The Sounds of Language LEARNING ABOUT LANGUAGE General Editors: Geoffrey Leech and Mick Short, Lancaster University Already published: Analysing Sentences (2nd edition) Noel Burton-Roberts Words and Their Meaning Howard Jackson An Introduction to Phonology Francis Katamba Grammar and Meaning Howard Jackson An Introduction to Sociolinguistics Janet Holmes Realms of Meaning: An Introduction to Semantics Th. R. Hofmann An Introduction to Psycholinguistics Danny D. Steinberg An Introduction to Spoken Interaction Anna-Brita Stenström Watching English Change Laurie Bauer Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics Jenny Thomas An Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics Friedrich Ungerer and Hans-Jörg Schmid Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose Mick Short Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction William O’Grady, Michael Dobrovolsky and Francis Katamba Analysing Sentences Noel Burton-Roberts An Introduction to Natural Language Processing Through Prolog Clive Matthews An Introduction to Child Language Development Susan Foster-Cohen The Sounds of Language: An Introduction to Phonetics Henry Rogers The Sounds of Language An Introduction to Phonetics Henry Rogers First published 2000 by Pearson Education Limited Published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2000, Taylor & Francis. The right of Henry Rogers to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. ISBN 13: 978-0-582-38182-7 (pbk) British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rogers, Henry, 1940– The sounds of language : an introduction to phonetics / Henry Rogers. p. cm. — (Learning about language) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–582–38182–7 (pbk.) 1. English language—Phonetics. 2. Phonetics. I. Title. II. Series. PE1135.R64 2000 421′.5—dc21 99–089810 Typeset by 35 in 10/12.5pt Palatino DionysºÛ This Page intentionally left blank Contents Preface xi Publisher’s Acknowledgements xiii Chapter 1 Introduction 1 The study of phonetics 2 Articulatory phonetics 2 English places of articulation 11 Technical terms 11 Exercises 12 Chapter 2 The basic sounds of English 16 Transcription 16 Accents of English 17 Consonants 19 Vowels 28 Stress 35 Comparison of RP and GA 37 Technical terms 39 Symbols 39 Exercises 40 Chapter 3 English consonants 44 Allophones and phonemes 44 Voicing 47 Length 47 Place of articulation 48 Manner of articulation 50 Technical terms 60 Symbols 61 Exercises 61 Chapter 4 English vowels 71 Distributional restrictions 71 The vowel phonemes of RP 72 The vowel phonemes of GA 75 RP and GA vowels 76 vii Contents Technical terms 80 Symbols 80 Exercises 80 Chapter 5 English suprasegmentals 88 Syllables 88 Phonotactics 89 Stress 94 Pitch and intonation 96 Rhythm 101 Technical terms 102 Symbol 102 Exercises 102 Chapter 6 English accent differences 108 Background 108 General scheme 109 Received Pronunciation (RP) revisited 111 Cockney 112 Yorkshire 113 Scotland 113 Belfast 115 Dublin 115 Australia 116 New Zealand 117 South Africa 117 West Indies 118 India 119 General American (GA) revisited 120 New England 121 New York City 121 US South 122 African American Vernacular English 123 Canada 123 Newfoundland 125 Technical terms 126 Exercises 127 Chapter 7 Sound waves, spectra, and resonance 131 Sound waves 131 Spectrum 139 Glottal wave 142 Resonance 143 Noise 145 viii Contents Technical terms 146 Exercises 146 Chapter 8 The acoustics of English sounds 150 Spectrograms 150 English vowels 152 English consonants 159 Technical terms 166 Exercises 166 Chapter 9 Vowels and glides 175 Vowels 175 Glides 184 Technical terms 185 Symbols 185 Exercises 185 Chapter 10 Place of articulation 192 Primary places of articulation 192 Double articulation 203 Secondary articulations 203 Technical terms 206 Symbols 207 Exercises 207 Chapter 11 Manner of articulation 216 Degree of stricture 216 Obstruents 217 Approximants 218 Trills, taps, and flaps 219 Laterals 222 Nasals 223 Technical terms 224 Symbols 224 Exercises 226 Chapter 12 Phonation 232 Anatomy 232 Glottis 234 States of the glottis 235 Voice onset time 243 Breathy voiced stops 246 ix Contents Technical terms 246 Symbols 247 Exercises 247 Chapter 13 Air stream mechanisms 251 Air pressure 251 Air stream mechanisms 253 Technical terms 260 Symbols 260 Exercises 260 Chapter 14 Syllables and suprasegmentals 265 Syllable 265 Length 271 Pitch and tone 272 Stress 279 Intonation 284 Technical terms 287 Exercises 287 Appendices A English consonantal allophones 292 B Glossary 299 C Calligraphy 317 D The transcription of English vowels 330 E The International Phonetic Alphabet 335 Bibliography 338 Index 346 x Preface Most people have little idea about phonetics. Commonly it is confused with phonics, a system for teaching children to read. In buying this book, obvi- ously you have some interest in the subject. So what are you in for? Phonetics is the scientific study of sounds used in language. Since you must be familiar with English to use this book at all, we begin our study with English. We will consider the two most influential accents in English: one from Britain and one from the United States. In particular, we are interested in how the sounds of English are made. What do we do with our bodies to produce each different sound? After examining the sounds of English in Chapters 1–5, we look at various other dialects of English from around the world in Chapter 6. In Chapters 7 and 8, we turn to how sound can be studied in the laboratory. We will look at acoustic notions such as sound waves and spectrograms. With a good grip on English and on acous- tics, we then broaden our scope to include any language (Chapters 9–14). Obviously, we cannot examine all the 5,000 or so languages in the world, but we will be looking at a wide variety of languages from all parts of the globe. The components of phonetics are interconnected. By looking at English first, we get a general overview of the field of phonetics. Then, when we look at other languages, we have a framework in which to place new informa- tion and ideas. Phonetics uses a large number of technical terms. When these occur, they are in bold face. Each chapter has a list of technical terms at the end, and they are all collected and defined in the Glossary (Appendix B). Appendix A on consonant allophones relates to Chapter 3. Appendix C on Calligraphy shows you how to write symbols in a way that others can recognise. Appendix D is a discussion of the principles and problems in devising a transcription system for English vowels. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is used in this book and is widely used by phoneticians, linguists, and speech pathologists around the world. The latest version (1996) is included in Appendix E. An important feature of this book is the importance it lays on develop- ing the practical skills of learning to produce various sounds. Every chapter contains extensive exercises at the end. These are divided into two parts: basic and advanced. The basic exercises help you learn to produce the sounds just covered in the chapter. The advanced exercises are cumulative, developing your ability to produce new sounds in combination with ones xi Preface you already know, and they are more difficult, pushing you towards ever greater phonetic dexterity. The exercises of Chapter 1 give some general advice on how to practise making sounds. Throughout the book, hints and tips are given that have helped others learn to pronounce the various sounds. No book can really teach you practical phonetics. Only close listening and practice can do that. This book will, however, help you do the things necessary for improving your phonetic ability. Phonetics is for many people a fascinating subject in its own right. Most people who study phonetics, however, do so for its theoretical and practical value. Students of linguistics have to understand how language is spoken, and they have to be reasonably proficient at producing a wide variety of sounds. In speech pathology and audiology, phonetics is crucial. Before a person with a speech problem can be helped, we have to be able to pinpoint what is going wrong in that person’s pronunciation and what steps can be taken for improvement. These tasks clearly require a good understanding of phonetics. The usefulness of phonetics in studying another language is obvious. In my experience, people with a background in phonetics have a clear advant- age over others in language classes.