intro to phonetics and phonology

Chapter 1

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 ŋ θ ð/
=> 24 consonants

ʤ ʧ

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. 1

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. 2

Chapter 2

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.

tip

blade

front

back

root

6. The teeth (upper and lower) are at the front of the mouth, immediately behind the lips. Sounds made with the tongue touching the front teeth are called dental.
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

4

Front

Central

i:

Back

Close/High

ɪ

ʊ

Mid

e

ə ɜ:

ɔ:

Open/Low

`

ʌ

ɒ ɑ:

There are seven short vowels in English.
1. The front-close-short-spread-lax vowel / 1 /
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

The front-mid-short-spread-lax vowel / e /
The front-open-short-spread-lax vowel / æ /

The central-mid-short-neutral-lax vowel / ə /
The central-open-short-neutral-lax vowel / ʌ /
The back-close-short-rounded-lax vowel / ℧ /
The back-open-short-rounded-lax vowel /ɒ /

5

u:

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 / $/: the starting point is the same as the vowel / e /. o / #/: it begins with the vowel similar to / ʌ /. o / %/: the first part has same quality as / ɔ: /.
 Two diphthongs glide towards the vowel / ℧ /, so that as the tongue moves closer to the roof of the mouth, there is at the same time a rounding movement of the lips. o / ! /: it begins with the vowel schwa / ə /. o / a℧ /: the starting point is a vowel similar to the vowel / ɑ: /.
3. 3 TRIPHTHONGS
A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption. There are five triphthongs which can be looked on as being composed of the five closing diphthongs with the vowel / ə / added on the end.
 /$/
+
/ə/
/ $ə /


/#/

+

/ #ə /

/ə/
6



/%/

+

/ə/

/ %ə /



/!/

+

/ə/

/ !ə /



/ a℧ /

+

/ə/

/ a℧ə /

7

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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4.4 ENGLISH PLOSSIVES
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.
2. In medial position:
The pronunciation of / p /, / t /, / k / and / b /, / d /, / g / depends on whether the syllable preceding and following the plosive are stressed.
3. In final position:
/ b /, / d /, and / g / have little voicing. / p /, / t /, / k / and / b /, / d /, / g / is very weak and often not audible. There difference between / p /, / t /, / k / and / b /, / d /, / g / is that vowels preceding / 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

9

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.
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There is a difference between phonemic symbols and phonetic symbols. Since the phonemic symbols do not have to indicate precise phonetic quality, it is possible to choose among several possible symbols to represent a particular phoneme.
5.3 PHONOLOGY
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  /b1t/, /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

11

Glottis
Vocal Folds

Wall

of

the

Voiceless
(Open
Vocal
Folds)

Voiced
(Approximated
Folds)

Whisper
(Partially Closed Vocal Folds)

Vocal

12

Chapter 6

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.

13

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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Chapter 7

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.

15

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 ‘postalveolar’. 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

16

Chapter 8

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. are / ɑ: /.
-

One consonant in an onset: If a syllable begins with one consonant, that initial consonant may be any consonant phoneme except / ŋ /; and / ʒ / is rare car / kɑ: /

-

Two consonants in an onset: When there are two or more consonants together they are called a consonant cluster. Initial two-consonant clusters are of two sorts in English:


The first has the pre-initial consonant / s / and one of the following initial consonants. / p / spin

/ sp1n /

/ f / sphere / sf^ /
/ l / sleep / sli:p /
/ r / sringe / srinʒ /

/ t / stay

/ st$ /

/ k / skin

/ sk1n /

/ m / small
/ w / swim

/ smɔ:l /
/ swim /

/ n / snow
/ j / suit

/sn! /
/ sju:t /

17



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

/ b / black

/blæk /

/ g / glass / glɑ:s /
/ f / fly/ fla1 /
The post-initial consonant / r /
/ p / pray / pre1 /
/ t / tray
/ tre1 /

/ s / sleep

/ sli:p /

/ k / cry

/ kra1 /

/ b / bring / br1ŋ /

/ dr1ŋk /

/ g / green

/ gri:n /

/ f / fry
/ fra1 /
/ θ / throw
/ ʃ / shrew / ʃru: /
The post-initial consonant / w /
/ t / twin
/ tw1n /
/ k / quick

/ θr! /

/ s / sringe

/ sr1nʒ/

/ kw1k /

/ d / dwell

/ dwel /

/ θ / thwack / θwæk /
/ s / swim
The post-initial consonant / j /
/ p / pew
/ pju: /
/ t / tume
/ b / beauty / bju:ti /
/ d / dew
/ s / sew / sju: /
/ h / huge
-

/ kl1ə /

/ sw1m /

/ ʃ / schwa

/ ʃwɑ: /

/ tju:m /
/ dju: /
/ hju:dʒ /

/ k / cue
/ f / few

/ kju: /
/ fju: /

/ d / drink

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

8.2.2

/ skwi:k /

/ j / skewer

/ skj@ /

The coda

The coda of a syllable consists of maximum four consonants.
-

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

One final consonant: there is any final consonant except / h /, / r /, / w / and / j /

cat
-

/ ste1 /

/ kæt/

sing

/ s1ŋ /

Two-consonant clusters: there are two sorts of two-consonant final cluster:

18



The first consists of a final consonant preceded by a pre-final consonant from the 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 banks / he l
/ bæ ŋ
Pre-final



p k t / s /

final

n l Post-final

d f Pre-final

Final

z/ θ/ 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 /

fifths next lapsed

/
/
/

f1 ne læ

f k p
Final

-

bondz / bɒ twelfth / twe

θ s s

s / t / t /

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 prompts /
/

twe prɒ l m f p Pre-final



Final

θ t Post-final 1

s s /
/

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 texts /
/

s1 k te k
Final

s s Post-final 1

19

θ t Post-final 2

s s /
/

Post-final 3

To sum up, we may describe the English syllable as having the following maximum phonological structure:
ONSET
Preinitial s initial

PEAK postinitial l rw j

Vowel

CODA
Pre-final
l m n ŋ s

final

post-final 1

post-final 2

post-final 3

s z t d θ

s z t d θ

s z t d θ

8.3 Syllable division
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 /

20

Chapter 9

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

thank you

Weak syllable

open

/ θæŋ . ' kju /
Weak syllable

/ '! , pən /
Weak syllable

Inside a word, the vowels / ə /, / i / and / u / are peaks without coda in the weak syllable. photograph / 'f! . tə . grɑ:f / influence / '1nf . lu . əns /

radio

/ 're1 .

di . ! /
Weak syllable

In addition, the vowel / i / acts as a peak without coda if the following syllable begins with a consonant. architect
/ 'ɑ: . ki . tekt /
Four types of peak in weak syllables
-

/ǝ/
/i/

/u/ a syllabic consonant

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: /
21

particular / 'pə .'t1 . kju . lə /
3. Adjective suffix ‘ate’; strong pronunciation is / e1 / intimate / '1n . t1 . mət /

4. Spelt with ‘o; strong pronunciation is / ɒ / or / ! / potato / pə . 'te1 . t! /

5. Spelt with ‘or’; strong pronunciation is / O / forget / fə . 'get /
6. Spelt with ‘e’; strong pronunciation is / e / violet / 'vɑ1 . ə . lət /

7. Spelt with ‘er’; strong pronunciation is / ɜ: / stronger / 'strɒŋ . gə /
8. Spelt with ‘u’; strong pronunciation is / ʌ / support / sə . 'pOt /
9. Spelt with ‘ough’; strong pronunciation is / ʌ / thorough / 'θʌ . rə /
10. Spelt with ‘ou’; strong pronunciation is / ~ / callous / 'kæ . ləs /
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 /
22

d. In the following words when unstressed: he, she, we, me, be, and the before a vowel.
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.

23

SYLLABICS m, ŋ
These syllabic consonants occur because of the assimilation such as happen / 'hæp . X m / or thicken / θ1k . X7 /.
SYLLABIC r
Syllabic R is less common in BBC, and in most cases where it occurs there are perfectly acceptable alternative pronunciations without the syllabic consonant. particular /pRt1kəlR/ or /pət1kjələ/

24

Chapter 10

STRESS IN SIMPLE WORDS
Stress is the degree of force used in producing a syllable.
There are three types of stress in English: word, phrase and sentence stress.
Stress has several different functions in English. It can be used to
 give special emphasis to a word or to contrast one word with another;
 indicate the syntactic relationships between words or parts of words.
10.1 THE NATURE OF STRESS
It is possible to study stress from the point of view of production and perception.
 As for the production, when we produce a stressed syllable, the muscles of our lungs, used to expel air pressured under the glottal, and speech apparatus are more active than for the articulation of unstressed syllables.
 And from a perceptual point of view, in common all stressed syllables are more prominent than unstressed ones. Four factors give prominence to stressed syllable:
- Loudness: stressed syllables sound louder than unstressed ones.
- Length: if the vowel of stressed syllables sounds longer than the one of unstressed syllables. The vowels in stressed syllables have full duration, whereas unstressed ones are likely to be shortened.
- Pitch: Each syllable has its own pitch which refers to the frequency of vibration of the vocal folds. If all syllables are said with low pitch except for one with high pitch, then the high-pitched syllable will be heard as stressed and the others as unstressed
- Quality: a syllable will tend to be prominent if it contains a vowel that is different in quality from the neighboring vowels.
Generally, these four factors work together in combination, though a syllable may sometimes be made prominent by means of only one or two of them.
10.2 LEVELS OF STRESS
There are four levels of stress.
1. Primary stress
The primary stress is a pitch movement from a higher to a lower pitch to form the prominence of a stressed syllable. A primary stress is marked in transcription by placing a small vertical line ( = ) high up, just before the syllable it relates to.
High pitch

______________________________

Low pitch

_______________________________

On the second syllable of the word / ə=r~nd / the voice pitch does not remain level but it usually falls from a higher to lower pitch to form the prominence which gives a primary stress to the word.
25

