LINGUA INGLESE 1 modulo A/B Introduction to English Linguistics prof. Hugo Bowles Lesson 12 Connected speech

Aspects of Connected Speech weak Forms yod coalescence elision assimilation

Weak syllables (vowels) father happy thank you open photograph radio influence

Weak syllables (consonants) bottle parcel threaten seven happen

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 bought two tickets for my father and his best friend.

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

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: I went to the station and bought two tickets /ə’wentəδə’steı ʃ ənəm’b ɔ : ’tu:’tıkıts for my father and his best friend fəmə’fa:δərənız’bes’fr en

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

weak form preposition to tu: tǝtǝ for fɔ:fɔ:fǝfǝ from fr ɑ m fr ǝ m into ɪ ntu: ɪ nt ǝ of ɒvɒv as æzæz ǝzǝz atæt ǝtǝt strong form Pronunciation Spelling ǝvǝv

Auxiliary verbs Strong do du: dǝdǝ are a:a: ǝ (r)* was wɒzwɒzwǝzwǝz were wɜ:wɜ:wǝwǝ would wʊdwʊdwǝdwǝd could kʊdkʊdkǝdkǝd should ʃʊdʃʊd ʃǝdʃǝd can kænkæn kǝnkǝn must m^st m ǝ s(t) Weak

Other words andænd ǝ nd, ǝ n, n butb^t bǝtbǝt than δænδæn δǝnδǝn that (as a relative) δætδæt δǝtδǝt you (object pronoun) ju: jǝjǝ your j ɔ :j ǝ (r) her (as object pronoun) h ɜ :(r)(h) ǝ (r)* aæ, ei ǝ*ǝ* anænæn ǝnǝn the δ i: δ ǝ, δ i: (before a vowel) Strong formWeak form

Weak = unstressed 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/ = /t ʃ / …but use your head! / b ǝ t ʃ u:zj ǝ hed / what you need…. / wot ʃ u:ni:d / the ball that you brought / δ ǝ b ɔ :lδət ʃ u:br ɔ :t / last year…. /la:st ʃ i ǝ /

/d/ + /j/ = / ʤ / could you help me? /ku ʤ u:helmi:/ would yours work? /wu ʤɔ :zw ɜ :k/ she had university exams / ʃ i:hæ ʤ u:nəv ɜ :sə ti:jigz ӕ mz

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. You Tube = /ju:tju:b/ or /ju: t ʃ u: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 / ʤ ə/ : Do you live here? Did you live here? / ʤ əliviə/ /(di) ʤ əliviə/

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!

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…. / δ ǝ neksd ei/ The last car… / δ ǝ la:sk a:/ Hold the dog! /h ǝ ul δ ǝ d og/ Send Frank /senfra nk/

consonant + affricate elision This can also take place within affricates / ʧ / and / ʤ / when preceded by a consonant, e.g. lunchtime /lun ʧ taim/  /lun ʃ taim/ strange days /strein ʤ deIz/  /strein ʒ 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…. /’aikәn’spi:k/ - I can’t speak… / ai’ka:nspi:k/

Assimilation Assimilation can be: of place of voice 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, /te ƞ 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 b oiz / 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.

Assimilation of place before a VELAR /n/ before a velar becomes / ƞ / e.g. ban = /b ӕ n/ bank = ban+k = /b ӕƞ k/ not /b ӕ nk/ /d/ before a velar becomes /g/ e.g. good girl = /g ʊ g g ɜ :l/ /t/ before a velar becomes /k/ e.g. that girl = / δ æk g ɜ :l / 28

Assimilation of place before a BILABIAL ( /b/ /m/ /p )/ /n/ before a bilabial becomes /m/ e.g. ten boys = / tem boiz/ /d/ before a bilabial becomes /b/ e.g. bad man = /bæb mæn/ /t/ before a bilabial becomes /p/ e.g. hot meal = / hop mi:l / 29

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 ‘legs’ / legz / and ‘hats’ / h æ ts /, 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:/ /hæftə / hæstə/ e.g. I have to go! /aihæftəgəu/ used to /ju:z d tu:/ /ju:s tə/ e.g. I used to live near you. / aiju:stəl ɪ vn ɪ əju:/