CHAPTER II
PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Preliminaries
The only universal means of lin guistic communication among all normal human beings
is speech. The fact that language is a global characteristic of human beings means that
all languages are symmetric. That is, they all descend from the same genetic roots. All
of them are similarly ʻhumanʼ. They vary because they have adapted to the different
needs of their speech communities with time. Bauman-Waengler (2009:2) state that
speech refers to verbal communication. Crystal (2008:265) defines language at its most
specific level, which “it may refer to the concrete act of speaking, writing or signing in
a given situation”. Communication is entirely possible without the use of the language.
This study is concerned with linguistic communication, which depends on the
identification of the elements or structures of this language.
Crystal (2003:123) begins with the study of sounds that are most common and natural
medium for transference and reception of language. He adds that writing reserves a less
central class in individuals and humanity history. Spoken language is essential and
indispensable in any society, but a minority of languages has ever been written down.
The means of speech is more important than the means of writing. First, human beings
learn to speak and then to write in any community. The aim of writing is to represent
sounds rather than meanings and to represent phonemes or combination of phonemes,
which are syllables, rather than allophones. Blake (2008:173-4) adds that there is
suitability between orthography and pronunciation in many languages such as Arabic,
but English does not have relationships between spellings and sounds. Each letter of the
alphabet of a language represents a sound and some letters may represent more than one
sound in several alphabets that is found in that language.
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Phonetics and phonology are two branches of linguistics. They are concerned with the
spoken means of language. These two sciences deal with the production, function,
transference and reception of the speech sounds of human beings.
2.2 Contrastive Linguistic Analysis
Contrastive analysis as Crystal (2008:112) declares “is a general approach to the
investigation of language (contrastive linguistics), particularly as carried on in certain
areas of applied linguistics, such as foreign–language teaching and translation”. He adds
that contrastive analysis is based on structural linguistics. In a contrastive analysis of
two languages, the different structures are identified. They are studied as difficulties of
negative transmission or interference between the native and target languages that spoil
the process of learning. Contrastive analysis has begun in Central Europe before the
Second World War and developed afterwards in North America and the United States in
the late 1950s (www.lotsofessays.com). Lado (1957:11) has proposed contrastive
analysis as a means of identifying areas of difficulty for language learners. He insists on
comparing the native sound system with the foreign one to predicate and describe the
problems of pronunciation of the native speakers who learn another language.
The principal purpose of contrastive linguistics is to compare syntax, morphological
systems, phonological systems, and lexical meanings of two or more languages. The
aim is also to provide thoughts into possible problems of pronunciation which may be
faced by the learners. These problems are differences between the two languages.
Corder (1973:227) asserts that in the teaching process of a second language, two
languages are involved: the native and the target language. Contrastive analysis is
considered the result of the need to teach a target language in the most perfect and
effective method. Ellis (1985: 23) explains that “The teacher who has made a
comparison of the foreign language with the native language of the students will know
better what the real problems are and can provide for teaching them. The origins of
contrastive analysis, therefore, were pedagogic”. Ohala (1991) assures that the theory of
distinctive features reveals a complete relation between phonetics and phonology. By
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both phonetics and phonology one can predict, express and study certain fields such as
technology of speech and the process of teaching the language.
2.3 The Relation between Phonetics and Phonology
The relationship between phonetics and phonology is complex. Giegerich (1992:31)
states that phonology investigates the regularities that control the phonetic realizations
of sounds in the words of a language. According to the traditional division of academic
subjects into ʻfacultiesʼ, it is a branch of the humanities while phonetics is a ʻnatural
scienceʼ. It is generally agreed that the phonetic patterns arise from physical
(articulatory, aerodynamic, acoustic and auditory) restrictions; such factors belong to
natural patterns. Cohen (2007:2-3) states that the close parallel between the phonetic
effects and phonological patterns has led many phoneticians, including Archangeli and
Pulleyblank (1994), to suppose that phonetic naturalness is a primary source of
phonological patterns, which means that phonology is grounded in phonetics. Yet, there
is much debate about where naturalness resides, whether it is grounded within or
outside the grammar.