2. Secondary stress
In words with three or more syllables, the type of stress which is weaker than primary stress but stronger than rest ones is called secondary stress. It is represented with a low mark ( - ).
In the word ‘photographic’ the third syllable receives the primary stress and the first syllable has the second stress. Its transcription is /-f!tə=græf1k/
3. Tertiary stress
In a polysyllabic word, a tertiary stress, which is less prominent than primary and second , is also called unstressed and regarded as the absence of any audible amount of prominence.
However, it is still more prominent than other unstressed syllables consisting vowels /ə /, / 1 /,
/ i /, / u / and syllabic consonants.
The symbol ( o ) is used to mark a tertiary stress.
4. Stress at fourth level
Unstressed syllables consisting vowels / ə /, / 1 /, / i /, / u / and syllabic consonants often receive a stress at fourth level.
10.3 PLACEMENT OF STRESS WITHIN THE WORD
A simple word is a word which consists of a single free base / root: house, work, care, honest...
All words of more than one syllable are stressed.
In order to decide on stress placement, it is necessary to make use of some or all of the following information.  Is the word a morphologically simple, complex or compound?
 What part of speech does the word belong to? (noun, verb, adjective, etc.)
 How many syllables does the word have?
 What is the phonological structure of the syllables in the word?
As for syllables, they can be divided into two basic categories: strong and weak. Only strong syllables can be stressed. Weak syllables are always unstressed.
1. Two-syllable words (disyllabic words)
a. Two-syllable verbs
If the second syllable of the verb contains a long vowel or diphthong or if it ends with more than one consonant, that second syllable is stressed.
Ex: apply , arrive , attract, assist
If the second syllable contains a short vowel and one or no final consonant, the first syllable is stressed. Ex: ‘enter, ‘envy, ‘open, ‘equal
If the second syllable contains / ǝʊ/, it is also unstressed.
26

Ex: ‘follow, ‘borrow
Exception: per’mit, ad’mit, com’mit
b. Two-syllable adjectives
They are stressed the same as two syllable verbs.
Ex: de=vine, cor=rect, a=live, =lovely, =even, =hollow.
Exceptions: =honest, =perfect
c. Two-syllable nouns
If the second syllable contains a short vowel or / ǝʊ/, the stress will usually come on the first syllable. Ex: =money, =product, =larynx, =bellow
If the second syllable contains a long vowel, the stress will be on the second syllable.
Ex: e=state, ba=lloon, de=sign.
d. Two-syllable adverbs and prepositions
They are stressed the same as verbs and adjectives.
2. Three-syllable words (trisyllabic words)
a. Three-syllable verbs
If the last syllable contains a short vowel and ends with not more than one consonant, that syllable will be unstressed, and the stress will be placed on the preceding syllable.
Ex: en=counter, de=termine
If the last syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong or ends with more than one consonant, that final syllable will be stressed.
Ex: enter=tain, resu=rrect
b. Three-syllable nouns
If the last syllable contains a short vowel or / ǝʊ/, it is unstressed, and if the syllable preceding this final syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong or if it ends with more than one consonant, that middle syllable will be stressed.
Ex:
mi=mosa di=saster po=tato sy=nopsis If the last syllable contains a short vowel and the middle syllable contains a short vowel and ends with not more than one consonant, both final and middle syllables are unstressed and the first syllable is stressed.
Ex:
=quantity
=emperor
=cinema
=custody
If the last syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong and / or ends with more than one consonant, the first syllable will be stressed. The last syllable is usually quite prominent so that in some cases it could be said to have secondary stress.
Ex:
=alkali
=statactite
=intellect
=marigold
27

c. Three-syllable adjectives
They are stressed the same as three-syllable nouns.
Ex:
=opportune
=anthropoid
=derelict

=insolent

The above rules do not, of course, cover all English words. They apply only to major categories of lexical words (nouns, verbs and adjectives) not to function words such as articles, and prepositions. 28

Chapter 11

COMPLEX WORD STRESS
11.1 COMPLEX WORDS
A complex word is a word which consists of a bound / free base + an affix.
Ex: careful, dishonest, worker, prelude, terminate, rupture
Affixes will have effects on word stress. Affixes can be divided into two kinds: prefixes and suffixes.
11.2 SUFFIXES
11.2.1 Suffixes carrying primary stress themselves
The primary stress is on the first syllable of the suffix. If the stem consists of more than one syllable, there will be a secondary stress on one of the syllables of the stem. This cannot fall on the last syllable of the stem and is, if necessary, moved to an earlier syllable.
AIN
EE
EER
ESE
ETTE
ESQUE
IQUE

entertain, ascertain refugee, evacuee mountaineer, volunteer
Portuguese, journalese cigarette, launderette picturesque, grotesque unique, technique

11.2.2 Suffixes that do not affect stress placement
ABLE
=comfort
=comfortable
AGE
=anchor
=anchorage
AL
re=fuse re=fusal EN wide =widen
FUL
=wonder
=wonderful
ING a=maze a=mazing
ISH
=devil
=devilish
LIKE bird =birdlike
LESS
=power
=powerless
LY
=hurried
=hurriedly
MENT
=punish
=punishment
NESS
=yellow
=yellowness
OUS
=poison
=poisonous
FY
=glory
=glorify
WISE
=other
=otherwise
Y fun =funny
11.2.3 Suffixes that influence stress in the stem
29

- Primary stress on the last syllable of the base:
EOUS
ad=vantage advan=tageous GRAPHY =photo pho=tography IAL
=proverb
pro=verbial
IC

