ENGL 422: ADVANCED PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

Course outline

Purpose
This course aims at equipping the students with knowledge and skills that will enable them to
show a deeper understanding of phonetics and phonological processes.

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course the learner is expected to:
i) To discuss the terms and distinguish the differences that exists between phonetics,
phonology and phonemics.
ii) Explain theoretical issues involved in phonology.
iii) Look at the universal phonological features shared by languages.
iv) Distinguish Broad from narrow transcription and use them to transcribe given speech.
v) Examine and put into practice the analytical procedures involved in phonological studies.
vi) Examine and put into practice the analytical procedures involved in phonological studies.

Course Content
Theoretical distinction between phonetics and phonology. Theories of phonetics, strengths and
weaknesses. Acoustic phonetics. Sound waves, pitch, frequency, intensity, spectrographic
oscilloscopic analysis, instrumentation etc. primary and secondary articulation and phonatory
settings. The notions phone, phoneme and allophone revisited. The phoneme theory. Phoneme
alteration and neutralization: the archiphoneme. Prosodic features of stress, pitch and intonation.
The syllable structure onset, coda, peak. Rhyme. Feature analysis eg. Chomsky – Halle feature
system. Phonological processes and rules eg. Regarding assimilation, reduction, deletion and
insertion. Exercises in broad and narrow transcription of linguistic continua.

Teaching Methodologies
Lectures, Group discussions, Presentations

Course Evaluation
Continuous Assessment Tests 30%
Final Examination 70%
Total 100

References
1. Fromkin V., Rodman R.,Hyams N. (2003). An Introduction to Language. Michael
Roseberg. USA.
2. Yule G. (1985). An Introduction to Language. Oxford university press.
3. Massamba, D. (1996) Phonological Theory. Dar- es- Salaam University Press. Dar – es –
Salaam.
4. Chomsky N. & Halle M. (1968). The Sound Patterns of English. New york: Harper and
Row.
5. Gussenhoven C. & carles and Jacole M, ( 1952). Understanding Phonology. London.
Hoddor Arnold.

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 6. Roger S. Dow G. and Baer T. (2007). Self – Paced Phonic: a Text for Educators (4th Ed)
Pearson Menll Prentice Hal

Distinction between phonetics, phonology & Phonemics

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds and their physiological production and acoustic
qualities. A Phonetician is concerned in knowing which sounds occur in a language and
explaining how sounds can be described using the physical parameters by which they are
produced E.g. by Phonation, place a articulation & manner of articulation.
Phonetics tells us how the sounds of a language are made and provides an inventory to the
speech sounds identified in a given language.
Phonology is the study of different patterns of sounds in different languages. Phonology is
concerned with what sounds can follow or precede which in a given language. It is the study of
how speech sound are structured and function in a particular language. It investigates how
sounds are patterned and used to convey meaning. Each language selects a particular set of
sounds, and systematically formats them in its particular way to form utterance
This is why languages have different phonological systems. Phonology is based upon
constructive units in a broad sense. It argues that the phonemes of a language don’t follow each
other randomly. It is the task of the phonologist to discover the phonemes of language and how
they are patterned according to the language.
-Phonology is concerned with consequential constraints i.e. permissible sound sequences.
e.g /ŋ/ is word final in English e.g. sing. Cling

-Phonology also provides rules for pronunciation and morphenemic alterations.

E.g /s/ can be realized is either [s] [z]
- pets [pɒts] – proceeded by a voiceless consonant
- bags (bægz proceeded by a voiced constants .
- bag (s) + voice/ (+voice consonants)
[s] [z] / g

Phonology is also concerned with the study of prosodic or supra segmental features.

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PHONEMICS- This is the study and establishment of the phonemes of a language. Entails the
study and description of meaningful units of a particular language. It emanates from the word
phoneme and is an interface between phonetics and phonology but it largely falls under
phonology because, a phonological analysis of a language begins with phonemics.
The task of phonemics is to discover the phonemes of a language. Phonemics is based upon
certain premises which gives rise to phoneme discovery procedures.
- Write down all sounds
- Find out which are phonemes which are allophones
A study of phonemics is a necessary prerequisite for phonetics and phonology because, it gathers
the raw materials. Phonemics is a necessary prerequisite for phonetic and phonology because it
gathers the raw material. A phonologist will identify the phonemes and look at how they
combine and give an explanation of the prosodic phenomena.

