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Ministerul Educaiei i Cercetrii

Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural







LIMBA I LITERATURA ENGLEZ


English pronunciation,
spelling and vocabulary






Mariana NEAGU



2006
2006 Ministerul Educaiei i Cercetrii
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

Nici o parte a acestei lucrri
nu poate fi reprodus fr
acordul scris al Ministerului Educaiei i Cercetrii










Acknowledgements


I am grateful to Anca Cehan and Dean Hufstetler for their helpful comments
and constructive suggestions on the entire manuscript. Their generous help meant
a lot to me.
I would also like to acknowledge the considerate help of my students,
Andreea Ali, Andreea Cruceanu, Vica Horinceanu and Codru Miric who offered
feedback, support and cheerful encouragement at various stages in the complex
process of writing this coursebook.
Finally, I owe a special debt to my family and close friends for their
forbearance, for supporting my efforts on the project and for giving the time I
needed to complete it.
















ISBN 10 973-0-04573-9;
ISBN 13 978-973-0-04573-4.
Table of contents
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural i


TABLE OF CONTENTS




Introduction iv

Unit 1 The Sounds of English 1
Unit objectives 2
1.1 Phonetics and phonology 2
1.2 The connection of phonetics and phonology with non-
linguistic and linguistic sciences
3
1.3 The importance of phonetic studies 5
1.4 Phonetic symbols and types of transcription 6
1.5 Types of standard pronunciation 9
1.5.1 Received Pronunciation 9
1.5.2 General American 10
Summary 11
Key concepts 11
Further reading 12
Answers to SAQs 12

Unit 2 Differences between British English and American
English
13
Unit objectives 14
2.1. Pronunciation differences 14
2.1.1 The vowel system 14
2.1.2 The consonant system 16
2.2. Differences in spelling 18
2.2.1 Phonetic spelling tendencies 19
2.2.2 The omission of superfluous letters 19
2.3 Lexical differences in main subject areas 21
2.3.1 People and their immediate environment 22
2.3.2 Human interaction and communication 22
2.3.3 Social institutions 23
2.3.4 Natural environment 24
Summary 24
Key concepts 25
Further reading 25
SAA No. 1 25
Answers to SAQs 25

Unit 3 Pronunciation and Spelling 27
Unit objectives 28
3.1 The spelling of consonants 28
3.2 Vowel markers 29
3.3 Keeping a spelling constant 30
3.4 Silent letters 33
3.5 Homographs and homophones 34
3.6 Pronunciation and etymology 35
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Summary 36
Key concepts 37
Further reading 37
SAA No. 2 37
Answers to SAQs 38

Unit 4 Aspects of Connected Speech 40
Unit objectives 41
4.1 Linking /r/ and intrusive /r/ 41
4.2 Assimilation 42
4.2.1 Regressive assimilation 42
4.2.2 Progressive assimilation 43
4.2.3 Reciprocal assimilation 44
4.2.4 Obligatory and non-obligatory assimilation 45
4.3 Elision 46
4.3.1 Vowel elision 46
4.3.2 Consonant elision 47
4.4 Strong and weak forms of function words 48
4.4.1 Uses of weak forms 48
4.4.2 Uses of strong forms 50
Summary 52
Key concepts 52
Further reading 52
SAA No. 3 53
Answers to SAQs 53

Unit 5 Syllables and Stress in English 55
Unit objectives 56
5.1 The nature of the syllable 56
5.2 The structure of the English syllable 57
5.3 Types of syllable 58
5.4 The nature of stress 59
5.5 Primary and secondary stress 61
5.6 Stress and vowels 62
5.7 Predicting stress in derivatives 63
5.7.1 Strong suffixes 64
5.7.2 Weak suffixes 65
5.7.3 Prefixes 66
5.8 Stress in compounds 66
5.9 Rhythm and its influence on word stress 67
5.10 Stress shift and semantic implications 68
Summary 70
Key concepts 70
Further reading 71
SAA No. 4 71
Answers to SAQs 72

Unit 6 English as an Intonation Language 74
Unit objectives 75
6.1 Definition and components of intonation 75
6.2 The tone unit as a basic unit of intonation 77
6.3 Tone-patterns in English 78
6.4 Functions of intonation 81
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6.5 Intonation and sentence types 82
6.5.1 Declaratives 83
6.5.2 Imperatives and exclamations 83
6.5.3 Questions 84
6.6 Contrastive analysis of intonation in English and Romanian 87
Summary 88
Key concepts 88
Further reading 89
Answers to SAQs 89

Bibliography 91

Appendix 1. List of symbols used 93

Appendix 2. Glossary 95

Appendix 3. Practice sets 127



Introduction
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INTRODUCTION



The present course is primarily meant for Romanian teachers
of English engaged in open and distance education. In this course
we discuss the most important issues from the fields of phonetics,
phonology, orthography and lexis, focusing on difficulties
encountered in the articulation and perception of English sounds
and in the acquisition of pronunciation and spelling rules.
Phonetics is the study and description of speech sounds and of
the elements of pronunciation at large, since pronunciation is a
complex of sounds (vowels and consonants), syllables, word accent
and intonation.
Phonology studies the way in which phonetic elements function
in a language, the way in which phonemes are organized in a given
language, i.e. their combinatorial possibilities. The phoneme is the
minimal unit in the sound system of a language.
Orthography is very closely connected with phonetics, which in
its turn is connected with lexicology, grammar and stylistics.
Because of the notoriously confusing nature of English spelling, it is
particularly important to think of English pronunciation in terms of
phonemes rather than letters of the alphabet.


Why is this course important?

Theoretically, the general theory about speech sounds and how
they are used in language, i.e. phonetics and phonology, is needed
by people who are going to work with English at an advanced level
(teachers included) and who need a deeper understanding of the
principles regulating the use of sounds in spoken English. Ideally,
the teacher and the learner of a foreign language should be able to
recognize and to produce the sounds of the studied language just
like a native speaker.
More specifically, phonetics is important because it formulates
the rules of pronunciation for separate sounds and sound
combinations. Thus, through the system of reading rules, phonetics
helps to pronounce correctly singular and plural forms of nouns, the
past tense and past participle forms of English regular verbs (see
sections 1.2 and 4.2.2).
Secondly, through its intonation component, phonetics can
serve to single out the logical predicate of a sentence to show that
an affirmative sentence is a question, etc.
Thirdly, through the right placement of stress we can
distinguish certain nouns from verbs (e.g. object - object),
homonymous words and word groups (e.g. blackbird - black bird).
Introduction
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Course objectives

At the end of this course you will be able to:

- recognize and produce the sounds of English just like a native
speaker
- be aware of and explain the phonetic and phonological
phenomena that occur in connected speech
- use stress and intonation patters correctly in English
- understand the complex relationship between pronunciation,
spelling and vocabulary.


How is this course book organized?

The first unit of the course is concerned with defining phonetics
and phonology, explaining the connection of phonetics with other
branches of science, introducing the symbols used for teaching the
pronunciation of English and identifying the main types of English
standard pronunciation.
As an important purpose of this course is to explain how
English is pronounced in the accents normally chosen as the
standards for people learning English, unit 2 is devoted to
discriminating British English from American English in terms of
pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary.
Unit 3 looks more closely at the connection between
pronunciation and spelling in English and shows that, because of the
etymological nature of English orthography, learners of English have
to cope with the discrepancy between spelling and present-day
pronunciation.
Although English spelling is not a reliable indicator of
pronunciation, the chapter presents some pronunciation patterns
and markers that can still be found.
Unit 4 deals with speech sounds as they occur in normal,
connected speech, i.e. sounds that are not isolated, fixed and
unchangeable, but units that undergo modifications and affect one
another. This unit explains phonetic phenomena that occur in casual
speech: linking and intrusive /r/, assimilation, elision, etc. As it is
practically impossible to speak English fluently unless the
phenomenon of function word reduction is properly understood and
applied, the unit ends with the use of the strong and weak forms of
function (grammatical) words (articles, auxiliaries, modals,
pronouns, conjunctions and prepositions).
Unit 5 focuses on larger units of speech such as the syllable
and on aspects of speech such as stress. While Romanian is a
syllable-timed language (a language which has each syllable
pronounced with roughly the same duration), English is a stressed-
timed language (a language which has the stressed syllables
occurring at regular intervals). This unit also highlights the
connection between phonology and lexicology in section 5.4 (stress
and conversion), in section 5.7 (stress and derivation) and section
5.8 (stress and compounding).
Introduction
vi Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
Unit 6 discusses English as an intonation language by
considering tone patterns in English, functions of intonation and the
link between intonation and sentence types. The final goal of the unit
is to make Romanian learners of English avoid transferring
intonation patterns from the mother tongue in the foreign language.
Each of the units presented above ends with a summary of the
main issues discussed in the chapter, a list of key concepts meant
as a check list for revising the main notions before going on, and a
brief section called further reading.
Each new technical term that is introduced in the course is
printed in bold type and followed by an asterisk (*), meaning that the
term will be explained in the glossary at the end of the book.
The course book closes with three appendices containing a list
of symbols used (Appendix 1), a complete glossary of technical
terms (Appendix 2) and four practice sets (Appendix 3).
The practice sets in Appendix 3 are based on exercises taken
from Malcolm Mann and Steve Taylore-Knowles. 2003. Skills for
First Certificate. Listening and Speaking. Oxford: Macmillan. The
tasks included in this last section are correlated with the units in this
course and adapted to its specific objectives. Each practice set is
allotted a four-hour session of Assisted Activities.


The assignments

Every chapter contains reflection points (Think first!) and
exercises of two types: SAQs (self-assessed questions) and SAAs
(send-away assignments). The former type, SAQs, signalled by a
question mark, is based on the information you have just read and
consists in questions that break down the texts in order to clarify and
consolidate certain teaching points. You will find suggested answers
to SAQs at the end of each unit.
The latter type, SAAs, signalled by an envelope, generally
involves knowledge of the whole chapter and is placed at its end.
There are four assignments of this type (in units 2, 3, 4 and 5) that
have to be sent to the tutor, following the instructions given in each
particular case. Their assessment will take into account knowledge
of the information contained in the chapter and correct use of the
English language.
At the end of the course, your final grade will include the
following:
attendance of and contribution to face-to-face meetings
with the tutor and to assisted activities, solving of SAQs and SAAs:
40%;
final examination 60%.


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Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 1

UNIT 1

THE SOUNDS OF THE LANGUAGE




Unit outline

Unit objectives 2

1.1 Phonetics and phonology 2

1.2 The connection of phonetics and phonology with non-
linguistic and linguistic sciences
3

1.3 The importance of phonetic studies 5

1.4 Phonetic symbols and types of transcription 6

1.5 Types of standard pronunciation 9
1.5.1 Received Pronunciation 9
1.5.2 General American 10

Summary 11
Key concepts 11
Further reading 12
Answers to SAQs 12





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After you have completed the study of this unit you should be
able to:
define phonetics
explain the connection of phonetics with other branches of
science
point out the importance of phonetics for a teacher of a
foreign language
recognize the symbols used for teaching the pronunciation of
English
identify the main type of English standard pronunciation.


1.1. Phonetics and phonology

Definition of phonetics
Phonetics is the science which studies the sounds used in
speech and provides methods for their description, classification and
transcription*. (Crystal D., 1992: 259).
Speech sounds* can be analysed from several points of view:
a. acoustic
b. articulatory
c. auditory
d. functional.

Types of phonetics
a. The acoustic aspect falls under the scope of what is
commonly called acoustic phonetics* which studies the physical
(acoustic) properties of speech sounds as transmitted between the
mouth and the ear.
b. The articulatory aspect of speech sound is analysed by the
branch called articulatory phonetics which deals with speech
sounds from the point of view of their production, i.e. what organs
are used to produce them and what precise movements they
perform in order to articulate them.
c. Auditory phonetics* studies speech sounds from the point
of view of their perception, i.e. the perceptual response to speech
sounds as mediated by the ear, the auditory nerve and the brain.
d. Functional phonetics or phonology investigates the
functional aspect of sounds, accent*, syllable and intonation.

Definition of phonology
While phonetics studies speech sounds as sounds, in all their
complexity and diversity, independent of their role in language,
phonology studies speech sounds, as these are categorised by
speakers of a given language; its study unit is called phoneme. The
actually pronounced speech sounds are called variants or
allophones* of phonemes.
In standard British English, there are 44 different categories of
speech sounds called phonemes. Phonemes are said to differ from
each other in terms of certain distinctive features* such as voice,
nasality, etc. Phonologists study both phonemes (vowels* and
Unit objectives
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Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 3
consonants*) and prosody* (stress and intonation) as subsystems of
a spoken language.

Branches of phonology
The study of speech into distinctive units or phonemes is called
segmental* phonology, whereas the analysis of prosodic and
paralinguistic features in connected utterances of speech is called
non-segmental/suprasegmental phonology*.

SAQ 1

In the spaces provided, mention which branch of phonetics
is concerned with the following:

a. the perception of the sounds and their interpretation in the
receiver .
..
b. the physical (acoustic) properties of speech sounds .

c. the functional aspects of sounds ..

d. the activity involved in the production of speech sounds
..

Check your answers against those given in the Answer
Key.


1.2 The connection of phonetics and phonology with non-
linguistic and linguistic sciences

The connection with grammar
Phonetics is connected with non-linguistic sciences such as
anatomy, acoustics and physiology. For example, sounds can be
described with reference to anatomical places of articulation
(dental*, palatal*), to their physical structure (the frequency and
amplitude characteristics of the sound waves) and are articulated by
our organs of speech.
Phonetics is connected with grammar because, through the
system or reading rules, it helps to pronounce the singular and plural
forms of nouns correctly, the singular third form of verbs, the past
tense forms and past participles of English regular verbs.
The study of the phonological, i.e. sound structure of
morphemes is called morphophonology*. In many languages,
English included, there are phonological rules which can only be
described with reference to morphological structure. Thus, the
morpheme s can be pronounced /iz/ (e.g. peaches, judges), /z/
(e.g. apples, rides) or /s/ (e.g. maps, lacks) depending on the final
consonant* of the base form of the verb to which it is attached.

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Think first!

Give some examples of the phonetic variation morphemes
undergo in combination with one another (e.g. hoof - hooves, half
- halves).






In the next paragraph you will find more examples of this
kind.

One of the most important phonetic phenomena - sound
interchange - is another manifestation of the connection of
phonetics with grammar. For instance, this connection can be
noticed in the category of NUMBER. Thus, the interchange / f-v /, /s-z
/, / / helps to distinguish singular and plural forms of such nouns
as: calf-calves, house - houses, mouth - mouths, etc.
Vowel interchange helps to discriminate the singular and the
plural of nouns of foreign origin: basis - bases / beisis - beisi:z / and
also of irregular nouns such as man - men /mn - men/.
Vowel interchange is connected with the TENSE forms of
irregular verbs, for instance: sing - sang - sung.

Lexicology, semantics, stylistics and pragmatics
Phonetics is also connected with lexicology and semantics.
Homographs* can be differentiated only due to pronunciation
because they are identical in spelling:
bow /bu/ - bow /bau/
lead /li:d / - lead /led/
row /ru/ - row /rau/
tear /te/ - tear /ti/
wind /wind / - wind /waind/
Phonetics is connected with stylistics through repetition of
words, phrases and sounds, lying at the basis of rhyme,
alliteration*, etc.
The connection with the other linguistic branches (i.e.
semantics, pragmatics) is obvious due the role played by accent,
stress and intonation in the act of communication. For example,
the position of word accent in units higher than a word may have far
- reaching semantic consequences. If we consider compounds such
as blackbird, yellow-hammer, blue-stocking, cheap-jack (in which
the stress falls on the first syllable) and phrases containing
apparently the same words blackbird, yellowhammer,
bluestocking, cheapjack (in which the stress falls on the second
syllable) we notice that the difference in stress engenders
differences in meaning.

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SAQ 2

Which non-linguistic and linguistic sciences are connected
with phonetics? Fill in the blanks with the corresponding term.

1. Since speech sounds are articulated by our organs of speech,
phonetics is connected with......................
2. Since the sounds are transmitted in the form of sound waves,
phonetics is connected with ...
3. Since some sounds can be described with reference to
anatomical places of articulation, phonetics is connected with
..
4. The connection between phonetics and
can be proved by the different pronunciations of the grammatical
morphemes -s and ed.
5. Homography is a study area common to both phonetics and
..
6. The close interrelationship between phonetics and
.... can be seen in commands and requests
that are distinguished by means of intonation patterns.
7. When phrases coincide with compounds, the semantic
difference is made by means of stress, an issue studied by
.. phonetics or phonology.

The answer is given at the end of this unit.


1.3 The importance of phonetic studies

Think First!

Before reading the next section, think of the importance of
phonetics for the foreign language teacher and write down your
ideas in the space provided below. Your answer should not be
longer than two paragraphs.
















You will find some ideas as you read this section.

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The connection of phonetics with linguistic sciences (grammar,
lexicology, stylistics, semantics and pragmatics) points to its
importance from both a theoretical and a practical point of view.
Theoretically, a complete understanding and description of a
language is not possible without a description of its sound structure
and system. For instance, the loss of inflections in English is a
grammatical phenomenon which has phonetic causes, i.e. the
strong dynamic stress on the first syllable of words resulted in the
reduction, weakening and loss of the final unstressed syllable.
Practically, knowledge of phonetics is indispensable in the
study and teaching of foreign languages. The teacher and the
learner of a foreign language should ideally be able to recognize and
produce the sounds of the studied language just like a native
speaker.


1.4 Phonetic symbols and types of transcription

The International Phonetic Alphabet
To describe the sounds of English (or of any other language)
one cannot depend on the spelling of the words. The most accurate
method of representing sounds is through the International
Phonetic Alphabet* (IPA) developed by the International Phonetic
Association in 1888; this can be used to symbolize the sounds found
in all languages.
The symbols are based on the Roman alphabet, with further
symbols created by inverting or reversing Roman letters or taken
from the Greek alphabet. The main characters are supplemented
when necessary by diacritics.
The International Phonetic Alphabet is less used in North
America than elsewhere, but it is widely used as a pronunciation aid
for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and ESL (English as a
Second Language), especially by British publishers and increasingly
in British dictionaries of English.

The broad/phonemic/phonological transcription
When the sounds of a language are represented without going
into any details about variations, the method of
broad/phonemic/phonological transcription is used. For
example, in English, the /t/ phoneme is represented by this symbol
in all situations, regardless of the fact that the phoneme is realized
by various allophones, e.g. being aspirated* in a stressed initial
position (time) and unaspirated* after s (stay), and ignoring also
the fact that it may not always have alveolar* articulation.
A broad phonemic transcription is generally felt to be simplest to
use, but knowledge of the allophonic systems of the language is
needed if such a transcription is to be read aloud, with approximate
accuracy.
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The narrow/allophonic/phonetic transcription
Variations may be represented by what is known as
narrow//phonetic/allophonic i.e. a transcription which mirrors all
that is known about a sound in a given environment.
The large number of diacritics makes it possible to mark
minute shades of sound.
Conventionally, the narrow transcription* is given between
square brackets, while the broad transcription* uses slashes (slant
lines).

Think first!

Look at the table below and consider the difference in
number between the phonemes of English and those of
Romanian. Which sounds do you think are found in English but
not in Romanian?

Language Consonants Vowels Total
English 24 20 44
Romanian 22 7 29







You can find such instances if you read the next section.

The English phonemic system
According to traditional phonological theories, the minimal unit
in the sound system* of a language is the phoneme. Each language
operates with a relatively small number of phonemes (Japanese has
about 20 phonemes, Romanian has 29 and English has 44); no two
languages have the same phonemic system. The English phonemic
system contains 24 consonants* and 20 vowels, while Romanian
has 22 consonants and 7 vowels.
The symbols used for teaching the pronunciation of English are
the following:
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8 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
Symbols Examples



[p] appear [pi]
[b] bubble [bbl]
[t] attend [tend]
[d] hiding [haidi]
[k] conquer [knk]
[g] begin [bigin]
[f] offer [f]
[v] cover] [kv]
[s] assist [sist]
[z] razor [reiz]
[] ether [i:]
[] mother [m]

nation [nei

measure [me]
[t cheese [ti:z
[d joke [duk]

summer [sm]
[ any [eni]
] finger [fig]
[l] palace [plis]
[r] caress [kres]
[w] queen [kwi:n]
[j] yes [jes]


[i:] Pete [pi:t]
[i] pit [pit]
[e] pet [pet]
[] pat [pt]
[:] part [p:t]
[ pot

pt
: port [p:t]
[u] put [put]
[u:] pool [pu:l]
[] pun [pn]
:] perm [p:m]
[] parade [preid]
[ei] pain [pein]
[ai] pine [pain]
[ point [pint]
[u] pouch [paut
u] poach [put
[i] peer [pi]
[] pair [p]
[u] poor [pu]
Symbols for
vowels and
diphthongs
Symbols for
consonants
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Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 9
SAQ 3

What terms correspond to the following definitions? Write
your answers in the spaces provided below.

1. A systematic method of representing in a rather general way
(normally using the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet)
how spoken language sounds.
..
2. A system of written symbols designed to enable the speech
sounds* of any language to be consistently represented.

3. A method which gives a much more accurate indication of
actual speech sounds but requires more symbols and diacritics.
.

The answer is given at the end of this unit.


1.5 Types of standard pronunciation

1.5.1 Received Pronunciation* (RP)

Definition
RP is the name for the accent generally associated with
educated British English and used as the pronunciation model for
teaching it to foreign learners.

Origin
Received Pronunciation originates from the prestige accent of
the Court, well established in England by the 17th century. During
the First World War, Daniel Jones (1917) called it PSP (Public
School Pronunciation) because it was most usually heard in
everyday speech in the families of Southern English persons who
had been educated at the great public boarding-schools.

Who uses RP?
RP is the pronunciation used by national announcers and
presenters on the BBC since its founding in the 1920s because it
was the form of pronunciation most likely to be nationally understood
and to attract least regional criticism hence the association of RP
with the phrase BBC English*.

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Is RP still popular on radio and television?
However in the 1970s-1980s there has been a move towards
modified regional accent among announcers and presenters and
towards distinct (but generally modified) regional accents among
presenters on popular radio channels and meteorologists and sports
commentators on television. In spite of the regionally marked forms
of accent that can be heard on some channels, RP remains the
reference norm that is used for the descriptions of other varieties of
English.

Why are there differences in pronunciation?
Differences in pronunciation result from various factors such
geographical origin, ones age and sex, social class, educational
background, occupation and personality. In addition, Roach (1994:
190) mentions situation factors such as the social relationship
between speaker and hearer, whether one is speaking publicly or
privately and the purposes for which one is using language.

RP and EFL teaching
RP is the accent that foreign learners of English are expected
to learn for the sake of convenience and simplicity; learners of
English need to be aware of the fact that this style/accent/variety is
far from being the only one they can meet. In practice, EFL teachers
should do their best to expose their pupils to other varieties.
Actually, in EFL teaching RP competes more and more with GA
(General American*).


1.5.2 General American (GA)

Definition
An accent of English used in the United States that lacks the
especially marked regional characteristics of the north-east (New
England, New York State) and the south-east (the Southern
States).
As a concept, GA corresponds to the laymans perception of
an American accent without marked regional characteristics. It is
sometimes referred to as Network English being the variety most
acceptable on the television networks covering the whole United
States. (Wells, 1981: 471).


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Summary

This unit has introduced some major issues meant to underline
the idea that an understanding of the principles of phonetics is a
necessary basis for the study of other branches of linguistics, in the
sense that many language phenomena can be explained only in
terms of phonetics. Therefore, phonetics is equally necessary in the
theoretical and practical study of language.
The difference between phonemes and allophones or in other
words, between phonology and phonetics is so important that we
also note this difference in transcription: phonetic (or narrow
transcription) for which we use square brackets and phonological
(phonemic, broad transcription) for which we use slashes.
Phonemic variants or allophones are very important for
language learning and language teaching because they are
pronounced in actual speech and though their mispronunciation
does not influence the meaning of the words, their misuse makes a
person s speech sound foreign.
Because spelling is not a faithful representation of language, it
is useful to have a set of special symbols whose values are
generally agreed upon. This is the function of the phonetic symbols
of the International Phonetic Alphabet.
English is the national language in many countries, including
the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zeeland, and
South Africa. There are great differences in the pronunciation of
English in these countries and even within the same country one
may hear different pronunciations. From this variety of
pronunciations, for practical purposes, it has been necessary to
choose those which are best suited for learning and using English,
i.e. Received Pronunciation and General American.


Key concepts

The following key concepts have been introduced in this unit.
Use this list and others found at the end of each chapter as a
checklist to make sure that you are familiar with each before going
on.

acoustic phonetics
allophone
articulatory phonetics
auditory phonetics
broad transcription
functional phonetics or phonology
General American
morphophonology
narrow transcription
phoneme
phonemic system
Received Pronunciation
The sound of the language
12 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
segmental phonology
suprasegmental phonology
the International Phonetic Alphabet


Further reading

1. Finch, Geoffrey. 2000. Linguistic Terms and Concepts.
Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 33-77.
2. Roach, Peter. 1994. English Phonetics and Phonology. A
Practical Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3-47.


Answers to SAQs

If your answer to SAQ 1 is not comparable to the one suggested
below, please reread section 1.1.

SAQ 1

a. auditory phonetics
b. acoustic phonetics
c. functional acoustics or phonology
d. articulatory phonetics

If your answer to SAQ 2 is not comparable to the one suggested
below, please reread section 1.2.

SAQ 2

1. physiology
2. physics
3. anatomy
4. grammar
5. lexicology
6. pragmatics
7. functional phonetics or phonology

If your answer to SAQ 3 is not comparable to the one suggested
below, please reread section 1.4.

