1. INTRODUCTION TO SOUNDS
Language has a very important social purpose, because it is mainly used for linguistic
communication. A language can be used in two ways for the purposes of communication; it can be
spoken or written. Linguistics is a systematic study of language. Phonetics is a branch of linguistics
and it is the branch dealing with the medium of speech. It deals with the production, transmission and
reception of the sounds of human speech. Phonetics can be defined as scientific study of speech
sounds.
Received Pronunciation (RP) is a form of pronunciation of the English language which has
traditionally been the prestige British accent. RP sometimes defined as the “educated spoken English
of southeastern England.” It is often taught to non-native speakers; used as the standard for English
in most books on general phonology and phonetics; and represented in the pronunciation schemes of
most British dictionaries.
The Sounds of English and their Representation: In English, there is no one-to-one relation
between the system of writing and the system of pronunciation. The alphabet, which is used to write, in
English has 26 letters but in English there are 44 speech sounds. These sounds can be divided into
Vowels and Consonants.
Vowels:
There are twenty distinctive vowel sounds, made up of twelve pure vowels or monophthongs
and eight vowel glides or diphthongs. Vowels are 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. 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.
Symbol Examples
/ɪ/ kit, bid, hymn, minute
/e/ dress, bed, head, many
/æ/ trap, bad
/ɒ/ lot, odd, wash
/ʌ/ strut, mud, love, blood
/ʊ/ foot, good, put

2. /ə/ about, common, standard
/uː/ goose, two, blue, group
/iː/ fleece, sea, machine
/ɑː/ start, father
/ɔː/ thought, law, north, war
/ɜː/ nurse, stir, learn, refer
/eɪ/ face, day, break
/aɪ/ price, high, try
/ɔɪ/ choice, boy
/əʊ/ goat, show, no
/aʊ/ mouth, now
/ɪə/ near, here, weary
/eə/ square. fair, various
/ʊə/ poor, jury, cure
Consonants:
Consonants are sounds which involve full or partial blocking of airflow. They are usually
described, taking into account whether they are voiced or voiceless, according to their place and
manner of articulation. Consonants can be described according to their places of articulation.
Symbol Examples
/p/ pen, copy, happen
/b/ back, baby, job
/t/ tea, tight, button
/d/ day, ladder, odd
/k/ key, clock, school
/g/ get, giggle, ghost
/tʃ/ church, match, nature
/dʒ/ judge, age, soldier
/f/ fat, coffee, rough, photo
/v/ view, heavy, move
/θ/ thing, author, path
/ð/ this, other, smooth
/s/ soon, cease, sister
/z/ zero, music, roses, buzz
/ʃ/ ship, sure, national
/ʒ/ pleasure, vision
/h/ hot, whole, ahead

3. /m/ more, hammer, sum
/n/ nice, know, funny, sun
/ŋ/ ring, anger, thanks, sung
/l/ light, valley, feel
/r/ right, wrong, sorry, arrange
/j/ yet, use, beauty, few
/w/ wet, one, when, queen
ORGANS OF SPEECH
Speech organs produce the many sounds needed for language. The lungs play a vital role in
the production of speech sounds.Organs which are used for production include lips, teeth, tongue,
alveolar ridge, hard palate, velum (soft palate), uvula and glottis.
The larynx
The larynx lies behind and below the prominence in the throat, and is often called the Adam‟s
apple. The primary biological function of the larynx is to control the passage of air to and from the
lungs while breathing.
The glottis
The space between the vocal cords is called the glottis. The opening, the closing and the
intermediary states of the vocal cords play a vital role in the production of speech.
The Tongue
The tongue is a fleshy, muscular structure. It is the most flexible of the articulators. The tongue
can be divided into the root, back, front, blade and tip.
The lips
The lips play an important role in the production of speech sounds.
The Teeth
The teeth are situated at the front of the mouth and immediately behind the lips.
The alveolar ridge or The teeth ridge
The ridge between the upper teeth and the hard palate is known as the alveolar ridge. Sounds
made with the tongue making firm contact with this ridge are called alveolar sounds.
The hard palate
There is a hard, concave area immediately behind the teeth ridge and before the velum in the
oral cavity. This is called the hard palate. The hard palate is often called the roof of the mouth.
The velum
The velum, also known as the soft palate, is the soft, muscular portion behind the hard palate.
Uvula

