Phonemes and Allophones of English Consonants

Rough deﬁnition of phoneme

• Phoneme (Concise Dictionary of English consonants: Linguistics, Oxford U. Press 1997) Phonemes and Allophones • “The smallest distinct sound unit in a given language: e.g. /»tIp/ in English realizes the Effects related to aspiration and three successive phonemes, represented in ‘devoiced’ voiced sounds and a few spelling by the letters t, i, and p. other issues

Phonemic differences vs. Phonemes allophonic differences • Strict, detailed deﬁnitions of the term phoneme are • Differences in speech sound that can signal complex differences between two different words are – Not part of this course phonemic differences – Take phonology courses to ﬁght over the details • Other differences in speech sound that are • Rough and ready idea is indispensable for practical phonetics clearly audible are only allophonic – Must make a distinction between phonemic and differences allophonic differences – ‘pronunciation variants’ that cannot signal different words. Representing allophonic Answer: ‘pie, spy, buy’ differences • ‘Broad’ (= coarse-grained) transcription enough Phonemes in ‘/’ (slash or solidus, pl solidi) for phonemic representation marks – Choose simple symbol for a ‘representative’ (allo)phone /p/ /b/ • ‘Narrow’ (= fine-grained) transcription often requires diacritics • Diacritics for stops [p] [pH] [b] [b8] pH - aspirated p p| - ‘p with inaudible release’ (‘unreleased p’) b8 - ‘(partially) devoiced b’ Phones in square brackets

Examples ‘Stop.’, ‘Stop!’, Examples: ‘pie, spy, buy’ ‘Stop!!’, ‘Stob!’ • ‘pie’ [»pHaj] • ‘Stop.’ [»stAp|] • spy [»spaj] • ‘Stop!’ [»stAp] • ‘buy’ [»b8aj] or [»baj] • ‘Stop!!’ [»stapH] • Which of [b8] [pH] [p] are allophones of the • ‘Stob!’ [»stab] or [»stAb8] same phoneme? • Which of [b] [pH] [p] are allophones of the same phoneme? Answer: ‘Stop(!!!) Stob.’ Example allophone rule

Phonemes in ‘/’ (slash or solidus, pl solidi) { [pH] / #__ marks /p/ --> { [pH] / v(__»V { / __# (optionally) /p/ /b/ [p|] { [p] / s__ { [p] elsewhere [p] [pH] [b] [b8] # = ‘word boundary’ v( = ‘weak stressed’ or ‘unstressed’ or ‘reduced’ vowel’ »V = primary- stressed full vowel Phones in square brackets «V = secondary-stressed (full)

Rough notation Translation

Conditioned allophone: The phoneme /X/ is • The phoneme /p/ is realized as an aspirated p (the realized as phone [y] in environment phone [pH]) at the beginning of a word or between between A and B a weak vowel and a stressed vowel. /X/ --> [y] / [A] _ [B] • It is realized optionally as an unreleased (inaudibly released) p ( the phone [p|] word finally Allophone in free variation • It is realized as an ordinary voiceless (un- or /X/ --> [y] or [z] (optionally) weakly- aspirated) stop after /s/ and elsewhere. Allophones of stops: Aspiration Allophone rule sheet to follow and release • We will examine some important • Consider the following words allophones in English Cs and Vs • ‘tip’, ‘pit’, ‘spit’, ‘plum’, ‘queen’, ‘apt’ – Then I’ll handout rule summary (and post on • Broad and Narrow transcriptions web) • ‘Line drawings’ showing relative timings of • For details see Chapter 3 of Rogers and constrictions at articulators Appendix F (p 292 - 298) – (See Rogers p 25-27 for overview) – Our rules will be much shorter

Allophones of Consonants Aspiration etc. ‘pit, spit’

• Many important details in English ‘narrow ‘pit’ phonetics’ related to voiced/voiceless / »pIt / [»pHItH], [»pHIt|], [»pHIt] distinction in obstruents ‘spit’ / »spIt / [»spItH], [»spIt|], [»spIt] /p, t, k/ always aspirated at beginnings of words in stressed syllables (always) Never aspirated after /s/. Variable word finally, often with inaudible release (‘unreleased’) Timing of articulator movement Timing diagram Rogers p 51

