DANANG UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ENGLISH PHONETICS, & PHONOLOGY (FOR IN SERVICE CLASSES) LIMITED CIRCULATIONbeh Introduction Mon Prete “The study of speech sounds can be treated from two basic points of view: phonetics and phonology. The terms phonetics and phonology are commonly used in discussions of the sounds of English and of English pronunciation in general. ‘These terms sometimes can be used with clear distinction and sometimes with confusion or interchangeably. There is an important and fundamental distinction, but at the same time there is an obvious and equally fundamental connection. To put it briefly at this stage, one could say that phonetics and phonology are two ways of looking at the same thing with their own different subject matters and tasks. For the definition of each term we would like to present the aim and tasks of phonetics first, then we will Took into those of phonology. Phoneties Phonetics is the study of the sounds made by the human vocal apparatus, in particular of those sounds used in speech, We can call these speech sounds. It is customary to recognize different branches of phonetics. 1. Acoustic phonetics: Acoustic phonetics studies the transmission of speech sounds through the air from the speaker to the hearer and is thus concerned with measuring and analysing the movement and vibration of the air. This involves investigation within the framework of physics, and an acoustic phonetician deals with speech wave forms and studies their frequency and aruplitude in much the same way as.a physicist or acoustic engineer. Amplitude (or louciness, size of pressure differences) ~ usualjf measured in decibels (4B) Frequeney (or pitch) : usualty/ measured in cycles per second, or Hertz (Hz) | Two sine waves may have | the same frequency and different amplitudes, and vice versa, = eee ene 2. asegemmveh aca Teesag ess (emplfudes, ies Wavelength usually measured in centiseconds or miliseconds 2. Auditory phonetics: ‘Auditory phonetics is the study of the hearing of speech sounds and deals with such questions as how we perceive and recognize different speech sounds. Such investigations take place largely within the framework of psychology.the outer ear: modifies the incoming sound signal and amplifies it at the eardrum the middle ear: improves the signals and transfer it to the inner ear the inner ear: converts the signal from mechanical vibrations into nerve impulses and transmit it to the brain via the auditory nerve. 3. Articulatory phonetics Finally, articulatory phonetics is the study of the production of speech sounds by the human vocal apparatus, of how a speaker produces, by means of the organs of speech, the sounds he or she uses in speech and of how we can classify and describe such sounds. From our point of view as teachers and learners of language this is obviously the branch of phonetics which concerns us ‘most, and this course will be concerned mainly with articulatory phonetics. Henceforth, when we talk about phonetics, we shall take this to refer to articulatory phonetics. Phonetics, then, deals with all speech sounds. It tries to describe how they are made, to classify them and to give some idea of their nature. Phonetic investigation shows that human beings are capable of producing an enormous number of speech sounds. The range of articulatory possibilities is vast. Yet we notice that each language uses only some of the sounds that are available. What is more, each language has its own particular selection from all the available ‘sounds, so that no two languages have exactly the same set of speech sounds. Even more importantly, each language organizes and makes use of the sounds in its own particular way. ‘The study of the selection that each language makes from the vast range of possible speech sounds and of how each language organizes and uses the selection it makes is called phonology. We sce here the source of much of the confusion, because both phonetics and phonology are concerned with the same subject matter, that is, with speech sounds as produced by the human vocal apparatus, but they look at this subject matter from different points of view. Phonetics tends fo be a more general discipline, in that it is concemed with speech sounds ‘without reference to their function or role in any particular language. Because of this, itis sometimes claimed to be an autonomous discipline, to be pursued without reference to phonology and other aspects of linguistics. But even in general phonetics there are many notions and concepts, such as that of the syllable, which itis virtually impossible to discuss without bringing in phonological and other linguistic considerations. Phonology, on the other hand, tends to be more particular, in that it is usually concerned with the patterning of sounds in a particular language. It always needs to make reference to phonetics. Phonology can, of course, have a more ‘general dimension, as when it is concerned with the universal aspects of sound patterns and systems and of rules involving sounds, since it appears that many principles governing the way sounds are used and organized apply to all languages, although of course details differ from language to language. Similarly, phonetics can be more particular, as when it confines itself to dealing only with the sounds of a particular language. In the latter case, however, there is inevitably a close relationship with phonology, as itis difficult to study the sounds of one language without taking into account their relationship to one another and the way they work together. One might sum up the relationship between phonetics and phonology by saying that phonetics provides the descriptive and classificatory framework for phonology. In other words, phonetics describes and classifies the speech sounds while phonology studies how they work together and how they are used. Or, we could say that phonetics is concerned with what specch sounds are, their nature, while phonology is concerned with what they do, their function. The 2distinction between phonetics and phonology is the familiar distinction between form and fisnotion which is to be found in many fields of study. In summary, systems of sounds can’be studied from two basic points of view. 1 Phonetics is the study of the sounds of language according to their production in the vocal organs (articulatory phonetics) or their effect on the ear (acoustic phonetics). Alt phonetics are intorrelated because human articulatory and auditory mechanisms are uniform. Systems of phonetic writing are aimed at transcribing accurately any sequence of speech sounds; the best known is the International Phonetic Alphabet. 2 Bach language uses a limited number of all the possible sounds, called phonemes, and the hearer-speaker is trained from childhood to classify them into groups of like sounds, rejecting es nonsignificant all sorts of features actually phonetically present. Thus the speaker of English ignores sounds that are very important in another language, e.g., French or Spanish. Phonemes include all significant differences of sound, among them features of voicing, place and manner of articulation, accent, and secondary features of nasalization, glottalization, labialization, and the like. The study of the phonemes and their arrangement is the phonemics of a language. The term, Phonemies can be used as another term for Phonology. Phonetics which is aimed at providing sets of features and properties for describing speech sounds has 3 approaches: 1. Acoustic phonetics deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air (How the sound waves are measured) 2, Auditory phonetics deals wi the ears, nerves and brain) listeners’ perception (How speech sounds are perceived with 3. Articulatory phonetics deals with the physiological mechanism of speech production (How speech sounds are produced using articulators). Phonology which studies the function o speech sounds and how they are organized into phonological patterns is aimed to answer these questions: 1. How many distinctive sounds are there in a particular language system? 2. Which rules that govern the interaction between these sounds?ARTICULATORY PHONETICS VOCAL TRACT & ARTICULATORS Vocal folds ‘Names of articulators Perhaps readers and leamers may get confused with the terms used for the articulators. The table below will help the make clear the common names and what each of them mean. ‘Normal name Fancy name | Adjective Lips Labia Labial Teeth Dental “Alveolar ridge ‘Alveolar Hard palate palatal soft palate ‘Velum Velar Uvula ‘Uvular | Upper throat Pharynx Pharyngeal ‘Voicebox Larynx ‘Laryngeal | Tongue tip. Apex Apical. Tongue blade Lamina Lamina “Tongue bod; Dorsum Dorsal “Tongue root Radical Tn phonetics, the terms velum, pharyrx, larynx, and dorsum are used as often or more often than the simpler names. alveolar ridge ‘A short distance behind the upper teeth is a change in the angle of the roof of the mouth. (in some people it's quite abrupt, in others very slight.) This is the alveolar ridge. Sounds which involve the area between the upper teeth and this ridge are called alveolars. (hard) palate * the hard portion of the roof of the mouth. The term "palate” by itself usually refers to the hard palate, * soft palate/ velum the soft portion of the roof of the mouth, lying behind the hard palate. The tongue hits the velum in the sounds [&], {g], and [g]. The velum can also move: if it lowers, it creates an 4opening that allows air to flow out through the nose; blocked, and no air can flow through the nose. uyula the small, dangly thing at the back of the soft palate. The uvula vibrates during the r sound in many French dialects, pharynx the cavity between the root of the tongue and the walls of the upper throat. tongue blade the flat surface of the tongue just behind the tip. tongue front/ body/ dorsum. the main part of the tongue, lying below the hard and soft palate, The body, specifically the back part of the body (hence "dorsum, Latin for "back"), moves to make vowels and many consonants. tongue bacl/ root the lowest part of the tongue in the throat cpiglottis, the fold of tissue below the root of the tongue. The epiglottis helps cover the larynx during swallowing, making sure (usually!) that food goes into the stomach and not the lungs. A few languages use the epiglottis in making sounds. English is fortunately not ‘one of them. : vocal folds/ vocal cords folds of tissue stretched across the airway to the lungs. They can vibrate against each other, providing much of the sound during speech, glottis the opening between the vocal cords, During a glottal stop, the vocal cords are held - together and there is no opening between them, larynx the structure that holds and manipulates the vocal cords. The "Adam's apple" in males is the bump formed by the front part of the larynx. it stays raised, the opening is‘THE SPEECH PRODUCTION MECHANISM ‘The articulation process is the modification of sound waves produced by the airstream, phonation, and oral-nasal processes. In other words, this process is a composition of fundamental components involving aspects of speech sound production known as initiation, phonation and articulation. Initiation mechanism At this initial moment, we need to have an airflow as a source of energy to make a speech sound, : Airflow generated from the lungs is called “pulmonic” and airflow out of the lungs is celled “egressive”. The vast majority of speech sounds in the world’s languages, in fact, all sounds in most languages are made with “pulmonic egressive airflow”. However, it is possible to speak with “ingressive pulmonic airflow” (going in the lungs). Although “ingressive pulmonic airflow” is possible in the production of speech sounds, no language in the world seem to make distinctive use of this mechanism. There ere two good reasons why egressive airflow is the norm in all languages: 1. Ingressive airflow does not allow vibration in the vocal folds (phonation). It’s hard to make the distinction between “pea” and “bee” when they are uttered with ingressive airflow. 