English Phonetics and Phonology

Three main areas of phonetics: - Articulatory phonetics: dealing with the way in which speech sounds are produced sounds classified according to the position of the lips and the tongue

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INTRODUCTION 1.1 Phonetics and phonology

They are branches of linguistics that study speech sounds

Phonetics studies physical aspects of speech sounds (the production and perception of speech

sounds, differences in sound quality, clear / l / vs dark / l /, / u: / vs / ʊ /, / p / vs / ph /, etc.)

Three main areas of phonetics:

- Articulatory phonetics: dealing with the way in which speech sounds are produced (sounds

classified according to the position of the lips and the tongue, how far open the mouth is, whether or not the vocal cords are vibrating…)

- Acoustic phonetics: dealing with the transmission of speech sounds through the air

- Auditory phonetics: dealing with how speech sounds are perceived by the listener (clear / l / vs

dark / l /, / t/ vs / p / with or without aspiration…)

Phonology/ Phonemics studies the functional aspects of sounds and their relationships to one

another (/ i: /, /1 / => different meanings, / h, r, j, w / never in final position…)

Speech sounds: sounds produced by the vocal tract (Tract: a system of organs and tissues that

together perform a specialized function)

1.2 Vowels and consonants

Vowels: sounds produced without an obstruction to the air flow/ air stream as it passes from the

larynx to the lips

Ex: / ɑ: , i: , u: , O , ɜ: , 1 , ʊ , ɒ , ʌ , e , æ , ǝ /

=> 20 vowels = 12 pure vowels + 8 diphthongs

Consonants: sounds produced with an obstruction to the airflow or with audible friction

Ex: / d b f g h j k l m n p r s ʃ t v w z ʒ ʤ ʧ

ŋ θ ð /

=> 24 consonants

1.3 Voiced and voiceless sounds

Voiced sounds: sounds produced with the vibration of the vocal cords

=> 36 voiced sounds = 20 vowels + 16 voiced consonants

Voiceless sounds: sounds produced without the vibration of the vocal cords

=> 8 voiceless sounds, all of which are consonants: / f k p t θ ʧ s ʃ /

Notes:

1- It is important to distinguish between letters and sounds In phonetics and phonology, only sounds are paid attention to

2- Letters do not have sounds but they can represent sounds in words

3- A letter in isolation possesses no sound

4- A letter can represent more than one sound, and a sound can be represented by more than one letter

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Ex: “a”: / $ / ancient, / æ / can, / ǝ / ago, / O / call

1.4 Accents and dialects

Accents: different pronunciation by people from different geographical places, from different

social classes, of different ages and different education backgrounds

Dialects: varieties of a language, different from each other in pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar,

word order

1.5 Received pronunciation (RP)

British standard English pronunciation regarded as the prestige variety and showing no regional variation It has often been referred to as “BBC English” because it is used by most BBC newsreaders

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THE PRODUCTION OF SPEECH SOUNDS

2.1 ARTICULATORS ABOVE THE LARYNX

Speech sounds are produced by the airstream starting at the lung, passing through the larynx and

then going into the vocal tract which ends at the mouth and nostrils There are muscles affect speech sounds:

1 The muscles in the chest used for breathing produce the airstream for speech sounds

2 The muscles in the larynx make modifications in the air from the chest to the mouth

3 The muscles in the vocal tract change the shape of the vocal tract

The different parts in the vocal tract are called articulators and the study of them is called articulatory phonetics There are seven articulators above the larynx:

1 The pharynx is a tube above the larynx Its top end is divided into two: one part is the back of

the mouth and the other is the beginning of the way through the nasal cavity

2 The velum or soft palate allows air to pass through the nose and the mouth In speech the velum

is raised so that air cannot escape through the nose When the sounds / k / and / g / are

pronounced, the tongue is contact with the lower side of the velum and they are velar consonants

3 The hard palate or the roof of the mouth is a smooth curved surface

4 The alveolar ridge is between the top front teeth and the hard palate Sounds made with the tongue touching here (such as / t / and / d / are called alveolar

5 The tongue is a very important articulator that can be moved into many different places and

different shapes It is divided into 5 different parts: tip, blade, front, back and root

7 The lips are important in speech They are pressed together to produce the sounds / p / and / b /,

brought into contact with the teeth as in / f / and / v /, or rounded to produce the lip-shape for

vowels like / u: / Sounds with the lips in contact with each other are called bilabial, while those with lip-to-teeth contact are called labiodental

Beside the seven articulators above, there are three other organs to remember:

1 The larynx could also be described as an articulator

2 The jaws are sometimes called articulators; certainly they are moved lower a lot in a speech

However, they cannot make contact with other articulators

3 The nose and the nasal cavity are a very important part for making nasal sounds such as / m /, /

n / and / ŋ /

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2.2 VOWEL AND CONSONANT

There can be two ways to distinguish a vowel from a consonant

1 As for phonetics, vowels such as / i: / or / u: / are sounds in which there is no obstruction to the

flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips Meanwhile, consonants such as / s / or / d / are

sounds in which there is obstruction to the flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips

However, because in some consonants such as / h / or / w / there is no obstruction of the airstream, so the most important difference between vowel and consonant is not the way that they are produced, but their different distribution

2 As for distribution, there is no other vowel before or after a vowel, so there is no vowel cluster

in English But before and after a consonant can be another consonant, so there is a consonant

cluster For example, the word black / blæk / has a consonant cluster / bl /

2.3 ENGLISH SHORT VOWELS

A English vowels differ from each other in five ways:

1 The position of the tongue refers to the vertical distance between the upper surface of the

tongue and the palate

 When the vowel / i: / is produced, the tongue is close to the roof of the mouth So / i: / is a

close vowel

 When the vowel / æ / is produced, the distance between the surface of the tongue and the roof

of the mouth is much greater So / æ / is an open vowel

 When the vowel / e / is pronounced, the tongue is neither close to the roof of the mouth nor

far from the roof of the mouth So / e / is a mid vowel

As a result, / i: /, / e / and / æ / differ in the position of the tongue

2 The shape of the tongue refers to the part of the tongue, between front and back, which is

raised the highest

 When / i: / is produced, the front of the tongue is raised So / i: / is a front vowel

 When /u: / is produced, the back of the tongue is raised So /u: / is a back vowel

 When / ə / is produced, the central of the tongue is raised So / ə / is a central vowel.

As a result, / i: /, / u: / and / ə / differ in the shape of the tongue

3 The lip-rounding refers to rounding the lip

 Rounded: back vowels are produced when the corners of the lips are brought towards each

other and the lips pushed forwards So they are rounded vowels

 Spread: front vowels are produced with the corners of the lips moved away from each other

So they are spread vowels

 Neutral: central vowels are produced when the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread So

they are neutral vowels

4 The length refers to the duration in the pronunciation The sound /i: / is produced longer than

the sound /1 / So /i:/ is a long vowel and /1/ is a short vowel The length mark is made of two dots :.

5 The tense refers to the tense of the muscle of the face Long vowels are produced with a little stretch

of the muscle of the face, so they are tense vowels Meanwhile, short vowels are produced without any stretch of the muscle of the face, so they are lax vowels.

B Classifying vowels: tongue part - tongue height – length - lip shape – tenseness

There are seven short vowels in English

1 The front-close-short-spread-lax vowel / 1 /

2 The front-mid-short-spread-lax vowel / e /

3 The front-open-short-spread-lax vowel / æ /

4 The central-mid-short-neutral-lax vowel / ə /

5 The central-open-short-neutral-lax vowel / ʌ /

6 The back-close-short-rounded-lax vowel / ℧ /

7 The back-open-short-rounded-lax vowel /ɒ /

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Chapter 3 LONG VOWELS, DIPHTHONGS AND TRIPHTHONGS

3.1 LONG AND SHORT VOWELS

Besides the seven short vowels there are five long vowels in English These vowels tend to be longer

than the short vowels in similar contexts

8 The front-close-long-spread-tense vowel / i: /

9 The central-mid-long-neutral-tense vowel / з: /

10 The back-open-long-neutral-tense vowel / ɑ: /

11 The back-mid-long-rounded-tense vowel / ɔ : /

12 The back-close-long-rounded-tense vowel / u: /

3.2 DIPHTHONGS

Diphthongs are long vowel consisting of a movement or gliding from one vowel to another A vowel which remains constant and does not glide is called a pure vowel In diphthongs the first part is much longer and stronger than the second part; for example, most of the diphthong /# / consists of the vowel / a /, and only in about the last quarter of the diphthong the glide to /1 / becomes noticeable As the glide to / 1 / happens, the loudness of the sound decrease

English diphthongs can be divided into centring diphthongs and closing diphthongs

 The centring diphthongs glide towards the central vowel / ə /:

 /^ /: the starting point is a little closer than /1 /

 / eə /: it begins with the vowel / e /.

