char-conso
Characters, Pronunciation of letters
by U Kyaw Tun, M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.). Not for sale. Prepared for students of TIL Computing and Language Center, Yangon, MYANMAR.
This file corresponds to pages 10, 11 and 12 in the downloaded pdf file:
p10 p11 p12
Contents of this page
Pronunciation of Letters - consonants
Consonants
A Comparison of Systems
Consonants (Pulmonic) - IPA
English consonants - DJPD16
Pali-Latin consonants - Narada Thera
Pali-Myanmar consonants - Yangon Dist. Univ. 2003
Pali language and me (cont.) - notes to myself for
future work
indx-pali |
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Contents of this page
k (U006B) ≅ k in <key> /kiː/
g (U0067) ≅ g in <get> /get/
ṅ (U1E45) ≅ ng in <ring> /rɪŋ/
c (U0063) ≅ ch in <rich> /rɪtʃ/
j (U006A) ≅ j in <jug> /dʒʌg/
ñ (U00F1) ≅ gn in <signor> /'siː.njɔːʳ/
ṭ (U1E6D) ≅ t in <not> /nɒt/
ḍ (U1E0D) ≅ d in <hid> /hɪd/
ṇ (U1E47) ≅ n in <hint> /hɪnt/
p (U0070) ≅ p in <lip> /pɪn/
b (U0062) ≅ b in <rib> /rɪb/
m (U006D) ≅ m in <him> (strong form)
/hɪm/, (weak form) /ɪm/
y - palatal-semivowel, r - cerebral-semivowel,
l - dental-semivowel, v - dental-labial-semivowel,
y (U0079) ≅ y in <yard> /jɑːd/
r (U0072) ≅ r in <rat> /ræt/
l (U006C) ≅ ll in <sell> /sel/
v (U0076) ≅ v in <vile> /vaɪl/
s - dental (sibilant)
s (U0073) ≅ s in <sit> /sɪt/
h - aspirate
h (U0068) ≅ h in <hut> /hʌt/
ḷ (U1E37) ≅ l in <felt> /felt/
niggahita
ṃ (U1E43) ≅ ng in <sing> /sɪŋ/
by UKT:
Which is more important in the study of languages: spoken form or written form? It seems
that in the West the spoken form is more important than the written form. In Myanmar, we have
a saying that "what we write is correct and how we say is just sound".
|
.
With this motto in mind I will make a comparison between Burmese-Myanmar system of
writing and the English-Latin system.
Though the objective is the study of Pali consonants, it is advisable to look into:
• IPA (International Phonetic Association) consonants
• English consonants
IPA (revised to 1993, corrected 1996). See
table given by IPA and
Pulmonic consonants
Note: the characters in the following table are phonetic characters, and are
represented in text within / /, e.g. /p/.
UKT: An interesting observation at this point is the way IPA look at the order of POA -- exactly the opposite way Burmese-Myanmar looks. Burmese-Myanmar starts from the glottis and moves out towards the lips ({ka.} to {pa.}), whereas, IPA starts from the lips and moves in towards the glottis (/p/ to /k/). I am using the POA order in comparing Burmese-Myanmar consonants to the English-Latin consonants which is fundamentally important in formulating Romabama.
UKT: -- See Occlusive consonants in my Phonetics for Myanmar (primarily based on UNIL).
The “occlusives” require a complete closure of the speech canal, not just a restriction. This distinguishes them from the continuants.
UKT: New comers into a field usually gets bogged down by "technical" terms used by different authors. The only way to get out of the mess is to consult a good dictionary.
continuant n. Linguistics 1. A consonant, such as s, z, m, or l, that can be prolonged as long as the breath lasts without a change in quality. -- AHTD
occlusive adj. 1. Occluding or tending to occlude. n. Linguistics 1. An oral or a nasal stop. -- AHTD
plosive Linguistics adj. 1. Of, relating to, or being a speech sound produced by complete closure of the oral passage and subsequent release accompanied by a burst of air, as in the sound (p) in pit or (d) in dog. n. 1. A plosive speech sound. Also Called stop . [From explosive ] -- AHTDThe occlusives may be divided into:
• 13 characters for oral stops or oral plosives - /p b/ /t d/ /ʈ ɖ/ /c ɟ/ /k g/ /q ɢ/ /ʔ/
• 7 characters for nasals - /m ɱ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ/
When you compare this to Pali-Latin consonants and Pali-Myanmar consonants, you will see that all
{wag}-akhsaras (possibly with the exception of Pali-Myanmar {sa.}-group) are
"plosives" or "occlusives" of IPA.