4. The uvula is used to make guttural sounds. It helps to make nasal consonants by stopping air
from moving through the nose.
CLASSIFICATION OF VOWEL SOUNDS
Vowel sounds are classified in terms of height of the tongue, tongue position and lip rounding.
/ɪ/ is a short, unrounded, front, half-close vowel.
/iː/ is a long, unrounded, front, close vowel.
/e/ is a short, unrounded, front, half-close vowel between cardinal vowels.
/æ/ is a short, unrounded, front, open vowel.
/ə/ is a short, unrounded, central vowel in between half-close and half-open.
/ɜː/ is a long, unrounded, central vowel between half-close and half-open.
/ʌ/ is a short, unrounded, central, half-open vowel.
/ɑː/ is a long, unrounded, back, open vowel.

5. /ɒ/ is a short, rounded, back, open vowel
/ɔː/ is a long, rounded, back, open vowel.
/ʊ/ is a short, rounded, back, half-close vowel
/uː/ is a long, rounded, back, close vowel.
CLASSIFICATION OF CONSONANT SOUNDS
Consonants can be characterized by
the place of articulation: where in the vocal tract it is made
the manner of articulation: how we make it and
state of glottis: whether the sound is voiced or unvoiced
Place of articulation
Bilabial:
Bilabial consonants are /p, b, m, w/. Articulators are two lips
Labio-dental
Labio-dental consonants are /f,v/. Articulators are the lower lip and the upper teeth.
Dental
Dental consonants are /θ, ð/. Articulators are the tip of tongue and the upper teeth.
Alveolar
Alveolar consonants are /t, d, n, s, z, l/. Articulators are the tip of the tongue or blade and
alveolar ridge
Palat-alveolar
Palat-alveolar consonants are/ tʃ, dʒ, ʒ, ʃ/. Articulators are the blade of the tongue and
alveolar ridge.
Post alveolar
Post alveolar consonant is /r/. Articulators are the blade of the tongue and alveolar ridge.
Palatal:
Palatal consonant is /j/. Articulators are the blade of the tongue and alveolar ridge.
Velum
Velum sounds are /k,g, ŋ/. Articulators are the back of the tongue and the soft palate.
Glottis

6. Glottis consonant is /h/. Articulator is glottis.
The Manner of Articulation:
Plosives
/p, b, t, d, k, g/
Fricatives
/f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h/
Affricates
/ʧ , ʤ /
Nasals
/m, n, ŋ/
Laterals
/l, r/
Semi-vowel
/w, j/
State of Glottis
Voiceless Consonants (9):
/p/, /t/, /k/, /s/, /f/,/θ/, /tʃ /, /ʃ /, /h/
Voiced Sounds (15):
/b/, /d/, /g/, /dʒ /, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /v/, /ð/, /z/, /ʒ /, /w/, /j/, /r/
Note:
All vowels are voiced sounds.
ENGLISH CONSONANT PHONEMES
Manner of State of
Articulation Glottis Place of Articulation
Bilabi Labio- Dental Alveolar Palato- Palata Velar Glottal
al dental alveolar l
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d g
Fricative voiceless f /θ/ s ʃ h
voiced v /ð/ z ʒ
Affricative voiceless tʃ
voiced dʒ

7. Nasal voiced m n ŋ
Lateral voiced l
Semi-Vowel voiced w r j
TRANSCRIPTION
International Phonetic Alphabet helps to realize human speech through universally
acknowledged symbols which are a very convenient way of showing where and how a particular sound
is produced. The process of representing speech using the IPA symbols is called transcription. The
transcription refers to the way speech is written in the phonetic alphabet giving as many aspects of a
specific pronunciation as possible. It must be written in / /.
Important definitions:
Linguistics:
It is the scientific study of the human language
Phonetics:
It is a branch of linguistics concerned with the study of speech sounds of a language.
Phonology:
It is a branch of linguistics concerned with the systematic organization of sounds in languages.
Phone
It is a speech sound.
Phoneme
It is a basic unit of a language‟s phonology, which is combined with other phonemes to form
meaningful units such as words.