Alternatively, within a language, gentle mechanical analysis of speech shows that every
utterance of the same word, even by the same speaker, will be slightly different from
every other. Yet hearers who share that language will identify the same word in each
case without trouble. Concerning this matter, McMahon (2002:3) emphasizes that
phonetics provides much more information than speakers use or need. Phonology, on
the other hand, involves a minimizing to the basic information, to what speakers and
hearers need really. The perspective transfers from more items to fewer, from huge
variety to relative invariance, from concrete to relatively abstract. Phonetics and
phonology both study the sounds of language, what is meant by sounds and how can
they be represented in the language? We have to know their physical reality to answer
these questions. Roach (2000:1) asserts that at the comparatively advanced level “it is
usual to present this information in the context of a general theory about speech sounds
and how they are used in language; this theoretical context is called phonetics and
phonology”. We cannot discriminate the different sounds according to phonetic aspects
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and the phonological category as well as the relationship among them unless we know
phonetics and phonology. Delahunty and Garvey (2010:89) recommend that teachers
should be knowledgeable about the phonetics and phonology of English due to the
following reasons:
1. The sound system is primary and the basis for the spelling system.
2. They may have to teach English pronunciation to students who are not native
speakers of English.
3. They may have to teach poetry, which requires that they teach about rhyme,
alliteration, assonance, and other poetic devices that manipulate sound.
4. It is important to understand accents and language variation and to react appropriately
to them and to teach appropriate language rules to students.
Odden (2005:2) raises an important question as to how phonology differs from the
closely related discipline of phonetics. Making a preliminary separation between
phonetics and phonology is difficult. A common characterization of the difference
between phonetics and phonology is that phonetics is concerned with ʻactualʼ physical
sounds as they are reflected in human speech, and focuses on acoustic waveforms,
formant values, measurements of duration measured in milliseconds, of amplitude and
frequency, or in the physical principles underlying the production of sounds, that
involves the study of resonances and the study of the muscles and other articulatory
structures used to produce physical sounds. From another aspect, phonology is an
abstract cognitive system studying rules in a mental grammar: principles of
subconscious ʻthoughtʼ as they relate to language sound. The boundaries between the
disciplines of phonetics and phonology are not completely clear-cut. It is clear that a
better understanding of many issues in phonology requires bringing phonetics into
consideration, just as a phonological analysis is a basic condition for any phonetic study
of language. Phonetics and phonology provide systematic and well-founded
understandings of the sound patterns of English.
Both phonetics and phonology are worth analyzing for important reasons. Firstly, is that
both study the sounds of the language that is the basic means of communication, the
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study of phonology deals with how sounds function in relation to each other in a
language. It refers to the sound system of this language and pays attention on how the
human mind operates. Phonetics is about sounds of language as a descriptive device
which is necessary to the study of the phonological aspects of a language. Secondly, is
that the study of the phonetics of a foreign language enables us to hear and to master the
sound features to control mistakes that we make.
2.3.1 Phonetics
Phonetics is the science and general study of the characteristics of speech and speech
sounds focusing on the description of speech sounds according to their production,
transference and distinctive features. The speech sounds are considered the essential
unit. Phonetics provides methods for speech sounds description, classification and
transcription (Crystal, 2008:363, Bauman-Waengler, 2009:15, and Yule, 2006:30).
Kumar and Sreehari (2009:19) further declare that phonetics is derived from the Greek
word phone that means sound or voice and refers to the systematic study of speech
sounds of any language and their articulation, audition and perception.
