TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUẢNG BÌNH

KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ

GIÁO TRÌNH
(Lưu hành nội bộ)

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

NGỮ ÂM –ÂM VỊ
(Dành cho sinh viên ĐH, CĐ Tiếng Anh)
Tác giả: Nguyễn Thọ Phước Thảo

Năm 2016

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 MỤC LỤC
Lời nói đầu
Unit 1: Introductions to phonetics and phonology…………………...3
Unit 2: The organs of speech…………………………………………5
Unit 3: English vowels and diphthongs………………………………8
Unit 4: English consonants…………………………………………..18
Unit 5: The syllables…………………………………………………28
Unit 6: Stress …………………………………………………………33
Unit 7: Intonation…………………………………………………….37
Unit 8: Assimilation………………………………………………….50
TÀI LIỆU THAM KHẢO

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 LỜI NÓI ĐẦU
Giáo trình Ngữ âm – âm vị nhằm cung cấp các kiến thức về ngữ
âm và âm vị học trong ngôn ngữ tiếng Anh, giúp hỗ trợ khả năng phát
âm của sinh viên, phát triển khả năng giao tiếp tiếng Anh và tạo tiền đề
cho việc tự nghiên cứu một số vấn đề cụ thể trong lĩnh vực ngôn ngữ.
Giáo trình được biên soạn dựa trên một số sách về ngữ âm và âm
vị quốc tế và giáo trình ngữ âm âm vị sử dụng ở các trường đại học
chuyên ngữ trong nước. Trong quá trình biên soạn, tác giả đã có những
chỉnh sửa để phù hợp với đối tượng là sinh viên đại học, cao đẳng
chuyên ngành tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Quảng Bình.
.

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 UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
I. Phonetics

1. Definitions

Phonetics is the study of human speech sounds. It is a branch of linguistics studying the
production, the physical nature, and the perception of speech sounds. A speech sound is a
physical event with three aspects: a- physiological (the production of speech sounds by
the organs of articulation), b- acoustic (the transmission of speech sounds), and c-
auditory ( the perception of speech sounds).

Phonetics is the study of how speech sounds are produced, transmitted and perceived.

2. Main branches of phonetics

2.1. Articulatory phonetics

Articulatory phonetics deals with the way in which the speech sounds are produced. It
describes speech sounds genetically - that is, with respect to the ways by which the
organs of speech modify the air stream in the throat, the mouth, and the nose in order to
produce a sound. The production of different speech sounds through the use of the organs
of speech is known as articulation.

2.2. Acoustic phonetics

Acoustic phonetics deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air. It is the
study of speech waves as the output of a resonator. A spectrograph may be used to record
significant characteristics of speech waves and to determine the effect of articulatory
activities. Parts of this record of speech waves can be cut out experimentally and the rest
can be played back as sound in order to determine wich features suffice to identify the
sounds of a language.

2.3. Auditory phonetics

Auditory phonetics deals with how speech sounds are perceived by the listeners. The
auditory aspect of speech is very important: the ear is capable of making fine
discrimination between different sounds, and sometimes it is not possible to define in
articulatory terms precisely what the difference is.

II. Phonetics and Phonology

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As seen above, phonetics is the study of pronunciation, that is, the study of human speech
sounds. Besides having the physical properties, the speech sounds aso have the distinctive
function when they are used as distinctive units of sounds in a language. According to I. J.
Ohala (in R.E. Asher, 1994: 3053), othe designations for this field of inquiry include
“speech science” or “the phonetic sciences” and “phonology”. Some apply the term
“phonetics” to the physical, including physiological, aspects of speech; others prefer to
reserve the term “phonology” for the study of the more abstract, the more functional, or
the more psychological aspects of the underpinnings of speech.

Phonetics, as used in this course of study, is the study of all speech sounds and the ways
in which they are produced. The main aims of phonetics are to describe human speech
sounds.

Phonology is the study and identification of the distinctive unit of sound in a language.
The most basic activity in phonology is phonemic analysis, in which the objective is to
establish what the phonemes are and arrive at the phonemic inventory of the language.
Very few phonologists have ever believed that this would be an adequate analysis of the
sound system of a language: it is necessary to go beyond this. One can look at
suprasegmental phonology - the study of stress, rhythm and intonation, which has led in
recent years to new approaches to phonology such as metrical and autosegmental theory;
one can go beyond the phoneme and look into the detailed characteristics of each unit in
terms of distinctive features; the way in which sounds can combine in a language is
studied in phonotactics and in the analysis of syllable structure. For some phonologists the
most important area is the relationships between the different phonemes - how they form
groups, the nature of the oppositions between them and how those oppositions may be
neutralised.

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 UNIT 2: THE ORGANS OF SPEECH
Vocal tracts and articulators

Names of articulators
Perhaps readers and learners may get confused with the terms used for the articulators.
The table below will help to make clear the common names and what each of them mean.
Normal name Fancy name Adjective Normal name Fancy name Adjective

Lips Labia Labial Upper throat Pharynx Pharyngeal

Teeth dental Voice box Larynx Laryngeal

Alveolar ridge alveolar Tongue tip Apex Apical

(hard) palate palatal Tongue blade Lamina Laminal

(soft) palate Velum Velar Tongue body Dorsum Dorsal

(back)

Uvula Uvular Tongue root Radical

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In phonetics, the terms velum, pharynx, 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 alveolar.
(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 /k/, /g/, and /ŋ/. The velum can also move: if it lowers, it creates an
opening that allows air to flow out through the nose; if it stays raised, the opening is
blocked, and no air can flow through the nose.
Uvula
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 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 root
the lowest part of the tongue in the throat
Epiglottis
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

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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.
Lungs
The biological function of the lungs is to absorb oxygen from air breathed in and to
excrete carbon dioxide into the air breathed out. From the speech point of view, their
major function is to provide the driving force that compresses the air we use for
generating speech sounds. They are similar to large sponges, and their size and shape are
determined by the rib cage that surrounds them, so that when the ribs are pressed down
the lungs are compressed and when the ribs are lifted the lungs expand and fill with air.
Although they hold a considerable amount of air (normally several litres, though this
differs greatly between individuals) we use only a small proportion of their capacity when
speaking - we would find it very tiring if we had to fill and empty the lungs as we spoke,
and in fact it is impossible for us to empty our lungs completely.

Oral cavity
the part of the mouth behind the teeth and gums that is bounded above by the hard and
soft palates and below by the tongue and the mucous membrane connecting it with the
inner part of the mandible.
Nasal cavity
the cavity on either side of the nasal septum, extending from the nose to the pharynx, and
lying between the floor of the cranium and the roof of the mouth.

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 UNIT 3: ENGLISH VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS

English vowels

Vowels are the class of sound which makes the least obstruction to the flow of air.
They are almost always found at the centre of a syllable, and it is rare to find any sound
other than a vowel which is able to stand alone as a whole syllable.

