Phonetics: A Milestone in English Communication A Milestone in English Communication ... International communicative language, English is to be studied to get ... Thus phonetics deals

Phonetics: A Milestone in English Communication

Dr. Sandeep Patil H.O.D.

Humanities Deptt. J.N.C.T. Bhopal ,M.P., INDIA.

Dr. Kiran Mani Tripathi Asst. Prof.

Humanities Deptt. J.N.C.T., Bhopal ,M.P., INDIA.

On May 7, 1976, Indian Prime Minister, India, Late Mrs. Indira Gandhi said to the chief Secretaries that it was important that not only those who worked in the secretariat, but all government functionaries also should speak in the language of the people. She then added: “By language I do not mean words or the grammar, but I mean an attitude which understands the people’s point of view.” A curious meaning of the term ‘language’ may be inferred from this remark. The Hindustan Times, May 8, 1976, ii. (1)

Language may be defined as ‘contextual systematic human sounds’. It is a complex phenomenon that is based on an event, social situation, habit, object, skill, behavior, knowledge, understanding and harmony. It may have non-verbal cues along with the meaningful sounds and one needs to use the inherent characteristics to communicate effectively. As far as the different languages of the world are concerned, English is getting much more importance in the present scenario because of its enormous scope. It, as the ‘lingua franka’ of the world is getting different aspect than its original form as in Prologue to the Canterbury Tales’ and rest of the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry. Even it has slight distinct form in the Essays of Francis Bacon, father of English essays. This change has led this globalized world to make communicative contacts easier. As English has become common medium of expression, it is getting much more importance. But the basic problem arises in the way of articulation of the words. No two persons pronounce exactly alike. The differences arise from a variety of causes such as locality, early influences and social and cultural surrounds. “Sounds are heard. Letters are seen. Letters provide a means of symbolizing sounds. If they do so in a logical manner – in other words, if the essential sounds of any particular or dialect are represented consistently – the writing is said to be phonetic.”

- Daniel Jones. English is not a phonetic language as in the case with the Hindi and Sanskrit or other phonetic languages, which are same in both written and spoken form. As far as English language is concerned we can’t rely on letter sounds to master spelling. “The pronunciation of English varies from one country to another…Even within the United Kingdom; there are variations between England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. One particular accent, called Received Pronunciation (RP) has come to be accepted as the standard in the United Kingdom.” 2As being International communicative language, English is to be studied to get the standard pronunciation. In this regard International Phonetics Association (IPA) has evolved phonetic sound symbols. The word phonetics is derived from the Greek word ‘phone’ which means ‘sound or voice’. It is the systematic and scientific study of speech sounds, their production, audition and perception. It also includes the anatomy, neurology and pathology of speech to improve the

