1 Descriptive Grammar of English Part 1: Phonetics and Phonology dr Iwona Kokorniak (with contribution from dr Jarosław Weckwerth) 20th December 2008

2 Allophones: Examples to consider

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9 Allophonic processes Different allophones of the same phoneme Usually within the word, but also across word boundaries

10 Casual speech (fast speech) processes = phonostylistic processes Speakers tend to make their pronunciation easier and faster On the phonostylistic level This involves the change of phonemes Different phonemes as a result Not just different realizations of phonemes (=allophones)

11 Casual speech processes Assimilation Place of articulation (Manner of articulation) (Voicing) Elision Liasion

12 Surprises of connected speech: Polish grat /gr æt/ grad /gr æd/

13 Surprises of connected speech: Polish t b

14 Surprises of connected speech: Polish t b

15 Surprises of connected speech: Polish t b

16 Surprises of connected speech: Polish

17 Assimilation A phoneme may be realised differently as a result of being close to some other phoneme belonging to a neighbouring word Principle the same as in coarticulation But results in phonemic change

18 Assimilation In Polish, mainly voicing assimilation From right to left – regressive assimilation

19 Regressive assimilation regressive/ anticipatory assimilation - if C f (consonant final) becomes more like C i (consonant initial) then we have to do with progressive assimilation; The influence comes from C i: C f │< C i

20 Progressive assimilation progressive/ perserverative – if C i (consonant initial) becomes more like C f (consonant final) then we have to do with progressive assimilation; influence comes from C f │>C i

21 Assimilation We distinguish assimilation of: place of articulation manner of articulation voicing

22 Assimilation: Polish

23 English assimilation Huge problem: English doesn’t have much voicing assimilation It prefers place assimilation

24 Polish English t b

25 Polish English t b

26 Polish English t b

27 Polish English

28 Polish English NO!

29 English assimilation t b

30 English assimilation t b

31 English assimilation t b

32 English assimilation

33 t k English assimilation

34 t k English assimilation

35 t k English assimilation

36 English assimilation

37 d b English assimilation

38 d b English assimilation

39 d b English assimilation

40 English assimilation

41 English assimilation d g

42 English assimilation d g

43 English assimilation d g

44 English assimilation

45 English assimilation d m

46 English assimilation d m

47 English assimilation d m

48 English assimilation

49 English assimilation n b

50 English assimilation n b

51 English assimilation n b

52 English assimilation

53 English assimilation Regressive = anticipatory (right to left) Voicing and manner don’t change, only the place of articulation does

54 English assimilation Alveolar plosive and nasal sounds (t d n) Change their place of articulation To that of the following sound – velar or bilabial

55 English assimilation /t/ > /p/ before /p, b, m/ e.g.: that person sat boldly fat mouse

56 English assimilation /t/ > /k/ before /k, g/ e.g.: fat king smart girl

57 English assimilation /d/ > /b/ before /p, b, m/ e.g.: bad person bad boy bad mother

58 English assimilation /d/ > /g/ before /k, g/ e.g.: bad king bad girl

59 English assimilation /n/ > /m/ before /p, b, m/ e.g.: sun bed sun protector sun movement

60 English assimilation /n/ > /ŋ/ before /k, g/ e.g.: run quickly run gracefully

61 Danger Different from Polish! Polish changes voicing English tolerates voiced + voiceless clusters

62 Polish English s b

63 Polish English s b

64 Polish English s b

65 Polish English

66 Polish English NO!

67 English assimilation s b

68 English assimilation Nothing to do here Why?

69 This is why Is there a bilabial fricative in English? No. There’s nothing that the /s/ sound could change to here

70 English assimilation: fricatives

71 English assimilation: fricatives Alveolar fricatives /s z/ can change only to post-alveolar fricatives /s z/ >/ ʃ ʒ / But no change in voicing!!! /s/ > /∫/ before /∫, t∫, d, j/ /z/ > / ʒ / before /∫, t∫, d, j/

72 English assimilation: fricatives /s/ > /∫/ before /∫, t∫, d, j / E.g. this church /z/ > / ʒ / before /∫, t∫, d,j/ E.g. these churches

73 English assimilation: fricatives It is an optional process in connected speech More frequent in less formal situations

74 Coalescence: A special case would you?

75 Coalescence A radical process of assimilation Alveolar plosive /t d/ or fricative /s z/ Followed by /j/ 1st step: post-alveolar affricate or fricative + /j/ 2nd step: /j/ disappears

76 Coalescent assimilation Frequent phrases with ‘you’: what you, could you, did you But may also appear with other cases of /j/: this year, bad Europe, is young, what use, etc.

