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Transcribing the Sound of English

Do you have a ear o transcription? Are you daunted by the prospect o learningand handling un amiliar symbols? Tis workbook is or students who are new tolinguistics and phonetics, and offers a didactic approach to the study and transcriptiono the words, rhythm and intonation o English. It can be used independently orin class and covers all the pronunciation details o words, phrases, rhythm andintonation. Progress is deliberately gentle with plenty o explanations, examplesand ‘can’t go wrong’ exercises. In addition, there is an associated website with audiorecordings o authentic speech, which provide back-up throughout. Te audio clipsalso introduce students to variations in accents, with eleven different speakers. Goingbeyond the transcription o words, the book also ventures into real discourse with thesimpli cation systems o colloquial English speech, rhythm and intonation.

PAUL ENCH was senior lecturer in phonetics and applied linguistics at the Centreor Language and Communication Research, Cardiff University, and is now retired as

an associate researcher there.





Transcribing theSound of English

A Phonetics Workbook for Words and Discourse

PAUL ENCH Cardiff University



Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape own,Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, okyo, Mexico City Cambridge University PressTe Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States o America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.orgIn ormation on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521166058

© Paul ench 2011

Tis publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions o relevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction o any part may take place without the writtenpermission o Cambridge University Press.

First published 2011

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record or this publication is available rom the British Library

ISBN 978-0-521-16605-8 Paperback ISBN 978-1-107-00019-3 Hardback

Additional resources or this publication at www.cambridge.org/tench

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility or the persistence oraccuracy o URLs or external or third-party internet websites re erred to inthis publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,or will remain, accurate or appropriate.



v

CON EN S

Acknowledgements viii

Introduction 1

Part I Words . . .

Why transcribe? 3 1 Vowels 6 Te short vowels 6 Te long vowels 17 Monophthongs (‘pure’ vowels) 18 Diphthongs 25 Te weak vowels 33 Summary 37

2 Consonants 38 Plosives 38 Nasals 39 Fricatives 39 Affricates 44 Approximants 47 Summary 50 Syllabic consonants 50 In ections 53

3 Word stress 56 Compound words 57

4 Allophones 60 Consonants 61 Aspiration 61 Glottal rein orcement 63 Voiced apping 63 Devoicing 63

/r/ 65 Fronting, backing and rounding 65 Summary o allophones or each consonant 66



vi

Contents

Vowels 69 Nasalization 70 Clipping 70 Breaking 70

Smoothing 71 Diphthongization 71

5 Accents 73 Lexical sets 75 USA 77 London 78 West Country 78 Midlands 79 North o England 80 Scotland 81 Wales 82 Northern Ireland 83 A rica 84 India 85 A oreign accent 86

6 Phrases 88 Assimilation 88

Elision 95 Epenthesis 99 Liaison 101

Part II . . . and Discourse

7 Rhythm 105 Prepositions 106 Conjunctions 108 Determiners 111 itles 114 Pronouns 114 Auxiliary verbs 115 Modal verbs 117 Just, not, so, there 118 Syllable elision in lexical items and phrases 121 ranscription text 1 Goldilocks 124 ranscription text 2 ravelling to Italy 127 ranscription text 3 9/11 128



vii

Contents

8 Intonation: tonality 130 Introduction 130 Symbols 132 onality 134

onality and grammatical contrasts 143

9 Intonation: tonicity 149 Neutral and marked tonicity 150 Broad and narrow ocus 152 Final adjuncts 154

10 Intonation: tone 158 ones 158 Statements and questions 165 Directives 169 Social interaction 171

11 Intonation: secondary tone 176 Secondary tones 176 Heads and pre-heads 179

12 Intonation: paratones 182 Paratones 182

Calling 185

Bibliography 187 Index 190



viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMEN S

Tanks

to colleagues in theCentre or Language and Communication ResearchatCardiff University who encouraged me, especially to Dr Gerard O’Grady whochecked through a lot o the work and helped with recordings,

to Dean, Nathan and Rob, our good natured and very patient technical staff,

to Jill Knight who helped with a lot o the typing,

to the two ims, Maureen, Lisa, Chris, Shona, Gordon, Jenni er, Judy,Bhaskarrao and Wayne or agreeing to recording their voices in lexical setsand Su Yanling or recording Chinese lexical tones,

to Cambridge University Press and the authors, Ronald Carter and MichaelMcCarthy, o Exploring Spoken English or permission to use a number otheir recordings, and

to the hundreds o undergraduate students o Pronunciation o Englishandthe scores o postgraduates oPhonologywho persevered with the materialand gave me excellent eedback.



1

Introduction

ranscribing the Sound o Englishis not so much a coursebook in phoneticsnor a textbook on English phonology, but a training course in developing stu-dents’ powers o observation on eatures o English pronunciation and theirskills in recording them in writing. It begins in a very elementary way but itis thorough, and eventually leads to the most comprehensive coverage o thesounds o English rom words to ull discourse that is available anywhere. It isdesigned or both native and non-native speakers o English, and or that latterreason all o the material is available in audio orm. Every single word and allthe discourses that are presented in ranscribing the Sound o English havebeen recorded and are available at www.cambridge.org/tench. Every singleexample with a re erence number in the lef-hand margin o this book is oundwith that same re erence on that website.

I you are new to the subject, start at the beginning o Part I and do Chapters1, 2 and 3 about transcribing words. You are introduced to broad transcription

in a very gentle way, with plenty o practice material – so much, in act, that askil ul, con dent student could actually skip some o it, but there is enough toprovide a less con dent student with plenty o practice to build up their con -dence. Tere is no key to this practice material, because you cannot go wrong!Tere are, however, quick tests (kw k t sts) at strategic points, and or thema key is provided on the same website. By the end oChapter 3, you should beable to transcribe a word likehomogeneouswithout any diffi culty.

You could then choose to ignore Chapter 4 i you do not need to get intonarrow transcription. You could also ignore Chapter 5 on accents i desired.Tese two chapters are more advanced and are written in a more academicstyle. But you could return to them later.

It would be good to do Chapter 6 on phrases, which returns to a more gentleapproach in broad transcription. It introduces you to eatures o pronuncia-tion that may not be immediately obvious when words come together andaffect each other. But it only takes a little re ection to see what quite naturallyhappens in your own ordinary, in ormal speech.

Part II takes you on rom words and phrases to ull discourse with itsrhythm and intonation systems. Chapter 7 shows the effect o rhythm in utter-ances, especially in terms o the so-called weak orms o words in context. It

is closed with three whole discourses, monologues, which are care ully gradedwith guidance to help you to listen out or things, but that guidance becomesprogressively less explicit until you no longer need it.



2

Introduction

Te nal Chapters 8 to 12 on intonation are a thorough and comprehensiveintroduction to transcribing the important eatures o intonation.

Tere is a convention that when spoken discourse is transcribed it is doneso in ordinary orthography; and this convention is accepted here. It should be

noted that much o the spoken data in sociolinguistics literature has very poorsystems or recording intonation and its effect in the development o discourse,and these nal chapters will gradually introduce you to the intonation systemsthemselves in real, genuine instances o talk that were recorded or other pur-poses than intonation transcription. Intonation is there whenever we talk, andit is ofen the most crucial element in the communication process. So you getto handle intonation in actual talk, not in simulated exercises.

Tese chapters could be taken as a separate task rom the rest o this book.Tey present a ull description o intonation, but they do so in such a way thatyou build up both your knowledge and your skill in transcription. Tere areoccasional re erences to new trends which are not always dealt with in text-books on English intonation. Again, there is an emphasis on intonation in real discourse; you will listen to real people talking in real situations, not in simu-lated exercises.

You will see that the exercises inChapters 8 to 12 do not have a key. Tisis because you are introduced to real dialogues where you have to decide onmatters o tonality rst and then on matters o tonicity and then o tone andparatones. As you move rom one chapter to another, the ‘key’ is given youin every ollowing chapter. So, or example, you are asked to decide on the

tonality o dialogues inChapter 8 be ore you move on to tonicity in Chapter 9; and when you come to work on tonicity, you will nd that the tonality o thedialogue is presented to you, because you cannot really decide on matters otonicity until the tonality has been recognized. And so it goes on, step by stepthrough to Chapter 12, until you have reached a ull and complete analysis andtranscription.

So you get the chance to learn and practise and then produce whole tran-scriptions with con dence, rom simple words to whole discourses, all in oneworkbook!



3

I Words . . .

Why transcribe?

It is an un ortunate eature o the English language, that the way its wordsare spelt does not always match the way its words are pronounced, in thesimple and systematic way o other languages. For instance, in most accents oEnglish, the letter <a> is not pronounced the same in the two words tall andtally ; and although the two words tally and ally are spelt alike, they are notpronounced alike – they do not rhyme. Tere are, in act, two sides to this mis-matching o spelling and pronunciation: a single vowel letter o the alphabetcan represent at least two vowel sounds; and a single vowel sound can be rep-resented by at least two different spellings. Another example is the double <o>in brood and brook – two different vowel sounds, but the same spelling; andbrood (what birds do) and brewed (past tense o the verbbrew) – two differ-

ent spellings, but the same vowel sound. In act, it is not too diffi cult to thinko ten ways o pronouncing the use o the letter <a> in spelling, and ten wayso pronouncing each o the other vowelletters . Equally, it is not too diffi cultto think o ten ways o spelling most o the vowelsounds . Tis represents anenormous task or a child learning to read and write in English as their mothertongue, and similarly, a tricky task or those who learn English as an additionallanguage.

Tis mismatching is ound amongst consonants too. Te letter <t> in rat and ration represent very different consonant sounds; double <s> occurs inboth pass and passion, but whereas passion and ration rhyme, their identical‘sh’ sound is spelt differently. Have you noticed that the rst double <s> inthe word possess is pronounced differently rom its second double <s>, andthat the second double <s> o the word possession is different again? Te vari-ation amongst consonant letters and consonant sounds is not as great and asmysti ying as it is amongst vowel letters and sounds, but it certainly adds tothe impression o an unhelp ul, perhaps even an unnecessary, complication inthe matching up o spelling and pronunciation o words in English. You know,too, that ofen consonant letters represent nothing in pronunciation, like the in debt , the <c> inmuscle, the <d> in handkerchie , etc. But there is also the

case o a consonant sound not being spelt at all: i you compare the pronuncia-tion o the beginning o the two words youth ul and use ul , you will notice thatthe ‘y’ sound is spelt with the letter <y> in the rst word, but is not spelt at all



4

PAR ONE Words

in the second; compare view and ew too, where the ‘y’ sound is spelt with theletter in view, but not in ew.

Tus it is no wonder that learners have problems with English spelling andwith deducing the pronunciation o words rom their written orm. Tese

problems persist into later li e and even well-educated pro essional peoplemake many mistakes. So it is also no wonder that pro essionals in educationhave sought to remedy the situation by various means, including propos-als or spelling re orm on the one hand, and special reading schemes likephonics and the phonographic method on the other. But what is needed isan understanding o the very pronunciation system o English itsel whichthe spelling system obscures. Tis need is met in the application o linguis-tics, or, more precisely, in those parts o linguistics known as phonology andphonetics. Phonology re ers to pronunciation as a system in itsel – howmany vowels there are in the spoken orm o the language (not the ve vowelletters), and how many consonants there are, where the sounds can occurin words, what combination o sounds are allowed, etc. Phonetics re ers tothe pronunciation o the sounds themselves – how they are made, how theydiffer, how they sound in different positions o a word and how they sound indifferent combinations, etc. And or the study o the pronunciation o wordsin English, an extra set o symbols is needed to extend the use o the letterso the alphabet.

Te use o such phonetic symbols, as they are usually called, acilitates therepresentation o the pronunciation o any language, not just those which have

a ‘diffi cult’ relationship with spelling like English, French, Irish, etc. Even ithere is a good correspondence between pronunciation and spelling as in lan-guages like Spanish, Welsh, Finnish, etc., an international set o symbols ishelp ul in comparing languages and learning them. As you make your waythrough this workbook, you will also see that detailed differences can be repre-sented when transcribing different accents and colloquial styles.

Te ‘angle’ brackets, <t>, enclose letters o the alphabet. Whole words inordinary spelling which are used as examples are in italics. ‘Slant’ brackets,/t/, enclose phonetic symbols in broad transcription, i.e. phonemes; wholewords in broad transcription are also enclosed in ‘slant’ brackets, e.g. /r t / rat.‘Square’ brackets, [t], enclose phonetic symbols in narrow transcription, i.e.allophones (seeChapter 4).

Chapters 1 to 3 are based on a type o accent that used to be known asReceived Pronunciation. But this term is no longer transparent in meaning, andso the more explicit labelSouthern England Standard Pronunciation (SESP) isused. It also used to be known asBBC English, but the BBC now has a muchmore open policy on accents even or their main newsreaders, and o courseother channels may well use newsreaders who speak with the SESP. Tis accentis ‘standard’ simply in the observation that it is recognized as a orm o pro-

nunciation that is typically used by those who pro essionally engage in publicspeech, people like newsreaders. But a newsreader in Scotland is not likely touse SESP, but a Scottish standard o pronunciation; similarly newsreaders in



5

Why transcribe?

Wales, Ireland, USA, Canada, etc. are most likely to use standard pronuncia-tions that are appropriate in their settings.

Tere is no intrinsic ‘value’ in SESP or, or that matter, in General American(GA). However, SESP is the standard orm o pronunciation that is presented

in most descriptions o English pronunciation published in UK, while GA isthe standard orm presented in USA. Tere ore, or simple practical reasons,SESP has been chosen as a starting point, but with occasional comments onwell-known variations in other accents.



6

1 Vowels

Te vowels offer the greatest problem, so we will start there. Te vowel systemo English is relatively large. Latin had ve vowels, hence the ve vowel lettersin our Roman alphabet; a modern orm o Latin, Spanish, has also only ve,Italian has seven, but English has at least twenty. Listen to the ollowing Englishnames and note that each has a different vowel sound:

1.1 Steve, Jim, Jen, Pat, Mark, John, George, Brook, Sue, Chuck, Bert, Jane, Joe, Di,Joy, Ian, Claire, Noor

Tat’s eighteen different vowel sounds already; then add to those, the two vowel sounds in

Howard,

and the vowels at the beginning o

Fiona and Louise.

And so the relatively large size o the vowel system o English can begin tobe appreciated. All these different vowel sounds can be used to distinguishordinary words too o course, such as

1.2 peat, pit, pet, pat, part, pot, port, put, putt, pert, pout . . .

and thus they have a contrastive unction. By virtue o this contrastive unction,we can be sure that all these vowel sounds are distinct items, or units, in the pho-nology o English – that is, in English pronunciation as a system. And becausethey are distinct, linguists need to have a separate symbol or each o them.

Te phonetic description o the vowel sounds – that is, the way they are pro-nounced – helps us to classi y them all into groups. Tere are three importantgroupings: the short vowels, the long vowels, and the weak vowels. Each will bedealt with in turn, beginning with the six short vowels.

The short vowels

Te 6 short vowels can be ound in the ollowing words:

1.3 lick, leg, lack, lock, look, luck

Tey have two main eatures: one is that they are, phonetically, shorter thanthe other vowels, as we shall see when we introduce the long vowels; the other



7

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

is that they are, phonologically, never able to appear at the end o a word inEnglish – they must always be ollowed by a consonant. So, by introducing theshort vowels rst, we shall also have to practise the use o some o the consonantsymbols. Some o the letters o the alphabet unction also as phonetic symbols,

such as b, d, , g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, z – all with their common English values. (Note that / / represents the initial sound in get , not that o gem.)Te symbols we will use are all authorized by the IPA, the International

Phonetic Association, and can be used to represent the sounds o any languagein the world. But please note that you must write them as printed, e.g. as / /,not ; as /z/, not , etc.

Now, the rst short vowel that we listed was in the word

1.4 lick

that vowel is represented by a symbol that looks like a small capital ;lick istranscribed as

l k

Notice that the <ck> at the end o the word represents a single sound, and soonly a single phonetic symbol, /k/, is required. ranscribe all these words toothat rhyme with lick making sure that you write a /k/ all by itsel at the end:

1.5 pick, tick, kick, nick, wick, trick, slick, stick

Write them on the line below _______________________________________________

One o these words could have been a name –

1.6 Nick

Te name Nick, and the common noun, nick, are pronounced in exactly thesame way despite the use o the capital <N>; because they are pronouncedthe same, they must be transcribed the same: /n k/. It would be phoneticallyincorrect to use a capital letter in a name as a phonetic symbol in a case like

this. Notice also that the name, Nick, could also be speltNicor Nik, but becausethis makes no difference to the pronunciation, it makes no difference to thetranscription either. So, nick, Nick, Nicand Nik are all transcribed as /n k/.(Because they are pronounced the same, despite their different spellings, thewords are called homophones.)

Now, transcribe these other names, making sure you do not use any capitalletters as phonetic symbols

1.7 Mick, Dick, Rick, Vic, im, Phil _______________________________________________

Here are some more words with the same vowel sound, to give you practicewith the symbol / /.



8

PAR ONE Words

1.8 pip, bib, did, kid, gig, t, trip, slit, lm, trim

_______________________________________________

And now try these

1.9 licks, sticks, kicks, tricks, wicks, slicks

_______________________________________________

Notice that they rhyme with the ollowing names with apostrophe <’s >:

1.10 Nick’s, Dick’s, Rick’s, Vic’s, Mick’s

_______________________________________________

Te apostrophe must not be included in the transcription, because it is not pronounced. And notice, too, that

1.11 Mick’s and mix

are homophones – they are pronounced the same, and so should be transcribedthe same: /m ks/. ranscribe

1.12 six, x, mix ________________________________

You could also now transcribe the word

1.13 quick

using only the symbols introduced so ar: /kw k/. ry: 1.14 quip, quit, quid, quiz, quill, quilt, squint, liquid, quick x

_______________________________________________

You could also transcribe the word

1.15 knit

noting that the initial <k> is not pronounced and so is not transcribed: /n t/(knit and nit are homophones). ranscribe the ollowing words in which, in

each case, a letter is silent 1.16 wrist, biscuit, snippet, ticket, wicket

_______________________________________________

Remember that /k/ is used whatever the spelling or the /k/ sound; so,click is/kl k/. Ten transcribe

1.17 crick, cricket, crib, crypt, script, clips, victim

_______________________________________________

1.18 Vic prints Nik’s scripts _______________________

1.19 Kim nicks Philip’s biscuits ____________________



9

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

1.20 Six miss Rick’s lm __________________________

In this practice with the rst short vowel, we have also actually illustrated anumber o rules o good transcriptional practice:

1 A unit o sound in the phonological system o a language (known techni-cally as a phoneme) must be represented by a single symbol, whatever variations may occur in spelling; e.g. <k, c, ck, q(u)> and an element o<x> all represent the one English consonant phoneme /k/.

2 Capital letters are not used or English phonemes; since <n> and <N>(etc.) are pronounced identically, they must be represented by a singlesymbol, e.g. /n/.

3 Homophones – pairs (or sets) o words with the same pronunciationdespite different spellings – must be transcribed with the same symbols,e.g. Mick’s, mix .

4 Te apostrophe must not be transcribed, since it is not pronounced: Mick’s = /m k s/ ; Philip’s = / l p s/.

5 A single letter may represent two phonemes in transcription; each othose phonemes requires its own symbol; e.g. <x> (insix ) = /ks/.

6 A double letter may represent a single phoneme; in transcription thatsingle phoneme must be represented by a single symbol; e.g. <ss> inmiss = /m s/ ; <pp> in snippet = /s n p t/.

7 A letter may be redundant as ar as pronunciation is concerned: i a letterrepresents ‘silence’, it must not have a corresponding symbol in the tran-scription o a word, e.g. <w> inwrist = /r s t/.

8 Word spaces are retained as in orthography, even when there is no‘space’, or silence, in pronunciation. Note that the phrasesnip it is pro-nounced identically to the single wordsnippet . However, word spaces arepreserved to aid reading: /sn p t/.

A few more rules will need to be added in due course.

*

Te second short vowel that we listed occurred in the word

1.21 leg

Tat vowel is represented by an IPA symbol that looks like the Greek letter<ε >, (epsilon). Soleg is transcribed as

l ε g

Some dictionaries use the ordinary Roman letter <e>, because it has amore amiliar look; however, in IPA, <e> represents the sound in the Germanword



10

PAR ONE Words

1.22 ee

and the French word thé , Italian té , Welsh tê; or in many an English accent aword like lake. Tat vowel sound is distinctly different rom the vowel in leg .Compare another pair o words: the wordlate in many English accents is pro-nounced:

1.23 ‘late’

compared to let . So, or comparative purposes, when, or instance, compar-ing the vowels o English and another language, or the vowels o two differentaccents o English, we need to keep the ordinary Roman letter <e> as the IPAsymbol or the /e/ sound, and rely on the Greek letter epsilon, <ε >, as the IPAsymbol or the /ε / sound. Tus, eggis /ε /.

Using the symbol / ε /, now transcribe

1.24 peg, beg, keg _______________________________

and

1.25 pet, net, debt, well, tent, send, kept, crept, twelve

_______________________________________________

and the names

1.26 Ben, Greg, Kent, Meg, Rex, Brett _______________

Te vowel sound / ε / is spelt in various ways including <ea>. ranscribe

1.27 head, dead, dealt, meant ______________________

and the homophones

1.28 bread and bred , and wrecks and Rex _____________

Ate, the past tense o eat , in a British accent is usually

1.29 /ε t/

Now transcribe 1.30 riend and said _____________________________

1.31 Fred kept twelve tents _______________________

1.32 ed said ten; Ed meant twelve _________________

1.33 Did Meg wed Denis _________________________

1.34 Meg kept Denis in debt ______________________

1.35 Did im edit Phil’s lm script _________________

1.36 Ed will edit it ______________________________



11

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

Now try the word extent , remembering not to use the <x> letter. Te rst <e>is either /ε / or / /

1.37 /ε k s t ε n t/, or / k s t ε n t/

Now transcribe 1.38 expend, excel, excess, except, expect, extensive, expensive, excessive, expressive

_______________________________________________

How do you pronounce the word exit :

1.39 /ε ks t/, or /ε z t/?

British people seem to be equally divided, but note the <x> can represent eitherpronunciation. Which pronunciation occurs in the word

1.40 exist ?

How would you transcribe it? ranscribe the ollowing words, care ully notinghow the <x> is pronounced.

1.41 excess, exempt, exhibit _______________________

Did you notice the different rhythm in the two words exit and exist ? In therst, the rst syllable is stronger:EXit (however the <x> is pronounced). In the

second the second syllable is stronger:exIS . In transcriptions, there is a mark placed at the beginning o a syllable to indicate the stronger stress. Tus

/ ε k s t / (or / ε g z t /) /ε z s t /

We have already used words with two syllables, disyllabic words, to illustratethe two short vowels / / and / ε /. We should now add the stress mark to each othem, e.g. biscuit =

1.42 / b sk t/

Add the stress mark to the phonetic transcription o

1.43 snippet, ticket, wicket, cricket, Philip ____________

extent, expect, excess, except __________________

and to the three-syllabled (trisyllabic) words

extensive, expensive, excessive, exhibit

_______________________________________________

ranscribe the ollowing words, including stress

1.44 mystic, cryptic, wicked, quintet, sextet, septic, sceptic (or American: skeptic),

tennis _______________________________________________



12

PAR ONE Words

1.45 chemist, celtic (two possibilities), dissent, dispel, distill

_______________________________________________

1.46 diskette, dissect, incense (two possible stress patterns)

_______________________________________________

1.47 dismissive, etiquette, sensitive, dyslexic, disincentive

_______________________________________________

Be ore we turn to the third short vowel, we can add our more rules to goodtranscription practice.

9 A letter may represent two (or more) quite distinct phonemes, each owhich must be transcribed distinctively; e.g. <c> may represent /k/ as in

crib (= /k r b/) or /s/ as in cent (= /s e n t/); <x> may represent /ks/ asin except ( = /ε k s ε p t/) or /gz/ as in exempt (= /ε z ε m p t/).

10 wo words spelt identically but pronounced differently – these arecalled homographs – need to be transcribed differently;Celtic, incense.

11 Degrees o syllable strength need to be marked, especially in words omore than one syllable, polysyllabic words;incense (an aromatic sub-stance) = / n s ε n s/ and incense (to enrage) = / n s ε n s/.

12 Alternative pronunciations in a single accent must be respected and cor-

responding alternative transcriptions acknowledged: exit may be either/ ε k s t/ or / ε z t/; exist may be either / z s t / or /ε z s t /.

Tese 12 rules need to be remembered and applied in the rest o this course,but having established them, we can now move more quickly through theremaining list o short vowels.

*

Te third short vowel listed was in the word

1.48 lack

It is traditionally represented by an IPA symbol that looks like the Old English‘ash’ letter / / as i a letter <e> was joined to <a>. You draw it by startingwith a reverse <c>; then loop back through the middle o it, and nish withan <e>.

Alternatively, you can use the printed orm o the letter <a>, but be care ulto distinguish it rom the handwritten shape that looks like this:ɑ. Tis is



13

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

important, because we are going to need the handwritten shape or the symbolo a different vowel. o draw the ‘printed <a>’, you start with the top and ronto the letter, drawing a curved top and a straight line down; then rom thebottom point you draw a circle in ront.

Lack is transcribed either as

l æ k or l a k

You choose! Te rst one is traditional and is also handy to represent Americanaccents; the second one represents most modern British accents, especially othe younger generation. By having both symbols available, you can begin to seehow we can exploit them or transcribing different accents. Get used to usingone o them. You can then transcribe

1.49 pack, back, mac, knack, whack, quack, stack, track

_______________________________________________

and also

1.50 cap, stab, at, pram, lamb, ant, mass, tramp, axe, plaits

_______________________________________________

ry

1.51 packet, acid, traffi c, graphic, access, active (remember the stress mark!)

_______________________________________________

and the names

1.52 Ann(e), Dan, Pat, Zac, Pam, Stan, Sam, Alice, Annette, Patrick

_______________________________________________

And now this k w k t s t (1)

1.53 pick peck pack _______________________

1.54 sit set sat ________________________

1.55 tin ten tan ________________________

1.56 sinned send sand _______________________

1.57 trick trek track ______________________ (See Key)

*



14

PAR ONE Words

Te ourth short vowel in the list was in the word

1.58 lock

In British accents this vowel is represented by an IPA symbol that looks like

a handwritten <a> upside down: /ɒ/. o draw it start with the hook at the toplef; then drop down vertically and return with a curve to the right, up andround to the original hook.

Te word lock is transcribed as

l k

You can then transcribe

1.59 dock, mock, knock, sock, rock, crock, ock, clock

_______________________________________________

and also

1.60 pop, blob, trot, odd, clog, pomp, bond, off, moss, ox

_______________________________________________

and

1.61 pocket, toxic, horrid, wedlock, con trick (with stress marks!)

_______________________________________________

and the names

1.62 om, Don, Dot, Ron, Scott

_______________________________________________

Notice these words that all have the vowel sound /ɒ/ despite their spelling withthe letter <a>:what is

1.63 /w ɒt/

ranscribe

1.64 want, wasp, swan, swamp, quad, squad, quadratic, squalid

_______________________________________________

Tis short vowel / ɒ/ does not eature in most American accents; their alterna-

tive vowel sounds are dealt with in due course. However, the American speakerin Chapter 5 does use /ɒ/ in the words lockand coffee.)

*



15

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

Te fh short vowel in the list was in the word

1.65 look

Te IPA symbol that represents this sound as it typically occurs in most accents

o England and Wales looks like the Greek letter ‘omega’, but upside down: /υ/.You can draw this by starting with a hook at the top lef and then descend andrise with a u-shape, nishing with a hook at the top right.

Te word look is transcribed as

l k


1.66 took, book, cook, nook, hook, brook, stook

_______________________________________________

and also

1.67 oot, good, soot, put, pull, bull, ull, wood/would, could

_______________________________________________

*

And nally, the sixth short vowel in the list was in the word

1.68 luck

Te IPA symbol or this vowel looks like an upside down <v>: / /.Te word luck is transcribed as

l k


1.69 buck, duck, tuck, muck, ruck, truck, pluck

_______________________________________________

and also

1.70 pup, cub, strut, slug, dumb, und, sulk, slump, drum, crumb, struck

_______________________________________________

and these names

1.71 Gus, Huck ____ ____

and then



16

PAR ONE Words

1.72 monk, blood, ood, dove, come, love, ront

_______________________________________________

And then these homophones

1.73 sun / son ____ sum / some ____ plum / plumb ____

Can you distinguish between

1.74 look, luck; took, tuck; rook, ruck; book, buck?

I not, it might be because you speak with a British Midlands or Northernaccent, which does not distinguish between these pairs o words! You mightnot have the / / vowel in your accent at all! (SeeChapter 5 or more evidence!)

You will need to be care ul and make this distinction i you are transcribingmost other accents.Te word one is pronounced as either

1.75 /w n/ or /w ɒn/

– or even /w υn/ in some Northern accents. Check your own pronunciationand transcribe: someone ________. And

1.76 summit, pundit, uphill, uphold, upset (two stress possibilities, either as a noun(an upset ) or a verb (to upset ))

_______________________________________________ 1.77 undone, undress, un t, unhook, unlock, unrest, unsaid, unstuck, unwell, unzip

_______________________________________________

*

And another k w k t s t (2)

1.78 pit pet pat pot put putt ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

1.79 stick stack stock stuck ___ ___ ___ ___

1.80 hit hat hot hut ___ ___ ___ ___

1.81 hack hock hook Huck ___ ___ ___ ___

1.82 hid head had hod hood ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

1.83 tick ec tack tock took tuck ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

1.84 slip slap slop ___ ___ ___

1.85 rick wreck rack rock rook ruck ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

(See Key)

*



17

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

The long vowels

Te long vowels are – literally – longer than the short vowels. You might beable to hear the difference in the length o the vowels in the two words grin and green. I I am asked to say the vowel that occurs in grin, I am likely to say it as/ /; and i asked to say the vowel in green, I am likely to say it as ‘ee’. Now, i youcan, compare the two together:

1.86 / / ∼ ‘ee’

I you consult phoneticians’ books on the description o English pronuncia-tion, you will nd details o this difference in length (see or instance Gimson2008, Roach 2009, etc.). Te long vowels are roughly twice the length o the short vowels; this is such a signi cant phonetic difference that it is the basis o oneimportant grouping o vowels in English: long vowels distinct rom short vowels.

Tere is also a phonological difference between the two: whereas short vowels have to be ollowed by a consonant in English, this is not the case orthe long vowels – they can occur at the end o a word ‘unchecked’, as it were.Te vowel in green appears at the end o the wordagree, without the necessityo a consonant ollowing. (A consonantmay ollow, o course, as inagreed , butit is not required as in the case o short vowels.)

Long vowels are themselves divided into two groups according to howsteady the tongue is while they are being pronounced. I the tongue is relativelysteady, they are called monophthongs (or ‘pure’ vowels); i there is a degree omovement by the tongue, they are called diphthongs. In my pronunciation o

the ‘ee’ vowel, the tongue remains relatively stable, but when I pronounce the vowelI (or eye, or aye), the tongue rises to a higher position in the mouth andthus it quali es as a diphthong. Said slowly, the movement o the tongue canbe heard more easily:

1.87 “aayyee”

Te length o the monophthongal long vowels is symbolised in the IPA bytwo points rather like a colon afer the vowel symbol; or instance, the vowelin green is /i /. Te length o the diphthongal long vowels is symbolized by adouble vowel symbol in which the starting and ending points o the tongue’smovement are represented; or instance, the vowel inI (eye, aye) is transcribedas /a /, where the /a/ represents the position o the tongue be ore it begins tomove, and the / / its position when it nishes.

It is important to think o the diphthongs as an essential part o a single vowel system in English, and not as a separate system. When languages andaccents are compared, it may be tempting to treat the monophthongs anddiphthongs separately, or convenience; but to do so would be highly mislead-ing, as the short vowels and the long vowels – both monophthongs and diph-thongs – orm asingle system. In act, what is a diphthong in one accent may

correspond to a monophthong in another, and vice versa, as we shall see inChapter 5. And what is a monophthong in one language may have a diphthongas its nearest equivalent in another – and vice versa.



18

PAR ONE Words

We will present the ve monophthongal long vowels rst because they caneach be compared with a short vowel.

Monophthongs (‘pure’ vowels)

Te vowel in

1.88 green

is a monophthongal long vowel. In most educated, standard, accents o English– not only in UK, but also around the world – this vowel requires a relativelysteady tongue position. Tat position is close to the position the tongue has

or the / / vowel; hence, the sense o comparison between the two vowels.However, you can eel that the tongue position is slightly different; in the green vowel, the tongue is slightly higher, closer to the roo o the mouth, and slightly

urther orward, than it is or the grin vowel. (Te grin vowel is then said tobe lower, or opener, than the green vowel.) Because the tongue positions aredifferent or the two vowels, the sound quality o the two is different; the di -

erence in the sound quality is indicated in the IPA by a different shape to thesymbol: /i/ represents the higher, closer, quality, whereas the / / represents aslightly lower, opener, quality. Adding the length symbol gives us the symbol/i / or the green vowel; the whole word is thus transcribed as

g r i: n

Now transcribe

1.89 keen, mean, teen, dean, deem, lean, preen, dream _______________________________________________

and the homophones

1.90 sea / see ____ bean / been ____ leak / leek ____ team / teem ____ seam / seem ____ scene / seen ____ be / bee ____ meat / meet / mete ____

and the names

1.91 Pete, Steve ____ ____

Notice these spellings o the /i / vowel, and transcribe the words

1.92 ie grie ____

ey key ____ ay quay ____ (in British English) ei deceive ____



19

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

Compare and transcribe

1.93 seek sick ____ ____ seat sit ____ ____ peep pip ____ ____ deed did ____ ____

ake your time to transcribe

1.94 antique ________ * Te second monophthongal long vowel is ound in the word

1.95 palm

and is ofen compared to the short vowel o Pam. Te palm vowel is not only

longer but also – at least, in the case o most standard accents o UK and NorthAmerica – it has a different sound quality. Te tongue positions o the Pam and palm vowels are different; the tongue is positioned urther back in the mouth

or palm. Tis means that since the quality as well as the quantity is different, adifferent shape or the vowel symbol is required. Te IPA uses the handwrittenshape o <ɑ>, and, then, o course, the length symbol: /ɑ /. Palm is transcribed as

p m

Te <l> in palm is, o course, not pronounced.ranscribe also

1.96 balm, calm, hal , cal ____ ____ ____ ____

For most English-speaking people in England (but not necessarily the WestCountry), Wales, South A rica, Australia and New Zealand, the <r> in

1.97 park

is not pronounced either (these accents are called non-rhotic); this is, o course,not the case in Scotland, Ireland or most parts o North America, or or manypeople in the West Country o England (these, on the other hand, are called

rhotic accents). Te typical educated, standard, pronunciation in England or park is /pɑ k/. ranscribe the ollowing words in this way, without a symbolor <r>:

1.98 lark, start, harm, arm, yard, smart _______________________________________________

and the names

1.99 Bart, Mark, Clark ____ ____ ____

Note and transcribe the homophones:

1.100 hart / heart ____ bark / barque ____



20

PAR ONE Words


1.101 lark lack ____ ____ stark stack ____ ____ park pack ____ ____ Bart bat ____ ____ psalm Sam ____ ____ barn ban ____ ____

1.102 carp cap ____ ____ bard bad ____ ____ can’t cant ____ ____

ake your time to transcribe

1.103 art, artist, artiste, artistic, Arctic, arquin

_______________________________________________

Finally, there is another issue with the pronunciation o this vowel. How doyou pronounce the word class? You will know o the rough division betweenSESP and others in this respect; Northerners use the / / (/a/) vowel, whereasSoutherners use the /ɑ /:

1.104 /kl s ~ klɑ s/

Tis choice o vowel is typically ound be ore /-s, st, sp, , f, nt, ns/. ranscribe

the ollowing words in both types o pronunciation: 1.105 pass, grass, laugh, raf, plant, dance, last, grasp, graph

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

But notice that the ollowing words are pronounced by the majority oSoutherners with / / (/a/), just like Northerners! Listen and transcribe:

1.106 ass, mass, crass, plastic, drastic, trans x

_______________________________________________

*

Te third monophthongal long vowel occurs in the word

1.107 caught

and is ofen compared to the short vowel /ɒ/. Te IPA symbol or the vowelin caught looks like a backward <c>; it represents a tongue position slightlyhigher, or closer to the roo o the mouth, than or /ɒ/. Te IPA length mark isadded: /ɔ /. Tus, the word caught is transcribed as

k t



21

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

And now transcribe

1.108 taught, raught, haul, aunt, raw, law, saw, prawn

_______________________________________________

And notice these other spellings, and transcribe the words

1.109 <ou> bought, brought, sought, ought, nought

_______________________________

1.110 <oa> broad ____

1.111 <a> all, tall, small, all ____ ____ ____ ____

In these words, notice that the <l> is not pronounced:

1.112 talk, walk, stalk _______________________________________________

Many American accents have in act an open long vowel /ɒ / or all thesewords, but /ɔ / only in words like cork

1.113 /kɔ rk/

However, the <r> is not pronounced in standard non-rhotic accents. Tus cork in SESP is transcribed as

k k

ranscribe these words

1.114 pork, port, snort, door, lord, corn, storm, store, more

_______________________________________________

and these words with <ar> afer <w> or <qu>

1.115 ward, warn, swarm, dwar , quart, quartet

_______________________________________________ ranscribe these names

1.116 Paul, Saul, Dawn, Maud

_______________________________________________

and these homophones

1.117 awe / or / ore / oar ____ hall / haul ____

saw / sore ____ paw / pore / pour ____ law / lore ____



22

PAR ONE Words

caw / core ____ aw / oor ____ caught / court ____ taught / taut ____

ought / ort ____ sought / sort ____ morn / mourn ____ hoard / horde ____

And then compare and transcribe the ollowing pairs o words

1.118 taught tot ____ ____ wrought rot ____ ____ hawk hock ____ ____

1.119 sport spot ____ ____ sworn swan ____ ____ Dawn Don ____ ____ Morse moss ____ ____

Finally, a noticeable change is taking place in certain words involving the two vowels /ɔ / and /ɒ/. Words with <al> or <aul> be ore <s> or <t> have botha conservative and a more modern pronunciation. ake the word alse, orinstance; you will hear both

1.120 / ɔ ls/ and / fɒls/ ; and or ault , both /fɔ lt/ and / fɒlt/.

ranscribe these words in both pronunciations

1.121 halt, salt, vault, Walt, waltz, Austin _______________________________________________

ake time to transcribe

1.122 morbid, uproar, caustic _______ _______ _______

* Te ourth monophthongal long vowel occurs in the name

1.123 Luke

and is ofen compared to the short vowel / υ/ as in look. It is longer and thetongue position is slightly higher, or closer to the roo o the mouth. Te IPAsymbol is the letter ; added to it is the symbol or length : /u /. Tus, Luke is transcribed

l u k

Te vowel o the word ood is the same:

1.124 /fu d/

Now transcribe



23

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

1.125 boot, hoot, moon, noon, soon, spoon, school, drool, cool

_______________________________________________

1.126 tomb, womb, combe ____ ____ ____

1.127 and with <ue> true, clue, glue ____ ____ ____

1.128 and with <ew> brew, grew, crew ____ ____ ____

1.129 and with <ou> coup, soup, ghoul ____ ____ ____

and the homophones

1.130 loot / lute ____ blue / blew ____ u / ue / ew ____

to / too / two ____ and the names

1.131 Sue, rude, Andrew ____ ____ ____

Tere are very ew pairs o words in English that contrast /u / with /υ/.Compare these and transcribe

1.132 pool pull ____ ____ ool ull ____ ____ suit soot ____ ____ cooed could ____ ____ wooed would ____ ____


1.133 lucid ____

*

Te fh monophthongal long vowel occurs in non-rhotic accents in the word

1.134 burn

and is ofen compared to the short vowel / / as in bun . It is longer and thetongue position is slightly higher, or closer to the roo o the mouth. Te IPAsymbol is a reverse Greek <ε > (epsilon); the length symbol is added to it: / /.Tus burn , in non-rhotic accents, is transcribed

b n

Te vowel / / is associated mainly with spellings with <r> and thus rhoticaccents do not have this vowel. Scottish speakers, or instance, use a variety oshort vowels + /r/ (listen to the Scottish speaker inChapter 5). But speakers oother rhotic accents ofen use a short orm o / / + /r/ as / r/.

