UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA

CODeL COLLEGE FOR DISTANCE

AND E-LEARNING

INTRODUCTION TO
ENGLISH LANGUAGE

1
INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Written by:
IRENE FORSON (MA)
KODWO AMOANING DADZIE (MA)

Edited by:

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

UNIT 2: ENGLISH CONSONANTS
UNIT 3: INTRODUCTION TO MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX
UNIT 4: INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR
UNIT 5: ENGLISH ORTHOGRAPHY

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UNIT 1
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
SECTION 1: THE SOUND SYSTEM OF ENGLISH
SECTION 2: THE VOWEL SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

Introduction
Dear learner, you are welcome to the first Unit of this course – Introduction to English Language.

In this unit, you will learn about the vowel sounds in English Language. First, we will discuss the

sound system of English Language. We shall continue to discuss the vowel sounds of English

Language We shall conclude the unit by looking at long vowels and diphthongs, as well as,

triphthongs.

Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Learning outcomes Indicators
Demonstrate knowledge of English • Identify English vowel sounds (NTS 2c,

speech sounds. (NTS 2c, 13) • Describe English vowel sounds (NTS 2c,

• Produce English vowel sounds (NTS 2c, 13)

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UNIT1:SECTION1: THE SOUND SYSTEM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Introduction

Hello! Dear learner, you are welcome to section one of our first unit. In this section, we shall learn

about the sound system of English Language. What you will learn in this unit is relevant to NTS

2c, 13

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this section, you will be able to:

Learning outcomes Indicators

Demonstrate knowledge of the sound • Identify the features of the sound system of
system of English language. (NTS 2c,
English language (NTS 2c, 13)
13)
• Explain the features of the sound system of
English language (NTS 2c, 13)
• Distinguish among the features of the sound
systems of English Language (NTS 2c, 13)

The Sound System of English Language

When you saw the phrase, the sound system of English language for the first time, how did you

understand it? In order to understand it well, let us break it down by looking at the meaning of the

term, “sound.” Let us start by answering the question, what is a sound?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Wonderful! You got it right. If not, don’t worry. We shall look at it. A sound is anything that can

be heard. We can also say that a sound is anything that we can perceive with our ears. Now that

we know what a sound is, let us proceed by identifying some sounds. Give four examples of sound.

a. ..................................

b. ..................................

c. .................................

d. ..................................

What answers did you give? If you included sounds like

a. The sound of a car’s horn

b. The sound of a drum

c. The sound of a flying aeroplane

d. The sound of a. thunder

Then you are right. All these are examples of sounds and we hear them. In other words, we perceive

them with our ears. I hope you answer is “No.” if you answer is really “No,” then it means they

are not part of the sounds of English Language. In other words, those sounds are not produced

when one is speaking English Language. Based on the conclusion above try to explain the term,

the sounds of English language.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Brilliant! You are right. The sounds of English language are made up of the set of sounds that are

produced when one speaks English language. For example, in speaking English language, one

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makes use of the sounds /p/ as in plate, /k/ as is kick and /u/ as in pull/ so, the sounds, /p, k/ and

/u/ are parts of the sounds of English language. Find out if the following sounds are also part of

the sounds of English language. /v/ as in vote and /z/ as in zoo. Good. They are part of the sound

of English language.

Can you imagine a spoken language without sounds? Do you think it is possible to have a spoken

language which is not made up of sounds? If you said, “No” to the two questions above, you are

right. This means that every language has its own sounds and English language is no exception.

The next question that comes up is this.

Let us go back to consider the sounds that we identified at the beginning of this section.

a. The sound of a car’s horn

b. The sound of a drum

c. The sound of a flying aeroplane

d. The sound of thunder

Consider them carefully and see if such sounds vary from their beginning to the end. Did you say

they do not vary their sounds from their beginning to the end? That is correct. How do we describe

sounds which are not varied from their beginning to the end? If you said monotonous or anything

like that, you are right. Such sounds are monotonous. Consider a sentence in speech and see if the

pronunciation of that sentence is done with the monotony of the sounds considered above. You

will agree that in uttering the sentence, the speaker varies the speed, and the high and low

movement of sound and produces some parts of the sentence louder than other parts. The varying

of the speed in speech is call rhythm and producing parts louder than other parts is called stress

and intonation. They are called the features of stress and intonation.

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The production of sounds alone does not make up the sound system of a language. What actually

makes a language is the combination of the speech sounds and the features of stress and intonation.

These features of stress and intonation will be discussed into details later in this unit.

Now answer this question. Is it possible for a person to speak a language without being familiar

with the sound system of that language? Did you say, “No?” You are perfectly right. A person who

speaks a particular language is familiar with the speech sounds of that language and also can

combine those sounds in appropriate ways with correct stress intonation to express ideas. Do you

now see why, as a learner of English language, you have to familiarize yourself with its sound

system? It is very important for your ability to speak and to understand others when they speak to

you.

The Organs of Speech

When you heard the term, organs of speech, what came to your mind? Have you ever asked

yourself where the sounds come from and how they are influenced before they come from the

mouth?

In order to better understand the term, organ of speech, try to pronounce the word, “ball.” Mention

two parts of your body which were involved in the production of the word, ball, you will agree

that you begin by using your two lips to produce the initial sound, “b” of the word. you also note

that you use your tongue against the roof of your mouth just above your front teeth to produce the

final sound, “l.” The tongue and the upper part of your mouth that you use when we are producing

the word are speech organs. In the same way, pronounce the word, “fight.” You agree that you use

your lower lip and your upper front teeth to produce the initial sound, “f” and also, you use your

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tongue and your teeth to produce the final sound “t”. The lower lip, the upper front teeth and the

tongue are speech organs because you use them to produce speech sounds. The sounds that we

produce when we speak are called speech sounds.

The production of every speech sound involves the use of some parts of our body. Those parts of

our body that are involved in the production of speech sounds are what we call organs of speech.

The lips, the tongue and the teeth are not the only speech organs. We are concerned with language

and so we consider how these organs of speech help in speech sound production.

Remember that the biologists concern themselves with how these same organs are used in other

ways. For instance, for them, the teeth are for chewing food and the tongue is for swallowing food.

For the same biologists, our lips are purposely for keeping food in place in the mouth so that the

food particles do not fall from the mouth. The biologist considers that the uses that they identify

are the primary uses of the organs that we call speech organs.

The Articulators

One thing that identifies us as living beings is breathing. When we breath, the air moves in and out

of the lungs without interacting with the speech organs. When we speak, the air which is coming

out of the lungs interacts with the speech organs to produce speech sounds. The type of speech

sound that is produced depends on the kind of speech organs that interact with the air as well as

how that speech organ behaves at the point it is interacting with the air. For example, if the air

interacts with the two lips when the two lips are not firmly together, they produce the sound, /b/

as in “ball”. But if the same two lips are firmly together at the point they are interacting with the

air, they produce the sound, /p/ as in “pit”. In the same way, if the air interacts with the lower lip

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and the upper front teeth when these organs are not firmly together, they produce the sound, “v”

as in “van” but if the interaction occurs when the two organs are firmly together, they produce the

sound /f/ as in /fan/.

One important thing to note at this point is that the production of speech sounds begins from the

lungs. This is because the air that is modified at various points to produce the speech sounds begins

to flow from the lungs. It is for this reason that the lungs are considered as the power house when

it comes to speech sounds production. In addition to the lungs, there are other articulators. speech

organs involved in the production of speech sounds are known as articulators.

