Phonetics

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds.

Lessons
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
Overview & Tips
IPA Example Chart: Consonants
IPA Example Chart: Vowels
IPA Transcription Exercises
Natural Classes
Overview, Examples & Tips
Consonant Chart
Vowel Chart
Exercises
Features
Overview, Examples & Tips
Example Problems
List of Distinctive Features (Consonants)
List of Distinctive Features (Vowels)
Distinctive Feature Chart (Consonants)
Distinctive Feature Chart (Vowels)
Exercises

3
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
Objective: Transcribe English speech sounds in the international phonetic alphabet.

What is the international phonetic alphabet (IPA), and why do we need one?
The International Phonetic Alphabet is a way of transcribing speech as it’s pronounced, which
means it can be used to transcribe any language (so long as there are symbols for the sounds
spoken in that language). Because there is a one-to-one correspondence between symbols and
sounds in IPA, there are no problems with weird, ambiguous spelling, silent letters, etc. such as
we often find in written English.
In phonetics and phonology, we use IPA to represent data sets of sounds from different
languages. Using words written in IPA, we can focus on the sounds of a language without having
to learn the writing systems of different languages—many of which don’t have any writing
system at all, or have one that isn’t based on sounds (such as Chinese).
You can use your textbook or handouts or the charts provided here to learn the IPA symbols
used for English consonants and vowels. Since many languages have sounds we don’t use in
English, you may be introduced to more symbols in later problem sets; but these symbols are all
you need to start transcribing English speech.

Transcription Tips:

Sounds Not Spelling When transcribing words into the IPA, focus on the sounds, not the
way that they’re spelled. Say the word aloud.
Normal (Fast) Speech Be careful not to say the word too slowly and carefully, because
that may change some of the sounds. The idea is to transcribe the way you usually
pronounce the word in normal speech.
IPA Symbols Are Not the Same As Letters An IPA symbol may look like an English
letter, but represent a different sound than that letter normally does. This is especially true
of vowels. Note, for example, that [ ] is the vowel sound in “say” or “weigh”, not in
“bed” (that would be [ ]).
Ignore Silent Letters Many English words have silent letters, the “e” at the end of
“cape,” for example. Remember, the difference between “cap” and “cape” doesn’t have
to do with the “e”—it’s a different vowel between [k] and [p] (that is, [ ] vs. [ ]).
Your Pronunciation May Vary Even within English, people with different dialects may
pronounce words differently. (Again, this is especially true of vowels!) There may be
more than one way to transcribe a word, but there is only one way to transcribe the word
the way you say it.
Use Your Friends If you’re worried that your accent or dialect is too non-standard, or if
you can’t tell what sound you’re saying, ask someone else to say the word. If you’re
worried about “priming” them to pronounce the word the way you do, write down the
word and have them read it to you.

The charts on the following pages give examples of the English consonants and vowels. We
transcribed the words into IPA using our own dialect of Standard American English; your
mileage may vary. (The symbols in parentheses show alternative symbols for the same sound.)

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Phonetic Alphabet Chart: Consonants of English

IPA Symbol Example (Standard Orthography) Example (IPA)

powers, superhero, cape

Batman, Robin, lab
toxic, Green Lantern, invisible jet
Doctor Doom, incredible, Alfred
costume, Doctor Octopus, Hulk
Gotham, Magneto, Rogue
fortress, Alpha Flight, tough
villain, Professor Xavier, Batcave
threat, Lex Luthor, stealth
The Hulk, weather, scythe
Superman, lasso, spandex
zonk, laser, disguise
(š) Shadowcat, radiation, Flash
(ž) treasure, Mirage
Hulk, superhero
( ) champion, Watchmen, launch
( ) justice, origin, judge
Magneto, Aquaman, crime
Nightcrawler, spandex, Robin
super strength, Batarang
Lois Lane, Alfred, Smallville
Rogue, Alfred, Nightcrawler ,
Wonder Woman, Nightwing
(y) united, slayer
uh-oh, Batman
Magneto

Weird Consonants to Notice

Glottal Stop: Voiceless stop that’s rare in English. It may almost seem like a short pause
instead of a sound. “uh-oh” is the best example, but it can also replace “t” in certain words
(like “mitten”) in some dialects.
Lateral Flap: A quick flap of the tongue. Comes out sort of like a cross between a “t” and “d”
sound, as in “butter”.
Palatal Glide: Be careful with word-medial [j]. Compare “layer” [ ] with “lair” [ ].

