Semester Outline Introduction to English Phonology and Phonetics 1. Phonetics and phonology: basics (& introducing transcription)
2. English consonants
Dr. Nadja Nesselhauf 3. English vowels
4. Beyond the phoneme (connected speech, suprasegmentals etc.)
5. Accents of English
English Consonants: Outline Vowels vs. Consonants
Phonetic distinction: 1. Preliminaries (vowels & cons., fortis & lenis) Consonants: obstruction of airstream in the vocal tract 2. Plosives Vowels: no obstruction of airstream in the vocal tract BUT: matter of degree (hardly any obstruction in the 3. Fricatives articulation of approximants / v/ / q/ / i/)
4. Affricates Phonological distinction: Consonants: sounds that typically occur at the margins 5. Lateral and approximants (onsets and codas) of syllables Vowels: sounds that are typically central in a syllable 6. Nasals (occurring at the peak or nucleus)
1 The Syllable Vowels vs. Consonants
Phonetic distinction: Consonants: obstruction of airstream in the vocal tract Syllable Vowels: no obstruction of airstream in the vocal tract BUT: matter of degree (hardly any obstruction in the articulation of approximants / v/ / q/ / i/) Onset Rhyme Phonological distinction: Consonants: sounds that typically occur at the margins Nucleus or Peak Coda (onsets and codas) of syllables Vowels: sounds that are typically central in a syllable (occurring at the peak or nucleus) e.g. P I N DR U NK
English Consonants: Classification English Consonants: Fortis vs. Lenis
Source: Sauer 2001, Source:2001, Sauer 15 Fortis sounds: Lenis sounds: articulation with more muscular with less muscular effort effort and greater breath force and less breath force
voiceless in all positions may be voiced
fortis plosives are aspirated in are unaspirated syllable-initial position
vowels are shortened before a vowels have full length fortis consonant before a final lenis cons.
2 English Consonants: Outline English Consonants: Plosives
1. Preliminaries (vowels & cons., fortis & lenis) Stages in the articulation of a plosive:
2. Plosives 1. the approach stage: the articulators come
3. Fricatives together and form the closure
4. Affricates 2. the hold stage: air is compressed behind the closure 5. Lateral and approximants 3. the release stage: the articulators part and the 6. Nasals compressed air is released rapidly
English Consonants: Plosives English Consonants: Plosives
Stages in the articulation of a plosive: English /p/ and /b/ (hold stage)
APPROACH HOLD RELEASE
Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 79
3 English Consonants: Plosives English Consonants: Plosives
(hold stage) English /k/ and /g/ Question: What sounds (hold stage) are produced here?
Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 79 Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 79
Plosives: Allophonic Variation Notation of contexts (Sauer) / in the context of __ space for symbol 1. types of release V vowel C consonant 2. degrees of devoicing FC fortis consonant LC lenis consonant # word boundary 3. degrees of aspiration ! stressed syllable . unstressed syllable ~ usually 4. places of articulation v voiced sound
4 Plosives: Allophonic Variation Plosives: Allophonic Variation
Allophones of release (all plosives): Allophones of voice (lenis plosives):
oral / __ ~ (put ) fully voiced / v __ v (lobby )
nasal / __ homorganic nasal (button ) part. devoiced / # __ (bus )
lateral / __ lateral (middle ) devoiced / __ # (cab )
none / __ plosive, affricate (wept ) Phonetic notation for devoicing: [afi]
Contrasting German and English Contrasting German and English
Auslautverhärtung (“final devoicing”) in German: Lenis plosives / __ # Lenis obstruents (i.e. plosives, fricatives, affricates) regularly become fortis in a syllable-final position English: devoiced, but still lenis in German (but not in English) e.g. Rad ( vs. Räder) : German: devoiced and fortis final plosive fortis [≤`9s ] Los (vs. Lose ) → “Auslautverhärtung ” final fricative fortis [r]
Rad – Rat, Bund – bunt BUT: bud vs. but , had vs. hat
5 Plosives: Allophonic Variation Contrasting German and English
Hermann the German and his English landlady Meg (adapted from: Eckert & Barry 2005, The Phonetics and Phonology of Aspiration = delayed voice onset time (VOT) English Pronunciation, 50f.) Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 82 H: I would like a cup of tea. Is this your muck ? M: I beg your pardon? H: Is it ok if I use yours? I can‘t find my muck just now. M: Well, it‘s all over the place… oh sorry, Herman, you mean mug, don‘t you? H: Do I? Eh, could you pass me the slice of cheese that I put in your paperback ? M: What??? Listen, if you need a bookmark I‘d be really grateful if you‘d use a piece of paper and not a slice of cheese. Not in my books anyway. PA: passive articulator H: Who‘s talking about books? I said pa-per-back. AA: active articulator VF: vocal folds
Plosives: Allophonic Variation Plosives: Allophonic Variation
Allophones of aspiration (fortis plosives): Task: Say the following words holding your hand in front of
fully aspirated / __ !V(push ) your mouth:
… and devoicing following sound / __ !l, r, j, w ( please ) sting
part. aspirated / __ .V(supper ) pain
not asp. (exception to above!) /s __ ( spin, spleen, Easter ) rapp er
/__ # discussion
Notation: [ jg] etc. Do you feel a puff of air coming out of your mouth (yes, no, a
slight one)? / Should you feel one?
