Université de Savoie UFR-LLSH LCE1 UE 103 Lecture: Phonetics & Phonology

1. Université de Savoie UFR-LLSHLCE1 UE 103Lecture: Phonetics & Phonology Alice Henderson ahend@univ-savoie.fr Office 812

2. Content of the 5 lectures 1) Introduction, Phonemes 2) Sounds in context, connected speech 3)Stress, accent & rhythm 4) Intonation 5) Conclusion

3. Outline, Lecture 5 • Go over homework • Review for Exam • Varieties of English • Conclusion • Bibliography

4. Vowel vs consonant • Consonant: involves some form of closure or narrowing that affects the air flow • Labels: • Voicing: voiced or voiceless • Place of articulation: horizontal axis • Bilabial, labio-dental, dental, … • Manner/Type of articulation: vertical axis • Nasal, plosive, …

5. Try to label these: • /b/ • /s/ • /d½/ • /w/ • /÷/ • /h/

6. Answers: • /b/ voiced bilabial plosive • /s/ voiceless alveolar fricative • /d½/ voiced palato-alveolar affricate • /w/ voiced labio-velar approximant • /÷/ voiced velar nasal • /h/ voiceless glottal fricative

7. Word stress & word class • REbel / reBEL • REfuse / reFUSE • REject / reJECT • ** PROmise / PROmise • PERmit / perMIT • INsert / inSERT • OBject / obJECT • ** conTROL / conTROL • INsult / inSULT • CONduct / conDUCT

8. Review for exam • Phonetics? Phonology? • What organs are involved in speech? • Vowel? Consonant? (HW from Lecture 4)

9. Que sont les branches de ce domaine?(from Lecture 1) • Phonétique générale (acoustique & articulatoire/physiologique): étudie le fonctionnement de l’appareil phonateur de l’homme et analyse ses capacités articulatoires et les particularités des son émis, au moyen d’appareils acoustiques • Phonétique descriptive: étude des particularités phonétiques d’une langue donnée • Phonétique évolutive/historique: étude des changements phonétiques d’une langue donnée • Phonétique normative: prescrit des règles de la bonne prononciation d’une langue donnée • Phonétique « criminologique »: étude des particularités dans un but médico-légal et/ou policier (forensic phonetics)

10. Speech organs • Palate? (hard palate) • Velum? (soft palate) • Tongue tip? • Alveolar ridge? • Glottis?

11. What’s hard for French speakers? • Phoneme level: V, C • Word level: • Groups of sounds • Word stress • Reduced vowels in unstressed syllables • Sentence level: • Rhythm • Weak forms • Effect of phonemes on each other in context • Intonation

12. Phoneme level: V, C • Common trouble spots: sounds that exist in English but not in French: « h », the two « th », final NG, di- & triphthongs, « r » • Vowels that may seem similar to French sounds … but are just not the same: leave/live, cat/cut, bull/ « boule » …

13. A quick puzzle … • What if your student says __ instead of__? • Cat / catch • Breeze / breathe

14. A quick puzzle … • Cat / catch • Voiceless alveolar plosive • Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate • Breeze / breathe • Voiced alveolar fricative • Voiced dental fricative

15. « h » • How can you avoid adding it when it is unnecessary? • When is it silent? When can it be elided?

16. Which « h » can be dropped? • A: When did he go there? • B: I don’t know. • A: Who did he talk to? • B: I don’t know. • A: Have you talked to him yet? • B: Yes, I have. • A: Did you ask him? • B: What? • A: Did you ask him who he was with? • B: No, it’s not of my business.

17. Which « h » can be dropped? • A: When did he go there? • B: I don’t know. • A: Who did he talk to? • B: I don’t know. • A: Have you talked to him yet? • B: Yes, I have. • A: Did you ask him? • B: What? • A: Did you ask him who he was with? • B: No, it’s not of my business.

