Aspects of Connected Speech English Phonetics and Phonology Lecture 5

Aspects of Connected Speech Weak Forms Yod coalescence Elision Assimilation

Weak forms When we talk about weak forms in the phonetics of English this regards a series of words which have one pronunciation (strong) when isolated, and another (weak) when not stressed within a phrase. e.g. a car v. I bought a car

Look at this phrase: I went to the station and booked two tickets for my father and his best friend.

What are the most important words? I went to the station and booked two tickets for my father and his best friend.

If we eliminate the other words can we still understand the message? went station booked two tickets father best friend.

Let’s look at the phrase transcribed: /aIwent t@th@steiS@n@nbuktu:tikits I went to the station and booked two tickets f@mai fa:th@r@nhizbesfren/ for my father and his best friend

There is a tendency for vowels in unstressed syllables to shift towards the schwa (central position)

Weak form are commonly used words Prepositions Auxiliary verbs Conjunctions

Strong form Weak form Prepositions to tu: t@ for fo:(r) f@(r) from   Strong form Weak form Prepositions to tu: t@ for fo:(r) f@(r) from fr@m into Intu: Int@ of ov @(v) as a{z @z at @t

S@d do du: d@ are a: @(r)* was woz w@z were w3: w@ would W@d w@d could Auxiliary verbs   do du: d@ are a: @(r)* was woz w@z were w3: w@ would W@d w@d could K@d k@d should S@d can kan k@n must m^st m@s(t)

you (as object pronoun) ju: j@ Others   and @nd, @n, n but b^t b@t than th@n that (as a relative) that th@t you (as object pronoun) ju: j@ your jo: j@(r) her (as object pronoun) h3:(r) (h)@(r)* a a, ei @* an @n the thi: th@, thi (before a vowel)

Weak=unstressed I do like chocolate. In the following sentences the underlined words are stressed and so would be pronounced using the strong form: I do like chocolate.   She drove to Las Vegas, not from Las Vegas. We were surprised when she told us her secret. (stress on ‘were’ for emphasis)  

Yod coalescence Yod is the name of the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet – it stands for the vowel /i/ or the semi-vowel /j/. In English phonetics Yod coalescence is a form of assimilation – it is a phenomenon which takes place when /j/ is preceded by certain consonants most commonly /t/ and /d/:

/t/ + /j/ = /tS/ …but use your head! /b@tSu:z j@ hed/ what you need…. /wotSuni:d/ the ball that you brought /th@bo:lth@tSu:bro:t/ last year…. /la:stSi@/

/d/ + /j/ = /dZ/ could you help me? /kudZu:helpmi:/ would yours work? /wudZo:zw3:k/ she had university exams /Si:hadZu:ni:versItijigzamz

Yod coalescence is common in colloquial speech and is becoming ever more so. Note that it can occur: - between word boundaries (as above examples) - within words e.g. tube /tju:b/ = /tSu:b/

The fact that two extremely recurrent words in English, you and your, start with /j/ means that understanding of this simple mechanism is vital to the understanding of spoken English. Do you and also did you are often pronounced as /dZ@/:   Do you live here? /dZ@ liv hi@/ Did you live here? /(di)dZ@ liv hi@/

Exercise. Identify places where yod coalescence may occur in the following phrases:   What you need is a good job! You told me that you had your homework done. She didn’t go to France that year. Could you open the window please? You’ve already had yours!

Elision   Elision is very simply the omission of certain sounds in certain contexts. The most important occurrences of this phenomenon regard: 1     Alveolar consonants /t/ and /d/ when ‘sandwiched’ between two consonants (CONS – t/d – CONS), e.g. The next day…. /th@neksdei/ The last car… /th@la:s ka:/ Hold the dog! /h@ulth@dog/ Send Frank a card. /senfrank@ka:d/

consonant + affricate elision This can also take place within affricates /tS/ and /dZ/ when preceded by a consonant, e.g.   lunchtime /luntStaim/  /lunStaim/   strange days /streindZ deIz/  /streinZ deIz/

Elision of ‘not’ The phoneme /t/ is a fundamental part of the negative particle not, the possibility of it being elided makes the foreign students life more difficult. Consider the negative of can – if followed by a consonant the /t/ may easily disappear and the only difference between the positive and the negative is a different, longer vowel sound in the second:   + I can speak…. /ai k@n spi:k/ - I can’t speak… /ai ka:nspi:k/

Assimilation Assimilation can be: of Place of Voicing of Manner We will look at the first two

Assimilation of Place The most common form involves the movement of place of articulation of the alveolar stops /t/, /d/ and /n/ to a position closer to that of the following sound. For instance, in the phrase ten cars, the /n/ will usually be articulated in a velar position, /teN ka:z/ so that the tongue will be ready to produce the following velar sound /k/. Similarly, in ten boys the /n/ will be produced in a bilabial position, /tem boIz/ to prepare for the articulation of the bilabial /b/. This phenomenon is easy to find also in Italian: think of the different pronunciations of the ‘n’ in Gian Paolo, Gian Franco and Gian Carlo.

BEFORE A VELAR (/k/, /g/) /n/  /ng/ e.g. bank = /baNk/ /d/ /g/ e.g. good girl = /gug g3:l/ /t/ /k/ e.g. that kid = /thak kid/

BEFORE A BILABIAL (/m/, /b/, /p/) e.g. hot mushrooms /hop muSru:mz/ /n/  /m/ e.g. ten men /tem men/ /d/ /b/ e.g. bad boys /bab boiz/ /t/ /p/ e.g. hot mushrooms /hop muSru:mz/

ASSIMILATION OF VOICING The vibration of the vocal folds is not something that can be switched on and off very swiftly, as a result groups of consonants tend to be either all voiced or all voiceless. Consider the different endings of ‘dogs’ /dogz/ and ‘cats’ /kats/, of the past forms of the regular verbs such as ‘kissed’ /kist/ and ‘sneezed’ /sni:zd/.

The assimilation of voicing can radically change the sound of several common constructions: have to has to /hav tu:/ /haz tu:/ /haft@/, /hast@/ e.g. I have to go! /aihaft@ g@U/ used to /ju:zd tu:/ /ju:st@/ e.g. I used to live near you. /aiju:st@lIvni@ju:/