8. WORKSHEET I
Transcribe the following words on your own and correct with dictionary.
S. No Word Own Transcription Correction
01 Difficult
02 About
03 College
04 Nervous
05 Example
06 Information
07 Business
08 Development
09 View
10 Person
11 Language
12 Character
13 Xerox
14 Knife
15 Position
Give English words for the following transcription:
1. /kærət/
2. /ɜ :n/
3. /hɑ stəl/
4. /fraɪ ər/
5. /kɔ rs/
6. /deɪ z/
7. /ɡ reɪ t/
8. /deɪ z/
9. /taɪ m/
10. /θru/

9. WORKSHEET II
1. a ship full of sheep
2. Does it fit your feet?
3. Please don‟t sit on the seat
4. Send me ten bags of sand
5. His dead dad has many fans and many fads.
6. Why do you want to marry a mad man?
7. What have you got in the hot pot?
8. a bark in the dark park
9. a shop for hot dogs
10. an officer‟s ostrich-like policy
11. We call him tortoise because he taught us.
12. It‟s very dark in the park
13. She‟s got a bad cough
14. a full moon at noon
15. Too many cooks spoil the soup
16. A crook hid in a nook
17. The troop would move through the woods, if it should.
18. early to bed and early to rise
19. The early bird catches the worm
20. I forgot again!
21. Beggars can‟t be choosers
22. the colors of the garden in autumn
23. a late night show
24. might is right
25. Have a nice day!
26. The hay was piled high.
27. Come again another day.
28. When it rains in Spain, it rains mainly on the plains.
29. I think mice are rather nice.
30. The light was on the whole night
31. a cold bowl of tomato soup
32. The motion was shouted down.
33. You can talk till the cows come home.
34. He who knows and knows he knows- he‟s wise; follow him.
35. With good wishes from near and dear.

10. INTERACTION I
General greetings (Formal)
Hello!
How are you?
How are you doing?
How is everything?
How‟s everything going?
How have you been keeping?
I trust that everything is well.
General greetings (Informal)
Hi.
What‟s up?
Good to see you.
How are things (with you)?
How‟s it going?
How‟s life been treating you?
Greeting a person you haven’t seen for a long time (Formal)
It has been a long time.
It‟s been too long.
What have you been up to all these years?
It‟s always a pleasure to see you.
How long has it been?
I‟m so happy to see you again.
Greeting a person you haven’t seen for a long time (Informal)
How come I never see you?
It‟s been such a long time.
Long time no see.
Where have you been hiding?
It‟s been ages since we last met.
Greetings before leaving(formal)
It was nice talking to you.
It was a pleasure meeting you.
Goodbye.

11. Good night (Generally used after 8p.m.)
Greetings before leaving (informal)
Bye.
See you later.
Catch you soon.
Meet you soon/again/later.
Cheerio.
Introducing yourself (formal/neutral)
I‟m (name) ……
My name is ……
Introducing others
I don‟t think you‟ve met …..
May I introduce you to …….
I don‟t think you know …..
(name), do you know …….
(name), I‟d like you to meet ……

12. VIVA Questions
1. What do you understand by the word „linguistics‟?
2. What do you understand by the words „phonetics‟?
3. What do you mean of RP?
4. What is the full form of IPA?
5. Why do we learn phonetics?
6. Write the transcription for the following words
a. your name
b. English
c. Advertisement
d. Phonetics
e. laboratory
7. How many sounds are there in English language? Explain about them.
8. What are plosive consonants? Mention them
9. Explain about diphthongs.
10. Mention rounded vowels.
11. What are the articulators when we produce the following sounds
a. /p/
b. m/
c. /ɵ /
d. /d/
12. How can you identify voiced and voiceless sounds? Mention some of them.
13. Mention any words which are different from spelling to pronunciation.
14. Say something about yourself.
15. Imagine your favorite/ideal/ person or best friend is here. Introduce him/her to me.