Chapter3

3.0 Introduction

This chapter provides a speaker-wise thorough phonetic description of all the 15 speakers’
recorded speech samples. Taking the RP model as a reference, all segmental and
suprasegmental features were analyzed and described speakerwise. This includes consonants,
vowels, stress, rhythm and intonation patterns along with other additional features.

Phonemic inventory vowels and consonants phonemes

Stress Word stress, sentence stress and contrastive

stress

Rhythm Weak and contracted forms

Intonation Tonality, tonicity and tone

pauses Usual and unusual

Sentence flow Repetitions’ and false starts

Phonetic parameters
It will be noted that the nationality of the speakers is taken into consideration to make the
summary comprehensive.

Hence, the summary is done based on the phonetic analysis of the speech specimens recorded
from the speakers’ nationality. And it can be understood that they are all together, five
nationality under the study. Apart from the common features among the speakers speech
samples of each nationality, the idiosyncratic features and also brought to light. This
summary would provide us information about which nationality could be the most intelligible
and the best speakers against the least intelligible and the worst speakers respectively.

It will also be noted that divergence from British R.P are also widely accepted by educated
native speakers and most of the educated people in the world are familiar with British R.P.

Phonetic parameters

As it mentioned chapter two each speech sample consist of a short story an free speech.

The short story is used to find out the speakers use of marked tonicity. And the free speech is
used to find out the tempo, rhythm etc. Usual and unusual pauses, and repetitions and false
starts (if the short story and free speech) are taken into account.

Phonemic inventory

Consonants

Speech samples were examined to find out the presence and absence of each consonantal
phoneme. If present, it was also examined whether it was divergent from or inconformity
with the consonants as used in British R.P.

Vowels

The speech samples were examined to find out the presence or absence of each vowel
phoneme. If present, it was also examined whether it was from diverged from or inconformity
with the vowel as used in R.P.

Stress
As car Philip (1999) says, stress in English is sensitive to the syncratic category and the
morphological category are not normally stressed unless there is contextual demand for
stress. Hence, it was examined whether the word in the speech samples were stressed
properly or not. And the contrastive stress is also looked into.

Weak and contracted forms

Roach , P (2000) mentions that the speakers who have ‘all strong form’ pronunciation sound
unnatural and foreign. And the speakers who are not familiar with the use of weak forms are
likely to have differently understanding speakers who do use weak forms.

Moreover, these forms (weak contracted) to some context, contribute to the rhythm of
English. It was, examined these forms were used by the speakers under the study in the
rendering of the short story and in their free speech and whether they were in conformity with
the way they are normally pronounced in R.P.

Morphophonemic analysis

The speech samples examined in the light of four important phonetics and morphophonemic
features. They are aspiration, plural marker, tense marker and the realization of /r/

Aspiration

When / p, t and k/ the voiceless stop occur in the onset position of stressed syllable, they are
normally aspirated in R.P.

Plural marker

In R.P, the plural marker |s| or |es| is pronounced as |s| after voiceless phonemes, |z| after

voiced phoneme and as |iz| after voiceless phoneme |s,z.s.z……|. This phonological
realization is true even in the case of present tense third person singular verb forms/s/ or /es/.

Past tense marker

In R.P, past and past participle marker |ed| is pronounced as |t| after voiceless consonants, and

/d/ after voiced consonant and as|id| after the consonants |t| and |d|.
R droping

In R.P, |r| is normally not pronounced when it occurs in word final position and it is not
followed by a consosnant.

Hence, all these morphophonemic features are examined in each speech sample.

Intonation

In the speakers rendering of the short story and free speech the breath groups or tone groups
(tonality) were examined as against the breath groups as used in R.P.

Concerns with regards to the tonality wise summation of the speech specimens, all the
subjects grouped based on their nationality. Thus, there are five nationality wise groups
because the subjects the study are often different nationalities. Here, the following section
provide the national wise summary of the speech specimen.

Phonemic inventory: consonants

According to the oxford advanced dictionary of current English 3rd edition says that R.P
(Received Pronunciation) has 24 consonats (Revised and Updated). The following mentioned
the phonemic charts of consonants, based on the analysis of the speaker’s renderings. In the
following chart, check marks to be a sign of existence of consonants and non check marks to
be sign of non existence of consonants.

