Week 12 - Rhythm of English Flashcards
L2 Pronunciation and the adult learner
- The vast majority of adults who learn a foreign language speak with an accent (and will continue to do so for the rest of their lives).
Research shows that several factors play a role in L2 accent…
a. age of learning
b. length of residence in the L2 environment
c. amount and type of formal instruction
d. amount of continued L1 versus L2 use
e. attitude and motivation
f. gender
g. mimicry ability
h. field dependence (more holistic) / independence (more analytical)
Why an accent?
- An accent is not a purely physical phenomenon
- An accent is largely associated with the mental representation of speech
- Prosodic errors contribute to this (reason why we are out of breath)
- Also interfer with intelligibility
Prosody
- Refers to the cadence of a language, the rhythm
- Prosodic structure is realized by the variations in patterns of the acoustic features fundamental frequency (f0), duration and amplitude of the vowel
- Prosody = listening is language-specific
Suprasegmental
processes that are added to the pronunciation of individual segments
What English prosody includes?
1) word stress
2) vowel reduction
3) various processes of runnind speech (linking, deletions)
Syllable-Timed Language
- French
- syllables are roughly of equal duration
- the amount of time required to utter a sentence depends on the number of syllables it contains
Stressed-Timed Language
- English
- stressed syllables occur at roughly equal interval
- the amount of time required to utter a sentence depends on the number of stressd syllables it contains
- In English, if an utterance contains more syllables, we adjust the duration of syllables to maintain the rhythm. Both stressed and unstressed syllables will be affected.
- Vowel reduction is a key element in achieving a normal English rhythm.
Connected Speech
In connected speech the production features of vowels and consonants are constantly being modified due to the impact of several variables
Coarticulation
- Refers to the changes in the production features of consonnants and vowels ar they are influenced by surrounding sounds
- Deals much more with the biological, neurological and physical things going on inside of you that get you to produce sounds in certain ways and create such things as asssimilation
Assimilation
A process whereby one sound becomes more like another sound. Assimilation can go either direction
Regressive Assimilation
Occurs when the identity of a phoneme is modified due to the phoneme FOLLOWING it. This is also referred as right-to-left or anticipatory assimilation
E.g. “Would you like to go?” /wʊʤəlá͜ikɾəɡó͜u/
Progressive Assimilation
Occurs when the identity of a phoneme changes as the result of a phoneme PRECEDING it in time. This is also referred as left-to-right or perseverative assimilation
E.g. the plural dogs vs cats
Linking Processes
- They generally occur both word-internally, and across the words of a phrase
- They are generally obligatory process of Standard English
1) Glides : Using the off-glide of a diphthong as the onset of a vowel intial syllable
2) Epenthesis : Sometimes occurs in words in which a nasal consonant precedes a voiceless fricative
3) Consonant liaison : Using the off-glide of a diphthong as the onset of a vowel-initial syllable = a coda of one syllable or word to serve as the onset of a following vowel-initial one.
4) Glottal stop insertion : Using a glottal stop as the onset of a vowel-initial syllable (generally used with vowels that do not diphthongize)
5) Non-release : This phenomenon occurs within a word such as apt [æp˺t]or act [æk˺t] or across word boundaries
6) Palatalization :This process occurs most often when a final alveolar consonant or consonant sequence is followed by a palatal glide.
