2.1.

PHONETICS (NGỮ ÂM)

Definition : Phonetic is the study of speech sounds of language.
It has three subdivisions:
- The study of how sounds are made or the mechanics of their production by human beings
(articulatory phonetics);
- The study of how sounds are heard or the mechanics of their perception (auditory
phonetics);
- The study of the physical properties of the speech waves which constitute speech sound
(acoustic phonetics).

Human speech apparatus

Có 7 cơ quan phát âm của con người:
- Pharynx (họng):
+ tube begins just above larynx
+ female: 7cm – male: 8cm
+ top end is divided into two; to the mouth and nasal cavity.
- Velum/ Soft palate ( vòng họng mềm):
+ Allows air to pass through the mouth or nose.
+ Can be touched by tongue.
+ Velar consonants [k], [g].
- Hard palate (vòng họng cứng):
+ Roof of the mouth.
- Alveolar ridge (lợi, nướu):
+ Between top front teeth and hard palate.
+ Produces alveolar sound [t], [d].
- Tongue: Can be moved to many different places different shapes. Tongue has several
parts: tip, biade, front, back, root.
- Teeth:
+ Upper and lower teeth.
+ Produces dental sounds
- Lips:
+ Can be moved to make different shapes
+ Produces bilabial sounds [p] and labiodental sounds [f], [v].
 - There are 3 other things to remember:
+ larynx: or “Adam’s apple” where the vocal cords locate
+ jaws
+ nose and nasal cavity

Active and Passive Articulators

The air then moves into the vocal tract consisting of the oral and nasal cavities. The oral cavity,
that is, the mouth, is a resonator and a generator of speech sounds via the articulators, which may
be active (moving) or passive (stationary).

The active articulators (is the articular that does all or most of the moving during a speech
production) include the following:
- The tongue, divided into the tip (or apex), and moving backwards, the blade (or lamina),
the front, the back or dorsum, and the root: the tongue modifies the shape of the cavity,
acts as a valve by touching parts of the mouth to stop the flow of air, and is shaped in
various ways to direct the flow of air.
- The lower lip (the combining term is labio-, as in labiodental): the lip may be placed
against the upper teeth, or, together with the upper lip may be closed or opened, rounded
or spread.

The passive articulators (is the articulator that makes little or no movement during a speech
gesture) include the following:
- The teeth (-dental): both upper and lower.
- The roof of the mouth, which is divided into the alveolar ridge (alveolo-), which is 1 cm
behind the upper teeth, the hard palate (-palatal, as in alveolopalatal), which is the
domed, bony plate, the soft palate, or velum (-velar), which is the muscular flap at the
rear, and the uvula (-uvular), which is the tip of the velum.
- The pharynx, or back of the throat, which is used by some languages (but not English) in
producing speech sounds.
What is the mechanism of production of speech sound?/ How are speech sounds produced
The space between the cords when they are open is known as the glottis.
- Terms: airstream mechanism egressive pulmonic system.
- The larynx’s structure is made of two large cartilages. These are hollow and are attached
to the top of trachea.
- Inside the box made by these two cartilages are the vocal folds.
- Vocal cords are 2 thick flaps of muscles rather like a pair of lips.
- All speech sounds are produces on a moving airstream.
- An airstream initiated by the lungs is called pulmonic airstream.
- All English sounds (both vowels and consonants) are produced by eggessive pilmonic
airstream produce by the lungs).
Two other features of sound are loudness and pitch (or intonation).
Air is coming from the lungs, passing through the trachea (windpipe) and the larynx (where the
vocal cords are) into the vocal tract (oral and nasal cavities).
CONSONANTS
- Speech sounds are produced with some restriction or closure in the vocal tract that
impedes the flow air from the lungs.
- A consonant is defined as a speech sound which is articulated with some kind of
stricture, or closure, of the airstream.
Consonants are classified according to 4 features:
1. The state of the glottis: in vibration (voiced) or open (voiceless).
2. The state of velum: lowered (nasal) or raised (oral).
3. The place of articulation: where the stricture occurs (place of maximum interference)
and what articulators are involved.
4. The manner of articulation: the amount of stricture, whether it is complete, partial
(called close approximation), or relatively open (open approximation).

Place of articulation:
1. Bilabials (two lips): [p], [b], ]m] bring both lips together (the lower lip is avtive).
Ex: [m] mom; [p] pop; [b] boat.

2. Labial dentals (lips and teeth): [f], [v] touching the bottom lip to the upper teeth (the
lower lip is brought up against the upper front teeth; again the tongue is in rest
position).
Ex: [f] fit; [v] vine.

3. Interdental (between the teeth): [θ], [ð] inserting the tip of the tongue between two
teeth; touching the tongue behind the teeth.
Ex: [θ] think, three, thought ; [ð] these, this, there, that

4. Alveolars (the alveolar ridge): [t], [d], [n], [s], [z], [l], [r] the tongue raised in various
ways to the alveolar ridge.
Ex: [t] top; [z] zap; [s] song; [l] long; [r]right; [n]now; [d] double.