We know that the examples of speech organs that we gave in our illustrations above may tempt

you to think that the tongue, lips and the teeth are the only speech organs. Is that what you think?

If “Yes,” then it is not true. Otherwise, that would mean that speech production begins in the mouth

but that is not the case. The speech production starts from somewhere and goes through a lot of

processes before it comes to the mouth where the teeth and the tongue and the lips get involved.

Another name for the human parts that are involved in speech production is articulators. Do you

think all articulators behave the same way? Produce the sound /f/ and see which of the articulators

are involved in its production. Which of the articulators involved moves and which one does not

move? Very good. The lower lip moves but the upper front teeth do not move.

We then say that the lower lip that moves in producing speech sounds is called active articulator

and the front teeth which do not move during speech sound production is called passive articulator.

Note that the lower lip is not the only articulator that moves. So, there are other active articulators.

In the same way the upper front teeth are not the only articulators that do not move during speech

sound production so there are other passive articulators.

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Now produce all 44 speech sounds and classify the organs of speech into active and passive

articulators. In the columns below, give examples of active articulators and passive articulators as

indicated below:

Examples of active articulators Examples of passive articulators

The lips The upper teeth,

The lower teeth The alveolar ridge (teeth ridge)

The tongue The hard palate (the roof of the mouth

The soft palate (velum)

The vocal cords

Note that the active articulators move towards the passive articulation in order to make the

production of speech sounds possible. the diagram below shows the articulators and where they are

found in the human body.

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Let us note that both breathing and speaking involve the intake of air. In terms of breathing, the

air moves in and out of the lungs but the production of speech sounds occurs only when air moves

out of the lungs. That is one difference between breathing and production of speech sounds.

Another obvious difference between the two is that breathing is involuntary but production of

speech sound is voluntary. Explain the two terms, involuntary and voluntary. You are right.

Voluntary means you do not decide and control breathing but you decide and control the

production of speech sound.

The amount of air that moves inside or outside the lungs at a time is referred to as airstream. This

means that speech sounds are produced with only airstream coming out of the lungs. In other

words, the speech organs do not modify the airstream when it is on its way into the lungs. It is only

when the airstream is on its way out of the lungs that it can be modified to produce speech sounds.

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Note that the airstream that moves inside and outside the lungs is referred to as pulmonic airstream.

Therefore, the airstream that moves into the lungs is referred to as pulmonic ingressive airstream

but the airstream that moves out of the lungs is referred to as pulmonic regressive airstream.

When the air is moving out of the lungs, it first comes to the larynx. The larynx is normally

referred to as Adam’s Apple. The larynx has a space between it called the glottis. Inside the walls

of the larynx, there are projections known as the vocal cords. The space between the larynx can be

narrow when the vocal cords lie side by side and when the vocal cords lie apart, then the space

between the larynx widens. When the space in the larynx is narrow, the airstream vibrates when it

comes into contact with the vocal cords. The sounds that are produced with the vibration of the air

are called voiced sounds. On the other hand, when the vocal cords are drawn apart, the air that

passes through the larynx does not vibrate. The sounds that are produced without the vibration of

the air are called voiceless sounds.

After the airstream has been influenced in the larynx, it comes to a point where there are two

channels. One of the channels leads into the mouth that is called the oral cavity and the other

passage leads into the nose which is called the nasal cavity. These two channels are controlled by

an organ called the velum. When the velum closes one of the channels, the other one opens and

when it opens one channel, the other one closes. The velum is just a flap made up of the soft palate.

When the velum is raised, it covers the channel that leads into the nasal cavity. This makes the

airstream pass through the oral cavity. The sounds that are produced with the airstream passing

through the oral cavity are called oral sounds. Some sounds which are produced when the airstream

passes through the oral cavity are /p/, /d/ and /k/ so these sounds are oral sounds. On the other

hand, when the velum is lowered, it closes the channel that leads into the oral cavity thereby

making the airstream pass through the nasal cavity. Sounds that a produced when the airstream

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passes through the nasal cavity are called nasal sounds. The sounds, /m/, /n/ and /η/ are produced

when the airstream passes through the nasal cavity and so they are nasal sounds. Note that /m/, /n/

and /η/ are the only three nasal sounds in English language. All the other speech sounds in English,

both consonant sounds and vowel sounds, are oral sounds. The consonant sounds and vowel

sounds which are discussed above represent the segmental features of English. When we are

speaking, we combine the segmental features into meaningful groups known as words.

Stress, Rhythm and Intonation

Do you remember that we came across these three words when we were discussing the sound

system of English Language? What did we say that they were? Good. We said that they were part

of the sound system of English Language in addition to the sounds of the language. Now pay

attention to their explanations. When we are pronouncing words, we do not pronounce all the

syllables in the words the same way. Some of the syllables receive greater prominence over others.

For example, the word “danger” has two syllables. “dan-ger.” When we pronounce the word

“danger” we do not pronounce the two syllables the same way. The first syllable receives greater

prominence over the second syllable. In the same way, the word “important” has three syllables.

im-por-tant. We do not pronounce the three syllables in the same way. The middle syllable receives

greater prominence over the first and the last syllables. The prominence a syllable receives over

other syllables in a word is what is called stress. The stress cannot be represented with sounds. The

stress patten forms part of the speech.

Also, in speech, we do not maintain the same level of voice throughout. The voice rises at some

parts of the speech and falls at other parts of the speech. The rise and fall of the voice in speech is

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what we call intonation. The intonation also cannot be represented with sounds. Another important

aspect of speech is rhythm. Rhythm is the variation of strong and weak elements (such as duration,

and accent) of sounds notably in speech. That is why we say that the consonant and vowel sound

alone are not the only things that we use in speech. We use stress, rhythm and intonation in addition

to the sounds in our speech. Stress, rhythm and intonation are called supra-segmental features. In

sum, we are saying that speech sounds are made up of the segmental features and the supra-

segmental features. In effect, features of stress, rhythm and intonation need to be applied

appropriately when we are speaking so that other users of English language can understand us.

Summary

Congratulations! We have finished with section 1 of unit 1. Some of the important points we learnt

in this section are:

• English Language has its sound system which is made up of segmental features and

suprasegmental features.

• The segmental features are the sounds of the language and suprasegmental features are

rhythm, stress and intonation.

• The sounds are produced when the air from the lungs moves out of the lungs.

• The parts of the human body that are involved in the production of sounds are called organs

of speech or articulators.

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Activity 1. 1

1. Differentiate between segmental features and the supra-segmental features

2. Explain the term, “organs of speech”

3. What is the difference between active articulators and passive articulators?

4. What does pulmonic airstream mean?

5. Briefly explain what happens in the production of nasal sounds

6. How are the glottis different from vocal cords?

7. How are voiced sounds produced?

8. How are voiceless sounds produced?

9. What is a stress?

10. What is rhythm?

Suggested answers to activity 1. 1

1. The consonant and vowel sounds are called the segmental features of English but Stress,

rhythm and intonation are called supra-segmental features.

2. Organs of speech are parts of our body that are involved in the production of speech sounds.

3. Active articulators are organs of speech that move during speech sound production but

passive articulators are organs of speech which do not move during speech sound

production.