SAQ 3

1. broad transcription
2. the International Phonetic Alphabet
3. narrow transcription

Differences between British and American English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 13

UNIT 2

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH






Unit outline

Unit objectives 14

2.1 Pronunciation differences 14
2.1.1 The vowel system 14
2.1.2 The consonant system 16

2.2 Differences in spelling 18
2.2.1 Phonetic spelling tendencies 19
2.2.2 The omission of superfluous letters in American English 19

2.3 Lexical differences in main subject areas 21
2.3.1 People and their immediate environment 22
2.3.2 Human interaction and communication 22
2.3.3 Social institutions 23
2.3.4 Natural environment 24

Summary 24
Key concepts 25
Further reading 25
SAA No. 1 25
Answers to SAQs 25

Differences between British and American English
14 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

After you have completed the study of this unit you should be
able to:
discriminate British English from American English in terms
of pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary
avoid a potential source of confusion caused by some lexical
items in the two varieties of English
try to develop a consistent way of speaking and writing in
English

English in the USA differs considerably from British English.
Pronunciation is the most striking difference but there are also a
number of differences in vocabulary and grammar as well as slight
differences in spelling.

Think First!

Before continuing to read this unit, think of which variety of
English you tend to pronounce. Note down some of the
distinguishing features you are aware of and compare them with
the information given in the section below.











2.1 Pronunciation differences

2.1.1 The vowel system

American drawl
Some Americans are noted for their drawl, i.e. a lengthening of
stressed vowels; this is especially characteristic of Southern
pronunciation.
In contrast with the drawled nature of the way many Americans
speak is the so-called clipped diction of British English. This is
accounted for by the greater tension and lesser degree of
lengthening in stressed vowels.
The American drawl has to do with a less effortful way of
producing sounds and is an aspect of informality of American
English (Kovecses, 2000: 241)
Unit
objectives
Differences between British and American English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 15
American nasality
Vowels are often nasalized* in American English (the
American nasality or nasal twang*) especially by speakers from the
Middle West. The nasal quality of American vowels is explained by
the longer duration* of the nasalized portion of a vowel following a
nasal consonant
Many British people pronounce /:/ in some words where
Americans pronounce / /, when this vowel is followed by fricatives*
such as /f/, //, /s/; therefore, the pronunciation with // before the
fricatives /f, s, / and before the nasals* /m/, /n/ is typical of
American English:

British English American
English
Examples
/:/+ /f/, //, /s/

/:/+ /n/, /m/
// + /f /, / /, /s/

//+/n/, /m/
laugh, after, bath, math,
ask,

chance, example

The vowel // is pronounced without lip-rounding and sounds like
/:/ in American English: stop, body, common, novel, problem:

British
English
American
English
Examples
//| // Tom, dollar, lot, hot, box, rock, dog,
frog, crop, body, conflict, novel

The Americans have a tendency to pronounce // instead of /i/ in
unstressed syllables:








The reduction of diphthongs* to simple vowels
In British English, words like home, no, are pronounced with
the diphthong /u/ while in American English the diphthong* is
reduced to //, especially in unstressed final position (in very casual
or informal speech): potato, tomato, fellow, window, piano, mellow,
etc. This points to the well known American tendency towards
simplification. The same tendency can be noticed in the reduction
of /ai/ to /a:/ and of /ei/ to //.
Similarly, the semi-vowel /j/ is dropped into /u/ when preceded
by /t/ or /d/, a characteristic which shows that the Americans
pronounce the words almost the same way as they are written:
British English American
English
Examples
/i/ // minute, started, greatest
Differences between British and American English
16 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

British English American English Examples
/u/


/ai/

/ei/

/t/, /d/ or /n/
+/j/+/u/
//


/:/



/t/, /d/ or /n/
+/u/
potato, tomato,
fellow

fire, buyer, tired, five

date, fate, great

student, tulip,
during, numerous

SAQ 1

Group the following words according to the vowel sound they
contain in American English: class, aunt, dollar, glass, greatness,
fast, pass, castle, window, due, nuclear, Tom, nude, got, interest,
bottle, piano, tigress, mellow, dance, rock, frog, tune.

1. //: class, glass,
2. //: dollar,
3. // in unstressed syllable: greatness,
4. // in unstressed final position: window,
5. /u/: due,

Check your answers against those given at the end of this
unit.


2.1.2 The consonant system

The flap*
In British English /t/ remains unvoiced* between two vowels or
between a vowel and a voiced* consonant but in American English
intervocalic* /t/ is very close to /d/. This type of sound is called the
flap because the tongue flaps against the alveolar ridge. In many
areas of the United States, where it can be heard, the flap* makes
words such as matter and madder, writer and rider, latter and
ladder, whiter and wider sound nearly or exactly the same:

British English American English Examples
Intervocalic
unvoiced /t/|
Intervocalic voiced /t/,
resembling /d/

writer, latter,
whiter


Differences between British and American English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 17
Post-nasal /t/
A well known distinguishing feature of American pronunciation
is complete disappearance or voicing of /t/ in post-nasal position that
is after a nasal consonant. Cases in point are winter, pronounced as
winner, enter as enner and intercity as innercity, in which the
voiceless consonant /t/ is pronounced as voiced /d/.
Further, /t/ and /d/ may be dropped altogether in casual speech
after nasals: twenty /tweni/, candidate, /kn,deit/, understand
/;nrstnd/

Rhotacity
In standard British English /r/ is only pronounced before a
vowel. In American English /r/ is pronounced in all positions in a
word and it changes the quality* of a vowel that comes after it. So,
words like turn and offer sound very different in British and American
speech.
Consequently, American English is considered to be a rhotic*
accent of English, one in which /r/ is pronounced in post-vocalic (e.g.
bird) and final position (e.g. car). Pronouncing /r/ is the norm in the
Northern, Midland, and Western dialect region, that is, the greatest
part of the country. Exceptions to this are New England and New
York, which although geographically belonging to the North, do not
pronounce the /r/ in a post-vocalic position and at the end of words.

Word stress
Word stress tends to fall on the first syllable in American
English: princess, address, research, entire, museum, resource:

British English American
English
Examples

second syllable is
stressed
first syllable is
stressed
princess,
address,
research, entire,
museum,
resource

Most of the disyllabic verbs ending in -ate have the stress on
the first syllable: dictate, frustrate, migrate, vibrate. As for the
borrowings, they keep their original stress in American English:
barrage, bouquet, chalet, caf, gourmet, pt, ballet. In words that
have three syllables, Americans emphasize the ending: secretary,
dictionary, laboratory, conservatory, inflammatory.
Differences between British and American English
18 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

SAQ 2

What British - American differences do you know relative to:

1. consonants
2. word stress

Write your answers in the space provided below. Compare
them with the suggested answer given at the end of the unit.













2.2 Differences in spelling

Think first !

Before moving on to differences in spelling, look at the way
some words are spelt in the two standards of English:

British English American English

1. labour 1. labor

2. centre 2. center

3. hospitalised 3. hospitalized

Can you give other examples?




You will find further examples as you read sections
2.2.1.and 2.2.2.

American spelling, in the majority of cases is simpler and
consistently shorter than British spelling. The process of
simplification in spelling started with the spelling reforms at the end
of the eighteenth century, when big names including Benjamin
Franklin, Noah Webster and Mark Twain attempted at changing the
complicated system of English.

Differences between British and American English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 19

2.2.1 Phonetic spelling tendencies

The change from -re to -er
American spelling closely follows the sequence in which the
sounds are actually pronounced, namely it tends to have what is
called phonetic spelling.
For example, when we pronounce words like theatre (BE) -
theater (AmE) and centre (BE) - center (AmE) the sequence of the
final sounds is /t(r)/. Notice that in the British spelling the sequence
of the actual sounds, /+r/, is reversed, yielding -re in writing.

The shift from -ce to -se
Another best known case of change related to the phonetic
spelling reforms proposed by Webster in 1788, and subsequently
preserved in American spelling is the shift from -ce to -se, as in
defense, pretense, offense.

The change from ise to -ize
Both the ending -ise and -ize are pronounced with a /z/ sound.
As the letter z is a more conventional representation of the sound /z/
than the letter /s/, American English favours the spelling -ize as in
analyze.


2.2.2 The omission of superfluous letters in American English

A faithful orthographic representation of the pronunciation of
words implies the omission of letters that are believed to be
superfluous, e.g. silent* letters.

The shift from -ll to -l, and from -mme to -m
Words that normally have -ll in British English are spelled with -l
in American English: counsel(l), wol(l)en.
Similarly, -mme in British English turns into -m in American
English: program(me), kilogram(me).

The shift from our to -or
In British English words ending in -our end in -or in American
English, e.g. colour /color.

The shift from -AmE, -oe to -e
British English seems to have retained both -ae and -oe
spellings in addition to the -e spellings in words like mediaeval,
foetus, paediatrician, oesophagus, manoeuvre, anaemia, amoeba.
American English seems to prefer the simplified -e spellings in these
cases. Thus, in American English, the usual spellings of these words
are medieval, fetus, pediatrician, esophagus, maneuver, anemia and
ameba.
Differences between British and American English
20 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

SAQ 3

How do you spell these words in American English?
1. behaviour ....................
2. humour ....................
3. honour ....................
4. metre ....................
5. criticise ....................
6. organise ....................
7. industrialise ....................
8. defence ....................
9. offence ....................
10. licence ....................
11. mediaeval ....................
12. enquiry ....................
13. gipsy ....................
14. traveller ....................
15. marvellous ....................
16. woollen ....................
17. kidnapped ....................
18. focussed ....................

Check your answers against those given at the end of this
unit.



Differences between British and American English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 21

Think first!

Can you avoid some of the most common confusions arising
between British and American speakers? Try the following quiz.

1. Where would you take (a) an American visitor (b) a British
visitor who said they wanted to wash up - the kitchen or the
bathroom?



2. Would (a) an American (b) a Brit be expected to get something
hot or something cold if they asked for some potato chips?


3. Which would surprise you more - an American or a British man
telling you that he wanted to go and change his pants?


4. You have just come into an unknown office block. If (a) an
American (b) a Brit says that the office you need is on the second
floor, how many flights of stairs do you need to climb?


5. If (a) an American (b) a Brit asks for a bill, is he or she more
likely to be in a bank or a cafe?


Check your answers against the information given in section
2.3.1.


2.3 Lexical differences in main subject areas

The main causes of the vocabulary differences between British
and American English are related to social and cultural
developments, technology and linguistic processes. The range of
lexical differences can be suggested by the large number of lexical
entries marked as Americanisms in Websters New World
Dictionary, i.e. 11,000 items, out of which 4,000 items belong to
ordinary vocabulary.
Concerning the subject areas which provide most of the lexical
differences, Kovecses (2000: 148) mentions the central theme of
people and their immediate environment; slightly removed from this
central theme we have the theme human interaction and
communication; next we can set up the theme social institutions
and finally, the theme of natural environment.
Differences between British and American English
22 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

2.3.1 People and their immediate environment

This theme includes the subcategories household and building,
clothing, food and shopping:

British American

ground floor first floor
lift elevator
tap faucet
flat (rented) apartment
cupboard closet
flat (owned) condominium
dustbin trashcan

dinner jacket tuxedo
trousers pants
underpants shorts
waistcoat vest


tin can
sweets candy
chips French fries
jam jelly
biscuit cookie


bill check
queue line
shop assistant sales clerk


2.3.2 Human interaction and communication

This subject area involves such subcategories as travel and
accommodation, personal communication (telephone and post) and
transportation (car, train, road).

luggage baggage
left luggage office baggage room
receptionist desk clerk
to book to make reservations
timetable schedule
toilet(s) restroom
return ticket round trip ticket
single ticket one way ticket

Building
and
household
Food
Shopping
Clothes
Accommodation
and travel
Differences between British and American English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 23
post code zip code
ring up call up
postman mailman
parcel package


car park parking lot
pavement sidewalk
motorway freeway
roundabout traffic circle
taxi/cab cab/taxi
traffic lights stop lights
high street main street
underground subway
coach bus
tram street car
sledge sled


2.3.3 Social institutions

This theme contains such subcategories as school and
education, business and banking, as well as media and
entertainment.

lecturer instructor
senior lecturer assistant professor
reader associate professor
professor (full) professor
hall of residence dormitory
mark grade
postgraduate graduate
secondary school high school
university college/university
maths math


current account checking account
deposit account savings account
shares stocks
note bill


booking office ticket office
film/movie movie
cinema movie theater
interval intermission

Road, traffic
and
transportation
Telephone
and post
office
School
and
education
Entertainment
Business
and
finance
Differences between British and American English
24 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

2.3.4 Natural environment

The subcategories of plants and animals can be viewed as
parts of this theme:

maize corn
insect bug
ladybird ladybug
cock rooster
Alsatian German shepherd

SAQ 4

Change the following into British English.

1. Pass me the cookies.
.
2. One-way or round trip?
.
3. Its in the closet.
..
4. He left the faucet on.
..
5. Open the drapes.
..
6. Were leaving in the fall.

7. Weve run out of gas
.
8. I hate waiting in line.


Check your answer against the suggested answer given at
the end of the unit.


Summary

Speakers of American English have developed a form of
communication that requires less attention and effort. This is
reflected by the casual nature of their way of speaking, generally
characterized by nasalizing and drawing out certain vowels. In
contrast with this, the British way of speaking has a so called
clipped nature.
Unlike British English, American English discloses a tendency
towards simplification proved by (1) the reduction of certain
diphthongs* to simple vowels and (2) the elimination of some
unnecessary letters in spelling.
American spelling differs from British spelling in that the former
usually tries to correspond more closely to pronunciation (showing a
Plants
and
animals

Differences between British and American English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 25
tendency towards phonetic spelling) while the latter preserves its
etymological spelling.
British and American vocabularies also reveal differences
related to general themes such as (1) people and their immediate
environment (2) human interaction and communication (3) social
institutions and (4) natural environment.


Key concepts

American drawl
American nasality
flap
phonetic spelling
postnasal /t/
rhotacity


Further reading

1. Iarovici, Edith. 1994. Engleza American. Bucureti: Editura
Teora, pp.99-111
2. Kovecses, Zoltan. 2000. American English. An Introduction.
Ontario: Broad View Press, pp.139-155, 240-247
3. Neagu Mariana. 2001. Variety and Style in English. Buzu:
Alpha, pp. 123-148.


SAA No. 1

Which variety of English is taught and preferred by Romanian
teachers and students? Try to find out why that particular variety is
preferred and point out its characteristics, using the information in
Unit 2 and in the books recommended under Further reading.

Write a 250 word essay and send it to your tutor.
The maximum score for this assignment is 20 points:
- 10 points for providing solid arguments
- 5 points for language accuracy
- 3 points for identifying the variety features correctly
- 2 points for organizing ideas in paragraphs.



Answers to SAQs

If your answers to SAQ 1 and SAQ 2 are not comparable to the
ones suggested below, please reread section 2.1.

SAQ 1
1. :/ in British English (BE) is turned into // in American
English (AmE), when this vowel is followed by fricatives such as /s/:
Differences between British and American English
26 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
class, glass, fast, pass, castle. The same change, that is :/ in BrE
becomes // in AmE when it is followed by the nasals /n/, /m/
followed by other consonants: aunt, dance
2. BrE is pronounced without lip-rounding and
sounds like // in AmE: Tom, dollar, got, bottle, rock, frog
3. /i/ in unstressed syllables in BrE is replaced by // in AmE:
greatness, tigress, interest
4. /u/ in unstressed final position in British English is
replaced by // in American English: window, piano, mellow
5. /ju/ in BrE is reduced to /u/| in AmE when preceded by /t/
or /d/: tune, due. The same reduction, that of /ju/ to /u/, occurs when
/ju/ is preceded by /n/: nuclear, nude

SAQ 2
Intervocalic* /t/ in British English sounds like /d/ in
American English: writer, latter, whiter
/r/ is pronounced in all positions in a word in American
English, while in standard British English /r/ is only pronounced
before a vowel: offer, turn, etc.
word stress tends to fall on the first syllable in American
English and on the second syllable in British English: princess,
address, research, entire, museum, resource.
disyllabic verbs ending in ate have the stress on the first
syllable in American English: dictate, frustrate, migrate, vibrate. In
words that have three syllables, Americans emphasize the ending:
secretary, dictionary, laboratory, conservatory, inflammatory

If your answer to SAQ 3 is not comparable to the one suggested
below, please reread section 2.2.

SAQ 3
behavior, humor, honor, meter, criticize, organize, industrialize,
defense, offense, license, medieval, inquiry, gypsy, traveler,
marvelous, woolen, kidnaped, focused

If your answer to SAQ 4 is not comparable to the one suggested
below, please reread section 2.3.

SAQ 4
1. Pass me the cakes
2. Single or return (trip)?
3. Its in the cupboard
4. He left the tap on.
5. Open the curtains!
6. Were leaving in autumn.
7. Weve run out of petrol
8. I hate standing in a queue.


Pronunciation and spelling
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 27

UNIT 3

PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLING



Unit outline



Unit objectives 28

3.1 The spelling of consonants 28

3.2 Vowel markers 29

3.3 Keeping a spelling constant 30

3.4 Silent letters 33

3.5 Homographs and homophones 34

3.6 Pronunciation and etymology 35

Summary 36
Key concepts 37
Further reading 37
SAA No. 2 37
Answers to SAQs 38








Pronunciation and spelling
28 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

After you have completed the study of this unit you should be
able to:
discriminate words or parts of words that are spelled exactly
the same way but which are pronounced entirely differently.
acquire the markers, pronunciation patterns and spelling rules
provided in the unit
Ideally, the spelling system should closely reflect pronunciation,
as is the case in Romanian, but not in English, which nevertheless
presents many regularities between sound and written symbol. The
problem in English is twofold each sound is represented by more
than one letter or by sequences of letters, and any letters represents
more than one sound, or it may not represent any sound at all.

Think first!

What group of letters corresponds to the // sound? Think
of words such as ship, passion, ration, Asian, conscious,
Confucian, issue, machine and luxury.

..
Check your answer against the information given in
section 3.1.


3.1 The spelling of consonants

Consonants with a single spelling
Most consonants, at least some of the time, may have a single-
letter 'alphabetic' spelling: <b, d, f, g, h, j, 1, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, y,
z>; /k/ has a choice of <c> or <k>. But there is often 'divergence',
where one speech-sound has several different spellings and spelling
may stand for different speech-sounds.

Consonants with multiple letter spelling
In spite of the available single-letter spelling <f>, the consonant
at the beginning of foot has more complex spellings in physics,
enough, offer. The <s> in easy represents /z/, the <u> in quick
represents /w/ and the <f> in of represents /v/. The consonant at the
beginning of yet, yellow can also be found as part of the vowel spelt
<u(e)> in cue, cute, pure.
The most divergent consonant is /k/, which has different
spellings in cool, chemistry, sack, accolade, chukker, key, quay,
quite, and as part of the /ks/ in axe.
Six consonants, that is /, u u tu do not have a
single-letter-spelling of their own and require at least two letters,
such as <th>, <sh> or <ch>. These are the consonants found in the
middle of the following words: method, bother, wishing, measure,
patches and the consonant represented by <ng> in singer when no
actual /gl is pronounced.
Unit
objectives
Pronunciation and spelling
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 29
The main cause responsible for the departure of English
spelling from the phonemic principle* is that conservative
principles in orthography cannot keep pace with the phonetic
changes in the language.

SAQ 1

Identify the graphs corresponding to /f/, /k/, /s/, /z/, / in
the following words. The first has been done for you as an
example:

1.saphhire: phh: /f/
2. back
3. acclaim
4. biscuit
5. school
6. dress
7. scene
8. racing
9. cousin
10. dissolve
11. dessert
12. mission
13. option
14. ancient
15. conscious
16. ocean

Fill in the blanks with your answers and then check them
with the suggested answers given at the end of this unit.


3.2 Vowel markers

Five pairs of vowels can have single-letter spellings: <a> in
scrap, scraping, <e> in met, meter, <i> in pip, piper, <o> in cop,
coping, <u> in rub, ruby. There is also <y> in cryptic, cry, which
duplicates the <i> spellings. The examples given in each pair
represent a 'short' and a 'long' vowel or diphthong.
For this letter-sharing to work, 'markers' are needed in some
contexts to tell you which value the letter has.

Final silent -e
To get the long value of <a> in a single-syllable word, you have
to add a marker <-e>, as in scrape. The <-e> in bathe, breathe,
loathe, wreathe not only marks the vowel as long but also marks the
last consonant as 'voiced' rather than the 'voiceless'* one in bath,
breath, loath, wreath. Other examples are lathe, lithe, swathe. Mouth
and smooth used as verbs lack this marking.
The marker <-e> in browse, copse, lapse, please, tease, tense
is used to prevent confusion with the plural forms brows, cops, laps,
pleas, teas, tens. It marks the browse group as single units and as
such is called 'lexical <-e>'.

Pronunciation and spelling
30 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
The double consonant rule
To get the short value before a suffix beginning with a vowel
like <-ing>, you double a final consonant letter, as in scrapping.
Therefore, the double consonant rule says that a final
consonant in a stressed syllable must be doubled to preserve the
short pronunciation of the vowel when followed by a syllable
beginning with a vowel. Note, for example, the difference in length
between // and /u/ in the pair hopping - hoping.

The y to i rule
This rule states that final y preceded by a consonant becomes -
i before a suffix (e.g. ed, -s) not beginning with i (e.g. -ing):

try tried, tries hurry hurries, hurried

but but

try trying hurry hurrying

SAQ 2

Can you give examples of a single vowel letter which can be
used with two values, i.e. short and long, as in scrap - scrape,
scrapping - scraping?

Write your answers in the space provided below.



Contrast them with the suggested answer given at the end
of unit 3.


3.3 Keeping a spelling constant

Think first!

Do you believe it would be a good idea if English spelling
represented pronunciation more closely? Before you read the
section below, think of possible disadvantages if English spelling
were 100% phonemic.







Check your answer against the information given in this
section.

Pronunciation and spelling
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 31
The morphological principle
English spelling is based not only on the etymological
principle* but also on the morphological principle, according to
which spelling has to preserve unchanged the graphic form of every
meaningful part of the word (morpheme) even its actual
pronunciation changes, which happens when the given morpheme is
combined with some other morphemes.

Well-known examples are the grammatical (bound) morphemes
-s and -ed. For instance, the three homonymic morphemes
representing (1) the third person singular present tense -(e)s, (2) the
possessive case of nouns s and (3) the plural of nouns -(e)s may
have three pronunciations, each depending on the phonetic
environment:
a. /z/ when preceded by a vowel or a voiced consonant: stays,
kills.
b. /s/ after a voiceless* consonant: takes.
c. /iz/ after consonants such as /s, z, u u tu d:
sneezes, washes, watch, etc.

The verbal ending -ed sounds quite different in wished,
begged, and wanted. If you think that they would be better spelt
phonetically as * <wisht>, ' <begd>, you are losing the advantage of
a constant spelling for the regular past-tense ending. Therefore, -ed
is pronounced:
/d/ after vowels and voiced consonants: opened
/t/ after voiceless* consonants: worked
/id/ after /t/, /d/: wanted, divided

SAQ 3

What do you think of Mark Twains plans for the
improvement of English spelling? Try to remake the etymological
spelling of the words in italics and then rewrite the text.

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter c would be
dropped to be replased either by k or s, and likewise, x would
no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which c
would be retained would be the ch formation, which will be dealt
with later.



Year 2 might reform w spelling, so that which and one would
take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish y
replasing it with i and iear 4 might fiks the g/j anomali wonse
and for all.


Pronunciation and spelling
32 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural



Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with
iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and iears 6-12
or so modifaiing vowlz and rimeining voist and unvoist
konsonants. Bai iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius
ov thi ridandant letez c, y and x bai now jast a memori in
the maindz ov ould doderez tu riplais ch, sh, and th
rispektivli.

.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a
lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.



Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this
unit

Phonemic variation in derivatives
The morphological principle is also of great help in the case of
derivatives. For example, one may think it awkward to have Is/ spelt
differently in sent and cent. That may be, but the <c> spelling of both
/k/ in electric and Is/ in electricity keeps the spelling of that unit
constant.
Another good example of this principle is provided by the long
and short pronunciations of single vowel letters seen in word pairs
such as:

atrocious - atrocity
female - feminine
omen - omenous
austere - austerity
grateful - gratitude
reside residual
chaste - chastity
legal - legislate
sole - solitude
crime - criminal
mine - mineral
supreme - supremacy

In these pairs the basic long vowel is shortened when it comes
three syllables from the end of the word.

Pronunciation and spelling
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 33

3.4 Silent letters

Silent g, w, h and k
Keeping a constant spelling may involve the use of so-called
'silent' letters. The <g> does not represent /g/ in sign, but it does in
derived forms resignation, signal, signature, signify. Similarly we
have malign and malignant. Changing to "<sine>, "<maline> would
spoil the visual link. Should we keep the <w> of two because twenty,
twin, between are remotely related? Should shepherd be re-spelt as
* <sheppard>, a regularized spelling when used as a name?
On the other hand the <g> of gnarled, gnat, gnash, gnaw,
gnome and the <k> of knee, knife, knight, knock, know, knuckle are
quite empty letters. They are the debris of history and are never
pronounced in any derived word (except for acknowledge). It would
be no loss to change to "<naded>, '"<nab, *<nife>, "<nuckle>, etc.

SAQ 4

Underscore all the silent letters in each of the following
sentences, e.g.:

The psychiatrist was knifed in the knee as he was walking
home.
The psychiatrist was knifed in the knee as he was walking
home.

1. He should have whistled as he fastened his sword to his belt.
2. You should have left me half the Christmas cake on
Wednesday.
3. They sang a psalm to honour the memory of the world-
famous psychologist as he was laid to rest in the family
tomb.

Compare your answer with the one in the key at the end of
the unit.

