Lingua e Linguistica Inglese I
2015-2016
(Corso di Laurea in Lingue,
Letterature Moderne Europee)
Prof. Paolo Donadio
Class: Friday 9.00-11.00
(AULA Amirante - Giurisprudenza)
Email: [email protected]
Culture
e
introduction
 Although
speech is a continuum of sound, it is
possible to break it into different types of
sounds, known as consonants, vowels, and
glides or semivowels;
 we will study how these different sounds are
articulated, as well as how other features of
sound, including stress and pitch, are
superimposed over these sounds.
International sound barriers: fixed
phoneme inventories
A
language only uses sounds
taken from its own inventory of
phonemes which undergoes very
little change.
How many letters are there in the English Alphabet?
26
How many sounds?
44
While standard italian has 26 sounds. English system
has more vowels sounds
 In
writing words are made of letters
 In
speech words are made of sounds
 Letters are not
always the same as sounds
key
car
Begin with the same sound but the letters are
different.
Phonemic symbols:
/ki:/
/ka:/
There are two kinds of sounds
 Consonant
sounds (C)
 Vowel sounds (V)
Number of sounds in a word is not usually the
same as the number of letters
Cfr. <duck>
CVC
/dʌk/
Letters and sounds
Night
Dog
Rabbit
Frog
Gorilla
Snake
Bee
8
Letters and sounds
Night
CVC
Dog
CVC
Rabbit
CVCVC
Frog
CCVC
Gorilla
CVCVCV
Snake
CCVC
Bee
CV
9
A story *
Last weak, I cent my sun Jamie to the
shops to bye sum food. He got a peace
of meet and too pairs. On the weigh
home, the bag broke. The food fell onto
the rode and got dirty. In the end Jamie
through the food in the bin.
Last weak, I cent my sun
Jamie to the
shops to bye sum food. He
got a peace
of meet and too pairs. On
the weigh
home, the bag broke. The
food fell onto
the rode and got dirty. In
the end Jamie
through the food in the bin.
Last week, I sent my son
Jamie to the
shops to buy some food.
He got a piece
of meat and two pears.
On the way
home, the bag broke. The
food fell onto
the road and got dirty. In
the end Jamie
threw the food in the bin.
Phonetics
“The study of speech sounds…” (Fromkin V. &
Rodman R., 1998, An Introduction to Language,
Fort Worth, Harcourt Brace College Publishers)
Phonology
Phonology is concerned with how sounds pattern in a
language…(Da Fromkin V. & Rodman R. cit.)
“A branch of linguistics which studies the sound systems
of languages….The aim of phonology is to demonstrate
the patterns of distinctive sound found in language….[it]
is concerned with the range and function of sounds in
specific languages, and with the rules which can be
written to show the types of phonetic relationships that
relate or contrast words and other linguistic units”
(Crystal D., 1994, A Dictionary of Linguistics and
Phonetics, Oxford,Blackwell)
Phonetics vs Phonology
FONETICA
“una delle parti principali
della linguistica, che
studia i suoni del
linguaggio, i foni, dal
punto di vista fisico, cioè
della loro realizzazione
materiale…” (F.Casadei,
Breve
dizionario
di
fonetica, Roma, Carocci
2001)
FONOLOGIA
“Una delle parti principali
della
linguistica,
che
studia i suoni linguistici …
per la funzione che hanno
all’interno di un sistema
linguistico…” (Casadei F.,
cit)
Articulatory phonetics
labbra
 denti
 arcata alveolare
 palato
 velo
 faringe
 laringe
 naso

lips
teeth - dental
alveolar ridge
palate
soft palate / velum
pharinx
larynx
nose
Graphemes and phonemes

The grapheme refers to a letter of the
alphabet.

A phoneme is a distinctive sound in a language
capable of creating a distinction in meaning
between two words.
The minimal unit of Phonology is the PHONEME.
PHONEMES are underlying sounds, unreal sounds,
abstract concepts.
Every language has its own PHONEME INVENTORY (list
of).
Phonemes
With the exception of the indefinite article a [ə] and
the present indicative plural of the verb ‘to be’ are
[ɑ:], discrete units of sound, such as [b]or [u], do not
have any intrinsic meaning. Meaning can be
attributed to them only when they come with other
sounds to make up words. These sounds are called
phonemes.
 In bar we have two phonemes /b/ and /a:/

Minimal pairs

A minimal pair is a set of different words consisting
of all the same sounds except for one.

