3. From phonetics to phonology

„ Speech is a continuous process, so the vocal Chapter Two organs do not move from one sound segment to the next in a series of separate steps. Rather, sounds continually show the Speech Sounds (2) influence of their neighbors. „ For example, map, lamb.

3.1 Coarticulation „ If the sound becomes more like the „ When such simultaneous or overlapping following sound, as in the case of lamb, it is articulations are involved, we call the known as anticipatory coarticulation. process coarticulation. „ If the sound shows the influence of the preceding sound, it is perseverative coarticulation, as is the case of map.

„ The fact that the vowel [z] in lamb has „ [o] is aspirated in peak and unaspirated in some quality of the following nasal is a speak. phenomenon we call nasalization. „ This aspirated voiceless bilabial stop is thus „ To indicate that a vowel has been nasalized, indicated by the diacritic ç, as [oç], whereas we add a diacritic to the top of the symbol the unaspirated counterpart is transcribed as [z], as [z}]. [o].

1 „ When we use a simple set of symbols in our transcription, it is called a broad transcription. „ The use of more specific symbols to show more phonetic detail is referred to as a narrow transcription. „ Both are phonetic transcriptions so we put both forms in square brackets [ ].

3.2 Phonemes

„ Phonology is not specifically concerned with „ Crystal: ‘Phonological analysis relies on the the physical properties of the speech principle that certain sounds cause changes production system. in the meaning of a word or phrase, whereas „ Phoneticians are concerned with how other sounds do not’. sounds differ in the way they are „ Minimal pairs test pronounced while phonologists are „ Phonemes interested in the patterning of such sounds and the rules that underlie such variations.

„ The word ‘phoneme’ simply refers to a ‘unit of explicit sound contrast’: the existence of a minimal pair automatically grants phonemic status to the sounds responsible for the contrasts. „ By selecting one type of sound instead of another we can distinguish one word from another.

2 „ Languages differ in the selection of „ By convention, phonemic transcriptions are contrastive sounds. placed between slant lines (/ /) while „ In English, the distinction between phonetic transcriptions are placed between aspirated [oç] and unaspirated [o] is not square brackets ([ ]). phonemic. „ In phonetic terms, phonemic transcriptions „ In Chinese, however, the distinction represent the ‘broad’ transcriptions. between /o/ and /oç/ is phonemic.

3.3 Allophones

„ [o, oç] are two different phones and are /o/ → [o] / [r] _____ variants of the phoneme / /. Such variants o [oç] elsewhere of a phoneme are called allophones of the same phoneme. „ In this case the allophones are said to be in „ This phenomenon of variation in the complementary distribution because they pronunciation of phonemes in different never occur in the same context: positions is called allophony or allophonic „ [o] occurs after [r] while [oç] occurs in other variation. places.

4. Phonological processes, „ Velarization: clear l and dark l /k/ → [k] / _____ V phonological rules and [4] / V _____ distinctive features „ Think about tell and telling! 4.1 Assimilation „ Phonetic similarity: the allophones of a phoneme must bear some phonetic resemblance.

„ Free variants and free variation

3 „ Nasalization, dentalization, and velarization are all instances of assimilation, a process by which one sound takes on some or all the characteristics of a neighboring sound. „ If a following sound is influencing a preceding sound, we call it regressive assimilation; the converse process, in which a preceding sound is influencing a following sound, is known as progressive assimilation.

English Fricative Devoicing „ /v/ Æ [f] /z/ Æ [s] etc. „ voiced fricative Æ voiceless / ____ voiceless

„ Nasalization rule: [-nasal] Æ [+nasal] / ____ [+nasal] „ Dentalization rule: [-dental] Æ [dental] / ____ [dental] „ Velarization rule: [-velar] Æ [+velar] / ____ [+velar]

4.2 Epenthesis, rule ordering and the Elsewhere Condition Plurals in English

„ a hotel, a boy, a use, a wagon, a big man, a yellow rug, a white house „ an apple, an honor, an orange curtain, an old lady „ Epenthesis (Insertion) Rule:

4 Rule ordering

„ a. The [r] appears after voiceless sounds. „ b. The [y] appears after voiced sounds. „ c. The [?y] appears after sibilants.

„ /y/ → [r] / [–voice, C] _____ (Devoicing) „ ∅ → [?] / [+sibilant] _____ [y] (Epenthesis)

4.3 Distinctive features

„ The Elsewhere Condition „ The idea of Distinctive Features was first The more specific rule applies first. developed by Roman Jacobson (1896-1982) in the 1940s as a means of working out a set of phonological contrasts or oppositions to capture particular aspects of language sounds. „ Since then several versions have been suggested.