Other markers
Some marking is needed to sort out the two distinct consonants
represented by <g>. Before <a, o, u> we have /g/, as in gap, got,
gum and the consonant spelt <j> in jam before <i, e> in gin, gem.
The problem is that there are some exceptions with /g/ before <i, e>:
gear, geese, get, giddy, gild, gilt, gimmick, girl, give. Some words
however have used the letter <u> as a marker for /g/ in guess,
guest, guide, guild, guilt, guise, guitar. Its use is not very consistent,
since guard, guarantee do not need any <u> marker (e.g. garden).


Pronunciation and spelling
34 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

3.5 Homographs and homophones

Definition
Words spelt the same but pronounced differently are called
homographs*: <minute> may be an adjective (a really minute
insect) or a noun (half a minute). A minute steak has to be
interpreted by the reader: either a very small steak or one cooked for
a minute.
Words pronounced the same but spelt differently are called
homophones*: <vain>, <vane>, <vein>, or <foul>, <fowl> or
<meat>, <meet>, <mete>. These variant vowel spellings clearly
make it harder for the writer, but it is often claimed that such
divergence is not always a bad thing for the reader, since different
words should look different on the printed page.
Even so, a good number of words are both homographs* and
homophones: sounding the same and looking the same. These are
sometimes called homonyms. For instance, hamper represents two
completely different unrelated words: either 'a basket' or 'to hinder'.
Quarry means either 'a stone quarry or 'a hunted animal'.

SAQ 5

Give the correct pronunciation of the marked homographs in
the following sentences.

Write your answers in the spaces provided.

1 a The lead singer in the group is great. .
b Lead pipes are dangerous. .
2 a The wind blew the tree down. .
b Dont forget to wind your watch. .
3 a Some students in Oxford spent more time learning to
row well than studying. .
b They shared a flat for ages until they had a row over
money and they split up. .
4 a They live in a large old house. .
b The buildings house a library and two concert halls as
well as a theatre. .
5 a The sow has five piglets. .
b The farmers sow the weeds in spring. .
6 a I bathed the baby this morning. .
b We bathed in the sea every day when we were on holiday.
.

Check your answers against the ones given at the end of the
chapter.


Pronunciation and spelling
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 35

3.6 Pronunciation and etymology

French loans
The Old English of the Anglo-Saxons has given the English
their basic stock of words: life, death, earth, heaven, sun, moon,
day, night, black, white, broad, narrow, teach, learn, seek, find, eat,
drink, food, meat, fire, wood, tree, eye, knee, hand, foot and so on.
Words borrowed from French have sometimes been altered by
anxious academics looking beyond the French spelling to the distant
Latin original. The words debt, doubt, were medieval borrowings of
French delle 'debt', doute 'doubt' without a <b>. The 'silent' <b> was
inserted in the sixteenth century to resemble the original Latin
debitum, dubitare, and to draw attention to the shared meaning of
related English words derived from the same roots, such as debit,
dubitative.
The <c> spelling of the early French loan grocer is a regular
English spelling (racer, slicer), so why not have gross spelt: <groce>
on the lines of race, truce, slice? As it is, gross is the only English
word in which <oss> does not sound as it does in boss, cross, doss,
dross, floss. Ironically, the regular <groce> was a common medieval
spelling that did not survive.
Since medieval times English has adopted cultural loanwords
from French. The early ones included attach, certain, chance,
conquer, courage, language, money, place, pleasant, royal, strange,
sure, tender, value, and even a word as common now as very,
which at first meant true'. Modern loanwords from French come with
their present French spelling and a close approximation to French
pronunciation: collage, entourage, rage, piquant, pirouette.

SAQ 6

The list of words given below includes loans from Latin,
Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and German.

apparatus, avalanche, capricio, bourgeois, mosquito, chamois,
banana, champagne, hurricane, chandelier, tobacco, charade,
cruise, coup, mirage, landscape, etiquette, brochure, plunder,
burlesque, catastrophe, connoiseur, critique, circus, climax,
memoir, drama, nuance, exit, genre, genius, symphony, omen,
glacier, pathetic, picnic, pneumonia, espionnage, scheme,
chauffeur, chef, catastrophe, chic, restaurant, stanza, depot,
umbrella, caf, prairie, malaise, alligator, penchant, moto, essay,
progress, atmosphere, , rendez-vous, moustache, debris, detail.

Underscore recognizably French loan words and compare
your choices with the suggested answers given at the end of this
unit.


Pronunciation and spelling
36 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

Latin and Greek loans
Technical terms for use in science are often derived from Latin
or Greek. For example, aqueduct, subaquatic are Latinate
counterparts in meaning to ordinary English waterway, underwater.
Similarly, Greek elements make up scientific terms such as
photosynthesis, polyglot, pyromania. The <-rrh(o)ea> of diarrhoea
('through-How') recurs in other Greek-based words such as catarrh
('down-flow'), seborrhoea ('grease-flow').
Scientists have to learn a mini-language of such elements.
When such terms escape into common use they often cause
spelling problems for the ordinary person. That leaves a whole array
of loanwords that are variously exotic': kayak is from Eskimo,
felucca is from Arabic by way of Italian. The now familiar tobacco
comes from Arawak, an American-Indian language.
These various subsystems are often marked by their own
peculiar spelling correspondences. If you know a yucca to be an
exotic plant, you will not spell it *yuker. The <ch> of chief, an early
French loan, has the same sound as in native cheap, cheese. The
modern loan chef retains its present French value of <ch> (like the
<sh> of shop), as do chauffeur, charade. The spelling is not altered
to * <shef>. This same <ch> will also spell /k/ in Greek-based words
such as character, chemist, synchronic. Similarly, <ph> is a (Greek'
spelling for If I, as in diaphragm, philosophy, phobia, symphony.
Borrowing foreign spellings along with foreign loanwords is not
the only way of doing it. In Swedish, for example, foreign loans are
usually spelt with ordinary Swedish spelling. So French loans
coiffure, pirouette are spell in Swedish as <koaffyr> and <piruett.


Summary

In English a final silent e is said to make a vowel long and the
last consonant voiced, whereas absence of this silent e makes the
vowel of the word short and the last consonant voiceless: bath -
bathe, breath - breathe.
The short pronunciation of a vowel is maintained before adding
a suffix if the final consonant is doubled: hopping hoping,
scrapping scraping.
English orthography transparently connects words related in
form and meaning. For example, a regular pattern of alternation of
long and short vowels is noticed when endings are added to stems:
mine - mineral, supreme supremacy.

Pronunciation and spelling
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 37

Key concepts

double consonant rule
etymological principle
final silent e lexical e
homograph
homonym
homophone
morphological principle
phonemic principle
silent letter
vowel marker


Further reading

1. Carney Edward. 1998. English Spelling is Kattastroffic. In
Bauer Laurie and Peter Trudgil. eds. Language Myths. London:
Penguin Books, pp. 32-41.
2. Dobo Daniela. 2001. A Handbook of English Phonetics and
Phonology. Iai: Casa Editorial Demiurg, pp. 174-196.
3. Makarenko, Tatiana. 1998. Contemporary English Phonetics.
Cluj: Editura Echinox, pp. 32-45


SAA No. 2

After you have studied this unit, use the knowledge you
acquired to do the following exercises:

1. What spelling differences correspond to these pronunciations?

/tu:/ .
/rait/ .
/ail/ .
/meil/ .
/rein/ ..

2. Exemplify the reduction of these consonant clusters*:

kn -> n
gn ->n .
wr->r
mn->m .
mb->m .

3. Give the transcription of these loan words:

queue .
buoy .
silhouette ..
Pronunciation and spelling
38 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

Write your answers in the space provided. Send this
assignment to your tutor. The maximum score for this assignment
is 20 points:
- 7 points for identifying the homophones correctly.
- 10 points for exemplifying the reduction of the consonant
clusters
- 3 points for the correct phonemic transcription.


Answers to SAQs

Should your answer to SAQ 1 be different from the one
suggested below, please reread section 3.1.

SAQ 1
ck (back), cc (acclaim), cu (biscuit), ch (school): /k/
ss (dress), sc (scene), c (racing): /s/
s (cousin), ss (dissolve, dessert): /z/
si (tension), ssi (mission), ti (option), ci (ancient), sci (conscious),
ce (ocean): /

Should your answer to SAQ 2 be different from the one
suggested below, please reread section 3.2.

SAQ 2
The letter o in hop - hope and hopping hoping.

Should your answer to SAQ 3 be different from the one
suggested below, please reread sections 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3.

SAQ 3
The fragment highlights the difficulties due to the discrepancies
between spelling and pronunciation in English, where, in many
instances, the same sound may be represented by a variety of
spellings and the same spelling is used for different sounds.
What Mark Twain seems to suggest is the greater trouble the
reader and speller might have if the English etymological spelling
were reformed and turned into phonemic spelling.
Here is the etymological spelling of Twains text:

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter c would be dropped
to be replaced either by k or s, and likewise, x would no longer
be part of the alphabet. The only case in which c would be retained
would be the ch formation, which will be dealt with later.
Year 2 might reform w spelling, so that which and one
would take the same consonant, while year 3 might well abolish y
replacing it with i and year 4 might fix the g/j anomaly once and
for all.
Generally, then, the improvement would continue year by year
with year 5 doing away with useless double consonants, and years
6-12 or so modifying vowels and remaining voiced and unvoiced
consonants. By year 15 or so, it would finally be possible to make
Pronunciation and spelling
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 39
use of the redundant letters c, y and x by now just a memory
in the minds of old dodders to replace ch, sh, and th
respectively.
Finally, then, after some 20 years of orthographical reform, we
would have a logical, coherent spelling in use throughout the
English-speaking world

Should your answer to SAQ 4 be different from the one
suggested below, please reread section 3.4.

SAQ 4
1. The psychiatrist was knifed in the knee as he was walking home.
2. He should have whistled as he fastened his sword to his belt.
3. You should have left me half the Christmas cake on Wednesday.
4. They sang a psalm to honour the memory of the world-famous
psychologist as he was laid to rest in the family tomb.

Should your answer to SAQ 5 be different from the one
suggested below, please reread section 3.5

SAQ 5
1 a The lead /li:d/ singer in the group is great.
b Lead /led/ pipes are dangerous.
2 a The wind /wind/ blew the tree down.
b Dont forget to wind /waind/ your watch.
3 a Some students in Oxford spent more time learning
to row /ru/ well than studying.
b They shared a flat for ages until they had a row
/rau/ over money and they split up.
4 a They live in a large old house /haus/.
b The buildings house /hauz/ a library and two
concert halls as well as a theatre.
5 a The sow /sau/ has five piglets.
b The farmers sow /su/ the weeds in spring.
6 a I bathed /b/ the baby this morning.
b We bathed /beid/ in the sea every day when we
were on holiday.

Should your answer to SAQ 6 be different from the one
suggested below, please reread section 3.6.

SAQ 6
avalanche, bourgeois, chamois, champagne, chandelier, charade,
coup, mirage, etiquette, brochure, burlesque, connoiseur, critique,
memoir, nuance, genre, symphony, glacier, picnic, espionnage,
chauffeur, chef, chic, restaurant, depot, caf, prairie, malaise,
penchant, essay, progress, rendez-vous, moustache, debris, detail.
Aspects of connected speech
40 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

UNIT 4

ASPECTS OF CONNECTED SPEECH




Unit outline

Unit objectives 41

4.1 Linking /r/ and intrusive /r/ 41

4.2 Assimilation 42
4.2.1 Regressive assimilation 42
4.2.2 Progressive assimilation 43
4.2.3 Reciprocal assimilation 44
4.2.4 Obligatory and non-obligatory assimilation 45

4.3 Elision 46
4.3.1 Vowel elision 46
4.3.2 Consonant elision 47

4.4 Strong and weak forms of function words 48
4.4.1 Uses of weak forms 48
4.4.2 Uses of strong forms 50

Summary 52
Key concepts 52
Further reading 52
SAA No. 3 53
Answers to SAQs 53
















Aspects of connected speech
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 41

After you have completed the study of this unit you should be able
to:
explain the phonetic phenomena that occur in casual
speech. i.e. assimilation*, elision*, etc
distinguish carefully between cases when function words*
are in focal and non-focal positions
use the strong and weak forms* of function words properly,
thus avoiding an unnatural, visibly foreign pronunciation
(that can be a potential barrier to fluency and a source of
misunderstanding)
discriminate careful, standard speech from rapid, non-
standard speech pronunciations
distinguish British from American pronunciation variants
produce casual pronunciations of frequent sound
sequences

Normal speech cannot be imagined to be spoken one word at
a time, with pauses* corresponding to the spaces of the written
language. Spoken language is a continuous sequence in which each
separate unit of sound is not pronounced in isolation but as part of a
larger unit. In this process, sounds undergo modifications due to the
transition* from one sound unit to another.


4.1 Linking r* and intrusive /r/*

Linking /r/
Although British speakers pronounce car without the final r, the
r often does emerge if the following word begins with a vowel.
Linking /r/ is the phoneme /r/ in word final position which is
pronounced when the next word begins with a vowel. In standard
RP a written word-final r is not pronounced before a pause* or a
following consonant sound. Compare, for example, the car is there
with the car was there. In the first example the r is pronounced and
gets attached to the following syllable. This is the linking /r/. Further
occurrences of linking /r/ can be found in: Here it is, Far away or
theyre at home.

Intrusive /r/
There are instances when the presence of an intervocalic /r/ is
not orthographically justified, as in law and order /l:r nd :d/.
This inserted /r/ between two words or syllables in sequence, where
the first ends in a vowel sound and the second begins with one, and
which has no correspondent r in spelling is called intrusive /r/.
Intrusive /r/ is much criticized, but is quite commonly heard in
standard RP and other non-rhotic accents. It occurs after the
vowels, e.g.:
//: idea (r) of it, umbrella (r) organization
/:/: law (r) and order
//: grandpa (r) is ill
// a milieu (r) in which
Unit objectives
Aspects of connected speech
42 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
Both linking /r/ and intrusive /r/ are used in non-rhotic accents
to prevent the vowels of two adjacent syllables to directly succeed
one another. By adding an /r/ the utterance* gains in fluidity.
(Meyer, 2002: 91)


4.2 Assimilation

The effect on a speech sound of the articulation of other
adjacent sounds is called assimilation. This is a common feature
of speech, though one that many native speakers are unaware of.
Assimilation varies according to speaking rate and style; it is more
likely to be found in rapid, casual speech and less likely, in slow,
careful speech. In every assimilation process we distinguish
between assimilating and assimilated* phonemes.


4.2.1 Regressive assimilation

Types of assimilation
Assimilation is regressive when the preceding sound is
influenced by the immediately following one. Regressive
assimilation or assimilation of place (Roach, 1994:124) is most
clearly noticeable in some cases where a final consonant with
alveolar place of articulation (e.g. /t/, /d/) is followed by an initial
consonant with a place of articulation* that is not alveolar. For
instance, the final consonant in that
/t/ is alveolar /t/. In rapid, casual speech, the /t/ will become
/p/ before a bilabial* consonant (e.g. /p/, /b/) as in that person /p
p3:sn/, the /d/ will become /b/ as in good people /gub pi:pl/, etc.

SAQ 1

Transcribe the unassimilated* and assimilated
pronunciations of these phrases:

1. light blue ...

2 . good boy

3. a good man ...

4. this shop .

5. ten more ..

Check your transcriptions against those given in the answer
section.




Aspects of connected speech
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 43

Think First!

Look at these spellings:

stay stays stayed staying
convey conveys conveyed conveying
study studies studied studying
cry cries cried - crying

Can you remember the y to i rule stated in the previous
chapter? If you do, write it down in the space provided below; if
you dont, find it in section 3.2 and then copy it in the space
provided below.

..


4.2.2 Progressive assimilation*

A reverse type of assimilation (progressive assimilation) is
found when a sound is changed by the influence of a previous one.
For instance, the third person singular -s suffix, the -s plural
suffix and the 's possessive suffix, are pronounced /s/ if the
preceding consonant is fortis* (voiceless) and /z / if the preceding
consonant is lenis* (voiced): jumps /dmps/ cats kts/, Pat s
/pts vs. runs /rnz/, dogs /dgz/, Pam s /pmz/.

The pronunciation of the endings s and -ed
Progressive assimilation is an established and regular feature
of the ending s of verbs and nouns, which usually has a voiced /z/
sound (or /z/ after all sibilants*) but after voiceless sounds other
than sibilants is /s/ (e.g. taps tabs, hats - heeds, docks - dogs,
griefs - grieves). Similarly, the past tense ed ending /d/ or /d/ is
devoiced* to a /t/ sound after a voiceless consonant other than /t/
itself: roped, lacked, roofed, pushed versus robed, lagged, grooved,
hated, headed, etc.

Aspects of connected speech
44 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

SAQ 2

Give the phonemic transcription of these words to show the
progressive type of assimilation that can occur:

1. Keiths .
2. youths ..
3. eyes .
4. seems .
5. runs .
6. dolls .
7. pieces .
8. daisies .
9. offered .
10. fitted .
11. kidnapped .

Write your answers in the spaces provided and then
compare them to those given at the end of the unit.


4.2.3 Reciprocal assimilation

Assimilation is reciprocal (double) when both sounds (the
assimilating and the assimilated one) undergo changes. In twice /w /
becomes partly devoiced under the influence of /t/, while /t/ is
rounded because of /w/.
A particular type of double assimilation is coalescence* in
which two adjacent phonemes mix to such an extent that a third
phoneme emerges. Historically this has occurred in words like
soldier, picture, or fissure, where the reconstructable earlier
pronunciation /soldjr/, /pktu:r/, /fsju:r/ has become /sld/,
/pkt/, /f/.
In current colloquial English, similar assimilation occurs in
phrases such as What dyou want? /wt wnt/ or Could you?
/kdu:/. This coalescent* assimilation is also known as yod
coalescence or palatalization*.



Aspects of connected speech
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 45

SAQ 3

Historically, the phonemes /d/ and /j/ coalesced, i.e. mixed
to such an extent that gave birth to /d/ in a word like soldier. In
the same manner /t/ and /j/ fused and finally produced the
affricate* /t/ in question.

What coalescent* variants can be heard nowadays in:

a. intuition .

b. grandeur .

c. duel .

Write your answers in the space provided at the right-hand
side. Compare your transcriptions with the pronunciations given at
the end of the unit.


4.2.4 Obligatory and non-obligatory assimilation

Synchronic assimilation may be obligatory (or established)
and accidental (or non-obligatory).
Certain occurrences of assimilation are obligatory in the sense
that they represent the norm in the language. Here are such
instances:

unaspiratedness* of /p, t, k/ after /s/ : speak, stake, school
devoicing* of /l, r, w, j/ after voiceless plosives*: close,
from
devoicing of /m, n/ after /s/: smile, snake
rounding of preceding consonants by /w/: twenty

Non-obligatory assimilation may be illustrated by these
pronunciations:

give me /givmi:/ or /gimmi/
did you /didju:/ or /diddu:/
let me /letmi/ or / lemmi/
was sure /wzu/ or /w u/

You need to be aware of the phenomenon of assimilation in
order to understand colloquial English and to make a proper use of
assimilated* variants just like English speakers do.


Aspects of connected speech
46 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

4.3 Elision

Elision is usually referred to as the omission of a sound
(sounds) in connected speech*. This phenomenon occurs when
sounds occur in clusters which are difficult to pronounce (e.g. last
month, cost price, next shop, landscape) or when they appear in
unstressed syllables(e.g. round the corner, night time, handbag).
Elision may involve both vowels and consonants
Like assimilation, elision is typical of rapid, casual speech, and
it can be historical* and contextual or synchronic*. For foreign
learners of English it is important to know that when native speakers
of English talk to each other; quite a number of phonemes that the
foreigner might expect to hear are not actually pronounced.


4.3.1 Vowel elision

Elision of schwa* //
Elision of vowels takes place in unstressed syllables. The
common vowels which are usually omitted are / / and /i/.
// (schwa*) may be lost in an initial unstressed syllable when
the next vowel in the word is stressed as in correct /krekt/.
The consonant which usually follows schwa can be /l/ as in
police /plis/, buffalo /bflu/, /r/ as in history /histri/, temporary
/temprri/, reference /refrns/, or /n/ as in reasonable.
In British English the elision of schwa is firmly established in
many words ending in -ory (territory) -ery (nursery), -ary
(customary), -ury, -ily, and adverbs ending in -fully, e.g. carefully.

Elision of /i/
/i/ may be lost in such words as geography /dgrfi/,
university /ju:ni'vsiti/.

SAQ 4

Give the corresponding spellings of these pronunciations that
can occur in casual speech:

a. /spuz/

b. /prps/ .

c. /kfli/ .

d. /tnait/ .

Write your answers in the spaces provided. Compare them
to the spellings given in the answer section.


Aspects of connected speech
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 47

4.3.2 Consonant elision

Elision of /t/ and /d/
The consonants that are most likely to be elided are /t/ and /d/
occurring medially in consonant clusters*.
The elision of /t/ occurs when /t/ follows a fortis consonant and
precedes any consonant (e.g. mostly, exactly, first time /f:s taim/).
The dropping of /d/ occurs when /d/ follows any consonant and
precedes any consonant (e.g. handsome, handbag, friendship)
Final /d/ of the grammatical word and can be omitted before
vowels as well as consonants (e.g. ham and / n / eggs).

Elision of /k/, //, //
/k/ is deleted only in a few forms, e.g. extraordinary /istr:dnri/,
expected /ispektid/, excursion /isk:n/.
Elision also affects /l/ in rapid speech, when preceded by /:/
and followed by a consonant: alright, already.
/, / are omitted in clusters which are difficult to pronounce:
sixth, months, twelfths, clothes.

In rhetorical terms, the removal of an element from the
beginning of a word is known as aphaeresis (I' ve); the loss of a
sound or letter in word-medial position as called syncope (eer
instead of ever) and in word-final position apocope (snakes and /n/
ladders).

SAQ 5

In casual speech /t/, /d/ and /k/ when medial in three-
consonant clusters may be dropped. Practise and transcribe
these words and phrases to illustrate the process:

a. last year

b. thousand points .

c. kindness .

d. asked him ..

Write your answers in the spaces provided. You will find an
answer in the key section at the end of this unit


Aspects of connected speech
48 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

4.4 Strong and weak forms of function words

A phonological phenomenon which is characteristic of the
English language and has no equivalent in Romanian is the
existence of two possible pronunciations for the grammatical
function) words. Thus, about sixty words including articles,
auxiliaries, modals, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions adverbs,
pronominal adjectives, may display two forms: a strong one, when
they occur in accented (focal) position and a weak one, when they
are unaccented (in a non-focal position).

Disadvantages of using only strong forms*
It is possible to use only strong forms in speaking and some
foreigners do this. Usually they can still be understood by other
speakers of English, but it is important to learn how weak forms are
used. There are two main reasons: first, most native speakers of
English find an all-strong-form pronunciation unnatural and foreign-
sounding, something that most learners would wish to avoid.
Second, and more importantly, speakers who are not familiar
with the use of weak forms are likely to have difficulty in
understanding speakers who do use weak forms; since practically all
native speakers of British English use them, learners of the
language need to learn about these weak forms to help them to
understand what they hear (Roach, 1994:102).


4.4.1 Uses of weak forms

Conjunctions and prepositions
The most frequently used form is the weak one. Several words
in English have more than one weak form: and /nd/ can be /nd/,
/n/, /n/: fish and chips, food and drink.
Prepositions are used with their weak form whenever they carry
no accent:
for is pronounced /f / when the word which follows begins
with a consonant (They called John for me) and /fr/ when it starts
with a vowel.
from /frm/ becomes /frm/ in: from time to time, we walked
from school to school
of has the weak form /v/ in: a cup of tea, the end of the road.


Aspects of connected speech
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 49

SAQ 6

Practise and transcribe the following phrases, using the
weak form of the function words*:

as fast as he can .

for love nor money .

for ever and ever .

students and teachers .

time and money .

Check your transcriptions against those given at the end of
the unit.

Auxiliaries
Auxiliaries and modals are usually pronounced in their weak
form:

am pronounced /m, m/: I'm in a hurry /aim in hri/
are pronounced /, r /: When are they coming /wen ei
kmi/
does pronounced /dz, z, s/: What does it mean? /wt dz
it 'mi:n/
have pronounced /hv, v, v/: Where have you been? /we
v ju bin/
was pronounced /wz/ : He was seen by everybody /hi
wz si:n bai evri bdi /
were pronounced /w/ + consonant: Where were they
working? /we w ei w3:ki/
will pronounced /l/: I think I'll stop here /ai ik ail stp hi/

Think first!

Must is pronounced in its weak form /mst/, or in its strong
form, /mst/, depending on whether it shows:

supposition (You must be exhausted)
or
obligation (You must study those books as indicated).

Give the pronunciation of must in the following sentences:

1. You must be tired.

2. Of course we must try.


Aspects of connected speech
50 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
3. They must obey the rules of the game.

4. You must have met him in England.
.
5. He must buy it and so must I.
..
6. We must learn it by heart.
..

Compare your answers with the information below.

Modals
could pronounced /kd/: He could have been more helpful /hi
kd v bin m: helpful/
should pronounced /d/: They should come earlier /ei d
km 3:li/
must pronounced /mst/: I must answer that letter /ai mst
ans t let/.

Weak forms of modal verbs are more often used in colloquial
speech than strong forms.

SAQ 7

Practise reducing the auxiliary and modal verbs in the
following:

have watched

were to do

could try

should go

would make


You can find the suggested answer in the key section at the
end of unit 4.


4.4.2 Uses of strong forms

In general, function words are used in their strong (unreduced)
form when they are uttered in isolation and for reasons of contrast
(when emphasis is implied).

