Henry Rogers: The Sounds of Language

January 29, 2009

1 Introduction

perl le)o^ aql z.[ aJnotJ

eaqOEJ-L

........ splo] lEcon

xu^iel

aldde s,uepv

srllot6rdf

tp/Alea6ufueqd

';. sdt-l

tsnbEqdosff

xu^Jeud

lee6u^iet

spu

noi

l,!tJIP 1

-uot

mo.

lBsr

xutueq4..i

xu{.reqd 1e.rg "

xuLreqd lesery ..

enbuol

li1rnec 1et6

{1tnec;esery

se s+Jed aaJr{+ olur p;

::'.:";,";;;#"1':'Jii:"Tl] ,:jil: f:"u pue rplo aq, q,r^4 xvrrel

j,t^ j.:,:ltil rno.{ yo >[Jeq aq] aas upr no^t,,,l.ol'nqd arlt 'JJe,rt

tea8u.&eqi ,rorrrur aqr ur yoor

";r,j:^;t*" ffifil;l;,*,_r"i:;H;il''.x ,n.fj

ff fi ;'"J,T;f",",Ti"ly',,:::,:'":#:? j:'.t-{'{i,ytri""*:t#

xu{.req4

:;i::f ):::.:]{t ji;i:I::::;t!:,,:!.#r":y3;,,;LYn,nu,r,1

'/reT,,, *,,iill" JilTh'"Ti,lH i'.J,?^, iT r,:' J:,?j, Hd

::J::{i#ff ',ili?:}ff [f##li'i*ff;':#::iHl'i'"'Jiii:::ff

t. 3e paa o'r "u+ s"*i" n'1 ;#:i" :tff: .]l".:fi :;:f JH :ill

noJ

noisaSr

'rad

eBu

stxuoq

-IFIaql :

/asol

Jo sl

pr_rf ,

ar{l sadeq

-e8r

lno pr/qlaa(

;o dol

ryJUOj

snqluStmur

ldpoq;Jre ag+

-{learqsrrfe'

1

2 Consonants

Consonants are classified along 3 dimensions:

• voicing (vocal folds apart / vocal folds together & vibrating)

• place of articulation (labial = bilabilal, labiodental; coronal = dental, alveolar, postalveolar, retroflex, dorsal = palatal,

velar; glottal; labial-velar)

• manner of articulation (stops, fricatives, approximants = laterals, glides, retroflex / /; affricates; nasals)

Other terms:

• obstruents: oral stops, fricatives, affricates

• sonorants: nasal stops, approximants, glides, vowels

• liquids: laterals, r-like sounds

• sibilants: /s/, /z/

LZ

dutnt6 pue s1/ag,to s6urnne.rp aul-l t'Z arn6g

leuotg

lesroc

let

1d6 t/ sq,/

anrlefu+ leuoJo) ssala)ro^ e ,ro 6urnnelp aul-l !'Z arnSg

/ poclo^

\t/\

leuote

leuoroc

oJnsolc o^rlesul

letqE|-l

'aurl Jrlal aql uo sreadde dwruY ur uoqrsupJ+ /&t1aql searaqM 'sqpq ur au{ Ieuoror aq} uo sreadde /s}I/ a)uanbas aq1 ,,*oq

aqo111 'dy1ryar!r asaql dprls 'dwnfi pue /slpq sprom aql smor{s y7 atn3rg'auq lq8rerls p qlyr{ auq ppo13 aql uo ssalaJrol sr /s/ aq+ +eq} os1e pu! aurl

Ieuoror ar{} uo /s/ eq+ roJ arnlJrr}s a^r}eJr{ e rl+lzlt /DsD/ s^ oqs 9.7 arn8rg'ssalaJrol JoJ aurl lq8rerls e pue 'pecrozr JoJ aurl pa3?e[ e 1sqo13 aql Jo

qsr16u3 lo spunos )!see or{t r I

al!ls aql ^

or

uMorls SI PulErI] puE sJn;

aqo11 'd1r,rqJ

qlF 'ampr.4pue're1oaa1'do1s e ro; :-rurxordde udilry lsatrq o

'saurl ar-1o13 e ldarxSura,toqs sau

gede trretua

Surrnq'do1

'uado sr peq

2

2.1 English consonants

2.1.1 Allophones and phonemes

Levels for representing sounds: phonemic/phonological & phonetic/allophonic

• phonemes - /p/; broad transcription

• allophones - [p], [ph]; narrow transcription

• sounds in free variation - eg. [p] and [ph] in word-final position in English

2.1.2 Voicing

In English, voiced obrstruents are partially voiceless when they occur at the beginning or end of the word.

2.1.3 Length

In English, consonants at the end of the word are slightly longer than at the beginning (kick [ ])

2.1.4 Place of articulation

Dental assimilation - assimilation of alveolars before dentals to the dental place of articulation (width [ ]).

Retroflexion - assimilation of alveolars to the retroflexed position after an / / (bird [ ]).

The postalveolars / / and the retroflex / / have inherent rounding which is independent of the context.

The velar stops /k g/ are fronted if they are followed by a front vowel (key [ ]).

