Linguistics and Structure of English

How many phonemes are there in the English language?

44 phonemes (sounds)

IPA

International Phonetic Alphabet

i:

long /i/ sound

Ex. feet, deep, leisure

short /I/ sound

Ex. fit, bicker, sip

ə

schwa (unstressed sound)

The syllable where it is found should be unstressed:

- wea-ther

- me-ssen - ger

- stran - ger

- compu - ter

The last syllables are unstressed; thus use a schwa sound

/e/

Stressed, full vowel /e/

*often found in monosyllabic words

wet, friend, said

ɜː

/er/ sound

- third, fur, absurd

æ

fancier, slight twang in the tongue

- v/a/n

- pl/a/nting

- band (as in a musical group)

a:

Straightforward and full

- bad, father, mark

- band (as in to come together)

^

- b/u/tter

- ab/o/ve

- c/u/t

- n/u'dge

/eI/ diphthong sound

- bake, taint, paste, bade

oi (diphthong)

- foil, boy

/aI/

- bike, tiny

θ

unvoiced /th/

- think, thought, thigh, theme, thorough

ð

Voiced /th/

- there, this, bathe, though

tʃ

/ch/ sound

Chair, channel, Chores

dʒ

/j/ust

/g/iant

a/g/e

Minimal pairs

a pair of words that differ by only 1 phoneme (dog/bog)

Ex. grace and graze

/greis/ and /greiz/

the /s/ and /z/ sound is different

ŋ

/ng/ sound

- si/ng/, thi/ng/

- thi/n/king

Bilabial

both lips are used to create the sounds

/p/ /b/ /m/ /w/

Labiodental

Pertaining to lips and teeth; phonemes produced with lip and tooth contact

(upper lip, lower teeth)

/f/

/v/

interdental

tongue is between the teeth to produce the sound

/ð/

/θ /

Alveolar

tongue is behind the front teeth, the front part of the roof mouth

/t/, /d/, /s/, /n/, /z/, /l/

Palatal Sound

sound produced with the tongue against the hard palate

/j/ (the sound is y)

palato-alveolar

formed between the soft palate and the alveolar ridge (tʃ,dʒ,ʃ,ʒ)

Velar

The back is the one responsible for production of the sound

/k/, /g/, /ng/

Glottal sound

sound made with an open glottis, from the lungs

/h/

Plosives (Manner of Articulation)

Sounds that explodes lol

/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/

Fricatives (Manner of Articulation)

the airflow is disturbed, but not completely stopped

/f/ , /v/, /z/, /sh/, /h/

Affricates (Manner of Articulation)

Explodes with air, in between plosives and fricatives

/tʃ/, and /dʒ/

Nasal sounds (Manner of Articulation)

Sounds produced with airflow through the nose.

/m/, /n/, /ŋ/

Approximants (Manner of Articulation)

not much obstruction, very similar to vowels

/w/, /r/, /y/, /l/

There is a bit of a gap in the mouth when making the sound:

- Liquid/lateral: /r/, /l/ (little gap)

- Glides: /w/, /j/ (bigger gap, sounds like a vowel)

Glottal Stop (Special sound)

speech sound produced by quickly closing the vocal cords to momentarily block airflow, then releasing it

/button/ and /kitten/

May hangin pero pinigilan

Alveolar tap (Special sound)

a consonant sound made by the tongue briefly touching the ridge behind the upper teeth

/butter/, /stutter/