English Phonology

ESCUELA:

NOMBRES

ENGLISH PHONOLOGY

FECHA:

INGLÉS

Dra. Carmen Benítez

ABRIL – AGOSTO 2009

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CHAPTER 9 STRONG AND WEAK SYLLABLES

Strong: stressed

peak: long vowel, diphthongs, triphthongs

short vowel + coda (1 or more C)

Weak: unstressed, lower intensity,

dif. quality

peak: end of words: ə, i, u, ə +

coda, SC (l, m, n, ŋ, r)

inside words: ə, i, u, ɪ next syllable begins with consonant

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“Schwa” Vowel ə The most occurring vowel in

English Weak: occurs with weak syllables

Quality:

mid half way between close open

central half way betw front back

lax art. without much energy

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ə

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weak form strong form

a ə æ ar ə ɑ: o ə ɒ - əʊ or ə ɔ: e ə e er ə ɜ: u ə ʌ ough ə many ou ə aʊ ate adj. end ə eɪ

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Close front – Close back Vowels

Area of producing: near i:

i i: u: ɪ ɪ ʊ

near u:

u

ʊ

Distribution:

i Word f p: “y”, “ey” after 1 or more C. Morpheme f p: “y”, “ey” + suff beg

with V Prefixes: re, pre, de, before unst

vowel. Suffix: iate, ious 2 syllable words he, she we, me, be (unstressed) the preceding a vowel u you, to, into do before another vowel within a word

Syllabic consonants

l, m, n, ŋ, r syllabic consonants

Why? Stand as peak in weak syllables;

novel, pencil, action

How do you mark it?By placing a (ˌ) under l, m, n, ŋ, r

novel nɒvl, pencil pensl, action ækʃn

Syllabic l

Distribuition:

After another consonant (alveolar)- w f p with 1 or more C + “le”

With alveolar C prec. littleWith non-alveolar C. prec. Staple

- w f p, words spelt with 1 or more C + “al” “el”`partial, panel

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Syllabic n

Distribuition:

Doesn’t occur in IP except in some words.

In M or F P: n becomes syllabic after plosive or fricative + ən

cotton often open

Syllabic m, ŋ

Result from a process of assimilation or elision.

Not so common

Can be transcribed as ən too

(ˌ) below l, m, n, ŋ, r shows that the C is syllabic, in the case of ŋ (ˌ) can be placed above the symbol.

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CHAPTER 10 STRESS IN SIMPLE WORDSStrength used to pronounce a

syllable in a word Marked wit (ˈ)2 ways of seen it:

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PRODUCTION

What speakers do to pronounce strong syllables

PERCEPTION What characteristics make a sound to be heard as strong

Production: use of energy to produce sound (muscles) subglottal pressure higher

Perception: stressed syllables are prominent

PROMINENCE characteristic of stressed syllables (factors)

length, loudness, pitch and quality

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Levels of stressStress is marked with (') high up

before the stressed syllable

(') primary stress (strong)

(ˌ) secondary stress (weak)

( ) unstressed (no prominence)

(∘) tertiary stress (very weak)

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Placement of stress within the word

1-syllable words

Basically we take into account:

Kind of word:simple or complexisolated 1 syllable word strong

The gram. category of the wordNumber of syllablesPhon structure of the syllable.

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only used with strong syllables

Two-syllable words

Verbs: 2nd s, stress 2nd; 2 w, stress 1st; 2nd əʊ, 1st

Nouns: 2nd s short v, stress 1st

Adjectives: same rules as verbs

Adverbs and prepositions (verbs)

Three- syllable words

verbs: f strong, s ff w, s preceding if s

f w, preceding w, s 1st

Nouns: f əʊ, prec s, s 2nd 2nd and f w, s 1st

f s, 2nd weak, s 1st

Adjectives: same rule as nouns

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CHAPTER 11COMPLEX WORD STRESS

COMPLEX WORDS

Affixes can:

Receive primary stress Do not receive it Influence on the shift of stress

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COMPLEX: STEM + AFFIX

prefix suffix

COMPOUND:TWO OR MORE INDEPENDENTS WORDS

Suffixes: at the end of the word.region + al = regional

stem + suffix

Productive suffixes: the most common and used.

Some problems:

Some words seem to have a suffix. regional canal number of suffixes a word can have interestingly

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Suffixes carrying the stress themselves ee, er, ese, ette, esque

portuguese pɔ:tʃə'gi:z

Suffixes that do not affect st. placable, age, al, en, ful, ing, ish, like, less, ly, ment, ness, ous, fy, wise,y

national 'næʃnlSuffixes that influence stress in the stem eous, graphy, ial, ic, ion, ious, ty, ive

proverb proverbial prəˈvɜ:biəl

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Prefixes before the stem

Do not work the same as suffixesDo not carry primary stress

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Compound words

Words formed by two ind. wordshand-bag typewriter

Most carry stress in the 2nd word

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Exceptions:

Adj. first element and ed at the end

bad-'tempered

First element is a numberthree-wheeler

Comp. functioning as adverbsNorth-east

Comp. functioning as verbs hand have an adv. As first element

down-grade24

Variable stress Stress is shifted to another

position because:

The influence of other wordsbad ˈtempered bad tempered ˈteacher

Speakers do not agree on stress placement.

controversy 'kɒntəvɜsi kɒn'təvɜsi

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Word class pairs

Identical words with different grammatical function.

adj, noun, verb

Consist of a preffix + stem

Are different because of stress

'æbstrækt (adj) æb'strækt (v)

'ekspɔ:t (n ) eks'pɔ:t (v)26

CHAPTER 12WEAK FORMS

Strong and weak forms: same words pronounced in strong and weak form in certain contexts.

that ðæt ðət

function words:

auxiliaries, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, etc.

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Weak forms are pronounced as strong in the following cases:

of at the end of a sentence For contrasting information: Give it to him not to her

Coordinate use of prepositions The letter said from New York not to New York

For emphasis You have to do that

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There are many forms pronounced only weak in ceratin contexts.

the, a an, and, that, his, her, your, she, he, we, you, him, at, him, her, them, us, for, from, of, to, as, some, there, can, have, has, had, shall, should, must, do, does, am, are, was

Recomedation: practice a lot.

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CHAPTER 14ASPECTS OF CONNECTED

SPEECHOur speech is accompanied of some aspects. These aspects are:

Rhythm AssimilationElision Linking

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Rhythm Involves noticeable event happening at regular intervals of time.

English is stress-timed rhythm.- The times from one stressed syllable to the next will tend to be the same irrespectibly of the number of intervening unstressed syllables.

syllable-timed rhythm: syllables (s or un)tend to occur at regular time-intervals, times shorter or longer depending on the number of ustressed syllables

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Unit of rhythm: foot

Rhythm can vary

minimal value arhythmically

maximum value very rhytmically

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Assimilation Process by which a phoneme is realized in differently because of the influence of a neighbouring sound.

F C becomes like I C regressive that person ðæt pɜ:sn ðæp pɜ:sn

I C becomes like F C progressiveAssimilation of voice

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Differences in place of artic.Alveolar sounds become bilabial or dental plosives (regressive)

Differences in manner of artic.Final plosive becomes fricative or nasal (regressive)

Differences in voicing devoicing of voiced consonats (regressive)

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Elision

Sounds dissapear under certain circumstances, a phoneme may be realized zero or not realized.

acts æks scripts skrɪpslooked back lʊk bæk

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INTONATION

Closely related to pitch, helps to convey messages or show different states.

Pitch is produced by the vibration of the vocal cords.

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Levels of pitch

Level _ Falling ` Rising ´

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N

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