College of Foreign Languages. Silesian Technical University

Name of the course:

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

Term:

winter

Year and group:

IA, IB

Lecturer:

Dr Rafał Borysławski

e-mail:

[e-mail]

Aims of the course:

• acquainting the students with the basic concepts in phonetics and phonetic

mechanisms

• teaching and practising the English vowel sounds
• teaching and practising phonetic transcription of spoken and written words
• teaching and improving students’ general English pronunciation

Course and course credit requirements:

• regular class attendance (2 unexcused absences are permitted)
• active participation in the class activities and phonetic drills
• satisfactory results in phonetic tests (every 3

rd

class)

• satisfactory result in the final theoretical and practical test

Bibliography / Resources:

• C. Gimson, An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English, (Edward Arnold, 1994)
• J. D. O’Connor, Better English Pronunciation, (Cambridge University Press,1995)
• Bronisława Bałutowa, Wymowa angielska dla wszystkich, (Wiedza Powszechna, 1972)
• phonetic tests are based on: L. G. Alexander, Practice and Progress, (Longman, 1967)

Detailed course outline:
Week 1.

Introduction to the course. The phonetic alphabet.

Week 2.

The stages and mechanism of the speech chain.

Week 3.

Description and classification of the speech sounds, place and manner of
articulation.

Week 4.

The English vowels; Cardinal Vowel Scale, vowels sheep and ship - [

I], [i:];

phonetic transcription test.

Week 5.

Phoneme, allophone, complementary distribution and other basic phonetic
and phonological notions; further practice of [

I] and [i:].

Week 6.

Vowels bed, bad and bud - [e], [æ] and [

ú].

Week 7.

Further practice of [e], [æ] and [ú]; phonetic transcription test.

Week 8.

Vowels car and bud - [

å:], [ú].

Week 9.

Vowels not and saw - [

ó], [Ø:].

Week 10.

Vowels err and shwa - [

¨:], [E], phonetic transcription test.

Week 11.

Vowels look and Luke - [

U], [u:].

Week 12. Practice of all the vowels. Diphthongs - division and classification.
Week 13. Diphthongs bay, by, boy - [

eI], [aI], [oI]; phonetic transcription test.

Week 14. Term test.
Week 15. The remaining diphthongs - how, low, tear, bear, tour - [

aU], [EU], [IE], [eE],

[

UE]. Triphthongs. Assessment and the close of the course.

I

NTERNATIONAL

P

HONETIC

A

LPHABET

English vowels:

i:

as in sheep

I

as in ship

e /

‰

as in bed

æ

as in bad

å:

as in father

ó

as in pot

Ø:

as in caught

U

as in put

u:

as in boot

ú

as in cut, bud

¨:

as in bird

E

as in banana

English diphthongs:

IE

as in beer

eE

as in bear

UE

as in boer

eI

as in bay

aI

as in buy

OI

as in boy

EU as in bow (noun), so

aU

as in bow (verb)

English consonants:

t

S

as in cheer

d

Z

as in jump

3

as in thing

T

as in then

S

as in fish

Z

as in pleasure

N

as in sung

w

as in wet

j

as in yet

The following consonant symbols have their usual English values:
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, z