Phonology

Phonology is defined as the system of relationships among the

speech sounds that constitute the fundamental components of a language. It
is the branch of linguistics that deals with systems of sounds, especially in a
particular language.

The following are the terms that will be encountered in reading the
following analysis and their definitions.

Sounds may either be voiced or voiceless. Voiced sounds occur

when the vocal cords vibrate when the sound is produced. There is no vocal
cord vibration when producing voiceless sounds. Voiceless sounds, on the
other hand, are produced without vibration,

Sounds may also be classified as vowel and consonant. A vowel is a

sound where air coming from the lungs is not blocked by the mouth or throat,
while a consonant is a sound formed by stopping the air flowing through the
mouth. It must be remembered that all vowels are voiced.

Sounds may also be classified in accordance to the manner of

articulation and the point of articulation. The manner of articulation
describes how the different speech organs are involved in producing a
consonant sound, basically how the airflow is obstructed. The point of
articulation is the point of contact, where an obstruction occurs in the vocal
tract between an active, moving articulator (typically one part of the tongue)
and a passive articulator (typically one part of the roof of the mouth).

Manners of articulation:
a. Stops. The speech organs are closed and the oral and nasal cavity
completely closed blocking off the airstream.
b. Fricatives. Sounds which are produced with this kind of constriction
entail a bringing together of the two articulators to the point where
the airflow is not quite fully blocked: enough of a gap remains for air
to escape but the articulators are so close together that friction is
created as the air escape. When they are produced, air escapes
through a small passage and make a hissing sound.
c. Affricates. Affricates are consonant sounds that begin by fully
stopping the air from leaving the vocal tract, then releasing it
through a constricted opening.
d. Nasals. Nasals are consonants that are formed by blocking the oral
passage and allowing the air to escape through the nose.
e. Lateral. Laterals are consonants formed by allowing the air to
escape around the sides of the tongue.
f. Retroflex. A retroflex is a consonant formed when the tongue rises
toward the roof of the mouth and then retracts toward the back of
the oral cavity.
 g. Semivowel. Semivowels are vowel-like consonants: that is, the air-
flow is not stopped or impeded so as to cause a friction-sound, but
the aperture through which the air passes is smaller than the
aperture of any vowel.

Points of Articulation
a. Bilabials. Bilabials are consonants for which the flow of air is
stopped or restricted by the two lips.
b. Labiodental. Labiodentals are consonants for which the flow of air is
restricted by the lips and teeth.
c. Interdental. Interdentals are consonants for which the flow of air is
restricted by catching the tongue between the teeth.
d. Alveolars. Alveolars are consonants for which the flow of air is
stopped or impeded by creating a block or a small aperture
between the tongue and the alveolar ridge.
e. Alveopalatal. Alveopalatals are consonants for which the flow of air
is stopped or impeded by creating a block or a small aperture
between the tongue and the region of the hard palate just behind
the alveolar ridge.
f. Velar. Velars are consonants for which the flow of air is stopped or
impeded by creating a block or a small aperture between the
tongue and the velum ("soft palate")

Stress is the degree of emphasis given a sound or syllable in speech

English Phonology and Bikol Phonology: A Comparison

The English language system has a total of 39 sounds (24 consonant

sounds and 15 vowel sounds), while the Bikol language has 21 sounds (16
consonant sounds and 5 vowel sounds.

Table 1 shows the consonant sounds in the English language and their
classifications: voiced or unvoiced, manner of articulation and point of
articulation.
 Table 1. Consonant sounds in the English Language

Table 2 shows the consonant sounds of the Bikol language.

Table 2. Consonant sounds of the Bikol language.

Looking at the tables, several generalizations can be made:

a. All consonant sounds present in the Bikol language are present in
the English language, but not all consonant sounds in English are
present in the Bikol language.
b. Among the sounds that are present in the English language but not
in the Bikol language are the following: alveropalatal affricates,
 labiodental fricatives, interdental fricatives, voiced alveolar fricative,
and alveopalatal fricatives.

When it comes to stress, the two languages differ greatly. In both

languages, two rules are definite:
1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two
stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two
stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a
"secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much
smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long
words.)
2. Only vowels are stressed.

However, the similarities end there. In English, there are specific rules
on how one can apply stress. Also, English speakers can, most of the time,
identify the part of speech of a word depending upon the syllable where the
stress is placed. The following are some rules in English stress.
1. Most two-syllable words with a stress on the first syllable may either
be a noun or an adjective.
PREsent SLENder
EXport CLEver
2. Most two-syllable words with a stress on the last syllable may be a
verb.
preSENT deCIDE
exPORT beGIN
3. Words ending in ic, -sion and tion are stressed in the penultimate
(second from end) syllable.
geoGRAPHic teleVIsion
geoLOgic reveLAtion
4. Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy, -gy and al are stressed on the ante-
penultimate (third from end) syllable.
deMOcracy CRItical
dependaBIlity phoTOgraphy

The following are the things that must be remembered when it comes
to stress in the Bikol language.

1. ^ signals strong stress followed by a glottal stop:

sir fish
sak mine
 2. ` signals primary stress on the penultimate syllable and a glottal
stop on the marked syllable:
namond got sad
nabut went blind

3. A hyphen /-/ between vowels signals a glottal stop.

ani-on here
ka-an that

References:
http://www.ello.uos.de/field.php/PhoneticsandPhonology/PlaceOfArticulation
http://www.ello.uos.de/field.php/PhoneticsandPhonology/MannerOfArticulation
http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PHONOLOGY1.htm
https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/word-stress-rules.htm
http://www.pronunciationtips.com/voiced.htm
http://facweb.furman.edu/~wrogers/phonemes/phono/index.htm