Prepositions
Prepositions are used in their accented form when they are
situated at the end of sentences or sense groups:


Aspects of connected speech
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 51
at /t/: He was being laughed at.
for /f:/: I was called for at ten.
of /v /: What is it made of?
to /tu/: Who are you talking to?

The strong or weak forms of prepositions may be used when
they occur before unstressed pronouns: He was unknown to me.
/hi wz nnun t/tu: mi/.

Auxiliaries and modals
The strong forms of auxiliary and modal verbs are used when
they act as main verb substitutes:

does pronounced /dz/: Of course, he does.
should pronounced /ud/: Yes, I should.
can pronounced /kn/: Of course, he can.
must pronounced / mst / yes, I must.

The strong form of modals is also compulsory when they are
used in the negative contracted form. Compare:
You can do it /ju kn du: it/
with
You cant do it /ju k:nt du: it/

The modal verb have is always used in its strong form, /hv/:
I have to leave now.

There adverb and empty pronoun (in there is/are)
As for there, it is pronounced /e(r)/ when it is a demonstrative
(Don't go there) and /(r)/ in the verbal phrase there is, there are
(There aren't any flowers).

SAQ 8

Read and transcribe these phrases and sentences, noting
carefully the difference between there as an adverb and as a
semantically empty pronoun:

a. over there

b. Theres a car in front of the house
.
c. Is there any coffee left?

d. Whats there?
.

Check your answers against those suggested in the answer
section.


Aspects of connected speech
52 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

That (demonstrative and conjunction)
The demonstrative that is pronounced /t/ when it is a
conjunction or a relative pronoun: I hope that he will. Its strong form
/t/ is used when it is a demonstrative: I don't like that book.

Summary

Connected speech causes individual words to be adapted in
various ways. Linking elements may have to be added between
words ending and beginning with a vowel, elision may be needed,
and especially consonants may be adapted to each other, which is
known assimilation.
Many function words (e.g. articles, auxiliaries, modals,
pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions) change in quality and/or
quantity according to whether they are unstressed (as is usual) or
stressed (in special situations or when in isolation).
The tendency to weaken vowels towards schwa in
conversational English may be to be a difficult aspect of English to
learn for most non-native speakers, partly because of an over-
reliance on spelling as a guide to pronunciation.


Key concepts

accidental assimilation
intrusive /r/
linking /r/
obligatory assimilation
progressive assimilation
reciprocal assimilation
regressive assimilation
consonant elision
strong form
vowel elision
weak form


Further reading

1. Chioran, Dumitru i Hortensia Prlog. 1989. Ghid de pronunie
a limbii engleze. Bucureti: Editura tiinific i enciclopedic,
pp. 140-147
2. Meyer, Paul Georg et al. 2002. Synchronic English Linguistics.
An Introduction. Tubingen: Gunter NarrVerlag Tubingen, p. 87-
91
3. Prlog, Hortensia. 1997. English Phonetics and Phonology.
Bucureti: Editura ALL, pp. 114-119.
Aspects of connected speech
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 53

SAA No. 3

Give the transcription of the following phrases and
sentences. Identify the phonetic phenomena which may occur in
rapid, colloquial speech:

1. closed door
2. blocked passage
3. in my room
4. What you want?
5. Would you?
6. In case you want?
7. Has your car come?
8. We sang and danced.
9. I saw Helen and Nick and Bob.
10. The car that is broken belongs to their firm.
11. Whats that for?
12. Which book do they need?
13. I do try to cook your lunch.
14. He must buy it and so must I.
15. We must learn it by heart.

Send your answer to the tutor.
The maximum score for this assignment is 20 points:
- 15 points for correct phonemic transcription;
- 5 points for correct identification of phonetic phenomena.


Answers to SAQs

Should your answers to SAQ 1, SAQ 2 and SAQ 3 be different
from the ones suggested below, please reread section 4.2.

SAQ 1
a. /lait blu:/ and /laip blu:/
b. /gud b
c. gud mn/ and / gub mn/
d. /is p /and / p/
e. /ten m:/ and /tem m:/

SAQ 2
a. /kis/
b. /ju: s/
c. /aiz/
d. /si:mz/
e. /rnz/
f. /dlz/
g. /pi:siz/
h. /deiziz/
i. /:fd/
j. /fitid/
k. /kidnpt/
Aspects of connected speech
54 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
SAQ 3
a. intuition /IntuI()n/
b. grandeur /grnd/
c. duel /dul/

Should your answer to SAQ 4 be different from the one
suggested below, please reread section 4.3.1.

SAQ 4
8. suppose
9. perhaps
10. carefully
11. tonight

Should your answer to SAQ 5 be different from the one
suggested below, please reread section 4.3.2.

SAQ 5
a. /l:s ji:/
b. /auzn pnts/
c. /kainns/
d. asked him /:st im/

Should your answer to SAQ 6 be different from the one
suggested below, please reread section 4.4.1.


SAQ 6
as fast as he can /z/
for love nor money /f/
for ever and ever /fr/, /nd/
students and teachers /n/
time and money /n/

Should your answer to SAQ 7 be different from the one
suggested below, please reread sections 4.4.1 and 4.4.2.

SAQ 7
/hv wt
/w t du/
/kd trai/
/d gu/
/wd meik/

Should your answer to SAQ 8 be different from the one
suggested below, please reread section 4.4.2

SAQ 8
a. uv /
b. /riz k: in frnt v hus/
c. /iz r ni k
d. /w D/
Syllables and stress in English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 55

UNIT 5

SYLLABLES AND STRESS IN ENGLISH



Unit outline


Unit objectives 56

5.1 The nature of the syllable 56

5.2 The structure of the English syllable 57

5.3 Types of syllable 58

5.4 The nature of stress 59

5.5 Primary and secondary stress 61

5.6 Stress and vowels 62

5.7 Predicting stress in derivatives 63
5.7.1 Strong suffixes 64
5.7.2 Weak suffixes 65
5.7.3 Prefixes 66

5.8 Stress in compounds 66

5.9 Rhythm and its influence on word stress 67

5.10 Stress shift and semantic implications 68

Summary 70
Key concepts 70
Further reading 71
SAA No. 4 71
Answers to SAQs 72








Syllables and stress in English
56 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

After you have completed the study of this unit you should be able
to:
use stress correctly in English noun-verb pairs
explain the correlation between stress and the phonetic
duration of vowels
show how the pronunciation of words changes when certain
affixes are added
discriminate stress placement in compound words from stress
placement in corresponding noun phrases
distinguish the rhythm of English, a stressed-time language,
from the rhythm of Romanian, a syllable-timed language.

As pointed out in a previous chapter, in spoken language it is
unusual to find isolated sounds, because sounds string together to
form larger units. Thus, sounds group themselves to form syllables,
syllables will form words, words will form phrases and phrases will
form sentences.


5.1 The nature of the syllable

What is a syllable?
Physiologically, the syllable corresponds to one chest pulse
resulting from the movement of the intercostal muscles.
Phonologically, the syllable is the lowest phonological unit into which
phonemes are combined. A syllable may be defined as a unit of
pronunciation which consists of a vocalic sound either alone or
surrounded by consonants (one or more) arranged in a certain
sequence.

Think first!

Think of examples of English monosyllabic words made up
of a vowel only.

Write your answers in the space provided below.








If you read through section 5.3 carefully you will find such
examples.

Unit objectives
Syllables and stress in English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 57

5.2 The structure of the English syllable

In structural terms, syllables must contain a vowel or vowel-like
sound. Syllables are constructed according to the principle of
sonority. The sonority theory holds that there are as many syllables
in a word as there are peaks of prominence or sonority.
The sonority peak is preceded or followed by a sequence of
segments with progressively decreasing sonority values. The most
sonorant* sounds are vowels, then semi-vowels*, liquids* /l, r/,
nasals /m, n, /, voiced consonants /b, d, g, v, , z, du /
Consonants which act like vowels are called syllabic consonants*.

The syllabic nucleus
The centre of a syllable (the syllabic nucleus) is defined as the
place where sonority is greatest. This central segment of a syllable,
also called its peak, is compulsory. Some monosyllabic words
consist of the central segments only: err, are, awe, ear, oh, I, eye. In
English, the vowels /e/, / /, //, // do not occur in final position and
/u/ does not occur in initial position.
The sounds which can serve as peaks in English are all the
vowels and /m, n, I, r/ when situated in final position, e.g.: rhythm,
button, bottle.
The basic (C) V (C) structure of the syllable can be expanded
by additions of initial and final segments.

The onset
In addition to the nucleus, syllables may have one, two or three
consonants preceding them. This initial segment of a syllable is
called the onset and is optional. It may have the structure C- (tea),
CC- (three), CCC- (straw).

The coda
The final segment is called coda and may consist of:
a single consonant (-c) as in egg, it, of, art
two consonants (-cc) as in east, beans, cast
three consonants (-ccc) as in asked, ants, aunts
four consonants (-cccc) as in attempts, instincts.

The English consonants, /r/ (in British English) //, /h/, can
never end a syllable. The generalized formula that can be ultimately
reached is CCC V CCCC (strengths). The group of consonants in
final and initial positions are called clusters. Final clusters in English
are much more complex than initial ones. While Romanian employs
more consonant clusters than English in initial position, English is far
richer in such clusters in final position.
English consonant clusters in final position express different
grammatical categories such as NUMBER (texts), TENSE (mixed,
breathes) or indicate PART OF SPEECH such as nouns (depth, width),
verbs (deepen, harden), etc.

Syllables and stress in English
58 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

SAQ 1

The following words display characteristic syllabic
structures in English. Can you mention the pattern for each of
them?

1. owned .....

2. ropes .....

3. ground .....

4. snake .....

5. strives .....

6. against .....

7. even .....

8. civil .....

9. relaxed .....

10. hasnt .....

Write your answers in the space provided and check
them against those in the key section.


5.3 Types of syllable

A study of the syllable in English and Romanian involves a
distinction between open and closed syllables.

The open syllable
A syllable is open / free / unchecked when it ends in a vowel,
i.e. it is of the type V, CV, e.g.: oh, no, tea, do, raw. While Romanian
is a language in which free syllables predominate (nu, sta, spre,
pui), English is a language of the checked-syllable type (shirt, failed,
smoke, drive)

The closed syllable
A syllable is closed / checked when it ends in a consonant, i.e.
it is of the type VC, CVC: art, ought, I'd, it, keep, sheep, cheap.

Syllables and stress in English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 59

5.4 The nature of stress

Definition of stress
Stress is defined as the perceived prominence of one or more
syllabic elements over others in a word. It is an aspect of the
suprasegmental phonology of English and it can be a property of
syllables (word stress*) or of larger utterances (sentence or
syntactic stress*).
Stress can be considered from both the point of view of the
speaker and of the hearer. To the latter, stressed syllables appear
to be louder than unstressed syllables, whereas for the speaker,
stressed syllables give the impression of being produced with
greater effort. Stress is thus both a phenomenon of perception and
a phenomenon of production.
Following Roach (1994:86) we can maintain that stress is a
combination of loudness* (i.e. the degree of force with which a
sound or a syllable is uttered), pitch* i.e. the relative height of the
tone* with which it is pronounced), quality (i.e. vowels are more
prominent than consonants; among the vowels the more open ones
are the more prominent) and quantity (i.e. long vowels and
diphthongs will always render the syllable prominent).
In English, all these factors, i.e. loudness (intensity)*, pitch,
quality and quantity (duration), are associated with prominence.
Accordingly, the English stressed syllable especially its nucleus,
tends to have a greater degree of length, loudness and pitch
associated with it. It therefore tends to be much longer, much louder
and either much higher or much lower in pitch i.e. to be the locus
of a dramatic pitch change in comparison to the surrounding context
than the unstressed syllable.

Stress shift* in noun-verb pairs
Like the segmental* phonemes, stress has a distinctive
function since it can signal differences in meaning. For instance,
comparing the verb record as in Im going to record the tune and
the noun record as in Ive got a record the contrast in word accent
between the verb and the noun is made by the syllables differing in
loudness, pitch, quality and quantity.
Generally, these four variables work together in combination,
though syllables may sometimes be made prominent by means of
only one or two of them. Experimental work has shown that the
strongest effect is produced by pitch and length: loudness and
quality have much less effect. The four variables will also be found
in the notion of sentence or syntactic stress.


Syllables and stress in English
60 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

SAQ 2

What syllable is stressed in the italicized words? Note that
in some noun - verb pairs, the vowel in the first syllable is
different in the noun and the verb. In other pairs, the vowel is the
same. Read these sentences and transcribe the words in italics:
e.g.

The rebels in the hills will never surrender. /reblz/
Every child rebels against authority at some stage. /ribelz/

a. The perfume smelled nicely.
b. I never perfume my clothes.
c. They wont let you in without a permit.
d. The coming floods do not permit any delay.
e. They could see every detail in the picture. ....
f. They couldnt detail all the facts. .
g. He gave way without protest. .
h. I protest being called a fool. .
i. There has been a decrease in the birth rate.
.
j. The number of members is expected to decrease.
.

Write your answers in the space provided and then
compare them with the ones given at the end of unit 5.

Place of accent and types of languages
According to the place within a word where stress falls,
languages have been grouped into:

free-accent languages in which stress may fall on any syllable
(e.g. English, Romanian, Russian).
fixed-accent languages in which stress is tied to a particular
place in all the words. For example, in Czech, Slovak, Hungarian,
Estonian and Finnish, stress regularly falls on the first syllable, in
French, Armenian and Turkish it is commonly on the last syllable
and in Italian, Welsh and Polish, it is on the last but one syllable.


Syllables and stress in English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 61

5.5 Primary and secondary stress

Monosyllabic and polysyllabic words
When they are pronounced singly, all monosyllabic words carry
what is called primary stress*, the strongest type of stress. In
dictionaries, it is represented in transcription with a high mark or
superscript ().
Polysyllabic words, those which consist of more than one
syllable, all have one primary stressed syllable - just like
monosyllabic words. But in addition, they also have a secondary*-
stressed syllable and/or syllables with no stress. In the examples
below primary stressed syllables are marked with a superscript while
secondary stressed syllables are marked with a subscript:
two syllable: ,an ti que, cot ton
three syllables: ,mag a zine, inn o ,cence
four syllables: re mar ka ble, ,cir cu la tion

The English secondary stress
English differs from Romanian as regards the use of secondary
accent in polysyllabic words. A word like university /univ:siti/ has a
secondary* accent in English which is absent in the Romanian
universitate /universitate/. The secondary stress precedes the
primary stress, but it may also follow it: granddaughter /grn,d:t/.

Is English primary stress predictable?
In English, which is free-accent language, stress is more
unpredictable than in Romanian; while in Romanian stress generally
falls on one of the last three syllables of a word (e.g. dezirabil,
acceptabil, admirabil, preferabil) in English words (e.g. desirable,
acceptable, admirable, preferable) there is no such regularity.
Words with the same number of syllables may have different
accentual* patterns as in amateur /mt/, illicit /ilisit/, cigarette
/,sigret/. This is why the unpredictability of primary stress is one of
the significant difficulties foreign learners of English have to cope
with.

English and American patterns
In American English the secondary stress is used more
frequently than in British English. Verbs ending in -ate have a
secondary stress on the suffix in order to render the contrast with
the corresponding adjectives more evident.

BE AmE
alternate /':ltneit/ alternate /':lt,neit/
moderate /m:dreit/ moderate /m:d,reit/

Verbs ending in -ment have a secondary stress on the suffix in
order to differenciate them from the nouns having the same suffix.
BE AmE
ornament /:nment/ ornament /:rn,ment/
supplement /spliment/ supplement /spl,ment/
Syllables and stress in English
62 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

Some disyllabic words have a secondary stress while the same
words in British English have not: contract /k:nt,rkt/, syntax
/sin,tks/.
This secondary stress may be explained by an association with
the corresponding verbs which have their second syllable stressed.
In longer words ending in -ary, -ery, -ory, Americans use a
secondary stress on these suffixes.

BE AmE
dictionary /diknri/ dictionary /dikn,eri/

SAQ 3

Give the phonetic transcription of the following words to
illustrate the accentual pattern used in British English and in
American English:

e.g. adversary BrE /dvsri/ - AmE /dv,seri/

BrE AmE
1. stationery ..
2. ceremony ..
3. January ..
4. territory ..
5. milkman ...
6. secretary ..

Compare your transcription with those given in the key
section.


5.6 Stress and vowels

The unstressed (reduced) schwa vowel
In English, there is an important relationship between vowels
and stress. Some vowels occur mainly in stressed syllables, others
may occur in both stressed and unstressed syllables. One
unstressed vowel, // or schwa appears only in unstressed syllables:
better, about, confusion. It can be observed in pairs of related words
that show different stress placement such as considerate
/knsidert/ versus consideration /knsidrein/. Note that the
fourth vowel, which is unstressed in the word considerate, is
pronounced //. But when the same vowel is stressed, as in
consideration, it is pronounced as /ei/.
The reduction or weakening of vowels in unstressed syllables is
a fundamental and very important phenomenon in English. A
change of stress in a word, perhaps as a result of adding a certain
ending (called strong suffix) may have a significant effect on
pronunciation. Similarly, if we add -y to photograph /futgr:f/,
stress changes and with it the quality of all the vowels: e.g.

Syllables and stress in English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 63
photography /ftgrfi/, i.e the first vowel is pronounced /u/ when
stressed and // when unstressed.

Stressed, full vowels are longer
In conclusion, we can say that vowels in stressed or stressable
syllables (i.e. the full vowels) are significantly longer than those in
unstressed syllables (the reduced vowels). Failure to use correct
reduced vowels in unstressable syllables may result in severe
problems of rhythm* which make the whole stream of speech
difficult to understand.

SAQ 4

Transcribe the following words, noting the place of the
primary stress and the changes in the vowel quality* induced by
the shift of stress:

Write your answers in the space provided below each word.

1. decorate decorative decoration


2. explain explanatory explanation


3. locate locative location


Check your transcriptions against those given in the answer
section.


5.7 Predicting stress in derivatives

Despite the fact that English words have a variety of different
stress patterns, a number of regular principles can help us to
determine where the stressed syllables are likely to occur (Taylor,
1996: 49). Therefore stress in English may not be fixed, but it is to a
certain extent predictable.
The first principle states that two stressed syllables do not
normally occur next to each other in a single word (this does not
apply in words containing prefixes such as re-, un- as in unknown,
for instance).
The second principle is that certain endings partly determine
the place of stressed syllables in words. From the point of view of
their influence on the position of the accent in the word, suffixes can
be grouped into strong and weak.


Syllables and stress in English
64 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

5.7.1 Strong suffixes

The suffixes ion and -ic
Strong endings affect the stress pattern of a word; this class of
endings include -ion, -ic, -ity, -ial, etc. If we compare fascinate or
fascinating with fascination we can see that the -ion suffix has
attracted the stress to the syllable preceding it. Similarly, the -ic
suffix almost always attracts a stress to the preceding syllable as we
can see if we compare linguist with linguistic, telephone with
telephonic. The ending ical behaves like -ic: mechanical,
methodical.

SAQ 5

How does the use of the strong suffixes -ion and -ic
determine stress placement? Transcribe the following pairs:

a. continue continuation

b. inaugurate inauguration

c. interpret interpretation
.
d. irony ironic
.
e. optimism optimistic

f. diplomacy diplomatic


Check your transcriptions against those given in the answer
section.

Other strong endings which attract stress to the syllable
immediately preceding the ending are:

-ity: stupidity, university, nationality
-ety: variety, anxiety, society
-ial: remedial, official, industrial
-ify: exemplify, identify, personify
-efy: stupefy, liquefy
-ian: phonetician, comedian, librarian
-ious: superstitious, ostentatious, suspicious
-eous: adventageous, simultaneous, erroneous

In Romanian, suffixes also tend to attract stress onto
themselves and accordingly towards the final syllables of the derived
words, e.g. bietan, aluni, atrgator, muncitor, romnesc.

Syllables and stress in English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 65

Strong suffixes in loan words
Some derivational morphemes (suffixes) attract the primary
stress onto themselves in loan words that preserve their original
accentual* structure:

-ee: employee, addressee, trainee, trustee, invitee
-eer: engineer, profiteer, mountaineer, volunteer
-ette: silhouette, casette, kitchinette, suffragette
-et: castanet, quartet, clarinet, minaret

-oo: shampoo, tattoo, kangaroo, taboo, bamboo,
-oon: ballon, cartoon, lagoon, saloon, typhoon
-ique: technique, antique, physique, unique
-esque: picturesque, burlesque, grotesque, arabesque


5.7.2 Weak suffixes

Suffixes that do not influence the position of word accent are
called weak suffixes. Examples of weak endings are -ing (fascinate
fascinating), -ed (expect expected), -ness (kind kindness), -
ship (friend friendship), -able (honour honourable), ful
(beauty-beautiful), -al (propose - proposal), -hood (mother -
motherhood), -ment (develop - development), -er/or (teach -
teacher), -ly (beautiful - beautifully), -ist (organ - organist), -ous
(scandal - scandalous), -dom (wise - wisdom),- less (child -
childless).

SAQ 6

Use the suffixes -ly, -or, -er, -est, -ing and -able to derive
words from these bases: cool, expect, clean, translate, will,
publish. Is there a primary stress shift entailed by this derivation?

Write your answers in the space provided below.

e.g. cool/-ing/-er/-est
expect/-ing








Check your transcriptions against those given in the answer
section.


Syllables and stress in English
66 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

5.7.3 Prefixes

In English, prefixes which are very productive and have quite
an obvious meaning of their own (e.g. mis-, over-, under-, un-)
almost always carry a secondary accent: e.g. misrepresent
/,misreprizent/, overestimate /,uvrestmeit/.
The main difference between English and Romanian is that
while English prefixes are stressable, Romanian prefixes, in most
cases, are not stressable unless this is required by necessities of
emphasis or contrast, e.g. a mbrca, a dezbrca.


5.8 Stress in compounds

Primary stress on the first element
In most instances it is the first syllable in a compound which
carries the primary accent, a fact which corresponds to the general
tendency in English of placing the main accent towards the
beginning of words, rather than towards their end: typewriter, car-
fery, sunrise, suitcase, tea-cup.
A rather large class of compound words whose first element is
stressed is represented by nouns made up of a gerund and a noun:
booking-office, mowing machine, reading-lamp, sleeping-pill,
gaming-house, swimming-pool, walking stick, dining-room, eating
house, fishing-rod.
There are compound words that have a primary stress on the
first element and a secondary stress on the second element: gun-
fire /gn,fai/, granddaughter /grn,d:t/. In this group are
included the compounds made up of two nouns, the second being
derived with the suffix -er, denoting occupations: grave-digger,
/greiv,digu peace-maker /pi:s,meik/, Wall Streeter (person
professionally employed on Wall Street) /w:l stri:t:/.

Primary stress on the second element
There are many compounds whose first element has a
secondary accent while the primary accent falls on the second
element: handmade /,hndmeid/, headmaster /,hedm:st/,
clearcut /,klikt/.
Unlike compounds made up of two nouns which have the
stress on the first element, compounds with an adjectival first
element and the -ed morpheme at the end receive primary stress on
the second element: bad-tempered, half-timbered, heavy-handed.
Compounds made of a numeral and a noun also tend to have
final stress: three-wheeler, second-class, five-finger. Compounds
functioning as adverbs are usually final-stressed: head-first, North-
East, down stream.
Compounds functioning as verbs and having an adverbial first
element take final stress: down-grade, back-pedal, ill-treat.

Syllables and stress in English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 67
Primary stress on each element
Some compound words made up of words considered equally
important or having five or more than five syllables, may take two
primary accents: self-determination /selfdi,tminein/, queen
mother /kwi:nm/.

SAQ 7

Transcribe and mark the stressed syllables in the following
compounds as they are said when used on their own:

a. cupboard

b. saucepan

c. topmost

d. two pence

e. nonsense

f. vineyard

Check your transcriptions against those given in the
answer section.


5.9 Rhythm and its influence on word stress

The English language has quite a regular pattern of stressed
and unstressed syllables in other words, the rhythm is regular
(Roach, 1994: 69). This is why English compound words with two
equally strong stresses when used in isolation (e.g. good-looking)
tend to lose one of the stresses in connected speech when either
preceded or followed by a stressed word (e.g. The girl is good-
looking).

English has a stressed-time rhythm
In English, the stressed syllables in connected speech tend to
occur at roughly regular intervals. The more unstressed syllables
there are after a stress, the quicker they must be pronounced. The
time taken by the pronunciation of an utterance depends primarily
on the number of stressed syllables. This is known as stressed-
timed rhythm. For example, each of the following phrases has an
extra syllable, but in each phrase there is only one stressed syllable;
all phrases are said in the same amount of time:

read
reading
reading it
he was reading
he was reading it


Syllables and stress in English
68 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
Romanian has a syllable-timed rhythm
In Romanian, the length of an utterance depends on the total
number of syllables; the syllables of an utterance are spoken with
the same amount of time allotted to each of them, irrespective of
whether they are stressed or not.
Therefore, the Romanian learner of English has to be careful
not to pronounce the unstressed syllables with the same force and
in the same time which is allotted to the stressed ones.
Another issue foreign learners of English should be aware of is
that stress position may vary because not all speakers of RP agree
on the placement of stress in some words. A well-known example is
controversy which is pronounced by some speakers as /kntrv:si/
and by others as /kntrvsi/. Other different possibilities he
mentions are ice-cream /aiskri:m/ or /aiskri:m/, kilometre
/kilmi:t/ kilmit/ and formidable /f:midbl/ or /fmidbl/.

Think first!

Notice the primary stress of these words and phrases and
then translate them into Romanian:

1. a mad-doctor .
2. a mad doctor
3. a French teacher ..
4. a French teacher ..
5. a bluebottle
6. a blue bottle ...

Compare your answers with the information contained in
section 5.10.


