Lecture 1

1. What are sound waves?

Variations of air pressure traveling across the space.

2. What is a waveform?
A waveform is an image that represents an audio signal or recording. It shows the changes
in amplitude over a certain amount of time. The amplitude of the signal is measured on the
y-axis (vertically), while time is measured on the x-axis (horizontally).

3. How do vowels differ from consonants in a waveform?

Vowels have greater amplitude (vertical axis of waveform).

4. What are the main physiological processes which are critically involved in speech
production?
1) The airstream process
2) The phonation process
3) The oro-nasal process
4) The articulatory process

5. What does the term egressive pulmonic airstream refer to?

A stream of air created in the lungs and pushed out through the mouth or nose
(egressive=going out ☺).

6. What is phonation?
The sound made by the vibration of vocal folds modified by the resonance of the vocal tract.

7. What are (a) larynx, (b) vocal cords, (c) glottis?

(a) A rigid structure at the top of the trachea; contains vocal cords.
(b) Two folds of tissue stretched horizontally across the larynx. When drawn together, they
vibrate when air passes over them, producing the sound waves. When spread apart, the
air flows between them freely, no sound is produced.
(c) An organ of speech, located in the larynx, and consisting of the true vocal cords and
the opening between them.
8. Describe vocal cords (or vocal folds) and explain their function.
Two folds of tissue stretched horizontally across the larynx. When drawn together, they
vibrate when air passes over them, producing the sound waves. When spread apart, the air
flows between them freely, no sound is produced.

9. What is the velic closure?

The velum (soft palate) is raised against the back wall of the pharynx, preventing the
airflow to go out through nose.

10. Make sure that you can label a diagram of the vocal tract (e.g. the diagram on p.
24 in Ladefoged).

No less than all labels we

need to keep in mind ;)

11. Phoneticians differentiate active (movable) articulators and passive articulators

(stationary targets). What are they?
Active: tongue, lower lip
Passive: upper lip, upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, velum, uvula

12. Phoneticians differentiate six parts of the tongue. What are they?
tip, blade, front, center, back, root

13. Phoneticians and phonologists differentiate three different types of consonants

according to the active articulator engaged in their production. What are they?
1)labial (lower lip), 2)coronal (tongue tip or blade), 3)dorsal (back of the tongue)
14. What are coronal articulations?
dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, retroflex

15. List all labial consonants in English and in Czech/Slovak.

/m, v, f, ɱ, w/

16. List all coronal consonants in English and in Czech/Slovak.

/s, z, ‫ׯ‬, ᾩ, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ, n, ɲ, t, d, ɟ, r, r̝, l/ (/s, z, ‫ׯ‬, ᾩ, š, ž, č, dž, n, ň, t, d, ď, r, ř, l/)

17. List all dorsal consonants in English and in Czech/Slovak.

/k, g, j, w, Ѫ, ֊/

18. What type of sound is produced when the glottis is closed and the vocal cords are
vibrating?
Voiced

19. What type of sound is produced when the glottis is open and the vocal cords are
spread?
Voiceless

20. What type of sound is produced when the velum is lowered?

Nasal

21. What type of sound is produced when the sides of the tongue are lowered?
Lateral

22. What is special about articulation of affricates?

There’s a combination of a stop immediately followed by a fricative - [ tʃ , dʒ ].

23. How is articulation of a flap (tap) different from articulation of a stop?

Flap (tap) [‫ ]ש‬is only a very brief interruption of the airflow, with no pressure built up and
therefore no burst (unlike /t , d/).
24. Why are sounds [w, j, ɹ] called approximants?
Tongue approaches (approximates ☺) the passive articulators, but doesn’t get close enough
to create a friction.

25. Why is /l/ described as a lateral sound?

There’s an incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the
mouth, the air flows out freely along the sides.

26. /l/ is classified as an approximant. Its articulation however is different from

other approximants. In what respect?
There’s a complete closure between the tongue and the alveolar ridge. The airflow goes out
along the sides of the tongue.

27. How is the articulation of voiceless sounds different from the articulation of
voiced sounds?
Voiced: vocal cords are drawn together and vibrate.
Voiceless: vocal cords are apart, air flows through the open glottis freely.

28. How is the articulation of stops different from the articulation of fricatives?
Stops involve a complete closure between the active articulators and the target. The air
cannot escape and a pressure is built up.
Fricatives – only close approximation of the articulators, the airflow remains undisrupted.

29. How is the articulation of oral stops different from the articulation of nasal
stops?
Oral stops: in addition to the articulatory closure in the mouth, the velum is raised so the
nasal tract is blocked off.
Nasal stops: the velum is lowered, so the air can go out through nose.
Lecture 2
1. What does it mean to say that in production of vowels the vocal tract acts as a
resonating tube (a set of resonating tubes)?
When pronouncing vowels, the vocal tract is open, without a closure or narrowing. The air
flows freely through the vocal tract and makes it resonate.

2. What is the fundamental frequency (pitch or glottal tone) and what is a resonating
frequency?
F. frequency: (F0) frequency of vocal cords’ vibration while voicing (states [in Hz] how many
times per second vocal cords open and close). It determines pitch.
R. frequency: frequency in pharyngeal cavity (throat) (F1) and oral cavity (mouth) (F2).

3. What are the resonating tubes that participate in generating vowels?

oral, nasal, and pharyngeal cavity

4. How do phoneticians define vowel space? (in articulatory terms)

It is the area of the oral cavity within which the tongue can move without creating a friction.

5. What is the difference between peripheral and non-peripheral vowels?

Peripheral vowels are more distinct from one another than vowels in the middle. They are
distributed along the edges of the vowel space, and are thus more tense.

6. Who was Daniel Jones?

A phonetician who fixed reference points for the phonetic description of a vowel quality - He
defined Cardinal vowels.

7. What are cardinal vowels? How many primary cardinal vowels are there? Explain
in prose.
It is a set of 8 reference vowels defined by Daniel Jones. Vowels of any language can be
described by stating their relationship to the cardinal vowels - they are a set of reference
points used in describing the sounds of languages. A cardinal vowel is a vowel produced
when the tongue is in extreme position: front or back, high or low. C.V. are not vowels of a
particular language (they don’t even correspond with any), they are an idealized set. They
are extreme points of vocalic articulation - all peripheral vowels.
 Cardinal vowels
primary secondary

8. What are secondary cardinal vowels? Explain in prose.

The second set of cardinal vowels differs from the first one in having the opposite setting for
lip rounding.

9. Which of the cardinal vowels are most reliably defined in articulatory terms? How
are they defined?
Three of the C.V.: [i], [ɑ] and [u] have articulatory definitions.
[i] is produced with the tongue as far in front and as high in mouth as possible (no friction),
with spread lips (unrounded).
[ɑ] is produced with the tongue as far back and as low in mouth as possible, with spread lips
(unrounded).
[u] is produced with the tongue as far back and as high in mouth as possible, with pursed
lips (rounded).

10. Consonants are described in terms of place of articulation, manner of articulation,

voicing and nasality. English vowels are described with a reference to four different
phonetic dimensions. So far we discussed three of them. What are they?
Position of the highest point of the tongue determines vowel height (high -- low) and vowel
backness (front -- back). Position of lips determines vowel roundedness (rounded/unrounded).

11. How many levels of vowel height do we differentiate in English? How many levels
of vowel height do we differentiate in Czech?
Four in English, three in Czech.

12. Ladefoged uses the terms high, mid high, mid low and low to differentiate degrees
of vowel height in English. What corresponding terms are used by Gimson?
close, mid-close, mid-open, open
13. What is a waveform?
A waveform is an image that represents an audio signal or recording. It shows the changes in
amplitude over a certain amount of time. The amplitude of the signal is measured on the y-
axis (vertically), while time is measured on the x-axis (horizontally).

14. What is a spectrogram?

Two-dimensional visual representation of sound, horizontal and vertical axes correspond to
time and frequency; amplitude is indicated only approximately by intensity (darkness) of color.

15. What are formants?

Distinguishing frequency components of human speech. Technically, the basic frequencies
of the vibrations of the air in the vocal tract.

16. Can two different vowels be pronounced with the same fundamental frequency (i.e.
pitch or glottal tone)?
Yes. O:)

17. Can two different vowels have the same formant structure (same F1 and F2)?
Yes - F1 corresponds to vowel height, F2 to vowel backness. Such vowels can still differ in
roundedness.

18. Make sure that you can differentiate spectrographic representation of vowels /i, ɑ,
u/. You will see a spectrogram of the three vowels and you will have to decide which
one is which.
See lecture 7 answers ;)
Lecture 3
1. How is the articulation of obstruents different from the articulation of sonorants?
Obstruents: (stops, fricatives, affricates) - sound formed by obstructing outward airflow
causing increased air pressure in the vocal tract
Sonorants: (approximants, nasal consonants, taps, trills) - sound that is produced
without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract. Pronounced continuously, at the
same pitch.