Homorganic nasals - nasals which assimilate to the place of articulation of the following consonant (symphony [ ]).

2.1.5 Manner of articulation

Aspiration = a delay in the onset of voicing in the segment following the aspirated stop (vowels and sonorants). Voiceless

stops are aspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable, except after syllable-initial /s/ or at the beginning of an unstressed

syllable (tip [ ], plum [ ], impel [ ], spy [ ], looking [ ].

Coarticulation = gestures of one sound are not completely descrete as to timing from those of its neighbors.

• rounding of consonants before a rounded vowel (two [ ])

• overlapping of release and onset in two neighboring stops (apt [ ])

3

ts

'Jlaslr IaMo^ arll Jo af,ue^pe uI uorlrsod papunoJ e aurnsse

sdq aql teql p!J aql o] anp se paureldxa sr Surpunor sn{J '[sn^u] zsoo,

'InM+l oml ''3'a :1aazro,r papunoJ e aJoJaq aar8ap auros ol papunoJ a;Ie slueuos

-uoJ ]sonl 'uorl!Inf,rueor dq paureldxa aq ue) suorlelJezr truoqdolp duey,q

'srnoqq8rau slr Jo asor{l tuor; Surtur} ol se alaJJSIp dlaqalduor

lou aJ! punos auo Jo sarnlsa8 aq] ler{l }JeJ aq} ol sJaJaJ uoll!InJl1r!oJ'/e/ alq;l Jo pua aql aroJaq /l/ aW ro; dpear 3ur11a8 spre.ndn Surnotu

sr an8uol aLIl Jo {Jeq aLIl 'asrazra4l 'tdl aql Jo pua ar{l l! ged sdq aql

aroJaq /J/ toluorlrsod e ol salour an8uol ar{} peJ uI' /l - 3 - d/ aluanbas

ar{l ul Jnf,Jo spunos aql 4cad se q)ns pJor\ P uI l!ql des arvr q8noql1y

uolleln)lueo)

'lsoru ar{l '[ol] pue ']seal aql seq [p] lssau

-ssalaJrol auros a,reLl sdols reloa,rp IIe uoqrsod p4rut ur +eql aas a^\ snrlJ'paseaIaJ

sr dols aql raue IaMo^ aq+ olul [un yed sanuquoJ dols arp Jo ssaussalaJlol

ar{} araH '[ul] dols palerrdse ue sMoLIs g'g arn8rg;o uorpod ruopoq aql('suo4elou luap.r,rnba are [l] pue [p] +eq] aloN) 'parro^ dlaqaldruor sr IaMo^aql pue 'ssalaJrorr dlalaldruoc sr dols aql 'sm{I 'do1s aq} Jo asealal aql qll.tr

snoauellnwrs sr 8unro.,r. Jo lasuo aql '[]l doqs palerrds!un ssalaJro^ aql uI'Suroron ur a+uJqr^

o1 ur8aq sploJ I!ro^ aql 'do1s aq1 q8norql de.ra, pe4 '[p] paqrrosuer] sr uort

-rod qql luo4rsod ssalaJrol E ur aJe sploJ Ie)o^ aql 'dols ar{l ol Suruur8aq

sdols palerrdse ssala)ron pue 'ssala)ro^ 'pa)ro^ Jo+ umoqs

'6urrron o1 uorlelar ur arnsol) Jeloanle eql +o 6urturl aq1 g'g-arn6;g

tellote

lEUoroc

[o1] peleudsy' [o]

ali

e

p!

-n

aI

ln'p

sd

3t

r.n

SI

1u

'tr

UI

fil

nl

hleilole

'[r

JN

1a

aa

u(

[1] ssegectol

slueuosuo) qsr;6u3 . g

[p] pecrol

hl

leuoroc

The Sounds of Language

A particular type of coarticulation, called overlapping, that occurs wistops is shown in words such as apt. Phonemically, the word is / ept/ v,t)

a simple sequence of /p/ followed by /t/. Phonetically, however, the /t/formed before the /p/ is released (Figure 8.4).Try saying apt;now, sayagain, but stop half-way through, during the /p/ . You will probably frthe tip of your tongue already at the alveolar ridge before the /p/ is t

leased. There is a short period when the closures for /p/ and. /t/ overlawe do not hear the release of the /p/ when the lips part because the tonghas already made a closure for the /t/. por this reason, we say that insequence of two overlapping stops, the first is released silently (Hendersand Repp, 1982); we can show this as tfil. We do not hear the release of t/p/ or the onset of the /t/.

tFTl, [t]

Labial

Silent releaseCoronal F

-

oilpl: '--=-_-- Silent onset

Voicing of [t]

Figure 3.4 overlapping in apt. The timing of the labial closure is shown inrelation to the alveolar closure

Release

Phonemic voiced stops are usually phonetically somewhat voiceless at tend of a word or phrase, and may be entirely voiceless: Ibed{l or [bed].may seem odd to say that aoiced sounds are aoiceless, but remember that rare dealing with different linguistic levels; stops which are considered voicrat the phonemic level may be voiceless at the phonetic level ln word-initiposition, the crucial phonetic distinction is aspiration.