77 Assimilation of manner of art. Assimilation of manner Only in really fast speech in the

78 Assimilation of manner of art. Usually affects /δ/ in unstressed words An example of progressive/perserverative assimilation (left to right)

79 Assimilation of voicing Very rare in English Only for a few fixed phrases E.g. have to, of course

80 Assimilation of voicing

81 Elision Another phonostylistic process Sounds are elided = deleted

82 Elision = deletion Consider: wszystko

83 Elision first cat bold man

84 Elision Alveolar plosive /t d/ elision The most frequent Quite similar to Polish

85 Alveolar plosive elision An alveolar plosive may be deleted At the end of a syllable After a consonant of the same voicing If another consonant follows (but not /h/)

86 Alveolar plosive elision In other words, elision is common: a voiceless continuant + /t/ followed by a word with an initial consonant /st, ft, ∫t/ + consonant e.g.: ‘ next day ’, ‘ just one ’,

87 Alveolar plosive elision a voiced continuant + /d/ followed by a word with an initial consonant /nd, ld, zd, ðd, vd/ + consonant e.g.: ‘ bend back ’

88 Alveolar plosive elision word final clusters voiceless stop/affricate +/t/: /pt, kt, t∫t/ voiced stop/affricate +/d/: /bd, gd/ may lose the final alveolar stop when the following word has an initial consonant, e.g. ‘ helped me ’, lagged behind ’, ‘ judged fairly ’

89 Alveolar plosive elision sequence /-skt/ /k/ rather than /t/ is often elided e.g. ’ risked prison ’ >

90 Alveolar plosive elision The only cue to the presence of elided stops in medial position the total duration of closure as there ’ s the lack of release of the stop

91 Danger! last night locked door

92 Why? Consider: jabłko

93 Elision + assimilation is wrong! Why? Polish doesn’t allow voiced + voiceless clusters As opposed to English

94 Elision + assimilation Therefore, Elision creates a context for assimilation

95 Danger! Consider: must be

96 Danger! Compare: las był Mind: this is obligatory in Polish

97 Polish English WRONG!!! English does not permit this kind of voicing assimilation

98 /h/ elision the loss of /h/ in pronominal weak forms e.g. ‘ him, his ’ and other consonantal elisions typical of weak forms auxiliary ‘have’: could have

99 /h/ elision

100 Elision of /ə/ weak vowels are dropped in casual speech, especially /ə/ initial /ə/ is often elided particularly when followed by a continuant and preceded by a word- final consonant e.g. ‘ not alone ’ [not `ləυn], ‘ he was annoyed ’

101 Elision of /ə/ When final /ə/ occurs with following linking /r/ and word initial vowel, /ə/ may be elided, e.g. ‘ father and son ’

102 Elision of /ə/ When a weak vowel precedes /w, l, r/ then the vowel is deleted and the next consonant will become syllabic.am

103 Connected speech Assimilation and elision are phonostylistic processes Because they depend on the style of speaking Formal vs. Informal (Remember: voicing assimilation is obligatory in Polish)

104 Connected speech But there are also other processes in connected speech E.g. linking and intrusive R (examples of liaison) And weak forms

105 Rhoticity Standard British English, Australian, New Zealand etc. are non-rhotic /r/ pronounced only before a vowel

106 All varieties right /ra ɪ t/ pride /pra ɪ d/ bury / ' beri/

107 Non-rhotic varieties car /k ɑː / stored /st ɔː d/ word /w ɜː d/

108 Liaison – Linking R British English – a non-rhotic variety It retains word-final post-vocalic /r/ as a linking form when the following word begins with a vowel and where ‘ r ’ occurs in the spelling Thus, spelling justification needed for linking /r/

109 Linking R far out /f ɑː r a ʊ t/ 4-8 /f ɔː r e ɪ t/

110 Intrusive R By analogy to linking R......in non-rhotic varieties only /r/ may be pronounced if / ɑː ɜː ɔː ə/ are followed by a vowel

111 Intrusive R there is no spelling justification for /r/ to appear law and order /l ɔː r ənd ɔː də/

112 Intrusive R a spa in the UK /sp ɑː r ɪ n/ drawing /dr ɔː r ɪ ŋ/ the idea is /a ɪ d ɪ ər ɪ z/

113 Linking J In vocalic junctures - where the first word ends in / i: ı eı aı oı/ another word starts with a vowel a slight linking / j / may be heard between two vowels, e. g. my arms

114 Linking J: Zoom

115 Linking J not sufficient to be equated with phonemic /j/, e.g. ‘ my ears ’ vs. my years

116 Linking W linking [ w ] may be heard between a final /u: υə aυ/ and a following vowel e.g. ’ two-eyed ’, ’ too wide ’

117 Casual speech processes Assimilation Regressive vs. Progressive Of place of articulation vs. Manner or art. Vs. voicing Elision Liaison