Sound change -> Rate and route of vowel change

Index

1Communication3

1.1.Speech3

1.2.Writing3

1.3.Language3

1.4.Redundancy3

1.5.Phonetics and Linguistics3

2The Production of Speech: The Physiological Aspect4

2.1.The speech chain4

2.2.The speech mechanism4

2.2.1.Sources of energy: The lungs4

2.2.2.The larynx and vocal folds4

2.2.3.The resonating cavities (dutiny)5

2.2.3.1.The pharynx (hltan)5

2.2.3.2.The mouth6

2.2.3.3.The lips (adj. labial)6

2.2.3.4.The tongue7

2.3.Articulatory description8

3The sounds of speech: The acoustic and auditory aspects8

3.1.Sound quality8

3.2.The acoustic spectrum9

3.2.1.Fundamental frequency: Pitch9

3.2.2.Intensity: Loudness10

3.2.3.Duration: Length10

3.2.4.'Stress'10

3.3.Hearing10

4The Description and classification of speech sounds10

4.1.Phonetic description10

4.2.Vowel and consonant10

4.3.Consonants11

4.3.1.Egressive pulmonic consonants11

4.3.2.Voicing11

4.3.3.Place of articulation12

4.3.4.Manner of articulation12

4.3.5.Obstruents and sonorants14

4.3.6.Fortis and lenis14

4.3.7.Classification of consonants14

4.3.8.Ingressive pulmonic consonants15

4.3.9.Egressive pulmonic consonants15

4.3.10.Ingressive glottalic consonants15

4.3.11.Ingressive velaric consonants15

4.4.Vowels15

4.4.1.Difficulties of description16

4.4.2.Cardinal vowels16

4.4.3.Nasality17

4.4.4.Relatively pure vowels v. gliding vowels17

4.4.5.Articulatory classification of vowels17

5Sounds in language17

5.1.Speech sounds and linguistic units17

5.2.The linguistic hierarchy18

5.3.Phonemes18

5.3.1.Distinctive features18

5.3.2.Allophones18

5.3.3.Neutralization18

5.3.4.Phonemic systems18

5.4.Transcription18

5.5.Syllables19

5.5.1.The sonority hierarchy19

5.5.1.1.Sonority scale19

5.6.Prosodic features19

5.7.Paralinguistic and extralinguistic features19

6The historical background20

6.1.Phonetic studies in Britain20

6.1.1.Palsgrave and Salesbury20

6.1.2.Spelling reformers: Smith, Hart, Gil20

6.1.3.Phoneticians: Wallis, Wilkins, Cooper20

6.1.4.The eighteenth century: Johnson, Sheridan, Walker and Steele20

6.1.5.The nineteenth century: Pitman, Ellis, Bell, Sweet21

6.2.Sound change21

6.2.1.Types of change21

6.2.2.Rate and route of vowel change22

6.2.3.Sources of evidence for reconstruction22

6.2.4.The classical old English sound system - 6.2.9 Modifications in the English sound system22

Phonetics and Phonology - GimsonCommunicationSpeech

Main ways of information exchange: auditory and visual sensor stimulation

In children: need to communicate imitating sound patterns, i.e. using speech

Writing

= usual visual representation of speech

In English : written form has existed for more than 1,000 years, though the pronunciation has been constantly changing; only a few major changes since the 15th cent.

Language

It's almost impossible to produce two sounds which are precisely identical but we are likely to think that we are dealing with a variant of the same vowel

We are concerned with two kinds of reality (cannot be always easily separated):

Concrete - measureable; sounds in relation to speech

Abstract - in our minds we reduce the infinite number of different sounds to logical categories; sounds in relation to language

Language is a system of conventional (bnch) signals used for communication by a whole community.

Phonemes are the smallest sound units.

Utterance is an act of speech - a single concrete manifestation of the language system in practice

Redundancy

Though spoken language is the primary medium of communication, a speaker provides the listener with more cues than he needs for easy comprehension

Situation, context

Grammatical probabilities ( some sounds can be omitted)

Probability of certain sound combinations (in English , after th we expect a vowel)

Rhythmic shape

Many of these are later unnecessary - redundant - for the listener

Phonetics and Linguistics

Phonetics deals with concrete characteristics of the sounds used in a language (articulatory, acoustic, auditory).

