English Variety + Allophony

January 15, 2014

For Friday• Please take a stab at the following exercises from

Chapter 2 of A Course in Phonetics before Wednesday:

• A 1-10

• B 11-20

• D 31-40

• (American speaker)

• (phonemic transcriptions)

• Here’s the online link:

• http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter2/exercises.htm

• This will be a practice transcription exercise that we will go over together in class.

A Word of Caution• The vowel system of English can vary greatly from one dialect to another.

• Ex: the vowels of Canadian English have shifted away from their American counterparts…

• (for some, but not all, speakers)

• Shift #1:

• Shift #2:

Unshifted:

Unshifted:

• There are also new shifts underway!

• Shift #3: “head”

• Shift #4: “hid”

• Shift #5: “hood”

/u/-fronting• The final element of the shift involves the “fronting” of the vowel /u/.

• Compare:

Los Angeles

Saskatoon

• Note that not every Canadian does this.

Calgary

• Also note that North American vowel systems are diverging:

• Chicago

• Saskatoon

• New York CitySource: http://accent.gmu.edu

Moral of the Story #1• Your phonemic system might be different from the “official” transcriptions in the book.

• If you don’t believe what the book says, you may very well be right.

• Pay attention to both your speech and the phonetic habits of those around you...

• You might learn something!

What’s Going On?• Vowel articulations can be characterized along four

dimensions:

1. Height (of tongue body)

• high, mid, low

2. Front-back (of tongue body)

• front, central, back

3. Roundedness (of lips)

• rounded vs. unrounded

4. “Tenseness”

• tense/lax

Corner Vowels

X-Ray Videos

The (American) Vowel Space

The Canadian Shift, Diagrammed

X

Further Observations• In the Canadian vowel shift:

• However, this rule only applies to native .

• For borrowed words, [a] or [æ]

• For example:

pasta

Mazda

gracias

garage

• Also note: William Shatner.

Moral of the Story #2• Phonology is important.

• Sounds exhibit patterns in a language.

• Remember:

• Specific allophones of a phoneme often emerge in specific phonetic contexts.

• Ex: the flap in English.

• appears when /t/ or /d/ precede an unstressed syllable

• metal metallic

• The production of specific allophones is often specified by phonological rule.

Patterns• There is an interesting rule regarding the production of in some English dialects.

• Compare Canadian English with English English

CE EE

“care”

“park”

“read”

“other”

“ride”

“carrot”

“cart”

• Do you see any patterns?

The Rules• In English English:

• surfaces as when it precedes vowels

• Examples: read, carrot

• surfaces as when it appears at the end of a syllable or word

• Examples: care, other

• makes a preceding vowel long when it appears before a consonant in the same syllable

• Examples: park, cart

Rhotic vs. Non-Rhotic• Note: English is divided up between “rhotic” dialects and “non-rhotic” dialects

• rhotic: appears everywhere

• non-rhotic: disappears, sometimes

• Rhotic dialects:

• Canadian English, General American, Irish English, Scots English…

• Non-Rhotic dialects:

• English English, Australian English, some areas of the American East Coast…

Overheard in New YorkOld lady with heavy accent, pointing to a closed store:

What’s that?

Young lady: I’m not sure.

Old lady: Is that a pahwn shop?

Young lady (startled): No, that looks like a pawn shop…

Old lady: That’s what I said--a pahwn shop.

Young lady (relieved): Ohhh, I thought you said ‘porn shop’!

Old lady: No, I said, ‘pahwn’, not ‘pahwn.’

Young lady: Oh, you say them exactly the same!

Source: www.overheardinnewyork.com

Overheard in New YorkOld lady: I do?

Young lady: Yeah! Saw ‘aw.’

Old lady: Ahw.

Young lady: Now say ‘or.’

Old lady: Ahw.

Young lady: No, it’s orrr. With an R.

Old lady: That’s what I said -- ‘ahw’.

Source: www.overheardinnewyork.com