5.10 Stress shift and semantic implications

Compounds and noun phrases
The distinctive function of stress and the far-reaching effects of
changing the accent pattern in English are obvious if we consider
some compounds and their corresponding noun phrases:

Compounds Noun phrases
bookworm (person who book worm (insect)
reads a lot )
crosswords (puzzle) cross words (words showing
anger)
pighead (stubborn) pig head (head of a pig)
blackshirt (fascist thug) black shirt (a shirt that is
black).
Syllables and stress in English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 69

In the compounds, the accent falls on the first element while in
the noun phrases the primary stress is on the second element. In
general, the accentuation of the compound words made up of an
adjective as the first element differs from that of corresponding noun
phrases made up of an adjective and a noun: the former have the
primary stress on the first element and possibly a secondary stress
on the second element, while the latter have their primary stress on
the second element and a secondary stress on the first element:
hotbed /htbed/ vs hot bed / ht bed/.
The distribution of stresses in units higher than the word also
may have far-reaching semantic implications:

An 'English, teacher (one who teaches English)
An ,English' teacher (one who is English)
A 'toy, factory (produces toys)
A ,toy' factory (a model of a factory used as a toy)

Utterances
The accentual pattern of whole utterances is, to a certain
extent, comparable to that of polysyllabic words. The basic
difference between the accentuation of isolated words and that of
longer utterances is the following: while isolated words have a single
accentual pattern there are more possible patterns for the latter.
Therefore, larger utterances allow for more changes of pattern
than isolated words. The choice of the word to be stressed depends
on the speaker's will and the meaning (s)he wishes to convey:

I've got a red coat. (not a green one)
I've got a red coat. (not a red hat)
A venit naintea voastr. (he came to meet you)
A venit naintea voastr. (he arrived before you)

As a rule, full-meaning words (nouns, verbs, adjectives,
adverbs) always carry an accent while grammatical words
(auxiliaries, modals, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions) do not,
unless the sentence requires it.

SAQ 8

Mark the stress patterns of these words and phrases:

1. a briefcase
2. a blacksmith
3. a sleeping-car
4. growing children
5. a get-together
6. drinking water

Write your answers in the spaces provided and compare
them to the suggestions made at the end of the unit


Syllables and stress in English
70 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

Summary

English derivational suffixes can be grouped into strong and
weak. The former group includes endings that (1) cause stress to fall
upon a preceding syllable (e.g. -ion, -ic, -ity, -ial) (2) attract stress
upon themselves (e. g. -ee, -eer, -oo, -oon, -ette, -esque).
English prefixes that may have a meaning of their own are
completely fused with the root to which they are attached so the
word is no longer felt as a derivative and is treated as a single word.
Prefixes of this kind (e.g. mis-, over-, under-, un-) normally carry a
secondary stress.
Some word pairs, involving two different parts of speech, are
distinguished by stress: Export rose in the second quarter vs. We
still need to export more and They have a green house, but not a
greenhouse.
In connected speech, stress is more variable than in isolated
words; the choice of the word to be stressed depends on the
speaker's will and the meaning (s)he wishes to convey.
English is a language that distinguishes very clearly between
stressed and unstressed syllables; what is very important to note is
that in English, the recurrence of stressed syllables at regular
intervals gives speech its rhythmical qualities which are quite
different from those with which other languages, Romanian included,
are spoken.


Key concepts

closed/checked syllable
coda
fixed accent-language
free accent-language
loudness
nucleus
onset
open/free/unchecked syllable
pitch
primary stress
quality
quantity
rhythm
secondary stress
stress
strong suffix
syllabic consonant
syllable
vowel reduction
weak suffix

Syllables and stress in English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 71

Further reading

1. Chioran, Dumitru and Petri, Lucreia. 1977. Workbook in
English Phonetics and Phonology. Bucureti: Editura didactic
i pedagogic, pp.130-138, pp. 161-166.
2. Goglniceanu, Clina. 1993. The English Phonetics and
Phonology. Iai: Editura Fundaiei "Chemarea", pp. 105-114.


SAA No. 4

Transcribe the following words phonemically and try to state
a rule for the pronunciation of the suffix -s and the prefix in- :

1. wants
2. sees
3. wishes
4. grins
5. buzzes
6. scrambles
7. laughs
8. omits
9. adds
10. clips
11. kisses
12. budges
13. sobs
14. goes
15. impossible
16. incongruent
17. infinite
18. indivisible
19. insipid.
Send this assignment to your tutor.
The maximum score for this assignment is 20 points :
- 10 points for correct phonemic transcription
- 5 points for stating the rule for the pronunciation of the
suffix -s
- 5 points for stating the rule for the pronunciation of the
prefix in-

Syllables and stress in English
72 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

Answers to SAQs

If you find mistakes in your answer, you need to reread section
5.2.

SAQ 1
a. VVCC b. CVVCC c. CCVVCC d. CCVVC e.
CCCVVCC
f. V-CVCCC g. V-CC h. CV-CC i. CV-CVCCC
j. CV-CCC.

If you notice mistakes in your answer to SAQ 2, please revise
section 5.4.

SAQ 2
(a) /p:fjum/ (b) /pfju:m/
(c) /p:mit/ (d) /pmit/
(e) /diteil/ (f) /diteil/
(g) /prutst/ (h) /prtest/
(i) /di:kri:s/ (j) /dikri:s/

If you notice mistakes in your answer to SAQ 3, please revise
section 5.5

SAQ 3
a) /steinri/ - /stei,neri/
b) /sermni/ - /ser,muni/
c) /dnjuri/ - /d,njueri/
d) /teritri/ - /teri,t:ri/
e) /milkmn/ - /milk,mn/
f) /sekretri/ - /sekr,teri

If you notice mistakes in your answer to SAQ 4, please revise
sections 5.6 and 5.7. 1.

SAQ 4
/dekreit/ /dekrtiv/ /dekrein/
/iksplein/ /iksplntri/ /,eksplnein/
/,lukeit/ /lktiv/ /lukei

If you notice mistakes in your answer to SAQ 5, please revise
section 5.7.1

SAQ 5
a. /kntinju:/ - /kntinju:ein/
b. /in:gjureit/ - /in:gjurein/
c. /int:prt/ - /int:prtein/
d. /airni/ - /airnik/
e. /ptimism/ - /ptimistik/
f. /diplmsi/ - /diplmtik/
Syllables and stress in English
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 73

If you notice mistakes in your answer to SAQ 6, please revise
section 5.7.1. and 5.7.2.

SAQ 6
cool/-ing/-er/-est
expect-ing
clean-er/-est/-ing
translat-or/-ing/-able
will-ing/-y
publish-ing/-able

All the attached suffixes, i.e. -ing, -er, -est, -or, -able, -ly are weak,
so there is no primary stress shift in the derived words.

If you notice mistakes in your answers to SAQ 7 and SAQ8,
please revise section 5.8.

SAQ 7
/kbd/
/s:spn/
/tpmust/
/tpns/
/nnsns/
/vinj:d/

SAQ 8
1. brief,case
2. a black,smith
3. a sleeping-,car
4. ,growing children
5. a get-,together
6. drinking ,water


English as an intonation language
74 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

UNIT 6

ENGLISH AS AN INTONATION LANGUAGE



Unit outline


Unit objectives 75

6.1 Definition and components of intonation 75

6.2 The tone unit as a basic unit of intonation 77

6.3 Tone-patterns in English 78

6.4 Functions of intonation 81

6.5 Intonation and sentence types 82
6.5.1 Declaratives 83
6.5.2 Imperatives and exclamations 83
6.5.3 Questions 84

6.6 Contrastive analysis of intonation in English and
Romanian
87

Summary 88
Key concepts 88
Further reading 89
Answers to SAQs 89

English as an intonation language
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 75

After you have completed the study of this unit you should
be able to:

avoid transferring intonation patterns by realizing that the
shapes of the English tunes differ from the normal tunes of
Romanian.
practise English intonation patterns that occur with a variety
of sentence types.
distinguish between isolated sentences, which generally can
take several intonation contours, and the intonation* of
ongoing discourse, in which case only one intonation contour
is generally appropriate.
apply English intonation patterns over short exchanges and
longer stretches of discourse that resemble authentic
conversation.


6.1 Definition and components of intonation

Intonation* is a term used in the study of suprasegmental
phonology. In a narrow sense, intonation refers to the fluctuations in
pitch level (i.e. the height on which sounds are pronounced) and
pitch direction (i.e. the point towards which the movement in pitch
takes place). In a wider sense, intonation includes other prosodic*
elements such as loudness*, tempo of speech, rhythm. The most
important of all components of intonation is pitch.
Pitch is also a component of accent. Pitch consists of
pronouncing a syllable on a higher pitch level than the others, or in
giving that syllable a certain melodic shape: a falling one, a rising
one, or a combination of the two. In acoustic terms it means the
number of vibrations per second of the vocal cords*. Pitch contrasts
are more easily perceived with voiced sounds.

Think first!

To give you an idea of how difficult intonation may be to
master for nonnative speakers of English, read the following
remarks about the intonation of yes/no questions produced by
two native speakers of Greek, in comparison with that of two
native speakers of North American English:

The two native speakers of Greek, who were advanced level
and highly fluent in English, tended to superimpose the falling
Greek intonation for yes/no questions onto the English yes/no
questions they uttered:

Are you CO

MING?

This made the Greeks seem impatient and rude to the English
speakers who evaluated the questions of all four speakers. The
native English speakers intonation, by contrast, tended to rise on
Unit
objectives
English as an intonation language
76 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
such questions:

Are you CO

MING?

(From a study by Argyres, Z. J. 1996. The cross-cultural
pragmatics of intonation: The case of Greek-English)

Can you recall any particular instances when you felt your
intonation of yes/no questions sounded like Romanian English?

Write your answer in the space provided below.
















Compare your answer with the information contained in
section 6.3.

Tone languages and intonation languages
Languages where word meanings or grammatical categories
(such as TENSE) are dependent on pitch level are known as tone
languages. Many languages of South-East Asia (Chinese, Thai,
and Vietnamese), Africa (particularly those in the South and West)
and a considerable number of Amerindian languages are tone
languages.
In Chinese the pitch variations are carried by the syllable as a
phonetic unit so that by varying the pitch of individual syllables,
differences in meaning are obtained. For example, the word ma may
mean 1) mother, 2) hemp, 3) horse (when pronounced in a falling-
rising tone), 4) to scold.
Languages where pitch conveys meaning not at lexical item
level but at the phrasal or clausal level are called intonation
languages. Virtually all European and Middle Eastern languages
are intonation languages.
In general, if learners speak an intonation language* as their
first language, it is assumed that they will learn the intonation of
another language more easily than will someone who speaks a tone
language as their first language or vice versa. However, just
because two languages happen to be intonation languages does not
mean that their utterance-level pitch patterns will be the same. They
English as an intonation language
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 77
rarely are. For, example, while English uses up to four pitch levels,
Spanish uses only two or at most three with the result that Spanish
speakers seem to have a somewhat flat intonation in English which
signals disinterest to English speakers. (Celce-Murcia Marianne and
Elite Olshtain. 2000. Discourse and Context in Language Teaching,
p. 33)


6.2 The tone-unit as the basic unit of intonation

Variations of pitch occur in chunks of speech called tone units.
A tone-unit* is the phonological unit greater in size than the
syllable, and it is the basic unit of intonation. In its smallest form a
tone-unit may consist of only one syllable so it would in fact be
wrong to say that it is always composed of more than one syllable.
For example, both you and is it you may be regarded as tone units;
the former is a one-syllable utterance which carries a tone* while the
latter is an utterance of three syllables in which only the third one
carries a tone. A syllable which carries a tone is called a tonic
syllable* or nucleus*.

The conventional structure of the tone unit
Conventionally, the structure of a tone-unit/intonation pattern or
tune* is made up of the following components:
a nucleus or tonic syllable (an obligatory element) - carried
by the stressed syllable of the most important word in the utterance.
a pre-nuclear component part (non-obligatory) consisting
of an optional head (that part of a tune starting with the first
accented syllable and continuing up to the nucleus) and a pre-head*
(all the unaccented syllables before a head).
- a post-nuclear part (optional) - called tail which usually
consists of the unstressed syllables after the nucleus.
Sometimes a tail can contain stressed words but without pitch
change as in Well, say something, then!
The tone-unit structure can be summarized as follows:

(pre-head)(head) nucleus (tail)
(Ph) (H) N (T)

The following examples illustrate various structures of intonation
patterns:

There's / nothing I can do / about it /
Ph H N T
It's im / po / ssible for me to do it.
Ph N T
This was more than I had expected.
Ph N T
Isn't she pretty ?
N T
English as an intonation language
78 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

SAQ 1

Identify the nucleus, the head, the pre-head and the tail of
this utterance. Pronounce it with the corresponding intonation
pattern:

There is no need to be so upset about it.

.

Check your answer against the one suggested in the answer
section.

The choice of the nucleus in an utterance depends on the speech
situation. The shift in nucleus location is accompanied by a change
in meaning.

a) Tom sells 'cars. (This is his job)
b) Tom 'sells cars. (He doesn't make or buy them)
c) 'Tom sells cars. (It is Tom, not another person who sells cars).
d)
Think first!

Read these paired sentences paying attention to how the
punctuation found in written English reflects the intonation of
spoken English:

1. a. Father, said mother, is late.
b. Father said, Mother is late.

2. a. Have you met my brother Fred?
b. Have you met my brother, Fred?

You can find a clue to your answer in the following sections.


6.3 Tone patterns in English

The study of the notions of tone and intonation in English
involves the introduction of the following basic tones: fall*, rise, fall-
rise*, rise-fall and level.

The falling or fall pattern
A falling pitch usually called a fall* is one that goes from a
higher pitch to a lower one:

This tone is usually regarded as more or less neutral. The fall*
is usually associated with an impression of finality, with ending a
conversation. For instance, in a dialogue between speakers A and
B, one possible reply from B would be YES \ implying the question is
answered and that there is nothing more to be said:

English as an intonation language
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 79

A: Do you know John Smith?

B: YES (or YES \).

SAQ 2

Say the words now, fine, oh, where with falls. Then give their
transcription showing the falling tone.

..
..
..
..

Write your answers in the space provided. Then check your
transcriptions against the suggested answers given at the end of
the unit.

The rising or rise pattern
The rising tone or rise conveys an impression that something
more is to follow. If in the dialogue above B's reply were YES /, this
means that B invites A to continue with what he/she intends to say
about John Smith after establishing that B knows him:

A: Do you know John Smith?

B: YES, (or YES /).

SAQ 3

Say the same words, now, fine, oh, where with rises. Give
their transcription showing the rising tone.
Write your answers in the space provided.

..
..
..
..

Check them against the suggested answer given at the end
of this unit.

The fall-rise tone
The fall-rise tone is used a lot in English, and it usually
indicates limited agreement or hesitation. In the example below, B's
reply should be taken to mean that he/she would not completely
agree with what A said:
A: Did you know she quitted?
B: Its POSSIBLE


English as an intonation language
80 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

The rise-fall tone
The rise-fall tone is used to convey rather strong feelings of
approval, disapproval or surprise:

A: Do you like this?

B: DE LIGHTFUL!

Note that the rise part of the tone takes place on the first tonic
syllable and the fall part on the second:

e.g. NO ONE, NO SIR

The level tone
The level tone almost always conveys a feeling of saying
something routine, uninteresting or boring. For instance, a student's
answering yes when his/her name was called by the teacher uses a
level tone.

A: John Smith?
B: YES.

SAQ 4

Pronounce the following utterances showing a neutral,
uninterested tone:

a. I dont mind.
.
b. I m easy.
.

Give their phonemic transcription in the spaces provided and
then check it against the answer given at the end of the unit.

In a one-syllable utterance, the single syllable must have one of
the five tones presented briefly above. In a tone unit of more than
one syllable, the tonic syllable must have one of those tones. When
a tonic syllable is followed by a tail, that tail continues and completes
the tone begun on the tonic syllable.

English as an intonation language
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 81

6.4 Functions of intonation

In communication, intonation may perform several functions:

The accentual function
The accentual function is expressed by the accent component
of intonation.
This function is closely connected to the primary accent carried
by the most prominent word in an utterance.
In these sentences, the nuclear or tonic stress* falls on the last
important lexical item:

He must 'come,
Put the book in the 'box,
John and Mary must 'do, it.

The attitudinal function
The attitudinal function expresses the connection between
tones and attitudes (e.g. joy, anger, irony, indignation, surprise,
incredulity, arrogance). This function is superimposed on the
accentual function and cannot be clearly separated from it.

John 'and Mary must do it (not only John)
'He must come (not she)
Put the book 'in the box (not on the box)

An attitude that is expressed could be an attitude towards the
listener, towards what is being said or towards some external event
or situation.
To the foreign learner of English who wants to learn "correct
intonation" a few generalisations can be made:

- finality or definiteness is expressed by the fall tone:

That is the end of the news.
I'm absolutely certain.
Stop talking.

- encouraging is expressed by the rise tone:

It won't hurt.

- uncertainty, doubt or request are expressed by the fall-
rise:
You may be right.
Will you lend it to me.

- surprise is expressed by the rise fall:

All of them

English as an intonation language
82 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
However, linking tones with attitudes remains a difficult task,
especially because the same intonation pattern can accompany
different attitudes depending on the nature of the utterance and the
context in which it is used. For example, the rise-fall followed by a
fall is used in utterance 1 to accompany exasperation and in
utterance 2 to accompany delight.


(1) If you opened your EYES youd SEE it.


(2) Im delighted to SAY youve WON it.

Actually, the rise-fall pattern is generally considered an
emphatic tone which accompanies utterances that show strong
feelings.

SAQ 5

Mark the rise-fall tone in the following sentences to express
attitudes such as surprise and indignation:

a. All of them!

b. You didnt ask me.

c. I was first.
.

You can find the answer at the end of this unit.

The grammatical function
The relationship between grammar and intonation takes the
form of correspondences between certain grammatical structures
and certain intonation patterns. In other words, certain grammatical
structures have the tendency to go with certain intonation patterns.


6.5 Intonation and sentence types

From a grammatical point of view, what is relevant for
intonation analysis is not the number of words in an utterance but
the syntactic structures they form and the grammatical categories to
which they belong.

English as an intonation language
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 83

Think first!

Read the following paired grammatical structures and note
how intonation helps to distinguish between them.
Remember that the placement of the tone boundary is
important.

a The Conservatives who like the proposal are pleased.

b The Conservatives, who like the proposal, are pleased.
..

Check your answer against the explanation below.

The intonational pattern used should make clear the difference
between (a) restrictive and (b) non-restrictive relative clauses; (a)
implies that only some Conservatives like the proposal, while (b)
implies that all the Conservatives like it.
An instance where a given intonation pattern is associated with
a certain grammatical structure is represented by complex
sentences. Subordinate clauses usually end in a rising tune
especially when initial in the sentence:

By the time he gets there, it will be much too late.

If I can get a job, I'll pay it back at once.


6.5.1 Declaratives

Most English declarative sentences, in their neutral, unmarked
version, take rise-fall intonation contour and the tonic stress on the
last lexically important word in the utterance:

I have to leave.

Ill give it to John.


6.5.2 Imperatives and exclamations

Like declaratives, imperatives (often referred to as commands
or requests when viewed pragmatically) generally have rising-
falling intonation, but they are often more forceful or affectively
loaded than declarative sentences:

Write more POEMS!
English as an intonation language
84 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

Like declaratives and imperatives, exclamations also exhibit
rising-falling intonation, but they sometimes give prominence to two
constituents rather than one:

WHAT a perFORmance!


` 6.5.3 Questions

YES/NO questions
Neutral or unmarked YES/NO questions (i.e. questions that
involve the inversion of the subject and the auxiliary verb or the
addition of do as the auxiliary in sentences that have no lexical
auxiliary verb) generally follow the rising intonation. Different
realizations of the rising contour are possible depending on which
constituent of the utterance is being emphasized:

Does John write POEMS? (emphasis on poems )
Does JOHN write poems? (emphasis on John).

WH-questions
Neutral or unmarked WH-questions (i.e. questions where the
constituent being questioned appears in the form of a wh-word
(what, who, when, where, etc) are accompanied by the rising-falling
intonation. Again, different realizations of the contour depend on
which constituent of the utterance is in focus:

What does John WRITE? (focus on the result/product)

What does JOHN write? (focus on agent).

Such rising-falling intonation surprises some non-native
speakers of English, who assume that all questions, regardless of
type, should be spoken with rising intonation.

SAQ 6

Transcribe the pronunciation of the following utterances,
paying attention to the meanings given within brackets:

What does John WRITE? (Tell me more exactly what John
writes)

What does JOHN do? (Tell me more clearly what John in
particular does.
.

You can find the answer at the end of this unit.


English as an intonation language
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 85

Question tags
As question tags are used most frequently to seek confirmation
or to make a point, the (pitch) contour which usually accompanies
them in English is the rising-falling pattern:

Its a nice DAY, IS nt it?

People are worried about eCONomy, ARE nt they?

This is a problem for non-native speakers as many of them
speak native languages where all question tags have rising
intonation regardless of discourse function. The solution proposed
by discourse analysts is this:

Students must learn that in English the speaker has a
choice between using a tag to confirm an assumption (using the
rising-falling pattern) or to ask an informal type of yes/no question
(using rising intonation). (Celce-Murcia and Olshtein, 2000: 42)

The intonation of question-tags is often quoted as a case of a
difference in meaning due to the difference between falling and
rising tone. When the question-tag has a falling tone, like in (1) the
implication is that the speaker is certain that the information is
correct, and he simply expects the listener to provide confirmation.
The rising tone of the question-tag indicates a lesser degree of
certainty so that the question-tag functions more like a request for
information as in (2):

(1)They are coming on Tuesday, arent they?

(2) They are coming on Tuesday, arent they?

Alternative questions
True alternative questions generally show a rise on the first
part, a pause* and then a rise-fall* on the second part:

Would you like JUICE or COFfee?

Sometimes question-like utterances are not actually questions
but statements or exclamations. One can distinguish between them
by means of the intonation pattern that is used:

Isn't she cute? (question)


Isn't she cute! (exclamation).

The discourse function
Intonation may be studied in relation with discourse in terms of
attention focussing, i.e. the use of intonation to focus the listener's
attention on aspects of the message that are most important.
English as an intonation language
86 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
For example, the tone chosen can indicate whether the tone-
unit in which it occurs is being used to present new information or to
refer to information which is felt to be already possessed by
speaker or listener.
Thus, in a sentence like / Since the last time we met / when we
had that huge dinner / I've been on a diet / the first two units
present information which is relevant to what the speaker is saying
but which is not something new and unknown to the listener. The
new information is present in the final tone-unit.
Researchers have shown that words expressing old or given
information are generally spoken with weak stress and low* pitch
whereas words expressing new information are spoken with strong
stress and high pitch. For example, in the conversational exchange
given below, whatever information is new, tends to receive special
prosodic attention, namely the word is stressed and receives high
pitch:

A: Ive lost an umBRELla.


B: A LAdys umbrella?


A: YES. With STARS on it. GREEN stars.

SAQ 7

Which syllables are the speakers most likely to make
prominent? Remember that new information tends to come
toward the end of the utterance.
Write your answers in the spaces provided below.

A: Can I help you?
..
B: Yes, please, Im looking for a blazer.
.
A: Something casual?
..
B: Yes, something casual in wool.
..

You can find the answer at the end of this unit.


English as an intonation language
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 87

6.6 Contrastive analysis of intonation in English and Romanian

Starting from the rule of compensation at work in language, one
can notice that the more rigid or fixed a grammatical structure, the
richer the use of intonation.
Since English has a more rigid word order than Romanian, it
has a relatively free placement of stress, depending on what part of
the utterance the speaker wants to render more prominent:

JOE Callaher left home yesterday. (not George, the baker)
Joe CALLAHER left home yesterday. (not Joe Smith)
Joe Callaher LEFT home yesterday. (not came home yesterday)
Joe Callaher left HOME yesterday. (not the hospital)
Joe Callaher left home YESTERDAY. (not last week)

Both in English and Romanian there are rising and falling
tunes. While a fall-rise seems to operate in both languages, the rise-
fall is peculiar to English only and consequently difficult to acquire by
Romanian learners:


Isn't it awful!

Human attitudes indicated by intonation are expressed roughly
by the same patterns in both languages. An area of contrast
between the intonation patterns of the two languages refers to the
way in which they correlate with grammatical structures.
Romanian and English show an important contrast in relation to
the use of intonation in interrogative sentences; while in Romanian
the use of a rising tune is the only formal means of signalling the
interrogative nature of a sentence, in English a similar change in
tune normally accompanies other changes in the structure of an
affirmative sentence in order to function as a question:

A plecat la mare. (statement)
A plecat la mare? (question)
He has left for the seaside. (statement)
Has he left for the seaside? (question)

There are instances in which connotative shades of meanings are
expressed:
- by specific intonational contours in English:

You know how he is.
Wouldn't it be better to postpone our departure?

- by lexical devices in Romanian (e.g. doar, oare)

Il stii doar cum e el.
N-ar fi mai bine oare s amnm plecarea?

English as an intonation language
88 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
Since English is a language with a fairly strict word order, it will
be more difficult to use word order alone as a device of emphasising
certain parts of the utterance. In Romanian, one can arrange the
sentence components more freely and they do not have to resort
very often to prosodic features.


Summary

Effective oral communication in English requires control of
prosody perhaps as much as (if not more than) control of the target
language vowel and consonant sounds.
The choice of the nucleus in an utterance depends on the
speech situation. The shift in nucleus location is accompanied by a
change in meaning.
The attitudinal use of intonation is something that is best
acquired through talking with and listening to English speakers.
At discourse level, the general pragmatic strategy used by
English speakers is to emphasis new information and de-emphasis
old or shared information.
The connection between intonation and grammar can be seen
in the associations between intonation patterns and various types of
sentences. Thus, a falling pattern is appropriate for statements, wh-
questions, commands and exclamations, while a rising pattern is
associated with yes / no questions and requests.
Intonation must be learnt and taught not on the basis of
isolated sentences or tone-units but within their linguistic and
situational context.


