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Wo rdsi nt hespe echa ina reno tper cei ve dasw rit ten la ngu ageis
[Words in the are not perceived as griten languages]
SYLLABIC LANGUAGES
GREEK TRADITION > LATIN > ENGLISH
SEGMENTAL ELEMENTS:
Phonemes, syllables, feet, words, breath groups, etc.
SUPRASEGMENTAL (PROSODIC) ELEMENTS:
Intonation, speed, tempo, loudness, etc.
COARTICULATION:
<tide>
PHONEMIC
(BROAD) TRANSCRIPTION:
/tad/
PHONETIC (ALLOPHONIC OR NARROW) TRANCRIPTION:
[\t]
Each language (and also each accent) has its own
PHONEMIC SYSTEM:
PHONOTACTIC RULES:
In English, // is never found initially, and / U - / never occur in open
syllables.
In Spanish, there is no initial /sk/ or /sp/
PHONOTACTIC:
The study of the possible locations and combinations of sounds in each
language (hence phonotactic rules)
E.g.:
Only /s/ can be pre-initial: /strend/
/pw fw/ do not happen initially
Consonants:
Functional definition:
They need a vowel to form a syllable (but bottle [], button []?)
Vowels:
Functional definition:
They do not need a consonant to for a syllable
Articulatory definition:
They involve no friction or closure (constriction) in their production*
(vocoids)
RP diphthongs:
RP triphthongs:
Glides:
/ju:/j:/j/j/w/w:/wa/, etc.
UNIT 2:
RP VOWELS, DIPHTHONGS AND TRIPHTHONGS
Pure (steady state) vowels:
Acoustic features:
- Length (long/free short/checked)
- Quality (produced by resonators)
Articulatory features:
- Openness: open-mid-close
- Place of articulation: front/central/back
- Lip position: rounded / neutral / spread
- Muscle strain: tense/lax
- (Nasalisation, etc)
/ i: / DESCRIPTION:
Long, front, close, spread, tense, quality closer to cardinal no. 1 than //.
SPELLINGS:
EE: tree, cheese /tri:/ /ti:z/
E: complete, (lever) /kmpli:t/ /li:v/ /lev/
EA: leave, reason /li:v/ /ri:zn/
IE: piece, field, fiend /pi:s/ /fi:ld/ /fi:nd/
EI, EY: seize, key, (either, neither) /si:z/ /ki:/ /i:/
I: machine, police, expertise /mi:n/ /pli:s/ /ekspti:s/
Also people and quay. Notice vehicle: /pi:pl/ /ki:/ /vi:kl/ /vkl/
REMARKS:
It does not happen before //: seeing /si: /
Closing /p t k/ usually reduce its length, in beat, for example. The contrast
with bit rather lies in quality (pre-fortis clipping).
/ / DESCRIPTION:
Short, front-central, close-close mid, slightly spread or neutral, lax, closer to
cardinal no. 2 than /i:/
SPELLINGS:
I: sit, rich, treatrise /st/ /rt/ /tri:ts/
Y: myth, symbol /m/ /smbl/
E: pretty, except, careless /prti/ /ksept/ /kels/
IE: ladies*, cities* /lediz/ /stiz/
Also village private, (forehead), build, biscuit, circuit, busy, business, (Sunday),
women, (minute):
/vld/ /pravt/ /frd/ /bld/ /bskt/ /s:kt/ /bzi/ /bzns/ /sndi/
/wmn/ /mnt/
REMARKS:
// Sometimes appears instead of this vowel in unstressed position: useless,
believe, private, village.
Functional words like me, be, been, she have [i] (weak) or /i:/ (strong).
The article the // is /i/ before vowels
*Weak alternative [i]
Recent dictionaries and authors are now introducing this short form as an
alternative to /I/ in some particular weak positions:
/e/ DESCRIPTION:
Short, front, close mid-open mid, unrounded, quality between cardinals 2 and 3.
