A detailed description of phonetics

1. President Chameleon Garage Shirt Principal Principle
Lunch Launch Balloon Mosquito Women Comb Machine
Rendezvous Preparation Leopard
English is spoken as First/Second language
UK, USA, Australia, Canada: First language
India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Bangladesh: Second language/ non-native
speakers
British RP (Received Pronunciation): standard English
RP used by South-East England – used by educated English
speakers
If a child is born deaf, he is bound to be dumb
U: tomb blue comb rule
K: cat keen occasion chemistry
Chemistry Chest cheese chance: k/ch

2. Phonetics
The study or classification of speech sound. The study related to
sounds.
IPA : International Phonetic Alphabet
English alphabet: 26 letters
26 letters produce 44 sounds
Consonant sounds: 24
Vowels: 20 (pure vowels: 12 Diphthongs/vowel glides:8)

4. 24 consonant sounds
Consonant symbols
p pen, copy, happen
b baby, job
t tea, tight, button
d day, ladder, odd
k key, clock, school
g get, god, mug
tʃ church, match, nature
dʒ judge, age, soldier
f fat, coffee, rough, photo
v view, heavy, move
θ thing, author, path
ð this, other, smooth
s soon, cease, sister
z zero, music, roses, buzz
ʃ ship, sure, national
ʒ pleasure, vision
h hot, whole, ahead
m more, hammer, sum
n nice, know, funny
ŋ ring, anger, thanks,
l light, valley, feel
r right, wrong, sorry, arrange
j yet, use, beauty, few
w wet, one, when, queen

5. Problematic sounds for Indians
dʒ judge, age, soldier
z zero, music, roses, buzz
ʒ pleasure, vision
s soon, cease, sister
ʃ ship, sure, national
Nasal sound
m more, hammer, sum
n nice, know, funny
ŋ ring, anger, thanks,

6. VOWELS
i kit, bid, minute
i: feat seat beat
e dress, bed, head
æ bad, trap
ɒ lot odd wash
ʌ strut, mud, love, blood
ʊ foot good put
ɜ nurse stir learn
ə about common standard
ɑ start father
ɔ thought law north
u two blue goose
Diphthongs
aɪ- five, eye
aʊ- now, out
eɪ- say, eight
oʊ- go, home
ɔɪ- boy, join
eə- where, air
ɪə- near, here
ʊə- pure, tourist

7. Problems of Indian English
In Indian English /z/ /s/ and /ʃ/ are not used correctly and this
leads to a confusion between pairs:
/z/ /s/ /ʃ/
Eyes ice ship
Falls false sure
Fears fierce national
His hiss shoe
Knees niece

8. Consonant Cluster
A consonant cluster in a word is a group of two or more consonants
with no vowels in between them. The consonant sounds that come
before vowel sound are called onset, the one ones that come after
vowel sound coda, and the consonant cluster between the vowel
sounds is known as medial.
Black bread trick flat spring strong scream - highlighted
consonants are onset
length sixths bursts glimpse - highlighted consonants are coda
handspring sightscreen abridge drastic - highlighted consonants
are medial

9. Exam questions:
Program, Bottle, Channel, Apple
Program, Bottle, Channel, Apple

10. Phonemic Transcription
School: /skuːl/
Coffee: /ˈkɒfi/
Judge: /dʒʌdʒ/
Football: /ˈfʊtbɔːl/
Computer: /kəmˈpjuːtə/
Treatment: /ˈtriːtm(ə)nt/
Business: /ˈbɪznəs/
communicate: /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/
Information: /ɪnfəˈmeɪʃ(ə)n/
Objection: /əbˈdʒɛkʃ(ə)n/
Mysterious: /mɪˈstɪərɪəs/
Necessary: /ˈnɛsəs(ə)ri/
Public: /ˈpʌblɪk/
World: /wəːld/
Passion: /ˈpaʃ(ə)n/
Participate: /pɑːˈtɪsɪpeɪt/
Wrinkle: /ˈrɪŋk(ə)l/
Sentence: /ˈsɛnt(ə)ns/
Garage: /ˈɡarɑː(d)ʒ/
Electricity: /ˌɪlɛkˈtrɪsɪti/
Quiet: /ˈkwʌɪət/
Recommend: /rɛkəˈmɛnd/
Question: /ˈkwɛstʃ(ə)n/
Documentary:
/dɒkjʊˈmɛnt(ə)ri/
Dangerous: /ˈdeɪn(d)ʒ(ə)rəs/
/ʌɪ/ /lʌv/ /juː/
I love you

