📘 MEG-04 BLOCK-3 (DETAILED
NOTES)
🔹 Structure of Block-3
According to IGNOU syllabus, Block-3 includes:
- Speech Mechanism
- Classification of Sounds
- Phonetic Transcription
& Phonology
- Consonants of English
- Vowels, Stress, Rhythm,
Intonation
✨ UNIT 1: THE SPEECH MECHANISM
(DETAILED)
🔶 1.1 What is Speech
Mechanism?
Speech mechanism refers to the biological and physical system
involved in producing speech sounds. It includes lungs, vocal cords,
and articulators.
👉 Speech production is a three-stage
process:
(1) Initiation (Air
Stream Mechanism)
- Air comes from lungs
- Most English sounds use pulmonic egressive air stream
(2) Phonation
(Voice Production)
- Takes place in larynx
- Vocal cords vibrate or
remain open
👉 Types:
- Voiced → cords vibrate
(/b, d, g/)
- Voiceless → no vibration
(/p, t, k/)
(3) Articulation
- Air is shaped into
sounds by speech organs
🔶 1.2 Organs of Speech
(Detailed Functions)
🔹 Active Articulators
- Tongue (tip, blade,
front, back)
- Lower lip
🔹 Passive Articulators
- Teeth
- Alveolar ridge
- Hard palate
- Soft palate (velum)
🔶 1.3 Important Concepts
Nasal vs Oral
Sounds
- Nasal → air passes
through nose (/m, n, ŋ/)
- Oral → air through mouth
Velum Function
- Raised → oral sound
- Lowered → nasal sound
✨ UNIT 2: CLASSIFICATION OF
SOUNDS (VERY DETAILED)
🔷 2.1 CONSONANTS (FULL THEORY)
🔶 A. Place of Articulation
(Detailed Explanation)
|
Place |
Description |
Examples |
|
Bilabial |
Both
lips |
/p,
b, m/ |
|
Labiodental |
Lip
+ teeth |
/f,
v/ |
|
Dental |
Tongue
+ teeth |
/θ,
ð/ |
|
Alveolar |
Tongue
+ ridge |
/t,
d, s/ |
|
Palatal |
Tongue
+ hard palate |
/ʃ,
ʒ/ |
|
Velar |
Back
of tongue + velum |
/k,
g/ |
|
Glottal |
Vocal
cords |
/h/ |
🔶 B. Manner of Articulation
(Advanced)
1. Plosives (Stops)
- Complete closure →
explosion
- /p, b, t, d, k, g/
2. Fricatives
- Narrow gap → friction
- /f, v, s, z/
3. Affricates
- Stop + friction
- /tʃ, dʒ/
4. Nasals
- Air through nose
- /m, n, ŋ/
5. Lateral
- Air flows from sides
- /l/
6. Approximants
(Semi-vowels)
- Slight obstruction
- /w, j, r/
🔶 C. Voicing (Deep Concept)
- Voiced → vibration
(e.g., /z/)
- Voiceless → no vibration
(e.g., /s/)
👉 Minimal pair example:
- fan vs van
🔷 2.2 VOWELS (ADVANCED THEORY)
🔶 A. Classification Criteria
(1) Tongue Height
- Close → /iː/
- Half-close → /e/
- Open → /a/
(2) Tongue Position
- Front → /iː/
- Central → /ə/
- Back → /uː/
(3) Lip Shape
- Rounded → /uː/
- Unrounded → /iː/
🔶 B. Monophthongs (Pure
Vowels)
- Stable sound
- Example: /ɪ/, /æ/, /ʌ/
🔶 C. Diphthongs
- Gliding vowels
- Types:
- Closing → /aɪ/, /eɪ/
- Centering → /ɪə/, /eə/
✨ UNIT 3: PHONETIC
TRANSCRIPTION & PHONOLOGY
🔷 3.1 PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION
(DETAILED)
Types:
- Broad transcription →
/kæt/
- Narrow transcription →
[kʰæt]
👉 Uses IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
🔷 3.2 PHONEME THEORY
Phoneme:
- Smallest meaningful
sound unit
Example:
- /p/ vs /b/ → pat vs bat
🔷 3.3 ALLOPHONES (ADVANCED)
- Variants of same phoneme
- Do not change meaning
Example:
- /p/ in pin (aspirated) vs spin (unaspirated)
🔷 3.4 MINIMAL PAIRS
- Words differing in one
sound
Examples:
- ship vs sheep
- bat vs bet
👉 Used to identify phonemes
🔷 3.5 PHONOLOGICAL RULES
- Rules governing sound
patterns
Types:
- Assimilation
- Elision
- Linking
✨ UNIT 4: SUPRASEGMENTAL
FEATURES (VERY IMPORTANT)
🔷 4.1 STRESS (DETAILED)
Types:
- Word stress
- Sentence stress
Example:
IMportvsimPORT
👉 Functions:
- Distinguishes meaning
- Highlights important
information
🔷 4.2 RHYTHM
English = Stress-timed language
👉 Characteristics:
- Equal time between
stressed syllables
- Weak syllables reduced
Example:
- “I WANT to GO to SCHOOL”
🔷 4.3 INTONATION (ADVANCED)
Types of Tone:
1. Falling Tone
- Statements
- Certainty
2. Rising Tone
- Questions
- Doubt
3. Fall-Rise Tone
- Uncertainty
- Politeness
🔷 Functions of Intonation
- Express emotion
- Show attitude
- Indicate grammatical
structure
🔷 4.4 CONNECTED SPEECH
PROCESSES
1. Assimilation
- Sound changes due to
neighboring sound
- good
boy →
/gʊb
bɔɪ/
2. Elision
- Sound omission
- next
day →
/neks deɪ/
3. Linking
- Words connected
- far
away →
/fɑːr
əweɪ/
