UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURIMaiduguri, Nigeria

CENTRE FOR DISTANCE LEARNINGARTS

ENG 303: PHONOLOGY OF MODERN ENGLISH UNITS: 2

PROVISO

This work is a Manual for the description of the phonology of modern English. It is

produced through garnering of intellectual minds to meet the immediate need of

students of the Centre for Distance Learning, University of Maiduguri. To achieve this

objective, and considering the immediacy of the students’ need therefore, the parts are

made of adoptions and compilations from different acknowledged sources to serve as

lecture guide. In the course of this work we have immensely enjoyed the contributions

of Mohammed Melle and Baba Mai Bello in Koroma, D.S.M, Bulakarima, S. U and

Bello B.M (2007). A Student’s Companion: Readings in General Studies. Vol. II,

Division of General Studies, University of Maiduguri, for a part on Phonetics. A. G.

Gimson (1970) An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London. Edward

Arnold LTD. was equally used in obtaining some of the materials on supra-segmentals.

We would like to express acknowledgement and thanks to all authors and writers whose

books we have consulted in the preparation of this manual. Some of the books

consulted include: A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H. W. Fowler, Current

English Usage by F.T Wood, A Handbook of English Grammar by Zandvoort, Oxford

Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English (1988 and 1990 editions). All other

examples are products of our teaching experience in English or taken from various

sources and which are appropriately acknowledged as References and Suggestions for

Further Readings at the end of each study session.

(SIGNED)

Bashir Usman

Languages and Linguistics,

University of Maiduguri,

Nigeria.

PHONOLOGY;

Segments/Phonemes {consonants: contoids} {vowels: vocoids}. The International

Phonetics Alphabet (IPA)

Suprasegmentals {Prosody}

Stress {stress, timing and rhythm}

Intonation {speech melody}

Phonetic Transcription {Narrow and Broad Transcriptions}, and students will be drilled

to recognize and use the following signs and symbols.

Accentuation

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 or ˈ Primary accent (stress)

$ or P Secondary accent (stress)

unaccented syllable with strong vowel

• unaccented syllable with weak vowel or syllabic consonant.

Intonation: Nuclear tones

ͺ low – fall ˋ high – fall ͵ low – rise

ʹ high-rise ˇ fall – rise ^ rise – fall

STUDY GUIDEGENERAL INFORMATION

Course Code and Title: ENG 303: PHONOLOGY OF MODERN ENGLISH

Credit Unit: 2

Year: 2016

Total Hours - 28 hours @ two per Week of Study.

For any queries or Questions contact the Course Lecturer Using your email through the

Centre for Distance Learning Portal.

You are welcome to this study Unit. Each Unit is arranged to simplify your study. In

each topic of the Unit we have introduction, learning outcome, in-text information, in-

text questions and answers, summary and self assessment exercises. In-text questions

and answers serve as motivation for your reading and to encourage you to pay attention

to major points in the text. Tutors will be available at designated contact Centre for

Tutorial. Meet them to resolve your questions and other guide. The Centre expects

you to plan your work well. Should you wish to read further you could supplement the

study with more information from the list of references and suggested reading available

in each study unit.

PRACTICE EXERCISES

SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS (SAQS)

This is provided at the end of each topic or Study Session. The exercises can help you

to assess whether or not you have actually studied and understood the topic/study

session. Solutions to the exercises are provided at the end of the Study Unit for you to

assess yourself.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR EXAMINATION

To prepare for the examination you should read and understand the Study Materials

provided for you on C.D.ROM, prints or downloads from the Portal.

Other things you need to prepare for examination include understanding all sample

questions at the end of every Study Session/topic Reading the suggested/recommended

reading texts.

ASSESSMENTS

-The continuous assessment for all courses consists of 30%.

-The Examination shall make up 70% of the total Marks.

-Feedback and advice is a component of the continuous assessment

The Examination shall be conducted at the Centre for Distance learning (Centre).

Students are to come to the Centre on the Examination date with all the necessary

requirements. The Examination is Computer based or e-testing one.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

STUDY GUIDE TO THE UNIT .. .. .. .. ..

INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE……………………………………….1

TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………3

TOPIC 1: VOWELS………………………………………………5

2: CONSONANTS .. .. .. .. 17

3: SYLLABLE .. .. .. .. .. 31

4: SUPRASEGMENTALS .. .. .. 44

TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT (TMA) .. .. .. .. 55

READING LIST .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 57

SOLUTION TO EXERCISES .. .. .. .. .. .. 58

PHONOLOGY OF MODERN ENGLISH

PREFACE

This course is designed to give the students a phonological description of the Modern

English language; English consonants and vowels, stress and intonation as they apply

to the Modern English language, and how subsequently learners can relate and apply

them to other languages as well. It is produced through garnering of intellectual minds

to meet the immediate need of students of the Centre for Distance Learning. It

concentrates on some basic aspects of English. As a course of Study, is not intended to

train professional speakers and writers but to develop in the learner a general

proficiency in the use of the English Language. It is recommended, not only to students

of the Distance Learning Programme, but also to all those who perform functions

requiring the use of the English language (sounds of English). It is hoped that all will

come to value it in proportion as they strive for success in the use of the English

language. Phonology is the component of grammar that determines the sound pattern of

a language, including its phonemes inventory, how they may be combined to form

natural-sounding words, how the phonemes must be adjusted depending on their

neighbours, and patterns of intonation, timing, rhythm and stress. Phonetics on the

other hand, is another component which is concerned with how the sounds of language

are pronounced and perceived. Among the aspects treated are: Importance of Phonetics

in English Pronunciation, Sounds of English, and description of English Sounds.

STUDY SESSION 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 S T U D Y S E S S I O N 1 : T H E E N G L I S H

VOWELS…………………………………5

1.1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………5

1.2 OBJECTIVES……………………………………………….…………5

1.3 IN-TEXT……………………………………………………….………6

1.3.1 THE ENGLISH VOWELS……………………………….……6

1.3.2 PURE VOWELS (MONOPHTHONGS) ……………………..7

1.3.3 LONG VOWELS………………………………………………7

1.3.4 EXERCISES……………………………………………………8

1.3.5 SHORT VOWELS……………………………………………..8

1.3.6 EXERCISES…………………………………………………..10

1.3.7 DIPHTHONGS………………………………………………..12

1.3.8 EXERCISES…………………………………………………..15

1.3.9 TRIPHTHONG………………………………………………..15

1.4 SUMMARY…………………………………………………………...15

1.5 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISES………………………………….16

1.6 REFERENCES………………………………………………………...16

1.7 SUGGESTED READING…………………………………………….16

1.0 STUDY SESSION 1 : THE ENGLISH VOWELS

1.1 INTRODUCTION

English vowel production is accomplished by the positioning of the tongue in

three general locations along the horizontal axis of the oral cavity. The tongue body

either protrudes toward the front of the mouth to produce the front vowels, remains

relatively neutral or centrally located for the production of the central vowels, or

retracts toward the back of the mouth for the production of the back vowels.

OBJECTIVES

1. At the end of this study session 1, you should be able to describe the vowels of

English, and how to pattern them in natural speech.

you should be able to discover too that front vowels have most of the resonating cavity

in the back of the mouth; central vowels have half of the resonating cavity in the front

and half in the back of the mouth; and back vowels have most of the resonating cavity

in the front of the mouth.

THE ENGLISH VOWELS

Vowels are sounds that are produced with free flow of air from the air passage.

That is, the air flowing out from the lungs during the production of the vowels is not

obstructed. The vowels are traditionally best classified according to the position of the

tongue and the shape of the lips. The shape of the lips influences the quality of the

sound produced.

Figure 1 below indicates and illustrates the different regions in the mouth, and

the position of the tongue during the production of the vowels. All vowel sounds are

voiced, in other words, the vocal folds vibrate at the HUproduction of the vowels. EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12

Fig. 1: ENGLISH VOWEL CHART INDICATING THE PURE VOWELS (MONOPHTHONGS)

PURE VOWELS

1.2.2 PURE VOWELS (MONOPHTHONGS)

Vowels are produced with a relatively freer flow of air than consonants. In the

classification of vowels sounds, four parameters are generally used:.

1. Position of tongue during production of sound (this can be high, mid or low.

2. Part of tongue used (front, central or back)

3. Shape of the lips (rounded or unrounded)

4. Length of the vowel in question (tense or lax)

There are twenty (20) English vowels, twelve (12) of them are monophthongs

(above), while the remaining eight (8) are diphthongs (illustrated below) Fig.2 and 3.

The chart above is constructed by plotting the highest points of raising of the tongue

during the production of vowel sounds. During the production of the sounds {/i: ɪ, e, æ,

ɜ:/ at the front points of the tongue, the lips are spread, but at the production of the

sounds /u:, u, o:, o,/ at the back of the tongue, the lips are rounded. When producing

these sounds /ə:, ə, Λ/, the tongue is at the central position in the mouth and the lips are

neutral that is, neither spread nor rounded.

