1 Functional aspect of speech sounds 2 Modification

1. Functional aspect of speech sounds. 2. Modification of sounds in speech Phoneme definition Aspects of phonemic analysis Allophones as speech representations of Phonemes Modifications of consonants Modifications of vowels

Phonemes and Allophones Stream of sounds → segments What is a sound? [t] and [d] differentiate the meaning of words: [tu: ] - [du: ] [tik] — [dik] [t]: take, at the (aleveolar — dental) Phoneme: sound in contrastive sense Allophone: sounds that are variants of phoneme PHONEME — family of sounds ALLOPHONES — members of the family

Phoneme definition The phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech sounds opposable to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words. Three aspects of phoneme: Functional Material Abstract

Views of the phoneme fall into 4 main classes: 1) the “mentalistic” or “psychological” view: an ideal “mental image” or a target at which the speaker aims (B. de Courtenay). 2) the so-called “functional” view: as a set of oppositions (N. Trubezkoy). 3) “abstract” view: as essentially independent of speech sounds (L. Hjelmslev of Copenhagen linguistic school). 4)“physical” view: as a “family” of related sounds related in character; not occuring in the same phonetic context as any other (D. Jones).

Phoneme Firstly, the phoneme is a functional unit (distinctive function). e. g. : bath-path, light-like; He was heard badly He was hurt badly Secondly, the phoneme is material, real and objective (constitutive function). e. g. : door — darn — down; deal — day — did; bedtime — god dog; dry — dream; breadth; dweller Thirdly, the phoneme is abstract and generalizing, one linguistic unit (recognitive function).

Phoneme and Allophones An allophone is a sound that can represent a particular phoneme. Principal/subsidiary allophones; positional/combinatory; stylistic, dialectal, individual, occasional (phones). A phoneme is used for sounds in contrastive sense; allophone for sounds which are variants of a phoneme (different environments, non-contrastive) Articulatory features: distinctive (relevant) — nondistinctive (irrelevant). E. g. port-court (occlusive, labial-backlingual and velar) aspirated-non-aspirated, non-palatalized toy-stop; do-did

Minimal pairs

Distinctive features Invariant of the phoneme — includes functionally relevant features: e. g [t]: occlusive, forelingual and fortis occlusive -> constrictive, [t] -> [s] (tea-sea; tick-sick); forelingual -> backlingual, [t] ->[k] (bat-back; tick-kick); fortis -> lenis , [t] → [d] (bet-bed; tear-bear). Types of relations (distribution): Contrastive Complementary Free variation

Phonological and phonetic mistakes If any allophone of some phoneme is replaced by an allophone of a different phoneme, the mistake is called phonological, because the meaning of the word is affected. e. g. : [det – ded], [bi: t - bɪt], [bed - bæd] (debtdead; beat-bit, bed-bad). If an allophone of the phoneme is replaced by another allophone of the same phoneme the mistake is called phonetic (foreign accent). e. g. : palataliztion, aspiration

State the difference bw the allopnones in the pairs below: pat — pit; trick — tick; cradle — trade; in the desk – in a desk; stop Mary – stop Peter; glow – go; garden — guide Are the following mistakes phonetic or phonological? beat – [bi: t] bad – [bed] work – [wɔ: k] meat – [mɪt] bar – [baʳ] days – [deɪs] star – [stʰa: ] car – [ka: ] tease – [tˈi: z]

Sort out the oppositions according to the following features: bilabial/labio-dental, fore-lingual/backlingual, alveolar/inter-dental ni: z – ði: z sɔ: t — kɔ: t bu: ð- bu: t Ɵɪk — dɪk fɔ: m — wɔ: m traɪ - kraɪ mɔ: - fɔ: gru: - tru: wi: k – vi: l

Sort out the oppositions according to the following features: front/central, mid/open, diphthong/monophthong mæn – men pɔ: k — pɜʊk li: k - lʌk bed — bɜ: d stɛə — stɜ: mæd — mʌd bɜʊt — baʊ sɔ: t – set nɒt - naɪt

Modifications of sound Phonemes and allophones Speech production stages: (1) the on-glide, or the initial stage, (2) the retention-stage, or the medial stage, and (3) the off-glide (release), or the final stage. Economy of effort Co-articulation

Types of modifications assimilation: C <→ C; V <→ V accommodation: C <→ V; C <→ V vowel reduction: weakening in unstressed positions elision: complete loss of sounds

Assimilation Regressive e. g. : right now [t] is affected by the following nasal [n] and is pronounced with the nasal plosion); Progressive e. g. : suffix -s is voiceless after a voiceless phoneme, and it is voiced after a voiced phoneme – [si: ts – si: dz]; [sets – selz]). The English plural is either /z/ or /s/ when it occurs after a non-sibilant sound. The voicing feature is taken from the final consonant of the base. e. g. works [s] || runs / plays [z]

Assimilation Historical: words borrowed from Norman-French: permission, measure, etc. (adaptation of the articulation of [s] and [z] to the articulation of the [j]-phoneme: [pəˈmɪʃ(ə)n], [ˈmeʒə]. Living (functioning) Obligatory (has to be mastered in learning) Non-obligatory (stylistic)

Assimilations Complete: e. g. in rapid casual speech [t] will become [p] before a bilabial consonant, as in that person [ðæpˈpɜ: sn]. Partial: e. g. tree - [t] becomes post-alveolar under the influence of the following [r], but it retains its distinctive features and is still constrictive, forelingual and fortis.