Classification of vowels

The classification of vowels is based on five major aspects: tongue height, tongue
backness, lip rounding, vowel length and the tenseness of the articulators.

Tongue Height

Vowels are classified in terms of how much space there is between the tongue and the
roof of the mouth, which is determined by the height of the tongue.

There are three primary height distinctions among vowels: high, low, and mid.

/w/ /e/ /æ/

In English, examples of high vowels are /w/, /i:/, /•/, /u:/. These are vowels with a
relatively narrow space between the tongue and the roof of the mouth. Examples of low
vowels are /æ/, /Y:/, /Z/, /]:/. These are vowels with a relatively wide space between the
tongue and the roof of the mouth. Examples of mid vowels are /e/, /∂/, /f:/, /ž /. These are
vowels whose tongue positions are roughly between the high and low vowels.

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 These classifications are quite relative, as different languages have different canonical
tongue heights for different classifications.

As you can see from the above diagrams, the tongue height of the high vowel /w/ is
much higher than that for the low vowel /æ/, while the tongue height for the mid vowel /e/
lies somewhere in between the two.

Tongue Backness

The second aspect of vowel classification that you will be introduced to is that of
tongue backness. Vowels are classified in terms of how far the raised body of the tongue
is from the back of the mouth, which is called the backness of the tongue.

There are three primary height distinctions among vowels: front, back, and central.

In English, examples of front vowels are /w/, /i:/, /e/, /æ/. These vowels are articulated
relatively forward in the mouth. Examples of back vowels are /•/, /u:/, /Y:/, /Z/, /]:/.
These vowels are articulated relatively far back in the mouth.. Examples of central vowels
are /∂/, /f:/, /ž /. These are vowels whose tongue positions are roughly between the front
and back vowels.

These classifications, like the tongue heights, are quite relative, as different languages
have different canonical tongue backnesses for different classifications.

As illustration of tongue backness, observe the following diagrams for the vowels /w/,
/u:/.

/i:/ /u:/

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 As you can see from the diagrams, the articulation of the front vowel /i:/ is much
farther forward than that for the back vowel /u:/.
Lip Rounding
Another aspect of vowel classification is the presence or absence of lip rounding.
Some vowels, such as the vowels /u:/ and /]:/, are formed with a high degree of lip
rounding. Such vowels are called rounded vowels. Some vowels, such as /i:/ and /e/, are
formed without such rounding, and are called unrounded vowels.
Vowel Length
Vowel length is the length of time it takes to pronounce the vowel. We can measure
this length in centiseconds - hundredths of a second.
 Short English vowels: /w/, //, /æ/, /Z/, /e/, /∂/, //
 Long English vowels: /i:/, /u:/, /Y:/, /]:/, /f:/
Some languages, like English, vary the lengths of their vowels according to certain
rules. Below you can see the typical or average length of some of the vowels in English.
As we will see, there is not a clear-cut long/short distinction. Typically, each vowel
has its own length, with for instance /æ/ holding a half-way position between lax and
tense vowels. Also, lengths of different vowels overlap in different contexts: looking at
/i:/ and /w/ we found the following situation. The lengths are given in centiseconds.
Tense vs. Lax
Another aspect of vowel classification is commonly characterized in terms of the
tenseness or laxness of the articulators. Some vowels, such as the vowels /i:/ and /e/, are
formed with a high degree of tenseness. Such vowels are called tense vowels. Some
vowels, such as /∂/ and /ž /, are formed without a high degree of tenseness, and are called
lax vowels.
The general rule is:
 lax vowels (/w/, //, /æ/, /Z/, /e/, /∂/, //) are short.
 tense (/i:/, /u:/, /Y:/, /]:/, /f:/) vowels (including diphthongs: /ew/, /aw/, /]w/,
/∂/,/a/, /w∂/, /∂/, /ε ∂/) are variable in length, and often longer than lax
vowels.
English vowel charts

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(Source: University of Stirling, Centre for English Language Teaching)

Descriptions of the English simple (“pure”) vowels

English front vowels

There are four front vowel phonemes in English: /w/, /i:/, /e/, /æ/

Sound Description Distribution Spelling

e: economy, remark
initial, medial and
/i:/ front, close (high), ee: eel, see, feet,
final: east, dean, sea
long, tense, ea: each, seal, plea
unrounded ie: fiend
ei: seizing
i: machine
ey: key
ay: quay
eo: people
oe: Oedipus
eau: Beauchamp

/w/ more retracted, initial, medial and i: ill, tick

front, short, lax, final: ink, y: syntax, party

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 unrounded kill, aptly u: minute
a: private
o: women
ay: Friday (a reduced unstressed
vowel)

front, short, lax, initial or medial: e: elf, fell

/e/ unrounded end, tell ea: lead (n. = plumb), head or
bread
a: ate (the past tense of eat),
many, any, Thames or Pall Mall

/æ/ lowest, front, short, initial or medial: ant, a: act, fat

lax, unrounded cat ai: plait, plaid

English central vowels

There are three central vowel phonemes in English: /ž /, /∂/, /f:/

a central halfopen, word-initial and u: under, but

/ʌ/
short, lax, unrounded medial position: utter, o: come, front, honey
vowel subtle. It ou: courage, southern, rough,
never occurs in word tough
or syllablefinal oo: blood, flood
position. oe: does

/∂/ a central, mid, lax,
unrounded vowel
freely occurring in all The reduced form of any simple
basic vowel or even diphthong (see
positions, but only in fatality, above) in English and
unstressed syllables: can consequently be rendered in
aside, collide, rather writing by any vowel letter with
the
exception of y which only
represents the semivowel j or the
vowel i.

/f:/ in all three basic ir: bird

central, mid, long,
positions, very often ur: burn
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 tense central vowel in monosyllabic er: fern
words: err, first, yr: myrtle
curtain, fur, refer ear: learn
our: journey, journal, scourge

English back vowels

There are five back vowel phonemes in standard English: /•/, /u:/, /Y:/, /Z/, /]:/

a more advanced, initial, medial and ar: jar, carpet

/Y:/ final: are, cart, far al: palm, calm, balm
low, long, tense,
unrounded vowel af (ff): after, staff
ass: pass, class
ath: path, bath
as or an followed by another
consonant: past, demand
Exceptionally, other letters: aunt,
Berkeley, hearth, father, sergeant,
memoir , barrage

/Z/ short, lax, open and o: hot, lot

slightly rounded initial or medial: ou: cough
on, pot a: want
au: laurel

initial, medial and aw: awl, drawn, thaw

/]:/ a long, tense vowel, final: awful, au: August, taught
more rounded than caught, flaw or: for, sore, port
/Z/. It is the degree of oor: floor, door
aperture being oa: board, broad, coarse, hoard
between open and ough: (n)ought, sought, wrought
half-open. ou: course, source
a: water, wrath