Other words with <ur> can now be transcribed



24

PAR ONE Words

1.135 nurse, curt, spurt, turn, spurn, burst

_______________________________________________

And now transcribe these words with <ir>

1.136 dirt, rst, rm, squirm, squirt, quirk ___________________________

1.137 with <er>: verse, pert _______________

1.138 with <ear>: learn, pearl _______________

1.139 with <wor>: word, work, worm, world, worse ____________________

and these homophones

1.140 r / ur ____ berth / birth ____ herd / heard ____ kerb / curb ____ ser / sur ____ urn / earn ____


1.141 burn bun ____ ____ ern un ____ ____ bird bud ____ ____

curt cut ____ ____ turn ton ____ ____

*

And now another k w k t s t (3) o all ve long vowels

1.142 key, car, core, coup, cur ______________________

1.143 teen, tarn, torn, tomb, turn ______________________

1.144 speak, spark, sport, spook, spurt ______________________

1.145 keep, carp, cork, coop, curve ______________________ (See Key)

*

And a k w k t s t (4) o all eleven vowels practised so ar

1.146 peat, pit, pet, pat, part, pot, port, put, poop, putt, pert

_______________________________________________

1.147 leak, lick, leg, lack, lark, lock, lawn, look, Luke, luck, lurk _______________________________________________



25

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

1.148 meek, Mick, Meg, mac, mark, mock, morn, nook, moon, muck, murk

_______________________________________________


1.149 expert 1.150 advert 1.151 routine 1.152 placid

1.153 squalid 1.154 morphine 1.155 blackbird 1.156 seasick

1.157 service 1.158 plaudits 1.159 whirlpool 1.160 heartburn

1.161 clockwork 1.162 stopgap 1.163 girl riend 1.164 work orce

1.165 ootball team 1.166 un park (See Key)

*

Diphthongs

Te diphthongs are long vowels – as has already been explained – in whichthere is a noticeable movement o the tongue. In English the movement othe tongue has three possible directions: either higher towards the ront o theroo o the mouth, that is, in the general direction towards the // or /i / vowel;or higher towards the back, that is, in the general direction towards the /υ/ or/u / vowel; or towards a central area, that is, in the general direction o the //or / / vowel. Tese three directions are called ront closing, back closing andcentring, respectively.

Tere are three ‘ ront closing’ diphthongs in Southern English StandardPronunciation; they occur in the ollowing words and name:

1.167 lake, like, Lloyd

In the rst one, lake, the tongue does not move a great deal, but you can never-theless eel the movement as you imitate the vowel sound by itsel ‘a. . . .e’. Itssymbol is a double one, indicating the positions o the tongue at the beginningand at the end o the movement: /e /. Te [e] indicates a tongue position a little

closer than the English /ε / and more like the vowel in the German word ee (French thé , etc.). And the second part [ ] indicates the position o the tongueat the end o the diphthongal movement.

Say the vowel slowly, to give yoursel time to eel the movement o thetongue:

1.168 [eee ]

Tus,

1.169 lake

is transcribed

l e k



26

PAR ONE Words

You can now transcribe

1.170 bake, take, cake, make, sake, hake, wake, rake

_______________________________________________

And the ollowing words spelt with <ay>

1.171 pay, day, gay, hay, lay, stray

_______________________________________________

And these with <ai>

1.172 aim, paid, main, rail, saint, quaint

_______________________________________________

And the word

1.173 eight ____

Now these homophones

1.174 way / whey / weigh ____ wait / weight ____ strait / straight ____ tail / tale ____

grate / great ____ brake / break ____ stake / steak ____ Wales / whales / wails ____

ranscribe these names

1.175 May, Mavis, David, Ray

_______________________________________________

In the North o England, Scotland and Wales, an alternative standard pronun-ciation is heard, in which there is no diphthongal movement at all, but a longmonophthong – just like the vowel in the German word ee, French thé , etc.(Look back at pp. 9–10.) Tis vowel would be transcribed as / e /. Listen to it inthe ollowing ew examples:

1.176 lake bake take great/grate brake/break stake/steak Wales/whales

/le k/ /be k/ /te k/ / re t/ /bre k/ /ste k/ /we lz/

Tis alternative is taken up again in Chapter 5.

*

Te second ront closing diphthong appears in the word



27

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

1.177 like

Te symbol has already been mentioned on p. 17: /a /, which indicates a begin-ning position o the tongue like the /a/ and an ending like / /. Say the word I / eye / aye in slow motion again:

1.178 /aaa /

Tus like is transcribed

l a k

Te homophones I, eye, aye are transcribed simply as /a /.Now you can transcribe

1.179 pike, bike, wipe, bite, wide, rhyme, nice _______________________________________________

and these

1.180 lie, tie, die, pie, my, sty, cry, why, spry _______________________________________________

and these with <igh>

1.181 high, light, bright, might, plight, height, tight _______________________________________________

and these homophones 1.182 rite / write / right / wright ____ die / dye ____ rye / wry ____ by / buy / bye ____ stile / style ____ white / Wight ____ dike / dyke ____ night / knight ____

And these names

1.183 Mike, Di, Diane, Clive ___________________________

*

Te third ront closing diphthong occurs in the name

1.184 Lloyd

In this case, not only does the tongue move, but the lips change shape too. Tetongue moves rom the position or the /ɔ / vowel to the position or the //.Tus, the symbol is / ɔ / and Lloydis transcribed

l d



28

PAR ONE Words


1.185 void, voice, noise, coin, quoit __________________

and these words with <oy>

1.186 boy, coy, ploy, toy ___________________________

and these names

1.187 Boyd, Roy, roy ____________________________

*

And another k w k t s t (5)

1.188 ale isle oil ____ ____ ____

1.189 bay by/buy boy ____ ____ ____

1.190 Kate kite quoit ____ ____ ____

1.191 tray try roy ____ ____ ____

1.192 paint pint point ____ ____ ____ (See Key)

*

Tere are just two ‘back closing’ diphthongs: they occur in the words load and

loud. Te rst one, as in

1.193 load

has a number o variations, but the main one in Southern English StandardPronunciation has the tongue beginning in a central position and nishinglike /υ/ or /u /. Te IPA symbol or the initial position o the tongue is like anupturned, inverted <e>: [ə]; this symbol is calledschwa. o draw it, you start romthe top lef point, draw a reverse <c> symbol, and then loop back to the middle.

Te whole symbol is / əυ/. Load is thus transcribed as

l d

Now you can transcribe

1.194 toad, oats, boat, goat, oat, gloat, bloat, roam

_______________________________________________



29

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

and the words

1.195 go, oe, low, slow, snow, grow

_______________________________________________

and the words 1.196 own, stone, bone, poke, rogue, stove, stroke, comb

_______________________________________________

Now the homophones

1.197 rode / road ____ know / no ____ broach / brooch ____ toe / tow ____ doe / dough ____ lone / loan ____ Flo / ow ____

North American accents generally render this diphthong as /oυ/ since thetongue moves rom a back position. But there is also an important variation tothe /əυ/ vowel in Southern English Standard Pronunciation, be ore the conso-nant /l/. In this case, the tongue begins in the position or the /ɒ/ vowel, andmoves to /υ/. Listen to the two pronunciations o the wordold : the standard

1.198 /əυld/ and the alternative /ɒυld/. Tis variation in the pronunciation o the vowel occurs only be ore the con-

sonant /l/ in the same syllable. ranscribe the two versions o the ollowingwords

1.199 cold, bolt, toll ______________________________

and the homophones

1.200 hole / whole ____ ____

role / roll ____ ____ sole / soul ____ ____

In addition to this variation in SESP, a quite different sound to this vowel isheard in Northern English, Scottish and Welsh standard pronunciations andsounds like the long monophthong in the French word chaud (‘hot’), Germanso, Welsh lôn. It is transcribed in IPA as the letter <o> with length marks: /o /.Listen to the ollowing ew examples

1.201 load go stone comb stroke /lo:d/ /go:/ /sto:n/ /ko:m/ /stro:k/

Tis will also be re erred to again in Chapter 5.

*



30

PAR ONE Words

Te other back closing diphthong, as in

1.202 loud

has a tongue movement which begins close to the beginning o /a / but moves

in the direction o /υ/ or /u /. Tus its symbol is / aυ/ and loud is transcribed asl a d

In some descriptions, the <ɑ> letter shape is used instead, but in practicalterms, this makes very little difference in English.

Now transcribe

1.203 proud, cloud, crowd, scout, sprout, house, ound, count _______________________________________________

and these words 1.204 how, now, brown, cow _______________________

Notice the two pronunciations o these homographs, which rhyme either with

1.205 prow

or with

1.206 crow

ranscribe the two possibilities

1.207 row ____ ____ bow ____ ____ sow ____ ____

*

Another k w k t s t (6)

1.208 now no/know ____ ____

1.209 town tone ____ ____ 1.210 stout stoat ____ ____

1.211 ound phoned eigned nd ____ ____ ____ ____

1.212 owl oal ail le oil ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

(See Key)

*

Finally, the three ‘centring’ diphthongs which appear in the wordsleer, lair andmoor . In the rst case, the tongue begins near the / / or / i / position and movesto the central area; the symbol is a combination o // and schwa: / ə/. Tus,



31

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

1.213 leer

is transcribed

l

And now you can transcribe

1.214 ear, gear, near, rear, mere, sneer, queer, beard

_______________________________________________

and the homophones

1.215 peer / pier ____ beer / bier ____ deer/ dear ____ here / hear ____ Te word year has two pronunciations; listen and transcribe them both

1.216 year ____ ____

ranscribe the names

1.217 Nia, Ian / Iain ____ ____

You might sometimes hear some younger SESP speakers lose the tonguemovement to /ə/ and produce the vowel as / /. Listen out or it!

*

Te second centring diphthong, as in

1.218 lair

has the tongue in the position or the vowel /ε / be ore it moves to the centralarea. Te symbol is a combination o / ε / and schwa: /εə/. Tus lair is transcribed

l

When we rst introduced the short vowel /ε /, as in leg , we noted that somedictionaries employ the more amiliar letter <e> o the Roman alphabet; thosedictionaries also employ that letter in the transcription o this diphthong, as/eə/.

Using the Greek letter <ε > and schwa /ə/, transcribe

1.219 air, dare, care, rare, square, prayer _________________________________

and the homophones

1.220 air / are ____

air / are ____ hair / hare ____ bear / bare ____



32

PAR ONE Words

wear / where ____ mare / mayor ____

and the two pronunciations o the homograph tear ; transcribe them both

1.221 tear ____ ____ You might note here another noticeable change in the pronunciation o centring

diphthongs in SESP; in this case /εə/ is produced as a long monophthongal

1.222 /ε :/

Tis is now so widespread that within a generation it may well be acceptedas the standard SESP orm. Listen to the difference between the traditionaldiphthong and this modern variation in the word lair

1.223 /lεə/, /lε :/

Here are some more examples; transcribe them in both ways

1.224 dare, square, care ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

and the name Clare / Claire in both ways ____ ____

Compare and transcribe these pairs o words:

1.225 pear pier ____ ____ stair steer ____ ____ bear beer ____ ____ hair hear ____ ____ are ear ____ ____

* Te third centring diphthong, as in

1.226 moor

has the tongue in the position or /υ/, be ore it moves to the central area. Tesymbol is a combination o /υ/ and /ə/: /υə/. Tus, moor is transcribed

m


1.227 poor, tour, boor, dour _____________________

However, here too there is a very strong tendency among the younger gen-eration o SESP speakers to replace this diphthong entirely – mainly bysubstituting it with the long monophthong

1.228 /ɔ /

Tus moor becomes homophonous with more, poor with paw/pour/pore,tour with tore, and boor with bore. Similarly the wordsure is now much more



33

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

commonly pronounced as homophonous with shore, rather than with thediphthong / υə/.

1.229 /mυə, mɔ / /pυə, pɔ / /tυə, tɔ / /bυə, bɔ / /ʃυə, ʃɔ /

However, the alternative pronunciation o dour does not ollow this pattern; itis not /dɔ / (‘door ’), but /daυə/ and produces a homophone with dower.

1.230 /dυə, daυə/

In rhotic accents, the centring diphthongs do not exist as such, since the nalletter <r> is pronounced. In these accents the words leer, lair and moor arepronounced with an equivalent short vowel and a nal /r/ as

1.231 /l r/, /lε r/, /mυr/

*

And a k w k t s t (7) on the centring diphthongs

1.232 tier tare tour ____ ____ ____ 1.233 mere mayor moor ____ ____ ____ 1.234 spear spare spoor ____ ____ ____ 1.235 speed speared sped spared ____ ____ ____ ____ 1.236 bead beard bed bared ____ ____ ____ ____ 1.237 eed eared ed ared ____ ____ ____ ____ (See Key)

*

The weak vowels

And, nally, the weak vowels. Te weak vowels are con ned to weak, unstressed,syllables. All the short and long vowels introduced already are all strong vowelsand all occur in strong, stressed, syllables. Te short vowels / / and /υ/ can alsooccur in weak syllables, but there are three weak vowels in SESP which canoccur in weak syllables only.

Tese three weak vowels resemble the three nishing points o the threekinds o English diphthongs; they are pronounced with the tongue in either a‘ ront close’ position, a ‘back close’ position, or a ‘central’ position.

Te rst one occurs at the end o a word like

1.238 coffee

Te nal vowel is in an unstressed syllable, it does not usually have the lengtho the /i / vowel as in the word ee, and the tongue can vary between a position

or the /i / vowel and the / / vowel without any consequences or the meaning

o the word. Tere is a certain variability about the actual pronunciation othese weak vowels, and this is re ected in a kind o compromise symbol – theletter , but without the length marks: /i/. Tus coffeeis transcribed as



34

PAR ONE Words

k f i

Tis weak vowel occurs in the ollowing words too: listen and transcribe

1.239 city, valley, happy, quickly _______________________________

and the names

1.240 ony/ oni, Mary, Annie, Betty, Bobby, Sophie, Harry, Henry

_______________________________________________

It also occurs in the middle o words be ore a vowel, as in

1.241 audio / ɔdiəυ/

1.242 video / v diəυ/

1.243 mediate / mi die t/ Tirdly, it occurs in the weak orms o words likehe, we, me, be,that is, when

these words are unstressed, e.g.he likes me; we live in Wales; be quick

1.244 /hi la ks mi/

1.245 /wi l v n we lz/

1.246 /bi kw k/

*

Te second weak vowel occurs likewise in the middle o words be ore a vowel,as in

1.247 (to) graduate / r djue t/, Louise /lu i z/

It also occurs in the weak orm o a word liketo be ore a vowel, and at the endo a clause; the vowel is not usually as long as the vowel /u / and the tongueposition varies between the /u / and /υ/ vowels; hence, its symbol is also a kindo compromise: the letter , but without the length marks: /u/. Exampleswith unstressed to are to act ; to own; to everyone.

1.248 /tu kt/

1.249 /tu əυn/

1.250 /tu εvriw n/

and in nal position: I want to ; who will he talk to?

1.251 /a wɒnt tu/

1.252 / hu w l i tɔ k tu /

You and who also have weak orms: /ju/ and /hu, u/; or example,how d’youdo? ; thank you; who’s there? ; a man who can.



35

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

1.253 / haυ d ju du/; / θ ŋk ju /; /hu z ðεə/; /ə m n u k n/

*

Last, but not least, the third weak vowel, which is in act the commonest vowel

in English pronunciation. It is produced with the tongue in a central positionand sounds rather like a hesitation:

1.254 uh

It is ofen called the ‘neutral vowel’ because the tongue requires no musculareffort as it does to produce ront and back vowels and close and open vowels; itis like ‘neutral gear’. Its symbol is the schwa: /ə/, which was rst introduced asthe beginning o the back closing diphthong /əυ/ and then as the end o all thecentring diphthongs. Like the other weak vowels, it is con ned (in SouthernEnglish Standard Pronunciation) to unstressed syllables, as in the nal sylla-bles o

1.255 armer, drama

It is important to notice that in non-rhotic accents, the <r> at the end o armer is not pronounced, and the two words armerand drama rhyme. Tey are tran-scribed as

f m dr m

ranscribe these words, without a nal /r/

1.256 better, driver, actor, doctor, harder, cider, licker / liquor

_______________________________________________

and these words

1.257 comma, so a, vodka, pizza _____________________

and these names

1.258 Fiona, Emma, Rita, Sarah, Noah, Anna, Hannah, Peter, Robert, Rupert

_________________________________________________________

Te neutral vowel also occurs in the ollowing suffi xes

1.259 <-an> A rican, Indian, Italian, Zambian 1.260 <-ous> porous, parlous, raucous, serious 1.261 <-less> helpless, earless, hapless, careless 1.262 <-ness> darkness, weakness, sadness, happiness

and in the ollowing unstressed pre xes

1.263 <com-> combust, commence, commit, compare 1.264 <con-> conceal, condemn, con ront, connect 1.265 <col/r-> collect, collide, collate, collapse, correct, corrode



36

PAR ONE Words

1.266 <sub-> submit, subside, subscribe, subtract 1.267 <suc-> succeed, success, succumb 1.268 <sur-> surround, surmount, surreal, survive

It also occurs as the weak vowel represented by a variety o vowel letters inunstressed syllables: take or instancebanana . Te letter <a> occurs threetimes: once in the second syllable as a strong /ɑ / in SESP or / / in Americanaccents, and twice as the weak vowel /ə/ in the two unstressed syllables.

1.269 banana

is transcribed as

b n n / b næn

How would you transcribe

1.270 Canada, Granada and Panama ?

_______________________________________________

ranscribe the names

1.271 Amanda, Abraham, Clement, Reuben, Christopher, Raymond, Callum, itus

_______________________________________________

We have now covered the whole vowel system of English!

*

See i you can transcribe theseplace names (1)

1.272 Aberdeen 1.277 Fulham 1.282 Liverpool

________ ______ ________

1.273 Cardiff 1.278 Glasgow 1.283 Leeds

______ _______ _____

1.274 Derby 1.279 Gloucester 1.284 Sunderland _____ ________ _________

1.275 Edinburgh 1.280 Hull 1.285 Swansea

________ ____ _______

1.276 Exeter 1.281 London 1.286 Worcester

_____ ______ ________ (See Key)

*



37

CHAP ER 1 Vowels

Summary

Te total inventory in the vowel system o Southern English Standard pro-nunciation can be displayed in the ollowing set o charts. Te approximate

position o the tongue or each vowel is shown by indicating relative rontnessto the lef, backness to the right, and relative closeness and openness on the vertical axis.

υ i u ə υə i ue

ε εə əυ ə

ɔ ɔ

a/ ɒ ɑ a aυ

short vowels long vowels weak vowels

And now the consonants – but most o them have been introduced already!



38

2 Consonants

In most standard accents o English, there are twenty- our consonants, andthey are grouped into ve types: plosives, nasals, ricatives, affricates andapproximants.

Plosives

Plosives are usually introduced rst because the kind o constriction in themouth by which they are produced is total. Tere are six o them: /p, b, t, d, k,

/

/p/ and /b/ are produced with the constriction at the lips (bilabial). In the caseo /p/, the vocal olds (cords) produce no voicing, and so /p/ is consequentlyknown as a voiceless plosive.

/t/ and /d/ are produced with the constriction o the blade o the tongue againstthe ridge behind the upper teeth (alveolar); /t/ is voiceless.

/k/ and / / are produced with the constriction o the back o the tongue againstthe back o the roo o the mouth, the sof palate (velar); /k/ is voiceless.


2.1 cap, cab ____ ____ peck, peg ____ ____ rope, robe ____ ____ hake, Hague ____ ____ debt, dead ____ ____ bright, bride ____ ____

2.2 croquet, league, grotesque, chemist, school, stomach, ache

_______________________________________________

Note that is silent in receipt and many words like psychology , pneumatic . is silent indebt , doubt , subtle and in lamb , tomb, climb, plumb. <t> is silent in listen, whistle, sofen , Christmas and at the end o many words o

French origin like ballet. <d> is silent in handsome, handkerchie , sandwich and or most people also in

Wednesday. <k> is silent at the beginning o words be ore <n>:knee, kni e, knock.

<g> is silent likewise: gnat , gnome; and at the end o words also:sign, oreign.

*



39

CHAP ER 2 Consonants

Nasals

Nasals have the same constriction as plosives except that air is allowed to passthrough the nose, but not through the mouth. Tere are three nasals in English:/m/ (bilabial), /n/ (alveolar) and / ŋ/ (velar); none o them are voiceless. TeIPA symbol or the velar nasal is the letter <n> supplemented with the tail o< > as in the words

2.3 bank /b ŋk/, anger / ŋ ə/

and is also ound as the <ng> spelling at the end o a word likebang /b ŋ/. Teletter <g> is not pronounced separately in such words in SESP.


2.4 ink, drink, prank, zonk, drunk, sprinkler, conquer, conquest _______________________________________________

2.5 nger, stronger, singlet _______________________

2.6 spring, song, clang __________________________

Notice too the /ŋ/ in the suffi xes -ing and -ling. ranscribe these words

2.7 eating, drinking, singing _____________________ morning / mourning, evening _________________

2.8 inkling, weakling, atling _____________________

* Fricatives

Fricatives have a looser constriction in the mouth, which allows riction to beproduced at the point o contact. Tere are nine ricatives: our pairs and /h/./ / and /v/ are produced with the constriction between the lower lip and theupper teeth (labiodental); / / is voiceless. Compare and transcribe

2.9 grie , grieve ____ ____

2.10 sa e, save ____ ____

2.11 belie , believe ____ ____

2.12 hal , halve ____ ____

2.13 proo , prove ____ ____

A second pair o ricatives has the constriction between the tip or blade o thetongue and the upper teeth (dental); they are both spelt <th>. Te two wordsthin and then illustrate the two; in

2.14 thin

the <th> represents a voiceless ricative, which has an IPA symbol that lookslike the Greek letter theta <θ >; on the other hand, the <th> in



40

PAR ONE Words

2.15 then

is voiced and this has an IPA symbol that looks like an old- ashioned <d>crossed with a stroke through it: /ð/. Compare the two and notice the differencein voicing:

2.16 /θ /, /ð/

Te voiceless dental ricative /θ / occurs typically at the beginning o nouns, verbs and adjectives. Listen and transcribe:

2.17 thin, thing, think, thinker, thought, thumb, three, thrive, thwart

_______________________________________________

On the other hand, the voiced dental ricative /ð/ occurs at the beginning o theollowing grammatical words; listen and transcribe

2.18 then, this, that, these, those, there/their, theirs, they, them, thus, though

_______________________________________________

Which kind o <th> occurs at the beginning o the wordthrough? ranscribeit.

2.19 through ____

Te two <th>s occur in the middles o words, but it is noticeable how the voice-less dental ricative /θ / eatures medially in words o Latin and Greek origin,whereas the voiced dental ricative /ð/ appears in words o Germanic origin.Compare the words

2.20 author / ɔ θə/, other / ðə/

2.21 method / mεθəd/, mother / m ðə/


2.22 ethics, pathos, anthem, ether __________________

2.23 ather, mother, brother, urther, southern, northern, worthy

_______________________________________________

Which kind o <th> occurs in your pronunciation o the wordearthen? People vary: transcribe both possibilities:

2.24 earthen _______ _______

Te two <th>s also occur at the ends o words; the voiceless /θ / usually occursat the end o nouns and adjectives, whereas the voiced /ð/ occurs at the end o verbs and prepositions. Compare teeth and to teethe.

2.25 teeth, teethe

ranscribe



41


2.26 teeth, mouth, wreath, bath, breath, north, south, myth, health, worth __________________________________________________________________

2.27 ourth, fh ____ ____

2.28 teethe, (to) mouth, wreathe, bathe, breathe, writhe, soothe, with ___________________________________________________

But notice that the words lathe and scythe are both nouns and verbs but arepronounced the same, and the word smooth is both an adjective and a verb.Which type o <th> do they all end with? ranscribe them

2.29 lathe, scythe, smooth ______________________

Te third pair o ricatives, /s/ and /z/, have the constriction between the bladeo the tongue and the ridge behind the upper teeth (alveolar); /s/ is voiceless.Notice that the letter <c> ofen represents /s/; and the letter <s> ofen /z/!

ranscribe the ollowing homophones

2.30 sent / scent / cent ____ 2.31 reeze / rees ____ sealing / ceiling _____ raise / raze / rays / Ray’s ____ seed / cede ____ daze / days ____ sight / site / cite ____ maze / maize / May’s ____ dissent / descent ____ knows / nose ____ practise / practice _____ cruise / crews ____

Notice the two pronunciations o the homographsclose and house:

2.32 close

2.33 house

In each case, it is the verb that has /z/. Notice, too, the pairlooseand lose, again,it is the verb that has /z/. ranscribe all three pairs

2.34 close ____ ____ house ____ ____

loose/lose ____ ____ ranscribe these words

2.35 scissors 2.36 possess 2.37 decent 2.38 deceit

2.39 licence/license 2.40 laser 2.41 scenic

2.42 physics 2.43 realise/realize 2.44 Leslie/Lesley

Note that <s> is silent in island , isle, aisle, viscount and at the end o manywords o French origin:corps, debris, precis.

Te ourth pair have the constriction between the body o the tongue andthe orward part o the roo o the mouth, immediately behind the teeth ridge(post-alveolar; or traditionally, ‘palato-alveolar’). Te IPA symbol or the



42

PAR ONE Words

voiceless post-alveolar ricative is like a letter <s> stretched high and low: /ʃ/;and is ofen represented by the letters <sh> in English – in act, in the word

2.45 English

itsel . Te IPA symbol or the voiced post-alveolar ricative looks like a hand-written <z>; / /. It is, thus, important to keep the printed shape o the letter<z> or the sound /z/ and to reserve the handwritten shape or the / / sound.Tese two new symbols are ofen called

2.46 esh /ε ʃ/, zhed / εd/

as reminders o the sounds they symbolize. ranscribe these words

2.47 ship, sheep, shoe, rush, cash, English

_______________________________________________

2.48 sugar, machine, pressure, conscience, ocean, chic, chauffeur

________________________________________________

and the names

2.49 Sheila / Shelagh, Sharon, Cheryl, Michelle, Shaun / Sean

_______________________________________________

Notice, too, that the suffi xes -tion and -ssion are pronounced as /- ʃən/.

ranscribe 2.50 nation, ration, passion, mission, unction, constriction

_______________________________________________

and the suffi xes -cial and -tial with /-ʃəl/. ranscribe

2.51 special, crucial, nancial, essential

_______________________________________________

and similarly the suffi xes -cious and -xious as /-ʃəs/ 2.52 atrocious, conscious, precious, anxious, obnoxious

_______________________________________________

Notice the / / consonant in the middle o these words:

2.53 casual / k υəl/

2.54 pleasure / plε ə/

2.55 vision / v ən/

Tis is the least common consonant in English and is con ned to the kind ocontexts ound in these words and in words o French origin. ranscribe



43


2.56 leisure, measure, treasure, visual

_______________________________________________

2.57 division, derision, occasion, collision

_______________________________________________

Notice, too, how people vary in their pronunciation o these words: Asia and version. Do you use /ʃ/ or / /? ranscribe the words in both ways

2.58 Asia, version ______ ______, ______ ______

And how about the word transition ? Here the question is not only about /ʃ/ or/ /, but about the pronunciation o the letter <s> as either /s/ or /z/. Listen tothe our possibilities and try to transcribe each version

2.59 transition ______ ______ ______ _______ Certain French words have been borrowed into English. Listen and

transcribe

2.60 genre, rouge, prestige, courgette, collage, montage, camou age

___________________________________________________

Tere are thus our pairs o ricatives; each pair has a voiceless ricative: / ,θ , s,ʃ/ and a voiced counterpart: /v, ð, z, /.

Te ninth ricative is /h/, which is voiceless at the beginning o a word, butis usually voiced in the middle o a word; because the two voicing possibilitiesnever contrast meanings o words in English, /h/ constitutes a single phonemeand so a single symbol is suffi cient.

ranscribe the words

2.61 who, whom, whose, whooping cough _______________________

and the homophones

2.62 hole / whole ____ hoar / whore ____ holistic / wholistic ____

and these words

2.63 behave, behind, alcohol ________________________

Note that <h> is silent in

2.64 hour , honest , honour , ghost , vehicle, vehement , annihilate

Some Scottish, Irish and American speakers pronounce the <h> in otherwords beginning with <wh> besides those listed already; thuswhales can bedistinguished romWales.

2.65 whales, Wales



44

PAR ONE Words

Te rst word may then be pronounced as / hwe lz/. Most people in Englandand Wales pronounce the two words as homophones: /we lz/. ranscribe the

ollowing words in the two ways and note the homophone possibilities.

2.66 what (watt) ____ ____ why (<Y>) ____ ____ when (wen) ____ ____ where (wear) ____ ____ whether (weather/wether) ____ ____ while (wile) ____ ____ whine (wine) ____ ____ wheel (weal) ____ ____ whip ____ ____ white (Wight) ____ ____

whoosh ____ ____ *

Affricates

An affricate consonant is a close knit sequence o plosive and ricative pro-duced by a single organ o speech (articulator). In English, there are just two.One is commonly spelt <ch> and occurs, or instance, at the beginning o theword chip;

2.67 chip Its IPA symbol is a combination o /t/ and /ʃ/ representing the sequence o

plosive and ricative made by the body o the tongue in the post-alveolar area:/tʃ/. Te symbol also indicates its voicelessness. Te other affricate occurs atthe beginning o the word gem and is commonly spelt with <g> (be ore and <e>), <j>, and <dge>.

2.68 gem

Its IPA symbol is a ‘voiced’ equivalent o /tʃ/: a combination o /d/ or the

plosive element and / / or the ricative element: /d /. Chip is transcribed as

t p


2.69 chip, ship ____ ____ cheap, sheep ____ ____ cheek, chic ____ ____

catch, cash ____ ____ watch, wash ____ ____ porch, Porsche ____ ____



45


Now transcribe

2.70 chill, child, church, such, bunch, belch

_______________________________________________

and the potential homophone

2.71 which/witch ____

and the name

2.72 Richard ____

/tʃ/ also occurs in the ending -ture as in

2.73 venture / vεntʃə /

Now transcribe 2.74 nature, stature, racture, vulture, mature, picturesque

_______________________________________________

Gem is transcribed as 2.75 d m Now transcribe

2.76 gent, German, gist, ginger, giraffe, cringe ________

2.77 jump, pyjama/pajama, jubilee, rejoice, judge ______

2.78 edge, badge, bridge, dget, bludgeon ____________

Te ending <- age> or <-ege> as in the words villageand college is pronounced/- d /.

2.79 village, college

ranscribe

2.80 village, cabbage, haulage, message, wreckage, college, privilege

___________________________________________________

Compare these with loan words rom French

2.81 college, collage ______ ______ manage, montage ______ ______ message, dressage ______ ______ marriage, mirage ______ ______ stoppage, sabotage ______ ______ vestige, prestige ______ ______

Te two loan words, garage and massage, are becoming more anglicized intheir pronunciation . ranscribe these variations o the two words



46

PAR ONE Words

2.82 garage ______ ______ massage ______ ______

ranscribe these names

2.83 George, Geoff/Jeff, Geoffrey/Jeffrey, Reg, Madge, Marjorie, __________________________________________________

2.84 Gemma, Gerald, Gerry/Jerry __________________

2.85 John, Jean, Jim, Jack, James, Jemima ____________


2.86 edge, etch ______ ______

2.87 badge, batch ______ ______

2.88 surge, search ______ ______ 2.89 lunge, lunch ______ ______

2.90 ledger, leisure ______ ______

2.91 dredger, treasure ______ ______

2.92 pigeon, vision ______ ______

2.93 major, measure ______ ______

*

A k w k t s t (8) with the less amiliar consonant symbols

2.94 think sink zinc

2.95 ethics Essex

2.96 teeth teethe tease

2.97 seethe cease seize

2.98 sip zip ship

2.99 seep sheep cheap jeep

2.100 Mars marsh march marge

2.101 lease Lee’s leash leech liege

2.102 Caesar seizure

2.103 composer composure

2.104 bays beige

2.105 ledger leisure

2.106 major measure (See Key)

*



47


Approximants

Tere now remain just our approximants . An approximant is a consonant inwhich the constriction made by an organ o speech (articulator) is not greatenough to produce any riction at all. Te our approximants occur at thebeginning o the words

2.107 lot , rot , yacht and what

Te rst is known as a lateral approximant , since the sides o the tongue arelowered while the blade presses against the upper teeth ridge (alveolar); thisallows air to ow either side o the constriction without riction. It is typicallyspelt <l> or <ll> in English; its IPA symbol is /l/.Lot is transcribed as

l t

Linguists usually distinguish between two main varieties o /l/ in English: theclear /l/ that occurs be ore vowels and /j/ and thedark /l/, with the back o thetongue raised, that occurs be ore consonants (except /j/) or at the end o words.Since the two varieties never contrast meanings in English, together they con-stitute a single phoneme, and so only a single symbol is required. ranscribe

2.108 well, ull, ul l/ ul ll, dollar ___________________

and the names:

2.109 Gill/Jill, Leo, Lionel, Billy, Sally ________________

Te dark /l/ seems to lead to an additional syllable when it occurs afer thelong monophthongs / i / and /u / and the diphthongs / e , a ,ɔ ,əυ, aυ/, that iswhen the tongue concludes the vowel articulation in a close, or high, position.Te tongue needs time to adjust to the raising o the back o the tongue or thedark /l/, and this adjustment sounds like / ə/ and is known as breaking . As thisadjustment is normal, and because no contrast in meaning is possible, there isno need to transcribe this breaking:

2.110 eel ool ail le/phial oil oal oul/ owl /fi l/ /fu l/ /fe l/ /fa l/ /fɔ l/ /fəυl/ /faυl/

We take up the issue o breaking again in Chapter 4.

*Te second approximant is ound at the beginning o rot .

2.111 rot

Te blade (or, or some people, the ront) o the tongue approaches (the backo ) the teeth ridge (alveolar); its IPA symbol is an upturned <r>: [ɹ]; but orconvenience, the ordinary letter <r> is used, except when English is being

compared to another language. An <r> be ore a consonant or at the end oa word has been lost in pronunciation in the standard accents o Englandsince the eighteenth century; these non-rhotic accents are now ound also



48

PAR ONE Words

in Wales, South A rica, Australia and New Zealand. Te rhotic accents othe West Country o England, Scotland, Ireland and North America retain a

nal /r/ in pronunciation, as we have already noted rom time to time.Rot istranscribed

r t

ranscribe

2.112 raw, ready, rhyme/rime, rhetoric, lorry, quarry, carriage

_______________________________________________

and the names

2.113 Ralph, Barry/Barrie, Lawrence, Laura, Sarah

_______________________________________________

And now transcribe these words in both a rhotic and a non-rhotic accent

2.114 ar, arm, chair, churn, shirt, journey

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

and these names in both a rhotic and a non-rhotic accent

2.115 Charles, George, Marjorie, Bart, Richard

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

*Te remaining two approximants are traditionally called semi-vowels

because they are ormed like close vowels, but they do not unction as vowels.Te approximant at the beginning o yacht is ormed in a similar way to the/i / vowel; the body o the tongue is raised towards the roo o the mouth, the

hard palate (palatal). 2.116 yacht

Te IPA symbol is the letter <j>. Tus yacht is transcribed as

j t

Now you can transcribe

2.117 you, youth, young, yet, yeast, yellow, yearn

_______________________________________________

Te /j/ consonant also occurs in the spelling <ew, eu>. Notice that you, eweand yew are homophones



49


2.118 /ju /

Te word ew is pronounced

2.119 / ju /

Now transcribe these words and include the /j/ symbol

2.120 eud, pew, view, queue/Kew ___________________

Note that in American accents no /j/ appears in such words afer /t, d, n/;e.g. dew, deuce, ewkesbury , uesday , new, neuter , whereas it does in Britishaccents. And notice too that the ollowing words with <ew> are no longer com-monly pronounced with /j/

2.121 lewd /lu d/

2.122 chew /tʃu / 2.123 Jew /d u /

Te /j/ consonant is not spelt directly in a word like cute.

2.124 cute

However, the /j/ consonant between the consonant /k/ and the vowel /u / mustbe transcribed, or the transcription /ku t/ represents the word coot .

2.125 coot

Te transcription o cute must include the /j/ symbol: /kju t/. Now transcribe

2.126 mute, music, unit, unite, union, consume, presume, beauty, utile

_______________________________________________

and notice the two pronunciations o the homograph:use, and its derivativesabuse, misuse. In each case, the verb takes /-z/.

2.127 use, abuse, misuse

Te difference between British and American accents with /d, t, n/ appears inthese cases too:due, tutor , nucleus. Notice also that words with other alveolarconsonants are no longer commonly pronounced with /j/, even in Britain:

2.128 rue, lute, ute, sue/Sue, suit

*And nally, the approximant in the word what .

2.129 what

It is ormed in a way similar to the vowel /u /; the back o the tongue is raised

towards the back o the roo o the mouth, the sof palate, while at the sametime the lips are rounded and narrowed (labial-velar). Te IPA symbol is theletter <w>;what , as you know already, is transcribed as



50

PAR ONE Words

w t

Te variation with <wh> words has already been practised, and we have alsoalready noticed that the letter <w> is silent in the wordswho, whole, etc., and inwrite, wreck, wreath, two. It is also silent in the ollowing words, so transcribethem without the /w/ symbol

2.130 wrong, wrought, wrap, wrath, wrench, wry, awry, answer, sword

___________________________________________________

*

Summary

We have now introduced all the consonants and the ull inventory o them canbe displayed in the ollowing chart. In the case o voiceless and voiced pairs, the voiceless consonant appears on the lef-hand side.

Bilabial Labio-dental

Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar

Palatal Velar Labial-velar

Glottal

Plosives p b t d k Nasals m n ŋFricatives f v θ ð s z ʃ h

Affricates tʃ dLateral l

Approximants r j w

However, there are still two eatures o English pronunciation involvingconsonants that need explanation and practice: the occurrence o syllabicconsonants and the orm o consonants in in ections.

*

Syllabic Consonants

In certain circumstances in English, a consonant can constitute the centre (orpeak) o a syllable instead o a vowel. It is clear that whereas a word likesad /s d/ has one syllable, a word likesadder / s də/ has two. Tere is clearly a vowel articulated in the second, albeit unstressed, syllable afer the consonant/d/. However, in words like

2.131 sadden, saddle

the matter is not so clear, because the consonant /d/ can be ollowed by eitherthe consonants /n/ and /l/ without a vowel intervening. Listen to the two wordsin slow motion:



51


2.132 sadden, saddle

I you imitate these pronunciations, you should notice that the bladeo the tongue maintains some kind o constriction as you proceed rom the/d/ to the /n/ or /l/; there cannot possibly, there ore, have been a vowel inbetween!

In cases like these, the /n/ o sadden and the /l/ o saddle constitute the centreo the second, unstressed, syllable; this syllabic unction o theirs is marked by asmall mark [ ] below the consonant symbol.Sadden and saddle are transcribedthus:

s æ d n s æ d l

Syllabic /n/ and /l/ typically occur in unstressed syllables immediately ollow-ing the alveolar consonants, /t, s, z/ as well as /d/. Listen to, and transcribe, the

ollowing words

2.133 cotton ____ 2.134 cattle ____ listen ____ whistle ____ risen ____ drizzle ____

Syllabic /l/ can also ollow /st/ or plain /n/ or /nt/

2.135 pistol, tunnel, mantle

_______________________________________________


2.136 muddle, widen, smitten, hospital, loosen, hassle, cousin, weasel, gentle

_______________________________________________

2.137 Bristol Channel

_______________________________________________

and the names

2.138 Gordon, Jordan, arzan, Norton

_______________________________________________

When the -ing suffi x is added to a verb with a syllabic consonant, the syllabicconsonant may either be retained as such or it simply becomes the initial con-sonant o the extra syllable. So, or instance, i -ing is added to the verb listen,the word becomes either a trisyllabic word with a syllabic consonant in themiddle: listening / l sn ŋ/, or a disyllabic word: / l sn ŋ/. Listen to them againand compare them

2.139 / l sn ŋ/; / l sn ŋ/

ranscribe these words in the same two ways



52

PAR ONE Words

2.140 whistling, drizzling, muddling, widening, loosening _______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

But note that an intervening /ə/ occurs in 2.141 wanton, London, Hampton

_______________________________________________

Notice that a syllabic /m/ ofen occurs in the word happen in colloquial speechas in

2.142 I you want to make things happen/ h pm/.

And occasionally in the word open, as in

2.143 None o them are open/ əυpm/. With - ing added to these verbs, the /n/ is retained:

2.144 happening / h pn ŋ/

2.145 opening / əυpn ŋ/

In all these cases, the syllabic consonant ollows immediately on a consonantmade at the same point o articulation (homorganic articulation). Otherwise,the neutral vowel /ə/ intervenes as in, or example

2.146 autumn / ɔ təm/ 2.147 bacon / be kən/

2.148 apple / pəl/

Listen to, and transcribe, the ollowing words with an intervening neutral vowel /ə/

2.149 table, sofen, seven, southern, struggle, camel, cannon/canon, million, ashion,dungeon

_______________________________________________ When the -ing suffi x is added to a verb with the neutral vowel preceding the

nal consonant, the neutral vowel will ofen disappear. So, or instance, i -ing is added to the verb sofen , the word becomes either / sɒfən ŋ/ with threesyllables, or / sɒfn ŋ/ with two.