If we replace the phoneme /d/ in dog [dɒg] with /l/,
we obtain the word log [l ɒg].
Minimal pairs
we could set up a phonetic environment, or a
sequence of sounds, such as an environment
containing the sound sequence /æt/. If we then
establish a blank slot preceding this sequence, /_æt/,
and substitute different consonants in this slot, we
can see if we get different words.
 If we do, then each of these consonants is a
phoneme.

/_æt/: …………………………………………….
/_æt/: pat, bat, sat, mat, gnat, fat, that, vat, cat …

We can conclude that /p/, /b/, /s/, /m/, /n/, /f/, /ð/,
/v/, and /k/ are all phonemes. Thus, bat and cat, for
example, form a minimal pair, as do gnat and vat.
This same concept of a minimal pair holds true for
vowels as well. Consider, for example, a phonetic
environment such as /p_t/. Substituting different
vowels in the empty slot, we can generate numerous
minimal pairs:
/p_t/: ………………………………………….

/p_t/: pit, peat, pate, pot, pout, put, putt, pat, pet
…

We can conclude that / ɪ/, /i/, /e ɪ /, / ɒ /, /a ʊ /,
/ ʊ /, / ʌ /, /æ/, and /ε/ are all distinct
phonemes.
Practice

http://www.shiporsheep.com/
Test
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXc7QCGBjdo
Graphemes and phonemes
Phonemes in English DO NOT correspond to letters
in the written language.
 In many cases they share the same mark or symbol,
ex. <t> and /t/.
In other cases no correspondence ex. <c> represents
the phoneme
/k/ in cut [k ʌt]
/s/ in nice [na ɪs];
<o> represents /ʌ/ in come [kʌm].

Homophones and homographs

homophones: words which are pronounced the
same but spelled differently, such as bear/bare
/beə(r)/, meat/meet [mit], or maid/made [meɪd]

homographs: words that are spelled the same but
pronounced differently, for example, lead [li:d]
(condurre) e lead [led]; tear [t ɪə] (lacrima) and tear
[teə] (strappare).
Phonetic transcription

By convention, phoneme symbols are enclosed
within slank brackets /…/, whereas the phonetic
transcription of words is enclosed in square brackets
[…].
Terminologia di base
GRAFEMI: segni alfabetici indipendentemente dalla
loro pronuncia (sono racchiusi tra < >)
 FONI: suoni come tali indipendentemente dal loro
ruolo nel sistema fonologico di una data lingua (sono
racchiusi tra [])
 FONEMI:
unità capaci di costituire opposizioni
significative all’interno del sistema di una data lingua
(sono racchiusi tra //)

Since the writing system of English does not provide us
with a one-to-one correspondence between oral sound
and written symbol, we need a tool for representing
human sounds in an regular way when studying
phonology;
the International Phonetic Alphabet (the IPA) has been
invented for this purpose. In it, each written symbol
represents one, and only one, speech sound, while each
speech sound is represented by one, and only one,
written symbol.
We will begin by learning this special alphabet.
Read the following passage
Y_ _ c_n _nd_rst_nd th_s s_nt_nc_ w_th_ _t
th_ v_w_ls, b_t c_n y_ _ _nd_rst_nd th_ n_xt
_n_ w_th_ _t th_ c_ns_n_nts?
_ _o_a_ _ _ _o_. I_’_ a_ _o_ _
i_ _o_ _i_ _e.
Read the following passage - KEY
You can understand this sentence without
the vowels, but can you understand the next
one without the consonants?
Probably not. It’s almost impossible
So….

Consonants might be considered of greater
importance than vowels in English.

Text message English – a limited use of vowels
Consonants
A consonant is defined as a speech sound which is articulated with
some kind of stricture, or closure of the air stream.
Consonants are classified according to four features:

1. the state of the glottis: in vibration (voiced) or open (voiceless);
2. the state of the velum: lowered (nasal) or raised (oral);
3. the place of articulation: the location where the stricture or place of
maximum interference occurs and what articulators are involved; and
4. the manner of articulation: the amount of stricture, whether it is
complete, partial (called “close approximation”), or relatively open
(“open approximation”).
Oral or nasal consonants
Oral: the air escapes through the mouth.
 Nasal: the air escapes through the nose.

Almost all consonants are oral, only 3 are nasal: /m, n,
[ŋ].
Voiceless and voiced consonants
Voiceless: no vibration of the vocal cords.
 Voiced: vibration of the vocal cords.