The phonemic inventory table of consonants depicts every one of the consonants as utilised
by the speakers. Every one of the speakers had plosives, nasals, laterals, fricatives and
affricatives greater part of the speakers not deverged from R.P set of segments. Speakers
Britishers, Australians NewZealanders showed or displayed every one of the 24 consonants
and the speakers Americans and Canadians showed or displayed 23 consonants. In the
articulation of |t| every one of the speakers except British, Australains and NewZealander
speakers the remaining American and Canadians are used alveolar |ɾ|. While speakers
Australians and NewZealanders used lateral clear |l| for dark |l|. Majority pattern shows or
displayed that speakers American and Canadians are replaced |t| with alveolar |ɾ|

s.no R.P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 
1 |p| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

2 |t| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

3 |k| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

4 |b| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

5 |d| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

6 | ɡ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

7 | tʃ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

8 |dʒ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

9 | m| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

10 | n| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

11 | ŋ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

12 | f| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

13 | v| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

14 | θ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

15 | ð| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

16 | s| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

17 | z| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ 
18 | ʃ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

19 | ʒ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

20 | j| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

21 |r| - - √ √ - - √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

22 |l| √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - √ √ √ √ √

23 | w √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

|
24 | h | √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

total 

Phonemic inventory: vowels

According to the oxford advanced dictionary of current English 3rd edition says that R.P
(Received Pronunciation) has 20 vowels (Revised and Updated). The following mentioned
the phonemic charts of vowels, based on the analysis of the speaker’s renderings. In the
following chart, check marks to be a sign of existence of vowels and non check marks to be
sign of non existence of vowels.

s.no R.P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 
1 |ɪ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - -

2 |i:| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

3 |e| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - -

4 |æ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - -

5 |ɑ:| - - - √ √ √ - - - √ √ √ √ √ √

6 |ɒ| - - - √ √ √ - - - √ √ √ √ √ √

7 |ɔ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

8 |u| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - -

9 |u: | √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - -

10 |ɜ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - -

11 |ʌ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - -

12 |ə| - - - √ √ √ - - - √ √ √ √ √ √

13 |eɪ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - -

14 |aɪ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - -

15 |ɔɪ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

16 |əu| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - -

17 |au| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - - 

18 |ɪə| - - -    - - - - - - - - -

19 |eə| - - - √ √ √ - - - - - - - - -
20 |uə| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

21 |r| - - √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - - - - - -

 



The table mentions that the phonemic inventory of the vowels reveals that monophthongs as
well as diphthongs deviated from R.P in the articulation of short story and long vowels
greater part of the speakers except british speakers had committed mistakes; some of the
speakers shortened the vowels whereas others lengthened some vowels inconsistently.
However, phonemes like,|ɑ:|, |ɒ|, |ɔ|, |æ| and |ɜ| are absent in some of the speakers phonemic

inventory. With regard to diphthongs, In most of the speaker’s phonemic inventory|iə|, |eə|,

|uə|, and |əu| are absent. It is to be noted that British speakers showed or displayed every
one the vowels in conformity with R.P..

The general performance of the considerable number of speakers concerning consonants

and vowel is given below in the following table.

Speakers
Phonemes American R.P Canada Australian Newzelealand

Consonant 23 23 23 24 24 24 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23
s
Vowels 14 14 14 20 20 20 14 14 14 8 8 8 8 8 8

Total 43 43 43 44 44 44 37 37 37 31 31 31 31 31 31
The above information was changed over into percentage keeping in mind that to have a
better comprehension of performance of considerable number of speakers

30

25

20

15
consonants
10 vowels

It is evident from the diagram that British speakers showed or displayed 100% similarity
with R.P in any case, American and Canadian speakers secured 84% in similarity with R.P.
an attempt has been made to rank every one of the speakers as indicating by scorings.

speakers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Ranks 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3

Australain and NewZealandSpeakers secured the lowest rankings. British Speakers secured
the first rank. In the following section an attempt has been made to analyse the diviations
with reference to phonetic parameters like, consonants, vowels, word stress, weak forms,
intonation, plurals, past tense form, contracted forms, and wrong rendering of the text.
Divergences from R.P

In addition to the phonemic inventory, the phonetic divergences of consonants and vowels
were analysed and talkabout in the following sections.

By looking at the divergences (consonants and vowels chart), it can be summarised that most
of the speakers have exhibited divergences beyond recognition of words. Bansal (1969) says,

“To be intelligible, the speaker must articulate his sounds and words clearly, so that the
hearer does not have to stop to think what word was meant. The vowels should be
pronounced with the right word quality and the consonants should be sharp and clear in their
articulation”.

In the investigation of consonants and vowels it was found that majority of the speakers had
pronounced words in such a way that there were no such words exists in English, which had
maximum deviation from R.P and particularly those words if articulated in isolation could be
understood as some other words in English, had been mentioned below.

Divergences; consonants

The table shows the diviations concerning consonants. The check mark to be sign of
exhistence of of consonants and the non check mark to be sign of non exhistence of
consonants.