=climate

cli=matic

ION

=perfect

per=fection

IOU

=injure

in=jurious

ITY

=tranquil

tran=quility

IVE

=reflex

re=flexive

- The suffixes: -ANCE, -ANT, -ARY
- A single-syllable base + ANCE, ANT, ARY: The stress is on the first syllable.
=servant
=binary
- A two-syllable base + ANCE, ANT, ARY: The stress is on the second syllable of the base if this syllable contains a long vowel or a diphthong or if it ends with more than one consonant. im=portance cen=tenary
Otherwise, the first syllable of the base receives the stress.
=consonant =military
11.3 PREFIXES
Stress in words with prefixes is governed by the same rules as those for words without prefixes. semi-de=tached, semi-=conscious
But it is also irregular.
=semi-circle, =semibreve
11.4 COMPOUND WORDS
Compound words are made of from two or more free morphemes. greenhouse =

green

+

house

Compounds are written in different ways:
- They can be written as one word. armchair - They can be written with two words separated by a hyphen. fruit-cake - They can be written with two words separated by a space. desk lamp
Stress on compound words
- Compounds which consist of two nouns often have stress on the first element.
|
| typewriter tea-cup

30

- Compounds with an adjective first element and the –ed morpheme at the end have strees on the second element. bad - | tempered
- Compounds in which the first element is a number also tend to have final stress. three- | wheeler
- Compounds functioning as adverbs are usually final-stressed. down- | stream
- Compounds which function as verbs and have an adverbial first element take final stress. ill- |treat
11.5 VARIABLE STRESS
Picture words (content words) are usually stressed.
Grammatical words (function words) are usually not stressed.
Stress-moving / Stress shift bad-=tempered =bad-tempered =teacher half-=timbered =half-timbered =house

heavy-=handed =heavy-handed =sentence
Reasons for stress shift:
- The stress on other words occurring next to the word in question, i.e., 2 stresses are close to each other. - Speakers of RP may not agree on the placement of stress in some words.

=formidable vs for=midable

=kilometer vs ki=lometer

11.6 WORD-CLASS PAIRS
There are pairs of 2-syIlable words with the same spelling which have stress on the first syllable when they are nouns or adjectives and on the second syllable when they are verbs.
=rebel (n) re=bel (v)
=present (n, adj)

pre=sent (v)

=perfect (adj)

per=fect (v)

31

Chapter 14

ASPECTS OF CONNECTED SPEECH
When a word occurs in a phrase or sentence, its pronunciation may sometimes be different from when it is said in isolation. There are four common aspects of connected speech: rhythm, assimilation, elision and linking.
14.1 RHYTHM

English has a stressed-timed rhythm. This means that the time from one stressed syllable to the next stressed syllable tends to be the same, irrespective of the number of unstressed syllables between them.
Both of them left early.

/ =b!θ əv ðəm =left =+li /
1
2
3

Each of the three segments (marked 1, 2, and 3) would take the same time to utter, although each segment has a different number of syllables. The effect is that the stressed syllables come at regular intervals.
The unit of rhythm is a foot. The foot begins with a stressed syllable and includes all following unstressed syllables up to the following stressed syllable. In the above example, there are 3 feet corresponding to the three segments (marked 1, 2, 3)
=b!θ əv ðəm

=left

=+li

Not all English utterances begin with a stressed syllable. Therefore any unstressed syllables at the beginning of a word group must go together with the first unit of rhythm – the first foot.
I’m going home today.
#m
=g!1ŋ =h!m tə =de1
1
2
3
4
I was in London yesterday.
#m wəz 1n =lʌndʌn
=jestəde1
1
2
3
My apology was accepted. m# ə =pɔ:lədʒ#z wəz ək =sept1d/
1
2
3
We pronounce the unstressed syllables like / #m /, / #m wəz 1n / or / m# ə / as quickly as we can so that they interfere as little as possible with the regular rhythm of the whole utterance.
Remember that they share the available time with other syllables, both stressed and unstressed, of the first foot.
14.2 ASSIMILATION

Assimilation is a process in which a phoneme of a word is realized differently as a result of being near some other phoneme belong to a neighboring word. Assimilation is a typical feature of rapid and casual speech. It can happen to consonants which occur next to each other but belong to
32

different words, in which case it is usually not obligatory to assimilate. When assimilation occurs with sounds occurring within the same word or morpheme, then assimilation is normally obligatory. Assimilation is commonly classified according to two criteria: regressive and progressive assimilation. Consider a case where two words are combined, the first of which ends with a single final consonant (which is called Cf ) and the second of which starts with a single initial consonant
(which is called Ci ). This is shown like the following diagram:
------- Cf Ci --------word boundary
If Cf changes to become like Ci in some way, then the assimilation is called regressive (the phoneme that comes first is affected by the one that comes after it); if Ci changes to become like
Cf in some way, then the assimilation is called progressive.
There are three types of assimilation: assimilation of place of articulation, of manner of articulation and of voicing.
14.2.1 Assimilation across word boundaries

14.2.1.1 Assimilation of place of articulation
Cf is an alveolar sound and Ci is not alveolar:


If Cf is / t / and Ci o is / p / or / b / , / t / will become / p / o is / θ / or / ð / , / t / will change to a dental plosive / t / o is / k / or / g / , / t / will change to a velar plosive / k / light blue
=la1p blu: that person
=ðæp =p+sn that thing