 / ə ℧ /: it has a starting point slightly closer than / ℧ /

 The closing diphthongs end with a glide towards a closer vowel

 Three of the diphthongs glide towards the vowel /1 /:

o / $/: the starting point is the same as the vowel / e /

o / #/: it begins with the vowel similar to / ʌ /

o / %/: the first part has same quality as / ɔ: /

 Two diphthongs glide towards the vowel / ℧ /, so that as the tongue moves closer to the roof of the mouth, there is at the same time a rounding movement of the lips

o / ! /: it begins with the vowel schwa / ə /

o / a℧ /: the starting point is a vowel similar to the vowel / ɑ: /

3 3 TRIPHTHONGS

A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, all produced rapidly and

without interruption There are five triphthongs which can be looked on as being composed of the

five closing diphthongs with the vowel / ə / added on the end

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Chapter 4 VOICING AND CONSONANTS

4.1 THE LARYNX

The larynx is made of two large cartilages attached to the top of the trachea; when we breathe, the air passes through the trachea and the larynx The front of larynx comes to a point called the Adam’s Apple Inside the box made by these two cartilages are the two thick flaps of muscle called the vocal folds:

 At the front they’re joined together and fixed to the thyroid cartilage

 At the back they are attached to a pair of the small arytenoid cartilages These cartilages are attached to the top of the cricoid cartilage and can move to move the vocal folds apart or together Glottis is the opening between the vocal folds If the vocal folds are apart the glottis

is open, and if they are pressed together the glottis is closed

There are four positions for glottis to study the speech sounds

1 Wide apart: This is for normal breathing and voiceless sounds / p /, / f /, / s /

2 Narrow glottis: This is for voiceless glottal fricative / h /

3 Position for vocal fold vibration: This is for voiced sounds Because when vocal cords

press together, the air stream put them open, and then they press together again so they open and close continuously to make the vocal cords vibrate

4 Vocal folds tightly closed: This position prevents the air stream from going into and out of

the larynx

4.2 RESPIRATION AND VOICING

When a speech sound is produced the airstream is often made to move out of the lungs, this is an egressive pulmonic airstream The pressure of the egressive pulmonic air below the vocal folds can

be varied Three main differences are found:

1 Variations in intensity make voicing with high intensity for shouting and low intensity for

speaking quietly

2 Variations in frequency make high and low frequency

3 Variations in quality make differences voice qualities, for example harsh, breathy, and creaky

Voicing / Phonation: sounds heard when the vocal folds vibrate

4.3 PLOSSIVES

A plosive is a consonant with the following characteristics:

1 Articulators move against each other to make a total obstruction to stop air

2 The stricture is released for the airstream escaping

3 The airstream escaping under a pressure makes a plosion

4 There may be voicing during part or all of the plosive articulation

There are four phases in producing plosives:

1 The closing phase is one with articulators moving to make a total stricture

2 The compression phase is one in which the compressed air is stopped from escaping

3 The release phase occurs when articulators move apart from each other to let air to escape

4 The post-release phase is what happens immediately after the release phase

Manner of articulation is the way how to release the air stream Plosives are called so because a plosion is made during their production

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Places of articulation are places where the airstream is stopped partially or totally When plosive sounds are produced, the airstream is stopped totally somewhere in the oral capacity There are six

English plosives with the different places of articulation:

1 / p / and / b / are bilabial because two lips are pressed together

2 / t / and / d / are alveolar since the tongue blade is pressed against the alveolar ridge

3 / k / and / g / are velar because the back of the tongue is pressed against the velum

Voicing refers to the vibration of the vocal cords When a sound is produced with the vibration of the vocal cords it is called the voiced sound When a sound is produced without vibration of the vocal cords it is called voiceless sound So / p /, / t /, and / k / are voiceless; and / b /, / d /, and / g /

are partly or fully voiced or voiceless

All of the English plosives occur at the beginning of the word (initial position), between other sounds (medial position) and at the end of the word (final position)

1 In initial position:

a In the closing phase / p /, / t /, / k / and / b /, / d /, / g / takes place silently

b In compression phase there is no voicing in p, t, k; in b, d, g there is normally very little voicing

c In the release phase / p /, / t /, and / k / are followed by audible plosion In the post release phase there is a period during which the air escapes through the vocal folds, making a sound like /h / This is called aspiration The release of /b/, / d /, and / g / are followed by weak plosion The most important difference between initial /p /, /t /, / k / and / b /, / d /, / g / is the

aspiration of the voiceless plosives / p /, / t /, and / k /

In initial position / b /, / d /, and / g / cannot be preceded by any consonant, but / p /, / t /, and / k / may be preceded by / s / When one of them is preceded by / s /, it is unaspirated

p /, / t /, and / k / are much shorter

4.5 FORTIS AND LENIS

The voiceless plosive / p /, / t /, and / k / are sometimes called fortis (meaning “strong”) and / b /, / d /, and / g / are then called lenis (meaning “weak”) It is probably true that / p /, / t /, and / k / are

produced with more force

Naming of consonants: voicing property + adjective (indicating place of art.) + noun (indicating

manner of art.)

