Connected Speech Features And Prosody Flashcards
What is connected speech
a phrase
What is the citation form
When a word is said on its own
What is a strong form of pronunciation and give an example
Occur when the word is stressed
Eg i bought cheese AND crackers
What is a weak form of pronunciation and give an example
Occur when the word is unstressed
I bought CHEESE and crackers
What is vowel reduction
-occurs in connected speech with the use of ‘weak forms’
-most unstressed vowels reduce to a schwa
When vowel reduction occurs what does the sound /i/ often become reduced to
/ɪ/
When vowel reduction occurs what does the /u/ sound often become reduced to
/ʊ/
What is elision
Elision involves dropping or suppressing a segment or syllable, under certain circumstances, some sounds disappear
What does elision include
-vowel deletion
-omission/non release of adjacent consonants
-h dropping
What is assimilation
When one sound is changed to another because of a neighbouring sound (different to phonological process of assimilation)
What is anticipatory assimilation
The articulation of one sound is influenced by the articulation of the next sound.
What is progressive assimilation
When the preceding sound is the influential sound
What is liaison
-this is the process often referred to as linking /r/ to move between two vowels
-when a word which historically ended in /r/ precedes a vowel initial word the /r/ is realised
What is how we talk affected by
Gender, age, region, social and cultural background, race, employment and group loyalty
Why is there pitch differences in gender
- anatomical/ hormonal reasons
-speed of vibrations is determined by size, mass and length of vocal cords
-men tend to have larger vocal cords which therefore vibrate more slowly
-slow vibrations sound lower in pitch.
-therefore men tend to have lower pitch than women
Difference in language use between genders
Women are more likely to :
- use standard grammar and milder accent
-apologise more frequently
-interrupt less and be interrupted more by both male and female
-speak less when outnumbered by men
What is presbyphonia
Age related changes to the voice
How does age change our speech
Anatomical ageing and weakness in breath support lead to changes in voices, breath patterns and power or articulation.
How do people of an older age react to language changes
As people age they may be threatened by the new variants: forget language is always evolving and try to preserve its form.
What does MLE stand for
Multicultural London English
What is MLE
- ‘youth dialect’
- emerging since the 1980s in parts of London that have a relatively high level of immigration (wind rush generation)
Features of MLE
- dental fricatives replaced with labiovelar fricatives in medial position eg “are you bovvered?”
- Dental fricatives replaced with bilabial plosives in initial position eg them = /dem/
- Use of rising intonation and the end of sentences
- Reduction of “isn’t it?” To “init”
- Use of glottle stops in water and bottle
Accent definition
the phonetic/ phonological characteristics of speech that may reveal in what country or party of the country the speaker grew up.
Definition of dialect
features of grammar and vocabulary in addition to aspects of pronunciation
What is Received Pronunciation (RP)
- RP is a social accent rather than a regional accent
- Although it is the standard, its not spoken by most people.
What are the 3 kinds of Received Pronunciation
Conservative
Mainstream
Contemporary
Received Pronunciation conservative
Now ‘marked’ ie sounds old fashioned
Received Pronunciation
Mainstream
Relatively neutral
Received Pronunciation contemporary
Younger speakers, some distinct features
Rhotic accent
- A rhotic speaker pronounces a rhotic consonant in words like hard and butter, a non rhotic speaker does not.
- The rhotic vertigo a of English include the dialects of south wales, canada, Scotland, Ireland and most of the United States.
Non rhotic accent
- Non rhotic accents are said to exclude the sound [ɺ] before a consonant or a pause- this is referred to as “post vocalic R”
- Non rhotic speakers pronounce a /ɹ/ in red, where the letter r is followed by a vowel but not in hard or car or water
In coupland and bishops survey on reactions to 34 accents. What were the highest and lowest rated
ounger informants less likely to attribute prestige to standard accent.
- High rated: RP, Irish and Scottish accents
- Lowe rated: Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool, Asian or German
- Most people liked their own accent and expressed pride in their own regional accent.
What does standard English refer to
- Standard English refers to both accent and dialect.
- This is the variety taught in schools, found in newspapers and books and associated with public broadcasting.
- It is the variety most usually taught to those who want to learn English as a second language.
Natural personal variation
Accommodation
- Accomodation- process by which participants in a conversation adjust their accent, dialect or other aspects of language according to the speech style of the other participant.
Implications for language assessment
Implications for language assessment
- For a child or adult speaking non standard accent/ dialect:
- Consider which phonological, lexical and grammatical characteristics constitute accent/ dialect differences.
- These are not errors that need correcting.
After the age of 5 how does children’s language change
Phonological awareness
Vocabulary growth
Derviational morphology
Lower frequency syntactic constructions
Use of connectives
Conversational and narrative skills
Children’s negative sentences forms in order of development:
1) sentences with external negative marker
Eg no the sun shining
2)constructions with internal negative marker but no auxiliaries
I no want envelope
3)constructions with auxiliaries
I didn’t did it
