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1. Phonetics and phonology (subdivision; langue x parole; phoneme,

allophone, sound; RP; accent x dialect); differences between RP and
General American in terms of pronunciation.

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech. It is
concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds, and their physiological production,
auditory perception, and neurophysiological status. It‟s Articulatory, acoustic and auditory.

Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or
the field of linguistics studying this use. Just as a language has syntax and vocabulary, it also has
phonology in the sense of a sound system.

Whereas phonetics is about the physical production, acoustic transmission and perception of the
sounds of speech, phonology describes the way sounds function within a given language or across
languages to encode meaning.

Langue – abstract system of rules, language as a social phenomenon, every native speaker has in
their heads; it describes how you should use the language correctly; prescriptive
Parole – concrete manifestation, individual phenomenon, describes how we use the language;
descriptive

Phoneme – smallest meaning-distinguishing linguistic unit with contrastive property

Allophone – phonetic variant of phoneme; its realization

Sound – acoustic branch of phonetics – sound waves, how it travels in space, how it is produced;
In English sound doesn‟t match with written letters (in Czech does)

RP – Received Pronunciation – accent of standard British English, called also BBC English

accent – a form of pronunciation
dialect – a form of vocabulary and grammar as well as pronunciation

While there is not any single formal definition of General American, various features are

considered to be part of it, including rhotic pronunciation, which maintains the coda [ɹ] in words

like pearl, car, and court. Unlike RP, General American is characterized by the merger of the

vowels of words like father and bother, flapping, and the reduction of vowel contrasts before [ɹ].

General American also generally has yod-dropping after alveolar consonants. Other phonemic
mergers, including the cot-caught merger, the pin-pen merger, the Mary-marry-merry merger and
the wine-whine merger, may be found optionally at least in informal and semiformal varieties.

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2. Relationship between speech and writing; speech organs;

phonation; transcription.

speech – temporary – we can and probably will forget
writing – retrievable (we can read it again and again)

- in English sound doesn‟t match with written letters (in Czech does)

Speech organs produce the many sounds needed for language.

Organs used include the lips, teeth, tongue, alveolar ridge (dáseň), hard palate (tvrdé horní patro),
velum (soft palate – měkké horní patro), uvula (čípek) and glottis (vocal folds and space between -
hlasivky).

Phonation (voicing) – the process in which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-
periodic vibration

Transcription - typewritten or printed form, of a spoken-language source; the process of
matching the sounds of human speech to special written symbols, using a set of exact rules, so that
these sounds can be reproduced later. The visual system of symbolization of the sounds occurring
in spoken human language. The most common type of phonetic transcription uses a phonetic
alphabet (such as the International Phonetic Alphabet).

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3. English pure vowels (colour, length, cardinal vowels); diphthongs

and triphthongs.

cardinal vowels – key tongue positions (close front – tongue far in front and up,

open back – tongue far back and down

i – close front
e – close-mid front
ɛ - open-mid front
a – open front
u - close back
o – close-mid back
ɔ - open-mid back
ɑ - open back

front vowels are called bright, back vowel are called dark – vowel colour
the position of soft palate – nasalized x oral vowels
rounded lips -> rounded vowel

monophthongs (pure vowels) – single vowel sound with relatively fixed beginning and the end;
does not glide up or down

ɪ - short, close front
ʊ - short, close-mid central/back
e – short, close-mid front
ə - short, central
æ – short, open front
ʌ - short, open-mid central
ɒ - short, open-mid(close to open open) back

i: - long
u: - long
ɜ: - long
ɔ: - long
ɑ: - long

dipththongs – two sound vowels; change quality during pronunciation – glide up or down

closing: eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ, əʊ, aʊ
centring: ɪə, eə, ʊə


thripththongs – three sound vowel – monosyllabic vowel; may change the quality twice

closing dipththongs + centring schwa
eɪə, aɪə, ɔɪə, əʊə, aʊə

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4. English consonants generally (voicing, place and manner of

articulation, fortis/lenis).

manner →

place ↓

plosive

affricate

fricative

nasal

approx.

bilabial

p, b

m

(w)

labiodentals

f, v

dental

δ, θ

alveolar

t, d

s, z

n

l

post-alveolar

r

palate-alveolar

tʃ, dʒ

ʃ, ʒ

palatal

j

velar

k, g

ɳ

w

glottal

h

consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract.

