Lingua e traduzione inglese I

Introduction to Vowel Sounds

The adjectives high, mid and low refer to how near the tongue is to the roof of the mouth or bottom of the jaw. The adjectives front, central and back refer to how far forward or retracted the body of the tongue is.

The SCHWA has no unique representation in spelling and sometimes there's a problem. The problem is that we find a word spelled in a certain way and if we don't know that a certain letter of alphabet that we find in spelling actually corresponds to a SCHWA we can mispronounce the word.

We distinguish between pure vowels that are single sounds and diphthongs that are a combination of two sounds where the speaker starts with one sound and then glides with the other.

We have low, low-mid, high-mid and high and these adjectives refer to the position of the tongue. When we pronounce a low vowel sound, our tongue is too near to the bottom of the jaw. When we pronounce a high vowel sound, our tongue is progressively in the higher position.

The lowest vowel sound is a and the highest.

vowelsound is i. Other adjectives are front, central and back and these adjectives refer to how pushed forward or how retracted our tongue is in the mouth.

John Peter Sloan was very famous because he was a mother-tongue speaker and he thought the language causes that we can find at new stands for self learning for example. He said that when we pronounce this sounds, it seems like we're dying.

The position of the SCHWA is central. The pronunciation is indicated along two dimensions: closeness and backness.

In the previous trapezium these symbols are in a certain position, in the following trapezium they are placed in a slightly different position. We may find slightly different representation of the position of the vowel sound in the trapezium.

The vowel trapezium is too important to know the symbols of the IPA and then to be familiar with the trapezium because it tells us how to pronounce and how to produce these sounds. It can tell us how English vowels are pronounced relative to each other.

When we put

The symbols within the trapezium, we are able to make comparisons between different sounds and this helps us pronounce and produce them in the right way.

Vowels: English vs Italian

There's a difference between the English vowel system and the Italian vowel system. In English there are many more vowel sounds than we have in Italian. In Italian there are just seven vowel sounds, in English we have twelve pure vowels plus eight diphthongs. That's why Italian learners of English sometimes find it difficult to learn how to pronounce the different vowel sounds, especially the sounds that we don't have in Italian.

Vowel duration

The length mark (the two tiny triangles) is not normally shown in International Phonetic Alphabet lists, but is used in word transcriptions. When it's used, we have to remember that the sound is a long one and not a short one. Here it is used for the sake of contrast, for example here we have a contrast between a long and a short i sound. It's not

A difference about the length of the sound but also about the highness and lowness of the sound.

Sheep and ship: difference in duration of the sound and also in the way it's actually articulated. This sound midway between a and e (æ) can't be a long one, is a short sound.

Schwa: the unstressed vowel

The Schwa sound is the unstressed vowel that we have in English. It's produced in the same way as the a in sun but it's unstressed and so it's weak as sound. It's also a central one because when we produce it, our tongue is in a relaxed position and our mouth is slightly opened.

Diphthongs

There are three diphthongs gliding to the SCHWA sound and they are the diphthongs in the words here, tourist and hair.

There are three diphthongs gliding to the i sound and they are the diphthongs in the words wait, boy and my.

There are two diphthongs to the sound in the words show and cow.

Diphthongs are sounds which consist of a movement or glide from one vowel to another.

The first

part is generally much longer and stronger than the second. The first vowel is much stronger than the second, which is weaker. When a vowel sound remains constant it is a pure vowel. When we have this glide we have a diphthong. They can be distinguished into centring diphthongs, which are the ones on the first column on the left, and closing diphthongs. The centring diphthongs are the ones gliding to what is a central vowel, for example SCHWA. The closing diphthongs are so called because the first vowel glides to a close vowel, such as i.

English consonants chart

The consonants chart is different from the vowel trapezium. On the horizontal line of the consonants chart there are different adjectives for different places of articulation. The place of the articulation refers to the parts of the mouth or tracts in general that are involved in the production of the sound.

