The Human Speech Apparatus

The mechanisms responsible for the production of speech apparatus sounds are:

1. Motor – the respiratory muscles, is the general region of the diaphragm responsible for regulation, expulsion, and control of air.

2. Vibrators – vocal bands or cords, produce sound waves through the vibrations of air.3. Resonation – the nose, mouth, and throat, modulate sound waves, thus giving resonance (production of sound by

proper breathing).4. Articulators – give definite shapes and character of sounds as air passes through the mouth or nose, lips, teeth,

tongue, upper gums, lower jaw, hard palate, and uvula.

Points of Articulation

1. The upper lip 7. The soft palate (can move up and down)2. The lower lip 8. The tip of the tongue3. The upper teeth 9. The front of the tongue4. The lower teeth 10. The middle of the tongue5. The alveolar (teeth) ridge (just behind the teeth) 11. The back of the tongue6. The hard palate (used indirectly; doesn’t move)

The Vowel Sounds of the English Language

Vowel sounds are produced without any attempt to block the air stream; hence, there is a free flow of air. The articulation is dependent on four factors: jaw height, tongue position, muscle condition, and lip shapes. The classifications of vowels according to the length of the sound are the short and long.

Long e /i/ as in “real”and Short i /I/ as in “list”

Production of the sounds: for sound /i/, hold the vowel sound for a longer duration by spreading in smiling position; while for /I/, raise the front of the tongue rather high, almost reaching the roof of the mouth.

Examples:

Words/i/ vs. /I/feast fistpeak pickleave live

Phrasesleave the feast

pick the banner at the peakhardened fist

SentencesLeave the feast if you have another appointment.

They pick the banner at the peak of the hill.He had a hardened fist because of madness.

Short e /e/ as in “well”and Long a /ei/ as in “trade”

Production of the sounds: for sound /e/, the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate in a half-high position; while for sound /ei/, raise the tongue about the same place as for /e/, then gliding it higher and further front for y.

Examples:

Words /ei/ vs. /e/

blade bledpaste pestpain pen

Phrasesten volcanoes

brave menavailable pen

SentencesThe brave men raided the adjacent room.

Two weeks from now, the ten volcanoes are capable of erupting.She lends her available pen.

Short a /ae/ as in “land”and Long o /a/ as in “job”

Production of the sounds: for sound /ae/, lower the tongue in front and spread and open the lips wide; while for sound/a/, open wide the lips, not rounded, and lower the middle of the tongue.

Examples:

Words/ae/ vs. /a/

sack sockbattle bottleblack block

Phrasesblack cat blocked on its way

sock in the blue sacka battle in the bottle

SentencesThe black cat was blocked on its way home.

The black knee sock is in the blue sack.There is insects’ battle in the bottle.

Short u /^/ as in “cup”and Circumflex ar/Ȝ/ as in “learn”

Production of the sounds: for sound /^/, the tongue is raised a little towards the back part in a relaxed position and the tip of the tongue remains at the back of the lower front teeth; while for the sound /Ȝ/, in a relaxed position, raise the middle of the tongue half-way towards the roof of the mouth and thetip of the tongue is turned towards the hard palate.

Examples:

Words/^/ vs. /Ȝ/luck firstcup servejump girl

Phrasesgood luck in his journey

huge cup of the cophigh jump of the girl

SentencesHis numerous friends wished him good luck in his journey.

She poured hot coffee into the huge cup of the cop yesterday.The high jump of the girl won the team first prize.

Long oo /u/ as in “truth”and Short oo /U/ as in “book”

Production of the sounds: for sound /u/, the lips are less rounded and protruded than the long oo sound; for sound /U/, raise the tongue high towards the soft palate and round the lips closely to protrude and the mouth nearly closed.

Examples:

Words/u/ vs. /U/cook coolfull fool

wood wooed

Phrasescook’s appetizing menu

back to the refreshing woodsfull of foolish thoughts

SentencesShe approved the cook’s appetizing menu.

The group wants to go back to the woods for a different environment.Sometimes I am full of foolish thoughts.

Circumflex o /ɔ/ as in “clause”

Production of the sound: raise the back of the tongue slightly and the lips closely rounded.

Examples:

Words/ɔ/ vs. /o/flaw low

clause closelaw low

Phrasesimplementing the law

closed university librarytwo clauses

SentencesThe low approval rate was caused by the flaw in the flow of implementing the law.

He closed the reporting about two clauses.She is afraid of the crow she saw so she throws it.