/ ʊ/ short, lax, rounded Being restricted to u: push, cushion, pull, put

vowel which is medial position; o: wolf, Worcester

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 considerably closer never occurring in oo: look, book, foot
than /]:/, its degree of initial position and ou: would, could, should
aperture being a little only exceptionally
bit higher than the in final position.
cardinal half-close.

u: rule, music, mutiny, deluge

/u:/ the highest back initial, medial and ui: suit, fruit
vowel of English. It final: oom, oomph, o: to, who, ado
is a long, tense, ooze, ugh, uhlan; oo: root, taboo
rounded vowel. rude, baboon, ou: route, through, routine, douche
crew, chew, tatoo oe: shoe, canoe, manoeuvre
eau: beauty
eu: feu

English Diphthongs

Classification of diphthongs

Diphthongs are described as sequences of two vowels pronounced together, the two
vocalic elements being members of the same syllable. The most important feature of a
diphthong is that it contains a glide from one vowel quality to another one. According to
the position of the more prominent element in the diphthong we can divide diphthongs
into falling diphthongs – if the prominent element comes first – and rising diphthongs – if
the less prominent element comes first. All English diphthongs belong to the first
category. Diphthongs can then be opening if the degree of aperture increases with the
glide or closing if the less prominent vowel is closer than the first. We can also
differentiate between wide diphthongs – those in which the glide implies a more radical
movement of the speech organs and narrow diphthongs – if the two vocalic elements
occupy neighbouring positions on the vowel chart. There are also centring diphthongs – if
the glide is from a marginal vowel in the vowel chart – either back or front - to a central
vowel. To make it simple, we can say that there are three diphthongs ending in /w/ (/ew/,
/aw/, /]w/), two ending in /∂/ (/w∂/, /∂/, /ε∂/) and three ending in // (/∂/, /a/).

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 The easiest way to remember them is in terms of three groups divided as in this
diagram:

The descriptions of English diphthongs

The centring diphthongs: /w∂/, /∂/, /ε∂/

Sound Description Distribution Spelling

/ε∂/ air: air, fair, chair, dairy, fairy

a centring, falling, initial, medial and are: fare, mare, care, care
narrow, in most final: air, scarce, ear: bear, wear, tear (v.)
cases opening fare aer: aerial, aeroplane
diphthong ere: there
eir: their, heir
ay: prayer, layer, mayor

only in word
/ʊ∂/ a centring, falling, ure: endure, mature, cure, pure
medial: jewel or
narrow, opening oor: poor, moor
word-final
diphthong ou: gourd, bourse
position: sure

/w∂/ a centring, falling, initial, medial and eer: deer, peer

narrow, opening final: ear, deer, b: ear, weary, idea, tear, beard
diphthong tier eir: weird
ier: fierce, pierce

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 ere: here, mere
ia: media(l), labia(l), genial
eu: museum
iu: delirium
eo: theory, theology
e: hero, serious, serial

The diphthongs to /w/: /ew/, /aw/, /]w/

/aw/ a falling, wide, initial, medial and i: ice, dime, loci

closing diphthong final: isle, bite, cry y: dyke, fly
ie: die, lie, pie
ye: dye, fye
ei: height, either, neither
uy: in buy, guy
Note also the pronunciation of ay(e)
/aı/, eye /aı/ and aisle /aıl/.

/]w/ initial, medial and

a falling, wide, oi: oil, toil
final: ointment,
closing diphthong oy: oyster, Boyle, coy
boil, toy

a falling, narrow, a: ace, lace

/ew/
closing diphthong initial, medial and ai: aid, maid
final: eight, plate, ay: aye, clay
play ei: eight, reign
ey: they, grey,
ea: break, steak
et or é: ballet, bouquet, chalet, café,
fiancé, attaché, resumé
Exceptionally, there are spellings
like gaol, bass, gauge, halfpenny .

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The diphthongs to /•/: /∂•/, /a•/

initial, medial and

/∂•/ a falling, narrow, o: old, sold, no
final: old, gold,
closing diphthong oa: oak, roast
flow
oe: toe
ow: own, known, row
ou: poultry, dough
eau: beau, bureau
au: gauche
oo: brooch
ew: sew
oh: oh

/a•/ a falling, wide, initial, medial and ou: oust, doubt, plough
closing diphthong final: ouch, loud, ow: owl, howl, how
bough eo: MacLeod

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 UNIT 4: ENGLISH CONSONANTS

Producing a consonant involves making the vocal tract narrower at some location than
it usually is. We call this narrowing a constriction. Which consonant you're pronouncing
depends on where in the vocal tract the constriction is and how narrow it is. It also
depends on a few other things, such as whether the vocal folds are vibrating and whether
air is flowing through the nose.

We classify consonants along three major dimensions:

 place of articulation
 manner of articulation
 voicing

For example, for the sound d:

 Place of articulation = alveolar. (The narrowing of the vocal tract involves the
tongue tip and the alveolar ridge.)
 Manner of articulation = oral stop. (The narrowing is complete -- the tongue is
completely blocking off airflow through the mouth. There is also no airflow
through the nose.)
 Voicing = voiced. (The vocal folds are vibrating.)

Places of articulation

The place of articulation (or POA) of a consonant specifies where in the vocal tract the
narrowing occurs. From front to back, the POAs that English uses are:

Bilabial

In a bilabial consonant, the lower and upper lips approach or touch each other. English
p, b, and m are bilabial stops.

The diagram to the right shows the state of the vocal tract during a typical p or b. (An
m would look the same, but with the velum lowered to let out through the nasal passages.)

The sound w involves two constrictions of the vocal tract made simultaneously. One of
them is lip rounding, which you can think of as a bilabial approximant.

Labiodental
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In a labiodental consonant, the lower lip approaches or touches the upper teeth. English f
and v are bilabial fricatives. The diagram to the right shows the state of the vocal tract
during a typical f or v.

Dental

In a dental consonant, the tip or blade of the tongue approaches or touches the upper
teeth. English θ and ð are dental fricatives. There are actually a couple of different ways
of forming these sounds:

 The tongue tip can approach the back of the upper teeth, but not press against them
so hard that the airflow is completely blocked.
 The blade of the tongue can touch the bottom of the upper teeth, with the tongue
tip protruding between the teeth -- still leaving enough space for a turbulent air-
stream to escape. This kind of θ and ð is often called interdental.

The diagram to the right shows a typical interdental θ or ð.

Alveolar

In an alveolar consonant, the tongue tip (or less often the tongue blade) approaches or
touches the alveolar ridge, the ridge immediately behind the upper teeth. The English
stops t, d, and n are formed by completely blocking the airflow at this place of
articulation. The fricatives s and z are also at this place of articulation, as is the lateral
approximant l.

