1. No category

Phonetics and Phonology
part 2
Phonetic peculiarities: liquids
• r-linking: Words ending with silent /r/ + words
beginning with vowel: /r/ is pronounced to link
the two words:
E.g. The car is parked in the street
[ðə kɑʳ ɪz ˈpɑːkt ɪn ðə strɪːt] [kɑ:]
What colour is it?
[wɑt kʌləʳ ɪz ɪt]
r-linking
Insert r-linking where necessary
far away
for Europe
where are
your room
draw an apple
for a day
there are
there is
how are you
after lunch
for your eyes
never again
[fɑː əweɪ]
[fə ˈjʊərəp]
[weə ɑː]
[jɔː ruːm]
[drɔː ən æpl̩ ]
[fə ə dəɪ]
[ðə ɑː]
[ðə ɪz]
[haʊ ɑː juː]
[ˈɑːftə lʌntʃ]
[fə jɔː aɪz]
[ˈnevə əˈgen]
far away
for Europe
where are
your room
draw an apple
for a day
there are
there is
how are you
after lunch
for your eyes
never again
[fɑʳ əweɪ]
[fə ˈjʊərəp]
[weəʳ ɑː]
[jɔː ruːm]
[drɔʳ ən æpl̩ ]
[fəʳ ə dəɪ]
[ðəʳ ɑː]
[ðəʳ ɪz]
[haʊ ɑʳ juː]
[ˈɑːftə lʌntʃ]
[fə jɔʳ aɪz]
[ˈnevəʳ əˈgen]
Intrusive r
• An r-sound which occurs in intervocalic positions when
the letter r is not present in Present-day spelling.
– E.g.
the idea of [ði aɪˈdɪəʳ ɒv];
I saw it [aɪ sɔʳ ɪt]
• At the Sanctus in the Catholic Mass: "Hosanna-r-in the
highest"
• In the phrases, "Law-r-and order" and "Victoria-r-and
Albert Museum”
• Additional examples:
http://davidbrett.uniss.it/phonology/rLinking/rLinking.ht
ml
An example in music: can you spot
intrusive r?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9Y1UiVv
S3A
Semivowels
• Semivowels or approximators: /w/ and /j/
– Phonetically similar to the vowels /ʊ/ and /ɪ/ as their articulation does
not involve any obstruction
– Phonologically similar to consonants: they normally precede vowels in
syllables
E.g. yellow [ˈjeləʊ]
– Morphologically similar to consonants  the pronunciation of definite
and indefinite articles is the same as for words beginning with a
consonant
E.g. the wet carpet [ðə wet ˈkɑːpɪt]
NOT [ðɪː]
a young man
[ə jʌŋ mæn]
NOT [ən]
the European Union
[ðə jʊərəˈpɪːən ˈjuːnɪən] NOT [ðɪː]
Syllabic consonants
• Syllabic consonants may occur as the nucleus of
syllables  /n/ and /l/
E.g.
even [ˈiː.vn̩]
awful [ˈɔː.fɫ̩]
Glottalisation
• Glottalisation or glottal stop /ʔ/: complete closure of the
glottis in the pronunciation of the voiceless plosives /p, t, k/
and the voiceless affricate /tʃ/
– final position
E.g. stop [stɑʔp]
– followed by a vowel
E.g. Saturday [ˈsæʔədəɪ]  glottal stop replaces the consonant
– followed by a liquid
E.g. apple [ˈæʔpɫ]
– followed by a nasal
E.g. rotten [ˈrɑʔtn̩]
An example in music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhSEcxr5v9o
British and American English
consonants compared
Consonants in AmE
• Liquids:
– BrE /l/  AmE /ɫ/ (always dark)
• Rhoticity: the grapheme <r> is always pronounced AmE /ɻ/
(retroflex)
– BrE car /cɑː/ - AmE car /cɑːr/
Pronunciation of the “yod” /j
• In BrE and AmE the “yod” is always pronounced after labial and
velar consonants
E.g.
beauty BrE and AmE [ˈbjuːti]
cue BrE and AmE [cjuː]
• In BrE and AmE the “yod” is not pronounced after palato-alveolar
consonants and when followed by [r] and [l]:
E.g.