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quality of the voice with proper training and exercise. As like other body parts the three mobile speech organs i.e., lips, tongue and jaws also need proper training and exercises to have the correct voice modulation. Phonetics touches upon the physiology and physics as it studies the speech organs, which produce sounds of a language; waves, the physical form in which sounds are transmitted through the air from one person to another and the manner in which human beings perceive sound through the ear. BRIEF REVIEW OF HISTORY: The development of lexicography, study of pronunciation may be observed in the early studies of the history of different languages. Indians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians and Arabs took interest interest in spoken form around the seventh century A.D. During the Sixteenth-century, John Palgrave (Lesclarcissement de la language Francoyse,1530 ), William Salesbury (Dictionary in English and Welshe, 1547),John Hart (Orthogaphie, 1569),John Wallis (Grammatical Linguae Anglicane,1563) were concerned about the sounds of English and other languages. Bishop John Wilkins wrote Essay Toward a Real Character and a Philosophical Language (1668).As Hart was keen in describing the speech organs, defining vowels and consonants and he noted the aspiration of voiceless plosives. Wilnkins describes the functions of the speech organs, and offers a general classification of the sounds articulated by them. During the Seventeenth – century Christopher Cooper in his Grammatica Linguae Anicane, in 1685 described English pronunciation; the English edition of which was ‘The English Teacher or The Discovery of the Art of Teaching and Learning the English Tongue’ appearing in 1687. During Eighteenth- century, writers like Samual Johnson (1755), Thomas Sheridan (1780) and John walker (1791) contributed the language by producing dictionaries. Their concept was different regarding phonetics. They took it as rhetoric, as a language becomes effective when it is rhetoric, and it depends upon the correct articulation of words. As since the Renaissance the elocutionists and language teachers had taken interesting phonetics. But phonetics got a real boost during the nineteenth century. In 1867 Alexander Melvile Bell set out to classify all the sounds capable of being articulated by human speech organs. He also stimulated a considerable amount of experimental research into all branches of phonetics. From Twentieth to Twenty-first century phonetics has got immense development. It has become very easy to find out accurate and precise articulation of the human sounds with the help of electronic devices. BRANCHES OF PHONETICS: Phonetics can be divided into three main branches – 1) Articulatory Phonetics: It is the study of movement of the speech organs in the articulation of speech. 2) Acoustic Phonetics: It deals with the physical properties of speech sounds such as frequency and amplitude in their transmission. 3) Auditory Phonetics: It is the study of hearing and perception of speech sounds. Thus phonetics deals with how various organs of speech – the lungs, the larynx, the soft palate, the tongue and the lips function in the production of speech. The articulatory descriptions of the sounds may be given by describing the air-stream mechanism. To understand the complete speech process- how the speech organs act to give a sound? What physical properties they have and what features or in which way they are perceived by a listener? – It is very important to describe the speech mechanism that is dealt in phonetics.





The speech organs act when a concept or idea is formulated in the speaker’s brain. This linguistic message is transmitted by the human nervous system to the speech organs. While articulating the sounds, the speech organs create disturbances in the air in the form of sound waves. These waves are received by the ears of the listener. Then the listener interprets the message after the message is passed to his brain. Organs of speech are divided into three basic systems which help in complete production of sounds. 1. Respiratory system, that consists lungs, muscles of the chest and bronchial tubes. 2. Phonetory system that includes Larynx containing vocal cords and glottis and trachea. 3. Articulatory system, that includes pharynx, lips, teeth, roof of the mouth-involving teeth ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum) and uvula and the tongue – containing the parts – tip, blade, front, back and centre. Speech sounds are produced by exhaling air from the lungs through the vocal tract. The vocal tract extends from the larynx i.e. Adam’s apple through the pharynx and the oral cavity to the lips. The air stream may be aggressive i.e. directed outwards and/or pulmonic i.e. lung based when the air is pulled in. When it is pushed through the larynx, it proceeds through the glottis into the vocal tract. In the vocal tract articulators modify the air-stream to produce the sound. Articulators also fall into two categories. (a) Active articulators i.e. the lips and the tongue. (b) Passive articulators i.e. the teeth, the alveolar ridge, the palate, the velum (soft palate). The production of speech sounds through these organs is referred to as articulation.

CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH SOUNDS: As English alphabets are twenty six in number, I.P.A. symbols including vocoids and contoids are forty four. (a) Vowel sounds or vocoids: Vowels may be defined with an open approximation without any obstruction, partial or complete, in the air passage. In simple words they are referred to as vocoids in phonetics. Normally they can be described in the terms of three variables.





• Height of tongue, i.e. the extent to which the tongue is raised in the direction of the palate- open, half-open, close and half-close.

• Part of the tongue, which is raised or lowered- front, centre or back. • Lip rounding i.e. the kind of opening made at the lips- various degrees of lip rounding or

spreading. Vowel sounds can be classified as per their quality as follows:

I. Monophthongs & II. Diphthongs.

I. Monophthongs: These are pure single vowels articulated without changing in quality

throughout the course of a syllable as ‘e’ in bed. Sometimes two written vowels represent a single sound as ‘oa’ in boat. Thus pure vowels are produced with the tongue remaining at just one position. They are twelve in number and again divided into two categories- long vowels which are five in number and short vowels which are seven in number.

