Why study phonetics and

phonology?
• Of particular importance for learners of
English as a Second Language (ESL)
because it has a practical application
• English has a far larger repertory of
phonemes than languages like standard
Spanish
• English is not a phonographic language,
i.e. spelling generally does give a clear
indication of pronunciation
Standard British English (RP) v.
Standard Spanish
English Spanish

Pure Vowels 12 5

Diphthongs 8

Consonants 24 20
English is not a phonographic
language
• Many sounds have several different
spellings, e.g. /əʊ / :go, though, foe, slow,
boat; or /dʒ/ George, Joe, badge, village

• Many spellings have different sounds, e.g.

<ough>: though, cough, bough, through,
thought, lough and enough.
 The problem of pronunciation
for learners of ESL
• Learners cannot rely on the spelling of a
word
• The problem is the opposite for native
speakers – English schoolchildren spend
incredible amounts of time learning to read
and espell.
• To learn to pronounce English correctly it is
of great help to learn to read phonemic
transcription.
 Even the predictable combinations in
English are different to those of other
languages
• <au> corresponds to either /ɔ:/ /ɑ:/ /ɒ/ /əʊ/
auto, aunt, Austria, aubergine
<ai> usually corresponds to /eɪ/, e.g. pain,
paid, almost never to / aɪ / (exceptions:
Thailand, aisle)
• <ch> usually, but not always, corresponds
to /tʃ / at the start of a word, e.g. cheese
(exceptions:/k/ chemist, /ʃ/chalet,
chanpagne, chic)
 Is English spelling really so
erratic?
• 83% of English words have predictable
spelling
• However, the remaining 17% is comprised
of the most commonly used, everyday
words
• Therefore the greatest difficulties are
faced by the learner at the start
 Why is English spelling so
erratic? (1)
• Not enough vowel letters for vowel sounds
• English does not use accents, dieresis, etc.
• English spelling reflects many archaic forms
of pronunciation e.g. night in the past, was
pronounced with a fricative
• English has always resisted spelling reforms
and academies to set standards
 Why is English spelling so
erratic? (2)
• English spelling became fixed in the 16th-
17th c. with the arrival of printing. Many of
the printers were Flemish and had little
knowledge of the language

• English has borrowed extensively from

other languages and has tended to
maintain original spelling
 What is the difference between
phonetics and phonology?
• Phonology deals with the sound systems
of languages

• Phonetics deals with the physical

realisation of the elements of the sound
system, e.g. how the sound is physically
produced (articulatory phonetics), or the
acoustic characteristics of the speech
sound (acoustic phonetics)
 Key concepts: the phone
• Each time a speech sound is produced it
is different

• Each time you produce a /t/ it will be ever

so slightly different

• Hence the concept of the phone: a

physical realisation of a speech sound
 Key concepts: the phoneme
• The smallest speech sound that has linguistic
value

• It can be distinguished from another group of

phones in terms of meaning and collocation.

• The phoneme is an abstract term, specific to

a particular language.
 Key concepts: the allophone
• Each phoneme may have different realisations
depending on the context in which it is found

• e.g. /l/ may be noticed if the 'light' [l] of leaf [lif]

is contrasted with the 'dark' [ɫ] of feel [fiɫ].

• For a Turkish speaker, /l/ and /ɫ/ are separate

phonemes.
 The difference between a
phoneme and an allophone
• If one allophone is exchanged with
another, the word, while perhaps sounding
a bit strange, is still comprehensible.

• If one phoneme is swapped with another,

e.g. seen is produced with a /b/, instead of
a /s/, the meaning of the word changes
 Phonemic v. Phonetic
transcription (‘Broad’ v. ‘Narrow’)
• Slashes // are used to indicated phonemic
transcription (“broad”). This is specific to a
particular language, e.g. the English and
Spanish /t/ phonemes are quite different.

• Square brackets [ ] are used for phonetic

(“narrow”) transcription. This gives detailed
information on the speech produced, e.g.
characteristics of an accent of a language, or
of the speech of a particular person.