voiced or lenis: /b/ (bilabial), /g/ (velar), /d/ (alveolar (but dental in Italian!)) band [b8qnd] (partially devoiced, VOT<0)

Transcription

1 CONSONANTS Plosives (or stops) voiced or lenis: /b/ (bilabial), /g/ (velar), /d/ (alveolar (but dental in Italian!)) band [b8qnd] (partially devoiced, VOT<0) rubber [»r b ] rib [rib8] (fully devoiced; also possible with no audible release: [rib ], VOT=0) rubbed [r b d8] (no audible release in stop clusters) For those of you who know some German: cf. Berg 'mountain' (as in the Italian city name Bergamo) [berk] voiceless or fortis: /p/ (bilabial), /k/ (velar), /t/ (alveolar (but dental in Italian!)) pill [p h I ] (VOT>0) play [pl ei], pray [pr ei], puke [pj u>k], twist [twi st] (aspiration as devoicing of the following consonant) spin [spin] (no aspiration in initial clusters; VOT=0) lip [lip( )] (often with no audible release; see below for other possible pronunciations) wiped [waip t] /p, t, k/ and, to some minor extent, /ts/ can be reinforced (see Roach, pp.55-56) or replaced by a voiceless glottal stop /// (usually in syllable-final position, especially word-finally) (see Gimson, pp for details). Examples: got [gå/] what [wå/] Important: intervocalic /t/ in AmE (e.g. water, bitter) is pronounced [R].[R] is an alveolar flap (or tap) not a plosive ([R] is similar to [d] but is more rapid and has more force). [R] is also transcribed as [t ] (cf. Wells s Pronunciation Dictionary). 1

2 N.B. - Aspiration is predictable, occurring word or syllable initially before a stressed vowel (in polysyllabic words, a weakly stressed syllable implies weaker aspiration). - How to distinguish between voiced and voiceless plosives (apart from the lenis vs. fortis distinction, which of course does not apply when the plosives are unreleased) word initially: post [p h Ust] boast [b8 Ust] word finally: leak [li>k], cap [k h Q&p, k h Q&/(p)] league [li g], cab [k h Qb8] - Lenis vs. fortis consonants Those English consonants which are usually voiced tend to be articulated with relatively weak energy (lenis), whereas those which are always voiceless are relatively strong (fortis). Indeed so-called voiced consonants may have very little voicing (cf. -b8) so that the energy of articulation becomes a significant factor in distinguishing the voiced and voiceless series. - Syllables in English are always the same lengths: cap [kq&p] cab [kqb&] - silent <b>: limb, lamb, bomb, thumb, comb, debt, subtle, doubt Dental stops in English We said /d/ is an alveolar plosive in English. However, if a dental stops follows, then /d/ has a dental articulation: wide [d] vs. width [d5t] 2

3 Nasal and lateral release nasal release [tn, dn]: when the nasal follows a homorganic plosive, the plosive is released directly into the nasal Examples: Britain, fitness, Whitney, kidney, goodnight lateral release [tl, dl]: when the lateral follows a homorganic plosive, the plosive is released directly into the lateral Examples: sadly, fiddler, butler, cutlass, atlas The glottal stop [/] (see also above) [/] is used when the initial sound is a vowel: She s [/] awfully good. 3

4 Nasals /m/, /n/, /N/ singer [sin ], singing [sinin], ring [rin] but remember what happens with comparatives and superlative!! dental variant: ten [n], tenth [n5t] nasal release: see above Fricatives and affricates <ph>: Stephen, nephew affricates in connected speech (coalescence) Examples: don t you [:d UntSu ], would you [:wudzu ], do you [dzu ], miss you [:mi(s)su ], bless you [:ble(s)su ], as yet [ :Zet] The pronunciation of <s-> s- + nasal, /l/, /r/, /w/ is NOT pronounced /z/, but /s/ Examples: smoke, swatch, swear, sweet, sweep, smile, snake, slow silent letters: sword, psychology, answer, psalm More examples: basin, crisis, usual, leisure, Asia, Persian, loose, case, erase, dessert, possess, scissors, choice 4

5 The plural Regular Find out the rule for regular {PL} allomorphs! Free variation [ s] or [ z] [ s] (sing) [ s] [ ziz] (plur) [vz] wharf wharfs/wharves belief beliefs house houses wolf wolves hoof hoofs/hooves proof proofs blouse* 1 blouses* 2 knife knives dwarf dwarfs/dwarves chief chiefs sheaf sheaves scarf scarfs/scarves safe safes elf elves shelf shelves thief thieves leaf leaves loaf loaves wife wives life lives calf calves self selves * 1 blouse [blaus] is AmE; BrE has [blauz] * 2 blouses [blausiz] is also possible in AmE Important: leaf [li f] leaves [li vz] leaf s [li fs] 5

6 Nouns and Verbs: use (N) [ju s] vs. use (V) [ju z] N: house V: to house N: bath V: to bathe blouse (AmE) to blouse cloth to clothe use to use breath to breathe excuse to excuse mouth to mouthe advice to advise teeth to teethe abuse to abuse wreath to wreathe /s/ /z/ /T/ /D/ baths [Dz], [Ts] cloths [Ts], [Dz] breaths [Ts] mouths [Dz] - wreaths [Dz], [Ts] 6

7 Approximants lateral: clear [l] and dark (or velarised) [ ] Examples: lull [l ], hill, ball lateral release: see above post-alveolar: [ ] (spelt as [r] for the sake of simplicity) NB - Italian <r> can be either a lingual trill, [r] i.e. a rapid succession of taps by the tip of the tongue on the alveolar ridge, or a tap (or flap), [R]. - In some English dialects the degree of retroflexion of the tongue for [ ] may be greater than in BBC English [ ], e.g. in the speech of the south-west of England and some American English. /j/ and /w/: see Roach 7