2. gressive airflow is easy because speaker can use the pressure of full lungs to control slow sustained exhalation, With ingressive airflow, filling the lungs in a slow controlled inhalation is harder and it is a problem for getting the oxygen into the bloodstream quickly and efficiently. Sy eae Fig. 1 Egressive pulmonic airflow & Ingressive pulomonic airflow Phonation mechanism ‘The term “Phonation” refers to all movements of the vocal folds in producing speech sounds — and in particular to the sounds that involve vibrations of the folds. The vocal folds can be manipulated in many ways, but linguists usually recognize five phonation modes which are relevant to speech production (Only four will be mentioned in this course). A phonation mode is a category of vocal setting that allows a particular type of voice quality. ; In this section we will see the structure of vocal folds and how they move. The structure of the larynx ‘The larynx is positioned in the top of the trachea. Primarily it is a valve which regulates the respiration, but additionally it is a sound source. The larynx houses the vocal folds which open 6and close. The larynx are very complex structure ~ a delicate web of bone, cartilage, muscle and ligament. The vocal folds themselves are made up of loose bands of muscles that can move over each other to allow high speed vibration, Vibration cycle of the folds Vibration is the opening and closing of the voral folds, which repeats up to 400 times per second. What kind of mechanical structure allows for such rapid movement and fine control? ‘The Aerodynamic Myoelastic theory suggests that, rather than any mechanical muscular action, the airflow itself and the elasticity of the folds combine to produce this action (Known as “mucosal wave”. Here is how the cycle works: ‘When the folds close, the pressure of the air below them increases. When this pressure exceeds the pressure holding the folds together, they burst apart and air flows again. This air flow again drops the pressure (the Bernouli effect), and the folds get sucked back together ag “ Jes these pressure changes created by regular puff or air coming through the folds that produce sound, not the folds clapping together or vibrating. ‘The vocal folds have a certain thickness, and the lower edge of the folds open before the upper edge, so the opening moves upward, Then the lower edge of the folds closes before the upper edge, so the closer moves upwards. Fig. 2 The structure of the larynx Fig, 3: Vibration eycle of the vocal folds ‘The vocal folds are held together along their full length with enough tension to allow vibration: ‘The vocal folds momentarily block airflow from the lungs. ‘The air pressure underneath the vocal folds increases. ‘The increased pressure forces the vocal folds up and apart. As the pressure falls again, the vocal folds snap back together. Gotol. rt Arh AANA Aah Fig. 4 The opening and closing of vocal folds in vibration cycles peeee 7Each repetition of this eycle causes a "glottal pulse". ‘The number of times this occurs in a second is the fundamental frequency of voice. Varying the tension of the vocal folds results in different rates of vibration (and so different pitches). Phonation modes With different movements of the vocal folds, different phonation modes can be created. By phonation mode, it means a category of vocal setting for a particular type of voice quality. Fig. 5 Vocal folds are wide apart Fig, 6 Vocal folds are narrowing for vibration Four phonation modes or glottal states ' We mention here 4 phonation modes due to the work of glottis and vocal folds. In doing this, we try to answer the main question: Are the vocal fold vibrating or not? A simple answe Segments with vocal fold vibration are voiced, all others are voiceless. ‘As we will see, there's more than one way the vocal folds can vibrate. There's more than one way they can fail to vibrate, i This mode can be thought of as “normal” vocal fold vibration” involving opening and closuré along the full length of the folds, eg, [bin bad, [d] in bad Seem vOucciss sounds are produced with the ligament folds and arytenoids are held wide apart to allow non- turbulent airflow between them, eg. [s] in sad, (f] in fat Nee CG Fig. 6 Vocal folds for voiceless mode Fig. 7 Vocal folds for voiced mode ‘whisper mode involves earns creaky mode involves the holding the length of the . vibration in the vocal folds ligament folds closed, but with very low while holding the frequency, and the folds arytenoids open. In being closed for more ‘whisper mode airflow is, time; also, the folds being forced through a much bunched up & thick allow smaller opening than in slow vibration ata slow'air voiceless mode flow rate Fig. 8 Vocal folds for whisper voice Fig. 9 Vocal folds for creaky voice Note: Some Vietnamese leamers of English tend to utter voiceless sounds with grave accent *as in 85 6 si at the beginning of a word (e.g. “stress”) and thus fail to perform voiceless sound [ s ]. g Teed Artie For st are re bbe me| nose | Alony ridge varie’ deper Fig Sp un Li| It a WyArticulation inechanism | For shaping the sounds, we need resonating cavities such as nasal cavity and oral cavity which are responsible for the passage of the airstream. Besides these two resonators, the velum should be mentioned here as the one that allows the airstream to go out through either the mouth or the nose to be defined as oral sounds or nasal sounds. ‘Along with the resonators mentioned above, the articulators such as the tongue, the alveolar ridge, the hard palate, the glottis, the lips and the teeth play an important role in yielding a variety of configurations of sounds. Each of them may interact in the process of articulation depending on the active role or passive role they assume. 3 fundamental components involving aspects of sound production Initiation mechanism phonation mechanism articulation mechanism “The lungs larynx & vocal folds Articulators & cavities Sor Sor for energy source - vibration shaping sounds with pulmonic airflow voicing sounds different quality & : constriction \ Fig. 10 Three fundamental components involving aspects of sound production ‘THE DESCRIPTION & CLASSIFICATION ‘OF ENGLISH SPEECH SOUNDS Speech sounds as segments or phones - A segment ei t ‘Any discrete unit or phone, produced by the vocal apparatus, or a representation of sut i unit, In linguistics (and phonetics), segmtent is used primarily “to refer to any discreet unit that car be identified, cither physically or auditorily, in the stream of speech” (after A Dictionary of Linguistics & Phonetics, David Crystal, 2003, pp. 408-409), ‘A phone In phonetics, the smallest perceptible segment is a phone as an unanalyzed sound of a language. It is the smallest identifiable unit found in a stream of speech that is able to be transcribed with an IPA symbol. g s, In spoken languages, a segment may be a consonant, vowel, tone, or stress. In this course the term segment is used as to name a speech unit at the level of a sound that can be identified from a larger unit like syllable, For example, there are 3 segments [h }, [©], { t] in the sound sequence [ het ]- at Vowels & Consonants — A major division among English speech sounds ‘In English, there are 44 basic speech sounds that can be grouped into 2 major classes: 24 consonants and 20 vowels. This basic division is made based on the distinguishing features or phonetic properties that members in cach class may share. ‘Vowels and consonants can be distinguished on the basis of difference in 9- articulation + acoustic manner = function For more details please consult table 2.2 the major difference between consonants and vowels (Reference books: O'Grady, Wiliiam & Michael Dobrovolsky (1993) Contemporary Linguistics - An introduction, St. Martin Press, New York, p. 18) 10 AD The B.D The ( LPH this In pt | cont: (typi ther cons Ap acti (ab tong (de The| ton] con tog Th Th pal pre tor| the CqTHE ENGLISH CONSONANTS A. Definition ‘The consonant is a speech sound produced with a complete or partial obstruction of the air stream in the vocal tract. B. Description ‘The consonants can be described in terms of articulatory parameters: I Place of articulation (This tells us the points where the articulators actually touch or are the closest) Tn phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is the point of contact, where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active (moving) articulator (typically some part of the tongue) and a passive (stationary) articulator (typically some part of the roof of the mouth). Along with the manner of articulation and phonation, this gives the consonant its distinctive sound, ‘Types of articulation + Aplace of articulation is defined as both the active and passive articulators. For instance, the active lower lip may contact either a passive upper lip (bilabial, like {ml} or the upper teeth abiodental, like {f]). The hard palate may be contacted by either the front or the back of the tongue. If the front of the tongue is used, the place is called retroflex; if back of the tongue (‘dorsum’) is used, the place is called "dorsal-palatal", or more commonly, just palatal, There are five basic active articulators: the lip ("labial consonants"), the flexible front of the tongue ("coronal consonants"), the middle/back of the tongue ("dorsal consonants"), the root of the tongue together with the epiglottis (“radical consonants"), and the larynx (“laryngeal consonants"). These articulators can act independently of each other, and two or more may work together in what is called coarticulation (see below). ‘The passive articulation, on the other hand, is a continuum without many clear-cut boundaries. ‘The places linguolabial and interdental, interdental and dental, dental and alveolar, alveolar and palatal, palatal and velar, velar and uvular merge into one another, and a consonant may be pronounced somewhere between the named places. In addition, when the front of the tongue is used, it may be the upper surface or blade of the tongue that makes contact ("laminal consonants”), the tip of the tongue ("apical consonants"), or the under surface (“sub-apical consonants"). These articulations also merge into one another without clear boundaries. Consonants that have the same place of articulation, such as alveolar [n, t, 4, s, 2, I] in English, are said to be homorganic. uWList of places where the main types of obstruction may occur sho Fig. 11 Bilabial: between the lips Fig. 12 Labiodental: between the lower lip and the upper teeth i‘ foe Fig. 13 Dental: Between the front of Fig. 1. ig. 14 Alveolar: between the front of the ‘the tongue and the top teeth longue and the ridge behind the gums Fig, 15 Postalveolar: between the Fig. 16 Palatat: between the middle of ‘front of the tongue and the space the tongue and the hard palate behind the alveolar ridge Fig, 17 Velar: between the back of the tongue and the soft palate (the velum) 2 Apart fi ° Ret] « Uw the (All of the + Phd + Bp - Ep Table Sound cli | Bilabial | [Dental | | Labio-de| | Alveolaa‘Apart from these places of articulation (for English phonetics), there are also: + Retroflex: in “true” retroflexes, the tongue curls back so the underside touches the palate * Uvular: between the back of the tongue and the uvula (which hangs down in the back of the mouth) (All of the above may be nasalized, and most may be lateralized.) + Pharyngeal: between the root of the tongue and the buck of the throat (the pharynx) + Bpiglotto-pharyngeal: between the epiglottis and the back of the throat + Epiglottal: between the aryepiglottal folds and the epiglottis (see larynx) Table 1 Place of articulation: 8 major types of interaction of consonants Sound class ‘Articulators ‘Sound segments Passive ___ Active Bilabial upper lip Lower lip Tp. 5 m, wy Dental Teeth Tongue tip To, 8) Labio-dental ‘Upper tecth Lower lip Thy ‘Alveolat Teeth ridge tongue Tedsanhal Palaio-alveolar [behind alveolar ridge |tongue blade | [tf ds, 3] Palatal hard palate Tongue front ti Velar soft palate ‘tongue blade Tk aT Glottal : ‘voeal folds Th?) 1. Manners of articulation (Types of obstruction caused by closing or narrowing the articulators) Constriction degree Place of articulation refers to where the narrowing occurs ~- which active articulator gets close to which passive articulator. Constriction degree refers to how close they get. The main constriction degrees are: Stop: the active articulator touches the passive articulator and completely cuts off the airflow through the mouth. English stops include: [p], [b] (8, (4, Oc), fg) 7- a Fig. 18 The silent phase Fig. 19The release phase 13‘Affricate: can be seen as a sequence of a stop and a fricative which have the same or similar places of articulation. They are transcribed using the symbols for the stop and the fricative. e.g. (t{], {43} fricative: the active articulator doesn't touch the passive articulator, but gets close enough that the airflow through the opening becomes turbulent. English fricatives include (£1, (V), (61, (5), (21, Es), (5) (5, Ch) - In nasals, the velum is lowered to allow air to pass through the nose (technically a place, but generally as a manner of articulation). English nasals include ml, [a], [9] In lateral, the air is released past the tongue sides and teeth rather than over the tip of the tongue. English has ‘only one lateral [1 ] approximant: the active articulator approaches the passive articulator, but doesn't even get close enough for the airflow to become turbulent. English approximants include {j), Lo], fr], and (1). Fig,20 The silence phase Fig.21 The release phase Fig 23 Fricative | § i Fig.25 Nasal [»} = Fig.27 Appro: 4 apee Table 2 Manner of articulation: 6 major types of stricture degrees Stricture or Movement or interaction | Sounds obstruction types _| of articulators Stops (plosives) | complete stop ofr, he |p. b, 6d kg 7] rapid separation ‘Afiricates: stop of air, then slow |, 43] separation Fricatives narrowing, causing TOEEVSZhSEI b audible friction ‘Nasals Towering of velum, air |[m,n, 9] ‘esoapes through nose Lateral air escapes downsides of |[T] tongue “Approximants slight narrowing, not Twit] enough to cause friction “The pronunciation of [0 }.