4. The airstream that moves inside and outside the lungs is referred to as pulmonic airstream.

5. When the airstream coming from the lungs gets to the oral cavity the velum lowers to close

the oral cavity and open the nasal cavity. The air then passes through the nasal cavity

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 thereby producing nasal sounds.

6. The glottis is the space between the larynx but the vocal cords are projections inside the

walls of the larynx.

7. Voiced sounds are produced when the airstream vibrates.

8. Voiceless sounds are produced when the airstream does not vibrate.

9. The prominence that a syllable receives over other syllables in a word is what is called

stress.

10. The rise and fall of the voice in speech is what we call intonation.

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UNIT 1: SECTION 2. THE VOWEL SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

Introduction

Welcome to Section 2. In Section 1, we discussed the sound system of English Language and how

English sounds are produced. In this section, we shall discuss the vowel sounds of English

Language and how they are produced.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the lesson, students are expected to be able to:

Learning outcomes Indicators

Demonstrate knowledge of the • Identify the vowel sounds of English language
vowel sounds of English language. (NTS 2c, 13)
(NTS 2c, 13)
• Describe the vowel sounds Of English Language
(NTS 2c, 13)

• Classify the vowel sounds of English Language

(NTS 2c, 13)

The Vowel Sounds of English Language

What comes to your mind when you read the phrase, “the vowel sounds of English language”?

for us to understand the term, let us first find out what vowel sounds are by doing the following

activities. Differentiate between vowel letters and vowel sounds. Write your answer in the space

below.

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................

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Wonderful! You are right if you answered that vowel letters are used to write English Language

but vowel sounds are used to speak English language. the differences are, “write” and “speak.” It

means that we use the letters for writing but we use the sounds in speech.

Now state how many vowels letters and how many vowel sounds are in English language.

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

Good! I hope your answers were that there are 5 vowel letters but there are 20 vowel sounds in

English Language. what does this tell you about the relationship between English Language

vowels and English sounds. Perfect! One vowel letter represents a number of vowel sounds.

Mathematically, we can say that each vowel letter represents an average of four vowel sounds.

Can you imagine and indicate one vowel letter and some vowel sounds that that letter represents?

I hope you said, “Yes.” Then indicate a number of vowel sounds that the vowel letter “a”

represents. You are right. The vowel letter, “a” represents the vowel sounds /a/ as in bat, /ɔ/ as in

ball, /a:/ as is bar and /æ/ as in mat. The fact that one English vowel letter represents a number of

English sounds explains why English Language sounds are far more than English Language vowel

letters.

Now that you have been able to distinguish between vowel letters and vowel sounds, distinguish

between vowel sounds and sounds which are not vowels. Give two examples of vowel sounds and

two examples of sounds which are not vowels. What you have done is correct if your answers are

/u/ and /i/ for vowel sound and /p/ and /f/ for sounds which are not vowels. Try to produce the two

vowel sounds /u/ and /i/ and write down the speech organs that you used to produce them.

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

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Wow. Your observation is right if you said that in the production of the two vowels sounds no

speech organs obstructed the airstream. That is how vowel sounds are produced. There is free flow

of the airstream without any obstruction. Now try to produce the two sounds which are not vowels

and write down how you produced each of them.

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

Wonderful observation! In producing the /p/ sound, the two lips came together to obstruct the

airstream at a point before releasing the airstream. In producing the /f/. sound, your lower lip and

upper front teeth came together to obstruct the airstream partially and so the airstream escaped

with a sound. You are right. That is how sounds which are not vowel sounds are produced. We

shall discuss sounds which are not vowel sounds in the next unit. For the moment let us concentrate

on vowel sounds. Vowel sound are produced without any obstruction to the airflow.

Classification of Vowel Sound

When some people hear that vowel sounds are produced without any obstruction to the airstream,

they think that nothing influence the production of vowel sounds. Is that so in your case? If your

answer is “No,” then you are right. There are factors that influence the production of vowel sounds.

Do this exercise in front of a mirror. Produce each of the following sounds and look at the shape

of your lips in the mirror. /u/ as in pool, /ɔ/ as in pot, /ɛ/ as in get, /ɨ/ as in give, /ʌ/ as in cut and

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/ǣ/ as in back. Indicate the shape of your lips in the production of each of the sounds indicated

above.

i. /u/ .......................................................

ii. /ɔ/ .......................................................

iii. /ɛ/ .......................................................

iv. /ɨ/.......................................................

v. /ʌ/.......................................................

vi. /ǣ/.......................................................

Marvelous performance! You were right if you obtained the following answers. If you did not,

take time and repeat the exercise in front of a mirror and observe carefully the lips.

i. /u/ ...... round

ii. /ɔ/ ...... round

iii. /ɛ/ ...... spread

iv. /ɨ/ ...... spread

v. /ʌ/ ...... neutral

vi. /ǣ/ ...... neutral

If you did not obtain the answers above, take time and repeat the exercise in front of a mirror and

observe carefully the lips. You will agree that all the vowel sounds are not produced with the same

shape of the lips. Some of them are produced with round lips. Some are produced with spread lips

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and others are produced with neutral lips. Identify and produce all the twenty vowel sounds and

record the shape of your lips. What conclusion can you draw from this exercise? You are right by

saying that each of the twenty vowels sounds can be classified under one of the three lip shapes

indicated above.

You can now conclude that a vowel sound is produced with either rounded lips, spread lips or

neutral lips. For that reason, some of the vowel sounds are classified as rounded vowel sounds,

some are also classified as spread vowel sounds and others are classified as neutral vowel sounds.

Do you think there are other factors that can be used to classify vowel sounds? You are perfectly

right if your answer was, “Yes.” There are two other factors that are used to classify vowel sounds

in addition to the shape of the lips. The other two factors can be observed on English Language

vowel chart below:

The English Vowel Chart

front centre back

close i: u:

ɪ u
half-close
ə ↄ:
e

3:
half-open
æ ᴅ
ᴧ a:

open

Let us observe the chart before we can effectively discuss it. You can see that the chart can be

observed from left to right. When we do that, it means that we are observing the chart on horizontal

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axis. We can also observe the chart from top to down. When we do that, we are observing the chart

on vertical axis. Look at the chart on its horizontal axis and tell how many parts the chart has. You

are right. The chart has three parts on its horizontal axis. Name the three parts of the vowel chart

on its horizontal axis. Very Good! they are front, centre and back. Some of the vowel sounds are

classified as front vowels. They are the vowels that are found in the front part of the chart. Make

a list of the front vowel sounds. Good! they are, /i:/, /i/, /e/, and / ǣ/.

Some vowels are classified as centre vowels. Can you tell where they are on the chart? Great, they

are found in the centre part of the chart. Make a list of the centre vowels. You are right. They are

/ǝ/, /ȝ:/ and /ʌ/. What part on the horizontal parameter of the vowel chart has not yet been

discussed? Good! It is the back part. How are the vowels found at this part classified? Very good!

They are classified as back vowels. List the back vowels in the space provided here.

………………………………………………………………..

Marvellous! They are /u:/, /u/, /ɔ:/, /ᴅ/ and /a:/ they are classified as back vowels. Note that the

horizonal axis of the vowel chart is called front back parameter.

When you look at the vertical axis of the chart, how many parts do you find? You are right. There

are four parts. List the parts from bottom to up. Good! They are open, halve open, half close and

close. How do you think the vowel sounds /i:/ and /u:/ are classified? Fantastic! They are classified

as close vowels according to the vertical parameter. How are the vowel sounds /i/ and /u/ classified

according to the vertical parameter? Good! They are half close vowel sounds.