stops at the end of a phrase may be released immediately or held for sortime so that the release is inaudible. The raised corner [j] is used to shcstops with inaudible release: lab lleb - teb- - lebp - Iebb-I. The allophonof /b/ - tb b- bb bb-l - are thus in free variation with each other: i.e., a finstop may be released audibly or not with no difference in meaning, andmay be completely voiceless or partially voiceless, again with no difference

meaning. There are similar allophones in free variation for /d/ and /g/[ -_--_=.\PhongTically_ vgiceles,s stops aj the end of i1@' Phenctiqally yoiceless. They may be plain, aspirated, or inaudibly re--t"u"e

Like the final allophones of the voiced stops, these three alophones a

also in free variation: hip lhrpl - [hryhl - [hrp-], put lphut] - tphthl - lphufslck [srk] - [srkh1 - [srk-].

52!

Release:

• voiced stop - partly voiceless, entirely voiceless, unreleased (inaudibly released) (lab [ )

• voiceless stop - plain, aspirated, unreleased (inaudibly released) (hip [ ])

When two homorganic stops occur together, the cluster is heard as one long stop, with no release after the first stop: black

cat [ ].

Stops/taps - guided movement/ballistic movement

• nasal tap - winter [ ]

Yod dropping occurs in stressed syllables with a coronal consonant followed by /ju/, where /j/ generally ’falls out’ (there

are some differences between RP and GA): rude [ ], resume [ , ], tune [ , ].

Yod coalescence occurs across word boundaries, in the sequences /t#j/ and /d#j/, which are often realized as [ ] and

[ ], and in the sequences /s#j/ and /z#j/, which are realized as [ ] and [ ]: I’ll hit you [ ]; She fed you [ ]; I’ll

miss you [ ]; I’ll buzz you [ ].

4

/ / and / / are sometimes realized as rounded retroflexed postalveolar affricates: tree [ ], dream [ ].

Glottalisation in RP: word-medial and word-final /t/ is often accompanied by a glottal stop (pit, sitting, bottle [

]). In south-eastern and northern England and in Scotland, glottalisation occurst with /p/ and /k/ as well.

In North America it occurs mostly before syllabic /n/ and rarely elsewhere (button [ ]).

Nasal onset and nasal release occur between a nasal and a homorganic stop: send [ ], Rodney [ ].

Lateral onset and lateral release occur between a lateral and a homorganic stop: build [ ] , fiddler [ ].

5

3 Vowels

There are 3 articulatory qualities of vowels:

• height (high, mid, low)

• backness (front, back)

• rounding (rounded, unrounded) - high vowels - more rounded; back vowels - extended rounding, front vowels -

retracted rounding

Languages prefer low unrounded vowels, and for the non-low vowels, front unrounded and back rounded.

Rounding lowers the frequency of both F1 and F2, particularly F2.

Additional vowel qualities:

• nasalisation (both inherently, and next to a nasal consonant)

• rhotacisation ([ ]) - lowering of the third formant

• expansion - expanded/advanced tongue root [ ] and non-expanded/retracted tongue root [ ] - larger

pharyngeal cavity with expanded vowels! lowering of F1

• length

• tense-lax

Glides = ’moving vowels’; they function either as consonants before a vowel, or as the final portion of a syllable nucleus

after a vowel.

Any vowel position can be used for a glide. The most common ones, [ ], have their own symbols: [ ].

Diphthongs = sequences of a simple vowel and a glide.

• rising (glide-vowel)

• falling (vowel-glide)

t!

l\,lE

k

eo

-lll

,, .l ,Vv

j

.!te c-'ll vlIa

3

hI

I

"(Qe3

CI

1vIE

o

n

e

:sla,vrol 8urano11o; aql sErI dU

ualsrts fa^ on du aqt

1ne16uoq1qdlp aqf

o,u,+ arn areduror uaqr pue dlaleredas

""t#?H ;o sualsds Ia1vIoA aql JaprsuoJ lvrou IIIM aM

pua a_ql s,*or{s peaq^orre aqr qrlno rr"o"r:ffiriliirlpue !uoqlqdlp

".If ;o ged IaMo^ ra^rols arll sMoLIsMorr! aql Jo ged raprqt aq;. ./ Me / Buoqlqdlpar{l smoqs 7y7 an8rg./lvreq/ paqrDsuerl sr moqprom aql tsil.ql-/M/ se lr as{oqurfs snql ampue '/n/ a1r1 uorlrsod papunorun luor; qSrq e o1salour lI 'ap{8 p aJoJaJagl sr pue saloru uo4rod

puoJas aLII'UD/ uror; loquds luaraJJrp e) /e/ se 1r aqrrJsuerl III^^ a,\,t!/e/ pve /D/ vaa,*'q sr uorgod tsrrr arIJ ./n/ e

