varieties

AAE103 • there are many varieties L8 : English • SCE (Singapore Colloquial English) = "Singlish" and Consonants • ESE (Educated ) David Deterding • here we will deal with ESE (data from Lim Siew Hwee Corpus)

tendencies vowels

• there are tendencies, not absolutes • long/short neutralisation • ESE tends to use [t] for /T/, but not always •/e/ ~ /&/ neutralisation • monophthongal /eI/ and /@U/ • close in bed • /U@/ in poor • /aI@/ and /aU@/ are both bisyllabic • absence of reduced vowels

long/short vowels /e, &/

potentially potential example • /&/ is not fully open merged homophones • send/sand may be homophones /i;, I/ feast, fist

/O;, Q/ sports, spots

/A;, V/ dark, duck

/u;, U/ fool, full

1 /eI, @U/ vowel in bed and egg

• /eI/ may be [e;] • bed usually rhymes with made but not with • /@U/ may be [o;] fed • egg usually rhymes with vague but not with peg

egg : sentences egg : words

• peg • peg • egg • egg • vague • vague

plot for 34 female speakers /U@/

F2 • most differentiate poor and 3200 3000 2800 2600 2400 2200 2000 1800 paw 300 400 • most BrE speakers do not 500 peg • the /U@/ no longer exists for 600 vague 700 most BrE speakers F1 beg 800 egg 900 1000 1100

from Deterding (2005)

2 triphthongs reduced vowels

• /aI@/ tends to be [aIj@] • continue tends to have full vowel in first • /aU@/ tends to be [aUw@] • to tends to be [tu;] rather than [t@] but not always predictable: • contributes to syllable-based rhythm • require has [aIj@] • also common in other NVEs • science has [aI] • flour is [flA;]; but flower is [flaUw@]

consonants dental

• dental fricatives •initial /T/ tends to be [t] • consonant clusters • final /T/ tends to be [f] • • /D/ tends to be [d] • devoicing of final fricatives • vocalisation of /l/ • increasingly rhotic?

final consonant clusters glottal stop

• final consonant clusters tend to be • final /t/ and /k/ may be [?] simplified • (very common in BrE) • final consonant may be omitted • (also common for /t,d/ to be deleted in BrE)

3 final fricatives vocalisation of /l/

• may be no distinction between final /z/ and • dark /l/ may be produced as a vowel /s/ • (also common in BrE) • cease and seize may be homophones

rhotic? Readings

• some younger speakers have postvocalic • SoE 155-158 /r/ • ESPROC 11-12, ch 6, 7, 8 • may be becoming more popular • TELISROP ch 8, 9, 10 • an influence from Hollywood? • Deterding, D (2005) 'Emergent patterns in the vowels of Singapore English'. English World-Wide, 26:2, 179-198. • Deterding, D (2003) 'An instrumental study of the monophthong vowels of Singapore English'. English World-Wide, 24:1, 1-16.

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