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Phonetic Alphabet Chart: Vowels of English

IPA Symbol Example (Standard Orthography) Example (IPA)

superhero
invisibility
cape
incredible
Batman
Buffy
ability
Robin
Superman
Doctor Octopus
Rogue
law
( ) kryptonite
( ) powers
( ) Superboy

Weird Vowels to Notice

Diphthongs: Although written with two symbols, these count as one sound.
Schwa: Always unstressed. Usually comes out sounding like [ ] as in “cut”. Found in longer
words when another vowel is stressed.
Low Back Round Vowel: Not everyone has this sound in their dialect. Do you have a difference
between “caught” and “cot”? If so, then “caught” would be [ . If not, they are both [ .

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IPA Transcription Exercises
I. Consonants
1. Write the IPA symbol for the first sound in these words:
sniffles ___ bronchitis ___
cold ___ pneumonia ___
flu ___ death ___

2. Write the IPA symbol for the last sound in these words:
rash ___ concussion ___
lacerations ___ hemorrhage ___
fracture ___ death ___

3. Write the IPA symbol for the highlighted sound in these words:
alcoholism ___ hemophilia ___
diabetes ___ cancer ___
hypothyroidism ___ chronic death... syndrome___

II. Vowels
1. Write the IPA symbol for the first sound in these words (just the first sound of the first
word is fine if it’s a phrase):
obesity ___ amnesia ___
epilepsy ___ aphasia ___
autism ___ attention deficit disorder___

2. Write the IPA symbol for the last sound in these words (just the last sound of the last
word is fine if it’s a phrase):
dystrophy ___ sciatica ___
polio ___ punched in the jaw ___

3. Write the IPA symbol for the highlighted sound in these words:
borderline ___ schizoid ___
bipolar ___ paranoid ___
obsessive compulsive ___ antisocial ___

III. From Orthography to IPA

1. Write the following words in IPA:
chlamydia _______________________ gonorrhea _______________________
hepatitis _______________________ syphilis _______________________

1a. Alternate exercises for people who find STDs discomforting:

fluffy bunnies________________________ sunshiney rainbows___________________
pretty unicorns_______________________ grim death and despair_________________

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2. Transcribe the following into IPA:

Do no harm.

Off with your shirt, let's have a look.

A few days with a cooperative test subject could be worth months of theoretical research.

IV. From IPA to Orthography

1. Write each word in standard English orthography.
__________________ __________________
__________________ __________________
__________________ __________________
__________________ __________________
__________________

2. Write each sentence in standard English orthography.

V. Going Beyond
1. If you know another language, what (if any) sounds in that language cannot be represented
using the symbols you now know?
2. Here’s a passage from another dialect of English. Try transcribing into standard orthography.
Can you guess what kind of dialect this is? ( is a new vowel sound. To tell what it sounds
like, try saying the word “nurse” without the “r”.)

: !
“ ? ?
.” !
“ ! ? ! ?” i

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Natural Classes
Objective: Define a natural class. Given a natural class, identify the sounds that belong to it.
Given a set of consonants or vowels, identify what class, if any, they belong to.

What is a natural class?

A natural class is a way of describing a set of speech sounds that have something in common. In
order for a set of sounds to belong to a natural class, there must be some way of describing them
that:
includes all the sounds in the set
does not include any other sounds

Examples
The set of sounds { } is in a natural class of “voiceless stops”.
The set of sounds { } do not comprise a natural class because there is no natural
class that will include all these sounds and only these sounds. One could say that they are
voiced stops, and this would be correct, except that would also include / /, / /, and / /,
which are not part of the set.
The set of sounds { } do not comprise a natural class because while / /, / /, and
/ / are all bilabial stops, / / is not, and the natural class needs to include all the sounds in
the given set.

Tips:

Look at the charts (next page). When analyzing whether a set of consonants comprises
a natural class, a good place to start is to look at the IPA chart and see if the sounds all fit
into a particular row (manner of articulation) or column (place of articulation). For
example, { } are all nasals, and { } are all velar sounds.
Don’t forget about voicing. Voiceless sounds are shaded in the consonant chart
provided. All vowels are voiced.
Look at combinations. If there is no clear natural class in the manner or place of
articulation, try looking at a combination of the two. For example, { } are labiodental
fricatives – “labiodental” has to be mentioned in order to exclude other fricatives, such as
/ / and / /.
Each sound is a natural class. For example, {p} is the only member of the natural class
voiceless bilabial stops.
Vowels have a different set of descriptors than consonants. Vowels are distinguished
from each other by frontness (front, central, or back), height (high, mid, or low),
tenseness (tense or lax), and roundness (round or non-round). Check the chart for details.
All vowels are voiced.