Ex:

/ k /: a voiceless velar plosive

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Chapter 5 THE PHONEME

5.1 THE PHONEME

When an utterance is produced, a continuous stream of sounds is produced The stream of sounds can be

divided into small pieces which are called segments For example, the word “man” is produced with a

first segment / m /, a second segment / æ / and a third segment / n / If we put one segment in the place

of one of other segments, we can change the meaning of the word For example, if we substitute / æ / for

/ e / in the word “bed” we get a different word “bad” Such a segment is called a phoneme

There is an abstract set of phonemes as the basic of our speech, and the complete set of these phonemes

is called the phonemic system of the language The phonemes themselves are abstract, but there are

mainly slightly different ways in which we made the sounds that represent these phonemes For example, the phoneme /b / in the word “bad” can be pronounced in two ways: with full voicing and with

no voicing The two different ways of making / b / are two different realizations of the phoneme / b / One can be substituted for the other without changing the meaning When we talk about different realizations of phonemes, we sometimes call these realizations allophones

Some of the realizations of a phoneme cannot occur in the same place For example, the realization of the phoneme / t / in the word “tea” is aspirated But in the word “eat” the realization of the phoneme / t /

is unaspirated The aspirated realization will never be found in the place where the unaspirated realization is appropriate, and vice versa When we find this strict separation of places where particular realizations can occur, we say that the realizations are in complementary distribution

5.2 SYMBOLS AND TRANSCRIPTION

Basically, the symbols are for one of two purposes: either they are symbols for phonemes (phonemic or phoneme symbols) or they are phonetic symbols

As for phonemic symbols, the number of phonemic symbols must be exactly the same as the number of phonemes we decide exists in the language One of the traditional exercise in pronunciation teaching by phonetic methods is that of phonemic transcription, where every speech sound must be identified as one

of the phonemes and written with the appropriate symbol In a phonemic transcription, then, only the phonemic symbols may be used

The phonemic system described here for the BBC accent contains forty-four phonemes We can display the complete set of these phonemes by the usual classificatory methods used by most phoneticians; the vowels and diphthongs can be located in the vowel quadrilateral and the consonants can be placed in the chart of table according to the place of articulation, the manner of articulation and voicing

The best known set of symbols is that of the international Phonetic Association’s alphabet (the letter IPA used to refer to the Association and also to its alphabet) The vowel symbols of the cardinal vowel system (plus a few others) are usually included on the chart of this alphabet, which is produced of the beginning of the book it is important to note that in addition to the many symbols on the chart there a lot of diacritics, marks which modify the symbol in some ways Such a transcription would be called a phonetic transcription; a phonetic transcription containing a lot of information about the exact quality of the sounds would be called a narrow phonetic transcription, while one which only included a little more information than a phonetic transcription would be called a broad phonetic transcription

We study the abstract side of the sounds of language we are studying a related but different subject that

we call phonology One by studying both the phonetics and the phonology of English is it possible to acquire a full understanding of the use of sounds in English speech

Study of the phonemic system

In a similar way, we have a more or less or less fixed set of “pieces” (phonemes) with which to play the game of speaking English There may be many slightly different realizations of the various phonemes, but the most important thing for communication is that we should be able to make use of the full set phonemes In every language we find that there are restrictions on the sequence of phonemes that are used In phonology we try to analyse what the restriction and regularities are in a particular language, and it is usually found helpful to do this by studying the syllables of the language

Suprasegmental phonology

Many significant sound contrasts are not the result of difference between phonemes For example, stress

is important: when the word “import” is pronounced with the first syllable sounding stronger than the second, English speakers hear it as a noun, whereas when the second syllable is stronger the word is heard as a verb Intonation is also important: if the word ‘right‘ is said with the pitch of the voice rising

It is likely to be heard as a question or as an invitation to a speaker to continue, while falling pitch is more likely to be heard as confirmation or agreement This example show sound contrasts that extend over several segment (phonemes), and such contrasts are called suprasegmental We will look at a number of other of other aspects of suprasegmental phonology later in the course

Note:

1 Segment: the smallest speech sound that a word can be divided into

Ex: man /mæn/ = /m/ + /æ/ + /n/, 3 segments

2 Phoneme: the smallest speech sound that can distinguish two words

3 Allophones: different realizations of phonemes, e.g [th] in ten and [t-] in pet

4 Complementary distribution: the occurrence of the allophones of a phoneme in different positions, e.g [th] in ten, initial position; [t-] in pet, final position

5 Free variation: the replacement of a phoneme with another without changing the meaning, e.g economics, /e/ or /1/

6 Minimal pair: words having one different segment in the same position, e.g bit, pit /b 1t/, /p1t/

7 Segmental phonemes: vowels + consonants

Segmental: (of speech) sequential; following in order of time or place

8 Suprasegmental phonemes = suprasegmentals: stress and intonation, capable of changing the meaning but having nothing to do with the 44 phonemes in English

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Voiceless (Open Vocal Folds)

Voiced (Approximated Vocal

Folds)

Whisper (Partially Closed Vocal Folds)

Wall of the Vocal Folds

Glottis

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FRICATIVES AND AFFRICATES

6.1 Production of fricatives and affricates

As for manner of articulation: when fricatives are produced, air escapes through a small passage They are continuant consonant which means that they can continue being made without interruption in their pronunciation

Fricatives are consonants with the characteristic that, when they are produced, air escapes through a small passage and makes a hissing sound Most languages have fricatives, the most commonly found being something like s Fricatives are continuant consonants, which means that you can continue making them without interruption as long as you have enough air in your lungs

Fricatives: continuant consonants, i.e., consonants produced without interruption

Affricates are rather complex consonants They begin as plosives and end as fricatives A familiar example is the affricate heard at the beginning and end of the word ‘church’ It begins with an articulation practically the same as that for t, but instead of a rapid release with plosion and aspiration, as we would find in the word ‘tip’, the tongue moves to the position for the fricative ʃ that we find at the beginning of the word ‘ship’ So the plosive is followed immediately by fricative noise Since phonetically this affricate is composed of t and ʃ, we represent it as T, so that we word ‘church’ is transcribed as T

It is usually said that the plosive and the following fricative must be made with the same

articulators – to use a technical term, the plosive and fricative must be homorganic The sounds

k and f are not homorganic, but t and ʃ, both being made with the tongue blade against the alveolar ridge, are homorganic This still leaves the possibility of quite a large number of affricates, since, for example, t is homorganic not only with ʃ but also with s, so ts would also count as an affricate

Affricates: beginning with a plosive and ending with a fricative The plosive and fricative must

be homorganic (made with the same articulators)

6.2 The fricatives of English

With the exception of glottal, each place of articulation has a pair of phonemes, one fortis and one lenis The lenis fricatives have very little or no voicing in initial and final positions, but may

be voiced when they occur between voiced sounds The fortis fricatives have the effect of shortening a preceding vowel, as do fortis plosives

We will now look at the fricatives separately, according to their place of articulation

f,v ( ‘fan’, ‘van’)

These are labiodental, that is, the lower lip is in contact with the upper teeth

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θ, ð (‘thumb’, ‘thus’)

The dental fricatives are sometimes described as if the tongue were placed between the teeth In

fact , however, the tongue is normally placed behind the teeth, with the tip touching the inside of the lower front teeth and the blade touching the inside of the upper teeth The air escapes through the gaps between the tongue and the teeth

s, z (‘sip’, ‘zip’)

These are alveolar fricatives, with the same place of articulation as t and d The air escapes

through a narrow passage along the centre of the tongue, and the sound produced is comparatively intense

ʃ, ʒ (‘ship’, ‘measure’)

These fricatives are called post-alveolar, which can be taken to mean that the tongue is in

contact with an area slightly further back than that for s, z

h (‘head’, ‘ahead’)

The place of articulation of this consonant is glottal This means that the narrowing that

produces the friction noise is between the vocal folds If you breathe out silently, then produce h, you are moving your vocal folds from wide apart to close together

Phonetically h is a voiceless vowel with the quality of the voiced vowel the follows it

Phonologically, h is a consonant It is usually found before vowel As well as being found in initial position it is found medially in words When h occurs between voiced sounds (as in the words ‘ahead’ and ‘greenhouse’), it is pronounced with voicing – not the normal voicing of vowels but a weak, slightly fricative sound called breathy voice

Fortis fricatives :

- with greater force than the lenis

- louder friction noise

- in final position, shortening a preceding vowel

Lenis fricatives :

- devoiced in initial & final positions

- fully voiced in medial position

6.3 The affricates

T, dʒ are the only two affricate phonemes in English The place of articulation is the same as for

