phonetics snd phonology

New Englishes: Intro

• 3rd of 4 Diasporas, so Englishes established during colonial era, also called outer circle variants

• substantial influence from indigenous languages → extreme differences between these variations

• common similarities, dental fricatives are missing

Singapore Eng: speaker profile

• 49 years old, ethnically Chinese, Singapore-born

• English is the main language used at home and work

• First language Peranakan Patois (Malay) and Hokkien

Singapore Eng: Phonological features

• Centralized vowels

• Little or no vowel reduction (unstressed vowels stay full)

• Syllable-based rhythm (equal timing per syllable)

• /th/ → [t] in „thought“, „threaten“, „third”

• /th/ → [d] in „there“ and „this“

• Final /t/ often omitted

• Simplification of word-final consonant clusters very frequent

• Use of full vowels in function words like as, of, for

• Unstressed syllables of polysyllabic words

• Stressing of pronouns

Nigerian Eng: speaker profile

• 51 years old

• First language Idoma used at home, also speaks Hausa

• Speaks English with his friends, colleagues, everyone outside his family

Nigerian Eng: Phonological features

• Full vowels in unstressed syllables of polysyllabic words

• Syllable-based rhythm

• /th/ → [d] in „this“ and some tokens of „the“

• [g] at the end of words such as sing, hang, long

• LOT in „cousins“ and „company“

• Use of full vowels in function words like as, of, for

• Substantial variation in accent throughout the country

• Avoidance of dental fricatives

• Omission of plosives from word-final consonant clusters

Indian Eng: speaker profile

• 45 years old, from the south of India

• First language Malayalam used with family members, also speaks some Hindi

• Uses English with friends and colleagues

Indian Eng: phonological features

• Centralized vowel space

• Minimal vowel reduction

• [t] in thought, threaten, third

• [d] in this and than

• Retroflex quality for [t] and [d]

• Sporadic merger of [v] and [w]

• [j] or [w] before words that start with a vowel (did not occur in this case)

• Syllable-based rhythm

reduced vowels

• outer circle Englishes frequently use vowels even in unstressed syllables and function words

rhythm

• due to absence of reduced vowels its perceived as syllabic rhythm in many outer circle variants

• syllabic rhythm is very common in outer circle englishes

New Zealand Eng (NZE): historical background

• inner circle Eng, mainly British immigrants

• treaty of Waitangi (1840)

• dialect formation (1870-1890)

• education act (1877): unified schooling

• trudgills dialect formation theory: accomodation → variation → focusing

NZE: Phonology

consonants:

• non-rhotic

• linking /r/

• flapped /t/

• TH-fronting

• full /h/

vowels:

• diphthong shifts: PRICE → [ɑə], FACE → [ae], MOUTH → [æə]

• KIT vowel distinctive → [ɘ] or [ə]

NZE: syntax & lexis

syntax: british-based

lexis:

• Mix of UK/US terms

• Maori loanwords (e.g. whānau, tangi) – no plural -s

• - “eh?” as tag

• High Rising Terminal (uptalk)

Canadian Eng: historical background

• Part of Third Dialect Area (NE USA, Western PA, Western States)

• Believed to be uniform, but has distinct vowel features

• Sociolinguistic change linked to age and region

CanE: Phonology

• Canadian Shift: /ɪ/ → /ɛ/ → /æ/ lowering and retraction

• Canadian Raising:

  • /aɪ/, /aʊ/ raised before voiceless codas (e.g. house vs. houses)

• Regional variation (6 regions)

• Fronting of /ɑr/ (e.g. start)

CanE: lexis & american influence

• Indigenous loanwords (e.g. kayak, muskeg)

• Americanization via media, but with resistance

• Examples:

  • leisure with/without /r/

  • news → [nuːz]

  • Tuesday → [tuːzdeɪ]

Australian Eng: historical background

• Introduced in 1770 (James Cook)

• Koinéization of dialects from SE England, Ireland, Scotland

• Population largely convicts or ex-convicts

AusE: Phonology

• Consonants:

  • Non-rhotic with intrusive/linking /r/

  • /l/ vocalization (e.g. milk → [mɪuk])

  • Syllabic nasals and laterals

  • H-deletion in unstressed words (e.g. him → /im/)