From the below table shows that, one might can say that out of 24 consonants every one of
the consonant were articulated in similarity with R.P by every one of the speakers while the
just a single consonant is compared to different speakers. However, they had a decent number
of phonemes in their account, used them inconsistently in their speech. This shows that the
speakers are unaware of the sound elements of English. Summation the considerable number
of diviations with reference to consonants based on the performance of the 15 speakers is
depicted below.

s.no R.P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 
1 |p| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

2 |t| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
3 |k| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

4 |b| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

5 |d| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

6 | ɡ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

7 | tʃ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

8 |dʒ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

9 | m| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

10 | n| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

11 | ŋ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

12 | f| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

13 | v| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

14 | θ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

15 | ð| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

16 | s| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

17 | z| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

18 | ʃ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

19 | ʒ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

20 | j| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

21 |r| |ɹ| |ɹ| |ɹ| √ √ √ | ɹ| |ɹ| |ɹ| √ √ √ √ √ √

22 |l| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ | ɬ | | ɬ| | ɬ| | ɬ| | ɬ| | ɬ|

23 |w| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

24 | h | √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

total                 


Plosives

After careful examination of plosives demonstrated by all the 15 speakers, it can be said that
the alveolar |t| has maximum number of deviations. For instances, 1.2 and 3 American
speakers articulated it divergently as |ɾ|. On fewer occasions, British speakers 3,4 and 5
uttered it as glottal stop.

Affricates

In case of the affricates, most of the speakers articulated |tʃ |, | dʒ| in obsolutely conformity
with R.P by all the speakers..

Nasals

With regard to nasals, most of the speaker articulated | m|,| n|,| ŋ| in absolutely conformity
with R.P by all the other speakers.

Laterals

With regard to the lateral, all Australian and newzealand speakers the speaker articulated
| l | is replaced with dark | ɬ |. It is also important to note that in the rendering of the British
speakers it was found that | l | is articulated as |u| at few places.

fricatives

With regard to fricatives most of the speakers articulated | f|,| v|, |θ|, |ð|,| s|,| z|,| ʃ|,| ʒ| in
conformity with R.P by all the speakers.

Frictionless continuant
With regard to frictionless continuant American and Canadian speakers constantly replaced
by | r | with | ɹ| whereas the British speakers retain it only before the vowels. most of the
speakers did not have much problem in articulation of | ɹ| and hence they are very less
number of divergences

Semivowels

With regard to semivowels most of the speakers were articulated in absolute with R.P by all
the speakers.

Divergences: vowels

The following table shows that the vowel divergences in the speakers renderings. The empty
box represents the presence of the vowels and the segments illustrated in the boxes represent
all the divergences, which caused by the in consistent absence of a particular phoneme in
speakers renderings.

s.no R.P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 
1 |ɪ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ |ə| |ə| |ə| |ə| |ə| |ə|
2 |i:| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √    √ √ √

3 |e| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ|

4 |æ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √    - - -

5 |ɑ:| |æ| |æ| |æ| √ √ √ |æ| |æ| |æ| |ɐ| |ɐ| |ɐ| |ɐ| |ɐ| |ɐ|
6 |ɒ| |ɑ: |ɑ: |ɑ: √ √ √ |ɑ: |ɑ:| |ɑ: √ √ √ √ √ √

| | | | |
7 |ɔ| |ɑ: |ɑ: |ɑ: √ √ √ |ɑ: |ɑ:| |ɑ: √ √ √ √ √ √

| | | | |
8 |u| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ |ʉ| |ʉ| |ʉ| |ʉ| |ʉ| |ʉ|
9 |u: | √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ |ʉ:| |ʉ| |ʉ:| |ʉ:| |ʉ| |ʉ:|
10 |ɜ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ |ɵ:| |ɵ| |ɵ:| |ɵ:| |ɵ| |ɵ:|
11 |ʌ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ |ɐ| |ɐ| |ɐ| |ɐ| |ɐ| |ɐ|
12 |ə| |ɚ| |ɚ| |ɚ| √ √ √ |ɚ| |ɚ| |ɚ| √ √ √ √ √ √

13 |eɪ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ |æ| |æɪ |æɪ| |æɪ| |æɪ |æɪ

| |
14 |aɪ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ |ɑe |ɑ |ɑ| |ɑ| |ɑ| |ɑ|
| e |
15 |ɔɪ| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √    √ √ √

16 |əu| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ |əʉ |ə |əʉ| |əʉ| |ə |əʉ

ʉ| |
| ʉ|
17 |au| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ |æ |æ |æ| |æ| |æ |æ| 
|
ʉ| ʉ|
18 |ɪə| |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ|    |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ| |ɪ|
19 |eə| |e| |e| |e| √ √ √ |e| |e| |e| |e| |e| |e| |e| |e| |e|
20 |uə| |u| |u| |u| - - - |u| |u| |u| |u| |u| |u| |u| |u| |u|
21 |r| √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ |ə| |ə| |ə| |ə| |ə| |ə|
 


Front vowels

With regard to monopthongs the front unrounded vowel |ɪ| is divergent from R.P.It is
realized as variant forms |ɪə|, |ə| by the Australian and newzealand speakers.

The front unrounded vowel | e | between half open and half close position is divergent from
R.P. It is realised as |ɪ| respectively by the Australian and Newzealand speakers.

