Книга фонетика

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(2)Within the words sandwich, grandmother, etc under the influence of /n/ the consonant /d/ changed into /n/ and then disappeared, eg. sandwich

/'sænnwɪdʒ/ ˃ /'sænwɪdʒ/.

When the following sound influences the articulation of the preceding one assimilation is called regressive. For example, within the word width and in the word combination in them the alveolar /d/ and /n/ become dental, before the interdental /θ/ and /ð/.

Reciprocal or double assimilation means complex mutual influence of the adjacent sounds. For example, within the word tree /tri:/ the sonorant /r/ is partly devoiced under the influence of the voiceless /t/ and the alveolar /t/ becomes post-alveolar before the post-alveolar /r/.

DEGREE OF COMPLETENESS

According to its degree, assimilation can be complete and incomplete. Assimilation is complete in the case the two adjoining sounds become alike or merge into one. It always takes place when the two sounds differ only in one articulatory feature. We find cases of complete assimilation within words, eg. cupboard /'kʌpbəd ˃'kʌbəd/; and at the word junction in fluent speech, eg. less shy /'les'ʃaɪ ˃'leʃ ʃaɪ/.

Assimilation is called incomplete when the likeness of the adjoining sounds is partial as the assimilated sound retains its major articulatory features. For example, the sonorants /w, l, r/ are partly devoiced when preceded by the voiceless fortis /p, t, k, s, f, θ/ within words sweet , place, try.

DEGREE OF STABILITY

Many assimilatory phenomena of older stages in the development of the language have become obligatory in modern English; they may, or may not be reflected in spelling. Such changes which have taken place over a period of time within words are called historical, eg. orchard (ort + yard) - /'ͻ: tjəd ˃ 'ͻ:tʃəd/.

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In modern language obligatory assimilations are special allophonic variants characteristic of the natives’ speech. The use of the wrong allophone, though a non-phonemic mistake, amounts to mispronounciation and may be one of the causes of a foreign accent making understanding difficult. For example, a dental allophone of the alveolar /t/ should be used when it is followed by

(inter)dental /θ/ or /ð/ as in eighth /eɪtθ/.

Besides there are a lot of widely spread but non-obligatory cases of assimilation which can be traced mainly at word boundaries, eg.

ten minutes /'ten 'mɪnɪts ˃ 'tem 'mɪnɪts/

ten girls /'ten 'gɜ:lz ˃'teŋ 'gɜ:lz/.

Non-obligatory assimilations are characteristic of fluent or careless speech and should be avoided by public speakers (lecturers, teachers, interpreters, etc.)

QUALITY OF ADJACENT SOUNDS

According to the quality of the adjacent sounds there can be four special cases of contact assimilation: (1) influence of a consonant on the adjacent consonant,

(2) influence of a vowel on the adjacent vowel, (3) influence of a consonant on the adjacent vowel, (4) influence of a vowel on the adjacent consonant.

We shall consider only the first case here.

CONSONANT INFLUENCES CONSONANT

In Modern English it is mainly consonants that are assimilated. When the two adjacent sounds are consonants there occur most striking assimilative changes. Since the articulation of any speech sound differs according to the phonetic context we shall dwell only on considerable changes, especially those which present special difficulties for Russian learners.

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MODIFICATION OF THE PLACE OF OBSTRUCTION AND THE ACTIVE ORGAN OF SPEECH

Assimilation may take place within a word and also at word boundaries. The following three important cases should be noticed:

(a)The alveolar allophones of /t, d, n, l, s, z/ are replaced by the dental variants when immediately followed by the interdental /θ, ð/, eg.

within a word: eighth, breadth, tenth;

at word boundaries: Put that down!, Read this!, on the desk;

(b)The post-alveolar /t/ and /d/ are heard before the post-alveolar sonorant

/r/, eg.

within a word: trip, true, trunk, dream, drink, dry;

at word boundaries: at rest, would read;

(c)The bilabial nasal /m/ or the alveolar nasal /n/ become labio-dental under the influence of immediately following labio-dental fricatives /f, v/, eg.

within a word: triumph, comfort, infant;

at word boundaries: come for me, ten forks;

VOICING AND DEVOICING

Progressive voicing or devoicing is common in English but is very rare in Russian.

(a)The sonorants /m, n, l, w, r, j/ are partially devoiced when preceded by voiceless consonants /s, p, t, k, f, θ, ʃ/, eg. within words:

/m/ - small; /n/ - sneer;

/l/ - slow, place, climb, fly;

/w/ - sweep, square, twilight;

/r/ - spread, try, prey, throw, cream;

/j/ - stupid, tune, pure, few.

