Elementy Fonetyki I Fonologii

1. Discuss the speech organs and their roles in articulation.

Speech Organs:

• Lungs – the source of air

• Windpipe or trachea – air comes from lungs to larynx through them

• Larynx and Glottis – the voicing feature of sounds depends on the position of vocal cords

cords apart – voiceless sounds of breathing

cords closed – glottal stop is produced

cords closely together – voiced sounds produced

cords less than open – whisper is produced

• Pharynx – resonator for any sounds produced via vocal cords

• Velum (soft palate) + Uvula: when raised –oral sounds produced, when lowered – nasal sounds produced

• Nasal cavity – resonator for nasal sounds

• Oral cavity – resonator for oral sounds

• Tongue – by touching different points in the oral cavity it changes the sounds produced

• Teeth – take part in the production of dental sounds

• Alveolar ridge – takes part in pronunciation when it is touched or approached by the tongue

• Hard palate – used for articulation of palatal sounds

• Lips – sound quality depends on the shape of the lips:

- fully opened – lips are apart

- closed – lips near each other, air friction is produced when pronouncing consonants

- rounded-small opening – open rounded/close rounded

- unsounded: spread-narrow opening /i:/, neutral /schwa/

2. Discuss the division of the English vowels and their properties providing appropriate examples.

Vowels – one sound of the one unchanging quality

• Semi – vowels: / y/ in yes, / w/ in west - purely vocalic but tend to be voiceless

• Tense (wide) vowels: / i: u: ɔ: ɜ: ɑ: / - they require more muscular effort

• Lax (narrow) vowels: / ɪ e ə ɒ ʌ æ / - there is no movement of the tongue and the vocal track in the pharynx in narrow

• Rhotacized vowels: during their pronunciation the tip of the tongue is slightly raised /ɝ ɚ ɹ /

Classification of the vowels:

• The degree of backness:

  • Front vowels – the tongue is raised toward the hard palate: / i: ɪ e æ /

  • Central vowels – the tongue is raised toward the centre: / ə ɜ: ʌ ʊ /

  • Back vowels – the tongue is raised toward the soft palate: / u: ɑ: ɒ ɔ: /

• The degree of raising:

  • High vowels: / i: ɪ u: ʊ/

  • Mid vowels: / e ə ɜ: ɔ: /

  • Low vowels: / æ ʌ ɑ: ɒ /

• The shape of the lips:

  • Rounded – there is small opening between: open rounded: / ɔ:/, close rounded: / u:/

  • Spread – narrow opening: / i: /

  • Neutral – neither rounded nor spread: / ə /

3. Discuss the connected speech phenomena present in English providing appropriate examples.

1. Assimilation

Assimilation, is concerned with one sound becoming phonetically similar to an adjacent sound. Historically, it must have been effective in English in order to produce the different pronunciations of the ‘-s’ ending: the plural of ‘cat’ /kQt/ is ‘cats’ /kQts/ with a final /s/; the plural of ‘dog’ /dg/ is ‘dogs’ /dgz/ with /z/. The voicing of the suffix is conditioned by the voicing of the preceding final consonant.

 

Assimilation is the influence of a sound on a neighbouring sound so that the two become similar or the same. In rapid speech native speakers of English tend to pronounce ten bucks as though it were written tembucks, and in anticipation of the voiceless s in son the final consonant of his in his son is not as fully voiced as the s in his daughter, where it clearly is [z]."

Przykład z zajęć u pana Pajdy: good boy > /gʊbbɔɪ/

 

2. Coarticulation

 

Coarticulation in its general sense refers to a situation in which a conceptually isolated speech sound is influenced by, and becomes more like, a preceding or following speech sound. 

The articulation of two or more speech sounds together, so that one influences the other.

Example:

For example, when you say dean /din/, your tongue has to go from a high front positionfor /i/ to an alveolar closure for /n/.

Your velum has to go from closed for /di/ to open for /n/.

One could imagine doing these two movements at the same time. But in fact speakers start opening the velum at the beginning of the vowel.

As a result, the high front tongue position for the vowel overlaps with the open velum position for the following nasal.

The result is the nasal vowel heard in dean

 

I przykład od pana Pajdy: got you > /gɒʧe/

Elision = vowel reduction

 

Elision or deletion is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase. Sometimes sounds are elided to make a word easier to pronounce. The word elision is frequently used in linguistic description of living languages, and deletion is often used in historical linguistics for a historical sound change.

In English as spoken by native speakers, elision comes naturally, and it is often described as "slurred" or "muted." Often, elision is deliberate. It is a common misconception that contractions automatically qualify as elided words, which comes from slack definitions. Not all elided words are contractions and not all contractions are elided words (for example, 'going to' → 'gonna': an elision that is not a contraction; 'can not' → 'cannot': a contraction that is not an elision).

