Phonemes English Âm vị trong tiêng anh

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

Lecture 3

• Phonemes

• Allophones

• Symbols

• Phonemic symbols

• Phonetic symbols

• Transcriptions

• Broad / Phonemic transcription

• Narrow / Phonetic transcription

• 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:

• 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 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] tea

• /t/ [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.

• 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

Rules for English consonant allophones

1 Initial voiceless stops are aspirated [ H ]

e.g pie

tea key

2 Voiceless stops are unaspirated after /s/ at the

beginning of a syllable [ ']

e.g stay

sky speak

3 Stops are unexploded when they occur before

another stop [ > ] [ ']

e.g apt

rubbed looked stopped

4 Approximants /r, w, j/ and the lateral /l/ are devoiced

when they occur after initial /p, k, t/ [ &]

e.g play

queen

5 Voiceless stops become glottal stop [?] plus voiceless

stops when they are syllable final and after a vowel e.g tip

kick pit

6 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

7 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

8 /n/ becomes syllabic [ ] at the end of a word when

immediately after obstruents (stops + fricatives).

listen

reason

Notes: /n/ does not become syllabic after /m, n, t S/

e.g question

9 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

11 Velar stops become more front as the following vowel in

the same syllable becomes more front [ " ] [ ! ] [ % ] [

$]

consonant at the end of a word [K]

same syllable

Variations of Plosives

1 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

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

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

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 do It is called lateral explosion

• Examples: little, middle, battle, bottle