There are five of the twelve pure vowels (monophthongs) whose articulations

are relatively longer, hence they are termed long vowels and they are: /i:, a:, o:, u:, ə:/

as in the following words; beat /bi:t/, heart /ha:t/, court /kɔ:t/, boot /bu:t/, curt /kə:t/.

The short vowels are: / ɪ, e, æ, o, υ, Λ, ə/. The time duration in their articulations is

shorter. Examples of the short vowels in words are:

ɪ bit [bɪt], silly [sɪlɪ], sit [sɪt], city [sɪtɪ], build [bɪld]

ε bet [bεt], ate [εt], said [sεd], bury ['bεrɪ], says [sεz]

æ cat [kæt], dad [dæd], mad [mæd], back [bæk], plait

[plæt]

o thaw [θᴐ:], broad [bɹʊ:d], drawer [dɹʊ:ǝ], fault [fʊ:lt],

halt [hʊ:lt]

ʌ cut [kʌt], rough [ɹʌf], son [sʌn], bus [bʌs], nut [nʌt]

ǝ about [ǝ'bʊt], clever [clǝvǝ], writer [], actor [ǝctǝ],

famous [fǝm]

u zoo [zu], do[du], queue [kju], shoe [ʃu], spew [spju],

true [tɹu],

i: cream [kɹi:m], seen [si:n], leave [li:f], seat [si:t], evil

[i:vl]

з: burn [bз:n], firm [fз:m], learn [lз:n], tterm [tз:m], worm

[wз:m]

a: hard [ha:d], far [fa:], park [pa:k], clerk [ka:lk] , heart

[ha:t]

ᴐ: corn [kᴐ:n], faun [fᴐ:n], ore [ᴐ:], broad [bɹᴐ:d], court

[kᴐ:t]

ʊ pull [pʊl], should [ʃʊd], good [gʊd], could [kʊd],

woman ['wʊmǝn]

LONG VOWELS FURTHER DESCRIBED

/i:/ High front vowel (tense)

/a:/ Back open vowel unrounded (lax + tense sometimes just as /æ/. Considerable

separation of the jaws, open lips, no contact of tongue between the rims of the

tongue and molars.

/ ɔ:/ mid-back vowel – median lip rounding. (lax)

/u:/ High back rounded (tense).

/ə:/ mid central vowel – neutral lips.

For /ə:, a:, ɔ:/ any ‘r’ in the spelling is not pronounced when final or before a

consonant. Long vowels have their length considerably reduced when they occur in a

syllable closed by /p, t, k, ∫, f, θ, s, / example soup, seat, leak, porch, half, earth, loose,

leash. This shortening is highly significant in distinguishing a word such as seat from

seed, loose from lose, half from halve, search from surge etc.

These long vowels are represented with colon (double dots) (:) in front of them,

the colon is part of their identity as long vowels.

SHORT VOWELS FURTHER CLASSIFIED AND DESCRIBED

/I/ High front vowel (lax)

/e/ mid front vowel (tense)

/æ/ low front vowel (lax and tense). The mouth is slightly more open for /

e/. The front of the tongue is raised below half open position. Rims

have slight contact with molars.

/α/ low back rounded (lax), rounded counterpart of /a:/

/υ/ High back rounded (lax)

/Λ/ low central (lax). Neutral lips

/ə/ mid central (lax). Occurs in unaccented syllable.

/æ/ between /e/ and /a/. They are often considerable lengthened before /b, d,

g, ŋ, m, n/ as in bad, bag.

DIPHTHONGS

A diphthong is a single or unisyllabic utilization of two otherwise different vowels of a

language. In articulatory terms, a diphthong begins by approximating the articulatory

position of one vowel and ends by approximating the articulatory position of another

(Singh, 1979: 6). Otherwise simply stated, it is a double sound, beginning as one

vowel and ending as another. E.g. the two independent vowel phonemes /a/ and /æ/

appearing in words like ‘heart’ /ha:t/ and ‘pit’ /pit/, joined together would formulate the

diphthong /ai/ as in words like ‘like’ /laik/, eye /ai/.

So a diphthong is produced with a glide from one vowel position to another.

The eight (8) diphthongs are: aɪ spice [spaɪz], high [haɪ], die [daɪ]

aʊ out, [aʊt] bough [baʊ], crowd [kɹaʊd]

eɪ day [deɪ], grey [gɹeɪ], neigh [neɪ]

εǝ prayer [pɹεǝ], stairs [stεǝz], where [wεǝ]

ᴐɪ void [vᴐɪd], boy [bᴐɪ], destroy [dɪ'stɹᴐɪ],

ɪǝ pier [pɪǝ], tear [tɪǝ], cheer [ʦɪǝ]

oʊ note [noʊt], hoe [hoʊ], slow [sloʊ]

ʊǝ sure [ʃʊǝ], tour [tʊǝ], skewer ['skjʊǝ]

Prominence is always on the first element, the second element ɪ:. is lightly sounded

Fig. 2 (i)

ɪ: u:

ɪ υ

ε ə o

a: ‸ ɔ: æ α:

The above illustration shows both closing and centering diphthongs Closing diphthongs Centering diphthongs /eɪ, aɪ, aυ,əu/ /ɪə, εə, υə/

The English diphthongs can be grouped into two major categories; the ones ending in /

ə/ referred to as the centering, 2 (iii) above, and the ones whose movements are towards

the closing positions, which are further subdivided into two groups: those that end in /

ə/ and then those that end in /ɪ/, you can be further enlightened, in addition to the

charts, by the tree diagram below Fig.3.

Fig. 3:

iə eə υə

ei ai ɔi əɪ

aɪ

Examples of the diphthongs in words are:

aɪ die [daɪ], tie [taɪ]

aʊ crowd [kɹaʊd], slouch [slaʊʦ],

eɪ neigh [neɪ], deign [deɪn],

εǝ stairs [stεǝz], where [wεǝ]

ᴐɪ boy [bᴐɪ], destroy [dɪ'stɹᴐɪ],

ɪǝ near [nɪǝ], cheer [ʦɪǝ]

oʊ hoe [hoʊ], slow [sloʊ]

ʊǝ tour [tʊǝ], skewer ['skjʊǝ]

In the articulation of diphthong, emphasis is more on the first element because

the second element is slightly sounded. Diphthongs like the long vowels, equally

undergo the same reduction of length before /p, t, k, ts, f, θ, s, ∫ / and that accounts for

the reason why words such as the following pairs could be distinguished:

Side/sight played/plate code/coat

TRIPHTHONG

triphthongs are combination of three different sounds but pronounced or produced as a

unit. They are /aυə/ and /aɪə/ which have their second elements eliminated in their

weakened form e.g.

aɪǝ fire ['faɪǝ], buyer ['baɪǝ], liar ['laɪǝ], tyre ['taɪǝ]

aʊǝ flour ['flaʊǝ], cower ['kaʊǝ], flower ['flaʊǝ], sour

['saʊǝ]

ITQ: Produce pairs of words with similar pronunciation but differs in only one

segment?

ITA: The following are pairs of words with similar pronunciation and differs in only

one segment:

seed/seat. lose/loose, halve/half, surge/search, cord/court, four/fork. (the vowels

in the word closed by voiced consonant is longer).

SUMMARY

In the study session 1, you have learnt the English monophthongs, diphthongs and

triphthongs illustrated and exemplified in this unit. We also practised as many

examples as possible with words containing these sounds. We also tried to pair the

words for difference using minimal pair. You may try more of these exercises on your

own before turning to the next topic.

SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS (SAQs)

1.4.1 List all the vowel types treated in this unit with words exemplifying each.

1.4.2 Explain the difference in the quality of the vowel in the words of each pair

below.

heard/hurt bead/beat serve/surf

mead/meat feed/feet caught/cord

1.4.3 Pronounce these words several times until you are able to identify the vowel

they illustrate, then mark

against each the appropriate phonemic from the list provided below.

heart lark feet fought short

search hoop hurt north loose

Teach sauce pass purse staff

(/a:/ /a:/ /i:/ / ɔ:/ / ɔ:/

/ə:/ /u:/ /ə:/ / ɔ:/ /u:/

/i:/ / ɔ:/ /a:/ /ə:/ /a:/

SOLUTIONS TO SAQS

1.4.5 The vowels of English are classified into three namely: monophthongs/pure

vowels, diphthongs and

Triphthongs. For the monophthongs they are the basic twelve (12) vowels

which are referred to as pure vowels, the remaining categories, are the combination of

the twelve (12) pure vowels that constitutes the diphthongs and then triphthongs. The

following are examples of each of the categorized vowels and in words:

monophthongs/pure vowels

ɪ sit [sɪt] city [sɪtɪ]

ε bet [bεt] ate [εt]

æ cat [kæt] dad [dæd],

o thaw [θᴐ:] broad [bɹʊ:d]

ʌ cut [kʌt] rough [ɹʌf]

ǝ actor [ǝctǝ] famous [fǝm]

u queue [kju] true [tɹu],

i: cream [kɹi:m] evil [i:vl]

з: learn [lз:n] term [tз:m]

a: hard [ha:d] heart [ha:t]

ᴐ: corn [kᴐ:n] court [kᴐ:t]

ʊ should [ʃʊd] good [gʊd]

The eight (8) diphthongs are:

aɪ spice [spaɪz] die [daɪ]

aʊ bough [baʊ] crowd [kɹaʊd]

eɪ grey [gɹeɪ] neigh [neɪ]

εǝ prayer [pɹεǝ] where [wεǝ]

ᴐɪ void [vᴐɪd] boy [bᴐɪ]

ɪǝ pier [pɪǝ] tear [tɪǝ]

oʊ note [noʊt] slow [sloʊ]

ʊǝ sure [ʃʊǝ] tour [tʊǝ]

Triphthongs:

aɪǝ buyer ['baɪǝ] tyre ['taɪǝ]

aʊǝ flour ['flaʊǝ] flower ['flaʊǝ]

1.4.6 The following are the vowels in each of the words pronounced heart lark feet fought short

/a:/ /a:/ /i:/ / ɔ:/ / ɔ:/

search hoop hurt north loose/ə:/ /u:/ /ə:/ / ɔ:/ /u:/

Teach sauce pass purse staff/i:/ / ɔ:/ /a:/ /ə:/ /a:/

REFERENCES

Attah, M. O. (1999). Practice in Spoken English for Intermediate and Advanced

Learners, Maiduguri. Occasional Publications.

