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SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION

PHONOLOGY
LECTURER: FINZA LARASATI, M.PD.

COMPILED BY

MELA RESTANIA
372015002

FACULTY OF TEACHER’S TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY MUHAMMADIYAH PALEMBANG
2017
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PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

What is phonology? Phonology is formed by two words, fon=son, and

logos=scientific or systematic study of something. In conclusion, phonology is study of
how sounds are organized and used in natural language or is just one of several aspects
of language. How about Phonetics? Phonetics is concerned with how sounds are
produced; transmitted and perceived (we will only look at the production of sounds).
Phonology is concerned with how sounds function in relation to each other in a
language. In other words, phonetics is analysis of human’s speech sound and phonology
is about sound systems of language.

BRANCHES OF PHONETICS

The study of phonetics can be divided into three main branches:

1. Articulatory Phonetics

Articulator phonetics is concerned with positions and movements of the lips,

tongue, and other speech organ in producing sounds.

These are the examples of how sounds produced.

Phonetics
Examples Tongue Lips Mouth Jaw
Symbol
Come
[p] Put, pen, pick Relax/silent close voiceless
together
Feel, phone, A little bit
[f] Relax voiceless
father Lower lip open
touch A bit open,
[v] View Relax/silent upper teeth exposing voiced
upper teeth
Tell, tone, Touches behind Like a bit
[t] untouched voiceless
teddy front teeth smile
The middle
[k] Kill, kid, color tongue touches untouched Open (a bit) voiceless
velum
Spin back,
Lower lip’s a
[r] Read, role, row doesn’t touch untouched voiceless
bit down
roof & vibrates
Corners of
the mouth
Tip touches pulled back
Medium
[ǣ] Back, black behind lower - up the little,
jaw drop
lip exposing
some of the
teeth
No jaw
[ɒ] Bottle Low and relax untouched circle
drop
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2. Auditory Phonetics

Auditory phonetics is the study of hearing and perception of speech sounds or

how the sounds are receive by ears, nerve, and brain.

Ear divided into three parts:

1. Outer ear
2. Middle ear
3. Inner ear
The process of hearing:
1. Sound waves travel from the outer era through the eardrum,
2. That’s vibrated through the middle ear and then through the cochlea,
3. It’s moved into electrical impulses,
4. Finally it’s perceived by the brain as sound.

3. Acoustic Phonetics

Acoustic phonetics is concerned on the properties of sound waves, between

mouth and ear.

Nature of Pronunciation problems:

Indonesia has diversity of group in different accent and language system. The
problem comes from pronunciation of different accent. E.g. Bebek, Jakarta and
Javanese have different pronunciation when they say BEBEK. But that is not a problem
if the listeners can grasp what speaker said. If the listeners do not understand, the
speaker must speak with better pronunciation correctly.
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1. THE ORGANS OF SPEECH, SEGMENTAL AND SUPRASEGMENTAL

The Organs of Speech

Speech organs:
Lips : We use the lips to create different sounds like labial and bilabial (when
lips are brought together, /p/, /b/, /m/, and labiodentals consonants
(lower lip is raised towards the upper front teeth) such as /f/ and /v/.
Uvula : helps us to make nasal consonant, stopping the air moving through the
nose. E.g /ɳ/ and /n/
Glottis : is used to control the vibration made by the vocal chords. E.g. vibration
of voiced sound /w/ or /h/.
Teeth : are used to create sounds labiodentals. For examples: /f/, /v/, and lingua
dental (bit tongue) /ᵹ/ and /Ɵ/.
Tongue : with its all movements assists in forming the sounds of the speech.
Alveolar : helps us to make different sounds, it is evaluated between the teeth and
the hard palate.
Hard Palate : hard palate interacting with tongue is used to form of the sounds /t/, /d/,
and /j/.
Velum : separates the oral cavity (mouth) from the nose, in order to produce the
oral speech. In the case of an incomplete separation the air scopes
through the nose being perceived hyper-nasal.