Linguistic sounds are articulated by pushing air from the lungs out through the mouth,
sometimes by way of the nasal cavity. The movement of the air can then be modified by
the anatomy of the mouth and throat to produce different sounds. As a system of
describing and recording the sounds of language objectively, phonetics provides an
important approach of opening our ears to aspects of language which we are tempted to
recognize by reference to their written rather than their actual spoken forms. There are
three branches of phonetics as follows:
2.3.1.1 Articulatory Phonetics
Robins (1964:84-5) indicates that from the point of view of the study of language and as
a part of general linguistics, there are good reasons for prime attention being paid to
articulatory phonetics. Anatomically the main parts of the body that are in charge of the
production and distinction of speech sounds, the organs of speech, can be reachable
easily by visual observation, either directly or by means of different sets or systems
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such as laryngoscopes and X-ray photography. Most of them can be described to the
extent that deals with the role that they play in the process of speaking by the use of fair
terms of comprehension to the non-specialist to make the speaker have an ability to
control his speaking.
Furthermore, all of us have some kinaesthesis of the processes of speaking, which
means according to Crystal (2008:261) the internal process which enables the speakers
to be aware of the movement and positions of their vocal organs during their speech.
People feel tension or movement of their muscles, joints as well as tendons. They use
their knowledge to monitor their process of speaking unconsciously. With time, this
kinaesthesis can be developed by interest, practice and training .The ability to recognize
and discriminate different speech sounds will be increased in articulation. Articulatory
phonetics deals with how various speech sounds are generated.
The description and classification of these speech sounds will be in terms of parameters
of their actual articulation. One major kind of classification is derived from the specific
structures which are used for articulating the different speech sounds. Speech sounds are
also divided into vowels and consonants that are general groups according to another
categorization related to this kind of phonetics which will be discussed later. In this
sense, the speech sounds are analyzed according to the arrangement of articulators.
The interference of the airflow plays a very important role in the speech sounds
articulation. Therefore, the respiratory system has a major role. The speech sound
production begins with the lungs which push the air to come out of the mouth. Air is
forced out of the lungs through the vocal cords, which represent a valve which goes
through a repeated cycle of blocking and allowing air to pass from the lungs to the vocal
tract. A waveform is made by this repeated movement of air.
2.3.1.2 Acoustic Phonetics
Yule (2006:30) defines acoustic phonetics as the science that is concerned with the
physical properties of speech as sound waves in the air transmitted between mouth and
ear. It is concerned with measuring and analyzing the physical properties of the sound
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waves we produce when we speak. Both approaches are indispensable to an
understanding of speech. Fasold and Connor-Linton (2006:32-3) consider what happens
inside the mouth and how the speech sounds are produced, the only part of the process.
We have to understand how the articulators turn air movements into sound, what
happens to sound after it passes through the lips, how it moves through the air, and how
it affects on the ears and brain of the listeners (sometimes the microphones, recorders,
and computers are used) so as to understand how people use sound to communicate.
2.3.1.3 Auditory Phonetics
Chalker and Weiner (1998) define auditory phonetics as the science that studies “the
speech sounds from the point of view of the listener, concerned with the way the ears
and brain process and perceive the speech”. It is the branch of phonetics that is
concerned with the perceptual response to speech sounds, sponsored by ear, auditory
nerve and brain. It is not studied well since there are difficulties faced as soon as one
tries to identify and measure psychological and neurological responses to speech
sounds.
2.3.2 Phonology
Phonology is defined by Ramamurthi (1998:5) as a branch of linguistics, which deals
with the ways in which speech sounds form systems, and patterns of languages.
Phonology is concerned with the growth, the analysis and description of the phonemes
of a language. It studies the speech sounds of one particular language with respect to
their production, transmission and reception. Balasubramanian (2011:57) states, “The
selection and organization of speech sounds in a particular language constitute the
phonology of that language”. Verma and Krishnaswamy (2009:27) add that it is the
study of the organization of the speech sounds units into syllables and other larger units.
