benzair noureddine

Introduction

Humans have a complex system of using sounds to produce language. The study of linguistic
sounds is called Phonetics. Phonology is the study of systems of sounds, often the sound
system of a particular language.

Linguistics can be broken down into many branches including:

• Phonetics: the study of how speech sounds are produced and perceived.

• Phonology: the study of sound patterns and changes (stress, intonation…).

• Morphology: the study of word structure.

• Syntax: the study of sentence structure.

• Semantics: the study of linguistic meaning.

• Pragmatics: the study of how language is used in context.

Phonetics vs. Phonology

Reminder:

· Phonetics is about the physical production and perception of sounds of speech

· It is the study of physical aspects of speech.

· It studies all possible speech sounds

· Phonetics is all about studying the sounds we make when we talk

1. What is phonology?

· Phonology deals with the system and pattern of speech sounds in a language.

· It describes the way sounds function – within a given language or across languages.

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· Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages.

The Branches of Phonetics:

 Acoustic Phonetics: This is the study of the sound waves made by the human vocal
organs for communication and how the sounds are transmitted
 Auditory Phonetics: This is how we perceive and hear sounds and how the ear, brain
and auditory nerve perceive the sounds. This branch deals with the physiological
processes involved in the reception of speech
 Articulatory Phonetics: Articulatory phonetics is interested in the movement of
various parts of the vocal tract during speech. The vocal tract is the passages above the
larynx where air passes in the production of speech.

Consonants vs Vowels

I- Consonants

A consonant is a basic speech sound in which the breath is at least partly obstructed and
which can be combined with a vowel to form a syllable.

Consonants are either voiced (sonant like b, d, g, l, r, m, n, z and v) or voiceless (surd like p,
t, c k, q, f, h, s, and x ). Voiced consonants are pronounced with the same vocal murmur that
is heard in vowels; voiceless consonants lack this murmur.

Sounds can be divided into two main types. A vowel is a sound that needs an open air
passage in the mouth. The air passage can be modified in terms of shape with different mouth
and tongue shapes producing different vowels. A consonant is formed when the air stream is
restricted or stopped at some point between the vocal cords and the lips. The central sound in
the word „cat‟ is a vowel. The first and third sounds are consonants.

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 II- Vowel

A sound that is pronounced with opened mouth, no contact between the tongue and the
top of the mouth or teeth and no obstruction to the flow of air. We can use five letters of
English represent the vowel sound: a, e, i, o, u.

20 vowels in total:
 7 short vowels: /ɪ/ /ʊ/ /ə/ /e/ /ɒ/ /ʌ/ /æ/
 5 long vowels: /iː/ /uː/ /ɑː/ /ɔː/ /ɜː/
 8 diphthongs: /eɪ/ /aɪ//ɔɪ/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/ /ɪə/ /eə/ /ʊə/

Classification of vowels

Vowels are divided into different categories based on

 Length of the sound

 Position of the tongue
 Shape of the lips

1- Length of the sound

Long (tense) vowels
Short (lax) vowels

2- Position of the tongue

close (high) or open (low)
The distance between the tongue and the top of the mouth
front or back
The part of the tongue that is raised

3- Shape of the lips

Rounded ( e.g. /ʊ/)
Neutral (e.g. /ə/)
Spread (e.g. /iː/)

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Monophthongs and Diphthongs

The vowels shown above are all pronounced in one part of the mouth. These are called
monophthongs. English also possesses vowels which are pronounced in two contrasting parts
of the mouth, called diphthongs.

1- Monophthongs

First, let us take up the 12 pure vowels. When pronounced, they do not change quality and
that is why they are termed as „monophthongs‟. For ease of study, they are given in the form
of a table, below:

1: is the vowel found in neat, seat, sheet, each

2: occur in words like: in, if, bid, city
3: as in set, head, net
4: occurs in bat, cat, ant
5: in ask, car, aunt
6: in words like: on, not, cot, odd
7: in caught, horse, law 10: in cup, come, does
8: input, book, hook 11: in bird, earn, learn
9: in boon, two, move, group 12: in ago (first syllable)
2- Diphthongs
The next 8 vowels are diphthongs. They glide from one quality to another within the same
syllable.
13: in here, near, rear
14: in tour, poor, doer
15: in care, dare, share
16: in play,aim, name
17: in boy, boil, soil
18: in eyes, buy, ice
19: in cow, noun, crown
20: in go, boat, own

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Syllables:

A syllable must contain a vowel or vowel-like sound, including diphthongs. The most
common type of syllable in language also has a consonant (C) before the vowel (V) and is
typically represented as CV. Technically, the basic elements of the syllable are the onset (one
or more consonants) followed by the rhyme. The rhyme (sometimes written as “rime”)
consists of a vowel, which is treated as the nucleus, plus any following consonant(s),
described as the coda.