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At word boundaries the sonorants /l, r, w/ are slightly devoiced if with the adjacent words they form a phrasal word or a rhythmic group, eg. at last, at rest.

(b)Contracted forms of the verbs ‘is’ and ‘has’ may retain voice or be devoiced depending on the preceding consonants, eg.:

That’s right /→ðæts ˎraɪt/;

Jack’s done it /→dʒæks ˎdʌn ɪt/;

Bob’s gone out /→bɒbz 'gɒn ˎaʊt/.

(c)The assimilative voicing or devoicing of the possessive suffix –‘s or –s’, the plural suffix –(e)s of nouns and of the third person singular present indefinite of verbs depends on the quality of the preceding consonant. These suffixes are pronounced as:

-/z/ after all voiced consonants except /z/ and /ʒ/ and after all vowel sounds, eg. girls /gɜ:lz/, rooms /rʊmz/, laws /lͻ:z/, reads /ri:dz/;

-/s/ after all voiceless consonants except /s/ and /ʃ/, eg. Jack’s /dʒæks/, books

/bʊks/, writes / raɪts/;

-A separate syllable /ɪz/ after /s, z/ or /ʃ, ʒ/, eg. George’s /'dʒͻ:dʒɪz/, dishes

/'dɪʃɪz/, washes /'wɒʃɪz/, boxes /'bɒksɪz/.

(d)The assimilative voicing or devoicing of the suffix –ed of the regular verbs also depends on the quality of the preceding consonant. The ending –ed is pronounced as /d/ after all voiced consonants except /d/ and after all vowel sounds, eg. lived /lɪvd/, played /pleɪd/; /t/ after all voiceless consonants except /t/, eg. worked /wɜ:kt/.

A separate syllable /ɪd/ after /d, t/, eg. expected /ɪks'pektɪd/, intended

/ɪn'tendɪd/.

In English regressive voicing or devoicing is found only in a few cases of historical assimilation within a compound word when the semantic independence of the first component is lost, eg. five pence/'faɪfpəns/, cf. five

/faɪv/; gooseberry /'gu:zbrɪ/, cf. goose /gu:s/.

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Regressive voicing or devoicing may also take place in closely connected pairs of words, eg. I have to /aɪ ˎhæftə/, she has to /ʃɪ ˎhæstə/; I used to /aɪ

ˎju:stə/, does she /ˎdʌʃʃɪ/.

In English word sequences word final voiced consonants are not fully devoiced under the influence of the immediately following voiceless

consonants, eg. good chap /'gʊd 'tʃæp/, big case /'bɪg 'keɪs/.

Neither are the word final voiceless consonants voiced under the influence of the immediately following voiced consonants, eg. white dress

/'waɪt 'dres/; this book /'ðɪs 'bʊk/.

Typical mistakes lie in devoicing voiced consonants before voiceless ones and voicing voiceless consonants before voiced ones, eg.

		Correct pronunciation	Wrong pronunciation
	anecdote	/'ænɪkdəʊt/	/'ænɪgdəʊt/
	birthday	/'bɜ:θdeɪ/	/'bɜ:ðdeɪ/
	obstinate	/'ɒbstɪnɪt/	/'ɒpstɪnɪt/
	medicine	/'medsɪn/	/'metsɪn/
	this book	/'ðɪs 'bʊk/	/'ðɪz 'bʊk/
	let’s go	/'lets 'gəʊ/	/'letz 'gəʊ/
	like that	/'laɪk 'ðæt/	/'laɪg 'ðæt/
	this way	/'ðɪs 'weɪ/	/'ðɪz 'weɪ/
	What’s the time?	/→wɒts ðə ˎtaɪm/	/→wɒtz ðə ˎtaɪm/

CHANGES IN THE LIP POSITION

Consonants followed by the sonorant /w/ change their lip-position. They become lip-rounded in anticipation of /w/, eg. twinkle, quite, swan, language.

CHANGES IN THE POSITION OF SOFT PALATE

Nasal consonants may influence the adjacent plosives. This type of assimilation is not typical of English. Sometimes /d/ changes into /n/ under the

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influence of the preceding /n/, eg. handsome /'hændsəm ˃ 'hænnsəm ˃ 'hænsm/, handmade /'hænnmeɪd/.

Nasalization affects mainly the alveolar consonants, especially adjacent to the negative n’t, and is charactertistic of very rapid speech, eg.