The front unrounded vowel |æ| between half open and half close position is divergent from
R.P. It is as |e| respectively by the Newzealand and Australian speakers.
Back vowels

With regard to the back unrounded vowels |ɑ:| just below half open position is divergently
from R.P. It has two variants |æ|, |ɐ| by all the speakers except British speakers.

With regard to the back,open rounded vowels |ɒ| is divergently from R.P. It is realised as |ɑ:|
respectively by American and Canadians.

With regard to the back, rounded vowel |ɔ| is divergent from R.P. It is realised as |ɑ:|
respectively by the American and candian speakers

With regard to the back, rounded vowel |u| is deivergent from R.P. It has two variants |ʉ|, |au|
respectively by all the speakers except British speakers.

Central vowel

With regard to the central, half open, unrounded vowel |ʌ| is divergent from R.P. it is realised
as |ɐ| respectively by the Australian and New Zealand speakers.

With regard to the central, half open unrounded vowel between half close and half open |ə|
is divergently from R.P. it is realised as |ɚ| respectively by American and Canadian
speakers.

With regard to the central, unrounded vowel between half close and half open position |ɜ| is
divergently from R.P. it is realised as |ɵ: | respectively by all the australain and Newzealand
speakers.

Dipthongs

|ɔɪ| the glide from a back unrounded vowel between the half open and half close position to
a front , unrounded vowel just above the half close position is rendered divergent from R.P.
it is realised as |aɪ| respectively by all the speakers except british speakers.

|eɪ| the glide from a front, unrounded vowel just half close to centralised, front unrounded
vowel just above half close is rendered divergently from R.P. it has two varients |æɪ |,|eɪ|
respectively australain and newzealand speakers..

|uə| the glide a centralised back, unrounded vowel just above half close to central, unrounded
vowel between half close and half open is rended divergently from R.P. It is realised as |u|
respectively by all the speakers except British speakers.
|əu| the glide from central, unrounded vowel between half close and half open to a central,
back, rounded vowel just the half close position is rendered divergently from R.P. it is
realised as |əʉ| respectively by Australain and NewZealand speakers.

|eə|the glide from a front, half open rounded vowel to a central, unrounded vowel between
half close and half open is rendered divergently from R.P. it is realised as |e| respectively by
all the speakers except british speakers.

|ɪə| the glide from a centralised front unrounded vowel just above half close to a cntral,
unrounded vowel between half close and half open is rendered divergently from R.P. it is
realised as |ɪ| respectively by all the speakers except british speakers.

|au| the glide from back, open unrounded position to a centralised back, rounded vowel just
above the half close position in rendering differently from R.P. it is realised as |æʉ|
respectively by all the speakers except british speakers.

|aɪ| the glide from front, open, unrounded vowel to a centralised, front, unrounded vowel just
above close position is divergently from R.P. it is realised as |ɑe | respectively by australain
and New Zealand speakers

Divergences word stress

In R.P, the syllable which is relatively more prominent than its neighbours in a word may be
said to be accented. The greater prominence of a syllable may be caused by stress, that is
greater breath force, greater muscular energy, greater duration, change in pitch level, and the
beginning of a pitch movement. In the words of Gimson (1980 -222) any all of four factors-
stress, pitch quality, quantity may render a syllable more prominent than its neighbours.

In the present investigation an endeavour has been made to findout the stress pattern
showed or exhibited by every individual speaker. The short story that the speaker were asked
to render 27 words with more than one syllable of which 18 were dysyllabic words and the
rest of them were polysyllabic words. There were also words including ion, ic, ity and ically
suffixes. All the 27 words as stressed by the speaker were analysed.The following is a table
showing the stress- pattern as used by the 15 speakers in the rendering.
s.no Words Syllable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 1 115
correctly 0 1 2 3 4
1 Father |fa:ðə| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 Work |ˈwɜ:k| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

3 Wished |ˈwɪʃt| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

4 question |ˈkwɛstʃən| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

5 Please |pli:z| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

6 Matter |ˈmætə 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

7 something |ˈsʌmθɪŋ| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

8 Disappointe |dɪsəˈpɔɪtɪd| 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
d
9 business |ˈbɪznɪɪs| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

10 egocentric |egəʊˈsntrɪk| 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

11 Careless |ˈkeəlɪs| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

12 behavior |ˈbɪheɪvjə| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

13 queitely |ˈkwaɪətlɪ| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

14 stɑ:tɪd |ˈstɑ:tɪd| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

15 Angrier |ˈæŋgrɪər| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

16 Reason |ˈrɪ:zn| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

17 Clamed |ˈkɑ:md| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

118 Reality |rɪ:ˈælɪtɪ| 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

219 Rubbish |ˈrʌbɪʃ| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

20 crippled |ˈkrɪpld| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

21 Calculated |ˈkælkjuleɪtɪ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

d|
22 Accomplish |əˈkɒmplɪmə 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
 ment nt|
23 optimistical |ɒptɪˈmɪstɪk 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
ly
əlɪ|
24 Tomorrow |tə ˈmɒrəu| 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

25 Tnnoyance |ɔ ˈnɔɪəns| 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

26 Previous |ˈprɪ:vjəs| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

27 Clamed |kɑ:md| 1

28 Started

The table demonstrate that the test materials comprises of 28 word stress pattern. All the test
forms are studied constantly, the majority pattern demonstrated that every one of the speakers
have no divergences with regard to word stress.