6 Plosives: Allophonic Variation Plosives: Allophonic Variation
Place of articulation – ex: phonemes /t, d/: T-flapping in General American [π]:
/t/ → flap / V __ .V (better ) dental / __ C, S/ (eighth, width ) / r __ .V (party ) postalveolar / __ r/ (tray, drive ) / __ kÿÿ, qÿ, lÿ (bottle, shutter, bottom ) (cf. “Assimilation”, Part IV) flap → Ø / n __ .V (winter )
Plosives: Allophonic Variation Source:Fromkin/Rodman 1998, 289 D-flapping in GA in the same contexts as t-flapping
(cf. ladder, weirdo, saddle )
-> NEUTRALISATION of the contrast /t-d/ in the
relevant contexts
-> homophones such as shutter – shudder, writing - riding etc.
7 English Consonants: Plosives
The pronunciation of the (regular) past tense / past participle morpheme :
/Hc / / d,t __ (ended )
{p.t.}, {p.p.} /s/ / FC __ (laughed )
/c/ / ~ (sobbed )
Source: Fromkin/Rodman 1998, 295
Transcription Practice Plosives: Glottal Stop Please transcribe the following past tense forms: Glottal stop [ >]: articulation looked decided kissed allowed hummed dreamt
Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 29
8 Plosives: Glottal Stop Plosives: Glottal Stop Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 145 Glottal Stop [ >]: Glottal Stop [ >]: - not a phoneme in RP or GA Some British - serves to reinforce fortis plosives: ( lap ) accents replace Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 82 /t/ with [ >] in medial and final positions (‘a bit of butter ’)
English Consonants: Outline Contrasting German and English
German: glottal onset (= glottal stop before 1. Preliminaries (vowels & cons., fortis & lenis) vowels) much more frequent than in English; cf. >Alle >Autos >ärgern mich 2. Plosives
In English glottal onset mainly reserved for 3. Fricatives emphasised words ( I‘m >ALWAYS angry at Ann ) 4. Affricates
-> Tendency of German-speaking learners of 5. Lateral and approximants English to insert a glottal stop at the beginning of all words which begin with a vowel (cf. also 6. Nasals phrasal verbs: go in , put off)
9 English Consonants: Fricatives English Consonants: Fortis vs. Lenis
English fricative phonemes: Fortis sounds: Lenis sounds: articulation with more muscular with less muscular effort labio-dental / e,u/ effort and greater breath force and less breath force
voiceless in all positions may be voiced dental / S,C/ (seal )(zeal )
alveolar / r,y/ ------
palato-alveolar / R,Y/ vowels are shortened before a vowels have full length fortis consonant before a final lenis cons. glottal / g/ (safe )(save )
Contrasting English and German Fricatives /f,v/
German: Source: Collins/Mees 2008, 88 2008, Source:Collins/Mees
English:
→ both a general use of /v/ and hypercorrective use of /w/ occur among German learners
10 /v/ vs. /w/ Fricatives
Task: Read the following sentences aloud to Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 86 your neighbour and have her/him check Question: which whether all the
Fricatives / SSS,CCC/ Pronouncing the Grapheme
II word-medially: /S/ usu. in words from Greek/Latin ( author, method, lethal ) /C/ usu. in Germanic words ( father, leather, mother, other; BUT: rhythm )
III word-finally: /S/ often if spelled
11 /SSS/ or / CCC/? Fricatives /s,z/ Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 86 Task: Read the following sentence and indicate how the grapheme
Then, the eldest brother thought they were both
trying to attract their father‘s sympathy.