2.150 sofening

ranscribe these words in these two ways

2.151 struggling, tackling, ashioning, beckoning, strengthening _______________________________________________

_______________________________________________



53


Te ending -ism is also pronounced with a neutral vowel between the /z/ and/m/; or instance

2.152 prism / pr zəm/

2.153 racism / re s zəm/ 2.154 eminism / fεm n zəm/

Also the word

2.155 chasm / k zəm/

*

Inections

In ections are endings that change the orm o a word or a grammatical cat-egory without changing its grammatical class. Tus sadder and saddest containin ections or the grammatical categories ocomparative and superlative butthe words remain adjectives, whereas the wordsadness contains a derivational

orm that changes the word to the classnoun .Te regular comparative in ection <-er> is pronounced /- ə/, or /-ər/ in

rhotic accents; transcribe

2.156 deeper, atter, higher, lower, quieter

_______________________________________________

Te regular superlative in ection <-est> is pronounced with either /- əst/ or/- st/. ranscribe these words in both ways

2.157 deepest, attest, highest, lowest, quietest

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

Te regular past tense or past participle in ection <-ed> is pronounced inthree different ways according to the nal sound o the stem.

1 I the stem ends in the consonants /t, d/, the in ection is pronounced ‘inull’, either as /-əd/ or /- d/, e.g.

2.158 waited: / we təd, we t d/; added / dəd, d d/

(Can you detect which one you use?)

2 I the stem ends in a vowel or a voiced consonant (other than /d/), thein ection is pronounced in a reduced orm /-d /, e.g.

2.159 reed/fri d/, cried /kra d/, warned /wɔ nd/, raised /re zd/

3 I the stem ends in a voiceless consonant (other than /t/), the reduced ormis changed to /-t/, e.g.



54

PAR ONE Words

2.160 crossed/krɒst/, stopped /stɒpt/, coughed /kɒft/

Now try and transcribe these words

2.161 liked, likened, lighted, lied, wiped, washed, rubbed, treated, glued

_____________________________________________________

Notice the past tense o words likecare:

2.162 cared /kεəd/

In non-rhotic accents, there is no <r> in the transcription. ry

2.163 ared, snared, poured, cured, stirred

_______________________________________________

Finally, notice an older <-ed> orm likelearned used now only as an adjective 2.164 / l nəd, l n d/

And these words; transcribe them in the two ways

2.165 blessed ______ ______ beloved ______ ______

Te regular present tense third person in ection <-es> also has three possiblepronunciations, again depending on the nal sound o the stem. Te regularplural in ection and the genitive possessive in ection o nouns ollow exactlythe same pattern.

(1) I the stem ends in /s, z, ʃ , , tʃ , d / (the so-called sibilant consonants) thein ection is pronounced ‘in ull’, either as /-əz/ or /- z/, e.g.

2.166 crosses/ krɒsəz, krɒs z/

2.167 watches / wɒtʃəz, wɒtʃ z/

2.168 George’s/ d ɔ d əz, d ɔ d z/

(Can you detect which one you use? It will probably match your choice with<-ed>. Are taxes and taxis the same or you; or possiblyoffi cesand offi cers?)

(2) I the stem ends in a vowel or a voiced consonant (other than the sibilants),the in ection is pronounced in a reduced orm /-z/, e.g.

2.169 rees/fri z/, cries /kra z/, warns /wɔ nz/, John’s/d ɒnz/

(3) I the stem ends in a voiceless consonant (other than the sibilants), thereduced orm is changed to /-s/, e.g.

2.170 stops /stɒps/, coughs /k ɒfs/, waits/weights /we ts/, Mike’s/ma ks/

Tere are two cases where an irregular in ection is not re ected in the spelling.Note that the nal /s/ o house changes to /z/ when the plural suffi x is added.



55


ranscribe

2.171 houses _____

Secondly, a number o words ending in -th usually change rom the voice-

less dental ricative /θ

/ to the voiced one /ð/ when the plural suffi x is added.ranscribe

2.172 paths, baths, youths, truths, mouths, wreaths

_______________________________________________

How about these place names (2)

2.173 Birmingham _________ 2.181 Nottingham _________ 2.174 Bolton _________ 2.182 Rotherham _________

2.175 Bristol _________ 2.183 Sheffi eld _________ 2.176 Ipswich _________ 2.184 Southampton _________ 2.177 Jersey _________ 2.185 Stonehenge _________ 2.178 Manchester _________ 2.186 Washington _________ 2.179 Newcastle _________ 2.187 New York _________ 2.180 Norwich _________ (See Key)

Well done! You have now covered all the vowels and consonants o English!



56

3 Word Stress

Te pronunciation o a word consists o at least one syllable; i a word inEnglish consists o more than one syllable, one syllable will sound more promi-nent than any other. Tat greater prominence is what is called stress , and wehave already introduced the IPA symbol or it [ ]. Te earliest examples weintroduced included snippet

3.1 / sn p t/

with the stress on the rst syllable, andexist

3.2 /ε z st, z st/

with the stress on the second syllable.

Stressed syllables contain any o the strong vowels; unstressed syllables containa weak vowel, and also // or /υ/ i at most one consonant ollows as indeceive and educate

3.3 /d si v/, / εdjυke t/

However, there is an intermediate degree o stress that occurs in many Englishwords. ake the word pronunciation itsel ; it has ve syllables:

3.4 /prə.n n.si.e .ʃən/

Te ourth syllable /.e ./ has the greatest degree o prominence and so will bemarked as stressed: /prən nsi e ʃən/. Te rst, third and fh syllables allcontain weak vowels, but the remaining one, the second, has the strong vowel/ /, and sounds too strong to be unstressed, but not strong enough to be thestressed syllable. Hence we make a distinction between theprimary stress /.e ./and a secondary stress /.n n./, which is nevertheless heard to be more promi-nent than non-stress , i.e. unstressed syllables. Te IPA symbol or secondarystress is a stress mark at the oot o the ollowing syllable: /prə n nsi e ʃən/.

Te identi cation o secondary stress is important in three types o word: longwords which have any number o syllables be ore the primary stress, a numbero homographs, and compound words.

First o all, listen to the our syllables o the wordeconomic:

3.5 /i .kə.nɒm. k/, /ε .kə.nɒm. k/

In either pronunciation, which is the syllable with the primary stress? Te thirdone /. nɒm./. Te second and ourth syllables both contain weak vowels, but



57

CHAP ER 3 Word Stress

the rst contains either the long vowel /i / or the short vowel /ε /. Both arestrong vowels; that rst syllable is more prominent than the weak syllables,but not as prominent as the primary stress. Tere ore, it has secondary stress:/ i kə nɒm k/ or / εkə nɒm k/.

Now identi y the secondary stress in the ollowing words and try to tran-scribe the whole word

3.6 undamental, educational, university, scienti c, communication

___________________________________________________

Tese cases o secondary stress are subject to change in phrases like

3.7 pro nunciation principles, undamental i deas

Tat is one reason why it is important to rst identi y their secondary stresses

as single words. (Brie y, what happens is that the sequence o secondary thenprimary stress in a word like pronunciation /prə n nsi e ʃən/ is reversed ina phrase like pro nunciation principles: /prə n nsi e ʃən pr nsipəlz/; simi-larly undamental i deas: / f ndə mεntl a d əz/; but all this will be clari edin Chapter 7.)

Secondly, there are a number o homographs in which the ending-ate changes pronunciation according to whether they are verbs or not. ake, orinstance:

3.8 separate

as an adjective, the-ate is pronounced with a neutral vowel: / sεprət/, but as a verb, the -ate is pronounced with a strong vowel: / sεpəre t/. Tat long vowelis, in act, another case o secondary stress: /sεpə re t/. Now transcribe thesehomographs in the same two ways

3.9 moderate, advocate, associate, delegate, duplicate, graduate

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

Compound words

Finally, compounds are single words that consist, usually, o two otherwiseindependent words. o take a simple example, compare the phrase black bird with the compound blackbird in a statement like:

3.10 A crow is a black bird, but is bigger than a blackbird .

Te phrase black bird has a primary stress on each word: / bl k b d/; butthe compound blackbird has only one primary stress, on the rst part. Te

second part contains a strong vowel and is treated as a secondary stress:/ bl k b d/.

It is important to note that compounds are sometimes spelt as a single



58

PAR ONE Words

word, or as hyphenated, or with a word space; you could think o three ways owriting this compound

3.11 teatime, tea-time, tea time

However it is spelt, there is only one primary stress. Identi y the primaryand secondary stresses in the ollowing compounds and transcribe the wholecompound word.

Compound check (1)

3.12 teaspoon, coffee cup, dinner plates, lunch box, supper time,

_______________________________________________

overdone, underneath, hard boiled, hal -baked, short-changed

_________________________________________________ (See Key)

Notice too that a compound itsel can become one part o another compound:thus, two secondary stresses are required

3.13 railway, railway lines, railway station _______________________________

It is ofen the case that the second part o a compound will be reduced to anunstressed syllable with a weak vowel

3.14 Englishman, Scotland, Portsmouth, strawberry, boatswain

_______________________________________________

Finally, a compound may contain one, or two, bound stems o Greek or Latinorigin. Te stress pattern depends on the orm o the second part; comparehomophone and homograph with primary stress on the rst part, and homorganic with secondary stress on the rst part: / hɒmə fəυn/, / hɒmə rɑ f/ and/ hɒmɔ n k/.

Compare, and transcribe Compound check (2)

3.15 biosphere _________ biology _________ equinox _________ equilibrium _________ paralanguage _________ paralinguistic _________ psychopath _________ psychology _________ phoneme _________ phonological _________ (See Key)

Te difference between compounds and phrases will be explored urther inChapter 7.

You have now completed a pretty comprehensive introduction to the tran-

scription o all the words in English not only in the Southern England StandardPronunciation but also, in a number o cases, in other standards too.

But we haven’t nished yet!



59

CHAP ER 3 Word Stress

We can be a bit more systematic about the differences in accents; we canalso be a bit more detailed in variations in individual sounds; we can also takenote o what happens when words come together – or instance, the <n>s inten green bottles usually change, in the rst case, to /ŋ/, and in the second, to

/m/; then we can also take note o the effect o the rhythm o English speechin messages; and nally, we can include intonation which power ully affectsmessages.

First o all, we will look at some o the important details o individual sounds– in the way they are made.



60

4 Allophones

When we introduced the symbol /l/, we noted that linguists usually distinguishbetween two varieties, known as clear and dark (p. 47). Te two varieties nevercontrast with each other in English and so are never responsible or creatingdifferences in meaning. Tis is because the two varieties are distributed differ-ently in English words; the distribution o the clear /l/ is con ned to a positionbe ore vowels (and be ore /j/), and the distribution o the dark /l/ to a positionbe ore consonants (except /j/) and at the end o words. Te distribution o theone variety complements the distribution o the other – they can never occurin exactly the same position as the other. Tat is why they cannot clash, andthat is why they are considered as varieties o one phoneme (in English). Aphoneme is the basic unit in the phonological system o a language.

Phoneme is a technical word in linguistics and is pre erred to the generalword sound . You might now begin to see why this technical term is necessary.I someone should ask ‘How manyl sounds are there in English?’, the answer

most (non-linguistics) people would give is “One”; but now you know thatthere are at least these two varieties. Te answer thus depends on what per-spective a person takes. Tere is only one l sound in the pronunciation (pho-nological) system, i.e. only one /l/ phoneme; but there are two different sounds

rom the point o view o actual articulation, i.e. rom a purely phonetic per-spective. Te technical term or varieties o a single phoneme, that show suchcomplementary distribution, is allophone. Tis kind o variation is thus knownas allophonic variation.

Te orm o transcription that we have established so ar has ocused onphonemes; it has ofen been re erred to as ‘broad transcription’. I we wantedto include the details o allophonic variations, we would be turning to ‘narrowtranscription’. But why would anyone want to do that?

First o all, simply because these variations exist! Because they are thereand we can talk about them, we need also a method o re erring to them inprint. Secondly, i people want to write about phonetic differences in a rangeo accents o a language, then some kind o ‘narrow’ transcription is use ul.Tirdly, i people want to write about phonetic differences in the pronuncia-tion (phonological systems) o languages, we need a transcription system thatcaptures such details; or example, although both English and French have a

phoneme /p/, they are articulated differently, and that phonetic difference canbe captured in a ‘narrow’ transcription. And ourthly, i it is necessary to recorddifferences in individual people’s pronunciation, then a ‘narrow’ transcription



61

CHAP ER 4 Allophones

is best – or example, or clinical purposes, or or identi ying people in a oren-sic context, or comparing children in acquisition studies, or recording studentslearning a oreign language, etc.

o indicate a ‘broad’ (phonemic) transcription, the convention is to use

slant brackets, / /, as we have done so ar. o indicate a ‘narrow’ (allophonic)transcription, the convention is to use square brackets, [ ]. (In act, you sawsquare brackets on page 25 when told how to try and eel the tongue movementin diphthongs; the use o the square brackets was to indicate that the symbolswere not to be taken as phonemes.) o illustrate the use o the square brackets,we shall return to the case o the two allophones o the English phoneme /l/.Te clear allophone is transcribed as [l], but the dark variety traditionally as[ ], or nowadays as [lγ]. Te principle is the same as or phonemes: just as eachdifferent phoneme has to be represented by a distinctly different symbol, soeach allophone has also to be represented by a distinctly different symbol. Teaddition o ‘~’/‘γ’ to the [l] marks the difference between the two orms. Now,you will notice that the same symbol (letter) is used or the phoneme /l/ andthe clear allophone [l]; that is precisely why you need to keep the use o thedifferent brackets clear in your mind. Angle brackets, < >, are used to re er toordinary orthography. Read this sentence as an illustration:

In most English accents, the phoneme /l/, which is usually spelled as <l> or<ll>, is articulated as two distinct allophones: the clear [l] occurs be ore vowelsand the consonant /j/, whereas the dark [ ]/[lγ] occurs be ore consonants,except /j/, and at the end o words.

Consonants

Tere are some other important cases o allophonic variation among the con-sonants o English. We will take them in roughly the order in which you learntto transcribe the consonants.

Aspiration

First o all, the plosives. Tree plosives were described (p. 38) as voiceless, /p,t, k/. On most occasions there is a brie delay in the onset o voicing whena vowel or a voiced consonant ollows; this brie delay is known as aspira-tion. However, i they are preceded immediately by /s/ at the beginning o aword, this aspiration does not occur. Tus there are two distinct allophoneso English /p/: an aspirated variety and an unaspirated variety. (Incidentally, itis the presence o this aspiration that constitutes the main difference betweenEnglish and French /p/, and /t, k/.) Te aspiration is recorded in narrow tran-scription as [h]. Tus aspirated /p/ is transcribed narrowly as [p h]; similarly [th]and [k h].

Now, the pronunciation o a word like pin can be transcribed broadly as/p n/, and narrowly as [ph n]. It is exactly the same word, with exactly thesame pronunciation, but transcribed in both broad and narrow transcriptions.



62

PAR ONE Words

Similarly

4.1 tin /___ / and [ ____ ] kin /___ / and [ ____ ]

What about the unaspirated allophone? Simply [ph

] without the [h

]: just [p]!Notice again the importance o the brackets: the same symbol (letter) is usedor the phoneme /p/ and the unaspirated allophone [p] – it is the brackets that

determines how the symbol is to be interpreted. It is the same with /t/ and [t],and /k/ and [k]. Tus the pronunciation o the word spin can be transcribedbroadly as /sp n/ and narrowly as [sp n]; the latter case shows that the /p/ isthe unaspirated allophone. Similarly

4.2 stint /____ / and [ _____ ] skin / ____ / and [ _____ ]

Tis allophonic variation appears in other parts o words too. ake the word

4.3 appear

you can transcribe it both broadly / _____ / and narrowly showing theaspiration o the /p/ [_______]. Now

4.4 aspire

broadly / _____ /, and narrowly, without the aspiration symbol [_____]. ry

4.5 return, disturb

both broadly / ______ /, / ______ /, and narrowly [_____], [_____]. And

4.6 account, askance

broadly / _____ /, /_____ /, and narrowly [_____], [_____]

When /p, t, k/ are ollowed by silence at the end o an utterance, they are usuallyaspirated regardless o whether they are preceded by /s/:

4.7 ramp: [r mph]; grasp: [ r sph, rɑ sph]

ranscribe the ollowing narrowly 4.8 rent: [____]; rest: [____] rink: [____]; risk: [____]

Alternatively, they may be simply ‘unreleased’, i.e. the closure is retained orlonger, without the sound o aspiration; in that case the [h] would be inappro-priate. I it became necessary to indicate non-release, the symbol [ ] is used. Sohelp /hεlp/ might, in narrow transcription, be either [ hε ph] or [hε p ].

halt /hɒlt/ would either be [_____] or [_____]. think /θ ŋk/ would either be [_____] or [_____].

(Te degree o aspiration depends on whether /p, t, k/ occur at the beginning oa strong or a weak syllable; i it was ever necessary to distinguish between two



63


degrees o aspiration, then [h] might be used to indicate the stronger orm and[h] the weaker:depend : [d phεnd]; deepen: [ di phən].)

*

Glottal reinforcement When /p, t, k/ occur at the end o a syllable be ore another consonant or be ore

silence, they are typically ‘rein orced’ by closure at the glottis, as i a glottal stoppreceded them. So map /m p/ is pronounced as [m ʔph]; maps as [m ʔps];map shop as [ m ʔp ʃɒʔph]. Listen:

4.9 map, maps, map shop

ry

4.10 book /bυk

/: [____]; book shel : [___ ____]

4.11 oot /fυt /: [____]; ootpath: [___ ___]

You might notice that in the latter case, the [t] might seem to have disappearedcompletely, as [ fυʔ pɑ θ]; the only trace o /t/ is the [ʔ]. Tis is now verycommon all over Britain, and helps to explain how in some accents the /t/is regularly realized as [ʔ] not only in nal position but also in the middle owords, e.g.what as [wɒʔ], and water as [ wɔ ʔə]. Listen

4.12 what, water

*

Voiced apping

Te /t/ is subject to another kind o variation, where between voiced sounds,especially vowels, it acquires voicing and is articulated quickly with a quick‘ ap’ o the blade o the tongue against the teeth ridge. Tis is the typicalAmerican pronunciation o /t/ in water ; the symbol or this allophonic varia-tion o /t/ is: [t ], e.g. [ wɔ tə]. Tis ‘ apped’ [ t ] is increasingly heard in SESPand many other accents. Tink o the way many people say

4.13 you’d better , what’s the matter with you , but I . . .

It is typically with [t ]: [ bεtə], [ matə], [b t a ].

Devoicing

Te voiced plosives / b, d, / lose their voicing ‘early’ when ollowed immedi-ately by a voiceless consonant and be ore silence. A good example is the wordabsolutely ; the voicing o /b/ ades in anticipation o the voicelessness o the

ollowing /s/; such ading is known as ‘devoicing’ and can be recorded in a

narrow transcription as [ ]: [ bsə lu ʔli]. Nab in a narrow transcription is[n b]. (Te subscript [ ] is replaced by a superscript [ ] where necessary, e.g.[˚ ].) Listen



64

PAR ONE Words

4.14 absolutely

Now try lid in narrow transcription: [___]; and midst : [_____]. Listen

4.15 lid, midst

4.16 drug: [___], drug store: [ ____ ____]

Devoicing also affects the voiced ricatives /, ð, z, / and the voiced affricate/d /. Love/l v/ in narrow transcription is [ l v]; lovesick[ l s ʔkh]. Listen

4.17 love, lovesick

With in narrow transcription:

4.18 [___]; with thanks : [___ _____]

Jazz in narrow transcription:

4.19 [___]; jazz club: [ __ ___]

Rougein narrow transcription:

4.20 [___]; rouge stick: [ __ ___]

Hedge in narrow transcription:

4.21 [___]; hedge und : [ __ ___]

Notice too how ofen such devoicing occurs in verb groups:

4.22 . . . is to . . . [ z tu] . . . has to . . . [___ __] . . . have to . . . [___ __]

Another common environment or devoicing is when /l, r, j, w/ ollow anaspirated plosive; the aspiration is conveyed by the delay on the onset o their voicing, as in

4.23 play /ple / [pl e ] pray /pre / [___] (but see below or more on /r/)

pew /pju / [___] queue /kju / [___] quake /kwe k/ [_____]

A special case happens when /j/ ollows /h/ as inhew/hue/Hugh; the /j/ typi-cally takes on the voicelessness o the /h/ totally and becomes itsel totallydevoiced, with the two phonemes merging into one articulation. Tere is aspecial phonetic symbol or the totally voiceless /j/: [ç]. Hew/hue/Hugh /hju /is transcribed narrowly as [çu ]. In narrow transcription huge is [çu d ].Listen

4.24 /hju /, [çu ]; /hju d /, [çu d ]

ry



65


4.25 human / hju mən/ [_____]

humid /hju m d/ [_____]

A similar case happens in some accents with many words beginning <wh-> with

a pronunciation /hw/, e.g. whales, which /hwe lz/, /hw tʃ/ (see pp. 43–44).Te /w/ takes on the voicelessness o the /h/ totally, and the two phonemesmerge in the same way. Te special symbol or the totally voiceless /w/: [ ]. Sothe narrow transcription o these two words is: [ e lz], [ tʃ]. ry

4.26 why /hwa / [___] where /hwεə/ [___] whine /hwa n/ [___]

*

/r/ English /r/ is described as an approximant; the international symbol is actually

[ɹ], as was mentioned on p. 47, and this is the symbol to be used in narrowtranscription. So red /rεd/ is transcribed narrowly as [ɹεd]. However, thereis allophonic variation in the phoneme /r/. Notice what typically happens to/r/ in the word thread /θrεd/; it might not be an approximant i there is a verybrie contact between /θ/and /ε/, a sound that is known technically as a ‘tap’.Te symbol or it is [ɾ]; so thread in narrow transcription is [θɾεd].

Furthermore, /r/ is ricative immediately afer /t, d/; the IPA symbol or this[ɹ] – the diacritic [ ] indicates that the [ɹ] is raised (high enough or riction to becreated). Sodread /drεd/ is transcribed narrowly as [dɹ εd]. Strictly speaking the‘devoiced’ /r/ ollowing aspirated plosives is transcribed as [ɹ], because it is notonly ricative but also devoiced; sotread /trεd / in narrow transcription shouldbe [tɹ εd]. However, [ɹ] is usually used, as a simpler version. (Te transcriptionyou entered provisionally or pray /pre / [pr e ] above becomes [pɹ e ].)

Now transcribe the ollowing narrowly

4.27 rust /r st/ [_____] thrust /θr st/ [_____] drudge /dr d / [_____] trust /tr st / [_____]

*

Fronting, backing and rounding

Te exact place o articulation o a consonant can be affected by adjacent vowels or other consonants. For instance, /m/ is bilabial, but an adjustmenttypically takes place in in ormal conversation i / , v/ ollow immediately; the

/m/ becomes as labiodental as the / , v/: test it out oncom ort , some verses. Telower lip ‘backs’ towards the upper teeth and so in a technical, phonetic, sense,it has become labiodental; there is a special IPA symbol or a labiodental nasal:



66

PAR ONE Words

[ ]. So com ort / k mfət/ in narrow transcription is [ kh fəʔth,kh fəʔ];some verses /səm v səz/ is [sə v səz]. Similarly /n/ be ore / , v/ alsobecomes labiodental; the articulation is ‘ ronted’;in orm, in verse / n fɔ m/,/ n v s/ in narrow transcription are [ fɔ m], [ v s]. In these cases,

the ronting and backing are transcribed by a special phonetic symbol.In other cases, the ronting and backing are indicated by diacritics. /n/in like manner becomes dental be ore /θ, ð/; ronting (in this case, towardsdental articulation) is transcribed by the diacritic [ ]. enth, in there /tεnθ /, /

n ðεə/ in narrow transcription are [ thεn θ], [ n ðεə]. Te consonants / k, /are ronted rom a true velar position in the direction o the palatal positionwhen ollowed immediately by ront vowels, e.g.key, geese /ki /, / i s/ are thustranscribed narrowly as [khi ], [ i s]. On the other hand, they are backed roma true velar position when ollowed immediately by back open vowels, e.g.car, guard /kɑ /, / ɑ d/; in narrow transcription they become [khɑ ], [ ɑ d].

Rounding, or labialization, o consonants occurs immediately be orerounded vowels and /w/. Te diacritic to show this is [ w]. For example, soon,twin /ʃu n/, /tw n/ are, in narrow transcription, [ swu n], [tww n].

Fronting, backing and rounding are more or less automatic in English,and so it is usually not elt necessary to indicate them. Tey are included heresimply to alert you to their existence in case it should ever be necessary toinclude them in a narrow transcription.

*

Summary of allophones for each consonant

Plosives /p/ voiceless bilabial [ph] aspirated (but with weaker aspiration in unstressed syllables) [p] unaspirated afer /s/ in a syllable-initial cluster [ʔp] glottal rein orcement in syllable- nal position be ore a consonant

or silence [p ] unreleased in syllable- nal position be ore a consonant; optional

be ore silence /pa / [phai]; /spa / [spa ]; /m p/ [m ʔph]; /m ps/ [m ʔps]; /m p ʃɒp/

[m ʔp ʃɒʔph]

/b/ voiced bilabial [b] voiced initially and between voiced segments [b] devoiced be ore a voiceless consonant or silence [b ] unreleased in syllable- nal position be ore a consonant

/ba / [ba ]; /be bi/ [be bi]; /n b/ [n b]; / bsənt/ [ b sənth]

/t/ voiceless alveolar [th] aspirated (but with weaker aspiration in unstressed syllables)



67


[t] unaspirated afer /s/ in a syllable-initial cluster [ʔt, ʔ] glottal rein orcement or glottal replacement in syllable- nal posi-

tion be ore a consonant or silence [t ] voiced ap as an alternative between vowels

[t ] unreleased in syllable- nal position be ore a consonant [t] dental be ore dental consonants [t] retracted be ore /r/

/ta / [t hai]; /sta / [sta ]; /fυt / [fυʔth]; /fυtpɑ θ/ [fυʔphɑ θ], [fυʔt phɑ θ];/bεtə/ [bεt ə]; /e tθ/

[e ʔt θ]; /tra / [tɹ a ]

/d/ voiced alveolar [d] voiced initially and between voiced segments [d] devoiced be ore a voiceless consonant or silence [d ] unreleased in syllable- nal position be ore a consonant [d] dental be ore dental consonants [d] retracted be ore /r/

/da / [da ]; /m d/ [m d]; /m dna t/ [m d na ʔth]; /w dθ/ [w d θ]; /dra /[dɹ a ]

/k/ voiceless velar [kh] aspirated (but with weaker aspiration in unstressed syllables) [k] unaspirated afer /s/ in a syllable-initial cluster

[ʔk] glottal rein orcement in syllable- nal position be ore a consonantor silence [k ] unreleased in syllable- nal position be ore a consonant [k] advanced be ore ront close vowels [k] retracted be ore back open vowels

/ka nd/ [kha nd]; /ska / [ska ]; /b k/ [b ʔkh]; /b kbəυn/ [b ʔk bəυn];/ki p/

[khi ʔph]; /kɑ / [khɑ ]

/g/ voiced velar [ ] voiced initially and between voiced segments [˚ ] devoiced be ore a voiceless consonant or silence [ ] unreleased in syllable- nal position be ore a consonant [ ] advanced be ore ront close vowels [ ] retracted be ore back open vowels

/ a / [ a ]; /n / [n ˚ ]; /r b / [r b ˚ ]; / i s/ [ i s]; / ɑ d/ [ ɑ d]

Nasals

/m/ voiced bilabial [ ] labiodental be ore / , v/ [m] elsewhere



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PAR ONE Words

/k mfət/ [kh fəʔth]

/n/ voiced alveolar [n] dental be ore dental consonants [ ] labiodental be ore / , v/ [ ] post-alveolar be ore /r, s, , tʃ, d , j / [n] elsewhere

/tεnθ / [thεn θ]; /kən s/ [khə s]; /l ntʃ/ [l tʃ]

/ / voiced velar (limited distribution – be ore /k, g/ or in syllable- nal position only)

Fricatives

/f/ voiceless labiodental

/v/ voiced labiodental [v] devoiced be ore a voiceless consonant or silence [v] elsewhere

/h v tə .../ [h v thə ...]

/ / voiceless dental

/ / voiced dental [ð] devoiced be ore a voiceless consonant or silence [ð] elsewhere

/w ð θ ŋks/ [w ð θ ŋks]

/s/ voiceless alveolar

/z/ voiced alveolar

[z] devoiced be ore a voiceless consonant or silence [z] elsewhere

/ z tə .../ [ z thə ...]

/ / voiceless palato-alveolar/post-alveolar

/ / voiced palato-alveolar/post-alveolar [˚ ] devoiced be ore a voiceless consonant or silence [ ] elsewhere /m rɑ/ [m ɹɑ]

/h/ voiceless glottal [ ] voiced between voiced segments

/b ha nd/ [b a nd] (limited distribution – syllable-initial position only)

Affricates /t / voiceless palato-alveolar/post-alveolar





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PAR ONE Words

Nasalization

Vowels adjacent to nasal consonants ‘catch’ something o their nasal quality.Tis nasalization o the vowels is more or less automatic and would not nec-essarily be transcribed. But i needed, the symbol is [˜ ]. So man /m n/ innarrow transcription is [m˜n ]; sunk /s k/ is [s˜ kh]; neat /ni t/ is [n ʔth].Nasalization in English is not phonemic as it is in French or instance; whenFrench loan words are pronounced in English, some speakers choose to includethe nasalization as in French, e.g.liaison /li e zɒ/ instead o the more usual /li e zən/. Listen

4.28 /li e zɒ/

*

Clipping Clipping re ers to the shortening o vowels in syllables that are closed with

voiceless consonants. Te length o a vowel – whether it is a short vowel,a long monophthong or a diphthong, or even a weak vowel – is roughlyonly hal the length that it is in open syllables or syllables closed by voicedconsonants. Tis clipping can, obviously, be recognized more easily in long vowels than in vowels that are by nature already relatively short. Clippingdoes not alter the quality o the vowel, so no change to the symbol is neces-sary. I itis necessary to mark clipping, this can be done by replacing []

with [ ] with long vowels, and by adding [ ] over short and diphthongal vowels.

Listen to the difference in the length o the vowel insea, seat . Both are tran-scribed with the vowel /i / in a broad transcription, but it is possible to showthe allophonic difference in a narrow transcription: [si ], [si ʔth]. Also side,sight (site/cite), and Sid , sit : [sa d], [sa˘ʔt h]; [s d], [s˘ʔt h].

*

Breaking

Breaking re ers to the transitional sound between a vowel and a dark /l/ [ ].It was re erred to on p. 47 with an explanation that the transitional sound issimilar to /ə/. In a narrow transcription, breaking is indicated by that symbol,but raised: [ə] to show that it does not constitute a separate syllable. So theexamples given there are transcribed narrowly as

eel/fi l/ [fi ə ] ool/fu l/ [fu ə ] ail/fe l/ [fe ə ] Now transcribe the others: le/phial /fa l/ [ ] oil/fɔ l/ [ ]



71


oal/fəυl/ [ ] oul/ owl/faυl/ [ ]

Historically, something similar happened be ore /r/. Modern SESP hasserious, urious, various as

4.29 /s əriəs/, /fjυəriəs/, /vεəriəs/

but other accents still retain a long monophthong be ore /r/:

4.30 /si riəs/, /fju riəs/, /vε riəs/

Again historically, when /r/ was lost in SESP, the ‘breaking’ to [ə] remained, pro-ducing the centring diphthongs: / ə, υə, εə/(and also /ɔə/ in some accents still).

*

Smoothing

Te tongue movement or long vowels, whether monophthong or diphthong,may be reduced when ollowed by a weak vowel. For example, the word hour has a closing diphthong /aυ/ be ore the weak vowel /ə/; some speakers chooseto reduce the amount o tongue movement by ‘smoothing’ out the closingmovement o the diphthong, reducing the articulation to [aə]. (Many speakersreduce the tongue movement even urther with the possessive determinerour /ɑ /!). liable / la əbəl/ becomes [ laəbə]. Listen:

4.31 liable Tus some speakers make no distinction between tower /taυə/ and tire /ta ə/:

[thaə]; others do maintain a difference with distinct starting positions:

4.32 [thɑə], [thaə].

ruin likewise may be either /ru n/ or /rυ n/; listen or the difference:

4.33 ruin

Te latter shows how the tongue movement rom a long monophthong to

a weak vowel can be ‘smoothed’. oreseeable may be either /fɔ si əbəl/ or/fɔ s əbəl/:

4.34 oreseeable

*

Diphthongization

Te two close long monophthongs / i , u / are liable to diphthongization.

Instead o a steady tongue position, there is a tendency to start rom a rela-tively open position and move to the close position: [ i, υu]. Listen to a airlycommon pronunciation o the words tea, too:



72

PAR ONE Words

4.35 [th i], [thυu]

Te descriptions o smoothing and diphthongization touch upon alternativepronunciations that speakers may adopt, and so we begin to enter the area oaccents, which is the next big topic that we need to deal with.



73

5 Accents

Everybody speaks differently – even identical twins! People with the sameEnglish accent have the same phonological system and a high degree o con-sistency in articulation, but their voices are still distinctly different. It mightbe possible to transcribe all these individual differences – voice quality, pitchlevel, tone, speed, etc., but our interest is the transcription o more generalproperties o pronunciation.

An accent indicates a person’s identi cation with a community o people.English accents vary according to geography – national and regional types, e.g.British, American, Indian, Scottish, English Midlands, North Walian English,Ulster and so on. We could add here oreign accents too; non-native speakerso English share particular eatures with others rom the same linguistic back-ground. Accents also vary in a historical perspective; the pronunciation o theyounger generation o today sounds quite different in some respects rom thato their grandparents, or instance. Tis is how historical change comes about

over the centuries, with slight changes o pronunciation in successive genera-tions. Accents also vary socially; typically, dockers and doctors rom the samecity are expected to sound very different. Tere are also gender differences;think o the way many young women say ‘Tank you’, with a vowel that seemshal way to saying ‘Tank ye’; most British men do not pronounce that phrasewith that kind o vowel change. Finally, there are stylistic variations, wherepronunciation changes according to the ormality o the setting; ‘Do you wanta cup o tea?’ can sound more like ‘Joanna Cupper’ in an in ormal setting!

Whatever type o accent – geographical, oreign, historical, social or stylistic– differences between them can be categorized in our ways. One accent maydiffer rom another in theirphonological inventories . For instance, SESP hasthe vowel phoneme / / in a word like strut , but many people with a NorthernEnglish accent use the vowel /υ/ instead and simply never the use the / / vowel;there is no / / in their system at all. Look back at p. 16. Tey have there ore adifferent phonological system. It is also well known that the so-called GeneralAmerican accent does not include the vowel phoneme /ɒ/ – another instanceo a phonological inventory difference.

One accent may also differ rom another inphonetic features . Youngerspeakers o SESP pronouncetrap with an opener vowel [a] than older speakers

o SESP [ ] – think o the Queen! Look back at p. 13. Tis is a phonetic varia-tion o the same phoneme, so this is not a difference in inventories. Also, manyworking-class Londoners regularly pronounce /t/ as [ʔ] in the middle and at



74

PAR ONE Words

the end o words as inhot water (see p. 63). Te [ ʔ] is a phonetic variation in thiscontext to [th]; it is not an extra phoneme in the inventory. Tat nal vowel in

5.1 thank you

as pronounced by many young women is a more central close vowel: [u] or[υ ]; again, this is not an extra phoneme, but a phonetic variation o /u / in thecontext o the /j/ consonant.

An accent may also differ in the way a phoneme may be distributed, i.e. inthe places in a word where it can occur. Tis distributional variation may bephonological or lexical. A well-known example ophonological distribution differences is the distinction between rhotic and non-rhotic accents. SouthernEngland Standard Pronunciation, as we have seen, is non-rhotic in that thephoneme /r/ cannot occur be ore a consonant or be ore silence. Te GeneralAmerican (GA) accent, which is rhotic, has the same phoneme /r/ but it doesallow it to occur be ore a consonant and be ore silence; the difference is simplydistributional. Farm in GA is /fɑrm/; in SESP it is /fɑ m/. Tere is no differ-ence in the inventories o phonemes in the two accents, nor necessarily a differ-ence in phonetic orm; merely a difference in the distribution o that particularphoneme. Another example was touched on on p. 71: the vowel phoneme /i /can appear be ore /r/ in some accents as inserious, but in SESP it cannot; the vowel be ore /r/ must be / ə/ in SESP. Tis again is a distributional difference;the phoneme inventory is no different, nor the phonetic realization o either vowel.

Lexical distribution re ers to instances where a phoneme can appear in thesame phonological context as a rule, but not in a particular word or group owords. Southern England Standard Pronunciation and most other accents inBritain allow both /θ, ð/ in word- nal position, but whereas most accents inEngland and Wales have /ð/ at the end o with, most Scottish accents have /θ/.In this case, the ‘choice’ o phoneme depends on the particular word. Anotherwell-known lexical distribution difference distinguishes SESP rom many otheraccents in Britain; there is a group o words that take /ɑ / typically in wordsthat have a voiceless consonant ollowing, e.g.class, whereas other accents take/ /. But we cannot establish a rule or all such cases because even SESP has/m s/ ormass; and nasty / nɑ sti/ and pasty / p sti/ do not rhyme in SESP.Look back at p.20. So there is no general rule that establishes a difference in the phonological distribution o the two vowels; rather, it depends on the selectiono the word(s) – it is a case o a differentlexical distribution.

Tese our kinds o difference affect both consonants and vowels, and alsoword stress. Tere are a number o instances o word stress differences betweenBritish and American accents. Consider these ew words:

5.2 rustrate, cremate, vacate

In two-syllable verbs o this kind ending in /-e t/, British speakers place theprimary stress on that nal syllable: / fr stre t/; /krə me t/; /və ke t/;whereas American speakers tend to place the primary stress on the rst syllable:



75

CHAP ER 5 Accents

5.3 / fr stre t/; / kri me t/; / ve ke t/

Tis is a case o phonological distribution. So is the difference between Britishsecondary / sεkəndri/ and American / sεkən dεri/; and all those wordsthat have nal <-ary>, <-ery>, <-ory> and <-ury> without primary stress. Alexical difference is ound in the nounaddress: British /ə drεs/ and American/ drεs/. Compare also

aristocrat : British / r stə kr t/; American /ə r stə kr t/ harass: British / h rəs/; American /hə r s/ magazine : British / m ə zi n/; American / m əzi n/.

5.4 address, aristocrat , harass, magazine

Lexical sets

o illustrate all these variations and give you some practice in observing themand transcribing them, ten English speakers were recorded reading a set owords in their different accents, and then an eleventh person who speaksEnglish as a oreign language was added. Teir accents differ in geography,social class, generation, gender and in linguistic background. Teir voices arenot meant to necessarily represent a stereotypical accent, so not every well-known eature o a particular accent may be present in their pronunciation.Te recordings were made in natural settings, not in a studio; the spoken datathat you may have to transcribe one day will almost certainly be recorded innatural settings, and you will have to contend with a certain amount o back-ground noise, like the hum o a kitchen ridge, a mobile phone ringing, a dooropening, etc.

