Descriptive Grammarof English

Part 1:Phonetics

and Phonology

dr Iwona Kokorniak

(with contribution from dr Jarosław Weckwerth)

17th January 2009

2

Connected speechYou can’t go with us

ju: kɑ:nt gəʊ wɪð ʌsjə kɑ:ŋk gəʊ wɪð əs kɑ:ŋ gəʊ

3

Connected speech

Ten past ten

ten pæst tentem pæs ten

4

Connected speech

I can buy it

aɪ kən baɪ ɪtaɪ kəm baɪ ɪt

5

Connected speech

do you think

du: ju: θɪŋkdə jə θɪŋkdʒə θɪŋk

6

Connected speech

we should go

wi: ʃʊd goʊwi ʃʊg goʊ

7

Why reduced vowels and stuff?

Typical for …… stressed times languagesIsochrony: Intervals between stresses …… tend to be similar …… irrespective of how many syllables

there are in between

8

Stress timing in English

That’s the house that Jack built

And this is the edifice that Jason constructed

9

Stress timing in English

10

Compare

Spanish is an example of a syllable timed language

Here, each syllable occupies more or less the same amount of time

11

Compare

Juan habla con Fidel

Juanita hablaba con el comandante

12

Syllable timing

Malicious English phoneticians …

… call it ‘machine gun speech’

Polish is not a typical member of any of the two classes

13

Physical correlates of stress

PitchStressed syllables have higher pitch

LengthStressed syllables are longer

14

Physical correlates of stress

LoudnessStressed syllables are louder

QualityStressed syllables have full vowels,

unstressed syllables may have reduced vowels

15

English stress placement

May fall on any syllable in the word (is free)

characterdevelop

employee

16

English stress placement

Rules are complex, with many exceptionsBest to memorise with each new word

17

Polish stress placement

In a vast majority of casesStress is fixed on the penultimate syllable (second from the end)Sometimes may cause problems for Polish learners of English

18

Polish stress placement

Traditionally not stressed on the penultimate syllable:muzyka, etc.zrobiliśmy, etc.zrobilibyśmy, etc.siedemset, etc.

19

English stress

Stress placement:

There are some rules for complex words

20

Secondary stress

In words of 3+ syllables …… if the main stress is on the third (or further)…… then one of the first two syllables carries secondary stress

21

Secondary stress

22

Secondary stress

In complex words

Falls on the same syllable where main stress falls in the ‘root’ word

23

Secondary stress

because

24

Secondary stress

because

25

Tertiary stress

In very long words

There may be tertiary stress in the middle

26

Tertiary stress

27

Stress & suffixes

Some suffixes attract stress to themselves

Refugee, trainee, employee,Engineer, volunteer, pioneer,Chinese, Japanese

28

Stress & suffixes

Some suffixes attract stress to a defined syllableorganisation, constribution, intuition, reflectionability, acceptability, possibility, capability

29

Stress & suffixes

photography, geography, bibliography, geology, meteorologybiological, technical, political, historical

30

Stress & suffixes

Some suffixes are partially regularphotographic, optimistic, terrific, historicBUTArabic, Catholic, heretic, choleric, politic, rhetoric, lunatic

31

Stress & suffixes

potential, fundamental, essential, initial,

BUT

rational, federal, cardinal

32

Stress & suffixes

instinctive, prospective, reflexive, explosiveBUTalternative, demonstrative, conservariveBUTcommunicative, imaginative

33

Stress & suffixes

dangerous, hazardous, humorous, glamorousBUTadvantageous, corageous, malicious

34

Stress & suffixes

Some do not affect stress placement at all

organising, associating, communicating, imagining, characterising, developing, influencing

35

Stress & suffixes

associated, alternated, interrogated, influenced

influences, etc. etc.

These are usually very problematic for Poles

36

Stress & suffixes

Compare Polish:

telewizortelewizora

telewizorowi

37

Compounds & phrases

English teacher ‘a teacher from England’ (may teach

e.g. biology) ‘a teacher of English’ (may be e.g.

Japanese)

38

Compounds & phrases

CompoundsEnglish / biology / art. / chemistry

teacher

PhrasesEnglish, short, thin, boring, black,

bald teacher

39

Compounds & phrases

Compare Polish:Pociąg osobowy, pospieszny,

towarowy (like compounds)Długi, czysty, pachnący, szybki pociąg

(phrases)

40

Compounds & phrases

Compounds carry early stress (on the 1st element)

‘English teacher‘hot dog

‘moving van‘White House

41

Compounds & phrases

Phrases carry late stress (on the last element)

English ‘teacherhot ‘dog

moving ‘vanwhite ‘house

42

Compounds & phrases

Compound verbs, adjectives and adverbs usually have late stress

grow ‘up, double-’checkcold ‘blooded, old-’fashioned

down-’hill, north-’west

43

Compounds & phrases

Place names (if not with ‘Street’) carry late stress

Fifth ‘Avenue, Park ‘Lane,Leicester ‘Square,

Hyde ‘Park, New ‘York, Melrose ‘Road

44

Stress shift

English avoids two stressed syllables next to each otherTherefore, if such a thing would result in a phrase …… the stress in the first word is moved forwards

45

Stress shift

ˌJapa'nesebut

ˌJapanese 'carnot

Japa‘nese ‘car

46

Stress shift

ˌNew 'Yorkbut

ˌNew York ‘Citynot

New ˌYork ‘City

47

Stress shift

A very good description in Wells’s dictionary

48

The syllable

How many syllables?Do you know?

49

The syllable

Usually there’s a vowel in each syllableThe vowel plus the consonants around it form the syllableWhich consonants???

50

Syllabification

Consider:extra

51

Syllabification

e.kstrəekstr.ə

BAD! WHY?

52

Syllabification

Rules of syllable structureLanguage-specific i.e. different in each languageConsider: BrdaNo similar example in English

53

English syllable structure

54

English syllable onsets

All consonants before the vowelMax. 3If 3, then:/s/ + voiceless plosive + approximant, e.g. /skr/

55

English syllable onsets

So e.kstrə bad because the onset is not allowed

56

Polish syllable onsets

Compare Polish:wzglądwzdłużmgła, etc. etc.

57

English syllable onsets

In particular no clusters of:Plosive + plosivePlosive + nasalPlosive + fricative

58

English syllable onsets

Thus:ptolemy /'tɒləmi/knee /ni:/psycho /'saıkəʊ/xerox /'zıroks/

59

English syllable onsets

Homework:

Look up ‘Gdansk’ in Wells’s dictionary

60

English syllable peaks

Syllable peak = nucleus

Usually a vowel

Sometimes a syllabic consonant

61

Open and closed syllables

Closed (checked) syllables

Those that have consonants after the vowel (a coda)

All English vowels allowed

62

Open and closed syllables

Open syllables

No coda

Only ‘tense’ vowels allowed:

Long vowels and diphthongs

63

Open and closed syllables

Short (‘lax’) vowels:

ı e æ ʌ ɒ ʊOnly allowed in closed syllables

64

Open and closed syllables

Thus:

Are impossible in English

65

Syllabic consonants

n lMay act as syllable peaksIf another consonant precedes

66

Syllabic consonants

Transcription convention in Wells’s dictionary:

67

Syllabic consonants

IPA

68

Syllabic consonants

In rhotic varieties, /r/ may be syllabic

69

Syllabic consonants

As a result of assimilation /m/ and /ŋ/ may become syllabic

70

Syllabic consonants

71

What we’ve done

Described the sound system of English

72

What we’ve coveredBasic articulatory phonetics

Details of English consonants and vowels (British and American standards)

73

What we’ve covered

Comparison of some aspects of English phontics & phonology with Polish

English connected speech, also compared with Polish

74

What we’ve covered

English word stress, with special emphasis on complex words

English syllable structure

75

What for?

So that you know what you’re doing as a professional language user

76

What for?

So that you can decode actual pronunciation from an entry in a dictionary...

...and use it in your English

77

What for?

So that you can detect and address the problems of your own future students

78

What for?

To make learning the pronunciation of other languages easier

79

What for?

To make you aware that language works as a system

Polish, too!

80

What now?

Don’t throwthis knowledge away

81

What now?Remember about sources!

etc. etc.