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Vowels Sounds Description

One thing we have to take note of is how to describe a vowel sound. Vowel sounds are described

by giving three pieces of information about them. What do you think are the three pieces of

information? Great! They are:

• Front-back parameter

• Open-close parameter

• The shape of the lips

Use the three parameters to describe the following vowel sounds.

i. /u:/

ii. /ʌ/

iii. /e/

Compare your answers with ours below

iv. /u:/ back, close, rounded

i. //ʌ/ centre, half open, neutral

ii. /e/ front, half close, spread

Categories of Vowel Sounds

The vowel sounds of English can be categorized into two main groups namely pure vowels and

diphthongs. The pure vowels are also known as monothongs and monothongs means one sound.

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The pure vowels are further divided into short vowels and long vowels. The diagram below

indicates the classification of the vowel sounds of English language.

Short vowels

Pure vowels
(Monothongs) Long vowels
Vowels
Diphthongs

Below are the pure vowels of English. Each of the pure vowel sound has a number.

Pure Vowels Sounds

The Pure Vowels Sounds and Their Numbers

1. /i:/ as in speak, cheat, heal, eat, meat

2. /i/ or /I/ as in pit, tip, sit, kit, list

3. /e/ as in ten, egg, net, peg, pet

4. /æ/ as in pan, ban, mat, fan, man

5. /a:/ as in farm, park, mark, card, cart

6. /ↄ/ or /ᴅ/ as in pot, hot, not, rot, clot

7. /ↄ:/ as in port, pork, court, fork, sort

8. /ʊ/ or /u/ as in put, pull, push, bush, book, good, could,

9. /u:/ as in pool, fool, food, cool, tool

10. /ᴧ/ as in blood, flood, flush, but, cut, hut, come

11. /3:/ as in third, bird, herb, herd, flirt

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 12. /ə/ as in bake, about, among, around, ago

Vowel Sounds Length.

Pronounce the following words and closely observe if the vowels in them have the same length.

Pot, port, put, pool.

Write down you observation in the space provided below.

............................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................

Wonderful observation! The vowels in the words “port” and “pool” tend to be longer than the

vowel sounds in the words “pot” and “put”. This shows that some of the vowels sounds in English

are long while others are short. Let us begin by examining the short vowels and discuss the long

vowels later.

The Short Vowel Sounds of English

The short vowels are represented by the following symbols. / i, e, æ, ᴧ, ↄ, u, (ʊ).

1.

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The vowel number one is /I/ or /i/. This sound is found in words like: pit, tin, ship, spit, hit. The

vowel number 1 is in the close front area, it is more open, and nearer to the centre. in producing

it, the lips are slightly spread.

2.

The vowel sound number 2 is the sound, /e/ some of the words that contain this sound are: pen,

men, step, fed, ten. The vowel sound number 2 is a front vowel. In its articulation, the lips are

slightly spread.

3.

The vowel sound number 3 is /æ /. this sound is found in words like: pat, fan, nap, sat, ant, fat.

This vowel sound number 3 is a front vowel but not quite open, in articulating it, the lips are

slightly spread.

4.

The vowel sound number 4 is the sound /ᴧ/ (example of words: but, some, rush, cut, hut, blood,

flood etc.). This is a central vowel, and the diagram shows that it is more open than the open-mid

tongue height. The lip position is neutral.

26
 5.

/ↄ/or /D/ (example of words: pot, gone, cross, cock, shot, hot etc.). This vowel is not quite fully

back and between open-mid and open in tongue height. The lips are slightly rounded.

6.

/ʊ/ or /u/ (example of words: put, pull, push, good, book, full, put, foot, etc.). The vowel is more

open, and the lips are rounded.

/ə/ (example of words: again, baker, doctor, about, around etc.). This is a short vowel and it is

produced with the lips in neutral position.

Long Vowels Sounds

You remember that when we were discussing short vowels, we observed that some vowel sounds

are long and others are short. Long vowels are the vowels which tend to be longer than the short

27
vowels in similar contexts. Take note of the expression, “in similar contexts" because as you shall

see later, the length of all English vowel sounds varies very much according to their context (such

as the type of sound that follows them) and the presence or absence of stress. The symbols of long

vowels consist of one vowel symbol plus a length mark made of two dots (:). The long vowels in

English are /i:, 3:, a:, ↄ:, u:/.

Dear learner, I invite you to Follow me through the discussion of each of these long vowels

1.

/i:/ (example of words: beat, mean, peace, meet, seat, peak, meat etc). This is a front vowel and, in

its articulation, the lips are only slightly spread and this results in a rather different vowel quality.

2.

/3:/ (example of words: bird, fern, purse, burn, turn, herb etc). This is a central vowel which is well

- known in most English accents as a hesitation sound (spelt 'er'). The lip position is neutral

3.

28
/a:/ (example of words: card, half, park, cat, pant, car, pass etc). This is an open vowel, and the

lip position is neutral.

4.

/ↄ:/ (example of words: board, torn, pork, fork, port, cork, horse etc.). This vowel is almost fully

back and has quite strong lip-rounding.

5.

/u:/ (example of words: food, soon, spoon, pool, fool, two, woo, cool etc.). With the articulation

of this vowel, the lips are only moderately rounded.

Diphthongs

The word "diphthong" is said to be a Greek word which means “double sound”. The diphthongs

are vowels but they differ from the pure vowels because their articulation involves a glide

(movement of the tongue) from one vowel quality to another. A diphthong is, therefore, a vowel

which changes its quality in the process of its articulation. The total number of diphthongs in

English language is eight (8).

29
 Classification of Diphthongs
Diphthong

Centring Closing

Ending in /ə/ Ending in /i/ Ending in /u/

iə eə uə ei ai ↄi əu au

/əu/ as in go, so, no, most, load, snow, home, coat, boat, goat

/ei/ as in pay, again, pain, face, day, date, rain, say, may, mate

/ai/ as in rice, rise, kite, I, tide, time, nice, high, might, high

/au/ as in cow, house, how, loud, gown, plough, out, bout, out

/ↄi/ as in toy, buoy, voice, boy, void, loin, boil, coin, foil

/iə/ as in ear, year, here, beard, fierce, beer, weird, dear, deer

/eə/ as in air, hair, aired, scarce, their, swear, care, chair

/uə/ as in poor, tour, moored, mow

The articulation of /ei/ actually starts with a sound whose quality is like that of /e/ and ends with

another sound which has the quality of /i/. The lips are "spread" for the production of /ei/.

Learners of English often pronounce /ei/ as /e/. This is an error in pronunciation which should

always be avoided.

30
Now, pronounce the following pairs of words which show the contrast between /e/ and /ei/ clearly.

/e/ /ei/

let late

fell fail

men main

wet wait

west waist

get gate

/ai/ - The articulation of /ai/ starts with a sound which has the quality of /a/ but the quality changes

with the gradual glide towards /i/. With the pronunciation of the word “high”, the opening of the

mouth gets smaller with the closing movement of the lower jaw following the glide towards /i/.

/ↄi/ - The articulation of /ↄi/ takes place when the tongue glide begins from the back towards the

front and the lips: which are "rounded", gradually become spread as the tongue glide moves

towards /i/. There are only two spelling symbols for the diphthong. These are seen below:

"oi" as in boil

"oy" as in boy

"uoy" is an exceptional spelling as in 'buoy' which is pronounced as ‘boy’.

