E - Contrastive Phonology Flashcards
What are the levels of contrasts?
- 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)
Segmental differences
- what types?
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
What are examples of extra segments
Ge-Eng and Eng-Ge
English but not German
job, three, that, win
German but not English
Pfeife, Zahn
What are examples of different realisations? consonants
/r/
uvular trill versus retroflex glide
/l/
clear versus dark (velarized) Bill
What are examples of different realisations? vowels
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
Differences in Vowels
.
Levels of contrasts in lgs
- 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)
main difficulties for german learners of english
- consonants
—» 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
voicing difficulty in phonology (germans)
what can be done?
- 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
main difficulties for german learners of english
- vowels
—» 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
Contrastive phonology
phonotactic rules
- 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
Contrastive phonology
prosody
- different stress rules
fünfzehn - fifteen, unglücklich - unhappy - different phonetic realisation
verstehen - understand
Contrastive phonology
realisation of stress
–» 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)
Contrastive phonology
rhythm
- both lgs are stress-timed
- engl more extremely so
Contrastive phonology
prosody: intonation
.
pronouncing diphthongs
centering and raising diphthongs
raising diphthongs more onset focused
- Hai vs. hi
centering diphthongs more centered
- beer vs. Bier, pour vs. pur
different phonological processes affecting words
aspiration
- e.g. stick, Stück (more in German)
final devoicing
medial flapping
- latter, ladder
different phonological processes across words
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
Connected Speech - Structure simplification processes
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