2. What is sonority scale (sonority hierarchy)?

Ranking of speech sounds (or phones) by amplitude
In English, the sonority scale, from lowest to highest, is the following:
([p t k] [b d g] [f θ] [v ð z] [s] [m n] [l] [r] [i u] [e o] [a])

3. Which types of consonants are obstruents and which are sonorants?

Obstruents: stops, fricatives, affricates
Sonorants: approximants, nasal consonants, taps, trills

4. In the Czech word “prst” The syllabic peak is the consonant /r/. Why is it /r/,
which is syllabic and not /s/? (Think about sonority.)
/r/ is higher than /s/ in the sonority scale

5. Arrange the sounds in the brackets on a scale according to the degree of

sonority (e.g. i z d ɹ ɑ n).
/ɑ, ɪ, ɹ, n, z, d/

6. Arrange the sound classes in the brackets on a scale according to the degree
of sonority (fricatives, nasals, low vowels, stops, glides, high vowels).
7. What do we mean when we say that phonemes have a contrastive value or
that they contrast?
They can distinguish the meaning.

8. What are allophones?

Acoustically different realizations of one and the same phoneme

9. What do we mean when we say that allophones of a phoneme are in

complementary distribution?
One element is found in a particular environment and the other element is found in the
opposite environment.

10. What do we mean when we say that the English phoneme /l/ has several
allophones?
English has one lateral phoneme: the lateral approximant /l/, which in many accents has
two allophones. One, found before vowels as in ‘lady’ or ‘fly’, is called clear l, pronounced
as the alveolar lateral approximant [l] with a "neutral" position of the body of the tongue.
The other variant, so-called dark l found before consonants or word-finally, as in ‘bold’ or
‘tell’, is pronounced as the velarized alveolar lateral approximant [ɫ] with the tongue
assuming a spoon-like shape with its back part raised, which gives the sound a [w]- or
[ʟ]-like resonance.

11. In English, are the sounds [n] and [ŋ] two distinct phonemes or are they
allophones of the same phoneme? Explain your reasoning.
They are allophones – they don’t contrast the meaning.

12. In English, are the sounds [t] and [tʰ] two distinct phonemes or are they
allophones of the same phoneme? Explain your reasoning.
They are allophones – they don’t contrast the meaning.

13. Phoneticians use two types of transcriptions to capture sound. What are they
called? How do they differ? When are they used?
Broad transcription indicates only the more noticeable phonetic features of an utterance.
Narrow transcription encodes more information about the phonetic variations of the
specific allophones in the utterance.
14. Change the narrow transcription of the word X into a broad transcription
and write the word in normal orthography
e.g. [pʰiɫ̩], [tᶴɹæp]=> [pil], [tɹæp] – peel, trap

15. Change the broad transcription of the word X into a narrow transcription
and write the word in normal orthography
e.g. [pil], [tɹæp] => [pʰiɫ̩], [tᶴɹæp] – peel, trap

16. Using appropriate terms, describe the underlined sound and transcribe it
with an IPA symbol. (e.g. cook, soon, Ruth, those, you, day).
practical

17. Write the IPA symbol which corresponds to the following phonetic
description and give an English word that contains the sound and underline it
(e.g. voiced dental fricative, tense high back vowel, etc.).
practical

18. Transcribe words X, Y, Z in broad IPA (e.g. hunger, cranberries, piano,

although). State whether you are attempting to transcribe RP or GA.
practical

19. Transcribe words once in the broad and once in the narrow transcription.
Consider only RP.
e.g. health /hɛlθ/ [hɛlo̪θ]

20. For each group of sounds X state the phonetic feature or features which they
all share and which make them different from all the other sounds in English.
(X = [b, p, m] bilabial; X = [s, z, ʃ, ʒ] fricative, X = [i, ɪ, ɛ, æ] vowels, etc.)

21. Which vowel does the IPA symbol [ə] stand for?
The mid central unrounded vowel
22. What does placing the symbol ̃ above the vowel indicate in the narrow
transcription?
Nasalized

23. What does placing the symbol ̥ under a consonant indicate in the narrow
transcription?
Voiceless

24. What does placing the symbol ̴ across an /l/ indicate in the narrow
transcription?
Velarized or pharyngealized

25. What does placing a raised ʰ after a consonant indicate in the narrow
transcription?
Aspirated

26. What does the symbol ɾ stand for in the narrow transcription?
Alveolar tap/flap

27. What does the symbol ʔ stand for in the narrow transcription?
Glottal stop

28. What does the symbol ʍ stand for in the narrow transcription?
Voiceless labial-velar fricative

29. What does the symbol ɦ stand for in the narrow transcription?
voiced glottal fricative (In English, it is an allophone of voiceless /h/
e.g. in „behind“ /bɪɦaind/)

30. What does the symbol ɱ stand for in the narrow transcription?
Labiodental nasal (In English, it's an allophone of /m/ in e.g. “comfort” [ˈkʌɱfət], it occurs
before labiodentals fricatives /f, v/)
31. What does the symbol ɻ stand for in the narrow transcription?
Retroflex approximant

32. What do the IPA symbols [ɜ˞] and [ə˞] stand for?
R-colored / Rhoticized vowel
Lecture 4
1. Articulation of stop consonants is said to involve three phases. What are they?
1) Catch: The airway closes so that no air can escape through
the mouth. With nasal stops, the air escapes through the nose.
2) Hold or occlusion: The airway stays closed, causing a
pressure difference to build up.
3) Release or burst: The closure is opened. In the case of
plosives, the released airflow produces a sudden impulse causing an audible sound

2. Which of the three phases of stop articulation is often not realized in English?
The third phase – release (usually the first in a cluster of plosives is unreleased) e.g. “apt” [æp̚t]

3. What types of stop release are possible in English? Name four.

1) Aspirated release e.g. “test” [t
]
2) Nasal release e.g. “hidden” [d]*
3) Lateral release e.g. “middle” [dˡ]*
4) Affricated release e.g. “tree” [tᶴ]*
*an IPA diacritic symbol for the phenomenon, standardly not used in transcription of English sounds

4. What is a nasal release (nasal plosion)? Give an example of a word in which a

stop can have a nasal release (write it down in normal spelling and in IPA).
Describe nasal release in terms of articulatory gestures. Under what conditions
can a stop have a nasal release? What function does the nasal assume when a stop
has a nasal release?
Nasal release is a release of a plosive consonant into a nasal stop.
e.g. in “hidden” /ˈhidn̩/
Articulated with the tongue coming up and contacting the alveolar
ridge for /d/ and staying there for the nasal. The air pressure built up
behind the stop closure is then released through the nose by lowering
the soft palate (the velum) for the consonant.
It occurs when a voiced stop is followed by a nasal in the same word.
Causes the nasal to become syllabic
5. What does it mean to say that two consonants are homorganic?
That they have the same place of articulation (such as alveolar [n, t, d, s, z, l] in
English)

6. What is lateral release? Give an example of a word in which a stop can have a
lateral release (write it down in normal spelling and in IPA). Describe lateral
release in terms of articulatory gestures. Under what conditions can a stop have a
lateral release? What function does the lateral assume when a stop has a lateral
release?
Lateral release is a release of an alveolar plosive into the lateral approximant /l/.
e.g. in “middle” /ˈmɪdl ̩/
The tongue comes up and touches the alveolar ridge for the stop.
The air pressure built up during the stop is released by lowering the
sides of the tongue to produce /l/.
Takes place when an alveolar stop /t/ or /d/ occurs before a
(homorganic) lateral /l/, which after lateral release becomes syllabic.

7. Voiceless stops /p, t, k/ are in some positions pronounced as glottalized

(reinforced by a glottal stop; i.e. /p/ > [p]). When does glottalization rule
apply? Explain in prose and give examples (transcribed in IPA).
In many accents of English, syllable final /p, t, k/ are accompanied by an overlaping glottal
stop gesture as in pronunciation of “tip”, “pit”, “kick” as [tɪʔp, pɪʔt, kɪʔk].

8. Voiceless alveolar stop /t/ is in some positions replaced by a glottal stop.

When does this rule apply? Explain in prose and give examples (transcribed in
IPA).
Glottal stop [ʔ] is not a phoneme in English, but it frequently occurs as an allophone of /t/
in most dialects. /t/ is replaced by a glottal stop when it occurs before an alveolar nasal in
the same word. E.g. “button” [bʔn]
9. Glottal stop is regularly used in Czech and sometimes also in English to
reinforce vowels in certain conditions. Explain and give examples in both
languages.
In Czech, [ʔ] is frequently used to reinforce the initial vowel.
e.g. “okno” /ʔokno/
In English, it can be used: - as an emphasis: “come on” /k
m ʔɒn/
- in careful speech: “reaction” /ɹɪʔækʃən/

10. How do Czech and English voiceless stops differ with respect to their closed
and release phases?
Czech voiceless stops are always released.
English voiceless stops may lack the release phase – if so, they are transcribed with

11. Are unreleased stops more typical for Czech or for English?
For English

12. What does the symbol stand for in the narrow transcription?
No audible release (unexploded)

13. What does the symbol

stand for in the narrow transcription?
syllabization (it is placed under a syllabic consonant)

14. What does the symbol  stand for in the narrow transcription?
glottal stop

15. The final stop in words such as that can be pronounced as a plain released
stop, a preglottalized released stop, a preglottalized unreleased stop, or as a
glottal stop. Which of the four alternatives is least native-like? Transcribe all four
versions of the word (narrow transcription).
[æt], [æt], [æt], [æ]

least native-like
16. What does the term “pre-fortis clipping” refer to? Explain and give examples.
A vowel is shortened, when stands before a fortis (voiceless stop/fricative).
e.g. in “bat” /bæt/, [æ] is shorter than in “bad” /bæd/

17. How is the vowel in words like bat/bad or pick/pig affected by the following
consonant?
The vowels preceding a voiceless stop /t, k/ are shorter.

