ENGLISH PHONETICS Elena Rafaelevna Watson, PhD ©Ватсон Е.Р., 2012

Lecture Outline History General ideas Problems in teaching Vowels Consonants Co-articulation Stress Syllabification Intonation Rhythm

Pā ṇ ini (520 – 460 BC) – “the greatest grammarian of Ancient India” Shiva Sutras – describe place and manner of articulation of consonants and a phonemic notational system which introduces different clusters of phonemes that serve special roles in the morphology of Sanskrit Panini’s grammar had a significant influence on Ferdinand de Saussure, the father of modern structuralism, who was a professor of Sanskrit

Jan Niecislaw Baudouin de Courtenay - Иван Александрович Бодуэн де Куртенэ ( ) Synchronic linguistics: study of contemporary spoken languages Shaped the modern usage of the word PHONEME (together with his pupil Лев Щерба ) His work served as the foundation of several schools of Phonology

Nikolay SergeevichTrubetskoy ( ) Principles of Phonology (posthumous) – defined the PHONEME as the smallest distinctive unit within the structure of a given language Established Phonology as a discipline separate from Phonetics (linguistic function of sounds – ability to signal differences in word-meaning)

Who Are These People?

Henry Sweet ( ) – “the man who taught Europe phonetics” 1877 – A Handbook of Phonetics (international attention in Europe) 1890 – A Primer of Spoken English (scientific description of educated London speech) 1899 – The Practical Study of Languages 1908 – The Sounds of English

Daniel Jones ( ) – Head of the Department of Phonetics, UCL 1909 – Pronunciation of English 1917 – English Pronouncing Dictionary Introduced the ‘Cardinal Vowels’ 1917 – first Western linguist to use the word PHONEME in its current sense 1918 – Outline of English Phonetics (first comprehensive description of RP)

J. D. O’Connor ( ) Intonation of Colloqial English (together with Gordon Arnold) – “... has now scandalously been allowed to go out of print (except in a Japanese adaptation); but no better textbook has been published that could supersede it...” – J.C. Wells Better English Pronunciation

A.C. (Alfred Charles) Gimson ( ) Pupil and colleague of Daniel Jones, succeeded him as editor of the English Pronouncing Dictionary 1962 – Introduction to the Pronunciation of English Phoneme-allophone 1977 – Vowel transcription [9]-[4],[%]-[2],[i:]-[I] Head of the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, UCL

David Crystal (b. 1941) Prosodic Systems and Intonation in English 1975 – The English Tone of Voice: Esays in Intonation, Prosody and Paralanguage

J. C. Wells (b. 1939) – Head of the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, UCL 1990, 2000, Longman Pronunciation Dictionary Introduction to English Intonation

Елена Андреевна Брызгунова (b. 1931) 1963 – Практическая фонетика и интонация русского языка – phonological description of the Russian intonation system

How is Phonetics acquired in the Mother-Tongue and in a Foreign Language? Pre-linguistic stage from around 30 weeks gestation the ears of the foetus are sufficiently well formed to enable it to hear the intonation, or melody, of the mother's voice, and the loudness and rhythm of her speech. The foetus is asleep a lot of the time, but when awake, its heart rate slows when the mother is speaking - the first evidence of a calming response.

What is Phonetics Grammar – language philosophy Vocabulary – language psychology Phonetics – language music, emotional sphere - branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech. - It is concerned with  the physical properties of speech sounds (phones),  their physiological production,  auditory perception,  and neurophysiological status.

Phonetics Segmental individual SOUNDS or PHONEMES Suprasegmental WORDS and PHRASES STRESS SYLLABIFICATION INTONATION RHYTHM

Phonetics vs Phonology Phonetics studies the way sounds are produced and perceived (physical analysis and description of sounds) Phonology studies the way sounds are used to encode meaning in any spoken human language (phonemes, allophones)

Phonemes vs Allophones Phoneme – the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances // (English) <> (Russian) Allophones – sound variants belonging to the same phoneme  Positional changes  Co-articulation

Артикуляционный Уклад - the default position of organs of speech (at rest) typical of a language

Organs of Speech

Vowels Sounds which are produced by the air stream leaving from the lungs without any friction. There is only one obstruction that the air stream meets on its way out: the vocal cords

CARDINAL VOWELS

English Vowels vs Russian Vowels ENGLISH monophthongs 8 diphthongs 2 diphthongized vowels 2-5 triphthongs? [aIq], [a4q], [EIq], [34q], [OIq] RUSSIAN 5 or 6, 5 monophthongs 0 diphthongs 1 diphthongized vowel

heed i:9 shoe hid I put 4 head e bird 3: sofa q O: saw cut 02 hot had hard English Monophthongs and Diphthongized Vowels