ʃ, ʒ; that is, it is post-alveolar When T is final in the syllable it has the effect of shortening a preceding vowel T and dʒ often have rounded lips

6.4 Fortis consonants

* / p, k, t /:

- In initial position: a vowel or one of l, r, j, w that follow are devoiced (partly or

utterly voiceless), because the vocal cords are not ready to vibrate In, for example,

potato, pen, play, train, cure, queen, / ǝ e l r j w / are devoiced / ǝ e / in this

context can also be called “voiceless vowels”

- In final position: shortening preceding vowels or / l m n ŋ / Compare, for example, bat-bad, coat-code, right-ride, belt-bell, bolt-bold, sink-sing

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NASALS AND OTHER CONSONANTS

7.1 Nasals

The basic characteristic of a nasal consonant is that the air escapes through the nose

The consonants m and n are simple and straightforward with distributions like those of the plosives However, ŋ is different matter The place of articulation of ŋ is the same as that of k, g

1 In initial position we can find m and n occurring freely, but ŋ never occurs in this

position

2 Medially, ŋ occurs quite frequently When we find the letter ‘nk’ in the middle of the word in its orthographic form, a k will always be pronounced; however, some words with orthographic ‘ng’ in the middle will have a pronunciation containing ŋg and others will have ŋ without g

ŋ occurs without a following g if it occurs at the end of a morpheme; if it occurs in the

middle of a morpheme it has a following g (‘finger’ -> /f17g9/; ‘singer’ -> /s179/)

But ‘longer’ lɒŋgə; ‘longest’ lɒŋgəst

3 A third way in which the distribution of ŋ is unusual is the small number of vowels it is found to follow It never occurs after a diphthong or long vowel, and in fact there are only five vowels ever found preceding this consonant: 1, e, æ, ʌ, and ɒ

7.2 The consonant l (Lateral)

A lateral consonant is one in which the passage of air through the mouth does not go in the

usual way along the centre of the tongue; instead, there is complete closure between the centre of the tongue and the part of the roof of the mouth where contact is to be made Because of this complete closure along the centre, the only way for the air to escape is along the sides of the tongue

We find l initially, medially and finally The realization of l found before vowels sounds

quite different from that found in other contexts For example, the realization of l in the word

‘lea’ li: is quite different from that in ‘eel’ i:l The sound in i:l is what we call a ‘dark l’; it

has a quality rather than similar to a ‘u’ vowel, with the back of the tongue raised The sound

in li: is what is called a ‘clear l’; it resemble an ‘i’ vowel, with the front of the tongue raised

The ‘dark l’ is also found when it precedes a consonant, as in ‘eels’ i:lz; ‘clear l’ will never occur before consonants or before a pause, but only before vowels; ‘dark l’ never occurs

before vowels That ‘clear l’ and ‘dark l’ are allophones of the phoneme l in complementary

distribution

Another allophone of l is found when it follows p or k at the beginning of a stressed syllable

The l is then devoiced, i.e produced without the voicing found in most realization of this

phoneme The situation is similar to aspiration when a vowel follows p, t or k in stressed syllable; the first part of the vowel is devoiced

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7.3 The consonant r (Post-alveolar approximant)

An approximant, as a type of consonant, is rather difficult to describe; informally, we can say that it is an articulation in which the articulators approach each other but do not get sufficiently close to each other to produce a ‘complete’ consonant such as a plosive, nasal or

fricative The difficulty with this is that articulators are always in some positional relationship with each other, and any vowel articulation could also be classed as an approximant-but the term

‘approximant’ is usually used only for consonant

The important thing about the articulation of r is that the tip of the tongue approaches the alveolar area in approximately the way it would for a t or d, but never actually makes contact with any part of the roof mouth The tongue is in fact usually slightly curled backwards with

the tip raised; consonants with this tongue shape are usually called retroflex The ‘curling –back’ process usually carries the tip of the tongue to a position slightly further back in the mouth than that for alveolar consonant such as t and d, which is why this approximant is called ‘post-

alveolar’ A rather different r sound is found at the beginning of a syllable if it preceded by p, t

or k; it is then voiceless and slightly fricative

One final characteristic of the articulation of r is that it is usual for the lips to be slightly rounded

The distributional peculiarity of r in the BBC accent is very easy to state: this phoneme only occurs before vowels

7.4 The consonants j and w (Palatal and bilabial approximants)

These are the consonants found at the beginning of words such as ‘yet’ and ‘wet’ They are

known as approximants They are phonetically like vowels but phonologically like consonants