Phonology concerns how sounds work in a systemic way in a particular language.

1. Lexicon - the words of the language

2. Morphology - study of words in their particular inflection

3. Syntax - description of categories (noun, verb) and rules governing structure of clauses, phrases

4. Pragmatics - how situation influences the interpretation of the utterance

5. Aspects of linguistics - stylistics, psycholinguistics, dialectology, applied linguistics, language acquisition

Points 1. - 4. are always undergoing change in time

The state of language at any (synchronic) moment must be seen against its historical (diachronic) evolution

The Production of Speech: The Physiological AspectThe speech chain

Any manifestation of language by means of speech is a result of a highly complicated series of events

0. Psychological

Formulation of concept at the linguistic level (in the brain)

0. Physiological / Articulatory

The movement of organs of speech will create a disturbances in the air

0. Physical / Acoustic

Varying air pressures which may be investigated

These stages are reversed by the listener at the listening end:

0. Physiological

The reception of the sound waves by the hearing apparatus

0. Psychological

Transmission of the information through the nervous system to the brain where it is linguistically interpreted

The speech mechanism

People can organize the sounds they emit to highly efficient system of communication

Animals can usually use sounds only as reactions to basic stimuli - fear, hunger, sexual excitement

Note: When speaking, both people and animals use organs whose primary physiological function is not connected with vocal communication;

Sources of energy: The lungs

The most usual source of energy for our vocal activities is provided by the air expelled from the lungs

Some languages are pulmonic - they don't require lung air for articulation; in English : extralinguistical sound tut-tut

Our utterances are largely shaped by the physiological limitations (capacity of lungs and muscles that control their action)

The larynx and vocal folds

The airstream from lungs is modified in the upper parts of respiratory tract before it acquires the quality of a speech sound

In trachea (prdunice) it passes larynx (hrtan) containing vocal folds (hlasivky)

Larynx (hrtan) - a casing (pouzdro) formed of cartilage (chrupavka) and muscle in the upper part of trachea; commonly called Adam's apple; it contains the vocal folds

Vocal folds (vocal cords) (hlasivky) - two folds of ligament (vaz) and elastic tissue (tk); may be brought together or parted by the rotation of the arytenoid cartilages (chrupavka hlasivkov); the opening between the folds is glottis (= trbina mezi hlasivkami)

To use vocal folds for speech, people further developed following ways of using them:

The glottis (hlasivkov trbina) may be held tightly closed - lung air pent below it; glottal stop [] - frequently occurs in English : e. g. energetic articulation of apple [pl] , reinforcing /p, t, k/ in clock [klk] or even replacing them in cotton [k]

The glottis may be held open - as for normal breathing; sounds like [s] in sip or [p] in peak

Production of voice - phonation - the folds are used as vibrator set in motion by lung air; normal feature of all vowels and some consonant ([z] compared with voiceless [s]); typically, opening/closing action occurs 100-150 times per second; we are able to change the speed of vibration = change the pitch of our voice (faster vibration higher voice) and alter the amplitude of vibration change of loudness

Very quiet whisper may result from holding the glottis in voiceless position

The resonating cavities (dutiny)

Airstream from larynx is further modified in pharynx and mouth, nasal cavity may be used

These cavities function as the main resonators of the voice from larynx

The pharynx (hltan)

The pharyngeal cavity (hltanov dutina) extends from the top of the trachea and oesophagus (jcen), past the epiglottis (hrtanov pklopka) and the root of the tongue to the rear of soft palate (mkk patro)

These sections are laryngopharynx, oropharynx and nasopharynx

Shape and volume of this chamber may be modified by the muscles enclosing the pharynx, the movement of the back of the tongue, position of soft palate and of the larynx itself

e. g. the [] vowel in sad is pronounced with a strong pharyngeal contraction

A constriction (zen) between the lower part of the tongue and the wall of the pharynx may produce fricative sounds

The air from pharynx may be effected in these ways:

0. The soft palate lowered as in normal breathing

0. air may escape through the nose and the mouth

0. Articulation of the French nasalized vowels

0. The soft palate lowered, air escapes through the nose but is blocked from escaping from the mouth at some point

1. air enters the oral cavity but cannot escape

1. Nasal consonants [m, n, ] in the English ram, ran, rang

0. The soft palate held in its raised position

2. eliminating the action of the nasopharynx

2. Air escapes only through the mouth

2. All normal English sounds have oral escape

2. If the soft palate cannot be lowered (typically caused by a cold), it is difficult to articulate nasal vowels or nasal consonants nasal consonants in the word morning are replaced by [b, g, d]

2. Excessive nasalization (hypernasality; inability to articulate consonants as [b, g, d]) is typical for e. g. cleft palate (roztp patra)

The mouth

The shape of the mouth determines finally the quality of the majority of speech sounds

The only relatively fixed parts are the teeth, the hard palate and the pharyngeal wall

Remaining parts are movable - the lips, the tongue, the soft palate with its pendant uvula (pek) and the lower jaw (controls the gap between the upper and lower teeth and the disposition of lips)

The mouth can be divided into tree parts:

The teeth ridge (dsn) - adj. alveolar (can be felt behind the teeth)

The hard palate - adj. palatal

The soft palate - adj. velar (at its end is the uvula - adj. uvular)

The lips (adj. labial)

Of the movable parts, the lips are the final orifice (otvor) of the mouth cavity when the nasal passage is shut off

They considerably affect the shape of the mouth cavity

When held tightly up, they prevent air from escaping; air is blocked momentarily (in the words pat and bat) or directed through the nose by lowering the soft palate (word mat)

When held apart, their position may be summarized under five headings:

0. Held sufficiently closed over all their length friction between them

0. Fricative sounds with or without voice

0. In many languages; voiced variety [] sometimes wrongly used as the first sound in English vet or wet

0. Held sufficiently far apart no friction to be heard

1. Yet remaining close together and energetically spread

1. = spread position; vowel in see

0. Held relaxed, lowering the lower jaw

2. = neutral position; vowel in get

0. Tightly pursed the aperture is small and rounded

3. = close rounded position; vowel in do

0. Held wide apart, slight projection and rounding

4. = open rounded position; vowel in got

Variations of these may appear, e. g. vowel in saw

Position of the lips is very important for vowel quality

English consonants (beside [p, b, m, w]) tend to share the lip position of the adjacent vowel

The lower lip is active in the pronunciation of [f, v] - light contract between the lower lip and the upper teeth

The tongue

The most flexible of all movable organs within the mouth

It has no obvious sections; when it is with its tip lying behind the lower teeth, it can be divided into three areas sometimes collectively called the body of the tongue:

0. The front - opposite the hard palate

0. The back - opposite the soft palate

0. The centre - region between them

The tapering section facing the teeth ridge = the blade (adj. laminal), its extremity the tip (adj. apical), the edges of the tongue = the rims

In the articulation of vowels, the tongue-tip generally remains low behind the lower teeth; the body of the tongue may, though, be 'bunched up' (vytvarovat) in several ways, e. g.:

The front may be the highest - the word he

The back may be the highest - the word who

Whole surface relatively low - the word ah

These changes modify the size of the mouth cavity and divide it into two parts:

Forward part - the cavity behind the lips

The rear part - the region of the pharynx

Contact with the roof of the mouth

The tip, blade and rims may articulate with the teeth (th in English ), with the upper alveolar ridge (t, d, s, z, n)

Contact may be only partial (consonant l - the tip makes firm contact, the rims none) or thrilled and intermittent (peruovan) (r)

In some languages the tip contact may be retracted to the very back of the teeth ridge or even behind it - the same retroflexion without the tip contact is typical for r in the American English and south-west British English

Articulation against or near the hard palate

Raising of the front of the tongue towards the palate (palatalization) (, in she and measure), the main feature of the [j] in yield

The contact with the soft palate

Creating total obstruction

Raised (g, k), lowered (), a narrowing between the soft palate and the tongue (in Scottish loch), uvula may vibrate against the back of the tongue, a narrowing in this region causing uvular friction (the beginning of the French rouge)