Key concepts

accentual function
attitudinal function
discourse function
fall
fall-rise
functions of intonation
grammatical function
head
level
loudness
pitch
pre-head
rhythm
rise
rise-fall
tail
tone language
tone unit/intonation pattern/tune
tonic syllable/nucleus
English as an intonation language
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 89

Further reading

1. Celce-Murcia M. and Olshtain, E.. 2000. Discourse and
Context in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, pp. 30-50
2. Thorne, S. 1997. Mastering Advanced English Language,
London: Macmillan, pp. 48 72.
3. Rogers, H.. 2000. The Sounds of Language. An Introduction to
Phonetics. Harlow Essex: Pearson Education Ltd., pp. 96-108.


Answers to SAQs

Should your answer to SAQ 1 be different from the one
suggested below, please read again section 6.2.

SAQ 1
There is no need to be so upSET about it.
the nucleus is the syllable SET in upSET
the head is no need to be so
the pre-head is Theres
the tail is about it

Should your answers to SAQ 2, SAQ 3 and SAQ 4 be different
from the ones suggested below, please read again section 6.3.

SAQ 2
/`nau/
/`fain/
/`au/
/`wea/

SAQ 3
/nau/
/fain/
/au/
/wea/

SAQ 4

I dont MIND.

c. I m EASY.

Should your answer to SAQ 5 be different from the one
suggested below, please read again sections 6.3.and 6.4.

SAQ 5

a. All OF THEM!

English as an intonation language
90 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
b. You DIDNT ASK me.

c. I WAS first.

Should your answers to SAQ 6 and SAQ 7 be different from the
ones suggested below, please read again section 6.5.3.

SAQ 6

What does John WRITE? (Tell me more exactly what John writes)

What does JOHN do? (Tell me more clearly what John in particular
does.

SAQ 7

A: Can I HELP you?

B: YES, please, Im looking for a BLAser.

A: Something CASual?

B: Yes, something casual in WOOL.
Bibliography
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 91

Bibliography

1. Balan Rada, Cehan Anca, and al. 2003. In-service Distance
Training Course for Teachers of English. Iai: Polirom.
2. Bejan N. and Elena Croitoru. 1979. Contemporary English
Language. Galati: Tipografia Universitii, pp. 3-59.
3. Carney Edward. 1998. English Spelling is Kattastroffic. In
Bauer Laurie and Peter Trudgil. (eds.) Language Myths.
London: Penguin Books, pp. 32 41.
4. Celce-Murcia Marianne and Elite Olshtain. 2000. Discourse
and Context in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, pp. 30-50.
5. Chioran, Dumitru. 1978. English Phonetics and Phonology.
Bucureti: Editura didactic i Pedagogic.
6. Chioran, Dumitru and Hortensia Prlog. 1989. Ghid de
pronunie a limbii engleze. Bucureti: Editura stiintific i
enciclopedic.
7. Chioran Dumitru, Augerot, James and Hortensia Prlog. 1984.
The Sounds of English and Romanian. Bucureti: Bucharest
University Press.
8. Chioran, Dumitru and Lucreia Petri. 1977. Workbook in
English Phonetics and Phonology. Bucureti: Editura didactic
i pedagogic.
9. Crystal, David 1991. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics,
Oxford: Blackwell.
10. Dauer, Rebecca. 1993. Accurate English. A Complete Course
in Pronunciation. New Jersey: Printice Hall.
11. Dima, Gabriela. 1996. Outlines of English Phonetics and
Phonology. With Pronunciation Drills for Learners of English.
Brila: Evrika.
12. Dirven, Rene and Marjolin Verspoor. 1998. Cognitive
Exploration of Language and Linguistics.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Bejamins, pp. 107-137.
13. Dobo Daniela. 2001. A Handbook of English Phonetics and
Phonology. Iai: Casa Editorial Demiurg.
14. Finch, Geoffrey. 2000. Linguistic Terms and Concepts.
Palgrave Macmillan, 33 - 77.
15. Goglniceanu, Clina. 1993. The English Phonetics and
Phonology. Iai: Editura Fundaiei "Chemarea"
16. Hulban, H., Lctuu T., Goglniceanu, T. C. 1983.
Competen i performan, exerciii i teste de limba englez.
Bucureti: Editura stiinific i enciclopedic.
17. Iarovici, Edith. 1994. Engleza American. Bucureti: Editura
Teora, pp.99 111.
18. Ilovici, Edith. 1972. Indreptar de ortografie i punctuaie a limbii
engleze. Cu exercii practice. Bucureti: Editura didactic i
pedagogic.
19. Jones, Daniel. 1963. [1956] Everymans English Pronouncing
Dictionary, 11th Edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
20. Knowles, G. 1987. Patterns of Spoken English. London:
Longman Group Ltd.
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21. Kovecses, Zoltan. 2000. American English. An Introduction.
Ontario: Broad View Press
22. Leontyeva, S. F. 1988. A Theoretical Course of English
Phonetics, Moscow.
23. Malcolm Mann and Steve Taylore-Knowles. 2003. Skills for
First Certificate. Listening and Speaking. Oxford: Macmillan
24. Makarenko, Tatiana. 1998. Contemporary English Phonetics.
Cluj: Editura Echinox.
25. Matthews, P.H. 1997. Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics.
Oxford: Oxford University Press
26. Meyer, Paul Georg et al. 2002. Synchronic English Linguistics.
An Introduction. Tubingen: Gunter Narr Verlag Tubingen, pp.
56-94 (Chapter 2 Phonetics and Phonology)
27. Mc Carthy, Michael and Felicity ODell. 1994. English
Vocabulary in Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
28. Neagu Mariana. 1997. English Phonetics and Phonology: A
Coursebook. Braila: Editura Evrika.
29. Neagu Mariana. 2000. Language, Culture and Civilization.
English In and Outside the British Isles. Galai: Editura
Fundaiei Dunrea de Jos. pp.106-124.
30. Neagu Mariana. 2001. Variety and Style in English. Buzu:
Alpha. pp. 123-148.
31. Nicolescu, Adrian. 1977. Tendine n engleza britanic
contemporan. Bucureti: Editura Universitii Bucureti
32. Prlog Hortensia. 1997. English Phonetics and Phonology.
Bucureti: Editura ALL.
33. Roach, Peter. 1994. [1983]. English Phonetics and Phonology.
A Practical Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
34. Rogers, Henry. 2000. The Sounds of Language. An
Introduction to Phonetics. Harlow Essex: Pearson Education
Ltd.
35. O'Connor, J. P. 1978. Phonetics, London: Penguin Books
36. Taylor, D. 1996. Demystifying Word Stress in English Today.
vol. 12, No.4 (October 1996), Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
37. The Oxford Spelling Dictionary.1990 [1986]. Oxford: Oxford
University Press
38. Thorne, Sara. 1997. Mastering Advanced English Language,
London: Macmillan, pp. 48-72 (Chapter 2. Phonetics and
Phonology)
39. Wells, J. C. 1982. Accents of English, vol. I - III, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
40. Yule, George. 2006. [1985].The Study of Language. Third
Edition. Thoroughly revised and updated. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp.29-52.

Symbols for vowels and diphthongs
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 93

[i:] as in bead, Pete
[i] as in bid, pit
[e] as in bed, pet
[] as in bad, pat
[:] as in barred, part
[ as in rod,
pot
: as in roared, port
[u] as in hood, put
[u:] as in rude, pool
[] as in bud, pun
:] or [:] as in heard, perm
[] as in alive, parade
[ei] as in bay, pain
[ai] as in by, pine
[ as in boy, point
[u] as in bow (noun), pouch
u] as in bow (verb), poach
[i] as in beer, peer
[] or [e] as in bear, pair
[u] as in boor, poor

Symbols for
vowels and
diphthongs
Symbols for vowels and diphthongs
94 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural

[p] as in pin, appear
[b] as in bin, bubble
[t] as in tin, attend
[d] as in din, hiding
[k] as in kin, conquer
[g] as in give, begin
[f] as in fought, offer
[v] as in vine, cover
[s] as in sip, assist
[z] as in zero, razor
[] as in thought, ether
[] as in there, mother
as in ship, nation
as in pleasure, measure
[t as in chin, cheese
[d as in gin, joke
as in moon, summer
[ as in noon, any
] as in song, finger
[l] as in lip, palace
[r] as in road, caress
[w] as in well, queen
[j] as in yell, yes



Symbols for
consonants
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 95

Glossary

accent
(a) The same as stress.
(b) Stress (in its narrower sense) accompanied by pitch change.
Loosely, accent and stress and their associated pairs of terms
(accented, stress, etc.) are used interchangeably. But some
phoneticians distinguish between accent, defined as including PITCH
change, and stress, which is due to the amount of force or energy
used to produce a sound, but which does not include a pitch
change. By this sort of definition, accent can only occur on a
stressed syllable (whereas stress may not involve accent).

accentual
Relating to phonetic, accent, particularly in the sense of word stress
(rather than nuclear pitch).

acoustic phonetics
That branch of phonetics concerned with the way in which the air
vibrates as sounds pass from speaker to listener.
Acoustic phonetics involves the measuring of sounds with
instruments and electronic equipment that then present the
information in visual form.

affricate
A consonant sound that combines the articulatory characteristics of
a PLOSIVE and a FRICATIVE; there is a complete closure in the vocal
tract so that the following release is a plosive, but the release is slow
enough for there to be accompanying friction. A speech sound
consisting in a stop and a fricative.
Two affricates are recognized in Standard English: /tf/, the voiceless
sound heard at the beginning and end of church, in the middle of
feature, and at the end of catch; and, the voiced sound at the
beginning of gin and jam, the middle of soldier, and the end of judge.

alliteration
The repetition of the same sound in initial position in a sequence of
words.

allophone
Any of the variants in which an idealized phoneme is actually
realized. Many allophones, that are actual articulations, are possible
for any phoneme of a language, depending on individual peoples
pronunciation, but the main allophones of any particular language
are conditioned by their relationship to the surrounding sounds.
Thus in standard English, the phoneme has a CLEAR sound when it
precedes a vowel (as in listen or fall in); a somewhat DEVOICED
sound when preceded by word-finally after a vowel (as in fall down)
or when it is syllabic (as in muddle).

allophonic
Of or pertaining to an allophone.
Glossary
96 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
alveolar
Pronounced with the constriction of the tip or blade of the tongue
against the alveolar ridge. The main alveolar in English are t and
d (often dental consonants in other languages), which are
alveolar plosives; n an alveolar nasal; and s and z, which
are alveolar fricatives. The actual articulation of these alveolar
phonemes is affected by adjacent sounds so that not all their
allophones are in fact alveolar.

apical
Made with the APEX (tongue tip).
The tip of the tongue is not normally involved in the formation of
English speech sounds, though it is used in the articulation of a
trilled /r/.

approximant
A sound made with an unimpeded airflow; contrasted with STOP and
FRICATIVE. Phoneticians group speech sounds in different ways.
Approximant is used as a general term covering sounds made in
various manners of articulation.

articulation
The physical production of speech sounds.
Speech sounds are described in terms of both their PLACE and their
MANNER of articulation. According to PLACE of articulation,
consonants may be bilabial, labio-dental, dental, alveolar, palato-
alveolar, palatal, velar and glottal. From the point of view of their
MANNER of articulation, consonants are classified as plosives,
affricates, fricatives, nasals, laterals, flaps and semivowels.

articulator
Any vocal organ, moving or not, involved in the production of speech
sounds.

articulatory phonetics
The branch of phonetics concerned with the ways in which speech
sounds are physically articulated.

aspirated
Articulated with an audible release of air (contrasted with
UNASPIRATED). Aspirated and voiceless articulations often occur
together, but are distinct phenomena. Voiced and voiceless refer to
the state of the vocal cords throughout the articulation of a
phoneme; aspirated and unaspirated refer to the final release stage
of plosion.

aspiration
Articulation accompanied by an audible release of air.
The fortis consonants /p, t, k /, when occurring initially in an
accented syllable, are accompanied by aspiration, i.e. there is a
voiceless interval of strongly expelled breath between the release of
the plosive and the onset of a following vowel. When /l, r, w, j/ follow
/p, t, k/ in such position, the aspiration is manifested in the devoicing
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 97
of /l, r, w, j /, e.g. please, pray, try, clean, twice, quick, pew, tune,
queue.

assimilate
Make or become more similar in articulation (to an adjacent sound)
(cause to) undergo assimilation. For example, in the word Tuesday
the opening sequence /tj/ can readily assimilate to /t/, in Did you?
/dj/ to /d/ and in What you? /tj/ to /t/.

assimilated
A speech sound which undergoes assimilation.

assimilating
A speech sound that changes one feature (e.g. voicing, labialization)
of a neighbouring sound.

assimilation
The effect on a speech sound of the articulation of other adjacent
sounds; a kind of COARTICULATION. This is a common feature of
speech, though one that many native speakers are unaware of. In
anticipatory assimilation (or regressive assimilation), the sound is
influenced in its articulation by the following sound and not
pronounced as it would be in isolation. For example, in some
peoples pronunciation of width the voiced /d/ has been assimilated
to /t/ by the following voiceless // and in some peoples
pronunciation of length, the velar // has been assimilated to /n/ by
the following dental //.
In current speech, assimilation frequently occurs across word
boundaries, as when that case becomes /k kes/ or this shop
becomes / p/ or ten more becomes /tem m:/.
A reverse type of assimilation (progressive assimilation) is found
when a sound is changed by the influence of a previous one. This is
an established and regular feature of the ending s of verbs and
nouns, which usually has a voiced /z/ sound (or /z/ after all sibilants)
but after voiceless sounds other than sibilants is /s/ (e.g. taps, hats,
docks, griefs, Keiths; compare tabs, heeds, dogs, grieves, youths,
eyes, seems, runs, dolls, pieces, daisies). Similarly, the past tense
/ed/ ending /d/ or /d/ is devoiced to a /t/ sound after a voiceless
consonant other than t itself (roped, lacked, busses, roofed,
pushed versus robed, lagged, buzzed, grooved, rouged, hated,
headed).

auditory phonetics
The study of speech sounds from the point of view of the listener,
concerned with the way the ears and brain process and perceive
speech sounds reaching them.

back
Of speech sound: made in the back part of the mouth.
Vowel sounds are traditionally classified into BACK, CENTRAL and
FRONT vowels, the back vowels being made with the tongue humped
towards the back of the mouth. Examples of back vowels are /u, u
:/.
Glossary
98 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
BBC English
Standard English, as supposedly spoken by professional BBC
broadcasters.
In its early days, the British Broadcasting Corporation encouraged a
standard non-regional educated accent among its broadcasters.
BBC English is now only one accent heard from newsreaders,
announcers and other programme presenters.

bilabial
Pronounced with the constriction of the two lips.
The English bilabials are /p/, /b/, and /m/, as in pan, ban and man.

bilateral
With the air released around both sides of the tongue.
A bilateral articulation is the normal articulation of LATERAL sounds
English. It contrasts with unilateral articulation, by which the air,
unusually, is released around one side only.

binary
Designating or relating to a pair o features in language which are
mutually exclusive, or the opposition between them.
The contrasts between nasal and non-nasal or voiced and voiceless
articulation are said to be binary oppositions or binary features.
Such features are sometimes marked with a plus or minus sign.
Thus /p/ is characterized as [-voice] and /b/ as [+voice].

blade
The tapering section of the front of the tongue, immediately behind
the tip. In describing how speech sounds are articulated it is useful
to label the speech organs in some detail. Tip, blade and sides
(rims) of the tongue articulate with the teeth in making the English
/th/ sounds, // as in theatre and // as in then.
Consonants primarily involving the blade of the tongue are /t/, /d/,
and /z/.

broad transcription
A systematic method of representing in a rather general way
(normally using the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet)
how spoken language sounds. A broad (phonemic) transcription is
generally felt to be the simplest to use, but a knowledge of the
allophonic system of the languages is needed if such transcription is
to be read aloud with even approximate accuracy. A phonetic
transcription omitting details that are judged to be inessential; hence
identical with, or close to, a representation of phonemes.

cardinal vowel
One of a standard set of 18 vowels, devised by the phonetician
Daniel Jones (1881 1967) as a basis for describing the vowels of
any language. The system is mainly physiological. The vowels are
described primarily in terms of tongue position, and the amount of
lip-rounding is specified. There are 8 primary vowels: 4 front vowels,
defined according to the height of the front of the tongue and 4 back
vowels*, where the height of the back of the tongue is relevant. The
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 99
8 secondary cardinal vowels have the same tongue positions, but
the lip-rounding or lip-spreading is different. Two further vowels are
identified as depending on the center of the tongue being raised.

central vowel
A vowel made with the center of the tongue raised towards the
middle of the roof of the mouth, where the hard and soft palates
meet. In standard English (PR) the central vowels are:
/ / the sound in hut, come, blood; :]
/:/ the sound in bird, nurse, worm;
// the sound at the beginning of ago and the end of mother;
// the sound in foot, put, wolf, could.

centring diphthong
A a diphthong that moves towards a central position for its second
element. Contrasted with CLOSING DIPHTHONG.
Standard RP has 3 centring diphthongs:
// as in dear, here, idea;
// as in tour, during;
/e/ as in fair, whare, stare.

close
Of a vowel: made with the tongue high in the mouth; contrasted with
OPEN.
In English /:/ as in feet or sea is a fairly close front vowel, and /u:/
as in food, group, move is a close back vowel. Close vowels are
sometimes called high vowels.

closing diphthong
A diphthong which glides towards a closer sound.
This includes all the diphthongs ending in // and //, and contrasts
with CENTRING DIPHTHONG.

closure
A closing of the air passage by some part of the vocal organs in the
production of certain speech sounds, also called constriction.
A complete closure is a feature of plosives, affricates and nasal.
Most other consonants are produced with incomplete or partial
closure.

coalescence
A process whereby two separate speech sounds merge to form a
single new phoneme. (Also called coalescent assimilation or
reciprocal assimilation).

coalescent
Participating in or resulting from coalescence.
These terms are particularly applied to the process (yod
coalescence) in which /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, merge with /j/ and become /t/,
/d/, //, / respectively.
In present day speech coalescent variants are heard in certain
words, e.g. intuition /ntju:()n/ or /ntu:()n/, grandeur /gr
Glossary
100 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
ndj/ or /grnd/, duel /dju:l/ or /du:l/, and across word
boundaries, e.g. /kdu:/ as an alternative to /kdju:/ for Could
you?
Except where historically established, coalescence tends to be
regarded as colloquial or non-standard.

connected speech
Speech without pauses between words.
In normal speech several words are usually run together in a single
TONE UNIT. This affects the pronunciation of speech sounds, and
results in words being said differently from the way they would be
said in isolation.

consonant
A speech sound that is characterized by constriction in some part of
the mouth and is accompanied by audible friction.
The commonly accepted use of the term consonant is potentially
ambiguous. Most consonants are defined in articulatory terms, but
also share the linguistic or phonological characteristics of being
marginal to a syllable. Some speech sounds, however, overlap the
two categories of vowel and consonant. Southern British /l/ and /r/
have vowel-like articulations, but are usually syllable-marginal; /m/
and /n/ can be either marginal (e.g. man) or syllabic (e.g. frighten);
/w/ and /j/ (the initial sounds in wet and yet) are phonetically vowel-
like but phonologically consonant-like are classified as SEMI-VOWELS
(or semi-consonants).
There are 22 consonants in standard English (RP): 6 PLOSIVES; 9
FRICATIVES; 2 AFFRICATES; 3 NASALS; 1 LABIAL; 1 FRICTIONLESS
CONTINUANT.

consonant cluster
A series of consonants, occurring at the beginning or end of a
syllable and pronounced together without any intervening vowels.
Also called consonant sequence.
English has some quite complicated consonant clusters. Initial
clusters can have up to 3 consonants, if the cluster begins with s
(e.g. spread, splendid, street, squint /skwnt/.
Two-consonants clusters are much more usual, but only some
combinations can occur. Initial clusters are heard in beauty /bju:t/,
quite /kwat/, shred /red/, through / ru:/, view /vju:/.
Final clusters can contain as many as 4 consonants, because of
inflectional endings, e.g. texts /teksts/, twelfths /twelfs/, glimpsed
/glmpst/.

continuant
A speech sound made without a complete closure of the vocal
organs.
All vowels are by this definition among the continuants, but use of
the term is often restricted to the classification of sounds with a
consonantal role. The continuants of English therefore include the
fricatives, the lateral /l/, the semi-vowels and /r/ - i.e., all the
consonants except the plosives and affricates, which involve total
closure (the nasal may or may not be included).
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 101
contrastive stress
Stress used to avoid a misinterpretation.

dental
Produced with the constriction of the tongue against the teeth.
A consonant made with the tongue coming in contact with the teeth.
The English dental consonants are the voiceless fricative // as in
thick and thin and the voiced fricative // as in this, them.

denasalization
Change or process by which a sound is no longer nasal or
nasalized.

devoiced
English voiced sounds are often partly devoiced under the influence
of surrounding sounds. Thus the voiced plosives /b/, /d/, and /g/ are
normally devoiced or may even be completely voiceless in word-final
position. Similarly, voiced fricatives tend to be partly devoiced
except when occurring between voiced sounds; and /l/, /r/, /w/ and /j/
are usually devoiced when following initial voiceless sounds, as in
please, tray, twice, queue /kju:/.

digraph
A group of 2 letters representing one sound, as ph in phone, or ey in
key.

diphthong
A vowel that changes its quality within the same single syllable.
(Also called gliding vowel).
The English diphthongs in modern standard RP are:
- 3 that glide towards an // sound from different starting points:
/ei/ as in day, late, rain, weigh, hey, great;
/ai/ as in time, cry, high, height, die, dye, aisle, eider;
as in boy, voice;
- 2 that glides towards /u/:
/u/ as in so, road, toe, soul, know;
/au/ as in house, now;
- 3 that glides towards //:
/e/ as in care, wear, their, there;
/u/ as in pure, during, tourist;
// as in dear, here, weird, idea.
A diphthong gliding to a closer sound (i.e. one ending in // or // in
English) is called a CLOSING DIHPTHONG; a diphthong finishing at /e/
is called CENTRING DIPHTHONG.

distinctive feature
A characteristic of a speech sound within the phonology of the
language that distinguishes it from another speech sound.
For example, the set of sounds /p/, /t/, /t can be distinguished
from the set /b/, /d/, /d/ and /z/ by the feature [voice]. Other
distinctive features of the English consonants refer to orality (-nasal)
/ nasality (+nasal), plosiveness, labiality, etc.
Glossary
102 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
distribution
The set of contexts in which a linguistic unit characteristically occurs.
Every speech sound and every word or phrase is limited in some
way as to the contexts in which it can occur, and the set of such
contexts is its distribution. Thus the English phoneme /p/ can occur
in initial consonants clusters such as /pl/ (e.g. please), /pr/ (e.g.
praise) and /pj/ (e.g. pew), but not is in /pf/ or /pw/.

duration
The linguistic length of a speech sound, as perceived by the
listener.

elision
The omission of a speech sound or syllable.
Two broad types of elision may be distinguished:
(a) elided word forms that are long-established, where the spelling
frequently reflects the earlier, fuller pronunciation;
(b) forms heard today in colloquial or rapid speech but where
unelided forms are also current.
Long-established elisions include the reduction of some consonants
clusters initially: gnome, knight, wrong; medially: listen, whistle,
sandwich; and finally: hymn, lamb along with the loss of vowels and
syllables, as in Gloucester, Salisbury, Wednesday.
In present-day speech, consonants within clusters often undergo
elision (e.g. facts, handbag, twelfth), but elision of weak vowels is
particularly frequent, with the result that whole syllables may be lost:
fact(o)ry, cam(e)ra, nat(u)ral, batch(e)lor, fam(i)ly, med(i)cine,
p(o)lice, Febr(uar)ry.

emphatic stress
Stress used to draw attention to a word or utterance. For example,
in the utterance Mary has two cars, by placing extra stress on two, a
speaker can express surprise or definiteness.

fall
(n) In the intonation of a syllable or longer utterance, a nuclear pitch
change from (relatively) high to (relatively low); contrasted with a
RISE.
Phoneticians distinguished various kinds of falls, such as the high
fall [ ], starting near the normal high limit of the voice and the low
fall[], with a lower start

falling
Of a diphthong: having most of the length and stress in the first part
of the glide. In English diphthongs, the stress-pulse is a
decrescendo one, starting rather strong and then fading away. A
decrescendo diphthong like this is often called a falling diphthong
because of the fact that the stress falls away from a peak near the
beginning of the diphthong.
Most English diphthongs are normally articulated in this way, and
falling diphthongs is the normal label.
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 103
fall-rise
A tone in which the pitch falls and then rises again [ ]
This tone is frequently heard in RP English. It has various
conversational functions, but often suggests reservation or only
partial agreement (yes, but)
A: Did you enjoy the film? B: Yes

fixed stress
The regular occurrence of stress on the same syllable in each word
of a language contrasted with FREE stress.
English is not a fixed-stress language and in this, it contrasts with
some languages where the stress is fairly predictable. For example,
in Polish, polysyllabic words are usually stressed on the penultimate
syllable. However, the stress in individual words in English is largely
fixed so that deviant stressing can lead to misunderstanding or
incomprehension (e.g. Contrast im portant and impotent).

flap
A consonant sound in which flexible speech organ makes a
momentary contact with a firmer surface.
This is a manner of articulation. In British English the voiced
frictionless continuant /r/ is sometimes replaced by an alveolar flap
[], with the tip of the tongue articulating against the alveolar ridge.
This sound is commonly used in American English where t or d
occur between vowels so that the t and d may sound identical, as in
latter and ladder.

flapping
A process in which a dental or alveolar consonant is changed into a
flap, that is a sound articulated with the tip of the tongue placed
against the alveolar ridge.

fortis
A consonant sound made with relatively strong breath force.
In English the voiceless plosives and fricatives (/p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /s/,
etc.) tend to be made with stronger muscular effort and breath, force
than their voiced counterparts. Such consonants are therefore said
to be fortis consonants and to be pronounced with a fortis
articulation.

free variation
The possibility of substituting one phoneme for another without
causing any change of meaning. Sounds which contrast with each
other in such a way that meaning is affected (i.e., distinct
phonemes) cannot normally be interchanged. But in some words
two normally contrasting phonemes are both acceptable and are
therefore said to be in free variation.
Among British speakers, a majority are said to prefer the word ate to
be pronounced /et/ to rhyme with met, but a large minority favour the
pronunciation/eit/ like eight. The two pronunciations are there in free
variation.
Glossary
104 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
fricative
A consonant sound articulated by two speech organs coming so
close together that it is pronounced with audible friction.
A fricative (sometimes called friction consonant) may be voiceless or
voiced. There are four pairs of voiceless and voiced fricatives in RP,
plus the voiceless /h/.The pairs are: /f/-/v/, //-//, /s/-/z/, //- //.

frictionless continuant
A continuant speech sound lacking friction.
A frictionless continuant is neither a fricative nor a stop. In a very
broad use, the term could be applied to vowels. Among consonants,
several phonemes in RP can be so labelled:
The nasals/m/, /n/, and //
The lateral /l/
The semi-vowels /w/ and /j/

front
(n.) The forward part of the tongue (but not the tip).
(adj.) Related to the front part of the mouth
Standard RP English distinguishes 4 front vowels, so called because
they are articulated with the front part of the tongue higher than any
other part: /I, /.

function word
A word generally unstressed that expresses a primarily grammatical
relation; for example prepositions, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions,
articles, pronouns.