Segmental

Segmental is the sound (language) focused on element of word that can be

written. Segmental is related to phoneme, the word has a sound that can be separated such as
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consonants, vowels, diphthong, minimal pairs, allophones, etc. It can be phonemes or phonetic
symbols.

Suprasegmental

Suprasegmental the sound (language) focused on element of word that cannot

be written. It refers to such features as intonation, stress, and pitch. Stress is relative
emphasis to a certain word in a phrase or sentence. Pitch is usually high on the stressed
syllable, falling at the end of a statement, rising for a yes-no question. Intonation is the
melody or music of a language. An example of intonation:

“What is your name?”

How to make /d/ sound?

To make /d/ sound, the organ speeches we use are alveolar ridge and our tongue. /d/ is
made by raising the tip of the tongue towards the ridge behind the upper front teeth.

Someone cannot speak /r/?

It means there’s problem. It can be in her/his organ speech such as someone with
different tongue. Culture, accent, problem in brain (aphasia) also can be the reason. Our
habit also, it can happen since we were kid, the environment or family did not let
her//him to practice speaking well. Don’t choose an accent to speak (British/American),
we must speak deal with whom we are talking and let children to say all letters well.

Examples of bilabial and labiondental:

Bilabial (lips are brought together), e.g. /m/ in meat, /b/ in boat, /p/ in map. Labiodentals
(upper teeth touch lower lip), e.g. /f/ in feel and /v/ in veil.
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2. SEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY

Segmental phonology is the individual sounds of a language that can be written

and can make different meaning. it has parts or segmental features: phonemes, minimal
pairs, distinctive feature and allophone.

Phoneme

A phoneme is a speech sound that can make one word different from another in
meaning. In the other words, it is a set of speech sounds that are identified by a native
speaker as the same sound.

[ðǝ kǣt ɪz ɒn ðə mǣt]

The cat is on the mat

If we change the first consonant of noun cat and insert [h] instead we get the sentence.
[ðǝ hǣt ɪz ɒn ðə mǣt]
The hat is on the mat

Both of them have different meaning even only one phoneme we change. It means that
phoneme can make utterance different from another in meaning.

Minimal Pairs

A minimal pair is pair of words that have different meanings and are
pronounced the same except for one sound. In other words, it is two words that are
different in only one sound in the same place.

Here are the examples of minimal pairs:

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Distinctive Features

Distinctive features are grouped into categories according to the natural

classes of segments they describe: major class features, laryngeal features, manner
features, and place features. These feature categories in turn are further specified on the
basis of the phonetic properties of the segments in question.
Each language has its own set of phonemes; oppositions among those
phonemes differ necessarily from language to language: they have been based on
different sets of features for each language. For example is nasality. In French,
nasality is distinctive feature of both consonants and vowels. /m/ opposed to /p/ or /b/
and in vowels, beau is pronounced /bon/ because of nasal.

In French, Nasality /m/ opposed to /b/ or /p/

/beau/ = /bon/

Allophones

An allophone is a phonetic variant of a phoneme in a particular language. It can

be the way speaker of a language hears different sounds as version of the same sound.
Or, in brief, the realizations of phonemes – or phone – are called allophones.

The example:
Variants of phoneme /p/ are [ph] and [p]
Phoneme usually uses /…/
Allophone usually use […]

What is the difference between minimal pairs and homophone?

homophone Minimal pairs
Definition Two words have same sound A pair of words that are almost
(pronunciation) but different same in pronunciation except one
meaning sound
Example Two /tʊ:/ and To /tʊ:/ Neck /nɛ:k/ and knock /no:k/

Why can neck and knock be minimal pairs?

Neck /nɛ:k/ and knock /no:k/ are different in spelling and in meaning, but the
pronunciation are almost similar except one sound. Only one sound and in same place
/ɛ:/ and /o:/.

How can we know the sound is voiceless and voiced?

There are some ways to know the sound is voiceless and voiced, such as by putting a
paper in front of mouth and by touching left/right side of neck.
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Do all minimal pairs have same sound or different sound?

Two words are different in one sound.

3. SYLLABLE STRUCTURE

The Syllable

A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds.

Syllable has some types:
a) Monosyllable : a word consists of one syllable.
To /tʊ/
Is /ɪz/
There /ðeə(r)/
Go /gəʊ/
Love /lʌv/
b) Disyllable : a word that consists of two syllables.
Extra /eks + trə/
Express /ɪks + pres/
Reading /rɪ: + dɪŋ/
Present /pre + zən/
c) Trisyllable : a word that consists of three syllables.
Century cen tu ry
Several se ve ral
Evidence e vi dence
Cultural cul tu ral
d) Pollysyllable : a word that consists of more than three syllables.
Impossible im pos si ble
Understanding un der stan ding
Extravaganza ex tra va gan za

Cluster

Cluster is the combination of two or three consonants. The construction of

syllable is always organized around a vowel which is the nucleus. What comes before
nucleus is called onset and that follow it is called termination. Both onset and
termination can consist of one or more than phonemes. Two or more consonants in the
onset or on the termination form consonants cluster.
The examples of cluster:
Spray /spreɪ/
Spew /spju:/
Straw /strɔ:/
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Stew /stju:/
Squeeze /skwɪ:z/
Skew /skju:/

Syllable Perception

Syllable perception is the ability to see, hear or understanding thing.

The examples :
1. Cake = has 1 syllable
2. Eating = 2 syllables
3. Grandmother = 3 syllables
4. Independent = 4 syllables

Syllabic consonant

A syllabic consonant is a phonetic element that normally patterns as a

consonant, but may fill a vowel slot in a syllable. Kinds of syllabic consonants are:
a. Syllabic nasals: Syllabic-n, Syllabic-m and Syllabic-ng
b. Syllabic liquids: Syllabic-l and Syllabic-r

Syllabic nasal
The three nasal phonemes in English are /n/ as in no, /m/ as in more, and /ŋ/ as
in wing.
1) Syllabic-n
Consider the syllables that make up the following word.
garden /gɑ(r)/ + /dən/ = /ˈgɑ(r)dən/
The first syllable /gɑ/ consists of a CV (consonant and vowel) sequence and the second
syllable /dən/ of a CVC (consonant vowel consonant) arrangement.
Other examples: frighten /ˈfraɪtən/ → [ˈfraɪtn̩]
button /ˈbʌtən/ → [ˈbʌtn̩]
2) Syllabic-m
As well as the occurrence of syllabic-n in unstressed syllables, syllabic-m can
occur in similar environments. Examples of syllabic-m, which similarly take the full
measure of a syllable and taking the nuclear vowel slot in the syllable, include the
following.
rhythm /ˈrɪðəm/ → [ˈɹɪðm̩]
bottom /ˈbɒtəm/ → [ˈbɒtm̩]
blossom /ˈblɒsəm / → [ˈblɒsm̩]
3) Syllabic nasal /ŋ/
It may also occurs as a syllabic consonant. Consider the following:
broken /ˈbrəʊkən/ → [ˈbɹəʊkŋ̩]
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Here, the /ən/ sequence is compressed. Such compression could plausibly yield syllabic-
n in the nuclear vowel slot, i.e. [ˈbɹəʊkn̩].

Syllabic Liquid
There are two ‘liquid’ phonemes in English: /l/ as in look, and /r/ as in run.
1) Syllabic-l
Examples of syllabic-l filling the vowel slot in unstressed syllables include the
following.
handle /ˈhændəl/ → [ˈhændɬ̩]
bottle /ˈbɒtəl/ → [ˈbɒtɬ̩]
bagel /ˈbeɪgəl/ → [ˈbeɪgɬ̩]
2) Syllabic-r
Rhotic accents are accents in which /r/ can occur before consonants (e.g. as in
park /pɑrk/, cart /kɑrt/, card /kɑrd/) and before pauses (e.g. as in core /kɔr/, car /kɑr/,
bar /bɑr/)

Restrictions of the Position Consonants:

Two or more consonants in the onset or in the termination form consonant
clusters. /bɛd/ b is onset, ɛ is nucleus, d is termination

But there are restrictions. For examples:

/ng/ can never occur before a vowel : just as /h/, /w/, and /j/
/rp/ can never occur as cluster.

Does ssyllabic nasal always put in the end of the word?

No, it doesn’t.

Stress and unstressed syllable and the example:

For example is NOSTRIL. When you say the word [NOSTRIL], you pronounce the
[NOS] slightly louder, at a slightly higher pitch, and for a slightly longer duration than
when you pronounce the [tril]. The first syllable [NOS] is STRESSED, and the second
syllable [tril] is UNstressed.

How to recognize the consonant clusters?

Cluster is the combination of two or three consonants. If there are two or more
consonants that are combined in the onset or in the termination, it is cluster. Actually
there are 26 consonants cluster in English : /sm/, /sn/, /st/, /sw/, /sk/, /sl/, /sp/, /Ѳw/,
/dw/, /tw/, /Ѳr/, /dr/, /tr/, /kw/, /kr/, /kl/, /pr/, /fr/, /br/, /gr/, /pl/, /fl/, /bl/, /gl/ and /ʃr/
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4. WORD STRESS

In some languages, each syllable in each word is pronounced with the exact
same stress. When a word has more than one syllable, not all syllables are pronounced
with the same degree of force. The syllable which is pronounced with greater force is
called the stressed syllable. You can also call it the accented syllable. "Accent" in this
case means "emphasis". When speaking, it is important to put the stress on the correct
syllable. Otherwise, it would sound unnatural, and might even be difficult to understand.
Here are some examples of the word stress of some common words (the stress
part is bold):
water : wa ter
people : peo ple
television : tel e vi sion
together : to geth er
potato : po ta to
before : be fore
begin : be gin

A few things to remember:

1. A word can only have one stress
2. Only vowels are stressed, not consonants
3. There are many exceptions to the rules. The word stress rules in English are
complicated. Remember that there are exceptions to every rule.

Word stress rules

1. Two-Syllable nouns and adjectives
In most two syllable nouns and adjectives, the first syllable takes on the stress.
Examples: SAMples, CARton, PURple, and RAIny

2. Two-Syllable verbs and prepositions

In most two syllable verbs and prepositions, the stress is on the second syllable.
Examples: reLAX,, receive,, direct,, and aMONG.

3. Three-Syllable words
For three-syllable words, look at the word ending (the suffix), using the
following as your guide.

4. Words ending in er, ly

For three-syllable words ending with the suffixes er or ly, the stress is placed on
the first syllable. Examples: ORderly ,SIlently ,LOvingly, MAnager , GARdener,
Easier.
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5. Words ending in consonants and in y

If there is a word that ends in a consonant or in a y, then the first syllable usually
gets the stress. Examples: RARity, OPtimal, GRAdient, Genorous.
6. Words with various endings
Take a good look at the list of suffixes below (suffixes are word endings). The
stress is going to be on the syllable right before the suffix. This applies to words of all
syllable lengths. Examples:

able: ADDable, DURable, LAUGHable

ial: differENTial, SOcial, fiNANcial
cian: muSIcian, phySIcian, cliNIcian
ian: coMEdian, ciVILian, techNIcian
ible: reSIstible, imPOSsible, TERRible

7. Words ending in ade, ee, ese, que, ette, oon

Words that use the suffix ade, ee, ese, eer, que, ette, or oon have the primary
stress actually placed on the suffix. This applies to words of all syllable lengths.
Examples:
ade: lemoNADE, cruSADE, arCADE
ee: aGREE, jamborEE, guaranTEE
eer: sightSEER, puppeTEER
ese: SiamESE, JapanESE, chEESE
ette: cassETTE, CorvETTE, towelETTE
que: unIQUE, physIQUE
oon: baLOON, afterNOON, carTOON

8. Stress on the second from the end syllable

You put stress on the second syllable from the end of the word with words
ending in ic, sion, and tion. Examples: iCONic, GRAPHic, hyperTENsion, teleVIsion,
nuTRItion, reveLAtion.

