Chapter 2 Speech Sounds (1)

8/20/2019 Chapter 2 Speech Sounds (1)

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Chapter 2 Speech Sounds

2.1 Speech production and perception

Human beings are capable of making all kinds of sounds, but only some of these

sounds have become units in the language system. Language is first and foremost a

"system of vocal symbols", as we have seen in the discussion of language. Speech

sounds had existed long before writing was invented, and even today, in some parts of

the world, there are still languages that have no writing systems. Therefore, the study of

speech sounds is a maor part of linguistics and, in this chapter, we will look at ways of

studying speech sounds and the patterns in which they are used.

!e will begin with the study of sounds, which is called "H#$%T&'S((, and then go

on to the study of sound patterns, "H#$#L#)*". +s we can imagine easily, the

speech sound is articulated by a Speaker +. &t is then transmitted to and received by

Speaker . 'onse-uently, a speech sound goes through a threestep process as shown

in /ig. 0.1 below.

Speech Speech

Production Perception

2 Speaker +3 2Speaker 3

Fig. 2.1 The process of speech production and perception

$aturally, the study of sounds is divided into three main. areas, each dealing with one

part of the process.

• +4T&'5L+T#4* H#$%T&'S is the study of the production of speech sounds.

• +'#5ST&' H#$%T&'S is the study of the physical properties of sounds

produced in speech.

• + 56&T#4* H#$%T&'S is concerned with the perception speech sounds.

/or the purpose of this book, we will concentrate only on +rticulatory honetics,

which deals with how sounds are produced and ignore the other areas of study.


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2.2 Speech organs

S%%'H #74)+$S, as shown in /ig. 0.0, are also know as 8#'+L #4)+$S. They

are those parts of the human body involve in the production of speech. The organs,

however, are not used for speech alone, as their primary function is to fulfill the basic

biological needs of breathing and eating. &n spite of this, there seems to have been

considerable evolutionary ustification for them to fulfill the special task of speech as they

have been formed in such a way that they can function efficiently for the act of speech.

&t is striking to see how much of the human body is involved in the production of

speech9 the L5$)S, the T4+'H%+ 2or windpipe3, the TH4#+T, the $#S%, and the

:#5TH. &nside themouth, we need to distinguish the T#$)5% and various parts of the +L+T% while,

inside the throat, we have to distinguish H+4*$;, the upper part, from L+4*$;, the

lower part containing the 8#'+L /#L6S 2or 8#'+L '#46S3. The pharynx, mouth, and

nose form the three cavities of the 8#'+L T4+'T. The mouth and the nose are often

referred to, respectively, as the #4+L '+8&T* and the $+S+L '+8&T*.

<Speech sounds are produced with an +&4ST4%+: as their sources of energy. &n most

circumstances, the airstream comes from the lungs. &t is forced out of the lungs and then

passes through the 4#$'H1#L%S and 4#$'H&, a series of branching tubes, into

the trachea. Sounds that are produced in this way are called =5L:#$&'( sounds.

+t the top of the trachea is the L+4*$;, the front of which is the +dam>s +pple. The

larynx contains two pairs of structure, the 8#'+L /#L6S and 8%$T41'5L+4 /#&.6S.(

The vocal folds lie hori?ontally below the latter and their front ends are oined together at

the back of the +dam(s +pple. Their rear ends, however, remain separated and can move

into various positions9 inwards, outwards, for wards, backwards and, tilting slightly,

upwards and downwards. /or most phonetic purposes, it is sufficient to say that the vocal


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folds are either 2a3 apart, 2b3 close together, or 2c3 totally closed.

@ !hen the vocal folds are apart, the air can pass through easily and the sound

produced is said to be 8#&'%&.%SS. 'onsonants Ap, s, tB are produced in this

way. 2/ig. 0.C3

@ !hen they are close together, the airstream causes them to vibrate against each

other and the resultant sound is said to be 8#&'%6. Ab, ?, dB are voiced

consonants. 2/ig. 0.D3

@ !hen they are totally closed, no air can pass between them. The result of this

gesture is the glottal stop A


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0.C.1 Segments and divergences

!e all know that the %nglish spelling does not represent its pronunciation. &n the

production of the word above, for example, although the spelling suggests /ive sounds,

there are in fact four. !hen the word is said slowly, we recogni?e the four sound

S%):%$TS that are comparable to the "a", "b", "o" and "v" of the spelling. &n this case,

the "e" is silent )eorge ernard Shaw 21KE1EM3highlighted the lack of precision in

%nglish orthography by spelling the word fish as ghoti, as gh is pronounced as flB in

enough, o as A&B in women, and ti as A∫Bin nation.

The reason for this divergence between sound and symbol may seem to be

simple9 as there are more sounds in %nglish than its letters can represent, each letter

must represent more than one sound. &n fact, it is much more complicated than this. &n

old %nglish, the relation between sound and symbol was much more regular. Some of the

sounds, especially the vowels, have undergone changes in the history of %nglish.

+dditionally, many %nglish words have been borrowed from other languages throughout

history and the irregularity of its spelling is made worse because of such borrowings.

3.2 Phonetic transcription

The divergence between spelling and pronunciation becomes greater when we

consider the many accents of %nglish used by people from different regions. &n addition,

there are still many languages in the world that do not have a writing system of their own

and we needN to rely on a set of symbols to record the sounds they make too.

ecause of these reasons, it is necessary to devise sets of symbols that can be used

for transcribing sounds in language. Several such systems are in use and, in this book,

we will introduce and use the notation system of the &$T%4$+T$+L H#$%T&'

+LH+%T2&+3.

&n 1KK, the &$T%4$+T$+L H#$%T&' +SS#'&+T$ was inaugurated by a small

group of language teachers in /rance who had found the practice of phonetics useful in

their teaching and wished to populari?e their methods. &t was first known as the honetic

Teachers( +ssociation and was changed to its present title in 1KO.

#ne of the first activities of the +ssociation was to produce a ournal in which the

contents were printed entirely in H#$%T&' T4+$S'4&T$. The idea of establishing


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a phonetic alphabet was first proposed y the 6anish grammarian #tto Gespersen 21KM

1DC3 in 1KK, and the first version of the &+ was published in +ugust 1KKK.&ts main

principles were that there should be a separate letter for each distinctive sound, and that

the same symbol should be used for that sound in any language in which it appears. The

alphabet was to consist of as many 4oman alphabet letters as possible, using new letters

and diacritics only when absolutely necessary. These principles continue to be followed

today.

The A+ has been revised and corrected several times and is now widely used in

dictionaries and textbooks throughout the world. The present system of the &+ derives

mainly from one developed in the10Ms by the ritish phonetician, 6aniel Gones 21KK1

1O3, and his colleagues at 5niversity of London. Some of its special letters have even

been accepted as part of the new orthographies devised for previously unwritten

languages.

The latest version of the &+ was revised in 1C and corrected 2updated3 in 1.

2.4 Consonants

2 4.1 Consonants and vowels

The sound segments are, grouped into '#$S#$+$TS and 8#!%LS. 'onsonants

are produced by constricting or obstructing the vocal1tract at some place to divert,

impede, or completely shut off the flow of air in the oral cavity. y contrast, a vowel is

produced without such obstruction so no turbulence or a total stopping of the air can be

perceived.

