Phonetics

Question 1

Scope of Phonetics

Answer 1

Question of a standard dialect

Variety of accents within England

Standard English/ RP (received pronunciation)/ Oxford English/ BBC English

The English spoken by the educated speakers of Oxford and Cambridge
belonging to East Midland region, used in BBC broadcast

English is unphonetic- letters do not correspond to sounds

Leads to complicated pronunciation

Problems of mother tongue interference

Question 2

Phonetics

Answer 2

Phonetics deals with the study of production, transmission and
reception of speech sounds in human beings

Question 3

Phoneme-

Answer 3

• the smallest unit of speech in a language
• Changing one phoneme in a word can produce another word, or make the word
  unintelligible, eg: cat, rat

Question 4

Sounds in English divided into two

Answer 4

Vowels

Consonants

Question 5

Vowels-

Answer 5

Sounds during the production of which air escapes through the
mouth, freely and continuously without friction

Question 6

Consonants-

Answer 6

Sounds during the production of which there is an obstruction
in the mouth giving rise to an audible friction

Question 7

____ vowel sounds in English RP

Answer 7

20
20= 12 pure vowels+ 8 diphthongs/ vowel glides

Question 8

Pure vowels-

Answer 8

the vowel quality does not change

Question 9

Diphthongs-

Answer 9

sounds during the production of which tongue starts in
the position of a particular vowel and moves in the direction of
position of another vowel, within a single syllable

Question 10

12 pure vowels=

Answer 10

7 short vowels + 5 long vowels

Question 11

IPA

Answer 11

• a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to provide a
  standardized, accurate, and unique way of representing sounds of any
  spoken language.
• Also used in some dictionaries and textbooks to indicate pronunciation.
• A symbol from the internationally accepted system of signs is used to
  represent each sound.
• These symbols belong to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Question 12

All sounds are either ______ or _____.

Answer 12

All sounds are either oral or nasal

Question 13

Oral sounds-

Answer 13

the air is released through the mouth

Question 14

Nasal sounds-

Answer 14

the air is released either fully or partially through the nose.

Question 15

voiced
sounds

Answer 15

• All sounds produced with the vibration of the vocal cords are called voiced
  sounds.
• Vowels, diphthongs, and consonants such as /b/, /d/, /g/, /m/, etc are
  voiced sounds.

Question 16

In the production of unvoiced sounds…….

Answer 16

• In the production of unvoiced sounds the vocal cords do not vibrate and the
  air passes through the wide-open glottis.
• Consonant sounds such as such as /p/, /t/, /k/, /s/, etc. are
  voiceless/unvoiced sounds

Question 17

Syllable-

Answer 17

• a unit of sound that is uttered with a single breath/puff of air.
• Generally a syllable consist of a vowel and may or may not have consonant
  sounds.
• The number of vowels in a word determines the number of syllables

Question 18

Word Stress

Answer 18

Word stress/ accent is the prominence or the relatively greater emphasis given to a
particular syllable in the word

The syllable upon which the prominence falls is said to be the stressed syllable or
tonic syllable

Stress is marked by a vertical bar above and in front of the accented syllable

Examples- a’broad, examination

Question 19

Functional words-

Answer 19

words that do not have a dictionary meaning in the way we normally expect
nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs to have

Question 20

Sentence Stress

Answer 20

In English sentences, each word does not have the same prominence and
some words stand out from the rest due to stress or greater breath force.

Question 21

pitch

Answer 21

The rate at which our vocal cords vibrate or the frequency of vibration is
called pitch.

Question 22

intonation

Answer 22

The rise and fall in pitch is referred to as intonation

Question 23

Distinguishing different types of utterances such as ________________________.

Answer 23

Distinguishing different types of utterances such as statements, commands,
requests,and questions

Question 24

Differentiating the speaker’s emotional attitude such as ______________.

Answer 24

Differentiating the speaker’s emotional attitude such as curiosity,
apprehension, friendliness, and politeness

Question 25

tone

Answer 25

A segment of speech carrying one intonation pattern is called a tone.

Question 26

Rising Intonation

Answer 26

The voice moves from lower pitch to higher pitch