[4 [1], [45] and the Vietnamese learners problem For many Vietnamese speakers of English, [6 ] is mispronounced as (¢"} in[ Can 0] (think that, This failure is due to the fact that these speakers fil to release the airstream flow Comainuously through a narrow slot between the tongue andthe upper teeth during the pronunciation For the Vietamese learners ftom the Souther part of Vietnam itis, hard to Franounce the afficte {i because there is no sound with fricatve post-alveolar Tike this. They aan make voiced {¢ ] in [c6p ] without audible friction 4 the speakers from the north do. However, some speakers of English still make [ 2] instead of [j ] and this isa common error for many speakers from the north. Clear [1] vs dark [+] It isa fact that quite a few Viemamese learners of English fail to perform the correct form of dark [ ]in such sequences as [ait] (11). Most of the pronounce this dark [¥] as fm ] as in [slouin } instead of [sku J. Few of them realize thet this velarized form can function as the back vowel [ ] in Vietnamese spelling and pronunciation. The evidence is thatthe Vietnamese trord “hiu? sounds a bit like “hill? [ht ]. As result, for some of them, [ Kaltfo ] is made [ kantfo] Clear [1] (before a vowel) dark { 4] (after a vowel) Pil [ait] child [.tfer#] while [wat } owl [aut] oil. fod} meal [ mish] sehigol [skest ] useful { ju] howl how {havi [ bab ] fire-fire (faut J f fax] mile-mind [ mat] fmamd ] 15Farther reading (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In linguistics, manner of articulation describes how the tongue, lips, and other speech organs involved in making a sound make contact. Often the concept is only used for the production of consonants. For any place of articulation, there may be several manners, and therefore several homorganic consonants. One parameter of manner is stricture, that is, how closely the speech ‘organs approach one another. Parameters other than stricture are those involved in the ar sounds (taps and tills), and the sibilancy of fricatives, Often nasality and laterality are included in manner, but phoneticians such as Peter Ladefoged consider them to be independent. ‘Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. In the articulation of approximants, articulatory organs produce @ narrowing of the vocal tract, but leave enough space for air to flow without much audible turbulence, ‘Approximants are therefore more open than fricatives. This class of sounds includes lateral ‘approximants like [I], 98 in lip, and approximants like {j] and [Ww] in yes end well which correspond closely to vowels and semivowels. Palatal approximants correspond to front vowels, ‘velar approximants to back vowels, and labialized approximants to rounded vowels. They are typically briefer and closer than the corresponding vowels. When emphasized, approximants may be slightly fricated (that is, the ‘airstream may become slightly turbulent), which is reminiscent of fricatives. Examples are the y of English yes! (especially when lengthened) Occasionally the glottal "fricatives" are called approximants, since [hi] typically has no, more frication than voiceless approximants, but they ate often phonations of the glottis without any ‘accompanying manner or place of articulation. A stop cuts off airflow through the mouth, ‘Airflow through the nose does not matter -- you can have both oral and nasal stops. Oral stops are often called plosives, including in the IPA chart. Nasal stops are usually just called nasals. ‘Approximants that are apical or laminal are often called liquids (e-g., {c], [)- Approximants that correspond to vowels are often called glides (e.g., [j] corresponds to fi, {w] to fu). 2 subelasses of approximants: Liquids { 1, r] & Glides [w,j] ‘Approximants: # no major obstruction + no auditory effect of friction Liquids [1, r J: Glides { w, j }: characterized with high level of sonority | characterized with their dual nature © can be syllable nuclei, e.g. [terbl] + predominantly vocalic (like vowel) 4 can be consonant. [ork] * distribution: consonantal {junrves ott}, (nju For some Vietnamese learners of English who come from the Northern part of Vietnam, the English glide [ w ] is realized phonetically as [ u: ] due to the fact that in this northern dialect, there is no speech sound like [ w ] in the sound system of Hanoi dialect. When performing [w J these people may stay too long in the nucleus [u: ] and thus fail to perform the gliding to [2]. . For some of them, the phonetic form [ wuld ] may be pronounced as [ uld J. The same can be said to the glide [} ] which can be articulated by starting with the vowel [ i] then rapidly gliding into [9]. Accordingly, [ ju:niva:sotr ] may be realized as { icunrvs:satr J. : IL Voicing or State of the glottis: Here, we deal with the vibration of vocal cords during the articulation of the consonant. 16. For n| the ve] ‘The Allthy final infle ‘That actit pror infl! Dar Bel| 1? 21 3.1* 2. Neyorcent [z ]-&82 pens_on the table For now, we can simply use the terms "voiced" and "voiceless" to answer the question of what the vocal cords are doing: © In voiced sounds, the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation of the consonant, e.g. [b, 4, g] « In voiceless sounds, the vocal cords are not vibrating during the articulation ofthe consonant, ¢.g. [f, , tf] ‘The pronunciation of Plural form —S ‘Although most leamers of English have leamed the rule to pronounce the plural form — s at the final position in the syllable, they stil fail to perform the actual phonetic Forms of this inflectional or grammatical ending. Especially, itis a problem of comprehending as well as pronouncing this plural form — s in various contexts of connected speech. Nguyen Thi Thanh ‘Thanh (2007) has pointed out this problem and proposed solutions in terms communicative activities and exercises to enhance the learners’ skill of pronunciation in terms of the pronunciation of inflectional endings -s, ed in particular phonetic environment. For a detailed ‘explanation, please read the Graduation Paper “An investigation into the pronunciation of inflectional endings in english by students of College of Foreign languages ~ University of Danang — Problems and solutions” (2006). Below is the rule of pronunciation and exmples 1 Negrpmpen ES {62 } e.g. 2 glasses, 2 watches 3. Nevzggs #8 [8], €-8- 2 books_on the table eg. [f, 8, tf] + The pronunciation of past form - ED 1. V4 + ED [ed], e.g, wanted, needed 2. V-yoicen ED [a]. e.g. He opened_a box 3. Veyuzgs #ED It], eg He looked_at us More examples: [z]lor[s]or[ oz]? : dams, houses, tents, beds, dogs [d]orft}? helped us, asked us, begged us, missed it C. Classification: English consonants can be described in terms of 3 parameters: voicing, place of articulation and ‘manner of articulation. 7Table 3 Classification of English consonants ace | Bitabial | Dental | Labio- | Alveolar | Palato- | Palatal | Velar | Glottal Maun dental alveolar Stops -voice |p t k ° +voice |b d ‘Affricate ~ voice u + voice d: Fricative ~ voice 8 f 8 f h +yoiee 8 y z Nasal m 2 0 Lateral T 7 Appr |W T i Ww ximant D. Identification of a consonant ‘A consonant can be identified using the three parameters that has been mentioned above. Eg.fk] 1. voicing: voiceless 2. place of articulation : velar 3. manner of articulation: stop ‘Also, a corisonant can be judged with more phonetic values such as whether itis nasal or oral; central or lateral depending on whether this consonant is articulated with the velum being lowered or not; the airstream escaping through a passage in the middle of the tongue or downsides of the tongue. E.g. Term T 2 3 4 3 voiced or place of | central or oralor | articulatory Consouat voiceless | articulation lateral nasal action Ts] voiceless ‘alveolar (central) (oral) Sricative | 18 Gre LF Voi con bel eg Voi anSOME PHONETIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH CONSONANTS A. Force of articulation: Greater or lesser effort and high/ low air pressure required for the articulation of a consonant, I Fortis consonants: Voiceless consonants tend to have strong pronunciation. A fortis consonant is a “strong” consonant produced by increased tension in the vocal apparatus. These strong consonants tend to be long, voiceless, aspirated, and high. eg; [pts Ky TL. Lenis consonants: Voiced consonants tend to have weaker pronunciation. A lenis consonant is a “weak” consonant produced by the lack of tension in the vocal apparatus. These weak consonants tend to be short, weakly voiced or voiceless, aspirated, low, and the following vowel tends to be lengthened. eg. [b, d,g] ‘Most Vietnamese learners of English do inot pay attention to greater or lesser effort and air pressure required for the articulation of a consonant. What's more, few of them notice the influence of the fortis and lenis consonant may have on the preceding vowel. B. Length of articulation I. Voiceless consonants are longer than voiced consonants at final position, eg: leak>league hit vshid tap vstab For some acoustic evidence, just look at the sound wave form of the sound sequences [ hit] vs [ Ind J to see the difference between the final consonants in terms of length. Fig.29 The sound wave form of the pair [ hit] vs [ hrd]- length of final [ ¢] & [ d] IL. Open syllables are longer than closed syllables, e.g, be [ bi] > bead [bi:d] > beat (bi:t} ILL Syllables closed with voiced consonant are longer than syllables closed with voiceless ‘consonants, e.g. bead [bisd] > beat [bict], raise [rere] > race {rers] 9Just look at the sound wave form of the sound sequences [ atz ] vs [ ats J, [ prats ] vs [ prarz ] to see the difference between the vowels in terms of length. ea oes Filg.31 The sound wave form of the pair { pratz vs { prais }- length of the vowel { ar } de [ at] C. Voice of articulation 1, Full voice: Vietnamese leamers of English have no problem of pronouncing [I, r) } at the initial position in a stressed syllable. Voicing {I, x] ] at the beginning of a word or syllable is a tendency of the Vietnamese speakers and this the pronunciation of [{l, r] with full voice is an easy work without any effort. As with [b, d, g] between two vowels, 1. [b, 4, g] are intervocalic (between 2 vowels), e.g. about, ado, ago 2. [1,1] are syllable initial, e.g. rain, lean 2. Devoiced: E 1. Whea [b, d, g] are syllable initial, they become devoiced. In this phonetic environment, they are partially voiced and thus sound a bit like their voiceless counterpart { p, ty k}. e.g. be [bis], do [d u:] go [ Jeu} 2. [r, 1] are preceded by voiceless stops, e.g. train [ tenn] , clean [k™Ji:n] clearly 20 For: spea sour 3.¥ won Fur Dut| att 2a =For some evidence, just spell a name beginning with letter b, ¢.g. Binh, Ba ... and ask a native speaker of English to pronounce these names. The actual pronunciation of these names may sound like [pin ], [pe]. 3. Voiceless: When [b, d, g] are syllable final in a word, and there is a pause or silent phase after this word, as in a dictation where there are short pauses after a sentence or phrase. 2, fli: d ] (lead) in There’s no lead and [ dog ] (dog ) in My grandfather has a dog. Further reading (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Final devoicing is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as German, Dutch, and Russian, among others. In these languages, voiced obstruents in the syllable coda or at the end of a word become voiceless. Some examples from German include: Laub ‘foliage’, pronounced [laup] Rad ‘wheel’, pronouhced [ra:t] Zug ‘train’, pronounced (tsu:k] Phonological final devoicing can lead to the neutralization of phonemic contrasts in certain environments. English does not have phonological final devoicing of the type that neutralizes phonemic ‘contrasts; thus pairs like bad and bat are distinct in all major accents of English. Nevertheless ‘Yoiced obstruents are devoiced to some extent in final position in English, especially when . | phrase-final or whiéit followed by'a voiceless consonant (for example, bad cat [bad kect]). The most salient distinction between bad and bat is not the voicing of the final consonant but rather the duration of the vowel and the glottalization of final /t/: bad is pronounced [bed] while bat is [bet]. “D. Syllabicity When syllabic consonants (I, r, m,n }-are preceded by another consonant,e.g. 1. {i}: little (11 t 1], table [ter bl] 2. [r] matter [ m zef], ladder [1 eed y] 3. [m ]: madam (m 2e dip], rhythm [rr 3m J 4.