From the phonetic point of view the articulation of j is practically the same as that of a front close vowel such as i:, but is very short In the same way w is closely similar to u: They only

occur before vowel phonemes; this is a typically consonantal distribution

The j and w sounds are devoiced (that is, become voiceless) and are slightly fricative For place

of articulation, we regard j as palatal and w as bilabial

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THE SYLLABLE

8.1 The nature of the syllable

Syllables may be defined both phonetically and phonologically

a Phonetically, syllables consist of a centre with little obstruction to airflow and a loud sound; before and after them there is greater obstruction to air flow or less loud sound

b Phonologically, a syllable consists of a rhyme and onset The rhyme consists of a peak (a nucleus) and a coda The peak is a vowel, a sonorant like / n / or a liquid like / r / The onset is a cluster of consonants before the rhyme, and the coda is a cluster of consonants after the peak

syllable onset rhyme

peak coda Syllable: a unit in speech longer than a sound but shorter than a word

8.2 The structure of the English syllable

8.2.1 The onset

The onset of a syllable consists of maximum three consonants

- No consonant in an onset: If a syllable begins with a vowel, the syllable has a zero onset

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 The second is composed of one of the initial consonants / p /, / t/, / k /, / b/, /d /, / g/, / f /,

/ θ /, / s /, / ʃ /, / h /, / v /, / m /, / n / and / l / and one of the post-initial consonants:

/ l /, / r /, / w / and / j /

The post-initial consonant / l /

/ p / play / ple1 / / k / clear / kl1ə / / b / black /blæk /

/ g / glass / glɑ:s / / f / fly/ fla1 / / s / sleep / sli:p /

The post-initial consonant / r /

/ p / pray / pre1 / / t / tray / tre1 / / k / cry / kra1 / / b / bring / br1ŋ / / d / drink / dr1ŋk / / g / green / gri:n / / f / fry / fra1 / / θ / throw / θr! / / s / sringe / sr1nʒ/

/ ʃ / shrew / ʃru: / The post-initial consonant / w /

/ t / twin / tw1n / / k / quick / kw1k / / d / dwell / dwel / / θ / thwack / θwæk / / s / swim / sw1m / / ʃ / schwa / ʃwɑ: /

The post-initial consonant / j /

/ p / pew / pju: / / t / tume / tju:m / / k / cue / kju: / / b / beauty / bju:ti / / d / dew / dju: / / f / few / fju: / / s / sew / sju: / / h / huge / hju:dʒ /

- Three consonants in an onset: the onset is composed of the pre-initial consonant / s /, one of the initial consonants / p /, / t /, / k / and one of the post-initial consonants / l /,

/ r /, / w /, / j /

The initial consonant / p /

/ l / splay / sple1 / / r / spray / spre1 / / j / spew /spju: /

The initial consonant / t /

/ r / string / str1ŋ / / j/ stew / stju: / The initial consonant / k /

/ l / sclerosis / sklər!s1s / / r / screen / skri:n / / w / squeak / skwi:k / / j / skewer / skj@ /

8.2.2 The coda

The coda of a syllable consists of maximum four consonants

- A zero coda: there is no final consonant in a syllable

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set / m /, / n /, / ŋ /, / l /, and / s /

bump / bʌmp /

 The second consists of a final consonant followed by a post-final consonant from

the set / s /, / z /, / t /, / d /, and / θ /

bets / bets /

- Three-consonant clusters: There are two types of final three-consonant cluster:

 The first consists of a pre-final consonant, a final consonant and a post-final

consonant

helped / he l p t / bondz / bɒ n d z / banks / bæ ŋ k s / twelfth / twe l f θ /

Pre-final final Post-final Pre-final Final Post-final

 The second consists of a final consonant, a post-final 1 consonant and a post-final

2 consonant of the set / s /, / z /, / t /, / d /, and / θ /

Final Post-final 1 Post-final 2

- Four-consonant clusters: There are two ways to analyze this cluster

 The first way is considered as consisting of a pre-final consonant, a final consonant,

a post-final 1 consonant and a post-final 2 consonant

twelfths / twe l f θ s / prompts / prɒ m p t s /

Pre-final Final Post-final 1 Post-final 2

 The second way is considered as consisting of a final consonant, a post-final 1 consonant, a post-final 2 consonant and a post-final 3 consonant

sixths / s1 k s θ s / texts / te k s t s /

Final Post-final 1 Post-final 2 Post-final 3

1 Maximum onsets principle: this principle states that where two syllables are to be

divided, any consonants between them should be attached to the right-hand syllable, not

the left, as far as possible within the restrictions governing syllable onsets and coda

extra / 'ek strə /

2 The maximal onsets principle must be modified to allow a consonant to be assigned to

the left syllable if that prevents a short vowel from occurring at the end of a syllable

better / 'bet ə /

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STRONG AND WEAK SYLLABLES

9.1 STRONG AND WEAK

Phonetically, compared with strong syllables, the vowel in weak syllables tends to be

 shorter,

 of lower intensity

 and different in quality

father / 'fɑ:ðə /: the second and weak syllable is shorter and less loud than the first