Singh, S. (1979). Phonetics: Principles and Practice. Baltimore. University Park Press.

Abercrombie, D. (1967). Elements Of General Phonetics. Edinburg: Edinburgh

University Press

Awonusi, S. (2000). Coping with English Pronunciation. Lagos: Oboro and Ogbinaka

Publications

Christopherson, P. (196). An English Phonetic Course. London: Longman

Gimson, A.C. (1975). An Introduction to Pronunciation of English. London: Edward

Arnold

Jones, D. (1972). An Outline of English Phonetics. Cambridge: W. Heifer and Sons

Limited

Kriedler, C.W (1989). The Pronunciation of English: A Course in Phonology .Oxford:

Basil Mackwell

Lyons , J (1968). Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press

Mele, M. L. and Bello B. M. “Communication in English II” inKoroma, D.S.M,

Bulakarima, S. U

and Bello B.M (2007). A Student’s Companion: Readings in General

Studies.Vol.Two.

Division of General Studies, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria HYPERLINK "http://www.buzzin.net/english/speech.htm"http://www.buzzin.net/english/speech.htm

1.7 SUGGESTED READING

Abolade and Martins (1980). Oral English for W/Africa. London. Macmillan.

Attah, M. O. (1999). Practice in spoken English for Intermediate and Advanced

Learners.

Roach, P. (1983). English Phonetics and Phonolgy: A Practical Course, London C.U.

P.

Sigh, S. (1976). Phonetics: Principles and Practices. Baltimore, University Park Press.

Gimson, A. C. (1980). An introduction to the Pronunciation of English 3rd ed. London:

Edward Arnord Publ. Ltd.

Christophersen, P. (1956). An English Phonetics Course. London: Longman Group

Ltd.

STUDY SESSION 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .. .. .. .. .. .. 18

OBJECTIVES.. .. .. .. .. .. ……….18

IN-TEXT .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 18

2.3.1 CONSONANTS .. .. .. .. .. .. 18

2.3.2 PLOSIVES/STOPS .. .. .. .. .. 21

2.3.3 FRICATIVES .. .. .. .. .. .. 23

2.3.4 AFFRICATES/STOPS .. .. .. .. .. 24

2.3.5 NASALS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 25

2.3.6 EXERCISES .. .. .. .. .. .. 26

2.3.7 LATERAL .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 26

2.3.8 APPROXIMANTS (GLIDES OR SEMI-VOWELS) 27

2.3.9 EXERCISES .. .. .. .. .. .. 28

2.3.10 CONSONANT CLUSTERS .. .. .. .. 28

2.4 SUMMARY .. .. .. .. .. .. 28

2.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISES .. .. .. 29

2.6 REFERENCES .. .. .. .. .. .. 29

2.7 SUGGESTED READING .. .. .. .. 29

2.0 STUDY SESSION 2: CONSONANTS

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Students must shift from the traditional definition of a consonant which implies that a

consonant is a sound that appears with the help of a vowel. Although it is true that in

the formation of most syllables a vowel is required, (there are some consonants that are

syllabic), all consonants can be produced without the aid of a vowel. Therefore it is

better to define a consonant in terms of the obstruction formed by specific articulators

during production.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this topic, students should be able to:

Identify, describe and classify the English consonants.

See the patterning relationship of the English consonant and how they are framed to

form syllables, words, and even phrases.

IN-TEXT

CONSONANTS

Consonants are sounds produced with obstructions of air flow. The articulators in one

way or another obstruct air flow. Consonantal types are best described and classified

based on articulatory and auditory terms. As mentioned above, they are sounds that

have at least in some of their realizations, articulations involving the obstructions or

narrowing which produce, acoustically, a noise component. In articulating some of the

consonant phonemes there is a total closure or a stricture causing friction. In another

category, there is only a partial closure or unimpeded oral or nasal escape of air. These

obstructions may be caused by one, and sometimes by another of the speech organs

(lips, tongue, glottis, palate, teeth rims, nose). Three parameters are used in the

classification of consonant sounds. These are:

1. Place or organs of speech that are employed during the

production of a given sound

2. The manner in which these organs contact each other

3. The position or degree of opening and closure of the glottis (the

vocal tract via which air passes)

2 . 3 . 1 . 1 P L A C E O F

ARTICULATION

This refers to the organs that make contact with each other in the course of consonant

production. These organs are termed organs of speech. They are the lips, the teeth, the

tongue, the velum and the glottis among others. In most cases, two of the organs

contact each other to produce a given sound. For example, the two lips come together

to produce bilabial sounds such as {p, b, m and w}. Similarly, the lower lip can rise to

make contact with the upper teeth, the result of which is a labio-dental sound [i.e. labio

(lip) and dental (teeth)]. Examples of labio-dental sounds are /f/ and /v/. On other

occasions, the tip of the tongue is moved up to make contact with the alveolar ridge,

(the gum just above the teeth from within). When this happens, sounds like {t,d,s, z,n,l

and r}are produced. They are known as alveolar sounds.A diagram of human

speech organs

The upper and lower teeth are also responsible for the production of the dental sounds

θ and ð while the middle of the tongue and part of the roof of the mouth (known as

the hard palate) produce the palato-alveolar sounds{sandz}. The palatal sounds{ts, dz

and j}are produced when the middle of the tongue makes contact with the soft palate

while the velar sounds like{k, g and ŋ}are the result of contact between the back of the

tongue and the soft palate. Finally, the glottis– the opening of the vocal cord, produces

the sound /h/.

2.3.1.2 MANNER OF ARTICULATION

By manner of articulation is meant the nature of contact between the organs that

produce sounds. The manner in which this contact is made varies from the

pronunciation of one sound to another. Thus, two sounds can be produced by the same

organs but have different degrees of contact. For instance, both the sounds /b/ and /m/

are produced by the two lips (bilabial) but they differ simply because the manner of

contact is different.

In the pronunciation of some sounds, the organs come into very firm contact with each

other, such that there ensues a total blockage of air in the mouth. This is then followed

by a sudden separation of the organs, allowing (the trapped) air to escape with an

explosion. Sounds produced this way are known as plosive sounds, by virtue of the

explosion that characterizes their production. The six plosive sounds of English are /

p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, and /g/. In some other cases, the organs contact each other firmly,

just as in the pronunciation of plosive sounds, only that there lease is gradual, rather

than sudden and air escapes with a continuous flow .Affricates is the name given to

these sounds, of which only two exist in English – /ts/ and /dz/ The third category of

sounds using this parameter are the Fricative sounds. In their production, the organs,

instead of making contact, only come very close to each other, where upon air is

gradually released. A large number of English sounds are characterized by this

process, namely/s/, /z/, /f /, /v/, /θ/,. The term nasal is used to refer to sounds that are

produced through then as nasal cavity(nose). Unlike the case with oral sounds in

which the velum (soft palate) is raised to allow passage of air in to the mouth, in the

production of nasal sounds, the velum is lowered, so that the oral cavity is blocked.

This forces air to escape through the nasal cavity. Three English sounds are

characterized by this activity. They are: /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/. Sounds referred to as glide or

approximants are those in whose production no real contact is made by the organs.

Instead, the articulating organs simply ‘glide’ towards the direction of each other

without making any contact. /w/ and /j/ are the two glide sounds in English. The

lateral sounds are those in whose pronunciation air passes from either or both sides of

the mouth, rather than from the central part, which is the characteristics of most

sounds. The only lateral sound in English is /l/.2.3.1.3 STATE OF THE GLOTTIS

The glottis is an opening within the windpipe through which air coming out of the

lungs passes in to the oral or nasal cavity on its way out. In the pronunciation of

English sounds, the glottis (or vocal cords) can take two primary positions. It can be

widely open, allowing for a free flow of air without any obstruction that may cause

vibration. Sounds produced in this manner are called voiceless sounds. These include /

p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /s/, /t/, etc. In other instances, however, the glottis can be narrowed down,

so that as air passes, enough obstruction is created to result in some vibration. Sounds

produced in this manner are known as voiced sounds – e.g. /b/, /d/, /g/, /r/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /

d/, /z/, etc. The chart below contains all the sounds described above, indicating the

place and manner of their articulation as well as the status of the glottis during their

production. Note that each column in the chart represents one place of articulation, and

each row represents degree of constriction of the air passage, nasality, and laterality.

