Phonetic Signs
An In‐Depth Look at Phonetic Signs
Phonetic signs are symbols that represent the sounds of speech. The most widely used system for this purpose is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which provides a standardized way to transcribe the pronunciation of words across different languages. Because English (both American and British), German, and Swedish each have distinct phonological systems, the IPA offers a valuable tool for linguists, language learners, and educators to capture and compare their sounds precisely.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
The IPA is organized into segments that represent:
Consonants
Vowels
Diacritics and suprasegmentals (which indicate aspects like stress, tone, length, and nasalization)
Each symbol corresponds to a particular sound (or phoneme). Although the full IPA includes many signs, here we focus on those most relevant to American English, British English, German, and Swedish.
Consonantal Phonetic Signs
Consonants are often among the first sounds described in any language’s phonology. Below, we explore common consonantal signs and note key differences among our four target languages.
Plosives (Stops)
Voiced and Voiceless Pairs:
American & British English:
/p/ as in “pat”
/b/ as in “bat”
/t/ as in “top”
/d/ as in “dog”
/k/ as in “cat”
/g/ as in “go”
German: Similar stop consonants occur in words like "Brot" (/bʁoːt/) and "gut" (/ɡuːt/).
Swedish: These stops appear in words such as "potatis" (/pʊˈtɑːtɪs/) and "dator" (/ˈdɑːtɵr/).
Fricatives
English “th” Sounds:
Voiceless /θ/ (as in “think”)
Voiced /ð/ (as in “this”)
Note: These sounds are unique to English among our examples.
Other Common Fricatives:
/f/ as in “fine” (present in all four languages)
/v/ as in “vine” (American & British English; similar in German "Vater" /ˈfaːtɐ/ and Swedish "vacker" /ˈvâkːɐ/)
/s/ as in “see” and /z/ as in “zoo”
/ʃ/ as in “she”
British English sometimes distinguishes /ʃ/ from the similar sound /ʒ/ (as in the second syllable of “vision” /ˈvɪʒən/).
German also uses /ʃ/ in words like "Schule" (/ʃuːlə/).
In Swedish, /ʃ/ appears in loanwords or regional accents.
Velar and Post-Velar Fricatives:
German notably features the voiceless velar fricative /x/ in words like "Buch" (/buːx/) and the voiceless palatal fricative /ç/ in "ich" (/ɪç/).
These sounds are absent in standard English and Swedish, which instead use /k/ or /h/ in similar positions.
Affricates and Other Consonants
Affricates:
The English /tʃ/ (as in “church”) and /dʒ/ (as in “judge”) occur in both American and British varieties.
German and Swedish also use affricates; for instance, German /t͡s/ appears in words like "Zeit" (/tsaɪt/).
Approximants and Flaps:
American English features the rhotic approximant /ɹ/ in words like “red”, while in British Received Pronunciation the /ɹ/ is typically not pronounced unless it appears before a vowel.
Swedish has a similar /ɹ/ sound in certain dialects, but also uses the uvular /ʀ/ in other varieties.
The tap /ɾ/ appears in American English in words like “butter” (often realized as [ˈbʌɾɚ]) and sometimes in British English in certain dialects.
Vowel Phonetic Signs
Vowels are often the most variable sounds across languages. Here, we describe how IPA symbols capture vowel quality, using examples from our four languages.
Monophthongs in American and British English
Short Vowels:
/æ/ in American English (e.g., “cat” /kæt/), which often contrasts with the more open /ɑː/ in some British dialects for words like “bath” (/bɑːθ/).
/ɪ/ as in “bit” (/bɪt/) and /ʌ/ as in “cup” (/kʌp/).
/ɛ/ as in “bed” (/bɛd/).
Long Vowels and Variants:
/iː/ as in “see” (/siː/) and /uː/ as in “blue” (/bluː/).
British English often includes the vowel /ɒ/ as in “lot” (/lɒt/), which is not a typical sound in General American, where /ɑ/ is more common.
Vowels in German
Pure Vowels and Length Distinctions:
/iː/ as in "lieb" (/liːp/) versus the short /ɪ/ in "bitte" (/ˈbɪtə/).
/uː/ as in "gut" (/ɡuːt/) and /ʊ/ in some unstressed positions.