Te eleven accents are, rst, rom the USA, then our regions o England(London, the West Country, the Midlands and the North) and three othercountries within the UK – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – ollowedby two speakers o English as a second language, rom A rica and India, and

nally, a Chinese visitor to UK, representing a oreign accent.Tey all use the same words, more or less, so that you can compare their

pronunciation, particularly o the vowels, in a methodical way. Tese lexical

sets have been chosen to represent typical variations in the way vowels arepronounced across a wide spectrum o English accents. Te idea o lexical setsderives rom the work o John Wells (see especially Wells1982); each wordcontains one particular vowel, which varies across a number o accents. Telexical set in this workbook ollows in the main the words chosen in Chapter 1. Te thirty words represent different aspects o vowel articulation and so it isnecessary to listen care ully or any variations rom the qualities that have beenpractised and transcribed so ar. Te thirty words are:

5.5 1. lick

2. leg 3. lack 4. lock



76

PAR ONE Words

5. look 6. luck 7. leak 8. lark

9. palm 10. pork 11. Paul 12. Luke 13. blew 14. lurk 15. earth 16. waist 17. lake 18. like 19. void 20. know 21. load 22. loud 23. pier 24. pair 25. poor 26. coffee 27. Fiona

28. Louise 29. farmer 30. drama

Te rst six words contain the short vowels. Listen or vowel quality: note thatsome accents do not distinguish all six (i.e. differences in phonological inven-tories). Listen also or vowel quantity; are some vowels sometimes pronouncedlong?

Te next words rom 7 to 25 contain the long vowels: monophthongs anddiphthongs ( ront closing, back closing and centring). Listen particularly to variations in quality: some diphthongs are pronounced as monophthongs, andsome monophthongs as diphthongs with a bit o a glide. Some accents dis-tinguish blew romblue; listen or distinctions in other such pairs o wordstoo (i.e., again, differences in phonological inventories). Listen also or varia-tions in quantity, especially as some pronunciations are rhotic (i.e. differencesin phonological distribution). You might notice variations in the pronun-ciation o /r/ as well (i.e. phonetic realization). What about the /l/ inPaul ?Is it pronounced, and i so, how? Listen out or other phonetic variations oconsonants, especially among the non-native speakers o English.

Te nal ve contain the weak vowels: /i/ in nal position and be oreanother vowel; /u/, and nal /ə/. Do the very last two words rhyme in youraccent? Do they rhyme or all o the speakers?



77

CHAP ER 5 Accents

Tese are the main things to listen or. ry and transcribe each word in ull,or at least identi y the phonetic quality o the vowels using a narrow transcrip-tion where necessary. You will nd a key and some general remarks in theappendix, but DO NO look at them be oreyou have listened to some o the

voices and attempted a transcription. ry and transcribe a ew o them, i notall o them!

USA

im is a language teacher, in his 30s, rom Ohio. He does not have a broadAmerican accent, but it is rhotic. Notice what tends to happen to his vowelsbe ore /r/ compared to SESP. Listen care ully to the vowel qualities in 23–25.

5.6 1. lick _____ 2. leg _____ 3. lack _____ 4. lock _____ 5. look _____ 6. luck _____ 7. leak _____ 8. lark _____ 9. palm _____ 10. pork _____ 11. Paul _____

12. Luke _____ 13. blew _____ 14. lurk _____ 15. earth _____ 16. waist _____ 17. lake _____ 18. like _____ 19. void _____ 20. know _____ 21. load _____ 22. loud _____ 23. pier _____ 24. pair _____ 25. poor _____ 26. coffee _____ 27. Fiona _____ 28. Louise _____ 29. farmer _____ 30. drama _____



78

PAR ONE Words

London

Maureen is a retired social worker, in her 60s, rom Balham. She does nothave a real Cockney accent, but listen to see i 11 and 25 are different or not.Listen to what happens to SESP centring diphthongs (23–25). How does herpronunciation o Louise differ rom SESP?

5.7 1. lick _____ 2. leg _____ 3. lack _____ 4. lock _____ 5. look _____ 6. luck _____ 7. leak _____ 8. lark _____ 9. palm _____ 10. pork _____ 11. Paul _____ 12. Luke _____ 13. blew _____ 14. lurk _____ 15. earth _____ 16. waist _____ 17. lake _____

18. like _____ 19. void _____ 20. know _____ 21. load _____ 22. loud _____ 23. pier _____ 24. pair _____ 25. poor _____ 26. coffee _____ 27. Fiona _____ 28. Louise _____ 29. farmer _____ 30. drama _____

West Country

Lisa is a housewi e and gardener, in her 40s, rom Fishponds, Bristol. Listento whether her accent is rhotic or not. A well-known eature o the Bristolianaccent is the tendency to add /l/ to words ending in a vowel; or that reason,

item 23 was changed toidea, to see whether she does. Does she? Does she addit to drama ? What happens to the nal /l/ in Paul ? How are Paul and poor distinguished, compared to the Londoner’s voice?



79

CHAP ER 5 Accents

5.8 1. lick _____ 2. leg _____ 3. lack _____ 4. lock _____

5. look _____ 6. luck _____ 7. leak _____ 8. lark _____ 9. palm _____ 10. pork _____ 11. Paul _____ 12. Luke _____ 13. blew _____ 14. lurk _____ 15. earth _____ 16. waist _____ 17. lake _____ 18. like _____ 19. void _____ 20. know _____ 21. load _____ 22. loud _____ 23. idea _____

24. pair _____ 25. poor _____ 26. coffee _____ 27. Fiona _____ 28. Louise _____ 29. farmer _____ 30. drama _____

Midlands

Chris is a salesman in an electrical goods store, in his 30s, rom Birmingham.How does he distinguish between lookand luck? Does he pronounce Paul with/l/? Listen to the vowel qualities o the closing diphthongs; notice how theystart and how they nish. How do his pronunciations o 23–25 compare withSESP?

5.9 1. lick _____ 2. leg _____ 3. lack _____ 4. lock _____

5. look _____ 6. luck _____ 7. leak _____



80

PAR ONE Words

8. lark _____ 9. palm _____ 10. pork _____ 11. Paul _____

12. Luke _____ 13. blew _____ 14. lurk _____ 15. earth _____ 16. waist _____ 17. lake _____ 18. like _____ 19. void _____ 20. know _____ 21. load _____ 22. loud _____ 23. pier _____ 24. pair _____ 25. poor _____ 26. coffee _____ 27. Fiona _____ 28. Louise _____ 29. farmer _____ 30. drama _____

North of England

Another im; a student, in his 20s, rom Easingwold, Yorkshire. He hesitatesbe ore item 6; can you guess why? Listen to the vowels o items 8 and 9, andthen to the vowels o 10, 11 and 25, and compare them all with SESP. How dohis pronunciations o 23–25 compare with SESP?

5.10 1. lick _____ 2. leg _____ 3. lack _____ 4. lock _____ 5. look _____ 6. luck _____ 7. leak _____ 8. lark _____ 9. palm _____ 10. pork _____ 11. Paul _____ 12. Luke _____

13. blew _____ 14. lurk _____ 15. earth _____



81

CHAP ER 5 Accents

16. waist _____ 17. lake _____ 18. like _____ 19. void _____

20. know _____ 21. load _____ 22. loud _____ 23. idea _____ 24. pair _____ 25. poor _____ 26. coffee _____ 27. Fiona _____ 28. Louise _____ 29. farmer _____ 30. drama _____

Scotland

Shona is a teacher, in her 40s, rom Bearsden, Glasgow. She does not havea broad Scottish accent, but notice how her articulation o /u / and /υ/ are

ronted, compared to SESP. Is her accent rhotic? What difference does thismake to vowel quantity? And to vowel quality in some cases? Notice too howdiphthongs in SESP are monophthongs in her accent. Do the nal items rhyme?What quality do you detect in nal unstressed <a> inFiona and drama ? Is itdifferent rom SESP /ə/?

5.11 1. lick _____ 2. leg _____ 3. lack _____ 4. lock _____ 5. look _____ 6. luck _____ 7. leak _____ 8. lark _____ 9. palm _____ 10. pork _____ 11. Paul _____ 12. Luke _____ 13. blew _____ 14. lurk _____ 15. earth _____ 16. waist _____ 17. lake _____

18. like _____ 19. void _____ 20. know _____



82

PAR ONE Words

21. load _____ 22. loud _____ 23. idea _____ 24. pair _____

25. poor _____ 26. coffee _____ 27. Fiona _____ 28. Louise _____ 29. farmer _____ 30. drama _____

Wales

Gordon is a retired sub-postmaster, in his 60s, rom Aberdare, South Wales. He

is bilingual. Welsh is ‘rhotic’ phonologically; listen to see whether his Englishthere ore is also rhotic. For him,blew is pronounced differently romblue; soblue replacesLuke as item 12, so that you can observe the difference.Know andno are also different or him; sono replaces load , so that you can observe thatdifference too. Similarly,waste is different romwaist ; however, there is onlythe merest hint o the difference in this recording;waste replaces lake. Also,listen care ully to his rendering o the SESP centring diphthongs; which wordsseem to be pronounced as two syllables?

5.12 1. lick _____

2. leg _____ 3. lack _____ 4. lock _____ 5. look _____ 6. luck _____ 7. leak _____ 8. lark _____ 9. palm _____ 10. pork _____ 11. Paul _____ 12. blue _____ 13. blew _____ 14. lurk _____ 15. earth _____ 16. waist _____ 17. waste _____ 18. like _____ 19. void _____ 20. know _____

21. no _____ 22. loud _____ 23. idea _____



83

CHAP ER 5 Accents

24. pair _____ 25. poor _____ 26. coffee _____ 27. Fiona _____

28. Louise _____ 29. farmer _____ 30. drama _____

Northern Ireland

Jenni er is a trainee ood technologist, in her 20s, rom Armagh. Her pronun-ciation is in some ways the most diffi cult to transcribe! Can you hear a di -

erence rom SESP in vowel quality in the very rst word, and a difference in vowel quantity in the second? What vowel quality do you hear in item 6? Is her

accent rhotic? Check or /r/ be ore consonants (items 8, 10, 14), and then innal position (23–25, 29). For her, the vowels inLuke and blew are different,but not in quite the same way as or the Welsh speaker. Listen or differencesin waist and lake too. You might then expect the vowels inknow and load alsoto be different; but are they? How many syllables do you hear in items 23–25?Finally, in what ways do the nal two words differ?

5.13 1. lick _____ 2. leg _____ 3. lack _____

4. lock _____ 5. look _____ 6. luck _____ 7. leak _____ 8. lark _____ 9. palm _____ 10. pork _____ 11. Paul _____ 12. Luke _____ 13. blew _____ 14. lurk _____ 15. earth _____ 16. waist _____ 17. lake _____ 18. like _____ 19. void _____ 20. know _____ 21. load _____ 22. loud _____

23. idea _____ 24. pair _____ 25. poor _____



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PAR ONE Words

26. coffee _____ 27. Fiona _____ 28. Louise _____ 29. farmer _____

30. drama _____

Africa

Judy is an administrator in UK higher education, in her 40s, rom the Luhyaspeaking region o Kenya; she also speaks Swahili. Luhya and Swahili havemuch simpler vowel systems than English; what evidence o that act appearsin her pronunciation o English? One clue is that the distinction between shortand long vowels is hardly noticeable in her pronunciation o English. Listenalso or any difference there might be between the vowels oLuke and blew;

waist and lake; and know and no. 5.14 1. lick _____ 2. leg _____ 3. lack _____ 4. lock _____ 5. look _____ 6. luck _____ 7. leak _____ 8. lark _____

9. palm _____ 10. pork _____ 11. Paul _____ 12. Luke _____ 13. blew _____ 14. lurk _____ 15. earth _____ 16. waist _____ 17. lake _____ 18. like _____ 19. void _____ 20. know _____ 21. no _____ 22. loud _____ 23. idea _____ 24. pair _____ 25. poor _____ 26. coffee _____ 27. Fiona _____

28. Louise _____ 29. farmer _____ 30. drama _____



85

CHAP ER 5 Accents

India

Bhaskarrao is a postman, in his 60s, rom Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.He has been in UK or about 15 years. His rst language is elegu; he also

speaks Hindi and Urdu, which all have simpler vowel systems than English,and evidence o that will appear in his pronunciation. You might notice thatinitial plosives are not aspirated, whereas nal plosives are; check on how totranscribe the difference in narrow transcription. Is his accent rhotic? In somecases it is diffi cult to tell, but in items 23–25, it is quite clear; but is the /r/ atap [ɾ] or an approximant [ ɹ]? His pronunciation o pier ollows spelling andmaybe idiosyncratic; he con rmed he knew what the word re erred to. Finally,note how the nal two words differ.

5.15 1. lick _____

2. leg _____ 3. lack _____ 4. lock _____ 5. look _____ 6. luck _____ 7. leak _____ 8. lark _____ 9. palm _____ 10. pork _____ 11. Paul _____ 12. Luke _____ 13. blew _____ 14. lurk _____ 15. earth _____ 16. waist _____ 17. lake _____ 18. like _____ 19. void _____ 20. know _____

21. load _____ 22. loud _____ 23. idea _____ 24. pair _____ 25. poor _____ 26. coffee _____ 27. Fiona _____ 28. Louise _____ 29. farmer _____ 30. drama _____



86

PAR ONE Words

A foreign accent

Wayne is rom China, an economics teacher, in his 30s, rom Dalian; he speaksMandarin as his mother tongue. He was recorded two weeks afer arriving

in UK, on his rst ever visit to an English-speaking country. Mandarin has asimpler vowel system than English; notice, or instance the vowel qualities inthe very rst two words. Notice how varied the vowel length is in his pronun-ciation o SESP long vowels. Te open transition between /b/ and /l/ inblew istranscribed with a raised [ə]. His pronunciation o pair may be idiosyncratic.Where is the word stress in his pronunciation o Louise? Finally, the nal twowords do not quite rhyme; but how do they differ?

5.16 1. lick _____ 2. leg _____ 3. lack _____ 4. lock _____ 5. look _____ 6. luck _____ 7. leak _____ 8. lark _____ 9. palm _____ 10. pork _____ 11. Paul _____

12. Luke _____ 13. blew _____ 14. lurk _____ 15. earth _____ 16. waist _____ 17. lake _____ 18. like _____ 19. void _____ 20. know _____ 21. load _____ 22. loud _____ 23. idea _____ 24. pair _____ 25. poor _____ 26. coffee _____ 27. Fiona _____ 28. Louise _____ 29. farmer _____ 30. drama _____

Remember you can check your transcriptions against the Key in the appendixand read some general comments there about consistencies and trends.



87

CHAP ER 5 Accents

Chapters 4 and 5 contain a lot o technical detail and are pitched at a moreadvanced academic level than the preceding three chapters. We now return toa more gentle style or novices in transcription as we move on beyond individual words to combinations o words in phrases, ocusing mainly on a broad

transcription again.



88

6 Phrases

Words do not usually come by themselves, but are accompanied by manyothers! As words come together, they affect each other, usually to make thetransition between one word and the next smoother.

ake a simple example like en green bottles. Most people would recognizethis phrase as the title o an old song and would probably say it quickly andwithout any hesitation. As they did so, they probably would not notice that thepronunciation o ten and green changes because o the contact each has withadjacent words. In this case, ten would probably be pronounced with its /n/changing to /ŋ/ in anticipation o its contact with the / / o green; and greenwould probably be pronounced with its /n/ changing to /m/ in anticipation oits contact with the /b/ o bottles. Tese kinds o change re ect a process knownas simpli cation, which is the equivalent in pronunciation to processes likeeconomy o effort, or ‘cutting corners’, in other spheres o li e. In these cases,the two /n/s have changed to suit their contexts by becoming a little bit more

similar to the consonants that ollow in the next word.Other ways o ‘cutting corners’ in pronunciation include leaving soundsout or putting extra ‘transitional’ sounds in to acilitate smooth contacts.Tese simpli cation processes are typical o most in ormal conversationalspeech, which is what we engage in most o the time when we are talking.Tey can, however, be countered i the need is elt or a precise articulationin in ormal conversation and, in any case, in more ormal speech. We willbe assuming an in ormal conversational style o speech or the most part inthis Chapter.

*

Assimilation

Te adjustment o the articulation o words as a consequence o their immedi-ate spoken environment can happen in various ways. When an adjustment ismade to accommodate an actual phonetic eature in the immediate environ-ment, that process o simpli cation is known as assimilation. Te adjustmentmakes the phoneme more similar to its environment. Te adjustment o the/n/ in ten to the velar articulation o the / / in green is a case o assimilation: the

/n/ becomes velar /ŋ/ which shares an identical eature with the velar articula-tion o / /. Similarly, the /n/ o green becomes bilabial /m/ in anticipation othe bilabial articulation o /b/ inbottles.



89

CHAP ER 6 Phrases

Word- nal /n/ regularly adjusts itsel in English to the anticipated pointo articulation o the consonant at the beginning o the next word. Tink ocommon phrases with the prepositions on and in which are ollowed by wordsbeginning with bilabial /p, b, m/ and you will notice that the /n/ easily adjusts

itsel to /m/ in anticipation. 6.1 on purpose /ɒm p pəs/ in person / m p sn/

Now listen to and transcribe

6.2 on paper _______ in print _______ on principle _______ in prison _______

on behal _______ in between _______ on balance _______ in Bristol _______

on Monday _______ in March _______ on my behal _______ in medicine _______

Notice that in cases likeon Monday and in March , there is a ‘double’ /mm/, asingle articulation o double length to account or the nal /m/ oon and in andthe initial /m/ o the ollowing word. Otherwise it would sound like

6.3 om unday im arch

which does not sound typical o native English speech.In a parallel way, word- nal /n/ easily adjusts to a velar /ŋ/ in anticipation

o ollowing velar consonants /k,/. 6.4 on call /ɒŋ kɔ l/ in case / ŋ ke s/

Listen and transcribe

6.5 on course _______ in keeping _______ on guard _______ in Gloucester _______ on grass _______ in goal _______

An identical case o assimilation occurs in the pre xesun- and in- (whether it

means ‘in’ or negative). Listen and transcribe 6.6 unpleasant / m plεzn t/ input / mpυt/ unbalanced _______ inbuilt _______ unmade _______ inmate _______ unkind _______ incorrect _______ ungrate ul _______ ingratitude _______

Now consider these phrases and note the assimilation process:

6.7 10p / tεm pi/ 10 quid / tεŋ kw d/

£1 _______ one go _______ ne mess _______ ne grain _______ gun boat _______ gun carrier _______



90

PAR ONE Words

hen party _______ hen coop _______ ten pin bowling _______ 7 cases _______

All these cases o /n/ assimilation involve adjustments rom one phoneme, /n/,to another, /m, ŋ/. Tese are instances o phonemic assimilation. But the samekind o assimilation occurs in

6.8 in un ten things sunrise in waves in act one thought on show on Wednesday on vacation in there John Jones runway in verse in theory in use ten weeks

But the resulting articulation rom the assimilation process is not identical toan existing phoneme: there is the labiodental nasal [ ] be ore the labiodental/ , v/, the dental nasal [n] be ore the dental /θ, ð/, and either a post-alveolar

or palatal nasal [ ] be ore /r,ʃ, tʃ, d , j/. Look back at pp.65–66. Tese areinstances o allophonic assimilation, since the adjustments do not coincidewith other identi able phonemes, and so are not recorded in a phonemic transcription.

Assimilation o nal /n/ is common in many other languages, includingLatin, where the bilabial assimilation was actually expressed in the orthogra-phy: in + possibilis > impossibilis. As a result we have spellings likeimpossible, improper , impress, imbalance, imbecile, immense, immeasurable in English.And impromptu rom Italian.

* Assimilation o nal /d/ in English is almost parallel to that o /n/, but this is

not matched in many other languages. Te /d/ becomes bilabial /b/ – retain-ing its voicing – be ore bilabial /p, b, m/, and becomes velar // be ore velar/k, /. (Tis is true o most English accents, though West Walian English is anexception.) Notice the process in

6.9 bad penny / b b pεni/ red kite / rε ka t/ good boy _________ bad girl _________

red meat _________ good gracious _________ Notice it too in the greetings:

6.10 good morning / υb mɔ n ŋ/ goodbye / υb ba/

Notice that in cases like good boy , goodbye, there is a ‘double’ /bb/ – a singlearticulation o double length to account or the nal /b/ in /υb/ and the initial/b/ o the ollowing word; likewise, a ‘double’ // in bad girl .

But nal /d/ may also or some speakers become post-alveolar /d / be orepalatal /j/. Notice the process in

6.11 a bad year /ə b d j / good use / υd ju s/

Note the subtle difference in articulation between good useand



91

CHAP ER 6 Phrases

6.12 good juice/ υd d u s/

Historically, this post-alveolar assimilation o /d/ be ore /j/ accounts or the/d / in words like

6.13 grandeur , verdure, soldier and, more recently, in

educate, gradual

(Standard South Walian English keeps the /dj/ sequence in soldier : / səυldjə/.)Many trans er this process also to the beginnings o words as in

6.14 due, duty / d u/, / d u ti/

Note that this historical instance o assimilation does not apply in US English.

Te same kind o allophonic assimilation occurs in phrases like 6.15 good un a bad thing a red shirt

which we noted with /n/ above.

*

Assimilation o nal /t/ in English used to be exactly parallel to assimilation onal /d/, producing /p/ and /k/ – retaining voicelessness – be ore bilabial /b,

d, m/ and velar /k, /. Tus hot potato would be / hɒp pə te təυ/ and whitecross / wa k krɒs/. But a new tendency has developed and that is to articulate

nal /t/ as a glottal stop [ʔ]. Look back at p.63. Tis produces hot as [ hɒʔ] andwhite as [ wa ʔ], which eliminates any possibility o assimilation. Listen to thetwo possibilities in the ollowing phrases:

6.16 hot [ʔ] potato hot /p/ potato white [ʔ] cross white /k/ cross not [ʔ] bad not /p/ bad eight [ʔ] goals eight /k/ goals right [ʔ] mess right /p/ mess

Similarly, two possibilities be ore /j/, where the /t/ could assimilate to post-alveolar /t / or not

6.17 right [ʔ] use right /t / use Historically, this post-alveolar assimilation to /t / be ore /j/ accounts or the

/t / in words like

6.18 venture, picture, question and, more recently, in situation , actual.

Many trans er this process – as or /d/ + /j/ – to the beginnings o words like

6.19 tune , uesday

(One chocolate rm recently ran a series o adverts relying on the popularperception o this tendency:



92

PAR ONE Words

6.20 Every day is Chooseday! )

Note, again, that this historical instance o assimilation does not apply in USEnglish.

Listen also or the distinction between words likelight (with glottal stop) andlie, right (with glottal stop) and rye, etc., in these phrases

6.21 light detector lie detector Great Britain grey Britain right bread rye bread hurt eelings her eelings short line shore line tart manu acturer tar manu acturer boat man bowman

and the subtle difference in articulation between

6.22 white shoes wa ʔ ʃu z why choose wa tʃu z

Historically, the older tendency to assimilate may well account or the requentmis-spelling o utmost as *upmost . No doubt, the sense o the word and theanalogy with uppermost also contributed. (West Walian English is again anexception, where a ully articulated /t/ is usual in all these contexts.)

*

Final /s/ and /z/ assimilate to post-alveolar / / and / / in the ace o post-alveolar / , t , d / and palatal /j/, Consider phrases with this /ð s/ and these/ði z/

6.23 this shop /ð ʃ ʃɒp/ these shops /ði ʃɒps/ this chair _________ these chairs _________ this job _________ these jobs _________ this year _________ these years _________

Notice that in cases likethis shop, bus shelter , there is a ‘double’ / / to accountor the / / assimilation at the end o the rst word and the / / at the beginning

o the ollowing word.Historically, this post-alveolar assimilation o /s, z/ be ore /j/ accounts or

the / , / in words like

6.24 pressure, mission and pleasure, vision and, more recently, in issue, usual .

It also accounts or the / / at the beginning o words likesure, sugar. Noticealso how /s/ readily assimilates to / / be ore the /t / in words like

6.25 mischie / m ʃtʃ f/, question / kwεʃtʃən/, Christian / kr ʃtʃən/

You will have noticed how /t, d, s, z/ all yield to the post-alveolar assimilationprocess be ore /j/. Tis is particularly noticeable when the ollowing word is you or your , and is easily demonstrated in the ollowing phrases



93

CHAP ER 6 Phrases

6.26 did you? you had your chance!

I the word you or your is unstressed (see pp. 34–35) not only does the assimi-lation process adjust the pronunciation o /d/ to /d / in anticipation o the /j/,but the /d/ and /j/ actually coalesce: / did u/, /ju h d ɔ tʃɑ ns/. Howeveri the word you or your is stressed, as, or example, in emphasis or contrast, the/j/ is retained:

6.27 / did ju /, / ju h d jɔ tʃɑ ns/

Notice, then, these cases where you/your is unstressed

6.28 I need you /a ni d u/ I’ll hide your money /a l ha d ɔ m ni/ She loved you _______ I’ve sorted your car out ________ we’ll miss you _______ cross your arms ________ it wakes you up _______ he likes your sister ________ we’ll lose you _______ use your head ________ cocoa warms you up _______ he sees your problem ________ as you know _______ Tis is your li e ________ as you like it _______ does your wi e know ________ it does you good _______ where’s your money ________ he has you in mind _______ what was your job ________

Remember that there are two possibilities when /t/ is ollowed by /j/

6.29 he’ll meet you / mi ʔ u/ he’ll meet your riend / mi ʔ jɔ / / mi tʃ u/ / mi tʃ ɔ / it won’t hurt you _________ I hate your guts! _________ _________ _________

*

All the cases o assimilation we have considered so ar involve an adjustment inthe place o articulation in anticipation o (or in coalescence with) an immedi-ately ollowing consonant. Te words have to belong to a phrase or a close knit

syntactic structure within a clause. Assimilation ofen operates when a pauseo hesitation interrupts the pronunciation o a phrase, likehe’s gone . by bus /... ɒm . ba ... / . But it does not operate when the pause realizes the boundarybetween two clauses:how has he gone? By bus? /... ɒn . ba .../.

*

A quite different case o assimilation involves an adjustment in voicing . A voiced ricative in word- nal position ofen loses its voicing, either partiallyor ully, i the next word begins with a voiceless consonant. For instance, nal

/v/ in have may weaken to a partially devoiced [v] be ore a voiceless conso-nant in a phrase like have to, or it may weaken with ull devoicing and becomeidentical to / /. Listen to the two possibilities:



94

PAR ONE Words

6.30 [ h v tu] [ h f tu]

Similarly, nal /z/, e.g.has to

[ h z tu] [ h s tu]

Te partial devoicing process is a case o allophonic assimilation, but the ulldevoicing process amounts to phonemic assimilation. Notice that the /v/ o o ,the / / o with, the /z/ o is, was can all be affected.

o course [v, f] with care [ð, θ] he’s too bad [z, s] with support [ð, θ] she was ne [z, s]

In the ollowing cases, note once again the tendency or a single articulation o‘double’ length to account or the assimilated consonant at the end o one wordand an identical consonant at the beginning o the ollowing word.

ull o un with thanks that was so nice

Te devoicing tendency ofen occurs within a word, at the juncture o twomorphemes, in parallel situations. Tus withstand /w ð st nd/ becomes[w ð st nd] or /w θ st nd/, and absent / bsn t/ becomes either [ b sn t] or/ psn t/. Likewisesubsist , absolutely , obscene, newspaper. In the word absurd ,two alternative assimilation processes may be heard: either the /b/ becoming[b] or /p/; or the /s/ becoming /z/: / p s d/ or / b z d/.

*

Tat second alternative – the voicing option – is requently heard in other caseswhere a voiceless ricative, particularly /s, /, between voiced sounds becomes voiced itsel . A well-known example is the change that has happened to thename Asia, where /ʃ/ has begun to give way to / /:

6.31 / e ʃə/, / e ə/; version / v ʃən/, / v ən/; resource /r sɔ s/, /r zɔ s/;transit / tr ns t/, / tr nz t/; Muslim / mυsl m/ to / mυzl m/

*

Tese are the main cases o assimilation in English. Assimilation – phonemicor allophonic – is usuallyanticipatory : it anticipates either the adjustment inthe place o articulation o nal /n, d, t, s, z/ be ore certain consonants, or thedevoicing o ricatives (and occasionally, plosives) be ore voiceless consonants.Assimilation is also occasionallycoalescent : when two successive consonantsaffect each other as in cases like /d/ ollowed by /j/ as indid you? / d d u/.

But there is one other instance o assimilation in English where an adjust-ment is made that retains the place o articulation o a preceding consonant.Tis happens regularly in the word happen! I no vowel ollows, the nal/n/ becomes syllabic and adjusts to the bilabial articulation o /p/: / h pm/;

also:happens / h pm z/, happened / h pm d/, but not in happening , where the/n/ is not syllabic: / h pn ŋ/. Look back at p. 52. Tis kind o assimilation iscalled retentive or perseverative , and is relatively rare in English – although it



95

CHAP ER 6 Phrases

is common in other languages. Other occasional instances in English includethe possibility o open / əυpən/ becoming / əυpm/; opens / əυpənz/ becoming/ əυpm z/ and opened / əυpənd/ becoming / əυpm d/; but opening / əυpn ŋ/keeps the non-syllabic /n/.

Elision

A second type o simpli cation involves not an adjustment to a sound, but itscomplete removal. Tis is known as elision; the missing sound is said to havebeen elided. ake the nameChristmas as an example; it used to be a compoundconsisting o Christ and mass, but in the course o time, the /t/ o the rst wordhas been elided, and nowadays nobody would normally pronounce the namewith a /t/. Similarly, the word handkerchie used to be a compound consistingo hand and kerchie , but again in the course o time the /d/ o the rst word hasbeen elided.

As it happens, elision mainly affects nal /t, d/ i they are preceded by a con-sonant – as in the cases above – and also ollowed by a word beginning with aconsonant – again, as in the cases above.

First o all, we will consider theelision of nal /d/ . Notice what has happenedto the /d/ in these other ( ormerly compound) words:

6.32 handsome, sandwich, grand ather , grandchildren

Notice too that as /d/ is elided in grandparents , the preceding /n/ is adjacent to

a bilabial consonant and assimilates to /p/ by becoming /m/: 6.33 / r m pεərənts/

ry and transcribe:

6.34 grandpa _________ grandmother _________ grandma _________

keeping a ‘double’ /m/ or the assimilating /n/ and the /m/ o the second parto the compound. ranscribe, likewise:

6.35 handbag / h m b / windbag _________ windmill _________

ranscribe

6.36 handset / h n sεt/ landscape _________ bandstand _________ riendship _________ bend them _________

Now cases where /d/ is preceded by /l/



96

PAR ONE Words

6.37 wild beasts / wa l bi sts/ old men _________ child protection _________ gold sh _________

old them _________ Te act that the elision o /d/ makes some o these words identical to others

(while, goal , oal ) does not seem to trouble native English speakers, as thecontext usually makes it quite clear which word is intended. Occasionally,there is potential ambiguity as in cold shed/coal shed, but again, usually thecontext is clear. Elision is sometimes expressed in ‘popular’ spelling, e.g.Ol’King Cole, Ole Man River.

Elision, however, does not take place i the ollowing consonant is /h/, such asin

6.38 hand held / h nd hεld/ grand house _________ wild horse _________ old hand _________

and is optional i the approximants /r, w/ and /l/ ollow

6.39 hand rail _________, _________ hand luggage _________, ________ Grand Rapids _________, _________ landlocked _________, ________ old rope _________, _________ old lady _________, ________ wild west _________, _________ wild lily _________, ________

I /j/ ollows, assimilation to /d / usually takes place

6.40 land use / l nd ju s/ old year _________

Tus, /d/ elision takes place i it is word- nal, preceded by a consonant and ol-lowed immediately by a word beginning with a consonant (but with the aboveexceptions). It also takes place i a suffi x ollows which begins with the rightkind o consonant. Tus /d/ is elided in riends, and may optionally be elidedin riendly . What about these words?

6.41 riendship _________ blindness _________ childless _________ worldly _________ hand ul _________ child’s play _________

Te past-tense suffi x <-ed> is pronounced /d/ afer voiced consonants other

than /d/ itsel (see p. 53). I the immediately ollowing word begins with a con-sonant that causes elision, then the past tense suffi x itsel is elided. Tis meansthat the verb actually loses its tense marker; again, native English speakers do



97

CHAP ER 6 Phrases

not appear to be particularly bothered by this, since there will probably beenough in the context to indicate which tense is intended. So, or example,in I warned them , the conditions are right or elision to take place, leaving thespoken equivalent o I warn them . Naturally, a person may decide to make the

suffi x noticeable by articulating the /d/ in an exaggerated way, but this is notnormal in most ordinary, typical, in ormal colloquial speech. ranscribe theollowing as in this in ormal colloquial style:

6.42 I warned them _________ and called them _________ and told them off _________

*

Now, the elision of /t/ . Just as /t/ has been elided in Christmas, and also in

words like castle, listen, whistle, wrestle, sofen , it is also elided in postman, acts, vastness.Some people, but not all, elide the /t/ in ofen: / ɒftən, ɒfən/.Otherwise, it appears to parallel the case o /d/ elision, but the precedingconsonant must be voiceless in the case o /t/ elision. Tus, /t/ is elided in

6.43 acts / f ks/ but not in aults instincts / nst ŋks/ but not in intents vastness vɑ snəs/ but not in pleasantness

ranscribe

6.44 sof spot / sɒf spɒt/ lost cause _________ lef oot _________ vast spaces _________ apt remarks _________ Act Tree _________ just now _________ best thing _________

As with /d/, elision does not occur i the ollowing consonant is /h/. Note thedifference betweenWest Bromwich and West Ham . Elision does not take placein

6.45 gif horse / ft hɔ s/ guest house _________ lef hand _________

and is optional i the approximants /r, w/ and /l/ ollow

6.46 last rites _________, _________ sof landing _________, _________ lef wing _________, _________ gif wrap _________, _________ guest list _________, _________ wrist watch _________, _________

I /j/ ollows, either elision takes place, or assimilation to /tʃ /



98

PAR ONE Words

6.47 last year / lɑ ʃ j / or / lɑ ʃtʃ j / cost unit _________, _________ lost youth _________, _________ West Yorkshire ________, _________

I a suffi x ollows which begins with the right kind o consonant, then /t/ iselided. Tus /t/ is elided in swifness and may, optionally, be elided in swifly.What about these words?

6.48 lifs _________ ghostly _________ listless _________ sofness _________ gif’s value _________

Te past tense suffi x <-ed> is pronounced /t/ afer voiceless consonants otherthan /t/ itsel (see pp.53–54). I the immediately ollowing word begins witha consonant that causes elision, then – just like the case o /d/ – the /t/ suffi xis elided. Tis means that in a case with past tense, like I washed them, wherethe conditions are right or elision, then it will sound exactly like the spokenequivalent o the present tense,I wash them. ranscribe the ollowing in anin ormal colloquial style:

6.49 I lef my riends _________ crossed the street _________

and passed the shops _________ then lost my way _________

Notice that /t/ does not readily get elided i it would otherwise bring two /s/stogether at the end o a word:

6.50 ghosts / əυsts/ costs _________ easts _________

Nevertheless, /t/ is elided in these other cases:

6.51 rst serve / f s s v/ most surprising _________ lost soul _________

*

Elision, in English, mainly involves nal /t, d/ when preceded by a consonant(a voiceless one in the case o /t/) and ollowed immediately by a word begin-ning with certain consonants. It also happens regularly to the /k/ o ask when

ollowed immediately by any elision-inducing consonants. All the eatures o/t/ elision apply:

6.52 Ask me a question



99

CHAP ER 6 Phrases

He’ll ask them each a question Tey asked a question

Note the double elision that takes place in Tey asked me a question but /k/ is not elided i it would bring two /s/s together:

6.53 She always asks many questions and may happen in

6.54 She’ll ask loads o questions /k/ elision is restricted to the verbask, no doubt because it is used so requently.

It does not normally happen in words like risk, e.g. risked , or task, e.g. task orce.

Tere are certain other cases o elision as a consequence o rhythm, but they

will be dealt with in Chapter 7.

Epenthesis

Having considered elision – the loss o a sound – as a process o simpli cation,it might seem strange to consider the addition o a sound as another way osimpli ying pronunciation. But there are some such cases in English.

Consider the word young.Its nal consonant is a voiced velar nasal /ŋ/. Nowconsider the derived orm youngster. You will notice that the ending beginswith /s/, a voiceless alveolar ricative. Te /s/ articulation is different in everyrespect rom the /ŋ/ articulation; /s/ is voiceless, /ŋ/ is voiced; /s/ is oral, in thesense that the sof palate is raised, /ŋ/ is nasal, with the sof palate lowered; /s/is ricative, with a partial closure in the mouth, /ŋ/ requires complete closure;and /s/ is alveolar, with the blade o the tongue against the teeth ridge, /ŋ/ is velar, with the back o the tongue against the sof palate. Tus, the transition to/s/ rom /ŋ/ involves our changes: at the vocal olds, with the sof palate, with adifferent degree o closure with a different part o the tongue. In care ul speech,it is quite possible to synchronize all these movements, but many people inordinary, typical, in ormal colloquial speech do not. What happens in their

case is that the changes at the vocal olds and with the sof palate are engagedrst, and then the tongue ‘catches up’ aferwards. In other words, the transitionrom /ŋ/ to /s/ is staggered, with the result that an extra – transitional – sound

is produced. Tat ‘transitional’ sound has the voicelessness and ‘orality’ o /s/but the tongue position o the /ŋ/, and is thus identical to the articulation othe English consonant /k/.

k s

voiced ← voiceless

nasal ← oral

closed → fricative

velar → alveolar



100

PAR ONE Words

Tis explains why many people, who do not synchronize all our changes,insert an additional, transitional, /k/

6.55 / j ŋkstə/

Tis process o adding, or inserting, an extra transitional sound is known asepenthesis.ranscribe the word gangster in two ways

6.56 gangster _____________ ______________

A parallel process o epenthesis happens inhamster:

m p s


nasal ← oral


bilabial → alveolar

ry and pronounce hamster in these two ways, and transcribe each

6.57 hamster _____________ ______________

(Epenthesis explains whyhamster is sometimes mis-spelt ashampster !)A third parallel case o epenthesis happens inmonster . Although /n/ and /s/

share an alveolar point o articulation, the tongue changes rom a at ‘broad’

contact to a grooved shape. As in the other transitions, the tongue movementmay lag behind, leaving the at ‘broad’ contact ractionally longer; this helps toproduce a transitional /t/.

n t s


nasal ← oral


flat → grooved

ry and pronounce monster in these two ways, and transcribe each

6.58 monster _____________ _______________

Tis process o epenthesis in English happens whenever a nasal sound is ol-lowed by a voiceless ricative, as long as the voiceless ricative is not part o astressed syllable.

Consider the sequence o nasal + /θ/; transcribe these words with andwithout appropriate epenthetic consonants

6.59 warmth ____________ ____________ tenth ____________ ____________ millionths ____________ ____________



101

CHAP ER 6 Phrases

length ____________ ____________ strength ____________ ____________

In the case o length and strength, an alternative process o simpli cation ispossible or some speakers, the process o assimilating the /ŋ/ to /n/: / lεnθ/,/ strεnθ/. But then the conditions are right again or epenthesis: / lεntθ/,/ strεntθ/!

Consider also the sequence o /n/ + /s/; transcribe these words with andwithout epenthetic /t/

6.60 dense ____________ ____________ chance ____________ ____________ prince ____________ ____________ once ____________ ____________ patience ____________ ____________

Notice then that the pronunciation with epenthetic /t/ becomes a homophonewith the plural orms:

dents chants prints wants patients

a point which is not lost in jokes, e.g. about the doctor who lost his patience/ patients! ry triumph , triumphal , triumphant without, and with, epenthetic/p/. What about circum erence?

Finally, consider the sequence o nasal + voiceless ricatives in names.Te son o Sam is either Samson, or Sampson – with epenthetic /p/; similarlySimson and Simpson, Tomson and Tompson. (Not, you note, the sons oSamp, Simp and Tomp!) Epenthetic /p/ has been realized historically in theplace names Hampstead, Hampton, Hampshire, Kempton. Epenthetic /t/ or /k/is ofen pronounced (but not spelt) in names like Benson, Hanson, Johnson,Langton, Lang ord.

Liaison

Liaison is another process which involves the addition o a sound. In this case,a speaker inserts a sound in order to ease the link between vowels at the end oone word and at the beginning o an immediately ollowing word.

