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BBN--ANG--141 Foundations of Phonology 5 Phonology 2: The BBN–ANG–141 Foundations of phonology 5 Phonology 2: The vowel phonemes of English P´eter Szigetv´ari Dept of English Linguistics, E¨otv¨os Lor´and University 11 March 2009 szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 1/14 outline English or Englishes? selecting symbols SSBE vowel phonemes monophthongs diphthongs triphthongs? other vowels standard lexical sets realizational difference between accents systemic difference between accents charting vowel phonemes szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 2/14 English or Englishes? some clarification what does “English” mean? “English”, like any other language name, refers to an abstraction; a question like “does English have the phoneme /N/?” is not meaningful; unless... “English” is a shorthand for a given accent of English; in this course, it is a shorthand for Standard Southern British English (SSBE), a.k.a. Received Pronunciation (RP), BBC English, Queen’s/King’s English (a short discussion of some other accents is scheduled for 13 May) accents of English are much more diverse in their vowel than in their consonant inventories szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 3/14 selecting symbols analysis in transcription the difference of bead vs. bid may be analysed in two ways 1. as a quantity difference: long vs. short 2. as a quality difference: tense vs. lax accordingly the two vowels may be transcribed as 1. /i:/—/i/ (e.g., Jones’ English Pronouncing Dictionary, old Orsz´agh dictionaries) 2. /i/—/I/ (e.g., Kenyon & Knott’s A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English, Giegerich’s English Phonology, etc.) 3. /i:/—/I/ (e.g., Gimson’s, Wells’ pronouncing dictionaries, new Orsz´agh dictionaries, most current British dictionaries, N´adasdy, this course) szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 4/14 selecting symbols pedagogy in transcription phonetically i. /i:/ is always tense, /I/ is always lax ii. /i:/ is sometimes long (bead /bi:d/), sometimes short (beat /bi:t/) iii. /I/ is shorter in pick than in pig —note that the broad transcription does not indicate (ii) and (iii) so the symbol pair /i/—/I/ is most appropriate for this contrast, since tense/lax is a constant phonetic property of this opposition, long/short is variable nevertheless the symbol pair /i:/—/I/ is more wide-spread, since it is more contrastive visually szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 5/14 SSBE vowel phonemes monophthongs stressed monophtong vowels of SSBE short long accidental gap /I/ bit /i:/ beat it is accidental that there is no word /e/ bet /A:/ Bart /bUt/ (and /b6t/) in SSBE, but /æ/ bat /3:/ Bert other pairs prove that the difference /2/ but /O:/ bought in the vowel in but and put is not /6/ pot /u:/ boot due to the voicing of the first /U/ put consonant: bush—push, bunk—punk alternative symbols /e/, /æ/ are sometimes transcribed /E/, /a/, respectively the high long monophthongs may slightly diphthongize, especially word finally and prevocalically: who, me? [hUu mIi] (=/hu: mi:/) szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 6/14 SSBE vowel phonemes diphthongs diphthong vowels of SSBE closing centring /OI/ /eI/ bait /I@/ beer contrasts for /OI/: /aI/ bite /e@/ bear quoit /OI/ ∼ quote /oU/ ∼ quite /aI/ /aU/ bout /U@/ boor /oU/ boat /O@/† boar /O@/ /OI/ quoit is obsolete, it is replaced by /O:/ alternative symbols /e@/ is transcribed /E@/ by Jones and McMahon, /oU/ is transcribed /@U/ by Gimson the true diphthongs (a.k.a. wide or low diphtongs) are /aI OI aU/ szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 7/14 SSBE vowel phonemes triphthongs? other vowels of SSBE triphthongs the true diphthongs (/aI OI aU/) may occur followed by schwa; some analyse these as triphthongs: fire /faI@/, power /paU@/, Moir /mOI@/; others analyse them as heterosyllabic (belonging to two syllables): /faI.@/ monophthongization/smoothing centring diphthongs and “triphthongs” tend to monophthongize: i /O@/ → /O:/, e.g., pore = paw ii /U@/ → /O:/, e.g., poor = pore = paw iii /e@/ → [E:], e.g., hair /he@/ [hE:] /aI@/ iv → [a@] → [a:] (→ /A:/), e.g., tyre = tower (= tar) /aU@/ this process causes merger in cases i, ii, and iv, resulting in homonyms, but not in case iii szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 8/14 SSBE vowel phonemes other vowels other vowels of SSBE /ju:/ ◮ some analysts consider /ju:/ and /jU@/ unitary phonemes, a rising diphthong and a triphthong, respectively ◮ others treat these as consonant+vowel sequences unstressed syllables ◮ typically contain /@/ (schwa) ◮ may also contain /I i ju: ju jU j@/ or a sonorant consonant ◮ in SSBE schwa occurs exclusively in unstressed syllables (a discussion of unstressed syllables is scheduled for 22 April) szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 9/14 standard lexical sets standard lexical sets a standard lexical set is a group of words represented by a key word (set in SMALL CAPITALS) containing the same vowel phoneme; in a given accent several lexical sets may contain the same vowel, in other accents they may contain different vowels; the system was devised by John Wells −→ I 1 KIT i: 10 FLEECE I@ 19 NEAR e 2 DRESS eI 11 FACE e@ 20 SQUARE æ 3 TRAP A: 12 PALM A: 21 START 6 4 LOT O: 13 THOUGHT O: 22 NORTH 2 5 STRUT oU 14 GOAT O: 23 FORCE U 6 FOOT u: 15 GOOSE U@ 24 CURE A: 7 BATH aI 16 PRICE i 25 HAPPY 6 8 CLOTH OI 17 CHOICE @ 26 LETTER 3: 9 NURSE aU 18 MOUTH @ 27 COMMA szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 10/14 standard lexical sets realizational difference between accents realizational difference a realizational difference is linguistically irrelevant, since it does not affect the linguistic system; if the knight is replaced by another object in a game of chess, that object can also function as a knight, says Ferdinand de Saussure −→ SSBE vs. New Zealand English SSBE NZE SSBE has the same vowel in dress as NZE in E e 2 DRESS trap, but the contrast between dress and trap æ E 3 TRAP remains in both languages szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 11/14 standard lexical sets systemic difference between accents systemic difference a systemic difference is linguistically relevant, it affects the linguistic system; a contrast which exists in one accent is absent from the other SSBE vs. Singapore English SSBE SgE SgE has the same vowel in dress and trap: E E 2 DRESS bat and bet are homonyms in SgE, but a æ E 3 TRAP minimal pair in SSBE SSBE vs. General American in SSBE thought, north, and force have the SSBE GA same vowel (force had /O@/ before it mon- O: O: 13 THOUGHT ophthongized), GA has three different O: O~ 22 NORTH vowels: morning and mourning are homo- O: o~ 23 FORCE nyms in SSBE, but a minimal pair in GA szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 12/14 charting vowel phonemes SSBE vowel phonemes in the Jones’ vowel chart monophthongs i: u: i u I U I U e o e @ 3: O: @ E 3 2• O æ 2 6 æ A: a A• 6 diphthongs I@ U@ oU closing eI centring O@ OI e@ aI aU szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 13/14 next week we are going to look at the “phonological length” of vowels, and the influence R exerts on preceding vowels szp (delg) intro phono 5/vowel phonemes of E 11Mar2009 14/14.
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