places of articulation – where obstruction occurs

- bilabial – between the lips
- labiodentals – between the upper teeth and lower lip
- dental - between the front of the tongue and the top teeth
- alveolar - between the front of the tongue and the ridge behind the gums (the alveolus)
- post-alveolar - between the front of the tongue and the space behind the alveolar ridge
- palate-alveolar – between the middle of the tongue and the space behind the alveolar ridge
- palatal - between the middle of the tongue and the hard palate
- velar - between the back of the tongue and the soft palate (the velum)
- glottal - at the glottis

manner of articulation – describes how speech organs are involved in making the sound

- plosive – closing → compression → release
- fricative – continuous frication at the place of articulation
- affricate – begins like a plosive, but releaseses as fricative
- nasal – complete blockage of the oral cavity
- approximant – very little obstruction
- lateral – pronounced along sides of the tongue

consonants sorted by produced force:
fortis: t, k, p, f, θ, s, ʃ, tʃ (- voiceless)
lenis: d, g, b, v, δ, z, ʒ, dʒ; r, j, w (- voiced)

voiceless consonant – when larynx does not vibrate; voicing – change from voiceless to voiced
voiceless: p, t, k, f, s, ʃ, θ; h

tʃ - aspirated

voiced: b, d, g, v, z, δ, ʒ; r, j, w, n dʒ - partially voiced

h – voiceless glottal fricative; takes on the quality of the following vowel

sonorants (nasals, lateral, approximants) x obstruents (plosives, fricatives, affricatives)

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5. English plosives (aspiration; inaudible, nasal, lateral release).

Manner of articulation has 3 stages – closing, compression and release

Place of articulation

- bilabial – between the lips
- alveolar - between the front of the tongue and the ridge behind the gums (the alveolus)
- velar - between the back of the tongue and the soft palate (the velum)

fortis – p, t, k
lenis – b, d, g

b, d, g (lenis) is usually voiced, but initial and final plosive is usually devoiced (like g in fog).

Aspiration - strong burst of air that accompanies the release after initial fortis.

- pill [pʰɪl]
- time [tʰaɪm]
- cat [kʰæt]

Inaudible release (aka Incomplete) – the release stage is moved to the second consonant
that table [δæt˺teɪbļ] or doctor [dɒk˺tə]

Nasal release – the velum is lowered and air escapes through the nose during the release
wooden, sudden [...dⁿn] or that night [δætⁿ naɪt]

Lateral release – before lateral consonant l; the air flows along the sides of the tongue
puddle [pʌd'ļ] or that light [δæt' laɪt]

Glottal stop – a closure of vocal folds between two consonants
kočku x k očku; suchem x s uchem

manner →

place ↓

plosive

affricate

fricative

nasal

approx.

bilabial

p, b

m

(w)

labiodentals

f, v

dental

δ, θ

alveolar

t, d

s, z

n

l

post-alveolar

r

palate-alveolar

tʃ, dʒ

ʃ, ʒ

palatal

j

velar

k, g

ɳ

w

glottal

h

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6. English fricatives and affricates.

Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two
articulators close together.

fricative – continuous frication at the place of articulation
affricate – begins like a plosive, but releaseses as fricative

places of articulation – where obstruction occurs

- labiodentals – between the upper teeth and lower lip
- dental - between the front of the tongue and the top teeth
- alveolar - between the front of the tongue and the ridge behind the gums (the alveolus)
- palate-alveolar – between the middle of the tongue and the space behind the alveolar ridge
- glottal - at the glottis

fricatives and africates sorted by produced force:
fortis: f, θ, s, ʃ, tʃ (- voiceless)
lenis: v, δ, z, ʒ, dʒ (- voiced)

voiceless consonant – when larynx does not vibrate
voiceless: f, s, ʃ, θ; h

tʃ - aspirated

voiced: v, z, δ, ʒ; r, j, w, n dʒ - partially voiced

h – voiceless glottal fricative; takes on the quality of the following vowel

A sibilant is a type of fricative or affricate consonant, made by directing a jet of air through a
narrow channel in the vocal tract towards the sharp edge of the teeth. They are stronger/lauder
than other fricatives. Sibilants: s, z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ

S and H are often silent: island, debris; hour, honour

Continuants - a sound produced with an incomplete closure of the vocal tract (all vowels and

fricatives ARE continuants.