The diagram to the right shows the state of the vocal tract during plosive t or d.

Postalveolar

In a postalveolar consonant, the constriction is made immediately behind the alveolar

ridge. The constriction can be made with either the tip or the blade of the tongue. The
English fricatives ∫and ʒ are made at this POA, as are the corresponding affricates t∫and
dʒ.

The diagram to the right shows the state of the vocal tract during the first half (the stop
half) of an affricate t∫or dʒ.

Retroflex

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 In a retroflex consonant, the tongue tip is curled backward in the mouth. English ɹ is a
retroflex approximant -- the tongue tip is curled up toward the postalveolar region (the
area immediately behind the alveolar ridge).

The diagram to the right shows a typical English retroflex ɹ.

Both the sounds we've called "postalveolar" and the sounds we've called "retroflex"
involve the region behind the alveolar ridge. In fact, at least for English, you can think of
retroflexes as being a sub-type of postalveolars, specifically, the type of postalveolars that
you make by curling your tongue tip backward.

Palatal

In a palatal consonant, the body of the tongue approaches or touches the hard palate.
English j is a palatal approximant -- the tongue body approaches the hard palate, but
closely enough to create turbulence in the air-stream.

Velar

In a velar consonant, the body of the tongue approaches or touches the soft palate, or
velum. English k, g, and ŋ are stops made at this POA.

The diagram to the right shows a typical k or g -- though where exactly on the velum
the tongue body hits will vary a lot depending on the surrounding vowels.

As we have seen, one of the two constrictions that form a w is a bilabial approximant.
The other is a velar approximant: the tongue body approaches the soft palate.

Glottal

The glottis is the opening between the vocal folds. In an /h/, this opening is narrow
enough to create some turbulence in the air-stream flowing past the vocal folds. For this
reason, /h/ is often classified as a glottal fricative.

Manners of articulation

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 The manner of articulation dimension is essentially everything else: how narrow the
constriction is, whether air is flowing through the nose, and whether the tongue is dropped
down on one side.

Stops

Stops are consonants formed by completely stopping the flow of air somewhere in the
vocal apparatus, and then releasing the air. Since the sudden release of the pent-up air
creates a small explosive sound, stops are also called plosives. Stops may be voiced
(vocal cords vibrating during the articulation of the stop) or voiceless (vocal cords not
vibrating during the articulation of the stop). Here is a list of the stops in English t, d, k,
g, p and b.

Fricatives

In the stop t, the tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge and cuts off the airflow. In s, the
tongue tip approaches the alveolar ridge but doesn't quite touch it. There is still enough of
an opening for airflow to continue, but the opening is narrow enough that it causes the
escaping air to become turbulent (hence the hissing sound of the s). In a fricative
consonant, the articulators involved in the constriction approach get close enough to each
other to create a turbulent air-stream. The fricatives of English are f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ∫ and ʒ.

Approximants

In an approximant, the articulators involved in the constriction are further apart still
than they are for a fricative. The articulators are still closer to each other than when the
vocal tract is in its neutral position, but they are not even close enough to cause the air
passing between them to become turbulent. The approximants of English are w, j, ɹ, and l.

Affricates

An affricate is a single sound composed of a stop portion and a fricative portion. In

English t∫, the airflow is first interrupted by a stop which is very similar to t (though made
a bit further back). But instead of finishing the articulation quickly and moving directly
into the next sound, the tongue pulls away from the stop slowly, so that there is a period
of time immediately after the stop where the constriction is narrow enough to cause a
turbulent airstream.

21
 In t∫, the period of turbulent air-stream following the stop portion is the same as the
fricative ∫. English dʒ is an affricate like t∫, but voiced.
Laterals
Pay attention to what you are doing with your tongue when you say the first consonant
of /li:f/ leaf. Your tongue tip is touching your alveolar ridge (or perhaps your upper teeth),
but this doesn't make /l/ a stop. Air is still flowing during an /l/ because the side of your
tongue has dropped down and left an opening. (Some people drop down the right side of
their tongue during an /l/; others drop down the left; a few drop down both sides.) Sounds
which involve airflow around the side of the tongue are called laterals. Sounds which are
not lateral are called central.
/l/ is the only lateral in English. The other sounds of English, like most of the sounds
of the world's languages, are central.
More specifically, /l/ is a lateral approximant. The opening left at the side of the
tongue is wide enough that the air flowing through does not become turbulent.
Voicing

The voicing parameter specifies whether the vocal folds are vibrating. The vocal folds
may be held against each other at just the right tension so that the air flowing past them
from the lungs will cause them to vibrate against each other. We call this process voicing.
Sounds which are made with vocal fold vibration are said to be voiced. Sounds made
without vocal fold vibration are said to be voiceless.

There are several pairs of sounds in English which differ only in voicing -- that is, the
two sounds have identical places and manners of articulation, but one has vocal fold
vibration and the other doesn't. The θ of thigh and the ð of thy are one such pair. The
others are:

Voiceless p t k f θ s ∫ t∫

Voiced b d g v ð z ʒ dʒ

The other sounds of English do not come in voiced/voiceless pairs. h is voiceless, and has
no voiced counterpart. The other English consonants are all voiced: ɹ, l, w, j, m, n, and ŋ.

22
Brief descriptions of English consonants

Place of Place of
Voicing Spelling
Articulation Articulation

It is spelt p: plane or pp: opposite and only

exceptionally gh in hiccough.
/p/ voiceless bilabial stop / plosive The letter p is silent when followed by
another obstruent or a nasal in word-initial
position: psalm, pterodactyl, pneumatic.
It is spelt b: bar or bb: ribbon
The letter is silent in final position after
/b/ voiced bilabial stop/plosive m: limb, crumb, dumb and in front of t in
words of Latin origin where the sound has
long been lost: debt, doubt, subtle.
It is spelt with t: toe, with tt: cutter or with
/t/ voiceless alveolar stop/plosive
th: Thomas, Thames

/d/ voiced alveolar stop/plosive It is spelt d: read or dd: adder

The sound can be represented by the letter

c: comb or by cc: accuse, by k: kill, by ck:
/k/ voiceless velar stop/plosive pick, by ch: architect, by qu: queen.
In words like muscle and knave the letters
c an k are silent.