I przykład od pana Pajdy: /æm/ > /əm/ > /m/, /hæv/ > /hev/ > /əv/ > /v/

We also talk about elision when we drop consonants in Common speech: cu(p)board, ras(p)berry, gran(d)mother, han(d)kerchief.

Also, when the same sound occurs at the end of one word and at the beginning of the next, they are not produced as two separate sounds, but held on to without a break for a little longer than a single sound: Don’t talk, Stop pushing

4. Discuss the prosodic features of English, including the syllable, type of word stress and rhythm, and intonation contours.

PROSODY - is concerned with those elements of speech that are not individual vowels and consonants but are properties of syllables and larger units of speech. These contribute to such linguistic functions as intonation, tone, stress and rhythm. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance (statement, question, or command); the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of language that may not be encoded by grammar or by choice of vocabulary.

Word and sentence stress – is the emphasis that is placed on a syllable or word when we speak. The same word can have stress in different places, which changes the meaning of a word (phonemic feature).

I gave Jason a present.

I pre­sented Jason with his certificate.

I’m fascinated with pig-shaped objects.

I object to your fascination with pigs.

The stress on syllables can change between similar words as well:

I enjoy photography.

Look at this photograph.

My artwork is photographic in nature.

In a sentence stress changes can change the meaning of a sentence.

Did he steal my purse? (what happened?)

Did he steal my purse? (or maybe someone else?)

Did he steal my purse? (or did he borrow it?)

Did he steal my purse? (or yours?)

Did he steal my purse? (not a wallet?)

Rhythm - a strong, regular repeated pattern of movement or sound.

English is a stress-timed language, which means that its rhythm is determined by stressed syllables, which occur at regular intervals of time with different number of unstressed syllables between them.

In a stress-timed language, syllables may last different amounts of time, but there is perceived to be a fairly constant amount of time (on average) between consecutive stressed syllables. Consequently, unstressed syllables between stressed syllables tend to be compressed to fit into the time interval: if two stressed syllables are separated by a single unstressed syllable, as in 'COME for TEA', the unstressed syllable will be relatively long, while if a larger number of unstressed syllables intervenes, as in 'COME and have some TEA', the unstressed syllables will be shorter.[12]

Stress-timing is sometimes called Morse-code rhythm, but any resemblance between the two is only superficial. Stress-timing is strongly related to vowel reduction processes.

Pitch – is the variation of an individual’s vocal range, from high to low, used in speech to convey the individual’s relation to a current topic of conversation, e.g.:

My desk is behind Anna’s. (in this sentence our pitch generally falls)

My desk is behind Anna’s?

Although it is essentially the same sentence, our pitch rises as we reach the end of the question, a characteristic most people exhibit when questioning.

Intonation – is the different patterns of pitch an individual uses in spoken language. For example, the phrase I don’t think so can be used both to reinforce the message and suggest doubt or uncertainty about the situation

Tones in English are as follows:

• the Glide-Down (the falling tune) - as in any common sentence which are complete in themselves and definite e.g.: I bought some food. or I liked it very much.

• Glide-Up – in the end of a sentence your voice rises instead of falling, usually these sentences are intended to be soothing or encouraging: I shan’t be long. or John will be here soon.

• Take-Off – when the voice gradually rises while utterancing a sentence and reaches its highest point in the very end, usually to express emotions, annoyance, grumbling contradiction: I was only trying to help. or I didn’t hurt you.

• The Dive – when the voice falls and rises again in the middle of a sentence, the sentence is not complete, there is something to add to it which is not expressed explicitly: Whenever he comes to visit us. (he tries to borrow money)

(jeśli chodzi o to intonation to to jest strasznie głupie, Pajda nas tym katował na drugim roku, spróbujcie ściągnąć książke ”Better English Pronunciation” J.D. O’Connor tam jest wszystko extra rozpisane od strony 108)

Pauses – brief silences in speech. These pauses could mean different things depending on the context. For example, when TV hosts announce the winner of a program, they would probably have a long pause in between the announcement to build excitement and dramatise the situation. It could also mark hesitation, that there’s nothing to speak about (awkward silences), the end of a sentence, searching for the right word.

Loudness, pace

Pace is the speed at which we talk. This can vary depending on who we are talking to and what the situation is.

Volume or loudness is used to enhance the meaning of utterances. Similar to pace, we change our volume intensity depending on a context. For example, speaking slowly and in a high voice is acceptable when talking to children but not when talking to other adults or someone of a higher authority.

Paralinguistic features and vocal effects

Paralinguistic features are for example body language, posture, gestures, facial expression. They can give extra information about spoken language.

Vocal effects like laughing, throat clearing, gasping, yawning, moaning, sighing and coughing can also add information. However, vocal effects are often unintentional and are usually a natural response to their environment.

These non-verbal effects can support the message, contradict the message or change the meaning of a message completely.