Fonologia Inglese- Forchini PDF

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ENGLISH PHONOLOGYPhonetics and Phonology are the two main branches of the scientific study of language sounds.Phonetics is the study of phonemes (the minimum units of sounds) and deals with the anatomy and physiology of speech and the actual realization of sounds.It is divided in: Articulatory phone...

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ENGLISH PHONOLOGY Phonetics and Phonology are the two main branches of the scientific study of language sounds." Phonetics is the study of phonemes (the minimum units of sounds) and deals with the anatomy and physiology of speech and the actual realization of sounds." It is divided in:" •

Articulatory phonetics (production): how sounds are produced and the articulators we use"

•

Acoustic phonetics (trasmission): the sound waves we make while speaking, physical properties of sounds, what happens between speaker and hearer."

•

Auditory phonetics (reception): the way in which speech is perceived through the brain of the hearer."

Phonology is the study of the sound system (a categorization and organization of sounds made by native speakers) for example, how phonemes can combine in a particular language, the restrictions related to these combinations, the way in which sound represents differences of meaning in a certain language…" Unlike Phonetics, phonology deals with the abstract side of the sounds of a language. So Phonology and Phonetics study two complementary aspects of the same linguistic reality. " The three areas of Phonetics are directly linked to the communication processes, which represent the Speech Mechanism. It consists of three main stages:" 1. Production: sounds are articulated in the vocal apparatus of the speaker. It depends on the respiratory system, the phonatory and the articulatory ones." 2. Transmission" 3. Reception"

Organs of speech Which are controlled by the brain: mental creation and representation of the message, brain gives orders to the organs of speech." The three systems that control speech production:" a) Respiration (respiratory): Lungs provide the energy source (a certain amount of airflow). It can be either Ingressive( the air flows in – inhaling) or egressive (exhaling- the air flows out of the vocal tract). Speech is almost exclusively egressive, whereas an ingressive airstream is more involuntary." Inhaling: diaphragm and muscles f the rib cage tighten, chest expands (and so do lungs), low pressure in the lungs, air flows in." Exhaling: diaphragm, muscles of the rib cage relax, chest shrinks, high pressure in the lungs, air flows out." INHALING

EXHALING

Aria entra

Aria esce

Torace si espande

Torace si contrae

Diaframma contratto (verso il basso)

Diaframma rilassato (verso l’alto)

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b) Phonation (phonatory): the vocal cords convert the energy into audible sound. It is the effect that the different positions of the vocal folds have on speech. It is produced by the larynx (=Phonatory system). The larynx is a cartilage and muscle casing around the windpipe (trachea) which contains the vocal cords. Made up of 3 main parts: thyroid cartilage (Adam’ apple in men, Eva’s wedding ring in women), arytenoid cartilage, vocal cords. " The following are the different positions of the vocal cords: Glottis: gap between vocal cords. When the vocal cords are open, breathing is permitted, when closed they separate the larynx from the trachea. " Glottal stop (Symbol= ?)

Closed glottis. Vocal cords shut tight together and completely obstruct the air flow

Voice (z, n, b)

Vocal cords held loosely together, the air flows -> vibration

Voiceless (s, p, h)

Vocal cords apart, air flows freely through the glottis

Murmur

Breathy voice. Vocal cords kept apart but coser than for voicelessness.

Whisper

Vocal cords together or narrowed except for the arytenoids (Air escapes with no vibration)

Laryngealization

Sounds like succession of glottal stops, artenoids held together while the front portions of the folds slowly vibrate.

c) Articulation (articulatory): articulators transform the sound into intelligible speech. The quality of the sound produced at the larynx can be modified by altering the shape of the vocal tract (Pharynx) above the larynx (supralaryngeal or supraglottal). The organs involved are: the nose, the lips, the teeth, the tongue, the roof of the mouth, the jaw and uvula. " Ladefoged added a fourth process called ooo-nasal. It depends on the status of the velum." The respiratory system: the following are responsible for respiration and are located in the chest: " - The lungs" - The bronchial tubes" - The muscles of the ribs " - Part of the wind pipe (trachea)" The phonatory system: the following is responsible for phonation and is located in the throat: "

- The larynx "

The articulatory system: the following are responsible for the articulation of sound: " - The nose" - The lips" - The teeth " - The tongue" - The roof of the mouth " - The jaw" - The uvula "

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1. NASAL CAVITY: It is the space inside the nose. The air can pass through the nose when the velum is open" 2. ORAL CAVITY: space inside the mouth. It is made up if: the tongue (tip, blade, front, back, root), the upper and lower lips, the upper and lower teeth, the roof of the mouth (alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate also called velum and uvula)." 3. PHARYNX: main organ which can be modified causing a change in the quality of the sound produced by contracting the muscles around it and by moving the tongue backwards." The pharyngeal cavity: above the larynx"

Thyroid, arytenoid and cricoid cartilage:"

PHONATION: THE LARYNX Eve’s wedding ring in women, Adam’s apple in men. " Usually it has a greater protrusion in men than in women.