5 „ Some of the major distinctions include „ [sonorant] distinguishes between what we [consonantal], [sonorant], [nasal] and call obstruents (stops, fricatives and [voiced]. affricates) and sonorants (all other „ The feature [consonantal] can distinguish consonants and vowels), with obstruents between consonants and vowels, so all being [–sonorant] and others [+sonorant]. consonants are [+consonantal] and all „ [nasal] and [voiced] of course distinguish vowels [–consonantal]. nasal (including nasalized) sounds and voiced sounds respectively.

„ The place features are not binary features – „ These are known as binary features because they are divided up into four values: we can group them into two categories: one „ [PLACE: Labial], with this feature and the other without. „ [PLACE: Coronal], „ Binary features have two values or „ [PLACE: Dorsal], and specifications denoted by ‘ + ’ and ‘ – ’ so voiced obstruents are marked [+voiced] and „ [PLACE: Radical], voiceless obstruents are marked [–voiced]. „ which are often written in shorthand forms as [Labial]p, [Coronal]p, [Dorsal]p, and [Radical]p.

6 „ A useful feature for consonants not found here is [±spread] (for ‘spread glottis’), which distinguishes between ‘aspirated’ and ‘unaspirated’ voiceless obstruents. „ Aspirated sounds are [+spread] and „ This is a more general rule, which also unaspirated sounds are [–spread]. applies to /t/ and /k/. It means that /p, t, „ Now we can represent the rule that governs k/ ([–voiced, –cont]) are all unaspirated ([– the unaspiration of /p/ after [s] in terms of spread]) after [s] and aspirated ([+spread]) features: in all other positions.

Past tense forms in English „ The regular past tense form in English is pronounced as [s] when the word ends with „ stopped, walked, coughed, kissed, leashed, a voiceless consonant, [c] when it ends with reached a voiced sound, and [Hc] when it ends with „ stabbed, wagged, achieved, buzzed, soothed, [s] or [c]. bridged „ steamed, stunned, pulled „ played, flowed, studied „ wanted, located, decided, guided

5. Suprasegmentals 5.1 The syllable structure

„ Suprasegmental features are those aspects of σ speech that involve more than single sound segments. segments. Onset Rime „ The principal suprasegmentals are: „ Syllable Syllable Nucleus Coda „ Stress „ Tone Tone k r æ k t „ Intonation

7 „ Open syllable: bar, tie 5.2 Stress „ Closed syllable: bard, tied „ Stress refers to the degree of force used in „ English Syllable: (((C)C)C)V((((C)C)C)C) producing a syllable. In transcription, a raised vertical line [ ] is often used just „ Chinese syllable: (C)V(C) ! before the syllable it relates to. „ „ Maximal Onset Principle (MOP) A basic distinction is made between stressed and unstressed syllables, the former being „ When there is a choice as to where to place a consonant, it is put into the onset rather than more prominent than the latter, which the coda. means that stress is a relative notion.

Changing English Stress Pattern

„ At the word level, it only applies to words with at least two syllables. Becoming norm Considered conservative „ inTEGral „ INtegral „ At the sentence level, a monosyllabic word may be said to be stressed relative to other „ coMMUNal „ COMMunal words in the sentence. „ forMIDable „ FORmidable „ conTROVersy „ CONtroversy

RP vs. GA V vs. N

RP GA Verb Noun „ laBORatory „ LABoratory „ conVICT „ CONvict „ DEBris „ deBRIS „ inSULT „ INsult „ GARage „ gaRAGE „ proDUCE „ PROduce „ reBEL „ REbel

8 Compound vs. Phrase Primary vs. Secondary Stress

Compound Phrase „ epiphenomenal „ unsatisfactory „ BLACKboard „ black BOARD „ discrimination „ standardization „ BLACKbird „ black BIRD „ communication „ industrialization

5.3 Intonation Sentence Stress

„ Intonation involves the occurrence of „ John bought a red car. recurring fall-rise patterns, each of which is „ JOHN bought a red car. used with a set of relatively consistent meanings, either on single words or on „ John BOUGHT a red car. groups of words of varying length. „ John bought a RED car. „ For example, the fall-rise tone in English „ John bought a red CAR. typically involves the meaning of a contrast within a limited set of items stated explicitly or implicitly.

5.4 Tone

„ (Isn’t her name Mary?) No / ∨ Jenny „ The old man didn’t come / whereas the ∨ young man / did come and actually enjoyed himself „ ∨ I didn’t do it

9