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Contents: The purpose of this course is to explain how English is pronounced as the standard for people learning the English spoken in England. It also aims at presenting this information in the context of a general theory about speech sounds and how they are used in language. This theoretical context is called phonetics and phonology. In any language, we can identify a small number of used sounds (vowels and consonants) that we call phonemes; for example the vowels in the words pin and pen are different phonemes, producing two different words. Phonemes are the smallest meaningless units in language. Because of the notoriously confusing nature of English spelling, it is important to learn to think of English pronunciation in terms of phonemes rather than letters of the alphabet. A letter can have several pronunciations. Phonetics is the science that studies human speech sounds . It studies how and where they are produced in the oral cavity. Phonology, on the other hand, studies how sounds are ordered and which combinations of sounds are possible and which combinations are not. The sd sequence is impossible in the English language, whereas the st sequence is possible. Languages have different accents: these accents are pronounced differently by people from different geographical places and from different social classes. They are also affected by age and educational backgrounds. Dialects refer to a variety of a language which is different from others not just in pronunciation but also in vocabulary, grammar and word order. Arabic is a language with several dialects; the Syrian dialect ;the Egyptian dialect ; the Iraqi dialect and so forth on. The Syrian dialect has so many accents: the accent of those who live in Homs is , to some extent, different from that of those who live in Hama. The accent which the writer of the course concentrates on is known by the name of Received Pronunciation ( usually abbreviated to its initials RP), but this name is now old-fashioned. Since it is most familiar as the accent used by most announcers and newsreaders on BBC, a preferable name is BBC pronunciation. This course is not written for people who wish to study American pronunciation. Estuary English is a term that is widely used these days. We should not consider it a new accent. It refers to a mixture of the BBC accent and the accent of those who in London. The production of speech sounds In order to learn how the sounds of speech are produced, it is necessary to be familiar with the different parts of the vocal tract. These different parts are called articulators, and the study of them is called articulatory phonetics. The muscles in the chest that we use for breathing produce the flow of air needed for almost all speech sounds. The air stream is pushed out of the lungs into the windpipe upward into the larynx. When it reaches the larynx, it goes through either the oral cavity (the mouth) or the nasal cavity ( nose). If the soft palate (velum) is raised against the pharyngeal wall, the airflow will not be able to escape through the nose. If you want see how this mechanism works, just click here http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/
The
pharynx
is a tube which begins above the larynx. It is 7 cm long in
women and 8 cm
in men.
The hard palate is often called “ the roof of the mouth”. We can feel its smooth curved surface with our tongues. The alveolar ridge is immediately behind the upper front teeth. Its surface is rough and is covered with little ridges. When the tip of the tongue touches it , alveolar sounds (such as t and d ) are produced. The tongue can be moved into many different places and different shapes. The parts of the tongue are: tip, blade, front, central, back, and root. The teeth ( upper and lower). When the tip of the tongue is in contact with the upper teeth dental sounds are made. The lips are very important in producing so many sounds. When they are pressed together, bilabial consonants ( p, b) are produced. When the lower lip is in gentle contact with the upper teeth, labiodentals ( f , v ) are made. The seven articulators described above are the main ones used in speech, but other organs are to be described as articulators like: the jaws, the larynx, which contains the vocal cords and the nose which helps us produce nasals such as ( m , n ) . The most common view is that vowels are sounds whose production does not involve any obstruction of the airflow at any point in the vocal tract. The air stream passes freely from the larynx to the lips. On the other hand, consonants are sounds whose production requires some kind of obstruction of the airflow at some point in the oral cavity. This closure of the airflow is either complete or partial. This is true for all consonants except glides (y, w ). The production of glides does not require any obstruction of the air stream. In this course, the writer of book will not tackle the problem connected with the vowel-consonant distinction any more. To him, sounds are clearly divided into vowels and consonants. Vowels are classified according to three criteria: they are classified according to (a) the height of the tongue, (b) frontness and backness of the tongue, and (c) the shape of the lips. The lips can have many different shapes and positions. These are : Rounded, where the corners of the lips are brought towards each other and pushed forward. This is clearly seen in ( u: ). Spread, with the corners of the lips are moved away from each other, as for a smile. This is clearly seen in ( i: ). Neutral, where the lips are neither rounded nor spread. The cardinal vowels are a standard reference system , and people being trained in phonetics at an advanced level have to recognise them accurately and correctly.
