Língua Inglesa - Fonética e Fonologia

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DESCRIPTION
Phonetic and phonological aspects of the English language.
PURPOSE
Knowing the main principles of English Phonetics and Phonology and their application to the language
study is very important for its good oral communication and teaching.
GOALS
SECTION 1
To recognize the concepts of phone, phoneme, and grapheme
SECTION 2
To identify principles of linguistic variation
SECTION 3
To describe functions and classifications of the International Phonetic Alphabet
WARM-UP
In this unit we present a brief discussion on important concepts in the fields of Phonetics and Phonology
for a better understanding of the English oral and written discourses.
Firstly, we discuss two concepts that can sometimes cause a lot of trouble in language teaching:
phoneme and grapheme (letter). Knowing about their similarities and differences is important for several
reasons but particularly because it may lessen difficulties in written production in first or second language
(L1 and L2).
Secondly, we present a discussion about matters in spoken and written languages regarding the various
forms of expressions that materialize linguistic variation, discussing the heterogeneous character of
languages. Then we bring up how the awareness of this subject can be particularly significant in
teaching/learning first language writing or studying a second one.
Finally, in section 3, we discuss the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), showing how it represents the
speech sounds of any language, allowing accuracy in phonetic/phonological description, including
linguistic variation whether in an L1 or L2.
SECTION 1
 To recognize the concepts of phone, phoneme, and grapheme
PHONETICS X PHONOLOGY
Let us begin our discussion by defining two concepts that we wish to deepen:
WHAT IS PHONETICS AND WHAT IS PHONOLOGY?
Image: Shutterstock.com
Despite being intrinsically complementary, Phonetics and Phonology are distinct areas of linguistic
investigation. Phonetics has a more descriptive nature and is the area in Linguistics that presents the
methods for description, classification, and transcription of sounds of human speech, that is, of any
language. Phonology, in turn, has a more explanatory and interpretative nature and is traditionally
understood as the area that studies phonemes: the functional sounds of speech from the point of view of
the language system. Phonology studies the sounds that are in opposition in a particular language: their
functions in the system.
Phonetical and phonological studies, respectively, focus on the descriptive material of the sounds of
human speech and on the cognitively internalized linguistic-phonological knowledge.
Phonetics is dedicated to the description of the phones: the actual speech sounds that speakers
produce, and listeners hear, resulting from the performance of a complex articulatory/phonatory
apparatus.

Phonology is dedicated to the description of phonemes: the mental representations of a specific speech
sound, our phonological knowledge, that emerge cognitively despite the possible various actual phonetic
realizations related to a same phoneme.
For the production and perception of natural languages, people access a set of Articulatory mechanisms
that are ultimately responsible for the formation of the phones, the units of sounds, devoid of meanings,
that are the concrete material of any linguistic system. Thus, Phonetics investigates and describes the
smallest information produced and perceived throughout the current production of a natural language.
Phonetics is responsible for observing aspects related to the way such information is transmitted
from physical properties (Acoustic Phonetics), the way they are perceived (Auditory Phonetics), and
the way they are produced (articulatory Phonetics).
What we call complex articulatory/phonatory apparatus is a set of human body parts responsible for
producing the different speech sounds. Since the release of the airstream from the lungs, as it goes
through the larynx to mouth or nostrils, distinct parts of the body act, and different processes take place.
The picture below shows the body parts activated in speech sound formation:
Image: Shutterstock.com
 Speech sound formation.
From the interaction of the parts of the complex articulatory/phonatory apparatus, a limited number of
segments is formed. These segments are the minimal units of speech, objects of study in Phonetics.
These segments are consonants or vowels.
In the production of consonant and vowel sounds, we see the interaction of factors that together make up
what we can call the segmental identity of the sound, which we have technically identified as the phone.
Consonants and vowels may be differentiated by the way they are produced, concerning the airstream
flow.
Consonants present some constriction during the airstream release, and they are formed from the
interaction of three aspects:
MANNER OF ARTICULATION
Different ways airstream flows from the lungs out of the oral or nasal cavities.
POINT OF ARTICULATION
Different Articulatory locations in the course of sound production.
VOICING
The role played by the vocal folds (glottis) in the production of voiceless or voiced sounds.
Image: Shutterstock.com
Vowels are formed with no constriction during the airstream release. They are voiced sounds by nature
and formed from the interaction of the three following processes:
VOWEL HEIGHT
The greater or lesser verticality of the tongue height.
VOWEL LOCATION
The greater or lesser horizontality of a certain section of the tongue.
LIP ROUNDING
The roundness of the lips that can be more or less rounded at the time of production.
Manner and point of articulation, voicing, lip rounding, vowel height and vowel location are the most
commonly used features in structuralist phonetic descriptions in general. In this perspective, a segment
can be transcribed from the identification of its set of features. For example, the sound [p] can be
identified as the plosive, bilabial, voiceless consonant, and the sound [i] as the high, front, unrounded
vowel.
 COMMENT
The charts of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), to be presented in Section 3, describe the list of
consonants and vowels so far discovered in at least one of the known human languages. In this
representation, consonants are described and organized based on the interaction of the voicing, manner,
and point of articulation features, while vowels are described and organized based on the height,
location, and lip rounding ones.
PHONEMES
The first phonological concept we need to highlight is the phoneme. Not every phone is present or has
the function of a phoneme in a language. Phones only have the role of phonemes in a language when
they have a contrastive function, which means that they cause changes in lexical meaning.
Image: Shutterstock.com
If Phonetics is concentrated in the description of speech sounds, Phonology, on the other hand, is
interested in the internal relations shared by the phonemes of a same linguistic system. In opposition to
the more concrete nature of the phone, the notion of phoneme points to its role and function of
determining differences in meanings between words within a same linguistic system. The phoneme
becomes the smallest phonological unit of the language. But, being constituted by the distinctive features
that simultaneously define it, not only the phonemes themselves, but mainly the properties that constitute
them, would be the primitives of the phonological studies of any language.
Phonemes are therefore opposing sounds within the same linguistic system, so that the change of one
phoneme to another implies a change in the meaning of words, as we see in the minimal pairs think/sink
and sin/sing presented as follows:
MINIMAL PAIRS
Pair of words that differ on a single phoneme.
/ΘꞮŊK/ - /SꞮŊK/
javascript:void(0)
/SꞮN/ - /SꞮŊ/
We see that the phonemes /θ/ e /s/ as well as /n/ and /ŋ/stricture, the word which was initially cat became the word bat. A change in the place of
articulation and the presence of vibration created a totally new phoneme that changed the
meaning of the word.
Do you see why phonetics is important?
Simply altering where a phoneme is articulated may cause great changes in meaning. Both cat
and bat are words composed of plosives.
The phoneme /b/, however, is formed by a closure made at the lips. And that is why it is called a
bilabial (two lips) consonant.
The /b/ is a simple consonant to pronounce. Nonetheless, attention to the vibration of the vocal
cords is necessary. Otherwise you may be pronouncing /p/ instead.
BOTH /B/ AND /P/ ARE BILABIAL PLOSIVES, SO THEY BOTH
CONVERGE IN MANNER AND PLACE OF ARTICULATION;
THEIR ONLY DIFFERENCE RESIDES IN THE PRESENCE OR
ABSENCE OF VIBRATION. WHILE /P/ IS VOICELESS, /B/ IS ITS
VOICED COUNTERPART.
Both phonemes may occur in the beginning, the middle or the end of the words. When /b/
comes at the end, though, many speakers may forget to make the vocal cords vibrate and
words such as:
Moreover, /b/ is not always pronounced and in some words, it is silent (this happens when b
comes after m in the same syllable), like:
The /p/ seems to pose little difficulties for many students learning English as well. However,
aside from voicing, another element should be introduced in the study of the plosives. After the
release phase, when there is the plosive burst as described before, in the case of /p/ we should
consider another phase:
This is the moment when the air escapes and we produce a sound like /h/. This phenomenon is
known as aspiration.
Initial voiceless plosives like the phoneme /p/ are aspirated, whereas /b/, as a voiced plosive, is
unaspirated.
Aspiration is perceptible when there is a delay between the plosive burst and the beginning of
voicing, which is often equated with a puff of air. Aspiration only occurs, however, when /p/ is
initial in a stressed syllable, for example:
Pit
When /p/ follows /s/ it is, though, not aspirated, like in the word:
Spit
We may say then that /p/ is more explosive in English than in most languages and the lack of
aspiration in an initial /p/ may cause misunderstandings. You may end up saying:
To make sure aspiration is taking place, try the following test:
Put your hand in front of your mouth, you can also place a tissue in front of your mouth.

Then, practice saying the following: Practice makes perfect.

Pay attention to what happens to the tissue or to what you feel in your hand when saying the
words practice and perfect.
Did the tissue move?
Did you feel a puff of air in your hand?
If your answer was yes, then you are doing it right!
Source: EnsineMe
Source: EnsineMe
ALVEOLAR PLOSIVES
Source: Shutterstock.com.
So far, we have seen that the word cat has two plosive consonants. But we haven’t discussed
which articulators are involved in producing both /k/ and /t/ yet. Let’s start with the /t/ phoneme.
Try saying the word cat out loud.

Pay attention to your tongue position.

Now think: How was the stricture formed?

If your tongue tip touched your gum ridge, then you are on the right track!
Alveolar plosives are formed when a closure is made with the tongue tip against the alveolar
ridge (that is, the hard, bony ridge behind the teeth).
Try saying the sentence:
Image: Shutterstock.com.
You may have noticed that both Ted and sad are formed in the same area (the alveolar ridge).
To produce both sounds the tip/blade of the tongue is brought closer to the alveolar ridge.
For the /s/ phoneme, though, the air passage is not completely blocked and a hissing sound
results from it.

To pronounce /t/, on the other hand, the airflow is blocked and after its release there is a puff of
air.
Both /s/ and /t/ are alveolar consonants; both are then formed in the alveolar ridge. While one
results from the complete closure of the air passage, the other derives from the constriction of
the airflow.
IN OTHER TERMS, ONE IS A FRICATIVE CONSONANT AND THE
OTHER, A PLOSIVE ONE. WHAT’S MORE, /S/ AND /T/ ARE
VOICELESS, PRODUCED WITH NO VIBRATION OF THE VOCAL
CORDS.
Because /t/ is a voiceless plosive consonant, like /p/ discussed before, it will also be aspirated
whenever it is an initial phoneme in a stressed syllable. If pronounced with no aspiration it may
resemble its voiced counterpart, that is, /d/. /t/ is aspirated in words such as:
When, however, it occurs between vowels and follows a stressed syllable it is not aspirated, for
example:
While it is true that the letter t is usually pronounced /t/, it is not the only letter or combination of
letters that is pronounced as such. Think of the past tense of the verb stop, that is, the word
stopped.
Have you noticed that the -ed ending is pronounced /t/?
This happens whenever -ed follows a voiceless consonant, for example:
THE PHONEME /D/ IS ITS VOICED COUNTERPART. IN ORDER
TO AVOID MISUNDERSTANDINGS, JUST REMEMBER THAT /D/
IS A VOICED CONSONANT. YOUR VOCAL CORDS SHOULD,
THEREFORE, VIBRATE.
Pay special attention to the /d/ at the end of words, such as bed or card, for example, as the
lack of vibration may give the listener the impression that you are saying bet and cart instead.
Another pronunciation problem may result from placing your tongue tip at the wrong place. Your
tongue tip should touch your alveolar ridge and not the back of your teeth (inside the teeth) or
between your teeth, otherwise:
Source: EnsineMe
Source: EnsineMe
VELAR PLOSIVES
Simply put, the word velar identifies a place of articulation, that is, the velum or soft palate. To
determine where the soft palate is, do the following:
Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth (hard palate).

If you keep moving your tongue backwards, you will reach a point in which a hard structure
meets a soft one.

This is the soft palate! The velum contains only muscles, it is boneless, and that’s why it is soft.
 LEARN MORE
Alternatively, you may want to use your finger instead to identify the velum. This area, where the
hard palate joins the velum, is a pretty sensitive one, and once you reach it you may experience
what is called the “gag reflex”, as if you were about to vomit. That is a natural bodily response
aimed at preventing choking or swallowing unpleasant objects.
The soft palate, however, has other functions as well, and in our case, it functions as the place
of articulation for our remaining plosives: /k/ and /g/.
Imagem: Shutterstock.com.
Let’s go back again to our initial example: the word cat!
So far, we have determined that /t/ is an alveolar plosive, meaning that the closure is made with
the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge.
By pronouncing the word cat, you may notice that the back of your tongue touches the soft
palate (that spot that may trigger the “gag reflex”) to produce the phoneme /k/. Velar plosives
are, then, formed when the back of the tongue and the soft palate make a closure, preventing
the air from escaping.
To understand the movement, you may want to try the following:
Place the back of your tongue against the soft palate.

Don’t let the air out, while you breathe out.

Suddenly let it out.

When you use your voice, you realize that two phonemes derive from it: /k/ and /g/.
/K/ IS NOT A HARD PHONEME TO PRODUCE, ESPECIALLY
WHEN COMPARED TO /Θ/, A DENTAL FRICATIVE CONSONANT.
HOWEVER, ATTENTION SHOULD BE GIVEN TO ASPIRATION.
/k/ is a very explosive phoneme in English and whenever it is an initial phoneme in a stressed
syllable, such as in cat, it should be said with strong aspiration and a puff of air.
Source: Petrychenko Anton | shutterstock.com
By holding a match in front of your face, while pronouncing /k/, as in cat, you should see the
flame flicker.
Just remember that the letter k does not always coincide with the phoneme /k/. In words such
as knit and know, the letter k is silent, which is usually the case when k precedesthe letter n.
Moreover, different spellings refer to the phoneme /k/: k being the most frequent one, and ch, a
less frequent spelling. The words mechanics, chrome, Christmas exemplify the former. The
letter c, whenever it precedes a, o or u, is also pronounced as /k/, as in the words:
Source: EnsineMe
When the velar closure produces vibration of the vocal cords and less aspiration, the sound /g/
is being pronounced. Therefore, make sure your vocal cords are vibrating, especially at the end
of the words, to avoid misunderstandings; otherwise you may end up saying:
While it is true that the letter g is usually pronounced as /g/, words containing the letter x may
also be pronounced as a combination of /g/ and /z/, such as the word:
autor/shutterstock
We have studied three pairs of plosives that differ in terms of places of articulation. When it
comes to the articulators involved, plosives in English can be alveolar, velar or bilabial
consonants.
In the study of the plosives, aside from voicing, that is, categorizing the consonants in terms of
absence of presence of vibration; another element was added, namely: aspiration. Even
though the vibration of the vocal cords may play a major role in determining different
consonants, in the case of the plosives, aspiration becomes a much more relevant aspect,
especially to a native ear.
Voiceless consonants are aspirated whenever they are the initial consonants in a stressed
syllable. That means that while /t/ is:

The following chart summarizes what was discussed in this section:
Plosive Consonants Bilabial Alveolar Velar
Voiced (unaspirated) /b/ /d/ /g/
Voiceless (aspirated) /p/ /t/ /k/
 Atenção! Para visualizaçãocompleta da tabela utilize a rolagem horizontal
 Source: Elaborated by the author.
In the following video, Professor Fábio Simas presents us with some practical examples of
plosive consonants. Let's watch!
LEARNING CHECK
1. A CHANGE IN ONE PHONEME COMPLETELY CHANGES AN ENTIRE
WORD. WHAT MAKES YOU SAY CAT, INSTEAD OF BAT OR PAT IS THE
CHANGE IN ONE PHONEME. HAVING THAT IN MIND, EXPLAIN THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CONSONANTS /K/, /B/, AND /P/.
A) All consonants are fricatives and they only differ in voicing. /p/ is voiced, whereas /b/ and /k/
are voiceless.
B) They are all plosives that differ in places of articulation. /b/ is bilabial, /k/ is velar, and /p/ is a
glottal consonant.
C) They are all plosives that differ in places of articulation and voicing. Whereas /p/ and /b/ are
bilabial consonants, /k/ velar. What’s more, /b/ is the only voiced consonant.
D) They are all plosives that differ in placed of articulation and aspiration. Whereas /p/ and/b/
are bilabial consonants, /k/ is velar. What’s more, /b/ is the only aspirated consonant.
E) They all have the same place of articulation but differ in manner of articulation.
2. ONE OF THE GREATEST PROBLEMS STUDENTS FACE WHEN TRYING
TO UNDERSTAND ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION COMES FROM THE FACT
THAT, IN ENGLISH, MANY TIMES SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION DON’T
CONVERGE. LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE CH, FOR EXAMPLE. WHAT CAN
BE SAID ABOUT THIS COMBINATION OF LETTERS IN THE FOLLOWING
WORDS: CHEF AND CHEMISTRY?
A) In both words the letters ch refer to the phoneme /k/, that is, a velar plosive.
B) The letters ch refer to different phonemes: alveolar and velar plosives, respectively.
C) The letters ch refer to different phonemes: bilabial and velar plosives, respectively.
D) The letters ch refer to different phonemes: alveolar and velar fricatives, respectively.
E) The letters ch refer to different phonemes: palato-alveolar and velar consonants,
respectively.
GABARITO
1. A change in one phoneme completely changes an entire word. What makes you say
cat, instead of bat or Pat is the change in one phoneme. Having that in mind, explain the
difference between the consonants /k/, /b/, and /p/.
Option "C " is correct.
/p/ and /b/ are bilabial plosives, that is, they have the same place and manner of articulation.
Their only difference resides in voicing: /p/ is voiceless and, this way, aspirated and /b/ is voiced
and unaspirated. The phoneme /k/ is a velar plosive and voiceless.
2. One of the greatest problems students face when trying to understand English
pronunciation comes from the fact that, in English, many times spelling and
pronunciation don’t converge. Let’s take a look at the ch, for example. What can be said
about this combination of letters in the following words: chef and chemistry?
Option "E " is correct.
The letters refer to two different phonemes. In the word chef, the phoneme /ʃ/ is being produced.
Therefore, in the first word, the letters ch refer to a palato-alveolar fricative. The second word,
however, falls under the category of a velar plosive, since the phoneme /k/ is being produced.
SECTION 3
 To classify consonants based on the degree of constriction
AIRFLOW AND CONSTRICTION
Speech production involves modifying the airstream. Different phonemes are produced by
different degrees of constriction. While the plosive burst is produced by a complete closure at
some point in the vocal tract, fricatives such as /f/ and /v/ result from a friction sound. Fricatives,
therefore, are produced when the degree of constriction is such that a friction noise is heard.
Both fricatives and plosives are categorized under the umbrella term:
Obstruents
In phonetics, obstruent is a sound that is produced by obstructing the airflow, whether by a
complete closure (such as is the case with the plosives) or by a narrowing in the vocal tract (as
with the fricatives).
Although all obstruents are consonants, not all consonants are obstruents, as you may see in
the following sections. There are three types of obstruents in English, namely:
Plosives
Fricatives
Affricates
In this section we will be studying the remaining obstruent as well as consonants produced with
continuous and non-turbulent airflow.
AFFRICATES
The first phoneme in the word tip is a plosive consonant, meaning that we bring the tip/blade
of the tongue close to the alveolar ridge, and the airflow is momentarily blocked. By releasing
the air, due to the pressure difference, we can hear an explosive sound called plosive burst.
Now let’s compare two words that, apart from their initial phonemes, are quite similar!
The words are:
The initial phoneme in the word tip is a plosive consonant, but what can we say about the initial
phoneme in chip?
Does it involve a complete closure in the vocal tract?
Does it involve
friction?
Is it a fricative or a plosive, then?
Notice that to pronounce chip, we must completely obstruct the air from flowing and produce a
friction sound. The resultant phoneme seems to be a combination of a plosive and a fricative.
First, a closure is formed.

