•Strong

English syllables
Pronunciation
•Weak
syllables
 baiSER

gaLLEta GUAgua

This is also
true of
many other
languages
 It is
necessary How these
weak sylables
are
pronounced

Where they
occur in
English
 Which is very
important in
Stress deciding wheter
a syllable is
strong or weak
 Elision

Intonation
 We find the
vowel in a weak
“data”
syllable tends to
be shorter, of /deΙtƏ/
Syllable lower intensity
Consonant

The weak
syllable contains “bottle” /bɒtl/
no vowel at all
Stress
Strong
syllables are
stressed

Weak
syllables are
unstressed
The vowel Ə
(“schwa”)

A close front unrounded

vowel in the general area of
i:, I, symbolised i

A close back rounded vowel

inthe general area of
u:, Ʊ, symbolised u
 happy /betƏ/
 Better /hæpi/
 thank you /Ɵæɳk ju/
 Open /ƏƱpƏn/
 Sharpen /ʃɒ:pƏn/
 “photograph” /fƏƱtƏgrɒ:f/
 “radio” /reIdiƏƱ/
 “influence” /InfluƏns/
 “architect” /a:kItekt/
 PHONOLOGY

TAMARA CABRERA
GENNY NAZARENO
VANESSA SISALEMA

4th «B»
THE VOWEL
(“ SCHWA”)
 The most
frequently
occurring vowel
in English

It is generally
Is always described as
associated lax-that is, not
whit weak articulated
syllables with much
energy
 Examples

- halfway
- between
- close
- open

Note.- Not all weak syllables contain

ə, though many do.
 Learners of English need to
learn where ə is appropriate
and where it is not

We have to use
information that We must consider
traditional phonemic spelling
theory.
 Spelt with “ a”; strong
pronunciation would
have æ
“ attend” /ətend/
“ barracks” /bærəks/
“ character” /kærətə/
Spelt with «ar»; strong
pronunciation would have
ɑ:
“pɑrticular” /pətɪkjələ /
“monɑrchy” /mɒnəki /
“molɑr” /məʊlə /
Adjectives endings spelt
“ ate”; strong
pronunciation would
have eɪ
“ intimɑte” /ɪntɪmət/
“accurɑte” /ækjərət/
“desolɑte” /desələt/ (although
there are exceptions to this:
“private” is usually /praɪvɪt/)
Spelt with “o”; strong
pronunciation would have
ɒ or əʊ
“tomorrow” /təmɒrəʊ/
“potato” /pəteɪtəʊ/
“carrot” /kærət/
Spelt with “or”;
strong pronunciation
would have ɔ:
“forget” /fəget/
“ambassador” /æmbæsədə/
“opportunity” /
ɒpətʃu:nəti/
“settlement” /setəlmənt /

“violet” /vaɪələt/

“postment” /pəʊstmən/
 Spelt with “er”, strong
pronunciation would have ɜ:
 “perhaps” /pəhæps/
 “stronger” /strɒŋgə/

 “superman” /su:pəmæn/
 Spelt
with “u”; strong
pronunciation would have ʌ
 “autumn” /ɔ:təm/
 “support” / səpɔ:t/

 “halibut” /hælɪbət/
 Spelt with “ough” ( there are
many pronunciations for the
letter- sequence “ough”)
 “thorough” /θʌrə/
 “borough” /bʌrə/
 Spelt
with “ou”; strong
pronunciation might have ɑʊ
 “gracious” /greɪʃəs/
“ callous” /kæləs/
 One close front

Weak syllables:

They are equal

Other close back

rounded
 Strong syllables:

Easy to
distinguish

FOR FOR
Example:

“beat” [bi:t]
We can
distinguis
“bit” [bIt] h sounds
“easy” [i:zI]
We can´t
distinguis
“busy” [bIzi:] h sounds
 Vowels in Questions:

They sound like [i:] and

[u:] when they precede
another vowel.
 For BBC
pronunciation:
Within strong syllables sound
[i:] is NEUTRALIZED in
weak syllables.
 Possibilities, using
our symbols:
“easy” “busy”

[i:zi: [bIzi:]
]
[i:zI] [bIzI]
We find i occuring:
 Words in the final
position “y” or “ey”
after one or more
consont letter.

<happy> [hᴂpi]
<valley> [vᴂli]
 In morpheme-final position
when such words have
suffixes beginning with
vowels.

<happier> [hᴂpiə]
<easier> [i:ziə]
 In the prefix such as those
spelt „re‟, „pre‟, „de‟; if it
precedes a vowel and is
untressed.

