the sound of a lang can be approached and described in two (2) different ways:

phonetics = it examines the physical properties of sounds; investigates how different sounds are
produced (articulatory phonetics), transmitted through the air, and heard (perceived) by the hearer
(acoustic phonetics). Phonetics deals with the “material” aspect of sounds

phonology = it examines the function of sounds within the system of one particular lang. Phonology
deals with the “organizational” aspect (“behaviour”) of sounds.

Articulatory Phonetics
articulatory vs acoustic phonetics

articulatory phonetics (def) = what happens in the human body while producing speech
sounds, “aspects of phonetics which looks at how the sounds of speech are made with the
organs of the vocal tract” Ogden (2009:173)

acoustic phonetics (def) = what happens in the air between the speaker’s mouth and the
listener’s ear

diaphragm (midriff)

the air pressure in the lungs is higher than the air pressure in the atmosphere → you exhale

the air pressure in the lungs is lower than the air pressure in the atmosphere → you inhale

vocal tract (toldalékcső) (def) = the tube of structures that contains the throat and the head; the cavity
above the larynx (voice box), including the pharynx, oral cavity, and nasal cavity

VOWELS (the English vowels fall into two (2) main groups): (ch7)
(1) monophthongs (def) = characterized by a stable articulation: the speech organ maintains
the same position throughout the duration of the vowel; the end of the monophthongs is the
same as the beginning. Monophthongs are transcribed with one (1) symbol

all Hungarian vowels are monophthongs

 (2) diphthongs (def) = are vowels during which the speech organs change their position: the
end of the diphthongs is different from its beginning. Diphthongs are transcribed with two (2)
symbols

manner of articulation of ENG vowels (monophthongs/diphthongs, full/weak vowel)

tongue position - describing the place of articulation of vowels, the most important feature is the
position of the tongue

(1) horizontally: front (palatal), central, back (velar) position

(2) vertically: close (high), half-closed, half-open, open (low) position

If you pronounce /i: – ɪ – e – æ/ or /u: – ʊ – ɔ: – ɑ:/ you will feel your tongue travelling vertically
downwards and your mouth becoming more and more open. If you pronounce /i: – u:/ or /e
– ɜ: – ɔ:/ or /æ – ʌ – ɑ:/ you will feel your tongue travelling horizontally towards the back of
your mouth.
received pronunciation (RP) = the most prestigious Standard British English Pronunciation “received
at court”

digraphs (def) = a combination of two letters to express a single sound, e.g. ENG sh in ship, or HUN ny
in lány

a vowel-digraphs are not necessary represent diphthongs; a single vowel-letter is not

necessary pronounced as a monophthong

CONSONANTS
are classified according two major criteria: (1) manner of articulation and (2) place of articulation

(1) manner of articulation – two (2) main class:

obstruents (akadályhangok) – stops, fricatives, affricatives,

sonorants (zengőhangok)*** – nasals, liquids, glides/semivowels*

(2) place of articulation – 8 places for ENG consonants (7 in the mouth, 1 in the larynx)

manner and place combined – all 24 consonants are arranged (Table 4.7.)

vowels consonants
can be pronounced alone can only be pronounced with vowel (not true for
all tho)
no obstacle in the oral cavity (articulatory obstacle (aka constriction) in the oral cavity
distinction) (not true for all tho)

vocoids vs contoids – articulatory distinction true for them

vocoids – no obstacle in the oral cavity; all vowels are vocoids (but not all vocoids are vowels, e.g.
glides)
contoids – obstacle in the oral cavity; all contoids are consonants

*Glides, offglides, onglides

glides/semivowels (def) = they are vowels, but very short and transitional: the speech organs
immediately glide over to the following vowel. /j/ /w/

/j/ is like a short and quick /i/, and /w/ is like a short and quick /u/

consonant /j/ - called “yod”

palatal glide → palatal sounds are produced by touching or approximating the hard
palate (aka front part of the roof of the mouth)

can only appear before a vowel,

it functions in three (3) different ways, distinguished in spelling

consonant /w/

labio-velar glide → the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate (the
velum), and the lips are rounded – but the articulation immediately glides on to the
following vowels

can only appear before a vowel

offglides (def) = the final, weaker part of a diphthong; not a separated sound, only part of a sound

e.g. the /ɪ/ sound of the /ɔɪ/ in ENG boy

onglides (def) = the first, weaker part of a complex vowel (such as a diphthong)

e.g. the /j/ sound of the /ju:/ (complex vowel) in ENG few

Phones and Phonemes

aspired vs unaspired stops

phone (def) = a phonetic (physical) sound

phoneme (def) = an abstract (linguistic) unit that counts as one is a lang

allophone (def) = alternants of a phoneme, whose occurrence is regularly predictable form the
environment, are called the allophones of the phoneme

allophones are is complementary distribution, aka where one appears, the other does not