Then, the palato-alveolar closure is released slowly, producing a friction at the same place of
articulation.
The phoneme /tʃ/ is a combination of the:
Plosive /t/

Fricative /ʃ/
The phoneme /tʃ/, in the word chip, is an affricate. There are two affricates in English, formed
at the same place of articulation: they are both palato-alveolar affricates. /tʃ/ is produced without
vibration of the vocal cords, that is, it is a voiceless consonant.
Since this phoneme involves a plosive/fricative combination, attention should be paid to its initial
closure, otherwise the phoneme /ʃ/ may be pronounced instead. If you don’t press the tongue tip
against the gum ridge behind your upper teeth, you will say:
The phoneme may be found in the beginning, middle, and end of words. The affricate may have
the following spellings: ch, tu, tch and less frequently t and ti.
Source: EnsineMe
Its voiced counterpart also derives from a complete closure followed by a fricative release. The
phoneme /dʒ/ is the one found in words such as:
If you forget to press your tongue against the upper gum ridge, you will say:
Alternatively, if your vocal cords do not vibrate:
/dʒ/ may be spelled as: j, g,and dg.
Source: EnsineMe
The letters di and du may be pronounced as /dʒ/ as well as in words such as:
The phoneme is found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
 TIP
The letter g at the end of words and before a silent e is usually pronounced as /dʒ/. This is what
happens in words such as age, college, collage.
APPROXIMANTS
The degree of constriction may vary depending on the consonants involved:
Plosives entail the highest degree of constriction: complete closure.
Fricatives depend on a stricture capable of hindering the airstream in such a way that friction is
caused.
Affricates are a combination of plosives and fricatives, therefore both degrees are at play.
There is another possibility, though, the least radical one; one in which articulators are brought
together but the stricture formed is wide enough not to give rise to friction:
Since articulators are brought into closer contact (approximation), these consonants, formed
without friction, are known as approximants.
Approximants, together with the vowels, fall under the category of:
Sonorants
Sonorants are speech sounds produced by a degree of constriction that is less radical than
those that produce obstruents. There is, then, no obstruction to the airflow and the air can
escape without any audible turbulence or friction. Nasals and approximants, as well as vowels,
are sonorants.
There are four approximants in English, and they are split into two categories:
Lateral approximants
Central approximants
 ATTENTION
Alternatively, the terms liquids and glides may also be used. These terms are not synonymous
and, even though some of their phonemes overlap, there are also differences. Not all liquid
consonants are lateral approximants, but all glides, for instance, are central
approximants. The great difference resides in the phoneme /r/, which seems to be the
exception to the rule.
But what are liquid consonants anyway?
LIQUIDS
Liquid consonants are formed when the tongue approaches a place of articulation in the mouth.
This approximation, however, does not hinder the airflow by causing an obstruction so the air
can escape through the mouth without any turbulence. The position and movement of the
tongue directs the airflow. Liquid consonants are approximants since we bring the articulators
into close contact, but we hear no friction. They may also be classed as lateral and central
approximants.
Let’s think of two similar words:
When you say the first one, you notice that the tip of your tongue is raised and touches the
upper teeth or the roof of the mouth (as it does for the phonemes /t/ and /d/). You also notice
that this approximation does not involve a closure in the vocal tract and the air can flow toward
the sides of the mouth.
Frictionless airflow is possible since the sides of the tongue are kept down.
The air is, then, pushed to the sides of the tongue and able to escape laterally.
/l/ is a lateral approximant. It is also an alveolar consonant, as there is a central closure with the
alveolar ridge. The term lateral refers to how the air escapes (laterally) and the word alveolar
refers to its place of articulation. In terms of its manner of articulation, /l/ may be classed as a
lateral approximant. Notice that the airstream is blocked centrally, but lateral escape is allowed.
Now let’s go back to the word rap!
Fonte: Unsplash
When you say this word, you may realize that your tongue is also raised to produce the /r/
phoneme. The tip of the tongue approaches the same area it does for /t/ and /d/, but it never
really touches this area. It is, in fact, curled upward toward the roof of the mouth.
This curling process usually makes the tip of the tongue move to a position further back in the
mouth than that for /t/ and /d/. That’s probably why there seems to be some confusion
about the phoneme’s place of articulation.
 COMMENTS
Some books refer to /r/ as being an alveolar consonant, others prefer the term post-alveolar but
here we will be calling it a palatal liquid, in clear contrast with /l/, the alveolar liquid. Since the
tongue is elevated towards the roof of the mouth (the hard palate), it is a palatal consonant.
Moreover, the consonant r in English is very difficult to describe as native speakers may
produce it differently (it is one of the most variable sounds in English), and that’s also why
authors don’t seem to agree when it comes to its place of articulation.
Nonetheless, one thing is for sure: it involves the tip of the tongue approaching the alveolar
ridge area, but not touching it. The tongue is also curled backwards.
To produce /r/ the air does not escape laterally as it does for /l/; it flows, on the contrary,
centrally. /r/ is a central approximant, since the air can flow centrally without any audible friction.
The airflow is altered but still directed forward.
As you can see, liquid consonants, /l/ and /r/, entail a not-so-narrow constriction in the vocal
tract, meaning that there is no friction or blockage. That’s why, together with the glides, they are
grouped as approximants.
/l/ is a lateral approximant, and an alveolar liquid consonant

/r/ is a central approximant, and a palatal liquid consonant
ALVEOLAR LIQUID
One simple way of describing the pronunciation of /l/ is to say that the tongue tip is pressed
against the gum ridge behind the upper front teeth. The air escapes through the sides of the
tongue and the vocal cords vibrate. The following picture illustrates this sound production:
Source: EnsineMe
What this simple description fails to specify is the position of the body of the tongue. There are
two possible positions that characterize two distinct pronunciations.
“CLEAR L”
Whenever L comes initially in a syllable, the body of the tongue is bunched upwards and
forwards towards the hard palate, giving a light quality to the sound, as in a word like:
Let
This is called: “clear L” and the front of the tongue is raised. “Clear L” will occur before vowels
in words such as:
Lemonade / Lake
“DARK L”
This is not what happens in words when L comes at the end, such as:
Kill
In this case, the back of the tongue is raised and “dark L” is pronounced instead.
“Dark L” will occur before consonants and at the end of syllables, in words such as:
Eel / Bill
PALATAL LIQUID
The English language is split into two types of accents:
RHOTIC ACCENTS
NON-RHOTIC ACCENTS
RHOTIC ACCENTS
When the letter r is pronounced regardless of its context, then, it means we are dealing with a
rhotic variation.
Rhotic accents encompass most American varieties, Scottish, Irish, and the regional accents of
the West Country of England.
NON-RHOTIC ACCENTS
In non-rhotic accents, r is only pronounced before a vowel. This accent is characteristic of most
of England and Wales, American English spoken in the southern and eastern states, some
Caribbean, all Australian, all South African, and most New Zealand varieties of English.
In non-rhotic accents, the letter r is not pronounced and the word sounds as follows:
Fonte: Unsplash
To produce the /r/ phoneme the tongue tip is curled upward toward the roof of the mouth:
Source: EnsineMe
If you touch the roof of your mouth with your tongue, you will produce /l/ instead of /r/. Just make
sure your tongue approaches the hard palate, but never touches it. Also, /r/ is a voiced
consonant, and your vocal cords should vibrate while you make this phoneme. The production
of /r/, differently from what happens to /l/, involves lip movement. The lips are rounded.
A different sound, however, is heard when the letter is at the beginning of a syllable and comes
after p, t or k. For example:
In this case, the phoneme is voiceless and a bit fricative.
In the other cases, both liquid consonants are voiced, and both also involve the tongue
approaching a place of articulation in the mouth, be it the alveolar ridge or the hard palate.
To produce the alveolar liquid, the air escapes laterally.

To producethe palatal liquid, the air escapes centrally instead.
NASALS
Approximants produce a frictionless sound since the stricture, formed by bringing articulators
into closer contact, is wide enough not to cause any friction. Nasal consonants are also
frictionless sounds, but these phonemes are produced differently.
Even though nasals are sonorants, like approximants and vowels, their production involve a
closure in the vocal tract. Unlike the plosives, though, the air is not held behind the closure but
allowed to escape through the nasal cavity.
First, the velum is lowered.

Then, a closure in the vocal tract stops the airflow through the oral cavity.

Finally, the airflow continues through the nasal cavity.
There are three nasals:
Alveolar nasal
Bilabial nasal
Velar nasal
ALVEOLAR NASAL
To produce this phoneme, there is a complete closure between the blade of the tongue and the
alveolar ridge. The air, then, escapes through the nasal cavity. The alveolar nasal is the initial
phoneme in the word:
Just make sure you press your tongue tip against the gum ridge behind your upper front teeth.
The airstream is continuous through the nose and your vocal cords vibrate as /n/ is a voiced
consonant.
The letter n is usually pronounced. The exception to the rule is when it is preceded by m. When
n follows m, it is not pronounced, it is silent.
Source: EnsineMe
BILABIAL NASAL
Nasal consonants, especially when they come at the end of words, are often confused. If /n/
entails a closure between the tongue and the alveolar ridge, /m/, being a bilabial nasal, entails
the lips coming together. There is, then, a complete closure between the lips and the air
escapes through the nasal cavity. Once again, just make sure your vocal cords vibrate!
Remember the phoneme’s place of articulation to avoid possible misunderstandings. If you form
a closure between the alveolar ridge and the tongue, instead of closing your lips, you will say:
Source: EnsineMe
VELAR NASAL
If you say the word sing, you will realize that the closure is formed at a different point in the
vocal tract. The back of the tongue and the velum form a complete closure and the air flows
through the nasal cavity. This phoneme may pose some problems as students may be
unfamiliar with it and try to resort to a more common sound, namely, /n/. Just remember to raise
the back of your tongue, not the tip.
The consonant /ŋ/ is only found in the middle and end of words. The letters ng and ngue,
whenever they come at the end of words, are pronounced as /ŋ/.
Source: EnsineMe
The letter n, when it precedes g or k, is usually pronounced as /ŋ/. This is the case in words
such as:
We have studied so far different types of sonorants and obstruents. The obstruents are
formed when there is an obstruction to the airflow. There are three types of obstruents: plosives,
fricatives and affricates. The remaining phonemes are called sonorants, which are formed when
the airstream can flow without any audible friction. Vowels, approximants and nasals are
sonorants.
Fonte: Elaborado pelo autor.
In the following video, Professor Tatiana Massuno presents us consonants produced with
continuous and non-turbulent airflow. Let's watch it!
LEARNING CHECK
1. EVEN THOUGH FRICATIVES AND AFFRICATES ARE BOTH
OBSTRUENTS, THERE IS A GREAT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEIR
MANNERS OF ARTICULATION. HAVING THIS DIFFERENCE IN MIND,
CHOOSE THE ALTERNATIVE THAT BEST DESCRIBES THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE WORDS SHEEP AND CHEAP:
A) There is no difference between them as they both refer to the phoneme /tʃ/.
B) While the initial phoneme in sheep is an affricate, the initial phoneme in cheap is a fricative.
C) While the initial phoneme in sheep is a fricative, the initial phoneme in cheap is an
affricate.
D) There is no difference between them as they both refer to the phoneme /ʃ/.
E) The first phoneme in sheep is a fricative and plosive combination, while the first phoneme in
the word cheap is not.
2. NASALS AND LIQUIDS ARE BOTH SONORANTS, MEANING THAT
THERE IS NO OBSTRUCTION TO THE AIRFLOW. THE AIR ESCAPES
DIFFERENTLY, HOWEVER, IN EACH CASE. CHOOSE THE ALTERNATIVE
THAT CONTAINS A TRUE STATEMENT ABOUT NASALS AND LIQUIDS:
A) An alveolar nasal is a phoneme that allows the air to flow through the alveolar ridge.
B) A palatal liquid is a phoneme that allows the air to flow through the hard palate.
C) An alveolar nasal is a phoneme formed by a closure between the tongue and the alveolar
ridge. The air, then, escapes through the nasal cavity.
D) A palatal liquid is a lateral approximant.
E) Nasals are also approximants since there is an open approximation between two articulators.
GABARITO
1. Even though fricatives and affricates are both obstruents, there is a great difference
between their manners of articulation. Having this difference in mind, choose the
alternative that best describes the difference between the words sheep and cheap:
Option "C " is correct.
The initial phoneme in the word sheep refers to the fricative /ʃ/. The initial phoneme in the word
cheap, on the other hand, refers to the phoneme /tʃ/, which is a plosive- fricative combination.
Even though there is an initial closure to produce this phoneme, the air is slowly released with
some friction noise. The phoneme /tʃ/ is an affricate.
2. Nasals and liquids are both sonorants, meaning that there is no obstruction to the
airflow. The air escapes differently, however, in each case. Choose the alternative that
contains a true statement about nasals and liquids:
Option "C " is correct.
The term alveolar determines the place of articulation, that is, the point in the vocal tract where
there is a closure or stricture. For nasals, it determines where the closure occurs so that the air
can escape through the nasal cavity.
SECTION 4
 To recognize the context in which syllabic consonants can occur
VOWELS X CONSONANTS
Establishing criteria to distinguish vowels from consonants is not as simple as expected. Even
though vowels and consonants are concepts used on a daily basis by the majority of the
population around the world, pinpointing their differences can be a bit tricky in English.
FIRSTLY, SINCE CONSONANTS AND VOWELS ARE
PHONEMES, CERTAIN LETTERS, DEPENDING ON THEIR
CONTEXT, MAY ACT AS CONSONANTS OR VOWELS.
What’s more, combinations of consonants as well may act as vowels in certain words. It means
that consonants may take a vowel-like quality depending on the context in which they occur. In
this section we will be discussing consonants that act as vowels, that exhibit vowel-like
characteristics. We will also study the contexts in which they occur.
CONSONANTS AND VOWELS
The last time you went to the doctor she or he probably asked you to say:
Fonte: Shutterstock.com
There is a reason why this sound seems to be a favorite among medical professionals. When
you produce this sound (ahh) the air flows through an unobstructed passage from the larynx to
the lips. The doctor, then, can examine you better since this sound production provides him or
her with an unobstructed view.
It wouldn’t be the same if you were asked to say /k/ or /d/ instead.
SIMPLY PUT, VOWELS ARE PHONEMES PRODUCED WITH
MINIMAL OBSTRUCTION TO THE AIRFLOW.
So much so that, when it comes to vowel production, places and manner of articulation become
irrelevant. All vowels are approximants since they involve open approximations. For
vowels, the tongue shape and its movement, as well as the movement of the lips are much
more relevant.
However, this simple distinction fails to account for some phonemes such as:
/w/ in wet
/j/ in yes
The obstruction to the airflow in these phonemes resembles what happens in vowel production.
/w/ and /j/ may adapt to the adjacent vowel. The same does not apply to vowels, though (as
they typically do not adapt to adjacent consonants).
 COMMENTS
Vowels are syllabic sounds, but this characteristic is not enough to class a phoneme as a vowel.
Someconsonants may be also syllabic. Even though some primary tentative distinctions
between vowels and consonants, at first, seem to hold true; scrutinizing them might reveal some
exceptions and unexpected contradictions. The consonants that follow in this section fall under
this category: they are exceptions to the rule, as they may act as vowels (phonetically),
depending on the context in which they find themselves.
GLIDES
Glides, together with the phoneme /r/, are grouped under the central approximant category. That
means that they are formed by a stricture of open approximation and the stricture is wide
enough not to cause any turbulence to the airflow. What’s more, the air escapes centrally,
without any audible friction.
When you say the word wet you realize that your lips are rounded in the same position as for
the vowel /u/.
Fonte: Shutterstock.com
Lip shape is important to produce vowels, do you remember?
Phonetically, /w/ is like a vowel since it is place of articulation is basically the same as for /u/. It
does not function as a vowel, though.
Compare the word wet with other similar one-syllable words, such as:
You will notice that all these words differ in one phoneme: the initial one. /g/, /v/, /p/, and /l/ are
inarguably consonants, meaning that /w/ also occupies the place of a consonant. It occurs
before a vowel phoneme, which is a consonant distribution. Moreover, the use of the indefinite
article may also hint /w/ is a consonant.
ONE OF THE FIRST RULES WE STUDY, WHILE LEARNING
ENGLISH, IS THAT THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE "A" IS USED
BEFORE CONSONANT SOUNDS. GRAMMAR BOOKS ARE
EMPHATIC ABOUT THIS RULE APPLYING TO SOUNDS AND
NOT LETTERS. BEFORE CONSONANT SOUNDS, "A" IS USED,
WHEREAS BEFORE VOWEL SOUNDS "AN" IS USED.
Now let’s think about a noun phrase to exemplify!
If we want to say that a car is wet in a simple noun phrase, we will sum it up as follows:
Notice that before /w/ an "a" is used, meaning that it sounds like a consonant.
Phonetically, /w/ is like a vowel.

Phonologically, /w/ is a consonant.
Some grammar books prefer the term semi-vowel, a phoneme that is articulated like a vowel
but classed as a consonant.
You may refer to /w/ as being a central approximant, a semi-vowel, and even as:
A glide
The term glide refers to the fact that it glides into the syllable nucleus. As it occurs in prevocalic
positions, it cannot form the nucleus of the syllable. And when a glide, conversely, follows a
vowel, it is, then, considered a diphthong.
LABIOVELAR GLIDE
/w/ is considered to be a doubly articulated sound. It involves an open approximation at the
lips and the tongue back at the velum and that is why it is often called a labiovelar approximant.
This labiovelar approximant shares its articulatory characteristics with the vowel /u/, as
mentioned before:
The velum is raised so the air does not escape through the nose.
The airflow, however, is altered by having it glide over the tongue before it escapes through the
mouth.
The labiovelar approximant is considered to be a very short version of /u/.
This consonant sound occurs at the beginning and middle of words. It does not occur at the end
of words in English, though. At the end of words, it is usually silent, as in words like:
Source: EnsineMe
The letter w is always pronounced as /w/ in prevocalic position, for instance, in words such as:
And a less frequent spelling for the phoneme are the letters o and u, in words such as:
Some English speakers, whenever they say words spelled with wh-, like what or where, use
aspiration and sound, resembling what happens to the phoneme /h/. The resultant phoneme is a
combination of /h/ and /w/ and sounds like /hw/. Both pronunciations (/hw/ and /w/) are
acceptable, though. Let’s hear:
PALATAL GLIDE
If instead of the word wet, you say the word yet, you will notice that the latter resembles the
articulatory production of another vowel /i/.
If you prolong the pronunciation of /j/ it will sound like /i/, meaning that /j/ sounds like a very
short /i/. To produce this sound, you should:
Fonte: Shutterstock.com
Raise the tongue body up to the hard palate.

The lips are spread, and the velum is raised preventing the air from escaping through the nose.

Also, your vocal cords should vibrate as this is a voiced consonant.
The consonant /j/ is usually spelled as the letter y, in words such as:
Source: EnsineMe
Some words containing the letter u may also refer to the palatal glide, in words such as:
Liquids and glides are both approximants, their difference resides, however, in the fact that:
To produce the glides the body of the tongue is used.

