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Phonetics and Phonology

for Students of English


Vinja Josipovi
UDBENICI SVEUILITA U ZAGREBU
MANUALIA UNIVERSITATIS STUDIORIUM ZAGRABIENSIS
UD

BENI CI SVEU

i LI

TA U ZAGREBU
MANUALI A UNI VERSI TATI S STUDI ORUM ZAGRABI ENSI S
Vinja Josipovi
Phoneties and Phonology
for Students of English
1AKCA
Zagreb, 1999.
Nakladnik:
Targa
Za nakladnika

edomi r Zubovi :
Glavni urednik:
Dr. sc. Vi nja Josi povi
Recenzenti:
Prof. dr. sc. Dami r Horga
Prof. dr. sc. Dora Maek
Prof. dr. sc. Dami r Kal ogj era
Lektor za engleski:
Janet Tukan, prof.
Raunalno oblikovanje i izrada fotolita:
Denona d. o. o.
Tisak i uvez:
Targa d. o. o.
Naklada:
500 kom
Odlukom Senata Sveuiita u Zagrebu br. 02 - 1497/3-1999. od 30. lipnja 1999.,
odobrava se naziv sveuilini udbenik i koritenje naziva "Manualia universitatis
studiorum Zagrabiensis"
To my students
CIP Katalogizacija u publ i kaciji
Naci onal na i sveui l i na knj ini ca, Zagreb
UDK 81 1 . 1 1 1 ' 34(075. 8)
JOSI POVI

, Vi nja
Phoneti cs and phonol ogy for students
of Engl i sh I Vi nja Josi povi . - Zagreb :
Targa, 1 999. - 1 83 str. : i l ustr. ; 24 cm.
- ( Udbeni ci Sveui l i ta u Zagrebu *
Manual i a Uni versi tati s studi orum
Zagrabi ensi s )
Bi bl i ografija: str. 1 72- 1 73.
I SBN 953- 1 86-044-0
990629047
Contents
PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR
STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
CONTENTS
Preface o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o o o o o 7
Chapter 1 Phoneti cs and Phonol ogy . . o e o o . . . . e e o o o . . . e o . e . . . o e . o . . . . . o o o . e . . . . o . e e . . . . . . . e . o 9
Exercises o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o e o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 1 5
Chapter 2 Speech Producti on o a . o . . o . a o . . . o e . o . . . . o o . . . . . o o . . . . . o . . o . . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . o . . . . e 1 7
2. 1 . The speech chai n o . o . . . . o . . . e e . . o . . . . . . . a . . . . o a . e o . . . a o . o . o o . o o e . . . . o . . . e . . o a a . . o . . e o a a . 1 7
2. 2. Organs of speech o . . . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . o . . o . o . a o . o . a . . . . . . . a . . o . . . . . . o e a a . . . e o o . . o . o o 1 8
Exercises o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o . o o o . o o o o o o o o . o o o o o . o o o o o . o o . o o o o o . o o . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 23
Chapter 3 Segments of Speech a o a a a o o a . o . o a . a . o . a a o . . . o . e o e . . o o . o e a o . . e . . o o a . o o . . . o o . . . . . . . o . . e 25
3. 1 . The Phoneme . . . . . e . . . . . o a . . . e o . . . . . . a a . . . . . a e e . . . o a e o . . . o . e e . e . a . . o a . . . . a e . e e e . o o e e a a . . o a . 25
Exercises o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o . o e o o o o o o . o o o o o . o o o o o o . . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o . o o o o o o o o o o o 31
Chapter 4 Phonemi c Systems o o . . . . e a . . o . . . . . o . . . . . . . e o . . . a o . e . . . . o . . . e e . . . o e e o . . . o . . . e o . . o . . . e 33
4. 1 . RP vs. other types of Engl i sh pronunci ati on . o e e . o o o o . . e . . a a . . o e e . . a . . . . . o . . . 33
4. 2. Consonants . . o . . . o . . . . o . . . a . o . . . o . . . o o . o . e o e o a o o o . e . . . . . a o a . . . . o . o o o a . . . . . o . . a . a . o e o o . o o . o . . . . 34
4. 3. Vowel s o o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . e e . o . . a . . o e o o e . . . . e o a a . . o . . e o a . a o . o . a a . a o . o o o o . . . o . a e . . o e . o . e . . . a o . o o . . . 38
4. 3. 1 . Tradi ti onal parameters in the cl assi fi cati on of vowel s . e o . a o . . . e . 38
4. 3. 2. Engl i sh pure vowel s . o o . . . . o o o . o . . . . . . . . o . . . . a . . . . o . . a . . . . . . o . . . . . . . e . . . . . . . . . . 41
4. 3. 3. Engl i sh di phthongs . o o . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . o . . o . . . a o . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . o o 46
Exercises o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o . o o o o o o o o o o o . o o o o . o o o o o . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o . o o o o o o o 48
Chapter 5 I PA Sounds and Notati on o . . . a . . . a . o . . . . . o . . e e . . a o . o . e . . . . . . o . . . . o . . . o . . . . . . e e . o e . 51
5. 1 . Speci al categori es of sounds . a e e e . o a . . o e o . . o o o e e e . . a o e o . . a . a . o e e o . o . e . e e . a . o o . . e o a a . e 51
5. 2. Some typi cal al l ophones of Engl i sh phonemes a a . . o o o e e a . . . o e e o o o . o . o o . . . . . . 56
Exercises o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 60
Chapter 6 Connected Speech o . a o . . o o o o . o . . e e o a a . a o o o . . a . . e o e . . a o o o . o o o . o . o e . . . . . e . o o . o . e . . o . a . . e 61
Exercises o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o o o . o o o o o o o o o o . o o o o o o o o o o o . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 67
Chapter 7 Acousti c Phoneti cs . o . . . . . . . . a o . o . o . . . o o . . . . . . . o . . . e o . . . . . o . . . o o . . . . o . . . o o . o . . . . e . . . . 71
Exercises o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 85
Chapter 8 Generative Phonol ogy . . . o . . . e e . a o . o o e . . . o o . e . a a . . a . o o . a . . o . o a a a a a e e o o . o . . o o e o . . o . e a 89
8. 1 . I ntroducti on e . o . . . . o e . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
8. 2. Di sti ncti ve feature theory a a . . . . . a e . e . a o o o o . . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e e . . . . . . . . o a . . . . . 90
8. 3. SPE Rul es and notati on . . a e e . . . a o o . . . . o a e . e . o a . . a a o . . . . . a . . . a . a o e . . . . . a a o . . . . . o . . . . . . . a o . 97
5
CONTETNTS
8. 4. Non-l i near phonol ogy . . . . o . . a . o . o . . . . . . . . . . o o . o . . . . . o . . . . o . a . . . o . . . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 00
8. 5. Lexi cal phonol ogy o . . . o o . . . . . o . . . o o . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . a a . . . . . . o . . . . o . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . a 1 09
Exercises a a o o o a a o o o o a a o o o a a a a o o a a a o o a a a o o o o o a o o o a a a a o a a a a o a a a a a o o a a a o o a a a o o o a a a o o o a a a o o a a a o a o a o o o o o o a o o o 1 1 1
Chapter 9 Prosodi c Phonol ogy . . . . a . . . . a . . . . o . . a . . a . . . . o . . . . . o . o . . . o . a . . . . . . . o . . . . o o . o . o o o . . . o 1 1 3
9. 1 . Prosodi c features and domai ns a . . a a a a . . . . . a . . . . a . a . . . a . . a . . a . a . . . . . a . a . . o . . a o . . o a . 1 1 3
9. 2. The syl l abl e a . . . . a a o . . . . o . . . a . . . a a a . . . . . a a . o . a a o o . . . . a o . . . a . o . . . . a a a . . . a a . . . . . . a a a . . . . a . a . . a a . . 1 1 3
9. 3. Stress and accent . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . o . . o . o . o . o a . . o . . . . . . . . . . o . . . . o . . . a a . . a a . . . o . 1 26
9. 4. Prosodi c hi erarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . . . o . . . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . 1 29
9. 5. Rhythm . . . . . . . . a . . . . . . o . . . . o . . . . . o o . . . . o o . . . . . o . . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . o . . . o . . . a . . . . o o . . . . . . . o . o . . . . 1 32
9. 6. I ntonati on . . a . . . a o . . . . a o o . . . . o . . . . . o . o . o . a o . . . o . . . . . a a . . . o . . . . . o a a a . . . a . . a a o . . . a . . . a a a a . . o a a . . . . 1 35
9. 6. 1 . I ntroducti on . . o a . . . a a . . . . a a . . . . o . a . . o . a a . o . . . . . a . . . . a . . . . . a a . . . a a a o . . . a . . . o . o a . . . a o . . 1 35
9. 6. 2. Basi c i ssues in contemporary i ntonol ogy . . . . . . . a . . a . a a a . . . a a . . a a . o . 1 35
9. 6. 2. 1 . Contours vs. tones . . . . o . . . . . o o o . . o o . . . . . . . . . o . . . a . o . . . . . . . a . o . . . a . 1 36
9. 6. 2. 2. Hol i sti c vs. composi ti onal approach . . a . . o . . . . o . . . . . . . o . . . . 1 39
9. 6. 3. The Pi errehumbert (BGC) model . . . a . . . . . . a . . . a . a . . . . a a a o . . a . a a . o . a a o . a . 1 42
9. 6. 3. 1 . l ntroducti on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 42
9. 6. 3. 2. Basi c analytical noti ons of the BGC model . o a a . . a a a a . . 1 43
9. 6. 3. 3. The BGC model of i ntonati onal meani ng . . . . o . . . . o . . . . . 1 49
9. 6. 3. 4. The BGC model and comparative i ntonol ogy . . . . . . . o . 1 52
Exercises a a o o a a a o a o o a a . o o o o a o o o o a a o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o . o a o o . . o o o o o a o o o o o o . o o o o a o . o . o o . o o a o o o o a o o o o o a o o o o a . o o 1 56
Chapter 10 Recent trends i n phonol ogi cal theory . a a . . . . a . . a . . . . . . . . o . o . a . . a . . . . o . a a 1 59
Exercises o a o o o o a o o o o o a o o o o o o a o a o o o a a o o . . o a a o o . a o a a . o o a a a o o o a a o o o a o o o o o a o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o . . o a o o o o a a o o o o a a 1 62
Appendi x a . . . . a a . . . a a a . . a o . . . a a . . . . a o . . a . . . o . a . . . . . . . . o . . . . a a . o . . a a a . . a a a . . . . a . . . . a a o . . . o . . . o . . . . o o o a a . 1 63
Li st of fi gures . . o . . . . . . o . o . . . o o . . o o . . . . . . . . . . . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o o . . . o . . . . o . . o . o . . o a . o . . . . 1 63
Tabl es and charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . . . . a . a . . . . o o . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . 1 65
Words typi cal l y mi spronounced . . o . . . a . a . a a a a o . . . a a o . . a a o . . . a . . . . . o . . . . o . . . . . a . o . o o a . . . 1 65
Students' phoneti c anthem . . o a a . . . . a a . . . a a a a . . . . a a . . . a a a o . . a a . a . . . a a a a . . a a a a . a . a a . o . . a . . . . a a 1 68
I PA consonants . . o . a a . . . a . . . . a . . . a a . . . . a a . o o . a . . o o . . . . a o . . . a a . . . . a a o . . a a o . . . . a . . . . . . a a . . . a a a . . a a a . . 1 70
I PA vowel s . . . . . . . . . . a . . . o . . o o . . . . o a . a . . o . . . . o o a . . . o a . o . . . . a . . o . . . . o . . . o . . . . . o . o . . . o . . . o . . . o . . . . . 1 70
Abbrevi ati ons . . o . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . o . . . . o . . o . o . . . . . . . . o . . . . o . o . . . . . . o o . . . . 1 71
Suggested readi ngs . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o a . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . o . . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . o . o o . . . . . . . 1 72
References a a . . . . a . . . a a . . . . o o . a a o . . a a a . . o a . . o . a . . . . . . o a . . a o . . . . a a a . . a . . . . . a . . . . a a a . . . a . . . . . o a o o . a a . . . 1 72
Name i ndex . . . a a a . . . a o o . a o . . . a . . . . o . . . . a a o . . . . . . a . . . . a o . o o . a . . o o a a . . . o a . . o o . o . a o . . a a a . a . . a a o . . a a . o . . . 1 74
Language i ndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o a . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . . . . a . . o a . . . . . . . . o . a . . . . . a . . . a a . o . 1 75
Subj ect i ndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . o . . . . o . . . . . o . o . . o o . . . . 1 76
6
Preface
Al though the scope of thi s book can be i nferred from its ti tl e, a few words
are i n order about a potenti al mi sconcepti on of the word ' student' . As thi s book i s
based on a contrasti ve approach and meant pri mari l y for nati ve speakers of Cro
ati an who are studyi ng Engl i sh, i t shoul d be stressed that in Engl i sh the word ' stu
dent' has a somewhat wi der meani ng than i t does i n Croati an. Whi l e i n the Cro
ati an cul ture i t refers pri mari l y and al most excl usi vel y to undergraduate uni versi ty
students, in Engl i sh it al so covers graduate students, as wel l as anyone maki ng a
thorough sudy of a subject. Al though pri mari l y i ntended for undergraduate stu
dents of Engl i sh taki ng the fi rst-year i ntroductory course of phonol ogy and phonet
i cs, the present book, parti cul arl y its fi nal three chapters, i s more suited to the
needs of the other two categori es that i s, to more advanced l evel s of the study of
Engl i sh, or phoneti cs, phonol ogy or general l i ngui sti cs for that matter. The vari ety
of Engl i sh pronunci ati on focused on in the book i s Recei ved Pronunci ati on, but
occasi onal references are al so made to other vari eti es. Thi s may be for the pur
pose of i l l ustrating certai n poi nts, or si mpl y to make the student aware of the fact
that these other vari eti es al so exi st and deserve to be the subj ect of phoneti c and
phonol ogi cal i nterest. As i t i s meant pri mari l y for nati ve speakers of Croati an, thi s
book i s contrastive, but i t al so ai ms to ofer some basi c i nsi ghts i nto the subject
matter for a wi der l i ngui sti c readershi p, i rrespecti ve of mother-tongue. The pho
neti c symbol s used here are those of the most recent versi on of the I nternati onal
Phoneti c Al phabet.
I woul d l i ke to express my grati tude to al l those who have hel ped me to write
thi s book. In the fi rst pl ace, my thanks go to my revi ewers, Dami r Horga, Dora
Maek and Dami r Kal ogj era, whose comments, suggesti ons and correcti ons i n
the manuscri pt stage of the book have hel ped me t o i mprove greatl y upon the ori g
i nal versi on. I must al so thank my Pol i sh fri end and col l eague Jol anta Szpyra,
whose work has i nspi red me i n writi ng thi s book and whose fri endshi p has meant
a great deal to me i n terms of moral support i n my work. I am al so very grateful to
Janet Tukan for her hel pful ness i n proof-readi ng the text and general l y servi ng
as my native-speaker l anguage advi sor. My thanks al so go to the staf of Targa
for thei r hel pful ness i n undertaki ng the techni cal part of the j ob. Fi nal l y, I am
greatl y i ndebted to al l my teachers and col l eagues from the Department of Eng
l i sh, as wel l as to my students, who i nspi red me to write thi s book, for whom it i s
wri tten and to whom it i s dedi cated. My desi re i s that they woul d enjoy i t.
Vinja Josipovi
7
CHAPTER 1
PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY
Any uni versi ty student of Engl i sh taki ng a phoneti cs and phonol ogy course
wi l l probabl y guess i n advance that the aspect of the Engl i sh l anguage that wi l l be
deal t wi th i n thi s course wi l l be pronunci ati on, or at l east somethi ng to do wi th pro
nunci ati on. Hopeful l y, at l east some of them wi l l al so know that the approach
taken i n l i ngui sti c uni versi ty courses l i ke thi s i s descri ptive, rather than prescri p
tive. That i s, no one i s goi ng to teach them how to pronounce Engl i sh ' properl y' or
' correctl y' , but rather, they are goi ng to l earn somethi ng about pronunci ati on. It i s
thi s vague noti on of ' somethi ng about pronunci ati on' that usual l y makes up the
student' s i ni ti al i dea of the possi bl e subject matter of these two l i ngui sti c di sci
pl i nes. So, our fi rst task i s to expl ai n what exactl y it i s about the pronunci ati on of
Engl i sh that we shal l be descri bi ng. Just as i mportantl y, it must be expl ai ned why
we need two di sci pl i nes to deal wi th whatever the subject matter i s.
Li ke any other l i ngui sti c di sci pl i ne, phoneti cs and phonol ogy gi ve i nsi ghts
i nto the aspect of l anguage they are concerned wi th by anal ysi ng i t i nto some rel e
vant uni ts. To begi n wi th, we can provi si onal l y assume that the units through
whi ch we shal l be descri bi ng the pronunci ati on of Engl i sh are speech sounds. We
shal l do thi s because speech sounds are i ntui ti vel y the easi est enti ti es to grasp.
Al though at some l ater poi nt we shal l abstract away from the noti on of speech
sound and i ntroduce some more abstract analyti cal units, for the ti me bei ng we
may l ook at phonol ogy and phoneti cs as di sci pl i nes deal i ng wi th speech sounds.
l n parti cul ar, we may specify that i n the course enti tl ed Englsh Phoneties and
Phonology we shal l be deal i ng wi th Engl i sh speech sounds. The questi on con
cerni ng the need for two di sci pl i nes can most adequatel y be answered wi th refer
ence to one of the basi c i deas of l i ngui sti cs. Thi s i s a di sti ncti on whi ch was i ntro
duced at the begi nni ng of the 20th century by Ferdi nand de Saussure. De
Saussure was a Swi ss schol ar who i s general l y consi dered to be the foundi ng fa
ther of modern l i ngui sti cs. He di sti ngui shed between the abstract system of com
muni cati on shared by a gi ven l i ngui sti c communi ty, referred to as l anguage, and
its concrete, physi cal real i sati on i n actual si tuati ons, speech.
1
The basi c di sti nc-
The di sti ncti on between l anguage and speech is ofen referred to in l i ngui sti c l i terature by the
ori gi nal French terms, i ntroduced by de Saussure hi msel f, langue and parle. Some recent l i ngui sti c
theori es i n a rather si mi l ar sense (whi ch wi l l be di scussed at some l ater poi nt) empl oy the di sti ncti on
between competence and perormance.
9
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
ti on between these two l evel s of l i ngui sti c anal ysi s bears di rectly on the difference
between phonol ogy and phoneti cs. Whi l e phonol ogy deal s wi th speech sounds
as abstract units functi oni ng as ' bui l di ng bl ocks' of l anguage, phoneti cs l ooks at
them i n terms of thei r physi cal real i ty, whi ch can be observed in speech. There are
basi cal l y three aspects of thi s physi cal real ity of speech sounds that phoneti cs i s
concerned wi th, and accordi ngl y, three branches of phoneti cs are di sti ngui shed.
Ariculatory phonetics deal s wi th the arti cul ati on of speech sounds, i . e. , the
acti vi ty of speech organs i n the course of speaki ng. Acoustic phonetics deal s wi th
the di sturbances of ai r mol ecul es duri ng the transmi ssi on of speech. Fi nal l y, audi
tor phonetics is concerned wi th the percepti on of speech.
lt is often observed in thi s connecti on that phonol ogy is more abstract than
phoneti cs. However, thi s observati on about the abstractness of phonol ogy can
someti mes l ead to a mi sconcepti on. One can often hear students defi ne phonol
ogy as abstract i n the sense of ' deal i ng wi th l anguage i n general ' , as op posed to
phoneti cs, whi ch is supposedl y focused on one parti cul ar l anguage. Thi s, how
ever, cannot be any further from the truth, because both di sci pl i nes can be con
cerned wi th human l anguage, or respecti vel y speech, i n general . Li kewi se, they
can both focus on one pari cul ar l anguage, or respecti vel y, i ts real i sati on i n
speech. Thus there are phonol ogi sts and phoneti ci ans al l over the worl d who
deal wi th general phonol ogi cal or phoneti c i ssues concerni ng more than one l an
guage, as wel l as those deal i ng wi th phonol ogi cal or phoneti c i ssues of some par
ti cul ar l anguage. I n thi s context i t may be sai d that the present book wi l l be focus
i ng on some basi c phonol ogi cal and phoneti c i ssues concerni ng Engl i sh.
The diference between the functi onal vi ew of speech sounds taken by pho
nol ogy and the physi cal one taken by phoneti cs can be i l l ustrated wi th reference
to some real i ssues deal t wi th by these di sci pl i nes. It is perhaps easi er to i magi ne
i n what sense phoneti cs deal s wi th speech sounds, si nce by defi ni ti on, i t deal s
wi th observabl e and measurabl e physi cal phenomena concerni ng the producti on,
transmi ssi on and percepti on of speech sounds. By contrast, the vagueness of the
noti on of the function of speech sounds, whi ch accordi ng to our defi ni ti on i s the
concern of phonol ogy, requi res some further cl arifi cati on.
l n order t o expl ai n what i s real l y meant by functi on i n t hi s sense, i t i s appro
pri ate to i ntroduce yet another fundamental noti on of general l i ngui sti cs. Thi s i s
the noti on of doubl e ari cul ati on, i ntroduced by the French l i ngui st Andre Marti
net. Doubl e arti cul ati on (or dual i ty of patterni ng) refers to one of the essenti al fea
tures of human l anguage as opposed to other systems of communi cati on, such as
the l anguage of vari ous ani mal speci es or systems such as the trafi c code. Marti
net observes that i n contrast to these other systems, human l anguage i s organ
i sed structural l y i n terms of two abstract l evel s.
2
On the fi rst, hi erarchi cal l y the
I nci dental l y , i n contemporary l i ngui sti cs i t i s general l y agreed that apart from these two l evel s
of structural organi sati on, some other l evel s are i dentifi abl e, whi ch by anal ogy shoul d be referred to
1 0
PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY
hi gher of the two l evel s, l anguage consi sts of meani ngful uni ts. As thi s observa
ti on hol ds for l anguage i n general as wel l as for any parti cul ar l anguage, we may i I
l ustrate t he poi nt wi th reference t o one possi bl e sentence of Engl i sh:
/ lke sweets.
One does not need any speci al l i ngui sti c trai ni ng to i dentify units such as /,
lke and sweets, as wel l as to decompose the last one i nto sweet + s. I n itself, thi s
ki nd of combi nati on of meani ngful units i s not speci fi c to human l anguage, but,
rather, can be found i n other communi cati on systems as wel l . However, what
makes human l anguage so speci al i s the exi stence of yet another, l ower l evel of
organi sati on , on whi ch these basi c meani ngful uni ts can be further decomposed
i nto smal l er uni ts. I ntui ti vel y, speakers of Engl i sh, even i f they are i l l iterate, woul d
tend t o decompose t he word sweets i nto smal l er uni ts as fol l ows:
Isl + Iwl + li : 1 +IU + Isl
lt is i mportant to note that these units by themsel ves do not have any mean
i ng, but combi ned they create meani ngful units and thus functi on as bui l di ng
bl ocks i n t he creati on of uni ts on a hi gher l evel . Enti ti es of thi s nature cannot be
i denti fi ed in any other ki nd of communi cati on system. What we shal l be deal i ng
wi th i n our phonol ogi cal anal ysi s of Engl i sh concerns i ssues such as the di stri bu
ti on of such units i n the Engl i sh l anguage and the patterns underl yi ng the i ntui ti ve
knowl edge of thi s di stri buti on, whi ch makes i t possi bl e for speakers of Engl i sh to
pronounce and recogni se acceptabl e Engl i sh utterances.
A phonol ogy course often remi nds one of a game that was popul ar among
Croati an teenagers a decade or two ago, cal l ed ' si stemi ' (' patterns' ) . I t i s al so
pl ayed i n the Engl i sh-speaki ng worl d under the name ' shri nk' . I t i s a game i n whi ch
one person, pl ayi ng the rol e of detective, goes out, whi l e the rest of the group
agree upon some pattern whi ch t hei r responses are goi ng t o fol l ow. Then t he de
tective comes i n and asks al l ki nds of questi ons to everyone, l i ke ' What day i s i t to
day?' , or 'Where do you come from?' , wi th the purpose of fi guri ng out the pattern
behi nd thei r responses, whi ch need not be truthful . So, by way of i l l ustrati on, one
of the most transparent types of pattern, whi ch i s easi l y detected, coul d be the fol
l owi ng: whenever someone i s l yi ng, they di screetl y cross thei r l egs, and whi l e
someone has thei r l egs paral l el , they have to tel l the truth i n response to the detec
ti ve' s questi ons. In the course of the game each person can swi tch the two modes
of behavi our at wi l l , as l ong as thi s i s done accordi ng to the agreed pattern. An
i magi nati ve i ndi vi dual can easi l y thi nk of many other potenti al l y i nteresti ng pat-
as thi rd. fourh and so on. Thi s, however, does not bear on the topi c of the present chapter and wi l l be
i gnored at this poi nt.
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JOSI POVI : PHONETl CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
terns. The conventi on may be, for exampl e, that whenever one begi ns a response
wi th some gap-fi l l er l i ke ' er . . . ' , one answers i n a si mpl e cl ause and otherwi se, i n
the form of a compl ex sentence. I n any case, the task of the detective i s much l i ke
that of a phonol ogi st who tri es to fi gure out the underl yi ng pattern behi nd the di stri
buti on of speech sounds.
Let us i l l ustrate the comparabl e detecti on work a phonol ogi st i s i nvol ved i n,
by tryi ng t o account for the phonol ogi cal rul e that enabl es any nati ve speaker of
Engl i sh to deci de whi ch of the fol l owi ng sound patterns are possi bl e words of Eng
l i sh.
IhevII
IhIvI I
/ Ivehi
/ IvIhl
Both 1 and 2 sound acceptabl e, irrespective of the fact that 2 does not happen
to exist as a word i n Engl i sh. Notabl y, one can easi l y i magi ne a new commerci al prod
uct on the Engl i sh-speaki ng market to be cal l ed Hiwy !hIvII. Items 3 and 4, how
ever, are not felt to be possi bl e Engl i sh words, nor coul d they easi l y become new
words in Engl i sh. I n terms of our ' patterns' game, we can say that the pattern in thi s
parti cul ar case i s that the segment Ihl can be word-i niti al , but cannot occur word fi
nal ly.
3
Thi s woul d perhaps be the easiest, and most transparent ki nd of pattern whi ch
does not requi re any knowl edge of theoretical phonol ogy for i ts expl i cati on.
Another, a somewhat l ess transparent exampl e of i mpl i ci t phonol ogi cal
knowl edge shared by nati ve speakers of Engl i sh concerns the pronunci ati on of
the regul ar pl ural endi ng. Any nati ve speaker of Engl i sh, i ncl udi ng i l l iterate ones,
woul d agree that thi s endi ng i s pronounced di fferentl y i n the fol l owi ng words:
cakes, l i ps, cats, cl ifs I s I
bags, l i ds, l abs, cars Izl
churches, j udges, bushes / Izl
However, very few of those peopl e, unl ess they have some l i nguistic trai n
i ng, are abl e to state the rul e expl i ci tl y, ret al one account for the reasons why the
rul e operates exactl y as i t does. We shal l not yet at thi s poi nt go i nto expl anati ons
Thi s formul ati on of the Engl i sh rul e on the di stri buti on of Ihl i s somewhat si mpl ified i n that i t
does not say anythi ng about the di stri buti on of the segment i nsi de the word. However. as l ong as i t
accounts for the data at hand, it can be consi dered as a sati sfactory sol uti on to the probl em posed by
thi s very transparent ki nd of pattern. A more detai l ed account of thi s rul e, rel yi ng on the noti on of
syl l abl e, wi l l be ofered in the chapter on prosodi c doma i ns.
1 2
PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY
of thi s ki nd, because for the ti me bei ng we shal l content oursel ves wi th havi ng no
ti ced some pattern behi nd thi s vari ati on.
Another typi cal phonol ogi cal i ssue can now be i l l ustrated by a somewhat
more compl ex exampl e. Anyone wi th a decent knowl edge of Engl i sh wi l l agree
that the fi nal sound segment of the adjecti ve 'electrc' can be i dentifi ed as Iki:
II ' lekt nkl
However, when we attach the 'ity' sufix to deri ve the rel ated noun 'electric
ity', what we get is not j ust a mere sequence of the two component parts of the
A+B=AB type. That i s, rather than getti ng II ' l ekt nkI t I l as a resul t of thi s
operati on we can get a whol e range of other pronunci ati ons, the most common
one bei ng I I l ek ' tnsIt I l wi thout the ori gi nal fi nal Iki of the adjecti ve or its
ori gi nal accnt on the second syl l abl e.
Perhaps an even more fasci nati ng phenomenon can be i l l ustrated by the
pronunci ati on of the words rel ated to the word 'bomb':
bomb IbDml
bombi ng I ' bDmI!1
bombard IbDm ' ba: dl
How i s i t that the Ibl i ndi cated i n the spel l i ng of al l three words i s pro
nounced onl y i n 'bombard' and not i n 'bomb' and ' bombi ng' ? Once agai n, there
must be some hi dden pattern behi nd that, whi ch phonol ogy is to account for. How
ever crazy i t may appear on the surface, human l anguage turns out to be hi ghl y
systemati c. Thi s refers to al l l evel s of its organi sati on, but what we shal l be con
cerned wi th i s the way Engl i sh organi ses the physi cal substance of sound i nto its
phonol ogi cal system.
Al though certai n uni versal pri nci pl es are shared by al l l anguages, every
l anguage organi ses the physi cal real ity of sound i n its own speci fi c way. Any
gi ven l anguage communi ty can be compared to a group of peopl e pl ayi ng at ' pat
terns' . That i s, in pronounci ng thei r l anguage they are behavi ng accordi ng to some
arbitrary rul es whi ch are accepted by conventi on . The phonol ogi st can then be
compared to the ' detecti ve' i n the game, who i s tryi ng to fi gure out these rul es.
When doi ng that, he may occasi onally get frustrated, when the patterns become
too much of a chal l enge, but even then he fi nds the game to be great fun, whi ch i s,
afer al l , why he has chosen to pl ay it.
The ai m of an Engl i sh phonol ogy course at uni versi ty l evel shoul d be not
onl y to provi de expl anati ons for some i mportant phonol ogi cal rul es of Engl i sh, but
al so to teach students how to l i sten to Engl i sh wi th a l i ngui st' s ear and anal yse
phenomena concerni ng Engl i sh pronunci ati on i n an exact, sci enti fi c way. The ul ti -
1 3
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
mate goal of the phonol ogi cal educati on of a uni versi ty student of Engl i sh shoul d
then be to devel op the abi l ity to capture and make expl i ci t any regul arity underl y
i ng any aspect of Engl i sh pronunci ati on, wi thout necessari l y havi ng been taught
the expl i ci t formul ati on of the rul e.
To sum up, t he purpose of our phoneti cs and phonol ogy course wi l l be to
teach students how to l ook at the pronunci ati on of Engl i sh from a l i ngui sti c poi nt of
vi ew. We shal l be deal i ng with Engl i sh pronunci ati on both in terms of the phoneti c
descri pti on of the physi cal real ity of Engl i sh and i n terms of the phonol ogi cal sys
tem i nto whi ch Engl i sh organi ses thi s physi cal real i ty.
l t i s i mportant to note that the two di sci pl i nes are i nseparabl e, although they
look at thei r common subject matter from diferent poi nts of view. Phonetics does
not descri be j ust any ki nd of sound, but rather, those sounds which have some func
ti on in the phonol ogi cal system of a gi ven l anguage. Li kewi se, phonol ogy cannot re
fer to any of its anal yti cal units without referri ng to thei r physi cal real i ty. So, for ex
ampl e, when establ i shi ng the i dentity of a segment l i ke Ik, whi ch functi ons as a
'bui l di ng bl ock' in the constructi on of a word l i ke 'key', phonol ogy does so by refer
ri ng to such i nformati on as the manner and pl ace of arti cul ati on, as wel l as the activ
ity of organs such as the vocal fol ds and the sof pal ate duri ng its pronunci ati on.
l n conventi onal l i ngui sti c notati on, the di fference between the phoneti c and
phonol ogi cal standpoi nts i s refl ected, among other thi ngs, i n the diference be
tween the type of brackets empl oyed. So, for exampl e, when we refer to the physi
cal real ity of the sounds of a word such as ' bet' , we encl ose the transcri pti on sym
bol s i nto square brackets, [bet] , whereas i n the phonol ogi cal anal ysi s of the word,
we empl oy sl ants, IbeV. The former type of transcri pti on is refered to as ' narrow
transcri pti on' whi l e the l atter type i s ' broad' . The symbol s of the I nternati onal Pho
neti c Al phabet are used for transcri pti on. As phoneti cs i s ofen concerned wi th de
tai l s of pronunci ati on not rel evant to phonol ogy, phoneti c anal ysi s ofen requi res
the use of subtl e notati onal detai l s i n addi ti on to the basi c symbol s from the above
exampl es. However, at thi s poi nt we need not go i nto detai l s of such subtl eti es of
notati on, as these wi l l be di scussed i n a l ater chapter.
Havi ng defi ned the subject matter of phoneti cs and phonol ogy, we shal l
now say a few words about thei r practi cal appl i cati on. Al though l anguage proba
bl y represents one of the most fasci nati ng aspects of human l ife and as such per
haps deserves to be the subj ect of pure phi l osophi cal contempl ati on, to many
peopl e the i dea of studyi ng somethi ng for purel y contempl ati ve reasons sounds
unacceptabl e. So, one of the most natural questi ons ari si ng at the begi nni ng of
any i ntroductory l i ngui sti c course concerns the appl i cabi l i ty of the knowl edge of
fered by the di sci pl i ne under consi derati on. As for phoneti cs and phonol ogy, the
areas of thei r appl i cati on that students of Engl i sh are pri mari l y concerned wi th are
natural l y l anguage l earni ng and l anguage teachi ng. The more i nsi ght one has i nto
Engl i sh phoneti cs and phonol ogy, the easi er wi l l one l earn new aspects of Engl i sh
pronunci ati on and the better wi l l one be at expl ai ni ng phenomena concerni ng
Engl i sh pronunci ati on t o others. Even those students who do not end up as teach-
1 4
PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY
ers wi l l not make competent speci al i sts i n the Engl i sh l anguage wi thout some ba
si c i nsi ghts i nto Engl i sh or l anguage i n general , provi ded by these two di sci pl i nes.
Other, to us more remote appl i cati ons of phoneti cs and phonol ogy woul d
i ncl ude speech pathology, deal i ng wi th the treatment of speech defects; clinical
phonology, deal i ng wi th l anguage di sorders such as aphasi a, for i nstance
4
, foren
sic phonetics, most commonl y empl oyi ng the knowl edge of acousti c phoneti cs by
pol i ce or court experts.
5
The knowl edge of the two di sci pl i nes i s al so hel pful in ar
eas such as speech synthesis for al l ki nds of computer programmes i nvol vi ng oral
i nteracti on between the computer and i ts user; or the training of actors, whose
professi on ofen requi res the performance of tasks such as putti ng on an accent
or i mpersonati ng someone wi th hi ghl y i di osyncratic features of pronunci ati on. I t i s
al so i ncreasi ngl y common for publ i c fi gures to seek the hel p of phoneti ci ans i n the
form of elocution lessons, i n whi ch the knowl edge of phoneti cs can be a great
hel p. Fi nal l y, the knowl edge of phoneti cs i s val uabl e i n the fi el ds of TV and tele
phone engineering.
Exercises
1 . What i s the di ference between the prescri ptive and descri pti ve approach to
pronunci ati on phenomena?
2. Expl ai n the diference between phoneti cs and phonol ogy wi th reference to the
di sti ncti on between l anguage and speech.
3. What are the three branches of phonetics and what does each of them deal wi th?
4. Why i s i t not correct to say that phonol ogy deal s wi th l anguage i n general , whi l e
phoneti cs deal s wi th one parti cul ar l anguage?
5. Anal yse the sentence 'This is a book' on the l evel of Marti net' s second arti cul a
ti on. How many analyti cal uni ts have you i dentifi ed on thi s l evel ? How do you
account for the fact that thi s does not correspond to the number of l etters i n the
spel l i ng?
6. Thi nk of a possi bl e, but non-exi stent word of Engl i sh.
7. Try t o thi nk of some phonol ogi cal rul e of Engl i sh whi ch you l earned t o formul ate
expl i ci tl y at school .
8. Can you thi nk of any Engl i sh speech sound that does not normal l y occur i n Cro
ati an? Whi ch symbol do you use to represent i t i n transcri pti on?
Aphasi a, whi ch i s an exampl e of a neurol i ngui sti c di sorder treated wi th t he hel p of knowl edge
from the fi el d of di ni cal phonol ogy, i s a di sorder of the central nerous system characteri sed by l oss of
the abi l ity to speak.
A case in poi nt woul d be the use of the knowl edge of phonetics in the identification of a
suspect's voi ce in anonymous phone cal l s avai l abl e on record.
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
9. What i s the di ference between the use of sl anted and square brackets i n tran
scri pti on?
1 0. Name a few areas of practi cal appl i cati on of phoneti cs and lor phonol ogy.
1 6
CHAPTER 2
SPEECH PRODUCTI ON
2. 1 . The Speech Chai n
We are goi ng to start our expl orati on of pronunci ati on phenomena from the
poi nt of vi ew of arti cul atory phoneti cs, the branch of phoneti cs deal i ng wi th the
producti on of speech sounds. Bei ng the l east remote, that i s, the l east abstract
and the most easi l y observabl e subdi sci pl i ne of phoneti cs, i t i s commonl y taken as
the starti ng poi nt in i ntroductory courses of phonol ogy and phoneti cs. However,
before goi ng i nto detai l s about the way we produce speech sounds, l et us pl ace
the producti on of sounds wi thi n the framework of a whol e seri es of events occur
ri ng in connecti on wi th any utterance. Both the speaker and the l i stener are i n
vol ved i n a number of acti vi ti es rel ated to any utterance. These acti vi ti es, whi ch for
the most part are unconsci ous, consti tute what is often referred to as the speech
chai n. I n thi s speech chai n, the producti on of speech sounds, techni cal l y referred
to as arti cul ati on , i s onl y one of the three stages whi ch shoul d be i denti fi ed. Arti cu
l ati on i nvol ves the movement of the organs of speech and i s commonl y referred to
as the physi ol ogi cal stage. It shoul d be noted that any such movement of
speech organs is necessari l y preceded by the psychol ogi cal stage, in the
course of whi ch the speaker formul ates the concept i n the brai n and the message
i s transmitted to the organs of speech through the nervous system. As the move
ment of the organs of speech causes di sturbances of air mol ecul es, resul ti ng i n
varyi ng ai r pressure, the message i s transmitted to the l i stener. Thi s stage of the
transmi ssi on of speech i s known as the physi cal stage of the speech chai n.
At the l i steni ng end the order of the three stages i s reversed. Heari ng begi ns
with the varyi ng ai r pressures reachi ng the l i stener's ear. These di sturbances of the
ai r, associ ated wi th the physi cal stage are received by the outer ear. Thus begi ns
the physi ol ogi cal stage i n the l i stener. The ai r pressures cause the eardrum to vi
brate. These vi brati ons are transmitted trough the bony ossi cl es si tuated i n the mi d
dl e ear. The mechani cal vi brati ons i n thei r turn are convered i nto hydraul i c vi bra
tions in the fl ui d of the coch/ea, a snai l -shaped tube of the i nner ear. Fi nal l y, these
are transformed i nto el ectrochemi cal i mpul ses by some 30, 000 nerve fi bres servi ng
the cochl ea and formi llg the auditory nerve. The ci rcl e of the speech chai n i s cl osed
by the psychol ogi cal stage at the l i steni ng end, duri ng whi ch the sound patterns of
speech are extracted from the acousti c i nformati on and speech is perceived.
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
psychol ogi cal
stage
physi ol ogi cal
stage
physi cal stage
Figure 1: The speech chai n
2.2. Organs of speech
psychol ogi cal
e
physi ol ogi cal
stage
A descri pti on of speech producti on shoul d natural l y begi n wi th the i denti fi
cati on of the source of energy that we use when speaki ng. Normal l y, the stream of
ai r empl oyed for the producti on of Engl i sh speech sounds, as wel l as those of Cro
ati an and the majori ty of the world's l anguages comes from the l ungs, as we are
exhal i ng. So, we say that the ai rstream mechani sm used for the producti on of
those sounds is pul moni e and egressive. These two terms commonl y empl oyed
in thi s context in arti cul atory phoneti cs are Lati nate words referri ng to the l ungs
and, exhal ati on, respectivel y. The pul moni c egressi ve ai r stream i s cross-l i ngui sti
cal l y the most common type of ai rstream used for the producti on of speech
sounds. However, there are l ots of l anguages whi ch make di sti ncti ve use of
sounds produced usi ng ai rstream from other sources than the l ungs and whi ch i s
not necessari l y egressi ve. Besi des, i t shoul d be noted that i n l anguages l i ke Eng
l i sh, whi ch normal l y empl oy the pul mon i c egressi ve ai rstream, some al ternati ve
ai rstream mechani sms may be empl oyed, ei ther to produce some speci al efects,
or i n some speci al si tuati ons, such as defecti ve speech. Such cases wi l l be i denti
fi ed and i l l ustrated as we go al ong, when each of the potenti al sources of energy i s
i denti fi ed as part of the speech tract.
We now turn to the descri pti on of what normal l y happens in the course of
speech producti on once the stream of ai r has come out of the l ungs. It has to un
dergo i mportant modificati ons i n t he upper parts of t he speech tract i n order t o ac
qui re the qual ity of speech sound. I n our descri pti on we shal l be referri ng to the
parts of the speech tract i ndi cated by numerati on i n Fi gure 2.

1 8
SPEECH PRODUCTI ON
Figure 2: The speech tract
The fi rst passage where the ai r provi ded by the l ungs goes, i ndi cated by the
number 1 , i s the wi nd pi pe or trachea. The part of the anatomy i ndi cated by the
number 2 i s the food passage, al so known as the oesophagus. Normal l y, the oe
sophagus does not pl ay any rol e i n speech producti on. However, i t i s possi bl e to
l earn to use i t as a source of ai r i nstead of the l ungs. Such exampl es of oesopha
geal ai rstream mechnni sm used i nstead of the pul moni c one are provi ded by ven
tri l oqui sts. These are peopl e who ' speak from the bel l y', usual l y for entertai nment
purposes. The ski l l of oesophageal speaki ng al so someti mes has to be acqui red
by peopl e who have undergone the surgi cal removal of the l arynx.
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
At the top of the trachea the ai rstream reaches the l arynx, i ndi cated by the
number 3. I t i s a hol l ow organ, formed of carti l age and muscl e. I n hi gher verte
brates, i ncl udi ng man, i t contai ns the vocal fol ds. They are two fol ds of l i gament
and el asti c ti ssue, whi ch may be brought together and parted by the rotati on of the
arytenoi d carti l age through muscul ar acti on. Thei r l ength vari es and general l y
tends to be greater in men than in women. If one recal l s one's knowl edge of sec
ondary-school physi cs, i n parti cul ar, the fact that the l ength of a vi brator i s i n
versel y rel ated to the hei ght of the pi tch, thi s di ference i s l ogi cal l y rel ated to the
fact that women general l y speak on a hi gher pi tch than men. On average, men's
vocal fol ds are some 23 mi l l i metres l ong, whi l e the average women's vocal fol ds
are about 1 8 mi l l i metres. Of course, the l ength of the fol ds i s al so a matter of i ndi
vi dual vari ati on and probabl y everyone knows a woman who speaks wi th a mas
cul i ne voi ce and vi ce versa. Due to the vi brati ng functi on that they perform i n
speech, the vocal fol ds are ofen referred to as vocal chords. The l atter term ni cel y
refl ects the functi onal si mi l ari ty between the vocal fol ds and the chords on a musi
cal i nstrument. However, physi ol ogi cal l y speaki ng, i t i s wrong to concei ve of thi s
organ i n terms of chords, because they do not real l y l ook l i ke chords. Thus the
term 'vocal fol ds' i s preferred i n modern arti cul atory phoneti cs. Very ofen the ac
ti vi ty of the vocal fol ds i s referred to in terms of what happens in the giotti s. The
gi otti s i s the part of the l arynx encl osi ng the vocal fol ds, i ncl udi ng the space be
tween them. So, the enti re secti on of the l arynx contai ni ng the vocal fol ds i s known
as the gl otti s and i s i ndi cated in Fi gure 2 by the number 4. The pri mary bi ol ogi cal
functi on of the gi otti s i s to act as a val ve preventi ng food or sal i va from enteri ng the
l arynx. Moreover, it assi sts muscul ar efort on the part of the arms or abdomen.
The functi on i t performs i n speech is extremel y i mportant. It is the producti on of
voi ce, or to use the techni cal term, phonati on. As observed earl i er, the vocal fol ds
may vi brate, and thi s vocal fol d vi brati on i s a normal feature of al l vowel s and
voi ced consonants. At thi s poi nt i t must be expl ai ned how they are set i nto moti on
by the ai r from the l ungs.
Basi cal l y, there are two major factors control l i ng t he vi brati on of t he vocal
fol ds. One of them is the diference in ai r pressure bel ow and above the gl otti s,
and t he other i s t he confi gurati on of t he vocal fol ds themsel ves, whi ch i s deter
mi ned by the tensi on, shape and rel ati ve posi ti on of the fol ds. There are two types
of pressure pl ayi ng cruci al rol es i n phonati on, and we can i dentify the fi rst one as
subgl ottal pressure, whi ch i s the pressure mai ntai ned i n the trachea by the re
spi ratory muscl es i n the absence of a si gnifi cant constricti on i n the oral cavi ty. The
other i s supragl ottal pressure. I f there are no si gni fi cant constri cti ons, supragl ottal
pressure is about equal to atmospheri c pressure, whi ch is l ower than subgi ottal
pressure. However, if there is a si gnifi cant constri cti on in the supragl ottal part of
the speech tract, most notabl y at some poi nt i n the mouth, the pressure bui l di ng
up behi nd thi s constri cti on reduces t he di ference between t he two pressures. The
rate at whi ch the ai r wi l l flow from the l ungs through the gi otti s thus depends on
the diference between the two types of pressure. Someti mes thi s pressure di fer-
`
20
SPEECH PRODUCTI ON
ence can be the cause of an i mportant physi cal phenomenon, known i n physi cs as
the Bernoul l i efect. I t i s named after a Swi ss schol ar of Fl emi sh ori gi n, Dani el
Bernoul l i , who di scovered i t. Thi s physi cal phenomenon reduces the si deways
pressure on a sol i d body when the ai r i s fl owi ng past the body. Al though for our
purposes we need not go i nto detai l s of t he effect i tself, i t shoul d be noted that the
pressure di ference needed for the efect to take pl ace, repeti ti vel y pul l s the vocal
fol ds together and thus i ni ti ates thei r vi brati on. Phonati on can be fel t as a ' buzz' i n
the course of produci ng voi ced sounds, such as vowel s, or consonants l i ke Ibl or
Izl , for exampl e, i f one puts one's hand over the front part of the neck duri ng thei r
pronunci ati on.
What remai ns to be expl ai ned in thi s context is how the confi gurati on of the
vocal fol ds determi nes whether the Bernoul l i effect wi l l take pl ace at al l . Certai nl y,
t he vocal fol ds need t o be appropri atel y posi ti oned i n order for phonati on t o hap
pen . I f they are spread too far apart, as i n breathi ng, the pressure drop i nsi de the
gi otti s wi l l not be sufi ci ent. So, they need to be brought sufi ci entl y cl ose together
i n order for the sound to be voi ced. I n that case they can vi brate when subjected to
ai r pressure from the l ungs. Whether they actual l y wi l l do so, al so depends on thei r
tenseness and shape, whi ch can someti mes be such as to prevent vi brati on.
l n short, i t shoul d be noted that the vocal fol ds have an extremel y i mportant
functi on i n speech. When they vi brate, sounds whi ch they produce are voi ced,
and when they are apart, or when they are kept together wi thout vi brati ng, the
sounds are voi cel ess. I n order for phonati on to take pl ace, two conditions must be
met. Fi rst, the diference between subgi ottal and supragl ottal pressure must be
ri ght for the Bernoul l i efect to take pl ace. Second, the confi gurati on of the vocal
fol ds must be ri ght for them to be abl e to be set i n moti on.
The gi otti s has other l i ngui sti c functi ons, apart from phonati on. At thi s poi nt
i t shoul d be menti oned that two i mportant Engl i sh sounds are produced there. I n
other words, the gi otti s can be the pl ace of arti cul ati on for some speech sounds.
One of these sounds i s the i ni ti al sound of the words such as 'heavy ' . I n order for
thi s sound to be produced, the vocal fol ds have to be kept wi de apart, as i n breath
i ng, or i n the producti on of any voi cel ess sound, and the ai rstream passes be
tween them wi thout setti ng them i n moti on, but rather, causi ng some fricti on. Thi s
fri cti on i s percei ved as audi bl e breath. As thi s Engl i sh sound i s arti cul ated i n the
gi otti s, i t i s cl assi fi ed as a gi ottal sound. As such i t difers from the Ihl of Croati an,
as i n Ihval al whi ch has a different pl ace of arti cul ati on, as wi l l be expl ai ned at
some l ater poi nt.
Yet another i mportant gi ottal sound occurri ng i n Engl i sh i s the so cal l ed
gIottal stop [ 2] . It is a sound whi ch is for the most par associ ated wi th certai n
non-standard accents of Engl i sh, pri mari l y Cocknel
'
but al so wi th l ess formal
Cockney i s defined as t he di alect associ ated with Londoners from lower socio-economi c
ciasses and i s menti oned i n thi s
'
context because it i s famous for i ts extensi ve giotal i sati on. The
frequency of use of the g lotta I stop i s cerai nl y one of the mai n factors whi ch make Cockney sound harsh.
2 1
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
styl es of pronunci ati on of standard accents such as Recei ved Pronunci ati on. By
way of i l l ustrati on, in the l atter i t can be heard as the real i sati on of the fi nal conso
nant i n a word such as ' bet'. The gl attal stop occurs when the gl atti s i s constri cted
by hol di ng the vocal fol ds ti ghtl y together for a moment. Duri ng that ti me the ai r
comi ng out of t he l ungs i s compressed behi nd t hi s cl osure. When t he cl osure i s
suddenl y rel eased, the resul ti ng sound i s percei ved as a burst of energy, or expl o
si on ori gi nati ng i n the gl atti s.
Before we consi der what happens to the ai rstream as i t comes out of the
l arynx, we shoul d i dentify the protrusi on i n the neck i ndi cated by the number 5. I t i s
cal l ed the Adam's appl e and i s parti cul arl y promi nent i n men. I t i s formed by the
thyroi d carti l age. I ts pi cturesque name has i ts ori gi n i n the Bi bl i cal story, accordi ng
t o whi ch a pi ece of t he appl e that Adam took from Eve stuck i n hi s throat, causi ng
thi s protrusi on i n men's necks. The Adam's appl e by i tsel f has no l i ngui sti c func
ti on.
Once the ai rstream has come out of the gl atti s, it enters the cavity i ndi cated
by the number 6. Thi s i s the pharynx. The pharynx i s si tuated between the root
of the tongue (7) and the back wal l of the th raat. For the producti on of Engl i sh, as
wel l as Croati an speech sounds, the pharynx onl y serves as the ai r passage. I n
some other l anguages, however, such as Arabi c, the l arynx can be the l ocati on of
major obstructi ons to the stream of ai r, produci ng what are known as pharyngeal
sounds. The number 8 i n our i l l ustrati on i ndi cates the epi gl otti s. I t i s a carti l agi
nous fl ap, whi ch serves as a val ve preventi ng food or other sol i d objects we swal
l ow from enteri ng the l arnx. The epi gl otti s thus di rects sol i d objects to the oe
sophagus and has no di rect l i ngui sti c functi on.
At the top of the pharynx the ai rstream reaches a fork. The ai r can
passei ther through the nose, or nasal cavity (A) or through the mouth, or oral
cavity ( B) . Whi ch of the two di recti ons i t wi l l take depends on the acti vi ty of a very
i mportant speech organ, i ndi cated by the number 9. Thi s is the sof pal ate or ve
l um. It is a fl ap of muscl e and ti ssue, si tuated at the back of the roof of the mouth. I t
i s a movabl e speech organ, whi ch means that i t can be mani pul ated by the
speaker. I f i t i s rai sed, the way to the nose i s bl ocked, and the ai r escapes through
the mouth. When i t i s l owered, one part of the ai rstream escapes through the na
sal cavity. I n the former case we get oral sounds, whi l e i n the l atter the sounds pro
duced are nasal . So, for exampl e, the diference between the i ni ti al sound i n the
Engl i sh word ' bet' and the i ni ti al sound i n ' met' i s one of nasal i ty. The former i s
oral , whi l e the l atter i s nasal . I f the back of the tongue i s brought i nto contact wi th
the sof pal ate, the resul ti ng speech sounds are sai d to be vel ar. The majori ty of
the worl d's l anguages, i ncl udi ng Engl i sh and Croati an, have vel ar sounds, whi ch
wi l l be di scussed i n detai l l ater. At the l ower end of the vel um there i s a smal l mov
abl e appendage, cal l ed the uvul a ( 1 0) . I ts acti vi ty i s opposi te to that of the vel um.
When the uvul a i s l owered, the vel um i s rai sed and vi ce versa. I n some accents of
Engl i sh, such as Scotti sh Engl i sh or some vari eti es 0t French or German, the
uvul a can be the acti ve arti cul ator for the producti on of some r-l i ke sounds.
22
SPEECH PRODUCTI ON
These, however, wi l l be di scussed at a l ater poi nt. The vel um and i ts appendage,
uvul a are parts of the upper wal l of the oral cavi ty, usual l y referred to as the roof of
the mouth or pal ate. Another part of the pal ate is the bony structure i ndi cated by
the number 11, the hard pal ate. Sounds produced on the hard pal ate are pal atal .
l n the foremost part of t he pal ate, j ust behi nd the teeth, i s t he alveol ar ri dge (12) ,
whi ch is al so i mportant as the pl ace of arti cul ati on for several Engl i sh consonants.
The upper and l ower teeth, i ndi cated by the number 13, al so pl ay an i mportant
rol e i n the producti on of speech sounds. Natural l y, they functi on as a passi ve
arti cul ator i n the producti on of sounds such as [8] , [o] , [ fl or [v] . For the former two
the acti ve arti cul ator is the tongue, and for the l atter two i t is the l ower l i p.
As for t he tongue, i t shoul d be stressed that i t i s t he most i mportant organ of
speech, so i t is not surpri si ng that in many l anguages the word for thi s organ coi n
ci des wi th the one for l anguage. I n Engl i sh thi s i s restri cted to expressi ons such as
'mother tongue' , whi l e i n Croati an the word 'jezi k' can be sai d to equal l y cover both
meani ngs. I n arti cul atory phoneti cs, several secti ons of the tongue are usual l y di s
ti ngui shed. Number 14 i ndi cates the back of the tongue, whi ch i s opposi te the
vel um. Opposite the hard pal ate i s the front of the tongue (15) . The front and the
back of the tongue are commonl y referred to as the dorsum. Hence the term ' dor
sal ', whi ch one often comes across in contemporary phonol ogi cal theory. Number
16 i s the bl ade, whi ch, together wi th the ti p of the tongue (17) i s commonl y re
ferred to as the crown
8
. The qual ity of a speech sound produced i s si gnifi cantl y
determi ned by the part of the tongue whi ch i s i nvol ved as the active arti cul ator.
Fi nal l y, speech sounds may be modifi ed by the acti vi ty or shape of the l i ps (18) .
Contemporary phonol ogi sts regul arl y use the related adjecti ve, 'coronal ' to refer to one of the
modern di sti ncti ve features, defi ned with reference to the acti vi ty of thi s par of the tongue.
23
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH

Exercises
1. The ai rstream mechani sm normal l y used for the producti on of Engl i sh speech
sounds i s commonl y referred to as pul mon i c and egressi ve. Expl ai n the mean
i ng of these terms.
2. I denti fy t he parts of t he speech tract i ndi cated i n t he fol l owi ng pi cture. What are
the correspondi ng Croati an terms for them?
3. Expl ai n the mechani sm of phonati on. What i s the l i ngui sti c functi on of pho-
nati on?
4. Why do men usual l y have deeper voi ces than women?
5. Whi ch Engl i sh speech sounds are produced at the gi otti s?
6. What i s the l i ngui sti c functi on of the sof pal ate?
24
CHAPTER 3
SEGMENTS OF SPEECH
3. 1 . The phoneme
One i mportant aspect of l i ngui sti c knowl edge of a l anguage i s t he knowl
edge of functi onal units whi ch occur i n that l anguage. I t i s i n terms of such units
that phonol ogy anal yses l anguage. So, i n order to l earn how to anal yse a l an
guage phonol ogi cal l y, we fi rst need to become fami l i ari sed wi th some basi c ana
l yti cal units of phonol ogy.
To begi n thi s i ntroductory course we shal l start wi th the basi c anal yti cal uni t
of tradi ti onal phonol ogy. Thi s uni t was i ndi rectly i ntroduced in the fi rst chapter of
thi s book wi th reference to Marti net's second arti cul ati on. The units of sound
whi ch at that poi nt were metaphori cal l y referred to as the ' bui l di ng bl ocks' of hu
man l anguage correspond to what i n tradi ti onal phonol ogy are cal l ed phonemes.
l n purel y physi cal terms any utterance i s a conti nuous wave of sound, and
the acousti c patterns correspondi ng to what we cal l speech sounds are not i ndi
vi dual l y di sti nct. That i s, i f we anal ysed acousti cal l y the patterns of sound waves
correspondi ng to any utterance of any human l anguage, there woul d be no cl ear
boundari es between sound segments. Sti l l , phonol ogi cal l y speaki ng, there i s evi
dence that the human mi nd does anal yse the amorphous conti nuum of sound i n
terms of such di screte units. Most notabl y, thi s i s borne out by the exi stence of
phonemi c al phabets, in whi ch in pri nci pl e one l etter represents one such sound
uni t.
9
Even the speakers of l anguages whi ch do not use thi s type of al phabet turn
out to be abl e to anal yse l anguage i nto phonemes. We al l do this unconsci ousl y
when appl yi ng vari ous phonol ogi cal rul es. Phonol ogi cal rul es, whi ch, as ex
pl ai ned earl i er, are the concern of phonol ogy, very often can be seen as opera
ti ons whi ch do somethi ng to segments of sound: they can del ete, add, or
re-arrange them. Thus, tradi ti onal phonol ogi sts fi nd i t conveni ent to be abl e to
anal yse phonol ogi cal phenomena wi th reference to the noti on of the phoneme.
There are several ways of defi ni ng the phoneme. When the noti on was ori g
i nal l y i ntroduced i nto l i ngui sti cs, attempts were made to defi ne i t psychol ogi cal l y,

Si nce i t uses a basi cal l y phonemi c type of al phabet, Croati an happens t o be a case i n poi nt,
i rrespective of the fact that the pri nci pl e of one-to-one correspondence between phonemes and letters
i s not always strictly appl i ed.
25
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
that i s, i n terms of some ki nd of a target sound whi ch the speaker has i n mi nd
when utteri ng the real , concrete sound. A Pol i sh l i ngui st, Jan Badoui n de
Courtenay, who was among the fi rst to use the word ' phoneme' i n roughl y its mod
ern sense, i s usual l y menti oned i n l i ngui sti cs textbooks as the most promi nent
proponent of thi s vi ew. Al though i t i s true to say that the phoneme has a psycho
l ogi cal real i ty, modern l i ngui sti cs i s op posed to an extral i ngui sti c defi ni ti on of fun
damental l i ngui sti c noti ons. Consequentl y, attempts to defi ne the phoneme psy
chol ogi cal l y have been di smi ssed as ' mental i sti c' and a few al ternati ve defi ni ti ons
have been ofered.
Another way to defi ne the phoneme is to say that it is a famiy of sounds. By
way of i l l ustrati on, let us refer to some Engl i sh exampl es. The phoneti c qual ity of
the i ni ti al consonant of 'car' [ka : ] is different from that of 'key' [ki : ] i n that the for
mer i s produced i n the regi on of the soft pal ate and is thus a true vel ar, whi l e the
l atter is somewhat fronted towards the pal atal regi on under the i nfl uence of the fol
l owi ng front vowel . Sti l l , everyone woul d i ntui ti vel y agree that these two sounds
bel ong to the same Engl i sh phoneme, lk!. Li kewi se, the i ni ti al [p] of 'park' i s pro
duced wi th audi bl e breath ( Le. i t i s ful l y aspi rated) , whi l e wi th the [p] of spark this is
not the case, and sti l l we woul d al l agree that they are both real i zati ons of Ipl i n
Engl i sh. There are countl ess other exampl es t o i l l ustrate thi s, l i ke the di fferent
real i sati ons of III i n 'lip' , 'clear' and 'bi' and many others, whi ch wi l l be di scussed
i n more detai l i n a l ater chapter. I n any case, these exampl es i l l ustrate the poi nt
that the phoneme can be concei ved of as a set of phoneti cal l y si mi l ar sounds.
These diferent real i sati ons of a phoneme are referred t o as its al l ophones.
To make the defi ni ti on of the phoneme compl ete, we must al so add that the
al l ophones of a phoneme never contrast wi th each other i n any gi ven l anguage.
One member of the fami l y normal l y occurs where the others do not, or to use the
proper phonol ogi cal term, the al l ophones of any gi ven phoneme are i n compl e
mentary di stri buti on. I n terms of the above exampl es, thi s can be expl ai ned by
sayi ng that the trul y vel ar vari ety of the phoneme lk! occurs before the so-cal l ed
back vowel s, such as 10: /, whereas the somewhat fronted vari ety occurs before
front vowel s, such as 1i : /. The phoneti c qual ity of the diferent real i zati ons of Ipl
and III in the other two exampl es i s al so determi ned by the context, in ways whi ch
perhaps need not concern us at thi s poi nt.
However, phoneti cal l y si mi l ar sounds are not necessari l y real i zati ons of the
same phoneme. For i t may be argued that [p] and [b] are phoneti cal l y si mi l ar, be
cause they are produced at the same poi nt of the vocal tract, moreover, the type of
obstructi on to the stream of ai r produced by the l i ps is the same. However, rather
than bei ng i n compl ementary di stri buti on, they can occur i n the same context, as
i n 'pin' and 'bin' , and the phoneti c di fference between them thus turns out to be
functi onal l y rel evant.
Al l sounds used i n a l anguage bel ong to some phoneme. Physi cal l y speak
i ng, no two speech sounds are ever exactl y the same. Ev
e
ry speech sound in a

l anguage bel ongs to some phoneme. Thus, whi l e the number of sounds in a l an-
26
SEGMENTS OF SPEECH
guage is i ndefi ni te, the number of phonemes is l i mi ted. That i s, every l anguage i n
i ts own speci fi c way gi ves form t o t he amorphous substance of speech by moul d
i ng i t i nto di screte uni ts such as phonemes. Thus, phonemes are l anguage-spe
ci fi c. What i s a phoneme i n one l anguage need not be a phone me i n another. Li ke
wi se, what we consi der as two al l ophones of the same phoneme i n one l anguage,
i n some other l anguage may be two separate phonemes. By way of i l l ustrati on, we
may refer back to our exampl e of the ful l y aspi rated i ni ti al consonant of 'pin', [p
h
]
versus the unaspi rated [p=] of 'spark' a Unl i ke in Engl i sh, in Cl assi cal Greek these
two functi on as separate phonemes.
l t i s i mportant to note that though bei ng part of the defi ni ti on of the pho
neme, compl ementary di stri buti on i n i tsel f i s no proof that two sounds bel ong to
the same phoneme. A case i n poi nt is the rel ati onshi p between the Engl i sh seg
ments Ihl and Ir/. They do happen to appear i n mutual l y excl usi ve contexts, but
havi ng no phoneti c si mi l ari ty whatsoever, they are not consi dered to be al l o
phones of the same phoneme. Rather, thei r compl ementary di stri buti on i s ac
counted for as a matter of hi stori cal coi nci dence.
Al though al l ophones are defi ned as contextual l y determi ned vari eti es of
one phoneme, there are cases where the vari ants of one phoneme may appear i n
the same context, yet wi thout causi ng any diference i n meani ng of the gi ven
words. So, for i nstance, when due to a speech defect or as a resul t of some i di o
syncrasy, a person real i zes a certai n phoneme by an al l ophone other than the one
whi ch i s normal l y used i n a gi ven context, thi s i s free vari ati on. For exampl e,
some speakers of Croati an cannot pronounce t he Croati an Iri i n exactly t he way i t
shoul d be pronounced, but rather, produce an ' Engl i sh-l i ke r' i nstead. I n such
cases, thei r real i sati on of the phoneme i s sti l l i dentifi ed as a real i sati on of Iri and i s
not determi ned by any parti cul ar context. We say that thi s ki nd of [rl i s i n free vari a
ti on wi th the ' normal ' one.
The noti on of free vari ati on i s cl osel y rel ated to the noti on of the range of
performance or area of tol erance of a phoneme. Each phoneme of a l anguage
i s sai d to have i ts range of performance. I t i s the range wi thi n whi ch sounds are re
cogni sed as bel ongi ng to a gi ven phoneme. We can say that the ' Engl i sh-l i ke r'
fal l s wi thi n the range of performance of the Croati an phoneme Iri. Just l i ke the no
ti on of phoneme, that of range of performance i s, of course, l anguage-speci fi c. So,
the Japanese Iri has a wi der range of performance than the Croati an or Engl i sh Iri,
because i t can i ncl ude al i l-type sounds. Li kewi se, the Croati an phonemes Isl and
Ivi have wi der areas of tol erance t han t he correspondi ng Engl i sh phonemes,
si nce the former can i ncl ude [8] and the l atter [w] , as these do not exi st as sepa
rate phonemes i n Croati an.
Cases of free vari ati on actual l y represent a weak poi nt of t he defi ni ti on of
the phoneme as a set of phoneti cal l y si mi l ar sounds occurri ng in compl ementary
di stri buti on. One way of gett
i
ng around thi s di ffi culty is to adopt an al ternati ve ap
proach, i n whi ch the key noti on i s that of contrast or di sti ncti veness.
27
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
Under thi s approach, the phoneme i s seen as a mi ni mal sound uni t whi ch i s
capabl e of contrasti ng word meani ng. The proponents of thi s approach argue that
phonemes are i denti fi ed onl y by thei r contrast (or, to use thei r ori gi nal term, oppo
si ti on) to the other el ements of the sound system.
1 0
The procedure to establ i sh
the phonemi c i denti ty of a sound i nvol ves the procedure of substituti on, whereby
word pai rs di fferi ng i n one sound onl y are compared to see i f the diference
changes the meani ng. So, for exampl e, i f we want to establ i sh whether the sound
[ 1] i s a phoneme of Engl i sh, we need t o fi nd out whether i n t he above sense i t i s i n
contrast wi th some other phoneti cal l y si mi l ar sound. I ndeed, i n Engl i sh there are
pars of words l i ke 'sing' Isi l I - 'sin' Isi nl, where thi s di ference i n thi s si ngl e seg
ment carri es the di fference i n meani ng. Thus III i s capabl e of contrasti ng word
meani ng and is a phone me of Engl i sh. I n Croati an, however, thi s i s not the case.
Al though one can hear the same ki nd of nasal sound [1] i n words l i ke 'banka'
[balka] or 'bitanga' [bi talga] , it is not possi bl e to fi nd a si ngl e pai r of words where
the di ference between [1] and [n] is contrasti ve. If we substi tuted the two sounds
for each other, however strange such pronunci ati on may sound, the meani ng of
the words i n questi on woul d never be affected. So, it turns out that the sound [1] i n
Croati an i s an al l o phone of the phone me Ini, occurri ng i n a certai n speci al context,
whi ch we shal l i denti fy at some l ater poi nt. Pai rs of words l i ke sing - sin, di feri ng i n
one phone me onl y are cal l ed minimal pairs.
lt shoul d be noted that thi s ki nd of approach is rather stati c in that the pho
nem i c system of a l anguage i s concei ved of as a cl osed system. Each el ement of
the system is defi ned through the network of rel ati ons that hol d between i tsel f and
the other el ements. I n other words, the i denti ty of each phoneme of a phonemi c
system i s defi ned as what the other phonemes are not. I n terms of l ogi c, thi s ki nd
of defi ni ti on can be sai d to be ci rcul ar. Of course, thi s need not necessari l y be
seen as a di sadvantage. An approach based on di sti ncti veness hi ghl i ghts the l i n
gui sti c functi on of phonemes and provi des some i mportant i nsi ghts i nto t he nature
of phonemi c systems.
An i nteresti ng i ssue that ari ses wi th the approach based on di sti ncti veness,
concerns cases where i n some posi ti ons the otherwi se establ i shed phonemes fai l
t o contrast phoneti cal l y. A case i n poi nt can be found i n Ameri can Engl i sh, where
pai rs of words l i ke writer - rder may be pronounced homophonousl y. I n thi s parti c
ul ar case, the opposi ti on between the two otherwi se separate phonemes, lt! and
Idi i s suspended.
1 1
Such contexts are referred to as contexts for neutral i sati on.
Li kewi se, i n many l anguages, t he opposi ti on between voi ced and voi cel ess con
sonants i s suspended at the end of the word. Cases i n poi nt woul d be German
pai rs of words l i ke Rat - Rad ( both pronounced wi th a fi nal [t] or anal ogous pai rs
1
Thi s ki nd of approach was most expl i ci tl y advocated by Trubtzkoy in his Grundzuge der
Phon% gie ( 1 939) .
.
1 1
l t i s i ndi sputabl e that mi ni mal pai rs l i ke ten - den or sat- sad prove the separate phonemi c
status of each.
28
SEGMENTS OF SPEECH
found i n Kajkavi an di al ects of Croati an, such as Kr kr ( both pronounced wi th a
fi nal tf] .
Two sounds may difer in one or more features. For exampl e, if one reca l i s
the expl anati on of the l i ngui sti c functi on of phonati on, i t shoul d be cl ear that [t] and
[ d] differ i n voi ci ng. I n addi ti on to that, i n Engl i sh, [t] can al so be aspi rated. As wi l l
be expl ai ned i n more detai l l ater, i n certai n contexts Engl i sh has a vari ety of the
sound [t] whi ch i s pronounced wi th some audi bl e breath and i s i ndi cated i n pho
neti c notati on by a superscri pt l etter 'h' [t
h
] . So, both voi ci ng and aspi rati on are fea
tures of sounds. However, thei r phonol ogi cal functi on i s not the same i n Engl i sh.
Whi l e voi ci ng i s phonol ogi cal l y rel evant or di sti ncti ve, aspi rati on i s not and i s sai d
to be redundant.
1
2
Di sti ncti ve features provi de the basi s for di sti ngui shi ng pho
nemes, whi l e redundant ones do not. I n other words, whi l e i t matters for the i den
ti ty of a phoneme whether i t i s voi ced or not, wi th aspi rati on thi s i s not the case.
Any [t] sound of Engl i sh is al ways an al l ophone of It, i rrespecti ve of whether it i s
aspi rated or not. There i s not a si ngl e pai r of words i n Engl i sh diferi ng i n the aspi
rati on of a segment onl y. By contrast, there are l anguages, l i ke, for exampl e,
Hi ndi , or Burmese, where aspi rati on i s di sti nctive.
Havi ng i ntroduced the noti on of di sti ncti ve features, we have al so i ntro
duced yet another approach to the defi ni ti on of the phoneme. Phonemes can al so
be concei ved of as bundl es of di sti ncti ve features. Metaphori cal l y speaki ng,
di sti ncti ve features can be seen as basi c i ngredi ents of phonemes. The very no
ti on of di sti ncti ve features actual l y requi res a revi si on of Marti net's i dea of doubl e
ari cul ati on. By anal ysi ng phonemes i nto di sti ncti ve features phonol ogi sts have
gone one step further than Marti net i n anal ysi ng human l anguage and abandoned
the i dea of the phoneme as an atomi c uni t. Thus a new l evel of l i ngui sti c anal ysi s
has been i ntroduced, whi ch coul d be seen as the thi rd arti cul ati on.
Al though for many practi cal purposes, such as transcri pti on, i t i s conveni ent
to treat successi ve segments of speech sounds as si ngl e atomi c uni ts, there are
some good reasons why phonol ogi sts go one step further in thei r anal ysi s of l an
guage and operate wi th di sti ncti ve features as the basi c units of phonol ogi cal
anal ysi s.
l n t he fi rst pl ace, as expl ai ned earl i er, al though a case can be made for the
psychol ogi cal real i ty of the phoneme, phone m i c anal ysi s i s at odds wi th the physi
cal real ity of speech. Physi ol ogi cal l y speaki ng, the utterance of any si ngl e speech
sound i s not a uni tary acti on on the par of any si ngl e organ i n the speech tra ct.
Rather, i t i nvol ves several si mul taneous or overl appi ng gestures.
What is sti l l more i mporant to the phonol ogi st, i t is in terms of these ' i ngre
di ents' that segments pattern together i n phonol ogi cal processes. So, for exam-
Although as the di cti onary transl ati on one woul d usual l y fi nd the word ' suvi an' , i n thi s
context the meani ng of the term ' redundant' i s defi nitel y not that of ' suvi an' , The correct Croati an term
for it i s ' zal ihosan' , Accordi ngl y, the notion of redundancy i s expressed i n Croati an by the term
' zal i hosnost' , The poi nt to note here i s that even those features whi ch are not phonol ogi cal ly di sti nctive
i n l anguaga do have a l i ngui sti c functi on, whi ch i s to sere as addi ti onal cues i n decodi ng the message,
29
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
pi e, there woul d be l i ttl e poi nt i n havi ng the di sti ncti on between voi ced and voi ce
l ess segments i n phonol ogy, if i t di d not turn out that each of the two categori es of
sounds ' behave' i n the same way i n l anguages. As Katamba (1989: 33) observed,
' . . . what is "realy" happening in phonology is happening in terms of separate pho
netic prperies, not "unitar sounds". ' Thus it i s of i nterest to phonol ogi sts to be
abl e to refer to some uni versal system of phonol ogi cal descri pti on based on prop
erti es that coul d be defi ned i ndependent of parti cul ar l anguages.
Two l i ngui sts who were i nstrumental i n establ i shi ng the i dea of the pho
neme as a bundl e of di sti ncti ve features were Jakobson and Trubetzkoy.
1 3
Jakobson expl i ci tl y i nsi sted that i t was di sti ncti ve features, not phonemes that
shoul d be treated as the basi c units of human l anguage. I n hi s vi ew, de Saussure
was fundamental l y mi staken i n cl ai mi ng that l i ngui sti c si gns are essenti al l y se
quenti al i n thei r nature. He made a case for a uni versal system of di sti nctive fea
tures that coul d be used i n the phonol ogi cal anal ysi s of any human l anguage. Thi s
i s preci sel y what Trubetzkoy di d i n hi s GrundzOge, whi ch i s referred to by Ander
son (1985: 119) as . . . the first attempt to prvide a universal framework of the fea
tures that are exploited for phonological purposes in the languages of the world. '
Another i mportant noti on associ ated wi th the schol ars of the Prague School
i n connecti on wi th di sti ncti ve features i s that of bi narity. I t turns out that sounds
can be cl assi fi ed i n terms of two mutual l y excl usive possi bi l i ti es. Thi s refers to the
presence or absence of a certai n feature. I n di sti ncti ve feature theory, contrasts
between phonemes are commonl y marked usi ng +1- specificati on. For exampl e,
Itl i s speci fi ed as ' - voi ce' whi l e Idi i s ' + voi ce'. Jakobson argued that t he pri nci pl e
of bi narity was absol utel y fundamental to human l anguage and that i t refl ects the
nature of our mental processes and the way our nerve cel l s functi on. Wi thi n thi s
conceptual framework, phonemes, whi ch are seen si mpl y as notati onal abbrevi a
ti ons for bundl es of di sti nctive features, are represented by matri ces of di sti nctive
features, encl osed wi thi n square brackets.
To reca pi tu l ate what was sai d about the phoneme as the basi c analyti cal
uni t of tradi ti onal phonol ogy, it may be sai d that there are vari ous ways of defi ni ng
t he phoneme. I f we abstract away from t he i ni ti al attempts t o defi ne t he phoneme
psychol ogi cal l y, three ki nds of defi ni ti on have been di scussed. Fi rst, the phoneme
can be concei ved of as a famiy of phoneticaly similar sounds which appear in
complementar distribution. Secondl y, some l i ngui sts have defi ned the phoneme
as a minimal sound unit capable of contrasting word meaning. Fi nal l y, the pho
neme can be seen as a bundle of distinctive features. I f we adopt the l atter ap
proach, the phoneme i s no l onger seen as the basi c 'bui l di ng bl ock' of l anguage,
but rather as a conveni ent notati onal devi ce for i ndi cati ng segments of sound.

Both Roman Jakobson and Ni koiai Trubetkoy were memtrs of the famous Li ngui sti c
Ci rcl e of Prague, whi ch was founded i n 1 926. The vi ews and methods of the Li ngui sti c Ci rcl e of Prague
are usual l y referred to as the Prague School . Largel y i nfl uenced by Saussurean i deas, the schol ars
who adopted and advocated such vi ews i nsisted on anal ysi ng l anguage as a system of functi onal l y
rel ated units and di sti ngui shi ng between the phoneti c and phonol ogi cal anal ysi s of sounds.
30
SEGMENTS OF SPEECH
Exercises
1 . Make a case for and agai nst havi ng the phoneme as an anal yti cal uni t of pho
nol ogy.
2. What objecti on can be l evel l ed agai nst the psychol ogi cal defi ni ti on of the pho
neme?
3. What are the other ways of defi ni ng the phoneme?
4. Gi ve an exampl e of two sounds whi ch are i n compl ementary di stri buti on i n Eng
l i sh.
5. Why is the compl ementary di stri buti on of two sounds no guarantee of those two
sounds bei ng al l ophones of the same phoneme?
6. Expl ai n and i l l ustrate the noti on of free vari ati on.
7. Why do we say that t he Croati an IvI has a wi der range of performance than the
correspondi ng Engl i sh phoneme?
8. Fi nd at l east four exampl es where the Croati an phoneme InI i s real i sed as [ 1]
and try to fi gure out how the occurrence of thi s al l ophone i s contextual l y deter
mi ned.
9. Try to thi nk of at l east two mi ni mal pai rs i n Engl i sh where the diference between
t he two words i s based on t he contrast between Isl and I S/ . Why i s i t not possi
bl e to fi nd exampl es l i ke that i n Croati an?
1 0. Do you know of any l anguages whi ch make di sti ncti ve use of some sound that
i s not a phoneme i n ei ther Engl i sh or Croati an?
1 1 . What i s the diference between l etters and phonemes and why i s i t not possi
bl e to rel y on the spel l i ng i n phonemi c anal ysi s? l l l ustrate the poi nt wi th refer
ence to some Engl i sh exampl es.
1 2. What i s the diference between di sti ncti ve and r
e
dundant features? Why i s i t
wrong to say that redundant features are superfl uous?
1 3. What i s meant by the bi nary nature of di sti ncti ve features?
31
CHAPTER 4
PHONEMI C SYSTEMS
4. 1 . Recei ved Pronunci ati on V. other types of Engl i sh
pronunci ati on
As poi nted out i n t he Preface, t he type of Engl i sh pronunci ati on used as the
reference accent i n thi s book i s Recei ved Pronunci ati on (RP).
1 4
l t i s a type of Brit
i sh-Engl i sh pronunci ati on whi ch i s not associ ated with any parti cul ar regi on wi thi n
Engl and and i s thus sai d t o be regi onal ly neutral . Soci ol i ngui sti cal l y speaki ng, RP i s
associ ated wi th educated, mi ddl e-cl ass and upper-cl ass speakers. Hi storical l y, it
derives from the pol i shed accent of the Court and publ i c school s. Although i t i s ofen
observed that nowadays RP has no l onger as much presti ge as i t used to have i n
the ti mes when i t i mposed itsel f as the standard of pronunci ati on, i t i s sti l l commonl y
taken as the model of Bri ti sh-Engl i sh pronunci ati on taught to forei gners.
Contrary t o what t hi s cursory defi ni ti on of Recei ved Pronunci ati on may sug
gest, RP exhi bits a great deal of i nherent vari abi l ity and i t i s common to di sti ngui sh
several vari eti es of i t. However, for detai l s about the soci al stratifi cati on of RP, the
i nterested reader i s referred to Wel l s (1982) and Maek (1999) . At thi s poi nt we
may content oursel ves with havi ng restri cted the noti on of RP to the accent of edu
cated Bri ti sh-Engl i sh speakers who do not have any marked regi onal accent. I n
parti cul ar, we shal l be l ooki ng at what Wel l s (1982:279) defi nes as the central ten
dency i n RP, what i s known as mai nstream RP.
Al though throughout our descri pti on of t he Engl i sh phonemi c system we
shal l refer to RP, occasi onal expl i ci t references wi l l be made to sounds found i n
other vari eti es, notabl y Ameri can Engl i sh, or some substandard Bri ti sh-Engl i sh
accents, such as Cockney.
Fi nal l y, before we proceed to the actual descri pti on of the RP phonemi c
system, one fi nal poi nt about RP must be noted. Despite the presti ge that i t used
to enjoy and may sti l l enjoy wi thi n the Bri ti sh l i ngui sti c communi ty, i t shoul d by no
means be thought of as an accent whi ch i s i n any way i nherentl y superi or to oth
ers. As RP happens to be an accent wi th the status of a wel l -establ i shed standard
i n the Engl i sh l i ngui sti c communi ty, i t is the vari ety of Engl i sh pronunci ati on that
we shal l be focusi ng on.
The term ' accent' i n thi s context i s used i n the sense of 'type of pronunci ati on' . As opposed to
' di al ect' , i t focuses on pronunci ati on onl y, excl udi ng grammar or vocabul ary.
33
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
4. 2. Consonants
l n our i ntroductory course we are fi rst goi ng to approach consonants from
the poi nt of vi ew of tradi ti onal arti cul atory phoneti cs. Arti cul atori l y speaki ng, i n the
producti on of consonants, as op posed to vowel s, there i s always a radi cal ob
structi on to the stream of ai r at some poi nt i n the speech tract. Later on, when we
gai n some more knowl edge of phonol ogy, we shal l see that the degree of obstruc
ti on i s not the onl y rel evant cri teri on for establ i shi ng the maj or cl asses of sound
segments, such as consonants and vowel s. These l ater i nsi ghts wi l l al so cl ear up
the status of Iwl and Ijl , whi ch for the ti me bei ng are goi ng to be i ncl uded i nto our
consonantal chart, despi te t he fact that one may i ntui ti vel y feel that they some how
stand apart from the rest of the i tems.
l n addi ti on to the consonants whi ch are di sti ncti ve i n RP, a few
non-di sti ncti ve, but commonl y occurri ng sounds wi l l be i ndi cated i n square brack
ets. These represent typi cal real i zati ons of some Engl i sh phonemes, whi ch occur
commonl y enough to be i ndi spensabl e i n the phoneti c descri pti on of Engl i sh
speech. Fi nal l y, i n some vari eti es of RP there i s an addi ti onal member of the pho
nem i c system, IM, whi ch i s al so i ncl uded i n the chart and di scussed i n connecti on
wi th the category i t bel ongs to. As an i ndi cati on of i ts opti onal i ty as a member of
the system, i t is encl osed i n round brackets.
C
,!
w
.!
:
,
1:

+
O

C
C

O

O O

L
O
O O
m

-
O
C
.
2
m
C
p0SVe
af|Cate
naSa
atefa
f|CatVe
g | 0e
DaDa aD0 -
0enta
p
b
0
(N)
f v
W
table 1: RP Consonants
0enta
[
t N
U
Place of articulation
aVe0af p0St - paat0 - paata Veaf g0tta
aVe0af aVe0af
t d k
g
[ ?]
tr d
3
0

m
l [
l]
s z r
3
h
[
,] .
j
There are three cri teri a i nvol ved i n thi s cl assi fi cati on : 1. the pl ace of arti cu
l ati on, i ndi cated al ong the hori zontal axi s; 2. the manner of ari cul ati on, al ong
the veri cal axi s, and fi nal l y; 3. voi ci ng, refl ected i n the fact that whenever there are
both possi bi l i ti es wi thi n a gi ven category of consonants, the voi ce l ess sound pre
cedes its voi ced pai r i n the correspondi ng cel l of the tabl e. The ri ght-hand si de of
the cel l i s thus reserved for voi ced segments where appropri ate. I t i s i mpl i ed that
al l these sounds are produced usi ng an outgoi ng pul moni c stream of ai r.
34
PHONEMI C SYSTEMS
We shal l start from the fi rst row of the chart, l ooki ng at the category of
pl osi ves. Pl osi ves, or stops, are arti cul ated by produci ng a compl ete cl osure at
some poi nt in the speech tract. For a moment, the stream of ai r i s pent up behi nd
thi s obstacl e, but the cl osure. i s then suddenl y rel eased. Thi s resul ts i n a sudden
burst of energy, percei ved as a ki nd of expl osi on, hence the term ' pl osi ve' ,
The most obvi ous pl ace where a sound can be produced i n thi s way are the
l i ps. The ki nd of obstacl e descri bed above may be created by bri ngi ng the upper
and the l ower l i p ti ghtl y together and then suddenl y rel easi ng them. As can be
seen from the fi rst cel l i n the fi rst row, i n Engl i sh there are two di sti ncti ve sounds
produced i n thi s way, Ipl and Ib/. The di ference between them i s that the former i s
voi cel ess, i . e. , produced wi thout the vi brati on of the vocal fol ds, whi l e the l atter i s
voi ced.
The next cel l contai ni ng di sti nctive pl osi ves is the one i ndi cati ng al veol ars. As
suggested by the name of the category, these are the pl osives produced by a cl o
sure created by bri ngi ng the ti p of the tongue ti ghtl y together wi th the al veol ar ri dge,
the protrudi ng bony structure j ust behi nd the upper teeth. Two RP phonemes are
i denti fi ed as al veol ar pl osi ves, Itl and IdI. Thi s means that they are typi cal l y pro
duced at that pl ace, as in the words ' ti p' and ' di p' . However, it shoul d be noted that i n
the precedi ng cel l , a speci al , contextual l y determi ned dental vari ety of ea i s i ndi
cated in square brackets. Thi s is to say that it is common for these Engl i sh pho
nemes to be real i sed at the teeth, rather than the al veol ar ri dge, as in words ' sixth' or
' wi dth' , when they are fol l owed by a dental sound. Thei r dental ity i s i ndi cated by the
l i ttl e di acri ti c si gn underneath the basi c symbol , ' ' , resembl i ng a tooth and techni
cal l y cal l ed a ' bri dge' . These speci al real i sati ons of the Engl i sh phonemes It and IdI
correspond to the typi cal Croati an [t] and [d] , whi ch are dental .
As we go further towards t he i nner parts of t he oral cavi ty, the next pl ace at
whi ch Engl i sh has di sti ncti ve pl osi ves i s the soft pal ate or vel um. The two Engl i sh
vel ar pl osi ves are Iki and Igl, the former bei ng voi cel ess, the l atter bei ng voi ced.
As can be seen from the l ast cel l i n the pl osi ve category, there is yet another
non-di sti ncti ve Engl i sh pl osi ve sound, produced at the gi otti s. Thi s i s the so-cal l ed
gi ottal stop, i ndi cated by the symbol resembl i ng a questi on mark. Thi s sound i s
very commonl y heard i n many vari eti es of Engl i sh speech. I n some types of RP i t
occurs as a real i sati on of Ipl, Itl or Iki, i n contexts whi ch wi l l be di scussed at a l ater
poi nt i n connecti on wi th phonol ogi cal rul es and domai ns. For the ti me bei ng i t wi l l
sufi ce t o i l l ustrate t he poi nt by an exampl e. I n RP, t he gi ottal stop may, for i n
stance, be heard i n ' hot dog' , as a real i sati on of Itl. As we are deal i ng wi th a pl osi ve
sound, i t i s i mpl i ed that the same ki nd of arti cul atory gesture, thi s ti me at the gl ot
ti s, is i nvol ved in its producti on as the one descri bed for other stops.
The next category of consonants produced i nvol vi ng a cOmpl ete cl osure of
the oral tract at some poi nt are the africates. What di sti ngui shes these consonants
from those i dentifi ed as pl osi ves i s the way the cl osure i s rel eased. The term ' afri
cate' refers to the manner of arti cul ati on i n whi ch the compl ete obstacl e to the
stream of ai r at a gi ven pl ace i s rel eased gradual l y. Thus the first stage i n the pro-
35
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
ducti on of africates corresponds to the i niti al stage for pl osi ves. However, rather
than rel easi ng the arti cul ators suddenl y, we do i t rel ati vel y sl owly and gradual l y.
Thi s resul ts i n fricti on created by the stream of ai r pushi ng its way out at thi s second
stage. As can be seen from the tabl e, Engl i sh has two affricates produced i n the
pal ato-alveol ar regi on, the voi cel ess Itl and the voi ced Id31. The fact that some pho
neti ci ans anal yse the i niti al consonantal sequences i n words such as 'tree' and
'dri nk' as affricates may be i gnored at thi s poi nt. Purel y arti cul atori ly speaki ng, thi s
may be ri ght, i n vi ew of the fact that affri cates do consi st of two arti cul atory gestures
correspondi ng to the two component parts of those sequences. However, i n phono
l ogi cal terms i t i s not j ustifi ed to treat Itri and Idrl as unitary functi onal units of Eng
l i sh, so there i s a general consensus among contemporary phonol ogi sts that the
i tems under consi derati on are sequences of separate phonemes Itl + Iri and Idi + iri,
respecti vel y. Accordi ngl y, in an approach in whi ch we are tryi ng to i ntegrate pho
neti c and phonol ogi cal understandi ngs of Engl i sh pronunci ati on phenomena, it
woul d not make much sense to i ncl ude anythi ng apar from the pal ato-alveol ar Itl
and Id31 in the category of Engl i sh africates.
The next manner of arti cul ati on to be defi ned is nasal . It al so i nvol ves a
compl ete cl osure at some poi nt in the oral tract, but what real l y determi nes the
qual ity of nasal s i s the acti vi ty of the soft pal ate. I f the sof pal ate i s l owered so that
part of the stream of ai r whi ch the speaker i s exhal i ng i s al l owed to escape through
the nose, the resul t i s a nasal sound. Engl i sh has three di sti ncti ve nasal conso
nants. I n thei r producti on an obstacl e of the same type as the one for pl osi ves or
oral stops i s produced i n the oral cavity i n paral l el wi th the acti vi ty of the sof pal ate
descri bed above. Thus, in thei r nature, nasal consonants are stops, too. It shoul d
be noted that nasal s are general l y spontaneousl y voi ced i n l anguages, because
the enti re confi gurati on of the speech tract duri ng thei r producti on i s such as to
tri gger spontaneous voi ci ng. Thi s expl ai ns why the three Engl i sh nasal s i dentifi ed
i n the tabl e have no voi cel ess pai rs. The nasal imi i s bi l abi al l i ke the oral stop Ibl,
the onl y arti cul atory diference bei ng the nasal ity of the former. The next di sti nc
ti ve nasal , Ini i s found i n the al veol ar regi on. By anal ogy wi th the previ ous exam
pl e, Ini woul d be the nasal counterpart of the oral stop Idi. Fi nal l y, Engl i sh makes
di sti ncti ve use of yet another nasal , produced by the contact of the back of the
tongue wi th the soft pal ate. I t i s the vel ar nasal , the consonant heard at the end of
RP words such as ' si ng' . It shoul d be noted that the same ki nd of sound i s heard i n
Croati an words such as ' banka' , but i n Croati an i t i s j ust a contextual l y determi ned
real i sati on of the phoneme Ini and not a separate di sti ncti ve uni t capabl e of di sti n
gui shi ng words, as 101 i s i n Engl i sh i n pai rs l i ke ISInI Isnjl.
Now we turn to the category of sounds produced by formi ng a parti al cl o
sure at some poi nt. Engl i sh makes di sti ncti ve use of one such sound onl y. Thi s i s
the l ateral ili. General l y, l ateral s are vari ous types of l sound produced by al l ow
i ng the ai r to escape around one or both si des of a cl osure made in the mouth. I n
RP a l ateral i s typi cal l y produced by bri ngi ng the ti p of the tongue i n contact wi th
the al veol ar ri dge and thus produci ng thi s parti al cl osure i n the al veol ar regi on.
36
PHONEMIC SYSTEMS
Apart from the symbol for this main sound type taken as the representative of the
phoneme /ll, two important allophones of this phoneme are included in the table
in square brackets. One of them is the partially devoiced [J occurring in words
such as 'clear' or 'play', when preceded by a voiceless stop. The other contextually
determined realisation of /ll is the velarised sound [ l], heard in words such as
'bill' or 'milk'. In the case of [l ], the raising of the back of the tongue towards the
velum is a secondary articulatory gesture taking place in parallel with what has
been described for the typical, purely alveolar representative of the category.
Therefore the sound is not indicated by a separate symbol, but, rather, by writing
the diacritic sign '-' (tilde) across the basic symbol. In the same way, the partial
devoicing in the previous instance was indicated by the diacritic called 'underring'
under the basic symbol.
All the sounds discussed so far are produced by means of some kind of clo
sure, either partial or complete, at some point in the speech tract. In other words,
with these sounds there is contact between an active and a passive articulator act
ing as an obstacle to the outgoing stream of air. In the next two categories of
sounds we shall not be dealing with a closure, but rather, with a narrowing. This is
to say that rather than touching the passive articulator, the active ariculator co
mes close to the latter, creating a narrowing. This narrowing, irrespective of its de
gree also represents an obstacle to the stream of air. Depending on the nature of
the narrowing, two types of segments are distinguished in this category.
With fricatives the narrowing is radical enough to cause the oncoming
stream of air to push its way out, producing friction. English has distinctive fricatives
at several points of articulation: labiodentals Ifl and IvI, dentals 181 and lO! ,
palato-alveolars, ISI and 131 and the giottal fricative Ih/. Croatian-speaking students
of English may be surprised that the latter, unlike the Croatian Ihl is classified as a
giottal, rather than velar. This is one of the subtle phonetic diferences between the
two languages which is well worth noting for someone trying to pronounce English
with as little foreign accent as possible. Another point to be made in connection with
this English sound is its disputable phonetic and phonological status, due to which
some authors classif it as a glide rather than a fricative. At this point, however, we
may leave this issue aside and complete our description of English fricatives by re
ferring once again to the optional member of the English phonemic system en
closed in brackets in the first cell of the fricative row, mentioned already in the intro
ductory part of the present chapter. The symbol looking like an upside-down letter
'w' is used in the IPA conventions to indicate a labiovelar fricative, i.e., a fricative
produced by forming a narrowing between the lips and simultaneously producing a
secondary friction in the velar region. Some speakers of English, including those
speaking some varieties of RP, pronounce this sound in words like 'which', thus
making a distinction in pronunciation between 'which' and 'witch'.
With glides the narrowing which the stream of air comes across is not as
radical as with fricatives, so the air can escape continuously through it without
causing friction. Glides are therefore also called frictionless continuants. In addi-
37
JOSIPOVI: PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH
tion, they are also sometimes referred to as approximants. The latter is aLatinate
term reflecting the fact that the articulators are brought into proximity to each other
in the articulation of these sounds. Leaving aside the specific status of these seg
ments in phonological classification, ariculatorily, we may classify the English
phonemes Iwl, Ir 115 and Ijl as belonging to this category. As with the lateral /ll,
with the RP frictionless continuant one should note its commonly occurring par
tially devoiced realization, heard in analogous contexts, as in 'cry' or 'pray'. It is
also important to stress that the phoneme IrI exhibits a great deal of variation in
phonetic realisation across accents of English. The sound symbolised by an up
side-down letter 'r' is the postalveolar frictionless continuant typical of RP. This de
scription, however, is not suficient to describe the typical realisation of this pho
neme in most varieties of American English. The latter cannot be properly
articulatorily described without reference to the notion of retroflexion, which will be
discussed later in connection with IPA sounds and notation.
4.3. Vowels
4.3.1. Traditional parameters in the classification of vowels
As consonants have been defined by saying that in their production there is
some radical obstruction to the stream of air, the remaining category of sound seg
ments, vowels, can simply be defined in the opposite way. In their articulation
there is no such obstruction, that is, the stream of air passes through the mouth
relatively freely.
Within the framework of this traditional articulatory approach, some criteria
need to be established for describing the quality of vowels as exactly as possible.
The three traditional parameters used for this purpose are related to the activity of
two articulators: the tongue and the lips, which can significantly determine the entire
configuration of the oral tract in vowel production. These three parameters are: the
part of the tongue involved, the degree of tongue height and the shape of the lips.
Phoneticians all over the world refer to a set of standard reference points in
describing the quality of vowels in particular languages. This system of universal
phonetic reference points is called the cardinal vowel scale or Jones's diagram,
afer the British phonetician Daniel Jones who devised it. It is a trapezium-shaped
diagram indicating some positions serving as abstract reference points in the de
scription of vowels found in any language. It is thus important to note that these
vowels do not represent the vowels of any particular language and should be con
ceived of simply as abstract reference vowel types, to which individual vowels of
real languages may be compared in their quality. As presented in the following il-
15 ln broad transcription, when we refer to the phoneme IrI the ordinary letter 'r' is used as the
symbol, although the actual sound heard as the realisation of this phoneme, the post-alveolar
frictionless continuant, should be indicated by the upside-down letter 'r', '.' strictly following the IPA
notation al conventions.
38
PHONEMI C SYSTEMS
l ustrati on , each of these 18 abstract vowel s i s i ndi cated by i ts i nternati onal l y es
tabl i shed phoneti c symbol .
i , y
i B
U, U
( 1 ,
9
)
.. -.. - ..
.
(8, 1 6)
0 , )
(7, 1 5)
e-
O , A
(6, 1 4)
e..
a , D
(4, 1 2) (5 , 1 3)
Figure 3: The cardi nal vowel scal e
The four hori zontal axes of the di agram represent the four theoreti cal de
grees of tongue hei ght. Those vowel s i ndi cated al ong thi s hi ghest axi s are arti cu
l ated wi th the tongue i n the hi ghest posi ti on to whi ch i t can be rai sed wi thout pro
duci ng audi bl e fricti on.
1
6
The si x cardi nal vowel s produced wi th thi s degree of
tongue hei ght are referred to as cl ose vowel s. Thi s i s so, because the four theoret
i cal degrees of tongue hei ght recogni sed in thi s system are someti mes al so re
ferred to as degrees of openi ng. The degree of tongue hei ght in the producti on of
vowel s can be sai d to roughl y correl ate to the degree of openi ng of the mouth: the
hi gher the tongue, the l ess open i s the vowel sai d to be. Hence the terms ' cl ose' ,
' half cl ose' , ' half open' and ' open' for the four degrees of tongue hei ght repre
sented i n the scal e. The cardi nal vowel s are numerated counter-cl ockwi se, the
numerati on fol l owi ng a pattern whi ch wi l l be expl ai ned shortl y. The Cardi nal vow
el s 1, 8, 9, 1 6, 17 and 18 are thus cl ose vowel s. The hal f-cl ose vowel s, 2, 7, 10 and
15 are produced wi th a l ower degree of tongue hei ght than the cl ose vowel s, but
hi gher than the half-open vowel s, 3, 6, 11 and 14. Fi nal l y, the theoreti cal l y l owest
posi ti on of the tongue hei ght, or respectivel y, the greatest degree of mouth open
i ng i n vowel producti on i s i ndi cated al ong the l owest axi s, on whi ch the cardi nal
vowel s 4, 5, 1 2 and 1 3 are found.
The differences among the vowels withi n each of the four categories i dentified
above need to be expl ai ned with reference to the other to criteri a i nvolved in the car
di nal vowel scal e. Three categori es of vowels are recognized accordi ng to the par of
1 6
Let us recal l that sounds produced with audi bl e friction bel ong to the categor of consonants.
39
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
the tongue i nvolved: front vowel s, i ndicated at poi nts al ong the front verical axis, rep
resenti ng vowels produced with the front part of the tongue bei ng most actively i n
volved (1-4 and 9-12) ; back vowels (5-8 and 13-16) ; and central vowel s, i ndi cated i n
the area del i mited by additi onal l i nes to schemati cal l y represent the central part of the
mouth. I n the cardi nal vowel system two central vowel s, 17 and 1 8 are used as refer
ence poi nts for the descri pti on of central vowels found in the worl d' s l anguages.
What remai ns to be expl ai ned i s the di fference between the cardi nal vowel s
1-8 and thei r counterparts found at the same poi nts and i ndi cated i n parentheses
as 9-16, respecti vel y. Thi s di ference must be accounted for by empl oyi ng the
thi rd parameter, the shape of the l i ps. Cardi nal vowel s from 1 to 8 are cal l ed pri
mary cardi nal vowel s. I n the pri mary seri es of cardi nal vowel s, the fi rst fi ve are
produced wi th the l i ps spread, and the l ast three, 6-8 are referred to as rounded,
because the l i ps are rounded in thei r producti on, The combi nati on of the shape of
the l i ps wi th the other two parameters i n each of the pri mary vowel s was not cho
sen randoml y, but represents the combi nati on found most commonl y i n the
worl d' s l anguages. So, for exampl e, i f we take any of the pri mary cardi nal vowel s,
say, No. 3, a front, half open vowel , i t may be sai d that t hi s vowel type i s more
common in the worl d' s l anguages than its rounded counterpart from the second
ary seri es. Li kewi se, i t i s more common for a back cl ose vowel to be rounded than
unrounded. To use a proper l i ngui sti c term, i t may be sai d that the pri mary cardi nal
vowel s are unmarked as op posed t o t hei r secondary counterpars
1
7
(9-16) . How
ever, it shoul d be stressed that ' marked' does not mean anythi ng l i ke ' exoti c' . They
are commonl y found i n the major l anguages of the worl d. Thus, for exampl e, di s
ti ncti ve front rounded vowel s are found i n l anguages l i ke German, French, Swed
i sh and Fi nni sh, whi l e back unrounded vowel s are used di sti ncti vel y i n l anguages
such as Mandari n Chi nese and Korean. I t may al so be observed that i n Croati an
di al ects, exampl es of marked vowel types can be found j ust as easi l y. By way of i l
l ustrati on, the most characteri sti c feature of the Dubrovni k accent seems to be the
open, front , rounded vowel , as i n the word ' mal a' , whi ch i s most adequatel y com
pared to the cardi nal vowel 12.
lt fol l ows from what has been sai d that wi th the secondary seri es the shape
of the l i ps i s reversed i n rel ati on to the correspondi ng vowel s from the pri mary se
ri es. Thus, i f the shape of the l i ps for the vowel s 1 to 5 i s spread, i . e. , the vowel s
are unrounded, thei r counterparts from the secondary seri es, 9 to 13 are rounded.
Li kewi se, whi l e 6 to 8 are rounded, 14 to 16 are unrounded. The two central vow
els al so difer in the same feature: 17 is unrounded, whi l e 1 8 i s rounded.
Al l these vowel types are found in the worl d' s l anguages. The qual ity of any
vowel i n any gi ven l anguage can be descri bed wi th reference to these vowel types
and thi s i s preci sel y what wi l l be done i n the next chapter for the vowel s of Engl i sh.
Apart from meani ng that t he former occur more commonl y i n t he worl d' s l anguages, thi s
diference with respect to markedness al so i mpl i es that a l anguage whi ch makes di sti nctive use of any
vowel from the secondary seri es, wi l l al so use thei r counterparts from the pri mary seri es. Unmarked
phonemes are al so acqui red earl i er in the process of l anguage acqui si ti on.
40
PHONEMI C SYSTEMS
Cardi nal vowel s are avai l abl e on record, but i t shoul d be stressed once agai n that
they are i deal i sed reference poi nts for i dentifyi ng vowel types and need not ex
actl y correspond i n thei r qual ity to the vowel s of real l anguages. So, for exampl e,
the Engl i sh vowel heard i n the word ' cat' i s descri bed as a front vowel whi ch ac
cordi ng to the degree of openi ng coul d be l ocated half way between the poi nts 3
and 4 on the di agram. Thus i t does not exactl y correspond to ei ther e or a and i s
therefore represented i n phoneti c notati on by yet another symbol , .
Another poi nt to be noted i n connecti on wi th the phoneti c symbol s for vow
el s is that they shoul d not be confused with the l etters used to represent those
vowel s i n the spel l i ng of the respecti ve l anguages. Thus, for exampl e, the cardi nal
vowel no. 9, y, a front, cl ose rounded vowel woul d be t he reference poi nt for the
German vowel i ndi cated by the l etter L i n words such as Mlnchen.
To i denti f the qual i ty of a gi ven vowel as accuratel y as possi bl e, phoneti
ci ans often use di acri ti c marks i n addi ti on to the basi c symbol . So, for exampl e, a
hook beneath the basi c symbol means that the vowel is more open than the corre
spondi ng cardi nal vowel . By contrast, a dot underneath the symbol i ndi cates a
more cl ose vari ety of the vowel . For exampl e, the diference between a more cl ose
and a more open vari ety of the sound [e] woul d be i ndi cated as [] vs. [y] .
4. 3. 2. Engl i sh pure vowel s
l t i s ofen observed that Engl i sh has a rather compl ex vocal i c system com
pared to other l anguages. One of the thi ngs that make i t compl ex i s the exi stence
of a ri ch system of di phthongs or ' gl i di ng vowel s' as di sti ncti ve functi onal units. As
op posed to monophthongs or ' pure vowel s' of the type descri bed in connecti on
wi th cardi nal vowel s, di phthongs consi st of two functi onal l y rel ated vocal i c el e
ments.
1 8
l n our descri pti on of the RP vowel s, we shal l natural l y start wi th the si m
pi er of the two categori es, the pure vowel s or monophthongs.
The Engl i sh system of pure vowel s i s i tsel f compl ex. There are 1 2 RP vowel
types whi ch need to be descri bed phoneti cal l y wi thi n thi s category. The fact that
some recent phonol ogi cal approaches do not i nterpret some of them as real pho
nemes of Engl i sh, but rather expl ai n thei r phonol ogi cal status diferentl y, need not
concern us here, because what matters now is the descri pti on of thei r phoneti c
qual i ty. Beari ng i n mi nd what has been expl ai ned i n connecti on wi th the parame
ters i nvol ved i n the defi ni ti on of cardi nal vowel s, the phoneti c qual i ty of each RP
vowel can be read from the di agram that fol l ows. Before proceedi ng to the i nte

pretati on of the i nformati on from the di agram, two poi nts must be made. The fi rst i s
that the fi gure represents the phoneti c qual i ti es of the pure vowel s of our refer
ence accent, RP. So, i t cannot be appl i ed to any other vari ety of Engl i sh pronunci -
1 8
The phonol ogi cal reasons for treati ng two vocal i c segments as si ngl e unitary enti ti es need to
be expl ai ned with reference to the syl l abl e, whi ch wi l l be deal t wi th l ater. I n any case, the arti cul atory
descri pti on of di phthongs has to be based on the descri pti on of the two consti tuent parts whi ch make
up any di phthong: the starti ng poi nt and the endpoi nt.
41
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
ati on. Secondl y, the vowel s represented here are i deal i sed, much l i ke the cardi nal
vowel s, i n that they represent sounds pronounced i n i sol ati on. I n real contexts, i n
whi ch vowel s actual l y occur, thei r phoneti c qual ity i s bound t o vary accordi ng to
the surroundi ng segments and thus need not preci sel y correspond to the poi nts
i ndi cated in the di agram. In order to understand thi s, one shoul d recal l the noti on
of the range of performance and l ook upon the poi nts from the di agram as typi cal
sounds representi ng thei r respecti ve ranges of performance.
Figure 4: RP pure vowel s
Each of the words gi ven bel ow represents the l exi cal set i n whi ch one of the
1 2 RP vowel s i ndi cated i n figure 4 occurs:
beat Ibi : t! lot Il nt/
bi t Ibdl thought 18:
bet lb et!
bat Ibrt!
car Ika: 1
l ove II Av/
agai n la' genI
bi rd Ib3 : dl
put lp ut!
shoe IJu: 1
I nformati on of two ki nds can be gathered from the l ocati on of each vowel i n
t he di agram: t he degree of openi ng and t he degree of frontness or backness, re
specti vel y. Thus, i t i s cl ear, for exampl e, that lrl i s a front vowel and with respect
to the degree of tongue hei ght and i t is half way between hal f open and open. As
for the thi rd parameter i nvol ved in thi s system of descri pti on, i t i s not obvi ous
whether a vowel i s rounded or not from i ts l ocati on i n the di agram i tsel f. However,
bei ng fami l i ar wi th the system of cardi nal vowel s, one can al ways use the vi sual
i mage of the phoneti c symbol for a gi ven vowel as a cl ue for fi ndi ng a comparabl e
cardi nal vowel . Thus, the symbol ' r' by its resembl ance to ' a' and ' e' suggests
42
PHONEMIC SYSTEMS
comparability with the vowels from the primary series and hence unrounded
shape of the lips. Likewise, the symbol 'A' suggests that the most natural point of
reference for the description of this half open back vowel would be the cardinal
vowel No. 14, that is, an unrounded one. Of course, all this information about the
quality of any vowel could simply be obtained from the phonetic symbol guide, but
the vowel diagram still remains useful as a self-explanatory system of description.
One should not forget, however, that language is dynamic and at different points
in time various tendencies can be observed in the particular phonetic quality of in
dividual sound types. So, for example, Wells (1997) observes that the RP lrl has
been becoming more and more open, approaching the Cardinal Vowel4. As a re
sult, IAI, which a decade or two ago was getting fronted and was described as
drawing close to the position of the Cardinal Vowel 4, is now retracting back again
to the centre to avoid merger with lr/.
Another important point about the English vocalic system concerns the dis
tinction between two categories of vowels: those represented with the use of the
colon (: ) and those without it. Although the colon in the IPA does denote length
and for all practical purposes the two categories of vowels are commonly referred
to as 'long' as opposed to 'short', things are not nearly as simple as that. This is
why the terms are written here using defensive quotation marks. It turns out that
the actual phonetic length of English vowels depends primarily on the context in
which they are pronounced, rather than being an inherent phonological property
of the vowels. This may sound odd at first, since there is no reason why one
should doubt that the vowel in 'beat' is longer than that in 'bit'. It indeed is, as the
'long' vowels are really longer than their 'short' counterparts provided they occur in
the same context. However, if by some exact acoustic machine one measured the
duration of the vowel in 'beat' and compared it to the duration of its 'short' counter
part in 'bid' , it would turn out that the duration of the former is not really any greater
than that of the latter. Moreover, in this kind of context, the [i:] can even be shorter
than the [rl, due to a phonetic process which will be discussed later. Thus, it turns
out that we need some other feature to account for the difference in quality be
tween pairs of English vowels li: l-III, lu:1 - lul, 10:1 - IAI, and 13:1 - lal. This is, afer
all, reflected by the fact that in the phonetic notation, the basic symbols for the
members of each pair are different letters. Unfortunately, the three parameters in
volved in the vowel diagram will not do for this purpose. We need to involve an
other feature, which is in most recent approaches referred to as tenseness. That
is, rather than saying that 1i:/, lu:/, 10:1 and 13:1 are 'long', one should refer to them
as tense vowels, as opposed to their lax counterparts. As the justification for the
introduction of this feature will be explained in more detail in connection with pho
nological features, at this point it will sufice to say that it has to do with the relative
overall tenseness of the speech organs in pronunciation. In particular, the articula
tion of tense segments is related with the advancement of the tongue root. To
make a point of not taking the terms 'tense' and 'long' as being synonimous, we
may now briefly refer to a process commonly referred to as 'fin
'
al tensing'. It affects
43
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
the qual i ty of the fi nal vowel of words such as ' happy' . Wi thout needl essl y goi ng
i nto the detai l s of thi s process, i t may be observed that the vowel heard i n thi s con
text i s phoneti cal l y transcri bed as ' i ' , that i s, usi ng the same l etter empl oyed as the
symbol for the vowel i n ' beat' , however, wi thout the l ength mark ( . ) .
A few observati ons are i n order concerni ng the pl ace of the Engl i sh vocal i c
system i n t he typol ogy of t he worl d' s l anguages. General l y, vocal i c systems can
be of two types, dependi ng on whether they have an even or odd number of pho
nemes. As shown above, RP has 1 2 pure vowel s i n the system, and such vocal i c
systems are commonl y descri bed as quadrangul ar. Thi s term, as can be seen
from the di agram i n Fi gure 4, reflects the vi sual arrangement of the vowel s. Many
other l anguages, not necessari l y cog nate to Engl i sh, have thi s type of vocal i c sys
tem. Cases in poi nt quoted in l i terature woul d be l anguages l i ke Azerbaijani , Brit
ish Col umbi an French or Persi an. The other type of vocal i c systems, notabl y
found i n Croati an, has an odd number of members and i s referred to as tri angu
l ar. I n the case of Croati an, thi s number i s 5, si nce Croati an phonol ogi cal l y di sti n
gui shes three degrees of openi ng:
e o
a
u
Figure 5: The Croati an vocal i c system (tri angul ar)
Other l anguages wi th such vocal i c systems woul d i ncl ude Spani sh, Czech,
Burmese and Swahi l i . However, there are al so l anguages wi th tri angul ar vocal i c
systems whi ch have more or fewer degrees of openi ng than Croati an. Thus, by
way of i l l ustrati on, Arabi c, whi ch di sti ngui shes two degrees of openi ng onl y, has
three vowel s ( i , a, u) i n the system, whi l st I tal i an or Sl ovene have four phonol ogi
cal l y di sti ncti ve degrees of openi ng and thus thei r systems i ncl ude 7 vowel s.
1
9
l t
shoul d be kept i n mi nd, however, that the number of phonemes i n a vocal i c sys
tem i s not determi ned onl y by the number of degrees of openi ng that thi s l anguage
di sti ngui shes. I t al so depends on the degree to whi ch the l anguage phonol ogi cal l y
expl oi ts the other parameters determi ni ng vocal i c i denti ty, such as backness,
roundi ng, nasal i ty, tensi ng and vocal i c l ength. I n any case, the general poi nt to
note here is the uni versal tendency of vocal i c systems, j ust l i ke phonemi c systems
i n general , towards symmetry. Thi s has to do wi th the economy of l anguage; once
a l anguage uses a parti cul ar property, i t is hi ghl y l i kel y to expl oi t i t ful l y, rather than
make a one-off contrast. Admi ttedl y, asymmetri es i n phonemi c systems, often re-
1
These l anguages make a di sti ncti on between cl oser and more open vari eti es i n the seri es of
mid vowel s (e vs. s, o vs. :)
44
PHONEMIC SYSTEMS
ferred to as 'holes in the pattern' do exist, but are less common and are likely to
make the system unstable and prone to change.
Finally, it should be made clear that although the generalisation about the
quadrangular type of vocalic system holds true across the diferent pronouncing
varieties of the English language, the actual number of pure vowels in the system,
and the phonetic qualities of individual vowels are largely subject to variation. So,
for example, there are some striking pronunciation diferences between General
American and RP concerning the phonetic realization, as well as the inventory of
pure vowels. Such diferences can be noticed if one compares the RP inventory of
pure vowels given above in figure 4 to the following system of GenAm pure vow
els, provided in figure 6:
O
\---\----..8 :
n:
Figure 6: GenAm pure vowels
The following list of words represents the lexical sets illustrating the GenAm
pure vowels from figure 6. One should note the items open to variation. Points of
diference with respect to RP are indicated by the shading:
beat Ibi:t!
bit IbIt!
bet Ibet!
bat Ibrt!,
car Ikar:rFo,
also: grass Igrrsl
also: lot 110:11 and,
possibly: law 110:1
20
ln the so-called rhotic varieties of English, one of which is GenAm, the quality of any vowel
followed by Iri is afected by the Iri. Thus the vowel of 'car' in GenAm is r-coloured. This also applies to
the vowels in the lexical sets 'north' and 'bird'.
45
JOSIPOVI

: PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH


love IlAVi
I thought 180:t1 also: law 110:1
north Ino:r81
I north Ino:r81 (a possible variant) I
again le'genl
bird Ib3:rdl
put Iputl
shoe ISu:1
4.3.3. English diphthongs
Articulatorily, English diphthongs can be described by identifying the pho
netic quality of the two constituent parts: the starting point and the end point. The
relationship between these two elements is reflected in an alternative, commonly
used term for diphthongs: 'gliding vowels'. What actually happens in their pronun
ciation is rather simple. The organs of speech start of at some starting point and
glide, that is, move smoothly to the position for the endpoint.
ln RP, two important categories of diphthongs can be identified, according to
the quality of the endpoint. The first includes the closing diphthongs, which have a
close vowel (I or u) as the end point. The other category is that of centring diph
thongs, which are glided toward a central endpoint, 9. It should be noted that not all
varieties of English have the category of centring diphthongs. So, for example, Gen
eral American has closing diphthongs only. Thus, what follows in figures 6 and 7 is
an illustration of the formation of the two categories of RP diphthongs:
Figure 7: RP closing diphthongs
46
aI au
OI
PHONEMI C SYSTEMS
Figure 8: RP centri ng di phthongs
At thi s poi nt, however, i t shoul d be made cl ear that, al though General
Ameri can does not have centri ng di phthongs as a category of phonemes, phoneti
cal l y, [la, Ea, ua] are found as al l ophones of II , E, ul. Another di fference between
RP and General Ameri can wi th respect to di phthongs concerns the qual i ty of the
di phthong i n words l i ke ' home' . Here, Ameri can Engl i sh woul d typi cal l y have a no
tabl y di ferent qual ity of the starti ng poi nt: /DU/. For a more detai l ed treatment of
the di ferences between RP and General Ameri can, as wel l as al l the other major
pronunci ati on vari eti es of Engl i sh, the reader i s referred to Maek ( 1 999) . How
ever, the pri nci pl es i nvol ved in the descri pti on of di phthongs i l l ustrated in thi s
chapter shoul d be l earned as par of general phoneti c knowl edge necessary i n
deal i ng wi th the descri pti on of vocal i c systems.
Engl i sh di phthongs are general l y descri bed as fal l i ng di phthongs, some
ti mes al so referred to as ' di mi nuendo di phthongs' , whi ch means that the fi rst el e
ment i s more stressed than the second. The opposite of fal l i ng di phthongs i s the
category of ri si ng di phthongs (' crescendo di phthongs' ) , typi cal l y found, for exam
pl e, i n I tal i an (as i n ' mi el e' or ' pi u) . The phonol ogi cal approaches whi ch anal yse
sequences i n Engl i sh words l i ke ' cu e' and ' few' as i ncl udi ng a di phthong IIu/ woul d
recogni se t he exi stence of ri si ng di phthongs i n Engl i sh as wel l . However, before
we get to i ssues rel ated to the syl l abl e, thi s can be i gnored, and we can general l y
assume that Engl i sh di phthongs can be adequatel y descri bed as fal l i ng.
Fi nal l y, i t shoul d be noted that cl osi ng di phthongs can combi ne wi th / a/
wi thi n t he same syl l abl e, t hus produci ng tri phthongs, as i n ' coward' and 'fi re. I n
speech, however, these tend t o be smoothed out i nto di phthongs or even
monophthongs, parti cul arl y i n l ess formal regi sters. Thi s process of smoothi ng,
whi ch wi l l be di scussed separatel y i n the chapter on connected speech, woul d re
sult in pronunci ati ons such as [ko: ad, fo: a, fa] . I n vi ew of thi s, i t may be sai d that
tri phthongs have a somewhat margi nal rol e i n the Engl i sh vocal i c system.
47
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
Exercises
1 . How woul d you defi ne Received Pronunci ati on geographi cal l y and soci ol i ngu
istical ly? Whi ch other varieties of Engl i sh pronunci ati on are you fami l i ar with?
2. What i s the basi c arti cul atory di ference between consonants and vowel s?
3. What are the cri teri a empl oyed by tradi ti onal arti cul atory phoneti cs to cl assify
consonants? l l l ustrate the use of these cri teri a !n the descri pti on of the arti cul a
ti on of the i ni ti al consonant i n the word 'j ourney' .
4. I n the series of words given bel ow i dentif the categories of RP consonants i ndicated
for each seri es. Where there are such sounds, i ndi cate them by underl i ni ng the cor
respondi ng letters in the spel l i ng, but do not let the spel l i ng mi slead you! Check the
pronunciation of the words whi ch look tric with the pronounci ng di cti onar!
4. 1 . FRI CATI VES:
five, Thames, northern , j udge, century, thi nk, wi ne, shoe, draught, category
4. 2. ALVEOLARS:
Thomas, l i p, red, si ng, half, Thai l and, damn, damnati on, Mal col m, thyme
4. 3. BI LABI ALS:
bomb, bombi ng, bombard, pheasant, pneumoni a, raspberry, subtl e, wave
4. 4. VELARS:
si nk, Connecti cut, hang, hangi ng, Tucson, si nger, heavy, green, stronger
4. 5. VOI CELESS :
cease, conSUl , i nsi st, l ethal , northern, si ze, mel t, debt, tough , Scouse
5. Descri be the consonant sounds at the begi nni ng of the words wi th reference to
RP. Empl oy three cri teri a: the pl ace of arti cul ati on, the manner of arti cul ati on
and voi ci ng:
5. 1 . church:
5. 2. love:
5. 3. ready:
PLACE MANNER VOI CI NG
6. Provi de the ri ght phoneti c symbol s for the fol l owi ng consonants:
6. 1 . voi cel ess vel ar pl osi ve:
6. 2. voi ced pal ato-al veol ar fri cati ve:
6. 3. bi l abi al gl i de:
7. What are the three parameters i nvolved in the cardi nal vowel di agram? How many
theoreti cal degrees of openi ng are recogni sed i n the cardi nal vowel scal e?
8. How many cardi nal vowel s are there al l together? What i s the di ference be
tween pri mary and secondary cardi nal vowel s?
48
PHONEMI C SYSTEMS
9. Take one cardi nal vowel of your own choi ce, provi de the correct phoneti c sym
bol for i t and descri be the qual i ty of thi s vowel by referri ng to the three tradi ti onal
parameters. Do Engl i sh or Croati an make di sti ncti ve use of a vowel compara
bl e to that cardi nal vowel ? I f so, i denti fy any such vowel s.
1 0. The di agram given bel ow i ndi cates RP pure vowel s. I dentify each of them by
matchi ng the number from the di agram with the correspondi ng I PA symbol :
r, e, u, 3 : , i : , e, D, u : , e, a: , ::: , I
1 1 . Name some di fferences between RP and GenAm concerni ng the system of
pure vowel s!
1 2. I n the seri es of words gi ven bel ow i ndi cate the categori es of RP vowel s i ndi
cated for each seri es. Read the general i nstructi ons gi ven i n questi on 4.
1 2. 1 . FRONT:
bury, aunt, ant, shoe, shampoo, bi rd, champagne, di pl omat, Berkshi re
1 2. 2. ROUNDED :
food, occur, yacht, bl ood, car, monkey, donkey, cartoon, bury
1 2. 3. TENSE:
bi g, shoe, beauty, put , beat, tomb, serene, sereni ty, thesi s
1 3. How are di phthongs descri bed arti cul atori l y? What are the two consti tuent
parts of di phthongs?
.
14. What is the di ference between cl osi ng and centri ng di phthongs? Do you know
of any vari eti es of Engli sh whi ch do not have the category of centri ng di ph
thongs?
1 5. I denti fy a tri phthong i n an Engl i sh word.
49
CHAPTER 5
I PA SOUNDS AND NOTATI ON
5. 1 . Speci al categori es of sound
The symbol s used so far i n transcri pti on are al l symbol s of the I nternati onal
Phoneti c Al phabet ( I PA) . Wi th the excepti on of the symbol s for cardi nal vowel s
and a few others, they were al l used wi th reference to sounds found i n Engl i sh.
The fami l i ar Engl i sh sounds and t hei r correspondi ng symbol s wi l l now be pl aced
i nto a wi der framework. For that purpose, a bri ef survey of some sounds other
than those al ready descri bed wi l l be ofered i n the text that fol l ows. Thi s wi l l throw
some l i ght upon the general pri nci pl es of phoneti c notati on. Even more notabl y,
some i dea wi l l be gi ven of how wi de the range of sounds used by the worl d' s l an
guages i s.
One category of sounds whi ch may be consi dered as speci al i n thi s context
is the category of non-pul moni c sounds. It i ncl udes sounds for the producti on of
whi ch the stream of ai r is provi ded by some organ other than the l ungs. If the pro
ducer of the ai rstream mechani sm i s the gi otti s, i t i s sai d that the sound i s
gl ottal i c. Sounds produced i n thi s way shoul d by no means be confused wi th gl ot
tal sounds, such as the gi ottal fri cati ve [ hl . I n produci ng the l atter, the gi otti s i s onl y
the pl ace of arti cul ati on, and the ai rstream mechani sm is pul moni c. Two catego
ri es of sounds produced usi ng the gi ottal ai rstream mechani sm are di sti ngui shed:
i mpl osives and ej ectives.
I mpl osi ves are i ngressi ve pl osi ves, as the term i tsel f suggests. As wi th any
pl osi ves, thei r arti cul ati on i nvol ves a compl ete cl osure at some poi nt i n the mouth.
However, as op posed to the al ready fami l i ar egressi ve pl osi ves, for i mpl osi ves,
rather than bei ng compressed behi nd the cl osure, the ai r is rarefi ed. Thi s i s
achi eved by l oweri ng the l arynx. When the oral cl osure i s rel eased, the atmo
spheri c ai r i s sucked by the gl otti s i nto the mouth. Consequentl y, the l ung ai r sets
the vocal fol ds i nto moti on, causi ng phonati on. Thus, i mpl o
'
si ves are normal l y
voi ced. Thei r arti cul atory si mi l ari ty wi th thei r homorgani c egressi ve pl osi ves
21
i s
refl ected by the si mi l arity of the symbol s used to represent these two categori es of
sounds. I mpl osi ves are i ndicated by the symbol s D, and g, in whi ch a ri ght-faci ng
hook i s attached to the l etters b, d and g. I t i s often observed that i mpl osi ves have
a ' hol l ow' audi tory efect, whi ch students often cannot hel p compari ng wi th the typ-
Z1
The term ' homorganic' refers to sounds produced at the same pl ace of articul ati on.
51
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
i cal sound associ ated wi th i ndi gesti on. Thi s compari son, of course, shoul d not be
taken as part of the sci enti fi c descri pti on of the category of sounds under consi d
erati on . Sti l l , i t may be of some hel p i n gi vi ng some i dea of what they sound l i ke. I n
any case, i t shoul d be noted that audi tive i l l ustrati ons of al l categori es of sounds
recogni sed by the I PA, i ncl udi ng i mpl osi ves, are avai l abl e on record. Natural l y, l i s
teni ng to tapes wi th the sounds of the I PA usual l y makes part of any i ntroductory
phoneti cs or ear-trai ni ng course. I mpl osi ves are used di sti ncti vel y by l anguages
such as Vi etnamese, I gbo (spoken i n Ni geri a) and Si ndhi (spoken i n Paki stan and
I ndi a) .
The gl ottal i c ai rstream mechani sm is al so empl oyed for the producti on of
ej ecti ves, whi ch are in thei r manner of arti cul ati on comparabl e to thei r voi cel ess
homorgani c pul moni c counterparts ( pl osi ves or l ess commonl y, fri cati ves) . Thus
the nature of the obstacl e i n the mouth i s the same as for those pul moni c sounds,
but the acti vi ty of the gi otti s i s di ferent. Whi l e the ai r i s compressed i n the mouth
behi nd the oral obstacl e, the gi otti s remai ns cl osed, after whi ch it i s suddenl y re
l eased. The resul ti ng sounds are transcri bed wi th an apostrophe fol l owi ng the cor
respondi ng symbol , e. g. , p' , t' , k' , s' . Ejectives are used di sti nctivel y in l anguages
such as Quechua (spoken i n several countri es of South Ameri ca by I ndi an peo
pl es of the Andes) or Amhari c (spoken i n Ethi opi a) .
Yet another category of non-pul moni c sounds i ncl udes those sounds pro
duced with a vel ari c ai rstream mechani sm. These sounds are commonl y referred
to as cl i cks. They are stop consonants, in the producti on of whi ch the rel ease of
the cl osure is accompani ed by the sucti on of ai r at the vel um, achi eved by down
ward movement of the tongue body. One such sound can be heard i n Engl i sh, but
i ts functi on i s rather margi nal there: i t i s used paral i ngui sti cal l y, to express di sap
proval . I t i s i ndicated i n wri ti ng by ' tut tut' i n Bri ti sh Engl i sh and ' tsk tsk' i n Ameri can
Engl i sh. However, cl i cks can be used as di sti ncti ve units of phonemi c systems,
whi ch i s the case wi th l anguages such as Zul u and Xhosa. So, for exampl e, the fa
mi l i ar tut-tut sound is an al veol ar cl i ck, symbol i sed in the recent I PA notati on by
the excl amati on mark [ ! l . Other exampl es of cl i cks woul d i ncl ude one whi ch
sounds l i ke a ki ss, a bi l abi al cl i ck, symbol i sed by the ' bul l ' s eye' , 0, whi ch i s used
di sti ncti vel y i n a number of Bushman l anguages, or the l ateral cl i ck [I I ] , a phone me
of most Bushman l anguages.
The next category of sounds deservi ng to be menti oned here i s that of gut
tural s. They are often subject to a termi nol ogi cal mi x- up, bei ng i mpressi oni sti cal l y
and wrongl y i denti fi ed wi th any back sounds. The term shoul d actual l y be re
served for gi ottal , pharyngeal and uvul ar pl aces of arti cul ati on, whi ch arguabl y,
accordi ng to some recent phonol ogi cal approaches, form a natural cl ass of
sounds, functi oni ng as a uni tary phonol ogi cal category. I n any case, some exam
pl es of guttural sounds woul d i ncl ude the voi cel ess uvul ar stop [q] , a phoneme of
Arabi c, i ts voi ced counterpart [G] , used di sti ncti vel y in Eski mo, or the voi cel ess
pharyngeal fri cati ve [h] , another Arabi c phoneme.
52
I PA SOUNDS AND NOTATI ON
Now we turn to a category of sounds whi ch are not speci al i n the sense of
requi ri ng some speci al ai rstream mechani sm or bei ng produced at what we tend
to see as an unusual pl ace, but are sti l l i mportant enough to be menti oned i n the
present context. These i ncl ude sounds used di sti ncti vel y i n Croati an or i n some
other l anguages whi ch Croati an speakers are l i kel y to know, or sounds character
i sti c of some vari eti es of Engl i sh that are not deal t wi th expl i ci tl y i n thi s book.
We shal l l ook at some Croati an consonants whi ch are often the source of
i nterference from Croati an in the Engl i sh spoken by Croati an speakers. Basi cal l y,
these are non-Engl i sh sounds, whi ch tend to i nterfere i n the pronunci ati on of thei r
si mi l ar correl ates found i n Engl i sh. The first two Croati an consonants from thi s
category are the pal atal s f and ]. The former i s the l ateral i ndi cated i n the spel l i ng
by the di graph l and the l atter is the nasal pal atal , spel t as nj. It shoul d be noted
that these do not exist in Engl i sh and shoul d not be confused wi th the si mi l arl y
soundi ng combi nati ons of sounds [l j] and [nj] , found i n Engl i sh i n words such as
' rebel l i on' or ' news' . To emphasi se once agai n the mi sl eadi ng nature of the spel l
i ng conventi ons i n phoneti c anal ysi s, i t may be observed that pal atal sounds i ndi
cated i n the I PA conventi ons by the above symbol s, ' turned y' and ' n wi th l efward
hook at l ef' , in I tal i an are wri tten as g/ and gn, respecti vel y.
Two other Croati an consonants that deserve to be menti oned at thi s poi nt are
the voiceless vel ar fricative [x] and the l abi odental approxi mant [u] . The former i s i n
teresti ng because i t i s ofen pronounced i n pl ace of the Engl i sh [h] , whi ch i n RP i s
gl ottal .
22
The latter i s commonl y pronounced by Croati an speakers i n pl ace of the
Engl i sh fricative [v] . I t shoul d be noted that the arti cul ation of the Croati an [u] is con
si derabl y l ooser than that of the mi sl eadi ngly si mi l ar Engl i sh fricative and rather than
being the voi ced pair of the fricative Ifl, i t i s an approxi mant i n Croati an. Thi s al so has
i mportant phonol ogi cal i mpl icati ons, whi ch, however, cannot be di scussed here.
A few words are al so i n order about the sound whi ch was menti oned i n our
RP consonantal chart, but its descri pti on was left for a l ater poi nt. Thi s i s the sound
i ndi cated i n transcri pti on by the symbol D ( , i nverted w' ) . I t stands for the voi cel ess
rounded l abi ovel ar approxi mant or fricati ve. The sound i s heard i n those vari eti es
of Engl i sh whi ch di sti ngui sh which from witch. The l abi ovel ar sound then functi ons
as an addi ti onal member of the phonemi c system i n those Engl i sh accents.
2
3
The
sound i tsel f i s phoneti cal l y i nteresti ng i n that we refer to two poi nts of arti cul ati on i n
i ts arti cul atory descri pti on. That i s, to pronounce i t, one si mul taneousl y rounds the
l i ps and rai ses the back of the tongue.
The next category of sounds treated here as speci al i s that of rhoti es. I t i n
cl udes vari ous ki nds of r-l i ke sounds. I n l anguages usi ng the Roman al phabet
such sounds are commonl y spel t by the l etter ' r' . I n the Greek Cl phabet the corre
spondi ng l etter i s ' rho' , hence the term ' rhoti c' and the rel ated termi nol ogi cal di s-
ZZ
The velar x, l ike the Croatian one is heard in Scottish Engl ish.
Z3
The l abi ovel ar occurs i n General Ameri can, i n Scotti sh Engl i sh and i n I rish Engl i sh more
often than in other varieties. However, its occurrence al so depends on social and stylistic factors.
53
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
ti ncti on between the rhoti c and non-rhoti c accents of Engl i sh. At thi s poi nt i t i s i n
teresti ng to note that among the non-rhoti c vari eti es of Engl i sh are, i n the fi rst
pl ace, most of the accents spoken in Engl and. Recentl y i t has been wi del y ob
served that even i n those Engl i sh accents consi dered to be rhoti c, rhoti ci ty i s
sharpl y recessi ve, especi al l y i n urban areas. Other vari eti es of Engl i sh pronunci a
ti on commonl y descri bed as non-rhoti c i ncl ude those spoken i n Wal es, Austral i a,
New Zeal and, South Afri ca and Tri ni dad. On t he other hand most of t he vari eti es
of Engl i sh spoken i n the U. S. , Scotl and, I rel and, Canada, Barbados and certai n
parts of West Engl and count as rhoti c (cf. Wel l s 1 982) .
The reason why these r-sounds are speci al i s that i n Engl i sh, j ust as i n
many other l anguages, the rhoti c phoneme has a rather wi de range of di sti nct
phoneti c real i sati ons, whi ch ofen depend on geographi c, soci al or i di osyncrati c
factors. Thus the post-al veol ar fricti onl ess conti nuant [J] whi ch was i ncl uded i n our
RP consonantal chart i s j ust one of them. Phonol ogi cal l y speaki ng, thi s means
that the range of performance of thi s phoneme i s rather wi de.
We are now goi ng to l ook at some rhotics other than [J] . As expl ai ned earl i er,
the reason why for practi cal purposes any of them may be transcri bed wi th the ordi
nary l etter ' r' i s purel y one of notati onal conveni ence. I n the I PA conventi ons, how
ever, each type of the l etter ' r' i ndi cates a diferent sound type. Thus, speaki ng
strictly i n I PA terms, the ordi nary letter ' r' shoul d be reserved for the rhoti c whi ch i s
produced as an al veol ar tri l l . Tri l l s are sounds for whi ch the active ari cul ator ( i ri thi s
case the apex of the tongue) i s fl utteri ng i n a turbul ent stream of ai r, thus stri ki ng the
passi ve ari cul ator (here the al veol ar ri dge) rapi dl y and repeatedl y. The sound can
be heard i n Croatian, parti cul arl y i n the case of the ' syl l abi c r
'
, i n words such as ' trg' .
I n Croati an i t i s then descri bed as ' treperavi r' . I f the contact between the apex of the
tongue and the passi ve arti cul ator i s not performed repeatedl y i n the phoneti c real i
sati on of the rhoti c, but rather i s a one-of gesture, we get a diferent type of rhoti c.
One such rhoti c, typi cal l y heard i n Croati an ( as i n ' ruka' or ' more' ) i s the fl ap, for
whi ch the I PA conventi ons reserve the symbol 1, 'fi sh hook r' . For thi s sound the
apex of the tongue i s retracted and whi l e returni ng to its rest posi ti on, i t stri kes the
passi ve arti cul ator j ust once. Most Croati an speakers are not aware of thi s subtl e
phoneti c di sti ndi on between the tri l l and the fl ap, but i n Spani sh thi s represents a
cl ear phonol ogi cal opposi ti on, commonl y i l l ustrated by the mi ni mal pai r ' perro'
(' dog' ) vs. ' pero' (' but' ) . Fl aps are very si mi l ar to taps, represented by the same 'fi sh
hook' symbol , but wi th taps the l i kewise rapi d and one-of contact between the two
arti cul ators is performed wi thout the precedi ng retracti on of the tongue. Thus the
apex i s onl y rai sed to tap some poi nt at the roof of the mouth (typi cal l y the al veol ar
ri dge) . Both fl aps and taps are heard i n vari ous Engl i sh accents, but not necessari l y
as the real izati on of the phoneme IrI. So, for exampl e, i n most vari eti es of Ameri can
Engl i sh, as wel l as i n Ul ster Engl i sh and Geordi e (the accent of Tynesi de), the al ve
ol ar tap occurs as an al l ophone of It in contexts such as 'writi ng' or ' atom' .
24
ln Scot-
The phonol ogi cal context for the appl i cati on of this rule wi l l be di scussed separatel y, at a
later poi nt.
54
I PA SOUNDS AND NOTATI ON
ti sh Engl i sh, however, the al veol ar tap i s the most usual real i sati on of Iri. I t i s al so
wi despread i n some accents of northern Engl and, as a ri val to [J] .
lt is al so i mportant to menti on here the retrofl ex rhoti c, symbol i sed by the
' turned r wi th ri ght tai l ' , ] , whi ch i s characteri sti c of General Ameri can , but i s al so
heard i n other vari eti es of Engl i sh, such as the West Country accent. The retrofl ex
i s produced by retracti ng the apex of the tongue and bri ngi ng its l ower surface i nto
proxi mi ty wi th the roof of the mouth.
Another rhotic commonl y needed in phoneti c descri pti ons is the uvul ar,
varyi ng i n i ts manner of ari cul ati on from the approxi mant to the fricative and i ndi
cated by the i nverted smal l capi tal l etter W. General l y, the uvul ar real i zati on of
rhotics is associ ated with French and thi s sound type is popul arl y referred to as the
' French R' . However, i t shoul d be noted that the noti on of ' French R' al so covers the
uvul ar tri l l , symbol i sed by the smal l capi tal l etter R, whi ch i s characteri sti c of some
vari eti es of French, as wel l as European Portuguese. To produce thi s sound, the
uvul a vi brates agai nst the back of the tongue. The uvul ar rhoti c i s i nteresti ng to a
student of Engl i sh because, as Wel l s ( 1 982: 41 1 ) observes, it is
'
surprsingly com
mon as a personal idiosyncrasy in some pars of Scotland. Perhaps the best-known
case of the uvul ar real i sati on of Iri in Engl i sh i s that of the so-cal l ed ' Norhumbri an
burr' , heard i n Northumberl and, the northernmost county of Engl and.
By way of i l l ustrati ng the wi de range of phoneti c qual i ti es of rhoti cs i n the
worl d' s l anguages, i t may be i nteresti ng to menti on yet another one, al though i t i s
i rrel evant to the descri pti on of Engl i sh. I t i s the al veol ar fri cati ve tri l l , symbol i sed i n
the I PA conventi ons by the l etter ' r' wi th the rai si ng di acri ti c, r . The sound occurs i n
Czech, where it i s symbol i sed by the l etter ' f' . Otherwi se i t i s often observed that it
i s an extremel y rare sound.
From what has been sai d about rhotics, i t shoul d be obvi ous that thi s category
real l y occupi es a speci al pl ace in the descri pti on of Engl i sh. Thi s i s not so onl y be
cause of the i nteresti ng phonol ogi cal di stri buti on of the sound, on the basis of whi ch
the varieties of Engl i sh are divi ded i nto two major categories: rhotic and non-rhoti c.
Phonetical l y speaki ng, the phoneme /rl i s al so i nteresti ng i n Engl i sh i n that it has a
wi de range of real izati ons. So, for exampl e, in Wel sh Engl i sh these real izati ons vary
from [rl through [r] to [J] , and in Scottish Engl i sh the gamut covers fr] , [rl , [J] and [I] . As
has been obsered earl i er, the occurrence of the last one is subject to i diosyncratic
vari ati on. However, it shoul d be noted that the phonetic real i sation of the rhotic may
al so be a matter of al l ophoni c variati on. Thus i n I ri sh Engl i sh, the di stri buti on of [J] and
[. i s contextual l y determi ned, i n ways whi ch need not concern us at thi s poi nt.
The l ast category of sounds that we shal l be l ooki ng at i n thi s context i n
cl udes a few sound types that have not been di scussed unti l now, and a student of
Engl i sh is l i kel y to come across them in l i terature. Some consonants that deserve
to be menti oned here al ong wi th thei r correspondi ng I PA symbol s i ncl ude c, J, f,
r, <, y, <, and Z, so we shal l i dentify each of them in turn.
The l etter 'c' is the phoneti c symbol for the voi cel ess pal atal stop, typi cal ly
found in Hungari an, where i t is represented in orthography by 'ty' . However, i t i s al so
55
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
occasi onal l y used to represent the africate found i n Croati an, i ndi cated by the
same l etter i n spel l i ng. Thus, whenever thi s phoneti c symbol occurs i n l i terature,
one shoul d take i nto account the l anguage referred to, to know whether one is deal
i ng wi th a stop or an afri cate. The voi ced counterpart of the pal atal stop c i s J, whi ch
i s al so found i n Hungari an, i n words l i ke Magyar. To put i t i mpressi oni sti cal l y, i t i s
ofen observed that to a Croati an ear i t sounds l i ke a 'very sof d' .
The ' Hooktop h' , f, is the I PA symbol for the voi ced gl ottal fri cative, an al
ternati ve symbol for the l etter ' h' , whi ch was used for the correspondi ng Engl i sh
gi ottal sound i n our tabl e i n chapter 4. The reason why the l atter was used was not
onl y typographi c conveni ence, but al so the fact that the gi ottal ' h' covers both the
approxi mant as wel l as the fri cati ve. Si nce both sound types are commonl y heard
in Engl i sh pronunci ati on, ' h' proved to be more adequate, as it covers both.
and < are bi l abi al fri catives, whi ch occur i n the worl d' s l anguages com
monl y enough to be worth menti oni ng i n thi s context. i s a bi i abi ai voi ced fri cati ve,
exempl i fi ed in the Spani sh word ' i ba' (' was' ) . < stands for the voi cel ess bi l abi al fri
cati ve, heard in Japanese and used di sti ncti vel y in a l anguage l i ke Ewe. y stands
for the voi ced vel ar fri cative, whi ch agai n occurs i n Spani sh, where i t can be
heard i ntervocal i cal l y, as i n ' hago' (' I make' ) .
' C cedi l l a' , 9, i s t he I PA symbol for t he voi cel ess pal atal fri cative. I ts poi nt
of arti cul ati on i s between u and [x] . I n some vari ants of Engl i sh pronunci ati on i t i s
heard i ni ti al l y i n words such as ' hue' . The sound i s commonl y heard i n German, as
i n the fi nal posi ti on of ' i ch' . A si mi l ar fri cati ve, but sl i ghtl y di fferent wi th respect to
the pl ace of arti cul ati on i s the prepal atal , symbol i sed by the ' curl y- tai l c' . I ts
pl ace of arti cul ati on is further forward than for 9 (true pal atal ) , but not as far for
ward as for S. Thi s sound is i nteresti ng in that it can be i denti fi ed as the second el e
ment of the Croati an afri cate t, known as the ' soft ' . I t i s by thi s fri cati ve compo
nent of the affri cate that thi s Croati an sound i s di sti ngui shed from its ' hard'
counterpart, ts, i ndi cated i n t he spel l i ng as ' ' . The prepal atal voi cel ess fri cati ve
al so occurs in Pol i sh, where it is spel t as s. The voi ced counterpart of i s , whi ch,
by anal ogy, can be heard as the second el ement of the Croati an ' soft' voi ced afri
cate spel t as ' d' .
These few speci al sounds i ncl uded i n the l ast category are i ntended j ust to
i l l ustrate the wi de range of possi bi l i ti es used by the worl d' s l anguages. Students
are encouraged to l eaf through the Phoneti c Symbol Gui de by Pul l um and
Ladusaw, referred to i n the l i st of suggested readi ngs i n thi s book. I n thi s way they
can become acquai nted wi th many more possi bi l i ti es and make a habi t of usi ng
thi s type of l i terature.
5. 2. Some al l ophones of Engl i sh phonemes
A few al l ophones of Engl i sh phonemes have al ready been menti oned to i l
l ustrate the noti on of al l ophony or i n connecti on wi th the pri nci pl es of the
ari cul atory descri pti on and cl assifi cati on of Engl i sh consonants. I n thi s chapter
56
I PA SOUNDS AND NOTATI ON
we shal l l ook at some more, usi ng the occasi on to l earn some more pri nci pl es of
I PA notati on, notabl y, the use of di acri ti cal si gns. Before we start deal i ng wi th
them, i t shoul d be stressed that stri ctl y physi cal l y speaki ng, the number of possi
bl e real i zati ons a phoneme can have i s i ndefi ni te, because no two sounds that we
utter are ever physi cal l y the same, even though the di ference between them may
be bel ow the threshol d of human percepti on. I t woul d thus be i mpossi bl e to gi ve
an exhausti ve l i st of al l the al l ophones of any phoneme in thi s sense. What we are
deal i ng wi th when descri bi ng such sounds necessari l y i nvol ves some degree of
abstracti on and even though the noti on of al l ophone does refer to the physi cal re
al i zati on of a phoneme, what we are operati ng wi th in thi s context, is sound types.
One of the fi rst cases of al l ophoni c vari ati on was i l l ustrated by i ntroduci ng
the noti on of aspi rati on. Let us reca I I now that i n Engl i sh some consonants can be
pronounced wi th audi bl e breath i n certai n contexts. From the physi ol ogi cal poi nt
of vi ew, aspi rati on takes pl ace when i n the course of the arti cul ati on of a voi cel ess
pl osi ve (p, t, k) the vocal fol ds remai n open for a whi l e before they begi n to vi brate
for the fol l owi ng voi ced segment. The passage of ai rstream through the gi otti s
duri ng that ti me i s heard as aspi rati on . The l onger the peri od before the onset of
voi ce for the fol l owi ng vowel , the greater the degree of aspi rati on. I n di fferent con
texts, the Engl i sh voi cel ess pl osi ves, Ipl, Itl and IkI have di ferent degrees of aspi
rati on. Phoneti ci ans measure the degree of aspi rati on by measuri ng the voi ce on
set ti me (VOT) , referred to earl i er. However, for our purposes, i t i s sufi ci ent to
i dentify two extreme cases, ful l aspi rati on and total unaspi rati on. The former fea
ture can be observed when one of the consonants under consi derati on i s fol l owed
by a vowel in a stressed syl l abl e. So, for exampl e, ful l aspi rati on, i ndi cated by the
superscri pt l etter " h" , can be heard in the fol l owi ng contexts:
pit [p
h
It] ,
tip [t
h
Ip] ,
cat [k
h
rt] ,
appear [e ' p
h
Ie] ,
attend [e t
h
end] ,
account [e k
h
aunt] ,
appendix [ e p
h
endIks ]
seventeen [ , seven t
h
i : n]
tycoon [taI k
h
u : n]
The other extreme, that i s, total unaspi rati on is found when one of these con
sonants i s preceded by [s] . Unaspi rati on then takes pl ace even if the pl osi ve i s fol
l owed by a stressed vowel , and thi s i s i ndi cated by the superscri pt "equal s" si gn:
spin [sp=In] , whisper [ ' wIsp=e] , skin [sk=In] , fast [fa : sC]
Another feature that can vary i n stop consonants in general is the type of re
l ease of the cl osure. When thei r manner of arti cul ati on was descri bed in chapter 4,
i t was observed that the thi rd stage of the arti cul ati on of a pl osi ve sound consi sts
of an abrupt rel ease of the cl osure, whi ch resul ts i n a sudden burst of ai r, meta
phori cal l y compared to an expl osi on. Thi s, however, hol ds true onl y of i deal i sed,
57
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
typi cal representati ves of i ndi vi dual sound types, pronounced i n i sol ati on. I n real
contexts of speech t he type of rel ease vari es consi derabl y, depend i ng on t he fol
l owi ng segment. To i l l ustrate the pri nci pl es of thi s vari ati on, as wel l as the corre
spondi ng di acri ti cs, we wi l l start with the exampl e of the Engl i sh phoneme JpJ with
some of i ts al l ophones.
l t i s assumed that the most typi cal representati ves of pl osi ve sounds have
an oral rel ease. However, when fol l owed by a nasal , pl osi ves can have a nasal re
l ease. I n narrow transcri pti on thi s is i ndi cated by addi ng to the basi c symbol a su
perscri pt l etter for the nasal , whi ch can be ' n' , ' m' or ' 1' , dependi ng on the pl ace of
arti cul ati on of the segment i n questi on . Thus to i ndi cate the nasal rel ease of the [p]
in 'topmost', we use the symbol pm. To save up on arti cul atory gestures, the
speaker natural l y uses the same porti on of ai rstream for both consonants and
thus ' ki l l s two bi rds wi th one stone' . Thi s ki nd of economy of speech i s, after al l , the
ul ti mate moti vati on behi nd al l al l ophoni c vari ati on. I n anal ogous contexts, al l the
other pl osi ves can have a nasal rel ease. Here are some more exampl es of con
texts for the occurrence of such nasal l y rel eased pl osi ves:
W] i n wi tness
[kD] i n acknowl edge
[bm] i n submari ne
[ dn] i n Rodney
[gD] i n i gnore
The rel ease of a pl osi ve can al so be non-audi bl e, whi ch typi cal l y happens
when the pl osi ve i s fol l owed by another oral stop, arti cul ated at some diferent
poi nt. The non-audi bl e rel ease i s i ndi cated by a superscri pt ' corner' , as i n the fol
l owi ng cases:
[p " ] in apt
[t " ] i n outgrw
[ k " ] in act
[b " ] i n subg/otta/
[g " ] in sagged
I f a pl osi ve i s fol l owed by another homorgani c pl osi ve, i t typi cal l y has no re
lease of i ts own at al l . Thi s si tuati on of no rel ease i s i ndi cated by a di acri ti c cal l ed
' arch' , whi ch i s agai n used as a superscri pt:
58
[pn] i n c/ipboard
[n i n hot dog
[dn] i n bedtime
I PA SOUNDS AND NOTATI ON
Di acri ti cal si gns are not al ways superscri bed on the basi c symbol . I n the
case of one of the al l ophones of the Engl i sh phone me Ill, whi ch was i dentifi ed i n
connecti on wi th secondary arti cul ati on i n the descri pti on of the RP consonantal
system, we i dentifi ed ' l' as the symbol for the vel ari zed l ateral . I n thi s case the di a
cri ti cal si gn ' -' (' ti l de' ) was written across the symbol to i ndicate vel ari zati on.
Wri tten above t he basi c symbol , t he same di acri ti c means ' nasal i zati on' . Thus if i n
narrow transcri pti on we wanted t o i ndi cate that t he vowel of man i s somewhat na
sal i zed, i t woul d be transcri bed by the symbol ' r' .
l n t he consonantal chart for RP two di acri ti cs were empl oyed underneath
the basi c symbol s. One of them i ndi cated a dental real i zati on of otherwi se al veol ar
consonants ( i n the t of 'eighth' and g of 'width and the other was used for parti al
devoi ci ng ( i n the of 'lay' and of 'cry. The former i s cal l ed ' bri dge' and the l at
ter i s known as ' underri ng' .
There are two more pai rs of di acri ti cs that deserve t o be menti oned i n thi s
context: the pl us and mi nus si gn and the rai si ng vs. l oweri ng si gn. The pl us si gn,
' +' i ndi cates an advanced vari ety of a segment, ei ther a vowel or a consonant.
Thus [kl can be used for the al l ophone of the Engl i sh phoneme Ik whi ch occurs
before a front vowel , as i n 'key'. I n thi s case the consonant is real i zed somewhat
further front, cl oser to the pal atal area than the true vel ar i n a word l i ke 'car'. li ke
wi se, the pl us si gn i s used i n I PA notati on to i ndi cate a somewhat advanced vari
ety of a vowel . Thus the vowel often heard i n words l i ke 'car' i n the Engl i sh spoken
by Croati an speakers i s a somewhat fronted vari ety of the i ntended Engl i sh vowel .
Thi s vowel can be phoneti cal l y transcri bed as [ a l . Natural l y, Croati an speakers
tend to pronounce it under the i nfl uence of the
C
roati an rather front [al , and thi s
ki nd of vari ati on i s not a contextual l y determi ned case of al l ophony i n Engl i sh. By
anal ogy wi th ' +' , the mi nus si gn ' -' i s used i n phoneti c notati on to i ndi cate conso
nantal or vocal i c retracti on. Thus [dj and [
tl represent pal atoal veol ar, rather than
al veol ar vari eti es of Idi and Itl i n 'drink' and 'trunk' respecti vel y. By anal ogy, the
same di acri ti c can be used to i ndi cate a somewhat retracted vari ety of any vowel .
The ' rai si ng si gn' underneath t he basi c symbol for a vowel i ndi cates a
cl oser ( i . e. , hi gher) vari ety of that vowel . Thus, the Engl i sh phoneme lal is real i zed
by a hal f-cl ose vari ety before lk, g, 1/, as i n 'recognize', where i t can be narrowl y
transcri bed as [l . On the other hand, i n word-fi nal posi ti on, thi s Engl i sh vowel i s
real i zed by i ts hal f-open vari ety, for whi ch we use the l oweri ng si gn, as i ndicated i n
the symbol for the fi nal vowel of 'sofa', [' saufl . Al ternati vel y, some l i ngui sts use
another pai r of symbol s to i ndi cate rai si ng vs. l oweri ng, i . e. , the ' underdot' and re
specti vel y, ' hal f-ri ng' , so students are al so l i kel y to come across these, especi al l y
i f they are studyi ng I tal i an and know of exampl es such as [vE nt il vs. [v

nt il .
However, as the Phoneti c Symbol Gui de warns, these have many di verse uses
and for thi s reason 'should be avoided where possible. '
Al though most of the ti me phoneti cal l y i nteresti ng al l ophones of Engl i sh
phonemes are i ndi cated by means of a- di acri ti cal si gn attached to the basi c sym
bol , thi s i s not necessari l y al ways the case. A sound that occurs as a contextual l y
determi ned vari ety of some phoneme i n any gi ven l anguage may be represented
59
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
by a separate basi c symbol . Thus, i n some posi ti ons wi thi n the syl l abl e lp, t, kl are
real i zed by the gi ottal stop, [ 2] . The context for the occurrence of the gi ottal stop i n
RP i s the same i n whi ch III i s real i zed by its ' dark' , vel ari sed vari ety and wi l l be fur
ther expl ai ned at some l ater poi nt i n connecti on wi th the syl l abl e. I f a gi ven seg
ment i s not ful l y repl aced by the gi ottal stop, but i s rather pronounced wi th some
audi bl e gi ottal i zati on, the same symbol can be used as a superscri pt di acri ti c.
Thus ' ?x' woul d be the symbol for a pre-gl ottal i zed [x] . I t shoul d be noted that
gi ottal i zati on i s not parti cul arl y extensi ve i n RP. As observed earl i er, the vari ety of
Engl i sh pronunci ati on where i t i s very commonl y heard i s Cockney.
Exercises
1 . Name a l anguage whi ch makes di sti ncti ve use of i mpl osi ves.
2. What is the basi c di ference between i mpl osi ves and ej ecti ves?
3. How are ejecti ves represented i n the notati onal conventi ons of the I PA?
4. What are cl i cks? What i s meant by the ' paral i ngui sti c' use of cl i cks in Engl i sh?
5. Descri be the arti cul ati on of your favouri te cl i ck sound and i ts correspondi ng
symbol .
6. Name some guttural sound and a l anguage that makes di sti ncti ve use of i t.
7. What i s a potenti al pi tfal l i n the pronunci ati on of Engl i sh words l i ke ' news' and
' val ue' for nati ve speakers of Croati an?
8. How i s t he Croati an i ni ti al consonant of ' Hrvatska' di ferent from t he Engl i sh one
i n ' heavy' ?
9. What i s the phoneti c di ference between the Croati an i ni ti al segment of ' vaza'
and the Engl i sh i ni ti al consonant of ' very' ?
1 0. How do you account for the fact that some Engl i sh speakers have one more
consonant i n thei r phonemi c system than the others?
1 1 . What i s the di fference between the rhoti c and non-rhoti c accents of Engl i sh?
Name a few vari eti es from each of the categori es.
1 2. What i s the phoneti c di ference between the RP ' r' and i ts General Ameri can
counterpart?
1 3. Defi ne and exempl ify tri l l s, fl aps and taps!
1 4. What i s the ' Northumbri an burr' ?
1 5. How woul d you descri be the arti cul ati on of the Croati an [rl to a forei gner?
1 6. Do you know a forei gn l anguage other than Engl i sh that uses an i nteresti ng
rhoti c sound?
1 7. Can you name a l anguage whi ch you associ ate wi th a parti cul arl y i nteresti ng
sound, not found i n any of the l anguages you speak?
1 8. Name some al l ophones of the Engl i sh phonemes Ipl, Igl and lal.
1 9. What types of rel ease can a pl osi ve have? Gi ve some exampl es from Engl i sh!
20. What i s your favourite di acri ti cal si gn. I l l ustrate i ts use i n phoneti c notati on.
60
CHAPTER 6
CONNECTED SPEECH
The phoneti c descri pti on and cl assi fi cati on of what we have referred to as
' speech sounds' so far has i nvol ved a great deal of i deal i sati on in two respects.
Fi rst, as observed earl i er, the use of the pl ural form of the noun ' sound' in thi s con
text i s at odds wi th the fact that speech i s a conti nuum of sound and i t i s onl y our
mi nd that anal yses thi s conti nuum i nto di screte units. However, the conveni ence
and necessi ty of referri ng to the physi cal real i ty of i ndi vi dual phonol ogi cal seg
ments separatel y, as i f there were some cl ear-cut boundari es between such seg
ments of sound , was expl ai ned earl i er, i n connecti on wi th the noti on of doubl e ar
ti cul ati on. What needs to be expl ai ned at thi s poi nt is the other sense in whi ch i n
our descri pti on of i ndi vi dual speech sounds we necessari l y operated wi th i deal
i sed sounds. That i s, i n most of thi s descri pti on i t was assumed that these sounds
were uttered i n i sol ati on, or, at best, when we were deal i ng wi th al l ophoni c vari a
ti on, that they were pronounced i n words that are uttered i n i sol ati on. I n real i ty,
however, most of the utterances we pronounce occur i n stretches of speech that
consi st of more than one word. Speech consi sti ng of such utterances i s then re
ferred to in phoneti cs as ' connected speech' . I n thi s chapter we are goi ng to focus
on some i nteresti ng connected-speech phenomena of Engl i sh pronunci ati on,
whi ch si gni fi cantl y afect the phoneti c qual i ty of i ndi vi dual sound segments, mak
i ng them di ferent from what they woul d be l i ke in i sol ati on. It is i mportant to note
that in thi s connecti on we shal l onl y be l ooki ng at the segmental features al ready
i ntroduced i n the descri pti on of the Engl i sh phonemi c system. Features havi ng to
do wi th phenomena such as i ntonati on and rhythm, whi ch al so represent ex
tremel y i mportant topi cs concerni ng connected-speech pronunci ati on , wi l l be
deal t wi th separatel y i n a chapter on prosody.
Before we proceed wi th the i denti fi cati on of the most i mportant con
nected-speech phenomena of Engl i sh
2
5
, i t shoul d be noted that the adaptati on of
segments to each other is a uni versal fact of human l anguage. Speakers of al l l an
guages natural l y tend to reduce any arti cul atory gesture whi ch i s not absol utel y
necessary for the comprehensi on of speech. That i s, the ul ti mate moti vati on be
hi nd al l such phenomena i n l anguages i s economy of speech. Despi te the uni ver-
Apart from those phenomena whi ch are defi ned wi th reference to rhoti city, al l the other
connected-speech phenomena deal t wi th i n thi s chapter equal l y appl y to al l standard vari eti es of
Engl i sh pronunci ati on.
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
sal nature of such phenomena, the strategi es that i ndi vi dual l anguages empl oy to
reduce arti cul atory gestures in connected speech are rather l anguage-speci fi c. A
case in poi nt is the phenomenon of weakeni ng, the most characteri sti c feature of
Engl i sh pronunci ati on. The fai l ure to appl y i t probabl y represents the greatest
gi ve-away of non-nati ve pronunci ati on. Thus in this context weakeni ng deserves
to be deal t wi th fi rst.
l n order to expl ai n weakeni ng, i t is necessary to refer to a major cl assifi ca
tion of words i nto two categori es, accordi ng to thei r functi on in l anguage and the
type of meani ng they convey. The fi rst category i s that of l exi cal words, al so
cal l ed content words. They compri se the majori ty of the words i n the di cti onary or
l exi con of a gi ven l anguage. Thei r functi on i s to carry l exi cal meani ng, i . e. , to refer
to somethi ng from extral i ngui sti c real i ty. Thus words l i ke 'book', 'love' or 'dog'
woul d bel ong to thi s category. By contrast, so-cal l ed grammati cal words, or func
ti on words, perform some grammati cal functi on wi thi n the sentence, so the mean
i ng they convey i s grammati cal .
26
Thi s category i ncl udes auxi l i ari es, preposi ti ons,
conj uncti ons, arti cl es, pronouns, as wel l as the quanti fi er ' some' and the words
'Saint' and 'Sir' used apposi ti vel y. I n connected speech these words occur i n what
are thei r weak forms, i f they occur i n an unstressed posi ti on (whi ch they do most of
the ti me) . Thus the modal auxi l i ary ' can' , i n an unstressed posi ti on i s typi cal l y pro
nounced as lkanl, as opposed to its strong form Ikrnl, occurri ng in i sol ati on, or i n
a context where i t i s stressed, as i n 'Yes, / can'. One and t he same word can have
more than one weak form, diferi ng among themsel ves i n the degree of weaken
i ng. What weakeni ng actual l y consi sts of i s pri mari l y the qual i tative reducti on of
the vowel . I n weak forms, the vowel s of grammati cal words are typi cal l y obscured
by bei ng reduced to lal, or, possi bl y, i n the case of 1i : 1 and lu: /, to thei r l ax counter
parts III and lul, as i n IhII and Iju/. I n cases of more radi cal weakeni ng, the vowel
can be compl etel y l ost, as i n Ik!1 for 'can' or I S V for 'shal' . I n the l atter two cases,
the syl l abi c functi on of the vowel is taken over by the fol l owi ng sonorant, whi ch i s
i ndi cated by the syl l abi ci ty mark ( _ ) underneath the consonants concerned. The
reducti on of the vocal i c qual ity of functi on words i n thei r weak forms i s often ac
compani ed by the l oss of the i ni ti al Ihl where appl i cabl e, as i n ladI for ' had' or lal
for ' her' . Al l the acceptabl e weak forms of Engl i sh grammati cal words are i denti
fi ed i n a speci al i sed pronounci ng di cti onary, whi ch students are strongl y advi sed
to make a habit of consul ti ng when faced with any pronunci ati on di l emma. Pho
neti cal l y speaki ng, the process of weakeni ng si gnifi cantl y obscures, Le. , makes
l ess i ntel l i gi bl e, the words afected. Thus i t i s no surpri se that Engl i sh cannot af
ford to do thi s to l exi cal words, whose i dentity cannot be so easi l y ' retrieved' from
thei r posi ti on and functi on wi thi n the sentence.
To make thi ngs even more di fi cul t to non-nati ve speakers of Engl i sh, the
occurrence of weak forms i n connected speech i s associ ated wi th yet another
Students ate ofen heard to say that grammati cal words carry no meani ng, whi ch i s, of
course, a wrong way of putti ng i t, because al l words convey some meani ng. I f they di d not, they woul d
not be there! l t i s onl y a matter of the lyp8of meani ng they have.
62
JOSIPOVI: PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH
phenomenon, the neutralization of weak forms. As observed above, individual
English words can have more than one weak form, and the weak forms of diferent
words can be homophonous. So, for example, Isl or Izl can be the weak forms of
both 'is' and 'has'; lani can stand for both 'an' and 'and' and so on. This situation in
English pronunciation is certainly one of the main reasons why it takes a foreigner
a much longer period of learning English to reach the level where he or she can
understand fluent native speech than it does for languages like Italian or Spanish,
where there is no comparable process of reduction. Likewise, speakers of the ma
jority of other languages, including Croatian, are highly likely to fail to apply this
process fully and properly when speaking English. Thus the quality of the un
stressed vowels of English in their speech, which is ofen influenced by the spell
ing, usually gives them away as foreigners. As a result of weakening, as well as
the fact that fully articulated vowels are generally avoided in unstressed positions
in English, the most typical vowel of English connected speech is lal, which is,
phonetically, the most neutral speech sound. In the present explanation, we have
focused only on the phonetic aspect of weakening, but this process also has an in
teresting phonological background. This, however, will be lef for a later chapter
on non-linear phonology.
Next we turn to another specifically English connected-speech phenome
non. What is meant by 'specifically English' here is not that it occurs in no other
language in the world, but simply that it is not universal, but, rather, has to do with
the rhythmical nature of the language concerned. In any case, this phenomenon is
not characteristic of Croatian and, as such, deserves some attention. English has
some characteristic connected-speech accentual patterns, that is, accentual
patterns of words which difer from those which the same words have if pro
nounced in isolation. That is, the distribution of primary and secondary stress of a
given word in connected speech is not necessarily always the one ofered by a
dictionary. Thus, the accentual pattern of 'thirteen' in the idealized, dictionary form
of the word is 1,83:iti:n/, with the primary stress on the second syllable and sec
ondary stress on the first one. However, if the word occurs in a context like 'thir
teen men', the primary and secondary accents are likely to switch places, giving
/83:,ti:n 'meni. Likewise, to refer to the most commonly cited examples from liter
ature, the same can happen in the pronunciation of 'champagne' in 'champagne
cocktail' /'S am , peIn 'kokteIlI or in the connected-speech version of 'Missis
sippi' in 'Mississippi legislature' I' mISI, SIPI 'led3I, sleIt S el. It should be
noted that these characteristic connected-speech accentual patterns are optional,
and the rule for this stress-switching appears to be applied correctly only when it
comes naturally, without any conscious efort. If it does not, a student of English
should stay content with being aware of it and knowing its explanation. The reason
why it happens is again one which concerns the rhythmical nature of English. To
put it simply, English is said to be a highly eurhythmicallanguage. This means
that it tends to regularise its rhythm ic patterns as much as possible, making the
rhythm sound pleasant. In order to achieve this, it tends to avoid successive
63
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
strong beats, whi ch woul d occur i n forms l i ke I , 8 3 : ' t i : n ' menlor l, S <m
' kok, teI lI l n addi ti on, it tends to regul arize the meter, by copyi ng leftward the
accentual pattern of the second word onto the first word of the phrase, thus arri v
i ng at I ' mIsI, sIPII, rather than l, mIsI ' SIPII or, to refer back to the previ ous
exampl e, I ' S <m , peIni, rather than l, S <m ' peIn/, whi ch sound more eurhy
thmi c i n combi nati on wi th I ' led3I , sl eIt S el and, respectivel y, I' kok, teI l/.
The next connected-speech phenomenon we shal l be l ooki ng at i s assi mi l a
ti on. Thi s i s the most natural and uni versal process, occurri ng i n al l l anguages. As
si mi l ati on has al ready been i ndi rectly deal t with in connecti on with al l ophoni c vari a
ti on, when it was observed, for exampl e, that the phoneme Idi i s real ized by its
dental al l ophone in a word l i ke ' wi dth' . Phonetical l y speaki ng, thi s i s a si mpl e case of
assi mi l ati on, that i s, adaptati on of a segment to the adjacent one, motivated by the
economy of speech. At thi s poi nt, however, we shal l be l ooki ng at the same type of
process in connected speech, that i s, at word boundari es. I n thi s ki nd of context any
feature can be assi mi l ated, or to put i t i n contemporary phonol ogi cal terms, spread,
from one segment to the other. Accordi ng to the di recti on of thi s spreadi ng, assi mi
l ati on can general l y be ei ther regressive or progressive. So, i n 'at last', pronounced
as [et O . st] , the feature [-voi ce] i s spread from the It of ' at' to the 11/ of the fol
l owi ng word, so thi s i s an exampl e of progressi ve voi ci ng assi mi l ati on. Conversel y,
'with thanks', pronounced as [wI 8 8<Iks] , provi des an i l l ustrati on of regressive
voi ci ng assi mi l ati on, as the feature [-voi ce] spreads i n the opposite di recti on, i . e. ,
from the second word lefward. Thi s can be represented as fol l ows:
' at l ast'