General American (GA)
An accent of English used in the United States that lacks the marked
regional characteristics of the north-east (New England, New York
State) and the south-east (the Southern States). It corresponds to
the laymans perception of an American accent without marked
regional characteristics. It is sometimes referred to as Network
English, being the variety most acceptable on the television
networks covering the whole United States.

generative phonology
A theory about the sound system of language, developed as a major
part of generative grammar.
Instead of treating phonetics as a separate, almost independent,
layer of language, generative phonology seeks to show, for
example, that stress patterns depend on knowledge of syntax, and
at word level to explain relationships difficult to account for in a
strictly phoneme-based analysis.

glide
A gradually changing speech sound made in passing from one
position of speech organs to another.

glottal
Produced with the constriction of the glottis, i.e. the space between
the vocal cords. For example, /h/ in hay. The /h/ sound of English is
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 105
made in the glottis and is commonly classified as a voiceless glottal
fricative. Some speakers use a voiced variant of this sound when it
occurs between voiced sounds, e.g. in words such as perhaps,
ahoy, ahead. Whispered speech is also produced with considerably
narrowed glottis.

glottis
The opening between the vocal cords at the upper end of the
windpipe.

grapheme
A written symbol made up of one or more letters that represents a
phoneme, as f, ph and gh for the phoneme /f/. In a phonological
orthography a grapheme corresponds to one phoneme. In spelling
systems that are non-phonemic, such as the spellings used most
widely for written English, multiple graphemes may represent a
single phoneme.

Great Vowel Shift
A series of changes in late Middle English, by which close long
vowels became diphthongs and other long vowels shifted one step
closer. Thus, in the front series, [:] >[:] ], :] > [], [] > [i:], [i:]
> [a]; Often interpreted as a unitary phenomenon; hence as a
classic example of a chain shift.
It is in consequence of these and other changes that [e] in name
(formerly [:]) is spelled a, or [a] in shine (formerly [i:]) spelled i.
They are also the main factor in the development of vowel
alternation between long [e] and short [a] (in sane/sanity), long [a]
and short [] (divine/divinity), and so on.

half-close
Of a vowel; articulated in the second highest of the 4 levels of
tongue position, i.e. CLOSE, HALF-CLOSE, HALF OPEN AND OPEN.
In RP, the front vowel /i/ as in sit, symbol, pretty, build, women, is
slightly higher than half close as is the vowel // heard in put,
woman, good and could.
The front vowel /e/, the vowel of bed, head, many, friend, and bury,
lies somewhere in between half-close and half-open, as also(in RP)
does the back vowel /*:/ of horse, saw, ought, all, door.

half-open
Of a vowel: articulated with the tongue above open(low) position,
but lower, than half-close according to the cardinal vowel system.
The English central vowel // of sun, son, country, blood, and does
is articulated somewhere near a half-open position. The front vowel
//, as in cat, plait, lies somewhere between half-open and full-open
in RP.

haplology
The omission of a sound sequence (especially a syllable) when
followed by another similar sound or sequence, as when fifth is
pronounced /fi/ rather than /fif/, library as /laibri/ or /laibrri/ or
deteriorate as /ditrrieit/ rather than /ditiri,reit/.
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106 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
The phenomenon is more often dealt with today under the more
general concept of ELISION.

head
The pre-nuclear part of an intonation pattern starting from and
including the first accented syllable and extending to the nucleus
e.g. I thought it was awful.

hard palate
The part of the roof of the mouth lying behind the ALVEOLAR ridge
but in front of the soft palate (or VELUM.)
The term is used in articulatory phonetics to classify consonant
sounds.

height
The degree of elevation of the tongue towards the roof of the mouth,
as one of the several features determining the articulation of vowels.
In the cardinal vowel system, the height of the tongue is described in
terms of four equidistant levels. When part of the tongue is raised as
near to the roof of the mouth as possible without friction(which would
make sound a consonant) it is a High (or Close) position, with
resulting height or close vowels; when the whole tongue is lowered,
LOW (or OPEN)vowels are produced. Between these two extremes
are tongue heights called HALF-CLOSE and HALF-OPEN.

heterophone
(syn. homograph) A word having a different sound from another
which is spelt the same. Since a certain similarity is the reason for
considering two words together as some sort of pair e.g. lead (cause
to go) and lead (metal) or row (a quarrel), and row (a line of things
next to each other) an alternative term would be HOMOGRAPH, or -
more loosely - HOMONYM.

hiatus
(Chiefly in historical linguistics). A break between two vowels coming
together in different syllables, as in: cooperate, Goyaesque,
guffawing, realing.

high
1. Of a vowel: produced with (part of) the tongue raised relatively
close to the roof of the mouth. The term is used in the articulatory
description of the vowels. Thus /I:/ as in heat is a HIGH(or CLOSE)
front vowel, in contrast to LOW (or OPEN) // as in hat.
2. (In intonation) Of pitch: produced by relatively rapid vibrations of
the vocal cords, as in a high level pitch

high-fall
A tone which starts near the highest pitch of the individual speakers
voice and glides to the lowest. [] [`]

high-rise
A tone in which the voice raises from a medium to a high pitch [] [].
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 107
historical elision
Elision that took place at an earlier stage in the history of the language

homograph
A word that is spelt the same (Greek homos same) as another but
has a different meaning and origin. Another term, emphasizing the
different pronunciation is heterophone: sow bury seed, sow
female pig.

homophone
(syn. heterograph) A word that is pronounced the same as another.
The term is usually used of partial HOMONYMS which are
distinguished by both meaning and spelling. Another term,
emphasizing the difference of spelling is heterograph. Examples are:
feat feet; no know; none nun; stare stair.
Some English pairs are homophones in some accents but not in
others, e.g.: saw sore; pore - pour , wine - whine. If in fact the two
words in a pair are both pronounced and spelt the same, the usual
term is HOMONYM.

homophone
A word that has the same pronunciation as another, but is different
in meaning and origin. If the spelling is also different, then it is
referred to as heterograph: buy, by, Bye.

initial
In phonology, word-or syllable- initial contrasts with MEDIAL and
FINAL position, since the position of a phoneme conditions its
pronunciation. See ALLOPHONE. Among English phonemes, /h/ can
only be syllable-(or word)- initial. The Scottish, Irish and General
American pronunciation of wh- in many words is actually the
sequence /hw/, as in when /hwen/, /hwen/.

intensity
The amount of energy used in the production of a speech sound.
Intensity is a measurable physical phenomenon. The vibrating vocal
cords set of patterns of air vibrations that can be objectively
measured. Intensity is related to LOUDNESS, but is not the same.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
The official phonetic transcription system of The International
Phonetic Association. This system of written symbols is designed to
enable the speech sounds of any language to be consistently
represented. Both the alphabet and the association are abbreviated
IPA.

intervocalic
Between two vowels. The pronunciation of a consonant, when it
occurs between two vowels, may differ from its pronunciation in
other contexts. For example the voiced plosives (/b/, /d/, /g/) will
probably be fully voiced in this position but are not always so in
other contexts.
Glossary
108 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
intonation
The pitch variations and patterns in spoken language.
Intonation plays a part in speech not unlike punctuation in the written
language.

intonation language
Language where pitch conveys meaning at the phrasal or clausal
level (e.g. English, Japanese).

intrusive /r/
The pronunciation of an /r/ sound between two words or syllables in
sequence, where the first ends in a vowel sound, and the second
begins with one and where there is no /r/ in the spelling. Intrusive /r/
is much criticized but is quite commonly heard in standard R P and
other NON-RHOTIC accents. It occurs after the vowels /e/ (e.g.
umbrella-r-organization), /:/ (e.g. a milieu-r-in which), /:/ (E.g.
grandpa-r-is ill),/ :/ e.g. law.

juncture
The transition between two words or syllables and the phonetic
features that mark it.

labial
A speech sound involving the active use of one or both lips. The
term is a rather general one. The lips are of course passively
involved in all speech sounds, but the term labial is confined to
those in which one or both lips actually contribute to the articulation.
English labial consonants are usually more specifically described as
bilabial or labio-dental. With respect to vowels, the position of the
lips is usually described in terms of lip-rounding or lip-spreading.

labialize
Accompany (a speech sound) with lip-rounding, particularly where
this is an unusual (and optional) feature. The term is applied
particularly where an articulation involves an unusual degree of lip-
rounding which is not a requirement of the phonology. For example,
speakers of standard RP English commonly labialize /r/ if the
following vowel has some lip-rounding, e.g. in rude or roar; it is far
less usual to labialize /r/ before unrounded vowels (e.g. in rat, right).
The pronunciation of /r/ with no lip-rounding, and with no articulation
of the forward part of the tongue, leads to the noticeable substitution
of a /w/ sound.

labio-dental
Pronounced with the constriction of the lower lip against the upper
front teeth. English has two labio-dental phonemes, the voiceless
and voiced pair of fricatives: /f/ as in fine, photograph, enough; /v/ as
in vine, nephew, of. Other phonemes sometimes have a labio-dental
realization as a result of assimilation. For example, the bilabial stops
/p/ and /b/ can become labio-dental under the influence of a
following labio-dental sound (e.g. in hopeful, observe).
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 109
labio-velar
A speech sound articulated at the velum and accompanied by some
lip-rounding. The English sounds /w/, as in won, one, why, quick,
suite, is classified as a labio-velar semivowel.

larynx
The hollow muscular organ situated in the upper part of the trachea
(the windpipe).

lateral
Produced by a deformation of the tongue so that the air stream flows
over its size, as in [l] in low. In RP there is a single lateral phoneme,
/l/ which is usually voiced and non-fricative. The tip of the tongue
articulates with the centre of the alveolar ridge, and air escapes at
the side. Being a continuant, /l/ has some vowel-like qualities and is
often syllabic (e.g. in apple, final, camel). It is, however, normally
classified as a consonant.

lateral plosion
Release of a stop consonant at the side of the tongue. (Also called
lateral release). When English /t/ or /d/ is followed by /l/, as in cattle,
muddle, the alveolar stop can be released laterally instead of the
usual way. This is known as a lateral plosion.

lax
Articulated with less effort than is normal: contrasted with tense. Lax
voice and tense voice are used by some phoneticians as middle
terms among several others to describe different degrees of glottal
stricture. Lax and tense are among the BINARY contrasts held in one
theory of phonology to be among features of vowels.

lexical stress
Type of stress which refers to the accentual patterns of words. It is
also called word stress or word accent.

lenis
A consonant sound made with relatively weak breath force. In
English, voiced plosives and fricatives (e.g. /b/, /d/, //) tend to be
made with less muscular effort and less breath force than their
voiceless counterparts. They are therefore called lenis consonants.

linking /r/
The pronunciation of a written word-final r as /r/ when the next word
begins with a vowel. In standard RP a written word-final r is not
pronounced before a pause or a fallowing consonant sound.
However it is usually pronounced when the following word begins
with a vowel (as in Here it is or far away).

lip position
The configuration of the lips during the articulation of a speech
sound. Each English vowel has its own characteristic lip position,
and these are variously described. One binary distinction is between
rounded and unrounded. Other terms used are spread, neutral,
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110 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
close-rounded and open-rounded. English /i:/ (as in bead) is usually
said with lip-spreading; /a:/ (as in hard) is pronounced with the lips
neutrally open; while /u:/ (as in boot) is a rounded vowel, said with
lip-rounding.

liquid
A cover term for /l/ and /r/ in English.

loudness
A perceptual category, along with pitch, sound quality, and length, in
terms of which speech sounds are heard. Loudness is primarily
related to intensity, but the two are to be distinguished. Intensity is
the speakers physical effort used in producing a speech sound and
is objectively measurable. Loudness is a matter of the listeners
perception which is affected by factors such as pitch of voice and
length.

low
Low fall [] or [ ] low rise [] or [ ].
1. Of a vowel: produced with the tongue raised only a small degree
towards the roof of the mouth. Also called OPEN. Contrasted with
HIGH (or CLOSE). The sound // as in RP hat is a low front vowel,
and /:/ as in hard and heat is a low back vowel.
2. (In intonation) Of pitch: produced by relatively slow vibrations of
the vocal cords. A low fall glides from a mid pitch to the lowest pitch
of the speakers voice, while a low rise extends from a low pitch to
somewhere about the middle range.

manner of articulation
The method by which a speech sound is made, described in terms
of the degree or type of closure of the speech organs.
Manner of articulation, along with PLACE OF ARTICULATION, forms a
major part of the framework used in describing the production of
speech sounds, particularly consonants. According to the manner of
articulation or the type of closure made by the vocal organs,
consonants may be classified as: PLOSIVES, AFFRICATES, FRICATIVES,
NASALS, LATERALS, FLAPS and SEMIVOWELS.

minimal pair
Two words that sound alike in all but one feature, e.g. bin versus fin.

monophthong
A vowel in which there is no change in the position of the vocal
organs during articulation. English monophthongs are usually
referred to as PURE VOWELS.

monophthongize
Change in vowel quality from a diphthong to a monophthong.

morphophonology
The study of the permitted combinations of phonemes within
morphemes and of the phonemic variation which phonemes
undergo in combination with one another.
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 111
mutation
(Especially in historical linguistics) A change in a phoneme in a
particular word context under the influence of adjacent sounds.
In the history of English, the most important form of mutation was i-
mutation (or i/j- mutation umlaut). In English, the results of this
mutation can be seen in:
(a) the plurals of seven nouns (foot, goose, louse, man, mouse,
tooth, woman) which are sometimes called mutation plurals.
(b) The comparative and superlative elder, eldest
(c) Derivate verbs such as bleed (beside blood), fill (beside full),
heal (beside whole) etc.
(d) Derivate nouns such as breadth (beside broad), length (beside
long), filth (beside foul), etc.
This cannot be considered to have a live functional role in modern
English, however.

narrow transcription
A method of representing the sounds of spoken language in fine
detail. Contrasted with Broad Transcription. A narrow transcription
gives a much more accurate indication of actual speech sounds but
more symbols and diacritics. The word tall in a broad transcription
could appear as /t:l/. A narrow transcription would show, for
example, that the t is aspirated and that the /l/ is dark.

nasal
A speech sound made with an audible escape of air through the
nose while the soft palate is lowered. English has three nasals, all
of which are consonant phonemes: bilabial /m/ as in more, whim,
alveolar /n/ as in no, win, velar // represented by ng in wing and n
in wink (and never world-initial in English).

nasalize
Articulate with the air escaping through the nose rather than, as
would be usual, through the mouth.

nasalization
English vowels can become nasalized under the influence of
adjoining nasal consonants, e.g. in manning or meaning.

nasal plosion
Or nasal release refers to the release of a normally oral plosive
through the nose, usually under the influence of a following nasal.
Thus nasal plosion may sometimes be heard in such words as:
one-upmanship, submerge, cotton, not now, wooden.

nasal twang
A colloquial term used for the accent of an individual speaker in
which sounds are more nasal than in the average speakers voice.

neutral
Of the position of the lips: neither SPREAD nor ROUNDED. The term is
often used in describing the articulation of vowels. Although vowel
quality is largely dependent on the height of the tongue, vowel
Glossary
112 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
sounds are affected by lip position. Spread and neutral are
sometimes lumped together as unrounded, but the two may be
distinguished. Compare the typically spread lips required for English
/i:/ in meet, seed with the more neutral li position in mat or sad.

nucleus
The obligatory element of an intonation pattern consisting of the
accented syllable of the most important word in an utterance.
Nucleuses are analyzed into various types such as fall, rise , fall-
rise, rise-fall , and these are further distinguished as high fall, low
fall, etc. In a clause or sentence said unemphatically, the nucleus
(nuclear pitch) occurs on the last accented syllable.(e.g. what are
you doing?)

onomatopaeia
The formation of the word with sounds imitative of the thing which
they refer to: the use of such a word e.g. cuckoo, cock-a-doodle-do,
neigh, miaow.
The term is sometimes extended to cover words in which a sound is
felt to be appropriate to some aspect of meaning, although the
words do not necessarily denote sounds or sources of sound. The
combination sl- often occurring in words with unpleasant
connotations, is sometimes cited as an example of such secondary
onomatopoeia (e.g. slag, slattern, slaver, sleazy, slime, slop,
sluggard, slurp, slut). Other terms for onomatopoeia are
PHONAESTHESIA and SOUND SYMBOLISM.

open
Of a vowel: made with the tongue low in the mouth, and the mouth
somewhat open. (Also called LOW). Contrasted with CLOSE.
English RP // as in hat is the most open front vowel; /:/ as in
father, car, heart, clerk, half, is the most open back vowel. Compare
HALF-OPEN.

oral
Of a speech sound: articulated with the velum raised. All normal
English sounds, except for the three nasal consonants, have oral
escape or release that is, the air is expelled through the mouth,
and there is no nasal resonance.

organ of speech
A part of the mouth and adjoining organs involved in the production
of speech sounds: e.g. the lips, alveolar ridge, soft palate, larynx,
etc.

palatal
Produced with constriction of the front of the tongue against the hard
palate, as for /j/ in ewe. The term tends to be restricted to
consonants. British (RP)English has one distinctly palatal phoneme,
the sound /j/ which is heard at the beginning of yes/jes/ or useful
/ju:sf()l/ and before the vowel in cure /kj/ .This sound is
commonly classified as a SEMI-VOWEL, approximant or frictionless
continuant rather than as a full consonant.
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 113

palatalization
A rather common process in which the phoneme /j/ causes a
preceding phoneme to be articulated in the palatal region.
Palatalization may occur across word boundaries or within a word:
/d/+/j/ -> /d (e.g. did you); /t/+ /j/ -> /t/ (e.g. hit you); /z/+ /j/ -> //
(e.g. please you); /s/ /+ /j/ -> // (e.g. issue).

palatalize
Make (a sound) palatal by articulating it with the FRONT of the tongue
raised towards the hard palate. Use of this term is mainly confined to
secondary articulations, that is, to speech sounds where this
articulatory feature is secondary to the position of the speech
organs. This is in fact an essential part of four English phonemes
which also have an alveolar articulation. (i.e. /d, t, z, s/)

palate
The roof of the mouth. In the articulatory description of speech
sounds the upper surface of the mouth behind the alveolar ridge is
divided into the bony HARD PALATE and the soft palate or VELUM.

palato-alveolar.
Designating a speech-sound in which the TIP (or TIP and BLADE) of
the tongue articulates with the alveolar ridge, while at the same time
the FRONT of the tongue (the part behind the tip and the blade) is
raised towards the hard palate.
English has two pairs of palato-alveolar consonants consisting of
one voiced and one voiceless consonant each.
- the palato-alveolar affricates: /t/ as in church, nature
/d/ as in judge, general
- the palato-alveolar fricatives: // as in shop, machine, sugar
// as in prestige.

pause
A break in speaking.
Connected speech is more of a continuum than written language
suggests by its spaces between words. Pauses do however occur in
speech; obviously for breathing and also for communicative reasons
at grammatical boundaries. Various efforts have been made to
incorporate an analysis of pauses into a theory of speech.

pharyngeal
Of speech sounds: articulated with the roof of the tongue pulled
back in the pharynx, the cavity behind the nose and the mouth
connecting them to the oesophagus.
There are no pharyngeal consonant phonemes in standard English.
The English vowel /:/ can be described as pharyngeal; but place of
articulation is not usually part of the description of the vowels, and
so this vowel is normally described simply as an open back vowel.

pharyngealize
Articulate (a speech sound) with the roof of the tongue retracted so
as to obstruct the air-stream at the pharynx.
Glossary
114 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
phonemic principle
Principle that points to a direct letter-to-phoneme correspondence as
in fog, got, did, pen, fit, lest, etc.

phonotactics
That part of phonology which comprises or deals with the rules
governing the possible phoneme sequence of a particular language.

pitch
The relative height of the tone with which a sound or syllable is
pronounced. Acoustically, the height of the human voice depends on
the rapidity of the vibrations of the vocal cords.
Various typical pitch changes/pitch patterns or tones have been
identified, e.g. fall, rise and level.
In tone languages, identical syllables with different patterns or tones
form words with totally different meanings. In non-tone languages
(e.g. English and most other European languages), basic word
meaning is not affected by pitch variations (though emotional
attitudes may be distinguished) and intonation patterns are studied
over sequences of words.

place of articulation.
(A part of) one of the vocal organs primarily involved in the
production of a particular speech sound. Place of articulation, along
with MANNER of articulation, is a major part of the framework for
describing the production of speech sounds, especially. For this
purpose, the vocal organs are diagrammatically divided up and the
places labeled, as BILABIAL, LABIO-DENTAL, ALVEOLAR, PALATAL
VELAR, UVULAR, PHARYNGEAL, and GLOTTAL. Place of articulation is
less satisfactory as a parameter for vowels, which are more
dependent on tongue-height, lip-rounding, etc.

plosion
Sudden expulsion of air as the final stage of a PLOSIVE; the release
stage.

plosive
(A consonant sound) that has total closure at some place in the
vocal organs, followed by a `hold` or compression stage and a third
and final release stage. (Also called stop or stop consonant) The
English plosives consist of three pairs of sounds (each pair a
corresponding voiceless and voiced sound): /p/ and /b/ as in poor
,bore, tap, tab (bilabial plosives) /t/ and /d/ as in true, drew; cat, cad
(alveolar plosives) /k/ and /g/ as in cold, gold; whack, wag (velar
plosives).

postvocalic
Of a consonant: occurring after a vowel. The articulation of a
phoneme is affected by its phonetic context, which may condition
the use of different allophones. Thus in RP, a postvocalic /l/ followed
by silence or another consonant is always dark.
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 115
prehead
That part of a tone (tone unit) consisting of the unaccented syllables
before the head e.g. I thought it was awful.

primary stress
The principal stress in a word. Primary stress (or primary accent)
(marked with a superior vertical bar preceding the relevant syllable
['] contrasts with secondary stress (marked with an inferior vertical
bar [,] and even tertiary stress. The difference can be heard in long
words, (e.g. polytechnic, appetizing) which have their own basic
patterns, even though the pattern may be modified by the overall
intonation of the utterance in which it occurs.
Primary stress is always on a syllable where pitch change can
potentially occur.

progressive assimilation
Assimilation in which elements are changed to match features of
elements that precede them: e.g. the ending s is voiced /z/ in
words like sees /si:z/, but in writes or weeps it is assimilated to the
preceding voiceless consonant: /rats/, /wi:ps/.

prominence
The perceived importance or conspicuousness of speech sounds.
What the listener perceives as `loudness` may be due to other
factors, such as stress, pitch, phoneme quality and duration rather
than simply greater volume sound.

prosodic
Of phonetic features: extending beyond individual phonemes. (Also
called suprasegmental).

prosody
A phonological feature having as its domain more than one
segment.
Prosodies, in some models, seem to be synonymous with the class
of supra-segmental features such as intonation, stress, and juncture.

pure vowel
A vowel made without a glide: contrasted with DIPHTONG.
It is not in fact possible for a vowel to be held without any movement
for the speech organs involved, but some vowels change relatively
little during articulation.
English (RP) has twelve pure vowels:
/i:/ see, me, wheat, piece, machine,
/I/ fit, pretty, private, build,
/e/ bed, head, many,
// pan, plain,
/:/ far, bath, heart, clerk, calm, aunt,
// dog, what, cough, sausage,
/:/ force, saw, bought, daughter,
/u:/ food, who, soup, rude, blue, chew,
// put, woman, good, could,
// hut, son, enough, blood, does,
Glossary
116 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
/:/ bird, earn, turn, word, journal,
// [always unstressed] ago, mother,

quality
The distinguished characteristic(s) of a sound.
The distinctive features of a sound, which make it recognizable as a
particular phoneme, constitute its sound quality, which is distinct
from such features as length, pitch or loudness. Hence the
difference between two phonemes (e.g. between the vowels of pat
and part) can be said to be a QUALITATIVE difference.

quantity
The relative time taken in the articulation of speech sounds. This is
length as perceived by the listener.