To produce the liquids the tip of the tongue is raised.
SYLLABIC CONSONANTS
As you may remember, a syllable, phonetically speaking, consists of a center that has no or
minimal obstruction to the airflow. Before and after the center there is more obstruction, though.
In other terms, a syllable consists of a nucleus that is usually a vowel. Before and after the
nucleus there are other segments, which are typically consonants. If there is no vowel, certain
consonants may function as the nucleus, filling the nucleus slot in the syllable. These are called
syllabic consonants. Nasals and liquids can occur as syllabic consonants. Syllabic consonants
are longer and more prominent than usual.
What makes certain sounds candidates for the syllable nucleus slot?
Sonority plays a great role here. More sonorous sounds are more apt to fill the nucleus slot.
Vowels are more sonorous than plosives or fricatives, for instance.
Fonte: Shutterstock.com
Fricatives entail a friction noise

Plosives entail a plosive burst
It is easy to notice that these consonants depend acoustically on noise elements to be
produced. That is not the case with vowels, since they are approximants:
Vowels typically form the nucleus.
Obstruents, on the other hand, occur at the margins of the syllable (they precede or follow
the nucleus).
Sonorant consonants (approximants and nasals) may function as the nucleus, when there is
no vowel in the syllable.
THE GREATER THE CONSTRICTION, THE LESS SONOROUS A
PHONEME IS.
Philipp Carr (2013) proposes the following sonority scale:

Low vowels

High vowels

Approximants

Nasals

Voiced fricatives

Voiceless fricatives

Voiced stops

Voiceless stops
THE SCHWA SOUND
The schwa sound is one of the most frequent vowels sounds in English. It is associated with
weak, unstressed syllables and, differently from other vowels, is not articulated with much
energy.
Compare the words:
Source: Unsplash

Source: Unsplash
You will realize that the letter a has two distinct pronunciations.
In the first word, a is pronounced as /æ/.

In the second word, however, since a is in an unstressed syllable, it is pronounced as /ə/.
As you can notice, /ə/ is the symbol for the schwa sound.
Any vowel letter may be pronounced as a schwa sound, as long as it is unstressed. The schwa
vowel is a very short, quick sound, pronounced in a relaxed way with barely any lip movement.
Syllabic consonants are not exclusive to certain varieties of English and may, then, occur in
many of them. They are, though, more perceptible as the rate of the speech increases. Let’s
think of a simple word, like:
Button
The second syllable, the unstressed one, may have a syllabic nasal, depending on how the
speaker pronounces it. If the schwa sound /ə/ is lost during speech production, /n/ may fill the
nucleus slot. The following transcription shows the process:
/ˈbʌtən/ → [ˈbʌtn̩].
The omission of the neutral vowel /ə/ leads to a syllabic /n/.
 ATTENTION
Notice the use of the symbol [ ˌ ]. This little vertical mark shows that it is a syllabic consonant.
SYLLABIC NASALS
The most frequently found syllabic nasal is the syllabic n. It is most common after alveolar
plosives and fricatives, for instance, in words such as:
Since the second syllable is unstressed, the vowelbefore the nasal sound is not pronounced
and n functions as the nucleus of the syllable. After certain phonemes, however, syllabic n does
not occur.
That is the case of the following phonemes: /l/, /tʃ/, and /dʒ/. The schwa sound is not lost, and n
is not syllabic. In words such as:
After bilabial consonants, both /n/ and syllabic n are possible, in words such as:
The same happens after velar consonants, both pronunciations are possible, in words such as:
After /f/ and /v/, syllabic n is also common, as:
In words such as button, syllabic n occurs as a product of the join between the plosive and the
nasal parts of the word. The word has an alveolar plosive and an alveolar nasal. There is, then,
a complete closure formed by the tongue against the alveolar ridge. There is, this way, no
possibility for the unobstructed airflow needed for a vowel.
 ATTENTION
Notice that the plosive and the nasal portions are homorganic, that is, they share the same
place of articulation. This is a clear case of syllabic consonant.
Syllabic m occurs in similar environments, in words such as:
Let’s take a look at the word broken!
Fonte:Shutterstock
As discussed above, after velar consonants syllabic n may occur. However, there is another
possibility:
The occurrence of a velar plosive (/k/) close to a nasal (/n/) may lead to the nasal assimilating a
characteristic of the plosive.
The nasal may assimilate the place of articulation of the velar plosive

Leading to a velar nasal
Instead of producing a syllabic n, another phoneme may occur: syllabic ŋ. The same can
happen in a word such as:
 LEARN MORE
The occurrence of a bilabial plosive close to a nasal may also lead to the assimilation a feature
of the bilabial plosive, that is, its place of articulation. This may lead to the production of the
syllabic m, instead of a syllabic n.
SYLLABIC LIQUIDS
For many speakers, /l/ in the word bottle may be syllabic.
Fonte: Shutterstock.com
That means that the schwa sound in the second syllable, which is unstressed, may be lost.
When this happens, we have a syllabic l instead of /l/. Other examples of syllabic l are the
words:
In rhotic accents syllabic r is also common. In the word particular, for instance, the last /r/ could
be syllabic.
Notice that in non-rhotic accents, however, some British varieties, for instance, since the letter r
is not pronounced after vowels, the process does not occur.
 RECALLING
The difference between rhotic and non-rhotic accents lies in whether the letter r is pronounced
in certain contexts. In rhotic accents, the letter r is always pronounced. In this variety of English,
you will always hear the letter r in words such as car, large, park. This is not true for non-rhotic
accents, though. When the letter r follows a vowel, in non-rhotic accents, it is dropped, that is, it
is not pronounced. It is only pronounced when it precedes a vowel in words such as rat, crop or
drop. American English is usually rhotic, whereas British English is usually non-rhotic.
To sum up, even though vowels typically occupy the nucleus slot in a syllable, whenever they
are absent, a consonant may function as the nucleus. Given the sonority scale, approximants
and nasals are fitter to occupy that slot.
Nasals and liquids, therefore, may be syllabic, whenever they occur in an unstressed
syllable without vowels.
The neutral vowel, the schwa sound, is lost, and a syllabic consonant is, then, heard. In many
cases, more than one pronunciation is acceptable: the syllabic and the non-syllabic
consonants. Nasals may suffer assimilation and a syllabic velar, or a syllabic bilabial may be
heard instead. The occurrence of syllabic r is less frequent in non-rhotic accents.
Syllabic consonants may also be combined. We may find words in which more than one syllabic
consonant is possible.
Let’s think of the word national, for example!
Fonte: Shutterstock.com
Syllabic n and syllabic l are adjacent in the word and its phonemic transcription may read as
follows: /næʃn̩l̩/.
Peter Roach (2004) also provides more examples for this phenomenon:
To perceive the use of the syllabic consonant or its non-syllabic counterpart may not be so easy
in a conversation, however. This tendency, thus, may be harder to pinpoint in real life than its
phonetic study may imply.
We have studied consonants that do not thoroughly abide by what is expected from a
consonant. Glides, for instance, function phonetically as vowels since their articulatory
production resembles that of two vowels: /u/ and /i/.
Phonetically, then, they are like short vowels.

Phonologically, however, they function as consonants.
/w/ and /j/ are also called semi-vowels. Liquids and nasals, given their sonority, may function as
the nucleus of a syllable. Even though the nucleus is typically a vowel, these consonants may
occupy the nucleus slot when a vowel is absent.
SYLLABIC CONSONANTS AND GLIDES, THEREFORE,
ARTICULATORY-WISE OR IN TERMS OF THEIR
FUNCTIONALITY IN THE SYLLABLE, EXHIBIT VOWEL-LIKE
QUALITIES.
In the following video, Professor Tatiana Massuno presents us more information on glides e
syllabic consonants. Let's watch it!
LEARNING CHECK
1. SEMI-VOWELS IN ENGLISH MAY ALSO BE CALLED GLIDES. GLIDES
ARE CENTRAL APPROXIMANTS, LIKE THE PHONEME /R/. CHOOSE THE
ALTERNATIVE THAT CONTAINS A TRUE STATEMENT ABOUT THE
GLIDES.
A) /l/ and /r/ are both glides, since they can become syllabic.
B) If you prolong the pronunciation of /j/ it will sound like /i/.
C) /w/ is like a short /i/.
D) /j/ is like a short /u/.
E) Glides are obstruents like vowels.
2. A CONSONANT IS SAID TO BE SYLLABIC WHEN IT CAN FUNCTION AS
THE NUCLEUS OF A SYLLABLE. WHICH CONSONANTS ARE APT TO FILL
THE NUCLEUS SLOT?
A) Any consonant can be syllabic.
B) Only fricatives and plosives can be syllabic.
C) Liquids and nasals can be syllabic.
D) Only central approximants can be syllabic.
E) Only lateral approximants can be syllabic.
GABARITO
1. Semi-vowels in English may also be called glides. Glides are central approximants, like
the phoneme /r/. Choose the alternative that contains a true statement about the glides.
Option "B " is correct.
: /w/ and /j/ are like short vowels. While /w/ sounds like a short version of /u/ and /j/ sounds like a
short /i/. If both sounds are prolonged, they will sound like the corresponding vowel.
2. A consonant is said to be syllabic when it can function as the nucleus of a syllable.
Which consonants are apt to fill the nucleus slot?
Option "C " is correct.
The more sonorous a consonant is, the best candidate it is for the nucleus slot. Having said
that, liquids and nasals (since they are sonorants) may occupy the nucleus slot and become
syllabic consonants.
CONCLUSION
FINAL ISSUES
We have learned how consonants are formed in English. Consonants differ in terms of how they
are articulated, and which articulators are involved in sound production. They may also be
produced by vibrating the vocal cords or not. Each of these aspects: place of articulation,
manner of articulation, and voicing help us identify the sound being produced.
Consonants are, then, produced by a combination of these three aspects; which means that a
change in one of them leads to the production of a different sound. The phonemes /b/ and /p/,
for example, only differ in voicing. Even though their manner and place of articulation coincide,
differing in voicing (one being a voiced consonant and the other a voiceless one) is more than
enough to produce two distinct phonemes.
WE ALSO HAVE LEARNED THAT CONSONANTS IN ENGLISH
CAN BE CLASSED AS OBSTRUENTS OR SONORANTS. WHILE
OBSTRUENT CONSONANTS INVOLVE OBSTRUCTION TO THE
AIRFLOW, SONORANT CONSONANTS ENTAIL A NOT-SO-
NARROW CONSTRICTION. CERTAIN SONORANTS – GLIDES –
MAY RESEMBLE VERY SHORT VOWELS. MOREOVER, OTHER
SONORANTS, SUCH AS LIQUIDS AND NASALS, MAY OCCUPY
THE NUCLEUS SLOT IN A SYLLABLE, WHENEVER A VOWEL IS
ABSENT.
By now you will have become familiarizedwith the categories under which consonants are
classified and with how such understanding may influence positively your own speech
production. Besides that, you are now able to identify how consonants are produced in English,
and you can identify the contexts in which a consonant may exhibit vowel-like qualities.
AVALIAÇÃO DO TEMA:
REFERENCES
BROWN, A. Pronunciation and Phonetics: A Practical Guide for English Language Teachers.
New York: Routledge, 2014.
CARR, P. English Phonetics and Phonology: an introduction. 2. ed. West Sussex: Wiley-
Blackwell, 2013.
COLLINS, Beverly; MEES, Inger. Practical phonetics and phonology: a resource book for
students. 3. ed. New York: Routledge, 2013.
DALE, P.; POMS, L. English pronunciation made simple. New York: Longman, 2005.
GUT, U. Introduction to English Phonetics and Phonology. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2009.
LADEFOGED. Peter. Vowels and Consonants: an Introduction to the sounds of languages.
Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 2001.
OGDEN, Richard. An Introduction to English Phonetics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 2009
ROACH, Peter. English Phonetic and phonology: a practical course. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2004.
GO FURTHER
For more practice exercises and pronunciation rules, check Pronunciation Resources of
University of Iowa.
Nice resources can be found at Fonetica & Fonologia website, from Universidade Federal de
Minas de Gerais (UFMG).
Two good titles about teaching pronunciation are:
KELLY, G. How to teach pronunciation. England: Longman, 2001.
KENWORTHY, J. Teaching English Pronunciation. New York: Longman, 1987.
And two good resource books on Phonetics:
COLLINS, B.; MEES, I. Practical phonetics and phonology: a resource book for
students. 3. ed. New York: Routledge, 2013.
ROACH, P. English Phonetic and phonology: a practical course. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004.
CONTENT AUTHOR
Tatiana de Freitas Massuno
 CURRÍCULO LATTES
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DESCRIPTION
Introduction to the phonetics of English vowels.
PURPOSE
To understand how vowel phonemes are produced in English. By means of studying different
vowel phonemes, you will be better equipped to reproduce them more clearly and become a
more articulate English speaker. What’s more, you will be able to identify different vowel sounds
and avoid misunderstandings in the future.
PREPARATION
Before beginning this unit, just make sure you have the IPA (International Phonemic Alphabet)
chart at hand so that you can easily identify the phonemes being discussed. You may also want
to keep a good dictionary at hand.
GOALS
SECTION 1
To identify different vowel phonemes: short and long vowels
SECTION 2
To distinguish monophthongs from diphthongs
SECTION 3
To recognize the schwa sound
SECTION 4
To describe concepts linked to the combination of vowels and consonants (tonicity, intonation,
homonymy, homography and polysemy)
INTRODUCTION
In the following sections you will learn how to identify and classify vowels according to different
tongue heights, duration and articulatory positions. You will learn that tongue movement and
height play great roles in vowel production. What’s more, you will study how to identify different
diphthongs and also classify them. Furthermore, you will learn how stress and intonation can
interfere with the message being conveyed. Finally, you will study examples that show why in
English graphemes and phonemes do not allow for a one-to-one correspondence.
By the end of this unit you will be able to classify, identify and correctly reproduce vowel
phonemes.
SECTION 1
 To identify different vowel phonemes: short and long vowels
TWENTY VOWEL SOUNDS
Before we get started just take some time to think about the following question:
HOW MANY VOWELS ARE THERE IN ENGLISH?
FIVE
SIX
TEN
Check the answer in next paragraphs.
Check the answer in next paragraphs.
Check the answer in next paragraphs.
Most people will probably answer that the English language is composed of five different
vowels. Who hasn’t heard of a, e, i, o, u? More astute English learners will probably add another
one to the list: y, and will claim that there are six vowels in English.
THIS, HOWEVER, JUST GOES TO EXEMPLIFY A COMMON
MISTAKE MOST LEARNERS MAKE: TO MISTAKE SOUNDS FOR
SPELLING, BY ASSUMING THAT THERE IS A ONE-TO-ONE
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN SPELLINGS AND PHONEMES.
ENGLISH, HOWEVER, ABOUNDS WITH EXAMPLES THAT DEFY
SUCH ASSUMPTION.
The same spelling may be reproduced by different sounds, meaning that there may be two or
three sounds associated with the same spelling.
Let’s think of the letter a, for example.
In the word about the first phoneme is actually called schwa, which is one the most common
phonemes in English, and is represented as /ə/.
In the word calm, the phoneme represented by the letter a is, in fact, another one, the phoneme
/ɑ˸/, a long vowel.
Long and short vowels, stressed and unstressed phonemes, monophthongs and diphthongs
may be spelled as the letter a.
THIS IS DEFINITELY CONFUSING! – YOU MAY BE THINKING.
WELL, NOT REALLY.
It is only confusing when we assume that phonemes and graphemes are one and the same. So,
in the following sections we will be clearing up any confusion regarding vowel production. You
will be surprised to know that seven different phonemes are represented as the letter a, as we
can see in the words below:
JACK, YACHT, ABOUT, FOOTBALL, CABLE, SHARE, PRIVATE
Besides, you will probably be surprised to learn that English has, in fact, twenty vowel sounds.
So, without further ado, let’s get started!
VOWEL DESCRIPTION
Vowels play a central role in the English language. They are syllabic phonemes, that is, they are
able to form syllables on their own.
 FRIENDLY REMINDER
Remember that while certain words may consist of vowels alone, the same cannot be said
about consonants.
There are other differences, though, that refer to how these phonemes are described.
Firstly, to produce vowels the air escapes through the mouth with little or no obstruction. And
since considerable space between articulators is involved, all vowels are approximants.
Places and manner of articulation (categories used to classify consonants) seem quite irrelevant
when it comes to describing vowel sounds.
Moreover, since vowels are usually voiced, that is, they are produced with vibration of the vocal
cords, voicing is also an insufficient criterion to contrast phonemes.
All categories used to describe consonant phonemes, namely manner and places of articulation
and voicing are of little relevance to vowel description.
OTHER FACTORS COME INTO PLAY IN VOWEL DESCRIPTION.
The tongue, for instance, is the main organ responsible for producing the differences
among vowel phonemes.
Therefore, vowels may be described in terms of tongue shape.
Tongue height, that is, whether the tongue is close to the roof of the mouth or not, plays a great
role in vowel production and description. In words such as trap and palm, the tongue is far away
from the roof of the mouth, which allows for an open mouth cavity. These are, then, called open
vowels.
When, conversely, the tongue position is higher, being closer to the roof of the mouth, as in the
word fleece, a close vowel is being produced. Vowels are also described according to which
part of the tongue is the highest while producing the vowel in question.
To produce front vowels the front of the tongue is the highest point.

The back of the tongue, on the other hand, is higher when we produce back vowels.
British phonetician Daniel Jones (COLLINS & MEES, 2013) devised a system that describes
where the tongue is positioned during vowel production regardless of language and accent. This
reference system, since it is theoretical, describes the vowel possibilities in any language.

There are eight cardinal vowels, or reference vowels, that together form a trapezium which is
aimed at describing the vowelpossibilities in any language.

Front vowels are on the left, whereas back vowels are on the right. In the upper area, two
vowels are placed at opposite ends: the phonemes /i/ and /u/. These are extreme vowel sounds,
and other phonemes are described in reference to them. /i/ and /u/, then, establish the upper
vowel limit.

