Appunti di inglese sulla fonetica

IPA – INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET

Pronunciation can be studied from two points of view:

- Phonetics Study of the way the speaker produce, transmit and receive speech



sounds.

- Phonology study of the way sounds are organized in a language system



Phoneme represents each sound in any language, a specific sound that we use



when we talk, small number of used sounds (vowels and consonants). It is the smallest

unit of sound in a speech.

Phonology studies phonemes.

There is a big gap between spoken and written English: there’s not a correspondence

between letters and sounds. There are more sounds than letters (26 letters but 40

phonemes). The letters are not always pronounced the same (spelling sounds).

Rhotic / non-rhotic – in the rhotic area the r in final position is pronounced, in the non-

rhotic area the r in final position is not pronounced.

Rp (received pronunciation pronunciation that has traditionally stood out as the



“prestige”) Sounds are shaped by the position of lips: rounded (u),

spread (i), neutral (schwa)

Vowels no obstruction to the flow of the air



Rounded – back vowels

Spread – front vowels

Neutral – central vowels

Another organ involved in the production of vowels is the

tongue: its position is fundamental. It has two positions:

high (i) and low (a)

Another element connected to the shape of vowels is the

tongue height: close (i) and open (a). Low vowels are also

open, and high vowels are also close.

Some vowels are short (as the “i” in DID) and some are long (as the “i” in SHEEP).

Cardinal vowels are located along the perimeter of the diagram that represents the

shape of our mouth

Front vowels – lips are spread; back vowels – lips are rounded

There are more vowels in English than in Italian. The long i occupies the same place in

the Italian and english diagram, but in the Italian one there’s no short i. These different

vowels are difficult to pronounce because we don-t have them in Italian. The short i is

between the long i and e. Strong pronunciation means the all words have emphasis.

Weak pronunciation is for words that are not emphasized. The use of schwa depends

by the position of the sound in the word, by the stress and by the emphasis we put on

the word. With k and t as the last letters the double oo are pronounced in a short way.

When we have the dental d and the liquid l the double oo is pronounced in a long way.

The words that begin with al/aw/ow are pronounced with the sound ɔː like in “also”

/ɔːlsəʊ/

VENICE /ˈvenɪs/

PALACE /ˈpælɪs/

ORANGE /ˈɒrɪnʤ/

MOUNTAIN /ˈmaʊntɪn/

BEHIND /ˈbɪhaɪnd/

BUILD /ˈbɪld/

SHEEP /ˈʃiːp/

EASY /iːzɪ/

MACHINE /məˈʃiːn/

FOOD /fuːd/

BOOK /bʊk/

Homophones – different meanings and function but same pronunciation.

Initial schwa – ABOUT /əˈbaʊt/

For (strong pronunciation) -- /fɔː/

For (weak pronunciation) -- /fə/

Words that end with er/or/our/ar – player > /pleɪə/

PARTICULAR /pəˈtɪkjʊlə/

CORPUS /kɔːpəs/

FAMOUS /feɪməs/

CAMPUS /kæmpəs/

STANDARD /stændəd/

RICHARD /rɪtʃəd/

GOVERNMENT /gʌvnmənt/

All the verbs that starts with a consonant the preposition contains a schwa.

TO SPEAK /tə spiːk/

TO APPLY /tʊ əˈplaɪ/

Consonants

Consonants – place of articulation

- Bilabial > PB M W

- Labiodental > F V

- Dental > θ ð

- Alveolar > T D N L S Z

- Post – alveolar > R

- Palato – alveolar > ʃ ʒ dʒ tʃ

- Palatal > J

- Velar > K G ŋ

- Glottal > H

Consonants – manner of articulation

- Plosive > P T K B D G

- Fricative > F V S Z H ʃ ʒ θ ð

- Affricate > dʒ tʃ

- Nasal > M N ŋ

- Lateral > L

- Approximant > R J W

Voiced ad voiceless consonants

- Voiceless plosive > P T K

- Voiced plosive > B D G

- Voiceless affricate > tʃ

- Voiced affricate > dʒ

- Voiceless fricative > f θ S ʃ

- Voiced fricative > v ð z ʒ

- Voiced nasal > M N ŋ.

- Voiced liquid > R L {both don’t have the voiceless one}

Rules

PAST PARTICIPLE

- /t/ after voiceless > missed

- /d/ after voiced > ribbed

- /Id/ after /t, d/ > waited

PLURAL

- /s/ after voiceless > lips

- /z/ after voiced > things

- /iz/ after sibilant > horses

CONSONANTS

- ʌ ə

P is silent – cupboard /k b d/

- ɔː ə

N is silent – autumn / t m/

- ɪ ə

S is silent – island /a l nd/

- ɪ

T is silent – whistle /w sl/

- ɔ

W is silent – wrong /r ng/

- ʌ

B is silent in final position or in the middle of the word – subtle /s tl/

- ɪ ə

S + C is silent – scissors /s z z/

- ɪ

D is silent – Wednesday /wenzde /

- ɔː ɔː

G is silent if followed by N – gnaw /n / , if followed by H – ought / t/ , if it is preceded by

ɔː

a N – long /l ŋ/

- ʊə

H is silent – hour /a /

- ː

K is silent – knee /ni /

- ɔː

L is silent – talk /t k/

We usually take for granted our ability to prejudice and understand speech and give little thought to

its nature and function, just as we are not particularly aware of the action of our hearts, brains and

other essential organs. It is not surprising therefore that many people overlook the great influence of

speech and the development and functioning of human society.

ː ːʒʊə ɪ ə ː ɪ ʊə ə

/wi ju lite kf gra nt da r

ˈ ɪ ə ə ʒʊ ɪ ə ʌ ə ː ʃə ɪ ɪ ɔː ɪ ɪ ʃə ə ʌ ʃ ʒʌ ə ə əˑ ɪ ə ə ə

b l tit pred d s n nd stændspi t ng vl tlθ ttu tsne t r nf ŋk nd st zwi p t kj l li

ˈ ə ə ʃ ː ː ɪ ɔː ʌ ə ɪˈ ʃ ɔː ɪ ɪ ɒ ə

we r vðiæk nava ha ts,bre nz r ð r sen l ganz. t zn ts