Theoretically, as far as phoneticians are concerned, any segment must be either a

vowel or a consonant. &f a segment is not a vowel, it is a consonant. The problematic

area is that the initial round in hot gives little turbulence, depending on how forcefully it is

said, and in yet and wet the initial segments are obviously vowels. To get out of this

problem, the usual solution is to say that these segments arc neither vowels nor

consonants but midway between the two categories. /or this purpose, the terms "S%:&

8#!%L" or "S%:&'#$S#$+$T(( are often used. #ther suggestions have been made

but as these affect only a small number of segments, the distinction between vowels and

consonants will be retained for our purposes in this book.


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2.4.2 Consonants

&n the production of consonants at least two articulators are involved. /or example,

the initial sound in bad involves both lips and its final segment involves the blade 2or the

tip3 of the tongue and the alveolar ridge. The categories of consonant, therefore, are

established on the basis of several factors. The most important of these factors are9 2a3

the actual relationship between the articulators and thus the way in which the air passes

through certain parts of the vocal tract and 2b3 where in the vocal tract there is

approximation, narrowing, or the obstruction of air. The former is known as the

:+$$%4S #/+4T&'5L+T$ and the latter as the L+'%S #/ +4T&'5L+T$.

2.4.3 Manners of articulation There are several basic ways in which articulation can be accomplished9 the

articulators may close off the oral tract for an instant or a relatively long periodN they may

narrow the space considerablyN or they may simply modify the shape of the tract by

approaching each other.

213 ST# 2or L#S&8%39 complete closure of the articulators involved so that the

airstream cannot escape through the mouth. &t is essential to separate three phases in

the production of a stop9 2a3 the closing phase, in which the articulators come togetherN

2b3 the hold or compression phase, during which air is compressed behind the closureN

2c3 the release phase, during which the articulators forming the obstruction come rapidly

apart and the air is suddenly released. Technically this third phase is called "plosion",

hence the name "plosive", but because of the closure involved in the production of

plosives, the alternative name "stop" is fre-uently used to refer to this category of

sounds.

&f the air is stopped in the oral cavity but the soft palate is clown so that it can go

out through the nasal cavity, the sound produced is a $+S+L ST#. #therwise it is an

#4+L. ST#. +lthough both types of sounds are stops, phoneticians have retained the

term ST# to indicate an oral stop and used the term $+S+L to indicate a nasal stop. &n

%nglish, Ap, b, t, d, k, gB are stops and Am, n, B are nasals.

203 /4&'+T&8%9 close approximation of two articulators se that the airstream is

partially obstructed and turbulent airflow is produced. The audible friction defines this


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class of sounds and thus explains the label "fricative". Af, v, , , s, ?,,,hB are fricatives

in %nglish.

2C3 2:%6&+$3 +4#;&:+$T9 an articulation in which one articulator is close to

another, but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent

airstream is produced. The gap between the articulators is therefore larger than for a

fricative and no turbulence. &t is important point to note that this category overlaps with

that of vowel.

2D3 L+T%4+L 2+4#;&:+$T39obstruction of the airstream at a point along the

center of the oral tract with incomplete close between one or both sides of the tongue

and the roof of the mouth. +s the lateral passage forms a stricture of open approximation

and no noise of friction is produced, it can come under the umbrella of" approximants(. A1B

is the only one lateral in %nglish.

#ther consonantal articulations include T4&LL, T+ or /L+, and +//4&'+T%. + trill

2sometimes called 4#LL3 is produced when an articulator is set vibrating by the

airstream. + maor trill sound is ArB, as in red and rye in some forms of Scottish %nglish.

The Spanish

"rr" in perro 2dog3 is a trill ArB. &f only one vibration is produced, i.e. the tongue makes a

single tap against the alveolar ridge, the sound is called a tap or a flap.

+ffricates involve more than one of these manners of articulation in that they consist

of a stop followed immediately afterwards by a fricative at the same place of articulation.

&n %nglish, the "ch AtB" of church and the "AdB( of et are both affricates. The legitimate

position of Ats, d?, t, dB have een eected from %nglish because the first two are used

only for suffixes and foreign words, while the latter two are often reali?ed as two sounds

in many people(s speech. &n 'hinese,however, both &tsh& and AtsB are legitimate affricates

as they appear in words like "错" and "做".

2.4.4 Places of articulation

'onsonants may be produced at practically any place between the lips and the vocal

folds. %leven places of articulation are distinguished on the &+ chart.

213 &L+&+L9 made with the two lips. &n %nglish, bilabial sounds include Ap, h, mB, as

in pet, bet and met. AwB, as in we and wet, involves an approximation of the two lips but is


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produced slightly differently9 the tongue body is raised towards the velum at the same

time and in the &+ chart it is treated as a labialvelar approximant, outside the consonant

chart. However, as far as %nglish is concerned, most linguists today have placed it under

the label "bilabial".

203 L+1#6%$T+L9 made with the lower lip and the upper front teeth. Af, vB,( as in fire

and via, are produced by raising the lower lip until it nearly touches the upper front teeth.

2C3 6%$T+L9 made by the tongue tip or blade 2depending on the accent or language3

and the upper front teeth. #nly fricatives 2AB3 are found to be strictly dental. Some

speakers have the tip of the tongue protruding between the upper and lower front teeth

whereas others have it close behind the upper front teeth. oth are normal in %nglish,

and both may be called dental. The term &$T%46%$T+L is sometimes used to describe

the first kind in order to make a distinction.

2D3+L8%#L+49 made with the tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge. Sounds

produced at this place include At, d, nN s, ?, a, &B for %nglish, which is a large group of

sounds.

2E37#ST+L8%#L+49 made with the tongue tip and the back of the alveolar ridge.

Such sounds include AB as in ship and genre. &n some systems, this place is also7

known as palatoalveolar.

23 4%T4#/L%;9 made with the tongue tip or blade curled back 2retroflexed 3 so

that the underside of the tongue tip or blade forms a stricture with the back of the alveolar

ridge or the hard palate. ./or %nglish, the use of retroflex sounds, e.g. the "r" of red,

depends on accent and many speakers do not use such sounds at all.

2O3+L+T+&9 made with the front of the tongue and the hard palate. The only %nglish

sound made here is AB, as in yes and yet, but many speakers do use a palatal fricative A PB

for the "h" in he or Hugh.

2K38%L+49 made with the back of the tongue and the soft palate. &n making such

sounds, the back of the tongue is raised to touch the velum. %xamples in %nglish are

velar stops Ak, gl, as in cat and get, and velar nasal &B, as in sing. The pronunciation of

the Scots word loch contains a velar fricative AxB after the vowel. The initial consonant in

the 'hinese word "t和" is also the velar fricative &xB.


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23 585L+49 made with the back of the tongue and the uvula, the short proection of

soft tissue and muscle at the posterior end of the velum. Such sounds are not found in

standard %nglish but uvular fricatives AxB are occasionally heard in certain rural $orthern

accents of %nglish as reali?ations of the "r" in try and dry. The sounds are, however,

standard in, some other languages.