"111 d.rrqln*os punos

Ia,'oA e o1 sp'rendn sa^ow 11 uar{l ila^o^ "'oI

e q}I ^

JJo sue}s }I .pJo",

:y1 {:,tj:l- ",t: o1 qred o^r ar! araq+ leq} ,nnq p^ ,,oi dp,y"rer ua}srr

nol Jr 'EuruurHaq ar{l }e /I/ aW Burpre8arsrq .l1.,vrois *o, prl^ arl+ SuI

-fes d.r1 (.punos /d/ o: sr arar{l :11igJrp,1_y3 TGog}rprl aU _ guot114d1p

J=?_.::l?T"1ojd,pue Surilads aq1 dgercadsn a1o51;*iffi pue pm6faldrurs e;o aruanbas e s! Buraq auq ar{l roJ paurJap aq-uerpubqlqffiy

s6uoqlqdlq

slamo^ burpereld /M/ pue fu sapu6 eql ll.Z e.rn6p1

7;7 atn611

qsr16u3 lo spunos )!seq aql . Z

'aJ

aurl J,

-snIII

71afi upapue uror

/3/ r- uoF

eq'

e Jag

-uostr'uoqe

ol uol

d+r"dare sd

Surda

6

3.1 English vowels

RP / GA vowels and diphthongs:

RP simple vowels

/i/ beat, see, these, piece

/t/ bit, myth, ring, happy

/t/ bet, bread, said

/e/ bat,land, sang

/z/ purr, stern, heard, fir/ t/ putt, Ioae, lung

/u/ boot, cube, aiezu

/u/ put, wood, should

/t/ bought, jaw, chalk

/o/ pot, rob, box

/ct/ palm, father, far

Our last simple vowel is a mid centralunrounded vowel, slightly lower than /z/(Figure 2.73); it has the special name schwaand is written /a/. In Rp schwa occursonly in unstressed syllables. Listen to thesecond vowel in sofa. This is a schwa; youmay find it hard to hear because it is soshort. If you slow down your pronuncia-tion of sofa in an attempt to focus on theschwa more clearly, you are likely to dis-

1-!

fueer i5-ipear !-o

01te ?l

i-/

/l r IIiur c ;'!

tort its pronunciation. Figure 2.13 Rp simple vowels

/a/ &go, open, enough, receiae, oodka, character, paper, teacher,metre, anchor, colour, martyr

RP diphthongs

The Sounds of Language

best ibit r

bait ej

bet !bat e

Aat _j:,sofa a

but A

boot uput u

Qoat Jnf' bougili-t

1 ,gor-i.;

' _ 0aIn cl

.?

t ll'll'll Uar

_-lboy ( tlbout iaw

\i

1

/aj/ tn.

/aw/ co

/tj/ io,

The diphthongfrom a mid vorrrthe low diphthorrng tncreases as \glide /w/. The tlips are roundedfor the / j/.

/ej/ pe!

/aw/ go.

Three diphthorthe loss of /t/. \'simply disappeari

a /a/ position (Fig

towards a cenfralcentring diphthor

/rc/ beer.

. /ea/ bare.

1 /ua/ cure.

In these diphthcscript diacriUc [p]For the present, hothat in many !\.or(cure, /mt/ moor.

The GA vowel

GA has the follorri

i11Ig

ej ,9-., o\i-e (..9. r!Ao

beat ibit r

bait ej

bet rbat !

The diphthongs /aw aj // (Figure 2.14) ailstart with low vowels and have long glides,either to a high front or high ba-k posi_tion. The vowel / a/ represents a low irontvowel; this is the position where the / aj/and /aw/ diphthongs begin (Figure 2.14).The starting point for / aw / js a little far-ther back th an for / aj/ . Note that the vowelin the diphthong is written / a/ , not / o/ .

32

Figure 2.14 RP lowdiphthongs

_q(

hr

High

The Sounds of Language

GA simple vowels

/i/ beat, see, these, piece, city

/t/ bit, myth, ring

/x/ bet, bread, said

/e/ bat,Iand, sang

/u/ boot, cube, ztiew

put, wood, should

bought, jara, chalk

putt, loue, Iung

palm, father, far, pot, rob, box

Low

Figure 2.17 GA simple vowels

\\"- f/aj/\>A

\\/,"*,Figure 2.18 GA low diphthongs

Figure 2.19 GA mid diphthongs

/u//t/

/ q./

Our last simple vowel is a mid centralunrounded vowel (Figure 2.17);it has thespecial name schwa and is written /a/.In GA, schwa occurs only in unstressedsyllables and before / il .Listento the sec-

ond vowel in sofa. This is a schwa; youmay find it hard to hear because it is so

short. If you slow down your pronuncia-tion of sofa in an attempt to focus on theschwa more clearly, you are likely to dis-tort its pronunciation.

/a/

The diphthongs /aw ajg/ (Figure 2.18)

all start with low vowels and have longglides, either to a high front or high backposition. The vowel /a/ rcpresents a lowfront vowel; this is the position wherethe /aj/ and /aw/ diphthongs begin as

shown in Figure 2.18. Note that the vowelin the diphthong is written /a/, not /s./.

/aj/ my, sigh, write,I/aw/ cow, mouth, ouch, renozon

/tj/ joy, noise, employ, foist

The diphthongs /ej owl (Figure2.t9)both start from a mid vowel with glidesshorter than with the low diphthongs.Notice how the lip rounding increases

as you go from the lower /o/ to thehigher glide /w/. The reverse happenswith /4/; the lips are rounded for the/t/ and become unrounded for the /j/.

