ENGLISH PHONETICS Bài giảng dành cho sinh viên đại học cao đẳng

ENGLISH PHONETICS Bài giảng dành cho sinh viên đại học cao đẳng là bộ tài liệu hay và rất hữu ích cho các bạn sinh viên và quý bạn đọc quan tâm. Đây là tài liệu hay trong Bộ tài liệu sưu tập gồm nhiều Bài tập THCS, THPT, luyện thi THPT Quốc gia, Giáo án, Luận văn, Khoá luận, Tiểu luận…và nhiều Giáo trình Đại học, cao đẳng của nhiều lĩnh vực: Toán, Lý, Hoá, Sinh…. Đây là nguồn tài liệu quý giá đầy đủ và rất cần thiết đối với các bạn sinh viên, học sinh, quý phụ huynh, quý đồng nghiệp và các giáo sinh tham khảo học tập. Xuất phát từ quá trình tìm tòi, trao đổi tài liệu, chúng tôi nhận thấy rằng để có được tài liệu mình cần và đủ là một điều không dễ, tốn nhiều thời gian, vì vậy, với mong muốn giúp bạn, giúp mình tôi tổng hợp và chuyển tải lên để quý vị tham khảo. Qua đây cũng gởi lời cảm ơn đến tác giả các bài viết liên quan đã tạo điều kiện cho chúng tôi có bộ sưu tập này. Trên tinh thần tôn trọng tác giả, chúng tôi vẫn giữ nguyên bản gốc. Trân trọng. ĐỊA CHỈ DANH MỤC TẠI LIỆU CẦN THAM KHẢO http:123doc.vntrangcanhan348169nguyenductrung.htm hoặc Đường dẫn: google > 123doc > Nguyễn Đức Trung > Tất cả (chọn mục Thành viên)

PHAM VAN DONG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY LECTURES

(For English majors)

Lecturer: BUI THI THANH THUY

Quang Ngai, December 2016

3 What are the differences between phonetics and a phonology?

4 How many English monophthongs/diphthongs/ triphthongs are there?

5 How many English consonants are there?

2.1 The phoneme and the allophone

2.2 The distinctive feature

2.3 The minimal pair

2.4 Symbols and transcription

Questions for discussion

1 What is a phoneme?

2 What is the distinctive feature?

3 What is the minimal pair?

4 What is narrow transcription?

5 What is broad transcription?

Lesson 1: The syllables and the structure of the syllable 28

3.1.The syllables

3.2.The structure of the syllable

3.3 An analysis of phonological structure

3.4 Syllabic consonants

3.5 Open syllables and closed syllables

3.6 Syllabification rules

3.7 Strong and week syllables

Questions for discussion + 15 minute Test

1 How many parts are there in an English syllable? What are they?

2 What is a strong syllable?

3 What is a weak syllable?

4.5 Strong forms and weak forms

Questions for discussion

1 What is assimilation?

2 How many types of assimilation are there?

3 What is elision? Give examples of different types of elision

4 What is contraction? Give two examples

5 What is weak form? How many types of weak forms are there?

6 Chapter 5: The English stress and intonation 60

5.1 What is word-stress?

5.2 What is sentence-stress?

5.3 Levels of word stress and sentence-stress

5.4 Placement of stress in simple words and complex words

5.5 Types of main sentence-stress

5.6 Rhythm

5.7 Intonation

Questions for discussion + 50 minute Test

1 What kind of words are normally stressed in communication?

2 What kind of words are not normally stressed in communication?

3 What is rhythm? What are the differences between syllable-timed rhythm and stress-timed rhythm?

4 How do yo understand the term intonation ?

5 What are the forms and meanings of the five basic tones (Falling, Rising, Falling-Rising, Rising-Falling, and Level) in English?