English Consonants: Fricatives Pronouncing the Grapheme
I word-initially:
/e,u/ slit fricatives (tongue is /s/ almost always (otherwise
/r,y/ groove fricatives / sibilants /s/ sometimes; esp. in words of Greek/Latin origin (absent , crisis ) III word-finally: /R,Y/ (groove in tongue; air passes /s/ mostly (yes, us, house n., use n.) /z/ sometimes (e.g. function words: as, was; to house, to use ) down the middle -> hiss- after: Trim English Pronunciation Illustrated sound)
12 Pronouncing the Graphemes
/Hy / / r,y,R,Y,sR ,cY __ (kisses, rises, Jaz’s)
N.B.: house – houses : / g`Tr / - /g`T yHy /
/s/ and/z/ Fricatives / RRR,YYY/
Task: Read the following sentences and indicate Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 87 how the graphemes and
A somewhat lazy zebra is dozing at the zoo.
He feels flies and other insects buzzing round his ears and legs and shouts “It‘s no use!
Please use them as fish food as you used to.”
Adapted from: Trim, English Pronunciation Illustrated.
13 Sound frequency Sound frequency
Question: Which consonant phonemes do Frequency of consonant phonemes in conversational RP you think are most frequent in RP? (cf. Crystal 1995, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, p. 242 ):
Total: consonants: 60.8% Most frequent consonants: /n/ (7.6%), /t/, /d/ Least frequent consonants: /t R/, / S/, / Y/ (0.1%)
/Y/ particularly restricted in its distribution: occurs mainly in medial position ( usual , pleasure ); in initial and final position only found in more recent French loanwords ( genre , beige, garage ) & often alternative pronunciations with / cY /
Fricatives: Allophonic Variation Contrasting English and German
Beware of Auslautverhärtung! Allophones of voice (all lenis fricatives):
fully voiced / v __ v (heavy ) e.g. Los-Lose vs. lose-losing: /z/ in lose only devoiced but not fortis part. devoiced / # __ (valley ) lose – loose and leave – leaf etc. devoiced / __ # (leave ) are NOT homophonous!
14 Fricative /h/ Fricative /h/ Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 145 no cross-section diagram of /h/: articulators are always in place for the following vowel h-dropping: some British narrowing / friction at the glottis (and friction (and Australian) throughout the vocal tract) accents have no
can only occur at the onset of a syllable phoneme /h/
Fricative /h/ English Consonants: Outline
“In Hartford, 1. Preliminaries (vowels & cons., fortis & lenis) Hereford and 2. Plosives Hampshire, hurricanes hardly 3. Fricatives ever happen...” 4. Affricates
5. Lateral and approximants
6. Nasals
Picture: http://audrey.hepburn.free.fr/filmographie/my_fair_lady/my_fair_lady.htm
15 English Consonants: Affricates Affricates: Allophonic Variation
English affricates : / sR / and / cY / Allophones of voice (lenis affricate): affricates = plosive + fricative fully voiced / v __ v (magic )
part. devoiced / # __ (German )
devoiced / __ # (luggage )
Again: Beware of Auslautverhärtung ( edge vs.
approach hold release: friction etch , ridge vs. rich , age vs. aitch etc.)
English Consonants: Affricates English Consonants: Outline
/sR / or / cY /? Watch the spelling! 1. Preliminaries (vowels & cons., fortis & lenis)
/sRsRsR / /cYcYcY / 2. Plosives
Source: Cruttenden 2001, 174-5.
16 English Consonants: Approximants Lateral /l/ Source:Collins/Mees 2003: 48 Two types of approximants :
lateral (approximant) /l/
(central) approximants /w,r,j/
Arrow indicates passage of airstream
Lateral /l/ Lateral /l/: Allophonic Variation Source:Collins/Mees 2003: 48
Allophones of resonance in RP :
clear [l] / __ V,j (land, billion, will you )
dark [ 4] / __ C,# (silk, ball )
lateral articulation: /l/ non-lateral articulation: /t/ dark [ 4] = velarized
GA: dark [ ] only Cross-section of the mouth from the front 4
17 Lateral /l/: Allophonic Variation Lateral /l/: Allophonic Variation
Allophones of voice in both RP and GA:
devoiced / p,k __ !V(play, clay )
except sp__, sk__
voiced / __ ~ (silk, splash )
Source: Collins/Mees 2008: 90
Lateral /l/: Allophonic Variation Lateral /l/
Allophone combinations in RP: word-final dark [ 4] is often vocalized by younger
/ __ C,# /p,k __ !V / __ V,j speakers in the South-East: people [ oh9oT ], bottle + clear + voiced - - [aP>T ] (land) clear + + - - often, word-final /l/ is syllabic, i.e. it takes over devoiced (play) + the function as nucleus of a syllable, as in / sdH -ak / dark + voiced - - (silk) (table ) [ kÿ] dark + - - - devoiced
18 The Syllable Approximants /w,r,j/
phonetically, the central approximants may be
Syllable classified as vowels (almost no obstruction to the
