phonetics exam

Question 1

the phonetic length rule

Answer 1

Vowels are pronounced LONGER in syllables that end with a VOICED consonant than those that end with a voiceless consonant. In open syllables, they are pronounced even longer.

voiced consonants: B D G etc

Question 2

rhoticity in types of English

Answer 2

GAm is a rhotic variety of english, meaning that R-dropping does NOT generally occur. Conversely, in RP /r/ can only be pronounced when followed by a vowel

Question 3

stress

Answer 3

There are two types of stress:
- lexical
- prosodic (sentence)
One word in a sentence is typically stressed even more than the others - we call this a nuclear stress

Rules governing stress:
- most suffixes aren’t stressed (words ending on -ion are stressed on a syllable directly proceeding the suffix; words ending on - ability/ -ibility are stressed on -bi-)

• most compound nouns are stressed on the first component

-a multi-syllable word will usually have one syllable with the primary stress - if it falls on third syllable or later, then one of the previous syllables (not directly before it though) will have secondary stress

• words that can be either a noun or a verb: first syllable - nouns; second syllable - verbs

Question 4

aspiration

Answer 4

when a voiceless stop (/p/,/t/,/k/) comes at the start of a stressed syllable, it becomes aspirated. Doesn’t apply to /s/!!

Question 5

different pronunciations of L

Answer 5

Clear vs dark L:
RP has two allophones of /l/:
- clear [l] comes before vowels
- dark [ɫ] is used in any other position

In GAm /l/ is generally quite dark, becoming a bit clearer before a stressed vowel.

Syllabic l - [l]
‘

silent /l/: calm, palm, almond, salmon, folk, yolk, walk, talk, chalk, half, calf, Holmes, colonel (kernel)

Question 6

Intonation

Answer 6

Rising intonation - implies that the speaker has not yet finished or expects some contribution form their interlocutor. Often used in questions.

Falling intonation - most commonly used for completed statements

tag questions!!

It’s nice, isn’t it? - you think that it’s nice
it’s nice, is it? - asking for additional information

Question 7

Syllabic consonants

Answer 7

words that are phonemically represented as having /əl/ /əm/ or /ən/ after the stressed syllable will most likely be pronounced as a syllabic consonants which are phonetically represented by: [l] [m] [n]
‘ ‘ ‘