/ej/ pay, made, break

/ow/ go, note, road

34

ago/ open, enough, receiae, ztodka, character, purr, fir, heard,paper, teacher

High

RP ar

Phonet

followiAlthoua cons(

he wnthe /hrth" b.grare in

/h,

Line d

On lineGlides :gJtde /jtGA) is s

only as r

Labi:rl

Coronat

Dorsal

Velic

Gbttal

Egure 22!

Say the wtthem, sayir

RP simple vowels

/i/ beat, see, these, piece

/t/ bit, myth, ring, happy

/t/ bet, bread, said

/e/ bat,land, sang

/z/ purr, stern, heard, fir/ t/ putt, Ioae, lung

/u/ boot, cube, aiezu

/u/ put, wood, should

/t/ bought, jaw, chalk

/o/ pot, rob, box

/ct/ palm, father, far

Our last simple vowel is a mid centralunrounded vowel, slightly lower than /z/(Figure 2.73); it has the special name schwaand is written /a/. In Rp schwa occursonly in unstressed syllables. Listen to thesecond vowel in sofa. This is a schwa; youmay find it hard to hear because it is soshort. If you slow down your pronuncia-tion of sofa in an attempt to focus on theschwa more clearly, you are likely to dis-

1-!

fueer i5-ipear !-o

01te ?l

i-/

/l r IIiur c ;'!

tort its pronunciation. Figure 2.13 Rp simple vowels

/a/ &go, open, enough, receiae, oodka, character, paper, teacher,metre, anchor, colour, martyr

RP diphthongs

The Sounds of Language

best ibit r

bait ej

bet !bat e

Aat _j:,sofa a

but A

boot uput u

Qoat Jnf' bougili-t

1 ,gor-i.;

' _ 0aIn cl

.?

t ll'll'll Uar

_-lboy ( tlbout iaw

\i

1

/aj/ tn.

/aw/ co

/tj/ io,

The diphthongfrom a mid vorrrthe low diphthorrng tncreases as \glide /w/. The tlips are roundedfor the / j/.

/ej/ pe!

/aw/ go.

Three diphthorthe loss of /t/. \'simply disappeari

a /a/ position (Fig

towards a cenfralcentring diphthor

/rc/ beer.

. /ea/ bare.

1 /ua/ cure.

In these diphthcscript diacriUc [p]For the present, hothat in many !\.or(cure, /mt/ moor.

The GA vowel

GA has the follorri

i11Ig

ej ,9-., o\i-e (..9. r!Ao

beat ibit r

bait ej

bet rbat !

The diphthongs /aw aj // (Figure 2.14) ailstart with low vowels and have long glides,either to a high front or high ba-k posi_tion. The vowel / a/ represents a low irontvowel; this is the position where the / aj/and /aw/ diphthongs begin (Figure 2.14).The starting point for / aw / js a little far-ther back th an for / aj/ . Note that the vowelin the diphthong is written / a/ , not / o/ .

32

Figure 2.14 RP lowdiphthongs

_q(

hr

High

^,tE[c

+noq

froq

fe a]tqD -u+tud__ _

rrl\^o |aoq.\-n-- ind

! laq

tpQfa +ryq

r ]!Q

I laaq

V!

(v3-d

[a

I

I

D

c

lvlO

o

n

lra.e [e

[c

v lnQ

e alos

poq

:sla^,vrol 3up,ro11o; aql ser{ VD

ruols^s la/l^o^ Vg aql

1ct41 :1en1Jo pealsur /c/ a^evsraleads du aruos ,"rr.':k(fflr't;:;,aloN 'a)ps s,dl'rydrurs JoJ pallluo sr JrlrD!rp aq1 ,raaaa,roq ,luasard

"q; ,og

'16 raldeq3 aas) p^ro^ e 1ou ,apq8 e q +I +erll ^roqs

o1 [8] c4rnelp jagx-qns e qllzvr uaprr.\,r aq fpadord p1nor{s !.\,\r{JS aq} ,s8uoqlqdrp asaql u1

slai,

@q)ox

s6uoqlqdrp 6uuluar 4g

s6uoqlqdrp plru dU

g1'7 ern6r1

rtln[ 'ptnw ,Lnop ,,tootu'atn) /en/ .

,' t:fim1A1 ilaql ,naq'anq /*/

Taat ,aapr ,3wma4'a.@q,naq

/et/'s8uoqlqd;p Surrluar

aql asaql IIeJ ueJ aru, ,uoqrsod I!JluaJ e sprelvlol

salour apr! aqt atu;5.OL.ZarnBrg; uo:nrsod. 1e1 espJe^rol aprlS e aureJaq qr !urreaddesrp dldurs/r/ eqt uBrF raq+er ,aseql qllM ./r/

lo ssoJ ar{l

Jo llnsar rrrolsnl aql are s8uoqqqdrp aarqJ

paot,a1ou'oB /lwe/4aatq,apaw,frad /[a/

.1[1 at41 tolos ssal aruoJaq pue /c/ aq+ JoJ papunoJ are sdrlarp !1[c1 q4zrt suaddeq asra^ar

