Chapter: Sound Relations in English Flashcards
- The inflectional /ed/ can be pronounced in three different ways. Explain the three
ways and give examples.
Commonly used to indicate past tense in regular verbs.
The pronunciation choice depends on the base verb’s final sound.
/t/ pronunciation:
When the base verb ends in an unvoiced sound (sounds produced without vibrating the vocal cords), such as voiceless consonants like (p, k, f, s, Ɵ, ʃ)
Example:
Jumped /dʒʌmpt/, walked /wɔkt/, laughed /læft/
/d/:
When the base verb ends in a voiced sound (sounds produced with vocal cord vibration), such as voiced consonants like (b, g, v, z, ʒ, ð)
Example:
Grabbed, played, loved
/ɪd/:
When the base verb ends in the sounds /t/ or /d/. Regardless whether the final sound is voiced or unvoiced.
Example:
Wanted, needed, decided
- Inflectional “s” or ‘s can be pronounced in three different ways. Explain the three types of pronunciation and give examples.
Commonly used to indicate plurality, possession or 3rd person sg. present tense in verbs
/s/:
when the base word ends in an unvoiced sounds, such as voiceless consonants
(cats, dogs, books)
/z/:
when the base word ends in a voiced sound, such as voiced consonants
(babies, dogs, cars)
/ɪz/:
when the base word ends in the sounds (s, z, ʒ, ʃ, ʤ, ʧ)
(matches, wishes, buzzes)
- Describe the process of linking and name distinctive linking sounds. Use each linking sound in a sentence to demonstrate its usage.
Linking is a process of inserting a linking sound between two vowels in particular environments
Distinctive linking sounds:
There are three linking sounds we insert:
1) linking /r/
when a morpheme ends with any of these vowels /a:/, /o:/ /3:/ /ə/ /iə/ /eə/ / /uə/ and the last penultimate letter (tj. že sa len píše ale nevyslovuje) is „r“, we insert linking /r/ if the following morpheme begins with a vowel.
Example
bore /bo:/+ing /iŋ/ = /bo:riŋ/
1.2) intrusive /r/
when a morpheme ends with vowels /a:/ /o:/ /schwa/ and the last penultimate letter is NOT „r“, we sometimes insert intrusive /r/
Example
draw /dro:/+ ing /i ŋ/ = /dro:riŋ/
2) linking /w/
when a morpheme ends with /u:/ /əʊ/ or /aʊ/ and the following begins with a vowel, a slight /w/ is inserted in between.
Example
co /kəʊ/+operate/opəreit/ =/ kəʊwopəreit /
3) linking /j/
when a morpheme ends with vowels /i/ /i:/ /ei/ /ai/ /oi/, a slight /j/ is inserted if the following m. starts with a vowel.
Example
agree /əgri:/ + able /əbl/ = /əgri:jəbl/
TIETO INSERTNUTE PISMENKA SA PISU MALYM HORE AKO MOCNINA A NIE AKO NORMALNE
- Explain the notion of Elision.
The actual pronounciation often depends on the tempo and style of speech. When the tempo increases and/or the style is informal, the number of sounds in words tend to decrease. This is Elision (omitting 1 or more sounds). When a phoneme is elided, it has zero realization.
- Explain and give examples of permanent elisions and optional/synchronic elisions
Permanent:
In this type, the omission of a sound occured in the past and now is pemanent in English. That means the word is always pronounced with elision.
A/ VOWELS: evening, chimney, cousin, table… B/CONSONANTS:
Loss of /r/ in horse, church, more…
Loss of /l/ in half, walk, palm…
Loss of /t/ in listen, often, castle,
Loss of /b/ in doubt, tomb, limb…
Loss of /n/ in autumn, column, hymn…
Loss of /p/ in cupboard, …
Optional:
In this type, the omission of a sound occurs under the influence of increased tempo, sounds quality, the quality of neighbouring sounds and the speakers style.