Because IPA has placed /s/ and /z/ in the same row as /θ/ and /ð/ as
"fricatives", I am not sure where to put the Burmese-Myanmar
{sa.} and
{za.}. A solution at this point is to say that Burmese-Myanmar
{sa.} is not exactly like the IPA /s/ but is more like the IPA /c/. Similarly, Burmese-Myanmar
{za.} is not the /z/ of IPA, but is more like the IPA /ɟ/.
They are to be treated as palatal plosives.
(Daniel Jones English Pronouncing Dictionary, 16th ed.)
Note: the characters in the table on the left are phonetic characters, and are represented in text within / /, e.g. /b/.
In the following, I have tried to "observe" the movement of POA from
glottis
towards the lips, using the familiar way of pronouncing the Burmese-Myanmar
consonants from
{ka.} to
{pa.}. To smooth out the movement, I have to move the English-Latin /s/ and /z/
(red letters) to correspond to the Burmese-Myanmar {sa.} and {za.} (blue letters).
The movement of POA can be observed if you say the Burmese-Myanmar consonants
in the order:
/k/
{ka.} -> /s/
{sa.} -> /ʧ/
{kya.} -> /ʃ/
{thhya.} -> /t/
{ta.} -> /θ/
{tha.} -> /f/
{pha.}? -> /p/
{pa.}
If you say it slowly you will notice that /s/
seems out of place between /k/
and /ʧ/
.
This is the reason, as pointed out to me by my friend U Tun Tint (of MLC), why
/s/
(and its voiced counter-part /z/
should not have been in row 2 of the matrix.
However, if you have noticed that the English-Latin pronunciation of /t/ is
between that of Burmese-Myanmar {ta.} and {hta.}, leaning more towards {hta.}
(remember my name Tun is {htun:}), you may want to pronounce the consonants in
the order:
/k/
{hka.} -> /s/
{hsa.} -> /ʧ/
{hkya.} -> /ʃ/
{thhya.} -> /t/
{hta.} -> /ð/
{tha.} -> /v/
{bha.}? -> /b/
{ba.}
To complete the comparison of Pali-Myanmar to English-Latin, I have added /ɲ/ (in blue) to stand for
{ña.}.
We can make another observation. Burmese-Myanmar allows only 4 conjuncts: with
{ya.}
(
{ya.ping.}),
{ra.} (
{ra.ris}),
{wa.} (
{wa.hswè:}) and
{ha.} (
{ha.hto:}). Leaving the {ha.hto:} out, we notice that these correspond to the
English approximants, /j/ (standing for English "y"), /r/, and /w/.
My good friend, U Tun Tint, of Myanmar Language Commission, is of the opinion that what I have done is too artificial. And suggested that Burmese-Myanmar {sa.} and {za.} are not plosive, and should not have been in the second row of the Myanmar matrix. And their place should have been occupied by characters with the sounds /ʧ/ (U02A7) and /ʤ/ (U02A4). Here it should be noted that Burmese-Myanmar has characters corresponding to /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ in the form of the medials {kya.} and {gya.}. However, my argument is, since the matrix is strictly for basic characters, these two medials do not belong to row 2.
At this point, my suggestion is Burmese-Myanmar {sa.} and {za.} are "different" from English-Latin <s> and <z>. However, the pronunciations are so similar that they are easily mistaken to be the same. Then, what about Pali?. My suggestion is Pali is under very heavy influence of Sanskrit, and therefore, it would behave like Sanskrit. Then, what about Magadi (assuming that Pali and Magadi are different languages as contended by Chi Hisen-lin, Journal of the Burma Research Society (JBRS), XLIII, i, June 1960.) ? To this question, I have no answer! Yet, it is my "wild" conjecture that if we are to make a choice as to which language Magadi, the language of Buddha, is similar (in pronunciation) -- Pali-Latin or Burmese-Myanmar -- I would say that it would be more similar to Burmese-Myanmar than to Pali-Latin.
