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 Vowels: Outline Phonetic Classification of Vowels Phonetic criteria for the classification of vowels: 1. Classification of vowels - tongue shape (tongue height = closeness/openness + part of tongue which is highest = frontness/backness) 2. English monophthongs - lip shape (rounded vs. unrounded or spread vs. neutral vs. round) - constancy of tongue/(lip)-shape (diphthongs vs. 3. English diphthongs monophthongs) - position of velum (oral vs. nasal vowels) - duration (long vs. short) 1 Classification of Vowels: Classification of Vowels: Extreme Vowels Extreme Vowels [i]: [u]: extremely extremely front and back and close close Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 59 Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 59 Classification of Vowels: Classification of Vowels: Extreme Vowels Extreme Vowels [a]: [@]: extremely extremely front and back and open open Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 60 Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 60 2 Classification of Vowels: Classification of Vowels: Vowel Diagram Cardinal Vowels (D. Jones) “si” “gut” “thé” “Rose” “même” “Sonne” “la” “pas” Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 61 Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 61 Classification of Vowels: Cardinal Vowels (D. Jones) Vowels in the IPA chart Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 61 Daniel Jones pronouncing the cardinal vowels: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UIAe4p2I74 3 Alternative Vowel Chart Vowels - a Continuum… (Primary Cardinal Vowels) George Bernard Shaw: Pygmalion (Preface: “there are touches of [Henry] Sweet in the play”): HIGGINS: Tired of listening to sounds? PICKERING: Yes. It‘s a fearful strain. I rather fancied myself because I can pronounce 24 distinct vowel sounds; but your hundred and thirty beat me. I can‘t hear a bit of difference between most of them. HIGGINS: Oh, that comes with practice. You hear no difference at first; but you keep on listening, and presently you find they‘re all as different as A from B. Classification of Vowels: Classification of English Vowels Monophthongs vs. Diphthongs Criteria for the classification of English vowels: monophthongs = steady state vowels diphthongs = (vowel) glides (e.g. / `H /) - constancy of tongue-shape (diphthongs vs. monophthongs or “steady-state vowels”) Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 64 2003, Collins/Mees Source: - tongue shape 1) tongue height = closeness/openness 2) part of tongue which is highest = frontness/backness 4 Classification of Vowels: Classification of English Monophthongs vs. Diphthongs Monophthongs (RP) Source: Sauer 1990, 16 Sauer Source: 1990, /`H / in cross-section diagram: Source: Collins/Mees 2003, 64 2003, Collins/Mees Source: Classification of English Vowels: Duration of English Vowels: Duration Allophonic quantity rules for English vowels: vowel length / duration is not a distinctive feature for English vowels Allophonic shortening: !V: / __ FC (stressed vowels are allophonically quantity (duration) and quality, however, shortened before fortis consonants) e.g. feet, leaf are correlated Allophonic lengthening: the duration of vowels is also affected by !V: / __ LC (stressed vowels are allophonically lengthened before lenis consonants) their phonetic environment (allophonic e.g. feed, leave variation) 5 Classification of English Vowels English Monophthongs (RP) Distributional classification of English vowels: 16 Sauer Source: 1990, vowels than can occur in word-final stressed open syllables (diphthongs + / h9 , @9 , t9 , N9 , 29 / “free vowels” vs. vowels that in word-final stressed syllables can occur only before consonants (all the rest) “checked vowels” English Monophthongs (GA) English Monophthongs Source: Sauer 1990, 16 Sauer Source: 1990, /h9 / • front, close • unrounded lips Question: How do the phonemes /i:/ differ phonetically in English (RP) and in German (compare for example nie and knee )? 6 English Monophthongs English Monophthongs /H/ RP /d/ • front-central • front vowel • half close • half close – half open • unrounded lips • centralized • unrounded lips before /l/ • raised before velars • GA & mod. RP happY-tensing English Monophthongs English Monophthongs GA /d/ /z/ • front vowel • front vowel • half open • half open – open • unrounded lips • unrounded lips • attention! German accent: not too close! 