Fromkin (etal, 2003:273-4) say that it is used in two ways: as the mental representation
of linguistic knowledge, and as the description of this knowledge. So it refers either to
the representation of the sounds and patterns of sound in a speakers mental grammar, or
to the study of the sound patterns in a language or in human language generally.
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Phonological knowledge supports a speaker to articulate sounds which form
meaningful utterances, to identify a foreign accent to build up words, to add the suitable
phonetic segments to form plurals and past tenses, to produce aspirated and unaspirated
voiceless stops in the suitable context, to know what is or what is not a sound in one's
language, and to know that different phonetic strings may represent the same
morpheme. Its aim is to explain the patterns of distinctive sound found in a language,
and to make as general statements as possible about the nature of sound systems in the
languages of the world. It studies the range and function of sounds in specific languages
as well as the rules that can be written to show the kinds of phonetic relationships which
relate and contrast words and other linguistic units
There are two branches of phonology: segmental phonology that analyzes speech into
separate segments such as consonants and vowels. Suprasegmental phonology which
analyzes features that extends over more than one segment such as stress and intonation.
Crystal (2008:365-6) makes another distinction between diachronic phonology that
studies patterns of sound change in the history of language and synchronic phonology
which studies sound patterns regardless of the process of historical change.
Experimental phonology purpose is to merge research in experimental phonetics,
experimental psychology and phonological theory to provide a hypothesis- based
investigation of phonological phenomena.
2.4 The Speech Sounds
Every human being has the ability to produce sounds. He is able to organize the range
of sounds, which he can articulate into a highly efficient system of communication. He
uses the organs whose primary physiological function is unconnected with vocal
communication especially those located in the respiratory tract. The air-stream pushed
from the lungs provides the usual source of energy for our vocal activity (Gimson,
1980:10). Articulation is a general term that refers to the obstruction of the breath by the
lips, the tongue, the teeth, and the palate or velum. In order to articulate all the sounds
of the language, we regulate these organs of speech.
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Phonemes are the sounds of the language. They refer to the distinctive features of
sounds that make a speaker or listener of a particular language able to differentiate one
sound from another (Devito, etal., 1975:39). “A ‘sound’ is a complex pattern of rapid
variations in air pressure, travelling from a sound source and striking the ear, which
causes a series of neural signals to be received in the brain: this is true of speech, music
and random noises” (Odden, 2005:4).
Thus, our speech mechanism does not function in such a method to produce sounds in
order to complete an act of communication. The sounds are received by a hearing
mechanism and interpreted, after their transmission through a medium such as air that
will convey them. The listener examines the nature of the sounds, the features of the
transition phase of these sounds, and the way in which these sounds are regarded. In the
process of listening, the listener realizes a constantly- changing pattern of sound. He
tends to realize and express (be aware of) just the characteristics of the sounds that are
relevant to the intelligibility of his own language consciously. This means that there is
permanent relationship between the speaker's articulation and the listener's reception of
sound variations. It may be possible to link the transmission phase, the listener's
impressions of changes of quality, pitch, and length to some articulatory activity on the
part of the speaker. It is not always easy to establish a correlation between the
production, transmission and reception phases of speech (Gimson, 1980:21).
The fact that there is a structural relationship between different elements of a language
is not new but the application of the structural approach to the study of speech sounds is
quite new. Hjelmslev and his followers are modern phonemicists and they call them
dependencies as abstract rules ʻpatternʼ. The sounds have significant functions. For
example, a child telling his mother “I am going to wear my new shirt”. If we change the
sound /w/ in ʻwearʼ into /t/, a difference in response will be viewed because the word
ʻtearʼ changes the total meaning of the situation. This means that /w/ and /t/ have a
significant function since an interchange of both will result in a different response
(Cohen, 1965:18).