Symbols on the left are voiceless consonants and those on the right are voiced

consonants. Note also that the chart contains the consonant sounds of all languages

including the 24 English consonants. The sounds are therefore classified on the basis of

how the air is obstructed (manner) which creates these differences,

PLOSIVES/STOP /p, t, k, b, d, g, ?/ complete closure.

FRICATIVES /f, v, θ, ð, s, z, r, h/ partial closure

AFFRICATE/STOP / ts, and dz / complete closure

NASALS /m, n, ŋ / closure in the mouth

APPROXIMANTS /w, j/ no contact no stricture, more or less like vowel types.

LATERAL /l/ partial closure

FORTIS and LENIS: These are terms that relate to the consonant phonemes, and they

are therefore discussed alongside the consonant phonemes. Fortis refers to consonant

sounds produced with muscular energy and stronger breath. All voiceless sounds /p, t,

k, f, θ, s, ʦ, h, ∫/ fall in this category. Lenis on the other hand, refers to those sounds

produced with less muscular energy and weak breath – all voiced sounds belong to the

lenis type.

When a consonant phoneme occurs before a vowel at the beginning of a word,

it is referred to as a prevocalic consonant or as a consonant in the initial position of a

word. If a consonant phoneme occurs between two vowels at the middle of a word, it

is referred to as an intervocalic consonant or as a consonant in the medial position of a

word. If a consonant phoneme occurs after a vowel or at the end of a word, it is

referred to as a postvocalic consonant or as a consonant in the final position of a word.

The three features of English sounds discussed above can be clearly captured by the

list below, which shows words in which all the 24 consonants and 22 vowels occur.

Chart Containing the Consonant Sounds of all Languages including the 24 English

Consonants

Fig. 4i: English Consonant Chart Showing Place & Manner of Articulation,

including the Status of the Glottis

Manner of articulation

Place of articulation

B i - l a b i a l L a b i o - d e n t a l D e n t a l A l v e o l a r P o s t - a l v e o l a r P a l a t o -

alveolarpalatalVelarglottalPlosive/stopp bt dk g?Affricate/stopʧ ʤFricativef vθ

ðs z∫ ȜhNasal m n ŋLateral lApproximant/glide or semi-vowel w rj

Fig.4 ii

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12

Division of consonants, on binary principles, into sonorant/obstruent, stop/fricative,

sibilant/non-sibilant, nasal/oral, and voiceless/voiced groups.

PLOSIVES/STOPS /p, b, t, d, k, g, ?/

The plosives are speech sounds made by stopping the flow of air coming out of the

mouth and then suddenly releasing it to give out a sound akin to explosion. /p, t, k, ?/

are voiceless, fortis type, and /b, d, g/ are voiced, hence lenis type.

DISTRIBUTION

These sounds can occur in initial, medial and final positions of a word. In accented

initial positions /p, t, k/ are differentiated /b, d, g/ by aspiration (puff of air), that is, /p,

t, k/ in the initial positions in words are released with audible plosion, with a sound

akin to (h), while /b, d, g/ have weak plosion – unaspirated.

/?/ occurs frequently sometimes as alternative pronunciation of /p, t, k/ in initial

position that is cvc syllable e.g. captain, water. The sound /?/ frequently occurs in

English example when it precedes the energetic articulation of a vowel or when it

reinforces or even replaces /p, t, k/.

When a plosive is followed by another plosive or an affricate /ts, dz/ within a

word or at word boundaries, there is no intervening sound (aspiration [h] or a vowel)

e.g. good boy, captain, football, locked, actor, ripe cheese, white chalk, sickbay,

begged, top coat, good game.

Initial /p, t. k/ can be preceded by a fricative consonant /s/: sp, st, sk, in this case

it is unaspirated e.g. spoon, spark, stick steam, skirt, skew. When /p, b/ are followed

by /m/ or /t, d/ by /n/, the plosive is released through the nose without an intervening

aspiration [h] or vowel e.g. topmost, sudden, cotton, submerge, goodness, chutney.

When /t, d/ are followed by /l/, the plosive is released over the side of the

tongue without an intervening sound e.g. cutlass, little, middle, needless, atlas. /b, d, g/

cannot be preceded by any consonant. At the final position of a syllable, vowels that

precede these sounds/ p, t, k/ are much shorter, unaspirated e.g. ‘cap’ /kæp/, ‘tap’ /tæp/.

For /b, d, g/ at the final position of a syllable, vowels that precede them are longer e.g.

‘cab’ /kæb/, ‘tag’ /tæg/. /p, t, k/ are fortis (strong), that is, they are sounds that are

produced with more (strong) force of articulation. While /b, d, g/ - lenis (weak) are

sounds that are produced with weak force of articulation. In other words, /p, t, k/ are to

be articulated with more muscular energy and a stronger breath effort than /b, d, g/; the

former are known to be comparatively strong or fortis, the latter as comparatively weak

i.e. lenis.

2.4.2: FRICATIVES /f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ∫, Ȝ, h/

Fricatives are sounds produced with friction. At the points of articulation air

escapes through a narrow passage producing a hissing sound. Fricatives are

continuants that is, one can continue producing them without obstruction as long as

there is air in the lungs.

DISTRIBUTION

They can occur in initial, medial and final positions of a word except for /∞, h/.

however, words borrowed into English from French often have /Ȝ/ distributed in all the

positions (Initial, medial final) e.g. ‘gigolo’ /Ȝigələυ/, usual /ju;Ȝυəl/, measure /

meȜə(r)/, beige /beɪȜ/. In English /Ȝ/ occurs frequently medially or finally as illustrated

above.

/h/ can occur initially and medially but not finally in articulation. /∞/ and /h/

belong to the class of phonemes that have restricted (defective) distribution.

/h/ glottal fricative phonetically, has the quality of the following vowel, e.g. /h/

has the quality of /æ/ in hat / hæt/, but the quality of /ɪ/ in ‘hit’ /hɪt/; and that of /ɔ/ in

‘hot’ /hɔt/. categorically, /h/ in phonetic terms is a voiceless vowel with the quality of

the voiced vowel that follows it. Phonologically, /h/ is a consonant usually occurring

before vowels in syllable e.g. ‘house’, ‘ahead’, ‘behave’.

2.4.3 AFFRICATES/STOPS /ts , dz/

Plosives and affricates must be homorganic – formed with the same articulators.

In articulating the affricates they begin as plosives and end up fricatives. Affricates are

sibilants by virtue of the characteristic sound perceived at their production, i.e. the

hissing noise. They are often classified as stop consonants especially when they are

juxtaposed with the fricatives that are continuants. Although /tr, dr/ are considered

affricates, they are just for practical teaching purpose. The tongue contact is more

retracted for /t r/ and /d r/ e.g. chip/trip, Jane/drain.

DISTRIBUTION

Affricates occur in all the positions in a word e.g. chop, butcher, batch, joy, merger,

badge.

NASALS /m, n, ŋ/

When articulating the nasals, there is a complete closure in the mouth, hence air

is directed through the nose. /m, n/ are distributed in all the positions (initial, medial,

final) in a word except for / ŋ /, which occurs only after a vowel. /ŋ/ is often

distinguished from /ŋg/ and /ŋk/. /ŋg/ occur only before a vowel and /l/. /ŋ/ in

summary has the following characteristics of distribution:

does not occur in initial position,

never occurs after a diphthong or a long vowel.,

occurs medially i.e. intervocalic,

in the orthography ‘-nk’ /k/ is always pronounced, and

in the orthography ‘-ng’ sometimes /ŋg/ in some words /ŋ/ is pronounced.

/n/ is frequently syllable without an accompanying vowel. Syllable feature of

nasal /n/ is most common after alveolar plosives /t, d/ and fricatives. E.g. threaten /

θretn/, threatening /θretniŋ/ (The plosive ‘t’ is nasally released. After the fricative /f, v/

syllabic /n/ is more common than /ən/, thus: seven /sevn/, heaven /hevn/, often /ofn/

than [sevən], [hevən], [ofən]. In the above examples, the syllabic ℘ is following

another consonant. It is possible for one consonant to precede that consonant e.g.‘s’

preceding tn in Boston /bostn/, ‘l’ preceding ‘tn’ in wilton /wiltn/ or /wiltən/, but we

never find the sequence ntn, ndn in RP, thus Lantern, London, abandon, Minton must

have /ə/ in the last syllable: /læntən/, /l‸ndən/, /mintən/, /əbændən/.