21M3 H+4*$)%+L9 made with the root of the tongue and the walls of the pharynx.

There are few sounds at this place ecause of physiological difficulty. +rabic is a

language which contains pharyngeal fricatives.

2113 )L#TT+L9 made with the two pieces of vocal folds pushed towards each other.

The Ahi in hat and hold is often described as a glottal fricative, although some people hold

it may be more realistic to interpret it as a type of vowel. The glottal stop A


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dental alveolar

Stop p b t d k g

$asal m n

/ricative f v s ? h

+pproximant w r

Lateral

+ffricate

&n many cases there are two sounds that share the same place and manner of

articulation.

These pairs of consonants are distinguished by voicing 2see Section 0.03, the one

appearing on the left is voiceless and the one on the right is voiced. $ow the consonants

of %nglish can be described in the following way9

ApB voiceless bilabial stop

AbB voiced bilabial stop

As B voiceless alveolar fricative

A?B voiced alveolar fricative

!hen no distinction is made in voicing, only two features will be necessary. Therefore,

AmB is a "bilabial nasal", ABa "palatal approximant", and lbB a "glottal fricative". AlB may be

called an "alveolarlateral" or simply a "lateral".

2.5 #owels

0 E.1 The criteria of vowel description

+s we have discussed earlier, the distinction between vowels and consonants lies in

the obstruction of airstream 20.D.13. &n the production of vowels, there is no obstruction of

air as is the case with consonants. Therefore, the description of the vowels cannot be

done along the lines of the description of the consonants. To get out of this problem,

vowels are normally described with reference to four criteria9

@ the part of the tongue that is raisedfront, center, or back.

@ the extent to which the tongue rises in the direction of the palate. $ormally, three or

four degrees are recogni?ed9 H&)H, :&6 2often divided into :&6H&)H and :&6

L#!3, and L#!.

@ the kind of opening made at the lipsvarious degrees of lip rounding or spreading.


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@ the position of the soft palateraised for oral vowels, and lowered for vowels which

have been nasali?ed.

+ little more needs to be said about tongue height. +lternatively, tongue height can be

described as 'L#S%, 'L#S%:&6, #%$:&6, and #%$, in reference to the way the

two lips are rounded 2L&4#5$61$)3 when producing sounds with different tongue

height. This is exemplified in /ig. 0..


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high i 2unrounded3 u 2rounded3

midhigh e 2unrounded3 o 2rounded3

midlow Q2unrounded3 c 2rounded3

low a2unrounded3 R2rounded3

Fig. 2.$ %ip positions used in the pronunciation of the cardinal vowels

&t should be pointed out that it is difficult to be precise about the exact articulatory

positions of the tongue and palate because very slight movements are involved. +bsolute

values are not possible due to differences in the mouth dimensions of individual

speakers.

2.5.2 The theor& of cardinal vowels

The idea of a system of '+46&$+L 8#!%LS was first suggested by +.G. %llis in

1KDD and was taken up by +. :. ell in his 8isible Speech 21KO3. The system we are

now considering here is the most famous of all and was put forward by 6aniel Gones in a

number of writings from 11O onwards, particularly in his #utline of %nglish honetics

2103. /or Gones, the cardinal vowels are a set of vowel-ualities arbitrarily defined, fixed

and unchanging, intended to provide

a frame of reference for the description of the actual vowels of existing languages. !hen

the cardinal vowels are explained, examples are usually given from various languages to

help the student. &t should not be thought however that the cardinal vowels are actually

based on whatever examples are given.


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The cardinal vowel diagram 2or -uadrilateral3, therefore, is a set of standard

reference points based on a combination of articulatory and auditory udgments. The

front， center, and back of the tongue are distinguished, as are four levels of tongue

height9

@ the highest position the tongue can achieve without producing audible frictionN

@ the lowest position the tongue can achieveN and

@ two intermediate levels, dividing the intervening space into auditorily e-uivalent

areas,

The system then defines eight "primary" cardinal vowels, in relation to which a further

set of "secondary" cardinal vowels can be defined. The reader is referred to the &+ chart

of vowels for the positions of these vowels. $ote that where symbols appear in pairs, the

one to the right represents a rounded vowel and the one to the left represents an

unfounded vowel.

y convention, the eight primary cardinal vowels are numbered from one to eight as

follows9 '8&AiB, '80 AeB, '8CAB, '8DAaB,'8SAB, '8AB, '8OAoB, '8SAuB. The first five of

these are unrounded vowels while '8, '8O and '8S are rounded ones.

+ set of secondary cardinal vowels is obtained by reversing the liprounding for a

given position9 '8AyB, '81M AB, '8l1 AB'810 A


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+s in %nglish and 'hinese, languages fre-uently make use of a distinction between

vowels where the -uality remains constant throughout the articulation and those

where there is an audible change of -uality. The former are known as 54% or

:#$#HTH#$) 8#!%LS and the latter, 8#!%L )L&6%S. &f a single movement of the

tongue is involved, the glides are called 6&HTH#$)S. + double movement produces

T4&HTH#$)S. 6iphthongal glides in %nglish can be heard in such words as way AweiB,

tide AtaidB, how AhauB, toy At&B, and toe AtouB. Triphthongal glides are found in words like

wire AwaiB and tower AtauB.

2.5.4 The vowels of (P

+s with consonants, we will examine the %nglish vowels in the form of 4. 8arious

symbols have been used for the representation of vowels by different writers.

The first four columns show symbols used in dictionaries published in the 5J. &n

1M, rofessor Gohn !ells, holder of the 'hair in honetics at 5niversity 'ollege

London and the leading authority on contemporary %nglish pronunciation, published his

Longman ronunciation 6ictionary. This has been a maor work in %nglish pronunciation

and gives both the ritish %nglish and )eneral +merican pronunciation of over O,EMM

words. +s Ladefoged 21C9 O3 notes, "everyone seriously interested in %nglish

pronunciation should be using this dictionary." The second and third columns show

symbols that are used in 2'ambridge international 6ictionary of %nglish 21E3 and

#xford +dvanced Learner(s 6ictionary 2Eth ed., 1E3. These are basically the same and

follow the practice of the !ells( system. The fourth column, however, represents a maor

change of viewpoint. This system is used in The $ew #xford 6ictionary of %nglish 21K3

and the authors claim that "the transcriptions reflect pronunciation as it actually is in

modern %nglish, unlike some longerestablished systems, which reflect the standard

pronunciation of broadcasters and public schools in the 1CMs." 2p. xvii3 The changes

mainly lie in the notation of three vowels9

@the use of laB for AaB as in bat , which shows that it is now a lower vowelN

@the use of A+&B for AalB as in bike and fire, showing a change of initial positionN and

@ the use of AB forAeB as in hair , which is an example of vowel merger.

This notation system has been used in all #xford dictionaries published since 1O.