* The way in which this material is designed for students using the course under the direction of the lecturer is as follows:

- All the students in the class read a chapter of this material

- The students then have a class with the lecturer This provides an opportunity to discuss the material in the chapter, and for the lecturer to check if difficult points have been understood There are also some proper activities designed for students to follow

- The students then goes on to the next chapter

- All students need to do a 15minute test after finishing Chapter 3 and a 50 minute test

at the end of the course

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Page number

Table 5: Positional Occurrence of NAE Consonants 33

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Time allotted: 3 weeks

Lesson 1: Introduction: Phonetics and Phonology

Aims: The aim of this lesson is to help students think about language systems and

students understand that there is a close link between phonetics and phonology A list

of technical terms is also introduced at the end of this lesson

1 Activity 1: Basic notions

Read the following basic notions that you need to know about, but then you can develop your understanding if you want with other references

Phonetics deals with the sounds of speech: the way we make them, the way we

classify them, and the way we perceive them

Phonology also deals with the sounds of speech, but in a rather different way

While phonetics deals with the individual sounds of any language and the details of their formation, phonology deals with the ways in which the sounds in any given language are related to each other and interact with each other If we can use an anology from music, phonetics tells you what it means to play an A, and why A on a flute is different from A on a cello, but phonology tells you how that A can be used to produce harmonies and tunes

Morphology is about the structure of words, how words such as dislike are made up of smaller meaningful elements, such as dis- and like

Syntax is about the ways in which words can be put together to make up larger

units, such as sentences

Contents Lesson 1: Introduction: Phonetics and phonology Lesson 2: Vowels

Lesson 3: Consonants

Semantics deals with meaning of an utterance

Pragmatics deals with the way in which we use language to achieve our goals,

in ways which might not be obvious from the words we use To take a simple example,

It’s cold in here might really mean ‘Will you please close the window?’ but is phrased

as a statement which does not require any response

(From Laurie Bauer, 2012)

The place of phonology in the interacting hierarchy of levels in linguistics:

Pragmatics Semantics

Syntax Morphology

Phonology

Phonetics

2 Activity 2: Spoken language

δet’s continue with a piece of spoken language: Why don’t these alternatives work as well as the original – “All right, have it your way - You heard a seal bark!” ?

(from The Seal in the Bedroom by J.Thurber)

Students should work in pairs or in small groups.The first one has been done for you

a You heard a seal berk (This does not work because it is pronounced wrongly.)

b You heard a seal moo

c You heard bark a seal

d You heard a seal barking

e Would you like to hear a seal bark?

f Dear Albert, You heard a seal bark, Yours truly, Beryl

g A marine pinniped mammal going bow-wow was audible unto three

3 Activity 3: Language systems

Each of the alternatives above (a-g) represents “Incompetence” in one of the following systems Can you match them? The first one has been done for you

- Vocabulary: knowledge of what words mean and how they are used (b)

- Syntax: knowledge of how words are ordered and sentences constructed

- Appropriacy and style: knowledge of what language is appropriate according to one is speaking to, about what and by what means

- Phonology: knowledge of how to pronounce individual sounds, words and chunks of speech

- Grammar and morphology: knowledge of how words and phrases are marked for tense, person, case, etc

- Discourse competence: knowledge of different types of texts and their conventions

- Pragmatic competence: knowledge of what forms are appropriate in order to realise one’s communicative purpose (or function)

4 Activity 4: Get to know the human hearing System

Figure 1: The human hearing system

5 Activity 5: Get to know the speech organs (sound producing systems)

Figure 2: The speech organs

3 What are the differences between phonetics and phonology?

4 Where is the place of phonology in the interacting hierarchy of levels in linguistics:

5 Give the Vietnamese names for the articulators, then indicate them the correct places

on the sound producing systems

Terminology

phonetics (n): ng âm h c (phonetics is the study of human speech sounds It is a branch of linguistics studying the production, the physical nature, the perception and other aspects of human speech sounds.)

phonology (n): âm v h c (phonology is the study of how the speech sounds function and form patterns according to phonological rules.)

