Phonemes English Âm vị trong tiêng anh

Lecture • Phonemes • Allophones • Symbols • Phonemic symbols • Phonetic symbols • Transcriptions • Broad / Phonemic transcription • Narrow / Phonetic transcription • Rules for English allophones Phonemes • A phoneme is the smallest segment of sound which can distinguish two words • Take the words ‘pit’ and ‘bit’ These differ only in their initial sound ‘pit’ begins with /p/ and ‘bit’ begins with /b/ This is the smallest amount by which these two words could differ and still remain distinct forms Any smaller subdivision would be impossible because English doesn’t subdivide /p/ or /b/ Therefore, /p/ and /b/ are considered two phonemes • Other examples: Minimal pairs • Pair of words such as ‘pit’ and ‘bit’, ‘pit’ and ‘pet’, ‘back’ and ‘bag’ which differ by only one phoneme in identical environment are known as minimal pairs • More examples: • One way to identify the phonemes of any language is to look for minimal pairs Phonemes • There are 44 phonemes in English They can be divided into two types: consonants (24) and vowels (20) • Each phoneme is meaningless in isolation It becomes meaningful only when it is combined with other phonemes • Phonemes form a set of abstract units that can be used for writing down a language systemmatically and unambiguously • Reasons: A letter can be represented by different sounds • A phoneme can be represented by different letters or combinations of letters Allophones • Allophones are the variants of phonems that occur in speech • Reasons: the way a phoneme is pronounced is conditioned by the sounds around it or by its position in the word For example: /t/ • /t/ [t] tea [t '] stay [t-] get there Phonemes vs Allophones • The crucial distinction between phonemes and allophones is that substituting one phoneme for another will result in a word with a different meaning (that’s why phonemes can be defined as meaning-distinguishing sounds) as well as a different pronunciation, but substituting allophones only results in a different pronunciation of the same words • E.g Symbols • Phonemic symbols: are symbols for phonemes The number of phonemic symbols must be exactly the same as the number of phonemes we decide to exist in the language In RP (BBC English), there are 44 phonemic symbols • Phonetic symbols: are symbols for allophones They are used to give an accurate label to an allophone of a phoneme or to represent sounds more accurately Phonetic symbols usually make use of diacritics Phonemic / broad transcription • A phonemic transcription is a transcription in which each phoneme is represented by one phonemic symbol In other words, in a phonemic transcription, every speech sound must be identified as one of the phonemes and written down with an appropriate symbol • E.g.: • A phonemic transcription does not show a great deal of phonetic detail and is usually placed between slanting lines Phonetic / narrow transcription • A phonetic transcription is a transcription which contains a lot of information about the exact quality of the sounds It shows more phonetic detail such as aspiration, length, nasalisation , by using a wide variety of symbols and in many cases diacritics e.g • In a phonetic transcription, the symbols are used to represent precise phonetic values, not just to represent phonemes • A phonetic transcription is usually put between square brackets Rules for English consonant allophones Initial voiceless stops are aspirated [ H ] e.g pie tea key Voiceless stops are unaspirated after /s/ at the beginning of a syllable [ '] e.g stay sky speak 10 Stops are unexploded when they occur before another stop [ > ] [ '] e.g apt rubbed looked stopped Approximants /r, w, j/ and the lateral /l/ are devoiced when they occur after initial /p, k, t/ [ &] e.g play queen twin 11 Voiceless stops become glottal stop [?] plus voiceless stops when they are syllable final and after a vowel e.g tip kick pit Voiced obstruents (stops and fricatives: b, d, g, v, D, Z, z/ are devoiced when they occur at the end of an utterance or before a voiceless sound [ &] e.g improve big add two 12 Voiced stops and affricate /b, d, g, dZ/ are voiceless when syllable initial, except when immediately preceded by a voiced sound [ &] e.g dog big dog /n/ becomes syllabic [ ] at the end of a word when immediately after obstruents (stops + fricatives) e.g garden listen reason Notes: /n/ does not become syllabic after /m, n, tS/ e.g question salmon 13 The lateral /l/ becomes syllabic [ ] at the end of a word when immediately after a consonant e.g paddle castle noble Note: /l/ does not become syllabic after /dZ and tS/ e.g satchel angel 10 Alveolars become dentalized [  ] before dentals e.g eighth tenth wealth get there 14 11 Velar stops become more front as the following vowel in the same syllable becomes more front [ " ] [ ! ] [ % ] [ $] e.g cat get good cook 12 The lateral /l/ is velarized when after a vowel or before a consonant at the end of a word [K] e.g well dealt 13 Vowels become shorter before voiceless consonants in the same syllable e.g neat pace back get 14 Vowels become nasalized before nasals [ +] e.g song ban 15 Variations of Plosives Incomplete plosive/plosion: Stop + Stop • When one stop consonant is immediately followed by another, as in ‘act’ //, ‘top dog’ / /, the closure of the speech organs for the second consonant is made while the closure for the first is still in position The first consonant is then considered an incomplete plosive There is usually only one plosion for the second consonant • The ‘missing explosion’ happens whenever one stop consonant is followed by another stop or an affricate • When a stop is followed by itself, there is again only one explosion, but the closure’s held for double the usual time 16 Variations of Plosives • When one of the strong/weak pair /b, p/ is followed by the other as in: ‘what day’ ‘big cake’ there is only one explosion, but the closure is held for double the usual time, and the strength changes during this time 17 Nasal explosion /t, d/ + /n/ • When /t/ or /d/ are followed by syllabic /n/ as in ‘button’, ‘garden’, the explosion of the stop takes place through the nose This nasal explosion happens in this way: the vocal organs form /t/ and /d/ in the usual way with the soft palate raised to shut off the nasal cavity and the tongue tip on the alveolar ridge But instead of taking the tongue tip away from the alveolar ridge to give the explosion, we leave it in the same position and lower the soft palate so that the breath explodes out of the nose rather than the mouth • Examples: written, hidden, certain, Britain, burden, wooden, pardon 18 Lateral explosion /t, d/ + /l/ • /t/ and /d/ are made with the tongue tip on the alveolar ridge and the sides of the tongue firmly touching the sides of the hard palate /l/ is made with the tongue tip touching the alveolar ridge but the sides of the tongue away from the sides of the palate so that the breath passes out laterally The simplest way to go from /t/ and /d/ to /l/ is to leave the tongue tip on the alveolar ridge and only lower the sides and that’s what we It is called lateral explosion • Examples: little, middle, battle, bottle 19 [...]... followed by another stop or an affricate • When a stop is followed by itself, there is again only one explosion, but the closure’s held for double the usual time 16 Variations of Plosives • When one of the strong/weak pair /b, p/ is followed by the other as in: ‘what day’ ‘big cake’ there is only one explosion, but the closure is held for double the usual time, and the strength changes during this time 17