PHONETICS
Branches of phonetics
(a) Acoustic phonetics
Deals with sound waves and transmission of sounds and sound waves in the air.
It is the study of physical properties of sounds using lab equipment e.g. spectrograph. The
concern of acoustic phonetics is the quality of sounds which give rise to frequencies.
This branch is sometimes referred to as instrumental phonetics

(b) Auditory phonetics

This is the study of how speech sounds are perceived by hearer’s ear and identified as
particular sound by the hearer’s brain. It deals with reception and perception of speech
sounds. Auditory phonetics fall largely under psycholinguistics

(c) Articulatory phonetics

This is the longest and most established branch of phonetics. It does not require
sophisticated equipment because the major apparatus of operation is the vocal tract. It is
the study of speech production i.e. how sounds are made by the speech organs. Deals
with production of speech sounds by the human vocal apparatus

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VOCAL APPARATUS

1. Lips
Produce sounds when they are brought together or when the lower lip touches upper teeth when
two lips touches each other produces bilabial sounds
/b/ voice bilabial
/p/ voiceless
/m/ bilabial nasal

When lower lip catches the upper teeth, they produce labio-dental sounds
/f/ voiceless labio-dental fricative
/v/ voiced labio-dental fricative

2. Teeth
When tip of the tongue is inserted between the teeth, it produces inter-dental or dental sounds
eg / θ / (thorn) voiceless dental fricative
/ ð/ (feather) voiced dental fricative

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3. Alveolar ridge
Is a rough ridge edge restricted behind the upper teeth. When the tip of the tongue
touches the alveolar ridge, it reproduces alveolar sounds e.g.
/t/ - voiceless alveolar stop
/s/ voiceless alveolar fricative
/d/ voiced alveolar stop
/z/ voiced alveolar fricative
/r/ alveolar laterals
/l/

4. Hard palate
It is the roof of the mouth which is smooth and hard. When the body of the tongue is raised to
touch the hard palate, it produces palatal sounds
/tʃ/ voiceless palatal africate
/dʒ/ voiced alveolar palatal africate

5. Soft palate /velum

Situated at the back of the mouth near the nasal cavity .When the back of the tongue touches the
velum, it produces velar sounds E.g.
/k/ voiceless velar stop
/g/voiced velar stop
/ŋ/ velar nasal

6. Glottis
Found within the vocal chords can either be open or closed. When closed, there is production of
voiced sounds and when opened there is production of voiceless sounds. American English has a
few sounds made from the glottis. The most famous is glottal stop /Ɂ/ button

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7. Tongue
Active articulator in the production of most sounds because I’ts flexible to move from one point
of articulation to the next
its divided into 3 parts
(i) Tip
(ii) Body
(iii) Root of Tongue/bale

(i) Tips – touches the teeth and alveolar ridge

(ii) Body – Touches e hard palate to produce palatal sound /j/
(iii) Root/back – touches velum soft palate e.g. / ŋ/

CLASSIFICATION OF SPEECH SOUNDS

All speech sounds are divided into – Vowels and Consonants
The difference between vowels and consonants is that vowels are produced without any
interference of air within the vocal tract
A) Parameters Used to describe vowels

i) Position of tongue
Tongue is also critical in the production of sounds. It can be fronted or pulled to back position.
Sounds are therefore classified as either front or back.

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ii) Tongue height
The height of the tongue may be varied. It may be raised or lowered or it may remain in its
neutral position.
raised - /i/
neutral /e/
lowered /a/

iii) Lip shape

Lips can be rounded or unrounded.