18. Eliding « h » • Pronoun or auxiliary verb NOT at the start of a tone unit • NOT « have » as a main verb • NOT at the start of a tone unit **Essential for smooth connected speech

19. What’s hard for French speakers? • Phoneme level: V, C • Word level: • Groups of sounds • Word stress • Reduced vowels in unstressed syllables • Sentence level: • Rhythm • Weak forms • Effect of phonemes on each other in context • Intonation

20. Word level: Groups of sounds, clusters • Words ending in two consonants + S • Scientists, linguists, asks, students, acts, risks, pastes • Consonant + « th » • At the seaside, a good thing, is that it?, his things • Consonant + « th » + consonant • Twelfths, months, clothes, Smith’s crisps

21. *Red letters are often changed • Words ending in two consonants + S • Scientists, linguists, asks, students, acts, risks, pastes • Consonant + « th » • At the seaside, a good thing, is that it?, his things • Consonant + « th » + consonant • Twelfths, months, clothes, Smith’s crisps

22. Word level: Word stress • Stress: • Louder, longer, higher pitch • Basic rules of placement *Where would you stress these? lorax (n.), kuringe (v.), elbonics, laundrette, humongous, carperpetuate

23. Where would you stress these? elBOnics : stress 1 syllable before -ic launDRETTE : stress the ending -ette huMONgous : stress 1 syllable before -ous carperPEtuate : stress 2 syllables before -ate LOrax (n.) : 2 syllable noun, stress 1st syll. kuRINGE (v.) : 2 syllable verb, stress 2nd syll.

24. Word level Reduced vowels in unstressed syllables • cupboard /ÇkÃbWd/ • breakfast /ÇbrekfWst/ • handkerchief /Çh¾÷kWt§öf/

25. What’s hard for French speakers? • Phoneme level: V, C • Word level: • Groups of sounds • Word stress • Reduced vowels in unstressed syllables • Sentence level: • Rhythm • Weak forms • Effect of phonemes on each other in context • Intonation

26. Sentence level: Rhythm & Weak forms • Try the Lorax again … • Try tapping the rhythm out with a pencil on your desk • Stress lexical or « content » words • Essential to use weak forms: prepositions, pronouns, articles, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, etc. (so-called « grammatical » or « function » words)

27. Sentence level : • Effect of phonemes on each other in context • Elision • Assimilation • Coalescence • Linking

28. Match the example to the term

29. Answers: Tom am Bob B a) Elision Whatcha gonna do? C b) Assimilation It’s her only hope. D c) Coalescence It’s her only hope. A d) Linking

30. Sentence level: Linking • Improves flow from one sound to another • Essential to recognise • Not essential to do yourself ** Helps to avoid « parasitic h » • our own, four apples, She’s alone, Get it out, Eat some of this

31. What’s hard for French speakers? • Phoneme level: V, C • Word level: • Groups of sounds • Word stress • Reduced vowels in unstressed syllables • Sentence level: • Rhythm • Weak forms • Effect of phonemes on each other in context • Intonation

32. Sentence level: Intonation • Stress, accent, pitch, nucleus, tune, focus

33. Focus or emphasis • Basic Sentence Stress: lexical words, nucleus/accent on last content word • Focus: chosen by speaker, « flexible » • New Focus: Can focus on any word/s that give/s new information. • Contrastive Focus:

34. New Focus • A: What are you doing? • B: I’m just relaxing. • A: Didn’t you have lots of work? • B: Yes, // but it’s for Friday. • A: But shouldn’t you start on it now? • B: Probably, // but it’s not going to disappear.

35. Focus or emphasis • Basic Sentence Stress: • Focus: • New Focus: • Contrastive Focus: can emphasize focus words to contrast an idea, e.g. when correcting or checking information

36. Contrastive Focus • A: So that’ll be 14.98. • B: But the price tag says 4.98. • Just to check: your number is 35487? • No, it’s 35489.