Lesson 2: ENGLISH VOWELS

Aims: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to remember, use and pronounce

English vowels

( Warm – up with www.youtube.com Lesson 36: Phonetics)

Vowels can be divided into vowels and consonants Vowels can be divided into pure vowels (monophthong) and diphthongs (and possibly triphthongs)

A vowel is defined as a voiced sound in which the air has a free passage through the mouth, and does not produce any audible friction

A pure vowel (monophthong) is an unchanging sound in the pronunciation

of which the organs of speech do not perceptibly change the position throughout the duration of the vowel in a syllable For example: /i/ , /e/, /a/, /u/, …

A diphthong is a combination of two vowels pronounced within one

syllable For example: /ei/, / /,/ai/,…

A triphthong is a combination of three vowels pronounced within one syllable For example: /a /, / /, /ei /,…

1 Activity 1: Answer the following questions

a How many monophthongs are there?

b How many long vowels are there?

c How many diphthongs are there?

d How many triphthongs are there?

2 Activity 2: Learn this vowel diagram in order to get familiar with it

Figure 3: The vowel chart

Front Central Back

The columns show whether the tongue is toward the front, center, or back of the mouth

The rows show whether the tongue is high, in the middle, or low in the mouth

Description of Cardinal Vowels

/I / close front unrounded vowel

/e/ close-mid front unrounded vowel

/ / open-mid front unrounded vowel

/a/ open front unrounded vowel

/ / open back unrounded vowel

a

/ / open-mid back rounded vowel

/o/ close-mid back rounded vowel

/u/ close back rounded vowel

/y/ close front unrounded vowel

/ø/ close-mid front rounded vowel

/œ / open-mid front rounded vowels

/Π/ open front rounded vowel

/ / open back rounded vowel

/ / open-mid back unrounded vowel

/ / close-mid back unrounded vowel

/ / close back unrounded vowel

/ i / close central unrounded vowel

/ u / close central rounded vowel

Tense and lax vowels: Tense and lax vowel pairs, such as ‘feel-fit’, are difficult for many students Tense vowels are pronounced with more muscle tension With lax vowel, the muscles of the mouth are short in duration and more relaxed Some writers

give the label tense to long vowels and diphthongs and lax to the short vowels This is

explained in Jakobson and Halle (1964) and in Chomsky and Halle (1968)

Tense vowels:i:, u:, o, :

ei, I, ai … Lax vowels:I, , æ, , , …

3 Activity 3: Noughts and crosses

Work in pairs or in groups Make sentences using the vowel sounds in the boxex

/aI/ / :/ /æ/

(Teacher is the supervisor and flexible in students' answers.)

4 Activity 4: Lengthening sentences

Read these sentences aloud

(Hand-out or link to file in Word )

* Hand-out for activity 4

Lengthening sentences

Concentrate on getting your breathing even and steady

1 Come to tea! Come to tea with me by the sea! If you're free, come to tea with me by the sea Do you agree, if you're free, to come to tea with me by the sea? /i:/

2 He's swimming He's swimming in the river He's swimming in the river with Tim Come in, he's swimming in the river with Tim Will you come in-he's swimming in the river with Tim /I/

3 He sells eggs He sells hens' eggs He sells the best hens' eggs He sells the best hens' eggs every Wednesday He sells the best hens' eggs every Wednesday in the market /e/

4 He attacked the man He attacked the man in the van He attacked the man in the van with the hammer He attacked the man in the van with a hammer with he held with

both hands /æ/

5 I shan't I shan't sing I shan't sing at the garden party I shan't sing at the garden party at my aunt's farm I shan't sing at the garden party at my aunt's farm I shan't sing

at the garden party at my aunt's farm tomorrow afternoon /a:/

6 Where's the watch? Where's the watch I put in my pocket? Where's the watch I put

in my pocket to take to the shop? Where's the watch I put in my pocket to take to the shop because it had stopped?/ /

7 Paul called Paul called from the hall Paul called from the hall that he slipped on the floor Paul called from the hall that he'd slipped on the floor and couldn't get the door / :/