/ǝu/ - In the production of /ǝu/, the glide begins with the centre of the tongue and moves to a

position between the centre and the back with a slight closing movement of the lower jaw. The

31
shape of the lips is neutral at the beginning of the articulation but becomes rounded at the end. The

diphthong has the spelling symbols listed below:

"o" as in go

'oe' as in toe

'oa' as in goat

'ou' as in soul

'ow' as in slow

/au/ - The tongue glides for the articulation of /au/ starts at a point between the centre and the back

with a closing movement of the lower jaw. The gradual tongue glide towards /u/ or /ʊ/ agrees with

the closing movement of the jaw. The shape of the lips changes from, neutral to a rounded position.

This diphthong has a few spelling symbols which are shown below:

"ow" as in cow

"ou" as in out

"ough" as in plough

/iǝ/ - If you pronounce the word 'here', the shape of the lips remains neutral from the beginning of

the articulation of the diphthong to the end while the glide begins with a tongue position for /i/ and

moves in the direction of /eə/.

/eə/ - To produce /eə/ the glide begins from the front part of the tongue towards the centre. The

shape of the lips is neutral throughout the production. Some words with /eǝ/may have a final 'r' in

the spelling but the 'r' is not pronounced unless it is followed by another word beginning with a

32
vowel. The 'r' in such a case is called a 'linking r", The word "pair" for instance, is pronounced

/pea/ but ‘pair of’ is pronounced /peərəv/.

This diphthong may sometimes be mispronounced as /iə/ but learners of English pronunciation are

advised to observe the difference between /eə/ and /iə/. The following pairs of words clearly show

the contrast between the two diphthongs:

/iə/ /eə/

here there

wear where

fear fair

peer pair

dear dare

rear rare

ear air

cheer choir

/uə/ - The production of /uə/ involves a tongue glide from the position for the

production of /u/ or /u/ towards the position for the production of /ə/. The shape of the lips changes

from rounded to neutral. Some pronounce /uə / as /ↄ/ but they are advised not to imitate this

pronunciation. The following pairs of words show the contrast which learners of English should

pay attention to:

33
/o:/ /uǝ/ or /ʊə/

bore boor

pore poor

shore sure

tore tour

yaws yours

Triphthongs

The most complex English sounds of the vowel type are the triphthongs. They can be rather

difficult to pronounce, and very difficult to recognize. A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to

another and then to a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption. The triphthongs can be

looked on as being composed of the five closing diphthongs described in the last section, with /ə/

added on the end.

Thus, we get:

ei + ə = /eiə/ as in layer, player, slower

ai + ə /aiə/ as in liar, fire, hire

ↄi + ə = /ↄiə/ as in loyal, royal, lawyer

əu + ə = /əiə/ as in lower, mower

au + ə = /auə/ as in power, hour, our

34
Summary

Congratulations! We have finished with section 2 of unit 1. Some of the important points we learnt

in this section are:

• Vowel sounds are sounds that are produced without any obstruction to the airflow.

• Vowel sounds are classified according to three parameters which are front-back parameter,

open-close parameter and the shape of the lips.

• Vowel sounds are either monothongs, diphthongs or triphthongs.

Activity 1. 2

1. What are vowel sounds?

2. Name the factors that are considered when describing vowel sounds.

3. Differentiate between diphthongs and triphthongs.

4. Name the types of pure vowels

5. What are the two types of diphthongs?

6. List two words that contain longs vowels in English

7. Name two words that contain diphthongs

8. Two words that contain triphthongs

9. How many voiceless vowel sounds are there in English language?

10. Identify the underline vowels in the following words: port, kick, back, cut

35
Suggested answers for activity 1. 2

1. Vowels sounds are sounds which are produced without any obstruction of the airstream.

2. Front-back parameter, open-front parameter and the shape of the lips

3. Diphthongs are vowel sounds of which the articulation involves a glide from one vowel quality

to another but triphthongs are vowel sounds of which the articulation involes a glide from one

vowel quality to another and then to a third vowel quality

4. The two types of pure vowels are short vowels and long vowels

5. Centring diphthongs and closing diphthongs

6. tall, port, short, part, etc

7. high, here, those, tray

8. higher, power, hour

9. There are no voiceless vowel sounds in English. All English vowel sounds are voiced.

10. /ɔ:/, /i/, /ǣ/, /ʌ/

36
 UNIT 2: THE CONSONANT SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

SECTION 1: WHAT CONSONANT SOUNDS ARE

SECTION 2: VOICING AND PLACE OF ARTICULATION OF CONSONANT SOUNDS

SECTION 3: MANNER OF ARTICULATION OF CONSONANT SOUNDS

Introduction
Dear learner, you are welcome to Unit 2 of this course – Introduction to English Language. In this

unit, you will learn about the consonant sounds in English Language. First, we will discuss what

consonant sounds are in English Language. We shall continue to discuss voicing in consonant

sounds and proceed with the discussion of place of articulation of consonant sounds. We shall

conclude the unit by looking at manner of articulation of consonant sounds.

Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Learning outcomes Indicators
Demonstrate knowledge of • Identify English consonant sounds (NTS 2c, 13)
English consonant sounds. (NTS
2c, 13) • Describe English consonant sounds (NTS 2c, 13)
• 2.3 Produce English consonant sounds (NTS 2c,
13)

37
UNIT 2: SECTION 1: THE CONSONANT SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

Hello! Dear learner, you are welcome to section one of our second unit. In this section, we shall

learn about what consonant sounds of English Language are. What you will learn in this unit is

relevant to NTS 2c, 13

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this section, you will be able to:

Learning outcomes Indicators

Demonstrate knowledge of the what • Explain what consonants sounds of English
consonant sounds of English language
are (NTS 2c, 13)
are. (NTS 2c, 13)
• Give examples of consonant sounds of
English (NTS 2c, 13)
• classify the consonant sounds of English of
English (NTS 2c, 13)

Consonant Sounds in English

What comes to your mind when you read the phrase, “the consonant sounds of English language”?

to make it easier to understand it, do the following exercise. Differentiate between consonant letters

and consonant sounds.

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................

38
Wonderful! You are right if you answered that consonant letters are used to write English

Language but English consonants are used to produce English words. We use the letters for writing

but we use the sounds in speech.

Now state how many consonant letters and how many consonant sounds are in English language.

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

Good! I hope your answers were that there are 24 consonant letters but there are 21 consonants

sounds in English Language. What does this tell you about the relationship between the consonant

letters and consonant sounds. Perfect! Some consonant sounds do not have one on one

corresponding letters. Can you imagine and indicate the consonant sounds that do not have one

on one corresponding letters? I hope you said, “Yes.” Then indicate them. You are right. The

consonant sounds, /ʃ/, /ŋ/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/ do not have one on one letter representations. Such sounds are

obtained from a combination of consonant letters. The following combinations of letters produce

the sounds.

Sounds Combination Examples

/ʃ/, Sh Shirt / cash

/ŋ/, -ng/ nk King, ink

/ʧ/, Ch/ tch Church. Catch

/ʤ/ j/ dg Journalist / judge

39
The fact that There are sounds which do not have one on one letter representations explains why

consonant sounds are more than consonant letters.