-- based on Ven. Narada Thera
http://www.vipassana.info/pali%20contents.htm
Pali language written in Myanmar and all the countries where the respective scripts are based on the ancient Asoka (Brahmi) script (e.g. India and Sri Lanka) goes according to the written form. Asoka script is a phonemic script and uses an alphasyllabary or abugida instead of an alphabet, and is presented in a matrix of rows and columns -- along phonemic lines.
The Myanmar script (descended from Asoka script) is made up of 7 rows and 5 columns. The first row or ka-group is made up of consonants with sounds close to /k/, /g/ and /ŋ/. This row is known as the "Gutturals", a phonetic term, frowned on by Western linguists. Ka-group is followed by "Palatals", "Cerebrals", "Dentals", and "Labials". The rest are presented as a mixed group.
UKT:
y - palatal-semivowel, r - cerebral-semivowel, l - dental-semivowel, v - dental-labial-semivowel,
s - dental (sibilant), h - aspirate, ḷ (U0323 dot-below), ṃ (U0323 dot-below) - niggahita
Note that the characters in the following table correspond to the letters of Pali alphasyllabary or abugida where all the consonant characters have inherent vowels sometimes described as English short-a. For example, the consonant k already contains an inherent short-a and should be written in Romabama as {ka.}. However to retain conformity with regular English, the inherent vowel has been left out. E-Pali characters will be represented in the text as bold or within [ ], e.g. [k], [kh].
| c1 | c2 | c3 | c4 | c5 | |||
| Gutturals | k | kh | g | gh | ṅ | ka group | |
| Palatals | c | ch | j | jh | ñ | ca group | |
| Cerebrals | ṭ | ṭh | ḍ | ḍh | ṇ | ṭa group | |
| Dentals | t | th | d | dh | n | ta group | |
| Labials | p | ph | b | bh | m | pa group | |
| Mixed | y | r | l | v | |||
| Dental (sibilant) | s | ||||||
| Aspirate | h | ||||||
| Cerebral | ḷ | ||||||
| Niggahita | ṃ |
The characters in Mixed group are described as:
y -- Semivowel Palatal
r -- Semivowel Cerebral
l -- Semivowel Dental
v -- Semivowel Dental and Labial
Niggahita implies a true nasal without any colouring of {na.}, {ma.} and other
nasal consonants.
• niggahīta
{naig-ga.hi.ta.} -- PTS 354
Symbols:
/
There is no difference between the pronunciation of "ṅ" [UKT:
{än}] and "ṃ" [UKT:
{thé:thé:ting}]. The former, "ṅ", never stands at the end [UKT: coda?],
but is always followed by a consonant of its group.
- by UKT based on Yangon Dist. Univ. 2003.
UKT:
• Western (English) "Pali" characters are bold letters.
• In Romabama, the position after a regular English letter is reserved for
{ya. ping.},
{ra. ris},
{wa. hswè:} and
{ha. hto:}. e.g. {kha.} will correspond to
(not allowed -- not pronounceable)
• Those who are familiar with previous versions of Romabama would notice that
there have been some changes to Romabama spellings. The changes have to be made,
because it is found that diagraphs are unsuitable in the coda. Diagraphs in such
Romabama syllables with the CVÇ structure tend to suggest that there are two
killed aksharas when in fact only one is allowed in Burmese-Myanmar. However,
the use of diagraphs for r1c5 /ŋ/ and r6c5 /θ/ has to be made an exception
because no suitable ASCII characters are available. Similarly, the use of h
in c2 aksharas is unavoidable. The most important change is in {thé:thé:ting} in
which {-n°} is substituted with {än}. You will also notice that the long vowel
a is now represented with {à}
Important note: Yangon Dist. Univ. 2003. is described the group
containing the 7 {a.wag} aksharas ({ya.}, {ra.} as
{a.Gau-tha.} (Surds or voiceless).