8 Have a look at this book Have a look at this book which I found near a brook Have

a look at this book which I found near a brook and gave to our cook / /

9 I'd choose blue I'd choose blue shoes I'd choose blue shoes to take to school I'd choose blue shoes to take to school to use I'd choose blue shoes to take to school to use if I were you /u/

10 You must come You must come to supper You must come to supper with us You must come to supper with us and join in the fun / /

11 He searched and searched He searched and searched for the bird He searched and searched for the bird he heard He searched and searched for the bird he heard He searched and searched for the bird he heard in church / :/

12 He built a protecting wall He buit a protecting wall of shingle He buit a protecting wall of shingle and mortar He buit a protecting wall of shingle and mortar to depend the coast / /

Questions for discussion:

1 What is the Cardinal vowel Diagram used for?

2 What is a vowel? A monophthong? A diphthong? A triphthong?

3 How do you classify English monophthong?

4 How do you classify English diphthongs?

5 How many triphthongs are there?

6 What are tense vowels?

7 What are lax vowels?

Terminology

monophthong: nguyên âm đ n, nguyên âm thu n túy (ch g m m t nguyên âm duy

nh t)

short vowel: nguyên âm ng n (có khuynh h ng ng n h n nguyên âm thu n túy)

long vowel: nguyên âm dài (có khuynh h ng dài h n nguyên âm thu n túy)

diphthong: nguyên âm đôi (nh trùng âm) δà âm nói đ c hình thành t vi c đ c l t

triphthong: nguyên âm ba (tam trùng âm) δà m t âm nói g m ba nguyên âm hình thành t vi c đ c l t t m t nguyên âm sang nguyên âm th hai và th ba

tongue position: v trí l i

tongue height: t m nâng c a l i

lip rounding: đ tròn c a môi

to obstruct (v): c n tr (lu ng h i khi phát âm)

vowel quality: đ c tính c a nguyên âm

length-mark: ký hi u nguyên âm dài

cardinal vowels: các nguyên âm chính (trong h th ng tham kh o chu n)

vowel qualdrilateral:hình t giác đ c dùng đ mô t nguyên âm

Lesson 3: THE ENGLISH CONSONANTS

Aims: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to remember, use and pronounce

English consonants

( Warm – up with www.youtube.com Lesson 36: Phonetics)

English speech sounds are devided into 12 monophthongs and 8 diphthongs mentioned above and 24 consonants

1 Activity 1: Read definitions of consonants and consonant classification

A consonant is a sound produced with an obstruction to the air stream

According to Peter Roach (2002), we can classify the consonants according to the place of articulation, the manner of articulation, and the state of vibration of the vocal cords

Place of articulation: The points where articulators actually touch or are at the closest

Table 1: Place of articulation

dental teeth tongue tip ,

labial-dental upper lip lower lip f, v

palato-alveolar

(post-alveolar)

tongue blade behind alveolar ∫, , t∫, d , r

- bilabial:formed at the two lips

- labiodental: formed at the lips and teeth

- dental:formed at the teeth

- alveolar:formed at the tooth ridge

- palatal:formed at the hard palate

- velar:formed at the soft velar

- glottal:formed in the gap between the vocal cords

Table 2: Manner of articulation

Sound class Movement of

articulators

Sound

stop (plosive) complete stop of air, then

nasal lowering of velum, air

escapes through nose

[m, n, ]

lateral air escapes down side of

tongue

[l]

approximant slight narrowing, not

enough for friction

[w, j, r]

- plosive(or stop): by explosion

- fricative: by friction

- affricate: by explosion ending in friction

- semi-vowel: with little or no interruption or friction

Table 3: The International Phonetic Alphabet

States of glottis: what are the vocal folds doing?