Key/i/ read, feel, seal, eel, deal, meal, peel, feel, kneel, free, speak, heal, lean, wheel, steal, year, beer/I/ rid, fill, sill, ill, dill, mill, pill, kill, nil, fit, spit, hill, will, still, tip, bit, wit, lit, hit, kit, pit, knit, six/e/ red, fell, sell, knelt, set, lend, well, tell, bear, hell, get, sweat, less, pest, best, mess, sex, let, west/ae/ rack, pack, pan, sand, land, hand, grand, grant, mantra, spank, glad, mad, hanky, wank, bank, cat/^/ rub, pub, sub, hub, cut, smut, slum, plum, medium, orange, adept, synthesis, decimal, telephone/a/ rob, mob, sob, cob, rot, molt, hot, pot, got, from, plot, clot, stop, dots, drop, crop, mop, bob, wob/u/ root, boot, fool, cool, boo, soon, fruit, flute, brute, choose, boost, loop, group, soup, coup, crew/U/ good, book, would, could, should, look, pull, full, hook, took, crook, hood, bull, /o/ tone, lone, cone, boat, goat, coat, grow, know, nose, hoe, foe, low, row, dough, go, tow, toe, both/ɔ/ taught, thought, fought, sought, caught, bought, brought, broth, volt, fault, salt, stall, wall, call

The Diphthong Sounds of the English Language

A Diphthong is formed by two vowel sounds pronounced in one syllable. It is produced by the continuous sound from one vowel to another within the same syllable. Of the two vowels, the first one is more important.

Diphthong /ow/ as in “boat”and Diphthong /ai/ as in “cite”

Production of /ow/ sound: to produce the sound of /ow/, raise the back of the tongue midwayand rounding the lips and then gliding higher and further back; then, protruding the lips, glide to sound /u/. for /ai/, the front of the tongue starts from a low arch with the lips and the jaws apart from the /a/ then glides to the position for /i/, with the lips spread and the distance between the teeth very little.

Examples:

Words/ow/ vs. /ai/load title

close highlyremote polite

Phrasesclosed national narrow roadhighly scientific long title

polite child

SentencesThe authorities closed the national narrow road.

The researcher spent his time in thinking about his highly scientific long title.The stranger was amused of the politechild.

Diphthong /ɔI/ as in “joy”and Diphthong /au/ as in “town”

Production of the diphthongs /ɔI/ and /au/: for /au/, the back of the tongue moves from a low-lax position for the /a/ to the high-lax arch for the /u/ while the lips move from an unrounded to a closely rounded position. For /ɔI/, the back of the tongue starts from a midway position with the lips rounded, jaws apart for the /ɔ/, then glides to the position for the /I/ with the lips spread and the distance between the jaws very little.

Examples:

Words/ɔI/ vs. /au/oil owl

poise poundboy loudnoise now

Phrasesone hundred ten pounds

choice of the school officialsloud and clear voicethe technology now

SentencesThe excellent announcer has a loud and clear voice that everybody can hear and understand.

My humanely poised friend weighs 110 pounds.Having the well-kept spacious ground, the school was the choice of the officials as the venue for the regional ballgame

competitions.

The Triphthong Sounds of the English Language

A Triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and to a third, all produce rapidly and without interruption. Triphthongs consist 5 closing diphthongs with ‘ə’ added on the end.

eɪə as in layer, playeraɪə as in lire, fireɔɪə as in lawyer, Sawyerəuə as in lower, mowerauə as in power, hour

The Consonant Sounds of the English Language

A consonant letter usually represents one Consonant sound. Some consonant letters, for example, c, g, s, can represent two different consonant sounds.

Letters Sounds Examples

b /b/ baby, best, buy, bring, blind, absent, about, number, labor, robber, tub

c/s//k/

center, cellar, cigarette, cinema, agency, noticecake, come, cucumber, clean, cry, scratch, act, panic

d /d/ day, dear, die, door, duty, admire, hidden, lady, kind, ride, ended

f /f/ fast, female, five, forest, fund, fry, flight, often, deaf, cuff

g/g//j/

/zh/

game, gap, get, go, gun, great, global, giggle, ago, begin, dog, egggeneral, gin, giant, agent, suggest, Egypt, energy, huge, managemirage, garage, beige, rouge

h/h//-/

hair, help, history, home, hotel, hunt, behind, inherithour, honor, honest, heir, vehicle, Sarah

j /j/ jam, Jane, jet, jelly, Jim, jingle, joke, John, June, just

k /k/ Kate, kind, kill, kilogram, sky, blanket, break, take, look

l /l/ late, let, live, alone, close, slim, please, old, nicely, table, file, all

m /m/make, men, mind, mother, must, my, common, summer, name, form, team

n /n/ napkin, never, night, no, nuclear, funny, student, kindness, ton, sun

p /p/ paper, person, pick, pour, public, repair, apple, keep, top, crisp

q (qu)/kw//k/

quality, question, quite, quote, equal, requireunique, technique, antique, grotesque

r /r/ rain, red, rise, brief, grow, scream, truck, arrive, hurry, turn, more, car

s/s//z/

send, simple, song, system, street, lost, kiss, releasecause, present, reason, realism, advise, always, is, was

t /t/ task, tell, time, tone, tune, hotel, attentive, student, boat, rest

v /v/ vast, vein, vivid, voice, even, review, invest, give, move, active

w /w/ wall, war, way, west, wind, word, would, swear, swim, twenty, twist

x/ks//gz//z/

exercise, exchange, expect, ex-wife, axis, fix, relaxexam, exact, executive, exert, exist, exit, exultXenon, Xerox, xenophobia, xylophone

z/z//ts/

zero, zoo, horizon, puzzle, crazy, organize, quiz, jazzpizza, Nazi, waltz

 

Note 1: The letter Y

The letter Y can function as a vowel or as a consonant. As a vowel, Y has the vowel sounds /i/, /ai/. As a consonant, Y has the consonant sound /y/ (i.e., a semivowel sound), usually at the beginning of the word and only in the syllable before a vowel.