Joint articulation of homorganic fricatives: this similarity, of fine

manner →

place ↓

plosive

affricate

fricative

nasal

approx.

bilabial

p, b

m

(w)

labiodentals

f, v

dental

δ, θ

alveolar

t, d

s, z

n

l

post-alveolar

r

palate-alveolar

tʃ, dʒ

ʃ, ʒ

palatal

j

velar

k, g

ɳ

w

glottal

h

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7. English nasals, lateral and approximants.

manner →

place ↓

plosive

affricate

fricative

nasal

approx.

bilabial

p, b

m

(w)

labiodentals

f, v

dental

δ, θ

alveolar

t, d

s, z

n

l

post-alveolar

r

palate-alveolar

tʃ, dʒ

ʃ, ʒ

palatal

j

velar

k, g

ɳ

w

glottal

h

complete closure in the mouth, lowered soft palate → all the air flows through the nose

places of articulation – where obstruction occurs

- bilabial – between the lips
- alveolar - between the front of the tongue and the ridge behind the gums (the alveolus)
- post-alveolar - between the front of the tongue and the space behind the alveolar ridge
- palatal - between the middle of the tongue and the hard palate
- velar - between the back of the tongue and the soft palate (the velum)

syllabic n – instead of [ən]

devoiced /m, n/ when a voiceless consonant precedes: smart, snake

silent /m, n/ - mnemonic, autumn

alveolar lateral approximant – L

- clear/bright before vowels (lady, fly)
- dark before consonants or at the word‟s end (bold, tell) – a spoon-like shape of a tongue
- devoiced after /p, t/ at the beginning of stressed syllable: play, climb

 /s, f/ in the initial position: slide, flow

- syllabic: middle, bottle, castle
- silent in: calf half, talk, walk, calm, palm, folk, Holmes, should, would, could, colonel

R – post-alveolar approximant, lenis – pronounced everywhere in rhotic languages (GA,
Canadian, Scottish), in non-rhotic accents (GP, Australian, NZ..) only before vowels

- linking: silent /r/ is pronounced – far away, here and there
- intrusive: after /ə, ɑ:, ɔ:/ - vanilla ice, law and order
- devoiced: after /p, t, k, f/ at the beginning of the stressed syllable – press, cream, fry

J, W – semi-vowels, lenis (voiced)

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8. Allophonic variations; teaching pronunciation (Volín ch. 6)

An allophone is a variant of a phoneme determined by its position in a string of segments. When
babies learn to use language, they must learn not to hear allophonic variations

labialized consonants
/k/ in quite is realized as [k

w

] – lip rounding starts early → /k/ becomes labialized

/s/ in soup [su:p] may become [s

w

] – depends on the speaker

in most cases, consonant followed by /w/ will be labialized
consonant followed by /ɔ:/, /u:/, /ʊ/ or /ɒ/ may be also labialized → [j

w

u:sfl t

w

u:l]

vowel duration
vowels are shorter before fortis consonants and longer before lenis consonants
write [raɪt] is much shorter than ride [raɪd] – same phoneme /aɪ/
the short phoneme may be symbolized with / ˘ / - [měɪt] x [meɪd]
shortened long vowels (omg) are marked with one dot /a·/ instead of /a:/

aspiration – the most noticeable allophonic variation
strong burst of air that accompanies the release after initial fortis.

- pill [pʰɪl]
- time [tʰaɪm]
- cat [kʰæt]

(partial) devoicing – based on alignment between oral gestures and the voice onset

- mainly in lenis obstruents – plosives / b, d, g /, fricatives / v, δ, z, ʒ / and affricate / dʒ /
- approximants / l, r, j / may lose their voicing after / p, t, k / and nasals /m, n/ after /s/
- at the beginning or the end of the word
- they get devoiced, but keep their lenis character, marked by / ̥ / under devoiced cons.
- day [d

̥ eɪ], try [tr̥aɪ], smell [sm̥ell], play [pl̥eɪ]

clear and dark /l/ - lateral alveolar approximant

- clear/bright / l / before vowels (lady, fly)
- dark/velarized / ɫ / elsewhere - before cons. or at the word‟s end (bold, tell)



a spoon-like shape of a tongue



most people notice dark / ɫ / only when it‟s missing in a foreigner‟s accent

nasalization – if syllable has a nasal coda, the vowel forming the peak is nasalized
dim [ dɪ

