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Introducing Linguistics
Introducing Linguistics brings together the work of scholars working at the cutting-edge of
the field of linguistics, creating an accessible and wide-ranging introductory level textbook for
newcomers to this area of study. The textbook:
• Provides broad coverage of the field, comprising five key areas: language structures, mind
and society, applications, methods, and issues;
• Presents the latest research in an accessible way;
• Incorporates examples from a wide variety of languages – from isiZulu to Washo – throughout;
• Treats sign language in numerous chapters as yet another language, rather than a ‘special
case’ confined to its own chapter;
• Includes recommended readings and resource materials, and is supplemented by a companion
website.
This textbook goes beyond description and theory, giving weight to application and
methodology. It is authored by a team of leading scholars from the world-renowned Lancaster
University department, who have drawn on both their research and extensive classroom
experience. Aimed at undergraduate students of linguistics, Introducing Linguistics is the ideal
textbook to introduce students to the field of linguistics.
Jonathan Culpeper is Professor of English Language and Linguistics in the Department of

Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University, UK.
Beth Malory is Lecturer in English Linguistics at University College London, UK, and
Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster
University, UK.
Claire Nance is Senior Lecturer in Phonetics and Phonology in the Department of Linguistics
and English Language at Lancaster University, UK.
Daniel Van Olmen is Senior Lecturer in Linguistic Typology and Language Change in the
Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University, UK.
Dimitrinka Atanasova is Lecturer in Intercultural Communication in the Department of

Sam Kirkham is Senior Lecturer in Phonetics in the Department of Linguistics and English
Language at Lancaster University, UK.
Aina Casaponsa is Lecturer in Language, Cognition and Neuroscience in the Department of

LEARNING ABOUT LANGUAGE
Series Editors:
Brian Walker, Huddersfield University, UK; Willem B. Hollmann, Lancaster University,
UK; and the late Geoffrey Leech, Lancaster University, UK
Series Consultant:
Mick Short, Lancaster University, UK
Learning about Language is an exciting and ambitious series of introductions to fun

damental topics in language, linguistics and related areas. The books are designed for
students of linguistics and those who are studying language as part of a wider course.
Also in this series:

The Sounds of Language: An Introduction to Phonetics
Henry Rogers
Analysing Sentences
An Introduction to English Syntax, Fourth Edition
Noel Burton-Roberts
The History of Early English

An Activity-based Approach
Keith Johnson
An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, Revised Third Edition

Keith Johnson
The History of Late Modern Englishes

An Activity-based Approach
Keith Johnson
Analysing Sentences
An Introduction to English Syntax, Fifth Edition
Noel Burton-Roberts
An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Sixth Edition

Janet Holmes and Nick Wilson
Critical Discourse Analysis

A Practical Introduction to Power in Language
Simon Statham
Edited by Jonathan Culpeper, Beth Malory, Claire Nance, Daniel Van Olmen,
Dimitrinka Atanasova, Sam Kirkham, and Aina Casaponsa
For more information about this series please visit: www.routledge.com/series/PEALAL

EDITED BY JONATHAN CULPEPER,

BETH MALORY, CLAIRE NANCE,
DANIEL VAN OLMEN, DIMITRINKA ATANASOVA,
SAM KIRKHAM, and AINA CASAPONSA
Designed cover image: Beth Malory
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Jonathan Culpeper, Beth Malory, Claire Nance, Daniel Van Olmen,
Dimitrinka Atanasova, Sam Kirkham, and Aina Casaponsa; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Jonathan Culpeper, Beth Malory, Claire Nance, Daniel Van Olmen, Dimitrinka Atanasova,
Sam Kirkham, and Aina Casaponsa to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the
authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by
any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Culpeper, Jonathan, 1966– editor.
Title: Introducing linguistics / edited by Jonathan Culpeper [and 6 others].
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. | Series: Learning about language | Includes
bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Introducing Linguistics brings together the work of scholars
working at the cutting-edge of the field of Linguistics, creating an accessible and wide-ranging introductory level
textbook for newcomers to Linguistics”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022032840 (print) | LCCN 2022032841 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Linguistics. | LCGFT: Essays.
Classification: LCC P121 .I56 2023 (print) | LCC P121 (ebook) | DDC 410—dc23/eng/20220804
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022032840
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022032841
ISBN: 978-0-367-49302-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-49301-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-04557-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003045571
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Access the companion website: www.routledge.com/cw/culpeper
Contents
Preface by Jonathan Culpeper viii
Section one: Language structures 1

1 Phonetics 3
Sam Kirkham and Claire Nance
2 Phonology 22
Claire Nance and Sam Kirkham
3 Morphology 42
Daniel Van Olmen
4 Syntax 64
Daniel Van Olmen
5 Semantics 93
Christopher Hart and Vittorio Tantucci
6 Pragmatics 115
Jonathan Culpeper and Claire Hardaker
Section two: Mind and society 137

7 Sociolinguistics 139
Beth Malory and Karin Tusting
8 Historical linguistics 159

Beth Malory
9 Language acquisition 186

Silke Brandt and Patrick Rebuschat
10 Studying discourse 205

Beth Malory
11 Bilingualism and multilingualism 226

Claire Nance and Aina Casaponsa
v
CONTENTS
12 Communication and culture 244

Dimitrinka Atanasova
Section three: Applications 261

13 Forensic linguistics and forensic phonetics 263
Georgina Brown and Claire Hardaker
14 Health communication 276

Elena Semino
15 Language in the curriculum 291

Oksana Afitska and John Clegg
16 Critical Discourse Analysis 311

Christopher Hart
17 Language in the workplace 326

Veronika Koller
18 Computational linguistics 339

Georgina Brown
Section four: Methods 353

19 Research ethics in (applied) linguistics 355
Uta Papen, Emily Peach, Aina Casaponsa and Dimitrinka Atanasova
20 Experimental methods 368

Patrick Rebuschat and Aina Casaponsa
21 Corpus methods 383

Tony McEnery and Andrew Hardie
22 Field methods 400

Uta Papen and Claire Nance
23 Surveys, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups 413

Karin Tusting
24 Statistics and data visualisation 426

Vaclav Brezina and Aina Casaponsa
Section five: Issues 447

25 Generative vs. usage-based approaches to language 449
Willem B. Hollmann
26 Linguistic theories of grammar 459

Willem B. Hollmann and Vittorio Tantucci
vi
CONTENTS
27 Linguistic relativity 469

Panos Athanasopoulos
28 Linguistic diversity 478

Claire Nance
29 Evolutionary linguistics 486

Christopher Hart
30 Animal communication 495

Jennifer Hughes
Index 504
vii
Preface
Linguistics, in essence, is the study of how a language or languages work.

Crucially, it has nothing to do with being able to speak a lot of languages. In this
book, you will learn something about how a range of different languages work.
But why would you want to bother with this? In fact, why bother with linguistics
as a field of study? Here are some brief reasons why we should study language:
1 Language is a distinctive human characteristic, and part of our biology. It
is not only reflected in our speech organs, but has a profound and complex
relationship with our thinking.
2 Language is inextricably involved with the development of other cognitive
faculties, as well as with cognitive disorders.
3 Language is the primary means by which human history is preserved. It is
the prism through which we can understand the past, and thus build a better
future.
4 Language is central to all human endeavours. It enables people to develop,
shape and sustain ideas and artefacts, communities, ideologies and cultures,
games and aesthetic pleasures.
5 Language is central to the creation, maintenance and negotiation of iden
tities and relationships. It can be used in a variety of ways to influence what
others think and do.
6 Language is neither simple nor transparent. It is infinitely creative, and
largely produced with little conscious awareness.
Of course, everybody ‘knows’ about language. The problem is that we don’t
have the complete set of tools to talk about the detail, nor do we know exactly
where to apply the tools. When we talk about language, often it is in terms of
limited language myths, sets of evaluative beliefs – ideologies held within par
ticular communities – about how language is. For example, for many languages
speakers believe that there was a past linguistic golden age when language was
wonderful. They even set up academies, such as the Académie Française in France
or the Accademia della Crusca in Italy, whose job it is to preserve the supposed
wonderfulness of the past from the pollution of new developments. The problem
here is articulated in point 6 earlier: it’s not that simple and much language works
with little conscious awareness. For instance, British people often condemn new
developments in British English, attributing them to ‘pollution’ from American
English. The problem here is that they are unable to accurately identify what
viii
PREFACE
really is American English. One of the editors of this book has repeatedly tested
a set of words on British people, asking whether they are British or American
English. Nobody has ever got them all right. The word kissogram, for instance,
is typically attributed to American English even though, if its roots are traced,
it is in fact a British English creation. The ideological thinking here is probably
along the lines of: if it sounds new and culturally dodgy, it must be American
English. Of course, linguists aren’t free from these ideologies either and those
ideologies are important, deserving study in their own right, but the linguistics
enterprise is chiefly founded on data, on evidence derived from observation and
experimentation.
What should a linguistics book cover? We took into account two factors:
what we wanted to teach in our first-year linguistics course, and what others
taught or wanted to teach in their first-year linguistics courses (as indicated by
a survey conducted by Routledge in 2018). The result is a broad view of what
constitutes linguistics. We have five groups, each containing six chapters (though
not all of equal length):
• Language structures;
• Mind and society;
• Applications;
• Methods;
• Issues.
We do not think, though they are important, that linguistics is just about structural
matters (this group comprises a little over a fifth of the book); or that structures
can be discussed without consideration of humans (their mental faculties medi
ating language and their societies constructed by and in language); or that lin
guistics is an abstract endeavour (it can be and is applied to ‘real’ world issues);
or that knowledge about linguistics is worth much without an understanding of
how, methodologically, that knowledge might have been derived; or that philo
sophical issues and ‘hot’ debates – and some with which the public might be
familiar – should be downgraded or excluded. This comprises our take on linguis
tics. Consistent with this, no one single theory or approach dominates this book.
For instance, Noam Chomsky, one of the most famous linguists, holds sway in
various textbooks, especially with respect to how grammar is approached. We
deliver basic grammatical concepts without a strong commitment to a single
grammatical approach, but then we also devote an Chapter 26 to discussing
different grammatical approaches.
British readers, and possibly others, may wonder what makes this book dis
tinct from English language textbooks. There are three factors. One is that the
majority of the chapters will contain examples from and discussions of a var
iety of languages, including sign languages. A side point to note here is that sign
languages are not given one specific chapter as if they are special languages, but
are treated in various chapters as just another language variety. English examples
will not be excluded, not least because they represent what many readers will
ix
PREFACE
be familiar with and so represent a good starting point, but they will not hold
sway. Another factor is that the contents of the book will not be constrained by
topics that have a special bearing on English. Topics such as language acquisi
tion, forensic linguistics, data visualisation and linguistic relativity – to name but
a few – are simply not the bread and butter of the majority of English language
textbooks. The final factor is that there will be slightly more emphasis on theory
than is typically the case in English language textbooks.
Except for the Issues section, each chapter will typically have the following
characteristics:
• It will be pitched at a level appropriate to first-year undergraduates;

