Introduction to English Pronunciation PDF

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Introduction to English Pronunciation - English vowels - English consonants - Combinations and Connections in English pronunciation - Stresses and Rhythms, types and categories - Focus and intonation in English, with examples. Last unit merged files: UNIT 1.docx - VOWELS.pdf - CONSONANTS.pdf - COMB...

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UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION: A Theoretical A Approach pproach 1. INTRODUCTION: This document includes a brief introduction to phonetic and phonology; and it presents the basic concepts, terms and ideas to have a first approximation to pronunciation. The following aspects will be covered:   





Phonetics and phonology: allophones and phonemes. Perspectives for the study pf phonetics. Organs of speech. o The oral and nasal cavities. o The vocal folds. The production of sounds. o Intonation. o Phonation. o Articulation. The segmental level and the suprasegmental level.

2. PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY: Allophon Allophones es and Phonemes. Phonetics and phonology are two disciplines that study the production of the sounds of a language from different perspectives. Phonetics studies sounds from a psychological approach, that is, it deals with the ways sounds are produced and perceived by speakers. Thus, phonetics, for example, studies the positions and movements of the organs of speech involved in the production and perception of sounds. For example, a sound such as [p] is produced with a complete closure of the lips. Phonology, on the other hand, describes sounds from a mental (linguistic) perspective. One of the main roles of phonology is to analyse the whole amount of sounds belonging to a language and decide which of them are linguistically relevant (or contrastive) and which of them are not, namely, which of them are phonemes and which of them are allophones. A phoneme is the smallest unit in a language that can cause a difference in meaning (or contrast) between two words. An allophone, on the other hand, is one of the different possible realizations of a phoneme. Contrary to phonemes, allophones do not trigger a difference in meaning between two words. In order to find out whether a particular sound is a phoneme or an allophone we have to examine whether this sound triggers differences in meaning or not. If it does, the sound is a phoneme, if it does not, it might be an allophonic variation of a given phoneme. The best way to see if a sound is responsible for changes in the meaning of words is by finding a minimal pair, that is, a pair of words which have the same sounds except for one. If this sound causes a difference in meaning between two words, it should be interpreted as a phoneme. If this sound does not trigger a semantic difference, it should be categorized as an allophone, that is, as one of the possible realizations of a given phoneme. This is illustrated in the following Spanish and English examples which include two words only differentiated by one sound, [t] and []. Spanish

English

[‘pata] (meaning “leg”)

[‘siti] (meaning “city”)

[‘paa] (meaning “for”)

[‘sii] (meaning “city”)

Whereas in Spanish the presence of a [t] or a [] triggers a difference in meaning (“leg” – “for”), in English it does not (“city”). Thus, whereas in Spanish [t] and [] are two phonemes (or contrastive units), in English [t] and [] are two allophones (or realizations) of the same phoneme. (/t/) which is realized as [t] or []. In this case, the decision to use one of the two allophonic variants ([t] or []) is geographically determined. Whereas in British English the /t/ between vowels tend to be produced as [t] (city [siti]) in American English it is usually produced as [] (city [sii]). Phonemes tend to be represented between brackets (/ /) and allophones between square brackets ([ ]). Besides the geographic or the dialectal variability, the use of a given allophone tends to be determined by the phonetic context or by the environment in which it occurs, that is, by the types of sounds surrounding this allophone. Allophones can show up in two kinds of distributions (or groups of environments): 1. In complementary distribution. 2. In free variation. When two allophones are complementary in distribution, these are mutually exclusive, that is, they show up in different environments, and whereas one of the allophones shows up, the other one not. For example, the English phoneme /l/ can be realized as [l] (clear “l”) or [l] (dark “l”). Clear “l” only happens before vowels /j/ and dark “l” before consonants (except for /j/ or before a comma. This is illustrated below. The formalism is interpreted as follows: the arrow means “is realized as”, the slash (/) means “in the environment of”, the horizontal line indicates the spot where a given sound is realized. Thus, /l/ is realize as [l] before a vowel or a /j/ and as [l] before a consonant or a pause. The symbol # indicates a word boundary.

