racks, light fixtures and other built-in items.

***

4. Dialogue Transcription
Transcribe the following dialogues, mark the tone groups, identify the stressed syllables, identify
the nucleus and mark the intonation.

1) Aruna : Good morning, Mala, how are you?

Mala : Hi, I am fine, thank you. How are you?
Aruna : I am very well thanks, where are you going?
Mala : To the market to buy some fruits. Bye.
Aruna : Bye, see you in the class.

2) Mary : Good evening. What a fine weather.

John : Hello Mary. How do you do?
Mary : Fine thank you. I haven’t seen you for a longtime. Where were you?
John : Busy with my semester exams. Tomorrow is my last paper.
Mary : Oh! All the best. Bye.
John : Bye.

3) Swati : Hi friends, let me introduce my cousin Harish to you. He is doing

M.B.A. from Indira College, Pune.
Friends : Hello, Harish. Glad to meet you. I am Prema. She is Mala and he is
Ashok. We are all in final year B.Com.
Harish : Hello, everybody. Nice to meet you all.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
4) Kaushal : Sunil, I’d like you to meet my teacher, Dr, Priya Jain. She teaches
us Phonetics.
Sunil : Good evening, ma’am. I was very eager to meet you. I have heard so
much about you, ma’am.
Dr. Priya : Good evening, Sunil. If you have interest in language studies, you
also can join Kaushal in attending the class.
Sunil : Of course ma’am. Thank you. I will be there in the class from
tomorrow.

5) I: Was there a robbery in our colony yester-night? Really? With so much security how come it
happened?
U: I am afraid that the house was locked as the owners have gone to Ahmedabad to their native
place and one of the security guards was on leave.
I: Oh, I see. It has become risky now-a-days to lock the house and go.

6) Anurag : Mr. Kalyan, can we meet in the evening to discuss the out line
of our project?
Kalyan : I’m sorry Mr. Anurag, I must apologize. I was busy with my
sister’s wedding and so I could not plan it out.
Anurag : That’s OK. But complete it faster. By next week end we are
supposed to submit the project.
Kalyan : Yes. Certainly, Let’s start working on the project from
tomorrow.

7) Amruta: Hello, I’m Amruta speaking. May I speak to Snehal.

Snehal’s mother: Hello, I’m Snehal’s mother. She has gone to the
music class and will be back within half an hour. Would
you mind calling a little later?

Priyanka : Please forgive me for not calling you but there was no network coverage in
the area and I really was helpless.
Sumana : That’s alright.

8) Madhavi : Hello, I’m Madhavi from Hyderabad. May I speak to

Dr. Rao, please?
Sitara : Dr. Rao has gone to Delhi for an urgent meeting.
You can call after two days.
Madhavi : That’s all right. It’s a bit urgent. My son is not well.
Can I get her mobile number please?
Sitara : Sure. It is 9123478956.
Madhavi : Thank you very much.
Sitara : It’s all right.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology

9) Asif : Hello, I’m Asif here. Can I Speak to Mr.Raja ram Jain please?
Mr. Jain : Hello, Asif. I’m Raja ram here. What a pleasant surprise?
How are you?
Asif : I’m good. How about you? It is after many years that we are
talking to each other.
Mr. Jain : Yes. Why don’t you come to my house on Sunday?
I stay in Shivaji Nagar. We can talk and have a good time together.
Asif : Ok. See you then.

10) Gupta : Hello, This is Karan Gupta from KK Industries. Could I speak
to Mr. Desai?
Receptionist : Mr. Desai is out of town. Is there any message for him?
Gupta : May I know who is speaking?
Receptionist : I’m his assistant, Raghavan.
Gupta : Mr. Raghavan, please tell Mr. Desai that the meeting with the
Director of KK Industries is fixed at 11 a.m. on Friday at hotel Taj.
Please note this down and tell him.
Receptionist : Oh, sure and thank you. Bye.
Gupta : Thank you. Bye.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Course 01- Phonetics & English Phonology

Question Bank
Q1. Define language. Differentiate between animal and human linguistic systems.
Q2. Briefly discuss the History of English Language.
Q3. Define communication and comment on the Verbal & Non-Verbal Communication systems.
Q4. Differentiate between Human, Animal and other means of Communication.
Q5. Define Linguistics and discus linguistics in historical context.
Q6. Compare and contrast between Traditional, Structural and Cognitive approach to the study of
Linguistics,
Q7. Discuss the various Branches of Linguistics.
Q8. What is Linguists? Explain the different levels of Linguistic Analysis.
Q9. Attempt a note on human Speech Mechanism.
Q10. Comment on the active and passive articulators involved in speech mechanism.
Q11. Write a note on the description and classification of English Vowels.
Q12. Write a note on the description and classification of English Consonants
Q13. Attempt a short note on the following:
• The Front Vowels in English
• The Back Vowels in English
• The Central Vowels in English
• The Rising Diphthongs in English
• The Falling Diphthongs in English
• The Closing Diphthongs in English
• The Centering Diphthongs in English
• Plosive in English
• Fricatives in English
• Stop Consonants in English
• Affricates in English
• Nasals in English
• Semi-vowels in English
• Liquid consonants in English.
Q14. Differentiate between Phonemes and allophones.
Q15. What is a Syllable and syllabic division? Comment on the structure of an English syllable
and syllabic consonants in English.
Q16. Define Accent or Stress and illustrate the rules of English accent.
Q17. Illustrate the phenomenon of Elision; also comment on the types of Elision in English
language.
Q18. Define Assimilation and exemplify with English language.
Q19. Explain the concept of rhythm in language by commenting on the use of weak forms in
English language.
Q20. What is intonation? Comment on the steps of intonating expressions in connected speech.

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 M. A. English Part I: Paper I: A Course Book in Phonetics & English Phonology
Q21. Differentiate the British and American varieties of English.
Q22. Elucidate Australian variety of English.
Q23. Explicate the African variety of English
Q24. Expound the Indian variety of English
Q25. Attempt a note the speech repertoire.
Q26. Write short notes on: Speech Community, Speech situation, Speech Event and Speech Act.
Q27. Establish Dialects, Registers as social varieties of language.
Q28. Illustrate various Styles of language by giving English examples.
Q29. Exemplify Diglossia as a sociolinguistic concept.
Q30. Write a note on Code-switching and Code-mixing,
Q31. Attempt a note on Pidgins and Creoles.

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ALL THE BEST

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