The Phonetics of English Pronunciation - Week 6 W.Barry
Institut fr Phonetik Universitt des Saarlandes IPUS Version SS
2008
Slide 2
There were two tasks for homework! Identification and
description of pronunciation problems Articulogram of Index
finger
Slide 3
What problems did you identify? Sentence 3 & 4: One of the
secretaries had whispered rather loudly to her friend that there
were plans being hatched to close the local primary school and bus
the children to the neighbouring village. The doors and windows
would then be bricked up to discourage vandals, pending a decision
on the future use of the building.
Slide 4
What problems did you identify? How many -related points? One
of the secretaries had whispered rather loudly to her friend that
there were plans being hatched to close the local primary school
and bus the children to the neighbouring village. The doors and
windows would then be bricked up to discourage vandals, pending a
decision on the future use of the building. Potential problems:
11
Slide 5
What problems did you identify? How many FVC-related points?
One of the secretaries had whispered rather loudly to her friend
that there were plans being hatched to close the local primary
school and bus the children to the neighbouring village. The doors
and windows would then be bricked up to discourage vandals, pending
a decision on the future use of the building. Potential FVC
problems: 15
Slide 6
What problems did you identify? How many /l/-related points?
One of the secretaries had whispered rather loudly to her friend
that there were plans being hatched to close the local primary
school and bus the children to the neighbouring village. The doors
and windows would then be bricked up to discourage vandals, pending
a decision on the future use of the building. Potential /l/
problems: 5 (+5 US)
Slide 7
What problems did you identify? How many R-related points? One
of the secretaries had whispered rather loudly to her friend that
there were plans being hatched to close the local primary school
and bus the children to the neighbouring village. The doors and
windows would then be bricked up to discourage vandals, pending a
decision on the future use of the building. Total potential
problems: 9 (+7 US)
Slide 8
What problems did you identify? How many /w/-related points?
One of the secretaries had whispered rather loudly to her friend
that there were plans being hatched to close the local primary
school and bus the children to the neighbouring village. The doors
and windows would then be bricked up to discourage vandals, pending
a decision on the future use of the building. Potential /w/
problems: 5 (+ 2 over-correction danger spots)
Slide 9
What problems did you identify? How many dangers? One of the
secretaries had whispered rather loudly to her friend that there
were plans being hatched to close the local primary school and bus
the children to the neighbouring village. The doors and windows
would then be bricked up to discourage vandals, pending a decision
on the future use of the building. Potential problems: 0
Slide 10
Your second task: mouth velum glottis Articulogram of: Index
finger / I n d e k s f I N g / alv alv vel alv lab-d vel vel
xxxxxxxx
Slide 11
G _ rm _ ns pr _ bl _ ms w _ th _ ngl _ sh v _ w _ ls In
written language, the consonant letters carry more information than
the vowel letters. In spoken language, vowels carry much more
information than the consonants. No vowels: No consonants: Both:
Whn th snlght strks r ndrps n th r
Slide 12
Conson. When the sun - light strikes rain - drops in the air
Vowels [ e aI aI eI / A I i E ] [ w nD s nl str ksr ndr ps nD ?
]
Slide 13
Which vowels are problematical? We identified the German pure
vowels (monophthongs) in our second lecture: FRONT BACK unrounded
rounded rounded Longbieten /i:/ hten /y:/Bude /u:/ CLOSE Short
bitten / I / Htten / Y / bitte / / Butter / U / Longbeten /e:/ lten
/ O :/Boden /o:/ (Long bten) / E :/ Short Betten / E / Gtter / /
Dotter / / bitter / / Long raten /a:/ Short Ratten /a/ OPEN
Slide 14
Which vowels are problematical 2? We can fit some of the
English pure vowels (Brit&USA) into the same framework:
FRONTBACK unrounded rounded rounded Longbeaten -----booty CLOSE
Short bitten -----fitter bushes Long ----- ----------- Long
(fairground) Short better ----- bottle (fitter) Long father
Shortfatter OPEN ////
Slide 15
Which vowels are problematical 3? Some of the English vowels
seem to fit the framework.. but they are NOT identical FRONTBACK
unrounded rounded rounded Longbeaten -----booty CLOSE Short bitten
-----fitter bushes Long ----- ----------- Long (fairground) Short
better ----- bottle (fitter) Long father Shortfatter OPEN /i:/ /u:/
/U//U/ //// US //// /A//A/ /A//A/ //// ////
Slide 16
Which vowels are problematic 3? We can fit some of the English
pure vowels (Brit&USA) into the same framework: FRONTBACK
unrounded rounded rounded Longbeaten -----booty CLOSE Short bitten
-----fitter bushes Long ----- ----------- Long (fairground) Short
better ----- bottle (fitter) Long father Shortfatter OPEN /i:/ /u:/
/U//U/ //// US //// /A//A/ /A//A/ //// //// bait / eI / boat / U
/
Slide 17
Vowel quality and symbols Universal Vowel Framework (Cardinal
Vowels) I/Y U o/ e/Oe/O E/ // a/ A/ Close Close-mid Open-mid Open
Front Central Back i/y /u
Slide 18
Vowel quality and symbols 2 ?i?i I ?e?e (E)(E) ?? US Br A US Br
ii yy Y I U uu oo ee E (E)(E) OO a/a German English eI uu U UU / /
Br US AA ()() Br US
Slide 19
Vowel quality and symbols 3: (diphthongs) I U I German English
U aI aU II Br aI US aI Br aU US aU US I Br I
Slide 20
Vowel quality variants ii I e ii e I beat /i / bit /I/ bet /e/
bat / / ii I e SBE NZ & SA NBE
Slide 21
Vowel quality variants 3 No hope / U/ SBE/US-South Mid-West
Conserv. RP NZ & Aus. Scottish NBE
Slide 22
Summary & Conclusions Vowels are very prominent signals of
the sort of accent you speak The symbols used to represent vowels
are only a rough indication of the vowel quality to produce. Nearly
all English vowels (whether American or British) are phonetically
different from German vowels. You need to understand what the
differences are, hear them, and automate their production! Read
Chap. 5, pp. 105 ff Complete and hand in the exercise (see exercise
sheet)