18. What is a flap? How is it different from an alveolar stop?

Flap (tap) [] is only a very brief interruption of the airflow, with no pressure built
up and therefore no burst (unlike /t , d/).
Lecture 5
1. Identify a stop consonant in a spectrogram and waveform. Indicate the closure of
the stop, the release, and aspiration.
/g/

2. What does the term VOT (Voice Onset Time) refer to?
The time between the release of the oral closure and the beginning of voicing. Aspiration is
a feature of VOT.

3. English voiceless stops are in some positions followed by a period of voicelessness

which we call aspiration. In acoustic terms aspiration corresponds to long Voice
Onset Time (VOT). Explain in prose.
The voicing doesn’t start at the point when the consonant is released. There is a long voice
onset time (after releasing a consonant, it takes some time before the vocal cords begin to
vibrate).

4. English phoneme /p/ is realized with a long VOT, Czech phoneme /p/ with a short
VOT. Explain.
/p/ is sometimes realized as aspirated in English, in Czech it is not.
5. What is the typical VOT of /p, t, k/ in words such as skill, still, spill?
There's zero VOT, no aspiration

6. The contrast between voiced and voiceless obstruents is sometimes neutralized in

Czech. Explain what it means. Give an example.
Devoicing of a voiced consonant – voiced obstruents in the syllable coda or at the end of a
word become voiceless in Czech. E.g. “led” /let/

7. When are English voiced stops /b, d, g/ are realized as fully voiced (i.e. voicing
lasts throughout the closure)?
When they stand in the middle of a word or phrase in which a voiced sound occurs on
either side. E.g. “abed” /əbæd/

8. What does the symbol ̥ under b, d, ɡ indicate in narrow transcription?

devoicing

9. How are /p, t, k/ pronounced after the fricative /s/, e.g. in skill, still, spill?
unaspirated

10. Words such as something, tense, prince, youngster are pronounced with an
intrusive (epenthetic) stop. Explain in articulatory terms why stop epenthesis takes
place. Give a new example of a word in which an intrusive (epenthetic) stop occurs
(give a phonemic and phonetic transcription of the word).
Epenthesis – insertion of voiceless stop between a nasal and a following voiceless fricative,
to facilitate the pronunciation, e.g. hamster – /hæmstə/, [ˈhæmp.stə] – the stop is
homorganic with the nasal.

11. How is the articulation of fricatives different from the articulation of stops?
Stops involve a complete closure between the active articulators and the target. The air
cannot escape and a pressure is built up.
Fricatives – only close approximation of the articulators, the airflow remains undisrupted.

12. How is a fricative different from a stop in the waveform?

The waveform of a fricative is longer, viz. Lagef. p.57,58

13. How is a fricative different from a stop in a spectrogram?

14. What is the difference between fricative [f, v, θ, ð] and [s, z, ʃ, ʒ]?
[f, v, θ, ð] = labiodentals, dentals
[s, z, ʃ, ʒ] = alveolar, postalveolar

15. What are sibilants?

Type of fricative or affricate consonant, /f,
, , s, z, ʃ, ʒ/ made by directing a jet of air
through a narrow channel in the vocal tract towards the sharp edge of the upper teeth.
They are characterized by a hissing sound.

16. How does the feature [±sibilant] affect realization of the plural morpheme in
words such as cough, grave, moth, kiss, dish, ditch.
1) /ɪ/ must be added when realizing plural at words that end with /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ/
2 ) In words that end with /v/ (voiced), plural is pronounced as /z/ – “graves” /gɹeivz/
3) In words ending with voiceless sound /f,
/, p. is pronounced as /s/ – “coughs” /kç:fs/

17. English fricative [ʃ] has a secondary articulation. What is it?

The addition of lip rounding to an articulation: e.g. in English, "sh" [ʃʷ], as in "she".

18. Most English fricative phonemes form voiced-voiceless pairs. There is one
exception. Which one?
/h/

19. Like voiceless stops, voiceless fricatives cause pre-fortis clipping. What is it?
A vowel is shortened, when stands before a fortis (voiceless stop/fricative).
e.g. in “bat” /bæt/, [æ] is shorter than in “bad” /bæd/

20. What does the symbol ɦ stand for in the narrow transcription?
voiced glottal fricative (In English, it is an allophone of voiceless /h/
e.g. in „behind“ /bɪɦaind/)

21. How is the pronunciation of the glottal fricative different in e.g. nice head versus
go ahead?
In “nice head” - /h/ is voiceless because it follows a voiceless consonant
In “go ahead” - /h/ is voiced [ɦ] because it follows a vowel
22. Which sounds do foreign learners of English most frequently substitute for the
English [θ ð]?
Other sibilants, or stops
e.g.: French – think /s/, this /z/
Russian - think /t/, this /d/
Czech – think /f/, this /z/

23. Which sounds do English speakers of varieties than RP and GA substitute for the
dental fricatives [θ ð]?
South Ireland – breath /bri:d/, faith /fe:t/
NYC – think /tink/

24. What may happen in connected speech to /s/ or /z/ in sequences like this year,
he says you are …, it does you good?
/s/ or /z/ are palatalized before palatal glide /j/
“miss you” – alveolar /mɪs/ + /ju/ palatal
s+j=ʃ /mɪʃ.ju/ alveo-palatal

25. How is the articulation of obstruents different from the articulation of sonorants?
Obstruents: (stops, fricatives, affricates) - sound formed by obstructing outward airflow,
causing increased air pressure in the vocal tract
Sonorants: (approximants, nasal consonants, taps, trills) - sound that is produced
without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract. Pronounced continuously, at the
same pitch.

26. Which types of consonants are obstruents and which are sonorants?
Obstruents: stops, fricatives, affricates
Sonorants: approximants, nasal consonants, taps, trills

27. What does the symbol ɱ stand for in the narrow transcription?
Labiodental nasal (In English, it's an allophone of /m/ in e.g. “comfort” [ˈkʌɱfət], it occurs
before labiodentals fricatives /f, v/)

28. Is the inventory of nasal phonemes same in English and Czech?

No, Czech has not only /m, n/ like English, but also /ɲ/ (ň)
29. What are approximants?
[w, j, ɹ, l] - tongue approaches (approximates ☺) the passive articulators, but doesn’t get
close enough to create a friction.

30. Why are sounds [w, j, ɹ] called approximants?

Tongue approaches (approximates ☺) the passive articulators, but doesn’t get close enough
to create a friction.

31. In what sense is /l/ an odd approximant?

There’s a complete closure between the tongue and the alveolar ridge. The airflow goes out
along the sides of the tongue.

32. Which sounds are called liquids? Which sounds are called glides?
Liquids: rhotic r [ ɹ ], lateral [ l ]; Glides: [ j ] – palatal glide, [w] labiovelar glide
Lecture 6
1. Which sounds are called liquids? Which sounds are called glides?
Liquids: rhotic r [ ɹ ], lateral [ l ]; Glides: [ j ] – palatal glide, [w] labiovelar glide

2. How many lateral phonemes does English have? Do you know a language that
contrasts two lateral phonemes? Give an example.
English has one lateral phoneme: the lateral approximant /l/, which in many accents has
two allophones. One, found before vowels as in ‘lady’ or ‘fly’, is called clear l, pronounced
as the alveolar lateral approximant [l] with a "neutral" position of the body of the tongue.
The other variant, so-called dark l found before consonants or word-finally, as in ‘bold’ or
‘tell’, is pronounced as the velarized alveolar lateral approximant [ɫ] with the tongue
assuming a spoon-like shape with its back part raised, which gives the sound a [w]- or [ʟ]-
like resonance.
In some languages, like Albanian, those two sounds are different phonemes. East Slavic
languages (e.g. Russian) contrast [ɫ] and [lʲ] but do not have a plain [l].

3. List all the possible allophones of English /l/ and give examples of words in which
these allophones occur (use IPA).
[ l ] – life – voiced, alveolar (“clear”) [laɪf]
[ l ̥ ] – play – devoiced, alveolar [ple̥ ɪ]
[ l ̪ ] – health – voiced, dentalized [hɛl ̪θ]
[ ɫ ] – fail – voiced, velarized (“dark”) [faɪɫ]
[ ɫ̩ ] – final – velarized, syllabic [ˈfaɪnɫ̩]
[ o̯ ] – help – voiced, vocalized, non-syllabic [hɛo̯p]

4. List all the possible allophones of English /t/ and give examples of words in which
these allophones occur (use IPA).
Aspirated [tʰ] eg: [tʰɛst] (test)
Unreleased (unexploded) [t̚] eg: [ˈst̚ju] (stew)
Dentalized [t ̪] eg: [eɪtθ̪ ] (eighth)
Glottal stop [ʔ] eg: [bʌʔn̩] (button)
Voiced stop (tap) [ɾ] eg: [ˈdæɾə] (data)
5. How is the articulation of dark /l/ different from the articulation of clear /l/?
Describe in prose.
clear [l] is pronounced with a "neutral" position of the body of the tongue.
dark [ɫ] is pronounced with the tongue assuming a spoon-like shape, with its back part raised.