̃m ], pen [ pæ̃n ], hang [ hæ̃ɳ ], ten [ tẽn ] x net [ net ]

- the velum makes anticipatory gesture before the oral articulation of the nasal consonant

starts

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Stop releases

Inaudible release (aka Incomplete) – the release stage is moved to the second consonant

that table [δæt˺teɪbļ] or doctor [dɒk˺tə]

Canonical release – nasal and lateral

Nasal release – the velum is lowered and air escapes through the nose during the release

wooden, sudden [...dⁿn] or that night [δætⁿ naɪt]

Lateral release – before lateral consonant l; the air flows along the sides of the tongue

puddle [pʌd'ļ] or that light [δæt' laɪt]

Glottal stop – a closure of vocal folds between two consonants

kočku x k očku; suchem x s uchem

Dental alveolars – dental place of articulation of alveolars without changing a phoneme

- symbol / ̰ / - you simply touch the upper teeth instead of alveola with your tongue
- in that case [ ɪn

̰ ˺ δæt ˈkeɪs ]

Fronted velars – when velar plosive is followed by / i:, j / or sometimes even / ɪ, ɪə /, it becomes
fronted – place of articulation moves forward, to the palate

- symbol /

+

/ - your tongue moves forward

- keen [ k

̟ i:n ], Dracula [dræk̟jələ]

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9. Connected speech: assimilation, assibilation, elision.

Assimilation – often in rapid colloquial speech

- of place (regressive)

o

/t, d, n/ before /p, b, m/ → bilabial



fat boy [fæt bɔɪ] → [fæp bɔɪ]



red ball [red bɔ:l] → [reb bɔ:l]

o

/t, d, n/ before /k, g/ → velar



that cat [δæt kæt] → [δæk kæt]



good girl [gʊd gɜ:l] → [gʊg gɜ:l]

o

/s, z/ before /ʃ, ʒ, j/ → palatoalveolar



this shop [δɪs ʃɒp] → [δɪʃ ʃɒp]



this year [δɪs jɪə] → [δɪʃ jɪə]

- of manner – most rapid colloquial speech

o regressive: good night [gʊd←naɪt] → [gʊn naɪt]
o progressive: in the [ɪn→δə] → [ɪn nə]

- of voice

o progressive: grammatical endings

 likes [laɪks], loves [lʌvz], lies [laɪz]

o regressive: across word boundaries – only voicelessness is passed; restricted to

weak forms and certain stabilised words

 of course [əv kɔ:s] → [əf kɔ:s]
 have to [hæv tʊ] → [hæf tʊ]

voicing is never passed across the word boundary



back door [bæk] x never [bæg]



nice dress [naɪs] x never [naɪz]



leave never with [f]

Assibilation (aka. coalescent assimilation)

- /t, d, s, z/ + /j/ → /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/



don‟t you [dəʊnt jʊ] → [dəʊntʃʊ]



would you [wʊd jʊ] → [wʊdʒʊ]



as you wish [æz jʊ wɪʃ] → [æʒʊ wɪʃ]

Elision
Omission of one or more sounds in a word or phrase which make the result easier to pronounce.

- /t, d/ within a consonant cluster

 next day - /t/ elided between /ks/ and /d/
 reached Paris, stopped for lunch /t/ elided

- simplifying complex consonant clusters

 she acts like [ækts] → [æks]
 texts [teksts] → [teks]

- omission of /ə/ in unstressed syllables

 forever, tonight, interesting/vegetables (reducing syllables),

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10.

Connected speech: linking; the most common pronunciation

problems of Czech speakers of English.

We are used to see spaces between words, but there are no spaces at all between words in real
speech. The units separated in speech are called stress-groups or feet – from one stressed syllable
to another, excluding it. That is what the transcription without word boundaries is about.

Linking

Glottal stop – a closure of vocal folds between two consonants. Symbol [?]. Czech

speakers lack linking and overuse the glottal stop.