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2!here two symbols appear for the some vowel, the one to the left is appropriate for

most speakers of ritish %nglish and the one to the right for most speakers of +merican

%nglish.3

The fifth and sixth columns are symbols used by +merican linguists in + ronouncing

6ictionary of +merican %nglish by G. S.Jenyon and T. +. Jnott 21EC3 and + :anual of

+merican %nglish ronunciation by '. rator and 1C. 4obinett 2Dth ed., 1KE3. &t is

interesting to compare these in that some of the "long" vowels are represented by two

symbols 2e. g. AiyB3 and some of the diphthongs are represented by a single symbol 2e. g.

AeB for AerB3.

The last two columns are phonetic symbols used in textbooks on linguistics.

Ladefoged(s + 'ourse in honetics 2Crd ed., 1C3 is an influential textbook for students

beginning their work on phonetics. His notation system in this edition has changed from

the second edition 21K03 as the earlier edition was based on the 1O version of the &+

and the present edition is based on the 1K version of the &+. The symbols used in the

third edition also shows great similarity to !ells 21M3 as Ladefoged has very high

appraisals on !ells( dictionary.

4adford et al.>s Linguistics9 +n &ntroduction 213 is a maor introductory text on

linguistics at the end of the millennium. &n the words of $ell Smith, rofessor of

Linguistics at 5niversity 'ollege London, "This introduction, by some of today(s most

distinguished linguists, should rapidly become the market leader." The symbols they have

adopted here is comparable to the #xford system to a great extent, except that they are

still unsure about whether the AalB should actually give way to A B.

+ comparison of the works above shows that, despite the divergences, linguists and

lexicographers have reached general agreements by the 1Ms on the vowel segments

of %nglish. Several issues have not been settled. /irstly, as the oral cavity is in fact

extremely small, the difference in -uality of some of the vowels may depend heavily on

the speaker(s accent and personal preference. &n /rench, for example, AeB and A B are two

distinct sounds that make a difference of meaning in combination with other sounds. &n

%nglish this does not cause such a result. Therefore, the use of AeB or A B for words like


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bed and peg is completely a matter of habitant preference. The same is true of using AaB

or AB, A9B or leB, l9B or A9B, and AaiB or AB. Secondly, the length of a particular vowel may

vary according to the context in which they occur. /or example, the same vowel is longer

before a voiced consonant and shorter before a voiceless one. 'onse-uently, the vowel

in bead is longer than the vowel in beat, which has about the same length as the vowel in

bid. The difference between the vowels in beat and bid is therefore not of length but of

other -ualities. The A&Bsound is slightly lower in position than Ai9B so it re-uires less tension

of the muscles. &n this light, &i9B is often referred to as a T%$S% 8#!%L and A&B a L+; 83

!%L. Some confusion arises here, however. Some linguists use AiB for beat, while others

use &i9B. ut people all agree that the vowel in bit is A&B. &n each case the former is called a

tense vowel and the latter, a lax vowel.

In this book, we will follow the English vowel system of Radfordet al. (1999), which is shown in

Table .!.

Ta!le 2.3 nglish vowels

/ront 'entral ack 6iphthongs9

High i9 u9

e

:id

Low a

To summari?e, the description of these vowels needs to fulfill four basic re-uirements9

@ the height of tongue raising 2high, mid, low3N

@ the position of the highest part of the tongue 2front, central, back3N

@ the length or tenseness of the vowel 2tense vs. lax or long vs.short3, and

@liprounding 2rounded vs. unrounded3.

'onse-uently, we describe the vowels in this way9

Ai9B high front tense unrounded vowel

AuB high back lax rounded vowel

AaB central lax unfounded vowel

2.$ Coarticulation and phonetic transcription


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2.$.1 Coarticulation

Speech is a continuous process, so the vocal organs do not move from one sound

segment to the next in a series of separate steps. 4ather, sounds continually show the

influence of their neighbors. /or example, if a nasal consonant 2such as AmiB precedes an

oral vowel 2such as AaB in map3, some of the nasality will carry forward so that the vowel

AaB will begin with a somewhat nasal -uality. This is because in producing a nasal the soft

palate is lowered to allow airflow through the nasal tract. To produce the following vowel

AaB the soft palate must move back to its normal position. #f course it takes time for the

soft palate to move from its lowered position to the raised position. This process is still in

progress when the articulation of Aal has begun. Similarly, when AaB is followed by AmB, as

in lamb, the velum will begin to lower itself during the articulation of AaB so that it is ready

for the following nasal.

!hen such simultaneous or overlapping articulations are involved, we call the process

'#+4T&'5L+T$. &f the sound becomes more like the following sound, as in the case

of lamb, it is known as +$T&'&+T#4* '#+4T&'5L+T$. &f the sound displays the

influence of the preceding sound, it is %4S%8%4+T&8% '#+4T&'5L+T$, as is the

case of map.

+nticipatory coarticulation effects are far more common than perseverative

coarticulation effects. $ote how the lippositions of the unrounded vowel Ai9B and the

rounded vowel Au9B affect the AsB in seat, and soup respectively. &n the production of the

AsBof seat the lips are unrounded, while in the AsB of soup they are rounded,

2.$.2 )road and narrow transcriptions

!e have noticed that the vowel Aal in lamb has some -uality of the fallowing nasal

and we call this phenomenon $+S+L&+T$. Then how do we trans, he this phonemes

in A+ symbols< The idea is that the &+ chart contains a set of 6&+'4&T&'S for the

purpose of transcribed the minute difference between variations of the same sound. To

indicate that a vowel has been nasali?ed, we simply add a curved line to the top of the

symbol Aal, as AUB. y the same token, we can use these diacritics for recording many

other variations of the same sound. Take ApB for example, it is +S&4+T%6 in peak and

5$+S&4+T%6 in speak. This aspirated voiceless bilabial stop is thus indicated by the


18/35

diacritic h, as A " hB, whereas the unaspirated counterpart is transcribed as A " #B for

contrast. /or most purpose, however, it is not necessary to indicate such variations of a

sound every time. !hen we use a simple set of symbols in our transcription, it is called a

4#+6 T4+$S'4&T$. Thus the use of more specific symbols to show more

phonetic detail is referred to as a $+44#! T4+$S'4&T$.

2.* Phonological anal&sis

The study of speech sounds is partitioned between two distinct but related disciplines,

phonetics and phonology. +s we have seen from above, phonetics studies how speech

sounds are made, transmitted, and received. H#$#L#)*, on the other hand, is the

study of the sound systems of languages. There is a fair degree of overlap in what

concerns the two subects, so it is sometimes very difficult to draw the boundary between

them. honology is concerned with the linguistic patterning of sounds in human

languages, with its primary aim being to discover the principles that govern the way

sounds are organi?ed in languages, and to explain the variations that occur.

