The Number of English Phonemes Equals to the Number of Letter Alphabets A.

Introduction It has been becoming a basic need for human to communicate one to another. People functionally may have different purposes to communicate. They use one or more languages as a tool of communication. Not amusingly that they produce various sound/ speech as a form of human language. Language can be written but speech/spoken is still a primary way of communication. The study of sound or speech has been conducted by the linguists. It is closely deal with phonology and phonetics as the sub disciplines. According to John Laver (1994: 30), Phonology is intimately connected with the phonetic study of speech. Phonology is often associated with the study that concern with the organization of speech within specific languages, or with the systems and patterns of sounds that occur in particular languages(Clark and Yallop, 1990: 2). While Dobrovolsky and Katamba stated that Phonology is the study of sound patter in individual languages in order to discover something about linguistic knowledge that people must have in order to use these patterns (1996: 68). They also defined phonetics as the study of language by examining the inventory and structure of the sounds of language (1996:18). Those two sub disciplines will closely related to the further explanation about the English phoneme and English alphabets in the matter of amount/ number. B. Theoretical Background Peter Roach defined phoneme as small number of regularly used sounds both vowel and consonant (2000: 1). He stated another definition of phoneme in his second edition book of English Phonetics and Phonology as an abstract set of units as the basic of our speech. (2000: 38). According to Dobrovolsky and Katamba, Phoneme is predictable sounds that are phonetically similar, and that does not contrast with each other, are grouped into a phonological unit (1996: 73). From the definitions above, it can be concluded that phoneme is the basic set of speech that regularly used in the form of vowel or consonant and grouped into a phonological unit.

C. English Phonemes and English Alphabets The signs that constitute the spelling of English are the letters of the Roman or Latin alphabet as it is currently established for English. These English alphabets are an abstract set used as the basic of our writing. In the form of speech, we have also an abstract set of unit as the basic of speech. This unit is called as phoneme. And the complete set of this unit is called the phonemic system of the language. Peter Roach defined the letter of alphabets that we use in writing is a unit which corresponds fairly well to the unit of speech-segment (2000: 36). The English alphabet has 26 letters. In English alphabet we have five letters that are called vowels: a, i, u, e, o; and we have 21 letters that are called consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z. A B C D E F G H I J K L M a b c d e f g h i j k l m [ [ [ei [ai] ei] [kei] [el] [em] [ei] [bi:] [si:] [di:] [i:] [ef] i:] ] N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z n o p q r s t u v w x y z [d [en] [ou] [pi:] [kju:] [a:] [es] [ti:] [ju:] [vi:] blju:] [eks] [wai] [zed] or [AmE zi:]

What is written in English alphabets may have a different form either in spelling or in pronunciation. Alphabets have twenty-six letters, but when the alphabets are used to write with, these letters appear on the page practically infinite number of different shapes and sizes. In the alphabetic word bed which e letter has [e] phoneme will have a different meaning if its changed into [ae] phoneme. It may show us too that an alphabet may represent a phoneme with range of sound in phonology. It then results in the amount number of phoneme which is practically infinite. We cant substitute one phoneme in a word to other since the different meanings will occur. D. Number of Phonemes English has 44 phonemes which consist of vowels and consonants. Vowels consist of pure vowels and diphthongs. Pure vowel is sound whose articulation at both its beginning and end is fixed, i.e. it does not move towards a new position of articulation while it is being spoken. Pure vowels can be classified into 7 short vowels and 5 long vowels Short vowels. /I/ in word hit / in word book /e/ in word end // in word above //in word bottom //) in word come //in word bag

Long vowels /i:/ in word see /u:/ in word food // in word hurt //in word car // in word small

Diphthong is a speech sound composed of two vowels within the same syllable (Crannel, 2000: 121). English is rich in diphthongs: /a/ as in house, /a/] as in fine, // as in boy, and generally in British English // as in go and /e/ as in day. Other diphthongs are // as in dear, // as in poor and /e/ as in bear. Consonants are sounds characterized by a constricting or a complete closing of the air passages (Malmberg, 1963: 32). Consonants can be classified as voiced and voiceless .voiced sound is one in which the vocal cords vibrate, and a voiceless sound is one in which they do not. Voiced sounds.b, d, /b/ /d/ /g/ /v/ // / Voiceless sounds. p, t, t ,k, f, s, To represent the basic sound of spoken languages linguists use a set of phonetic symbols called the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). This is the standard set of phonemic symbols for English (RP and similar accents). / /z/ /3// m/, /ngeh/, / /n/ /l/ /w/ /j/

E. Technique in Identifying Phonemes The basic technique in analyzing phoneme is called minimal pair. A minimal pair consist of two form with distinct meanings that differ by only one segment found in the same position in each form. For example [sip] sip and [zip] sip form a minimal pair and show that the sounds [s] and [z] contrast in language. Minimal pair is two sounds which are phonetically similar occur in the same phonetic environment. It can be occurred in the initial, middle and in the final position of word in the form of vowel or consonant.

Bibliography Clark, John. & Yallop, Colin. (1990). An Introduction to phonetics and Phonology.Oxford: Blackwell Publishers

O'Grady, William, Dobrowvolsky and Katamba (1996). Comtemporary Linguistics: an introduction (edited edition). Canada: Copp clark Pitman Ltd

McCarthy, John J.(2004). Optimality Theory in Phonology.Oxford: Blackwell Publishers

Roach, Peter. (2000). English Phonetics and Phonology: a practical course (second edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Roach, Peter. (2000). English Phonetics and Phonology: a practical course (third edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

SEMINAR ON LINGUISTICS
(The number of English phonemes equals to the number of letter alphabets)

Lecturer: Drs. Suparno, M.Pd

Submitted by: Gigih Aji Prasetyo Muhammad Hasanul Aqil (K2209036/SBI) (K2209055/SBI)

English Department Faculty of Teacher Training and Education SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY 2012