Received Pronunciation
The pronunciation of that variety of British English widely considered
to be least regional, being originally used by educated speakers in
southern England. (Also called Received Standard English.
Abbreviated RP). The use of Received in the context of
pronunciation variety was initiated by the phonetician A. J. Ellis
(1869); the term Received Pronunciation was given pedagogical and
quasi-academic status in the studies and dictionaries of the
phonetician Daniel Jones (1881-1967).

resonance
Transmission of air vibration in the vocal tract. The significance of
this term is that resonance at different frequencies in the vocal tract
help give speech sounds, and particularly vowels, their distinct and
characteristic patterns.

retroflex
Articulated with the tip of the tongue turned back behind the alveolar
ridge. A retroflex articulation is characteristic of the pronunciation of
the phoneme /r/ in many accents of English (e.g. in Ireland), though
not generally in RP. In some rhotic accents (that is where a
postvocalic /r/ is pronounced in such words as birth, heard, term)
anticipatory retroflexion may affect the vowel, making it an r-
coloured vowel. Alternatively, such words may be articulated with a
single vowel sound. Retroflexed /t/ and /d/ are characteristic of the
pronunciation of some Indian speakers.

reversal
A slip of the tongue in which two words or two phonetic segments
are interchanged.

rhotic
Designating a pronunciation in which the consonant sound /r/ has
not been lost before another consonant or a pause. (Also called r-
pronouncing, r-full). In Scottish, Irish, General American and a
number of regional English accents /r/ is pronounced before a
consonant (as in bird, are fine) and in final position before a pause
(e.g. Thats not fair!).
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 117
rhythm
The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in language.

rim
The edge of the tongue, in particular the sides (excluding the tip).
The term is used in describing the pronunciation of the lateral /l/.

rise
In the intonation of a syllable or longer utterance, a nuclear pitch
change from relatively low to relatively high. Various kinds of rise are
distinguished, such as the low rise [,], starting near the bottom of an
individual speakers pitch range and the high rise [`], starting higher
and, of course, going higher still.

rise-fall
A tone in which the pitch rises and then falls [^]. This tone often
conveys feelings of surprise, approval or disapproval.

rising
Of a diphthong having most of the length and stress, the greater
prominence on the second element. This type of diphthong is
unusual in English.

roll
An articulation characterized by a series of rapid closure or taps of
the tongue (or the uvula) (also called trill). Articulate (the sound /r/)
with a roll. The /r/ phoneme, normally, a frictionless continuant in
RP, is sometimes pronounced with a lingual roll (rapid taps of the
tongue against the back of the tongue).

schwa
The name of the most frequent vowel phoneme in English, the
weak unstressed vowel // that frequently occurs in small function
words like the, and and for, especially in running speech.

secondary
Designating the next most important stress after the primary stress.

secondary stress
Type of stress that involves less energy and is heard as less loud.
than primary stress: microcomputer /maIkrkm,pju:t/ (primary,
secondary), anti-aircraft /;ntiekr:ft/ (secondary, primary)

segment
The term is particularly used in descriptions of speech and the
analysis of a language into phonemes.

segmental
Referring to phonemes, i.e. consonants and vowels

semi-vowel
A speech sound produced in the same way as a vowel but unable to
form a syllable on its own, as /w/ in way. A sound which is
Glossary
118 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
phonetically vowel-like because it is a glide but phonologically
consonant-like in being marginal to a syllable. In English, the
phonemes /j/ as in you, use, view, and /w/ as in way, suave, choir,
are semi-vowels.

sentence stress
Type of stress which refers to the way in which some words in an
utterance are stressed and others not. In general, lexical words
(nouns, verbs, etc) are stressed, and form words (articles,
prepositions, etc.) are not. Strictly speaking, this kind of stress is not
a characteristic of the sentence but of the tone unit.

sibilant
(A speech sound) made with a hissing effect. Sibilant describes an
auditory quality, a hissing perceived by the listener. In English, four
fricatives phonemes are sibilants: /z/ as in zoo, rise, dessert // as in
ship, chute, issue, ocean; // as in genre, mirage, vision, leisure plus
the AFFRICATES /t/ and /d/. They contrast with non-sibilant
fricatives.

silent
Designating a letter in the written form of a word which is not
sounded in speech.
Given the vagaries of English spelling, many letters could be said to
be silent in certain conditions. The term however tends to be applied
particularly to silent e, as in done, infinite, corpse, have (although in
many cases, such as hope, rate as compared with hop, rat. Final e
in fact indicates the pronunciation of the preceding vowel - it is
childrens magic e.

sonorant
(A sound) produced with the vocal organs so positioned that
spontaneous voicing is possible; a vowel, a glide, or a liquid or nasal
consonant.

sound symbolism
A (fancied) representative relationship between the sound making
up a word and its meaning. Various kinds of sound and meaning
correlations are said to exist; specialized terms include
ONOMATOPOEIA (e.g. chiffchaff- warbler whose song alternates a
higher and a lower note) ICONICITY, PHONASTHESIA, etc.

sound system
The phonemic system of a language.

speech chain
The series of links between speaker and listener. The speech chain,
beginning with the speakers brain and ending with the listeners
brain, is of considerable interest to phoneticians. What happens in
the brains of listener and speaker are the most difficult parts to
understand, but considerable progress has been made with the
intermediate stages.
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 119
speech organ
Any part of the mouth, nose, throat, etc. involved in the
pronunciation of speech sounds. Hence the lips, alveolar ridge, soft
palate, larynx, and so on, are all referred to as speech organs and
are sometimes distinguished as ARTICULATORS.

speech sound
An elementary sound occurring in a language, considered
phonetically without regard to the oppositions and combinations in
which it may occur (which are the concern of phonology)

spelling pronunciation
The pronunciation of a word according to its written form.

stress
The accent or emphasis on a syllable generally produced by higher
pitch and greater intensity or voice; stress is classified as primary,
secondary, tertiary or weak or depending in its relative intensity.
The terms stress and accent are often used interchangeable, but
some phoneticians use these terms more precisely, relating stress
to the energy involved in the production of speech.
Acoustically, stress is perceived as involving greater loudness and
greater force than the ordinary syllable pulse (or chest pulse)
Lexical stress (also called word stress or word accent) refers to the
stress (or accent) patterns of words. In English, these are for the
most part fixed for each word, though the stress occurs on different
syllables in different words, e.g. yesterday, tomorrow, understand.
Tertiary stress is recognized by some phoneticians.
Sentence stress refers to the way in which some words in an
utterance are stressed, and others are not. In general, lexical words
(nouns, verbs, etc) are stressed, and form words (articles, etc) are
not. Tonic stress is stress on the NUCLEUS (also called nucleus
stress)

stressed syllable
A syllable that sounds louder, has clearer vowels, begins with
stronger consonants, and may be longer than other syllables in a
word or phrase; changes in pitch often occur on stressed syllables.

stress shift
A phenomenon of connected speech. Words containing secondary
stress may change their stress patterns, as in The princess but the
,Princess Royal ,number thirteen but ,thirteen people.

stress-timed
Of a language: having the stressed syllables occurring at regular
intervals, irrespective of how many unstressed syllables there may
be. English is predominantly stressed-timed, in contrast to syllable-
timed languages (such as French) in which the syllable occurs at
more or less regular intervals. Thus, in the sentence, Both of them
are mine, the unstressed syllables (of them are) are compressed
with vowel weakening (/v m /), while the monosyllable mine
takes roughly as much time as the preceding Both of them are. This
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120 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
does not mean that all sequences containing one stress are of
absolutely equal length, but the rhythms of stress-timed and
syllable-timed languages are noticeably different.

strong
Having some prominence of phonetic quality. Contrasted with WEAK.
strong form: the form of a FORM WORD that contains a strong vowel.
Many FORM WORDS (or GRAMMATICAL words) have two
pronunciations: a strong form and a weak form. The strong form,
containing a strong vowel, is used when the word is spoken in
isolation or occurs in a prominent position (e.g. at the end of a
sentence) or is stressed for emphasis.

strong vowel
A stressed vowel or any instance of a vowel that retains the same
quality in unstressed position as it has when stressed (contrasted
with WEAK vowel)
All vowels in stressed syllables are clearly identifiable and therefore
strong.

suprasegmental
Designating a feature of intonation extending beyond the phoneme.
Contrasted with SEGMENTAL. Features of intonation such as pitch,
stress and juncture are suprasegmental.

syllabic
Relating to or constituting a syllable. In some phonetic analyses,
syllabic and non-syllabic are contrasted features, particular in
relation to those consonants which can be pronounced as separate
syllables.

syllabic consonant
Consonant which has a syllabic function, such as /m/ in the
pronunciation of mm, /n/ as in button and /l/ as in apple. Some
phoneticians describe these sounds as actually having an extremely
weak // in front of them. In rhotic accents such as American
English, /r/ also sometimes has a syllabic function, for example in
words such as metre, where the final syllable in a non-rhotic accent
would be //.

syllabification
The division of a word into syllables. Phonetic syllabification and
orthographic syllabification do not necessarily correspond. For
example, the word syllable itself is phonetically a three-syllable word,
but when written across two lines it could only reasonably be split at
one place, i.e. as syll-able.

syllable
A unit of pronunciation forming the whole or part of a word and
having one vowel phoneme (a pure vowel, a diphthong, or a syllabic
consonant), often with one or more consonants before and after it
(up to three consonants before and up to four after it).
Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 121
syllable-timed
Of a language: having each syllable pronounced with roughly the
same duration. Romanian is considered to be syllable-timed,
whereas English is STRESSED-TIMED, but these are tendencies rather
than absolute distinctions.

synchronic elision
A term used to refer to instances of elision taking place in present-
day English.

suprasegmental
Referring to features of speech that extend over more than one
phoneme: length, stress, pitch, intonation.

tail
That part of tune unit that comes after the nucleus and consists of
stressed or unstressed syllables. E.g. Isn't she pretty?
A tail can contain stressed words (but without pitch change). e.g.
Well, 'say something, then.

tone
The way in which pitch is used in language, a distinctive pitch or
pitch contour. In languages such as English, objective word
meanings are not affected by intonation, although different tones
can convey different attitudes. Thus, All right with differing intonation
can convey grudging acquiescence, enthusiastic agreement, a
question, sarcastic disagreement and so on.

tone unit
The basic unit of intonation. It is also called intonation pattern. A
tone unit/group must contain a nuclear tone (a nucleus), that is
marked by pitch change. Optionally, it may contain a pre-head
and/or a head before the nucleus and a final tail, e.g. Ive ,just ,told
you.

tonic stress
Stress on the nucleus. It is also called nucleus stress.

tonic syllable
A particularly prominent syllable in an utterance which is prominent
not only because it is stressed, but because it carries a change of
pitch, usually a fall or rise (or more complicated variant) but
occasionally a level pitch. A tonic syllable forms the nucleus of a
tone unit.

tongue
The principal organ of speech. The tongue is involved in some way
in the production of most speech sounds and therefore figures in
articulatory descriptions.
Vowel articulations are described in terms of tongue HEIGHT and
whether the FRONT or BACK or CENTRE of tongue is highest.

Glossary
122 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
transcription
The representation of spoken language in phonetic symbols.
The aim of transcription is to indicate speech sounds consistently.
But transcription also makes it possible to represent the assimilation
and elision of actual speech and (if required) the idiosyncrasies of
an individual's speech on a particular occasion. The most widely
used script (or NOTATION) is the International Phonetic Alphabet,
usually with adaptation according to the level of accuracy required
and according to the particular purpose of the transcription.
Transcriptions are primarily PHONETIC or PHONEMIC. A phonetic
transcription aims to represent actual speech sounds objectively and
accurately, according to articulatory and auditory criteria. A high
degree of accuracy can be achieved with special additional symbols
if necessary and diacritics indicating such things as aspiration or the
nasalization of vowels. A very detailed transcription is a NARROW
transcription; one with few details is BROAD.

transition
A glide from one sound to another. A technical term used to
describe, for example, a plosive (or stop) consonant in terms of
three stages: the closing stage, the hold stage and the release (or
explosion) stage. In the first stage, a transition (or non-glide) may
link the preceding sound to the beginning of the plosive, and in the
final stage another transition (this time an off-glide) may link the
plosive to the following sound.

triphthong
A vowel sound in which the vocal organs move from one position
through a second to a third. There are no triphthongs among the
English phonemes, but such sounds occur when a closing diphthong
is followed by //. At least, they theoretically occur in a careful
pronunciation of such words as: player /pleI/, shire /aI/, royal
/roIl/, slower /sl/, hour /a/ However, the glides between the
elements of such triphthongs may be very slight, and the sounds
actually articulated and heard are often more like diphthongs or
even single long vowels.

trisyllabic
Having three syllables. As with the related terms, MONOSYLLABIC
and DISYLLABIC, the term is particularly used with reference to
adjectives and adverbs. Trisyllabic or longer adjectives and adverbs
have to take periphrastic comparison. (e.g. more delicious, most
extraordinary, more hastily).

tune
The pitch pattern heard over a whole tune unit.
With an utterance consisting of a single syllable (e.g. Yes!), tune and
tone unit are the same, so the terms may be confused. A tune,
however, depends on the overall pitch pattern and the height of any
prehead or head (i.e. whether this is high or low).

Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 123
unaspirated
Articulated without an audible release of air. For example, the
English plosives /p/, /t/, /k/ have little or no aspiration when occurring
initially in unstressed syllables (e.g. permission), when preceded by
s- (e.g. story) or in final position, i.e. followed by silence (e.g. Bad
luck!).
unmarked
Not marked. E.g. voiceless [t] in German is unmarked ([- voice]) in
opposition to voiced [d] ([+ voice]); singular book is unmarked ([-
plural]) in opposition to plural books ([+ plural]).

unrounded
(Vowel, consonant) produced either without rounding of the lips or
specifically with the lips spread: e.g. the [b] and [] of bin, as
opposed to both the [b] and the [u] of book.

unstressed syllable
A syllable that tends to be weaker, shorter and more reduced than a
stressed syllable in a word or phrase; major pitch changes do not
begin on unstressed syllables.

unvoiced
Voiceless, especially as the result of devoicing.

unilateral
Of articulation with the air released (rather unusually) around only
one side of tongue. Contrasted with BILATERAL.

utterance
A stretch of spoken language which is often preceded by silence
and followed by silence or a change of speaker. It is often used as
an alternative to sentence in conversation analysis since it is difficult
to apply the traditional characteristics of a written sentence to
spoken language.

utterance and utterance meaning
Anything spoken on a specific occasion. Often opposed to
sentence: e.g. the words Come here!, spoken by a specific
speaker at a specific time, from an utterance which is one instance
of a sentence Come here!
Hence utterance meaning, as the meaning of something as spoken
on a specific occasion, vs. sentence meaning, as the meaning that
a sentence is said to have independently of any such occasion.

velar
Sound formed using the soft palate (or velum) and the back of the
tongue like /k/ in kick, // (velar) in tongue and /g/ in get.

velarization
The addition of a secondary, velar articulation to a speech sound.
Secondary articulation in which the back of the tongue is raised
towards the soft palate (velum). E.g. an l at the end of a word is
velarized ([l]) in many forms of English.
Glossary
124 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
velarize
To add a secondary, velar articulation to a speech sound. The so-
called dark l allophone of the English /l/ is a velarized sound,
articulated with the back of the tongue raised towards the velum.
velum
The soft palate. The velum is the back part of the roof of the mouth,
lying behind the bony hard palate, with the UVULA at its own back
extremity. The velum is raised for ORAL sounds, and, lower for
NASAL sounds.

vibration
See VOCAL CORDS.

vocal cords
Two folds of muscle and connective tissue situated in the larynx,
which are opened and closed during the production of speech. (Also
vocal folds).
The main function of the vocal cords in the production of speech is
to vibrate and produce VOICED sounds. This happens when they are
held closely enough together for them to vibrate when subjected to
air pressure from the lungs. When the cords are held rather wider
apart they do not vibrate, and VOICELESS sounds are produced or a
GLOTTAL STOP.

vocalic
Vowel-like, designating a sound produced with a comparatively free
passage of air (i.e. with no major obstruction).

vocal tract
1. The whole of the air passage above the LARYNX, including the
ORAL tract (the mouth pharyngeal area and the NASAL tract (the air
passage through the nose when the soft palate lowered).
2. The entire area involved in the production of speech sounds,
including the larynx, trachea, lungs.

vocoid
A vowel phonetically defined by the way it is produced, as
distinguished from a vowel in a phonological sense, defined by its
role in the structure of words and syllables. Thus, in English, the
semivowels [j] (as in yes) and [w] (as in wed) are vocoids, though
phonologically consonants.

voiced
A speech sound made with the vocal cords vibrating.
In standard English, all the vowels are voiced, as are thirteen of the
consonants and the semi-vowels.

voiceless
A speech sound made without vibration of the vocal cords.
There are nine voiceless phonemes in standard English, all of them
consonants.

Glossary
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 125
voicing
A feature of vowels by some consonants produced by vibration of
the vocal cords as in zip versus sip. Although voicing is part of the
description of all vowel phonemes in English and of a majority of
consonants, the amount of voicing in the production of a particular
phoneme, in a particular utterance, may be affected by phonological
context.

vowel
A speech sound produced with the vocal tract quite open. Vowels
typically function as the nucleus of a syllable.

vowel height
One of the main parameters in the classification of vowels. In the
system of cardinal vowels, a close vowel is described as one
produced with the highest point of the tongue as close as possible to
the roof of the mouth. An open vowel is one produced with the
highest point of the tongue as far away as possible from the roof of
the mouth; close-mid (or half-close) and open-mid (or half-open)
represent intermediate points, perceived as auditorily equidistant,
between these. Alternatively, close vowels are high, open vowels
are low, and a vowel at an intermediate point is mid.

vowel quality
The characteristics that distinguishes one vowel from another. The
auditory character of a vowel as determined by the posture of the
vocal organs above the larynx. Thus the quality of [a] remains the
same, whether it is produced loudly or softly, or with a high pitch or a
low pitch. But its quality is different from that of [i], which is produced
with the lower jaw and tongue much closer to the roof of the mouth
or that of nasal [], in which the passage through the nose are open.

vowel quantity
Length as a feature of a vowel articulation.

weak
Of the phonetic quality: obscures, lacking prominence. Contrasted
with STRONG

weak form
The pronunciation of a form word (grammatical word) when
unaccented and in a non-prominent position. As grammatical words
usually receive little stress or prominence. Their weak forms
(containing weak vowels) are their usual pronunciation. Common
words having weak forms are: (determiners) a, an, the, some
(auxiliaries) am, are, be, been, is, was, were, can, could, do, does,
had, has, have, must, shall, should, will, would; (nouns) saint, Sir;
(prepositions) at, for, from, of, to; (pronouns) he, her, him, his, me,
she, them, us, we, who, you, your; (conjunctions and adverbs) and,
but, as, not, than, that, there.

Glossary
126 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
word stress
Stress that is intrinsic to a word, as opposed to sentence stress. The
term lexical stress may be used of stress associated with a unit of a
lexicon, as opposed to morphological stress determined e.g. by a
specific affix.



Practice sets
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Practice sets

This section is designed to reinforce theory and includes further
exercises that can be done in class, in the language lab or at home.
The tasks (based on exercises taken from Malcolm Mann and Steve
Taylore-Knowles. 2003. Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking. Oxford: Macmillan) have been grouped in four practice
sets, each set being approximately four hours long and containing:

listening-comprehension activities;
vocabulary exercises;
spelling exercises.

The first type of exercise (listening-comprehension activities)
asks you to listen to samples of spoken English recorded on the tape
so that you become accustomed to the speed at which people on the
recording speak. The focus is on English as it is actually spoken,
including reductions, simplifications, variations. It is important to
listen very carefully to the directions and to each recorded person.
When you repeat words and sentences aloud you should always try
to imitate the overall rhythm, pausing, linking, relative syllable length
and intonation. Both fluency (saying everything smoothly without
stopping) and accuracy (saying all vowels and consonants correctly
without dropping any) need to be worked on. In order to better
connect practice with theory we have mentioned (within brackets) the
unit the activities relate to.
The second type of exercises (vocabulary exercises) provides
vocabulary development and are labeled as Word perfect in Mann
and Taylore-Knowles book.
The third type of exercises (spelling exercises) has been
included to help you improve your spelling and writing skill.

SET I

listening-comprehension activities
Activity 1 (related to Unit 1, section 1.4)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise B, p. 5. Listen to the five people talking about
films and make a list of words containing long vowels.

Activity 2 (related to Unit 1)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise A, Part 1, p. 32. Listen to the people speaking in
eight different situations and pay attention to the pronunciation of
diphthongs.

Activity 3 (related to Unit 2)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, Grammar Focus, p. 81. Listen to the five statements and
pay attention to the pronunciation of the -ing ending. Record yourself
saying the same sentences.
Activity 4 (related to Unit 2)
Practice sets
128 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise E, p. 84. Listen to each series of four words and
group the words which have the same vowel sound.

Activity 5 (related to Unit 2)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, Grammar Focus, p. 27. Listen to the recording, identify
and note down the clues to British English (e.g. the pronunciation of
/r/ and /:/, or the stress in the word museum).

vocabulary exercises
For these activities see the Word perfect section in Mann and
Taylore-Knowles book, Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, pp. 7, 13, 19 and 25

spelling exercises
For these activities see Mann and Taylore-Knowles book, Skills
for First Certificate. Listening and Speaking. p. 15 (Grammar Focus)
and p. 54 (exercise E).

SET II

listening-comprehension activities
Activity 6 (related to Unit 3, section 3.2)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise I, p. 7. Listen to the descriptions and spell the
words that contain // (voiced th) and // (voiceless th). What is the
usual spelling for voiced <th> at the end of words? Do function words
begin with voiced <th> or voiceless <th>?

Activity 7(related to Unit 3, section 3.3)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise D, p. 5. Listen to the five speakers and identify
the pronunciation of the -s ending in different phonetic environments.
Make a list of the pronunciations you identify.

Activity 8 (related to Unit 3, section 3.4)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise G, p. 84. Listen to the six statements, write them
down and then underline the letters that are not pronounced.

Activity 9 (related Unit 3)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, Grammar Focus, p. 9. Write the sentences said by the five
people.

Activity 10 (related to Unit 4, sections 4.2 and 4.3)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, Grammar Focus, p. 57. Listen to the people talking and
note down cases of elision and assimilation.

Practice sets
Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural 129
vocabulary exercises
For these activities see the Word perfect section in Mann and
Taylore-Knowles book, Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, pp. 31, 37, 43 and 49.

spelling exercises
For these activities see Mann and Taylore-Knowles book, Skills
for First Certificate. Listening and Speaking, p. 54 (exercise F) and p.
57 (Grammar Focus).


SET III

listening-comprehension activities
Activity 11 (related to Unit 4, section 4.4.1)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise B, Part 4, p. 93. Listen to the radio interview and
pay attention to the weak form of for.

Activity 12 (related to Unit 5, section 5.4)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, Grammar Focus, p. 93. Notice the accentual pattern of the
word when it functions as a verb or as a noun.

Activity 13 (related to Unit 5)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise H, p. 85. Look at the sentences and put a stress
mark before each syllable you expect to hear stressed. Check your
stress marking by listening to the recording.

Activity 14 (related to Unit 5)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise C, p. 89. Listen to the four statements and try to
guess their meanings. The words the speakers stress will help you
decide which of the two options given in the book is true for each
speaker.

Activity 15 (related to Unit 5)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise A, Part 2, p. 9. Listen to the radio interview with
the stunt man and identify the stressed syllables in the stunt mans
replies. Mark these syllables in your notes.

vocabulary exercises
For these activities see the Word perfect section in Mann and
Taylore-Knowles book, Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, pp. 55, 61, 67 and 73.

spelling exercises
For these activities see Mann and Taylore-Knowles book, Skills
for First Certificate. Listening and Speaking, p. 59 (exercise C) and p.
63 (Grammar Focus).

Practice sets
130 Proiectul pentru nvmntul Rural
SET IV

listening-comprehension activities
Activity 16 (related to Unit 5, section 5.7.1)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise A, Part 1, p. 80. Listen to the people talking in
eight different situations and write down the derived words containing
stress-moving (strong) suffixes.

Activity 17 (related to Unit 6, section 6.4)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise B, p. 89. Listen to the recordings of the four
speakers and write down the words they stress most.

Activity 18 (related to Unit 6, sections 6.4 and 6.5)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise E, p. 90. Listen to the same utterance said by the
four different people who change its intonation pattern. What word is
stressed in each case and what is the meaning conveyed by each of
the four speakers?

Activity 19 (related to Unit 6, section 6.5.3)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, Grammar Focus, p. 21. Listen to the five people, pay
attention to the intonation contour of the question tags you hear, and
mark it in your notes. Try asking each tag question using the same
intonation pattern.

Activity 20 (related to Unit 6)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise G, p. 90. Notice that English tag questions have
rising intonation when the speaker is not sure about the information
given and falling intonation when the speaker is sure that the
statement is true.

Activity 21 (related to Unit 6)
For this activity see Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, exercise A, Part 1, p. 8. Listen to the people speaking in
eight different situations and pay attention to the way OK, well, all
right, yeah, right are pronounced. Write down these pronunciations.

vocabulary exercises
For these activities see the Word perfect section in Mann and
Taylore-Knowles book, Skills for First Certificate. Listening and
Speaking, pp. 79, 85, 91, 97.

spelling exercises
For these activities see Mann and Taylore-Knowles book, Skills
for First Certificate. Listening and Speaking, p. 87 (Grammar Focus)
and p. 99 (Grammar Focus).

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