In the lower area, two more vowels - /a/ and /ɑ/, also represent extreme possibilities for open
vowels (remember that the tongue is at its lowest, allowing for an open mouth cavity). They
establish thus a lower vowel limit.
By analyzing the trapezium, then, we come to the following classification for cardinal vowels: /i/:
front close, /u/: back close, /e/: front close-mid, /o/: back close-mid /ɛ/: front open-mid /ʌ/: back
open-mid /a/: front open /ɑ/: back open.
Tongue shape, however, is not the only relevant factor here. Vowels are also described in terms
of:
Lip shape
Position of the soft palate
Duration
Tongue and lip shape




rounded or unrounded
nasal or non-nasal
long and short vowels
held constant or undergo change
Lip shape

rounded or unrounded
Position of the soft palate

nasal or non-nasal
Duration

long and short vowels
Tongue and lip shape

held constant or undergo change
DURATION
Duration here, as a phonetically relevant category, is not taken as an absolute measure, but, as
a relative length of sounds. The duration of a phoneme is thus considered in relation to the
duration of another one. The phoneme /i/ in ship is relatively shorter than /i˸/ in sheep, and this
single difference – duration – is responsible for identifying two different nouns. /i/ is a short
vowel, whereas /i˸/ is a long one. There are, though, more vowels that can be categorized by
means of duration.
Let’s see more examples!
SHORT VOWELS
Try saying these words:
SIT, BET, MAT, SHUT, PLOT, FOOT, ABOUT
Now, try to answer the following question:
WHAT DO THESE WORDS HAVE IN COMMON?
THEY ARE COMPOSED OF LONG VOWELS
THEY ARE COMPOSED OF SHORT VOWELS
If you answered that they are composed of long vowels, sorry, the answer is incorrect. Try
again!
If you answered that they are composed of short vowels, then, you are right!
These words exemplify the seven different short monophthongs we have in English, namely /i/,
/e/, /æ/, /ʌ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/ and /ə/.
 FRIENDLY REMINDER
/i/, as in sit;
/e/, as in bet;
/æ/, as in mat;
/ʌ/, as in shut;
/ɒ/, as in plot;
/ʊ/, as in foot;
/ə/, as in about.
SHORT AND LONG VOWELS
Do you know the difference between short and long vowels? Let’s find out!
/I/
To produce this phoneme, you should keep your lips relaxed and slightly parted. Also, you
should keep your tongue high. Just remember that this is a short, quick sound. If you prolong
the sound and keep your lips tense, as in a smile, another phoneme will be produced. This
vowel is found at the beginning and middle of words and is spelled as y, i or ui.
Example:
SIN, SYMBOL, QUICK
/E/
Your tongue should also be high to produce this phoneme, near the roof of the mouth. You
should keep your lips slightly spread and unrounded. Let’s compare two words that may seem
similar sounding, but that are actually composed of different phonemes: pen and pain. In the
first one, the short vowel /e/ is used, in the second one, nonetheless, the phoneme /ei/ is used.
To pronounce /e/ you should open your mouth wider than for /ei/, but not as wide as to produce
pan. /e/ is found at the beginning and middle of words and may be spelled as e or ea.
Example:
AND, EGG, ANY, DEAD, MEANT, HEAD
Some of the less frequent spellings for the phoneme /e/ are a, ai, ie, ue and eo.
This is what happens in the following words:
ANY, AGAIN, FRIEND, GUEST, LEOPARD
The letters ea before d are also usually pronounced as /e/.
Example:
READY, DEAD, AHEAD
/Æ/
This is the phoneme in the word pan, mentioned before. Differently from the previous
phonemes, you should keep your tongue low to produce this sound. Your jaw is also wider,
especially when compared with the previous phoneme /e/. You should keep your lips spread as
well. If your mouth is not wide enough, you may say bed instead of bad, and bet instead of bat.
Just remember to spread your lips and open your mouth. The phoneme does not occur at the
end of words and is usually spelled as a, in words such as:
APPLE, CAT, BACK, ANGRY
The combination of letter au is a less frequent spelling for the phoneme in question, such as
what happens in the following words:
LAUGH AND LAUGHTER
/Ʌ/
Your lips, jaw and tongue should be relaxed to produce this sound. While the lips are partly
parted, the jaw is slightly lowered. The tongue is also in a mid-position in the mouth. The
phoneme /ʌ/ does not occur at the end of words and is usually spelled as u, for instance, in
words such as:
US, UGLY, MUCH, UNCLE
It may also be spelled as o, in words such as:
LOVE, DONE, MOTHER
Less frequent spellings are oo, oe, ou and a.
Examples:
COUSIN, TROUBLE, FLOOD, WHAT, DOES
 ATTENTION
/ʌ/ only occurs in stressed syllables.
/Ɒ/
This vowel is at the lower end of the trapezium, which means that your tongue is kept low to
produce this sound. In fact, the tongue is flat, on the floor of the mouth. Your jaw is also kept
low. Your lips should be kept apart, as if you were yawning. The letter o in English is usually
pronounced as /ɒ/ in words such as:
TOP, POSITIVE, NOT
This vowel sound does not occur at the end of words and is usually spelled as a or o. When the
letter o is followed by b, d, g, p, t and ck, it is pronounced as /ɒ/.
Example:
ROBIN, ROD, STOP, POCKET
The letter a, when it precedes the letter r, is also pronounced the same way.
Example:
FARM, CART, START
/Ʊ/
This is another short, quick sound. Therefore, your lips should barely move while you produce it.
You should keep your lips partly relaxed and parted. You tongue is kept also high to produce
this sound and your jaw is kept slightly low. This phoneme only occurs in the middle of words
and is usually spelled as u, oo or ou.
Let’s check some examples:
BOOK, COOK, FOOT, COULD, SHOULD, CUSHION
Sometimes the letter o is also pronounced as /ʊ/, as in the following words:
WOLF, WOMAN
 COMMENTS
/ə/- We will be discussing this phoneme later, in another section.
It may be a bit hard to differentiate some of these short vowels. /e/, /ɒ/ and /æ/ may cause some
confusion, as they seem at first too similar. One thing to be attentive is to the position of the
jaw and, consequently, to how open the mouth is. While the jaw is completely dropped to
produce /ɒ/ (the mouth is then wide open), it is not as low to produce /e/. It goes as follows: /e/
≶ /æ/ ≶ /ɒ/.
LONG VOWELS
Now pay attention to the words below:
FEEL, CALM, BOARD, MOON, HERD
What do you notice? Differently from the words discussed in the previous section, these words
contain longer vowels. Comparatively, then, these monophthongs are longer. There are five long
monophthongs in English: /i˸/, /ɑ˸/, /ɔ˸/, /u˸/ and /ɜ˸/.
/I˸/
To produce this phoneme your tongue should be high and your jaw should be almost completely
raised. You should also feel the tension in your lips, as they are kept in a “smile” position. Just
make sure you prolong the sound, otherwise eat will sound like it. This phoneme is found in the
beginning, middle and end of words. E, ee, ea, and ie may be pronounced as /i˸/, as exemplified
by the words:
MEAN, EAGER, EEL, BE, NIECE
Less frequently the letters i and eo may also be pronounced as /i˸/:
PEOPLE, POLICE
/Ɑ˸/
This is a very common sound in a doctor’s office. There is a clear reason for that. To produce
this sound your tongue position is really low (this vowel is at the lower end of the trapezium),
which means that your mouth is kept wide open. What’s more, this is a long vowel, so it should
be prolonged.
Now let’s compare some words! The words had and hard, at first, may sound pretty similar. But
while the former is composed of a short vowel /æ/,the latter has a long vowel in it /ɑ˸/. The
following words also exemplify the same phenomenon:
FAT AND FART; HAT AND HEART; CAT AND CART; MATCH
AND MARCH
 FRIENDLY REMINDER
Just remember that in the words fart, heart, cart and March the vowel’s length is longer.
/Ɔ˸/
Before we delve into the details of this vowel sound, just take some time to think about the
following pair: bot and bought. Can you notice any difference? Are the vowel sounds the same
or different? And how do they differ?
Can you notice any difference? Are the vowel sounds the same or different? And how do they
differ? Once again we are dealing with a short/long vowel comparison. In the first word the short
vowel /ɒ/ is being used, whereas in the second one, the long vowel /ɔ˸/ is used instead. There is
another difference, apart from the duration, though: the shape of the mouth. To pronounce
bought your mouth is slightly tighter and more rounded. The following pairs also show this
difference:
COT AND CAUGHT; BOD AND BORED; WHAT AND WART;
SHOT AND SHORT; SPOT AND SPORT
/U˸/
Your tongue should be high to produce this sound. Your lips should be tense and in a whistling
position. Differently from what happens in the production of /ʊ/, this is a long sound. If we
compare pull and pool, you will realize that to say the latter you have to protrude your lips and
make sure that you prolong the pronunciation of the vowel. Except for the word ooze, this
phoneme does not occur in the beginning of words. /u˸/ may be spelled as u, oo, o, ew and ue.
Examples:
RULE, COOL, DO, NEW, BLUE
/Ɜ˸/
Your tongue is slightly low when you produce this sound, placed in the middle of your mouth.
This long vowel is also produced with your lips relaxed. It is normally spelled as -er, as in words
such as:
PERSON, HER
Other possible spellings are -or , -ir and -ur.
 SUM UP
To sum up, while manner and places of articulation are unimportant factors in vowel description,
tongue and lip shapes as well as duration play great roles in identifying different vowel sounds.
Duration alone can be a determining factor in distinguishing between two vowel sounds, for
instance, between /i/ and /i˸/, or /ʊ/ and /u˸/. Not prolonging the sounds may be cause of
embarrassing misunderstandings, to say the least.
Although aspects of vowel description have already been discussed (tongue shape, duration),
an important factor remains to be discussed: whether the tongue and the lip shape are held
constant or undergo change. In the following section we will be discussing phonemes produced
when the tongue and lip shape suffer change.
SHORT VOWELS X LONG VOWELS
By now, you might have a better ideia of the difference between long and short vowels. But after
the following video, you’ll no longer have any questions!
LEARNING CHECK
SECTION 2
 To distinguish monophthongs from diphthongs
TONGUE HEIGHT, DURATION, AND LIP
SHAPE
So far we have studied vowels that do not change, that is, that are “pure”. They have been
studied in terms of tongue height, duration, and lip shape.
BASED ON THESE CATEGORIES, HOW CAN WE
DESCRIBE THE WORD CHOICE?
IS IT SIMILAR TO ITS CORRESPONDING VERB? CHOOSE?
OR, ARE THE CATEGORIES NOT ENOUGH TO ACCOUNT FOR THE
DIFFERENCES IN THE PHONEMES?
By now you may have become quite familiar with an important phonetics rule:
SPELLINGS AND PHONEMES DO NOT COINCIDE.
Trying to resort to the spelling of the words may be quite unsatisfactory, since both phonemes
are composed of two letters, and both contain the letter o.
While the verb choose is composed of the long vowel studied before, that is, /u˸/, the noun
choice is composed of a different vowel sound, called diphthong.
In this section we will be studying different diphthongs. Many varieties of English have several
diphthongs.
MONOPHTHONGS AND DIPHTHONGS
We called all the different long and short vowels studied in the previous section monophthongs,
but so far we haven’t taken the chance to define them.
WHAT MAKES A VOWEL A MONOPHTHONG? – YOU MAY BE
ASKING YOURSELF. AND WHAT MAKES IT A DIPHTHONG
INSTEAD?
THESE TERMS REFER TO THE ARTICULATORY POSITION
DURING SOUND PRODUCTION.
When a vowel has only one articulatory position throughout its production, it is considered to be
a monophthong. When, conversely, more than one articulatory position is observed, the vowel is
then a diphthong.
In the word choose, for instance, the articulation is fixed throughout sound production; there is,
then, no change in the position of the tongue or the lip.

In the word choice, however, two discernible different points are observed. It starts with an open
vowel and ends with a close one. This diphthong /ɔi/ is a closing diphthong.
PAY ATTENTION: “FOR A SOUND TO BE CONSIDERED A
DIPHTHONG, THE CHANGE – TERMED A GLIDE – MUST BE
ACCOMPLISHED IN ONE MOVEMENT WITHIN A SINGLE
SYLLABLE WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF A BREAK”.
(COLLINS & MEES, 2013, P. 69)
The words choice, mouth and price are examples that contain pretty common diphthongs; they
are all examples of closing diphthongs. They start with open vowels and raise to close vowels,
in the area of /i/ and /u/.
DO YOU REMEMBER HOW CLOSE VOWELS ARE FORMED?
LET’S RECAP!
 FRIENDLY REMINDER
To produce close vowels the tongue is kept in a higher position, near the roof of the mouth.
Therefore, going from an open vowel to a close one involves tongue movement. As the tongue
rises, to produce a close vowel, the space between the tongue and the roof of the mouth
becomes narrower. Therefore, the tongue rises, closing the space between the roof of the
mouth and the tongue.
Diphthongs can then be classed according to the direction of the tongue movement. There are
closing diphthongs, as the ones discussed above, and centering diphthongs. In centering
diphthongs the tongue moves towards the central vowel (/ə/). Closing diphthongs may also be
classed into fronting and backing. In backing diphthongs the tongue moves towards a close
back vowel (/ʊ/), in fronting diphthongs it moves toward a close front vowel (/i/).
 SUM UP
Fronting diphthongs end with /i/
Backing diphthongs end with /ʊ/
Centering diphthongs end with /ə/
FRONTING DIPHTHONGS - /EI/, /AI/, /ƆI/
/EI/
In this diphthong there is a combination of two vowel sounds, that is, /e/ and /i/. In fact, this is a
compound sound, since the two vowels are blended. To produce this sound your lips should be
spread and unrounded. Your jaw raises as your tongue moves. Your jaw closes slightly. The
tongue moves from the midlevel position to being closer to the roof of the mouth. This diphthong
is found in the beginning, middle and end of words. It may be represented by different spellings:
a, ai, ay and eigh, as in the words:
LATE, MAIN, DAY, EIGHT
Now, pay attention to the following words:
BAKE, SAME, NAME, CASE
What do you notice? They are all formed by the same diphthong /ei/. But that is not the only
characteristic they share. In all these words the letter a occurs in a syllable ending in silent e.
Whenever this is the case, the letter a is pronounced as /ei/.
But let’s look at a different set of words:
REIGN, NEIGHBOR, VEIN
Whenever the letters ei are followed by g or n, they also represent the phoneme /ei/.
The letters ay, ai and ey are usually pronounced as /ei/ too. For instance, in the words:
PLAY, AWAY, THEY, AIM
/AI/
Since this diphthong starts with /a/ and ends with /i/, the lips move from an open position to
being slightly parted. The jaw also raises with the tongue and closes. This closing diphthong
involves tongue movement. The tongue moves from a low position to a higher one. At the end,
the tongue is closer to the roof of the mouth. It is, as the previous one, found in the beginning,
middle and end of words. It is represented as different spelling patterns such as i, y, ie and igh.
The following words contain the diphthong /ai/:
HIGH, I, MY, DIE
The words bite, refinement, fine also contain /ai/. But they have something else in common.The
letter i occurs in a syllable ending in silent –e. And whenever this is the case, the letters are
pronounced as /ai/. When the letter i is also followed by gh, ld and nd it represents the phoneme
/ai/.
Examples:
SIGHT, WILD, FIND
/ƆI/
This diphthong may not cause many problems, as there are basically two different spellings for
it: oy and oi. It starts with /ɔ/ and ends with /i/. That means that the lips move from a tense oval
shape to a more relaxed position. As with the previous diphthongs, the tongue moves from a low
position to a higher one. This diphthong is also found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
Examples:
OIL, JOIN, TOY
 FRIENDLY REMINDER
Just remember that fronting diphthongs are types of closing diphthongs, since the phoneme is
formed by going from vowels which are lower in the trapezium (meaning that the mouth is open,
or, at least, slightly open) to a vowel which is in the higher end of the trapezium, that is, /i/. Also,
/i/ is a front vowel and that is why /ei/, /ai/ and /ɔi/ are fronting diphthongs.
BACKING DIPHTHONGS – /AƱ/, /OƱ/
/AƱ/
Since this is a closing diphthong, the tongue glides from a lower position to a higher one. And to
do that, your jaw also raises with the tongue, as you produce this sound. Your lips also glide
from an open position. Just make sure your lips glide from a wide, open position to a closed
one. If these lip and tongue movements do not occur, you will produce a monophthong instead.
To produce a diphthong the articulatory position changes as you produce the sound, therefore,
there is always lip and tongue movement. If your tongue and your lip remain in the same
position throughout the sound production, the phoneme /a/ will be produced. You will be saying
pond instead of pound, for instance, as we can hear below:
POND INSTEAD OF POUND
In terms of spelling, this diphthong does not pose great challenges, as it is usually represented
as the letter o followed by u, w, or ugh. Words that exemplify this diphthong are:
OWL, MOUSE, LOUD, TOWN, DROUGHT
/OƱ/
Let’s compare the two words coat and cut:
ARE THEIR PRONUNCIATION PATTERNS SIMILAR OR
DIFFERENT? HOW SIMILAR OR HOW DIFFERENT?
GUESS WHAT!
These words represent two different phonemes: a diphthong and a monophthong, respectively.
COAT, CUT
In the word coat, since it is a diphthong, there is a change in the articulatory position. The
tongue glides from the midlevel position and comes closer to the roof of the mouth. The jaw also
rises with the tongue. To produce this sound, your lips should also be kept tense and in a very
rounded shape. Just make sure you round your lips into the shape of the letter o and prolong
the sound. This is a long sound. It is found in the beginning, middle and end of words. And it
may be represented by different spellings: o, oa, ow, oe, and ou; as in the words:
NO, GOAT, KNOW, TOE, DOUGH
The following words show a common pattern for this diphthong:
PHONE, HOME, NOTE
What is it? What can you notice? The letter o is usually pronounced as /oʊ/ when it occurs in a
syllable ending in silent e. Another common pattern is when o is followed by ld. In words such as
bold, old, told the diphthong /oʊ/ is also present. Check it out:
javascript:void(0)
BOLD, OLD, TOLD
Just make sure you prolong the diphthong pronunciation to avoid misunderstandings.
CENTERING DIPHTHONGS - /IƏ/, /ƱƏ/, /EƏ/
/IƏ/
The diphthong /iə/ starts with the tongue position for /i/, that is, the tongue is in a higher position
at first. Then, the tongue moves towards a centering position. This diphthong is usually spelled
as e or ea.
Examples for this diphthong are the words:
NEAR, FEAR, BEER, DEAR, CAREER, EXPERIENCE
/ƱƏ/
The diphthong /ʊə/ starts with the tongue position for the production of /ʊ/ and also moves
towards a more centering tongue position. This diphthong is usually spelled as u, ou or oo.
Differently from the phonemes previously discussed, this is not a common sound in English.
/ʊə/ is present in the following words:
DURING, HOUR, SECURITY
/EƏ/
In this diphthong, similarly to the previous two, the tongue also moves towards a mid-central
position. To produce this phoneme, you start from the /e/ position and finish in a mid-central
position, here represented as the phoneme /ə/. This diphthong is usually spelled as e or ea.
Examples:
CARE, HAIR, WEAR, AIR
Even though all the diphthongs have been represented by a combination of two symbols, for
instance, /iə/, /ʊə/, and /eə/, they, actually, refer to a single phoneme, that is, they are single
sounds. Diphthongs are also long sounds and they may be as long as the long vowels
discussed in the previous section.
 COMMENTS
It’s no wonder, then, that in non-rhotic varieties certain diphthongs may be pronounced as long
vowels instead.
Diphthongs are formed by tongue movement, and differently from cardinal vowels, they cannot
be represented as a point in the vowel diagram. Diphthongs are thus vowels whose start point
and end point do not coincide.
Now, bearing this in mind, let’s discuss two other words! The words fire and power.
FIRE, POWER

In both cases the end point and the start point are not the same.

However, these words entail a slightly different phenomenon.

Between the start point and the end point there is a third term, another vowel.