Transcription Systems: Daniel Jones, 1917 seabigbigbedbedbadbadsunsunstartlotlotlawputputtwo siraboutfaceliecoinnononowearairpoor q:qeiaiOiouauiqequq

Transcription Systems: David Abercrombie, 1960-s reedridridcordcodcodfoolfull iIO2u4

Transcription Systems: A.C. Gimson, 1962 seabigbigbedbedbadbadsunsunstartlotlotlawputputtwo siraboutfaceliecoinnononowearairpoor 3:qeIaIOIq4a4Iqeq4q

Variations ten, bedface, dayhair, cared Daniel Jones eeIEq A.C. Gimson eeIeq Peter Ladefoged & Collins dictionaries EeIEq

Oxford Pronunciation Dictionary, 1993 bedbedbadbadsirairlie Gimson e13:eqaI Upton Eaq:E:0I

Russian Vowels i ´ u eo a 0

Positional Length of English Monophthongs and Diphthongized Vowels: Clipping and Stretching leave li:v 30.0 lead li:d 28.5 lea li: 28.0 lean li:n 19.5 leaf li:f 13.0 ‎ leap li:p 12.3 ‎ live lIv 18.6 ‎ lid lId 14.7 ‎ limb lIm 11.0 ‎ liff tIf 8.3 ‎ lip lIp 7.5

English Diphthongs Possible Mistakes: [eI], [aI], [OI] - vs эй, ай, ой, копейка, майка, мозаика, воин, змеи Dangerous changes in the Cambridge agency!!! [a4], [q4] - vs ау, оу – Бауман, клоун [Iq], [Eq], [4q] – период, по батарее, Пуаро

Triphthongs [a4q] - tower [aIq] - fire [eIq] - player [OIq] - royal [q4q] - lower

Vowel Reduction ENGLISH All unstressed syllables are equally unstressed, all unstressed vowels are subject to quantitative and qualitative reduction [0 ст 0 рóжнъст’ ] > [0 стърóжнъст’ ] RUSSIAN 2stages of reduction: Reduction is less significant in the initial position and in the syllable which directly precedes the stressed syllable [sq ˈ pq4z] > [s0 ˈ pq4z]

Формула A. A. Потебни 3 – a stressed vowel sound: ОСТОРÓЖНО 2 – a vowel sound in the syllable which directly precedes the stressed syllable: ОСТОРÓЖНО - a vowel in the initial position: ОСТОРÓЖНО - a vowel in the final position: ОСТОРÓЖНО 1 – unstressed vowels in all the other types of syllables МОЛОКÓ, ПОСЛÉДОВАТЕЛЬНЫЙ КАРАКÁТИЦА; БЕЗОБРÁЗНЫЙ; НАПРИМÉР

Possible Mistakes Demonstration [ ˌ demqn ˈ streISn] > [dIm0n ˈ streISn] Success [sqk ˈ ses]>[s0k ˈ ses] I suppose [aI ˈ spq4z]>[ ˌ aI s0 ˈ pq4z] До свидания [ дъсв’идáн’ j0] > > [ дóсв’идáн’ jъ] Последовательность [п 0 сл’эдъвът’ил’нъс’т’] > > [пъсл’эдъвáт’ил’нъс’т’] Например [ нъпр’им’эр ] >[ нáпр’им’эр ]

Consonants Sounds during the articulation of which the airstream coming from the lungs meets some kind of an obstruction, besides the vocal cords

Consonants: Manner of Articulation Noise Consonant Obstruents  Plosives/Stops [p], [t], [k], [b], [d], [g]  Fricatives [f], [v],[T], [D], [s], [z], [S], [Z]  Affricates [7], [8], [tr], [dr] Sonorant Consonants  Nasals [m], [n], [N]  Approximants (air escapes freely through the mouth) Orals/Liquids [r], [l] Semivowels (not syllabic) – [w], [j]

Place of Articulation English Forelingual – apical alveolar [t], [d], [n], [l], [s], [z]; (inter)dental [T], [D]; palato- alveolar ([S], [Z], [7],[8]; post- alveolar [r], [tr], [dr] Palatal [j] Backlingual - velar [k], [g], [N] Bilabial [p], [b], [m] Labiodental [f], [v] Labial-velar [w] Glottal [h], [½] Russian Forelingual – dorsal dental т, т’, д, д’, с, с’, з, з’, н, н’, л, л’, ц; palato- alveolar ч’, ш’, ж’, р, р’; palato-alveolar velar ш, ж Palatal j Backlingual – velar к, г, х Backlingual – palatal (средненёбные) к’, г’, х’ Bilabial п, п’, б, б’, м, м’ Labiodental ф, ф’, в, в’