12. Syllable
Teach: /tiːtʃ/
Teacher: teach + er /ˈtiːtʃə/
Teachership: teach + er + ship
machine: ma + chine /məˈʃiːn/ train: /treɪn/
cold: /kəʊld/
A syllable is a basic unit of sound which forms a word or part of
a word.
Words are made of up syllables.
Man, cold, fan, rat, school, boy, strength: have one syllable
A-go, ho-tel, free-dom, a-gree, farm-er: have two syllables
Syl-la-ble, dict-tion-ary, re-la-tion: have three syllables
NOTE:A syllable always has a vowel sound. So as many
vowels that many syllables in a word.

13.  Stress in English words is FIXED: Stress always falls on a
particular syllable
 Stress in English words is FREE: not tied to particular syllable
miserable: MISerable
agree: Agree
understand: underSTAND
 In some languages stress is tied to a particular syllable
Czech: First syllables
French: last syllable

14. Stress
English is an accent based language. And that in a word not all the syllables
are pronounced with equal emphasis.
Ability: /əˈbɪlɪti/
teacher: /ˈtiːtʃə/
Machine: /məˈʃiːn/

15. Rules.
1. In monosyllabic word stress falls at the beginning
Fan, school, bird, love, green
2. Words with weak prefixes stress falls after the prefix
Ability: /əˈbɪlɪti/, about: /əˈbaʊt/, below: /bɪˈləʊ/
3. Words with two syllables the stress falls on the long
vowel sound
Machine: /məˈʃiːn/, farmer:/ˈfɑːmə/ career/:kəˈrɪə/
4. Words ending with ‘shon’ sound like ion, tion, sion,
cian the stress falls on the preceding syllable of the ‘shon’
sound
Examination: /ɪɡ zamɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n/ application: /aplɪˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/
inhalation: /ɪnhəˈleɪʃ(ə)n/ introduction: /ɪntrəˈdʌkʃ(ə)n/

16. 5. Same word is used both as a noun and a verb. In noun, the stress
is on the first syllable and in Verb the second syllable.
NOUN VERB
'absent ab'sent
'object ob'ject
'subject sub'ject

17. 6. Prefixes with negative connotations get stressed
'disloyal 'half-finished
'insin'cere’ 'il'logical
7.Verbs of two syllables ending in -ate, isel-ize, -ct are stressed
on the last syllable.
cap'size bap'tize
ctat'tract de'pict
in'fect de'bate

18. 5. Words ending with -ic, -ical, -ically, -ial, -ially, - the stress
falls before the suffix
charismatic: /karɪzˈmatɪk/, memorial: /mɪˈmɔːrɪəl/, officially:
/əˈfɪʃəli/,
6. word ending in –ious, -eous stress falls on the last but one / on
the third syllable from the last
spontaneous: /spɒnˈteɪnɪəs/, serious: /ˈsɪərɪəs/ mysterious:
/mɪˈstɪərɪəs/
7. Words ending with logy, graphy, nomy, nomy, ics, meter,
graph stress falls on the third syllable from the end
Biology: /bʌɪˈɒlədʒi/, biography: /bʌɪˈɒɡrəfi/, economy:
/ɪˈkɒnəmi/, economics: /iːkəˈnɒmɪks/

19. Contrastive stress
John is a good student.
John is a good student.
She took the dog for a walk in the garden.
She took the dog for a walk in the garden.
John is a good student.
John is a good student.
John is a good student.

20. content words: verbs, adjective, adverb, noun, pronoun,
Demonstarives, Interrogative
functional words: auxiliary verbs, conjunction, article,
preposition
John spends his weekends at the sports club.
Lets have bread and butter for breakfast.
‘John 'spends his 'week-ends at the 'sports 'club.
Let's have 'bread and 'butter for 'breakfast.