SPELLINGS:
E: set, bed /set/ /bed/
EA: dead, head, breath, cleanse, breast /hed/ /bre/ /klenz/ /brest/
A: many, any, Thames /meni/ /eni/ /temz/
REMARKS:
It is slightly more open than Spanish [ e ]
Final e is usually silent, but there are exceptions:
Recipe, resum, fianc, employee, trainee
/respi/ /rezjume/ /finse/ /mpli/ ..
// DESCRIPTION
Short, front, open mid-open, slightly spread or neutral quality cardinals 3 and 4.
SPELLINGS:
A: sat, hand, marry /st/ /hnd/ /mri/
Al: plait, plaid /plt/ /pld/
REMARKS:
Not found in open syllables; // appears instead:
Idea, Africa, media /ad/ /frk/ /midi/
For Spanish speakers, it lies between [ e ] and [ a ].
In American English // - /e/ have similar quality.
American and Northern British speakers of RP use it instead of // in
words like "path, grass, dance" ("BATH" words).
It is kept in "wax, wag, twang", but not in "wall, war, swap" /wl/ /w/ swp/
// DESCRIPTION:
Short, central, open mid-open, unrounded, quality similar to final // but more
open.
SPELLINGS:
U: sun, dull, Murray /sn/ /dl/ /mari/
O: other, another, son, among, one, done, month, colour, money, monk,
monkey, mother, nothing, Monday, onion, London, oven, love, dove,
glove, some, government, front
// /n/ /sn/ /m/ /wn/ /dn/ /mn/ /'kl/ /mni/ /mk/ /
mki/ /m/ /n/ /mnde/ /nn/ /lndn/ /nv/ /lv/ /dv/ /glv/ /s
m/ /gvnmnt/ /frnt/
OU: country, southern, couple, enough, tough, rough, young
/kntri/ /sn/ /kp,l/ /nf/ /tf/ /rf/ /j/
OO: blood, flood /bld/ /fld/
OE: does, doesn't /dz/ /dznt/
REMARKS:
It does not occur in final, open syllables.
Northern English (and many Irish) speakers still retain the old pronunciation //
// DESCRIPTION:
Long, back, open, unrounded, quality close to cardinal number 5.
SPELLINGS:
A: (last, pass, past, class, grass, daft, after, bath, tomato*, father, branch,
dance, example)
/lst/ /ps/ /pst/ /kls/ /grs/ /dft/ /ft/ /b/ /tmt/
[tmt] /f/ /brnt/ /dns/ /gzmpl/
AR: part, March, large /pt/ /mt/ /ld/
EAR: heart, hearth /ht/ /h/
// DESCRIPTION:
Short, back, open-open mid, (variably) rounded, quality between cardinals 5 & 6
SPELLINGS:
O: dock, sorry, gone /dk/ /sri/ /gn/
A: was, what, swan, want, quality /wz/ /wz/ /wt/ /swn/ /wnt/ /kwlti/
OU, OW: cough, Gloucester, knowledge /kf/ /glst/ /nld/
AU: (because), sausage, Australia, cauliflower /bkz/ /ss/ /strel/ /
klfla/
REMARKS:
It does not occur in final open syllable (// instead): bingo, cheerio.
Gen Am and SW BrE accents lose its rounding, making it more open, like
unrounded cardinal 5 [ ].
J.C. Wells's dictionary simply uses // for // in GenAm.
Before fricatives /s - f- /, some RP speakers lengthen it: cross, cloth, off.
// DESCRIPTION:
Long, back, open mid-close mid, (variably) rounded, quality between cardinals 6
and 7.
SPELLINGS:
OR: horse, sword, born /hs/ /sd/ /bn/
AW: saw, jaw, law /s/ /d/ /l/
OU, AU: bought, daughter, fault, cause /bt/ /dt/ /flt/ /k/(noun) /kz/
(verb)
A: all, water, talk, war /l/ /wt/ /tk/ /w/
ORE, OOR, OAR, OUR: before, more, door, floor, board, court, course
/bf/ /m/ /d/ /fl/ /bd/ /kt/(=caught) /ks/
REMARKS:
GenAm has a more open, unrounded production.
// DESCRIPTION:
Short, central-back, close-close mid, rounded, lax, quality between cardinals 7
and 8, though more centralized.