[l] [ɫ]

6. What is the distribution of dark /l/ in RP?

Clear [l]is pronounced in the onset of a syllable (before a vowel); Dark [ɫ] everywhere else.

7. How is the spectrogram of a dark l different from the spectrogram of a clear l? (See the
pictures below.)
Praktická otázka. :-(
8. What is secondary articulation?
Secondary articulation is involved in co-articulated consonants, with two articulations of
different manner. The approximant-like secondary articulation is weaker than the primary, and
colors it rather than obscuring it.
Example: the voiceless labialized velar plosive [kʷ] has only a single stop articulation, velar [k],
with a simultaneous [w]-like rounding of the lips, and is usually heard as a kind of [k].

9. English fricative [ ʃ ] has a secondary articulation. What is it?

The addition of lip rounding to an articulation: e.g. in English, "sh" [ʃʷ], as in "she".

10. In RP the lateral phoneme in words like feel or field is pronounced with a secondary
articulatory gesture. Explain.
In both words, /l/is velarized - the back of the tongue goes towards the velum. (“dark l”)
11. What happened to the phoneme /l/ in the pronunciations [hɛo̯p] “help” or [pʰipo]
“people”? Describe the articulation in prose.
/l/ becomes vocalized - sounds more like the vowel /o/. L-voclization is a notable feature of
some English dialects (e.g. London Cockney).

12. What is a rhotic liquid?

post-alveolar approximant; “upside down r” - [ɹ]

13. The sounds written with the letter “r” can be articulated in a number of ways. What
different types of r-pronunciations occur in Received Pronunciation and General
American English?
[ ɹ ] (alveolar approximant): Typical for RP. The front part of the tongue approaches the
upper gum.
[ ɻ ] (retroflex approximant): Characteristic for GA. The tongue-tip is curled back
towards the roof of the mouth (‘retroflexion’).
or ‘bunched r’ – Also frequent in GA. Whole body of the tongue is bunched
upwards and backwards (towards the roof of the mouth and
pharynx wall).

14. The rhotic phoneme has different phonetic realization in various English dialects.
What are they?
Alveolar approximant: [ ɹ ] (RP)
Retroflex approximant: [ ɻ ] (GA)
Alveolar trill [ r ] (rolled r): Airstream interrupted by several taps. (Scottish E.)
Tap (flap) [ɾ] Just one brief interruption of airflow. Many languages use taps as reduced
variants of trills, especially in fast speech (but Spanish contrasts them: pero - tap; perro - trill)
(Scottish E.)
Uvular trill: [ ʀ ] (‘French r’) The back of the tongue approaches the uvula or the soft palate.
(Northumberland)
15. The rhotic sound at the beginning of words such as ripe, root, road is in some
varieties of English realized as a trill. What is a trill? In which variety of English does
trill occur?
Trill [r] (‘rolled r’) consists of several alveolar flaps (one brief interruption of the airflow).
It is typical for Scottish English. It is frequently replaced by a flap in relaxed speech.

16. What is “bunched r”?

Common in American English dialects; whole body of the tongue is bunched upwards and
backwards (towards the roof of the mouth and pharynx wall).

17. How are retroflex sounds articulated?

The down side of the tongue tip goes against the alveolar ridge.

18. What does the symbol ɻ stand for in the narrow transcription?
Retroflex rhotic liqid (approximant).

19. What do the IPA symbols [ r , ɹ , ɻ ] represent?

[ r ] - trill, [ ɹ ] - alveolar approximant, [ ɻ ] - retroflex approximant

20. What does placing the symbol ̥ under ɹ , j , w , l indicate in the narrow
transcription?
Devoicing :-)

21. Can the symbol ̥ be placed under other sounds?

Yes - they can be placed under other primarily voiced sounds, which become voiceless in
certain situations. E.g. /b, d, g/, when devoiced at the end of a word (sob, sad, sag).

22. What does placing the symbol ⁓ across an / l / indicate in the narrow
transcription?
Velarized (“dark”) [ɫ].

23. What does the symbol o̯ (or u̯ ) stand for in the narrow transcription?
Non-syllabic, vocalized /l/.
24. The English rhotic liquid is often realized as retroflex. What does it mean?
The tip of the tongue is placed behind the alveolar ridge, and may even be curled back to reach
the hard palate.

25. Fill consonant symbols into the chart of English consonants.

See IPA chart :-(

26. Using appropriate terms give a phonetic description of the consonant X. (For example,
X= /s/, which is a voiceless, alveolar fricative or X = [j], which is a palatal
approximant/glide etc.)
See IPA chart :-(

27. What are phonological rules? Explain and give an example of a phonological rule.
They define environment in which each allophone occurs. They are descriptive, NOT
prescriptive. E.g.: Voiceless stops such as /p, t, k/ are unaspirated after /s/ - “skill” [skɪl̴]

28. What is assimilation? Define and illustrate with an example.

A sound changes so that it becomes more like a neighbouring sound, it copies a feature of
neighbouring sound. E.g.: [hæf.tə] (have to)

29. Give an example of anticipatory (regressive) assimilation and perseverative

(progressive) assimilation (from Czech/Slovak or English). Describe what happens in
these words. Write the words in phonemic and in phonetic transcription.
Regressive assimilation: When a sound changes with reference to a following segment. E.g.:
“bank” /bæNk/ (/n/ is velarized before velar plosive /k/)
Progressive assimilation: When a sound becomes more like the preceding sound. E.g.: English
suffix -s. (cup, cups ; cub, cubs) [kʌp, kʌps ; kʌb, kʌbz] (/s/ becomes voiced (/z/) after voiced consonants)
30. Describe in detail how pronunciation of [k, g] in words keep, geese differs from [k,
g] in cool, lagoon.
In words ‘cool’, ‘lagoon’ /k, g/ are more lip rounded, because the following /u/ sound is
rounded.
In ‘keep’, ‘geese’ /k, g/ are more front, because of the preceding front vowel /i/.

31. How is the pronunciation of the phoneme /d/ different in “width” and “widow”?
Explain in prose.
/d/ is dentalized in “width”, because of following dental fricative /θ/; in “widow” it’s alveolar.

32. Give an example of assimilation of voicing and assimilation of place of articulation.

Assimilation of voicing: e.g. in “example” /ɛgzæmpl/ (/s/ becomes voiced, after voiced velar plosive /g/)
Assimilation of place of articulation: e.g. in “bank” /bæNk/ (/n/ is velarized before velar plosive /k/)

33. Give three phonological rules that affect the voiceless alveolar stop in English. State
the rules and exemplify.
1)Alveolar stops become voiced taps when they occur between two vowels the second of which is
unnstressed.
E.g.: data [ˈdæɾə]
2) /t/ is replaced by a glottal stop when it occurs before an alveolar nasal in the same word.
E.g.: button [bʌʔn]
3) Voicless stops /p,t,k/ are unaspirated after /s/ in word such as spew, stew, skew

34. English has a devoicing rule which applies after aspirated stops. To which class of
sounds does this devoicing rule apply?
Approximants (ɹ , l , j , w)

35. Give a phonological rule which typically applies in American English. Formulate the
rule and give examples of words or phrases in which they apply (use IPA).
(Ladefoged’s 13a) Alveolar stops and alveolar nasals followed by stop sequences become
voiced taps when they occur between two vowels second of which is unstressed.
e.g. “winter” RP /wɪntə/; GA /wɪnɾɚ/
“winner” RP /wɪnə/; GA /wɪnɾɚ/
36. Which phonological rule applies in pronunciation of words and phrases like acting
[æk˺tɪŋ], typewritten [tʰaɪpɹɪʔn̩], lost balance [lɒs bælənts] etc.?
“The gestures for consecutive stops overlap so that stops are unexploded when they occur before
another stop.”

37. Ladefoged discusses epenthesis of a stop in words such as something, tense, prince,
youngster. How are these words pronounced? Write them down in phonemic and
phonetic transcription. Formulate the rule of stop epenthesis.
“A homorganic voiceless stop may occur after a nasal before a voicless fricative followed by an
unstressed vowel in the same word.”