Te most well-known case involves a historical <r> at the end o a word.In most British (‘non-rhotic’) accents, the <r> in a word likehere is not pro-nounced i there is either a consonant ollowing in the next word, or silence.But i the immediately ollowing word begins with a vowel, the <r> does get

pronounced: here in Britain / h ər m br tn/. Such an /r/ is traditionallyknown as a linking /r/ , as speakers use it to link up the end o one word withthe beginning o the next. Here are some more examples:



102

PAR ONE Words

6.61 ar / fɑ/ ar away / fɑ r ə we/ near ____________ near enough ____________ there ____________ there inside ____________ oor ____________ next oor up ____________

stir ____________ stir in ____________ ever ____________ ever afer ____________ more ____________ more examples ______________

Notice the kind o vowel that occurs in the rst column: /ɑ , ə, εə, ɔə, , ə/,all relatively open or mid, and back or central/centring. It is now very common

or native English speakers to add /r/ to any word ending in these vowels whenthe immediately ollowing word begins with a vowel – even i there is no ‘his-torical’ /r/ in the spelling. Tere was, in the 1960s and 70s, a erce controversy as to whether this ‘non-historical’ /r/ liaison was acceptable in standard

pronunciation, but it is now widely heard and accepted as a current orm,based on the analogy o the ‘linking’ /r/. But because o that controversy, this‘non-historical’ case is usually re erred to as theintrusive /r/ . Here are someexamples:

6.62 spa / spɑ/ the spa is open /ðə spɑ r z əυpən/ media __________ media operation ____________________ law __________ law in Scotland ____________________ milieu __________ milieu in society ____________________ Laura __________ Laura Ashley ____________________

Although the ‘intrusive’ /r/ is added on the analogy o the ‘linking’ /r/, it is basi-cally an identical process o liaison, easing the link between two vowels acrossa word boundary. For some speakers, the ‘intrusive’ /r/ eases the boundarybetween morphemes even within a word, e.g.drawing may become

6.63 / drɔ r ŋ/

*

I a word ends in the vowels /i , i, e , a , ɔ /, some speakers use /j/ to link themto a vowel at the beginning o an immediately ollowing word. And i a wordends in the vowels /u , u, aυ, əυ/, a /w/ is ofen used to produce a similar link.Here are some examples:

6.64 see si see off si j ɒf stay __________ stay out ______________ high __________ high over ______________ toy __________ toy animals ______________ the end ______________

6.65 new __________ new in ormation ____________

no __________ no idea ______________ how __________ how about ______________ to end ______________



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CHAP ER 6 Phrases

Liaison with /r, j, w/ – the three approximants – eases the link between anynal vowel and any vowel at the beginning o an immediately ollowing word.

It is thus another type o simpli cation process.

*

We have now covered all our o the processes o simpli cation that nativespeakers o English employ in ordinary, typical, in ormal colloquial speech.And we have transcribed plenty o examples o each type. But it must alsobe emphasized that this survey o simpli cation processes applies to English,and not necessarily to other languages. Other languages may have processesthat are parallel to the English ones, but they may very likely employ ewer, ordifferent, or more processes than English does.

Remember too, native speakers have the option o not employing thesesimpli cation processes, especially in a slow, deliberate style. Imagine, orinstance, the opening announcement at a seminar.

6.66 oday our subject is Anne Boleyn /... n bυ l n/

and compare it with a less ormal style in a ollowing statement o explanation

6.67 As you know, Anne Boleyn / m bυ l n/ was Henry VIII’s second wi e

ranscribe these names and places in this less ormal style

6.68 Dan Brown David Beckham Liz Yates

John Paul David Cameron Roger Ellis John Milton Bertrand Russell Barbara Edwards Catherine Cookson Ronald Reagan Leeds United Don Quixote Raymond Baxter West Virginia Ryan Giggs Old rafford Rif Valley (See Key)

We have now covered every angle o the transcription o words in English!





105

II . . . and Discourse

7 Rhythm

alk does not normally consist o single words. Sometimes it does, but muchmore ofen, talk consists o a vast number o words connected together inphrases, clauses, sentences, phonological paragraphs – in whole texts o dis-course. An utterance that consists o a single word is usually a response likeYes, No, Well , Maybe, OK , Certainly , Absolutely , or ench, Paul , Cardiff , British, Male . . . But in most talk, words pile upon each other and they affectthe pronunciation o each other. We have seen some o the effects o wordscoming together in phrases in Chapter 6. But there is another kind o effectwhen words come together in phrases and clauses. Just as words have a stresspattern, phrases and clauses do too as they become part o real discourse.

Tink again o the old song:

en green bott lesHang ing on the wallAnd i one green bott leShould acciden tally fallTere’d be nine green bott lesHang ing on the wall

Each line has three beats, or stresses (printed in bold) which means that certainwords and syllables are pronounced without stress (printed plain). In order tosay these unstressed words quickly enough not to spoil the rhythm, they areusually pronounced with a weak vowel. And this means that certain wordshave at least two possible pronunciations – a strong orm with a strong vowel,and a weak orm with a weak vowel. ake the wordand or example. aken byitsel , it is pronounced as /ænd/; this is its strong orm. And it is sometimespronounced like that in talk, or emphasis or contrast. But much more ofen, itis pronounced in a different way, as in this song, as /ən/; this is its weak orm.Te choice between its strong or weak orm depends upon its role in an utter-ance; i it is just connecting words or clauses, it is usually pronounced in itsweak orm, but i someone wants to draw attention to the connection itsel ,

it would be pronounced in its strong orm. Tis is a choice at the level o dis-course which is then re ected in the degree o prominence that a person givesa word within a phrase or clause. As a general rule, lexical (or ‘content’) words



106

PAR WO . . . and Discourse

like nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are made prominent because o theirimportance in a message, whereas grammatical (or ‘structure’) words like conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, determiners and auxiliary and modal verbsare usually pronounced without any prominence because their role is basically

to provide structure to phrases and clauses in utterances. English rhythm, then,relates to the way in which unstressed syllables are integrated with the strongsyllables o prominent words in discourse, to produce the pronunciation ophrases and clauses.

Most talk is conducted in an in ormal, rather rapid, colloquial style.Occasionally, talk is slow and ormal, in which case the processes o simpli ca-tion would not necessarily operate. Sometimes, the pace o talk is reduced todictation speed when even rhythm choices do not operate. I you had to dictatethe en Green Bottlessong, you would probably articulate all the words in their

ull orms. (Te dots (.) indicate pausing.)

7.1 tεn . ri n . bɒtlz h ŋ ŋ . ɒn . ðə . wɔ l nd . f . w n . ri n . bɒtl ʃυd . ksi . dεntəli . fɔ l ðεə . wυd . bi . na n . ri n . bɒtl z h ŋ ŋ . ɒn . ðə . wɔ l

Contrast this pronunciation with the way you would probably sing it!

7.2 tεŋ ri m bɒtl z h ŋ ŋ ɒn ðə wɔ l ən f w ŋ ri m bɒtl ʃəd ks dεntli fɔ l ðə b bi na ŋ r m bɒtl z h ŋ ŋ ɒn ðə wɔ l

Obviously, normal, ordinary, in ormal, colloquial talk is not like singing withits care ully measured beat, but it is nevertheless marked by rhythm choicesand simpli cation processes as illustrated in the song.

So, just as words have stress patterns, so do phrases and clauses. Indeed,some words and phrases have identical patterns, or instanceinaction and inaction / n kʃən/ , even indeed and in deed / n di d/. Listen:

7.3 / n kʃən/, / n di d/

In our practice o the effects o rhythm in the pronunciation o discourse inEnglish, we will concentrate on the grammatical items and begin with theprepositions.

Prepositions

Prepositions have ull orms and weak orms. Strong orms are used oremphasis or contrast and when they occur at the ends o clauses:



107

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

7.4 where are you ying to /tu / and travelling rom /frɒm/ which hotel are you staying at / t / how long are you going or /fɔ /

But in ordinary prepositional phrases, they are usually unstressed.

7.5 I’m ying to /tə/ Glasgow on /ɒm/ Monday rom /frəm/ Gatwick with /w ð/ a budget airline staying at /ət/ the ‘Old Barn’ in / n/ in the city centre or /fə/ the weekend

Notice that the vowel in some prepositions changes to a weak vowel, like rom/frəm/ and at / ət/, but in others like on, with, in it does not. In the case o to,the vowel changes to the neutral vowel i a consonant ollows immediately, orto the weak vowel /tu/ be ore a vowel. Look back at p. 34. In the case o or , the vowel changes to the neutral vowel, but a linking /r/ is added as liaison be orea ollowing vowel. Now try these examples

7.6 ying to _______ San Francisco rom _______ Birmingham staying at _______ the ‘Old Castle’ or _______ two weeks

7.7 ying to _______ LA (/ εl e/) rom _______ Manchester staying at _______ the ‘Old Lodge’ or _______ a ew days

Te preposition o has a strong orm: /ɒ / or emphasis, contrast and the endposition o a clause, e.g.

7.8 what’s he thinking o /ɒ

/ and a weak orm when unstressed /əv/

7.9 thinking o /əv/ his holidays ranscribe

7.10 what does his plan consist o ______ a week o _____ sun in the south o ______ Spain, then climb to the top o

____ the Rock o _____ Gibraltar, then a month o _____ hiking along thecoast o ____ North A rica.

Te weak orm is also ofen pronounced with /v/ elided, reducing it to / ə/.Historically, this is what has happened in telling the time, e.g.2 o’clock / tu ə klɒk / or the older2 o (the) clock. It is also what has happened in phrases



108


like a cup o teabecoming a cuppa / k pə /. An old advert to encourage thedrinking o milk was

Drinka Pinta (= a pint o ) Milka Day

Popular spellings o kind o and sort o as kinda, sorta display the sameobservation.

7.11 you sort o / sɔ t ə/ try it’s kind o / ka nd ə/ nice

ranscribe the ollowing according to whether /ə / or /ə/ is used

7.12 a cup o ________ coffee at 11 o’_____ clock a cup o ________ tea at 4 o’_____ clock a pint o ________ beer at 8 o’ _____ clock a packet o ________ crisps at the end o _____ the day

None o the other prepositions have special weak orms with a change o vowel; they are transcribed with a stress mark i stressed, and without it iunstressed.

7.13 we’re going through /θru / France he said We’re going through / θru/ France, not to / tu / France and we’re going or / fə / two weeks, not in / n/ two weeks. and you need to check your passport be ore / b fɔ / , not afer / ɑ ftə /.

ranscribe

7.14 single to ___ Liverpool please the 8.25 or ____ Manchester will be leaving rom _____Plat orm 1 change at ___ Crewe or ____ all stations to __ Liverpool Lime Street we apologize that there’ll be a delay o __ ten minutes.

*

Conjunctions

Te most common conjunction is and . As we have already noted, its ull ormis / nd/ and its most requent weak orm is /ən/. Te /n/ o its weak orm is vulnerable to the process o assimilation, as inbed and break ast

7.15 / bεb m brεkfəst/

ranscribe and in these orders or break ast

7.16 ruit and _____ break ast cereals muesli and _____ corn akes eggs and _____ bacon



109

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

toast and _____ marmalade tea and _____ coffee

I you orderham and egg , note that you might possibly retain the /d/: either/ən/ or /ənd/. What about

7.17 grape ruit and ____ (or ____ ) orange?

I the conditions are right, the /n/ may give way to a syllabic /n / (or /m/, as inbed and break ast , or /ŋ/). ranscribe and in these suggestions or lunch

7.18 bread and cheese _____ soup and bread _____ omelette and chips _____ roast pork and gravy _____ cake and cream _____

*

Te conjunction or usually remains unchanged when unstressed, except ina ew set phrases. When a genuine choice or alternative is being offered, theconjunction remains as /ɔ / with the possibility o /r/ liaison as in

7.19 eat in or /ɔ r/ out

Notice the ull orm in

7.20 brown bread or ___ white tea or ___ coffee with or ___ without

but in set phrases like one or two, the conjunction may be reduced to /ə/.Compare

(How long are you staying?)

7.21 two or /ə/ three days well, is it two or / ɔ/ three days well, when we’ve more or /ə/ less nished

Similarly, withnor.

7.22 he’s not staying, and nor / nɔ r/ are you a day or /ə/ two is neither here nor /nə/ there

*

Te conjunction but /b t/ is weakened to /bət/ when unstressed. In these it isunstressed:

7.23 the weather will be dry but /bət/ cold wet but ____ mild warm at rst, but ____ cold later you should be all right, but ____ take an umbrella just in case

But is stressed when a speaker wants to emphasize a contrast:



110


7.24 you should be all right,but ____ take an umbrella just in case

*

Te conjunction as / z/ is weakened to /əz/ when unstressed:

7.25 they were as /əz/ snug as ____ a bug in a rug as ____ warm as ____ toast as ____ dry as ____ possible

Te /z/ is susceptible to the process o assimilation:

take as ____ much as ____ you like

I you in this context is unstressed, the /j/ will be elided: /ə u/: but i you isstressed, the /j/ is retained: . . . as you think best.

7.26 /... ə ju/ As at the beginning o an utterance is usually strong:

7.27 as / z/ I came to work today

*

Te conjunction because has a strong orm /b kɒz/ and a weak orm whenunstressed: /b kəz/. At the beginning o an utterance, it is usually strong:

7.28 because /b kɒz/ it’s raining, we’ll stay inside

7.29 we can go out now, because /b kəz/ it’s stopped

Te weak orm can be urther weakened to a single syllable: /kəz/, popularlyspelt as cos:

7.30 let’s go out, cos /kəz/ it’s stopped raining Te nal /z/ is susceptible to the process o assimilation:

7.31 we’re going out, cos /kə / you said we could (Te /j/ o you would be elided i unstressed.)

Te weak orms o because are valid too in the phrasal preposition becauseo .

7.32 we stayed in because /b kəz/ o /əv/ the rain we stayed in cos /kəz/ o /əv/ the rain

*

Te word that is usually pronounced in a weak orm /ðət/ when it operates asa relative pronoun or conjunction, as in

7.33 the weather that /ðət/ was orecast they said that _____ it would be wet now that _____ it’s stopped . . .



111

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

Te word that is usually pronounced in its strong orm /ð t / as a demonstrativeadjective or pronoun:

7.34 it rained throughout that / ð t/ day so that / ð t / was that / ð t/ it was that / ð t/ wet

ranscribe

7.35 that ______ man said that _____ all that _____ rain that _____ ell yesterday was enough to ll that _____ reservoir that _____ we saw.

*

Finally, the conjunction than has a strong orm /ð n/, but is usuallypronounced in its weak orm /ðən/:

7.36 wetter than /ðən/ yesterday more rain than _____ ever rather go abroad than _____ stay here

*

None o the other conjunctions have special weak orms with a change o vowel; they are transcribed with a stress mark i they are stressed, and withoutit i unstressed:

7.37 I said i / f/ i / f/ you like

7.38 while / wa l/ it’s raining let’s play Monopoly let’s play Monopoly while /wa l/ it’s raining

*

Determiners

Te determiners that have special weak orms are the de nite and inde nite

articles and the possessive adjectives. Te de nite article the has a special strong orm: / ði/, as in

7.39 Spain is the / ði/ place or the sun It also has an ordinary strong orm: / ðə/ as in

7.40 the de nite article isthe / ðə /

(Tis is one o only two occasions in SESP when the neutral vowel is stressed.) Te also has two weak orms in most accents, though the second is less common

in General American: /ðə/ be ore consonants, /ði/ be ore vowels, as in

Te / ðə/ de nite article Te / ði/ articles



112


ranscribe the ollowing:

7.41 the weather __________ the umbrella __________ the rain __________ the ice __________ the morning __________ the afernoon __________ the night __________ the evening __________ the hotel __________ the hour __________ the usual __________ the unusual __________

*

Te inde nite articles have strong orms: /e / be ore consonants, / n/ be ore vowels.

7.42 I said an / n / egg, not hal a dozen!

7.43 at least you’vea / e/ drink, even i it’s not what you ordered Te corresponding weak orms are / ə/ and /ən/. ranscribe

7.44 a coffee __________ an ice cream __________ a banana __________ an apple __________ a hostel __________ an inn __________ a use ul thing __________ an ugly scene __________

*

Te word some is used or inde niteness with mass nouns likemilk. Its strongorm is /s m/ and its weak orm is /səm/.

7.45 at least you’ve gotsome / s m/ milk I need some /səm/ more milk

ranscribe these phrases with both the strong and the weak orms:

7.46 some sugar _____ , _____ ________ some money _____ , _____ ________ some change _____ , _____ ________ some time _____ , _____ ________

*

Any and many have the same orm in both stressed and unstressed situations:

7.47 I haven’t hadany / εni/ sugar I haven’t had any /εni/ sugar

7.48 they’ve beenmany / mεni / times I do not have many /mεni / ideas

But there is the possibility o weak orms in common phrases: /əni/ and /məni/as in



113

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

7.49 I haven’t any /əni/ lef how many /məni/ do you need

*

Te demonstrative adjectives are this / ð s / , that /ð t / , these /ði z / and those /ðəυz/. Tey do not change in unstressed positions: it is in this respect thatit is important to distinguish between that as a conjunction which regularlyweakens to /ðət/ and that as a determiner that retains its strong orm.

Notice how the nal /s/ o this, and the nal /z/ o these and those are sus-ceptible to the process o assimilation:

7.50 what are you going to do with all those /ðəυ / euros? and this ____ cheque?

*

Te possessive adjectives are my /ma /, your /jɔ / , his /h z / , her /h / , its / ts / , our /aυə/, their /ðεə / and whose/hu z /. Strong orms are used or emphasis orcontrast.

My and their do not normally have a weak orm:

7.51 hey, that’s my / ma/ sun cream , my _____ towel,my _____ place

7.52 now, let me think. I’ve got my /ma / wallet, my _____ passport , my _____ticket _________________ and my _____ insurance.

Our is ofen weakened to /ɑ / (look back at p. 71), and with /r/ liaison:

7.53 we’re off on our /ɑ / holidays on our /ɑ r/ old bikes

Your is ofen weakened to / jə/, with /r/ liaison – hence its popular spelling as yer :

7.54 off on your /jə/ holidays? on your /jə/ bike? on your /jər/ own?

His, her and whose have weak orms with /h/ elision i immediately precededby a word:

7.55 what’s his / z/ name? I don’t know his / z/ name what’s her / / name? I don’t know her / / name the couple whose /uz/ names I’ve orgotten

I they begin a new utterance, the /h/ is usually pronounced.

7.56 whose /hu z/ tickets are these? his /h z/ name is Paolo her /h / name is Michaela

*



114


Titles

Most titles are stressed:

7.57 Mr / m stə/ Smith Mr / m stər/ Evans

Mrs / m s z/ Smith Mrs / m s / Jones Miss / m s/ Smith Miss / m ʃ/ Jones Ms / məz/ Smith Ms / mə/ Jones (NB the only other occasion or stressed / ə/. Look back at p.111.) Master / mɑ stə/ om Master / mɑ stər/ Edward Baroness / b rənəʃ/ Young President / prεz dn t/ Obama Queen / kwi n/ Elizabeth Prince / pr ns, pr nts/ Philip

but some other monosyllabic titles are ofen unstressed: 7.58 St /sənt/ Andrew Sir /sə/ Winston Sir /sər/ Anthony

*

Pronouns

Te subject pronouns are I /a /, you /ju /, he /hi /, she /ʃi /, it / t/, we /wi / andthey /ðe /; the object pronouns, where different, areme /mi /, him /h m/, her

/h /, us / s/ and them /ðεm/. Te relative pronouns are who /hu /, and, possi-bly, whom /hu m/; and the possessive pronouns are mine /ma n/, yours /jɔ z/, his /h z/ , hers /h z/, ours /aυəz/ (or /ɑ z/), theirs /ðεəz/ and whose /hu z/. Tese strong orms are used or emphasis or contrast; there are weak orms ormany o them in unstressed positions. However, the possessive pronouns arenot normally used in unstressed positions.

Te weak orms o he, she, we, meall take a weak vowel:

7.59 he /hi/ told me /mi/, so we /wi/ know she /ʃi/ is going to Spain

Te weak orms o us and them take the neutral vowel 7.60 they told us /əs/ that you saw them /ðəm/ on their way

A special case arises withlet’s /lεts / as distinct romlet us /lεt əs/. Compare

7.61 let’s go, let us go

Te weak orms o he, him, her and who tend to allow /h/ elision unless theybegin a new utterance, likehis, her , whose(see p. 113).

7.62 he /hi/ has heard, but does he /i/ understand?

well, I told him / m/ will he /i/ let her / / know she’s the one who /u/ will understand



115

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

You, is weakened to /ju / or even – like your – to /jə/, especially in commentphrases like you know, you see; but also consider

7.63 are you /jə/ going today? we’ll see you /jə/ there

Te /j/ is susceptible to coalescence immediately afer /t, d/:

7.64 we’ll meet / mi tʃ ə/ you there we’ll need you / ni d ə/ there did you / d d ə/ go must you / m ʃtʃ u/

*

Finally, there is the pronoun one

7.65 /w n, wɒn /

In an unstressed position, it generally keeps its strong orm:

One /w n, wɒn/ must not lose one’s /w nz, wɒnz/ head , must one /w n,wɒn/

I’d like one /w n, wɒn/ o the red ones /w nz, wɒnz/

Tere is a weak orm that is occasionally used: /ən/, popularly spelled as’un

7.66 the little uns /ənz/

*

Auxiliary verbs

Te auxiliary verbs be, have and do and their various orms are used in verbphrases to indicate aspect, emphasis and contrast, and to operate negativeand interrogative unctions. Tere are strong orms and weak orms or each verb. Each o these verbs also acts as a ull, lexical verb, in which case, they willnormally be pronounced in their strong orms, e.g.

7.67 o be / bi/ or not to be / bi/ o have / h v/ and to hold o do / du/ or die

As auxiliary verbs, they are stressed or emphasis or contrast, but are unstressedotherwise:

7.68 o see and be / bi/ seen You won’t be /bi/ seen

7.69 o ght and to have / h v/ ought Youmust have /əv/ ought

7.70 Do / du/ take a seat Where do /du/ I sit?

*



116


Be

7.71 I am / m/ going

Am is weakened to /əm/ afer a consonant, e.g.

7.72 where am /əm/ I staying? and to /m/ afer a vowel, e.g.

7.73 I’m /m/ staying here

7.74 you are / ɑ/ going

with /r/ liaison:

you are / ɑ r/ invited

Are is weakened to /ə/, e.g.

7.75 all the boys are /ə/ going

with /r/ liaison, e.g. all the boys are /ər/ invited

Are may be weakened to /r/ ollowing a vowel:

7.76 you’re invited /jɔ r, jə r/ they’re invited /ðe r, ðεə r/

7.77 he is / z/ going

Is is weakened in a way parallel to the morphological variations o the <-es>in ection (look back at pp. 53–54)

7.78 James is / z/ going, and Janice is / z/ too (/ z,əz/ afer sibilants) John’s /z/ going, and Claire’s /z/ thinking about it (/z/ afer other voiced

sounds) Jack’s /s/ going, but Elizabeth’s /s/ not (/s/ afer voiceless sounds)

7.79 he was / wɒz/ going

Was is weakened to /wəz/: 7.80 Sarah was /wəz/ going too, and so was /wə / Judith

7.81 they were / w / going

Were is weakened to /wə/, with possible /r/ liaison:

7.82 none o them were /wə/ going, even though they were /wər/ all invited

7.83 I’vebeen / bi n/ invited already

Been is weakened to /b n/:

7.84 just think, we’veall been /b n/ invited

*



117

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

Have

7.85 I have / h v/ seen it she has / h z/ seen it they had / h d/ seen it

Have, has, had ‘suffer’ /h/ elision in their weak orms unless they begin newutterances:

7.86 have /həv/ you seen it has /həz / he seen it had /həd/ they seen it

Otherwise the weak orms retain the neutral vowel afer a consonant, but loseit afer a vowel:

7.87 yes, I ve /v/ seen it, and the boys ve /əv/ seen it too yes, he s /z/ seen it, and Janice s /əz/ seen it too yes, they d /d/ seen it, and the girls d /əd/ seen it too

Has also ollows the morphological variations o the <-es> in ection, likeis:

7.88 James s gone /əz/ John s gone /z/ Jack s gone /s/

*

Do

7.89 I do / du/ believe in God

Do is weakened to /du/ or /də/:

7.90 do /du, də/ they believe in God do /du, də/ you believe too

7.91 she does / d z/ believe in God

Does is weakened to /dəz/:

7.92 does /dəz/ he believe too

Note that in do you /də ju/, the neutral vowel is ofen elided, allowing a processo coalescent assimilation to take place: /dju / becomes /d u/ (or /d ə/).

7.93 how do you do? / haυ d ə du/ what do you think? / wɒt d ə θ ŋk/ do you really believe /d u r əli bə li v/

Modal verbs

Modal verbs add degrees o a sense o likelihood, necessity and possibility tothe verb phrase. Tey include



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can /k n/ and could /kυd/ may /me / and might / ma t/ shall /ʃ l / and should / ʃυd/ will /w l/ and would /wυd/

must /m st/ and ought /ɔ t/ Tey are pronounced in these ull orms when stressed, especially or emphasis

or contrast:

7.94 can / k n/ you speak Spanish? I can / k n/ and I will / w l/ but what about Catalan? I would / wυd/ i I could / kυd/

May , might and ought do not have special weak orms when unstressed, but theother modal verbs do.

7.95 she can /kən/ speak Spanish quite well she could /kəd/ have said that in Spanish or you we shall /ʃəl/ see i she can / k n/ they should /ʃəd/ tell her to come how will /wəl/ they know you’re going we would /wəd/ have to tell them she must /məst/ at least be given a chance yes, she must /məs/ be given the chance at least

Will and shall are both regularly reduced to /l/ or /əl/; and would and should to/d/ or /əd/; thus the semantic differences between them are lost.

7.96 we’ll /l/ see you tonight i she’d /d/ talk in Spanish, that’d /əd/ help us a lot otherwise Paul’ll /əl/ try

Final /d/ o could , should , would and had , likedid , is susceptible to the processeso assimilation.

7.97 they could / kυ / go, i they could /kəb/ manage without her they should / ʃυb/ be able to manage they would / wυb/ be able to manage i she went with them she’d / / go with them, but would you / wυd u/ let her had you / h d u/ thought o going yoursel how would you /wəd ə/ eel about that

*

Just, not, so, there

Te rst three o these words gure regularly in all kinds o phrases and idioms,and no doubt it is because o their requency that they have acquired weak

orms, in addition to their strong orms

7.98 they’ve just / d st/ arrived, just / d s/ this minute not / nɒt/ bad, but they’ll beso / səυ/ tired



119

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

7.99 oh, we’re not so /sə/ bad, thank you we weren’t / w nt/ held up anywhere just /d əs/ glad to be back

Tere has a special weak orm in existential clauses, in contrast to locativesenses:

7.100 it was nice beingthere / ðεə/, but there’s /ðə z/ no place like home

Tere is a urther complication in the pronunciation o n’t . We havealready noted that nal /t/ is now ofen articulated as a glottal stop [ʔ]be ore any immediately ollowing consonant (except /h/). Tis would account

or

7.101 I don’t know /a dəυnt[ʔ] nəυ/

Te [ ʔ] would, however, not prevent the processes o assimilation operating inin ormal colloquial speech, so these alternatives exist:

7.102 I don’t believe it /a dəυnt[ʔ] bə li v t/ or /a dəυmp bə li v t/ I don’t get it /a dəυnt[ʔ] εt t/ or /a dəυŋk εt t/ why don’t you /wa dəυnt[ʔ] ju / or /wa dəυntʃ u/

Te same kind o alternative pronunciations operate with

aren’t : we aren’t going /wi ɑ nt[ʔ] əυ ŋ/ or /wi ɑ ŋk əυ ŋ/ isn’t : it isn’t possible / t zənt[ʔ] pɒs bəl/ or / t zəmp pɒs bəl/

wasn’t : he wasn’t paying /hi wɒzn t[ʔ] pe ŋ/ or /hi wɒzəmp pe ŋ/ weren’t : we weren’t kept /wi w nt[ʔ] kεpt / or /w i w ŋk kεpt / haven’t : they haven’t paid /ðe h vənt[ʔ] pe d/ or / e h vəmp pe d/ hasn’t : she hasn’t complained /ʃi h zn t[ʔ] kəm plε nd/or / ʃi h zəŋk k... / hadn’t : it hadn’t come / t h dn t[ʔ] k m/ or / t h ŋ k k m/ doesn’t : he doesn’t know /hi d zn t[ʔ] nəυ/ or /hi d zn ʔ nəυ/ didn’t : I didn’t believe him /a d dn t[ʔ] bə li v m/ or /a d bm p bə li v

m/ can’t : I can’t be bothered /a kɑ nt[ʔ] bi bɒðəd/ or /a kɑ mp bi

bɒðəd/ couldn’t : he couldn’t be /hi kυdn t[ʔ] bi/ or /hi kυbm p bi/ shan’t : we shan’t go /wi ʃɑ nt[ʔ] əυ/ or /wi ʃɑ ŋk əυ/ shouldn’t : you shouldn’t go /ju ʃυdn t[ʔ] əυ/ or /ju ʃυ ŋk əυ/ won’t : you won’t make it /ju wəυnt[ʔ] me k t/ or /ju wəυmp me k

t/ wouldn’t : they wouldn’t mind /ðe wυdn t[ʔ] ma nd/ or /ðe wυbm p

ma nd/ mustn’t : you mustn’t come /ju m sn t[ʔ] k m/ or / ju m ʃəŋk k m/ mightn’t : he mightn’t care /hi mɑitn t[ʔ] kεə/ or /hi mɑitŋ k kεə/

oughtn’t : they oughtn’t to /ðe ɔ tn t[ʔ] tu / needn’t : you needn’t bother /ju ni dn t[ʔ] bɒðə/ or / ju ni bm p bɒðə/ daren’t : she daren’t move /ʃi dεənt[ʔ] mu v/ or /ʃi dεəmp mu v/



120


I this wasn’t complicated enough, it is also observable how people are simpli-ying some o these phrases even urther. I then’t ollows a vowel, the /n/ can

change to a nasalization o that vowel and the /t/ to a glottal stop.

7.103 I don’t [ dəυʔ] know I can’t [ kɑ ʔ] believe it they aren’t [ ɑ ʔ] going we weren’t [ w ʔ] coming we shan’t [ ʃɑ ʔ] go you won’t [ wə˜υʔ ] make it she daren’t [ dε˜əʔ] move

Finally, to add yet urther to these complications, people very ofen simpli yin another way by eliding the /t/ o n’t, even though it is preceded by a voicedsound /n/:

7.104 I don’t know /a dəυn nəυ/ or even /a də nəυ/ (= I ‘dunno’) I don’t care /a dəυŋ kεə/ we won’t bother /wi wəυm bɒðə/ you didn’t say /ju d dn se/ etc.

A similar process o elision explains howwant to and going to get pronounced:

7.105 I want to go (I ‘wanna’ go) /a wɒnə əυ/ I’m going to go (I’m gonna go) /a m ɒnə əυ/

o summarize this complex range o possibilities, cases on’t immediatelyafer a vowel (as in aren’t , weren’t , don’t , can’t , won’t , shan’t , daren’t) can bepronounced as ollows:

Don’t talk: / dəυnt[th]/, / dəυnt[ʔ]/, [ dəυʔ], / dəυn/ Don’t push / dəυnt[th]/, / dəυmp/, [ dəυʔ], / dəυm/ Don’t go / dəυnt[th]/, / dəυŋk/, [ dəυʔ], / dəυŋ/

Most o these possibilities are also valid or other words ending in /-nt/:however, the /t/ element is usually retained whether it is realized as [t] or [ʔ]or assimilated:

pleasantness / plεzənt[ʔ]nəs/ resentment / r zεnt[ʔ]mənt, ri zεmpmənt/ pleasant places / plεzn t[ʔ], plεzəmp ple ʃəz/ recent case / ri sn t[ʔ], ri səŋk ke səz/ ront page / fr nt[ʔ], fr mp/ ~ [ fr ˜ʔ] / pe d/ ront cover / fr nt[ʔ], fr ŋk/ ~ [ fr ˜ʔ] / k və/

In all these cases o n’t and nal-nt , you have to listen care ully to what is actually

said; and being aware o the various possibilities will help to discern that. In suchcases, it seems worth while transcribing a glottal stop as such, [ʔ], even though,strictly speaking, it does not belong to broad (phonemic) transcriptions.



121

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

Syllable elision in lexical items and phrases

Te pressure rom rhythm accounts not only or the proli eration o specialweak orms o many grammatical items but also or the elimination o wholesyllables, especially in verb phrases with auxiliary and modal verbs. Tus in

I don’t know i he’s coming

the two syllables o do not are reduced to one, don’t, and also the two syllableso he is to one, he’s.

Tere has been a similar strong tendency to eliminate syllables in lexicalitems too, specially where there is a succession o unstressed syllables separatedby /r, l, n /. ypically, the unstressed vowel is elided be ore such a consonant; inthis way the syllable sequence is reduced. Tus historically,history has changed

rom / h stəri/ to / h stri/ in most – but not all – British accents, andsecretary

rom / sεkrətəri/, or / sεkrətεəri/, to / sεkrətri/. Here is a sample list o ordi-nary words with unstressed <-ar->, <-er->, <-or->, <-our-> and <-ur-> whichgets eliminated be ore another unstressed syllable.

7.106 stationary 7.107 stationery 7.108 category 7.109 natural / ste ʃənri/ / ste ʃənri/ / k tə ri/ / n tʃrəl/ secretary every actory century primary grocery sensory luxury secondary delivery memory tertiary advisory

quandary Everest ordinary interest temporal neighbouring doctoral avouring estuary average sanctuary coverage avourable January camera motoring avourite opera monitoring general glamorous generous humorous generative delivering suffering

Notice how the our syllables oFebruary / fεbruəri/ get reduced to three:/ fεbrəri, fεbjəri/, and even to two / fεbri/.

7.110 February

Similarly, library , literary , temporary are sometimes reduced with the loss oone /r/:

7.111 / la bri/, / l tri/, / tεmpri/.

Tere is, however, usually no reduction in those words where otherwise /l/ and/r/ would come together:



122


7.112 salary / s ləri/; celery / sεləri / ; calorie / k ləri/; colouring / k lər ŋ/

not */ s lri/, etc .

American practice is to give a secondary stress to the <a> in words like primary ,

secondary ; and primary stress in derived adverbs; many British ollow thispattern in the adverbs: thus primarily is either

7.113 / pra mrəli/ or /pra mεrəli/ or /pra mεərəli/ or /pra m rəli/.

Listen and transcribe theses words

7.114 secondarily, temporarily

____________ ____________ ____________ ___________

A similar kind o reduction takes place where two unstressed syllables are sepa-

rated by /l/. Tus, older historically /h s tɒr kəli/ loses the syllable be ore /l/:/h s tɒr kli/. ranscribe

7.115 technically ____________ scienti cally ____________ economically ____________ politically ____________ musically ____________

A similar loss happens in words like this:care ully/ kεəfəli/ becomes / kεəfli/.

ranscribe 7.116 hope ully ____________ help ully ____________ joy ully ____________ use ully ____________ woe ully ____________

It also happens in this word: easily / i zili/ becomes / i zli/, and also in wordslike this:usually / ju uəli/ becomes / ju əli/ or even / ju li/. ranscribe inthese two colloquial styles

7.117 actually ____________ ____________ casually ____________ ____________

Te words chocolate and amilyare both regularly reduced to two syllables:/ tʃɒklət/; / f mli/, and verbs with an unstressed syllable with /l/ in nal posi-tion, ollowed by the–ing suffi x:travelling / tr vəl ŋ/ becomes / tr l ŋ/.(Look back at p.39 or similar cases with syllabic /l/.)

Notice also how the three syllables o national and company / n ʃənəl/,/ k mpəni/ become two / n ʃnəl/, / k mpni/ and how the our syllables o

reasonable / ri zənəbəl/ become three / ri znəbəl/, through the loss o theunstressed syllable be ore /n/. (In a similar way the our syllables ocom ort-able / k mfətəbəl/ become three / k mftəbəl/.)



123

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

Te elimination o a weak syllable in a sequence o weak syllables also takesplace across word boundaries, i.e. in phrases. Consider the phrasematter o act / m tər ə f kt/; there is a sequence o two unstressed syllables separated by/r/ in a way that is exactly parallel in the case o lexical items likemystery and

interest. What regularly happens is that the unstressed syllable be ore /r/ willdisappear: / m tr ə f kt/. Consider these phrases and transcribe them inthe same colloquial style

7.118 afer a while _______________ brother in law _______________ mother and toddlers _______________ doctor in the house _______________ offer advice _______________

and also

travel at night _______________ open at nine _______________

Finally, it is worth noting that some speakers eliminate an unstressed vowel atthe beginning o certain words be ore /r, l/, as incorrect /kə rεkt/ becoming/ krεkt/ and collect /kə lεkt/ becoming / klεkt/. Consider these words andtranscribe them in this colloquial style

7.119 terri c __________

police __________ eleven __________ parade __________ verandah __________

Notice how perhaps /pə h ps/ alternates with /pə r ps/ and then also,more colloquially, with / pr ps/. And the verb suppose /sə pəυz/ is reducedto / spəυz/, especially in the phrase suppose so; a popular spelling, s’pose so, re ects this.

Similarly, in phrases with unstressed or and /r/ liaison, the neutral vowelbe ore /r/ may disappear; or example, or instancemay reduce to two syllables/ fr nstənts/ rom the three o /fər nstənts/. ranscribe in this same col-loquial style

7.120 or example __________ or everyone __________ or £8 __________ or a minute __________

We have now covered not only the processes o simpli cation ( Chapter 6)

but also all the effects o rhythm that affect the pronunciation o phrases inEnglish, and you should now be able to transcribe whole texts in a typicalcolloquial style.



124


So this is now what you can try and do! Tere are three texts that ollow. Firsto all, you could try to transcribe the story o Goldilocks in a typical, care ulreading style, as i reading the story to a child. Guidance is given or each line.

Transcription text 1 7.121 Goldilocks 1 Once upon a time epenthesis between /n/ and /s/. Weak orm o a

2 there was a little girl there: existential (weak) or locative (strong)?

was is weak

3 called Goldilocks. look or a case o elision

4 One day both words are stressed

5 she went or a walk in the woods Why is /t/ not elided? Notice /r/ liaison. What

else happens to or ?

6 all by hersel . her is unstressed, so loses /h/

7 And as she walked down one path And : weak? What happens to the <s> o as?

One case o elision, another o assimilation

8 she saw a nice house. NB Intrusive /r/

9 Since she was ull o curiosity What happens to nal /s/ o since? Was and o

are weak

10 she walked close by Do you notice another case o elision?

11 and noticed that the door And yet another case o elision? Isthat weak or

strong?

12 was a little ajar. Only one stress in this line 13 She knocked but there was no And yet another case o elision? Four weak

reply. words in this line

14 She called and there was still no Is the <ed> o called elided?

reply. 15 And because she was so curious What happens to /n/ o and , /z/ o because? Is

so weak or strong?

16 she decided to peep inside. Why is the nal /d/ o decided not elided?

17 Tere she saw a table Tere : weak or strong? Intrusive /r/?

18 and on the table Is on stressed on this occasion?

19 there were three bowls o Tere : weak or strong?Were is weak

porridge – 20 a big one, a middle-sized one, Note the compound word stress; and a case o

and a little one . . . elision?

21 Again because she was so Te /n/ o again does not assimilate because o

curious the pause; but there is a case o assimilation

elsewhere

22 she actually took a spoon ul Note the pronunciation o actually

rom the big one

23 but it was too hot. But : weak or strong? 24 So she took a spoon ul rom the So: weak or strong?Spoon ulis a compound

middle-sized one See line 20



125

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

25 but it was too cold. First three words all weak

26 And then she took a spoon ul Ten is stressed

27 rom the little bowl 28 and that was just right Tat : weak or strong? Just : weak or strong? Any

elision? 29 and she took another spoon ul. 30 Be ore she realized it Be ore is stressed. Is the <ed> o realized

elided?

31 she had eaten it all up. What happens to had ? NB Syllabic /n/

32 She elt quite ull Why is /t/ not elided in elt ?

33 and decided to sit in one o the How is the pronounced in this line?

easy chairs. 34 Tere was a big chair Tere : weak or strong?

35 but it was too hard. See line 25

36 Tere was a middle-sized chair See line 20 again

37 but that was too sof. Tat : weak or strong? Why?

38 And then there was a little chair Ten is stressed

39 and that elt just right. See lines 37 and 32, and then 28

40 But she leaned right back A case o elision? /t/ oright is [ʔ] here

41 and it collapsed. How is -ed pronounced here?

42 As she picked hersel up See line 7, then 41, then 6

rom the oor 43 she noticed the stairs. A case o elision?

44 And being a very curious little What happens to and here? girl 45 she went up Up is not a preposition here; it is stressed

46 and there she ound three beds. Is there weak or strong? And a case o elision?

47 A big one but it elt too hard 48 a middle-sized one, See line 20 again, i you really need to

49 but it elt too sof 50 and a little one that suited her her : weak or strong?

nicely 51 and because she elt so See line 15. So: weak or strong? Notice how

com ortable com ortable is pronounced

52 she ell asleep. 53 In the meantime, 54 the three bears returned to their Elision?

home 55 and were surprised to nd Another case o elision? What happens to /d/ o

nd ?