SPELLINGS:
U: bull, full, cushion, butcher, bush, push, pudding
/bl/ /fl/ /kn/ /bt/ /b/ /pd/
O: wolf, woman, bosom, Worcester, worsted
/wlf/ /wmn/ /bzm/ /wst/ /wstd/
OO: good, book, (wood), wool
/gd/ /bk/ /wd/ /-wd/ /wl/
OU: (could, should, would), courier
/kd/ /d/ /kr/
REMARKS:
There is a difference of quality between // and /u:/ in good-food, foot-boot,
pull-pool.
/u:/ DESCRIPTION:
Long, back, close, rounded, tense, quality next to cardinal 8.
SPELLINGS:
OO: food, moon, too, balloon /fud/ /mud/ tu/ /blun/
O: do (s.f.), who (s.f.), move, lose, two, tomb, womb
/du/ /hu/ /muv/ /luz/ /tum/ /wum/
OU: group, soup, (wound), through, youth
/grup/ /sup/ /wund/ /ru/ (="threw") /ju/
U: rude, June, Susan, rule /rud/ /dun/ /suzn/ /rul/
EW, UE, UI, OE: new, chew, blue, juice, bruise, cruise, suit, shoe
/nju/ /tu/ /blu/ /dus/ /bruz/ /kruz/ /sut/ /u/
REMARKS:
American speakers tend to simplify the glide /ju/ to /u/: new students knew.
"Yod-dropping" also affects RP in words like suit.
*Weak alternative [ u ]
// DESCRIPTION:
Long, central, open mid-close mid, unrounded, quality like //, but
with a smaller range.
SPELLINGS:
IR, YR: bird, first, myrtle, circus /bd/ /fst/ /mtl/ /sks/
ER, ERR, EAR: (her, were), serve, err, earth, heard, (year)
/h/ /w/ /sv/ // // /hd/ /j/
UR, URR: turn, church, curse /tn/ /tt/ /ks/
W + OR: word, world, work /wd/ /wld/ /wk/
OUR: courtesy, journey /ktsi/ /dni/
REMARKS:
It can be considered as a strong form of //: foreword / forward /fwd/ /
fwd/
// ("schwa") DESCRIPTION:
Short, central, close mid-open mid, unrounded, lax, quality ranging more than
//
SPELLINGS:
It is the most common vowel in English. Any vowel and combination can stand
for it as long as they are in UNSTRESSED position: possible, gentlemen,
woman, pleasure, about, famous, fellow, (informal)
/psbl/ /dentlmn/ /wmn/ /ple/ /bat/ /fems/ /fel/
It may be STRESSED only in //.
In rhotic accents, it is r-coloured [ ] or followed by /r/ if the spelling reflects it.
REMARKS:
All the WEAK FORMS of articles, prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliaries such
as the, a, an, for, but, to, and, are, have, etc. have //.
Its openness ranges from that of // in final position as in over, picture, to
close // in ago, away, interest.
Some words like between, behind, before are often heard with // instead of //.
Something similar may happen in private, stomach, pigeon, etc.
DIPHTHONGS:
/e/ DESCRIPTION:
SPELLINGS:
A: late, waste, (bass), catering, (GenAm tomato)
/let/ /west/ /bes/ /ketr/ [tmeo]
AI, AY: day, rail /de/ /rel/
EI, EY: eight, they, freight, weight /et/ /e/ /fret/ /wet/
EA: great, steak, break /gret/ /stek/ /brek/
Also gauge, halfpenny, jail (gaol) /ged/ /hepni/ /del/
Final sound in bouquet, ballet (before silent <t>) /buke/ /balle/
REMARKS:
In Estuary English and some urban British and overseas varieties (including
Australian), it often becomes /a/
Some American and northern British accents especially those
/a/ DESCRIPTION:
SPELLINGS:
I, Y: time, climb, dry, island /tam/ /klam/ /dra/ /alnd/
IGH: high fight, height /ha/ /fat/ /hat/
IE, YE: die lie, rye, dye /da/ /la/ /ra/
EI, AI: (either, neither), aisle /a/ /al/
Also buy, eye /ba/ /a/
REMARKS:
In RP, fertile, fragile, missile, mobile /ftal/ /frdal/ /msal/ /mbal/
have /a/, whereas in GenAm they have syllabic [l] or /l/, with no diphthong.