LATERAL /l/

This sound is articulated by placing the tongue tip on the upper teeth ridge. /l/

and /{/ are allophones of /l/. clear /l/ is produced with a front vowel resonance. It

occurs before vowel and /j/ e.g. leaf, late, blow, silly. Dark /{/ has a back vowel

resonance. It occurs in final positions, before a consonant and as a syllabic consonant

e.g. feel, sail, pail, oil, bill, almost, little, final. In some orthographies ‘l’ is silent e.g.

walk, talk, half, folk, chalk, salmon, palm, Psalm.

2.4.6 APPROXIMANTS (GLIDES OR SEMI-VOWELS) /w, r, j/

These are sounds which when produced there is no contact or stricture, they are

more or less like the vowel types. When they are classified with the consonants they

are referred to as semi-vowels, they could equally be classified under the heading

Glides or Approximants.

/w/ may be regarded as a rapidly articulated /u:/ or /o/. Examples of /w/ in words are:

‘way’, ‘world’, ‘equal’, ‘wood’. /r/ is a voiced frictionless continuant, made with the

tongue near but not touching the rear part of the teeth ridge. The central part of the

tongue is hollowed. Friction only occurs when /r/ follows /t d/ as part of cluster /tr, dr/

and after /p, k/, after /p, t, k/, /r/ is devoiced [∉] distinguishing such sequences from /br,

dr, gr/ e.g. crow-grow. /r/ is pronounced only before a vowel. In RP /r/ is not

pronounced in words like father, farm, far. However it is pronounced as a linking

sound finally in a word when the next word begins with a vowel and has a close

syntactic association e.g. there are, far away. /j/ may be regarded as a rapidly

articulated /i:/ or /ju/ e.g. cure, pew, huge, tune.

Many words containing /j/ have alternative pronunciation without /j/ particularly after

accented /l, s,oz/ e.g. ‘salute’ /sə.lju:t/ or /səlu:t/. words exemplifying /j/ are: you, yes,

use, young, new, argue, beauty, Europe, youth etc.

CONSONANT CLUSTERS

A consonant cluster is a string of two or more consonants. The sequencing of the

consonants in a cluster is governed by the phonetic rules of a language. The initial

cluster /str/ in ‘straight’, for example must occur in that fixed sequence. Alteration of

its phonemes sequencing is not accommodated in the English language. In addition,

only certain consonants can be used to formulate clusters. Although initial consonant

clusters /sp/, /st/, /sk/, and /sf/ are permitted in English, clusters such as /sb/, /sd/, /sg/

and /sv/ are not permitted in the English language.

Up to three (3) consonants may precede a vowel and up to four (4) may follow a

vowel i.e., ccc + cccc

e.g. s t r e e t /stri:t/, sixth /si kstθ/

ccc cccc

ITQ1: List all the consonants that have restricted distribution and explain why?

ITQ2: /n/ becomes /ŋ/ when it preceded by /k/ and /g/. Explain this statement in a

simple plain English and

explain why giving the characteristics of the sound /ŋ/?

ITA: The consonants that have restricted distribution are:

/∞, h, ŋ, w, r, j/

ITA: Alveolar, nasal, voiced becomes velar, nasal voiced when it preceded by velar

stop, voiced or

voiceless. However, the reason is that of contiguity, the sounds (velar stops)

influence the alveolar nasal, taking on the features of the velar stops. The

characteristics of the (/ŋ/) velar nasal are:

does not occur in initial position,

it never occurs after a diphthong or a long vowel.,

it occurs medially i.e. intervocalic,

in the orthography ‘-nk’ /k/ is always pronounced, and

in the orthography ‘-ng’ sometimes /ŋg/ in some words /ŋ/ is pronounced.

2.6 SUMMARY

In this topic, we presented the consonant sounds, classifying them according to their

place and manner of production and exemplifying them in words to illustrate the

patterning principles of each, i.e. how they combine to form natural sounding words

and how they are also adjusted depending on their neighbours.

SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS (SAQs)

List the syllabic consonants you know and give five examples to illustrate each.

All the obstruents in English are …..?

Because of their vowel like quality, approximants/glides are sometimes referred

as weak consonants. Explain?

SOLUTIONS TO SAQs

2.8.1 The following are the syllabic consonants: /w/, /j/ and /r/

2.8.1.1/w/ way, world, equal, wood want.

2.8.1.2 /r/ crow-grow, train, drill, write

2.8.1.3 /j/ you, yes, use, young, argue

2.8.2 The following are sounds of English that are referred as obstruents:

/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /ts/, /dz/, /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /h/, /s/, /z/, /∫/ and /Ȝ/.

2.8.3 These are sounds which when produced there is no contact or stricture, they are

more or less like the vowel types. When they are classified with the consonants they

are referred to as semi-vowels, they could equally be classified as Glides or

Approximants. Because the articulatory organs simply ‘glide’ towards the direction of

each other without making any contact as the case with the other consonants.

TOPIC 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3.0 TOPIC: SYLLABLE .. .. .. .. .. .. 32

3.1 INTRODUCTION .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 32

3.2 OBJECTIVES.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 32

3.3 IN-TEXT .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 32

3.3.1 THE ENGLISH SYLLABLE STRUCTURE.. .. .. 32

3.3.2 PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION .. .. .. .. 35

3.3.3 EXERCISES .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 37

3.4 SUMMARY .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 42

3.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISES .. .. .. .. 42

3.6 REFERENCES .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 43

3.7 SUGGESTED READING .. .. .. .. .. 43

3.0 TOPIC: SYLLABLE

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Sound contrasts that extend over several segments (phonemes) are known as

suprasegmental e.g. stress, intonation. The supra-segmentals are better studied in

syllables not individual segments. In every language there are restrictions on the

sequences of phonemes that are used, e.g. no English word begins with the sequences

zkf, gvs and no word ends with æh.

A syllable compulsorily has a centre which has little or no obstruction to airflow

and sounds comparatively loud. Before and after the CENTRE (i.e. beginning or end

of the syllable), there will be greater obstruction to air flow and/or less loud. A syllable

may be a single vowel in isolation. This is called a minimum syllable e.g. ‘are’ /a:/,

‘or’ /]:/, ‘err’ /ə:/. These are preceded and followed by silence.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, student will demonstrate in the knowledge of the

structural patterns of the English syllable by identifying syllable types in English.

IN-TEXT

THE ENGLISH SYLLABLE STRUCTURE

A syllable is a vowel or other continuous voiced sound, together with one or more

consonants preceding or following it, that are pronounced as a unit example; sim – ple,

a – lone, pro – nun – ci – a – tion (Pinker, S. 1995: 482). Hornby (1974), a syllable is

the rhythmic unit of spoken language. By implication of the first definition, in English

a syllable can be formed either by a solitary vowel or diphthong with one or more

consonants. There are different types of syllables in English formed by the various

consonant/vowel combinations. A syllable such as ‘are’ /a:/, ‘or’ /ɜ:/, ‘eye’ /ai/, ‘err’ /

ɜ(r)/, are called MINIMUM-SYLLABLE

3.2 ONSET (PRE-INITIAL, INITIAL AND PRE-INITIAL)

If a syllable is started or preceded by a consonant, a consonant comes before the

mandatory vowel, the consonant at this initial position is called the onset. The

onset, sometimes may be a consonant cluster of as many as three consonants. For

instance, the first of the clusters is called the “pre-initial consonant” the second,

“initial consonant” and the third “final consonant” respectively. Therefore, this can

be illustrated with the word

Note:- when a syllable is preceded by a consonant then it is called an ONSET e.g.

‘car’ /ka:/, ‘door’ /dɔ:/, key /ki:/.

- A syllable may not have onset but a termination (i.e. a consonant after the centre)

‘am’ /æm/, ‘arm’ /a:/, ought /ɔ:t/, ease /i:z/

- A syllable may have both, onset and termination e.g. ‘come’ /k‸m/, ‘sit’ /sɪt/, ‘run’ /

r‸n.

- when two or more consonants come together, they are known as consonant cluster. If

there is no final consonant in a syllable, then we say there is a ZERO

TERMINATION.

3.3 CODA (PRE-FINAL, FINAL, POST-FINAL 1 AND 2, OR CLOSE SYLLABLE)

Peak of a syllable can be free or preceded by an onset. It can be

equally be succeeded by as many as a cluster of four consonants. These consonants

that appear at the final position of the peak is called the coda. The first of them is the

pre-final, the second, final then the third, post-final 1 and as the last post-final 2.

However, it is good to note that if a syllable has just one coda, the consonant is the

final consonant. Let us consider the following example;

Consonants in final positions often influence any consonant that will follow,

whether as a morpheme for plural marker or a morpheme for past tense marker. Very

often, voiceless consonants in final positions attract voiceless consonants too, as either

plural marker or past tense market e.g. ‘help’ helped /helpt /wash and washed /wo∫t/,

bank – banks /bæŋks/ twelfth – twelfths /twelfθs/, texts /teksts/ dance – danced /da:nst/.