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2.5 Voiced and Voiceless Sounds
There is an articulatory process called voicing in which the vocal flaps are assigned in
vibration by leaving a tall narrow shape (column) of air. The lungs push the air and the
airflow faces a controlled resistance at the larynx. The resistance can be controlled by
different positions and tensions in the vocal cords. The free flow of air is allowed to and
from the lungs during the process of quiet breathing when the cords are relaxed and
spread apart, but during swallowing the cords are drawn tightly together to prevent
foreign material from entering the lungs. The most important feature of the vocal cords
for speech is that they can be made to vibrate if the airflow between them is rapid
enough and if they have the appropriate tension and closeness to each other. The vocal
cords are brought close tightly and the airstream vibrates rapidly during voicing. Rapid
movement of these vocal cords several times a second is produced. Consequently, the
sounds that can be produced without the vibration of the vocal cords are called unvoiced
or voiceless sounds, while those produced with the vibration of the vocal cords are
called voiced sounds. All the vowels are voiced sounds.
Frequency of the vocal cords vibration is associated with pitch level, low and high tones
and voice amplitude. The usual frequency of which in human speech is from 80 to 400
cycles per second. The vocal cords of adult males are larger in size than females and
children; therefore, their frequency of vibration is relatively lower than the frequency of
vibration in females and children. So the pitch of adult males' voices is lower than that
of them. Voicing has a critical function in speech production. It is a basic factor in the
fundamental classification of speech sounds into two functional categories, the voiced
and voiceless sounds. The dichotomy signifies grouping of sounds according to the
degree of muscular tension. ʻFortisʼ refers to voiceless sounds that are pronounced with
greater muscular energy and breath, whilst in ʻlenisʼ the muscular energy and breath are
markedly reduced and mostly voiced sounds are lenis (Rajimwale, 2005:47-9;
Akmajian, etal., 1995:63-4 and Hudson, 2000:22).
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2.6 Phonemic and Phonetic Transcription
There are several different kinds of symbols for one of two purposes basically:
phonemic (phoneme) symbols or phonetic symbols. The most important point is that the
number of phonemic symbols must be exactly the same as the number of phonemes
exists in the language. However, Roach (2000:41-3) states that some of our phoneme
symbols consist of two characters; e.g., / tʃ/ is a phoneme symbol consists of two
characters / t / and / ʃ /. There is a difference between phonemic symbols and phonetic
symbols because the phonemic symbols do not have to indicate accurate phonetic
quality, it is possible to choose among several possible symbols to represent a particular
phoneme, but students get confused as to how use these different symbols. The
complexity of using symbols creates problems in typing and printing out processes; e.g.,
/a/ is a usual symbol whereas /æ/ is unusual. Some writers have emphasized on
producing a set of phoneme symbols that need the minimum number of special or nonstandard symbols while others have thought that the symbols must be as close as
possible to the symbols that a phonetician will choose to give an accurate reference to
the quality of a sound. There can be disagreements about the most important
characteristics of a sound that a symbol has to indicate.
Akmajian and others (1995:66) emphasize on the importance of phonemic system that
includes a special symbol or special combination of symbols which may represent each
significant speech sound of a language; therefore, this transcription system overcomes
the shortcomings of the current English alphabet.
Thus, it becomes important to invent two kinds of transcription: phonemic and phonetic.
Fromkin (2003:597) defines Phonemic transcription as “the phonemic representation of
speech sounds using phonetic symbols, ignoring phonetic details that are predictable by
rule, usually given between slashes”, e.g., /pæn/ for ʻpanʼ as opposed to the phonetic
representation /phæ͂n/ ; /phu:l/ ; /then/. Phonemic transcription is one of the traditional
exercises in the teaching of pronunciation by phonetic methods in which every speech
must be identified as one of the phonemes and written with appropriate symbol.
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A transcription that is much more accurate in phonetic detail and contained much more
information than phonemic transcription is called Phonetic transcription. Phonetic
transcription is the representation of speech sounds using phonetic symbols between
square brackets. They may reflect predictable features uncharacteristically such as
aspiration and nasality (Ibid), e.g., [ phæ͂t] ; [mæ͂n] for (pat) and (man).
