Ngữ Âm Lý Thuyết - Bài Giữa Kỳ - Đề 1

 Question 1: What is a phoneme? How are phonemes classified? Give examples to illustrate your answer.

A "phoneme" in linguistics is a sound which is regarded as a "real" sound, represented by a symbol in the writing system, if there is one. Technically speaking, a phoneme is recognized as a sound capable of changing meaning.

Phonemes are discovered by examining the lexicon and finding words which differ by only one sound, e.g. "home" and "hone" or "hit" and "hip”  In these cases (called „minimal pairs‟) the two words are identical except for their pronounced final consonant. Since these words have different meanings, the contrasting final sounds must be part of the basic sound system of the language. But not all related sounds are contrastive: the final „t‟ of „hit‟ may be pronounced with an aspirated release, or even not released. The aspiration and non-release are therefore not utilized in the language to change meaning, and they cannot, therefore, be contrasting, or „phonemic‟ sounds.

Each language has a complement of sounds which native speakers recognize as “real” sounds, sounds which can change meaning, and linguists terms these contrasting sounds “phonemes.” All sounds are produced by a combination of vocal gestures, and these are regarded as „features‟ of the sound. Thus, some of the features of the phoneme “t” are production by the tip of the tongue blocking the air stream through contact with the alveolar ridge (the gum behind the upper teeth) orcontact with the back of the incisor tooth, without voice (vibration of the vocal chords); in articulatory phonetic terms, this means a STOP (full arrest of the air stream) in the fore part of the mouth (tongue touching alveolar ridge or back of incisor) , with no voice (vocal chords not vibrating: “t” can thus be characterized as a voiceless, alveolar stop. Each of these features is phonemic in English, that is, the same, or similar sounds are phonemic and can change meaning in words if they include some or all of these features. (To give another example, “p” is a voiceless bilabial stop, because the stoppage of the air column is at the lips.)

The individual sounds used to create speech are called phonemes. Each sound that you hear in a word is a Phoneme. It‟s the smallest unit of sound that makes up a complete word. This is not to be confused with the letter itself; Phonemes are only the sounds made. It's important to understand that Phonemes can be made of more than one letter.

There are 44 Phonemes in the English language, consisting of 24 consonant sounds and 20 vowel sounds. Think of the different combinations of consonants and vowels (like “ch” or “ea”) that make unique sounds. 

Take the word dog for example. There are three Phonemes involved: the “d” sound, a short “aw” sound, and a “g” sound.

The word **hope” is a three Phoneme word, too: the “h” sound, the long “oo” sound, and the “p” sound.

And for something a little more difficult, the word “school” has four 

Phonemes: the “s” sound, a “k” sound, a long “uu” sound, and an “l” sound.

Question 2: What is a consonant? How are consonants classified? Give examples to illustrate your answer.

Consonants are the letters of English alphabets that enunciate a speech sound by obstructing the airflow at one or more points completely or partially. In English alphabets, the letters a, e, i, o, u are known as vowels and the remaining ones are termed as consonants.

The speech sounds produced by the vowels experienced no obstruction in the vocal tract. Try to pronounce vowels like A, E, I, O, U. You’ll notice that your mouth or vocal tract remained open for the airflow. Now try to say the letter “T‟.

You‟ll see that the front part of the tongue interrupts the airflow to make this sound.

In hat, H and T are consonants. A consonant can likewise be a descriptive word that portrays things that seem like they should go together, things that are “pleasing.” You could say a country’s proposal of help is consonant with their settlements. 

At the point when you hear consonant sounds in music, they are satisfying, something contrary to “noisy” sounds which are brutal. There are 24 consonant sounds in the English language and are produced by 21 letters of regular English alphabets. Let us look closely into the class of speech sounds produced by the consonants.

To classify the consonant sounds we need three types of information – voiced or voiceless, Place of Articulation and Manner of Articulation. The thing to remember is that consonants are pronounced by creating a barrier in the airflow.

1. Voiced OR Voiceless

The first most thing is to determine that are the consonants are voiced or voiceless? Some consonant sounds are produced by the vibration of vocal cords such as /z/ and /v/. These are called voiced consonants. While some consonants are produced without the vibration of vocal cords such as /s/ and /f/. The airflow is the only factor that produces these sounds. These are called voiceless consonants.

2. Articulation Place 

The second thing is to know the portion of the vocal tract where the airflow is interrupted. This is known as the place of articulation. Don't get intimidated by the word articulation. It is a technical term used in articulatory phonetics (the study of how we speak and pronounce). Let' s look at some places of articulation along with some examples of English alphabets.

Bilabial

If the vocal tract is interrupted at lips by pressing both lips against each other, the place of articulation will be bilabial. You can experience this by pronouncing English alphabets like [p] and [b].

Labiodental

The consonant sounds made by pressing upper teeth at the bottom lip fall in the category of labiodental. The alphabets like [f] and [v] produce this type of speech sounds.

Alveolar

When you press the top of the tongue with the alveolar ridge, the place of articulation is alveolar. The alphabets like [t] and [d] are common examples of this category.

Palatal

When the tongue approaches the hard portion of palate, the sounds like [j] are produced. This obstruction portion is called palatal.

Velar

By pressing the tongue against the back portion of the palate to produce consonants sounds like [k], [g]. This place of articulation is classified as velar.

Glottal

The English alphabets like [h] produce the sound right at the larynx and is classified as glottal fricative sound.

Dental 

In dental consonants, the tip of the tongue touches the upper teeth and the airflow is interrupted to produce a specific sound like „ϴ [theta]‟. These are known as dental consonant sounds.

3. Articulation Manner

The last thing we need to confirm is the way in which the vocal tract is obstructed. This is the last dimension to classify the consonant sounds completely. 

These terms are discussed in detail under the subject of articulatory phonetics. If the airflow is interrupted or blocked completely by the means of lips, teeth, or tongue, the consonant sounds are called Plosives (stops). There are six plosive consonants in English alphabets. These are [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g]. You can further classify based on the places of articulation. 

If the airflow is blocked by the mouth but the air is permitted to flow through the nasal cavity, the consonant sounds are then called Nasals. In English alphabets, [m] and [n] generate nasal sounds. Sometimes these are also termed nasal stops.

It is also possible to don't block the airflow completely but allow the air to pass turbulently through the small space in articulators. This type of consonant sounds is called Fricatives. [f], [v], [s], [z], [h] are some fricatives in English alphabets.

Similarly, when the air flows smoothly through closely spaced articulators then the resulting sound is called Approximant. The alphabets like [j], [w] are approximants.

The sound produced by [r] is called Trill. It involves the rapid vibrations of articulators by narrowing down the gap between them. The English alphabet „r‟ has some touch of trill in it.

Affricates are the consonant sounds that combine the features of plosives and fricatives. Note your tongue while saying the word „life‟. The top of your tongue touches your alveolar ridge or upper teeth. The air flows from the opened sides of the tongue instead of stopping completely. Such sounds are called Laterals in which the air flows around the sides of the tongue.

To wrap up the discussion, these three properties are used to identify the type of consonant sounds. Based on these dimensions, the consonant sounds are may be voiced or voiceless, bilabial or alveolar and plosives or nasals. You can break it down further as you like to classify the sounds produced by the consonants