9. Stress on the third from end syllable

You put stress on the third from end syllable with words that end in cy, ty, phy,
gy and al. Examples: deMOcracy, geOGraphy, ALlergy, NAUtical, CLArity, CRItical.

10. Word stress for compound words

A compound noun is a noun made out of two nouns that form one word. In a
compound noun, the most stress is on the stressed syllable of the first word.
Examples:
SEAfood (sea + food)
ICEland (ice + land)
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TOOTHpaste (tooth + paste)

11. Proper nouns

Proper nouns are specific names of people, places or things. For example:
Jeniffer, Spain, Google. The second word is always the one that takes the stress
Examples:
North DAKOTA
Mr. SMITH

12. Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns show that the action affects the person who performs the
action. For example: I hit myself. The second syllable usually takes the stress. Examples:
mySELF
themSELVES
ourSELVES

13. Numbers
If the number is a multiple of ten, the stress is placed on the first
syllable. Examples are:
TEN
FIFty
ONE-hundred

Two kinds of stress:

Primary : Stronger stress
Secondary : lower stress
e.g. Understand /,Andə’stɛnd/

How can we know the rules of stress in the sentence?

Stress in sentence is intonation. We use intonation to express feeling. So we can put the
stress in wherever we want to highlight the most important information on word in order
to express something. We need to focus on the sentence but don’t forget all word stress
because actually we still use it. The last is making it naturally.

Which one is important between intonation and stress when we’re talking?
Both of them are important, because those are the key in English speaking. If we focus
on word, we’ll find stress. But if we focus on sentence, we’ll find intonation and from
intonation we can get the meaning of what someone mean.

How to put word stress in polysyllabic word?

The stress is put before suffix. E.g. ImPOSSible, reLIgious, inGREdient.
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What is the purpose of stressing word?

The purposes are to make responder easy to understand and to make responder easy to
hear and the utterance can be accepted.

5. TONIC SYLLABLE

Intonation

In spoken English, information is conveyed through vocal emphasis and the

relative strength / stress of syllables within words and of words within utterances.
Intonation is melody (high, low, raising, or falling of tone) of language. Intonation has
different types, those are:
1. Fall
“What are you doing?”
2. Rise
“Have you seen Ann lately?”
3. Fall-rise
“Do I really have to clean my room?”
4. Rise-fall
“Ann and Peter were good terms at the party”
5. Level

Tone Unit

A tone unit is the minimal unit which can carry intonation. It can be one syllable
long, but usually extends over a few syllables. (A tone unit can also be called an
‘intonation unit’ or ‘foot group’.).
The structure of the tone unit is as follows. The tonic syllable is obligatory but
all other parts are optional.
(PH) (H) TS (T)
(pre-head) (head) tonic syllable (tail)

tonic syllable: ‘carries’ the tone. Is obligatory

head: all stressed syllable up to (but not including) tonic syllable
pre-head: any unstressed syllables before the head
tail: any unstressed syllables that follow the tonic
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Tonic Syllable (nucleus)

The nucleus, or tonic syllable (TS), is the most significant syllable in the Tone
Unit (not necessarily the loudest or most prominent stress).
Here is the example:

Tonic syllable is the most highlighted syllable in an utterance. The different

placement of tonic syllable of an utterance can make different meanings. Here are the
examples:
The utterance: “I didn’t think that was going to work”
1. I didn’t ^think that was going to /work (Fall-Rise, Tonic Syllable on think)
This expresses the most surprise.
2. I didn’t think ^that was going to /work. (Fall-Rise, Tonic Syllable on that)
This expresses a prior certainty.
3. I didn’t think that was going to \work.(Fall, Tonic Syllable on work)
This expresses a feeling of vindication that the speaker’s prediction was correct.