- consonant-to-vowel → pseudo-resyllabification

 oneˬevening, I hatedˬit, he tookˬaˬlot of.., I’mˬanˬaccountant
 in fast speech [ˈbɒk.sɪ.zəf.ˈpɪl.zɔ:.ˈləʊ.və.δə.ˈpleɪs]

- vowel-to-vowel linking

 linking /r/: silent /r/ is pronounced before vowels – far away, here and there
 intrusive /r/: between two vowels with no written /r/, after /ə, ɑ:, ɔ:/; used to

avoid glottal stop

o vanilla ice, law and order

 transient (linking, intrusive) /j/: when word ends with /i:, ɪ / or a diphthong

with /ɪ/, speakers often introduce /j/ to ease the transition to the following
vowel sound

o I agree [aɪ

(j)

əgri:], I am [aɪ

(j)

əm]

 transient (linking, intrusive) /w/ when word ends with /u:/ or dipththong

with /ʊ/, speakers often introduce /w/ to ease the transition to the following
vowel sound

o go on [gəʊwɒn], you out [ju:waʊt], who is [hu:wɪz]

Common pronunciation mistakes of Czech speakers
vowels

- length – only 2 length degrees in Czech
- colour – no distinction preserved between ɪ - i:; e - æ; ʌ - ɑ:; ɒ - ɔ:; ʊ - u:
- insufficient reduction of vowels in unstressed syllables, ə replaced by e

consonants

- lenis consonants in final position often neutralized with fortis counterparts
- wrong assimilation of voicing: begboun, diz van (this one )
- no devoicing of /r, l, j, w/ after fortis consonants in the onsets of stressed syllables

o

Cry > kráj

- /g/ in words like finger, longer, strongest
- aspiration – not used or wrongly produced; “ch” sound – pill = pchil
- /δ, θ/ replaced with d, t, dz
- plosives released before another plosives.. instead of inaudible release
- overuse of glottal stops
- fully voiced /h/ in initial positions.. hjůmen

Rhythm

- English has stress timed rhythm, Czech has syllable timed – same length of syllables

Flat pitch range in intonation, tonis tress not prominent enough

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11.

Syllable; phonotactics; weak and strong syllables; syllabic

consonants.

Syllable – unit at higher level than phoneme, yet, distinguished from that of the word or
morpheme; its universal – exists in all languages.

Phonotactics - a branch of phonology that deals with restrictions in a language on the permissible
combinations of phonemes. Phonotactics defines permissible syllable structure, consonant
clusters, and vowel sequences.

- phonetical point of view

 onset – before peak consonants; cannot be /ɳ/
 peak – little or no obstruction, louder; → vowel
 coda – after peak consonants; cannot be /w, h, j/



maximum is ccc|v|cccc; eg. texts – maximum coda

o peak + coda = rhyme
o 2 and more consonants = cluster

 onset clusters - all 3 cons. starts with /s/;



sp + /l, r, j/



st + /r, j/



sk + /l, r, j, w/

maximum phonological structure of syllable: ccc|v|cccc
- onset (pre-initial, initial, postinitial); peak; coda (pre-final, final, post-final1,2,3)

There must be a peak in every syllable.

Strong syllables – strong peak, full vowel quality

Weak syllables – always unstressed, shorter, weaker, with different quality

- the vowel ə (schwa) – most common
- a close front unrounded vowel /i/

o

weak /i/ comes from neutralization of /i:/ and /ɪ/

 easy [i:zi], busy [bɪzi]

- a close back rounded vowel /u/

o

weak /u/ comes from neutralization of /u:/ and /ʊ/

 unstressed you, to, into, do

- a syllabic consonant

o syllabic /l

̹ / - if preceding consonant is alveolar it‟s dark /l/

 bottle [bɒtl̹], tunnel [tʌnl̹] – lateral release

o syllabic /n

̹ / - most frequent syllabic nasal

 students [stju:dn̹ts] – treated like with a vowel between /d/ and /n/

o syllabic /m

̹ , ɳ/ - only in assimilation or elision process

o syllabic /r

̹ / - mostly in rhotic accents, not common in non-rhotic

 history [hɪstr̹i], wanderer [wɒndr̹ə]

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12.

Word stress (its nature and influence on the vowel quality);

stress in complex and compound words; stress shift.