Voiceless consonant phonemes are: /p/ as in pea; /t/ as
in tea; /k/ as in coffee; /f/ as in fat; /θ/ as in thin; /s/ as
in see; /ʃ/ as in she; /h/ as in he.
Voiced consonant phonemes are: /b/ as in ball; /d/ as in
dog; /ʤ/ as in joke; /g/ as in good; /v/ as in van; /ð/ as
in that; /z/ as in zoo; /m/ as in mouth; /n/ as in no; /ŋ/
as in thing; /l/ as in love; /r/ as in right; /w/ as in why; /j/
as in you.
Places of articulation
They indicate the place where obstruction is made
for the pronunciation of the consonants.
 The tongue, lips, teeth, and various regions of the
mouth constitute places of articulation in the oral
cavity.
 Bilabial, Labiodental, Dental or Interdental, Alveolar,
Palato-alveolar, Palatal, Velar, Glottal.

http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu/hurley/Ling102web
/mod3_speaking/3mod3.5.2_place.htm
Manner of articulation
It refers to the way the articulators are set so that the resonance effect
is possible.








Stop or plosive
Fricative
Affricate
Nasal
Lateral
Glide
Liquid
Approximant (in English lateral, glide and liquid sounds are approximants, as they
don’t involve friction in any part of the vocal tract.
https://www.mimicmethod.com/manner-of-
Consonants
bilabials labiodentals dental
Plosives
p b
Fricatives
f
v
alveolars palatoalveolar
t d
θ ð s z ʃ ʒ
m
Liquids
Frictionless
approximants
Glides
velars
h
w
ŋ
n
l
r
glottals
kg
tʃ dʒ
Africates
Nasals
palatals
j
Allophones





In natural speech production sounds occur in groups in fast
succession so individual sounds are influenced by the sounds
around.
If /t/ occurs before a vowel it is aspirated more than if it
occurs before a /r/. Ex. Say: table and train.
In some varieties of English (American English, Cockney) [t]
can have up to 6 different realisations, these are called
phonetic variants or allophones.
In transcription they are represented by diacritic symbols
added to the phonemic ones.
They do not involve any change of meaning but differences in
accents.
Consonant sounds



LUOGO di articolazione – Place of articulation
MODO di articolazione – Manner of articulation
POSIZIONE delle corde vocali – Position of vocal
chords (sorda/sonora – voiceless/voiced)
A. Luogo
Per capire, conoscere e “sentire” i singoli suoni emessi
è importante conoscere il nostro apparato fonatore:
B. Modo
il “percorso” del flusso di aria determina o il MODO in
cui un fono viene prodotto:
 occlusiva
plosive
 fricativa
fricative
 affricata
affricate
 nasale
nasal
 liquida
liquid
 senza frizione
frictionless/glide
C. Posizione
l’opposizione sorda/sonora si riferisce alla posizione
delle corde vocali
47
Write the following words near the correct
symbol according to the underlined letters
glasses
dog
hot
pen
red
music
president football study
drive
book
teacher
letter
car
name
/p/
/g/
/h/
/d/
/s/
/m/
/k/
/z/
/n/
/b/
/f/
/l/
/t/
/v/
/r/
work
/w/
48
Write the following words near the correct
symbol according to the underlined letters
Glasses /g/
dog /d/
hot /h/
letter /l/
pen /p/
book /b/ /k/
car /k/
study /s/
teacher /t/ name/n/
red /r/
drive /v/
music /m/
president /z/ football /f/
work /w/
Tick if the symbols match the sounds
of the letters underlined
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
Why
who
Photograph
Cinema
Scissors
Laugh
Knife
Verb
question
Class
Rose
Writing
/h/
/h/
/ph/
/s/
/sk/
/gh/
/n/
/v/
/kw/
/k/
/s/
/wr/
Ex 11E Pre- Int
Tick if the symbols match the sounds
of the letters underlined
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
Why
who
Photograph
Cinema
Scissors
Laugh
Knife
Verb
question
Class
Rose
Writing
a.
/h/
b.
c.
/s/
d.
e.
f.
/n/
/v/
/kw/
/k/
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
Why
who
Photograph
Cinema
Scissors
Laugh
Knife
Verb
question
Class
Rose
Writing
/w/
/f/
/s/
/f/
/z/
/r/
English classes…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXuMAca
2344&ebc=ANyPxKpdKuMKmezrIWAMX5sCDzY2xLQHFl6dqhCRhZh3ljT9kR5NEfPmai0QOXxzg
l2x8fEV45m_hO-LB1-sHQr_GQUGLw-eg