General conclusion:

For vowels, the tongue is generally in convex (vypukl) position to the roof of the mouth

Concave (vydut) position to the roof of the mouth for some consonants (southern British r in red and l in table)

The surface of the tongue viewed from the front: narrow groove (lbek) running from back to front (s in see), wider groove ( in ship) or the whole tongue may be laterally (postrann) contracted with or without a depression in the centre (sulcalization) (various kinds of r sounds)

Palatography = recording of the palate movement during the speech; more modern method is electropalatography

Articulatory description

The description of any sound need following basic information:

0. The nature (podstata) of the stream - air usually comes from the lungs but in some cases it is not so

0. The action of the vocal folds - closed, wide apart, vibrating

0. The position of the soft palate - with or without nasal resonances

0. Disposition of various movable organs in the mouth - e. g. shape of the lips and tongue

In addition, other information may be necessary (secondary narrowing, tenses accompanying the primary articulation)

The sounds of speech: The acoustic and auditory aspectsSound quality

When listening a continuous utterance, we receive an dynamic pattern of sound

We tend to consciously receive and interpret only features relevant for understanding

Though we are aware of certain variations in the speech

Sound quality - variety of vowels and consonants

Pitch - melody or intonation

Loudness - some sounds tend to be louder

Length

The listener's impression of sound quality is determined by the way in which the speaker's vibrator (the vocal folds) and resonators (pharynx, mouth and the nasal cavity) function together

The basis of all normal vowels is the glottal tone but we are able to distinguish many vowel qualities (despite the fact that the glottal vibrations for [a:] are not very different from those for [i:])

Vibrations of the vocal folds produce overtones (pdech) or harmonics whose frequencies are simple multiples of the fundamental or first harmonic (souzvun)

If the fundamental frequency of vibration is 100 Hz (cycles per second), the upper harmonics will be 200, 300 Hz, etc.

But we still perceive pitch appropriate to a fundamental frequency 100 Hz fundamental frequency is the highest common factor of all frequencies present (whether or not present itself)

Variation of quality of the glottal tone (we are able to distinguish key and car) is achieved by the shape we give to the resonators above larynx (i. e. pharynx, mouth and nasal cavity)

No matter the pitch in which we say [a:], the shaping of the resonators and their resonances will be very much the same

The acoustic spectrum

= A range of frequencies of varying intensity which go up to make up the quality of a sound

Formants are groups of energy which are characteristic of a particular sound (e. g. formants of [a:] for male speaker is in the region 700 - 1,100 Hz)

Spectrogram is a device used for analysing and displaying formants (complex waveforms); nowadays generally done by PC

Fundamental frequency: Pitch

Perception of the pitch of speech depends directly on the frequency of the vocal folds vibration

We usually feel the pitch of voiced sounds (esp. vowels); observing the pitch by voiceless/whispered sounds or sounds without the glottal tone is limited

Higher fundamental frequency higher our impression of the pitch

The pitch level of voices is individual and varies a great deal

The total range of one speaker is usually 80 - 350 Hz

Ears perceive the frequency ca 16 - 20,000 Hz (falls considerably with the age - at the age of 50 to ca 10,000 Hz)

Many of acoustic cues for speech recognition are within 0 - 4,000 Hz

Laryngograph

Provides fundamental frequency extraction

Varying electrical impedance monitored and displayed

Intensity: Loudness

Loudness (or more accurately prominence) is usually relative and may depend of several factors, e. g. the neighbours of the sound

Loudness at the listening end is connected with intensity at the production stage (related to size or amplitude of the vibration - higher amplitude impression of greater loudness)

Duration: Length

When considering length, we cannot refer to absolute valued (they differs according to the speech speed, accents etc.)