// DESCRIPTION:
SPELLINGS:
OI, OY: noise, toy /ns/ /t/
Also buoy /b/
REMARKS:
Some London and overseas speakers pronounce it like /a/
// DESCRIPTION:
(slo en ste diptongo se puede decir en stress).
SPELLINGS:
O: most, sole, folk, don't, won't /mst/ /sl/ /fk/ /dnt/ /wnt/
OA: oak, toast /k/ /tst/
OE: toe, foe /t/ /f/
OU, OW: soul, Seoul, though, shoulder, know, crow
/sl/ // /ld/ /n/ /kr/
Also sew, brooch, mauve /s/ /brt/ /mv/
REMARKS:
GenAm starts this glide from a back vowel [o]. So do some British NRP users.
Some British NRP speakers say it like /e/, making virtual homophones of
gate/goat, toast/taste.
/a/ DESCRIPTION:
SPELLINGS:
OU, OW: house, couch, allow, sound, bough, brow, frown
/has/ /kat/ /la/ /sand/ /bau/ /bra/ /fran/
Note Macleod /mklad/
REMARKS:
Mordern dictionaries and most authors use the notation /a/, considering that
the first part of the glide starts closer to cardinal no. 4.
D. Jones and A.C. Gimson used [], placing its starting point near cardinal no.
5.
// DESCRIPTION:
SPELLINGS:
EER, EAR, ERE: beer, dear, (year), teardrop, here, beard
/b/ /d/ /j/ /tdrp/ /d/ /bd/
EIR, IER, IR: weird, fierce, fakir /wd/ /fs/ /fk/
EA, IA, EU, EO: idea, really, Ian, museum, theological /ad/ /rli/ /n/
/mjuzm/ /ldk/
Also hero, period, serious, series /hr/ /prid/ /sris/ /sriz/
REMARKS:
Some RP speakers make a rising glide /jz/ years
Rhotic accents usually pronounce [ir]
Centring diphthongs and RP triphthongs often happen before or instead of /r/
and /l/ ("breaking").
/e/ (cf. //):
SPELLINGS:
ARE: care, share /ke/ /e/
AIR: chair, fair, air /te/ /fe/ /e/
EAR: bear, wear, tear (v) /be/ /we/ /te/
Also mayor, there, (were), heir, their, Mary, Sarah, scarce
/me/ /e/ /we/ /e/ /e/ /meri/ /ser/ /skes/
DESCRIPTION:
Some authors and dictionaries (e.g. OED) now use //, corresponding to
cardinal 3.
In fact, older representations, (e.g., A.C. Gimson's) considered that the start of
the diphthong was quite open: [ ]
REMARKS:
Rhotic accents tend to shorten it to //: [fr] fair.
RP (strong form) were is most often /w/.
// DESCRIPTION:
SPELLINGS:
OOR: poor, moor /p/ /m/
URE: sure, (after /j/: pure, cure, endure) // /pj/ /kj/ /ndj/
UR: curious, during, security (kjris/ /djr/ /skjrti/
EWER (after /j/ in RP): sewer, fewer /sj/ /fj/
Also tour, jewel, fluent, truant /t/ /dl/ /flnt/ /trnt/
REMARKS:
Many British speakers will say // in sure and poor.
American and some eastern British users remove /j/ in dedure, sewer, newer,
and RP also does it in influence /nflns/ ("yod-dropping").
TRIPHTHONGS:
/a/
fire, society, liable, tired, higher, liar, buyer
/fa/ /ssati/ /labl/ /tad/ /ha/ /la/ /ba/
It may become [] or even // in some modern RP speakers ("smoothing").
/e/
player, conveyor, layer /ple/ /knve/ /le/
It often becomes /e/
//
employer, enjoyable, buoyant, lawyer
/mpl/ /ndbl/ /bnt/ /l/
It tends to become []
//
slower, mower /sl/ /m/
Pronounced as [o] in some accents, it may be smoothed to // as in blur.