The possible places:

• Bilabial = both lips are involved in the production of the consonant sound
• Labiodental = one lip and (teeth)
• Interdental = we

put our tongue between our Alveolar = a place of production that is in the alveolar ridge (the part of the mouth that is immediately behind the teeth)

Palatal = the place of production is the roof of the mouth or palate

Velar = the place of production is the velum (the back part of the palate, the soft palate)

Glottal = the place of production is the glottis (the space between the vocal cords)

On the horizontal line there are different adjectives referring to the place of articulation. Along the vertical line/side of this chart there are different names for different manners of production. So the place of production tells us what part of the vocal tract is involved in the production of the sound, the manner of course refers to the way the sound is produced. Exactly as for the vowel in which we can find slight difference in the position of the vowel sound inside the trapezium if we look at various representations of vowel trapezium, also for the consonant chart we can find different classifications. Normally every kind of

Consonant sound is also represented in pairs and in this pair there is one voiceless sound and one voiced sound. The two adjectives voiced and voiceless refers to the:

The vocal tract

Speech sounds are produced in the vocal tract, using air pushed out from the (lungs). Different speech sounds are produced by changing the shape of the vocal tract in its different parts. The main parts involved in the production or articulation of a speech sound are called articulators. We normally distinguish between fixed and moving articulators. For example moving the lips and tongue to touch different parts of the vocal tract determines the place of articulation of a sound. Placing the articulators at different distances from one another determines the manner of articulation of a sound. The distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds depends on the fact whether there's or there's not vibration of the vocal folds. The articulators are parts of the vocal tract that we use to produce speech.

together and then releasing the air in a sudden burst. Examples of plosive sounds are /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, and /g/. Fricatives=when we produce these sounds, the air flow is partially obstructed by one articulator coming close to another, creating friction. Examples of fricative sounds are /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, and /ʒ/. Affricates=these sounds are a combination of a plosive and a fricative. They begin with a plosive closure and then release the air with a fricative sound. Examples of affricate sounds are /tʃ/ (as in "church") and /dʒ/ (as in "judge"). Nasals=these sounds are produced by lowering the soft palate, allowing air to flow through the nasal cavity. Examples of nasal sounds are /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/ (as in "sing"). Liquids=these sounds are produced with a partial closure of the articulators, allowing air to flow around them. Examples of liquid sounds are /l/ and /r/. Glides=these sounds are produced with a slight closure of the articulators, creating a smooth transition between sounds. Examples of glide sounds are /j/ (as in "yes") and /w/ (as in "we"). These are the main categories of consonant sounds based on their manner of articulation.together(for example lips in bilabials, tongue and alveolar ridge in alveolars, tongue and velum in velars), this obstructs the flow of air, then after this plosion the two articulators are separated and air comes out in a burst. Nasals=they are produced by means of two articulators touching together (lips, tongue and alveolar ridge, tongue and velum), but air is allowed to escape from the nose. Fricatives=they're called this way because they are produced by means of articulators almost touching but not quite. Air is forced through a steady stream, resulting in friction rather than explosion. Affricates=they start as plosives and end as fricatives. Approximants=they're so called and they're also called semi-vowels because they're actually midway between consonants and vowels. There's no complete obstruction and the air is allowed to flow past the articulators without becoming turbulent and articulators approach each other but they don't get sufficiently close to.

produce a complete consonant, such as plosive, nasal or fricative. Lateral approximants/laterals=the air is allowed to escape at the sides of the tongue. That’s the reason why they are called later approximants or just laterals.

English consonants chart

P is a: stop, bilabial, voiceless (it is described before as manner, then place and then again voicing). In RP we describe consonants like this, in a scientific way.

Phonetics and Phonology

Both of them are concerned with sound but there is a slight difference: phonology is the study of phonemes in a particular language and how it functions between patterns of sounds and how they produce meanings. It is shared knowledge between different people. The main object of phonology is patterns of sounds, the combination of 24 consonants and 20 vowels of sound. It studies how these sounds mix together forming words with phonological constraints: example: at the start of words if there are 3 consonants, the first one is always an /s/. Phonetics is

Morrìe is concerned with the point of view in which sounds are produced in the vocal tract, how the sounds are perceived by others, by means of our auditory. Phonetics is more concerned with the production and the perception.

Words and things- Morphology

There are different levels of analysis in a holistic way. The main aim is defining words in a distinguishable way in spoken texts. When we deal with spoken language it is easy for speakers of a language to distinguish words because we know meanings of a specific word, also for the order. Because we share knowledge of the English language. Words are the smallest unit of meaning in language: it is not totally accurate, because the structure of words is domain of morphology.