• Many details of English consonant allophones can be illustrated with diagrams Graphic unavailable • Very rough sketches of (see Figure 3.3 • Relative degrees of constriction of supra laryngeal articulators of Rogers • Characterization of lottal activity 2000) • Relative timing of constrictions of different articulators and of changes in glottal activity

SLVT articulators Simple example in Rogers’ line drawings • Consider: • Rough cut of major articulatory regions – Voiced, voiceless and voiceless aspirated stops – Supralaryngeal articulators – E.g. [d] [t] and [th] • Labial - bilabial or labiodental • All involve very similar activity of the supra • Coronal - tongue tip or blade glottal articulators • Dorsal - body of tongue • What differs is timing relations to glottal • Velic - velo-pharyngeal port events • Line diagrams can make this idea clear – Glottal activity (e.g voicing state) My timing drawings: glottal For supra glottal articulators states • Separation of lines relates to degree of constriction • Voiceless states of glottis at that articulatory region =:=:=:=: Slightly open (as in aspiration or [h]) • Closed : stops ======Closed tight as in [/] ______Unknown (either === or :=:=:) • Slightly open: fricatives • Voiced state of glottis (typing) vvvvvvvvv -- voicing (folds buzzing) • More open: approximants • Voice-ready (typing) xxxxxx -- vocal folds about ready to voice • Most open : vowels but not buzzing

More articulators (assignment 2) Rogers p 35 Figure 2.5 My timing drawings: articulators

• Graphic unavailable • Rogers’ “velic” = my “VPPort”

• Typing: ––––––––– Closed articulator (as in stops) < Opening articulator (<<<< longer opening) > Closing articulator =:=:=: Slightly open (as in fricatives) ::::::::::::: Pretty open articulator (as in approximants) ooooooo Quite open articulators (as in vowels) Obstruents weakly voiced in Timing diagrams See Rogers p. 51 ﬁg 3.3

/d A / Negative VOT English Coronal _____affricates only likely to show true voicing /tH A / Positive VOT Coronal _____sonorants (approximants and vowels)

English ‘partly voiced’ stops (see Rogers’ p 47.) Examples [d A ] Fully voiced ‘d’ Coronal _____ [»b8A»bAb8s´»bAb8] [ d8 A ] Devoiced ‘d’ Coronal _____ [ t A ] Unaspirated ‘t’ [ ] Coronal _____

Devoiced ‘d’ and unaspirated ‘t’ may often be perceptually equivalent [d]8 vs. [t] ? Any real difference Side effects

• ‘Devoiced’ obstruents can be very similar to • So far we’ve looked mainly at allophones of voiceless unaspirated sounds with respect to voiced and voiceless obstruents themselves ‘actual’ voicing – Some special things happen to things next to • Small differences may remain in obstruents ‘excitation’ from larynx • e.g. vowels are shorter before voiceless obstruents – Other ‘secondary features’ of ‘devoiced voiced’ • Next: Effects on approximants next to sounds resemble ordinary voiced sounds aspirated obstruents • so they may sometimes be perceptually separable

Secondary features of Voiced vs ‘Spill-over’ effects of aspiration voiceless obstruents • Voiced • Voiceless /»pliz/ --> [ »pH l• i z ] – Lower amplitude of – Higher amplitude of __ burst or frication burst or frication Lab.

– Preceding vowels – Preceding vowels longer (VC) shorter (VC) Open glottis (aspiration) extends through much of /l/ Place assimilation and Flapping (tapping) coarticulation • Flapping (tapping) • Small changes in place of articulation in – /t/ and /d/ often realized as [! ! R ] / »V__ v( some consonants – Voiced alveolar ﬂap (or tap) between stressed and – Alveolar consonants become dental before T D ‘weak’ vowel • This is ‘opposite’ of one good aspiration environment ‘tenth’ /»tEnT/ --> [»tEn5T] v(__»V • ‘width’ and ‘stealth’ may show similar changes in /d/ and /l/ – Roughly speaking » aspriation makes stops ‘more devoiced and less sonorant’ • Stops » ﬂapping makes /t,d/ ‘more voiced and more sonornant’ – Labialized before rounded vowels [w] and [®] • Example: • ‘dwell’ [»dWwE…] ; ‘Gwen’ [»gWwE‚n], ‘twin’; [»tWHw•I‚n] or (?) [»t„„I‚n], ‘attack’ [´»tHQk] vs. ‘attic’ [»QRIk]

