TOPIC 9

- DESCRIPTION OF THE PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM IN ENGLISH:

• MODELS AND TECHNIQUES OF LEARNING.
• PERCEPTION, DISCRIMINATION AND SOUND EMISSION.
• RHYTHM, STESS AND INTONATION.
• PHONETIC CORRECTION

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PHONOLOGICAL 4. RHYTHM/ 5. THE TEACHING OF 6. PHONETIC CORRECTION

1. INTRODUCTION 3. STESS/ACCENT 7. CONCLUSIONS
SYSTEM IN ENGLISH INTONATION ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION (COMMON PROBLEMS)

2.1. CONSONANT 2.2. VOWEL

RELEVANCE
SYSTEM SYSTEM
 TOPIC 9
-DESCRIPTION OF THE PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM IN ENGLISH

1. INTRODUCTION

RELEVANCE OF THIS TOPIC

since so

the correct pronunciation of

the government
the English language

is has made a

essential to be understood big emphasis in fomenting

within International contexts bilingual schools

above all in

Practice English language

The Community of Madrid
more frequently

where the

Order 5958/2010
passed on the 7th of December

sets out the

guidelines for the

Bilingual State Schools
 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PHONOLOGICAL
SYSTEM IN ENGLISH

it's relevant to state brief look to the

while

THE NEED TO STUDY A

THE VOCAL
PHONETICS PHONOLOGY PARTICULAR VARIETY
TRACT
of ENGLISH

is refers to the variety selected

over the years was THE LARYNX

sound system and Standard British English where we find the

the study of patterns MAIN ASPECTS or Received Pronunciation
(RP)
VOCAL FOLDS
(2 small muscles that
open and close)

and
THE PHYSICAL THE THE SET SPEECH THE WAY THESE
THE THE ASPECTS OF the pronunciation given in
PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERISTICS SOUNDS WHICH SOUNDS COMBINE TO
SOUNDS SPEECH dictionaries THE GLOTTIS
PERCEPTION OF EACH SOUND OCCUR IN A LANG. FORM WORDS (space between
vocal folds)
such as

STRESS & NASAL AND

OF SPEECH ORAL CAVITIES
INTONATION

TONGUE AND
SHAPE OF THE
MOUTH
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PHONOLOGICAL
SYSTEM IN ENGLISH

2.1 THE CONSONANT SYSTEM (I)

the english of VOICED

R.P. PRESENCE/
2 TYPES
ABSENCE OF VOICE
in based on VOICELESS

a system of 24 PLOSIVE
consonants

FRICATIVE

classified according to MANER OF

3 ASPECTS 5 TYPES AFFRICATE
ARTICULATION

APPROXIMANT

NASAL

BILABIAL

LABIO -
DENTAL

DENTAL

PLACE OF ALVEOLAR
8 TYPES
ARTICULATION

POST-
ALVEOLAR

VELAR

GLOTTAL

PALATAL
 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PHONOLOGICAL
SYSTEM IN ENGLISH

2.1 THE CONSONANT SYSTEM (II)

MANER OF PLACE OF
ARTICULATION ARTICULATION

5 TYPES 8 TYPES

LABIO - POST-
PLOSIVE FRICATIVE AFFRICATE APPROXIMANT NASAL BILABIAL DENTAL ALVEOLAR VELAR GLOTTAL PALATAL
DENTAL ALVEOLAR

the tip or the blade go

the front of
both lips the lower lip the tongue tip blade of the the tongue with the back
the tongue
LATERAL APP. CENTRAL APP. are moves up to behind the tongue moves adjoins parts of the tongue no active use
moves up
pressed the top front upper front up towards of the alveolar against the of the tongue
towards the
together teeth teeth the alveolar ridge and velum
hard palate
ridge hard plate.

alms blocking
stopping of the brief stopping of the airstream the velum is
the airstream, the tongue tip is Initial sound in Initial sound in Initial sound in
airstream, and the airstream, flows around the lowered, the Initial sound in Initial sound in
the air push raised and Initial sound in <tie> <she> <key>
let tin it go causing some sides of the airflow flows out <pie> Initial sound in Initial sound in <die> <church> <go>
through the curled back <hi> <yes>
abruptly friction tongue through the nose <by> <fan> <thin> <night> <junk>
narrow opening
<my> <van> <thus> <sea> Final consonant Final sound in
*the only glottal *the only palatal
<way> <zoo> sound in <ring>
sound sound
<rip> <measure> <loch>
 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PHONOLOGICAL
SYSTEM IN ENGLISH