=ðæt =θ1ŋ

bright colour =bra1k =kʌlə


get those

=get =ð!z

quite good

=kwa1k =g3d

In the same context, If Cf is / d /, / d / will become b, d, g respectively. hard path

good book

=g3b =b3k

rude thief

=ru:d =θi:f

rode there

=r!d =ðeə

bad cold


=hɑ:b =pɑ:θ
=bæg =k!ld

red gate

=redg =ge1t

In the same context, If Cf is / n /, / n / will become m, n, ŋ respectively. ten men

=tem =men
33

gone back

=gʌm =bæk

fine theories

ran them

=ræn ðəm

one cup


=fa1n =θ1ər1z wʌŋ =kʌp

main gates

=me1ŋ =ge1t

If Cf is / s / and Ci / ʃ /, / s / will become / ʃ /; If Cf is / z / and Ci / j /, / z / will become / ʒ / this shoe
=ð1ʃ =ʃu: those years =ð!ʒ j1əz

14.2.1.2 Assimilation of manner of articulation
The tendency is for regressive assimilation and the change in manner is most likely to be towards an easier consonant which makes less obstruction to the airstream. So a final plosive can become a fricative or nasal. that side
=ðæs =sa1d good night
=g3n =na1t
In one particular case, the tendency is for progressive assimilation. When a word-initial / ð / follows a plosive or nasal at the end of a preceding word, it is very common to find that the Ci becomes identical in manner to the Cf but with dental place of articulation. get them
=get təm read these
=ri: d di:z in the 1n nə
14.2.2.3 Assimilation of voicing
Only regressive assimilation of voice is found across word boundaries. If Cf is a voiced consonant and Ci is voiceless, the voiced consonant has no voicing. But when Cf is a voiceless and Ci is a voiced consonant, assimilation does never take place. Thus ‘black dog’ is [=blæk =dɒg] and not [=blæg =dɒg].
14.2.2 Assimilation across morpheme boundaries

hits

looked cats

jumps Pat's (fortis) / beds, dogs, runs, Pams (lenis)

14.2.3 Assimilation within a morpheme

If in a syllable-final consonant cluster, a nasal consonant precedes a plosive or a fricative in the same morpheme, then the place of articulation of the nasal is always determined by the place of articulation of the other consonant. bump [ bʌmp ] tenth [ tenθ ], bank [ bæŋk ]
14.3 ELISION

Elision is the omission of a sound that would otherwise be present. When a sound is elided it disappears and is not pronounced. This is typical of rapid and casual speech.
There is no need to imitate elision, but it is good to be aware of the fact that sometimes sounds which he expects to hear are not pronounced.
14.3.1 The loss of weak vowels after / p, t, k /
34

Here the aspiration of the initial plosive takes up the center of the weak syllable and the first syllable may disappear, resulting in these pronunciations. potato [ ph=te1tə3 ] canary [ kh=neər1 ] perhaps [ ph=hæps]
14.3.2 A weak vowel + / l, r, n / becomes a syllabic consonant. tonight [ t=na1t ] police [ p=li:s ] correct [ k=rekt ]
14.3.3 A voidance of complex consonant clusters
In clusters of three plosives or two plosives plus a fricative, the middle plosive may be omitted. acts [æks ] looked back [=l3k bæk ] scripts [ skr1ps ]
14.3.4 Loss of final / v / in “of” before consonants lots of them [=lɒts ə ðəm ] waste of money [=we1st ə =mʌni].
Constructions of grammatical words may be regarded as examples of elision. The best-known cases are:
 “had”, “would”: spelt ‘d, pronounced / d / after vowels and / əd / after consonants.
 “is”, “has”: spelt ‘s, pronounced / s / after voiceless consonants, / z / after voiced consonants except after / s, z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ “is” is pronounced / 1z / and “has” is pronounced / əz / in contracted form.
 “will” spelt ‘ll, pronounced / l / after vowels and / l / after consonants.
 “have” spelt ‘ve, pronounced / v / after vowels, / əv / after consonants.
 “not” spelt n’t, pronounced / nt / after vowels, / nt / after consonants. There are also changes associated with n’t such as
“can”
/ kæn /
“can’t”
/ kɑ:nt /
“do”
/ du: /
“don’t”
/ də3nt /
“shall”
/ ʃæl /
“shan’t”
/ ʃɑ:nt /
 “are” spelt ‘re, pronounced / ə / after vowels, with some change in the preceding vowel such as
“you”
/ ju: /
“you’re”
/ j3ə / or / jɔ: /
“we”

/ wi: /

“we’re”

/ w1ə /

“they”
/ ðe1 /
“they’re”
/ ðeə /
Contracted “are” is also pronounced as / ə / or / ər / when following a consonant.
14.4 LINKING

An essential part of acquiring fluency in English is learning to produce connected speech without gaps, and this is the importance of linking. In connected speech we link words together; the most familiar case of linking is linking / r /.
14.4.1 Linking /r/

35

In RP words in isolation never end in / r /. Nevertheless in connected speech an / r / may be pronounced if the next word begins with a vowel sound. This / r / is present in spelling and corresponds to a historical / r / which is now lost before a consonant or at the end of words.
“here”
/ h1ə / but “here are”
/ h1ər ɑ: /
“four”