• It will contain an introductory overview of the area, including explanation
and illustration of all necessary concepts and frameworks, and more focused
discussion or case studies, often including research undertaken by the author;
• Each chapter will have copious illustration, including, for example, textual
examples, diagrams, graphics and images;
• The use of real data will be a feature throughout the chapters; and
• Each chapter will have web-based recommended follow-up readings and
resource materials.
The fact that the chapters will vary in length according to the section they are
in is a reflection of how much space we think they will need. Further, we rec
ognise that a very limited number of individual chapters may need more space,
particularly, chapters dealing with subject areas that readers might find diffi
cult. Regarding the web-based supporting materials, the website will mirror the
structure of the book. Each chapter will typically have (the Issues chapters being
exceptions):
For students
• A list of any relevant web resources, and brief description of them;

• Five multiple choice questions designed for the students to check their
understanding.
For teachers
• Two short exam questions;

• One seminar exercise (or collection of tasks) designed to last one hour.
As you may have gathered, our target readership is first-year undergraduates.
Having said that, we would expect extension upwards and downwards. For
example, we can imagine uptake in many countries at postgraduate level, where
students wish to acquire a grounding in linguistics (for example, students who
sidestep from cognate subjects), or even scholars who simply want to reinforce
their background in linguistics, possibly by plugging holes or finding out
about the latest thinking. As for the readership’s study area, we expect, rather
x
PREFACE
obviously, interest from students undertaking linguistics, language science or

language-related studies. The fact that we have defined linguistics broadly, and
taken account of what current tutors of linguistics want to teach via a survey,
should guarantee broad appeal. We would also assume some uptake in modern
foreign languages, communication studies, psychology and education.
One of the unique features of the book is that at the time of writing the
authors and the editors are all members of staff of the Department of Linguistics
and English Language at Lancaster University (with the welcome exception of
one co-author!). The Department is probably the largest linguistics department
in England, and perhaps Britain, and one of the very best. This book constitutes
our view of what linguistics, as a subject, is. Our particular motivation for pro
ducing this book is to address problems that may well be shared by other lin
guistics departments. Since its foundation in 1974, the Department has had a
linguistics course for its first-year undergraduates. However, it has never had a
satisfactory textbook for the course. Many textbooks had limited coverage or
‘pushed’ a particular theory or approach. Some had little consideration of best
pedagogical practice. Over the years we have tried using suites of textbooks and
even ‘work-packs’; nothing was entirely successful. An additional problem that
arose from 1990 onwards is that we launched our English Language under
graduate degree, which had its own first-year undergraduate course. We want
to make sure that our linguistics course is sufficiently distinct. We hope that this
book will solve these problems.
Jonathan Culpeper and the Editorial Team
Lancaster, 2022
xi
Section one
language structures
1 Phonetics
Sam Kirkham and Claire Nance
1.1 Introduction
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds produced by humans. This includes how
we use our vocal tract to produce speech, as well as how these sounds are trans
mitted through the air. Phonetics aims to develop a comprehensive understanding
of the sounds of speech. This makes it a rather diverse area, spanning the biology
of the vocal tract, the physics of sound and the sensation of hearing. In this
chapter, we give a basic overview of some fundamental aspects of phonetics, with
a focus on understanding the vocal tract and how to describe speech sounds.
While phonetics has historically mainly considered spoken languages, sign lan
guage researchers also analyse the details of how particular signs are produced. It
is, therefore, possible to describe the phonetics of sign languages, which we will
do later in this chapter.
Phonetics fundamentally involves describing how speech sounds (or signs) are
produced. This differs from phonology, which involves classifying the sounds/
signs of a language into a system (see Chapter 2). This distinction is not always
entirely straightforward, because there
can be considerable degrees of overlap
between phonetics and phonology. What’s the deal with brackets?
We can consider a more extreme One thing that is very helpful to learn
example to illustrate the difference. early on in your studies in linguistics is
Imagine that you have a recording of a how notation conventions are used.
speaker. A phonological analysis would One of the most important conventions
involve establishing which sounds are is the use of brackets to show what kind of
important units for distinguishing example we are referring to. When refer
between the words of that language ring to sounds on a phonetic level (i.e.
and how they work together as a talking about the physical production of
system. In this case, a phonologist sounds in actual speech), we use square
would want to know whether a par brackets – like [ðɪs]. When referring to
phonemes as part of a sound system, as
ticular sound distinguishes one word
in Chapter 2, we use slashes – like /ðɪs/.
from one another (e.g. the ‘p’ and
You might also see angle brackets like
‘b’ in ‘pit’ vs. ‘bit’) or whether a par <this> used. These are used to refer to
ticular sound may vary but does not graphemes, or how something is written.
distinguish one word from another
DOI: 10.4324/9781003045571-2 3
Sam KIrKham aNd ClaIre NaNCe
(e.g. the use of a glottal stop instead of /t/ in English words such as ‘butter’,
which does not change the meaning of the word). Crucially, this means we need
to know something about the language that is being spoken. A phonetic analysis
would involve describing the details of how those sounds are produced. In prin
ciple, this would not require us to know the language being spoken, because we
can still hear or analyse the sounds and relate them to the existing inventory of
human speech sounds.
In this chapter, we introduce some fundamental aspects of phonetics. We begin
by explaining the production of speech, including breathing and the anatomy
of the vocal tract (Section 1.2). We then cover the production of consonants
and vowels, including how to describe these sounds (Section 1.3), followed by a
more detailed section on phonetic transcription (Section 1.4). Finally, we discuss
phonetics in sign languages (Section 1.5).
1.2 The production of speech

Speech fundamentally involves movement. One kind of movement concerns
the muscles and organs of the vocal tract, which must be carefully moved and
positioned in order to produce speech sounds. Another kind of movement
involves the movement of air, with most speech sounds moving air out of the
lungs, through the vocal tract, and out through the nose and mouth. A third
kind of movement is the nature of sound itself. Sound is the result of air particles
moving and vibrating. These vibrations are caused by movements of the vocal
tract, after which they continue to spread through the air until they lose energy
and the sound dies out. The movement of air particles causes the human ear
drum to vibrate in response. The brain then processes these vibrations, which
allows us to perceive them as sounds.
In this section, we provide an outline of how speech is produced. We describe
the anatomy of the vocal tract and how the vocal tract organs are used to make
speech sounds. For a much more detailed treatment of speech anatomy for
linguists see Gick et al. (2013).
1.2.1 Breathing
Perhaps the most simple and regular way in which humans move and manipulate air
is breathing. Simply put: if we cannot breathe then we will find speech – and, indeed,
life – very challenging! We begin this section with an overview of the anatomical
structures used for breathing and a simple overview of how these structures work.
Inside the chest are two lungs. Each lung is made up of light tissue, containing
small pockets that fill with air. The lungs are then connected to the trachea,
which is connected to the larynx in our neck, which then leads to the mouth and
nose. See Figure 1.1 for a diagram showing the lungs, trachea and larynx.
4
PhoNeTICS
Figure 1.1 A diagram of the human larynx, trachea and lungs.

Source: Adapted from Patrick J. Lynch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lungs_diagram_detailed.
svg available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License.
Breathing involves expansion and contraction of the lungs, which corres

ponds to filling up the lungs with air (expansion) and pushing air out of the
lungs (contraction). We breathe differently when we speak compared with
normal breathing at rest. Relaxed breathing (often called tidal breathing) is
very regular, with consistent expansion and contraction of the lungs. At rest, we
spend roughly similar amounts of time breathing in and breathing out. In con
trast, speech breathing involves much smaller and quicker adjustments, as we are
often trying to stop all of the air rushing out at once, so that we can release it
gradually depending on how much air each speech sound requires.
Now that we have briefly covered how humans breathe, let’s think about the
types of breath used for speech. Most sounds in the world’s languages involve air
5
Sam KirKham and Claire nanCe
travelling from the lungs and out through the mouth. This is what is often called
a pulmonic egressive breath source, with pulmonic meaning ‘lungs’ and egressive
meaning ‘outwards’. Not all sounds in all languages are produced in this way, and
we will return to cases where sounds are not pulmonic egressive in Section 1.3.1.5.
1.2.2 The larynx and voicing

The larynx is an organ found in the neck; specifically, it is located at the end of the
trachea or windpipe (see Figure 1.1). When air enters or exits the lungs, it must
travel through the larynx. This is of incredible importance, because movements
of the larynx can help to shape the air that travels through it, allowing us to
create a greater variety of sounds.
The larynx is a structure made up of a series of cartilages and muscles, all of
which serve to move and protect the larynx in various ways. The larynx contains
the vocal folds, which can open and close in order to modify the size of the
opening between them. The vocal folds are two folds of tissue that sit on top of
other muscles in the larynx. The air flows through the vocal folds during speech
and the gap between them can be adjusted, spanning a range of positions from
wide open to completely closed. When the vocal folds are held open, air can
freely travel through them, and when the vocal folds are closed shut, air stops at
the blockage. A schematic diagram of the closed and open vocal folds is shown
in Figure 1.2. It is worth noting that the gap between the vocal folds is often
called the glottis. This is not a phys
ical structure, but instead represents
Scan the QR code to see vocal folds in the space between the vocal folds.
action. The opening and closing of the vocal
folds allows us to control when air
Figure 1.2 A schematic diagram of the open and closed vocal folds.
does and does not flow from the lungs into our mouth. Most of the interesting
action, however, occurs in-between these two states of completely open and
completely closed.
6
PhoNeTICS
When the vocal folds are held close together and air is pushed through them,
they start to vibrate against one another. You can feel this phenomenon if you
sustain a ‘s’ sound and then transition into a ‘z’ sound, like ‘sssssssszzzzzzzz’.
Now do this again and softly place your fingers of the front of your neck. During
the ‘zzzzzzzz’ you should feel a vibrating or buzzing feeling in your neck: this is
the vocal folds vibrating against each other. This vibration of the vocal folds is
called voicing. As we will see in Section 1.3, voicing is a key dimension of speech
and it involves the vocal folds rapidly vibrating against each other.
In focus: vocal folds or vocal cords?
The vocal folds are made up of mucus membrane, which means they are a
membrane that is laid on top of another muscle. This membrane is covered
in mucus, which is a slippery protective substance produced by the body and
keeps the membrane moist. You may sometimes hear the term ‘vocal cords’
(or its misspelling, ‘vocal chords’) instead of vocal folds, but vocal folds is
now the commonly accepted term. This change in terminology is because
‘cord’ implies a band or a string, whereas we now know that the vocal folds
are more like folds of tissue that wrap around the ‘vocalis’ muscle, which is
contained within the larynx.
The mucus that covers the vocal folds is very important, as it keeps them
moist and stops them from drying out. Drier vocal folds tend to become
stiffer and more inflamed. As a consequence, it requires greater effort to
vibrate the vocal folds, thus increasing stress and fatigue on the muscles
of the larynx. This is one reason why breathing in smoke, such as smoking
cigarettes, is so bad for your voice, because it dries out the mucus (alongside
a range of other negative consequences).
1.2.3 The oral cavity

The oral cavity is the area above the larynx, containing the tongue, teeth and
other relevant structures, shown in Figure 1.3. The tongue is a highly complex
organ, made up of some highly flexible muscles. We typically segment the tongue
into different regions, which conveniently help us to describe which part of the
tongue is used in producing a particular sound. The tongue tip is the very tip
of the tongue. The tongue blade is the front part of the tongue just behind the
tongue tip. The tongue dorsum is the mid part of the tongue, while the tongue
root is the lower and backer part of the tongue.
We now move to the outer structures of the oral cavity. The upper lip and
lower lip are terms we use to describe the complex set of muscles around the
outside of the mouth. The upper teeth and lower teeth are located just behind
the lips. These are parts of the vocal tract that are easily visible to other people.
Inside the mouth, we can describe a range of points on the vocal tract, which
we often refer to when describing the production of speech. These are all labelled
7
Figure 1.3 Midsagittal diagram of the vocal tract.

Source: Adapted from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VocalTract.svg available under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
in Figure 1.3 – we would also encourage you to move your tongue inside your
mouth in order to identify these parts of your own vocal tract. The alveolar ridge
is a bump located just behind the upper teeth. You can feel it if you place your
tongue just behind your teeth and then slowly move it backwards. Just after this
begins the hard palate (or just ‘palate’), which is the bony roof of the mouth. It
is distinguished from the velum or soft palate, which is further back from the
hard palate. You can feel the difference between the two as the velum is made of
a soft fleshy tissue, in contrast to the bone that makes up the hard palate. A key
function of the velum is that it is moveable: it can be lowered or raised, which
affects how air flows through the vocal tract. The uvula is a small grape-like
tissue that hangs off the end of the velum. The surface opposite the tongue root,
right at the back of the vocal tract, is the pharyngeal wall. We often describe the
space between the pharyngeal wall and the tongue root as the pharynx, which is
roughly the back of the throat. Finally, the epiglottis is a flap of tissue located at
the base of the tongue root. It stays open during speech but can fold over the top
of the larynx to prevent food from going into the lungs.
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1.2.4 The nasal cavity

The nasal cavity is the space above the hard palate and behind the nose in Figure
1.3. When the velum is lowered or open, air can travel through the space between
the back of the throat and the velum. When air bounces around the nasal cavity, it
imparts a different quality to the sound than if the air only bounces around the oral
cavity. If you sustain a vowel followed by ‘n’ then you can feel this tickling sensation
in the back of your throat and behind your nose (e.g. ‘aaaaaaaannnnnnnn’). As we
noted, the velum controls the opening and closing of the entry to the nasal cavity.
1.3 articulatory description of speech sounds

This section covers basic description of sounds, using what we often call ‘articu
latory descriptions’. Essentially, this involves describing sounds in terms of how
the different parts of the vocal tract are used. We covered the parts of the vocal
tract already, so this section will demonstrate how these terms can be used to form
descriptions of speech sounds. Here, we will cover the production of vowels and
consonants. These aren’t the only aspects of speech and, indeed, the majority of
the world’s languages use tone, as well as things like stress and intonation, to make
meaning in words. We cover these aspects of speech in Chapter 2. In this section, we
will give examples of words from English, but we want to stress that phonetics is the
study of speech sounds in general. The use of English here is simply a convenience;
we anticipate that you already understand English, given that you are reading this
chapter, but you may not understand all of the other languages to which we refer.
1.3.1 Consonants
1.3.1.1 What is a consonant?

Consonants are sounds that involve a significant obstruction of the air as it flows
through the vocal tract. To understand what we mean by this, let your vocal tract
come to rest and breathe in a relaxed fashion. Your lips should be parted and
your tongue will be in a rest position, with air flowing up over the tongue and out
through the lips. This is an unobstructed vocal tract, as there is nothing impeding
or restricting the passage of air. By contrast, now raise your tongue tip up to your
alveolar ridge. This should stop the air flowing out of your mouth, because the vocal
tract is now obstructed by the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge. Consonants
involve obstruction or narrowing of the vocal tract in various ways, which we
will learn about soon. Consonants can be described using what is typically called
the ‘voice-place-manner’ system. As we mentioned earlier, not all consonants are
produced as pulmonic egressive sounds, so we may also describe the airstream
mechanism in consonants, which describes the direction and source of air in the
vocal tract. We will now discuss all these ways of describing consonant production.
9
1.3.1.2 Voicing
‘Voice’ describes whether a sound is voiceless or voiced. As we saw in Section
1.2.2, a voiced sound involves the vocal folds vibrating against one another,
which creates a buzzing sound. By contrast, when the vocal folds are held open,
we describe the sound as voiceless.
1.3.1.3 Place of articulation

‘Place’ describes the place of articulation of the sound. Consonant sounds typic
ally involve two main articulators. The articulator that moves is called the active
articulator and the articulator that it moves towards is called the passive articu
lator. For example, the sound [t] at the beginning of the word tap involves the
tongue tip in contact with the alveolar ridge. The tongue tip is the active articu
lator, because it moves up to the alveolar ridge. The alveolar ridge cannot move
and is, therefore, the passive articulator. Another example is the [b] at the begin
ning of the word bat. While this sound involves both the upper and lower lip, it
is the lower lip that moves up to meet the upper lip. As a result, the lower lip is
the active articulator and the upper lip is the passive articulator. We describe a
consonant’s place of articulation after the passive articulator, which we will now
cover in greater detail. Table 1.1 lists the different places of articulation, and the
active/passive articulators in each case.
Table 1.1 A list of different places of articulation and the active/passive articulators
involved in each.
Place of articulation Active articulator Passive articulator

Bilabial Lower lip Upper lip
Labiodental Lower lip Upper teeth
Dental Tongue tip Upper teeth
Alveolar Tongue tip/blade Alveolar ridge
Postalveolar Tongue tip/blade Postalveolar
Retroflex Tongue tip/blade Hard palate
Palatal Tongue dorsum Hard palate
Velar Tongue dorsum Velum
Uvular Tongue dorsum Uvular
Pharyngeal Tongue root Pharyngeal wall
Glottal Vocal folds Vocal folds
Table 1.2 will help to explain each place of articulation in a little more detail.
Where possible, we try to give an example of a common English sound, which
we would encourage you to say aloud and try to feel the active and passive
articulators involved in the production of that sound. Symbols inside square
brackets represent International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols, which we will
explain in more detail in Section 1.4.
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Table 1.2 Description of consonant places of articulation.
Place of articulation Description of sound production

Bilabial sounds are made using both lips. The term ‘bilabial’ essentially means
‘two lips’ (bi + labial). In such cases, the lower lip is usually the
active articulator, as it is raised to meet the upper lip. Examples
from English include the [b] in ‘ban’ and the [m] in ‘man’.
Labiodental sounds are made using the lower lip (labio) and upper teeth
(dental). In principle, it is possible to produce a sound using the
upper lip and lower teeth, but this does not commonly occur as
a sound in the world’s languages, so labiodental typically means
lower lip and upper teeth. Examples from English include the
[f] in ‘fine’ and the [v] in ‘vine’.
Dental sounds involve the front of the tongue against the upper teeth.
Examples from English include [ð], which is the first sound in
‘this’.
Alveolar sounds are made at the alveolar ridge, with the tongue tip making
contact with – or coming close – to the alveolar ridge. Examples
from English include the [t] in ‘tip’ and the [d] in ‘dip’.
Postalveolar sounds are made behind the alveolar ridge. You can feel this by
producing a sound at the alveolar ridge, such as the [s] in ‘sip’,
and then slowly moving back the [s] until it sounds more like the
sound in ‘ship’. The ‘sh’ is articulated at the postalveolar region.
Retroflex sounds are made with the tongue curled back and articulated
against the hard palate. Note that this is one case where a place
of articulation is named according to the shape of the active
articulator (the tongue) rather than the passive articulator (the
palate). Retroflex sounds are particularly common in many
Indian languages, such as Hindi.
Palatal sounds are producing using the tongue body against the hard
palate. Examples from English include [j], which is the first
sound in ‘yellow’.
Velar sounds are produced using the tongue dorsum raised towards the
velum or soft palate. Examples from English include the [ɡ] in
‘gate’.
Uvular sounds are produced using the uvula, which vibrates or trills
against the rear of the oral cavity. These do not occur in English
but you might be familiar with the ‘r’ sound in French, which is
uvular [ʁ].
Pharyngeal sounds that involve constricting the muscles surrounding the
pharynx. In some cases, a sound may also be described as
‘pharyngeal’ if it involves the tongue root retracted far back
into the pharynx. These sounds do not occur in English, but are
common in Arabic. For example, the [q] sound in the Syrian
city ‘Raqqa’.
Glottal sounds are made at the glottis, which is the space between the
vocal folds inside the larynx.
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1.3.1.4 manner of articulation

Consonants involve some obstruction in the vocal tract. A consonant’s manner
of articulation describes how much obstruction is involved in the production
of a sound. This can be grouped into three broad types: (1) complete closure,
where there is a full obstruction of airflow; (2) close approximation, where there
is partial narrowing of the vocal tract; (3) open approximation, where there is
only very minimal narrowing of the vocal tract. These are described in Table 1.3.
Table 1.3 Description of consonant manners of articulation.
Manner of articulation Description of sound production

Plosive sound produced with complete closure of the vocal tract.
The term ‘plosive’ refers to the release of the constriction
in the vocal tract, which results in an ‘explosion’. Plosives
are often grouped under the term stop consonants, because
they also involve stopping of the airflow. Examples from
English include the [p] in ‘pen’ or the [t] in ‘tip’.
Fricative sounds where the vocal tract is not completely blocked, but
there is a narrow opening through which sound travels,
making it a case of close approximation. Air is pushed
through this small opening, which has the effect of
producing a turbulent or ‘hissing’ noise. Examples from
English include the [s] in ‘sing’ or the [v] in ‘vine’.
Approximant sounds produced with only minimal narrowing of the
vocal tract, making it a case of open approximation. This
contrasts with fricatives, which involve greater narrowing
of the vocal tract. Fricatives involve turbulent noise
whereas approximants do not, meaning that approximants
bear some similarities with vowel sounds. Examples from
English include [j], which is the first sound in ‘yes’ and [ɹ],
which is the first sound in ‘red’.
The fricative and approximant manners reviewed in Table 1.3 are assumed
to involve air flowing along the top of the tongue. In contrast, a lateral fricative
or lateral approximant involves a similar of manner articulation to fricatives
and approximants, but air flows around the sides of the tongue instead of along
the top or midline of the tongue. Alongside this, we also have a further three
manners of articulation in Table 1.4.
A final manner of articulation that is not described in the IPA chart is an affri
cate. This is because it’s actually a combination of two other manners: plosive
and fricative. Essentially, an affricate is the combination of a stop plus a fricative,
which are produced as a simultaneous sound, such as the ‘ch’ at the beginning
and end of the word church.
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Table 1.4 More manners of articulation.
Manner of articulation Description of sound production

Nasal sound involves an open or lowered velum, allowing air to travel
into the nasal cavity and escape through the nose. Examples
from English include the [n] in ‘nice’ and [m] in ‘mice’.
Trill involves the tongue tip hitting the alveolar ridge a number
of times in a rapid fashion (typically three or four times).
This is the ‘rolled r’ sound that occurs in languages such as
Spanish and is represented using the symbol [r].
Tap or flap involves a single very quick tap of the tongue tip against the
alveolar ridge.
1.3.1.5 airstream mechanisms

Most sounds in most of the world’s languages are produced when air comes
out of the lungs (pulmonic egressive). However, this is not always the case.
Sometimes, sounds are instead produced by sucking air into the vocal tract. A
very common non-linguistic sound that is pulmonic ingressive would be a ‘snort’
sound, where air is sucked up into the nose and travels down into the lungs. The
different ways in which air can move are referred to as airstream mechanisms.
Airstream mechanisms can be divided into whether air is going out of the vocal
tract (egressive), or coming into the vocal tract (ingressive).
Egressive sounds include all the consonants we have described so far; for
example, the [t] in ‘tap’ and the rolled ‘r’ trill sound. Ingressive sounds involve air
being sucked inwards. This can occur
in click consonants in languages Scan the QR code to watch a video of the
spoken in southern and eastern Africa vocal tract movements involved when pro-
such as isiZulu. ducing a click sound inside an MRI scanner.
When a speaker produces a click,
air is sucked inwards towards the
velum. The tongue tip can be placed If you would like to hear different clicks
in different positions to form different in isiZulu and understand how they are
clicks; for example, on the back of the produced in words, you can scan this
code to watch a video.
teeth, or behind the alveolar ridge.
Because clicks are produced with
air being sucked inwards towards the velum, they are known as velaric ingressive
sounds. There are other kinds of consonants which are not produced with a pulmonic
egressive airstream. If you would like more information on these, see Ladefoged and
Johnson (2015, Chapter 6).
1.3.1.6 Putting it all together

We can now put our consonant descriptions together. Table 1.5 shows how
some selected consonants could be described using the voice, place, manner and
13
Table 1.5 Example consonant descriptions.
Consonant Voice Place Manner Airstream

‘t’ as in ‘tap’ voiceless alveolar plosive pulmonic egressive
‘f’ as in ‘fit’ voiceless labiodental fricative pulmonic egressive
rolled ‘r’ voiced alveolar trill pulmonic egressive
dental click voiceless dental click velaric ingressive
airstream mechanisms we have just discussed. We can describe every consonant

using a unique three-part voice-place-manner label, which is very useful when
describing and comparing consonant sounds.
1.3.2 Vowels
Earlier, we defined consonants as sounds that involve an obstruction or
narrowing of the vocal tract. In contrast, vowels are sounds that do not involve
obstruction or significant narrowing. In practice, what counts as a vowel or con
sonant also interacts with its role in the phonology of a language and, therefore,
defining vowels and consonants is not an entirely phonetic matter – it is also
partly to do with how a language’s sound system is structured.
The voice-place-manner system is less typically used for vowels. Vowels typically
tend to be voiced, so we can adopt the default assumption that vowels are voiced
unless stated otherwise. All vowels also tend to have a similar manner of articula
tion, with a relatively unobstructed vocal tract. When describing vowels, we instead
usually use a system that assumes we are looking at a side view of the head, and then
a vowel is described by (1) the highest point of the tongue; (2) how far forwards the
highest point of the tongue is; and (3) whether or not the lips are rounded.
For example, in Figure 1.4 we show two vocal tracts producing vowel sounds:
a long ‘eeeeee’ sound (as in ‘bee’), and a long ‘oooooo’ sound (as in ‘boo’). In the
first sound, the middle part of the tongue is high in the oral cavity and forwards
towards the teeth. In the second sound, the middle part of the tongue is high in the
oral cavity and pulled backwards. If you look closely at the lips, you can see that
in the second vowel sound the lips are protruded. We can therefore describe these
sounds as follows: for ‘eeeeee’ we can say it is high, front, with unrounded lips. For
‘oooooo’ we can say it is high, back, with rounded lips.
1.4 Transcribing speech sounds

In the previous sections, we explained how to describe speech sounds using articu
latory descriptions, such as ‘voiceless alveolar plosive’ or ‘high front rounded
vowel’. While this system is very useful, it is not particularly concise. Imagine we
want to transcribe all the sounds in the production of a given word or sentence.
It would be quite a mouthful to list the voice-place-manner and vowel descriptors
for each individual sound! Instead, we can use a specially designed alphabet for
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Figure 1.4 Midsagittal diagram of tongue position during the production of vowels /i/
(left) and /u/ (right).
transcribing and notating the sounds of the world’s languages: the International
Phonetic Alphabet.
The International Phonetic Alphabetic (or IPA for short) is a comprehensive
system for transcribing the sounds of the world’s languages. This system aims to
provide a way of transcribing linguistically relevant detail for all languages. The
guiding principle of the IPA is that a single symbol represents a single sound.
Because the IPA chart aims to comprehensively represent the huge diversity in
sounds used across the world’s languages, there will be quite a lot of sounds shown
on the chart that are not familiar to you yet. It typically takes an extended university
course in phonetics to become familiar with all the symbols, and then a lot of practice
to learn how to produce and use all of them. We aren’t able to do this in this chapter,
but in this section, we will explain how the chart works and where you can find each
piece of information. This way, you’ll be able to navigate the chart and begin to learn
more about the symbols. Don’t worry if you don’t know all the phonetic terminology
yet; learning the chart is a process. If you’d like to hear sound clips of any speech
sounds shown here, we have included a list of websites at the end of the chapter.
1.4.1 Pulmonic consonant table

The pulmonic consonant table from the IPA chart is shown in Figure 1.5. The
table is set out according to all the places and manners of articulation we already
introduced in Section 1.3.1. As you can see from the text at the bottom of the
table, symbols are usually shown in pairs and the symbol on the left is voiceless,
while the one on the right is voiced. For example, if we look at the symbol [x], the
chart shows this as a voiceless velar fricative. This is the sound at the end of the
Scottish Gaelic word loch, which is also used in Scottish English, to mean ‘lake’.
15
Figure 1.5 Pulmonic consonants. IPA Chart.

Source: http://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/content/ipa-chart, available under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License. Copyright © 2015 International
Phonetic Association.
1.4.2 Non-pulmonic consonant table

In Section 1.3.1.5, we discussed click sounds in isiZulu, which are produced with
a velaric ingressive airstream. You can see the IPA symbols for clicks and other
non-pulmonic consonants under the pulmonic consonant table on the IPA. This
is shown in Figure 1.6.
Figure 1.6 Non-pulmonic consonants. IPA Chart.

1.4.3 Vowel quadrilateral

The IPA vowel symbols are organised in terms of the descriptive labels we earlier
learned for vowels. The vowels are organised around a four-sided shape, referred
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to as the ‘vowel quadrilateral’. This shape aims to correspond to the position

of the tongue in sideways view of the vocal tract (see Figure 1.7). For example,
high vowel sounds, like the sound ‘eeeeee’ we looked at earlier, are represented
at the top of the quadrilateral. This sound is represented by the symbol [i]. Front
vowels are to the left, back vowels to the right. The text at the bottom of the
quadrilateral explains that when vowel symbols are in pairs, the one to the right
represents a vowel produced with rounded lips, whereas the one to the left is
assumed to be unrounded (see Section 1.3.2). There are quite a lot of vowel
symbols here, to cover the diversity of human languages. You will learn more
about all these sounds as you continue your journey in phonetics. If you’d like
to hear how all these different symbols sound, we’ve included a list of clickable
IPA charts with sound files at the end of this chapter.
Figure 1.7 Vowel quadrilateral. IPA Chart.

In focus: describing vowel articulation
It has long been known that the now established model of describing vowels
in terms of the highest point of the tongue is not always faithful to actual
tongue position in real speech. For example, X-ray studies of the tongue in
the early 1900s showed that a vowel such as [e] sometimes involves a higher
tongue position than [ɪ], despite the IPA quadrilateral in Figure 1.7 showing
17
[ɪ] as having a higher tongue position. This has led other phoneticians to
describe vowel production in a different manner. For example, Wood (1982)
uses terms like ‘palatal’, ‘velar’, ‘upper pharyngeal’ and ‘lower pharyngeal’ to
describe broad regions of vowel articulation. We find evidence of a similar
system of description dating back to Indian scholarship in the fifth century
bce, which made a three-way distinction between palatal, pharyngeal and
labio-velar vowels. Despite this, the vertical/horizontal description of tongue
position remains widely used today, because it is still relatively accurate and
permits a slightly more specific way of describing vowel quality.
1.4.4 diacritics
If we need more detail, beyond the basic vowel and consonant symbols described pre
viously, we can use diacritics to add to the transcription. This is helpful when we
maybe want to describe a production that seems to be ‘in-between’ two sounds on
the IPA chart, but does not have a symbol of its own to show this. The diacritics
are shown at the bottom of the IPA chart, and we present them here in Figure 1.8.
For example, in Icelandic n ýta means ‘to use’ and hn ýta means ‘to knot’. In
Figure 1.8 Diacritics symbols. IPA Chart.

18
PhoNeTICS
terms of pronunciation, these two phrases are produced with the same vowels and
consonants, except the nasal consonant in hn ýta is voiceless. It sounds like it is
whispered as there is no vocal fold vibration during the sound. We can show these
words using the IPA as follows: n ýta ‘to use’ [niːta]; hn ýta ‘to knot’ [n̥ iːta]. The
tiny circle under [n̥ ] in the second phrase means it is voiceless. The symbol after the
first vowel [iː], which looks similar to a colon, means the vowel is long. As speech
varies considerably across languages, there are of course a lot of diacritics! You
will learn more about these in context as you progress in learning about phonetics.
1.4.5 Prosody
As we mentioned in Section 1.3, describing speech sounds involves much more
than just vowels and consonants! The IPA can be used to transcribe the ‘prosodic’
aspects of speech, which are things beyond the level of the segment, such as tone
and intonation. These prosodic aspects are also sometimes referred to as ‘supra
segmental’. We cover these in more detail in Chapter 2, but for now you can
look at the symbols on the IPA chart used for describing prosodic characteristics
of speech (Figure 1.9). You might already know about some of these concepts.
For example, you might be aware that many languages use variation in pitch,
otherwise known as tone, to contrast between words. In Burmese, the words for
‘hard’ and ‘towering’ use the same vowels and consonants but are produced with
low and high tones respectively. We could show this using the suprasegmental
or prosodic diacritics below as: ‘hard’ [maː˨] and ‘towering’ [maː˦]. We are just
giving one example here to explain how prosodic features can be expressed using
the IPA. There are lots of different prosodic aspects to speech and the extensive
symbols in Figure 1.9 allow phoneticians to describe these. Typically, you won’t
be required to learn all of these at the start of your studies in linguistics! But our
aim here is to show you where to find them.
1.5 Sign language phonetics

So far, we have discussed phonetics of spoken languages. It is also possible to dis
cuss phonetics of sign languages in a parallel manner, such as lower-level details
of how different signs are produced. In Chapter 2, we discuss the structural
differences between how different signs are produced more fully (sign language
phonology). If you are interested in this topic, you will want to read Chapter 2
as well. In this section, we will discuss an example study which has considered
the detail in how signs are produced (phonetics).
Rimor et al. (1984) wished to investigate how signs are produced when signers
are asked to speed up their delivery. The idea behind this was that they could
investigate hypotheses about change over time in American Sign Language.
The authors hypothesised that many processes of historical change in language
originate in how language users change their delivery when speaking/signing
19
Figure 1.9 Suprasegmental symbols. IPA Chart.

quickly. Language users might take ‘shortcuts’ in pronunciation to get their

meaning across quickly, for example saying gonna instead of going to. Over
time, such ‘shortcuts’ can become part of a language’s structure (see Chapter 8
for more information). To investigate this hypothesis in American Sign Language,
Rimor et al. asked signers to produce five signs in clear, slow signing, and in
speeded up versions. When speeded up, the signs often underwent changes in
how they were produced (their phonetic form). For example, two handed signs
20
PhoNeTICS
tended to be produced with one hand, larger movements became smaller, and
movements were repeated fewer times. These differences in how sign structure
(phonology) is implemented (phonetics) are an indication of phonetic differences
in sign production.
1.6 Conclusions
This chapter has explained some of the fundamentals of phonetics. We took a
brief tour of the vocal tract, learned how to describe the main parts of the vocal
tract used for speech, and how we can describe speech sounds according to the
articulators used to produce them. We also examined the distinction between
vowels and consonants, and saw how phonetic transcription is a flexible method
for writing down details about speech that we can hear. Finally, we discussed
how spoken language phonetics also has parallels in sign languages.
references
Gick, B., Wilson, I. and Derrick, D. 2013. Articulatory Phonetics. Chichester:
Wiley-Blackwell.
Ladefoged, P. and Johnson, K. 2015. Course in Phonetics. 7th ed. Stamford, CT:
Cengage Learning.
Rimor, M., Kegl, J., Lane, H. and Schermer, T. 1984. Natural phonetic processes
underlie historical change and register variation in American Sign Language.
Sign Language Studies, 43: 97–199.
Wood, S. 1982. X-ray and model studies of vowel articulation. Lund University
Department of Linguistics Working Papers, 23: 1–192.
21
2 Phonology
Claire Nance and Sam Kirkham
2.1 Introduction
In this chapter we consider phonology, that is, how small elements of language
are put together to form meaningful utterances in speech or sign languages.
Phonology concerns sound/sign structure and systems. For example, we look at
how vowels in a particular language combine as part of a system, or how tone
contrasts are distributed across a language family. When we listen to speech in a
language we don’t understand, it can be hard to know where each word begins
and ends, and where each individual sound begins and ends. Sometimes, it is
even hard to know where each sentence starts and ends, especially if someone
is speaking quickly. The same is true for a string of signing in sign languages.
Human children are faced with the same challenge when they begin acquiring
language: how to chop up a continuous stream of speech/signs into meaningful
chunks which can be understood as language. A child, or adult acquiring a new
language, has to decode bits of the stream of speech/signs and work out what is
useful for understanding the meaning and what is not. For example, a difference
in the vowel in the Scottish Gaelic words mac ‘son’ /maʰk/ and muc ‘pig’ /muʰk/
is important for distinguishing these two words. But it is not important for their
meaning whether they are spoken with a low-pitched voice or a high-pitched
voice. Phonologists work out what is important for meaning-making in each
language and compare patterns across languages in order to understand the fun
damental nature of how humans communicate effectively with one another.
There is clearly a lot of overlap between phonetics (see Chapter 1) and phon
ology: both areas of linguistics consider speech sounds or the smallest units in
sign languages. Typically, phonetic or phonological analysis of speech will make
use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. But the emphasis is slightly different
in a phonetic study compared to a phonological one. For example, a phonetic
study might consider the precise acoustic nature of a particular consonant, but a
phonological study would examine how that consonant forms part of a system
in a particular language or across languages.
In the rest of the chapter, we first consider how different sounds combine to
make the meaningful difference between words such as Scottish Gaelic mac ‘son’
/maʰk/ and muc ‘pig’ /muʰk/ (Section 2.2). We then consider examples of different
spoken phonological structures: vowels and consonants in Section 2.3, and then
22 DOI: 10.4324/9781003045571-3
PhoNology
prosody in Section 2.4. The final section discusses phonological structure in sign
languages (Section 2.5).
2.2 Phonemes
In the Introduction, we discussed the example of two very similar Scottish Gaelic
words, mac ‘son’ /maʰk/ and muc ‘pig’ /muʰk/, and said that the quality of the
vowel is what distinguishes these two words and means that they have different
semantic values (i.e. one string of sounds means ‘son’ and one means ‘pig’). This
is an example of a minimal pair: a pair of words differing in only one sound.
We can use minimal pairs to work out which sounds are important for meaning
in which languages. For example, the mac and muc pair demonstrates that the
difference between /a/ and /u/ is important in understanding Scottish Gaelic
words. To put this into phonological terminology, we can say that /a/ and /u/
are phonemes in Scottish Gaelic. /a/ and /u/ are phonemes in many languages.
We could also find a minimal pair for these vowels in French (e.g. in the words
ballet /bale/ ‘ballet’ and boulet /bule/ ‘idiot’).
In order for a sound to count as a phoneme in a particular language, it needs to
contrast with something else in a phonetically identical environment. What we mean
by this is that the surrounding sounds must be the same in both members of a min
imal pair. For example, the words bit /bɪt/ and bat /bat/ are a minimal pair in English,
demonstrating the phonemes /ɪ/ and /a/. In this example, the surrounding context
of the phonemes in question is the same, that is, each phoneme is preceded by /b/
and followed by /t/. However, the words bin and bat would not be a minimal pair
because one word ends in /n/ and one in /t/, so we can’t technically use these words to
tell us anything about phonemes. We could do the same with word-initial or word-
final phonemes too. For example, the French words vu /vy/ ‘saw’ (verb) and bu /by/
‘drank’ are a minimal pair demonstrating the phonemes /v/ and /b/. The environment
is identical because each consonant is preceded by a word boundary and followed
by a /y/ vowel. Another way of phrasing this is to say that the sounds /v/ and /b/ are
in contrastive distribution in French. This means that the sounds contrast with one
another when they occur in the language, and they are therefore phonemes.
So far, we have focused on examples of common vowels and consonants which
are phonemes in many languages. But not all languages have the same phonemic
inventory, and not all dialects of each language have the same phonemic inven
tory. For example, the sound [ð] is a phoneme in English. We can prove this with
the existence of a minimal pair such as load /ləʊd/ and loathe /ləʊð/. However,
in Spanish, the sound [ð] occurs, but it is not a phoneme. For example, the word
duda ‘doubt’ is pronounced [duða], but when the initial consonant is preceded
by a vowel, as in mi duda ‘my doubt’ this would be pronounced [mi ðuða] with
a voiced fricative instead of the voiced plosive. What we can see from this short
Spanish example is that instead of minimal pairs, we have predictable variation
in the production of the phoneme /d/. There are no words in Spanish where the
23
ClaIre NaNCe aNd Sam KIrKham
difference between [d] and [ð] makes a difference in meaning. From this, it is not
possible to say that [ð] is a phoneme in Spanish.
2.2.1 allophonic variation

The previous example demonstrates that different languages have different
phonemes. We also saw that the variation in Spanish /d/ is predictable from its
environment: where a vowel precedes /d/, it becomes [ð]. This is an example of
allophonic variation (i.e. variation in the production of a particular phoneme
based on its phonetic environment).The different variants are known as allophones.
In this example, we can say that the Spanish phoneme /d/ has two allophones: [ð]
occurs in when surrounded by vowels, and [d] occurs elsewhere.
Let’s consider another example. In Table 2.1 there are some Japanese words and
̥ The little circles
phonetic transcriptions containing the vowels [i], [u], [i̥ ] and [u].
underneath [i̥ ] and [u̥ ] mean that these vowels are voiceless (produced with no
vocal fold vibration, see also p. 6). They sound like someone is whispering them.
Table 2.1 Examples of Japanese vowel voicing allophony.
Japanese transcription (IPA) English meaning

[ika] squid
[ʃi̥ karu] scold
[kidesu̥ ka] is it a tree?
[ki̥ tal] north
[tsuda] (person’s name)
[tʃi̥ kai] near
[ku̥ sai] smelly
[ki̥ eɴ] mood
[ʃizuka] quiet
[ki̥ seɴ] steamship
[kaɡitai] I want to sniff
[totʃida] it’s land
Source: From Tsujimura (2014: 41).
Looking through Table 2.1, it is possible to begin to predict where we will see [i]
and where we will see [i̥ ] depending on the surrounding consonants.The same is true
̥ when they
of [u] and [u̥]. The vowels [i] and [u] are produced as voiceless [i̥ ] and [u]
are surrounded by voiceless consonants. For example, in the similar words [kiɡeɴ]
‘mood’ (voiceless [k] and voiced [ɡ]) and [ki̥ seɴ] ‘steamship’ (voiceless [k] and
voiceless [s]). From this example, we can say that in Japanese the phonemes /i/ and
/u/ have voiceless allophones when surrounded by voiceless consonants. You might
ask why /i/ is the phoneme and [i̥ ] the allophone rather than the other way around.
Usually, the allophone which occurs in the ‘elsewhere’ condition is considered to be
the phonemic representation. In this context, [i ̥] occurs in the very specific context
of being surrounded by voiceless consonants and [i] occurs everywhere else. So we
24
PhoNology
can say that /i/ has the allophone [i ̥] in voiceless environments, and [i] elsewhere.
The same is true for the Spanish example earlier: [ð] occurs in certain contexts and
is an allophone of the phoneme /d/.
You will notice that we have been using brackets around the transcriptions slightly
differently throughout this discussion. When writing about phonemes, we use slanted
brackets // to go around our broad phonetic transcription. When doing a more
detailed, narrow phonetic transcription which includes detail about allophones, we
use square brackets [ ] to go around the transcription. If you’re not sure whether
a sound is a phoneme or not, for example in a language you don’t know, you can
use the square brackets to show you haven’t made assumptions about phonological
structure. This means that we aren’t yet sure if something should be shown as a
phoneme. In the next section we will look at some example inventories of vowels and
consonants across languages to examine how languages differ in the phonemes used.
In focus: the International Phonetic Alphabet as phonological analysis
When we transcribe speech using the International Phonetic Alphabet, we

usually show representations of vowels and consonants, and other aspects
of speech such as length and tones which we will cover in the next section.
For example, if we transcribed the Thai words for ‘galangal’ and ‘leg’ we
would have /kʰàː/ and /kʰǎ ː/. These transcriptions show some detail: aspir-
ation /h/ (a puff of air after the ‘k’), the different tones on the vowel (i.e.
/à/ and /ǎ /), and that the vowel is lengthened, shown by the /ː/ symbol. (See
Section 2.4 for more information about vowel length and tone.)
However, this transcription doesn’t show us whether the words are spoken
by, for example, a female voice. When we use the IPA, there are some decisions
about speech which are built in for us. In this case, the IPA doesn’t show the
gender of the speaker because the people who designed the IPA didn’t think
that this would be phonologically meaningful. Examples such as this dem
onstrate that it is important to remember that the IPA is a tool designed by
phoneticians. It is not a faithful replication of all elements of a spoken utterance
but picks and chooses to some extent to show phonologically important units.
The first IPA chart was published in 1888 and included symbols based on the
sounds phoneticians encountered in mainly widely spoken western European
languages such as English, French, German and Spanish. Since then, the chart
has been revised to describe variation across the phonologies of the world’s
languages. However, it is important to remember the foundations of the IPA are
based in western Europe and may be biased to best describe languages from this
region. Scan the QR code to see the development of the IPA chart over the years.
2.3 Vowels and consonants

This section considers how segments are used as phonological units in different
languages. In spoken phonetics and phonology, the term ‘segment’ refers to any
individual sound. These can be divided into vowels and consonant sounds and
25
used contrastively as phonemes. Some sounds are a bit tricky to strictly classify
as either vowels or consonants and we will come back to these later.
2.3.1 Vowels
Vowels are sounds produced with little or no constriction in the vocal tract.
For example, the vowel /i/ is the eeee sound in a word like English bee /biː/ or
Scottish Gaelic chì /çiː/ ‘will see’. It is produced with the tongue body raised
towards the hard palate, but air still flows smoothly over the tongue and out
through the mouth. The vowel /ɔ/ in English thought /θɔːt/ or Scottish Gaelic
boc /pɔʰk/ ‘male goat’ is produced with the tongue body lower and further back
in the mouth, and rounded lips. In Chapter 1, we saw the main ways to describe
vowels and their corresponding IPA symbols. Here, we will consider how vowels
are used as part of a system across different languages. We will compare a small
vowel system (Abkhaz, a north Caucasian language), with a more complex and
larger vowel system (Scottish Gaelic).
Abkhaz only has two contrastive vowel sounds: /a/ and /ə/, but these vowels
vary allophonically depending on the surrounding consonants (see Figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1 Abkhaz vowel system. Based on Andersson et al. (2021).
Scottish Gaelic has a larger vowel system, contrasting short and long vowels
as well as many diphthongs. Diphthongs are two vowel sounds mashed together,
for example the sound in English ‘buy’ [bai]. This word is considered to have
two segments: a consonant [b] and a diphthong [ai]. The Gaelic diphthongs
are shown in the schematised plots in Figure 2.2. Diphthongs are represented
by arrows from their starting segment to the second segment. As we can see
from comparing just these two languages, there is considerable variation across
26
PhoNology
the world’s languages as to which

vowels are used in phonology, and If you would like to look at more
the number of vowels. Abkhaz has an examples for comparison, you can com
unusually small system, and Scottish pare the world’s languages by scanning
the QR code.
Gaelic has a fairly large system.
2.3.2 Consonants
Consonants, on the other hand, are sounds produced with total or partial con
striction in the vocal tract. For example, the plosive sound /p/ is produced with
Figure 2.2a, b Scottish Gaelic vowel system (excluding nasal vowels). Based on Nance
and Ó Maolalaigh (2021).
27
CLAIRE NANCE AND SAM KIRKHAM
a closure at the lips, which is then released. The fricative sound /x/ is produced
when the tongue body is raised towards the velum and a small opening is left
for air to escape through (i.e. a partial constriction). This opening is so narrow
that the air molecules don’t flow smoothly and turbulence is created leading to
a hissing noise we refer to as frication. Chapter 1 outlined the main ways of
describing consonants in terms of voicing, place, manner and airstream mech
anism. Again, here we will instead work through some examples of different
consonant systems from the world’s languages to exemplify the extremes of a
smaller system (Hawaiian) and an extremely large system (Nǀuu).
Hawaiian, a Polynesian language, has one of the smallest consonant inven
tories, contrasting only eight consonants. These are shown in Table 2.2. For con
text, the average number of consonants in a language is around 22 (scan the QR
code for more information).
Nǀuu, on the other hand, has one of the largest documented consonant systems.
This Khoisan language is very endangered and spoken in South Africa and pos
sibly Botswana. The consonants of Nǀuu are shown in Table 2.3. If you consult
the International Phonetic Alphabet, you can see that this table has been divided
up according to airstream mechanism. On the IPA, there are only five symbols
for click consonants, but Nǀuu has a huge number of clicks: 45 of them! When
clicks are contrasted in languages that use them, typically they are combined
with other elements, either other consonants (usually velar or uvular consonants)
and/or other kinds of vocal fold vibration represented by IPA diacritics. Nǀuu
uses both of these strategies to form its enormous click inventory. You will also
note the new term, affricate. This refers to when two consonant sounds are put
together in one segment, for example in the English word church, which contains
the affricate /tʃ/ at the start and at the end. Sometimes affricates are shown with
a tied symbol to show that they are one segment (i.e. [ t͡ʃ ]).
When looking at Table 2.3, you might see some IPA symbols which you
haven’t come across before. You can refer back to Chapter 1 if you would like
more explanation of consonant symbols. For now, though, you don’t need to
know exactly what all of them mean; you will learn more about phonetics as you
continue studying linguistics. To listen to sound files of different click sounds
and see videos of how they are produced, you can scan the QR code and click on
the click symbols of the IPA chart, or you can search for videos on YouTube of
click languages such as Nǀuu or Zulu.
Table 2.2 Hawaiian consonants.
Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Velar Glottal

Nasal m n
Plosive p k ʔ
Fricative v h
Lateral l
Source: Based on Parker Jones (2017).
28
PhoNology
Table 2.3 Consonants in Nǀuu.
Pulmonic consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Stop p b t d c cʰ ɟ k kʰ ɡ q ʔ
Affricate ts cχ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Fricative f s z χ ɦ
Approximant ɾ
Lateral l
Ejectives
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Affricate tsʼ kχʼ qχʼ
Clicks
Labial- Dental- Alveolar-uvular Palatal-uvular
uvular uvular
Central Lateral
Stop ʘ ǀ ǀʰ ɡ
ǀ ǃ ǃʰ ɡ
ǃ ǁ ǁʰ ɡ
ǁ ǂ ǂʰ ɡ
ǂ
ʘq ǀq ǀqʰ ǃq ǃqʰ ǁq ǁqʰ ǂq ǂqʰ
Nasal ̥
ŋ ʔ
ʘ ŋ
ʘ ǀ ǀ
ŋ̥ ʰ ŋ̥ ʔ ŋ
ǀ ŋ̥
ǃʰ ŋ̥ǃʔ ŋ
ǃ ŋ̥
ǁʰ ŋ̥ǁʔ ŋ
ǁ ŋ̥
ǂʰ ŋ̥ǂʔ ŋ
ǂ
Affricate ʘχ ǀχ ǃχ ǁχ ǂχ
Ejective affricate ǀχʼ ǃχʼ ǁχʼ ǂχʼ
Source: Adapted from Miller et al. (2009).
2.3.3 Neither vowel nor consonant?

Some sounds are quite tricky to classify as either vowels or consonants. For
example, a group of sounds are referred to as ‘semi-vowels’ or ‘glides’ and include
/j/, /w/ and /ɥ/. We can find these sounds in the French words sien /sjɛ̃ / ‘his/hers/
theirs’, soin /swɛ̃ / ‘care’, and suint /sɥɛ̃ / ‘grease on sheep’s wool’, or in English
yes /jɛs/ and went /wɛnt/. Semi-vowels are dynamic, in that they move through
one tongue configuration to another, and they also contain many elements of a
vowel. For example, in the palatal glide /j/, the sound starts something like the
vowel /i/ with a high tongue body but no frication in the vocal tract. The lips
are then rounded and the second part of the glide is something like the vowel
/ø/. However, in terms of their phonology, semi-vowels often act similarly to
consonants. In the French examples earlier, the semi-vowel combines with an
/s/ sound to form the opening part of a syllable, a position typically occupied
by consonants. In the English examples, the semi-vowel is the opening part of
the syllable. In these syllable contexts, a semi-vowel behaves similarly to a con
sonant, and a ‘full’ vowel is required to form the rest of the syllable. For this
29
reason, these segments are referred to as semi-vowels as they don’t quite fit the
description for either vowels or consonants.
Another group of sounds in this position are referred to as ‘syllabic consonants’.
This phrase describes a group of consonants which occupy positions in the
syllable usually reserved for vowels. Czech has many syllabic consonants. For
example, the word for ‘wolf’ in Czech is krk /krk/. This word is produced with
no vowel, but an rrrrr sound can act similarly to a vowel to fill in the middle
of this word. Syllabic consonants are sort of the opposite of semi-vowels: their
production is similar to a consonant with obstruction in the vocal tract, but their
phonology is similar to vowels in that they occupy the middle of a syllable.
2.4 Prosody
Prosody (also known as ‘suprasegmentals’) refers to everything which is not
segments, that is, not vowels and consonants. Here, we will consider several
aspects of prosody: duration, tone, stress, intonation and syllable structure.
2.4.1 duration
We have already touched upon one aspect of prosody: earlier, we used the length
diacritic [ː] to show that some vowels are longer than others. Manipulating dur
ation is one way in which languages vary prosodically. Many languages have
long and short vowels which indicate the difference between words as part of a
phonological contrast. For example, the Scottish Gaelic word teth /tʃʰe/ ‘hot’ has
a short vowel. The word tè ‘woman’ is pronounced with exactly the same vowels
and consonants, but the vowel is longer /tʃʰeː/. Helpfully, Scottish Gaelic spelling
shows this long vowel with an accent in the orthography. In Thai /fǎ n/ means ‘to
dream’, but /fǎ ːn/ means ‘to slice’. Both words have the same vowels, consonants
and rising tone, but a longer vowel makes the contrast in meaning.
2.4.2 Tone, stress and intonation

We will now consider tone in a bit more detail. Tone can be described as the use
of prosodic features, especially variation in pitch, at the word level to contrast in
meaning. Around 70% of the world’s languages use tonal contrasts, so this is a
very common linguistic feature although it is not used in English. We’ve already
seen some examples of tones from Thai, and the full set of five tones from Standard
Thai can be seen in Table 2.4. Thai has three tones which are level in pitch (mid,
low and high), and two tones which change in pitch during the vowel (falling and
rising). Languages which have tones which change in pitch are referred to as con
tour tone languages, and are very common in East Asia. Other example languages
would include Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese and Vietnamese.
30
PhoNology
Table 2.4 Tones in Standard Thai.
IPA Meaning Tone

kʰāː to get stuck mid
kʰàː galangal low
kʰâː I falling
kʰáː leg high
kʰǎː to engage in trade rising
Source: From Tingsabadh and Abramson (1993).
Not all tone languages have such large systems with tones that change in pitch.
Languages with smaller tone systems which are consistent in pitch are referred
to as register tone languages. These systems are typical of African tone languages
though they are found in many areas of the world. Some example words and
corresponding tones from Ega (spoken in Côte d’Ivoire) are in Table 2.5. Ega has
three level tones, which is typical of West African tone languages. These are often
shown in the orthography of the language.
Table 2.5 Tones in Ega.
IPA Meaning Tone

ní tá I speak high
ní tā I spoke mid
ní tà I chew low
Source: From Connell et al. (2002).
Tone is the use of prosodic features for contrastive meaning between words.
There is another word-level prosodic pattern referred to as stress. Stress is also
the use of prosodic features at the word level, especially pitch, but unlike tone,
stress doesn’t usually make a contrast between two different words. For example,
in the English word lever, the first syllable is usually stressed. We could show this
in the IPA as [ˈliːvə]. The superscript oblong before the [l] indicates that this syl
lable has primary stress. If someone pronounced lever as [liːˈvə] with stress on
the second syllable, it might sound a bit unusual, but we would still understand
it as the same word. Typically, stressed syllables are produced with higher pitch,
longer duration and louder than unstressed syllables.
Some languages have predictable stress which always falls on the same syllable
of each word. For example, in northern dialects of Breton stress falls predictably
on the penultimate syllable in a word. The word for the language, ‘Breton’, is
Brezhoneg, pronounced [bʁeˈzɔ̃nɛk] in northern dialects. The southern Breton
dialect, Vannetais, also has predictable stress, but it falls on the final syllable in
the word such that Brezhoneg is pronounced [bʁezɔ̃ˈnɛk]. As stress is predictable
in Breton dialects, Breton is known as a language with fixed stress. In other
languages, stress is less predictable, such as Modern Greek. Greek has variable
stress (i.e. stress can occur on any syllable) and helpfully this is marked in the
31
orthography with an accent. For example, εννιά [ɛˈɲa] ‘nine’ has stress on the
final syllable, but δέκα ‘ten’ [ˈðɛka] has stress on the first syllable.
In focus: is English a tone language?
In English there is a small set of identical words which differ in stress. These
are known as diatones and developed a sound change over the past 400
years. In each case, the vowels and consonants are the same, but the stress
pattern is different between the noun and verb forms of the word. Some
examples can be seen in Table 2.6.
Table 2.6 Some examples of diatone pairs in English. Stress is shown with an
acute accent.
Noun Verb
Récord Recórd
Résearch Reséarch
Pérmit Permít
Ímport Impórt
Éxport Expórt
Prótest Protést
Here, we have examples of where prosody is used to make a contrast

between two different words. This is the definition of tone! Not stress. So
is English a tone language? Although we can see tone-like characteristics in
this small set of words, phonologists generally say that English is not a tone
language. This is because these are a limited set of words which are closely
related in meaning anyway (the difference between a noun and a verb),
rather than two unrelated lexical items. The tone-like contrast is not wide
spread across the language, so we instead think of the diatones as an excep
tion to the rule rather than a fundamental property of English phonology.
So far, we have concentrated on prosodies which affect individual syllables

or individual words. A larger structure which affects the prosody of a whole
utterance is known as intonation. This is the use of prosodic features, especially
pitch, across a longer stretch of speech. Intonation is the broad overarching
melody to a particular utterance and varies widely across different languages
and dialects. It is common to find falling pitch at the end of statements. This is
because of an aerodynamic effect by which speakers are using up the air in their
lungs towards the end of an utterances, which lowers the tension on the vocal
folds and lowers pitch. An example dialect which does this would be Connemara
Irish. However, not all languages and dialects conform to this pattern. The
next-door dialect to Connemara, Donegal Irish, instead has phrase-final rising
intonation in statements. This is cross-linguistically quite unusual, but is found
in Donegal Irish, and in the intonation of several UK English dialects such as
32
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Introducing Linguistics 1st Edition Jonathan Culpeper Beth Malory Claire Nance Daniel Van Olmen Dimitrinka Atanasova Sam Kirkham Aina Casaponsa

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Introducing Linguistics 1st Edition

Jonathan Culpeper Beth Malory Claire

History of English 3rd Edition Jonathan Culpeper

Imperatives and Directive Strategies 1st Edition Daniël

Introducing Vigilant Audiences 1st Edition Daniel

Love That Story 1st Edition Jonathan Van Ness

The Linguistic Cycle: Economy and Renewal in Historical

Structuralist Poetics Structuralism Linguistics and the

Reign Of Loyalty 1st Edition A G Kirkham

Serpent s Blood 1st Edition Beth Alvarez Alvarez Beth

Jonathan Culpeper is Professor of English Language and Linguistics in the Department of

Dimitrinka Atanasova is Lecturer in Intercultural Communication in the Department of

Aina Casaponsa is Lecturer in Language, Cognition and Neuroscience in the Department of

Learning about Language is an exciting and ambitious series of introductions to fun­

Also in this series:

The History of Early English

An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, Revised Third Edition

The History of Late Modern Englishes

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Sixth Edition

Critical Discourse Analysis

For more information about this series please visit: www.routledge.com/series/PEALAL

EDITED BY JONATHAN CULPEPER,

Preface by Jonathan Culpeper viii

Section one: Language structures 1

Section two: Mind and society 137

8 Historical linguistics 159

9 Language acquisition 186

10 Studying discourse 205

11 Bilingualism and multilingualism 226

12 Communication and culture 244

Section three: Applications 261

14 Health communication 276

15 Language in the curriculum 291

16 Critical Discourse Analysis 311

17 Language in the workplace 326

18 Computational linguistics 339

Section four: Methods 353

20 Experimental methods 368

21 Corpus methods 383

22 Field methods 400

23 Surveys, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups 413

24 Statistics and data visualisation 426

Section five: Issues 447

26 Linguistic theories of grammar 459

27 Linguistic relativity 469

28 Linguistic diversity 478

29 Evolutionary linguistics 486

30 Animal communication 495

Linguistics, in essence, is the study of how a language or languages work.

• It will be pitched at a level appropriate to first-year undergraduates;

• A list of any relevant web resources, and brief description of them;

• Two short exam questions;

obviously, interest from students undertaking linguistics, language science or

1.2 The production of speech

Figure 1.1 A diagram of the human larynx, trachea and lungs.

Breathing involves expansion and contraction of the lungs, which corres­

1.2.2 The larynx and voicing

In focus: vocal folds or vocal cords?

1.2.3 The oral cavity

Learning about Language is an exciting and ambitious series of introductions to fun

Breathing involves expansion and contraction of the lungs, which corres