A/VOWELS: January, possible, literary, try again, rhythm…
B/CONSONANTS: already, exactly, months, will last, move fast…
- Explain and give an example of vowel elision with unstressed /ɪ/ and /ə/
When these are preceded or followed by primary stress, they are often elided. (not in the word-final position)
Example:
collect /kəˈlekt/ -> /k(ə)ˈlekt/
- Explain and give an example of elision with words ending in /u.ə.ri/ and /u.ə.li/
These have a tendency to drop either /ə/ /ʊ/ or /ʊə/ in rapid speech.
Example:
original: /ˈfeb.ru.ər.i/
elided: /ˈfeb.ru.(ə)r.i/ (with the elision of the /u.ə/ sound)
original: /ˈjuː.ʒu.ə.li/
elided: /ˈjuː.ʒ(u.ə).li/
8.Explain and give an example of elision with words ending in /r.ər.i/ and /ər.ər.i/
Words that tend to drop their ə vowel in rapid speech:
original: “library“ /ˈlaɪ.brər.i/
elided: /ˈlaɪ.br(ə)r.i/
original: “temporary” /ˈtem.pər.ər.i/
elided: /ˈtem.p(ə)r.(ə)r.i/
9.Explain triphthong smoothing and give examples.
The central element of English triphthongs tends to be weakened or completely elided. This phenomenon may occur not only within the word but also across the word boundary.
Thripthong smoothing often involves reducing these thriphtongs to a simpler diphtong or monophthong.
1. /aɪə/ → /aɪ/
Fire – “fai-er“ → “fai“
2. /aʊə/ → /aʊ/ or /a/
Hour- “hau-er“ → “hau“ or “ha“
3. /ɔɪə/ → /ɔɪ/ or /ɔ/
Coir- “kɔɪ-ər“ → “ kɔɪ“ or “kɔ“
- Explain the elision in word-initial /ɔ:l + C/ and give examples
This word initial sequence + non-alveolar consonant tends to drop the /ɔ:l/ in rapid speech.
Example
Original: “already“
Elided: “ ´ready done“
- Explain and give an example of elision in the structures C+ plosive + C
Morpheme-final plosives, especially /t/ and /d/ tend to be elided when flanked by consonants:
Example
windmill - /ˈwɪnd.mɪl/ -> /ˈwɪn(d).mɪl/
Such elision is less likely to happen when the last consonant in a row is approximant (r,l,j,w) or (h) e.g. old house
- Explain and give an example of elision in sequences /θs/ and /ðz/.
Involves the omission or reduction of the sounds when they occur before the plural marker /s/ or /z/.
Examples of elision in /θs/:
Original: “baths“/bɑːθs/
Elided: “bass“ /bɑː(θ)s/
Examples of elision in /ðz/:
Original: “clothes“ /kləʊðz/
Elided: “cloz“ /kləʊ(ð)z/
- Explain elision in double consonants and pair consonants.
Double:
When two identical consonants meet at morpheme boundaries, the first one tends to be elided:
Example
short-tempered /ʃɔːtˈtem.pəd/ -> /ˌʃɔː(t)ˈtem.pəd/
Paired:
When paired consonants meet at morpheme boundaries, the first one may be elided
Example:
sit down /ˈsɪt daʊn/ -> /ˈsɪ(t) daʊn/
- Define assimilation in Phonetics and Phonology.
Assimilation is defined as the contextual variability of speech sounds and their quality, which is caused by the influence of one sound upon another. (since they are usually strung together in words and phrases).
It is also described as a process of replacing or changing one sound under the influence of another which occurs near to it.
There are several divisions of assimilation according to perspective from which we view the assimilatory processes.
- Explain and give examples of permanent and optional assimilation
-
Permanent:
Is defined as the one which has taken place in the course of development of a language, where a word which was once pronounced in a certain way has come to be pronounced in another way. Now such assimilations are stable and the words are always pronounced with the assimilated sounds. Example
Ant from/aemt/ to /aent/
Picture from /piktjur/ to /piktSə/
Nation from /ne:sjən/ to /neiSn/ -
Optional:
Occurs optionally in rapid speech, in this type its not only possibility but there is a choice between the unassimilated segment and the assimilated segment.
Example:
Input /input/ or /imput/ , question /kwestSn/ or /kweStSn/