/ fɔ: /

but

“for eggs”

/ fɔ:r =egz /

14.4.2 Intrusive /r/

In RP, the insertion of / r / is frequently made even if there is no /r/ in the spelling. This intrusive
/ r / does not correspond to a historical /r/. In spite of the fact that many native speakers use it, it is still disapproved of by some, therefore it is better not to imitate this type of / r /. Intrusive /r/ is not always possible, it depends on the vowel the word ends with. media event
/ =mi:d1ər 1=vent / law and order

/ =lɔ:r ən =ɔ:də /

drawing
/ =drɔ:r1ŋ /
Linking and intrusive /r/ are special cases of juncture. This term refers to the relationship between one sound and the sounds that immediately precede and follow it. my turn
[ma1 =t+n]
The relationship between / m / and / a1 /, between / t / and / + / and between / + / and / n / is one of close juncture. / m/ is preceded by silence and / n / is followed by silence, and so /m/ and / n / are said to be in a position of external open juncture. English speakers will usually hear the difference between ‘my turn’ and ‘might earn’. In both pairs what is different is the relationship between / a1 / and / t /. In quick speech, there is no silence (or external open juncture) to indicate where we can split up the sequence of sounds into two words. How can we hear the difference between / ma1 t+n / and / ma1t +n /. The answer is that in ‘turn’ the / t / is aspirated, whereas in
‘might’ it is not. Also / a1 / is shorter in ‘might’ than ‘my’.
Many minimal pairs show the significance of juncture:
a. might rain
/ ma1t =re1n / (/ a1 / is shortened, /r/ is voiced when initial in ‘rain’).
b. my train

/ ma1 =tre1n / (/ r / is voiceless following / t / in ‘train’)

a. all that I’m after today final in ‘that’)
b. all the time after today initial position in ‘time)

/ =ɔ:l ðət a1m =ɑ:ftə tə=de1 / (/ t / unaspirated when
/ =ɔ:l ðə =ta1m =ɑ:ftə tə=de1 / (/ t / aspirated when in

a. he lies

/ hi: la1z /

(clear / l / in ‘lies’)

b. heal eyes

/ =hi:l a1z]

(dark / l / in ‘heal’/

a. keep sticking / =ki:p =st1k1ŋ / (/ t / unaspirated after / s /, / i: / short)
b. keeps ticking / =ki:ps =t1k1ŋ / (/ t / aspirated in ‘ticking’)
36

14.4.3 Intrusive j

1 i: e1 a1 % + vowel —> j + vowel
The story is very interesting enjoy a lovely icescream stay at home for a day or two
14.4.4 Intrusive w

u: ǝʊ aʊ
+ vowel —> w + vowel
I couldn’t do anything go into you always say that so exciting

37

Chapter 15

INTONATION 1
Pitch of the voice referring to the vibration of vocal cords plays the most important part in the intonation. In normal speech, the pitch of voice is constantly changing. Pitch is described in terms of high and low.
Utterance is a continuous piece of speech beginning and ending with a clear pause.
Tone is the overall behavior of the pitch.
15.1 SIMPLE TONES
15.1.1 FORM
A one-syllable word can be said with either a level tone or a moving tone. The two common onesyllable utterances are ‘yes’ and ‘no’. There are three simple possibilities for the intonation used in producing the one-word utterances “yes” and “no” with their symbols like following. They are called three simple English tones.
Level
_ yes
_ no
Falling
yes
\
\ no
Raising
/ yes
/ no
However, English speakers only use moving tones (falling and raising tones) on these onesyllable utterances. We use falling tone descending from a higher to a lower pitch to say “yes” or
“no” in a definite, final manner; and rising stone, a movement from a lower pitch to a higher one in a questioning manner.
Each speaker has his or her own normal pitch range: a top level which is the highest pitch normally used by the speaker, and a bottom level that the speaker’s pitch normally does not go below. In ordinary speech, the intonation tends to take place within the lower part of the speaker’s pitch range, but when he express strong feelings, he or she use extra pitch height.
_______________________
_____________________
_______________________
a normal unemphatic “yes”

_____________________ a strong emphatic “yes”

We use a symbol (a vertical arrow) to indicate extra pitch height, so that we can distinguish between \ yes and
\ yes
15.1.2 FUNCTION
Falling tone \yes or \no
If someone is asked a question and replies with a falling tone \ yes or \ no it will be understood that the question is now answered and that there is nothing more to be said. The fall could be said to give an impression of “finality”.
Raising tone /yes

/no

38

Unlike the falling tone with an impression of finality, this tone conveys an impression that something more is to follow.
A (wishing to attract B’s attention):
Excuse me.
B
:
/ yes
B’s reply is, perhaps, equivalent to “What do you want?”
Level tone _ yes
_ no
This tone almost always conveys a feeling of saying something routine, uninteresting or boring.
A teacher calling the names of pupils from a register will often do so using a level tone on each name, and the pupils are likely to respond with _ yes when their name is called. 15.2 COMPLEX TONES AND PITCH HEIGHT
15.2.1 FORM
Complex tones usually used on one-syllable words are fall-rise tone, where the pitch descends and then rises again, and rise-fall one in which the pitch follows the opposite movement. They are represented by symbols as following
Fall-rise tone:

◡

yes

Rise-fall tone:

⌢

◡

yes

no

⌢ no

15.2.2 FUNCTION
Fall-rise tone ◡ yes ◡ no
One of the meanings of this tone is described as “limited agreement” or “response with reservation”
A: It’s not really an expensive book, is it?
B: ◡ no
The fall-rise in B’s reply again indicates that he would not completely agree with A.
Rise-fall tone: ⌢ yes ⌢ no
This tone is used to convey rather strong feelings of approval, disapproval or surprise.
A: You wouldn’t do an awful thing like that, would you?
B: ⌢ no

39

Chapter 16

INTONATION 2
16.1 THE TONE-UNIT

16.1.1 DEFINITION OF TONE-UNIT
A unit generally greater in size than the syllable is called tone unit. In its smallest form, the toneunit may consist of only one syllable.
A: is it / you?
B: ⌢ yes.
A’s question is a tone-unit with three syllables and B’s reply is a tone-unit with one syllable. The tone-unit has a place in a range of phonological units that are in a hierarchical relationship: speech consists of a number of utterances; each utterance consists of one or more tone-units; each tone-unit consists of one or more feet; each foot consists of one or more syllables; each syllable consists of one or more phonemes.
16.1.2 DEFINITION OF TONIC SYLLABLE
A tonic syllable is one which carries a tone. A tonic syllable has a high degree of prominence and it not only carries a tone but also a type of stress that will be called tonic stress.
◡ John is it / you
This speech would normally be regarded as divided into two tone-units: “◡ John” and the
“is it / you” in which. “◡ John” and “/ you” are tonic syllables carrying not only a tone but also a tonic stress.
16.2 THE STRUCTURE OF THE TONE-UNIT
Tone-units can be simple or compound. Each simple tone unit has one and only one tonic syllable which is its obligatory component.
16.2.1 THE HEAD

A head is a part of a tone-unit that extends from the first stressed syllable up to (but not including) the tonic syllable. So if there is no stressed syllable before the tonic syllable, there cannot be a head.

40

1.

|

give me \ those
In this speech, “ | give me” is a head which extends from the first stress syllable “ |

give” to the is the tone unit “ \ those”.
2. in an \ hour
In this speech, there is no head because there is no stress syllable before the tone unit “\ hour”.
16.2.2 THE PRE-HEAD
The pre-head is composed of all the unstressed syllables in a tone-unit preceding the first stressed syllable. Thus they are found in two main environments:
1. When there is no head (i.e. no stressed syllable preceding the tonic syllable). in an
\ hour
Pre-head

Tonic syllable

2. When there is a head. in a little less than an
Pre-head

\

Head

hour

Tonic syllable

16.2.3 THE TAIL
The tail is all syllables between the tonic syllable and the end of the tone-unit. When it is necessary to mark stress in the tail, we will use a raise dot “· “. did you · say
/ What
Tonic syllable

tail

16.3 PITCH POSSIBILITIES IN THE SIMPLE TONE-UNIT
16.3.1 INTONATION IN ONE-SYLLABLE TONE-UNITS
Intonation is carried by the tone-unit. In a one-syllable utterance, the simple syllable must have one of the five tones as following.
Level
_ yes
_ no
Falling
yes
\
\ no
Rising
/ yes
/ no
Fall-rise tone:
◡ yes
◡ no
Rise-fall tone:

⌢

yes

⌢ no

41

16.3.2 INTONATION IN TONIC SYLLABLES OF MORE THAN ONE SYLLABLE
Tone-units without the tail
In a tone-unit of more than one syllable, the tonic syllable must have one of the tones above. If the tonic syllable is the final syllable, the tone will not sound much different from that of a corresponding one-syllable tone-unit.
One-syllable tonic-unit
/ here
Four-syllable tonic-unit shall we sit / here
Tone-units with the tail
If there a tail following the tonic syllable, the pitch movement of the tone is not completed on the tonic syllable.
 Rising tone
If a tail follows a tonic syllable, that has a rising tone, the syllables or syllables of the tail will continue to move upwards from the pitch of the tonic syllable.
If the word “what” is said on a rising tone, / what, it might have a pitch movement that could be diagrammed like this:
_____________________

_____________________
The four syllables in “/ what did you say ” might said like this:
_________________________

_________________________

42

If, in rising progressively higher, the pitch reaches the highest part of the speaker’s normal pitch range, subsequent syllables will continue at the top level.
 Falling tone
We find a similar situation with the falling tone. On a single syllable “\ why “, the pitch movement might be of this sort:
___________________________

___________________________
If there are syllables following, the fall may not be completed on the tonic syllable:
\

why

did

you go

__________________________

______________________________
If the speaker’s lowest pitch is reached before the end of the tail, the pitch continues at the bottom level. In the case of a level tone, syllables following in the tail will continue at the same level.

