2011-12 LINGUA INGLESE 1 modulo A/B2011-12 LINGUA INGLESE 1 modulo A/BIntroduction to English LinguisticsIntroduction to English Linguisticsprof. Hugo Bowlesprof. Hugo Bowles

Lesson 12 Connected speech

Aspects of Connected SpeechAspects of Connected Speech

weak Formsyod coalescenceelisionassimilation

Weak syllables (vowels)Weak syllables (vowels)

fatherhappy

thank you

open

photograph

radio

influence

Weak syllables (consonants)Weak syllables (consonants)

bottleparcel

threaten

seven

happen

Weak formsWeak forms

When we talk about weak forms in the phonetics of English this regards a series of words which have one pronunciation (strong) when isolated, and another (weak) when not stressed within a phrase.

e.g. a car v I bought a car

Look at this phrase:

I went to the station and bought two tickets for my father and his best friend.

What are the most important What are the most important words?words?

I went to the station and bought two tickets for my father and his best friend.

boughtstationwent

tickets best friend

two

father

If we eliminate the other words If we eliminate the other words can we still understand the can we still understand the

message?message?

went station booked two tickets father best friend.

Let’s look at the phrase Let’s look at the phrase transcribed:transcribed:

ə’ δə ə’ıʃəə’’ ’ɔ ı ı

əə’δəəı’’

There is a tendency for vowels in There is a tendency for vowels in unstressed syllables to shift towards unstressed syllables to shift towards

the schwa (central position)the schwa (central position)

Weak form are commonly Weak form are commonly used wordsused words

prepositions

auxiliary verbs

conjunctions

weak formpreposition    

to tu: tǝfor fɔ: fǝfrom ɑ frǝminto ɪntu: ɪntǝof ɒvas æz ǝzat æt ǝt

strong formPronunciationSpelling

ǝv

Auxiliary verbs

 Strong  

do du: dǝare a: ǝ(r)*was wɒz wǝzwere wɜ: wǝwould wʊd wǝdcould kʊd kǝdshould ʃʊd ʃǝdcan kæn kǝnmust m^st mǝs(t)

Weak

Other words    

and ænd ǝnd, ǝn, nbut b^t bǝtthan δæn δǝnthat (as a relative) δæt δǝtyou (object pronoun) ju: jǝ

your jɔ: jǝ(r)her (as object pronoun)

hɜ:(r) (h)ǝ(r)*

a æ, ei ǝ*an æn ǝnthe δi: δǝ, δi: (before a

vowel)

Strong form Weak form

 

Weak = unstressedWeak = unstressedIn the following sentences the underlined words arestressed and so would be pronounced using the strongform:

- I do like chocolate.  - She drove to Las Vegas, not from Las Vegas.  - We were surprised when she told us her secret. (stress on ‘were’ for emphasis)

Yod coalescenceYod coalescence

Yod is the name of the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet – it stands for the vowel / I / or the semi-vowel / j /. In English phonetics Yod coalescence is a form of assimilation – it is a phenomenon which takes place when / j / is preceded by certain consonants most commonly /t / and / d /:

/t/ + /j/ = /t/ + /j/ = ʃʃ

…but use your head! / bǝtʃu:zjǝhed /

what you need…. / wotʃu:ni:d /

the ball that you brought / δǝbɔ:lδətʃu:brɔ:t /

last year…. /la:stʃiǝ/

/d/ + /j/ = //d/ + /j/ = /ʤʤ

could you help me? /kuʤu:helmi:/

would yours work? /wuʤɔ:zwɜ:k/

she had university exams

ʃʤəɜəӕ

Yod coalescence is common in colloquial speech and is becoming ever more so. Note that it can occur:

- between word boundaries (as above examples)

- within words e.g. You Tube = /ju:tju:b/ or /ju:ʃ

The fact that two extremely recurrent words in English, you and your, start with /j/ means that understanding of this simple mechanism is vital to the understanding of spoken English. Do you and also did you are often pronounced as /ʤə/ 

Do you live here?

Did you live here? /ʤəliviə/

/(di)ʤəliviə/

Exercise. Identify places where yod coalescence may occur in the following phrases:

 What you need is a good job! You told me that you had your homework done. She didn’t go to France that year. Could you open the window please? You’ve already had yours!

Exercise. Identify places where yod coalescence may occur in the following phrases:

 What you need is a good job! You told me that you had your homework done. She didn’t go to France that year. Could you open the window please? You’ve already had yours!

Elision  Elision is very simply the omission of certain sounds in certain contexts. The most important occurrences of this phenomenon regard:1     Alveolar consonants /t/ and /d/ when ‘sandwiched’ between two consonants (CONS – t/d – CONS), e.g.

The next day…. δǝThe last car… δǝ

Hold the dog! ǝδǝ

Send Frank

consonant + affricate elisionconsonant + affricate elision

This can also take place within affricates /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ when preceded by a consonant, e.g. lunchtime ʧʃ

strange days ʤʒ

Elision of ‘not’Elision of ‘not’The phoneme /t/ is a fundamental part of the negative particle not, the possibility of it being elided makes the foreign students life more difficult. Consider the negative of can – if followed by a consonant the /t/ may easily disappear and the only difference between the positive and the negative is a different, longer vowel sound in the second: + I can speak…. ’ ’ә - I can’t speak… /’

Assimilation Assimilation

Assimilation can be:of placeof voiceof manner

We will look at the first two

Assimilation of PlaceAssimilation of PlaceThe most common form involves the movement of place of articulation of the alveolar stops /t/, /d/ and /n/ to a position closer to that of the following sound. For instance, in the phrase ten cars, the /n/ will usually be articulated in a velar position, ƞ so that the tongue will be ready to produce the following velar sound /k/. Similarly, in ten boys the /n/ will be produced in a bilabial position, /tem b/ to prepare for the articulation of the bilabial /b/.

This phenomenon is easy to find also in Italian: think of the different pronunciations of the ‘n’ in Gian Paolo, Gian Franco and Gian Carlo.

Assimilation of place before a VELARAssimilation of place before a VELAR/n/ before a velar becomes /ƞ/

e.g. ban = /bӕn/ bank = ban+k = /bӕƞk/ not /bӕnk/

/d/ before a velar becomes /g/ e.g. good girl = /gʊg gɜ:l/

/t/ before a velar becomes /k/ e.g. that girl = / δæk gɜ:l /

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Assimilation of place before a BILABIAL ( /b/ /m/ /p )/Assimilation of place before a BILABIAL ( /b/ /m/ /p )//n/ before a bilabial becomes /m/

e.g. ten boys = / tem boiz/ /d/ before a bilabial becomes /b/ e.g. bad man = /bæb mæn/

/t/ before a bilabial becomes /p/ e.g. hot meal = / mi:l /

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ASSIMILATION OF VOICINGASSIMILATION OF VOICING

The vibration of the vocal folds is not something that can be switched on and off very swiftly, as a result groups of consonants tend to be either all voiced or all voiceless. Consider the different endings of ‘legs’ // and ‘hats’ /æ/, of the past forms of the regular verbs such as ‘kissed’ // and ‘sneezed’ /sni:zd/.

The assimilation of voicing can radically change the sound of several common constructions:

have tohas to

əə

e.g. I have to go! əə

used to əe.g. I used to live near you. /əɪɪə