[ et o : st]
progressive
' wi th thanks'

[wI 8 8<Iks]
regressive
These two cases of connected-speech assi mi l ati on difer in yet another re
spect. I n ' at l ast' assi mi l ati on i s al l ophoni c, i . e. , the i denti ty of the ori gi nal phoneme
has been preserved, whereas i n ' wi th thanks' , the resul t of assi mi l ati on sounds as
a neutral i zed real i zati on of a phone me di fferent from the ori gi nal , ' underl yi ng' /OI.
General l y, i t may be observed that l anguages difer i n the type of assi mi l ati on pre
ferred. Engl i sh i s known to favour regressive assi mi l ati on. Here are some more
cases of regressi ve assi mi l ati on, i n whi ch vari ous features are i nvol ved:
64
Pl ace assi mi l ati on:
not that [not o<t]
thi s room [on JU m]
Mexi can gi rl [ ' mekSIkeI g3 : l]
ten boys [tem b :nz]
Roundi ng assi mi l ati on:
thi ck one [8 IkW wAn]
thi s one [chsW wAn]
Nasal assi mi l ati on:
come in [kAl f n]
bri ng a map [ brII < m<p]
I PA SOUNDS AND NOTATI ON
Next we turn to coal escence, whi ch takes pl ace when two di ferent seg
ments merge i nto yet another one at word boundary. I t takes pl ace i n contexts for
assi mi l ati on, where the reducti on of arti cul atory gestures goes one step further
than i t does i n assi mi l ati on, resul ti ng i n a si ngl e segment. Thus 'would you . . . ',
'could you . . . ', 'what you . . . ', 'has your . . . ' and 'in case you . . . ', whi ch are most often
subject to regressi ve pal atal assi mi l ati on, are al so potenti al candi dates for coal es
cence i n rapi d speech. Where they are afected by the l atter process, the two seg
ments at word boundary merge i nto one, [d3] , [tJ, [3] or [ S ] . The expressi ons at
hand woul d then sound l i ke [ ' wud3 e] , [ ' kud3 e] , [ ' wut S e] , [ ' h<3 e] and [ II
ke I S e] , respecti vel y.
'
The next connected-speech phenomenon we are goi ng to l ook at is very
common i n the worl d' s l anguages. It is cal l ed el i si on. The term refers to the del e
ti on of segments at word boundary. El i si on can affect both consonants and vow
el s. The consonants most often el i ded are Itl and IdI, occurri ng at the end of a con
sonant cl uster, for reasons whi ch wi l l be expl ai ned l ater i n connecti on wi th syl l abl e
structure. Cases i n poi nt woul d be expressi ons l i ke ' next day' , ' l ast chance' and
' ol d man' , typi cal l y pronounced i n real contexts wi thout the fi nal Itl or IdI, [neks
deI] , [ la : s t S a : ns] and raul m<n] . I n cases where a vowel i s el i ded at word
boundary, as in 'get al ong' , ' get another' or ' father and son' , pronounced as
[ ' geq , lDI] ' [ ' get
l
' nAoe] , [ ' fa : oren , sAn] , we get a syl l abi c consonant.
As these exampl es show, the contexts for the operati on of thi s process regul arl y
i ncl ude a sonorant consonant, whi ch then typi cal l y takes over the syl l abi c functi on
of the el i ded vowel . Vocal i c el i si on thus often resul ts i n the formati on of a syl l abi c
consonant such as the [ ] and [1] i n the fi rst two of these expressi ons.
The next two connected-speech phenomena of Engl i sh are usual l y referred
to by a French term whi ch covers both, l i ai son, the meani ng of whi ch i s ' l i nk' . They
appl y to the non-rhoti c vari eti es of Engl i sh, as the segment i nserted at word
boundary to l i nk two words i s IrI, whi ch in the rhotic vari eti es i s al ready pro
nounced word-fi nal l y. The ' l i nki ng IrI' i s the IrI i nserted in contexts l i ke 'brther
and sister', 'far away' and 'your car is there'. I n i sol ati on, no fi nal IrI woul d be pro
nounced in non-rhoti c vari eti es of Engl i sh in 'brther', 'far' and 'car'. I n these con
texts, however, the IrI whi ch was there hi stori cal l y (a fact whi ch i s sti l l refl ected i n
the spel l i ng) , woul d not be pronounced, and the words under consi derati on woul d
65
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
be pronounced as [ ' brAoa] , [ fa : ] and [ko : ] , as opposed to thei r connected
-speech versi ons i n J ' brAoar an ' sIsta] , [ ' fa : r a ' weI] and [a ' ka : r IZ
' oea] . I t shoul d be noted that thi s hi stori cal Iri surfaces here to bri dge the gap be
tween two vowel s at word boundary, so i t occurs onl y i f the fol l owi ng word begi ns
i n a vowel . By contrast wi th the ' l i nki ng Ir!' , the other l i ai son phenomenon, the ' i n
trusive IrI' , al though occurri ng in an anal ogous phoneti c context, is not etymol ogi
cal l y j usti fi ed and hence, does not exi st i n the spel l i ng. I t i s i nserted by anal ogy
wi th the ' l i nki ng Ir!' , to perform the same gap-bri dgi ng functi on, as i n the fol l owi ng
exampl es: ' Croati a and Sl oveni a' , ' drama and musi c' , ' l aw and order' , ' magnol i a i n
the park' , contexts i n whi ch one can hear nati ve speakers say [krau ' eI S a r] ,
[dra : mar] , [ b: r] and [ mag' naul Iar] . As can be seen from ol d phoneti cs text
books, some ti me ago such pronunci ati on was sti gmati sed, but nowadays is no
l onger l ooked upon as substandard pronunci ati on .
Next we turn to a whol e range of phenomena usual l y referred to as j une
ture phenomena. These i ncl ude any features whi ch provi de phoneti c cu es mark
i ng word boundari es. Thei r functi on wi l l be i l l ustrated with reference to the fol l ow
i ng exampl es of ambi guous phoneme sequences:
lah S j l: ' a ti ssue' vs. ' at i ssue'
Ipi : st O ks/: ' pea stal ks' vs. ' peace tal ks'
laIskr i : ml: ' I scream' vs. ' i ce-cream'
l t i s such phoneti c detai l s as the degree of aspi rati on of the [t] i n the fi rst two
exampl es and the l ength of the di phthong [ aI] as wel l as the degree of fricti on of
[s] i n the thi rd exampl e that resol ve the ambi gui ti es at hand. Admittedl y, in real
speech the enti re l i ngui sti c context woul d probabl y be sufi ci ent for the l i stener to
know whi ch of the two possi bi l i ti es i s meant. However, as observed earl i er i n con
necti on wi th al l ophoni c vari ati on, l anguage as a system of communi cati on needs
some degree of redundancy, and i t i s preci sel y features of thi s ki nd that serve as
redundant boundary markers. Junctural cu es al so i ncl ude the type of rel ease of
pl osi ves, di scussed i n chapter 5, i n connecti on wi th al l ophoni c vari ati on, as wel l as
any other modi fi cati ons to the begi nni ngs and endi ngs of words or l arger prosodi c
uni ts.
The l ast two phenomena whi ch wi l l be deal t wi th here are characteri sti c of
what is known as the ' al l egro' styl e, i . e. fast, casual speech. The process whi ch
Wel l s ( 1 982) refers to as smoothi ng i s i n i ts efect, to a certai n extent, compara
bl e to weakeni ng, but i t afects l exi cal , rather than grammati cal words. To use
Wel l s' s own exampl es, smoothi ng can occur i n contexts such as 'two o' cl ock' [ , t u
a ' klok] or 'fi re power' [ ' faa, paa] . The process afects tense vowel s, i ncl udi ng
di phthongs, and consi sts i n smoothi ng out, i . e. , easi ng up, transi ti ons between
vowel s at word boundari es or wi thi n tri phthongs. Thi s i s typi cal l y achi eved by ei -
66
I PA SOUNDS AND NOTATI ON
ther l axi ng a vowel , as i n the case of 'two' i n the above exampl e, or by reduci ng a
tri phthong i nto a di phthong, as i l l ustrated in the l atter case.
27
The l ast connected-speech phenomenon we shal l be l ooki ng at i s com
monl y referred to as compressi on. I t coul d be l ooked upon as extensi ve el i si on,
but as it is restri cted to the al l egro styl e, here it wi l l be deal t wi th separatel y. It con
si sts of the del eti on of enti re syl l abl es of l exi cal words i n connected speech. A
case i n poi nt is the commonl y quoted exampl e of ' l i terary' , compressed in the pro
nunci ati on of some speakers i nto [ l It r i] . I t shoul d be noted, however, that such
dramati c reducti on of words i n pronunci ati on i s often cri ti ci sed and i t remai ns di s
putabl e whether i t can be regarded as characteri si ng any standard vari ety of Eng
l i sh pronunci ati on. Thus, to be on the safe si de, we shal l not l ook i nto any more ex
ampl es, stayi ng content with a si ngl e i l l ustrati on of the process, whi ch, perhaps,
shoul d not be encouraged, but neverthel ess cannot be i gnored i n the descri pti on
of contemporary Engl i sh connected-speech phenomena.
Exercises
1 . Name al l the connected-speech phenomena of Engl i sh deal t with in thi s chap
ter.
2. Whi ch category of words does weakeni ng afect and how?
3. How does weakeni ng make Engl i sh connected speech di fi cul t to understand
for forei gners?
4. Gi ve an exampl e of the neutral i zati on of weak forms i n connected speech.
5. Why are the accentual patterns of Engl i sh words i n connected speech not nec
essari l y the same as in i sol ati on?
6. Gi ve your own exampl e of a context for connected-speech assi mi l ati on, di ffer-
ent from those ofered in thi s chapter.
7. Expl ai n the di ference between regressi ve and progressi ve assi mi l ati on .
8. Expl ai n and i l l ustrate the phenomenon of coal escence.
9. Gi ve some exampl es of consonantal and vocal i c el i si on.
1 0. What is the di fference between the ' l i nki ng Iri' and ' i ntrusi ve Ir!' ? Why are these
phenomena restri cted to the non-rhoti c vari eti es of Engl i sh?
1 1 . Expl ai n the l i ngui sti c rol e of j uncture phenomena.
1 2. Gi ve an exampl e of smoothi ng .
1 3. Re-wri te the fol l owi ng two texts usi ng the ordi nary al phabet.
28
I dentify al l the
connected-speech phenomena i ndi cated i n the transcri pti on. ( N. B. the doubl e
sl ash i s used to i ndi cate boundari es between i ntonati onal phrases. )
Wel l s ( i b. ) even al lows for the monophthongi sati on of the tri phthong i n thi s context, whi ch
woul d gi ve [ ' fa : , pa : ] , representi ng an extreme case of smoothi ng.
28 The texts for transcri pti on have been taken from Cosmopoltan magazi ne.
67
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
' to : res
I 8ru ' aut meI j u l bI eb ' z3 : vd In e ve ' raIet I e f
' seu S el , SIt S u ' eI S enz pre ' d3ekt II ' beu8 , vAlnere ' bI let i e n '
pauer en r I ' dj U : SII ' 0 : 1 pe ' t enS e l ' sekS uel ' pa : tnez wI ' oIn
' p3 : fj u : m ' dIstens t u ' dru : l II ' reubets II bet S jo ' rIel
' paue wel bI et ' heum en ' hIe z ' wee j u l bI ' faund ' smaI 1II
' waIl ' kukII ' kl i : nII en ' deke, reItII I I ' meIk ' j u : s ev j e
' paue t e ' get ' wot S e ' wont I I ' oeuz ' ent rII j e ' heum ' aIS
' mAn8 wel ' du : wot ' eve j u ' bIdi i ' weoer It S ' helpII wI 8
' peInt II j e ' bedrum e j e ' t eu, neIlz I
' eer i : z
loe ' mAn8s ' f3 : st ' naIn ' deIz er ' ekselent fer ' 0 : 1 ' fo : mz
ef ' fIzIkel ek ' t IvIt i / I . aeI er ' o : lseu ' wen j u e ' meust
' laIkl i te Im ' pres o : ' 8oret i ' fIgez II ' ma : t S Iz ' sekend en
' 8 3 : d ' wi : ks er aI ' dIel fe ' ki : PII j e ' meId3e rI ' leI S en S Ip In
' gud ' rAnII rI ' pee II ' a : fte oe ' 8 3 : d ' wi : k ' knnsen, t reIt en
' meIkII j e ' pa : tne ' seu ' kAmftebel WIO ' j u : oeI ' lu : z ' 0 : 1
, InhI ' bI S en I I ' waI em aI ' t elII j u ' 0 : 1 ' a IS I I aI ' sens oe
' rIel ' di : l WIa ' j u : ' nau IZ e ' baut ' w3 : kII ' ha : d II If j u e
' dU : II It ' raIt ' aIS ' ha : d ' w3 : k S ed pre ' dj u : s sem
, Inte ' lekt S uel , kj uerI ' OsIti ez e ' baI , prodAkt I
14. Transcri be the fol l owi ng two texts usi ng the same transcri pti on pri nci pl es as
above. I ndi cate as many connected-speech phenomena as appl i cabl e. Con
sul t the pronounci ng di cti onary.
Gemini
Good news comes frm abrad on the 1 9th and the best thing is, you have
the back-up - both personal and financial - to carr out your plans. Prtecting the
interests of a cerain company gives you a good reputation - and lands you a plum
job. Stress at work spils into your love life and your preoccupation wiget on your
parner's nerves arund the 24th. Go and see a fm together and tr to switch of
News frm abrad, or a sudden trip, is exhiarating.
Leo
The full moon on the 1 1th gives you the rle of leader, but if you pul rank,
you'l get zer response. Tr for logic and quiet persuasion instead. A big loan is
now feasible, but be war of advice frm people who don't understand your needs
and wishes. The solar eclipse of the 26th is a real low point for your relationship,
68
I PA SOUNDS AND NOTATI ON
but be loyal to your parner and he'l be true in retur. Someone's anger is justified
if you forget to do something - and then deny you were asked.
1 5. Transcri be the text of the students' phoneti c anthem ' A Dreadful Language'
gi ven i n the Appendi x.
69
CHAPTER 7
ACOUSTI C PHONETI CS
So far our phoneti c descri pti on of speech sounds has been arti cul atory.
That i s, we have been l ooki ng at the functi on of i ndi vi dual speech organs and the
ari cul atory gestures they perform i n produci ng functi onal sounds. I n thi s chapter
we are goi ng to have a brief l ook at the acousti c background of speech. I n parti cu
l ar, it wi l l be shown how the way i n whi ch we hear a sound depends upon its
acousti c structure. As al ways, bef(re proceedi ng with our topi c, it shoul d be ex
pl ai ned why a student of Engl i sh woul d need thi s ki nd of knowl edge. There are
vari ous reasons why some acousti c background is a necessary part of the knowl
edge of any l i ngui st. Two of these reasons appear to be rather pragmati c. Fi rst, we
need i t to understand why certai n sounds are confused wi th one another. Sec
ondl y thi s ki nd of knowl edge can enabl e us to capture the nature of sounds that
are difi cul t to descri be in terms of arti cul atory movements.
To begi n wi th, one can pronounce twi ce any one of the Engl i sh sounds
whi ch were descri bed earl i er. For the purpose of thi s i l l ustrati on, it i s preferabl e to
choose a vowel , say, [r] . What we shoul d do next i s try to make those two i n
stances of the real izati on of the vowel di ferent i n as many ways as possi bl e, al
ways keepi ng the qual ity of the sound constant i nsofar as thi s i s physi cal l y possi
bl e. I f we abstract away from the i nevi tabl e qual itative diferences between any
two separatel y uttered sounds, whi ch are for our present purpose utterl y neg l i gi
bl e, there are two other l i ngui sti cal l y i mportant respects i n whi ch we can make two
i nstances of [r] diferent. One of them is pi tch or percei ved tone. That i s, one of
these two sounds can be uttered (or, even better, sung) on a hi gher or l ower pi tch
than the other and thus wi l l be percei ved by the l i stener as havi ng a hi gher or l ower
tone. Another parameter systemati cal l y vari ed i n l anguages i s l oudness. One can
keep both the qual i ty and pi tch of our two i l l ustrative sounds constant, but vary
thei r rel ati ve l oudness, maki ng one of them lo uder or l ess l oud than the other.
Fi nal l y, the durati on or l ength of segments i s al so systemati cal l y vari ed i n l an
guages. I n short, we shal l be l ooki ng at the acousti c correl ates of four ki nds of l i n
gui sti c parameters:
pi tch, by vi rue of whi ch an [r] uttered on a hi gher tone difers from a low [r] ;
l oudness, whi ch makes the l ouder i nstance of [r] sound more promi nent
than the l ess l oud [r] , pronounced on the same tone l evel ;
71
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
qual i ty, whi ch makes [ rl di ferent from any other di sti nctly di ferent sound,
l i ke [A] , or [ SJ , for exampl e .
durati on, by vi rtue of whi ch one i nstance of [rl may be percei ved as l onger
than another.
We are now goi ng to di scuss each of the above aspects i n turn . Before we
start wi th pi tch, i t shoul d be made cl ear that not al l segments of speech have a def
i ni te pi tch. That i s, onl y voi ced segments are tones by thei r nature and thus, l i ke
musi cal tones, can be associ ated wi th vari ous l evel s of rel ati ve tonal hei ght. Thi s
i s rel ated to the fact that, arti cul atori l y, i t i s the rate of vi brati on of the vocal fol ds for
voi ced segments that determi nes the pi tch of any voi ced segment. Acousti cal l y
speaki ng, the correl ate of pi tch is then the frequency component of the sound
wave whi ch refl ects the vi brati on of the vocal fol ds, or the rate at whi ch they chop
up the stream of ai r i nto pul ses of rel ati vel y hi gh pressure al ternati ng wi th mo
ments of l ow pressure. Thi s parti cul ar frequency component i s cal l ed fundamen
tal frequency ( Fo) . Fundamental frequency i s thus found onl y i n voi ced segments
and is parti cul arl y di sti nct i n vowel s. It is no surpri se then that i ndi vi dual vowel s
can easi l y be sung. By contrast, from the acousti c poi nt of vi ew, voi cel ess seg
ments are noi se, i . e. , i rregul ar (aperi odi c) vi brati on.
Vari ati ons i n ai r pressure duri ng speech occur i n t he form of sound waves.
Acousti cal l y, by nature sound waves are smal l vari ati ons i n ai r pressure occurri ng
very rapi dl y one after another. They are caused by the movement of the speech or
gans i nvol ved i n arti cul ati on and superi mposed on the flow of ai rstream used for the
producti on of speech. Sound waves are not di rectly vi si bl e, so acousti ci ans have to
rely on speci al devi ces to observe and analyse them. Nowadays phoneti ci ans use
sophi sticated computer sofware to perform al l forms of acousti c analysi s, so ma
chi nes l i ke osci l l oscopes, osci l l ographs and the l i ke, for the purpose of the present
course can be regarded as bel ongi ng to hi story. Fi gure 9 represents the sound
wave correspondi ng to the utterance This is a wave form', as pronounced by the
author of the present book, obtai ned by the sofware package SpeechStation2.
Figure 9: wave form
The movement of sound waves through the ai r i s ofen compared to the
movement of ri ppl es on a pond. The sound wave correspondi ng to any utterance
consi sts of vari ous si mul taneousl y present component frequenci es, refl ecti ng the
vari ous patterns of change i n ai r pressure, these i n thei r turn resul ti ng from the
vari ous arti cul atory g estu res that gi ve i denti ty to any gi ven utterance. of al l these
component frequenci es of a sound wave, i t i s j ust one component, the l owest one,
72
ACOUSTI C PHONETI CS
that represents the fundamental frequency. By tracki ng the Fa, phoneti ci ans ob
tai n acousti c data for the l i ngui sti c study of pi tch. Before i t i s expl ai ned why and
how pi tch patterns are l i ngui sti cal l y rel evant, a few words are appropri ate here
about the techni cal aspect of the pi tch-tracki ng procedure. Just l i ke the whol e of
the sound wave, its l owest frequency component, Fa, is not di rectl y accessi bl e and
has to be extracted by sophi sti cated devi ces. Once agai n, we can i l l ustrate the
procedure at hand by presenti ng the correspondi ng anal ysi s obtai ned by means
of the SpeechStation2. Thi s ti me the utterance i s: 'This is a pitch track'.
500 Hz
400
300
200
1 00
1 00 200
.

_
Z
, p
I g
-.
,
I
Y
* W

300 400 500 600 700 600 900 1 000 1 1 00 1 200 1 300 1 400 1 500
Figure 1 0: ' Thi s i s a pi tch track. '
The hori zontal axi s represents ti me i n mi l l i seconds, whereas the verti cal
axi s represents frequency i n Hz. As can be seen from the pi tch track, the utter
ance here does not consi st of tones onl y, but al so i ncl udes voi cel ess segments
(i . e. , noi se) . Hence the broken Fa l i ne.
What needs t o be expl ai ned next i s t he l i ngui sti c use of t hi s ki nd of acousti c
anal ysi s. As wi l l be shown i n more detai l i n a l ater chapter, pi tch tracki ng i s i ndi s
pensabl e i n the study of i ntonati on , for i t turns out that the movement of fundamen
tal frequency di spl ays a reasonabl y cl ose correspondence wi th the pi tch move
ments i nvol ved. For the purpose of l i ngui sti c anal ysi s i t i s assumed that the pi tch
track of a gi ven utterance represents its correspondi ng mel odi c contour. Wi thout
getti ng i nto i ntonati on theory at thi s poi nt, we can i l l ustrate the l i ngui sti c rel evance
of i ntonati on by maki ng a pi tch track of the same sentence as i n Fi gure 1 0, but thi s
ti me uttered i n a di ferent context. Let us i magi ne that a student of l i ngui sti cs sub
mits an assi gnment for a phoneti cs cl ass, but i nstead of the expected pi tch track,
he produces somethi ng el se, and the professor says i n di sbel i ef: 'This is a pitch
track?!' The correspondi ng pi tch-track woul d now l ook di ferent than in the previ
ous exampl e, refl ecti ng the characteri sti c ri si ng pattern:
73
JOSI POVI : PHONETl CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
500 Hz
400
300
..
-
200
Y
l
l t
1 00 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1 000 1 1 00 1 200 1 300 1 400 1 500 1 600
Figure 1 1 : ' Thi s i s a pi tch track?! '
Pi tch vari ati ons al so have other i mportant l i ngui sti c functi ons, apart from
gi vi ng i denti ty to i ndi vi dual i ntonati on contours. A change of pi tch is often used by
l anguages as a strategy to make a syl l abl e more promi nent than the surroundi ng
ones. A case in poi nt is Engl i sh, where a change of pi tch, in ei ther of the two di rec
ti ons, contri butes the most to the cumul ati ve efect of the promi nence of the syl l a
bl e wi th whi ch i t i s associ ated. Admi ttedl y, thi s efect i s si mul taneousl y achi eved
by three other factors - l onger durati on, greater l oudness and ful l , unreduced vo
cal i c qual i ty. Neverthel ess, in l i ngui sti c l i terature, Engl i sh i s regul arl y menti oned
as an exampl e of a l anguage where accent i s achi eved pri mari ly by means of pi tch
change. Thus, if we pronounced repeatedl y the syl l abl e 'ma', keepi ng those three
other parameters constant and associ ati ng a pi tch change wi th, say, every thi rd
syl l abl e, it is thi s every thi rd syl l abl e whi ch woul d be percei ved by the l i stener as
more promi nent than the others, i . e. , accented. I n short, pi tch i s al so the object of
phoneti c studi es i n connecti on wi th accent.
At thi s poi nt i t shoul d be noted that, as i n many other phonol ogi cal re
spects, Engl i sh typol ogi cal l y di ffers from Croati an in the scope to whi ch i t empl oys
pi tch. Engl i sh is usual l y referred to as an i ntonati on l anguage, as op posed to
Croati an whi ch is a pitch-accent l anguage, or Chi nese, an exampl e of a tone
l anguage. The somewhat unfortunate, but wel l -establ i shed term ' i ntonati on l an
guage' means that pi tch patterns are used for i ntonati on excl usi vel y, that i s, ex
cl udi ng the purpose of di sti ngui shi ng words consi sti ng of i denti cal segments.
29
I l
l ustrati on of the l atter purpose is easi l y found in Croati an, where ' l zka ' (' port' ) i s
di sti ngui shed from the name Luka sol el y by the tonal movement on the accented
/
The term i s potenti al l y mi sl eadi ng i n that i t mi ght suggest that the other, ' non-i ntonati on'
l anguages do not have i ntonati on, whi ch, of course, woul d be nonsense.
74
ACOUSTI C PHONETl CS
syl l abl e.
3
a
Pi tch i s used for the same purpose i n tone l anguages as wel l . However,
these di ffer from pi tch-accent l anguages i n that they associ ate di sti ncti ve tonal
patterns not onl y wi th one syl l abl e per word, but wi th every tone-beari ng uni t,
whi ch i s most often the syl l abl e.
Whatever the l i ngui sti c functi ons for whi ch pi tch i s empl oyed i n a gi ven l an
guage, pi tch-tracki ng i s a very i mportant routi ne j ob performed by any phoneti ci an
or phonol ogi st, by whi ch a great deal of rel evant l i ngui sti c i nformati on can be ob
tai ned. I n thi s connecti on some basi c acousti c i nformati on i s appropri ate here.
As i s shown i n figures 1 0 and 1 1 , the basi c unit for measuri ng frequency i s
the Hertz ( Hz) .
3
1
One Hertz corresponds to a compl ete openi ng and cl osi ng move
ment per second, hence the al ternati ve term ' cycl es per second' . Thus, if the vocal
fol ds compl ete, say, 200 such openi ng and cl osi ng movements, the Fa wi l l be 200
Hz. Accordi ng to most sources, the average Fa val ue i n speech i s 1 1 OHz for a
mal e voi ce and 2 1 0 for a femal e voi ce. Li ngui sti cal l y, what matters about pi tch i s
i ts rel ati ve val ue, as the absol ute val ues are a matter of i ndi vi dual vari ati on. That
i s, some peopl e have a deeper or hi gher voi ce than others, and the average Fa
val ue i s general l y l ower i n men than i n women, whi ch obvi ousl y has to do wi th the
l ength of the vocal fol ds. Thus every person has thei r i ndi vi dual i ntonati on thresh
ol d, i n rel ati on to whi ch they utter tones of vari ous rel ati ve degrees of hei ght. Fa
val ues that a phoneti ci an or phonol ogi st deal s wi th when studyi ng i ntonati on
rarel y go beyond the range between 70 and 500 Hz. What i s i mportant to note i n
thi s context i s that equal steps of i ncreasi ng frequency do not produce the efect of
equal steps of i ncreasi ng pi tch. Thi s wi l l probabl y be cl earer if we refer to musi c
and the i nternati onal i nstrument- bui l di ng standards. The A above mi ddl e e i s i n
ternati onal l y defi ned as havi ng the frequency of 435 Hz for al l countri es except for
Great Bri tai n and the U. S. , where the standard for the same tone is 440 Hz. Thi s
di fference of 5Hz i s perceptual l y i nsi gnifi cant at thi s frequency range. Physi cal l y,
musi cal i nterval s are defi ned i n terms of ari thmeti cal rati os. Thus an i nterval of a
fifh consi sts of two notes, the frequenci es of whi ch bear the ari thmeti cal ratio 3: 2;
a major thi rd, the rati o 5: 4. Nowadays l i ngui sts no l onger refer t o musi cal i nterval s
to express rel ati ve pi tch val ues, as they di d a century ago. I nstead, they use spe
ci al phonol ogi cal units, whi ch, however, need not concern us at thi s poi nt. What
needs to be stressed i n thi s context i s that not al l the phoneti c properti es a detai l ed
acousti c anal ysi s can reveal , are necessari l y l i ngui sti cal l y rel evant.
Next we turn to l oudness. As expl ai ned above, j ust l i ke pi tch, l oudness
pl ays an i mportant rol e i n maki ng i ndi vi dual parts of an utterance more promi nent

Thi s prosodi c cl assi ficati on i s total l y i ndependent of geneal ogi cal rel ati ons among
l anguages. Thus the category of pitch-accent l anguages apart from Croati an al so i ncl udes l anguages
l i ke Swedi sh and Japanese, but not the majority of cog nate Sl avoni c l anguages.
1
l t shoul d be noted that the word remai ns unchanged in the pl ural , so we say, for exampl e,
that heari ng takes pl ace between 15 and 20, 000 Herz.
75
JOSIPOVI: PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH
than others. Loudness of speech can also convey various kinds of attitudinal or
contextual meaning. The acoustic correlate of loudness is intensity. It depends
upon the size of the variations in air pressure and is measured through the ampli
tude of the average size, which is directly related to the perceived loudness. The
intensity of a sound is expressed in decibels (dB) relative to the amplitude of some
other sound. It is important to stress this relative nature of loudness. It would make
no sense to say, for example, that a sound is 5 dB loud. Its intensity (perceived as
loudness) can only be 5 dB greater than some other sound, which would mean
that it is about twice as loud as that sound. A change of intensity of 1 dB is a little
more than the smallest change in loudness. It is interesting to note that individual
categories of speech sound have their inherent relative intensities. So, voiced
sounds are inherently louder than voiceless ones. Within each of these two cate
gories there is a further hierarchy, having to do with the phonological feature of so
nority. This means that this inherent intensity significantly determines the phono
logical behaviour of segments. This, however, goes beyond the scope of a
chapter on acoustic phonetics. So, our account of the acoustic background of vari
ations in loudness can now be rounded of by an illustration of two instances of our
illustrative vowel [x], uttered with diferent degrees of relative loudness. The
sound in figure 12 is uttered considerably more loudly than that in figure 13:
100
90
80
70
60
1007 Hz /107,9 db
727 Hz / 80,7 db
100


O

90
80
1''
70
{tr
\
.1

- lr\JA
60
2 4 kHz 2
0,2299 sec 0,5633 sec
4 kHz
" ,
0,21 0,22 0,23 0,24 0,25 s
0,55 0,56 0,57 0,58 s
Figure 12: [x] - spectrum (Iouder) Figure 13: [x] - spectrum (less loud)
The above two figures represent the corresponding acoustic spectra,
graphical representations of the sounds at hand in which amplitude is plotted
against frequency. The particular points indicated on the spectra represent the
peaks of intensity. The following illustration, given in figure 14, represents the dif-
76
ACOUSTI C PHONETI CS
ference in i ntensity between the enti re waveforms. It is absol utel y cl ear that the i n
tensi ty of the fi rst si gnal i s consi derabl y greater than that of the second one.
1 00 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Figure 14: difference i n i ntensity
Now that it has been shown how differences in pi tch and l oudness are acous
ti cal l y expl ai ned, we can turn to the most compl ex aspect of acoustics of speech,
i . e. , the one deal i ng wi th qual itative diferences. I n an earl i er chapter we l earned
whi ch arti cul atory gestures are responsi bl e for diferences among i ndi vi dual cate
gori es of speech sounds and i ndi vi dual sound types withi n these categori es. At thi s
poi nt some acoustic background i s needed to account for such qual itative differ
ences. We shal l start with vowel s, as thei r acousti c structure i s l ess compl ex than
that of consonants. Thi s i s, afer al l , no surpri se, if we recal l the fact that they are
produced wi th no radi cal obstructi on to the outgoi ng stream of ai r. Qual itative differ
ences among vowel s, arti cul atori l y determi ned by the confi gurati on of the supra
gi ottal cavi ty, are acousti cal l y reflected by the harmoni e structure. That i s, i n addi
ti on to the pi tch at whi ch a vowel i s uttered, the sound wave of any vowel contai ns a
number of different pi tches whi ch are i ntegral multi pl es of the fundamental fre
quency. Thus, for exampl e, if the vocal fol ds are vi brati ng at 200 Hz, thi s l owest
component frequency of 200 Hz i s sai d to be the fi rst harmoni c, and the next are
found at frequency val ues representi ng i ntegral mul ti pl es of 200. The second har
moni c is at 400 Hz, the thi rd is at 200 ti mes 3, i . e. 600 Hz, and so on. Al l the harmon
i cs above the Fo are al so referred to as overones. Thus the second harmoni c i s the
first overtone, the thi rd harmoni c i s the second overtone, and so on. Whi l e the Fo
gi ves a vowel its pi tch, the overtones, which are i n fact resonant frequenci es, give it
its di sti nct qual ity. In other words, we di sti ngui sh one vowel from another by the dif
ferences i n the overtones, whi ch reflect thei r most domi nant frequenci es. The rea
son why in one vowel type a parti cul ar combi nati on of frequenci es i s domi nant i s
that thi s overtone confi gurati on reflects the specifi c vari ati ons i n ai r pressure due to
the characteristics of the vocal tract confi gurati on of that vowel . The overtones are
superi mposed on the Fo produced by the vocal fol ds.
l n acousti c anal ysi s the qual ity of speech sounds i s represented by means
of speetrograms. A spectrogram i s a graph whi ch shows cl earl y the frequenci es
and i ntensi ti es of the components as a functi on of ti me. Spectrograms were ori gi
nal l y obtai ned by means of a speci al devi ce, cal l ed a speetrograph, but nowa-
77
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
days spectrographi c anal ysi s i s commonl y carri ed out by means of computer soft
ware for acousti c anal ysi s. Here is an exampl e of a spectrogram obtai ned in thi s
way:
3
2
1 00 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1 000 1 1 00 1 200 1 300 1 400
Figure 1 5: spectrogram
The spectrogram i n figure 1 5 represents the utterance ' spectrogram' , as ut
tered by the author of thi s book. As i ndi cated by the correspondi ng phoneti c sym
bol s, the most cl earl y vi si bl e secti ons of the graph correspond to vowel s. As op
posed to consonants, vowel s have a cl ear formant structure. Formants are the
hori zontal bl ack bands whi ch on the spectrogram represent rei nforced overtones.
They refl ect the concentrati on of acousti c energy i n certai n frequency regi ons. As
the most domi nant overtones combi ne to produce the di sti nct vowel qual i ti es,
each vowel type wi l l have i ts characteri sti c formant structure recogni sabl e on the
spectrogram. General l y, there are two types of spectrogram: wi de-band spectro
grams, whi ch are more preci se in the ti me di mensi on, l i ke the one in figure 1 5 and
narrow-band spectrograms parti cul arl y accurate i n the frequency di mensi on at
the expense of accuracy in the ti me di mensi on. The l atter type of spectrogram i s i l
l ustrated i n the fol l owi ng fi gures, 1 6 to 1 9. Whi ch of the two types a phoneti ci an
wi l l use depends on the parti cul ar purpose of speech anal ysi s. Thus, for exampl e,
someone i nterested i n measuri ng t he voi ce onset ti me for pl osi ve consonants wi l l
l ook at the wi de-band spectrogram, whi l e a phoneti ci an studyi ng i ntonati on wi l l
make use of the narrow-band spectrogram to read out frequency val ues at parti c
ul ar poi nts wi thi n an utterance.
How the formant structure reveal s the qual ity of a vowel wi l l fi rst be i l l us
trated on the spectrograms of 4 vowel s, [i j , [aj , [aj and [uj . These have been cho
sen for i niti al i l l ustrati on, because they represent vowel types whi ch are extremes
78
ACOUSTI C PHONETI CS
i n ei ther di recti on wi th respect to the degree of openi ng and the front vs. back di
mensi on. The l ocati on of the fi rst formant i s i nversel y rel ated to vowel hei ght. The
fi rst formants of [i ] and [u] i n fi gures 1 6 and 1 7 are obvi ousl y l ower than those of
the open vowel s [a] and [a] in fi gures 1 8 and 1 9.
5 kHz
1 / 4 5 6 7 8 1
Figure 1 6: [i] Figure 1 7: [u]
5 kHz
1 / 4 5 6 7 8 1 1 / 4 5 6 7 8 1
Figure 1 8: [a] Figure 1 9: [a]
The hei ght of the fi rst formant is thus a possi bl e di agnosti c for vowel open
ness. As for the front vs. back parameter, there i s a correl ati on between the de
gree of backness and the di stance between the fi rst two formants. I n front vowel s
they are rather far apart, whi ch i s best i l l ustrated by the formant confi gurati on of
the [ i ] i n fi gure 1 6. I n back vowel s, by contrast, they are cl ose together, as can be
seen i n the above case of [a] , or on the spectrogram they can even appear to
merge, as i n the [u] i n fi gure 1 7. The degree of roundi ng of a vowel i s refl ected on
the spectrogram by the frequenci es of the hi gher formants, , whi ch tend to de
crease wi th the i ncrease of roundi ng, though there are no absol utel y general defi
niti ons of this correl ati on. I n any case, i t i s i nsi ghtful to compare the spectrograms
of the cardi nal vowel 1 and its rounded counterpar, number 9, as pronounced by
the renowned phoneti ci an Peter Ladefoged i n Jackson et al . ( 1 997) :
79
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
Figure 20: Cardi nal vowel 1 : [i]
Figure 21 : Cardi nal vowel 9: [y]
A questi on that is natural l y l i kel y to ari se in thi s connecti on is why thi s is i m
portant at al l . What i s wrong wi th those arti cul atory descri pti ons whi ch were pre
sented i n an earl i er chapter, whi ch are much more down to earh and requi re no
such sophi sti cated methods of analysi s? The reason why phoneti ci ans sti l l do re
sort to thi s ki nd of analysi s i s that the tradi ti onal arti cul atory descri pti ons are often
not enti rel y sati sfactory in that they may not be in accord with the actual
arti cul atory facts. I t turns out that terms l i ke ' hi gh' , ' l ow' , front' or ' back' , rather than
descri bi ng the actual tongue posi ti on or confi gurati on, i n fact specify acousti c di
mensi ons. I n t hi s sense acousti c anal ysi s i s more accurate. Admi ttedl y, spectro
gram readi ng in real ity is not always such an easy job as the above i l l ustrative ex
ampl es woul d suggest. Di ffi cul ti es often ari se due to the so-cal l ed
pseudoformants, i . e. , formant-l i ke bands refl ecti ng a sl i ght degree of nasal i sati on
or vari ous ki nds of i ndivi dual pecul i ari ti es of the speaker. Besi des, i n real speech,
segments do not normal l y occur i n i sol ati on, but i nteract wi th one another. I t woul d
thus be i l l usory to expect an i ntroductory course of phoneti cs to qual ify students to
80
ACOUSTIC PHONETICS
read spectrograms. Rather, the intention of the present chapter is to ofer some
basic knowledge of the subject-matter of acoustic phonetics and methods of
speech analysis employed by acoustic phoneticians. In tables 2 and 3 the mean
frequencies of the first three formants for English pure vowels as spoken by adult
male speakers are compared to those of the vowels of Standard Croatian:
F1 F2 F3
li:1 280 2.620 3.380
/II 360 2.220 2.960
lei 600 2.060 2.840
lrl 800 1.760 2.500
/AI 760 1.320 2.500
10:1 740 1.180 2.640
IDI 560 920 2.560
10:1 480 760 2.620
lul 380 940 2.300
lu:1 320 920 2.200
/3:1 560 1.480 2.520
Table 2: The mean frequencies of the first three formants for RP pure vowels
(Gimson 1980)
F1 F2 F3
Iii 282 2192 2713
leI 471 1848 2456
lal 664 1183 2433
101 482 850 2472
lul 324 717 2544
Table 3: The mean frequencies for Standard Croatian vowels (Bakran 1996)
Taking into consideration the above diagnostics for the three parameters in
the identification of vocalic quality, it should not be too dificult to identif diph
thongs. In fact, their identification should proceed more easily, as we know that
diphthongs are vowels whose quality changes from the starting point to the end
point. Thus the spectrogram of an English closing diphthong like [aI] must consist
of the spectrum of an a-like vowel transforming into the spectrum of an I-like
vowel. Likewise, a centring diphthong such as [Ie] must look like an [I] in the first
half of the spectrum and like an [e] in the second part. Here are two illustrative ex
amples:
81
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
TUU Z 4
Figure 22: [aI]
1 Z 4
Figure 23: [ Ie]
Readi ng the spectra of consonants i s even more compl i cated than it i s for
vowel s. Thi s i s so, because the acousti c structure of consonants is general l y more
compl i cated than that of vowel s. I n many cases consonants can be recogni sed
onl y as a pari cul ar way of begi nni ng or endi ng a vowel . Perhaps the easi est cate
gory of consonants to recogni ze i s that of pl osi ves, thanks to the gap in the pattern
refl ecti ng the stop stage in thei r ari cul ati on. To i l l ustrate that we can refer back to
the utterance [ ' spektreu, grrm] , where four such gaps (whi te spaces) occur at the
secti ons correspondi ng to the spectra of [p] , [k] , [t] and [g] . I t shoul d be noted that
82
ACOUSTI C PHONETI CS
for the voi cel ess stops, the gap i s fol l owed by a burst of noi se, recogni zabl e by
qui te di sti nct verti cal stri ati ons, l ocated at about 350-360 msec for the [p] , 530-550
msec for the [k] and 630-650 msec for the [t] al l al ong the spectra. These stri ati ons
are consi derabl y fai nter i n voi ced sounds, i ncl udi ng the [ g] i n the exampl e at hand.
However, voi ced consonants general l y have another ki nd of stri ati ons that refl ect
the rapi d osci l l ati on in i ntensity produced by the openi ng and cl osi ng of the gi otti s.
l t i s cal l ed the voi ci ng ri ppie and can be seen i n the i l l ustrati on here at about
930-960 msec.
s
p
1 00 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1 000 1 1 00 1 200 1 300 1 400
Figure 24: [ ' spektrau, grrm]
As for fricati ves, the easi est one to recogni se i s [s] , a sound type whi ch by
vi rtue of the hi ghest frequenci es i t has among speech sounds, occupi es a some
what speci al pl ace i n both phoneti cs and phonol ogy. I n our above i l l ustrati on i n fi g
ure 24, i t has the characteri sti c random noi se pattern i n the hi ghest frequency re
gi ons, extendi ng wel l beyond the top of the spectrogram. So, even i f one di d not
know it is the i ni ti al segment of the utterance at hand, i t woul d probabl y be the eas
i est one to recogni se.
Wi thi n the context of an utterance, i t shoul d al so be fai rl y easy to recogni se
a nasal . Nasal s, as wel l as l ateral s, have a formant structure whi ch i s si mi l ar to
that of vowel s, but i s fai nter. A case i n poi nt i s the utterance-fi nal nasal [m] i n our
exampl e, whi ch starts at about 1 200 msec.
The l ast segment we need to i denti fy i n thi s spectrogram i s the approxi mant
[J] . General l y, approxi mants h
a
ve formant structure si mi l ar to that of vowel s. Be
i ng a post-al veol ar, thi s sound shoul d have the second formant l ocated some
where i n the regi on around 1 70( to 1 800 Hz. The segment between 970 and 1 000
msec of our spectrogram then perfectly matches thi s descri pti on and thi s i s obvi
ousl y the second [rl i n the utterance, the one between the [g] and the [r] . What
83
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
about the fi rst one? The onl y pl ace l ef for i t, by the process of el i mi nati on i s that at
660 - 720 msec. Whi l e it does have some unstabl e formant structure, it al so has
quite a l arge amount of noi se i n the hi gh frequency regi ons, characteri sti c of
fri catives. How does one account for that? At thi s poi nt we must recal l the fact that
i n thi s parti cul ar context, i n a consonant cl uster afer a It/, or IdI, the Engl i sh pho
neme IrI is real i zed by its fri cative al l ophone, whi ch is ni cel y refl l ected by the data
here. It shoul d be no secret that nowadays, thanks to modern software for acous
ti c analysi s, any uncertai nti es concerni ng the i denti ty of i ndivi dual segments on
the spectrogram can be easi l y resol ved by means of the ' sel ect' and ' pl ay back'
commands. Thus spectrogram-readi ng i s no l onger such an art as i t used to be
before the advent of acousti c sofware. Moreover, many peopl e thi nk i t can be fun.
To gi ve students some i dea of what such software can do, here i s an exampl e of
the so-cal l ed waleral l spectrographi c representati on of the di pththong [:n] , Le. a
three-di mensi onal spectrogram, for whi ch one of the authors of the
SpeechStati on2 sofare, Dr. J. M. Pi ckett has gi ven the el egant desi gnati on,
perspectogram:
Figure 25: waterfal l spectrogram
84
ACOUSTI C PHONETI CS
The above bri ef i l l ustrative survey of the mai n pri nci pl es i n spectrographi c
segment detecti on shoul d not mi sl ead one i nto thi nki ng that thi s method of acous
ti c anal ysi s i s omni potent. Spectrograms are unmatched as a source of data for
tasks such as preci se measurement of the durati on of segments and establ i shi ng
differences among vowel s, nasal s and l ateral s. They are al so useful i n provi di ng
i nformati on about detai l s concerni ng the manner of arti cul ati on. However, they
are not rel i abl e i n measuri ng the degree of nasal i sati on, even l ess i n establ i shi ng
the preci se pl ace of arti cul ati on, so for these tasks phoneti ci ans have to resort to
other methods, such as x-rays, for exampl e. Spectrographi c anal ysi s al so has its
uses and l i mitati ons in i dentifi ng the i di osyncrati c pronunci ati on features of i ndi
vi dual speakers. They are used for that purpose i n forensi c phoneti cs, where any
such vi sual di spl ay of the acousti c features of an i ndi vi dual ' s voi ce i s cal l ed a
voi cepri nt. Al though the term has been coi ned by anal ogy wi th ' fi ngerpri nt' , it
shoul d be noted that voi cepri nts are not nearl y as rel i abl e as a method of i denti fi
cati on as fi ngerpri nts. By studyi ng the posi ti on of the fourth and hi gher formants,
whi ch refl ect t he speaker' s voi ce qual ity, they are quite rel i abl e i n negati ve i dentifi
cati on, i . e. excl udi ng a person from a group of suspects. For posi ti ve i denti fi cati on
they are not rel i abl e enough to be taken by cours of l aw as the grounds for i ndi ct
ment. I n the present context i t shoul d be recal l ed that di ferent-shaped and di ffer
ent-si zed vocal tracts have diferent resonant frequenci es. Accordi ngl y, diferent
speakers wi l l have diferent formant frequenci es for the same vowel s, not to men
ti on the general di ference between men and women i n that men normal l y have
l arger vocal tracts, whi ch i s refl ected i n l ower formant frequenci es.
Students who have access to computer faci l i ti es al l owi ng for the use of suit
abl e acousti c sofware are strongl y encouraged to play with spectrographi c anal y
sis and compare the i ndi vi dual features of thei r own speech wi th those of thei r
fri ends. Apart from l earni ng some acousti cs, i n t hi s way they may real i ze that do
i ng phoneti cs can i ndeed be fun.
Exercises
1 . What are the acousti c correl ates of pi tch, l oudness and l ength?
2. What are pi tch tracks and what are they used for i n l i ngui sti cs?
3. How can pitch vari ati ons be used i n l anguages? How are Engl i sh and Croati an
diferent i n thi s respect?
4. What are the basi c units for measuri ng frequency, ti mi ng and l oudness of sound
segments i n acousti c phoneti cs?
5. What i s a spectrum?
6. What are harmoni cs?
7. What i s the diference between harmoni cs and overtones?
8. What i nformati on about a segment of speech can be obtai ned from a spectro
gram?
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
9. What two ki nds of spectrogram are there and what i s the diference between
them?
1 0. What fol l ows i s the spectrogram of the vowel [i ] . I dentif the l ocati on of the fi rst
three formants at pari cul ar frequency ranges.
5 kHz
MW. * * *