2.2 THE VOWEL SYSTEM

have been divided into

2 TYPES

MONOPHTHONGS DIPHTHONGS

a glide from one

a pure vowel;
vowel position
spoken in isolation
towards another

LONG SHORT CLOSING CENTRING

tongue moves tongue moves move towards

<bit> /i/ towards the front of towards the back schwa as the
<sea> /i:/ <ten> /e/ the mouth of the mouth finishing position
<goose> /u:/ <hot> / /
<thought> / :/ <cut> / /
<bird> /з:/ <than> /ə/
<palm> /a:/ <back> /æ/ <price> /ai/ <near> /iə/
<mouse> /au/
<could> /u/ <choice> / i/ <square> /eə/
<goat> /əu/.
<face> /ei/ <poor> /uə/
 3. STESS/ACCENT

4. RHYTHM/INTONATION

I will define

the
SUPRASEGMENTAL
features of English

WORD STRESS RHYTHM INTONATION

the perceived pattern formed by the way in which

prominence of one peaks of prominence pitch rises and falls
syllable over another in an utterance in speech

we recognise a.k.a. has a

affective and
3 LEVELS stress-timed lang.
pragmatic function

e.g. e.g.

PRIMARY SECONDARY UNSTRESSED a `cup of `tea and a In the sentence,

STRESS STRESS SYLLABLES `piece of `cake “that’s fantastic” the
speaker can show
how happy he or she
is or be ironic just
changing its
intonation
degree of
a syllable is sightly
prominence The second syllable
louder and longer
between a stressed is these words are
than the other
and unstressed unstressed syllables
syllables.
syllable

first syllable of
<`people> or <`baby>
first syllable in second syllable in
<disbelief> or <disbelief> or
second syllable of
<contradict> <contradict>
<a`muse> or
<to`wards>.
 5. THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

an area that
we must start

many English at the level of

teachers avoid PHONEME

def.
our first goal is

"any of the perceptually distinct

units of sound in a
BASIC COMMUNICATION specified language that
distinguish one word from
another"

and it cannot happen if thus

the first lessons should involve

no one can understand us students listening and
identifying

and then

practise accurate production of

the sound

tools

pronunciation
diagrammes are useful

so they can see

where to put their lips and

tongues in
relation to their teeth
 6. PHONETIC CORRECTION
(COMMON PROBLEMS)

High priority problems:

those which affect intelligibility

Kenworthy
(1983)

high priority problems for

Spanish speakers of English

VOWELS CONSONANTS WORD-STRESS

<hot> / / initial sounds in the words

sound in the words animal <cat> /æ/
<goat> /əu/ confusion <problem>,<tea> Spanish is a syllable-timed
<sheep> /i:/ verb <cut> / / <bird> /з:/ <she> is likely to be
<thought> / :/ between the sound in & <kangaroo> rhythm and narrow pitch
<ship> /I/ thing <car> /a:/ is replaced by its spelling pronounced as in <sea>.
are pronounced with a <bat> /b/ and <vat> /v/ not aspirated by Spanish intonation Language
confused, long vowel is used are all pronounced as the verb.
Spanish /o/. speakers

make all the suprasegmental

features a high priority problem
 7. CONCLUSION

TO SUM UP REFERENCES

To conclude, this essay has described the phonological system of English language.
First of all, phonetics and phonology have been defined. This has led the way to point
out the variety of English that was going to be used. After having done so, I have
described in detail In order to develop this topic, I have used the following references:

the consonant system. Then, the vowel system has also been discussed according to - Bailey, K.M. (2005) Speaking. New York: McGraw-Hill.
the length of the vowels. Finally, I have commented on teaching and learning - Ballard, K. (2001) The Frameworks of English. London: Palgrave.
pronunciation. In doing so,

I have highlighted the most common and problematic sounds for Spanish speakers.