{hTaan} -- POA (Place of Articulation) |
Consonants |
|
|
{a-sauk} - hard palate |
Palatals - {sa.}-group |
{a-htaip} - soft palate or retroflex |
Cerebrals or Linguals - {Ta.}-group |
{thwa:} - teeth |
Dentals - {ta.}-group |
{nhoat-hkam:} - lips |
Labials - {pa.}-group |
{nha-hkaung:} - nose |
Nasals - {nga.} {ña.}-group |
UKT:
Unlike English-Latin which uses an alphabet, Pali-Myanmar and Burmese-Myanmar
write in a alphasyllabary commonly known as abugida where all the consonant
characters have inherent vowels sometimes described as English short-a. This is
the reason, why Romabama represents
as {ka.} instead of k .
In the following table, the consonant
already contains an inherent short-a and should be written {ka.}.
Though is common practice to retain conformity with regular English
by leaving out the inherent vowel and writing it as k,
I have not done so. My intention is bring out the importance of virama
{a.thut} or "killing" of the inherent vowel in the Pali-Myanmar and
Burmese-Myanmar abugida.
Myanmar characters like the Indic characters are traditionally presented in a matrix. There are 7 rows and 5 columns in Myanmar matrix. Characters within { } are Romabama characters -- not phonetic characters.
Consonants in c2 (column 2) and c5 (column) in rows 1 to 5 are not present in English alphabet.
They are said be aspirates, and the h is added to the preceding character to show the
aspiration. In the transliterations of Indic scripts the h is added after the English
base character, e.g. r1c1 k —> r1c2 kh. I have not used this practice in Romabama,
because the position(s) after the base character is reserved for conjunct forming characters:
{ya.ping.},
{ra.ris},
{wa.hswè:} and
{ha.hto:}, e.g.:
{kya̸ya} = {kywa.}
The story is the same. Because of my wide interest in Learning (or Education), I have never come to the end of the study of a discipline. I usually come back to continue it, again and again: refreshing my memory, my thoughts, my understanding, and re-organising my understanding in my mind. And to prepare myself for the continuation, I usually leave notes -- to myself of a later period -- to help me to continue. The same is with my study of Pali. I will have to stop here for the time being to pursue the study of another subject.
{ka.}-group
The term Gutteral is not used by Western linguists: the term "velar plosive" is used, see IPA Pulmonic Consonants. I have not used the terms given in E-Pali because of the possible confusion of terms. The fifth consonant (r1c5) is the velar nasal /ŋ/. It is present in English syllables: e.g. see DJPD16 p365 on "pronouncing letters NG".
<sing> /sɪŋ/ -- the nearest in Burmese-Myanmar is
: NOT
. See DJPD16 490
<ringing> /ˈrɪŋ.ɪŋ/
/ŋ/ is only present in the coda and not in the onset of the English syllables. See DJPD16 for explanations of the terms "coda" and "onset". Romabama uses only the English characters that can be inputted directly from the keyboard and it represents this character as the digraph ng in {nga.}.
The POA of
{hka.} is between that of
{ka.} and
{ga.}. To me,
{hka.} is a consonant in its own right, not just an aspirate of
{ka.}.
{Ga.} sounds exactly like
{ga.}, though U Kawwida of Toronto Myanmar-Buddhist monastery insisted (in 2004) that
there is an h sound involved.
{sa.}-group
By virtue of position this group corresponds to the
Palatals leaning towards Alveolar of E-Pali. Therefore, I have
placed it in Post-alveolar. See
English consonants - DJPD16.
This is the most confusing group because of the Pali-Myanmar {s} and {z} (the same as Burmese-Myanmar) are best described as alveolar fricatives not as palatals. Note the absence of palatals in English. See See English consonants - DJPD16.
• The Western phonetic term "palatal" can be applied only to one English phoneme /j/ which is the English letter y. The E-Pali letter j is not the phoneme /j/. See pronouncing the "letter J" and "letter Y" in DJPD16.