Extreme vowel positions for English English has a large number of vowel sounds. There are short and long vowels. The short vowels are: і , Λ e, æ , u, D . Short vowels are relatively short. Vowels can have different lengths in different contexts. і (example words: bit, hit ) This vowel is in the close front area. The lips are slightly spread. e (example words: bed, men) It is a front vowel. It is between a close-mid and an open –mid vowel. æ (example words: cat, man) It is a front open vowel. The lips are slightly spread. Λ (example words: but , some ) It is a central vowel. The lips are in a neutral position. D ( example words: pot, cross) It is a back vowel . it is between open-mid and open in tongue height. The lips are slightly rounded. u (example words: put , pull ) It is a back vowel. It is more open and nearer to central than the long vowel u: . Long vowels , diphthongs and triphthongs There are five long vowels in English. The length of vowels varies according to their context ( such as the type of the sound that follows them) and presence or absence of stress. Thus we have: i: , з: , a: , ô , u:. Long vowels i: ( example words: beat, mean) It is more close and front than the vowel of bit and hit. The lips are spread. з: (example words: bird , purse )It is a central vowel. The lip position is neutral. a: ( example words: card , pass) It is a back open vowel. The lip position is neutral . Ɔ ( example words: board , torn ) It is almost a fully back vowel It has a strong lip rounding. u: (example words: food, soon ) It is a back close vowel. The lips are moderately rounded. Sounds which consist of a movement or glide from one vowel to another are called diphthongs. The first part of the diphthong is much longer and stronger than the second part. The total number of diphthongs is eight. Centring diphthongs glide towards the ə (schwa) vowel. The closing diphthongs end with a glide towards a closer vowel. Namely, i , u ) They move from a relatively more open towards a relatively more close vowel. A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third.. All triphthongs are produced rapidly and without interruption. A triphthong is a closing diphthong plus (ə)a schwa. Thus we get: Example words layer player Liar fire loyal royal lower mower power hour
The larynx The larynx is in the neck. Its main structure is made of two large hollow cartilages attached to the top of the trachea. Inside the larynx are the vocal folds, which are two thick flaps of muscles. If the vocal folds are wide apart (open), we say the glottis is open ; if they are pressed together , we say that the glottis is closed. When the vocal cords are open , the air stream will not collide with them and the consonants produced are voiceless. When they are pressed together, the airflow will collide with them , causing them to vibrate and the sounds produced are voiced consonants. In producing ( f, s, ), there are no vibrations of the vocal folds, whereas in producing ( v, z ) there are vibrations. Sometimes the glottis is narrowed. When it is narrowed, we get a voiceless glottal fricative, which is h. Plosives A plosive is a consonant whose production requires a complete stricture (obstruction) of the airstream at some point in the oral cavity. The airstream is blocked completely and then it is released causing noise loud enough to produce plosion. English has six plosive consonants.: p , t , k. b, d, g.. The plosives have different places of articulation: The plosives p and b are bilabials since the lips are pressed together t and d are alveolar since the tongue blade is pressed against the alveolar ridge. k and g are velar; the back of the tongue is pressed against the velum. The plosives p , t and k are always voiceless; b, d and g are sometimes fully voiced , sometimes partly voiced and sometimes voiceless. All six plosives occur initially, medially and finally. The voiceless plosives are aspirated when they are in an initial position. Aspiration is an extra puff of air that accompanies their production in the post-release phase. They are unaspirated when preceded by the fricative s and followed by the liquids (l, r ). Example words: pin (aspirated) spin (unaspirated) preceded by (s ) tea (aspirated) stem (unaspirated)
keen (aspirated) play try cream (unaspirated) followed by (l, r)
When we speak, we produce a continuous stream of sounds. This stream is divided into small pieces that we call segments. The word man is pronounced with a first segment m, a second segment æ and a third segment n. It is not always easy to decide on the number of segments. To give a simple example, in the word mine the first segment is m and the last is n, as in the word man discussed above. But should we regard the in the middle as one segment or two? In the alphabet we have five letters that are called vowels: a , e , i , o , u . If we substitute one letter for another in a certain context , we will get different meanings. Thus with a letter p before and a letter t after the vowel letter we get the five words spelt pat, pet, pit, pot and put , each of which has a different meaning. We can do the same with sounds. Substituting one short vowel for another in between the plosives p and t gives us six different words as follows : pet pet pat pæt putt pΛt pot pDt pit pit
The capital letter A can occur only where the other small letter a cannot. Similarly , the realization of t in the word tea is aspirated (as are all voiceless plosives when they occur before stressed vowels at the beginning of syllables). In the word eat, the realization of t is unaspirated ( as are all voiceless plosives when they occur at the end of a syllable and are not followed by a vowel). The aspirated and unaspirated realizations are both recognized as t by English speakers despite their differences. But the aspirated realization will never be found in the place where the unaspirated realization is appropriate , and vice versa. This occurrence is said to be in complementary position The different realizations of the same of phoneme are called allophones. A phonetic transcription containing a lot of information about the exact quality of the sounds would be called a narrow phonetic transcription, while the one which does not include these detailed pieces of information is called broad phonetic transcription. Phonetics is mainly concerned with describing the sounds that we use in speaking. When we talk about how phonemes function in language , and the relationships among the different phonemes , and when we study the abstract side of the sounds of a language we are studying phonology. In every language we find that there are restrictions on the sequences of phonemes that are used. For example, no English word begins with the consonant sequence zbf and no words end with the sequence æh. In phonology we try to analyze what restrictions and regularities do exist in a particular language. Many significant sound contrasts are not the result of differences between phonemes. For example , stress is important : when the word present is pronounced with the first syllable sounding stronger and louder than the second , English speakers hear it as a noun, whereas when the second syllable is stronger the word is heard as a verb. Intonation is also important: if the word right is said with the pitch of the voice rising, it is likely to be heard as a question , while falling pitch is more likely to be heard as confirmation or agreement. These sound contrasts that extend over several segments (phonemes) are called suprasegmental.