Roach (2000: 43) divides phonetic transcription into two types: a narrow or detailed
phonetic transcription which contains a lot of information about the exact quality of the
sounds; a broad phonetic transcription includes a little more information than a
phonemic transcription. Jones (1992:28-30) believes that broad transcription is the most
practical for most linguistic purposes, because it combines accuracy with the greatest
simplicity. It is generally recommended in teaching the pronunciation of a foreign
language. Narrow transcription is useful in comparative work, and especially when it is
desired to make comparisons between the pronunciations of different people who are
speaking the same language. Hudson (2000:44-5) justifies that the narrow phonetic
writing is not just difficult, it is quite impractical, since the range of phonetic variation
is great and the differences between many of the variants are impossible to hear
constantly, or mastered even with training and experience. There is a significant
systematic difference between narrow phonetic writing and a certain kind of broad
phonetic writing. The following table contains the pronunciation symbols used in
modern English dictionaries.
Vowels
Consonants
ʌ
cup
b
bad
ɑ:
farm
d
dark
æ
can
f
fish
e
hen
g
good
ə
about
h
his
ɜ:ʳ
her
j
yet
ɪ
fit
k
book
i:
meet
l
let
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ɒ
not
m
moon
ɔ:
bought
n
night
ʊ
look
ŋ
thing
u:
soon
P
push
aɪ
I
r
red
ɔɪ
oil
s
sea
eɪ
day
ʃ
shy
oʊ
so
tʃ
chin
aʊ
how
θ
thin
ɪər
here
ð
this
ʊər
pure
v
very
eər
hair
w
wet
z
zone
ӡ
division
dӡ
age
t
time
Table (1): The English phonemic symbols
2.7 The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
The phonetic symbols used are suggested by the International Phonetic Association.
Kansakar (1998:53) states that it is an organization founded in 1886 by a group of
European phoneticians. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is the set of the
symbols and diacritics that have been officially approved by International Phonetic
Association. IPA aims to symbolize all the distinctive sounds in languages. The intent is
to represent the sounds by symbols that serve to distinguish one word from another in a
language. This is done by using ordinary letters of the Roman alphabet or simple
modifications of these letters. In order to avoid the problem of creating a large number
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of symbols for a set of related sounds, IPA prefers the use of diacritics (Ladefoged,
2001:253-6).
IPA is one of the most popular and well-known phonetic alphabets. It was originally
created by primarily British language teachers, with later efforts from European
phoneticians and linguists. It has changed from its earlier intention as a tool of foreign
language pedagogy to a practical alphabet of linguists. It is currently becoming the most
often seen alphabet in the field of phonetics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/phonetictranscription#mw-head#mw-head), but there is a big problem with this alphabet that is
the symbols of IPA are difficult to type on the most of the computers. It may be done,
but it needs special fonts and special software programmers. It has been under
continuous review by the International Phonetic Association. Dinneen (1995:334)
mentions that a “useful contribution of phonetics might have been to provide a distinct
symbol for every distinct sound in every distinct language of the world”.
The IPA is a system of phonetic symbols that anyone can learn to use and that can be
used to represent the sounds of any language. It has been discovered as one of the most
important achievements of phonetics in the past century. English writing system does
not always give a reliable guide to pronunciation. It is helpful to use phonetic
transcription instead of ordinary spelling for different purposes. Many of the symbols
are the same as the familiar alphabetic ones, but a slight different set of symbols might
be necessary for each of the many different English accents (Roach, 2001:5-6).The
following tables show the consonants, the diacritics, symbols and suprasegmentals that
are approved by IPA (http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/):
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Table (2): The English non-pulmonic symbols (IPA)
Table (3): International Alphabet (IPA)
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Table (4): Diacritics (IPA)
2.8 Difference between Consonants and Vowels
The consonants and vowels are distinguished according to the structure of the syllable.