38. When do nasal consonants become syllabic? Explain the rule in prose and give an
example transcribed in IPA.
Nasals are syllabic at the end of a word when immediately after an obstruent. E.g. “leaden”,
̍
“chasm” [ˈlɛdn̩ , kæzm̩ ]

39. When do liquids become syllabic? Explain the rule in prose and give an example
transcribed in IPA.
Liquids /l, r/ are syllabic at the end of a word when immediately after a consonant. E.g. “sabre”,
“razor” [ˈseɪbr̩ , ˈreɪzr̩]

40. Approximant consonants are typically voiced. Explain when they lose voicing and
give examples (transcribe in IPA).
The approximants /w, r, j, l / are at least partially voiceless when they occur after initial /p, t,
k/. E.g. play, twin, cue [pl ̥eɪ, tw̥ ɪn, kju
̥ ]

41. In Czech there are numerous examples of compete devoicing (e.g. in led, mez, lávka).
In English complete devoicing is much more restricted. Which class of sounds given in
the brackets is likely to be completely devoiced before a voiceless obstruent in the
following word? (nasals, sonorants, fricatives, stops).
Sonorants
42. Voiceless stops /p, t, k/ are in some positions pronounced as aspirated. When does
aspiration rule apply? Explain in prose and give examples (in IPA).
Voiceless stops /p, t, k / are aspirated when they are syllable initial, in words such as “pip”,
“test”, “kick” [pʰɪp, tʰɛst, kʰɪk].

43. In which of the following words is p aspirated? paradise, apply, police, coping,
republic, captain, happy, spy
paradise, apply, police, republic

44. What does it mean to say that aspiration depends on syllabification? When does the way
in which words are divided into syllables affect pronunciation of /p, t, k/ as [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ]?
Voicless stops are aspirated only at the beggining of a stressed syllable;
When the cluster is hetero-morphemic and the stop belongs to an unbound morpheme.

45. Voiceless stops /p, t, k/ are in some positions pronounced as glottalized (reinforced
by a glottal stop; i.e. /p/ > [ʔp]). When does glottalization rule apply? Explain in prose
and give examples (transcribed in IPA).
Syllable final /p, t, k/ are accompanied by an overlaping glottal stop gesture as in
pronunciation of “tip”, “pit”, “kick” as [tɪʔp, pɪʔt, kɪʔk]. (This rule does not apply to all varieties
of English)

46. Voiceless alveolar stop / t / is in some positions replaced by a glottal stop. When
does this rule apply? Explain in prose and give examples (transcribed in IPA)
When before an alveolar nasal in the same word, as in “beaten” [ˈbiʔn̩].

47. Alveolar stops /t, d/ are sometimes not pronounced. When does this deletion
happen? Explain the rule in prose and give an example transcribed in IPA.
Alveolar stops /t, d/ are reduced or omitted when between two consonants.
E.g. “most people” [ˈmoʊs ˈpipl ]̩
48. What does it mean to say that in RP / l / is in some positions velarized? Explain the
velarization rule in prose and give an example transcribed in IPA.
Lateral /l/ is velarized when NOT in the onset of a syllable (when after a vowel or before a
consonant at the end of a word). E.g. “life” [laɪf] X “file” [faɪɫ]

49. What if flapping (tapping)? Under what conditions does the flapping rule apply?
A flap (tap) [ɾ] involves a rapid movement of the tongue tip from a retracted vertical position
to a (more or less) horizontal position, during which the tongue tip brushes the alveolar ridge.

(Ladefoged’s 13/a/) Alveolar stops (in GA also alveolar nasals+ stop sequences) become
voiced taps when they occur between two vowels second of which is unstressed.
e.g. “winter” RP /wɪntə/; GA /wɪnɾɚ/
“winner” RP /wɪnə/; GA /wɪnɾɚ/

50. What is the difference between British and American pronunciation of words such as
winter or twenty?
“winter” RP /wɪntə/; GA /wɪnɾɚ/
“twenty” RP /twɛnti/; GA /twɛnɾi/
Lecture 7
1. How are vowels different from consonants?
Consonants – (noise), mostly articulated via closure or obstruction in the vocal tract. Often
voiceless.
Vowels – (tone), produced with a relatively free vocal tract. Usually voiced.

2. How do phoneticians define vowel space? (in articulatory and acoustic terms)
Art.: It is the area of the oral cavity within which the tongue can move without creating a friction.
Acoustically, vowel space is defined as the
area of the quadrilateral formed by the four
corner vowels.

3. Ladefoged uses the terms high, mid high, mid low and low to differentiate degrees of
vowel height in English. What corresponding terms are used by Gimson?
Close, mid close, mid open, open.

4. What is the difference between peripheral and non-peripheral vowels?

Peripheral vowels are more distinct from one another than vowels in the middle.

5. What determines acoustic quality of vowels?

Height (F1), backness (F2), roundedness, tenseness (+ others: e.g. nasalization, R-coloring (F3),
phonation [not in English, but e.g. in Japanese – vowels can be devoiced – -desu, -masu, boifurendo, hito... ☺])

6. What are formants?

Distinguishing frequency components of human speech. Technically, the basic frequencies
of the vibrations of the air in the vocal tract.

7. Which articulatory dimension does the first formant (second formant) correspond
to?
The first formant, abbreviated "F1", corresponds to vowel height. Open (low) vowels have
high F1 frequencies, close (high) vowels have low F1 frequencies.
The second formant, F2, corresponds to vowel backness. Back vowels have low F2
frequencies, front vowels have high F2 frequencies.
8. How is the formant structure of the vowel /i/ different from the vowel /ɑ/?
/i/ has F1 value higher and F2 value lower than /ɑ/
(*[ɑ] is a low vowel, so its F1 value is higher than that of [i], which is a high vowel. [i] is a front vowel, so its
F2 is substantially higher than that of [ɑ], which is a back vowel.)

9. Make sure that you can recognize spectrographic representation of the “corner”
vowels /i, ɑ, u/. You will see a spectrogram of the three vowels and you will have to
decide which one is which.

10. Using appropriate terms, give a phonetic description of the vowel X. (For example,
X = [i], which is a high front tense vowel etc.)
See IPA chart ;(

11. Fill vowel symbols into the chart of English vowels (RP vowel chart and GA vowel
chart).
12. What is the position of the English vowels [i, ɪ, ɛ, æ, u, ʊ, ɔ, ɒ, ɑ] in the vowel
space as described from the point of view of cardinal vowels?
See IPA chart

13. How many front vowels are contrasted in Received Pronunciation? What are
they?
4: i , ɪ , ɛ , æ

14. How many back vowels are contrasted in Received Pronunciation? What are
they?
5: u , ʊ , ɔ , ɑ , ɒ

15. Using appropriate terms, describe the underlined sound and transcribe it with an
IPA symbol. (e.g. cook: lax high back rounded vowel /ʊ/).
Praktická :(

16. Write the IPA symbol which corresponds to the following phonetic description
and give an English word that contains the sound and underline it (e.g. tense high
back vowel).
Tahle taky :(

17. Which vowel does the IPA symbol [ə] stand for?
The mid central vowel (“schwa”)

18. Give an example of vowel reduction (a word in which an originally full vowel is
reduced to a schwa). Transcribe the example in IPA.
Explain /ɛkspleɪn/ ; explanation /ɛkspləneɪʃən/

19. What is the pronunciation of the underlined unstressed syllables in words such as
chocolate, possible, careless in traditional RP and in modern RP?
Traditional RP: ɪ , modern RP: ə (e.g. Chocolate – trad. /ʧɒklɪt/, mod. /ʧɒklət/)

20. What does placing the symbol ̃ above the vowel indicate in the narrow
transcription?
Nasalization
21. English consonants are described in terms of place of articulation, manner of
articulation, voicing and nasality. English vowels are described with a reference to
four different phonetic dimensions. What are they?
1) Height, 2) backness, 3) roundedness, 4) tenseness

22. How many levels of vowel height do we differentiate in English? How many levels
of vowel height do we differentiate in Czech?
Four in English, three in Czech.

23. Define diphthongs.

A diphthong is a vowel in which there is a change in quality during a single syllable, as in
English [aɪ] in “high”.

24. Can you recognize a diphthong in a spectrogram?

(Note: The diphthongs have strong moving voicing, as represented in the picture bellow. The formants are not horizontal
throughout the life of the vowel as they were in the monophthong vowels, but move from a beginning configuration to a target
configuration.)

Diphthong /aɪ/ from the utterance

"eye", with /a/ passing into /ɪ/.

25. Define centering diphthongs.

They begin with a more peripheral vowel, and end with a central one (usually schwa). E.g.
in fear /fɪə/ , tour /tʊə/ ...

26. What is the origin of centering diphthongs in RP?

They came with words borrowed from French.

27. What are falling diphthongs? What are rising diphthongs? Explain in prose and
give an example.
Falling d. start with a vowel of higher prominence (higher pitch or louder) and end in a vowel with
less prominence. E.g. /aɪ ̯/ in “eye”
Rising d. begin with a less prominent vowel and end with a more prominent vowel. E.g. /ɪ ̯a/ in "yard"
28. What are closing diphthongs? Explain in prose and give an example.
In closing diphthongs, the second element is more close than the first. E.g. [ai]

29. What is smoothing? Explain in prose and give an example.

A quick, but smooth movement of tongue from position of one vowel to another, passing
over a third one, thus creating a triphthong. E.g. “fire” /faɪə/, “power” /paʊə/, “layer”
/leɪə/... (note: all RP triphthongs end by schwa. In GA, the schwa is usually R-colored)

30. There is one phonetic term that is common for vowels [ə], [ɜ], and [ʌ].Which
one is it?
They are all central vowels.

31. Transcription systems may differ and the greatest differences often concern
vowels. We are using the IPA system in line with Ladefoged’s textbook. The major
point of difference between this system and the system of Jones/Gimson is the use of
the dots after vowels. What do the dots stand for? Why does one author use them and
the other does not?
Jones/Gimson (and some other authors) use this ( ː ) symbol to mark vowel length (e.g.
sheep /ʃiːp/; ship /ʃɪp/). Ladefoged assumes that vowel quality and vowel length are linked,
so there is no need to mark both (sheep /ʃip/; ship /ʃɪp/ => [i] is always long in English, while
[ɪ] is short – vowel length doesn’t contrast meaning in E. (unlike e.g. Czech) only quality does).