The nature of stress

- production (more muscular energy is used)
- perception (stressed syllables are more prominent)

o prominence factors

 loudness
 length
 pitch
 full vowel quality

Levels of stress

- primary – pitch, loudness, length, full vowel quality)
- secondary – length, full vowel quality)
- unstressed syllable → vowel reduction → /ə, ɪ, i, u, l

̹ , n̹/

o leading syllables (before stress) – rushed, shortened



beGIN, adMIRE

o trailing syllables (after stress) – longer, drawn out



PILLow, CARgo

 syncope /sɪɳkəpi/ - more than one trailing syllable → the vowel of the

penultimate (předposlední) syllable is shortened or it disappears completely



family, factory, necessary

Stress placement – fixed in Czech, free in English
depends on

- morphology – simple, complex, compound
- word class – eg. noun (1

st

syllable) x verb (2

nd

syllable)

- number of syllables, phonological structure
- origin
- context

Stress in simple words
nouns: if the second syllable contains short vowel, first will be stressed, otherwise the second will
verbs, adjectives: if the second syllable is strong, it is stressed; if it‟s weak, the first one is stressed

Stress in complex words

- prefixes

o negative – unstressed when standing immediately before the main stress, but carries

secondary stress, if there is a syllable between the negative prefixe and main stress

dis-, de-, in-, il-, im-, ir-, un-

o separable – usually carry secondary stress

anti-, arch-, inter-, mal-, mis-, non-, out-, over-, pre-, re-, ultra-, under-, vice-

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- suffixes

o carrying primary stress

-ade, -ache, -ain, -aire, -ale, -aque, -ee, -el, -eer, -ese, -esque, -ete, -ette, -illa,

-ice, -ine, -ique, -oon

o attracting primary stress on the preceding syllable

-eous, ious, -ial, ual, -ic, ical, -ian, -logy, -egraphy, -ion, -ify, -ity, -itude,
-ive

o neutral – do not affect stress placement

-able, ible, -age, -al (verb→noun), -en (adj.→verb), -ful, -fy, -ing, -ish,
-like, -less, -ly, -ment, -ness, -ous, -wise, -y, ly(adj.)

o special

-ate – for noun or adj. /ət/ or /ɪt/; for verb /eɪt/
-ment – for noun /mənt/; for verb /mænt/

Stress in compound words – fixed expressions made up of more than one word, can be written
with one word (flowerpot), two words (washing mashine) or with a hypen (home-made).

rules are unstable

- early stress (primary stress on the first element, if the compound is longer or separated by

a space, it usually carries secondary stress) – most common

o meaning of the second constituent restricted by the first

 ˈbirthday, ˈairport, ˈflute ˌplayer, ˈfire exˌtinguisher

o

–ing form + noun: ˈdining ˌroom, ˈfucking ˌhell

o noun + -ing form: ˈtime-ˌconsuming, ˈbrain-ˌwashing
o denoting a single idea rather than the combination of two original constituents

 ˈgreenhouse x ˈgreen ˈhouse; ˈblackbird x ˈblack ˈbɜ:rrraulght!

- late stress (primary stress on the second element, secondary stress on the first)

o adjective + noun/ing form: ˌhot poˈtato, ˌcentralˈheating
o most compound adjectives: ˌwell-ˈdressed, ˌeasy-ˈgoing, ˌself-ˈwhatever
o compound numerals with –teen: ˌnineˈteen
o

personal names: ˌJamesˈBrown

o

when first is material the second part is made out of: ˌgoldˈwatch

 not applied on juice, cake, water, bread: ˈcheescake, ˈorangeˌjuice

o

place names: ˌHydeˈPark; “street” is never stressed: ˈOxford Street

o phrasal verbs – stress on the first particle

 ˌcall ˈback, ˌgrow ˈout off
 nouns formed from phrasal verbs !early stress!: ˈcheck-in, ˈwarm-up

o abbreviations the ˌUˈK, the ˌUSˈA, the ˌBBˈC, the ˌYMCˈA

Stress shift – both complex and compound words may lose stress in connected speech

- the primary stress when another stressed word follows

 ˌautoˈmatic → ˌautomatic deˈvice
 Chiˈnese → ˌChinese ˈpeople

- the secondary stress when another stressed word precedes

 ˌgood-ˈlooking → ˌvery good-ˈlooking

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13.

Sentence stress; strong and weak forms of grammatical words.