1 00 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1 000 1 1 00


Figure 26: [i ]
1 1 . Describe the formant structure of the fol l owi ng spectrogram of the di phthong [:n] :
5 kHz
1 00 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1 000 1 1 00
Figure 27: [ OI]
1 2. Here i s the spectrogram of the utterance ' I sn' t thi s fun! ' Establ i sh the ti mi ng of
each of the segments in msec.
86
ACOUSTI C PHONETI CS
1 00 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1 000 1 1 00
Figure 28: 'I sn' t thi s fun! '
1 3. Try to fi gure out the fol l owi ng spectrogram. Here are some cl ues: i t consi sts of
three words and is a very ni ce thi ng to say to someone. It woul d make an ori gi
nal Val enti ne card.
1 00 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Figure 29: puzzl e spectrogram
1 4. Whi ch segments are you most comfortabl e wi th in spectrographi c i denti fi ca
ti on and why?
1 5. What are voi cepri nts?
87
CHAPTER S
GENERTI VE PHONOLOGY
8. 1 . I ntroducti on
The term ' generati ve' refers to an approach i n l i ngui sti cs whi ch fi rst began
i n syntax, i n the l ate 1 950s, and was l ater adopted i n phonol ogy as wel l . I t i s usu
al l y observed that i t represented a revol uti on i n the approach to l anguage and
nowadays many of the worl d' s l eadi ng phonol ogi sts sti l l consi der themsel ves as
generati vi sts i n a wi de sense of the term. The begi nni ng of a new way of sci enti fi c
thi nki ng i s never an event that takes pl ace on a pari cul ar date, but rather, a devel
opment that grows out of a gi ven tradi ti on, whi ch i t draws upon and at the same
ti me reacts agai nst. However, i t i s customary to refer to some l andmark study as
the begi nni ng of such a revol uti on. Thus i n hi stori cal surveys of the devel opment
of l i ngui sti cs, the emergence of generati ve grammar i s dated back to the publ i ca
ti on of the groundbreaki ng book by Noam Chomsky, Syntacti c Structures ( 1 957) .
l t i s i n thi s book that the term ' generati ve grammar' was fi rst i ntroduced. I t refers to
the capacity of grammar to produce, or ' generate' a set of possi bl e sentences in a
l anguage. That i s, generati ve grammar is a model ( Le. , a metaphori cal descri pti on
of l anguage) whi ch accounts for the creative capacity of human l anguage. The
model offers a set of formal rul es to deri ve an unl i mi ted number of possi bl e sen
tences from some basi c underl yi ng syntacti c structures.
At thi s pl ace i t i s i mpossi bl e to go i nto more detai l and provi de even the
bri efest account of any of the several model s of generati ve grammar whi ch have
devel oped foll owi ng Chomsky' s i ni ti al i deas. However, by way of i ntroduci ng the
topi c of generati ve phonol ogy i t i s i mporant to observe that the mai n concern of
generati ve l i ngui sti cs i n general i s to account for the creati vi ty of human l anguage.
Generati ve l i ngui sti cs thus focuses away from the descri pti on of the i nventory of a
gi ven l anguage, whi ch had been the mai n concern of the precedi ng structural i st
tradi ti on. Rather, i t ai ms at accounti ng for the i nnate capacity of human bei ngs to
use l anguage creativel y.
l n phonol ogy, the study that marked the begi nni ng of the generative ap
proach came out i n 1 968. I t was The Sound Pattern of Engl i sh (usual l y abbrevi ated
as SPE) , written by Noam Chomsky and Morris Hal l e. I t was pri mari l y a theory of
di sti nctive features, as thi s w

s the area i nwhi ch the tradi ti onal , structural i st theory


was the most vul nerabl e. The SPE model attempts to provi de a si ngl e uni versal
cl assifi cati on of speech sounds, appl i cabl e to al l l anguages. Ulti matel y, such a uni -
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
versal set of features was meant to hel p l i nguists capture i mportant general isati ons
about pronunci ati on phenomena and express them as el egantl y as possi bl e. What
were earl i er i dentified as phonemes are no l onger seen as rel evant analyti cal enti
ti es, but rather, as conveni ent abbrevi ati ons for sets of bi nary feature specificati ons.
l t i s argued that i n thi s way i mportant general isati ons can be made, whi ch otherwise
woul d be mi ssed, for i t turns out that what real l y determi nes the ' behavi our' of seg
ments i n phonol ogi cal rules i s thei r ' i ngredi ent' features.
Just l i ke generati ve syntax, generati ve phonol ogy ofers a set of formal
rul es, by means of whi ch surface pronunci ati on phenomena are generated from
the underl yi ng i nventory of phonol ogi cal features. I n thi s context it is useful to i n
troduce t he generative di sti ncti on between competence, t he speaker' s i mpl i ci t
knowl edge of the rul es of hi s l anguage and the capaci ty to appl y them creati vel y,
and performance, the materi al i sati on of competence i n speech. Generati ve pho
nol ogy thus focuses on competence and ai ms at provi di ng rul es to l i nk surface
phenomena of performance and the underl yi ng knowl edge that makes up compe
tence. The di sti ncti on remi nds one of de Saussure' s di chotomy between l anguage
and speech. However, i t shoul d be noted that competence i s seen as somethi ng
dynami c and creati ve, as op posed t o t he emi nentl y stati c structure of l angue, as
seen by t he earl i er structural i st approach.
Before we turn to generati ve di sti ncti ve feature theory and generative rul es,
al ong wi th thei r correspondi ng notati onal conventi ons, it must be observed that
nowadays the ori gi nal SPE model of generati ve phonol ogy as such has been
abandoned, but many phonol ogi sts i n the worl d sti l l consi der themsel ves to be
l ong to the generati ve tradi ti on by vi rtue of thei r bel i ef that the mai n task of the pho
nol ogi st i s to account for the underl yi ng creati ve pri nci pl es behi nd surface pronun
ci ati on phenomena and express t hem as i nsi ghtful l y as possi bl e i n terms of
uni versal anal yti cal units whi ch are no l onger phonemes. Contemporary phonol
ogy i n the generati ve strai n i s thus referred to as post-S P E phonol ogy. However,
such model s wi l l be di scussed at a l ater poi nt, after we have outl i ned generati ve
di sti ncti ve-feature theory and generati ve rul e formal i sm.
8. 2. Di sti ncti ve Feature Theory
The SPE di sti ncti ve-feature theory represented a major revi si on of an ear
l i er, acousti c-based theory presented in Jakobson and Hal l e' s Fundamental s of
Language ( 1 956) . The SPE theory defi nes features pri mari l y i n arti cul atory terms.
The features can be seen as neural commands t o acti vate cerai n arti cul ators. Be
si des, the cl ai m i s made that these features shoul d be capabl e of characteri si ng
natural segment cl asses, refl ecti ng the ' behavi our' of segments i n phonol ogi cal
processes. Thus, for exampl e, i f i t turns out that no si ngl e phonol ogi cal rul e i n any
l anguage of the worl d affects dental s as a separate category, but rather, dental s
pattern together i n phonol ogi cal processes wi th the tradi ti onal categori es of
al veol ars and pal ato-al veol ars, then thi s j ustifi es the i ntroducti on of a feature that
90
GENERATI VE PHONOLOGY
woul d cover al l these three categori es. I t i s al so argued that such features are uni
versal , i . e. , that they are capabl e of descri bi ng al l segmental contrasts in the
worl d' s l anguages. I f a certai n feature i s not rel evant for a gi ven segment, then i t i s
sai d that thi s segment i s unspeci fi abl e for that parti cul ar feature. Thi s i s not to be
confused wi th the noti on of underspecificati on, whi ch refers to cases where the
segment recei ves a gi ven feature i n the surface representati on . Such cases wi l l
be i l l ustrated at some l ater poi nt, i n connecti on wi th t he treatment of t he Engl i sh
vowel reducti on rul e i n mul ti -ti ered phonol ogy.
Fi nal l y, i t shoul d be noted that thi s ki nd of cl assifi cati on of di sti ncti ve fea
tures is theoreti cal l y superi or to the tradi ti onal approach whi ch was i ntroduced i n
chapter 4 of the present book i n that i t uses one and the same set of features t o de
scri be both vowel s and consonants.
Here we shal l present a somewhat modifi ed versi on of the set i ntroduced by
SPE, because some of the ori gi nal features have been modifi ed. I t shoul d be
noted that there are al most as many di ferent versi ons of the cl assifi cati on as there
are di sti ncti ve-feature theoreti ci ans. However the SPE cl assifi cati on has al ways
served as an unofi ci al standard and starti ng poi nt. So, there i s no God-gi ven set,
and the student i s not expected to be abl e to l i st al l the features by heart, al ong
wi th thei r defi ni ti ons. Rather, the i dea of thi s chapter i s to show how the system
works. The versi on presented here l argel y fol l ows Kenstowicz ( 1 994) , wi th some
modificati ons taken over from Gussenhoven and Jacobs ( 1 998) . The features are
cl assifi ed i nto the fol l owi ng five categori es, whi ch wi l l be deal t wi th i n turn:
1 . MAJOR CLASS features
2. ARTI CULATOR features
3. TONGUE-BODY features
4. MANNER features
5. LARYNGEAL features
1 . The MAJOR CLASS features defi ne the major categori es of sounds that
are rel evant i n the phonol ogi cal anal ysi s of the worl d' s l anguages. They i ncl ude
[consonantal ] and [sonorant] . Sounds produced wi th a constricti on greater
than that for [ are consonantal , whereas those made wi thout such a constricti on
are non-consonantal . Sonorants are produced wi th a vocal cavity di sposi ti on
whi ch makes spontaneous voi ci ng possi bl e.
3
o Non-sonorants (al so cal l ed obstru
ents) have a vocal cavi ty di sposi ti on whi ch i nhi bi ts spontaneous voi ci ng. Vowel s,
nasal s and l i qui ds are sonorant; stops, fri catives and africates are obstruents.
2. ARTI CULATOR features refer to the a
C
ti ve arti cul ator that forms the con
stricti on i n the producti on of a consonant. I t shoul d be noted tlat thi s category of
I f we recal l the mechani sm of phonati on, thi s wi l l mean that the constri cti on in the vocal tract
for sonorants wi l l al low the ai r pressure behi nd i t and in front of it to be rel ati vel y equal .
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
features has been i ntroduced i n recent model s and covers some of the earl i er
pl ace-of-ari cul ati on features. Thus i n recent phonol ogy the emphasi s has been
on the dynami c aspect of arti cul ati on, i . e. , the arti cul atory gesture, rather than the
poi nt where i t takes pl ace. Arti cul ator features i ncl ude the fol l owi ng fi ve features:
[coronal ] :
l n the producti on of coronal sounds the crown of the tongue ( i . e. , the ti p
and/or bl ade) i s rai sed. Coronal s i ncl ude the tradi ti onal categori es of dental , al ve
ol ar, al veopal atal , retrofl ex and pal atal sounds. Noncoronal s are bi l abi al s,
l abi o-vel ars, vel ars, uvul ars and pharyngeal s.
[I abi al ] :
Thi s feature is defi ned in terms of the movement of the l ower l i p from its rest
posi ti on. Consonants l i ke [p b m] , as wel l as rounded vowel s are [ +I abi al ] .
[dorsal] :
Thi s feature refers to those consonants for whi ch the consonantal constric
tion i s formed by the tongue body (dorsum) . Vel ars and uvul ars are speci fi ed as
[+dorsal ] .
The category of arti cul ator features al so i ncl udes the feature [ pharyngealJ ,
whi ch is not necessary for the specificati on of any of Engl i sh segments.
3. TONGUE-BODY features i ncl ude the fol l owi ng four features:
[hi gh] :
Hi gh sounds are made wi th the tongue rai sed from neutral posi ti on;
non-hi gh sounds are made wi thout such rai si ng of t he body of t he tongue. Hi gh
sounds i ncl ude Engl i sh vowel s l i ke [i : I u : u] , gl i des rw, j] , pal atal , pal atal i sed,
al veo-pal atal and vel ar consonants. Al l other sounds are non-hi gh.
[I ow] :
Low sounds are produced wi th the tongue body depressed bel ow the neu
tral posi ti on. Open vowel s, l i ke the Engl i sh [r T u: ] are l ow and so are pharyngeal
consonants. I t shoul d be noted at thi s poi nt that the tradi ti onal mi d vowel s are both
non-hi gh and non-l ow. No vowel can be speci fi ed as [ +hi gh] and [+I ow] at the
same ti me, as i t i s i mpossi bl e for the tongue body to be si mul taneousl y rai sed and
depressed from i ts neutral posi ti on.
[back] :
Back sounds are produced wi th the tongue body retracted from its neutral
posi ti on. Al l other sounds are non-back. I t shoul d be noted that the tradi ti onal cen
tral vowel s, l i ke the Engl i sh [a 3: ] i n phonol ogi cal rul es patern together wi th back
vowel s, so they count as [+back] . Vel ar, uvul ar and pharyngeal consonants are
al so back, whi l e l abi al s, dental s, pal atal s and gl ottal s are non-back.
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GENERATI VE PHONOLOGY
[vel ar sucti on] :
Thi s feature is used to characteri se cl i cks, as i t refers to the retracti on of the
tongue body, necessary for the gesture of vel ar sucti on. As noted earl i er, Engl i sh
uses a cl i ck sound i n 'tut tut' paral i ngui sti cal l y, but some l anguages make di sti nc
ti ve use of cl i cks.
4. MANNER features refer to the way in whi ch the ai rstream is obstructed i n
t he arti cul ati on of a consonant.
[frund] :
Thi s feature consi derabl y overl aps wi th the feature ' I abi ai ' . It is defi ned i n
terms of a protrusi on of t he l i ps. Thus rounded sounds l i ke [o] [ u] and rw] are a sub
set of l ab i ai sounds, i . e. , they are speci fi ed as [+] for both I abi ai and round.
[tense] :
Thi s has been one of the most controversi al SPE features. Most of the ti me it
is defi ned with reference to the rel ati ve degree of the deformati on of the speech
tract and overal l muscul ar tensi on. Some phonol ogi sts al so defi ne it with reference
to the advanced tongue root. I n any case, thi s feature i s pari cul arl y i mportant for the
specificati on of vowel s of Engl i sh. The so-cal l ed ' l ong' vowel s, i . e. , those which are
transcri bed with the use of the l ength mark, as wel l as di phthongs, are tense, whi l e
the ' shor' vowel s are [-ten se] , or l ax. I t i s extremel y i mportant to note at thi s poi nt
that i n Engl i sh, vocal i c l ength depends pri mari l y upon the voi ci ng of the fol l owi ng
consonant. Vowel s are cl i pped before voi cel ess segments and thus the true, i nher
ent difference between the vowel of ' bi d' and that of ' beat' is a qual itative, rather than
a quantitative one: the vowel of ' bi d' i s l ax, whereas that of ' beat' i s tense.
[conti nuant] :
Conti nuant segments are produced with a constri cti on in the oral cavi ty not
narrow enough to bl ock the ai r fl ow. Vowel s, gl i des, l i qui ds and fri cati ves are
conti nuant; the status of l ateral s in thi s respect is hi ghl y controversi al , and the re
mai ni ng segment types are non-conti nuant.
[nasal ] :
The defi ni ti on of thi s feature has been the same in al l approaches. Nasal ity
is al ways defi ned with reference to the l oweri ng of the vel um. As observed earl i er,
Engl i sh makes di sti nctive use of three [+nasal ] segments: Iml, Ini and ID l.
[stri dent] :
Stri dent segments are defi ned arti cul ato
r
i l y as those produced by a rel a
ti vel y compl ex stri cture. Despite the fact that thi s approach i s based on arti cul atory
defi ni ti ons, i t turns out that i t is more adequatel y defi ned acousti cal l y and it is thus
often observed that as a resul t of a more compl ex stri cture, stri dents are aco usti
cal l y rel ati vel y noi si er than non-stri dents. Speci fi cati on for thi s feature i s i mporant
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
for fri cati ves and afri cates. At a l ater poi nt i t wi l l be shown i n connecti on wi th the
Engl i sh regul ar pl ural rul e how the specificati on of the word-fi nal segment for thi s
feature determi nes the pronunci ati on of the regul ar pl ural endi ng. Stri dent Engl i sh
consonants are f, v, s, Z, S , 3, t S and d3
[anteri or] :
Anteri or consonants are produced wi th a stri cture i n front of the
pal ato-al veol ar regi on. I n SPE i t was one of cavi ty features, handl i ng vari ati ons i n
pl ace of arti cul ati on. Anteri or segments are produced wi th a stri cture i n front of the
pal ato-al veol ar regi on. Anteri or segments i ncl ude I abi ai and dental consonants.
[I ateral ]
l n the producti on of these segments the mi d secti on of the tongue i s l ow
ered on one or both si des. I n Engl i sh /ll is the onl y segment speci fi ed as [+I ateral ] .
[del ayed rel ease]
Thi s feature refers to a gradual rel ease of the stricture and [+de! . re! . ] seg
ments i ncl ude the tradi ti onal category of afri cates.
[di stri buted] :
Ori gi nal l y, i n the SPE versi on of the theory, thi s feature bel onged to the
pl ace features. I t i s defi ned arti cul atori l y wi th reference to the extent of stricture
al ong the di recti on of the ai rfl ow. It handl es vari ati on i n pl ace of ari cul ati on i n fri ca
ti ve sounds. The di stri buted segments, i . e. , those wi th a rel ati vel y l ong stricture
are bi l abi al and pal atoal veol ar ones, as op posed to the non-di stri buted dental and
retrofl ex fri cati ves. As Engl i sh does not expl oi t such di sti ncti ons among fri catives,
thi s feature i s di spensabl e i n the descri pti on of the Engl i sh consonants.
Laryngeal features speci f the vari ous states of the gi otti s i n the producti on
of segments. Three such features wi l l be i denti fi ed:
[voi ced] is the most i mportant l aryngeal feature for our purpose. I n al l ap
proaches voi ci ng i s defi ned i n terms of the vi brati on of the vocal fol ds. I t appears
that al l the known natural l anguages expl oi t the diference between voi ced and
voi cel ess segments for contrastive purposes.
[constri cted gi ottis] defi nes gi ottal i sati on. I f i n the producti on of a gi ven
segment the vocal fol ds severel y obstruct the gi otti s, whi ch then prevents thei r vi
brati on, the segment concerned i s speci fi ed as [+cg] .
31
I mpl osi ves, ejectives,
gi ottal i sed and l aryngeal i sed consonants, as wel l as segments produced wi th a
creaky voi ce are [+cg] . I n Engl i sh such sounds do not normal l y occur, apart from
the gi ottal stop [ 2] , whi ch is used al l ophoni cal l y.
[spread gi ottis] refers to the arti cul atory gesture of pushi ng the vocal
fol ds wi de apart to i nhi bi t voi ci ng. Thi s is associ ated wi th voi cel essness and aspi -
As wi l l be shown l ater, the names of features are commonl y abbreviated i n thi s way.
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GENERATI VE PHONOLOGY
rati on. [+sg] segments i ncl ude aspi rated stops, murmur and breathy voi ce
sounds, voi ce l ess vowel s and voi cel ess gl i des. Al l other segments are [-sg] .
To i l l ustrate how thi s system works, we shal l now speci f the RP pure vowel
system i n terms of these features. We shal l empl oy five of the above features: three
tongue body features, to handi e the degrees of openi ng and the tradi ti onal
front-back di mensi on, as wel l as two manner features, round and tense, to deal with
the roundi ng and tenseness of the vowel s, respecti vel y. All those feature specifica
tions which are understood for vowel s as a category wi l l be omitted here, as we are
i nterested in di sti ngui shi ng each vowel from any other vowel in the system. Thus it
is i mpl i ed that al l of them are [-consonantal ] , [-nasal ] , [+ conti nuant] , or that they are
unspecifabl e for features l i ke [del . reL] and so on. Now we shal l proceed with the
feature specificati on, tryi ng to 'transl ate' the parameters of tradi ti onal phonetics i nto
generative phonol ogi cal terms. Let us first di sti ngui sh the subcategory of what we
earl i er referred to as cl ose vowel s from the rest of the system.
l n t hi s seri es there are four vowel s: 1 i : / , /II, lu: 1 and lu/. What they al l have i n
common i s that they are [+hi gh ] and [-l ow] , as the tongue i s rai sed from its natural
posi ti on i n thei r arti cul ati on. Natural l y, once i t i s rai sed, i t cannot be l owered at the
same ti me, so the combi nati on of feature specifi cati ons [+hi ]
32
and [ +I ow] i s i mpos
si bl e anyway. So, what di sti ngui shes each of them from the others? l n tradi ti onal
phoneti c cl assificati on, li : 1 and /II are cl assifi ed as front. I n SPE terms, thi s means
they are [-bck] , as op posed to lu: 1 and lul, whi ch are [+bck] . li : 1 i s di sti ngui shed
from /II by bei ng tense. Li kewi se, lu: /, as op posed to lul i s tense. The l atter two
vowel s are rounded, whi l e the former two are not, though in terms of establ i shi ng
the i denti ty of each of them wi thi n the system thi s i s a redundant pi ece of i nforma
ti on. Even wi thout that, each of the four vowel s i s diferent from the other three.
The cl ose seri es then l ooks l i ke thi s:
li : 1 l I l

+hi

+hi

-ow -low
-bek -bek
+tense -tense
-round -round
lu: 1

+hi

-ow
+bck
+tense
+round
lu l

+hi

-ow
+bck
-tense
+round
l t i s thus these combi nati ons of feature specifi cati ons that gi ve i denti ty to i n
di vi dual vowel s. Now we may proceed wi th the mi d seri es, whi ch i ncl udes lei, lal,
13: /, i: and IDI. What they have i n common, as opposed to the rest of the vocal i c
system, i s that for thei r arti cul ati on the tongue i s nei ther rai sed nor l owered, but
stays i n the neutral posi ti on. Thus they are al l goi ng to be speci fi ed as [-hi ] and
[-l ow] . As observed earl i er, central vowel s pattern together wi th back vowel s, so
the onl y [-bck] vowel i n thi s seri es i s lei, whi ch i s then, by vi rtue.of thi s, al ready di s
ti ngui shed from the rest of the mi d vowel s. So far, lal, /3: /, hl and IDI have i denti
cal feature speci fi cati ons. They are al l [-hi] , [-l ow ] and [+bck] . 13: 1 and 1': 1 are
' hi ' i s the usual abbrevi ati on for ' hi gh' , whereas ' bck' stands for ' back' .
95
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
tense, whereas lal and IDI are l ax. 10: 1 and IDI are rounded whi l e the rest of the
vowel s from the seri es are not. The enti re seri es now l ooks l i ke thi s:
e 9 3' . D



-l ow -low -low -ow -l ow
-ek +bek +bek +bek +bek
-tense -tense +tense +tense -tense
-round -ound -ound +round +round
Let us now turn to the open seri es, whi ch compri ses lrl, /AI and 10: /. What
these have i n common i s that they are [-hi] and [+I ow] . lrl i s di sti ngui shed from the
other two by bei ng the onl y [-bck] vowel i n the seri es. I nci dental l y, we may then,
redundantl y, speci fy that i t i s [ - tense] and [ - round] . What now remai ns t o be spec
ifi ed i s the diference between /AI and 10: /. As they are both unrounded, thi s difer
ence consi sts in 10: 1 bei ng tense, as opposed to /AI, whi ch i s l ax. The open seri es
i s then speci fi ed as fol l ows:
l3l lA l l 0 l



+I ow +I ow +I ow
-bek +bek +bek
-tense -tense +tense
-ound -ound -ound
Let us now merge al l the above i nformati on i nto a compl ete pi cture of the
RP system of pure vowel s:
l l ' l l i l lU' l lUl



-ow -l ow -l ow -ow
-ek -bek +bek +bek
+tense -tense +tense -tense
-ound -ound +round +round
l e l l9 l l3'l l 0' l lDl


-l ow -low -low -l ow -l ow
-bek +bek +bek +bek +bek
-tense -tense +tense +tense -tense
-ound -ound -ound +round +round
l3l lA l l 0' l



+I ow +I ow +I ow
-bek +bek +bek
-tense -tense +tense
-ound -ound -ound
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GENERATI VE PHONOLOGY
Let i t be stressed once agai n that thi s was meant onl y as an i l l ustrati on of
how the system works and how segments are concei ved of as bundl es of di sti nc
ti ve features, whi ch gi ve them thei r phonol ogi cal i denti ty. The same thi ng may be
done for the consonantal system. The most i mportant pri nci pl e to keep in mi nd i s
that no two members of the system can have i denti cal feature speci ficati ons. I t i s
preci sel y by vi rtue of how i t di ffers from the others that a member of the system re
ceives i ts i denti ty. As wi l l be shown shortl y, the features i t consi sts of determi ne
how a gi ven segment i s goi ng t o ' behave' phonol ogi cal l y, i . e. , whi ch phonol ogi cal
rul es i t i s goi ng to be affected by.
8. 3. SPE Rul es and Notati onal Conventi ons
We shal l now i ntroduce t he formal SPE notati on for wri ti ng phonol ogi cal
rul es, whi ch represented the standard format i n phonol ogi cal work unti l l ate
1 970s. Even though thi s format i s no l onger used, i t can provi de useful i nsi ghts
i nto some Engl i sh phonol ogi cal phenomena and at the same ti me, i nto the nature
of the generati ve approach. Generati ve phonol ogy offers sets of rul es whi ch gen
erate al l and onl y correct possi bi l i ti es. To keep thi ngs si mpl e, we shal l start off wi th
the l ess formal vari ety of generati ve notati on - the one i n whi ch segments are rep
resented by thei r correspondi ng symbol s, rather than the feature matri ces. Let us
state i n thi s way one of the si mpl est Engl i sh phonol ogi cal rul es, the one account
i ng for the al ternati on between the ' cl ear' and ' dark l' :
The formul a reads as fol l ows: ' l' becomes ' l' i n front of ei ther a consonant
or a word boundary. I t consi sts of two basi c parts, di vi ded by the sl ash (I) . On the
left-hand si de i s the structural change, on the ri ght i s the structural descri pti on.
The structural change tel l s us what actual l y happens here ( l turns i nto l) ,
whereas the structural descri pti on speci fi es the context where thi s happens.
,
' i s the envi ronmental bar, whi ch represents the l ocati on of the segment
afected, i n thi s case ' l' . The curl y brackets i ndi cate al ternati ve contexts. The for
mul a thus reads: ' l' becomes dark before ei ther a consonant (C) or a word bound
ary (#) . Al though such al ternati ve contexts represent an awkward way of maki ng
phonol ogi cal general i sati ons and i n more recent approaches the structural de
scri pti on here woul d be speci fi ed wi th reference to one of the syl l abl e consti tuents,
i n thi s case i s used for the purpose of the i ni ti al i iJ ustrati on of the notati onal pri nci
pl es.
l n thi s way phonol ogi cal rul es can al so add and del ete segments. Thus the
hi stori cal rul e accounti ng for the del eti on of IrI i n the non-rhoti c vari eti es of Engl i sh
appl i es i n the same context, i . e. , has the same structural descri pti on:
97
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
' r ' i s a rul e of del eti on, because somethi ng (here ' r' ) becomes zero. I f
we i nsert a segmen
e
3
, then the structural descri pti on says

x' , where ' x' can


be any segment. I n the cases at hand the structural descri pti on speci fi es the con
text that fol l ows the segment affected by the rul e, but for some other rul es i t can be
the precedi ng context, or both the precedi ng and fol l owi ng context. So, for exam
pl e, for a rul e appl yi ng between vowel s, the structural descri pti on woul d be
' V V' . Now that we have i dentifi ed the basi c parts of an SPE rul e, we can re
pl ace symbol s wi th feature matri ces. The rul e shoul d not i ncl ude any feature spec
ificati ons that are not necessary for its formul ati on. Thus, if /ll i s the onl y l ateral i n
the Engl i sh phonemi c system, then the speci fi cati on [+I at. ] i s enough to refer to i t
and i t woul d be superfl uous to say that i t i s [+consonantal ] , [+voi ce] [ - nasal ] and
so on. Li kewi se, afer the arrow, we menti on onl y the feature that i s changed by
the rul e. Thus wi th the structural descri pti on of the vel ari sati on rul e reformul ated
usi ng feature matri ces, the vel ari sati on rul e l ooks l i ke thi s:
[ + l at ] [ + bek ] / {}
Now that we have mastered t he basi c notati onal conventi ons, l et us try to
express the Engl i sh Regul ar Pl ural Rul e, whi ch accounts for the three possi bl e
pronunci ati ons of the pl ural endi ng:
cats, books, maps, cl i ffs : Isl
beds, bags, keys, pl ans, bel l s: Izl
churches, j udges, bushes, buses !Izl
Obvi ousl y the pronunci ati on of the endi ng depends somehow upon the qual
ity of the fi nal segment of the noun. Of course, one can always l i st al l the segments
in each of the three categori es tri ggeri ng each of the three endi ngs, but then the rul e
woul d l ack expl anatory el egance and we woul d mi ss some i mportant general i sa
ti ons. The usual procedure i n expressi ng a rul e withi n thi s framework stars with de
ci di ng on the underl yi ng form, from whi ch the other forms wi l l be derived. So the
questi on that ari ses now i s whi ch of these three forms shoul d be taken as basi c. The
i mpul si ve reacti on of most peopl e woul d be to say Isl, because i t i s i n the spel l i ng.
However, Izl occurs i n the majority of cases, so it makes more sense to take i t as ba
sic and derive the Isl in the first group of cases from i t. Here there are obvi ousl y two
rul es at pl ay: one that devoi ces Izl , resul ti ng i n Isl and the epenthesi s rul e, whi ch i n
sers !II between the stem of the nou n and the Izl endi ng.

Rul es of i nseri on are al so referred to as epenthesi s.


98
GENERATI VE PHONOLOGY
For some reason that wi l l be expl ai ned shortl y, i t i s necessary to start from
the more specific rul e, in thi s case epenthesi s, and then proceed wi th the more
general rul e, i . e. devoi ci ng. So, we first need to specify i n whi ch cases the [I] is i n
serted between t he noun and t he pl ural endi ng, whi ch, as we have deci ded i s Iz/
34
We now need to fi gure out what makes IS, 3, tS, d3, s and zi, to whi ch the
epenthesi s rul e appl i es, a natural category and make some general i sati on about i t
i n terms of features they share. I f we l ook back at the consonantal features di s
cussed earl i er, i t turns out that they are al l coronal and stri dent. Thus the
epenthesi s rule can be formul ated as fol l ows:
lt shoul d be noted that ' ' stands for the l ocati on of the epenthesi sed
III, between the stem-fi nal coronal stri dent and the pl ural endi ng.
We proceed wi th t he more general rul e, t he one whi ch accounts for the
devoi ci ng of the pl ural endi ng i n words l i ke ' cats' . I t i s a fai rl y si mpl e rul e:
[
z]
p
l . [-VOi Ce]
_
[-VOi Ce]#
Now we have accounted for al l three groups of nou ns. For those whi ch take
the Izl endi ng there i s no speci al rul e, as the Izl i s al ready the basi c form, whi ch we
si mpl y attach to the stem. Those nou ns endi ng in a coronal stri dent tri gger the
epenthesi s of /II before the endi ng Izl. Those whi ch end in a voi cel ess consonant
tri gger the rul e of devoi ci ng, whi ch turns the underl yi ng endi ng Izl i nto Is/.
Now a few words are in order about rul e orderi ng. What woul d happen i f we
ordered the devoi ci ng rul e before the epenthesi s rul e? lt woul d l ook as fol l ows:
1 . [z]
p
j _ [-voi ce]
_
[-voi ce]# (resul ti ng i n forms such as: bu S S,
t S 3 : t S S)
_

(We have assumed that Izl, not Isl i s
2. I 1SI|| 0 F [Z]PL
the endi ng! )
Rul e 1 woul d give us outputs l i ke /krtsl, IlIpsi , /uksl, but al so */bu S sl
and */t S 3 : t S sl if we al l owed it to appl y fi rst. Thus for the pl ural s ' bushes' and
' churches' we woul d agai n need a rul e to voi ce back the Isl resulti ng from the appl i
cati on of Rul e 1 . Thi s woul d be extremel y awkward and not very pl ausi bl e. The
techni cal term used i n phonol ogy to descri be thi s ki nd of si tuati on i s ' bleedi ng' e The
The way to i ndicate a morphol ogi cal endi ng i s to empl oy square brackets and i ndi cate it as
fol l ows: [z] pl . As noted earl i er, ` #` i ndi cates the word boundary.
99
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
devoi ci ng rul e woul d bl eed the epenthesi s rul e, i . e. , i t woul d deprive i t of part of its
structural descri pti on, that i s, those nouns endi ng in voi cel ess coronal stri dents, ls,
S t S I. The opposite of bl eedi ng is feedi ng. When the output of one rul e provi des
the i nput of another, we say that it feeds i t. I n the case of our Regul ar Pl ural Rul e, we
need to prevent the devoi ci ng rul e from bl eedi ng the epenthesi s rul e.
1 . I
, F
[
z]p,
2. [z]p, [-VOi Ce][-VOi Ce]#
To sum up, we can formul ate the Regul ar Pl ural Rul e of Engl i sh as fol l ows:
A questi on natural l y ari ses as to what we get by thi s ki nd of formul ati on of
the rul e. The most pl ausi bl e answer seems to be that i t throws l i ght upon the rea
sons why each of the regul ar pl ural forms i n Engl i sh i s the way i t i s and upon the
underl yi ng pattern behi nd the surace vari ety of pl ural pronunci ati ons.
8. 4. Non-l i near Phonol ogy
Many of the ori gi nal SPE noti ons, premi ses and terms have been aban
doned over the l ast few decades. However, paradoxi cal l y, the maj ori ty of the
worl d' s most i nfl uenti al schol ars i n thi s fi el d sti l l consi der themsel ves as generativ
i sts in a rather broad sense of the term. What bei ng generati vi st nowadays actu
al l y i mpl i es can be summed up as searchi ng for a hi ghl y formal i sed model (a met
aphori cal representati on) of the mental processes that account for the surface
pronunci ati on phenomena. Wi thi n the framework of such model s, each theory ul ti
matel y provi des a set of rul es that deri ve i ndi vi dual patterns of pronunci ati on from
thei r correspondi ng deep, underl yi ng structures i nherent in our l i ngui sti c compe
tence. The emphasi s i s sti l l on the dynami c, creati ve and uni versal aspects of l an
guage. Contemporary generati ve phonol ogi sts sti l l adhere to the basi c SPE prem
i se that segments, or what used to be cal l ed phonemes, do not deserve the status
of rel evant anal yti cal uni ts. They are treated as conveni ent notati onal conven
ti ons, rather than i ndi vi si bl e, ' atomi c' uni ts of l i ngui sti c anal ysi s. I nstead of pho
nemes, al l generati ve approaches are based on units whi ch are ei ther smal l er or
l arger than segments.
What di sti ngui shes the post-S P E approaches from the ori gi nal , ' cl assi cal '
versi on of generati ve phonol ogy i s t hei r non-l i near, or mul ti -ti ered approach.
Whereas SPE phonol ogy anal ysed the phonol ogi cal structure of l anguage i nto l i n
ear sequences of feature matri ces (abbrevi ated as segments) , post-SPE phonol
ogy represents phonol ogi cal competence i n terms of more compl ex, non-l i near
structures. These consi st of several autonomous l evel s of anal ysi s, metaphori
cal l y represented as separate ti ers i n space. These l evel s of anal ysi s are often
1 00
GENERATIVE PHONOLOGY
compared to the parts of a musical score. Each of these tiers has its own highly
complex hierarchical organisation. As a result, such representations tend to be vi
sually extremely complex and are often felt by uninitiated students to be some
what esoteric and of-putting. However, this is only a superficial efect. In fact, the
ultimate goal is quite the opposite: the complexity of representation is meant to
'buy' the explanatory elegance of rules. The idea is that if the representation of the
structure of language is adequate, then the rules will naturally follow from it and
insightfully reflect natural phonological processes.
For the purpose of the present survey of non-linear phonology, three basic
tiers of phonological analysis will be singled out and discussed in turn: the syl
labic tier, the melodic tier and the skeletal tier. We shall first briefly identif each
of these and then for each of them show using concrete English examples the in
sights they can ofer about important pronunciation phenomena.
lt is generally agreed in contemporary phonology that the syllable repre
sents one of the basic phonological units. As op posed to SPE phonology, current
research no longer treats syllabicity as an inherent feature of a segment in binary
terms, i.e., [+/- syllabic]. Rather, the syllable is singled out on a separate and au
tonomous level of analysis. At this point we may abstract away from the various
possibilities of defining the syllable and focus on the fact that in each language
sounds combine to produce some typical sequences. Although they do that in lan
guage-specific ways, there are some universal patterns which are followed in
these combinations and some universal constituents of the syllable are recog
nised cross-linguistically. Every syllable must have a nucleus (N), which is the
peak of sonority. The nucleus is the central segment of the syllable. The syllable
can also have the opening segment, called the onset (O) and the closing seg
ment, the coda (C). The nucleus and the coda (if there is one) form the rhyme (R)
of the syllable. The structure of the syllable is represented in phonology by means
of a tree representation as shown in the following example:
s p r I
I
ln this particular English syllable, apart from the obligatory nucleus in the
rhyme, there is also an on set, which branches into three consonantal places, as
well as a coda. It should be noted that the organising principle behind the syllable
is the degree of sonority. Segments are grouped around the peak of sonority, or
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
nucl eus, fol l owi ng a certai n pattern. The sonori ty, or ul ti matel y, the i nherent l oud
ness of i ndi vi dual segments wi thi n the syl l abl e i ncreases from the onset unti l the
nucl eus, where i t cul mi nates and than decreases agai n unti l the end of the syl l a
bl e. The structure of the syl l abl e wi l l be di scussed in more detai l in a l ater chapter
on prosodi c domai ns. What matters i n the present context i s that i ndivi dual l an
guages have thei r own rul es and preferences concerni ng syl l abl e structure and i t
i s preci sel y the sati sfacti on of these rul es and preferences that accounts for many
i mportant pronunci ati on patterns i n l anguages. To i l l ustrate the poi nt, we can now
refer back to the Engl i sh rul e of l-vel ari sati on, whi ch accounts for the di stri buti on
of the ' cl ear' and ' dark l' . Let us now recal l that SPE phonol ogy defi ned the struc
tural descri pti on of this rul e wi th reference to a context expressed in al ternati ve,
' ei ther-or' terms, { }. From the theoreti cal poi nt of vi ew, i t must be observed that
thi s i s not a very el egant or i nsi ghtful account of the context. The probl em i s that
the two enti ti es referred to, the consonant and the word boundary, do not have
anythi ng in common and do not form a natural category in any sense. The ques
tion that arises i s why these parti cul ar two are used. The rul e does not natural l y
fol l ow from anythi ng. To make thi ngs more awkward, i t turns out that the same
structural descri pti on keeps comi ng up over and over agai n i n phonol ogy. I t i s pre
ci sel y the same context to whi ch one has to refer to account for the difference be
tween the rhoti c and non-rhoti c vari eti es of Engl i sh or the di stri buti on of the vel ar
nasal /D/. I nteresti ngl y enough, the need for the same al ternati ve context ari ses
for the formul ati on of vari ous phonol ogi cal rul es i n other l anguages, such as Por
tuguese and French. So, it turns out that thi s general i sati on can be captured by re
ferri ng to the syl l abl e rhyme as a rel evant uni t of phonol ogi cal anal ysi s. Thus our
vel ari sati on rul e can be re-formul ated as fol l ows:
l i l
I
Rh
By anal ogy, t he hi stori cal r ul e of r-del eti on i n non-rhoti c Engl i sh, appl i ed i n
t he same context i s:
0 1
I
Rh
Al l phonotactic rul es, Le. rul es stati ng possi bl e and i mpossi bl e combi nati ons
of segments i n l anguages, boi l down to bri ngi ng the combi nati ons of segments i nto
accordance with l anguage-specifi c rul es governi ng syl l abl e structure in terms of
these consti tuents. Thus every l anguage has its own rul es about the permi ssi bl e
structure of i ndi vi dual syl l abl e consti tuents. I n Engl i sh, for exampl e, j ust as i n Cro
ati an, al l syl l abl e constituents can branch, whi l e in Arabi c there are no branchi ng
onsets and i n Desano (spoken i n Col ombi a) none of the constituents are al l owed to
1 02
GENERATI VE PHONOLOGY
branch. Li kewi se, regul ari ti es concerni ng syl l abl e structure can account for the fact
that i n Engl i sh [daun ] is a possi bl e word, but *[daum] or *[dauk] are not, or that i n
Croati an Iml! i s a possi bl e onset, but li mi i s not, al though i t consi sts of the same two
consonants. The rul e is that i n cases where two sonorants co-occur i n the onset,
and one of them i s coronal , the coronal has to be cl oser to the nucl eus.
Engl i sh syl l abl e structure and phonol ogi cal rul es governi ng thi s structure
wi l l be di scussed i n more detai l i n connecti on wi th prosodi c domai ns. The purpose
of thi s bri ef account i s j ust to show how the organi sati on of the syl l abl e i n terms of
i ts consti tuents and the hi erarchi cal rel ati ons among them represents a maj or fi el d
of i nterest i n post-SPE phonol ogy. Many of the worl d' s promi nent phonol ogi sts
have devoted thei r careers to the study of regul ari ti es i n syl l abl e structure, both
uni versal and l anguage-speci fi c.
Next we turn to the mel odi c l evel of phonol ogi cal anal ysi s. The term ' me
l odi c' i s somewhat mi sl eadi ng. I t was ori gi nal l y i ntroduced i nto phonol ogy i n the
1 970s, in the study of tone l anguages. Tones were then i sol ated on a separate
l evel of anal ysi s and mani pul ated i ndependentl y of the segments with whi ch they
were associ ated. The theoreti cal framework wi thi n whi ch thi s approach emerged
i s known as autosegmental phonol ogy. However, what matters i n the present
context i s the approach to segmental di sti ncti ve features that devel oped i n l ate
1 980s from thi s ori gi nal i dea. Thi s approach is known as feature geometry. I t
deal s wi th di sti ncti ve features on a separate l evel , whi ch represents the hi erarchi
cal organi sati on of di sti ncti ve features i n phonol ogy. As i l l ustrated on the fol l owi ng
page, the i nternal structure of any gi ven segment i s represented by means of a
tree di agram. As op posed to the earl i er SPE approach, segments are now con
cei ved of as much more than bundl es of feature speci fi cati ons. What gi ves them
thei r phonol ogi cal i denti ty i s the i nternal structure of these i ngredi ent features.
The i dea wi l l sound l ess remote i f we compare phonol ogi cal anal ysi s wi th the bak
i ng of cakes. Havi ng the l i st of i ngredi ents that go i nto a cake is not sufi ci ent for
baki ng i t. So, for exampl e, i f you know that a certai n cake is made of fl our, mi l k,
sugar, eggs, chocol ate and nuts, you sti l l do not know t he reci pe and cannot make
the cake. What gi ves i denti ty to the cake is more than the l i st of i ngredi ents. You
al so need to know the proporti ons of the i ngredi ents and the order and manner i n
whi ch you fol d i n each of them. Li kewi se, what determi nes the behavi our of
sounds i n phonol ogi cal processes and thus gi ves them thei r phonol ogi cal i dentity
are the hi erarchi cal rel ati ons that hol d among thei r i ngredi ent features. The task of
phonol ogy is seen as the search for a model of feature organi sati on from whi ch
phonol ogi cal rul es wi l l fol l ow natural l y as si mpl e operati ons of spreadi ng or
de-l i nki ng i ndi vi dual nodes i n the tree di agram.
Fi gure 30 represents onl y one possi bl e model of feature geometry. I t i s a
somewhat si mpl i fi ed versi on of the model ofered by Kenstowi cz ( 1 994) , who hi m
sel f l argel y draws on Hal l e ( 1 992). At t he top of t he hi erarchy there are two ma
jor-cl ass features, consonantal and sonorant. They speci fy the type of obstructi on
i n the most general sense, and unl i ke other features, they are not associ ated wi th
1 03
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
any parti cul ar arti cul ator. Al l l anguages have them; they pl ay a major rol e i n deter
mi ni ng syl l abl e structure. If they spread from one segment to another, thi s nor
mal l y i mpl i es total assi mi l ati on. The two major-cl ass features thus represent the
root node of the tree, whi ch domi nates al l the other nodes. At the bottom of the
tree there are termi nal di sti ncti ve features, whi ch for the most part correspond to
those features i denti fi ed i n the previ ous chapter. The onl y i nnovati on i s the feature
' ATR' , whi ch stands for ' advanced tongue root' . It roughl y corresponds to the fea
ture ' tense' of the earl i er model s and for our purpose i t can be i dentifi ed wi th i t.
Kenstowi cz' s model al so i ncl udes the feature RTR (retracted tongue root) , whi ch
has been left out here, bei ng i rrel evant for the anal ysi s of Engl i sh. Three of these
features, ' conti nuant' , ' stri dent' and ' l ateral ' are di rectly dependent upon the root
node, whereas the others are subordi nated to nodes such as " GI ottai ' , ' Tongue
Root' , ' Soft Pal ate' , ' Labi ai ' , ' Coronal ' and ' Dorsal ' . These nodes refer to parti cul ar
arti cul ators. These nodes i n thei r turn are subordi nated to hi gher-ranked nodes,
' Pharyngeal ' , ' Laryngeal ' , ' Oral and ' Supral aryngeal ' , whi ch represent
meta-features, groups of features that actual l y form natural categori es i n phono
l ogi cal processes. The tree di agram in fi gure 30 represents a model representi ng
the hi erarchy hol di ng between di sti ncti ve features and i ncl udes al l possi bl e fea
tures of a segment. I t i s i mportant to note that i n feature geometry thi s hi erarchy i s
concei ved of as a three-di mensi onal structure. For the representati on of the i nter
nal structure of any gi ven segment, we i ndi cate onl y those parts of the structure
that are rel evant for its i dentificati on. Thus figure 31 presents the structure of the
Engl i sh segment It, whi ch i s contrasted wi th the earl i er SPE-styl e i dentificati on of
the segment as a bundl e of feature specificati ons si mpl y pi l ed up wi thout ex
pressi ng the nature of the rel ati onshi ps hol di ng between them.
Wi thi n thi s theoreti cal framework al l phonol ogi cal processes are seen as
si mpl e operati ons that spread some feature or group of features at any of the l ev
els of the hi erarchy from one segment to another, or de-l i nk one of the nodes.
However remote or fri ghteni ng the model mi ght l ook at fi rst si ght, i t has the
advantage of offeri ng a most el egant and i nsi ghtful account of many phonol ogi cal
rul es. A case i n poi nt i s the phenomenon of assi mi l ati on, whi ch i s the most com
mon phonol ogi cal process i n the worl d' s l anguages. I n terms of thi s approach, as
si mi l ati on consi sts i n spreadi ng the node or nodes concerned from one segment
to another. The extent of assi mi l ati on wi l l depend upon the hi erarchi cal status of
the node whi ch is spread. Thus, for exampl e, the spreadi ng of the Soft Pal ate
node wi l l result in nasal assi mi l ati on, whi l e the spreadi ng of the root node wi l l i mpl y
total assi mi l ati on, because by spread i ng the root node, al l the nodes subordi nated
to i t spread al ong with it. Spreadi ng i s vi sual l y represented by drawi ng an associ a
ti on l i ne between rel evant pl aces i n the hi erarchy to l i nk to adjacent segments. By
anal ogy, as shown in fi gure 32, de-l i nki ng i s i ndi cated by crossi ng the associ ati on
l i ne concerned by the ' =' si gn.
Let us now expl ai n how thi s ki nd of approach can throw l i ght on the process
of gi ottal i sati on i n Engl i sh. I n RP lp, t, k can be real i sed by the gi ottal stop i n the
1 04
GENERATI VE PHONOLOGY
syl l abl e rhyme, as i n 'fortni ght' [ ' fo : 2naIt] . What the previ ous approaches fai l ed
to account for was the l i nk between lp, t, k and the gi ottal stop. A student who ap
proaches the subj ect matter seri ousl y may wonder why these consonants are pro
nounced as [ 2] , and not as [3] , [I] or [l] for exampl e. Fi gure 32 gi ves an el egant
account of the process i n terms of feature geometry. I t shoul d be noted that onl y
those nodes and features that are rel evant for the process are i ndi cated in the tree
representati on. What the process consi sts of i s a si mpl e de-l i nki ng of the oral node
wi th the pl ace node and correspondi ng pl ace features that depend upon i t. The re
sul t of the process is a feature confi gurati on correspondi ng to that characteri sti c of
[ 2] .
Of course, for practi cal purposes, such as l anguage l earni ng and teachi ng,
i t makes much more sense t o account for gi ottal i sati on i n t he ol d, tradi ti onal way,
by sayi ng that p, t and k may turn i nto 2 before a consonant or at the end of a word
in a stressed syl l abl e, but a speci al i st in the Engl i sh l anguage shoul d not remai n
content wi th thi s ki nd of statement, wi thout i nsi ght i nto the nature of the phenome
non. The i nsi ght that fol l ows from thi s model i s that by i ts nature gi ottal i sati on can
be seen as a command to a group of arti cul ators (those in the oral cavity) to sus
pend thei r acti vity at a pari cul ar moment, i n parti cul ar ci rcumstances.
35
Meta
phori cal l y paraphrased, thi s i s l i ke sayi ng to your speech organs si tuated in the
mouth: 'Stand stil for a moment, because at this point your activity would be
wasteful of ariculator energy'. What remai ns afer the carryi ng out of the com
mand i s the real i zati on of the arti cul atory gesture under the Pharyngeal node, the
constri cti on of the gi otti s. Represented i n thi s way, wi th the pl ace features under
the Oral node unspeci fi ed, the rul e may appl y to any of the three stops afected by
the process.
l n short, the i ntroducti on of hi erarchi cal rel ati onshi ps among ' i ngredi ent'
features of segments wi thi n the framework of feature geometry makes phonol ogi
cal representati on more compl ex and thus understandabl e onl y to speci al i sts.
However, what is gai ned by it is the extreme si mpl ifi cati on of phonol ogi cal rul es
that operate on these hi erarchi es, whi ch provi des val uabl e i nsi ghts i nto the nature
of phonol ogi cal processes and makes thi s approach theoreti cal l y superi or to ear
l i er approaches.
To sum up, current phonol ogi cal model s operate wi th a mul ti tude of l evel s
of anal ysi s, of whi ch we have i denti fi ed onl y the three most i mportant. These are
connected by a framework of associ ati on l i nes, and at the centre of thi s metaphor
i cal concepti on of how phonol ogy works, there is a skel eton, representi ng a seri es
of ti mi ng uni ts.
5
l t shoul d not be forgotten that each segment, represented as such a compl ex structure, on
another l evel makes part of some syl l abl e, whi ch i n its turn groups together wi th adjacent syl l abl es i nto
units on a yet hi gher l evel , and al l thi s shoul d be concei ved of three-di mensi onal l y.
1 05
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[ -cont. ]
GENERATI VE PHONOLOGY
lt!

S
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I
Phar. Oral .