Davenport and Hannahs (2005:16) declare that syllable structure plays a very important
role in making a major distinction between the types of speech – sound, namely, vowels
and consonants. There are two ways in which ‘vowels’ and ‘consonants’ are defined: in
phonetic terms and in linguistic terms, i.e. in terms of the production of sounds and their
function in a given language, respectively. O'Connor (1980:149) defines consonants as
speech sounds in which air pushing from the lungs is obstructed in the mouth seriously.
They are articulated with either total obstruction of the air-passage or (partial
obstruction) with a narrow oral passage so the air escapes and friction is heard. Vowels,
on the other hand according to Sethi and Dhamija (2002:14) are speech sounds that do
not have obstruction, and narrowing of a degree that would cause audible friction, in the
pharynx and the mouth. All other sounds are ‘consonants’. O'Connor (1980:150)
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defines vowels as speech sounds in which air pushing from the lungs leaves the mouth
with no interference and articulated with a free oral passage for the air to escape. It
seems, phonetically, that the essential difference is with the degree of stricture, which
refers to the distance between the active and passive articulators. Oral and nasal stop
consonants, fricatives and liquids that mean the consonants produced when the tongue
approaches a point of articulation within the mouth but it is not close enough to obstruct
or constrict the air flow enough to create turbulence such as /l/ and /r/
(http://calleteach.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/sounds-of-english-nasals-liquids-glides/),
all have a stricture of at least close approximation. Liquids and nasals may seem to be
counterexamples to this claim because the air flows out freely for them.
However, there is an obstruction in the oral tract in every case for nasal consonants
there is complete closure. For liquids, there is a contact between articulators, but it does
not extend across the full width of the oral tract. There is a problem in the glides since
there is a stricture of open approximation for them. The distinction between consonants
and vowels for glides does not tend to phonetics as to phonology that means how the
sounds function in the language, rather than with the details of their articulation. Pure or
true vowels are syllabic; they comprise the main part of the syllable. Glides behave as
consonants in that they do not form the nuclei of syllables, but rather occur on the edges
of syllables. For English and many other languages a vowel sound is produced with
open approximation and it is a syllable nucleus; this will make glides excluded since
they are not nuclei. Syllabic liquids as final /I/ and nasals as final /n/ will be excluded
because they are not produced with open approximation.
Kansakar (1998:19-23) describes consonants depending on: (i) airstream mechanism
which leads us to take into our account that all sounds are articulated with a pulmonic
egressive airstream mechanism, i.e. air is pushed out from the lungs. (ii) The state of the
glottis during the articulation to show whether there is a vibration in the vocal cords or
not. Consonants are classified as voiced and voiceless while all vowels are voiced. (iii)
The position of the soft palate in which the speech sounds can also be oral or nasal. An
oral sound is articulated with the soft palate raised to shut off the nasal passage of air. A
nasal sound is articulated with the soft palate lowered to open the nasal passage along
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with an oral closure. Sometimes the vowel sounds may be nasalized. (iv) Active and
passive articulators are required. The active articulators move during the process of
articulation of the speech sounds but the passive articulators do not move. (v) Stricture
involved refers to the way in which the air passage is restricted by the various organs of
speech.
Types of strictures involved in the articulation of consonants:
i. Complete closure and sudden release by which the stop or plosive consonants as
/ p, b, t, d, k, g / are produced. The active and the passive articulators are firmly in
contact in order to prevent the lung air from escaping through the mouth. A vivid
closure will be at the same time. So the soft palate is raised to block the nasal passage of
air. When the active articulator is removed from the passive articulator suddenly, the air
escapes with a small explosive noise.
ii. Complete closure and slow release in which the oral and nasal passages are closed
and the oral closure is released slowly. A friction is heard at that moment without the
explosive noise of plosive or stop consonants. Affricate sounds are produced when a
stop followed by friction such as the initial sounds / tʃ, dʒ / in ʻchalkʼ and ʻjokeʼ.