/d/ ˃ /n/ She wouldn’t do it. /ʃɪ →wʊnnt ˎdu:ɪt/

/d/ ˃/b/ ˃/m/ Good morning. /gʊd ˎmͻ:nɪŋ ˃ gʊm ˎmͻ:nɪŋ/

CHANGES IN THE MANNER OF THE RELEASE OF PLOSIVE CONSONANTS

English plosives do not always have the third stage consisting of a sudden oral release of air. The main variants are:

(a) Incomplete plosion.

In the clusters of two plosives /pp, pb, bb, bp, tt, td, dd, dt, ttʃ, tdʒ, tdʃ, dtʃ, ddʒ, kk, kg, gg, gk/ where the position of the organs of speech is the same for both consonants, there is no separation of the organs of speech between the two plosives. The bold stage is prolonged from the beginning of the first consonant until the release of the second. The effect is that of a single plosive pronounced with very long hold. In such clusters the first stop has no plosion, eg.

within a word: accommodation, attraction, bookcase;

at word boundaries: lamp post; what time; went down; that child; that joke;big cat; good chances.

In a cluster of two plosives or of a plosive and a affricate the closure of the organs of speech for the second plosive is made before the release of the first. So there is only one explosion for the two plosives. The first plosive is incomplete, eg.

within a word: talked, object, lecture;

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at word boundaries: good girl; good book, hot bottle.

(b)Nasal Plosion. When a plosive is followed by the syllabic /n/ or /m/ it has no release of its own, the so-called ‘nasal’ plosion is produced. In such sequences the closure for the plosive is made normally, but the release is produced not by a removal of the oral closure, which is retained, but by the lowering of the soft palate, which allows the compressed air to escape through the nasal cavity to form the nasal consonant, eg.

within a word: happen, shipmate, submarine, subnormal, button;

at word boundaries: stop moaning, escape noisily, sub man, sob noisily.

(c)Lateral Plosion. In the sequences of a plosive immediately followed by /l/ the closure produced for the plosive is not released till after /l/. Before /l/ the release is made by a sudden lowering of the sides of the tongue, and the air escapes along the sides of the tongue with lateral plosion. eg. please, cattle, black, candle.

THE REDUCTION OF CONSONANT CLUSTERS (ELISION)

The reduction of some consonant clusters was established long ago.

1.The initial /w, k, g/ may be dropped, eg. write /raɪt/, know /nəʊ/, gnat /næt/.

2.The medial /t/ or /d/ are dropped in in a cluster of three consonants, eg. listen /'lɪsn/, soften /'sɒfn/, Wednesday /'wenzdɪ/.

3.The final /b/ is dropped in the cluster /mb/, eg. lamb /læm/, dumb /dʌm/.

In other cases of recent formation the elided forms are typical only of rapid colloquial speech. In the following examples the elided sound is still pronounced in careful, precise speech, cf. often /ɒfn/ or /'ɒftən/.

In present-day English the reduction of clusters continues to take place.

The plosives /t/ or /d/ in the clusters /-st, -ft, -ʃt, -nd, -ld, -zd, -ðd, -vd/ in final position when followed by a word with an initial consonant are often reduced in rapid speech, eg. last time /'la:s 'taɪm/, mashed potatoes /'mæʃ pə'teɪtəʊz/, next day /'neks 'deɪ/, old man /'əʊl 'mæn/.

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Word final clusters of plosives or affricates + /t/ or /d/: /-pt, -kt, -tʃt, -bd, -gd, -dʒd/ may lose the final alveolar plosive when the following word begins with a consonant, eg. kept quiet /'kep 'kwaət/, lagged behind /'læg bɪ'haɪnd/.

The alveolar /t/ of the negative –n’t is often reduced before a consonant, eg.

You mustn’t do it /jʊ 'mʌsn ˎdu: ɪt/.

When /t/ or /d/ occur between two other plosives they are never heard, eg. locked gate /'lɒk 'geɪt/, strict teacher /'strɪk 'ti:tʃə/.

/h/ may be dropped in the following monosyllables when non-initial and unstressed: have, has, had; he, him, his, her; who, eg.

Tell him he is wanted /'tel ɪm iz ˎwɒntɪd/ But: He’s wanted /hiz ˎwɒntɪd/.

NON-OBLIGATORY ASSIMILATIONS OF FLUENT COLLOQUIAL SPEECH

Accidental or positional assimilations at word boundaries are made by English people in rapid colloquial speech. The alveolar consonants /t, d, n, s, z/ in word final position often assimilate to the place of articulation of the following word initial consonant.