• The English consonant letter c has four pronunciations: /s, k, ʃ/ and /ʧ/. See pronouncing the "letter C". The IPA phoneme /ʧ/ is represented by some American authors as /č/.• Before the vowel letters [ i ], [e] or [y] (when functioning as vowel letter), c is pronounced as /s/, e.g.: <specific> /spəˈsɪf.ɪk/; <cell> /sel/; <cycle>/ˈsaɪ.kļ/.
<cell> is close to.
• In suffixes -cial, -cious, -ciate, -cient and their derivatives, c is realised as /ʃ/ , e.g.: <social> /ˈsəʊ.ʃ əl (US) ˈsoʊ-/; <vicious>/ˈvɪʃ.əs/.
<social> is close to-->
-->
-- Burmese-Myanmar orthography has adopted <socialist> as{hso-rhèý-lis}. Myan-ortho p080.
• In most other situations, c is pronounced as /k/ , e.g.: <cat>/kæt/; <critic> /ˈkrɪt.ɪk (US) ˈkrɪt̬-/
<cat> is close to-->
{kak}
• c can be silent. There are two occasions when this can occur: the combination ct in some words, and in British place names such as Leicester, e.g.: <Leicester> /ˈles.təʳ (US) -tɚ/; <indict> /ɪnˈdaɪt/
• An exceptional pronunciation for c is /ʧ/ in some words borrowed from Italian, e.g.: <cello>/ˈʧel.əʊ (US) -oʊ/; <Cinquecento> /ˌʧɪŋ.kweɪˈʧen.təʊ (US) -oʊ/.
<cello> is close to{hkèý-lo}
• A final exception: <Caesar> /ˈsɪː.zəʳ (US) -zɚ/
<Caesar> is close to{hsi-za}
In English words the letter c never has the Burmese-Myanmar
• c is not present in English phonetics. See English consonants - DJPD16. However c is present in some other languages. See IPA table of Consonants (Pulmonic) - IPA .
• If you are a Myanmar you will notice that:
•
•{ta.}-{da.} pair is produced just behind the upper front teeth with the tip of tongue touching the alveolar ridge (the bony part with alveoli or teeth sockets).
•The left member of each pair is voiceless and the right member is voiced (i.e. with vibration of vocal cords.). You might feel that the POA of voiceless member is in front of the POA of the voiced member. Notice that palatal sound is produced in the palate (hard palate) region, velar sound in the soft palate region, and uvular sound in the uvular region.
Test for voicing: Voicing simply means vibration of vocal cords. Place your finger lightly on the area of Adam's apple. You can feel the vocal cords vibrating while you are saying the word aloud. Even if you are a woman, you can do this test. Remember that some consonant sounds seem voiceless to some observers but voiced to others.
• /c/ (U0063) is voiceless palatal plosive (or stop) and it is produced with the tongue tip directed down towards the lower teeth, while the tongue body makes contact with the hard palate.
• /ɟ/ (U025F) is voiced palatal plosive (or stop) and is the same as /c/, but with vibration of the vocal cords. The corresponding palatal nasal /ɲ/ (U0272) is usually voiced as well. (UNIL)
See Consonants (Pulmonic) - IPA•Myanmars can now imagine that /c/ would be very close to
The matrix-position occupied by E-Pali c is occupied by Burmese-Myanmar
• canda (meaning: Moon) ={san~da}
If we were to go along pronunciation of c (as ch in <rich>), the problem becomes worse, because the ch pronunciation in Myanmar is given by a conjoined consonant {hka.+ya. –> hkya.}The matrix-position occupied by ch is occupied by Burmese-Myanmar
• chanda (meaning: intention) ={hsan~da.}
The fifth consonant (r2c5) is a "nasal".
{hkya.}-group
Though there is no
row2 c1 c2 c3 c4 c5 E-Pali [c] [ch] [j] [jh] [ñ] [c]-group [Palatals] M-Pali = E-Pali Pali-Myanmar {sa.}-group Romabama {sa.} {hsa.} {za.} {Za.} {ña.} The following table shows how some of the Myanmar words are rendered in phonetics.
from email of 2004 Jan 27.