[l] / _______ vowel /j/

light [laIt] lure [lj]

/l/ milk [mIlk]

[l] / _______ consonants

mill # [mIl]

# When allophones are in free variation, they can appear in the same context. This is the case of English /t/ which may be realized as [t] or [] in word final position. In this case, the presence of [t] or [] does not cause any difference in meaning. Thus, [t] or [] are

allophonic variants of the same phoneme. See page 55 in the book for more details on [].

[ t ] / ________ #

put [pt]

[] / _________ #

put [p]

/t/

Finally, is important to note that for two sounds to be interpreted as allophones of the same phoneme they should also be phonetically similar. For example, in English the sounds [] and [h] are in complementary distribution since [h] can only appear at the beginning of the syllables (for example “head” [hed]) but never at the end, and [] can only appear at the end of the syllables (for example “sing” [sIn]) but never at the beginning. Despite being complementary in distribution, these sounds could never be interpreted as allophones of the same phoneme because their phonetic characteristics are too different. As we will see in Unit 3 [h] is occlusive, fricative and voiceless; and [] is nasal, velar and voiced. Thus, they do not share any phonetic characteristics and furthermore is very unlikely that they can be allophonic variants.

3. PERSPECTIVES FOR THE STUDY OF PHON PHONETICS ETICS The study of phonetics can be done from different perspectives: 1) through the speaker’s perspective (articulatory phonetics), 2) through the listener’s perspective (listening / hearing phonetics) and 3) through the way sound is transmitted through the air (acoustic phonetics). To summarize, articulatory phonetics studies how the speakers produce sounds of a given language. Thus, it examines the different positions (or articulatory movements) of the organs of speech used to produce a given sound or string of sounds. Auditory phonetics studies how sounds are perceived by listeners. It mainly analyses how listeners of a given language register or receive sounds and decode them into a message. Acoustic phonetics examines the properties of sounds and how they are described as changes in air pressure. Figure 1 represents a schematized picture of the speech chain illustrating the three stages of a communicative act (production, transmission and perception of the speech signal). In this case, we will study English phonetics from an articulatory point of view.

Articulatory Phonetics

Acoustics

Auditory phonetics

Production of

Transmission of

Perception of

Phonetics

the speech signal

the speech signal

Fig. 1

4. ORGANS OF SPEECH The production of speech sounds includes the coordination of several organs of speech which behave in synchronized ways. As we will see in more detail in section 5, most sounds are produced with air coming from the lung which is modified in various ways as it goes through the different cavities of the vocal tract. In this section we will briefly describe which organs are responsible for the alteration of the outgoing airstream and thus are involved in the production of speech sounds. 4.1. THE ORAL AND NASAL CAVI CAVITIES: TIES: As in breathing, the air coming from the lungs can be expelled through two cavities: the oral cavity (most commonly known as the mouth) and the nasal cavity (or the nose). The releasing of the air through the mouth and through the nose depends on the position of the velum also known as soft palate (final part of the palate). If the velum is raised, the nasal cavity is closed and thus the air can only escape through the oral cavity. If the velum is lowered, the nasal cavity is open allowing the air coming through it. This is schematized in Figure 2 below which shows two possible ways of releasing the outgoing airflow: 1) through the oral cavity if there is a velic closure (raised velum) or 2) through the nasal cavity if there is a velic opening (lowered velum). Most sounds of speech are produced with a velic closure which involves an oral release of the air. In a few cases, though, it is possible to have nasal sounds (such as [m] or [n]9 which are produced with a velic opening and thus with air escaping through the nose.

Fig. 2 The oral and nasal cavities is where the organs used to produce the sounds of speech are located. Figure 3 shows a schematic representation of the oral cavity and the organs that are involved in the production of speech. The organs of speech can be classified into active and passive articulators. Active articulators, that move, for example, the lips, the tongue or the soft palate. Passive articulators take part in speech production because an active articulator approaches them to utter a given sound. For example, for the production of the sound [s] the tip pf the tongue (active articulator) approaches the alveolar ridge (passive articulator).