Assimilations of place (plosives and nasals) 1) the alveolar [t – d - n] before interdental [θ - ð] become dental: at the, in the, seventh, said that; 2) the alveolar [t - d] become post-alveolar before post-alveolar [r]: tree, dry, get rid of; 3) the alveolar [t - d] become affricates before the palatal [j]: fortune [ˈfɔ: ʧu(: )n], did you [ˈdɪʤu(: )]; 4) the alveolar [t - d] are bilabial before a bilabial consonant (in rapid casual speech): meat pie [ˈmi: p-paɪ]; 5) the bilabial [m] is labio-dental before the labio-dental [f-v]: some fruit; 6) the alveolar [n] assimilates to the velar consonants, becoming velar [η]: donkey [ˈdɒηkɪ]; 7) the alveolar [n] is palato-alveolar before by [ʧ-ʤ]: (bunch, change); 8) the alveolar [s-z] are post-alveolar before [ ]: does she [ˈdʌʃʃi], horse -shoe [ˈhɔ: ʃʃu: ].

Assimilations of manner loss of plosion: glad to see you, great trouble lateral plosion: settle, at last nasal plosion: not now, at night Assimilations of voice: - regressive assimilation of voice before voiceless fortis (the preceding voiced lenis consonant becomes devoiced): e. g. of course [əfˈkɔ: s]. NOTE: the voiceless fortis consonant will never become voiced and lenis (e. g. I like this [aɪ ˈlaɪk ðɪs]). - progressive assimilation: suffixes “-ed” of regular verbs, “-s” of plural nouns and possessives. [t] after voiceless consonants (except t) and [d] after vowels and voiced consonants (except d), e. g. described [dɪsˈkraɪbd] – passed [pa: st], cats [kæts] - dogs [dɒgz], Peet’s [pɪts] - David’s [ˈdeɪvɪdz].

Accomodations Lip position: consonants become labialized under the influence of the neighbouring back vowels : boot, moon, etc. The position of the soft palate: nasalization in vowels under the influence of the neighbouring nasal sonorants [m][n] : meaning, end, some interesting men. Elision e. g. : next day [neksˈdeɪ], acts [æks]; all right [ɔ: ˈraɪt], always [ˈɔ: wɪz]; final –f is often lost before consonants as in waste of time [ˈweɪst əˈtaɪm]; the initial h- may be lost in the pronouns and auxiliary verbs in casual speech as in What has he said? [ˈwɒt əz i ˈsed]; examples of historical elision in English: know [nɜʊ], castle [ka: sl], listen [ˈlɪsn].

English vowels in connected speech Quantitative modification: shortening of length in unstressed position e. g. window, ˈphoneme and before a voiceless consonant e. g. heat, past, Qualitative modification: reduction of quality on unstressed positions, e. g. statesman [ˈsteɪtsmən]; economic [ˌi: kəˈnɒmɪk] Elision: omission in colloquial speech in unstressed position e. g. perhaps [pʰˈhæps], today [tʰˈdeɪ], correct [kˈrekt].

Stylistic modifications most vowels in unstressed positions are neutralized, especially in grammatical words: because [bɪkəz], according to [əˈkədɪη], have [əv]; the diphthongoids [i: ] and [u: ] become diphthongs and then monophthongs: believe [bəˈlɪv], few [fiʊ]; diphthongs are monophthongized and then might undergo qualitative reduction as well: where [wɛ], really [ˈrɛlɪ], now they [ˈna ðe] – [ˈnʌ ðə]; vowel elision is very frequent: it’s [ts], different [ˈdɪfr(ə)nt], phonetics [ˈfnetɪks]; the degree of voicing or devoicing of consonants increases and ends with the elision of the sound: must be [mʌst bi - mʌst bpi - mʌst pi - mʌs pi];

the glottal stop is often observed before the modified plosive consonant: Great Britain [ˈgreɪʔ ˈpbrɪtn], couldn’t come [ˈkʊdηʔ ˈkʌm]; the palatal [j] affects the manner of articulation of the preceding [t-d] and [s-z]: as you like [əʒ u ˈlaɪk], last year [ˈla: sʧˈjɪə], student [ˈsʧu: dnt]; there is a strong tendency for elision of consonants: and the [ən ðə], a box of matches [əˈbɒks əˈmæʧəz].

1) Classify these words and word combinations according to the type of assimilation (complete/partial, progressive/regressive): symphony, just think, will you come, next time, often, tell the teacher, glad to see, right shoe, Ryan’s coat, treat, clean the board, cycle, stubborn, eagle, hot pie, plum pudding, opened, that’s the thing, open the book. 2) State the type of sound modifications in the following words and word combinations: blackboard, could you, thanks, mean, set three, give me, tune, ˈrecord, obˈject, locks, pools, is she, lounge, inch, dark garden, little, Ann’s, named, hotel, written, Kate’s, don’t go, sportsman, ˈobject, London, literature, schedule.