English-Phonetics-1 - Cours sur la phonétique anglaise PDF

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Cours sur la phonétique anglaise...

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English Phonetics Lecture 1: introduction to phonetics The relation between spelling and sound is complicated. It's not because we know how to spell a word, and write a word, that we know how to pronounce it. Phonetics provides a system which enables non-native speakers to know how to say a word. The origin of the written language lies in the spoken language. While sounds have evolved, the written code has not. The words stayed the same. When you learn a second, and a third language at junior school or high school, the teaching rests on writing, grammar, and reading, more than listening. This way of teaching a language, is not the best one. For example, a child learning a language on listen, only hear things. Then, when he grow up he learns how to write and read. But listening, hearing things in a foreign language, is the best way to learn it. That's why second and third languages should be teaching during primary school. It's easier to learn languages during that period. There are different types of English, there are different accents. But all of them are based on British English (which has always been used as a model). The two accents of references are the RP, and the GB. Received Pronounciation: RP can have no hit of any regional accent. Some changes have crept in over the last couples of decades, but they are minor and slow, mainly limited to slightly changes in vowel positioning. It's associated with educated speakers and formal speech. It has connotations of prestige and authority, but also of privilege and arrogance. It provoked a few problems, but nevertheless RP accent is generally represented in dictionnaries (which give pronunciations), and it's used as a model for the teaching of English as a foreign language. RP can be considered as an unchanging accent, a standard against which other accents can be measured of judged. Note: RP is no longer associated with correctness. If you didn't speak RP you were considered as part of the lower classes, but that's not the case anymore. General British: GB can incorporate regional elements. These could be very noticeable vowel or consonant substitutions , but the term allows for a mich broader inclusion of speakers who have mainly standard accents. In other words, RP is GB, but GB isn't necessarily RP. It's an international alternative to General American.

General American: a kind of standard pronounciation found in American dictionaries. Also called General American English Pronunciation, or Standard American English Pronunciation. It's not the only kind of pronunciation found in the USA. There are several others, but the two main important accents are "The New England Accent", and "The Southern English Accent". This can be explained by the fact that the English who came to America to colonize it, were from different part of the UK. But both of these groups had non-rhotic accents. Standard English: type of English that's suitable for use in every type of written or spoken situation. The majority of words in English dictionaries are part of Standard English. Using standard English gives you the opportunity to communicate your message in English, to the widest range of native English speakers. It's also more permanent than some other forms of English language, such as slang, which go out of fashion from one generation to the next. Note: acheter Transcrire l'anglais britannique et américain (pour les TD), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (cf. internet). ** Lecture 2 Le premier phonème est non voisé, alors que le deuxième l'est. Dans les deux cas, ils correspondent au "th". Quelques exceptions pour lesquels le "th n'est pas prononcé" comme 'Thames' (la Tamise). Exemples de "th" voisés: think; thing; through; thanks Exemples de "th" non voisés: the; they; that; this If you can understand what is going on in your mouth, you can use this to improve your pronunciation. Phonetics: deals with the way in which humans make, transmit, and receive sounds. We're dealing with the characteristics of the sounds, and there are different types of phonetic sience. The first type is articulatery phonetics. The second type is orditary phonetics. The third type is accoustic phonetics. Study all the sounds that a human being can make. Articulatery phonetics: study the production of sounds by the speech organs, and the mechanisms involved. Orditary phonetics: deal with the way people hear, deal with the sounds. Accoustic phonetics: deal with the physical property of the sounds.