These are not separate sounds, since they refer to one single phoneme.
The words fire and power, then, may be examples of what is called triphthong. Alternatively,
they may be called diphthong that have an extended vowel. Usually, these phonemes are
represented by a diphthong followed by the letter r. The phonemes are as following: /aiə/ and
/aʊə/.
Throughout this section we have discussed single phonemes that were actually a combination
of two different vowels (or even three!). Two phonemes thus blended in order to produce a
single long sound. While discussing centering diphthongs a phoneme gained importance,
namely the mid-central vowel. This vowel, although presented in passing, is, actually, one of the
most frequent sounds in the English language. In the next section, this mid-central vowel will be
discussed in more details and you will learn that this neutral vowel, phonetically represented as /
ə/, is much more complex and variable than this section showed. It is hence much more than a
phoneme that just exists in combination with others.
DIPHTHONGS
What is a diphthong, do you know? Stick around to learn more about this vowel sound!
LEARNING CHECK
SECTION 3
 To recognize the schwa sound
CONTEXT
Even though, grammatically speaking, English may pose fewer challenges to learners,
especially when compared to a language packed with inflections such as German, the same
does not apply, though, to its phonetics.
Trying to sound native-like may be cause of great frustration among learners. Eventually, they
may lose motivation and just drop out of the course or just decide that they are not cut out for
speaking the language.
English phonetics does not only influence the speech (how a student pronounces the sounds)
but may also affect a student’s perception of sounds.
Many times, learners complain that a native speaker speaks too fast or that he or she does not
pronounce all the sounds.
Time and again reality and expectation clash. There is a very simple reason for that.
Students expect phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters) to coincide.
OR
They expect letters to sound always the same, that is, to have a pretty definite pronunciation.

English is a language, however, that frustrates any attempt to establish a one-to-one
relationship between phonemes and graphemes.
Do you remember that the letter a has seven different pronunciations? The words cat, cake and
among contain three different phonemes associated with the letter a. And this is one of the great
challenges English poses: many letters or even combination of letters may share the same
pronunciation. Different words likeestablish meaning relations between lexical
items, due to differences between the features that constitute them. In both the first and the second pair
of phonemes, the only difference regarding the sounds is related to the point of articulation, with the
other features being preserved with no differences. Such phones function as elements that guarantee the
word distinction in English and are therefore classified as phonemes.
The identification of minimal pairs results from a minimal pair test. Whether a phone has phonemic status
in a language or not, the minimal pair test must be carried out.
BUT, WAIT – WHAT IS THE MINIMAL PAIR TEST?
Basically, we replace one phone by another in the same phonetic context and see if different lexical items
are then identified. Minimal pairs are the structural evidence that identifies the distinctive elements
of a given language, that is, its phonemes.
Phonology deals with the relationship between realization and perception of segments and shows how
information is cognitively stored. In this sense, phonemes are cognitively stored as distinctive units of
words and, although we pronounce a phoneme with slightly different phonetic characteristics in certain
contexts, we do not fail to identify it as a same abstract unit.
Image: Shutterstock.com
 LEARN MORE
Although the surrounding phonetic context may influence the Articulatory characteristics of the segments,
such differences are not necessarily important to make lexical distinctions, since the phoneme, the
cognitive phonological knowledge, will always be the same. In English, for example, in the initial phonetic
context, as in , the phoneme /p/ is aspirated, which no longer occurs in the non-initial phonetic
context, as in , in which it is pronounced in its full form. Still, in the end of a syllable, as in
, /p/ may not even be pronounced, articulated, which does not mean that it will not be cognitively
accessed, which is evidenced by its graphic representation in the written language, for example.
GRAPHEMES AND PHONOLOGICAL
KNOWLEDGE
It is important to observe the role of phonological knowledge in the development of writing in an L1 or
L2. Spelling register does not always reflect spoken language, and the mistaken association between
phonemes and letters may create important difficulties for those beginning to delve into the writing world
both in the first or the second language. For educational purposes, it is worth observing that spelling
mistakes may be strongly motivated and explainable, if we take L1/L2 phonological knowledge
interference into account.
THE NATURE OF THE GRAPHEME DIFFERS FROM THAT OF
THE PHONEME AND THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO
BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN IT COMES TO
TEACHING AND TO L1/L2 LITERACY DEVELOPMENT.
If phonemes are the sounds that differentiate words in a language, graphemes can be defined as
the graphic signs used for the representation of the sound system of a language in the writing.
Phonemes and graphemes are distinct linguistic realities: the former stands for the psychological reality
of the minimal units of a language and the latter stands for the graphic representation of the sounds or, at
least, for an attempt of this representation, since writing will not always be able to reflect the abstract and
cognitively stored sound.
The writing process can be affected at different levels due to the greater or lesser degree of impact of
phonological knowledge of the oral L1 or L2. Both writing in L1 and L2 can be hindered, for example, by
the differences between the number of phonemes in a word and the number of letters that make up its
orthographic representation. It is important for the professional who comes to work with learners of a
written language to understand these issues, because some degree of phonological knowledge may
always make writing development even harder.
A good example on this issue is the differentiation between the phonological knowledge regarding the
words and and their orthographic representations. The following tables deal with this
point. In the top line, we have the orthographic representation of the word and its number of letters. In the
next line, we have the possibilities of phonetic representation of these words in English, and in the last
line, the phonological representation, which cognitively encompasses all the possibilities of varied uses of
these words by the speakers of that language:
Orthographic representation (7 letters)
Phonetic representation [st̠͡ ɹ̠ɛŋkθ], [st̠͡ ɹ̠ɛn̪θ] (7 or 6 phonemes)
Phonological representation /stɹɛŋkθ/
 Atenção! Para visualização completa da tabela utilize a rolagem horizontal
Orthographic representation (6 letters)
Phonetic representation [lɛŋθ], [lɛnθ],[lɛŋkθ], [lɛntθ] (4 or 5 phonemes)
Phonological representation /leŋθ/
 Atenção! Para visualização completa da tabela utilize a rolagem horizontal
The examples show the difference in distribution of letters and phonemes as a possible difficulty factor for
the learning of writing due to linguistic transfer. Also, it is worth noticing that for both words more than
one form of pronunciation is found, which points to cases of linguistic variation, i.e., the possibility that
different individuals, organized under different social circumstances, produce such words in different
ways. This fact illustrates how the teaching-learning writing process may be even more complex.
Sounds and graphemes do not always match in a systematic way. One sound can be represented by
different letters, the same spelling may refer to different sounds or there may be ‘’silent’’ letters that are
not pronounced at all. As we will see in section 3, a separate spelling system, a phonetic alphabet in
which each symbol corresponds to one and only one phoneme, is necessary to universally describe the
pronunciation of words of any language in a precise manner.
Let’s review the main points concerning Phonetics and Phonology:
CHECKING LEARNING
1. CONSONANTS PRESENT SOME SORT OF CONSTRICTION DURING THE
AIRSTREAM RELEASE AND ARE FORMED FROM THE INTERACTION OF THREE
ASPECTS:
A) Point of articulation, lip rounding and voicing.
B) Manner of articulation, voicing and lip rounding.
C) Height, manner of articulation, point of articulation.
D) Manner of articulation, point of articulation and voicing.
E) Tongue articulation, lip rounding and vocal vibration.
2. SPELLING REGISTER DOES NOT ALWAYS REFLECT SPOKEN LANGUAGE
AND THE MISTAKEN ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PHONEMES AND LETTERS MAY
CREATE IMPORTANT DIFFICULTIES FOR THOSE BEGINNING TO DELVE INTO
THE WRITING WORLD BOTH IN THE FIRST OR THE SECOND LANGUAGE.
FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES, IT IS WORTH OBSERVING THAT SPELLING
MISTAKES MAY BE STRONGLY MOTIVATED AND EXPLAINABLE BY THE
STUDENTS:
A) Strong written skills.
B) Phonological knowledge.
C) Effective reading strategies.
D) Communicative competence.
E) Vocabulary.
GABARITO
1. Consonants present some sort of constriction during the airstream release and are formed
from the interaction of three aspects:
The alternative "D " is correct.
Consonants are formed from the interaction of manner of articulation, point of articulation and voicing.
While vowels are formed by the interaction of vowel height, vowel location, and lip rounding.
2. Spelling register does not always reflect spoken language and the mistaken association
between phonemes and letters may create important difficulties for those beginning to delve into
the writing world both in the first or the second language.
For educational purposes, it is worth observing that spelling mistakes may be strongly motivated
and explainable by the students:
The alternative "B " is correct.
Phonological knowledge regarding the spoken L1 may affect writing in both the first or second language.
SECTION 2
 To identify principles of linguistic variation
LINGUISTIC VARIATION
In the early 1960’s, William Labov conductedabout and doctor share the same phoneme, that is the schwa
sound, even though their spellings do not coincide. What’s more, depending on the context in
which a word is uttered, its pronunciation may change. In other words, when uttered alone it
may be pronounced in a way, when the same word occurs in a sentence, however, it may sound
differently. The context in which a phoneme occurs affects its pronunciation. The context may be
a syllable, a phrase, or even a sentence.
In this section we will be studying a pretty common vowel sound. But don’t be mistaken!
Common here just means ordinary, as this phoneme may be cause of some frustration.
THE SCHWA SOUND: CHARACTERISTICS
One of the most common vowel sounds in English is actually a “lazy sound”. Your lips should
barely move to produce this phoneme, while they remain pretty relaxed. This is a quick, short
sound, even shorter than the short vowels previously discussed.
It may appear:
1
In the beginning.
2
In the middle.
3
Or even at the end of words.
And it represents many different spellings:
The letter a may be reduced to the schwa sound, as well as the letters e, i, o and u.
 
Similarly, the following combination of letters may also be reduced to the schwa: eo, ou, iou, io,
and ai.
As you can see, basically all vowels can be reduced to the so-called schwa sound. The schwa
sound has, then, no regular spelling. And this may be the reason why even some adult native
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speakers may find it hard to remember the spelling of certain parts of words.
 EXAMPLE
Calendar may be mistaken for calender; separate for seperate, just to name some examples of
the correct and the wrong spelling.
This sound, nonetheless, even though it has no regular spelling and it can occur in different
parts of words, owes its occurrence to certain circumstances. Notice that all along we have
been using the word “reduced” to refer to the schwa. Vowels can be reduced to the schwa. The
use of this word – reduced – can be a nice indicator of the context from which the schwa
emerges.
But before discussing the contexts from which the schwa can emerge, let’s talk about a very
simple word, the conjunction and.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, this conjunction and can be pronounced in different
ways, both in the American and in the British varieties. It has a strong and a weak form.
STRONG FORM
In its strong form it is pronounced as /ænd/.
WEAK FORM
In its weak form it may take two different pronunciations: /ənd/ and /ən/.
Both in American and in British English these forms are possibilities.
NOW, PAY ATTENTION TO THE VOWELS.
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The vowels can be either /æ/ or /ə/; the same letter, but different sounds. The latter is what we
call the schwa sound, which, as the Cambridge Dictionary points out, occurs in the weak forms
of the words. In better terms, the schwa sound only occurs in unstressed syllables.
STRESSED SYLLABLES HAVE CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS.
They are usually louder, longer and pronounced on a different pitch.
They have then a full quality and are never weak. There is usually only one stressed syllable in
a word.
In the word teacher, for instance, the stress falls on the first part of the word (teach). In the word
today, on the other hand, it falls on the second part (day). When nouns have only one syllable,
then, this one must be stressed.
UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES, CONVERSELY, ARE NOT AS LOUD
AND NOT AS LONG AS STRESSED ONES.
The second syllable in teacher is thus shorter and lower.
The letter e, in -er, this way, does not have a full quality since it is in an unstressed syllable.
It is pronounced in a relaxed way, almost without lip movement. It is pronounced as a schwa.
THAT IS WHY WE SAY VOWELS CAN BE REDUCED TO THE
SCHWA SOUND. WHENEVER VOWELS, ANY VOWELS, FIND
THEMSELVES IN UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES THEY MAY BE
REDUCED TO THE SCHWA SOUND.
Just remember:
The schwa only occurs in unstressed syllables.
It is the most common vowel in connected spoken English.
It has no regular spelling.
It is a mid-central vowel, sometimes called neutral vowel.
Regarding the connection between the symbol, /ə/, and the sound, Richard Ogden claims:
ITS PRECISE QUALITY IS HIGHLY VARIABLE, PARTLY
BECAUSE IT IS VERY SHORT AND STRONGLY
COLOURED BY NEIGHBOURING CONSONANTS; THIS
IS ONE REASON WHY A ‘FLOAT’ SYMBOL, WITH NO
PRECISE DEFINITION, CAN BE A USEFUL TOOL FOR
TRANSCRIPTION: IT CAN COVER A WIDE RANGE OF
QUALITIES IN ONE SYMBOL.
(OGDEN, p.62)
The schwa, however, is not only variable within words, but also within phrases and sentences.
Let’s see some more examples!
WITHIN WORDS
The schwa may be found in the beginning of words, as in:
ago
amaze
suppose
contain
umbrella
upon
In the middle of words, as you can see in:
agony
relative
holiday
company
telephone
At the end of words. For example, in:
soda
sofa
lemon
circus
And also more than once in a word (since more than one syllable may be unstressed),
such as in:
umbrella
elephant
accident
As you could see, it can be represented by different spellings:
AS A
arrive,
ashamed,
asleep
AS E
open,
oven,
belief
AS I
liquid,
humid,
capital
AS O
occur,
obtain,
lemon
AS U
upon,
suppose,
circus
 ATTENTION
Combinations of letters such as eo, ou, iou, io, and ai may also be reduced to the schwa, as is
the case with the following words: pigeon, famous, religion, certain, delicious, nation.
As you can see the schwa sound is a common vowel sound because many different letters and
combinations of letters can represent it. It is common but, by no means, simple! It may not even
be represented at all!
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LET’S CONSIDER THE WORD RHYTHM!
It has two syllables but only one discernible vowel, right?
RIGHT
WRONG
Actually, that is not right. The word rhythm has two syllables and two vowels. The first vowel is
stressed, the vowel /i/. The second one, since it is unstressed, is pronounced as the “lazy
sound”, that is, the schwa /ə/.
That is wrong! It has two syllables and two vowels. The first vowel is stressed, the vowel /i/. The
second one, since it is unstressed, is pronounced as the “lazy sound”, that is, the schwa /ə/.
Can you see how English spelling can be misleading? Nothing in the spelling of the word shows
this second vowel. It is, however, there, even if only as a quick, short, relaxed sound.
WITHIN PHRASES AND SENTENCES
As mentioned before, the conjunction and may be pronounced in different ways. Two vowel
phonemes are possible: /æ/ and /ə/
BUT WHY IS THAT?, YOU MAY BE ASKING YOURSELF.
The reason why lies in the context from which the word emerges.

Words within sentences have different stress patterns. While some words may be emphasized,
that is, they are pronounced on a different pitch and are usually louder and longer; others may
be barely pronounced.

Some, depending on how the speaker articulates the sounds, may seem to completely
disappear. Stress, in English, points out to the most important words in a sentence or phrase.

By emphasizing some words, you are signalling to your listener that some words are more
important to the message being conveyed than others.

The conjunction and alone may be pronounced as /ænd/. Within a sentence, however, since it
carries little meaning, its vowel may be reduced to a schwa sound.

Vowels in grammatical words, or function words, thus, may be reduced to the schwa sound.
In this pretty common saying: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, the schwa sound may be
found within words and within the sentence.

The unstressed syllables in the words: apple, doctor and away, all have the schwa sound.

The second vowels in the words apple and doctor are pronounced as the schwa sound, as well
as the first vowel in away.

Within the sentence, the articles an, a and the, since they are unstressed,also contain the
schwa sound.
When you analyze this pretty common saying, you see how the schwa sound is an ordinary
sound:
An apple a day keeps the doctor away
ən 'æpəl ə 'deɪ 'ki:ps ðə 'dɒktə ə'weɪ
Grammatical words – conjunctions, determiners, auxiliaries, prepositions – whenever their
function in a sentence is mainly grammatical have their vowels reduced to the schwa sound. In
the noun phrase a glass of water, both the article a, and the preposition of are reduced to the
schwa sound. In the question – Do you like music? – the auxiliary do is also reduced to the
schwa sound.
 FRIENDLY REMINDER
Just remember that do can be an auxiliary verb and a main verb, it can also be emphasized or
not. Therefore, the occurrence of the schwa is here conditioned by whether or not the word do is
stressed. When it is stressed, it may be pronounced as a short vowel or a long vowel; when, on
the other hand, it is unstressed, then it is pronounced as a schwa.
STRONG AND WEAK FORMS
As mentioned before, the auxiliary verb do can be stressed or unstressed, depending on the
context where it occurs. Other auxiliary verbs also have weak and strong forms. In their weak
forms they are pronounced as the neutral vowel schwa.
Let’s compare two utterances:
A) WAS SHE READING?
B) YES, SHE WAS.
Even though examples a and b show the same auxiliary verb – was – in letter a, was appears in
its weak form, whereas in b, it is in its strong form. The schwa sound, as it only occurs in
unstressed syllables, is only present in the weak forms of auxiliary verbs. In short answers,
auxiliary verbs (do, does, have, has, were and even the modal verb can) appear in their strong
forms. In questions, however, the weak forms (the schwa) are prevalent.
Example:
DO YOU HAVE A CAR?
YES, I DO.
Since the schwa sound is one of the most frequent sounds in the English language,
understanding how it is pronounced and when and where it occurs may help a learner speak as
naturally as possible. The schwa sound is an important indicator of unstressed sounds, both
within words and sentences. This “lazy sound” is not at all sloppy and it occurs naturally in all
types of settings, be them formal or informal. By practicing this short, relaxed sound, you will
sound more and more natural in English.
THE SCHWA SOUND
What is the most common sound in the English language? Do you know? No? Watch this video
to learn more about the “lazy sound”!
LEARNING CHECK
SECTION 4
 To describe concepts linked to the combination of vowels and consonants (tonicity,
intonation, homonymy and polysemy)
COMBINING VOWELS AND CONSONANTS
Although we may claim that someone has a monotonous tone of voice, as if this person were
speaking in a monotone, that is, in one single tone from beginning to end; in reality, this
perception couldn’t be further from the truth. We are incapable of utterances that are monotone
in nature. We are actually using pitch variation all the time.
Certain sounds may be emphasized,
while others may be unstressed.
Certain phonemes may be longer and louder,
while others may be quick and lower.
We, therefore, inflect our speech all the time. The objective of this section, then, is to look a little
deeper into such inflections, such intonational contours.
So far we have been discussing different types of phonemes. However, whether we discuss
long or short vowels or even diphthongs, these sounds do not exist in isolation, but rather they
exist combined in syllables and, consequently in larger structures: sentences, clauses, texts.
In this section we will be delving into some concepts which were discussed in passing, namely
the syllable, stress, tonic syllables and intonation.
THE SYLLABLE
We have seen that vowels are syllabic phonemes, meaning that they can form a syllable on
their own. We have also seen that the schwa sound only occurs in unstressed syllables. And
while we have brought the term syllable into the discussion, we haven’t taken the time yet to
define or even discuss what constitutes a syllable.
In a nutshell, a syllable has two main constituents: the onset and the rhyme.
THE ONSET
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The onset is defined as any consonant that precedes a vowel. In a word such as clip, two
consonants precede the vowel (/k/ and /l), whereas in a word such as it, the onset slot is empty.
A word then in English may have an empty onset. The remaining segments constitute the
rhyme.
THE RHYME
The rhyme in the word it is /it/, in the word clip, /ip/. The rhyme can be subdivided into nucleus
and coda. The most sonorous element in a syllable will occupy the nucleus slot. Low vowels,
high vowels, approximants, nasals may be fit to occupy the nucleus slot, in this respective order.
So, in the words it and clip the phoneme /i/ occupies the nucleus slot.
In a word such as appraise two vowels are identifiable. The phoneme /ə/, and the diphthong /ei/.
These vowels constitute two different nuclei. This is then a two-syllable word. When a word in
English has more than one syllable, one of them receives more stress than the others. In other
words, the amount of volume a speaker gives to one of the syllables is greater than to any other.
Stressed syllables are louder and longer. In the word appraise the use of the schwa sound is a
good indicator that the first syllable is the unstressed one. Sometimes words such as stress,
accent or emphasis are used interchangeably.
The stress may fall on the first syllable, in words such as: Tuesday, awful, ever, brother,
window. It may fall on the second syllable as is the case in words such as: myself, outdone,
around, allow.
Words containing more than two syllables, have primary stress on the first, second or third
syllables. Since English makes use of strong and weak stress, one of the syllables is going to
be more emphasized than the others.
In a word such as afternoon, primary stress falls on the third syllable.

