Branches of phonetics: basic questions

Basic Review

Quiz about the branches of phonetics

  

Review all the posts about the branches of phonetics and then answer the questions. You will know if you remember the basic information. You only have two minutes to answer!

 

1. How many branches has phonetics?
   1.   One branch
   2.   Two branches
   3.   Three branches
   4.   Four branches
2. What is the object of study in articulatory phonetics?
   1.   It focuses on the properties of the sound waves and the relationship of these properties with other branches of phonetics.
   2.   It focuses on the perception of sounds or the way in which sounds are heard and interpreted.
   3.   It focuses on the production of the speech sounds.
3. What is the object of study in acoustic phonetics?
   1.   It focuses on the perception of sounds or the way in which sounds are heard and interpreted.
   2.   It focuses on the properties of the sound waves and the relationship of these properties with other branches of phonetics.
4. What of these groups form part of the middle ear?
   1.   The auricle and the auditory meatus
   2.   The cochlea, the vestibule of the ear, the semicircular canals, the organ of Corti and the auditory nerves
   3.   The eardrum, the ossicles, the oval window and the Eustachian tube
5. What of these groups form part of the inner ear?
   1.   The cochlea, the vestibule of the ear, the semicircular canals, the organ of Corti and the auditory nerves
   2.   The auricle and the auditory meatus

Voiced vs. voiceless

Voiced vs. Voiceless

Minimal pairs (voiced vs. voiceless)

Listen the recording carefully and match the items on the right to the items on the left. The words that you can listen are minimal pairs, the difference between these pairs is that one of the words has a voiced sound and the other one had a voiceless sound. There is no time to do the exercise so you can listen the recording whenever you want.

First word	??? The word is "buzz". It's voiced. The word is "zip". It's voiced. The word is "zoo". It's voiced. The word is "sip". It's voiceless. The word is "bus". It's voiceless. The word is "Sue". It's voiceless.
Second word	??? The word is "buzz". It's voiced. The word is "zip". It's voiced. The word is "zoo". It's voiced. The word is "sip". It's voiceless. The word is "bus". It's voiceless. The word is "Sue". It's voiceless.
Third word	??? The word is "buzz". It's voiced. The word is "zip". It's voiced. The word is "zoo". It's voiced. The word is "sip". It's voiceless. The word is "bus". It's voiceless. The word is "Sue". It's voiceless.
Fourth word	??? The word is "buzz". It's voiced. The word is "zip". It's voiced. The word is "zoo". It's voiced. The word is "sip". It's voiceless. The word is "bus". It's voiceless. The word is "Sue". It's voiceless.
Fifth word	??? The word is "buzz". It's voiced. The word is "zip". It's voiced. The word is "zoo". It's voiced. The word is "sip". It's voiceless. The word is "bus". It's voiceless. The word is "Sue". It's voiceless.
Sixth word	??? The word is "buzz". It's voiced. The word is "zip". It's voiced. The word is "zoo". It's voiced. The word is "sip". It's voiceless. The word is "bus". It's voiceless. The word is "Sue". It's voiceless.

Allophonic variants for English vowels

Welcome again to our blog!

Today we are going to learn the allophonic variants for English vowels. This is the last theoretical post of this subject. Were are going to design exercises for you to practise and they will appear in the next post. I hope you find them useful to reinforce your knowlege about the subject!

These are the allophonic symbols for the vowels:

[i]: "beat"     [ɪ]: "bit"     [e]: "bait"     [ɜ]: "nurse"

[æ]: "bat"     [ə]: "again"     [ʌ]: "but"     [u]: "boot"

[ʊ]: "book"     [o]: "boat"*     [ɔ]: "bought"     [ɒ]: "bob"

[ɑ]: "bath"

*American Pronunciation.

This allophones are written along with other symbols that specify characteristics of the vowels. For example to important symbols are [ː] and [ ˜]. The first one means that the vowels is long (it appears after a vowel symbol) and the second one means that the vowel is nasalized (it appears above a vowel symbol). 

That's all for today! I hope you find this useful. J

Reviewing diphthongs

Reviewing diphthongs

Read the text aloud and identify the sounds. Fill in all the gaps with the diphthongs that appear in the words on the left of the gap, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints! You will be able to write the diphthongs using this page: http://ipa.typeit.org/

At nine o'clock this morning I left the house and was walking down the hill to school. The sun was bright and the flowers seemed unusually nice . Sometimes I like to drive if it's cloudy or unpleasant outside . While I enjoy the walk down , it is certainly easier to be able to ride home at night . I live nearly a mile from school and it is a steep climb up the hill.
This morning my mind was occupied trying to remember the knowledge that was to be tested in one of my classes. However , I was not undisturbed long with my private thoughts. First I heard a loud cry and then saw a small crowd collecting. I couldn't account for the noise . I looked around and inquired about the noise . The point was that a child , a very small boy , had tried to swallow a coin . His mother had stopped him just as it was going down . After taking the coin away from him, and putting it inside her pocket, she gave him a spanking. I arrived just at this point and decided that she was certainly right . While it was only a small coin , he was only a small boy .