/a/
hour, ours, shower, flower, coward, nowadays, sour
/a/ /az/ /a/ /fla/ /kad/ /nadez/ /sa/
Increasingly heard in RP as [a] or //, even producing virtual homophones in
tower/tyre, shower/shire.
ENGLISH CONSONANTS:
Features of consonants:
- Voicing: voiced-voiceless
- Place of articulation
- (Secondary articulation)
- Manner of articulation: plosives (stops), fricatives, affricates, nasals, laterals,
approximants, trills (rolls), taps (flaps), etc.
- Effort involved: fortis-lenis contrast.
SPELLINGS:
/p/ corresponds to <p>, except in hiccough (also spelt hiccup,) /hkp/
Silent p in receipt, psalm, pneumonia, cupboard
/rsit/ /sm/ /njumni/ /kbd/
/b/ corresponds to <b>, but sometimes it is silent in debt, doubt, subtle,
climb, thumb /stl/ /klam/
REMARKS:
/p/ is usually aspirated [p] in stressed position: pain, impatient.
They often become [] before nasals: happen, topmost, submerge, ribbon.
In final position the voicing contrast is neutralized, as there is son release bulb,
glup.
SPELLINGS:
/t/ corresponds to <t, tt> and exceptionally<th>in thyme, Thames, Thomas,
Thom(p)son, Theresa /tam/ /temz/ /tms/ /tmsn/ /triz/
/t/ - /d/
/t/ - /d/
REMARKS:
They may have nasal release in button, eaten, burden /btn/ /itn/ /bdn/ or
laterally in little, bottel, noodle /ltl/ /btl/ /nudl/
Voicing is usually neutralized finally, as in mate, maid ("unreleased").
In GenAm as a rule there is an alveolar tap [] ([tt ]) replacing both /t/ and /d/ in
some enviroments: city, today, powder, dirty, forty /sti/ /tde/ /pad/ /
dti/ /fti/
/k/ SPELLING:
<k, c, cc> before <a, o, y, qu, /k w/, x /k s/, ch (variably)>:
king, accurate, quick, care, stomach, chemistry, character, fix
/k/ /kjrt/ /kwk/ /ke/ /stmk/ /kemstri/ /krkt/ /fks/
/g/ SPELLING:
<g, gg, gh, gu, x /gz/>:
gate, give, struggle, ghost, guard, guide, guess, guility, exam, example
/get/ /gv/ /strgl/ /gst/ /gd/ /gad/ ges/ /glti/ /gzm/
Silent <g> in gnat, gnaw, reign, sign, foreing /nt/ /n/ /ren/ /san/ /frn/
<g> can be /d/ before <i, y, e>: clergy, gesture /kldi/ /dest/
/k/ is usually aspirated [k] in stressed position: kid, unkind /kd/ /kand/
Sometimes [] appears instead of or reinforcing these plosives: Blackpool,
actor, dog food, bagpipes [blpul] [kt] ]dfud] [bpaps]
[]*
Local (esp. London) and less refined varieties also show it:
What are you waiting for? [w? ju wa? f]
SPELLINGS:
<ch, tch, t+ure, t+eous, t+ion (after <s>)>:
charge, orchard, butcher, nature, courteous, question, (christian):
/td/ /td/ /bt/ /net/ /kts/ /kwestn/ /krstn/
<j, g, dg, gg, dj, de, di, ch>: jacket, George, dudget, suggest, adjust, deuce
/dkt/ /dd/ /bdt/ /sdest/ /dst/ /dus/
REMARKS:
Many speakers use /dj/ in during, soldier.
The biggest trouble for Spanish speakers lies between /d/ (sera y) and /j/
(sera ie) jet, yet /det/ /jet/
They should also realize their difference in final position:
George, church /dd/ /tt/
SPELLING:
<tr, dr> in true, drive. Also an alternative sound to /tr, dr/ in history,
cementery, wandering /hst()ri/ /semt()ri/ /wnd()r/
REMARKS:
They are no longer considered as single phonemes by most authors.