airstream)
Onset Rhyme however, approximants are consonants from a
functional point of view: Nucleus or Peak Coda pronunciation of articles (* an room, *an wall,
(sdH ) a kÿ *an year )
function in the syllable (onset / coda only)
Approximants /w,r,j/ Approximant /r/ [ ¢¢¢] Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 47 /w/: bilabial approximant
[w]: (bi)labial-velar approximant
/r/: post-alveolar approximant
[¢]: post-alveolar approximant
[±]: retroflex approximant
/j/:palatal approximant
[j]: palatal approximant
19 Approximant /r/ [ ±±±] Approximant /r/ Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 47 Pronouncing /r/ in RP:
/r/ / __ V (Cara )
/r/ / __ # V (car engine ) = linking /r/
Ø / __ C,# (car, cart )
not having /r/ in the last two contexts, RP is non-rhotic ; GA is rhotic (r-full)
Rhoticity in the British Isles Non-Rhoticity in the USA Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Engli Source: Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 145
rhotic non-rhotic
rhotic
non-rhotic sh#Phonology
20 Approximant /w/ Linking r and Intrusive r
Linking r (only in non-rhotic accents):
Intrusive r (mainly in non-rhotic accents): /r/ is inserted before a word beginning with a vowel, although no
Approximant /j/: Approximant /j/ Yod-Dropping Before /u:/ Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 90 Context Example RP GA Task: indicate / m __ mule for the variety of your choice / f __ few whether the / p __ pure words in the / t __ Tuesday table are / d __ duke pronounced with /u:/ or / n __ new /ju:/ / s __ assume / z __ resume / θ __ enthusiasm Glide from / i/ to / z/ as in yam / l __ revolution
21 Approximants: Allophonic Variation Nasals: Absence of Velic Closure
Allophones of voice for /w,r,j/:
devoiced / p,t,k __ !V(proud )
(except sp,st,sk __ !V, e.g. spring ) Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 37
voiced / __ ~ (road ) /M/ versus /f/ (1 = velar closure, 2 = velic closure)
Nasals: Absence of Velic Closure Nasals velar closure:
refers to the place of articulation : the tongue touches the velum ( all velar sounds ) Source:Collins/Mees 2003, 33, 84 velic closure:
refers to manner of articulation : the velum closes off the nasal cavity ( all oral sounds )
/n/ /m/
22 /M/ or / Mf /? Nasals: Pronouncing
Task: How are the following words 1. Words that do not derive from another word pronounced? have / Mf / word-medially. Examples: anger, finger, single, England. ringing 2. Words that end in / M/ produce derivations and finger inflectional variants that are spoken with / M/ singer word-medially. Examples: sing singer, singing, sings English strongest 3. An exception to rule number 2 are derivations single with the comparative and superlative suffixes –er and –est . Here, / Mf / is spoken. Examples: longer, longest, stronger, strongest
Nasals: Syllabic /n/? Revision Part II (Consonants)
- vowels vs. consonants - fortis vs. lenis /n/ or / n/ (syllabic or non-syllabic) ? - places and manner of articulation of consonants / ~ person, nation, sudden - allophones of consonants (plosives: voice, release, aspiration, place of articulation; fricatives/ affricates/ approximants: voice; lateral: resonance, voice) /?n/ (non-syllabic) - German-English consonant contrasts: Auslautverhärtung, glottal onset, glottal reinforcement, hypercorrective / nas. __ cannon, German /w/) / nas.+plos. __ London(!), Washington - RP-GA consonant contrasts: t/d-flapping, rhoticity, pronunciation of /r/ - morphophonology: -ed ending; 3rd person/ plural/ genitive –s - spelling-sound relationship (esp.
23 Revision Part II Revision Part II
1) Please give all phonemic and relevant 1) Which phoneme(s) could the speaker in the picture be allophonic features of the first [k] in skunk realizing? and the [d] in bad.
2) In what respects do the RP and the GA pronunciation of the consonants in better differ? In which exact contexts do these differences generally occur?
2) Name the articulators marked in the picture.
Revision Part II
Are the following statements true or false? 1) Phonologically, vowels can be defined as sounds which typically occur at the peak of a syllable in English. 2) Fortis plosives are unaspirated in syllable-initial position. 3) The velum is raised to block off the passage to the nose for the sounds /k,g/ but not for /t,d/. 4) Lenis plosives are usually devoiced at the end of a word. 5) Because of German Auslautverhärtung, German-speaking learners of English tend to use fortis consonants at the end of words. 6) In function words,
24