32. Name three factors that affect length of vowels in English.

1) Voicing of the following obstruent (a vowel is shorter before a voiceless consonant).
2) Vowels are longer in an open syllable.
3) Vowels are longer in a stressed syllable.

33. What are closed syllables and open syllables? Explain in prose and give an
example of each.
An open syllable ends with a vowel (has no coda). E.g. in “see” /si/
A close syllable ends with a consonant (has a coda). E.g. in “sin” /sɪn/

34. How is distribution of vowels [ɪ, ɛ, æ ʊ, ɒ, ʌ] different from distribution of vowels

[i, u, ɔ, ɑ]?
[ɪ, ɛ, æ ʊ, ɒ, ʌ] are found only in closed syllables, they are always followed by a consonant.
[i, u, ɔ, ɑ] appear also in open syllables.
35. Which English vowels are lax and which are tense? Give a list of IPA symbols.
Lax: [ɪ, ɛ, ʌ, æ, ɒ, ʊ], Tense: [iː, uː, ɔː, ɜː, ɑː]

36. Give a list of monosyllabic words containing all English lax vowels.
ship /ʃɪp/; test /tʰɛst/; plus /plʌs/; ash / æʃ/; hot /hɒt/; foot /fʊt/

37. How are English lax vowels different from the tense ones?
Lax vowels are short, usually followed by a consonant. Less peripheral (closer to schwa).
Tense vowels can be much longer, they often appear at the end of a word. More peripheral.

38. What is the pronunciation of the underlined unstressed syllables in words such as
pretty, finally, city in traditional RP and in modern RP?
traditional RP: lax [ɪ]
modern RP: tense [i]

39. What does it mean to say that in Czech, vowel length is contrastive but in English
it is not?
In Czech, long/short vowels form minimal pairs (e.g. “pas” (passport) / “pás” (belt). In
English, vowel length is very unreliable – only vowel quality contrasts the meaning.

40. Which pair of English vowels is distinguished purely by length?

Short and long schwa [ə, əː]

41. The vowel [æ] is grouped with lax vowels. But it is phonetically somewhat
different from the other lax vowels. What is the difference?
[æ] is generally longer than the rest of lax vowels.

42. What is schwa?

The mid central unrounded vowel [ə].

43. Which English vowel cannot occur in a stressed syllable?

Schwa (again) ☺
44. In Chapter 4 you reviewed phonological rules which operate in English. Three out
of the twenty-three rules are concerned with vowel length. Which three factors affect
duration of English vowels?
1) Voicing of the following obstruent (a vowel is shorter before a voiceless consonant).
2) Vowels are longer in an open syllable.
3) Vowels are longer in a stressed syllable.

45. What are r-colored or rhoticized vowels? Explain and list them. Explain in prose
and give an example .
R-colored vowels may have either the tip or blade of the tongue turned up during at least
part of the articulation of the vowel (a retroflex articulation) or the tip of the tongue down
and the back of the tongue bunched (both produces the same effect).
Stressed rhoticized vowel: [ɝ] , e.g. in “first” [ˈfɝst]*
Unstressed rhoticized vowel: [ɚ] , e.g. in “dinner” [ˈdɪnɚ]*
* GA pronunciation

46. In which of these words could you expect a nasalized vowel in American English
desk, account, gallery, paper?
Account – the vowel is followed by a nasal.
Lecture 8
1. We described three aspects in which sound systems of two dialects can differ
from each other. What are they? Explain and give examples.
1) Inventory of phonemes (one dialect may lack some phonemes present in a different dialect, or have
some extra ones) e.g. GA doesn’t have RP phoneme /ɒ/
2) Distribution of phonemes in words (a different phoneme can occur in one and the same word)
e.g. “past” RP /pɑːst/; GA /pæst/
3) Phonetic realizations of phonemes (the same phonemes can be pronounced a slightly different way)
e.g. “man” RP [mæn] GA [mæ̃ n] - /æ/ is nasalized before /n/ in GA.

2. Give an example of a vowel merger (two phonemes in one dialect corresponding

to a single phoneme in another).
RP phonemes lax /ʊ/ and tense /u/, are both pronounced as tense /u/ in Scottish.

3. Give an example of a vowel split.

One phoneme is divided into two phonemes in another variety (dialect).
e.g. “tied” “tide”
RP: /taɪd/ /taɪd/ aɪ
Scottish: /tae̯d/ /tѩɪd/ ae̯ ѩɪ

4. Which variety of English is referred to as Received Pronunciation (where is it

spoken? by whom)?
"Received Standard, the dialect of British English spoken by the upper classes, esp. by graduates of the
public schools and of Oxford and Cambridge." It’s associated with south-east of England, where most
RP speakers live and work, but it can be found anywhere in the country. Less than 3% of the
British people speak it in a pure form now. Most educated people speak ‘modified RP’, with various
regional characteristics. However, RP retains an important status – it is still the standard accent of
British national institutions (though it’s no longer obligatory for BBC broadcasting), and it’s taught
to majority of foreign learners, and is thus widely used abroad.

5. Which variety of English is referred to as General American pronunciation (where

is it spoken? by whom)?
It is “majority of American accents which do not show marked north-eastern or southern
characteristics.” It is spoken by some 2/3 of the USA, sometimes referred to as ‘Standard
Midwestern’, ‘American Broadcast English’ or ‘Network English’.
6. What are the typical features of General American pronunciation (compared to
RP)? List five features. Name each feature, give an example of RP and GA
pronunciation transcribed in IPA.
1) postvocalic r (r pronounced after vowels)
“card” GA /kʰɑːɻd /; RP / kʰɑːd /
2) bunched r [ɻ] (whole body of the tongue bunched upwards and backwards /to the roof
of the mouth and pharynx wall/)
“great” GA /ɡɻeɪt̯ /; RP /ɡɹeɪ ̯t/
3) ‘yod’ dropping (in stressed syllables, after coronals [t, d, n, ‫ׯ‬, s, l], the palatal glide [j]
is not pronounced)
“new” GA /nu/; RP /nju/
4) ‘yod’ coalescence (in unstressed syllables, the palatal glide [j] coalesces (merges) with
the preceding alveolar obstruent)
“situate” GA /sɪtʃueɪt/; RP /sɪtjueɪt/
5) flapping (tapping) (RP voiceless plosive [t] is generally replaced by a voiced tap[ɾ]
between vowels in GA)
“city” GA /sɪɾi/; RP /sɪti/

7. What are the main differences between vowels in General American

pronunciation and Received Pronunciation? List five differences (phonetic or
phonemic) and give examples.
1) [ɒ] and [ɑ] merge > [ɑ]; e.g. “spot” RP /spɑt/ GA /spɒt/
“calm” RP /kʰɑm/ GA /kʰɑm/
2) [ɔ] and [ɑ] merge > [ɑ]; e.g. “stop” RP /stɔp/ GA /stɑp/
“straw” RP /stɹɔ/ GA /stɻɑ/
3) [æ] and [ɛ] before [ɹ] merge > [ɛ]; e.g. “marry” RP /mæɹɪ/ GA /mɛɻɪ/
“merry” RP /mɛɹɪ/ GA /mɛɻɪ/
4) [ɑː] and [æ] merge > [æ]; e.g. “aunt” RP /ɑːnt/ GA /ænt/
“ant” RP /ænt/ GA /ænt/
5) nasalized vowels before nasals; e.g. “man” RP [mæn] GA [mæ̃ n]
8. Name three differences between consonants in General American pronunciation
and Received Pronunciation? Explain in prose.
1) /r/ is bunched ([ɻ] whole body of the tongue bunched upwards and backwards /to the
roof of the mouth and pharynx wall/)
“great” GA /ɡɻeɪt̯ /; RP /ɡɹeɪ ̯t/
2) /t/ flapping (tapping) (RP voiceless plosive [t] is generally replaced by a voiced tap[ɾ]
between vowels in GA)
“city” GA /sɪɾi/; RP /sɪti/
3) /l/ is generally dark (RP has clear [l] before vowels, and dark [l
] everywhere else.
GA has dark [l
] in all positions.)
“leaf” GA /l
if/; RP /lif/

9. How do British and American vowel systems differ with respect to diphthong
phonemes?
GA lacks the RP centering diphthongs /ɪə, ɛə, Ѩə/ - in GA, they correspond to sequences of
short vowels + r.
e.g. “fair” – RP /fɛə/; GA /fɛɻ/