In a word such as vanilla, primary stress will fall on the second syllable.
Stressing the wrong syllable may lead to a bunch of misunderstandings and communication
problems.
A common mistake Brazilian students make is to incorrectly stress the first syllable in the word
police, when, primary stress should fall on the second syllable.
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TONIC SYLLABLES
Stress goes beyond the boundaries of word level. Within sentences and clauses different words
receive different amounts of emphasis. It would sound extremely unnatural to stress all the
words equally in a sentence. Stress is a great tool in communication. By stressing some words,
the speaker highlights the importance of these words within the sentence. If, on the other hand,
stress is placed on the wrong word you may not only completely change the meaning of the
sentence, but also distort the intended meaning or even give much stress to unimportant words.
Let’s compare two different utterances.
HE LIVES IN THE GREEN HOUSE.
HE LIVES IN THE GREENHOUSE.
In the first example, the word house is being stressed, meaning that his house is green.
If stress is placed on green, instead, like in the second example, the meaning conveyed is
another. He lives then in the place where the plants grow.
 TIP
Content words or lexical words, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are usually
stressed. Grammatical words such as auxiliary verbs, determiners, prepositions, conjunctions
are usually unstressed.
In a sentence or clause certain words will be more stressed than others. Stress will fall more
often than not on content words, unless stressing grammatical words may serve a purpose in
conveying meaning. For instance, in the following sentence:
I DO LIKE READING.
The auxiliary verb may be stressed to oppose a previous utterance and to emphasize the fact
that even though you might believe reading is not one of my favorite pastimes, I actually like it a
lot. Thus, stress may fall on auxiliary verbs to correct some false assumption. Stressing words,then, helps clarify meaning by calling attention to certain words.
In the following sentence:
MARY WENT TO THE DOCTOR.
Three content words can be perceived – Mary, went and doctor. These words, this way, are
more stressed than the grammatical words – to and the. The content words also have stressed
syllables. The penultimate syllable in Mary, went (since it is a single syllable) and the
penultimate syllable in doctor. There is one syllable, however, in the whole sentence that is
more prominent and longer than the others. This syllable is called the tonic syllable, where the
tone falls.
According to Philip Carr:
[TONE] IS THE EXTRA PITCH MOVEMENT PLACED ON
THAT SYLLABLE. IN OUR EXAMPLE, THE TONE IS A
FALLING TONE: THE RATE OF VIBRATION OF THE
VOCAL FOLDS DECREASES AS THE SYLLABLE IS
UTTERED, RESULTING IN A TRANSITION FROM A
HIGHER TO A LOWER PITCH.
(CARR, 2013, p. 131)
This falling tone is typical of declarative utterances.
INTONATION
Simply put, intonation refers to the rise and fall of the voice when speaking. Intonation conveys
meaning, the speaker’s attitude, signals to whether the utterance is a question or a statement,
etc. The wrong use of intonation, if your voice rises instead of falling, for instance; may change
a declarative sentence into a question. If, on the other hand, your voice stays the same, instead
of falling or rising, you may come across as being bored or uninterested.
Two types of sentences may end with a falling pitch:
Declarative sentences, as mentioned before.
Example:
SHE IS MY SISTER. / MARY IS A DOCTOR.
Questions starting with question words (what, who, where, when, etc).
Example:
WHERE’S MY BOOK? / WHEN DID HE LEAVE?
As examples of rising pitch we can mention:
Yes/ No questions
Example:
ARE YOU A DOCTOR? IS SHE COMING?
Statements that express doubt or uncertainty.
Example:
I THINK THEY ARE COMING.
There may also be combinations of rising and falling pitches. The use of the rise-fall tone, when
the pitch rises and then falls, may convey certainty, exclamation, or strong conviction on the part
of the speaker. Conversely, a fall-rise tone, when the pitch falls and then rises, may convey
hesitation, lack of certainty or reservation on the part of the speaker (CARR, 2013).
HOMONYMY AND POLYSEMY
All along we have been harping on the same string. We keep insisting on the fact that English is
a language in which a one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds does not exist.
Perhaps a one-to-many or many-to-one correspondence would be more realistic. Homophones
and homographs are those types of phenomena that once again break the illusion that
graphemes and phonemes can actually coincide.
HOMOPHONES
Homophones are words that are pronounced the same, so they have the same phonemic
transcription, but that are actually spelled in different ways. Example to this phenomenon is the
pair: grown and groan. More than two words may also be involved. The following words are all
pronounced the same, that is, as /sait /. The words are: sight, site and cite.
HOMOGRAPHS
Homographs are words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently. There are many
nouns and verbs in English which are written in the same way. Their only difference resides in
the stressed syllable. Conflict, for instance, can be either a verb or a noun. The stress for nouns
will always fall on the first syllable, whereas for verbs the second syllable will be stressed.
There are many two-syllable nouns and verbs that fall under this category, examples to this
case are:
CONFLICT, CONFLICT
CONDUCT, CONDUCT
CONTENT, CONTENT
DESERT, DESERT
DIGEST, DIGEST
CONTEST, CONTEST
PERMIT, PERMIT
OBJECT, OBJECT
EXPLOIT, EXPLOIT
INCREASE, INCREASE
CAN YOU SEE NOW WHY STRESSING THE RIGHT SYLLABLE
CAN HAVE HUGE IMPACT ON THE MEANING?
 COMMENTS
If English had a regular spelling system, homophones and homographs would not exist. But as
we can see, this is definitely not the case.
In English we can also find full homonyms. These are words which are spelled the same,
pronounced the same, but that have completely different meanings.
Let’s think of the word left! Left can be both the opposite of right (direction) and the past tense of
the verb leave. Both words even though they share the same spelling and pronunciation have
completely unrelated meanings. They are, then, full homonyms.
 ATTENTION
Homonymy, however, should not be mistaken for polysemy. Polysemy refers to the same word
being applied to different contexts. In better terms, the word can have literal meaning and
extended metaphorical meaning.
One example would be the word head, which can refer to both a part of the body, or to the
position of the boss, like in the phrase: head of the department. Polysemy, then, refers to the
same word used in two different ways: literal and metaphorical.
But, let’s analyze the following sentences:
I READ THE NEWSPAPER THIS MORNING.
THE NEWSPAPER FIRED JILL.
These two sentences are clear examples of polysemy since they entail the exact same word –
newspaper – being used differently. In sentence a) it refers to the actual object and, in sentence
b), to the company. The word good, since it can refer to both moral judgment and the judgment
of a skill, can also an example of polysemy.
However, when we say that: my dog always barks at the mailmen and we compare this
sentence to: the tree’s bark was brown; we realize that even though the same word is being
used, that is, bark, it refers to two different things. In the first sentence, it refers to the sound a
dog makes, whereas in the second one, it refers to the exterior of a tree. In the above examples,
the words have the same spelling and pronunciation, their only difference resides in meaning.
This is then a clear case of homonymy.
Summing up, phonetics plays a great role in conveying meaning. By means of the correct use of
stress and intonation, misunderstandings can be avoided and communication will run more
smoothly. What’s more, being attentive to the correct stress of words, whether primary stress
falls on the first, second or third syllable, can avoid mistaking a homograph for the other. Since
English does not have a one-to-one correspondence between graphemes and phonemes,
phenomena such as homophones and homographs are quite common. The latter refers to
words that share the same spelling but whose pronunciation differ. Stress, then, can help
distinguish one homograph from the other.
Even though homonymy and polysemy may at first seem synonymous, they actually refer to two
different situations. The former is when two completely different words share the same spelling
and pronunciation. And the latter is when the same word is used in different contexts.
VOWELS AND CONSONANTS.
What do you know about syllabification in English? Let's learn more about how syllables are
formed in English!
LEARNING CHECK
CONCLUSION
FINAL ISSUES
We have studied that vowels in English are described based on tongue and lip shapes, duration
and articulatory positions. Vowels can be long or short, monophthongs or diphthongs and also
open or close. We have also learned that stress and intonation play significant roles in
conveying messages. And finally, since spelling and pronunciation do not coincide, we have
studied different phenomena that show how this is actually true.
By now you may have become familiarized with how vowels are produced in English, and you
may also have learned to distinguish different vowel sounds and identify different phenomena
such as homonymy and polysemy.
 PODCAST
Let’s hear now Professor Tatiana Massuno explaining, in a summarized way, what we studied
throughout these four sections
UNIT RATING:
REFERENCES
BROWN, Adam. Pronunciation and Phonetics: A Practical Guide for English Language
Teachers. New York: Routledge, 2014.
CARR, Philip. English Phonetics and Phonology: an introduction. 2. ed. West Sussex: Wiley-
Blackwell, 2013.
COLLINS, Beverly; MEES,Inger. Practical phonetics and phonology: a resource book for
students. 3. ed. New York: Routledge, 2013.
DALE, Paulette; POMS, Lillian. English pronunciation made simple. New York: Longman,
2005.
GUT, Ulrike. Introduction to English Phonetics and Phonology. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2009.
LADEFOGED. Peter. Vowels and Consonants: An Introduction to the sounds of languages.
Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 2001.
OGDEN, Richard. An Introduction to English Phonetics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 2009
ROACH, Peter. English Phonetic and phonology: a practical course. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2004.
GO FURTHER
Check the Section Pronunciation Resources at the Speaking Center Webpage of University of
Iowa for more practice exercises and pronunciation rules.
About teaching pronunciation, you can find good references in the books How to teach
pronunciation, written by G. Kelly (Longman Press, 2001) and Teaching English
Pronunciation, written by J. Kenworth (Longman Press, 1987)
CONTENT AUTHOR
Tatiana de Freitas Massuno
 CURRÍCULO LATTES
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NOTE
A EnsineMe reserva ao autor o direito de se manifestar.a major investigation into English spoken on the island of
Marthaʼs Vineyard in Massachusetts, United States. Later, Labov develops a study of the same nature,
with the dialect spoken in New York City. In both studies, the researcher had a single and important
objective: to show the crucial role of social factors in explaining linguistic variation. This is where
Variationist Sociolinguistics emerges as an area of investigation and research in Linguistics.
Image: Shutterstock.com
The author realizes that the variation in linguistic uses of similar functions and meanings was in fact
highly controlled and organized by factors associated to the social profiles of speakers and by internal
linguistic factors. Nowadays, studies on linguistic variation are extended to the different contexts of
language use, whether spoken or written, seeking to identify factors implicit in the options of one or
another way of saying/writing something.
BASED ON LABOV'S STUDIES, THE IDEA THAT LINGUISTIC
VARIATION IS RANDOM AND NOT SYSTEMIC IS
OVERCOME.
The idea that language variation would be ordered becomes a counterpoint to the thought that language
is structurally organized in spite of its speakers and its diverse uses. Linguistic variation comes to be
understood as a non-random object that could be well explained by the existing correlation between
linguistic and nonlinguistic social factors.
Sociolinguistic variationist practice shows that the supposed linguistic homogeneity, predicted by
Saussure's structuralist perspective, could be questioned by the idea of systematized heterogeneity: a
fact verifiable in any natural language which shows that variation is controlled and strongly
conditioned by factors inherent to the language and by external social ones. There is therefore a
probabilistic dimension in language variation: a tendency for certain uses to occur in certain
communicative contexts thanks to the action of this set of factors.
Phonological linguistic variation is thus important for the description of languages. The following
examples show at least more than one way of saying the same word in English. In each case there may
be a set of internal and external factors controlling each choice:
Image: Frank-Henri Jullien/Indogermanisches Jahrbuch/CC BY-SA 4.0
 Ferdinand de Saussure.
BODY
[ˈbɑːdi] ~ [ˈbɑːɾi]
HOLD ON
hol[d] on ~ hol[Ø] on
SATURDAY
[ˈsætədeɪ] ~ [ˈˈsætɚdeɪ] ~ [sæɾəɾeɪ]
The different ways of pronouncing the words , and can be explained by
internal factors linked to the linguistic context in which they are used in interaction with external social
factors, such as the region where the language is spoken, the social group, the register etc. In the end of
the day, what we observe is that a single phoneme may be realized differently according to these intrinsic
and extrinsic factors with no cognitive jeopardy.
 SUMMING-UP
In other words, a phoneme can be realized as different phones. The English /p/ sound can be produced
as the aspirated [ph], in its full form with no aspiration [p] or without audible release [p']. In all of the cases
the sound is interpreted as a unique phoneme: the English /p/ sound.
ALLOPHONES
The phones that are realizations of the same phoneme are called allophones. Thus [p], [ph] and [p'] are
allophones of the phoneme /p/ in English. The distribution of the allophones of a phoneme in speech is
usually complementary. This means that each allophone occurs exclusively in one specific phonetic
context. This is the case for the phoneme /p/ allophones in English. The complementary distribution of /p/
allophones can be described by phonological rules:
aspirated [ph] occurs when it is the only consonant at the beginning of a stressed syllable, as in the
word picture.
[p'] occurs before other plosives, as in the word captain, or at the end of an utterance.
[p] occurs in other positions, as in the word spin.
In English, the regular verbs in the simple past end in “ed”, but they will be differently pronounced
depending on the linguistic context surrounding it. There are three different ways to pronounce the /ed/
ending of regular verbs: [id], [t] or [d]. The different pronunciation depends on the preceding sound, the
one at the end of the infinitive form of the main verb. If the preceding sound is /t/ or //d/ the /ed/ phoneme
will be /id/. If the preceding sound is a voiced sound, it will be pronounced /d/ and if it is a voiceless
sound it will be pronounced /t/.
The following chart illustrates that:
/ID/ /D/ /T/
needed lived shopped
hated tried picked
 Atenção! Para visualização completa da tabela utilize a rolagem horizontal
The English -ed endings may be considered to be a case of allophony in this language, however it is also
considered a case of allomorphy, but that is not of our interest in this class. The same holds true
regarding the plural forms in English. If English -ed endings for phonological reasons change into /id/, /d/
and /t/, something similar occurs with the plural /S/ which changes into /z/, /s/ or /ez/ depending on the
preceding sound.
The following table shows the variation of allophones in English. Note that for each group of phonemes or
phonemic units it presents the contexts in which both forms are distributed in the actual use of the
language.
ALLOMORPHY
Allomorphy is a morphological phenomenom in which the morpheme, an abstract form/meaning
entity, emerges in the language being represented by at least two different morphs or allomorphs.
The English -ed ending is morphologically represented by three allomorphs that are, at the same
time allophones.
ALLOPHONIC VARIATION OF SOME CONSONANTS
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Source: Textbooks in English Language and Linguistics (TELL).
 COMENT
It is worth mentioning that the table aims at demonstrating the linguistic variation of consonants
associated to the linguistic context in which these sounds are produced. Thus, only internal factors of the
language are being observed and not possible social factors that may be also related to such distribution.
Image: Shutterstock.com
VARIATION FACTORS
Linguistic variation phenomena can also be observed in Phonology, for example, in phonological
reduction, which is very common in any language and sometimes represented in written discourse. The
following chart presents some examples of phonological reductions in English that may be possible
cases of future linguistic change, especially due to their current incorporation to (informal) written
language:
ain’t ~ am/is/are /have/has + not. She ain’t got to do anything about it.
gonna ~ going to Are they gonna visit her?
wanna ~ want to We wanna play soccer.
sorta ~ sort of What sorta person is that?
lemme ~ let me Lemme show you this.
gimme ~ give me Gimme the book!
doncha ~ don’t you You do have a car, doncha?
dunno ~ I don’t know If they are gonna get married: dunno!
shoulda ~ should have They shoulda stayed quiet.
lotta ~ lot of ~ lots of We still have a lotta do.
gotta ~ (have) got to/a We gotta go.
 Atenção! Para visualização completa da tabela utilize a rolagem horizontal
When the sounds [t] and [d] occur as the only consonant at the beginning of an unstressed syllable and
have either a vowel or a sonorant consonant preceding them, they are realized as an alveolar tap /ɾ/, a
sound produced by briefly tapping the alveolar ridge with the tongue. This is an allophonic rule
concerning the phonemes /t/ and /d/ that is present in American English and is referred to as flapping or
tapping and observed in words such as letter and writing. In comparison to the way these words are
pronounced in british English, it is observed that it is a case of linguistic variation related to geographical
differences.
Respectively, these words will be pronounced:
/ˈLƐɾɚ/ ~ /ˈLƐTɚ/
/ˈRAꞮɾꞮŊ/ ~ /ˈRAꞮTꞮŊ/
In fact, the scientific treatment allows the identification of at least three groups of factors that are
associatedwith three types of linguistic variations:
SOCIAL FACTORS – DIASTRATIC VARIATION
Diastratic variations are phenomena with no specific linguistic constraints, but of social orientation. The
distribution of specific uses in subgroups of macro social groups is identified. It is possible to locate and
explain, for example, differences in usage and choice of linguistic forms with same meaning in the
speeches of people of different sex/gender, children and the elderly, people with different degrees of
education and so on.
REGIONAL FACTORS – DIATOPIC VARIATION
Diatopic variations, in turn, are those in which we find differences in linguistic usage related to regional
groups that are part of a larger group. It is possible to find differences in use among speakers that are
explainable due to the location in which these people live.
STYLISTIC/REGISTER FACTORS – DIAPHASIC VARIATION
The grouping of diaphasic variations reflects how the use of language is sensitive to the context of
communication, to the register, to the interlocutors. These factors lead us to unconsciously choose formal
or informal language register. Social, historical and cultural characteristics of these groups are thus
reflected in the language, which emerges as a mirror of their larger social context but that also functions
as an identity factor at the individual level.
The following chart is a sample of data related to language variation controlled by social factors
constrained by register:
gonna ~ going to
wanna ~ want to
sorta ~ sort of
 Atenção! Para visualização completa da tabela utilize a rolagem horizontal
If linguistic heterogeneity is controlled by specific conditioning factors, these same factors can help
explain the reasons that lead a particular competing form to be implemented in the system as the only
possibility of use, which implies linguistic change.
Such groupings are identified in any natural language, and variation phenomena happen at any level of
language usage:
PHONOLOGICAL LEVEL
Pronunciation
SEMANTIC / LEXICAL LEVEL
Words
MORPHOSYNTACTIC LEVEL
Sentences
DISCURSIVE-PRAGMATIC LEVEL
How the speech in general is constructed
AT ALL LEVELS, THESE PHENOMENA WILL BE SUBJECT
TO PRESSURE FROM BOTH LINGUISTIC AND SOCIAL
FACTORS AND CAN BE OBSERVED IN THE SPOKEN AND
WRITTEN MODALITIES.
LINGUISTIC VARIATION AND LINGUISTIC
CHANGE
It should be noted that linguistic variation does not necessarily mean ongoing linguistic change. The
dynamism of the language is reflected in variation and change, but it does not mean that any variation
phenomenon necessarily points to ongoing process of linguistic change. The variable pronunciation of
the English -ing gerund form – [ɪŋ] ~ [ɪŋg] – exemplifies this. Although it´s been a phenomenon of
variation for years in that language, it does not seem to be a case of linguistic change in progress. The
possible pronunciations of the word in which the final [ɡ] sound may be deleted exemplifies so:
[ˈꞬOƱꞮŊ], [ˈꞬƆꞮŊ] ~ [ˈꞬOƱꞮŊꞬ], [ˈꞬƆꞮŊꞬ]
Linguistic change, however, is predicted as a result of some type of variation phenomenon that precedes
it. In this sense, the linguistic and extralinguistic factors involved in the variation process may show
possible triggers for the implementation of change.
Image: Shutterstock.com
Linguistic diversity provides for dialectal diversity, the coexistence of variants, such as the standard
language, popular and regional speech etc. The judgment of values regarding linguistic usage is
independent of their linguistic nature. These are socially-oriented judgments generally associated with
the role of power that the standard language plays and that is reflected in the social stratification of a
given society.
 ATTENTION
The possibility that a particular linguistic form, object to social prejudice in other times, may gradually
become the cultured pattern of new times is just another evidence of the lack of superiority among
linguistic forms, idiolects, dialects, in short, among languages.
ORALITY AND LITERACY
Sociolinguistics is a field of theoretical and practical reflections that greatly contribute to educational
thinking with respect to linguistic reality and diversity for the teaching of L1 writing or of additional
languages. In this sense all the issues concerning linguistic diversity turn to be mandatory for the
educational ground.
DESPITE ALL THE TRADITION REGARDING WRITTEN
LANGUAGE, THE WRITTEN MODALITY IS IN NO WAY
SUPERIOR TO THE SPOKEN ONE NOR THERE ARE
SUPERIOR ORAL OR WRITTEN WAYS TO EXPRESS
OURSELVES. LANGUAGE IS EXPRESSION AND SOCIAL
REPRESENTATION, AND IN THIS EXTEND IT SHOULD BE
TREATED ACCORDINGLY AT SCHOOL.
The variation depicts linguistic usage adapted to specific communicative contexts and to specific
individuals. The idea that there are better languages, better cultures, more advanced peoples etc. has
long been overcome although it persists in mistaken conservative thoughts, which in general do not
contemplate the fact of diversity, including linguistic diversity. Just as there are no better cultures, no
better dialects, no better languages, there are no better modalities and the school is in charge of
providing such awareness to its students.
Educational sociolinguistics highlights the need to rethink the teaching of grammar in schools. The notion
of "linguistic error" mirrors the tendency to use the standard norm as the ideal form of the language,
disregarding the fact of language variation and change. Mistaken educational approaches emerge in the
school context, neglecting the sociolinguistically oriented view that the language is diverse, and that each
linguistic community has its own system, legitimate in itself, and in the social functions it plays for the
lives of its users.
The linguistic correction at school can point to the mistaken understanding of what would be the unique
and ideal way of using the language, whether in written or oral modalities. Such an attitude shows the
lack of recognition of popular variants, for example, as legitimate ways of using the language. Such an
attitude also reflects wrong positions and thoughts about what and how students need to learn about
language.
Image: Shutterstock.com
There is a consensus that the teaching of grammar should allow the student to develop sociolinguistic
skills that form him/her as a polyglot in his/her L1 or L2. The speaker of a language should be able to
know how to linguistically behave in the different social spaces in which the language is predicted to be
used in one way or another. Educational sociolinguistics points to the understanding of the notions of
linguistic adequacy and acceptability as more appropriate to the teaching of L1s and L2s than the
notion of error that is based on the parameters of traditional grammar.
The student's ability to perceive and be able to use the most conventionally envisaged forms of linguistic
use in specific contexts and genres is thus developed. Such skills are objects to be considered in
teaching both for the development of written and oral linguistic practices. We refer hereby to such written
and oral linguistic practices as orality and literacy.
Orality and Literacy practices are seen as complementary areas of social and cultural practices:
Image: Shutterstock.com
SUCH PRACTICES COME IN VARIOUS TEXTUAL FORMS
AND GENRES AND CAN BE CARRIED OUT IN DIFFERENT
REGISTERS AND IN A VARIETY OF COMMUNICATIVE
CONTEXTS.
Oral and written linguistic practices are on a range with multiple possibilities of textual productions that
can prototypically represent the formal register of written texts or the informal register of conversation,
which means that, at the end of the day, written texts may have characteristics of the oral ones and vice
versa.
The existence of a range of oral and written texts and genres requires that educational practices be
devoted to the teaching of such linguistic skills. For this purpose, it will be up to the school to workon the
student's development in the use of language in different oral and written communicative situations in L1
and L2 classes.
Diastratic, Diatopic and Diaphasic variations, Allophones, Linguistic Variation, Linguistic Change,
Linguistic Diversity... Check out the explanations with Professor Roberto de Freitas Junior:
CHECKING LEARNING
1. EDUCATIONAL SOCIOLINGUISTICS HIGHLIGHTS THE NEED TO RETHINK THE
TEACHING OF GRAMMAR IN SCHOOLS. REGARDING EDUCATIONAL
SOCIOLINGUISTICS, IT IS IMPORTANT TO SAY THAT:
A) Written language is culturally superior than the spoken.
B) Effective approaches neglect the view that language is diverse.
C) Language teaching should disregard linguistic variation and change.
D) The notion of "linguistic error" mirrors the idea of an ideal perfect language.
E) Linguistic prejudice focuses only on second language issues.
2. THE FOLLOWING CHART IS A SAMPLE OF DATA THAT EXEMPLIFY
LANGUAGE VARIATION THAT MAY BE CONSTRAINED BY:
DUNNO ~ I DON’T KNOW
SHOULDA ~ SHOULD HAVE
LOTTA ~ LOT OF ~ LOTS OF
GOTTA ~ (HAVE) GOT TO/A
 ATENÇÃO! PARA VISUALIZAÇÃO COMPLETA DA TABELA UTILIZE A
ROLAGEM HORIZONTAL
A) The linguistic context.
B) The sociolinguistic context.
C) Language impairment.
D) Educational problems.
E) The economic context.
GABARITO
1. Educational sociolinguistics highlights the need to rethink the teaching of grammar in schools.
Regarding educational sociolinguistics, it is important to say that:
The alternative "D " is correct.
Educational sociolinguistics highlights the idea that there is no ideal and perfect language, since
language variation is the rule.
2. The following chart is a sample of data that exemplify language variation that may be
constrained by:
dunno ~ I don’t know
shoulda ~ should have
lotta ~ lot of ~ lots of
gotta ~ (have) got to/a
 Atenção! Para visualização completa da tabela utilize a rolagem horizontal
The alternative "A " is correct.
The data reflect how the use of language is sensitive to the context of communication, to the register, to
the interlocutors. These factors lead us to unconsciously choose formal or informal language register.
SECTION 3
 To describe functions and classifications of the International Phonetic Alphabet
CLASSIFICATION OF CONSONANTS AND
VOWELS
In this section, we will study the classification and transcription of English consonants and vowels, and
also learn how to read the charts for the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Speech sounds are basically divided into vowels and consonants, and, as we studied in section 1, they
can be specified by the description of the:
AIRSTREAM MECHANISM
VOCAL FOLD ACTION
POSITION OF THE VELUM
PLACE OF ARTICULATION
MANNER OF ARTICULATION
Vowels are classified according to three characteristics that also defines the description and
classification of a combination of these three factors:
Image: Shutterstock.com
The following table describes types of vowels with examples and how they are produced:
TYPE OF
VOWEL
EXAMPLES PRODUCTION
High [i] in bee The tongue is close to the roof of the mouth.
Low [a] in car
Considerable gap between the tongue and the roof
of the mouth.
Mid [e] in bed
Articulated with the tongue in mid position between
high and low.
Front [i] The front of the tongue is raised towards the hard
TYPE OF
VOWEL
EXAMPLES PRODUCTION
palate.
Back [u] in moon The back of the tongue is raised towards the velum.
Central [3] in her Produced with a raised centre part of the tongue.
Rounded /
unrounded
[u]
[i]
The lips are either rounded or unrounded.
 Atenção! Para visualização completa da tabela utilize a rolagem horizontal
The description and classification of a vowel is thus a combination of these three factors: vowel height,
vowel location, and lip rounding. The IPA transcription symbols for vowels are the following:
Image: Nohat Grendelkhan/GNU Free Documentation License/CC A-S Alike 3.0 Unported
 IPA transcription symbols for vowels.
It is a quadrilateral vowel chart that illustrates the shape of the oral cavity. The vertical axis represents the
vertical position of the tongue and lower jaw. The horizontal axis represents the part of the tongue that is
active during articulation.
ACTIVITY
TRY TO FIND THE VOWEL [I] , AS IN BEAT, ON THE
CHART AND DESCRIBE IT:
Image: Nohat Grendelkhan/GNU Free Documentation License/CC A-S Alike 3.0 Unported
ANSWER
The chart shows that the vowel [i] is produced with the tongue in a high position and with the front of the
tongue raised in the front of the mouth.
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This example illustrates that:
1
Vowel height is a concept related to the verticality of the tongue height.
2
Vowel location is a factor related to the horizontality of a certain section of the tongue.
3
Voicing is a factor related to the role played by the vocal folds vibration in the production of voiceless or
voiced sounds.
Image: Shutterstock.com
 Mouth position for phonemes illustration, used as guideline for animation studies.
As we also studied in the previous section, consonants are usually characterized by three other
features: voicing, manner, and place of articulation. Voicing describes the Articulatory process in
which the vocal folds vibrate, producing voiced or voiceless sounds. Manner of articulation is the
configuration and interaction of the articulators in making a speech sound, and point of articulation is
the place of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract.
Thus, the [t] sound, for example, is described as the voiceless, alveolar, plosive phoneme and the [d]
sound is described as the voiced, alveolar, plosive phoneme. It is important to observe that the only
difference between these two sounds – [t] and [d] – relies on the voicing trace, indicating that vocal cords
vibrate in the production of the latter sound.
As for the manner of articulation feature, the configuration and interaction of the articulators in the
production of a speech sound, a consonant may be produced by several different ways and thus will be
classified accordingly. Thus, the sounds of the consonants may be:
PLOSIVE
FRICATIVE
AFFRICATE
TRILL
TAP
LATERAL
APPROXIMANT
NASAL
The manner of articulation features together with the voicing and point of articulation ones will determine
the final description of these phones. The following table describes all the different manners of
articulation that underlie consonant types with examples and how they are produced:
MANNERS OF ARTICULATION
Source: Textbooks in English Language and LinguisticsT (TELL)
Consonants are also characterized by their point of articulation. As for the point of articulation, the place
of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract, a consonant may be produced in several
different places and by different articulators. Due to this classification, a consonant may be a bilabial,
labiodental, interdental, alveolar, postalveolar, retroflex, palatal, velar, uvular, pharyngeal, glottal
or labiovelar sounds. Once again, the point of articulation feature together with the voicing and manner
of articulation ones will determine the segmental identity of these phones.
The following table describes all the different points of articulation that underlie consonant types with
examples and how they are produced:
PLACES OF ARTICULATION
Source: Textbooks in English Language and Linguistics (TELL)
Image: Shutterstock.com
INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) presents written representations of phones, i.e., transcription
symbols for all distinctive speech sounds occurring in any language of the world. Phonetic transcription
guarantees that a certain linguistic expression in a certain language be produced the way it is actually
used in real life situations by native people of that language, which does not happen when it comes to
regular writing, as we saw in section 1.
The association of written and oral modalities, as we discussed, isnot perfect in any language. We do
not write exactly what we say. This makes the need of a pattern that would allow the reading of words
and expressions of any language possible.
For example, the English sentence ‘A tiger and a mouse were walking in a field’ will probably be
produced differently according to the speaker´s social profile and communicative constraints in which the
sentence is performed. Such information which may be of extreme importance under some
circumstances will not be captured by the regular written representation.
In 1886, the International Phonetic Association was founded in Paris and distributed the first phonetic
alphabet. The original symbols should be as simple as possible for language learners in Western Europe
and thus most of them were taken from the Roman alphabet. In the past centuries, the IPA has
undergone several revisions (the last one was completed in 2005) as we seen in the following chart:
THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (2005)
Source: Textbooks in English Language and Linguistics (TELL)
 ATTENTION
The IPA chart can be read in the following way: each row represents a different manner of articulation
and each column refers to a different place of articulation. When two symbols appear in one cell, the one
on the left is the voiceless consonant and the one on the right is the voiced counterpart. Empty cells hold
possible combinations of place and manner of articulation, that haven't been so far identified in any
language.
PHONETIC AND PHONEMIC TRANSCRIPTION
The IPA provides possible transcriptions of sounds, words and utterances from any language in the
world. If one is interested in Articulatory details of an utterance or specific sound, s/he will need to carry
out a phonetic transcription. Phonetic transcriptions do not refer to speakers' mental representations
but to actual realizations and are therefore carried out for real speech.
Besides the IPA symbols for the phonemes, a really descriptive phonetic transcription includes diacritics
to indicate specific phonetic realizations. Diacritics are fine phonetic details and prosodic features that
may arise during the emergence of a certain phoneme (like the aspiration in [ph] that is represented by
the diacritic(h)).
The following chart is the IPA diacritics one. And it should be used in a fine-grained description of speech
combined with the official IPA phoneme chart:
Source: Textbooks in English Language and Linguistics(TELL)
Phonemic transcriptions describe the presumed underlying representations of sounds, the speaker's
cognitive knowledge about the Phonology of a language. It represents the linguistically relevant
information about articulation and is the kind of transcription we find in dictionaries. Phonemic
transcriptions can also be made for real speech.
There are several differences between phonetic and phonemic transcriptions. For example, in phonemic
transcriptions it may be more difficult to determine word boundaries. Still only a narrow phonetic
transcription of a certain word or utterance will include phonetic details such as the voicing of each
segment or even allow to distinguish the exact place of articulation of sounds.
A possible phonetic and phonemic transcriptions of the utterance “A tiger and a mouse were walking in a
field” are illustrated below. Note that the convention is to use:
Image:
Square brackets ([ ]) to refer to phones, the actual sounds, or to make a phonetic transcription.
Image: k
Slashes (/ /) to refer to phonemes, the mental representation of the sound, or make a phonemic
transcription.
 COMMENT
A simple analysis on the differences in the transcriptions above points to the different interest of
Phonetics and Phonology. For example, while in the first phonetic transcription for the sentence “A tiger
and a mouse were walking in a field” the register of diacritics is observed, the same does not happen for
the phonological transcription that actually aims at making sure to keep phonemic representation despite
possible allophones associated to certain sounds.
Image: Shutterstock.com
LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND LANGUAGE STUDENTS MAY
BE DIRECTLY BENEFITED BY BEING ABLE TO INTERPRET
OR EVEN PRODUCE PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL
TRANSCRIPTIONS.
The possibility of comparing, for example, our own oral productions in a L2 to what might have been the
current production to a native speaker allows the identification of problem areas in phonological
acquisition. Nowadays, due to the lingua franca status of the English in our world, the importance of
minimizing language transfer issues in the L2 production is definitely not the same it used to be in the
past. However, it is still important for the L2 speaker to make sure to use proper pronunciation and
intonation at least aiming to prevent miscommunication problems.
The management of phonetic and phonological transcription may contribute to the learning process with
focus on what is actually important for successful worldwide communication. The general knowledge
about the ways sounds are materialized in use and how they are cognitively represented as linguistic
knowledge is particularly important for those interested in language learning.
Let’s understand a little bit more about transcription of vowels and consonants sounds:
CHECKING LEARNING
1. THE FOLLOWING CHART REFERS TO:
IMAGE: NOHAT GRENDELKHAN/GNU FREE DOCUMENTATION LICENSE/CC A-S
ALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED
A) The IPA transcription symbols for allophones.
B) The IPA transcription symbols for diacritics.
C) The IPA transcription symbols for vowels.
D) The IPA transcription symbols for consonants.
E) The IPA transcription symbols for linguistic variation.
2. PHONEMIC TRANSCRIPTIONS DESCRIBE:
A) The presumed underlying cognitive representation about letters.
B) The presumed underlying cognitive representations of sounds.
C) The speaker's knowledge about phonetics.
D) The speaker's knowledge about phonology.
E) The speaker’s knowledge about writing.
GABARITO
1. The following chart refers to:
Image: Nohat Grendelkhan/GNU Free Documentation License/CC A-S Alike 3.0 Unported
The alternative "C " is correct.
The chart refers to the IPA transcription symbols for vowels, considering the tongue and the lower jaw.
2. Phonemic transcriptions describe:
The alternative "B " is correct.
Phonemic transcriptions refer to mental representation, they describe the presumed underlying cognitive
representation about sounds. If one is interested in articulatory details of an utterance or specific sound,
s/he will need to carry out a phonetic transcription. Phonetic transcriptions, on the other hand, refers to
actual realizations and are therefore carried out for real speech.
CONCLUSION
FINAL ISSUES
We have presented the main points related to Phonetics and Phonology as general areas of linguistic
studies. We initially discussed the concepts of phoneme and grapheme (letter), and the problems related
to possible mismatches between written representation and oral productions in the written production in
the first or second language (L1 and L2) that could be possible challenges for language learning. In
Section 2, we discussed sociolinguistics and linguistic variation. We brought up a discussion on how
these issues are important, when it comes to L1/L2 teaching/learning processes both for the teaching of
oral and written modalities.
When dealing with the aspects inherent to the variation and change of languages, the sociolinguistic
approach shows one of the several characteristics of natural languages, both in oral and in written form:
linguistic variation. When dealing with the linguistic and social aspects involved in the process of
interactional language construction, the educational sociolinguistic approach reflects the ideological and
social behavior of a linguistic community, revealing important aspects about its internal management.
A great contribution of sociolinguistics is the role it plays inthe construction of an educational practice
suitable for language teaching. Studies focused on the language/society interface dispel prejudices about
the nature and function of language, contributing with more consistent principles for its teaching.
Finally, we have presented the International Phonetic Alphabet, the IPA, showing how it represents the
speech sounds of any language, allowing for a more accurate phonetic/phonological description which
may contribute to the learning process of any language aiming at successful worldwide communication.
AVALIAÇÃO DO TEMA:
REFERENCES
BORTONI-RICARDO, S. M. Manual de sociolinguística. São Paulo: Contexto, 2014.
BRASIL. Orientações Curriculares para o Ensino Médio: linguagens, códigos e suas tecnologias.
Brasília: SEB/MEC, 2006.
BRASIL. Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais: terceiro e quarto ciclos do ensino fundamental: língua
portuguesa. Brasília: MEC/SEF, 1998.
GUT, U. Introduction to English Phonetics and Phonology. In: Textbooks in English Language and
Linguistics (TELL). Peter Lang Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften: Frankfurt am Main, 2009.
MARCUSCHI, L. A. Da fala para a escrita: atividades de retextualização. 10. ed., São Paulo: Cortez,
2010.
MOLLICA, M. C.; BRAGA, M. L. (Orgs.) Introdução à sociolinguística: o tratamento da variação. São
Paulo: Contexto, 2003.
CONTENT AUTHOR
Roberto de Freitas Junior
 CURRÍCULO LATTES
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DESCRIPTION
Introduction to the articulatory phonetics of English consonants.
PURPOSE
By means of studying places and manner of articulation of consonant phonemes, one will be
better equipped to reproduce them more clearly, become a more articulate English speaker and
consequently more skilled to teach the language.
PREPARATION
Before beginning this unit, make sure you have the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) chart
at hand so that you can easily identify the phonemes being discussed. You might also want to
check an illustration of the vocal tract and articulators beforehand to have a better
understanding of the places of articulation to be discussed.
GOALS
SECTION 1
To identify fricative consonants: labiodental, dental, alveolar, palato-alveolar, and glottal
fricatives
SECTION 2
To identify plosive consonants: bilabial, alveolar, and velar plosive
SECTION 3
To classify consonants based on the degree of constriction
SECTION 4
To recognize the context in which syllabic consonants can occur
Soruce: Shutterstock.com.
WARM-UP
In the following sections, you will learn how to classify consonants according to different
degrees of constriction to the airflow. You will learn that plosives and fricatives can be combined
to form a different type of consonant. What’s more, to produce specific consonant phonemes,
the air can be allowed to escape through the nasal cavity.
You will study consonants that exhibit vowel-like qualities and may, phonetically speaking,
function as vowels. Finally, you will learn cases in which a consonant may fill the nucleus slot in
a syllable. By the end of this unit, you will be able to classify, identify and correctly
reproduce consonant phonemes.
SECTION 1
 To identify fricative consonants: labiodental, dental, alveolar, palato-alveolar, and
glottal fricatives
INTRODUCTION
Several students, while learning a second language, many times express the wish to sound like
a native speaker. You might have already thought to yourself:
Source: Shutterstock.com.
How many times has this wish resulted in frustration?
Even though the same organs (that is, the ones that compose the respiratory, the phonatory and
the articulatory systems) are activated during speech production both in Portuguese and in
English, patterns of muscular activities may differ depending on the sounds involved. Let’s
consider, for example:
Since this sound does not exist in Portuguese, that is, since the muscular patterns involved in
producing such sound differ from the ones Portuguese speakers are used to, Portuguese
speakers may resort to more familiar muscular patterns.
This happens when English learners, instead of placing the tongue between the teeth, resort to
a more common phoneme such as /s/, and the word think becomes:
The problem, therefore, does not lie in the physiology of pronunciation, but rather in the fact that
the set of sounds we acquire may vary. Learning a new language would, this way, mean
learning how to use our speech organs in new ways so that the sounds learnt in English
could be intelligibly reproduced. Learning how and where sounds are articulated may help
students reproduce sounds more clearly and become more articulate speakers.
Do you know how and where sounds are articulated in English?
MANNER OF ARTICULATION, PLACE OF
ARTICULATION AND VOICING
As you probably remember, sounds within a language are called phonemes, which means that
vowels are phonemes and so are consonants. Remember that vowels and consonants are
phonemic categories, related to sounds and not letters.
Letters and phonemes do not always coincide as the same letter (or cluster) may refer to
different phonemes. Let’s go back to the given example, to the word think! Even though th
refers to the phoneme /θ/, in a different word such as they, the phoneme /ð/ is used.
Both phonemes are produced by placing the tongue between the teeth, in other terms, they are
both dental consonants. To produce both phonemes, the airstream is not interrupted,
meaning they are both fricative consonants.
The only difference resides in the vibration of the vocal cords. Whereas in the phoneme /θ/
(as in think) the vocal cords do not vibrate, to produce the phoneme /ð/ (as in they) the cords
need to vibrate. There is thus no difference either in the way the phonemes are articulated or in
the articulators involved in producing them. While /ð/ is a voiced phoneme, /θ/ is voiceless.
Source: Shutterstock.com.
 ATTENTION
Just remember:
A voiced phoneme happens when the vocal cords vibrate.
By placing your hand on your Adam’s apple while producing the /ð/ phoneme (as in they) you
feel your cords vibrate.
On the other hand, when doing the same while pronouncing the /θ/ sound (as in think), no
vibration is observed. /θ/ is then a voiceless consonant.
By comparing both phonemes /θ/ and /ð/, we realize that consonants are categorized based on
three factors:
On how the sounds are articulated
Where they
are articulated
On the presence or absence of vibration