Myanmar word Romabama Dr. Ko Lay
(IPA symbols)U Tun Myint
(non-IPA, used in Japan){kywun} /tɕũ/ /cun/ {kywut} /tɕuʡ/ /cu'/ {kying} /tɕĩ/ /cin/ {kyis} /tɕiʡ/ /ci'/ {hkyan} /tɕhã/ /chan/ {hkywun} /tɕhũ/ /chun/ {hkyak} /tɕɛʡ/ /chɛ'/ {kywak} /tɕwɛʡ/ /cwɛ'/ Now, in 2006, I have lost contact with Dr. Ko Lay, and unfortunately U Tun Myint has passed away. There is no way for me to check on Burmese-Myanmar of the above table.
{Ta.}-group
By virtue of position this group corresponds to the Cerebrals of E-Pali.The Burmese pronunciation of this group is the same as that of the next group the ta.-group. The fifth consonant (r3c5) is a "nasal".
{ta.}-group
By virtue of position this group corresponds to the Dentals of E-Pali.The dentals "t" and "d" are pronounced with the tip of the tongue placed against the front upper teeth. The fifth consonant (r4c5) is a "nasal".
{pa.}-group
By virtue of position this group corresponds to the Labials of E-Pali.Nasals and Aspirates
-- UKT
The discussion in these paragraphs involve the characters in rows 1 to 5. In Myanmar and Indic scripts the characters are arranged in a way to bring out the nasalities and aspirations of the consonants. Thus column 5 characters (rows 1 to 5) are nasals.
The column 2 and column 4 characters (rows 1 to 5) are described as "aspirates". In E-Pali and Indic scripts an h is added following an English letter. For example in E-Pali, r4c2 is th and r4c4 is dh. In Romabama form of M-Pali, the position after the first letter(s) is reserved for {ya.pin.}, {ra.ris}, {wa.hswè:} and {ha.hto:}. Thus, the (r4c2)
Burmese speaking Myanmars would notice that when you pronounce
in sequence, the tongue is touching the alveolar ridge for
In the series
The following terms used for the members of this group (individually and collectively) are to be checked:
• approximant (bilabial- , postalveolar- , palatal-)
• dental
• fricative
• semivowel
• sibilant
• trill
The links given above will lead you to the explanations and definitions in DJPD16, UNIL, and AHTD. The reader is advised to look up for explanations in other sources.According to Dr. Ko Lay,
c1 c2 c3 c4 c5 row 6 M-Pali/Myanmar Romabama {ya.} {ra.} {la.} {wa.} {tha.} row 7 M-Pali / Myanmar {ha.} {La.} {a.} • The position occupied by Myanmar
• The position occupied by Myanmar
Though this results in different pronunciations, the meanings remain the same. Example:
{wa sa} =vācā (meaning: word, voice)
{tha.ra.} = sara (meaning: sound, voice, intonation, accent)
Myanmar
The E-Pāḷi word Niggahita shows that a character with vertical ligature is involved. Examples of words with vertical ligature from PTS:
• niggahīta (meaning: restrained, checked, rebuked, reproved) =
• nicca (meaning: permanent) =
• magga (meaning: road) =There is no difference between the pronunciation of "ṅ" and "ṃ". The former never stands at the end, but is always followed by a consonant of its group.
UKT note
DJPD16 p30. A phonetic term of comparatively recent origin, used to denote a consonant which makes very little obstruction to the airflow.
Examples for English
Traditionally approximants have been divided into two groups. Sounds in the first group are known as 'semivowels' such the /w/ and /j/, which are very similar to 'close vowels' such as [u] and [i] but are produced as a rapid glide. e.g.:<wet> /wet/
<yet> /jet/Liquids are sounds which have an identifiable constriction of the airflow but not one that is sufficiently obstructive to produce fricative noise, compression or the diversion of the airflow through another part of the vocal tract as in nasals. This category includes laterals such as /l/ and non-fricative /r/ (phonetically [ɹ] in the British English and [ɻ] in US English), e.g.:
<lead> /liːd/
<read> /riːd/Approximants therefore are never fricative and never contain interruptions to the airflow.
