English Phonetics and Phonology 02

7/30/2019 English Phonetics and Phonology 02

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English Phonetics and Phonology

2. Some Basic Concepts


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1. How many soundsin English?

pit [phIt] and tip [thIp]: (aspiration)

[ph] and [p] are used in different positions:allophones (no.: ?)

fee[fi:] feel[fi 5] and leaf [lif]:(Dark-l vs. Clear-l and vowel clipping)

ladder[l{d@] and lad [l{d]: devoicing


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Plus: differences between speakersor the same speaker on different

occasions

Sounds in their physical reality:

phones


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1. How many sounds

in English? (cntd.)

[phIt] and [fIt]: meaning change

[phIt] and *[pIt]: no meaning

change

/p/ and /f/ are distinctive(contrastive): phonemes (number: ca

40 in any language)


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Phoneme: sound units that contrast with eachother: a difference between a phoneme pair,

embedded in otherwise identical contexts,

normally has the potential to convey a meaningdifference.

Allophones: contextual variants of a phonemewhich differ from each other phonetically. Being

contextually predictable, differences betweenallophones cannot convey meaning and thus are

non-contrastive.


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Illustration of phonemes:

The Family /i:/

he [i:]

heed [i.]

heat [i]


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English voiceless stops

/p/ /t/ /k/

[p] [ph] [t] [th] [k] [kh]


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Phonemes and allophones

/p/ [p] or[ph]

Derivation (realisation)

Two levels of representation:phonemic and allophonic


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Korean voiceless stops

/p/ /ph/ /t/ /th/ /k/ /kh/

[p] [ph] [t] [th] [k] [kh]


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/l/ and /r/

English:

lamb [l{m] vs. ram [r{m]

Korean:

[mul] water

[mulkama] place for water

[mure] at the water


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English

/l/ /r/

[l] [r]

Korean

/l/[l] [r]


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2. How to find the phonemes

of a language? pit fit sit hit kit: minimal pairs

Notice the difference between sounds andletters!

feet /fi:t/ and feat /fi:t/: homophones tear(V) /te@/ and tear(N) /tI@/:

homographs

bear(V) /be@/ and bear(N) /be@/:homonyms cuff/kVf/ and cough /kQf/: a minimal pair!


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3. The phonemes of English

(Source: OConnor 1980) Consonants pier /p/ beer /b/ tier /t/ deer /d/ gear/g/ fear /f/

veer /v/ sheer /S/ hear/h/ leer /l/ rear /r/ mere /m/ near /n/ weir /w/ year /j/ cheer /tS/ jeer/dZ/ base /s/

baize /z/ bathe /D/ beige /Z/ bake /k/ wrath/T/ wrong /N/


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Vowels feel / / fill / / fell / /

fall / / full / / fool / /

fail / / foal / file / /

foul / / foil / / cat / /

cot / / cut / / curt / /

cart / / tier/ / tear/ / tour/ / banana/ /


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4. Types of sound variation

Distribution: the range of places withina word in which a given sound mayoccur

Parallel distribution + contrastiverelationship: phonemic variation

Complementary distribution + phoneticsimilarity: allophonic variation


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Parallel distribution + neutralisedcontrast: free variation

H feland fl E sure/SU@/ and /SO:/


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regional differences: dialectal variation(a) segmental differences

realisational differences:cf. initial thin SBE and GenAm

systematic differences:cf. lovein SBE and Midlands areas selectional differences:

SBE dance/dA:ns/ and GenAm /d{ns/

distributional differences:

SBE card/kA:d/ vs GenAm /kArd/(b) suprasegmental differences: stress, rhythm and intonation


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Notice the difference between dialectand accent: SBE and RP

Dialect: a language variety

characterised by particular features ofpronunciation, lexis and grammar.

Accent: features of pronunciation

RP: Received Pronunciation (educatedsouthern British English) NRP: Non-Regional Pronunciation


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5.1. Types of transcription

Phonemic (broad) transcription:phonemic differences

Phonetic (narrow, allophonic)transcription: realisational differences

The IPA chart: sound symbols anddiacritics


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5.2. Functions of transcription

(a) The representing function

(b) The disambiguating function

(c) The analysing function(d) The contrasting function


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The representing function

To represent the pronunciation oflinguistic utterances

Closeness of representation:phonetic vs. phonemic transcription


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The disambiguating function

To disambiguate the pronunciation ofwords whose spelling provides no clue

to their spoken form (irregular spelling)

Phonetic writing system: one-to-onecorrespondence between phonemes

and letters

Non-phonetic writing system: one-to-many relationship between phonemes

and letters


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The analysing function

To analyse the phonologicalsystem of a language


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The contrasting function

To contrast the sounds of twolanguages for purposes of description or

instruction


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5. Readings

Ndasdy, . 2006. Background to English Pronunciation.Budapest: Nemzeti Tanknyvkiad. Chapters 2 and 3.

Suggested readings:

Andrs L. T. and Stephanides, E. 1988. An Outline ofPresent-day English Structure. Volume 1: Phonetics andPhonology. Budapest: Tanknyvkiad. Chapter 1.

Gimson, A. C. 1991. An Introduction to the Pronunciationof English. London: Edward Arnold. Chapter 1.

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English Phonetics and Phonology 02