B) Classification of consonants
Consonants are described according to the following criteria
1. Place of articulation
2. Manner of articulation
3. State of glottis
4. Air stream mechanism

1. place of articulation
Consonants can be described depending on where in the vocal tract air extracted. This refers to
the place where articulators meet.
Bilabial /p/ /b/ /m/
Dental /ð/ /θ/
Alveolar / r/ / t/ / n/ /d/
Palatal /j/
Velar /k/ /g/ /ŋ/
Labial-dentals /v/ /f/

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 2. Manner of articulation
Refers to the way in which air streams is interfered with on its way out of the mouth or nasal
cavity.
For a sound to be produced, air stream from the lungs must be interfered with in various ways

i) Air stream may be completely impeded or stopped then released giving rise to the production
of stops or plosives
e.g. Biliabial stops /p/ /b/ -
Aveolar stops /t/ /d/
Velar stops /k/ /g/

ii) Air from the lungs may be slightly impeded on its way out of the oral cavity. This type of
interference is referred to as frication and it yields fricative sounds
Alveolar fricatives e.g. /s/ /z/
Dental fricative /ð/ /θ/
Labio – dental fricative /f/ /v/

iii) Air from the lungs may experience a combination of complete stoppage and frication at the
same time thus producing affricates e.g. /tʃ/ /dʒ/

iv) Air from the lungs may escape through the sides of the tongue and with some vibration thus
producing liquids and laterals. e.g. /r/ /l/

3. State of glottis
The glottis may either be open or closed. It can either be
-completely open
-loosely open
-completely closed
The state of the glottis determines whether sounds are voiced or voiceless. Voiced sounds are
produced with vocal chords forced together causing vibrations, while voiceless sound are
produced when the voice chords are open.
N.B. All vowels are voiced but can be devoiced under some circumstances

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 All nasals are voiced /n/ / m/ /ŋ/
All liquids are voiced /l/ /r/

4. Air stream mechanisms involved in sound production

E.g. Pulmonic eggressive airstream mechanism
Pulmonic ingressive Airstream mechanism

PHONOLOGICAL AND PHONETIC UNIVERSALS

Universals are tendencies that have been hypothesized on the basis of cross linguistic
comparisons. Recent researchers have unveiled several universals and can be classified into three
groups
(i) Phonological inventories
(ii) Language acquisition
(iii) Language change

1. Phonological inventories
There are certain sounds found more in certain languages than others. This has been made on the
basis of phonological inventories.
E.g. The alveolar sounds /s/ is more common in the languages than the dental fricative /θ/.
A language that has the /s/ sound does not imply that it will have the / θ / sound but the language
with / θ / sound will have /θ/ and /s/ in an implicational universal, x imply y but y does not
imply x
-When you have a voiced alveolar stop /d/, you will have a voiceless stop /t/ but the reverse is
not true.
-These implicational universals can be extended to cover all obstruence. No language will have
a series of voiced obstruence unless it has a series of voiceless ones. So that sound like /t/ /k/ /s/
are said to imply /d/ /g/ /z/. Some languages may lack one particular member of a series E.g.
Arabic and Hausa they lack /p/ and /v/ but they have /f/ /b/
-The English language has oral vowels only but there is a possibility that they can be nasalized in
specific context especially when they precede nasal sounds.
E.g. seen [si:n] [sḭ:n] ---
non-nasal + nasal / – nasal

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-The presence of nasalized vowels in a language implies the presences of oral vowels and not
vice versa
-The presence of voiced stops in English implies presence of voiceless ones.

Four logical possible systems

1. Languages with both voiced & voiceless sounds e.g. English
2. Language with voiceless sounds E.g. southern Spalute
3. No language with a voiced series alone
4. The presence of voiced sounds implies the presence of voiceless sounds

2. Language Acquisition
-Sound segments in all languages tend to be learned in a given order. There are general
tendencies in the way sounds are acquired
-Front consonants are learned before back consonants
-Most world languages use front consonants for the names of important people to them
E.g. mother father
mami baba
mama baba
-Research shows that most languages use a nasal sound for mother and a labio sound for fathers
-Voiceless sounds are learnt before voiced sounds
-Front consonants are learnt before back consonants.
-Child will acquire /f/ before /θ/ meaning there is a correlation between order in which words are
learnt by children, and the implicational universals.
-While a language will not have the voiced sounds, unless it has the voiceless one, a child will
not learn the voiced series unless she has learned the voiceless ones because it is more complex
to produce voiced series than the voiceless ones.