Alveolar ridge

Hard palate

Soft palate Nasal cavity uvula

teeth lips pharynx

tip

Oral cavity

blade Vocal folds front centre back

Fig. 3

Note that in Figure 3, the tongue is divided into several parts: tip, blade, front, centre and back. As we will see in the following chapters, the tongue is responsible for the production of a huge variety of sounds and we will need such precise division of the tongue to account for the different articulators. 4.2. THE VOCAL FOL FOLDS DS The vocal folds are two cards situated in the larynx. Their role in speech production is crucial since they are the first organs that can alter or modify the air coming from the lungs. The vocal folds can basically have three positions. They can be 1) closed, 2) open or 3) nearly together. A schematized representation of the three positions of the vocal folds is provided in Figure 4. Closed vocal folds

open vocal folds

nearly together vocal Folds

Air coming from the lungs

Fig.4

When the vocal folds are completely closed the air that comes from the lungs is blocked and cannot escape until they open again. This position is used for coughing. When we cough, the vocal folds are closed preventing the release of air which is compressed behind them. When they open, the compressed air is expelled causing the noise typical of a cough. This position is also used to articulate the sound [] (known as glottal stop or glottal plosive plosive). As presented in section 2, this sound is used in English as an allophonic variant of /t/ (you can refer to page 55 in the book for more details and examples). When the vocal folds are open, the air that comes from the lungs is expelled freely. This position is typical of breathing. When we breathe, the vocal folds are apart and there is no blockage of the outgoing airflow, which can be released through the nose or through the mouth depending on the position of the velum (see section 4.1). The position of open vocal folds is also used to produce voiceless sounds (sounds uttered with no vibration of the vocal folds). For example, [t], [s] or [p] are voiceless sounds since they are produced with open vocal folds. Finally, the vocal folds can be nearly together, that is, they can approximate without producing a complete closure. When this happens, the air cannot escape freely. In order to go out the air pushes through the vocal folds. This makes the vocal folds to open and close in a quick a repeated way, in other words, this makes the vocal folds vibrate vibrate. The vibratory movement of the vocal folds is what causes sound. In order to feel vocal fold vibration you can put one of your hands on your throat and produce a long [m]. You will feel the vibratory movements of the vocal folds in your hand and you will perceive a voiced sound. Apart from a few voiceless sounds, the majority of sounds found in languages are voiced, that is, they are produced with vocal fold vibration. For example, if you produce a long [s] and you put your hands on your throat, you will notice that the vocal folds do not vibrate but you still perceive sound. In this case, the origin of sound is the friction produced by the outgoing airflow when it goes through the narrow constriction between the top of the tongue and alveolar ridge. As a final point, it is important to mention that the vibratory movement of the vocal folds is also responsible for two perceptual features, namely, pitch and loudness . When we listen to people talking (and also singing) we perceive changes in pitch, that is, we notice that parts of the speech have a higher pitch and others parts have a lower pitch. Differences in pitch perception are due to differences in the speed of vocal fold vibration: the quicker the vibration, the higher the pitch. Similarly, our perception of loud or soft sounds depends on the intensity (or amplitude) of the vibration of the vocal folds: the higher the amplitude (or displacement) of the vibration, the louder the sound. A schematized presentation of different vibratory movements and their effects on the perception of pitch and loudness is provided in Figure 5. The letters “a” and “t” stand for amplitude and time respectively. Note that whereas pitch differences derive from differences in the rate of vocal fold vibration, the degree of loudness depends on the amount of displacement of the articulatory movement which in itself derives from the intensity with which a sound is produced. Thus, sounds (a) and (b) in Figure 5 differ in pitch since the rate of vocal fold vibration is different but they have the same loudness (the two vibratory movements have the same amplitude). Sound (b) shows a quicker vocal fold vibration than sound (a) and thus it will be perceived as higher. Sounds (c) and (d) differ in loudness but not in pitch. Sound (c) shows a wider amplitude of the vibration which will result in a perceptually louder sound. The pitch of sound (c) and (d) is the same because the rate of vocal fold vibration is the same.

