Lesson Note on Introduction to Speech

No of Learners: 30

Learning Objectives:

1. Classified the forty-four speech sounds in English.

   1. Twenty-four consonants
      1. Fifteen voiced
      2. Nine voiceless
   2. Twenty vowels
      1. Twelve pure vowels
         1. Seven short vowels
         2. Five long vowels
      2. Eight diphthongs

2. List the twenty-four consonants

   1. The consonant  /p/  Voiceless bilabial plosive
   2. The consonant  /b/  Voiced bilabial plosive
   3. The consonant  /t/  Voiceless alveolar plosive
   4. The consonant  /d/  Voiced alveolar plosive
   5. The consonant  /k/  Voiceless velar plosive
   6. The consonant  /ɡ/  Voiced velar plosive
   7. The consonant  /ʧ/  Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate
   8. The consonant  /ʤ/  Voiced palato-alveolar affricate
   9. The consonant  /f/  Voiceless labio-dental fricative
   10. The consonant  /v/  Voiced labio-dental fricative
   11. The consonant  /θ/  Voiceless dental fricative
   12. The consonant  /ð/  Voiced dental fricative
   13. The consonant  /s/  Voiceless alveolar fricative
   14. The consonant  /z/  Voiced alveolar fricative
   15. The consonant  /ʃ/  Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative
   16. The consonant  /ʒ/  Voiced palato-alveolar fricative
   17. The consonant  /h/  Voiceless glottal fricative
   18. The consonant  /m/  Voiced bilabial nasal
   19. The consonant  /n/  Voiced alveolar nasal
   20. The consonant  /ŋ/  Voiced velar nasal
   21. The consonant  /j/  Voiced palatal approximant
   22. The consonant  /w/  Voiced labial-velar approximant
   23. The consonant  /l/  Voiced alveolar lateral approximant
   24. The consonant  /r/  Voiced post-alveolar approximant

3. List the twelve pure vowels and their keywords.

   1. The vowel  /iː/ long vowel fleece /fliːs/
   2. The vowel  /ɪ/   short vowel kit /kɪt/
   3. The vowel  /e/   short vowel dress /dres/
   4. The vowel  /æ/   short vowel trap /træp/
   5. The vowel  /ɑː/ long vowel palm /pɑːm/
   6. The vowel  /ɒ/   short vowel lot /lɒt/
   7. The vowel  /ɔː/ long vowel thought /θɔːt/
   8. The vowel  /ʊ/   short vowel foot /fʊt/
   9. The vowel  /uː/ long vowel goose /ɡuːs/
   10. The vowel  /ʌ/   short vowel strut /strʌt/
   11. The vowel  /ɜː/ long vowel nurse /nɜːs/
   12. The vowel  /ə/   short vowel schwa /ʃwɑː/
       NOTE: The /ə/ does not have the sound in its name schwa /ʃwɑː/
       The /ə/ is a neutral central vowel which occurs as the peak of unstressed syllables, the exact sound and quality of the schwa /ə/ depends on the sounds around it and so it is very difficult to produce it in isolation.
       The schwa sound /ə/ has many spellings and can be made with any of the vowel letters a, e, i, o and u, and any combination of the vowel letters.
       Only words of more than one syllable can contain the schwa sound.
       For example, the word computer /kəmpjuːtə/ contains two schwa sounds which have the vowel letter o and the e the unstressed schwa sound /ə/ as their peaks respectively.
       The schwa /ə/ sound is best described as a neutral sound.