A consonant either /l, r/ or a nasal /m, n/ can stand as a centre of the syllable

instead of the vowel. A syllabic consonant can be indicated by a small vertical mark (-)

as in the examples: /ļ, ə, ņ/ as in cattle /kætļ/, history /hɪstrɪ/ wanderer /wɔndərə/,

happen /hæpm/ or /hæpn/ or /hæpən/.

Note: when a syllable has a coda, it is called a closed syllable (eg. pin) but, if a syllable

does not have an onset, it is said to be an open syllable (eg. in) which has zero onset.

When a syllable does not have a coda, it is a syllable with zero coda (eg. Pay [peɪ]): it

has neither an onset nor a coda. It is, therefore, a free or simple syllable (eg. Ill [i:l])

but, when a syllable has both an onset and a coda of any number, the syllable is said to

be a complex syllable.

The following are syllable types in English

Syllable type Graphic Phonetic Graphic

A. Vowel

v

C o n s o n a n t / v o w e l

cv

V o w e l / c o n s o n a n t

vc

C o n s o n a n t / v o w e l /

consonant cvc

A

The

Ill

Take

/ə/ or /‸/

/ ðə/

/i:l/

/teik/

b. ccv

vcc

ccvc

cccvc

cccvcc

cccvccc

cvcc

ccvcc

cvccc

cccv

vccc

Cry

Eats

Stick

Sprawl

Streets

Strengths

Pips

Spits

Tasks

Screw

Asks /æsks/

/krai/

/i:ts/

/stɪk/

/sprɔ:l/

/stri:ts/

/streηθs/

/pɪps/

/spɪts/

/ta:sks/

/skru:/

Syllable type Graphic Phonetic Graphic

A. Vowel

v

C o n s o n a n t / v o w e l

cv

V o w e l / c o n s o n a n t

vc

C o n s o n a n t / v o w e l /

consonant cvc

A

The

Ill

Take

/ə/ or /‸/

/ ðə/

/i:l/

/teik/

b. ccv

vcc

ccvc

cccvc

cccvcc

cccvccc

cvcc

ccvcc

cvccc

cccv

vccc

Cry

Eats

Stick

Sprawl

Streets

Strengths

Pips

Spits

Tasks

Screw

Asks /æsks/

/krai/

/i:ts/

/stɪk/

/sprɔ:l/

/stri:ts/

/streηθs/

/pɪps/

/spɪts/

/ta:sks/

/skru:/

The syllable structures in group A above, can be considered simple syllable structures

and the ones in group B are complex syllable structures. Therefore, the following

illustrate the discussion above:

a b syllable

c d

onset peak coda

pre-initial Initial post-initial pre-final final post-final1

post-final 2s p r eɪp r α m p t

z

aa = simple or free syllable (zero onset and zero coda)

bb = syllable with onset but zero coda

cc = close syllable with zero onset

dd = syllable with encased in on onset and coda complex syllable and

two words, spray and prompts, have illustrated the diagram as it is rare to have a

word that fulfills all the obligations.

Adopted from Jalayomi (2010)

3.4 THE WEAK SYLLABLE

In English, not as in other languages, some syllables of most multi syllabic words do

not often receives emphasis, ie. Not accompanied by some kind of “loudness” that is

relative to the other syllables in some utterances or word. A weak syllable is always

produced with some silence, little or no emphasis and sometimes totally swallowed or

skipped. Such syllables experience relative reduction in the movements of the vocal

folds which often leads to reduced FO, intensity or duration.

There are many ways of identifying such weak syllables in utterances. One of the most

common ways is that the peak or the vowel of the syllables almost always short, i.e. the

peak are made of short vowels sounds such as: /α, ɪ, ε, ‸, υ, ə, æ/ which signals the

occurrence of a weak syllable. More so, such a weak syllable with a short peak is

usually an open syllable, which does not have a coda. Sometimes when it has, the coda

is just the final element one consonant coda. Consider the following examples;

3.5 THE STRONG SYLLABLE

By strong syllable, when a consonant cluster of two or three is the coda of the syllable

then the syllable is termed as strong syllable. It is also when the long vowels constitutes

the peak of the syllable, such vowels as diphthongs and triphthongs which determines

the weight of the syllable. Eg.

A complete knowledge of the structure of English syllables is important for the

phonetic transcription of speech e.g. a learner will be aware that the word ‘the’

comprises two phonemes, a consonant (C) and a vowel (V) thus /ðə/, ‘steal’ is

composed of four phonemes /sti:l/, two consonants (CC), a vowel (V) and a consonant

(C). Equally important to the study of syllable are the suprasegmental features (stress

and intonation).

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION

It is a phoneme by phoneme interpretation of speech utilizing an alphabet

system (the IPA) so as to represent all the sounds of a language without any overlap

(Singh ’76). Speech can be transcribed in two ways: by narrow (phonetic)

transcription and by broad (phonemic) transcription. Narrow transcription

distinguishes all allophonic variations of a phoneme and also assists in transcribing

dialectal differences and distortions. Broad transcription on the other hand, pools

allophonic variations and represents them by one phoneme. Phonetic transcription is

enclosed in square brackets [ ], while phonemic transcription is enclosed in

obligue / /.

In phonetics sounds are considered from their physical viewpoint, generally in

terms of their articulation – e.g. describing [ph] as a voiceless aspirated bilabial plosive

with egressive lung air. Phonemics on the other hand considers the sounds of a

language; in fact it is the way that a native speaker of a language considers them.

When the native speaker of a language hears sounds, he does not react to them in the

same way as it is done in phonetics. When the English man hears the sound [ph], he

does not think to himself, “Aha, that’s a voiceless aspirated bilabial plosive with

egressive lung air”, but he does react to the fact that it is [ph] not [b] or that it is

[phæth] “pat” not [bæth] ‘bat’, or [phesth] ‘pest’ not [thesth] “test”.

Note that [ph] is phonetically different from [p]. the former is aspirated with

the symbol’h’, whereas the latter is unaspirated. In English [ph] occurs at the

beginning of words and [p] occurs after [s].

A successful phonemics study considers these three principles: Contrast,

Variation and distribution.

1. [ph] and [b] are different units in English e.g. because [phæth] is NOT the same

in meaning as [bæth], therefore they CONTRAST with each other.

2. The unit represented as ‘p’ in the English alphabet sometimes occurs in its

aspirated form, sometimes in its unaspirated form depending on where it occurs, so this

is VARIATION

3. [n ] and [ŋ] are different units in English because [sin] is not the same in

meaning as [siŋ]. But whereas [n] can occur at the beginning or end of a syllable, [ŋ]

can only occur at the end of a syllable, so this is a difference in DISTRIBUTION.

3.3.3 ITQs: Consider the two English words

[siph] ‘sip’ and [∫iph] ‘ship’

ITQ1: What is the difference in sound between them?

ITQ2: What difference other than the sound difference also exists between them?

ITQ3: What is the environment of [∫] in the second word of our example?

ITA 1: The first begins with [s], a voiceless alveolar grooved fricative; the second

begins with [∫], a voiceless palato-alveolar grooved fricative.

ITA 2: A difference in meaning. This is an example of the first of the three basic

phonemic principles – contrast. We use the term CONTRAST in phonemics to mean a

difference in sound with a corresponding difference in meaning.

Notice that apart from this one sound difference, the two words are exactly the same

phonetically. If we look at the phonetic surroundings of [s] in the first word of our

example, we see that it is preceded by silence and followed by [iph]; these phonetic

surroundings are called its environment.

ITA 3: It is preceded by silence and followed by [iph]

The environments of [s] and [∫] are thus exactly the same, so we say that [s] and [∫]

contrast in identical environment in English.

There is contrast because we have a difference in sound which makes a difference in

meaning and the contrast occurs in environments which are exactly the same so it is

contrast in identical environment.

Further examples of contrast in identical environment for [s] and [∫] in English are:

i) [sɪn] ‘sun’ and [∫un] ‘shun’

ii) [sɪn] ‘sin’ and [∫ɪn] ‘shin’

iii) [mæs] ‘mass’ and [mæ∫] ‘mash’

Note that in example i) and ii) above, the contrast between [s] and [∫] is found at the

beginning of the words in which they occur, but in example iii) the contrast occurs at

the end of the word. In fact it is common for two sounds which contrast in one position

to contrast in other positions as well.

Pairs of words as in i) to iii) above in which sounds contrast in identical environment

are called minimal pairs (because there is only a minimal difference between them).

3.4 SUMMARY

In this unit you were taught the English syllable patterns and how, for every syllable,

there is a CENTRE formed by a vowel, known as nucleus, or by a syllabic consonant.

In addition, you were taught the three principles (contrast, variation and distribution)

that relate to the study of phonemics.

3.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS (SAQs)

3.6.1 List five (5) words in English to illustrate the syllable structure cvccc

3.6.2 List other minimal pairs which show contrast in identical environment for [ph]

and [b] in English.

3.6.3 ‘strengths’ has the syllable structure …………….