The human vocal apparatus can produce a very wide range of sounds, but only a

small number of these are used in a language to construct all of its words and sentences.

honetics is the study of all possible speech sounds while phonology studies the way in

which speakers of a language systematically use a selection of these sounds in order to

express meaning. + common methodology of phonology is to begin by analy?ing an

individual language, to determine its H#$#L#)&'+L ST45'T54%, i.e. which sound

units are used and how they pattern. Then the properties of different sound systems are

compared so that hypotheses can be developed about the rules underlying the use of

sounds in particular groups of languages, and ultimately in all languages.

honology is not specifically concerned with aspects of speech production or

perception as these are purely the result of the physical properties of the System. &n the

study of coarticulation in %nglish, for example, it is often said that the articulation of the AtB

sounds in the words tea and too differ from each other slightly. &n the AtB of tea the tongue

is brought towards the front of the mouth in comparison with the ftB of too. The reason for

this is that the vowel Ai9B of tea drags the tongue slightly further forward in the mouth than

the vowel Au9B of too. &n fact, it is virtually impossible to pronounce a clear and pure


19/35

Ai9B"type vowel immediately after the kind of AtB sound found in too. &n other words, it would

appear that some degree of fronting in these circumstances is physiologically inevitable.

honeticians are concerned with how these two AtBs differ in the way they are pronounced

while phonologists are interested in the patterning of such sounds and the rules that

underlie such variations.

2.+ Phone,es and allophones

2.+.1 Mini,al pairs

honological analysis relies on the principle that certain sounds cause changes in

the meaning of a word, whereas other sounds do not. +n early approach to the subect

used a simple methodology to demonstrate this. &t would take a word, replace one sound

by another, and whether a different meaning resulted. /or instance, the word tin in

%nglish consists of three separate sounds, each of which can be given a symbol in a

phonetic transcription, AmB. &f we replace AtB by AdB, a different word results9 din. AtBl and AdB

are thus important Sounds in %nglish, because they enable us to distinguish tin and din,

tie and die, and many more word pairs.

Similarly, Ai9B and AAG can be shown to be important units too, because they

distinguish between beat and bit, bead and bid and many other pairs. This techni-ue,

called the ":&$&:+L +&4SV test, can be used to find out which sound substitutions

cause differences of meaning. The method has its limitations as it is not always possible

to find pairs of words illustrating a particular distinction in language, but it works well for

%nglish, where it leads to the identification of over DM important units. &n the earliest

approach to phonological analysis, these "important unitsV are called H#$%:%S.

honemes are transcribed using the normal set of phonetic symbols but within slant lines

instead of s-uare bracketsWpW, WtW, WeW, etc. &t shows that these units are seen as part of a

language, and not ust a physical symbols. Some of the minimal pairs for %nglish

phonemes are shown in /ig. 0.O below9


20/35

Fig. 2.* So,e of the ,ini,al pairs for nglish

Phone,es -Source Cr&stal' 1//* 1$20

8owels 'onsonants

beatbit pinbin yolkchoke

bitbet bintin chokeoke

betbat tindin adefade

batbut dinkin failveil

butheart coatgoat heaveheath

hearthot gothot wreathwreathe

potport heightmight thoughsew

portput mightnight busbu??

fullfool kinking ?ooshoe

coolcurl tintill 'onfucianconfusion

girlgale ledred beigebait

taletile ladwad

tiletoil wetyet

toiltoll

tonetown

howhere

herehair

pairpoor

poorpen


21/35

2.+.2 The phone,e theor&

The use of phonemic analysis is ancient but the first explicit formulation of a

phoneme theory was made only in the 1KOMs by Gan audouin de 'ourtenay and his

student :ikola Jrus?ewski at Ja?an. The /rench word phoneme bad already been

invented, with the meaning of "speechsound", in which sense de Sauasure and other

/renchspeaking writers continued to employ it.

&n the early part of the 0Mth century, the idea was developed in many centers by

such renowned linguists as 6aniel Gones in London, $.S. Trubet?koy and the rague

School in 8ienna, and numerous +merican linguists, including /. oas, %. Sapir, L.

loomfield, *.4. 'hao, and './. Hockett. Several theories were put forward and

discussed but for the practical task of describing soundsystems, the"minimal pairs" test

shows that the word phoneme simply refers to a"unit of explicit sound contrast"9 the

existence of a minimal pair automatically grants phonemic status to the sounds

responsible for the contrasts. + linguistic system is built on the idea of contrasts. y

selecting one type of sound instead of another we can distinguish one word from another.

Languages differ in the selection of contrastive sounds. &n %nglish, for example, the

distinction between aspirated A " hB and unaspirated A " #B is not phonemic. They both

belong to the same phoneme WpW but are reali?ed as different phonetic sounds

conditioned by different positions. 'ompare the words peak and speak, for instance.

The WpW in peak is aspirated, phonetically transcribed as A "hB while theWpW in Speak is

unaspirated, phonetically A "#B. &n 'hinese, however, the distinction between W "#W and W "h W

is phonemic so that "宾" 2bin, guest3 and "拼" 2pin, to piece together3 are transcribed as W

"#&nW 2or WpinW to be economical3 and W "h inW respectively.

2.+.3 "llophones

6ictionaries often transcribe the words peak and speak asWpi9kW and Wspi9kW

respectively. Such "broad" transcription is said to be "phonemic" as it only shows the

sounds by phonemes. However, when it the two words are actually pronounced, theWpW is

aspirated in peak and unaspirated in speak. !e know that m %nglish there is a rule that

this sound is unaspirated after WsW but aspirated in other places. To bring out the

"phonetic" difference, an aspirated sound is transcribed !ith a raised "h" after the


22/35

symbol of the .sound so a phonetic transcription for peak is A "hi9kB and that for speak is

As "#i9kB. honemic transcriptions are placed between slant lines 2W W3 while phonetic

transcriptions are placed between s-uare brackets 2A B3 &n phonetic terms, phonemic

transcriptions represent the "broad" transcriptions.

&n the above example, A "h, "#B are two different H#$%S and are variants of the

phoneme WpW. Such variants of a phoneme are called +LL#H#$%S of the same

phoneme. &n this case the allophones are said to be in '#:L%:%$T+4*

6&ST4&5T$ because they never occur in the same context. That is to say that A "#B

always occurs after AsB while A "hB always occurs in other places. !e can represent this

rule as9

213 WpW A "#$ W AsB XXXX

A "hB elsewhere

2$ote9 "AsBXXXXXXXXXXXX "is the environment in which WpW appears. 3

This phenomenon of variation in the pronunciation of phonemes in different positions

is called +LL#H#$* or +LL#H#$&' 8+4&+T$. +nother example of allophony in

%nglish is the phonemeWlW. !e all know that it is pronounced differently in lead and deal,

where in the second case the tongue is curled a little backwards towards the hard palate

2+L+T+L&+T$3. !e often call this "dark l" and use the symbol A %B in phonetic 2or

narrow3 transcription. AlB, as pronounced in lead, is called "clear 1". 'onse-uently, lead is

transcribed as Ali9dB and deal as Adi9 %B phonetically. The rule is very simple9 the phoneme

WlW is pronounced as AlB before a vowel and as AiB after a vowel. They are again in

complementary distribution. &t can be represented as9

203 W l W→

A l B W XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 8 A % B W 8XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

To say that A "h, "#B belong to the phoneme WpW and Al, %B belong to the phoneme W l W

reduces the number of phonemes in %nglishthe four sounds are attributed to only two

phonemes. There are also other eases of allophony, of course, and the student can start

thinking about what others exist as allophones in %nglish at this stage.

$ot all the phones in complementary distribution are considered to be allophones of

the same phoneme, however. There are some restrictions for phones to fall into the same


23/35

phoneme9 they must be phonetically similar and in complementary distribution.