"q7.1^1 "prp papunoJ aql ol / e / uor; oB nod se saseanur Bur-punor d{

".Il ruroq arr}oN .s8uoqlqdrp

^oi n.Il

qll/v\ ueql Jailor{s saprlS q+-Lvr IaMo^ pRu e woryile+s qloq 191'7 arn8rg) /zvre[a/ s8uoqlqdrp aql

fio1dwa'astou'fro[ /[c/umoua"t 'qlnota'moJ / Me /

I 'a#tm '48ts 'frw /[e /

1!tE

t;

'eo

2

qsr;6u3 lo spunos )!seq aql . Z

^,tE[c

+noq

froq

fe a]tqD -u+tud__ _

rrl\^o |aoq.\-n-- ind

! laq

tpQfa +ryq

r ]!Q

I laaq

V!

(v3-d

[a

I

I

D

c

lvlO

o

n

lra.e [e

[c

v lnQ

e alos

poq

:sla^,vrol 3up,ro11o; aql ser{ VD

ruols^s la/l^o^ Vg aql

1ct41 :1en1Jo pealsur /c/ a^evsraleads du aruos ,"rr.':k(fflr't;:;,aloN 'a)ps s,dl'rydrurs JoJ pallluo sr JrlrD!rp aq1 ,raaaa,roq ,luasard

"q; ,og

'16 raldeq3 aas) p^ro^ e 1ou ,apq8 e q +I +erll ^roqs

o1 [8] c4rnelp jagx-qns e qllzvr uaprr.\,r aq fpadord p1nor{s !.\,\r{JS aq} ,s8uoqlqdrp asaql u1

slai,

@q)ox

s6uoqlqdrp 6uuluar 4g

s6uoqlqdrp plru dU

g1'7 ern6r1

rtln[ 'ptnw ,Lnop ,,tootu'atn) /en/ .

,' t:fim1A1 ilaql ,naq'anq /*/

Taat ,aapr ,3wma4'a.@q,naq

/et/'s8uoqlqd;p Surrluar

aql asaql IIeJ ueJ aru, ,uoqrsod I!JluaJ e sprelvlol

salour apr! aqt atu;5.OL.ZarnBrg; uo:nrsod. 1e1 espJe^rol aprlS e aureJaq qr !urreaddesrp dldurs/r/ eqt uBrF raq+er ,aseql qllM ./r/

lo ssoJ ar{l

Jo llnsar rrrolsnl aql are s8uoqqqdrp aarqJ

paot,a1ou'oB /lwe/4aatq,apaw,frad /[a/

.1[1 at41 tolos ssal aruoJaq pue /c/ aq+ JoJ papunoJ are sdrlarp !1[c1 q4zrt suaddeq asra^ar

"q7.1^1 "prp papunoJ aql ol / e / uor; oB nod se saseanur Bur-punor d{

".Il ruroq arr}oN .s8uoqlqdrp

^oi n.Il

qll/v\ ueql Jailor{s saprlS q+-Lvr IaMo^ pRu e woryile+s qloq 191'7 arn8rg) /zvre[a/ s8uoqlqdrp aql

fio1dwa'astou'fro[ /[c/umoua"t 'qlnota'moJ / Me /

I 'a#tm '48ts 'frw /[e /

1!tE

t;

'eo

2

qsr;6u3 lo spunos )!seq aql . Z

The Sounds of Language

GA simple vowels

/i/ beat, see, these, piece, city

/t/ bit, myth, ring

/x/ bet, bread, said

/e/ bat,Iand, sang

/u/ boot, cube, ztiew

put, wood, should

bought, jara, chalk

putt, loue, Iung

palm, father, far, pot, rob, box

Low

Figure 2.17 GA simple vowels

\\"- f/aj/\>A

\\/,"*,Figure 2.18 GA low diphthongs

Figure 2.19 GA mid diphthongs

/u//t/

/ q./

Our last simple vowel is a mid centralunrounded vowel (Figure 2.17);it has thespecial name schwa and is written /a/.In GA, schwa occurs only in unstressedsyllables and before / il .Listento the sec-

ond vowel in sofa. This is a schwa; youmay find it hard to hear because it is so

short. If you slow down your pronuncia-tion of sofa in an attempt to focus on theschwa more clearly, you are likely to dis-tort its pronunciation.

/a/

The diphthongs /aw ajg/ (Figure 2.18)

all start with low vowels and have longglides, either to a high front or high backposition. The vowel /a/ rcpresents a lowfront vowel; this is the position wherethe /aj/ and /aw/ diphthongs begin as

shown in Figure 2.18. Note that the vowelin the diphthong is written /a/, not /s./.

/aj/ my, sigh, write,I/aw/ cow, mouth, ouch, renozon

/tj/ joy, noise, employ, foist

The diphthongs /ej owl (Figure2.t9)both start from a mid vowel with glidesshorter than with the low diphthongs.Notice how the lip rounding increases

as you go from the lower /o/ to thehigher glide /w/. The reverse happenswith /4/; the lips are rounded for the/t/ and become unrounded for the /j/.