In English we know only two degrees of length which are linguistically significant

Absolute length depends on the speed of the utterance

'Stress'

May refer to loudness, length and other

In this book: prominence - refers to segments or syllables; accent - syllables which stand above other; sonority (zvunost)- the power carried by a sound

Hearing

Hearing mechanism has two parts

Physiological - reacts to the acoustic stimuli

Psychological - selects relevant information

Speech synthesis - discovering of relevant acoustic cues by listener's judgement

Hearing mechanism is important for monitoring our own speech

The Description and classification of speech soundsPhonetic description

There are at least three stages available for investigation of a speech sound

Production, transmission and reception stage

The most convenient description technique relies on articulatory criteria or auditory judgement, or both

Consonant (souhlska)- described mainly in the way of articulation

Vowels (samohlska)- described mainly by auditory impressions

Vowel and consonant

Phonological definition

Phonetic definition

Vowels

Segments in the centre of syllables (beat, bit, bet, but, bought)

Vowels

Median (stedov) (air escapes over the middle of the tongue excluding nasals like [n])

Continuant ( excluding plosives like [p])

Consonants

Segments at the edges of syllables (red, wed, dead, lead, said)

Consonants

All sounds excluded from the definition of vowels.

Problems in English with this definition

Semi-vowels English [j, w, r] are consonants phonologically (are at the ends of syllables) but vowels phonetically

Syllabic consonants [n] and [l] form syllable on their own in sudden and little though more frequently occur at the ends of syllables (net, let)

Consonants

Description of consonantal articulation must provide these pieces of information:

Type of articulation

Question

Pulmonic non-pulmonic

Is the airstream set in motion by the lungs or by some other means?

Egressive ingressive

Is the airstream forced outwards or sucked inwards?

Voiced voiceless

Do the vocal folds vibrate?

Oral nasal nasalized

Is the soft palate raised, directing the airstream through the mouth, or lowered, allowing the passage of air through the nose?

Place of articulation

At what point(s) and between what organs does the closure or narrowing (zen) take place?

Manner of articulation

What is the type of closure of narrowing at the point of articulation?

Example: The sound [z] in easy is:

Pulmonic

Egressive

Voiced

Oral

Tongue tip-alveolar ridge

Fricative

Egressive pulmonic consonants

Most sounds (in English virtually all) are made with egressive lung air

Exception: [p, t, k] in some dialects ejective

Voicing

At any place of articulation, a consonantal sound may be voiced or voiceless

Place of articulation

Main points of articulation:

Name

Articulators

Example

Word

Bilabial

The lips are the primary articulators

[p, b, m]

Labio-dental

The lower lip + the upper teeth

[f, v]

Dental

The tongue tip and rims

+ the upper teeth

[, ]

think, then

Alveolar

The tip/blade of the tongue

+ the alveolar ridge (dsov heben)

[t, d, l, n, s, z]

Post-alveolar

The tip of the tongue (and rims)

+ the rear part alveolar ridge

[]

red

Retroflex

The tip of the tongue curled back

+ the part of the hard palate immediately behind the alveolar ridge

[]

SW BrE and AmE pronunc.

Palato-alveolar

The blade/tip and blade of the tongue

+ the alveolar ridge + raising of the front of the tongue towards the hard palate

[, , t, d]

ship, measure, beach, edge

Palatal

The front of the tongue

+ the hard palate

[j]

queue

Velar

The back of the tongue

+ the soft palate

[k, g, ]

sing

Uvular

The back of the tongue + the uvula

[]

French rouge

Glottal

The friction but not vibration between the vocal folds

[, h]

Some consonantal sounds may have secondary place of articulation (e. g. [] in pull)

Two equally important structures double articulation

Manner of articulation

Main types of articulation (sorted by decreasing degree of closure):

Complete closure

Example

Plosive

A complete closure at some point in the vocal tract

The air pressure rises and can be released explosively

[p, b, t, d, k, g, ]

Affricate

A complete closure at some point in the mouth

Air pressure rises

Friction is a characteristic second element

[t, d]

Nasal

A complete closure in the mouth

The soft palate lowered

Air escapes through the nose

[m, n, ]

Intermittent closure

Trill (or Roll)

A series of rapid intermittent (peruovan) closures

Made by a flexible organ on a firmer surface

[r] in Sp. perro;

[] in Fr. rouge

Tap

A single tap

Made by a flexible organ on a firmer surface

[] in some ScE words

Partial closure

Lateral

A partial firm closure made in the mouth at some point

Air escapes on one or both sides of the contract

May be

Continuant and frictionless

vowel-like (1.)

