Chapter 1 Fundamental concepts of phonetics and phonology 1.5. Inadequacy of orthography and advantages of phonetics

English orthography is the system of writing conventions used to represent spoken English in written form that allows readers to connect spelling to sound to meaning.

Unfortunately, there is not a perfect correspondence between the sound and the symbol used to represent it in writing. It means that the orthography of languages especially English and French ones, are not adequate enough to represent the pronunciations of sounds.

This difference between pronunciation and spelling causes a lot of confusion.

The problems are:

Same Sounds - Different pronunciations For their examples refer to table 1-1, page 4.

Same Sounds - Different Spellings

For their examples refer to table 1-2, page 4.

To overcome these problems, phoneticians suggest an alphabet in which words of any language could be written precisely as they are spoken. One such alphabet is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

IPA is an internationally recognized set of phonetic symbols developed in the late 19th century, based on the principle of strict one-to-one correspondence between sounds and symbols.

It is based on Roman alphabet, but to represent all sounds that exist in the languages of the world, it contains some additional symbols. 1.6. Uses of Phonetics

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1. It gives students language awareness about how speech sounds are forms and produced.

2. Help to better understanding of pronunciations.

3. It is a useful device for language teacher to help their students to overcome their pronunciations problems.

4. Help to speech therapy for various speech disorders.

Chapter 2 Articulatory phonetics

2.1. Organs of speech

Speech organs, or articulators, produce the sounds of language. Speech is produced by air from the lungs being processed or modified by all speech organs above the lungs: the glottis, pharynx, nose, tongue, and lips. The individual sound is identified by the closure or narrowing of these organs.

Speech organs (or vocal organs): those parts of the body used in speech production. The primary function of the vocal organs is biological like breathing, chewing, and eating, …

Their secondary function is speech (production). The main articulators are the tongue, the upper lip, the lower lip, the upper teeth, the upper gum ridge (alveolar ridge), the hard palate, the velum (soft palate), the uvula (free- hanging end of the soft palate), the pharyngeal wall, and the glottis (space between the vocal cords).

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The organs of speech, and their speech functions, can best be described under three systems: the respiratory system, the phonatory system, and the articulatory system.

2.1.1. The respiratory system

The respiratory system consists of:

Lungs: perform the function of breathing or respiration under the action of muscles of the chest. When lungs are compressed, they push the air out (this process is breathing out or exhalation), and when they expand, they draw the outside air in (this is breathing in or inhalation).

The airstream expelled by Lungs are source of energy for our vocal activities.

The muscles of the chest

Windpipe (trachea): in both exhalation and inhalation air passes through the trachea.

Rule of respiratory system in the production of speech sound:

Air coming out of the lungs forms the basis of most speech sounds. A downward movement of the rib cage and/or an upward movement of the

3 diaphragm forces the air out of the lungs, causing a pulmonic (lungs) egressive airstream (the stream of the air goes out of the lungs) mechanism.

Some of the languages like English and other uropean languages, and Persian only use pulmonic airstream mechanism.

The respiratory system

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