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IPA English Consonant Chart: Manner of Articulation, Place of Articulation, Voicing*

Place of Articulation
Bilabial Labio- Inter- Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
dental dental
Stop

Nasal
Fricative

Affricate

Approximant
Lateral
Approximant
* Shaded sounds are voiceless

IPA English Vowel Chart: Height, Frontness, Tense/Lax*, Roundness**

Frontness
Front Central Back
High

Mid

Low

* Shaded sounds are tense

**Bold sounds are round

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Natural Class Exercises
I. List all the sounds in each class.
a. Voiceless f. Mid
b. Fricative g. Round
c. Velar h. Low back non-round
d. Alveolar stop i. High tense
e. Velar nasal
II. Determine whether the following sets of sounds are in a natural class. If so, what is the class?
a. { } e. { }
b. { } f. { }
c. { } g. { }
d. { } h. { }

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Features
Objective: Describe speech sounds in terms of their features.
Contents:
Overview
Consonant Feature Chart
Vowel Feature Chart
Example Problems
Exercises

What are features?

From the description of natural classes, it is clear that sounds have specific features (for example,
[ ] is alveolar, as is [ ], but [ ] is not). It is possible to think of every sound as a collection of
features which distinguish it from every other sound. Each sound has a unique combination of
features that can be used to identify or describe it, and these features are binary – either the
sound has it, or it does not. This is indicated with a “+ ‘feature’” or “- ‘feature’” notation. For
example, the sound [ ] can be described as {+alveolar, -voice, -continuant}. This set of features
describes only the sound [ ] and no other sounds.

Distinctive features are features which differentiate sounds from each other. Whether or not a
feature is distinctive depends on the set of sounds that one is describing. For example, if one
wants to differentiate [ ] from [ ], there is only one distinctive feature: [ ] is {–voice}, and [ ] is
{+voice}. These two sounds have all other features in common, so they are not distinctive
features in this case.

Another aspect of distinctive features is redundancy – there are instances where one feature is a
subset of another feature (for example, all {+nasal} sounds are also {+consonantal}). The idea is
to use the narrowest feature possible: use {+nasal} instead of {+consonantal} to describe [ ],
because the feature {+nasal} is narrower in that it describes fewer sounds, and is therefore more
descriptive. Once {+nasal} is used, there is no need to indicate that the sound is also
{+consonantal} – that would be redundant, since all {+nasal} sounds are also {+consonantal}.

Describing sounds in features is similar to describing sounds in the terms of a natural class, but it
is not identical. It is helpful to use the natural classes as a guide, but not all natural classes
correspond to features (for example, “voiceless” is a natural class, but not a feature: that would
be indicated by {-voice}).

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List of Distinctive Features (Consonants)
Feature - Feature Included Sounds Definition
consonantal nonconsonantal Consonants (not vowels, also Consonants.
not /w/ or /j/).
sonorant obstruent Nasals, approximants. Equal air pressure inside &
outside the vocal tract.
syllabic nonsyllabic Vowels and sometimes Can be the nucleus of a syllable.
approximants
voice voiceless Vowels, voiced consonants Vocal chord vibration
continuant stop Fricatives, approximants. Continuous passage of air
(Not nasals!) through the mouth.
nasal oral { } Air passes through the nose.
sibilant nonsibilant { } Jet of air through narrow
passage toward obstacle (teeth)
lateral rhotic { } but not { } Air flows along sides of the
tongue
labial non-labial { } Use of lips
alveolar non-alveolar { } Use of alveolar ridge
palatal non-palatal { } Use of hard palate
velar non-velar { } Use of velum
anterior posterior Labials, dentals, alveolars Produced forward of the
alveolar ridge.
coronal noncoronal Dentals, alveolars, palatals. Use of tip and/or blade of the
tongue.

List of Distinctive Features (Vowels)

Feature - Feature Included Sounds Definition
high low Has to do with height of production in mouth.
low high Has to do with height of production in mouth.
back front Has to do with location of production in mouth.
rounded non-round Lips are rounded.
tense lax Involve more constriction of tongue than lax vowels.