SPELLING:
<f, ff, ph, gh>: fork, physics, afford, enough, laugh, rough, tough, laughter,
draught (draft) /fk/ /fzks/ /fd/ /nf/ /lf/ /rf/ /tf/ /lft/ /drft/
<v, f, ph>: vine, (of), (nephew), Stephen /van/ /v/ /nevju/ /stivn/
Silent <gh> in slaughter: /slt/
Also lieutenant /leftennt/ in Britain.
REMARKS:
There is actually no difference between the weakened forms of of and have /v/.
Spanish-speaking learners must mark the difference between /v/ and /b/:
Vest - best, bury - very.
SPELLING:
<th>: thick, thumb, booth, youth, breath, worth, bath
/k/ /m/ /bu/ /ju/ /bre/ /w/ /b/
<th> stand for /t/ in thyme, Thames, Thomas, Thompson, Theresa. There ma
y be either // or // in without.
REMARKS:
Local accent speakers in London make no distinction between free-three,
fought-thought, pronouncing /f/ in both, and /v/ for // in brother.
Traditional Irish speakers may often say tin for thin.
SPELLING:
<s, ss, c, sc, x, (/ks), (cc)>: seat, pass, piece, science, fax, vaccine
/sit/ /ps/ /pis/ /sans/ /fks/ /vksin/
<s, ss, z,zz, x (/gz/)> roses, scissors, zip, dizzy, (easy, busy) exactly, exam
/rzz/ /szz/ /zp/ /dzi/ /gzkli/ /gzm/
REMARKS:
/z/ appears in weak auxiliaries, articles, conjunctions, etc such as was, has, is,
as, these, those.
But there is voiceless (s normal) /s/ in yes, this, its, its, thats.
/s/ is always present in initial clusters: speak, say, sky, smear, snipe, etc.
In final position, after a voiceless sound: thanks, faults.
/s/ - /z/
In plurals and verb endings after a voiced or vocalic sound we have /z/: cares,
knows, plays, behaves, listens, touches, passes and windows, jewels, roses,
others. Also in always, besides, etc.
/z/ appears in final clusters after voiced sounds: legs, battles, hundreds,
visions. There is usually /z/ between vowels if it is unstressed: easy.
/s/ - /z/
Notice the change in house /s/ - houses /zz/, close, use (verbs /z/ -
adj/noun /s/) crisis, crises /krass/ /krasiz/
// - // DEFINITION:
//-voiceless (fortis)
//-voiced (lenis)
Palato - alveolar fricatives
SPELLING:
<sh, ch, sch, s, ss, also ti, si, sci, ci, ce, x> shoe, machine, (schedule), sure,
sugar, assure, naton, mansion, mision, conscience, special, ocean, anxious
/u/ /min/ /edjul/ // /g/ // /nen/ /mnn/ /mn/ /knns/
/spel/ /fn/ /s/
<si, s, z> final <ge>: vision, measure, pleasure, seizure, beige, prestige
/vn/ /me/ /ple/ /si/ /be/ /prsti/
REMARKS:
Some clusters may be difficulty to Spanish speakers: shrink /rk/
They should also exercise the contrasts among /t/ - /d/ - // - //
// hardly ever occurs initially (genre /nr/)
/h/ DEFINITION:
Voiceless (lenis)
Glottal fricative
SPELLING:
<h, wh>: how, head, behind, who, whose (which, white)
/ha/ /hed/ /bhand/ /hu/ /huz/ (/hwt/ /hwat/)
REMARKS:
The omission of /h/ is quite common in local speech. In unstressed words it is
often absent in RP: He loved her.
The use of /hw/ or [] in wh- words is still considered correct in British and
American educated English, especially in Scotland although it is now declining.
Spanish speakers should take care not to turn /h/ into //.