H#$%T&' S&:&L+4&T* means that the allophones of a phoneme must bear some

phonetic resemblance. /or example, Al, %B are both lateral approximants,and they only

differ in places of articulationN A "h , "#B are both voiceless bilabial stops differing only in

aspiration. &n either ease, the allophones are in complementary distribution.

+part from complementary distribution, a phoneme may sometimes have /4%%

8+4&+$TS. /or example, the final consonant of cup may not be released by some

speakers so there is no audible sound at the end of this word. &n this ease, it is the same

word pronounced in two different ways9 Ak h "hB and Ak h "&B. 2The diacritic "┐"indicates "no

audible release" in &+ symbols. 3 The difference may because by dialect, habit, or

individual preference, instead of by any distribution rule. Such a phenomenon is called

"/4%% 8+4&+T$". /ree variation is also seen in regional differences. /or example,

most +mericans pronounce the word "either" as Ai9B whereas most ritish people say

AaiB. &ndividual differences may determine the use of Adir B or Adair B for the word

direction. &n dictionaries, free variants are often listed side by side. #f course, a

dictionary produced in the 5J will normally put ritish pronunciation on the left.

2./ Phonological processes

2./.1 "ssi,ilation

Let us begin by looking at the following sets of words and phrases. 'onsider their

pronunciation in each case.

ex. 01

a. capAkapB canAkUnB

b. tapAtapB tanAt ' nB

ex. 0C

a. sinceAsinsB sinkA sikB

b. minceA minsB minkA mikB

&n both exx. 0Yl a and 01b, the words differ in two sounds. The vowel in the second

word of each pair is "nasali?ed" because of the influence of the following nasal

consonant. &n ex. 0 C, the alveolar nasal WnW becomes the velar nasal AB before the velar

stop AkB. $+S+L&+T$, 6%$T+L&+T$, and 8%L+4&+T$ are all instances of


24/35

+SS&:&L+T$, a process by which one sound takes on some or all the characteristics

of a neighboring sound.

+ssimilation is often used synonymously with coarticulation. Similarly, there are two

possibilities of assimilation9 if a following sound is influencing a preceding sound, we call

it 4%)4%SS&8% +SS&:&L+T$N the converse process, in which a preceding sound is

influencing

a following sound, is known as 4#)4%SS&8% +SS&:&L+T$. +ll our examples in exx.

010C are instances of "regressive assimilation".

+ssimilation can occur across syllable or word boundaries, as shown by the following9

ex. 0 D

a. panAB cake

b. sunAB glasses

ex. 0E

a. you canABkeep them

b. he canABgo now

Studies of %nglish fricatives and affricates have shown that their voicing is severely

influenced by the voicing of the following sound. The five pairs of %nglish fricatives and

affricates are listed in 2C3.

2C3 f, vN , Ns, ?N∫, , t, d

%xamples in ex. 0 show how fricatives and affricates in %nglish may be assimilated

in voicing.

ex. 0

a. five past Afaivpa9stB Afaifpa9stB

b. love to AlB AlB

c. has to Aha?tB AhastB

d. as can be shown A B A B

e. lose fivenil Alu9?f B Alu9?f B

f. edge to edge AddB AtdB

The first column of symbols shows the way these phrases are pronounced in slow

or careful speech while the second column shows how they are pronounced in normal,

connected speech. %xamination of other sounds reveal that 6%8#&'&$), a process by


25/35

which voiced sounds become voiceless, in such contexts does not occur with other

sounds 2such as stops3.

2./.2 Phonological processes and phonological rules

The changes discussed above exhibit H#$#L#)&'+L 4#'%SS%S in which a

T+4)%T or +//%'T%6 S%):%$T undergo a structural change in certain

%$8&4#$:%$TS or '#$T%; in each process the change is conditioned or triggered by

a following sound or, in the case of progressive assimilation, a preceding sound.

'onse-uently, we can say that any phonological process must have three aspects to it9

213 a set of sounds to undergo the processN

203 a set of sounds produced by the processN

2C3 a set of situations in which the process applies. !e can represent the process

by means of an arrow9

2D3 WvW→AfB

#ur data have shown that this does not only apply to WvW but also to other fricatives.

Therefore, we can make a more general rule to indicate that voiced fricatives are

transformed into voiceless fricatives before voiceless segments9

2E3 .voiced fricative→ voicelessWXX voiceless

This is a H#$#L#)&'+L 45L%. The slash 2W3 specifies the environment in which

the change takes place. The bar 2called the /#'5S +43 indicates the position of the

target segment. So the rule reads9 a voiced fricative is transformed into the

corresponding voiceless sound when it appears before a voiceless sound. $asali?ation,

dentali?ation, and velari?ation are also typical phonological processes that can be

represented by the following rules9

23 $asali?ation rule

A nasalB→ A Z nasalBWXX A Z nasalB

2O3 6entali?ation rule

A dentalB→ A Z dentalBW.XXA Z dentalB

2K3 8elari?ation rule

A velarB→ A Z velarBWXXA Z velarB

+n interesting case is the indefinite article aWan in %nglish. 'onsider the following9

ex. 0O


26/35

a. a hotel, a boy, a use, a wagon, a big man, a yellow rug a white house

b. an apple, an honor, an orange curtain, an old lady

+ll the words begin with a in ex. 0Oa while an is used in ex.0Ob. !e know that and

is used when the following word begins with a vowel sound. How do we capture this in

phonological representation< !e should notice that it is the lack of a consonant that

re-uires the nasal AnB to be added to the article a. /or that matter, we treat the change of

a to an as an insertion of a nasal sound. Technically, this process of insertion is known as

%%$TH%S&S. !e can formulate this rule as 2with indicating an empty position39

23 → AnBWABXXXXXXXX 8

The regular plural and past tense forms in %nglish also give rise to interest in their

phonologicallyconditioned rules.

2./.3 (ule ordering

So far we have seen how certain changes in the pronunciation is governed by rules.

&n this section we will examine a more complex phenomenon. !e know that in %nglish

nominal plural forms are regular plural in most cases. The regular plural pattern,

however, is highly dependent on the phonological environment. Look at the following

forms9

ex. 0K

a. desk A deskB desks AdesksB

b. chair At9B chairs At9?B

c. box A bksB boxes Abks?B

!e see that the plural suffix, 2 e 3 s in written form, is probounced in three different

ways9 AsB, A?B, and A?B. #ur task here is to work out what rule governs this variation.

&t is easy to see that unlike many of the examples we have seen earlier in this

chapter, these variants cannot be governed by the following sounds as there aren( t any.

Then what features of the sounds on the left attribute to this change< &n ex. 0, we see

some more example pies of plural forms9


27/35

ex. 0

a. tables ? b. seats s

c. benches a? d. stools ?

e. couches a? f. sofas ?

g. divans ? h. mattresses a?

i. -uilts s . wardrobes ?

k. beds ? 1. hammocks s

m. rugs ? n. cushions ?

o. bridges a? p. bunks s

-. pillows ? r. ash a?

s. cupboards ? t. cases a?