The utterance: “I’d like to go with you”

1. I’d ^like to go /with you (Fall-Rise, Tonic Syllable on like)
This expresses a firm decision already made.
2. I’d like to go \with you (Fall, Tonic Syllable on with)
This expresses a specific preference.
3. I’d like to go with \you (Fall, Tonic Syllable on you)
This expresses uncertainty.

Changing Emphasis

Emphasis is a very clear-cut case in which the manipulation of intonation serves

a grammatical purposespecific to english. We can change the emphasis in an utterance
depend on what we want to express.

It was very boring. Means it was boring, not happy.

It was very boring. Means it was really boring.

The emphasis is changed from boring to very. This changing emphasis can make
different meanings of the utterance.
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How can we know which one is tonic syllable?

It is based on the speaker meaning of what someone want to express. The tonic syllable
in an utterance has the strongest, loudest, and longest pitch or sound of other words.

why must we learn about intonation?

The purposes are to know that we use intonation to clear out the ambiguities. In
Learning English, speaking is really considered to measure our understanding. And the
important one is Intonation. From Intonation, people can measure how well our
response. From intonation, we also know the meaning of what people try to say.

How can we know the structure of tone unit (Tail) in an example “she wanted to
face the problem on Tuesday”?
Tail is any unstressed syllables that follow the tonic, so firstly we have to know
where tonic syllable is.

If TS is in Tues, after TS that is unstressed is day.

She wanted to face the problem on Tuesday
PH H TS T
If TS is in problem, after TS that is unstressed is on Tuesday. So on Tuesday is the tail.
She wanted to face the problem on Tuesday
PH H TS T

Another example of changing emphasis:

I want to know where he’s travelling to
I want to know where he’s travelling to

We change the emphasis from travelling to “to”, to express another (different) meaning.

How can we know the HEAD of an utterance?

Head is all stressed syllable up to (but not including) tonic syllable. Firstly know where
tonic syllable we want to put. Before the tonic, if it is stressed, it is a HEAD.

6. CONNECTED SPEECH

Intra-syllabic Level

The word bank is not pronounced */bænk/ but /bæŋk/ because in the termination
cluster nasal+plosive, the nasal adopts the place of articulation of the plosive, i.e. it
becomes velar. This phenomenon is no longer perceived as regressive assimilation.
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Inter-morphemic Level
The morpheme of the plural spelled as -slike in cats and in dogs appears as two
distinct phonemes /s/ and /z/ due to progressive assimilation. This suffix is voiceless [s]
when it is preceded by a voiceless consonant and voiced [z] when preceded by a voiced
consonant:
a. /kæt+s/
b. /dɒg+z/

Between Words

Some times, assimilation, especially between words, is less standardized and yet
the phenomenon remains quite powerful. Compare a. to b. in the following examples:
/hɪtʃ ju:/ hit you
/hɪt mi:/ hit me

Linking r

A marginal phenomenon called linking “r”. Received Pronunciation of British

English the phoneme /r/ never occurs in syllable-final position. However, this /r/ has not
completely disappeared insuch a position. For instance, before a vowel, this final /r/is
often. Examples:

here are / hɪər ə /

four eggs / fɔːr egz /

Received Pronunciation tend to insert an /r/ between vowels even where there has never
been a /r/. This leads them to pronounce “Anna and John” as / ænər ənd Ʒɒn/

What are the function we learn connected speech?

It is to speak English easily to others without saying word by word. It also makes is
easier to communicate to native speakers and they will understand is easily. Most of
native use connected speech when they speak.

Why the name is linking /r/?

In this case, /r/ can connect directly to the next sound. E.g. here are / hɪər ə /

What is the difference between American and British?

Rhotic (AA), They pronounce (r) Eg: dark and bark, /r/ are pronounced. They also use
linking /r/ such as “Car and chair”
Non rhotic (BA), they don’t pronounce ”r”. Eg: dark and bark /da:k/, /ba:k/.