10. How do British and American English differ with respect to back vowel
phonemes?
GA has no /ɒ/. – most commonly replaced by /ɑː/
e.g. “stop” RP /stɒp/; GA /stɑp/
– a limited subset has /ɔː/ (frequently before a voiceless fricative)
e.g. “gone” RP /gɒn/; GA /gɔn/
RP /ɑː/ is replaced by /æ/ in GA (before a voiceless fricative, or a nasal followed by another cons.)
e.g. “past” RP /pɑːst/; GA /pæst/ “after” RP /ɑːftə/ GA /æftəɻ/
“plant” RP /plɑːnt/; GA /plænt/

11. What are the differences between the RP and GA pronunciations of words such
as Betty, sir, fear, cop, go, life, sand, can’t, Barry,… ?
RP GA RP GA
Betty [’bti] [’bɾi] life [laɪf] [l
aɪf]
sir [sɜ] [sɝ] sand [sænd] [sæ̃ nd]
fear [fɪə] [fɪɻ] can’t [kʰɑnt] [kʰæ̃ nt]
cop [kʰɒp] [kʰɑp] Barry [’bɹi] [’bæɻi]
12. What is yod coalescence? Explain in prose and give an example.
In unstressed syllables, the palatal glide [j] coalesces (merges) with the preceding alveolar
obstruent; e.g. “situate” GA /sɪtʃueɪt/; RP /sɪtjueɪt/

13. What is yod dropping? Explain in prose and give three examples.
In stressed syllables, after coronals [t, d, n, ‫ׯ‬, s, l], the palatal glide [j] is not pronounced.
e.g. “new” GA /nu/; RP /nju/
“sue” GA /su/; RP /sju/
“tube” GA /tub/; RP /tjub/

14. Give a phonological rule which typically applies in American English.

Formulate the rule and give examples of words or phrases in which they apply (use
IPA).
(Ladefoged’s 13a) Alveolar stops and alveolar nasals followed by stop sequences become
voiced taps when they occur between two vowels second of which is unstressed.
e.g. “winter” RP /wɪntə/; GA /wɪnɾɚ/
“winner” RP /wɪnə/; GA /wɪnɾɚ/

15. What is the difference between rhotic and non-rhotic dialects of English?
Rhotic dialects (e.g. GA, Irish…) have: – r-colored vowels
e.g. “first” /fɝst/
– syllabic /r/ ([ɻ])
̩
e.g. “father” /fɑᾩɻ/̩
– /r/ always pronounced =>
– no centering diphthongs
e.g. “fair” – RP /fɛə/; GA /fɛɻ/
Non-rhotic dialects (e.g RP…) have: – linking /r/
e.g. “it’s far” /fɑ/ - /r/ not pronounced
“far away” /fɑɹ əweɪ/ - /r/ pronounced
– intrusive /r/
e.g. “India” /ɪndɪə/ - no /r/ sound, but =>
“India and China” /ɪndɪəɹ ən tʃaɪnə/
– centering diphthongs ☺
16. What does it mean to say that GA is a rhotic dialect of English? Explain in prose.
Do you know any rhotic dialects on the British Isles?
Rhotic dialects have /r/ pronounced in all positions (unlike non-rhotic dialects that
exclude the phoneme /r/ from syllable coda). An example of a rhotic dialect on British
Isles is Irish.

17. What is linking r? What is intrusive r?

Linking /r/: occurs in most non-rhotic dialects of English. If a word that ends with [ɹ]
(which is not normally pronounced, if stands alone, or followed by a consonant) precedes
a word that begins with a vowel, /ɹ/ is realized at the onset of the next word.
e.g. “it’s far” /fɑ/ - /r/ not pronounced
“far away” /fɑɹ əweɪ/ - /r/ pronounced
Intrusive /r/: occurs in some dialects with linking /r/. Intrusive [ɹ] sound is added after a
word that ends in a non-high vowel or glide if the next word begins with a vowel.
e.g. “India” /ɪndɪə/ - no /r/ sound, but =>
“India and China” /ɪndɪəɹ ən tʃaɪnə/

18. How are words such as here, hear, tour pronounced in RP and GA? Explain the
difference in prose and transcribe the words in IPA.
GA lacks the RP centering diphthongs /ɪə, ɛə, Ѩə/ - in GA, they correspond to sequences of
short vowels + r.
RP /hɪə/, /hɪə/, /tѨə/
GA /hɪɻ/, /hɪɻ/, /tѨɻ/

19. Dental fricatives [‫ ]ׯ‬and [ᾩ] are often replaced by various other sounds in
English dialects other than RP or GA. Name one such dialect and say which sounds
replace [‫ ]ׯ‬and [ᾩ] in this dialect.
In Hiberno-English (spoken in Ireland), /θ/ and /ð/ become dental stops [t̪ʰ] and [d̪],
respectivelly.

20. In which variety of English is the lateral phoneme vocalized in post-vocalic

positions?
In Cockney (London English). E.g. “peel” [pʰio̯]
21. The voiceless alveolar stop /t/ can be replaced by a glottal stop both in
Received Pronunciation and in non-standard varieties such as London English.
However, in RP such glottaling in more restricted. Explain in prose and give
examples.
In RP, /t/ is replaced by a glottal stop [ʔ] only when it occurs before an alveolar nasal
/n/ in the same word. E.g. “beaten” [ˈbiʔn̩]
(In e.g. Cockney, glottal stop replaces /t/ before vowels, laterals and nasals)

22. The sounds written with the letter “r” can be articulated in a number of ways.
What different types of r-pronunciations occur in Received Pronunciation and
General American English?
[ ɹ ] (alveolar approximant): Typical for RP. The front part of the tongue approaches the
upper gum.
[ ɻ ] (retroflex approximant): Characteristic for GA. The tongue-tip is curled back
towards the roof of the mouth (‘retroflexion’).
or ‘bunched r’ – Also frequent in GA. Whole body of the tongue is bunched
upwards and backwards (towards the roof of the mouth and
pharynx wall).

23. The rhotic sound at the beginning of words such as ripe, root, road is in some
varieties of English realized as a trill. What is a trill? In which variety of English
does trill occur?
Trill [r] (‘rolled r’) consists of several alveolar flaps (one brief interruption of the airflow).
It is typical for Scottish English. It is frequently replaced by a flap in relaxed speech.

24. What is a retroflex r?

Retroflex approximant [ɻ], typical for American English dialects; the tip of the tongue is
curled further backwards than in RP.

25. What is “bunched” r?

Common in American English dialects; whole body of the tongue is bunched upwards and
backwards (towards the roof of the mouth and pharynx wall).
Lecture 9
1. What is citation form of words?
It’s what words are like when pronounced loud and clear, in isolation. => Dictionary
form.

2. How do we define syllables in terms of sonority?

Each sonority peak in a word corresponds to one syllable.

3. Describe the hierarchical structure of the syllable.

e.g. :

4. Draw a diagram of the following syllable (e.g. /b®Est/, /flaI/, /eIm/).

;)

5. What is syllable onset?

An optional part of syllable, consists of a consonant (sequence) preceding the rhyme.

6. What is syllable coda?

Closing (optional) part of syllable, a consonant (sequence) following the nucleus.

7. What is syllable nucleus?

Nucleus (sometimes called peak) is the central part of the syllable, most commonly a
vowel (but sometimes also a syllabized consonant, such as a liquid or a nasal). If it
consists of a diphthong or a triphthong, it is called branching (complex) nucleus.

8. What is syllable rhyme?

Rhyme (also rime) is the sonorous part of the syllable, consisting of nucleus and optional
coda.
9. Which sounds can occupy the position of the nucleus in English?
Vowels (monophthongs, diphthongs, triphthongs), or syllabized consonants (such as
liquids /l ̩, r̩/ or nasals /m̩ , n̩/).

10. Divide these words into syllables: e.g. /dpt/, /san/, /bt/, /hæm/.
/dIpA®t/ – /dI.pA®t/
/´saIn/ – /´.saIn/
/b√t´/ – /b√.t´/
/hæm´/ – /hæ.m´/

11. What does it mean to say that in some languages stress has demarcative
function? Does English have demarcative stress?
Demarcative stress tends to be placed near ends of the words.
English does have it in some words.

12. What does it mean to say that stress falls on the penultimate syllable?
The pre-final syllable (next to the last one).

13. Name four factors which affect assignment of stress in English words.
1) structure of the final syllable
2) rhythm
3) morphological structure of the word
4) grammar: word class

14. Is the final syllable in the following words heavy or light (Gimson: strong or
weak): e.g. /dsad/, /pn/, / ælp/, /nv lv/, /ndstænd/, /bliv/
Heavy final syllable: receives stress (has a branching nucleus)
e.g. /dIsaId/
Light final syllable: never receives stress
e.g. /p√nIS/
15. We recognize three types of suffixes according to their impact on the stress
pattern of the word. What are they? Name the type and give an example for each.
1) suffix that shifts stress e.g. monotone => monotonic
2) suffix that attracts stress e.g. verify => verification
3) stress neutral suffix e.g. neighbor => neighborhood

16. Where is the stress going to fall in the following words? Why? e.g. bank account,
theme park, drug addict, weather-beaten, ladylike, babysit?
practical
(* remember that stress tends to fall to the first base of compounds!)

