Linguistics - Phonology

Definition

Phonology is the branch of linguistics concerned with the study of speech sounds with reference to their distribution and patterning. Adjective: phonological. A linguist who specializes in phonology is known as a phonologist.

In Fundamental Concepts in Phonology (2009), Ken Lodge observes that phonology "is about differences of meaning signaled by sound."


Phonemes, letters and allophones

A phoneme is a single "unit" of sound that has meaning in any language. There are 44 phonemes in English (in the standard British model), each one representing a different sound a person can make. Since there are only 26 letters in the alphabet, sometimes letter combinations need to be used to make a phoneme. A letter can also represent different phonemes. Here is a good example:

chef = /?ef/
choir = /kwa??/
cheese = /t?i:z/

The "ch" letter combination has three different pronunciations, which are represented by three different phonemes: /?/, /k/ and /t?/. Of course, this is confusing when you need to learn new words, but unfortunately, we are stuck with a strange spelling system in English. You really just need to learn the pronunciation of every new word, along with its meaning. Unlike other languages, English spelling is not phonetic.

Sometimes, there is more than one way to pronounce a phoneme. These different pronunciations are called allophones. They are not phonemes, because they do not change the meaning of the word. Allophones often show up when people have different accents. One good example is the word "butter". Some native speakers will say [bʌɾə]. Others will say [bʌtə]. You can see here that [t] and [ɾ] are allophones of the same phoneme. Whatever way you say it, the meaning of the word does not change! It's still the yellow stuff made from milk that you put on bread.

Because different accents use different allophones, the British and American phonemic charts are a little bit different. Most ESL students do not need to worry too much about allophones. Use whatever one is in your textbook or dictionary, or ask your teacher for some advice.




Types of Phoneme

The two major phoneme categories are vowels and consonants.

 - Vowels - 

Basically, a vowel is any "open" sound where there is no obstruction or "blocking" caused by the teeth, tongue, lips, palate or other articulators. In the English alphabet, there are 5 vowels: A, E, I, O, U. But there are many more vowel sounds in the English language. For example, the /e/ vowel sound is usually represented by the letter "E". But when you put two "E" letters together, like in "speed" (/spi:d/), you get a long vowel sound: /i:/.

Single vowel

A single vowel sound is any vowel that is not a diphthong (see below). A single vowel can be short or long.

Short vowels

This is the list of the short vowels in standard (RP) English:

/?/ as in ship
/?/ as in book
/e/ as in egg
/æ/ as in cat
/?/ as in cup
/?/ as in hot
Schwa -  /?/

The schwa is a special type of short vowel. It is a very "weak" sound that is never stressed. This means you often find the schwa in words with more than one syllable. Here are some examples:

mother: /'m?ð?/
America: /?'mer?k?/
Long vowels

In the British English phonemic chart, long vowels are easy to recognise, because they have a colon (":") symbol after them. Some long vowels are basically longer versions of short vowels (like /?/ and /i:/).

Long vowels in English:

/i:/ as in sheep
/u:/ as in boot
/?:/ as in learn
/?:/ as in door
/?:/ as in car
Diphthongs

A diphthong is a  two vowel sounds, one after the other. There is movement or "glide" between the two parts of the sound. For example, to say the /e?/ dipthong, like in the word "cake" (/ke?k/) first say /e/, then say /?/ without stopping. Your mouth will move from the /e/ shape to the /?/ shape. This is the "glide".

Diphthongs of English:

/??/ as in beer
/e?/ as in same
/??/ as in tour
/??/ as in coin
/??/ as in nose
/e?/ as in hair
/a?/ as in fly
/a?/ as in house

 - Consonants - 

Consonants are sounds where there is obstruction or "blocking" of the airflow caused by your lips (/m/), teeth (/?/), tongue (/l/), palate (/?/) or even deep down in your larynx (/h/). The two major categories of consonants are voiced and unvoiced consonants.

Voiced Consonants

Voiced consonants make sound using the vibration of your vocal folds in your larynx - the "voice box". You can tell if a consonant is voiced in a couple of ways:

1. Put your finger on your throat when you say it. If you feel vibration, it is voiced.

2. Put your fingers in your ears when you say it. If you can still "hear" the consonant through the vibrations in your neck and head, it is voiced.

Voiced consonants in English:

/b/ as in ball
/d/ as in dog
/?/ as in joke
/g/ as in good
/v/ as in van
/ð/ as in that
/z/ as in zoo
/?/ as in vision
/m/ as in mouth
/n/ as in no
/?/ as in thing
/l/ as in love
/r/ as in right
/w/ as in why
/j/ as in you
Unvoiced consonants

Unvoiced consonants do not use this vibration. Instead they make sound using the movement of air through your teeth, tongue, lips and other articulators.

Unvoiced consonants in English:

/p/ as in pea
/t/ as in tea
/?/ as in cheap
/k/ as in coffee
/f/ as in fat
/?/ as in thin
/s/ as in see
/?/ as in she
/h/ as in he


Sources :
http://www.phonemicchart.com/what/
http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/phonologyterm.htm