Divergences of weak forms

In the connected speech, normally, the content words are stressed and functional words are
not stressed. The functional words are generally weak. The functional words, for example
preposition, conjunctions, auxiliaries and articles are normally weak. Since they do not carry
any content. Therefore, they are not normally stressed. Yet, the weak forms of the functional
words contribute to the rhythm of English. All the divergences of the 20 selected words, with
regard to weak forms are examined and noted. The below table shows the divergences with
respect to weak forms.

s.no Words R.P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 1 15

0 1 2 3 4
1 A |ə| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

-2 An |ən| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

3 The |ðə| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 -
4 some |səm| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

5 Was |wɒz | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

6 Were |W er| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

7 Can |Kən| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

8 Could |Kəd| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

9 Should |ʃəd| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

10 Will |wəl| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

11 Him |Im| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

12 His |ɪz| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

13 For |f ə| - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -

14 Of |əv| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

15 To |tə| - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -

16 And |ən| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

17 Their |ðeə| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

18 There |ðeə| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

19 So |Sə| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

20 May |meɪ| - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -

The table demonstrate that the test materials comprises of 20 weak forms. All the weak
forms are studied constantly, the majority pattern demonstrated that every one of the speakers
have no divergences with regard to word stress.

Divergences from R.P: other phonetic features.

The divergences with respect to plural, past tense form, weak forms, contracted form,
aspiration, retention of |r|, repetition and false starts, false rendering of the text are examined
or mentioned

Divergences - plural forms.

The plural marker in English has got three phonetic realiazations. They are |s|- |z|- and |iz|-
the plural marker |s|- after a voiceless consonant other than |s, tʃ, ʃ |.|z|- after voiced sound
(i.e. all vowels and voiced consonants) other than |z, dʒ, ʒ| and |iz|- after |s, z, tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ|. All
the words where the the plural allomorphs are contextually realise as identified. In this
context, it is observed that all the plural markers were not deviated from R.P.

In English plural form has three phonetic realizations.

|iz|- after |s, z, tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ|

|z|- after voiced sound (i.e. all vowels and voiced consonants) other than |z, dʒ, ʒ|

|s|- after a voiceless consonant other than |s, tʃ, ʃ |

The following table shows the words which deviate from the above mentioned rule.

s.n Words R.P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 1 1 15

o 2 3 4
1 Questio |kwetʃnz - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ns | -

2 Dollars |dɒləz| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

3 Boys |bɔɪz| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
4 Notes |nəʊts| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The test material comprises of 4 plural words. all the three phonetic realizations are studied
cautiously; the majority pattern demonstrate that every one of the speakers have no deviations
with respect to plural forms.

Divergences past forms

Noramally in R.P, the past tense marker has three realisations |t|, |d| and |id|. |t| occurs where
the present tense form of a verb ends with a voiceless consonant, |d| when the verb ends with
a voiced consonant |d| and |id| where the verb ends in either |t| or|d|
In English, the past tense form also has three phonetic realizations.

|id|- after |t, d|

|t|- after voiceless consonants other than |t|

|d|- after voiced sounds (consonants & vowels) than |d|

The following table shows the words which deviated from the above mentioned rule

s.n Words R. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 14 15
o P 3
1 Wished |d| - - - - - - - - - -

2 Asked |t| - - - - - - - - - -

3 Disappoint |Id - - - - - - - - - -
ed |
4 Replied |d| - - - - - - - - - -

5 Started |Id - - - - - - - - - -

|
6 Calmed |d| - - - - - - - - - -

7 Needed |Id - - - - - - - - - -

|
8 Opened |d| - - - - - - - - - -

9 Crippled |d| - - - - - - - - - -

10 Grumbled |d| - - - - - - - - - -

Total

The test a materials of 10 past tense form words ending with-ed. All the ten phonetic
realizations are analysed precisely; the dominant part demonstrate that every one of the
speakers have no deviations with respect to past tense form.
Divergences contracted forms

In English certain words have contracted (shortened) forms. Contracted forms are used to
maintain the rhythm of language. It is essential to take note of that contracted forms are
fundamentally a feature of spoken English. The test materials are used for the investigation
has 8 contracted forms as shown in the table below.

s.n Words R.P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 14 15

o 3
1 It’s |ɪt's| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2 It’ll | ɪt ‘l| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

3 That’s |ðæt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

s|
4 boy’s |bɔɪz - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

|
5 did n’t |dɪd - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

n't|
6 I’m |I’m - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

|
7 I’v | I’v | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

8 here’s |heə - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The table demonstrate that the test materials comprises of 8 contracted forms. All the 8
phonetic realizations are analyzed precisely, the majority pattern demonstrated that every one
of the speakers have no divergences with regard to contracted forms

It is clear from the above table that eery one of the speakers have no deviations with respect
to contracted forms.