In more academic terms, consonants differ in:
Manner of articulation
Place of articulation
Voicing
Since speech sounds are basically produced by obstructing or constricting airstream, that is, by
means of modifying airstream, those categories relate to how and where the airflow is modified.
For instance, when articulators are brought together, e.g., the upper teeth and the lower lip,
such as in the phoneme /f/, the air finds its way through a small passage and the hissing sound,
which derives from it, can be continued until your lungs run out of air. These are called:
Continuant consonants
Consonants produced without any interruption to the airstream.
How is, then, the sound produced in the phoneme /f/?
By not blocking the airstream, by allowing the sound to be continuous. Since /f/ is a continuant
consonant, it falls under the category of what is called:
Fricative consonants
Consonants whose sounds are continuous and do not end up in an explosion.
The term fricative refers to how the sound is produced but it says nothing about which
articulators are activated during sound production. In the production of the phoneme /f/ both the
upper teeth (dental) and the lower lip (labio) are mobilized, and that is why it is called
labiodental consonant.
How is then the sound produced?
With the upper teeth against the lower lip (labiodental), allowing for a continuous airstream
(fricative).
According to where the sound is articulated, fricative consonantsare split into smaller
categories such as:
Labiodental
Dental
Alveolar
Palato-alveolar
Glottal
Except for the glottal one, each category is composed of a pair of consonants that only differ in
voicing (one is voiced and the other voiceless).
LABIODENTAL FRICATIVES
Labiodental consonants are produced when the upper teeth touch the lower lip. Two sounds
derive from this encounter: /f/ and /v/. Both consonants are labiodental fricatives.
In the production of the phoneme /v/ the vocal cords vibrate whereas the same does not apply
to /f/. In other words, /v/ is voiced and /f/ is voiceless.
Try the following:
Place your upper teeth over your bottom lip and touch your Adam’s apple.
Source: EnsineMe
Source: EnsineMe
DENTAL FRICATIVES
The tongue and the teeth produce a gap through which the air escapes. This type of consonant
poses a great challenge to most Portuguese speakers since it is inexistent in the Portuguese
language. To make students’ lives easier, teachers and even pronunciation guides tend to
explain that dental consonants are produced by placing the tongue between the teeth. Actually,
the tongue is normally placed inside the teeth and not between the teeth. The tip of the tongue
would then touch the inside of the lower teeth and the blade of the tongue the inside of the lower
teeth.
To understand how to pronounce this phoneme, do the following: place the front of your tongue
against the back of your front teeth. Let the air out as you breathe out. Produce a continuant
sound. Once again, these fricatives can be voiced and voiceless consonants.
They are voiceless /θ/ in the following words:
Source: EnsineMe
Notice that the phoneme /θ/ can occur in the beginning, middle or end of words.
They are voiced /ð/ in the following words:
Source: EnsineMe
 ATTENTION
Just remember:
Touch your Adam’s apple while producing this sound. If you feel a vibration, you are producing
the right sound.
So far, we have seen cases in which the lip, the tongue, and the teeth are involved in sound
production. However, many other articulators can be activated when speaking a language. The
main ones are:
Pharynx
Velum or soft palate
Hard palate or “roof of the mouth”
Alveolar ridge
Tongue
Teeth
Lips
In the following sections you will see fricative consonants that are produced by bringing other
articulators together, such as in the word sin.
Source: Shutterstock.com.
The phoneme /s/ is produced when the airstream is modified by bringing the tip of the tongue
closer to the alveolar ridge (the hard, bony ridge behind the teeth) and a sharp hiss is produced.
Since the alveolar ridge is involved, this type of consonant falls under the category of an
alveolar consonant.
ALVEOLAR FRICATIVES
When the tip or blade of the tongue is brought closer to the alveolar ridge, the air flows through
a deep groove in the tongue, producing a sharp hiss. These consonants are called alveolar due
to where the sound is produced: in the alveolar ridge.
The phonemes /s/ and /z/ are the two alveolar fricatives that only differ in the buzzing sound the
phoneme /z/ produces. While /s/ is voiceless, /z/ is its voiced counterpart.
Source: Kurit afshen | shutterstock.com
/s/ is a pretty common sound in most languages and it normally does not pose a great challenge
for English learners, just remember the hissing sound a snake makes!
 ATTENTION
Note that throughout this section phonemes are being discussed, that is, sounds and not letters.
Just remember that many times in English letters and phonemes do not coincide, meaning that
the same phoneme can be produced by different letters or combination of letters.
While it is true that /s/ in many cases is just a phonemic representation of the letter s, bear in
mind that the rule does not apply to all cases. Notice the following words, for example:
autor/shutterstock
Even though different letters and combination of letters are being used in the words, they all
refer to the same phoneme, namely, /s/. When the letter c is followed by e, i or y, it is usually
pronounced as /s/, like in the words cell, ice, cent and society. Also, the letter x, represented by
the combination /ks/, for example:
Source: Aleksandr Rybalko | shutterstock.com
While /s/ is a pretty common sound, its voiced counterpart, /z/, is not. But if you remember the
buzzing sound of a bee it may help you.
The only difference between /s/ and /z/ is that your vocal cords vibrate while pronouncing words
such as:
The letter s is pronounced as /z/ when between vowels in a stressed syllable, such as in the
word because. Also, the letter s in certain plural nouns, when following a vowel or most voiced
consonants is pronounced as /z/ as well. For example:
Source: EnsineMe
PALATO-ALVEOLAR FRICATIVES
Before delving a little bit deeper into the sound production of the palato-alveolar fricatives,
picture the following scene:
Source: Stock-Asso | shutterstock.com
Imagine you are at a movie theater, trying to pay attention to a movie (a movie you desperately
wanted to watch!)
Source: StockLite | shutterstock.com
A group starts a pretty loud conversation about some random topic.
Source: Syda Productions | shutterstock.com
There is, then, no other way than shushing them!
Think about the sound you make when you try to do it: shhhhhhh!
Now let’s think:
Did you notice that the middle of your tongue came closer to the roof of your mouth?
Did you realize that the tip of your tongue was brought closer to the upper gum ridge?
Did you notice that the tongue was in contact with an area further back than when you produce
the phonemes /s/ and /z/?
As the name shows, this sound production is partly palatal and partly alveolar, since it happens
in the area in between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate.
You may realize that the air flows through a passage along the tongue as in the word sip, but
your tongue moves backwards to produce de /ʃ/ in ship, making the air passage wider. The air
flows through a shallower groove in the tongue than in /s/, which makes the hissing sound
graver.
As with most fricatives, the palato-alveolar consonants also have voiced and voiceless
counterparts. Whereas /ʃ/ is voiceless, that is, it is produced without any vibration in the vocal
cords; /ʒ/ is its voiced counterpart.
The phoneme /ʃ/ has different spellings such: sh, ch, ci, ti, ss. For example:
Source: EnsineMe
When pronouncing these words just make sure not to let your tongue touch either your teeth or
the gum ridge.
The phoneme /ʒ/ has similarly different spellings. These include: si, su, gi, ge as in the words:
autor/shutterstock
 ATTENTION
This phoneme is mainly found in the middle or end of words. Just don’t forget to make your
vocal cords vibrate!
So far, the fricatives described have been produced by combining articulators present in the
mouth (tongue, lip, palate, alveolar ridge) and have been described in contrast with their
counterparts (e.g., voiced or voiceless). The remaining fricative, nonetheless, has no voiced
counterpart and has, additionally, a place of articulation that cannot be placed in the mouth.
GLOTTAL FRICATIVE
By now you may have become a bit more familiarized with how the articulators in the mouth
modify the airstream to produce sounds. And you may assume that, aside from the vibration of
the vocal cords, these articulators (present in the mouth) play a major role in modifying
airstream by constricting the airflow.
However, as the name shows, a glottal consonant is neither produced in the palate nor in the
alveolar ridge; the airflow is modified instead in the glottis (the space between the vocal
cords).
/h/ is produced by narrowing the space between the vocal folds. The air flows through a
narrower passage between the vocal folds, producing, then, a friction noise.
Source: pathdoc | shutterstock.com
Imagine you feel a sudden sense of relief. You suddenly realize that all your problems are over,
and youcan just relax. Have this feeling in mind. Think about how to express this emotion
through sounds, let out a sigh of relief. Did you feel your tongue and throat relax, while letting
out a puff of air? If you said yes, then you are on the right track!
The /h/ is found in the middle as well as at the end of words. Example:
autor/shutterstock
Just make sure you pronounce the /h/ phoneme, otherwise you may produce a completely
different word and your message may be compromised. If /h/ is not pronounced, you may, for
instance, say:
Fricative consonants are categorized based on their places of articulation. According to the
articulators involved in making the stricture, fricatives may be labiodental, dental, alveolar,
palato-alveolar and glottal consonants. Apart from the glottal fricative, all the other consonants
were studied in pairs: as voiced and voiceless counterparts.
The following chart summarizes what was discussed in the section:
Fricatives Labiodental Dental Alveolar
Palato-
alveolar
Glottal
Voiced /v/ /ð/ /z/ /ʒ/
/h/
Voiceless /f/ /θ/ /s/ /ʃ/
 Atenção! Para visualização completa da tabela utilize a rolagem horizontal
Source: Elaborated by the author.
In the following video, Professor Fábio Simas presents us with some practical examples of
fricative consonants. Let's watch!
LEARNING CHECK
1. WE HAVE STUDIED DIFFERENT FRICATIVE CONSONANTS THAT
DIFFER IN TERMS OF THEIR PLACES OF ARTICULATION AND VOICING.
BASED ON THAT, ANSWER THE FOLLOWING: WHY WOULD A NON-
NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER SAY /F/INK INSTEAD OF /Ɵ/INK WHEN
TRYING TO PRONOUNCE THE WORD THINK? WHICH MISTAKES DID THIS
PERSON MAKE?
A) The person forgot to make the vocal cords vibrate, since /ɵ/ is a voiced consonant.
B) The person forgot to make the sound of the consonant continuous and ended up with an
explosion instead.
C) The person produced a labiodental consonant instead of a dental one. That is, wrong place
of articulation.
D) The person mistakenly produced a buzzing sound when /ɵ/ is voiceless.
E) The person did not realize that /ɵ/ is a glottal consonant, meaning the sound is produced by
the narrowing of the vocal folds.
2. MANY TIMES, IN ENGLISH, THE SPELLING OF A WORD DOES NOT
COINCIDE WITH ITS PRONUNCIATION. THAT MEANS THAT LETTERS AND
PHONEMES MAY BE DIFFERENT. HAVING THAT IN MIND, CHOOSE THE
ALTERNATIVE THAT EXEMPLIFY THIS PHENOMENON:
A) Hat, heat, ahead, hot
B) Has, because, legs, shoes
C) Skate, school, skip, snake
D) Fun, fat, for, fast
E) Vine, vase, vest, even
GABARITO
1. We have studied different fricative consonants that differ in terms of their places of
articulation and voicing. Based on that, answer the following: why would a non-native
English speaker say /f/ink instead of /ɵ/ink when trying to pronounce the word think?
Which mistakes did this person make?
Option "C " is correct.
The /ɵ/ is a voiceless dental consonant, produced by the constriction of the airflow when the
tongue is placed inside the teeth, whereas /f/ is a labiodental fricative. Both consonants differ in
places of articulation.
2. Many times, in English, the spelling of a word does not coincide with its pronunciation.
That means that letters and phonemes may be different. Having that in mind, choose the
alternative that exemplify this phenomenon:
Option "B " is correct.
The letter s in all the words in the list is pronounced as its voiced counterpart /z/. The spelling
and the phoneme are not the same then.
SECTION 2
 To identify plosive consonants: bilabial, alveolar, and velar plosives
INTRODUCTION
Have you noticed that certain consonantal sounds seem to end up in an explosion? A puff of air
is released, after a moment of blockage, and a small explosion seems to happen in your mouth.
Try saying the following sentence:
THE CAT IS IN THE HOUSE.
Now pay attention to how you articulate the sounds in the words cat and house.
In which word can you sense a small explosion happening in your mouth?
In which word does the sound seem to be continuous without any complete closure of the
airstream?
Keep those questions in mind. In the next topics we will be discussing a different manner of
articulation, one in which the airstream is blocked, causing an explosion to happen. We will also
describe which articulators are brought together to completely block the airstream in order to
produce certain sounds.
PLOSIVE CONSONANTS
Source: Shutterstock.com.
Let’s go back to the word cat.
Say the word again.