The vowel cannot occur in strong syllables

In term of stress, strong syllables are stressed and weak syllables are unstressed

 A strong syllable takes one of the vowels as its peak except / ə /, / i / and / u / If the vowel is short, the strong syllable must have a coda

open / ' ! pən / better / 'bet ə /

Strong syllable Strong syllable

 A weak syllable ends with the vowel at the end of a word However, weak syllables can be in word final position with a coda if the vowel is / ə /

better / 'bet ə / happy / 'hæp i /

Weak syllable Weak syllable

thank you / θæŋ ' kju / open / '! , pən /

Weak syllable Weak syllable

9.2 THE ə VOWEL (“SCHWA”)

In quality, the vowel / ə / is mid, central and lax Some letters in spelling can have been

pronounced with / ə / if this letter is not a strong pronunciation

1 Spelt with ‘a’; strong pronunciation is / æ /

character / 'kæ rək tə /

2 Spelt with ‘ar’; strong pronunciation is / ɑ: /

9.3 CLOSE FRONT AND CLOSE BACK VOWELS

Two other vowels are commonly found in weak syllables:

 The close front / i / in the general region of / i: / and / 1 /

 The close back / u / in the general region of / u: / and / 3 /

In strong syllables, it is easy to distinguish / i: / from / 1 /, and / u: / from / 3 /, but in weak syllables, the difference is not clear For example, although it is easy to decide which vowel one hears in “beat” or “bit”, it is much less easy to decide which vowel one hears in the second syllable of words such as ”easy” or “busy”

- The weak vowel / 1 / can be found in some following spelling contexts

a Spelling “y” or “ey”

 in the final-word position:

happy / 'hæ pi / valley / 'væ li /

 in morpheme-final position followed by suffixes beginning with vowels happier / 'hæ piə /

b In prefixes spelt “re”, “pre”, “de” if they precede a vowel and are unstressed

react / ri 'æct / preoccupied / pri 'ɒ kjə pɑ1d /

c In the suffixes spelt “iate”, “ious” when they have two syllables

appreciate / ə 'pri: ʃ i $t / hilarious / h1 'leə ri əs /

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In most other cases of syllables containing a short close front unrounded vowel we can assign the vowel to / 1 / phoneme:

 In the first syllable resist / r1 'z1st /

 In the middle syllable incident / 1n s1 dənt /

 In the final syllable optic / 'ɒp t1k /

- The weak vowel / u / is found:

 in words which are unstressed and are not preceding a consonant: you, to, into, do

 in unstressed words through and who in all positions

 before another vowel within a word: influenza / 1n flu 'en zə /

9.4 SYLLABIC CONSONANTS

The consonants / l /, / r /, / m /, / n / and / ŋ / stand as the peak of the weak syllables instead of

the vowel They are called syllabic consonants marked “ X “for example ‘cattle’ / 'kæt L / SYLLABIC l

It occurs after another consonant If the preceding consonant is an alveolar, as in bottle / 'bɒt L/,

muddle / 'mʌd L /, tunnel / 'tʌn L /, the articulatory movement from the preceding consonant to

the syllabic L is quite simple The sides of the tongue, raised for the preceding consonant, are lowered to allow air to escape over them The blade of the tongue does not move until the articulatory contact for the L is released The most obvious case is a word ending with one or

more consonant letter followed by ‘le’ or ’les’

 with alveolar consonant preceding: cattle, bottle, wrestle, muddle

 with non-alveolar consonant preceding: couple, trouble, struggle, knuckle

Such words lose their final letter ‘e’ when a suffix beginning with a vowel is attached,

but the l remains syllabic: bottle–bottling, muddle–muddling, struggle–struggling

 We also find syllable L in words spelt, at the end, with one or more consonant letters

followed by “al” or “el” such us panel, petal, kernel, pedal, papal, parcel, babel, ducal

SYLLABIC n

 The syllabic N occurs in words in which weak syllables which are composed of a plosive

or fricative plus / ən / are common except in initial position such as tonight, canary with

an / ə / before / n / In medial and final word positions, a syllabic N is pronounced such as

threatening or threaten

 Syllabic N occurs after / f / or / v / such as seven or heaven