56 the ront door wide open. Is /t/ elided, in ront ? Is <en> in open

pronounced as a syllabic /n/?

57 Father Bear was even more A case o assimilation. Is the <ed> osurprised surprised elided in this case?

58 to nd that somebody had taken Tat : weak or strong?



126


59 a spoon ul o his porridge. His: is /h/ pronounced here?

60 ‘Someone’s been eating my How is ’spronounced here? Been is weak

porridge’, he called. 61 ‘And someone’s been eating My is strong here; so don’t orget the stress

my porridge’, said Mother Bear. mark; said does not have a stress mark here, butassimilation?

62 ‘And someone’s been eating myporridge

63 and eaten it all up’, said Baby Assimilation?

Bear. 64 ‘And someone’s been sitting Assimilation?

in my chair’, said Father Bear. 65 ‘And someone’s been sitting in my chair’, said Mother Bear. See line 61

66 ‘And someone sat on my chair Assimilation?

67 and broke it’, cried Baby Bear. wo cases o assimilation

68 ‘Well, who’s been in our house, How is ’s pronounced here? Our : weak or ull?

69 while we were all out?’ they while has a stress here, possibly because it is

asked. ollowed by a series o weak syllables. NB

‘linking /r/’. What happens inasked ?

70 ‘I’m going to look upstairs’, Is going to pronounced stressed? Note the stress

said Father Bear. pattern o upstairs

71 ‘Hey, someone’s been lying Assimilation. Is the /h/ o he pronounced?

on my bed’, he called. 72 ‘And someone’s been lying on See line 61 again, i you must

my bed’, said Mother Bear. 73 ‘And someone’s been lying on my bed 74 and she’s still there, Tere ?

75 ast asleep’, said Baby Bear. 76 His voice woke her up. What two things happen to her here?

77 She sat up in bed Assimilation?

78 and rightened by the sight o Te <ed> o rightened is elided, but what

the bears, happens as a result?

79 she jumped down, Another case o elision

80 ran past them Te /n/ o ran is kept, but what happens to the

/t/ o past ?

81 down the stairs down is a preposition here, but is stressed

82 out o the house, out is stressed

83 back into the woods back is stressed, but into is not

84 and all the way home. (See Key)

*

And now try this conversational monologue in a airly colloquial style, withless guidance.



127

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

Transcription text 2

7.122 ravelling to Italy 1 We’ve been to Italy a couple o Is been stressed here? Watch out orto, and o

times 2 We’ve driven both times Watch out or a case o assimilation

3 I don’t mind driving Remember the problem o n’t (and elision!)

4 I really quite enjoy it 5 But in those days Tose takes a strong stress here

6 you had all different currencies Remember the problem o -nt

7 We stayed overnight in Dunkirk Overnight is a compound adverb here. Don’t

orget what happens to /n/ be ore /k/

8 and paid or bed and break ast Cases o assimilation

9 in French rancs /n/ be ore /k/ again

10 Ten we drove to Belgium 11 and paid or mid-morning coffee How many cases o assimilation in this line?

Mid-morning is a compound adverb turned

adjective ollowed by a stressed word; get its

stress right!

12 in Belgian rancs And in this?

13 and then on into Luxembourg 14 We bought petrol there Why is /t/ not elided? Tere : weak or strong?

15 because it was cheaper Is because stressed or not?

16 and so we used their currency Elision?Teir takes a strong stress here 17 and we stopped or a picnic Elision? What happens to or ? Tere ?

there too 18 And then in the afernoon NB Te be ore a vowel. Afernoon is a

compound, but which part has primary stress?

19 we drove on into Germany NB on is not a preposition here

20 had some ood Some: weak or strong?

21 and o course Remember what can happen to o in this phrase

22 we had to pay or that in marks Had : weak or strong? Andthat ? Assimilation?

23 Four different currencies by tea-time 24 We stayed with a riend’s amily Elision?

25 in Southern Germany 26 And the ollowing day 27 crossed the border into Elision? Liaison?

Switzerland 28 And there o course we used Tere : weak? Liaison? We would normally

Swiss rancs expect elision o /d/ inused in a case like this

one, but the speaker appears to stumble, and

does not elide. 29 Ten over into Italy Liaison? Look at line 1 again

30 where we had to start using Work out what happens to /t/ + /j/ here





129

CHAP ER 7 Rhythm

there on the screen . we saw one o the towers . blazing away . and there was astrong suspicion . that this was no accident . and then on the screen . came thissecond plane . looking as i it was heading deliberately . at the at the other tower. and there be ore my very eyes . the most appalling disaster was un olding . I

called Charlotte . my wi e . to come and see . she’d still been in bed . waitingor that cup o tea . you’ve got to remember . that San Francisco’s about . threehours behind New York . so when it was ten over in New York . it was only uhit was only seven wherewe were . so there we were . the three o us . watchingthis horrible disaster un olding on V . Charlotte and me and Karen . as I saidJim had gone off to work early that morning . well it was incredible . we were just stunned by it all . we just couldn’t believe what we were watching . it wasmore o a horror lm than reality . and then the rst tower crumbled . this was. more than a bad movie . and then unbelievably the second tower as well . Istill remember the horror . o watching it all happenas it happened . and thegreat . billowing o dust and smoke . pouring down the streets at a righteningspeed . and then o course there was the Pentagon plane too . and the terri cdevastation there too . there was a ourth hijacked plane . and we learned o theheroic efforts o the . passengers . knowing that they were going to die or a . orcertain . but they seized the hijackers . and rammed the plane . into the ground. but off target . people assumed that it was heading towards Washington . wesat there . bewildered . stunned . overcome with the power o it all . so muchto take in . all o it staggering . we sat there silent . open-mouthed . shocked .we remained quiet all morning . and then the rst atalities were being named .

those planes . had been on their way to LA . and San Francisco . so the majorityo the dead . were . local men and women . their names were appearing on amoving line at the bottom o the screen . practically all o them local people .it was just so dread ul . Karen had had the day off . but she decided to go intoschool later on . she’s a school counsellor . and elt that she should be there tohelp . we lef in the afernoon . I got petrol in their local garage . there was justthis aw ul eerie silence among the people . it was as i the whole city had gonequiet . oh what a day that was

* (See Key)

You have now completed one o the most thorough and comprehensive intro-ductions to the transcription o rhythm in phrases in English that is availableanywhere. Tere will not be an English phrase now that you will not be ableto transcribe, in either an in ormal or a more ormal style!



130

8 Intonation: tonality

Introduction

Spoken discourse not only uses rhythm as a resource, but intonation too. Whatis intonation? Intonation is the linguistic use o pitch in discourse. It is linguis-tic, in the sense that it carries meaning; changing the intonation o an utterance

can easily change the meaning o that utterance. For instance, the clause• you understand, don’t you

has one meaning i the tag is accompanied by a alling tone, but a differentmeaning i it is accompanied by a rising tone. (Say it to yoursel , to make sure!)Te notion o linguisticcan be extended to include the paralinguistic use o into-nation, in which something o the mood or attitude o the speaker is conveyed,

or instance whether the speaker is angry, bored, insistent, etc.Linguisticmightalso be extended to includesociolinguistic variation o the kind that shows wherea person comes rom; or instance, the intonation o working-class Bristoliansis quite different rom, say, that o middle-class Glaswegians. For practicalpurposes, in this workbook, we will have to ocus on just the one variety, SESP.

Note also that we need to make the distinction between intonation andlexical tone in tone languages. In tone languages, a change o tone (i.e. pitch)may change the meaning o a word/lexical item, as in Cantonese:

8.1 si ‘silk’ (high level) si ‘to try’ (mid level) si ‘matter’ (low mid level) si ‘time’ (low level) si ‘history’ (mid to high rising) si ‘city’ (low to mid rising)

but in a non-tone language like English, a word likesee will keep its lexicalmeaning even when accompanied by different tones/pitches, but its meaningin discourse might change:

8.2 see said insistently see said in a bored manner, as i to mean I knew it would happen see said in a cold manner

see said in a cold manner see said in a challenging manner, as i to meanDo you understand now? see said in an appealing manner, as i to meanI did tell you.



131

CHAP ER 8 Intonation: tonality

Intonation in English is thus the linguistic use o pitch indiscourse, but it com-prises more than tone . When we talk, we usually have more to say than just onepiece o in ormation; sometimes it might only be one piece o in ormation, likeTank you , but usually it is much more. Each piece o in ormation is conveyed

by a unit o intonation; these units o intonation – called, by others,tone units,tone groups, intonation contours or intonation phrases – constitute the tonality o spoken discourse. As we will soon see, changes in tonality also effect changesin meaning.

Tirdly, each intonation unit has a word which is more prominent than theothers; they are made more prominent by a distinctive pitch movement or leveland loudness. Tese words constitute the nucleus, or tonic, o the intonationunit and indicate the speci c point o in ormation, i.e. what the unit o intona-tion ocuses on. Tese prominent, nuclear (tonic) words constitute the tonicity o spoken discourse; again, changes in tonicity effect changes in meaning.

onality, tonicity and tone are the basic systems that operate in Englishintonation; choices in all three systems are made every time we say something.We always use all three systems together, although we can vary them in orderto create different meanings. ake the example o You understand, don’t you.Listen to these three different renderings

8.3 you under\stand | \don t you you under \stand | /don t you \you understand | /don t you

Te tonality o all three renderings consists o two units o intonation; theupright bar ( | ) marks unit boundaries.Te tonicity o the rst two is the same, with the wordsunderstand and don’t

the most prominent in each o their units; underlining marks out the tonic syl-lable o each word. Te tonicity is different in the rst unit o intonation in thethird rendering, where you was chosen as the prominent; this will only makesense i a contrast is being made with somebody else who presumably doesnotunderstand.

Te tones in each unit vary between alling (\) and rising (/). In the rst ren-dering, the tag don’t you is accompanied by a alling tone, which suggests thatthe speaker thinks that they know they are right; but in the other two render-ings, the tag is accompanied by a rising tone, which suggests that the speaker isnot sure whether they are right or not.

You will be given guidance and practice in all three systems. We begin withthe case o tonality, because most o our spoken discourse is longer than asingle piece o in ormation. We need to know the tonality o the discoursebe ore we can investigate the tonicity o each unit o intonation; and we needto know the tonicity o the unit be ore we can sa ely identi y the tone thathas been chosen. Tis ‘hierarchy’ o systems is the basis o the way these nal

Chapters o the workbook are organized.However, be ore we get into the programme, we need to identi y the parts

o an intonation unit, in order to show where the potential or intonational



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contrasts lies. Let us take the sentenceI wish I understood it ; a native speaker oEnglish is most likely to say it as

8.4 I wish I under\stood it

as one single piece o in ormation (i.e. as one intonation unit), with ocus onunderstood and a alling tone to indicate a statement. Te structure o the unitconsists, at one level, o two parts:

1. the part that includes the tonic syllable with its distinctive tone, and anysyllables that ollow (in this case -\stood it ); this is called thetonicsegment ;

2. all the rest o the intonation unit that precedes the tonic segment (in thiscase I wish I under- ); this is called thepretonic segment .

Te tonic segment is usually divided into two: the tonic syllable itsel , and theremaining syllables, ofen called the tail . Te pretonic segment is also usuallydivided into two: the segment that contains the rst stressed syllable and allthe remaining syllables up to the tonic syllable – this segment is ofen calledthe head ; any unstressed syllables preceding the head are ofen called thepre-head . All our segments are illustrated in the example:

pretonic segment | tonic segment

I wish I under\stood it pre-head | head | tonic | tail

Tere is the potential or contrasts not only in the tonic syllable but in the headand pre-head segments too; that is why we need to identi y them. Te tail doesnot usually carry contrasts, but it does carry pitch changes or the compoundtones (see later).

Te tonic syllable is obligatory; i a unit o intonation is begun, but no syl-lable is made tonic, then we conclude that that intonation unit has been aban-doned. Tis sometimes happens in in ormal discourse, as a speaker changestheir mind and starts an intonation unit a resh. Te tail, head and pre-headare all optional, in the sense that they may perhaps not be required in theconstruction o an intonation unit. Consider these examples:

8.5 I wish I under\stood (no tail) \think about it (no head, no pre-head) I’ll\think about it (pre-head, but no head, since the rst stressed syllable

happens to be the tonic syllable) \think (tonic syllable only; no head, no pre-head, no tail)

Symbols

Te symbols used in this workbook are, in general, consistent with Crystal

(1969, 1975), ench (1996) and Wells (2006); see the panel below or the minordifferences with Wells. Tese symbols are simple and economic to use; theirdesign is relatively iconic, and are as ollows:



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| = intonation unit boundary underlining = tonic syllable = non-tonic stressed syllable \ = alling tone

/ = rising tone V = alling-rising tone V = rising- alling tone – = level tone - = pause (equivalent to a syllable) . = brie pause (xx) = indecipherable (laughter ) = relevant note

Wells Halliday Brazil ToBIfeature

paratones ǁ ǁ ǁ↑

intonation units ǀ ǀ ǁ ǁ %

tonic syllables tonic tonic tonic, ton ic TONic

falling tone \so \so 1 p H*L L%

low \so \so 1 L*L L%

high \so \so 1

rising-falling tone Vso Vso 5 p+ L H*L% low Vso 5 rising tone /so /so 2, 3 r+ L*H H%

low /so /so

high /so /so H*H L%

raised ↑/so 2

mid level tone –so s˃o o H*H L%

falling-rising tone Vso Vso 4, 2 r H*L H%

low Vso 4 non-tonic stress so so / nonTONic H, L

high head so so ↑ H1

low head so so 2, 3 ↓ L

falling head ↘ so \so H H*L%

rising head ↗ so /so 1 L L*H%

pause - V

brief pause .

1 i.e. an initial H or L in the ‘intonational phrase’ (see Gussenhoven 2004)



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Other authors use different symbols. Pike (1945), or instance and those in hisagmemic tradition used a set o numbers to indicate pitch heights. Halliday

(1967, 1970; see also Halliday & Greaves2008) use a set o numbers to indi-cate whole ‘tunes’; Brazil (1975; 1997) and those in his Birmingham DiscourseIntonation tradition use letters to indicate ‘tunes’, but both are relatively easilyconverted to the above; see the panel below. Pierrehumbert (1987), Ladd(1996), Beckman & Elam (1997), Gussenhoven (2004) and others use the oneand Break Index, ‘ oBI’, and a set o letters and symbols to indicate pitch heightand movement. It is diffi cult to ‘translate’ these oBI ormulae, because theredoes not seem to be an equivalent theory o in ormation structure or a cleardesignation o tonicity; urthermore, there are differences between these ourauthors, but an attempt is made in the panel below to compare Gussenhoven’ssystem with that introduced here. Te oBI approach is used widely in NorthAmerica. (Gaps in the panel indicate that a particular eature is not recognized

in that particular system.)

Tonality

onality is the division o spoken discourse into discrete units o intonation,each o which carries one piece o in ormation. Tis unction can easily bedemonstrated by listening to one sentence spoken with different tonality:

8.6 i they’re coming on\Monday ii they’re\coming | on \Monday

Te rst rendering presents just one piece o in ormation, whereas in thesecond, the speaker rst tells one thing (‘they’re coming’) and then adds asecond piece o in ormation (i.e.when they are coming). Tere is thus a con-trast in tonality, and that contrast signals a different distribution o in orma-tion. onality thus represents the way the speaker perceives all the in ormationand then organizes it into units o intonation.

As ofen as not, tonality boundaries coincide with clause boundaries; andthere is good reason or this. A clause is designed to convey re erence to asituation or happening, with a verb indicating the activity or state o affairs,and nouns (and nominal groups) representing the participants; adverbs andprepositional phrases represent re erence to any circumstances; conjunctionsrepresent links between the situations or happenings. A clause, in essence, isthe grammatical means o representing pieces o in ormation – an activity orstate o affairs, participants, circumstances and linkage. And an intonationunit, in essence, is the phonological means o representing pieces o in orma-tion in spoken discourse. In this way, there is a neat congruence o phonology,grammar and semantics (the ‘pieces o in ormation’); when this congruenceis actually realized in spoken language, we speak oneutral tonality : a single

unit o intonation representing a single piece o in ormation worded as a singleclause. Tis was the case, or instance, in i above.Neutral tonality accounts or at least hal o the instances o intonation units



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in in ormal conversation. Listen to the ollowing account o a dangerous child-hood prank: listen or the intonation units and mark them with the uprightbar ( | ), and then notice how ofen – but not always! – the tonality boundariescoincide with clause boundaries. Listen as ofen as you need; concentrate on

lines 5 to 17, since the speaker is still sorting out the story in his mind in theearlier lines, 1 to 4.

8.7 Dangerous childhood pranks 1

A: my cousin Mervin . that was in the REME . uh . got me a thirty eight 1 B: gun 2 A: Wesson . Smith and Wesson . special . and Benny’s . no it wasn’t 3 it was Rick Holmans’s shed . and Benny . Brian Bedding elds . 4 knew his dad had some . ammunition . rom the war . and he ound 5 it and they were thirty eight . so we um . took them over the 6 marshes and shot a couple o rounds off and that was great and 7 then one . one day we were in up Prospect Road . near the scout 8 hut . in a shed . in a . um Rick Holmans’s shed . so there was our 9 o us in this . sort o eight by s . six shed – – and we were 10 playing about with the thing . and we messed about with it and did 11 the usu you know and and sort o said oh we’ll put a cross in it 12 and make a dum-dum o it . and red it . in the shed . at . at at the 13 bit o wood (laughter ) . and this bullet went round the shed about 14 three times . and we all just roze . (laughter ) and this bullet went 15 round and round and round ( laughter ) was absolutely outrageous . 16 and we had no concept o what we what could have happened 17

You will, perhaps rst o all, notice that the pauses do not always coincidewith either clause boundaries or intonation unit boundaries; the reason isclear: pauses ofen indicate hesitation by the speaker in the process o compos-ing their discourse. In line 5, or instance, the brie pause be oreammunition seems to indicate the speaker’s hesitation as he sought the right word, and notthe division between one piece o in ormationknew his dad had some and asecond piece ammunition. But the pause afer ammunition does seem to indi-cate the end o one piece o in ormation and the beginning o a second piece(i.e. the source o the ammunition). Te pause afer war seems to conclude thewhole clauseknew his dad had some ammunition rom the war and to prepare

or the next piece o in ormationand he ound it. But there does not seem tobe a pause between that piece o in ormation and the next,and they were thirtyeight . So although pauses may ofen indicate the boundary o intonation units,they are not absolutely necessary, and in any case, ofen indicate somethingquite different, hesitation.

Secondly, you will notice the movements o pitch throughout the discourse;

or instance, there is a alling movement rom a relatively high pitch on-ition and then on war , ound it and -eight . Tese will turn out to be tonic syllablesbecause they each appear in what seem to be separate intonation units. But the



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point here is that afer each all there is an eventual return to a higher pitch; thelow end o the all signals the end o one unit, and the beginning o a change opitch is one o the signals or the next unit. Similarly, afer a rising tone, therewill be a return to a lower pitch.

Tirdly, there is a tendency or unstressed syllables at the beginning o anintonation unit to be articulated more quickly than those at the end; this may,however, be diffi cult to perceive or measure without instrumentation. Yet thischange o pace also contributes to the impression that a boundary is beingmarked.

Te clearest boundaries are marked by all three eatures: pausing, a changeo pitch and a change o pace. Ofen, only two, or even only one eature ispresent. What also helps is the grammar; or example,some ammunition con-stitutes one single nominal group, and so it would be most likely that a piece oin ormation will include the whole o it. Furthermore, as we have seen, clauseboundaries are very likely places or intonation unit boundaries because theywill also constitute pieces o in ormation. Help also comes rom a perceptiono the pieces o in ormation as such – that is how we, the listeners, process thein ormation. We processed the in ormation o 8.6i as one piece, but we seemto hear two pieces o in ormation in 8.6ii. Altogether, there is a whole set ophonetic, grammatical and semantic clues.

Now let us present that same discourse ( rom line 5) clause by clause, to seeto what extent that there is a matching up o clauses and intonation units:

1. knew his dad had some ammunition | rom the war 5 2. and he ound it 5–6 3. and they were thirty eight 6 4. so we um took them over the marshes 6–7 5. and shot a couple o rounds off 7 6. and that was great 7 7. and then one one day | we were up in Prospect Road | near the

scout hut | in a shed | in a um Rick Holmans’s shed| 7–9 8. so there was our o us | in this sort o eight by six shed 9–10 9. and we were playing about with the thing 10–11

10. and we messed about with it 11 11. and did the usu you know 11–12 12. and and sort o said ‘Oh we’ll put a cross in it 12 13. and make a dum-dum o it’ 13 14. and red it | in the shed | at at at the bit o wood 13–14 15. and this bullet went round the shed | about three times 14–15 16. and we all just roze 15 17. and this bullet went round | and round | and round 15–16 18. was absolutely outrageous 16 19. and we had no concept | o what we what could have happened 17

Te matching up o clause and intonation unit – neutral tonality – is demon-strated in clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18 – in at least twelve o the



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nineteen clauses. (In clause 11, there is only one main verb,did , because youknow would be treated as a comment adjunct/adverbial (or discourse item); inclause 12, there is a reporting clausesaid with its complement “Oh we’ll put across in it. . ., and thus only one main clause.)

But what about the others? When a clause and an intonation unit do nothave common boundaries, the tonality is marked. Marked tonality was dem-onstrated in 8.6ii; usually, marked tonality is chosen when the speaker decidesto present more than one piece o in ormation within a single clause, as in thatcase. Occasionally, the reverse can happen when a speaker words a single unito in ormation/intonation as two clauses, or example:

8.8 he did I \saw him

Now let us examine the cases o marked tonality in the discourse.

1. knew his dad had some ammunition | rom the war 5 Te rst unit contains the mental process knew and its complement, an embed-ded clause. It is potentially a ‘candidate’ or neutral tonality, but the clause hasnot yet been nished. Te second unit has only a prepositional phrase – lessthan a clause; it provides additional in ormation, like 8.6ii. Tus there is onemain clause, but two units o in ormation/intonation – marked tonality.

7. and then one one day | we were up in Prospect Road | near the scouthut | in a shed | in a um Rick Holmans’s shed| 7–9

One clause, but ve units o in ormation/intonation – marked tonality. Te

rst one is a case o marked theme; see below (p.141). Te other units presentever more detailed in ormation about the location.

8. so there was our o us | in this sort o eight by six shed 9–10 One clause, but two units o in ormation/intonation – marked tonality. Te

rst presents existential in ormation, the second the location.

14. and red it | in the shed | at at at the bit o wood 13–14 One clause, but three units o in ormation/intonation – marked tonality. Te

rst tells us what happened, the second where it happened, and the third whatthe target was. Te rst unit is a potential ‘candidate’ or neutral tonality, butthe speaker has decided to add urther, separate, pieces o in ormation in the

orm o prepositional phrases.

15. and this bullet went round the shed | about three times 14–15 One clause, but two units o in ormation/intonation – marked tonality. Te

rst tells us what happened, and the second its requency. Again, the rst unit isa potential ‘candidate’ or neutral tonality, since there is ull complementationo the verb, but the speaker adds extra in ormation in the orm o an adjunct.

17. and this bullet went round | and round | and round 15–16

One clause, but three units o in ormation/intonation – marked tonality. Terst again tells us what happened, and the second and third the direction o the

bullet, rather like a list.



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19. and we had no concept | o what we what could have happened 17 One main clause, but two units o in ormation/intonation – marked tonality.

Te rst is a mental process, derived rom conceive; the second is the com-plement o the process. Te speaker appears to want to emphasize both the

lack o conceptionand the possibility o a catastrophe – thus two pieces oin ormation.

*

Now try a similar task, but this time with a discourse that was written to bespoken, as the script o a play. Tere is no ‘original’ audio recording as such,but simply the imagination o the playwright o how they expected it to be per-

ormed. But you too will be able to imagine how the dialogue could be spoken;but there might well be points where there is a legitimate choice – and youhave the right to choose as i you were directing the play! Furthermore, in this

extract rom George Bernard Shaw’sPygmalion the three characters have verydifferent accents, but the principles o tonality will apply to all o them.

Pygmalion, Act 2

Why, this is the girl I jotted down last night. She’s no use: Ive got all the 1records I want o the Lisson Grove lingo; and I’m not going to waste 2another cylinder on it. [ o the girl ] Be off with you: I don’t want you. 3

Don’t you be so saucy. You aint heard what I come or yet. [o Mrs 4Pearce, who is waiting at the door or urther instructions] Did you tell 5him I come in a taxi? 6

Nonsense, girl! What do you think a gentleman like Mr Higgins cares 7what you came in? 8

Oh, we are proud! He aint above giving lessons, not him: I heard him 9say so. Well, I aint come here to ask or any compliment; and i my 10money’s not good enough I can go elsewhere. 11

Good enough or what? 12 Good enough or y ə-oo. Now you know, dont you? I’m coming to 13

have lessons, I am. And to pay or em tə-oo: make no mistake. 14

(stupent ) Well!!! [Recovering his breath with a gasp] What do you 15expect me to say to you? 16

Well, i you was a gentleman, you might ask me to sit down, I think. 17Dont I tell you I’m bringing you business? 18

Pickering: shall we ask this baggage to sit down, or shall we throw her 19out o the window? 20

[running away in terror to the piano, where she turns at bay ]Ah-ah-oh-ow-ow-ow-oo! [Wounded and whimpering ] I wont be called a 21baggage when Ive offered to pay like a lady. 22

Te punctuation helps signi cantly as a guide to the tonality o this dis-course, by indicating the boundaries o the clauses, which are usually short



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enough to contain single pieces o in ormation and single intonation units.Tere may, however, be disagreements between two ‘directors’ o the play: onemight imagine a slower pace o delivery than the other, in which case theymight expect a greater number o units o in ormation/intonation. Secondly,

one might interpret the management, or distribution, o some in ormationdifferently rom the other – the ‘legitimate choices’ mentioned above.

Te discourse also illustrates a number o other eatures o tonality.

• Exclamations are treated as pieces o in ormation – little chunks ointerpersonal in ormation; or example,Why (line 1), Nonsense (7), Oh (9),Well (10, 15, 17) and Ah-ah-oh-ow-ow-ow-oo! (21).

• Restrictive (or de ning) relative clauses are quali ers within nominalgroups and, as such, do not count as main clauses; they are part o thein ormation o the nominal group to which they belong. Examples:I jotteddown last night (line 1), I want (2).

• Mental and verbal processes ofen have a clause as their complement, withthe whole structure comprising a single main clause. Examples:You aintheard what I come or yet(4), Did you tell him I come in a taxi? (5–6),What do you think a gentleman like Mr Higgins . . . (7–8), you might ask meto sit down (17), Don’t I tell you I’m bringing you business? (18), shall weask this baggage to sit down (19). All these cases would probably be spokenas single units o intonation.

• Long clauses o ve stressed syllables or more (or even sometimes o only

our or three) have to be broken up into manageable pieces:Ive got all therecords I want o the Lisson Grove lingo (1–2) will probably get a breakbetween want and o the Lisson Grove lingo, which is an interruptedquali cation o all the records. Such breaks will come typically at syntacticboundaries.

• Clauses containing both a nite main verb and a non- nite verb constitutesingle clauses and single pieces o in ormation. Te non- nite verb may bepart o a complement, or example:I heard him say so (9–10); Ive offered to pay (22).

• I’m coming to have lessons(13–14) seems to be a case o two clauses in onepiece o in ormation, since the rst clause,I’m coming , contains no newin ormation, rather like the rst clause in 8.8above. More on this in thenext chapter on tonicity.

• Vocatives that occur at the beginning, or in the middle, o a clause usuallyhave their own intonation unit, as a piece o interpersonal in ormation; anexample occurs in line 19. But vocatives that occur at the end o a clausemay well be included within an intonation unit; an example occurs inline 7.

• Subject disjuncts at ends o clauses usually have their own intonation units,

because o the signi cance o their interpersonal in ormation. Examples:He aint above giving lessons| not him (9); I’m coming to have lessons| I am(13–14).



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• ags usually have their own intonation units, as separate pieces ointerpersonal in ormation. Example:Now you know | don’t you? (13).

• Comment adjuncts at the end o clauses do not normally have their ownintonation unit even i they super cially constitute a clause. Example:I

think (17). *

Each intonation unit carries one piece o in ormation. When an intonation-in ormation unit matches a single clause, tonality is said to be neutral. Tistypically happens when the clause is

• ‘simple’ – it has ull complementation but nothing extra like adjuncts, tags,apposition, etc.

• ‘straight orward’ – it has its usual (‘unmarked’) structure• ‘short’ – it has no more than ve stressed syllables.

And in most in ormal conversation, each single clause is, in act, simple,straight orward and short, as the above real and scripted examples o discourseillustrate.

Tere are, however, some regular cases o marked tonality.

‘Marked’ distribution of information. Te most obvious regular caseo marked tonality is where the speaker adds to the main message somein ormation about the circumstances o a situation; or example

• his dad had some ammunition | rom the war ;• we were up Prospect Road| near the scout hut | in a shed .

Listen to this exchange:

8.9 A: I haven’t heard anything rom Jake or a bit

8.10 B: But I saw him yesterday in the library

B’s one-clause reply could be a single piece o in ormation, spoken as a singleintonation unit (= neutral tonality):

Bi but I saw him yesterday in the library |

but he might have said it as two pieces o in ormation:

Bii but I saw him yesterday | in the library |

or even three:

Biii but I saw him | yesterday | in the library |

or even our, since a conjunction likebut can have its ‘meaning’ o contrasthighlighted:

Biv but | I saw him | yesterday | in the library |



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Te renderings Bii to Biv are all examples o marked tonality, since the intona-tion unit boundaries do not coincide with the one clause. Te speaker’s markeddistribution o in ormation is the most obvious type o marked tonality.

Apposition is another regular case o marked tonality. Apposition re ers

to a second re erence to an item within a clause as in, or example,we were ina shed, in Rick Holmans’s shed , where there is a second re erence to the sameitem shed. Te phrase in Rick Holmans’s shed is said to ‘stand in apposition’ toin a shed. It adds an extra piece o in ormation and as such requires its own,additional, unit o intonation. Consider the ollowing examples:

8.11 i this is John | my neighbour (my neighbour in apposition to John, adding an extra piece o in ormation) ii this is my neighbour | John ( John in apposition to my neighbour , adding an extra piece o in ormation)

iii this is my neighbour | rom across the road ( rom across the roadin apposition to my neighbour – extra in ormation) iv this is my neighbour | John | rom across the road ( John and rom across the roadboth stand in apposition to my neighbour )

An example occurred in Dangerous childhood pranks 1:

And Benny | . Brian Bedding elds 4 (Brian Bedding eldsin apposition to Benny , presumably as his real name).

Listing is a urther example o regular marked tonality. Each item in a listconstitutes an extra piece o in ormation within a clause:

8.12 i I’d like you to meet John | Joe | and Jack ii all three are tall | dark | and handsome iii they’re all wearing smart suits | white shirts | and dark sunglasses iv they are either neighbours | or riends |

Note, however, that coordinated items are not always treated as single items ina list: e.g.black and white could either be a list or a single item, as inblack andwhite shirts; shirt and tie is ofen treated as a single item, as in matching shirtand tie.

v they never wear black and white shirts | nor matching shirt and tie |

Marked theme. When a clause element precedes the subject o a clause, theclause structure is ‘marked’. Te item that precedes the subject is re erred to asthe ‘marked theme’ and is placed there or in ormational prominence, usuallyto orientate the in ormation o the clause to its context. Cases o marked themeare regularly given their own intonation unit in recognition o their in orma-tional prominence as, or example, inthen one day | we were up Prospect Road.Te marked theme may be an adjunct as in this case; then one day orientatesthe coming new in ormation to what has just been said. Marked theme mayalso be the complement o a verb:

8.13 i Joe | you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley



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Or a connective:

ii however | Jack is very riendly iii whatever your problem | Jack’ll help you iv i necessary | Jack’ll lend you a bit o money

Te marked theme may itsel be a ull clause like these examples rom thePygmalion extract:

• and i my money’s not good enough | I can go elsewhere• i you were a gentleman | you might ask me to sit down I think

or the main verb itsel :

8.14 and go elsewhere | she did

Long clauses o ve stressed syllables or more are regularly split into two ormore intonation units at recognized syntactic boundaries – as we have seen inthe two discourses examined above. Here is another example:

8.15 the train now ar riving at plat orm three | is the e leven twenty ve | romSwansea to London Paddington

*

Now try another piece o real discourse. Mark the intonation units with | .

8.16 Dangerous childhood pranks 2 A: the other thing that we used to do that Bernard mentioned when I was 1 a little kid um . be ore um the sea ront was all different it was just 2 open . we used to . cycle down . especially on oggy days was the best . 3 cycle straight down . Canute Road and straight off the prom into the 4 sea – because we um . we d make sure the tide was sort o in . but you 5 had to get rid o your bike in mid air 6 C: but didn’t you do that dread ul thing . to that boy 7 A: o yeah 8 C: where you were all kneeling down as (xx) 9

A: it s about an eight or ten oot dive . in and you can dive at high tide 10 . and Gus Hughes . came along one day . and we were always taking 11 the mickey out o him . he s . you know he s one o these . the lads 12 that . always got taken so we all . we all knelt down – with the water up 13 to about there . he stood on the top and said . is it o k to dive we said 14 yes – but o course it was only about knee deep – and he dived . and 15 he stuck – and he just went crunch 16

You might have noticed in Dangerous childhood pranks 2 at least a couple ocases where the speaker seems to start a piece o in ormation but then decides

to restart in a different way. In line 2, he hesitates afer a little kid and startsthe next piece o in ormation withbe ore, but abandons that beginning andstarts again with the sea ront. Tese hesitations, alse starts and abandoned



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intonation units are all typical o real, unprepared, spoken discourse; but westill need to mark the beginning and end o each unit. An abandoned intona-tion unit will be identi ed as one without a tonic syllable, and this will becomeapparent in the next chapter, on tonicity. Another example o a re-start occurs

in line 12: he’s you know; the speaker then decides to proceed as be ore. Youwill also nd a couple o similar cases at the beginning oDangerous childhood pranks 1, but you are not likely to nd such cases in thePygmalion extractwhere the discourse is care ully worked out and then rehearsed by actors.

Te speaker appears to ‘stumble’ intonationally in a couple o cases, whichis, o course, typical also o real, unprepared, spoken discourse – in the sameway as people hesitate over the selection o words, etc. In line 10, he seems toadd in as a separate intonation unit afer it’s about an eight or ten oot dive.(With rehearsal, he would no doubt have done so.) He also seems to runbut ocourse, which is in marked theme position, in line 15, into the rest o the clause,possibly because o the ast pace o delivery. I it was the script o a play, youmight have directed him to slow down and treat this case o marked theme inthe normal way, i.e. with its own intonation unit.

Tonality and grammatical contrasts

Tere are a number o cases where a change in tonality will signal a differencein grammar. Here is a simple example:

8.17 i this is my neighbour | John ii this is my neighbour John

As we have seen, i above will most likely be interpreted as a case o apposition,where John will be interpreted as a second re erence tomy neighbour. In ii John will probably be interpreted as a vocative; John is the person the speakeris actually addressing. In the written language, the two possibilities may wellappear in identical orm:

• Tis is my neighbour, John.

In this case, tonality has disambiguated an identical written orm with thepotential o two distinct clause structures.

Restrictive (de ning) and non-restrictive (non-de ning) relative clauses. Arestrictive relative clause ‘restricts’ or ‘de nes’ the re erence to the particularcase, as in this is the girl I jotted down last night ; the relative clause,I jotteddown last night , restricts the re erence o the girl , in other words, de nes which girl the speaker is re erring to. But a non-restrictive or non-de ning relativecause simply adds extra in ormation which the speaker deems to be relevantto the discourse – hence also the term that is sometimes used, ‘adding clause’.Here is an example o the two possibilities:

8.18 i the girl he jotted down last night | has come back ii the girl | who comes rom Lisson Grove | has come back



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Te rst, i, has a relative clause which de nes which girl is being re erred to(restrictive, de ning); the second, ii, has a relative clause that is not meant tode ne, but to add relevant in ormation (non-restrictive, non-de ning), andbecause it is a clause that adds extra in ormation, it is spoken as a separate

unit o intonation. Now, o course, it would be per ectly possible to have twoidentically worded sentences with relative clauses that are either restrictive ornon-restrictive, but it would be the tonality that, again, disambiguates the twogrammatical categories:

iii the girl who comes rom Lisson Grove | has come back

Which girl? Te one rom Lisson Grove, not the one rom somewhere else!Now, compare these two instances:

8.19 i my brother who lives in A rica | is an economist

ii my sister | who lives in Weston | is a care worker How many brothers, and how many sisters does the speaker have? Te tonal-

ity o the rst, i, suggests a restrictive relative clause; so this suggests that thespeaker has more than one brother and needs to de ne which one is beingre erred to. Te tonality o ii suggests a non-restrictive relative clause; so thissuggests only one sister, who is described urther by where she lives. Again,compare these two possibilities:

8.20 i the girl who came in a taxi | wants some lessons (‘Which girl?’ ‘Te one who came in a taxi – not any other girl!’) ii the girl | who came in a taxi | wants some lessons (We know already which girl. Te extra in ormation that she came in a taxi

tells us something relevant – that she can probably afford the lessons!)

Tis difference can also be maintained in instances with less than a ull relativeclause. Compare:

8.21 i the girl wearing a hat with three ostrich eathers | came in ii the girl | wearing a hat with three ostrich eathers | came in

and 8.22 i the man with sunglasses | is Joe ii the man | with sunglasses | is Joe

A similar distinction can also be made in cases o apposition. Below, i de neswhich om Jones is being re erred to, whereas ii does not:

8.23 i om Jones the singer | comes rom the Valleys ii om Jones | the singer | comes rom the Valleys

In Dangerous childhood pranks 1, speaker A re ers to his cousin Mervyn,

identi ying which o his cousins he means. With a tonality boundary betweencousin and Mervyn, it would be understood that he only had one cousin, whohe then decided to name.



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Compare:

8.24 i my cousin Mervyn | got me a gun | ii my cousin | Mervyn | got me a gun |

Notice he has only one cousin Mervyn, but he decides to add some relevantin ormation through a non-restrictive (non-de ning) relative clause,that wasin the REME, which is spoken as a separate intonation unit.

In Dangerous childhood pranks 2, speaker A begins with a restrictive rela-tive clause, that we used to do, which is contained within the intonation unitthat begins the other thing ; and then he proceeds with a non-restrictive rela-tive clause,that Bernard mentioned , which adds urther, relevant, in ormationwhich is accorded its own intonation unit. Also: that always got taken (line13),a restrictive relative clause that is contained within an intonation unit andde nes which kind o lad that the boy was.

Apposition and complements. Some verbs can require more than one com-plement. Tis sets up the possibility o a sequence o nominal groups that canbe interpreted as either a sequence o complements or a single complementand a case o apposition. Listen to these identically worded clauses:

8.25 i she considered Mr Higgins a gentleman | (‘assessed as a gentleman’;a gentleman is a second complement)

ii she considered Mr Higgins | a gentleman | (‘gave due thought to him,especially in view o his status’;a gentleman is in apposition to Mr Higgins)

and

8.26 i the girl called Mr Higgins a teacher (a teacher is a second complement; thatis what she said o him)

ii the girl called Mr Higgins | a teacher (a teacher is in apposition; she calledhim, presumably because he was a teacher)

Complements, and intransitive verbs. Some verbs, likewash, can unctioneither transitively (i.e. with complements) or intransitively (i.e. without a com-plement): she washed her hair ; she washed (i.e. hersel ). Now compare these

pairs: 8.27 i she washed and brushed her hair | (i.e. she washed her hair and brushed it –

one event; wash is transitive;her hair is complement to both verbs) ii she washed | and brushed her hair | (i.e. she washed hersel and then brushed

her hair – two events; wash is intransitive; her hair is complement only tobrush)

and

8.28 i she dressed and ed the baby | (dressed is transitive; the baby is complement

to both verbs) ii she dressed | and ed the baby | (dressedis intransitive;the baby is complement

only to ed )



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also

8.29 i she looked and elt uncertain | (uncertain is complement to both verbs) ii she looked | and elt uncertain | (look = ‘glanced around’ – intransitive;

uncertain is complement only to elt )

and

8.30 i he orgot the visitor | ( orgotis transitive; the visitor is complement) ii he orgot | the visitor | ( orgotis intransitive; the visitor a gloss on the subject,

‘subject disjunct’)

and

8.31 i he’s trying to help the pro essor | (e.g. Pickering is helping Higgins) ii he’s trying to help | the pro essor | (e.g. Higgins is trying to help)

Manner and sentence adverbs. Some adverbs, e.g.honestly , may unction some-times as an adverb o manner and sometimes as a comment on the message:

8.32 i he spoke to her honestly | (honestly = manner) ii he spoke to her | honestly | (honestly = ‘I’m being honest when I tell you that

he did speak to her, even though you may doubt it!’)

and

8.33 i he doesn’t talk to ower girls normally | (normally = ‘in a normal manner’)

ii he doesn’t talk to ower girls | normally | (normally = ‘it is not normal orhim to talk to ower girls’)

also

8.34 i she sings happily to hersel | (happily = manner) ii she sings | happily | to hersel | (happily = ‘I am happy to say’)

Te comment is treated as a separate piece o interpersonal in ormation.