37. Outline, Lecture 5 • Go over homework • Review for Exam • Varieties of English • See www.llsh.univ-savoie.fr « Cours en Ligne », « Academic English for Specialists » • Conclusion • Bibliography

38. Rhotic • /r/ is pronounced where there is « r » in the spelling (before consonants & at the end of words) • Typical of North America, Scotland, Ireland, SW England (Bristol) • *Non-rhotic: no r-sound in car, farm, art • *Typical of most of England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa • Try: near, nearer, father, strawberry, further, farmer, postcard, hard, colour, colouring

39. Southern & Northern British English • Non-rhotic in South • Six short vowels (only 5 in North: book/buck) • Long mid diphthongs: face, goat (resisted) • Clear « l » in all positions in much of North • NG: « g » pronounced Birmingham to Manchester to Liverpool: singing, singer

40. « Cockney » • « h » dropping • « th » replaced by /f/ and /v/: thing, then, another • Same vowels as RP BUT front vowels are closer, so that sat - set, set - sit • Distinctive pronunciation of diphthongs: **My Fair Lady • Get off : /t/ becomes a tap/flap OR glottal stop

41. Welsh • More aspiration /p t k/ (like Irish English) • Clear « l »: castle, chapel, little • Dylan Thomas reading his poem « Do not go gentle into that good night »

42. Yorkshire • Wallace & Gromit • Book/buck: same vowel • Shortened mid diphthongs: name, say, take • Get off sounds like « geroff »: /t/ becomes /r/ here • Clear « l » in all positions in much of the North

43. Standard Scottish English • Ant/aunt, soot/suit caught/cot : same vowel • /e/ is different to RP: heaven, eleven, next • No centring diphthongs (like GA): beard, fare, dour = vowel + /r/ === rhotic • Tapped « r »: red, trip • /t/ realised as a glottal stop: butter • /p t k/ little aspiration (except in Western Highlands) • « The Magic o Uncle Peter »

44. American English • Eastern (New England, parts of New York City): Non-rhotic, 16th c. near London /r/ was already disappearing • Southern (Virginia to Texas and southwards) • General (all the rest) • General American (GA) : « that form of English without marked regional characteristics », also called Network English, (Gimson, p85),

45. American • Rhotic • « T tapping »: Intervocalic /t/ becomes a tap that often sounds like/is /d/: butter, put it • Glass/cat NOT /a:/, Am. resistance to so-called « BATH broadening » • More rgeular spelling-pronunciation link: clerk, Derby • « LOT unrounding »: bother =father • Changes in open vowels: raising of « cat, man », merger of caught=cot *For many GA speakers (and most Canadians) cod, calm & cause have one vowel • Lacking /j/ after /t d/: tune, dew, duty

46. Australian • Like London but … • T tapping • No glottalling • Weak « happy » sound becomes schwa: valid, salad • Raised /e/: dress sounds like /drIs/

47. Other Englishes • Indian English: http://www.indiaradio.com/ • Nigerian English • Singlish • Spanglish • …

48. English-es? And if so, which? • Written / spoken • Constant change = nature of the beast • Last 500 years : Attitude regarding norms/standards, there « should » be one pronunciation that is preferable over others • Which?

49. Which English? • RP= traditional norm taught to learners, the most commonly described/applied in published materials • But role of RP has changed dramatically • Now over 320 million people speak English as their 1st language but the majority of these speak a form of American English • Another 150 million use English as an official language, and a form of local pronunciation domniates (Indian English) • But RP continues to serve as a model, for historical reasons (Africa, Asia, Indian subcontinent) • And Indian English is now being « exported »

50. Future? • Two « catatrophe » scenarios, acc. to Trudgill • Americanisation • Disintegration • Phonology: the most divergent area of change, compared to lexis & grammar • Cut fronting to cat • New Zealand /dres/ raising closer to /drIs/ • « th » becoming /f/ or /v/ • Rhoticity: disappearing in UK, opposite in USA • /t/ flapping & glottalling • « h » dropping • labio-dental /r/