{n] listen [115 9], garden (ga:dn More examples people, medal, needle work teacher, feature, manner Socialism, capitalism, enthusiasm suddenly, frightening, hidden 2Further reading (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) “Jisyllabie consonant is a consonant which either forms a syllable ofits own, or is the nucleus of syllable. The diacrtic for this in the Intemational Phonetic Alphabet is the under-stroke, (, }- Examples from English are button [batp], bottle [bot], butter [batr] (in dialects which pronounce final at). In words such as church, the syllabic nucleus may be either a rhotic vowel, [ka:w], ora syllabic ar, [sta:rty], depending on the dialect and speaker. Note that all ofthese consonants are sonorants, E. Flapping [ ¢ ] or T-voieing Voiceless alveolar {t] or voiced alveolar [d ] becomes voiced flap [f} in an unstressed syllable, [int], ladder [leeds], city ['st tr] (BrE) v v v CuM” — CLteip]— ['st 4] (AmE) More examples: party, meeting, Saturday ‘He worked until the party started. She’s Mr.Timson’s daughter. F. Aspiration with [ p, tk] ‘The pronunciation of the voiceless [p, t, k ] with an extra puff of air strongly expelled 1 Aspirated: When [p, ¢, k ] are syllable-initial in a stressed syllable ‘ eg. pay [p" et] top {t* op) keep {k*i:p] Tl, Relatively aspirated: ‘When fp, t, K] are syllable-initial in an unstressed syllable eg. upon {'4 pon } happen [ hapa], ankle [enk } IIL. Unaspirated: When [p, tk] are preceded by [s} e.g, speak (sp itk], stab {steeb] _, skill (Skil ] When [p; t, K] are syllable-final e.g. stop [st op], meat [mi: t ] aspiration is not a distinctive feature for the forms to contrast as different words. For can be interpreted as the same word pea However, in some cases, aspiration can pay a significant contribution to the interpretation of two different phonetic sequences as in {pti: 5 t 0: Ik] pea stalk or [piss t 9: Ik] peace talk Fur obst sou shor} with ‘The| Ung Voi vor| con| this tint [forFurther reading (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of sir that accompanies the release of some obstruents (non sonorants). To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, put your hand or a lit candle in front of your mouth, and say top and then stop. You should either feel a puff of air or see a flicker of the candle flame with top that you do not get with stop. In English, the t should be aspirated in top and unaspirated in stop. ‘The diacritie for aspiration in the International Phonetic Alphabet is a superscript "h’, {hi}. Unaspirated consonants are not normally marked explicitly, but there is a diacritic for non- aspiration in the Extended IPA, the superscript equal sign, [=]. Voiceless consonants are produced with the vocal cords open. (Voicing involves bringing the ‘vocal cords close together.) Voiceless aspiration occurs when the vocall cords remain open after a consonant is released, An easy way to measure this is by noting the consonant's voice onset time, as the voicing of a following vowel cannot begin until the vocal cords close. English voiceless stops are aspirated when they begin a stressed syllable, as in pen, ten, Ken, but this is not distinctive. That is, these consonants have unaspirated variants in other positions, such as word-finally or in an initial cluster with {s}, as in spun, stun, skunk. In many languages, such as Cantonese, Hindi, Icelandic, Korean, Mandarin, Thai, and Ancient Greek, [ph th kl] etc. and [p= t Ie] ete, are different phonemes altogether. ‘Alemannic German dialects have unaspirated [p= t= k=Jas well as aspirated [ph th kh}; the latter seties are usually viewed as consonant clusters. In Danish and most southern varieties of ‘German, the “Ienis" consonants transcribed for historical reasons as are distinguished them from their "fortis" counterparts

mainly in their lack of aspiration. “Aspiration also varies with place of articulation. Spanish /p t K/, for example, have voice onset (VOTs) of about 5, 10, and 30 milliseconds, whereas English /p t k/ have VOTs of about. 60, 70, and 80 ms. Korean has been measured at 20, 25, and 50 ms for /p t k/ and 90, 95, and 125 errr 23§ i £ é : AD fi Hi i | se a a B.C i ' Lve 1 . i ‘yannvnuaraannninnwnennnananhoarin voiced 2. Sc ! moraine Gl spin ae e i . me rarnnanrornnnwrnnaannn en _ —— Tait cele ll vibrating \ i \ ' sia i ort ' “ 4 — es en vibrating Pee \ ' 1 : close ean (Adapted from Fromkin, Vietoria & Robert Rodman, Peter Collins, David Blair (1990) pate “The nctual performance of voiceless [p] & voiced {b] experienced by the Vietnamese,” learners of English r halt ops Some Vietnamese learners of English actually make voiceless { ps voiced {]. This isdué to. * 2 fact that these students fail to perform the aspiration of { p ]at intial position inthe syllable. : ‘Though this is not a distinctive feature to distinguish between such pairs es [p'i: Jand{[pi:],the FPR leamers failure to make distinction between { pi: ] and { bi: ] is understood as an ignorance of ; the difference in meaning between two words “pea” and “be”. Cc re Fr ce By 4 M u 24THE ENGLISH VOWEL A. Definition: a speech sound produced with relatively little obstruction of air stream in the vocal tract B, Characteristics: Vowels are 1. voiced, ie. They are produced with the vibration of the vocal cords 2; Sonorant: Acoustically, vowels are louder than consonants C. Description: “The vowel can be described in terms of articulatory & auditory parameters: + Tongue positions Shapes of lips Mouth aperture ‘Tongue part (Advancement) 1. front: eg. it} [1] Front Central Back 2. central: e.g. [9], [4] 3, back: eg, [v}, [0:1 is ur Ir u i a Bigh (Tongue height (Jaw opening) 1. bigh: e.g. [iz], [uz] id: e.g. [2 J, [0:] 3.low:eg. [e], [0] halfclose \\ © a of) Mid e Stape otis (ip ending) half open a Length (Duration) 1. long: €.g (i: J fu: ] open a 2. short: e.g. [¢, 28] ‘Tenseness Cardinal Vowel Scale (Effort with tongue & jaw) 1. tense: e.g. [is], (3:] 2. tax: e.g. fe, 2] C. Classification of the vowels 1. Principles of quality: - tongue position: + horizontal (tongue part) Front vowels: [i], (1, [el], [22] Central vowels: fo}, [3:}, [4] Back vowels: [u:}, {0}, [9:), [0], [2:) + vertical (tongue height): High vowels: [i:}, (1, [u:). [6] Mid vowels: [{2}, (33), fe} [9:1 Low vowels: [22}, {4}, [p}, [a:] ~ lip position: + rounded Vowels: {ufo}, [2:} [2] + unrounded Vowels: 28‘The remaining ones 2. Principles of quanti = length of vowel Long vowels: [i:}, (3, [w:, [0:}, [0:] Short vowels: (x), [e], fee], [2], {6} [4], [0] + degree of tenseness: Tense vowels: [i], [32], [u:], [9:1 [22] Lax vowels: fx, fe}, (20), (2), (6) (41, [0] - character of their end: checked (strong end in closed syllable) Eg. bit[ bt] & unchecked (lessening end in open syllable) E.g. be [bi:] D. Identification of a vowel: E.g. [©] is a front mid unrounded short lax vowel 1. Tongue part : front 2. Tongue height: mid 3. Shape of lips: unrounded 4, Length + short 5. Tenseness lax ‘The INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ASSOCIATION Cardinal Vowel Soale Further reading: Tenseness is a term used in phonology to describe a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. It has also occasionally been used to describe contrasts in consonants. Unlike most distinctive features, the feature {tense] can be interpreted only relatively, that is, in a language like English that contrasts [i:] (e.g. beat) and [Hg bit), the former can be described as a tense vowel while the latter is a lax vowel. Another ‘example is Vietnamese, where the letters & and 4 represent lax vowels, and the letters a and o'the corresponding tense vowels. Some languages like Spanish are often considered as having only tense vowels. 26 [ Com Inger their advat that a and n| vowe phon: vowe LD ‘thro: the 1 ‘mov Tot seceDr EEE EEE EEE EEE PEE ECB BE EEE BEEBE PEER EEE EERE EEE ‘Comparison between tense and lax vowels In general, tense vowels are more close (and correspondingly have lower first formants) than their lax counterparts. Tense vowels are sometimes claimed to be articulated with a more advanced tongue root than lax vowels, but this varies, and in some languages itis the lax vowels that are more advanced, or a single language may be inconsistent between front and back or high and mid vowels (Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996, 3024). The traditional definition, that tense vowels are produced with more "muscular tension" than lax vowels, has not been confirmed by phonetic experiments. Another hypothesis is that lax vowels are more centralized than tense vowels, There are also linguists who believe that there is no phonetic correlation to the tense-lax opposition. In many Germanic languages, such as RP English, standard German, and Dutch, tense vowels are longer in duration than lax vowels; but in other languages, such as Scots, Scottish English, ~—--[-and Teelandic, there is no such correlation. Since in Germanic languages, lax vowels generally only occur in closed syllables, they are also called checked vowels, whereas the tense vowels are called free vowels as they can occur at the end ofa syllable. DIPHTHONGS L. Definition: A speech sound involving two vowels, the first of which glides into the second one In simple vowels, or monophthongs, the tongue body has a relatively stable position throughout. But there are other vowels where the tongue body does not stay in one place, even in the most abstract diagrams with artifical slices. Complex vowels which are characterized by movement are called diphthongs. ‘To transcribe a diphthong, we need two symbols: the first indicating the starting position and the second indicating the finishing position or the direction of movement. E.g. fet] fe} ——________— I! Ist element 2nd element nucleus (core) terminating/ (glide) FRONT VIEW OF [€1]Swe view OF [el] ‘The representation of the articulation of the diphthongs [et , [ot] and {at} Front Central Back i: a: close \; o | High hatfelose. | \\ & FS Mid ° half ‘open y if : a Low ‘open ‘| a: Cardinal Vowel Seale C. Classification ‘According to the quality of the second element, English diphthongs can be classified into 2 major groups Diphthon; Rising diphthongs Centring diphthongs fet [to} [fd | fev) (fav) ]ftd fee) | (wel Further reading (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) In the English diphthong [aj the tongue body starts in the position for fa] ~ between [«] and {}. Almost immediately, it begins moving upwards and forwards. Occasionally it gets as far as fi, but usually only as far as [i] or even lower. In a broader transcription, we can ignore the exact position of the end-point and simply use the glide [j] as a cover symbol. In the English diphthong [aw], the tongue body starts out in the same position (for most Canadian speakers) and moves upwards and backwards, towards (u}, [9:), or {o). In a broader transcription, we can use the glide [w] as a cover symbol for the end-point. The lips become increasingly rounding throughout the diphthong. 28In the diphthong {oj}, the tongue body begins in the position for [o:} and moves upwards and forwards. The fips become increasing less rounded throughout the diphthong. ‘The major differences between the vowels & the consonants jound classes | Vowels ‘Consonants Basis differences Articulation Acoustics Functions 29ASPECTS OF CONNECTED SPEECH & COARTICULATORY PROCESSES An overview: Coarticulation Consonants with two simultaneous places of articulation: ‘When these are doubly articulated, the articulators must be independently movable, and therefore there may only be one each from the categories labial, coronal, dorsal, and radical. Secondary articulation There are also consonants of an approximantic nature, in which case both articulations can be similar, such as labialized labials, palatalized velars, etc. Some common coarticulations: Labialization - also known as ‘lip rounding’, rounding the lips while producing the obstruction, as in [ k" ] and English [ w ]-e.g. ‘queen’ Palatalization, raising the body of the tongue toward the hard palate while producing the obstruction, as in Russian [ ] or palatalisation in English (P] e.g. intial sound in the word "lewd" Velarization, raising the back of the tongue toward the soft palate (velum), as in the English dark el [4], ["], eg. final sound in the word ‘dull Speech is a continuous stream of sounds, without clear-cut borderlines between them, and the different aspects of connected speech help to explain why written English is so different from spoken English. "English people speak so fast" is a complaint I often hear from my students, and often from those at an advanced level, where ignorance of the vocabulary used is not the reason for their lack of comprehension. When students sce-a spoken sentence in its written form, they have no trouble comprehending. Why is this? ‘The reason, it seems, is that speech is a continuous stream of sounds, without clear-cut borderfines between each word. In spoken discourse, we adapt our pronunciation to our audience and articulate with maximal economy of movement rather than maximal clarity. Thus, certain ‘words are lost, and certain phonemes linked together as we attempt to get our message across. From Vanessa Steele ‘BBC British Council Teaching English So, what is it that native speakers do when stringing words together that causes so many *blems for students? 