iii. Complete oral closure in which there is velic opening when the nasal passage is
opened and the lung air escapes freely through the nostrils. A complete oral closure with
the active and passive articulators firmly in contact will be at the same time. Then nasal
sounds are articulated with this stricture as final / m, n, ŋ / sounds in the following
words successfully ʻcalmʼ, ʻlearnʼ and ʻthingʼ.
iv. Intermittent closure: when an oral sound articulated with the active articulator
striking several times against the passive articulator permits the air to escape between
them intermittently. Trill or rolled consonants are articulated with this kind of stricture
as / r / in ʻspiritʼ.
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v. Single closure: where /r/ sound may also be articulated sometimes. / r / sound is
called a tap or a flap in this case as in ʻveryʼ / r / is pronounced as a tap by some English
speakers.
vi. Close approximation: in which the active articulators move close to the passive
articulator leaving a very narrow opening between them. The lung air escapes through
this narrow opening with audible friction. Fricative consonant sounds / f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ,
h / are articulated with this stricture such as the initial sounds in the following words
successively ʻfatʼ, ʻvast', ʻthinkʼ, ʻthisʼ, ʻseaʼ, ʻzooʼ, ʻshouldʼ and ʻheʼ.
vii. Partial closure: The active and passive articulators make a closure in the centre of
the mouth and the air escapes along the sides of the tongue without friction. Lateral
consonant sounds are articulated with this stricture as the initial sound /1 / in ʻlookʼ.
viii. Open approximation by which a wide gap or opening between the active and
passive articulators is made. The air escapes through this gap without any friction.
Frictionless continuants or semi-vowels are articulated such as the initial sound / j/ in
ʻyesterdayʼ.
Consonants are further classified according to voicing, place of articulation and manner
of articulation. Kansakar (1998:34) ensures, for example, that there are certain
consonants articulated in the same way of vowels and they are called approximants.
Vowels may have retroflexion when the tongue tip is curved backwards to the hard
palate direction as / ɜ: / in ʻworkʼ. They may also be articulated as nasalized sounds
when the oral and nasal cavities open as / æ / in ʻcanʼ. Vowels are classified according
to the length, the part of the tongue used, the tongue height .i.e. the vertical space
between the tongue and the roof of the mouth (palate) and the shapes of the lips during
their articulation. Nevertheless, if we want to define a sound as a vowel or a consonant
in linguistic terms, then we must study the function of the sound in a given language,
that is, in relation to the grammar of that language. For example the sounds /j/ and /w/
are articulated with no obstruction or narrowing of such a degree in the mouth as would
cause audible friction. The two sounds must be regarded as vowels. Moreover, indeed,
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in strictly phonetic terms, they are vowels. However, the English language regards them
as consonants (semi vowels) because the two sounds function as consonants in English
grammar. For example, they take the article a, rather than an, in front of them as in ʻa
yearʼ or ʻa wayʼ (Sethi and Dhamija, 2002:14).
The following chapters will present a detailed discussion of English and Arabic
consonants and vowels.
2.9 Concluding Remarks
1. Contrastive analysis of two languages is based on structural linguistics. The different
structures are studied as difficulties of negative transmission or interference between the
native and the target languages.
2. The relation between the phonetics and phonology is complex. Phonology is
particular and narrower than phonetics.
3. The vocal cords may vibrate if the airflow, between them is rapid enough and if they
have the appropriate tension and closeness to each other to produce the voiced
consonants.
4. The IPA is a system of phonetic symbols that can be used to represent the sounds of
any language.
5. The phonetic transcription is much more accurate in phonetic detail and contains
much more information than phonemic transcription.
6. The frequency of vibration in the adult males is relatively lower than that in females
and children. The pitch of males' voices is lower than that of females and children.
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