17. When does the fact that a word is a noun or a verb determine the stress pattern
of the word? explain and give examples.
When the verb and the noun have identical spellings.
e.g. increase = noun ; increase = verb

18. What is contrastive stress?

The stress is normally fixed in the lexicon, given by a rule.
But in some context, the stress may shift on another syllable to contrast meaning.
e.g. “I said detoxicate, not intoxicate!” – normally: “detoxicate”, “intoxicate”

th
19. In Gimson (6 edition, 2001) read the sections 10.3, 10.4, and 10.5 (p. 224-235).
Pay special attention to the examples in his discussion of word stress (accent) in
English. You may be asked to indicate the stress pattern in some of those words. E.g.
in medicine, medicinal, alcoholism, inferiority, joy riding, …)
There are heaps of them in there

20. How do we define stress in physical terms (i.e. in terms of speech production)?
‘The use of extra respiratory energy during the syllable.’

21. How do listeners perceive stress? What are the cues to stress (we named three)?
Stress can serve as a cue to word boundary. When a listener perceives a syllable as
stressed, he is putting together three cues.
1) loudness
2) increased pitch
3) longer duration
22. How is the pronunciation of the demonstrative pronoun that (I want that skirt.)
different from the pronunciation of the relative pronoun that (the skirt that I want is
much nicer.)?
Demonstrative – stressed
Relative – unstressed

23. Explain how pronunciation of function words differs from the pronunciation of
lexical words.
Function words: usually unstressed, sometimes even reduced. E.g. “I ought to have” /tə.əv/
Lexical words: usually stressed. (But in a row of monosyllabic lexical words, some stress
is usually omitted. E.g. The big black cat ate ten mice.)

24. Some English words appear in strong and weak forms. Which words are they?
Give examples of ten such words. When do these words appear in their strong form
(in their weak form)?
Strong form occurs when the word is stressed.
Weak form occurs when the word is in an unstressed position.
e.g.
a [eɪ/ə], and [ænd/ən], as [æz/əz], at [æt/ət], can [kæn/kən], has [hæz/həz], he
[hi/hɪ], must [mѩst/məst], she [ʃi/ʃɪ], that [ᾩæt/dət], to [tuː/tU]

25. We said that speech prosody has a melodic component and a rhythmical
component. What is rhythm?
‘The arrangement of spoken words alternating stressed and unstressed elements.’ – In respect to
timing and distribution of prominent syllables.

26. English is said to be a stress-timed language. What does it mean?

Rhythm units are stressed syllables.

27. What is stress group (foot)?

A group of syllables staying between two stressed components (interstress interval).
28. Divide the following utterance into stress groups: e.g. Her mother and father had
promised Ann could have riding lessons.; Stresses in English tend to occur at regular
intervals of time.
Her mother and father had promised Ann could have riding lessons.
u S u u S u u S u S u u S u S u

30. How will the stress pattern of the word unknown be different in the sentences
“The father is unknown.” and “An unknown person entered the house.”
“The father is unknown.” X “An unknown person entered the house.”

31. What is coarticulation?

‘An assimilation of the place of articulation of one speech sound to that of an adjacent speech
sound.’

32. What is assimilation?

‘Influence of one segment on another, making them similar.’ =>
A sound changes so that it becomes more like a neighboring sound, it copies a feature of
neighboring sound. E.g.: [hæf.tə] (have to)

33. What types of assimilation do we differentiate when we consider the direction

of assimilating? Name and give an example for each.
Regressive assimilation: When a sound changes with reference to a following segment. E.g.:
“bank” /bæNk/ (/n/ is velarized before velar plosive /k/)
Progressive assimilation: When a sound becomes more like the preceding sound. E.g.: English
suffix -s. (cup, cups ; cub, cubs) [kʌp, kʌps ; kʌb, kʌbz] (/s/ becomes voiced (/z/) after voiced
consonants)

34. What types of assimilation do we differentiate when we consider the feature

that assimilates? Name and give an example for each.
Assimilation of voicing: e.g. in “example” /ɛgzæmpl/ (/s/ becomes voiced, after voiced velar plosive /g/)
Assimilation of place of articulation: e.g. in “bank” /bæNk/ (/n/ is velarized before velar plosive /k/)
Lecture 10
1. What is fundamental frequency?
(F0) frequency of vocal cords’ vibration while voicing (states [in Hz] how many
times per second vocal cords open and close). It determines pitch.

2. What is the average fundamental frequency of a man’s voice (woman’s voice)?

Men: 120Hz, Women: 220Hz
(differences are due to different sizes of larynx and vocal cords)

3. What is the relationship between pitch and fundamental frequency?

higher f. frequency => higher pitch

4. We said that intonation is a pattern of changing pitch. What it pitch? What does
pitch correspond to in the physical world?
Pitch of sound is an auditory property that enables the hearer to place the sound on a
scale going from low to high. Technically, it is the perceived f. frequency.

5. What is a pitch track?

A computer processed graphic representation of pitch values changing during the speech.
Waveform (up) and pitch track (down)

6. What main linguistic uses does pitch have in the languages of the world?
It determines intonation: a pattern of changing pitch during the utterance (a phrase,
clause, sentence) that conveys linguistic information:
1) syntactic information – pitch marks boundaries of grammatical units
2) discourse info – cohesion of discourse
3) lexical info – pitch itself can contrast meaning (in e.g. Chinese)
Linguistic functions of pitch: Lexical tone (e.g. Chinese)
Pitch accent (e.g. Japanese)
Intonational (e.g. English, Czech)
7. What is prosody? In the lecture we discussed the two prosodic components of
speech. What are they?
Prosody: ‘The patterns of stress and intonation in a language.’ The basic unit is syllable
1) Stress group – organization of syllables into rhythmic units
2) Tone unit - organization of syllables into intonational units

8. In the lecture we discussed degrees of prominence in a tone unit, differentiating

reduced from full vowels, stressed from unstressed, and accented from unaccented
syllables. Explain using examples.
e.g. “Paraplegic” /pæɹ.ə.pli.dʒɪk/
ə - unstressed, reduced
dʒ - unstressed, full
æ - unaccented, stressed, full
i – accented, stressed, full
- 4 degrees of prominence

9. What degrees of prominence can be differentiated in longer words pronounced

aloud in isolation, e.g. as separate tone units (e.g. ‘Memorization.’, ‘Paraplegic!’,
‘Mononucleosis.’).
See right above ;-)

10. Textbooks and dictionaries indicate prominence patterns of longer words using
raised and lowered marks: ⎆and ⎅. They are commonly known as the primary and
secondary stress. What do they actually represent?
The relative emphasis given to certain syllables in a word.

11. What is the basic structural unit in the description of intonation?

Basic structural unit is defined as a specific pattern of changing pitch.

12. How can the tone unit boundaries be indicated in speech?

They can be indicated by:
1) pauses
2) final syllable lengthening
3) increased tempo of unstressed syllables after the boundary
4) completion of intonational pattern
13. What do we call the syllable which receives the main pitch accent (or tone)?
‘Tonic syllable’

14. What is the tonic syllable?

It’s the syllable within a tone group that stands out because it carries the major pit change
(has the main pitch accent).

15. Which syllable is the tonic syllable in a neutral declarative utterance? E.g. in
They moved to Massachusetts. He didn’t want to leave. All of us wanted to help him.
Which tone pattern is most likely in such sentences?
They moved to Massachusetts. He didn’t want to leave. All of us wanted to help him.
In neutral declarative, it is most usually the last stressed syllable of the tone unit.

16. Which syllables will receive the tonic accent in the neutral declaratives: We
need to buy new wall paper. We need to buy more white paper. Explain the difference
in prose.

?

17. How is intonation different in the two following questions: Is Larry coming to
see me? When is Larry coming to see me? (Consider the type of the question.)
Yes/no questions: usually rising-neutral
Wh- questions: falling-neutral

18. What intonation pattern is most likely in each of the three tone units that
compose the sentence: He closed the book, stood up and left the room?
Rising

19. What intonation pattern is used to indicate continuation?

Rising

20. What are the basic intonation patterns used in English?

The change of pitch stands on the tonic syllable and continues till the end of the tone group.
Falling – pitch begins to fall on the accented syllable and continues to go down till the
end of the tone unit.
Rising – pitch begins to rise on the accented syllable and continues to go up till the
end of the tone unit.
21. What are the general meanings associated with falling and rising intonation.
Falling – assertions, statements, finality, wh- questions
Rising – most questions, uncertain statements, continuation

22. Besides falling and rising tones, a common intonation pattern used in English is
the fall-rise. What basic meanings can it convey?
Contrast, reservation, surprise, continuation

23. In fluent English speech words are linked together. What strategies do speakers
use to link a word which ends in a vowel with the following word beginning in a
vowel (We mentioned three ways of such linking.)

?

24. What are transient j and transient w?

An articulatory “accident” caused by a gradual movement between two vowels – a
high front vowel “gliding” to another vowel.
e.g. “She opened her bag” /ʃiʲəUpənd/ - transient j

25. What is intrusive r?

26. What is linking r?

27. What is re-syllabification?

Boundaries of syllables not matching the word boundaries.