30 A. As| I. Defi coat like its IL ty L.Pro * The cb Inthe k Jan} The cil a, Lal] eg. Inthe b. Ve) Igace A. Assimilation L Definition A coarticulatory process by which a sound segment i like its neighboring sound. IL. Types: 3 types of assimilation 1. Progressive assimilation: A—p; influenced and changes to become more Ww The change of a sound segment is brought about by ihe preceding sound, e.g. books [buk — 7] [buk In the sound sequence [ b uk z], the voiced alveolar [ 2] is devoiced by the preceding voiceless [ kJ and becomes voiceless [ 5}. Regressive assimilation : A-<— B B The change of a sound segment is brought about by the following sound a. Labialization (Assimilation of place of articulation): . (heb bml ey eg [Oaet+— pen} —_(careful/ slow speech) [eep pen] (Casual/ rapid speect) In the sound sequence [Bast pent}, the alveolar [ t ] is labialized by the following bilabial {p] and becomes bilabial [p] {ad ke Ip. b, mJ, e.g. [g 6 dee bat] (careful/ slow speech) \ toy Ig ub" bat] (Casual/rapid speech) + [n}+ Ip, b, m),eg. [g nj+— men} ](careful speech) Im} [gan men] (Casual/ rapid speech) b. Velarization (Assimilation of place of articulatio (tl<— [k, gheg. [Ozet;«— g s:l] (careful/ slow speech) Ud (Oeek’ gal} (Casual/ rapid speech) Inthe sound sequence [Ozet g 2:l] , the alveolar [ t] is velarized by the following velar [g] and becomes velar { J. + [dk De ghee [gv dse— 9 a] (careful stow speech) fa} g s:l] (Cosual/ rapid speech) 31@[nke— [kg]. [ben:~ k] (carefull slow speech) tor [ben F]—— (Casual/ rapid speech) C. Nasalization (Assimilation of manner of articulation): [d+ [nim]eg. [gud p~ nat} (careful/ slow speech) (wm) [gun” nat] — (Casual/rapid speech) In the sound sequence [g Ud natt] the stop [4] is nasalized by the following nasal [m J and becomes nasal {2}. e fv] [mh eg. gre mi} (careful/ slow speech) tm" . [gim! mi] (Casual/ rapid speech) 3, Mutual assimilation/ Coalescence (Assimilation of place of articulation): A + B * c ‘Two sounds coalesce or combine to make another sound. a)(t ]+{j] makes [tf], e.g. [wont tie] Y In the sound sequence {w n t{ju:] the alveolar [t] coalesces or combines with the palatal [j] ‘to make the palato-alveotar [ ¢ b) [4] + Lj] makes [4g, eg. [ 7 Gs, ©)) (81+ [J] makes [}], eg-[aus + jus] ¥ tn ))(z] + Lj ] makes (3), eg. luz ¢ jus] + G1 Mutual Assimilation of (t] & [i } 32afta Gl Practice with assimilation Ten men { ten men ] Downbeat { daun! Fine grade { famgrerd ] Incredible [mkredible } Red paint [ red pert] Admit { admart } Bad guys [ beed garz] Eight boys [ ext bo ] Tune [tju:n] Endure [ mdju:] Factual [ fektju: 1]° Educate [ edjuskert } Costume [ kstjusm ] Tune [ than | Mildew [ muldju: ] Adduee [ adju:s ] Amplitude [ amplitju:t J Reduce [rrdjus ] Education [edju-kerfn ] reconstitute {riknstitju:t } Further reading (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Assimilation is a regular and frequent sound change process by which a phoneme changes to match an adjacent phoneme in a word.-A common example of assimilation is vowels being ‘nasalized’ before nasal consonants as it is difficult to change the shape of the mouth sufficiently quickly. If the phoneme changes to match the preceding phoneme, it is progressive assimilation (also left- to-right, perseveratory, or preservative assimilation). If the phoneme changes to match the following phoneme, itis regressive assimilation (also right-to-left or anticipatory assimilation). If there is a mutual influence between the two phonemes, itis reciprocal assimilation. In the latter case the two phonemes can fuse completely and give a birth to a different one. This is called a coalescence.Assimilation may result in the neighbouring segments becoming identical, yielding a geminate consonant; this is complete assimilation. In other cases, only some features of phonemes assimilate, e.g. voicing or place of articulation; this is partial assimilation, Examples Complete assimilation: ‘The word assimilation itself (from Latin ad + simile) illegible (in + legible) 33Suppose (Gub + pose) in Italian: Egitto (it < pd), dottore (tt < kt), and many more Partial assimilation: voicing: the pronunciation of absurd as apsurd voicing: bats (bat + the plural morpheme s, which is underlyingly /2/) place of articulation: impossible (in + possible), incomplete (in which n represents the velar nasal) ‘Numerous examples can be found at List of Latin words with English derivatives. B. Dissimilation A sound segment becomes less alike its neighboring sound. Eg. Fifth {ffs } [fifts ] C. Elison (deletion) ‘A sound segment is deleted from the existing string of sounds. I. Elision of the Schwa [2] ‘® When preceded by a consonant in an unstressed syllable, e.g. today ep \der ], pollice, correct. 2 + After a consonant and before a linking [r ] which precedes another vowel. teresting [mat f r astm], secretary, literature, dictionary @ I, Elision of [ t, d ] between two other consonants, Eg. Hend me [hee nd mi: ], next day [neks t der] F. Metathesis ‘The order of the sounds is rearranged to ease the articulation, €.g. spaghetti [spe g ett ] eo [pets g ett] G. Epenthesis A sound segment is inserted within an existing string of ‘sounds when there is a transition from a sonorant to a nonsonorant. Eg warmth [wor nf 01] PB [len 6] 34 H. Liasor The linking Six Se| ‘thy vecansition {prin s} HL Liason (linking) ‘The linking of a final consonant in the preceding word to the initial vowel of the following word. Six hours an_hour_ago half_an_hour twelve hours_a day, Four_o” clock 50° clock 6,9" clock 7.9" clock 89° clock 120° clock A couple, of days abottle_of wine, 2 people_in the room a table_ at Mario You_,and [ Who. are you So_ wand so See aman they, all very_ interesting 35L. Stress 1. Definition ‘The pronunciation of a syllable/ word with more force and prominence than the others nearby. Il. The characteristics “The prominence of a stressed syllable can be achieved in terms of production and perception 1. Loudness (dynamic accent ): ba BA ba ba 2. Pitch (musical accent) = “ba ba baba 3. Length (qualitative accent ): ba ba: ba ba 4. Quality (quantitative accent): | ba bis ba ba HL Types: 1. Word stress: The stress pattern given to a word in isolation. There can be 3 possible levels of stress wi a. Primary/ High stress: The greatest stress given toa _—_syllable within a (polysyllabic) word, e.g. inde'pendent , Secondary/ Low stress: ‘The next stress given toa syllable within a polysyllabic word, e.g. jinde!pendent ‘+ primary stress in marked with a raised vertical line, ¢.g. jindelpendent «secondary (or medium) stress is marked with lowered vertical line e.g. independent + Both marks come at the beginning of the stress syllable -- they apply to the entire + syllable, not to any single segment. C. Tertiary/ Rhythmic stress: “The weakest stress of a syllable within a polysyllabic word Eg. mag, nificcation Note: Word stress is fixed, ie. the stress pattern of a word in isolation cannot be changed. 2, Sentence stress: Stress given to words said to be important in a sentence. Paris of speech usually have stress in a sentence: Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, 36 Eg IV. Funeti bl V. Stress, stress. B itl Further i In linguis ‘The way: Tanguage called pi accent (fF Stress m syllables unstresst broadly: unstressi like Eng ‘The pos: Stressed. Researc respirateE.g.! Tom! usually ! comes to! class'' late on' Monday. IV. Funetion of stress a. Distinguish between different parts of speech Noun Verb/ Adjective "import import "Contact —_con'tact ‘Content —_conttent b. Distinguish between a compound and a noncompound (free word group) ‘GREEN house (compound) Green! HOUSE (noncompound) "BLUE bottle (compound). Blue! BOTTLE (noncompound) V. Stress Shift/ Change When a word/ phrase is followed by another word/ phrase with high stress or tonic stress. 7 Eig. indelpendent ‘She's jindelpendent. But She's an'inde,pendent! girl. thirteen, absent-minded, diplomatic, artificial ‘Further reading (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis given to certain syllables in a word. ‘The ways stress manifests itself in the speech stream is highly language dependent. In some languages, stressed syllables have a higher or lower pitch than non-stressed syllables — so- called pitch accent (or musical accent). There are also dynamic accent (loudness), quantitative accent (full vowels), and qualitative accent (length, known in music theory as agogic accent). Stress may be characterized by more then one of these characteristics. For instance, stressed syllables in English have higher pitch, longer duration, and typically fuller vowels than unstressed syllables, as well as being dynamically louder. Stressed syllables in Russian are broadly similar, but have lower rather than higher pitch. Contrasting with these, stressed and. unstressed vowels in Spanish share the same quality, and the language has no reduced vowels like English or Russian. ‘The possibilities for stress in tone languages is an area of ongoing research. Stressed syllables are often perceived as being more forceful than non-stressed syllables. Research has shown, however, that although dynamic stress is accompanied by greater respiratory force, it does not mean a more forcefil articulation in the vocal tract.Prominence 37Tt would have been logically possible for every syllable to have exactly the same loudness, pitch, and so on. (Some early attempts at speech synthesizers sounded like this.) But human languages have ways to make some syllables more prominent than others. A syllable might be more prominent by differing from the surrounding syllables in terms of: + loudness + pitch + length ‘NB: Prominence is relative to the surrounding syllables, not absolute. (A stressed syllable that is nearly whispered will be quieter than an unstressed syllable that is shouted.) Why? Boundary marking In norinal speech, words and phrases simply don't have little pauses between them. Prominence ‘can help indicate where the boundaries are, making life easier for the listener. French usually gives-prominence to the syllable at the end of a word or phrase. Many other languages give prominence to the initial syllables of words (¢.g., Icelandic, Hungarian). ‘There seems to be a bias for English listeners to interpret a stressed syllable as the beginning of a new word. Children will delete unstressed initial syllables more often than unstressed final syllables. (Q’neen9] is more common than {be'nena],) Additional contrasts In many languages, changing whiich syllable is stressed can change the meaning of a word. For example, English: ‘convert: vs. con'vert ‘console: vs. con'sole ‘permit: vs. per'mit ‘The realization of stress in English In English, the three ways to make a syllable more prominent are to make it: + louder + longer + higher pitched (usually) English typically uses all three kinds of prominence simultaneously. Other languages might use only one or two of them. In English, vowels in unstressed syllables are systematically reduced, English speakers will not tty to control the position of the tongue body during the vowel of an unstressed syllable. Instead, the tongue body will reach whatever point is convenient in getting from the preceding consonant « to the following consonant. The average position reached is mid-central schwa. Failing to reduce unstressed vowels is one of the major contributors to an accent in non-native speakers of English. ‘Reducing vowels inappropriately is one of the major contributors to an English accent in other languages. #8 ( Tn genera J. Inton| L Ty pitch. yy i 7 2. 3] EB 4, E Ui 1 « 2. i 3 E 4 E I 1. The G] a. A defi e b. Most |tis ofa Tn general, the differences between stressed and unstressed syllables are more extreme in English than in most languages. J. Intonation 1. Definition: ‘The pronunciation of a sentence with a rise and fall of the voice in different levels of Il. The Basic Tune shapes 1. The Glide Down (Falling Tune) eg, ’m from Canada. 2. The Glide Up (High Rising Tune) e.g, Are you a student? 3. The Take Off (Low Rising Tune) E.g, You are Chinese, aren’t you? 4. The Dive (Fall-Rise) : E.g. They sell milk, sugar, _bisouit .. IIL The representation of the intonation contour 1. The Glide Down (Falling Tune) eg. I’m from Canads, 2. The Glide Up (High Rising Tune) eg. Are youa student? 3. The Take Off (Low Rising Tune) E.g. You are Chinese, aren’t you? 4, The Dive (Fall-Rise) E.g. They sell milk, sugar, biscuit IV. How the Basic Tune shapes are used 1. The Glide Down can be used for: a. A definite, complete statement, eg. Pma student. b. Most Wh-Questions, 39€.g. What are you doing? c. A question-tag when the speaker is certain of his/ her information, e.g, She's cold, isn’t she? 4. A strong command, e.g. Come in, ¢. An exciting greeting or exclamation, e.g. Good evening! What a nice surprise! £. A definite short, answer Yes/ No, e.g, Yes, she is. No, she isn’t. g. A repeated question, eg. A: Are you a foreigner? B: Pardon” A: Are you a foreigner? 2. The Glide Up can be used for: a, Most Yes- No Questions, e.g Are you a student? A statement intended as a question, e.g, You're a student? cA polite request, e.g. Can you help me? 4. A casual greeting, e.g. Good evening! 3. The Take off can be used for: a. A question tag when the speaker isn’t certain of his information, eg, she’s cold, isn’t she? . A grumbling statement, e.g, You're always late, c. An echoing question, eg. A: ve been to Wimbledon, B: Where's Wimbledon? (Where have you been?) 4. The Dive can be used for: a. A list of things, eg. They sell milk, sugar, biscuit .. b. An incomplete statement implying BUT ... e.g. He’s intelligent (but he’s lazy ...) 40 cc. With BI e.g. Befor d. Conec eg. A: Hy B 5, Altern eg. Wouc. With Before/ When phrase, ‘e.g. Before L eat dinner, Pl have a bath first. 4, Correcting thing, e.g. A: He's forty. B: No, he’s fifty. 5, Alternative question A or B2, e.g. Would you like tea or coffee? Exercises1. Differences between spelling and pronunciation a. Find out four words that show four different spellings of the sound [ f] . Find out six words that have the letter a pronounced differently. . Find out four words in which different groups of letters represent only one sound 2. How many segments are there in the following words? a)At e)hoping —_¢) psychology h) awesome b)Math = d) cure £) knowledge ®) mailbox 3, Pronounce the following words 4) Though e)zoom i) huge sm) when b) Thought ) silk j)choose —_n) buns ©) Form | ®) pan K)judge 0) ghetto d View hy boat!) ~ pneumatic p) winced i) Is the first sound in each word voiced or voiceless? ii) Is the last sound in each word voiced or voiceless? 