a) Short vowel symbols: • /Λ/ a central, unrounded vowel between open and half open.e.g. cup - /kΛp/. • /e/ a front, unrounded vowel between half – close and half – open e.g. ten- /ten/. • /ә/ a central, half open, unrounded vowel e.g. ago- /ә’gәυ/. • /і/ a centralized front, just above half –close, unrounded vowel e.g. hit - /hit/. • /æ/ a front, unrounded vowel just below the half half–open position e.g. bat - /bæt/. • /u/ a centralized, back, rounded vowel just above half-close position e.g. book - /buk/.

b) Long vowel symbols: • /a:/ a back, open unrounded vowel e.g. fast - /fa:st/. • /i:/ a front, close, rounded vowel e.g. free - /fri:/. • /u:/ a back, close, rounded vowel e.g. food - /fu:d/. • /З:/ a central, unrounded vowel between half – close and half – open e.g. bird - /bЗ:d/. ./:כa back, rounded vowel between half-open and half-close e.g. saw - /s /:כ/ •

II. Diphthongs: Diphthongs are speech sounds that begin with one vowel and gradually

change to another vowel within the same syllable. It is because during the production of these sounds the tongue glides from one point of articulation to another. For example ‘oi’ in soil and ‘ou’ in loud.

Diphthong symbols: • /iә/ a glide from a centralized front unrounded vowel just above half-close to a central,

unrounded vowel between half-close and half open e.g. here -/hiә/. • /ei/ a glide from a front unrounded vowel just below half-close to a centralized, front,

unrounded vowel just above half-close e.g. page - /peidЗ/. • /ai/ a glide from a front, open, unrounded vowel to a centralized, front, unrounded vowel

just above half-close e.g. five - /faiv/. ,ı/ a glide from a back, rounded vowel between open and half-open position to a frontכ/ •

unrounded vowel just above the half-close position e.g. boy - /bכı/. • /eә/ a glide from a front, half half-open unrounded vowel to a central, unrounded vowel

between half-close and half-open e.g. hair- /he/. • /uә/ a glide from a centralized, back rounded vowel just above half-close to a central,

unrounded vowel between half-close and half-open e.g. tour - /tuә(r)/.





• /au/ a glide from back, open, unrounded position to a centralized, back, rounded vowel just above the half-close position e.g. now - /nau/.

• /әu/ a glide from a central, unrounded vowel between half-close and half-open to a centralized, back rounded vowel just above the half-close position e.g. so - /sәu/.

(a) Consonant sounds or Contoids: A consonant sound may be defined as a speech sound that is produced by a stoppage or partial stoppage of the breath or air. For example if we say the word ‘paper’ our lips stop air from passing through while producing the sound ‘p’. Thus in the production of a consonant the movement of air from the lungs is partially or fully obstructed as a result of narrowing or a complete closure of the air passage. To describe a consonant the following factors must be considered.

i. Its place of articulation ii. Its manner of articulation and

iii. Whether it is voiced or voiceless. Thus consonant sounds can be classified on the basis of pace, manner and voice during articulation.

I. Place: Place of articulation refers to which articulators are involved in the production of a particular sound.

a) Bi-labial: These are the speech sounds produced by contact of the upper and lower lips. Bilabial sounds are- /b/, /m/, /w/.

b) Labio- dental : These are produced by the lower lip contacting the upper front teeth. The labio-dental sounds are- /f/, /v/.

c) Lingua – dental: These are produced with the tongue contacting the teeth. They are- /ө/, /ð/.

d) Lingua-alveolar: These sounds are produced with the tongue contacting the upper alveolar ridge. They are- /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /dЗ/, /n/, /l/.

e) Lingua-palatel: The sounds are produced with the tongue contacting the hard palate. They are- /∫/, /z/, /r/, /j/.

f) Lingua-veler: These are the consonant sounds produced with the tongue contacting the hard palate. They are- /k/, /g/, /ŋ/.

g) Glottal: It is a consonant sound produced by completely or partially constricting the glottis. /h/ is glottal consonant.