/ej/ pay, made, break

/ow/ go, note, road

34

ago/ open, enough, receiae, ztodka, character, purr, fir, heard,paper, teacher

High

RP ar

Phonet

followiAlthoua cons(

he wnthe /hrth" b.grare in

/h,

Line d

On lineGlides :gJtde /jtGA) is s

only as r

Labi:rl

Coronat

Dorsal

Velic

Gbttal

Egure 22!

Say the wtthem, sayir

The Sounds of Language

GA simple vowels

/i/ beat, see, these, piece, city

/t/ bit, myth, ring

/x/ bet, bread, said

/e/ bat,Iand, sang

/u/ boot, cube, ztiew

put, wood, should

bought, jara, chalk

putt, loue, Iung

palm, father, far, pot, rob, box

Low

Figure 2.17 GA simple vowels

\\"- f/aj/\>A

\\/,"*,Figure 2.18 GA low diphthongs

Figure 2.19 GA mid diphthongs

/u//t/

/ q./

Our last simple vowel is a mid centralunrounded vowel (Figure 2.17);it has thespecial name schwa and is written /a/.In GA, schwa occurs only in unstressedsyllables and before / il .Listento the sec-

ond vowel in sofa. This is a schwa; youmay find it hard to hear because it is so

short. If you slow down your pronuncia-tion of sofa in an attempt to focus on theschwa more clearly, you are likely to dis-tort its pronunciation.

/a/

The diphthongs /aw ajg/ (Figure 2.18)

all start with low vowels and have longglides, either to a high front or high backposition. The vowel /a/ rcpresents a lowfront vowel; this is the position wherethe /aj/ and /aw/ diphthongs begin as

shown in Figure 2.18. Note that the vowelin the diphthong is written /a/, not /s./.

/aj/ my, sigh, write,I/aw/ cow, mouth, ouch, renozon

/tj/ joy, noise, employ, foist

The diphthongs /ej owl (Figure2.t9)both start from a mid vowel with glidesshorter than with the low diphthongs.Notice how the lip rounding increases

as you go from the lower /o/ to thehigher glide /w/. The reverse happenswith /4/; the lips are rounded for the/t/ and become unrounded for the /j/.

/ej/ pay, made, break

/ow/ go, note, road

34

ago/ open, enough, receiae, ztodka, character, purr, fir, heard,paper, teacher

High

RP ar

Phonet

followiAlthoua cons(

he wnthe /hrth" b.grare in

/h,

Line d

On lineGlides :gJtde /jtGA) is s

only as r

Labi:rl

Coronat

Dorsal

Velic

Gbttal

Egure 22!

Say the wtthem, sayir

7

s!

aruos teql aJqou [-r^r no^ 'arqellds r{rea roJ ww a*rrSurqlauos Surres ,uraq}tunq 'aaop 'raqlo ar{l raryp auo taaorat pue ,fipa1 ;)iraii,"l",

"iro^ nq1 xng

tue!ll!/1A 1o 6urane.rp oul.l oz.z ern6;3

cllen

lesJoo

leuoJoc

IBlqel

.la/\to^ ssalarro^ e sE u.4torls q /q/ aurauoqd aql .paJro^ se dpo pa>IrPru are sIaMoA .sauq

Fsrop aq+ pue Frqel aq+ qloq .ro uMoqs sI (VD ul /w/ pue) /M/ apr18.re1a,r1n,qn1"qjl"r.rll lesrop aql uo urloqs sr /I/ ap\B plepd aqI .sluerulxordde

l" nr"p,r+, 1nr1rnd. aq+ q]-rm umoqs are saprlD 'saJnlJr4s uado q1ra,r uMorIS aJe slalvro,r ,197.7

"rrriig; "S,rr^"rp au{ uO

saptlo pue slaMo^ ro' s6ut^^erp autJ

lnoqnao 'moqfiua 'paaUa ,oqm'puaq ,fraq,aq /q/

Iaqle' sr 11 'a1qe11ts e Jo pua aq+ re s'nrr" r""":';t:# :T$T,;lt:t "ji; +e srnJ)o /q/ lua]l'o

]sotrAJ.r+a ,/n/ ssalarro^.! a{{ spunos oqmlo /q/ aql i/3/ ssalarro^ e a{rl spunos por,4 1o /^U) aUl !/I/.ssalarrol e J>[rl spunos a,/ lo /q/ aql snqJ .a1qe11.,{s e yo 3u1uu!3"q

"q, ln',{1.ro b,r,rrr,-o-,"lr"r.oruo, n se suorpury 1r ,uoqcnpo.rd qr yo ,r'.rr"1 .ri IaMoA ssalaJrol e q /q/ q8noqily 'uoqrsod ssalarrol e ur are sploJ lero^

"q,,rnri, 1dn"*" ,6;;,; Bura,ro11oy aql a{{ lsnf - laa,roa ssalaJrol e se pasqea, Xirrn,rrpro . ,i')':ipJrFuoqd

qsr16u1 lo spunos )!seq eql . Z

tqt ,v, pue du

3.1.1 Distributional restrictions

Tense/lax distinction:

• tense: longer, higher, more peripheral; / / / /

• lax: shorter, lower, more central; / /

The distinction is found only in syllables with primary and secondary stress.