• Vowels:

  • Rounded /ɜ/ (e.g. bird)

  • Monophthongal [ɔ:] in poor, sure

  • Monophthong variants for diphthongs (near, square)

AusE: grammar

• Pronouns:

  • Gender on inanimate objects (e.g. I put her [beer] down)

  • Use of me instead of I

  • Non-standard variants

• Verbs:

  • Present perfect preferred over simple past

AusE: prosodic features: high rising tone on declarative clauses

• Common in narratives and descriptions

• Occurs in construction of extended turns

Phonetics teaching focus

helps students produce & recognize individual sounds clearly

phonology teaching focus

help students sound natural, understanding rhythm & patterns

segmental features: vowels & consonants (common difficulties)

• confusing vowel length & quality → /iː/ (sheep) vs. /ɪ/ (ship)

• difficulty producing dental fricatives → /θ/ and /ð/ (often replaced by /s/ or /d/)

• trouble distinguishing minimal pairs → (bit vs. beat, thin vs. tin)

segmental features: vowels & consonants (teaching tools)

• IPA charts: visual mapping of English sounds → recognition & production

• minimal pairs practice: drills to improve discrimination & production accuracy

• tongue twisters: fun, repetitive practice for muscle memory

• phoneme bingo: gamified learning of individual sounds

• receptive before productive: train students to hear distinctions before producing

• focus on intelligibility, not native-like perfection

suprasegmental features: word stress

• unpredictable & can change meaning

• stress placement critical

techniques:

• dictionaries that mark stress

• physical activities → clapping, tapping syllables

• visual aids: underlining stressed syllables

• emphasize stress in new vocabulary teaching

supresegmental features: sentence stess & prominence

• content words usually stressed

• function words often unstressed or weak

teaching:

• marking stress on scripts

• explaining tone units & tonic syllables

• intonation patterns influence meaning → emphasis can change sentence interpretation

connected speech & schwa

• weak forms: unstressed words pronounced less clearly

• schwa: most common vowel, appears in unstressed syllables

• elision: omission of sounds

• assimilation: sound change to become more like neighboring sounds

teaching:

• improves listening comprehension of fluent speech

• helps learners speak more naturally and fluently

• de-schwaed texts: fill in missing schwa sounds

• stress only reading: say only stressed syllables to feel rhythm

• sentence recognition: write out citation forms from connected speech samples

pronunciation in practice

modeling in context:

• present new words and phrases in meaningful sentences

• use repetition, recording, encourage self-correction

chants & rhythm activities:

• use poems, dialogues, chants focusing on rhythm and weak forms

• encourage group participation and memory retention

shadow reading:

• students read aloud simultaneously with a recording

• builds rhythm, pitch variation, chunking of speech

• best with short, repeated texts

voice settings:

• teach students the “feel” of english speech

• pitch, range, relaxed mouth articulation, mouth shape & movement

• include practice with nonsense words for fun and focus on articulation

RP vs. ELF: Which Model to teach?

RP:

• traditional “standard” accent in Eng teaching

• spoken by less than 3% of UK population

• seen as elitist, outdated by many

• not globally representative

ELF:

• reflects Eng use between non-native speakers worldwide

• prioritize intelligbility, not accent imitation

• allows accent variation & inclusiveness

• encourages learners to develop their own clear Eng voice

teaching implications:

• use RP as a reference, not strict standard

• expose students to multiple Eng varieties

• focus on clear, confident communication

intonation

• also called pitch contour or pitch movement

• all languages have intonation

• intonation is principally the variation of pitch, but also prominence over a stretch of speech

structural function

• signals the grammatical or structural role of an utterance

• determines whether

  • question

  • request

  • instruction

accentual function

• affects prominence of a syllable

• plays a role in focusing stress on particular words in connected speech

attitudinal function

conveys the speaker’s personal orientations towards what they say, or gives us clues about how speakers feel (uninterested, excited, ironic...)

discourse function

marks the turntaking processes in an exchange between speakers

pitch

• frequency of the vibration of the vocal folds

• fundamental frequency of the voice

• the faster vocal folds vibrate the higher the pitch

• fundamental frequencies of individual speakers are not significant in terms of segmental phonology