Divergences of aspiration
In English, the three voiceless stops, /p/,/t/ and /k/ are aspirated when they occur at the
beginning of accented syllables. The table below illustrates divergences with regard to
aspiration from the speaker’s renderings.

s.n Word R. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 1 1 1
o s P 2 3 4 5
1 |p| |pʰ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

|
2 |t| |tʰ| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

3 |k| |kʰ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

|
Total

The table demonstrate that the test materials comprises of 3 aspirated forms . All the test
forms are studied constantly, the majority pattern demonstrated that every one of the speakers
have no divergences with regard to aspirated forms.

Devoicing

Voiced oral stops, fricatives and affricates are usually devoiced before a pauses ( one that
occurs at the end of a sentence or utterance), and before voice less or other devoiced oral
stop, affricates or fricatives, some examples are given below.

Devoicing of stops, fricatives and affricatives is a complex phenomenon. Devoicing occurs

on a continuum from only slight devoicing is very often incomplete; it is convenient to
indicate devoicing with the devoicing diacritic. e.g [ ]. Also devoicing does not change the
phonological status of the constant and this is why it is incorrect to use the symbol for thr
voiceless consonant. if a consonant is devoiced at the end of the syllable, other characteristic
of the syllable will remains intact as if a voiced consonant was present. The vowel preceding
voiced consoant is longer than those preceding voiceless consonants. Devoicing of final
consonants does not change the length of the preceding vowel, so the vowel maintains the
length relevant for a following voiced consonant
Liaison

Liaison means the linking of sounds or words. The most common liaison phenomena are: the
linking |r| (where the |r| is realised in the final position when followed by a vowel), the
intrusive |r| ( also involves the pronunciation of an |r| sound, but here, the |r|is realised even
though there is no r in spelling). The linking |j| and the linking |w| too are included under the
phenomenon liaison when one word ends with avowel sound, native speakers often link the
words with semi vowel sound, native speakers often link the words with asemi vowel [w] or
[j] sound.let us look at each of these process in more details.

Linking |r|

Native speakersextensive use linking in their speech because this enhance fluency. Linking
usually involve the last segment of or word and the first segment of the following the word.
This leads to liaison and other related phenomenon. In our texts, these phenomena. In our
texts, these phenomena are visible, as we see in the example below.

Eg;

Father and son -------------- fɑ:ðɚrən̩ sʌn̩

For hour --------------- pɜ:ɹ ˌaʊɚ

Intrusive /r/

American English pronounce |r| in word final position or before a consonant. That is why it
is called a rhotic accent. British English is a non- rhotic accent but when a word ends in v or
re and a following word begin with a vowel sound, some British people pronounce the /r/ for
the purpose of euphony.

linking[j]

In the case of liking of linking |r| we have seen that there is the letter r that comes up in the
spelling. However in the case of a linking [j] and a linking [w] there is noletter in the spelling
that corresponds to the sounds [j] or [w]. a likning [j] occurs in an intervocalic environment.
Where the first word ends in [i:], [i], [ei], [ai] or [ɔɪ].

For example
 May ask mei j ɑsk

Elision

Elision is the disappearance of one or more sound from a word. In our texts, most of the cases
of elision are contextual or juxt appositional elision. This has to do with a sound, which exists
in a word said in isolation but is dropped when following or preceding another word, as we
see in the following examples.

Eg.

I want to know --------------------- aɪʊ ˈdʒʌs ˈwɑ:nə `noʊ

Often ----------------------

Assimilation

Assimilation is the phenomenon where by sound takes on features of a neighbouring sound.

As we have seen in the other process of sound in company, the process of assimilation is also
motivated by the unconscious quest for euphony. People always want to sound pleasant to the
ears of those who listened to them. We usually have many types of assimilation, coalescent
and ordinary assimilation, progressive and regressive assimilation as well as contact and
distant assimilation.

Coalescent assimilation

By coalescent assimilation is meant a phenomenon where by a sequence of two sounds

coalesce or come together and merge to give place to a single new sound different from either
of the original sounds. This is typical characteristic of native speech, as we will see in the
examples that follow.

Eg.

|d| + |j| = | dʒ|

Do you -------------- | dʒu: |

| t | + | j| -------------- | tʃu: |
Wont you ---------- | woʊntʃu: |

proregressive assimilation

this kind of assimilation is relatively uncommon. It may occur when plosive is followed by a
syllabic nasal and the nasal undergoes assimilation to the same place of articulation as the
preceding plosive, for example:

Eg. Opened - | ˈoʊpm̩d˳˺|

happen - | hæpm|

Regressive assimilation

Word final | t,d,n,s,z | readily assimilate to the place of the following word intial consonant
while retaining the original voicing. | t, d, n | are replaced by bilabials before bilabial
consonants and by velar consonants; | s, z | are replaced by palate alveolar before consonants
containg a palatal feature.