3.6.4 With illustrations demonstrate your understanding of the following parts of a

syllable: peak, onset, coda etc

SOLUTION TO SAQ 1:

The following are the five words with CVCCC syllable structure:

depths /depθs/ Tasks /ta:sks/ Text /tekst/

Sixth /siksθ/ Tests /tests/

SOLUTION TO SAQ 2:

[ph] and [b] are in pairs. Other words that show minimal pairs include:

[phin] ‘pin’ and [bɪn] ‘bin’

[phaθ] ‘path’ and [baθ] ‘bath’

[mɔph] ‘mop’ and [mɔb ‘mob’

Note that not only contoids (i.e. phonetic consonants), but also vocoids (i.e. phonetic

vowels) may contrast in identical environment.∗ Try to find examples of contrast both

at the beginning and at the end of words. Remember that contrast is a matter of sound

difference and meaning difference, not of spelling, so write the words phonetically, not

in standard orthography. However, three conditions must be satisfied in order that two

sounds may be said to contrast in identical environment in a given pair of words which

are:

There must be a difference in sound at the same point in each word.

There must be a difference in meaning.

There must be no other phonetic difference between the two words.

(The above gives the three essential conditions to be satisfied – don’t worry if your

wording is different as long as your solution contains the same information).

SOLUTION TO SAQ 3:

The syllable structure for the word ‘strengths’ is cccvccc

SOLUTION TO SAQ 4:

If a syllable is started or preceded by a consonant, a consonant comes before the

mandatory vowel, the consonant at this initial position is called the onset. The

onset, sometimes may be a consonant cluster of as many as three consonants. For

instance, the first of the clusters is called the “pre-initial consonant” the second,

“initial consonant” and the third “final consonant” respectively. While a Peak of a

syllable can be free or preceded by an onset. It can be equally be succeeded by as

many as a cluster of four consonants. These consonants that appear at the final

position of the peak is called the coda. The first of them is the pre-final, the second,

final then the third, post-final 1 and as the last post-final 2. However, it is good to

note that if a syllable has just one coda, the consonant is the final consonant.

REFERENCES

Singh, S. (1979). Phonetics: Principles and Practices, Baltimore University Park

Press.

SUGGESTED READING

Singh, S. (1979). Phonetics: Principles and Practices, Baltimore University Park

Press.

Pinker, S. (1995). The language Instinct, N. Y. Collins.

Hornby (ed). (1974). Advanced Learners Dictionary.

Eunice Burgess, Anne Cochran, Theresa Harris, Ivan Lowe (1983). Introduction to

Phonemic Analysis: Self-Instruction course. Horseleys Green. Summer Institute of

Linguistics.

STUDY SESSION 4:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STUDY SESSION 4: SUPRASEGMENTALS (STRESS, INTONATION,

SYLLABFICATION ETC)

SUPRASEGMENTALS .. .. .. .. .. .. . .

45

INTRODUCTION .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .

45

OBJECTIVES.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 45

IN-TEXT .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .

45

THE SUPRASEGMENTALS.. .. .. .. .. 45

STRESS (ACCENT) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 45

INTONATION .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 51

4.4 SUMMARY .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 53S

4.5 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISES .. .. .. .. .. 54

4.6 REFERENCES .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .

54

4.7 SUGGESTED READING .. .. .. .. .. .. 54

TOPIC: THE SUPRASEGMENTALS: (STRESS, INTONATION,

SYLLABIFICATION ETC)

SUPRASEGMENTALS

INTRODUCTION:

The supra-segmental features are equally responsible for the intelligibility of

speech as much as the phonemes do.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this topic, you should have mastered the suprasegmental features

of English.

4.2 IN - TEXT

4.3.1 THE SUPRA-SEGMENTALS

Sound contrasts that extend over several segments (phonemes) are called supra-

segmentals, example, stress and intonation. The International Phonetics Association

(IPA) provides a group of symbols for stress, length, intonation, syllabification and tone

under the general heading ‘supra-segmentals’. A suprasegmental is a vocal effect that

extends over more than one sound segment in an utterance, such as pitch, stress or

juncture pattern.

4.3.2 STRESS (ACCENT)

If a native speaker reads out a list of English words of two or more syllables, we

would notice that some syllables are said with greater force, and therefore, stand out

above the others that are not said with such force. This is because, in English words of

two or more syllables, only one of them is stressed (or said with force), the rest are

unstressed (or said with weaker force).

Stress in speech is the use of more muscular energy on a syllable. Stress refers

to the most prominent part of a syllable or a word. Stressed syllable is perceived to be

prominent. A syllable may/may not be stressed, depending on whether it is prominent

or not. Stress is used to denote differing degrees of prominence in words containing

more than one syllable – poly syllabic words for instance. In polysyllabic English

words (English words with many syllables), only one syllable carries the primary or

main stress. The syllable which carries the primary stress is said more loudly than the

rest of the syllables which are unstressed. The distinction is often made between

‘primary’ ‘secondary’ and ‘unstressed’, (Attah, M. O. (1999). Stress is exemplified in

the following worlds which are polysyllabic in nature. Subsidise / EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 s‸bsɪ EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 daɪz/, pronunciation /

prə EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 n‸nsɪ EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 e∫n/.

there are three distinct stress levels (PRIMARY, SECONDARY and NO STRESS) that

indicate the prominence in English, Primary stress is marked with a raised vertical bar,

secondary stress is marked with a lowered vertical bar and both marks come at the

beginning of the stressed syllable, the stress applies to the entire syllable, not to any

single segment. The following are however stress notations:

A EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 indicates the strongest type of stress and it is

referred to as TONIC/PRIMARY stress (accent), example; ma EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 chine, EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12

measure

B ! or # indicates stronger stress but not as strong as TONIC/PRIMARY. It is

referred to as secondary stress (accent) e.g. EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 engineer pro EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12

nunciation.

C Ν indicates unaccented syllable with strong vowel.

D $ indicates unaccented syllable with weak vowel or syllabic consonants.

Note that there is often no mark (indication) on unaccented syllable (C and D above)

whether with weak or strong vowel.

Stress in English is only on LEXICAL/FORM words (nouns, verbs, Adjectives

etc), Grammatical function words (prepositions, articles etc) are not stressed.

Observe the pattern of stress in the following two syllable words

Con EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 test EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12

open EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 borrow b a E M B E D

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 lloon

Su EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 pply a EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.

12 ssist EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 father E M B E D

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 money

Per EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 mit EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12

equal EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 envy E M B E D

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 teacher

A EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 pply cor EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.

12 rect EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 permit E M B E D

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 record

A EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 ttract EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12

lovely pro EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 duce r e E M B E D

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 cord

A EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 rrive EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12

enter EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 produce a E M B E D

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 lone

Sub EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 ject EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12

Export Ex EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 port E M B E D

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 yellow

Stress on three syllable words

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 quality po EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.

12 tato di EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 saster e n t e r E M B E D

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 tain

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 engi EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 neer

e EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 xamine de EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.

12 termine im EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 portant

Stress on compound and noun phrases

A black EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 bird

A grand EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 father ≅ Noun phrases

A light EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 ship

A EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 blackbird

A EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 grandfather ≅ compound

A EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 lightship

Explain the difference(s) between the two groups of compounds.

Most compound words have primary accent on the first elements, observe the

following compounds; ‘chairman’, ‘crossword’, ‘blackboard’, ‘cardboard’,

‘earthquake’, ‘saucepan’, ‘teapot’ etc. there are however few which have their stress on

the second syllable an on the few examples below. First’class, down’stairs.

There are as many as the following numbers of syllable: 5syllables, 6syllables,

7syllables, 8syllables etc, in English, and for each of these groups, tonic stress, tonic

stress and secondary stress are indicated on the words depending on where the

prominence is required. The following words are few examples:

Capitalism (on the first syllable)

Administrative (on the second syllable)

Objectivity (on the third syllable)

Pronunciation (on the fourth syllable)

Intelligibility (on the fifth syllable)

Industrialization (on the sixth syllable)

Internationalization (on the seventh syllable)

The key to intelligible English is knowing how to move the voice according to

accepted patterns of stress and rhythm, because, even if our pronunciation is poor and

faulty, our English speech will be intelligible (easy to understand) if we maintain a

correct speech flow.

English assigns stress to phrases and sentences as it does for individual words.

In an utterance, a word may be given a special prominence to mark it out as the centre

of information. Such a word, usually said with a special emphasis, is known as the

‘nucleus’ and bears the focus of the intended message. Any word can be emphasized in

an utterance, including ‘function’ or grammatical’ words, to show that the particular

thing or action it conveys is intended and no other. Consider the sentence below and

emphasize each word at a time.

“THE plane leaves London tonight” (Nucleus = THE. Meaning: definite ‘THE’ not

‘A’, specificity).

“the PLANE leaves London tonight” (Nucleus = PLANE. Meaning: not train, car, bus

but PLANE

“the plane LEAVES London tonight” (Nucleus = LEAVES. Meaning LEAVES not

stays, not returns but LEAVES.

“the plane leaves LONDON tonight” (nucleus = LONDON. Meaning: not Abuja, New

York or any other city, but LONDON).

“the plane leaves London TONIGHT” (nucleus = TONIGHT. Meaning: not tomorrow,

afternoon nor any other time but TONIGHT).

Practise such emphases with the following sentences.

My father bought a new bicycle for me.

Solomon built an aircraft in Jos.

The traditional ruler was honoured.

She is beautiful.

The man earned some money.

4.3.3 INTONATION

Intonation is the melody or pitch contour of speech. In intonation we study

pitch variations. We study the linguistic importance of intonation. Words or utterances

are often said with level tone or with the pitch changing from one level to another.

English operates with two basic intonation patterns – fall and rise. An utterance can be

definite and final, the falling cone is used to indicate that, that is, descending from a

higher to a lower pitch, like the word ⎥YES’ for instance EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 . If ‘YES’ were to indicate a questioning manner, then it is

vice-versa thus; rising tone, that is movement from a lower to higher pitch like this

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 .

Observe the patterns below:

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 Yes Normal speech

Strong feelings extra pitch height

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 Yes T h e

arrow indicates extra pitch.

Indication of ‘finality’ example, if one responds to a question with ‘yes’ ‘no’ answer in

a neutral way, meaning the question is answered and there is nothing more to be said,

the tone is falling thus; yes no ()

If the speech is to give the impression that something more is to follow, that is,

continuity such as:

Excuse me

Yes ( EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 ) This indicates “what do you want?” (for

more practice on intonation refer to Attah ’99 and Allen ’79).

The following are the functions of intonation and stress; attitudinal, accentual,

grammatical and discoursal.

ATTITUDINAL; This function expresses emotions attitudes such as anger, happiness,

politeness, boredom, impoliteness.

ACCENTUAL: Indication of stress is determined by intonation, that is prominence on

syllables that need to be perceived as stressed. Thus any word can be the accented or

bear a tonic syllable.

GRAMMATICAL: This function recognizes the grammatical and syntactic structure

such as boundaries between phrases, clauses and sentences. It provides the difference

between questions and statements, e.g.

She bought the expensive jewelry. (statement)

She bought the expensive jewelry? (question)

Grammatical stress relate to word class such as the underlisted:

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 import (noun) im EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 port (verb)

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 perfect (adjective) per EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 fect (verb)

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 contact (noun) con EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 tact (verb)

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 produce (noun) pro EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 duce (verb)

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 abstract (adjective) ab EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 stract (verb) etc.

ITQ 1: what do you understand by stress in English?

ITQ 2: with examples, illustrate the differences between primary and secondary stress?

ITQ 3: give two functions each of stress in English?

ITA 1: Stress in speech is the use of more muscular energy on a syllable. Stress refers

to the most prominent part of a syllable or a word. Stressed syllable is perceived to be

prominent. Stress is used to denote differing degrees of prominence in words

containing more than one syllable – poly syllabic words.

ITA 2: Primary stress is marked with a raised vertical bar, secondary stress is marked

with a lowered vertical bar and both marks come at the beginning of the stressed

syllable, the stress applies to the entire syllable, not to any single segment. Example:

Per EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 mit EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 equal

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 envy E M B E D

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 teacher

4.4 SUMMARY

This study session 4, an attempt was made to defines stress (accent) as extra

force used in speaking on a particular word or syllable. Three levels exist in stress:-

primary, secondary and no’ stress. Polysyllabic words often contain all the stress levels

example, the word ‘academician’ has the following stress patterns, [ə EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 k EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 də EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 mi∫n], first syllable /ə/ has no stress, second / EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 k EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 / has secondary stress,

syllable /də/ has no stress, fourth syllable / EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 mi/ has

primary stress and the last syllable /∫n/ has no stress. You must have observed also that

unstressed syllables are often not marked. Stress cannot, however, be marked in single

syllable (monosyllabic) words except if they fell among chains of other words and if

they require some degrees of prominence.

You have also learnt that intonation is the rise and fall of pitch of voice

monitored by the laryngeal movements of the speaker. It provides sentence or word

with a variety of meanings depending on the emphasis placed by the speaker. In

addition, intonation allows a speaker to convey his emotional state of mind.

Note that all spoken languages have inherent patterns of intonation. Languages

like Hausa, Yoruba intonational changes are enormous. A single word in any of these

languages may carry several different meanings according to changes in intonation.

Tonal languages often exhibit such characteristics. Two words exemplified are the

words ‘Fari’ and ‘Ogun’

English First/Beginning white locusts

Hausa fari fari fari

English sweat medicine war twenty

inheritance

Yoruba ogun ogun ogun ogun ogun

etc.

4.5 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS (SAQs)

4.5.1. Pick English polysyllabic words and practice for stress

4.5.2. is your mother tongue a tonal language? Give five (5) words to exemplify that.

4.6 SOLUTION TO SAQs

4.6.1 The following words of English can tell us more about stress placement:

EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 edu EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 cation,

pro EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 nunci EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12

ation EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 quantity p h o E M B E D

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 nology EMBED CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 photo EMBED

CorelDRAW.Graphic.12 graphic

4.6.2 Let us consider the following local languages of Hausa and Yoruba to show how

important tone is to those languages as tonal languages:

English sweat medicine war twenty inheritance

Yoruba ogun ogun ogun ogun ogun

English father mother friend

Hausa baba baba baba etc.

4.7 REFERENCES

Attah, M. O. (2000). Practice in Spoken English for Intermediate and Advanced

learners.

Roach, P. (1983). English Phonetics and Phonolgy: A Practical Course, London C.U.

P.

Awonusi, S. (2000). Coping with English Pronunciation. Lagos: Oboro and Ogbinaka

Publications

Christopherson, P. (196). An English Phonetic Course. London: Longman

4.8 SUGGESTED READING

Tende, M. A. Y. ‘Salient Issues in the Phonology of English, in Attah, M. O. (ed)

(1999). The Humanities and Human Resources Development, Maiduguri,

Occasional Publications.

G. F. Arnorld and A. C. Gimson (1982). English Pronunciation Practice. London.

Hodder and Stoughton.

Crystal, D. (2003). A Dictionary of linguistics and Phonetics Blackwell.

Allen Stannard W. (1979). Living English Speech. London. Longman.

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT (TMA)

1a) Briefly explain the division of consonants by the binary principles see fig.4 ii.

b) List all English sonorants and exemplify each in word.

List all the non-sibilant obstruents.

2a) The word to illustrate the syllable structure cvccc is …………..

b) Strengths has the syllable structure ……………

c) The two syllable in ‘withdrawn’ have the structure …………

d) Give the syllable structures of the following words;

i) insert ii) putt iii) purrs iv) window v) preached vi) tax vii)

doors viii) phone ix) English x) stress.

3a) Clearly explain the difference between plosives and fricatives.

b) The final consonant of a syllable determines the length of the vowel in that

syllable. Explain this statement in detail and provide ten (10) words as e.gs. to

back up your answer.

c) List all the long vowels in English.

4a) Give the phonemic transcription of the following words; tormented, bagged,

washed, danced, praised, backed, preached, dined, wanted, sorted, worded,

charted, judged, tagged, carded, worshipped, placed, united, formed, cleaned.

b) clearly explain what determines the realizations of the past tense marker as

either /t/ and /d/.

5. Define the terms below and give five (5) words exemplifying each.

i) complementary distribution ii) minimal pairs iii) sonorants

iv) stress.

6. Write short notes with examples on

a) syllable b) syllabic consonantsc) nucleus

7. Define, with examples the following:

i) STRESS ii) INTONATION

iii) what are the functions of stress and intonation in English?

8. Explain the meaning intended by each word in the sentence that follow:

My father built an aircraft in New York.

9.a. Explain the characteristic features of the sounds /p, t, k, ts, f, v, s, ∫/ at the end of

a syllable containing long vowels.

b) What is intelligibility in speech? Explain how this can be achieved with stress

and intonation.

READING LIST

Abolade and Martins (1980) Oral English for West Africa. London, MacMillan.

Attah, M. O. (1999). Practice in Spoken English for Intermediate and Advanced

Learners.

Eunice B., Anne C., Theresa H., Ivan L. (1983) Introduction to Phonemic Analysis:

Self-Instruction Course. Horseleys Green S. I. L.

Fudge (ed) (1973) Phonology. Harmondsworth. Penguin Books Ltd.

Roach, P. (1983). English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course London. C. U.

P.

Singh, S. (1976). Phonetics: Principles and Practices. Baltimore. University Park

Press.

Tende, M. A. (1999) “Salient Issues in Phonology” in Attah (1999).∗ contoid and vocoid are the terms we use in phonemics to refer to phonetic consonants and phonetic vowels (distinguished on the basis of whether or not there is any obstruction in the mouth in the articulation of the sound). They may be referred to simply as consonants and vowels in phonetics but this is always an abbreviation for phonetic consonants and phonetic vowels. We prefer to use the terms contoid and vocoid in phonemics to avoid any possible confusion with phonemic consonants and vowels.

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ENG303:PhonologyofModernEnglish

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DIPHTHONG

CENTERING (ends in /ə/

CLOSING

Ends in /ɪ/

Ends in /i/