• all speakers can use intonation to achieve the functions → every speaker controls their pitch

tone unit

• we can break connected speech down into utterances (units that begin & end with a clear pause)

• within an utterance we cann identify smaller units over which a single intonation contour extends → tone unit

connected speech consists of..

utterances ← one or more tone units ← one or more feet ← one or more syllables ← one or more phonemes

intonation patterns

• in a tone unit one or more syllables are usually more prominent than others

• last prominent syllable is called tonic syllable / nucleus → main pitch movement begins

• carries tonic stress / nucleus stress → determines particular intonation pattern

intonation paterrn: fall

WHERE do you (H) LIVE (TS) (neutral question)

• most neutral tone in RP

• signals finality & definiteness → marking end of thought or sentence

• commonly used in wh-questions

→ There were three people there.

→ How are you?

→ That’s all I have to say.

intonation pattern: rise

WHERE have you (H) BEEN (TS) (angry parent to a child)

• primarily in yes/no questions

• common in requests for repetition / clarification

• indicates dominant / authorative tone → commands, instructions, aggressive questioning

• used when listing except for the last one

→ Do you live near hear?

→ apples, oranges, bananas and pears.

→ First turn left, then turn right.

intonation pattern: fall-rise

I’LL (PH) BE there (H) SOON (TS) (reassurance)

• express equal participation in discourse

• confirming shared information, asking for permission, offering reassurance

• feeling of cooperation & understanding between speaker & listener

→ We’re leaving at seven, aren’t we?

→ It’ll be alright.

→ May I open the window?

intonation pattern: rise-fall

the (PH) FILM was (H) WON (TS) derful (T) (emphatic statement)

• strong personal impression → show surprise, excitement, enthusiasm

• strong positive attitudes towards sth

→ That’s a lovely view!

→ What a goal!

intonation pattern: high key

HOW much did you (H) PAY (TS) (question signalling surprise at the price)

• indicates surprise, strong disagreement, strong agreement

• tone higher than usual → emphasize emotions or highlight a statement

→ Only 28? I thought you were at least 35!

→ Actually I think you’re wrong!

→ I quite agree!

tone unit structure

4 components:

1. pre-head (PH): spans all the less prominent syllables before the head

2. Head (H): part of a tone unit which extends from the first prominent syllable up to but not including tonic syllable

3. tonic syllable (TS): last prominent syllable → part where the main pitch movement begins

4. tail (T): comprises all syllables that occur between the tonic syllable at the end of the tone unit

allophone

one of two or more pronunciation variants of a phoneme

→ phonetically different but represent the same phoneme and do not change the meaning of a word

2 key criteria for identifying allophones

1. no minimal pair (no word pair distinguished by these sounds)

2. articulatory similartiy between the variants

• [t] – clear stop: [ˈbʌtər] (formal speech)

• [ɾ] – flap: [ˈbʌɾər] (American English)

• [ʔ] – glottal stop: [ˈbʌʔə] (British English)

→ All versions are allophones of /t/, and the meaning of butter remains the same

types of allophony: free variation

• allophones appear in same phonetic environment

• no fixed rule → choice depends on speaker, accent, style

  → butter may be pronounced [ˈbʌtər], [ˈbʌɾər], or [ˈbʌʔə].

types of allophony: complementary distribution

• allophones occur in different environments

• rule that determines which allophone appears where

top vs stop

→ [th] in top: aspirated /t/ at the beginning of a stressed syllable

→ [t] in stop: unaspirated /t/ after /s/

phonological proccesses that create allophones: aspiration

• Voiceless stops /p/, /t/, /k/ are aspirated before stressed vowels

• kill → [khɪl], skill → [skɪl]

phonological processes that create allophones: devoicing

• Voiced sounds lose voicing after voiceless stops.

• /l/ becomes [l̥ ] in please, clean

phonological processes that create allophones: syllabic consonants

• A consonant serves as the syllable nucleus.