The consonant can be rendered by g: get

/g/ voiced velar stop/plosive guess
/t∫/ voiceless postalveolar affricate
by gg: begged, or by g followed by h, as in
ghastly, by ua, ue or ui, as in guarantee,
or linguist, respectively.
The voiced counterpart of /ks/, /gz/ can
also be rendered by x in words like
example.
The phoneme is represented graphically by
ch: charm, chinchilla, rich or tch: kitchen,
bitch or by t followed by u: creature,
culture when the plosive is palatalized.
In words like habitual, sanctuary the

23
 pronunciation with an affricate is a variant
of /tj/.
Exceptionally, we can have ce or cz as
graphic representations of the sound in
(violin) cello or Czech.
It can be rendered graphically by j: justice,
John, rejoice, pyjamas, by ge: gesture,
agent, sage, by gi: giraffe, rigid; and gy:
gymnastics.
In certain words it can be spelt d followed
by u: gradual, individual, procedure/al. In
/dʒ/ voiced postalveolar Affricate all these cases, however, there is an
alternative pronunciation /dj/.
In a number of proper names or common
nouns originating in proper names ch is
read /dʒ/: Norwich, Greenwich,
S/sandwich.
Another spelling can be dg in words like
ridge or edge.
It can be spelt with m or mm: come,
/m/ voiced bilabial Nasal
common

/n/ voiced alveolar Nasal It is spelt n or nn: dean, annual.

This phoneme has a limited distribution: it

/ŋ/ voiced velar Nasal always precedes the voiceless velar plosive
or occurs in syllable-final position in front
of an elided /g/: tank, ankle, sing, long.
The sound can be spelt f: fine, fringe, feud,
loaf, stifle, ff: effort, snuff, ph: physics,
/f/ voiceless labiodental Fricative graph, or even gh: enough, tough.
The word lieutenant /lef’tenənt/ is a
particular case.

It is spelt with the letter v: vein, live, voice.

/v/ voiced labiodental Fricative (Exceptionally, by ph in Stephen, nephew
and f in of).

24
 The sound is rendered graphically by th:
thin, method, path.
/θ/ voiceless dental Fricative
The sound often occurs in clusters difficult
to pronounce: eighths,, depths, lengths..

The sound is always spelt th, like its

/ð/ voiced dental Fricative
voiceless counterpart: within, then, they..

It is spelt s, ss or c in front of e, i or y:
sour, say, hiss, assign, ceiling, cellar,
cigarette, precise, cypress, bicycle.
/s/ voiceless alveolar Fricative
Sometimes the spelling can be sce, sci or
scy: science, scent, scene, scythe; s is silent
in words like corps, island, viscount.

The sound is spelt z. It is often spelt s

when the sound does not occur in initial
positon: nose, easy, desire, and,
exceptionally, tz in tzar.
Similarly, when it marks the plural of
nouns ending in a voiced sound (e.g. boys,
/z/ voiced alveolar Fricative balls, ribs) or when it is the voiced
allomorph of the 3rd person singular
present indicative of verbs ending in a
voiced sound (e.g. plays, calls, adds) the
spelling is s.
Exceptionally, the sound can be spelt
double ss in words like dissolve, possess.
It is often spelt sh in words like shoe,
cushion or push.
It can also be spelt s: sure, sugar or ss:
pressure, mission or ci: ancient, delicious,
/∫/ voiceless postalveolar fricative sci: conscious, ce: ocean, si: pension,
mansion, ti: tuition, retribution.
It is a variant of /sj/ in words like issue,
tissue.
In words of French origin the sound is
spelt ch: champagne, charade, chargé,
25
 moustache, attaché.
The same spelling is used in proper names
like Charlotte, Chicago, Chicoutimi,
Michigan.
It can be spelt either s when followed by u:
visual or i: decision, or z if followed by u:
seizure or ge: massage, espionage.
/ʒ/ voiced postalveolar Fricative In words like casual the alternative
pronunciation /zj/ is possible, while in
other cases the fricative is replaced by the
affricate /dʒ/ (e.g. garage).
The sound is spelt r: rain, ring or rr:
/ɹ/ voiced retroflex approximant
carry, marry

The sound may be spelt y (as in year)

while in words spelt with u, ue, ui, ew, eu
/j/ voiced palatal approximant
and eau read as the long vowel /u:/ the
palatal sound is often inserted.

It can be rendered graphically either by the

/w/ voiced labial + velar approximant letter w (the most common case) (e.g.
sweet) or by u (e.g. quite).

The phoneme is spelt either l or ll in words

like link or call, for instance. In many
words, however, before plosive sounds like
lateral /k/ or /d/ – cf. chalk, could; or before
/l/ voiced alveolar
approximant nasals like /m/ or /n/ – cf. calm, Lincoln;
the labio-dental fricatives /f/ and /v/ – cf.
calf, calves; the lateral sound is not
pronounced.
The conservative spelling of English has
preserved the letter h after r in words of
/h/ voiceless glottal fricative Greek origin where no h sound or
aspiration is heard nowadays: rhapsody,
rhetoric, rheumatism, rhinal, rhinoceros,
rhombus, rhyme, rhythm.

26
UNIT 5: THE SYLLABLES

Syllables and their parts

A syllable is a unit of sound composed of a central peak of sonority (usually a vowel), and
the consonants that cluster around this central peak. Words can be cut up into units called
syllables. Humans seem to need syllables as a way of segmenting the stream of speech
and giving it a rhythm of strong and weak beats, as we hear in music. Syllables don't
serve any meaning-signalling function in language; they exist only to make speech easier
for the brain to process. A word contains at least one syllable.

Most speakers of English have no trouble dividing a word up into its component syllables.
Sometimes how a particular word is divided might vary from one individual to another,
but a division is always easy and always possible. Here are some words divided into their
component syllables (a period is used to mark the end of a syllable):

- tomato = to.ma.to
- window = win.dow
- supercalifragilisticexpialidocious = su.per.ca.li.fra.gi.lis.ti.cex.pi.a.li.do.cious (some
people might put some of the periods in different places in this word).

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 all 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 [ r ], [ l ], [ m ], [ n ], 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

If a word contains more than one syllable, each syllable will have the usual syllable parts:

win.dow
to.ma.to

27
pre.pos.te.rous
fun.da.men.tal

Rhyme (or rime): the rest of the syllable, after the onset (the underlined portions of the
words above). The rhyme can also 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 [ l r ] and nasals [ m n ] and the velar nasal usually spelled 'ng' can also
be syllable nuclei.

Parts Description Optionality

Onset Initial segment of a syllable Optional

Core of a syllable, consisting of a nucleus and coda

Rhyme Obligatory
(see below)

– Nucleus Central segment of a syllable Obligatory

– Coda Closing segment of a syllable Optional

The syllable structure analysis of the words 'read', 'flop', 'strap' and 'window' are as
follows (IPA symbols are used to show the sounds in the word/syllable):

read = one syllable

Onset = [ r ]

Rhyme = [ id ] (within the rhyme:)

- Nucleus = [ i ]
- Coda = [ d ]

flop = one syllable

28
Onset = [ f l ]

Rhyme = [ a p ]

- Nucleus = [ a ]
- Coda = [ p ]

window = 2 syllables

First syllable: [wIn]

Onset = [ w ]

Rhyme = [ I n ]

- Nucleus = [ I ]
- Coda = [ n ]

Second syllable: [ d o ]

Onset = [ d ]

Rhyme = [ o ]

- Nucleus = [ o ]
- (This syllable has no coda)

Linguists often use tree diagrams to illustrate syllable structure.

