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Class 4 (9/30/02)
• Dental: tongue tip, upper and lower teeth (or behind upper teeth)
The dental sounds in English are:
They are represented in English orthography by:
[l] is produced with the tongue raised to the alveolar ridge and the sides of the
tongue down, permitting the air to escape laterally over the sides of the
tongue.
[Z]:
[tS]:
[dZ]:
• Retroflex: tongue tip curled up, behind alveolar ridge before hard palate.
For some English speakers, orthographic r is a retroflex sound [®].
right, rye, row, hour, hire, air...
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• Velar: back of the tongue, soft palate (velum).
The velar sounds in English are:
They are represented in English orthography by:
• Glottals: articulators in the vocal tract stay in relatively neutral position. When
the glottis is open—[h]; when the glottis is closed—[/].
English examples: [h]—house, who, hat.
[/]—button, Latin, bitten.
(a) [p], [t], [k], [b], [d], [g], [/] are obviously stops.
(b) What about [m], [n], [N]?
(c) What about [T], [D], [S], [Z], [h]?
(d) What about [tS], [dZ]?
(e) What about [l], [r], [j], [w]?
• Fricatives: the air passage during the production of these sounds is very narrow,
causing friction or turbulence.
[T], [D], [S], [Z], [h] are fricatives of English.
[T]: thatch [TœtS]
[D]: that [Dœt]
[S]: sheep [Sip]
[Z]: measure [mEZ„]
[h]: heat [hit]
• Trills: tongue tip set in motion by the current of air, written as [r].
Some dialects of English, like Scottish English, have trills.
• Taps and Flaps: tongue makes a single quick contact with the alveolar ridge,
written as [|].
(a) butter, later, latter, ladder, writer, rider...
(b) dirty, sorting, party...
• Approximants: there is some obstruction of the airstream in the mouth, but not
enough to cause real constriction or friction.
(a) [l], [®], [j], and [w] are approximants of English.
(b) [l] is a lateral approximant.
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(3) Summary for American English consonants:
Bilabial Labio- Dental Alveolar Palato- Retro- Palatal Velar Glotta
dental Alveolar flex l
Stop (oral) p b t d k g /
Stop (nasal) m n N
Tap or Flap |
Fricative f v T D s z S Z h
Affricate tS dZ
Approx. w ® j w
Lateral l
Approx.
• [u], [U], [o], [O] are produced with the lips protruded. They are called rounded
vowels.
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(5) Summary of American English monophthongal vowels:
I bit put U
E bet ´ sofa
ø butt bore O