• button → [ˈbʌtn̩ ], little → [ˈlɪtl̩ ]

phonological processes that create allophones: elision & linking

• Elision: deletion of a sound in connected speech

  • next day → [nɛks deɪ]

• Linking: insertion of a sound for smoother transition

  • law and order → [lɔːr ən ɔːdə]

articulation definition

how humans produce speech sounds via the movement of vocal organs

• involves coordinated effort of various parts of the vocal tract (lips, teeth, tongue, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum), glottis

→ /p/ = made with lips (bilabial)

→ /k/ = made with back of your tongue and soft palate (velar)

secondary articulation

0. speech sound is made with a main place (primary articulation) and an extra, less important one at the same time

   Example: sounds with /w/ (water)

   • Primary articulation = velar (made with the back of the tongue near the soft palate)

   • Secondary articulation = labialized (rounding of lips at the same time)

     → /w/=labialized velar sound

anytime two articulations are used together → Corarticulation

types of secondary articulation: Labialisation

The rounding of the lips while making a sound elsewhere in the mouth

• →  /w/ is a labialised velar: tongue at velum and lips round

• →  Happens when a sound picks up a “w”-like quality

types of secondary articulation: Palatalisation

• The front of the tongue is raised to the hard palate while making another sound

  →  Think of how “cute” sounds vs. “coot”, the [k] in cute is palatalised

  →  Adds a “y” quality, almost like putting a hint of /j/ into the sound

  →  In Russian: /tj/, /nj/, etc. – the j = palatalisation

types of secondary articulation: velarisation

• Making a normal sound like /l/, but the back of the tongue pulls back toward the velum (soft palate)

  • →  In English “dark l” in “feel” or “milk”. - (“Dark L” [ɫ] – a velarised alveolar lateral

    (alveolar is primary, back of tongue raised is secondary)

  • →  Makes the sound “darker” or “heavier”. Can be felt how the tongue is pushing back

types of secondary articulation: phryngealization

• Space is narrowed in the throat while making another sound

  • →  Found in Arabic a lot (like the emphatic /sʕ/)

  • →  Makes the sound more “guttural” or throaty. It’s tensing the root of the tongue toward the throat

nasalisation

air escapes through the nose as well as the mouth when making a sound → because velum is lowered letting air flow into the nose

0. Example: the word “man” said slowly

   • /m/ = nasal consonant (always nasal)

   • But also, vowel /æ/ in “man” is affected and becomes nasalised: [mæ̃n]

→ not secondary articulation

general infomation

• part of the field of phonology & phonetics

• deals with pronunciation & sound systems of languages

• enhances spoken fluency

• makes learners sound more natural & native-like

strong form

• pronunciation vatiant of words with strong vowels + no sound that has been omitted

• occur in prominent & non-prominent positions → stressed vs. unstressed

weak form

• pronunciation variant of words with weak vowels / > 1 sound has been omitted

• only occur in non-prominent positions → always unstressed

grammatical words (function words)

words with primarily grammatical function but no lexical content

• pronouns

• prepositions

• auxiliaries

• conjunctions

• determiners

→ these word classes are closed (new words are rarely ever added)

grammatical words: determiners

orthography	strong form(s)	weak form(s)
the	ðiː	ðɪ, ðə
a/an	eɪ, an	ə, ən
some	sʌm	səm, sm̩

grammatical words: conjunctions

orthography	strong form(s)	weak form(s)
and	and	ənd, ən, n̩d, n̩
but	bʌt	bət
that	ðat	ðət

grammatical words: pronouns

orthography	strong form(s)	weak form(s)
his	hɪz	ɪz
him	hɪm	ɪm
her	hɜː	hə, ə, ɜː
you	juː	jʊ, jə
your	joː	jə
she	ʃiː	ʃɪ
he	hiː	ɪ
we	wiː	wɪ
them	ðɛm	ðəm, əm
us	ʌs	əs, s

grammatical words: prepositions

orthography	strong form(s)	weak form(s)
than	ðan	ðən
at	at	ət
for	foː	fə
from	fɹɒm	fɹəm, fəm, fm̩
of	ɒv	əv, v
to	tuː	tə, tʊ
as	az	əz, z
there	ðɛə	ðə

grammatical words: auxiliaries

orthography	strong form(s)	weak form(s)
can	kan	kən, kn̩
could	kʊd	kəd
have	hav	əv, v
has	haz	əz, z
had	had	əd, d
will	wɪl	l
shall	ʃal	ʃəl, ʃl, l
should	ʃʊd	ʃəd
must	mʌst	məs, məst
do	duː	də, d
does	dʌz	dəz, z
am	am	əm, m̩
are	ɑː	ə
was	wɒz	wəz
were	wɜː	wə
been	biːn	bɪn

