THE ENGLISH SOUND SYSTEM

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 INTRODUCTION

Has this truth ever occurred to you: that language starts with the ear? Well, it may interest you to know that when a baby starts to talk, they do it by hearing the sounds their mother makes and imitating them. Thus, the phenomenon called ‘speech’ has a lot to do with hearing and imitating—indeed, this is what gives us the gift of ‘speech.'


OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to distinguish the sounds of English from the letters of the alphabet.



MAIN CONTENT

Definitions and Problems in Pronunciation


It is essential to first define the term pronunciation before analyzing the problems associated with it. The Wikipedia online dictionary defines pronunciation as the way a word or a language is usually spoken; the manner in which someone utters a word. This definition is echoed in the American Heritage Dictionary, which sees it as a way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood. It also states that pronunciation could be regarded as a graphic representation of the way a word is spoken, using phonetic symbols. Pronunciation, “pro·nun·ci·a·tion /p 'nΛn si 'eⅠ ∫.n/ – noun,” is also defined as:


1. The act or result of producing the sounds of speech, including articulation, stress, and intonation, often with reference to some standard of correctness or acceptability.

2. An accepted standard of the sound and stress patterns of a syllable, word, etc.: He said the pronunciation of “curl” is /k3rl/ - Spelled Pronunciation[kurl.

3. The conventional patterns of treatment of the sounds of a language: the pronunciation of French.


Source: Dictionary.com Unabridged (v1.1)


The various definitions presented above confirm the following facts about the term pronunciation:


- It is an act of speech; the act of articulating a sound or word.

- It also consists of the transcription of sounds; a phonetic transcription of sounds.


You may have heard the term Received Pronunciation. What does it mean?


Received Pronunciation (RP) is a form of pronunciation of the English language, which has long been perceived as uniquely prestigious among British accents and is the usual accent taught to non-native speakers learning British English.


Received Pronunciation is also sometimes referred to as the Queen’s (or King’s) English because it is spoken by the monarch or BBC English because it was traditionally used by the BBC. Yet, nowadays, these are all slightly misleading. The queen, Elizabeth II, speaks an almost unique form of English, and the BBC is no longer restricted to one type of accent.


It is important to state clearly that RP is an accent (a form of pronunciation), not a dialect (a form of vocabulary and grammar). It shows a great deal about the social and educational background of a person who uses British English. A person using an RP accent will typically speak Standard English, although the reverse is not necessarily true.


It is a known fact that no two people speak exactly alike, and this phenomenon is known as idiolectal differences. However, when these differences spread over wide geographical areas to include grammatical usage, vocabulary, and pronunciation, they are called dialects. When the differences are limited to pronunciation, they are known as accents.


At present, there are as many different kinds of English as there are speakers of it. Examples include American English, Australian English, Nigerian English, and South African English. The main problem of English pronunciation, therefore, centers on the question - ‘How do we decide the sort of English to use as a model?’ Interestingly, no one accent can be described as intrinsically superior to another because different accents serve the different communicative needs of different societies.


However, it has been generally argued that the ideal variety is Standard British English, which in the spoken form is referred to as Received Pronunciation (RP) – see our discussion above. This is the variety used for mass media, official business, and instruction in various institutions of learning in Nigeria. It is called Educated Nigerian English. A good user of the Educated Nigerian English accent cannot be easily identified in terms of his region or locality in the country. You also need to know that in Nigeria today, there is a tradition of speaking English for general communicative purposes. So, you must strive to acquire the pronunciation accent of Educated Nigerian English; therefore, your aim should be to acquire a perfect English pronunciation. Unless this is your aim, you will not make all the progress of which you are capable.


How the Sounds Differ from the Letters of the Alphabet


It is a well-known fact that the alphabet we use to write English has 26 letters, but it may interest you to know that (British) English has about 49 sounds. Inevitably, English spelling will not be a reliable guide to pronunciation in spoken English because:


- Some letters have more than one sound.

- Sometimes letters are not pronounced at all in some English words.

- The same sound may be represented by different letters.


The English language has been written using the Latin alphabet since around the 7th century. Prior to this, the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, a type of alphabet, had been in use from the 5th century, and both alphabets were used concurrently for a period.