Negative domain. onality plays a dramatic effect in cases where the domaino negation may be ambiguous. Te ollowing written orm may have two quiteopposite meanings:

• He didn’t agree because o the money.

Either the person re used because the money was not right; or he did agree, butit was not on account o the money. Listen to the two possibilities in spoken

orm:

8.35 i he didn’t agree | because o the money | ii he didn’t agree because o the money |

In the rst case, n’t negates agree; in the second, n’t negates because o themoney (i.e. ‘it was not because o the money that he agreed, but it was becauseo the challenge’). Te domain o the negative is tied to the in ormation within



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the intonation unit. Notice that in i above, the person did not agree, but in ii hedid agree! (Examples like8.35ii are very likely to have a alling-rising tone toindicate a point o contrast.)

8.36 i I didn’t go | so that I could get promotion | (i.e. ‘I got promotion by staying’) ii I didn’t go so that I could get promotion | (i.e. ‘I did go, but not with the

intention o getting promotion’; with a alling-rising tone)

also

8.37 i he won’t take notes | like last night | (i.e. ‘he didn’t take notes last night, andhe won’t now!’)

ii he won’t take notes like last night | (i.e. ‘he took notes last night, but he won’tdo it in the same way now’; with a alling-rising tone)

Complex verbal groups and clauses of purpose. Sometimes a complex verbalgroup contains a second verb in the in nitive orm, e.g.come to hear means‘happen, by chance, to hear’; and clauses o purpose ofen begin with the in ni-tive orm o the verb, meaning ‘in order to’. Consider the ollowing pair: the

rst, i below, contains the complex verbal group and is there ore, basically,a single main clause, whereas ii below contains a clause o purpose as expla-nation o whyshe came. Te written orm might be identical, but intonationdisambiguates con orming, in act, to neutral tonality.

8.38 i she came to hear about the lessons | ii she came | to hear about the lessons |

Similarly, leave someone to do something has the same potential ambiguity.Consider this next pair:

8.39 i she lef him to think about it | ii she lef him | to think about it |

Te rst, i, has leave someone to do somethingas a complex group, meaning‘Higgins had to think about it’; the second, ii, has a clause o purpose, as anexplanation why she lef him , so that she could think about it!

A similar contrast can occur with reporting verbs with a complement that

takes the orm o an in nitive verb. Consider: 8.40 i tell him to settle the issue | ii tell him | to settle the issue |

Te rst, i, has a report structure, with to settle the issue as the ‘reported’ com-plement: ‘You must tell him that he must settle the issue.’ Te second, ii, hasa clause o purpose: ‘I you tell him rather than keep silent, that will settle theissue.’ Also:

8.41 i shall we ask this baggage to save us the trouble | (‘Please save us the trouble’)

ii shall we ask this baggage | to save us the trouble | (‘Shall we ask? She mightgo, and that would save us the trouble o throwing her out.’)

*





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9 Intonation: tonicity

onicity is the location o the most prominent syllable in an intonation unit.onality represents the speaker’s division o the total message into separate

pieces o in ormation; tonicity, on the other hand, identi es the ocus o eachpiece o in ormation. Tis unction can easily be demonstrated by listening toone sentence spoken with different tonicity:

9.1 i they’re coming on\Monday | ii they’re \coming on Monday |

Te rst rendering ocuses on Monday , whereas the second ocuses on themcoming. Te second one can only make sense i some mention o the people’smovements on Monday has already been mentioned or is already known,and now some contrast or correction is intended, e.g. they are not leavingon Monday! onicity tells you what the ocus o the in ormation is, whereastonality tells you what the pieces o in ormation are.

Each piece o in ormation – each intonation unit – will have one ocus, onetonic syllable. Occasionally, a speaker will begin an intonation unit but decideto abandon it be ore starting their in ormation a resh; in such cases, theremight be no tonic syllable and so we call such interrupted units ‘abandoned’units: the ull in ormation was not given and the choices o ocus and tone werenot made either. Some examples were noticed inDangerous childhood pranks 2. Normally, however, each intonation unit will contain one tonic syllable; andthe presence o the tonic syllable is obligatory or the delivery o a completeintonation unit.

What makes a syllable a tonic syllable? Usually, in each intonation unitthere will be one syllable more prominent than the others; it is made moreprominent by a degree o loudness greater than the other syllables, and it isaccompanied by a distinctive pitch movement or level. Tere is sometimes anoticeable reduction in the pace o the syllablesafer the tonic syllable, com-pared to the quicker pace be orehand.All these clues help, but they may notalways be present together. ry and identi y the tonic syllables in these oursentences:

9.2 i I think I’ll go and have a cup o tea

ii where are you going on your holidays iii did you have a nice time iv look at that man up there



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It should not be too diffi cult to identi y them; they were the last words in therst three and the last one but two in the ourth sentence. Notice that they were

all lexical items – content words, not grammatical items (‘structural’ words).In iv above, the last two wordsup there both belong to closed sets o locative

adverbs and are thus treated as grammatical items. So, although man is notthe last word, it is still the last lexical item. Note also that each sentence was adifferent clause type: a declarative, awh-interrogative (i.e. non-polar), a yes/nointerrogative (i.e. polar) and an imperative; the type o clause seems to have nobearing on either tonality or tonicity.

Neutral and marked tonicity

It is a general rule in English that the tonic syllable will be heard within the lastlexical item o an intonation unit. Tis rule is pretty power ul, as in approxi-mately 80 per cent o instances it will be ound to be the case. Tis high propor-tion o tonic locations is known asneutral tonicity. Neutral tonicity re ers tothe phenomenon that the tonic syllable will occur within the nal lexical itemin its intonation unit. Tis is true or all examples above, apart rom

they’re \coming on Monday |

In the approximately 20 per cent o intonation units where this is not the case,tonicity is said to be ‘marked’.Marked tonicity re ers to those cases where thetonic occurs within a lexical item that is not nal, like the example immediately

above, or it occurs with a grammatical item, as in 9.3 they \are coming on Monday

Marked tonicity will always need a very particular context, as in these twocases. Te second one, | they \are coming on Monday |, can only make sense ina context where the expectation o their arrival on Monday has been disputedor denied, i.e. the context is very particular.

Now listen again toDangerous childhood pranks 1. Te tonality has alreadybeen investigated; we could transcribe it as below. But this time, listen or thetonic syllable ineach intonation unit. Again, start rom line 5, as the speakerwas still sorting out the story in his mind in the earlier lines. Underline thespeaker’s choice o tonic syllable in each unit.


A: my cousin Mervin | . that was in the REME | . uh . got me a thirty eight 1 B: | gun | 2 A: Wesson | . Smith and Wesson | . special | . and Benny’s | . no it wasn’t | 3 it was Rick Holmans’s shed | . and Benny | . Brian Bedding elds | . 4 knew his dad had some . ammunition | . rom the war | . and he ound 5

it | and they were thirty eight | . so we um . took them over the 6 marshes | and shot a couple o rounds off | and that was great | and 7 then one . | one day we were in up Prospect Road | . near the scout 8



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CHAP ER 9 Intonation: tonicity

hut | . in a shed | . in a . um Rick Holmans’s shed | . so there was our 9 o us | in this . sort o eight by s . six shed | – – and we were 10 playing about with the thing | . and we messed about with it | and did 11 the usu you know | and and sort o said oh we’ll put a cross in it | 12

and make a dum-dum o it | . and red it | . in the shed | . at . at at the 13 bit o wood | (laughter ) . and this bullet went round the shed | about 14 three times | . and we all just roze | . (laughter ) and this bullet went 15 round | and round | and round | ( laughter ) was absolutely outrageous | 16 . and we had no concept | o what we what could have happened | 17

You might now notice how many o the tonic syllables occur with the nallexical item in each unit; these are cases o neutral tonicity.

Now try and identi y the tonic syllables in the (scripted) monologueComeon, Gus . Again, the tonality o the monologue has been set out or you; all you

have to do is underline the tonic syllable ineach intonation unit. In line 1, thereis one intonation unit that consists o only one word,Gus, and that word con-sists o only one syllable; in this case, there is no choice! Where there is morethan one word in an intonation unit, there is a potential or choice; underlinethe choice that the speaker has made. Also, try and identi y which syllable is thetonic syllable in a polysyllabic word, e.g.holidays. (We can distinguish, theo-retically, between tonic syllables as a phonological eature,tonic words roma semantic perspective, and the grammatical distinction between lexical and grammatical words – note the interplay o all three ‘levels o analysis’.)

Now underline what you think are the tonic syllables. Tere is no need to beconcerned yet about the pitch movements you hear.

8.42 Come on, Gus

now then | Gus | don t be a ool | like you were last time | 1 next time | check the tide | seriously | 2 the boys who tricked you | will try again | won t they | 3 that was a dread ul thing they did | pretending like that | 4 I wouldn t trust them | to be honest | 5 my goodness me | you could have injured yoursel seriously | 6 make sure they are standing up | on their eet | 7 tell them to be honest | 8 call Bernard your riend | well | he wasn’t much o one | was he Gus | 9 nor that other lad | Joe | 10 call Jack | my riend | to go with you next time | 11 he ll deal with them rankly | 12 he won t leave you to look afer yoursel | he s too good a bloke | rankly | 13

Here are some hints:

Line 1: Which o the wordsnow then is the more prominent? Is time more

prominent than last , or vice versa? Line 2: Which o the wordsnext time is the more prominent? Which syllable is

tonic in seriously ?



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Line 3: Which o the wordstry again is the more prominent? Line 4: Can you think whything is not prominent? Line 7: Note thatup is part o the lexical itemstand up . Line 10: Which o the wordsother lad is the more prominent?

Line 13: Te tonicity o the rst unit is tricky, so don’t worry i you think thereis more than one tonic syllable! Which o the words good bloke is the moreprominent?

Broad and narrow focus

You will probably notice how ofen the tonic syllable occurs within the nallexical item o each intonation unit, but not always. It sometimes occurs ona non- nal lexical item or on a grammatical item; we need now to investigatethese cases o marked tonicity . Listen to these exchanges as extensions to the

examples we introduced on p. 149; the tonicity o each rst turn is marked byunderlining, as discussed above.

9.4 A: I think I’ll go and have a cup o tea | B: why don’t you come and have a meal |

What A says could be the rst turn o a new conversational exchange, andeverything that A says would be new in ormation to the addressee, B. But whatB says contains a lot o in ormation that A has given already: you coming andhaving re ers exactly to what A said aboutme going and having . Te only thingnew in B’s turn is meal ; that is the ocus o in ormation in that unit. Becausethe ocus is con ned to just one element o the in ormation, the ocus is saidto be narrow focus . Tis contrasts with the in ormation o A’s turn in whichall the in ormation was new; in a case like this, the ocus is said to bebroadfocus. Broad ocus re ers to all the in ormation in an intonation unit beingnew, whereas narrow ocus re ers to only part o the in ormation being new.

9.5 A: where are you going on your holidays | . . . B: where are you going on your holidays |

What A says above could be the beginning o a new topic in a conversation,which A and B proceeded with. Ten later B might ask a similar question o A,but much o B’s question is repetition o what A had said, except that you and your re er to A, not B! Tat is why your is the ocus o B’s question, a narrow

ocus, in contrast to the broad ocus o A’s original question. (Perhaps youmightbe tonic also, in which case B’s turn becomes two intonation units with narrow

ocus in each:where are you going | on your holidays | .) Te next example was:

9.6 A: did you have a nice time | B: we had an aw ul time |

What A says above, here, has broad ocus, but what B says has narrow ocusbecause the in ormationwe having (some kind o )time has already been givenby A, i.e. A’s you is the same as B’swe. Te last o those examples:



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9.7 A: look at that man up there B: and look at that man | up there

What A says above, here, has broad ocus; what B says has narrow ocus. Eventhough B uses the same words as A,that and there contrast with A’s message.

In all these cases, note that broad ocus takes neutral tonicity – the tonic syl-lable within the nal lexical item o an intonation unit. Narrow ocus usuallytakes marked tonicity – the tonic syllable either within a non- nal lexical itemlike B’s response,aw ul , or within a grammatical item like B’s responses, your (perhaps also you), that and there.

Occasionally, narrow ocus has neutral tonicity like B’s response with thetonic on meal . So, how do people distinguish neutral tonicity with broad ocus

rom neutral tonicity with narrow ocus? Te answer is that in ormation thathas already been given is pitched low, whereas new in ormation usually is not.

Compare A’s pitch on I think I’ll go and have a cup o (the pretonic segment) withB’s low pitch onwhy don’t you come and have a (the pretonic segment). Tus wemake a distinction between new information and given (or old) information .

Now you can see why, or instance, the speaker inDangerous childhood pranks 1 line 9 has narrow ocus onRick Holman’sand not upon shed , becauseshed is given in ormation rom the preceding intonation unit. Te speaker inCome on, Gus lines 1 and 2 obviously regardstime as given, re erring to Gus’sprevious experience. In line 4,thing re ers back to the previous experience also;hence, the narrow ocus lies elsewhere (dread ul is the new in ormation). Inline 10, lad is given, showing that the speaker regardsBernard in a previousintonation unit as a lad also; soother is new, as narrow ocus. Similarly, in line13, bloke is treated as given in ormation; the other people already mentionedare perceived asblokestoo. Te speaker also treats he in line 13 as new (narrow

ocus), althoughhe, Jack has already been mentioned; he treats he as the ocusas a way o contrast with the other ‘blokes’.

Marked tonicity happens with numbers too. Perhaps most well known isthe traditional tonicity o ootball scores read out on the radio. Compare thesetwo scores:

9.8 i Arsenal nil | Cardiff City one | ii Arsenal one | Cardiff City one |

Te rst, i, has broad ocus in both its intonation units as all the in orma-tion they contain is new; tonicity is, there ore, neutral. (Tat was the score in1927 or the only occasion when the English FA Cup went outside England!)Te second, ii, represents a drawn game, with one common to the two units;one thus drops out o ocus with the tonic syllable shifing toCi-, which ismarked tonicity. (NB In this instance, one is a lexical item as a number, and nota pronoun as in he wasn’t much o one.)

Something similar happens in telephone numbers and the like

9.9 i 208 7 | 424 3 | ii 208 7 | 423 2 |



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Te rst, i, has neutral tonicity, but in the second unit o the second, ii, the very nal lexical item,two, is a repeat, and so the tonic syllable shifs to thirt- ,creating marked tonicity.

Marked tonicity can also eature in parts o words like elements o com-

pound words and affi xes. Compare the word stress o these two instances othe compound book case:

9.10 i we need a book case | ii he’s got a book shel | but we need a book case

And then the word stress o these two instances odisinterested :

9.11 i Jack acted in a disinterested way | ii disinterested | or uninterested |

A kind o marked tonicity takes place when the nal lexical item is acommon verb o movement or happening which does not seem to add any-thing to the message; these are ofen called ‘event clauses/sentences’. Listen tothese:

9.12 i the phone rang | ii an accident has happened | iii your sister’s gone | iv the doctor’s coming | v an ambulance has been called |

Te verbs are nal lexical items, but they are semantically ‘empty’. Te ‘move-ment’ verbs do not add any in ormation; it is the person who is moving that issigni cant. Te ‘happening’ verbs are semantically redundant, because ring iswhat phones do, happen is what takes place with accidents, and in emergen-cies being called is what happens to ambulances. Te verbs are required to llsyntactic places although they have little or no semantic effect. echnically,these verbs are lexical items in nal position, but since they do not ‘take’ thetonic syllable, the tonicity is marked. (Because there is a kind o mismatchbetween semantics and syntax in these cases, linguists do differ in their inter-pretation o the phonology o the tonicity o these cases; I have presented asimple interpretation based on syntax.)

Final adjuncts

A regular case o marked tonicity happens when adjuncts which contain lexicalitems appear in nal position in the clause, e.g.

9.13 i where did you go last week | ii what did you do all day | iii there was nothing to do in town |

Adjuncts with no lexical content would not be expected to take the tonicsyllable when they appear in nal position, e.g.



155


9.14 i what did you do today | ii there’s nothing to do here |

and it seems that adjuncts with lexical content ollow suit. I they took the tonicsyllable, they would sound very much as i the in ormation had narrow ocus.Listen or the sense o contrast:

9.15 i where did you go last week | (‘as opposed to just yesterday’) ii what did you do all day | (‘not at night time’) iii there was nothing to do in town | (‘as opposed to somewhere else’) iv what did you do today | (‘not yesterday’) v there’s nothing to do here | (‘as opposed to there’)

Here are some more contrasting examples with nal adjuncts:

9.16 i he didn’t want to jot it down again | ( jot down = last lexical item; neutraltonicity)

ii he didn’t want to jot it down again | (again = grammatical item; markedtonicity)

also

9.17 i they needed to think it over together | (think over = last lexical item; neutraltonicity)

ii they needed to think it over together | (together= grammatical item; markedtonicity)

and 9.18 i she might not come back then | (come back= last lexical item; neutral tonic-

ity) ii she might not come back then | (then = grammatical item; marked

tonicity)

Final adjuncts which unction or comment, viewpoint, reporting and glosseson the subject are usually ‘out o ocus’, i.e. non-tonic, whether they containlexical items or not. Here are some examples:

9.19 i she wanted to speak like a lady though | ii she wanted to speak like a lady o course | iii she wanted to speak like a lady however | iv she wanted to speak like a lady you see | v she wanted to speak like a lady at least |

also

9.20 she was in a poor state economically | (viewpoint)

and

9.21 she wanted to have lessons she said | (reporting)

and



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9.22 they re all the same these pro essors | (a gloss)

Certain adjuncts usually take the tonic because o the orce o their meaning;thus they create utterances with marked tonality:

9.23 she wanted to dress like a lady | too | ( alsoalso, as well ) 9.24 she wasn t sure about Pickering | either |

9.25 should she leave | or stay | instead |

Finally, as we have already seen, vocatives in nal position in the clause ofenare ‘non-tonic’ (look back at the second example in 8.17 on p. 143). Tis givesthe potential or possible ambiguity with some verbs that can operate in eithertransitive or intransitive mode:

9.26 i don t shoot Joe ( Joe = vocative) ii don t shoot Joe (shoot = transitive; Joe= direct object!)

A similar ambiguity presents itsel with re exive pronouns acting as directobject and emphatic pronouns in nal position:

9.27 i she asked hersel (hersel = re exive; ‘she wondered’) ii she asked hersel (hersel = emphatic: ‘she was the one who did the

asking’)

*

Now try and identi y the tonic syllables in


Once again, the tonality has been already investigated and can be transcribedas ollows. Underline the tonic syllable in each intonation unit.

A: the other thing that we used to do | that Bernard mentioned | when I was 1 a little kid | um . be ore um | the sea ront was all different | it was just 2 open . | we used to . cycle down | . especially on oggy days was the best | . 3 cycle straight down . Canute Road | and straight off the prom | into the sea | 4 – because we um | . we d make sure the tide was sort o in | . but you 5 had to get rid o your bike | in mid air | 6 C: but didn’t you do that dread ul thing | . to that boy | 7 A: o yeah | 8 C: where you were all kneeling down | as (xx) 9 A: it s about an eight or ten oot dive | . in | and you can dive | at high tide | 10 . and Gus Hughes . came along one day | . and we were always taking 11 the mickey out o him | . he s . you know | he s one o these . the lads 12 that . always got taken | so we all . we all knelt down | – with the water up 13

to about there | . he stood on the top | and said . is it o k to dive | we said 14 yes | – but o course it was only about knee deep | – and he dived | . and 15 he stuck | – he just went crunch | 16



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Hints: Line 1: the very rst unit is tricky, and you may hear two tonics, but which is

the more prominent? More on this in the next chapter on one. Which is moreprominent: Bernard or mentioned ?

Line 2: treat | um . be ore um | as an abandoned unit. Line 3: treat | we used to . cycle down | as an abandoned unit; the in ormationseems to be abandoned be ore it is taken up again in Line 4.

Line 5: treat | because we um | as an abandoned unit. Line 10: as we noted on p. 143, the speaker seems to stumble over the tonality

o the rst unit on this line; the tonicity must ollow his tonality choice, whichmeans that in will be the tonic syllable in its own intonation unit.

Line 13–14:water is the only lexical item in this unit, but does it take the tonic?And nally, try and act the director again or this passage oPygmalion , and

underline the tonic syllables as you imagine them to be. Why | this is the girl I jotted down last night | She’s no use | Ive got all 1

the records I want | o the Lisson Grove lingo | and I’m not going to waste 2another cylinder on it | [ o the girl ] Be off with you | I don’t want you | 3

Don’t you be so saucy | You aint heard what I come or yet | 4[ o Mrs Pearce, who is waiting at the door or urther instructions] Did 5you tell him I come in a taxi | 6

Nonsense girl | What do you think a gentleman like Mr Higgins 7cares | what you came in? 8

Oh, we are proud | He aint above giving lessons | not him | I heard 9him say so| Well | I aint come here to ask or any compliment | and i my 10money’s not good enough | I can go elsewhere | 11

Good enough or what | 12 Good enough or y ə-oo | Now you know | dont you | I’m coming 13

to have lessons | I am |And to pay or em tə-oo | make no mistake | 14 (stupent) Well | [Recovering his breath with a gasp] What do you 15

expect me to say to you | 16 Well | i you was a gentleman | you might ask me to sit down 17

I think | Dont I tell you I’m bringing you business | 18 Pickering | shall we ask this baggage to sit down | or shall we throw 19

her out o the window | 20 [running away in terror to the piano, where she turns at bay ] Ah-ah-oh-ow-ow-ow-oo | [Wounded and whimpering ] I wont be called a 21 baggage | when Ive offered to pay |like a lady | 22

*

Further exercises can be ound in Brad ord (1988), O’Connor & Fletcher(1989), Bowen & Marks (1992), aylor (1992), Gilbert (1993), Hewings (1993,2004), Brazil (1994), Hancock (2003) and Cauldwell (2003).



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10 Intonation: tone

one is the level and movement o pitch within an intonation unit.Primarytone re ers to the system o contrasting movements o pitch within the tonicsegment (i.e. tonic syllable and tail); the basic system is a choice between all (\),rise (/) and all-rise (V). Secondary tone re ers to variations to the basic primarysystem and also to levels and movements in the pretonic segment (i.e. pre-headand head).

Te primary tone system unctions in two dimensions: the speaker’s organi-zation o their in ormation, and the speaker’s role in interpersonal communica-tion (whether the speaker is, or example, stating something, asking a question,telling someone to do something, greeting, wishing a happy birthday, etc.). Tein ormational aspect o tone will be dealt with rst, then the communicativeaspect, in this chapter; secondary tones will be dealt with in the next chapter.

Tones

Listen to this statement:

10.1 we used to dive straight into the sea

You should hear it as one intonation unit with the nal lexical item as thetonic. Tis means that the speaker intended this as a single piece o in orma-tion (tonality) with broad ocus (tonicity). Te tone indicates the status o thein ormation; in this case, it was a all. Te intonation o this example will nowlook like this:

10.2 we used to dive straight into the \sea |

with tonality, tonicity and tone all marked. Note that all three systems o tonal-ity, tonicity and tone will always operate in every intonation unit – unless, ocourse, a unit is begun and then abandoned.

Now listen to the same wording with a different tone:

10.3 we used to dive straight into the sea |

Te tonality and tonicity remain the same, but the tone changes to a rise, withthe effect that the statement now sounds incomplete, as i the speaker is aboutto add something else (e.g.but we got rid o our bikes in mid air ). Te intonationo this second rendering will now look like this:

• we used to dive straight into the /sea |



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CHAP ER 10 Intonation: tone

Te speaker thus has a choice between a all and a rise (in linguistic terms,the speaker operates a system o tone). Te rise in these cases ‘means’incom-plete in ormation and depends on urther in ormation or it to make sense,whereas the all ‘means’ that the in ormation can be understood independently

o any other in ormation and can be considered asmajor in ormation. It isthe speaker who decides. Te speaker knows what in ormation they wish toprovide and the status o each piece o in ormation is indicated by their choiceo tone. Listen to this statement:

we used to dive straight into the /sea | but we got rid o our bikes in mid\air |

Te speaker uses the rise in the rst unit o intonation to indicate that theyhave not completed the message, and uses the all in the second to indicatethat that was the main point o the message, the major piece o in ormation.Tis sequence o rise + all is inevitably a requent eature o spoken discourse.Sequences o all + all are also very requent:

10.4 we used to dive straight into the \sea | and get rid o our bikes in mid\air |

In this case, the speaker manages the message as two pieces o major in orma-tion; that is how they viewed it on that particular occasion. Listen once againto Dangerous childhood pranks 1 and notice how many pieces o in ormationare accompanied by alls. Mark each all with\ directly be ore the tonic syllableitsel . Te tonality and tonicity have already been transcribed.


A: | my cousin Mervin | . that was in the REME | . uh . got me a thirty eight 1 B: | gun | 2 A: Wesson | . Smith and Wesson | . special | . and Benny’s | . no it wasn t | 3 it was Rick Holmans’s shed | . and Benny | . Brian Bedding elds | . 4 knew his dad had some . ammunition | . rom the war | . and he ound 5 it | and they were thirty eight | . so we um . took them over the 6 marshes | and shot a couple o rounds off | and that was great | and 7 then one . | one day we were in up Prospect Road | . near the scout 8 hut | . in a shed | . in a . um Rick Holmans’s shed | . so there was our 9

o us | in this . sort o eight by s . six shed | – and we were 10 playing about with the thing | . and we messed about with it | and did 11 the usu you know | and and sort o said oh we’ll put a cross in it | 12 and make a dum-dum o it | . and red it | . in the shed | . at . at at the 13 bit o wood | (laughter ) . and this bullet went round the shed | about 14 three times | . and we all just roze | . (laughter ) and this bullet went 15 round | and round | and round | ( laughter ) was absolutely outrageous | 16 . and we had no concept | o what we what could have happened | 17

In the telling o this narrative, the speaker handles practically all the new pieces

o in ormation as major; you can tell that he is ‘composing’ as he goes along,and the rapid sequence o alls probably adds to the sense o excitement he

eels. Tere was at least one instance o rise + all o some kind in lines 10–11:



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• – and we were playing about with the/thing | . and we messed a\bout withit |

indicating incomplete in ormation and then major.Te alls and rises are contrasting pitch movements on the tonic syllable; i

there is a tail, it will end low with a all, but high with a rise. Tat is an impor-tant clue i you eel unsure about the pitch movement itsel . Listen to the pitchmovement o these tones in tonic segments that contain tails:

10.5 i we used to dive straight into the\reservoir | ii we used to dive straight into the /reservoir | . . .

In order to effect a all, the pitch o the voice must start relatively high andthen all to a lower pitch, which is heard easily when there is a tail. But therelatively high starting pitch or the all might be higher than the pitch in the

pretonic segment, and it might sound to you as i the pitch has gone up be oreit goes down. Tis is one reason or identi ying the tonic syllable clearly, inorder to distinguish the pitch movement on the tonic syllable rom the pre-ceding pitch movement or level in the pretonic. It is the pitch movement inthe tonic segment that counts, not any ‘jump up’ in pitch rom the pretonicto the tonic; that ‘jump up’ is merely an adjustment to the pitch to reachthe required level or the all and is automatic (and, there ore, can never becontrastive).

Similarly, in order to effect a rise, the pitch o the voice must start relativelylow and then rise to a higher pitch, which, again, is heard easily when thereis a tail. But the relatively low starting pitch or the rise might be lower thanthe pitch in the pretonic segment, and it might sound to you as i the pitchhas gone down be ore it goes up. Tis ‘jump down’ is the same kind o auto-matic adjustment that has just been mentioned or the all. Again, it is the pitchmovement in the tonic segment that counts . It is necessary to distinguish thisautomatic adjustment rom the actual tone itsel in the tonic segment. Hereare those two examples again in ‘slow motion’; notice the pitch adjustmentbetween the (at the end o the pretonic) andres- (at the beginning o the tonicsegment):

10.6 i we used to dive straight into the\reservoir | ii we used to dive straight into the /reservoir | . . .

Another requent sequence – beside all + all, and rise + all – is all + rise.Listen to this statement:

10.7 we used to dive straight into the sea | at high tide |

Te tonality has been transcribed or you: two intonation units, two pieceso in ormation. Te tonicity has also been transcribed, as broad ocus. Te

all in the rst unit indicates that the speaker is treating that in ormation as

major, but what does the rise in the second mean? It cannot mean incompletein ormation because o its position at the end o the sequence. In cases likethese, a distinction is made between major and minor in ormation; the nal



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rise ‘means’ that this in ormation is added as relevant, but it is treated as oonly secondary importance compared to the major in ormation. It has a lowerstatus of information . Rises in this in ormational aspect o intonation indicatethat the in ormation has to be understood in relation to some other in orma-

tion; it has a status o being ‘dependent’ on something that the speaker treats asmajor (‘independent’).Here are two other examples o all + rise, i.e. o major + minor in ormation,

romCome on, Gus , lines 5 and 13:

10.8 I wouldn t trust them | to be honest |

10.9 he s too good a bloke | rankly |

o be honest and rankly are added by the speaker as pieces o extra(interpersonal) in ormation, rather like a comment, and are obviously going

to be treated as minor. Tese last three examples would be transcribed asollows:

• we used to dive straight into the \sea | at high /tide |• I wouldn t \trust them | to be /honest• he s too \good a bloke | / rankly |

Minor in ormation very ofen consists o nal adjuncts. We saw in the previouschapter that they usually do not take the tonic unless they indicate a contrast,but they can appear in their ‘own’ intonation unit i the speaker wishes to givethem some degree o prominence without making them the major in ormation(like contrast). Listen to these statements:

10.10 I took a day off | last week but there was nothing to do | in town so I slept | the rest o the day

Other examples were also presented in the previous chapter; here are examplesrom p. 155with nal adjuncts given some (minor) prominence:

10.11 i she wanted to speak like a\lady | /though | ii she wanted to speak like a\lady | o /course | iii she wanted to speak like a\lady | how /ever | iv she wanted to speak like a\lady | you /see | v she wanted to \speak like a lady | at/least |

10.12 she was in a poor \state | eco/nomically |

10.13 she wanted to have \lessons | she /said |

10.14 they re all the \same | these pro/ essors |

Final adjuncts may there ore be treated as either major in ormation (with\),

or as minor in ormation (with /) or as given in ormation (non-tonic). It is thespeaker who decides. Tey choose the in ormation status that is required asappropriate to their purposes.



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Te system or in ormation status so ar is:

major \

incomplete / (non- nal) minor / ( nal)

Te complete system or in ormation status also includes the all-rise tone(V). Te all-rise indicates major in ormation that is somehow not completein itsel ; it implies an extra, unspoken, message that the speaker expects theaddressee to understand. Te dimension o major in ormation is indicated bythe all element; the incompleteness o the spoken message is indicated by therise element. Listen to these examples.

Imagine Jack and Jill going out together or the rst time, and then Jack’sriends quizzing him about Jill, and Jill’s riends quizzing her about Jack. Tey

might ask him ‘What is she like?’ and he might reply:

10.15 \yes | she s o \k |

with positive major in ormation, but i he replies:

10.16 she s o Vk |

there is still major in ormation, but it does not sound so positive because heimplies another unspoken message which has abut about it. He does not denythat she’s OK , but it is clear that there is another message which he expects hisaddressee(s) to be able to interpret too. Tis is implied information .

Similarly, Jill’s riends might ask ‘What is he like?’ and she might reply: 10.17 he s very\nice |

with positive major in ormation, but i she replies:

10.18 he s veryVnice |

it does not sound as i she will plan to go out with him again! Her all-rise alsoimplies an unspoken ‘but message’. Te major in ormation is given; it is notdenied, but its signi cance is compromised by an implied extra message. Teextra message might not always be a ‘but message’; it might signal simply ‘thinkabout what this means’ or ‘this is my opinion on the matter’; or instance

• they re coming on VMonday |

might mean ‘So we’d better get things ready or them right now’. Te extra,unspoken, message that is implied is meant to be understood by the addressee

rom the connection between the spoken message and the situational actors.Both the all and rise elements are pronounced within the tonic syllable. I

there is a tail, the two elements are spread though the tonic segment, e.g.

10.19 he s very conVsiderate

with the all occurring on the tonic syllable and the rise delayed till the end othe segment, -rate . Te V symbol is placed just be ore the tonic syllable, since



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the placement o the rise element is automatic. (I you separate the two parts othe symbol as

• con\side/rate

it is possible that it might be interpreted as all + rise, especially i there are anumber o words in the tail.)Te all-rise also occurs in a non- nal position, and typically with the theme

at the beginning o a clause. Its unction then is tohighlight the theme . Anexample occurs in Come on, Gus line 2:

10.20 Vnext time | check the \tide |

In this case, there is marked theme as something other than the subject appearsat the beginning o the clause. Marked theme, as such, does not require to behighlighted with V, but the speaker chose to do so on that occasion. He couldalso have said:

10.21 /next time | check the \tide |

with a simple rise to indicate incomplete in ormation; that would have beenquite acceptable. But the speaker actually chose the all-rise with the intentiono drawing attention to the theme. A neutral theme could also be highlighted:

10.22 VBernard | was not much o a\ riend |

Teme is a notion about the in ormation structure o the clause. We can now

add the unctions o the all-rise in nal and non- nal positions to the systemnetwork or in ormation status:

major in ormation \

minor in ormation / ( nal) incomplete in ormation / (non- nal) implied in ormation V( nal) highlighted theme V(non- nal)

Te system can be illustrated as ollows:

10.23 Gus never checked the \tide | Gus never checked the \tide | be/ orehand Gus never checked the /tide | . . . Gus never checked the Vtide | VGus | never checked the \tide |

It should also be noted that the all-rise can occur with questions andcommands:

did Gus ever check theVtide | \Gus | check the Vtide |

Te implication in the question is that the speaker is identi ying the actualocus o the question: ‘I think he might have checked other things, but I don’t



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know about the tide’ – a narrow ocus with neutral tonicity. Te implication inthe command is similar: ‘I think you should at least do that.’

It should also be noted that a change in the tone system is taking place inUK at present, by which the all-rise is ofen used simply to mark incomplete

in ormation in non- nal position in casual, in ormal discourse likeDangerouschildhood pranks 1. this is probably how best to interpret the all-rise in line11:

• . and we messed aVbout with it |

Tere does not seem to be a sense o an extra implied message here, and in anycase, it is not nal.

A nal note on long tails! Te longer the tail, the easier it is to decide whetherthe tone was a all, a rise or a all-rise. ake, or instance, line 1 oDangerouschildhood pranks 2:

the \other thing that we used to do |

Te tail –er thing we used to do is kept on a low pitch throughout, which provides the evidence that the speaker had used a all on the tonic syllableoth-. Wecould render that same statement as incomplete in ormation:

10.24 the /other thing that we used to do |

with the tail rising slightly to a mid pitch; or even as highlighted them:

10.25 the Vother thing that we used to do |

with the all on the tonic syllableoth-, a low pitch through the tail until therise element on the last stressed syllabledo. I there is no stressed syllable inthe tail, the rise element will automatically accompany the nal unstressedsyllable, as in 10.20 above. One nal example must suffi ce: line 13 oCome on,Gus:

• ˅he won t leave you to look afer yoursel |

with the all on the tonic syllablehe, a low pitch through the tail until therise element starting on the last stressed syllableaf- and continuing with theremaining unstressed syllables. Te all-rise spreads, or is ‘split’, throughoutthe tail, with the rise element automatically accompanying the nal stressedsyllable, or otherwise the nal unstressed syllable.

We have now not only completed the study o primary tones in in ormationstructure, but also the study o all the intonation systems – tonality, tonicityand tone – in in ormation structure. Choices in all three systems must be made

or each intonation unit (unless it gets abandoned). Te speaker decides how todivide their whole message into separate pieces o in ormation, what the ocuso each piece o in ormation should be and what status each piece should have.

But language does more than convey messages (the experiential meta unc-tion); it also expresses speakers’ communicative unctions (the interpersonalmeta unction), and it is to this that we now turn our attention.



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Statements and questions

We have illustrated so ar the use o tones in statements, whether those state-ments contained major, minor, incomplete or implied in ormation or a high-lighted theme. But people ask questions too, and tell other people what to do,and greet one another, and wish someone a happy birthday, and engage inmany, many other types o communication.

A statement with major in ormation takes a all. Notice that we have com-bined re erence to two meta unctions in that preceding sentence: experiential(major in ormation) and interpersonal (statement ). A statement means that thespeaker knows some in ormation and tells it to someone else. A question, on theother hand, means that the speaker does not know something and asks or thatin ormation rom someone else who they assume does know the in ormation.When the ower girl spoke to Mrs Pearce, she did not know whether Mrs Pearce

had told Pro essor Higgins that she had come in a taxi; so she asks a question:• Did you tell him I come in a taxi |

As the director o the play, you would expect her to use a rising tone as a signalthat this was a question.

So rises indicate questions as well as incomplete and minor in ormation.How can a person tell what unction a rise carries in any given unit o into-nation? Te answer is not too diffi cult (at least, in theory!): i the rise is con-tained in an intonation unit that is attached to (or, ‘dependent’ on) anotherintonation unit that contains a all (major in ormation) or a all-rise (impliedin ormation), then it indicates either incomplete in ormation (i non- nal) orminor in ormation (i nal). But i the rise is contained in an intonation unitthat is independent, then it indicates a question. Compare:

10.26 i this is the girl I jotted down last\night (he knows, and tells) ii is this the girl I jotted down last/night (he does not know, and asks)

Te tone contrast is parallel to the contrasting tones in tags, as we saw on p. 131

• you under\stand | \don t you• you under\stand | /don t you

Te rst sounds more like a statement: a checking tag with a sense o beingsure. Te second sounds more like a question: a checking tag with a sense onot being sure and having to ask.

Questions like is this the girl I jotted down last night? are known as polarinterrogatives, because the required answer is either Yes or No – hence themore amiliar designation yes/no questions . Tey are usually accompanied bya rise:

10.27 is the tide /in

is it deep e/nough shall I dive /in is it o /k



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Tere is another type o question, the non-polar interrogatives which cannotbe answered with either Yes or No. Tese questions usually begin with a wh item: who, whose, what , which, when, where, why and how – hence the more

amiliar designationwh- questions . Tey require the supply o some in orma-

tion. Wh- questions are usually accompanied by a all. You might wonder whythis is so, i the speaker is actually asking a question. Te reason is that thespeaker does, in act, know the basic proposition o the message, but there is agap that affects ull knowledge. For instance:

10.28 who is in the water (they know that someone is in the water, but not who) how deep is it (they know that it has some degree o depth, but not how

much) when is the tide right in (they know that the tide will be right in, but not when) why are you kneeling down (they know that the others are kneeling down, but

not why) where have you put my bike (they know that their bike has been put somewhere,but not exactly where)

Te proposition o the message might seem very simple as in

10.29 who are you (you must be someone, but I don’t know who) what is your name (you must have a name, but I don’t know it) how are you (you must be in some condition, but I don’t know what) why are you here (you are here, but I don’t know why)

or where are you (you must be somewhere, but I don’t know exactly where)

Because the main proposition is known, even these short wh- questions willtypically take a all.

Commands also take alls. So, or instance when Pro essor Higgins tells theower girl to go, he would almost certainly use a all:

10.30 be \off with you

And when she replies with her protest, in an imperative clause structure, shetoo will use a all:

10.31 don t you be so \saucy

Exclamations are also usually accompanied by a all. Tese examples all comerom thePygmalion passage:

10.32 why (line 1) nonsense girl oh | we are proud well (lines 10, 15, 17)

Te use o primary tones or communicative unctions described so ar can besummarized as ollows:





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10.36 aren t you going to dive\in

Tis is not so much a real question, but a statement that in the speaker’s opinionthe addressee should comply. Tis so-called statement question has also ofenbeen called a ‘conducive’ question, because the speaker is seeking to ‘conduce’the addressee’s response. Compare these two renderings:

10.37 i were you/always taking the mickey out o him | (‘I don’t know; tell me’) ii were you \always taking the mickey out o him | (‘I think you were’)

Exclamations in interrogative orm take a all. Compare:

10.38 i wasn t it /stupid | (‘I don’t know; tell me’) ii wasn t it \stupid | (exclamation like ‘How stupid!’)