GI ottal Coronal

[ -voi ce j [ + ant. ]
Figure 31 : Itl : SPE representati on vs. feature geometry
[ -cont. j
Figure 32: RP gi ottal i sati on

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par.
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GI ottal
Labi ai Coronal Dorsal

[ + cg j
After the survey of the syl l abi c and mel odi c ti ers, we need to i denti fy yet an
other l evel of anal ysi s i n non-l i near phonol ogy, vi z. the skel etal ti er. I t i s al so re
ferred to as the ti mi ng ti er, X-ti er or CV ti er. Just l i ke the mel odi c ti er, i t was i ntro
duced i nto phonol ogi cal anal ysi s wi thi n the framework of autosegmental
phonol ogy. I ts i ntroducti on resul ted from the need to separate segments from
thei r pl aces in the l i near sequence and to mani pui ate these pl aces on an i nde
pendent l evel . Such enti ti es are metaphori cal l y concei ved of as sl ots that functi on
as anchor poi nts for segments. These sl ots are i ndi cated by the l etters ' X' . The
skel etal ti er then consi sts of a l i near sequence of X sl ots whi ch may carry i nforma
ti on about whether the segment associ ated wi th i t i s a vowel (V) or a consonant
(C). Thi s sequence of pl aces refl ects the fact that speech i s real i zed i n ti me, and
the order of the X sl ots i n the sequence refl ects the sequence of the ti mi ng of seg
ments. The need for the skel etal ti er emerged i n the anal ysi s of Semi ti c l anguages
such as Arabi c, whi ch have what i s known as the root-and-patt
e
rn morphol ogy.
36
6
ln these l anguages diferent grammati cal categori es of words are formed by mappi ng
consonantal roots onto skel etal templ ates, whi ch defi ne the basi c shapes for i ndivi dual grammati cal
1 07
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
However, we shal l now focus on the use of thi s ti er i n the anal ysi s of Engl i sh pro
nunci ati on phenomena. We shal l i l l ustrate i t wi th the exampl e of the anal ysi s of
what is probabl y the most characteri sti c feature of Engl i sh pronunci ati on, the re
ducti on of vowel s i n unstressed syl l abl es. By way of i l l ustrati on, let us represent
the word ' el ephant' by associ ati ng each of the segments wi th i ts correspondi ng X
sl ot on the skel eton. There are two acceptabl e versi ons of pronounci ng thi s word,
the stronger, l el I fantI and the weaker, more reduced, l ela fantl :
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
v c v c v c v v c v c v c v
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
e l I f a n t e l a f a n t
Figure 33: The skel etal ti er
For reasons of notati onal conveni ence, the phonemes are represented by
thei r phoneti c symbol s, but i t shoul d be i magi ned that i nstead of each symbol
there i s the correspondi ng three-di mensi onal feature-geometry structure, l i ke the
one i n Fi gure 30. At thi s poi nt we need answers to the fol l owi ng questi ons:
1 . What i s the nature of the process of weakeni ng ?
2. Why are there two possi bi l i ti es of weakeni ng, the one wi th lal and the one
wi th /Ili n the post-accentual syl l abl e?
3. Why i s /II the onl y vowel whi ch can functi on as the al ternati ve to lal i n
weak syl l abl es?
Under thi s approach, weakeni ng i s accounted for as a mi smatch between
the mel odi c ti er and the skel etal ti er. I t takes pl ace when, wi th the ul ti mate moti va
ti on of savi ng arti cul atory energy, the segmental materi al on the mel odi c ti er i s de
l eted. There i s i ndi sputabl e hi stori cal evi dence, al so refl ected i n the spel l i ng, that
the underl yi ng vowel of the second syl l abl e i s i n fact leI, whi ch i s del eted. What re
mai ns as a resul t of thi s del eti on is its anchor poi nt, the correspondi ng X-sl ot on
the skel eton. I n the l ess radi cal versi on of weakeni ng, thi s sl ot remai ns fi l l ed i n
wi th the i nformati on that the pl ace i s reserved for a vowel :
X
v
As observed by Szpyra ( 1 995) , what l anguage does i n thi s ki nd of si tuati on
i s to fi l l thi s empty vocal i c pl ace on the skel eton by the most unmarked vowel ,
categori es. Thus, the root of the verb 'write' i s ' ktb' and one type of the passi ve i s formed by mappi ng
thi s root on the templ ate CV VCVC. Thi s gi ves the passi ve form ' kuuti b'
V I
1 08
u i
GENERATI VE PHONOLOGY
whi ch i n Engl i sh i s /I/. The resul ti ng form i s then I ' el I fanti. I f the process goes
one step further, i n addi ti on to the segmental materi al on the mel odi c l evel , the i n
formati on about t he vocal i c nature of t he segment i s del eted as wel l , and t he onl y
trace of the underl yi ng segment i s its X -sl ot on the ti mi ng ti er. I n other words, the
onl y i nformati on that we have about what fol l ows i n the sequence i s that i t i s some
segment. What l anguages natural l y do i n thi s si tuati on i s to fi l l the pl ace wi th the
most unmarked segment i n the worl d' s l anguages, whi ch i s the sound [a] . Thi s
gi ves the more reduced versi on, I' el afant/. Under thi s approach, the sound [a] i s
not seen as a phoneme of Engl i sh, but rather, as the most unmarked sound, func
ti oni ng as a ki nd of gap-fi l l er, whi ch, bei ng pure phonati on wi thout any arti cul atory
gestures in the oral cavi ty, requi res the l east amount of arti cul atory energy. I nde
pendent evi dence i n favour of thi s i nterpretati on i s found i n the fact that i n al l l an
guages thi s sound type functi ons as a gap-fi l l er i n the si tuati on of hesitati on.
l n t he l i ght of t hi s account we can now answer t he i ni ti al three questi ons:
1 . By nature, weakeni ng i s the l oss of i nformati on on some ti er(s) of phono
l ogi cal organi sati on.
2. The two extents of weakeni ng resul t from the two possi bl e extents of de
l eti on: the l ess radi cal one, affecti ng the mel odi c l evel onl y, and the more radi cal
one, affecti ng the i nformati on about the vocal i c nature of the segment on the skel
eton.
3. / II has a speci al status i n t he Engl i sh vocal i c system i n t he sense that i t i s
t he most unmarked vocal i c phoneme and i s thus the most sui ted t o fi l l t he V gap
on t he skel etal ti er resul ti ng from t he del eti on of t he underl yi ng vowel .
A mi smatch between t he mel odi c and X ti er can al so account for vari ous
processes of i nserti on, or epenthesi s. By way of i l l ustrati on, reference can be
made to the case when some speakers of Engl i sh pronounce the word ' l ovel y' as
[ ' 11val i] . An extra X sl ot on the skel eton, resul ti ng from rhythmi cal processes
whi ch need not concern us at thi s poi nt, tends to be fi l l ed up. As expl ai ned above,
the most natural candi date for that pl ace is the most unmarked segment [a] .
8. 5. Lexi cal Phonol ogy
To round of thi s chapter on generati ve phonol ogy, menti on must be made
of yet another maj or post-SPE theory of phonol ogy, whi ch was devel oped i n the
earl y 1 980s. I t i s referred to as ' I exi cal phonol ogy' and associ ated pri mari l y wi th
the name of Paul Ki parsky. Lexi cal phonol ogy deal s wi th the i nterface between
phonol ogy and morphol ogy i n a way whi ch i s cl oser to cl assi cal generati ve pho
nol ogy than the non-l i near model s. It assumes that phonol ogy exi sts i n two sepa
rate components i n the grammar. The fi rst one i s the l exi con, whi ch i ncorporates
the semanti c, phonol ogi cal and morphol ogi cal i nformati on on the l anguage' s ba
sic meani ngful units ( morp
h
emes) . The other one i s the postl exi cal component,
1 09
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
i ncl udi ng the phonol ogi cal rul es that appl y afer the words have been i nserted i nto
a sentence. Accordi ngl y, two types of phonol ogi cal rul es are di sti ngui shed: l exi
cal rul es and postl exi cal rul es.
Two Engl i sh phonol ogi cal rul es wi l l be di scussed from each category:
Tri syl l abi c Laxi ng (TSL) and Post-nasal Del eti on as exampl es of l exi cal rul es and
Aspi rati on and Fl appi ng as exampl es of postl exi cal rul es.
The name of Tri syl l abi c Laxi ng i s somewhat mi sl eadi ng i n that i t mi ght sug
gest that the rul e appl i es to tri syl l abi c words, whi ch i n fact, i t does not necessari l y
do. What i t does i s to l ax, i . e. , make [-tense] the vowel of the so-cal l ed antepenul ti
mate syl l abl e of words deri ved wi th sufi xes l i ke ' i ty' . Let us recal l that the Lati nate
term ' antepenul ti mate' refers to the thi rd syl l abl e from the end of the word, where
the l ax vowel resul ti ng from TSL occurs. The operati on of the rul e can be i l l us
trated wi th the fol l owi ng exampl es:
di vi ne IdI ' vaInl di vi nity IdI ' VInIt II
beni gn IbI ' naInl beni gni ty IbI ' nIgnIt Il
vai n IveIni vani ty I ' v<nIt II
serene ISI ' r i : nl serenity ISI ' renIt Il
Typi cal l y of l exi cal rul es, TSL refers to morphol ogi cal l abel s. I n parti cul ar, i t
appl i es to the category of adjecti ves whi ch come from Lati n . I t has excepti ons, l i ke
ni celni cety, obeselobesi ty, as op posed to postl exi cal rul es, whi ch are al ways wi th
out excepti on.
As op posed t o TSL, the other l exi cal rul e di scussed i n thi s context, Post
-Nasal Del eti on, is excepti onl ess. It del etes the consonant afer Iml word-fi nal l y,
referri ng to the status of the word before the endi ngs are added. Thus i t appl i es i n
t he stem and t he i nfl ected form, but not i n t he deri ved form:
damn, damned, damni ng vs.
bomb, bombed, bombi ng vs.
damnati on ld <m ' neI S eni
bombard Ibom ' ba : d
To i l l ustrate the nature of postl exi cal rul es, we shal l refer to Aspi rati on and
Fl appi ng, rul es whi ch have al ready been referred to and whi ch we shal l return to
agai n in the next chapter: Let us j ust recal l that the former rul e aspi rates voi cel ess
pl osi ves i n words l i ke pea, tea or key, whi l e the l atter rul e, restricted to some vari
eti es of Engl i sh, results i n pronunci ati ons l i ke atom [ ' <.em] and at i ssue
[e. ' I S j : ] . Typi cal l y of postl exi cal rul es, they cannot refer to morphol ogi cal l a
bel s and cannot have excepti ons. They may appl y across word boundari es. The
segments that resul t from the operati on of these rul es do not exi st i n underl yi ng
representati ons, or to put i t i n tradi ti onal terms, they are not phonemes, but al l o
phones. I n l exi cal phonol ogy thi s feature i s referred to i n connecti on wi th the no-
1 1 0
GENERATI VE PHONOLOGY
ti on of structure preservati on. I t i s sai d that postl exi cal rul es are not struc
ture-preseri ng, as opposed to l exi cal rul es whi ch are. I n the l exi cal -phonol ogy
model , postl exi cal rul es fol l ow al l l exi cal rul es.
Exercises
1 . Expl ai n the noti ons of competence and performance.
2. I n what terms does the SPE theory defi ne di sti ncti ve features?
3. What i s the mai n theoreti cal advantage of the SPE feature system over the ear
l i er ones?
4. What are the Major Cl ass features?
5. Take one arti cul ator feature of your own choi ce and comment upon its rel e-
vance to Engl i sh.
6. Why is the combi nati on of features [+hi ] and [+I ow] i mpossi bl e?
7. What i s the true phonol ogi cal diference between li : 1 and Ir/?
8. Ifl and Ivi are the onl y stri dents whi ch do not tri gger the /rzl pl ural endi ng. Why i s
that?
9. Can you recogni se the fol l owi ng connected-speech rul e? Express i t in pl ai n
Engl i sh
r l V# #V
1 0. Express the fol l owi ng rul e usi ng a generati ve formul a: ' Obstruents (=non
-sonorants) are devoi ced word-fi nal l y. '
1 1 . On what grounds can we cl ai m that Iz i s a more sui tabl e underl yi ng form for
the regul ar pl ural endi ng than Isl i s?
1 2. Why does the devoi ci ng rul e of the Regul ar Pl ural have to precede the
epenthesi s rul e?
1 3. What i s meant by ' model s' i n phonol ogy?
1 4. What i s the mai n diference between SPE and post-SPE phonol ogy?
1 5. Name a phonol ogi cal rul e of Engl i sh whi ch refers to the syl l abl e rhyme i n i ts
structural descri pti on.
1 6. What is feature geometry?
1 7. How woul d a process such as nasal assi mi l ati on be represented in feature ge-
ometry?
1 8. What i s the nature of gi ottal i sati on?
1 9. How i s weakeni ng accounted for wi th reference to the skel etal ti er?
20. How do you account for the al ternati ve occurrence of !II and lei i n weak syl l a
bl es?
21 . Expl ai n and i l l ustrate the diference between l exi cal and post-I exi cal rul es.
1 1 1
CHAPTER 9
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
9. 1 . Prosodi e Features and Domai ns
The phonol ogi cal features we have referred to so far, such as ' consonantal ' or
' voi ced' , perai n to i ndivi dual segments. So, for exampl e, i n thi s sense we specifi ed a
segment such as It as [+consonantal ] and [-voice] and the l i ke. I n addi ti on to such
features, there i s an i mporant category of features perai ni ng to stretches of l an
guage or speech l arger than what our mi nd analyses as i ndivi dual segments. Such
phonetic or phonol ogi cal vari abl es whi ch can be descri bed onl y wi th reference to a
domai n l arger than a si ngl e segment are known as suprasegmental or prosodi e
features. These i ncl ude al l those features whi ch at an earl i er poi nt were menti oned, i n
connecti on with connected speech, as contri buti ng to promi nence. They cover any
phenomena to do wi th accent, stress, rhythm and i ntonati on. The relevant domai ns
for the real izati on of such features to be di scussed here i ncl ude the syl l abl e (c) , the
foot (L) , the phonol ogi cal word (w) the phonol ogi cal phrase (<) , the i ntonati onal
phrase (1 and the utterance (u). We shal l now l ook briefly at each of them i n turn,
payi ng speci al attenti on to the syl l abl e, whi ch for our purpose pl ays the most i mpor
tant rol e i n the expl anati on of the most basic Engl i sh pronunci ati on phenomena.
9. 2. The 5yl l abl e
The syl l abl e i s an abstract l i ngui sti c category, one of those that are known
as ' pri mi ti ves' of uni versal grammar, whi ch cannot be easi l y or uncontroversi al l y
defi ned in physi cal terms.
37
Neverthel ess, i ts psychol ogi cal real i ty is undi sputed i n
vi ew of t he exi stence of syl l abi c al phabets, t he abi l i ty of speakers of al l l anguages
to syl l abi fy words, the exi stence of syl l abl e-based l anguage games pl ayed al l over
the worl d. It is a uni versal l i ngui sti c fact that segments in al l l anguages group
around a si ngl e peak of sonori ty, thus formi ng what we cal l a syl l abl e i n phonol
ogy. The fundamental rol e of the syl l abl e as an anal yti cal unit of phonol ogy was
stressed al ready i n the previ ous chapter to expl ai n the necessity of its separati on
on an i ndependent l evel of anal ysi s wi thi n the framework of mul ti -ti ered phonol
ogy. However, si nce i t i s so i mportant, the syl l abl e now deserves some more at
tenti on as a separate topi c. It is argued that al l segmental rul es of phonol ogy are
There have been vari ous attempts to defi ne the syl l abl e phoneti cal l y: in terms of respi ratary
movement, openi ng and cl osi ng of the vocal tract, a peak of i ntri nsi c promi nence and the l i ke.
However, none of these have proved adequate.
1 1 3
JOSI POVI : PHONETl CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
ul ti matel y motivated by consi derati ons of syl l abl e structure. Thus, apart from the
rul es al ready di scussed, accounti ng for the diference between the rhoti c and
non-rhoti c vari eti es of Engl i sh and the di stri buti on between the ' cl ear' and ' dark l' ,
numerous other phonol ogi cal rul es are motivated by meeti ng the requi rements of
desi rabl e syl l abl e structure. It is a uni versal fact that l i qui ds, III and Iri occur i n the
worl d' s l anguages ti me and ti me agai n i n syl l abl e-sensi ti ve processes. Even a rul e
such as Regul ar Pl ural Devoi ci ng i s i nterpreted as meeti ng a uni versal -grammar
phonotacti c constrai nt on syl l abificati on, whi ch requi res tautosyl l abi c obstruent
cl usters to agree i n voi ci ng. Besi des bei ng cruci al for the expl anati on of the nature
of segmental rul es, the syl l abl e turns out to be an unavoi dabl e entity in phonol ogi
cal anal ysi s al so because the rest of the prosodi c structure of any gi ven l anguage
( i . e. , the structure of units l arger than the syl l abl e) al so takes syl l abl e-structure
i nto account, as wi l l be cl earer in connecti on with l arger prosodi c domai ns.
Now an account of some uni versal and l anguage-specifi c facts about syl l a
bl e structure wi l l be ofered, whi ch wi l l be somewhat more detai l ed than the cur
sory one ofered i n the previ ous chapter. As al ready observed, every syl l abl e i n
every l anguage must have a nucl eus, whi ch i s the peak of sonority, around whi ch
al l the other syl l abl e-consti tuents are centred. I n Engl i sh there are two i mportant
regul ari ti es about the structure of the nucl eus. Fi rst, the nucl eus may branch,
meani ng it can be associ ated wi th two X posi ti ons. What counts as a branchi ng
nucl eus i s ei ther a tense vowel (whi ch i s metri cal l y l ong) or a di phthong. Thus the
nucl eus of 'two' branches i nto two vocal i c pl aces, unl i ke that of 'in', whi ch does not:
/
O R
I
N
/
"
V V V

"
/
t
U .
Figure 34: 'two'

R
/
N e
I I
V e
|
Figure 35: ' i n'
l n Engl i sh the pl ace of the nucl eus may be occupi ed by sonorant conso
nants Iml, Ini and Il/, as i n words ' bottom' , ' button' and ' l ittl e' , respectivel y, where
the syl l abi ci ty of the consonant is commonl y i ndi cated i n transcri pti on by the corre
spondi ng syl l abi ci ty mark wri tten under the basi c symbol : Ibotm/, IbAtni , 11 It l l.
Croati an speakers are fami l i ar with the noti on of syl l abi c conso
n
ants in
c
onnecti
o
n
wi th the syl l abi c Iri of words l i ke 'trg'. Thi s is what the tree di agram for the Engl i sh
di syl l abi c word 'ltte' woul d l ook l i ke:
1 1 4
W

L
L
i
H
I
N
l
V
J
Figure 36: the sylabic structure of 'little'


L
L
l
H
I
N
l
L

PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
Apart from the obl i gatory nucl eus, the Engl i sh rhyme may have a coda,
consi sti ng of one or more consonants. As for any other syl l abl e consti tuent, l an
guages have thei r own speci fi c rul es about permi ssi bl e coda structure. So, whi l e
i n Hawai i an no syl l abl e can have a coda, Engl i sh i s very l i beral i n thi s respect and
the syl l abl e can end i n up to five consonants, as i n si xths [sIkst 8sj .
38
However,
Engl i sh al so has i ts restri cti ons about the structure of the rhyme, i ncl udi ng the
structure of i ts consti tuent coda. Thus the Engl i sh core syl l abl e consi sts of three X
posi ti ons i n the rhyme, as i n the fol l owi ng cases, 'list', 'keep' , 'mouth':
O
/
O
R
e
l

N e
I
/\
v
J
e e
L t
O
/
O
R

N e
/\
I
e v V
"- /
e
k i :
p
O
/
O
R

N e
/\
I
e v V
"- /
e
e U
Figure 37: The ' core' syl l abl e of Engl i sh (3 X-positions in the rhyme)
Any consonants wi thi n the syl l abl e exceedi ng thi s 3-X l i mi t are referred to
as appendi x, whi ch some phonol ogi sts treat as a sort of ' attachment' to the
rhyme, whi l e some others see i t as part of the coda. I n any case, the appendi x
must consi st of coronal consonants. Thus ' keeps' i s a perfectl y possi bl e word of
8
To i l l ustrate the vari abi l ity among l anguages in thi s respect, it is i nteresti ng to refer to the
data provi ded by Gussenhoven and Jakobs ( 1 998) , accordi ng to whi ch a l anguage such as Thai has
1 46 ti mes as many possi bl e syl l abl es as Hawai i an.
1 1 5
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
Engl i sh, whi l e a word l i ke *[ ki : pk] woul d never be fel t as such. At thi s poi nt we
may express the previ ousl y di scussed di stri buti on of the Engl i sh phonemes Ihl
and 101 i s terms of syl l abl e structure. From thi s poi nt of view thi ngs are qui te si m
pl e: Ihl never occurs i n the syl l abl e rhyme, whi l e 101 occurs i n the rhyme onl y. More
specifical l y, it occurs not i n any ki nd of rhyme, but afer l ax (i . e. , si ngl e-X) vowel s,
as i n ' si ng' , whi ch expl ai ns why a word l i ke *[ku : D] woul d not be fel t as Engl i sh.
The fol l owi ng tree di agrams represent thi s phonotacti c restri cti on:
L L
/ /
O R O R

N e N e
\
x x x ) x
\
e v e e v e
s I
l
*
/
k
i .
lI
Figure 38: Engl i sh phonotacti c restri cti on concerni ng 101
l t i s now probabl y self-evi dent that the rul e accounti ng for the di stri buti on of
Iri i n the non-rhoti c vari eti es of Engl i sh actual l y excl udes the occurrence of Iri i n
the syl l abl e rhyme of those vari eti es. Li kewi se, the rul e accounti ng for the di stri bu
ti on of the ' cl ear' and ' dark I ' i s al so sensi ti ve to syl l abl e structure. However, i n thi s
connecti on i t must be menti oned that some argue that i t i s preferabl e to start from
the assumpti on that the cl ear vari ety occurs i n the onset and the dark one el se
where, i n vi ew of cases l i ke ' yel l ow' , where the /ll i s i nterpreted as ambi syl l abi c
(bel ongi ng to both syl l abl es) and the opposite formul ati on of the rul e woul d fal sel y
predi ct [ l] i n such cases:
/
W


/ /
L H L

N L

L
V L L

\
j
e i
Figure 39: The ambi syl l abi c ' cl ear I' of ' yel l ow'
1 1 6
H

N
\
V V

O
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
As for the syl l abl e on set, i t i s hi ghl y di sputabl e whether there are rul es of
segmental phonol ogy sensi ti ve to its structure i n the way i n whi ch thi s has been
shown for the rhyme, so thi s remai ns one of the hottest i ssues among contempo
rary phonol ogi sts speci al i si ng i n syl l abl e structure. I n any case, j ust l i ke the other
consti tuents, the onset i s subj ect to phonotacti c restri cti ons, both uni versal and
l anguage-specifi c. As i s obvi ous from al l the above cases, the Engl i sh syl l abl e can
have an onset. However, i t al so tol erates onsetl ess syl l abl es, as i n ' aunt' , whi ch
some other l anguages do not.
39
L
I
R
I
N e
/ \ / \
v v e c
. t
Figure 40: onsetl ess Engl i sh syl l abl e
Unl i ke i n some other l anguages, such as Arabi c, Engl i sh onsets may
branch, that i s, i ncl ude more than one consonant, as i n ' spri ng' :
L
/
\
O R
1 tC
I \
e e e v e
s p | J I
Figure 41 : syl l abl e wi th a branchi ng onset

Cases i n poi nt are Arabi c and German, whi ch provi de the onset for onsetl ess syl l abl es by
i nserti ng the gl attal stop, or some Dal mati an di al ects of Croati an whi ch for the same purpose i nsert the
so-cal l ed ' prothetic' Ijl i n words l i ke ' oko' or ' usta' , pronounci ng them as ljokol and Ijusta!.
1 1 7
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
The segmental structure of both the onset and the rhyme, apart from fol l ow
i ng the l anguage-speci fi c restricti ons, al so has to meet an i mportant uni versal
pri nci pl e governi ng syl l abl e-structure i n l anguages. Thi s i s the Sonority Se
quenci ng General izati on (SSG) . Accordi ng to thi s pri nci pl e, the onset and the
nucl eus consti tute an upward sl ope i n sonority, that i s, i n branchi ng onsets, as i n
the above case of ' spri ng' , the degree of i nherent sonority of the onset consonants
ri ses, then sonori ty cul mi nates in the nucl eus, whi ch i s by defi ni ti on the peak of so
nori ty, and then i t decreases towards the end of the syl l abl e.
Another i mporant universal pri nci pl e i n connecti on with syl l abl e structure i s
the Maxi mal Onset Pri nci pl e (MOP) . I t states that i n the syl l abifi cati on of words, the
criteri on for assi gni ng a consonant at a syl l abl e boundary to the syl l abl e it bel ongs to,
is whether it can form a possi bl e onset in that l anguage. When it can, it is assi gned to
the onset of the fol l owi ng syl l abl e, rather than the coda of the precedi ng syl l abl e. So,
for exampl e the Isl of ' i nspi re' must bel ong to the onset of the second syl l abl e, as Ispl
i s a possi bl e onset in Engl i sh, whi ch i s obvi ous from words l i ke ' spi n' . The word woul d
thus be syl l abifi ed as !In ' spaIsi, rather than * !Ins ' paIsi. I n thi s context i t i s i n
structive to quote Wel ls' s famous exampl e of i nterference of the syl l abl e structure of
the native l anguage of some speakers of Engl i sh i n South Africa. These speakers
woul d syl l abif ' Zi mbabwe' as ' Zi -mba-bwe " rather than ' Zi m-bab-we, whi ch other
speakers of Engl i sh woul d normal l y do, fol l owi ng the MOP. Thi s i s so, because i n
Engl ish Imbl and Ibwl are not possi bl e onsets, whi l e i n the native l anguage of those
speakers they are, so fol l owi ng the MOP, they maxi mi se i t.
Apart from bei ng sensi ti ve to syl l abl e structure i n terms of the segmental
composi ti on of i ndi vi dual consti tuents of the syl l abl e, phonol ogi cal rul es can be
sensi ti ve to syl l abl e structure i n two other senses. I n thi s connecti on we are goi ng
to i ntroduce two i mportant cri teri a for the cl assi fi cati on of syl l abl es i n phonol ogy.
The fi rst i s the di vi si on of syl l abl es i nto open and cl osed. Open syl l abl es end i n a
vowel , so they are codal ess, whi l e cl osed syl l abl es have a coda. To i l l ustrate the
di sti ncti on, l et us refer to the pai r of Engl i sh words ' sea' and ' dog' , where the for
mer consi sts of an open syl l abl e, whi l e the l atter represents a cl osed syl l abl e:
O
/ \
O R

e V V
i :
Figure 42: open vs. cl osed syl l abl e
1 1 8
O
/ \
O R

N e

e V e
d
O g
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
Accordi ng to the other criteri on, syl l abl es are cl assifi ed as ei ther heavy or
l i ght. Heavy syl l abl es are those whi ch have some branchi ng at whatever poi nt
wi thi n the rhyme. Thus cl osed syl l abl es are automati cal l y heavy, because the ex
i stence of the coda i mpl i es that the rhyme branches i nto the nucl eus and the coda.
However, not al l heavy syl l abl es need t o have a coda, as t he branchi ng wi thi n the
nucl eus al so counts as branchi ng wi thi n the rhyme. Thus syl l abl es l i ke ' bit' and
' bee' are both heavy, because i n both of them there i s some branchi ng i n the
rhyme:
I
O
e
b
O
I
o
e
b
Figure 43: heavy syl l abl es: branchi ng i n the rhyme
O
N

Unl i ke heavy syl l abl es, a l i ght syl l abl e does not occur as a separate word i n
Engl i sh, because t he mi ni mal phonol ogi cal word i n Engl i sh has two X- posi ti ons i n
t he rhyme. Li ght syl l abl es thus occur i n Engl i sh onl y wi thi n pol ysyl l abi c words, as
i n t he i ni ti al syl l abl e of t he word 'begin':
Figure 44: the l i ght syl l abl e of IbII
W
/


L H
/
N L
I I
L V L
U J I
The di sti ncti ons between open and cl osed syl l abl es on the one hand and
heavy and l i ght syl l abl es on the other are parti cul arl y i mportant for stress rul es,
1 1 9
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
whi ch wi l l be deal t wi th shortl y. At thi s poi nt i t i s sufi ci ent to note that stress i s gen
eral l y attracted to heavy syl l abl es, as i n the above exampl e of ' begi n' , where i t i s
the heavy, rather than the l i ght syl l abl e that i s stressed.
l n thi s context i t shoul d al so be noted that the weak forms of grammati cal
words do not count as i ndependent phonol ogi cal words, whi ch wi l l be further ex
pl ai ned under the fol l owi ng topi c of prosodi c domai ns l arger than the syl l abl e.
Wi thi n some heavy syl l abl es, we can i dentify yet another anal yti cal enti ty,
whi ch is not i ndi spensabl e for the phonol ogi cal anal ysi s of Engl i sh, but turns out to
be so for l anguages l i ke Croati an or Japanese. The consti tuent under consi der
ati on is the mora (l) .
The mora is a mi ni mal unit of metri cal ti me, and i n contemporary model s of
non-l i near phonol ogy i t is si ngl ed out on a separate l evel of phonol ogi cal repre
sentati on. A defi ni ti on woul d be that, metri cal l y (i . e. , phonol ogi cal l y) a l ong syl l abl e
has two moras. Thi s means that bi morai c syl l abl es are automati cal l y heavy. As
expl ai ned several ti mes earl i er, in Engl i sh, vocal i c l ength is not an i nherent phono
l ogi cal property of vowel s, though tense vowel s are anal ysed as branchi ng nuci ei
and count as metri cal l y l ong. However, i n contemporary anal yses of the Croati an
prosodi c system, parti cul arl y i n accounti ng for the four tradi ti onal ' accents' of
Standard Croati an, the mora turns out to be cruci al as a syl l abl e consti tuent. Thus
the syl l abl es wi th the so-cal l ed ' l ong' accents, ' l ong ri si ng' and ' l ong fal l i ng' , as the
i ni ti al syl l abl es i n ruka and more, respectivel y, are anal ysed as associ ated wi th
bi morai c syl l abl es. The morai c structure of these words i s anal ysed as fol l ows:
4o

k a
Figure 45: The morai c structure of the Croati an ' l ong' accents
d
Although it is di sputabl e whether the anal ysi s of segments i nto moras shoul d be appl i ed to
the syl l abl e onset or, rather, to the rhyme onl y, for the present purpose, we can abstract away from thi s
theoretical i ssue and assume, i n a somewhat si mpl ified fashi on, that the enti re syl l abl e, i ncl udi ng the
onset, may be anal ysed wi thout rest i nto moras. Long Croati an vowel s then occupy two V pl aces on
the CV ti er.
1 20
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
Accordi ngl y, the ' short' accents, the ' short ri si ng' and the ' short fal l i ng' , as i n
noga and pa' s are associ ated wi th monomorai c syl l abl es:
Figure 46: The morai c structure of the Croati an ' shor' accents
The mai n reason why the i ntroducti on of the morai c l evel of anal ysi s proves
i nsi ghtful i n accounti ng for the nature of the Croati an prosodi c system i s that i n
combi nati on wi th t he autosegmental approach, whi ch deal s wi th tones on a sepa
rate l evel of anal ysi s, the four tradi ti onal ' accents' of Standard Croati an are ana
l ysed si mpl y by means of an H tone associ ated wi th one of the moras. Thi s ap
proach to Croati an prosody was fi rst i ntroduced i n the groundbreaki ng work by
I nkel as and Zec ( 1 988) and seems to have remai ned unchal l enged to the present
day. Accordi ng to thi s approach the four tradi ti onal ' accents' of Standard Croati an
are no l onger seen as i nherent properti es of the vowel s they are associ ated wi th,
but, rather, confi gurati ons expressed by uni versal prosodi c parameters, appl i ca
bl e to other pi tch-accent l anguages as wel l .
Under thi s approach, the gi st of the Standard Croati an four-accent system
is the fol lowi ng: The l ong accents are bi morai c, as opposed to the short ones,
whi ch are monomorai c. The ri si ng accents are i nterpreted as leftward spreadi ng
of t he H tone t o t he precedi ng syl l abl e, whereas fal l i ng accents are non-spread.
The nature of ri si ng accents as spread tones accounts for the fact that ri si ng ac
cents cannot occur on monosyl l abi c words. There i s al so i ndependent hi stori cal
evi dence that words l i ke ' ruka' used to be stressed on the l ast syl l abl e ( ruka) , but
as a resul t of the hi stori cal process of Neo-

tokavi an Accent Shif, whi ch presum


abl y started i n the fifteen century, today the accent i s on the fi rst syl l abl e. The four
confi gurati ons can be represented as fol l ows:
1 2 1
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
Long ri si ng (e. g. kosa):
Short ri si ng: (e. g. kosa):
Long fal l i ng (pas):
w



I
H
Short fal l i ng (pas):
w
c

H
Figure 47: The four Croati an accents: the mora-based approach
The remai ni ng maras, i . e. , those whi ch are not underl yi ngl y characteri sed
by the H tone, by defaul t recei ve a L tone on the surface by a speci al type of rul e
whi ch operates i n a l ater stage and need not concern us at the present poi nt. Un
der thi s approach the accent is assi gned on the basi s of tone. Thus the Croati an
Stress Rul e i s formul ated el egantl y as fol l ows:
The syl l abl e with the lefmost H mora is perceived by the l i stener as
stressed. (cf. I nkel as and Zec 1 988: 244)
l n the words wi th ri si ng accents here, where the H tone i s spread l eftwards,
what counts as the l eftmost H mora i s the second mora of the syl l abl e ' ko' i n ko sa,
whi ch makes the syl l abl e ' ko' sound accented. I n kosa the l eftmost H mora i s
agai n wi thi n the fi rst, monomorai c syl l abl e, whi ch once agai n fits the defi ni ti on of
1 22
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
the accented syl l abl e. I n fal l i ng accents the l eftmost H mora can be the fi rst mora
of a bi morai c syl l abl e, whi ch resul ts in a l ong fal l i ng confi gurati on , or the onl y mora
of a monomorai c syl l abl e, whi ch is the case wi th the short fal l i ng pattern . It shoul d
be noted at thi s poi nt that the ri si ng confi gurati ons difer from the fal l i ng ones i n the
tonal specificati on of the post-accentual syl l abl e. I n ri si ng accents thi s syl l abl e i s
sti l l hi gh and as a rul e the ri si ng tonal movement reaches i ts phoneti c peak wi thi n
i t. By contrast, the post-accentual syl l abl e of the fal l i ng confi gurati ons, as i n
more ' i s l ow.
The advantages of the mora-based approach to Croati an prosodi c phe
nomena are manifol d. It ofers the formul ati on of the Croati an Stress Rul e in a way
whi ch i s more el egant and thus theoreti cal l y superi or to any previ ous approaches.
Besi des, i t provi des i mportant i nsi ghts i nto the operati on of many l exi cal rul es of
Croati an, whi ch, however, are not our di rect concern here and wi l l soon be i l l us
trated on the exampl e of hypocori sti c formati on. Most i mportantl y, by deal i ng wi th
prosodi c phenomena i n terms of such uni versal anal yti cal enti ti es as di screte tone
uni ts, i t provi des a ' common denomi nator' for the anal ysi s and compari son of such
typol ogi cal l y di verse prosodi c systems as those of Engl i sh and Croati an.
An i mportant poi nt that needs to be made i n connecti on wi th the rol e of the
mora i s that i n Croati an i t i s i mportant onl y as a tone-beari ng uni t. I t shoul d be
noted that Croati an i s neverthel ess not a mora l anguage i n the sense i n whi ch the
term i s usual l y empl oyed i n phonol ogy. I t i s commonl y used to refer to the type of
rhythm i n whi ch moras are produced at approxi matel y regul ar i nterval s, for i n
stance i n Japanese.
Now that al l syl l abl e consti tuents rel evant for both Engl i sh and Croati an
have been i ntroduced, i t i s i nstructi ve to show how the formati on of hypocori sti cs
(pet names) i s a prosodi c operati on defi ned by syl l abl es. Let us fi rst defi ne one of
the Engl i sh hypocori sti c formati on rul es, whi ch accounts for the most common
type of Engl i sh hypocori sti cs, as i n the fol l owi ng i l l ustrative exampl es:
Vi ctori a Vi cki e
Vi rgi ni a Gi nni e
Rebecca Becki e
Frederi ck Freddi e
The pri nci pl e i s fai rl y si mpl e: ei ther t he i ni ti al or t he accented syl l abl e (whi ch
are the most promi nent) i s copi ed onto the characteri sti c hypocori sti c templ ate
and is combi ned wi th the di mi nuti ve endi ng Ii i. Thus forms l i ke *Victie or *Alrie
woul d not make l i kel y Engl i sh ni cknames. Certai nl y, it i s not suggested that thi s
rul e covers al l cases of hypocori sti c formati on i n Engl i sh. I t has been gi ven here
j ust as an i l l ustrati on of a prosodic operation based on the syl l abl e. Li kewi se, the
prosodi c structure of the typi cal Croati an hypocori sti c can be set out as fol l ows:
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
Figure 48: The Croati an hypocori sti c templ ate
As can be seen from Fi gure 48, the characteri sti c Croati an hypocori sti c i s a
bi syl l abi c word. The fi rst syl l abl e is l ong ( bi morai c) and has what tradi ti onal pho
nol ogy cal l s a ' l ong ri si ng accent' (spread H tone on the second mora) . Here are
some exampl es of hypocori sti cs fitti ng i nto thi s templ ate:
Vl adi mi r Vl ado
Mi rosl av Mi ro
Mi rj ana Mi ra
I vanka
i
va
lt shoul d be noted that i rrespective of the type of accent in the ori gi nal
name, the one of the deri ved hypocori sti cs i s al ways the ' l ong ri si ng' , because i t i s
thus defi ned by the above templ ate. I t i s al so i nteresti ng to note that Croati an
words characteri sti c of baby tal k fol l ow the same templ ate: beba, maca, medo,
zeko and the l i ke.
The mai n reason why hypocori sti c formati on i s phonol ogi cal l y i nteresti ng i s
that the same type of templ ati c pri nci pl e i s fol l owed i n some l anguages i n the for
mati on of diferent grammati cal categori es. Now we may refer back to l anguages
wi th root-and-pattern morphol ogy, menti oned earl i er i n connecti on wi th the skel e
tal ti er. As exempl i fi ed i n that context, i n Semi ti c l anguages, grammati cal catego
ri es of words are formed by mappi ng consonantal roots onto skel etal templ ates.
Now i t shoul d be cl ear that thi s is done i n conformi ty wi th the l anguage' s permi ssi
bl e syl l abl e structure.
Yet another i nteresti ng type of prosodi c operati on performed on the syl l abl e
i s i l l ustrated by l anguage games, al so cal l ed l udl i ngs. What i s meant by l anguage
games i n thi s context wi l l be i l l ustrated on two games pl ayed for fun by Eng
l i sh-speaki ng and, respecti vel y, Croati an-speaki ng i ndi vi dual s ( mostl y chi l dren) .
1 24
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
The most popu l ar l udl i ng pl ayed i n the Engl i sh-speaki ng worl d i s Pi g Lati n. What
fol l ows i s a demonstrati on of the pri nci pl e of word-formati on i n Pi g Lati n:
spri ng i ng-spray
fl ower ower-fl ay
happy appy-hay
autumn autumn-may
lt does not take much ' detecti ve' work to fi gure out the pattern behi nd the
systemati c di storti on of the phonol ogi cal forms of the words at hand: the onset of
the i ni ti al syl l abl e of the ori gi nal word i s taken off and used as the onset of the syl
l abl e attached to the end of the word. The attached syl l abl e i s formed accordi ng to
the fol l owi ng templ ate:
/(
\
`
co-\ N
cJ
Figure 49: The Pi g-Lati n sufix templ ate
lt shoul d be noted that i t is the enti re onset that i s copi ed onto the templ ate,
whi l e t he rhyme i s pre-speci fi ed as l eI/ . As can be seen from t he Pi g-Lati n word
for ' autumn' , where the ori gi nal word begi ns wi th an onsetl ess syl l abl e, the defaul t
Pi g-Lati n onset is Im/. Thi s is at l east the case in the mai nstream versi on of the
l anguage, as opposed to some ' di al ects' where the defaul t onset can be some
other consonant.
The Croati an-based l anguage game fol l owi ng a comparabl e templ ati c pri n
ci pl e can be cal l ed Je-pe-zi-pik. Here i s an i l l ustrati on of t he word-formati on rul e i n
that l anguage:
gl ava gl a-pa-va-pa
ruka ru-pu-ka-pa
noga no-po-ga-pa
stol sto-pol
The ori gi nal word i s fi rst di vi ded i nto syl l abl es, from whi ch the coda i s de
tached, where there i s one: After each of these codal ess syl l abl es, an extra syl l a-
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
bl e i s i nfi xed, whi ch consi sts of the pre-speci fi ed onset Ipl and a rhyme whi ch i s a
copy of
t
he enti re ori gi nal rhyme.
Al though based on i ndi vi dual l anguages, ' secret l anguages' l i ke Pi g Lati n
and Je-pe-zi -pi k are i nteresti ng as an i l l ustrati on of the uni versal rol e of the syl l a
bl e and i ts consti tuents i n deal i ng wi th morpho-prosodi c phenomena. I n the text
that fol l ows we shal l be l ooki ng at yet another uni versal rol e of the syl l abl e in con
necti on wi th i ts functi on as the carri er of stress.
9. 3. Stress and Accent
The fi rst thi ng to cl ear up i n connecti on wi th stress i s the wi despread termi
nol ogi cal confusi on i n the l i terature between the terms ' stress' and ' accent' . Some
phonol ogi sts and phoneti ci ans use these terms synonymousl y, to denote any ki nd
of promi nence, whi l e some others make a di sti ncti on between the two, reservi ng
the term ' accent' for some parti cul ar type of promi nence. So, for exampl e, by ' ac
cent' some l i ngui sts refer excl usi vel y to promi nence achi eved pri mari l y by means
of pi tch, as i s the case wi th the four Croati an l exi cal prosodi c patterns di scussed
above. I n some ol der phoneti c l i terature the term ' accent' i s reserved for the stress
of the most promi nent i tem wi thi n the sentence. In any case, for the present pur
pose, fol l owi ng what seems to be the domi nant trend in current phonol ogi cal the
ory, the two terms wi l l be used synonymousl y.
Let us recal l from the chapter on acoustics that promi nence i s achi eved pho
neti cal l y by the cumul ative efect of three factors: change in pi tch, i ncreased l oud
ness and l onger durati on. The basi c domai n for the real izati on of thi s efect i s the
syl l abl e. Thus wi thi n a pol ysyl l abi c word, the i ndi vi dual syl l abl es have vari ous de
grees of promi nence, and i n Engl i sh two such degrees are phonol ogi cal l y i mporant
and need to be i dentifi ed here: the mai n or pri mary stress - that of the most promi
nent syl l abl e i n the word, as i n the second syl l abl e of ' begi n' IbI ' gm/; an
d
the sec
ondary stress, as the in the second syl l abl e of ' negoti ati on' InI , gau S I ' eI S ni. The
necessity to i dentif secondary stess i n Engl i sh, but not i n some other l anguages i n
cl udi ng Croati an, can be accounted for by a feature of the Engl i sh rhyhmi c system
whi ch wi l l be di scussed l ater in connecti on with rhythm and the organi sati on of syl l a
bl es i nto feet on the next hi gher l evel of phonol ogi cal hi erarchy. Al though the term
' stress' wi l l be used here in the wi dest sense, as expl ai ned above, it i s word stress
that we shal l be focusi ng on here. In this connecti on i t i s often observed that Engl i sh
has one of the most compl ex stress systems known i n phonol ogy. I n contemporary
phonol ogy, stress, l i ke so many other phonol ogi cal phenomena, is treated wi thi n a
nonl i near approach. A major contemporary theory deal i ng with stress in metri cal
phonology ( MP) . I t was ori gi nal l y i ntroduced by Li berman and Pri nce i n 1 977. I t fo
cuses on the organisati on of syl l abl es i nto feet, whi ch, however, wi l l be di scussed i n
connecti on with the foot as a prosodi c domai n.
What i s i mportant for a student of Engl i sh to know about stress i s that i n l i n
gui sti c typol ogy two types of l anguages are di sti ngui shed wi th respect to where
1 26
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
the stress fal l s wi thi n a word. Some l anguages have a fixed stress. I n those l an
guages i t i s r,egul arl y a parti cul ar syl l abl e that i s stressed. Thus i n Hungari an i t i s
the fi rst syl l abl e, i n French the l ast, i n Pol i sh the penul ti mate one ( the second one
from the end of the word) and i n Macedoni an i t i s the antepenul ti mate syl l abl e, i . e. ,
the thi rd one from the end. Engl i sh, j ust l i ke Croati an, bel ongs to the other cate
gory, compri si ng l anguages wi th free stress. Thi s si mpl y means that there i s no
parti cul ar syl l abl e wi thi n the word that has to be stressed as i n the former cate
gory. Thi s, however, does not mean that such l anguages cannot have restri cti ons
as to permi ssi bl e and i l l i ci t l ocati on of stress. So, for exampl e, al though bei ng a
l anguage wi th free stress, Standard Croati an cannot have stress on the l ast syl l a
bl e of pol ysyl l abi c words, not to menti on restricti ons concerni ng the di stri buti on of
i ndi vi dual ' accents' wi thi n the word.
What makes Engl i sh parti cul arl y i nteresti ng i n the context of word stress i s
that stress i s empl oyed for di sti ncti ons among parti cul ar grammati cal categori es.
Here are some i l l ustrative noun/adjecti ve vs. verb pai rs:
NOUN/ADJ ECTI VE VERB
abstract I' <b, stnektl l<b' str<ktl
accent I' <k, sentl l<k' sentl
di gest I ' daI , d3estl I , daI ' d3estl
frequent I' fri kWantl I fn ' kwentI
permi t I ' p3 : mItl Ipa ' mItI
protest I ' prau , t estI Ipra' testl
segment I' segmantl I,seg' mentl
subj ect I ' slbd3Iktl Iseb ' d3ektl
l t shoul d be noted that i n some of these pai rs opposi ti ons of accentual pat
tern are mani fested by the l ocati on of the stress onl y, whi l e in some others i t is ac
compani ed by sl i ght vari ati ons of quanti ty. I n any case, Engl i sh abounds in such
pai rs of rel ated di syl l abl es i n whi ch the word wi th the stress on the fi rst syl l abl e i s
the noun or adjecti ve, or both, and i ts correl ate wi th the stress on the second syl l a
bl e i s the verb. However, i t shoul d be noted that there are pai rs of rel ated words
whi ch do not conform to thi s pattern and bei ng thus excepti onal , often are mi spro
nounced by forei gners. So, for exampl e the word 'reform' i s stressed on the sec
ond syl l abl e ln ' f8 : ml i n both the noun and the verb. Li kewi se, 'comment' i s al
ways pronounced as I ' komentI, i rrespecti ve of whether one i s referri ng to the
noun or the verb.
Engl i sh rul es of stress assi gnment are too compl ex to be el aborated i n thi s
i ntroductory course, but three basi c phonol ogi cal vari abl es that they take i nto ac
count must be si ngl ed out at thi s poi nt. These are: syl l abl e count from the ri ght,
syl l abl e wei ght and syntactic and morphol ogi cal i nformati on. Thi s poi nt wi l l be i l -
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
l ustrated wi th the exampl e of the appl i cati on of the Engl i sh Stress Rul e on nouns.
Accordi ng to thi s rul e, regul ar stress i n nouns fal l s on the penul ti mate syl l abl e if i t
i s heavy, otherwi se on the antepenul ti mate. Let us i l l ustrate thi s wi th the two fol
l owi ng nou ns:

/
\
/\

1
\

I
/ / /
/` /
R O R O R O R O R O R O R
I I I I

I
N N N N N
I I I I I I 1 I
V G V G V G V G V G G G V V G V
e 'm J k e k e m 'p j U- t e
Figure 50: l i ght penul ti mate vs. heavy penul ti mate
Another general poi nt to be made about stress rul es i s that they have ex
cepti ons. So, for exampl e, the words 'cylnder' and 'calendar' have heavy penul ti
mate syl l abl es, and yet, have antepenul ti mate stress.
9. 3. Prosodi e hi erarchy
At a hi gher l evel of prosodi c organi sati on , syl l abl es form metri cal feet.
41
The
foot (L) i s t he fundamental uni t of rhythm i n phonol ogy. I t represents t he central
noti on of Metrical Phonol ogy, a theory of phonol ogy i n whi ch phonol ogi cal
stri ngs are represented i n a hi erarchi cal manner. As opposed to poetry, whi ch al
l ows for sequences consi sti ng of more than two syl l abl es to form a foot (e. g. dac
t yi : - UU, or anapest: UU-) , contemporary Metri cal Phonol ogy recogni ses onl y se
quences of two syl l abl es as rel evant anal yti cal enti ti es of phonol ogy. Thi s atti tude
i s known as the Maxi mal Bi narity Pri nci pl e ( MBP) , whi ch expresses the
wel l -establ i shed general i sati on that l i ngui sti c rul es do not count beyond two. Thus
what counts as a foot i n the present context i s a sequence of two syl l abl es, one of
whi ch is strong ( more promi nent) and the other one weak (l ess promi
n
ent) . Feet
consi sti ng of one syl l abl e onl y are known as degenerate. The hi erarchi cal rel a
ti onshi ps among syl l abl es i n a sequence are represented i n several ways: i n the
l n many contemporary model s the foot i s seen as consi sti ng of syl l abl e rhymes onl y, the
onset bei ng l ef out as i rrel evant i n thi s respect. However, for our purpose, we can aford to abstract
away from such hi ghl y theoreti cal i ssues as the status of the onset i n prosodi c hi erarchy.
1 28
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
form of a metri cal gri d, by means of a tree representati on, or, i n the l atest devel op
ments of the theory, i n terms of parameters whi ch specify the posi ti ons of heads
wi thi n phrases. I n any case, at thi s poi nt we are not goi ng to go i nto detai l s of rep
resentati on formal i sm. Rather, i n connecti on wi th the topi c that fol l ows we shal l
l ook at how syl l abl es are organi sed i nto feet.
9. 4. Prosodi e hi erarchy
Let us now i l l ustrate how Engl i sh may be anal ysed i nto feet by anal i si ng the
structure of the phrase ' dry-cl eaned cl othes' i n terms of feet:
w
OII kil uO kiOu2

Figure 51 : Organi sati on of syl l abl es i nto feet


The phrase here consi sts of two feet, one l eft-headed (s w) foot and one de
generate foot. For the present purpose i t was notati onal l y conveni ent to i ncorpo
rate thi s representati on i nto a metri cal tree representati on, whi ch, as expl ai ned
above, is onl y one of the possi bl e ways of formal i sati on. The syl l abl e domi nated
by the hi ghest node of the tree i s then the most promi nent one in the phrase ( i n thi s
case i t i s ' cl othes' ) .
l n some l anguages the foot is the most i mportant uni t of rhythmi c organi sa
ti on. So, for exampl e, i n the Bal ti c l anguages i t i s the domai n for al l the maj or
rhythmi cal rul es, as wel l as for phonotacti c restri cti ons and a number of segmental
rul es. The mai n reason why the foot i s i nteresti ng for a student of Engl i sh i n the
present context i s that i t i s the domai n for the appl i cati on of two i mportant rul es of
segmental phonol ogy. These rul es have al ready been referred to earl i er i n vari ous
contexts, but thei r ful l expl anati on was each ti me postponed for a l ater poi nt. Now
that we are fami l i ar wi th the noti on of foot, we can fi nal l y provi de these expl ana
ti ons. The two rul es under consi derati on are Aspi rati on and Fl appi ng.
When the noti on of aspi rati on was i ntroduced i n the context of the
arti cul atory descri pti on of some al l ophones of Engl i sh phonemes, the structural
descri pti on for thi s rul e was somewhat awkwardl y and provi si onal l y defi ned as the
posi ti on before a stressed vowel . . Accordi ngl y, i t was observed that the pl osi ves of
words l i ke 'ay', 'tea' or 'key' were ful l y a
s
pi rated. However, i t was al so expl ai ned
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
that i n consonant cl usters l i ke those of 'spit', 'stink' or 'skin' the same consonants
were deaspi rated, whi ch was i n contradi cti on to the fi rst observati on, as i n al l three
words from the former category, the pl osi ves are sti l l fol l owed by stress ed vowel s.
The necessi ty to re-defi ne the context for the appl i cati on of thi s rul e can be even
better i l l ustrated by the contrast between the fol l owi ng two phrases:
not at i ssue vs. not a ti ssue
[ ' not et ' I S j u : ] [not e ' t
h
I S j U : ]
Obvi ousl y, i n both cases the It i s fol l owed by a stressed vowel and yet, onl y
the one of ' ti ssue' i s aspi rated. Thi s can be expl ai ned i f we anal yse the prosodi c
structure of these two phrases:
L L
L
L