Go back Mixed-gr-bDJPD16 p144. A sound in which there is contact between the tongue and the front teeth.
Examples for English
In English, the dentals usually referred to are the FRICATIVES /θ/ and /ð/, of which /θ/is voiceless and /ð/is voiced. In a careful production of these sounds, the tongue tip may be protruded between the upper and lower teeth; the sounds are sometimes referred to as 'interdental' for this this reason, e.g.:
<thigh> /θaɪ/ <thy> /ðaɪ/ <ether> ˈiː.θər/(us)/-θɚ/ <either> /ˈaɪ.ðəʳ/(us)/-iːðɚ/ <breath> /breθ/ <breathe> /briːð/ Go back Mixed-gr-b
DJPD16 p216. A type of consonant made by forcing air through a narrow gap so that a hissing noise is generated. This may be accompanied by VOICING, in which case the sound is a voiced fricative, such as [z], or it may be voiceless, such as [s].
Examples for English
British and US English have nine fricative phonemes:/f θ s ʃ h/ (voiceless) and /v ð z ʒ/(voiced).All except /h/ are permitted to occur in all positions in English, but/ʒ/ as in <measure> /ˈmeʒə/is of rather low frequency compared to the other eight sounds. /h/may not end a syllable.
The quality and intensity of fricative sounds varies greatly, but all are acoustically composed of energy at relatively high frequency -- an indication of this is that much of the fricative sound is too high to be transmitted over a phone (which usually cuts out the highest and lowest frequencies in order to reduce the cost), giving rise to confusion that often arise over sets of words like English <fin>, <thin>, <sin> and <shin>. In order for the sound quality to be produced accurately, the size and direction of the jet of air has to be very precisely controlled.
A distinction is sometimes made between 'sibilant' or 'strident' fricatives (such as [s] and [ ʃ ]) which are strong and clearly audible and others which are weak and less audible (such as [θ]and [f]).
Go back Mixed-gr-bPronouncing letters NG
DJPD16 p365. The main realisation for the consonant digraph [ng] is /ŋ/, e.g.:
<sing> /sɪŋ/
<ringing> /ˈrɪŋ.ɪŋ/Other pronunciations are possible, one being /ŋg/, e.g.:
<finger> /ˈfɪŋ.gəʳ (US) -gɚ/
In addition
In many words spelt [nge], or where [ng] is followed by [i] or [y], the pronunciation is /nʤ/, e.g.:
<change> /ʧeɪnʤ/
<engine> /ˈen.ʤɪn/Go back pronun-let-NG-b
Semivowel
n. Linguistics 1. A sound that has the quality of one of the high vowels, as ( ¶) or ( ›), and that functions as a consonant before vowels, as the initial sounds of yell and well .Also Called glide . -- AHTD
Go back Mixed-gr-bsibilant Linguistics adj. 1. Of, characterized by, or producing a hissing sound like that of (s) or (sh): the sibilant consonants; a sibilant bird call. n. 1. A sibilant speech sound, such as English (s), (sh), (z), or (zh). [Latin sībilɑ̄ns sībilant- ,present participle of sībilāreto hiss] -- AHTD
Go back Mixed-gr-bDJPD16 p548. A speech sound produced by the rapid vibration of one the vocal organs.
Examples
The parts of the body that are used in speaking (the 'vocal apparatus') include some 'wobbly bits' that can be made to vibrate. When this type of vibration is made as a speech sound, it is called a trill. The possibilities include a BILABIAL trill, where the lips vibrate (used as a mild insult, this is sometimes called "blowing a raspberry", or, in the US, a 'Bronx Cheer'), a tongue-tip trill which is produced in many languages for a sound represented alphabetically as <r>, and a uvular trill, which is a rather dramatic way pronouncing a "uvular r" as found in French, German and many European languages, most commonly used in acting and singing.In British English, the trill most likely to occur is the ALVEOLAR trill, which is (perhaps confusingly) represented by the symbol [r] , and is an allophone of the English phoneme /r/. However, it most frequently occurs in restricted contexts, such as singing.
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