4, For each of the following pairs of sounds, state whether they have the same or different place of articulation. Then identify the place of articulation for each sound. a (s}:f0 )(m]:[n] fb) Cf] Ek} fatten) 00) 207 H(t]: 163] ) — (pl:to} ef}: fh] ®H{sh:lv] 9. (eth) btw): fi] DTe}: Ct] '5) For each of the following pairs of sounds, state whether they have the same or different manner of articulation. Then identify the manner of articulation for each sound. a) [s]:[8]} eC: (t] D(r]: fw] bh k}:E9]) NL6]:v) DUS1:£43) ) (wif) a) (h):fs) K(h}:[?] ) (F008 h)(m]:[9} DLz1:03) 42 6) Deser columns consona 8 =vent rent 6) Describe the consonants the word “skinflint” using the chart below. Fill in all five colunins, and put parentheses around the terms that may be left out, as shown for the first consonant. ‘Tem T z 3 a 3 voiced or place of | central or oralor | articulatory Consonay voiceless | articulation lateral a setion ts] voiceless ‘alveolar (central) (oral Frlcative Uk] [a] (£1 an ft] 7). identify the corresponding consonant or vowel as described (adapted from Ladefoged, 1982 p.17) 1. Girole the words that begin with a bilabiel consonant: mat gnat sat bat rat_— pat. 2. Circle the words that begin with a velar consonant: knot got lot cot hot —_pot 3, Circle the words that begin with a labiodental consonant: ‘fat cat that mat chat vat 4, Circle the words that begin with a alveolar consonant: zip nip lip sip tip dip 5. Circle the words that begin with a dental consonant: pie guy shy thigh thy high 6. Cirole the words that begin with a palato-alveolar consonant: sigh shy tie thigh thy Tie 7. Citele the words that end with a fricative: race wreath bush bring breathebang rave real ray rose rough 8. Circle the words that end with a nasal: rain rang dumb deaf 9. Circle the words that end with a stop: pill lip fit graph crab dog hide laugh back 10. Circle the words that begin with a lateral: nut full bar rob one 11. Citele the words that begin with an approximant: 43we you one nm 12. Circle the words that end with an affricate: much back edge ooze 13, Circle the words in which the consonant in the middle is voiced: tracking mother robber leisure massive stomach razor 14. Circle the words that contain a high vowel: sat suit got meet mud 15, Circle the words that contain a low vowel: weed wad load lad mide 16, Circle the words that contain a front vowel: gate caught cat kit put 17, Circle the words that contain a back vowel: maid weep’ coop cop good 18, Circle the words that contain a rounded vowel: who me us but him 8. Give the phonetic transcription that correspond to each of the following articulatory description 8) Voiceless velar stop 6) voiced velar nasal b) Voiced labiodental fricative f) voiceless interdental fricative ©) Voiced alveopalatal affticate @ high back rounded lax vowel d) Voiced palatal glide h) low front unrounded vowel 10, Which of the following pairs of words show the same vowel quality? a) Back sat h) hide height b) Cot caught i) least heed © Bid key i) drug cook 4) Luck flick K) sink fit ©) Ooze deuce Dosk own f) Cot court m) pour port 2) Fell fail n) mouse cow LL, Using descriptive terms like sibilant, fricative ... provide a single phonetic characteristic that all the segments in each group shares, Eg.(bdg mejJareall voiced @{(ptkg] (©) [#, i, €] lH 4353] 12.c colun Colun Carefi i, cat iting) iti, wis iti.@pomty @lenvua] 12, Compare the careful speech and rapid speech pronunciation of the sound sequences in column A and column B 7 Column A: Column B: Assimilatory Careful speech Rapid speech Process i. cat burglar [ ‘ket ‘bs: gl’e]—[ ‘keep ‘bs:gl 9] ii. incamera(m‘kemere] [ty ‘kemere] i. wise youngster ['warz janst o] [ ‘war '3anst 9] iii, 8) Name the coarticylatory process that makes the rapid speech pronunciation different from the careful speech in each case; b) Explain why these processes happen. i. ii, 45PHONOLOGY "The function and patterning.of sounds ‘What is phonology? ‘An overview Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages. ‘The phonological system of a language includes ~ an inventory of sounds and their features, and rules which specify how sounds interact with each other. Phonology is just one of several aspects of language. It is related to other aspects such as phonetics, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics, ‘The place of phonology in an interacting hierarchy of levels in linguistios: Pragmatics Semantics Syntax Morphology Phonology Phonetics Comparison of phonetics & phonology phonetics phonology The basis for phonological | The basis for further work in analysis morphology, syntax, discourse & orthography design Analyze the production of all _| Analyze the sound patterns of ‘the human speech'sounds, . _ particular languages by regardless of any particular | determining what phonetic language sounds are significant, and explaining how these sounds are interpreted by native speakers PHONOLOGY A. Definition: Phonology isthe study of languages’ sound systems, for instance of how sounds combine to form syllables, how they change according to the environments they occur in, and of the distinctive features of speech sounds (the features that can change words’ meaning) in a given language. 46 Br B. Ta cot As the Yor z] use| sy in| In seg As feat clog void Seg] sou] As hur bloc syllBriefly, itis the study of how the speech sounds function and form patterns according to phonological rules. B. Basic elements used to make up the phonological patterns: ‘The phonological system of a language includes various units plus patterns which are used to combine the units into larger units. The units of a phonological system are: 1 The Features: Aspects or characteristics of a speech sound that arise from the way the sound is articulated or the way it sounds to the ear. 'Voicing’ is a feature that varies according to whether or not the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation of a sound; the sound [ s ] is voiceless, but the sound [ zis voiced, for example. Other features include ‘manner, or what sort of gesture or position is used to make a consonant sound (a ‘stop’ involves blocking the airstream completely for a fraction of a second, as for { p J, while a fricative! involves creating a narrow opening through which air escapes, as for [f ]. There are also suprasegmental features, which are ‘overlaid’ on syllables or words. One such feature is stress, known outside linguistics as ‘where the accent is in a word’. In ‘potato, the stress falls on the second syllable; in ‘promise on the first. In this course, features are treated as the smallest phonological units to build up/ define the segment, eg. /n/ ~ vocalic, +nasal ~ continuant IL The segments: A segment is a speech sound such as [ m ] or [i]. Speech sounds are made by putting several features together. [ m ], for example, is created by vibrating the vocal cords (feature: voiced), closing the mouth at the lips (feature: bilabial), and lowering the soft palate so that air can escape ‘ through the nose (feature: nasal). These three gestures occur simultaneously. The result is a ‘voiced bilabial nasal, [ m ]. Thus, segments are units that are built up from features; features are the building blocks for segments. Segments can be viewed as the phonological discrete units used to build up the syllable, e.g. the sound sequence/k 1 _n/can be segmented into three discreet units /k /,/1/,/n /. ULL. The syllables: suprasegmental unit A syllable is a rhythmic unit of speech. Syllables exist to make the speech stream casier for the human mind to process. A syllable comprises one or more segments; segments are the building blocks for syllables. Syllables are the phonological units (units above the segment) used to build up the word, e.g. Nkendt / candy ken dt 47Phonological representation of the hierarchical levels of elements wa Word level ° Syllable level k 2 n Segment level +consonantal + vocalic + consonantal ~continuant back = continuant Feature level ~ voice high nasal SEGMENTS IN CONTRAST A. The Phoneme: ~ Refers to the smallest contrastive or distinctive unit in the sound system of a language ~ Serves distinguish between different words with different meanings. eg./p/&/blin/ pw t/-/b @ t/ “pat” & “bat” and /1/ & /i:/in "hit? /h rt /& “heat” /h i: t/ => /p/&/b/ ALR: : different phonemes. Phonologists have differing views of the phoneme, Following are the two major views considered here: In the American structuralist tradition, a phoneme is defined according to its allophones and environments, In the generative tradition, a phoneme is defined as a set of distinctive features. ‘Examples (Distinctive features: English) Here is an example of the English phoriemes /p/ and /i/ specified as sets of distinctive features: pl fil -spllabie +syllabic +teonsonantal -consonantal -sonorant +sonorant -tanterior +high -coronal -low ~voice -back -contiruant -round -nasal +ATR 48 B. The Disting, H-voie C. The. ‘The b L The) A pair] that occ) Here is : eg. The pho phonem: UL Envi The pho &lve More ex A. The Any fort A predic eg. InE but itis Both asp! phonemeand B. The Distinctive feature (Contrastive/phonemic): Distinguish/contrast between two different phonemes, ¢.g. t/--voice in 2 bilabial stops /p/ & /b/ -voice +voice labial + labial stop + stop C. The Minimal Pair Test : ‘The basic test to discover which sounds are phonemes I. The Minimal Ps A pair that consists of two forms/words that are identical in everywhere except for one segment that occurs in the same place in the string/phonemic environment/cantext Here is an example of the phonemes /r/ and /V/ occurring in a minimal pair. eg. hit /hit/— /t/: voiceless hid/hud/ /d/: voiced race /reis/_/'s/: voiced raise /rez/ /2/: voiceless ‘The phones fr] and [I] contrist in identical environments and are considered to be separate phonemes. The phonemes /r/ and /l/ serve to distinguish the word rip from the word lip. IL. Environment/Context/Background: ‘The phonemic context in which a sound or segment occurs, €.g /f 2a n/is the environment for /f/ &/v 2 n/the environment for/v/ More examples: cap - gap/kep/-/ gp / leave live /li:y /-/ ry} PHONETICALLY CONDITIONED VARIATIONS THE PHONEME & THE ALLOPHONE. A. The allophone: Any form of the variants of a phoneme in pronunciation. A predictable phonetic realization of a phoneme in speech. : eg. In English, the phoneme / p /is aspirated when it is syllabie-initial, as in [ pick ] peak but itis unaspirated after / s /, as in { spick ] speak Both aspirated { p* ] & unaspirated { p ] are two phonetic realizations or allophones of the same phoneme /p /. 49Ipl phoneme [eI Ep] allophones B. Complementary Distribution (CD): L Definition: ‘Two or more sounds of. segments never occur in the same phonetic environment, €-8- voiced {1] voiceless {]] lake [ler] please [plz] biue [blu] clear [ke ] slow [sl eu] play (Cpler] Complementary distribution of [1] and [!] in English u yes After voiceless stop Elsewhere yes | no If [1] and {J ] are complementarily distributed in this way, same phoneme /1/ a tm Wl they are said to be allophones of the I, Non-distinetive/Phonetic/redundant/predictable feature: “The feature that makes this sound (allophone) phoneti ically differs from another sound {allophone), e.g. the aspiration ® in [p*i:] & [p it] pea TIL Phoneme vs allophone [A phone. ‘A phoneme ‘A contrastive unit in the sound system of ‘One of many possible sounds in the languages Represented between brackets by convention. of the world. articular language ‘A contrastive unit in the sound system of | A contrastive unit in the sound system of a particular lan cular language Pronounced in a defined way. Pronounced in one or more ways, depending on the number of allophones. Represented between slashes by convention. = What you hear = What you interpret ~ actual member(s) of that class = Name for a class of sounds concrete unit of speech ~ abstract unit of language Tnoncontrastive/ nondistinctive predictable ~ contrastive/distinctive/ non-predictable |= phonetic (in pronunciation) = phonemic (in dictionary) ~ phonetic realization/ variant = basio, underlying form individual (free variation) = socialized LE... Eg. 30el | g HAIL THE SYLLABLE A, Definition A unit of linguistic structure (< word > segment) that consists of a syllabic element and any ‘segment that are associate with it B. The internal structure of a syllable: Syllables have internal structure: they can be divided into parts, The parts are onset and rhyme; within the rhyme we find the nucleus and coda, Not al syllables have all parts; the smallest possible syllable contains a nucleus only. A syllable may or may not have an onset and a coda. ‘Onset: the beginning sounds of the syllable; the ones preceding the nucleus. These are always consonants in English. The nucleus is a vowel in most cases, although the consonants [1], {1 ], {m], [1], and the velar nasal (the ‘ng! sound) can also be the nucleus of a syllable. In the following words, the onset is in bold; the rest underlined. read flop strap Ifa word contains more than one syllable, each syllable will have the usual syllable parts: window pre;pos.te-rous Rhyme (or rime): the rest of the syllable, after the onset (the underlined portions of the words above). The rhyme carvalso be divided up: Rhyme = nucleus + coda ‘The nucleus, as the term suggests, is the core or essential part of a syllable. A nucleus must be present in order for a syllable to be present. Syllable nuclei are most often highly 'sonorant' or resonant sounds, that can be relatively loud and carry a clear pitch level. In English and most other languages, most syllable nuclei are vowels. In English, in certain cases, the liquids [ 1 r } and nasals [ m n J and the velar nasal usually spelled ‘ng’ can also be syllable nuclei. Linguists often use tree diagrams to illustrate syllable structure. ‘Flop’, for example, would look like this (the word appears in IPA symbols, not English spelling). 