<react> [riᴂkt]
<create> [krieit]
<deodorant> [diə dərənt]
 In the suffixes :„iate‟, „ious‟,
when they have two
syllables

<appreciate> [əpri:ʃieI t]
<hilarious> [hileəriəs]
In the following words
when unstressed:
„he‟, „she‟, „we‟, „me‟, „be‟
and the word „the‟ when it
precedes a vowel.
 With [i] the sound is short
close front unrounded
vowel.

<enough> [Inᴧf]
In weak syllables we found
[u:].
„you‟, „to‟, „into‟, „do‟

When they are untressed

are not immediatly
preciding a consonant,
„through‟ [θru:]
 This vowel is also found
before another vowel
withing a word.

<evacuation>[ivᴂkjueiʃṇ]
<influenza> [influenzə]
Syllabic l
 Small vertical
l stands as the mark (,) to
Syllables in
peak of the
which no indicate that a
syllable instead
vowel is found. consonant is
of the vowel.
syllabic.
 If the preceding consonant is alveolar , the articulatory movement
from the preceding consonant to the syllabic l is quite simple.

 with alveolar consonant preceding:

„cattle‟ kæt l̥
„bottle‟ b ɒ t l̥
„wrestle‟ rɛs l̥
„muddle‟ m ʌ d l̥
 letters
followed
 le

 with non-alveolar consonant preceding:

„couple‟ k ʌp l̥
„struggle‟ strʌg l̥
„trouble‟ trʌb l̥
„knuckle‟ nʌk l̥
 words usually lose their final letter „e‟
when s suffix beginning with a vowel is
attached ,but the l usually remains
syllabic.

 „bottle‟ - „bottling‟
bɑt l̥ - bɑt l̥ ɪ ŋ
 „muddle‟ – „muddling‟
m ʌ d l̥ - m ʌ d l̥ ɪ ŋ
 „struggle‟ – struggling
strʌg l̥ - strʌg l̥ ɪ ŋ
 „coddling‟(derive Show a contrast
d from the verb between syllabic
„coddle‟) and non- syllabic
Don‟t have the l:
syllabic l „codling‟(meanin „coddling‟ kɒdl̥ɪŋ
g “small
cod", derived by „codling‟ kɒdlɪŋ
adding the suffix
„ling‟ to „cod‟.
 syllabic words spelt, at the end , with
one or more consonants letters
followed by „al‟ or „el‟.

„panel‟ p æ n l̥
„petal‟ pet l̥
„kernel‟ k ɜ ː nl̥
„pedal‟ ped l̥
„parcel‟ p ɑ ːsl̥
„Babel‟ be ɪ b l̥
„papal‟ pe ɪ p l̥
„ducal‟ djuːkl̥
 • A close back rounded vowel
BBC ACCENT instead (e.g. 'bottle‟ bɒtu)
 it is not obligatory to
pronounce syllabic
l, əl may used instead:
„missal‟ or m ɪ s ə l

note!
Therefore
 In many accents of the type called “rhotic”
 In american accents, the syllabic r is very common .
 Examples : the word “particular”
 Americans
 BBC pronunciation
 Future
 Teacher
 Never
 It isn t unusual to find two syllabic consonants
together.
 Examples:
 National
 Literal
 Visionary
 Veteran
 In BBC the “schwa” vowel is very very weak.
 This about preliminary notions without a full
explanation.
 Familiar with the differences between stressed and
unstressed and nature of the “schwa”
 In the same way with “i” , ”u”
 Logman pronunciation
dictionary
 The cambrige english
pronouncing dictionary
Introduction of the “schwa” vowel has been
deliberaty delayed until this chapter, since the
author wanted it to be presented in the context
of weak syllables in general. Since students
sould by now be comporatively well informed
about basic segmental phonetics, it is very
important that their production and recognition
of this vowel should be good before moving on
to the following chapters.
 This chapter is in a sense a crucial point in the
course. Although the segmental material of the
preceding chapters is important as a foundation, the
strog/weak syllable distinction and the overall
prosodic characteristics of words and sentences are
essential to intelligibility. Most of the remaining
chapterss of the course are corcened with such
matters.
 The following sentences have been partially trancribed, but
the vowels have been left blanj. Fill in the vowels, takig care
to identify wich vowels are weak; put no vowel at all if you
think a syllabic consonant is appropiate, but put a syllabic
mark beneath the syllabic consonant.