21. Sentences have two types of words
content words: verbs, adjective, adverb, noun, pronoun
functional words: auxiliary verbs, conjunction, article, preposition
Put the blue vase on the table.
Put the blue vase on the table.
Put the blue vase on the table.
Put the blue vase on the table.
Put the blue vase on the table.
Intonation
Intonation and stress are closely linked. In fact it's impossible to dissociate
them. They go hand in hand.
Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say, the way the
voice rises and falls when speaking, in other words the music of the language.
Pitch: Frequency of vibration of the vocal chords during utterance.
Falling tone, Rising tone, Falling-Rising tone
There are two basic patterns of intonation in English: falling intonation and
rising intonation.
In the following examples a downward arrow (➘) indicates a fall in intonation
and an upward arrow (➚) indicates a rise in intonation.

22. If you say: Put it down!
Put it
d
o
w
n.
Here- The pitch of your voice will move from a high level to a
low level.
n.
w
o
d
Put it
Here: The pitch of your voice will move from low to high.

23. asking: How was Jini?
Reply: She was in an appallingly bad temper.
ppallingly
She was in an a bad
t
e
m
p
e
r.

24. Falling Intonation (➘)
(The pitch of the voice falls at the end of the sentence.)
1.General statements: It signals a sense of finality, completion, or belief in the
content.
1.Statements
Nice to meet ↘you. (falling)
I’ll be back in a ↘minute. (falling)
She doesn’t live here ↘anymore. (falling)
2. Commands
Write your name ↘here.
Show me what you’ve ↘written.
Leave it on the ↘desk.
3. Wh- questions (requesting information.)
(questions beginning with 'who', 'what', 'why', 'where', 'when', 'which', and
'how')
What country do you come ↘from?
Where do you ↘
How many books have you ↘bought?
Which coat is ↘yours?work?

25. 4.Questions Tags that are statements requesting confirmation rather than
questions.
He thinks he’s so clever, doesn’t ↘he?
She's such a nuisance, isn't ↘she?
I failed the test because I didn't revise, did ↘ I?
It doesn't seem to bother him much, does ↘ it?
5.Exclamations
How nice of ↘ you!
That's just what I ↘need!
You don't ↘ say!
What a beautiful ↘ voice!
Rising Intonation (➚)
(The pitch of the voice rises at the end of a sentence.)
Rising intonation invites the speaker to continue talking.
1. Yes/no Questions
(Questions that can be answered by 'yes' or 'no'.)
Do you like your new ➚teacher?
Have you finished ➚already?
May I borrow your ➚dictionary?

26. 2. Incomplete statements,
a. It's 'seven o clock (and she hasn't got up as yet.)
b. I'll buy you a dress (if I go there.
3. Close ended type questions which demand a yes/no answer,
a. 'Are they coming?
b. 'Will you do it?

27. 2. Questions tags that show uncertainty and require an answer (real
questions).
We've met already, ➚haven't we?
You like fish, ➚don't you?
You're a new student ➚aren't you?
3. Polite request
Can you get me a glass of water? Shut the door, please?
Rise-Fall Intonation (➚➘)
(The intonation rises and then falls.)
1. Choices (alternative questions.)
Are you having ➚soup or ➘salad?
Is John leaving on ➚Thursday or ➘Friday?
2. Lists (rising, rising, rising, falling)
Intonation falls on the last item to show that the list is finished.
We've got ➚apples, pears, bananas and ➘oranges.
The sweater comes in ➚blue, white pink and ➘black
I like ➚football, tennis, basketball and ➘volleyball.

28. 3. Unfinished thoughts (partial statements)
In the responses to the following questions, the rise-fall intonation indicates
reservation. The speaker hesitates to fully express his/her thoughts.
Do you like my new handbag? Well the ➚leather is ➘nice... ( but I don't like
it.)
What was the meal like? Hmm, the ➚fish was ➘good... (but the rest wasn't
great).
4. Conditional sentences
(The tone rises in the first clause and falls gradually in the second clause.)
If he ➚calls, ask him to leave a ➘message.
Unless he ➚insists, I'm not going to ➘go.
If you have any ➚problems, just ➘contact us.

29. Thank You