5. Palatals (hard palate): [ʃ], [ʒ], [tʃ], [dʒ], [j] the construction occurs by raising the
front part of the tongue to the palate.
Ex: [ʃ] shop , shin, shipper, shop, shy; [ʒ] measure, azure; [tʃ] chicken, question, cherry;
[j] you; [dʒ] gym.
There are two palatoalveolar (alveopalatal or post alveolar) sounds in English ((hard
palate and alveolar ridge):
  [ʃ] voiceless (shin)
 [ʒ] voiced (azure)

6. Velars (velum or soft palate): [k], [g], [ŋ] raising the back of the tongue to the soft
palate or velum.
Ex: [k] kick; [g] gap; [ŋ] sing,bag.

7. Uvulars: [R] [q] [G] do not occur in English

8. Glottals (vocal folds): [h] [?] the flow of air through the open glottis and past the
tongue and that lips. The air stopped completely at the glottis by tightly closed vocal
cords, the sound upon release of cords is a glottal stop.
Ex: [h] hi; [?] the break between the syllable of uh – oh.

Manner of articulation
1. Stop (oral stop): involving complete closure of two articulators with the velum
raised; cut off the air completely, at least for a little time.

2. Fricatives: a type of continuant, allow air to keep moving without stopping, but
restrict it so much that noise is produced from the fiction.
3. Affricatives: combine a stop with a fricative: that is the sound is produced by first
stopping the air and the when it is released, it is allowed to flow out with a lot of
friction.
4. Liquid: a type of continuant, send air flowing through the openings around the
tongue.
[l] voiced alveolar lateral: lent
[r] voiced alveolar retroflex: rent
5. Glides or semivowels or approximants: are in between consonants and vowels.
[w] voiced velar: went
[j] voiced palatal: yen
[w ngược]: voiceless velar: when; whether.

VOWELS
Definition: Vowel sounds are the sounds in the production of which there is no obstruction to
the air flow so that the air can get out freely.
- There are 11 simple vowels: /ɪ, iː, ə, ɜː, ʌ, ɑː, ɔː, ʊ, uː, e, æ/

Vowel classification
- The position of the tongue (how forward and backward the tongue is): which part of the
tongue is raised during the articulation.
+ Front: when the front part of the tongue is higher:
1. /iː/ NEED, BEAT, TEAM
2. /ɪ/ THIN, SIT, RICH
3. /ɛ/ WENT, BREAD, FRIEND
4. /ɛː/ CARE, THERE, BEAR
5. /a/ CAT, HAND, FAN
+ Central
6. /uː/ FEW, BOOT, LOSE
7. /ə/ ALIVE, THE, TODAY
8. /əː/ THIRD, TURN, WORSE
9. /ʌ/ FUN, LOVE, MONEY
 10. /ɑː/ GLASS, HALF, CAR
+ Back: when back part of the tongue is higher
11. /ʊ/ PUT, LOOK, SHOULD
12. /ɔː/ TALK, LAW, PORT
13. /ɒ/ ROB, TOP, WATCH

- The height of the tongue (how high or low the tongue is): how high is the tongue in the
mouth.
+ High (close): âm đóng (the tongue is higher than its rest position) /ɪ, iː, ʊ, uː /
+ Mid: the tongue is in its rest position / ə, ɜː, e, ɔː /
+ Low (open): The tongue is lower than its rest position / æ, ʌ, ɑː/

- Lip – rounding (the lips are rounded or spread):

+ Rounded ( âm tròn môi ): /ɔ, ɔː, ʊ, uː/
+ Spread ( âm dẹt môi ): /ɪ, iː, e, æ/
+ Neutral: /ə, ɜː, ʌ, ɑː/

- The length of vowels: according to the length of vowels

+ Long vowels: /iː, uː, ɔː, ɜː, ɑː/
+ Short vowels: /ɪ, e, æ, ʊ, a, ə, ʌ/

- Muscle tension (tenseness)

+ Tense vowels = long vowels
+ Lax vowels = short vowels

- The number of constituent elements:

1. Monophthongs:
There are 11 monophthongs in English of which:
+ 7 short vowels: /ɪ, e, æ, ʊ, a, ə, ʌ/
+ 5 long vowels: /iː, uː, ɔː, ɜː, ɑː/

2. Diphthongs:
There are 8 diphthongs in English:
+ 3 diphthongs gliding to /ɪ/: /aɪ/, /eɪ/, and /ɔɪ/
+ 2 diphthongs gliding to / ʊ/: /aʊ/, /əʊ/
+ 3 diphthongs gliding to /ə/: /eə/, /ɪə/ and /ʊə/

3. Triphthongs:
There are 5 triphthongs:
- eɪ + ə = eɪə . as in layer, player
- aɪ + ə = aɪə. as in lire, fire
- ɔɪ + ə = ɔɪə, as in loyal, royal
- əʊ + ə = əuə, as in lower, mower
- aʊ + ə = auə, as in power, hour.