Eg. |d| becomes | b| before | p,b,m |

Good morning -------- ɡʊb`mɔ:ɹnɪŋ̃̃

| t| becomes | p| before | p,b,m|

That boy ----- | ðæp˺ ˈb̥ɔɪ |

Clear |l| and dark |l| realisation:

Thevoiced alveolar lateral |l| has twoimportant allophonic varients. One is called clear /l/
and the other dark| l|

Clear | l |

Clear | l| is articulated by making a closure in the middle at the teeth ridge and simultaneously
raising the front of the tongue in the direction of the hard palate. Therefore it is also called
palatalised | l|. clear | l | is used before vowels and the semi vowel| j |

Eg.
Dark [ɫ̩]

The dark is articulated by making a closure in the middle at the teeth ridge and
simultaneously raising the back of the tongue in the direction of the soft palate. Therefore, it
is also called velarised | l |. dark | l| is used before consonatas and in the final position.

.eg. little - |lɪɾɫ̩|

tell - |tʰɛɫ̩|

Nasalisation

Nasalisation is the addition of nasal resonance on a segment adjacent to a nasal consonant.

Nasalisation can occur for any vowel adjacent to a nasal consonant but it tends to be stronger
and more audible for vowel preceding the nasal. Vowels preceding nasals are represented as
nasalised in phonetic transcription using the tilde diacritic [ ] over the symbol for the vowel.
For diphthongs, the single tilde should be cantered over the top of the two diphthong
symbols. However, it may be difficult to create this symbol electronically and it is therefore
more usual for the tilde to be placed over one of the two diphthong symbols.

Glottal stop

The glottal stop|?| is another allophone of |t| occurring is syllable coda position under certain
conditions. Glottal stops may be present before syllabic |n| and other non syllabic consonants
within words, and across word boundaries when onset of the second word is a consonant.

Syllabic consonants

The sonorant nasals |n,m| and the lateral |l| are the most common consonants that function in
this way.

The syllabic consoants only occur in unstressed syllable and are the result of schwa deletion.
Syllabic consonants are separate phonemes in English and so their are representation in
phonemic transcription is problaamatic.

Syllabic |n|
Syllabic |n| an alveolar sound, occurs with very haigh frequency in unstressed syllable after
other alveolar consonants in medial and final position of words. This is because of the soft
palate is lowered in anticipation of the nasal production during the articulation of the
preceding alveolar consonant, allowing the air to be released into the nasal cavity.

Repetitions false starts and wrong reading of the text.

All the words, phrases and sentences repeated by each speaker were examined and noted. An
attempt was also made to check the false starts like the incorrect beginnings, stutters and slip
of the tongue, wrong readings of the text. The details with regard to repetitions, false starts
and wrong readings as spoken by each speaker can be seen table below.

Speaker 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
s

Total 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 3 3 3 5 4

The table demonstrate that the test materials comprises of comprises of repetations
,falsstartsand wrorenderings of the text . All the test forms are studied constantly, the
majority pattern demonstrated that the proper contextual realizations at have realised some
mistakes

Divergences from R.P: Intonation

According to holiday intonation (1967:18) intonation is a network of three choices made by

the speaker i.e., tonality, tonicity, and tone. The division of a sentence in to a tone group is
“tonality”. The location of the accent in each tone group is “tonicity” the choice of type of
tone (falling, rising and combination of both to be used on the tonic syllable is tone.

Tonality

The division of a sentence into tone group is tonality. We communicate in chunks of speech
and not word by word, i.e we don’t pause after each word. We usually express our thoughts
in closely knit meaningful groups of words. Since there is an intonation pattern associated
with each chunk, these chunks of speech are known as tone groups or sense groups or breath
groups or tone units.by various phoneticians.

The total number of tone groups (T.G) as used by each speaker had been identified and
tabulated below.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 1 13 1 15
Speaker 1 2 4
85 87 86 86 85 86 81 95 81 86 8 8 86 8 83
T.G 73 5 5 5
Tonality
Divergences 12 14 13 13 12 13 9 22 9 13 1 1 13 1 13
2 2 2

While rendering the text, with regard tonality, most of the speakers, even the punctuation
marks, commas, full stop and like failed and the like guide them in dividing the text, into tone
groups. The tone groups normally possible in the text used are 73 in number but all the
speakers deviated from this standard. While some speakers divided a tone group into multiple
tone group, others uttered multiple tone groups into bigger tone groups.

