PHONETICS OF ENGLISH:

THE DYNAMICS OF ENGLISH SPEECH SOUNDS

LICENCE 2

SILUE N. DJIBRIL

UFHB DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

2017-2018

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Overall expectations

Acquaint students with sounds and combination of sounds in

English connected speech.

Induct students into changes affecting sounds in speech

Acquaint students with suprasegmental phenomena in English

SOUNDS IN ENGLISH

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Phonetics is a branch of linguistics which deals with the

mechanisms of speech sounds production. It focuses on the way

these sounds are produced and perceived by the individual

speaker/hearer and on their physical properties.

Auditory

Articulatory .

Acoustic

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COMBINATIONOF SOUNDSIN ENGLISH

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It should be borne in mind that there is a

clear difference between sounds when:

There are uttered in isolation

There are combined with other sounds to form words, phrases and sentences.

[p] - [i] - [c] - [t] - [u] - [r] - [e]

picture

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There are various change processes

affecting sounds when they are combined:

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Assimilation is the process by which (non-)adjacentsegments (belonging to the same word or to twosuccessive words) change so as to become more likeeach other.

The sound clusters agree in point and/or manner ofarticulation

incredible

[ɪŋ.ˈkred.ə.bᵊl]

Assimilation can be classified according to thedirection in which the feature spreads.

Progressive / front assimilation

Regressive / back assimilation

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It is when one or several features are copied/spreadfrom the item on the left to the one on the right.

happen [hæpm] (labialisation)

Pads [pædz] (voicing)

Backed [bækt] (devoicing)

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It applies from right to left, in anticipation of the soundthat is just to be articulated.

Sink [siŋk] (velarisation)

ambulance [ˈæm.bjə.lənts]

(labialization / nasalization)

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cont’d

The assimilation process has various realizationstaking into account the distributions of soundfeatures. Sounds can acquire or lose features under theinfluence of another one and also due tosuprasegmental features.

ACQUISITION OF FEATURES

It is when a sound acquires additional features fromneighboring sounds.

incredible [ɪŋ.ˈkred.ə.bᵊl]

input [ɪmpʊt]

fan [fæ̃n]

LOST OF FEATURES

It is when a sound loses features in a given phoneticenvironment.

pray [pr ̥eɪ]

cake [keɪk ̚ ]

FUSION OF FEATURES

It is when two neighboring sounds fuse/ coalesce tobecome one single sound.

king [kɪŋ]

don’t you [dɔntʃu]

nation [neɪʃən]

STRESS-RELATED FEATURES

Fortis plosives acquire the feature aspiration in astressed syllable.

top [tʰɒp]

pope [pʰəʊp]

cake [kʰeɪk]

STRESS-RELATED FEATURES

Vowels are reduced to schwa [ə] when they appear in anon-stressed syllable.

photograph [ˈfəʊ.tə.græf]

attack [ə. ˈtʰæk̚ ]

nation [ˈneɪ.ʃən]

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London cab drivers are, without question, the finest in the world.

They're trustworthy, safe, generally friendly, always polite. They

keep their vehicles spotless inside and out, and they'll put

themselves to the most extraordinary inconvenience to drop you at

the front entrance of your destination. There are really only two

odd things about them. One is that they cannot drive more than

two hundred feet in a straight line. I've never understood this, but

no matter where you are or what the driving conditions, every two

hundred feet a little bell goes off in their heads and they abruptly

lunge down a side street. And when you get to your hotel or

railway station or wherever it is you are going, they like to drive

you all the way around it at least once so that you can see it from

all angles.

attribute

attributive

attribution

[ˈæt.rɪ.bju:t]

[əˈtrɪb.jə.tiv]

[æt.rɪ ˈbju:.ʃən]

Basic structure of English syllables

A syllable is a “”

(Dictionary of phonetics & linguistics)

SYLLABLE WEIGHT

A close syllable has a coda (margin)

A has no coda (margin) in the rhyme

A has CVV or CVC structure

A light syllable has just a CV structure

STRESS PATTERN IN ENGLISH…

is determined by the syllabic structure and weight

Heavy syllables have the structure CVV or CVC

light syllables have the structure CV

Predicting stress placement for nouns…

Stress the syllable if it is , ifnot stress the

Method [ˈmeθ.əd ]

Methodology [ ˌmeθəˈdɒl.ədʒɪ]

finance [ˈfai.nəns ]

horizon [ ˌhəˈrai.zən]

discipline [ˈdis.ə.plin]

Predicting stress placement for verbs…

Stress the syllable if it is heavy, if notstress the penultimate.

attack [ə.ˈtæk ]

hurry [ˈhʌr.ɪ ]

discover [disˈkʌv.əʳ ]

abandon [əˈbæn.dən]

protect [prəˈtekt]

Predicting stress placement for adjectives…

Adjectives have no phonological stress rule of theirown. Instead, some of them are stressed like nouns,while others are stressed like verbs

Predicting stress placement for adjectives

Disyllabic adjectives are usually stressed like verbs.

correct [kəˈrekt ]

occult [əˈkʌlt]

clever [kləˈvəʳ]

Predicting stress placement for adjectives

polysyllabic adjectives are usually stressed likeverbs.

tremendous [trɪˈmen.dəs ]

coherent [kə ʊˈhɪə.rᵊnt]

courageous [kəˈreɪ.dʒəs]

If the phonological stress rule places primary stresson the ultimate of the polysyllabic word, the primarystress is moved to the antepenultimate and theultimate’s stress is reduced to tertiary

The Alternating Stress Rule (ASR)

monopolize [məˈnɒp. ᵊ. laɪz]

constitute [ˈkɒnᵗ.stɪ.tʃutː]

manifest [ˈmæn. ɪ.fest]