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Example Problems:

1. What sound(s) is/are described by this list of features?

a. {+labial, +nasal}
To find this sound, locate all the sounds that are {+labial}. Then, find out which
{+labial} sounds are also {+nasal}. There is only sound that is both {+labial} and
{+nasal}: [ ].
b. {+palatal, +continuant}
As above, locate all sounds that are {+palatal}. This list includes: { }.
Of these, which sounds are {+continuant}? There are several: { }. { }
are excluded because they are not continuant. So, the set of sounds described by
the features {+palatal, +continuant} is { }.
c. {+palatal, +continuant, -consonantal}
As in (b), locate the {+palatal, +continuant} sounds: { }. Of these sounds,
which are {-consonantal}? { } are {+consonantal}; only [ ] is {-consonantal}.
So, the {+palatal, +continuant, -consonantal} sound is [ ].
d. {+low, -back}
There are only two low vowels, { }. Only one, [ ], is {–back}.

2. What list of features describe(s) this/these sound(s)? Make sure there are no redundant
features, and the sound is described uniquely (no other sound is described by this list of features).
a. [ ]
The place feature is a good place to start; [ ] is {+labial}. We need to distinguish
it from the other {+labial} sounds [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], and [ ]. Adding
{+continuant} gets rid of the stops [ ], [ ], and [ ], so we only need to deal with
[ ] and [ ]. Both are {+voice} while [ ] is {-voice}, so there’s our third feature.
Our complete list is {+labial, +continuant, -voice}.
b. [ ]
[ ] is {+alveolar}. We need to distinguish it from the other alveolar sounds, [ ],
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ] and [ ]. A nice way to get rid of everything except [l] is to add
{+sonorant}. Now we just have to distinguish between [ ] and [ ]. The only
difference is that [ ] is {+lateral}, so we add that [ ] is {-lateral}. The complete list
is {+alveolar, +sonorant, -lateral}.
Another way we could have gone instead of using {+sonorant} is to get of
[ ], [ ] and [ ] by adding {+continuant} to our list of features. Now we need to
deal with [ ], [ ], and [ ]. [ ] and [ ] are {+sibilant}, so we add {-sibilant} to our
list. Now we still need to distinguish between [ ] and [ ], so we add{-lateral}. Our
complete list is {+alveolar, +continuant, -sibilant, -lateral}. This is also correct,
but less efficient, because it requires four features instead of three.

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 c. { }
[ ] and [ ] are both {+velar}; the only other {+velar} sound is [ ]. To get rid of
[ ] we just have to say {-nasal}. Hooray, the features are {+velar, -nasal}.
d. { }
You can start by saying that they are {+high}. Now you only need to differential
them from {i, I}. Either {+back} or {+rounded} will do this. Since there are no
high, back, non-round vowels and no high, rounded, non-back vowels, either way
will work equally well. So there are two correct answers: {+high, +back} or
{+high, +round}.

3. What are the distinctive features that differentiate these two sounds?
a. { }
This is one of those many pairs where the only difference is that [ ] is {+voice},
and [ ] is {-voice}. So the feature involved here is {+/- voice}.
b. { }
The difference between these is place; [ ] is alveolar and [ ] is palatal. There are
features for both, so you can either say that the difference is {+/- alveolar} or {+/-
palatal}.
c. { }
If you look at the feature chart, you can see that the only difference between these
two is that [ is {+round}. So {+/- round} is the relevant feature.

4. What are the distinctive features that differentiate these two sets of sounds?
a. { } & { }
To show the difference between these two sets, we need to describe each set
individually. { } are {-continuant, +alveolar, -nasal}. { } are {+continuant,
+alveolar, -sonorant}. The distinctive feature is {+/- continuant}: both sets are
+alveolar, and even though it is unnecessary to state this for { }, both sets are
also {-sonorant}.
` b. { } & { }
{ } are {-back, +high}. { } are {+back, +high}. The distinctive feature is
{+/- back}, since both sets of vowels are {+high}.

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Exercises

1. What sound(s) is/are described by this list of features?

a. {-voice, +velar}
b. {+rounded, -low, -high}
c. {+voice}
d. {+high, +tense}
e. {+sonorant, +alveolar, -nasal}
2. What list of features describe(s) this/these sound(s)? Make sure there are no redundant
features, and the sound is described uniquely (no other sound is described by this list of features).
a.
b.
c.
d
e.
3. What are the distinctive features that differentiate these two sounds?
a. { }
b. { }
c. { }
4. What are the distinctive features that differentiate these two sets of sounds?
a. { }&{ }
b. { }&{ }

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