29
'Flop', for example, would look like this (the word appears in IPA symbols, not English
spelling). 'σ' = 'syllable'; 'O' = 'onset'; 'R' = 'rhyme'; '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 [ l ]. The Rhyme node branches
because this syllable has both a nucleus and a coda.

Liquids and nasals as syllable nuclei

The English liquids [ ‹ l ] and the nasals [ m n ] can be the nuclei of syllables under
certain conditions. [ l ] can be a nucleus as easily as a vowel. For example, the words
'table', 'little', both have [ l ] as the nucleus; in other words, there is no vowel in the
pronunciation of these syllables.

When one of these sounds is a syllable nucleus, this is shown in transcription by putting a
very short vertical line under the IPA symbol:
[rlmn]
'' ' '
In terms of consonants and vowels, the following words represent the following
structures:

VC CV CCV CCCV
up my pry screw
an hoe grow spray
in so free stray

VCC VCCC CVCCC CVCCCC

old Olds test thirsts
and ants tenths texts
ink amps lunged worlds

30
CVC CCVC CVCC CCVCC
bed bred bald brand
set dread sand trains
cap stone hunt swings

CCCVC CCCVCC CCVCCC CCCVCCC

strut struts slurps scrimps
squat squats prints sprints
sprain sprained flirts squelched

Phonotactic constraints

All languages except sign languages use sequences of phones to make words. No
languages allow sounds to combine freely. That is, there are always constraints on what
phones any particular phone can precede and follow. These constraints are called
phonotactic constraints. The sum total of all the phonotactic constraints of a language is
called its phonotactics.

o In any syllable-internal sequence of a nasal and a stop, the nasal and the stop must have
the same place of articulation:

Actual Impossible Possible

hand *hamd Hant

taunt *taumt Taund

punk *pumk pung

o In any 2-consonant onset, the second consonant must be a sonorant.

Actual Impossible

Please *ptease

Proud *psoud

Pure *pshure

31
Twin *tdin

Trust *tpust

Queen *ksean

Clean *cshean

Cream *cteam

o In any 3-consonant cluster in an onset, the first consonant must be [s]: splash, strong,
spew .
o In any 3-consonant cluster in an onset, the second consonant must be a voiceless stop
[p,t,k]: splash, strong, spew , extreme.

Initial consonant clusters in English containing a voiceless stop

Labial + sonorant Coronal + sonorant Velar + sonorant

[pl] please [tl] ____ [kl] clean

[pr] proud [tr] trade [kr] cream
[pw] ____ [tw] twin [kw] queen
[pj] pure [tj] tune [kj] cute
[spl] splat [stl] ____ [skl] sclerosis
[spr] spring [str] strip [skr] scrap
[spw] ____ [stw] ____ [skw] squeak
[spj] spew [stj] stew [skj] skewer

32
 UNIT 6: STRESS

Word stress

In every word in English, there is one main emphasized syllable. The vowel sound in this
syllable sounds higher in pitch, longer, and louder, and this is called stress. This helps
create the rhythm of the language, and knowing how to recognize the stressed syllable
will help you with comprehension. Placing the stress where it should be when you're
speaking helps native speakers understand you better as well.

Common English word stress patterns

English word stress is not always on the same syllable, like in some languages. Many
times, though, it is one of the last three syllables in the word. Here are some examples of
stress in different syllables of the word:

computer languages pronunciation

Could you hear a difference in tone, length, and loudness between the stressed and
unstressed syllables?

Sometimes you can predict the stress placement because of the type of word or the ending
you put on it. Here are some general rules:

Word type Where is the stress? Examples

center
Nouns on the first syllable object
flower
Two syllables
release
Verbs on the last syllable admit
arrange

desktop
Nouns
pencil case
Compound (N + N) on the first part
bookshelf
(Adj. + N)
greenhouse

33
 well-meant
Adjectives hard-headed
(Adj. + P.P.) old-
on the last part (the verb fashioned
part)
understand
Verbs
overlook
(prep. + verb)
outperform

turn off
Phrasal Verbs on the particle buckle up
hand out

economic
-ic geometric
the syllable before the electrical
ending technician
-tion, -cian, -sion graduation
Word with added cohesion
ending photography
-phy, -gy, -try, -cy, -fy,
biology
-al
the third from the last geometry
syllable parameter
-meter thermometer
barometer

Sentence stress (4)

Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. Like word stress, sentence stress can help
us to understand spoken English, especially when spoken fast.

Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or "beat". We should remember that
word stress is accent on one syllable within a word. Sentence stress is accent on certain
words within a sentence.

34
Rules for Sentence Stress in English

In English sentences, not all words are given equal emphasis. Key words (usually the
words that contain new or important information) are stressed and pronounced more
slowly and clearly than other words. Take, for example, the question "Are you going to
go to Boston?" If the focus of the question is on where the listener will go, the sentence
will sound something like "Ya gonna go ta Boston"; the word "Boston" would be
pronounced clearly and with more emphasis. If, in contrast, the emphasis is on who is
going, the sentence would sound like "Are you gonna go ta Boston?" While students don't
necessarily need to learn to reduce the unimportant words in sentence, they should learn
to stress key ones. (Students should also be made aware of English word reductions for
listening comprehension.)

The basic rules of sentence stress are:

o content words are stressed

o structure words are unstressed
o the time between stressed words is always the same

The following tables can help you decide which words are content words and which
words are structure words:

Content words - stressed

Words carrying the

Example
meaning

main verbs SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY

nouns CAR, MUSIC, MARY

adjectives RED, BIG, INTERESTING

QUICKLY, LOUDLY,
adverbs
NEVER

negative auxiliaries DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

Structure words - unstressed

35
Words for correct grammar Example

pronouns he, we, they

prepositions on, at, into

articles a, an, the

conjunctions and, but, because

auxiliary verbs do, be, have, can, must

Exceptions

The above rules are for for what is called "neutral" or normal stress. But sometimes we
can stress a word that would normally be only a structure word, for example to correct
information. Look at the following dialogue:

"They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?"

"No, THEY haven't, but WE have."

Note also that when "be" is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed (even though in
this case it is a content word).

36
 UNIT 7: INTONATION

Definition

In phonetics, intonation is the melodic pattern of an utterance. Intonation is primarily a

matter of variation in the pitch level of the voice, but in such languages as English, stress
and rhythm are also involved. Intonation conveys differences of expressive meaning (e.g.,
surprise, anger, wariness)5.