's' or o = syllable’; ‘O'= ‘onset’; R' = ‘thyme’; 'N' = ‘nucleus’; ‘C'='coda’. The syllable node at the top of the tree branches into Onset and Rhyme; the Onset node branches because it contains two consonants, [ f] and [1 ]. The Rhyme node branches because this syllable has both a nucleus and a coda, s \ R SEER ear eee ! N I a 207 | | [f ] Fig. Representation of internal structure of the syllables of “flap” . 31Parts of a syllable aa Paris Deseription Optionality spe: Onset Initial segment ofa syllable __| optional eg. Rhyme Core of a syllable, consisting | obligatory a of a nucleus and coda (see : below). The ~ Nucleus Central segment ofa syllable. | obligatory pho = Coda Closing segment of syllable. | optional ‘ype fang nor Kinds pr Here are some kinds of syllables: a Kind __ | Description Example bie Heavy | Has branching rhyme. All syllables with a branching CVC, CVEC, CVE oe nucleus (long vowels) are considered heavy. Some languages pa treat syllables with a short vowel (aucleus followed by a es consonant (coda) as heavy. Light | Has a non-branching rhyme (short vowel). Some languages | CV, CVC “An treat syllables with a short vowel(nucteus) followed by a ofpi consonant (coda) as light. +The ‘Closed _ | Ends with a consonant coda. CVE, CVCE, VE wore ‘Open __ | Has no final consonant cv Summary A syllable may be composed of 4 subsyllabic units 1, Nucleus —N (a vowel: monophthong or diphthong) 2. Coda C (consonant(s)) following the Nucleus ‘ 3. Rhyme—R (N+C) 4. Onset —O (consonant(s)) preceding the Nucleus ° JN oO R DS YN x i te 8 pr | a t Fig. Representation of intemal structure of the syllables of “sprint” C. Onset Constraints & Phonotactics 1. Onset constraints: 92‘The segment sequences of some words thet sound unusual and are not permissible to native speakers of a given language. e.g, the onset / pn /in the word pneumonia is not permissible in English phonology. IL, Phonotaeties: (arrangements of segments). The patterns or rule systems of a phonological system include: phonotaeties, also known as sequence constraints. These are restrictions on the number and type of segments that can combine to form syllables and words; they vary greatly from one language fo another. In English, for example, a word may begin with up to three consonants, but no more than three. If'a word does begin with three consonants, the first will always be [ 8], the second must be chosen from among the voiceless stops [p t k ] and the third from among the liquids [1 r]or glides [ w j ]. Thus we get words such as squeeze’ [sk w iz ] in English, but not words such as [p st ap}. Phonotactics is the set of constraints on how sequences of segments pattern, forms parts of a speaker’s knowledge of the phonology of his ‘her language. This knowledge allows the native speaker to adjust the impermissible sequences of segments of some words to conform with the pronunciation requitements of their own language e.g./p/in/ pn /in pneumonia is dropped so that this word is pronounced as /njumows nro / + Articulatory classification shows its usefulness in the description of language-specific pattems of phonotactics «The description of phonotactics also requires a notion of phonological structure (syllables, words, phrases, ete.) Possible Three-consonant Onset in English 0 P t of{s{| t {i Nucleus Rim | i D. Setting up Syllables 1. Construct 2. Construct 3. Construct 4. Construct the nucleus the onset the coda the wordE. Syllabic Phonology Syllables in phonological analysis for stating generalizations about the distribution of allophonic structure. L Distribution of aspirated stops in English ‘Aspirated stop Unaspirated stops ~ Elsewhere: = syllabic-initially + in a syllable onset preceded - Bg. Pay( pier] by [s], e.g Span [spe n] (whether another C follows or not), ¢.g. {split],{sprm] + before a consonant English voiceless stops are aspirated syllable-initiall Further reading (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Examples Syllable nucleus seers Word Nucleus In phonetics and phonology, the nucleus (sometimes called peak) is the central part of the syllable, mostly commonly a vowel. In addition to a cat fa) nucleus, a syllable may begin with an onset and end with a coda, but the only part ofa syllable that is mandatory is the nucleus. The nucleus and coda form “bed _[e] the rime of the syllable. Dipbthongs and triphthongs can also serve as the nucleus, Syllables with short tore_{ol vowels as nuclei are sometimes referred to as "light syllables" while syllables with long vowels, diphthongs, or triphthongs as nuclei are referred to as ode fol “heavy syllables"; see Syllable weight for more discussion. et ‘Sonorant consonants such as liquids (such as {r] and {{]) and nasals (such as a {im] and [nf) can serve as the nucleus if there is no vowel. The nucleus ofthe 725 Fi] last syllable in the final example af right is an example of a sonorant nucleus. Some languages allow other sounds, such as stops, to become nuclei. a se fl Retrieved from http://www kproxy. pL pits oekalwik/S “bitten vilable_nucleus” Coton LLL) In the study of phonology in linguistics, the rime or rhyme of a syllable consists of a nucleus and an optional coda. "Rime" and "thyme" are variants of the same word, but the rarer form "rime" is sometimes used with the definition given above in order to differentiate it from the concept of poetic thyme. This distinction is not made by all linguists and does not appear in most dictionaries. bitten froeny Efe) Syllable onset In phonetics and phonology, a syllable onset is the part of syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus. f 54peony neerercerneer Syllable structure ‘The segmental structure of a syllable begins with an optional onset, followed by compulsory rime or final (yunmu), syllable: C\(Ca)Vi(V2)(C3)(Ca) = onset: Cy(C2) + rime: V1(V2)(Cs(Cs) syllable: Vi(V2)(C3)(Cs) = onset: @ (null) + rime: Vi(V2(C3)(Ca). (C= consonant, V = vowel, optional components are in parentheses.) Depending on the phonotactics of a language, the onset can consist of a single consonant or a ‘consonant cluster. Ifa syllable begins with a vowel or another syllabic sonorant, then the syllable is said to have no onset, or a null onset. In Chinese language studies, the terms null initial and zero initial are used as well, Syllable coda In phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a rime. A coda is not required in syllables. Some languages’ phonotactics, like that of Japanese, limit syllable codas to a small group of single consonants, whereas others, like English can have any consonant or even clusters of consonants in syllable codas. Here are some single-syllable words with codas: (the codas are specified in the International Phonetic Alphabet) tints: coda = /nts/ fijths: coda = fs! sixths: coda = /ks6s/ The following single-syllable words end in a nucleus and do not have a coda: glue pie though boy Syllable weight In linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the ‘umber and/or duration of segments in the rime, A heavy syllable isa syllable with a branching nucleus or a branching rime. A branching nucleus generally means the syllable has a long vowel or a diphthong; this type of syllable is abbreviated CVV. A syllable with a branching rime is a closed syllable, that is, one with a coda (one or more consonants at the end of the syllable); this type of syllable is abbreviated CVC. In some languages, both CVV and CVC syllables are heavy, while a syllable with a short vowel as the nucleus and no coda (a CV syllable) is a light syllable, In other languages, only CVV syllables are heavy, while CVC and CV syllables are light. Some languages distinguish a third type, CVVC syllables (with both a branching nucleus and a coda) and/or CVCC syllables (with a coda consisting of two or more consonants) as superheavy syllables, : In moraic theory, heavy syllables are analyzed as containing two moras, light syllables one, and superheavy syllables three, The distinction between heavy and light syllables plays an important role in the phonology of some languages, especially with regards to the assignment of stress. 355Phonological rules Apart form the phonotactics, the patterns or rule systems of a phonological system also include: Phonological processes, including coarticulation processes, are modifications of the feature structure of a sound that occur for one of two reasons: to make sounds that are near each other more alike, thus make articulation easier (assimilation), or to make sounds more different from each other (for instance, aspiration makes voiceless stops such as { p J and [ k ] more different from voiced ones such as{ b Jand[ g |- ‘¢ Bach of the native speaker of a particular language may own a mental dictionary which consists of: - stores knowledge of its basic vocabulary the phonemie/ underlying representations (UR) of words « their phonetic realizations (PR), and what these forms mean. + The relationship between UR & PR is rule-governed. ‘# These phonological rules related the minimally specified phonemic representation to the phonetic representation and are part of a speaker’s knowledge. ‘# The phonemic representation need only include the non-predictable distinctive features of the phonemes of the words ‘© The phonetic representation derived by applying these rules includes all the linguistically relevant phonetic aspects of all the sounds. ¢ The functions of phonological rules “The phonological ruled may provide the phonetic information necessary for the pronunciation of utterances and produce the following alternations: = Change the feature values (vowel nasalization rule) - Add new features (aspiration rule) - Delete segments (Schwa & final consonants rule) - Add segments (insertion of schwa rule) = Reorder segments (metathesis rule) ‘The process of modifying the forms of an utterance can be represented as follows: Input Phonemic (dic.) representation of words in a sentence Phonological rules (P-rules) | Output Phonetic (speech) representation of words in a sentence ‘ 36,DERIVATIONS & RULE ORDERING What is 2 phonological derivation? A. Definition A phonological derivation is the set of stages used to generate the phonetic representation of aword from its underlying representation. Phonological rules influence each stage of a derivation: Apply Rules Apply Rules Apply Rules Diagram of the stages in a derivation ‘The relationship’between phonological and phonetic representation is formalized by assuming that the unpredictable features of the phonetic segment are basic or underlying Phonetic forms (PFs) are derived by setting up the underlying representation/form (URS/UFs) and then allowing the rules in question to operate in those contexts where they are relevant. Fig.: The representation of the derivation of the form of slap; tap and pad UR (nic) (phonemic form) | #sle p# slap #tap# imp #ped# pad Aspiration —NA—- #thep# igth Ni NA- PR. (in speech) [sl & p] [fep] (phonetic form) B, Rule application I. Unordered & Free Rule Application: These rules do not interact or alter each other in any way; the order in which they are applied makes no different to the outcome of a derivation. UR (in Dic.) (phonemic form) | #sl e pH slap #tep# tmp #ped# pad : V- length —-NA——- NA padi Aspiration —NA- athep# dpted# ' PAR. (in speech) {sl « p] [Pep] (phe: d] (phonetic form) 37ML Feeding order in a derivation “The prior application of one rule will create an environment that allows another rule to apply {ater on in the derivation Fig.: The representation of the derivation of the form of parade Phoneme form (Dic.) Hpereid# parade Stress Rule | — pe redé Schwa-deletion Til #p@'reid# Liquid-glide devoicing Hp ped R@emaciiomy f tprd) IIL. Extrinsic Rule Ordering Bleeding Rule: “The application of one rule will remove the context that allows another rule to apply. Filg.: The representation of the derivation of the form of writer UR #rattor# writer UR #rater# writer Phonemic form Phonemic form Stress # rat or# Stress oe Raising ae rt Flapping # ral ort Flapping # rail ort Raising NAS PR PR (Pronunciation) | ['ratfe r} (Pronunciation) | {'raler] 38TRANSCRIPTION (NOTATION) ‘© The use ofa system of written symbols to represent the sysiem of sounds of a given language, ‘© The most common system is IPA (Intemational Phonetic Association’ Alphabets). Broad & Narrow Transcription Broad (Phonemic) Transcription: - Use of simple symbols for distinctive sounds of given languages - Dogs not provide details how a particular sound is pronounced - Use the slanting brackets, e.g. pea / pi /, be / bi: / Narrow Transcription: - Use of phonetic symbols for the allophones of a given language. - Provide finer points of the pronunciation of a particular Sound - Use the square brackets [ ] and digcritics for subtle details for the representation of phonetic features, e.g. pea (p':], be [bi:], DIACRITICS __ Divers rnyto placed above ymbol wid a dencends. og E] - vio BG sxanyrint B @ |. pet ff dP w viet § § | comywien BD a] Ll aor ft d id é BW pginws 8 2] usps £ Od | wamnt 2 | "tama Od" | towed 2 |) romtasr OD | ® wot OP UW | Yveue tO | tere a a Abra — Reset | * prmyngeation tf d® | * Nomutiertese Conmratiood «= Es] Vetariaed or pineyngeatizc T F yascamtins © | | mam © Of wviedaheteticaivey : + Sabie F |, tewema SPB = voicca titan eppeomeant) in Sowssisia |, Advanced Tongue Root ed ee) Transcription exercises 1. Transcribe the following forms using symbols for Broad transcription Enough unique hungry through tooth improve Attitude advantage sandwich example junior useful Europe beyond 2. Transcribe the following sentences using phonetic symbols for Narrow transcription 59REVISION 4, Examine the following data wordy { 'ws: dr], boxes ['b D ks 0 z] Provide the description for the consonants and vowels in these forms by filling the blanks in the tables below Word | Consonant | Voicing Place of articulation | Manner of articulation Ward | Vowel | Tongue part | Tongue height | Shape of lips | Length Tenseness 2. Provide examples of minimal pairs with a./_p/~/b/ in the initial position b.4p/-/b/ in the final position ¢./'s/-1/ in the initial position d/s/-/z/ inthe final position 3, Syllables and their parts Filling the blanks of the passage with the following words stream speech division beats component end word meaning syllables (twice) Words can be cut up into units called '. segmenting the ” wwe hear in music. Syllables don't serve any a signalling exist only to make asier for the brain to process. A one syllable. 