juice BrE and AmE [dʒuːs]
chew BrE and AmE [tʃuː]
• In BrE the “yod” may or may not be pronounced after fricatives; it si
not pronounce in AmE:
E.g.
suit BrE [suːt] [sjuːt] – AmE [suːt]
• Yod deletion or dropping: In AmE the semivowel /j/ after dental
and alveolar consonants and followed by /u:/ is dropped:
E.g.
news BrE [njuːz] - AmE [nuːz]
tune BrE [tjuːn] - AmE [tuːn]
Pronunciation of /t/
• T-tapping: it occurs when the phoneme /t/ is intervocalic. It is
a lenition or weakening of the sound:
E.g.
latter BrE [ˈlætə] - AmE [ˈlæt̬ ᵊr]
ladder BrE [ˈlædə] - AmE [ˈlædər]
• Elision of post-nasal [t]:
E.g.
twenty BrE [ˈtwenti] - AmE [ˈtweni]
centre BrE [ˈsentə] - center AmE [ˈsenər]
Italian and English phonemes in
contrast
Some mistakes/difficulties by Italian
learners
• Vowels:
– No long/short opposition:
E.g. Leave [liːv] vs. live [lɪv]
I want to leave and I want to live
– Laxness (little tension of the articulators): difficulty in the
pronunciation of the six short (lax) vowels /ɪ, e, æ, ʌ, ɒ, ʊ/
• Consonants:
– Lack of aspiration in voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ in syllable
initial position  no allophonic variation by Italian
learners
E.g. pain [pʰeɪn]
tea [tʰɪː]
– Lack of aspiration of /h/ at the beginning of stressed
syllables
E.g. hotel [həʊˈtel]
heart [hɑːt] vs. art [ɑːt]
– Dental fricatives /θ, ð/ substituted by dental plosives /t, d/:
E.g.
thriller [*ˈtriller]
those [*dɔʊz]
– Voicing of voiceless syllable initial [s] + consonant:
E.g.
small [smɔːl]
slim [slɪm]
swim [swɪm]
NOT [*zmɔːl]
NOT [*zlɪm]
NOT [*zwɪm]
Noun and verb inflections
• Noun inflections:
– if a word ends with a voiceless consonant, the ending will
be voiceless too:
E.g. books [bʊks]
– if a word ends with a voiced consonant or a vowel, the
ending will be voiced too
E.g. pens [penz], trees [trɪ:z]
– if a word ends with a fricative or an affricate sound, the
ending will be [ɪz]
E.g. buses [ˈbʌsɪz]
• Verb inflections:
– if a verb ends with a voiceless consonant, the ending will
be voiceless too, [t]:
E.g. asked [ɑːskt]
– if a verb ends with a voiced consonant or a vowel, the
ending will be voiced too, [d]
E.g. lived [lɪvd]
– if a verb ends in [t] or [d], ending will be [ɪd]
E.g. wanted [ˈwɑntɪd]
Transcribe the following sentence in
normal orthography, inserting punctuation
where necessary
ˈevri ˈsiːzn həz ɪts əʊn ˈkʌləʳ ən ðɪs ˈwɪntəʳ ɪz
nəʊ ɪkˈsepʃn blæk ˈɔːlweɪz rɪˈmeɪnz ə ɡʊd tʃɔɪs
bət əˈkɔːdɪŋ tə dɪˈzaɪnəːz ðə ˈkʌləʳ əv ðə ˈsiːzn ɪz
braɪt
Every season has its own colour and
this winter is no exception. Black
always remains a good choice but
according to designers the colour of
the season is bright blue.
Useful links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/
http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=sitenav
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/the-sounds-of-english
http://it.forvo.com/
http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/ipachart.html
Suprasegmental phonology
• Suprasegmental or prosodic phonology assumes
that words should not be understood as simple strings of sound segments,
because sounds are further organised in larger phonological units
• Suprasegmental phonology describes:
– syllables
– rhythm groups
– intonation phrases…
• … and their related phenomena:
– stress
– rhythm
– intonation
What is a syllable?
• A phonological unit made up of one or more phonemes
– Minimum syllable: one vowel only
E.g. a [ə]
or [ɔː]
are [ɑː]
Open and closed syllables
• Open syllables: a vowel or a consonantal onset
followed by a vowel
– V and CV syllable types: are [ɑː], see [siː]
– 40% of the total
• Closed syllables: a vowel nucleus followed by a
consonant coda
– VC and CVC syllable types: arm [ɑːm], dog [dɒg]
– 60% of the total
• Italian: 77% open syllables vs. 23% closed syllables
– Pronunciation mistakes: a vowel is placed at the end of
closed syllables
E.g. book [bʊk]  [*bʊkkə]
Consonant clusters
• Consonant clusters are groups of consonants which may be
found at the beginning or end of syllables
E.g. tooth, strength, night, thing, next, should
• The distribution of consonant clusters may differ across
languages:
– [zb] and [mn] in syllable initial position: English NO, Italian YES
E.g. sbadigliare, sbagliare, mnemonico
– [ksθ] and [ðz] in final position: difficulties for Italian learners
E.g. sixth [sɪksθ], clothes [kləʊðz]
Strong and weak syllables
• Strong syllables are those syllables whose nucleus may be:
– A long vowel: father [ˈfɑː.ðə]
– A diphthong: go [ɡəʊ]
– A vowel + consonant coda: thank [θæŋk]
• Weak syllables are those syllables whose nucleus may be:
– the short vowels /i/ and /u/: happy [ˈhæp.i] – thank you [θæŋk ju]
– schwa /e/: father [ˈfɑː.ðə]
– the syllabic consonants /l/ and /n/: bottle [bɒt.l̩] – threaten [ˈθret. n̩]
• Strong syllable may be stressed (e.g. father) or unstressed (e.g.
background), but weak syllables are always unstressed (e.g. happy)
Stress and stress patterns
What is stress?
• Stress is the greater prominence given to a syllable in a
string of sounds making up a word
• In phonetic transcription stress is indicated by a vertical line
(stress mark) preceding the stressed syllable
E.g.
breakfast [ˈbrek.fəst]
• Polysyllabic words may carry a primary and a secondary stress
E.g.
understand [ˌʌn.dəˈstænd]
Stress patterns – 2 syllables
• TYPE   (strong + weak):
E.g. money [ˈmʌ.ni]
river [ˈrɪ.və]
breakfast [ˈbrek.fəst]
• TYPE   (strong + strong):
E.g. background [ˈbæk.grɑʊnd]
phoneme [ˈfəʊ.niːm]
pillow [ˈpɪl.əʊ]
Stress patterns – 2 syllables
• TYPE   (weak + strong)
E.g. result [rɪˈzʌlt]
report [rɪˈpɔːt]
believe [bɪˈliːv]
• TYPE   (strong + strong)
E.g. although [ɔːlˈðəʊ]
myself [mɑɪˈself]
tycoon [taɪˈkuːn]
Stress shift: 2-syllable words
• Predicative position
E.g. my son is fourteen [mɑɪ sʌn ɪz fɔːˈtiːn]
• Attributive position
E.g. I lost fourteen pounds [ɑɪ lɒst ˈfɔːtiːn pɑʊndz]
• Word class: nouns and verbs
E.g. digest
to digest
[ˈdɑɪdʒest]
[tə dɑɪˈdʒest]
export
to export
[ˈekspɔːt]
[tə ɪksˈpɔːt]
desert
to desert
[ˈdezet]
[tə dɪˈzɜ:t]
Stress patterns – 3 syllables
• TYPE    (strong + weak + weak)
E.g. family [ˈfæm.ə.li]
manager [ˈmæn.ɪ.dʒə]
• TYPE    (strong + weak + strong)
E.g.
telephone [ˈtel.ɪ.fəʊn]
summertime [ˈsʌm.ə.tɑɪm]
• the suffix -ate is always strong in verbs but
weak in adjectives and nouns
E.g. operate v. [ˈɒp.ə.reɪt]   
fortunate adj. [ˈfɔː.tʃən.ət]   
Stress pattern – 3 syllables
• TYPE    (strong + strong + weak)
E.g. newspaper [ˈnjuːzˌpeɪ.pə]
grandmother [ˈgrændˌmʌ.ðə]
• TYPE    (weak + strong + weak)
E.g. remember [rɪˈməm.bə]
agreement [ɑˈgriː.mənt]
Stress pattern – 3 syllables
• TYPE    (strong + strong + weak)
E.g.
sensation [senˈseɪ.ʃn̩]
unhealthy [ʌnˈhel.θi]
• TYPE    (strong + weak + strong)
E.g.
afternoon [ˌɑːf.təˈnuːn]
understand [ˌʌn.dəˈstænd]
Food for thought
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtH_JBia
KkM
Underline the word which does not have the same
stress pattern in the lists below.
Exercise: Primary stress and transcription
Rewrite the transcriptions indicating primary stress. Write the words in normal
orthography and show the type of stress pattern using big and small dots.
[ɪlevən] [ɪˈle.vən] – eleven   
[əʊvəkəʊt] ………………………………………………………
[wʌnself] ……………………………….………………………
[mænɪdʒmənt] ………………………….……………………
[əkeɪʒn̩] …………………………………………………………
[bækgrɑʊnd] ……………………………………….…………
[θɜːtiːn] …………………………………………………………
[brekfəst] …………………………………………………….…
[kəntrəʊl] ………………………………………………………..
[ɪtæljən] …………………………………………………………
[hæmbɜːgə] ……………………………………………………
[ɪˈle.vən] – eleven   
[ˈəʊv.ə.kəʊt] – overcoat   
[wʌnˈself] – oneself  
[ˈmæn.ɪdʒ.mənt] – management   
[əˈkeɪ.ʒn̩] – occasion   
[ˈbæk.grɑʊnd] – background  
[θɜːˈtiːn] – thirteen  
[ˈbrek.fəst] – breakfast  
[kənˈtrəʊl] – control  
[ɪˈtæl.jən] – Italian   
[ˈhæm.bɜː.gə] – hamburger   
What is connected speech?
• Connected speech is a continuum of
sound, modulated by rhythm, intonation
and pauses
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron
/features/connected.shtml
Connected speech
• Changes in connected speech are articulatory
accommodations  rule of “economy of effort”
E.g. give me  gimme
• Phonetic variability depending on the context:
1. influence of the phonetic environment
2. rhythmic patter of the syllable
3. speed of the utterance
The influence of the phonetic
environment
Similitude
(within word boundaries)
• Accommodation in the articulation of a sound segment to a
preceding or following segment, so that they become similar
– Nasal + plosive/plosive + nasal: same tongue position
E.g. handy [ˈhændɪ]
midnight [ˈmɪdnɑɪt]
Types of similitude
• Voice: voiced consonants are devoiced because of the presence
of voiceless consonants
E.g. small [sm̥ɔːl]
play [pl̥ eɪ]
• Tongue position:
E.g. eight [eɪt̪θ] (dental articulation)
• Lip position:
E.g. question [ˈkwestʃən] (lip rounding)
• Vowel or consonant proximity:
E.g. /k/ three allophones:
keep [+kiːp] (fronted)
cup [kʌp] (velar)
cool [-kuːl] (retracted)
• Nasality (position of the soft palate):
E.g. nasalised vowels: can’t BrE [kɑ̃ːnt] AmE [kæ̃nt]
Linking
(across word boundaries)
• Consonant to consonant linking: one single consonant sound is
heard
E.g. let down
black cat
played darts
• Consonant to vowel linking: a smooth link between the two
E.g. fried egg
leave early
– r-linking:
E.g. for example [fɔːʳɪgˈzɑːmpl̩]
• Vowel to vowel and semivowel linkings: A [w] or a [j] sound
is added
E.g. how about [haʊʷəˈbaʊt]
go in [gəʊʷɪn]
say it [seɪʲɪt]
Assimilation
(within and across word boundaries)
• It is the replacement of a sound with another sound. It occurs
at the boundaries between syllables and words, and in
compounds
• Two types of assimilation: historical and contextual
• Historical assimilation:
E.g.
ME dogges [dɔgəs]  PDE dogs [dɑgz]
raspberry [ˈrɑːspˌberi]  [ˈrɑːzberi]
Contextual assimilation
• Contextual assimilation: it occurs in connected fluent speech
flows (not when speech is slow or emphatic)
– Voice:
E.g. he was sent [hi waz sent]  [hi was sent] (voiceless in connected
speech)
– Tongue position:
E.g. good cooks [gʊd kʊks]  [gʊg kʊks]
this shop [ðɪs ʃɑp]  [ðɪʃ ʃɑp]
this year [ðɪs jɪə]  [ðɪʃ jɪə]
bad boys [bæd bɔɪz] [bæb bɔɪz]
– Position of the lips:
E.g. I don’t believe it [ɑɪ dəʊnt bɪˈliːv ɪt]  [ɑɪ dəʊmp
bɪˈliːv ɪt]
– Coalescence of two sounds (the combination of two
sounds into another one):
E.g. Shut your eyes [ʃʌt jɔːʳ ɑɪz]  [ʃʌt ʃəʳ ɑɪz]
did you [dɪd juː]  [dɪdʒu]
I gotcha (I got you) [ɑɪ gɒt ju]  [ɑɪ gɒtʃə]
Elision
• Elision is the disappearance of a sound from pronunciation
• Two types of elision: historical and contextual
• Historical elision: at the basis of silent graphemes
E.g. castle [ˈkɑːsl̩]
know [nəʊ]
walk [wɔːk]
write [rɑɪt]
debt [det]
Contextual elision
• Contextual elision: economy in articulatory effort:
– Aspiration: dropping of [h]
E.g. weak forms of personal pronouns (her, him, his, etc.)
tell him [tel hɪm] [tel ɪm]
– Loss of alveolar [d] and [t] in syllable final clusters (<st>, <ft>,
<nd>, <ld>, <n’t>)
E.g. first class [fɜːst klɑ:s] [fɜːs klɑ:s]
left behind [left bɪˈhɑɪnd] [lef bɪˈhɑɪnd]
stand still [stænd stɪl] [stæn stɪl]
mild summer [mɑɪld ˈsʌmə] [mɑɪl ˈsʌmə]
didn’t think [dɪdn̩t θɪŋk] [dɪdn̩ θɪŋk]
– Elision in unstressed syllable initial position:
E.g.
suppose [səˈpəʊz] [spəʊz]
police [pəˈliːs] [pliːs]
– Smoothing (esp. BrE):
• Reduction of diphthongs (and triphthongs): /ɑɪ, ɑʊ, eɪ, əʊ, ɔɪ/
 [ɑː, ɑː, e, ə, ɔ]
E.g.
science [sɑɪəns] [sɑːəns]
nowadays [ˈnɑʊədeɪz] [ˈnɑːədeɪz]
deity [ˈdeɪɪti] [ˈdeɪti]
slower [ˈsləʊə] [ˈsləə]
going [gəʊɪŋ] [gəɪŋ]
Vowel reduction
• Reduction to the schwa [ə] sound (stress shift):
E.g.
ironic [ɑɪˈrɒnɪk]  irony [ˈɑɪrəni]
legality [lɪˈgæləti]  legal [ˈlɪgəl]
• Vowel reduction is characteristic of grammatical words (e.g.
articles, modals, auxiliaries, conjunctions, pronouns and
prepositions) when used in weak position:
E.g.
STRONG: She certainly must [ʃɪ ˈsɜːtənli mʌst]
WEAK: She must try harder [ʃi məs ˈtʃrɑɪ ˈhɑːdə]
STRONG: Fish and chips [fɪʃ ænd tʃɪps]
WEAK: Fish ’n chips [fɪʃ n tʃɪps]
Connected speech: weak forms
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usj7Ftrrag&index=23&list=PLY-Fb5xFZcrG03IZY79HK8k1P3P3ZYvl
Connected speech: additional
exercises
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNuHtUS
xtNI
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP69amt7
w8U