3. Language changes
Sounds of a language do change with time. Some sound changes are more common than others
while others ae not attested at all. Sound changes turning voiced sounds to voiceless sounds has
been observed is several world languages

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E.g. In English and Chinese [b, d, g] change to [P, t, k] .
-A change from voiceless stops to voiced stops has not been recorded. Each time a sound change
is observed the relationship between the original sound and the new sound can be examined E.g.
in the occurrence of x changes to y then we can look for the acoustic and articulatory properties
shared by x and y
-Sounds are bound to change from complex to less complex E.g. voiced sounds are more
complex than voiceless sounds
-When a voiceless consonant appears between vowels it may gain voice
i.e -voice + voice / V- V
-Voiced stops can also become voiceless in some context but voiceless stops cannot become
voiced
-Voiceless consonants can become voiced in restricted contexts

The study of language change is tied to the study of implicational universals and language
acquisition. All languages have a CVC syllable (consonant, vowel, consonant but not all have a
VC (vowel consonant syllable) so that a historical change of CVC to VC is expected.
The CV syllable is the first to be acquired by children and this proves that it is simple
E.g. mum simplified to ma
-All languages exemplify the same basic organizational structure and they consist of an infinite
number of sounds that can generate limitless possibilities.
-All languages have voiced vowels but vowels can be devoiced under some circumstances.
Sound /a/ is common in all language means it is the simplest to pronounce also implies other
sounds can change to /a/ and not the other way round.

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 THE NOTION PHENEME
-Phones are phonetic sound like /p/ /b/ /c/ /a/ /l/ /t/ /i/
-A Phoneme is minimal meaning distinguish sound .All phonemes are phones but not all phones
are phonemes E.g. in minimal pairs e.g. Pad, pat; pin, bin; kick, pick

-Allophone are variations of the same phoneme so that we have phoneme /t/ can be realized as
[th], [t]

-A phoneme is a minimal unit of sound capable of distinguishing words of different meanings

E.g. /p/ and /b/ are phonemes because they are capable of bringing about difference in meaning.
Scholars agree that in defining a phoneme the distinctive nature of a sound is a crucial part.
However scholars are divided on the nature and status of a phoneme. Some view a phoneme as
i) Phonetic reality.
ii) Phonological reality
iii) Psychological reality

1. Phoneme as a phonetic reality

Phonemes can be determined by merely looking at the phonetic shape of sounds. Sounds that
belong to the same phoneme shares certain basic physical or phonetic properties i.e. they may
share the same articulatory properties E.g. [tw] and [t] belong to the same phoneme.
The members of the family of related sounds are used in accordance with certain rules of
phonetic context in a particular language. This means that variants of a given phoneme
(allophones) occur in fixed environments of a language.
-E.g /t/ can only be labialized if it occurs before labial sounds. ( t tw /_ + labial sounds.

How to determine whether or not certain sound belong to e same family or not
1. By conducting a minimal pair test
Minimal pair is a pair of words with one segment being different but the rest are the same. This
difference must be on the same position E.g. bin, pin
2. Criterion of complementary distribution
When two sounds are in complementary distribution they are barred from occurring in identical
environment.

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2 Phoneme as a phonological reality
A phoneme is seen as a minimal unit that can be used to distinguish meaning. It’s a theoretical
construct. On the phonological level it is not practical E.g. sound [p] . When you talk about
[pan], it is actual not theoretical.
-A phoneme can be equated to the unity that holds among sounds that belong to a single class /
family. A phoneme is defined by examining others characteristic features it has that distinguishes
it from others. While in the first view (phonetic reality) a phoneme is determined by considering
the phonetic data, it does not make sense to talk about phoneme without referring to any specific
language because phonemes refer to a specific language
-What carries a status of phoneme in one language may not do so in another. E.g. /p/ is phonemic
in some language but not in English

The two views above reveal that there are differences between viewing phonemes as a class of
sounds (phonetic) and viewing them as sounds that function within a linguistic system
(phonological reality).