Usually stressed words: content or lexical words

- nouns, adjectives, lexical verbs, adverbs, numerals
- interrogative pronouns; words this, that, those

Usually unstressed words: grammatical words

- articles, prepositions, auxiliary and modal verbs
- conjunctions (long can be stressed), all but interrogative pronouns

Exceptions

- usually stressed words become unstressed

o second items of compound words

 Have you ˈheard the ˈflute player?

o rhythmic reasons: the intermediate stress in a phrase disappears

 ˈJohn went aˈway. A ˈvery good ˈthing.

o individual exeptions

 We ˈneed

(

ˈ

)

more exˈperienced ˈworkers. different meaning when stressed

 adverbs in phrasal verb when followed or preceded by a stressed object



ˈPut on your ˈcoat. x ˈPut it ˈon.

- usually unstressed words become stressed

o auxiliary and modal verbs in following cases:

 imperative sentence: ˈDo ˈcome!
 followed by “n‟t”: It ˈwasn’t... / It was ˈnot...
 ellipsis of the lexical verb (short answers): ˈYes, I ˈhave.
 when final: I ˈasked them where they ˈwere.

o emphasis
o other individual exeptions

Weak forms - forms that may be used when words have no stress

the: [δə] before consonant; [δi] before vowel ||

a, an: [ə] before cons.; [ən] before vowel

and: [ən]; [n

̹ ] after /t, d, s, z, ʃ/ ||

but: [bət] || than [δən] || his [ɪz]; [hɪz] at the beginning

that – only in a relative clause: [δət]; as demonstrative always in strong form
her [ə] before consonant; [ər] before vowel
she [ʃi] ||

he [i]; [hi] at the beginning of the sentence ||

we [wi] ||

you [ju]

him [ɪm] ||

her [ə]; [hə] at the beginning ||

them [δəm] ||

us [əs]

the following words are strong when they are final in the sentence:

at [ət] → [æt] ||

for [fə(r)] → [fɔ:] || from [frəm] → [frɒm] ||

of [əv] → [ɒv]

to [tə/tu] → [tu]; [tu:] is not used as a strong form ||

as [əz] → [æz]

some [səm]; before countable noun and as final [sʌm] ||

there [δə(r)]; in demonstrative function [δeə(r)]; in final position [δə] or [δeə]

all auxiliary verbs; they are always strong in their negative forms (-n‟t) and as final

can, could [kən][kəd] → [kæn][kʊd]||

shall, should, must [məs(t)], do, does

have, has, had [əv][əz][əd] (+h if initial) → [hæv][hæz][hæd] || am, are, was, were

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14.

Rhythm; stress-timed English x syllable-timed Czech;

eurhythmy; strategies to achieve regularity.

Rhythm

- regularity; alteration of stressed and unstressed syllables
- stress-timed rhythm

o /Walk/down the/path to the/end of the ca/nal.

- syllable-timed rhythm

o /Každé/ráno/touto/dobou/vysíláme/pravidelnou/nabídku/našich/dopoledních/pořadů

.

foot (aka stress group) – the main unit of rhythm – it is a stretch of speech from one stressed

syllable to another, excluding it

eurhythmy – tendency towards regular rhythm; nursery rhymes (perfect regularity)
nursery rhyme is used for „traditional‟ songs for young children, eg. twinkle twinkle little star

Strategies to achieve regularity in everyday speech (remedial strategies)

- stress timing – usage of weak forms → compression of unstressed syllables
- playing with word order (tidy and neat >>> neat and tidy)
- dropping the stress

English is stress timed language.

This refers to an underlying tendency for stressed syllables (whether prominent or

accented) to occur at roughly equal intervals of time, regardless of the number of unstressed
syllables in between.

Czech is syllable timed language.
All syllables (stressed or not) tend to occur at relatively regular intervals and the time between
stressed syllables will be shorter or longer in proportions to the number of unstressed syllables.
The vowel reduction is rare, the quality of all vowels is preserved.

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15.

Form of intonation (tone-unit and its internal structure); five

basic tones and their major functions; tone x intonational
languages.