4. List the eight diphthongs and their keywords.

   1. The diphthong  /eɪ/  diphthong face /feɪs/
   2. The diphthong  /aɪ/  diphthong price /praɪs/
   3. The diphthong  /ɔɪ/  diphthong choice /ʧɔɪs/
   4. The diphthong  /əʊ/  diphthong goat /ɡəʊt/
   5. The diphthong  /aʊ/  diphthong mouth /maʊθ/
   6. The diphthong  /ɪə/  diphthong near /nɪə/
   7. The diphthong  /ʊə/  diphthong cure /kjʊə/
   8. The diphthong  /ɛː/  &  /eə/  diphthong square /skweə/
      NOTE: There are two different symbols in common use for the square vowel. The traditional symbol is [eə], which reflects the fact that the square vowel used to be a diphthong. However, it is increasingly common to use the symbol [εː], the Greek letter epsilon followed by a length mark because the square vowel is only very rarely a diphthong these days. In this work, we recommend transcribing /ɛː/,but you should bear in mind that /eə/ is still used in many works, especially in materials for teaching English as a foreign language.

5. Explain the potential pitfalls to be remembered when transcribing words

   1. We don’t use the letters 'c', 'q' or 'x' in English phonemic transcription. We don’t need them because they are used in English spelling to represent sounds which we already have phonemic symbols for: 'c' is a spelling of /k/ and /s/ (e.g. cut, city), 'q' is a further alternative spelling of /k/ (e.g. queen), and 'x' usually represents /ks/ (e.g. box, extra) or /ɡz/ (e.g. exam, exist).
   2. We don’t use capital letters in a phonemic transcription. The symbol for a sound remains the same at the beginning of sentences, names, placenames, etc. (e.g. Tim /tɪm/, London /lʌndən/ ).
   3. The phonemic symbol /s/ is only used for the /s/ sound, but in ordinary spelling, the letter 's' is often used for /z/ (e.g. his, these, noise, lose) as well as /s/. You must be careful when transcribing /s/ that the word you’re transcribing does have /s/, not /z/.
   4. The digraphs (two-letter spellings) 'ck' and 'ph' in words like back and phone represent single phonemes, /k/ in the back and /f/ in the phone.
   5. In English, consonant letters are often doubled even though they represent a single consonant phoneme. For example, in happy, hobby, matter, ladder, stiff, hammer, dinner and hurry, the letters 'pp', 'bb', 'tt', 'dd', 'ff', 'mm', 'nn' and 'rr' represent single /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /f/, /m/, /n/ and /r/ . Sequences of the same phoneme, such as /mm/ in roommate, /dd/ in midday and /nn/ in unnamed, are rare in English words but when they do occur, they are clearly made up of separate word elements (room + mate, mid + day, un + named), each contributing one of the phonemes.
   6. Naturally, there are no ‘silent’ letters in phonemic transcription as there are in normal English spelling. Knit, for example, is transcribed /nɪt/, and debt is /det/.
   7. We don’t use the letter shape 'g' in transcriptions. The phonemic symbol for the consonant at the beginning and end of the gag is /ɡ/. On the subject of symbol shapes, note also that the symbol for the /w/ phoneme has pointed bottoms and that this is also how we write it by hand in order not to confuse it with a similar IPA symbol with rounded bottoms, namely 'ɯ'.

Rationale:

Reading is a skill that learners communicate effectively. Without a clear understanding of the English sound system and what sounds occur in what words, it’s impossible to discuss, teach or learn English pronunciation effectively. The same is true of connected speech processes and intonation – transcription provides a means of understanding what is otherwise confusing and misunderstood aspects of pronunciation. Any learner that cannot read cannot pass any examination. It is, therefore, necessary for every learner to be exposed to the sound of letters so that they can communicate and read fluently.

Prerequisite/ Previous knowledge:

Learners have learnt the alphabet from a-z and can identify the vowel and the consonant sounds.

Learning Materials:

Flashcards and charts (alphabet and objects.)

Reference Materials:

1. British English Phonetic Transcription
2. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary - International Student's Edition
3. American Heritage Dictionary
4. Concise Oxford English Dictionary
5. Cambridge Pronounciation Dictionary
6. Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary
7. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
8. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary
9. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
10. Random House Webster's Dictionary

Lesson Development: