Phonology and Phonetics

Phonology is the study of the sound systems of language — how sounds are organised, patterned, and used to create meaning. It is distinct from phonetics, which is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds (how they are produced, transmitted, and perceived). At A-Level, you need to understand both, but phonology — the way sound patterns function within language — is the primary focus for textual analysis.

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Phonemes and Allophones

The most fundamental unit of phonological analysis is the phoneme — the smallest unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a given language.

Key Definition: Phoneme — the smallest unit of sound in a language that can change the meaning of a word. For example, changing the initial phoneme in "bat" from /b/ to /k/ produces "cat" — a completely different word.

English has approximately 44 phonemes (the exact number varies slightly depending on accent and the system of classification used), comprising roughly 24 consonants and 20 vowels (including diphthongs).

An allophone is a variant pronunciation of a phoneme that does not change the meaning of a word. For example, the /p/ in "pin" is aspirated (produced with a small puff of air, transcribed [pʰ]), while the /p/ in "spin" is unaspirated. These are different sounds phonetically, but they are allophones of the same phoneme /p/ because swapping one for the other does not change the word's meaning.

Key Definition: Allophone — a phonetic variant of a phoneme that does not change meaning. Allophones are different realisations of the same phoneme in different phonetic environments.

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The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

The International Phonetic Alphabet was developed by the International Phonetic Association (founded 1886) to provide a standardised system for transcribing the sounds of all human languages. Each symbol represents one distinct sound.

English Consonants (Selected)

IPA Symbol	Example Word	Position
/p/	pin	voiceless bilabial plosive
/b/	bin	voiced bilabial plosive
/t/	tin	voiceless alveolar plosive
/d/	din	voiced alveolar plosive
/k/	cat	voiceless velar plosive
/g/	got	voiced velar plosive
/f/	fan	voiceless labiodental fricative
/v/	van	voiced labiodental fricative
/s/	sit	voiceless alveolar fricative
/z/	zoo	voiced alveolar fricative
/ʃ/	ship	voiceless postalveolar fricative
/ʒ/	pleasure	voiced postalveolar fricative
/tʃ/	chip	voiceless postalveolar affricate
/dʒ/	jam	voiced postalveolar affricate

English Vowels (Selected — Received Pronunciation)

IPA Symbol	Example Word	Type
/iː/	fleece	long monophthong
/ɪ/	kit	short monophthong
/e/	dress	short monophthong
/æ/	trap	short monophthong
/ɑː/	bath	long monophthong
/ɒ/	lot	short monophthong
/ʊ/	foot	short monophthong
/uː/	goose	long monophthong
/aɪ/	price	diphthong
/eɪ/	face	diphthong
/ɔɪ/	choice	diphthong

You are not required to memorise the entire IPA for AQA A-Level, but you should be familiar with it as a tool and be able to refer to specific sounds accurately.

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Consonants and Vowels: Classification

Consonants are classified according to three parameters:

1. Place of articulation — where in the mouth the sound is produced (bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, postalveolar, palatal, velar, glottal)
2. Manner of articulation — how the airflow is modified (plosive, fricative, affricate, nasal, lateral, approximant)
3. Voicing — whether the vocal cords vibrate (voiced) or not (voiceless)

Vowels are classified according to:

1. Height — how open or closed the mouth is (open, mid, close)
2. Backness — where in the mouth the tongue is positioned (front, central, back)
3. Rounding — whether the lips are rounded or unrounded
4. Length — long or short

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Connected Speech

When people speak naturally, words are not produced as separate, isolated units. Instead, sounds influence each other in a continuous stream. This phenomenon is called connected speech, and it produces several important features:

Feature	Definition	Example
Elision	The omission of a sound or syllable	"library" → /laɪbri/ (the middle syllable is dropped); "last night" → /lɑːs naɪt/ (the /t/ is elided)
Assimilation	A sound changes to become more like a neighbouring sound	"ten boys" → /tem bɔɪz/ (the /n/ becomes /m/ before the bilabial /b/)
Liaison	A sound is inserted between two words to ease pronunciation	"law and order" → /lɔːr ən ɔːdə/ (an intrusive /r/ links "law" and "and")
Reduction	Vowels in unstressed syllables are reduced to schwa /ə/	"to" → /tə/ in "I want to go"