Accompanied by a little friction (2.)

Accompanied by considerable friction (3.)

[] in Southern BrE little [lt]

[ ] in fling

[] in please

Narrowing

Fricative

Two organs approximate to each other

Airstream passes between them with friction (1.)

Distinction between

Purely bilabial - friction between spread lips (2.)

Labial-velar - friction between rounded lips, characteristic modification of the mouth cavity (3.)

0. [f, v, , , s, z, , , , x, h]

0. [, ]

0. [m]

Narrowing without friction

Approximant

(or Frictionless continuant)

Narrowing in the mouth

Frictionless and continuant; vowel-like

Phonologically consonants (at the edge of syllables)

Phonetical difference in articulation

Without using the tongue -

e. g. post-alveolar (1.) and labiodental (2.)

Using tongue - (3.)

0. []

0. []

0. [j] in yet

Obstruents and sonorants

Classification of sounds according to their noise component

Obstruents

Sonorants

No air escapes through the nose

Plosives, fricatives, affricates

No noise component

Voiced nasals, approximants, vowels

Fortis and lenis

Voiced/voiceless pairs in English (e. g. [s, z]) are also distinguished by the degree of breath and muscular effort involved in the articulation

Lenis

Voiced usually tend to be weak

[z]

Fortis

Voiceless are usually strong

[s]

Classification of consonants

The IPA chart shows

The manner of articulation on the vertical axis

The place of articulation on the horizontal axis

Pairing in each box: voiceless consonants on the left and voiced on the right

Ingressive pulmonic consonants

Made when breathing in

In some languages as variants of their egressive pulmonic equivalents

Used e. g. when no time to pause or when preventing sb. from speech

Extralinguistical sounds like expressing pain or surprise by quick strong breath in

Not typical in English

Egressive pulmonic consonants

Production of ejective sounds

Glottis closed, air concentrates beneath it

Plosives [p']; in some languages also affricates and fricatives, e. g. [ts', tl', s', x']

Ingressive glottalic consonants

Complete closure in the mouth

Almost completely closed larynx is lowered the air pressure in the mouth and pharyngeal cavities is weakened

Once the mouth closure is released, the outside air is sucked in; at the same time lung air escapes through the glottis production of voice

These ingressive stops known as implosives occur with bilabial, dental or alveolar, or velar mouth closures

Not in typical in English

Ingressive velaric consonants

Produced entirely by the closure in the mouth cavity; the release of the closure causes outer air to be sucked in

Breathing through the nose may continue independently

Sound made to indicate irritation or sympathy (often written as tut-tut), sound made to encourage horses

Sounds known as clicks; typical in some African languages, paralinguistically in most languages

Vowels

Normally made with voiced egressive airstream

Glottal tone modified by the action of the upper resonators (soft palate, lips, tongue)

Description of these sounds must note:

The position of the soft palate

Raised for oral vowels

Lowered for nasalized vowels

The kind of aperture formed by the lips

Degree of spreading and rounding

The part of the tongue which is raised and the degree of raising

Difficulties of description

Some vowels require the raising of the front of the tongue, while others are articulated with typical elevation at the back

Cardinal vowels

Also known as Cardinal vowel system created by D. Jones

The two basic parts of the system are physiological

The front of the tongue raised as close as possible without producing friction the cardinal vowel [i]

The whole tongue lowered as much as possible with slight raising at the very back the cardinal vowel []

There are three positions of the tongue between [i] and [] - [e, , a]

A scale of eight primary cardinal vowels

[i]

[e]

[]

[a]

[]

[]

[o]

[u]

The front series [i, e, , a] and [] are pronounced with spread/open lips, while the others with lip-rounding

Secondary series can be obtained by reversing the lip position (close lip-rounding applied to the [i] tongue position, or lip spreading applied to the [u] position):

[y]

[]

[]

[]

[]

[]

[]

[]

This complete series of 16 cardinal vowels can be divided into two categories according to the tongue position:

Unrounded

[i, e, , a, , , , ]

Rounded

[y, , , , , , , u]

Advantages: a) Vowel qualities unrelated to particular language; b) reference may be made to a standard scale;

In the IPA, diacritics can be used to show modification in the cardinal values

Nasality

All 16 cardinal vowels can be transformed to their nasalized counterparts by lowering the soft palate

Unusual though not unknown

Relatively pure vowels v. gliding vowels

We may distinguish vowels that are pure - monophthongs (e. g. that in learn) and gliding - diphthongs (e. g. that in line)

Example: vowel written as [] or [] can be described as

A vowel between cardinal vowels nos. 6 and 7, but having somewhat centralized value; the lips are fairly closely rounded; and the soft palate is raised;

Articulatory classification of vowels

A rough scheme of articulatory classification is represented by the vowel diagram on the IPA

Sounds in language

Content

Speech sounds and linguistic units

Difficulties of phonetic approach to language:

0. Identification and delimitation of sound unit/segment to be described

0. The way in which different sounds are treated in linguistic analysis as if they were equal

For one linguistic unit there can be more different articulations resulting in different sound

Phoneme -the smallest contrastive unit in sound system

Allophones -different phonetic realizations of a phoneme

Note: / / enclose letters, [ ] enclose phonemes

The linguistic hierarchy

Word - replaceable sound sequence able to stand by itself

Morpheme - smallest contrastive unit of grammar (un)able to stand by itself

Phonemes

Minimal pair - words that differ in only one sound segment (thin - pin)

Distinctive features

p, b

t, d

k, g

Coronal

+

-

Anterior

+

+

-

Binary distinctive features

A set of binary features (ca 13) will account for all languages

Coronal - made with the blade of the tongue raised above the neutral position

anterior - made in front of the hard palate

Allophones

Complementary distribution - possibility to predict which allophones of a phoneme will occur in certain context or situation

Free variation - noticeably different pronunciation of same vowels by one speaker

Neutralization

In English sound may be assigned to either of two phonemes with equal validity (contrast between pin - bin, team - deem)

No such contrast after /s/ - words beginning /sp, st, sk/ are not contrasted with /sb, sd, sg/ the contrast between voiced and voiceless is neutralized spin, steam and scar can be transcribed with both /b, d, g/ and /p, t, k/

Similar situation with /m, n/ before /f, v/

Phonemic systems

umber of phonemes may differ in varieties of the same language different phonemic systems

Transcription

1. Allophonic (or narrow) transcription

Transcription of detailed sound values

The IPA provides diacritics for these purposes

1. Phonemic (or broad) transcription

Transcription of significant function elements

One symbol per phoneme (44 symbols all in all)

Syllables (The most sonorousOpen vowelsClose vowelsLateralsNasalsApproximantsTrillsFricativesAffricatesThe least sonorousPlosives and flaps)The sonority hierarchy

= theory to define syllables

Some sounds are more prominent than others - are felt by listeners to stand out from their neighbours

Sonority scale

Example: word Manchester; the number of syllables is equal to the number of sonority peaks [footnoteRef:1] (in this case three) [1: the center of a syllable, namely the syllable nucleus, often a vowel, constitutes a sonority peak that is preceded and/or followed by a sequence of segments--consonants--with progressively decreasing sonority values (i.e., the sonority has to fall toward both edges of the syllable).]

Not reliable in some cases, e. g. word stop

Prosodic features

Or suprasegmental features

Pitch (difference in tone and intonation), length, loudness

Combination of all three above produces accent

Other prosodic features: rhythm, tempo, voice quality

Paralinguistic and extralinguistic features

Paralinguistic features

e.g. pause, many other paralinguistic effects are called vocalizations ([pst], tut-tut)

Do convey meaning

Extralinguistic features

Features over which the speaker doesn't have the immediate control (sex, age, larynx size)

Do not necessary convey meaning

The historical backgroundPhonetic studies in Britain

First phonological studies are more than 2000 years old (Greek, Latin, Sanskrit - in India)

Palsgrave and Salesbury

John Palsgrave

16th century, book on French grammar; dealing with French pronunciation in quite modern way

