E - Contrastive Phonology

Question 1

What are the levels of contrasts?

Answer 1

• segments (consonants/vowels)
• phonotactic rules (concerning consonant clusters etc. e.g. psychology, p-sound is omitted)
• processes (allophonic variation, linking processes, weakening, neutralisation [e.g. writer, rider d and t are same in AmE])
• prosodic features (stress and intonation)

Question 2

Segmental differences

- what types?

Answer 2

— missing unit – gap

— unknown unit – extra segment [e.g. th, ]

— different realisation of very similar unit [e.g. r (easy to change because saliently different vs. slight differences are hard to change)]

— phonemic status of L1 allophone

— allophonic status of L1 phoneme

Question 3

What are examples of extra segments

Ge-Eng and Eng-Ge

Answer 3

— English but not German
job, three, that, win

— German but not English
Pfeife, Zahn

Question 4

What are examples of different realisations? consonants

Answer 4

— /r/
uvular trill versus retroflex glide

— /l/
clear versus dark (velarized) Bill

Question 5

What are examples of different realisations? vowels

Answer 5

— short high vowels
- higher in German bitte bit, Putz put

— rising diphthongs
- ai, au, oi balance of onset and offglide hi, hau how

— low front vowel
- Bäder higher than bad

— long vowels
- steady state versus diphthongized Miete meat, Rute route

Question 6

Differences in Vowels

Answer 6

.

Question 7

Levels of contrasts in lgs

Answer 7

• segments
  (consonants and vowels)
• phonotactic rules
  (e. g. in psychology, omission of p-sound)
• processes
  (allophonic variation, linking processes, weakening, neutralisation)
• prosodic fetures
  (stress and intonation)

Question 8

main difficulties for german learners of english

- consonants

Answer 8

—» dental fricatives
(actual articulation, replacements)

• velarized lateral: habit of L1 carried over
  (e. g. all, ill)
• retroflex glide: habit of L1 relatively easy to master
  (rain, sorry)

—» bilabial glide, articulation easy, orthography confuding
(e.g. Why was Walter Wilson’s wish not welcomed?)
(persistent hypercorrection patterns: very windy, vast water surface)

• aspiration: too much after s (star, sky); not enough in liason (it is) [some germans aspirate after st or sk, doesnt sound rare but n engl it would]

—» voicing

Question 9

voicing difficulty in phonology (germans)

what can be done?

Answer 9

• different distribution as result of final devoicing in german
• unmarked feature is hard to suppress
• clear articulation very important
• aspiration helps to enhance the difference
• length allophony enhances difference (length of vowel) : blog-block, bat-bad, seat-seed, etc

Question 10

main difficulties for german learners of english

- vowels

Answer 10

—» low front lax vowel ‘ash’-sound
/e/ vs. /ae/

subtle diff.

• lax vowels less peripheral in Engl.
• -Schutt - put
• long vowels less steady state in Engl
• • seat, food - sieht, gut
• rising diphthongs more onset focussed in Engl
• • high - Hai; how - hau
• centering diphthongs more central in Engl
• • beer - Bier; pour - pur

Question 11

Contrastive phonology

phonotactic rules

Answer 11

• voicing distribution
  German: voiced onset, voiceless coda
  (sagen, reisen-reßen, Bus)

Engl: voicing distinct in all positions
(sap-zap, bossy-busy)

• consonant clusters
  medial: Finger, finger
  initial Engl. only: twist, dwarf, pure, snow
  initial German only: Gnade, Schnee, schlau, Speck, Stuhl, Psychologie

Question 12

Contrastive phonology

prosody

Answer 12

• different stress rules
  fünfzehn - fifteen, unglücklich - unhappy
• different phonetic realisation
  verstehen - understand

Question 13

Contrastive phonology

realisation of stress

Answer 13

–» loudness
- duration
–» pitch movement
- pitch level
–» vowel reduction
(stress-timing: isochrony of feet, relation betw vowels and cons. in syll., diff syllable ength of adjecent syllables)

Question 14

Contrastive phonology

rhythm

Answer 14

• both lgs are stress-timed

- engl more extremely so

Question 15

Contrastive phonology

prosody: intonation

Answer 15

.

Question 16

pronouncing diphthongs

centering and raising diphthongs

Answer 16

raising diphthongs more onset focused
- Hai vs. hi

centering diphthongs more centered
- beer vs. Bier, pour vs. pur

Question 17

different phonological processes affecting words

Answer 17

aspiration
- e.g. stick, Stück (more in German)

final devoicing

medial flapping
- latter, ladder

Question 18

different phonological processes across words

Answer 18

Phrasal Prosody

Linking Structure
- linking/intrusive r
- allophonic effects l (fronting; t-flapping; consonant release)
[consonant release: kick –kicking –kick it; hit –hitting –hit it]

Simplification:

• Assimilation
• Coalescence
• Elision
• Epenthesis
• Compression
• Weakening

Question 19

Connected Speech - Structure simplification processes

Answer 19

Assimilation (progressive, regressive)

• pro: voicing of -s suffixes (when voiced before or after other sibilants)
• optional: syllabic bilabial assimilation (e.g. ribbon - ribbm)
• regressive: assimilation of alveolar fricatives s and z before alvoepalatals and palatals (e.g. this shirt, less chess)

Coalescence (2 sounds become one)
- t+j what you did; d+j did you laugh ; s+j; z+j

Elision (leaving out a sound)

• historical: Christmas, listen, often
• present: mashed potatoes, calmed down, found them, grandfather, grandmother, landscape, landmark, windscreen, handbag, software, postcard

Epenthesis (adding sounds)
- present  day:
 /nt/dense  dents, chance  chants, prince  prints
 /mp/ warmth, triumph
 /ηk/ length, strength

Compression (syllable loss)
- loss  of  syllable  status
 ( threatening, rattling)
- gliding  of  high  vowels 
 ( genius,  obedient,  tenuous)
- vowel  elisions  in  centralizing  diphthongs 
 ( nowadays, flower)

Weakening
- loss of vowel (distinction) -and more
…in conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, determiners, etc