/m/ DEFINITION:
Voiced
Bilabial nasal
SPELLING:
<m, mm>, finally, <mb, mn>: meat, summer, name, criticism, comb, autumn,
column /mit/ /sm/ /nem/ /krtszm/ /km/ /tm/ /klm/
REMARKS:
Spanish learners should be careful not to turn /m/ into /n/ in final position or in
clusters: come, empty /km/ /emti/
There is the possibility of a syllabic [mm] in rhythm when the schwa is totally lost.
/m/ is often the result of assimilation when /n/ appears before bilabials: in pairs,
on board.
If <p, b> follow in the same syllable, they are not pronounced ("lamb, climb,
empty").
/n/ DEFINITION:
Voiced
Alveolar nasal
SPELLNG:
<n, nn, kn, gn, pn>: now, funny, knife, gnat, sign, foreign, pneumatic
/na/ /fni/ /naf/ /nt/ /san/ /frn//njumtk/
Recent French loans keep their nasalized vowel: genre, lingerie, rendez-vous
/nr/ /lndri/ /ndvu/
REMARKS:
Syllabic [nm] behaves functionally as a vowel in ribbon, (open), southern, reason
/rbnm/ /pnm/ /snm/ /riznm/, where /n/ is an alternative, as reflected in LPD.
// DEFINITION:
Voiced
Velar nasal
SPELLING:
<ng>, <n> + other velar sounds: tongue, singing, sink, uncle, anxious
/t/ /sg/ /sk/ /kl/ /(k)s/
REMARKS:
Single-morpheme words, such as anger, finger, angle, have /g/.
Those with more morphemes (singer, ringing), only have //, except
comparatives and superlatives: longer, strongest /g/.
For many speakers in America and Ireland, -ing formsare /n/, making
homophones of driving and drive-in.
Spanish users should drill the velarity of this sounds.
/l/ DEFINITION:
Voiced
Alveolar lateral
Approximant
SPELLING:
<l, ll>: light, fill, kettle /lat/ /fl/ /ketl/
<l> is frequently silent after vowels: talk, walk, should, would, calm, folk, half
/tk/ /wk/ /d/ /wd/ /km/ /fk/ /hf/
REMARKS:
Three allophones deserve attention:
Dark /l/, following vowels (not in Irish English): call, told, feel /kl/ /tld/ /fil/
Voiceless [] in clusters after voiceless consonant: play, flap /ple/ /flp/
Spanish learners should practice the syllabic allophone without vowels.
Pre-/l/ breaking happens frequently, but is not normally reflected in dictionaries,
wheel [w l] [wil]
/r/ DEFINITION:
Voiced
Postalveolar approximant
SPELLING:
<r, rr, wr, rh>: red, carry, write, wrong, rhythm
/red/ /kri/ /rat/ /r/ /rm/
REMARKS:
It is important to stress the allophonic variety of this phoneme:
/r/
/j/ DEFINITION:
Voiced
Palatal approximant
(Quality near cardinal 1)
SPELLING:
<y, i>, also <eu, u, ew, eau, ui>:
yesterday, companion, music, feudal, few, beauty, (suit)
/jestde/ /kmpnjn/ /mjuzk/ /fjudl/ /fju/ /bjuti/ /s(j)ut/
REMARKS:
"Yod-dropping": many Americans omit it in new, produce, presume
/n(j)u/ /rd(j)us/ /prz(j)um/
It is an RP alternative in suit, assume /s(j)ut/ /z(j)um/
It appears initially in yes, yard, used, young /jes/ /jd/ /juzd/ /j/
Often mistaken for /d/ by Spanish speakers yet-jet, yolk-joke.
/w/ REMARKS:
Voiced
Labial-velar approximant
(Quality near cardinal 8)
SPELLINGS:
<w, wh, u> after <g, q>: west, wood, where, quick, language
/west/ /wd/ /we/ /(w)/ /kwk/ /lgwd/
REMARKS:
In wh- words like which, white, why /wt/ /wat/ /wa/
The historical voiceless fricative pronunciation with /hw/ or [] may still be used
by many speakers in Scotland, Ireland and North America, producing minimal
pairs in witch-which, wear-where.
Spanish speakers should not replace it for /b/ (Hollywood) or add /g/ (where) in
its pronunciation.