Longer in men than in women. It can assume 6 position. " They stretch across the ladino and when closed they separate the pharynx front the trachea." When open, breathing is permitted." The opening between the vocal cords is known as GLOTTIS.

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Thicker in men. " It controls the movements of the vocal cords.

Cartilage structure of the larynx are highly specialised: they variously rotate

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Sub-parts of the tongue, lips and roof of the mouth: Some of these are furtherly divided into sub-parts, whose involvement in speech production creates a specific sound type. The tongue is usually divided into five main zones:" - The tip" - The blade" - The front" - The back" - The root" If those are used in combination with other areas of the vocal cavity above the tongue, they create different sound. " The upper and lower lips are alasti and are moved by muscles around the mouth to assume three different position:" - Neutral (relaxed position)" - Rounded (when you whistle or pronunce ) " - Spread or unrounded (when you pronunce )" The roof of the mouth is made up of: " - The alveolar ridge" - The hard palate" - The soft palate (also called velum) " - The uvula "

THE IPA In 1886, a group of European scholars founded the International phonetic association (IPA), as they felt the need to create a system where one sound equaled one symbol. " In 1888, the international phonetic alphabet was published. It can be described as the standard transcription language, whose basic principle is: a different symbol for every distinguishable sound (in some cases the symbol is made up of two characters but is always one symbol for one sound). Since it was published, the IPA has undergone some changes and reviews. The whole range of phonetic symbols can be associated with the phonetic alphabet of a language. " Reasons for the IPA creation: " -

The vowels of the roman alphabet were not suited to the representation of all the vowels sounds in English."

-

the English spelling system does not correspond to the sound system, as the combination of the same letters can be pronounced in different ways in different words."

-

Useful for English learners"

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Two types of transcription: -

Narrow transcription [ ]: takes into account and shows as many phonetic details as possible. It makes very subtle distinctions between sounds. Describes sounds in relation to their articulatory-auditory identity and regardless of their function in a language. Symbols here are in square brackets."

-

Broad transcription / /: as few details as possible, capturing only enough aspects of a pronunciation to show how that$word differs from other$words$in$the$language (linguistic function- distinctive of meaning: phonemes). Symbols here in oblique lines (//)."

This system is also useful when describing the varieties of a language, which are generally classified according to 4 parameters:" 1. Phonetic realization: the pronunciation of a sound which may or may not appear in the same lexical set in different varieties (e.g. hit, fish, kiss are pronounced differently across the Australian and New Zealander varieties). " 2. Lexical distribution: same words belongs to different lexical sets in different varieties (tomato, different in BeE and AmE)." 3. Phonotactic distribution: the way in which phonemes can co-occur in words. E.g. Rhotic (AmE, r is pronounced after a vowel) or non-rhotic accents (BeE, R is not pronounced after a vowel)." 4. Phonemic systems: minimum number of symbols needed to describe that variety. "

Useful definition:" Phoneme: Smallest unit of sound (e.g. cat -> 3 graphemes, 3 phonemes- love 4 graphemes,3 phonemes). Distinctive sound, by changing a phoneme you can get another word, e.g. Cut, Cat, Cot or sin- sing" Minimal pairs: words distinguished by just one phoneme." Allophones: a variation of the same phoneme/ sound (e.g. clear L and dark L in Lip and Milk). It is not distinctive, so changing the allophone won’t change the meaning of the word but the result may sound non-native or be unintelligible. "

CONSONANTS Vowel sound -> no obstruction " Consonants sound -> obstruction" Consonants in pairs -> right one is voiced, left one is voiceless"

Classification of Consonants: - Manner of articulation" - Place of articulation" - Voicing "

Manner of articulation: different ways of producing a sound, how the articulators modulate the airflow. In the IPA chart, it is the vertical axis.

