An overview of

English Phonetics-
Part-1
Dr. K. Ram Chandra
Professor &Head,
Department of English
VR S Engineering college
(Autonomous)
Vijayawada
 Introduction
• Phoneme is the most basic sound unit
• Speaking is a Scientific Process
• It is a Psycho-physiological Process
• Speech involves different human
organs
• Speaking is both a science and an art
 Classification of Languages
• Eggressive
• Ingressive
• Air is blown out when Eggressive
languages are spoken
• Air is taken in when Ingressive languages
are spoken
Organs of Speech
 Air stream Mechanisms
• Pulmonic: movement of lung air by
respiratory muscles
• Glottalic: movement of air at pharynx by
the action of glottis
• Velaric: movement of air in the mouth by
action of tongue
Classification of Speech sounds
• Vowels -20 sounds (5 Vowel letters
represent 20 sounds)
• Consonants- 24 sounds( 21 letters
represent 24 sounds)
• Total 26 letters represent 44 sounds
 Vowels and Consonants
• Vowels are those sounds that are
articulated without any friction in the Mouth
• Consonants are those sounds that are
articulated with some friction in the Mouth
Sound Chart
 Vowels
• Short vowels:
 vowels
• Long vowels:
 Diphthongs
• Diphthongs are glides
Examples
 Conclusion
• Every element is to be articulated properly
• Every sound has relation to others in a
word
• Please do not replace English sounds with
Vernacular sounds