7 English Monophthongs English Monophthongs Task: Read the following pairs of words to your neighbour and ask U her/him to tell you whether there is a clear distinction in your / / vowel sounds: • central vowel bet – bat pen – pan • half open – kettle – cattle open head – had • unrounded lips bed – bad • spelled <u> pet – pat and <o> bend – band celery - salary English Monophthongs English Monophthongs RP /@9 / GA /@9 / • central-back • back vowel vowel • open • open • unrounded lips • unrounded lips •/@9 / far more frequent in GA than RP 8 English Monophthongs English Monophthongs RP only: /P/ /N9 / • back vowel • back vowel • open • half open – half close • rounded lips • rounded lips •/P/ in RP is @9 • more frequent usually / / in in RP GA • GA: mainly before /r/ English Monophthongs English Monophthongs /T/ /t9 / • back-central • back vowel vowel • close • half close • rounded lips • rounded lips • mirror image • mirror image of / h9 / of / H/ 9 English Monophthongs English Monophthongs /29 / Task: Read the following pairs of words to your neighbour and ask her/him to tell you whether there is • central vowel a clear distinction in your vowel sounds, in particular whether you spread your lips for the English vowel. • half close – If you speak BrE, have your neighbour check half open additionally whether there really is NO /r/ in your • unrounded pronunciation. (spread) lips! E: bird G: blöd E: heard G: Hörtest E: fern G: Fön E: curse G: köstlich English Monophthongs Sound frequency Frequency of vowel phonemes in conversational RP ? / / (schwa) (cf. Crystal 1995, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the • central vowel English Language, p. 239 ): • half close – half open Total: vowels: 39.2% Most frequent vowels: / ?/ 10.7% / H/ 8.3% / d/ 2.9% • unrounded lips Least frequent vowels: / H? / 0.2% / NH / 0.14% / T? / 0.06% • occurs only in unstressed syllables • most frequent of all phonemes • spelled with most vowel letters 10 English Monophthongs: Transcription Practice RP – GA Correspondences U Please transcribe the following words: GA / / cut RP / U/ ton front wonder onion sponge GA / 29 / / __ r hurry, worry stomach above company shovel oven worry body lot comment English Monophthongs: English Monophthongs: RP – GA Correspondences RP – GA Correspondences GA / U/ cut GA / U/ cut RP / U/ RP / U/ GA / 29 / / __ r hurry, worry GA / 29 / / __ r hurry, worry GA / @9 / father GA / @9 / father RP / @9 / RP / @9 / GA / z/ / __ e,S,r,m,l (+C) staff, bath... GA / z/ / __ e,S,r,m,l (+C) staff, bath... GA / @9 / laundry RP / N9 / GA / N9 / <o,ou,oo> / __ r court <a> /w __ r war 11 English Monophthongs: English Monophthongs: RP – GA Correspondences GA – RP Correspondences GA / U/ cut RP / U/ GA / 29 / / __ r hurry, worry RP / @9 / father GA / @9 / father GA / @9 / RP / @9 / RP / P/ lot GA / z/ / __ e,S,r,m,l(+C) staff, bath... RP / N9 / laundry GA / @9 / laundry RP / N9 / GA / N9 / <o,ou,oo> / __ r court <a> /w __ r war GA / N9 / RP / N9 / court RP / P/ GA / @9 / lot GA / U/ RP / U/ cut English Diphthongs English Diphthongs diphthongs are dynamic , they glide from a diphthongs are classified by their second start point to an end point element (the direction of movement) RP and GA have five closing diphthongs (in which the second element is closer than the first) RP additionally has three centring diphthongs (the second element is schwa) 12 English Diphthongs: Closing English Diphthongs: Closing RP GA /`H / price /`H / /dH / face /dH / fronting /NH / choice /NH / /`T / house /`T / backing /?T / goat /nT / RP GA Source: Sauer 1990, 16; Sauer 2001, 17 English Diphthongs: Closing English Diphthongs: Closing /?T / (RP) and / nT / (GA) ( boat, toast ): /`H / ( eye, mine) and /`T / ( clown, house ): - absent in German (beginners tend to replace it with German / n9 /) - contrast to German: in E. more time spent on first - allophonic variation in RP: first element further part; ends at a lower point back before /l/; compare coat – coal /`H / additionally starts further back (compare eye and Ei; mine and mein ) /dH / ( face, eight ,…): /`T / starts further front (compare clown and Clown , - absent in German (beginners tend to replace it with German / d:/) house and Haus ) - also tendency towards monophthongization in - N.B.: the shape of the a-symbol is different than GA; but not reflected in transcription for long / @9 / - N.B. Las Vegas BUT Los Angeles /dH / / z/ /NH / ( boy, employ ): - more time spent on first part 13 English Diphthongs: Transcription Practice Centring (RP) Please transcribe the following words: The centring diphthongs in RP are: how (wie) row (Streit) /H? / ( sheer ) row (Reihe, rudern) bow (sich verbeugen, Bug) /d? / ( share ) bow (Bogen, Schleife) sow (sähen) /T? / ( sure ) sew (nähen) owl (Eule) English Diphthongs: English Diphthongs: Centring (RP) Centring (RP) and GA Equivalents Source: Sauer 1990, 6 Sauer Source: 1990, RP / d? / GA / dq / share, Mary (/ zq /) RP / H? / GA / Hq / sheer, beard RP / T? / GA / Tq / sure, poor 14 English Diphthongs: Centring (RP) Transcription Practice - more movement of German centring tear (reißen)