Syllables like me, to or no, have onsets and a nucleus, but no coda. They are known as open
syllables. When a coda is present, as in the syllables up, cup, at or hat, they are called closed
syllables. The basic structure of the kind of syllable found in English words like green
(CCVC), egg (VCC), and (VCC), ham (CVC), I (V), do (CV), not (CVC), like (CVC), them
(CVC), Sam (CVC), I (V), am (VC) is shown in the accompanying diagram.

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Syllables division rules:

This file is intended to give the reader a basic explanation of the six types of syllables. Once
students have mastered these syllables they are able to decode most of words. Of course,
there are exceptions and additional rules.

a- Closed syllable (VC)

Closed syllable is usually the first syllable students learn. A closed syllable is a syllable with
one vowel followed by one or more consonants. There may or may not be a consonant,
consonant blend, or consonant digraph in front of the vowel. The vowel makes the short
sound and is marked with a breve (căt). Some examples of closed syllables are:

Dog, cat, ask, ship, stop, fort, sell, and smart. One syllable

b- Vowel-Consonant-E (CVE)

In the dyslexia program I use, the next type of syllable taught is the vowel-consonant-e
syllable. Please be aware that some programs teach the types of syllables in a different order
– but they cover them all. The vowel-consonant-e syllable has one vowel followed by a
consonant, then an “e”. The final “e” makes the vowel say its name, or the long sound, and
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the “e” is silent. The vowel is marked with a macron (cāke). Some examples of vowel-
consonant-e syllables are:

Bike, throne, June, whine, grade, and smile

c- Open syllables (CV)

The open syllable ends with one vowel. That vowel is long (or says its name).

When students learn the open syllable, they also learn that “y”, at the end of a syllable, acts
as a vowel. In a one syllable word, a final “y” usually makes the long “i” sound (ī).

Some examples of open syllables are:

Hi, We, shy, flu, she, and cry

d- Consonant -Le syllabes

The consonant-le syllable has a consonant followed

by “le”. These are the only three letters in this

syllable and it is the last syllable in the word.

The final “e” is silent and the syllable sounds like a blend (puzzle).

Some examples of the consonant-le syllable are: dribble, cable, muzzle, apple, tremble,
stumble

e- Double Vowel syllabes

it call this a vowel team syllable but some call it a double vowel syllable. In the vowel team
syllable, there are two vowels together that make one sound.

Some examples of the vowel team syllable are: boot, need, sauce, snow, sail, coin

Examples
little: lit – tle nickel: nick - el
petal: pet – al cotton: cot - ton
turtle: tur – tle student: stu - dent
ankle: an - kle teacher: teach - er
riddle: rid – dle children: chil - dren
arrow: ar – row pottery: pot - ter - y

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 Syllabication Rules

1 Every syllable has one vowel sound.

2 The number of vowel sounds in a word equals the number home=1 sub* ject=2 pub* lish* ing =3
of syllables

3 A one syllable word is never divided. stop feet bell

4 Consonant blends and digraphs are never separated. rest* ing bush* el reach* ing

5 When a word has a ck or an x in it, the word is usually

divided after the ck or x. nick* el tax* i

6 A compound word is divided between the two words that

make the compound word. in* side foot* ball tooth* brush

7 When two or more consonants come between two vowels in a

word, it is usually divided between the first two consonants. sis* ter but* ter hun* gry

8 When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word,

it is usually divided after the consonant if the vowel is short. lev* er cab* in hab* it

9 When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word,

it is usually divided before the consonant if the vowel is long. ba* sin fe* ver ma* jor

10 When two vowels come together in a word, and are

sounded separately,divide the word between the two vowels. ra* di* o di* et i* de* a

11 When a vowel is sounded alone in a word, it forms a syllable

itself. grad* u* ate a* pron u* nit

12 A word that has a prefix is divided between the root word and
the prefix. dis* count mis* fit un* tie

13 When be, de, ex and re are at the beginning of a word, be* came de* fend ex* hale
they make a syllable of their own. re* main

14 A word that has a suffix is divided between the root word and
the suffix. kind* ness thank* ful stuff* ing

15 When a word ends in le, preceeded by a consonant,

the word is divided before that consonant. pur* ple fum* ble mid* dle

16 When -ed comes at the end of a word, it forms a syllable

only when preceeded by d or t. start* ed fund* ed

17 When a word or syllable ends in al or el, these letters usually

form the last syllable. lev* el us* u* al

18 When ture and tion are at the end of a word,

they make their own syllable. lo* tion pos* ture

19 A word should be divided between syllables at the end of a line. When they got to the supermar-
The hyphen (-) stays with the syllable at the end of the line. ket, it was already dark.

benzair noureddine