The world of sounds
Cracking the Pronunciation Code
Evolved over millions of years, human speech is the most wonderful of our attributes. It needs to be appreciated that the human anatomy that gives each one of us the ability to scream and whisper, sing and recite, pause and stutter ,and vocalise strings of words, is a product of nature’s timeless experiments with biological vibrators, resonators and much more. Human speech is universal and yet individualistic. We generate tones and rhythms that are uniquely human, and do so with an amazing variety -each one of us has a vocal identity. This identity arises not only out of subtle anatomical differences in our vocal apparatus but more out of how each one of us learns to use it. Speech and language are a strange mix of what we are born with and what we acquire through life.
The study of speech production ( study of human sound system) makes us clear and able to use it effectively for our language learning. The world would have been a dull place without sounds - human speech sounds.
Speech and language are so integral to our existence and individualty that its study has attracted scholars, linguists , philosophers and scientists.
Father told his beloved daughter : Beta, don’t call me ‘daddy’. Please call me ‘papa’.
A little girl: No , daddy.
Father: Why are you not calling me as papa?
A little girl: No, daddy, I will call you daddy.
Father: What is problem in addressing me as papa.
A little girl: Sorry daddy. I don’t.
Father: ( doubting) Why.... Is there any...?
A little girl: Whenever I say papa my lipstick is spoiled.
Father: Ha ha...ok . It spoils your lipstick.
Do you know why happens so?
When sound /P/ is pronounced, two lips come closer, stop the flow of air coming from the lungs through windpipe and mouth cavity.
When we pronounce /p/ , /b/ and /m/ sounds ( phonemes), there is a stoppage of air with the help of both lips. They stop the air and then release it.
Try yourself, say papa, mama , ba ba ,subject, upper, amount, up , cap , calm, ram ,cab.
There are three speech sounds in English which are pronounced by the stoppage of air at both our lips. They are called bilablial sounds.( /W/ is also labio velar sound !)
Interchange the sounds- letters.
Pat Bat . Mat
_at , _ at , _ at
I need a bat.
I need a pat.
I need a mat.
It’s a fine batch /patch/ match.
Is it a bowl?
Is it a pole ?
Is it a mole ?
During the articulation of /p/, the two lips make a firm contact with each other. The soft palate is raised . Thereby shutting off the nasal passage . Air that is compressed by pressure from the lungs, escapes with an explosive sound when the two lips are separated. The vocal cords are held apart and they do not vibrate./ p/ can thus be described as a voiceless, bilablial and plosive.
Spellings : The phoneme/p/ is represented by the letters p and pp_as in _pin, paper, upper cap. It is to be remembered that the letter /p/ is silent in words like psalm , psychology, receipt cupboard etc.
Distribution : /p/ can occur initially , medially and finally in words as in pin (initial) supper (medial) and cap (final).
Take a strip of a paper in your hand or pieces of paper on the palm of your hand and try to pronounce /p/ and /b/ respectively and repeatedly.
You should feel the difference between the presence and absence of the puff of air (aspiration)
/P/ has an extra puff of air . It is called aspirated form when it is at the beginning of a word and before a clear vowel. ( except when preceded by /s/)
Allophonic Variants
A /p/ is aspirated ( ex. released with a strong puff of air when it occurs initially in a stressed syllable. The aspirated variety can be represented by the symbol / p’/
Pin
Appoint
Paper
Appear
B /p/ is unaspirated when it occurs after /s/ and in unaccented syllable e. g.
Spare
Spirit
Supper
C /p/ is nasally released when it is followed by / m/ e. g. topmost
D / p/ is not released audibly when it occurs finally or before another plossive or affricate e. g.
Gap
Captain
Capture
/b/ is articulated exactly like /p/ described above except that during the articulation of /b/ the vocal cords vibrate producing voice. /b/ can thus be described as voiced, bilablial and plosive.
Spellings: /b/ is represented by the letter/b/ and/bb/ in box , bear, rubber , rub. It is to be remembered, however, that the letter is silent in words like thumb, plumber, etc .