1. Pitch

To understand intonation, it is first necessary to define pitch, the relative highness or

lowness of the voice. It is important to note that the phonetic notion of pitch is relative,
referring to the differentiated pitch levels of a given speaker - not to the lower versus
higher pitches of men’s and women’s voices or the differing pitch variations of different
speakers.

In fact, pitch in its phonetic meaning corresponds quite closely to the definition of pitch in
music. For example, ascending do, re, and mi represent progressively higher tones, or
musical pitch. We distinguish four levels of phonetic pitch in English:

4 = extra high
3 = high
2 = middle
1 = low

Normal conversation moves between middle and high pitch, with low pitch typically
signaling the end of an utterance. The extra high level is generally used to express a
strong emotion such as surprise, great enthusiasm, or disbelief, and is the pitch level often
used in contrastive or emphatic stress. English makes use of pitch variation over the
length of an entire utterance rather than within one word.

If pitch represents the individual tones of speech, then intonation can be thought of as the
entire melodic line. Intonation involves the rising and falling of the voice to various pitch
levels during the articulation of an utterance. It performs several unique functions. First,
intonation reflects the grammatical function of an utterance. For example:

37
If the utterance is pronounced with a rising - falling intonation, then it signals speaker
certainty, which often corresponds to a declarative statement. However, pronounced with
rising intonation, the same sequence of phonemes signals uncertainty and corresponds to
a special type of yes/no question with statement word order but rising intonation.

Intonation also performs the function of conveying an attitude or emotion. For example,
the simple utterance “Great” can be used to express three different shades of meaning:

Clearly, the attitude of the speaker will vary in these three instances, with intonation
conveying a great deal of the difference. Thus in statement 1, the overall effect of the
slightly falling intonation is that the speaker's comment is neutral or perfunctory, whereas
in statement 2, the broader movement from high to low signifies that the speaker is
genuinely enthusiastic. In contrast, the flatter intonation of the last statement signifies lack
of enthusiasm or sarcasm on the part of the speaker.

The movement of pitch within an intonation unit is referred to as the intonation contour
of that unit. Such contours span the range of extra high pitch to low pitch. These levels
are highly dependent on discourse meaning and prominence, with rises in intonation co-
occurring with the highlighted or more important words that receive prominence within
the sentence. Thus pitch and prominence can be said to have a symbiotic relationship with
each other in English, and the interrelationship of these phenomena determines the
intonation contour of a given utterance. The next three sections summarize the most
common intonation contours in English.

38
2. Most common intonation contours

2.1. Rising - falling intonation

One of the most common patterns is the rising-falling contour. In this pattern, the
intonation typically begins at a neutral middle level (2) and then rises to a high level (3)
on the main stressed element of the utterance. The intonation then falls to either the low
level (1) - a terminal fall, signaling certainty and generally corresponding to the end of the
utterance - or to the middle level (2) - a non-terminal fall, signaling a weaker degree of
certainty and usually corresponding to an unfinished statement, an incomplete thought, or
a mood of suspense. If the prominent syllable is the last syllable in the thought group, the
fall is a glide:

(glide)

If, on the other hand, the stressed syllable is part of a multisyllabic word with other
unstressed syllables after it, then the fall occurs on the unstressed element immediately
following the main stressed syllable and is called a step:

Rising-falling intonation patterns of the 2-3-1 "certainly” type (i.e., the utterance begins at
level 2, rises to level 3, and then falls to level 1) typically signal the following types of
utterances: declarative statements, wh- questions (questions with the interrogative
pronouns where, when, what, who, why, how much), and commands or directives

39
Two further types of utterances can use rising-falling intonation contours. However, in
these cases the pitch levels also vary from the 2- 3-1 pattern. The first of these utterances
uses a 2- 3- 2 non-terminal fall with a slight rise at the end, indicating that the utterance is
an unfinished statement in which the speaker has left something unsaid it implied:

40
In some unfinished statements, the speaker uses the 2- 3- 2 pattern with a slight rise at the
end to create suspense:

The other utterance using a rising-falling intonation occurs after a 2-3-1 contour and
employs a 3- 1 contour. This contour occurs in tag question eliciting agreement, in which
the speaker is requesting confirmation from the interlocutor. Functioning almost kike a
statement, the typically signal certainty:

41
2.2 Rising intonation

Another common intonation pattern in English is the rise. Rise in intonation usually
begins at the syllable with discourse prominence and continues slightly until the and of
the phrase:

There are two different rise contours: one that moves from middle to high level (2-3 or 2-
4), depending on the amount of emotion being expressed, and another that rises from low
to midlevel (1-2). The middle - to - high rise (2-3 or 2-4) signals uncertainty. The
following utterance types tend to follow this pattern: yes/no questions using question
word order, open choice alternative questions, yes/no questions using statement word
order, unfinished statements creating suspense, echo question, repetition questions, and
tag questions signaling uncertainty.

In the first of these, yes/ no questions, the speaker asks a question, phrased in question
word order, to which the expected answer is yes or no.

42
In the next pattern, open-choice alternative questions, the listener has a free choice of a
alternatives being offered. It is unclear whether other options are available, but the
listener is given the chance to reject all of the alternatives.

The next category involves utterances that look like statements in terms of their syntax
but function as questions. Such statements are unlike normal yes/no questions in that
speaker already has some evidence to confirm the statement. Both 2-3 and 2-4 rise
patterns are possible - the latter if surprise or disbelief is being expressed:

Occasionally, as a conversational strategy, a speaker will repeat a question before

answering it. In these types of questions, commonly known as echo questions, there is a
2-3 rise pattern. For example, in answer to Speaker A question “What are you doing this
weekend?” Speaker B might begin with the following echo question:

43
Repetition questions ask for repetition usually because the speaker could not hear what
was said or the speakers could not believe what was said. These types of questions can
follow statements, yes/no questions, or wh-questions.

In the case of a 2 -3 pitch contour, the question means "Could you repeat what you said? I
didn’t hear you.” Suppose that Speaker A asks, “What are you doing this weekend?” to
which Speaker B replies, "I'm going skiing” If Speaker A has not understood, a repetition
question is asked:

With a more exaggerated pitch rise, on the other hand, the question means “I can’t believe
what I just hear. Tell me a gain.” Assuming for example, that Speaker B’s answer to
question “What are you doing this weekend?” is “I’m doing skydiving ,” Speaker A might
signal disbelief through a rise to level 4:

44
Unlike the category of tag questions eliciting agreement, tag questions signaling
uncertainty are more like true yes/no questions. The speaker may have some prior
assumption but allows for the possibility of either a ”yes” or “no” response:

2.3 Other paterns

As noted previously, there are two basic options for sentence - final intonation in English
- rising-falling and rising patterns. However, internal to a given sentence, there may also
be a series of rises or falls that occur as a result of the syntax.