In the year 1011, a writer named Byrhtferð presented the Old English alphabet, which was a reordering of the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet. This was what he presented:


ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTVXYZÞÐÆ


In Modern English orthography, ‘þ’ and the other two listed above are obsolete. Although ‘þ’ continued its existence for some time, its lowercase form gradually became graphically indistinguishable from the minuscule ‘y’ in most handwritings. On the other hand, ‘u’ and ‘j’ were introduced as distinct from ‘v’ and ‘i’ in the 16th century, and ‘w’ assumed the status of an independent letter. Therefore, the English alphabet is now considered to consist of the following 26 letters:


- A

- B

- C

- D

- E

- F

- G

- H

- I

- J

- K

- L

- M

- N

- O

- P

- Q

- R

- S

- T

- U

- V

- W

- X

- Y

- Z


Subsequently, when writing English, we use these 26 letters of the alphabet. However, when speaking, there are roughly 49 different sounds in English, known as phonemes. If you are focusing on the sounds of English, you need 49 characters to represent all of them. One way of doing this is to use the 'phonemic alphabet,' which includes some extra characters to represent the sounds in English for which there is no clear equivalent letter or letters.


The Sounds of English


There are 49 sounds in English, composed of both consonants and vowels, and these sounds can be accurately represented using the International Phonetic Association (IPA) system. Understanding this system enables you to pronounce any English word perfectly, without the need for assistance from your tutorial facilitator. Simply refer to a learner's dictionary, such as an English Pronunciation Dictionary.


It's important to note that the letters of the alphabet can be a poor guide to pronunciation, while phonetic symbols offer a consistently reliable guide. Each symbol represents one sound consistently. Here are the various sounds presented in two distinct categories: vowels and consonants.


Vowels in the Received Pronunciation of British English:


Short vowels

- i (bit, silly)

- ε (bet, head)

- æ (cat, dad)

- Λ (dog, rotten)

- O (cut, nut)

- ) (put, soot)

- about, clever


Long vowels

- i: (heed)

- 3: (herd)

- a: (hard)


Other Vowel Variations

- O : (hoard)

- u: (hood)


Diphthongs

- aI (spice, pie)

- εI (wait, fate)

- OI (toy, joy)

- )o (oats, note)

- ao (clown, vow)

- O) (bored, poured)

- I) (deer, pier)

- ε) (hair, bear)

- o) (cure, fuel)


Triphthongs:


There are also vowel sequences, known as Triphthongs, where three vowels are pronounced together. Triphthongs are formed by the addition of the / )/ sound to some diphthongs. Here are the five triphthongs in English:


- / )/ as in "tyre"

- / )/ as in "tower"

- / )/ as in "greyer"

- / )/ as in "grower"

- / )/ as in "royal"


All these categories will be discussed extensively in the section that provides a detailed description of the English vowels.


Consonant Sounds:


- /p/ - pip, pot

- /b/ - bat, bug

- /t/ - tell, table

- /d/ - dog, dig

- /k/ - cat, key

- /g/ - get, gum

- /f/ - fish, phone

- /v/ - van, vat

- /θ/ - thick, thump, faith

- /ð/ - these, there, smooth

- /s/ - sat, sit

- /z/ - zebra, zap

- /ʃ/ - ship

- /3/ - treasure, leisure

- /h/ - hop, hut

- /tʃ/ - chip

- /dʒ/ - lodge, judge

- /m/ - man, mummy

- /n/ - man, pan

- /ŋ/ - sing, wrong

- /l/ - let, lips

- /r/ - rub, ran

- /w/ - wait, worm

- /j/ - yet, yacht


The consonants will be discussed extensively in the section that provides a detailed description of the English consonants.


CONCLUSION


We now understand that the sounds of English differ from the letters of the English alphabet. Consequently, we can say that the letters of the English alphabet serve as graphic representations of the sounds of English on paper. Interestingly, English spelling cannot be considered a reliable guide to English pronunciation.


SUMMARY


In this unit, you explored the fascinating differences between the sounds of English and the letters of the English alphabet. The unit also provided insightful information about the way these sounds are pronounced in words.


REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS

Abercrombie, D. (1967). Elements of General Phonetics. Edinburgh:

Edinburgh University Press.

Awonusi, S. (2001). Coping with English Pronunciation. Lagos: Obaro

and Ogbinaka publications

Carr, P. (1999). English Phonetics and Phonology: An Introduction.

Oxford: Blackwell.

Couper, K. (1986). An Introduction to English Prosody. London:

Edward Arnold

Cruttenden, A. (2001). Gimson’s Pronunciation of English. 6th ed.,

Revised and edited version of A. C. Gimson’s original book.

London: Edward Arnold.

http://www.ex.ac.uk/-bosthause/Lecture/hockett.htm

http://www.celt.stir.ac.uk/staff

Jones, D. (2000). English Pronouncing Dictionary. Oxford: OUP

Ogbulogo, C. (2002). Oral English Manual. Lagos: Sam Ironanusi

Publications.

www.bbcenglish.co.uk

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