sound patterns of english chap 4

yule chap 4 8ed. LING 2001 brooklyn college

coarticulation effects

process of making one speech sound almost at the same time as the next sound. sounds next to each other tend to pick up feature of surrounding sounds

assimilation

when two sounds occur in sequence and some aspect of one segment is taken or copied by another

place assimilation

when 2 speech segments occur in sequence and the place of articulation of one sound changes to match the place of articulation of the other sound. ex- alveolar nasal /n/ becomes velar [ŋ] before velar sounds like /k, g/ thanks [θæŋks]

manner assimilation

when 2 speech sound segments occur in sequence and the manner of articulation of one sound changes to match the manner of articulation of the other sounds

nasalization (under manner assimilation)

when a sound that is normally not nasal is pronounced with the velum open

In English, vowels that come before nasal consonants are nasalized because they assimilate to the nasal manner of the following consonant. ex- Vowel /i/ in ‘pin’ is pronounced as [ɪ with tilde] because the next sound is nasal /n/

voicing assimilation

When two sound segments occur in sequence and the voicing of one sound is changed to match the voicing of the other sound

In English, voiced consonants are often devoiced if they are next to a voiceless sound, so ‘have to’ /hævtu/ becomes [hæftə]

lenition

when two or more sound segments occur in sequence and one of them weakens or softens

elision

type of lenition where a s sound segment might be present in the deliberately careful pronunciation of a word in isolation is not pronounced at all

phonemes

contrastive unit of speech; meaningful speech sound that speakers of a language realize as different from other sounds

allophones

sounds that are created by phonological processes like assimilation and lenition

free variation

allophone is not cause by specific phonetic environment; speakers can use one or both pronunciations. ex- ‘either’ [iðəɹ] or [ɪðəɹ]

tap / flap

produced by having the tongue tip briefly tap the alveolar ridge, shorter and faster closure than full stop [ɾ]

glottal stop

produced when the space between the vocal folds (the glottis) is closed completely and then released; makes the sound in the middle of ‘uh oh’ [ʔ]