Its main principles of IPA:
there should be a separate letter for each distinctive sound, and that the same symbol should be used for that sound in any language in which it appears. The alphabet was to consist of as many Roman alphabet letters as possible, using new letters and diacritics only when absolutely necessary.
The vowel diagram shows the CARDINAL VOWELS, which are a set of vowel qualities arbitrary defined, fixed and unchanging, intended to provide a frame of reference for the description of the actual vowels of existing languages. The vowels are shown their relevant positions in a cross-sectional diagram of the oral cavity.
Position of the vocal folds: voiceless
Position of the vocal folds: voicing (initial & the widest aparting)
Voiced Sounds
Voiceless Sounds
Position of the vocal folds: glottal stop
The “other symbols” are a group of consonants that involve more than one place or one manner of Articulation, which cannot be placed into one of slots in the consonant chart.

The manner of articulation refers to the actual relationship between the articulators and thus the ways in which articulation can be accomplished:
the articulators may close off the oral tract for an instant or a relatively long period; (a closure) they may narrow the space considerably; (narrowing) they may simply modify the shape of the tract by approaching each other.
2. Consonants and vowels


Consonants are produced „by a closure in the vocal tract, or by a narrowing which is so marked that air cannot escape without producing audible friction‟, i.e. there is obstruction of air happened in a certain point of vocal tract in the production of consonants. By contrast, a vowel is produced without such „stricture‟ so that „air escapes in a relatively unimpeded way through the mouth or nose‟, i.e., there is no obstruction of air in the production of vowels.
Chapter Two
Speech Sounds
Phonetics

Study of Speech Sound Phonology

Phonetics studies how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived.



Articulatory Phonetics is the study of the production of speech sounds. Acoustic Phonetics is the study of the physical properties of speech sounds. Perceptual or Auditory Phonetics is concerned with the perception of speech sounds.discover the principles that govern the way sounds are organized in languages, and to explain the variations that occur‟. Take an individual language, say English, as an example, to determine its phonological structure, i.e. which sound units are used and how they are put together. Then compare the properties of sound systems in different languages in order to make hypotheses about the rules that underlie the use of sounds in them, and ultimately we aim to discover the rules that underlie the sound patterns of all languages.
1.2 The IPA



In 1886, the Phonetic Teachers‟ Association was founded It was changed to its present title of the International Phonetic Association (IPA) in 1897. One of the first activities of the Association was to produce a journal in which the contents were printed entirely in phonetic transcription.

Phonology is the study of the sound patterns and sound systems of languages, more specifically is to study the rules governing the structure, distribution and sequencing of speech sounds and the shape of syllables.

• Stop (or Plosive) (6 sounds in English) • Nasal (3 sounds in English) • Fricative (9 sounds in English) • (Median) Approximant (3 in English) • Lateral (Approximant) • Trill • Tap or Flap • Affricate
2.1 Consonants


In the production of consonants at least two articulators are involved. The categories of consonant, therefore, are established on the basis of several factors, but two are important: the Manner of articulation & the Place of Articulation
Non-pulmonic consonants are produced either by sucking air into the mouth, such as clicks, or closing the glottis and manipulating the air between the glottis and a place of articulation further forward in the vocal tract, as in the case of implosives and ejectives.
1. How speech sounds are made
1.1 Speech organs (vocal organs)
Three Cavities of Vocal Tract
• Sounds made with different parts of the tongue:
– Coronal (tip and blade): /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /θ/ – Dorsal (front and back): /k/, /g/, /ŋ/ – Radical (root): /h/