In the first combination, elements occur in a series, with each item in the series receiving
rising intonation (usually 2-3) until the final item, which receives rising - falling
intonation (2-3- 1).

The identical pattern is found in closed-choice alternative questions. Again, each

alternative receives rising intonation until the final one - signaling that no other options
are available and the speaker is expected to select from the closed set of choices
presented.

45
This pattern of closed-choice alternative questions contrasts both in intonation contour
and meaning with the open choice alternative questions described earlier. Compare:

(Closed choice: Which credit card are you going to pay with: Master Card or Visa)

In appositive constructions, defined as a phrase or clause that follows and modifies a noun
giving added information, the 1- 2 -1 contour signals that the clarifying appositive
information is uttered as an aside.

46
A related construction is the parenthetical expression. Similar to appositives, these
expressions are often uttered as asides, signaled through the intonation contour used by
the speaker. Parentheticals include utterances such as direct address (John, Dr. Martin),
polite expressions (please, thank you), adverbials (unfortunately, one in a while),
expressions of opinion (I’m afraid, you know), and epithets or expletives (that jerk,
damn). These parenthetical elements, when they appear sentence initially, can be signaled
either through a rising falling pattern:

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A second pattern used with middle-sentence and sentence-final parenthetical moves from
low to middle level (1-2), with the rise in intonation coinciding with the main stressed
syllable of the parenthetical:

In compound or complex sentences, each clause has its own intonation pattern, which
more or less corresponds to the rules given previously. In other words, each clause may
terminate in rising intonation or rising-falling intonation, depending on its particular
syntax. However, in the case of falling intonation patterns with non-final clauses, the fall
usually terminates at level 2.

As we mentioned previously, certain basic principles governing English prominence

exist: however, the speaker’s intentions may override typical patterns in order to assign
special prominence to a different element in the utterance. This is also true for intonation.
In fact, as we have seen, intonation contours are directly connected to the prominent
syllable. Therefore it is logical that if the prominent element shifts according to discourse
context, then the intonation pattern will also change.

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 UNIT 8: ASSIMILATION

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.

There are three types of assimilation in English: (1) progressive, (2) regressive (or
anticipatory), and (3) coalescent.

Progressive assimilation

In progressive assimilation the conditioning sound precedes and affects the following
sound. Examples of progressive assimilation in English are the regular plural /s/ vs. /z/
alternation, in which the final sound of the stem conditions the voiced or voiceless form
of the suffix. This type of assimilation also occurs in the regular past tense /t/ vs. /d/
alternation:

Conditioning sound Assimilated sound

-s ending
bags /bæg → z/
backs /bæk → s/
-d ending
moved /mu:v → d/
fished /fw∫ → t/

For the plusal -s ending, the voiced /g/ of bags conditions the voiced from of the -s
ending, causing it to be pronounced /z/, whereas the voiceless /k/ of backs conditions the
/s/ pronunciation of the ending. Notice the same type of conditioning occurs in the -d
endings.

Progressive assimilation also occurs in some contractions (e.g., it + is → it’s / it + iz →

its). Most of the progressive assimilation in English occurs at the intersection of
phonology and morphology.

Regressive assimilation

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In English, regressive assimilation is more pervasive as a purely phonological process
than is progressive assimilation. In regressive assimilation, the assimilated sound precedes
and is affected by the conditioning sound. Examples of this type of phenomenon are the
words grandpa (the /p/ causes the /nd/ to be articulated as /m/: /græmpa/) and pancake
(the /k/ causes the /n/ to become /ŋ/: / pæŋkewk/).

Regressive assimilation occurs commonly in the periphrastic modals has/have to (when

expressing obligation) and used to (when expressing former habitual action):

have + to → “hafta”
/hæv/ + /tu:/ → /hæft /
has + to → “hasta”
/hæz/ + /tu:/ → /hæst/
used + to → “usta”
/ju:zd/ + /tu:/ → /ju:st/

In these examples, the voiceless /t/ of to is the conditioning sound that causes the voiced
/v/, /z/, and /d/ preceding it to assimilate and become voiceless /f/, /s/, and /t/ :

Assimilated sound ← Conditioning sound

hæf ← t
hæs ← t
ju:s ← t

Another clear example of regressive assimilation is reflected in the English spelling

system - namely, in the four allomorphic variants of the negative prefix. Note that the
unmarked allomorph in- occurs in all cases except when the subsequent sound is a bilabial
or a liquid: indecent, inept, invalid. In the case of im-, the initial bilabial sound of the root
words causes the organs of speech to approach a position closer to that of the conditioning
sound, as in impossible or immobile. Similarly, with the liquids /l/ and /r/, the negative
prefix is conditioned or changed to il- and ir- respectively, as in illogical and irrational:

ir- in- im- il-

irreplaceable inoperative impossible illogical
irresponsible inflexible imbalanced illegal
irrelevant indifferent immeasurable illegitimate

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irrational inexcusable immobile illegible
irregular intangible impartial illiberal

As exemplified by the negative allomorphs il- and ir-, assimilated sounds often become
identical to the conditioning sound.

Coalescent assimilation

The third type of assimilation, coalescent assimilation, is a type of reciprocal assimilation:

The first sound and second sound in a sequence come together and mutually condition the
creation a third sound with features from both original sounds.

This process occurs most frequently in English when final alveolar consonants such as /s,
z/ and /t, d/ or final alveolar consonant sequences such as /ts, dz/ are followed by initial
palatal /j/. They then become palatalized fricatives and affricates, respectively:

Within words, the /j/ sound (which is generally in an unstressed syllable) may be the
initial sound of a suffix or the subsequent bound part of the word (e.g., -ure, -ion, ious);

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across words, the /j/ sound comes from a second word beginning in /j/, typically you or
your. This type of assimilation is often referred to as palatalization.

As with linking, the amount of assimilation that occurs in native - speaker speech will
depend on a number of variables, such as the formality of the situation, the rate of speech,
and the style of the speaker.

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 TÀI LIỆU THAM KHẢO

1. English Phonetics and Phonology. Danang College of Foreign Languages (For

in-service Classes)
2. Joahn Laver (1994), Principles of Phonetics. Cambridge University Press.
3. Nguyen Minh Tam (2000), A glossary on phonetic terms, NXBGD.
4. Roach, Peter (1991). English Phonetics and Phonology- A Practical Course.
Cambridge University Press.
+ Websites tham khảo:
1. http://wac.colostate.edu/books/sound/chapter4.pdf
2.https://www.uni-oldenburg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/anglistik/personen/
cornelia.hamann/ Phonology.pdf
3. http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/PHONOLOGY1.htm

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