O O O O
O O O O
not et
I
S
j
u :
not O t
h
I S
j
u :
Figure 52: Foot-fi nal vs. foot-i ni ti al It
We can now re-defi ne the structural descri pti on of the Engl i sh Aspi rati on
Rul e wi th reference to the foot. I t appl i es i f the consonant under consi derati on i s
foot-i ni ti al , as i s the case i n ' ti ssue' .
The other rul e whi ch we shal l now defi ne wi th reference to the foot i s that of
Fl appi ng (al so someti mes referred to as Tappi ng) . Let us recal l what was ob
served i n connecti on wi th fl aps and taps i n chapter 5. Most vari eti es of Ameri can
Engl i sh, as wel l as Ul ster Engl i sh and Engl i sh spoken i n Tynesi de i n certai n con
texts have a fl ap or a tap (represented i n the I PA notati on by the same symbol , f) .
As an exampl e we can use the above context for the unaspi rated It, ' not at i ssue' ,
si nce the structural descri pti on for fl appi ng is j ust the opposi te to the one for aspi
rati on. I n other words, fl appi ng takes pl ace el sewhere, i . e. , where i t i s not
foot-i ni ti al . It is i mportant to note that thi s is not the same as sayi ng 'foot-fi nal ' , be
cause not al l non-i ni ti al posi ti ons are automati cal l y fi nal . Thus, apart from the It of
' at ' i n the above exampl e, cases of fl appi ng i n non-foot- i ni ti al posi ti ons can be i l
l ustrated by quoti ng the famous sentence by whi ch a wel l -known publ i c fi gure
speaki ng Scouse (the Li verpool di al ect) opens her TV shows:
'I've got o lot of fun for you'
[ aI V ' gOf e ' iDf e f ' fun . . . ]
On the next l evel of the prosodi c hi erarchy feet are organi sed i nto phono
l ogi cal words. I t i s i mportant to stress that the phonol ogi cal word does not neces-
1 30
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
sari l y al ways coi nci de wi th the word i n the morphol ogi cal sense. Al though most of
ten it does, there are cases where apart from a morphol ogi cal word it i ncl udes
cl i ti es as wel l . Cl i ti cs are words whi ch do not have thei r own stress, but have to
occupy a parti cul ar posi ti on in the sentence in whi ch i t ' l eans' on the adjacent
word, i ts host. The phonol ogi cal word i s the domai n for vari ous types of phonol og
i cal rul es i n l anguages. I n Engl i sh, apart from bei ng the domai n for the stress
rul es, i t i s al so the domai n of the rul e referred to in chapter 4 as Fi nal Tensi ng.
42
l n
Croati an the phonol ogi cal word i s the domai n for rul es on the l ocati on and
spreadi ng of the l exi cal tone. The l atter type of rul es can be i l l ustrated by the
stress shift from the host to the procl i ti c (the cl i ti c whi ch ' l eans' on the word that fol
l ows) , i n cases l i ke those when 'u kuu' becomes 'u kuu'.
l n the same way i n whi ch i t is wrong to i dentify the phonol ogi cal word wi th
the syntacti c category of word, the next category i n the prosodi c hi erarchy, the
phonol ogi cal phrase (c) need not coi nci de wi th the syntacti c phrase. There i s no
consensus i n phonol ogi cal l i terature on how c shoul d be defi ned. I n some con
temporary model s of i ntonati on i t i s i denti fi ed wi th the domai n of the postl exi cal ac
cent (contrasti ve sentence accent) . Accordi ngl y, i t i s often al so referred to as the
accentual phrase (e) . The semanti c and pragmati c correl ate of the phonol ogi cal
ph rase concei ved of i n thi s way, i s the focus. As wi l l be shown l ater, i n contempo
rary i ntonati onal model s e i s the domai n for the assi gnment of an i mportant
i ntonati onal morpheme, known as the pi tch accent (T*) .
e i s al so general l y accepted as a uni t of ti mi ng organi sati on, i . e. , as t he do
mai n for vari ous phenomena of l engtheni ng and compensati on i n l anguages. I n
Engl i sh i t i s al so the domai n for the appl i cati on of the Rhythmi c Reversal Rul e,
whi ch was i ntroduced earl i er, when connected-speech phenomena were di s
cussed. Thi s i s the rul e whi ch turns the phrase [ , 8 3 : t i : n men] i nto [ ' 8 3 : g t i : n
men] .
The next enti ty i n the hi erarchy of prosodi c categori es is the i ntonati on
phrase (lj , consi sti ng of a sequence of possi bl e phonol ogi cal phrases. As the do
mai n for i ntonati onal phenomena, i t wi l l be di scussed separatel y i n connecti on
wi th i ntonati on. Most often coi nci des wi th the syntacti c category of sentence.
However, as wi th other prosodi c categori es, i t i s easy to fi nd exampl es where
there is no such coi nci dence. A case i n poi nt is that of vocati ves, whi ch are associ
ated wi th separate i ntonati onal patterns, al though they do not coi nci de wi th sen
tences, as i n the fol l owi ng exampl e:
Elzabeth, where are you?
d/
Thi s may be i l l ustrated by the fol l owi ng exampl e: 'He wiprbabJy never lanCym8' Here the
tensi ng afects the fi nal vowel of the cl i ti c ' me' , rather than that of its host. Thus, ' me' woul d be
pronounced as [mi j, whi ch proves that the host and the cl i ti c make up a unitary prosodi c domai n for the
appl i cati on of thi s rul e.
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
The hi ghest pl ace i n the hi erarchy of prosodi c domai ns i s occupi ed by the
utterance ( u) , whi ch i s probabl y the most di fi cul t of the prosodi c categori es to de
fi ne. I n the wri tten versi on of a text, a possi bl e correl ate of the utterance woul d be
the paragraph. The rel evance of the utterance as the domai n for tonal phenomena
i n Engl i sh i s best i l l ustrated by the phenomenon of ' newscasterese cl i max' . I t i s of
ten observed that at the end of the utterance Engl i sh-speaki ng newscasters tend
to produce a tonal cl i max, manifested as a di sl ocated nucl ear tone.
9. 4. Rhythm
Rhythm refers t o t he regul arity of occurrence of stressed uni ts. Here rhythm
wi l l be di scussed i n the context of the typol ogy of rhythmi c systems. Thi s is parti c
ul arl y i mportant for the present course, because i n thi s respect Engl i sh and Cro
ati an are stri ki ngl y di ferent, and rhythmi cal diferences among l anguages repre
sent a very i mportant i ssue i n the study of forei gn accent. That i s, rhythmi c
di storti ons i n t he speech of a non-nati ve speaker can be deci si ve for t he creati on
of an overal l i mpressi on of a forei gn accent. Thus rhythm i c di fferences between
Engl i sh and Croati an pl ay an i mportant rol e i n the appearance of a forei gn accent
i n Engl i sh spoken by nati ve speakers of Croati an, and vi ce versa.
A few decades ago phoneti ci ans and phonol ogi sts regul arl y referred to a
wel l -establ i shed di vi si on of rhythmi c systems i nto stress-ti med and syl l able-ti
med. The basi c i dea was that i n l anguages wi th stress-ti med rhythm, such as
Engl i sh, stressed syl l abl es occur at regul ar i nterval s, i ndependentl y of the number
of unstressed syl l abl es between them. By contrast, l anguages wi th syl l abl e-ti med
rhythm, such as Croati an, were descri bed as those i n whi ch each syl l abl e be
tween two stresses takes roughl y the same amount of ti me to produce and thus
contri bute equal l y to the overal l durati on of the i nterstress i nterval . Let us consi der
the fol l owi ng two exampl es:
Engl i sh: O ranges and ba Na nas, PI NE apple and BLUE berries.
Croati an: NA rane i ba Na A nanas i bo ROV nice.
l n these exampl es the stressed syl l abl es are i ndi cated by capi tal bol d l et
ters, whi l e i nterstress stretches are wri tten i n i tal i cs and underl i ned. Accordi ng to
the above di sti ncti on, such i nterstress i nterval s were al l supposed to be of about
equal durati on i n Engl i sh utterances. Thi s presumabl e characteri sti c of stress-ti
med l anguages i s referred to in the phoneti c and phonol ogi cal l i teature as
i sochrony and was assumed to be achi eved by adj usti ng, i . e. , ei ther shorteni ng
or l engtheni ng, the segmental materi al i n i nterstress stretches of speech. Experi
ence has shown that the di sti ncti on between these two types of rhythm i s most
easi l y remembered by the i nformal , i mpressi oni sti c di sti ncti on attri buted to Crys
tal . He once referred to stress-ti med l anguages as 'rumpty-tumpty' l anguages, as
opposed to syl l abl e-ti med l anguages, whi ch he cal l ed 'ra-ta-ta-ta-tat' l anguages.
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PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
However, such a strictly formul ated i sochrony hypothesi s was chal l enged i n
the 1 980s, when a consi derabl e body of research showed that no such durati on ad
justments take pl ace objecti vel y to make the durati on of i nterstress stretches more
constant or more regul ar. Thus, in recent ti mes it has been argued that the differ
ences between the so-cal l ed stress-ti med and syl l abl e-ti med rhythm are not at al l
based on the temporal organisation of speech. Actual l y, it turns out that the diference
between the two types of rhythm is based on the perceptual i l l usi on of i sochrony.
Thanks to evi dence from a great number of l anguages, as wel l as the avai l abi l ity of
modern methods of computer synthesi s of rhythm, what was known as the 'strong
i sochrony hypothesi s' al ong wi th the di sti ncti on between stress-ti med and syl l a
bl e-ti med l anguages, has recently been compl etely rejected. I t i s nowadays agreed
that when descri bi ng the rhythmi c system of any given l anguage, rather than catego
ri si ng it as ei ther stress-ti med or syl l abl e-ti med, we shoul d locate that l anguage in the
right pl ace on an i magi nary rhythmi c scal e. The scal e woul d reflect the degree of
' conspi racy' between stress and syl l abl e structure. One extreme of that scal e woul d
correspond to a typi cal l anguage with rhythm based on stress (hence stress-based
l anguage), exempl ifi ed, accordi ng to a general consensus, by Engl i sh. At the other
extreme, there woul d be a l anguage wi th a total ly opposite rhythmi c nature, i . e. , a l an
guage wi th the typi cal features of syl l able-based rhythm, such as Spani sh. The posi
ti on of a gi ven l anguage on that scal e woul d be determi ned by the extent to whi ch the
rhythmi c features of one or the other type are present.
Thus, phoneti ci ans and phonol ogi sts agree i n accepti ng the so-cal l ed
' weak i sochrony hypothesi s' . Thi s means that al though i t i s i ndi sputabl e that true
i sochrony does not exi st and that the percepti on of cerai n rhythmi c systems as
i sochronous i s based pri mari l y on a percepti ve i l l usi on, there are, neverthel ess,
certai n ways of quanti tati ve adj ustment of i nterstress stretches to the one or the
other type of rhythm. Apart from the di ferences i n the degree of ' conspi racy' be
tween stress and syl l abl e structure, l anguages i ncl i ned towards stress-based
rhythm and those i ncl i ned towards syl l abl e-based rhythm difer i n features that
may be summed up i n the fol l owi ng tabl e (cf. Josi povi 1 994) :
Stress-based rhythm ( Engl i sh) Syl l abl e-based rhythm (Croati an)
1 . greater reducti on of unstressed syl l abl es
proporti onal reducti on of al l syl l abl es;
with the i ncrease of i nterstress material ;
2. greater quanti tative diferences among smal l er quantitative diferences among un-
unstressed syl l abl es; stressed syl l abl es;
3. greater extent of fi nal l engtheni ng; smal l er extent of fi nal l engtheni ng;
4. preference for anti ci patory compressi on preference for regressive compressi on of
of stressed vowel s in a stress group; stress ed vowel s i n a stress group;
5. i ncrease of speech rate achi eved at the i ncrease of speech rate achi eved at the
expense of vowel s. expense of consonants.
Table 4: Stress-based rhythm vs. syl l abl e-based rhythm
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
Taki ng al l thi s i nto consi derati on , we can say that a cruci al diference be
tween Engl i sh and Croati an rhythm i s that the Engl i sh rhythmi c system i s more
stress-based than the Croati an one. Thi s cl ai m can be made on the basi s of the
empi ri cal data provi ded by a l arge body of contrastive research. Thi s, afer al l , co
mes as no surpri se, si nce Engl i sh i s usual l y referred to as one extreme poi nt on
the i magi nary scal e of rhythmi c systems. Consi deri ng thi s di fference, one may ex
pect these objecti vel y measurabl e phoneti c di ferences to pl ay a consi derabl e rol e
i n creati ng the i mpressi on of forei gn accent i n the speech of Croati an speakers of
Engl i sh. Thi s can al so general l y appl y to the speech of non-nati ve speakers of any
l anguage, whenever we are deal i ng wi th a ' cl ash' of two typol ogi cal l y different
rhythmi c systems.
To sum up, the Engl i sh rhythmi c system i s typol ogi cal l y di ferent from the
Croati an one: Engl i sh has what i s cal l ed stress-based rhythm, whi l e Croati an
rhythm i s syl l abl e-based. Thi s di fference i s manifested i n two types of rhythmi cal
diferences. Fi rst, i n Engl i sh there are more stri ki ng processes of temporal adj ust
ment in the di recti on of achi evi ng a weak temporal regul ari sati on (though not l i t
eral i sochrony) of i nterstress stretches. Secondl y, Engl i sh exhi bi ts phonol ogi cal
' conspi racy' between stress and syl l abl e structure, pri mari l y achi eved by vowel re
ducti on, whi ch resul ts in the percepti ve i l l usi on of i sochrony.
Experi mental research shows that rhythmi c di storti ons i n forei gn accent pri
mari l y present a probl em of producti on , rather than percepti on. I t shoul d al so be
noted that such di storti ons resul ti ng from typol ogi cal di ferences between the two
l anguages wi l l al so entai l tonal di storti ons, whi ch wi l l consi st in the wrong l ocati on
of mel odi c peaks wi thi n the syl l abl e.
l n order for the survey of the typol ogy of rhythmi c systems to be compl ete,
two other types of rhythm shoul d be i denti fi ed: foot-based rhythm and mora-ba
sed rhythm. Systems based on the foot are actual l y a subtype of stress-based
systems. As a rul e, they exhi bi t al l those features that characteri se the stress-ba
sed rhythm. What makes these systems speci fi c i s the fact that the domai n for al l
these processes i s t he foot, rather t han t he phonol ogi cal phrase or word. Rhythm
based on the foot is a common feature of the Bal ti c l anguages. Morai c rhythm i s
usual l y i l l ustrated wi th the exampl e of Japanese. At thi s poi nt i t shoul d be stressed
that al though the mora turns out to be the tone-beari ng uni t i n Croati an, the rhythm
of Croati an , notabl y, does not fi t the establ i shed defi ni ti ons of morai c rhythm. The
fact that Croati an syl l abl es can be di vi ded i nto i nherentl y l ong ( bi morai c) and i n
herentl y short (monomorai c) ones does not necessari l y i mpl y that processes of
temporal adj ustment - I engtheni ng and shorteni ng - take pl ace on the morai c l evel ,
as i s the case wi th mora-based l anguages. To sum up the prosodi c nature of Cro
ati an in a nutshel l , we can fit i t i nto the category of syl l abl e-counti ng mora l an
guages, i . e. , l anguages i n whi ch the mora serves as the tone-beari ng uni t, but the
enti re syl l abl e counts as a measure of temporal di stance.
1 34
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
9. 5. I ntonati on
9. 5. 1 . I ntroducti on
I n the chapter on acousti c phoneti cs i t was observed that pi tch patterns are
used to convey vari ous ki nds of meani ng. It was al so expl ai ned that for the pur
pose of l i ngui sti c study i t is assumed that pi tch vari ati ons that make up i ntonati onal
patterns are refl ected by the patterns of Fa movement through ti me. I ntonati on i s
extremel y el usi ve and most phonl ogi sts woul d agree that as such i t represents the
most compl ex subj ect of study i n phonol ogy. I t i s for thi s reason that i ntonati on i s
often l ef out from i ntroductory courses of phoneti cs and phonol ogy and post
poned for some advanced i ntonol ogy course.
Despi te the compl exi ty of the subject, however, i ntonati on wi l l not be left out
of the present book. A bri ef survey of some current i ssues i n contemporary
i ntonol ogy wi l l be ofered. More notabl y, the present chapter is meant as an at
tempt to outl i ne a model of i ntonati on whi ch is nowadays general l y recogni sed as
the most i nfl uenti al and whi ch has the advantage of bei ng appl i cabl e to al l ki nds of
typol ogi cal l y di ferent l anguages, as wel l as to al l vari eti es of Engl i sh pronunci a
ti on. I t wi l l be shown how thi s model can serve as a ' common denomi nator' i n the
compari son of a pai r of l anguages whi ch on the surface seem to be utterl y
prosodi cal l y i ncompati bl e - a stress-based, i ntonati onal l anguage l i ke Engl i sh and
a syl l abl e-based, morai c, pi tch-accent l anguage l i ke Croati an.
9. 5. 2. Basi c i ssues i n contemporary i ntonol ogy
Al though i ntonol ogi sts have al ways agreed that vari ati on i n Fa can be taken
as the physi cal correl ate of vari ati on of i ntonati on, there has al ways been a great
deal of controversy i n the phonol ogi cal anal ysi s of i ntonati onal contours, i . e. , i n
establ i shi ng and representi ng the l i ngui sti cal l y rel evant vari ati ons of Fa and pri nci
pl es accordi ng to whi ch these rel evant vari ati ons are organi sed i nto an
i ntonati onal system. The mai n i ssues by whi ch i ndi vi dual approaches difer are
the fol l owi ng:
What are t he mi ni mal i ntonati onal units i nto whi ch i ndi vi dual i ntonati on
contours may be anal ysed?
Are these units some basi c mel odi es or, rather, di screte tone l evel s?
How many of such basi c uni ts (mel odi es or tones) are there and how are
they to be represented?
Do such uni ts by themsel ves carry some meani ng, i n the sense i n whi ch
morphemes carry meani ng i n morphol ogy, or can thei r nature be com
pared to the nature of phonemes, whi ch i n themsel ves and by themsel ves
do not carry any meani ng, but serve as ' bui l di ng bl ocks' for the creati on of
meani ngful units on a hi gher l evel ?
I s the i ntonati onal system i ndependent of the accentual system, or are i n
tonati on and accen
f
onl y two aspects of one and t he same system?
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
I f there are i ntonati onal morphemes, whi ch prosodi c categori es are they as
soci ated wi th? What are the phonol ogi cal rules governi ng the combi nati on
and i nteracti on of these morphemes at the l evel of the i ntonati on phrase?
Apart from the di versi ty of answers ofered to the above questi ons, what i s
al so confusi ng i s the abundance of notati onal and termi nol ogi cal systems i n
i ntonol ogy. Among t he many di verse i ntonati onal approaches found i n l i terature,
two basi c types can be di sti ngui shed: the tradi ti onal and generative approach.
What is meant by ' tradi ti onal ' in thi s context is any approach whi ch devel oped be
fore the emergence of the bi tonal generative composi ti onal ( henceforth:
BGC)
43
approach i ntroduced i n 1 980 by Janet Pi errehumbert, as wel l as other,
l ater non-composi ti onal and non-generative approaches.
I ndi vi dual approaches have thei r strengths and weaknesses. Some of them
are more adequate than others for representi ng the i ntonati onal systems of parti c
ul ar l anguages, whi l e some others are more ' uni versal ' and thus more sui tabl e to
contrastive i ntonol ogy. Some are more sui ted to teachi ng purposes, as opposed
to some others, whi ch are too sophi sti cated for such purposes, but are theoreti
cal l y superi or for bei ng more expl anatory and i nsi ghtful . Therefore, i t seems to be
i mpossi bl e to eval uate i ntonol ogi cal approaches i n an absol ute sense. A gi ven
i ntonol ogi cal approach i s good i nsomuch as i t i s suited to a gi ven purpose. I n the
present chapter we shal l be searchi ng for an approach whi ch woul d be the most
expl anatory i n the compari son of the two prosodi c systems we are concerned
wi th: Engl i sh and Croati an. Thi s requi res a bri ef survey of the devel opment of the
vari ous approaches to the controversi al i ntonol ogi cal i ssues.
9. 5. 2. 1 . Contours vs. di screte tones?
The search for basi c units of i ntonati onal anal ysi s has pri mari l y been a resul t
of attempts to establ i sh the i nventori es of di sti nctive sentence mel odi es for i ndivi d
ual l anguages.
44
A cruci al i ssue concerni ng i ntonati onal units i n whi ch i ndi vi dual
model s may difer refers to the phonol ogi cal nature of i ntonati onal patterns. Two
school s of thought are di sti ngui shed in l i terature, accordi ng to the way these pat
terns are analysed: the Bri ti sh and the American school . The mai n diference be
tween these two approaches i s that 'the Bri ti sh'
45
bel i eve that the basi c and atomi c
d
As wi l l be expl ai ned i n greater detai l l ater, ' composi ti onal ' refers to the bel i ef that i nto nati on
can be decom posed i nto meani ngful i ntonati onal ' morphemes' . The approach under consi derati on i s
al so referred to i n l iterature as ' autosegmental -metri cal ' , but i n the present book the tem BGC wi l l be
used for greater transparency, although, admittedl y, i t has not been establ i shed as the ofi ci al name for
the model .
dd
l n tradi ti onal phonol ogy prosodi c domai ns were i denti fi ed with syntactic ones, hence the
search for the sentence mel ody as the basi c mel odi c pattern. As expl ai ned at the begi nni ng of the
present chapter, contemporary prosodi c theory operates with domai ns whi ch do not necessari l y
coi nci de with syntacti c categori es and are i ndependent of them.
d5
lt i s i mporant to stress that the di vi si on of the Angl o-Saxon i ntonol ogi cal tradi ti on i nto Bri ti sh
and Ameri can i s not at al l based on nati onal or geographi cal criteri a. The di sti ncti on results from the
1 36
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
units of i ntonati onal anal ysi s by nature are contours. Thi s means that i ntonati onal
patterns are anal ysed i nto sequences of smal l er contours, or, i n other words, vari a
ti ons of tone are seen as movements (Fa fal l s or ri ses through ti me). The advocates
of thi s approach are in pri nci pl e opposed to any further decom posi ti on of these mi ni
mal contours i nto di screte tone l evel s, as they bel i eve that, rather than reachi ng cer
tai n tone l evel s at parti cul ar poi nts in ti me, the essence of i ntonati on is tonal move
ment i tself. Even if they are not op posed to the decomposi ti on of ki neti c tones i nto
tone l evel s, they bel i eve that thi s i s j ustifi ed onl y as a means of notati on, as they
consi der such di screte l evel s as phonol ogi cal l y i rrel evant.
The smal l er contours i nto whi ch the representati ves of the Bri ti sh tradi ti on
anal yse sentence contours, i . e. , mel odi c patterns, or tunes, are the nucl eus, the
head and the tai l . The i ntroducti on of these functi onal units made i t possi bl e for
Pal mer ( 1 922) to ofer the fi rst systemati c anal ysi s of Engl i sh i ntonati on. The nu
cl eus i s defi ned as t he stressed syl l abl e of t he most promi nent ( i . e. , accented)
word i n a tune. He di sti ngui shes si x types of nucl eus. They difer among them
sel ves by the di recti on and range of tonal movement. Accordi ngl y, Pal mer i ndi
cates them by arrows of di ferent di recti ons and si zes. The nucl eus can be pre
ceded by a head and may al so be fol l owed by a tai l . Whi l e the tai l i s determi ned by
the type of the nucl eus, the head can have one of three possi bl e shapes, whi ch
can be freel y combi ned wi th di fferent nucl ei . Thus, the combi nati ons of the head,
nucl eus and tai l i n thi s ki nd of system make up a l i mi ted i nventory of tunes.
The i nventory, cl assificati on and possi bi l i ti es of combi nati on of these basi c
el ements of i ntonati onal anal ysi s i n the Bri ti sh tradi ti on vary from model to model .
So, for exampl e, wi th ti me i ntonol ogi sts started t o anal yse t he head further i nto
pre-head and body. The fundamental i dea, however, remai ns the same: al l these
el ements are i n thei r nature tonal movements. I n other words, the smal l est func
ti onal units of i ntonati on in thi s ki nd of approach are concei ved of as mi ni mal mel o
di es. Whether these mi ni mal mel odi es by themsel ves carry any meani ng and can
be consi dered as i ntonati onal morphemes, or whether i ntonati onal meani ng i s as
si gned onl y at the l evel of the enti re sentence tune, i s a separate i ssue. I n any
case, we can say that by thei r ki neti c approach to basi c i ntonati onal units, mem
bers of the Bri ti sh tradi ti on make up a unitary school of thought.
As op posed to the representatives of the Bri ti sh i ntonati onal school , the rep
resentatives of the so-cal l ed Ameri can school see the basic el ements of mel odi c
patterns as stati c, rather than ki neti c enti ti es. They bel i eve that what matters phono
l ogi cal l y are i ndivi dual poi nts in the contour, whi ch represent what are known as tar
get tones (Fa l evel s) in the speaker' s mi nd. I ntonati onal anal ysi s, accordi ng to thi s
vi ew, shoul d consi st i n associ ati ng these cruci al poi nts, i . e. , di screte tone l evel s,
with some cruci al poi nts i n the text. I n other words, the Fa movement whi ch makes
fact that one of the two approaches devel oped and gave its most promi nent proponents in Bri tai n,
whereas t he other one i s i n t he same sense pri mari l y associ ated wi th Ameri ca. Thus there are
Ameri can l i nguists who adopt the vi ews of the Bri ti sh school ( e. g. Bol i nger) , as well as Bri ti sh l i ngui sts
who subscri be to the Ameri can approach ( e. g. Li ndsey) .
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JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
up the contour between these phonol ogi cal l y rel evant poi nts i s si mpl y a resul t of
thei r l i nki ng, i . e. , i nterpol ati on, and can be worked out and synthesi sed.
A breakthrough in the devel opment of i ntonati onal model s took pl ace withi n
the framework of the Ameri can school wi th t he advent of the BGC approach to i nto
nati on. The fi rst proper generative model was devel oped by Pi errehumbert ( 1 980) .
l n her famous experi ment she vari ed the tonal range i n the pronunci ati on of one
sentence ( 'nna came with Manny) and proved the rel ative di stance between i ndi
vi dual mel odi c peaks to be constant. By thi s experi ment she defnitel y establ i shed
the rel evance of Fa targets. Wi thout goi ng i nto the detai l s of the notati onal and termi
nol ogi cal system of thi s model , at thi s poi nt i t shoul d be stressed that it analyses the
mel odi c i nventory of Engl i sh usi ng onl y two di screte tone l evel s, H and L. Every
i ntonati onal pattern i s anal ysed as a sequence of underl yi ng H and L tones, whi ch
accordi ng to the way they are associ ated wi th the metri cal representati on of the text,
are cl assifi ed i nto three types. Thi s model al so offers an el aborate system of rul es
and al gorithms to transform these underl yi ng representati ons i nto concrete Fa con
fi gurati ons and thus proves to be very useful i n speech synthesi s. The rul es for the
generati on of speech mel odi es formul ated withi n the framework of thi s i ntonati onal
model can be understood as a set of i nstructi ons to the computer for the generati on
of Fa curves, based on a set of defi ned parameters. The rel evant parameters thus
i ncl ude l evel s, i . e. , Fa val ues at certai n cruci al poi nts of the text, rather than some
mi ni mal mel odi c contours, as the Bri ti sh model s woul d suggest. Perceptual experi
ments have shown a rather sati sfactory l evel of natural ness of tunes generated i n
thi s way, not onl y for Engl i sh, but al so for Japanese.
Yet another type of experi mental research speaks i n favour of the approach
based on di screte tone l evel s. I t turns out that speakers of vari ous prosodi cal l y di
verse l anguages, i n t he i denti fi cati on of i ndi vi dual contours (of ei ther thei r
mother-tongue or a forei gn l anguage) pri mari l y rel y on the cri teri on of the ti mi ng of
cruci al tonal peaks or val l eys, rather than the di recti on of tonal movement.
l n short, the generati ve approach to i ntonati on has shown that the anal ysi s
of i ntonati on i nto di screte tone l evel s i s not contrary to the nature of ei ther produc
ti on or percepti on of l anguage. Thi s i s, after al l , borne out by the appl i cati on of the
BGC model , apart from to Engl i sh, to such typol ogi cal l y di verse l anguages as Jap
anese, German, Bengal i or Dutch.
l n connecti on wi th the controversy between the Bri ti sh and Ameri can ap
proach, some i nteresti ng i ssues ari se. Do the di ferences between these two ap
proaches resul t from some essenti al di fference between Bri ti sh and Ameri can
Engl i sh? I f they do, what does thi s di ference consi st i n? I f not, who i s then ri ght as
concerns the nature of i ntonati onal enti ti es? There are l i ngui sts from both si des
who bel i eve that these diferences i n the treatment of Engl i sh i ntonati on resul t
from some di ferences between Ameri can and Bri ti sh Engl i sh. They bel i eve that i t
i s more natural to anal yse Bri ti sh-Engl i sh i ntonati on i nto ki neti c el ements and deal
wi th Ameri can-Engl i sh i ntonati on i n terms of stati c uni ts because Bri ti sh Engl i sh i s
1 38
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
supposedl y characteri sed by gradual , gl i di ng Fa transi ti ons, whi l e i n Ameri can
Engl i sh there are characteri sti c sud den tonal j umps.
However, such cl ai ms about the difference between British and Ameri can i nto
nati on have not yet been proved. Although i ntonol ogi sts general l y al l ow for the exis
tence of such diferences, the majority of them do not bel i eve that they coul d have
pl ayed a deci si ve rol e in the establ i shment of the controversy between the two ap
proaches. I t i s often argued that the i mpressi on of the preval ence of ei ther gradual or
sudden transiti ons i s based on the perceptual i l l usi on resul ti ng from syntactic and l ex
i cal differences beteen Ameri can and Bri ti sh Engl i sh. Afer al l , the first i ntonati onal
model based on di screte tone l evel s was actual l y devel oped from an anal ysis of Brit
ish Engl i sh! lt was a 9-tone system ofered by Col eman as earl y as 1 91 4.
Taki ng al l thi s i nto consi derati on, we can concl ude that the controversy i n
connecti on wi th t he nature of basi c uni ts of i ntonati on pri mari l y resul ts from di fer
ent tradi ti ons. Thi s, of course, does not excl ude the possi bi l i ty that thi s contro
versy was encouraged by some prosodi c di ferences between Bri ti sh and Ameri
can Engl i sh. Unfortunatel y, such di ferences are sti l l l argel y a matter of
guesswork, i n vi ew of the l ack of exact sci enti fi c evi dence.
Si nce both approaches gi ve model s whi ch have l ed to i nteresti ng and practi
cal l y useful i nsi ghts, when opti ng for ei ther of them, it does not appear to be j ustifi ed
to di smi ss the other one as ' wrong' . One i s si mpl y deal i ng wi th two diferent ways of
l ooki ng at the same phenomenon, each of which has its weaknesses and strengths.
Thus the ri ght approach i s the one whi ch i s more suited to a parti cul ar purpose. So,
for exampl e, the Bri ti sh approach, at l east i n the present stage of the devel opment
of i ntonol ogy, seems to be superi or regardi ng i ts appl i cabi l ity to practi cal l anguage
l earni ng and teachi ng. I t woul d be unreasonabl e to expect pupi l s at school to mas
ter the sophi sti cated system of generati on of i ndi vi dual i ntonati onal contours withi n
t he Ameri can approach, i f there i s cl ear and ' user-fri endl y' Bri ti sh taxonomy. I ts pi c
turesque and mnemoni c names for i ndi vi dual confi gurati ons, such as ' Swan' , ' Ser
penti ne' or ' Hi gh Fal l ' , make it di dactical l y superi or. On the other hand, the Ameri can
approach proves superi or i n deal i ng with some theoreti cal i ssues. Thi s pri mari l y re
fers to its appl i cati on in the compari son of two l anguages as prosodi cal l y different as
Engl i sh and Croati an. The di screte tone l evel s of the Ameri can approach can serve
as analyti cal units representi ng a ' common denomi nator' . They also have the ad
vantage of bei ng equal l y appl i cabl e in the anal ysi s of l exi cal , as wel l as postl exi cal
prosody. Thi s i s a deci si ve advantage i n deal i ng wi th the i nteracti on of the
pi tch-accent prosody and i ntonati on i n Croati an. As such, the Ameri can approach
can l ead to i nsi ghts whi ch di rectl y or i ndi rectly (through the creati on of di dacti c sof
ware) can be used for teachi ng purposes.
9. 5. 2. 2. Hol i sti c vs. composi ti onal approach
Do i ntonati onal patterns of a l anguage have thei r hol i sti c, ( unanal ysabl e)
meani ng or can they be decomposed i nto smal l er parts whi ch carry some mean-
1 39
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
i ng, contri buti ng to the meani ng of the contour as a whol e? Thi s i s one of the key
i ssues in i ntonol ogy. It actual l y boi l s down to the questi on of whether there are
i ntonati onal ' morphemes' and is total l y i ndependent of the controversy between
the Bri ti sh and the Ameri can approach to the nature of i ntonati onal el ements.
The advocates of t he hol i sti c approach bel i eve that i ntonati onal contours
are unanal ysabl e whol es i n terms of thei r meani ng. Admi ttedl y, some of the pro
ponents of thi s view do al l ow for the anal ysi s of contours i nto di screte tone l evel s,
but they have the theoreti cal status of i ntonati onal phonemes. That i s, such tone
l evel s bel ong to the l evel of Marti net' s second arti cul ati on and thus do not carry
any meani ng. I n other words, the proponents of the hol i sti c approach bel i eve that
mel odi c patterns are stored as uni tary enti ti es i n the i ntonati onal l exi con of the
speaker' s mi nd. I n the i ntonol ogi cal l i terature, the presumed i nabi l i ty of Engl i sh
i ntonati onal patterns to be anal ysed i s often i l l ustrated (but al so di sproved) wi th
the famous exampl e of what i s known as the contradi ctory contour ori gi nal l y used
by Li berman and Sag ( 1 974) :
Elephantiasis isn't incurable
Figure 53: The contradi ctory contour
The proponents of the hol i sti c approach thus bel i eve that the i ntonati onal
l exi con of the Engl i sh l anguage consi sts of such contours, whi ch i n thei r opi ni on
do not consi st of any smal l er meani ngful el ements, i . e. , they cannot be anal ysed
i nto any ki nd of i nto nati onal morphemes.
The opposite vi ew i s hel d by the proponents of the composi ti onal ap
proach, who poi nt out that certai n groups of tunes share some tonal features as
wel l as some aspects of meani ng. Thi s i mpl i es that these i ntonati onal patterns
consi st of some smal l er meani ngful components, whi ch can be cal l ed i ntonati onal
morphemes. So, for exampl e, i f al l the i ntonati onal patterns of Engl i sh whi ch have
a hi gh-ri si ng nucl eus exhi bi t some semanti c or pragmati c si mi l ari ti es, thi s means
that the nucl eus can be consi dered as an i ntonati onal morpheme. I n thi s connec
tion i t shoul d be stressed that the acceptance of the decomposi ti on of mel odi c pat
terns i nto smal l er el ements such as the nucl eus does not automati cal l y i mpl y a
composi ti onal approach. That i s, i t is not at i ssue whether i ntonati onal patterns are
anal ysabl e i nto smal l er uni ts. What is di sputabl e is whether such smal l er units
carry any meani ng.
Wi thi n t he framework of t he composi ti onal approach, diferent model s i den
tify di ferent enti ti es as i ntonati onal morpheme, and the nucl eus i s onl y one of
them, whi ch, as the most wi del y accepted, has been menti oned i n the present
1 40
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
context by way of i l l ustrati on. The nature of these enti ti es i s seen i n vari ous ways,
dependi ng on the i ntonati onal approach. The i ssue of recogni si ng or refuti ng the
exi stence of i ntonati onal morphemes i n fact boi l s down to accepti ng or refuti ng the
appl i cabi l i ty of Marti net' s fi rst arti cul ati on to i ntonati onal anal ysi s. However, i t
shoul d be stressed that the atti tude of i ndi vi dual l i ngui sts i n connecti on wi th thi s i s
sue i s i ndependent of whether they accept the second arti cul ati on, i . e. , the exi s
tence of i ntonati onal phonemes. I t i s al so i ndependent of whether they subscri be
to the Bri ti sh (ki neti c) or Ameri can (stati c) approach. By the combi nati on of these
three cri teri a, i ntonati onal model s coul d be di vi ded i nto four types, as shown i n ta
bl e 3, where for each of the four types of model the most i mportant proponents are
named:
I NTONATI ONAL I NTONATI ONAL
PHONEMES MORPHEMES
1 Ladefoged ( 1 967) contours
..
2 Li berman ( 1 975) l evel s
3 Bol i nger ( 1 986) contours (' profi l es' )
4
Pi errehumbert
l evel s (tones) l evel s (' accents' )
Hi rschberg ( 1 987)
....
Table 5: Types of i ntonati onal model s
Recent i ntonol ogi cal l i terature abounds i n arguments i n favour of the
composi ti onal approach. Exampl es are ofered of how the same or a very si mi l ar
meani ng can be conveyed by several diferent contours. Li kewi se, one and the
same contour, such as the ' contradi ctory' one from fi gure 53 can i n diferent con
texts convey total l y i ncompati bl e meani ngs. Besi des, it i s argued that an anal ysi s
whi ch l acks the morphol ogi cal decom posi ti on of i ntonati onal patterns mi sses out on
i mportant general i sati ons on si mi l ar post-nucl ear confi gurati ons. Thi s pri mari l y re
fers to the semanti c and pragmati c si mi l arity among patterns with a fi nal fal l or ri se.
The composi ti onal approach has prevai l ed i n recent i ntonol ogi cal theory.
Sti l l , i t shoul d be noted that these two vi ews are not necessari l y and compl etel y i n
compati bl e. Thus Bol i nger ( 1 989) , al though bei ng an ardent opponent of the ' pure'
hol i sti c approach, poi nts to cases i n Engl i sh where i ntonati onal anal ysi s requi res
reference to some gl obal i ntonati onal features, such as the tonal range and regi s
ter, whi ch si gni fi cantl y contri bute to i ntonati onal meani ng. Besi des, he recogni ses
a speci al , i di omati c status to certai n contours, such as the ' cal l i ng contour' :
l i sa
beth!
E
1 41
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
Accordi ng to Bol i nger, thi s contour cannot be decomposed i nto smal l er
meani ngful el ements, nor can i t functi on as an i ntonati onal morpheme wi thi n
l arger contours. On t he other hand, the two most promi nent proponents of the
Ameri can approach opposi te to Bol i nger' s, Hi rshberg and Pi errehumbert, al l ow
for the exi stence of i di omati c, unanal ysabl e combi nati ons of i ntonati onal mor
phemes.
By way of concl usi on, there are enough arguments to suggest that the de
composi ti on of i ntonati on i nto i ntonati onal morphemes i s possi bl e. However,
whether i t i s necessary i s a separate i ssue. The answer to thi s questi on depends
on the purpose and ai m of i ntonati onal anal ysi s, as does the decomposi ti on of i n
tonati on i nto di screte l evel s. I ntonati onal meani ng turns out to be too compl ex to
be anal ysabl e for practi cal l earni ng and teachi ng purposes. However, the mor
phol ogi cal anal ysabi l ity of i ntonati onal patterns cannot be i gnored by any
i ntonati onal model whi ch ai ms to be descri pti vel y adequate. I nsi ghts that fol l ow
from such a model are not onl y theoreti cal l y si gni fi cant, but can al so be i ndi rectl y
appl i ed i n l anguage l earni ng and teachi ng, ei ther by poi nti ng to si gni fi cant
i ntonati onal di fferences among l anguages or by bei ng useful i n the creati on of the
adequate di dacti c sofware based on i ntonati on synthesi s.
9. 5. 3. The Pi errehumber (8GC) model
9. 5. 3. 1 . I ntroducti on
The fi rst thi ng to be stressed here i s that the present text on the BGC model
of i ntonati on i s meant onl y as a bri ef survey of the nature and ai ms of one model of
i ntonati on . The reasons why thi s parti cul ar model has been chosen from the pI eth
ora of exi sti ng theori es on i ntonati on have al ready been expl ai ned i n the preced
i ng text. Sti l l , l et us sum them up as fol l ows: BGC i s nowadays recogni sed by the
worl d' s l eadi ng experts on i ntonati on as the most i nfl uenti al theory of i ntonati on
and the most i mportant devel opment i n 20th century i ntonol ogy. Secondl y, usi ng
some uni versal l y appl i cabl e anal yti cal enti ti es, i t i s parti cul arl y sui ted to the com
pari son of typol ogi cal l y di ferent l anguages. As such i t can ofer some val uabl e i n
si ghts i nto the nature of prosodi c di fferences between Engl i sh and Croati an.
The thi rd and even more i mportant poi nt to be made i s that the BGC model
i s a hi ghl y sophi sti cated theory, meant for speci al i sts i n the fi el d, so there i s no
way a student can be real l y ' i ni ti ated' i nto i t through a si ngl e chapter i n an i ntroduc
tory course of phoneti cs and phonol ogy. To ful l y understand the theoreti cal back
ground and detai l s of the possi bi l i ty of its practi cal appl i cati on i n areas such as
speech synthesi s, i t woul d take a separate course. Thus the text that fol l ows
shoul d be understood merel y as an i l l ustrati on of one contemporary model of
i ntonati onal anal ysi s and the possi bi l i ti es of appl i cati on of its noti ons and methods
for comparati ve purposes.
The BGC model offers a phonol ogi cal representati on of possi bl e
i ntonati onal patterns of Engl i sh, i t accounts for the ways they are associ ated wi th
1 42
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
di ferent texts and formul ates rul es whi ch turn these underl yi ng representati ons
i nto phoneti c Fa confi gurati ons. The model was devel oped through experi mental
research based on Ameri can Engl i sh, but one of its essenti al features and advan
tages i s i ts appl i cabi l i ty to other vari eti es of the Engl i sh l anguage, as wel l as to
other l anguages.
I ntonati onal patterns are descri bed as sequences of underl yi ng L ( l ow) and
H ( hi gh) tones, whi ch al ways perform one of three possi bl e i ntonati onal functi ons.
That i s, they can functi on as one of three types of i ntonati onal morphemes, whi ch
wi l l al l be di scussed i n greater detai l l ater. I n pri nci pl e, the meani ng, j ust l i ke the
i dentity of i ndi vi dual i ntonati onal morphemes, i s arbi trary, that i s, l an
guage-specifi c, and contri butes to the overal l meani ng of i ntonati onal patterns.
The composi ti onal model thus i mpl i es that t he meani ng of these basi c anal yti cal
el ements of i ntonati on can and shoul d be i sol ated. Thi s i s what Pi errehumbert
does i n her more recent works in co-authorshi p wi th Jul i a Hi rschberg. However,
the component of the model whi ch deal s wi th i ntonati onal meani ng i s yet another
subj ect whi ch woul d requi re months of studyi ng on the part of an uni ni ti ated stu
dent. Therefore i ntonati onal meani ng wi l l not be di scussed here i n more detai l
t han necessary t o gi ve some very general i dea of what a composi ti onal approach
l ooks l i ke. The present bri ef survey of the BGC model of i ntonati on shoul d thus be
understood merel y as a demonstrati on of a method of phonol ogi cal descri pti on of
i ntonati on.
9. 5. 3. 2. Basi c analyti cal noti ons of the BGC model
The basi c uni t of i ntonati onal descri pti on i s a tune. I t corresponds to what
i ntonol ogi sts often cal l a mel odi c or i ntonati onal pattern. The tones whi ch any tune
consi sts of are mel odi c correl ates of accent and ph rase groupi ng. The domai n of
the tune is a prosodi cal l y defi ned i ntonati on ph rase (J) : the segment of text in the
di scourse between two pau ses whi ch are not a resul t of hesitati on , or whi ch can
be surrounded by pauses wi thout di storti ng the enti re mel odi c confi gurati on.
Every tune is a sequence of tones (T)
46
, i . e. , L and H tone l evel s, organi sed
i nto three ki nds of i ntonati onal morphemes:
pi tch accent, T*
phrase accent, T
boundary tone, T%
Every J must have at l east one pi tch accent. The domai n for the assi gnment
of T* i s the accentual phrase (e) , understood as the carri er of the postl exi cal ac
cent. I n other words, at the l evel of every accentual phrase, the most promi nent
d6
The symbol ' T' i s used for a tone general l y, i rrespective of whether i t i s a H or L tone. I t i s
combi ned wi th the di acri ti cal si gns" and % for diferent types of i ntonati onal morphemes.
1 43
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
syl l abl e i s assi gned one pi tch accent, T*. The T* can consi st of one or two stari ng
tones, H or L. Taki ng i nto consi derati on the possi bi l ity of a combi nati on of two
tones wi thi n the pi tch accent, the possi bi l i ti es for pi tch accents are ei ther si mpl e
tones, H* and L * , or compl ex, bi tonal enti ti es, i n whi ch one of the tones i s al ways
subordi nated in its promi nence to the other. That i s, one of them i s associ ated with
the most promi nent syl l abl e in the 0, i . e. , wi th the metri cal l y strong syl l abl e, and is
therefore i ndi cated by an asteri sk, accordi ng to the notati onal conventi ons of met
ri cal phonol ogy. The other one ei ther i mmedi atel y precedes it or i mmedi atel y fol
l ows i t. Thi s i s a floati ng tone
47
, whi ch i n pri nci pl e docks onto a syl l abl e adjacent
to that associ ated wi th T* , but there are cases where, due to the l ack of segmental
materi al both of the component tones of the bi tonal pi tch accent are compressed
onto the stressed syl l abl e. I n any case, the rel ati onshi p between these two tones,
T* and T, of the compl ex pi tch accent corresponds to the rel ati onshi p between the
strong and the weak syl l abl e i n the foot. The functi onal l i nk between these two
tones is i ndi cated by the ' pl us' si gn between them.
The BGC model recogni ses four such bi tonal combi nati ons i n Engl i sh:
H*+L
L*+H
L+H*
H+L*
Theoreti cal l y, the model al so al l ows for the exi stence of combi nati ons of the
same tone val ues wi thi n compl ex pi tch accents ( H*+H, H+H*, L*+L and L+L*) i n
l anguages, but these are not i ncl uded i nto the i nventory of pi tch accents estab
l i shed for Engl i sh.
Si nce the model uses two tone l evel s onl y and does not rel y on the noti on of
tonal regi ster, for the understandi ng of the phonol ogi cal i denti ty of the basi c ana
l yti cal uni ts, i t i s essenti al to expl ai n the di ference between H and L tones. I t can
be summed up as fol l ows:
l n the same context, H is al ways real i sed as phoneti cal l y hi gher than L.
Secondl y, H and L be have di ferentl y under emphasi s: H gets hi gher, L gets l ower,
up to the poi nt of saturati on. Fi nal l y, H and L tones behave di ferentl y i n rul es of i n
terpol ati on, whi ch can be i l l ustrated here by a compari son of the mel odi c move
ment between two H*s and that between two L *s:
H* H* L* __L*

Figure 54: H vs. L tones i n i nterpol ati on rul es
d/
l n non-l i near phonol ogy a floati ng tone is one whi ch whi ch has no associ ati on with any
pari cul ar tone-beari ng unit i n the representati on.
1 44
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
As opposed to the pi tch accent, the phrase accent, T, does not show any af
fi nity towards metri cal l y strong syl l abl es. Thi s tone is real i zed i mmedi atel y after
the nucl ear accent (the l ast pi tch accent in the 1) and i t si gni fi cantl y determi nes
post-nucl ear Fa movement.
48
As wi th the other types of i ntonati onal morphemes,
the speaker of Engl i sh has the choi ce between two tones from thi s category, H
and L, and each of them has i ts meani ng, whi ch can be i sol ated and whi ch contri b
utes to the overal l meani ng of the 1. I n recent versi ons of the model , i t has been ob
served that there are cases of coexi stence of two phrase accents wi thi n one 1.
Thi s has motivated the i ntroducti on of a separate domai n for thi s i ntonati onal mor
pheme wi thi n the 1, the i ntermedi ate phrase. For the purpose of thi s cursory sur
vey of the model , however, we can afford to l eave thi s i ssue asi de.
l t i s i mportant to note that the BGC model does not i n any way i mply the univer
sal ity of the bi tonal i nventory of the phrase accent in the worl d' s l anguages. For the
understandi ng of the rol e of the phrase accent as a theoretical entity in i ntonol ogy, it is
useful to poi nt to the difference between the BGC model and the traditi onal Bri ti sh
model s concerni ng the treatment of the post-nucl ear par of the i ntonati onal pattern.
l n contrast to those British model s, the BGC model analyses the post-nucl ear contour
(
,
tai l ' ) i nto two i ntonati onal morphemes of different ki nds, one of whi ch i s the phrase
accent. The i sol ati on of the phrase accent i n the phonol ogical analysi s of i ntonati onal
patterns does not necessari l y i mpl y that T must be vi si bl e as a promi nent poi nt i n the
mel odi c contour. By i ts very presence i n the phonol ogi cal representati on of an
i ntonati onal patern it plays a cruci al rol e i n determi ni ng the overal l shape of the con
tour. By contrast with the floati ng tone of the bi tonal pi tch accent, whi ch occurs at a
relatively constant di stance from the metrical l y strong T*, T does not do so, as its loca
ti on varies consi derabl y dependi ng on the context. I f the two floati ng tones under con
si derati on are compressed onto a shor stretch of segmental materi al , they can be
neutral ised and it becomes i mpossi bl e to di sti ngui sh them.
The thi rd type of i ntonati onal morphemes i n the BGC model i s the boundary
tone, T%. It is obl i gatori l y associ ated wi th the ri ght edge of the 1, but the model
al so al l ows for an opti onal T at the begi nni ng of the 1. As wi th the other i ntonati onal
morphemes, the speaker has the choi ce between two tones: H and L. As a resul t
of the appl i cati on of the i ntonati onal rul e of Upstep, the phoneti c val ue of the fi nal
H% i s added to the phoneti c val ue of the precedi ng phrase-accent tone and thus
the i ntonati onal patterns wi th a fi nal H% coi nci de wi th the category of ri si ng tunes.
The unmarked, defaul t i ni ti al boundary tone for the standard vari eti es of Bri ti sh
and Ameri can Engl i sh i s L %. Therefore, i ni ti al T% i n the anal ysi s of Engl i sh i s i ndi
cated onl y i f i t is H%.
l n short, every wel l -formed i ntonati onal phrase of Engl i sh must consi st of at
l east one pitch accent (T*) , one phrase accent (T) and one boundary tone (T%) .
Wel l -formed tunes are generated out of these basi c el ements, and each of the
possi bl e combi nati ons of these three i ntonati onal morphemes represents a
d8
The preci se l ocati on of thi s tone vari es and is phonol ogi cal l y i rrel evant. Just l i ke the
subordi nate tone of the bi tonal pi tch accent, thi s i s a floati ng tone.
1 45
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
wel l -formed Engl i sh tune. I f we take i nto consi derati on onl y the si mpl est type of
tune, i . e. , the one wi th one mel odi e accent onl y and one phrase tone onl y, Engl i sh
has the fol l owi ng i nventory of wel l -formed confi gurati ons:
M M%
||%
Figure 55: Wel l -formed Engl i sh confi gurati ons (Pierrehumber)
The overal l shape of a tune fol l ows from the combi nati on of these three
types of i ntonati onal morphemes and thei r i nteracti on, as wel l as from i ntonati onal
rul es whi ch defi ne how these three key el ements of the tune are i nterpol ated and
rul es whi ch assi gn concrete Fo val ues to i ndi vi dual tones. General l y, there are
three types of rul e i n thi s model : readj ustment rul es - Upstep and Downstep, i nter
pol ati on rul es and i mpl ementati on rul es. As these i ntonati onal rul es are too com
pl ex to be di scussed here, for an el aborati on, the i nterested reader i s referred to
the rel ated l i terature from the l i st of suggested readi ngs. The exampl es that fol l ow
wi l l be used to i l l ustrate the anal ysi s of some si mpl e Engl i sh tunes from the ori gi
nal Pi errehumbert corpus:
f(Hz)

T b
Figure 56: JPH 31 6
1 46
H*

\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
Y
\

L
L
\ 1\ A .

_/ --'
Anna came with Manny.
H
* L L%
f( Hz)
300
1 50
Figure 57: JPH 291
H%
300
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
H%
J
The cardamon bread was good.
L*+H L H%
H*

."
~
L* " -
'
.
.
".

. -

.
' +
. *
`-.*
t
. L L%
1 00

Ifs realy too good to be true.
H% L* H* L L%
Figure 58: JPH 260
1 47
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
f (Hz)
300
H*
e
m
` e
* "
H*

#
1 50
._
L L%
` . -
+
&
That's a remarkab/y e/ever suggestion
H% L* H* L L%
Figure 59: JPH 260 B
f ( Hz)
250
1 50
L*
" ,
'-'"
L+

.
'-
9
" o
W e

~
s
-
H*
s"
H%
L ,W
4
P
9

There' s a lovely one in Canada.


L* L +H* L H%
Figure 60: JPH 268
1 48
t
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
9. 5. 3. 3. The BGC model and i ntonati onal meani ng
The BGC theory of i ntonati onal meani ng i s a sci ence i n i tsel f and t o gai n a ful l
understandi ng of i t woul d take much more than a chapter i n an i ntroductory course
of phonetics and phonol ogy. Pi errehumbert and Hi rshberg based thei r theory of
i ntonati onal meani ng on the theory of di scourse proposed by Ward and Hi rschberg
( 1 985) , and the ori gi nal versi on of the theory was si gnifi cantl y el aborated upon by
Hobbs ( 1 990) . The mai n poi nt to note about thi s approach is that i ntonati onal mor
phemes are concei ved of as ful fi l l i ng some pragmati c functi on in the di scourse.
To ofer some i dea of how a composi ti onal model of i ntonati on of meani ng
works, the meani ng, or, rather, the pragmati c functi on of each of the 1 2
i ntonati onal morphemes of Engl i sh i denti fi ed i n Fi gure 55 wi l l be summari sed. For
the present purpose thi s wi l l necessari l y have to i mpl y some si mpl ificati on. So, for
a more el aborate and i nsi ghtful account of any aspect of i ntonati onal meani ng
wi thi n the model , the i nterested reader i s agai n referred to the rel evant l i terature
from the l i st of suggested readi ngs.
Pi tch accents express the status of i ndi vi dual el ements i n the di scourse.
The type of pi tch accent gi ves further i nformati on on the type of promi nence, or
sal i ence, to use the ori gi nal Pi errehumbert term. The l i nk between the type of
pi tch accent and the type of sal i ence i s arbitrary and l anguage-speci fi c. Thus i n
Engl i sh the meani ng of si mpl e pi tch accents (T*) di fers from the meani ng of
bi tonal anes (T + T) i n that the former poi nt to some referents (extral i ngui sti c i tems
referred to) , whi l e the l atter give sal i ence to some di scourse scal e. Thi s wi l l proba
bl y be cl earer when we bri efly defi ne the functi on of each of the pi tch accents:
H* is the most common, i . e. , the most unmarked type of pitch accent in Eng
l i sh, most typi cal l y associated wi th decl arative utterances. I t si mpl y i ntroduces some
sal i ent referent i nto the set of bel i efs shared by the pari ci pants of the di scourse, or
just expresses the assumpti on that the referent under consi derati on al ready bel ongs
to thi s set of bel i efs. By contrast, by L * the speaker el i cits the col l ocutor's attitude con
cerni ng the status of a gi ven referent. Thus, L * i s characteristic of yes/no questi ons i n
Engl i sh, as wel l as of the so-cal l ed contradi ctory contours:
Do prunes have feet?
L* L * ( H H%)
(P&H: 22)
49
A: Let's order the Chateaubrand for two.
B: I don't eat beef.
L* L* ( H H%)
(P&H: 23)
d
The i nformati on i n the brackets refers to the page number at whi ch the exampl e i s found i n
Pi errehumbert & Hi rschberg ( 1 987) . For each of t he exampl es i n thi s group onl y t he pitch accents wi l l
1 49
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
Among the bi tonal pi tch accents (T + T) , a di sti ncti on i s made between pre
fixed (T + T*) and suffi xed (T*+ T) accents. Prefixes withi n pitch accents general l y
serve to correct or modif the col l ocutor' s understandi ng of the status of some pi ece
of i nformati on. Accordi ngl y, the meani ng of H+L * can be paraphrased as: 'lthough
you are not aware of it or perhaps do not beleve it, this piece of information is some
thing given or known. ' Thi s wi l l be i l l ustrated with an exampl e whi ch requi res the de
scri pti on of the di scourse context in whi ch the I under consi derati on i s uttered:
A young woman has a di scussi on wi th her mother-i n-l aw i n whi ch they di sagree about why the
baby had awakened i n the mi ddl e of the ni ght. The mother-i n-I aw advances a mutual l y known fact as
the correct expl anati on:
She's teething.
H+L* (P&H: 23)
Thi s i s l i ke sayi ng: 'Of course this is the only logical explanation. This is
something that as a young mother you should know. '
By anal ogy, in vi ew of the ' correcti ve' functi on of the prefi xes, the meani ng
of the L +H* accent can be paraphrased as: 'Although you may think that this piece
of information is nothing new, it indeed is. ' Al ternati vel y, i t can be summed up as:
'Now I'm going to reveal to you something realy noteworhy'.
A: It's too hot for Aprl.
B: It's even warm for December.
L +H* (P&H 27)
As for sufixed pi tch accents, i t shoul d be noted that apart from the subordi
nated tone of the bi tonal pi tch accent T*+ T, the category of sufixes al so i ncl udes
phrase-accent tones and boundary tones. The reason why they are treated as
formi ng a unitary category i s that i t i s possi bl e to i sol ate the meani ng they al l
share. Thi s meani ng i s defi ned by Hobbs ( 1 990) rather l i beral l y. The H sufix i ndi
cate s some ki nd of di scourse openness i n t he broadest sense. Thus wi th L *+H,
the H sufi x expresses that the i tem under consi derati on requi res further di scus
si on before an agreement i s reached about i ts status i n connecti on wi th the set of
the commonl y shared bel i efs. Here i s an exampl e:
be i ndicated, t o faci l itate focusi ng on t he item under di scussi on. Thus for the ti me bei ng we shal l
abstract away from the post-nucl ear movement of the tune, whi ch i n thi s exampl e woul d be H H% for
i nstance, as we shal l di scuss and exempl ify these other two types of i ntonati onal morpheme
separatel y.
1 50
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
A: Alan is such a klutz.
B: He's a good badminton player.
L*+H
(P&H 27)
( I nterpretati on: B i s uncertai n about whether a good badmi nton-pl ayer provi des rel evant i nfor
mati on about the degree of cl umsi ness).
The L sufix i s si mpl y defi ned as I-HI, i . e. , as the absence of di scourse open
ness. Wi thi n the bi tonal pitch accent H*+L, i ts meani ng can be paraphrased as fol
l ows: 'I'm intrducing this item into the set of shared belefs (expressed by the H* el
ement of the confi gurati on) , and its status as such is not disputable, because it is
inferrable frm the knowledge that we share. ' Thi s i ntonati onal morpheme i s al so
referred to as ' pedagogi cal ' . I t i s characteristi c of teachi ng si tuati ons:
lt is spel/ed with two dots.
H*+L H*+L
( Pi errehumbert: 334)
As expl ai ned above, the phrase-accent tones al so count as sufixes. To put
i t si mpl y, H expresses some ki nd of di scourse i ndependent of the phrase i t be
l ongs to what precedes or fol l ows i n the di scourse. The most i l l ustrative exampl es
are those i n whi ch the 1consi sts of two i ntermedi ate phrases and thus has two Ts:
( 1 ) Do you want apple juice or orange juice?
H* H H* L L%
(2) Do you want apple juice or orange juice?
H* L H* LL%
( Hobbs: 1 990)
l n exampl e ( 1 ) the H tone of the phrase accent i mpl i es that i tems ' appl e
j ui ce' and ' orange j ui ce' make up an exhausti ve l i st. These are the two ki nds of
j ui ce that are avai l abl e. By contrast, in exampl e (2) , the L tone does not suggest
that the i tems under consi derati on form such a l arger i nterpreti ve enti ty. Thi s i s as
if the speaker were actual l y aski ng : 'Do you want a drink, such as apple juice or or
ange juice, or perhaps something else?'
The boundary tone, T%, conveys i nformati on about t he i ntonati on phrase
as a whol e. I t does so by expressi ng its ' ori entati on' . That i s, i t i ndi cates whether
the I under consi derati on shoul d be i nterpreted pri mari l y i n connecti on wi th the
previ ous or wi th the fol l owi ng 1 Here i s an exampl e:
1 51
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
My car manual is almost unreadable.
It's quite annoying.
L T%
I spent two hours figuring out how to use the jack.
L L%
( P&H: 35)
The i nterpretati on of thi s text depends upon the tonal specificati on of the
T% i n 'It's quite annoying'. I n case i t i s H%, the ' i t' refers to the fact that the speaker
spent two hours doi ng the job, because the H% i ndi cates that the 1i t bel ongs to i s
ori ented towards the text that fol l ows. I n case the boundary tone under consi der
ati on is L %, the ' i t' refers to the car manual .
9. 5. 3. 4. The BGC model and comparati ve i ntonol ogy
As observed earl i er, the mai n advantage of the BGC model i s i ts appl i cabi l ity
to typol ogi cal l y different prosodi c systems. I n the present chapter it wi l l be bri efly i l
l ustrated how i t i s possi bl e to use the anal ytical nati ons of thi s model to compare
Engl i sh i ntonati on with that of Croati an, despi te the fact that these two l anguages
are prosodi cal l y total l y diferent i n al l respects. Thi s wi l l be done by gi vi ng a survey
of the resul ts of research in whi ch Engl i sh and Croati an were compared withi n the
framework of the BGC model . For thi s, an i nventory of Croati an i ntonati onal mor
phemes had to be establ i shed, and thi s had to take i nto consi derati on the i nterac
ti on of Croati an l exi cal prosody ( i . e. the four l exi cal prosodi c patterns of Standard
Croati an) and i ntonati on. As Croati an i n itself is not the di rect object of i nterest of
thi s book, the focus wi l l be onl y on the mai n poi nts of the results of thi s compari son.
l n t he category of pi tch accents two types of i ntonati onal morpheme were
establ i shed:
5o
the ori gi nal l exi cal prosodi c pattern (' accent' ) , preserved wi thi n the
i ntonati onal context and the L *+H confi gurati on. On the post-I exi cal , i . e. ,
i ntonati onal l evel , wi thi n the BGC model , the former category, i . e. the four tradi
ti onal ' accents' are represented as fol l ows:
LEXI CAL PATTERN
Fal l i ng: pas, pas:
I I
O
I
P
I
H
I NTONATI ONAL MORPHEME
H*
5
The methodol ogy used for establ i shi ng the i dentity of these i ntonati onal morphemes was
anal ogous to the one ori gi nal l y used by Pi errehumbert. I t was based pri mari l y on the anal ysi s of
1 52
Ri si ng: kosa, kosa:

I I
A l
\
H H
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
H* +H
Figure 61 : Representati on of Croati an LPPs preserved i n i ntonati on
As can be seen from figure 61 , withi n the BGC framework, i n the i ntonati onal
context, the preserved fal l i ng patterns are analysed as H* and the ri si ng ones as
H*+H. As expl ai ned earl i er, the ' l ong' accents are associ ated wi th bi morai c syl l a
bl es, whi l e the short ones are associ ated wi th monomorai c syl l abl es.
As for the other two categori es of i ntonati onal morphemes, the same
bi tonal i nventory of i ntonati onal morphemes was establ i shed for both
phrase-accent and boundary tone. Thus the i nventory of Croati an i ntonati onal
morphemes l ooks l i ke thi s:
Pitch accents: H*, H*+H, L*+H
Phrase accents: H, L
Boundary tones: H%, L %
Thi s i nventory coul d now serve as a starti ng poi nt for a compari son of the
two i ntonati onal systems. Thi s was done by means of compari ng the ori gi nal
Pi errehumbert corpus of di al ogues wi th thei r Croati an transl ati on equi val ents. The
fol l owi ng concl usi ons were reached:
Croati an has a consi derabl y smal l er i nventory of pi tch accents. I n compari
son wi th Engl i sh, whi ch has si x i ntonati onal morphemes i n thi s category, Croati an
has onl y two. One of these two can phonol ogi cal l y and phoneti cal l y be i denti fi ed
wi th the l exi cal prosodi c pattern ( LPP) , whi ch thus performs a doubl e functi on i n
Croati an. On the l exi cal l evel , i t gi ves i dentity to i ndi vi dual words, whi l e on the
i ntonati onal l evel i t functi ons as an i ntonati onal morpheme, the pi tch accent.
Wi thi n the BGC system i t i s anal ysed as H*, or H*+H (depend i ng on whether i t i s
fal l i ng or ri si ng) and can be associ ated wi th a monomorai c or bi morai c syl l abl e.
The LPP i n Croati an functi ons as a pragmati cal l y unmarked i ntonati onal mor-
mel odi e peaks and val l eys and thei r behavi our under different degrees of emphasi s. Thi s was al l done
usi ng pitch-tracki ng software.
1 53
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
pheme, and i n the transl ati on equi val ents of pragmati c si tuati ons most ofen func
ti ons as a correl ate of al l si x Engl i sh pi tch accents.
51
The other pi tch accent establ i shed for Croati an is L *+H. Al though phono
l ogi cal l y and phoneti cal l y i t can be compared to the Engl i sh L *+H, in the majori ty of
cases i t occurs as a correl ate of other pi tch accents. Thus in its pragmati c functi on
i t i s not comparabl e wi th the Engl i sh L *+H. The anal ysi s of the Croati an corpus
shows thi s confi gurati on has the status of a pragmati cal l y marked i ntonati onal
morpheme and its pragmati c functi on can al ternati vel y be performed by the com
bi nati on of the unmarked LPP wi th one or more non-i ntonati onal means of expres
si on, such as pragmati c parti cl es (pa, ma) , emphati c pronouns, speci al rhythmi c
features, faci al expressi on, gestu res and characteri sti c voi ce qual i ty features.
The speci fi c nature of Croati an l exi cal prosody is not onl y refl ected in the
tonal i dentity of the most common Croati an i ntonati onal morpheme, the LPP, but
al so i n i ts l ocati on, whi ch i s determi ned by the types of the l exi cal accent of i ndi vi d
ual words. So, for exampl e, the Croati an i ntonati onal morpheme H* i n both i ts vari
eti es (i n both a monomorai c and bi morai c syl l abl e) i s typi cal l y phoneti cal l y real
i zed earl i er i n the syl l abl e than the Engl i sh H*, whi ch by defi ni ti on, i s phoneti cal l y
real i zed i n the l ast thi rd of the syl l abl e. Thi s i s why the most unmarked Engl i sh
pi tch accent, H*, sounds more l i ke the Croati an ri si ng patterns to a Croati an ear.
Thi s si tuati on i s further compl i cated by the rhythmi c di ferences between the two
l anguages. As a stress-based l anguage, Engl i sh has more extensi ve processes
of emphati c and fi nal l engtheni ng, both of whi ch affect the l ocati on of the H tone.
Even t he non-exi stence of some i ntonati onal morphemes results from the
general i ncompati bi l ity of the two prosodi c systems. The fact that Croati an has no
prefixed pi tch accents comes as no surpri se, because such enti ti es woul d be i n con
tradi cti on to the Mai n Stress Rul e of Croati an, whi ch states that the accented syl l a
bl e (*) coi nci des wi th the one whi ch has the l eftmost H mora. Li kewi se, the
i ntonati onal morpheme H*+L coul d hardl y fit i nto the Croati an tonal system, be
cause i n its phoneti c real izati on i t woul d be too si mi l ar, i f not i dentical to the confi gu
rati on of the so-cal l ed fal l i ng accents, whi ch are analysed as not havi ng the L sufi x.
For t he categori es of phrase-accent and boundary tones t he same bi tonal
i nventory was establ i shed for Croati an as for Engl i sh. Moreover, i t turns out that
the BGC defi ni ti ons of the pragmati c functi ons of these tones based on Engl i sh
are appl i cabl e to Croati an as wel l . However, what characteri ses Croati an i s that i t
uses L tones more frequentl y i n these two categori es than Engl i sh does. Thi s can
agai n be associ ated wi th the more extensi ve use of non-i ntonati onal pragmati c
means of expressi on. For the categori es of phrase-accent and boundary tones,
these occur not onl y as al ternati ve features combi ned wi th L tones. I n Croati an
they are al so extensi vel y used wi th H and H%. So, i t turns out that the Croati an H
51 The research presented in Josi povi ( 1 993) shows that thi s i s the case in as many as 95%
cases!
1 54
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
and H% are backed up by a whol e array of redundant pragmati c means, whi ch do
not seem to have such a functi onal burden as thei r Engl i sh correl ateso
Croati an turns out to have the same basi c i ntonati onal rul es as Engl i sho
However, the di ferences i n the i nventori es of i ntonati onal morphemes summed
up above al so resul t i n the diferences i n the structural descri pti ons for the appl i ca
ti on of i ndi vi dual i ntonati onal rul es, whi ch si gni fi cantl y determi ne the i dentity of i n
di vi dual tuneso
Fi nal l y, one may wonder how al l the above diferences between the two
i ntonati onal systems are manifested in the pronunci ati on of Engl i sh wi th a Cro
ati an accent? Here are some pai rs of i ntonati on phrases to i l l ustrate it:
r(mz,
300
1 b0
H*
~

V
_ L
L


00z
400
100 h*
z0
L

00
00 z00 100 400 00 00 ?00 00 u00 000 00
Figure 62: ' Anna came wi th Manny' - nati ve VSo non-nati ve pronunci ati on
I[Hz)
250
! 50
|
, _' * _ _ g
|

.
. :
H%
o |_ "
d
H"+H

Z

" , LW

T Z d b b 1 b 1 1 1 1Z Td 14 Tb 1b RS
Figure 63: ' There is a l ovel y one in Canada' - nati ve VSo non-nati ve
l(z,
J00
h
d
Z _
1
1 Z d 4 b b 1 b 1 1 1 1 Z 1d 14 1b 1b RS
Figure 64: ' Ri gmarol e is monomorphemi c' : nati ve vSo non-nati ve
1 55
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
I[z}
35O
J 5O
L* e
.
e
5OOz
h
o
4OO
M
3OO J
2OO
J OO
.
|%
| |
J00 2OO 3OO 4OO 5OO 6OO IOO 8OO 9OO J OOO J J OO J 2OOb
Figure 65: 'Another orange! ' (surpri se) - nati ve vs. non-nati ve
Whi l e the pi tch tracks on the l eft-hand si de represent tunes from the ori gi nal
Pi errehumbert model , those on t he ri ght si de represent di al ogues acted out i n
anal ogous pragmati c si tuati ons by a nati ve speaker of Croati an fl uent i n Engl i sh.
l n fi gure 62, t he H* i s real i zed towards t he end of t he nucl eus, whi ch means
that to a Croati an ear i t woul d sound as ri si ng. By contrast, the H* of the anal ogous
Croati an i ntonati on phrase i s phoneti cal l y real i zed as a peak whi ch starts from the
very begi nni ng of the nucl eus and begi ns to fal l al ready i n the second hal f of the
syl l abl e.
l n figure 63 the Engl i sh tune has a prefi xed confi gurati on, L +H*, whereas i n
its Croati an counterpart at t he anal ogous poi nt there i s a l exi cal prosodi c pattern,
in thi s case H*, real i zed in the fi rst hal f of the i ni ti al syl l abl e of ' Canada' .
The Engl i sh L *+H i n fi gure 64 i s not matched by a comparabl e Croati an confi g
urati on ei ther. Once agai n, i n Croati an we fi nd the LPP as i n the precedi ng exampl e.
l n the surpri se contour of fi gure 65, Engl i sh has a ri si ng post-nucl ear move
ment of the tune, achi eved by the combi nati on of H and H%, whereas the corre
spondi ng Croati an tune ends in a fal l . Experi mental research referred to earl i er
has shown that i n the transl ati on equi val ents of these Engl i sh i ntonati on phrases,
Croati an speakers resort to a wi de range of non-i ntonati onal means, such as the
pragmati c expressi on 'a', emphati c pronouns, faci al expressi on, gestures and
voi ce qual i ty. Thi s i s not to suggest that Engl i sh does not make use of such means
of expressi on. I t certai nl y does, but apparentl y not to the extent to whi ch Croati an
does. Thi s partl y confi rms the famous sayi ng attri buted to Mark Li berman, that
what other l anguages express by gestures, Engl i sh expresses by the gi otti s.
l t i s probabl y not unreal i sti c t o expect that i n t he near future computer sof
ware wi l l be avai l abl e to correct such cases of wrong l ocati on and i denti ty of pho-
nol ogi cal l y cruci al poi nts in the Fa contour.
.
Exercises
1 . Name some prosodi c features.
2. Syl l abi fy the word ' Engl i sh' and anal yse t he structure of its syl l abl es by means
of a tree di agram.
1 56
PROSODI C PHONOLOGY
3. Gi ve an exampl e of a ' core' syl \ abl e i n Engl i sh.
4. State some phonotacti c restri cti ons of Engl i sh.
5. Gi ve an exampl e of an onsetl ess Engl i sh syl \ abl e.
6. What i s the Sonority Sequenci ng General i zati on?
7. What i s the Maxi mal Onset Pri nci pl e? Syl \ abi fy the word 'experience' taki ng thi s
pri nci pl e i nto account.
8. Why i s an open syl \ abl e not necessari l y l i ght? Gi ve an exampl e of such a syl \ a-
bl e.
9. Why i s syl \ abl e wei ght i mportant i n phonol ogy?
1 0. What i s a mora? How i s i t i mportant i n the prosodi c anal ysi s of Croati an?
1 1 . How i s the Croati an Stress Rul e formul ated wi thi n the mora-based approach?
1 2. Why i s the formati on of hypocori sti cs i n l anguages morpho-phonol ogi cal \ y i n-
teresti ng?
1 3. What are l udl i ngs? How do you say 'lud/ing' i n Pi g Lati n and i n J E-PE-ZI - PI K?
1 4. Gi ve an exampl e of an Engl i sh word whi ch has a secondary stress.
1 5. Name some l anguages wi th fi xed stress and some wi th free stress.
1 6. Gi ve an exampl e of an Engl i sh nou n-verb pai r di feri ng i n the l ocati on of stress.
1 7. How does the Engl i sh Stress Rul e defi ne the l ocati on of stress i n nouns? I I I us
trate thi s wi th an exampl e.
1 8. Expl ai n and i l \ ustrate t he rol e of t he foot i n t he formul ati on of some Engl i sh
phonol ogi cal rul e.
1 9. Gi ve an exampl e i n whi ch t he phonol ogi cal word does not coi nci de wi th a mor
phol ogi cal word.
20. What is the domai n for the appl i cati on of the Rhythmi c Reversal Rul e i n Eng
l i sh?
21 . Whi ch prosodi c domai ns are l arger than the phonol ogi cal phrase?
22. Expl ai n the di fference between Engl i sh and Croati an wi th respect to thei r re
spective pl aces in the typol ogy of rhythm ic systems?
23. Expl ai n the controversy between the Bri ti sh and Ameri can approach i n i ntono
l ogy.
24. What i s the di fference between the hol i sti c and composi ti onal approach to i n
tonati on?
25. Name some purposes for whi ch the BGC model of i ntonati on i s parti cul arl y
sui ted.
1 57
CHAPTER 1 0
RECENT TRENDS I N PHONOLOGI CAL THEORY
Before we i ntroduce our l ast topi c, l et us recal l a poi nt that was made i n
Chapter 8 i n connecti on wi th the devel opment of generati ve phonol ogy from the
i ni ti al SPE stage to the l ater post-SPE versi on. Whi l e SPE phonol ogy operated
wi th extremel y compl i cated rul es, post-SPE phonol ogy maxi mal l y si mpl i fi ed the
rul es at the expense of the compl exi ty of the underl yi ng structures. Post-SPE pho
nol ogy thus operated wi th sophi sti cated representati ons, and the rul es that de
ri ved surface forms from these underl yi ng structures were si mpl e operati ons
whi ch natural l y fol l owed from the representati on. I n any case, generati ve phonol
ogy, i n both these stages focused on the derivation of surface forms from the un
derl yi ng forms and the operati ons by whi ch thi s was done. So, for exampl e, the
pronunci ati on of the Engl i sh regul ar pl ural endi ng was accounted for by deri vi ng a
surface form such as I ' t S 3 : t S Izl from the hypothesi sed underl yi ng form
lt S 3 : t S l + Izl. I rrespecti ve of whether thi s was done by formul ati ng the cl assi cal
SPE-type of rul es such as the Epenthesi s and Devoi ci ng, or whether the surface
form was obtai ned by addi ng and del i nki ng the correspondi ng associ ati on l i nes
wi thi n the mul ti -ti ered versi on of the theory, the approach was al ways deri vati onal .
l n contrast to thi s, i n recent phonol ogi cal theory the focus is on the relation
ship between the proposed underl yi ng and surface representati ons. Thi s new ap
proach to phonol ogi cal descri pti on i s known as Opti mal ity Theor (OT) . I t was pi
oneered by Pri nce and Smol ensky ( 1 993) . Si nce then, a l arge number of the
worl d' s most i nfl uenti al phonol ogi sts have ' gone OT' , as they say. I n OT, an i nput
representati on i s associ ated wi th a set of candi date output representati ons. The
key noti on of OT i s that of constraints. The basi c assumpti on i s that Uni versal
Grammar consi sts of certai n constrai nts on wel l -formedness. The grammars of i n
di vi dual l anguages are made up of these constrai nts. Constrai nts may be mutual l y
contradi ctory and can thus make confl i cti ng requi rements. Each l anguage then re
sol ves these confl i cts, i . e. , sel ects the optimal output in i ts own l anguage-speci fi c
way, taki ng i nto consi derati on its own l anguage-specifi c hi erarchi cal ranki ng of
uni versal constrai nts. It does so through vari ous fi l ters whi ch eval uate the candi
date outputs and al l ow l ower-ranked constrai nts to be vi ol ated i n order to sati sfy
hi gher-ranked ones.
How thi s works i n Engl i sh wi l l be once agai n i l l ustrated by the exampl e of
the regul ar pl ural pronunci ati on. Let us show how OT rel ates the pronunci ati on of
' churches' lt S 3 : t S Izl to the i nput form lt S 3 : t S -zi. Apart from lt S 3 : t S Izl,
1 59
JOSI POVI : PHONETI CS AND PHONOLOGY FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLI SH
some of the candi dates for the output woul d be lt S 3 : t S zI, lt S 3 : t S sl and
lt S 3 : d3Z/. I rrespecti ve of the l anguage we are deal i ng wi th, there are two uni ver
sal pri nci pl es that determi ne whi ch of the potenti al output forms wi l l be chosen.
One of them i s Fai thful ness. I t i s the force that tri es t o make the output form i den
ti cal to the i nput form. However, l anguages are not al ways fai thful . Thi s i s why i n
the exampl e at hand the correct pl ural of ' church' i s not lt S 3 : t S zI. The other pri n
ci pl e i s that of Unmarkedness. I t i s the tendency i n l anguages to prefer pronunci
ati on i n forms that are more common, i . e. , unmarked. I n real i ty, the sel ecti on of the
output results from the i nteracti on of these two forces. Each of the two pri nci pl es i s
represented through uni versal constrai nts.
Among the constrai nts expressi ng Faithful ness, three i mportant ones are usu
al l y si ngl ed out. One of them i s that the del eti on of segments i s prohi bited, that i s, the
output shoul d be maxi mal l y faithful to the i nput. In the OT notati on this constrai nt i s i n
di cated as Max-l O. The next constrai nt prohi bits the i nserti on of segments, i . e. , the
output shoul d be enti rel y dependent on the i nput. The notati onal conventi on for thi s
constrai nt i s Dep-I O. The thi rd constrai nt states that a segment i n the output i s i denti
cal to the correspondi ng segment i n the i nput. I t i s expressed as Ident(F).
Let us now i l l ustrate two i mportant constrai nts expressi ng Unmarkedness.
One of them i s that sequences of si bi l ants (coronal stri dents) are prohi bi ted wi thi n
t he word. I t i s expressed as *Si bSi b. The other refers t o the prohi bi ti on of se
quences of obstruents wi thi n the same syl l abl e that do not agree for voi ci ng. I t i s
i ndi cated i n notati on as *avoi ce-avoi ce.
52
The eval uati on of the candi date outputs is expressed i n the form of a tabl e.
For thi s exampl e, the tabl e woul d l ook l i ke the one presented bel ow. The i nput
form to be eval uated i s i ndi cated i n the top l ef-hand cel l . An asteri sk (*) i n a cel l i n
di cates that the form i n that row vi ol ates the constrai nt i n that col umn. The combi
nati on of the asteri sk and the excl amati on mark means that the vi ol ati on i s fatal
and therefore el i mi nated from further consi derati on. The rows of the tabl e repre
sent the candi dates for eval uati on. The col umns i ndi cate the constrai nts that are
rel evant i n the parti cul ar case. The opti mal form, i . e. , the one that wi ns out i s
marked `. Shaded cel l s i ndi cate that the correspondi ng constrai nts have been
el i mi nated as i rrel evant to the fate of the form concerned.
t S 3 : t S -Z *Si bSi b Dep- I O *avoi ce-avoi ce

t S 3 : t S Z *!
W
@
t S 3 : t S IZ

t S 3 : d3Z *!

t S 3 : t S S
*!
Table 6: OT eval uati on of t he candi date outputs of l t S 3 : t S -zI
5/
ln phonol ogi cal notation,
!

!
i s the symbol for ' ei ther of the two possi bl e bi nary specificati ons,
' +' or ' -' . Thus if a i s ( +) , ~ i s (-) and vi ce versa.
1 60
RECENT TRENDS I N PHONOLOGI CAL THEORY
lt is obvi ous from the tabl e that in Engl i sh i t is more i mportant to obey
*Si bSi b than Dep- I O. That i s, i n the Engl i sh hi erarchy of constrai nts, *Si bSi b i s
more hi ghl y ranked than Dep- I O.
By way of concl usi on, i t may be sai d that si nce the earl y 1 990s and the ad
vent of Opti mal ity Theory, phonol ogi cal rul es have been abandoned and repl aced
by a uni versal set of constrai nts that are ranked on a l anguage-parti cul ar basi s.
Thi s bri ef i l l ustrati on of the basi c pri nci pl es of phonol ogi cal anal ysi s wi thi n the OT
approach was meant onl y to poi nt to the di recti on whi ch contemporary phonol ogy
i s taki ng. As al ways, for a more i n-depth account, one i s referred to the speci al i sed
l i terature on the subject.
Exercises
1 . What does the expressi on 'to go OT' mean?
2. What i s t he basi c difference between t he OT approach and t he earl i er ap
proaches t o phonol ogi cal anal ysi s?
3. Name and expl ai n one Faithful ness condi ti on and fi nd an exampl e where thi s
condi ti on i s vi ol ated i n Engl i sh.
4. Whi ch constrai nts woul d be vi ol ated i n t he form Ib18z1 for t he pl ural of 'bus'
5. Draw up an OT tabl e for the sel ecti on of the opti mal pl ural output of Id31d3 -zi.
6. Taki ng i nto consi derati on al l the approaches presented i n thi s book, what i s
your favourite way of accounti ng for the pronunci ati on of regul ar pl ural forms i n
Engl i sh? Justi f your choi ce. (Of course, there are no correct or i ncorrect an
swers here. )
1 61
APPENDI X
Li st of Fi gures
No. TI TLE PAGE
The speech chai n 1 8
2 The speech tract 1 9
3 The cardi nal vowel scal e 39
4 RP pure vowel s 42
5 The Croati an vocal i c system 44
6 Gen. Am. pure vowel s 45
7 RP cl osi ng di phthongs 46
8 RP centri ng di phthongs 47
9 Waveform 72
1 0 This is a pitch track' 73
1 1 This is a pitch track?' 74
1 2 [<] - spectrum (I ouder) 76
1 3 [<] spectrum (l ess l oud) 76
1 4 Diference i n i ntensity 77
1 5 Spectrogram 78
1 6 [i] - formant structure 79
1 7 [u] - formant structure 79
1 8 [a] - formant structure 79
1 9 [a] formant structure 79
20 Cardi nal vowel 1 - spectrogram 80
21 Cardi nal vowel 9 spectrogram 80
22 [aI] spectrogram 82
23 [ Ie] spectrogram 82
24 [' spektr;u, gr<m] 83
25 Waterfal l spectrogram 84
26 [i] - spectrogram 86
27 [:n] - spectrogram 86
28 '/sn't this fun!' spectrogram 87
29 Puzzle spectrogram 87
1 63
A||LN| X
30 Feature geometry 1 06
31 SPE vs. feature geometry 1 07
32 RP gi ottal i sati on 1 07
33 The skel etal ti er 1 08
34 'two' - syl l abl e structure 1 1 4
35 'in' - syl l abl e structure 1 1 4
36 ' l i ttl e' - syl l abl e structure 1 1 5
37 The core syl l abl e of Engl i sh 1 1 5
38 Engl i sh phonotacti c restricti ons concernng 101 1 1 6
39 The ambi syl l abi c ' cl ear I ' of 'yelow' 1 1 6
40 Onsetl ess Engl i sh syl l abl e 1 1 7
41 Syl l abl e with a branchi ng onset 1 1 7
42 Open vs. cl osed syl l abl e 1 1 8
43 Heavy syl l abl es: branchi ng i n the rhyme 1 1 9
44 The l i ght syl l abl e of lDll 1 1 9
45 The morai c structure of the Croati an ' l ong' accents 1 20
46 The morai c structure of the Croati an ' shor' accents 1 2 1
47 The four Croati an accents: the mora-based approach 1 22
48 The Croati an hypocori sti c templ ate 1 24
49 The Pig-Lati n template 1 25
50 Li ght penul ti mate vs. heavy penulti mate 1 28
51 Organi sati on of syl l abl es i nto feet 1 29
52 Foot-fi nal vs. foot-i niti al lU 1 30
53 The contradi ctory contour 1 40
54 H vs. L tones in i nterpol ati on rul es 1 44
55 Wel l -formed Engl i sh confi gurati ons 1 46
56 JPH: 'nna came with Manny' 1 46
57 JPH: The cardamon bread was good. ' 1 47
58 JPH: 'It's realy too good to be true. ' 1 47
59 JPH: That's a remarkably clever suggestion. ' 1 48
60 JPH: There is a lovely one in Canada' 1 48
61 Representati on of Croati an LPPs presered i n i ntonati on 1 53
62 'nna came with Manny' - nati ve vs. non-native pronunci ati on 1 55
63 There is a lovely one in Canada' - nati ve vs. non-native 1 55
64 'Rigmarle is monomorphemic' - nati ve vs. non-nati ve 1 55
65 'nother orange!' - nati ve vs. non-native 1 56
1 64
Tabl es and charts
Tabl e 1 : RP consonants
Table 2: Mean frequency val ues for the formants of RP vowel s
Tabl e 3: Mean frequency val ues for the formants of Croati an
Tabl e 4: Stress-based vs. syl \ abl e-based rhythm
Tabl e 5: Types of i ntonati onal model s
Tabl e 6: OT eval uati on of the candi date outputs of lt S . t S -zi
I PA consonantal char
I PA vowel s
Words typi cal l y mi spronounced
APPENDI X
page
34
81
81
1 33
1 41
1 60
1 70
1 70
As it woul d be i mpossi bl e to provi de an exhaustive l i st of words whi ch are
mi spronounced by Croati an students of Engl i sh, i t is better to i dentif some paterns
behi nd such mi spronunci ati on. Ni ne categori es of Engl i sh words wi l l be si ngl ed out
here as potenti al l y ' tri cky' i n thi s sense and for each of them some typi cal exampl es
wi l l be given. These shoul d be understood as open l i sts, to whi ch students are en
couraged to add thei r own exampl es that give them difi cul ti es i n pronunci ati on.
1 . Words wi th ' tri cky' spel l i ngs:
Thi s category of Engl i sh words i s best i l l ustrated by the exampl es found i n
t he Students' Anthem, ' A Dreadful Language' , gi ven i n t he present Appendi x. So,
i n addi ti on t o t he exampl es found there l et us now menti on a few others:
bury /beri l
camel /krmal l
donkey I ' dOIkil
i ndi ct lm daItl
occur la' b: I
oven I

AvanI
worm IW3 : m/
thyme ItaIml
2. Proper names:
Proper names commonl y represent a major diffi cul ty i n pronunci ati on, often
because they are of non-Engl i sh ori gi n. Here are some exampl es of commonl y
mi spronounced proper names.
1 65
APPENDI X
Bassi nger l' beI , sIIe(r)/
5

Connecti cut Ika' net Iketl


Lei cester l ' l esta/
Mal col m I ' m<lkeml
Notti ngham I ' nDt IIeml
Thai l and I ' taIl<ndl
Thames Itemzl
Thomas I ' tDmesl
Tucson l' tu : sDnl
3. Words with typi cal ly mi spronounced accentual patterns:
Some Engl i sh words are typi cal l y wrongl y accented by forei gners. Some
ti mes thi s happens because they bel ong to adjecti ve/noun-verb pai rs whi ch are
expected to di fer by the l ocati on of stress, and in fact they do not, because they
are excepti ons to that rul e. A case i n poi nt woul d be the nou n 'reform', whi ch for
ei gners often wrongl y stress on the i ni ti al syl l abl e, to di sti ngui sh i t from the rel ated
verb. I n fact, both the nou n and the verb have stress on the second syl l abl e:
I rI ' fo : ml . Wi thi n thi s category, menti on shoul d al so be made of words i n whi ch
non-nati ve speakers of Engl i sh typi cal l y wrongl y l ocate the secondary accent.
Probabl y the most famous such exampl e i s that of 'negotation', whi ch i s usual l y
mi spronounced as *[ , mgeu S I ' eI S en] , i nstead of the correct InI , gauJI' eI S eni.
Another famous exampl e to be menti oned i n thi s category i s that of 'spiritual'. Thi s
adjecti ve i s typi cal l y mi spronounced as *[SpI ' rIt S uel] , and i t shoul d be
stressed on the fi rst syl l abl e: I ' SpI rIt S uall.
4. Words wi th Tri syl l abi c Laxi ng:
Some Engl i sh words present diffi cul ti es for forei gners because thei r pronun
ci ati on requi res the appl i cati on of the rul e of Tri syl l abi c Laxi ng, di scussed i n chapter
8. 5. of the present book. Cases in poi nt woul d be 'analysis' le ' n<lesIsl and 'Bibi
cal' I ' bIblIkeli, but most i roni cal l y, the best-known exampl e i n thi s category i s
the adjective ' i nfamous' , whi ch i s i ndeed i nfamous for thi s reason. Rather than the
commonl y heard *[ In ' feImes] , i ts correct pronunci ati on i s I' i nfamas/.
5. Words l i kel y to be mi spronounced under the i nfl uence of Croati an:
One subcategory of these words i ncl udes those i tems whi ch at some poi nt
have the combi nati on of a sonorant and Is/. These are typi cal l y i nternati onal i sed
words of Lati n ori gi n, whi ch i n Croati an are pronounced wi th Izl rather than Isl at
the rel evant poi nt. Here are some exampl es:
53 Few peopl e know that t he popu l ar actress Ki m Bassi nger pronounces her l ast name as
i ndicated above, and not 'lCSIDdarl, as most peopl e thi nk.
1 66
APPENDI X
uni versi ty Ij u : nI ' V3 : setIl
consonant I ' knnsenentl
i nsi st lIn ' sIstl
The other subcategory compri ses words whi ch Croati an has borrowed from
Engl i sh and adapted to i ts own phonol ogi cal system. As such, these words repre
sent potenti al sources of mi spronunci ati on. Here are two such exampl es:
j ukebox I ' d3U : k boksl
steak Ist eIkI
6. Homographs:
l n Engl i sh there are a few cases of words whi ch are spel l ed i n the same
way, but they are pronounced di ferentl y and, accordi ngl y, carry diferent mean
i ngs. Here are two such cases for i l l ustrati on:
drawer: 1 . Idr8 : I * 'slding container'
2. I ' dr8 : el * 'one who draws'
prayer: 1 . Ipreal * 'act Iwords of praying'
2. I ' preIel * 'one who prays'
7. Words confused for thei r si mi l arity:
awl 18 : II * 'a pointed hand tool' vs.
owl laull * 'a noctural bird of prey'
crochet I ' kreu S eII * 'a pi ece of needl ework' (or the rel ated verb) vs.
crotchet I ' krot S Itl * a note in musi c
cease Isi . sl * stop
sei ze Isi : zl * capture
dose Idausl * amount taken at one ti me
doze Idauz /= sl eep l i ghtl y
8. Words subject to the /g/-Del eti on Rul e:
si nger I ' sIle/, si ngi ng I ' SIlilI
hang er I ' hle/, hangi ng I ' hlIlI
strong Ist rol/, but I ' st rolgel, I ' st rolgIstl
9. Forei gn words i n Engl i sh:
hors d' oeuvres 1, : l d3: vl
karate Ikai rO: t il
roux Iru: 1
sobri quet I ' seubnkeII
1 67
APPENDI X
1 68
A Dreadful Language
(Students' phonetic anthem)
text: tradi ti onal ( unknown author)
musi c by: J . I ki - D. Pl ani nec - A. Si mi
I take i t you al ready know
Of though and bough and cough and doug h?
others may stumbl e, but not you
On hi ccough, thorough, rough and through.
Wel l done! And now you wi sh perhaps,
To l earn of l ess fami l i ar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That l ooks l i ke beard and sounds l i ke bi rd,
And dead: i t' s sai d l i ke bed, not bead.
For goodness sake don' t cal l it ' deed' !
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
(They rhyme wi th suite and strai ght and debt) .
A moth is not as ' moth' i n mother,
Nor ' both' i n bother, ' broth' i n brother.
And here i s not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there' s dose and rose and l ose -
Just l ook these up - and goose and choose.
And cork and work, and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go, and thwart and cart,
Come, come, I ' ve hardl y made a start!
A dreadful l anguage? Man al i ve,
I ' d mastered i t when I was fi ve!
APPENDI X
A DRADFUL LANGUAGE
5FOKEN.'ltke it you already kow. . .
(then Ml5lRONOULLdough etc.),

J
m0sc by:-F|nc-Sm
L
, _
- thers may stm-ble but not you on hic- cough tho -rough rough and though.

' f J .
.
]
L
.J JJ . -

J
|
Well 000c 00 now you wish per . haps to lear of less
,
l
,
l
,
l
,
l

Watch
8

They
d

A
d
.'
. .
out for
. .


meat


rhye with suite
-

-
moth is not
. .
i

J
nor 'both' tn bo - ther
LI. 'Adeadfl langage man alive . . . '
h
L

and gret
t)
L

and straight

.'

.
as 'moth'
U
!

.
'broth'
fa m li ar taps.

+

8d threat


8d debt.
J'
_
J
l
tn mO
- ther
=

J
g
|
tn bro . ther.
1 69
APPENDI X
Plosive
Nasal
TriH
Tap/Flap
Fricative
Approximant
Click
P b
H
1

e p
f v
L
{
Voiceless
Voiced
S
I
I PA Sounds
t d
D
I

b Z

J 3
!
t l
C J k g q G

I . .
D
H
r
j
x y
X l h I af
-
j
l
+

PIo sive
P bj kr gD
Fricative A

Approximant
q

IPA consonantal char (frm Jackson 1997)


Front
Hi gh
M
l
Y
Mi d-hi gh e
Mi d-l ow
IPA vo weIs (frm Jackson 1997)
1 70
Central Back

l I I
I Y U
0-- 61 o
a
E r-3e-A

r
B

O D
Rounded
Unrounded
APPENDI X
Abbrevi ati ons
ant. anteri or
ATR advanced tongue root
bck back
BGC bi tonal generative composi ti onal
C consonant
V vowel
cg constri cted gi otti s
cont. conti nuant
cor. coronal
CV cardi nal vowel
dB deci bel
del . rel . del ayed rel ease
0
fundamental frequency
GenAm General Ameri can
H hi gh tone
hi hi gh (feature)
Hz Hertz
I PA I nternati onal Phoneti c Al phabet
JPH exampl e from t he Pi errehumbert corpus
kHz ki l oHertz
L low tone
l ab. I abi ai
LPP l exi cal prosodi c pattern
MBP Maxi mal Bi narity Pri nci pl e
MOP Maxi mal Onset Pri nci pl e
MP Metri cal Phonol ogy
msec mi l l i second
OT Opti mal ity Theory
phar. pharyngeal
rnd round
RP Received Pronunci ati on
sg spread gi ottis
son. sonorant
SPE Sound Pattern of Engl i sh
SPP I ' Speech Producti on and Percepti on I '
SSG Sonori ty Sequenci ng General izati on
T tone
TBF tongue-body features
TBU tone-beari ng uni t
TSL Trisyl l abi c Laxi ng
V vowel
VaT voi ce onset ti me
1 71
APPENDI X
Suggested readi ngs
Cl ark, J . & C. Yal l op ( 1 990) , An Intrduction to Phonetics and Phonology.
Bl ackwel l .
Cruttenden, A. ( 1 994) , ed. , Gimson's Prnunciation of English, 5th ed. Edward Ar
nol d.
Gi egeri ch, H. J. ( 1 992) , English Phonology: An Intrduction. CUP.
Gussenhoven, C. & H. Jacobs ( 1 998) , Understanding Phonology. London - New
York - Si dney - Auckl and: Arnol d.
Jackson, M. T. T. ( 1 997) , ed. , Speech Prduction and Perception I. (CD) . Cam-
bri dge, MA: Sensi metri cs.
Katamba, F. ( 1 989) , An Intrduction to Phonology. Longman.
Kenstowi cz, M. ( 1 994) , Phonology in Generative Grammar. Bl ackwel l .
Ladd, D. R. ( 1 996) , Intonational Phonology. Longman .
Ladefoged, P. ( 1 982) , A Course in Phonetics. HBJ Publ i shers.
Maek, D. ( 1 999) , Engleski irm svieta. Zagreb: Artresor. forthcomi ng.
Spencer, A. ( 1 996) , Phonology. Bl ackwel l .
Reference l i terature:
Crystal , D. ( 1 990) , A Dictionar of Linguistics and Phonetics. Bl ackwel l .
Pul l um, GK & W. A. Ladusaw ( 1 986) , Phonetic Symbol Guide. The Uni versi try of
Chi cago Press.
Trask, R. L. ( 1 996) , A Dictionar of Phonetics and Phonology. Routl edge.
Wel l s, J. C. ( 1 990) , Prnunciation Dictionar. Longman.
References
Anderson, S. R. ( 1 985) , Phonol ogy i n the Twenti eth Century. The Uni versi ty of
Chi cago Press.
Bakran, J . ( 1 996) , Zvuna sl i ka hrvatskoga govora. I BI S grafi ka.
Chomsky, N. ( 1 957) , Syntacti c Structures. The Hague: Mouton & Co.
Chomsky, N. & M. Hal l e ( 1 968) , The Sound Pattern of Engl i sh. New York,
Evanston, and London: Harper & Row, Publ i shers.
Cohen, R. , J . Morgan, M. Pol l ock, eds. ( 1 990) , I ntenti ons i n communi cati on. Cam
bri dge: MI T Press.
Col eman , H. O. ( 1 9 1 4) , ' I ntonati on and emphasi s' . Mi scel l anea Phoneti ca I . Pari s
London: AI P, 6-26.
Gi mson, A. C. ( 1 980) , An I ntroducti on to the Pronunci ati on of Engl i sh. London:
Arnol d
1 72
APPENDI X
Gussenhoven, C. & H. Jacobs ( 1 998) , Understandi ng Phonol ogy. London - New
York - Si dney - Auckl and: Arnol d.
Hal l e, M. ( 1 992) , ' Phonol ogi cal features' l n : I nternati onal Encycl opedi a of Li ngui s
ti cs, Vol . 3, ed. W. Bri ght, 207-2 1 2.
Hobbs, J . R. ( 1 990) , ' The Pi errehumbert - Hi rschberg theory of i ntonati onal mean
i ng made si mpl e. ' l n . Cohen, R. et al . ( 1 990) , 31 3-323.
I nkel as, S. & D. Zec ( 1 988) , ' Serbo-Croati an pi tch accent: t he i nteracti on of tone,
stress, and i ntonati on. ' Language.
Katamba, F. ( 1 992) , An I ntroducti on to Phonol ogy. Longman.
Jackson, M. T. T. , ed. ( 1 997) , Speech Producti on and Percepti on I . Cambri dge,
MA: Sensi metri cs.
Josi povi , V. ( 1 993) , Suprasegmental ne osnove stranog akcenta: nesugl asje
prozodij ski h sustava hrvatskog i engl eskog jezi ka. Ph. D. thesi s. Uni versi ty
of Zagreb.
Kenstowi cz, M. ( 1 994) , Phonol ogy i n Generati ve Grammar. Bl ackwel l .
Li berman, M. & A. Pri nce ( 1 977) , ' On stress and l i ngui sti c rhythm. ' Li ngusti c I n
, 249-339.
Li berman , M. & I . Sag ( 1 974) , ' Prosodi c Form and Li ngui sti c Functi on. ' l n: Papers
from the 1 0th RMCLS, 41 6-427.
Maek, D. ( 1 999) , Engl eski i rom svij eta, forhcoming. Zagreb: Artresor.
Pal mer, H. E. ( 1 922) , Engl i sh I ntonati on wi th Systemati c Exerci ses. Cambri dge:
Hefer & Sons.
Pi errehumbert, J . B. ( 1 980) , The Phonol ogy and Phoneti cs of Engl i sh I ntonati on .
Ph. D. thesi s. MI T.
Pi errehumbert, J . B. & J . Hi rschberg ( 1 987) , The Meani ng of I ntonati on Contours
i n the I nterpretati on of Di scourse. AT&T Laboratori es Techni cal Memoran
dum.
Pri nce, A. & P. Smol ensky ( 1 993), Opti mal ity Theory: constrai nt i nteracti on i n gen
erati ve grammar. New Brunswi ck, NJ : Rutgers Uni versi ty.
Pul l um, G. K. ( 1 996) , Phoneti c Symbol Gui de. The Uni versi ty of Chi cago Press.
Szpyra, J. ( 1 995) , Three Ti ers i n Pol i sh and Engl i sh Phonol ogy. Lubl i n:
Wydawni ctwo Uni versytetu Mari i Curi e - Skl odowski ej .
Trubetzkoy, N. S. ( 1 939) , Grundzige der Phonol ogi e. Travoux du cercl e
l i ngui sti que de Prague 7.
Wel l s, J. C. ( 1 982) , Accents of Engl i sh. Voi l , I I , I I I . CUP.
1 73
APPENDI X
Anderson, S. R.
Bakran
Baudoui n de Courenay, J.
Bernoul l i , D.
Bol i nger, D.
Chomsky
Col eman, H. O.
Crystal , D.
de Saussure, F.
Gi mson, AC.
Gussenhoven, C.
Hal l e, M.
Hi rschberg, J.
Hobbs, J. R.
I nkel as, S.
Jackson, M. T. T.
Jacobs, H.
Jakobson, R.
Jones, D.
Josi povi , V.
Katamba, F.
Kenstowi cz, M.
Ki parsky, P.
Ladefoged, P.
Ladusaw, W. A.
Li berman, M.
Li ndsey, GA
Maek, D.
Marti net, A
Pal mer, H. E.
Pi ckett, J. M.
Pi errehumbert, J . B.
Pri nce, A
Pul l um, G. K.
Sag, I .
Smol ensky, P.
Szpyra, J.
Trubetzkoy, N.
Ward, G.
Wel l s, J. C.
Zec, D.
1 74
Name I ndex
page
30
81
26
21
1 37-1 41
89
1 39
1 32
9, 30, 90
81
91 , 1 1 5
89, 90, 1 03
1 41 - 1 43, 1 49
1 49- 1 52
1 21
79
91 , 1 1 5
30-90
38
1 33, 1 54
30
91 , 1 03
1 09
79, 1 41
56
1 41 , 1 56
1 37
33, 47
1 0, 1 41
1 37
84
1 36, 1 38, 1 41 - 1 56
1 59
56
1 40
1 59
1 09
28, 30
1 49
33, 43, 55, 66, 67
1 21
Amhari c
Arabi c
Austral i an Engl i sh
Azerbaij ani
Bal ti c l anguages
Bengal i
Bri ti sh Col umbi an French
Burmese
Bushman l anguages
Canadi an Engl i sh
Chi nese
Cl assi cal Greek
Cockney
Czech
Dal mati an di al ects
Desano
Dubrovni k accent
Dutch
Eski mo
Ewe
Fi nni sh
French
Geordi e
German
Hawai i an
Hi ndi
Hungari an
I gbo
I ri sh Engl i sh
I tal i an
Japanese
Je-pe-zi -pi k
Kajkavi an di al ects
Mandari n Chi nese
Neo-

tokavi an
New Zeal and Engl i sh
Persi an
Pi g Lati n
Pol i sh
Language I ndex
54
page
52
44, 52, 1 02, 1 07, 1 1 7
54
44
1 29, 1 34
1 38
44
29, 44
52
54
74
27
21 , 33, 60
44
1 1 7
1 02
40
1 38
52
56
40
22, 40, 1 02, 1 27
40, 54
22, 28, 40, 41 , 56, 1 1 7, 1 38
1 1 5
29
56
52
53
47, 59
27, 56, 75, 1 20, 1 23, 1 34, 1 38
1 25
29
40
1 2 1
54
44
1 25
56, 1 27
APPENDI X
Thi s l i st also i ncl udes various varieties of i ndivi dual l anguages, as wel l as l udl i ngs. RP, GenAm
and Standard Croatian are not i ncl uded, as they are conti nuousl y di scussed throughout the book.
1 75
APPENDI X
Portuguese 55
Quechua 52
Scotti sh Engl i sh 22, 53
Scouse 1 30
Semiti c l anguages 1 07
Si ndhi 52
Sl avoni c l anguages 75
Sl ovene 44
South Afri can Engl i sh 54
Spani sh 44, 56, 63, 1 33
Swahi l i 44
Swedi sh 40, 75
Thai 1 1 5
Tri ni dad Engl i sh 54
Ul ster Engl i sh 54, 1 30
Vi etnamese 52
Welsh Engl i sh 55
West Country Engl i sh 55
Xhosa 52
Zul u 52
Subject I ndex
accent, 33, 1 26
accentual phrase, 1 31
acousti c phonetics, 1 0
Adam' s appl e, 22
afri cate, 35
al l ophone, 26, 56-60
al veol ar ri dge, 23
ambi syl l abi city, 1 1 6
Ameri can School of i ntonol ogy, 1 36-1 39
antepenul ti mate stress, 1 1 0
anteri or, 94
aphasi a, 1 5
appendi x, 1 1 5
approxi mant, 38, 83
arch, 58
area of tol erance, 27
arti cul ator features, 91
1 76
page
arytenoi d carti l age, 20
arti cul atory phonetics, 1 0
aspi rati on, 57, 1 1 0, 1 29- 1 30
assi mi l ati on, 64, 1 04
asteri sk, 1 60
autosegmental phonol ogy, 1 03, 1 07
auditory phoneti cs, 1 0
back, 92
back of the tongue, 23
Bernoul l i efect, 21
bi narity, 30
bl ade of t he tongue, 23
BGC model of i ntonati on, 1 36, 1 38-1 56
bi l abi al , 34
bi tonal , 1 38-1 56
bl eedi ng, 99
boundary tone, 1 43-1 56
branchi ng, 1 1 4
bri dge, 35
Bri ti sh School of i ntonol ogy, 1 36-1 39
broad transcri pti on, 1 4
bul l ' s eye, 52
cal l i ng contour, 1 41
cardi nal vowel scal e, 38-41
cedi l l a, 56
central vowel , 40
centri ng di phthong, 46
' cl ear' lll, 37, 97
cl i ck, 52, 93
cl i ni cal phonol ogy, 1 5
cl i ti c, 1 31
cl ose vowel , 39
cl osed syl l abl e, 1 1 8
cl osi ng di phthong, 46
coal escence, 65
cochl ea, 1 7
coda, 1 1 5
competence, 9
compl ementary di stri buti on, 26
composi ti onal approach, 1 39-1 42
compressi on, 67
connected speech, 61 -67
consonantal , 91
constrai nt, 1 59
constri cted gi otti s, 94
conti nuant, 93
APPENDI X
1 77
APPENDI X
contradi ctory contour, 1 40
contrast, 27
' core' syl l abl e, 1 1 5
corner, 58
coronal , 23, 92, 1 1 5
Croati an Stress Rul e, 1 22
crown, 23
curl y brackets, 97
CV- ' ti er' , 1 08
' dark' lll, 37, 97
deci bel , 76
degenerate foot, 1 28
del ayed rel ease, 94
Dep- I O, 1 60
derivati on, 1 59
descri ptive approach, 9
di acriti c, 57-60
di phthong, 46, 81
disti nctive feture, 29, 90-97
di stri buted, 94
dorsal , 92
dorsum, 23
doubl e ari cul ati on, 1 0
Downstep, 1 46
egressi ve ai rstream, 1 8
ejective, 51 -52
el i si on, 65
envi ronmental bar, 97
epenthesi s, 98, 1 09
epi gl otti s, 22
eurhythmi cal l anguage, 63
Faithful ness, 1 60
fal l i ng accents, 1 52
fal l i ng di phthong, 47
feature geometry, 1 03
feedi ng, 1 00
Fi nal Tensi ng, 1 3 1
fi sh hook r , 54
fixed stress, 1 27
fl ap, 54
Fl appi ng, 54, 1 1 0, 1 29- 1 30, 1 34
fl oati ng tone, 1 44
foot, 1 28
foot-based rhyt hm, 1 34
forensi c phonetics, 1 5
formant, 78
1 78
free stress, 1 27
free vari ati on, 27
fricati ve, 37
fricti on l ess conti nuant, 38
front vowel , 40
fundamental frequency, 72-75
forensi c phoneti cs, 1 5
formant, 78-85
front of the tongue, 23
generative phonol ogy, 89- 1 1 1
gl i de, 37
gi ottal stop, 21 , 60, 94, 1 04- 1 05, 1 07
gl ottal i c sounds, 51
gi otti s, 20
grammati cal words, 62
guttural , 52
half-cl ose, 39
half-open, 39
half-ri ng, 59
hard pal ate, 23
harmoni c, 77
head, 1 37
heavy syl l abl e, 1 1 9
hi gh, 92
hol i sti c approach, 1 39- 1 42
homorgani c, 51
hypocori sti c formati on, 1 23-1 24
I dent( F) , 1 60
i mpl ementati on rul e, 1 46
i mpl osi ve, 51 -52
i ntensity, 76
i ntermedi ate phrase, 1 45
I nternati onal Phoneti c Al phabet, 1 4
i nterpol ati on rul es, 1 46
i ntonati on, 1 35
i ntonati on l anguage, 74
i ntonati on phrase, 1 1 31
i ntonati onal morpheme, 1 39-1 42
i ntonol ogy, 1 35
i ntrusi ve IrI, 66
i sochrony, 1 32
Je-pe-zi -pi k, 1 25- 1 26
j uncture phenomena, 66
I abi ai , 92
l angue, 9
l aryngeal features, 94
APPENDI X
1 79
APPENDI X
l arynx, 20
lateral , 36, 94
l ax, 43, 93
l exi cal prosodi c pattern, 1 52
l exi cal phonol ogy, 1 09
l exi cal rul e, 1 1 0
l exi cal word, 62
l exi con, 1 09
l i ai son, 65
l i ght syl l abl e, 1 1 9
l i nki ng IrI, 65
l ong fal l i ng accent, 1 20- 1 24
long ri si ng accent, 1 20-1 24
l oudness, 75-77
l ow, 92
l udl i ng, 1 24
l -vel ari sati on, 37, 93
mai nstream RP, 33
major-class features, 91 , 1 03-1 04
manner features, 93
manner of ari cul ati on, 34
markedness, 40
Maxi mal Onset Pri nci pl e, 1 1 8
Maxi mal Bi narity Pri nci pl e, 1 28
MAX- I O, 1 60
mel odi c ti er, 1 01
meta-features, 1 04
metri cal phonol ogy, 1 26, 1 28
mi ni mal pai r, 28
mora, 1 20-1 24
mora-based rhythm, 1 34
multi-ti ered phonol ogy, 1 00
narrow-band spectrogram, 78
narrow transcri pti on, 1 4
nasal , 36, 93
Neo-

tokavi an Accent Shift, 1 2 1


neutral i sation, 28
newscasterese cl i max, 1 32
non-l i near phonol ogy, 1 00-1 09
non-pul moni c, 51
non-rhoti c, 1 02
Northumbri an burr, 55
nucl eus, 1 01 , 1 1 4, 1 37
obstruent, 91
oesophagus, 1 9
onset, 1 01 - 1 03, 1 1 7- 1 1 8
1 80
open syl l abl e, 1 1 8
open vowel , 39
opposi ti on, 28
opti mal , 1 59
Opti mal ity Theory, 1 59
oral cavity, 22
overtone, 77
pal atal , 34
pal ato-al veol ar, 34
parol e, 9
penul ti mate stress, 1 1 0
performance, 9
perspectrogram, 84
pharynx, 22
phonati on, 20, 91
phoneme, 25-30
phonol ogi cal phrase, 1 31
phonol ogi cal word, 1 30
phonotacti c restricti on, 1 02, 1 1 4
phrase accent, 1 43-1 56
Pi g Lati n, 1 25
pi tch accent, 1 43-1 56
pi tch-accent l anguage, 74
pitch track, 73-74
pl ace of arti cul ati on, 34, 92
pl osi ve, 35
postl exi cal rul es, 1 1 0
Post-Nasal Del eti on, 1 1 0
Post-SPE phonol ogy, 1 00-1 1 , 1 59
Prague School , 30
prefx, 1 50
prescri ptive approach, 9
pri mary cardi nal vowel s, 40
prosodi c features, 1 1 3
prosody, 1 1 3
pseudoformant, 80
pul moni c ai rstream, 1 8
pure vowel s, 41 , 95-97
quadrangul ar vocal i c system, 44
range of performance, 27
' ra-ta-ta-ta-tat' l anguage, 1 32
readj ustment rul e, 1 46
Received Pronunci ati on, 22, 33
redundant, 29
Regul ar Pl ural Rul e, 1 2, 98- 1 00, 1 1 4
retrofi ex, 55
APPENDI X
1 81
APPENDI X
rhotics, 53-55
rhyme, 1 01 - 1 03
rhyt hm, 1 32
Rhythmi c Reversal Rul e, 1 31
ri si ng accents, 1 53
ri si ng di phthongs, 47
root-and-pattern morphol ogy, 1 07, 1 24
root of the tongue, 22
round, 93
' rumpty-tumpty' l anguage, 1 32
sal i ence, 1 49
secondary cardi nal vowel s, 40
shor fal l i ng accent, 1 2 1
short ri si ng accent, 1 21
si bi l ant, 1 60
skel etal ti er, 1 01 , 1 07-1 08
skel eton , 1 07- 1 08
smoothi ng, 66
sof pal ate, 22
sonorant, 91
Sonority Sequenci ng General izati on, 1 1 8
spectrum, 76
spectrogram, 77-85
spectrograph, 77
speech pathol ogy, 1 5
SPE phonol ogy, 90- 1 00
Speech Stati on2, 72, 73, 84
speech synthesi s, 1 5
spread giotti s, 94-95
stress1 26
stress-based, 1 33-1 34
stress-ti med, 1 32
stri dent, 93
strong i sochrony hypothesi s, 1 33
structural change, 97
structural descri ption, 97
structure preservati on, 1 1 1
subgi ottal pressure, 20
substituti on, 28
sufx, 1 50
supragl ottal pressure, 20
suprasegmental features, 1 1 3
syl l abi c ti er, 1 01
syl l abl e, 1 01 - 1 03, 1 1 3- 1 26
syl l abl e-based, 1 33-1 34
syl l able-ti med, 1 32
1 82
tai l , 1 37
tap, 54
Tappi ng, 1 1 0, 1 29-1 30
templ ate, 1 07-1 08, 1 23-1 26
tense, 43, 93
ti l de, 37, 59
tone l anguage, 74
tongue-body features, 92
trachea, 1 9
tree representati on, 1 01
tri l l , 54
tri angul ar vocal system, 44
tri phthong, 47
Trisyl l abi c Laxi ng, 1 1 0
underdot, 59
underri ng, 37, 59
underspecificati on, 91
unmarkedness, 1 60
unspecifi abl e, 91
Upstep, 1 45, 1 46
utterance, 1 32
uvul a, 22
uvul ar rhoti c, 55
underspecificati on, 91
vel ar sucti on, 93
vel ari c ai rstream, 52
vel um, 22
vocal fol ds, 20
voi ce onset ti me, 57
voi ce print, 85
voi ci ng, 34, 94
voi ci ng ri ppi e, 83
vowel , 38-47, 95-97
vowel reducti on, 1 08-1 09
waterfal l spectrogram, 84
waveform, 72
weak i sochrony hypothesi s, 1 33
weakeni ng, 62-63. 1 07- 1 08
wi de-band spectrogram, 78
X-sl ot, 1 08
APPENDI X
1 83

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