For example, a voiced bilabial nasal is /m/

A voiceless alveolar stop is /t/

In addition, we can use vocing of English consonants in the pronunciation of Plural form – S and the pronunciation of past form – ED

2 Activity 2: Describe English consonants according to place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing

/b/ is a voiced bilabial nasal sound

/d/ is a voiced alveolar stop sound

/g/ is a voiced velar stop sound

/p/ is a voiceless bilabial stop sound

/t/ is a voiceless alveolar stop sound

/k/ is a voiceless velar stop sound

/l/ is a voiced alveolar lateral sound

/n/ is a voiced alveolar nasal sound

/ / is a voiced velar nasal sound

/d / is a voiced palato-alveolar affricate sound

/t∫/ is a voiceless palato-alveolar affricate sound

/r/ is a voiced palato-alveolar approximant sound

/j/ is a voiced palatal approximant sound

/w/ is a voiced bilabial approximant sound

/m/ is a voiced bilabial nasal sound

/v/ is a voiced labial dental fricative sound

/ / is a voiced dental fricative sound

/z/ is a voiced alveolar fricative sound

/ / is a voiced palato alveolar fricative sound

/f/ is a voiceless bilabial dental fricative sound

/ / is a voiceless dental fricative sound

/s/ is a voiceless alveolar fricative sound

/∫/ is a voiceless dental fricative sound

/h/ is a voiceless glottal fricative sound

3 Activity 3: Read about fortis – lenis consonants

There are some phonetic features of English consonants Some of them require

greater or lesser effort and high/ low air pressure

- Fortis consonants: voiceless consonants tend to have strong pronunciation

‘bottle, hungry, uppermost, thicken’ According to Peter Roach, ‘We find them

sometimes in words like ‘happen’, which can be pronounced [’hæpm] If English

speaker can recognize these syllabic sonsonants, they can put the word stress more easily This will be mentioned in the next chapter

Questions for Discussion

1 What is a consonant?

2 How do we classify English consonants?

3 What are the differences between vowels and consonants?

4 What is a syllabic consonant?

5 Describe each English consonant according to place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing

6 What is a fortis consonant? Give two examples

7 What is a lenis consonant? Give two examples

Terminology

voicing:thanh tính

voiced sound: âm h u thanh Khi các dây thanh âm rung đ ng thì s phát ra âm g i là

âm h u thanh Có ba lo i bi n th h u thanh khác nhau:

- Bi n th v c ng đ : âm h u thanh có c ng đ cao khi la hét ho c c ng đ th p khi nói th m

- Bi n th v t ng s : khi các dây thanh âm rung nhanh thì âm h u thanh t n s cao

glottal stop: âm t c thanh h u

glottal plosive:âm b c thanh h u

continuant consonant: ph âm xát

bilabial:âm hai môi

syllabic sonsonant:ph âm t nó t o nên m t âm ti t, không c n có nguyên âm

approximant:âm ti m c n (các c quan phát âm ti n v phía nhau nh ng không đ g n

đ t o thành m t ph âm đ y đ )

Chapter 2: THE PHONEME AND THE ALLOPHONE

Time allotted: 3 weeks

Aims: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to understand and use the term

‘phoneme’ and ‘allophone’ in pronunciation practice They also know how to transcribe English sounds phonemically and phonetically

1 Activity 1: Read definitions of phoneme and allophone

A phoneme is a phonological unit, a distinctive unit of sound in a language

It is also defined as the smallest unit of language existing as such a speech-sound which is capable distinguishing one word from another or one grammatical form

of a word from another form of the same word Let us see two words pan and ban

These two words have different initial sounds /p/ and /b/ /p/ and /b/ are phonemes in English There are 44 English phonemes: 20 vowels and 24 consonants

According to Roach (2002), “When we speak, we produce a continuous stream

of sounds In studying speech we divide this stream into small pieces that we call

segments For examtheple, the word “man” is pronounced with a first segment /m/, a

second segment /æ/ and a third segment /n/ It is not always easy to decide on the

number of segments To give a simple sentence, in the word “mine”, the first segment

is /m/ and the last is /n/ But should we regard the /ai/ in the middle as one segment or two?” In fact, this is still a controversal issue

Contents

1 The phoneme and the allophone

2 The distinctive feature

3 The minimal pair

4 Symbols and transcription

A phone is a term used in phonetics to refer to the smallest perceptible discrete segment of sound in a stream of speech A phonetic unit or phonetic segment is called a phone From the viewpoint of segmental phonology, phones are

the physical realizations of phonemes; phonic varieties of a phoneme are referred to as allophones