II. Manner of articulation: Manner of articulation refers to how the sound is produced and the way in which the airstream is modified as it passes through the vocal tract. It describes the type of obstruction caused by the narrowing or closure of the articulators.

a) Plosive or stop: This consonant sound is characterized by- • Complete obstruction of the outgoing airstream by the articulators, • A build up of intraoral pressure and • A release.

The plosive consonant sounds are- /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/.





b) Fricative: A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing the air stream through a construction formed by articulators in the vocal tract. They are- /f/, /v/, /ө/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /∫/, /З/, and /h/’

c) Affricate: These are characterized by having both a stop and a fricative manner of production. /t∫/, /dЗ/ are affricate consonants.

d) Nasal: It refers to a consonant sound produced with complete closure in the oral cavity along with a lowered velum to allow airflow through the nasal cavity. Nasal consonants are /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/.

e) Liquid: It is a generic label used to classify two English approximate consonants /r/ and /l/. f) Glide: It is a characterized by a continued, gliding motion of the articulators into the semi-

vowels /w/ and /j/. III. Voice : On the basis of voice there are two categories of consonant sounds.

a) Voiced consonants: These are produced with vibration of the abducted vocal folds in the larynx. That is to say, when the vocal cords vibrate, voiced sounds are produced. The voiced consonant sound symbols are- /b/, /d/, /dЗ/, /g/, /v/, /ð/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/. All vowel sounds are also voiced.

b) Voiceless consonants: Voiceless sounds are consonants produced without vibration of the vocal folds. Voiceless sound symbols are- /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /ө/, /s/, /∫/, /h/ and /t∫/. Complete description of consonant sounds:

• /p/ - a voiceless i-labial plosive e.g. pen- / pen/ • /b/ - a voiced bi-labial plosive e.g. bad- /bæd/ • /t/ - a voiceless alveolar plosive e.g. tea- / ti:/ • /d/- a voiceless alveolar plosive e.g. did- /did/ • /t∫/- a voiceless lingua-alveolar affricate e.g. chin- /t∫in/ • /dЗ/- a voiced lingua-alveolar affricate e.g. page-/peidЗ/ • /k/- a voiceless lingua-velar plosive .eg. cat -/kæt/ • /g/- a voiced lingua-velar plosive e.g. bag- /bæg/ • /f/- a voiceless lingua-velar plosive e.g. fall -/fכ:l/ • /v/- a voiced labio-dental fricative e.g. voice-/vכıs/ • /ө/- a voiceless lingua-dental fricative e.g. bath-/ba:ө/ • /ð /- a voiced lingua-dental fricative e.g. then-/ðen/ • /m/- a voiced bi-labial nasal e.g. man- /mæn/ • /n/- a voiced lingua-alveolar nasal e.g. now- /nәu/ • /ŋ/- a voiced lingua-velar nasal e.g.- /sּוŋ/ • /h/- a voiceless glottal fricative e.g. how- /hәu/ • /s/- a voiceless lingua-alveolar fricative e.g. rice - /raּוs/ • /z/ a voiced lingua-alveolar fricative e.g. rose- /rәuz/ • /∫/- a voiceless lingua-palatal fricative e.g. she- /∫/ • /З/- a voiced lingua-palatal fricative e.g. vision- /vıЗ n/ • /r/-a voiced lingua-palatal liquid e.g. red- /red/ • /l/- a voiced lingua-alveolar liquid e.g. leg- /leg/ • /j/- a voiced lingua-palatal glide e.g. yes- /jes/





• /w/ a voiced bi-labial glide e.g. wet -/wet/ Phonetics as a tool in spoken English has tremendous importance. No one can interact effectively without following standard speech sounds. It is a milestone in the development of English language as the lingua franka of the globalized world. Works Cited: Dr. Varshney, R.L., An Introductory Text Book of Linguistics and Phonetics, Student Store, Bareily, India, 1997-98, p.3. Rizvi, Ashraf, M., Effective Technical Communication, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited New Delhi, India, 2009, p.103





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Phonetics: A Milestone in English Communication A Milestone in English Communication ... International communicative language, English is to be studied to get ... Thus phonetics deals