Speaker 7

|Dad| I’m awake replied the boy|

|Dad I’m awake replied the boy|

Speaker 4

| oh | the little boy replied with his head down|

|oh the little boy replied with his head down|

Normally the tone group which were combined with the following tone groups did not cause
any unintelligibility. But most of the speakers had divided the tone groups unevenly with in a
sigle tone groups which caused higher degree of unintelligibility. Most of the speakers had a
maxium number of instances of dividing the tone groups into a single words.
Speaker 7

|If the only reason you asked about my pay so that you can borrow some money to buy a silly
toy or other rubbish|

|If the only reason you asked about my pay| so that you can borrow some money to buy a
silly toy or other rubbish|

Speaker 8

|If the only reason you asked about my pay so that you can borrow some money to buy a silly
toy or other rubbish|

|If the only reason| you asked about my pay so that you can borrow some money| to buy a
silly toy or other rubbish|

Speaker 12

|I work hard every day and I donot like this careless behaviour|

Tonicity

After dividing an utterance into smaller groups and choosing the syllable to be stressed, we
have to choose one of the stressed syllables on which to initiate a pitch movement during
speech. This syllable is called nucleus or the tonic syllable. Usually, the choice of the nucleus
will depend upon the meaning the speaker wants to convey to the listener. The speaker will
affect the a pitch change on that syllable which they considered the most important according
to the meaning they want to convey. If the speaker does n’t consider any of the words in the
utterance as particularly important, then the last stressed syllable in the tone group will be the
nucleus

All the divergences with regard to tonicity had been notified and noted. The table below
shows the number of divergences with regard to tonicity.

Speakers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 1 15
3 4
 1 13 1 13 11 1 8 8 9 17 11 15 1 7 9
Tonicity 2 2 2 9
divergences

Tone

Having divided an utterance (where necessary) into tone groups and have chosen the neclues
(or the tonic syllable) a speaker has to chose one of the various tones. Tone is a system of
option of selecting musical ‘field force’ like fall, rise, fall rise and rise fall etc. the test
material which was used has four types of tones. Falling tone, rising tone, fall rise, and rise
fall tone. These tones have been examined carefully and all the divergences were noted. The
table below shows the numbers of divergences were noted. The table shows the number of
divergences with regard tones.

Speaker 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
s

Total 3 2 3 1 2 2 5 6 5 6 6 5 7 9 9

The text consists of four types of tone groups falling, rising, fall rise and rise fall tone. It
looks like all the speakers had some divergences or the other with regard to the type of tone
used. The following are some of the examples.

The falling tone used as rising tone by some speakers

New Zealand speaker 2 and 3 and also candian speake 2

What is the matter

New Zealand speaker 2, australian speker 2 and Canadian speaker also.

 How much do you make an hour

Rising tone used for as falling tone

New Zealand speaker 2

Are you sleep son

Speaker

May I ask I question

Fall rise tone used as falling tone by some of the speakers

New Zealand speake 1 and 2, Canadian Speaker 1, 2, and 3, australan speaker 1,2 american
speaker 1, 2 british speaker 1 also

One day

Canadian Speaker 1 and American speaker 3

Jes please

Dividing fall rise tone used as falling tone by some of the speakers.

Speaker

Oh thank you dad

Speaker

Oh thank you dad

Speakers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Consonants 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Vowels 7 7 7 0 0 0 7 7 7 13 13 13 13 13 13
Word stress 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Weak forms 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tonality 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 9 9 9 9 9 9
Tonicity 7 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10
Tone 2 2 2 2 2 1 4 5 5 6 6 5 6 7 9
Plural forms 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Past tense forms 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Contracted forms 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Aspiration 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Repetations 4 3 4 4 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 4 4 3
Total 30 3 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 49 52 52 55 57 59
2 1 2 3 8 4 3 5

Series 1
3
Series 2
Series 3
2

0
Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4
The following table showing the ranking pattern based on the performance of the speakers.

Divergences & ranks scored by th e15 speakers based on the performances.

speakers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

ranks 2 2 2 1 1 1 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5

Phonemic inventory of consonants and vowels &rankings scored by the 15 speakers based on
the performance.

speakers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

ranks 2 2 2 1 1 1 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5

From the above the table, it is clear that the performance of the same of the speakers, had a
maximum number of phonemes in the phonemic inventory. All the three speakers have leanrt
divergences with respond to phonetic which were tested. Speakers like 7 and 6 secured last
ranks. The 15 speakers, who got the 3rd rank in the phonemic inventory table, got the 8th rank
on the overall divergences scale. Speaker 4 who got 6th rank in the phonemic inventory
secure 4th rank incase of over all divergences.

Summary

Chapter has paid attention to the general phonetic description of all the 10 speakers rendered
speech specimen’s. it also paid a great deal of attention to the following feature.

Phonemic inventory of consonants and vowels.

Divergences with regard to consonants and vowels.

Divergences with regard to weak forms, word stress and intonation.

Divergence with regard to other phonetic features like plural forms, false starts and wrong
reading of the text.