An allophone is a predictable phonetic variant of a phoneme For example, phoneme /t/ can have two variants It can be aspirated as in tea [ti:] or it can be unaspirated as in eat [i:t]

Phoneme Allophone

- What you interpret - What you hear

- Name for a class of sounds - actual members of that class

- abstract unit of language - concrete unit of speech

- phonemic (in dictionary) - phonetic (in pronunciation)

- basic, underlying form - phonetic realization/ variant

- socialized - individual (free variation)

2 Activity 2: Read about distintive features in English

- The distintive features help distinguish a segment from another one It is also called phonemic feature or contrastive feature because it helps distinguish different phonemes For example, the bilabial stops /p/ and /b/ can be distinguished only by the feature voiceless sound and voiced sound

- Minimal pair test is the basic test that helps discover which segment contrast

- Minimal pair: A pair of words which mean something different and differ in only one segment is called a minimal pair For example, pat /pet/ and bat/bet/; bed/bed/ and bad /bæd/; raise/reiz/ and race /reis/

- Complementary distribution occurs when two or more segments never occur in the same phonetic environment, they are said to be in complementary distribution The complementary distribution helps decide which segments are allophones of the same phoneme Eg, the complementary distribution of voiced [l] and voiceless[l] as in:

Lake, blue, slow [l] (voiced) (a)

Clear, clay, please [l] (voiceless) (b)

That means [l] in (a) and [l] in (b) are allophones of the phoneme /l/, but they appear in different places in the word, and that why there can never be a minimal pair between them

3 Activity 3: Read about aspiration in Roach’s book (2002) to get more information about complementary distribution and allophones

We find that the realisation of /t/ in the word “tea” is aspirated (as are all voiceless plosives when they occur before stressed vowels at the beginning of syllables) Iin the word “eat”, the realisation of /t/ is unaspirated (as are all voiceless plosives when they occur at the end of a syllable and are not followed by a vowel) The aspirated and unaspirated realisations are both recognized as /t/ by English speakers despite their differences But the aspirated realisation will never be found in the place where the unaspirated realisation is appropriate, and vice versa When we find this strict separation of places where particular realisations can occur, we say that the

realisations are in complementary distribution One more technical terms needs to be

introduced: When we talk about different realisations of phonemes, we sometimes call

these realisations allophones

4 Activity 4: Read about symbols and transcription, then do exercise below

Making a transcription of any language involves making decisions about the phonological structures of the language, or the variety of the language, to be transcribed The phonemic system described for the BBC accent contains forty-four phonemes The vowels can be located in the vowel qualdrilateral and the consonants can be placed in a chart or a table according to place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing The most common system used to represent sounds more accurately is the IPA (International Phonetic Association/ Alphabets)

There are two kinds of transcription They are broad transcription and narrow transcription

Broad Transcription: A phonetic transcription containing a little more information

than a narrow transcription would be called a broad phonetic transcription

- Use of simple symbols for distinctive sounds of given languages

- Does not provide details how a particular sound is pronounced

- Use slant brackets, e.g pea / pi: /, be / bi: / In many phonetic books, phoneme symbols are put within slant brackets

Narrow Transcription: A phonetic transcription containing a lot of information about

the exact quality of the sounds would be called a narrow phonetic transcription

- Use of phonetic symbols for the allophones of a given language

- Provide finer points of the pronunciation of a particular sound

- Use the square brackets [ ] and diacritics for subtle details for the representation of phonetic features, e.g pea [phi:], be [bi:]

Exercise 1:Dictate the passage using phonemic symbols

(Hand-out or link to file in word)

What about going to Regent park and having a look at the spring flowers before they all get blown away by this horrible wind They say the tulips a magnificient this year I've just got to change my library books and I want to go to the delicatessen shop next door They've got rather a nice cheese there, covered in grape pips If I get a package of biscuits of Wale, we might perhaps sit in the park, and make a little picnic of it Or would you rather go home and sit by the fire

Exercise 2: Decide whether the following statements are true or false:

a The phoneme is the smallest distinctive unit of sound in a language

b An allophone is a physical form of a phoneme

c Distictive features are particular characteristics distinguishing one distinctive sound

of a language from another or one group of sound from another group

d A phone is a variant of phoneme

Exercise 3: The word in the following list should be transcribed first phonemically,

then (in square brackets) phonetically

Does a phoneme have both distinctive features and non-distinctive features?