UNIT 4:
PHONEMIC TRANSCRIPTION:
V. principal V. auxiliar
In connected speech:
green card /gri kd/
bright colour /brak kl/
(Progressive / anticipatory / leading assimilation)
Coalescence (reciprocal):
Would you...? /wdu/
ELISION:
Caring
All accents, incl. RP: /'ker/
RHYTHM:
Is English isochronous?
(i.e. the time between stresses tends to be the same, no matter how many
syllables there are in between)
ts bjutfl sat t si
s w s ww s w s (feet)
UNIT 5:
SEGMENTAL AND SUPRASEGMENTAL ELEMENTS:
ftrfk
nrpldi
nrpldklm
ndvzblti
Or other reasons:
kntrvsi / kntrvsi
klmit / klmt
lbrtri /
Many words with the same spelling (usually prefix + stem) have different
stress patterns, depending on their function or word class (noun, adjective,
verb):
THE SYLLABLE
Minimum syllable
Peak / onset / coda / rhyme
Maximum onsets principle
Ambisyllabic words
Juncture
Minimum syllable:
One single vowel (no onset and no coda) or even a syllabic consonant:
arrive /rav/, are //-//, rock and roll /nm/
Peak:
A vowel, diphthong, triphthong or syllabic consonant which is the nucleus of the
syllable. It is the essential part of it.
A term applied to the first (or only) element of rhyme.
INTONATION
Basically given by variations of PITCH (traditional definition).
It can be defined as the melody of speech.
Loudness, length, quality, etc. are also involved in the production and
perception of intonation.
Tone languages (e.g. Chinese) use contours affecting the lexical level of
meaning.
THE 3 Ts
1) TONALITY:
The speech chain is divided into units called IPs (Intonation Phrases or Toe
Units).
2) TONICITY:
In addition to other rhythmically stressed and unstressed syllables, in each IP
there is a prominent or tonic syllable (the nucleus) carrying the nuclear tone.
It tell us where the change of tone it happens.
3) TONE:
The pitch can rise, fall, remain level, etc, producing a wide range of possibilities.
__________________________
Enough (1 ip)
I wonder if you can help me (1 IP =change of tone).
Have you been to that pub? (1 IP)
If she calls me | tell her Ill be away for two days (2 IPs)
The nucleus tends to be on the stressed syllable of the last meaningful of the IP:
- She was trying to lose weight (broad focus)
A shift happens when we make the focus contrastive:
- She was trying to lose weight (not gain it)
- She was trying to lose weight (but she couldnt)
- She was trying to lose weight (but not any more)
- She was trying to lose weight (not me)
Textual (to establish the limits of units of speech larger than the sentence,
changing topics, etc)
2) Head (if any): the syllables from the first stress (called the onset of the head)
to the nucleus.
3) Pre-head (if any): all the unstressed syllables before the first stress in the
head.
4) Tail (if any): all the syllables after the tonic syllable in the unit.
Pauses, tone-unit boundaries, rhythmic stresses, etc.
PARALINGUISTIC FEATURES:
Whisper
Breathiness
Huskiness
Nasality
Lip rounding
ACCENTS OF ENGLISH:
* Rhotic
London ("Cockney")
*Non-rhotic
*// in dance, class, nasty, plant.
*// for dark [] in film, help.
*[a] instead of /e/ in make way.
*[] for /t/ between vowels and before pauses: late, waiting.
* /f/ - /v/ for // - // in think, brother.
*final [] in city, busy.
*Estuary English and urban speech in general often show these features.
Scotland
* Variably rhotic.
* // for // in money, sun, bus.
* Shortened diphthongs in name, know.
* // in dance, class, example.
Ireland:
* Rhotic
*Clear /l/ in bell, feel, tall (no darck [])
* // for // in cut, money.
* Fricative [s] for plosive final: plate, kit.
* True and through are homophones with dental [ tt ]
* /i/ becomes [e] in tea, leave.
* Short vowels in general.
Australia:
* Non-rhotic
* /i/ becomes [i] in city, busy.
* /e/ is [a] in make, way.
* [] for /a/ in mine, find.