5. THE PRODUCTION OF SOUNDS In order to describe the sounds of speech found in all the languages of the world we have to take into account three factors: 1. The origin and the direction of the airflow (initiation stage). 2. The position of the vocal folds (phonation stage). 3. The position of the articulators (articulatory stage). In the next sections, we will look at these three components in more detail. 5.1. INITIATION: The initiation stage has to do with the origin and the directi direction on of the airstream used to produce sounds. In the majority of languages, the airstream mechanism involved in the production of sounds is pulmonic . This means that sounds are produced with air coming from the lungs. The direction of the airstream is re regressive gressive, that is, it goes outwards. An example is provided in the first graph of Firgure 6 for the production of [p]. In this case, the outgoing airflow coming from the lungs is blocked by a complete closure at the lips (bilabial closure). As soon as the lips open, the air is realeased.

Even though most sounds are produced with a pulmonic, regressive airstream mechanism, there are a few sounds which are produced with a non-pulmonic airstream, that is, with an airstream that does not come directly from the lungs. These sounds are ejectives ([p’], [t’] and [k’]) implosives ([฀], [ ฀] and [฀] and clicks ([], [l] and [ll]). Ejectives and implosives are produced with a glottalic airstream mechanism. The air used to produce these sounds is located in the oral cavity due to two closures: 1) a complete closure of the vocal folds (glottalic closure) and 2) another closure somewhere in the mouth. This is illustrated in the second graph of Figure 6 for the ejective [p’] sound. In order to produce this sound, two closures are produced at the same time, one at the lips (bilabial closure) and the other one at the vocal folds (glottalic closure). When the lips open to produce [p’], there will be a release of the air contained between the two closures (dotted shading). Whereas the glottalic closure is always compulsory to produce ejectives and implosives, the other closure may vary depending on the place of articulation of the sound (for example, for an ejective [t’], the second closure will be at the alveolar ridge). Both ejectives and implosives are produced with a glottalic airstream mechanism but they differ in the direction of the airflow. Whereas for ejectives sounds (such as [p’]) the airstream goes outwards (regressive airflow), for the implosive sounds the airstream goes inwards (ingressive airflow). Thus, in order to utter an implosive sound such as [฀], the speaker has to produce the same two closures presented in the second graph of Figure 6 for the ejective sound [p’]. In this case, however, the air is sucked in by downward movement of the larynx. The vocal folds are not completely closed, so that the air going through them causes voicing and thus implosive sounds are always voiced. Ejectives are found in languages such as Hausa (Nigeria) or K’ekchi (Guatemala). Implosives are attested in Sindhi; a language spoken in India and Pakistan. You can listen to audio examples of ejectives and implosives in the webpage of the International Phonetic Alphabeth (IPA) in the section IPA charts.

Asignatura: Pronunciación de la lengua inglesa Grado en Estudios Ingleses: Lengua, Literatura y Cultura (UNED) Unit 2: Vowels Eva Estebas Vilaplana

UNIT 2. VOWELS: A THEORETICAL APPROACH 1. Introduction This document includes a brief introduction to the basic theoretical issues to describe vowels from a phonetic/phonological perspective. The following aspects will be covered: •

Parameters to describe vowels o Tongue position o Tongue height o Lip posture o Duration

•

Types of vowels o Monophthongs, diphthongs and triphthongs o Weak vs. strong vowels

•

Related phenomena o Nasalization o Voiceless vowels and aspiration o Pre-fortis clipping and rhythmical clipping

2. Parameters to describe vowels Vowels are produced: 1. with no obstruction of the airflow in the oral cavity 2. with vocal fold vibration This means that in order to articulate a vocalic sound, the front, the centre or the back of the tongue raises towards some part of the palate without causing friction, so that the air coming from the lungs is not obstructed and escapes freely. Additionally, the vocal folds are slightly together causing vibration. Thus, vowels are produced with an open approximation of the articulators and they are always voiced. The soft palate is raised so that the air escapes through the oral cavity. This is illustrated in Figure 1.

1

Asignatura: Pronunciación de la lengua inglesa Grado en Estudios Ingleses: Lengua, Literatura y Cultura (UNED) Unit 2: Vowels Eva Estebas Vilaplana

(hard) palate front middle

(soft) palate (raised)

vocal fold vibration

centre

front

back

Figure 1. Articulators involved in the production of vowels.

Vowels are described according to three parameters: 1) tongue position, 2) tongue height and 3) lip posture. In some languages, such as English, another parameter is included for the description of vowel...