$ow we sort them according to the plural variants 2with transcription for the singular

forms only39

ex. 0DM

a.? tables WteiblW stools Wstu9lW

sofas WsoufoW divans WFvanW

wardrobes Wwa9droubW beds WbedW

rugs Wr+gW cushions WkulnW

pillows WpilouW cupboards Wk+badW

b. s seats Wsi9tW -uilts Wkw&ltW

hammocks WhamakW bunks Wb,xgkW

e.a? benches Wb%ntlW couches WkautG(W

mattresses WmatrasW cases Wke&sW

bridges WbndsW . ashes WaG(W

W?W appears after these sounds9 W1, o, n, b, d, g, auW,WsW is found afterWt, kW, andWa?W

occurs afterWs, f, tf, dsW. &f we examine more words, we find that they follow the same kind

of pattern. &t is easy to see thatWsW is used when the preceding sound is a voiceless

consonant ther thanWs, [, tiW, W?W occurs when the preceding sound is a vowel or a voiced

consonant other thanW?, E, dsW, andWa?Wfollows any of the following sounds9 Ws, ?,


28/35

known as S&&L+$TS.

$ow, the three variants of the plural form in %nglish are applied is the following

fashion9

21M3 a. TheWsW appears after voiceless sounds.

b. The W?W appears after voiced sounds. 2+ll vowels are voiced. 3

c. TheW?W appears after sibilants.

&n order to bring out the rule that governs this pattern, we need to say thatW?W, which

occur in the most cases, is the basic form and the other two forms are derived from it.

The basic form is technically known as 5$6%4L*&$) /#4: or 5$6%4L*&$)

4%4%S%$T+T$ 2543. The derived form is the S54/+'% /#4: or S54/+'%

4%4%S%$T+T$ 2S43. Therefore, WsW is a matter of devoicing andWo?W is a case of

epenthesis. The two rules are represented follows9

2113 ?→ s WA voice, 'BXXXXXXXXXX 26evoicing3

2103 → a Wsibilant XXXXXXXXXXXXX ? 2%penthesis3

!ith these two rules at hand, we can see if we can derive the correct S4s from the

54s. 'onsider the derivations in

21C3 a. WWsi9tZ?WW b. WWbedZ?WW c. WWkeisZ?WW

s $W+ $W+ 6dvoicing

$W+ $W+ $W+ %penthesis

si9ts bed? keiss #utput

'learly, something has gone wrong. The problem is that 6evoicing will always apply

toW?Wafter a voiceless consonant and then there never the environment for %penthesis to

apply. The obvious solution is to say that %penthesis will always apply before 6evoicing,

as in 21D39

21D3 a. WWsi9tZ?WW b. WWbedZ?WW e. WWkexsZ?WW


29/35

$W+ $W+ %penthesis

s $W+ $W+ 6evoicing

si9ts bsd? ketso? #utput

Thus, in this particular case, we have to follow a specially stipulated 45L%

#46%4&$). &f this order is disturbed, incorrect derivation will result.

2.1 istinctive features

+s we have seen from the discussion of &+ symbols in the last chapter, speech

sounds are divided up into classes according to a number of properties. /or example,

consonants are described according to their places and manners of articulation, and

vowels are described according to their frontness or backness. #ne important property

is"voicing", which plays an important part in distinguishing obstructs in %nglish. 7

ecause voicing can distinguish one phoneme from another, it is a 6&ST&$'T&8%

/%+T54% for %nglish obstruents. There are other features too and many of them are

&$+4* /%+T54%S because we can group them into two categories9 one with this

feature and the other without. inary features have two values or specifications denoted

by "Z" and "" so voiced obstruents. are marked A Z voicedBand voiceless obstruents. are

marked A Z voicedB. Sonorants are always AZ voicedB so the feature A Z voicedB is

redundant for such sounds. 'onse-uently, voicing is not a distinctive feature for

sonorants. y the same token, the feature A7 nasalB is used for distinguishing nasals from

nonnails so the nasal sounds are marked AZ nasalB (and all other sounds are AnasalB. &n

contemporary phonology, some twenty such features are used to group speech sounds

from different angles. Table0.E shows the feature specifications for %nglish consonant

phonemes.

+ word needs to be said about the feature for places of articulation \A*E$+. The

place feature are divided up into four values9 \L+'%N Labial]p. \L+'% 9'oronal]p,

\L+'%9 6orsal]p, and \L+'%9 )uttural]p, which are often in shorthand forms as

\Labial]p, A'oronalBp, 6orsalBp, and \guttural]p.

Ta!le2.5 istinctive feature ,atri for nglish consonant phone,es


30/35

$otes9

13 L^L+&+L, '^'#4#$+L, 6^6#4S+L, )^)5TT54+L

03 "WV is a special type of feature value for an affricate indicating that the sound has

both specifications, one after another.

2Source9 4adford, +., :. +tkinson, 6. ritain, H. 'lahsen F +.Spencer. 1.

Linguistics9 +n introduction. 'ambridge 5niversity ress, p. 1D13

$ow we can represent the rule that governs the aspiration ofWp in 213 in terms of

features, as in

21E3 a. Avoiced, contB→W AspreadBWs XXXXXXXXXX

b. A Z spreadB

This means that Wp, t, kW are unaspirated 2A spreadB3 after WsW at this level, there is no

need to know exactly what each feature value mews. + complete description o\ distinctive

features used in recent years can be found in +ndrew Spencer(s honology, pp. 1D1D,

published by lackwell, 1. and aspirated 2A Z spreadB3 in all other positions.

2.11 S&lla!les &n this section and the next, we will consider S54+S%):%$T+L /%+T54%Sthose

aspects of speech that involve more than single sound segments. The principal

suprasegmantal features are syllable, stress, tone, and intonation.

#ur discussion so far has been concentrated on the singleline or L&$%+4 approach

of phonology, as initiated by 'homsky and Halle(s monumental book The Sound attern

of %nglish 2S%, 1K3. &nS%, words are held to consist of se-uences or strings of

consonants

and vowels and the word "S*LL+L%" does not even appear in the index. The syllabic

theory, however, is often represented by a tree diagram. Such theories, are often known

as $#$L&$%+4 or :5LT&L%8%L H#$#L#)*.

2.11.1 The s&lla!le structure

6ifferent languages permit different kinds of syllables. &n 'hinese utonghua, for

example, syllables typically consist of a consonant followed by a vowel. #nly nasalsWn, MW


31/35

can occur after the vowel and there are no consonant clusters. This is why the %nglish

monosyllabic

word please is often pronounced as WpulisiW by 'hinese who are beginning to learn

%nglish.

&n %nglish, a word may be :#$#S*LL+&' 2with one syllable, like cat and dog3 or

#L*S*LL+&' 2with more than one syllable, like transplant or festival3. + syllable must

have a $5'L%5S or %+J, which is often the task of a vowel. However, sometimes it is

also possible for a consonant to play the part of a nucleus, as in the word table, which

consists of a syllable Atell and a syllable lblB. &n the second syllable there is only the

syllabic consonant AteiB to function as the nucleus.!hen we say that words like bed, dead, fed, head, led, red, said, thread, wed rhyme,

we mean that the sounds after the first consonant or consonant cluster are identical.

