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Unstressed S yllables, S chwa and S yllabic C onsonants

Unstressed S yllables, S chwa and S yllabic C onsonants. Unstressed Syllables. Weak (reduced) vowel → shorter, weaker in energy and closer to schwa /ә/ in place of articulation Vowels of weak syllables: Schwa /ә/ /i/ (finally or before a vowel): happ y , r e act

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Unstressed S yllables, S chwa and S yllabic C onsonants

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  1. Unstressed Syllables, Schwa and Syllabic Consonants

  2. Unstressed Syllables • Weak (reduced) vowel → shorter, weaker in energy and closer to schwa /ә/ in place of articulation • Vowels of weak syllables: • Schwa /ә/ • /i/ (finally or before a vowel): happy, react • /ɪ/ (before a consonant): panic, elect • /(j)u/ (before a vowel or before a a stressed syllable): intuition, regulate, united • /(j)ʊ/ (before a consonant plus an unstressed syllable): stimulus, soluble • No vowel, just a syllabic sonorant /m n l r/: final, recent • /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ may also function as full vowels

  3. Unstressed Syllables • Before the stressed syllable: never more than 2 weak syllables e.g. if the stressed syllable is the fourth syllable: justifi'cationhalluci'nation + - - + - - + - + - • After the stressed syllable: may be 3 weak syllables (in words with certain endings) e.g.: candidacy impenetrable + - - - - + - - - • harvest, biggest, family • Weak vowels: often free variation

  4. Schwa • http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/vowel_short_5.shtml • No prevocalic schwa in English • Preconsonantal schwa • Often interchangable with /i/ (spelling: usually /i/ or /e/ not followed by r) • Word-initial schwa: a- or o- • Word-final schwa – almost /ʌ/

  5. Syllabic Consonants • Schwa followed by a sonorant (/n, l/ and less frequently /m, ŋ, r/) → /ә/ often drops out → the sonorant becomes syllabic

  6. Syllabic Consonants • Syllabic /l/: always dark • Examples with syllabic [m]: prism, handsome • Examples with syllabic [ŋ]: bacon, we can go • Syllabic: acts as the “vowel” of the syllable • Only occur in unstressed syllables • How are syllabic consonants indicated in transcription?

  7. Sources • Baloghné Bérces Katalin, Szentgyörgyi Szilárd. Az angol nyelv kiejtése -The Pronunciation of English. Available from: http://mek.oszk.hu/04900/04910/04910.pdf • Kreidler, Charles W. The Pronunciation of English: A Course Book in Phonology. Oxford; Cambridge: Blackwell, 1999. • BBC Learning English webpage http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/vowel_short_5.shtml • Nádasdy, Ádám. Practice Book in English Phonetics and Phonology. Budapest: Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, 2003.

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