The front rounded vowel /yː/ appears in words like "über" (/ˈyːbɐ/) and /œ/ in certain dialects.
Open Vowels:
/a/ or /ɑ/ appears in words like "Wasser" (/ˈvasɐ/), though quality can vary with dialect.
Vowels in Swedish
Rich Vowel Inventory:
Swedish is known for having a relatively large set of vowel sounds.
Long and short vowels are contrasted, such as /uː/ versus /ɵ/ or /ʉː/ (seen in words like "hus" [house]).
Front vowels include /iː/ and /yː/, as in "fina" (/ˈfiːna/) for “nice.”
Rounded vowels like /øː/ or /œ/ occur, giving Swedish its characteristic melodic quality.
Diphthong and Vowel Coloration:
Although less common than in English, certain regional accents in Swedish feature diphthongization, where a vowel sound glides from one quality to another.
Diphthongs Across Languages
English Diphthongs:
American and British English use diphthongs like /aɪ/ (as in “price”), /aʊ/ (as in “mouth”), and /ɔɪ/ (as in “boy”).
These sounds are represented as smooth transitions between two vowel qualities.
German and Swedish Diphthongs:
German has fewer diphthongs; a common one is /aɪ/ as in "Mai" (May).
Swedish employs certain gliding vowels that might appear diphthongal in fast speech or regional accents.
Diacritics and Suprasegmentals
In addition to the base symbols for consonants and vowels, the IPA uses diacritics and suprasegmental markers to capture nuances such as stress, tone, length, and nasalization.
Diacritics
Length: A colon-like symbol [ː] indicates that the vowel or consonant is long.
Example: German "Boot" (/boːt/) versus a short vowel sound.
Nasalization: A tilde [~] above a vowel shows that it is nasalized. This is not typical in standard English but can appear in dialectal variations or borrowed words.
Voicing and Aspiration: Small symbols may indicate slight differences, such as aspiration in plosives (e.g., the aspirated [pʰ] in English “pin”).
Suprasegmental Features
Stress: Primary stress is often marked by a preceding [ˈ] and secondary stress by [ˌ].
Example: American English “photograph” can be transcribed as [ˈfoʊtəɡræf] or in British English as [ˈfəʊtəɡrɑːf], depending on the dialect.
Intonation and Rhythm: Although not always notated in casual transcriptions, detailed phonetic studies may include tone markers or pitch accents—features particularly important in Swedish, where prosody can affect meaning.
Comparative Examples Across Languages
To illustrate the use of these signs, here are a few comparative examples:
Example 1: The “r” Sound
American English: Uses the rhotic approximant /ɹ/ in words like “red” (/ɹɛd/).
British English (RP): Often features a non-rhotic pronunciation, so “red” may be transcribed as [ɹɛd] in careful speech but with the /ɹ/ dropped when following a vowel.
German: Typically uses a uvular fricative or approximant [ʀ] in many dialects for the “r” sound, as in "rot" (/ʀoːt/).
Swedish: Can use an alveolar trill [r] or a uvular variant [ʀ] depending on the dialect.
Example 2: The Vowel in “bath”
British English: Often transcribed as /ɑː/ in words like “bath” (/bɑːθ/), representing an open back unrounded vowel.
American English: Generally uses /æ/ as in “bath” (/bæθ/).
German: In a similar context, the vowel quality depends on the word; for instance, "Bach" (/bax/) employs the voiceless velar fricative rather than a vowel change.
Swedish: Vowel quality varies; a word like "båt" (boat) is transcribed as /boːt/, with length and quality that differ from the English examples.
Example 3: The “th” Sounds
English:
Voiceless /θ/ as in “think” and voiced /ð/ as in “this” are central to English phonology.
Neither German nor Swedish includes these dental fricatives; German often replaces them with /s/ or /z/ in loanwords, while Swedish speakers may approximate them with /t/ or /d/ sounds.
Conclusion
Phonetic signs, primarily through the IPA, provide a detailed and consistent way to represent the sounds of language. By examining the phonetic inventories of American English, British English, German, and Swedish, we can see both shared features—such as common plosives and fricatives—and unique characteristics like English “th” sounds, German uvular fricatives, and Swedish vowel nuances. This systematic representation not only aids in language learning and linguistic research but also deepens our understanding of the rich diversity of human speech.