Fricatives are consonants whose production requires a partial closure at some point in the oral cavity. This partial closure creates some degree of friction. Most languages have fricatives. Fricatives are continuant consonants because we can continue making them as long as we have enough air in our lungs. Affricates , on the other hand, begin as plosives and end as fricatives. But we cannot class all sequences of plosives plus fricatives as affricates. For example, we find in the middle of the word breakfast the plosive k followed by the fricative f. It is usually said the plosive and the following fricative must be made with the same articulators_ to use a technical term, the plosive and the fricative must be homorganic. The sounds k and f are not homorganic, but t and š are. This still leaves the possibility of quite a large number of affricates. t is homorganic not only with š but also with s ;so ts would also count as an affricate. Although the affricates are said to be composed of a plosive and a fricative, it is usual to regard them as being single, independent phonemes of English. tʃ , dƷ are the only two affricate phonemes in English. The first one is a fortis voiceless consonant and the second is a lenis voiced phoneme Their place of articulation is the same as for t, d; that is , it is post-alveolar. (ʃ as in ship-tʃ as in church). The fricatives of English We will look at the fricatives separately, according to their place of articulation. f, v ( example words: fan , van) These are labiodental, that is , the lower lip is in contact with the upper teeth The fricative noise is never audible in the case of v. θ δ (example words: thumb, thus , father, breath ) The dental fricatives are sometimes described as if the tongue were between the teeth. The tip of the tongue touches the upper front teeth. The air escapes through the gaps between the tongue and the teeth. s, z (example words: sip, zip, rice , rise) These are alveolar fricatives, with the same place of articulation as t and d . The air escapes through a narrow passage along the centre of the tongue. ʃ ʒ (example words: ship, ( initial 3 is very rare in English); Russia, measure. These are called post-alveolar, which can be taken to mean that the tongue is in contact with an area slightly further back than that for s, z. The air escapes through a passage along the centre of the tongue as in s and ʃ, but the passage is a little wider. ʃ is a common and widely distributed phoneme, but 3 is not. Very few English words begin with 3 ( most of them have come into the language comparatively recently from French) and not many end with this consonant. Only medially, in words such as measure, usual. h (example words: head, ahead, playhouse) The place of articulation of this consonant is glottal. This means that the narrowing which produces the friction is between the vocal folds. The h sound always has the quality of the vowel it precedes.. Phonetically, h is a voiceless vowel with quality of the voiced vowel that follows it. Phonologically, h is a consonant that is usually found before vowels. Practically all English speakers carefully speak, omit, the h in unstressed pronunciations of the words her, he , him , his and the auxiliary have, has, had, although few are aware that they do this. Words that begin with wh such as (which, why , whip, whale ) are pronounced in two ways: They are pronounced with w (voiceless velar fricative) or with ω. The writer of the book used a different symbol. ω is not a phoneme of English, but is a realization of a sequence of two phonemes, h and w. witch wič which ωitʃ wail weil whale ωeil wye wai why ωai wear weə where ωeə ω is a sequence of two phonemes, h ,w . These two sounds (w, ω) are not two different phonemes. They are allophones of the same phoneme. w. w is a voiceless fricative and there is no h sound in it. With the exception of h, all the consonants described so far belong to pairs distinguished by the difference between fortis and lenis. Fortis consonants are normally voiceless sounds whose production requires a certain degree of force of articulation. This force of articulation is difficult to define and measure. They are strong. On the other hand, lenis consonants are consonants whose production does not require this force of articulation. They are normally voiced and weak.
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