Distribution : /b/ occurs initially , medially and finally in a word as in bin (initial), rubber (medial ) and tub( final).
Allophonic variants :
A /b/ is nasally released when it is immediately followed by /m/e.g. summit, submarine
B In R. P. /b/ devoicied when it occurs initially and finally.
c /b/ is not released audibly when it occurs finally and when it is immediately followed by another plosive or affricate e.g. tab, subject, obtain
Press your fingers against your ears and make this sound.
sssssssssssssssssssss
Now , keeping your fingers against your ears, make this sound.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Can you feel the difference ?
The vibration is called voicing.
ssssss- is unvoiced ( voiceless)
zzzzzzzz- is voiced.
A consonant may be voiced or voiceless, depending upon whether the vocal cords remain wide apart( voiceless) or in a state of vibration( voiced).
Sound/p/ in English is voiceless while / b/ is voiced .
Sounds can be described as the type of closer or narrowing at the point of articulation. (Manner of articulation)
In the production of sounds /p/ and /b/ is the type of obstruction caused by the narrowing or closure of the articulators so they can be described stop.
In the production of a stop the oral and nasal passages are closed simultaneously . The active and passive articulators come in contact with each other forming a stricture of complete closure and preventing the air from escaping through the mouth. The soft palate is raised and thus the nasal passage is also blocked. (This is also known as velic closure) . The air behind the oral closure is compressed, and when the active articulators is removed from the contact with passive one, the air escapes with an explosion. Stops are also known as mutes, explosives, plosives or occlusives.
Close your nose with the help of your thumb and finger and try to speak /m/ sound, some air passes through the nose.
Can you feel yourself?
When producing sound like /m/ some air passes through the nose they known as nasal sounds.
A nasal consonant is produced by a complete oral closure. That is, the oral passage of air is completely blocked by the articulators coming into firm contact with each other, but the soft palate is lowerd so that the nasal passage of air is open. The air has thus a free passage through the nose.
During the articulation of /m/, the two lips are brought together and thus the oral passage of air is blocked completely. the soft palate is lowered and the air escapes through the nose. The vocal cords vibrate, producing voice /m/ is thus a voiced, bilablial and nasal.
Spellings: / m/ is represent by
A) the letter m as in mango, many
B) the letters mm as in summer
C) the letters mb as comb , lamb
D) the letters mn as in autumn
Distribution:
/m/ can occur initially, medially and finally as in man (initial) enemy (medial) and bsome (final).
Identification of consonants:
We can describe and identify a consonant briefly by using a three term label, indicating ( 1) whether the sound is voiceless or voiced. (2) the place of articulation; and (3) the manner of articulation.
/ p / in pen can be described as a voiceless, bilablial, stop (or plosive )
/ b / in bag as a voiced, bilablial, stop (plosive)
/ m / in main as voiced, bilabial, nasal
The study of human speech sounds which defines characteristics of all human vocal noise and concentrates its attention on those sounds which occur in the languages of the world. The study how the various organs of speech- the lungs, the larynx, the soft palate, the tongue and the lip function in the production of speech.
Phonetics is the scientific study of the production , transmission and reception of speech sounds . It studies the medium of spoken language. Touching upon psychology and physics , phonetics is now a pure science that studies speech processes, including the anatomy , neurology and pathology of speech. as well as the articulation, description, classification , production and perception of speech sounds. It looks at speech from three distinct but interdependent view points: it studies the speech organs which produce sounds of language; it studies waves, the physical form in which sounds are transmitted through the air from one person to another ; and it studies the way in which human beings perceive sounds through the medium of the ear . -Acoustic phonetics, Auditory phonetics and Articulatory phonetics...
Let’s pause . We’ll continue in next issue till then study the different forms of spoken in your area in your work area and enjoy the charms of human speech sounds...
Try it
Can we read the words if we interchange the first two letters ?
Block - Lbock
Clap - Lcap
Stand - Tsand
Plank - Lpank
Play -Lpay
Why ?
Is there any system?
Karsan Desai | President, Lingua Odyssey, and a teacher at Kesarpura Kampa Primary School
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