/i/ baby, hurry, lyrics, mystery;/ai/ by, try, rely, nylon, type;/y/ yacht, yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you, young

 Note 2: The letter W

The letter W represents the vowel sound /u/ in the diphthongs /au/ and /ou/--- now, how, owl, brown; low, own, bowl. 

The -s/es ending of nouns and verbs

/s/ After a voiceless consonant/z/ After a voiced consonant or vowel/iz/ After the letters s, z, x, ch, tch, ge, dge, sh

/s/ /z/ /iz/

tapes, streets, parks, chiefs, myths

ribs, kids, legs, leaves, clothes, girls, games, cars, boys, pies, cows, cities

pieces, roses, prizes, boxes, coaches, bridges, dishes

grips, writes, takes, sniffs

robs, reads, digs, saves, falls, plans, swims, offers, plays, cries, goes, copies

kisses, loses, relaxes, catches, judges, manages, flashes, washes, rouges

Pip's, Kate's, Mike's, Jeff's, Seth's

Abe's, Fred's, Meg's, Olive's, Ben's, Molly's, Anna's

Chris's, Tess's, Rose's, Liz's, Rex's, George's

 The -ed ending of verbs

/t/ After a voiceless consonant/d/ After a voiced consonant or vowel/id/ After the letters t, d

/t/ /d/ /id/

stopped, liked, coughed, crossed, released, reached, washed

robbed, saved, seized, called, planned, occurred, bathed, managed, played, tried, studied

wanted, hated, counted, started, needed, loaded, folded, added

 Consonant Combinations

Letters Sounds Examples

cc/ks//k/

accent, accept, access, eccentric, accident;accommodate, account, accuse, occur, acclaim

chtch

/ch/chain, check, chief, choose, teacher, much, church;kitchen, catch, match, watch, pitch, stretch

ch (Latin, Greek)ch (French)

/k//sh/

character, chemical, Chris, archive, mechanic, technical, ache;champagne, charlatan, chef, chic, machine, cache

ck /k/ black, pack, deck, kick, pick, cracker, pocket, rocket

dge /j/ bridge, edge, judge, knowledge, budget, badger

gh/g//f//-/

ghost, ghastly, Ghana, ghetto;cough, enough, rough, tough, laugh;though, through, weigh, neighbor, bought, daughter

gu/g/

/gw/guard, guess, guest, guide, guitar, dialogue;language, linguistics, Guatemala, Nicaragua

ng/ŋ/

/ŋ/+/g/king, sing, singer, singing, bang, long, wrong, tongue;finger, anger, angry, longer, longest, single

ph /f/ phone, photograph, phrase, phenomenon, biography

qu/kw//k/

quality, question, quite, quote, equal, require;unique, technique, antique, grotesque

sc/s/

/sk/science, scissors, scene, scent, scythe;scan, scandal, scare, score, Scotch, scuba

sch/sk//sh/

school, scholar, scheme;schnauzer, schedule

sh /sh/ share, she, shine, shoe, fish, cash, push, punish

th/θ//ð/

thank, thick, think, thought, thunder, author, breath, bath;this, that, then, though, father, brother, breathe, bathe

wh/w//h/

what, when, where, which, while, why, whale, wheel, white;who, whom, whose, whole

xh/ks/

/ks/+/h//g/+/z/

exhibition;exhumation, exhume, exhale;exhaust, exhibit, exhilarate, exhort, exhume, exhale

With silent letters Sounds Examples

bt, pt /t/ doubt, debt, subtle; receipt, pterodactyl

kn, gn, pn /n/ knee, knife, know; gnome, sign, foreign; pneumonia, pneumatic

mb, lm /m/ lamb, climb, bomb, comb, tomb; calm, palm, salmon

ps /s/ psalm, pseudonym, psychologist, psychiatrist

rh /r/ rhapsody, rhetoric, rheumatism, rhythm, rhyme

wr /r/ wrap, wreck, wrestle, wrinkle, wrist, write, wrong

Letters in the suffix Sounds Examples

ti, ci, si, su /sh/ nation, patient, special, vicious, pension, Asia, sensual, pressure

si, su /zh/ vision, fusion, Asia, usual, visual, measure, pleasure