43

Chapter 17

INTONATION 3
17.1 FALL-RISE AND RISE-FALL TONES FOLLOWED BY A TAIL
17.1.1 FALL-RISE TONES
Fall-rise and rise-fall tones can be difficult to recognize when they are extended over tails, since their characteristic pitch movements are often broken up or distorted by the syllables they occur on. The pitch movement on ◡ some is:
___________________

___________________
 If we add a syllable, the “fall” part of the fall-rise is carried by the first syllable and the rise part by the second. The pitch movement is continuous, if there are no voiceless medial consonants to cause a break in the voicing.
◡ some ‘ men
________________________

________________________
If the continuity of the voicing is broken because there is a voiceless medial consonant, the pitch pattern might be more like this some ‘ chair
______________________
◡

_

______________________
 If a tail has two or more syllables, the normal pitch movement is for the pitch to fall on the tonic syllable and to remain low until the last stress in the tail. The pitch then rises from that point up to the end of the tone-unit.

I

◡

might ‘buy it

I
44

◡

might

have ‘thought

of

‘ buying

it

_______________________

_________________________________________

_______________________

__________________________________________

17.1.2 RISE-FALL TONES
If the tonic syllable is followed by a single syllable in the tail, the “rise” part of the tone takes place on the first tonic syllable and the “fail” part is on the second.
⌢ no
______________

_______________

⌢ no one
_______________

_______________

⌢ no

sir
_______________

_______________

 When there are two or more syllables in the tail,the syllable immediately following the tonic syllable is alsway higher and any following syllables are low. i ful
⌢ beaut
________________________

of them went ⌢ all
__________________________________

________________________

__________________________________

17.2 HIGH AND LOW HEADS
There are two different pitch possibilities in the head which are called high head and law head.
17.2.1 HIGH HEAD
In the case of high head, the stressed syllable which begins the head is higher in pitch than the beginning pitch of the tone on the tonic syllable.
The | bus was \ late
__________________________

Is |that the / end
__________________________

___________________________

___________________________

17.2.2 LOW HEAD
45

In the low head the stressed syllable which begins the head is lower in pitch than the beginning pitch of the tone on the tonic syllable. The stressed syllable in the low head is marked as “ “
The |bus was \ late
____________________________

Is the / end
|that
__________________________

__________________________

__________________________

NOTE: It is usual for unstressed syllables to continue the pitch of the stressed syllable that precedes them like examples above.
In the following example, the three unstressed syllables “if it had” continue at the same pitch as the stressed syllable “asked”
With high head
We

|

asked

if

it

had

With low head
\ come

We

________________________________

| asked

if

it

had

\

come

__________________________________

______________________________________

___________________________________

17.2.3 THE HEAD WITH TWO OR MORE STRESSED SYLLABLES
When there is more than one stressed syllable in the head there is usually a slight change in pitch from the level of one stressed syllable to that of the next.
17.2.3.1 HIGH HEAD
 The stressed syllables in the high head step downward progressively to approach the beginning of the tone.

The | rain was | com ing | down | fair ly \ hard.
__________________________________________________
46

__________________________________________________
 When a high head is followed by a rise, the stressed syllables tend to move downwards towards the beginning of the tones and then the pitch rises.
|
EXAMPLE:
Will there be a| nother | train / later
__________________________________________________

___________________________________________________
17.2.3.2 LOW HEAD
 In the low head, since the tone also starts low, being a rise, there is no upward movement in the head.
|That’s not the |sto ry you
|told in / court.
__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________
 When there is a low head followed by a falling tone, successive stressed syllables in the head tend to move upwards towards the beginning pitch of the tone. |I

could have |bought it for |less than a \ pound
______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

47

Chapters 18-19

FUNCTIONS OF INTONATION
I. Some definitions
1. Pitch: highness or loudness of the voice; controlled by the vocal folds: the faster the vocal folds, the higher the pitch.
2. Pitch range: variations in pitch height that are used by a speaker or a group of speakers in a community. top/highest level medium level bottom/lowest level
3. Tone:
a. = pitch; affecting the meaning of a word (as in Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, some African languages) b. The movement of the pitch, usually accompanied by a change in loudness and rhythm, which affects the meaning of utterances (= continuous pieces of speech)
4. Tone languages: languages in which tone does affect the meaning of words (Thai,
Vietnamese, Chinese…)
II. The five basic English tones and their functions (attitudinal, accentual, grammatical, discourse functions)
1. Level, _Yes, _No: (usually with one-syllabled words) uninterested, bored, not caring (for something routine, uninteresting, boring)
When calling the roll, answering a series of routine questions for some purpose (checking in a hotel, applying for an insurance policy…)
2. Fall,
\ Yes, \ No: finality, definiteness
Do you know Mr. Brown?
\Yes \No
That’s the end of the \news.
I know he \did.
3. Rise,
/Yes,
/No
- Grammatical function:
Can I help /you?
Is it /yours?
- The speaker wanting and waiting for more information; listing things; encouraging
/Sunday, /Monday… and \Saturday.
Excuse /me?
/Yes?
It won’t /hurt.
4. Fall-rise,
◡Yes
◡No:
-Limited agreement or responding with reservations, uncertainty, doubt
48

She’s beautiful.
- ◡Yes (but she’s affected, conceited…)
It’s ◡possible.
He ◡may be suitable for the post.
You ◡may be right.
- Requesting
Could you ◡do me a favor?
5. Rise-fall,
⌢Yes
being impressed
You were ⌢first.
⌢All of them.

⌢No:

rather strong feelings of approval, disapproval, surprise,

49