Now that you have been able to distinguish between consonant letters and consonant sounds,

distinguish between consonant sounds and sounds which are not consonants. Give two examples

of consonant sounds and two examples of sounds which are not consonant. What you have done

is correct if your answers are

/p/ and /f/ for consonant sound and /u/ and /o/ for sounds which are not consonants. Try to produce

the two consonant sounds /p/ and /f/ and write down the speech organs that you used to produce

them.

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................

Wow! Your observation is right if you said that in the production of /p/, the two lips came into

contact to obstruct the airstream. In the production of /f/ too, the lower lip and the upper front teeth

came into contact to obstruct the airflow. That is how consonant sounds are produced. Some organs

of speech get into contact to obstruct the flow of the airstream. Now try to produce the two sounds

which are not consonants and write down how you produced each of them.

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................

Wonderful observation! In producing the /u/and /o/, no organs of speech obstructed the airflow...

In producing the /f/. sound, your lower lip and upper front teeth came together to obstruct the

40
airstream partially how do we call the sounds that are produced without obstructions? You are

right if your answer was, “Vowel sounds.”

The consonant sounds in English are listed below with examples of words in which they occur:

Initial Middle Ending

1. /p/ as in pan happy nap

2. /b/ as in bud rubber rub

3. /t/ as in tea hester seat

4. /d/ as in dip ridder hide

5. /k/ as in come marking pack

6. /g/ as in get target rag

7. /f/ as in fork suffer cough

8. /v/ as in van river live

9. /ѳ/ as in think anthem both

10. /ə/ as in this weather breathe

11. /s/ as in sip racing place

12. /z/ as in zinc razor has

13. /ʃ/ as in ship lashes fish

14. /Ʒ/ as in genre vision garage

15. /h/ as in hat behave …………..

16. /tʃ/ as in cheap richer teach

17. /dʒ/ as in joy rejoice page

18. /l/ as in lock follow sell

19. /r/ as in rag borrow …………..

41
20. /w/ as in win rewind ….……….

21. /j/ as in yes lawyer …………

22. /m/ as in man remain him

23. /n/ as in net runner rain

24. /ŋ/ as in ………………. singer bang

From the examples, we can see that most of the consonant sounds can occur at the beginning,

middle and end of words but a few of these consonant sounds are restricted to certain positions.

The nasal /ŋ/ does not occur at the beginning of a word while /j/ does not occur at the end of a

word. Three other consonants, /h, r, w/ do not also occur at the end of a word

Summary

Well done. We have finished with section 1 of this unit. Let us take note of the important points

in this section. We learnt that:

• Consonant sounds are produced with obstruction of the airstream.

• There are 21 consonant sounds where as there are 24 consonant letters.

• Some consonant sounds do not have one on one corresponding letters.

Activity for 2. 1

1. What are consonant sounds?

2. What is the difference between consonant sounds and consonant letters?

3. How many consonant sounds are there in English language?

42
 4. What explains why there are more consonant sounds than consonant letters?

5. Write three consonant sounds which do not have one on one corresponding letters.

6. Give two examples of consonant sounds.

7. Which organs of speech produce each of the following consonant sounds? /p/ and /f/

8. Which combination of letters produce English Language sound /ʃ/,

9. List two English words that contain the sound /ŋ/.

10. List three words that contain the sound /ʤ/ at initial, medial and final positions

respectively.

Suggested answers for activity 2.1

1. Consonant sounds are speech sounds during whose productions Some organs of speech get

into contact to obstruct the flow of the airstream.

2. Consonant sounds are used in speech but consonant letters are used in writing.

3. Twenty-one (21)

4. There are consonant sounds which do not have one on one corresponding consonant letters

5. /ʃ/, /ŋ/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/

6. /p/, /b/, /k/, /ʃ/, /ŋ/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/ etc.

7. /p/ the two lips and /f/ the lower lip and the upper front teeth.

8. Ch, tch.

9. Kingdome, pink

10. Junior, rigid, fridge

43
UNIT 2 SECTION 2: VOICING AND PLACE OF ARTICULATION OF CONSONANT

SOUNDS

Introduction

Welcome to Section 2. In Section 1, we discussed what consonant sounds are English Language

In this section, we shall discuss voicing and place of articulation of consonant sounds of English

Language.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the lesson, students are expected to be able to:

Learning outcomes Indicators

Demonstrate knowledge of the • Explain voicing in consonant sounds of English
voicing and place of articulation
language. (NTS 2c, 13)
consonant sounds of English
language. (NTS 2c, 13) • Explain manner of articulation of consonant
sounds of English Language (NTS 2c, 13)
• Classify voicing of consonant sounds of English
Language (NTS 2c, 13)
• classify manner of articulation of consonant
sounds of English language (NTS 2c, 13)

Voicing of Consonant Sounds

Do you remember the factors that are considered to classify vowel sounds? I hope you remember

them. Try to list them in the space provided below:

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

44
Very good. The front-back parameter, the open-close parameter and the shape of the lips. Do you

remember that these three factors make vowel sounds differ from one another? Good! Try to

remember one thing about the speech organs. Remember that when we discussed the organs of

speech, we mentioned the vocal cords. Do you remember what we said about the vocal cords?

You are right we said that it is the speech organ that causes a sound to become voiced or voiceless.

Do you know where your vocal cords are located? They lie under the part of your neck that you

call Adam’s Apple. Note that the Adams Apple is not an organ of speech. It only helps us to know

where the vocal cords can be found. The vocal cords are organs of speech. When you feel a

vibration in your Adam’s Apple, it means the vocal cords are vibrating. When you do not feel any

vibration in your Adam’s Apple, it means the vocal cords are not vibrating. Now, do the activities

below.

Place your finger on your Adams apple and produce each of the following consonant sounds: /p/,

/b/, /f/ and /v/ and write down what you feel as you produce each of them. Indicate your observation

in the space below.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Wonderful observation! In the production of /P/ and /f/, the vocal cords did not vibrate but in the

production of /b/ and /v/, the vocal cords vibrated. Produce the following pairs of sounds to see if

or not you feel vibration of the vocal cords. /s/, /t/, /d/ and /z./ Very good observation. In the

production of /s/ and /t/, the vocal cords did not vibrate but in the production of /d/ and /z/, the

45
vocal cords vibrated. Do the same exercise with each of the consonant sounds and place all those

that are produced with the vibration of the vocal cords in the column titled vibration and those that

are produced without vibration of the vocal cords in the column titled non vibration.

No Vibration Vibration

/p/ /b/

/t/ /d/

/ f/ /v/

Ѳ ὁ

s z

ʃ ʒ

tʃ dʒ

ɻr

46
Well done! You have done a good work. You will agree that all consonant sounds in English can

be classified into two which are those produced with the vibration of the vocal cords and those

which are produced without the vibration of the vocal cords. The sounds that are produced with

the vibration of the vocal cords are called voiced sounds and those that are produced without the

vibration of the vocal cords are called voiceless sounds. The situation of classifying sounds into

voiced and voiceless sounds is called voicing of English consonants. This means that voicing is

one of the factors that are considered when classifying consonant sounds. Remember this that

voicing depends on the state of the glottis in which the vocal cords are found. For that reason, we

can say, “the state of the glottis” when we mean “voicing.”

Place of articulation

Start this part by doing this simple exercise. Produce the following sounds and indicate the organs

of speech that are used to produce each of them in the spaces provided below. /p/, /f/ and /t/.