lexical words (content words)

words with lexical meaning

• nouns

• adverds

• adjectives

• full verbs

→ these word classes are open (new words are contineously added)

words are always in their weak form unless they are…

…then they become strong

Weak Strong

Isolated	A: "Who did it?" B: "You did."	/jə/ or /ju/	/juː/
Quoted	A: "Did he say 'can' or 'can't'?" B: "He definitely said 'can'."	/kən/	/kæn/
At the end of a phrase or sentence	“Who did you give it to?” "We don’t know where they’re from."	/tə/ /frəm/	/tuː/ /frɒm/
As the first of 2 consecutive auxiliary verbs without a full verb	A: "He said he would help." B: "Well, he should have!"	/ʃəd/	/ʃʊd/
In coordination	“He travels to and from London.” "I said to John and to Mary."	/tə/ /frəm/	/tuː/ /frɒm/
In contrast	"They said they would come, but they didn’t."	(usually only strong form)	/ˈdɪd(ə)nt/
Used to emphasise a particular aspect of the message	"I do like your new haircut!"	/də/ or /du/	/duː/

steps to transcription

1. look at word class

   • grammatical word → weak

   • lexical word → strong or weak

2. if one of the rules applies they are strong

3. pay attention to special cases (exceptions)

special cases

1. Strong and weak forms of some grammatical words end in a linking sound:

a) a tree → before consonant

b) an apple → before vowel

2. Auxiliary verbs + not (negation) → strong form:

I can speak German. vs. I can’t speak German.

3. Do, the and to have 2 weak forms:

a) before consonant → the door /ə/

b) before vowel → the end \[i], \[u]

4. Had, has, have, he and her drop their initial /h/:

I like his car. /ɪz/ (except at the beginning of the sentence)

5. Some:

a) There are some children waiting. → as determiner → weak

b) Some like it cold.* → as pronoun → strong

6. There:

a) There’s no place like home! → existential → weak

b) Look over there→ adverb of place → strong

Liaison (French Link)

process of joining sounds from adjacent words in spoken language

linking sound

a sound that is absent in a word when that word is pronounced in isolation, but present in the same word in certain phonetic environments in connected speech

Why is linking important?

• it makes speech smoother & more fluent

• improves listening comprehension

• enhances pronunciation & rhythm

• reduces misunderstandings

• helps avoid awkward pauses or breaks between words

types of linking: Consonant + vowel linking

• word ends in consonant, next word starts with vowel

→ ex. not at all /ˌnɒdəˈtɔːl/

• common: /t/ /d/ /n/

types of linking: consonant + consonant linking

• same consonant appears at word boundary

• only pronounced once, smoothly

→ “big game” /bɪgeɪm/

types of linking: linking r (only in non-rhotic accents)

• final “r” pronounced only before vowel

→ “far away” /fɑːr əˈweɪ/

• link between word through the articulation of a normally unarticulated word-final /r/

• r-sound in question occurs in the spelling in the form of a letter <r>

types of linking: intrusive sounds (/r/ /j/ /w/)

• sounds added between vowel-vowel boundaries

• not in the spelling

“law and order” → /lɔː r ənd ˈɔːdə/ (a “r” sound)

“idea of it” → /aɪˈdɪər əv ɪt/

“i agree” → /aɪ jəˈgriː/ → y sound

“go on” → /gəʊ ˈwɒn/ → w sound

• intrusive r is very common in non-rhotic accents

• helps avoid hiatus (vowel clash)

accent variation: rhotic

• r-ful accent

• the /r/ phoneme is articulated wherever it occurs in the spelling

accent variation: non-rhotic

• the /r/ phoneme is articulated only before a vowel not before a consonant or pause

Juncture (boundary signal): pause (speech pauses)

• can be silent or filled with hesitation sounds like “uh”

• less frequent in natural speech

Juncture (boundary signals): phonotactic rules

rules about which sounds (phonemes) are allowed in certain positions within a word

