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Phonological contrasts in intonation can be said to be found in three different and independent domains.

In the
work of Halliday[73] the following names are proposed:

Tonality for the distribution of continuous speech into tone groups.

Tonicity for the placing of the principal accent on a particular syllable of a word, making it the tonic
syllable. This is the domain also referred to as prosodic stress or sentence stress.

Tone for the choice of pitch movement on the tonic syllable. (The use of the term "tone" in this sense
should not be confused with the tone of tone languages, such as Chinese.)

These terms ("the Three Ts") have been used in more recent work,[74][75] though they have been criticized for
being difficult to remember.[76] American systems such as ToBI also identify contrasts involving boundaries
between intonation phrases (Halliday's tonality), placement of pitch accent (tonicity), and choice of tone or
tones associated with the pitch accent (tone).
Example of phonological contrast involving placement of intonation unit boundaries (boundary marked by |):
a) Those who ran quickly | escaped. (the only people who escaped were those who ran quickly)
b) Those who ran | quickly escaped. (the people who ran escaped quickly)
Example of phonological contrast involving placement of tonic syllable (marked by capital letters):
a) I have plans to LEAVE. (= I am planning to leave)
b) I have PLANS to leave. (= I have some drawings to leave)
Example of phonological contrast (British English) involving choice of tone (\ = falling tone, \/ = fall-rise
tone)
a) She didn't break the record because of the \ WIND. (= she did not break the record, because the
wind held her up)
b) She didn't break the record because of the \/ WIND. (= she did break the record, but not because of
the wind)
It has been frequently claimed that there is a contrast involving tone between whquestions and yes/no questions, the former being said to have falling tone (e.g. "Where did you
\PUT it?") and the latter a rising tone (e.g. "Are you going /OUT?"), though studies of spontaneous
speech have shown frequent exceptions to this rule.[77] "Tag questions" asking for information are
said to carry rising tones (e.g. "They are coming on Tuesday, /AREN'T they?") while those asking
for confirmation have falling tone (e.g. "Your name's John, \ISN'T it.").

History of English pronunciation[edit]


Main article: Phonological history of English
The pronunciation system of English has undergone many changes throughout the history of the
language, from thephonological system of Old English, to that of Middle English, through to that of
the present day. Variation between dialectshas always been significant. Former pronunciations of
many words are reflected in their spellings, as English orthographyhas generally not kept pace with
phonological changes since the Middle English period.

The English consonant system has been relatively stable over time, although a number of
significant changes have occurred. Examples include the loss (in most dialects) of the [] and [x]
sounds still reflected by the gh in words like night and taught, and the splitting of voiced and
voiceless allophones of fricatives into separate phonemes (such as the two differentphonemes
represented by th). There have also been many changes in consonant clusters, mostly
reductions, for instance those that produced the usual modern pronunciations of such letter
combinations as wr-, kn- and wh-.
The development of vowels has been much more complex. One of the most notable series of
changes is that known as theGreat Vowel Shift, which began around the late 14th century. Here
the [i] and [u] in words like price and mouth became diphthongized, and other long vowels
became higher: [e] became [i] (as in meet), [a] became [e] and later [e] (as
inname), [o] became [u] (as in goose), and [] became [o] and later [o] (in RP now []; as
in bone). These shifts are responsible for the modern pronunciations of many written vowel
combinations, including those involving a silent final e.
Many other changes in vowels have taken place over the centuries (see the separate articles on
the low back, high back andhigh front vowels, short A, and diphthongs). These various changes
mean that many words that formerly rhymed (and may be expected to rhyme based on their
spelling) no longer do.[78] For example, in Shakespeare's time, following the Great Vowel
Shift, food, good and blood all had the vowel [u], but in modern pronunciation good has been
shortened to [], whileblood has been shortened and lowered to [] in most accents. In other
cases, words that were formerly distinct have come to be pronounced the same examples of
such mergers include meetmeat, panepain and toetow.

See also[edit]

Australian English phonology

English orthography

English pronunciation of Greek letters

General American

Non-native pronunciations of English

Old English phonology

Perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese speakers

Phonological development

Phonological history of English vowels

Phonological history of English consonants

Pronunciation of English th

Received Pronunciation

Regional accents of English

Rhoticity in English

T-glottalization

R-colored vowel

Category:Splits and mergers in English phonology

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ Roach 2009, pp. 1001.

2.

Jump up^ Kreidler 2004, p. 84.

3.

Jump up^ Wells 1982, p. 55.

4.

Jump up^ Bowerman 2004, p. 939.

5.

Jump up^ Gimson 2008, p. 230.

6.

Jump up^ McMahon 2002, p. 31.

7.

Jump up^ Giegerich 1992, p. 36.

8.

Jump up^ Ladefoged 2006, p. 68.

9.

^ Jump up to:a b Roach 2009, p. 43.