/p/ ……………………………………………………………………..

/f/ ………………………………………………………………………

/t/ …………………………………………………………………………

Great work! You are right if you gave the following answers.

/p/ … The upper lip and the lower lip. (two lips)

/f/ … The lower lip and the upper front teeth. (Lip and teeth)

/t/ … The tongue and the hard palate. (The hard palate)

47
You agree that all consonant sounds are not produced with the same organs of speech. The organs

of speech that are used to produce a consonant sound is called place of articulation. Since

consonant sounds are produced with different organs of speech, consonant sounds have different

places of articulation. Each place of articulation of a consonant sound has its special name. Do you

know the special names of the places of articulation of the following four consonant sound? /p/, /t/

/f/, /k/. wonderful! You are right. If your answers are like those below:

Consonant sound Organs of speech Place of articulation

/p/, The two lips Bilabial

/t/ tongue and hard palate Palatal

/f/, lip and teeth Labo dental

Remember that we have said that place of articulation refers to the point in the vocal tract where

the flow of air is interrupted for the articulation of a particular consonant sound. It is worthy to

note that the dimension place of articulation, plays a vital role in describing, defining and labelling

of consonants sounds. Follow me through twelve places of articulation of consonant sounds.

1. Bilabial - These sounds are made by bringing both lips closer together. We have five of

such sounds in English: /p/ - pot; /b/- bat; /m/ - main; /w/ - with; /w/ - where

2. Labio-dental - These consonants are made with the lower lip against the upper front teeth.

We have two of such sounds in English: /f/ - fan and /v/ - van.

3. Interdental/Dental - These sounds arc made with the tip of the tongue in between the upper

and lower teeth. There are two interdental/dental sounds in English: /Ѳ/ thing /ə/ - thy this

48
 4. Alveolar - Just behind the upper teeth, there is a small ridge called the alveolar/teeth ridge.

These alveolar sounds are made with the tip of the tongue at or near this ridge. English

makes seven (7) of such sounds: /t/- tree; /d/ - dance; /s/ - sell; /z/ - zink; /n/ -name; /l/-

learn; /r/ - read.

5. Alveo-palatal/palato - alveolar/post-alveolar - if you move your tongue along the roof of

your mouth, you will feel the front portion is hard while the back portion is soft. The sound

is made with the tip of the tongue in contact with the teeth ridge (alveolar ridge), while the

front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate (the roof of the mouth). Sounds made

in this area between the alveolar ridge (teeth ridge), and the hard palate (the roof of the

mouth) are described as alveo-palatal/palato-alveolar/ post alveolar. There are four of such

sounds in English, these are /ʃ/ shirt; /ʒ/- measure; /tʃ/- church; /dʒ/ judge.

6. Palatal - These sounds are made with the front of the tongue approaching or touching the

hard palate and with the tip of the tongue down behind the lower front teeth. Example, /j/

yes.

7. Velar - This involves the back of the tongue and the soft palate (velum) whereby the back

of the tongue is raised to have a stricture of incomplete or complete closure. There are three

of such sounds in English and they are /k/ - kite; /g/ - get; /ŋ/ - bang.

8. Glottal – This a sound made in the glottis. The vocal cords come together to impede the

airstream to produce one such sound in English, that is /h/- high.

Now, the chart below indicates the places of articulation of the consonant sounds.

49
 State of the Glottis Place of Articulation
(voicing)

Voiceless/ voiced

p b Bilabial

t d Alveolar

k g Velar

f v Labio – dental

ѳ ə Dental

s z Alveolar

ʃ ʒ Palato – Alveolar

h Glottal

tʃ dʒ Palato – Alveolar

I Alveolar

ɻr Alveolar

w Bilabial

j Palatal

m Bilabial

n Alveolar

ŋ Velar

You agree that so far, you have learnt about two factors to consider when classifying consonant

sounds. Name them in the space provided below:

50
…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Perfect! You are right if you indicated voicing and place of articulation. You will learn about the

third and last factor to consider in classifying consonant sounds in unit 3.

Summary

Well done. We have finished with section 2 of unit 2. Let us take note of the important points in

this section. We learnt that:

• The process of classifying consonant sounds into voiced and voiceless is called voicing.

• Voicing is caused by the vocal cords by either vibrating or not in the production of sounds

• Consonant sounds are classified into two main groups which are voiced sounds and

voiceless sounds.

• Dimensions that are considered in the description of consonant sounds include voicing and

place of articulation

Activity 2. 2.

1. What is voicing?

2. Name two factors to consider in describing consonant sounds that you have learnt in this

section.

3. Name the types of consonant sounds when it comes to voicing.

4. What is meant by place of articulation?

5. What does the time bilabial mean in classification of consonant sounds?

6. Which sounds are called bilabial sounds in English language?

51
 7. What does “labio-dental sounds” mean in classification of consonant sounds?

8. Which sounds of English Language are described as labio-dental sounds?

9. List the nasal sounds of English Language consonant sounds,

10. How are nasal sounds produced?

Suggested answers to activity 2. 2.

1. The process of classifying consonant sounds into voiced and voiceless

2. Voicing and place of articulation

3. Voiced sounds and voiceless sounds

4. Place of articulation refers to the point in the vocal tract where the flow of air is

interrupted for the articulation of a particular consonant sound.

5. Bilabial sounds are sounds produced with the two lips (the upper lip and the lower

lip)

6. The bilabial sounds of English language are /p/, /b/.and /w/

7. Labio-dental sounds are sounds which are produced with the lower lip and upper front

teeth.

8. Labio-dental sounds in English consonants are /f/ and /v/

9. /m/, /n/ and / ŋ/

10. The velum lowers to close the oral cavity so that the nasal cavity gets open so that the

airstream escapes through the nasal cavity.

52
 UNIT 2 SECTION 3: MANNER OF ARTICULATION OF CONSONANTS

Introduction

Welcome to Section 3. In Section 2, we discussed two factors to consider when classifying the

consonant sounds of English Language. In this section, we shall discuss place of articulation as

the third factor to consider when classifying consonant sounds of English Language.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the lesson, students are expected to be able to:

Learning outcomes Indicators

Demonstrate knowledge of the • Explain manner of articulation in consonant sounds
manner of articulation of
of English language. (NTS 2c, 13)
consonant sounds of English
language. (NTS 2c, 13) • Classify manner of articulation of consonant sounds
of English Language (NTS 2c, 13)
• Identify manner of articulation of consonant sounds
of English language (NTS 2c, 13)

In unit two, you learnt about two factors that are considered when classifying consonant sounds

in English language. Mention them. Well-done for mentioning voicing and place of articulation.

Do you think only these two factors are enough to classify consonant sounds? If you said? No,”

then you are right. There is another factor to consider in classifying consonant sounds. Now do the

following activity. Produce the following sounds and observe how they sound when they are

produced. /k/, /s/, /m/. wonderful! Your answers are correct if you described how they sound as

follows:

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/k/ produces the sound of an explosion

/s/ produces the sound of a hissing

/m/ produces the sound through the nose

Note: The way consonant sounds sound when they are produced in isolation is what is described

as manner of articulation. Just as each place of articulation has its special name, each manner of

articulation has its special name. Let us find the special names of the manner of articulation of the

three consonant sounds described above.