Juncture (boundary signals): prosodic features

• include stress, intonation, and length of sounds

• can signal the start of a new word or phrase

Juncture (boundary signals): articulatory features (phonetic transitions)

• subtle changes in how sounds are produced at word boundaries

rhythm

stress timing & syllable compression

• stressed syllables occur at roughly equal time intervals

• unstressed syllables are shortened to fit the rhythm

• function words are often reduced

  • I want to go → /aɪ ˈwɒnə ˈgəʊ/

  • he could have done it →/hi kʊdə dʌn ɪt/

• weak forms commonly use schwa sound in unstressed positions

• creates melodic, bouncy flow in Eng (stress-timed language)

Assimilation

process where sounds become similar or identical to a neighbouring sound (typically a word boundary)

may involve:

• place of articulation changes (alveolar → bilabial)

• voicing changes (voiceless → voiced)

• manner of articulation adaptation (stop → fricative)

types of assimilation: progressive

a sound is influenced by the one before it

→ dogs /dɒɡz/ (voiced /g/ affects /s/)

types of assimilation: regressive

a sound is influenced by the one that follows

/ɡʊd bɔɪ/ → (voiced bilabial /b/ influences /d/

types of assimilation: reciprocal

two sounds influence each other

“dont you” → /dəʊntʃu/

elision

omission of a sound for ease of pronunciation in rapid or casual speech → it often affects consonant clusters or unstressed vowels

more likely:

• in clusters involving plosives (/t/ /d/)

• in casual or fast speech

• when articulatory effort is reduced to maintain fluency

common elision patterns: consonant elision

friendship → /ˈfrɛnʃɪp/ (the /d/ is dropped)

common elision patterns: cluster simplification

next day → /nek̬s deɪ/ (the /t/ is dropped)

common elision patterns: vowel elision

family → /ˈfæmli/ (middle vowel is omitted)

intro to German language

• indo-european language

• variety of dialects

• similarities in phonology, vocabulary, syntax

• when language has restrictions on phonotactics it applies to every word (also non-native words)

problem: languages seek to overcome problems of borrowing a foreign word that violates their phonotactics

solution: it varies from language and creates accents

english example: problem: two stops cannot come at the beginning of words; also cannot stop + nasal combination

• words like ptolemy & gnostic will be pronounced differently by English speakers

  • will drop the first two consonants → [tɑləmi] & [nɑstɪk]

• worlds like Gdansk & knish will be pronounced differently by English speakers

  • will insert a vowel between the two consonants → [gədænsk] & [kənɪʃ]

Finnish: avoids syllables containing sequences of consonants

solution: tries to fix borrowed words with consonant clusters by trying to “repair” it

• deletion

  • in loan word first of a series of consonants get dropped (if they do not conform to its phonotactics)

    (CCCVNC) → (CVNCV)

    → addition of a final vowel to avoid consonant in the syllable-final position

Japanese: avoids syllables containing sequences of consonants

solution: insertion

• rule-governed (always works the same way)

  → easy to predict shape & pronunciation of loan words

  • the vowel /u/ is inserted, except after /t/ and /d/, where /o/ will be inserted

    → /bɑːθ/ → /basu/

    /kəntroʊl/ → /kontoroːru/

    → /u/ inserted in both words to keep the word-final syllables from ending in a consonant & second [o] inserted to prevent [t] & [r] from forming a cluster

sound substitution

a process whereby sounds that do not exist in the language when borrowing or trying to pronounce a foreign word

→ a few languages have fewer or more phonemes or allophones than English does → audible when non-native speakers of Eng pronounce Eng

• substitutions by non-native speakers and strategies for handling phonotactic both result in forein accents + changes in words that have been borrowed into another language

  • French speaker pronouncing Eng:

    • this [ðɪs] as [zɪs]

    • thin [θɪn] as [sɪn]

→ french phonemic inventory doesn’t contain ð/ or /θ/ so french speakers substitute with nearest equivalent sound the fricatives /z/ and /s/

German vs. Eng: Phonology

• broadly similar

• german accent more energetic articulation

  • tenser vowels

  • more explosive stop consonants (/p/, /t/, /k/)

  • more lip rounding/ spreading

• general lower or higher pitch

• frequent use of glottal stops before initial vowels