Lecture No. 5
Stops (plosives)
Stops are sounds produced when the airflow is completely stopped at some points in the mouth, and then released with a slight explosion. Such sounds can be explained and described as follows. Such sounds are /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/.
/p/ and /b/ are pronounced according to the following points:
1.The lips are closed firmly.
2.The soft palate is raised so that all the breath cannot get out through the nasal cavity.
When the two lips are opened suddenly, the breath rushes out with a slight explosion.
Such sounds can be described as follows:
/p/ is voiceless, bilabial, stop, strong. .
/b/ is voiced, bilabial, stop, weak. .
When /p/ occurs initially before vowels, it is called aspirated which means that the production of such a sound is accompanied by h as in pen /phen/. In this case, the vowel sound /e/ that occurs after /p/ becomes voiceless. Similarly, the voiced consonant that follows /p/ becomes voiceless as in play/ plei/. /b/ is unaspirated.
Examples: peak, beak, pack, back, port, bought, pride, bride, pit, bit, park, bark, pull, bull, plays, blaze, paper, labour, supper, rubber, simple, symbol, apply, oblige, pardon, part, pay, piece, place, company, complain, bath, because, behind, neighbour, table, number, brown, obey, harbour, public, both, able, break, bring, habit, bread.
/t/ and /d/ are produced according to the following notice:
1.The tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge.
2.The soft palate is raised, so the breath cannot escape through the nasal cavity. It stops in the mouth and then bursts out followed by explosion.
Such sounds can be described as follows:
/t/ is voiceless, alveolar, stop, strong.
/d/ is voiced, alveolar, stop, weak.
/t/ is aspirated similar to /p/ as in top /thop/. /d/ is unaspirated.
Examples: two, do, torn, dawn, ton, done, town, down, tune, dune, writer, rider, latter, ladder, water, warder, brought, broad, breed, breathe, load, loathe, towards, talk, taste, gate, great, dear, decide, dinner, ready, friend, shoulder, under, could, medicine, idea.
/k/ and /g/ are produced according to the following notice:
1.The back of the tongue touches the soft palate.
2.The soft palate is raised, so the breath cannot escape through the nasal cavity. It stops in the mouth and then it bursts out followed by explosion.
Such sounds can be described as follows:
/k/ is voiceless, velar, stop, strong.
/g/ is voiced, velar, stop, weak.
/k/ is aspirated similar to /p/ and /t/ as in car /kha:/.
Examples: cave, gave, card, guard, curl, girl, could, good, coal, goal, crow, grow, market, target, weaker, eager, carry, case, corner, count, cup, because, break, lock, mistake, go, ground, grow, guess, together, bigger, beg, drug, forget, language, gun.
Happy / hapi / , paper / peip ? / , shabby /?abi / , supper / s^p?/ , rubber / r^b? / , labor / leib? / , repel /ripel / , rebel / ribel / , simple / simpl / , symbol / simbl / , / apply / ?plai / , oblidge /?blaid3 / , marble / ma:bl / , marvel / ma:vl / , favour / feiv? / , navy / neivi / , rope / roup / , robe / roub / , tripe / traip / , tribe / traib / , wrap / rap / , glove / gl^v / , complete / k?mpli:t / , complain /k?mplein / , because / biko:z / , tune / tju:n / , torn / to:n / , tie / tai / , town / taun / , down / daun dawn / do:n / , latter / lat? / , water / wo:t? / , warder / wo:d? / , riding / raidi / , breeding / bri:di / , wedding / wedi / , loading / loudi / , bread / bred / , breathe / bri: / , breath / bre / , loathe /lou / , writhe / rai / , scythe / sai / , curl / k?:l / , guard / ga:d / , grow / grou / , goal / goul / , card / ka:d / , target / ta:git / , broke / brouk / , plague / pleig / .