What is a distinctive feature? Give the distinctive features of the following phoneme: /e/, /i:/, /l/, /s/, /z/

How many English phonemes are there? What are they?

How many Vietnamese phonemes are there? What are they?

What are the main differences between a phoneme and an allophone?

What is complementary distribution? Give an example about it

What is broad transcription?

What is narrow transcription?

What are the main differences between broad phonetic transcription and narrow phonetic transcription?

Terminology

Phoneme: âm v

Phone: âm

Allophone: âm t (bi n th c a âm v )

Phonemic system: h th ng âm v

Segment: âm đo n

Realization: d ng, th (c a âm v )

Phonemic transcription: phiên âm theo âm v

Phonetic transcription: phiên âm theo ng âm

Distintive features: nét khu bi t

εinimal pair: c p âm t i thi u

Identical: gi ng nhau

Environment: b i c nh ng âm

Complementary distribution: th phân b b sung

Free variation: bi n th t do

Chapter 3: THE SYLLABLES

Time allotted: 3 weeks

Lesson 1: The syllables and the structure of the syllable

Aims: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to recognise the structure of the

syllables, understand and use them properly

1 Activity 1: What is a syllable?

The syllable may be defined both phonetically and phonologically Phonetically (that is, in relation to the way we produce them and the way they sound), syllables are usually described as consisting of a centre which has little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before and after this centre (that is, at the beginning and end of the syllable), there will be greater obstruction to airflow and/or

less loud sound A syllable is a phonological unit used to make up a word A syllable is smaller than a word and bigger than a segment

Let us have a look at some examples:

Minimum syllable: preceded and followed by silence: ‘a’

Onset: sound that precedes vowel: “are” /a:r/

Coda: sound that follows w/ no onset: “am” /em/

Onset + Coda: run, sat, fill

Phonologically, Permissible combinations of English phonemes

Contents Lesson 1: The syllables and the structure of the syllable Lesson 2: The syllable in Connected speech

1 An analysis of phonological structure

Phonotactics: phonotactics is the study of phoneme combinations of a language

We look at what can occur in initial position-in other words, what can occur at the beginning of the first word when we begin to speak after a pause We find that the word can begin with a vowel, or with one, two or three consonants No word begins with more than three consonants In the same way, we can look at how a word ends when it is the last word spoken before a pause; it can end with a vowel, or with one, two, three or (in a small number of cases) four consonants No word ends with more than four consonants

• What can occur at the beginning of a word (after a pause):

Vowel: ought, oh, I’m, I, a

1 consonant: bar, car, say

2 consonants: speak, state, broom

3 consonants:: streak, sprite

• What can occur at the end of a word (before a pause):

Vowel: oboe, go, bee

1 consonant: bar, can, am

2 consonants: speaks, stats, brood

3 consonants: tests, twelfths

Word begins with

• vowel: any vowel; zero onset

• 1 consonant: any consonant except /ng/ and /dj/

• 2+ consonants: consonant clustesr:

/s/ pre-initial consonant & 2nd consonant /t/ /w/ /m/ is initial consonant

StringSwaySmokeinitial + /l/ /r/ /w/ /j/ + post initial: play, try, quick

Words end with

• No final consonant: zero coda

• 1 consonant only: final consonant, any consonant, except /h/ /w/

• 2 consonant final cluster

Final consonant preceded by prefinal: /m/, /n/, / /, /l/, /s/: bump, bent, bank, belt, ask

Final consonant followed by post-final consonant /s/, /z/, /t/, /d/, / /: bets, beds, backed, bagged, eighth (often different morphemes)

• 3-consonant clusters:

Prefinal + final + post final

final + post final 1 + post final 2

• 4-consonant clusters

Pre-final + final + post final 1 + post final 2

Activity 2: The structure of the English syllable

How to set up a syllable?