Phonology: is the study of how the sound act as a system. It studies the sounds which make a difference to meaning, and how those sounds are organized. Both phonetics and phonology realize on the study of phonemes. Phoneme: when we speak we produce a constant stream of sounds. In order to analyze those sounds, in order to identify those sounds, we have to bring them up into individual segments. Just as in written system you have a series of symbols, and each symbol represents a sound. Scientific def of phoneme: the smallest, indivisible, meaningfull unit of sound. A phoneme is meaningful, because if you change the phoneme, you change the word. Ex: bat you remove the "b" and replace it by c you get "cat". There are type of phonemes which you call "alophones". Alophone: when you have variation which makes no difference to meaning. It corresponds to different realizations of the same phoneme, they do not make a difference to meaning. Ex: "pin" (épingle), poubelle Les phonèmes ne sont pas prononcés de la même façon d'une langue à l'autre. Ex: "lips" "will" the same phoneme, but two different possibilities to pronounce it. Light "l" vs. dark "l". Dans le cas de ce phonème, la prononciation ne change pas le change du mot. /!/Dissociate alphabet from the symbols/!/ NOTE: LES SYMBOLES NE SONT PAS INTERCHANGEABLES EN PHONETIQUE! ex: Batman; Bart; buy; bough (cf. facicule Moodle) Sometimes you will want to use symbols that you use when you write. But there are many letters for which there are no phonemes. For example, "c". There are words in which it is pronounced as "k" and "s". Another example "qu"pronounced "kw". "X" like in except (it's pronounced "ks"), example (it's pronounced "gs"). NOTE: REMEMBER THAT "r" IS NOT PRONOUNCED UNLESS IF IT'S FOLLOWED BY A VOWEL IN BRITISH ENGLISH!!!! IT'S NOT PRONOUNCED NEITHER AT THE END OF A WORD, EXCEPT IF YOU ADD ANOTHER WORD STARTING WITH A VOWEL!!!! For example, mother, but mother-in-law

** ** 27/09/2018 /i:/ vs. /I/ Sheep vs. Ship. Lecture 3: Vowels & consonants Vowel: No obstruction to the air as it goes from the larynx to the lips. Consonant: A sound which block partially or completely the air stream. ·

Phonetic definitions

based on mechanism involved.

But problematic definition, for example with /h/ obstruction to the air.

considered as a consonant but there is no

Another approach to define vowel & consonant

phonology

Vowel: A sound which is central in a syllable. Consonant: A sound found at the marge of the syllables. ·

Vowels and consonants definition are both of phonetic and phonology definitions. Vowels What makes vowels different between them?

Shape of the tongue, how high it is. The position of the lips.

Velum = soft pallet.

Tongue position for i: & ae. We called i: a close vowel, and ae an open vowel.

Classification of vowels depending on the position of the tongue

In order to have references which should be used for every languages in the world, Daniel Jones created this diagram. Sounds which are represented on this scheme are not the sound of a specific language, but the sounds we can make with our mouse.

Position of the tongue for British vowels.

Position of the tongue for diphthongs in British English.

The position of the lips is more important in English than in French. In English, there is 3 positions for the lips: ·

Spread (like in ‘cheese’).

·

Rounded (‘moon’).

·

Neutral, for most of British English vowels.

The length of the vowel

‘:’ means the vowel is a long sound.

Les voyelles longues ont tendance à se trouver dans les syllabes avec /r/. What the /r/ actually does is transforming a short vowel in a long one. ** ** ** ** ** 18/10/2018 No stress before a schwa. Doubles voyelles "e", "i" et deux "i". c Consonne-voyelle-consonne, more likely to get a short vowel There is a diphtong if consonne-voyelle-consonne-voyelle Diphtongs: a vowel which is constant and stable. Most of the English vowels are not. We call them diphtongs. A movement from one vowel to another, quickly without interuption. The firs vowel sound is stronger and longer than the second part. As the diphtong is produced it decreases in loudness. They are approximatively the same length as long vowels. Sometimes they are hidden in the spelling. Ex: "ai" made up of "a" and "e" today; mainly; basically; Cambridge; James; Jane; label; steak (centring diphtongs). Ex: "au" only; both; most; don't; won't; clouds /!/ not the same sound in auwful, cause, law, lawn, bought (ne pas confondre avec boat), ought, thought, daughter, caught, saw (ne pas

confondre avec soar, sore, so, sow...) "closing diphtongs". cf. vowels of British English on Cardinal Vowel Framework (p. 5 booklet) Centring diphtong: a diphtong which involves a glide towards a central vowel (le schwa, only). Closing diphtong: a diphtong which involves a glide towards a close vowel. Triphtong: a glide from one vowel to another, and then to a third rapidly and without interruption. There are five triphtongs and basically they're all a closing diphtongs and a schwa. Ex: higher; fire; hire; lyer Ex: greyer; layer; player Ex: oyer; lawyer Ex: hour; shower Ex: our; slower; lower /!/fer, iron (chercher dans un dictionnaire/!/ ** Consonnant Consonnant can be defined in two ways. First, it depends on the manner of articulation (phonetic defition). Second, it relies on the distribution of the sound (phonological definition). To define consonnant we have to take into account both aspect. Consonnant: a sound made with or without voice with a complete or partial obstruction of the air stream, and which normally accurs at the margins of syllables. (cf. page 8 booklet, voiceless on the left, and voiced on the right)....