4 60 Humans seem to need syllables as a way of of speech and giving ita rhythm of strong and weak *.,. function in language; they ccontains at least asMost speakers of English have no trouble dividing a word up into its ” . syllables. Sometimes how a particular word is divided might vary from one individual to another, but a * ‘component = window is always easy and always possible. Here are some words divided into their (@ period is used to mark the ™.... of syllable): 4. Examine the data and the syllable structure analysis of the words below and answer the following questions. ie syllable structure analysis of the words “read” and “window” are as follows : Rhyme ‘Nucleus Coda [1] fi] [4] First syllable Second syllable Rhyme Onset Rime Nucleus_—_[ Coda Nucleus | Coda’ i fa] {4] [eu] ort Rapid pronunciation Column B q : Zjozy C a 1 ] ] ind sequences in column A and answer the questions that follow Assimilatory Processiv. dress shop [ dres fo p] L ] im 2) Provide the transcription to show the assimilatory process that may happen to these sound sequences in rapid pronunciation, b) Name the assimilatory process that is responsible for the change in pronunciation ©) Explain why these assimilatory processes happen. i. ii. iv. 62A CHECK - UP TEST ON ENGLISH PHONETICS & PHONOLOGY Time allotted: 25° Please read the questions and tick the correct answer in your answer sheet (Please do not write anything in this paper) * 1. Which of the following phonetic transcriptions corresponds to each of the following phonetic description :high back rounded lax vowel ? a fu] be] « fi] d fol 2. Which of the following phonetic transcriptions corresponds to each of the following. phonetic description : voiceless alveolar-palatal affricate ? aff} bf] « [d] afi] 3. Which of the following symbols corresponds to each of the following phonetic description : voiceless bilabial stop ? atv] bis] of5] 4 fp) 4. Which of the following groups contains a segment that differs in place of articulation fiom the other segments ? a [tnds] b& Lke.ni) e [pbw] 4 [tdn,z] 5. Which of the following groups contains a segment differs in voicing from the other segments ? a [d, gbm] b. (m,n, v] e[w,j.51] 4. [z,4,f,b] 6. Which of the following statements is correct ? When a feature value is unpredictable by a general principle or rule, it is a. adistinctive feature for that class of segments b. aphonetic feature for sounds that contrast c, aphonemic feature for that class of segment 4. anon-distinctive or non-phonemic feature for that class of segments 7. Which of the following statements is correct ? a. Alveolars are sounds made at the soft arca toward the rear of the roof of the mouth b. Alveolars are sounds made just behind the alveolar rigde c. Alveolars are sounds made at the teeth rigde 4. Alveolars are sounds made with the tongue placed against the teeth 8. Which of the following statements is correct ? a. When two or more sounds never occur in the same phonemic context or environment they are said to be different phonemes 63'. When two or more sounds never occur in the same phonemic context or environment they are said to be in free variation ¢. When two or more sounds never occur in the same phonemic context or environment they are said to be identical segments 4. When two or more sounds never occur in the same phonemic context or environment they are said to be allophones of the same phoneme 9. Which of the following statements is correct ? a. The fricatives are consonants produced with a continuous airflow through the mouth b. The fricatives are consonants produced with the complete stoppage of the air in the mouth which causes explosion ©. The fricatives are consonants produced with the lowering of the soft palate d. The fricatives are non-continuant consonants. 10. Which of the following is the minimal pair ? a. [Geo] [bet] ” there -bet b. {deb} [bed] dab -bad c. [bed] [bet] bad - bet 4. [Gea] [ds0] there —dare 11. Which of the following is the stress distribution for the compound word artificial as in this context : Please give him artificial respiration. ? a. [ ati’filal] b. [ avtififal} cc. [ asti°fi foal ] ” d. [ ‘atti fifot ] a 12. Which of the following assimilation processes occurs when [b ] in the sound sequence [ [ [(wibsi:] becomes { p ] in the sound sequence { ‘wipsi:] ? a. voicing assimilation b. progressive assimilation ¢. regressive assimilation a. both a and d 13, Which of the following coarticulation processes that may happen to the alveolar / n / in this context : [kraenbori ] cranberry ? a, [n] may be devoiced before the voiced [ b} b. [b] may become syllabic after the nasal [n ] c. [n] may be labialized before [ b ] 4. [b] may be nasalised after [2] 14. Which of the following phonetic variations that may happen to the lateral ( 1] in this context: [ ‘engl ] angle ? a. [L] becomes aspirated after voiced stop [ ¢] b. [1] becomes unaspirated after velar [ g] ©. [1] becomes devoiced after voiced stop [ g] 4. [1] becomes syllabic after voiced stop [g] 6415. Which of the following statements is incorrect ? Alll the aspirated voiceless stops are produced with a. no vibration of the vocal cords b. an extra puff of the air strongly expelled ¢. the airstream from the lungs . the vibration of the vocal cords 16, Which of the following symbols that corresponds to each of the following phonetic description : short high front vowel afi] be] «fo] de] 17, Which of the following symbols that corresponds to each of the following phonetic description : voiced interdental fricative [m] bfv} ec [t] 4 [6] 18. Which of the following statements is correct ? The number of segments in the word students is a six y seven eight nine 19. Which of the following groups contains a segment that differs in manner of articulation from the other segments ? a (wojl b [05,5] ce [pod] a (tan) 20. Which of the following statements is correct ? Palatal is the sound made a. With the tongue between the teeth z b. with the tongue on or near the hard palate cc. just behind the alveolar rigde ‘ 4. with the upper lip and the lower teeth 21. Which of the following coarticulation processes that may happen to the alveolar [ t] in this context : [ dis jia] this year? a. [ 8] becomes voiced before palatal [j ] b. [8] is deleted before palatal [j } ¢. [8] is velarised by the following fj ] 4. [8 ]coalesces with [j ] to make [J] 22. Which of the following groups contains a segment that differs in place of articulation from the other segments ? a[p,m,w,b] s b[t. dJ,n] c[k, w,m8] 4 [t 4, 02,1] 23, Which of the following statements is incorrect ? Regressive assimilation is a process by which a. the change of a segment is brought by the preceding segment b, a sound copies one or more phonetic features from the preceding sound c. the sound becomes more like the preceding sound 65a. 2 sound copies one or more phonetic features from the following sound 24, Which of the following statements is incorrect ? a, Minimal pairs help us establish which sounds contrast in a languge b. Minimal pairs consist of forms that are placed along the horizontal axis with respect to thelr place of articulation and the vertical axis to their manner of articulation c. Minimal pair test is a basic test for deciding which sounds are the allophones of the phoneme 4. A minimal,pair consists of two forms with distinct meanings that differ only by one segment in the same position of each form. 25, Which of the following statements is incorrect ? a, The phonetic representation of utterances shows what the speakers know about the pronunciation of utterances. b. The phonemic representation of utterances shows what speakers know about the abstract underlying phonology. c, The phonemic representation of utterances shows the finer points of the sounds or segments in pronunciation 4. The phonetic representation of ittterances shows us the non-distinetive features of the sounds 26. Which of the following groups contsins a segment-that differs in manner of articulation from the other segments ? a [p, b, t,d] b. [t, Bk, g] © [kK wes] 4@ (mg, 2,2] 27. Which of the following is correct ? When a feature is predictable by the phonological rules, it is a a. phonetic feature . phonemic feature c, redundant feature: 4. both a and 28. Which of the following is the correct stress pattern of this word Portuguese ? aoge L [ “pos ‘giz 29, Which of the following is the phonetic transcription of this form Bangor ? [bene] [ ‘bey nd} [‘bena} + [‘benge} pose 30. Which of the following symbols that corresponds to each of the following phonetic 66description : voiced labiodentat fricative atv] bw] e[8} 4 [ft] 31. The process by which an alveolar stop is heard intervocally (voiced) between 2 vowels, the frst of which is generally stressed, as in [ ‘bet i] Betty is called a, metathesis b. epenthesis cc. deletion 4. flapping * 32. Which of the following statements is incorrect ? a. A allophone is a predictable phonetic variant of an allophone b. Anallophone is an unpredictable phonetic realisation of a phoneme ©. A phoneme is an abstract unit 4. An allophone is uttered in speech 33. Which of the following statement is incorrect ? Sonorants a. do not include affricates, fricatives and liquids b. do not inchude stops, afificates, and voiced fricatives, +. do not include voiced stops, fricatives, and voiceless stops 4. do not include vowels, nasals, liquids and glides 34. Which of the following statements is correct ? ae ‘@. Phonology deals with the physiological and acoustic aspects of the of speech sounds. **” b. Phonology aims to provide the set of features, or properties, that can describe all sounds-i——— human language. : c. Phonology studies the ways phonemes function in language 4. Phonology provides the means for describing speech sounds. i 35. Which of the following coarticulation processes may occur for the articulatory transition from the sonorant [19 ] to the nonsonorant { 0 } to be eased in this context [ le 9 8]? a, the deletion of [ 9 ] b. the deletion of [ 6] c. the metathesis of the sound sequence [ 19 ] 4. the epenthesis of a nonsonorant [ k ] within the sequence [ 0] 36. Which of the following is the phonetic transcription of this form peace talk ? a. [p" iss tostk] 37. Which of the following phonetic variations that may happen to the voiced stop [ d ] in this licd lead? a. [d] is aspirated after the front vowel { i: b. [d] is devoiced after the long vowel { i:] 67© [d] is devoiced word finally 4. [d] is unaspirated in the final position of a stressed syllable { 38, Which of the following phonetic transcriptions that corresponds to each of the following phonetic description : voiced velar nasal ? afm] &[n] fg] 4 fr] 39. Which of the following symbols that corresponds to each of the following phonetic, description : long low back vowel alo] bf[ od. [ue] 40. Which of the following coarticulation processes that may happen to the alveolar { t ] in this context : { red peint] red paint? a. [d] may be devoiced before the the voiceless stop { p } b. [d] may be,aspirated before the voiceless stop [ p ] ¢. [1] may be labialised before the bilabial { p } d, [d] may be nasalised before the bilabial [ p } a 68References Crystal, David (2003) 4 Dictionary of Linguistics & Phonetics, Blackwell Publishing Gimnson, A.C, (1992), An in troduction to the Pronunciation of English 3" Edition, Edward Amold Fromkin, Vietoria & Robert Rodman, Peter Collirg; David Blair (1990) Ai Introduction to Language, Holt, Rineart & Winston . O'Grady, Wiliiam & Michael Dobrovalsky (1993) Contemporary Linguistics ~ An introduction, St. Martin Press, New York Roach, Peter (1983) English Phonetics and Phonology - A practical course, Cambrigde University Press Ladeforged, Petet (1982) A Course in Phonetics, 2" Edition Harcourt Brace Jevanovich, Publishers | Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . Online dictionary 69