Contrasting Accents: Phoneme Distinctions and Realisation Differences in X and RP

1. LELA 10082Lecture　II Describing accents II

2. Differences between X and RP • Differences of phoneme system Additional phoneme distinctions; “missing” phonemes • Differences of distribution X and RP have equivalent phonemes, but the phonetic contexts in which they occur differ • Differences of incidence X and RP have equivalent phonemes, but in particular words, a different phoneme is chosen • Differences of realisation X and RP have equivalent phonemes, but the phonetic and/or allophonic realisation differs

3. 3. Differences of incidence • One phoneme rather than another in certain words • Systematic differences more interesting • Some differences are more arbitrary • Accents have both phonemes (or equivalent) • Difference can be defined in terms of phonetic (or other) context/condition

4. 3. Differences of incidence • Northern “flat A” • Note “flat” is not a phonetic term: /a/~/A/ (front~back) • Northern accents have /a/ rather than /A/ before voiceless fricativesand consonant clusters beginning with a nasal: laugh, path, pass, sample, answer, aunt, branch, slander • But some exceptions: pant, romance, mansion, band, camp • But /A/ when there’s an ‘r’ or ‘l’ in the spelling, or before voiced fricatives: half, hearth, calm, farm, parcel, father, camouflage, and a few other words

5. pat, bad, cap, can, gas, land path, laugh, grass dance, grant, demand part, bar, cart half, palm, banana, can’t How do you pronounce these words? RP /a/ in (1), /A/ elsewhere Midlands, N England /a/ in (1)-(3) Scots, N Irish has only /a/ in all 5 SW England contrast is variable, but mostly have long [a] (ie /A/?) All of the above subject to exceptions 3. Differences of incidence

6. Northern A • Some words with /a/ look like they should have /A/, giving rise to hypercorrection, and even some variation in RP • gas, salmon, graphic, lather, transfer, plastic, elastic, Elastoplast, gymnastic, Atlantic, Gesellschaft (!) • Realisation of /A/ varies in Northern accents (more later) /a/ in path /A/ in path Contrast absent or in doubt

7. 3. Differences of incidence • Conservative RP has // rather than // before voiceless fricative in off, lost, cloth • Some Northern accents have /u/ rather than // where there is ‘oo’ in spelling, eg look, book, cook • Hypercorrection tooth /tUT/ • System shift: luck~look~Luke /lUk~luk~ljuk/ • Some Northern accents have // rather than (expected) // where there is ‘o’ in spelling, eg once, tongue, one, none, nothing, among

8. 4. Differences of realisation • Especially in the vowel systems, many accents have same number of phonemes, used in the same words, but they differ phonetically – often systematically • Quite often we see the whole vowel system “shifted round” in some way • Example: • RP and Brummie

9. bee boy bay bee boy bay buy buy RP Brummie

10. 4. Differences of realisation • Tyneside “inverted diphthongs” • Belfast similar • Diphthongs appear as monophthongs in several accents • /eI/ = /e/ in Scots, /E/ in Lancs • /ou/ = /o/ in Scots, // in Lancs • etc. • /A/ is long /a/ in Scouse: cat~cart • Realisations sometimes make systematicity more obvious RP Tyneside example eI I plate oU u boat aU ubrown

11. 4. Differences of realisation • Scouse voiceless stops /p,t,k/ affricated, or even realized as fricatives (esp. in word-final position, and especially /t/): • cup [kUp, kUp, kxUp, xU] ( = bilabial fricative) • but [bUts, bUts, bUs] so but = bus • back [bakx, bax] • echo [Exu] • Stop phonemes in general characterized by lax articulation, leading to affrication or replacement by fricatives • bread and butter [brEz n bUsE]

12. 4. Differences of realisation • Equivalent phonemes (sometimes called “diaphone”) • Particularly vowel phonemes, absolute differences can be quite significant • Experimental evidence shows that hearers can adjust to the appropriate vowel system within a few utterances … • … even if the accent is unfamiliar • This underlines the idea of systematicity

13. u  u aU u u 4. Differences of realisation /ou/ as in go u,  ou EU, Eo

14. Beyond phonemes • Suprasegmentals • Intonation • Patterns • Range • Stress, Rhythm, Loudness • Voice quality features

15. Intonation • Accents can differ in use of intonation patterns • Patterns described in terms of start position (high, mid, low) and direction (rise, fall, fall-rise, steady) • Pattern differences, like phonemes, can be analysed as follows • (see Ladd DR 1996. Intonational Phonology. Cambridge:CUP) • Semantic differences (same tune, different meaning) • Systemic differences (same meaning carried by different tune) • Realisation differences • Phonotactic differences (intonation patterns combine in different ways) • Lots of work done on IViE corpus • Multiple recordings of nine urban accents from around the British Isles • http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/IViE/

16. Intonation • Semantic differences: same tune different meaning • Systemic differences: same meaning different tune • Some overlap here: our example could be either semantic or systemic

17. Intonation: example • Use of (mid) rise in declarative statements • Most accents of English use low rise for yes/no questions or requests for confirmation • Did you go the party? • Who was at the party? • Same intonation when used with declarative statement implies element of questioning, eg request for confirmation • I come from Wigan (have you ever heard of it?) • This pattern increasingly used for simple declaratives • Evidence that this use originated with Australian adolescent females, spread to males, and then spread overseas, through soaps, though it is also a feature of some British accents, notably Ulster

18. Intonation: example • From Grabe E, Post B “Intonational variation in the British Isles”, in [book], available at http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/~esther/GP2002.doc • Intonation used for declarative statements • Data based on multiple recordings of informants from various regions

19. Intonation range • Even if patterns are the same, a difference in range may be typical of an accent • “Range” means how high/low the rises and falls are • Some accents characterised as “sing song” • eg South Wales, Brummie • Range variation can also be idiolectal

20. Stress, rhythm, loudness • Stress placement in individual words, or (rarely) in general, can be dialectal (eg Newcastle), and also interacts with choice of phoneme (weak forms) • Rhythm differences are usually idiolectal, but can be associated with regional dialects • eg some rural accents characterised as having a slower pace of delivery • Some non-UK accents might have distinctive rhythmic patters due to influence of other local languages (eg West Indian accents have more even rhythm, fewer weak forms) • Once again, beware of sociological stereotyping that has nothing to do with linguistics! • Loudness differences are almost always idiolectal • Some languages are typically louder than others, but this doesn’t seem to be the case with accents

21. Voice quality features • Voice quality include things like pitch, range and loudness, but also eg • Breathiness, nasality, pharyngealisation, velarisation, … • Voice quality usually idiolectal, but there are some regional tendencies

22. Voice quality features • Several accents can be described as “nasal” • New York, middle class southern English • Liverpool and N Wales accents often have a velarised or pharyngealised quality: tongue is raised towards back of mouth, giving a “strangled” quality • Some southern Irish accents can sound “breathy” due to (pre-)aspiration of stops (influence of Gaelic), and weak voicing of vowels • Flexibility of lip-movement might give an accent a certain quality (tight- or stiff- lipped)