3 Phoneme as a psychological reality

-This is a mentalistic position that defines a phoneme as a mental reality. It’s the intention of the
speaker or impression of the hearer or both. It argues that a sound can never be pronounced the
same at any point in time. It is acoustically impossible to get the same quality of a sound
articulated differently. The speaker must have an internalized image or idealized picture of the
sound as a target with which he tries to approximate.
- Badowing spoke of a phoneme as a sound imagined or intended as opposed to a sound emitted
as a facial phonetic fact.

E.g. white shoes (wait ʃuz) ideal

waiʃuz reality

let me – (lɛt mi) ideal

(lɛmi) reality

This view has been criticized and dismissed by linguist like Twadei (1945) who said that
anything that cannot be observed is irrelevant because we cannot guess working of the in
accessible mind. According to him, linguistic incompetence can be mistaken for

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 psychological reality. While Badowing argues that they are slips of the tongue, Twadii
says these are slips of the mind.

DISTINCTIVE FEATURE SYSTEM

Phonological system tend to be symmetrical and a limited number of phonetic parameters taken
from a small fairly universal set recur in a variety of combinations in different languages.
E.g. +voice/ – voice
It makes sense to look beyond and focus on those basic phonological ingredients called
distinctive feature which phonemes are made of. There is a relatively small inventory of phonetic
features from which languages select different combinations to construct their individual
phoneme system.
-Current distinctive feature theory has its roots in the works of Russian scholar Trubetzkoy and
Jacobson. Jacobson fled to New York during the Nazi occupation of former Czechoslovakia and
later moved to Harvard where he introduced some of the ideas of the Plague school to the
Americans
-A major aspect of Jacobsonian feature system was its binarism (+voice/-voice) in order to
distinguish between meanings of words, they argued that what counts is either presence r
absence of a feature indicated by +/- before the feature in question
E.g. bet pet
+ voice - voice
-Even though there has been a powerful opposition against binarism, the dominant view among
phonologists is that although the case for multivaluate features is without merit from
phonological point of view, distinctiveness is the paramount consideration and its interests are
best served by binary distinctive phonological features.

THE S.P.E SYSTEM OF DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

(Sound pattern of English)
Various shortcomings of the Jacosonian features came to light in 1950(s) and 1960(s). It was
discovered that the model was so mean that a dozen of 12 features which it allowed was
insufficient to account for all the phonological contrast found in all the languages of the world.
Furthermore, it was criticised it was criticized for using the same phonological position which in
some cases were manifested in different phonetic properties.
-For instance, if a sound was described as ‘grave’ you would not be able to tell whether it was
labio/non labio because of this and other inadequacies. Chomsky & Hale in their book SPE
(1968) proposed a major revision of the theory of distinctive features. They replaced acoustically
defined phonological features with a set of features that have in most cases articulation

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correlates. Furthermore, the number of features was also substantially increased but like their
original Jacobsonian precursor, SPE features remain binary.

CHOMSKY & HALLE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

Divided into
A) Major class features
B) Other features

Major class features

1.) Consonantal / non consonantal
- Cons
+Cons
Consonantal sounds are produced with a drastic stricture along the centerline of the vocal tract.
- Non consonantal sounds are made without such obstruction
All obstruents, nasals and liquids are + Consonantal
- All vowels & glides / w/ /y/ are - Consonantal

2.) Syllabic, Non-syllabic

+ Syllabic
- Syllabic
- Syllabic sounds are sounds which function as syllable nuclei. Non–syllabic sounds occur
at syllable margins. Normally syllabic sounds are auditorially more salient than adjacent
non syllabic sounds.
- Vowels are syllable and so are syllabic consonants like laterals E.g. /l/ bottom

sonorant – non sonorant

3) Sonorant, non-sonorant
+Sonorant
-Sonorant
Sonorant are produced with a vocal cavity disposition which makes spontaneous voicing easy
while non sonorant (obstruents) have a vocal cavity disposition which inhibits spontaneous
voicing. (The un-marked/ the normally expected natural state for sonorants is to be voiced while
for obstruents, the unmarked state of affair is to be voiceless)

