EN1210 Phonetics & Phonology, 1 HEC

Transcription

1 EN1210 Phonetics & Phonology, 1 HEC {

2 Language users rely on phonological rules which are to some extent abstract, always categorical, and generalize over many cases. Emphasis of this module: TARGET LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY, AWARENESS and APPLICATION of i.a. phonological RULES. WORD STRESS (trochaic pattern, general principles) & INTONATION!

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4 SAMPLE EXAM

5 The phonological form of a morpheme is present in the speaker s mentally constituted grammar. This phonological form consists in either a single phonological segment or in a sequence of phonological segments. There is evidence that these segments are organized into phonological constituents. One of those constituents is THE SYLLABLE. The phonological form of morphemes + syllable structure

6 English syllable structure

7 Sonority O B S T R U E N T S S O N O R A N T S LEAST SONOROUS voiceless plosives voiced plosives voiceless fricatives more significant acoustic noise elements, higher degree of constriction voiced fricatives nasals musical and approximants tones, lower ([l] (as in less), [ɹ] (as in rest), degree of semivowels like [j] and [w] (as in yes and west)) constriction vowels MOST SONOROUS

8 Sonority & Syllabic Consonants The sounds (all vowels and certain consonants) that can occur as a syllable nucleus are those that have the most sonority. The more sonorous the sound, the more carrying power it has. The most sonorous elements in a syllable will be located within the nucleus. Second syllable may contain syllabified consonant: beaten, person, trouble, cycle, socialism, rhythm

9 The principle of Maximal Onset Which of the following two syllabifications of the disyllabic word approve is the expected one? /ɘp.ɹu:v/ OR /ɘ.pɹu:v/ (full stop indicates syllable boundary) A: /ɘ.pɹu:v/ Maximizes material in following syllable onset. Also: CV syllable structure more basic

10 Stress Word stress = the relative prominence of the syllables in a word Sentence stress = the relative prominence of the words in a sentence Intonation Suprasegmental (or prosodic) features

11 What is stress? Stress is realized through a combination of length, loudness and pitch. Stressed syllables are longer, louder and more prominent in pitch than unstressed syllables. The more stressed a syllable is, the more it stands out (degree of perceptual salience).

12 The patterning of, and contrast between, stressed and unstressed syllables in a word (stress pattern). syllable Word stress

13 Suomalainen, kahdeksan, kymmenen, postipankki Q: Rule? A: In Finnish, it is always the first syllable in a word that receives the primary (or main) stress. Word stress

14 enter, advice, photographic, variability Q: Rule? A: Word-stress is fixed only in the sense that every word has its own stress pattern which is a very important part of its identity. However: not entirely random. Unconsciously stored generalizations ( rules, tendencies). Word stress

15 Why so complicated? Because the English lexicon derives from two major language groups: Germanic tendency to stress first syllable Romance tendency to stress end of word Word stress

16 How important? The speech recognition process is not simply sequential left to right, one word at a time. During the mental search process, the stressed syllable is picked out of the speech stream and is used to search the mental lexicon. Processing time and processing difficulty increase considerably if word stress is misplaced. Word stress

17 The location of word stress in English: General principles 1: The End-Based Principle 2: The Rhythmic Principle 3: The Derivational Principle 4: The Stress Clash Avoidance Principle

18 The location of word stress in English: General principles 1: The End-Based Principle The placement of primary stress is calculated by counting from the end of the word. Most varieties of English have word stress patterns that are essentially trochaic. A trochee = a stressed (primary or secondary stress) syllable followed by zero or more unstressed syllables.

19 The location of word stress in English: General principles 2: The Rhythmic Principle English words cannot begin with more than one unstressed syllable. Ja pan,japa nese Stress shift necessitates addition of secondary stress. (* Japa nese)

20 The location of word stress in English: General principles 3: The Derivational Principle There is a tendency to place the secondary stress on the syllable that had primary stress in the deriving word. characterize,characteri zation Principle may, however, be overruled by...

21 The location of word stress in English: General principles 4: The Stress Clash Avoidance Principle Having two adjacent stressed syllables should be avoided. Principle 3: Ja pan *Ja,pa nese Principle 4: Japan,Japa nese Stress clash avoided. (However:,re run,,dun dee,,cham pagne)

22 The location of word stress in English Primary stress: placement dependent on origin, length, and complexity of word. Words with two or three syllables are normally stressed on the first syllable: article, balance, cylinder, diplomat, menu, trespass MANY exceptions (a large number of non-germanic late loans, words ending with certain suffixes, and words with prefixes): asylum, canal, cathedral, enamel, electron, horizon, lapel, lieutenant, personnel, solicit

23 The location of word stress in English Morphologically simple* bisyllabic NOUNS The basic pattern is the Germanic trochaic pattern, i.e. primary stress on the penultimate syllable (the penult): lemon, person, rabbit, turnip, carpet, district etc. BUT: French loans: ga zette, pa rade, fi nesse, bam boo, ma rine, liqueur * simple/simplex: e.g. closet, yellow; complex: e.g. stillness, quicker

24 The location of word stress in English Morphologically simple bisyllabic ADJECTIVES The basic pattern is the Germanic trochaic pattern, i.e. primary stress on the penultimate syllable (the penult): angry, central, timid, urgent, yellow, honest, lazy, fragile BUT: Adjectives containing historical prefixes (most no longer count as productive in English = effectively morphologically simple) that come from Latin or French: com plete, im mense, pre cise, se lect AND adjectives containing French suffixes: bi zarre, gro tesque, u nique

25 The location of word stress in English Morphologically simple bisyllabic VERBS Basic trochaic tendency, i.e. primary stress on the penultimate syllable, much less evident. MANY exceptions: control, arrest, debate, report, defeat, complete. NB: Many nouns and adjectives are stressed on the prefix, whereas the corresponding verb is stressed on the stem. noun/adjective verb conduct con duct contract con tract discount dis count present pre sent record re cord

26 The location of word stress in English Polysyllabic NOUNS Three syllables or more. Basic pattern is still Germanic trochaic pattern. Primary stress on antepenultimate syllable: academy, cinema, deficit, elephant, library, ambiguity, analysis, curiosity, economy, hypothesis, magnificent, phenomenon, thermometer Exceptions (final syllable written w/ double vowel letter, Fr. endings, -ics): kangaroo, picturesque, linguistics (but e.g. politics)

27 The location of word stress in English Polysyllabic ADJECTIVES Three syllables or more. Basic pattern is still Germanic trochaic pattern. Primary stress on antepenultimate syllable: general, intelligent, juvenile, taciturn Exceptions: dependent, disastrous, objective, tremendous (consonant cluster after penultimate vowel), fortunate, elaborate, legitimate (-ate)

28 The location of word stress in English Polysyllabic VERBS Three syllables or more. As with bisyllabic verbs, basic Germanic trochaic pattern much less evident. In fact, many polysyllabic verbs have final primary stress, often due to etymological prefixes that are Latinate in origin: inter sect, enter tain

29 The location of word stress in English SUFFIXES & PREFIXES Stress-neutral suffixes: native Germanic suffixes Stress-shifting suffixes: -ee, -eer, -ese, -ette take primary stress; -ity, -ic, -ous, -ious primary stress on syllable immediately preceding stress-shifting suffix Prefixes: Most separable monosyllabic prefixes take secondary stress

30 Stress and rhythm Rhythm is determined in English by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. Regardless of the number of syllables between stresses, the time between stresses tends to be the same. English is a stress-timed language. Sentence stress

31 He can t quite read it I doubt if he can read it I don t really think he can read it. I shouldn t have thought it possible for him to read it. The use of stress to create rhythmic unity and cohesion. The rhythm in most varieties of English is trochaic. Tendency: rhythmic beat placed on stressed syllables of trochaic feet. Stress and rhythm

32 Stress and rhythm Språk för de stammande gjort, vart ord är ett embryon hos dig, En hälft stöter du fram, en hälft sväljer du ner. Allt i ditt fädernesland med ångmaskiner bedrives; Käraste, skaffa dig snart en för din tunga också! Esaias Tegnér (1817) Sentence stress

33 Stress and rhythm: lexical words vs function words Stress is generally placed on lexical words (content words), while function words are usually unstressed and often strongly reduced. Function words Prepositions, conjunctions, articles, auxiliary verbs, pronouns Sentence stress