You should follow the following steps to set up a syllable:

- construct the nucleus

- construct the onset

- construct the coda

- construct the word from the syllable

The internal structure of a syllable: of 4 subsyllabic units (4 elements)

Nucleus – N (a vowel: monophthong or diphthong)

Coda – C (consonant(s)) following the Nucleus

Rhyme – R (N+C)

Onset – O (consonant(s)) preceding the Nucleus

For example, the internal structure the word sprint is CCCVCC

Syllable

Onset Rhyme

Peak Coda

CCV Pry Grow Free

CCCV Screw Spray Stray

CVCCC Tests Tenths Lunged

CVCCCC Thirsts Texts Worlds CVC

Bed

Set

Cap

CCVC Bred Dread Stone

CVCC Bald Sand Hunt

CCVCC Brand Trains Swings CCCVC

Strut

Squat

Sprain

CCCVCC Struts Squats Sprained

CCVCCC Slurps Prints Flirts

CCCVCCC Scrimps Sprints squelched

Rhyme

Vowel + coda (underlying structure of minimal pairs)

Peak + (coda)

Lesson 2: The syllable in Connected speech

Aims: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to recognise, understand and use the English syllables in connected speech

1 Activity 1 Read about analysis of phonetic/phonological structure

Maximum onsets principle: where 2 syllables are to be divided, any consonants between them should be attached to the right-hand syllable not the left if possible within the restrictions ogverning syllable onsets and codas

Ambisyllabic: When one consonant stands between vowels and it is difficult to assign the consonant to one syllable or the other, the consonant could belong to both syllables For example: carry or better

Positional occurrence of NAE consonants

Phoneme Syllable

initial

Syllable final

Intervocalic Initial

clusters

Final clusters

/b/ Bed, bird,

bald

Tub, crab, robe

Habit, hobby, robbing

Bread, blast, bright

Bulb, sobbed, curbs /p/ Peach,

party, pill

Tap, cape, leap

Kipper, happy, seeping

Pretty, plaster, spot

Camp, kept, clasped /d/ Deep, dark

do

Bid, glade, wood

Ladder, bidding, loudest

Dream, dragon, dwell

Hard, bold, finds

/t/ Toe,

terrible,

tension

Bat, mitt, great

Bitter, catty, beating

Tree, twin, star

Quilt, built, rafts

‘g’ Girl, go,

gas

Tag, log, rig

Bigger, sagging,

Grape, glance,

Bags, tagged,

snuggest (Gwen) icebergs

Intervocalic Initial

clusters

Final clusters

/k/ King, calf,

cook

Lick, ache, rake

Thicker, picking, rocket

Creep, quip, clap

Dark, tacks, text

/v/ vine, vow,

voice

give, move, live

clover, having, given

(vlasik) (vroom) (vries)

fives, curved, elves /f/ five,phone,

fair

knife, loaf, rough

heifer, laughing, office

fly, frost, few

left, laughs, surfed /th/ the, this,

then

bathe, teethe, writhe

mother, teething, worthy

(none) bathed,

teethes, loathes /th/ thank,

thick,

thought

bath, teeth, cloth

ether, mythic, breathy

thread, thwart, thrash

myths, width, months

2 Αχτιϖιτψ 2: Read about syllabic consonants

In chapter 1, lesson 3, we mentioned syllabic consonants Syllabic consonants

appear in syllables in which no vowel is found In this case, a consonant, either l, r or a nasal (m, n, ), stands as the peak of the syllable instead of the vowel, and we count

these as weak syllables It is usual to indicate that a consonant is syllabic by means of a

small vertical mark (,) for example ‘student’/’stju:dnt/