Therefore, we can divide a( syllable into two parts, the 4H*:% 2or 4&:%3 and the

#$S%T. +t the vowel within the rhyme is the nucleus, the consonant2s3 after it_rill be

termed the '#6+. !e can thus represent the S*LL+&' ST45'T54% of the word

clasp in 213. The )reek letter a 2"sigma((3 is used to represent a syllable.

213

# 2nset3 4 2hyme3

(-cle-s) *o(da)

k l a s "


32/35

+ll syllables must have a nucleus but not all syllables contain an onset and a coda. +

syllable that has no coda is called an 23%$ S*LL+L% while a syllable with coda is

known as 'L#S%6 S*LL+L%.

&n %nglish, there are both closed and open syllables but only tense vowels 2long vowels

and diphthongs3 can occur in open syllables. 6ifferences in syllable structure also exist

crosslinguistically. &n %nglish, the onset position may be empty or filled by a cluster of as

many as three consonants, while the coda position may be filled by as many as four

consonants 2as in sixths AsiksMsB3. /or this matter, the %nglish syllable may be

represented as 2 2 2 ' 3 ' 3 ' 3 8 22 2 2'3 ' 3 '3 '3. The 'hinese syllable, however, allows

at most one consonant in the onset position and only nasals &n, _CB in the coda for the

utonghua. Thus the 'hinese syllable is represented as 2'382'3.

2. 11.2 Sonorit& scale

&t is interesting to find that in %nglish consonant clusters in onset and coda positions

disallow many consonant combinations. /or example, we can have help, lump, pray, and

-uick, but not help, lump, pray, or -uick. &t is found that a S#$#4&T* S'+L% is at work.

The 6%)4%% #/ S#$#4&T* of different classes of sound affects their possible

positions in the syllable9

21O3 Sonority scale9

:ost sonorous E 8owels

D +pproximants

C $asals

0 /ricatives

Least sonorous 1 Stops

&n a word such as clasp, the sonority of each sound gradually rises to a peak at the

nucleus and then falls at the coda, as shown in 21K39

21K3 E _

D _

C

0 _


33/35

k 1 a s p

This explains why _lkaps is not allowed9

213 E _

D _

C

0 _

1 _ _

1 k a p s

The phoneme WsW behaves unusually, however, in that it can combine with almost any

onset to form a cluster of up to three consonants, e.g. AsplB, AsprB, Astr7B, Askw B. $o

explanation has been found to account for this issue.

2. 11.3 S&lla!ification and the ,ai,al onset principle

. $o agreement has been reached as to what forms a syllable. 'onse-uently, the

division of syllables in polysyllabic words has to be solved according to some principles.

'onsider the word country WkntriW, which contains the consonant cluster Wntr W. #bviously,

we can(t split it into Wk W orWkW as _Wntri W and _WkntrW are not permissible syllables

in %nglish. The correct syllabification should be Wk

W according to the :+;&:+L

#$S%T 4&$'&L%, which states that when there is a choice as to where to place a

consonant, it is put into the onset rather than the coda.

2'12 Stress

ST4%SS refers to the degree of force used in producing a syllable. &n transcription, a

raised vertical line AiB is used ust before the syllable it relates to. + basic distinction is

made between stressed and unstressed syllables, the former being more prominent than

the later usually due to an increase in loudness, length or pitch. This means that stress is

a relative notion. +t the word level, it only applies to words with at least two syllables. +t

the sentence level, a monosyllabic word may be said to be stressed relative to other

words in the sentence.

. The stress pattern in %nglish is no easy matter. &n principle, the stress may fall on any

syllable. They also change over history and exhibit regional or dialectal differences. /or

example, it has been observed that inT%)ral, co::5$al, for:&6able, and conT4#8er


34/35

are becoming the norm whereas &$tegral, '#::unal, /#4midable, and '#$troversy

are often considered conservative. 2The capitali?ed syllables are stressed. 3 Speakers of

4 and those of

)eneral +merican 2)+3 also differ in their preferences in the stress pattern of these

words9 la#4atory 243, L+oratory 2)+3N 6%Gris 243, de4&S 2)+3N )+4age 243,

ga4+)% 2)+3.

&t has also been observed that stress is sometimes placed on a different syllable for

the different grammatical function a word plays. /or example, con8&'T 2v.3'#$vict 2n.3,

inS5LT 2v.3`&nsult 2n.3, pro65'% 2v.34#duce 2n.3, re%L 2v.34%bel 2n.3.

$otice that alternations of stress often occur between compounds and phrases, +

L+'Jboard is used in the classroom for teachers to write on whereas a black #+46

is any piece of board that is black in color. Similarly, a &. +'Jbird is a special kind of bird

hut a black

&46 is any bird that is black in color.

/or long words, there are often two stressed syllables, one being more stressed than

the other. The more stressed syllable is the 4&:+4* ST4%SS while the tess stressed

syllable is known as the S%'#$6+4* ST4%SS. &n the word epiphenomenal, for

example, the primary stress falls no while the secondary stress falls on epi . +ll other

syllables are unstressed ones.

Sentence stress is much more interesting, fn general situations,notional words are

normally stressed while structural words are unstressed, $evertheless, sentence stress

is often used to express emphasis, surprise etc. so that in principle stress may fall on any

word or anysyllable. /or example,

ex. 01t

a. Gohn bought a red bicycle.

b. G#H$ bought a red bicycle.

c. Gohn #5)HT a red bicycle.

d. Gohn bought a 4%6 bicycle.

e. Gohn bought a red &'*'L%.


35/35

Further (eading

all, :. F G. 4ahitly. 1. Phonetics: The Science of Speech. London9 %dward +rnold.

'arr, hilip, 1. English Phonetics and Phonology . #xford9 lackwell.

'lark, Gohn F 'olin *allop. 1E. An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. 0nd ed.

#xford9 lackwell.

6avenport, :ike F S.G. Hannahs. 1K. Introducing Phonetics and Phonology . London9

%dward +rnold.

)iegerich, Hein? g. 10. English Phonology: An Introduction. 'ambridge 5niversity

ress.

)uessenhoven, 'arlos F Haike Gacobs. 1K. Understanding Phonology . London9

%dward +rnold.

Ladefoged, eter. 1C. A ourse in Phonetics. Crd ed. /ort !orth,T;9 Harcourt race.

Ladefoged, eter. 0MMM. !owels and onsonants. #xford9 lackwell.

.Laver, Gohn. 1D. Principles of Phonetics. 'ambridge 5niversity ress.

oole, Stuart. 1. An Introduction to "inguistics. London9 :acmillan. 2'hapters DE 3

4oach, eter. 11. English Phonetics and Phonology. 0nd ed. 'ambridge 5niversity

ress.

4oca, &ggy F !yn Gohnson. 1. A ourse in Phonology . #xford9 lackwell.

Spencer, +ndrew. 1. Phonology . #xford9 lackwell.

*ule, )eorge. 1. The Study of "anguage. 'ambridge 5niversity ress. 2'hapters E 3

Documents

Chapter 2 Speech Sounds (1)