Before /p,b, m/ the consonant /t/ changes into /p/, eg. that place /'ðæp 'pleɪs/, /d/ changes into /b/, eg. lead pencil /'leb 'pensl/, and /n/ changes into /m/, eg. main path /'meɪm 'pa:θ/.

Before /k, g/ the consonant /t/ changes into /k/, eg. light coat /'laɪk 'kəʊt/, /d/ changes into /g/, eg. good company /'gʊg 'kʌmpənɪ/, /n/ changes into / , eg woolen coat /'wʊləŋ 'kəʊt/.

Before /ʃ, j/ the consonant /s/ changes into /ʃ/, eg. the shop /ðɪʃ 'ʃɒ/, /s/ changes into /ʒ/, eg. Has she? /hæʒ ʃi/.

Coalescence of /t, d, s, z/ with /j/ often takes place at word boundaries in colloquial speech, eg.

/t/+/j/ in: what you… /'wɒtʃu/ /d/+/j/ in: would you… /'wʊdʒu/ /s/+/j/ in: in case you… /iŋ'keɪʃu/ /z/+/j/ in: does she… /'dʌʒʃi/

The coalescence is more complete in the case of /t, d/ + /j/, especially in question tags, eg. didn’t you /'dɪdnt ʃu/, could you /'kʊd ʒu/.

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LECTURE 9. PROSODY

The sound system enables us to express meaning in speech in both verbal and non-verbal ways. Verbal meaning (what we say) relies on vowels and consonants to construct words, phrases and sentences. Non-verbal meaning (the way that we say it) makes use of such factors as intonation, rhythm, and tone of voice to provide speech with much of its structure and expressiveness. So, often, it is the non-verbal meaning which is the critical element in a communication.

PROSODIC FEATURES

How many ways are there to say things? The chief possibilities are dictated by the main auditory properties of sound: pitch, loudness and speed. These properties, used singly or in combination (in the fom of rhythm), and accompanied by the distinctive use of silence (in the form of pause), make up the prosody or prosodic features of the language. This is much broader sense of ‘prosody’ than is to be found in poetry, where it refers only to the study of metrical patterning.

The most important prosodic effects are those conveyed by the linguistic use of pitch movement, or melody – the intonation system. Different pitch levels (tones) are used in particular sequences (contours) to express a wide range of meanings. Some of these meanings can be shown in writing, such as the opposition between the statement (They’re ready.) and question (Trey’re ready?), but most intonational effects have no equivalents in punctuation, and can be written down only through a special transcription.

Loudness is used in a variety of ways. Gross differences of meaning (such as anger, menace, excitement) can be conveyed by using an overall loudness level. More intricately, English uses variations in loudness to define the difference between strong and weak (stressed and unstressed) syllables. The stress pattern of a word is an important feature of the word’s spoken identity: thus we find nation,not nation; nationalit, not nationality.there may even be contrasts of meaning partly conveyed by stress pattern, as with record (the noun) and record (the verb). Stress patterns make an important contribution to spoken

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intelligibility, and foreigners who unwittingly alter word stress can have great

difficulty in making themselves understood.

Varying the speed (or tempo) of speech is an important but less systematic communicative feature. By speeding up or slowing down the rate at which we say syllables, words, phrases, and sentences, we can convey several kinds of meaning, such as (speeding up) excitememt and impatience, or (slowing down) emphasis and thoughtfulness. There is a great deal of difference between No said in a clipped, definite tone (‘Nope’) and No said in a drawled, meditative tone (‘No-o-o’). and grammatical boundaries can often be signalled by tempo variation, as when a whole phrase is speeded up to show that it is functioning as a single word (a take-it-or-leave-it situation).

THE FUNCTIONS OF INTONATION

Emotional Intonation’s most obvious role is to express attitudinal meaning – sarcasm, surprise, reserve, impatience, delight, shock, anger, interest, and thousands of other semsntic nuances.

Grammatical Intonation helps to identify grammatical structure in speech, performing a role similar to punctuation. Units such as clause and sentence often depend on intonation for their spoken identity, and several specific contrasts, such as question/statement, make systematic use of it.

Informational Intonation helps draw attention to what meaning is given and what is new in an utterance. The word carrying the most prominent tone in a contour signals the part of an utterance that the speaker is treating as new information: I’ve got a new pen, I bought three books.

Textual Intonation helps larger units of meaning than the sentence to contrast and cohere. In radio news-reading, paragraphs of information can be shaped throgh the use of pitch. In sports commentary, changes in prosody reflect the progress of the action.

Psychological Intonation helps us to organize speech into u nits that are easier to perceive and memorize. Most people would find a sequence of ten numbers