Phoneme Chart:

English Vowel and Consonant Sounds

showing the symbols for phonemic transcription of English
Vowel Phonemes
20
Consonant Phonemes
24
1 / / pit 21 / p / pit
2 / / pet 22 / / bit
3 / / pat 23 / t / time
4 / / pot 24 / d / door
5 / / luc 25 / k / cat
! / / good 2! / / get
" / / ago 2" / f / fan
# / i: / meat 2# / v / $an
% / : / car 2% / / thin
10 / : / door 30 / / that
11 / : / girl 31 / s / send
12 / u: / too 32 / z / &ip
13 / / day 33 / m / man
14 / a / sy 34 / n / nice
15 / / boy 35 / / ring
1! / / beer 3! / / leg
1" / ! / bear 3" / " / rat
1# / / tour 3# / # / wet
1% / / go 3% / $ / hat
20 / a / cow 40 / % / yet
41 / & / shop
42 / ' / leisure
43 / ( / chop
44 / ) / 'ump
Phonetic transcription is a sort of phonetic alphabet( a system of symbols in which e$ery
phoneme is supposed to ha$e its own symbol) *t+s possible to spea about 3 types of phonetic
transcription,
*+ -he international phonetic transcription introduced by the *nternational Phonetic
.ssociation in 1##") *t suggests the same symbols for different phonemes /: , 0( /u: ,
u0( which gi$es the wrong impression that those phonemes differ only in duration)
-+ -he phonemic transcription) E$ery phoneme is gi$en an indi$idual symbol( the total
number of which is 44) 1ords and sentences transcribed with the help of this phonemic
script is placed between the slanting bracets( e)g) pit / .pt /+ -his type of transcription
is used in studying English as specialty)
/+ -he allophonic transcription) E$ery phoneme has either a special symbol or a diacritical
mar) -he bracets are also different( e)g) little /.t00 with dar 0+
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics which deals with the in$estigation of the sound means of
the language from the point of $iew of their duration( acoustic 2ualities and semantics)
The phoneme is the smallest linguistic unit which is capable of differentiating the meaning and
the grammar forms of the words) Phonemes are elements of the language) -he number of them
is 2uite different for e$ery separate language) *n 3ritish English there are 44 phonemes, 20
$owel phonemes and 24 consonant ones) *n speech they manifest themsel$es in form of
phonemic $ariants of allophones)
The vowel is a speech sound in the production of which the air stream coming out of the lungs
meets no obstruction on its way) -he English $owel system consists of 20 $owel phonemes, 12
monophthongs / /1 / /1 / /1 / /1 / /1 / /1 / /1 / i: /1 / : /1 / : /1 / : /1 / u: /
and # diphthongs / /1 / a /1 / /1 / /1 / ! /1 / /1 / /1 / a /+
The monophthong is a $owel in the production of which the organs of speech do not change
their position throughout the whole duration of the $owel)
The diphthong is a combination of two $owel elements with gliding articulation)
The consonant is a speech sound in the production of which the air stream coming out of the
lungs has to o$ercome a certain obstruction on its way) -he English consonant system consists
of 24 consonant phonemes)
The allophone is a material representation of the phoneme in speech) -he allophones appear in
connected speech as a result of assimilation 4a phonetic process by which one sound under the
influence of a neighbouring sound ac2uires some articulation or acoustic lieness( e)g) horse5
shoe / .$:&&u: /6 or reduction 4a phonetic process by which $owels in unstressed syllables are
pronounced less distinctly than those in stressed syllables( e)g) melody / .md /6 or due to
indi$idual speech habits) -he number of allophones in a language is unlimited)
Word stress is a greater degree of prominence gi$en to one or more syllables within a word)
7egrees of word stress,
*+ Primary stress / .md /
-+ 8econdary stress / 2 %u:n.v:st /
/+ 9nstressed syllables
Sentence stress is a greater prominence of one or more words among other words in the same
sentence)
Terminal tone is formed by the changes of pitch that tae place on the last stressed and
unstressed syllables)
Falling tones,
:ow ;all 4:;6 /3 n / <o
=igh ;all 4=;6 / 4n /
=igh >ise5;all 4=>;6 / 5n /
:ow >ise5;all 4:>;6 / 6n /
Rising tones,
:ow >ise 4:>6 / 7n /
=igh >ise 4=>6 / 8 n /
=igh ;all5>ise 4=;>6 / 9n /
:ow ;all5>ise 4:;>6 / : n /
=igh >ise5;all5>ise 4=>;>6 / 5 8 n /
:ow >ise5;all5>ise 4:>;>6 / 6 7 n /
Level Tones,
:ow :e$el 4::6 / 2n /
?id :e$el 4?:6 / n /
=igh :e$el 4=:6 / ; n /