7 - segmental rules

R-dropping

in BrE, /r/ can only be pronounced before a vowel (= in prevocalic position)

• /r/: rain, laundry

• /r/ is silent: fork, careful

R-Dropping Rule

• /r/ must be dropped in all non-prevocalic environments

  • produces some pairs of words in British English (father - farther)

R-insertion

Linking R: word-final r is pronounced when the immediately following word begins with a vowel. (fair amount)

• a link between the two words

• two pronunciations: /mo:/ and /mo:r/

Intrusive R: speakers of BrE often insert an /r/ even when the word doesn’t end in the letter r (vanilla /r/ ice cream )

Breaking = pre-R breaking

a phonological process that turns a plain tense vowel (e.g., /iː/, /uː/, /eɪ/, /aɪ/) into a centring diphthong or triphthong (i.e., one that ends in schwa /ə/).

• applies only to: tense vowels (long vowels and diphthongs)

• occurs only before a historical /r/ (which is usually not pronounced in non-rhotic accents)

• Complementary distribution: The "plain" and "broken" tense vowels do not occur in the same environments.

  • /iː/ → /ɪə/ (e.g., "seem" vs "beer")

  • /aɪ/ → /aɪə/ (e.g., "high" vs "fire")

• Phonetic change: Often results in the vowel becoming more open and moving toward the center of the vowel space.

• In American English: not obligatory, tense vowels can appear before /r/ without breaking.

Pre-R Broadening

modifies the vowel's quality and lengthens it, turning it into a long vowel like /ɑː/, /ɔː/, or /ɜː/.

• applies only to: lax vowels

• Occurs before: A non-pronounced historical /r/ (again, in non-rhotic accents).

  • /æ/ → /ɑː/ (e.g., "cat" vs "car")

  • /ɒ/ → /ɔː/ (e.g., "pot" vs "port")

• Blocked by: The Carrot Rule, no broadening if /r/ is followed by a vowel in the next syllable (e.g., "carrot", "cherry").

• In American English: The /r/ is pronounced, so there's no compensatory lengthening, although vowel quality may still shift.

• Broadness without /r/: Some words have these long broad vowels even with no /r/ at all (e.g., "calm", "thought").

Yod-Dropping

the omission of the /j/ glides in words that historically had /ju:/ after a consonant.

Obligatory Yod-dropping — /j/ must be dropped:

• After palatals: /ʧ, ʃ, dʒ, ʒ/

  • chew /ʧuː/, not /ʧjuː/

• After /r/:

  • rude /ruːd/, not /rjuːd/

• After consonant + /l/:

  • blue /bluː/, not /bljuː/

Optional Yod-dropping — /j/ may be dropped:

• After "lone /l/" (no preceding consonant):

  • lute can be /ljuːt/ or /luːt/

• After /s, z/:

  • suit /sjuːt/ or /suːt/

In unstressed syllables, yod-dropping is not allowed:

• value must have the /j/: /ˈvæljuː/

Tense vowels

longer, higher, often diphthongized

• Examples: /iː, uː, eɪ, aɪ, oʊ, ɔː/

• Can appear:

  • In stressed open syllables (e.g., bee, lazy)

  • At the end of syllables

• Tend to be spelled with digraphs or silent -e

  • meet, beat, road, cape

Lax vowels

shorter, lower, more centralized

• Examples: /ɪ, ɛ, æ, ʌ, ʊ, ɒ/ (also /ɑː, ɜː/ can be classified as lax in some systems)

• Cannot:

  • Appear in stressed open syllables

• Tend to use a single vowel letter

  • bet, bat, put

Spelling Rules for Tense vs. Lax

Covered vs. Free Position (graphic rules)

• Covered Position = Lax pronunciation
  ➤ A single vowel letter followed by one or more consonant letters

  • ham, kiss, luck → short vowels

• Free Position = Tense pronunciation
  ➤ A single vowel letter followed by:

  • A consonant and then a vowel
    ➝ lazy, cable

  • Two consonants where the first is a stop and the second is a liquid, followed by a vowel
    ➝ appropriate, cable

  • Another vowel
    ➝ chaos, poetry

  • Nothing (i.e., go, flu)

  • Silent -e makes the vowel tense: cape vs. cap

Overrides: Laxing/Tensing Rules

Laxing Rules:

• Trisyllabic Laxing: Long vowel becomes short in 3+ syllable words
  gravity (cf. grave)

• Laxing by Ending: Certain suffixes cause laxing
  tonic

• Laxing by Free u: u becomes lax due to morphological/phonetic context
  gradual

• CiV Laxing: A vowel between a consonant + 'i' + vowel becomes lax
  revision

Tensing Rules:

• CiV Tensing: Sometimes CiV sequences cause tensing
  radiate (vs. radical)

Structure Dependence in Morphology

Affixes = Prefixes (before the stem) + Suffixes (after the stem)

They attach to a base or stem, which can be:

• Free stems: existing, independent words
  ➝ person, kind

• Bound stems: cannot stand alone, appear only with affixes
  ➝ crimin- (as in criminal), rupt- (as in disrupt)

Boundary Symbols

each affix has a boundary symbol, which determines how affixes interact with stems.

Cross-hatch boundary (#)

→ Only attaches to free stems
→ No phonological changes between stem and affix

• Examples:

  • un#kind → /ʌnˈkaɪnd/

  • kind#ness → /ˈkaɪndnəs/

• Strong boundary: the affix and the base are clearly separated, both in meaning and pronunciation.

Plus boundary (+)

→ Can attach to bound or free stems
→ May involve phonological changes or stress shift

• Examples:

  • sur+pass → stress on second syllable

  • dramat+ic → stress shift from /ˈdræmət/ → /drəˈmætɪk/

• Weak boundary: the affix and base are tightly connected, and changes often occur in pronunciation or stress.