phoneme [ˈfəʊniːm]

n
(Linguistics) Linguistics one of the set of speech sounds in any given language that serve to distinguish one word from another. A
phoneme may consist of several phonetically distinct articulations, which are regarded as identical by native speakers, since one
articulation may be substituted for another without any change of meaning. Thus /p/ and /b/ are separate phonemes in English because
they distinguish such words as petand bet, whereas the light and dark /l/ sounds in little are not separate phonemes since they may be
transposed without changing meaning

Vowels : There are twenty distinctive vowel sounds, made up of twelve pure vowels or

monophthongs and eight vowel glides or diphthongs. Vowels are the most important

sounds. Every word has to have a vowel sound .To articulate vowels one needs to allow

free flow of air through the mouth. By altering the shape of one’s lips or the tongue

position one can articulate various vowels.

Vowels are of two kinds – Pure vowels and Diphthongs. Of the twelve

pure vowels or Monophthongs seven are short and five are long. We notice that the

sounds indicated by the long vowels are stretched and the sounds indicated by the short

vowels are clipped. Besides Monophthongs there are eight vowel sounds called

Diphthongs. They are actually combinations of two vowel sounds with the voice gliding

from one sound to another. Thus with a sound like the one indicated by the underlined

letter in bay , the parts of the mouth concerned with the pronunciations here first take up

the appropriate position to utter sound in the area of/e/and then move approximately to

the position of /i/ sound.

There are eight diphthongs in English. The first three are uttered
 with the articulatory organs moving rapidly towards the /i/ position since the second part

of each of these sounds is uttered with a glide towards the front of the tongue, where the

sound /i/ is pronounced.

Consonants:- A consonant is usually described, taking into account whether it is

voiceless or voiced, according to its place of articulation and the manner of articulation.

Consonants can be described according to their places of articulation. They are;

(a) Bilabial : The two lips are articulators

Ex : pile, bile

(b) Labio –dental : The active articulator is the lower lip and the passive articulators
are the upper front teeth.

Ex : Fine , vine

(c) . Dental : The tip of the tongue is the active articulator and the upper front teeth are the passive
articulators.

Ex: Thin, Then

(d) Alveolar: The tip or the blade of the tongue is the active articulator and the teeth
ridge is the passive articulator.

Ex : Tin, din

Post-alveolar: The tip of the active articulator and the part of the roof of the mouth that

lies immediately behind the teeth ridge is the passive articulator

A monophthong (Greek monóphthongos[1] from mónos "single" and phthóngos "sound") is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and
end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation.
diphthong, in phonetics, a gliding vowel in the articulation of which there is a continuous transition from one position to another. Diphthongs are to be
contrasted in this respect with so-called pure vowels—i.e., unchanging, or steady state, vowels. Though they are single speech sounds, diphthongs are usually
represented, in a phonetic transcription of speech, by means of a pair of characters indicating the initial and final configurations of the vocal tract. Many of the
vowel sounds in most dialects of English are diphthongs: e.g., the vowels of “out” and “ice,” represented as [au] and [ai], respectively.

In phonetics, a triphthong (from Greek τρίφθογγος, "triphthongos", literally "with three sounds," or "with three tones") is a monosyllabic vowel combination
involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel quality to another that passes over a third. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs,
are said to have one target articulator position, diphthongs have two, and triphthongs three.
2

Definition

A syllable is a unit of sound composed of

• a central peak of sonority (usually a vowel), and

• the consonants that cluster around this central peak.

Discussion

Syllable structure, which is the combination of allowable segments and typical sound sequences, is language specific.

Parts

Parts Description Optionality

Onset Initial segment of a syllable Optional

Rhyme Core of a syllable, consisting of a Obligatory

nucleus and coda (see below)

– Nucleus Central segment of a syllable Obligatory

– Coda Closing segment of a syllable Optional

Example (English)

Here is an example of the syllable structure of the English word limit:

Kinds

Here are some kinds of syllables:

Kind Description Example

Heavy Has a branching rhyme. All syllables CV:C, CVCC, CVC

with a branching nucleus (long
vowels) are considered heavy. Some
languages treat syllables with a short
vowel (nucleus followed by a
consonant (coda) as heavy.

Light Has a non-branching rhyme (short CV, CVC

vowel). Some languages treat
syllables with a short vowel(nucleus)
followed by a consonant (coda) as
light.
 Closed Ends with a consonant coda. CVC, CVCC, VC

Open Has no final consonant CV

Diagram

Here is a diagram of a syllable:

Definition:
The branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speechand their production, combination, description, and
representation by written symbols.
A linguist who specializes in phonetics is known as a phonetician.

Definition:
The branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speechand their production, combination, description, and
representation by written symbols.
A linguist who specializes in phonetics is known as a phonetician.

Forty-four Speech Sounds of English: Phonemes

25 Consonants (21 letters) 19 Vowels (5 letters)

1. /b/ 1. /ă/

2. /p/ 2. /ĕ/

3. /d/ 3. /ĭ/

4. /t/ 4. /ŏ/

5. /g/ 5. /ŭ/

6. /k/ 6. /ā/

7. /v/ 7. /ē/

8. /f/ 8. /ī/

9. /z/ 9. /ō/

10. /s/ 10. /ū/

11. /th/ 11. /au/

12. /th/ 12. /ou/

13. /w/ 13. /oi/

14. /hw/ 14. //

15. /j/ 15. //

16. /ch/ 16. /ä/

17. /zh/ 17. /âir/

18. /sh/ 18. /ur/

19. /l/ 19. /ə/, like short u: /ŭ/

20. /m/

21. /h/

22. /r/

23. /y/

24. /ng/

25. /h/

Prepared by Donald Potter, 5/15/04. Based on Rudolf Flesch’s analysis of the speech

sounds of English in Why Johnny Can’t Read and what you can do about it (1955).