Palatalization Creates no phonological opposition in English. Creates phonological opposition in Russian. Accounts for a heavy Russian accent but does not cause phonological mistakes and misunderstanding. Accounts for a heavy English accent and causes misunderstanding

Why is that? Birth[?]day Anec[k]dote – анек[г]дот

fortis (voiceless) and lenis (half-voiced) English consonants vs fully voiced and voiceless Russian consonants Aspiration – fortis (voiceless) and lenis (half-voiced) English consonants vs fully voiced and voiceless Russian consonants VOT – voice onset time Russian voiced 0 voiceless ms 0-20 ms English 0 voicedvoiceless 0-20 ms ms

Jeet Jet? – Coarticulation and Assimilation Retention of a phonetic feature that was present in a preceding sound, or the anticipation of a feature that will be needed for a following sound Assimilation is a type of co-articulation, the alteration of a speech sound to make it more similar to its neighbours. In English mainly affects the PLACE of ARTICULATION

Assimilation Ten[m] men In[N]credible Bad[g] guys This[S] shape These[Z] shoes Good morning! Goob morning! Goom morning! Gmorning! Morning!

Sonorants & [s] [s] ps- e.g. psychology -st- e.g. Christmas, listen -kts e.g. facts Loss of aspiration e.g. peak - speak, top - stop

[w]: the preceding consonant becomes labialized and strongly aspirated (if voiceless), [w] becomes partially devoiced after [k] or [t] [tw] [twIn] twin [dw] [dwel] dwell [kw] [kwaIt] quite

[ l]: unstressed syllable: lateral plosion; stressed syllable: the preceding voiceless consonant becomes strongly aspirated; [l] becomes partially devoiced after [k], [p] or [t] [tl] little [dl] riddle [kl] tickle, clear, click [pl] please, play

[r]: the preceding [k] becomes strongly aspirated, [tr] and [dr] become affricates [r] becomes partially devoiced after [k] or [t] [kr] - cry [tr] - try [dr] - drive [pr] - pray

[n] and [m] Gnu Gnat Know Knight Come an(d) get it Bran(d) new Column Salmon Palm Condemn

Yod Coalescence: [-tj-] > [7], [-dj-] > [8], [-sj-] > [S], [-zj-] > [Z] Historic Culture, nature Soldier Sure, sugar, passion delicious, patient Vision, casual, measure Present-day Don’t you? Situation, tune Could you? Education Unless you... Issue As you like

Knock-Knock! Who’s there? Miniature. Miniature who? Miniature open the door I’ll tell you. Yod Coalescence

Did you eat yet? Kind of dumb > kin’a dumb Lots of time > lotsa time Give me > gimme Old man > ol’ man Almost finished > almos’ finished Got you > gotcha Tell him > tell ‘im Jeet jet?

Listening Comprehension: what are the problems? Anticipation & Predictability in:  Vocabulary  Grammar  Topic  Background knowledge As well as in:  Assimilation  Rhythm  Intonation

Suprasegmental Phonetics Stress Syllabification Rhythm Intonation

RHYTHM: stress-timing vs syllable-timing Stress-timing  Stressed syllables take longer to say than unstressed syllables  Regular alternation between the stressed and unstressed syllables  Stressed syllables recur at regular intervals of time, unstressed syllables between them are squeezed Syllable-timing: Each syllable has the same time duration

Stress-timing Telegram principle  Stressed syllables – important / new information  Unstressed syllables – function words, get compressed, for non-native speakers are hard to recognize

Do we have stress-timing or syllable-timing in Russian? Do we compress unstressed or function words? Do we compress unstressed syllables?

Both Russian and English are stress-timed languages. So – what’s the problem? Careful speaking / reading Bad knowledge of grammar (building blocks) Rhythm: combination of stressed and unstressed syllables in a rhythmic group English: /STRESSED + unstressed/ Russian: /unstressed + STRESSED/

↘ 'Thousands of 'bottles of 'fake \ PERfume have been de \ STROYED as part of a \ CRACKdown on \ COUNterfeiters who make \ MILLions of pounds in ˅ BRITain every \ YEAR. || 'Thousands of / 'bottles of / 'fake / \ PERfume have been de/ \ STROYED as part of a \ CRACKdown on \ COUNterfeiters who make \ MILLions of pounds in ˅ BRITain every \ YEAR.

If you ↘ˈ didn’t / ˈ make the / ˈ track to / \ CORNwall / then you are \ PROBably one of the / \ LUCKy ones. || \ HERE in the South- / East / we may…may \ NOT have had a / \ TOtal eclipse of the sun; | but \ MILLions of us enjoyed a / \ CLOUD-free view of / → ˈ one of the most \ TALKED-about events in / \ YEARS.