In English, lax vowels do not occur in word-final open syllables. Tense vowels occur in both open and closed syllables.

3.1.2 RP

Smoothing: the glide in the diphthongs / / before / / is often lost and / / becomes a glide (fire, hour, player).

Linking / /

In 18th century in southern England, / / was lost at the end of a phrase or before a consonant (very far [ ], but far

away [ ]). Over time, the view has changed and the speakers no longer felt that the / / gets deleted, but that it gets

inserted between morphemes, if the preceding morpheme ends in a non-high vowel, and the following morpheme begins

with a vowel. As a result, the / / gets inserted where it never existed historically (the idea / / is).

3.1.3 GA

/ / do not occur before / /. That is also the only situation in which / / occurs in a stressed syllable.

8

3.1.4 Allophonic variations in RP and GA

Only lax vowels occur before / / and / /, except in borrowed words (usually from French, like quiche, fiche, douche), and in

words that ’are not felt to be ordinary words and often do not agree with regular phonotactic constraints (oink, boing).

Inherent length/contextual length

• tense vowels are slightly longer than lax vowels - inherent

• vowels are longer before a voiced sound, in an open syllable, and when stressed - contextual

Before /l/ the vowels /i u/ frequently have a schwa glide (peel [ ]). The glide in the diphthong /ej/ sometimes also

changes to [ ] (pail [ ]).

Next to a nasal consonant, vowels often get nasalised (man [ ]).

9

4 Suprasegmentals

4.1 Syllable, mora

Production of the syllable - Stetson (1951): ’chest pulse’theory

Perception of the syllable - sonority theory (problem /s/-stop clusters)

Mora - a unit of time; a consonant in a coda of a syllable is a separate mora, and a branching nucleus forms two moras.

Stress-timed languages - major stresses tend to occur at even intervals of time (English), syllable-timed languages - each

syllable of an utterance takes about the same amount of time (French), mora-timed languages - each mora of an utterance

takes about the same amount of time (Japanese).

4.1.1 English

Onset

• all consonants except / /

• / / in very few words, usually borrowed from French (gigue, genre)

Coda

• /h/ does not occur in coda

• in RP, / / does not occur in coda

Stress

• strong from vs. weak form - that [ ] vs. [ ]

4.2 Length

Both vowels and consonants can contrast in length - German: Staat [ ] vs. Stadt [ ]; Italian: [ ] vs. [ ].

4.3 Pitch and tone

Pitch - changes in the fundamental frequency.

Tone - the phonological use of pitch.

Contour tones have a specific shape at a particular point on the musical scale (high level, low falling, etc.) - Chinese, Viet-

namese.

Register tones are always level (high, low) - Shrebro, Nupe.

10

4.3.1 Drift and step

Downdrift

In H-L-H-L sequence, the level of high syllables that follow low syllables is reset a little lower after a low tone. The low

town can drift lower as well.

Downstep

Each syllable is specified as high, low, or downstep. After a high tone, a syllable with downstep is slightly lower in pitch that

the previous hight tone, and this level becomes the new level for later high tones.

4.3.2 Pitch accent

Syllables or moras don’t independently have a high or a low tone. There is an overall tonal pattern for words and a linguis-

tically determined lexical accent (eg. Japanese).

There are languages, like Swedish, that has contrastive pitch patterns. However, since the basic suprasegmental pattern

of such languages is intonational, the contrastive use of tone is a small part of a much larger pattern. Therefore, such

languages are not tone languages.

4.4 Stress

= the perceived prominence of one syllable over another, due to loudness, pitch and duration

Location of the stress can be determined by a general principle (Macedonian - antepenultimate stress) or it can be alternating.

A word can have more than one stress, and the stress pattern can be alternating. Such patterns are usually analysed in

terms of feet. There are feet that have a fixed number of syllables (bounded), and feet that can have any number of syllables

(unbounded). If the feet are bounded, and there is a foot with fewer than the usual number of syllables, it is said to be

degenerate. Another thing that has to be established is whether the foot is left-headed or right-headed, and, if they are

bounded, if the direction is left to right or right to left. Finally, we have to determine which foot is the head of the word and

carries primary stress.

If a syllable is not left over at the end of word-formation, but is overlooked at the beginning of foot formation, it is not

considered ti be a degenerate foot, but an extrametrical syllable. That can only be the first or the last syllable of a word (eg.

Polish - there is only one unbounded foot, but the stress falls on the penultimate syllable; the final syllable is extrametrical)

11

5 English accents

Traits which commonly distinguish English accents:

(1) Presence of non-prevocalic / / (rhotic and non-rhotic accents).

(2) Distinction of caught-cot.

(3) Distinction of but-put.

(4) Final vowel of baby: [ ] or [ ]?

(5) Distinction of pat-path.

(6) Presence of /h/.

(7) Vowels of hate and boat: diphthongs or monophthongs?

(8) Presence of /j/ after alveolars.

(9) Intervocalic /t/: voiced, tapped, or glottalised.

(10) Distinction of merry, marry, Mary.

(11) Distinction of which-witch.

12