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Vowels, nasals, and liquids are sonorants while non-nasal stops, fricatives and affricates are
obstruent.
Cons Syll Son
a - + +
p + - -
n + - +
y - - -
u - + +
ŋ + - -
r + - +
h + - -
u - + +
z + - -
i - + +

Other Features

a) Cavity features
(i) Coronal, non – coronal
+ Coronal
- - Coronal
.
ii) Anterior, non-anterior
+anterior
-anterior
(ii) Labial, non-labial
+Labial
-Labial

b) Tongue body features

i) + High
-High
ii) + Low
-Low
iii) + back
-back

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c) Tongue Root features
+ Tense
-Tense

d) Laryngeal features
+ Voice
-Voice

e) Manner features
(i) + continuant
-Continuant
(ii) + Delay release
-Delayed release
(iii) +Nasal
-Nasal

Cons Syll Son Lab Back High Voice

d + - - - - - +
i - + + - - + +
m + - + + - - +
u +
h +
I -
w -
t +

PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES
Occurs majorly due to assimilation (the modification of sound in order to make it more similar to
some other sound in its neighborhood) The result of assimilation is that it results in smoother
more effortless economic transition from one sound to another.

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Types of assimilation
1. Palatalization (Fronting)
Involves raising the tip and the blade of the tongue to a high front position close to the anterior
part of the hard palate. This happens when a velar consonant like /k/ is followed by a front
vowel. E.g. /i/. This necessitates anticipatory fronting of the part of the tongue that makes
contact with the roof of the mouth
This fronting is indicated by a subscript (+) under the consonant. The effect of the frontal
palatalization is that the velar consonant is made in the palatal region.
eg key [k+ i]
car keys [ ka ki+ z]
keep calm [ki+ kam]

In fast casual spoken English, alveolar consonants can also be palatalized when they occur at the
end of a word and are followed by another word which begins with an alveo- palatal consonant
E.g. Bless you [blɛs+ ju] = (blɛ ʃu)
-palatal +Palatal / - + front

2.Labialisation
This is the process whereby a non-labial sound are produced with some labial effect after they
are influenced by the neighboring sounds.
A B
peel (pi:l) pool [pwu:l]
tea two [twu:]
she shoe
leek luke
get got

The words in column B are pronounced with some degree of secondary lip rounding anticipating
the next segment which is a round vowel. The speaker starts rounding the lips before the
articulation of the consonant is completed.
The labialization is indicated by the superscript w
E.g. Pool – [pwu:l]

Rule: – labial + labial / - + labia

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3. Nasalisation
This is the process whereby an oral sound/ segment acquires nasality. To produce an oral
sound, it is necessary to completely block off access to nasal cavity by raising the velum.
In the production of oral nasal sounds, some nasalization sips through and affect oral
sounds which is adjacent to a nasal sound. All English vowels are oral.

-Nasal + nasal / + nasal (minus nasal becomes plus nasal in the environment
before a nasal sound)

4. Dentalization
Process where a sound which is not produced with any contact with the teeth is affected
by a neighboring dental sound so that it acquires some dental qualities.
E.g. mfalme

-Dental + dental / + dental

m mn / f

5. Voice assimilation
In English, suffixes agree in voicing with the last segment of the stem to which they are
attached. That is the classic example of voice assimilation. Whatever happens to be the
specification the feature ‘voice’ of the preceding segment/root is automatically carried
over to the suffix E.g.

Dock- docks /dɒk- dɒks/

Dog-Dogs / dɒg- dɒgz/
Watch-watches /watʃ-watʃiz/

N.b. The voiceless /s/ occurs after voiceless /k/ while the voiced /z/ occurs after the
voiced /g/

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ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the different types of assimilation/ phonological processes (10 marks)
2. Expound on the Choumsky and Hale major class features (10 marks)
3 Identify the different types of sounds produced by different articulators (10 marks)

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