Формула A. A. Потебни 3 – a stressed vowel sound: ОСТОРÓЖНО 2 – a vowel sound in the syllable which directly precedes the stressed syllable: ОСТОРÓЖНО - a vowel in the initial position: ОСТОРÓЖНО - a vowel in the final position: ОСТОРÓЖНО 1 – unstressed vowels in all the other types of syllables МОЛОКÓ, ПОСЛÉДОВАТЕЛЬНЫЙ КАРАКÁТИЦА; БЕЗОБРÁЗНЫЙ; НАПРИМÉР

Possible Mistakes Demonstration [ ˌ demqn ˈ streISn] > [dIm0n ˈ streISn] Success [sqk ˈ ses]>[s0k ˈ ses] I suppose [aI ˈ spq4z]>[ ˌ aI s0 ˈ pq4z] До свидания [ дъсв’идáн’ j0] > > [ дóсв’идáн’ jъ] Последовательность [п 0 сл’эдъвът’ил’нъс’т’] > > [пъсл’эдъвáт’ил’нъс’т’] Например [ нъпр’им’эр ] >[ нáпр’им’эр ]

Stress-Shift (Japa ˌ nese ˈ language ?) ˌ Japa ˈ nese + ˈ language = ˌ Japanese ˈ language (funda ˌ mental mi ˈ stake ?) ˌ funda ˈ mental + mi ˈ stake = ˌ fundamental mi ˈ stake (very ˌ lazy ˈ people ?) ˌ very ˈ lazy + ˈ people = ˌ very lazy ˈ people

Intonation A complex unity of variation in - Stress - Pitch - Tempo - Timbre

The Three Ts: Tonality is the division of the spoken material into chunks known as Intonation Phrases Tonicity is the nucleus placement (Where does the nucleus go?) Tone is the pitch movement (what kind of intonation do we pronounce the nucleus with?)

The Structure of the Intonation Phrase JOHN’s never BEEN to Jamaica Head Nucleus But Prehead high low Descending (stepping, falling, scandent and sliding) Ascending (rising and climbing) Level (high, mid and low) falling rising falling-rising rising-falling rising-falling-rising level

Slicing up contours You can’t expect me to see him now rising fallinghigh Nucleus Head Prehead

Интонационная конструкция ИК-1 ≠ Low Fall 1 Я хотел бы поговорить с ним. – ИК-1 I’d like to \ talk to him. – Low Fall 1 “Война и мир” – ИК-1 “War and \ Peace” – Low Fall

ИК-2 ≈, ≠ High Fall 2 Что случилось? – ИК-2 What’s \ happened? – High Fall 2 Здравствуйте! – ИК-2 \ Hi! – High Fall 2 2 Уже поздно гулять. Спать пора. – ИК-2

ИК-3 – the biggest problem!!! 3 Вы вчера были в театре? – ИК Подвинься! Дай я помогу! – ИК Когда я пришёл домой, он смотрел телевизор. - ИК-3 + ИК-1 When I came / home | he was watching \ television. – Low Rise + High Fall

ИК-4 ≈ Low Rise 1 4 Они уже приехали. – А Наташа? 4 Ваша фамилия? Ваш билет? Это Николай. – Кто? Николай? 4 4 Где ты была весь вечер? Что делала? (недовольство, назидание) 3 4 Ты это читала? – Читала. (с вызовом)

ИК-5 ≈ High Level Head + High Fall 5 5 Какие пёрышки! Какой носок! 5 Он вернулся в три часа ночи! 5 Хоть бы не опоздал!

ИК-6 ≈ High Rise 6 6 Какой суп! Пирог такой вкусный! 66 Облака сегодня! Спать хочется! 1 6 Я еду в Киев. – Куда ты едешь? 6 6 Зачем он уехал? И куда я положил ключи? 6 А что я знаю! Кто к нам приезжает!

ИК Какая она красавица! Кто его знает! 7 Хорошо! 7 Интересный он всё-таки человек!

Resonator from “American Accent Training” by Ann Cook: “... when Russians do not try to speak “loud and clear”, it can end up sounding vaguely depressed...”

Foreign Accent – any disadvantages? - Wait! I’m not deaf! - Wait! I’m not a child! - Wait! I have something to say! - Wait! I’m interesting to talk to!

How to Practice? Sing! Listen! Imitate!

What to explore? Carolyn Graham ion/1-in-8-million/

Thank You! watsonpopling.blogspot.com watsoncraft.blogspot.com