We sometimes use polar interrogatives to get people to say something

(‘prompts ’) or as a preliminary to something we wish to tell (‘lead-ins’): 10.39 have you considered the \consequences | (‘ ell me what you think’)

10.40 did you hear what happened to Gus \Hughes | (‘Well, I’m going to tell you!’)

Repeat Yes/no questions take a all, as i the message is ‘What I said was. . .’:

10.41 A: did you get rid o your bike in mid/air | (genuine question) B: /pardon A: did you get rid o your bike in mid\air | (repeat question: ‘What I said was

. . .’) Similarly,second attempt questions take a all:

10.42 A: was it ten oot/deep | ( rst question) B: \no | A: was it\eight oot then | (‘second attempt’ question)

Notice the difference betweenclosed list questions and open list questions :

10.43 i was it /you | or /Bernard | or /Joe | (open list question, not completed) ii was it /you | or /Bernard | or \Joe | (closed list question; ‘It was one o you’)

and

10.44 i did you take the /mickey out o him | or\not | (closed list question) ii did you take the /mickey out o him | or was he just a\ ool | (closed list ques-

tion)

Responses usually take a all, as do expressions o agreement and disagreement,etc.

10.45 \yes |

\no | I don t \know | I \don t | \no |



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that s \right | I disa\gree | I don t sup\pose so ! not a\t all |

that s \ ne with me | o \course not |

Now try and identi y the tones o Dangerous childhood pranks 2. Listen out ora ew more rises than inDangerous childhood pranks 1; they indicate incom-plete or minor in ormation or a question – but not all interrogative clauses arequestions!


A: the other thing that we used to do | that Bernard mentioned | when I was 1

a little kid | um . be ore um | the sea ront was all different | it was just 2open . | we used to . cycle down | . especially on oggy days was the best | . 3cycle straight down . Canute Road | and straight off the prom | into the sea | 4– because we um | . we d make sure the tide was sort o in | . but you 5had to get rid o your bike | in mid air | 6

C: but didn t you do that dread ul thing | . to that boy | 7 A: o yeah | 8 C: where you were all kneeling down | as (xx) 9 A: it s about an eight or ten oot dive | . in | and you can dive | at high tide | 10

. and Gus Hughes . came along one day | . and we were always taking 11the mickey out o him | . he s . you know | he s one o these . the lads 12that . always got taken | so we all . we all knelt down | – with the water up 13to about there | . he stood on the top | and said . is it o k to dive | we said 14yes | – but o course it was only about knee deep | – and he dived | . and 15he stuck | – he just went crunch | 16

Directives

Communicative unctions that involve in uencing someone’s action aresometimes called ‘directives’ or instances o ‘suasion’. I the speaker eels thatthey have authority to get another person to do something, like parent withchild, boss with employee, policeman in a crowd, or a pro essor with a owergirl, etc. – i.e. eeldominance – they use a all. I the speaker does not eelthey have authority but leaves the other person to decide, they use a rise – inde erence. In this way, or instance, acommand carries a alling tone, but arequest a rise; or a request to be truly regarded as a request, the speaker hasto allow the other person to decide to act or not. Compare these commandsand requests:

10.46 i I want you back at\nine (a command) ii can you be back at/nine (a request)

and



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10.47 i be back at \nine (a command) ii be back at /nine (a request)

Also compare these other contrasts in dominance (\) and de erence (/):

10.48 i don’t argue with your \mother (a prohibition) ii don’t argue with your /mother (a plea)

also

10.49 i come \on (a demand) ii come /on (coaxing)

and

10.50 i check your \watch (advice) ii check your /watch (suggestion)

and

10.51 i you should check your\watch (advice) ii you could check your/watch (suggestion)

and

10.52 i you could go with your\sister (recommendation) ii would you like to go with your/sister (invitation)

and 10.53 i I’ll be back at\nine (a promise) ii I could be back be ore/then (an offer)

also

10.54 i don’t you \dare be late (a threat) ii you shouldn’t talk like/that (an appeal)

and nally

10.55 i \watch it (a threat) ii /watch it (a warning)

Notice that, like requests, pleas, coaxing, suggestions, invitations, offers,appeals and warnings – i they are to be genuine – allow the addressee todecide; they could re use a request, but not a command; they could go alongwith a plea, but they would have no choice with a prohibition; they could resistany coaxing, but not a demand; advice, recommendations and threats comewith authority, but suggestions, invitations, appeals and warnings allow theaddressee to make the nal decision to act or not. Promises come with moral

commitment; offers give the addressee options. Authority, or dominance, issignalled with the all; de erence to the addressee’s right to decide is signalledwith a rise.



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However, i a more ormal lexicalized expression o the communicativeunction is used, a all is used.

10.56 I m putting in a request or a day\off | I plead with you or\help | I suggest ten \pounds | we would like to invite you or a\meal | our offer is on the \table | we ap\peal to you | I m \warning you |

Social interaction

Communicative unctions or social interaction also differentiate between

dominance and de erence. Dominance in social interaction is the expression othe speaker’s own eelings and is signalled by a all; de erence is a considerationo the addressee’s eelings and is signalled by a rise. Consider the difference ingreetings :

10.57 i good \morning ( ormal, i.e. speaker’s eelings dominate) ii good /morning ( riendly, i.e. speaker considers the addressee’s eelings)

and also

10.58 nice to /see you ( riendly, thinking o the addressee)

Farewells:

10.59 i good \bye ( rm, command-like) ii good /bye ( riendly, thinking o the addressee)

and

10.60 i good \night ( rm, command-like) ii good /night ( riendly, thinking o the addressee)

also

10.61 good \riddance ( rm, command-like; it does not seem possible with the moreriendly rise!)

and

10.62 cheeri/o ( riendly, thinking o the addressee)

see you /soon ( riendly, thinking o the addressee)

Tanks :

10.63 i many \thanks | \thank you ( ormal) ii many /thanks | /thank you ( riendly, thinking o the addressee)



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Congratulations and wishes:

10.64 i well\done | congratu \lations ( ormal) ii well/done | congratu /lations ( riendly, thinking o the addressee)

also 10.65 to the bride and \groom ( ormal)

and

10.66 i happy \birthday ( ormal) ii happy /birthday ( riendly, a genuinely good wish)

and

10.67 all the /best | have a nice /time (good wishes)

Praise :

10.68 \excellent | it’s\brilliant

10.69 you shouldn’t have \gone to so much trouble

Apologies, sympathy , regret :

10.70 /sorry | I beg your /pardon I do a/pologize sorry about /that | aw ully/sorry Vsorry

Responses:

Te ollowing responses express the speaker’s eelings with alls:

10.71 o \k al\right right you \are I sup\pose so i you in\sist

Tey can be contrasted with expressions o concession , acquiescence andreassurance , which take rises to signal the speaker’s considerations o theaddressee’s eelings:

10.72 o /k al/right right you /are I sup/pose so i you in/sist

and

you’ll be all/right



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Calls with a allrequire attention:

10.73 \Paul (‘you must listen to me!’) Melissa \Jones \hey | \you ex\cuse me \waiter

with a rise, theyseek contact :

10.74 /John (‘Are you there?’) Me/lissa /waiter

with a all-rise theyseek attention:

10.75 VJohn (‘I need you!’) MeVlissa exVcuse me Vnurse

Back channel

alls indicate the back chaneller’s positive engagement with the main speaker;rises indicate their willingness or the main speaker to continue; mid levelindicates nothing more than that the back chaneller is there:

10.76 \yeah | \no | \oh | \m /yeah | /no | /oh | /m -yeah | -no | -oh | -m

Now see i you can add the most appropriate tones to thePygmalion passage.Your tonality and tonicity analysis may be somewhat different to the ollowingbecause o differences in interpretation; and now your tone choices might bedifferent too. But you are the director!

Why | this is the girl I jotted down last night | She’s no use | Ive got all 1

the records I want | o the Lisson Grove lingo | and I’m not going to waste 2another cylinder on it | [ o the girl ] Be off with you | I don’t want you | 3 Don’t you be so saucy | You aint heard what I come or yet | 4

[ o Mrs Pearce, who is waiting at the door or urther instructions] Did 5you tell him I come in a taxi | 6

Nonsense girl | What do you think a gentleman like Mr Higgins 7cares | what you came in? 8

Oh, we are proud | He aint above giving lessons | not him | I heard 9him say so| Well | I aint come here to ask or any compliment | and i my 10

money’s not good enough | I can go elsewhere | 11 Good enough or what | 12



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Good enough or y ə-oo | Now you know | dont you | I’m coming 13to have lessons | I am |And to pay or em | tə-oo | make no mistake | 14

(stupent) Well | [Recovering his breath with a gasp] What do you 15expect me to say to you | 16

Well | i you was a gentleman | you might ask me to sit down 17I think | Dont I tell you I’m bringing you business | 18

Pickering | shall we ask this baggage to sit down | or shall we throw 19her out o the window | 20

[running away in terror to the piano, where she turns at bay ]Ah-ah-oh-ow-ow-ow-oo | [Wounded and whimpering ] I wont be called a 21baggage | when Ive offered to pay |like a lady | 22

*

Here is a new piece o spoken discourse. A group o people are trying toco-operate in assembling a cot or a baby. Generally speaking the the tonal-ity and tonicity will not be too diffi cult or you to transcribe, but try the tonestoo.

10.77 Doing a job

A: it should t there cos it s not that big . I don t think 1 (pause) B: it s warm in here shall I turn that down 2 A: we ve got the instructions . anyway 3 (pause) C: just put it by the window or something 4 (pause) D: d you want me to take that 5 (pause) B: ooh – then there s bedding or about ten people here 6 (pause) D: ah 7 A: um I say . um . we ve got some more instructions 8 (pause) A: that bit there s the bottom 9 B: d you know you went up to um Nottingham yesterday . 10 and you still didn t take Rogers duvet 11 D: well – I wouldn t have had time to take it in any case . haven t seen him 12 B: does he know we ve got it 13 D: no – ah look at that 14 B: (unclear ) C: it s not as diffi cult as it . appears 15 A: she says you ve got to twist these round . and it makes them solid or 16 something 17



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C: and all this just or you 18 (sigh, chuckling ; pause) A: there that s solid now 19 B: I think I ve made it unsolid . sorry . 20

I ve done it the wrong way round . have I 21 *

Further exercises on tone can be ound in Baker (1981, 1982), Brad ord (1988),O’Connor & Fletcher (1989), Bowen & Marks (1992), aylor (1992), Gilbert(1993), Hewings (1993, 2004), Brazil (1994), Kelly (2000), Hancock (2003) andCauldwell(2003).



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11 Intonation: secondary tone

Secondary tones

Secondary tone re ers to variations to the basic primary system o \, / and V,and also to levels and movements in the pretonic segment (i.e. pre-head andhead). Variations to the primary system involve degrees o all, rise and all-rise

and these variations indicate something o the speaker’sattitude or strength o eelingin expressing their message. Such variations can easily be demonstratedby listening to three variations o the ollowing statement:

11.1 i they re coming on \Monday | ii they re coming on \Monday | iii they re coming on \Monday |

Te rst is a plain statement; the second is that very same statement butexpressed more strongly as i to correct the addressee’s expectation; and thethird is expressed more mildly as i to con rm the addressee’s expectation.

Te all in ii above starts rom a higher pitch, higher than the automaticadjustment explained on p. 160; in other words, the speaker has chosen tomanipulate the adjustment to express strength o eeling. Iniii above, thespeaker manipulates the adjustment to a lower starting point or the all toexpressmildness.

Listen yet again to the narratives that we have been examining, but this timelisten or alls that are higher or lower than normal. Overwrite any all with ahigher starting point with / and any all with a lower than normal starting pointwith \.


A: |my cousin \Mervin | . that was in the \REME | . uh . got me a thirty\eight 1 B: | \gun | 2 A: \Wesson | . Smith and \Wesson | . \special | . and \Benny’s | . no it \wasn t | 3 it was Rick\Holmans’s shed | . and \Benny | . Brian \Bedding elds | . 4 knew his dad had some . ammu\nition | . rom the\war | . and he \ ound 5 it | and they were thirty \eight | . so we um . took them over the 6 \marshes | and shot a couple o \rounds off | and that was \great | and 7

then one . | one day we were in up Prospect\Road | . near the \scout 8 hut | . in a \shed | . in a . um Rick \Holmans’s shed | . so there was \ our 9 o us | in this . sort o eight by s . six\shed | – - and we were 10



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CHAP ER 11 Intonation: secondary tone

playing about with the \thing | . and we messed a\/bout with it | and did 11 the \usu you know | and and sort o said oh we ll put a\cross in it | 12 and make a \dum-dum o it | . and \ red it | . in the \shed | . at . at at the 13 bit o \wood | (laughter ) . and this bullet went round the \shed | about 14

three \times | . and we all just\ roze | . (laughter ) and this bullet went 15 \round | and \round | and \round | ( laughter ) was absolutely out\rageous | 16 .and we had no \concept | o what we what could have\happened | 17

You might possibly have heard gun with a high all, as speaker B tries tohelp speaker A out and does so with a touch o surprise. Line 6eight seemshigher than normal and sounds as i it conveys the speaker’s surprise that theammunition tted the gun, perhaps unexpectedly. Line 9 Holmans’s soundslow as i the name was well known to his addressees. Line 13 has red highas i to express the speaker’s eeling that this action would be opposite to

the addressees’ expectations, andshed likewise. Line 15 has roze high as thespeaker emphasizes the participants’ shock at what happened. Outrageous(line 16) is typical o those words with a power ul meaning and will ofen takea high tone. Te high tone on concept (line 17) expresses the speaker’s sense oincredulity.

Te ‘meaning’ o the high all has been glossed by other authors variouslyas ‘intense’, ‘personal concern’, ‘involvement’, ‘liveliness’, ‘more emotional’,‘surprise’, ‘strong surprise’, ‘vigorous agreement or contradiction’. Tis kindo variety o ‘meanings’ depends very much on other contributory actors likethe speaker’s choice o lexis, their gestures and situational actors. For instance,this statement

11.2 it s the po\lice

might express ‘surprise’, or in another situation ‘great relie ’, or in yet another‘shock’! Facial gestures like wide opened eyes, eyes closed, rowns, smiles,pouts and a wrinkled up nose, and vocal gestures like loudness, whisper,speed, breathy or creaky voice all contribute also to ‘meaning’. However, thecontribution o the high all is simplystrength o eeling .

Similarly, the low all has been glossed as ‘cool’, ‘calm’, ‘phlegmatic’,‘detached’, ‘reserved’, ‘dispassionate’, ‘dull’, ‘possibly grim’, ‘surly’, ‘unexcited’,but once again, the exact description would depend on the accompanyinglexis, gestures and situational actors. In general terms, the contribution o thelow all simply indicatesmildness o eeling . Tus there is a three old system oattitudinal expression:

\so strong \so neutral \so mild

A urther addition to this system is the rise- all. Te rise- all consists o both arise and then a all on the tonic syllable. Remember that with an ordinary all,there is usually a ‘jump up’ rom the pitch o the end o the pretonic to a higher



178


starting pitch o the all; see p. 160. In the case o the rise- all, the speakermanipulates this ‘jump up’ by ‘vocalizing’ it as a rise. Tus

11.3 i it s the po˄ lice

expresses a greater level o surprise, etc. I the rise- all is pitched low, thisintense expression is increased with a greater sense o awe or shock. It is usuallyaccompanied by breathy voice quality:

ii it s the po˄ lice

Tus the whole system with alls is:

˄so intense, with emotion

˄so intense \so strong

\so neutral \so mild

Te attitudinal system with rises is simpler. What is most noticeable is theextent o the rise, either to a higher pitch than normal, or to a lower pitch:

11.4 i they re coming on /Monday | . . . ii they re coming on /Monday | iii they re coming on /Monday |

Te rst rendering, i above, is a plain statement with incomplete in ormation.

Te second, ii, is a challenge (look back at p. 167), with the purpose o seekingcon rmation o what the addressee has just said. Te third, iii, with a low rise,sounds either non-committal or even grudging, with quite a negative ‘ring’ toit. Tese three renderings can be matched with yes/no questions:

11.5 i are they coming on /Monday | ii are they coming on /Monday | iii are they coming on /Monday |

Te rst rendering, i, is a plain yes/no question. Te second, ii, is the very samequestion with strong eeling, e.g. surprise (‘I didn’t know that’). Te third, iii, has the same negative ‘ring’ as11.4iii. So the system so ar can be set out as

ollows:

/so strong /so neutral /so non-committal

Te categories are similar but with the reverse direction o the pitch move-ment, and so it might be tempting to extend the system to include the reverseo the rise- all with questions, i.e. the all-rise. But the all-rise with yes/noques-

tions has already brie y been mentioned (pp. 163–4) as indicating a ocus oin ormation, rather than the expression o an attitude. But thereis an extensionto the above system, with the inclusion o a mid level tone.



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Mid level tones are usually non- nal, and so t neatly alongside the rise orincomplete in ormation. Te ‘meaning’ o the mid level tone has been glossedas ‘marking non- nality without conveying any expression o expectancy’,‘routine’, ‘bored’, ‘pre-coded’, ‘oblique’. It occurs in inventories and routine

announcements; it ofen accompanies marked theme without attempting tomake it prominent, simply ‘syntactic dependence’. Here are some examples:

11.6 –Monday | – uesday | –Wednesday | –Tursday | \Friday –Newport | Bristol –Parkway | –Swindon | –Reading | and London \Paddington on –Monday | she goes to \Bristol | on – uesday | she goes to\Swansea | . . .

When preceded by a low head/pretonic, the mid level tone gives the impressiono a kind o routine listing. Compare these two renderings o a list:

11.7 i they re coming on /Monday | staying on / uesday | and /Wednesday | and

\Tursday | ii they re coming on –Monday | staying on – uesday | and –Wednesday |and –Tursday | as they \always do |

Tus the mid level tone ‘means’ something like ‘as is well known’, hence theglosses ‘pre-coded’ and ‘routine’. Te system then is:

/so strong /so neutral –so routine /so non-committal

Te all-rise has a low variety, matching the low rise- all described above, witha matching effect: implied in ormation with strong emotion. Like the lowrise- all, it is ofen accompanied by breathy voice. Compare:

11.8 i they re coming on VMonday | ii they re coming on

˅Monday |

also

I suppose we ll have to call the po˅lice |

Tere is just a two item system:

Vso neutral

˅so intense, with emotion

Tese are all the variations to the basic, primary, tones – the secondary tones inthe tonic segment.

Heads and pre-heads

We now turn to the variations in the head and pre-head – the secondary tonesin the pretonic segment. Te simplest kind o variation is to change the generalpitch level o the head to either higher than normal, or to lower:



180


11.9 i they re coming on \Monday | ii –they re coming on \Monday | iii –they re coming on \Monday |

Te second rendering, ii above, has a high level head and sounds more ‘insist-ent’. Te third, iii, with a low level head, means given in ormation, i.e. in or-mation treated as already known by the addressee, be ore a narrow ocus (seep. 152). Te system is then:

unmarked neutral –so . . . intense –so . . . given

Instead o remaining level, the pitch may descend gradually through the head,a so-called ‘ alling head’, or it may ascend, a ‘rising head’. Such a movement

adds an element o ‘warmth’; that ‘warmth’ is combined with a sense o author-ity i the movement is downwards, and with a sense o appeal i it is upwards.Compare:

11.10 i they ll ↘ all be coming on \Monday | (i.e. ‘I can assure you’) ii they ll ↗ all be coming on \Monday | (i.e. ‘I appeal to you; believe me’) (Note that the arrow accents appear in the head; they do not accompany the

tonic.)

Instead o a relatively smooth descent or ascent, the movement can ‘step’ grad-ually downwards or upwards; this so-called ‘stepping head’ adds a sense oemphasis combined with either authority or appeal:

iii they ll ↘ all be ↓coming on \Monday | (i.e. ‘I emphatically assure you’) iv they ll ↗ all be ↑coming on \Monday | (i.e. ‘I strongly appeal to you; believe

me’)

Instead o a general movement downwards or upwards in the head, there maybe a series o movements; this so-called ‘glissando head’ adds orce ulness:

v they ll ↘ all be ↘ coming on \Monday | (i.e. ‘I have told you many times’) vi they ll ↗ all be ↗ coming on \Monday | (i.e. ‘I have told you many times; I beg

you to believe me’)

I there is no head, but just a pre-head, a limited system can operate:

11.11 i the po\lice | (neutral, as i announcing a heading or sub-heading in a talk) ii –the po\lice | (intense)

Te ull secondary tone system or the pretonic segment is as ollows:

so neutral (unmarked) –so . . . high level ‘intense’

–so . . . low level given ↘ so . . . alling warm, with authority ↗ so . . . rising warm, with appeal



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↘ so ↓so . . . stepping down emphatic, with authority ↗ so ↑so . . . stepping up emphatic, with appeal ↘ so ↘ so . . . glissando down orce ul, with authority ↗ so ↗ so . . . glissando up orce ul, with appeal

It must, o course, be understood that there may be more than two stressedsyllables in the head, thus, or instance: ↘ ↓ ↓ , or ↗ ↗ ↗ ↗ , etc.

It must also be understood that neutral and secondary pretonics can combinewith any primary or secondary tones in the tonic segment, allowing, theoreti-cally, or a vast number o combinations; but there are certain combinationsthat are more requent than others. Listen to these:

11.12 i they re ↘ all going to come on /Monday (warm, incomplete) ↗ how are we going to\sleep them (warm, with appeal) they ll ↘ have to ↓bring at ↓ least a Vcamping bed (emphatic, with implication) I just ↗ hope they ve ↑still \got it (emphatic, with appeal, i.e.

need to nd out) well I ↘ hope they ↘ have nt got Vrid o it ( orce ul, with implication) do you ↗ think we can ↗ ask them to /bring it ( orce ul, with appeal, i.e. to

agree to the question)

Now try your directing expertise on the Pygmalion passage, and edit thetranscription you did on pp. 173–4.

*

Very little practice material seems to exist or secondary tones, apart romBrazil (1994) and Cauldwell (2003) on the mid level tone.



182

12 Intonation: paratones

Paratones

Spoken discourse exhibits the kinds o structure that written discourse is seento have: sentences, paragraphs, sections and sub-sections, chapters and thesense o a whole ‘document’ or book. A para graph is something written; the

equivalent in speech has been termed a ‘paratone’ – a phonological paragraph.Paratones tend to be shorter than paragraphs and may ofen be more equiva-lent to extended sentences. Paratones also extend over sequences o speakerturns in conversations.

Just as paragraphs are used or new topics, shifs in temporal sequence orepisodic events, we use paratones or similar purposes. A very clear example isthe reading o the news: each new topic is distinguished rom a previous oneby intonation – the newsreader normally indicates that they are introducing anew news item simply by a change in intonation. Narratives, whether scriptedor spontaneous, are structured intonationally in similar ways. It may be rathermore diffi cult to perceive such structure in casual, in ormal conversationbecause o the way it is composed, but structures are there nevertheless. Tekey to these phonological paragraphs – paratones – have been listed as ollows:

1. a high pitch on the onset syllable o the initial intonation unit in theparatone;

2. a relatively high ‘baseline’ or that initial unit; this means that the lowpitches are relatively high, compared to the low pitches in the nal unit othe paratone;

3. there is a gradual lowering – or ‘declination’ – o the baseline as theparatone progresses until the nal unit is reached;4. the depth o the all in the nal unit is the lowest in the whole paratone;5. there is usually a slowing down process in the nal unit, so-called ‘pre-

boundary lengthening’; and6. there is usually a longer pause than is normally allowed between

intonation units within a paratone.

Listen now again to Dangerous childhood pranks 1 and see i you can hearparatone boundaries; mark them with a double upright: ||. As we have noted

be ore, not all eatures need to be present or signalling an item in intonation,but listen especially or a low ‘baseline’ pitch, a pause and a relatively high pitchin the ollowing unit in lines 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17.



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CHAP ER 12 Intonation: paratones


A: |my cousin \Mervin | . that was in the \REME | . uh . got me a thirty \eight 1 B: | \gun | 2 A: \Wesson | . Smith and \Wesson | . \special || . and \Benny’s | . no it \wasn t | 3 it was Rick\Holmans’s shed | . and \Benny | . Brian \Bedding elds | . 4 knew his dad had some . ammu\nition | . rom the \war ||. and he \ ound 5 it | and they were thirty \eight || . so we um . took them over the 6 \marshes | and shot a couple o \rounds off | and that was \great || and 7 then one . | one day we were in up Prospect\Road | . near the \scout 8 hut | . in a \shed | . in a . um Rick\Holmans’s shed || . so there was \ our 9 o us | in this . sort o eight by s . six\shed || – and we were 10 playing about with the /thing | . and we messed a\/bout with it | and did 11 the \usu you know | and and sort o said oh we ll put a\cross in it | 12

and make a \/dum-dum o it | . and\

red it | . in the\shed | . at . at at the 13 bit o \wood | (laughter ) . and this bullet went round the \shed | about 14

three \times || . and we all just \ roze | . (laughter ) and this bullet went 15 \round | and \round | and \round | ( laughter ) was absolutely out\rageous || 16 .and we had no \concept | o what we what could have\happened || 17

See i you can nd the paratone boundaries inDangerous childhood pranks 2.

*

Declination, the gradual descent o the baseline rom the initial intonation

unit in a paratone to the nal unit, is an effective way o indicating that theunits do in act belong to each other, and could be regarded as the neutralorm. But the declination could be interrupted; and this is a decision by the

speaker. Te speaker might decide to halt the declination by raising the pitcho the onset o the ollowing unit, or by dropping it to a lower than expectedlevel.

I the speaker raises the baseline in the course o a paratone, instead oallowing it to descend gradually, it usually means that they are introducinga piece o in ormation that is contrary to what might have been otherwiseexpected; in some way, the in ormation is deemed to be contrastive. Examplesoccur in Dangerous childhood pranks 1 line 13. Te speaker initiates a para-tone at line 10 and does not seem to nish it until line 15 with a ‘deep’ allon times. But in the course o this paratone, he raises the baseline twice, on .and red it and . in the shed . He realizes that people would not expect themto re the gun, and especially not in such a small shed; hence the ‘contrastive’nature o the in ormation. We could transcribe this raising o the baseline as

ollows:

• . and ˋ red . in the shed |

I the speaker maintains the pitch level o the baseline, instead o allowingit to descend gradually, it usually means that they are introducing a piece oin ormation that is equivalent to the in ormation that they have just supplied.



184


Listen, or example, to lines 5 and 6; the baseline oand he ound it is main-tained in and they were thirty eight , indicating that the speaker regards thesecond piece o in ormation as equivalent to the previous piece. We couldtranscribe this maintaining o the baseline as :

• | . and he ound it and they were thirty \eight ||

Finally, i the speaker dropped the pitch level o the onset syllable and the base-line to a lower level than expected, it usually means that the speaker eitherwishes to indicate that the next piece o in ormation is ully expected, or thatthe next piece o in ormation should be regarded as a parenthesis. Listen, orexample, rstly to line 3, where the speaker corrects himsel withno it wasn’t ,as a parenthesis, on a lower than otherwise expected pitch level and then provides the corrected in ormation aboutRick Holmans’s shed ; and then listen,secondly, to line 9 where mention is made again o Rick Holmans’s shed , andbecause that in ormation is ully known, it is pitched on a lower than expectedlevel. We can transcribe this dropping o the baseline as :

• || . \Benny’s no it \wasn t |• | . in a \shed in a . um Rick \Holmans’s shed ||

You will be able to nd similar examples inDangerous childhood pranks 2,but there are two particularly interesting examples in lines 14 and 15. Terethe speaker reports direct speech, and does so with a raised baseline. Hiswords and said and we said are pitched low as pre-heads – although said is a

lexical item, it is certainly not stressed – and then the direct speech is pitchedon a higher than expected baseline within the intonation unit. One possi-ble way o transcribing this is to enclose the ‘raised baseline’ symbol withinbrackets, ( ):

• | and said . ( ) is it o k to /dive | we said ( ) \yes ||

Tat leads to a consideration o another change in intonation patterns takingplace in UK at present (one change was mentioned on p. 164). Tere is arelatively new pattern that has been ofen re erred to as the ‘high rising termi-nal’ (‘HR ’); a better term is a ‘raised rise’. A person can be telling a story, a joke or some kind o narrative, and check whether the addressee has under-stood the signi cance o a particular piece o in ormation. Tey provide theaddressee with new in ormation, in a declarative clause, but at the same time,ask whether they realize the signi cance o it; in other words, they are, at thatmoment, doing two things at the same: telling and asking. Tis is accom-plished by retaining the declarative mood, choosing a rising tone, but choos-ing also a higher baseline – as in the above case o introducing direct speech.Listen to this description o a speaker’s visit to a craf air in Cambridge, espe-cially or the instance o a raised rise where the speaker seems to be telling her

addresses something new, but checking at the same time i they know whatshe means:



185

CHAP ER 12 Intonation: paratones

12.1 Cambridge craf air

oh what did I see what did I see . stained glass – there was I went 1 to a craf air – – um in Cambridge . and um . I know – I went 2 to a craf air in Cambridge and they had . um this stained glass stall 3 . and it was all mobiles . made out o stained glass – and they were 4 superb they were . and mirrors . with all different colours . like going 5 round in . the colour . colour wheel – but all different sized bits o 6 coloured glass on it 7

In lines 5 and 6, she talks about coloured mirrors that go round in a colourwheel; going round in the colour wheel is new in ormation, but she seems towant to check with her addressees at the same time that they know what acolour wheel is. (A colour wheel , apparently, is a circular chart used by artists,which shows the relationship between the different colours in the spectrum; it

is a compound noun.)Tis is a very clever innovation. It provides new in ormation in a declara-

tive clause; it asks a question with a rising tone; it interrupts the course o thepitch movement in the intonation unit by introducing a raised baseline, likethe direct speech above. It is different rom the declarative with a rising tonedescribed on p. 167 as a challenge. Challenges re er back immediately as aresponse to what has just been said; and there is no raising o the baseline. Butstatement-veri cations o this kind do not re er back to previous in ormation;they contribute new in ormation in the development o the discourse. We can

transcribe lines 5 and 6 as ollows:• \mirrors | . with all different \colours | . like going round in . the colour .

( )/colour wheel |

You can attempt the transcription o the tonality, tonicity and tone o the resto this little monologue.

Calling

Tere is just one other pattern o intonation that needs to be mentioned.Sometimes we need to call out a short message over a distance, likeDinner’s

ready! Tere is a special kind o pattern or this kind o calling . Tey are veryshort paratones, consisting o a single intonation unit with a two-level tone:high level and then mid level, which is maintained through the tail. I there isno tail, the two-level tone may even distort the tonic syllable by prolonging it,to make time or the change in pitch. Listen to these callings:

12.2 –dinner s –ready || come and –get –it || it s on the –tab–le || come –o–on ||

Te usual eatures o paratone boundaries do not seem to apply in the case ocalling . Callings do, o course, come singly as well as in sequences as above!Listen to this one!

12.3 we v– n–ished ||

*



186


For a little more practice material, see Brad ord (1988), Brazil (1994), Hancock(2003) and Cauldwell (2003).

*

12.4 /now | we \have nished | Tis concludes one o the most comprehensive guides to intonation transcrip-

tion currently in print!

And that means that there are now no words or pieces o discourse that youcannot transcribe!



187

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Part I Words . . .Ashby, P. (2005) Speech Sounds. 2nd edn. London: Routledge.Collins, B. & Mees, I. M. (2003)Practical Phonetics and Phonology. London:Routledge.

Fletcher, C. (1990)Longman Pronunciation Dictionary Study Guide. London:Longman.Garcia Lecumberri, M. L. & Maidment, J. A. (2000)English ranscriptionCourse. London: Arnold.Gimson, A. C. (2008)Gimson’s Pronunciation o English. 7th edn. Rev. byCruttenden, A. London: Hodder.International Phonetic Association (1999) Handbook o the InternationalPhonetic Association. Cambridge University Press.Kenworthy, J. (2000)Te Pronunciation o English: A Workbook. London:Arnold.Kreidler, C. W. (1997)Describing Spoken English.London: Routledge. (2004)Te Pronunciation o English: A Coursebook. Malden MA: Blackwell.Ladegoged, P. (2001) A Course in Phonetics. 4th edn. Boston: Heinle &Heinle.Roach, P. (2009)English Phonetics and Phonology.4th edn. CambridgeUniversity Press.Shockey, L. (2003)Sound Patterns o Spoken EnglishOx ord: Blackwell.

Wells, J. C. (1982) Accents o English.3 volumes. Cambridge University Press.Wells, J. C. & Colson, G. (1971)Practical Phonetics. London: Pitman.And these three dictionaries:Jones, D. (2006)English Pronouncing Dictionary. 17th edn. Edited by Roach,P., Hartman, J. & Setter, J. Cambridge University Press.Upton, C., Kretzschmar, W. A. & Konopka, R. (2001)Te Ox ord Dictionaryo Pronunciation or Current English.Ox ord University Press.Wells, J. C. (2008)Longman Pronunciation Dictionary . 3rd edn. London:

Longman.



188

PAR WO Bibliography

Part II . . . and Discourse

Much o the literature on rhythm will be ound in the works listed above inPart I. Tis list relates to intonation.

Intonation descriptionBeckman, M. E. & Elam, G. A. (1997)Guidelines or oBI Labeling.Version 3.Ohio State University.Brazil, D. (1975)Discourse Intonation . English Language Research, Universityo Birmingham. (1997)Te Communicative Value o Intonation in English. CambridgeUniversity Press.Cruttenden, A. (1997) Intonation . 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press.

Crystal, D. (1969)Prosodic Systems and Intonation in English. CambridgeUniversity Press. (1975)Te English one o Voice. London: Arnold.Gussenhoven, C. (2004)Te Phonology o one and Intonation . CambridgeUniversity Press.Halliday, M. A. K. (1967)Intonation and Grammar in British English. TeHague: Mouton. (1970) A Course in Spoken English: Intonation.Ox ord University Press.Halliday, M. A. K. & Greaves, W. S. (2008)Intonation in the Grammar oEnglish. London: Equinox.

Ladd, D. R. (1996)Intonational Phonology . Cambridge University Press.Pierrehumbert, J. B. (1987)Te Phonology and Phonetics o EnglishIntonation. Indiana University.Pike, K. L. (1945)Te Intonation o American English. Ann Arbor: Universityo Michigan Press.

ench, P. (1996a) Te Intonation Systems o English. London: Cassell. (1996b) ‘Intonation and the differentiation o syntactic patterns in Englishand German’. International Journal o Applied Linguistics6:2. (2003) ‘Processes o semogenesis in English intonation’.Functions oLanguage 10:2. (ed.) (2005) Intonation: Ways and Meanings (with cd).Speak Out! 34.

Wells, J. C. (2006)English Intonation: An Introduction. Cambridge UniversityPress.

Intonation practice

Beer, H. (2005) Overcoming Ambiguities in Spoken English.Speak Out! 34.Baker, A. (1981)Ship or Sheep? 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press. (1982) ree or Tree? Cambridge University Press.



189

CHAP ER 12 Bibliography

Bowen, . & Marks, J. (1992)Te Pronunciation Book . Harlow: Longman.Brad ord, B. (1988)Intonation in Context. Cambridge University Press.Brazil, D. (1994) Pronunciation or Advanced Learners o English. CambridgeUniversity Press.Cauldwell, R. (2003)Streaming Speech. Birmingham: Speechinaction.Gilbert, J. B. (1993) Clear Speech. 2nd edn. New York: Cambridge UniversityPress.Hancock, M. (2003) English Pronunciation in Use. Cambridge UniversityPress.Hewings, M. (1993)Pronunciation asks . Cambridge University Press. (2004) Pronunciation Practice Activities. Cambridge University Press.Kelly, G. (2000)How to each Pronunciation . Harlow: Longman.O’Connor, J. D. & Fletcher, C. (1989)Sounds English. Harlow: Longman.

aylor, L. (1992)Pronunciation in Action. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall.



190

INDEX

(Please note that stands or the discussion that ollows, whereas hyphenated numbersstand or single re erences.)

acquiescence172advice 170

affricate44A rican accent84allophone 60American accents 5, 13, 14, 19, 21, 29, 43,

48, 63, 74, 77apologies172apostrophe 8, 9appeal 170, 171apposition 140, 141, 145approximant 47aspiration 61

assimilation 88attitudes 176 Australian accent 19, 48auxiliary verbs115

back channel 173backing 65baseline 182, 183Brazil133–134breaking 47, 70broad ocus152broad transcription 60–61

calls, calling171, 185Cantonese 130challenge167, 185Chinese accent (o English)86clipping 70coaxing 170commands 166, 167, 169communicative unctions 166 complementary distribution 60complements 145complex verbal groups147compound words 57 concession 172

congratulations 171–172conjunctions 108

contradictions 167

declination 183de erence167 de ning and non-de ning 143demand 170determiners 111 devoicing 63diphthong 17, 25 diphthongization 71dominance 167

elision 95epenthesis 99exclamations 166, 167

arewells171oreign accent86ricative39ronting65

given in ormation153, 180glottal rein orcement63glottal stop 63, 73–74, 119–120greetings 171

Halliday 133–134head 132, 134, 179 high rising terminal 184–185highlighted theme 163homograph 12homophone 7, 8, 9

implied in ormation162, 163incomplete in ormation158–159, 163Indian accent 85in ections 53



191

Index

in ormation status161insistence 180intonation 130intonation unit 131–132intransitive verbs 145

intrusive /r/ 102inventories 179invitation 170, 171Irish accents 19, 43, 48, 83

just 118–119

lateral 47, 60–61, 70–71 lead-ins 168lexical distribution in accents 74lexical sets in accents75

lexical tone130liaison 101 linking /r/ 101listing, lists141, 168London accent 78long clauses142

major in ormation159, 163manner adverbs 146marked distribution o in ormation

140

marked theme 141, 179marked tonality 137marked tonicity 150, 152 Midland (UK) accent 16, 79mildness 176, 177, 178minor in ormation 160, 163modal verbs 117 monophthong 17, 18

narrow ocus 152 ,166, 180narrow transcription 60–61nasal 39nasalization 70negative domain 146–147neutral tonality 136neutral tonicity 150new in ormation153New Zealand accent19, 48non-polar interrogative clauses 166,

167non-rhotic 19, 21, 47, 74, 101Northern (UK) accent 16, 20, 26, 29, 80not, n’t 118, 119–120

offer170, 171old in ormation;seegiven in ormation

paratones 133, 182 pauses 134, 135, 182phoneme 9, 60phonetic eatures in accents73phonological distribution in accents

74phonological inventories in accents 73phonological paragraphs 182Pike 133plea, pleading 170, 171plosive38polar interrogative clauses 165, 167praise 172pre-head 132, 179 prepositions 106 pretonic segment 132

primary tone 158 prohibition 170promise 170prompts 168pronouns 114 purpose clauses 147

questions 165 ,167, 168

/r/ allophones 65raised rise 184–185

reassurance 172recommendation 170regret 172repeat yes/no questions 168request 169–170, 171responses 168–169restrictive and non-restrictive 143rhotic 19, 33, 48, 74rounding 66routine announcements 179

Scottish accents19, 23, 26, 29, 43, 48, 74, 81

second attempt questions 168secondary tone 158, 176 sentence adverbs 146smoothing 71so 118–119social interaction 171 South A rican accent19, 48Southern England Standard

Pronunciation 5, 37statement question 168statements 165 , 167statement-veri cations 185status o in ormation161



Index

strength o eeling176 suggestion 170, 171syllabic consonant 50 syllable elision121 sympathy 172

tail 132, 164thanks 171theme 141, 163, 179there 118–119threat 170titles 114

oBI 133–134tonality 131, 134

tone 131, 133–134, 158 tonic segment 132tonic syllable132, 133tonicity 131, 149

warning 170, 171Wells 75, 132, 133–134Welsh accents (o English)19, 26, 29, 48,

82West country (UK) accent 19, 48, 78wh-questions 166, 167wishes171–172

yes/no questions 165, 167, 168

Documents

Paul Tench Transcribing the Sound of English A Phonetics Workbook for Words and Discourse 2011.pdf