William Salesbury

Dictionary of English and Scottish; description of English sounds

Spelling reformers: Smith, Hart, Gil

16 - 17th century dealt with increasing inconsistency in relation English - Latin sounds

Changes in pronunciation previous 6 centuries new sounds that had no representation in letters

John Hart

16th century, work Orthographic

Description of the organs of speech, notes voiceless plosives and the aspiration

Alexander Gil

17th century; work Logonomia anglica

Phoneticians: Wallis, Wilkins, Cooper

John Wallis

17th cent, Grammatica linguae anglicanae (history of English , description of the organs of speech, classification of vowels and consonants

John Wilkins

Essay towards a real character and a philosophical language

Creates system of marks for expressing sounds

Christopher Cooper

Grammatica linguae anglicanae (work on English pronunciation; for ordinary people, deals with contemporal English , doesn't create any reforms)

The eighteenth century: Johnson, Sheridan, Walker and Steele

Attempt to fix spelling and pronunciation of the language

John Walker

Dictionary of national biography - influential orthoepic work, analyses of intonation

Joshua Steele

Prosodia rationalis (system of notation capable of expressing pitch changes, stress and rate of delivery)

The nineteenth century: Pitman, Ellis, Bell, Sweet

Simplification of English continues

Isaac Pitman

Created system of shorthands which is still used

Alexander Ellis

Deals with difficulties in English spelling that children and foreigners came across

Created an alphabet - Phonotype (based on phonetic analysis, based upon Latin characters)

Developed other alphabets as well: Glossic, Palaeotype

Henry Sweet

Transcriptions Broad and Narrow romic (Related Words)

Alexander M. Bell

Visible speech (classification of all sounds that can be produced by human organs of speech; later helped learning English to the deaf)

Sound change

Abbreviations:

OE - Old English

ME - Middle English

eModE - Early modern English

PresE - Present day English

AN - Anglo-Norman

OF - Old French

Pronunciation seems to be subject of constant changes

Nowadays we may expect the speed of changes to slow down

Types of change

1. Internal isolative changes

Changes which tend to influence a phoneme in all its occurrences an independent changes

Changes in vowel pronunciaton apply mainly to the English vowel system; known as Great vowel shift (during centuries preceding the modern period)

Example: house - [u:] (ME) [au] (ModE)

1. Internal combinative changes

A phoneme in particular context a dependant change

Example: mice - [i:] [ai] (process called vowel harmony or i-mutation)

1. External changes

Neither dependant nor independent

External to the main line of evolution

'Fashionable' changes (termination -ing pronounced as [i] and other)

Do not influence phonemic system of language

1. Changes in length and accentual pattern

Example: path, half, pass today long; book, good, breath relatively short

Changes of accent particularly significant in words from French (village - [vi'la:de] ['vilid]

Rate and route of vowel change

Changes in vowels have been more significant than in consonants

Changes in consonantal system are relatively rare

Sources of evidence for reconstruction

1. Theoretical paths of development

If we are reasonably sure of at least two sound values of a phoneme, we can guess the stages of development from our knowledge of phonetical possibilities and probabilities

1. Old English (7OO - 1000)

If we know the OE pronunciation, we have the starting point to PresE pronunc.

Invasion of Saxons, Angles and Jutes in 5-6th cent. introduced 4 new separate varieties of English

1. Mercian, Northumbrian (= Anglican) (Angles - the Midlands, N-E England, S Scotland)

1. West Saxon dialect (Saxons - S and SW)

1. Kentish (Jutes - region of Kent)

Latin alphabet came in use; accent usually on the 1st syllable; quantity expressed by doubling the letter

1. Middle English (1100 - 1450)

Letters still had their Latin values (written = sounded)

Spelling modified by French influences

Rhymes (very popular) help to guess stresses in words

1. Early modern English (1450 - 1600)

Introduction of printing standardization of spelling

Individuals often used (especially in personal correspondence) the phonetic spelling

The classical old English sound system - 6.2.9 Modifications in the English sound system

See Gimson pg. 72 - 76

page 22 of 22