Complex coarticulation in Flapping more examples /stop+r/ • Example from child’s speech – Baby: ‘Daddy’ [»dQ«di] • /t/ and /d/ retroﬂexed, rounded (and possibly – Toddler: ‘Daddy’ [»dQRˆ] affricated) before /®/ – 5-year old (extra polite): ‘Daddy’ [»dQ«tHi] – ‘train’ • More examples [»ˇH®8e‚jn] or [»ˇßW®8e‚jn] or maybe even [»ˇß„®8e‚jn] • Kids sometimes spell ‘train’ as ‘chrain’ ‘buddy’ /»b" dˆ/ --> [ »b"8 R ˆ ] ‘butter’ /»b" d´®/ --> [ »b8" R ‘] ‘sitter’ /»sIt´®/ --> [ »sIR‘ ] – ‘drain’ [ [ ! ] ‘city’ /»sItˆ/ --> [ »sIRˆ ] »Í®e‚jn] or »Í W®e‚jn AK shows mainly pharyngeal constr. in […] ‘Spill-over’ effects aspiration and Articulation of some laterals rounding coarticulatic. (sagittal MRI tracings) /»kwIk/ --> [ »k „ „ I k| ] • Graphic unavailable. See web link below Lab ::::::oooooooooooooo Vel. __<:::::::oooooo>____ Glot. :=:=:=:=vvvvvvvv==

Broad transcription /kwik/. Open glottis (aspiration) extends through much of /w/, yielding [w•] or [„]

Laterals from MRI http://www.icsl.ucla.edu/~spapl/projects/mripix/ﬁgg3.html

Clear and dark ‘l’ in NA Eng. Syllabic nasals and glottal stop

• At beginning of syllables in N.A. English, /l/ is relatively • ‘Mountain’ , ’sutton’, ‘sudden’ ‘clear’ [l] – Broad transcription /»mawnt´n/ /»b" t´n/, /»s" d´! ! n/, • At end of syllables, it is relatively ‘dark’ […] – Narrow transcription (casual pronunciation) – Often described as ‘velarized’ but may more often be • ‘Mountain’ pharyngealized [»mawn/n]` or [»mawn/tn]` – Dark […] often shows up as a ‘syllabic’ l • ‘Button’ [»b" /n`] or maybe [»b" /tn`] • We will not systematically distinguish it from schwa+dark l – See Rogers p 55 “RP Glottalization” • Examples • Something much like this may happen frequently in NA – ‘pal’ [»pHQ…] v. ‘lap’ [»lQp] English – ‘little’ ] or ] [»lIR´… [»lIR…` • ‘Sudden’ [»s" Rn]` , ‘redden’ [»®ERn`] Inaudible releases ‘Inherent’ rounding in some Cs

• Unreleased (inaudible release) stops often occur in stop • N.A. English /®/ is pretty strongly rounded clusters – Rogers p 60. – ‘apt’, ‘act’, ‘abdicate’ – Could* be transcribed most accurately [”W] – [»Qp|tH] [»Qk|tH] [»Qb|dI«kHejt|] • /S, Z, tS , dZ/ are also somewhat rounded • Unreleased stops often occur prepausally (e.g. utterance (compared to /s, z/) final) – These could* be transcribed / SW, ZW, tSW , dZW / – Even possible for word like [»Qk|t|] making final stop very *But we won’t bother in ‘moderately narrow transcription’ difficult to hear. ??? What would we do with ‘Schreck’, ‘Schwepps’ vs. • Many languages do not allow inaudible releases of stops ‘she’ – Require aspiration or brief vocalic release • Compare: [»Qk|tH] [»QkHtH] [»Qk´tH]

Special releases (plosions) Some additional details Nasal and lateral releases • Stops before homorganic nasals (mainly d+n) often result in a ‘nasal release’ • Most of the things so far might show up on or ‘nasal plosion’ (Rogers p 57) a quiz for ‘moderately narrow’ transcription – Can be transcribed with d + raised n • ‘Rodney’ [ »®Adnni] • ‘kindness’ [ »kHajndnn´s] • Similarly, ‘d’ before ‘l’ may lead to ‘lateral release’ or ‘lateral plosion’ • Some additional details will not show up in – Can be transcribed as d + raised l – ‘sadly’ [ »sQdlli] any live transcription quiz ever • What about ‘butler’??? - Some facts discussed might be addressed in [»b" /tll´®] emphatic [»b" tl•´®] multiple choice or short answer questions