**Tense (feszes), Lax (laza) (ch8) – functional classification of ENG full vowels
all diphthongs count as tense,

all short vowels count as lax,

the “pure” long vowels (long monophthongs) are divided

 “tense/lax” classification of full vowels

open and closed syllables

syllable (def) = the basic unit of suprasegmental pronunciation

open syllables end in a vowel

closed syllables end in a consonant

full vs reduced/weak vowels

it is a characteristic of ENG that the vowels of unstressed syllables usually become weak: their
articulation is short, indeterminate, usually schwa (/ə/), weak /i/, /ɪ/ or weak /u/, /ʊ/

all other vowels when they are stressed, are full vowels

(1) full vowels occur in stressed syllables; primary, secondary or tertiary stressed

(2) reduced/weak vowels occur in unstressed syllables

schwa: /ə/

the most frequent (most common reduced) vowel in ENG speech is /ə/, the “neutral vowel”,
traditionally called schwa

weaking to schwa is especially important in the so called “weak forms” of function-words

(pronouns, auxiliaries etc.)

Central, unrounded, short, obscure vowel. Only occurs in unstressed syllables. Cannot stand
before another vowel. My result from the weaking of any other vowels, so its spelling can be
any vowel-grapheme.

***Sonority
sonority (def) = relative loudness of speech compares to other speech sounds;

sonority scale/hierarchy (def) = a hierarchical ranking of speech sounds (or phones)

most sonorous (weakest vowels

consonantality)
(1) glides
(2) liquids
 (3) nasals
(4) voiced fricatives
(5) voiceless fricatives
(6) voiced stops
Least sonorous (strongest (7) voiceless stops
consonantality)

sonority sequencing principle (SSP) = is a phonotactic principle that aims to explain or predict the
structure of a syllable in terms of sonority

the SSP states that the syllable nucleus (syllable centre), often a vowel, constitutes a sonority
peak that is preceded and/or followed by a sequence of segments – consonants – with
progressively decreasing sonority values

Syllable structure
onset (def) = the consonants at the beginning of a syllable

rhyme (def) = the rest of the syllable, that is the vowel plus the consonants following it

rhyme is divided into peak/nucleus (normally the vowel) and the coda (that is optional; the rhyme
may have no coda, as in a word like ‘me’)

the onset is also not obligatory

SYLLABIFICATION/ division

phonological principle

(1) the rule of maximal onsets: The stressed syllable begins with as many consonants s would
be possible at the beginning of an ENG word;

where two syllables are to be divided, any consonants between them should be attached to
the right-hand syllable, not the left, as far as possible

(2) stressed syllables containing a lax vowel should end in a consonant

morphological principle
Acoustic Phonetics
amplitude = loudness

wavelength = pitch (hangmagasság); voice-height

tuning fork → A at 440 Hz

(lowest audible frequency 20 HZ)

F0 = pitch, the simple wave with the longest wavelength

F1, F2, F3, etc = simple waves with gradually shorter wavelengths

F2-F1 = the higher the difference, the more forward your tongue is

Stress
stress (def) = is a property of certain syllables, and can be defined as loudness; a stressed syllable is
louder than an unstressed syllable (greater amplitude in waveform)

stress is a rhythmic feature

stressed syllables always have a full vowel

degree of stress – we distinguish three (3) degree of stress

(1) primary stress: is loud, has a full vowel, and is the last (or only) stress in the word;
indicated with ab upper mark /’/

(2) secondary stress: is loud, has a full vowel, but is followed by another stresse later in the
word; indicated with a lower mark /, /

(0 - code) unstressed syllable: is not loud, and usually has a weak vowel (=weak syllable); but
it may have a full vowel (=strong-unstressed syllable)
stress pattern for compound words

the compound nouns – the stress is on the first part e.g. /‘BLACK,bird/ and /’RAIL,road/

compound adjective – the stress is on the second part e.g. /,bad-‘TEMpered/ and /old-
‘FASHioned!

compound verbs – the stress is on the second part e.g. /,under’STAND/ and /,over’FLOW/

Connected Speech