Now isolate its constituents.

Think of the two consonants that compose this simple word.
What have you noticed about the two phonemes /k/ and /t/?
If you try to continuously make these sounds until your lungs run out of air, you will realize that
you will not be able to. To make the same sound again you will have to obstruct the airstream,
to completely block the air from flowing. They are, therefore, non-continuants, as their sounds
cannot be prolonged. And the reason why lies in the way (manner) they are articulated.
Both consonants /k/ and /t/ depend on a three-step mechanism to be pronounced:
THE CLOSURE PHASE
THE HOLD PHASE
THE RELEASE PHASE
THE CLOSURE PHASE
It happens when articulators are brought together to completely block the airstream and the air
is trapped behind the closure.
THE HOLD PHASE
It entails maintaining the vocal tract completely closed. This is when a continuous pressure is
felt as the air is trying to be released. The duration of the hold phase may be shorter or longer,
depending on the consonant involved. It is usually longer for /p/, /t/, and /k/ than it is for /b/, /d/,
and /g/.
THE RELEASE PHASE
It happens when the articulators are released, and the air is let out. Because of the difference in
pressure (the pressure is higher behind the closure) the release produces a sound which
resembles that of an explosion – this is called the plosive burst.
AS YOU CAN SEE, TO PRODUCE BOTH CONSONANTS, /K/
AND /T/, WE NEED TO COMPLETELY STOP THE AIR FROM
FLOWING, AT LEAST FOR SOME TIME. THESE CONSONANTS,
THEREFORE, DO NOT RESULT FROM A FRICTION NOISE,
FROM THE CONSTRICTION OF THE AIRSTREAM, AS WAS THE
CASE WITH THE FRICATIVES; QUITE THE CONTRARY, THEY
DERIVE FROM A “PLOSIVE BURST” THAT CAN ONLY HAPPEN
DUE TO A TEMPORARY CLOSURE IN THE VOCAL TRACT.
According to its manner of articulation, a consonant is fricative or plosive:
Fricative consonants
When there is a constriction of the airstream caused by articulators brought together, the
airstream remains continuous and the sound is continuant, like in the word house.
Plosive consonants
They occur when there is a complete obstruction to the airstream. Articulators are brought
together to create a stricture that allows no air to escape. The air is trapped temporarily in the
vocal tract. These non-continuant consonants are, then, called plosive (or stop) consonants, like
in the case of /k/ and /t/.
As we will see, the six plosive consonants /p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, and /g/ will differ in places of
articulation and voicing. So, in the following sections we will be asking the questions:
Which articulators are involved in the stricture?
Are the vocal cords vibrating or not?
Similarly to what happens to the fricative consonants, the plosives also come in pairs. Each
place of articulation produces a pair of consonants that only differ in voicing. In other words, the
pairs of bilabial, alveolar, and velar plosives entail voiceless and voiced counterparts.
BILABIAL PLOSIVES
Source: Shutterstock.com.
Let’s go back to the word cat!
Instead of producing the /k/ phoneme, join your lips to create complete closure.

As you release the air pronounce the following phonemes /æ/ and /t/.

You may have sensed a vibration in your vocal cords. If not, do it again.

Pay attention to the movement of your lips, the release of air and the vibration of your vocal
cords.
Source: Shutterstock.com.
As you may have realized, by changing the place of articulation, by using both lips to form the