Intonation is about how we say things rather than what we say. BUT! It makes a difference to
meaning. Wrong intonation causes misunderstanding and it is said that the intonation is as
important as word choice. It exists in all languages. The most important factor is pitch.

tone-unit

- the syllable that carries a tone is called a tonic syllable; the stress is called tonic stress
- the structure of tone-unit

o the head – the part of tone-unit from the stressed syllable

up to the tonic syllable (excluding it)

o the pre-head – all of the unstressed syllables preceding the head



or when there is no head (no stressed syllables before tonic stress)

o tonic syllable – the most prominent syllable, in most cases the only syllable

carrying a pitch movement

o the tail – syllables following the tonic syllable

- pre-head | head | tonic syllable | tail

Five basic tones:

- falling tone

 usually regarded as more or less neutral
 yes/no answeres, when there is nothing more to add
 gives an impression of finality

- rising tone

 gives an impression that something more is to follow

o I phoned them.. (but they were not home)

 used while making general question (yes/no)
 used while listing: Do you want red, brown, yellow, green or blue?
 used for encouragement: It won’t hurt.

- fall-rise tone

 shows limited agreement, doubt, uncertainty or response with reservation

o

It’s possible. it can be true.

- rise-fall tone

 used to convey strong feelings of approval, disapproval or surprise

o

It’s impossible! He is honest!

- level tone

 almost always when saying something routine, uninteresting or boring

functions of intonation – grammatical, attitudinal, accentual and discourse

Tone languages – the tone itself influences the meaning
While in English “mother” means mother in any tone, in West African Kono or Chinese, the tone
makes difference in meaning. Ch - ̄ma means “mother”, ˎma = “scold” and ̗ ma = “hemp”
Thai, Vietnamese, African languages..
Intonation languages – the tone doesn‟t influence the meaning

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16.

Grammatical and attitudinal functions of English intonation.

Gramatical function of intonation helps the listener recognize the grammar and the syntax
structure of what is being said by using information contained in the intonation.

The tone-unit boundary placement can indicate the grammatical structure to the listener.

Those who sold | quickly made a profit. x Those who sold quickly | made a profit.

- different tone unit boundary (princip české čárky) - modification

The Conservatives who like the proposal | are pleased. – non-restrictive and
The Conservatives | who like the proposal | are pleased. – restrictive relative clauses

John (|) said his brother | had gone to school. subject – verb relationship

fall-rise for polite correction



Attitudinal function of intonation expresses our feeling, attitudes and emotions like anger,
boredrom, gratefulness and so on.

- different voice qualities for different attitudes
- different pitch range in different ways
- different keys: high key, mid key, low key
- one may use different facial expressions, gestures and body movements

types of attitudinal intonation

- falling intonation

 usually regarded as more or less neutral
 yes/no answeres, when there is nothing more to add
 gives an impression of finality

- rising intonation

 gives an impression that something more is to follow

o I phoned them.. (but they were not home)

 used while making general question (yes/no)
 used while listing: Do you want red, brown, yellow, green or blue?
 used for encouragement: It won’t hurt.

- fall-rise intonation

 shows limited agreement, doubt, uncertainty or response with reservation

o

It’s possible. it can be true.

- rise-fall intonation

 used to convey strong feelings of approval, disapproval or surprise

o

It’s impossible! He is honest!

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17.

Accentual and discourse functions of English intonation.

Accentual function of intonation refers to accent. The placement of stress is determined by
intonation. Intonation is carried entirely by the stress syllables of the tone unit.

English is called a language with the end-weight principle – the tonic stress is carried usually by
the last content word. The tonic stress falls on the stressed syllable of the focused word.

However in the context of a discourse, the focus is often shifted when the speaker highlights the
new information or puts a special contrastive focus on an earlier word in the tone unit. Any
syllables after the tonic stress in a falling tone remain at low pitch.



Discourse function of intonation implies what is to be taken as new information and what is
already given. It can indicate some sort of contrast or link with information in another tone unit. In
conversation, it can convey to the listener what kind of responce is being expected from him.

- attention focusing – the tonic stress is placed on the appropriate syllable of one particular

word in the tone unit – on the word that is most important.

o She went to Scotland; He went to the drawing-room;

- information content – the stress is placed on the words with highest information content

o take the dog for a walk; take the dog to the vet;

- cases where it is difficult to explain tonic placement in terms of information or importance

o Your coat is on fire.

 most native speakers would place the tonic on the subject noun

-