Spellings in English & Phonology ~ Grammar Tutor

INTRODUCTION

Phonetics - Phonetics is a science that studies the speech sounds.

Phonology - Phonology is a study of speech sounds in a particular language.

English spelling is not phonetic

In pointing out the deficiencies of the English alphabet, we are really calling attention to the fact that modern English spelling is not phonetic, that is, it does not accurately and consistently represent the sounds of speech. The spelling of old English was very nearly phonetic. How is it, then, that the spelling of today is not perfect as a symbolic representation of the spoken language?

The sounds of the spoken language are represented in writing by means of symbols known as the letters of the alphabet. In a perfect alphabet, every letter would be a phonetic symbols representing one sound and on only, and each sound would have its appropriate symbol. Judged by this standard the English alphabet can be called defective. We do not have enough symbols to represent all the sounds. There are 26 alphabets that have to represent 44 sounds and hence,-

a) The same symbol may represent many different sounds; e.g. (i) “a” in rat, tall, many* mane, want, bare, (ii) “o” in hot, woman, whose, hero, son.

b) The same sound may be represented by various symbols: e.g. hit, nymph, busy, women, sieve (All these words contain the vowel sound of hit.) fate, champagne, pail, vein, they, reign, gauged, steak (all these words contain the diphthongal sound of fate). On the other hand, some letters are superfluous: e.g. - “q” (quite equally well be written kw, “x” (ks = X-ray or gs = Xerox), “c” ( k=Cause, Continue, Cursive or S=Cement, Cinderella, Civil) examples of words.

VOWELS

A vowel is the speech - sound produced when the breath passes through the vocal chords and is not obstructed in the mouth.

The quality of the vowel is altered according to the position of the tongue and the lips and also the size of the mouth opening. There are thus theoretically an unlimited. number of vowel - sounds, though only a certain restricted number regularly occur in the given language.

Vowel - sounds are represented in English by letters (a,e,i,o,u,y ) and by symbols of groups of letters (au in aught i .e in believe, etc.)

CONSONANT

A consonant is a sound produced when the breath passing up from the lungs is more or less obstructed in the mouth. Thus the sound represented by P is produced by first obstructing the breath with the lips and then releasing it suddenly; the sound represented by a consonant is produced by squeezing the breath between the lower lip and the top teeth. Examples:

DIPHTHONG

A diphthong is a combination of two vowels- sounds forming one syllable e.g. the middle of the sound is house (a combination of the vowel - sounds in ma and put). A Diphthong may be represented by one or two symbols, as insight, boy. Note that the letter i stand for vowel in bit, but it stands for a diphthong in ‘ silent.’

Note :

It is important to understand clearly that “vowel”, “consonant” “diphthong” are all names of sounds, and not of symbols.

Diagraph

A diagraph is a double symbol used to represent single sound: e.g. - ae in Caesar, ph in physic.

SUMMARY

Phonology and phonetics deal with the study of speech sounds in a language. In English language, the alphabets are represented by the symbols of their sounds in phonetics. However many a times, these phonetic rules are not obvious. Based on these sounds the aplphabets are combined or solely classified as vowels, consonants, dipthongs and eliagraph.

Each deals with how the pronunciation of the respective alphabets or their combinations produce the particular sound.

QUESTIONS FOR SELF - STUDY

1) Discuss how far the English alphabet is efficient in representing speech sounds with the help of pairs such as e.g. Pen, pain, fill, feel.

2) What is meant by saying that modern English spelling is not phonetic? Illustrate this fact. How do you account for it?

3) Explain & illustrate the following terms : - Idiom, archaism, hybrid word, doublet, digraph.

4) Define clearly - vowel, consonant, and diphthong. Which of the following words contain diphthongs?

Buy, archaeology, mind, found, guise, beauty, brought, deal, teeth, moon, suit, flute.