10. Jump up^ Wells 1982, p. 490.


11. Jump up^ Wells 1982, p. 550.
12. Jump up^ Ladefoged 2001, p. 55.
13. Jump up^ Ladefoged, Peter (2001b). Vowels and Consonants. Blackwell. p. 103.
14. Jump up^ Laver, John (1994). Principles of Phonetics. Cambridge. p. 300.
15. Jump up^ Celce-Murcia, Brinton & Goodwin 1996, pp. 6267.
16. Jump up^ Roach 2009, pp. 2628.
17. ^ Jump up to:a b Wells 1982, p. 388.
18. Jump up^ Gimson 2008, pp. 179180.
19. Jump up^ Wells 1982, p. 323.
20. ^ Jump up to:a b Celce-Murcia, Brinton & Goodwin 1996, p. 64.
21. Jump up^ Gimson 2014, pp. 173182.
22. Jump up^ Gimson 2014, pp. 170 and 173182.
23. Jump up^ Gimson 2014, p. 190.
24. Jump up^ Trudgill & Hannah 2002, p. 18
25. Jump up^ Trudgill & Hannah 2002, p. 25
26. Jump up^ Mojsin, Lisa (2009), Mastering the American Accent, Barrons Education Series, Inc., p.
36. The t after n is often silent in American pronunciation. Instead of saying internet Americans will
frequently say 'innernet.' This is fairly standard speech and is not considered overly casual or sloppy
speech.
27. Jump up^ Roach 2004, p. 242.

28. Jump up^ Wells 1982, p. 128.


29. Jump up^ Wells 1982, p. 121.
30. Jump up^ Gimson 2014, pp. 126 and 133.
31. Jump up^ Cox, Felicity; Palethorpe, Sallyanne (2007). "Illustrations of the IPA: Australian
English". Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37 (3). pp. 341350.
32. Jump up^ Roca & Johnson 1999, p. 135.
33. Jump up^ Wells 1982, p. 129.
34. Jump up^ Roach 2004, p. 240.
35. Jump up^ Wells 1982, pp. 140, 147, 299.
36. Jump up^ Gimson 2008, p. 132.
37. Jump up^ Celce-Murcia, Brinton & Goodwin 1996, p. 66.
38. Jump up^ Wells 1982, p. 149.
39. Jump up^ Bolinger (1986), pp. 347-360.
40. Jump up^ Lewis, J. Windsor. "HappYland Reconnoitred". Retrieved 2012.
41. Jump up^ Kreidler 2004, pp. 823.
42. Jump up^ McCully 2009, pp. 1234.
43. Jump up^ Roach 2009, pp. 668.
44. Jump up^ Wells 2014, p. 53.
45. Jump up^ Peter Ladefoged (1975 etc.) A course in phonetics
46. Jump up^ Bolinger (1986), p. 351.
47. Jump up^ Bolinger (1986), p. 348.
48. Jump up^ Ladefoged (1975 etc.) A course in phonetics 5.4; (1980)Preliminaries to linguistic
phonetics p. 83
49. ^ Jump up to:a b Wells 1990, pp. 7686.
50. Jump up^ Five-consonant codas are rare, but one occurs in angsts /ksts/. See list of the longest
English words with one syllable for further long syllables in English.
51. Jump up^ Zsiga 2003, p. 404.
52. Jump up^ Browman & Goldstein 1990.
53. Jump up^ Barry 1991.
54. Jump up^ Barry 1992.
55. Jump up^ Nolan 1992.
56. Jump up^ Selkirk 1982.
57. Jump up^ Giegerich 1992, p. 172.

58. Jump up^ Harris 1994, p. 198.


59. Jump up^ Gimson 2008, pp. 2589.
60. Jump up^ Giegerich 1992, pp. 16770.
61. Jump up^ Kreidler 2004, pp. 768.
62. Jump up^ Wells 1990, p. ?.
63. Jump up^ Read 1986, p. ?.
64. Jump up^ Bradley, Travis (2006), "Prescription Jugs", Phonoloblog, retrieved 2008-06-13
65. Jump up^ Bakovic, Eric (2006), "The jug trade", Phonoloblog, retrieved 2008-06-13
66. Jump up^ See Blake et al., The Cambridge History of the English Language, 1992, p.67; R. McColl
Millar, Northern and Insular Scots, Edinburgh University Press, 2007, pp.63-64.
67. Jump up^ The OED does not list any native words that begin with //, apart from mimetic oof!, ugh!
oops! ook(y)
68. ^ Jump up to:a b Clements & Keyser 1983, p. ?.
69. Jump up^ Collins and Mees 2013, p. 138.
70. Jump up^ Wells 1982, p. 644.
71. Jump up^ Wells 1982, pp. 6301.
72. Jump up^ Roach 1982, pp. 739.
73. Jump up^ Halliday 1967, pp. 1824.
74. Jump up^ Tench 1996.
75. Jump up^ Wells 2006.
76. Jump up^ Roach 2009, p. 144.
77. Jump up^ Brown 1990, pp. 1223.
78. Jump up^ Cercignani 1975, pp. 5138.

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External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons
has media related
to English
pronunciation.

Animation of all sounds of English classified by manner, place and voice

Seeing Speech Accent Map is a site with real articulatory recordings of English speakers,
with a clickable IPA chart.

Sounds of English (includes animations and descriptions)

Howjsay Enter a word to hear it spoken. About 100,000 words in British English with
alternative pronunciations.

The sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet (www.antimoon.com).


Includes mp3 audio samples of all the English phonemes.

The Chaos by Gerard Nolst Trenit. A poem first published in an appendix to the 4th
edition of the Dutchman's schoolbook "Drop Your Foreign Accent: engelsche
uitspraakoefeningen" (Haarlem: H D Tjeenk Willink & Zoon. The first version of the poem
was entitled De Chaos, gave words with problematic spellings in italics, but had only 146
lines. Later versions contain about 800 of the worst irregularities in English spelling and
pronunciation.

Chris Upwood on The Classic Concordance of Cacographic Chaos

YouGlish With more than 10M tracks, YouGlish gives you fast, unbiased answers about
how English is spoken by real people and in context.

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