Consonant sound How it sounds Manner of articulation

/k/ produces the sound of an explosion Plosive/ stop

/s/ produces the sound of a hissing Fricative

/m/ produces the sound through the nose Nasal

Now that you have been able to identify the manner of articulation of the consonant sounds, follow

me through the discussion of the manners of articulation. Remember that manner of articulation

means how the airstream is modified by the vocal tract to produce the sound. In other words, it

means how and to what extent or degree the passage of the airstream through the vocal tract is

restricted at that point. This is known as stricture. Stricture therefore depends on the degree of

closure of the articulators (how close together or far apart they are).

1. Plosives/stops: with the production of plosives/stops, there is an obstruction of the flow of

the airstream from the lungs. This obstruction does not last long as there is an

immediate/sudden release of the air pressure which builds up. This release gives rise to a

"pop" sound. It is this kind of release of air pressure that suggests the name, plosive, for all

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 the consonants sounds produced in this way. English has six of such sounds: /p/ -pot; /b/-

bed; /t/- tea; /d/- dog; /k/- key; /g/- go.

2. Fricatives: The fricative is a consonant which is produced as the relevant organs of speech

are brought in contact but not close enough to cause a total obstruction to the flow of air.

The airstream therefore escapes with some frictional noise, through the little space between

the articulators. The fricative sounds in English are as follows: /f/- fan; /v/- vine; /ѳ/- theft;

/ə/- thee; /s/- seat; /z/- zip; /ʃ/- shoe; /ʒ/- measure; /h/-hat.

3. Affricate: There are two affricates in English and these are /tʃ/ check and /dʒ/- joy. For the

articulation of the affricates, the flow of air is totally obstructed by the articulators and this

obstruction is slowly released. It is the gradual release of the airstream that marks an

important difference between the articulation process of the Affricates and that of Plosives.

4. A Lateral Consonant: It is one in which the passage of air through the mouth does not go

in the usual way along the centre of the tongue; instead, there is complete closure between

the centre of the tongue and the part of the roof of the mouth where contact is to be made

(the alveolar ridge). Because of this complete closure along the centre of the tongue, the

only way for the air to escape is along the sides of the tongue. English has only one of

sound: /l/- lip.

5. Liquid: To articulate /r/- ring, the tip of the tongue comes very near (but does not actually

touch the alveolar ridge. The rims of the tongue touch the upper molars while the airstream

passes over the centre of the tongue without friction. It does not occur at the end of a word,

that is, in British English.

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6. Semi-Vowels: The two consonants in this category are /w/ as in wise and /j/ as in yes. The

two sounds function as consonants but they are described as semi-vowels because there is

no identifiable point of articulation and the tongue assumes the position for the articulation

of the vowel after them in a word. The semi-vowels do not occur at the end of words. The

spelling symbols for /j/ are as follows:

'y' as in yet

'ew' as in few

'eau' as in beauty

'ui' as in suit

'u' as in tune

7. Nasals: The nasal sounds in English are consonants which are produced when the soft

palate (velum) is lowered to close the oral cavity so that airstream passes through the nasal

cavity. The nasals /m/, n, #n/ they are all voiced. Now, pronounce the following words,

paying attention to the contrast between the nasal sounds.

/m/ /n/ /ŋ/

mail nail length

some son song

boom boon booing

beam bean being

balm barn bang

bomb born long

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Now let us identify the manner of articulation of the consonant sounds in English language.

Remember that a number of consonant sounds may have only one manner of articulation. Take

note of sounds that have the same manner of articulation. The chart showing consonant sounds

and their manner of articulation.

State of the Glottis Manner of Articulation

(voicing)

Voiceless/ voiced Plosives/stops

p b
t d
k g

f v Fricatives
ѳ ə
s z
ʃ ʒ
h

tʃ dʒ Affricates

I Lateral

ɻr Liquid

w Semi-vowels
j

m Nasals
n
ŋ

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English Language Consosnant Chart

Now the conclusion you can draw is that three factors are usually considered in the classification

of consonants sounds. These are:

1. Voicing/state of the glottis

2. Place of articulation

3. Manner of articulation

When we say that you consider voicing, place of articulation and manner of articulation in

describing the consonant sounds, it means that when you are given a sound to describe, you state

its voicing status first, then you state its place of articulation and finally you stated its manner of

articulation. For example, if you are to describe the sound, “/p/” its voicing status is “voiceless,”

then its place of articulation is, “bilabial,” and finally its manner of articulation is, “plosive.” So

the description of the sound, /p/ is voiceless, bilabial, plosive.

Describe the following three sounds in the space below.

a. /t/ .........................................................................

b. /v/ .........................................................................

c. /tʃ/ .......................................................................

Bravo! Your answers are correct if they are like what is below:

a. /t/: voiceless, alveolar, plosive

b. /v/: voiced, labio-dental, fricative.

c. /tʃ/ voiceless, palate alveolar affricate

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Are you surprised at how we got the information to describe the sounds above? If “Yes,” just

look at the chart below. Look at the information on the chart to describe other consonant sounds.

English Language Consonant Chart

State of the Glottis Place of Articulation Manner of

(voicing) Articulation

Voiceless/ voiced Plosives/stops

p b Bilabial

t d Alveolar

k g Velar

f v Labio – dental Fricatives

ѳ ə Dental

s z Alveolar

ʃ ʒ Palato – Alveolar

h Glottal

tʃ dʒ Palato – Alveolar Affricates

I Alveolar Lateral

ɻr Alveolar Liquid

w Bilabial Semi-vowels

j Palatal

m Bilabial Nasals

n Alveolar

ŋ Velar

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The above chart provides you with all the information that you need to describe every consonant

sound.

Summary

Well done. We have finished with section 3 of unit 2. Let us take note of the important points in

this section. We learnt that:

• Manner of articulation of consonant sounds is the way consonant sounds sound when

they are produced in isolation.

• Consonant sounds are described by considering three factors which are voicing, place

of articulation and manner of articulation.

Activity 2.3

1. What is manner of articulation of consonant sounds?

2. What is a stricture?

3. What is the meaning of plosive as a manner of articulation?

4. Make a list of the plosive sounds in the consonant sounds of English language

5. What manner of articulation is known as fricative?

6. Name the three factors to consider when classifying consonant sounds.

7. How many affricates are there in English language? Make a list of them.

8. Write three words that contain the sound, /ʃ/ at the initial, medial and final respectively.

9. Describe the sound /f/ and /v/

10. Describe the sounds /m/, /n/ and / ŋ/

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Suggested answers to activity 2. 3

1. Manner of articulation means the way consonant sounds sound when they are produced in

isolation.

2. how and to what extent or degree the passage of the airstream through the vocal tract is

restricted at that point.

3. The manner of articulation in which the sudden release of air pressure gives rise to a "pop"

sound

4. : /p/ -pot; /b/- bed; /t/- tea; /d/- dog; /k/- key; /g/- go.

5. The manner of articulation in which the articulators do not close totally and so that the

airstream therefore escapes with some frictional noise.

6. Voicing, place of articulation and manner of articulation.

7. There are two affricates in English. They are /tʃ/ and /dʒ/

8. Shirt, fishing, dish

9. /f/ voiceless, labiodental, fricative: /v/ voiced, labiodental, fricative

10. /m/: voiced, bilabial, nasal. /n/: voiced, Alveolar, nasal /ŋ/: voiced, velar, nasal.

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