- Plosive (or stops)-> during their production, the airflow from the lungs is completely blocked at some point by specific organs of speech. /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /?/"

- Nasal -> the flow of air does not pass through the mouth, the velum is lowered, and is directed through the nasal passage. /m/, /n/, /ŋ/"

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- Fricatives -> there is not a total obstruction of the air flow during their production, but rather -

there is an audible friction of the breath through the narrow opening between the organs of speech involved. /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/" Approximants -> are created with a little obstruction of air in that the tongue is positioned centrally in the vocal tract, but it lets the air flow pass around it. /ɹ/, /l/, /j/, /w/" Affricates -> are a combination of a plosive and a fricative; they begin like plosive, with a complete obstruction of air flow and end with a restricted flow of air like fricatives. /tʃ/, /dʒ/" Trills -> continuous sound produced by part of the tongue rapidly touching and leaving another speech organ. Italian and French /r/"

Place of articulation: place of the vocal tract where the closure us made, there the airflow is most obstructed.

- Bilabial -> the organs which cause the obstruction are the two lips. /p/, /b/, /m/" - Alveolar -> the obstruction is caused by the tongue touching the alveolar ridge. /t/, /d/, /n/, / s/, /z/, /l/, /ɹ/"

- Velar -> the obstruction of the air is caused by the lowering of the soft palate of velum. /k/, / -

g/, /ŋ/, " Glottal -> the obstruction is caused by a quick closure of the glottis. /?/, /h/" Labiodental -> the friction is caused by the closure of the lip touching the upper teeth. /f/, /v/" Dental -> the friction is caused by the closure of the tongue touching the upper teeth. /θ/, /ð/" Postalveolar (or palato alveolar) -> the obstruction is caused by the tongue touching the place just after the alveolar ridge. /ʃ/, /ʒ/ /tʃ/, /dʒ/" Palatal -> the middle of the tongue approaches the roof of the oral cavity. /j/" Labio-velar -> as velar but with rounded lips./w/"

Voicing: vibration of lack of vibration. With voiceless sound: fortis or strong articulation (more energetic), with voiced sound: lenis or soft articulation, less musicar effort. Applied only to stops (occlusive) and fricatives.

-

Oral: the air escape through the mouth" Nasal: the air escape through the nose" Voiceless: no vibration of the vocal cords" voiced: the vocal cords vibrate"

"

Active and passive articulators: Active -> the organs that moves" Passive -> the target of the articulation. The point toward which the active articulation is directed."

Energy of articulation: applied only to stops (occlusive + affricates and fricatives) Fortis (strong) -> articulation is stronger and more energetic -> VOICELESS"

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Lenis (soft) -> less muscular effort -> VOICED"

Frequency the speed of vibration of the vocal cords."

Secondary articulation - Labialization -> lip-rounding. In the IPA labialization is indicated with a raised w modifier [w]" - Palatalization -> raising of the front of the tongue toward the hard palate. A consonant which -

is phonetically palatalized is indicated by a superscript (= it’s an indicator that is smaller than his normal type) " Velarization -> raising of the back of the tongue toward the velum ⟨ɫ⟩ for dark L " Glottalization -> reinforcing glottal stop. A phoneme is accompanied (either sequentially or , simultaneously) by a [ʔ] " Nasalization -> nasal resonance through lowering the soft palate. IPA: /ɑ/ / , In english vowels preceding nasals are regularly nasalized. ,

Phonemic vs. Phonetic transcription Phonemic -> broad transcription" Phonetic -> narrow transcription "

Differences between American English and British English The most salient differences between AmE and BrE consonants sounds concern /r/, /l/, /t/ and the glottal stop [?]. " /r/: -

/r/ sound: AmE rhoric veriety (the r is pronounced after vowels) whereas BrE is a nonrhotic variety." The American /r/ is more retroflexed (tip of the tongue is curled back further) and there are two distinct articulatory variants of /r/: retroflex /r/ (with low-back vowels) and bunched/r/ (with high-front vowels). BrE does not have it."

/l/: -

/l/ sound: in BrE it can be clear (before a vowel as in “live”) or dark (after a vowel as in “feel”). In AmE only dark (which means that the back of the tongue is raised towards the velum)."

-

In AmE /t/ drops after /n/, so that the sistinction between winter-winner and banter-banner is neutralised (no distinction), unlike in British."

/t/:

Intervocalic /t/: flapped in AmE, consequent neutralization of /t/ and /d/, which makes words such as ladder-latter, metal-medal, bidder-bitter homophones. This process is absent in BrE."

Glottal stop [ʔ]: -

Characterizes some british dialects, is absent in AmE except in some cases:" 1)

As an allophone of /t/ only before /n/, as in button-bitten."

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2) In final /t/, especially before a consonant, like in that man." 3) In spoken expressions like in no, uh oh, uh-uh, and mhm. 4) In New York City and Boston before /l/."

VOWELS When they are produced, there is no contact between articulators so the air flows out of the mouth in an unobstructed manner." There is no obstruction: the tongue doesn’t touch any part of the mouth and doesn’t interrupt the airflow., They are always voiced (continuous vibration of the vocal folds)." Categorised according to these criteria: "

- TONGUE HEIGHT: this parameter refers to how high or low the tongue is." High (or close): /i:/, /u:/ " Intermediate (or close-mid): /e/ " Low (or open): the jaw is lowered /æ/"

- TONGUE POSITION: this parameter refers to the part of the tongue which is raised when pronounced vowel sound." Front: /i:/" Back: /u:/" Central: the tongue is flatter than in front and back vowels."

- LIP ROUNDING: this parameter refers to the shape that a our lips assume, when specific vowel sound are uttered." Spread (or unrounded): /i:/" Rounded: /u:/"

- LENGTH: this parameter refers to how long a sound is when it is pronounced." Long: /i:/, /u:/" Short: /ɪ/, /ʊ/" When symbols appear inside squares, they are unrounded vowel sounds." When they appear inside circle, they are rounded vowel sounds."

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HIGH VOWELS:" /i:/ = feel, deed, beat —> long, high front unrounded vowel" /ɪ/ = fill, did, bit —> short, high front unrounded vowel" /u:/ = moon, fruit, food —> long, high back rounded vowel" /ʊ/ = book, put, foot —> high, back rounded vowel" MID VOWELS:" /e/ = bed, bet, bread —> short Mid Front Unrounded Vowel" /ɜ:/ = girl, her, turn —> Long Mid Central Unrounded Vowel" /ə/ = silvER, mothER —> Short Mid Central Unrounded Vowel (Schwa)" /ɔ:/ = bought, all, walk —> Long Mid Back Rounded Vowel" LOW VOWELS:" /ɒ/ = dot, what, lot —> Short Low Back Rounded Vowel" /ɑ:/ = bath, aunt, pass —> Long Low Back Unrounded Vowel" /æ/ = bad, dad, cat —> Short Low Front Unrounded Vowel (Ash)" /ʌ/ = but, cut, son —> Short Low Central Unrounded Vowel" "

Cardinal vowels: A cardinal vowel is a vowel sound produced when the tongue is in an extreme position, either front or back, high or low. The current system was systematised by Daniel Jones in the early 20th century."

Differences between AmE and BeE in the pronounciation of vowel sounds: The first difference that emerges is the number of vowel sound in the two varietis: AmE has 14 or 15 different vowels whereas BrE har 20. " The reasons for this phenomenon are mainly two:" -

The lack in AmE of the /ɒ/ sound (BrE cot): the 3 BrE sounds /ɒ/ (bottom), /ɑ:/ (hard) and /æ/ (cat) generally correspond to only two vowels in AmE /ɑ:/ (bottom, hard) and / æ/." That’s because AmE does not have the /ɒ/-/ɑ:/ distinction." The following realisations are found in the two varieties:"

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• AmE /ɑ:/ vs. BrE /ɒ/: AmE has the unrounded /ɑ:/ in many words like top and pot which in BrE have the rounded /ɒ/." • AmE /ɑ:/ and BrE /ɑ:/: AmE doesn't have /ɑ:/ only in words such as top and pot but also in words that have /ɑ:/ in BrE. Consequently in AmE father rhymes with bother." • AmE /æ/ vs. BrE /ɑ:/: where BrE has /ɑ:/ before /f/, /θ/ and /s/, and where BrE has /ɑ:/ before /nt/, /ns/, /ntʃ, /nd/, /mp/ AmE has /æ/ (examples: plant, dance, banana, can’t.)" Even though AmE and BrE use similar sounds in some words, they differ in term of their phonetic realisation." • both AmE and BrE use the sound /æ/, but AmE /æ/ends to be closer than BrE one." • both AmE and BrE distinguish such vowel sounds as cot and caught (AmE /ɑ:/ and /ɔ:/ vs. BrE /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/) the correspondence between the two vowel sounds is not always regular. For example:" o o o

AmE /ɑ:/ (unrounded)= BrE /ɒ/ (rounded) as in cot." AmE /ɔ:/ = BrE /ɔ:/ as in caught but shorter in AmE." AmE /ɔ:/ = BrE /ɒ/ in words containing an before /ɳ/ /f/ /θ/ /s/."

• in words where dental and alveolar consonants precede (tune, new, duke) AmE displays the yod-dropping; it has /u:/ while BrE has /ju:/." • in some words where AmE has /ɜr/ BrE has /ʌr/ or /ɑ:/ (clerk, derby)." • AmE has /ɪ/ instead of /i/ in words such as very." • Foreign loanword are treated differently in the two varieties: in older loanwords (khaki) where there is an /ɑ:/ in the donor language, AmE has /æ/, while BrE keeps the original / ɑ...